Darius and Kristi's Adventures

2009-04-19T08:13:00.001-04:00

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE!!!! Ah-hah-hah-hah!!

Been over a year since I posted here ... anybody still listening??

Here here ... Well said Bruce!

2008-02-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

Magnifico

2008-02-17T20:58:00.000-05:00

Señor Clooney on a Barcelona billboard ... Kristi thought the title
was appropriate for some reason!??

2008-02-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

It's been a while ... and yes, photos from holidays are coming ... but had this forwarded to me the other day so I thought I'd put it up ... remember Peter Russell Clarke? (Parental Advisory though ... there's a bit of swearing in here!?)

Advertising??

2008-01-19T13:34:00.000-05:00

How else would you advertise for the new President of the United
States ... On a dollar bill of course??! Surely there are rules
against this sort of thing??

2007-11-08T09:14:00.000-05:00

Definitely one for Rove's "What the?!?!"

It's the "No shopping bag bra"!!!!

There was a time when going bra free was gaia-chic. Burning a bra was a political statement. But next time you see a braless woman, she may be just shopping. Triumph has introduced the "No! Shopping Bag Bra" in Japan. Made of ecopet fiber, a polyester which is manufactured from recycled plastic bottles, the bra is inherently eco-friendly (now that's upcycling!) What makes this bra truly unique is its secret identity as a Bra Ranger (after the mighty morphing Power Rangers) which can be quickly converted into a shopping bag. One half of the shopping bag is folded into each bra cup, acting as a bit of padding when the bra is worn. When not performing its primary duties carrying one load or another, the bra sensitizes the public to the wastefulness of over 30 billion plastic shopping bags a year used in Japan. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/11/morph_your_bra.php

I'm also quite happy with the "Chopstick Bra"... http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/chopstick_bra.php

2007-10-21T15:30:00.000-04:00

The view from the window Kristi and I are sitting in, beer in hand, with John and Shelley -- down near the South Street Seaport. Who said October in NY was cold and dreary -- it's about 25 degrees and gorgeous today!

Just spotted ...

2007-10-15T22:01:00.000-04:00

Check out the name on the truck behind the cab!!? When I walked past
they seemed to be pumping something either in to or out of the empty
shop front it was parked next to??

What the ... ??

2007-09-29T19:13:00.001-04:00

As Kristi and I left home this morning this was the scene on eleventh
ave ... Water everywhere!!? When Kristi asked the guy with the broom
what was going on, he said that there was dust on the road and the BMW
dealership had complained, so he was washing it off ... By opening up
the fire hydrant?!!!!

What the ... !!??

(PS - As we came home tonight we noticed that there was still dirt
EVERYWHERE on the road??)

SUPANOVA POP CULTURE EXPO | Welcome

2007-09-03T09:04:00.000-04:00

http://www.supanova.com.au/

For those of you in Sydney that like a little escapism every now and
then ...

2007-09-02T18:39:00.001-04:00

The Empire State Building, all dressed up for the Labor Day long weekend -- how patriotic!!

2007-08-30T23:14:00.000-04:00

Well, Kristi is on her way to Australia and hopefully getting some sleep on the plane. For those of you going to catch up with her, make sure she has a good time, but not too good ... It'd be good if she actually came back to New York!!

2007-08-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

Ok ... Let's try it this way!! This is the view from where K and I had dinner tonight ... Not bad huh??!

2007-08-26T22:30:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd try the blog from my new toy ... Trying to see what works and what doesn't from the safari version on the iPhone. So far it's pretty good, although there are a few things that I keep thinking could have been done a little better -- including the difficulties I've had with flash. All in all though, no real complaints -- the keyboard is awesome, and it's pretty good at guessing what my crappy typing is supposed to say!!

Now, if I could just work out how to add a photo from the phone it'd be great!!

More research required I guess!!

2007-08-05T09:33:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

Just a quick one to say hi ... Kristi and I have been busy, me with work (the new role means more to learn and to look after) and Kristi with sorting out her study stuff and looking for work. (The next semester of study arrived last week, and there seems to be a lot of books on the table and the floor!!?)

We also have some visitors here at the moment ... Alan's visiting from Sydney, after having spent a few weeks working in LA and San Fran, and Patrick & Danae are here for a visit as well, but staying with another friend of theirs. It's good to have some old Sydney faces around!!

Will post some pics when we get a minute!

2007-07-15T20:37:00.000-04:00

The Adventures of Cuke, Obi-wan Cannoli and Ham Solo ... for the original (and some more stuff) click here.

2007-07-07T17:56:00.000-04:00

Sitting here at the laptop with the Live Earth concert on the tele (click the logo to the right) ... Great awareness raiser ... question is what happens from here!

Click here for some suggestion on what you can do to help out ... and/or read the below.

10 Things you can do to help out ...

Courtesy of Conservation International
Do your part to ensure a healthy planet by incorporating these ten simple actions into your everyday life.

1) Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Look closely at labels when buying light bulbs. Those marked as CFLs last 10 times longer and use 66 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs while delivering the same light levels. As a result, CFLs accrue net savings between $30 and $45 over their lifetimes, depending on your cost of electricity, the wattage size of the CFL, and the lamp's lifespan (manufacturers make CFLs that last 6,000, 8,000, or 10,000 hours). The return on investment is 15 times higher than leaving your money in a bank account or the average return on Dows-Jones stock investments. CFLs also reduce the release of greenhouse gas emissions and are safer because they burn at a lower temperature (160° F or less) than incandescent and halogen lights, which can burn at temperatures up to 500° F.

2) Turn down the thermostat just three degrees in the winter and up three degrees in the summer. You can prevent the emission of nearly 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

3) Inflate your car tires. When walking or biking isn't feasible, you can do something to better protect the Earth while driving. Take a step in the right direction by inflating your car tires. Pumping them up can improve your gas mileage by about 3.3 percent -- a savings of about 7 cents per gallon. It's the right thing to do for your wallet and the right thing to do for the Earth.

4) Turn down the hot water heater. Set your water heater to 130° F. While you're at it, turn down your house thermostat during the winter to 55° F when you go to bed or leave home. These simple actions can have enormous positive consequences, preventing the emission of more than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide over the course of the year, while cutting your energy bill by more than 10 percent. And that's just from you! Get your friends on board, and the benefits will multiply.

5) Choose your seafood wisely. We can't afford to wait until 2008. The world's seafood will be entirely depleted by 2048, according to an early November report in the journal Science. That means the moment to shape up is now. By buying and eating certain types of seafood, you can discourage harmful fishing practices and avoid the more depleted or threatened species. Take a look at Seafood Choices Alliance or Seafood Watch to make smart choices.

6) Purchase EnergyStar-labeled appliances. EnergyStar products are among the top 25 percent most efficient and can provide a 30 percent return or better through lower utility bills.

7) Wash and rinse in cold water. If everyone in the United States alone switched to cold water with their washing machines, we could save about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide each year -- and more than $3 billion in energy costs, collectively. And what's more? Cold water cleans your laundry just as well as hot water.

8) Buy locally produced meats and produce. Sounds like a good idea, but you don't know where to start? Just type in your zip code on Local Harvest's website to see a list of farms and farmers' markets close to home, as well as nearby restaurants committed to supporting their neighbors. Buying locally produced food cuts out the middlemen and the vast amounts of energy required to get your products onto store shelves. Most produce in U.S. supermarkets travels an average 1,500 miles before it is sold!

9) Drink more water from reusable glassware. It's great for your bank account, your health, and your planet. The average American consumed more than 400 beverage bottles and cans in 2006, leaving behind wasted glass, plastic, steel, and aluminum. That adds up to excessive amounts of fossil fuels and hydropower for mining, processing, refining, shaping, shipping, storing, refrigerating, and disposing of those materials. Of course, changing your drinking habits both at home and at work is applicable to just about every other habit, as well. You've heard it before and you'll hear it again: Reduce, reuse, and recycle.

10) Walk, bike, and carpool. In the United States, the car represents one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. However, you don't have to give up your car for a healthier planet, just expand your transportation options. You can significantly reduce your emissions by commuting to work. Try combining trips to minimize emissions, which are greatest at the beginning of a journey before the engine has reached optimum temperature and efficiency. When purchasing your next car, make it a fuel-efficient one. Hybrid cars can get twice the fuel efficiency of the average new car, cut greenhouse gas emissions by half or more, and reduce urban air pollutants. Carpooling saves energy, cuts on additional pollution, and allows you to take a turn as a passenger instead of driving everyday. Car-sharing (not pooling) is available in numerous U.S. cities. Car-sharing enables you to rent a car just when you need it. Each car-share vehicle displaces four to eight privately held cars, requiring less parking area and creating less road congestion. If you live within an hour's bicycle ride to the office (~10 miles), consider biking to work one or more days a week.

2007-06-10T17:58:00.000-04:00

I just re-installed Snap Shots, which has been upgraded and now enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, including condensed excerpts of Wikipedia articles and IMDb profiles, instant playing of videos, display of stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots brings the information needed right to the readers, without them having to leave the site, while other times Snap Shots enables users to "look ahead," before deciding if they want to follow a link or not, saving them time and effort and increasing their ability to focus on the content that matters most to them.

However, should you decide this is not for you, just click "Disable" in the upper right corner of the Snap Shots bubble and opt-out.

2007-06-10T16:51:00.000-04:00

Ok ... so short post here, but lot's of action on the blog tonight!!!

1. Have finally found out where Chris got that funky label's listing from and worked out how to put it on my site!
2. Have got the Picasa slide show going (see top right), which I think is kinda cool!!
3. Have added a number of new pics to Picasa from Toronto, Algonquin and London (thanks Kristi for getting some of the Chicago and Niagra photos on there and keeping us sort of up to date?!)
4. In recognition of her hard work and dedication (see no. 3 above) have renamed the blog to include my better half!!

I also wanted to make special mention of 2 pics, for the benefit of Chris mainly.

This one ... where I especially like the fact that they've gone to the effort of trade marking the obviously key marketing tag line "Toast the Difference"!

From Toronto - May...

And this piece of very cool mosaic ... found on a wall near the Borough markets last week.

From London Town

Oh, and Mum and Dad ... we've also added some pics from our catch up with Patrick, Michelle, Marieve and Oliver here.

2007-05-22T21:45:00.000-04:00

Well there has to be some perks to compensate Darius' working hours... we spent last weekend in Chicago and we're currently in Toronto while Darius hangs out in the local office for a couple of weeks.

I've updated some photos from Chicago and Niagara Falls in the photo album...

I've even included a couple of photos from the Niki in the Garden exhibition... some mosaic inspiration for Donna...

2007-04-28T20:24:00.000-04:00

Hey ... I'm experimenting with this new Blogger thing ... tell me if this shows up ok on your browser (and if not ... what's wrong with it!!)

D.

2007-04-28T11:10:00.000-04:00

Just been browsing Chris' Flickr photos ... very cool by the way mate ... and clicked through a few links to here.

Chk it out!

PS -- Sorry about the formatting of this post ... I'm using the mac, which doesn't seem to like blogger very much ... missing lots of options :(

PPS -- All good again ... just installed Firefox on the mac and all is well again with the world!! :)

2007-04-22T19:48:00.000-04:00

The view from where I'm sitting right now ... just FYI ...

And a slightly nicer/more artistic pic, taken through the open window ...

Oh ... and the Vermont pics are on the website now ...

Vermont Trip

2007-04-22T11:18:00.000-04:00

Well, it's a lovely day in NY today ... heading for a top of 76F (about 25C)!? And after last weekend when it was pouring with rain and absolutely freeeeezing!! It was just as nice yesterday as well, and Kristi and I headed out in to the sunshine to see what NY is like in Spring. (Much nicer than in winter, let me just say! Although it's going to be 28C tomorrow and then 8C by Thursday!?)

OK ... yesterday's outing ... map for the day is here.

First stop yesterday was the Earth Day fair, which was being held down near Grand Central Terminal. It never ceases to amaze me how un-environmentally aware these NYers are?? There is a small group of people that are trying their hardest to be heard above the rabble, but in the centre of capitalism it can be a little hard to get the message across. As the guys at the ConEd (electricity supplier) stand said, it's a bit of a vicious cycle ... the only way green energy is going to get off the ground is by people buying it, and therefore creating demand, which will help investment in supply infrastructure, etc. Problem is, if it costs more, then most Americans just aren't that in to it!? Can't fault the logic ... maybe the only hope for the US (and given they create 25% of the world's greenhouse gas, the world) will be for there to be some sort of increased charge for the use of future generation's livelihoods? Just a thought? Although with the rise a rise of China, you have to question how much a of a decrease in US usage would be immediately usurped by increases in China's usage? (Sorry ... will get off my soapbox now!?)

But to the actual Earth Day fair ... fairly small for what I'd expected for New York (although, see soapbox rant above), and plenty of large conglomerates there selling "Organic" milk, granola bars, yoghurt drinks, etc. One of the coolest thing we saw was though this electric car ... made by Tesla. 0-60mph in 4 seconds and RRP of about US$90k. Smaller boot than the MX-5, but very, very nice!!

From Spring 2007 i...

After looking at the car and the various other bits and pieces, we wandered back up to Central Park (after a visit to Banana Republic ... I bought a hat for picnics and we also saw this outside the store) where there was an "I heart Singapore" function promising roti canai, chicken rice and Singapore noodles!! Only problem was that they didn't really advertise that the function was for Singaporeans only!??? What's with that!!! So, we smelt the food from afar and then wandered off to Le Pain Quotidien for a salad and a sandwich, which were both very nice, but didn't quite live up to the expectations!!

After the sandwich it was about 4pm, so we got on a train and wandered back downtown a bit toward Union Square and went to see Grindhouse, the new Tarantino movie ... basically an old style double feature ... a zombie movie and a thriller ... shot in an old style, with 60's and 70's clothing, etc, but using mobile phones, etc .... very weird, but very funny!

Then we came home and crashed!! Ah ... home! Some pics of the new place are on the Picasa website (see link below).

NY Apartment

There are also a few other new pics up on picasaweb from our trip to see the Yankees play the other day (see link below). I'll put up some Vermont pics soon as well ... promise!!

Yankees v Indians

2007-04-01T13:57:00.000-04:00

Hey all!!

Ok ... been a while! I admit to being uncontactable and more than 100% immersed in work for the past few weeks, but this weekend sees the end of the most recent project at work, which means that the 3am mornings are done for a little while and I can spend some more time doing stuff I like to do, like keeping all of you up to date!

Anyhow, first things first ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD AND LEANNE (for the 2nd) and SEAN AND GRANDAD (for the 5th)!!!

So, with that off my chest ... what's happened since the last update ... well first of all the little fujitsu laptop decided to die on us this week ... which means it has locked in it's little memory all of the photos we've taken since we got here as well as Kristi's uni assignments. She's pretty happy about that, as I'm sure you can imagine! *ouch* (she's reading over my shoulder!) A trip to the "geek squad" yesterday suggests that its the hard drive that's having issues, so I'm going to try and get the guys at work to have a look at it.

Apart from that, and apart from work, we have had Llew and Mel come and stay with us. They were on their way through NY as the first leg of their honeymoon and we managed to get around to a few good restaurants and bars, including Stanton Social, Employees Only and the Back Room ... pics will follow once we get the fujitsu back (I hope!!) Oh, and Mel ... click the link on the Back Room article ... looks like we have areason to go back again ... we missed a whole bar!?

We are also going to try a new experience this weekend by hiring a car and trying to brave the NY traffic, the wrong side of the road, and quite possibly the snow to drive up to Vermont for the weekend. We're staying at Topnotch Resort in Stowe.

We'll take some pics and upload when (if!?) we get back!!

Anyhow ... gotta go to dinner (we're heading to Otto's tonight with some guys from Macquarie).

Will post again soon ... promise!!

2007-03-04T14:41:00.000-05:00

We've put up a few new pics on picasaweb from our trip to Philly the other week ... check 'em out!

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2007-03-02T13:48:00.000-05:00

One for Sex and the City viewers...

We're currently living in Miranda's apartment building (see "Let there be light" from Season 6... definately our foyer at 250 West 85th Street)

Also have visited (and almost died from sugar overdose) at Magnolia Bakery ("No ifs, ands or buts" Season 3). Killer Cupcakes!

:) K

2007-02-23T07:54:00.000-05:00

Here's one for the geek in your life... need a new pet that can read out your email to you? Tell you the weather and the news?

The best bit is that Nabaztag now even has his own bellybutton!!! What more could a person want?!

:)

2007-02-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

Ok ... just to demonstarte how cold "cold" really can be ... the pics below are of the Hudson river ... yes the river, taken from the leasing office of the building we have agreed to live in from next month. As you can see, the first 100m or so heading in to the river is frozen ... the wharves are stuck in the ice ... very cool (pardon the pun!)

From The Helena

You can see what I mean though about it still being clear and blue!

From The Helena

PS -- I've updated my webalbums with some pics of the foyer of the apartment we're staying in now ... all very nice ... we don't have a doorman here, but we have an "elevator attendant" ... who knew there was still such a job!!? (Oh, and we live above Victoria's Secret ... it's a hard life!)

NY Apartment

2007-02-09T20:54:00.000-05:00

I thought that I'd been cold in my life ... playing soccer in the pouring rain and howling wind in the middle of Vic Park, or getting up in the morning on the Overland track in Tasmania. What I know now, though, is that I'd never actually been that cold.

I'd never experienced the real cold that you get here in New York, and I assume in numerous other parts of the northern hemisphere. The type of cold where, as soon as you step outside every piece of exposed skin freezes. Where the tops of your ears actually sting to the point of pain and your eyes ache. Now that is cold!!

The kind of cold where there isn't water on the ground ... There's ice and slush in the gutters, and there's weird strips of ice on the "sidewalk" that you try not to think too hard about where they came from!!?

Funny thing is though, I had always wanted to avoid arriving in the Northern Hemisphere to that sort of cold, afraid that this winter weather would be so depressing that it would leave me craving for the sunshine of home. Seems that it isn't so??

I think the difference is that I had never expected the cold to be so crisp, or the sky to be so clear to go along with the cold. When I thought of cold I thought of rain, sleet and grey skies, but that isn't New York winter ... atleast not this year, anyhow?

I'll no doubt be very thankful when it warms up a little, but for now I'm enjoying the experience!! And I expect that when Kristi and I finally manage to get to Antarctica I'll be posting a similar blog to this one once I work out what cold REALLY is!!

2007-02-02T09:09:00.000-05:00

Only in America.....

Where fashion meets personal protection! Never again feel the need to hide an ugly pepper spray can in the bottom of your handbag... now you can accessorise with these decidedly *bling* items!!! www.pepperface.com

Note to all, you can sell ANYTHING in this country. Where else could you open a whole store that sells only popcorn? (I say whole store because I know that there's a stand in Westfield Marion SA that does, but hey, it's kinda near the cinema... this one was on the street in Times Square!) www.daleandthomaspopcorn.com/store_locations.aspx

And finally for my personal favourite for this week..."Give your knitting a little discipline!" with DomaKnitRix... all knitting needs a little gothic edge! www.domiknitrix.com
And here's another one to get your needles moving... http://naughtyneedlesknitting.com (not so sure about the Giddy Up Pony Hood though)

Enjoy!
K

2007-01-30T23:59:00.000-05:00

The view outside our apartment right now!? It's finally decided to actually snow!!

This, of course, meant that while we were wandering around we had to stop in at a "Diner" and get into the real NY thing, with Apple Pie and NY Cheescake ... Mmmmmmm ... Cheesecake!!

2007-01-30T17:37:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's a little cold here...
View of one of the partially frozen lakes in Central Park.

2007-01-30T17:06:00.000-05:00

Hi All!

Now that I have access to "ramble" I'd better remember what I've been doing for the last few weeks!

Um... we had the pleasure of dining at a few notable places...
- vego favourite Angelica's Kitchen in the Lower East Side- yuuummmmm......
- an awesome sake and tofu desert bar Kyotofu in Midtown West (sounds kinda strange, but it was fabulous!) [DC - there's a pic of this place in our web album]
- as an Australia Day celebration the Australian Women in New York got together and we went to Metrazur (in Grand Central Station, great food and nice to meet some fellow Aussie sheilas in this strange place)
- we had tea and shared a muffin in Moby's tea cafe "Teany" (more Lower East Side action)
- the list goes on.... (though I still have a long list of vego places to drag Darius and unsuspecting visitors too...)

:) Kristi

2007-01-24T23:05:00.000-05:00

Oh ... and new pics in the web albums ... link is in the sidebar!

2007-01-24T22:39:00.000-05:00

The joys of our current apartment (this pic is taken from our window the other night)!! It's not too bad, but we are going to try a new spot from next week. We're going to be giving it a go on the upper west side, to try and see if this is where we want to live more permanently. No address right now ... will send an email when we know it.

2007-01-19T09:29:00.000-05:00

The Doomsday Clock has been moved closer to midnight again ...

'"As we stand at the brink of a second nuclear age, and a period of unprecedented climate change, scientists have a special responsibility."

The decision to move the clock is made by the bulletin's board, which is composed of prominent scientists and policy experts, including 18 Nobel laureates ...'

Whole article is here, and the official board statement is here. There's also a timeline of the clock's movements on the group's website here.

Kinda scary when you think 18 Nobel laureates reckon that we're destroying ourselves?? Although the positive is that it has been closer to midnight before (the early 80's when it was 3 and 4 minutes to midnight, and the late 40's/early 50's when the US and the then USSR first started nuclear testing).

2007-01-18T20:43:00.000-05:00

Anna sent me this ... love it!! (Kinda one for the accountants though ...)

2007-01-16T23:06:00.000-05:00

Getting colder here now ... has been 5-15 since we got her (degrees C), but is 0-5 this week and expected to get colder again next week ... hmmm ....

2007-01-13T20:41:00.000-05:00

Our first (ten flakes of) snow in NY ... hey, it's a start!!

2007-01-13T20:36:00.000-05:00

Our trip to MoMA yesterday ... so cool!! Van Gogh, Monet, Dali and Warhol (all in the pics above) ... I had no idea that the Monet Water Lillies was such a huge painting, or that Dali's Persistence of Memory was so small! And apart from the paintings, the building is an amazing piece of art itself! We got there at about 10:30am, and left about 4:30pm ... having left 2 of the 6 floors for next time! Glad I bought us membership!!

2007-01-13T20:21:00.000-05:00

Kristi found this in the lift in our building ... nice to know, we thought!!?

2007-01-12T10:46:00.000-05:00

Well we know we're in the US of A now ... Just saw our first stretch Hummer heading down Broadway towards Times Sq!? It is true ... Everything is big here!!

2007-01-08T23:24:00.000-05:00

Ooh ... and thought Chris and Dad (amongst others) might like this one! Now showing on Broadway!!

2007-01-08T22:47:00.000-05:00

Guess what Kristi and I found at Times Square?? M&M World!! Pics below are a collage of the various images we stood and laughed at on the HUGE screen out the font ...

And what's across the road from M&M world ... Hershey's World, of course ...

Oh ... and as you can tell from Kristi ... it's a little colder here today!! About a 10 degree max and a whole lot of rain!!

2007-01-06T19:52:00.000-05:00

OK ... so a bit has happened since my last post!? First things first though ...

Kristi and I had an awesome "farewell" party in Sydney ... under the title of "Cans and Cocktails", and with the help of Al & Megan's apartment (thanks again guys!!), we hosted a few Bogan's and a few Princesses and a lot of cocktails!!

Cans and Cocktails Party

We followed this up with a trip to Adelaide for Christmas and then back in to Sydney for the New Year's celebration. We hadn't spent NYE in Sydney since moving there all those years ago, so thought we'd better experience it. A great night, and (for a change) not a NYE disappointment! Some pics below ...

NYE 2006 in Sydney

After NYE, Kristi and I headed up to the Hunter Valley to catch up with Anna and Goran for a few days ... had an awesome "cabin" up there, with an amazing view down in to the valley ...

It was great to just spend a few days relaxing, tasting wine, and just generally unwinding before the flight to New York. After 13 hours to LA, makign our way through immigration in LA (complete with finger print scans and photo), as well as customs (with our 110kgs over 5 bags, plus 2 carry on bags!!?) we dropped the bags off again and boarded the 5 hour flight to NY. All went fine, and we even managed to navigate the taxi in to town and find our apartment fairly easily (once we worked out how to get in to the building!!?)

The apartment here is great (more pics on our Picasa webpage) and the doorman pointed us in the right direction to get some basic supplies, as well as telling us where the nearest "wholefoods market" was ... very handy! We're here for about 2 months, so are planning to make the most of weekends to check out the different areas around the place and work out where we want to settle longer term.

To that end, we've spent the past few days trying to orient ourselves a little, and have done a HEAP of walking around. We've been as far North as about 85th St, West to the Hudson (Riverside Drive), South to just below Canal Street, but only made it as far East as about 5th Ave ... although we did take a walk last night (after a Korean dinner) to about 2nd Ave. If none of that makes sense ... check out the map here. (The arrow is where our apartment is.)

New York - First Impressions

Anyhow, better go ... still working through this jetlag thing!!?

Chat to you all soon!!

D.

PS - I should mention that's it's been unusually warm here!! About 20 degrees C here today!!? Apparently this is now a 130-odd year record for the longest amount of time NYC has been without snow!! Hopefully we get some next week to justify all of the warm clothes we bought before we left Australia!!?

2006-12-03T04:48:00.000-05:00

Kristi and I went to our good friend Danae's wedding yesterday ... an idylic wedding on an island in the middle of the harbour, followed by dinner at a restaurant on the beach near Manly ... idylic, except for the rain!??

Didn't matter though ... it was an awesome day, and one I'm sure they (and we) will remember for a long time to come! Pics are in the album below.

Danae & Patrick's Wedding

2006-11-28T08:14:00.000-05:00

OK ... real quick, 'cos I'm real tired!!

1. Plans for NY are going well ... removalist booked in, flights booked for the 4th Jan, etc. Just need to find time to sort out the house now!! Anybody want to buy a sofa??

2. Uni is done!! Woo Hoo!! Results should be out next week, but I'm assuming I passed??

3. Work is RIDICULOUSLY busy!!? C'mon Christmas!!

4. Went to the U2 concert the other week ... absolutely unreal!! I have some photos from my phone, but they don't want to upload ... will put them up when I have some more time!

Anyhow ... time for bed!!

PS - CONGRATULATIONS on the new roles to both Mum and Dad ... awesome!!
PPS - Hope Milly is sleeping better again now Chris and Donna!??

2006-11-07T18:18:00.000-05:00

SMH Headline today "People first, river second"

Well, atleast they're being honest I guess, but doesn't it go to show that the short term focus of our political system just ain't working?? I remember as a kid seeing pictures of the Murray mouth on the news and politicians and others saying what a dire situation it was, and something had to be done!

In today's article, "A scientific report, commissioned by a similar group of ministers in 2002, found 1500 gigalitres of water - enough to fill Sydney Harbour three times - was needed to address the decline of the whole Murray-Darling system. A meeting of ministers the following year agreed to find a third of that water to sustain five key environmental sites along the river system, but none of that water has yet been returned to the river."

Plenty of hot air has been found though!!??

Now we get the ministers deciding to have another look at it all, with little Johnny saying that "it will be apparent what some of the options are, including the draining of wetlands and allowing some of the dams to dry up. They will be considered. The purpose is to get a warts-and-all action plan. It's serious and we all understand that."

It was serious 20 years ago!! Now it's dire and focusing on keeping people 'on the land' without considering all of the consequences, including those regarding the Murray Darling herself, is ridiculous.

I guess we'll get another report, which will release its findings just in time for the next election and give Johnny his Tasmanian rainforest issue for this election ... more hot air about saving people's livelihoods while destroying our environment, more cheers from people with as short a focus as the government and Johhny's back in the White House, sorry, Kirribilli. Lucky for Howard it's not the White House ... if it was, atleast his reign would have ended years ago!!

Just a thought!!?

2006-11-05T07:59:00.000-05:00

An interesting story found as I clicked "next blog" from Floodeluddeckeville ... The Last Angry Hippie: A Parable/Warning

It's an interesting thought??

2006-11-02T05:11:00.000-05:00

Two weeks and my masters is finished!!! Finished I tell you!!!!!

If only this work project was finished in 2 weeks!!?!?!?!

2006-10-18T10:11:00.000-04:00

I know that I'll get crap from Dad on this ... but anybody else think this guy looks a bit like Dad's doppleganger??? ... I think it's the moustache!?? ... Hope Mission Connection

2006-10-18T09:30:00.000-04:00

And the weather in NYC today is ...

2006-10-16T23:14:00.000-04:00

VERY cool picture found on Chris' blog ... Floodeluddecke

And Mr Howard wonders why all these radical greenies are so against nuclear power being used in Australia???

2006-10-16T23:01:00.000-04:00

I read this article on the NY times website today while I was having my salad for lunch ... it's an interesting set of thoughts about how the vegetable industry (well the food industry generally, I suppose) is being industrialised, and how this industrialisation impacts on and creates certain problems. Problems that the author contends were actually solutions in "the old days".

As someone that likes the fact that Kristi buys us organic stuff from the local(ish) market (even if I am too lazy to get out of bed in the morning to join her!!), this adds another dimension to what makes "good" food ...

Thoughts?
D.

2006-09-18T09:37:00.000-04:00

Oooh ... and this is cool too ... apparently a time lapse of the Reno hot air balloon race shot with a Digital still camera ... very funky (I like the bee!)

I love You Tube!

2006-09-18T09:31:00.000-04:00

Oh ... and found this on the Floodeluddecke's website ... very cool Donna!! Permanent link now added to the right --->

2006-09-18T09:16:00.000-04:00

This is cool! And thought it might be relevant (assuming your present has made it to you in KL Dad!!?)

http://www.flashbeer.com.au

2006-09-02T19:50:00.000-04:00

And in searching for the clip below I found this ... Lego men doing the OK Go treadmill clip!! Way cool!!

2006-09-02T19:46:00.000-04:00

Mornin' All!

I've just been sitting here at the laptop procrastinating over doing our tax returns and OK Go came on to Rage ... love this flimclip!!?

2006-08-31T11:16:00.000-04:00

Hey all ... haven't posted for a while, so thought I'd stick something up before I disappeared off to bed?!!

Been ridiculously busy at work unfortunately ... and doesn't look like it's going to let up too soon ... it was great to have Mum and Dad here for the weekend though as an excuse not to work!!? Looking forward to the October long weekend now ... oh God .. what a life@!?!?

Anyhow, not all bad, study is quiet at least???

I think I'm rambling now, so I'm going to go to bed!!? If you want to see scary pics of the girl and me, they can be viewed here ... http://www.langeluddecke.blogspot.com

xoxo

2006-07-26T08:12:00.000-04:00

You've gotta love anything that's related to George Dubbya Bush ... provided it's not serious, of course!!

http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm

(PS - if he gets stuck, you can use your mouse to help him out ... you can also use it to grab him and just generally throw him around the place ... fun for all the family!)

2006-07-18T02:36:00.000-04:00

More info on the Patrick White "Sting" (from today's Crikey) ...

17. Today's Patrick Whites won't be discovered in slush piles

In speaking with The Australian about the Patrick White hoax, Shona Martyn,
Advertisement Publishing Director at HarperCollins, noted that the publisher has moved away from the tradition of the slush pile (unsolicited manuscripts sent directly to a publisher) as a way to discover unpublished authors. She writes:

HarperCollins has found that we were picking up only about one or two publishable books a year from the slush pile of hundreds and hundreds. Employing staff to read substandard, unpublishable, badly presented and often just plain badly written manuscripts is not the best way to find new talent, in my experience. Similarly, people employed to read through the slush pile tend to become very demoralised!

Rather, HarperCollins has chosen to look for new talent in more proactive ways – most notably through our Varuna Manuscript Development Awards where each year we send four of five senior editors to work one-on-one over a ten-day period with a group of unpublished authors.

In addition, we find talent from a variety of other sources including personal recommendations (eg from tutors at writing courses, other authors and even via booksellers who will recommend the work of their customers). Our publishers also spend time talking and lecturing would-be writers at workshops and festivals and many of these personal contacts eventually yield manuscripts. They also approach potential writers directly and keep an eye on publication of new work in literary journals. Of course a large number of our books come via agents but a large percentage do not. A good publisher is open to opportunity and should chase the talent!

All in all, I think The Australian piece was very flawed – especially given the choice of a Patrick White chapter given that, despite his undeniable talent, his style of writing is difficult and not instantly appealing to today's literary readers who are buying different styles of writing (rightly or wrongly). Literature and reading, like anything else, are subject to fashions. Having said that, I believe that if a writer of Patrick White's talent was starting today then his or her work would surface via some of the ways mentioned above.

The article was also predicated on the false assumption that if a manuscript showed great talent then any intelligent publisher would purchase it. This shows a complete misunderstanding of how publishers work. Publishers buy books that fit their list – we do have specialities – and look for books that they can sell in economic quantities. Publishers buy books that the public will buy; we work in businesses.

However, we do buy a number of books – especially literary books – each year which are not strictly economic but do show great promise and talent. We deviate from our standard “profit and loss” objectives because of publisher passion in these books. Our plan is that we will attract enough readers to start a buzz for them and we hope they will win awards or develop a long-term career. But of course we pick books that we think the literary readers will want to read.

All in all, The Australian's sting showed much as I would expect: some publishers (like us) don't look at unsolicited manuscripts and send back a letter to that effect. This information is clearly on our website along with information on writers' courses and the like and staff also spend a lot of time helping would-be authors who phone us. So I hardly feel “exposed” – rather pleased that our system works in a random test!

It also showed that publishers and agents who did read the material tended to write back polite and helpful letters explaining the book was not for them or that they could not sell it.

2006-07-17T08:57:00.000-04:00

Last one ...

A very good use of technology to analyse the finer points of the wash up post the World Cup ...

http://www.informationbuilders.co.uk/ontheball/wcuk.htm

2006-07-17T08:52:00.000-04:00

From today's Crikey ... I'm not sure yet if this is unbelievable or just funny!?

12. Shock: Australian publishers reject Patrick White novel Kerryn Goldsworthy writes:

Where to begin an analysis, a commentary, or even just an incredulous expostulation in response to this <http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20876,19791782-5001986,00.html>?

For those who haven't already read the article, here's the cartoon version: in imitation of a similar British hoax involving VS Naipaul, someone from The Australian – possibly Jennifer Sexton, author of the article, who does not say who set this sting up – sent Chapter Three of Patrick White's The Eye of the Storm to twelve Australian publishers and agents, changing the names of the characters, re-titling the novel The Eye of the Cyclone (oh, dear; surely they could have been a bit witty about it, at least) and submitting the MS under a name manifestly not a real one, but an anagram of PATRICK WHITE.

('Wraith Picket', forsooth; why didn't they just call him Keith Crapwit and be done with it?)

Two publishers/agents have not yet replied, after three months, and the other ten all turned it down. Some suggested that St Patrick should read David Lodge's How-To book, and others that he should join a writers' centre. (He would have abominated how-to books and writers' centres.)

The chapter in question was one of the least typical bits, and I'm sorry to say probably one of the least successful bits, of White's writing that I can think of, short of his first two novels Happy Valley and The Living and the Dead, in which he was merely clearing his throat.

The offending chapter is smack in the middle of the action, jumps around chronologically, and, most atypically for White, is pretty much all narrated in free indirect discourse, reflecting the thought processes of the deeply awful character and the kind of language he would use.

I can't work out which is the worst:

(a) the bad faith of the entrapment, the smugness of its aftermath, and the shabby (and incoherent, as Jeff Sparrow points out in this <http://www.leftwrites.net/?p=125> excellent piece) reactionary agenda behind the exercise,

(b) the failure of the agents and publishers' readers who rejected the chapter to recognise either the actual novel or, at the very least, White's unique, highly spottable style, and the incontrovertible evidence it provides that people getting jobs in Australian publishing houses have clearly not seen fit to make it their business to read a little Australian writing, or

(c) the unambiguously, unashamedly and exclusively commercial agenda behind some of the rejections.I could just cry. And I would, if this episode were not, in its own toxic way, so funny. Not one person or organisation comes out of this particularly well, except perhaps Michael Heyward from Text (no surprises there; Heyward has been one of the class acts of Australian publishing for twenty years), who expressed concern that it had happened and the opinion that publishers needed to be kept on their toes – unlike everyone else quoted, who toughed it out so brazenly they would have made Pats and Eddie proud.

And maybe Patrick White himself, of course. And he, poor old poppet, is past caring. Or so one hopes.

2006-07-17T08:39:00.000-04:00

Some very sound advice from Laura ... it's in the comments, but I thought it deserved it's own post!!

"Just a thought, don't accidently type in ...www.dariusc.blogpot.com because you come up with...A mega-site of Bible, Christian and religious information and studies"

For a demonstration ... click here.

How weird!??

2006-07-17T08:24:00.000-04:00

Right, so about 6 weeks without an entry ... some kind of record? Probably not ... but hey?

Apologies for being off the air, and generally incommunicado for a while ... if it's not Uni, it's work at the moment, and if it's not either of those, well ... let's be honest ... I'm just slack!!

Great pics Laura ... looks like you guys had fun in Melbourne! And good to see Pam and Philip looking happy and well still ... no after effects from the water in KL!!

And thanks Chris for posting all of the Zidane headbutt paraphenalia that I've been too slow to get to! Whatever the cause was ... ZZ is/was a great player, just unfortunate that he will now be generally known as a mocked up computer game character!!?

I still like this little gem though ... I can't work out how to make it work on here like young Mr Chris can, but it can be found here (towards the bottom of the page). I also still like the death star ... so geeky!!

2006-06-08T04:47:00.000-04:00

OK ... made it through the exam yesterday and handed up the assignment ... one exam, one assignment and two weeks to go until the end of the semester!!

2006-06-03T03:45:00.000-04:00

Still studying ... BLAH!!!!! Hope everybody is well!

Will call you all in about 3 weeks wehn I get my life back!!

Good luck with your study stuff as well Laura!

xoxo

2006-05-24T09:34:00.001-04:00

Oh yeah ... and my first exam is done dudes!!!!!

2006-05-24T09:14:00.000-04:00

Good point Chris!

New TV ... bought last weekend and delivered during the week ... all shiny and new!!

CNet review is here -> http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/lcd/0,39035307,40062500,00.htm

Go the Socceroos!!!!!!

2006-05-20T19:43:00.000-04:00

Hey all ... just a quick one today to say Hi to everybody! Busy with study this week (this month actually!?) Am supposed to be at Uni today, but decided to stay home and study for the exam I have on Wednesday. Once that's over, it's going to be an exam and a case study due in 2 weeks, and again another 2 weeks after that.

Apart from that, I'm looking forward to Melbourne later this week ... I'm flying down Thursday morning (after the exam Wed night) and meeting up with Mark and Karen to watch the Soccerroos play Greece at the MCG. I've got the big boxing kangaroo flag and just need to buy a jersey this week to complete the package!

Well ... better get back to the books. Have a great week all!

D.

2006-05-01T08:37:00.000-04:00

Mr Michael Caine <- This is a link ... doesn't look like it, I know, but there ya go!

Ah ... the joys of youth!

Actually nothing to do with youth, but a bloody good idea!! Two young men sat down one night and one turned to the other and said "hold on lads, I've got an idea!" The result is Chris and Tim's effort to get Sir Michael Caine (he must be a sir, surely?) to come to Tim's place for a bbq ... what a fine effort, and one that must be encouraged!

(Even if you have no interest in Michael making it to Tim's for a snag or two, you can atleast vote in their poll, which asks "which classic Micahel Caine movie should we watch with Michael Caine?" ... VOTE FOR THE ITALIAN JOB!! ... sorry, white doesn't really work too well on a light background!?)

2006-04-30T03:16:00.000-04:00

Our trip to Cairns (Better late than never, yeah?)

OK ... Day one (Friday) - we arrived about lunchtime, picked up our hire car and went and caught up with Charlie and his parents (who live there), and then headed up to Port Douglas. Nice drive, and nice spot. I think we had pizza for dinner, if anybody's interested?

Day Two (Saturday) - we decided to drive up in to the Daintree to 1. visit the Daintree Eco Lodge and Spa, which Kristi has wanted to visit for AGES, and 2. just because we thought it'd be nice! Of course, it decided to rain just about all day!!? Some pics from the day though ...

The weather on the way up ...

Tea plantation for the Daintree Tea Co ...

We decided that we should drive up to Cape Tribulation for some lunch, but unfortunately mother nature had other ideas!? We made it across the ferry, but then found this in our way ...

As you can see, it wasn't too deep, but some of the people lined up and building up the courage to drive through it told us that the road was flooded a lot more further up, and that we wouldn't actually be able to make it to Cape Trib, so we decided not to risk the little Hyundai Getz we had, and turned back again.

We stopped at the Daintree canopy walk/touristy thing on the way back, in the ridiculous hope that the rain might stop for a little while ... long enough, at least, for us to have a look. Unfrotunately it didn't, and we just had a coffee at the coffee shop at the bottom of the walk (Kristi had a Daintree Tea) and watched the rain come down. Even managed to see a green tree frog trying to avoid the rain!

Looking at the torrent coming down in the last picture above, we were feeling pretty happy we hadn't decided to cross the little bit of water over the road earlier ... I suspect there would've been a whole lot more water by the time we tried to come back!!?

Anyhow, we made it home again safely!?

Day Three (Sunday) - What a difference a day makes!

The above pics were taken as we set out on Sunday morning for the day's festivities. Sunday was "bucks and hens day", which started for me with golf at 7:45am!? No pics from golf, or the rest of the day (what happens on tour, stays on tour) but we both had fun! We also moved from Port Douglas down to the Angsana resort at Palm Cove (where the wedding was held) on Sunday.

Day Four (Monday) - Monday was spent relaxing in the morning, wandering around the Angsana and having a look. It was wet again (unfortunately), but at this stage, with the wedding the next day, we were hoping it was a pattern, one day on and one day off!? Pics below are of the chapel the wedding as to be in on Tuesday.

The afternoon was at Charlie's parents place ... drinking, eating, drinking, meeting new people, eating, and generally enjoying their Czech hospitality!!

Day Five (Tuesday) - Wedding Day!
Unfortunately the idea of the weather being one day on, one day off, didn't really work?! We got up and went to walk down to the Outrigger (another resort just down the road) but it was pouring with rain so badly that we ended up driving there!? (About 200m down the road!!) They have a nice Roller out the front though, huh!?

In the afternoon, the weather managed to hold off for just long enough for Vanessa to make it to the chapel, and the wedding was beautiful!

Straining to get a glimpse of the bride as she arrives

"Isn't she lo-ver-ly!"

A kiss to seal the deal

I think she was pretty happy!!

Chatting outside the Chapel

OK ... time to party! (Notice that the smiles are still firmly in place!!)

Ahoj Karel!

Cheers Charles!

Aaaawwwww! How Sweet?!

Ok ... enough of all that!

Day Six (Wednesday) - Our last day in Cairns, and guess what the weather was doing ... here's a hint - the pool you see below (pic taken from our balcony) is not supposed to be flooded??

After we'd checked out, we decided to spend the day driving down to Innesfail, the town that was hit by a cyclone about a month before. Even though they'd had 4 weeks or so to clean up, you could see that the place had been hit pretty hard!

This tree was still sitting half out of the ground.

It looked like this hotel was going to be demolished - it had been pretty badly damaged.

McDonalds had seen better days (still trading strongly though!?!?)

And this is the reason Aussie Bananas are now so expensive! Some supply problems?!

Oh, and of course, it rained on the way back to the airport ... LOTS!! (And yes the windscreen wipers are on in the pics below!)

We made it home safely though, and now (a week and a half later) you know the story of our trip to Cairns!!

D.
xoxo

2006-04-19T02:26:00.000-04:00

Greetings from sunny Cairns!! (Ok ... so not so sunny really ... more like p*ssing down with rain Cairns, but hey!?)

Kristi and I have been up here for the wedding of some good friends of ours ... Charlie and Vanessa. Great wedding and great location (despite the rain!)

We're just at the airport about to head home, but thought I'd put something up on the www to say hi and let you know that we've enjoyed our holiday (while you've all been at work ... nah nah!!!)

Will put up some piccies in the next few days to show you what we've been up to ... until then!

D.

2006-04-04T07:09:00.000-04:00

Ok ... so last post was almost a month ago, and I'm getting crap from Dad for getting the rest of you in to this blogging thing, but not really keeping up my end the bargain ... guess that's fair enough, but hopefully I can get back on your good side by filling you in now?!

Ok ... since last time ... well, to be honest, not a lot really (boo ... boring ... yeah, I know) ... truth is, work is FLAT OUT!! Seems to be a lot to do at the moment, and a larger than normal number of projects going on ... hopefully moving past 31 March (our year end) will mean there's some light at the end of the tunnel ... but there does feel like there's a lot of things that have been put on the "we'll get to that in the new year" pile!!? Oh well ... this week and next week to get through and then Easter's here ... and then I get a week's holiday!! (Bliss!!)

Other thing keeping me busy is Uni. Decided (for some very strange reason) that I should do this subject that started 4 weeks before I got back from HK ... Mmmmmm, very clever?! Anyhow, had a mid semester exam for that weekend before last and it seemed to go OK ... although I basically crammed everything in to my brain the night before, and am still not convinced I have any idea what's going on!?! The subject is Financial Risk Management, so lots of maths and stats .. blah!!!??!?!?!??!?!?! Oh well ... only this semester and next to go and then I'm done!!

Hmmm ... what else ... nothing much really!? My birthday was good .... thanks for the cards and good wishes, and thanks to those that come around on the weekend for bbq. Was great to catch up on all the goss from being away, and on the various "interesting" conversations from the night!!?

Apart from that, been catching up with Millie when we can (very cute ... did well Chris) and have managed a solitary trip to the gym since I've been back ... Mum and Dad are putting me to shame! (and Kristi, who's managing about 4 nights a week!!?)

Hope you guys are all well, and happy birthday to almost every member of our collective families who's having/had a birthday in the past couple of weeks, or the coming few days?!

Love to you all!!

D
xoxo

2006-03-12T03:39:00.000-05:00

Weebls Stuff - On The Moon Ep.4

Funny stuff ... with very, very, very bad Australian accent!!?

2006-03-10T06:56:00.000-05:00

And one from Randall ... nice pic!!!

2006-03-10T06:45:00.000-05:00

Some pics from Laura's camera!! Welcome to Sydney sis!

2006-03-09T17:12:00.000-05:00

OK ... sorry for the delay in/time between posts!

I know, I know ... I head back to Oz, and all of a sudden I forget everybody (again)!? Not true ... I promise!

Yes, I am back in Sydney, and loving it! Clean air, clean food ... all the good stuff, and my little sis on her way. (I'm waiting at home for her ... late to work today, what a shame!) not that I didn't enjoy HK, I think it's just nice to be at home again for a change ... HK was good for work, etc, but it was always living in a one room apartment, and never really feeling settled. Home is nice!

Work is proving challenging back in Oz again ... I spent the first afternoon at work listening to all of the conversations going on around me (which I'd gotten usd to not understanding because they were all in Canto) and realising that, although they were in English again, a lot had happened while I was gone and so I have some catching up to do!! Need to relearn some stuff, and catch up with some of the things that have moved on in the past 4 months. All good challenges though, and I'm looking forward to the next 6 months.

Kristi and I managed to catch the inaugural A-League Grand Final last Sunday afternoon, at a pub in Glebe with Chris and his lovely lady ... good to see Sydney get up and win, although having watched a lot of football while I was in Asia, it's pretty easy to see that the game has got some growing up to do in Australia. Having said that, the stars seem to be aligned (PLEASE!!!??) so that the game can finally take off here. World Cup qualification in the same year as the A-League kicks off (putting to rest a lot of the local ethnic issues in the game) and the same year as Australia moves out of Oceania and into the Asian Football Federation ... as I said, the game has some growing up to do here, but I think the groundwork is layed for it to do that now. Playing in Asia will mean more games and more exposure for the local players, giving them a chance to play against better opposition and therefore get better themselves. It will also (hopefully) see Australia play more games as a unit. All good things!

Am thinking about heading down to Melbourne for the Australia v Greece game in May (just before the World Cup kicks-off) ... will just depend on bank accounts, etc!

Anyhow, must go ... should check my work email and gets a few things done before Laura gets here and I have to actually head in to the office.

Chat again soon!!

D.

2006-02-25T04:43:00.000-05:00

Been an interesting day today. I went out last night for dinner and drinks with my boss and another guy from work (and their respective other halves), which ended up with Mark, Naomi and I still in the "Smugglers Inn" in Stanley at 3:00am!!? After finding a cab and managing to survive the 30 minute taxi ride home (with the window down for the fresh air as the driver took great delight in throwing his vehicle around the windy roads) I managed to roll in to bed. Needless to say, when the alarm went off at 8:15am, I really didn't feel overly rested!!?

Alex turned up pretty much on time, at 8:30am, which gave me just enough time for a shower and to realise that I was still feeling pretty green. We headed up to Staunton St to find breakfast, and managed much better than the McD's from last week, with bacon and eggs, etc. I decided muesli was my best option, but switched to fried eggs after half a bowl ... to be honest, neither of them felt very good but both were better options than the two Mexican guys next to us who were drinking pints of Stella, having not actually made it home yet!

After breakfast, we headed down to the Ferry piers and got the 10:10am ferry to Lamma Island. Just for future reference, a ferry with no opening windows is not the best choice after living through what I described above! However, we made it to Lamma and found Rob outside his place with his mountain bikes ... Christine having already been out for a ride and made it back again. Alex and I borrowed helmets and a bag for our water and we headed off with Rob to explore the tracks he rides every week. Alex tearing off ahead, and me staving off the urge to puke rather than pedal!

We rode up the road to the solitary wind power generator at the top of one of the hills on Lamma and, after reading a little about the generator and realising that HK probably needed more than just one if it was going to get serious about green energy, we headed off the road and along a less beaten track to start the ride proper. It was a great track but the combination of a long time since I'd been on a bike, let alone a mountain bike trail, coupled with the very green edges I'm sure both Alex and Rob could see surrounding me, probably should have warned me that this wasn't a good idea!

Now, all of the above is obviously being told for a reason. I could probably kid myself and say that I've written every single word above this paragraph to inform you of what I've been doing here in HK, but the honest (and no doubt obvious) truth is that it's all an excuse. Nothing more really, and nothing less ... just an old fashioned excuse for the fact that, at the first real downhill we got to, I managed to stand up on the bike without really leaning back and vaulted head first over the handle bars, landing with the bike on top of me!?

As if I wasn't feeling ill enough already!!?

To cut a long story to a manageable length, I decided at that point that mountain biking in my state (and with a flight home to Sydney coming up soon) probably wasn't the best idea? The laceration on my elbow was enough to convince me that I was probably going to come off again, and so I sat and admired the view for a while as the other 2 guys headed off for some more action. A couple of other riders came along (2 guys from Israel), and they had some stuff in their kit to dress my elbow, so I got patched up on the top of the mountain and actually considered heading off after Rob and Alex, but good sense prevailed and I made my way back down the mountain to the Village and to find Rob's family and some lunch.

Rob and Alex made it back a couple of hours later, having had a good ride. Alex actually managed to come off as well toward the end of their journey, with less blood than I had, but a badly stretched calf that meant he found it hard to walk. So, we got some ice and he sat to have some lunch with his leg up in the air (and providing Rob's kids with endless entertainment as they stole pieces of ice and "hid" them in everybody's clothes!!?)

After lunch, we thanked our hosts and started the slow journey back to the ferry, with every passer by taking a sneaky glance at Alex (and some not so sneaky gawks) to try and work out why this guy was walking so strangely. One local guy riding a little bike and carrying a mountain bike frame realised what the issue was and insisted that Alex get on his bike and ride it to the ferry! He did (apparently riding was much easier than walking) and we left the bike at the ferry pier, from where the owner came and picked it up a few minutes later. Lamma is a great community!

2006-02-19T02:38:00.000-05:00

[Hope you've got a minute ... this post is a little longer than most!]

Well, another week down and I've just got back to my room after breakfast at Cafe O (again ... gonna miss that place) and then some time spent reading and coffeeing at a couple of the coffee shops around SOHO ... Life isn't all that bad really, huh?

Work has been busy again this week as predicted, and things are starting to rev up again ... a little disappointing that the project has taken longer than expected and so, given I'm going home again in a couple of weeks, I'm not going to get a chance to see the thing through entirely. It's been a good experience though and these last 2 weeks are going to be pretty full on getting everything I can done before I go!!

So, given I'm heading home soon (this is the end of my second to last weekend in HK), I thought I'd better do some HK stuff!! So, at 8am yesterday (yes - I was out of bed and in Happy Valley by 8am on a weekend!!) I met Alex at the Park & Shop in HV. We tried to head to a cafe called Browns for breakfast, but the place wasn't open (the sign on the door said they do brunch on a weekend ... guess 8am isn't brunch time!!?), so after looking around a bit and realising we were way too early for lunch on Sat in the Valley we ended up with an Egg McMuffin and a hash brown for breakfast. Not quite the cooked English breakfast we'd been looking forward to, but hey?

After washing down our plastic breafast with reconstituted orange juice, we grabbed a cab and set off up the hill a bit to explore some of HK Island's myriad walking trails. Specifically, we were heading off to do the "Dragon's Back", a walk from near Tie Tam reservoir to Shek-O on the southern coast of the Island. The Dragon's Back itself is only about an hour's walk though, so we lengthened it a little by starting from Happy Valley and walking through (making it about a 4 hour walk). The weather forecast was for showers all day, and it was spitting as we travelled up in the cab, but we decided that if we were going to do it, we may as well give it a go!

It's amazing that such a densely populated island has such large areas of bush/scrubland so close to the city. I'd been told about it before, but I don't think it had quite sunk in just how such a great nature space could coexist with Hong Kong's bustling city. There's two main sets of walking trails on HK Island, the Hong Kong trail, and the Wilson trail (which runs up into the New Territories as well). I think I was told the other day that HK (including the island and the mainland portion) is about 75% national park! We spent 5 minutes in the cab getting up to the park and then within 2 monutes walk we were literally in a national park, looking at a map of where to go, with paths leading in 4 directions and a creek running down the side, next to us ... amazing!

We headed off up the side of the creek, came to a junction, turned left and after about 30 minutes walking ended up back at the first map again!!? After that, we paid a little more attention to where we were going, consulted the map we were carrying and turned right at the junction ... heading off in the right direction!

The pic to the left here shows what we could see from the first lookout kind of area ... as you can tell, it was pretty cold. As Alex and I were saying when we were walking ... on days like these you can almost convince yourself the pollution isn't too bad, because you can blame the visibility on something else ... like I said ... almost?!

From here we kept walking up and along the path, winding our way through to somewhere near the middle of HK island. We then walked along the road a little to join up with the Shek-O national park (I think that's what it was called) and walked along a little to the next map. At this point there was a choice to follow the Dragon's Back proper, which meant following a well maintained path that ran along the western side of the mountain we were standing on and then up onto the ridge for the second half of the walk, OR take a left onto an unmaintained path that basically went straight up the mountain and then followed the ridge for almost the entire length. Obviously we chose the second one, because we thought the views would be better ... and at times they were, but for a lot of the time we were walking along in seven foot high bamboo, which was a little disorienting, and not very conducive to the views we felt we'd earnt!?

The pic to the right is the view of Big Wave Bay from the top of the hill. And below is a pic of one of the walkways through the bamboo.

Once we got to the end of the unmaintained trail, and rejoined the Dragon's Back proper, we turned around to see the sign below ... quite funny actually, as there was no corresponding sign at the other end of the trail, and to be honest, apart from the fairly steep ascent, which was hard due to my lack of cardio fitness but I wouldn't desribe as dangerous, the path was actually quite straightforward!!?

Not sure what we would have done if there had been a sign at the start of the trail actually?? Guess we'll never know!?

The maintained part of the trail was actually quite a nice stroll! We wandered along the top of the hill, with views over to Stanley on our right, and down to Big Wave Bay and the very, very exclusive Shek-O golf course down to the left. (About 200 members aparently, which is unheard of for golf in HK!! We came past it on the bus on the way back actually, and there was hardly anybody on the course ... very nice, I'm sure!)

The pics below are some of the views we had ... (hang your mouse over each image for a description, and click on it for a bigger version.)

And (if this works) this is a stitched view from the top of one of the lookouts ... basically looking out to the right (West ... we were walking South) with Stanley in the distance on the left of the picture, those European looking houses in the middle and a very nice looking bay on the right (which had some nice looking boats in it!)

From here, we followed the path as it wandered down the right hand side of the hill and on to Shek-O road. We considered walking to Shek-O, but walking along the roads in the hills is kind of like taking your life in your hands, with the buses doing 60 - 80 kmph around the corners, so we decided it was marginally safer to actually be on the bus rather than walking next to it and grabbed a bus from the stop at the end of the path.

We wandered in to town and went to the Black Sheep for lunch ... which had been recommended by some of the guys at work. If you go there, pizza's were great, and the other food was pretty good (we shared a pizza and then I had mussels and Alex had the steak), although you need to take your credit card! Not cheap, compared to the other options in Shek-O ... but good!

We then got a bus and a taxi back to civilisation and I went for a fitting for my new suits (might as well, while I'm in HK, huh!?). All in all a very productive day!!

2006-02-16T09:55:00.000-05:00

Fetusmart: The Magical Land of Fetuses

One for Chris, Donna and the Critter!

2006-02-14T07:35:00.000-05:00

Floodeluddecke

Given a COMPLETE inability to compete ... I have decided to link my Valentine's wish to the Floodeluddecke's blog ...

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!!

2006-02-12T01:37:00.000-05:00

Mum and Dad ... in on the action as well!! (New link to the right.)

[I've created a monster!!!]

2006-02-11T22:41:00.000-05:00

Just added a link to Laura's Blog (in the Links section, funnily enough!?) ... good work Sis!!

2006-02-11T12:19:00.000-05:00

After the rugby (Waratah's won, by the way) ... I've been playing some more. There's some new stuff in the sidebar to the right now so that you can subscribe to my blog!! What does that mean? Well, if you don't want to have to come to this site to check what's going on, you can "subscribe" to have the content sent to you via RSS or via email ... how cool is that!!

I'd be keen to hear if it works or not!!

2006-02-11T02:53:00.000-05:00

Hey guys!

Well, it's 3:55, which means I've been awake for about 4 hours?! Went out for dinner last night with my boss here in HK and another guy from work, which was good ... too much good food and wine though?!

Work this week was a little quieter than it has been, which unfortunately meant I spent heaps of time doing stuff for Sydney instead ... oh well ... I guess that's the way it goes, huh? With only 3 weeks to go up here I guess I need to try and get back in to the swing of what's going on in Sydney?!

This morning (once I got up) I wandered out and found some food and have spent most of the day sitting here reading (Cafe O ... highly recommended!). This afternoon I'm heading up to the cricket club to watch the rugby from Australia with one of the other guys from work, which should be good. No plans for tomorrow yet, but probably going to have to do some work stuff and some washing!!? Ah, the glamour of business travel!!?

Anyhow, better go ... I'm due up at HKCC at 4:30 and I need to go home and get a shirt with a collar (not allowed into the HKCC bar without a collar ... very proper!) and then get up there.

Enjoy your week, wherever you are!!

D.

2006-02-10T01:39:00.000-05:00

I took another pic today on the way back to the office from lunch ... just to provide the comparison ... I'll let you judge whether or not Kristi is paranoid about the pollution!!?

2006-02-08T01:22:00.000-05:00

The weather in HK today ... can you tell that the factories in China have been closed for 10 days over Chinese New Year??? You can even see the mountains over on the Kowloon side!! (Pic taken with my phone on the way back from getting my lunch today ... the building you can just see hiding on the right (behind the square building) is Citic tower ... where work is.)

2006-02-06T04:13:00.000-05:00

one red paperclip

Now this is cool!! This guy has taken a paperclip and bartered it into a van!!? He's trying to get a house out of it ... hmmm ... food for thought ...

2006-02-06T03:48:00.000-05:00

Yay!! Chris has a blog now too ... follow the link in my "Links" section to the green loveliness of Langeluddeckeville!!

2006-02-05T02:42:00.000-05:00

Monkey Bites: "Some joker went ahead and registered ie7.com, where s/he is currently offering some advice to Microsoft users."

I just saw this while running around the web ... IE7 is the new Internet Explorer program from microsoft (which has just come out as a public beta). Check out www.ie7.com for a laff!!

2006-02-04T07:43:00.000-05:00

Cheers boys!!

Beers in the RIDICULOUS heat at Donna's parent's place in Adelaide ... special mention to Dave for arriving at the house, and not even making it inside before he was handed the tongs for the BBQ. 40 minutes (and two beers) later he'd managed to cook the entire BBQ while Chris and I watched from outside (most of the time) and Kristi, Deb, Laura and Donna watched through the kitchen window from the comfort of the airconditioning!!

And some more pics from the day ...

THOMAS!!

A collage of pics of Thomas playing with Fiona's girls (Thanks Chris!)

2006-02-04T07:35:00.000-05:00

I know I'm jumping around a bit ... but hey!? These are some of the pics we took at Christmas of everybody playing with the girls.

Um ... what exactly are you singing Dad?

2006-02-04T07:30:00.000-05:00

While Kristi was here, we went over to Macau as well ... the above are some of the pics of us at the ruins of the old cathedral (and stuffing our faces with Portugese tarts at the bottom of the steps!! Wish you'd been there Dad!!)

2006-02-04T07:07:00.000-05:00

As you know ... I'm up in HK at the moment, and Kristi came up to visit late last year ... thought it might be cool to put in here some of the pics she took while she was here. (Yeah, yeah ... I know it was supposed to be "starting NYE", but it's my blog ... I can change the rules if I want to!!)

This is the duck-ling ... we didn't actually get on it
(we did have tickets, but couldn't make it on that day in the end).

I've no idea where this is, but it looks pretty awesome!!

A fairly typical Kristi pic, huh?

2006-02-04T06:58:00.000-05:00

Ok ... so if we're starting with NYE, let's start there ... above are some pics of me, Kristi, the lovely Miss Anna and her new beau (who's name I can't remember at the moment ... sorry Anna!!!)

The night was spent down at the Oyster Bar at Holdfast Shores (in Adelaide). It was still about 35 degrees at midnight, but luckily there was plenty of sparkling red to keep us "hydrated"!!?

A great night all told!!

[Kristi is sooo going to kill me for putting these photos up here!!? I think she's cute!!]

2006-02-04T06:24:00.000-05:00

Hey!! I've set up this blog to try and actually stay in touch with family and friends this year (having been shite at it in the recent past!!) I know it's a cop out because of the whole "group update" thing, but hey ... wouldn't you prefer a group update, rather than no update!!? Huh??

Given this is published on the web, there is a small chance that you're reading this and have no idea who I am, so here's a pic of me on New Year's Eve 2005/06.

Here's to staying in touch more!!