Does this make me the Grandfather?

Nah, probably just a guardian. Well, not sure what was in the fish food this morning, but when I returned home from work there were a number of new additions to my fish tank that weren't there when I left. These new additions are in the form of tiny angel fish eggs.

They have been laid on the top of a leaf, smack bang in the middle of the tank. Now, in my small tank, that's probably not the best spot for them. You can tell that these are first time parents. The eggs are rather exposed and the other fish in the tank are not altogether very discerning eaters. In three days time there will be some very tiny tiny angel fish embryos wriggling around and entrapped within these tiny egg shells. Rather tasty morsels for the other fish. Hell, I'd be surprised if Mum and Dad don't even get temped to have a taste. But tonight, the proud parents are tending to the new clutch of eggs like adoring caretakers.

Actually, to be honest, I don't even know if I have a male and female fish here. If I don't have a pair then I'll know within 24 hours. If I have a male and female, then I should see some clear eggs with something like mini tadpoles inside attached to a big yoke. But if I have two females then the eggs won't be fertile and I'll have nothing but cheap caviar on the leaf.

Ahhh well, such is life in the small eco world of the fish tank. The survival rate is not very promising. But, from what I know, if they all get eaten, there is a good chance the parents will breed again within 3 weeks... assuming they are not lesbians.

Have you played it?

This was recommended to me months and months ago, by a guy I work with, so I went out and bought it. It's been sitting on my shelf unopened all that time until tonight. You see, I'm not a gamer. Sitting in front of the Playstation is not usually my idea of fun... But that changed tonight.

"Rayman : Raving Rabbits" has been a total stress relief tonight and I'm just hooked. I don't like most Playstation games because they require a huge amount of skill/co-ordination/patience to press R1 while pressing L2 and using the left toggle to move right while pressing the triangle to change weapons then quickly pressing X 15 times to fire blindly all while you plan your move to just run around and mame and kill. Sure that's fun for some (My mum for example, who just LOVED "Doom" when it first came out), but for me I like games that are a little more fun. These seem few and far between unless you have a "retro" collection of 80's Namco type games... Well, this game is the most fun I've had at home alone with something I control in my hands for a very long time. Seriously. Trying to co-ordinate my button pressing to shine disco lights on mad dancing bunnies as they twirled their way towards the front of the dance floor in time with "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" just won me over. I tells ya, "I'm hooked."

I guess the next stage for me in this gaming revelation is to play a multi-player game... Dave, I'm looking at you!

Congratulations

to Natalie. Australian Idol 07 and I think a good choice.

Here's a picture from the firworks as the two finalists entered the Opera House. Was an impresive firworks display.

Off and racing...

The racing highlight of the year for me came around and was run yesterday. I look forward to this race so much I was all grins and goose bumps before the race even started. It's the Maximum Adventure Urban Max. The task: Teams of 2 have to solve cryptic clues to find a number of checkpoints around the city and surrounding suburbs. A number of these checkpoints have challenges that have to be performed to be eligible to claim it as completed. Places on this race are limited and this year there were 350 teams taking part. It was a cool damp day, but I had no idea how wet I was going to get when the start signal was given.

We plotted our route and were off to our first choice. Half way there we realised that checkpoint didn't open until 10:30am so we changed our route and went to our next closest checkpoint. It was located at a swimming pool near Central Station and it was our first challenge. In the pool were a hundred yellow ducks. We had to find the one duck with "72" written under it. Hmmmm, hadn't planned for a swim so what else could I do but strip down to the jocks and dive right in. *Note to self: Underwear does not stay where it should when you dive into a pool. So after a quick save of my shame I was madly looking for the little yellow duck. That found we were wet and off and really into this race.

Some highlights:
Looking for a John Howard look alike at Taylor Square.
A great view of the city from Mrs Macquaries Chair.
A visit to the Art Gallery.
It started raining about now...
A visit to the State Library.
Finding the oldest public toilet in Sydney.
Mapping the planets and their correct orbits at the Observatory.
Correctly setting up a camp site in the middle of a city park.
Visiting numerous exhibits in the Aus. Maritime Museum trying to find the answers to 10 quiz questions.

But the biggest highlight:
3rd!

Yep, 3rd place in the male category! I knocked almost 3 hours off the time it took to do this last year and got a place. Finally I did really well at a race. It's amazing what a bit of training has done for me in 12 months. We were at the finish so fast that we had time to go home, shower and return to the prize ceremony to accept our prize all clean and relaxed. I think the course was also a lot easier this year so that helped complete the race in a good time. Below is the route we chose.

20 Questions...

who do you think you are ?
I always think about this... and who other people think I am.
what turns you on?
Someone who mentally excites me.
what is your favorite word?
"Yes"
what sound or noise do you love?
Friends laughing
have you driven anyone insane?
probably
what should everyone shut up about?
Birkenstocks
what advice should you have taken, but did not?
"You should be a chef"
what do you fear most?
singing
how would you like to die?
adventurously
what is your earliest memory?
I don't know.
do you collect anything?
dust
what is your worst addiction?
worst... ummmm, probably the internet
who would you have liked to be?
Some Roman stud.
what did your last text message say that you received?
It was a pxt msg.
what was your proudest moment ?
So far, was being exhibited overseas.
what was your last lie ?
"Ummmm, I lost it"
what is your biggest challenge ?
That will be next year.
who's underrated / overrated ?
underrated: Sian Evans (Lead singer of Kosheen)
overrated: Merrick and Rosso
what is your most treasured possession ?
My motorbike
what do your parent think of what you are doing ?
They are proud of me.

Podcast...

Ok. A couple of words about this...
The file is about 20Mb because I didn't want to lower the quality of the tunes too much.
My selection of music is not going to be to everyone's taste. But that's music for you...
If you really want to listen to some really good music, and the link below won't load for you, you may have to cut and paste it into iTunes.
My microphone is a bit tinny and crappy.
I don't talk much, I play music.
Please let me know if you never want me to do this again.

And finally, yes, I really am buying a parrot.

Here it is
http://member.letsgo.com.au/muzbot/podcast110701.m4a

Remember the Bad Dog party...

Well, I got hold of a photo... My costume really showed off my, ummmm, legs. :)

Movember

I just love Movember. I've previously taken part in this event, but this year I have given it a miss. It's so popular too this year.

I'm love love loving the amount of lads around at the moment with dodgy fuzz beneath their noses. I was sitting at the pub on the weekend and it was so entertaining to watch the parade of porn star lad wannabes. It's such a good look... and always brings a smile to my face at the number of lads raising money. It's just getting harder to sponsor everyone who I'd like to.

What was going to be...

just didn't happen. I had planned to try something a little different with this post. I was going to produce a podcast. Yes, that's right, a podcast. But you know what? I just don't have a radio voice. I had a few tunes lined up... some old, some new and believe it or not, some blue. I put the tracks down, recorded my intro to each tune as it started. It included why I liked the tune, and then after I had it all down, I played it back....

*notes to self:

• Stop saying "at the moment".
• Don't say "God I just love this tune, it's my favourite" before every song.
• Cut selection of songs back a little.
• Not every song "rocks!"
• and most importantly DON'T sing along with mic turned on.

So, the question I pose to myself today is, should I shelve the idea or persist and just polish up my mic technique a little more. I guess I'd like to try it again. I like the idea of doing a podcast, so I guess I'll give it a go again soon. Plus I have designed a very cool logo for my podcast as pictured above and I'd hate it to go to waste...

But not this weekend, Mum and Dad are visiting.

What's up?

When lorikeets visit me, they always visit me in pairs. Tonight there was only one. The bird looked like a male. And, he didn't visit me in the same way. He popped into my other window and sat there... not making a sound. Unusual for these birds. They are usually very chatty. He jumped onto my desk, walked under my monitor and just looked at me. Something wasn't right.

While I tapped away on my keyboard he came closer and rubbed his beak against my keyboard too. He fluffed his feathers and, to me, he looked sad. Seriously, I could tell something wasn't right.

I went and grabbed him some food. Maybe he was ill? Maybe he was drunk? Been eating too many fermented spring berries? Who knows?! But one thing I do know, he wanted company... He wasn't hungry. He came closer and nibbled at my forearm. My heart was breaking. This is a wild bird, but to me, this was a troubled soul. I know, I'm a big softy.

After he ignored the food, I went and just got a dish of water. I moved it to my other window and I just sat there with him until the sun went down. After a while, when it was so close to setting, he then flew away.

24 hours in hell...

The frustration was starting to show. I rolled over and removed the sock from in front of the alarm clock. 2:15am. The blood red of the numbers on the clock just seemed to compliment my mood. My migraine had reached a point where death actually seemed like a good option. I rolled back the other way and put my feet on the floor and sat up thinking about what to do. The short walk to the bathroom seemed like it was a trip across the Nullabore. I turn on the cold tap and splash handfuls of cold water on my face. I bent down and even tried to fit my whole head under the tap. I have two more headache pills... I feel ill.

Back in bed. 3:10am. I just want out. The pain throbbing in my head is enough to make me throw up. Back to the bathroom and I'm sitting on the floor with my head resting close to the toilet bowl. I'm also in front of the bathroom sink cabinet. I know there's stronger pills in here somewhere. But, I know turning on the light will make my head explode. Hmmmmm... head exploding actually seems like it might be the way to end this. As I flick the switch I feel like the world around me let out a deadly blood curdling shrill. Vampires around the world would have heard it and understood. I can imagine them all pausing for a second knowing that one of theirs brothers had fallen.

Codeine. It's horrible stuff. It gives me the shits then knocks me out. Two pills should do it. And it did.

This morning the headache remains. I don't often get these killer migraines, but when I do they hit me hard. Sometimes I've had one side of my body go numb from the face down to my fingertips and occasionally I've been unable to think and have not even recognised my own name, address or people in photos. I've even blacked-out from the pain. They are not pleasant and right now the shadow of pain left there in my head this morning is going to keep me on edge and rather short tempered today.

Is it sad that...

the contents of my refrigerator consists of a tomato and a jar of salsa? And let me tell you, despite the tomato looking nice and red ripe, it's been there for a while. I would have chucked it out before the photo, but I didn't want my fridge to look pathetic now did I.

Yes folks. That's it. Oh, hang on, apart from a couple of bottles of water in the door. What can you tell from this?

Oh my god oh my god oh my god...

On my walk to work today I saw young Australian Idol contender Jane Fonda... oops, Matt Corby this morning and you know what?.. His hair really is pretty.

And so, I wanted to create a bit of a toe tapper...

I've had this stupid song in my head for a few days now. It's actually one of those songs that a lot of people bag out. But I have always liked it.

So anyway, as I said, I have had it banging around my head for a few days and tonight I sat down and played with it. It's not a finished mix and it's a bit rough, but this is what I came up with...

Sorry, you'll have to download it.

Ok, I now have two new fave photos:

My buddy Dave sitting in the shade of the lifeguard's tower:
And one that Dave took of me in the same location:

Sculptures by the sea...

This is the first time I've been persuaded to head to Bondi to see this event. Dave and I headed out early to beat the crowds.

It was an interesting event and I enjoyed the beautiful day. If you get a chance to do the walk between Bondi and Tamarama in the next few weeks, pick a nice sunny weekday and just go and enjoy a day by the seaside looking at some very creative works of art.

I took a few photos and have uploaded them to Flickr.

'07 Season is over.

So that's it for the year. The final race in the '07 MotoGP was held and Danny Pedrosa was the first across the line in this race. Casey Stoner got off to a rocketing start but was hunted down by the hometown hero Pedrosa early in the race.

So, what are my highlights from this season? Well, really I enjoyed the whole season.

Casy Stoner winning the World Championship.
The good decision by Kawasaki to move forward and change their bike colours to a metalic green.
The poor decision of Kawasaki to change them back to the tradional green.
The goospimples I felt with the sound of the bike's engines rev.
The thrill of being there in the stands. - That is something from this season I'll never forget.

The search for a good steakhouse continues...

and last night my search took me west. Way out west into the heart of suburbia. Chili's Texas Grill. Now, if it wasn't for the sweet eye candy at this establishment I think I'd be very disappointed. There was a line up to get in, the bar service was less than prompt and the screaming kids added something to the night that made me think, "Thank god I live in the city". Oh, but did I mention the eye candy?

I opted for surf 'n turf. It's my usual "first time" dish at a steakhouse. This gives them all a level playing field right from my first visit. Two prawns and two rings of calamari on top of a very grisly medium rare steak didn't cut it in my book. AND the steak didn't even seem to be marinated in a "special" marinade like most other steakhouses do. Ummm, but did I mention that I appreciated the eye candy sitting nearby?

I still rate Hooters my top steakhouse here in Sydney. Although, the steakhouse I went to in Bologna in Italy is still my fave experience. Would I go back? Only if my arm was really twisted and I was reminded of the restaurants perv value.

Photo meme

The idea is that these pictures must be reasonably current.

1. Share the worst photo of yourself you have.

Yeah, I really don't like this pic. There were so many to choose from.

2. Share a current photo of yourself when you've just woken up. Walk into the bathroom and just take it, under the harsh bathroom lights.

Awwww... Even first thing in the morning I look like I'm ready to take on the world... But first I'd put on some clothes.

3. Share the nicest photo of yourself that you have.

Not sure what it is about this pic, but it's probably one of my faves out of the most recent pics.

4. Share a photo of you at work.

Ok, this one could also be a contender for the "worst photo" too. Look at that ridge there on top of my head. It's caused by my motorcycle helmet.

5. Share a photo of you laughing.

Ok, I'm not laughing, but I don't have any photos of me laughing. However, this picture is me at one of my happiest moments EVER.

6. Take and share a photo of you where ever you are as close to 9pm tonight/last night.

Playing pinball... It's my usual Thursday night thing, and yes, it too is a crap photo.

November

Well, hello November.
What more can I say really?

(I know this is a real lame post, but I'm working on a meme which I hope to publish soon)