Sightseeing California

Well, I have absolutely been having a blast in California so far. I arrived in LA a couple of days ago feeling pretty agitated because my flight was over 2 hours late, and the fact that we had to wait on the tarmac for over and hour. After that though things got pretty good pretty quickly. We went cruising around LA, seeing the sights and meeting a few friends around the place. I met one of my mate's friends who was a former baywatch babe and also appeared on "Jerry McGuire". That was cool. I also got my photo taken with a lot of the stars on the ground. I think my favourite was one taken with the "Kenny G" star. We also visited Venice Beach and Santa Monica Blvd (for which I played Sheryl Crow's song "All I wanna do").

I was pretty over the moon about seeing some hills around here. Hills - yes, you may think I'm going loopy and in fact I probably am but as I've said before Florida has no hills, but California has lots of them. We went cruising long the coast yesterday for a while to get up to San Francisco and I got a few good shots. We visited Santa Barbara for lunch and that place was just amazing. The scenery was just beautiful - mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. I was just in awe of it all. You'd think I'd never seen the ocean or hills before.

Anyway, so now I'm in San Francisco and I absolutely love this place. It's bloody fantastic! Anyway, got some cable cars to catch.

Hooroo!

Merry Christmas to all!

To all who are reading this blog, I wish you a merry Christmas! I don't know where you'll be spending yours but I'm seeing what San Francisco has to offer in the way of Christmas festivities. Alright, it's been a hell of a ride so far and I have to go now for some sightseeing before I get called a nerd again.

Checkya later.

Ready for the trip

I really should be getting some rest at the moment, but I have a problem with getting any sleep before I'm due to catch a plane the next morning. I have this fear that I'll sleep through my alarm so I'll spend most of tonight waking up every half an hour and checking the time - and that's even if I do get to sleep!

I got this SMS from one of my friends who I'm meeting up with in LA:
"Hey Gringo! Campfire tunes are going to crank. We just purchased a guitar, maracas, bongos and a flute from Mexico :-) Adios amigo!"

The next 2 weeks are going to be packed full of stuff. Tomorrow I fly into LA and whilst there am going to check out Venice Beach, Malibu, Beverley Hills and Hollywood. The next day we begin the drive to San Francisco which is about a 400 mile drive. We spend three nights in SF, doing such things as seeing Alcatraz and a whole bunch of other stuff. I've seen to it that the schedule for SF will be nice and busy. After SF we drive to Yosemite national park and spend two nights there. After that we go to Lake Tahoe for skiing and snowboarding, and perhaps snowmobiling. We spend New Years Eve in Tahoe which is supposed to go off! Looking forward to that. Then we drive to Phoenix and I spend a day hanging around there. I get back on Tuesday 4th Jan at 5am in the morning, and then I go straight to work. Hehe, I'm going to be stuffed.

Right, I better get to sleep... right after I transfer these Spanish lessons to my iPod. Hasta luego!

Christmas gifts

I'm going to a Christmas party tonight and I'm trying to decide what to buy for a secret Santa gift for a woman who has a good sense of humour and a couple of kids. Three options are currently buzzing around in my head:

1) America: The Book

2) Heidi Klum's Body of Knowledge: 8 rules of model behaviour

3) "Has Been", by William Shatner

The Heidi Klum book is just up there for a laugh. I could just imagine a mother wanting to take life advice from a model.

I was thinking with the William Shatner CD that she may have had the hots for Shatner when she was younger. I dunno. Good for a laugh anyway. I know if anyone bought me that CD I'd be stoked (that's the well suppressed Star Trek fan part of me writing that). Plus, Ben Folds helped produce the CD so quality lingers.

I think I'm going to settle for "America: The book", just because I know it's damn good and I think it's a good gift for an American. If she hasn't already got the book it should go down well.

Slow motion day

It seems that today is one of those days that just seems to drag on forever. I've been trying to get motivated to do my work but so far that's taken nearly 7 hours to do. My body just feels like it's a ragdoll.

I went to see Santos Renuentes play last night at a place called Broadway in Aventura. They were awesome again. They have a new lead guitarist who's only 24 but he added a whole new dimension to their sound. It was a really, really good performance. I was talking to the band members commenting on how good they sounded afterwards and everyone seemed pretty pumped from the performance. They're hoping to get a record contract in the near future. Good luck guys!

I recently changed my diet a bit. No I'm not getting fat, not even with the American diet, but I just felt that cow's milk didn't do it for me anymore. So now I'm having soy milk on my cereal in the mornings instead. I'd say that I've been feeling a bit better generally, but I'm not sure if that's a false perception I've set up for myself.

I decided to change web browsers as well. Internet Explorer has not done it for me for a while now so I've been using something called Avant Browser which added tabbed browsing to IE. It was good for a while but I grew tired of it occasionally crashing. I've made the switch to Firefox and I'm so glad that I did. It's quick, hasn't crashed and there is a slew of plugins that can be used. I've added ones to show the weather, stock prices, google image previews, auto copy of text, and a Gmail mail present indicator. I find I need at least 6 tabs open at once when I'm trying to find solutions to problems. That's basically what I do actually. I am the solution guy. If there is a problem somewhere I program up a way to fix it. I wouldn't say I'm an ace engineer - far from it. I just know how to find stuff. Firefox makes my life easier :-)

God that was nerdy. I better sign off now before I do any more harm to my image!

Lincoln Mall

This mall is one of the most awesome malls I've ever been to. It's the premier mall in South Beach and it's as pretentious as hell. Everyone there looks and walks like a model. I'd probably be looking like a kid in a candy store or something like it coz there are just so many good things to look at. The girls are absolutely stunning! Hehe.

Everyone is always talking to someone on their mobile phones because they like to appear just so damn busy and important. When I went last week for my birthday I saw one girl walking around for about 1/2 hour with her mobile phone to her ear constantly. She didn't say a damn thing the whole time. It seems either a way of her avoiding being spoken to or a way of feeling important. Maybe I should set up a phone line that people can call and have some automated service dribble $hit to them (and not your typical phone sex service, that'd be just too plain expensive and, I'm assuming, not required for the ladies?) just so they feel important. Maybe I've already been beaten to that actually. Hmmm...

Dogs seem to be a fashion item. I don't know whether people are following Paris Hilton in that respect or what the deal is but I've never seen so many dogs in a mall. I saw some dogs dressed up as reindeer, some wearing a scarf, some dressed up as their owners, it's all pretty weird. I shall have to get some pictures.

It was pretty cold for Florida today with 19C being hit. I wasn't expecting to see so many scarves being worn though. It's like everyone should've been walking around in an esky. Not to be out done I bought myself a scarf plus some gloves and a couple of shirts and a beanie all for $85. Not bad I thought. Of course I'll be using these items when I go to the west coast coz I'll actually need them there.

One shop in Lincoln mall had me dumbfounded. I have quite literally never seen so much money in one store for items that were purely made for aesthetic purposes. I'm talking about sculptures. One sculpture had me nearly crying because it was so expensive. It was a 5 foot tall carving of a naked person made out of marble. It was worth (wait for it) US $495,000. You read that right. Half a million dollars. I seriously could not stop the tears from welling up in my eyes. Unfreakingbelievable. If I can, I shall try to get a picture of it.

I... am... stuffed...

There are just so many things that are stuffing up at the moment. Things getting lost, things just not going to plan, it's hard keeping track of it all. I've been getting virtually no sleep in the past couple of weeks thanks in no small part to the air mattress I've been using at night. It's something I should have gotten rid of a long time ago because every time I move it makes a god awful rumbling plastic squealchy sound (Ed: pfft, nice explanation mate) that is freaking loud! I can't understand where all the sound comes from. Anyway, if I move during my sleep I'm woken up, guaranteed.

Ok, I dropped my parents off at Miami airport this morning after getting 2 hours of sleep. We got there at 6am and I ended up leaving the airport at around 8:30am. I got back to the short term car park and was wondering where the heck my parking ticket was. I couldn't find it so I ended up paying $25 for 2 hours of parking when I should have been paying $3.

What else? My brother lost his wallet yesterday. I only found this out because I went to collect my mail and they said "Do you know a Joshua Golding?" and I'm thinking "Shit... they found out I've been hiding my family in my apartment". Well, they've probably worked that out already but the fact of the matter was I was given a post-it note with the apartment number of the guy who had my brother's wallet, but they were only going to be there after 6 pm. Anyway, the apartment was empty, I don't know where that little slip that had the details has gone but I have to somehow find my brother's wallet now and send it back to Oz.

I've also gotten no work done this week. I've done absolutely nothing of value, but my stuff isn't high priority anymore so nobody cares. I'm thinking "you're paying for me to be over here... shouldn't you be trying to extract as much work out of me as possible?" I need some of those Mensa puzzles to keep me occupied.

Plus, organising this Christmas trip has been a pain but thank God most of it is out of the way. I couldn't believe how difficult it was to book flights over here. When I booked flights and trains for my family's trip to New York and Washington D.C. I had no problems whatsoever with using an Australian Visa, and these are those small el cheapo plane companies similar to Virgin Blue. However, and I can't believe this, I can't use my Australian Visa to book flights with either U.S. Airways or American Airlines. WTF!?!?!? That just has me scratching my head and is considerably inconvenient for a little Aussie like me. Anyway, it's forced me to open a bank account over here just so I can book those flights without bothering Americans for their credit cards, and as a bonus it allows me to buy the cheap stuff I want to buy off the net. Bah!

72 97 112 112 121 32 66 105 114 116 104 100 97 121 32 116 111 32 109 101 33

Yay! Well, it might not be quite that day over here but it is in Australia anyway and that's pretty much what counts for me. So what will I be doing? NOTHING! Actually, I'm going to celebrate by having lunch down at South Beach and then maybe I'm going to go do some shopping or something. Of course, I'll be having the typical Wednesday night happy hour drinks at the Davie Ale House so I'm looking forward to that too. Yay!

WHAT!!!??? YEAH! OOOO-KAAAAY!!!

I must admit, I didn't know much about Lil Jon until I saw Dave Chapelle do a skit about him on his show. That was a couple of months ago now, and it's weird to find that I'm actually seeking out Lil Jon's music just so I can hear him say "What?", "OK!", "Yeah!" in his or other people's songs. It's awesome. And yeah, my family has been getting an earful of it while they've been over here. You hear A LOT of him being played on the radio... partially because the rap/hip-hop/rnb stations here like to repeat a lot of the same music... partially because he's an East side artist. You could imagine my joy when I found this soundboard. The samples are of Dave Chapelle impersonating Lil Jon, but it's still cool.

Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay - Awesome!

I've driven about a total 500 miles today to go to Busch Gardens in Tampa. Why? Because there are some *awesome* roller coasters there. Oh, and the guy who came with me is going back to Australia tomorrow and I thought it would be a good send off. Here are the rides and here are the number of times we went on them:

Gwazi (old school wooden type) - 3 times
Kumba - 5 times
Montu - 4 times
Python - once
Scorpion - once

Here are some pictures of the rides someone has taken. I'm really looking forward to the Sheikra ride that will be finished in Spring next year!

About half-way through the day we started feeling a little sick because I suggested closing our eyes during the Montu ride (bad idea). Not to worry, a fairly healthy lunch and a quick ride on the airlift set things straight and we were able to continue on our roller coaster spree. I must admit though I'm actually a little shakey at the moment as I'm typing this even though the last ride I went on was quite a few hours ago. Lots and lots of adrenalin got used up today :-)

Update: How could I mention what rides I went on without giving a small review of each?

Gwazi is the first wooden roller coaster I've been on. This shouldn't be too surprising though - before I came to the US I'd only ever been on one roller coaster and that was "Lethal Weapon: The ride" on the Gold Coast. I was too wussy to go on it again all those years ago. How times change. Anyway, Gwazi was bloody fast and if you had a bad back before going on it you sure as hell would have to check in to the doctor afterwards. It was really, really rough. The first drop is what gets me. The first time I went on the ride I saw that first drop and some part of me started screaming a bit prematurely. I had to say to the people around me "Sorry - I'll try screaming at the right time". It's a heck of a drop. Pretty cool though.

Kumba reminds me of "The Hulk" in that it's big and it's fast. Being right at the front of the roller coaster (we got to do this on all the rides we rode on more than once) is something else as it's pretty freaky at the start just looking straight down before the rest of the carriages come over the rise. Very, very smooth ride at the front but a bit less smooth near the back. Nowhere near as bad as Gwazi though! I still say I prefer the Hulk to this. I think it has to do with the way you get launched out of a tunnel with the Hulk ride, rather than being pulled up and then let down as is done with Kumba (and all the other roller coaster rides at this park for that matter).

Montu is an inverted rollercoaster, and it's probably my favourite roller coaster so far. Really, really sharp turns and high G-forces make this a really cool ride. It broke down for a few minutes when we were being winched up on the 3rd ride. Luckily we were down near the ground still though. I think my fear of heights would have started to take effect otherwise!

Python and Scorpion were more lackluster. Python was just too damn short. Scorpion however was a little bit of a sleeper hit. It doesn't ever take you up that high but the turns are sharp and you come really close to the support structure of the coaster so there is a good sensation of speed. This is one coaster I'd like in my backyard.

So where to next on my rollercoaster quest? Well, I may go back to Islands of Adventure and Busch Gardens every now and then just to get a fix, but I think Cedar Point would be the ultimate destination for any roller coaster fan. This ride has my palms sweating just thinking about it. Top speed: approx 120 MPH (nearly 200 KPH). Acceleration: 0 -> 120 MPH in 4 seconds. Ride height: 420 feet (for people back in Adelaide, that's approximately the same height as the Santos building). Jeepers!

Enchanted

To all the people who were going to enchanted this year back in good ol' SA: I HOPE YOU HAD FUN!!! I really wish I could have made it. Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of my control I couldn't be back at this time. Nav, CJB, Ben, I spammed all your phones and Nav I left return phone numbers (the 75225533 number was "PKCALLED", the other number was my real number here in the US). I couldn't call from my Australian mobile phone as my family were using it in New York.

One question I have though: how the hell are you guys going to get home this year? ;-)

Jump

I'm completely cracking myself up at the moment. I just found a really cool synth sound that reminded me of Van Halen's "Jump", and I played along with the song for at least 1/2 hour. Cool.

What's cracking me up even more is the South Park episode that's on TV at the moment. Paris Hilton has opened a whore store in South Park, and the writers are taking the piss out of Paris really well. It is one of the funniest episodes I've ever seen. One really bad/sad thing I noticed during one of the breaks in South Park though - an advert for an electric jar opener. What are us guys going to do now? Our job is to open jars. Men are slowly being replaced by machines. I feel lost.

The mind of a player

I've mentioned "the player" on this site before, and through discussions I've had with him recently we may as well be from different universes. First a background profile on "the player". He got divorced about a year ago after a 7 year marriage. He has 2 kids, aged 5 and 7 years old. He's in his early 30s.

"The player" for the past year has constantly dated women. He has a problem with being alone (as in, not dating) for more than 2 weeks at a time. He has no problem with dating more than one woman at a time, but he will will be honest with his date and tell them he is dating another woman if they ask (and if that is the case). His thoughts on dating are that it's ok to date more than one girl at once, so long as you are honest with them. Furthermore, he says his time is mostly spent on thinking about dating women, and he is completely and utterly absorbed in experimenting with chatting up women and finding that recipe of words that will make them his. He seems pretty confident that he's nailed most of that, and seems certain that for any given night he will pick some girl up. He also has no fear of being rejected, which would obviously help.

I know for certain I'm not that sort of person, but heck I'm going to try and find out what makes the mind of a person like "the player" tick. And I have other questions, the girls who date guys like this - why do they do it? Do they suffer from the same fear of being alone as "the player" does? Do they care/know that they in for a quick and dirty releationship that probably (and evidence has shown) won't last for more than a few weeks? Does it help prop up their self esteem that some guy is cracking onto them?

A nice sunny day

it's about 23C outside, nice and sunny but I also happened to notice the smog hanging about, and then the number of SUVs around with only one person driving. Which bothers me a little. I used to car pool a lot when working back in Adelaide. So if it's one thing I've noticed while I've been over here, it's how incredibly wasteful American society is. It's just downright amazing. The number of SUVs is just the tip of the iceberg. The fact that I'm not even given the option of recycling paper and cardboard at my apartment is another ice crystal in that massive iceberg.

Anyway, enough of that. I'm currently planning my Christmas/New Year's trip to the west coast. So far a visit to San Francisco, LA, Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe is on the cards. I'm travelling with a couple of crew from that side of the US and I think this trip shall be nothing short of an absolute blast!

Sports update

On Tuesday night I got to see another Miami Heat game. They lost again, and I'm beginning to think I'm some sort of jinx or something because at every sports game I've attended, the team I've been barracking for has lost. Heat went down to the Raptors 92-94. That was a pretty damn close game and the whole stadium was electric. Everybody was standing up and making a huge noise, and Heat nearly did win the game - a shot from the three point line in the last second hit the basketball rim.

Oh, the college football pics have been uploaded. You can find them here after the NBA pictures. I seem to have more shots of cheerleaders than those of the game though. Hmmm...

Australian Music - pushing the boundaries

Don't ask me how the hell I found this site... today hasn't been the most productive work day. Anyway, here is the link to the site: http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/music.htm.
It only really gets interesting about half way down, but this is the part that really made me laugh:

"Australian men are renowned for having the dancing rhythm of Frankenstein...their lack of rhythm and stiff knees has many of them resembling a chicken or jack in the box bouncing from side to side."

Hehe. Plus, the site's got the words to "Bloke" and "Land down under". Can't go wrong there.

The day I nearly became a redneck

This post is already a little weird from the headline, but I was a little apprehensive when I walked into a barber yesterday to get a haircut. My view of the US and haircuts was not a good one. I don't know where I got that perception from, but it's been stuck in my mind for ages. The barber spoke very little English and I was trying to tell them step by step how to cut my hair, because it seemed the Spanish-speaking barber didn't understand "one-inch off the whole way round". Anyway, I finished with the ordeal and walked outside. I put my hand on the back of my neck and felt something weird... something I hadn't felt since the 80's. Something that I thought I'd put behind me a long time ago. I had a mullet. I looked at the reflection in the barber shop window and saw a redneck. I had an urge to smash my front teeth out and buy a check shirt and braces and call myself "Cletus". I fought the urge, raced back inside the barber shop and said "This won't do!" and got that mullet removed. Thank God for that.

Home sweet Floridian home

Ok, let me try and sum up the Bahamas in a few short points:

- The most rubbish lying around I've ever seen.
- The most run-down places I've ever seen.
- The clearest water I've ever seen.
- The most stray dogs I've ever seen.
- The most pot-holes in roads I've ever seen.
- Surprisingly expensive.

Actually, that summary only applies the New Providence and Paradise islands. I have approximately 700 more islands to visit to get a real feel for the Bahamas.

We stayed at a place called Orange Hill beach inn, and it's run like an episode of Fawlty Towers. Bloody funny stuff. It was a simple place, comparitively cheap, and just opposite a beach that had sand like icing sugar. The people who ran it were some of the nicest people I've met.

I ran into the "Grass? Weed?" guy again. I swear, he works subliminally. I was walking around a corner and he was coming the opposite way and he said "Grass? Weed?" and just kept on walking. I was left standing there wondering if he actually said anything at all or whether I just imagined it. There was also a peanut guy who seemed to be all over the island (New Providence island) at one time.

The Bahamas was in a real mess, but that's probably because it got pummeled by a stack of hurricanes. I got to see a lot of it because I hired out a car and went cruising around with the family. The roads were in shocking condition and I got a completely flat tire, whoops, tyre at one stage plus another one that was on the way. It was also a bit weird driving on the left side of the road in a left hand drive, as is how driving is done in the Bahamas.

One of the ways we got into Nassau from our hotel before I hired a car was by the Jitney service, and it only cost a dollar. All the locals use it and the drivers try and pile as many people into the bus as possible. One of the drivers had a picture of Jesus Christ on his windshield, and he put a tape into a VCR and proceeded to play a Gospel movie for the duration of the bus trip. It was like a mass conversion attempt.

Well, I'm a bit stuffed so I can't be arsed writing anymore. Perhaps later I'll post some pics with some pseudo-witty comments from the trip? Yeah, that's about as likely as me posting up all the other pics I've been meaning to get out there. I must note though that a record was achieved this week with the number of views of my webshots account. Out of the 267 views, 251 of them were from the Fantasy Fest album. Not bad! I'll have to remember to appeal to the basic human (male) desire to see scantily clad women. For the ladies reading this, sorry about that. Your only hope of seeing any studs in my pictures is if there was a guy standing in the general vicinity of a scantily clad female, and even then he may be out of focus. What I'll have to remember to do is increase the depth of field by setting a higher f/stop and slower shutter speed when taking pictures so more flesh is in focus. Hehe.

I'm in the Bahamas, mon

and it's been quite an experience so far. I rented out some rooms at a place called the "Orange Hill beach inn". It's quite unlike the normal resorts you see around this area, but that's exactly what I wanted - to get away from that sort of stuff. So many people come here to the resorts and end up spending most of their time gambling in Casinos. We had an authentic Thanksgiving day meal at the inn last night - it was pretty nice. So far I've seen a place burning down, a guy ask us if we wanted to buy some weed, and some crazy arse drivers. Lots of damage around here due to the hurricanes that came through a couple of months ago. Anyway, my internet cafe time is up and I have some sightseeing to do! checkya.

Time for an update, me thinks

I am soooo bloody tired at the moment. I drove my family back from Orlando last night. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive (the actual time of course depends on if you feel like driving 20 MPH over the speed limit, like everyone else does) and we only left DisneyWorld at 12:15 am. Yeah, the Magic Kingdom is cool and all, but I found myself going on the Space Mountain rollercoaster-like ride three times. It was the only ride there that could appease my desire for rollercoaster thrills. I probably did the wrong thing at one stage by driving past Universal Studios' "Islands of Adventure" and saying "look, there's the Hulk ride!" After that everyone didn't really want to go anymore, and it seemed fairly pointless going to Islands of Adventure after that :-(

I'm in for another pretty full-on week. This Thursday I'm heading off to the Bahamas. The tix and accommodation are all booked but I still have to organise what we're going to do once we get there. oh, it's a hard life, yes :-)

Hats off family (and Arnott's)

I picked up my family from Miami airport last night and took them down to South Beach for a quick drive. My bro seemed to take notice of the rims on the cars quite a bit, and Mum was trying to get over me driving on the other side of the road. Dad was pretty chilled out it seemed. The extra bonus of my family coming over was they brought a lot of cool stuff with them (at my request)

1. TimTams (Ten or so packets)
   
2. Cherry Ripes
3. Milo (REAL milo, the stuff you can eat straight out of the can, not the crud sold over here)
4. Vegemite
   
5. A cricket bat
6. An AFL football

So it seems I'll have to team up with some Aussies, head down to Fort Lauderdale beach and show those Americans how to kick a football properly. The TimTams have been an absolute hit today. I've had people coming back asking for seconds and OMG it's so good to actually eat a biscuit that tastes that good! My personal record with TimTams is 7 packets in 2 days. I did that during Uni because there was a chance to win $50,000. Unfortunately, I never did win but the TimTams were on special anyway and I was only feeling slightly sick for no more than a day.

Weird day at work

I met my technical lead for the first time today. She looked absolutely nothing like I thought she would (well, I only ever had a faceless person in my head like the people who appear in dreams), but heck, it was a bit mindblowing. I've been working with her for 5 months now and this is the first time I've seen her. Of course, I made myself look like a total dumb-ass on several occasions today. Here's to tomorrow and more opportunities to make myself look stupid!

F-A-U!

I've got a bloody FAU (Florida Atlantic University) College football chant in my head now. I'd like to thank the girl (who sounded very much like a guy) sitting right behind me during the game for getting it stuck in my head. FAU got absolutely flogged by New Mexico State, but hey, it was still pretty cool to see a game of college football. I got the tickets for free too!

Anyways, pics from the basketball game are here.

NBA game - Heat vs Mavericks

Wow! I just came back from watching the Miami Heat play the Dallas Mavericks. Heat got whipped, but I did get to see Shaquille O'Neal, which was pretty cool. The game entertainment was pretty cool and the whole place was pumped up so much! They play a whole lot of power songs throughout the whole night to keep the vibe going. It's just amazing how much energy there is going around the place even before the game has begun.

Tonight was supposed to be the big night where I tested out my new telephoto lens, specifically designed for sports and nature photography. There was a sign that said "no flash photography". That was cool - from where I was sitting flash photography would've been useless anyway. I walked up to the guards and they said "sorry sir, we can't let you in with the bag". I said, "but it's only got my camera stuff in it". I showed them my lens and they said "sorry, we can't let you in with professional photography equipment". I was stunned, shocked, and a little peeved. Then I thought "hehe. They said professional". I said "well, how about this lens?" and I pulled out my normal lens. They replied "haven't you got anything smaller?" and I shook my head. They said as long as the lens was under 6 inches it was ok, so I had to go in with my normal lens only. I hope this doesn't happen again. I'm going to get really pissed off if I go to sports games and I can't use my new lens.

There were some celebrities there as well which was quite a bonus - Boris Becker, Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova. Pretty cool, huh? I was able to spot Boris Becker in the audience and got a snap of him. I was only able to get a snap of Enrique and Anna up on the scoreboard as I couldn't find them in the audience. Pics are coming soon (once my slow arse computer finishes processing them :-(

Fantasy Fest pictures - part 2

The non-worksafe ones. Ok, some of them are probably sorta worksafe in some parallel universe, but whatever. Click here to see them in their raw glory. Note: Yes, some of the pictures contain nudity, so don't click on the link if you're easily offended!

I'm a rollercoaster junkie

Orlando absolutely rocked again. On Saturday the Kennedy Space Centre was just amazing. Today (or Sunday), the Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios were just plain fantastic. Although after going on just about every ride there was, and going on "The Hulk" rollercoaster 3 times and the Dueling Dragons rollercoaster twice, I can safely say my voice will not be with me tomorrow (oops, I mean later on today). I wouldn't be surprised if I slept all day through Monday. Hell man, I gotta get to sleep.

P.S. Boss, you were right about the "Chunky Monkey" icecream from Ben and Jerry's. It's awesome!

To Orlando

Sorta got a big weekend planned. I'm leaving tonight with a work mate to go to Orlando. Tomorrow we're going to visit the Kennedy Space Centre and probably kick on to downtown Orlando for some nightclub action. Sunday we're supposed to be visiting Universal Studios, and then it's back home Sunday night. Rock on!

IQ vs President voted for

Heh, I know statistics can be used and abused to make any point, but I couldn't help but chuckle at this table showing US state, IQ and who they voted for. Also, another table showing US state, average income, and who they voted for

Wow

Talk about a trip down memory lane. I found this website that had scans of the original Zelda 2 manual from all those years ago. I remember playing it when it came out, and it was the best game ever. I was so innocent back then that even this picture from the manual wouldn't have raised an eyebrow.

My 'new' iTrip

I got angry at my iTrip on the way to Key West. I was pi$$ed off with its poor transmission range and the fact I had to keep on changing the radio tuning. I guess it's because there are so many radio stations here in Florida, and to give it some credit it seemed to work better the further away we got from Miami. But that didn't stop me from hacking it apart and trying to liberate the aerial.



Hopefully the transmission range will be a little better now :o) If not, I'm going to hook up a wire clothes hanger to it.

Fantasy Fest pictures!

Well, the reasonably worksafe ones are here

Wow

I just watched Senator John Kerry give his concession speech, and I thought it was just amazing. I nearly caught myself saying "Go America!", and temporarily forgot that he wasn't going to be President. He sure spoke and acted like one. Damn.

What the heck is going on?

I'm sitting here watching TV, monitoring the Internet here and I just can't believe what is going on with this freaking election. I'm trying to understand why so many people are still supporting Bush, globally seen as being an incumbent fool. I was talking to some Americans today who I thought were quite well versed with what was going on in the world, and they're voting Bush. I'm like (swear word warning) "what the hell are you doing that for? You're being fucken lied to! Where the fuck do you get your information from???" Ok, I didn't say that but I put it through a nice language filter so they didn't get too offended. And yes, politicians lie - but can you really top the Bush administration? Lying to go to war? Nobody could answer my question by the way. I got these paltry answers of "going by gut feeling", "choosing the lesser of two evils" (WTF?). I just don't understand.

Some people over here have been nearly offended that I should have such concern. Well America, yes, you're the most powerful country there is. You're number one. But when are you going to realise that you're not the only country on this planet and that being number one ACTUALLY carries some responsibility with it? Here are my words should Bush win: The next time that *your President*, propped up by his absurd administration, blindly staggers his way through an embarrassing speech, plans on occupying/destroying another country and alienating many others, and sends many troops and innocent civilians to their death for false reasons - I hope you feel proud. Johnny will likely be Dubbya's butt-boy and we'll be dragged along too. Fantastic!

A pretty standard weekend in Key West

I didn't get up to that much. I got some good sleep on a water bed Friday night but had to have a cold shower Saturday morning. I watched a parade Saturday night. I got about 1 or 2 hours of sleep in the back of a car Sunday morning. I bailed a friend out of jail Sunday afternoon and then went home Sunday night. A pretty standard Key West experience.

...

Ok ok, yes that was the most insane weekend ever and I'm having a hard time both staying awake at the moment and digesting what actually happened. I've got a stack of photos that I took; unfortunately I can only upload *some* of them to my Webshots account. Those photos will be the worksafe ones. The rest are *not* worksafe (lots of body paint and not very many clothes) and I'll find somewhere to post them. Stay tuned! (I'm sure you will now).

To mum...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!


from Kristian.

Key West, take 2

Key West has a massive festival called "Fantasy Fest" that finishes up this weekend, and I'm going to it today, Saturday and maybe a bit of Sunday. Now, my last time in Key West was pretty interesting so I'm a bit apprehensive about this one. The only place I could find accomodation was at a Bed and Breakfast place (that doesn't serve breakfast) located on Marathon Key, about 45 mins drive away from Key West. The guy who owns it is a Vietnam veteran and he was a fighter pilot who flew over 200 missions, so it should be interesting hearing what he has to say for himself. He's also a massive environmental activist who has had no small part in preventing a lot of Key Largo from being developed and subsequently destroyed. His name is "Captain EcoEd" but for some reason I keep on shortening that to "Captain Co-ed". Uhhh, yeah.

Little charger of the week!

YOU'RE JOKING ME!!!

During the time Florida was getting bombarded with hurricanes, there was one guy we all watched to give us the low down on what the hurricanes' plans were: Bill Kamal. Bill was the man! We watched him for hours on end coz basically that's all that was on TV at the time. He always wore a pin-stripe suit and was so precise in what he said I was thinking "now there is a guy who knows his hurricanes!" He was a fountain of hurricane knowledge.

Now read this: news story

Florida just isn't the same any more people.

Le weekend

Was pretty darn full-on. Like I said, I went to Swap Shop on the Friday night. I wouldn't say that the place was Florida's 2nd largest tourist attraction because of the drive in theatre part though. They're crap. We were watching "Team America" on some shoddy screen with a shoddy projector and shoddy sound. Oh hold on, people don't go to a drive-in to watch the movie anyway. Anyone who has watched "Grease" would know that. Doh! Ok, next time I go to a drive-in theatre you won't be hearing about it. Mwa haha. Unfortunately this time I was there with fellow nerds. You can find the best bits of "Team America" on the ads, I swear. I did laugh a couple of times but only at the fact the movie has freaking marionettes walking about, I didn't laugh at any of the actual dialogue much. Hearing South Park voices everywhere is sorta off-putting since I'm pretty much over South Park.

So, the best part of the night was finding that the Hooters 5 mins from my apartment is actually good. It's so good in fact that I've no need to go to the one in Ft Lauderdale. The quality is, IMHO, much better. The food is good too.

Saturday I was up at 5:30am (only after getting 2 hours of sleep) to go kayaking in the Keys. That was an absolutely FANTASTIC day! I was in a single kayak as was one other guy who is quite experienced. There were about 8 other people in double kayaks. We paddled about 8 miles that day visiting a few small islands around the place like Indian Key. It was just such a fantastic day weather-wise. At some points I was in the middle of the ocean, trying to paddle against the currents and when I stopped to rest and took in the sights I was just so damn relaxed. And then I paddled some more. It was hard to keep up with the rest of the group coz there were two people per kayak making for more paddling power, but I did Australia proud and kept up nonetheless. I did find it difficult at times trying to hold a beer and paddle at the same time though. One pretty funny incident was when we stopped at one of the keys for a swim. Two of the guys were standing on the edge of a jetty and had just jumped in when a park ranger came in on his speedboat *out of nowhere* and said "you're not supposed to swim within 100 feet of the jetty. There is a sign over there and a sign right under where you jumped from. Please go swim somewhere else". The amazing thing we didn't notice him coming, he just appeared and he would have seen everything! The guys were standing up on the railing of the jetty for at least half a minute whilst the ranger was speeding towards our general location.

That night I was in an awesome amount of pain. My shoulders hurt like they never have before and I had a really hard time trying to get to sleep. The pain pretty much disappeared Sunday night though and was completely gone Monday. I was expecting some muscle soreness either Monday or today but I haven't got any yet, which is really bloody weird. Something is wrong there. Anyway, I plan on doing the trip again so I'll grab some pictures next time I go.

Swap Shop

(I've got the theme song to that ABC show from yonks back in my head now). No, that's where I've planned to go tonight, the world's largest drive-in complex to watch Team America. Of course, I'll be visiting Hooters in Fort Lauderdale first coz a man's gotta eat. I have to get a sorta early night tonight (anything before 1am) because I'm leaving at 5:30am tomorrow morning to go on a full day kayaking trip in the Florida Keys. Woo hoo! I plan on going to an Apple store after work tonight to get an iTrip so I can annoy the heck out of the people I'll be travelling with. What, you want more Roxette? No problemo! How about we follow that up with some 2 Unlimited and then to cap it off, the KLF. Hehe.

Hats off Bro!

This post is for my little brother: CONGRATULATIONS for blitzing the technical test, the passing of which is one of the requirements for entrance into the Airforce. I knew you could do it! Good luck for the remaining tests that you will have to do.

From a very proud brother.

I forgot

to add this picture to the St Petersburg album. Oops.

Is it really that difficult?

To send my bankcard to the right address?

Thankyou BankSA for sending my bankcard to my address back in Australia. This is after I called your hotline for people currently *overseas* who had their cards lost/stolen. I then explicitly gave details on where I was living in Florida so you could send it to *that* address. How the heck did you stuff that up, after I even had you repeat the address details to me? And where the heck would my PIN have gotten to? Somewhere in Mozambique perhaps?

You really piss me off.

Lucky I like driving

Coz I drove nearly 800km today. The trip to St Petersburg was FANTASTIC. It's amazing how each town has it's own feel to it. The Salvador Dali museum of course was the highlight. I'll definitely be making a trip back there when the new exhibits roll in. After checking out some art I went to St Pete Beach to get an awesome view of a sunset over the gulf of Mexico (whilst drinking a Corona, of course :)

I had to laugh at myself on the way back home. I was getting a really cramped foot from pressing the accelerator all the time. Then some other part of my brain came up and said "dude, you've got cruise control". Shiiiiiiiit. Well, at least for the last 300km I could give my foot a rest.

I was supposed to go out to South Beach tonight. Of course, because I'm currently writing up my blog you can guess I didn't make it. The person whose contact number I had, well his phone wasn't working properly. So, he only just got back to me then. Given the fact that it's going to take me well over an hour to get to South Beach it just ain't worth it. Oh hold on, the guy said he was out with 4 girls. WTF am I doing??? Actually, the girls he was with said they couldn't guarantee they be able to get anyone else in (very exclusive club apparently) so that made it not worth the effort (or so he said... is he keeping them all to himself?? Why that selfish...). If I'd met up with them earlier in the night things may have been different. If only I'd driven home faster. Stupid wanky clubs that I always want to go to. End story is that I still haven't been to South Beach for a night out. That's pretty crap.

ANYWAY enough bitching, here are some pics from today's adventure.
Click me

What to do, what to do

Tomorrow I've planned a bit of an adventure for myself. I'm hoping to make it to St Petersburg because there is a Dali art gallery there. That should be pretty cool. I've been informed that on the way I'll be going through real southern hick country, which should be even *more* cool. It's supposed to be a 4 hour drive there so I plan to leave around 8 in the morning. I have to check if my new Multiaccess card has come in as well. It's bloody inconvenient not being able to withdraw money out of my account you know, especially when I've just been paid.

Hopefully tomorrow night I'll head to South Beach for a night out on the town with a few friends. I haven't actually been there at night yet, so it'll be interesting to see what places we'll be able to get into. There were some really cool places on "Wild On" on channel E!, but of course they're all the really difficult places to get into. And no, having an Australian accent doesn't make it any easier to get past the bouncers.

More little chargers

These little chargers are everywhere, just like the other little chargers I previously posted about.

Cool stuff

I see that the new Motorola Razor V3 (or for more info look here) is coming out very very soon and god dammit, I'm getting one. I've been reading a few forums and lots of people are complaining that it's too expensive and they're not going to buy it and Motorola made a bad business decision in pricing it the way they have. Note to those people who are complaining: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY IT! If you can't or don't want to afford it then don't get it! I think it's quite obvious which market segment Motorola is targeting this phone at, and whatever certain people would like to say about would be purchasers of this phone brings a big care factor zero from me :-)

Onto something which is nearly as cool, the Google Desktop search utility. I'm a big Google fanboy and I've been making use of this utility all day today. It's super quick and super useful. I suggest you download it and open your computer up to the wonderful world of Google search. Note that this program is only in beta, but that means that it should only get better as they add more features.

Ok, back to work for me peeps. check-ya.

What an uninspiring day

It's one of those days where sticking a needle in your eye would almost be more entertaining. I obviously didn't get enough sleep last night so I'm in a super-fantastic sarcastic mood. I've actually discovered a few things about myself and others while I've been over here:

1) I really can't relate to full-on nerds all that well. They really don't like going out and partying, and they probably believe beer should only be consumed while participating in a LAN party. I only consider myself a *partial* nerd, and really, I only make nerdy comments "for a laugh". Honest.

2) Some people should smile more often. I don't mean smiling permanently, coz that probably shows some sign of dementia, but when you're walking past someone in a corridor and you know them just try smiling for crying out loud. Unless of course you've walked past them 10 times already today, in which case it's ok to make it look like you just got a phonecall or are checking your messages and you didn't happen to see them walking past.

3) I really really hate walking around public places by myself. It's ok if you're by yourself and you want to go to the sea or a forest something and find your moment of zen (I guess that's not really public anyway), or if you're going to meet someone, but generally I find it uncomfortable. Unless I'm listening to music on my iPod of course.

4) I can't really go out to the tourist spots by myself anymore. I nearly feel like I'm a local now and the tourist feeling I had at the start where I could go anywhere by myself has worn off (as per point 3). For some reason I'm no longer aware that I have an Australian accent so I'm sort of surprised when people say "ooh, where are you from?"

Hmmm, well, I gotta go and do some work now. Freaking Avis are bothering me again regarding my Floridian license. I wish they'd just leave me the hell alone! There's nothing else I can do at the moment...

The seesaw

It really has been a seesaw while I've been over here. I've had some extremely high highs but some really low lows. If you've been reading this blog you'll know what some of them are. Whenever something good seems to happen something bad will happen just to even things out. I actually found some people who liked going out - much unlike a lot of the other people I've met here. I was so glad to meet some other people my age who were like this. A lot of other people at work are either married or in a steady relationship or just plain uninterested in going out. So Friday night was a really good night because I went out with some of the party people from work. Today I was planning on going to Key Biscayne for a swim and to get some pics because I really liked it last time I was there. There is a spot where I could get a really good shot of Miami at night. Anyway, I left at lunchtime today and I had to go fill up with fuel. I got to the bowser and couldn't find my credit card. It wasn't in my wallet anywhere. Ok, maybe it's somewhere in my car. Nope, not there either. I found this really curious because I don't carry my credit card around without it being in my wallet. I spent the whole afternoon looking for it and I can't find it anywhere. This is really bloody weird and also highly inconvenient. So, the seesaw strikes again - good Friday night but that's been overshadowed by losing this card. Bloody hell...

So I strummed my guitar a bit to get myself out of the mood I was in and I broke two strings. Well, I have a few books to read now so maybe I should go do that :-)

How to dress like a nerd in Florida

and you don't even need a pocket protector. These notes are taken from my observations here at work.

1) Wear sporty sneakers. The whiter the better. Sneakers like Asics Gels will do fine.

2) Wear a pair of denim jeans. The lighter blue the better. Basically whatever your mother bought you for last Christmas from the bargin bin will do.

3) Wear a belt. This will not coordinate with your sneakers at all of course, so it can't be white. This basically leaves you with brown or black. It can be pink if you want to suggest something.

4) Have a mobile phone with a clip-on holster to attach to your belt. If you don't, you'll miss the call that no-one ever made to you.

5) Wear a collared short-sleeved shirt. Any colour will do. It is preferable that the colour of the collar will contrast with the rest of the shirt. For example, if the shirt is dark green the collar will be navy blue. It is VITALLY IMPORTANT that this shirt be tucked into your jeans. If it is not, you'll instantly lose your nerd cool status. Plus, you'll fumble around trying to find your mobile phone to answer the call that no-one ever made to you.

Koenigsegg is coming to Oz!

Firstly, props go to Frosty at http://tvrfreak.blogspot.com for alerting me to this. This is way cool. I've always looooved the Koenigsegg and I non-stop dribble about it. It's always been the desktop wallpaper of choice for my computer, and OMG, it's coming to Oztralia. I wish I could go see it at the Australia International Motor Show. If you live in Sydney or are even planning to go there for this, please go and appreciate this awesome supercar for me.

(ps - Nav, that means I expect you to go and take some pictures of this car and all the other cool cars that will be there, but especially this car).

Little chargers

At night these little chargers can be found jumping around just outside my apartment. This one is about the size of a 20c coin.


I haven't stepped on any... yet.

I just blew up a power supply at work

Oops. Credit where credit is due though, that's normally a pretty hard thing to do.

I passed my driving test

Yay! I passed a Florida driving test today. All in all, both the written and practical exams only took 3 hours, which is supposed to be pretty good. I aced the written exam - that was pretty darn easy though. I got deducted 2 points in my practical exam however because I failed to indicate whilst reversing out of a car park. What the? Anyway, I receive my driver's licence in about 3 weeks, which will make for quite a nice souvenir I think.

This is one of the funniest news stories I've ever read

Click here.

My dream job

If you're like me you'll be plodding along in your current job but in the back of your mind you're always wondering what it is you're going to do next, coz you sure as hell don't want to do this for the rest of your life. I was thinking about this today and I was reading my latest computer music mag (instead of doing work - I sent out an e-mail that will get me an hour of free time at least) and there was an article about a guy who wrote the music for the PC game "Far Cry". While I was reading it I thought "Eureka! That's it!". I have always loved music in computer games, even from the tinny, bass lacking sounds of the original NES. I remember I've been in conversations with people talking about such and such a game and I'd mention something about the music in that game being good or bad, but I mostly get raised eyebrows from them. I can remember feeling pretty disappointed if a game had bad music. In fact, the music is what I remember the most about any game I've ever played.

I think this is what I'm going to aim for. I've freaked some of my friends out when I play them music from an old game that's been redone. I love it, but they just look at me weird. When a game has little or no music I'll play my own music to listen to while gaming. Have you ever tried playing Carmageddon to Mozart? It's sounds pretty weird, but it's strangely satisfying. Err, I don't think I'd go to that extreme if were to compose music though...

I think I've found the perfect combination of electronics, music, programming and games. To my highschool music teacher, Mrs Bond, I should have listened to you 10 years ago. Sorry it took that long.

EDIT: Ok, when I wrote this post, I'd just had a very strong cup of coffee on a fairly empty stomach. That's probably the equivalent of drinking a litre or so of straight red cordial, just to put things in perspective. I've come down from the clouds a bit since that original post... but gosh darn, that'd be an ok job.

A bit unusual

Did anyone see the debate between Kerry and Bush? I watched parts of it. I thought Kerry trounced Bush, which I thought was good. At least now people here may start thinking "that Bush guy, I ain't too sure about him..." if for some reason they weren't before. If you're even vaguely interested in politics, you should read this excellent article about the WMD that never were. Yeah, I'm fairly interested with what happens in this election. I think it's because Australia seems to align itself with the US so much that this election is more important than one back in Australia. The thing is, will Kerry do a better job? I really hope he has the balls to make some tough decisions coz he's got to fix up a lot of the Bush administration's "mistakes". It'd be good to see some heads roll in the "Intelligence" community too.

Now there is a conversation going on in the cubicle next to me about how Kerry talks like he has a silver spoon in his mouth, whereas Bush seems to relate to the common man. One of the guys is also talking about how Kerry dumped his first wife for a much richer second wife. He said the first wife was worth $300 million, whilst the second wife was worth billions. Heck, I don't know about those figures. Probably blown out of proportion to make a good Monday morning conversation though.

Speaking of a Monday morning conversation, I thought some interesting stuff happened to me on the weekend. Well, I was talking to my friend here at work, "da playa", about what he did on the weekend. He dumped 2 girls, hooked up with another girl, and attended a funeral. I'm sorry, I just can't beat that!

Friday night was a bit of a weird one. I went to the Bonefish Grill for some nice seafood for tea. Aside: I never ate that much seafood before coming over to the US. Now I'm eating it all the freaking time. I've always liked fish fingers but apparently that doesn't count... So anyway, I'm at the Bonefish and this woman comes over to me and asks me if I'd like to speak to her friend. I thought "yeah, this will be good for a laugh" and I went and sat next to them. Errr, her friend was in her late 40's!?! I travel around to the other side of the world and I still get hassled by older women (some people who know me well enough are cracking up laughing now, I just know it...) Anyway, I thought I'd humour myself and get into the conversation. I did get something out of this though, as I've been keen on going on a road trip to the Carolinas, one of the "ladies" was from North Carolina and she gave me a few tips on what to go see and when to go. So, I plan on going to the Carolinas in the next couple of weeks to catch the Autumn (I haven't allowed myself to get converted to saying "Fall") scenery.

Saturday was just one of those do-nothing days. I got back into playing my guitar on the weekend in a big way and my fingers are really hurting as I type this. I absolutely destroyed some songs by Coldplay, Travis, Nada Surf, Smashing Pumpkins and Steelers Wheels. For those of you who don't play instruments or at least don't attempt to sing when playing one, believe me when I say that when you first try singing and playing an instrument that it's a bloody hard thing to do. I'd like to take this opportunity to formally apologise to my neighbours :-|

Sunday I did a bit of shopping. Clothes are so damn cheap over here! I got a pair of Calvin Klein jeans for $40 and nice long sleeved shirt for $20. Unfreakingbelieveble. If you're so inclined, you can pick up brand name surf wear for like 10 bucks. God damn.

Sunday night I went to downtown Ft Lauderdale for some Margharita pizza at this place I know that makes it good. I was hungry and scoffed the pizza down fairly fast. The waiter came back and said "Oh Sir! Would you like another meal, perhaps another pizza?" Hehe. After that I went to Delray beach hoping to get some good moon-over-water shots. I don't know where the bloody moon got to, I thought it was supposed to be out but I couldn't see it anywhere. I did however snap a night shot that looks pretty damn freaky once you run it through Photoshop. I'll have to post it up (yeah, when I post up the baseball pics). I'm pretty unhappy with a lot of the shots I'm taking with the camera so far. I just can't seem to pick the right spot to stand to take a picture such that it conveys the essence and feeling of the location... ha!

I've been going on a full retro gaming binge recently, and was thinking how I could make my next flight that much more bearable. I think this would fit the bill perfectly.

Gotta go do some work now peeps, respecta!

A bit cryptic this one...

Well, this has been a pretty weird week. The *big* thing that happened this week has caused me to seriously think about where I'm going to be and what the hell I'm going to be doing in the near future... coz I sure as hell don't have a freaking clue at the moment. Some people would think 'dude, you're ok - nothing happened to you', but that's just it - now I don't know when it will happen. I know I can't believe anyone's promises to the contrary, because they seem to have very little control over the situation anyway. Am I being cryptic enough yet? Some people reading this would know what I'm talking about... I just want to get up, walk away, and not come back.

Apart from that, I've had Avis contact me today and say that because I haven't submitted a copy of my US license yet that I'm going to have to return the car tomorrow. Thus they completely ignored my e-mail days and days ago when I said I won't be getting a copy to them in time because I only just received my social security card (I received it late... probably because of the FREAKING HURRICANES???), and the earliest time I could book in a license exam was early October. So, I sent them the exact same e-mail I sent last time. I ain't returning the car. Sheesh, some people have been here for a LOT longer than I have and they haven't even made any attempt to get a license yet!!! Legally I'm obliged to drive on my Australian license for 6 months anyway.

On top of that, I was told if I didn't return a certain form then I'd get my overseas adjustment payments cut off. I was told at the start I didn't have to fill out that form. Maybe I'm on the wrong list somewhere. What gives? Is someone just trying to piss me off?

Other than that? Heck, I dunno. I just ordered 4 books from Amazon: Chain of Command, The second world war, The first world war AND A daily show book, because God damn, I love the Daily Show.

Has anyone ever noticed that when Dave Chappelle tries to look like a white man, he looks a bit like Dave Grohl?

Another weekend, another hurricane

I'm completely and utterly exhausted. God knows how I'd be if I actually *lived* here. It seems that just about every weekend a damn hurricane hits Florida and it's back to the bunker. What ever happened with hurricanes hitting *during* the week?

Hats off to the Power for winning the grand final on the weekend. I know a few bogans who would be pleased with the result. I was actually watching it live with a few Aussie mates in an English pub on Friday night. We were trying to explain the rules to a few other American people in the pub. They thought it was pretty cool how free flowing the game was and how there was a bit of biffo every now and then. I hear that there was just as big a celebration in Adelaide as when the Crows won a few years back so that is good. I saw little Johnny in the crowd at one point and said "look, there's our PM!" The Americans couldn't pick him out - he sorta blended in with the crowd. One thing I couldn't explain to the Americans there was the pre-game entertainment. I know the people who organised this were probably taking the piss out of footy, but I found it hard to explain the following to the Americans in the bar: a bunch of gay-looking guys wearing AFL uniforms; a slew of Human Nature wannabes (c'mon guys, aim higher than that); Kath and Kim; and of course Guy Sebastian.

I actually went to see a baseball game last week, and that was pretty cool. It was the Marlins vs the Phillies and the Marlins went down 2-4. I nearly got the opportunity to catch one of the balls that the outfielders threw into the crowd. It landed a couple of rows in front of mine. I've got some pictures from it that I took with my camera so I'll have to get my butt into gear and post them. It wasn't a packed stadium but it was still a great atmosphere and I could see how people would get hooked on it.

I've fallen in love... with my camera. I've been pretty much non-stop taking pictures with it and annoying the heck out of a lot of people. I love the fact that I can turn it on and instantly take a picture. When I press the damn shutter release button, a picture gets taken, just like a film SLR. I don't have to wait and completely miss the shot. There's nothing really to look at yet picture-wise coz they're all test pictures with varying apertures and exposure times and so forth. I have decided though that I do need a zoom lens however, and the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF Zoom-Nikkor fits the bill perfectly I think. I've seen it advertised for 1/2 the price these days, thank God. But of course, this is one of those 'lofty dream' things I always have. Give me some time and I'll probably settle for something more reasonable... or I might not. Heh. I need to take some photography lessons at some point too. I've found this site to be quite handy for photography stuff so far.

Ok, got a farewell lunch to go to. Check yaaaaa.

Settle down dude

Whoa! I'm in a sleep deprived state of mind at the moment. Another hurricane is heading this way (apparently), which I don't really give a damn about anymore. A group of women in their mid thirties are in the aisle next to my cube giggling about what singles bars are good. I'm trying to listen in but I'm just so spaced out at the moment I can't really understand what they're saying. I've been advised that taking Melatonin for a couple of weeks could help me out a little with this sleep problem. Oh God, they're getting really loud now. A guy has joined the group. I bet he thinks he's the bomb. Hats off buddy, and whatever.

Last night could have been a good night of sleep... if not for the guy who was up at 7am using a BLOODY CHAINSAW! I tell you what, bugger the Texas chainsaw massacre - there would have been one in Florida if he kept it up. Then there was the annoying 'tap tap tap' of hammers after that, like that drip drip drip into the sink of a leaking tap that you can never really bother to go stop but which keeps you up for hours.

Hmmm, I glanced over at my previous post. I was a bit angry yesterday...

American media is pathetic - a rant

This has been really, really bothering me lately. I am getting sooooo pissed off with the two completely and utterly different worlds that exist in America. I believe that the American media can be given a huge pat on the back for most of this. I thought Australia was getting a little bad, but over here it's ridiculous.

I cannot believe how censored the media is over here. Every swear word, no matter how tame it is, is "beeped" out. I watch a few shows on the comedy channel where the sound channel is nearly a constant "beeeeeeep". There is no blood shown of incidents for where there should be lots of blood. They're very careful not to show that because that would indicate, heaven forbid, that someone could have died. Most importantly, no-one seems to be pointing out enough that Iraq never had any weapons of mass destruction... which is the whole reason why innocent civilians and Americans over in Iraq are getting killed right now, isn't it? Where is the media asking the hard questions to get the people thinking? Why has president Bush got such a high approval rating at the moment (47%)? Are these people who make up the 47% doing their research? Are they really analysing why Iraq was invaded? They were lied to!!! The Bush administration itself says they were "misinformed" (or so they would like us to believe). That's a big f%$ken cock-up. Now they've got a hell of a mess to clean up. But take a step back and look at the situation: they went and invaded another country WITHOUT APPROVAL FROM THE UN. These people in Iraq didn't pose a threat to them. North Korea poses more of a threat by saying "look here - we have nuclear weapons!" but they're silently ignored. American has killed thousands and thousands of innocent people in Iraq and they've gotten themselves killed in the process. Do the people back in America realise this? Do they really believe that by being in America they're doing the right thing? Do they really believe the bullshit that Bush is saying? Sure, some would believe that ousting Saddam Hussein was a good thing. Was it America's right to go and do that? They have replaced him with a US puppet. A lot of people are pissed off because these Americans have come and invaded Iraq, because they don't believe America's reasons either and they want the US to get the f*$# out of their country. Howard decided to support the US because they're big and powerful and if in the future Indonesia or someone opposed to us decided to attack Australia then we could say "hey we helped you in Iraq, remember? ... help us". Oh, and then there is that free trade agreement thingo too. It's just a big game of chess.

So where does this 47% approval rating come from? I think it's partly because Kerry doesn't seem like the best alternative either. I wish there was an Al Gore there or another Clinton. Kerry seems smart - but anyone would be against Bush. Kerry seems to lack a really big spine. I dunno - I get a feeling that if there was someone like Clinton going for President then the 47% would be a lot, lot lower. I think the general feeling over here is that most people are opposed to Bush, but they're not too fanciful of Kerry either, so they say "well, maybe Bush will realise his mistakes and make some changes..." yeah, right. Don't give a nitwit like that another chance to f$^k up the world for another four years. People don't generally perceive you as being that great anymore, America.

Which gets me back to the point of media censorship. Continually there is news that people are getting killed by some terrorist. There is news that more Americans are getting killed over in Iraq. Well, all that translates to over here is a concerned looking news presenter with censored images playing in the background. SHOW THE REALITY! People die from this sort of stuff! If people see what is really happening - pictures of corpses, limbs, everything, they're going to make more informed decisions because they've been given a dose of reality. They're going to think "gee, war is a really bad thing. It should probably only be used as a very last resort" NO FRICKEN DA! The war in Iraq was not America's business. It is the business of GREED. America made the middle east their business, so some extremists made America their business.

I dunno, I'm pretty fired up about a lot of stuff here. It's my blog, my opinion, but I just had to get it out there. I'm getting so frustrated that not enough information is getting out to the general people, and it's the media who should be doing that. Everything seems so corrupt. Everything IS so corrupt.

I HOPE people choose Kerry for president. He's not the most enticing candidate but he's the only one who isn't Bush. Bush and his administration are very, very dangerous people. America should realise this.

Down here in south Florida there are a lot of rappers who are trying to get this exact point out. They are trying to get people to "slam bush" and are having anti-bush demonstrations and urging people to vote, and vote against Bush (as far as I've heard, it's all anti-Bush). There is a debate coming to Miami University between Kerry and Bush at the end of this month. I'd love to try and get to see that... we'll see.

signing off for now. I'm tired.

A sad day

This is probably the one thing that makes being on the other side of the world really suck. My mum called up this morning to say that our family's cat had died. His lungs had filled with fluid, the vet thinks this may have been due to cancer, so it was decided that he had to be put down to save him from any more pain. Up until the last couple of weeks he was still being the larrikin cat he's always been, but his condition deteriorated rapidly.

He was a charger of a cat and had a real personality - much more than some people I've met in my lifetime. He outlived a lot of other cats by nearly making it to 15 years old. Some people may think "dude, it's only a cat, get over it" but it's the memories I associate with him that make it all the more painful. I'm very big on memories and I get extremely attached to things, so I spent the whole day reminiscing about the time from when we first got him (when I was in primary school for crying out loud) up to this point. I just wish I could've said a last goodbye to him before he went.

He was a cat model I reckon. If he hadn't been neutered all the girl cats would have been forming lines blocks long for a chance to see him, and I would have had to tell them to just leave the poor guy alone for a few minutes.

RIP, and thanks for the memories...

No Internet

Heck, what a weekend. I've got a bit of a headache today (very unusual for me to get one unless I'm listening to an annoying person) and I actually didn't do much to cause it... honestly. The good thing is that I did receive most of my stuff on Friday. Yes, I finally have a digital camera! Problem is I didn't receive a memory card in the time frame promised by Amazon so I couldn't do anything with it anyway. The instruction manual looks nice though. I also received some Event TR5 monitor speakers for music production stuff. For the moment though they're doing a fine job of being a part of my improvised stereo system until I actually have the equipment/skills to use them for their intended purpose.

I'm currently being hassled by Avis reminding me that I've been here for 50 days and they still haven't received my driver's license details. I only *just* received my social security number. Well, considering it took a while to have me entered into the system for some reason (approx. 3.5 weeks) and then processing delays (it took 3 weeks for me to get my SSN - we had something called hurricanes?) that brings me up to about this date. I've got a booking for a license test this Tuesday anyway. Cool, I'll have a Florida driver's license (assuming I pass the test :-)

Now to the title of this post, I think I fried my network card in my computer on the weekend. Maybe I was downloading too much stuff? They probably don't like the fact that I'd have around 5 Gigs of virtual instruments on the download queue. Whatever the case, I'm going to find it a bit harder to update this site until I figure out what the heck's gone on. Actually, that's a big fat lie. The more furiously I work the more often I update the blog because I actually *need* to take a break. So now you'll know if I'm working hard or not...

I'm also thinking of getting some home contents insurance over here, I've got a lot of $$$ invested in the stuff I've bought over here already. I'd be a broken, dribbling mess if I lost that.

Oh, I won't be answering any phone call or replying to any SMS to my Aussie number until I get back from the US. The reason? I went a bit crazy calling people when I first got over here, knowing that it would cost me a lot but making the calls anyway. Now I have a very expensive phone bill from the Telstra bloodsuckers. I should have grabbed one of the fairly cheap phone cards over here to make my calls... stupid me.

Nerdy site of the day: http://www.physorg.com/

Insomnia

I don't know what the freaking hell is wrong with me (there are probably some people who could give some suggestions... wisearses) but lately I seem not to be able to get to sleep. I've been lying in bed for the last couple of hours trying to get to get some shut-eye but it seems impossible. My mind continues to race. I get up for a bit and play a few chords on guitar, and then I end up wishing I had my piano. Next I'm listening to some songs on my ipod, sampling anything from Rachmaninoff to Roxette to Rammstein. I'm freaking jumping around my apartment like the people in the iPod ads (except to Rach - can't really jump around to classical... at least I haven't yet figured out a way to yet). Why is this? Is it because the succulent, sumptuous, salivacious (???) pork ribs over here are just so good? Is it because the amount of fat in the food I'm eating is much more than it would be over in Oz? But hey - it's all "low carbs"... yeah, whatever that actually means. Take the stairs every once in a while instead of the lift pilgrims. Maybe it's not the food. Maybe it's the humidity. Maybe it's the fact that the air conditioning isn't working properly at work and I'm so bloody cold I have to wear a jacket. Then I get outside and instantly I'm covered in water from condensation. Maybe the sudden changes in temperature are causing the meninge of my brain to expand and contract weirdly which could somehow adversely affect the sleeping centres of my brain, if they're located on the periphery of the brain... which they probably aren't... wtf am I talking about now???

Maybe I can't get to sleep coz I'm looking forward to Christmas tomorrow (or rather, later on today). I ordered a bunch of stuff online on Monday, and I should be receiving it soon. Not getting the stuff instantly gives me time to get over the buyer's remorse so when it finally does arrive I'm as happy as Larry.

I've taken on a promise to myself to not rely on other people as much as I used to. On several occasions now I've changed plans to wait for people who in the end never call to say they'll be late or not even coming. Bastards. That really, really pi$$es me off. Screw 'em, I'll make my plans without them.

And... how the heck do venus fly traps work? And why am I asking that question when I'm not even drunk? People answer that by saying 'the doomed insect stimulates the cilia-like hairs which causes the trap to shut'. That ain't enough I'm sorry. I think I concluded last time by saying that the stimulation of the hair may cause a cell laden with a saltier-than-normal substance to release said substance. It could also be less saltier than normal too I guess. Through osmosis and some sort of cascade effect enough water gets moved around which causes the trap to shut. That's probably utter B.S. and I should really do some reading to find the true answer. Maybe then I could sleep...

More pics pics pics

Quick update: I've put up some of the pics from the Keys and some stuff from hurricane Frances. There ain't a heck of a lot there (I think I've got more somewhere...), and I couldn't think of any decent comments for some of them, but hey you're reading this so you've obviously got nothing better to do anyway. Knock yerself out, yeeharrr! The Keys, Hurricane Frances

What - you want more? Ok. I've uploaded some movies to my Ozemail account. I've got two from the time I saw the booty shaking at the Clevelander in Miami's South Beach. The other one is from the visit to the Everglades. All of them don't have sound, sorry. For the Clevelander movies, put some RnB music on. For the Everglades movie, put your lips together and blow. Add a "whoa!" at the end when you see the camera shaking a bit (that's me trying to hold onto the camera). The movies are in Quicktime format so you'll need the player from Apple to view them. Also, if you can't download the movies that's probably because Ozemail have reached their download limit for the day. This is probably not much more than the 10MB space limit they give me. Cheap bastards. Try downloading them again another day.

Clevelander 1 - disabled
Clevelander 2 - disabled
Everglades - disabled

Sinking feeling

I don't know why, but every place I want to go to or have been to in this part of the US seems to get hit by a hurricane. Orlando (Disney World) got hit a week before we went. Palm Beach got hit by Frances just last week. Jamaica got pummeled and now Ivan, not content with killing 60 odd people in the Caribbean, has somehow sneaked into the Gulf of Mexico and is poised to hit New Orleans. Of course that's what everyone at work is talking about at the moment. I was reading this story this morning and that picture of traffic looks all too familiar. Apart from reading that article I was also reading the latest advisory on Ivan which I've got an excerpt from here:

IVAN CONTINUES AS AS A EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR/SIMPSON SCALE HURRICANE SCALE...WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR 140 MPH...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS...BUT IVAN IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL AS A MAJOR HURRICANE...CATEGORY
THREE OR HIGHER. OCCUPANTS OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WITHIN THE HURRICANE WARNING AREA CAN EXPECT HIGHER WINDS THAN THOSE EXPERIENCED AT THE SURFACE...ABOUT ONE SAFFIR-SIMPSON CATEGORY HIGHER AT THE TOP OF A 30-STORY BUILDING. AFTER LANDFALL... HURRICANE FORCE WINDS COULD TO SPREAD INLAND UP TO 100 MILES NEAR THE PATH OF THE CENTER.

IVAN IS A LARGE HURRICANE...WITH HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTENDING OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTENDING OUTWARD UP TO 260 MILES.

That is a HUGE hurricane! It's much bigger and potentially much more destructive than Frances was and the worst part of it looks to hit New Orleans. Wow wow wow. In Australia I'm used to cold fronts as the worst sort of weather, and that's it. In the southern parts of Oz we're only really affected by slow droughts and quick bushfires (mostly lit by wankerchop fire bugs). This is just a completely other type of natural disaster that has me fascinated. Heaven forbid I was thinking of visiting Kansas - now they're going to get tornadoes. It just amazes me how much the US gets hit by these natural disasters. Oh, add another tropical storm/hurricane to the list: Jeanne may hit the east coast of Florida. It seems to be heading pretty much in the same direction that Frances was. Is someone playing Sim City with the US? Now all I'm waiting for is a monster attack and then I'm out of here!

A stupid weekend

If anyone asked me what I did on the weekend, I'd have to be given some time to think about that. I sure as hell know what I felt - incredibly pissed off. In fact, I haven't been that angry in a long time. Long story short, someone was supposed to catch a flight out on Saturday and we couldn't find them anywhere as we were going to drive them to the airport. I spent 5 hours trying to locate this person and nearly got to the point of calling local hospitals. The hotel didn't know where the person was - they were supposed to check out but hadn't changed their hotel booking. At 8:30pm Saturday night, just as I was about to drive to work to attempt to find out flight details, the person showed up. They'd changed their flights till the next day and had spent the afternoon having fun in South Beach. The person didn't let us know this because they didn't want to wake us up. F$#K OFF! That has to be the lamest excuse I've ever heard and when they told me that that I got in my car and sped off back to my apartment. I tried to spin the wheels but an Oldsmobile Alero is too gutless for that. I was just so angry I couldn't actually say anything. Not only did that incident stuff up my whole Saturday afternoon it also stuffed up my whole Saturday night. I was planning on going out and meeting some people in South Beach but of course that didn't happen because it was too late to get ready and head off to Miami. Yeah, I'm still pretty angry about that.

Sunday was a much better day. I went swimming at Ft Lauderdale and was thinking how nice it would be to have a hammock. There was a guy later on who'd obviously had that idea before and had set up a hammock between two palm trees. What I saw next was just plain cool - he had a pet squirrel on a leash! I sat there watching the squirrel run around for a little while. I wish I had a camera with me at the time.

Talking about things on leashes, in downtown Ft Lauderdale the previous night I saw a couple walking around. They looked like a pretty normal couple until I noticed that the guy was holding a leash... that was attached to a collar around the woman's neck. I'd heard that Key West (notorious for that sort of stuff) had been evacuated due to Hurricane Ivan (which will miss this part of Florida by a long shot) so that couple must have taken up temporary residence in Ft Lauderdale. Yerrrrr...

Time to get the hell out of dodge

Nobody really knows where hurricane Ivan is going to hit. Whatever the case, we'll probably feel some of the effects here. I and a cow-orker are contemplating getting out of Florida for the weekend through to early next week and heading to somewhere like... ooh New York. A few reasons for this:

1) It's far enough up North that the hurricane couldn't hit us there.
2) It would be cheaper flying North than West (so we've been told), also taking into account the considerable costs in getting a ticket at such short notice.
3) It's New York.
4) Due to the emergency situation, the company will pay for all costs (within reason - it may turn out that New York is too far - or too wishful thinking).
5) The Sheraton that I was going to shack up in for the weekend has recently had an influx of what I would call 'questionable' people. Ok, they're here to fix up things that have been damaged from the previous hurricane and their company has provided them with accommodation. Normally it wouldn't worry me at all. There are, however, over 100 of them. They will be locked down like the rest of us in the hotel for the whole weekend and they'll probably have copious supplies of alcohol (hell, we did for the last one). Yes it's cliched and you may think I'm being pretentious, but I don't give a shit what anyone else thinks at the moment. I'm not going to take the risk of being in the same hotel with them. They're snorting and belching already and I feel like I've already been sized up. I just wouldn't feel safe staying there.
6) The other choice of course is my apartment here, but if a hurricane did hit I am on the top floor and on the corner. That's practically one of the most exposed apartments possible. Plus, there is no backup power here.

So, I'm in for another interesting weekend. I'm curious to see how this one pans out.

P.S. Oh and Mum, don't worry :-)

Potentially another hurricane to deal with

This is unbelievable. This link *should* spin you off to a saved image of the predicted track of hurricane Ivan. I've marked a red cross indicating my approximate location. If the image link doesn't work, this site has the latest updates on the hurricanes that may be threatening the region.

Ivan is currently a category 5 hurricane (the worst you can get) with wind speeds up to 165 mph (~260 kph). That is bloody fast. I was reading up on hurricanes and I think the worst winds recorded have been 200 mph (320 kph) so Ivan has a way to go yet. If the hurricane continues on that predicted track then it could be worse than Frances was. I was lucky with Frances because I was on the south-western side of it. Plus, I was a little south of where most of the damage was. *I think* the north-eastern side is typically the worst in anti-clockwise hurricanes/cyclones, and it looks like it may be that side that hits here. We'll see what happens.

I just received a funny e-mail about hurricane preparation in Florida:

Subject: Notice to Florida Homeowners regarding Hurricanes

Notice to Florida Homeowners

You are about to enter the peak of the hurricane season. Any day now, you're going to turn on the TV and see a weather person pointing to some radar blob out in the Gulf of Mexico and making two basic meteorological points:

1. There is no need to panic.
2. We could all be killed.

Yes, hurricane season is an exciting time to be in Florida. If you are new to the area, you're probably wondering what you need to do to prepare for the possibility that we'll get hit by "the big one". Based on our experiences, we recommend that you follow this simple three-step hurricane preparedness plan:

STEP 1. - Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days.
STEP 2. - Put these supplies into your car.
STEP 3. - Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Halloween.

Unfortunately, statistics show that most people will not follow this sensible plan. Most people will foolishly stay here in Florida. We'll start with one of the most important hurricane preparedness items:

HOMEOWNERS' INSURANCE:
If you own a home, you must have hurricane insurance. Fortunately, this insurance is cheap and easy to get, as long as your home meets two basic requirements:
1. It is reasonably well-built
2. It is located in Nebraska.

Unfortunately, if your home is located in Florida, or any other area that might actually be hit by a hurricane, most insurance companies would prefer not to sell you hurricane insurance, because then they might be required to pay YOU money, and that is certainly not why they got into the insurance business in the first place. So you'll have to scrounge around for an insurance company, which will charge you an annual premium roughly equal to the replacement value of your house. At any moment, this company can drop you like used dental floss. Since Hurricane George, I have had an estimated 27 different home-insurance companies. This week, I'm covered by the Bob and Big Stan Insurance Company, under a policy which states that, in addition to my premium, Bob and Big Stan are entitled, on demand, to my kidneys.

SHUTTERS:
Your house should have hurricane shutters on all the windows, all the doors, and -- if it's a major hurricane -- all the toilets. There are several types of shutters, with advantages and disadvantages:

Plywood shutters:
The advantage is that, because you make them yourself, they're cheap. The disadvantage is that, because you make them yourself, they will fall off.

Sheet-metal shutters:
The advantage is that these work well, once you get them all up. The disadvantage is that once you get them all up, your hands will be bleeding stumps, and it will be December.

Roll-down shutters:
The advantages are that they're very easy to use, and will definitely protect your house. The disadvantage is that you will have to sell your house to pay for them.

"Hurricane-proof'' windows:
These are the newest wrinkle in hurricane protection: They look like ordinary windows, but they can withstand hurricane winds! You can be sure of this, because the
salesman says so. He lives in Nebraska.

"Hurricane Proofing" Your Property:
As the hurricane approaches, check your yard for movable objects like barbecue grills, planters, patio furniture, visiting relatives, etc. You should, as a precaution, throw these items into your swimming pool (if you don't have a swimming pool, you should have one built immediately). Otherwise, the hurricane winds will turn these objects into deadly missiles.

EVACUATION ROUTE:
If you live in a low-lying area, you should have an evacuation route planned out. (To determine whether you live in a low-lying area, look at your driver's license; if it says ``Florida," you live in a low-lying area.) The purpose of having an evacuation route is to avoid being trapped in your home when a major storm hits. Instead, you will be trapped in a gigantic traffic jam several miles from your home, along with two hundred thousand other evacuees. So, as a bonus, you will not be lonely.

HURRICANE SUPPLIES:
If you don't evacuate, you will need a mess of supplies. Do not buy them now! Florida
tradition requires that you wait until the last possible minute, then go to the supermarket and get into vicious fights with strangers over who gets the last can of SPAM. In addition it is best to leave your cars gas tank on Empty. And plan to fill it after the storm. In addition to food and water, you will need the following supplies:

1. 23 flashlights - At least $167 worth of batteries that turn out, when the power goes off, to be the wrong size for the flashlights.

2. Bleach - (No, I don't know what the bleach is for. NOBODY knows what the bleach is for, but it's traditional, so GET some)

3. A 55-gallon drum of underarm deodorant.

4. A big knife that you can strap to your leg. (This will be useless in a hurricane, but it looks cool.)

5. An Assault rifle. (This will be used to fight off the looting mobs afterwards!)

6. A large quantity of raw chicken, to placate the alligators. (Ask anybody who went through Camille; after the hurricane, there WILL be irate alligators.)

7. $35,000 in cash or diamonds so that, after the hurricane passes, you can buy a generator from a man with no discernible teeth.

Of course these are just basic precautions. As the hurricane draws near, it is vitally important that you keep abreast of the situation by turning on your television and watching TV reporters in rain slickers stand right next to the ocean and tell you over and over how vitally important it is for everybody to stay inside.

Good luck, and remember: It's great living in Paradise!

Heh, all so true.

I've finally swung around to thinking in US dollars and an Eastern US timezone. Hence, you may notice that the posts have all been reset to more reasonable times since I changed the settings for my blog (i.e. not Adelaide timezone anymore). With that little bit of info I'm sure you'll sleep well tonight.

Well, I reckon I might go study some hurricane/cyclone theory now. I'm such a freakin' nerd.

Disney World pics are up

I've only got a few of them uploaded. For some reason I've become really picky with pictures lately and a lot of the ones that were taken just don't cut it. I had to put some up from Disney World though, so you can find them here. There are a few other pics from Miami Zoo that I haven't put up, and probably won't put up. I mean, if you want to see a giraffe, go to the zoo.

I should really try and get to bed *before* 12 for once...

Thank god for (insert your favourite mp3 player here)

If you have one, I guess that is. I'm amazed it took me this long to get one. I gots me a new 40GB iPod yesterday and I friggen love it. I've been walking around everywhere listening to my music collection, probably looking like a bit of a wankerchop, but oh well. I also realised how disorganised my mp3 collection was. A lot of the mp3 tags are all screwed up and iTunes reorganised the directory structure... shit. Now I don't know where a lot of my music is hidden. I've half filled my iPod already and have currently around 4000 songs to choose from. Would you believe *most* of them are actually legit? I forgot some of the music I had, which was probably a good thing. I think my mind was actually protecting me in some way by doing that. Ooh - INXS is playing. Gotta love that shuffle function :-)

Whilst I was couped up in the Sheraton hotel on the weekend I got the opportunity to meet a few new people. A couple of them were from Jamaica, and hearing them say "three" as "tree" and "theatre" as "tear-ter" cracked me up mun. I hope to catch up with them when/if I go to Jamaica, or at least I could get some good advice on where to go.

Ooh - "Run Away" by the Real McCoy is playing. Ahh the memories...