Aliens, lavalamps, carpet, telecommunications networks, M&M’s, and friends.

Well, it's the end of this '2008' thing, which means that I can file another year away as successfully completed. A lot of stuff happened this year, some good, some bad.

Regardless, I have learnt heaps this year, done so many new things, seen, felt and experienced so much!

And as you learn, the years can only ever improve. Experience sharpens life.

Here's wishing to a most awesome and memorable 2009.

New Year's Resolution: Prove my point better, even if it means getting angry more (which only happened once in 2008, over a pizza order).

Have a fantastic evening everyone!

Riding Shotgun, Doggy Style...

Power to the Project!

After a couple of months of bitching, someone finally granted me a spare few months of spare time. In my first week of this spare time, I've been both bored, and inventive.

Sitting next to me is my now finished ATX power supply. With it, I am able to hook up my future projects to whatever voltage I desire without the need for masses of batteries, something that will no doubt save me many dollars in the future. Total cost of my money saving project: $3 plus a few hours of my spare time.

Parts required:

• That shit ATX PSU from that old PC sitting around. Under 600W, else you might as well re-sell it.
  
• Brain; if you have one already, then you won't need to find someone with one.
  
• Tools; call your nearest one over.
  
• Your preferred method of connecting wires (in my case, a terminal block).
  
• Switch; SPST is the minimum; rated to anything. You'll almost always have one in your spare parts box.
  
• LED's; any colour. Yes, don't lie; you do have some just sitting around.
  
• Two resistors; people recommend 330Ω, I used 470Ω. Reality: any that will make your LED's turn on with 5V will do.
  
• Heatshrink; compulsory. Yes, I know you wasted it on your last project because it's fun to use, this time you actually need it.
  
• Some form of non-conductive glue. Hot glue is perfect, I used bathroom sealant. Make your own choice here.

How to:

• After snipping off the assorted connectors take out your multimeter and measure the voltages from all the wires. Black is always ground, and if you don't know that, find someone to do the rest for you. After discovering that none of the wires seem to have any voltage, connect the green wire up to a black one. Try again. Oh... The green wire seems to be some sort of switch... Take note of that, as well as the voltages from all the wires. Also take note that same coloured wires are the same. Fancy that.
  
• Measure the internal resistance between 5V and ground. It's a switched mode power supply, and needs some sort of load to work. Mine was 100Ω. If it doesn't have a load, it might need a power resistor later on. If it works without, give yourself a pat on the back. Else you might need to look into a load later in the project.
  
• Leave it sit around for a couple of hours, disconnected from the mains. Anything with mains power these days is dangerous because of the quantity of components that hold power long after it is off. I've heard people recommend leaving it around for days. Your discretion here. If you feel like poking your hand around a capacitor with a couple thousand volts charged, be my guest; I take no blame for your stupidity; I did add "brain" to the parts required list.
  

• Open it up, once you've read the above note. Serious. I like you alive.
  
• Find some method for connecting a switch between the green wire and a ground one, use heatshrink to cover your shitty solder work and more importantly to prevent bare wire touching the case. Attach the switch to the outside of the PSU in your preferred fashion. I used the assorted nuts and washers that come with the switch, works a charm.
  

• Track down the purple, grey and two black wires and separate. Be inventive to connect up the LED's and the resistors here (series for those that are "brilliant" enough to ask). Again, heatshrink is compulsory. The purple will be your "Mains On" light; the grey your "Power Good" light. Mount. I used bathroom sealant.
  
• Close up that PSU. You should be done on the inside now. Test that plugging into active power lights the "Mains On" light and flicking that switch lights the "Power Good" light. Not working? See if I care, it worked for me...
  

• Separate the wires you want for your future projects. Can't remember what was what? I told you to write it down. Blue = -12V; White = -5V; Orange = 3.3V; Red = 5V; Yellow = 12V for most systems. Got a small brown wire? I'm informed it needs to be connected up to either 5V or 12V to work. Someone get back to me on this if that was your case. I had no such wire. Snip off the wires you don't want.
  
• Attach to your preferred method of connecting wires and neaten up remaining wires. I chose a terminal block because I can hook up anything with a screwdriver. I've seen people use banana plugs and mount them on the case of the PSU. It's already cramped in there in my opinion; the top of the PSU has plenty of room. If you do decide to protrude something from the case see my note before opening it up, and use heatshrink (it's like a condom for wires; protects you from shorts running around all over the place).
  

• Finalise... It took twenty four hours for my terminal to set in place on top of the case due to using bathroom sealant. It has a nice smell though now. Test. The case is part of the circuit, and you'll blow stuff letting wires touch it. Like the RCD in your house. It's there for your safety...
  
  

I'm now looking for more stuff to build/invent. If you have an idea of something I can build, pass it on. I have spare time and a desire to get electrocuted at least once these holidays.

Happy Blog Day

Whooo! Two years old now!

Let's go get shit-faced!

Any excuse will do!

Those stubborn hairs

Right, I'm halfway through cleaning the inside of my car, which the astute of you know I haven't done in two years. The reason why I've stopped for the time being is two-fold.

First, I just blew a fuse. There I am, sucking away at the carpet and the suction dies. So this is me allowing time for the vacuum cleaner to cool down before trying again (or something, I do know that it won't work, and I'll just blow it again, but it's a mental thing).

Next, this vacuum cleaner sucks (not literally), and I'm waiting for approval from Mum for her to let me use the good one. The new one has all sorts of attachments, and is probably built to not blow fuses.

So while I wait for my reply I'm going to add this picture of everything I pulled out of my car:



Yup, I have hockey sticks, towels, pieces of seamboard with orders for Hungry Jacks written on them, four half-full water bottles, a blue rubber duck, assorted hairpins, six rolls of tape, an empty box of body pens, my jacket and a coathanger (this isn't even the stuff in the glovebox). Most of it has a story, feel free to ask!

Some of it will be placed back inside, most will go back in the car (like the tape).

Isn't this what Sundays are for?

Hawaii, Uni, and the races...

What could have been three separate posts I've merged into one. Aren't I smart?

Let's start with Hawaii.

Recently went on a trip to Hawaii. I had a great time, lots and lots of fun. I'd love to go back one day. Yes, I went surfing; yes, I went shopping; yes, I did the beach thing; yes, I stayed in the penthouse suite of the hotel; yup, I climbed Diamond Head... It was a very busy week away, and I did a lot of things and come back with my own set of scars, mementos, presents and tattoos...

I experienced food like I've never witnessed before. Some things Australia is clearly better at. First is conservation of energy. Most of you will have already heard me rant about the continual and massive waste of electricity, water and petrol over there, so I won't repeat it. Next would be food, while their portions were very decent sizes (ie. Too much) and it tasted nice; by the end of the week I ended up wanting something healthy... Like a salad... Yes, America is the only thing in the world that will get me to eat my vegetables... (As a side note, can anyone say free refills?). Finally, I think Australian's would have to do far better with driving and road rules too. I was happy to be back on the left side of the road when I got home. None of this "the light is red but we can still turn here" shit. If the light is red, then you stop. I like our method...

But the place is just so different that it's something you have to go back to. We explored about 85% of the beaches of O'ahu, the third largest island of Hawaii, and I still want to go back for more. Every day was a different beach. Whether it was surfing at Waikiki, swimming at Kailua, skin diving at Sunset Beach, or face planting while body surfing further along Kailua Beach (It was ranked #1 US Beach in 1998). The beaches were a whole different experience too. I think the main things that made them so amazing were the views you enjoyed while swimming, and the fact the weather was always perfect.

Yup, I'm browner too for those that did notice.

The last week of uni was recently, and it's now exam time. I had one yesterday, one tomorrow, and another Friday. Then my last one is next week. I could do very well on these exams, if I was willing to put in the effort. Mostly I know that I've been doing well, and am not putting in as much effort as I probably should. The weather is too nice to be studying. I think my best result will be from Engineering Design, even though I attended a grand total of three lectures, because I find the subject quite cruisey. Some might struggle with this one, and I can see why if it's your first time around logic gates, but logic happens to be what I'm good at. Though last semester the subject I felt I was going to do the best in was the one I did the worst, so I'm not going to hold my breath for fantastic results.

Finally, the Spring Cup Carnival. I've been working at a bunch of the races so far (Geelong Cup, Cox Plate) and will be working at quite a few more I hope (Melbourne Cup, Oaks Day) so make some money. I always enjoy watching people progress from sober to blind drunk over a period of time, and there's no better time to do that than when working at the Spring Carnival. Already had people offer me $20 for my nametag (free money, I have several nametags) and I made something like $14 worth of tips, all in 10c pieces at the Cox Plate. Straight to my car for them, they aren't staying in my pocket. Working Melbourne Cup should be good, because it seems they've finally figured out that I'd prefer to be bartending than holding a platter of food in my arms all day (Marble platters are heavy, and you get dead arms by the end of the day). Instead, I come home with hands that get pretty badly cut up from bottle tops and cans. Sigh... Long live the invention of the teaspoon and the bottle opener (though some fucker nicked mine the other day).

Overall, I come home with more money than most people went to the races with, so I'm one of the few that get away on a profit. If you're going to bet, chances are you'll lose. That's why TAB and bookies exist, they actually make money. The math says you will lose more than you'll win. Same goes for casinos. Don't bother unless you're really good (or can card count).

Until after exams,

James!

Checkmarks

So I have this little *cough cough* to-do list at the moment that I'm frantically trying to do before I leave. So I thought I might get a bit of help from you guys and gals...

Where am I leaving? Haven't I told you? I know some of you only found out last week, even though I had been making a couple of massive hints I was going somewhere. Some of you have known for quite a while, a couple of months...

Either way; I'm going to Hawaii...!

Yes, I'll be soaking up the sun while the weather here fulfils its usual Melbournistic style of 18°C and raining, just like it's doing right now as I look out the window. I hope it stays that way while I'm gone...

Of course, this means taking a week off uni... Most of you have holidays at this point, when my "holiday" was a couple of weeks ago (yeah... mid-semester break is nothing really, you end up at uni everyday anyway...). As a result I've been flat out busy making sure I don't fall behind in my classes. At uni they have two teaching speeds, unbearably fast and unbearably slow. It would not be difficult to disappear for a week and come back to discover you missed all the chapters of stuff that's on the exam, and ended up in a lecture on Quantum Computing, which without the week of stuff you missed, is a long way away from understandable. On the other end of the scale, I'm half expecting to come back and find that some of my lecturers are still talking about the same thing they were talking about three weeks ago, hoping that the portion of the class that hasn't attended for the past three week will attend to listen. For those lecturers, the reason why they are not there is because they got bored of you tapping the microphone, apologising, or just repeating the same things, over and over...

Hey, it can't be worse than being taught to add to quantities though, can it? (What's 1000 grams plus 250 grams? Seriously...).

I've picked out my "favourites" for this semester now. Engineering Design 1; which is where I hold the record for latest attendance to a lecture (I walked in, to hear him tell us the lecture is over, so I was there about 20 seconds). It's also the class where I get to play with logic circuits and build stuff. Last weekend I thought I'd be clever and design the "perfect" system for our project we're working on, but then got told I couldn't build it because it's a later assessment, and they'd have nothing to mark me on now... (*cough* I wouldn't mind some harder work?).

And my other favourite is just the one I've dubbed "C++" (as opposed to "MATLAB" for those that care). I like the change in language...

And if you've made it this far, you've witnessed me checking off "Blog" on my to-do list...

I said you could help me with this list, and you still can:

You all know how you can plug your new "state of the art, high definition" TV into your home network and stream movies from your laptop or what not? Well; the first person to find out the maximum network speed of high definition televisions or receivers gets a metaphorical silver foil wrapped choc chip cookie... Not a single employee at any appliance store has any clue... The answer is either "Fast Ethernet" or "Gigabit Ethernet" and it's starting to shit me...

Check...

Tid-bits

Right, I have three random, or not so random, things to put here:

First;

An Appeals court has ordered a retrial for a group of artists who hacked into a national television weather broadcast to show a fake nuclear explosion in the Czech mountains.

Members of the Prage-based Ztohoven art group admitted tempering with equipment at the public broadcaster Czech Television so viewers watching a live panoramic shot of the Krkonose, or Giant Mountains, in June last year saw a flash of bright light and a fiery mushroom cloud.

Seven artists were acquitted of spreading false information in March, but the state prosecutor appealed the verdict.

That really gets nothing but a massive awesome from me. Could you imagine replacing the Channel Seven's picture of the sun for a mushroom cloud on the forecast map? Oh yeah, I think I've found a goal in life...

Second, my horoscope for the day, courtesy of the mX;

Despite arguing your case well, someone else is determined to have the last word.

Once you have spoken, allow others to absorb the information over a period of time.

Battles must be chosen carefully tomorrow.

Heh... I purposely withhold any comment on that...

Finally; I did this all while chroming. Apparently people like it...

Down Below

I'd like to be surfing the net right now as I wait for this lecture, but this has got to be the one uni room that doesn't have wireless coverage. Being deep underground, and being able to feel the City Loop train rush underneath the floor, I can't say I'm surprised I don't have any mobile reception either.

Every time I want to reply to a message that only just gets through, a have to wait till I have reception, then press send. Or I have to get up, go up the stairs, send, and then come back to class.

The alternative is sending an email to the IT guys here, asking for them to install wireless for this underground location. It'd be nice, but I don't really see it happening straight away. Though that would mean I could start downloads while I code next week's test and take notes.

I'm really enjoying my classes this semester. I really can't remember what any of them are called, but I know which ones are which. The one I'm in now, Engineering Methods, is probably my least favourite, probably because the lectures feel like a waste of time. But in the labs for this class, I'm a week ahead due to my ability to work faster and better alone. Code, code, code...

Just had the other programming test today (as in the other class, we code C++ in it, and MATLAB in the one I'm in now). Walked in late, so was worried I was a touch behind, but when I'd finished the bulk of the code in fifteen minutes, and the guy next to me was sweating it out, I was feeling more confident. Oh and congratulations to that guy too by the way. After he finished cheating from a piece of paper he brought in, he left early, only to come back in ten, saying he'd forgotten to remove the 'system("Pause")' lines. In other words, he got a score of zero because the program won't run correctly. Serves him right.

Circuit theory and Engineering design are basically the same class, and lectures in one are very similar to the lectures in the other. Very handy, cause learning in one means you're learning in the other. The labs are distinctly different though. In one, we're measuring resistor values using a digital multimeter; and in the other we're designing traffic light control systems using flip-flops and logic gates. But between these two classes, I can say I've learnt something about circuit analysis, even though I pretend I haven't. Mesh circuit analysis, circuit node analysis, grid analysis, and some sort of creepy replacement thingo... Basically, it's all just common sense and being sure you conform to KCL and KVL (yeah, I think I've probably lost you all now) rules. Oh, and Ohms law... (Well duh...).

Lecture's started now, and it's about the Trapezoidal rule. Yay for already knowing how to do it! Yay for CAS! Tune-out time continues...

I'm thinking about getting a stereo for my room; something snazzy. I don't care if it doesn't have all the top-of-the-range features like a built in DVD player (like some of the players I've seen). I want one that looks good; with blue lights... Probably should work more to be able to afford it.

Ah, speaking of work! Hopefully I'll be working for the footy finals season. If I'm working all the days I've told work I can work; then I'll be going to the footy more times this September than I've been my entire life. Except I'm not working the Grand Final; I'll be in Hawaii. Yes, that's right, it's the second year in a row I won't actually be available to watch the Grand Final on TV. Good! It's not like I'm missing anything but shitty actors prance about in short shorts. If I want to see that, I'll go and live in Sydney...

Night children, she's actually talking about something I don't know now, so I'm going to tune back in to the lecture... Take care, don't do anything stupid... Like play football...

A Little Quacker For You

Whole bunch of you have heard this one already from me; here I am repeating it...

I was walking down the street the other day, and I nearly tripped over this duck.

“G’day duck” I said, “What’s your name?”

“Oh my name’s Tom” said the duck.

“Good to meet you Tom. Say, I've never really talked to a duck before; what does a duck like you get up to all day?”

“Oh, the usual... In and out of puddles...”

“Righto, catch you later Tom” and we parted our ways.

About a block later, I bumped into another duck.
“Oh, sorry about that mate; didn’t mean to trip you over there.” I said as I helped him up, “What’s your name?”

“I'm Dick,” replied the duck.

“I ran into a duck a couple of minutes ago, and he told me about his day and all that... I'm curious, what do you do all day?”

“I just hop in and out of puddles really.”

“Fair enough, see you round Dick” I commented as he headed off.

Just when I thought I'd seen enough ducks for the day, sure enough, there was another, standing on the corner, waiting to cross the road. Ambling up to him, I asked “So, I guess your name is Harry.”

“Nah, mate... I'm Puddles...”

A word of thanks

I probably should have updated this a week or so ago, but I have been that busy. Mostly trying to help people actually, stuff I don't actually have to do, but am because it makes me feel like a better person (and it delays before I actually have to write something.).

What amazes me though are the so very few people that say "thanks" and actually mean it. Sure, we all say it. I bring someone something at work and I have the polite "Thanks, James" but has this person actually realised the time and effort I went to do find the box?

Yesterday, however, I was surprised by the first person who said "thank you" and actually sounded like they cared for the effort I'd gone to to help them. I was a wet, cold, Melbourne evening, and I was on my way home from work. It was the second time in two days I'd been caught in the rain; this time however, was neither fun nor enjoyable. As I squelched my way of the tram with other travellers, a man down the street caught my eye. He was blind, and had clearly lost his way. Not one person stopped as they trundled past him, so I did.

As a result, it took me an extra forty minutes to get home. I become even wetter, and I knew that I now had no chance of not getting sick (at the moment I'm suffering with a sore throat). And when we arrived at his destination, I received the first thanks in weeks that sounded honest. He shook my hands, told me he could never thank me enough, and that he would repay the favour someday, if he ever has the chance. It wasn't what he said, but the way he said it.

And as a result I'd like to expand my list of words that have lost all meaning due to abuse because of today's society: "Love," "Sorry," and now "Thank you." I try always to only ever use these words when I honestly mean them, and I hope you'll do likewise.

There have been plenty of times that I can think of when "Sorry" might have fixed it, or "Love" might have had a laugh, or "Thanks" would have been custom; but I have refrained from saying it, cause it wasn't what I truly meant.

So what I have I done since my last update?

Well, quite obviously, I had exams. Lots of fun there... Not...

Actually, lunch before exams was kinda awesome, much better than a bread roll, though I don't think eating at a fancy restaurant on Southbank is the best way to revise for Enterprise Engineering... I packed in work wherever possible between exams and I'm making some money now. Well, until uni goes back at least. Money's kinda very handy at the moment, especially with the cost of petrol and our trip away to Jervis Bay.

Trip away was much needed, and I really am glad we went. Had a couple of walks along the beach, and got to see someone special graduate from the Navy. Dyed Al's hair... again... Lounged on the couch, the bed, the floor. Watched Al speed at 130km/h, and listened to Ken get angry at him. Photo's are on Facebook if you'd like to see them. Most are of Izzy marching, which was great to watch, but it does all start to look the same after a few minutes. :P

The Sunset Parade wasn't as loud as I was expecting. Yes, I know that it was loud, and I know that we were told it was going to be extremely loud, but I did actually expect more noise. So I didn't jump out of my skin, like some people did. But watching the whole thing is definitely something I'd watch again (which is why we watched it twice).

And the Passing Out Parade lived up to expectations of people passing out. I think it was five in total. Three honourable mentions here:

1. To the person behind the crunching noise at they hit the ground. It carried quite a distance, and although there was no blood, it was great to hear.
   
2. To the person who passed out, but remained standing. Never seen it before, and probably never will, but serious points for that.
   
3. To Izzy, for swaying, turning pale, and wanting to vomit. You looked like you were next to hit the deck the whole parade, but you stuck through.
   

Overall, I knew where I should have parked my car!

The Ball was... Actually... I don't think there's a word for it, and because I'm in the habit of making words at the moment, I think that the Ball was benourable. Which is sort of like endurable, but only if you knew a portion of the people there. I just spent my time following the one person who might know people, and there was people following me accordingly. We all left early, only because the Ball was starting to get a touch benourable, and we'd be having much more fun at home with movies, coke and vodka.

And then since getting back, I've been back working again, and having quite a few late nights. I'm exhausted, why do you people keep me up so late? (Yes, I want to be asleep at 3.30am). So I'm working on more money before uni goes back, I need to save for a trip away to Hawaii in September. And a new desktop. And just save in general. You can never have too much money saved.

And I got my results today. I'm actually quite impressed. My average would be a distinction, if you balance the high distinction and the credit out. I'm a touch disappointed in my score in Math, but to be fair I don't show any working, so maybe it was deserved. Biggest surprise was Enterprise Engineering, which I'm beginning to think that if I'd actually handed in one preliminary assignment (no, I didn't hand in a single one, they counted for a total of 15%) then my score would have been in the late 90's. So the one class I expected to fail I got a High Distinction in, and the one class I expected to do really well in, I didn't do as well as I thought.

And as much as I hate writing, I'll try to update the blog soon, but I need something to write about first...

Take care, talk soon.

The last thing I wrote for this post (Also known as a title)

So how many people have noticed a lot of my posts arriving on Tuesdays? It's probably because Tuesday is blog-post day!! Or more likely it's cause I'm in Physics lecture... I can listen and type at the same time... Really... Stop laughing, it's true!

Why are you posting this crap James? What's the purpose of this post?

Tell you the truth – I haven't figured it out yet... The title isn't even filled in yet...

Maybe I could just point out something I've noticed this month; like every single Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have been flat-out busy days. I've got up early, and gone to bed late, and been doing things all the time in the middle. This last week of May is no exception to the rule...

Speaking of last weeks, it's the last week of studies here at RMIT before we start SWOT VAC, then exams; so a lot of lecturers are wrapping things up or frantically trying to cram it in. While at the start of May my entire June was planned to be empty, except for four days with exams; it's now also packed, with exams interrupted by work, lots of work. This will be nice – because work equals money which can be directly converted to petrol, the quantity of which is inversely proportional to how much work I do. In other words, I'm working so I can fill up my car and get to work. The left over 5c I'll take with me on my trip away at the end of June.

Am I exaggerating? Not really. I just put $120 in my wallet to fill up my car this afternoon, and Tuesdays are (relatively) cheap and my car uses less petrol than a lawnmower. Which is definitely a good thing – my next car will be a Hybrid or something else eco-friendly, even if more expensive, and regardless of how much less power I'll get. I'm not interested in having a powerful, beefy (manly?) car if it means I'll need to take out a loan just to pay for petrol.

And who pours oil onto glass nowadays (see? I can pay attention to my Physics lecture)? Yes, I know that it's only theoretical, and yes I know we're using it to figure out the wavelength of light; but there are better ways of doing it than glass, oil, a ruler and a protractor.

It's amazing how little stationary you need for uni – all I have is one pen and a sharpie (which is only here cause you'll never know when you might need one). Maybe it's just cause I'm doing engineering, and it's all either on the computer (MAT-ha-LAB) or written in a lab book (consistent eights, interrupted by a nine, anyone?).

Well, if I ramble any longer then I'll be left here in the room alone after everyone leaves. Yes, it took me a whole hour to write all that. I'm slow and writing, and even when I know what I want to say, the words only dribble out. If I write fast then usually every other word is completely unrelated to the first, and sentences would just sound really shotty... Ok, maybe that one already did... Sigh...

Keep in touch people, hearing from you is always great; especially when I need the break from staring at my programming like a shit-chucking ape.

I'm Old!

Or so everyone keeps telling me...

I woke up this morning and I did feel older, but I suppose I'm supposed to feel that every morning... Maybe it was the new shirt I wore... I donno...

So I called for the nurse to bring me my walking frame and I wandered out to the park to feed the ducks pieces of stale bread all day... Please remind me to buy more bread; I'll forget if someone doesn't remind me... Similar to phone calls – I would have called if I was reminded (if I managed how to figure out how to press the buttons in the first place).

What was I talking about? Oh that's right... I'm old...

I mean nineteen is the last of the teens; isn't that a scary thought... That means I'm almost dead!!! Quick, drink more alcohol to make sure the liver dies first!!! And doesn't nineteen just seem like the "forgotten age?" We see movies where the main character is a teenager and they're always eighteen... Never nineteen... How sad...

Also, I've decided it's a very bad idea to let Harry lick you: he eats poo... I see Afrika taking a crap and next moment the crap is gone with Harry standing over it, doing the whole "yay I've found something to eat" thing... No wonder Harry craps twice as much as Afrika...

Oh right... It's my birthday... You don't want to hear about dog crap...

Ok, seriously, there's not that much to tell about my birthday this year; I'm nineteen, it's a "forgotten age," remember? Of course you don't remember, you're almost as senile as I am!

And the post date and time is significant by the way...

P. Sherman

Got up early Friday morning – 0330. Considering that I went to bed at 0100 I suppose I got a good night's sleep... I guess...

Cranked a uni assignment off and then head to the airport for a 0600 flight – joy! Well... I suppose I did pick it...

Had a whole row of seats to myself; centre, window and aisle. Didn't get a chance to have a sleep on the plane though, instead I transferred contacts from my old Nokia 6280 to my new Nokia 6110 Navigator. Yes, I now have two GPS units; one in my pocket and one in my car. I know which one I prefer too – Ken. There was nothing really that wrong with the 6280, I just didn't think that having loudspeaker on for every phone call was going to be appropriate, especially when around other people. Still have to get used to the new S60 interface, I much prefer the S40, basically because the S60 is so much slower. Damn Nokia you piss me off... I'll leave my hatred of PCSuite for another day...

Oh that's right, I was flying to Sydney, I nearly forgot what I was talking about there. :P

Arrived at whatever time I arrived and caught a train to the hotel. Ok, yes; we all bitch about Connex and how bad their service is, but CityRail is really hard to top. It cost me $50.50 for unlimited travel to and from the airport for a week, and unlimited travel around Sydney CBD for a week. When the lady at the counter did the calculations, it was going to cost $70 if I bought daily's instead. Ok, fine, as a tourist to the city I'll pay through my ass for the privilege to get to my hotel, thanks CityRail.

Then on the platform, I've found that rather than a screen that lists all the stations, it instead scrolls through them, with an accompanying voice (he sounds gay, like the rest of Sydney) reading out the list. Really frustrating to have to stand at this screen staring at it like an ape until your station appears. I much prefer the quick glance at Connex's screens, even if your train may not arrive. Fine, your service is on time, and fine, it's more reliable; but I really don't give a shit when I miss the next three trains trying to figure out if it goes where it wants it to go. Connex used to have three zones, but went down for simplicity. I've finally found where they put this extra zone. I think CityRail bought it off them. Honestly, they have something like seven zones! Anyone who says Connex is complicated and hard has never been to Sydney.

Oh and as a result their machines have a billion and one buttons on them, and force you to go through the alphabet in your head looking for the right station...

Ok, rant about trains is over.

Checked in early cause the room was ready early. Went and explored Sydney. The pushy bitch (the voice in the phone) kept misplacing me streets from where I was, if she could find a position in the first place. I'm learning to ignore her, and I could insert a sexist joke here, but thought better of it. Instead I just scrolled the map to find out where I was.

I ended up somehow getting stuck in the centre of the ANZAC day parade circle that went round the city, probably because I was lost. So I just found a place and stood there for the next five hours. There was a pub on the other side of the road, and celebrations there were very loud and alcoholic. Many passing parades were offered free beer from the patrons who had spilt out onto the road, and every band was yelled to "throw it up, throw it up" in reference to the baton they twirled and what not.

Later, after the parade had finished, there were enough cans on the ground to open up a new aluminium mine...

I however had gone in search of more important things. Found it, and went back to the hotel. Feel asleep for an hour, getting much needed rest, before heading to the station to go and find the person who I really missed – Izzy.

Finally found her, upon realisation that "clock tower" means the 20 meter tower sticking out of the ground, that thing looking like a clock tower; not that clock attached to the building above my head. Well, I don't normally look up in the city, the top of the buildings hurt my neck to look at. :P

So we did couple stuff for the rest of the day of course, as couples do. You know, shopping, walking, talking; that stuff... Went to Coles and bought the necessaries for the weekend: Coco-pops, milk, and pasta.

Couple stuff again for all of Saturday, I like the couple stuff, it's a lot more relaxing than my usual run round and try to find stuff. Ate when hungry, slept (or tried to) when tired, drank when thirsty. Spent part of the day searching for an ATM, eventually found one, and then of course they started popping up everywhere; when we weren't looking for one. Must be a Sydney thing, never had that problem in Melbourne.

Went and tried to see a movie that evening, but there was nothing good on. Sydney, why can't you just conform to Melbourne and call us the gods of entertainment, sport, restaurants and cafes. I couldn't find a single thing Sydney had going for it really.

Dinner, Nando's again, for something like the third time (nope, there's nowhere better to eat in Sydney). Not complaining though, I like Nando's (the company I was with was far better though).

Went out clubbing that night. First place was called 333, and I thought it was too dark, and the bartenders were boring; but they served me over other patrons because I'm a nice person. Had a great time meeting new people that night though, all the navy people (well, not all, some...). Only name I can remember though was Tash, and she was wearing purple. So if tash wants any chance of being remembered next time I meet her, I suggest she wears that same purple dress. :P

Moved along to the next club, as you do when you need a change of experience. The Brooklyn Pub had a guy with a metal detector which was a nice touch to the whole possibility of getting stabbed in Sydney experience. Place was basically a dance floor and a bar. Again, got served quickly because I'm nice. Stayed here longer than the first place, but only cause we were told to stay put while Tash went and found the next club; she never returned.

Hopped along to the third club. This time it was at Circular Quay, and you could watch the water as you drank (assuming you watch the water, and saw that ferry come in... :P). The bartender here was funny, and could flair really well, got my drinks quickly here and went and sat outside with Izzy. (No, I'm not telling you the secret to fast drinks at the bar). Nice champagne at this club, I know what my favourite way of drinking it was too...

Hotel time now, since it was technically Sunday, but we had to stop at McDonalds and the toilet on the way. McDonalds sells Mint Slice McFlurry's now if anyone has been out of contact from the world for the past few months.

Sunday morning (well, when we got out of bed), we did the whole pack-up hotel thing and left them our bags while we explored the city before I had to go home. Izzy got a new phone (after a frustrating "my employer has no telephone number" conversation the night before); a Nokia 6500 Slide. She believes her phone is better, and I believe mines better. We'll have to see which one ends up lasting longer I guess... Izzy got some hay fever tablets; she needed them. Only supposed to take one though... tut tut tut...

Eventually the time ran out again and it was time to come home. Airports again. My turn for a plane though.

Plane trip was loud, noisy, and the kid behind me enjoying kicking my seat.

Overall, getting abused by taxi drivers in Sydney (what? I'm from Melbourne, red flashing means it's ok to go; and here in Melbourne giving someone the finger is something of a sign of gratitude that you didn't actually hit me) wasn't what made the trip interesting; it was Izzy that did that. Really miss her...

Ok, some of you are strangling yourself or throwing up on the floor, I get it... I'll change the topic...

I'm glad to be back in Melbourne, but I just wish I'd brought everything back home with me.

P.S. In case you're wondering, I couldn't find 42 Wallaby Way; maybe next time.

VCE VET Electrotechnology

Anyone remember what my goal was in this subject?

Yup, I didn't just want a high score, I wanted to do better than anyone else and receive the Premier's Award – awarded to the top few students in any subject. It's ok to get a 50, it's something different to receive a Premier's Award.

Well, I haven't actually said it yet, but I think it's obvious: I got one!

I'm very very very happy about this; I really worked hard in Electrotech to deserve it.

So thanks to those of you that dealt with me talking about how excited I am about my project, ranting about how easy that last test was, and debating whether I should bother studying for the exam. Next step: Award Ceremony; where I'm missing out on a Math Test to attend...

Really busy at the moment, but I hope to make a post next week when I get back from Sydney.

Whoa... Busy!

Yeah, I've been busy with this, that and the other; hence a lack of updates. Basically, I blame uni for making me this busy. I only know one person that has more hours than me, and that's Luke, so he's the only one allowed to complain that I have it easy.

Quick summary of everything since the start of March:

• Uni started, you noticed from the last post.
• Izzy's birthday; she got shoes – lots of paper ones and one real pair.
• Anniversary.
• Mid-semester break, before I had even figured out this whole uni thing. Apparently, I'm halfway through the semester.
• Izzy came home for Easter, and lots of fun times ensued.
• I took a break from hospital this year, and decided that rolling round on the ground in pain can be left till later.
• Back to uni; and found that I wasn't halfway through, but only at the start still.
• Earth Hour; which I ended up leaving my lights off all night, cause I was having too much fun burning things to look at the time.
• Some other stuff that I've told myself doesn't need to be placed online, because it doesn't concern but a very limited few of you; but if you want a hint, it relates to last March.

That's basically it for the time being; if something interesting happens, like a bomb threat, I'll leave it for someone else to describe.

I'm going to go back to paying attention to this Physics lecture now...

Little Fish, Big Pond

A long time ago, just over thirteen years ago in fact, I began something new... I was a little fish in a big pond...

As time went by I got bigger and eventually I was the big fish in this little pond, and of course saw lots of tiny little fish join my pond over time, remembering a long time ago that was me...

One day, I was scooped up, and placed in a new, bigger pond, more of a pool in fact, as I had outgrown my old one... Once again, I was a little fish in a big pond... I started to get big for this pond too, and I played with the edge of the waterfall. In 2004, I slipped over the edge of the waterfall, as did the rest of the fishes my size, and landed in a bigger pond still, a lake...

Feeling even smaller, I worked hard to grow over the next few years...

I made friends with similar fish and swam in the same, similar part of the lake. Occasionally we'd visit other lakes, and make new fishy friends. Once again, last year in fact, I grew too big for the pond, a pond which I now knew as a part of me...

Today I was scooped up once again by the mysterious hand of time, and thrown, not into a lake-sized pond, but into the ocean. I'm once again the smallest fish in the pond (ocean, yeah whatever, I like the word pond ok?). My fishy friends from the assorted ponds, pools and lakes have been spread far and wide; some swimming under the same pier as me, some in the same patch of seaweed; some have been thrown deeper, and have to deal with slightly bigger fishys, sharks even; one has even been thrown over to New South Wales (technically ACT, but again, I'm too tired after today's first ocean swimming lesson to care).

On a completely unrelated note, I'll tell you about my first day of university now. That sound like a good story?

Right, well getting there was shockingly easy, even with Connex, only four minutes late really... And now that I'm aware that RMIT has elevators, I don't have to climb thirteen floors like Spiderman... First up was MATH2160, which is taught by one of my favourite kinds of teachers: the fast, no-bullshit, ain't slowing down for nobody ones... Well, like a said, he's fast, and can be a little difficult to decipher with that accent sometimes, but I went to Haileybury, so I'm trained in the art of multi-lingual English... Overall, I can see how he'll be great, but he and I have slightly different views on Mathematics. While I call it the absolute value of x (absolute x), he calls it the modulus function of x (mod x). Yeah, both correct, both just as easy to write, but I can tell he and I will get into marking issues over it... And another one: turns out VCAA doesn't teach Methods right. VCAA: log = log base 10. The rest of the world: log = ln. So what the hell VCAA? Teach us correctly! Take me a while to figure this new one out... On the plus side, this course looks like it will be Methods 1/2/3/4, Spesh 1/2/3/4, all wrapped up in a nice little 6 month bundle, which is what I always wanted to do with it...

Hour break, far too long, followed by: EEET2246 (some sort of Computer Science Engineering). Now this lecture is taken by one of those funny teachers: "Hey, been teaching this subject for 15 years now, shit then, shit now, do your best." Have to agree with the "shit now" part. Figured it out when he put 1 * 0 = 1 on the board. C'mon... Seriously... Anyway, two components that we'll start with: Matrices (I found these easy in year 10, I find them easy now, can I skip class?), and Excel Spreadsheets (you can tell that this'll be another subject that you want to skip when he hardly knows how to use it in his examples...). Sigh... Maybe the next class will be more productive...

So I walk into EEET2247 (Enterprise Engineering, don't worry, I had just as much as no idea as you do now) and find the room is filled with people on computers... It was a Lab, so I was sorta more expecting so be sitting at a workbench with scratches and burns from assorted tools, but instead the room is filled with people that looked a lot older than me... So I just stood up the back (I walked in through the front) and waited for something exciting to happen. A slightly overweight (delicate James, delicate... You never know who might read this one day...) woman walked in and barked (sounded like a loud whisper actually): "This is a lab, everybody out now..." Considering I was expecting a lab to be, well, more laboratory like, I kinda just thought she was crazy... She ended up getting the class started and told us to log onto Blackboard and open our assignment. Mixed bag of results. Some people could log on, some people could open Blackboard, and some (very few) could find this mystical assignment... Then she barked (whispered): "Form a team of four." As always, I just kept it simple and looked at the people next to me and provided that nod of "you'll do..." After the room had assigned groups our instructions were given (if you could hear them). I didn't hear them, so we just sat there and assessed the possible data, before providing an abstract solution to the problem at hand (see? I learnt something today! How to solve stuff engineering style!). Then several more people rocked up, and we got a blast about being late to class... Now I know it wasn't me who was late, and I know that I despise people who are late, but seriously woman, that's the WHOLE point of uni: to turn up (or fail to turn up) to classes at whichever time you choose... Yes, if people turn up late and disrupt the class, you have a right to tell them to piss off, but they were only ten minutes late, and you have no clue where they might have some from. Class settles; lady speaks up (now an hour into class): "You should be using Microsoft Office Project."

Ok, never heard of it me, but I find it quickly and stare blankly at my screen... You want me to make a timeline? The hell? So as a team, we plot how we will manage our time on Project over the next two weeks (which reminds me, feel free to change the due date anytime you wish... Anytime! Honestly! Doesn't piss me off at all! Just why the hell would you change the date at the last minute?). SO we plotted our timeline of time management, and she speaks up (she was close, so we could hear her). Turns out we were supposed to be plotting our timeline for this mystical engineering project with some sort of crazy invisible engineering team and some fruity unlimited quantity of cash over some spastic timescale, a year... So we (the entire class) spent an hour and a half doing the wrong thing, without any indication from silent to telling us we were doing something wrong... So in twenty minutes we manage to begin to pull some crazy contraption out of our asses (mosquito repelling alarm clock, powered by batteries, and made cheap, for third world countries) and begin a timeline. Time! So I log off and my team heads out the door while I put pens away. Silent comes up to me, asking to see the work we'd done today. So I was forced to log back in... Sigh just doesn't cut it...

And then when I got to my platform Connex decided it had been too nice to me this morning and decided to punish me by diverting ALL Eastern suburb traffic through my platform, my line. Squashed on the train. Got abused and attacked my some old lady who wanted to get past me, towards the seats that were clearly packed and already full of elderly...

Some days I just feel like a fish... Swimming in an ocean...

The Switch

It'll be a switch I'll flick on 29th March 2008, 8:00PM... Will you?

And here's something else that saves power, saves the environment...

Email accounts...

To all of my friends who use Hotmail:

Get a real email address!

PLEASE!

Oh for Christ-sake... All I want to do is send half a dozen people an email. I want to send it so that none of the recipients know any of the others, so I use the BCC field. I want you to be 100% assured that the email arrived from me, so I digitally sign it...

Please hotmail users, thank your postmaster for returning my email, claiming it took on a spam like appearance...

The contents of the email would have been unreadable to your postmaster without you receiving the message with all sorts of red flags appearing next to it, claiming that the message has been tampered with, as it rightly would have been, thanks to my digital signature.

The fact that I want to hide who else I've sent it to is common with all my emails at the moment, and remains to be common among businesses worldwide. Your postmaster has blocked a service that has existed in emails for years...

Yes, I've hated Hotmail for years because of it's simple interface, poor junk-filtering, incorrect diagnosis of legitimate emails, lack of connectivity (i.e. there's situations where you might want to be able to click on a link in an email (don't say you can, you can't... don't even bother... people have pages telling you that you suck).

So now it's time for you to actually do the world a favour and provide us with an email account that we can send emails to, and not have to suffer... Have some help...

Ok, ok... I'll relax... I'll calm down...

That “L” Word

• The following isn't directed at anybody, or anything, I just want my word back...

Something wrong with today's society... I don't feel like the word "love" has the same meaning it used to.

I just feel it's over used... It's in advertisements, telling people they'll "love" the new flavour or whatever; it's in music, telling us all how some singer "loved" someone but it all went to shit; it's on television, in some soppy soap opera; and we say it to each other, even when we don't really mean it at all.

Truth is, you can never truly "love" somebody until you actually know them fully. "Love at first sight" would be much better defined as "lust at first sight," because how do you instantly know, simply by looking at somebody, that they aren't a tosser or whatever... That's the thing, we say we "love" something, but truth is we just lust it until we get bored of it, then it simply becomes something we just like.

Situations:

• There's a new product (i.e. Coke Zero is released) and we try it and say to each other "Oh I simply LOVE the taste." – Truth is we merely like the taste, it's a nice change. Two weeks later you'll be sick of it and you'll go back to regular Coke.
• You meet someone new, and two weeks later you tell your best friend in private "Oh I think I'm in love with that guy, he's just so nice." – Yup, he's nice. Everyone is nice to the new people. If you ask him (or her, trying to be gender unspecific here, but failing) out you'll probably find a month later that he isn't your type at all, that you share nothing in common. You never "loved" him, not even if you said "I love you," you only ever lusted him, and when you found out he was boring/opinionated/rude/smelly/bad at sex or whatever you didn't even like him anymore.

I try whenever I can, to only use the word "love" when I absolutely mean it. When I'm writing something (a text message for example), I actually pause and think before writing the word "love." I ask myself, "Do I mean it? Do I honestly truthfully love?" Only when the answer is yes do I put it in.

I'm asking politely for the world to pause and think. Do you honestly mean that you "love" that person? Or are you just saying it because they said it to you?

Having trouble deciding whether you "love" somebody, "lust" somebody, "care for" somebody, "like" somebody or "like more than the other option?" Ask yourself, "If I was with this person, and we'd done everything together, and there was nothing new left to do or try, if we had seen everything and been everywhere, could I honestly say that the 'spark' would still be there between us, would I still want that person over any other, would this person be irreplaceable to me?"

If you find yourself saying "No, I don't think that 'spark' would still be there," then I suggest you find a new word to use, and leave "love" for those who mean it. There's no word greater than "love;" and today, as well as every other day, I wish there was, so I could use it...

Also, got sent a picture last night from someone I can honestly say I love:

Disiplined and ordered, Izzy's having fun, but missing home. She'll be back Easter time to see the important people :P

Happy Valentines Day for those who love somebody!

Energy Drink

Today on James' Kitchen we'll be making the energy drink he uses to keep himself awake, alive, entertained, or just plain energetic. In fact, there's probably enough energy in one drink to power all Australian homes for a day, so by drinking one, you better have something planned to do. Interestingly, this drink contains absolutely NO harmful drugs (James takes them separately), like caffeine, alcohol, or guarana that are commonly found in so called "energy drinks" such as Red Bull, V, or coffee...

Let's pick a few nasty names from those "energy drinks" and see how bad I can make them sound (while keeping to 99% fact...);

Taurine (found in Red Bull and V) is a conditionally essential "amino acid." I put "amino acid" in quotes because I'm simply quoting the Red Bull website on that, yet Taurine lacks a carboxyl group to be properly called an amino acid. It was named from Latin Taurus, meaning bull or ox, as it was first extracted from ox bile in 1827. Also, despite its presence in energy drinks, Taurine has not been shown to be energy-giving.

Glucuronolactone (found in Red Bull and V), also known as (2R)-2-[(2S,3R,4S)-3,4-Dihydroxy-5-oxo-tetrahydrofuran-2-yl]-2-hydroxy-acetaldehyde, "has received some notoriety... that it was a Vietnam War-era drug manufactured by the American government." Also worth mentioning is that "it was banned due to several brain tumour-related deaths." Scary huh?

I'm sure you already know all the hype about caffeine being bad for you, so I'll just skip over that one and you can imagine all the bad things I've just said.

Acesulfame K, found in Red Bull (and probably V, couldn't get a proper ingredient list for them), is one of those artificial sweetener doodads, and you all tell me off for drinking Diet Coke cause it has fake sugar in it so RIGHT BACK AT YA!!! Only this is found in all of Red Bull products, not just the "light" version. It's so dangerous that Kraft Foods had to add another chemical to its products to mask the damage that Acesulfame K did (to your tastebuds...). It has also been noticed that the "chemical has not been studied adequately and may be carcinogenic."

Sucralose, sounding like sucrose, but it's not, so there, is also an additive to Red Bull and V. To quote Wikipedia straight for this one

"Concerns have been raised about the effect of sucralose on the thymus, an organ that is important to the immune system. A report from NICNAS cites two studies on rats, both of which found "a significant decrease in mean thymus weight" at a certain dose."

The certain dose stated is calculated to be similar to the quantity that Luke drinks Red Bull at, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't worry as "some ingested sucralose is broken down and absorbed by the body there is concern that chronic consumption may lead to thymus shrinkage or other side-effects."

Now that I've told you the nasty parts of the other drinks, you can drink mine instead, knowing that you're probably safe (that all depends on how you make it really).

You will need:

1. A mixer blender thingo... I use a milkshake maker and it works... Just...
2. A cup with can withstand freezing (i.e. the condensation on the cup I use FREEZES... That's how much energy this drink sucks up from the environment... Cool huh?).
3. About 30mL of Milk (yup, that's all).
4. Half a tin of Milo (size of the tin depends on how much energy you require).
5. Chocolate Ice-cream... The DARK chocolate ice-cream... You know the stuff...
6. Chocolate syrup... To taste...
7. Sugar (optional).

Instructions:

1. Put about 10mL of milk at the bottom of the cup; this is to prevent the Milo getting stuck down the bottom.
2. Scoop Ice-cream in small scoops into the cup, large chunks means you might blow the motor. Don't be shy, use lots!!!
3. Pour Milo in (note: I said pour, not scoop; that means use LOTS).
4. Add sugar (optional).
5. Add remaining Milk, if it will fit, to give the mixer an attempt at a chance of working in the future.
6. Stick on the mixer thing and start. You'll hear it struggle, this is normal; it will spin a little faster once the ice-cream has been whipped to hell.
7. Take off; add Chocolate Syrup until mix is getting close to the edge of cup.
8. Mix again; stand back in case it goes over the edge...
9. When you can smell the motor smoking, it's finished and you can drink it off to drink it. Tastes best straight off the mixer.

Warning: Consistency is far thicker than Hungry Jack or McDonald's thickshakes, so tipping it towards your mouth may not produce any results... If this is the case, try blending it again. If that fails, buy a new blender and invest in blender shares...

Warning: Do not drink, then forget to exercise, the energy contained in the drink may make you fat in a matter of seconds...

Warning: Do not allow parents to watch you make this, they will kill you. Do not allow pets to consume the substance, as it's probably an aphrodisiac...

Yes, I actually drink that by the way... Tastes good... Like Chocolate...

Tune in next time for something else crazy!!! That's what I'm here for!!!

Early Mornings

So yesterday I got up early, at 5:30am and took Izzy to the airport. Got there at 8ish, 2 hours early for a cancelled flight. Ended up on the 10:30 instead... I got all I could ask for really, more time, even if it was only half an hour.

Turns out my speakers are really, really loud when on full volume and on the way home I noticed this:

So 140,000km reminds me of my trips to school in the morning and 145,000km reminds me of taking Izzy to the airport. The service was due at 140,000km though... And don't state the massive cavernous problem with the photo I took... Yes, I know...

And today I got up early, this time 6am, to go get my wisdom teeth removed. Got to the hospital and after getting undressed we decided that the operation was too risky cause I had a cough and all shit could break loose if everything went wrong. So a starved myself for nothing.

Stopped at a cafe home for breakfast... Damn I was hungry...

At least I didn't have to get up at 4:30am for a fire alarm though, that would suck... You've got my sympathy... And love, lots of that...

Anyway, back to suffering with 14.4k download speed because I reached our limit just for the hell of it.

Emo in a White Shirt

Happy Birthday Al...

Nice shirt...

Back in...

Going to a much needed holiday at the beach. I deserve it. Will be back when the shower no longer provides the capability to wash the salt off my body.

Have my phone if you get lonely, but I know that more civilized areas have less reception, so don't count on any text messages arriving straight away.

If war breaks out while I'm gone, become suicide bombers to win the war and I'll find replacements for all of you when I get back. Except Izzy... Don't blow yourself up... Can't get a replacement.

Keep out of trouble!