testing.

Yep CSE just passed its census date.

I migrated the blog over to my account temporarily. Hopefully it will remain here for another year. When I graduate and we have no other unsw accounts left, I might move it over to the other webhost my cousin provided me, but not now coz I like the local server and unsw sites have certain advantages on campus.

What a preposterous thing to say Charlie!.

I watch more movies at the Cinemas cept maybe Alexis.

Well, Tennis tomorrow.

Time :: 9:45 - 1:15
Locus :: 32 Maxim St, West Ryde
Cost :: $6/h

I will need to get money for last week from the following pplz ::

Eric, Charlie, Benny, James, Alexis

Hash that is so unnatural of you to suggest to see a movie. I say you should do what you do best and we can all leech off you =).

Marc,
I share you sentiment on generational cooking. I'd love to practice it. But since my parents are not Italian, I am kind of stuck. And as for you, I'm having some difficulty envisoning you and your parents having engaged in extensive discourses on the essentia of Chinese cooking. ;)

From the looks of things ppl are going to be working long hours. This is unfortunate. I see a solution.
Here is Hash's step-by-step guide to financial success.

1) Do ur degree part-time. While doing ur degree part-time, join the Reserves
2) Once you have completed your work, put dump ur degree and get prepared to use your military training
3) Use what research skills u have acquired during ur degree to find the highest paid bounties/contract killings
4) Become a HITMAN!

(I'd call it a 4-step plan but then step 1) would be "admit that you are powerless and that you have a disease". Step 2) would be "put your faith in a higher power")

Who wishes to see V for Vendetta tomorrow?

James, a very interesting book (Food of China), but I was always of the thought that the best cooking techniques are passed on from generation to generation. Old School. Traditional. etc.

I was looking thru the book and an Old man was cutting some boy's hair on the outside. Thinking that it was a ordinary/common haircut, I mock-laughed "Haha, all look the same". The actual and unintentional joke just caught upto me lol.

BBC's English to American dictionary... of slang.

There will be a few in there that you would recognise, like the bee's knees, some you would find obvious, like a bikkie (biscuit) and some really strange ones. Look at the Cockney rhyming slang and you'll know what I mean.

The SMH article I found it from..

yeah joel is looking seriously into ibanking and management/strategic consulting companies; so the 72 hours a week for a 1st year ibanker sounds about right, from the presentations we've been to (deutsche etc) it's about 60-80 hour weeks, earning $60-80k. Money's not too shabby, but you say goodbye to your social life for 2 years. The most it consists of is Friday night drinks. With your work mates.

Conveniently enough, consulting is roughly 55 hours a week (generally 8am-7pm five days), and you start off around $55k a year.

As a hint to a conclusion I'm just beginning to draw, an engineering job works 42-45 hours a week and earns pretty much $42-45k.

Random conclusions. BTW Kwong, Bain and BCG both rejected me (and yi...), even for an interview :)
From what I heard (Joel found out from a reasonably reliable source), more or less everyone except co-ops were rejected from the massive companies.

Exciting times...

What time and location is tennis? I'm ignorant right now.

Just some personal experience I've heard wrt a facinating ib career:

IB:
" working for 24hrs a day without eating;
so the person sneaked back to tutor at Macquarie University." - UBS
" often too late off work so have to catch a cab home;
but the person enjoys every hour. "; - MQ Bank

Traders:
" Highly stressful could be sacked at every minute;
couldn't stand so quit to teach at macquarie university." - citigroup

Fund Management:
The person seems pretty happy & had made lots money but again he's too smart. - Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Perhaps a good move eric

john yea I think most jobs demand long hrs but IB's more extreme. But again the hard work is worth every cent. fascinating haha.

Nothing beats the french when it comes to unionism.

Eric, ebay?

m&a's and ipo's are exactly where i'm aiming at right now. the long hours are expected.
a friend who worked in an investment bank had 12 hours days, 6 days a week. that's only as an "internship assistant", and in germany, a country where there's high union and labour protection laws.

long hours are expected in the law field as well, so it's all good.

Joyce:
Hahaha, not really. I just find it intriguing because having the ASX merging with the SFE like that is weird. I mean, back in Corp Finances, usually m&a's happen if you can create positive synergies. Now, it's just weird to see how they can treat a type of market as a company. As mentioned in the artilce, it's a good move because of demutualisation (things go public from private). So essentially, the market is similar to a company?

But then again, the size of the ASX being only 1.3% of the total financial instruments traded nowadays compared to around 45% of FOREX being traded. And since both the ASX AND the SFE trade options, so might as well combine the two to save the hassle.

And nop, don't like m&a's. I'd rather do fund managing or portfolio management. I don't mind working as a broker too! Which is probably just as stressful, if not more....Heheheheh....

Marc:
Where did you find the bargain? Does the place you mention sell Sony MS Sticks as well?

woah
that is pretty damned cheap.
even USB sticks cost $70 - $80 for 1Gb

edit:: just did a little checking, found out that they are $50 now. Amazing!

Merchant Bankers are crazy. I'd be decomposing by the end of the week if I were one.

Dammit, I backed the wrong horse. It seems xD cards cost upto 2.5x the amount of other cards for the same capacity.

$40-50 for a 1GB2GB card, what a bargain.

Charlie sorry to hear that your grandparent passed away seems that birth & death happened at the same time in your family...
Eric thanx for the news are you interested in doing M&A? I was astonished recently by the fact that an IB entry analyst had to work till on average 11pm everyday.

I understand only too well :)

Sounds heartless I know,yet misery loves company...

Sorry to hear about your last grand mother/parent dieing Charlie. I've just got the one left too.

Interesting to use that as an opportunity to invite friends over after tennis...

Count me in for Tennis this weekend. I promise I'll do my best not to screw it up by lack of sleep like last time.

Xavier - implies Xtreme mental prowess, but premature balding.

Abdullah - implies a great potential for greatness, tho coupled with an impicit ambiguity of whether it will be for good or evil

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Though it sounds more like you're helping me name my non-existent son. Unfortunately my nephew is not a 'Zhang', he's a 'Xue'. I'm forwarding your suggestions to my sister, with the exception of charju and stone cold steve. After looking at that list, I'm thinking Xavier, or Abdullah (servant of Allah).

In other news, my paternal grandmother passed away over the weekend, the last of my grandparents. My parents have ceased work and rushed back to China, which means you guys can come over after Tennis this week if you bother.

For all the finance people here....,ASX's m&a with SFE

I quite like Stone Cold Steve Zhang, as well as Jack, Jerry, and Zack Zhang. Preferably Zach Zhang, in appreciation of Zach Braff. Possibly Zach Braff Zhang, or ZBZ. Like a number plate.

Will Zhang? MmmmmMmmmmMM boring? What about Abraham.

OKAYYYYY!

Billy Z.
Sounds like a pimp.

alternatively he can be Billy zha Kid

Stop pimping Dave Chapelle Marc. You posted that one or a few weeks ago.

I suggest Jack, or Jerry.. then his friends can call him Jay Zee.. Or maybe Zacariah, or Zack. His initials will be ZZ... tops.

Seriously though, when I first saw your nephew's picture, the name that came into my head was Edward, then Edwin.

William Zhang? Bill Zhang? B Z? Sounds dangerous..

hours of fun

How about...Reggie

Reggie "the wedgie" Zhang

William Zhang? That sounds okay.

Dwayne "The Rock" Zhang. Stone Cold Steve Zhang.

English name is not compulsory. I'm sure there are many Aussified foreigners who maintain a non-English name.

How about Char Jr. ? His friends can call him Charju

Mmmm, can you smell what the rusty shovel is cookin...

1800 reverse?

*AWWWWWWWW*

http://www.babynames.com/

Theodore J. Esquire
Valorius
Tom
Dick
Harry
Anthony (but only by day)
Tyrone


seriously tho - find out the meaning of his Chinese name, then find an appropriate english name that associates as close as possible, but still sounds cool.
i.e do NOT call him something like Gaylord Focker

NephewDay3

NephewDay3, originally uploaded by bon080.

My newborn nephew. My sister has asked me to come up with an English name for him. Any suggestions?

I believe that its my Umpire's hat that is at ur place Marc. No wonder ppl haven't respected my Authoritae for the past wk. Yes, trivia would be a good place to get it back. Thanks Marc.

I do indeed get the connection Darren - and more than u know - watch the movie to find out what the connection is!

Just watched Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson take down Mr.Echo.
It was quite hilarious

Nooo... one hour too late for me.. Ah well, I'll get it off you when you're done Benny, depending on what 'it' is..

V is for 5... Can you see the connection? Charlie? Hash?

Done!

I'll take it!

Hash, ur fedora is still at my place. You have gone without looking cool for a week. Shall I give it back to you at trivia?

I have a gigantic collection of anime from first year I no longer need/want. Anyone want?

Good or not Marc, this is the most dense use of alliteration I have seen ever. Deserves some kudos.

For those interested in epic romantic tragedies - Tristan & Isolde is showing.

It is the most old-school "star-crossed lovers" spiel that most europeans know. Has all the blood, death carnage, greed and lust that was associated with Romeo+Juliet.

That would be so funny if it turns out to be a crap/disappointing movie hash.

Charlie, you needed Benny there: The only person not afraid of walking from Bankstown station to his place at 3am.

Did you give him $5 or a high-five?

"Voila, in vue a humble vordavilian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage no mere veneer of vanity is a vestige of the vox populae, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition."

Take a guess where that comes from.
If you are still drawing blanks highlight the remainder of this text ::

"The only verdict is vegeance; a vendetaa, held as the votive, not in vain. For the value and veracity of such, shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose , so let me add that it is my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V"

psychoanalysis - Charlie is feeling guilty that the didn't pay the record company for the Frank Sinatra Mp3's

I fell asleep earlier and had the most bizzare dream:

A bunch of us came out of a restaurant/entertainment facility and what not, joking and laughing. Then we found ourselves surrounded by a gang of mobs, some were in their cars on the road, others on the pavement. Our path of escape completely blocked off. There was Cake's Frank Sinatra playing on the background. Then, out of despair, we handed them our valuables and ran off. None of the mobs even moved a muscle, as if knowing for certain that we wouldn't dare retaliating. Before I ran off, I walked up to the guy closest to me and said
"that's good music you're playing"
He smiled and concurred,
and I gave him five

Then I woke up and realised I left the music on, playing guess what? "Frank Sinatra".

Cool huh?

bias.

Thanks for lunch James. You are the true Iron Chef.

How the hell did Sakai win that battle. By the commentary it was clear the challanger had won. Sakai's dishes definitely didn't look as good.

Do we have any wet weather arrangements? And yes, Hash, I WILL BRING SUNSCREEN! =þ

Marc,
Be a dear and bring the charcoal and firestarters tomorrow. Thanks!

I'm in for Lunch and Tennis tomorrow.

Ach sorry James.

No lunch for me tomorrow. However I have it from a scrupulous and unreliable source that Alexis will attend tomorrow.

Have to get home asap and get ready to help organise a Sri Lankan Film screening @ MacUni

Final details for those coming to tennis ::

Date :: 25th March 2006
Time :: 09:45 - 13:15
Locus :: 32 Maxim St, West Ryde

Bring :: Racquets, Tennis balls, water/fluid replenishments, carbo/protein loaded foodstuffs, sunscreen (for eric) and your esteemed selves.

I've bought lunch for six people tomorrow after tennis.

Confirmed so far are:
- Me
- Char
- Hash
- Darren
- Eric
- Marc (tennis ob probably)

If anyone else is coming, please give me a heads up.

Ach sorry
no cfn fo me

need to study hard for SLEEP1001 prac exam

CFN Op Tonight
Contacted so far:
- Yi
- Gary T. (or Kwong if you prefer)
- Marc
- Eric

Didn't pick up their phone
- Char
- Hash


Time is stilll pretty flexible. I'll be around.

My sentiments exactly hash. But the coke wasn't onboard anyway.

Very random, but I typed in 'home' into my browser to get to my Optusnet homepage, but it came up with a NASA site instead.

150 kg?

pfft - thas nothing. It's like Al Pacino's weekend stash.

Now if they said a tonne or two. Then its something to sink a ship over.

haha marc. Quite the funny.

fun times!

Got jury summons. Apart from one or two typos, or spelling errors on the templated document, heres one thing I thought was good:

The number of your local sheriff's office is 9209 8222 You can call this number for all jury information. If the number is unanswered you can call our Sydney office on: 02 9209 8222

Remember, Remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should EVER be forgot!

The only Verdict is VENGEANCE!

No worries Charlie, will try to drop by and keep an eye out for companies hiring for psych interns as well.

Thanks Marc - I'm guessing it's not prescription only
Might give it a try

Johno:

Don't bother.

At first I thought UNSW is more bureaucratic, but after reading that guide, i see the point. If companies want an engineer, they would hope not to waste resources targeting Macquarie students.

Plus most of the time they refer you to their websites for more information.

If you spot any firm with conspicuous interest in hiring Psych interns, note the name for me will ya?

Thanks for helping despite the hassles.

Jono just gave you ur answer: if they stop you, tell them 'how dare you say we all look alike'

Jono and others with dry skin, I finally went to a dermaologist and she highly recommended Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream. I was skeptical, but this stuff is really good. I've tried a dozen or so moisturizers and this is the best. It gives you a great coat but isn't sticky at all and neither does it sting (something that Vaseline Intensive Care does). It doesn't have that sickly and visible shine that the heavy all-day creams have. After application the problem is heaps less visible almost instantly. Costs around $7.

You foight like Norwegians, ya faeries.

Charlie

Of interest to you
http://www.careers.unsw.edu.au/student/expo/2006/faq.aspx

You need to register to come to the expo tomorrow. I just found this out. Also there, it says that you pretty much need to be a UNSW student to attent, and they'll swipe our UNSW ID cards on entry to the expo.

I suggest if you're still eager that you maybe grab Yi's ID? I'm trying to get anyone who looks vaguellllllly like you. You're asian so it makes it easier.

Let me know when you read this.

Tennis Next wk ::

9:45am - 1:15 by the looks of it.

Location :: 32 Maxim St, West Ryde

BE THERE!
HAVE FUN!

NZ white water rafting

Ahhh now that's what friends are for!
:D

thanks marc for lending me your card. my computer is back up and running.
thanks yi also for offering your help too.
appreciated muchly.

my video card has had its last breath. does anyone have one that they would like to sell or lend temporarily until i get a new one?

time is of the essence (meaning less bargaining power from me), as i cannot do anything including my uni work and burning scrubs without a functioning computer.

if possible, please contact me via phone or sms. i will not be checking my email as often, so use that only if you must. =)

cheers

I'm well impressed with how you guys cleaned up, thanks.

Hey thats like me the whole week, sleep deficit but not as bad as you.

It's 4.20am now and I ain't complaining.
Let's face it, you love Scrubs more than you love us =)

Hi guys, in short sorry but I won't make it to tennis at 9am.

It's now 2:50am and I don't know how I've quite survived this long...I slept 5 hours last night, after a 4 hour night before that, after a 6 hour night, after a 7 hour night back on Monday night... So that's 10 hours short of what I ordinarily should need, over 4 days.

ANNNNNnnnyway, had the best ever night of Scrubs tonight; went to max's and they set up a projector on an entire wall in the house and had awesome speakers, we watched about 6-7 episodes of season 5, OH MY GOODNESS it is SO GOOD. Like you think 1-4 is good, 5 is just pure wacky awesome. Completely, utterly. Elliott is also quite the gorgeous.

Time to collapse, again my sincere apologies for a whole bunch of excuses resulting in lack of sleep.

Have a great tennis/food day.

Dear Hash,
Sorry to hear about your incident with MSY. A solution to your problem exists. It is described in some length in a paper named On the utility of carrying a meat cleaver (Wang 2002)

In this day and age, we are all pissed off at something.

Well, I usually phone ahead, but their level of Engrish does piss you off sometimes. However, I didn't expect that kind of level of customer services since I was just tagging along with a friend to buy parts. I wasn't even expecting to buy anything. I just saw the site, saw a link, and I thought, hmm, maybe i can ask them about my radeon problems and see if i can get rid of it. However, their response was, to me, very hostile. And not all comp stores have bad services. I've been to a few, and they are always very helpful and polite, even though they can't speak English fluently. Either way, I am NOT going to go back to MSY regardless, so I'll just buy my comp from HK.

I dun mind ppl having BS customer policies, just that they did not have ne mention of it on PAPER. I did all the checking before, they did not mention that this and the fact that I was turned away at the counter is what pissed me off.
Then their 'haha' wee twicked u attitude has me thirsting for vengeance, maybe a car bomb or two

Notes to Hash:

1. Always call or email them before-hand to see if they have any stock, how much it is etc. This doesn't just apply to MSY. A 20c phone call or an email (which is free) may very well save you hours of trouble in travel and waiting. I learnt this years ago probably from a very bad customer service experience not unlike your own Hash.

On a bonus side, you get things done a lot quicker too. It means your order is processed so you don't waste any time in the queue going "UMMMM....ARRRRR....I'LL HAVE...ERRRR" like the rest of the tools in the line. A lot of the girls in the line seem to like doing that. You'll also be thinking: why can't the rest of them do what I did - the time we spend in the line could have been halved.

2. If you've had previous dealings MSY before then you'll probably have noticed that policy in store. They had it a while ago on the PDF as a footnote in the CPU section but it doesn't seem to be there anymore - this can't be excused. While it is probably a gimmicky way to get customers to buy more stuff, I overheard one of the staff a long time ago explaining that it was because CPUs are in high demand and short supply. If everyone buys out the CPUs then people who want complete systems will have to wait just because they are missing one component: the CPU. In the same line of reasoning, this also generates the most income for them because they get to sell a complete system with that CPU as opposed to selling one single CPU and losing another potential one which could have bought substantially a lot more because s/he couldn't get a CPU to complete the system. This is probably the most likely case for such a policy

MSY does have a kind of AUP with its parts. They have limits on items per customer so they don't end up hogging all the bargains and, say, ebaying them for profit for example. Similarly the policy that screwed you over is probably trying to give the CPUs to people who will make most use of it - though this logic/argument isn't fullproof eg "what happens if my CPU fried and I need a new one or I can't study and I will fail? Where is the fairness in denying me a CPU there?" But you can kinda get the gist of it.

3. Yes that was very shite customer service and they were wrong. The customer is always right.

4. Theres nothing you can do about it, unless you set up a rival company - MSZ. Unfortunately you picked the wrong people to piss off right now as they seem to be the cheapest but the times always change.

5. Remember: computer retailers always have terrible customer service. Its not just MSY. If want something, prepare yourself.

6. Russel Peters said Indians and Chinese can't do business together. I guess this applies to Sri Lankans as well. 50 CENT A LOT OF MONEY!!!

Eric: thats another incentive to call ahead. Personally I'm well happy to deal with "pricks" considering their prices. I just do all in my power to reduce contact time spent there.

On a happier note: I got my car back and now its got power steering, a working fuel gauge and aircon! I don't know what they changed today, but it works now. All that needs doing is fixing the handbrake!

It's ok Hash. I've had the same experience from the fucked up store. Their customers service is definitely the worse i've seen/experienced and they definitely never heard of a thing called "retaining customers." Last time I went to MSY to buy comp parts with a friend and I asked, do you know anything about ATI Radeon cards seeing how you guys sell them. I told them about my problem, seeing they should know a few things or two, and jokingly said, "you know how i can get rid of the card?" Of course, there was something along lines of selling old parts on the site when they were actually advertising for some fair other than MSY.

Their response?
"NO, we don't buy old second hand parts. Try Ebay if you are going to sell things" in the worst tone ever." He didn't even turn his head to look at me when he said it, and definitely said it with a very harsh tone, compared to the more "friendly" tone while we were buying stuff from them. And to top that off, my friend were a whole comp from them. That's fucking $1000 worth of equipment from you guys you pricks!

ADVICE: PAY THE EXTRA BIT OF MONEY TO GET BETTER CUSTOMERS SERVICE. I'D RATHER SHOP IN A MORE FRIENDLY PLACE, AND PAY FOR THE EXTRA "SERVICE PREMIUM" AND WALK OUT OF THE STORE HAPPY.

Just had the worst experience EVER at MSY Auburn.

They are a bunch of arrogant pricks that display the worst that Asian business culture has to offer.

They refused to sell me a CPU unless I also bought a Mobo from them. Then claimed it was Company Policy - policy that was not posted on their website, or even in their store (where they had a special notice titles "MSY Company Policy"). Then when I asked for their names and details (which they are required to give during a dispute) the freakin manager just tells the Sales assisstant "Do not give them any details". Then some complete CS fanboy of a salesperson just says "I just reserved the remaining CPU's so we dun have to sell them to you". FUCK YOU

Talk about shitty lame down-right illegal consumer relations.
I wouldn't be so pissed about their illegal policy if they had posted it somewhere - but no, I had to come all the way to their bloody store and wait for their tosser of a sales team to put that sudden catch on ne CPU transaction in their store.

Yes, I am down for tennis. In fact, I am down for tennis EVERY week. Unless a lil baddie called Exams come along and hold me at gunpoint saying No...

An absolute must watch

Well, it's about the surf.

But each footage is pretty darn unique.
Things to notice
- "stepping" in the waves, doesn't make for the smoothest ride
- rider almost gets dumped at top of wave, makes it down.
- jetski toward the end of the clip, how surfers get onto the waves (fast wavespeed)
- big airtime

But yeah. Awesome. These aren't as massive as the ones which win the Billabong XXL awards either, but these are certainly enough to kill you quite easily. :D
Happy viewing!

Should be in for tennis

blogging

Awesome, 9am start on Saturday = 7 day 9am start.

Super cheap Dominos pizzas during the day on Saturday and Sunday. $4.95 pickup each. We can replace those hard burnt calories.

For those interested in Tennis this Saturday.

Time :: 9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m
Place :: 32 Maxim St, West Ryde
Cost :: $6/h
Court :: well sanded, synthetic turf court
Bring :: Yourselves, racquet, tennis balls, water, some carbo loaded snacks (LCMs, nutrigrain etc.)

Current after-play events are likely to include ::
1) Orsome food from our gourmet-esque chef James
2) Brutal initiation into the world of cut-throat finance (or 'Monopoly' in laymans terms)

Be there!
It will be fun!
[waves hand in Jedi fashion]
You will have a good time!

---

sidenote :: Hustle and Flow

Quite a nice movie, doesn't seek to turn the main character - a pimp, into a 'good' man or a hero, he "just tells it like it is".

Butters,
I filled out my yellow form online a while ago.

Google Mars

Marc non UNSW guys can't access the link, give us your id and password =)

James, Alexis, Charlie and others:

http://www.careers.unsw.edu.au/student/jobsOnline/details.asp?ID=14067&page=0&type=all

James, give us your student number. I need to fill out your yellow form

Hahahah, Marc, just give 'em back to me next year when it's time for my birthday again. Lolz. Stupid Uni, if it weren't for uni, i would have been able to watch it!

Jono, now that there is gonna be VSU you should view this as an opportunity to merge two interests into one club: scrubs and the outdoors. That way you get more members and increase efficiency.

Alternatively you could force your iron fist onto others and insert a clause into the club's constitution requiring everyone to watch scrubs on a regular basis.

Eric is never getting them back. Happy Birthday Eric.

I have possession of Eric's Scrubs DVD for Seasons 1, 2, 3
Who was next in line?

This is beginning to go beyond mania and into "trekkie" and "star wars freak" lvl of obsession.

Next you will find a site that has all the private phone numbers of everyone who ever worked/acted/was a part of scrubs.

Then the massive flaming about which character has natural hair color and who is using toner (and what brand).
e.g "Chewbacca brown, from Loreal" - coz chewies worth it

for the scrubs maniacs out there, from a scrub maniac.

"In the Season 4 episode "My Malpractical Decision" (409) Dr. Chris Turk, played by Donald Faison, changes his cellphone number to 1-916-Call-Turk. Unlike other shows and movies, this number is actually a valid number that most of the times will take your to a voice message telling you the latest info about "Scrubs" (2001). However, as the phone is placed on the set where Scrubs is being filmed, every now and then, people from the cast or crew answers the phone to have a word with whoever is calling."

"Ted has a picture of his mother in his office. The woman portrayed is, in fact, the real-life mother of actor Sam Lloyd."

"The couple that makes the bungee jump for Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke in the second season met on the set for the first day. They married soon after."

Source

Quote ::

"And those who are prideful and refuse to bow down,
shall be laid low and be made unto dust"

Book of Origin, time unknown
(Adopted as Policy by the U.S. Government circa. 1991)

Thanks James for orsome steak. Excellent Tennis everyone.
Look forward to seeing u lot next week

Quote:

"For desire is a wild beast, and passion perverts the minds of rulers, even when they are the best of men"

Aristotle, Politics, Circa 350 BCE

Tennis has been confirmed for tomorrow ::

Location :: 32 MAXIM St, West Ryde
Time :: 11:00 - 13:30
Cost :: $6/h

Bring :: Racquets, balls, water (about 2L p.person), hats - hats are good

Be punctual, coz we get kicked off @ 13:30 sharp

It seems that ur comp skills have atrophied somewhat Marc. I am certain that Andrew Taylor could write a 1 liner in the command prompt, taylored specifically to Windows files

If only I could access them I could watch DVDs at cse labs...much better than law library now XD

More cross Unix-Windows woes. Just spent 3 hours (possibly more) to no avail trying to find out how to use unix sed on a windows file with spaces. For some reason unix sees the space as a newline character which I cannot access using all the REGEX I've come across.

Times like these often remind me how much I would have loved going through a simple 10 line code for 3 hours racking my brains (then losing my hair colour, in turn losing my hair altogether) as a career.

The greatest and most bitter irony is that I would have spent 10-20 minutes renaming each on individually rather than 3 hours trying to automate the process. Hell, I could have renamed it in Windows and uploaded the files for a second time and it would have taken less time. For some reason trying to automate it via bash/perl script does not work as the brackets interfere (perl interprets the brackets as actually being in the code rather than the filename and bash script has something up its arse about windows whitespacing) but oddly enough if you rename it in the shell manually typing "mv" then tabbing for the file does the trick. Whatever.

In short: avoid uploading files with brackets and spaces to a unix server. Do the renaming on the operational platform first before uploading.

Apology to non-computers.

I was in the Piano labs on wednesday. Its the lab we use for the Game Design Workshop subject. We had to play games as our homework. I decided to not do my homework and played games instead..

They are now labs for certain subjects only, and maybe postgrad as well, because there wasnt anything interesting on them.

Another possible tennis location

Where - near W/Ryde Train line
Contact :: 9808 3233
Courts :: Private, Single, synthetic Turf Court (decently sanded)
Cost :: $6/h
Bookings :: made by phone, can have a weekly time permanently booked

Cons :: No racquets, balls

another possible location, those that travel the hornsby line can see the courts and the ads for the court between west ryde and meadowbank

Can someone tell me whats up with the Physics Theatre labs? They're WinXP now and I can't login to them (notwithstanding the fact that I'm not enrolled in any subjects anymore)

Wing again

LOL. I thought you were talking about a REAL timed trial. Well, ppl said they can get from one side to the other in ~3 mins, LEGALLY. Guess we can try next time.

A legal timed trial. If you want to go burnout thats not my problem :p

Timed trial run ey? Hmm, I would do that, if somone is willing to pay for the massive fine that I will incur in the process, as well as the court cases that follow. Also, they must be willing to pay me for living expenses for the rest of my life, seeing that I won't be able to work as a professional anymore! Fuel and toll will be on me though! Lolz

On other news, Charlie and I made a visit to the local Lidcombe Tennis courts. Grass courts, for 220. That will include 40 hours of court hire (which equates to $5.50 per hour). I will attempt to make a few more phone calls and see if I can get some other places. Also, I am planning on taking a few lessons and wondering if ANYONE would like to join me. $9.50 per person if it's in a group.

Hm, where did the 'o' in 'suppose' go from my last post? Ah, heore it is..

It really depends what time of day you wish to use the tunnel.. I'd love to participate in your little trial run but I am without an E-Tag, so I cannot.

A little more FYI for all you interested peoples out there.. I can no longer access the internet from work because recent and numerous hackings of the Mining computer networks here at this uni. One very important (apparantly) hard drive was wiped clean at the cost of $15 000 to the faculty, and bits of data stolen from here and there..

Previous attacks on the comps in Mining include attempts to break into FBI archives via one of the comps in the room where I work. Cool, I'm working in an ex-crime scene!

Anyway, I cant access the net from work means I have to take a walk to another comp lab to check stuff.. and I do do that, but not to post anything.. not enough time.

TRIVIA... Last years trivial trivia earnings totalled this:

• 1 x awesome cool dance cd
• 1 x interesting novel that was won as 3rd prize but was arguably more valuable than the first prize of something not as good
• 1 x sheet of smiley face stickers
• random munchies and drinks inlcuding candy and chips and V
• $150 in cold, hard CASH
• and finally, a 2.95kg can of Whole Peeled Tomatoes. The winners won a 3kg tin of Champignon Mushrooms.

So, if you want to be a part of the ACTION, do join us.

whhhhaaaaaat?!

In the time honoured tradition of our forefathers, we @ UNSW are proud to partake in a new session of trivia @ 1pm, every Tuesday @ Clem's.

Current pplz who r interested ::
KJ
Darren
Myself

if u wish to attend and help Team CTO (that's rite folks, current CTO l00t includes a 5kg tin of tomatoes!) plz do so tomorrow at 1pm at Clem's in the Round house

I'd if someone pays me 20 bucks
*bored at work*

LOL "fuckwit." Always with the smooth-talking.

Does anyone want to do a timed trial run meeting from the city to test its efficiency?

Half Price Cross City Tunnel.. finally. But only for 3 months. I dont suppse this affects many of us, but just more for your information.

Thanks for the turn out guys and gal.

Had lots of fun and little sleep, which is of course the ideal way to go about these things.

Eric :: I totally agree with u, it is gonna take at least that long to work the cheese out of my system neways.

Dad's comin home tomorrow so I guess it will be another 2 yrs or so b4 I can throw another event like this (enuf time to conveniently work out the pizza saturation in everyone's system).

For those that were unable to attend, I hope that ur foot piercing / money acquisition schemes went well and that u have an auspicious uni / bumming / work year

Thank you Hash for hosting the night. Really great. But NO MORE PIZZAS for the next 2 years! If you need any help cleaning up on Sunday, please tell us. Feel really bad for trashing your place.

We had a great game of tennis, when we actually had a volley going. Lolz. Since we have been discussing about the ongoing of Saturday Tennis/Soccer, we are thinking of joining membership at Lidcombe Tennis Courts and split the costs amongst those who are interested, ie

James?
Myself
Charlie
Alexis
Hash
Kwong?

For those who wish to pull out (the ones on the list), you have until next Wednesday(8th March 2006) to do so. Others who are interested may also join in, and please let me know, also by the same date.

Thanks for hosting Hash. I'm burntout...

Went outside to check on rabbits and Milton was drinking water. It got up his nose and he sneezed it out...onto me. Yum.

boo, hiss!

well what can be done Yi, hope ur foot gets better.

Well more ppl have replied

current interested/attending pplz ::

John
Linda
Kwong
Alexis
Charlie
Paul
Eric
KJ
Jono
Marc
Benny
Adrian

current nay-sayers ::

Yi

Still awaiting reponse from ::

Darren
Scott
+ne1 else

Sorry Hash, will be a pain to go and get back home. Got to go to acupuncturist early Saturday morning in Newtown so can't stay over either.

Have fun tonight guys!

Excellent,
so I take it that was Marc and Jono?
KJ is also a maybe

still awaiting a reponse from
Benny
Yi
Darren
Scott (if ne1 can reach him, plz do)

Not sure, might come but can't get back home :(

Did you know mininova accepts some regex? For example "^house" but it doesn't filter out results that don't have house at the beginning

I'd be down but I'm at jono's now...
so I risk decapitation after poker...
maybe if I win all your money...
but yeah great night out


Thanks John

Orsome John!,

so far ppl that are attending or interested include ::

John
Linda
Kwong
Alexis
Charlie
Paul
Eric

still awaiting feedback from ::

KJ
Darren
Yi
Jono
Marc
Scott
Benny
+ anyone else who wishes to come

you're welcome joyce. i'm glad you had fun, looking forward to bonding again =)

lets do a poker night at hash's place tomorrow (friday) night.
i will be free following dinner (around 8 to 9).

so far linda, kwong and i are in.

what do you think?

Hey guys

You probably still at the pancakes but here really wanna say its good seeing ya again.
Thanks to John & Linda for org. (missed the times at the conference where we really had fun & soo Bonded..)

The bad news is that the photos didn't turn out coz of inadequate memory =( (stupid camera - only had an 16mb memory card that's made by Nokia)

Okies nite

What did you answer by the way? Did you end up resorting to the vibrancy of Donne with Mr. Tony? Or did you employ the services of your new Italian connections and made him an offer he couldn't refuse?

As Mark said, be optimistic. But just in case, I am sure there are other available job positions within the vicinity whose tasks resemble the work you are applying for now.

For those still interested
doors still open at my house for tomorrow evening and sat morning
plz icq, msn, call, holler me if u r attending

for details

I don't want to be a fanATIc. I want to be an NVIDIOT!

James :: Don't be so down, in the immortal words of Robb Schneider - "You can do it!"

and if even if things do not go ur way, u can hitch up with the AnTIchrist!

Sounds like you're more in love with America than NVidia. If you don't get Nvidia, there are always alternatives. Nvidia can't be the only workplace like that eh?

In any case I'm sure you knocked them dead. Don't give up.

Der Wasserfal has never been much of a blog in the traditional sense. But I feel like spilling my heart out, so here it goes.

I just had the interview with seven guys at NVIDIA. It went well with most of them, except for Tony, who I'm told has a very big say in the final result.

I've done lots of interviews before: Macquire Bank, UBS, Provitivi consulting. I was never for a second attracted to any of those companies. I never found my interviewers interesting. It felt kind of odd, kind of distant. I just don't click with British people. And Australian companies are filled with them. I just don't know how I'm suppose to 'feel' while talking to them. It feels like I'm going through an emulator. A translation layer.

NVIDIA. Fundamentally, I just seem to click much better with Americans. I felt so fuckin awkward doing interviews with those Australian compaines wearing a suit and a tie. Here I was at NVIDIA, applying some tech manager role and wearing jeans and a hooded jumper. And all the people who talked to me are kind of dressed the same.

There's Jason, who is a mildly mannered Stanford MBA graduate. He manages NVIDIA's GPUs. Talking to him was the most pleasant thing I've experienced.

Then Tony, the hard hitting VP of tech marketing. I got bombarded with tech questions up to my neck. My answers are always off because I'm not thinking on his level. If you're going to get any question right with Tony, you gotta be thinking way ahead. "So James, what can Sony do to make up for the 1 year gap the Xbox 360 has over the PS3?" I've never had to think and re-think so hard. And I've never met someone quite as sharp and focused.

The energy of the place is amazing. When it was Brian's turn to interview me, he didn't knock at the door and calmly replace the previous guy. He came in and said to whoever was interviewing me: "Get the hell outta here, you're taking up my timeslot." Imagine this happening in the ever so corperate Macquire Bank. America is just so friggin cool.

Brain's spoke an awesome Texan accent and made an extrovert even out of me. When I told him about how I wanted to work for 3dfx, he shot back -- "3dfx? That place is fuckin overrated!" And oh, Brian was head of PR at 3dfx until pretty much the end.

At NVIDIA, everybody sits in a cubicle. If I got hired, I'd sit in one. My boss, director of tech marketing sits in one too. And his boss, VP of tech marketing sits in one. And his boss, Executive VP of tech marketing, who gets paid god knows how much, sits in the same sized cubicle. There are no offices or pretentions.

I have no idea if I'm going to get this job. I didn't do too well with Tony and Tony has a big say. But I do feel very strongly about this now.

I'd be hell disappointed if it didn't work out. After seeing how it works at NVIDIA, how fast everything is, how well I click with just about everyone, I just can't imagine working in an Australian company. I feel facially and cerebally constipated around British derivaties (Australians). There is a zero click factor. In discrete math terms, James (Intersect) Australians == Empty Set.

I want this to work. But I can see this falling out. What a fucking shame that would be.

Edman: You must be an optimist. An optimist would always live longer than a pessimist because even if he was to die young, he would still believe otherwise. Of course as we all know, for the non-heretics out there, reality is subordinate to faith. And how many kids do you intend to have to support yourself through the impending depletion of superannuation savings and senile decay?

Yi: I cannot believe you still haven't got that foot of yours checked out by a physiotherapist. With each passing day, you're losing the cardiovascular endurance you've strenuously built up with your daily jogging routine.

Hash: I suggest you abuse your ephemeral freedom by hiring a stripper, or if that's against your religion, poker will do =).

All: Enjoy your drunken delirium later this evening. Did you know that the word 'whiskey' is derived from the Scottish Gaelic meaning 'water of life'? How aptly named!

Hello everyone. I am back from Lanka in one piece.

As a celebration, my house is free this fri/sat for ppl who wish to bum (preferably that I know). Festivities can include (but may not be limited to) ::

Poker (with heavy chips =) )
XBox (which y'all kindly provided me)
3x starrable comps (bring some lap tops and ur mouses for a more enjoyable experience)
Chatting companiably with good company
Sustenance (which I may need some help in cooking/buying)
and the clincher (for me neways)
... no pez!

so, if u feel inclined (and even if ur playing wow - i got a phat cable, so come on down) plz join me at this impromptu shindig (or what not)

Location :: 16 Grand Ave, West Ryde, NSW 2114
Date :: Fri 3rd March, 2006
Time :: 5pm Fri till tennis on Sunday
Goods required :: Yourself, your counterparts, food/drinks, electronic items to faciliate the day

He's still alive

Count me in for dinner John, I hope you don't get this too late (You're not online)

Haha Ed - awesome, that you know Tania. Small world.
Think she mentioned once that she's chem eng co-op. She's a money-making machine, works as a UNSW security guard like mad and president of the wakeboard club.

Bed time

Is there formal wear associated with Johnnie Walker?

I should be at Circular Quay at 5:15, so I will meet whoever else is there there.

Tennis at Marrickville? Don't think I can make it this time. Only a few games of baseball left for this season, and it doesnt look like we'll be in any finals.. which means that I will be able to make it from next month onwards.

And in other news.. I have a new laptop!! and it is very BF2-able.. hopefully my marks in the subjects I'm doing this year will reflect the specs of the computer that I am using to do the work on.

If you are running out of things to download Marc, you can help me get Whose Line seasons. Start from season 3 of the US version as I've got the previous 2 seasons. Thanks in advance! =)

For those of you still at uni like myself, I wish you all the best in your studies. Make this the year that really counts, or keep up the good work, whichever is applicable to you.

You can be the umpire yi

5:15pm Circular Quay. See you there!
(Though my foot still hinders me.. so don't want to walk too far. ><)

Tennis! Too bad I can't join. :(

Got uni til 6 so I'll probably meet you guys right there then. Buy some bread and olive oil for me XD

Why not make that 3 BF2able comps hash?

Who was the person who disputed me saying Ali G was going out with Isla Fisher? Now that I've run out of things to download, I've moved onto older eps of Ali G - booyakasha

tomorrow is the johnnie walker tasting night. since it goes from 6:30pm to 8pm, we can do dinner beforehand in preparation for the drinking.
lets meet at 5:15pm at circular quay, outside wharf 6. where we go from there is up to us.

let me know whether you will be coming to dinner or just straight to the argyle centre at 6:30. =)

Hello everyone. I am back from Lanka in one piece.

As a celebration, my house is free this thurs/fri/sat for ppl who wish to bum (preferably that I know). Festivities can include (but may not be limited to) ::

Poker (with heavy chips =) )
XBox (which y'all kindly provided me)
3x starrable comps (bring some lap tops and ur mouses for a more enjoyable experience)
Chatting companiably with good company
Sustenance (which I may need some help in cooking/buying)
and the clincher (for me neways)
... no pez!

so, if u feel inclined (and even ur playing wow - i got a phat cable, so come on down) plz join me at this impromptu shindig (or what not)