England team slammed by British media.

 

Link to England team slammed by British media - News - Ashes Tour 06-07 - theage.com.au

 

Should I be overjoyed?

Should we just wait until after the next test?

Could the Poms resurrect Ian Botham, Mike Brierly and Phil Tufnell to dig them out of this hole.

 

Too late me thinks. The Wombles are gone.

As for the British media, the love to eat their young don't they?

Icebergs head closer to New Zealand

Ships near southern New Zealand have been warned of icebergs after several - some bigger than houses - were reported within 76 kilometres of the coast.

One iceberg, reported by a fishing boat to be 200 metres long and 50m high, was headed toward the South Island's east coast, Maritime New Zealand senior adviser Steve Corbett said.

Others, said to be about the size of houses, were drifting nearby. They were among about 100 spotted south of New Zealand on November 3, being pushed north by winds and ocean currents.

A maritime navigation warning was issued at the time.

Scientists had said earlier that it was not unusual to see icebergs so far from the Antarctic coastal region, where they had broken off the ice shelf - but that they were expected to melt as they drifted toward New Zealand.

Oceanographer Mike Williams said winds from a series of southern storms had probably driven some of the icebergs close to the South Island.

"They're surviving a bit longer than I initially expected and some of them have taken a different route than I initially expected.

"It's highlighted that trying to forecast what icebergs do is actually very, very hard."

It was likely the iceberg seen moving toward the east coast would soon be visible from land, and given its size "it should survive for a while", Mr Williams said.

Marine radio operator John McLellan said ships in the area should have been given accurate information about the icebergs much earlier.

Link to Icebergs head closer - New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz

I think this is an attempt by our trans Tasman neighbours to expand their empire. I'm not sure that it's going to work but as usual, global warming is being blamed, but this is not an uncommon thing. This has happened many times over the decades.

Cricinfo - Trescothick's dressing-room breakdown

Marcus Trescothick suffered a breakdown during day two of the match against New South Wales and had to be cared for by the team doctor for two hours before asking for a release from the Ashes tour. Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, had already considered sending Trescothick home when the incident occurred on Monday.

"We decided well maybe the best way to deal with it was bring his wife [Hayley] out," Fletcher told AAP. "And then I was a little bit uncomfortable about that, because was that going to help the problem?"

Fletcher was planning to talk to Trescothick, who scored 8 before being bowled by Brett Lee, after the game about whether he should end the tour before the first Test. "I was pretty uncomfortable about it [sending him home]," Fletcher said. "It was taken out of my hands when Marcus came off the field in the afternoon [on Monday] and there was a reoccurrence of the problem he had in India."

Trescothick flew back to England in the lead-up to the first Test against India in February and he also missed the Champions Trophy in the same country last month before declaring his fitness for the Ashes. "He was feeling pretty upset," Fletcher said of the SCG episode. "He wanted to go back." Trescothick boarded a plane for England on Tuesday and a replacement will come from the team of "shadow" players that is due in Perth this week.

"It was unpleasant in the change room with him," Fletcher said. "The doctor just had to sit and console him for about two hours or so. After a while the doctor spoke to him and said to him it's best if he does go home. I only told the chaps last night after the game."

Fletcher hoped the illness would not force the end of Trescothick's 76-Test career. "I can't say at this stage," he said. "It would be foolish of me to turn around and say anyone's Test career is over."

Link to Cricinfo - Trescothick's dressing-room breakdown

 

Not sure what to make of this. I haven't invested the time to find out why he broke down. Initially, I read that it was a stress injury, but it seems it was more about stress. Wasn't he the winning Ashes captain? What the heck is going on with him.

Anyway, there is only a little over a week to the first ashes test. With all the publicity and ticket scams and hype, I hope the Aussies give the Poms a cricketing lesson. Whether we are over the hill or not, we'll still give the brash, talentless barmy army and good ol' thrashing.

Chad Vader - Day Shift Manager (episode 1)

The real Darth.

Understanding Men Part 1.

Male Restroom Etiquette.

Understanding Men - Male Restroom Etiquette

A friend once taught me about the Male Restroom Etiquette, but that was just word of mouth. Now, here it is in all it's Sims 2 glory, the Male Restroom Etiquette movie.

It explain a lot!

Understanding Men - Part 1

Male Restroom Etiquette.

YouTube has failed to publish this for me today, so I've had to go a little old school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzO1mCAVyMw

Great use of Sims2 technology.

The 3 things meme

As requested by MelbourneGirl, here is my attempt at the 3 things meme.

1. Three things that scare me

- one of my children dying before I do.

- not being able to provide for my family.

- collingwood not winning another flag in my lifetime.


2. Three people that make me laugh

- Ricky Gervais.

- The guys at work.

- Tony (formerly from work).


3. Three things I hate the most

- the kids that used to call me “spag” when I was in high school. Yes I hold some grudges.

- people that are negative all the time.

- people on the train in the morning who just don’t know how to purchase deodorant.



4. Three things I don't understand

- women. I try, honestly, I do try to.

- how people can cook without using a recipe.

- the internal combustion engine.


5. Three things I'm doing right now*

- Blogging.

- watching ESPN – Minnesota v Boston baseball game.

- hoping I get a call from the bedroom to “stop what I’m doing and come in here and ravish me”.


6. Three things I want to do before I die

- sit in the collingwood coaches box

- see my parent’s homeland again.

- be a grandfather


7. Three things I can do

- tell you who kicked 5 goals in the 1990 grand final.

- be ready for sex at a moments notice.

- fix computers.

8. Three ways to describe my personality

- introverted

- uncomplicated

- romantic (is that a personality?)


9. Three things I can't do

- SEW

- explain how an internal combustion engine works.

- figure out how my works internal processes actually work.


10. Three things I think you should listen to

- Wolfmother!!!!

- I haven’t listened to much music lately.

- Pulp Fiction sound track.


11. Three things you should never listen to

- Abba

- doof doof music.

- gregorian chants.

12. Three things I'd like to learn

- web page coding and design.

- to be a race car driver.

- time management.


13. Three favourite foods

- lasagne

- pizza

- seafood – especially crustacean.


14. Three beverages I drink regularly

- water

- coffee/tea

- wine


15. Three shows I watched as a kid

- hey hey it’s Saturday/cartoon corner.

- get smart.

- the munsters

- The thunderbirds.

(I watched everything on television when I was a kid)


16. Three people I'm tagging

go ahead, tag yourself.

100th post.

This is a milestone post. So how does one celebrate?
How about just listing 100 things I like?
I wonder if I can do it.
This post will continually be updated, not going to try to do it all in one go, also, it will not be in any particular order or degrees of like/love of the person/thing/object. If a photo is required, it will be added.

1. My Family. The people that I share my life with are the most important people to me. I like them a lot. (This is the obvious number 1, despite my earlier rule about no order).

2. My new laptop. Waited three weeks for it to be delivered, but now that it's here, I'm loving it.

3. Collingwood football Club. Was there any question about this?

4. My Ford XR6 Turbo. The beast is in it's 4th year with me and I've enjoyed having it in my garage. It's also a bright blue, which was a lairy change from the dark colours of my previous vehicles.


5. Australian Rules Football. There is no more exciting game in the world than Aussie Rules. Now with the finals about to start, the excitement levels are rising.

6. The TV Show - Lost, Season 1. We've just gone through the full first season on DVD and boy did we enjoy it. It would have been very annoying to watch on regular TV with ad breaks and having to wait a week for the next episode. Roll on season 2 (on DVD).

7. The TV Show - Arrested Development. What a little gem. Subtle comedy but biting. I love the characters, especially GOB. The hopeless magician is just outstanding. How this show can be canned is beyond me.

8. The TV Show - Curb your enthusiasm. Another show, with 5 seasons, which seemed to slip me by, but with the convenience of DVDs and the local blockbuster, we sailed through the 50 shows and while some episode were better than others, overall, it's one of the best comedies on television.

9. The Movie - Pulp Fiction. Tarantino classic. I've watched it many, many times. One of the best movies I've ever seen. Seeing John Travolta in what was really a comeback film was fantastic to see. As far as I'm concerned, there was nothing that went right for him between Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction. Possibly Grease but it wasn't a favourite of mine.

10. The Ashes test matches. I love watching cricket and the pinnacle of cricket is Australia V England. After the last series that the Aussies lost, which I rate as one of the best series ever, we have an exciting series coming up on home soil.

A Million Ways at a Wedding

Could one possibly plan a secret dance routine like this without arousing suspicion?

You tube has about 20 versions, I like this one and the one shot inside a Wal-Mart at 2am. I'm going to check out some more of these.
Ciao.

Kryal Mechanics.

Here's a family snap from our trip to Kryal Castle. It's good to see the local Knights are willing to help the fans get their car going. I imagine their tools might be a tad crude.

I'm just avoiding writing something about the croc hunter. When news came through that Steve Irwin had died, our internet connection at work went into meltdown. We couldn't verify the news, people were calling home to see if they knew. It was quite extraordinary.

This one's for Shez.

One of my mates at work has provided us with many laughs, usually at his
expense.

He complained to me the other day that he was trolling through my blog
posts and noticed that I hadn't written anything about him. I think he was
peeved that I didn't tell any of his life stories here in blog world. To
tell you the truth, there were many, many instances that could have made
great reading. In our usual way, I could have stretched the truth as well
to make the stories more interesting, although some may think they are far
fetched enough as it is.

So here goes, This story is about the time he found a love note under the windscreen wiper of his car at a city car park......

OK, I'm not going to keep going with this, how about you fill in the
blanks. Who was the note from? What happens next?

Nearest correct entry will win a prize*.



*prizes may not be honoured.

** Written with Shez's approval and consent.

The Didak Bump!

I can't believe the noise that surrounds this issue. Every commentator on TV and radio had Alan Didak sitting out the season for the bump he laid on former team mate Heath Scotland. It seems the only people that were on his side were his team mates and his coach. In the after match interview, Mick took a journo to task about labeling the incident as a hit rather than a bump. Mick refused to answer his question until he acknowledged that it was a legitimate bump and not a hit. A hit implies it was a premeditated punch. The distinction is crucial as this is where the case may have been thrown out if it had of gone to the tribunal.

Watching the incident, the match review panel decided that the contact WAS accidental. What happened was that as Didak ran in with the intent to bump, Scotland looked up and saw him coming, and in trying to avoid contact, he ducked ever so slightly. As Scotland is a small bloke, he only had to duck by a few inches and he put his head into danger. Had he stayed upright, there would have been contact but it would have been shoulder to shoulder. Therefore the panel decided it was accidental.

I love the way some of the experts are bleating about it, and they will continue all during the week. I especially liked seeing Robert Walls crying while "on the couch". He is a confirmed Collingwood hater, therefore I take great pleasure in his testy response to the news that the charge was thrown out. Where was he when Blake Caracella was left almost paralyzed after being accidentally bumped in the head? I don't recall the same public outcry. The difference was that the Collingwood player was on the receiving end, and while he may have said something about the players need to be protected, he wasn't calling for the Brisbane Lions players blood, which is interesting. Probably because he coached them all those years ago. Anything he says about Collingwood is pretty much always negative. (Except for when the pies were on top of the ladder earlier this year, he actually gave them praise, I wondered who that guy on the couch was!).

I'm waiting to see what Tim Lane has to say about it. Just wait, he'll be all guns blazing and blaming Eddie for getting him off. Then Caroline Wilson will chime in with her pennies worth and usual rants about the influence of media moguls on the game. There was an article in today's Herald Sun by ex-umpire Derek Humphrey-Smith, who does his best to uphold the law from an umpires perspective, but he's just typical of the umpiring fraternity. As Sam Newman continually repeats, they believe they are a more important part of the game than the players. Get this through your thick skull, No Players - No Game!!!

DH-S reminds me of an old friend of mine who joined the umpiring ranks many years ago, he loved footy but couldn't make it through to any senior teams once he turned 17, so he took the option to umpire. Being a rover, he had the perfect height for an umpire, and he also had plenty of that "short man syndrome". He used to really throw his weight around during games, and this was during the days when umpires were allowed to jump into fights and physically separate players. He always believed that he was a major part of the game and used to umpire that way. That was nearly 20 years ago, and things are worse now.

Have a look at this photo. Why wasn't Whitnall cited for this hit. Have a look at it, it's not doctored. Surely this is an elbow to Didaks chin ? In the past, evidence like this was used to book players and suspend them. Luckily, these days we have many more cameras at the ground, and the actual footage of this incident shows that Didak avoids the elbow as Whitnall slipped as he was trying to push Didak away. Whitnall got what he deserved, a free kick against him and an easy goal to Collingwood. This was followed by the punch by Bannister to Brodie Hollands chin and another free and goal to the Pies.

Anyway, I Don't expect any comments on this one. I just like to point out the footy injustices.

This is a Live Writer post.

As mentioned in my previous post, a couple of new tools have come across my desk. The Google tool called Writely and the Microsoft competitor called Live Writer. Both are beta software so I've suffered a couple of teething problems, especially with Live Writer, but I think that once these products are productionized, they both will have big impact on how we blog.

 

Headlines from the herald sun. Pretty much "odd spot" material.

TERRORIST chief Osama bin Laden was obsessed with singer Whitney Houston and wanted to marry her, a new book claims.

NURSES and firemen dominate the sexual fantasies of men and women in Britain

LIFE imitating art is all very well - unless, that is, it's a movie about deadly snakes on the rampage.

A SWEDISH broadcaster has faced sustained ridicule for mistakenly showing a porn movie on a background monitor during a news broadcast.

A FLOCK of hungry sheep gobbled up $16,400 in banknotes, which were the public funds of a northern Chinese village, state media reported yesterday.

 

 

So, Who knew that Microsoft had it's own Earth map program. You learn something new every day. Today I've learnt 3.

 

Todays sporting headlines:

SPRINTER Justin Gatlin agreed to an eight-year ban from athletics today for testing positive to drugs. He also forfeits the world 100m record he shares.

LIVERPOOL progressed to the group stage of the Champions League with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Maccabi Haifa in Kiev today.

DARRELL Hair, the umpire who rocked the cricket world, last night defiantly stood by his actions and said he would fight any move to shunt him into retirement.

IN A coup for Victoria, the MCG will today be confirmed as the venue for next year's Bledisloe Cup rugby union Test match between Australia and New Zealand

BILLY Slater says he hasn't felt part of Melbourne Storm's record-breaking season and he is desperate to leave his indelible mark before it's too late.

TRIPLE Olympic champion Marion Jones said yesterday she was shocked her drugs test from a urine sample taken in June was positive.

THE new-look Boomers have fallen just short of a huge upset at the world championships, losing 72-69 to medal favourite and European champion Greece.

Hi, I'm just testing a new application called Writely. It's a free Google word processor and I believe it will allow me to post directly to my blog. Not sure what it's going to look like, but I'll give it a go. Typing directly into blogger is a pain and opening Word all the time is also a pain, it just doesn't work all that well. Anyone interested in checking out writely should go to www.writely.com, funnily enough, Microsoft has launched Live Writer which I've download but not yet installed. It's supposed to be a purpose built blogger tool and might be better but as I'm using blogger, I think Writely will do a better job.

I wonder if I can import you tube into this....

Stop Making Sense - concert movie.

Talking Heads - Stop making sense - Psycho Killler Live

Inadvertently found that most of the Talking Heads movie "Stop Making Sense" is up on You Tube. Hopefully it won't be taken down, I love this movie, one of my favourite music-movies of all time. Up there with U2's Rattle and Hum. I used to have a tape recording of this album in my car when I drove to and from work, never got sick of it. Listening back to it now reminds me of those days with great fondness. I could keep going but I want to find more music.

Thought I'd post these songs here all together, coz it's easier than looking them all up again on you tube.

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense - Once in a lifetime Live


You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife.....

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense - This Must Be The Place


This is a little tame compared witht the high energy of the rest of the movie, but again it's a favourite. The type of mellow, end of an evening wind down song.

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense - Genius of Love Live


The Tom Tom club gets a run here. Another great song, and the reason I found these videos. Fluffy posted the Tom Tom club video and through a series of comments led me to the movie clips.

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense - Life During Wartime Live

I like to call this the jogging song.
Watch out for Davids rubber man effort - fantastic.

Talking Heads -Stop Making Sense - Girlfriend is Better Live

One of my favourite songs ever. Love the clip, the big suit and the lighting, it's just super.

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense - What a Day That Was Live


Boom boom boom...and that's the way we live.

Future dilemmas

I was watching an American sitcom tonight and the difficult topic of drug use came up. The eldest boy of the family was sprung with a bag of pot. The boy does the usual, "It's only pot"thing and the usual "I'm invincible" thing. All very predictable and also probably very true. The parents then sat the boy down and talked about the "drug issue" and how one parent never smoked it but the other did. In this case it was the mother who'd had the a pot experience and let her son know that while it may only be pot, she had been given some but it had been laced with something and she ended up in the emergency ward. Moral of the story, blah blah blah...

Good way to deal with it I thought, relate it back to your own experience and hopefully your child will take your advice and not proceed or continue down that path. In my experience, it's always a situation where someone introduces drugs to you and then it's up to you whether you try it or not. All we can do as parents is inform our kids and hopefully they will respect their bodies and give it a miss. It's always a peer group pressure thing. Should I be cool and try it? or should I be cool and not.

In my case, I will have my own story to tell my kids, one that ends in tragedy and it the reason why their mother is no longer alive. It's a story of addiction and I hope it shows them how it can all go terribly wrong. I just hope they don't succumb to "bad friends". I guess I won't know until the teen years come.

The funny thing is that the comedian in the sitcom was Tim Allen, notorious for being caught in possession and for rehab etc...

Podcasts.

Well, I just spent the last hours typing stuff about podcasts and how much I've adopted the technology and I lost it all.
FAAAAARK!!!!!!

Forget it now, it's midnight and I want to get to bed.

Michael Shumacher has won the Germany Grand Prix which puts him 11 points behind Alonso in the race for the championship. It's game on!

OK, my message is, get into podcasts, you don't need an iPod, any old MP3 player will do. If you need help, just ask and I'll try and re-write what I had before (and lost).

Good Night.

A series of Tubes.

This is a bit of a parody on a speech made by a US senator. I guess most technologists are familiar with it.
Jon Stewart is very funny.

two chinese boys:dadada (sa-ka-ta)

The dorm boys give us some world cup action. This time computer guy in background helps out.

This also reminds me of the muppets....

后舍唱戏

God knows what these guys are singing but I love the costumes and the computer guy in the background is not there (usually is there).

More than a year of Pie-Ranting.

Well, this blog has passed a milestone of sorts. 1 year ago it started and having created two identities, merged them into one and various other secrets exposed, I've managed to keep my interest up for more than a year. Who'd a thunk it.

Now, if only the Pies could play like they did last week against Sydney and not like they did today, grrrrrr!!!

I stayed up to watch England v Portugal this morning, finished at 3:45am after the penalty shoot out. England were a bit unlucky, I think they deserved to win but having played one man down from the 60 minute mark doesn't help.
So it's now a fully European World Cup, as my learned colleague Mr Mondale has already pointed out. History just keeps on repeating, doesn't it? European team win in Europe. South Americans win in South America and Brazil wins everywhere else.

Good night and good luck.

Have you ever wanted to know what it takes to be a Ninja?

Ask A Ninja: Ninja Training

Go Socceroos.

It's 3:30 pm in the afternoon and I'm stuffed. I need more caffeine!!

After nodding off at the 72 minute mark of the game last night, I was awake again in time to see the 3 goals go past the Japanese keeper. They were great goals and well deserved after pretty much owning the ball for most of the game. Great result and puts Australia in the drivers seat for a second round spot. Also awoke early enough this morning to see my other team, Italy, put 2 past the Ghanese keeper. Viva Italia.

It was sad to see the USA lose though. I guess they had their minds eslewhere, like the NBA finals or Baseball or Stanley Cup. I guess that's where they will be focusing now.

Finally, I want to mention the little wave Josh Fraser gave Jeff White after Josh kicked a goal early in the match. Josh, don't be a smarty pants (I'm at work, I wanted to say something else). The gesture reminded me of a little hand puppet, I fI find a picture I'll post it, but it did remind me of a little Kermit.

Off to see my sons teacher soon, parent teacher evening.

While away time until the footy starts.

Just a quick post to say Hi and to fill in a bit of time until I leave for the footy.

HI.

To business. Remember this post? Well it turns out, as of a couple of weeks ago, my friend has split with the troublesome girl. I believe he finally saw the light and is single again. Onya dude.

To other business. I procured 2 dozen Krispy Kreme Doughnuts during the week. All I can say is "Magnificent". I had been talking them up for about 6 months, ever since one of my colleagues brought some to work, I've been hanging out for a Sydney visitor so I could beg them to Import some.

So on Wednesday, these finally landed on my desk:




Contents:



And a sampler box:

After our team meeting, this was all that was left:

And within 10 minutes, they were gone too!

The Sampler pack went home and by now will have been completely devoured.

MAGNIFICENT !!!!

Even MG says so. Luckily for us, we won't have the Melbourne store nearby. But that may change in the next couple of years as they expand.

OK, filled in enough time now. Off to the "G" to see the real football.

Go Pies.

Tim Lane - You are a tool.

I read this article with great, well, how can I put it, boredom probably best sums it up. You don't need to go read it, I'll sum it up for you in one word - Jealous. Tim Lane is jealous. In this well thought out article, he states that it is unfair to all the other teams in the competition that Collingwood and Essendon are the only teams allowed to play on Anzac day. What utter crap.

The reason it is Collingwood v Essendon is that 1) They originated the concept, 2) They pull in the crowds & 3) There is no third reason, the other two are enough.

The facts are, that over the 12 years of Collingwood v Essendon Anzac day matches, the average crowd size is just on 80,000. Count them 80,000. That's the average. No other match up comes close to that, those that do will invariably include Collingwood as one of the teams. Tim points this out, that in the 4 highest drawing games during the regular season, Collingwood participated in all of them. I'm pretty sure that of the 7 games he talks about where over 90,000+ turn up, Collingwood was there. As he suggests, lets put St Kilda v Bulldogs on this big stage, how many would turn up? 30,000 - 40,000 maybe. Is it worth having the biggest non-final game of the year ruined by seeing empty grandstands? No I say. Fill them up. The two biggest draw cards play on that day and that's the way it's going to stay.

I heard another brainiac suggest that the previous years grand finalists should have a rematch on Anzac Day. Hmmm... West Coast v Sydney in Melbourne, when no one is getting freebies or corporate packages etc which swell the numbers on Grand Final day. Port Adelaide v Brisbane, how to empty out a stadium in one idiotic step. I don't think so.

They tried to play a game interstate on Anzac Day 2003, Sydney V Melbourne. Surprise. Surprise. Only 24,000 people turned up. Luckily that was at the SCG, so it only looked half full, not 3/4 empty at the Olympic Stadium.

I don't have a problem with games being played interstate at night on Anzac Day, but really, leave it alone. We built it up, all the other clubs get a monetary cut of the equalisation fund so what you'd actually end up doing is robbing the other clubs.

Also, the term blockbuster is used to cover all aspects of the game. Crowd size, quality of game and build up. This usually means putting 100 years of existence into the build up which many clubs can't match.

PS: Tim is a Carlton supporter and an obvious Eddie hater. Get off his back.

Don't Curb your Enthusiasm.

If this is not the best show not on free to air TV then I don't know squat. Over the past 4 weeks we've watched episode after episode of some of the more brilliant comedy you will ever see. Curb Your Enthusiasm is better than Seinfeld, better than Hey Dad and certainly better than Bullpit. I'd put it on the same level as Fawtly Towers. Pretty much every episode was Gold, pure Gold. We'd watch four episodes a night and look at each other and say "One more? - yeah, why not". You find yourself saying "Larry, just keep walking, don't turn around, get out of the shop, just go, it'll end in tears".
If you haven't seen this masterpiece, get down to Blockbuster/Video Ezy/Network Video et al and do yourself a favour. You have to watch them in order, series one to four and once you see the pants tent episode (first show in series one) you'll be hooked.
We are patiently awaiting series five to hit our screens, hopefully on Foxtel sometime soon, please!!!

You gotta be kidding 1.

From the "You gotta be kidding" file, the following is what I can only describe as ridiculous.

This company has created a pair of running shoes that play MP3's. See the speakers on the outside of the shoe? What the? They come with wireless headphones so you don't keep tripping over the damn cord, but really. For more info, looky here.

I wonder if you can get them with a drag-along subwoofer?

PS: that's the headphones on the left shoe.




PPS: For a totally biased but totally honest appraisal of how the pies are going to fair this year, read this.

Mars up close.

It had to happen. Not content with Googling the Earth, they have now Googled Mars.

I wonder if you can locate the nearest 7-11 or an ATM or a McDonalds?

You can see where the water streams used to be. You can also see where spacecrafts have landed, and probably see that Heineken bar from that commercial*.

*Video content will load, be warned. Broadband only.

Live from my desk at work.

I've decided to write today's post from work. It seems by the time I get home I'm just to stuffed to switch on the PC and think and type and read other blogs etc. I spend 8 hours in front of this thing at work and it gets real tiring by the end of it all. The last thing I feel like doing is another couple of hours at home which wouldn't start until the kids are in bed, so that's at around 8:30.

So, the ASX game has started and after one and a half weeks of wheeling and dealing, I've pocketed $51,560.84 (minus the original $50,000), which leaves a growth of about 3.1% which if annualised would be about 150%. Can you figure out why stock brokers are rolling in cash???
Anyway, I 've lead out of the blocks fast amongst my colleagues here at work and look forward to my free coffee from PEC.

I was also hoping to write a glowing account of my beloved Magpies, but alas they were beaten by a team wearing white with a purple anchor. What gives? When ever I see a team playing in basically all white, I think of nappies. Don't ask me why, it's just an image of a baby in a nappy wearing a white singlet.



See what I mean. Just draw an anchor on this little one and hey presto, he's a docker.

Hopefully the cats will have more luck against them and that Melbourne can spank Adelaide too. I couldn't stand it if both finalists were interstaters.

Footy Starts this week!!!!!

Can you believe it. It's Feb 24th and the footy is back.



All I know is that the Pies are playing the Saints on Sunday in a evening/twilight game. We can't go coz we have birthday commitments at that time so I'll be tuning in somewhere, hopefully the bowling alley we are going to will have it on a big screen.

Footy is back, I can smell the dencorub already.
No, Wait, that's the smell of the dencorub on my calf after I pulled a muscle attempting to run after a tennis ball. Do'h.

My prediction for this year. Fremantle to sack the coach and promote Mark Harvey. Why the hell would he move all the way over to W.A. if they hadn't guarenteed him the top job.

More predictions to follow...

The Share Game...

Today is the first day of the ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) sharemarket game.
What is that? I hear you cry out.
Well it's a game where you get to pretend you are a share trader, you are given a fictitious $50,000 starting money and you try to convert that into squillions by buying and selling shares on the sharemarket. At work we have a troupe of about 8 of us all trying to be the next Warren Buffet, but in actual fact, we generally come out looking like Alan Bond. You can only buy and sell from a list of 100 companies, mainly blue chip stocks so it requires a little research if you want to win the competition, but we just want to beat each other.
At the end of day one, I've converted my $50,000 stake into $50,001.28. Not a bad effort as that includes brokerage fees of $60, so technically I'm 61.28 up.
If anyone has some good advice, or hears about an takeover rumour. Please share it with the group.
I intend to keep a running summary here as well. The game lasts about 3 months.
Ciao.

Open letter to a mate.

Mate,
I normally wouldn't interfere in a mates personal life, but I feel like I just have to say something. If a friend hooks up with someone that is wrong for him then I'm unlikely to say anything. He'll find out sooner or later that she's just not right for him, but in your case mate, you told me things weren't smooth and that the past few months had been rocky, so when you told me that you were having a heart to heart with her on Friday, I'd assumed you were going to separate. I wasn't really supportive of you breaking up as it seemed as though you had a good thing going and that it was your usual "she wants to marry, but I don't so I'll dump her" phase. I didn't expect to see her at the BBQ on Sunday, but there she was. Obviously the heart to heart worked out and you were going to continue on.
Well, after spending the afternoon with you both, I've come to the conclusion that you stuffed up. Mate, you can do better. I didn't like her attitude towards you or your daughter, she was negative and gave you a hard time when you should have been enjoying the occasion. There was no excuse for being so rude, especially on front of people she hardly knew. As I said, I normally don't get involved, but you've had more than a year together and while you've said in the recent past that things aren't as they were, Mate, it's time to make the break. I know you are going overseas, enjoy your time away (might be a little cramped with your daughter in tow) but I know you'll have a ball, don't think about what you've left behind. Look to the future, it'll be great.
Mate, if you are reading this, act now, you know you need to.

All the best,

Clokeeeey.

Poochie....

I found a list of the worlds most famous dogs (in pop culture). Have a look for yourselves. What I found amazing was that there were 2 Simpson's dogs listed, Santa's little helper and the ill fated character Poochie. What's ridiculous is that Poochie comes in 22 places ahead of SLH in the rankings. What craps is this?

Most of the other dogs are recognizable, but there are some unknown to me. I can't argue with number 1, 2, 3 or 4 but is Goofy really a dog? Surely that is cause for great debate. Also, how does Underdog rate ahead of Hong Kong Phooey? Oh, and the inclusion of Junkyard dog, rates up there with the inclusion of Makybe Diva in the Ralph top 200 poll recently published.

Have a good week.

What's the weather?

So, How's the weather in Sydney?

Can't you read?

No, I'm blind! I'm wearing sunnies at night....See Ya.

* Note: The images are live so they may change through out the day/night.

[So, what should happen next?]

555-what

Did you ever notice that all phone numbers in movies, tv shows and radio shows that emanate from the great U.S. of A. Begin with 555 ? Here's a sample question from a puzzled viewer and an answer as to the origins of the standard prefix.

Dear Cecil:Why do all phone numbers in TV shows, movies, etc., have the prefix 555? Is it an FCC regulation? --Mary Jane, formerly of Lawrence, Kansas

Dear Mary Jane:Believe it or not, there are a few pinheads out there with nothing better to do than sit down and call every number they see on a television show or in a movie. "Hello, iscokesk there?" they say, chuckling at the sublimity of their wit. Generally,cokesk is not there, which causes a great deal of inconvenience for the poor sap who is. In one case several years ago a Peanuts strip carried a number that turned out to belong to a family in Moline, Illinois. Over 50 calls, ranging from plaintive requests to speak to Snoopy to less plaintive requests of a considerably darker nature, were logged in one evening.
Up until a few years ago, the phone company maintained a service that provided fictional (i.e., unused) numbers to producers and writers. But it soon developed, in this wide, wonderful country of ours, that there wasn't a single number that wasn't in use somewhere. The "555" gambit was created in 1973--no matter where you are, dialing the 555 number plugs you into directory assistance, where a legion of professionally trained operators awaits to answer the particular crankiness of your call. 555 isn't an FCC regulation, but simply a convenient creation of Ma Bell.

-CECIL ADAMS

Now, I'm not to sure about Cecil's credentials but I'm sure he's spot on here. I noticed on a drive to the local pool the other day that a fish and chip shop had a phone number that begin with a 9555 and I commented that I'm sure they were happy when the 9 was added to the front of their number, would have stopped some crank calls. The 9 is a recent addition in Australia so I'm sure each state has similar.

I found this other website which lists many of the "555" numbers used in movies and tv shows. As someone mentions in the comments, these people have way too much time on their hands.

It will take me a while to verify this list as correct, so let's just assume it is.

Those wacky speed cubers...

Back in the day, when I was in my teens, there was this phenomena called Rubik's Cube. A 3 by 3 by 3 cube of six colours and a twisty mechanism etc, you know the one. Here's a sample in case you forgot.



Well, I used to be able to complete it in an amount of time which I thought to be pretty good. Around about 1 and a half minutes or so. Now I found out that there are world championships and that the world record was set by Leyan Lo with a staggering time of 11.13 seconds!!!

This guy is a freak, but his great time wasn't good enough to win him the world championship. They have to complete the puzzle 3 times and then they take the average. He was .2 seconds slower than the champion (Shotaro Makisumi) at 14.9 seconds.

For more info on this exiting sport, head over to Speed Cubing site and be amazed.

What I learnt from watching Victoria Secrets.

Not much, just a lot of tits and arse and the odd Brazilian*.

Best model award goes to Tyra Banks. It's her last walk up the runway (huh?) for VS as she embarks on her Oprah style, I'm gonna change the world, TV show. Good luck on your new venture.

I thought he was dead award goes to Ricky Martin. He appeared, sang a song about dropping a bomb (appropriate for him) and there scuttled of. Ole Ricky.

Lucky bastard award goes to Ricky Martin. During his performance, he received a groin rub from that girl from the Black Eyed Peas, well at least it looked like her.

So now I need to get my hands on a catalogue and see what I should buy for my honey, with valentines day coming along soon and all.


On other matters, spent the weekend painting my sons bedroom, it's a nice bright green, selected by him and as he's been sunning himself down at the beach house he'll come home to a green surprise.




* If you hadn't guessed, Ricky was the odd Brazilian.

Choices.

Do I blog or do I sit in front of chanel 10 and watch the Victoria Secrets underwear parade?

Hmmmm....

Bye.

Welcome to our new home!

Here we are, 3 weeks after we moved into our new place and part one of my guided tour of "Our Home".

We start in the garage. Lots of stuff stored in here. Many a box still unopened, many a donation bag or box ready to be transported to a needy charity. One day we might actually get to see the floor.

The left side.


The right side.


The middle, where we park our unicycles.


The entrance and the first hallway.
My office is through that door on the right and the games room to the left.


Here is the games room. Note the picture on the wall.
Also note the empty, flattened boxes are here also, the won't fit in the garage just yet but I'll soon have space when the donations are gone and a couple of fridges are taken too.









Here is my office. With a nice big reading lamp hanging on the wall, this room is where all my fortunes are made. That computer of mine is getting on a bit but it's still pumping out good stuff. That little grey box on the desk, is the new ADSL modem, the cause of all my grief over the past few weeks as I had technician after technician look into why ADSL was failing. Just when I was about to give up, I tried a new modem and it worked. Yipee!!! High speed net access again and my girlfriend has now joined the party as well.










The other side of my not so tidy office (the dark side).









Here's the kitchen.












and finally, the guest room.









stay tuned for more pics.

Umm.... I'm still here.

Hi, been a while.

After flogging that Galaga I decided to take a short break, well with moving house and all that, blogging was not a high priority. Especially when I can't get my ADSL connection going, dial up is so infuriatingly slow. If only I could find someone to fix this damn thing, every person that's turned up to look at it just shrugs his shoulders and says "that's the best I can do" or "That's all I'm allowed to do, I can't touch the phone lines in the house, I'm just a Telstra linesman". It's hard to get good help!

Anyway, I might get back into this a bit more soon so for now I'm off to check on a few blogs and that'll do it for tonight.

Gianluca, I'll get back to your question soon, look out for it. Ciao.