Xmas Hols

Being on holiday is a lot like being in prison, if you can make it through the first 3 days - you have a fighting chance.
I hung in there baby, I tell you what. Yesterday I was so bored I almost watched day time television. It was my low point.
Today was much better, slept in, went fishing in the morning, had lunch, almost finished Ratchet and Clank, did Chrissy shopping (got a 2 for 1 deal on some Viz annuals and found a Great Uncle Bulgaria Womble doll for my 'any day now' nephew/niece (Ben and Rhonnie's first)

Never thought it would be so hard trying to actually relax?!?

A Bad Dog

So this morning at 5.30am I got up as usual and took our Wolfhound out for her morning walk. I take her out first as she needs a longer stroll than the other two (she's a big ole girl, clipping the scales at just under 50kg).
Well Bish and I headed out on our usual route, down the end of the street out over to the school field. We've being doing this for a couple of years now and have it down to a regular routine. Once we get to the school field, I let my girl off the lead for a couple of minutes so she can streach her legs.
But the proviso has been, she learns to come when I call her and we work on our command structure (ie I'm in charge and do what I say).

All had been going well until this morning. Bish was fooling around in a silly mood (not unusual) when her ears went up and I saw just on the ridge of the field 2 kangaroo's. Well I knew this meant trouble, I started to call her back and she took off like a rocket to chase the Roo's...

I ran like a bastard and got the top of the ridge in time to see Bish collapse in a heap after loosing her footing.
She got up and watched the roo's hopping away at a fast rate. She turned back and saw the mountain of fury that was holding her lead.
She lowered her head and put her tail down and trotted back like a true penitent to sit at my side.

We went home in disgrace with a kick to the bum.

We were very quiet on the short walk home.

I'd like to think she has learnt a lesson, but it'll be a while before I'll let her off the lead again.

Eucambene River, Wind, Trout and Platypus

Dude!!!!!
Had my fly fishing field trip this weekend and didn't catch a damm thing. But as you should know, thats not the point of getting out there amongst some beautiful scenery. Its all about having fun.
And have fun I did!

The Eucambene River is now dammed to form the Eucambene lake, but the 'Big Dry' (now in its 7th year of drought) has evapourated a good 76% of the dam's capacity. So the head of the river is pretty much back to its original state, although with about 3 foot less water than I would have liked.
But it was chock full of trout and thats a fact.

I got down there about 8.30am on Saturday (The Eucambene is about 30 mins west of Cooma - so about south 2 hours odd from Canberra). And the class headed off from there, about 12 all up. The thing about fly fishing is the weight of the line is what allows you to cast not the fly, unlike lure casting.
And the thing about trout fishing is you have to cast up stream from behind the trout (Trout face the direction of the current - its where the food is coming from). So when the wind is blowing down stream and your trying to cast up stream... it ain't gonna happen baby!!

So Saturday was a wash as far productivity was concerned. But I did learn a lot and I got some practical feild experience and covered a fair bit of the river. So from a recon perspective, very successful indeed.

On Sunday, I got up super early and headed off just as the sun was rising to beat the wind. It was while I was checking out a pool ahead of me that I saw the platypus!!! He (I guess) was have a swim with some trout just minding his own business. I stood up to get a better look and he he turned to look at me... just drifted by with the slow current and checked me out.

Amazingly cool stuff.

So no fish, by I do have the lay of the land and will return the fabulos Eucambene very soon and hopefully catch a fish on my fly rod!!

A candidate for SingStar

This song is brilliant! Its a fantastic little number, a duet between Marc Almond (yes THAT Marc Almond) and Gene Pitney (no, the other Gene Pitney).
The song is a ripper, a really great powerful belter.

But watch and listen for the 2 styles. Mr Almond has a lovelly velvet sound, really rich and smooth. He has a great range for this number, listen how he adds a bit of menace to his voice in the first verse!!
Now Mr Pitney (who sadly, passed away this year) is renowed for his pitch and vibrato and OWNS this song. But again, listen for how professionally he harmonises with Mr Almond in the third verse. Its effortless, they crank the power up to 11 - then release it suddenly!!

What a great duet, I'd love to see this number on a future SingStar... who knows?
[LINK]

BuffMan

Thought I'd give y'all an update on my gym goings on.
I've be hitting the weights for about 10 months now (usually 3 times a week at lunch time) and I have to say its been a great thing to do.
The whole going to the gym started from a back injury I gave myself last Christmas. I had been drinking like a fish and eating like a pig (which is not imply that pigs are no less renowned for their drinking than fish - but you get the point). According to the bathroom scales I was clipping 80kg and had a stomach, that was well fat.
Anyhow, I figured one morning I should do something about it all and began doing push ups and sit ups. Then I fucked my back up.
Added to all this my wife had begun her health kick and was looking fantastic!! I really needed to pick my game up.

With my back fucked up my posture was going to shit and I had less and less energy, but I was still eating the same crap. So I was gaining more weight because I was doing less, because I had less energy, because I was carrying so much surplus weight.
I made the decision to go to the gym and it has been a good decision.

But it hasn't just been about the gym, at the same time I radically changed my diet. Bread, potatoes and heavily fried food - OUT. Good quality vegetables, gluten free stuff and sensible sized serves - IN.
So in other words - regular exercise and a balanced diet = a fit and healthy BubbaJay.
I would make the point to differentiate between 'fitness' and 'healthy'. In so far as you don't get both from doing only one of them. Dropping potatoes and bread where a hard thing to do, but I tell you what, I was carrying a lot of bloat that cleared up after a couple of weeks.
Try it for yourself, if you don't believe me.

Anyway, this is not just the rambling of a fit and healthy man, science types also agree [LINK]

Sooo near to the Holidays

Dammit!!! Is it Christmas yet ?!?

Well I know it isn't but I have 2 weeks left on the farm before I can skip away for 3 weeks of holidays and Dude - I have totally checked out.
Which is not to say I don't have stuff to do... Its the, 'can I be fucked to start anything with only a few days left before the silly season truely kicks in' attitude.

I guess I'm just tired, this week is a rare week - one without travel. So I'm just trying to avoid starting any work that might hang over my holidays.

Boy this reminds me of school, the holidays are never going to get here!!

Firefox vs Explorer

I'm not a technologist.
For example I have a 10 year old tv, an even older stereo system and few other mod cons (except a second hand PS2 upon which much Singstar, KillZone and Rogue Trooper is played)(and only those games because I've seen other people play them).

But when I come across something good, I like to share it with others. This morning my Microsoft Internet Explorer automatically began to download version 7 of itself. I find IE to be frustrating and limiting and slow, but the thing that pisses me off the most is the bloody updates that change files and registry entries BUT NEVER explain just what the fuck they doing.
So anyway, v.7 downloads and I begin again to submit to the hassle of installing it (its been available for a couple of weeks but I just did not want to load the fucker (most everytime I do, I lose my settings or the bastards arses around with the rest of the computer, chews up clock time and generally fats around eating chippies and watching old episodes of Red Dwarf while hogging the brown couch of valuble ROM)

I was not surprised when the Microsoft installation screen began asking me to update and change a whole bunch of my settings, in other words devote time and energy to critical decisions with little or no explanation of the choices not shown or the nature of the consequences.
I decided fuck that and did something I should have done a long time ago.

I downloaded and installed Mozilla's Firefox browser.
I will never go back.

Things work faster and run far more economically than the old fat and bloated application. I had 3 screens to click through for installation and my favourites folder was automatically imported.

If you have not yet tried Firefox, I strongly urge you to. It is the Pepsi Taste Test of the internet, you can decide for yourself.
But in my opinion Firefox is a welcome guest who is courteous and well mannered on your computer.

[Link]

Day of the Tradies

Had to take today off, which meant I was 'working from home'.
The reason for this well needed break was the installation of our new air conditioning system (two wall mounted split cycle systems). And as long as we're doing that karin and I scheduled in a whole bunch more stuff to get delivered or fixed.
So I had a plumber come by and fix our toilets and a few taps, got a skip delivered so I could finally empty the crap out of the garage (something very stisfying about flinging rubbish HARD into the back of a skip and watching it SMASH TO PEICES (the exact same way as if the Hulk had done it).

But with out a doubt the best thing we got delivered today was our new mattress. I don't know much about mattress technology, I have slept on a lot of mattress's, so I do have experience in determining what is good, better or best. So let me tell you friend with confidence when I say this mattress is The SHIT!!
I just put my head down for 5 minutes, I slept for 1.5 hours... and I did not want to get up!
There are a lot of reasons to want to go to bed ( I can think of 2) but this mattres is a whole book of reasons by itself.

Keeping Busy

Well last Friday was my day on air at the radio station for the radiothon. Our goal was to raise $30k for a new transmitter over 10 days. By the time I got there it was day 8 and we had raised $17k (I'm glad to say by the end of Friday that had crept up to $20k).
I've been so busy with work and travel lately that I've not had the time to devote to Artsound FM, but I decided that I should take a day off and go in and help. Reporting for duty at 10am I was on air at 10.01am and co-hosted a 2 hour shift.
Then there was a 2 hour break manning the phones then back on for 2 more hours and rounded off my shift with more time manning the phones.
The good news is that by Sunday 6pm we had raised the $30k!!! So I feel happy that my small contribution helped.

Crazy Discount Weather!!!

ITS ALL GOT TO GO!!!!!!!!!!

You would not believe it partner, last Wednesday it snowed on Canberra. In fact it snowed on a great deal on the East Coast, from Hobart up to the Blue Mountains.
Please bear in mind this is November (or more accurately Movember!!) and therefore late Spring early Summer. Did I also mention this was Australia?!?

And today its 34C+ with bush fires raging from one end of the coast to the other. You would be hard pressed to believe me I know!
A lot of people may want to point to global warming in much the same way our ancestors may have pointed to witches in order to ascribe blame for all the ills of our weather. I'd suggest it was more a case of a very cold snap coming off the Antartic at an unusual time.

Or witchcraft....

There's a strong case for both, really.

Corny Arnie

Do you remember 'Last Action Hero'?
I do, but only because there was a great AC/DC single on the soundtrack - Big Gun. The version on the soundtrack (yes I bought it from the bargin basement bin) was a studio take, you can even hear the sound engineers at the end going 'that was awesome!'

It is definetly a classic AC/DC track and thanks to YouTube we can now watch the video including Arnie fooling around as Angus!!! (ho-ho now we larf!!)
Just classsic!
[LINK]

Now I Fly Fish

Got my fly rod yesterday and man it is sweet!!
For those who care its a Sage LE series 5 weight (even comes with its own case, which is handy). I'll spool on the line tonight and get some practice casting in for class next week.

I have to say that I've veiwed fly fishing as something of a goal from the moment I started this great hobby about 3 years ago. To be honest it is not as hard as it looks to cast, if you have ever held a tennis raquet and hit a ball - you can fly cast.
The great thing about the course I'm on is that at the end of it we go on a fishing trip!!!
Very good chance I'll catch a fish on one of those!!

A good use of your time

You have to wonder, who gets up in the morning and thinks to them selves - 'I reckon I'll teach some dolphins how to sing the Batman theme.'

And they still get paid, gotta love the science industry
[LINK]

Angry Monkey BMX Stunt

Haven't much of these guys, but this one is awesome [Link]

Notes from Adelaide cont'd

Now I'm back at my desk (for today at least, I'm off again tomorrow for a week) I thought I would finish off my previous post about Adelaide.
I'm not feeling too inspired to write elegant prose, so in no particular order;

ADELAIDE HIGHLIGHTS

1. 
   Had a cab driver who knew Damien Martin personally (showed me photos of the pair of them together) and claimed he had at one time or another transported most of the Aussie cricket squad around town. He was a cheerful enough chap but his B.O. was blinding.
2. 
   On the Saturday after climbing out of my hangover, I hired a bike by the River Torrens and had great fun going for a bike ride to the beach. Didn't get there in the end as my work colleague called me (he had just climbed out of his hangover) and I convinced him to join me on the bikes. What jolly good fun we had, up hill and down dale and going a bit off road here and there... An afternoon of total regressive fun!!
3. 
   Adelaide has one main drag whose opposite ends are as chalk and cheese. The northern end (Rundell St) has many cafes and restaurants, quite a classy district. While the southern (Hindley St) end is the red light district with quite a lot of seedy bars and strip joints.
4. 
   There is a LOT of heroin on the streets.
5. 
   On our last night in town I wanted to get away from the city (had enough of underage drunks, heroin addicts and seedy pubs - this is what happens when you travel with a Marine!). So we headed past the Gabba and the statue of the Don and found this neat little pub that had great music and atmosphere. Food was awesome, folks were friendly and on Mondays they host 'Pub Cinema' - on the bill for next week was 'Return of the Jedi' and Rocky'.

Overall impressions;
Adelaide has some great buildings and they've done a great job with public art. The food is wonderful, but I would expect nothing less from a city so close to the Barossa Valley. It was a fair bit cooler for me that week, but this is the changing of the seasons. Very easy to get around the city and the city is close to the airport.

Final conclusions - Could I live there... I would say yes I could, but I prefer where I am.

Honourable Mention

Another cartoon from Weebl and Bob, this time with a name drop of someone we should all know... [Link]

Sick Daze

I got back from Sydney on Tuesday night, just in time to make it to my Fly Fishing course I started this week.
But I woke up on Wednesday with a brand new passenger in my gut. It hit me about 10am at work and kept up a steady flow of house cleaning for 2 days, I lost 3 kilos. Today being Friday I managed my first solids, toast and marmite.
I know I'm feeling better when the first thing I want to do around the house is clean. But not having eaten anything for 2 days my energy level is low.
Now I actually have a legitmate excuse for my Playstation, but I feel guilty about 'wasting a day off'...
I don't think I'm quite right in the head yet.

Freakin Stenches Man!!

Everyone has a Zombie plan

Mine invloves hiding out at a mall (not original I know, but practical) then wait for winter to freeze those suckers and get out there with a hammer... SMACK DOWN time baby.

Then I decleare myself supreme ruler etc Institute a 'No John Denver' music policy with brutal consequences for those who disobey, print loads of 'Jez is Tops' t-shirts - that must be worn on my birthday and no bogans. Period.

First time in Adelaide

Hi y'all, I'm in the South of Australia today - listening to Johnny Cash sing Big River (the 1958 version from the Johnny Cash Show).

Something of an associated here in this town as the Murray River flows close by. Actually Adelaide is on about the same longatude as Sydney, so it ain't all that far south as you would think (Melbourne is further South by far)(Some say not far enough).

I haven't seen too much of the city yet, only flew in last night, but it looks pretty nice. Lots of colonial era buildings about with some medium sized hills off to the west.

Will go for a walk later today and report.

Songs you'll never hear from SingStar

I do enjoy SingStar, probably the best use of technology for those too lazy to muck about with UltraStar code. Having reviewed the track listings for the new Anthems game coming out, I was struck by the fact that the only Pet Shop Boys song they could find was an Elvis cover.

Which got me thinking, how do they cull their playlists? 2 Jimmy Barnes songs is pretty bad (especially since one of them isn't Khe Shan...) and why Black Sabbaths Paranoid (why not Iron Man or War Pigs...).

Songs I'd like to see on Jeremy's SingStarRocks;

1. I Wanna Rock - Twisted Sister
2. Jump - Van Halen
3. Legs - ZZ TOP
4. MOFO on a MotorCycle - Machine Gun Fellatio
5. Whip It - Devo
6. I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett
7. I Was Made for Loving you - KISS
8. Mama Said Knock you out - LL Cool J
9. God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols
10. Killed by Death - Motorhead
11. Back in Black - AC/DC
12. Wild Hearted Son - The Cult
13. Jane Said - Jane's Addicition
14. Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol
15. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns 'n' Roses
16. Enter Sandman - Mettalica
17. Dude loked like a lady - Aerosmith
18. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin
19. Highway to the DangerZone - Kenny Loggins
20. Rollercoaster - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
21. Burden in My Hand - Soundgarden
22. Greg the Stop Sign - TISM
23. Candy - Iggy Pop
24. Closer - Nine Inch Nails (but with this video)
25. Schools out - Alice Cooper
26. Binkini Girls - The Cramps
27. Louie Louie - The Kingsmen
28. Underdog - The DirtBombs
29. Peace Frog - The Doors
30. 911 is a Joke - Public Enemy
31. The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden