snap.crackle.fizz.

will be in hk in 13hrs! every1 must visit yangshou, tis awesome and its raining.

2010-01-01T22:55:00.001+11:00

will be in hong kong on the 2nd. who else is there? leave me a number .. is facebook blocked in hk?

2010-01-01T00:22:00.001+11:00

is off to TLG after whirlwind tour of lijiang and huashan, should be in shangrila in 2 days.

2009-12-25T05:44:00.001+11:00

14 days? man its been a long but useful time!

2009-12-15T15:29:00.001+11:00

is sorry for being unable to answer back on facebook =P im trying to fix my tunnel out as we speak!

2009-12-10T12:19:00.001+11:00

terracotta army is awesome

girls are weird

teenage girls i will never understand

and a gaggle of them is just ludcrious.

is waiting for breakfast on my first sunday in Xi'an

2009-12-06T10:56:00.001+11:00

OOOOH tang yun with rice and milk. Weird! thank you for my chinese cooks!! Let us begin!

has his first thing stolen ever. Ouch but all good. The day is good!

2009-12-03T11:59:00.001+11:00

has landed in Xi'an! time to get some rest.

2009-12-01T02:55:00.001+11:00

yeah.. nothing to say here. It's all weird and foggy out here. Or is it smog?

caught a dodgy taxi to the airport, waiting for the flight to Xi'an

2009-11-30T19:50:00.001+11:00

So two days in shanghai went quickly, it started off slowly and a few typical "this is china" experiences has made it interesting. Having not researched anything about Shanghai, I set out with my cameras on the first day and had quite an interesting photo walk day. Shanghai in this sense is very interesting constantly providing kewl phto opportunities. In only a few streets you can go from crazy gliz glam to down right rubbles. I wasn't too keen on the gliz-glam and the massive shopping streets and once you get away from them you can really get the shanghai atmosphere.

Highlights were finding local food markets in tiny alleys, some odd ruins, bonding with the local lamb skewer vendor, making the locals laugh (at me) and seeing some awesome local clothes markets followed by a food BONANZA.

Oh and the food was surprisingly awesome! Thanks goto Faith and Grace for showing me around and giving me some local tips. Major wins are steam buns, shien jun, shiao lung bao, LAMB SKEWERS.

There's a lot of interesting things about the Shanghai people, but to be put shortly I think if you can break the crust which inevitable forms with such large populations they are at least honest, if not friendly people. Sometimes, the crust is very thick though, but at least I was never hassled =P

uh oh. gate change gotta run!

Leave me a comment if you can read this.

2009-11-28T05:11:00.001+11:00

Leave me a comment if this shows up on twitter.

In shanghai sitting at grace's place, having a chat =)

Flickr

2009-11-25T18:09:00.001+11:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

so what are my outs? #GFW

2009-11-25T14:48:00.001+11:00

so if facebook is blocked i can twitter, if twitter is blocked. i can sms. if sms is blocked. i can email to blog to twitter.

if email to blog is blocked, i can email to an auto forwarder on gmail. if gmail is blocked....

darn it they got me, time to whip out the paper and pen.

moments in life not 2 forget.

2009-03-27T16:34:00.001+11:00

11pm, its been a long drive from bryce canyon back to salt lake city to hopefully catch some powder. Driving on highway 20 has me both tired and hungry. I park it in a rest area and break out my stove to heat up some cream of mushroom soup with capsicum and tortillas.

I sat there eating in the darkness trying to see as many stars as I could. Its amazing if you look at any patch of darkess in the sky eventually u can see a twinkle. Perhaps it was a star, perhaps it was a trick of the eye. Content with my meal and the warmth in my stomach, I climb up on the roof on the car and fall asleep to the thousands of stars and 6 planes in the sky.

A nice chill out following almost killing deer.

annyong!

2008-12-14T18:55:00.001+11:00

looking forward to the next ski season!

what i found that was kewl today...

2008-10-24T13:40:00.003+11:00

ICYMI - 7 Yr. Old Break Dancer On Ellen @ Yahoo! Video

pork roll drought...

2008-10-23T14:55:00.005+11:00

So i've been having a whinge about how food sucks in brisbane and how there are no pork rolls about which still holds my title for best sandwich ever. I was told to goto areas such as dara and inala which are way outside brisbane, the canley vale and cabramatta of brisbane if you will. So i turn up at dara and in a series of shops comprising of 2 groceries, two pork roll stores, a chemist, and video store by a train station. It was very canley vale-esque, unfortunately the pork rolls were not of the same standard.

$2.50. Was not bad, chilli was applied in the garlic-chilli sauce which is pretty standard and quite salty. I did like the occasional meatball inside it which was a plus. I miss the shallots and the preserved meats were not quite up to scratch. But it was still good considering the huge craving i've been fighting, onto the next one, which from my vantage point definitely had the lionshare of the dara pork roll sales.

$3.00. This was different to sydney style, but still quite good. It was again ready made but with their levels of output I'm not too surprised. I walked in while a guy walks out with two plastic bags full or pork rolls. It was very tasty comparing to the canley vale gold standard despite being 50c more expensive. A different selection of meats was used which made it interesting, and it was definitely lubricated well with generous spreading of lard. They don't seem to put on the soy blend sauce and raw chillis and shallot, which is a shame.

what both stores did really well was slightly toasting the roll before serving which certainly added to the crunchyness, but not more so then Sydney's ones. Pork rolled out for the weekend, i'll have to leave Inala for another week, hopefully there will be more interesting variations =)

Argh, the cravings are returning...

exchange rate woes....

2008-10-08T20:26:00.014+11:00

courtesy of xe

succint self analysis born from sleep deprivation and maligned ambition

2008-10-07T07:38:00.001+11:00

bonds are like pants. You love them, but as time goes on, they tend to wear and tear and break down. If you are diligent you can constantly repair your pants and patch it here and there. Over time, you'll probably get a totally different pair of pants but they are still your favourites. Those who fall off the radar a little, deterioate to the point where it's no longer a simple stitch and fix. Sometimes this means you have to say "this is it, the end of the line" and part ways with the overly damaged pair.

I'm no good at goodbyes, im not too diligent at maintainence. I wish i could own more pants, i wish i could get some new pants. But it might have come to the point where i have to trade in my old pair for new ones.

I like my old pants... i need to learn more about mending.

sigh

2008-09-20T21:25:00.004+10:00

Mass arrest in America. I'm absolutely flabbergasted that such a thing could occur especially in a country which once lead the world and upheld human rights.

oh. the irony.

2008-09-19T12:35:00.001+10:00

An electronic device which lets parking ticketeers know that you've overstayed at your certain parking spot.

"Although electronic enforcement options can be costly to implement and maintain, these costs could be offset by increased revenue from infringement notices and increased community satisfaction," the report said.

offset? implying that your costs of running are not fully covered and you are running at a loss? i do think the increased community satisfaction is definitely a bit of an overstetch. It's not like the community (the business where the parking is there to service) are CRYING out for these horrendous overparking customers who frequent their shops. I'm not sure "community satisfaction" does much for offsetting costs, not many people will be thinking, I'm so glad you've installed this system let me drive by and drop off a donation to offset your running cost. But well anyways another choice quote...

One of the Victorian councils using the devices had seen a 60 per cent reduction in the number of overstayers in the year after PODS was installed, he said.

"It's true that the number of overstayers detected increases in the short term but better enforcement changes behaviour and, in the longer term, there are fewer overstayers."

So in the long term, the presence of the device causes a monumental decrease in overstayers. Wow, thats pretty good, but wait its the overstayers who "offset" the cost to "implement and maintain". Oh no, that means over the time of the installation of these devices 60% of them will no longer be financially sound. What do we do then? They are putting themselves out of business, such good samartians.

"PODS has proved a revenue-raising success in several Victorian councils. In Melbourne's Maribyrnong Council, for example, the number of infringement notices issued for time-limit breaches jumped from 3734 to 7830 in the year following the installation of the system."

So lets seem thats an approximate 210% increase in "overstayers", but in the long term the 60% decrease leaves us with 4700 overstayers. You guys have bad math. "in the longer term, there are fewer [MORE] overstayers" . To sum up, thank you PODS for catering for our "community satisfaction" by giving us an increase of 125% overstayers with your brand new system. I'm so glad you would take on such an expensive project with your costs only "offset".

"The managing director of Vehicle Monitoring Systems, Saxon Hill, said he was in discussion with several other NSW councils about his product, which he insisted was not about making money, but about alleviating the shortage of parking spaces."

This is definitely not about revenue, it definitely serves the community in the same way as red light and speed cameras. Thanks Saxon. I wonder how easy these will be to break...

full article here

that is very very ballsy...

2008-09-18T18:41:00.002+10:00

hamish and andy are definitely awesome =) also hilarious here

New Zealand plans

2008-09-01T03:01:00.002+10:00

8th -> leave early perhaps and get to Mt Cook, hike up to Meuller hut taking approximiately 3hrs. dump gear, hike up to the nearest peak. Depending on the time and trek, stay and watch the sunset. Back to hut, eat sleep be merry.

9th -> hike back down, and either do hooker valley track or drive off towards Lake Tekapo, stop by the church of the good shepherd, on my way to Arthur's Pass and scope it out. Not sure what to do at night, probably make my way back near the airport and cook, nap

10th -> 4am be at Christchurch International Airport.

piracy and theft

2008-08-30T13:23:00.005+10:00

so true. according to record companies if i took a photo of the mona lisa, i just stole a copy of it from, say the Gift shop.

another ted post..

2008-08-28T15:06:00.002+10:00

Please if you can name the first two pieces that would be great. Possibility first one is Ziguernerweisen by Sarasate and second one perhaps Liebesled by Fritz Kreisler.

the dangers of rock climbing...

2008-08-25T12:54:00.002+10:00

be safe, always check + double check.

TED Talks

2008-08-22T14:41:00.005+10:00

A bit of a tip from a friend JT put me on the TED talks podcast. Although i had heard of it before and listened to a few, the convenience of a podcast has opened my world of portable entertainment.

TED is a conference (annual?), which gathers the brightest and smartest of people to discuss all kinda of issues of the world. The talks are always interesting, short and really fascinating no matter what the person is discussing. Maybe it's the prestige of TED thats makes the speakers look good, but ive been truly impressed by every speech i've listened to so far.

This one is one of my favourites. Just imaging a room of the smartest logical scientific people of our age just totally outdone and bamboozled by a magician. I can't stop thinking about how he did the tricks he did. I know it's an illusion, i know it's sleight of hand, i know i'm being shown only half the story. But knowing what i know, i still can't figure it out.

It's such a metaphor for science and the pursuit of knowledge, we may think we know this world and know all it's mysteries. It's a deck of cards and a guy, there are no unknowns here. Yet, this man shows us, that in truth we know very little about the potential for a guy and a deck of cards.

some may have noticed..

2008-08-18T18:58:00.001+10:00

http://ndlsgear.blogspot.com

just a blog about the gear ive recently acquired... or am using and u know, what i like dont like =)

thredbo

2008-08-15T00:33:00.010+10:00

Got to test out my $100 board and boots and also my winter camping gear setup. I was initially very pleased as the boots very comfy and the board didn't look like it had any big dints or scratches. Once i got on the snow though it was a different story. The first day was a struggle, trying to get to know the board and how it rides, I was really rueing the flex in the boot. It was comfy for walking but no so good for them long traverses. A tighter boot would ahve been much easier going. The second day on the board was much better experience and I was feeling in my element. Although i still fell quite regularly I was starting to really get a handle on the board and the tricky terrain. Moguls and trees were less difficult and I could get a fair way into them before falling over =) The transition between soft to hard snow was no longer and issue, just bend my knees and ride!

Thredbo itself was a mix of conditions ranging from clear sunny skies near the bottom of the slope to howling cross winds of snow up near the top. The first day had the best weather which i couldnt enjoy fully due to my trouble with my boots, and the second day it was snowing heavily with a few whiteouts here and there. All and all, its a different experience then Japan, but its not so bad. I've been spoiled by the consistent conditions of Japan, but i suppose im a more aware skiier now =) Either way, it was great to be out there ripping down a mountain at the fastest speeds i can muster is a thrill or weaving thru the trees on the thick layers of powder. 2 days is just not enough though =(

Fav run: high noon, steep and wide enough but too short or dream run, the trees aren't too dense so you can go thru the trees pretty mcuh all the way to the end. Excellent fun.

Meanwhile camping out at 4am in the morning was an interesting experience. I did want to camp both days, but the temptation to stay inside was too much. I should have got myself dropped off at the campsite so I wouldn't be tempted. Temperature was not a problem though, but I can see how constant skiing would make drying things very awkward. Socks, gloves and boots would be the three would be the most problematic. Luckily my ski pants and jacket remained relatively dry if i took care of them. Oh, eating muffins and pasta was awesome, food was good and plentiful as well. Perhaps need some more high energy stuff though. Looking forward to go camping fully next time, it seems very manageable...

anyways. Im psyched for new zealand, SNOWSKIING !!!

let it be documented on the internet

2008-08-11T19:48:00.001+10:00

t60p experiencing BSOD after BIOS reset (perhaps due to stupid tech support)

One issue may be that the machine had XP installed with the HD in IDE mode. A bios default resets to AHCI mode causing XP to freak out.

To fix this, goto BIOS, Config, Serial ATA -> Compatibility Mode.

Don't let them convert a battery problem to a motherboard problem to no problem and absolutely waste a week of your time.

It has been said here on the internet, now let google crawl me.

top 5 jc style...

2008-08-01T02:27:00.001+10:00

1) 4 C nights that just blow by, while i'm sleeping outside.Thanks to my awesome sleeping bag and mat, these nights just dont have that cold bite no more.

2) Working out how to put protective material on the hems of my frayed pants. Now they are like 5 times more durable and i dont need to fold them out to make sure i dont step on them.

3) Talking an old pair of helly hansen pants with worn out elastic and making them wearable again. Can't fault that double sided interface material.. good for anything and everything.

4) Confirmation of candidature, OVER. I is confirmed, I is being lazy, 2mr i will do solid solid work.. maybe, hopefully =)

5) Saturday camping + sunrise at Mt warning!

Crack climbing at Frog buttress

2008-07-13T22:26:00.000+10:00

080713 Frog buttress crack climbing

awesome. more to write soon

Lara Logan

2008-06-21T04:24:00.002+10:00

attractive. also smart, funny, articulate, passionate and daring. probably crazy. very impressed. Also has something very important to say, listen to the interview.

We truly are numb to the travesties of the world. Was the world this screwed up when I was 7?

already thinking...

2008-06-01T00:01:00.013+10:00

Current Gear
sleep system
MSR Hubba tent poles + fly + ground sheet + pegs
Mountain Hardware Ultalamina 15

clothes
Columbia fleece jacket
kathmandu 100% merino wool thermal
kathmandu polyprop leggings
liner gloves
fleece mask

cooking
kathmandu pan
gsi pot+cup combo
oil container (prob not neccesary)
lexan lid

utils
towel
leatherman pocket knife

Things yet to pack
myog alcohol stove
spare socks
some kind of camp footware - teva sandals would be ideal, but need some kind of protective shell or down booties
toothbrush + toilet paper + sanitation wipes
spork
food for a night
headlamp
emergency bivy
Outdoor research snowline mitts
big anges cyclone camp chair
lighter +fire steel lighter

Things that would be good
spare pare of warm pants
myog pot cosy / metallic bubblewrap
plastic water bottle bowl (perhaps can use water bladder)

aspirations

2008-05-31T12:39:00.001+10:00

the prowl

2008-05-16T00:21:00.001+10:00

he's grabbed the rebound..he turns to run it up the court. He's not gonna get to do anything useful with it, he doesnt know it.

he runs up the court striding out and pushing the ball out in front of him. There's a shadow on him, chasing him from his blind spot.

The shadow is careful, he sprints hard to close the distance but quickly slows to make sure he doesnt show up in victim's peripheral vision. The place slows, the difference in distance closes inch by inch.

"Man on Man on"

Panic, what's going on? It's too late for him. The shadow has copied his pace, they are step in step and he can't hear where it the attack will come from, does he dare to look? does he dare to cross over?

The shadow has done all the thinking, just waiting for the moment...He begins his next dribble, its time to strike.

The shadow breaks pace lunges a few steps forward puts out his hand and pushes the ball out in front. With his new pace he runs ahead and regathers.

basketball rocks =)

to go a-camping!

2008-05-10T22:20:00.035+10:00

So last weekend me and a bunch of work mates did a traverse along the river at Mt Barney and it was really really enjoyable. It's a real wake up call to how you can have a great time with so little. There were too many highlights but here are my favourites one.

1. Surging ahead thru this rock/water formation not sure where i'm going trying to find a way down and out. Trying to rock climb across, slipping and plunging into the icy icy cold water. Sparking the rest of the water fun which would encapsulate the rest of the trip. Which would be basically trying to climb up and down all these rocks and waterfalls =)

doing a front pull

helping out the next in line

2. Watching my mates go in the dead of night back into the water for an endurance test of who could stay in the water the longest. The water was very very cold.. and i suppose i'm a wuss. I call "low body fat".

photos to come, thanks to pierrick's flash

3. Tenting and cooking, chilling by the fire. Enough said. It was cold one night but most of it was fantastic. there are so many stars in the sky.. so so many.

4. Going for jumps. Not really my cup of tea, rock climbing kinda puts this fear of free falling in u. But gotta balls up and go for the jump!

*NINNNJAAA*

..happy place.. happy place...

5. Just chilling, rock hopping and just being in nature =)

what a view...	motion by the camp light
a brown snake!	chilling. just...chilling

6. Messing around. oh boys love to mess around =D


omg.. dont lift your head!	pb and powerade...

there's much to learn and im thinking a lot about how to get a lighter backpack.. mine was sitting at 17kg, which was way over my 10kg goal. Mainly it was the food, i almost brought no clothes and no shoes. there's gotta be a way lighten the load...

althought i'm thinking of packing light.. since the camping trip i have bought a new knife, new cooking set, new vacuum flask, new jumper and new sandals (well my old ones broke on the trip). =D no more i say! no more. hooray for camping! hip hop hooray!

up is surely down

2008-04-30T07:40:00.001+10:00

When your up you feel happy, when your down your sad. It all makes sense doesn't it? really? does it?

If you were riding a bike.. and you were up and then went down, chances you had fun? WEEEEE all the way down to the bottom. When your down, things get hard, things get tough. Everything is so much harder then it already is and you really just dont want to keep going. Ever tried cycling up hill? When your happy, those small niggling things dont matter, they try and try and push you towards feeling down, but you kinda sink back into that happy state.. like as if you were on the valley of two mountains.

surely up is down, and down is up. Don't know why i waste brain cycles on this.

I await when i cycle to the top of this hill i'm climbing and savour the trip back down.

quotes form the Cairns trip so far...

2008-04-24T12:46:00.003+10:00

BTS - to be used when something can be believed to be better then sex -Mario

ABTS - to be used when soemthing may or may not be better then sex -Zim

"i'm from out of town" - used to endear brisbanites to sydneyians in the attempt to explain why they are so excited to be purchasing XXXX beer. In a way similar to if you were visiting Broken hill and you walked into a pub and said "yeah mate i'm from out of town" except used in a metropolitan setting. - andrew chong.

"This beer is so cheap like 6 bucks for 4, look here four times.. u know 4x oh.. thats XXXX beer" - inexplicable. possibly cos he was jetlagged from being out of town -andrew chong.

"Okay, Let me down, Im freaked" - Used when someone who is scared of heights to the point where brain function has crashed. Like Windows XP though the body continues to reiterate the last instruction indefinitely resulting in someone screaming up "yeah really? mate... your still climbing up though" -Ryan

"Oh shit that is bad" - watching the figure 8 loop go ahead of you while on the rock -Sam

hamish and andy

2008-04-17T20:47:00.001+10:00

I've been a long follower of the show. I gotta say i love these two guys. They are just so outlandish that it's absolutely amazing to follow them as they live their lives through their radio show. They've done so many things in the past which to me.. were awesome and crazy ideas. and to be able to do that as your job is just ridiculous.

Currently they are in Afghanistan doing a show for the troops. I hope they stay there a little longer and really bring some fun and etnertainment to the troops over there and us as well.

awesomeness, if only there could be more hamish and andy;s in the world =)

interesting twist..

2008-04-11T11:21:00.001+10:00

"Almost 80% of rapes are "acquaintance rapes," or sexual acts forced upon women by someone they know. Partner/husband rapes are the most common, and according to a 2000 British Crime Survey, strangers were responsible for a mere 8% of the rape victims surveyed." -- Londonist

So for those girls who i've talked to who are somewhat paranoid about walking through dark, dangerous alleys or parks in the dead of night, it's statisically safer to go it alone.

(yes i konw the flaws in the argument but its statisically true that you are 10 times more likely to be raped by someone you know...in london anyway...)

rock diary #2

2008-04-06T01:45:00.001+11:00

anchor tying? a new setup used for webbing, reconfigured to make it work exactly like static rope. Not as good as the original setup but gives greater length to the anchor setup. Balancing the load was still an issue and could be a little imbalanced. Gotta fix that nest time, although the load seems to balance itself when someone was on it. Maybe its not a issue... should pick up some solid steel carabiners for top roping.. apparently alloys not good. hum hum.

anyways lesson 2? kind of a multilesson:
a) climbing with a 15 kg pack is different to not
b) topping out (to climb pass the anchor and up to the very top of hte cliff) is not easy
c) combining the above two activities makes it very very hard.
d) should u need to accomplish this, make sure to put a fair bit of slack in the rope.
e) Not too much slack
f) falling with too much slack can result in a really big fall (RBF)
g) in the event of facing a RBF, make sure you shout TAKE! and hold on as long as possible, rather then just slipping off the rock in silence.
h) RBFs are scary!
i) rope is strong =) the system works.

thank goodness i walked away from a seeming 5-6 metre RBF with only minor rope burns across the hand and underarm. All good, really unsettles the nerves... ehhehe

the provider

2008-03-30T18:25:00.001+11:00

For those who know me, i've always pondered on the necessity of a bed. It's so superficial and costs so much. Whats the point, to be elevated off the group? *shrugs* so i've gone without a bed for almost a year now. Crazy almost =) i suppose i've always needed one but could never logically afford it. But finally who nee eds to buy a bed, when if u wait long enough the local dump day will come along and you can find a fold out futon bed and carry it home?

Yay. i have a bed now =)

mean girls

2008-03-28T22:42:00.002+11:00

first time i watched it, i was like hmmm. Second time i'm watching it on tv and i'm actually changing the channel in repulsion. It's so concievable that girls would behave in that subtle and subversive way. I'm just glad my friends aren't like that, or that i'm ignorant of it all.

yewk. why!!! i prefer to be ignorant of all the meaness... YAR! k i must stop this weird form of self-torture...

*flick*

oh no. its an addiction, i cant look away...

victory

2008-03-28T01:34:00.002+11:00

tonight we finally closed out a victory overcoming the third quarter curse. By all accounts they should have won given they had decent players and two bigs against 1.5 big (me and a ring in) and a team of asians (height challenged asians). I think defensively is where we closed them out, playing a fairly tight zone they were pretty crippled on offense. On occasion the big man was able to make his way into the middle and score but it wasn't consistent enough for them to rely on it. Woot! victory is sweet!

Highlights were milking two turn overs using a neat little trick against big guys. I don't know when i thought of this or when i started doing it but somehow its ingrained into my game now. Basically starts off the ball and say a big player (generally white) is trying to cut in, box me out or gain position. Typical big man behaviour cuts and I intercept, get my feet planted in a wide stance ready for the box out. They unexpectedly run into me but are somehwat distracted .. looking for the ball, looking at the ring, i let my upper body hang loose and react to their pushing. To them their body is telling them whatever is in the way is giving way so they push harder to push through. But my feet dont move and what actually happens is my top half gets pushed over and i put my hands out to brace myself against the ground.

*whistle* PUSHING FOUL!

oh sweet sweet scams.. like my *take charge and rake them as hard as possible on the way down*

hehe =)

hooray

2008-03-20T09:55:00.001+11:00

I didn't die last night. Woot, now a whole new world of not dying! yay!

the final pieces

2008-03-18T03:27:00.004+11:00

Another 100 dollars spent and my gear set is complete.

40 dollars for webbing so i can finally anchor my climbing rope onto the routes at KP. Finally i can test out my brand new rope. So thats my climbing gear set complete.

60 dollars for 180cm self inflating sleeping mat which completed my camping gear which i duly tested in melbourne for a night. I gotta say that I had no idea camping could be so fun. Setting up the tent was a breeze and the sleeping mat/bag kept me warm and comfy throughout the night. I got to say it was such a pleasure sleeping in the tent, that i might consider sleeping in a car and unnecessary discomfort.

Now all i need is a GSI Dualist, and I wil have the complete camp cooking gear =) ahhh well...

Fwd: orgnaised basketball

2008-03-07T01:26:00.001+11:00

So i'm back this semester, on a team full of strangers. It's pretty weird feeling running up the court and not seeing the boys coming up with me. I find that stepping away from ball for that long has seriously affected my ability to read the D and my confidence to go against D. I gotta play more street ball and get those instincts back, without them I'm a player who can't shoot and can't drive. *sigh* gotta bring back saturday ball =P

The kewl thing about playing on the uni team is that there is organised training and the coach seems to know his theory. Most noteably is a zone killer offense using a low post and a sort of 4 man weave at the top of the key. It was a quite a convincing offence, hopefully we'll get to practice that.

bible christians (BC)

2008-03-06T02:56:00.006+11:00

this is a rant, because I would disrupt bible study too much if I actualy spoke my mind. Since i have no direct christian medium for my pent up rage i will release on the deaf ears of the internet.

At the bible study this quote "... by penance we make satisfaction for sin..." Cardinal George Pell was analysed and criticised. It is ASSUMED (ASS-U-ME) that the catholic belief is that they can atone for their sins through personal deeds (unconfirmed, everyone seems to think "yeah that sounds true"<-- prejudice). Historically, this is most definitely true but in the modern day practice i don't know enough to say for certain. Even so the idea itself is apparently supposed to be analysed apart from its Catholic origins. What I gather from the study is a) we are made righteous through faith in God (a valid point) b) Catholics have it unquestionably wrong (or to put it nicely, those who believe they can atone for their sins by anything (such as works) other then faith are wrong i.e. Catholics).

I have HUGE beefs with point b to where it actually makes me fill with rage to see us BCs so easily and quickly draw lines in the sand. Firstly the quote starts with ... and ends with ... , could it be MORE out of context? and secondly the word they chose to use is satisfaction. If they meant atonement or forgiveness they would have used that instead but they didn't, significant? I do believe so. Grounds for dismal imo.

I guess my next problem with it is, they are en masse probably wrong, but HOW wrong are they? Nobody says "they are not believers of Christ Jesus, and their theological misunderstanding of the significance of grace and faith as the sole source of our salvation will lead to their condemnation to fiery hell", So how wrong are they? 0.00001% or 99%, no one wants to address that question. Oh, they are theoretically wrong, let's just leave it at that (Woohoo, i can go around saying Catholics are theoretically wrong, my life has never been so enlightened)

And guess what happens at the end, how are BCs made righteous? Through faith. How does one be righteous? Exercise your faith. What does that mean exactly? Show your faith through WORKS CAN WE COME MORE FULL CIRCLE PLEASE. So BCs do works, but cos of their faith and love of God. Catholics do works (penance) cos they love/fear God so much that when the sin they feel really guilty about it and feel that they need to ask for a penance to make up for their guilt. It's a dangerous line which allows people to form a pavolian link between forgiveness and penance. But remember we are to analyse the idea apart from its roots. And my conclusion is the idea is sound much like communism is also a sound idea, but unfortunately both are susceptible to corruption. What ideas are not?

The idea of penance can be quickly explained by an example. So you're father says "Never sit in my chair". You sit, you break it, u say you're sorry, you ask for forgiveness and you offer to fix it (typical behaviour). God's forgiveness freely given and stems from his love for us, the offering to fix it is the penance. It's an acceptance of punishment to bring balance. The counterpoint is that penance devalues Jesus's death and ressurection, you will never be able to balance your sins. On the surface, excellent point, between the words it basically says Penance is unholy (detract's from God's sovereignty). In application, BCs when you break your father's chair dont offer to fix it. Have faith in that a penance is not neccessary as Jesus's death and ressurection has already sufficiently paid for all.

However, if your father tells you to fix the chair, well you better do it. a) Obedience to your father is plainly written in the bible, so by commiting that work you are exercising your faith and being righteous. b) he'll beat your arse if you dont.

This would have been a lot quicker. We are not saved through any works, but only the faith in Jesus who died and lived again so our sins would be repaid. Oh and Catholics are wrong, penance devalues the Christian beliefs. Discussions are open if they lead to the aforementioned conclusion. That is our message. End of Study

oh how good it is to be free from those cantankerous words which have gnawed my mind incessantly.

tepid

2008-03-04T18:29:00.002+11:00

Pronunciation:
\ˈte-pəd\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Adelaide, around near the airport
Date:
3/3/2008

1: used in description of a person who is both physically very attractive and possess a very stylish charisma <she is hot, but like she's really cool, she's tepid.>

A car, vegas and no accomodation

2008-02-04T07:13:00.001+11:00

=) the way i like it, though i do wish i could find myself a shower. I think i need to find a gym... or an onsen. To bad this aint japan.

(vegas is surprisingly fun)

Happy Superbowl day today, i have decided.. GO PATRIOTS MAKE A LEGACY!

what a boy always wants...

2008-02-01T10:45:00.001+11:00

Climbing Gear
Black Diamond Quicksilver 2 Locking Carabiner BLEMISHED x 2
HMS Locking Carabiner
Stubai Ice Clip Quickdraw x 6
Trango Classic Wiregate Carabiner x 2 (probably should have got more)
Wild Country 10mm x 48" Dyneema Sling
Wild Country 10mm x 24" (60cm) Dyneema Slings x 4
Edelweiss Performance 9.2mm x 60M Dry Rope
Singing Rock Balance Harness (spare harness, for friends)

Camping Gear
90L Mountainsmith Circuit 3.0 backpack
MSR Hubba 1 man tent

well.. there goes a lot of savings... but i suppose basketball cost more =)

first few steps in the sleepy Long Beach...

2008-01-31T19:04:00.001+11:00

Firstly, Long Beach is boring, i don't think I've seen so little people on the streets ever, I'd compare it to the small little japanese towns i pass by. As far as i can tell, Long Beach is a ghost town, perhaps this is just not the season, but then I still don't see it the attraction if it were busier. The ghosty noticable after a short walk down the boulevard, shops are closed, in a state of disrepair or changing hands / new management. there are just empty blocks where you just know a big building was once, and now its just a pile of rubble.

But you know what, the people are nice. well the people within the restaurants that I have visited are nice, but then it's hard to tell because you don't know if it's them being nice for a tip or being nice cos they are nice. Well, i guess it's best to assume the latter.

I gotta say though, LA seems to be a place that is jumpy, on edge, if not then probably racist. I gotta say I'm pretty blind to racism, i think mainly because i'm open to the idea of people being absolute jerks or absolute ignoramuses for no reason. But i think i saw it today at the airport. I'm casually walking out of the airport, hand my passport to the final check guy, when i hear this loud and obviously rude and arrogant voice owned by a man called Shved.

Shved: OI... pause ... OI YOU... pause... OI
me: ... errr... me?
Shved: yeah.. you.. come here..

so i'm significantly shocked by how rude this man is, there are civil ways of getting a person's attention and there are ways jerk use, this was definitely how a jerk would do it.

Shved: Where you from?
me: australia
Shved: doesn't matter, I want you randomly checked. *scribbles quickly*

a) if it didn't matter, wtf did you ask me. b) he obviously thought i was going to say Philippians or Korea, cos that was the proceeding flight... c) That was the most unrandom random check i've ever seen. Granted i was wearing a suit, carrying a camping backpack, a significantly weird sight. I was giggled to myself thinking "ah ha, American border control are the jerks that I've read about on the Internet". That's until i approach the line, in front of me was a old asian granny, in front of her was an asian businessman, in front of him being checked was what seemed an asian student probably postgrad, right next to this person was a korean family. Everywhere I looked asians, everybody he let through without hesitation, white.

wtf, seriously.

Another weird event occurred when i was walking around Long Beach, I see a cop car on the other side of the road, I pull out my map slowly. It drives off up the road. I think, hey look its a cop car just like the movies. It does a U turn. I think, hey look its a cop car doing a Uey just like the movies. I proceed to open my map. Cop car pulls up short about 10m in front of me and a cop gets out. I'm like wtf, am i gonna get tasered now... just like the movies? By this time I have my map fully open and am visibly fumbling as if looking for where I am.. 2 seconds later the cop does a 180 gets back in the car and it speeds off, does a Uey, and then speeds off again into the distance...

wtf, seriously.

Otherwise, it's fine. Girls at the reception seem nice =)

Well its the home straight.

2008-01-16T10:58:00.001+11:00

so another day and the boys get here and well get some hardcore boarding done. I cant wait to be back on the snow again and boarding my heart out. Saw a $1000 full set of gear marked down to $500.. and my brain is thinking.. your gonna be spending like 1/3 that on rentals anyway... why not u know..just buy it?? makes more sense yeah?

ahh well i resisted.. gotta concentrate on one sport at a time..can:t spread my attention. So last two days ive been at asahidake mountain. I went for a bit of a trek on the top of the mountain which was pretty damn interesting. Its cold as hell and the wind is blowing but you can still see so you walk a little. But then the wind picks up and your blinded.. there is no horizon. Where was that rock i was just sitting on? was it behidn me to the left? nope.. perhaps to the right? oh. its not there any more... You cant see where the snow extends from your feet into the distance and meets teh sky, it could be 20 metres away, it could be 100 metres.

It was a very interesting experience. Kinda like that room in the matrix when they load up the gear.. its just white (and cold and windy). And also there is an added danger that if you manage to get lost, you're dead, no question about it. If i had thought to wear more then one pair of socks i would have stayed out there longer and sat in the loneness 2000km away from it all. Perhaps its a good thing though... i owuld have been foolhardy enough to attempt a scale to the peak given i was warm enough...

I retraced my footprints back to the ropeway and descended back into safety. To pass the afternoon away, i dug myself an icehole. =) hehehe. snow is so fun.

Freaks

2008-01-09T04:16:00.001+11:00

One of these 24hr internet cafe joints. They really aren:t a bad deal, i had to walk 50 minutes to get here but thats not that big an issue, I have time. I bought myself 9hrs of entertainment time which will cost me about $22. Not bad for a roof, pc ps2, tv and comfy chair. Ive even changed into shorts and drinking the unlimited mountain dew.

I fully intended to sleep but the sheer enormity of the entertainment in this place is very distracting. I just watched saw 3 which was very disturbing, now ill order some food and do some phd work while i wait for it. Officially my time is over at 8*05 am which is only 6hrs away... tick tick tick

i should get some shut eye, a few hours will do *yawn* i must do this again some time...

Ducking the ropes

2008-01-07T00:57:00.001+11:00

Felt pretty good today, besides the fact that my body is sore and my neck is sore, probably suffering from severe whiplash. Couldn't believe how chicken i was on the first day of the slopes and now i feel that i can handle most things except extreme slopes. Even moguls arent as torturous as they seem.

It was my last day, no reason to leave without pushing the boundaries a little, so i did. I've been noticing a few routes that lead out of the skiiable area and figured.. why not? Well there's about a billion reasons why not, but *shrugs*.

Man it was an awesome feeling, i was on a ridge riding across it, weaving in and out, on almost unskiied snow. Felt like i was the only one there, well.. i was was actually at that time. Powdery as hell.. few times got the tip of my board stuck all the way into the snow and had to sit there for a few minutes to jimmy it out. Must have been a funny sight for anyone who noticed me.. a boarder way out of the patrolled area on his arse with his board in the air.

ahh well.. theres more to japan then just boarding, so alas i must leave to find another experience. It's unfortunate that i missed nozawa onsen which was my original destination, but i must head north as i have dallied long enough.

Oh not the whole mountain, but 3/4 of the mountain without falling.. all in one run. Damn that is absolutely horrific on the legs.

4/1 12:20 Virgin Cafe, Happone, Hakuba

2008-01-05T00:27:00.001+11:00

So that's why the call it powder. It's like crashing onto a beanbag except it\s not beans but the tiniest particle of snow. It's almost like swimming in the stuff, and at some parts I was.

It's bucketing down right now as I'm sitting here not purchasing food. Visibility is no more then 20 metres about to the next gondola chair. It's a bit full on although still enjoyable. It's like I'm skiing alone on the mountain and all i see is white. Pretty damn crazy!!

Gotta say the first few hours were pretty hard slogging. I was trying as hard as i could to get my snow legs back, but they weren't cooperating. I think i got the trick down though, gotta make sure your weight is evenly spread across your two feet so you can switch your weight when you need 2. Still didn't stop me from stacking it a million times. though now that i think about it it's probably cos i couldn't see what i was skiing on. BLOODY MOGULS. Took the wrong turn once ended up on a advanced run filled with moguls, absolute torture. Probably the most literal I've ever been to "tearing a new one"

I'm absolutely buggered but still got about 4 hrs left. It's times like this where I'm having so much fun I wish i had someone here to share it with. But perhaps another time.

1 run, top to bottom, no fall. That's my goal 2morrow. Concentrate, think about moves, keep the balance.... concentrate, move, balance =)

Hakuba

2008-01-04T01:49:00.001+11:00

Happy New Years!!! major highlight since last post. Saw hatsu-hinode, which is the first sunrise of the new year. I scored an amazing view by going to a hotel and pretending i was a patron there and got the best seat in the house as the Sun came around and lighted up tokyo. Was breath-taking.

so I:ve arrived at where i want 2 be. It was not pleasant but these things happen. You have bad days but the good things is there:s only one person you can blame for it and that:s yourself. But there is a silver lining everytime.

I got another 3 nights here to soak up as much snow as I can before i move on to, i dont know where.

Cant wait to be on the board and out there messing myself up.

kawaguichiko!

2007-12-31T00:42:00.001+11:00

so i'm at the bottom of mt. fuji, unfortunately it's not climbing season and i'm not baller enough to try. It's amazing how high 3km up is, i never realised until i was so close. I kinda understand all the respect and revelry that is given this Fuji-san. It's just so massive and in the middle of nowehre it dwarfs everything. very impressed. Hopefully tomorrow i will get another glimpse of fuji-san.

Can't believe ive been travelling only for two days, seems like i've done so much already. I can't keep still when i'm travelling by myself, always moving always going to new places. I suppose i could stop and relax, but that's what night is for, oh and chatting with whatever backpackers are around. Although i'm a bit chuffed about not making it to tthe top of this other mountain, i feel it's time to move on. Especially because i've heard about a spot nearby which is swimming in awesome snow..

i felt like i was cheating.. snowboarding before my friends get here. Fortunately i got over it.

screw u guys, i'm going snowboarding.

computer people

2007-11-03T12:26:00.000+11:00

computer chicks are kewl. Mainly cos well, i'm into computers and also cos they are rare. So i'm at an international conference and well, i'm talking to females. Nothing scandalous, just small talk. It was harmless chatter and i made a few acquantices and alleviated the sheer boredom of the conference temporarily.

comptuer guys are lame. although they are into computers, they are also a dime a dozen, literally considering the pack mentality of nerds. Why are computer guys lame? well there are many reasons but here's another one to chuck on the list.

Because 99.9% percent of a computer guy's conversation is with another guy, they feel it their duty to mock others who are conversing with females. To worsen this, the sheer polarity of a computer guy's iteractions continues an assumption that if a computer guy is talking to a female, he's got an angle.

"so did u get her number?"
"3 girls mario? didnt know you were like that"
and so on..

GETS ME SO DOWN. why are my people so lame? i hate the stereotypical computer guy, I was you but not any more.

LAME!

religious venting

2007-10-17T20:34:00.001+10:00

decided to have a stab at bringing christianity into office talk. I figured, hey i'm kewl with it.. and i'm the only here that stands to be offended and i understand the greys in the topic that it's not going to happen. Though i'm not offended, i got a little energetic about it so i figured i should vent, and also jot down a few interesting points.

1) "your belief should not be based on whether they (the apostle) were lying or not"
errrr. if the apostles lied about the ressurection, my entire belief system is unfounded and wrong. So in effect it hinges purely on my belief that they didn't lie about it

2) "jesus taught other things beside the ressurection, good morals, doing good things"
i do belief the entire christian faith is based on teh ressurection, again if the apostles lied and the ressurection didnt happen then i would concede that my faith holds no water and merely a physcological yearning for a higher power like zeus

I dont know why this guy found it disturbing that this is the christian belief, its a system of absolute truth, based on one key assumption

It happened or it did not happen.

nice busking

2007-10-17T08:55:00.000+10:00

life update

2007-10-10T21:48:00.001+10:00

1) it's good to see that my readership is reaching a record low. It's strange idea that i wish to publish some of my thoughts/happenings on the internet, yet uncomfortable that people i do not know are reading it. To those i do not know, i actively hope that this blog bores you to death. Well, maybe not that far but to the point that you feel u no longer feel the urge to come back and read.

It's like im sitting on a secluded beach on the internet just chilling. Free for all to see, but simultaneously glad that no1 is around to observe.

2) picked up a 500gb harddrive for $99, after a revolution movement instigated at the EHRC office space. A rogue ad touting one super deal inspired the fiery passion of a consumer activist. Was HT baiting customers to their new store by placing an advert that was basically too good to be true? so good that it sold out in the first 4 hrs of the 1 week promotion? The debate was intense and unresolved. Trying to calm the water, i encouraged him to see how it panned out the next day. Alas, i had to conceed that HT was not acting in good faith and i was infected by the fiery passion for consumer rights.

"We should complain to the ACCC about them. This shit is baiting, it's unethical and illegal", "we should ask for a raincheck!", "dammit WE WANT THESE DRIVES" It all culminated to one statement. "Let's call the store and tell them if we don't get drives we're gonna goto the ACCC" (how nerdy)

Inspired with anger and passion I raised my hand. The call was furious starting off with a good legal jab to the head, deftly feinted by the "limited stock" or the "stock maybe coming in... " line of defence. But i was not to be dismissed so easily.. legal fencing went on but with a few drops of "we", "us 4" and "that's fine, i guess only the ACCC can resolve our differences" the walls were down and the white flag was waved. "Fine sir, we will place an order for you, and if stock comes in, we will hold it for you".

But victory was shortlived. The motion was negated by the store manager's return call. The deadpan delivery, the dismal of my arguments, the redirection of blame, i can no describe it, I did not like this person i was talking to. It was concluded as an impasse. "I encourage you to take the complaint further" WELL NNOOOOOOOWWW I BLOODY WILL.

sleep. 8am. *ring* "4 hard drives have been put aside for you, please come in today and you can pick them up"

Called up my mates and claimed our prize for being such whiny bitches!

3) raining is killing my climbing, it makes me sit here surfing the canadian websites looking at all the sweet gear i want to buy now that our currency is so damn strong. rope, harness, carabiners, qd mmm.. a good throw down of 400 dollars wouldl hook me up with some sweeeeet stuff.

do i still have readers?

2007-09-26T21:29:00.001+10:00

so for the few who still check here a question id like to hear answered.

if you had to trade in one of your personality traits for another, how would the trade go?

SNOW SKIING

2007-09-10T23:45:00.000+10:00

Riverfire, a brisbane tradition to goto a park and hang out

2007-09-03T04:46:00.000+10:00

zomg... hilarious

2007-08-28T23:41:00.000+10:00

morning ritual

2007-08-27T11:22:00.001+10:00

I've found it quite hard to maintain the polyphasic sleep cycle while maintaining the semblance of a social life. I've been floating in and out of it for the past few weeks, and trying to kick it back into force last night. Unfortunately.. fatigue took me at 4-7am. Food and water are key to mid morning energy levels... As i slip in and out of the polyphasic sleep cycle, i find myself with a fair bit of time to spare. One thing i'm trying to enstate is a morning ritual. Be up at 5am, get the day's internet surfing out of the way prior to work, eat a breakfast and leave to work @ 7:45. Ride to Kangaroo point and boulder until my arms fall off. Nap in the sun, and head to work =) How can you say no to this every morning?

woot! gearing up..

2007-08-23T06:12:00.000+10:00

So. got off the wrong stop today (overnapping). So on the walk back to the lab, walked past a rock climbing store.. and well.. now i have shoes, chalk bag (gift) and a new beanie. so many $$$ gone...

(playing with my flash is omoshiroi)

LOCKED OUT

2007-08-10T08:53:00.000+10:00

so like. It happened again. The first time i found an open window and pried it open and got in. At that point i was pretty sure that was the only entrance. We locked it up and made sure the windows around the house are all locked up.

So the second time being locked out, man i knew i was gonna be screwed, sleepin on teh porch till morning. But i couldnt just give up could i?

Here's something i tried (it didnt work so dont get any ideas). I did manage to bypass the first door though, but all i could do after that was knock madly on the 2nd door and then open the first door and be outside again.

I managed to get in though, 1.5hrs later, now i'm in an interesting security dilemma. Having another way in without a key is very useful to keep around. Although the method i used was suitably complicated, should I make sure no else can break in?

Stair climb!!

2007-08-08T07:38:00.000+10:00

fanciful polyphasia

2007-08-07T08:38:00.001+10:00

So i'm 5 days in. with a total of about 3-5 hrs sleep each day. Its pretty interesting, despite all the mythology behind it I find it pretty fun. It seems to make me more organised and more motivated to do this, although these things are generally not very productive like reading a book or playing wow, it opens up a whole new area to my life, the dead hours. I have more time now, and now i must up my productivity to match =)

Now that its working well i can ration off the dead hours of the night to actually learning a new language (something ive always wanted 2 do) and pursuing a bit of personal coding, another thing ive always wanted to try. As long as i can work off my wow addiction *ambush backstab backstab*

The best of it all is, since i'm awake way before i need to goto work, i have had teh best breakfast ever. Using gordon ramsay's tried and tested scrambled eggs method with nice fat pieces of bacon.

Hoorah!

how much pain does is this guy goin thru...

2007-07-26T22:38:00.000+10:00

red cross blood donation

2007-07-14T11:47:00.001+10:00

Gave blood today, for the first time. I'd like to say my motivations were altruistic but in truth i only wanted to know my blood type. I'm suppose to know and i find it quite disturbing that i dont. Anyways, it was an interesting experience, besides the 1hr long interview process where i had to regurgitate my travel and medical history for the past year. That was very boring indeed, except i got some nice personal statistics out of it, 67.3 kg BP 105/75 and HG of 156 and pulse of 61/sec. I'm not actually sure what these numbers translate to, but apparently they are good numbers =)

So like cats, i was basically curious about the entire process of giving blood. Although i was advised to look away as the stabbed me, I was too curious about it to look away. Gosh its a bloody big arse needle. It's bigger then the needles you use to pump up basketballs and it was halfway into my arm *freaky*. The wound doesnt behave like a cut where you would expect it to bleed all over the place, rather it just goes straight into the tubes and into the bag. Like siphoning petrol, my dark red blood was being pulled out of me.

Once you get over the sting of it, it just becomes a game where you try to get the fastest flow rate possible =P (61!) Also i didnt get any of the side effects of giving blood, such as light headedness, tiredness or loss of concentration. I actually felt no different at all.

It was very interesting observing all the different people that come in to give blood as well. It wasn't the people you expected, it seemed to be a random sample of the general population, business people, students, unemployed, construction workers, anyone and everyone. It was good to see that people from all walks of life, take time out of their day to help others. Now that i'm on the other side, it seems like such a human thing to do. It costs nothing, it benefits other people and you get food at the end, so why not?

Give Blood!!!

time waster #27

2007-07-11T22:08:00.001+10:00

Making the photo contacts on my phone match every1's facebook profile pic.

what is me?

2007-07-10T17:07:00.001+10:00

u have all these different apsects of "me" or how you perceive what makes up what your "me" wants to be. I personally want to be many things but i never have the motivation, awareness and memory to advance myself in all these directions that i want to goto. Perhaps it can be trained...

think of a program, that is activated by a hotkey (cos i love hotkeys) , ure desktop fades away and something like a nintendo mii pops on the screen surrounded by all these pictures/animations of all the different aspects of "me". the degree of animation, attention seeking behaviour is relative to how long it's been since you've clicked them.

so for example, an aspect of me wants to become a motorcyclist. To do that.. i need to get the gear and the bike and start practicing.. soo i bring up the screen.. the bike animation is going crazy.. K fine i'll click you.. brings up a list of todo, whats next in teh plan? how should i advance this..? so on... then you click "activate". you get your desktop again, and like the gold old paper clip, theres a little motorbiek in the corner of your screen to remind you, "right now, you should are to be focussed on being a motorcyclist, ie go look on the trading post, go internet shopping do some research"

another hotkey, removes the motorcycle and ure back to normal.

.. i wish i knew how to code that..

Ingenuity

2007-07-10T16:10:00.001+10:00

They say you shouldn't reinvent the wheel, but man.. how satisfying would it be to invent the wheel? and we can all do it. All you have to do is not see a wheel as you grow up... and get really tired with carrying heavy things.

When you discover something amazing and novel it's great and fantastic. It makes you feel like you're smart and intelligent and you are good at what you are trying to do. It's empowering and satisfying. Now if that's not an excuse to stay stupid what is? I really enjoy it when i think on something that seems so original to me, only because i'm not knowledgeable enough to know so.

but it someone tells me that some1 has already done it, what a downer that is....

so the choice is know nothing or know everything! either way any idea you have will be definitely an original =)

also, when someone observes you and goes... "hey that is really awesome". There's that little boy you that goes, "WEEE yeah damn straight" but you keep him from showing on your face cos big brother you clocks him on the head for being so immature. It's weird, big brother me is very praise adverse. Big brother me has learnt from the bible and life lessons to be humble, how does one humbly receive praise? *shrugs* ick, i dont like praise, constructive criticism on the other hand is great =P

I'm not sure what that is physcologically...but somewhere along the path my brain has confused the two...

whats new...

2007-06-28T00:02:00.001+10:00

1) Picasa mapping. Google adds new mapping functions to photos, hours and hours of time wasted trying to find the exact placement of photos. Ends in tears as i try to locate the Amphitheatre hostel in Northern Drakensberg, South Africa, by following road directions. I know its 21km down the junction between route 161 and route 74, but i cant seem to get the path stuff to work on google maps, google earth. Microsoft live maps work.. but ITS SO SLOW

2) Sunday night is comedy night. Free comedy at the brisbane powerhouse museum. A grand location on the river in an old abandoned warehouse, nice bar, kitchen and good comedy to boot. World press photo exhibition was impressive as well.

3) Stair climb, new personal best 24 flights of stairs in 3:08 secs taking every step. Progressive laps was 3:20 and 3:30. Not great but not too bad as well, really does get your heart rate up though.

4) Burnt chicken tonight.

5) Going to church camp, picking up people i have no idea who they are and driving them all the way to a dam with no mobile reception, i should print out some reading material... To the todos!

6) Conference paper writing fun begins.. tomorrow! yay!

mmm.. nothing exciting =) but nothing 2 boring either =)

...

2007-06-15T13:58:00.001+10:00

>.<

dont ask me why?

2007-06-14T00:21:00.000+10:00

if something looks precarious, yet when applying logic in all sense of the matter should be safe, my mind and body feels compelled to prove my eyes wrong.

props to dreamworks skg

2007-06-13T10:21:00.001+10:00

shrek 3 was awesome, i would say it's one of the best ever 3rd movies ive seen. Fantastic animation as usual and was still able to deliver in the laughs department. =) for $5 bucks.. i woudlnt mind going to see it again =P

there was this bit in the movie.. that i thought was absolutely hilarious, that no1 else did (maybe it was a nerd joke). The complete silence of the cinema was pierced with me laughing hysterically =) I've never heard myself laugh, but at the moment i'm pretty sure i sounded ridiculous =)

home made lunches

2007-06-12T13:40:00.001+10:00

Have you ever had a lunch so good, that you think to ureself, hey i'm not too hungry right now, if i dont eat all of it right now, i could eat some of it later... like for afternoon tea or dinner ...my lunch today was roast pork on top of soy+sesame oil flavoured rice, coated with fried shallots and coriander with a side of eggplant acar.

mmm... simple food.. YUM. I'm gonna have a sweet afternoon snack! =P

Office distractions

2007-06-09T00:14:00.001+10:00

There are many distractions at the office, firstly there is the 13x13 Go board in the kitchen, then there is the kitchen and then there is coffee and all assorted snacks. But today there was a new one called the "Stair Climb". A group of us prop the firedoor open and catch the lift down to the bottom and proceed to walk/run/jog to the roof. That's a whole 24.5 floors i believe, it's an awesome and gruelling run which basically leaves ure legs trembling.

Started with 4min 10 every step, then 2:45 skipping steps and finished with 3:45 taking ever step. Man, it was fun, ooooh the burn! =)

stubbornness, a virtue?

2007-06-08T13:29:00.001+10:00

Hello everyone. I'm stubborn. Although there are other ways of saying it, like persistent, persevering among others that attempt to sugar coat what essentially is stubbornness. People say that the word has negative connotations like its a bad thing that one should rid from one's character. They could be right but a lot of good things come from one's stubbornness. Here's my case.

Stubbornness breeds self-confidence. Several times i hold a position because i feel that position is right, intuitively i feel that I'm correct and it's stubbornness that sees me through all the barriers people chuck at me. I don't intend to be un-persuadable though it may seem so sometimes. It really depends on the other opponents and their ability to seed doubts in my intuition. (i'm also very aware that i could be wrong, but what use is intuition if you don't use it?)

Stubbornness build character. There's a lot of pressure in the world to be conform to the mainstream and it's prescribed behaviour. While we're young we don't know what we stand for, what kind of people we want to be so some of just waver along with the masses. It's stubbornness in your opinions, ideas and thoughts that outline who you are and who you will be. Perhaps in some cases you are with the crowd, perhaps sometimes u cut across, but it's clear to observers who and what you are.

Stubbornness is the precursor to ambition. Once decided on a path, you persue it till the goal. You know where you're going and you're determined to get there eventually.

I have self-made "laws" or "situations". Things that i've predefined for myself that govern the actions of a person who i wish to be. "laws" that I intend to stubbornly follow despite the costs. Perhaps this is a function of attempting to manipulate how others perceive me. Either way, the by-product is that i become or become perceived as the person i wish to be.

It's strange.. the interaction between external perception of one's self and one's own self perception, there must be some interplay between these two factors but i can't really wrap my head around it right now.

I'm stubborn about being me and through that it defines me. So how can that be a bad thing?

relationship relativity

2007-05-23T12:17:00.001+10:00

A and B meet. A behaves like this to B, causing a "first impression". However, C a long term knower of A says A behaves like that to everyone.

Should B:
1) Continue with existing preception of it's relationship with A
2) Augment it's perception of A based on new information from reliable source C.

I personally pick option 1. Although C may seem to know A longer, his information is not useful in the relationship between A and B. What C says could be trusted information or it could be gossip or it could be C's augmented perception of A which C believes to be true. In the case of such uncertainty I'd find it safer to trust my own perceptions and discard C's information rather then act upon it.

Option 2 seems somewhat more the popular option, especially when discussing negative behaviour. Since A is like that to everyone, B should cut A some slack, A could be a nice person still. Notice it doesn't work as well with positive behaviour though, nobody says a bubbly person isn't bubbly because she (only she's can be bubbly i think) is bubbly all the time.

non-nerds please stop reading here
Apparently after long discussion with D we can conclude that option 2 should follow soemthing like this:
B perception of A, X, and C perception of A, Y, should be augmented considering A perception of C,I, to develop a final perception value of A to B, Z. To such effect as determined by one's personal weight function.

Z = X + weight_function(I) * (Y-X)
where weight_function ranges from 0....1
e.g. weight_fucntion(X) = atan(X)/90

Maloobala Beach

2007-05-19T20:41:00.000+10:00

another road trip for the holden commodore. Each one could be it's last, but its a real tropper sticking in for the whole trip. It was good to get out on a saturday finally and do something brisbaney.
Maloobala beach is a nice little beach, i liken it to maroubra. Quiet, small but not 2 big waves and a barbie right by the beach. Nothing like a barbie at the beach i gotta say =)

F'ing A

2007-05-18T00:12:00.000+10:00

Okay. thursdays nights are gonna be awesome from now on.

Rock climbing at Kangaroo Point Cliffs is an awesome experience. It's got some great rock and friendly people about. It's also by the river with a bbq and a great view of the city, if you get up there =)

Man, life rarely gets better then this! 1.5 climbs later, my arms and legs are so pumped...
EDIT: Go google power!

my resolve... it is wavering.. free stuff???

2007-05-17T09:08:00.001+10:00

Try World of Warcraft(R): The Burning Crusade(TM) 10 Days FREE*!
*Only previous and current World of Warcraft retail account holders are eligible

You've taken Azeroth by storm. Now a dark frontier awaits. Take on hundreds of new quests, acquire powerful new gear, and travel the shattered skies of Outland with your own flying mount! All of these experiences and more are yours to discover in the first expansion to World of Warcraft - The Burning Crusade.

argh! I must resist!... until the weekend.

a day for new things...

2007-05-15T23:43:00.001+10:00

Tuesdays from now on shall be a day for the body and mind.

Today i had my first few games of squash, which was awesome fun. Though i'm fast on the court it means nothing to my opponents. It seems like such a fun game, running aorund smacking the ball, i occasionally even won a game. A work mate, Zim invited me to a few games, though he was taking it easy on me he still managed to give me a huge run round the court. If it wasn't so bad on knees i might actually get serious playing it =)

Another new thing, Go! Another recommendation by Zim, its a game that basically revolves around white and black stones on a grid. It's so simple and so hard!! So little rules and so many levels of complexity. Anyway played a few 9x9 games with a 3rd qu and some other guy, basically got my arse handed to me everytime. Great fun! MUST THINK HARDER!

Not sure why its fun to get my arse handed to me =) but Tuesdays are now for squash and go!!

Google fun

2007-05-15T09:20:00.001+10:00

C is so not near S, search my name in quotation marks to reveal a monumental typo. *sigh* maybe SSIRO should go get some skills

Another funny one is using googlemaps to get directions from New York to London.
24. Swim Across the Atlantic Ocean, just 3,462 miles.

Google estimates it'll take around 29 days, so if you got a spare month, go for it =)

big photo update, past and present

2007-05-14T01:01:00.000+10:00


070513_crepeday	070509_graduationday	070505_imbackforball


070504_cyntrish's graduation	07_balicookingclass	07_bali


070314_random day out	05 Japan	05 Shanghai


05 Beijing	03 Thailand [July - August 04]	02 Spain - Thailand [July 04]

new threads

2007-05-13T17:12:00.000+10:00

Some choices are just out of reach
I really like this t-shirt design, and it's so true as well. Threadless rocks!

Digg This: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

2007-05-02T16:39:00.001+10:00

"But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."

--kevin rose "champion of nerddome"

read more | digg story

scientific debate for God...

2007-05-01T11:06:00.001+10:00

Click here for full article. i will just highlight a few dubious quotes that are probably the reason why the phrase "bible-bashing" was invented.

Most people equate atheism with intellectualism," explained Comfort in a statement, "but it's actually an intellectual embarrassment. I am amazed at how many people think that God's existence is a matter of faith. It's not, and I will prove it at the debate – once and for all. This is not a joke. I will present undeniable scientific proof that God exists."

haha very funny, sorry mate, doesnt exist. Though there isn't any proof that God doesn't exist, but then theres the whole fallacy its much harder to prove a negative then a positive statement. I'm quite sure his proof will be denied in about 0.5 seconds.

"Evolution is unscientific. In reality, it is a blind faith that's preached with religious zeal as the gospel truth. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was once a naïve believer in the theory," said the former television star in a statement. "Atheism has become very popular in universities – where it's taught that we evolved from animals and that there are no moral absolutes. So we shouldn't be surprised when there are school shootings."

ignorance, sheer ignorance. Evolution is not a blind faith, the fossils in the ground are pretty good evidence despite a large number of discrepancies, not to mention dna evidence, micro-biology and the Neanderthals. What do christians have? Intelligent design? "oh look its sooooooooo complicated, how can it possibly have evolved, some thing must have made it" It could just as easily be aliens, flying spaghetti monster or God? What a stupid position to push. Secondly, the link between evolution and "no moral absolutes" is very weak, random evolution doesn't rob the human race of it's humanity. Morals can be explained as evolved pre-programmed behaviour, i.e. people try to be nice to each other for self-preservation rather then a religious belief.

In addition, the sheer manipulation embedded in the statement disgusts me. Draws strong correlation between the two sides of the debate, admits that he was of the other side but through his "intellect" has already chosen the correct choice. Finishing off by tying a emotional and tragic event to his cause. Disgusting manipulation in a zero fact statement.

i feel for the Christian cause, perhaps this media event will help convert people to Christianity but most likely atheist will hand our arses to us. I hope i'm wrong.. i pray there is a purpose to this madness.

btw, Mr. Comfort, IF ANYTHING IS A BLIND FAITH, it's Christianity.

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."
John 20:19-29

is it strange...

2007-04-30T10:30:00.001+10:00

I have no bed.

Every night before i goto sleep I goto my "closet" and take down my mattress. I unfold it.

I goto my closet again, and take my sleeping bag off its hook and crawl in.

Then i remember that i forgot to turn the light off and struggle to stand up and caterpillar hop over to the light switch.

lights off, good night =)

it's really tough. I cant run in my dreams, I keep falling over...

two days before cebit

2007-04-27T16:52:00.001+10:00

Come to CeBIT and goto the CSIRO stand and ask to speak to Sebastien Ourselin or Josh Passenger. There you will see the code ive been frantically trying to put together for this silly exhibition. Same like last year i worked off my nut on this, 1 public holiday and 1 all nighter to try and get this thru the door. It probably wont be demoed anyway, but it was worth it just to see how much performance i can squeeze out of myself. Good to see age hasn't got to me and i can still hack these all nighters just like old times =)

Although being flat out these few days i was able to actually fit in some fun. Got up extra early on thursday morning to try and get this bike i had picked out at Cash converters. Got there 30 minutes early, watched the guys put out the bikes. Sweet! its still there, cant wait to get my hands on it =) Oh no! wait! competition! a lady comes and speaks to the guy, and puts a bike on the side. Detly! will this be a head on fight for the bikes? no wait she wants the grey one! woot =) Uh oh another asian guy as well.. he looks like he wants the red one as well...bastard!! patience patience.... Door opens and the lady jumps in and goes "gimme both"

*jaw drops* BOTH? wtf... i'm sorry to admit this, but i really enjoy social engineering. I bitch a bit to her, then to the guy who serviced her then the manager then back to the woman again. Just staking my case, she reserved a bike and so should i? how come she gets both yeah? 15 minutes later the manager goes, "alright, i'll cut you a deal". "Oh yeah... say what?"

picked up a Giant bike with saddle bags marked down from 350 to 180. sweet! loving the commute now =) even if its a 6am ride home..

=D

sydney 2309482309488 brisbane 5

2007-04-25T15:25:00.001+10:00

calling back to find out all ure friends are hanging out, taking it easy, soaking up the pouring rain. just chillin'.

Where are you? At work, looking at 230498234 lines of code, trying to find the one bug that is crashing the system.

ouch.

pleasant sunday bargains

2007-04-22T23:28:00.001+10:00

woke up late because of a mosquito. A mosquito that wouldnt quit trying to have a go at me, from 12 to about 3 all i heard was " mmmnnnnnnaawwwwwww". I think aside from nails scratching on blackboards, this is the most brain numbing sound ever. In the end i couldnt take it, i turned on the light and it disappeared. Finally some peace and quiet? the light goes off, the first thing i hear is "mmmmmmmnnnaawww" >.< It's a mosquito, it cant be that smart I decided to lay a trap for it. I held my pillow out at arms length and waited patiently. The buzzing was growing louder and louder and finally after 5 minutes the mosquito settled on my nose. Sharply, i brought the pillow around and whipped it against my face with the most force i could muster without moving my head. ahhhhh, peace and quiet.

I woke up to find myself lying besides a very flat and dead mosquito corpse, and very late for church. buggah! I consoled myself by heading to china town to have a look at around and pick up a few essentials. The chinese are so reliable for them cheap two dollar stores that sell anything and everything. Always great to pick up a few thingies at a bargain =) I've come to realise that nail clippers are a key component of happiness (and hygiene) and it's always great to pick one up for $1. Oh and plastic containers, they are ever so useful.

On a more silly note, me and pierrick went out in the arvo to the suburb which was having a general waste dump day, you know when people dump stuff at the curb and the council picks it up. It was down in this rather south area and we were thinking, man the chances are pretty slim that we'd find something good. I was looking for a bike and a spare cable for my camera charger and he was looking for a TV and a fan to cool our other tv. Well we were right!!! nothing, just general old trash, some new stuff but its not like you can really fit a couch in a car. but the happy end of the story is, we did pick up a foozball table =D A rather shaky, light and poorly constructed foozball table, but a FOOZBALL table none the less. We'll fix it up and reinforce it, good as new =D

And that concludes my kinda first week up here in brisbane. In addition, ive started a food blog, which i hope to use to keep track of what i'm cooking, how much im spending on food and hopefully i'll find a way to waste as little food as i can while maintaining a good variety of food for the week. it shall be hosted here.

ciao!

weird weird saturday...

2007-04-21T22:18:00.001+10:00

Me and my roommate, pierrick, were quite bored with no plans so we decided to play the Wii =)

This was great fun in itself, I really like watching people picking up the controller and being amazed at how they are interacting with consoles in a totally way. So we were playing regular old tennis, oldie but a goodie, and the TV (that was picked up from the street and rewired and hacked by peirrick) played up as it is known to do. OH NO! just as we were getting into it! What could we do!! Screw it we said, he served at me. Then a new and fantastic way to play the wii was born. Blind Wii Sports!!! Everything in Wii Tennis has a unique sound. Phoo, Bok, Bok *swing* Bok *swing* listen carefully? Bok. *SWING* For a while we were having a considerable rally playing with the timing of the sounds alone. It was fun, not only to win, but to keep the rally going =)

After a while, the TV was working again, so we played some Wii Golf. Pierrick did the most craziest shot i've ever seen, chipped it up to hit the top of the flag and the ball dropped neatly into the hole Chip-in. SNAP the TV is out again, and suddenly we're playing Blind Golf. Much much harder then Blind Tennis, but still great fun considering you have no idea how far you are from the hole =) The rest of the day we (he) took apart the TV to try and fix the problem. I've never really seen the inside of a TV let alone soldering wires and capacitors on, it was all very interesting, but we hardly fixed anything. We kinda figured out that as it gets too hot, it just cuts out. Being the engineering sort, we did the most obvious solution possible, use a jigsaw and cut holes in the TV case of course.

Unfortunately that actually didn't work, well it did, it helped but every so often we'd need to cool the TV off by madly blowing in the new "speed holes" we made or using a magazine to fan madly. So later on that night, we mixed it up with a fair amount of blind sports, madly swinging away at the TV in the hope to connect with a tennis ball, golf ball.

Just so I don't forget. Vegetable thingo. Fry up leek and garlic, until soft. Add a few tomatoes, diced, and cook until the leeks are browny. Add a few dashes of vinegar (red wine), cook until things look softy, add a little stock and keep cooking. Dice up some pork bits (thinly sliced pork belly, probably would be better if i put more in), pre-prepared polenta cakes, dried parsley + italian herbs, and some small slices of potatoes, add this to the mixture. Use stock and added to ensure potatoes are covered. Salt + pepper and a little vinegar to taste, a fresh diced tomato adds a little more sourness as well. Should be a slightly tangy, simmer with lid and reduce until almost all liquid is gone and booya! some fresh Vegetable thingo. Amazing what you can do with boring ingredients =)

hug kompare

2007-04-19T15:19:00.001+10:00

woes of work. =P

right well. After a day of attacking the problem and no progress i tried to good old faithful solution and worked small changes in. Always works, but is never the first solution to the problem.

I wonder what the cause of the problem was... a puzzle for another day. For now, it works, im happy and the program is really looking like a nice bit of code.

yah for work! I'm also a student now! yay for students!

Google love

2007-04-14T00:09:00.001+10:00

I've been posting a lot now that i am in brisbane. Weird. well.. probably a very rational reason for it.

but this post is neccessary and has a very nerdy point. Firstly props to Google Maps Australia for making Brisbane a lot easier to navigate. It's proven invaluable when looking up accomodation, shops, and basically anything with an address. On top of that, directions and hybrid maps, amazing. Big props, i even use it in sydney!!!

Google Calendar has kinda dropped off the radar for me, although i really enjoyed using it, the inability to sync Google events to my phone is really annoying. With my laptop stranded in brisbane i've abandoned this kewl online organiser. Now they've brought the sexy back with SMS notification.

Registering your phone number with Google takes a couple seconds. Now set an event and 15 minutes (or any other time) a reminder SMS is sent to your phone (for free as far as i can tell). Now, seriously how awesome is that! Give it a go, i'm sure you'll be hooked.

*hugs google*