Postcard from: Moab...

- Hot and Dry. Just how I love it. This is the desert. The average temp was over 40c (100F).

- Riding here had to be completed as early as possible. We would start riding before sunrise. On one ride I felt like a vampire. I seemed to have one eye on the trail and the other was watching the horizon with fear that the sun would soon break through.

- Fantastic hamburger from the Eclectic Cafe

- The Lizard Ale from the Moab Brewery was my pick of the beers.

- The cliffs along Potash Rd were being used by climbers and abseilers. I looked on with both envy and lust.

- Arches Nation Park is a wonder.

- Don't ride one handed. If you need to adjust some part of your equipment stop and do it.

- Slick Rock was an amazing landscape. It comprised of deep valleys and ancient petrified sand dunes. Follow the white lines painted on these or you could find yourself riding straight off into a canyon, with many broken bones.

To finish I must quote from our guide book on the riding in this area. It was a slight cause for concern: (The grading system is 1 to 10)
"Techno Factor: 11. Big descents, big rocks, BIG danger. Fear factor: 11. Off the map unless you are blind or brain damaged. Okey, have you figured it out yet? This trail is simply not safe to ride in its entirety. Many parts of it probably shouldn't give you more than a compound fracture. A couple of pieces, however, have killed in the past - read the signs. If you find yourself on this trail without pondering mortality you are probably the type who wants to ride it all. My heartfelt condolences got out to your relatives - I'm serious."

This did have us re-considering our day's riding. We did however ride the "Kinda scary 2-track downhill, heinous in some spots on singletrack (with Death on the Right!)" with the added advice "Don't be afraid to walk them"... which we did occasionally.

Yes, that is a sheer cliff I'm standing on. Moab was my fave part of my holiday.

Ode to the 8th of the 8th oh 8...

My song consists of only two chords.
And both of them are minor.
Sung by neither ladies nor lords.
The Olympics are on in China.





Ok, I might not be the best song writer.

Vectored...

Inspiration can strike in the weirdest of places...

so you just sketch it out on whatever is handy (after going to the bar to get a pen), and jot it down on the paper bag your dvds are in.

Flickr Meme:

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into mosaic maker.


The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Murray - opps, now is that the first time I've actually said my first name here? As if you would not have guessed.
2. What is your favorite food? Fajitas
3. What school did you go to? St Edmunds
4. What is your favorite color? Green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? I dare not speak thy name as I am not worthy.
6. Favorite drink? Tea - You thought I was going to say "beer" didn't you?!
7. Dream vacation? Mt Blanc. Been there, have the strongest desire to go back and conquer its peak.
8. Favorite dessert? Grandma's trifle
9. What you want to be when you grow up? An adventurer
10. What do you love most in life? Good kisses.
11. One Word to describe you: Contemplative
12. Your flickr name: Muzbot

Postcard from: New Mexico

- Hot.

- Food. OMG, I discovered my love for chili here. I've never been a huge fan of food that is too hot or spicy but here my desire for it grew with each meal. Our final night in town was capped off at a local restaurant where I enjoyed a baked dish containing whole green chilies which had been stuffed with cheese then crumbed in a sort of bread crumb and mashed potato concoction and served with rice and beens. It was so good. I also enjoyed the BEST fajitas ever. They were bought from a stall on a street corner. Seriously, the best food.

- Adobe style is the only way to live. I loved these buildings. I would love to build something like the one we stayed in in Santa Fe here in the Blue Mountains.

- Walked in Tent Rocks Canyon. This is an Indian reserve. Once you have negotiated the canyon and the long hot climb to the top you will be rewarded with the most stunning views of wide open plains that seem to go on for eternity.

- Stunning evening storms here.

- We rode the Windsor tail here. It was a bit of a lengthy start, due to an extra loop which we tacked on at the trail head, but an enjoyable ride. There was some fun downhill on this ride and I managed to get some air on a few of the bunny hops towards the end of the ride. We finished this ride at the Teseque Village Market. They serve great food. MMMMmmmm: tamales, green mole and blue corn chips.

I'm still loving this right now...

Postcard from: Salida (Monarch Pass ride)...

- Cool early morning start.

- This ride climbed above the tree line up to snow drifts. These are impossible to ride. We had to guess the best route across these that would take us safely to the rest of the trail. One of these had a 10ft vertical drop that we had to slide down. I had a rather ungraceful slide, but boy was it fun!

- This was by far the most difficult ride. The conditions on the trail ranged from shale, dusty dry trails, deep gutters, to river crossings and heavily forested pine groves.

- I had a bit of a tumble on this ride over the handlebars bumping my head and knocking my kneecap out of place (and quickly back into place as I stood up on it). I could not put my weight on it for a few minutes and horrible thoughts went through my mind about what would have happened if I couldn't ride any further. For a moment the pain was quite unbearable. Luckily the pain subsided into nothing worse than a major dead-leg as I hobbled onto our rest point.

- The bump to my head must have had some sort of effect on my sense of smell. We were in the middle of nowhere and I could smell freshly cooked blueberry muffins. It was weird and I was hungry and in pain.

- Rocks featured heavily on this ride. It's amazing that no matter how carefully you maneuver the front tire around a rock, you can be assured your back tire is going to collect it.

- My confidence was a little shaken and I managed to have a couple of further tumbles. I was not overly happy, but I could not deny that we were in some of the most remote and beautiful countryside and those thoughts thrilled me.

- The end of this ride was down an unsurfaced road that was badly corrugated from years of off-road traffic. That road was the WORST I have ever ridden on in my life.

Postcard from: Europe in general...

Postcard from: London...

- Ok, this picture probably doesn't really show much of London, but I do love the local breakfast cafes in London. Big helpings, small price.

- Hung out mostly in the West End and Soho areas. So lively.

- There is a musical on here for everything.

- Had a great time catching up with Darth and when we finally found lunch it was delicious. Thanks DG, looking forward to our next meeting, wherever and whenever that may be.

- Could have spend a small fortune on T-shirts, and a LARGE fortune in Ted Baker and Paul Smith, despite both stores having sales.

- Rain. In fact a whole months worth in 2 days!

- The Tube. Brilliant transport system when it's working.

- Pret A Manger: Meatball wrap. Tasty!

- Fun bars. Couldn't help but have a small boogie to Marvin Gaye as one DJ really knew good music and kept me going all night.

Postcard from: Helsinki...

- The city is made of stone. Everything is stone.

- They have pokies in the supermarket?!?!

- Very friendly and well educated people.

- Don't fold your arms. It's a sign of rudeness. I was never conscious of how often I actually folded my arms until I was told not to.

- It didn't get dark. We walked out of a bar at 1am and the sun was rising, or was it setting??

- The bar was called "Albert's Room" and it literally was just big enough to be only a room. 20 people max in here at any one time. It was rather cool.

- The city was full of strawberry stands. The smell filled the streets and was so beautiful.


- This city is a cool, hip design hub.

- I wandered around a historic park that contained early Nordic houses that were being preserved. Very beautiful part of town.

Postcard from: Solden...

- Typical looking Alpine town. Beautiful.

- The first hotel we tried to get a couple of rooms in was fully booked (thanks to the Trans Alpine Mountain Bike Race), so we were sent across the river to the hotel owner's Mother's place. Kind of a weird experience, but we got 2 rooms none the less.

- Dinner was in a restaurant that was decorated with mannequins enjoying the sport of Luge across the ceiling. The pizza's here were HUGE! Way to big to even eat half of one.

Postcard from: Salzberg

- Nuns seemed to be wandering the streets aimlessly.

- Very wet. Sat outside a rather cool bar enjoying beer and a D&M with Judo about life while rain dripped down from the canopy onto our table.

- The town is alive with The Sound Of Music.

- Great beer options here.

- Had the biggest laugh as Judo and I drove through the traffic restricted area into the main square to the horror of the people sitting eating their sausages. A priceless moment.

Postcard from: Japan...

- What an amazing place.

- Wacky and totally entertaining. I was so tempted to splash a little water on the toilet seat in my hotel room just so I could find out exactly what sort of "trouble" I could get myself into.

- MMMmmmm Jellyfish. The food in Japan is not based on flavour, it's based on texture. Once you get your head around that fact, eating here becomes a learning experience.

- I will be back and I will spend more time here.

- I'll refrain from posting the pic of me in my Japanese robe.

Postcard from: Munich...

Hmmmmmm.... What can I say?

- The beer was ok, but I must admit I was a little disappointed.

- There are some very cool T-shirt shops here

- To visit here you must love sausage, potato or bacon with your green beans.

- Take a TomTom or a decent map if heading out to the suburbs to find the motorbike shops.

What a ride...

and I'm home. More to come. :)

Another small update...

I've just spent the weekend in California. The reason for flying to there for the weekend was to see the US leg of the MotoGP. It was a good race and quite different to the European races. I still don't understand why the majority of fans support Rossi. He's an industry all to himself. It was a good battle between him and Stoner until Casey made a mistake on a corner. The sound of MotoGP bikes still gives me goose bumps!

California was interesting as well. It's probably not the sort of place where I would live, but it does have a lot to offer. I'm enjoying New Mexico a lot though. The food here is great and I'm starting to appreciate chili a little more.

My time on the mountain bike has been great, but I'm starting to miss some of the comforts of home. 10 Days to go.

Heavy rotation...

I put my space suit on
Count back 10 to 1
The gravitation pull gets stronger
My skin it floats away
My brains are on a plate
The weightless feeling here is bliss.
This is the best thing that has ever happened to me
These are the colours that I've always wanted to see
And although I've never said it before
I love you
I need you
I need it
I love you.

I wish I had a way to post pics...

because some of the rides I'm doing are really beautiful. However, I'm taking notes along the way and when I return to Sydney I'll be able to do some retrospective posts with pics.

Yesterday I did one of the most difficult rides of my life. Actually, I'll even go as far as saying it WAS the most difficult ride and rather extreme too. Part of the ride was high above the tree line and we had to traverse a few snow drifts. These look harmless enough before you start to cross them, but you never really can see the other side. They are slippery. One of them still had beautiful 30ft cornices on it that dropped away suddenly to a rocky base and would have been very dangerous if you got too close to its edge. Sliding off these things was actually fun, but with no control over the fast slipery descent I came to a very muddy and rocky abrupt stop.

The terrain was incredibly difficult to cross. I had a few tumbles, knocks and cuts, but I enjoyed the challenge and it's a ride I know I'll never forget. I can't wait to share some pictures with you.

If I was slighlty competitive...

this is how my Colorado section of my holiday would be panning out:

I've just completed day two of a very grueling cross country leg. Day one (yesterday) was more fun. I was leading for the middle third of the ride. Which was great as I didn't know the trail and was just following the bends and curves of the track. I was struggling a little trying to get used to the altitude. Riding, or any strenuous exercise, at these altitudes is hard work. By the end of that leg I was bleeding from the nose and really struggling with my breath. OK, sure it was not a stream of blood, but it was enough to make things uncomfortable. I couldn't wait to get back and shower and clean myself up a little. Let's say I did ok on this ride and was the second home.

Today was harder. The trails were mighty tough. Plenty of up hill and lots of rocky down hill. I'm a little bruised and slightly battered, but now it's over I can say I really enjoyed it. Some of the trail crossed some very high ridges that had the most spectacular views. Very beautiful.

so, not sure what tomorrow will bring. I'm a little sore and not too keen to jump on my bike. I might just call in my rest day and do a hike across one of the snow capped peaks. Yes, there's still snow on these peaks even in the height of summer.

Just a quick update...

Hi all. Am having a great time. Am currently in Helsinki soaking up the incredible design atmosphere of the city.

Had a great time so far. What more can I say? Next stop, London. But only briefly.

If we took a holiday...

It's on...

During the next 5 weeks I'll be:
Eating Japanese food - actually in Japan.
Beering it up in Munich.
Re-visiting my beloved Alps, but this time along the Austrian border.
Visiting the hub of cool nightclubs, Helsinki.
Beering it up in London with Darth and Killer.
Mountain biking on high altitude single track in Colorado.
Visiting the Sand Canyon in Cortez.
Riding the deserts of Utah.
White water rafting in Keystone.
And lots more hight altitude single tracks with wicked descents.

I will blog where possible and keep tabs on what's happening back home.

Some numbers...

One: The number of days left of work before my holiday - Oh yeah!
Two: The number of sleeps before winter suddenly turns into summer!
Three: The number of times I've seen Speed Racer
Four: The number of beers I had last night
Five: The number of Kilos I've lost this winter
Six: The number of days I spend in Europe, before heading to the USA
Seven: The cost in dollars for my Spag Bol dinner at the cheap eats cafe.
Eight: The number of hours more sleep I need after getting to bed @ 3am this morning.
Nine: The number of new songs I heard yesterday/last night and said "OMG, I love this song".
Ten: The number of Cyanide and Happiness cartoons I can read before I move on.

Domo arigato, Mr. Muzboto

Or - two more sleeps until I'm in Japan! Woot!

It's been a little while...

since I've made the journey out to Hooters.

Tonight I opted for the BBQ prawns. They were mighty tasty. Hooters just isn't the same anymore... I don't think the girls are allowed to dance anymore. The last few times I've been the room has not "been in motion" as they like to call it. And frankly, that's a shame as that's part of the fun of Hooters.

Sydney was freezing today...

seriously. In both the Pitt St Mall and Martin Place and the general public had no idea what was happening. Sydney was about to be Flash Mobbed.

The instructions:
1) We meet at a discreet location, today it was Hyde Park, where everyone is briefed with the final instructions including what not to freeze in front of eg: fire hydrants and in front of traffic... but freeze anywhere else and don't move at all. The good news was the general public had managed to remain unaware of its happening. Today, since there was over 1000 of us (organisers say there was close to 3600!) we were split into two groups. The first group was to descend on Pitt St Mall (I was in this group) and the second to mingle in Martin place. So, acting normally and carrying on with general wandering around the mall, at exactly 12:40 we were all to freeze in place for 3 minutes. At the end of 3 minutes to continue on as if nothing had happened.

2) Watches/mobile phones all synchronized. Move out to location and act naturally.

Cameras were in place to capture the event as this has been reportedly going to be the largest Flash Mob attempt in the world (to date).
Me: I decided that I would be talking on the phone as I walked around the mall.

3) 12:40, me and the mall frozen in place.

This is my video I took from my mobile phone as I froze. It's actually not great quality or a good angle. I was frozen after all. But it was fun taking part. It took most people in the mall a whole 2 minutes to realise what was going on around them. The group of men standing beside me are not part of the freeze - they were just standing there not realising what was going on until one of them walked past me to the bin I was near. He then looked around and just laughed. And that's what was good about this... It made an otherwise average day in Sydney just a little more fun and gave some people a good laugh.

Stay tuned for the official video (and I'm sure there will be many un-official videos as well) to appear on YouTube.

*update: the first bit of news is here.

Typos on a menu...

While reading this article, I remembered seeing this menu item recently at a local Thai restaurant.

Predictable

(did you hear that Judo, predictable. 1-2-3-4-5) :)
that was the result from the Donington MotoGP. Stoner's team has ironed out the issues with his bike and he rode like the champion that he is. He finished way out front on his Ducati. Once again we saw a MotoGP where the real race was between second and third. Rossi was the victor of that battle, in his 200th race across all MotoGP classes, with Pedrosa finishing in third. Edwards was forth and Dovizioso fifth. And that's just the order I predicted the race would end in the tipping comp this week. Woot for me!

We're on a double header, so the next race is this coming weekend in Assen, Netherlands.

sitting at Brisneyland airport...

just testing out mobile blogging on the iPod. All seems to be in order.
Hopefully this will work while I'm o/s too.

Random thoughts for a thursday...

• I wonder if Lamingtons are a wholesome breakfast?
• I'm the lightest weight I've been in my living memory.
• I wonder if it's because of my Wii?

• I went to the airport last night, sat just watching and listening to planes.
• I pigged out while watching planes on chocolate iced custard filled donuts and hot chocolate.
  
• I'll be on a plane this evening flying up to Qld to visit Dad.

• Each evening when I walk through the botanic gardens I smell a plant that takes me back to my childhood - sitting outside my piano teacher's house. Her yard had this very same distinctive smell. I still can't find the plant that is making the musky-bitter smell.
• I wonder why I never smell that plant in the morning when I walk through the gardens?

• This is my fave photo on Flickr
  
• I wonder if satisfaction is a feeling that is ever nothing more than fleeting?
• After playing with an iPod Touch for a few days, I'm now lusting after an iPhone.

• Two of my closest work buddies have resigned. This makes me sad and the work place just that much more less appealing.
• Who will be my coffee buddy now?
  
• My fave song right now is "Weird Ideas At Work" by Grand National.
  

Go Speed Go.

I don't often do the "movie review" type post. However, I'm compelled to write about Speed Racer. Ready for it: This is probably one of the finest movies I've ever seen. Really. This movie is visually stimulating. It's an anti-"300"- There's no washed out colours here. It's hyper vibrant.

There is a story, and yes it's as lame as the original cartoon. If you want to see a movie for it's plot, then save your cash. But, if like me you enjoy letting your imagination go and can be drawn into exotic locations and fast paced dizzy-ing race action then you can't be disappointed.

It has been said that this is the most technically accomplished movie to date. It pushes the latest rendering techniques to their limit. Occasionally, during the film I remembered that these actors were never once seated in even a mock car during filming, they sat on a car seat with a steering wheel mounted on a wire frame. Actually nothing is real. It has been all designed, drawn and rendered by some very creative and talented illustrators, artists and computer technicians.

Above all, this movie strikes me as a tribute to animation. During the film there are references to early animation styles and techniques. There's even a tribute to the earliest of animations the Zoetrope, which was invented way back in 1830's (see the image above). There's all sorts of animation in this film and tributes to various artists. There's a good nod in the film to op artist Bridget Riley. The tessellated sequences towards the movie's finale will just make your brain go "zing".

My only criticism of the film: Racer X's leathers should have fit him just a little bit tighter and he should have been just a tad beefier - closer to the original.

The weekend...

has passed.





I know it's a lame post. But, hey... I'm in bed, it's Sunday night and frankly, I just want to go to sleep. I've been enjoying my dreams lately.
Sleep. Sweet sleep.

When it's too miserable outside...

and you can't go and jump on your mountain bike for a ride, it's time to get stuck into comfort food. This morning I cooked up a litre of spicy hot chocolate. MMMMmmmmm.

Here's how I did it:
To one litre of milk I added 100g of chopped up dark chocolate.
Add two cinnamon sticks and two split chilies. Slowly heat and stir, and stir. If you want a real kick, cut open the chilies (throw away the seeds before adding). But, don't over do the chili. This drink is warming, you don't want a chili flavor. If the chocolate has melted and mixed in add a pinch of nutmeg and bump up the heat and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to low add two teaspoons of honey (or sweeten to your own taste). Stir then serve up in front of the teev with your fave movie on.

This is probably not the sort of drink the kids are going to like. It's spicy, not too sweet.

Another iTunes meme...

Simple rules: Open iTunes, turn on shuffle, press forward for each question and use the song title as the answer.

• What does next year have in store for me? "I Can See A Rainbow" - Rainbow Family
  
  
• What’s my love life like? "Down To Earth (12" Mix)" - Curiosity Killed The Cat
  
  
• What do I say when life gets hard? "I Wanna Be Your Lover" - Prince
  
  
• What do I think of on waking up? "Coming Round" - Grand National
  
  
• What song will I dance to at my wedding? "This Is It" - Melba Moore
  
  
• What do I want as a career? "Only This Moment" - Röyksopp
  
  
• My favorite saying? "It's Automatic" - Zoot Woman
  
  
• Favorite place? "La Baie" - Etienne Daho
  
  
• What do I think of my parents? "Rich Girl" - Gwen Stefani Feat. Eve
  
  
• What’s my porn star name? "Fragamosia" - William Orbit
  
  
• Where would I go on a first date? "Has Your Man Got Soul" - Milk & Sugar
  
  
• Drug of choice? "Tell Everybody" - Róisín Murphy
  
  
• Describe myself. "Run 4 Cover" - Basement Jaxx
  
  
• What is the thing I like doing most? "Rattlesnakes" - Lloyd Cole & the Commotions
  
  
• What is my state of mind like at the moment? "Everything's Gone Green" - New Order
• How will I die? "Just Friends" - Amy Winehouse

Some of these were a little average, but some just-crack-me-up. "What's your love life like?" - I'm surprised that "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen didn't come up! And yes, it IS in my iTunes library... And How will I die? "Just Friends" , awwwwww, but true.

So what else will I be doing...

• seeing just short of 20hours daylight in Helsinki
• visiting the fairytale castle Schloss Neuschwanstein
• re-visiting the beautiful Alps
• Beer beer and more beer in Munich
• Avoiding anything to do with the Sound of Music in Austria
• Lording it up in London
• traveling with two companions not just one
• Road tripping with Judo again in Europe
  

I also have a special side trip planned for a weekend when I'm in the USA. It's going to be a major highlight of this trip for me, but I can't say what it is just yet as one of my fellow travelers doesn't know about this. But you all would all understand why I'm looking forward to it.

21 days and counting...

until I head off on this year's main holiday.

What adventures will I get up to? (I'm going to make this sound really exciting...)

The main body of the holiday is going to be spent in the USA. I haven't been there for a number of years and I'll be heading to a part I have not been to before. I'll be mountain biking for about 4 weeks (yeah, right!) through the mountainous Colorado Rockies, into New Mexico, up to western Utah then back into Colorado.

What can I look forward to?

• Seeing the Road Runner. Meep Meep.
• Eating lots of Mexican food
• Staying at a hippy commune
  
• A sore arse!
• Rock and sand
• Maybe some white water rafting
  
• A beer or two
  
• A bear or two
• And more than a few laughs.

Decisive victory...

for Pedrosa on the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona.

This is one of my fave races and circuits. There seems to be more turns and makes for great viewing. It's a track that's very easy to misjudge your breaking points and either go wide, or worse, ride into a wall - as 3 riders did all on the same lap!

Pedrosa seemed to have this one pegged right from the start. He broke away in the first lap and managed to sustain a sizable lead throughout the rest of the race. The battle for second was where the race was really at with Rossi and Stoner going toe to toe until the second last lap where Rossi moved past Stoner and took up second place on the podium.

- - - - - - - - - - -

On a lighter note: 3.5kg lighter that is.
I've just made it through 40 hours with no food. Lots of water, the odd Gatorade and soft drink. I have often wondered if I could really do the 40 hour famine and now I believe I have the right strategy for success.

Ay ay ay Senor Dave, no comment. Thanks for the company and I too feel blessed to have some very good friends in my life these days too.

Grand National rocked...

Literally. I can't remember the last time I went to a live gig where there was no keyboard on stage. 3 electric guitars, 1 drummer and 1 lead vocalist (who also doubled as another guitarist and cowbell accompanist).

The gig was everything a live gig should be. All my faves were on the set list. They sung a few covers over top of their own tunes including tunes from Prince and New Order. The venue was great (Oxford Art Factory) and so was the crowd. Loved it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And an update on my "Save The Prawn" campaign: The owner of Guzman Y Gomez has contacted me. Let the negotiations begin. :)

More random thoughts... for Friday.

- I'm looking forward to this weekend. There are many reasons.

- Each day when I walk to work I pass a donut stand. It always smells so damn good. I love the smell of hot cinnamon donuts in the morning. I haven't given in yet to temptation, but these cold wet mornings seem perfect for donuts and coffee.

- I didn't sleep well last night. I felt tired so I went to bed at 9:30 but still hadn't fallen asleep by midnight. What's that all about? I'm usually really good at falling asleep lately. So, I watched a movie about beer.

- I really like this weather we're experiencing in Sydney. Sure it's going to be a damp weekend at the Jazz Festival, but I don't care. This weather is fun. I love hearing the wind howl at night and I love watching a person's umbrella-ella-ella fold back inside out as the wind catches it and them off guard.

- Said I'll always be your friend. Took an oath, I'm goin' to stick it out till the end. Now that it's raining more than ever. Know that we'll still have each other. You can stand under my umbrella
ella ella eh eh eh. Ella ella eh eh eh.

- This morning as I walked to work I left home with a spring in my step, I realised that by the time I was only a few hundred metres from work I was walking so much slower - almost dawdling.

- Oh, and I thank God for long weekends. I'm throwing myself in head first. Here I come!

Sometimes in life, you have a calling...

I picked up the carefully laminated notice and to my horror I read "Unfortunately we will no longer be serving prawns..." "You'll have 2 weeks to continue enjoying the yellow mole and prawns... so plan accordingly. Thanks for your understanding"

No.
People, we have two weeks to change the world - and in effect, change history. You can help save the prawns. You can help save the yellow mole. Join me.

I can not let this receipt be the last of its kind.

*note to those who study this receipt carefully, yes, that's not my real name. I always like to change my name to something different each time I order at a place where they ask for a name. Tonight I was Brad.

Woot!

I have tickets to Grand National. Thank you moshtix and your electronic ticketing goodness.
Who is Grand National? Only just my favourite! You may remember them from such posts as: "Oh my gawd I love this song", and "Oh my Gawd, this is my favourite song right now" and "Gawd, I'm really digging this track." Here's an old track from 2006.

Those passionate Italians...

were at it again, swamping the track before the race had even been completed.

Mugello is probably my fave race of the MotoGP season. It's a great track and thanks to the crowd, the atmosphere is electric. Rossi once again won this race on home soil sporting a new helmet design that I found very amusing. It was great to see Casey back on the podium with second place and Pedrosa in third.

Once again it was an enjoyable race. The Italian fans would have to be the most passionate. I was reliving the atmosphere in my lounge room. Ahhhh, such fond memories. Next stop - Barcelona.

So where am I at? Random thoughts...

- Well to be honest, I'm at a pretty good place right now.

- I've had a couple of troublesome weeks. Nothing outrageous, just a bit playing on my mind. But those who know me, know that there is rarely a time when one thing or another isn't playing on my mind.

- And so here we are in the southern hemisphere's winter. The first day of winter has been marked with mild temperatures and the odd rain shower. Can't complain, I've got 5 weeks of summer in the northern hemisphere just around the corner.

- I didn't win the 19 mil in Loto, so my holiday won't be extended.

- I'm in my room, alone, listening to the rain. The sliding door is wide open and it's chilly. I've wrapped the doona around me and am distracted by the vista outside my room. The city seems so domestic on a Sunday night. The office buildings are in darkness and only residential towers reflect the rain.

- I miss the feeling of someone in my arms. But my heart's not in it. At night when I go to sleep, I just want to feel someone wrapped in my arms. It's a very tender feeling, yet I'm so distant.

- One of my fave groups are playing in Sydney next Friday night. I'll probably end up going to see them by myself. I don't know anyone else who'd even know who they are.

- I've been obsessive compulsive about washing my hands for the past three months. Since then I've had two head colds all within the space of 4 weeks.

- I think Blondie's "Rapture" is a top song.

- However, this song has been on high rotation in my head this weekend: