Weiver

Logitech Harmony One Advanced Review

2011-02-18T16:46:00.004+11:00

It's been a while since I reviewed anything, let alone here, so let's see if I can still manage to properly cover everything.

Logitech Australia, courtesy of their Facebook page, invited followers to participate in a product testing of their Harmony One Advanced remote, and I am one of these lucky product testers. I'm sure they'll have more opportunities or freebies come up soon, so if you like the idea of this jump on board and like their Facebook page. Logitech wants me to let you all know that I'm LPT10177, which is how they keep track of this review.

The Harmony One Advanced Remote is a universal remote used to replace up to fifteen devices in a home theatre (or anywhere really).

The Remote

After unpacking it all, the first piece to grab anyone's attention will be the remote.

Personally, I found it larger than I expected, but only marginally. Immediately, I noticed my finger prints. It's black and glossy, and hence, a perfectionists nightmare. Logitech provides a microfiber cloth if you can be bothered, but our just sits there messy, taunting me. So, first up, a big shout to all companies who make touch and hand held devices. Not just Logitech, but Apple, Nokia, heaps of laptop vendors and anyone else considering a glass/glossy surface - don't! It looks great on promotional material, but it will forever need a clean from then on.

Ideally, the whole remote would have a matte surface - just like Logitech's mice. The remote's buttons are matte, as they should be, but the space between the buttons is not.

Next to grab my attention was a big blob of black with curves. The remote stand, like the remote, is mostly gloss. The remote sits in the stand very discreetly, and charging is indicated by a white glow from the top (like an Apple product - but without the brushed aluminium and more curves). Knowing the battery length of Logitech products, this device may end up collecting a lot of dust, as you may forget to charge the remote most of the time.

Alas, I have no doubt that in the remote's later years, it will need constant charging though, as the Lithium battery will deteriorate over time. Removable, but not appearing to conform to any standard, it does present an issue. When I do want a replacement battery seven years down the track (that's how long my last Logitech mouse lasted before the battery needed to be on the charge twice a day) will Logitech still be offering this part at a decent price? Or will they just want us to upgrade? Rather than a Lithium battery pack, Logitech could have opted for high yield AA rechargeable batteries. Yes, it probably won't last as long between charges, but swapping out the batteries can be done for little cost at any time.

And my final little (and it's only a very very small one) niggle about the remote is the choice of computer connector you use to plug into the computer. It's your standard mini B USB plug. That's not the issue. The issue is the inconsistency with other Logitech products. My Logitech M950 Performance Mouse uses a micro B USB plug. This means, for two devices that spend almost no time plugged into the computer - never at the same time, I still need two cables. If the remote had used a micro B USB plug (which has been tested to be more durable anyway), it would eliminate a cable on my desk. All companies should stick to one cable for all their products and stick to it. Don't ever make a proprietary connector, I hate companies that feel the need for that… (Not that Logitech does, just a general no-no).

But I can't stress enough that these issues are only really small ones, and I really had to think negatively to think of them. With those additions, the remote becomes perfect, and they're certainly easy changes for Logitech to make. The remote feels light, but not cheap - even grandma will be able to lift it, but you can still hold it like a man for the big game. Which brings me to my next point. After programming, it is incredibly easy to use. I handed it to mum for the first time and said "Here you go!" After explaining what it was and why we needed one, she had a go. Not that watching TV is hard once it's set up. Your first press will turn everything required on and set them to the right settings (TV on, set to Digital TV; Receiver on, set to receive digital input from TV for surround). Your second press is your channel, which if you set it up right, will have pictures. So ABC1 has the ABC1 logo, ABC2 has ABC2, etc. For mum, that's easy. For grandma (providing she has glasses on - there is no way to change font size), it should be fine too, once she's used to it.

All in all, the remote itself gets 9.5/10.

Harmony Software

And from here it's all downhill. The Harmony software is where this product falls apart. Thankfully, it's something you only have to use occasionally - once setup is done and remote runs as intended you may as well just uninstall it.

Installation is easy, but is doesn't let you chose what driver you place the software on. For those of you with a SSD as your OS drive, this is annoying. Personally, I prefer my programs separate from my OS. I'm sure is not too hard to fix, just an oversight.

Software requires an internet connection to run, but you should one of them anyway.

Second of all, and this is simply a recommendation from me, make sure you're using a Logitech mouse with Hyper-Fast scrolling, cause never have I ever needed it more. Excel spreadsheets and long webpages are no issue for this mouse, but the drop down lists in Logitech's own Harmony software give it a workout.

Once you're in the software, lots of pages seem to be redundant and unnecessary. For instance, I tell it to download the software to the remote, and it tells me to plug it in. Rather than checking to see if it's already plugged in (it is), it just asks me anyway. Not too much programming effort to check if it's plugged in and flag an error if it's not.

The entire software has an unrounded feel to it. Like it was made, but not tested. It works, but slowly, difficultly, and painfully. There is a vertical scroll bar, and a horizontal scroll bar, but changing the size of the window (maximized for instance) changes nothing, there's just a mass of unused black.

Creating settings and such can be fiddley, the exact layout of the software pages isn't correctly shaped. Often you're asked to save something and you have no idea what you have even changed. The software will lock you within a set of menus until you find a correct combination to escape. The software is one big maze of confusion.

Updating the remote is a slow affair. Once is starts, you may as well go get a coffee and start dinner, it won't be done in any great rush. To write 2Mb (guess, high end maximum) of firmware to any device shouldn't take more than 2mins.

Overall, I've spent two and a half hours in the software getting the remote set up. I was expecting 45 mins.

It's unfortunate that the software here is this bad, as it's the first thing you have to use. Early on, I hadn't even attempted the remote yet, yet I was ready to send the whole package back to Logitech. I fear for my mental wellness after I have an addition to our home theatre. The software is *that* bad.

How to fix it? Well, that's a complicated issue.

First of all, I'd like to see all of Logitech's software conform to the standard Windows GUI. Yes, I get that plonking a picture of your product on the screen lets people know what they've opened, but that means you constrain your window size, and the maximization of the windows achieves nothing (same goes for SetPoint and all the other Logitech software here). Drop down lists for this remote are long, so why constrain us to a tiny part of our high resolution displays? By using a full screen the drop down lists would be manageable, and hence, you could actually manage with a standard scroll wheel.

Next, the software is used *maybe* once every six months. Therefore, it has no need to boot at every Windows start up. There does not need to be a background application, waiting to pop up for when I plug in the remote. When I want a program, I call for it, not expect it to already be there.

And finally, the actual software interface. At least one page in this software has two buttons, and both buttons take me to the same next page. This software feels like it's a PowerPoint presentation with buttons. You can't "skip" to the page you want, you have to click your way there. Why not have a standard screen which shows your remote and the functions mapped to each button (cause presently, there isn't) and a range of wizards for users to add functions accordingly, opening a second window (which can be cancelled and closed at any time) over the top of the first. Or tabs like most browsers. Or any other possible way than how they have done it. A command line interface would be preferable, because, quite simply, it is faster.

Software: 0.5/10.

Conclusions

Overall, this is a fantastic item of hardware let down by its software. That's an issue Nokia had with their phones and the software on the computers. Millions owned the phone, all hated the software on the computer. Now Nokia suffers against giants that have actually made similar devices with better user interfaces (both on the phone and on the computer).

Thankfully, the Harmony software can promptly be removed as soon as you have the remote set up. You'll never go back to the software until you add more hardware or realise you forgot to add an eject DVD function.

I weighted the remote 90% and the software 10% of the final mark. Hence, the final result for the Harmony One Advanced remote and software is 86%.

Hopefully Logitech can improve this software and made the grade even higher.

LPT10177

Conversation Starter #30

2010-02-23T02:00:00.001+11:00

My favourite season is...

Summer. T-shirt and shorts are way more comfy, and outside is always an option.

I'll miss you summer... Almost at the end... =(

Conversation Starter #29

2010-02-09T16:55:00.000+11:00

The best gift I've ever received...

Hmmm... This is a tough one... Not because there isn't one, but because it all depends on your definition of "best."

There's been plenty of stuff I wanted, or needed, but does that make them the "best" gift? Or does the "best" gift honour go to something that was completely unexpected, such a surprise, but suiting me perfectly?

Give me suggestions as to what my "best" gift might have been (most of you have given me something at some point); and I'll update this with the results.

Conversation Starter #28

2010-01-26T10:00:00.000+11:00

My life philosophy...

I don't know if I have one... I approach life with conviction and determination. I make others smile. Similarly, I hope they make me smile. My life philosophy is that you can't possibly get far without good knowledge and good friends. Either those two, or a shit-load of luck. And friends and knowledge are easier.

Conversation Starter #27

2010-01-12T14:00:00.000+11:00

My worst habit...

Is my hatred of phone calls. When someone calls, I have to drop everything to talk, I'm not able to keep working and talking at the same time like if they were here in person. As such, I use text messaging and emails far more than I rely on phone calls. It'll be rare for my phone bill to show one outgoing phone call in a month, but text messages are regularly in excess of seven hundred.

Conversation Starter #26

2009-12-29T15:00:00.000+11:00

One thing I'd like to achieve this week...

I'd like to start studying for exams. These are all done in advance, saving me time, and increasing efficiency. The week I'm writing this, (the week after semester finished at uni) is the week I should start studying for exams and discovering where I need to focus my attention. Next week, I'll be able to duck into uni and visit a tutor if something is bothering me. That's the plan!

Conversation Starter #25

2009-12-15T14:00:00.000+11:00

In a partner, I look for...

Personality. Duh!

Conversation Starter #24

2009-12-01T04:00:00.000+11:00

I can never get enough of...

Spending time with friends! It's nice and all to have some time off, but what makes it special is spending it with friends!

Holidays!

2009-11-28T10:03:00.000+11:00

Uni’s finished for the semester! Woo! All the exams – done; all the classes – done. Still have some to dos: reenrol for next year, and get results. Both won’t be till December.

Went away with some friends up to Eildon. Had a great time. Bit sunburnt from hanging around the lake though... We don’t always remember sun cream. =P

But we drank a lot of beer, stayed up late chatting away, and just generally had a great time with mates.

Doing heaps of work to keep me busy till Christmas. Lots of Christmas parties this time of year. It’s fun, just getting home late at night isn’t.

Got some shit list pages to put up. Been delaying it for a while now. Someone remind me when I'm next online.

Overall, looking forward to summer. I enjoy the heat, enjoy relaxing in the sun. By the beach, by the water, with friends, with a beer.

Hope you’re all having a great time; and have heaps planned this summer. I know I’ll be nice and busy soaking up the sun.

Conversation Starter #23

2009-11-17T17:00:00.000+11:00

I'm no good at it, but I love...

Hrm... I don't know if there is anything that I love but can't do for the life of me... How about I'm not good at making it, but I love chocolate...? Does that count?

Ah! I know! I'm no good at playing rugby, but I love watching it! It's much more entertaining than AFL!

Conversation Starter #22

2009-11-03T13:00:00.000+11:00

I admire...

People who have the motivation to work without needing to remind themself why they need to do it. Sure, I study well in advance before exams, but that doesn't mean I didn't force myself to do it. There is usually just a bunch of stuff I'd rather be doing...

Conversation Starter #21

2009-10-20T13:00:00.000+11:00

I've always wondered why...

Erm... No I don't really wonder anything... If I don't know what it is, how it works, or what's going on, I do the research and find out.

Conversation Starter #20

2009-10-06T10:00:00.000+11:00

Ten years ago I...

Was ten years old. Ten years old + Ten years ago = 20^th conversation starter. Believe me, this was quite a coincidence. I didn't even notice until I wrote ten twice. Ten years ago I was still in primary school, lived in Sandringham, and didn't know quite as much as I do today. Knowledge increases with age.

Knowledge = age × ((learning constant) ÷ (brain depreciation)). Units are arbitrary.

That is, you're always learning something; your knowledge is always increasing. Every person has a different "learning constant" and as such, people learn at different rates. Over time, "brain depreciation" affects you, and as it increases, it forces the amount of learning you'll do in a year down. Brain depreciation will take on an exponential system as time increases (and as such, has an equation in its own right). You'll still learn, you always do, just less.

Oh, and I made that all up on the spot from empirical observation.

Crunch!

2009-10-04T19:52:00.001+11:00

Some people just don't pay attention on the roads. For example, looking before changing lanes.

Green P-plater decided he liked my lane cruising along at 80km/h. He changed lanes. Into me.

I look over at him (after recovering from the shock I just had a car smack into me) and shrug that universal "What the FUCK, man?" thing. He shrugs it too. His girlfriend shrugs it too.

I pull over into a slip lane to assess the damage and say hello to the guy who was probably more interested in the topic of conversation with his girlfriend than he was on the road. He keeps driving.

I have white paint on my car now. And a bump on my driver's side door. The plastic trim took most of the damage. And I'm a little shaken. Else ok. Not worth the insurance claim anyway. Still, unimpressed James is unimpressed.

I'd put him on my shit list, but I was sorta stunned from the shock that he hit me to get details. Sigh... So if someone see a white car with green P-plates and blue paint on the passenger side, let me know. Cheers.

Also, the sound two cars make when colliding is different to what I expected. Sounded... crunchy...

Conversation Starter #19

2009-09-22T10:00:00.000+10:00

If I could go back in time...

I'd get bored very quickly. History is something that we should only learn the lessons from, not the stories. We can't change the past, only the future. Learn from others mistakes, and don't repeat them. If you send me back in time, send me back to before the big bang. That actually might be interesting.

Avast, me hearties!

2009-09-19T11:13:00.001+10:00

Arrrrrr! T'day be a day ta waggle ya tongue like a a fellow buccaneer! T'day be "International Talk like a Pirate day" which ta me sounds som'tin' like "Drink rum and sail the seven seas day."

I, arrr, trottle into my waterhole t' other day wit my ships wheel on the front of my trowsers. The barman says ta me: "What that wheel be thar for?" and I says "I donno, but it's drivin' me nuts!"

And so I be needin' a new thing wit buttons soon; and happen t'pick a new ship out already - http://www.arrrrrr.com/corsair.jpg

She be a beauty...

Arrrrrr!

For Shits and Giggles

2009-09-10T11:44:00.002+10:00

Conversation Starter #18

2009-09-08T10:00:00.000+10:00

My guilty pleasure...

Is spending too much time in bed. I know I should and can get up at 7am, and stay up all day, but sometime just going back to bed and letting the mind wander is highly enjoyable.

Conversation Starter #17

2009-08-25T10:00:00.000+10:00

I value...

Friendship over anything else. Yeah, I know friendship actually involves other values, like trust, respect and all that, so all I've done is said that I value everything, but there is no real value that is more important than any other. Individually, they're great; together, they make friends.

Conversation Starter #16

2009-08-11T10:00:00.000+10:00

I couldn't live without...

Many of you would tell me I'd die without my phone or computer; but I'd like to tell you that's complete bollocks.

I can quite easily survive in the bush without any contact for a few weeks. Just as long as I was close to the ocean.

Yup, I couldn't live without being close to the ocean one way or another. And a fishing pole. That's all I need...

Apophysis

2009-08-04T17:04:00.002+10:00

A whole heap of you have shown an interest in some of the awesome backgrounds I've been making. I've popped them on my box (look on the right, scroll down a little, not that hard) for you all to download and use yourself. Keep in mind they remain my property; some of those took over twelve hours to make, and it'd be like me claiming to have painted the Mona Lisa - I didn't. In other words, I own the copyright to these images.

But you'd like to make your own? Here: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Apophysis

Bump up the quality to get a better image, but expect to wait a few days depending on your computer (4x2.4Ghz took over 12 hours at HD).

Pixelated

2009-08-01T20:00:00.000+10:00

Sometimes, I just enjoy harassing sales staff.

I have nothing against them really, I just like to ask those tricky questions that take them off guard that not even sales reps know the answer to. Like my old RJ45 question. Not even sales reps know that kind of information. (In case you're wondering, last paragraph of http://is.gd/1Xp3s).

Today, I figured it'd be an easier one. "What is the major advantage of a widescreen monitor over a standard (4:3) one?"

Yeah. Easier. Right.

First stop: Dick Smith.

I was served instantly by Cameron, an Arts student of some type student dealing with some sort of international studies subject. There is nothing wrong with that degree in the slightest, just so you all know. But the big question, could he make me feel compelled to purchase a widescreen rather than that standard screen?

No. No, he couldn't. Not by a long shot. The moment he said something blatantly incorrect, I was hoping the next store had the answer. His "major difference" between the two: "widescreen has a higher resolution, and hence everything looks better"

Penis joke time, I'm comparing myself to the Arts student.

Let's pitch the 19" widescreen he was trying to sell vs. my 19" standard from home.His 19" thing had a resolution of 1440x900 and my 19" thing has a resolution of 1280x1024. Therefore, his is wider, but not as tall; and mines not as wide, but it has some height to it. Is there a difference between them in terms of picture? You betcha! Multiply them together.

1,440x900=1,296,000 (Whoa, that's a lot of pixels, but wait!)

1,280x1024=1,310,720 (Huge! I can fit a lot on my thing).

Evidently, my thing, exactly the same size, can fit "more" on it. Hence, is more useful. It's not the size that counts, but how you use it. Next!

Side note between stores: As a result of that mathematical finding, I'd expect the cost of standard screens to be greater. However, people seem to be happy to pay through the ass for something that apparently "looks better." (Assuming you're not an idiot and don't stretch the image anyway)

Second store: BCC (That one that you've never been inside)

I was rummaging through the bargain bin when someone came to help. "All I want to know is the major advantage of a widescreen monitor over a standard one."

"We don't sell standard ones. They don't make them anymore." Brilliant. That really answered my question. I explained I wasn't interested in buying one today, I just wanted to know for the future (ie. When I was interested). And for the reference, they DO still make them, and forever will (ie. Ten years, that's forever in tech speak).

"Oh, the widescreen one has a better resolution for DVD's." If I want to watch DVD's, I'll go watch them on a TV. I told him such.

"But they make games for widescreen now too." Ugh! Yes, they make them for widescreen now, but they've been making them for standard screen for a shitload longer... Now it's marketable to do both (and forever will be). Next!

Finally: JB Hi-Fi

I stood there for a while looking at the monitors, there were some ones here I actually liked the look of, even if they were widescreen. While over in external drives, I was asked if I required assistance.

"Well, widescreen better supports the native resolutions of DVD's and camcorders." Aha! Keyword of the day that I should have heard at every store, but didn't: Native! I asked which would be better use for everyday application, none of this video bullshit (Handballs off to Michael for that one).

"Well, then there's really no difference, just wider and shorter." I explained to him I'd want to use two monitors side by side, and asked if there was any benefit in having two widescreen monitors over two standard ones.

"None." Actually, there are only disadvantages: that you chew up more desk space than an accountant at tax time (as the monitors are wider).

So again, I left the store, well and truly amazed that people still buy widescreen monitors even though they have a perfectly good HD-TV in their house to watch DVD's on. Honestly, there's no real difference. If you plan on using multiple or for just everyday use, standard is better. If you plan to edit movies, widescreen is better (though you're likely to need two in this scenario anyway). As such, we still should have both on our shelves for purchase. I didn't see a single 4:3 screen in the stores today, quite depressing...

Nevertheless, there was a lesson learnt today: Putting an Arts student in Dick Smith selling computers is like hiring a convicted paedophile for a kindergarten teacher job. It's probably counter-productive.

Conversation Starter #15

2009-07-28T10:00:00.000+10:00

My most embarrassing moment...

Makes me laugh. There's plenty that I can think of, none of which are appropriate to actually share.

I've become somewhat immune to embarrassment; because I can shake off anything I do now with a stupid comment.

Shit List #3

2009-07-17T14:52:00.002+10:00

I have another page of these in my car; so expect another lot soon. Moreover, it's often wet out, so a little more care is required on the road. Why this fills up faster in winter is beyond me...

TLF904
USX567
SIH616
OXL055
SSW368
TE280
FWC144
URE221
WXG876
QJB002
UAE044
RXU888
TRI733
DR063 – Serious tailgating, heavy speeding, exceptionally erratic driving.
SFY638 – Runs red lights.
WMQ712 – One lane. Please. Drive in one lane.
TPM318 – Indicate on approach to your turn or lane change, before you start braking, before you start moving. This goes out to everyone!
QXU091 – There was a queue of people wanting you to speed up just a little.
RLS378
WPB658
PBB075 – Tailgating. I brake heavily, you slow down, and then speed up and keep doing it anyway. I made my point that you're tailgating, there were two other lanes moving faster, drive somewhere else!
WFW947

Now, the more observant of you will notice many of these number plates are newer ones. On new cars mostly. One could easily deduce from this that the newer (or more fancy your car) the more of a danger you are on the road. I'd agree; but maybe there are just more newer, more expensive cars where I drive.

Conversation Starter #14

2009-07-14T10:00:00.001+10:00

I'll never forget...

High School. Seriously everyone, it is a load of fun. And it starts back in a week for you Haileybury kids now doesn't it?

Here's a link that you must go and read. I freaking warned you all! I did warn you!

Enjoy them, all of them; you'll hold them forever.

Conversation Starter #13

2009-06-30T10:00:00.001+10:00

I wish I could...

Read people's minds sometimes.

Or maybe I wish I could run idiots off the road legally.

Biodegradable

2009-06-26T14:02:00.001+10:00

So he died.

Now the world is presented with a problem:

If we cremate him, we release many toxins into the atmosphere.

If we bury him, he will not decompose, and some poor sod will him dig up one day.

Yet another reason why we should make plastics worldwide biodegradable...

Train Time!

2009-06-18T17:31:00.001+10:00

I'm sitting on the train, heading into the city for some study before tomorrow's Communication Engineering exam, and I thought I'd just keep you updated with everything at the moment.

Ah, let's see...

I've been doing a heap of work at the hospital recently, making money before uni starts up again. I always feel I'm busier on holidays than I am during the actual semester. I guess during the semester I have a set timetable and I know when I'll be free to do other stuff... I've already had one exam – Electrical Systems – that I think I did alright in. Only had to answer five of six questions, and I answered three really well, one ok, and one not so brilliant. Another ne tomorrow with a similar structure; and then two next week.

Last weekend I went to Rachael's formal, which was a load of fun - all dressed up and such. And then I stayed the night at Rach's afterwards. It was very relaxing, a great way to relax before exams. If you'd like some photos you'll find some... somewhere... or I can send you a DVD of them all. Yeah, a DVD. That's how many I took (that or I don't have any CD's anymore, take your pick).

Oh, I'm at South Yarra, time flies when it takes as long to type as I do! Plans for next week: Two exams; then more work. If I end up with Thursday off, I'll visit a friend or two.

Hope you're all having a blast!

Conversation Starter #12

2009-06-16T03:00:00.000+10:00

I should do more...

Exercise. Or study. Or maybe I should help some people at uni out more with their work. Or something.

What should I do more of?

The Shit List #2

2009-06-12T10:53:00.003+10:00

Ok, I am filling up pages of numberplates faster than I thought I would be.

Here is another set for you:

PHG523
UNV435
UPF008
OPU109
ETD261
OAV006
ODG702
OTU797
SJE504
SYW835
QUV144
WDP768
TVA771
BY999
WXL946 (C'mon, still tailgating me after I braked heavily to show you I wasn't impressed about it the first time, there's no rush)
WTT554
WCW823
SZG145
RNM442
BCZ79M
WMR793
WHK432

(EDIT: 100th post. Woo!)

Sneeze harder; I don't believe you yet!

2009-06-02T19:24:00.003+10:00

This little piggy went "oink-cough, oink-cough."

And this little piggy went "swine-chooo, swine-chooo."

This little piggy passed on the H1N1 Swine Flu to humans, creating a "world epidemic" and freaked out the dumber percentage of the population of earth.

And this little piggy passed away and became the wonderous discount bacon for my dinner...

I'm looking forward to October, when "shark flu" hits our shores and fish hits my tastebuds...

Conversation Starter #11

2009-06-02T13:00:00.000+10:00

My next holiday destination...

Will probably be Blairgowrie, considering I have nothing else planned between now and then. Week away with awesome people shall be loads of fun!

Merry May

2009-05-31T14:10:00.005+10:00

Last day of uni on the twenty-ninth, glad to have this semester (almost) done.

Work, work, work at the moment.

However, more interestingly, today is the last day of May, the last day of Autumn, and tomorrow the first day of Winter.

Fast run through of May, yeah?

Early May, Dad's birthday, lots of a very filling cake... Mmmm... Cake...

Moreover, Jesus Christ Superstar. Show was fantastic. So hot, it almost caught fire.

Middle of May, Tash's party, with a guest appearance from Jesus.

Also: JD's birthday; Pancake Parlour; Shopping in th

e city; Cancer (boo!); Crepes; Movie night.

Work every Wednesday (I have not been outside during daylight hours on a Wednesday this month).

In addition, I turned twenty. Fun things of note: Suit and associated items; items for my cuffs; subscription to a magazine I was planning to buy a subscription to next month; fan controller (see picture); enough money to fill my car up four times (or enough for two and a bit months); cards; hugs; and well wishes.

Plan for June: Work every Wednesday, and most Friday's. Study hard for exams, especially Math and Electrical Systems. Relax before another hectic semester. Visit friends all over Melbourne. Fiddle. Invent something. Increase my average sentence length...

Hope you've all had an awesome May 2009; now onto Winter!

Conversation Starter #10

2009-05-19T10:00:00.000+10:00

My best feature...

Without counting my dazzling personality, would either be my legs or my eyes. I like my legs; they look nice in my opinion. And my eyes are that wonderful shade of blue that people stare into and get lost (or so I'm told).

Nice little modest post here, yeah? =P

Celebrate tomorrow, awesome people were born...

The Shit List

2009-05-12T12:31:00.003+10:00

Allow me to introduce this.

I'm collecting number plates of cars that drive dangerously on the road, or generally give Melbourne the title of "Worst Drivers in Australia"

While it would be obvious to stick myself on this list, I at least know when my behaviour on the road will effect other users. These people, do not.

I can't believe I have to do a general shout-out of some commonly dangerous behaviour on Melbourne's roads:

Drifting across lanes while turning a corner when there are other cars nearby is something that really pisses me off, and every person that does it, gets on the "shit list."

Tailgating is another dangerous one, that all too many do. Count to two, start at zero. Time starts at zero, not one. If you're a P-plater, add half a second. If you're tired, add a second. If it's wet, add a second. If the radio is on, add half a second. Yes, all add significantly to the time it takes to brake.

Also, driving in the wrong lane/driving too slow. Yes, I understand that you're "playing it safe" but that means you should be in the left lane so other road users can over take you. Doing fifty in the right lane on a two (or more) lane road where the limit is seventy is dangerous. That means you, users of Nepean Hwy (where it's eighty, but doing fifty past Southland seems to be the norm). If you must drive slow, then the left lane is the place to be.

Indicators! Oh my... It's a little stick that points out from the steering wheel, very close to your hands. Use it! With some advance too! Don't worry you'll use it too much, at least then others on the road will know you're planning on doing something. Use it well before turning.

School zones. I'm tough on this because I was still there recently. And if I'm driving in two lanes at forty in a sixty zone when it's school time, it's probably because I'm forcing you to slow down. This does not give you entitlement to flash your high beams, toot your horn and tailgate me. If you're doing all that, it means you're on the shit list. Tough.

These are the top few things that annoy me while driving.

I won't put L-platers on the shit list because they're still learning. I won't take people off the list. I know I break them myself sometimes (never speeding in School Zones or driving in the wrong lane too slow though) so you don't need to point out that no one is perfect, I already know. This list is for drivers who did something that put me or my passengers at risk without realising it.

So, welcome to the shit-list:
RZG266
S1LK (oh seriously...)
RPE967
SRR001
QEX968
FLZ055 (this person would get here twice if I could do it)
QBC112
DEBDOM (yes, I saw you, tailgating me there with your flashing headlights in that school zone, welcome to 40km/h).
WHH438
SSB890
UXU348
JAY72A
UUV587
WDP353 (120km/h is a dangerous speed to be closer than two meters to my rear bumper, just a pointer)
TLO509
TKG036
OEJ725
TBY514
M7015
OQD129
OXL057
SUW088

I'll be adding to this as time goes by of course.

Til next time.

Conversation Starter #9

2009-05-05T17:05:00.000+10:00

When I was a child I wanted to be...

Oh... Ah... I'm fairly certain billionaire was on that list. Come to think of it, it still is.

I don't think I went through that whole "firefighter/policeman/doctor" thing that most kids go through, mainly because I pick cooler jobs. Like engineering. Win!

Attack of the Fluorides

2009-04-27T19:03:00.002+10:00

Answering a couple of statements on Fluoride and the fact I swallow toothpaste (rather than spit). I'm always up for a bit of science, I'm like Dr. Karl of teenagers sometimes (especially when there's alcohol involved). As opposed of course to the Mythbusters, where there's less science and more "bang."

"If you swallow too much, too often it can kill you"

The commonly accepted concentration of toothpaste is a simple 0.32% w/w (look on the back of your toothpaste container for you own observational data). Assuming that toothpaste has the same density of water and our test is at 25 degrees Celsius, that would mean the total mass of Fluoride content in one serve (as Na2PO3F) is 3.2mg.

A lethal dose of Fluoride is 23mg/kg of body mass (Robert H. Dreisbach PhD, "Fluorine, Hydrogen Fluoride & Derivatives" in the Handbook of Poisoning 9th Edition 1977). As such, for a adult my size (70kg) I would require to ingest 1610mg of Fluorine for a lethal effect. Or, in terms of toothpaste 503.125g. Half a kilo of toothpaste? Yup, sure... That toothpaste... Lethal...

"It will eat away at your gastrointestinal tract and may not even show symptoms until it's too late."
"It can cause dental fluorosis, bone fractures, bone cancer, infertility, neurotoxicity and periodical bone loss."

"You can experience convulsions, diarrhoea, difficulty breathing, drooling, heart attack, salty or soapy taste in mouth, slow heart rate, shock, tremors, vomiting or sickness"

Yes, again, I'm sure it can - in large quantities. However, if was so dangerous if you so detail, then why does every state in Australia (minus Queensland from memory, and they're discussing changing that because of dental problems) add Fluoride to their water? Oh, lets just add chemicals to our water without performing the checks of dangers to our community. In Australia, water has been treated with Fluoride to a concentration of 1mg/L (http://health.vic.gov.au). The average recommended quantity of water to drink per day is 2L, containing 2mg of Fluoride. Slightly less than the concentration of toothpaste, yet having that pass through you every day almost the same as swallowing (as opposed to spitting, factoring that you swallow some accidentally when you brush anyway).

This proves that swallowing toothpaste is no more dangerous than drinking Melbourne's water, arguably the best in the world.

"It is used to remove Iron stains"

Never heard this before, let's assume so considering it is the element with the highest electonegativity. Then, following this simple method, the only iron in our body is in our haemoglobin, as state Fe2+ or Fe3+ ions (VCE Biology and VCE Chemistry). Two observations can be made from all points so far:

Iron stains are different to Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions in Haemoglobin; and hence the effect of Fluoride on Iron in our body is irrelevant.

Not a single "sickness" you defined in the list above is a direct result of iron deficiency. Iron deficiency is most commonly noticed by "fatigue, weakness, brittle nails, Plummer-Vinson syndrome or an impaired immune function" (Source: Bedside clock books).

"It's used in insecticide mostly against cockroaches."

I found two common insecticides (out of six) that reported to both be designed for cockroaches, and contained Fluoride. Of these, both reported that they do not affect mammals(Raymond-Delpech V, Matsuda, Sattelle BM, Rach JJ, Sattelle DB (2005), Ion channels: molecular targets of neuroactive insecticides). So the obvious point here is: Yes, fluoride is lethal - for cockroaches. I however, am human, a mammal, and am not in the slightest affected by its use in insecticides.

And that is just the Fluoride, completely rebutted. What's next?

Conversation Starter #8

2009-04-21T13:00:00.000+10:00

I should do less...

Errr... This one is tough. There's plenty of things I should do more of, but doing less is considerably harder. I should probably be less silly and be more serious with my work and such, but I doubt that that would change my grades much. Seriously stuck on this one. Open to suggestions here on what I should do less of...

Conversation Starter #7

2009-04-07T12:22:00.000+10:00

If I chose a different career...

I'd probably do what Luke does, sound and lighting. It is loads of fun, and there's always work available (according to Luke). But if I wanted to avoid stealing someone else's career? Hmmm... I would probably be a math or science teacher. No shit.

Omegle

2009-04-04T16:39:00.002+11:00

Simple concept.

Connect, chat with a stranger.

You can tell them your life story.

Or just shout "PENIS!" and leave them stunned.

Great for when you're bored, or when you have people over and are looking to annoy someone in another continent...

Conversation Starter #6

2009-03-24T13:00:00.000+11:00

As a child I...

Always enjoyed playing out in the street, riding my bike and such... Loads of fun...

Faster?

2009-03-18T10:18:00.001+11:00

Ok, little tid-bits of news for all you lucky readers (there is a few of you!).

First, I started and finished my longest ever assignment on Sunday. Thirty-two pages! A lot more writing than I am used to! A graph here and there. It was on frequency and spectra, so all the graphs were either from the oscilloscope, or created by me in MATLAB (i.e. There was writing behind the graphs too!). Solid effort, hoping for a nice mark on this one. Looks good too...

Next, my car accelerator had been sticking to the floor. Obviously, that could be a bit of a safety issue. It is in for service today. I did, however, find and fix the problem before I dropped it off. Turns out it was being caught on the car mat. I removed the car mat to solve the problem. It is having a service anyway, it was due.

I am playing around with the BIOS in my computer again (surprise, surprise) after reading an article that the stock Q6600 can be over clocked easily past 3.0 GHz while still using the stock cooling system. Moreover, thanks to ASUS' easy motherboard tweaking stuff, I can either just set the percentage and let the motherboard do the work or I can adjust it all manually. I am currently testing stability at 10%; 2.64 GHz. Sitting idle, it is at 29 degrees, and at full load 45 degrees; which is plenty of headroom to bump it up to 15% at the next test. In addition, I am now dual booting Windows 7. It is so pretty... I am sold already (Anyone who points out I was sold before I even bought my computer is both completely correct, and a smartass).

So clearly, with all these assignments, and acceleration problems, and over clocking, I have been running a bit fast recently, which explains this sickness I am getting. Time to slow down again...

Conversation Starter #5

2009-03-10T13:00:00.000+11:00

The last dream I had...

Ok, this might sound completely random, but the last dream I had involved Ricciuti playing soccer and accidently knocking out the umpire with the ball... Yeah... I know... Random...

Conversation Starter #4

2009-02-24T11:00:00.000+11:00

The craziest thing I've ever done...

I don't know if I should answer this one. Haha! There's so many! I could put down all the times I've been skinny dipping. Or I could tell you about some alcohol induced event. Or I could even put done something indescribable. But I'd have to say the craziest thing I've ever done is be involved in the Haileybury drama department, because everyone is completely nuts, and it's rubbed off on me. Yup, I can admit I'm nuts! So much fun is had there! Serious people, hang out with crazy people, it'll make you smile more!

Conversation Starter #3

2009-02-10T11:00:00.001+11:00

When I met our host...

It was way back in... wait... This doesn't make any sense! Ah, that's right, they're for a group gathering... Hmmm... Let's try another...

My favourite colour is...

Blue, did you even think I was going to say anything different? I have more blue clothes than the rest of my wardrobe combined. All the little things I own or buy, I always buy in blue. Why? Because blue is my favourite colour of course... And it's awesome...

Desktop

2009-02-06T16:00:00.000+11:00

Right, so I think I've got my desktop pretty well set up, including, it seems, the desktop itself...

I know I've blogged this before, but getting something running on a new computer is always worthwhile.

Conversation Starter #2

2009-02-04T11:00:00.000+11:00

Ok, I planned this to be a fortnightly thing, but at the moment I'm kinda bored at home, so I thought I might give you another to play with.

I didn't know then but I do now...

That the string on a party popper will not burn like a wick, and then "pop" when it reaches the base. I also found out that melted plastic all over your legs is painful. This is what happens when you give a boy a packet of matches...

Oh! I have another!

I didn't know then but I do now...

That the speed limit on the Princes Freeway to Geelong was 100km/h; not 110km/h. It's a Freeway, it's wide, and it's safe. Make it 120km/h! One hundred and forty-two dollars and one demerit point later...

Side note: How many do P-platers have anyway?

Help!

2009-02-03T13:44:00.002+11:00

Ideas?

Conversation Starter #1

2009-01-27T09:48:00.002+11:00

So for Christmas I got this little pack of "Party Conversation Starters" from Kikki-K. If you haven't seen them yet, or have no idea what they're about, I intend to use them, right here on my blog. They're little "finish the sentence" things. Quite simply, I intend them to be a way to learn a little bit more about me and a way to ensure I have regular blog posts this year (stop laughing). Feel free to also answer the question, either in the comments section, or on Facebook (like most of you already do).

Something I did well yesterday...

Was make an idiot of myself going "Rawr, rawr, rawr" everytime someone pointed out the shark on my arm, or I found an object I could make him look like he was eating. Rawr, rawr, rawr...

Chrome

2009-01-18T13:13:00.003+11:00

I've adopted a new look for my blog because I like to change things now and then. Considering I've been using Chrome as my main browser since it was released, this theme sort of looks funny on my screen, a browser within a browser...

And I also have some other themes saved for when I feel like mixing it up for special occasions. Check back now and then for ever continuing upgrades.

My Blue Aura

2009-01-16T18:30:00.008+11:00

Right, I've been thinking my car was looking a bit dull for a while now and really needed something to separate it from the rest of the cars on the roads. Santa obviously got my letter, and wrapped up some 12" Blue neon's for me. Cheers Santa!

Yup, righto, I hear you. Those people with under body neon's are the people who you want to ram off the road as they speed past you in their fully riced up lawnmower. I had no intention of putting them under my chassis though. To start with I'm too old to be lying on concrete, trying to find a way to secure plastic lights. So I opted to put them where only the best will see their glow – under the two front seats...

Before I even started I knew there would be three issues. First, you need power. Second, you need to be sure the power you've selected can light the neon's. Finally, the purpose of this is still to unsure driver and passenger safety, and lights inside the car while driving at night can be a distraction.

Thanks to a suggestion from Santa that I had already considered, the best place to mount them would be at the back of the front seats, so the spill is mainly behind the driver's vision, and not in front. And when I last cleaned the car (that makes a grand total of the number I've cleaned the inside of that car to one now) I found that the driver's seat belt sensor could be unplugged. And even better, it registered twelve volts on my "oh, not stolen" multimeter. This should be a piece of cake right?

Wrong. To start with, I connected the Molex connector with the wrong polarity. Words beginning with "f" spill from my mouth. I donno about you, but I assume when I see a red and a blue wire; the blue will be the ground of the two. And then, to my dismay, I realised the second of my possible problems had come true. Being only a seatbelt sensor, it hardly needed the three Watts (hee hee, I said "Watt") to see if I put my seatbelt on (which I always do, even when backing out of the drive... Habit...) and as such, only half lit the neon's.

Bitch whore...

So now I need to find twelve volts somewhere in my car. To the idiot who just said take it off the battery, I don't have any more than a meter of wire, and that's before I point out the safety issues...

Four hours later, I found a set of wires heading to the rear of the car. I hoped to take a little bit of power off the parking lights (so the neon's would come on when I turn the headlights on). It only took me fifteen minutes to find a set with power in it, and another fifteen to find a set with twelve volts...

Not quite sure what the set of wires I found does, but they are "always on," which leads me to believe they have something to do with the rear boot light (the switch for which is based in the boot, how simple). And considering my other set of lights hasn't blown up yet, this seemed a good a set as any to take power from.

Extend my wire to the centre console, attach a Molex connector, plug it in, and voila! Under seat neon's! Reassemble the car (I know I took mine apart doing this, but I found long lost coins totalling $10).

Now to tuck this all away neatly I removed the much useless ash tray to mount a switch built into a PCI backpane (can anyone guess by now where these neon's were designed for use?) and drilled a hole in the plastic of the console to mount it. Silly me made the hole a touch too big, so don't play with it if you are in the position to do so, or I'll make you fix it...

Driving at night is a breeze with these, and don't distract me at all. The hardest bit is remembering to turn them off, because they're not visible during the day and remain on even when the ignition is off.

Have some photos of the car, or better yet, come for a night time drive...

Aliens, lavalamps, carpet, telecommunications networks, M&M’s, and friends.

2008-12-31T11:59:00.001+11:00

Well, it's the end of this '2008' thing, which means that I can file another year away as successfully completed. A lot of stuff happened this year, some good, some bad.

Regardless, I have learnt heaps this year, done so many new things, seen, felt and experienced so much!

And as you learn, the years can only ever improve. Experience sharpens life.

Here's wishing to a most awesome and memorable 2009.

New Year's Resolution: Prove my point better, even if it means getting angry more (which only happened once in 2008, over a pizza order).

Have a fantastic evening everyone!

Riding Shotgun, Doggy Style...

2008-12-14T10:24:00.005+11:00

Power to the Project!

2008-11-30T19:00:00.000+11:00

After a couple of months of bitching, someone finally granted me a spare few months of spare time. In my first week of this spare time, I've been both bored, and inventive.

Sitting next to me is my now finished ATX power supply. With it, I am able to hook up my future projects to whatever voltage I desire without the need for masses of batteries, something that will no doubt save me many dollars in the future. Total cost of my money saving project: $3 plus a few hours of my spare time.

Parts required:

That shit ATX PSU from that old PC sitting around. Under 600W, else you might as well re-sell it.
Brain; if you have one already, then you won't need to find someone with one.
Tools; call your nearest one over.
Your preferred method of connecting wires (in my case, a terminal block).
Switch; SPST is the minimum; rated to anything. You'll almost always have one in your spare parts box.
LED's; any colour. Yes, don't lie; you do have some just sitting around.
Two resistors; people recommend 330Ω, I used 470Ω. Reality: any that will make your LED's turn on with 5V will do.
Heatshrink; compulsory. Yes, I know you wasted it on your last project because it's fun to use, this time you actually need it.
Some form of non-conductive glue. Hot glue is perfect, I used bathroom sealant. Make your own choice here.

How to:

After snipping off the assorted connectors take out your multimeter and measure the voltages from all the wires. Black is always ground, and if you don't know that, find someone to do the rest for you. After discovering that none of the wires seem to have any voltage, connect the green wire up to a black one. Try again. Oh... The green wire seems to be some sort of switch... Take note of that, as well as the voltages from all the wires. Also take note that same coloured wires are the same. Fancy that.
Measure the internal resistance between 5V and ground. It's a switched mode power supply, and needs some sort of load to work. Mine was 100Ω. If it doesn't have a load, it might need a power resistor later on. If it works without, give yourself a pat on the back. Else you might need to look into a load later in the project.
Leave it sit around for a couple of hours, disconnected from the mains. Anything with mains power these days is dangerous because of the quantity of components that hold power long after it is off. I've heard people recommend leaving it around for days. Your discretion here. If you feel like poking your hand around a capacitor with a couple thousand volts charged, be my guest; I take no blame for your stupidity; I did add "brain" to the parts required list.

Open it up, once you've read the above note. Serious. I like you alive.
Find some method for connecting a switch between the green wire and a ground one, use heatshrink to cover your shitty solder work and more importantly to prevent bare wire touching the case. Attach the switch to the outside of the PSU in your preferred fashion. I used the assorted nuts and washers that come with the switch, works a charm.

Track down the purple, grey and two black wires and separate. Be inventive to connect up the LED's and the resistors here (series for those that are "brilliant" enough to ask). Again, heatshrink is compulsory. The purple will be your "Mains On" light; the grey your "Power Good" light. Mount. I used bathroom sealant.
Close up that PSU. You should be done on the inside now. Test that plugging into active power lights the "Mains On" light and flicking that switch lights the "Power Good" light. Not working? See if I care, it worked for me...

Separate the wires you want for your future projects. Can't remember what was what? I told you to write it down. Blue = -12V; White = -5V; Orange = 3.3V; Red = 5V; Yellow = 12V for most systems. Got a small brown wire? I'm informed it needs to be connected up to either 5V or 12V to work. Someone get back to me on this if that was your case. I had no such wire. Snip off the wires you don't want.
Attach to your preferred method of connecting wires and neaten up remaining wires. I chose a terminal block because I can hook up anything with a screwdriver. I've seen people use banana plugs and mount them on the case of the PSU. It's already cramped in there in my opinion; the top of the PSU has plenty of room. If you do decide to protrude something from the case see my note before opening it up, and use heatshrink (it's like a condom for wires; protects you from shorts running around all over the place).

Finalise... It took twenty four hours for my terminal to set in place on top of the case due to using bathroom sealant. It has a nice smell though now. Test. The case is part of the circuit, and you'll blow stuff letting wires touch it. Like the RCD in your house. It's there for your safety...

I'm now looking for more stuff to build/invent. If you have an idea of something I can build, pass it on. I have spare time and a desire to get electrocuted at least once these holidays.

Happy Blog Day

2008-11-23T11:09:00.003+11:00

Whooo! Two years old now!

Let's go get shit-faced!

Any excuse will do!

Those stubborn hairs

2008-11-16T11:54:00.005+11:00

Right, I'm halfway through cleaning the inside of my car, which the astute of you know I haven't done in two years. The reason why I've stopped for the time being is two-fold.

First, I just blew a fuse. There I am, sucking away at the carpet and the suction dies. So this is me allowing time for the vacuum cleaner to cool down before trying again (or something, I do know that it won't work, and I'll just blow it again, but it's a mental thing).

Next, this vacuum cleaner sucks (not literally), and I'm waiting for approval from Mum for her to let me use the good one. The new one has all sorts of attachments, and is probably built to not blow fuses.

So while I wait for my reply I'm going to add this picture of everything I pulled out of my car:

Yup, I have hockey sticks, towels, pieces of seamboard with orders for Hungry Jacks written on them, four half-full water bottles, a blue rubber duck, assorted hairpins, six rolls of tape, an empty box of body pens, my jacket and a coathanger (this isn't even the stuff in the glovebox). Most of it has a story, feel free to ask!

Some of it will be placed back inside, most will go back in the car (like the tape).

Isn't this what Sundays are for?

Hawaii, Uni, and the races...

2008-10-29T13:00:00.000+11:00

What could have been three separate posts I've merged into one. Aren't I smart?

Let's start with Hawaii.

Recently went on a trip to Hawaii. I had a great time, lots and lots of fun. I'd love to go back one day. Yes, I went surfing; yes, I went shopping; yes, I did the beach thing; yes, I stayed in the penthouse suite of the hotel; yup, I climbed Diamond Head... It was a very busy week away, and I did a lot of things and come back with my own set of scars, mementos, presents and tattoos...

I experienced food like I've never witnessed before. Some things Australia is clearly better at. First is conservation of energy. Most of you will have already heard me rant about the continual and massive waste of electricity, water and petrol over there, so I won't repeat it. Next would be food, while their portions were very decent sizes (ie. Too much) and it tasted nice; by the end of the week I ended up wanting something healthy... Like a salad... Yes, America is the only thing in the world that will get me to eat my vegetables... (As a side note, can anyone say free refills?). Finally, I think Australian's would have to do far better with driving and road rules too. I was happy to be back on the left side of the road when I got home. None of this "the light is red but we can still turn here" shit. If the light is red, then you stop. I like our method...

But the place is just so different that it's something you have to go back to. We explored about 85% of the beaches of O'ahu, the third largest island of Hawaii, and I still want to go back for more. Every day was a different beach. Whether it was surfing at Waikiki, swimming at Kailua, skin diving at Sunset Beach, or face planting while body surfing further along Kailua Beach (It was ranked #1 US Beach in 1998). The beaches were a whole different experience too. I think the main things that made them so amazing were the views you enjoyed while swimming, and the fact the weather was always perfect.

Yup, I'm browner too for those that did notice.

The last week of uni was recently, and it's now exam time. I had one yesterday, one tomorrow, and another Friday. Then my last one is next week. I could do very well on these exams, if I was willing to put in the effort. Mostly I know that I've been doing well, and am not putting in as much effort as I probably should. The weather is too nice to be studying. I think my best result will be from Engineering Design, even though I attended a grand total of three lectures, because I find the subject quite cruisey. Some might struggle with this one, and I can see why if it's your first time around logic gates, but logic happens to be what I'm good at. Though last semester the subject I felt I was going to do the best in was the one I did the worst, so I'm not going to hold my breath for fantastic results.

Finally, the Spring Cup Carnival. I've been working at a bunch of the races so far (Geelong Cup, Cox Plate) and will be working at quite a few more I hope (Melbourne Cup, Oaks Day) so make some money. I always enjoy watching people progress from sober to blind drunk over a period of time, and there's no better time to do that than when working at the Spring Carnival. Already had people offer me $20 for my nametag (free money, I have several nametags) and I made something like $14 worth of tips, all in 10c pieces at the Cox Plate. Straight to my car for them, they aren't staying in my pocket. Working Melbourne Cup should be good, because it seems they've finally figured out that I'd prefer to be bartending than holding a platter of food in my arms all day (Marble platters are heavy, and you get dead arms by the end of the day). Instead, I come home with hands that get pretty badly cut up from bottle tops and cans. Sigh... Long live the invention of the teaspoon and the bottle opener (though some fucker nicked mine the other day).

Overall, I come home with more money than most people went to the races with, so I'm one of the few that get away on a profit. If you're going to bet, chances are you'll lose. That's why TAB and bookies exist, they actually make money. The math says you will lose more than you'll win. Same goes for casinos. Don't bother unless you're really good (or can card count).

Until after exams,

James!

Checkmarks

2008-09-22T18:12:00.001+10:00

So I have this little *cough cough* to-do list at the moment that I'm frantically trying to do before I leave. So I thought I might get a bit of help from you guys and gals...

Where am I leaving? Haven't I told you? I know some of you only found out last week, even though I had been making a couple of massive hints I was going somewhere. Some of you have known for quite a while, a couple of months...

Either way; I'm going to Hawaii...!

Yes, I'll be soaking up the sun while the weather here fulfils its usual Melbournistic style of 18°C and raining, just like it's doing right now as I look out the window. I hope it stays that way while I'm gone...

Of course, this means taking a week off uni... Most of you have holidays at this point, when my "holiday" was a couple of weeks ago (yeah... mid-semester break is nothing really, you end up at uni everyday anyway...). As a result I've been flat out busy making sure I don't fall behind in my classes. At uni they have two teaching speeds, unbearably fast and unbearably slow. It would not be difficult to disappear for a week and come back to discover you missed all the chapters of stuff that's on the exam, and ended up in a lecture on Quantum Computing, which without the week of stuff you missed, is a long way away from understandable. On the other end of the scale, I'm half expecting to come back and find that some of my lecturers are still talking about the same thing they were talking about three weeks ago, hoping that the portion of the class that hasn't attended for the past three week will attend to listen. For those lecturers, the reason why they are not there is because they got bored of you tapping the microphone, apologising, or just repeating the same things, over and over...

Hey, it can't be worse than being taught to add to quantities though, can it? (What's 1000 grams plus 250 grams? Seriously...).

I've picked out my "favourites" for this semester now. Engineering Design 1; which is where I hold the record for latest attendance to a lecture (I walked in, to hear him tell us the lecture is over, so I was there about 20 seconds). It's also the class where I get to play with logic circuits and build stuff. Last weekend I thought I'd be clever and design the "perfect" system for our project we're working on, but then got told I couldn't build it because it's a later assessment, and they'd have nothing to mark me on now... (*cough* I wouldn't mind some harder work?).

And my other favourite is just the one I've dubbed "C++" (as opposed to "MATLAB" for those that care). I like the change in language...

And if you've made it this far, you've witnessed me checking off "Blog" on my to-do list...

I said you could help me with this list, and you still can:

You all know how you can plug your new "state of the art, high definition" TV into your home network and stream movies from your laptop or what not? Well; the first person to find out the maximum network speed of high definition televisions or receivers gets a metaphorical silver foil wrapped choc chip cookie... Not a single employee at any appliance store has any clue... The answer is either "Fast Ethernet" or "Gigabit Ethernet" and it's starting to shit me...

Check...

Tid-bits

2008-09-03T21:00:00.002+10:00

Right, I have three random, or not so random, things to put here:

First;

An Appeals court has ordered a retrial for a group of artists who hacked into a national television weather broadcast to show a fake nuclear explosion in the Czech mountains.
Members of the Prage-based Ztohoven art group admitted tempering with equipment at the public broadcaster Czech Television so viewers watching a live panoramic shot of the Krkonose, or Giant Mountains, in June last year saw a flash of bright light and a fiery mushroom cloud.
Seven artists were acquitted of spreading false information in March, but the state prosecutor appealed the verdict.

That really gets nothing but a massive awesome from me. Could you imagine replacing the Channel Seven's picture of the sun for a mushroom cloud on the forecast map? Oh yeah, I think I've found a goal in life...

Second, my horoscope for the day, courtesy of the mX;

Despite arguing your case well, someone else is determined to have the last word.
Once you have spoken, allow others to absorb the information over a period of time.
Battles must be chosen carefully tomorrow.

Heh... I purposely withhold any comment on that...

Finally; I did this all while chroming. Apparently people like it...

Down Below

2008-08-25T14:16:00.002+10:00

I'd like to be surfing the net right now as I wait for this lecture, but this has got to be the one uni room that doesn't have wireless coverage. Being deep underground, and being able to feel the City Loop train rush underneath the floor, I can't say I'm surprised I don't have any mobile reception either.

Every time I want to reply to a message that only just gets through, a have to wait till I have reception, then press send. Or I have to get up, go up the stairs, send, and then come back to class.

The alternative is sending an email to the IT guys here, asking for them to install wireless for this underground location. It'd be nice, but I don't really see it happening straight away. Though that would mean I could start downloads while I code next week's test and take notes.

I'm really enjoying my classes this semester. I really can't remember what any of them are called, but I know which ones are which. The one I'm in now, Engineering Methods, is probably my least favourite, probably because the lectures feel like a waste of time. But in the labs for this class, I'm a week ahead due to my ability to work faster and better alone. Code, code, code...

Just had the other programming test today (as in the other class, we code C++ in it, and MATLAB in the one I'm in now). Walked in late, so was worried I was a touch behind, but when I'd finished the bulk of the code in fifteen minutes, and the guy next to me was sweating it out, I was feeling more confident. Oh and congratulations to that guy too by the way. After he finished cheating from a piece of paper he brought in, he left early, only to come back in ten, saying he'd forgotten to remove the 'system("Pause")' lines. In other words, he got a score of zero because the program won't run correctly. Serves him right.

Circuit theory and Engineering design are basically the same class, and lectures in one are very similar to the lectures in the other. Very handy, cause learning in one means you're learning in the other. The labs are distinctly different though. In one, we're measuring resistor values using a digital multimeter; and in the other we're designing traffic light control systems using flip-flops and logic gates. But between these two classes, I can say I've learnt something about circuit analysis, even though I pretend I haven't. Mesh circuit analysis, circuit node analysis, grid analysis, and some sort of creepy replacement thingo... Basically, it's all just common sense and being sure you conform to KCL and KVL (yeah, I think I've probably lost you all now) rules. Oh, and Ohms law... (Well duh...).

Lecture's started now, and it's about the Trapezoidal rule. Yay for already knowing how to do it! Yay for CAS! Tune-out time continues...

I'm thinking about getting a stereo for my room; something snazzy. I don't care if it doesn't have all the top-of-the-range features like a built in DVD player (like some of the players I've seen). I want one that looks good; with blue lights... Probably should work more to be able to afford it.

Ah, speaking of work! Hopefully I'll be working for the footy finals season. If I'm working all the days I've told work I can work; then I'll be going to the footy more times this September than I've been my entire life. Except I'm not working the Grand Final; I'll be in Hawaii. Yes, that's right, it's the second year in a row I won't actually be available to watch the Grand Final on TV. Good! It's not like I'm missing anything but shitty actors prance about in short shorts. If I want to see that, I'll go and live in Sydney...

Night children, she's actually talking about something I don't know now, so I'm going to tune back in to the lecture... Take care, don't do anything stupid... Like play football...

A Little Quacker For You

2008-08-13T15:15:00.002+10:00

Whole bunch of you have heard this one already from me; here I am repeating it...

I was walking down the street the other day, and I nearly tripped over this duck.

“G’day duck” I said, “What’s your name?”

“Oh my name’s Tom” said the duck.

“Good to meet you Tom. Say, I've never really talked to a duck before; what does a duck like you get up to all day?”

“Oh, the usual... In and out of puddles...”

“Righto, catch you later Tom” and we parted our ways.

About a block later, I bumped into another duck.
“Oh, sorry about that mate; didn’t mean to trip you over there.” I said as I helped him up, “What’s your name?”

“I'm Dick,” replied the duck.

“I ran into a duck a couple of minutes ago, and he told me about his day and all that... I'm curious, what do you do all day?”

“I just hop in and out of puddles really.”

“Fair enough, see you round Dick” I commented as he headed off.

Just when I thought I'd seen enough ducks for the day, sure enough, there was another, standing on the corner, waiting to cross the road. Ambling up to him, I asked “So, I guess your name is Harry.”

“Nah, mate... I'm Puddles...”

A word of thanks

2008-07-14T11:21:00.003+10:00

I probably should have updated this a week or so ago, but I have been that busy. Mostly trying to help people actually, stuff I don't actually have to do, but am because it makes me feel like a better person (and it delays before I actually have to write something.).

What amazes me though are the so very few people that say "thanks" and actually mean it. Sure, we all say it. I bring someone something at work and I have the polite "Thanks, James" but has this person actually realised the time and effort I went to do find the box?

Yesterday, however, I was surprised by the first person who said "thank you" and actually sounded like they cared for the effort I'd gone to to help them. I was a wet, cold, Melbourne evening, and I was on my way home from work. It was the second time in two days I'd been caught in the rain; this time however, was neither fun nor enjoyable. As I squelched my way of the tram with other travellers, a man down the street caught my eye. He was blind, and had clearly lost his way. Not one person stopped as they trundled past him, so I did.

As a result, it took me an extra forty minutes to get home. I become even wetter, and I knew that I now had no chance of not getting sick (at the moment I'm suffering with a sore throat). And when we arrived at his destination, I received the first thanks in weeks that sounded honest. He shook my hands, told me he could never thank me enough, and that he would repay the favour someday, if he ever has the chance. It wasn't what he said, but the way he said it.

And as a result I'd like to expand my list of words that have lost all meaning due to abuse because of today's society: "Love," "Sorry," and now "Thank you." I try always to only ever use these words when I honestly mean them, and I hope you'll do likewise.

There have been plenty of times that I can think of when "Sorry" might have fixed it, or "Love" might have had a laugh, or "Thanks" would have been custom; but I have refrained from saying it, cause it wasn't what I truly meant.

So what I have I done since my last update?

Well, quite obviously, I had exams. Lots of fun there... Not...

Actually, lunch before exams was kinda awesome, much better than a bread roll, though I don't think eating at a fancy restaurant on Southbank is the best way to revise for Enterprise Engineering... I packed in work wherever possible between exams and I'm making some money now. Well, until uni goes back at least. Money's kinda very handy at the moment, especially with the cost of petrol and our trip away to Jervis Bay.

Trip away was much needed, and I really am glad we went. Had a couple of walks along the beach, and got to see someone special graduate from the Navy. Dyed Al's hair... again... Lounged on the couch, the bed, the floor. Watched Al speed at 130km/h, and listened to Ken get angry at him. Photo's are on Facebook if you'd like to see them. Most are of Izzy marching, which was great to watch, but it does all start to look the same after a few minutes. :P

The Sunset Parade wasn't as loud as I was expecting. Yes, I know that it was loud, and I know that we were told it was going to be extremely loud, but I did actually expect more noise. So I didn't jump out of my skin, like some people did. But watching the whole thing is definitely something I'd watch again (which is why we watched it twice).

And the Passing Out Parade lived up to expectations of people passing out. I think it was five in total. Three honourable mentions here:

To the person behind the crunching noise at they hit the ground. It carried quite a distance, and although there was no blood, it was great to hear.
To the person who passed out, but remained standing. Never seen it before, and probably never will, but serious points for that.
To Izzy, for swaying, turning pale, and wanting to vomit. You looked like you were next to hit the deck the whole parade, but you stuck through.

Overall, I knew where I should have parked my car!

The Ball was... Actually... I don't think there's a word for it, and because I'm in the habit of making words at the moment, I think that the Ball was benourable. Which is sort of like endurable, but only if you knew a portion of the people there. I just spent my time following the one person who might know people, and there was people following me accordingly. We all left early, only because the Ball was starting to get a touch benourable, and we'd be having much more fun at home with movies, coke and vodka.

And then since getting back, I've been back working again, and having quite a few late nights. I'm exhausted, why do you people keep me up so late? (Yes, I want to be asleep at 3.30am). So I'm working on more money before uni goes back, I need to save for a trip away to Hawaii in September. And a new desktop. And just save in general. You can never have too much money saved.

And I got my results today. I'm actually quite impressed. My average would be a distinction, if you balance the high distinction and the credit out. I'm a touch disappointed in my score in Math, but to be fair I don't show any working, so maybe it was deserved. Biggest surprise was Enterprise Engineering, which I'm beginning to think that if I'd actually handed in one preliminary assignment (no, I didn't hand in a single one, they counted for a total of 15%) then my score would have been in the late 90's. So the one class I expected to fail I got a High Distinction in, and the one class I expected to do really well in, I didn't do as well as I thought.

And as much as I hate writing, I'll try to update the blog soon, but I need something to write about first...

Take care, talk soon.

The last thing I wrote for this post (Also known as a title)

2008-05-27T13:10:00.002+10:00

So how many people have noticed a lot of my posts arriving on Tuesdays? It's probably because Tuesday is blog-post day!! Or more likely it's cause I'm in Physics lecture... I can listen and type at the same time... Really... Stop laughing, it's true!

Why are you posting this crap James? What's the purpose of this post?

Tell you the truth – I haven't figured it out yet... The title isn't even filled in yet...

Maybe I could just point out something I've noticed this month; like every single Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have been flat-out busy days. I've got up early, and gone to bed late, and been doing things all the time in the middle. This last week of May is no exception to the rule...

Speaking of last weeks, it's the last week of studies here at RMIT before we start SWOT VAC, then exams; so a lot of lecturers are wrapping things up or frantically trying to cram it in. While at the start of May my entire June was planned to be empty, except for four days with exams; it's now also packed, with exams interrupted by work, lots of work. This will be nice – because work equals money which can be directly converted to petrol, the quantity of which is inversely proportional to how much work I do. In other words, I'm working so I can fill up my car and get to work. The left over 5c I'll take with me on my trip away at the end of June.

Am I exaggerating? Not really. I just put $120 in my wallet to fill up my car this afternoon, and Tuesdays are (relatively) cheap and my car uses less petrol than a lawnmower. Which is definitely a good thing – my next car will be a Hybrid or something else eco-friendly, even if more expensive, and regardless of how much less power I'll get. I'm not interested in having a powerful, beefy (manly?) car if it means I'll need to take out a loan just to pay for petrol.

And who pours oil onto glass nowadays (see? I can pay attention to my Physics lecture)? Yes, I know that it's only theoretical, and yes I know we're using it to figure out the wavelength of light; but there are better ways of doing it than glass, oil, a ruler and a protractor.

It's amazing how little stationary you need for uni – all I have is one pen and a sharpie (which is only here cause you'll never know when you might need one). Maybe it's just cause I'm doing engineering, and it's all either on the computer (MAT-ha-LAB) or written in a lab book (consistent eights, interrupted by a nine, anyone?).

Well, if I ramble any longer then I'll be left here in the room alone after everyone leaves. Yes, it took me a whole hour to write all that. I'm slow and writing, and even when I know what I want to say, the words only dribble out. If I write fast then usually every other word is completely unrelated to the first, and sentences would just sound really shotty... Ok, maybe that one already did... Sigh...

Keep in touch people, hearing from you is always great; especially when I need the break from staring at my programming like a shit-chucking ape.

I'm Old!

2008-05-20T13:23:00.000+10:00

Or so everyone keeps telling me...

I woke up this morning and I did feel older, but I suppose I'm supposed to feel that every morning... Maybe it was the new shirt I wore... I donno...

So I called for the nurse to bring me my walking frame and I wandered out to the park to feed the ducks pieces of stale bread all day... Please remind me to buy more bread; I'll forget if someone doesn't remind me... Similar to phone calls – I would have called if I was reminded (if I managed how to figure out how to press the buttons in the first place).

What was I talking about? Oh that's right... I'm old...

I mean nineteen is the last of the teens; isn't that a scary thought... That means I'm almost dead!!! Quick, drink more alcohol to make sure the liver dies first!!! And doesn't nineteen just seem like the "forgotten age?" We see movies where the main character is a teenager and they're always eighteen... Never nineteen... How sad...

Also, I've decided it's a very bad idea to let Harry lick you: he eats poo... I see Afrika taking a crap and next moment the crap is gone with Harry standing over it, doing the whole "yay I've found something to eat" thing... No wonder Harry craps twice as much as Afrika...

Oh right... It's my birthday... You don't want to hear about dog crap...

Ok, seriously, there's not that much to tell about my birthday this year; I'm nineteen, it's a "forgotten age," remember? Of course you don't remember, you're almost as senile as I am!

And the post date and time is significant by the way...

P. Sherman

2008-04-28T20:45:00.000+10:00

Got up early Friday morning – 0330. Considering that I went to bed at 0100 I suppose I got a good night's sleep... I guess...

Cranked a uni assignment off and then head to the airport for a 0600 flight – joy! Well... I suppose I did pick it...

Had a whole row of seats to myself; centre, window and aisle. Didn't get a chance to have a sleep on the plane though, instead I transferred contacts from my old Nokia 6280 to my new Nokia 6110 Navigator. Yes, I now have two GPS units; one in my pocket and one in my car. I know which one I prefer too – Ken. There was nothing really that wrong with the 6280, I just didn't think that having loudspeaker on for every phone call was going to be appropriate, especially when around other people. Still have to get used to the new S60 interface, I much prefer the S40, basically because the S60 is so much slower. Damn Nokia you piss me off... I'll leave my hatred of PCSuite for another day...

Oh that's right, I was flying to Sydney, I nearly forgot what I was talking about there. :P

Arrived at whatever time I arrived and caught a train to the hotel. Ok, yes; we all bitch about Connex and how bad their service is, but CityRail is really hard to top. It cost me $50.50 for unlimited travel to and from the airport for a week, and unlimited travel around Sydney CBD for a week. When the lady at the counter did the calculations, it was going to cost $70 if I bought daily's instead. Ok, fine, as a tourist to the city I'll pay through my ass for the privilege to get to my hotel, thanks CityRail.

Then on the platform, I've found that rather than a screen that lists all the stations, it instead scrolls through them, with an accompanying voice (he sounds gay, like the rest of Sydney) reading out the list. Really frustrating to have to stand at this screen staring at it like an ape until your station appears. I much prefer the quick glance at Connex's screens, even if your train may not arrive. Fine, your service is on time, and fine, it's more reliable; but I really don't give a shit when I miss the next three trains trying to figure out if it goes where it wants it to go. Connex used to have three zones, but went down for simplicity. I've finally found where they put this extra zone. I think CityRail bought it off them. Honestly, they have something like seven zones! Anyone who says Connex is complicated and hard has never been to Sydney.

Oh and as a result their machines have a billion and one buttons on them, and force you to go through the alphabet in your head looking for the right station...

Ok, rant about trains is over.

Checked in early cause the room was ready early. Went and explored Sydney. The pushy bitch (the voice in the phone) kept misplacing me streets from where I was, if she could find a position in the first place. I'm learning to ignore her, and I could insert a sexist joke here, but thought better of it. Instead I just scrolled the map to find out where I was.

I ended up somehow getting stuck in the centre of the ANZAC day parade circle that went round the city, probably because I was lost. So I just found a place and stood there for the next five hours. There was a pub on the other side of the road, and celebrations there were very loud and alcoholic. Many passing parades were offered free beer from the patrons who had spilt out onto the road, and every band was yelled to "throw it up, throw it up" in reference to the baton they twirled and what not.

Later, after the parade had finished, there were enough cans on the ground to open up a new aluminium mine...

I however had gone in search of more important things. Found it, and went back to the hotel. Feel asleep for an hour, getting much needed rest, before heading to the station to go and find the person who I really missed – Izzy.

Finally found her, upon realisation that "clock tower" means the 20 meter tower sticking out of the ground, that thing looking like a clock tower; not that clock attached to the building above my head. Well, I don't normally look up in the city, the top of the buildings hurt my neck to look at. :P

So we did couple stuff for the rest of the day of course, as couples do. You know, shopping, walking, talking; that stuff... Went to Coles and bought the necessaries for the weekend: Coco-pops, milk, and pasta.

Couple stuff again for all of Saturday, I like the couple stuff, it's a lot more relaxing than my usual run round and try to find stuff. Ate when hungry, slept (or tried to) when tired, drank when thirsty. Spent part of the day searching for an ATM, eventually found one, and then of course they started popping up everywhere; when we weren't looking for one. Must be a Sydney thing, never had that problem in Melbourne.

Went and tried to see a movie that evening, but there was nothing good on. Sydney, why can't you just conform to Melbourne and call us the gods of entertainment, sport, restaurants and cafes. I couldn't find a single thing Sydney had going for it really.

Dinner, Nando's again, for something like the third time (nope, there's nowhere better to eat in Sydney). Not complaining though, I like Nando's (the company I was with was far better though).

Went out clubbing that night. First place was called 333, and I thought it was too dark, and the bartenders were boring; but they served me over other patrons because I'm a nice person. Had a great time meeting new people that night though, all the navy people (well, not all, some...). Only name I can remember though was Tash, and she was wearing purple. So if tash wants any chance of being remembered next time I meet her, I suggest she wears that same purple dress. :P

Moved along to the next club, as you do when you need a change of experience. The Brooklyn Pub had a guy with a metal detector which was a nice touch to the whole possibility of getting stabbed in Sydney experience. Place was basically a dance floor and a bar. Again, got served quickly because I'm nice. Stayed here longer than the first place, but only cause we were told to stay put while Tash went and found the next club; she never returned.

Hopped along to the third club. This time it was at Circular Quay, and you could watch the water as you drank (assuming you watch the water, and saw that ferry come in... :P). The bartender here was funny, and could flair really well, got my drinks quickly here and went and sat outside with Izzy. (No, I'm not telling you the secret to fast drinks at the bar). Nice champagne at this club, I know what my favourite way of drinking it was too...

Hotel time now, since it was technically Sunday, but we had to stop at McDonalds and the toilet on the way. McDonalds sells Mint Slice McFlurry's now if anyone has been out of contact from the world for the past few months.

Sunday morning (well, when we got out of bed), we did the whole pack-up hotel thing and left them our bags while we explored the city before I had to go home. Izzy got a new phone (after a frustrating "my employer has no telephone number" conversation the night before); a Nokia 6500 Slide. She believes her phone is better, and I believe mines better. We'll have to see which one ends up lasting longer I guess... Izzy got some hay fever tablets; she needed them. Only supposed to take one though... tut tut tut...

Eventually the time ran out again and it was time to come home. Airports again. My turn for a plane though.

Plane trip was loud, noisy, and the kid behind me enjoying kicking my seat.

Overall, getting abused by taxi drivers in Sydney (what? I'm from Melbourne, red flashing means it's ok to go; and here in Melbourne giving someone the finger is something of a sign of gratitude that you didn't actually hit me) wasn't what made the trip interesting; it was Izzy that did that. Really miss her...

Ok, some of you are strangling yourself or throwing up on the floor, I get it... I'll change the topic...

I'm glad to be back in Melbourne, but I just wish I'd brought everything back home with me.

P.S. In case you're wondering, I couldn't find 42 Wallaby Way; maybe next time.

VCE VET Electrotechnology

2008-04-21T13:00:00.000+10:00

Anyone remember what my goal was in this subject?

Yup, I didn't just want a high score, I wanted to do better than anyone else and receive the Premier's Award – awarded to the top few students in any subject. It's ok to get a 50, it's something different to receive a Premier's Award.

Well, I haven't actually said it yet, but I think it's obvious: I got one!

I'm very very very happy about this; I really worked hard in Electrotech to deserve it.

So thanks to those of you that dealt with me talking about how excited I am about my project, ranting about how easy that last test was, and debating whether I should bother studying for the exam. Next step: Award Ceremony; where I'm missing out on a Math Test to attend...

Really busy at the moment, but I hope to make a post next week when I get back from Sydney.

Whoa... Busy!

2008-04-01T12:57:00.004+11:00

Yeah, I've been busy with this, that and the other; hence a lack of updates. Basically, I blame uni for making me this busy. I only know one person that has more hours than me, and that's Luke, so he's the only one allowed to complain that I have it easy.

Quick summary of everything since the start of March:

Uni started, you noticed from the last post.
Izzy's birthday; she got shoes – lots of paper ones and one real pair.
Anniversary.
Mid-semester break, before I had even figured out this whole uni thing. Apparently, I'm halfway through the semester.
Izzy came home for Easter, and lots of fun times ensued.
I took a break from hospital this year, and decided that rolling round on the ground in pain can be left till later.
Back to uni; and found that I wasn't halfway through, but only at the start still.
Earth Hour; which I ended up leaving my lights off all night, cause I was having too much fun burning things to look at the time.
Some other stuff that I've told myself doesn't need to be placed online, because it doesn't concern but a very limited few of you; but if you want a hint, it relates to last March.

That's basically it for the time being; if something interesting happens, like a bomb threat, I'll leave it for someone else to describe.

I'm going to go back to paying attention to this Physics lecture now...

Little Fish, Big Pond

2008-03-03T21:00:00.000+11:00

A long time ago, just over thirteen years ago in fact, I began something new... I was a little fish in a big pond...

As time went by I got bigger and eventually I was the big fish in this little pond, and of course saw lots of tiny little fish join my pond over time, remembering a long time ago that was me...

One day, I was scooped up, and placed in a new, bigger pond, more of a pool in fact, as I had outgrown my old one... Once again, I was a little fish in a big pond... I started to get big for this pond too, and I played with the edge of the waterfall. In 2004, I slipped over the edge of the waterfall, as did the rest of the fishes my size, and landed in a bigger pond still, a lake...

Feeling even smaller, I worked hard to grow over the next few years...

I made friends with similar fish and swam in the same, similar part of the lake. Occasionally we'd visit other lakes, and make new fishy friends. Once again, last year in fact, I grew too big for the pond, a pond which I now knew as a part of me...

Today I was scooped up once again by the mysterious hand of time, and thrown, not into a lake-sized pond, but into the ocean. I'm once again the smallest fish in the pond (ocean, yeah whatever, I like the word pond ok?). My fishy friends from the assorted ponds, pools and lakes have been spread far and wide; some swimming under the same pier as me, some in the same patch of seaweed; some have been thrown deeper, and have to deal with slightly bigger fishys, sharks even; one has even been thrown over to New South Wales (technically ACT, but again, I'm too tired after today's first ocean swimming lesson to care).

On a completely unrelated note, I'll tell you about my first day of university now. That sound like a good story?

Right, well getting there was shockingly easy, even with Connex, only four minutes late really... And now that I'm aware that RMIT has elevators, I don't have to climb thirteen floors like Spiderman... First up was MATH2160, which is taught by one of my favourite kinds of teachers: the fast, no-bullshit, ain't slowing down for nobody ones... Well, like a said, he's fast, and can be a little difficult to decipher with that accent sometimes, but I went to Haileybury, so I'm trained in the art of multi-lingual English... Overall, I can see how he'll be great, but he and I have slightly different views on Mathematics. While I call it the absolute value of x (absolute x), he calls it the modulus function of x (mod x). Yeah, both correct, both just as easy to write, but I can tell he and I will get into marking issues over it... And another one: turns out VCAA doesn't teach Methods right. VCAA: log = log base 10. The rest of the world: log = ln. So what the hell VCAA? Teach us correctly! Take me a while to figure this new one out... On the plus side, this course looks like it will be Methods 1/2/3/4, Spesh 1/2/3/4, all wrapped up in a nice little 6 month bundle, which is what I always wanted to do with it...

Hour break, far too long, followed by: EEET2246 (some sort of Computer Science Engineering). Now this lecture is taken by one of those funny teachers: "Hey, been teaching this subject for 15 years now, shit then, shit now, do your best." Have to agree with the "shit now" part. Figured it out when he put 1 * 0 = 1 on the board. C'mon... Seriously... Anyway, two components that we'll start with: Matrices (I found these easy in year 10, I find them easy now, can I skip class?), and Excel Spreadsheets (you can tell that this'll be another subject that you want to skip when he hardly knows how to use it in his examples...). Sigh... Maybe the next class will be more productive...

So I walk into EEET2247 (Enterprise Engineering, don't worry, I had just as much as no idea as you do now) and find the room is filled with people on computers... It was a Lab, so I was sorta more expecting so be sitting at a workbench with scratches and burns from assorted tools, but instead the room is filled with people that looked a lot older than me... So I just stood up the back (I walked in through the front) and waited for something exciting to happen. A slightly overweight (delicate James, delicate... You never know who might read this one day...) woman walked in and barked (sounded like a loud whisper actually): "This is a lab, everybody out now..." Considering I was expecting a lab to be, well, more laboratory like, I kinda just thought she was crazy... She ended up getting the class started and told us to log onto Blackboard and open our assignment. Mixed bag of results. Some people could log on, some people could open Blackboard, and some (very few) could find this mystical assignment... Then she barked (whispered): "Form a team of four." As always, I just kept it simple and looked at the people next to me and provided that nod of "you'll do..." After the room had assigned groups our instructions were given (if you could hear them). I didn't hear them, so we just sat there and assessed the possible data, before providing an abstract solution to the problem at hand (see? I learnt something today! How to solve stuff engineering style!). Then several more people rocked up, and we got a blast about being late to class... Now I know it wasn't me who was late, and I know that I despise people who are late, but seriously woman, that's the WHOLE point of uni: to turn up (or fail to turn up) to classes at whichever time you choose... Yes, if people turn up late and disrupt the class, you have a right to tell them to piss off, but they were only ten minutes late, and you have no clue where they might have some from. Class settles; lady speaks up (now an hour into class): "You should be using Microsoft Office Project."

Ok, never heard of it me, but I find it quickly and stare blankly at my screen... You want me to make a timeline? The hell? So as a team, we plot how we will manage our time on Project over the next two weeks (which reminds me, feel free to change the due date anytime you wish... Anytime! Honestly! Doesn't piss me off at all! Just why the hell would you change the date at the last minute?). SO we plotted our timeline of time management, and she speaks up (she was close, so we could hear her). Turns out we were supposed to be plotting our timeline for this mystical engineering project with some sort of crazy invisible engineering team and some fruity unlimited quantity of cash over some spastic timescale, a year... So we (the entire class) spent an hour and a half doing the wrong thing, without any indication from silent to telling us we were doing something wrong... So in twenty minutes we manage to begin to pull some crazy contraption out of our asses (mosquito repelling alarm clock, powered by batteries, and made cheap, for third world countries) and begin a timeline. Time! So I log off and my team heads out the door while I put pens away. Silent comes up to me, asking to see the work we'd done today. So I was forced to log back in... Sigh just doesn't cut it...

And then when I got to my platform Connex decided it had been too nice to me this morning and decided to punish me by diverting ALL Eastern suburb traffic through my platform, my line. Squashed on the train. Got abused and attacked my some old lady who wanted to get past me, towards the seats that were clearly packed and already full of elderly...

Some days I just feel like a fish... Swimming in an ocean...

The Switch

2008-02-18T15:44:00.006+11:00

It'll be a switch I'll flick on 29th March 2008, 8:00PM... Will you?

And here's something else that saves power, saves the environment...

Email accounts...

2008-02-16T17:00:00.002+11:00

To all of my friends who use Hotmail:

Get a real email address!

PLEASE!

Oh for Christ-sake... All I want to do is send half a dozen people an email. I want to send it so that none of the recipients know any of the others, so I use the BCC field. I want you to be 100% assured that the email arrived from me, so I digitally sign it...

Please hotmail users, thank your postmaster for returning my email, claiming it took on a spam like appearance...

The contents of the email would have been unreadable to your postmaster without you receiving the message with all sorts of red flags appearing next to it, claiming that the message has been tampered with, as it rightly would have been, thanks to my digital signature.

The fact that I want to hide who else I've sent it to is common with all my emails at the moment, and remains to be common among businesses worldwide. Your postmaster has blocked a service that has existed in emails for years...

Yes, I've hated Hotmail for years because of it's simple interface, poor junk-filtering, incorrect diagnosis of legitimate emails, lack of connectivity (i.e. there's situations where you might want to be able to click on a link in an email (don't say you can, you can't... don't even bother... people have pages telling you that you suck).

So now it's time for you to actually do the world a favour and provide us with an email account that we can send emails to, and not have to suffer... Have some help...

Ok, ok... I'll relax... I'll calm down...

That “L” Word

2008-02-14T13:00:00.006+11:00

The following isn't directed at anybody, or anything, I just want my word back...

Something wrong with today's society... I don't feel like the word "love" has the same meaning it used to.

I just feel it's over used... It's in advertisements, telling people they'll "love" the new flavour or whatever; it's in music, telling us all how some singer "loved" someone but it all went to shit; it's on television, in some soppy soap opera; and we say it to each other, even when we don't really mean it at all.

Truth is, you can never truly "love" somebody until you actually know them fully. "Love at first sight" would be much better defined as "lust at first sight," because how do you instantly know, simply by looking at somebody, that they aren't a tosser or whatever... That's the thing, we say we "love" something, but truth is we just lust it until we get bored of it, then it simply becomes something we just like.

Situations:

There's a new product (i.e. Coke Zero is released) and we try it and say to each other "Oh I simply LOVE the taste." – Truth is we merely like the taste, it's a nice change. Two weeks later you'll be sick of it and you'll go back to regular Coke.
You meet someone new, and two weeks later you tell your best friend in private "Oh I think I'm in love with that guy, he's just so nice." – Yup, he's nice. Everyone is nice to the new people. If you ask him (or her, trying to be gender unspecific here, but failing) out you'll probably find a month later that he isn't your type at all, that you share nothing in common. You never "loved" him, not even if you said "I love you," you only ever lusted him, and when you found out he was boring/opinionated/rude/smelly/bad at sex or whatever you didn't even like him anymore.

I try whenever I can, to only use the word "love" when I absolutely mean it. When I'm writing something (a text message for example), I actually pause and think before writing the word "love." I ask myself, "Do I mean it? Do I honestly truthfully love?" Only when the answer is yes do I put it in.

I'm asking politely for the world to pause and think. Do you honestly mean that you "love" that person? Or are you just saying it because they said it to you?

Having trouble deciding whether you "love" somebody, "lust" somebody, "care for" somebody, "like" somebody or "like more than the other option?" Ask yourself, "If I was with this person, and we'd done everything together, and there was nothing new left to do or try, if we had seen everything and been everywhere, could I honestly say that the 'spark' would still be there between us, would I still want that person over any other, would this person be irreplaceable to me?"

If you find yourself saying "No, I don't think that 'spark' would still be there," then I suggest you find a new word to use, and leave "love" for those who mean it. There's no word greater than "love;" and today, as well as every other day, I wish there was, so I could use it...

Also, got sent a picture last night from someone I can honestly say I love:

Disiplined and ordered, Izzy's having fun, but missing home. She'll be back Easter time to see the important people :P

Happy Valentines Day for those who love somebody!

Energy Drink

2008-02-05T17:30:00.000+11:00

Today on James' Kitchen we'll be making the energy drink he uses to keep himself awake, alive, entertained, or just plain energetic. In fact, there's probably enough energy in one drink to power all Australian homes for a day, so by drinking one, you better have something planned to do. Interestingly, this drink contains absolutely NO harmful drugs (James takes them separately), like caffeine, alcohol, or guarana that are commonly found in so called "energy drinks" such as Red Bull, V, or coffee...

Let's pick a few nasty names from those "energy drinks" and see how bad I can make them sound (while keeping to 99% fact...);

Taurine (found in Red Bull and V) is a conditionally essential "amino acid." I put "amino acid" in quotes because I'm simply quoting the Red Bull website on that, yet Taurine lacks a carboxyl group to be properly called an amino acid. It was named from Latin Taurus, meaning bull or ox, as it was first extracted from ox bile in 1827. Also, despite its presence in energy drinks, Taurine has not been shown to be energy-giving.

Glucuronolactone (found in Red Bull and V), also known as (2R)-2-[(2S,3R,4S)-3,4-Dihydroxy-5-oxo-tetrahydrofuran-2-yl]-2-hydroxy-acetaldehyde, "has received some notoriety... that it was a Vietnam War-era drug manufactured by the American government." Also worth mentioning is that "it was banned due to several brain tumour-related deaths." Scary huh?

I'm sure you already know all the hype about caffeine being bad for you, so I'll just skip over that one and you can imagine all the bad things I've just said.

Acesulfame K, found in Red Bull (and probably V, couldn't get a proper ingredient list for them), is one of those artificial sweetener doodads, and you all tell me off for drinking Diet Coke cause it has fake sugar in it so RIGHT BACK AT YA!!! Only this is found in all of Red Bull products, not just the "light" version. It's so dangerous that Kraft Foods had to add another chemical to its products to mask the damage that Acesulfame K did (to your tastebuds...). It has also been noticed that the "chemical has not been studied adequately and may be carcinogenic."

Sucralose, sounding like sucrose, but it's not, so there, is also an additive to Red Bull and V. To quote Wikipedia straight for this one

"Concerns have been raised about the effect of sucralose on the thymus, an organ that is important to the immune system. A report from NICNAS cites two studies on rats, both of which found "a significant decrease in mean thymus weight" at a certain dose."

The certain dose stated is calculated to be similar to the quantity that Luke drinks Red Bull at, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't worry as "some ingested sucralose is broken down and absorbed by the body there is concern that chronic consumption may lead to thymus shrinkage or other side-effects."

Now that I've told you the nasty parts of the other drinks, you can drink mine instead, knowing that you're probably safe (that all depends on how you make it really).

You will need:

A mixer blender thingo... I use a milkshake maker and it works... Just...
A cup with can withstand freezing (i.e. the condensation on the cup I use FREEZES... That's how much energy this drink sucks up from the environment... Cool huh?).
About 30mL of Milk (yup, that's all).
Half a tin of Milo (size of the tin depends on how much energy you require).
Chocolate Ice-cream... The DARK chocolate ice-cream... You know the stuff...
Chocolate syrup... To taste...
Sugar (optional).

Instructions:

Put about 10mL of milk at the bottom of the cup; this is to prevent the Milo getting stuck down the bottom.
Scoop Ice-cream in small scoops into the cup, large chunks means you might blow the motor. Don't be shy, use lots!!!
Pour Milo in (note: I said pour, not scoop; that means use LOTS).
Add sugar (optional).
Add remaining Milk, if it will fit, to give the mixer an attempt at a chance of working in the future.
Stick on the mixer thing and start. You'll hear it struggle, this is normal; it will spin a little faster once the ice-cream has been whipped to hell.
Take off; add Chocolate Syrup until mix is getting close to the edge of cup.
Mix again; stand back in case it goes over the edge...
When you can smell the motor smoking, it's finished and you can drink it off to drink it. Tastes best straight off the mixer.

Warning: Consistency is far thicker than Hungry Jack or McDonald's thickshakes, so tipping it towards your mouth may not produce any results... If this is the case, try blending it again. If that fails, buy a new blender and invest in blender shares...

Warning: Do not drink, then forget to exercise, the energy contained in the drink may make you fat in a matter of seconds...

Warning: Do not allow parents to watch you make this, they will kill you. Do not allow pets to consume the substance, as it's probably an aphrodisiac...

Yes, I actually drink that by the way... Tastes good... Like Chocolate...

Tune in next time for something else crazy!!! That's what I'm here for!!!

Early Mornings

2008-01-31T19:00:00.000+11:00

So yesterday I got up early, at 5:30am and took Izzy to the airport. Got there at 8ish, 2 hours early for a cancelled flight. Ended up on the 10:30 instead... I got all I could ask for really, more time, even if it was only half an hour.

Turns out my speakers are really, really loud when on full volume and on the way home I noticed this:

So 140,000km reminds me of my trips to school in the morning and 145,000km reminds me of taking Izzy to the airport. The service was due at 140,000km though... And don't state the massive cavernous problem with the photo I took... Yes, I know...

And today I got up early, this time 6am, to go get my wisdom teeth removed. Got to the hospital and after getting undressed we decided that the operation was too risky cause I had a cough and all shit could break loose if everything went wrong. So a starved myself for nothing.

Stopped at a cafe home for breakfast... Damn I was hungry...

At least I didn't have to get up at 4:30am for a fire alarm though, that would suck... You've got my sympathy... And love, lots of that...

Anyway, back to suffering with 14.4k download speed because I reached our limit just for the hell of it.

Emo in a White Shirt

2008-01-21T10:47:00.000+11:00

Happy Birthday Al...

Nice shirt...

Back in...

2008-01-06T11:32:00.001+11:00

Going to a much needed holiday at the beach. I deserve it. Will be back when the shower no longer provides the capability to wash the salt off my body.

Have my phone if you get lonely, but I know that more civilized areas have less reception, so don't count on any text messages arriving straight away.

If war breaks out while I'm gone, become suicide bombers to win the war and I'll find replacements for all of you when I get back. Except Izzy... Don't blow yourself up... Can't get a replacement.

Keep out of trouble!

Bones

2007-12-30T20:30:00.000+11:00

Did the whole "family" thing today and went to the Melbourne Museum.

Lots of interesting exhibits for all really.

An Aboriginal history section, if you haven't quite had your fix yet from every other museum in Australia yet, which is actually quite detailed and informative.

That Forest thing, which is an actual forest in a nice cage so nothing escapes. Couple of nice doo-hickeys and thing-a-ma-bob's growing out of the ground and living in the water in it... Like fish... And poisonous snakes... But beware of the eels, I'm told they bite...

Bugs, if that's your thing. You can watch those bull ants drag dead ants out of a nest, round the ground for a bit, then back in their nest... I spent about thirty minutes mesmerised by the little buggers...

Marine life, which included a giant squid (seriously, I've caught bigger squid fishing off the Moonta jetty...). Also for those who don't know, the blue ringed octopus has a tetradotoxin... I learnt that not from the exhibit, but from the ambulance people that escorted the person to hospital who asked me to "Look at the beautiful blue rings on this octopus" that they held in their hand... Stupid fuck...

Right next to that, some trippy 3D exhibit, which nothing to explain the tricks of the mind and how 3D illusions work, but instead was determined to freak me out by reminding me about how freaking big the universe is... Seriously guys, how depressing for science guys like me, knowing that no matter what crap we EVER do in our lives, we're never even going to scratch the surface of our knowledge... At least it motivated me to learn more, like quantum physics more... Unfortunately it did it too late... AFTER I'd finished VCE... Gonna have to work on that...

Outside of that, some dead horse with a big dick... I think I saw its heart in Canberra when I was there... It won't be running far it seems...

Upstairs, after sprinting through the dinosaur exhibit (they're just freaking bones for Christ sake...) it was the human body... Wondrous naked bodies everywhere up here... Saw a young teenage girl get her picture taken with a worryingly realistic naked teenage female dummy... None of the naked girls in these exhibits looked as good as the one that's my wallpaper, which doesn't even come close to the one I've had in my bedroom occasionally... Noticed that guys outnumbered girls, six to one, in the sexual reproduction section, and shuddered when a little kid shouted out for all to hear "Wheeee... Tadpoles!!!" Those ain't tadpoles buddy; they're half of what you are... Skipped briefly through the incredibly morbid "we used to cut up dead bodies for SCIENCE" propaganda (already converted...). Only then did I notice I was being followed by intestines... Great...

On the other side, back past those unblinking naked people, and those obsessed with them, was the mind exhibition... I stress test informed me my brother was normal (phew, what a relief) but I was calm, not that I needed a machine to tell me I walk around half asleep most of the time... I wonder if I would have got a reading at all if I'd taken Valium first. I stood in a "pod" for three minutes, where someone abused me for cutting the queue, and someone else threw up. Just great people... Good to see we've got it together... Highlight of the mind exhibition, the "dream couches," where they get you to lie down and experience a dream... Would be a hell of a lot easier if they didn't force a TV in your face that does nothing but show a cloud simulation... All I wanted to do was sleep, and all they wanted to do was show me the freaking sky... After the alarm clock went off, or maybe it was that kid untying my laces, not sure which, I got up and peeked into holes two feet from the floor showing possible "normal" dreams... Yeah, cause we all regularly enjoy dreaming of looking like a little plastic figurine running along a dark alleyway... Or enjoy the experience of having a bird crap on your head (he was smiling...). I endured about thirty seconds of a movie on depression before I wanted to kill myself and instead gazed over the massive dead whale that found its way into the main hallway.

Seriously, I've caught bigger... (And for those of you who remember year nine, you'll probably also remember her name).

Gift shop had nice frosted shot glasses, but they had some crap with that horse again on its side... Plain frosted shot glasses look best, when will you learn?

And a CD rack for CD's that don't have cases, which is all of mine... At $20 a rack, I can think of better places to spend $20 and get more than just a good rack... The butchers... What were you thinking I was thinking?

However, I'm not complaining about my day in the slightest. Between all the stuff that stuff I described above there was solid, whole-hearted knowledge, and you can't complain about that... Also can't complain about prices: Free for kids under 16, free for anyone who can pull a concession card out of their... wallet... and only six bucks for those who should not take their clothes off in public without getting arrested.

So you've been tasked with your little brother, sister, cousin, neighbour or all of the above at once for the day? Take them to the museum, but glue a tracker device on them or something, or you'll spend more time trying to find them, as opposed to learning, which is the main feature of this place... Mostly it's morbid curiosity and a desire to look at naked bodies for the older kids, and a desire to poke bugs, plants and other slimy stuff for the younger ones... Plus sex... Everyone enjoyed the sex... I know I did...

Limited Information

2007-12-17T18:30:00.000+11:00

Which pretty much sums up what photo's I can show you of Rosebud and our trip away.

Most of the pictures have been withheld, not because the actions depicted were illegal, just not required to tell a story...

So I was bartender, which was a lot of fun. Especially as Al paid for most of the alcohol... Cheers buddy... Amelia, Nick, Izzy and I went to the beach one day, which was a nice calming experience. Al and CVP stayed home to inspect the TV for subliminal messages, reports show that there several messages hidden, including a request from many for "MORE!!!"

Luke was our wonderful host, who ended up mowing the lawns himself. He didn't have to, but did it anyway... Sophie stayed a few days too, adding to our numbers, except in the mornings when she'd disappear for a few hours to check the surf. We had a water fight, and got pretty wet... We slept in, and stayed up late... We gave Al something of a male version of a make-over, with a new sleek black hair colour and a waxing of the back of his neck. Learnt some things about each other on "Truth or truth" night, cause no one could think of any dares (Though I've thought of several now that it's all over... I reckon watching Christiaan run up one of those hills would have been worth it).

Definitely a time worth remembering, plenty to take out of it...

And today we got our VCE results... Did almost exactly as I predicted, with two surprises:

One – English; I really kinda hate English, and sorta didn't try at all for it... So why the hell did I get a 39 for the subject???

Two – Electrotech; expected a little more from this one really, mainly because I know I'm better than the 43 I got. Though depending on the number of students that actually did Electrotech in the state, that 43 could still be the top grade (last year's top grade was 49, then 47, then 45, then 43).

Other subjects were really as expected, my 33 in Methods CAS got scaled up to a 40 and a 34 in Chemistry also went up to a 39.

Coupled with my subjects from last year, Biology and Geography, I pulled a solid 91.55 as my ENTER.

Which clearly fulfils my requirement of a 72.10 to get into Engineering at RMIT (it's the longest course name in the paper, if you want to know which Engineering).

Happy? Don't know... Hasn't sunk in yet... Maybe it never will... It is only four digits and a decimal place afterall... And if you don't get what you want this year, you do a year of something else and transfer... Doesn't count for anything really... Does it?

Complaint Letter

2007-12-05T11:00:00.000+11:00

To the development department, particularly the people specialising in the creation of Chickens, Turkeys and other birds that we eat:

I recently purchased a quarter chicken and chips for a dinner time meal from my local chicken shop. The chips were in ample proportion but that really has nothing to do with your department. I am writing to question the amount of meat that was in my quarter chicken.

I do not believe this to be the fault of the chicken shop, the piece of meat sold to me was clearly a quarter of a chicken. They had even provided me with the leg piece, notorious for having more meat than the wings. Even so, upon consumption, a mere two mouthfuls of meat were available.

Granted, the time it took me to find and eat these minor portions took the same amount of time it takes to eat a full three course meal in a fancy restaurant, but that was due to the difficulty in removing the food from the bone.

This raises my next grievance, the difficulty that people worldwide suffer with removing meat from chicken. It hides between bones, between gristle and in cartilage. This is clearly a manufacturing and development error in your behalf, as the development team for cows, pigs and most other food managed to please their consumers with easy to cut, easy to find, large portions of meat. I have never encountered difficulty in finding one whole mouthful of meat from a cow and their development team has my full regards. From your team there has been a countless number of times I have spent fifteen minutes cutting out multiple small sections of meat to make a mouthful, only to find that there is bone or cartilage in my mouth.

To be fair, you have correctly addressed the flavour of your product, as many other developments teams are attempting to copy your excellent work (The escargot team for example) and I do not wish for this desirable nature of chicken to change. I do wish, however, for you to address the issues described above. A possible suggestion as to how to address this problem could be to make the chickens larger, about seven feet tall should do it, which would create larger portions of uninterrupted meat.

Thank you for your time in pursuing this issue.

Milestones

2007-11-24T20:00:00.000+11:00

So yesterday was a very special day! Did anyone pick it?

Yes, I went to the Dentist. Yes, I drove out to Donvale. Yes, I went to this "The Glen" place for the first time. Yes, I travelled into the city and back, simply to get a uniform for work next week. Yes, I was delayed by half an hour by Connex because of a signal fault or some shit like that. And yes, I spent my evening with Izzy.

None of this however celebrated my blog's first birthday...

It has evolved since it first appeared on the net, but still has the same blue "tic-tac" look to it (that's the name of the template). It's written about everything, from disasters to celebrations... And just like my blog has evolved, so have I in the last year (either it followed me or I followed it, haven't decided yet...).

Not only was yesterday its first birthday, but this post is its fiftieth... Which means that a new post has appeared every week or so... Never feels like it...

So over this time, there's been a whole heap of interesting searches from Google which have pointed people here. Three people have searched for my laptop with an interest in installing Ubuntu on it... I hope that goes well for them. One wants to know if Luke Hawley is an alcoholic (Shoulda sent me an e-mail). Two people have been interested in changing their screen resolutions on a favour of Linux I use. Someone was curious on "black tails, yellow tails" on YouTube, whatever that might be... Someone was searching for "Girls eighteenth birthday party ideas." Good for them, hope it was a blast! Heaps of people have been curious as to where that fucking burn button is in iTunes... And, quite bizarrely, someone is having trouble because their "chocolate music won't unmute..."

Congratulations to my blog for living its first year, congratulations to it again for its fiftieth post, and a very special, loud and vocal congratulations to every person that has visited it over this time, written a comment, or downloaded something from the box.

Oh, and a Nation voted today... La-dee-da...

How much is that Doggie in the window?

2007-11-18T13:16:00.001+11:00

So I've finished my exams now. If you ask me how I did in any of them, I've forgotten already... I've decided that there are better things in life than a high ENTER score. I do, however, need a high score, in more ways than one, and NONE of them to get into university. Now that it's done completely, finally and forever, I need to know I made the right choices this year for myself. I'm looking forward to getting blind drunk at the next available opportunity to celebrate choices, hopefully the right ones...

Ryan's Party was last night. Heaps of fun! I only have to say that without any bug stuff, without any vinegar, without jumping up and down like an idiot last night, I received one mozzie bite. Only one. On my thumb... Reinforcing my "soft skin" theory again...

But I've got a soft spot for our new puppy. He's a Cardigan Welsh Corgi (the same type the Queen breeds) and his name is Harry (Pedigree name: Cambrian Make My Day). He's full of energy and is bouncing off everything already. I'm going to have to hide my new shoes if I don't want them to become destroyed. Afrika is sceptical about the new arrival, but he'll just have to get used to the new fella, even if he shows Afrika up a few times. I've got photos of young Harry in the box just here, and some photos of Ryan's party down the very bottom.

What’s that Lassie? James has been busy? We’ve gotta save him!!

2007-11-11T20:48:00.001+11:00

Yeah, trapped down a well or something...

So I've had a bunch of exams since my last post, and I've still got a few more. Let's revise over them shall we:

English – The one subject I viewed as the biggest waste of my time was just that, a waste of my time. The exam was easier than I thought it would be and I'm happy to announce that I did NOT study for English... In fact, I did not willingly write any essays all year. Any essays that I did write were SAC's or trial exams. I'm guessing my study sore will be about 32 or 33 in this subject, which is about what I've been hoping for...
VET Electrotechnology – Ah yeah... IF you could call that an exam it was not difficult in the slightest. Please regurgitate some basic electronics, easy. Please draw lines to connect these batteries, easy. Please read this graph by telling us what happens at when the time is zero, easy. Please copy the picture above, easy. And most of those questions are worth five marks or more!!! If you're looking for an easy subject with no homework, you've found it. Estimated study score: 47+ and the Premier's Award (quite probably 50, but they didn't give one last year).
Math Methods CAS Exam #1 (Tech Free) – The one exam I've feared since year nine was everything it was hyped up to be I reckon. I didn't do badly, just ran short of time. And it was a fair bit longer than I expected it to be... That's ok though because tomorrow I have:
Math Methods CAS Exam #2 (Tech Active) – This will be fun, I'm looking forward to going in there, answering it all and walking out to hear everyone whine like they always do. Math is my strong point, assuming I have a fancy calculator to do all the fiddly bits on (seriously, who does that unit circle shit in their head? And why?). I'm hoping to get around 35 for Methods, remembering that it's harder to get a better score in CAS (cause more smart people do it) and I did sort of shit on the tech free, but that mark could very easily be a 39 as well. Oh, and if I haven't told you enough already, CAS is harder and hence gets scaled more, so don't tell me it's easier cause we have a fancy calc, we have to LEARN more :P
Finally, Chemistry – This is my wildcard at the moment. I'd like to place this in my top four, with English, VET Electrotechnology and Biology (or Methods if it makes it) but it could quickly. Did well on my trial in comparison to everyone else, but I didn't do that well on it (if that makes sense). Need to learn that whole redox/electrochemical series stuff and how to use it, especially as half the paper will be on it. I'll read my text book Tuesday and Wednesday probably. Estimated Study Score of about 38 – 42, but could be as low as 35.

Also, I've got myself a job recently. I'm now a food and beverage attendant, which is a fancy name for waiter. I've worked three days now at Flemington during the races and its lots of fun but really tiring:

Saturday 3^rd November – First day of work. This was by far the toughest day. I was working in the birdcage which is a corporate like area. Each company has this tiny footprint the size of a shoebox and builds an ultra-modern square thing in it. They then go and invite everyone they know and cram them into that tiny room they've just built. I was working in the Longines corporate shoebox, where the manager or something has some special ties with the company I was working for or something. So when a usual function has one waiter per twenty-five guests, this function had one per ten guests, to make sure the best service was offered. Longines is some overseas watch company (we think it was Swiss) and hance had boxes built into the walls to display their products to the people who were already aligned to their way of life (EVERYBODY had an accent and had just got off a first-class overseas flight that morning). My supervisor was so tight... He had a ruler out before the guests arrived and was measuring the distance of the glasses from the edge of the bar to match them perfectly on both sides... Talk about tight... So I'm given a marble platter, about 3cm thick, 40cm square, and it weighs a tonne. They go and pile it up with food, dips and some stupid decoration, tell me to carry it with one arm and place napkins arranged all decoratively in the other hand. Hold the platter out from the body and go and serve the food, don't come back till it's empty. So I spent my day in a hot, tight, crowded room with my arm shaking, yelling "excuse me" or "would you like some fresh prawn cutlets with mango and lime dip?" or some other gourmet food to the guests. I had one break, eight hours into my shift, no lunch, and no water all day...
Tuesday 6^th November – Melbourne Cup. This was the complete opposite of my first day. Assigned to the Phar Lap enclosure I was expecting more loud noise and drunken people. Instead, I was blessed with a nice plasma television nearby, and a collection of old people helped by a young generation (about 25ish). I was working the buffet, which meant I got to stand there and dish out whatever crap was in the thing. "Beef, Glazed Virginia Ham, Spinach and Fetta Pie and over here we have Chicken." Of course, if you read the menu in front of you I wouldn't have had to repeat myself 400 times (800 guests, and I seemed to repeat it every couple). But I had a good work mate, a New Zealand Chef who was supposed to make the food look all fancy and fresh by cutting the meat up while I served it. I explained to him what a stubby was (I still don't think he believes me...) and together we sussed out the turf, provided the "I got a spot for you right here under the counter" commentary and did the whole "who would you fuck from that table?" thing. Heaps of fun. Plus I had dessert for lunch.
Saturday 10^th November – Emirates Stakes Day. Originally I was working as a bartender in the Ascot enclosure for "Make a Wish Foundation" but then got moved after an hour of work to "The Cancer Council" tent, also in the Ascot enclosure. And after a total of 3 minutes working there, I got moved again to Trackside, which is quite literally track side. On a raised platform on the bend just after the finish line, we were within a distance to drop items onto the track, or throw them at the horses that just lost our money. The setup here was like the Longines suite, but it wasn't as corporate and everything was more spread out with more room. Again, the audience was a little older than Longines, which made life quite enjoyable. The blokes drank beer and the chicks drank champagne. The older people all drank mixed drinks. The atmosphere was light and relaxed, though I did some grazing again (damn heavy platters... these weren't as bad though). One of the younger girls (about 25) had me follow her friend around with food all day, just for fun. Another one was insistent on giving me tips for being the opposite gender presents (she was really trying to get me to spend $1000 on a Tiffany's anklet...). A group of adults kept asking me to leave the platters at their table, which I can't do, so instead I just stood there at their table chatting while they finished off a basket of dim sim's or whatever it was. Another group kept wanting me to sit and actually share a beer or two (or twelve in one hour by my count). A set of older ladies were quite impressed when I offered to cut the queue at the bar for them and bring the drinks straight to their table (when in fact it gave me an excuse to stand around for five minutes instead of carry food). And some lucky bugger in our tent spent $2 on a quinella, and won it, winning $604,000. Damn, I'm jealous...

So that's my recent happenings. With a few more to go exams to go and Ryan's party thing on Saturday, there should be another one of these next Sunday, but no promises... After all, there will be a new puppy which might be stealing my attention...

Periodic Table?

2007-10-29T17:24:00.000+11:00

From Wikipedia:

Vodka usually has an alcohol content of 35% to 50% by volume. The classic Russian, Lithuanian and Polish vodka is 40% (USA 80 proof). This can be attributed to the Russian standards for vodka production introduced in 1894 by Alexander III from research undertaken by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. According to the Vodka Museum in Moscow, Mendeleev found the perfect percentage to be 38.

You mean that old guy Mendeleev we've been studying actually did something interesting other than create the periodic table?

And you thought chemistry was boring...

And I'm working on a shot for schoolies, I need a name... Vodka, Sambuca and Whiskey probably... And it burns... Like actually on fire burns... Suggestions?

I’m ready...

2007-10-25T15:00:00.000+10:00

Wow... I'm graduating tonight...

It feels so weird, being that person you never thought you'd be, one of the members of the graduating class.

So today was my last day.

Final assembly, where we formed our circle and passed the colours, will remain with me forever, as will our final chapel service, where we belted out Jerusalem louder than I'd ever heard it before.

We spent a lot of time signing shirts. There's quite a few memorable ones:

"James, what a great name" –Pant

"I can feel your ass crack!" –Da only black guy in Methods CAS

"I'm... Sad..." –Ajit

"You dirty DOG!" - Ongas

"S.E.P.S" –Bevo

And a quote Matt could add to his blog: "There is nothing either good or bad – thinking makes it so" – Mr. P

And Picka's is right... It isn't good or bad that we are leaving, it's what we make of it after we are gone... If we choose to leave the school and never look back, so be it. But if we miss the place, we will return. To repeat someone's words from today: Haileybury has defined us, become a part of us, and everywhere we go from now on we take Haileybury with us.

I'm ready... Ready to say good bye, ready to leave school, ready to start the next chapter of my life book... But I'll never forget school and the way it has changed me.

New Boxes

2007-10-20T11:00:00.000+10:00

Yawn! I feel nice and tired! And I know it was last night and my final speech night I'll be a part of, my final speech night that I'll walk across stage for... *tear...*

It wasn't until after I'd walked across stage twice and received all my awards that it fully set in how close to the end I am, how much I'll miss it all.

But now I have another decoration for my wall and a gold medal I apparently can't eat... The subject prize for VET Electrotechnology was no surprise for me, I thoroughly deserved it, being the top student in every aspect... But my high distinction was a little bit of a shock to me, because I didn't think I'd done all that well in some of my other subjects. A high distinction is defined at Haileybury as someone who manages to achieve a majority of A+'s throughout the year (Distinction is majority A's) and I hardly feel like a had a large proportion of A+'s... Though it could make sense considering I'm a member of Haileybury's Honours Society - with a total acheivements for the year of zero!

But the real shock to me was a Barney Allen Gold medal, for high performance in a number of areas around the school. I have Academic Honours, Drama Honours and Lawn Bowls Colours; which I'm led to believe is enough performance for a gold... Alastair got a silver, because he lacked a sport probably. Christiaan also did well, with the subject prize in Drama, which he was very impressed with (he is the best after all). Luke recieved one of the more... lethal... prizes of the night, with a trophy that's heavy enough to be a doorstop for his excellent contribution to the school, plus a Malthouse contribution to drama award (I feel like I'm missing something with Luke's prizes...). Our resident prefect, Matt, also wandered across the stage to receive a Editorial prize, plus a Citizenship prize.

And it seems that once again, the males at Haileybury have been discriminated against... Girls who received two prizes got two plaques, but males with two prizes (High Distinction and VET Electrotechnology) only got one...

But I forgive them for the fact they are in a new type of box to last year, more sturdy... And harder to open!!!

Mental Countdown

2007-10-18T18:00:00.000+10:00

Is anyone else watching the days fly by before the end? Kinda sad isn't it...

I'm still not in the mindset that I'm at the end. It just doesn't seem as... final... as it's supposed to. I've been doing the same thing for thirteen years and now I'm at the end all of a sudden, and I feel like I'm being pushed of this plank...

Sure, I've had enough of school. Sure, I've had enough of these early mornings. Sure, I've had enough of putting of with bullshit from idiots.

But I haven't had enough of seeing my frineds everyday at school, and I don't think I'd ever get sick of it. It's always seemed like a part of our conversation is missing when someone isn't there to share it with us. It's that permanent feeling that I'm going to hate next year.

Okay, yeah, I'll make new friends, but I know that I'll never ever forget the ones that I met at school, they're the ones that change who your are. And I know that a day won't go by that I won't think of them.

They claim the whole purpose of going to school is to learn academically, to enrich your head with knowledge shared throughout generations, to learn the foundations of the knowledge that will make our society great... They are wrong... The whole purpose of schoool is to learn socially, to enrich your head with knowledge about others and their beliefs, to learn the foundations that won't just make our society great, but to make each and every person within it great, to make a person able to walk past a stanger to them and bid welcome and to create the one thing that no person in the world can truly succeed without... Friends...

Large Seafood?

2007-10-11T19:05:00.001+10:00

Me: "Hey, could I get a large seafood?"
Shopkeeper: "No problem"
*Sits and waits, reads magazine in front of him*
Shortly afterwards,
Random Female: "Excuse me?"
Me: "Hi!"
"Could I ask you a question?"
"No problem"
"But, uh... this is sorta a personal question. Is that okay?"
"Sure!"
"I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, it's just that y'know"
"Okay"
"Well, uh... this is gonna sound a little weird but..."
"Mmmhmmm..."
"I, er, um... I'm having a few self esteem problems and uh,"
"Mmmm..."
"I was sorta wondering... do you think I'm pretty?"
*I lean back in chair, contemplating the correct answer*
"Yes."
"Oh okay"
*Brief pause, random female goes back to facing the wall, I go back to reading magazine (good article on HD-DVD)*
Random female: "What makes you say that?"
Me: "Well, you do have quite a pretty face, I'm not lying. You obviously put some effort into your appearance which means that you care about the way that you look. Some girls don't put any effort at all in, and it doesn't quite work for them. And some try too hard, and you can't see their face and who they really are. I don't like to look at faces so much as what's behind the face and what the people I'm looking at believe in and their ideals."
"Yeah, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
"True, and you can't judge a book by its cover. You need to see the beauty on the inside as well..."
*Random female absorbs this*
"Could you do be a favour?"
"Uh, sure!"
"Could you tell me I'm pretty?"
"You are, you're pretty."
"No, just say 'you're pretty!'"
"You're very pretty."
"No I mean like, just 'you're pretty!'"
"You're pretty!"
"Thanks."
*Random female faces the wall again, I go back to the article (Dated July 2006...) *
Random female: "What would it mean if a guy refused to answer?"
*I lean back in chair again, connecting large quantities of information"
Me: "You've clearly had a guy refuse to answer that question to you recently, but I don't think you need to worry, you are quite pretty!"
"Yes, but what would it mean?"
"Well, it could be that he didn't understand the question; or that he was confused as to what to compare you to, or in what context; or it could be he doesn't want to tell you what he really thinks."
"Confused?"
"Yeah, when you asked me if I thought you were pretty, I could have given you a completely different answer, it all depends on what I compare you to. If for example I had decided to compare you to a super-model, then I wouldn't have called you pretty; and if I had decided to compare you to someone not so desirable, then I would have been over-enthusiastic in my response. I decided to compare you to the Australian population as whole, which I believe to be an adequate comparison."
"Ohh..."
"The problem with guys and that question is that we have trouble picking who to compare you with. Trying to pick someone to compare you with when there are three billion people in the world is not an easy task, most guys can't handle that."
*Information sinking in, my eyes are starting to wander back to the magazine again*
"So how old are you?"
*I'm thinking that by now she's going to want my number or something, but the simple 'I have someone special (very special) in my life' will save me*
"Eighteen"
"Oh good, I didn't want to be asking that question to someone young"
"Mmmm..."
"It's just that he confuses me sometimes..."
"I know."
"...and he never quite understands..."
"Yeah"
"I just wish he would pay more attention."
"It seems to be a running theme amongst men."
"So what do you think it was? Lack of understanding, confusion or didn't want to answer?"
*I think to myself: ">Removed - Too detailed for female readers<"*
Me: "Confusion"
Random female: "Thanks so much" *pause* "Could you tell me I'm pretty again?"
"You're very pretty!"
"No, just I'm pretty"
"You're pretty"
Shopkeeper: "Large seafood?"
Me: "That's me!"
*I get up, take pizza, about to leave*
Random female: "One more time please, it feels good to hear it"
"You're pretty"
"Thank you so much for helping me"
"Anytime! It was good meeting you"
"You too, I'll see you around"
*Shakes hands (what else was I supposed to do? Hug her? I don't know where she's been???) and leaves*

And that was my random pizza shop experience...

What can I get you?

2007-10-01T17:00:00.000+10:00

So I finished my Responsible Serving of Alcohol and my Food Hygiene Certificates on Saturday. I can now apply to jobs behind the bar and legally sell people alcohol, assuming that I'm selling it to people with adequate ID and all that jazz... Also part of my course was a basic coffee making lessons and wine appreciation. Turns out Cappuccino's and Latte's are almost exactly the same, just I fold the milk with a Latte (and I've also got to be careful not to destroy the crema).

And while the bar downstairs burst with roars of excitement when a favourite team would kick a goal, our group was pulling beers, foaming milk, sipping wine and breaking glasses. For a lovely change, I didn't see a single minute of the grand final this year due to my thoroughly enjoyable and very worthwhile course. The purpose of this is to lead into part time work for after exams and university, and I've already applied to several places including the place I was training at, the Belgian Beer café; even if it's a little annoying to get to (I hate public transport).

Today, while in the process of trying to backup Izzy's Tablet, I stumbled across something which has distracted me for a couple of hours now. While virtual desktops aren't original, the 3D cube model of them is relatively new, and my notebook now takes on a whole new flippy feel as I whir around the box. A separate background on them all helps me remember which desktop I'm on, handy! Only a few things I need to get used to, one of them is checking conversations in other desktops, because they don't make noise when they aren't on the active desktop. Nevertheless, I can see this as something that will change my productivity process. Have a screenshot of my computer, flipping between the desktops:

Pulling Hard

2007-09-22T17:40:00.001+10:00

Well today was the first of my two day bartending course at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Eureka Tower...

Today we did part one of Responsible Serving of Alcohol, Cleanliness and all that other OH&S stuff. But by far the best part of today was pulling beers (not pouring). The Belgian Beer Cafe has, well, all Belgian beer (funny that) and it was all specially imported. A place like this you don't go to get pissed at, you go to try an assortment of different beers and to enjoy the fine atmosphere. This explains why the cheapest beer on tap was $5.50 a glass... The more expensive ones were around $12... But I tell you, they were fantastic!

But we had to work for our beers, and pulling them isn't an easy process:

Take order,
Select appropriate coasters to match order (each drink takes a corresponding coaster),
Select individual glasses (again, special branded glasses for each different brand of beer),
Clean glass (yes, I know it was on a rack with clean ones, but this time we're POLISHING it),
Rinse,
Chill glass (using a really cool spray-ma-bob-thingo),
Run the tap off (so that the beer comes out non-frothy),
(Here's the tricky bit) Tilt glass to 80° and place under tap (it's still running...),
Continue to run until beer is just about to spill over the edge, then in one fluid movement,
Straighten and lower the glass, placing it on the counter, shutting off the tap abruptly when it is full.
Logically, the head will continue to form and overflow is expected. Hence, cut the top to produce the desired half-moon from the head.
Then, dip the glass into your rinsing water to remove the beer from the sides,
Finally, serve to the customer by placing on the coaster prepared earlier.

Sound hard? No? You've obviously never tried it... Should I add in that the entire process has to be done with the branding facing the customer at all times, plus that you can only touch the glass with two fingers, on the stem of the glass, and cannot move them at all... Does that make it harder? Yeah? That's good...

So after pulling eight beers of different species, I had a taste test and enjoyed them all...

I'm looking forward to next week, where I continue to pull beers. I'll also get to taste test wines (not spirits unfortunately, the stuff they have on the wall is VERY expensive) and get to make a few coffees. Finally, at the end of next week, I'll come out with a couple of certificates, a skill in pulling and pouring, and the knowledge of when to legally (vs. when to socially) stop our resident Panda from drinking.

Skid Marks

2007-09-15T14:00:00.000+10:00

Did the Skilled Drivers Course a few weekends ago... Lots and lots of fun.

About half the people there were there on court orders, the other half had had serious accidents and wanted to learn to be safer drivers. Everyone, including me, was there for the 10% discount.

The morning consisted of some theory (but you didn't have to take notes) of accidents and how they occurred, how they could have been prevented and other contributing factors. We discovered accidents could be narrowed down to one or more of three things:

Driving too fast;
Following the car ahead too closely;
Lack in concentration.

For those of you who are going to try and kick up a fuss and claim something like alcohol ain't there, that falls under concentration...

Also catching up on news, school is speeding along, and now that we should have finished the coursework, we are doing our trial exams.

Setting up the exam tables was quite fun... Until I woke up the next morning and felt my shoulders.

Exams completed to date: 2 of 5.

English, where we had to write four essays. I did: Part 1, Citizen Kane (I can tell stories!); Part 2, Inheritance (Toilet paper...); Analysis of language (I did quite well I thought); and a Point of View (where I got really pissy with sporting people as a whole... It was worth it...).
Methods CAS Tech Active. I found this far easier than I thought I would, which is a good sign...

I might as well explain my trial exam policy... I believe the whole purpose of trial exams is NOT to study your ass off, so that you can find out what you don't know. That way, when you get them back, you know what you need to study in the coming weeks and you don't repeat yourself by studying the wrong things. You can focus in on the areas that require work...

I will study for one exam though, Electronics. We've already been given the exam we'll be tested on next week and it's now a race to see who can memorize the most correct answers... If you want to see how EASY this exam is, check out the box down the bottom... Really really easy...

Now I'm at school again on the weekend, doing this aerobics thing. They took a break for lunch, where I assumed I would get more CD's to play, as I had run out...

They tried to start again without me having any CD's... Boy, was that ever cut short. I felt sorry for the girl that was on stage waiting for people to provide me with a stack of CD's to play. I felt sorry for myself, having an entire audience stare at me waiting for me to do something. I just stood there...

And as I wrote that sentence a CD I was supposed to play wasn't there... Nothing I can do, someone ran up and provided me with the CD for that one, as well as the next one (which was also missing). Thanks to whomever you were, with your spindle full of matching CD's...

So I'm stuck here till late tonight (finish about 10:30, but running an hour or so late) watching all these fake-tanned, underage (ie. Too young for ANYONE who reads this blog, even you Matt), barbie dolls prance about in their tight fitting, almost non-existent leotards to music that has been mixed really badly... Anyone watched "Little Miss Sunshine?" This reminds me of that...

Scientific Journal?

2007-09-01T01:00:00.000+10:00

Aim: To investigate the change in acceleration, speed and other driving practices after adding a full tank of petrol to my car.

Hypothesis: The car will feel heavier, have a slower acceleration in standard driving situations, have a greater acceleration when rolling freely down hills, have a higher responsiveness to the clutch and make James happy when he looks at the gauge.

Materials:

Car, preferably mine;
Money, preferably yours;
Fuel Docket, makes it cheaper;
Road, with or without traffic;
Dead weight named Alastair.

Method:

Drive car until almost empty of petrol, get a 'feel' for it.
Visit petrol station, park next to empty unleaded pump.
Swear continuously while trying to remove the petrol cap (It's a bitch, ain't it?).
Fill up tank.
Pay for petrol.
Replace cap.
Drive the car out of petrol station.
Run car through a number of scenarios to test its 'feel' compared to before the tank was filled with petrol.
Stop driving like an idiot and go home

Results:

Car is distinctly heaver.
Engine revolutions are far lower than before.
Car is harder to accelerate.

Conclusion: The car is feels heavier due to the quantity of petrol filled in the car. Because petrol is slightly less dense than water, and I filled the car with 41 litres, I expect that the car has had 40 kilograms added to the weight of the car. It should be noted that in pre-testing the car had 80 kg of weight added to it yet no noted weight gain could be felt. This could be because Alastair sits in the front passenger seat, where the petrol resides at the very rear of the car. As the car is a front wheel drive, the car would have to be doing a greater amount of pulling to the petrol than to Alastair, who resides almost on top of the engine (he has long legs). This means that the car is pushing Alastair, where it is pulling the petrol. This is why a greater weight could be felt with the added petrol.

Adding petrol is a contributing factor for acceleration from a stopped position in two separate ways. The car was also noticed to have a far lower engine revolution with the added petrol. While an explanation for this is not known, it makes the car much more likely to stall when accelerating away from a stopped position. Also, the added weight of the petrol will slow the cars acceleration. This acceleration is the most noticeable difference in the movement of the car.

On a downward slope, the car is much faster to accelerate when the clutch is placed in (the equivalent of placing a car on wheels, with no engine). This is obviously due to the added weight of the car, as the same experience can be duplicated by adding my dead weight (Alastair).

It should be noted that my hypothesis was completely correct, except for it's higher responsiveness to the clutch. The car is clearly more possessed when filled with petrol, this could be because all the dinosaurs don't like being in liquid form. Due to these observations, it is clear that the car uses less petrol when it has a full tank, mainly due to the lower engine revolutions. It is also clear, that I prefer a full tank of petrol.

People are welcome to duplicate this experiment by filling my car with petrol; I will gladly accept all the petrol you want to give me to continue gathering results for this ongoing experiment. Government funding will also be accepted.

EDIT: Al ain't as fat as I first thought he was... All you potential partners should know he's actually 75kg...

Another post titled Fame!

2007-08-19T14:29:00.001+10:00

And so Fame is over...

Upon reflection over the many years, school productions aren't just about the audience, aren't just about a great show, they're about taking out all the great moments we have when we bump in or out, have dinner together, or run the show.

And as usual, Fame has outdone itself with plenty of memories I will treasure forever... Confetti, a broken car, and the customary decorous conversation (yeah... RIGHT!).

I could explain how the show went, but if you don't know already then you should have bought tickets.

I could enlighten you as to the details of bump in and the construction of the set, or you could just look at the pictures and their descriptions down the bottom.

I could even inform you of our wonderfully exquisite conversation that we often had as we dined in fine restaurants, though I might not want that kind of conversation left in writing for the whole world to see.

So instead, just remember the days of hard work and hours of lost sleep shared by the crew:

Stewart Bell; Director.

Luke Hawley; Stage Manager.

Brett Pullyblank; Assistant Stage Manager, Locker mover.

Nic Frame; Assistant Stage Manager, Pain in the ass...

James Lescohier; I dunno, what did I do??

Jonathan Davies; Stage Crew.

Laura Matthews; Stage Crew.

Zabrina Batterham; Stage Crew, Locker mover.

Liam Burns; Stage Crew.

James Lee; Stage Crew.

James Panther; Venue Manager + more.

John Panetta; Lighting Design/Operator.

Steve Monkhouse; Lighting Queue person.

Alastair Bryant; Would-be Stage Crew.

Don Wallice; Sound, Music Industry teacher.

Matthew Sanderson; Wireless microphones/sound.
Linh Nguyen; Sound Queue Person.

Dale Krummins; Sound.

Steven Bowler; Pianist.

Kristy Kendall and Lauren Perfect; Dance and Choreography.

Clarabelle; King Cow...

There are plenty I have missed, let's not forget them too.

Thanks to all the cast too, though our jobs are usually easier without you!

We have lights!!!

2007-08-04T17:30:00.001+10:00

So after two days of work (Thursday and today), we now have 95% of the lights hung from whatever they need to be hung from. Things like data and power are also 95% under control.

This is quite good, because it means we've done enough work to not really warrant the need to go into school again tomorrow (unless we want to work on the set).

Our IT guys, Pant and Rich, along with some useful but overall unneeded comments from the entire crew, managed to copy the entire pre-patched show to the GrandMA via a network connection. After which, they managed to install a wireless access point to the desk and connect a PDA to it and you can now control the entire show from anywhere within range, albeit on a very small screen and hard to do controls.

The pinspots, MAC 700's and Golden Scans were all hung from their various trusses today as the Cyber VL's had already been hung Thursday. The slight bow in the second truss indicated too much weight and we attached it from a third point to the roof.

The Miniscans also had to be hung from underneath the set which seemed a challenge as the bar we attached them to would rotate. My original idea was to attach clamps which sorta got ignored/not understood and wasn't used until we found that gaff wouldn't hold it quite right. In the end we used the clamps.

With a handful of extra pinspots we were a little stuck as to what to do with them, but I came up with the genius idea (if I do say so myself) of having them under the landing at the front of the stairs for a little bottom light (which I also remember Belly saying he'd like at one point) and it looks really sexy! Pant, however, will tell you it was his idea. We settled the matter by calling it "James' Idea." The whole design of the idea though involved me climbing under the set on the dirty dusty floor to put them in position and to address them correctly.

And so with the Parcans focused, the various moving lights in position, a couple of 2K's aimed at the stage and a hazer hidden away it seems like we're mostly up and going. I say mostly because we'll find work to do later, we always do.

Lunch today was also pretty fun. Luke took orders from everybody and we both went and bought it all from Hungry Jacks. I did the calculations and worked out the change... which mostly worked (everyone is out about 10c, some have more, some have less, I don't think you care though).

Make sure you take a look at the all of the photos at the bottom of the page that didn't make it onto this post. Also, there's a movie or two of people working.

The title hes to lazy to think of so im wirting it!!

2007-08-03T17:58:00.001+10:00

James cant be bother wirting his own blog so im doing it for him... aren't i nice?

Apparently he wants to say something about yesterdays rehearsals. They were fun and he'll have piccitures on later and everybody else has stuff so read their blogs...

And now he wants a title... so demanding!!! Jks jks

Bye everybody!

Iz x

140,000 km old.

2007-08-01T17:52:00.001+10:00

So today, sitting at the lights to turn onto Springvale Road, I look at my car's odometer...

The poor little thing just turned 140,000 km.

Also, you can see that I'm about to turn my 200^th km while driving on my P's.

Congratulations, Little Laser, we've got a hell of a distance to go yet!

A Fame Rehearsal

2007-07-29T19:43:00.000+10:00

Well, I could tell you all about my day, or you could just read Luke's, Steve's or Jono's blogs...

I was there and did all that with them...

That's all I have to say really, I'm only writing this for my reference. Also this looks like my english homework to my mother...

Probationary...

2007-07-26T17:03:00.001+10:00

Well I had my driving test today; I passed with only one mistake!

So now I have my new piece of plastic for my wallet. They let me keep the old license, but it has a hole in it... I could have sold it to someone who looks like me otherwise. I still could. Reckon I could find someone who looks like me and is really stupid? (I can hear your laughter from here...).

Also, the car has been transferred to my name, which means I own the car I drive around in. So if you see my little Ford Laser 1995 zipping down the streets down forget to wave, cause that's me behind the wheel!

As a result of all this stuff, I missed out on school today. This also means I missed out on one Chemistry and one Methods SAC... Oh well, do you really think I care? At least I have an English SAC tomorrow to do instead.

Finally, I plan on driving on the footpaths, my car is small enough and it has less traffic, so I recommend you start walking on the road, for your own safety...

Online Societies

2007-07-19T20:18:00.000+10:00

No credit to me for any of this, it ain't my work. But there's a few interesting words that can be fun to find... like emo...

Term Three

2007-07-16T20:00:00.000+10:00

Well the end of the holidays has arrived for us all and I came to a shocking realisation for us Year Twelves: Only Sixty-Three days left of school... Ever...

Well, if you aren't freaked then you should be. That's next to no time at all.

Think about it; you've spent your last thirteen years at school, doing the whole learning thing for almost every day (for most of us anyway). You've been obliged to attend every single term, every single day and every single period (doesn't really stop some of us though). You've had someone watching over your shoulder every day, helping you achieve your best.

And next year, it all changes. You don't need go in every day; no one will notice if you don't go, no one will care if you don't go. No one cares; no one wants to know how your day was when you got home. You can spend the next few years without knowing anyone else in your classes, no, not classes anymore even, they will become lectures...

Those in other year levels, those that don't have to experience this until a few years, don't think that this won't happen to you or it is too far away... It isn't. It's only a few moments away. I was warned and I didn't really listen, I wish I had tried to create more memories of the greatest times of my life... You have been warned...

Circles

2007-07-14T10:33:00.000+10:00

Back from Canberra.

Went and saw heaps of things, some I'd probably never go and see again. Canberra tries to be a touristy town (yes, town, it's too small to be a city) and is designed for either the 4-12 group or the 50+ group.

The reason why the 50+ would like it is because peak hour traffic is less busy than Springvale Road at 1am. Though it might be because all the drivers are lost instead. Signs are either too vague or non-existent, but there isn't a shortage of them. Signs with "City" on them are written everywhere but all seem to point in a different direction... It's probably because Canberra doesn't have a set "City" to point at, and just guesses where one might develop in the future. I blame its "radial design" where it's easy to get to the middle, but impossible to go around the outside.

The "planned city" has suburbs spread unusually wide and you'll often find yourself driving though bushland just to get to the equivalent of Mentone.

And I didn't see any of the Parliament Houses, not that I think they would have been interesting, just I think they might have given me an idea as to how to vote at the end of the year!

And if you're looking for a tractor, Canberra has plenty of advertisements on TV for you to keep your eye on...

But it's not all bad, you just need to get used to complaining but not actually doing anything about it. Matt, we've found the town for you!

Political

2007-07-06T21:00:00.000+10:00

Off to the ACT tomorrow morning... Taking the laptop to do homework but there's no promises that that means I'll have internet...

Which of course means I might not talk to you for a week... Oh well... If you want you can call my mobile or send me an email if it ain't important...

I get back on Friday 13th.

Catcha then!