The Far North

Well, I'm back in Sydney after a few days lazing about on the tropical coast of Queensland. There is so much that I love about this part of the world, but there is also an equal amount that puts me off.

The water up there is so beautiful, the temperature is nothing less than great all year 'round and the sea life is diverse and plentiful. But it's also deadly. With the northerly onshore wind blowing in I didn't dare go in the water for fear of box jellies, as this is the season for them. What else could I do but find a nice shady grove of palms to rest in and watch the fishermen and dogs play on the soft sand. It's a hard life.

My family converged on this location for a weekend get-together. Spending time with my three sisters was just great. The champagne and beer were flowing and the food was copious. I don't know what is is about the tropics, but everything tasted so much fresher and richer. It was a weekend full of laughter and love.

I even tried out a few new looks, Islander Muzbot and Greatful Dead Muzbot:

I just love...

walking in the rain. Yesterday, after what can only be described as a shit day at work, I left the office behind and stepped out into the grey evening. As I went for my umbrella, I stopped myself and thought "I really don't care."

My pace home was casual. As the drizzle accumulated on my skin, turning it from dry to wet, my whole spirit relaxed. Each little trickle that ran down from my brow across my cheek and into my beard seemed to be treating me to some sort of natural zing that my counterparts missed out on as they dashed past me under the shelter of their umbrellas. For half an hour it seemed as though I had no care in the world... I arrived home wet but happily refreshed.

It's raining again today.

Now that's a nice podium finish.

Stoner first, again, then followed up by Melandri and Pedrosa. It's been a bit of an up and down season for Melandri this year so it was good to see him up on the podium once again. Next year he leaves the Honda team and joins his fellow podium mate Stoner in the Ducatti team. I'm thinking we may see these two riders a lot more together like this next season. But sadly, there was no Yamaha on the podium this race. :(

"Looking from a window above...

it's like a story of love
Can you hear me..."

I was kind of house-bound this weekend. You see, I have a cough that is just not going away. It's the most annoying thing. So, to combat this I've tried some cough medicine. Now, I tried to find the most potent medicine I could find. One that would totally knock me around and suppress this damn dry cough. One that comes with a big warning about operating machinery. You know the sort.

The damn stuff hasn't done a f#$kin' thing. Apart from keeping me from going on a decent ride on my bike this weekend. Sure I've tempted fate and been on a short ride, but it just kills me to know my mates have been out riding and I've been too doped-up to go with them. I'm sitting here in my tower, overlooking Nth Sydney, and every bike that rides up the street just makes my heart ache for the feeling of raw power between my legs. The power that I can control. I hear a bike coming up the street and I play a game with myself by trying to guess what bike engine it is just by its sound. Oh boy I'm good at it. But when it's a sports bike, it doesn't help. I want to be out there with that rider. No... I want to BE that rider. I don't want to be home.

I know this is no secret, but I love bikes and, the people who ride them. I know that bikes are my passion. Do you have a passion? What turns your head? Is there a sound you hear that flicks a switch inside you to "on"? Is there something that you see and you feel something deep inside stir?

Paperclips

Wow. Did you know that it requires 57 paperclips linked together to reach my height. So here's a picture of them.

iTunes meme:

You may not know many of these, but this about my music habits....

Sort by song title:
First: Aaangry Megaphone Man by The Dissociatives
Last: 1999 by Prince

Sort by time:
Shortest: Coffee sound effect from Futurama, clocking in at less than 0:01
Longest: Essential Mix 2004-03-07 - Sander Kleinenberg & Pete Tong - goes for 02:03:50

Sort by artist:
First: Dancing (Jj Flores & Steve Smooth Remix) by Aaron Smith Feat. Luvli
(it's a bit clubby, it's a little annoying, it's in my library)
Last: Pardon My freedom by !!!

Sort by album:
First: Album: Abductions And Reconstructions. Song: Hooverphonic / This Strange Effect by Thievery Corporation ( - a very wonderful sounding tune.)
Last: Album: 3121. Song: Satisfied by Prince

Top 5 most played songs:
(This may surprise you - heck it surprises me, who'd of thought my taste was so obscure?)
1. Stopwatch Hearts by Delerium & Emily Haines
2. Pull Up (A Cappella) by Mr. Vegas
3. Single Again by The Fiery Furnaces
4. Clouds Instead Of Heads (Original Mix) by Kompis
5. Pain In My Brain by Ladyvipb

First song that plays on shuffle:
Promenade Sentimentale (Sentimental Walk) by Vladimir Cosma
(As Molly would say, "Do yourself a favor" and have a listen to this piece of piano music and lose yourself in melancholy)

Type the following into the search and how many titles come back?
Sex: 38
Love: 403
Death: 4
Fart: 1 (! yes, I have a "fart" in one title in my library)

The festival of the motorbike...

concluded here in Oz yesterday with Casey Stoner taking out the Australian Championship of the MotoGP at Philip Island.

My weekend started early Friday when I took the day off from work and jumped on my bike and headed south down the freeway. I had no plans to stop anywhere in particular but the aim was to make it to Canberra and stay there for a couple of nights.

It was one of the most enjoyable weekends I've had in ages. Judo rode down late Friday night/early am Sat and arrived at the hotel freezing. It was mighty cold that night. Saturday was spent looking at a couple of the local bike shops in the morning then in the arvo we went for a ride to Cotter, Mt Stromlo, Gibraltar falls and Corin. The roads down that way are great for riding. There are long sweeping bends, lots of places to get up a bit of speed and a few tight S's.

We rode back to Sydney on Sunday and swapped bikes for 2/3 of the way home. It was interesting riding Judo's bike on the open road and was great to feel the differences in the two bikes. I may be biased, but my bike is a much more enjoyable bike to ride. It suits my build and it fits beautifully between my legs. However, Judo's bike's power is bit smoother than mine. It was a good weekend to be away and share some quality time with my bike and my mates.

Love at first sight...

What a great night I had last night. Dinner with Judo. We went to our fave haunt, Hooters. Monday night at Hooters is "Military Night", where if you are an armed forces person and you wear your uniform you get cheap eats. So I had high hopes for some extra eye candy. Alas, I guess men and women in uniform have more class than me and I didn’t see any pressed pleats. But, Hooters is currently running an Ultimate Chicken Wing Challenge. The task: to eat as many of their tasty wings in a set period of time. The winner goes into the final playoff to win flights to a Hooters restaurant in another state + dinner for himself and 5 of his mates. Best of all, entry is free. Could this be just the BEST competition ever?!

On the way home we stopped off to look at the new Ducati 1098. OMG. The moment I laid eyes on this beast I fell in love. Finally Ducati have a sports bike that is as sexy as it is powerful. We must have looked like two kids outside a toy store window looking in with lust in our eyes. There is so much to love about this bike. It even has built-in data technology to allow you to download your ride stats for analysis. It’s "Nike+iTunes" for bikes! Swoon and drool. Seriously, I haven't felt this sort of desire since I first laid eyes on my own current bike. I'm going to be extremely jealous if Judo rides out of the showroom on one of these. But, then there's a waiting list for these bikes, so I have a few months to deal with that. :)

So after that encounter, I decided to nude up, throw on the full leathers and go and have some serious quality time with my own bike. What a great night for a late night ride through the dark urban Sydney streets, to ride right through the guts of Sydney Olympic Park with no-one around to hinder my swerving and swaying across the paving. A beautiful night, with just the hint of rain and thunder in the distance, to ride the bright sparkling city streets as people emerged from cinemas and bars. I had fun. And so, here’s another glimpse at my new lust object, it looks so sleek in it's black and red frame configuration:

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Cluster :: organise
2. Announcement :: Testing, testing 1, 2, 3.
3. Respect :: Aretha
4. Incident :: 6pm news
5. Accordion :: Web 2.0 (I know, it's obscure)
6. Drunk :: again
7. If :: a picture paints 1000 words
8. Dexter :: Perfect Match
9. Wedding :: Cake
10. Gambling :: with ones own decisions

You can play too.

What happened to the serif font?

I've just watched a commercial break on TV and every ad was dominated by a sans-serif font. Ok, ok, so my new header contains a sans font, but since this blog's conception, my content has been published in a distinct serif font.

The impact of the sans font is being eroded away and it's becoming the easy safe font for marketing. The font tide will turn. Designers moved on from the "techno" and "grunge" fonts of the 80's and early 90's and it became cool to have clean lines for corporate identity. After the greed boom of the 80's and the crash that followed in the early 90's people wanted stability, honesty and no shonky hidden dealings. Merge the brand and the sans font. Its clean lines and bold character strengths signified to the punter that it displayed a brand with integrity. Helvetica is the main culprit.

Don't get me wrong here, I like Helvetica. It has the classiest set of derivatives and sub sets of any font. But, it's spoilt by it's dirtier cousin - Arial. It's the Microsoft font designed in 1982 that every Powerpoint in the business world displays with some sort of banal superiority. So where is the class? Sans fonts no longer have the same message to the consumer. We fill our lives with make-over shows, lifestyle shows and talent quests who's message is that if we want to succeed we need to "pull something extra out of the hat". Not only do we need to be good at what we do, we have to appear good...

The serif font. It sells a message that is not only readable, it looks classy. It is classical. Its beauty, strength and desirability lie in its origins. It will stand the test of time... now isn't that what you want from a product?

The Rise of The Silver Surfer...

This long weekend started off rather suckfully with me heading into work on both Saturday and Sunday as I tried to meet a looming deadline. Not a good way to start a long weekend, but when I left work on Sunday I had a party to look forward to. A party unlike others in Sydney. Bad Dog.

This party was space and alien themed. As you can see from the picture to the left my costume for this party was a full silver suit. A very shiny silver suit. I was very nervous and unsure about wearing something like this. But in a personal test of courage and self belief I actually became very excited at the thought of doing something so out of character, yet so very much something I knew deep down, if I just gave it a go, I would love doing.

I was most comfortable and Dave and I REALLY stood out. It was a great night. There were a few comments from my friends that really gave me a laugh... "Hey Muz, you leave nothing to the imagination there!" and "Well, at least I know what religion you are now." I'm sorry I don't have any pictures from the night, I forgot to take my camera with me, but with any luck I'll be able to track down a picture that some random girl took.

Slowly I'll challenge my fears and one by one I'll attempt to conquer them and move forward with a little more confidence than I had previously.