Turtle power!

Allow me to introduce the hero in a half shell in my car today:

As I was turning into my apartment a guy was crossing the road with turtle in hand saying to me "dude, do you know where there are any sewers ponds around this area?" I did in fact, so I took the little charger under my wing and transported it to the closest one I knew of. As I was releasing him back into the "wild" I was able to take one final farewell shot:

I don't know why my arm was turning purple. Someone told me it may have to do with radioactive ooze in the area, although I was supposed to keep that a secret.

OMG this was the most non-funny lame-arse post ever. For real though, I did for about 5 minutes today have a turtle for a passenger. I hope your day was just as interesting.

- SplinterKristian

Karma Lounge dead

I found out from this article that Karma lounge in Fort Lauderdale has shut down because I was thinking of going out to it last night. I haven't actually been there for a while but it was probably the coolest place to hang out at in Fort Lauderdale. It played pretty good music and on Wednesday nights even played Drum and Bass, which in Lauderdale made it stick out like a sore thumb. I've posted previously though that it couldn't work out what it wanted to be - with the volume the music played at you'd think you were supposed to be dancing, but there was nowhere to dance. So you had to stand around instead which led to talking, but you had to shout because the music was so loud. Good idea, a nice refreshing vibe which set it apart from the normal Ft Lauderdale commercial crap, but very poorly executed. I guess I'm not really surprised that it shut down.

Bubble Tea

Recently the canteen at work has brought in sushi to the selection of foods available. This makes a nice change from the salads that I normally prepare from the salad bar and I now have another healthy eating option for lunch. Thankfully though all the sushi is made by an external company, as I'm sure those in similar corporate environments could attest, the food made in the corporate canteen isn't the best at times. I just wouldn't trust them with sushi.

I digress. I was munching away on the sushi which today was wrapped in tapioca. That got me thinking about something that I haven't had for a while - Bubble Tea! Ahh, delicious tea with the added texture of tapioca pearls. Now, you know my opinion of Ft Lauderdale foodstuff isn't the highest at the moment but I was thinking that somewhere should serve bubble tea given that there are like a million people living around the area. I actually found a search engine that specifically looks for Bubble Tea at www.bobafind.com. You know what? I had to broaden the search to include all of Florida to get any results. According to that search engine, there are 10 spots where you can buy bubble tea in all of Florida. Ten. I thought that was a bit low for 18 million people, so I looked towards Google local search. There is one place I could find in South Florida that serves bubble tea, and it's at a place called Lan Pan-Asian Cafe in Miami. I'm going to make a special trip there pretty soon - I have a craving that needs to be put to rest.

Conquer the code

Finally stuff seems to be working out, but only after a lot of effort and a few tears here and there (joking about the tears part). I have conquered part of the code and the damn radio seems to be doing what I'm telling it to do! Amazing, yes. God damn engineering is frustrating. I'm also amazed how much taking a step back from the work can be in getting it completed. Example, I was up till midnight trying to get this code working and then I gave up in frustration. I came back this morning and *bam* I instantly saw what was going wrong.

I think my accent is slightly changing, but into what I don't know. I listen to BBC the whole day pretty much, and then I probably watch the latest Dr Who or Top Gear episodes when I get home. That's a lot of Brit accent. Then I'm hearing American accents at work - what's a real crack up is when a guy with a Brooklyn accent gets fired up and starts swearing. It's hilarious! If I end up sounding like that when I cursed I wouldn't care too much.

I got news yesterday that my Visa renewal petition had been approved, so at some point in the near future I'm to take a trip to Canada and go snowboarding or something. Oops, I mean, get my Visa renewed at the consulate there.

Frenchie, please clean my shoes

So in my quest to find some good eatin' food in Ft Lauderdale (the past two times have been somewhat ordinary, IMHO) I went with some friends to a restaurant called "The French Quarter". Oh, quick disclaimer, I ain't going to review this place like Chi-Hoong could at his website. He knows quite a bit more about food than I do and can probably pronounce the food on the menu better than I could ever hope to. However even if I can't pronounce the damn food I at least know if it tastes good, because I eat a lot of food and have a good sample size to draw from.

Anyway, I digress. We went to this restaurant and I ended up ordering the Beef Wellington (I could pronounce that) with some wine. My mate got talked into ordering some more expensive wine but that didn't worry me in the slightest. At least he didn't go for top of the range on the wine list which was $15,000 a bottle (yes, you read that right).

My Beef Wellington was pretty good. I think the waiter originally screwed his nose up at me because I ordered it medium-well, rather than medium. Blasphemous, I know. The wine was so-so. I thought that a bottle of Saltram No.1 would beat it hands down but you can't win everything I guess. Anyway at the close of the dinner the hurt came out to be $210 between the three of us. French, expensive, but okayish I guess.

I was talking to a guy here at work about the French Quarter and he said the person who owns it is a millionaire who actually owns a few of the strip malls in downtown Ft Lauderdale. That's a lot of money, people. He said that the owner would most likely have been the one cleaning the floor. If I had known that I would have tried asking him to clean my shoes as well. I've never had a millionaire clean my shoes before. I would have tipped well.

What to write about?

For those of you I'd call 'regulars' you may well have noticed that updates are not coming as often as they used to. I think I'm burned out from blogging. Well, not only that, I'm just burned out in general. 70 hours last week at work really took out any remaining energy I had. My energy levels have not been this low for quite a while. But maybe this is all just a short term thing that I'm going through because I'm so exhausted.

I did order, what I thought, were some pretty cool shirts the other day. They should be arriving before the end of the week. One of them has a drawing of an island at sunset and it has some little graves on it. The writing says "Florida... stay awhile". I was going to wear that one to work. The other is in the same style as the Nascar logo and says "B-O-R-I-N-G". If I ever go to watch a Nascar race then I reckon I'd wear that one. Hopefully the rednecks would see the funny side of it, because you know, I'm actually at the race so how can I think it is boring? Well, we've all seen Jerry Springer I'm sure, so maybe they wouldn't understand the humour, and maybe the last thing I'd see on this earth was a great bunch of toothless freaks wearing overalls bearing down on me with pitchforks. Was that too much of a cliche there?

I do like paying people out, just for a laugh of course, and I expect to get payed out in return. If I don't get payed out, or they don't see the funny side, then I assume there is a major lack of the humour gene and I'm guessing I won't find them too interesting to hang around with. However I think I may have overstepped it when I went to Crobar in South Beach Saturday night. A girl was visiting down from Chicago and a bunch of us went out partying. Well it seemed that one of the girls in the group didn't like the music, or was too tired, or something like that and she had her arms crossed whilst standing in the middle of the dancefloor. I saw this and immediately starting impersonating her. Then I thought "I'm dancing with my arms crossed... like Russians sort of do!" and so I started dancing like they "sort of" would. Admittedly, I was only going on what I remember from "Fiddler on the Roof". I don't think she appreciated it though because she called her friends to the toilets soon after that they left. I'd like to think it wasn't because of what I did, but perhaps it was.

Best thing I've heard today: "Don't work too hard... just get it done by tomorrow".

New territory

Pfft, I really don't know what to write for this post. My mind is absolutely fried and I warn you I'll probably dribble on a bit. So far this week my shortest work day was 13 hours. I've been getting home just in time to watch the Daily Show and then I'll fall asleep until, say, 6 or 7 the next morning and then get up and get ready for work again because I'm worried that I'll get deported or something... well, not really. I just don't want to let the team down. But I was pretty chuffed that I got the private call functionality, which normally operates only on a trunking system, to operate in conventional mode too! Like anyone would know what that means! What I mean is, I HACKED code like I did in uni. Thing is, now that code has to be inspected by a group of people who know far more than I do and I reckon it will provide them with comedy for weeks and weeks to come.

So Saturday morning I was up early waiting outside the West Palm beach auditorium office thing-a-me-jig to get some Coldplay tickets. Ooh yeah, I can't wait until September now. The last time I saw them I was in Melbourne. That was an awesome show - sorta weird though coz I went to see them with my ex at the time and she'd only just given me the flick... but whatever.

So anyway I'm killing time now. I can't code any more today. I'm waiting for a colleague to finish an inspection with some guys in Penang so we can go play some foosball. I'm still really crap at it... but god damn, I will beat him someday!!!

*sigh* signing out. Time to listen to more Radio One. Actually feeling a little sick but I'll blame the Tim Tams for that. Now I'm trying to think of why I called this post "New territory". Whatever and ever amen.

New Orleans pics

I've posted some of the pics from New Orleans up on flickr. You can check them out here.

At some point I'll post up what I got up to. Perhaps tonight.

Ooh the Coldplay is good

I have been listening to BBC's Radio One today, like I do every other day when I'm at work now, and god damn the new Coldplay album sounds good. It's so good that I when I preordered the album on Amazon I got the fastest delivery method I could (in hindsight, I probably could have just gone to a CD store. It seems I'm so addicted to Amazon it's not funny). Tickets go on sale here this Friday and there is a growing group of people I'm going with. Hopefully we'll all be able to get tickets to the concert. That'd be just friggin' awesome, know what I mean?

There isn't a heck of a lot else going on at the moment. I'm probably comparing to Bourbon street in New Orleans though... I'm still trying to recover from the long weekend. Things that don't make this easy are getting the latest computer music magazine and finding some great tutorials on the various types of sound synthesis that exist (additive, subtractive, FM, granular, ooh, I'm going weak at the knees now) and then testing out some sounds on the computer till the wee hours of the morning. Some things I'm now stoked about are the fact that the right channel monitor for my home studio set up has mysteriously repaired itself. For a while there the treble wasn't working at all. Plus, the plugpack that I'd hacked into to get my Kawai digital piano to work over here went on strike a couple of weeks back, something to do with voltage shortages or whatever. A replacement arrived today that wasn't complaining about the voltage and other working conditions and I'm oh so happy about that. Stick that one up you, you power converter union you!

Right, anyway, I'm obviously suffering from bad coffee overdose with a combination of artifical sweetener overload and whatever is in the water over here.

I'm back

You know, I thought my post last night regarding this actually made it into the blogger brain... but obviously not. Pity that, actually. It was full of wit and humour that would have left even the most discerning critic wondering why I spend my time monkeying about with code rather than writing jaw-dropping literature.

Illusionary world aside, yes I'm back from New Orleans, Nawlins, the Crescent City, Big Easy, whatever you feel like confusing people with. After driving 1850 miles this is a quick-arse summary of my thoughts of my extended long weekend of travel:

1) New Orleans is a pretty effing cool city.
2) New Orleans actually looks better during the day than at night. Contrast this with Miami, which is a pretty city at night but not too pretty during the day.
3) Florida actually has undulations in its terrain up around the panhandle.
4) Miles don't click over quickly enough.
5) Aquaplaning for about 20 metres during a big arse thunder storm on the way back is "interesting".

New compilation album to get...

Just heard it on Annie Mac's Radio 1 session - Liquid V club sessions, for all good things DnB.

Dang, I gotta go. Got Santos Renuentes to see *yet again* tonight at Tobacco Road. I wish they'd play in like, New York or something like that. I need an excuse to fly up there*. Plus, tomoz I have to go to... New Orleans! Oh I'm bored already. hehe.

* WTF am I talking about, like I need an excuse???

Muvico

There is a huge movie complex not far from where I live called Muvico. Actually, there are a few of them around the place. This one has 24 cinemas - nothing to write home about when you come from a city that had a 31 cinema complex - but this place is all Egyptian themed and tries to be impressive in that respect. These cinemas weren't as good as the 31 cinema complex though. Maybe it was the crowd.

I've noticed a bit of a contrast to movie-goers here and over in Australia. Over here there are a few people who lack respect for anyone else watching a movie and don't recognise the fact that other people actually did pay to see the movie too. These people were constantly checking for messages on their mobile phones. I remember once I had a guy listening to his CD player at full volume sitting right next to me.

Point being, I went to see Star Wars episode 3. It was oooookay - but that was from going in with extremely low expectations. I guess those expectations were met. The wooden performances had me laughing in a couple of spots. I was thinking "does Lucas really expect me to buy into this?" Well, he got my money so I guess he really doesn't care. The movie experience was perfectly summed up though when during the silent parts I was able to hear some guy behind me snoring.

It's done!

So, the future is going to be even more exciting. In the next couple of months I'll be going through the motions of buying a car, finding a flatmate, getting a fortnightly salary (compared to the monthly one I've gotten so used to) all American style. To be perfectly honest, I didn't make this move for the money. I won't be much better off here than I was in Australia, but the difference is I *won't* be in Australia. Mexico is only a couple of hours away by plane. Jamaica ain't that far either. South America - just a wee bit south. Problem is that due to my Visa extension I won't be going outside of the US for another few months until processing has been completed.

That doesn't matter though, there is enough going on over here to keep me busy. The French food and wine festival is on this coming long weekend in New Orleans and I've made plans with a couple of friends to go for a road trip. I haven't been a tourist for a while now so "I'm excited".

Adios muchachos.

Update on change

I've given myself the weekend to think about this and do some more figures. I should know myself better. Although I've been thinking about doing this for a while, I have a gut feeling that says something isn't right with the current terms and conditions. I'll update how things go on Monday, which is my deadline for replying.

Change

I'll put it sort of cryptically - tomorrow I hand in a piece of paper that says 'next time, my flight from Australia to the US won't be return'.

(Kristian == nerd) == TRUE?

Noooo! Lately I've been feeling it... I've been working absolutely ridiculous hours at work and I'm nearly getting used to it. I'm coming to expect it of myself. This has to change, and it has to change now. I admit I may be a little nerdy - heck look at my bloody blog icon - it's from a bleedin' 1986 Nintendo game. I used to read microprocessor spec documents 'for fun'. Shit shit shit.

I watch Dr Who, I watch Battleship Galactica, I own Star Trek tapes.

Crap crap crap.

Well, I may as well accept the fact.

So you can imagine how cool I find the Electronic Entertainment Expo! Dang, those PS3 videos look absolutely awesome http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/16/news_6124681.html.

*sigh*

However, I am proud to say that I couldn't care less about missing out on the premiere of Star Wars and actually only getting to see it in, ooh, a week or two. Episode 1 sucked hard, Episode 2 sucked a little less and maybe this one will be ok. Meh, whatever.

Winky vs Trinidad

I went to a friend's house Satdee night to watch a boxing fight on HBO pay per view. Now let me get this straight - I ain't the biggest fan of boxing. Actually I'd usually go out of my way to avoid watching fights because I just think it's sort of cave man like but I tucked all those thoughts away and just watched the damn thing. The fight was between Winky Wright and Felix Trinidad. The 'local' boy Winky ended up winning, even with a rather distracting boil or whatever the heck it was on his neck. Dis-gust-ing. Check the link here for some more fight details.

What I found really funny about the fight was the absolute crap and fluff the commentators dribbled to fill in time. It was just incredibly stupid stuff. My absolute favourite part though was when one of the commentators was trying to make a point that something was the exact opposite, so he resorted to this analogy (not exact wording but): "Take for example Afghanistan and then being all the way on the opposite side of the world . . . like Denmark". Hmmm, stick to the boxing world buddy. The real world is probably too big for you. It sort of surprised me he didn't say Iraq, because that's another country that the media here has been mentioning for some reason.

Speaking of funny, what I saw today cracked me up a bit. I'd pulled up at a set of lights and was watching some people get out of their car at the intersection and push it across because it had broken down. What was written on the windows? "For sale".

And to finish off the triple play of funnies, here is a website dedicated to chicks being filmed trying to get their bogged cars out of mud and so forth.
http://www.carstuckgirls.com/.
It's funny how you come across sites like that which are totally unrelated to the material you're reading at the time. I checked out the FAQ to get a 'please explain' for the website and all it had was help in sorting out technical difficulties with getting the videos to play. Oh, and it describes how they keep the packaging discrete. I guess that's so your significant other doesn't find out you have a . . . chicks-getting-cars-stuck-in-mud fetish? Ohhhhh kaaaay.

Bro's causing problems again!

At the moment my Bro is lying in a bed in the Royal Adelaide hospital and has been there for the past few days. He's had multiple CAT scans and MRI scans. I've been talking to him and he seems fine at the moment but has to stay in hospital once results from all the scans are in. The doctors said they actually found something - a brain! I say check again!

Anyway bro, hope you get out of there soon - and leave the female French doctors alone, ok? ;-)

UPDATE: He's now out of hospital.

Cinco de Mayo pictures

There was a Cinco de Mayo celebration at Tobacco Road last Thursday night and Santos Renuentes were playing there again. I've got pics from the night uploaded here.

Hard Rock casino

I went out Saturday night to the retail area around Hard Rock casino which has all the clubs and shopping stuff. I've been here a few times and it's pretty good, all things considered. I hadn't been out with that group for a night out before and damn, I ended up having a blast. I think seeing chicks riding mechanical bulls really sealed off the night.

We started off at an Irish pub that was playing songs like "Loveshack" by the B-52s. . . yeah. The "DJ" there could not mix fricken salt and water. It was absolutely terrible. I was glad to get out of there. Next we tried getting into a club called "Pangaea". It seemed a group our size was not going to have any luck in getting in without buying a couple of tables though (at $250 each).

Since people were getting restless the decision was made to go to watch some mechanical bull riding at a place called Tequila Ranch, a Mexican themed restaurant. This place apparently doesn't have the best Mexican food around, but it made up for that in other ways. I have to say thankyou Todd for being so pro-bull. Not that Todd will probably ever read this blog but his name is now in here. Words can't describe how fantastic it was to see two girls at once riding a mechanical bull. "2night" were there and here is a link to pictures from the night. I was thinking that'd be a cool gig - taking pictures in all the cool clubs around Miami and surrounding areas with my digital SLR. . . how awesome would that be?! I think it would be as awesome as using someone's fist as a microphone to sing "No woman no cry" and "One love", which is something I ended up doing that night even though I wasn't drunk.

We closed out the country bar and most of the people in our group left after that. Those of us remaining went back to Pangaea hoping to get in this time. We got in no problemo and even slipped past the girl at the door collecting money because she was busy messaging someone on the phone (normally it would cost $20 to get in).

Pangaea is a pretty good club considering its location. Click this link to see a sampling of people who were there the same night. They have an obligatory RnB/Hip Hop room and in another room they have the dance music, which was ok I guess. It was a little too techno if you know what I mean. Too much beat and not enough style. Maybe some other nights they play music which is similar to that on their website.

I was at the bar in Pangaea ordering a drink when I noticed a guy having an epileptic fit on the floor not far from me. There was the typical crowd of stunned onlookers - of course no-one could have done much at that stage of a fit. But once the fit subsided I didn't see anyone putting him into the recovery position and checking his airways etc. So can you guess who had to do this? I didn't hang around for too long though as there were a few of his friends who were there to take care of him.

All things considered though, it wasn't a bad night at all.