I love Telstra Wireless ads. They are so consumer friendly.

"Telstra Wireless available everywhere! ... in selected areas"

Got an awesomely warm Friday and weekend coming up!! What an intro to Spring! Today was also very warm.

Working this Sat 11:30 - 5pm. Sorry fellas. :)
I am good for a 9am game though. :)

Frank Caliendo's Bush/Clinton Routine
Simply brilliant.

Frank Caliendo's Al Pacino routine
Also brilliant. :)

If you are ditching saturday's soccer, please post why. This is a severe crime, neglect of group exercise... besides, what if i miss gilleh cuz of u tools?

That is a microsoft lvl rort of GPL.

I'm impressed

Tivoisation

Lol james,

what r u saying.

You went to sleep at 4:06 pm u bum XD

I am down for a sennis or toccer day.

Hey ppls,

Who's interested in a game of Tennis this week? Since Soccer's happening on Saturday, maybe we can do it later in the arvo. I am getting withdrawal symptom and watching the US Opens is NOT helping....

First day of work completed. Left work at 9:10PM. Going to sleep.

pfttt that's a fifth of the cost to scout out this place.

I expect you to confirm or deny these previous reports since you decided to personally scout the US for us back at CTO.

Some other possible expansions.

I think I'm out for soccer this week.

James, if you ever go to New York, you should take a look at this place. http://www.theoldhomesteadsteakhouse.com/index2.htm


A $41 USD burger...must be "out of this world!".

Brilliant report James, super-reminiscent, and all the best at work. Godspeed.

Sorry fellas, am working this Sat 11:30 - 3:30. Free sunday.
Next weekend, I am free all weekend.

Haha enjoy your first day. As they say, the first day at work is a lot like the first time you have sex. You don't know what you're doing but it is exciting and one way or another, it's over way too quick. In the words of the Eagles: 'Take it Easy'!

I'm up for Friday evening soccer.

Lolz James...have fun at work. Spain, I was just about to ask if anyone's interested in Tennis this Saturday. Perhaps we can make it tennis then soccer, or the other way around. Then soccer again on Sunday...I need my exercise..=D

Haha James, you sound like you are in heaven dude. Well goodluck at work, and stop talking food dammit, I have a pie and i gotta make myself a salad for dinner. /emo


On another note, guys SOCCER saturday can we do this?

Dear folks,
In a few hours, I will attend my first day of work. I am still somewhat amazed that the author of 3dfx specs ended up working at NVIDIA. How ironic somethings are. I am nevertheless thrilled.

I've only been here for a week and I've enjoyed it greatly. I've cooked almost every meal at the apartment, using marvelous Californian ingredients. There's San Pellegrino ("the only mineral water that doesn't make me puke" -Huang et al 2006) here for a dollar a bottle. There's steaks cut twice the thickness of woolies. There's tomatoes so ripe you think you might squash it just by holding it. It's all my sort of thing. And there's even a "Food" channel to watch while eating. Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, Iron Chef America. It's all here.

But alas, work. Some of it is bound to be dull. But I hope a lot of it will be fun. I look forward to driving down the Californian highway, listening to my Eagles and once again indulge in esoteric sophistry of glorifying 3D graphics.

To the way of the future.

Is that your dinner every night? Do you have some free space?

I think the US is an excellent choice to go at the end of the year...

Dinner tonight:

• Spaghetti alle Vongole


• Insalata Caprese


• Verdillac Bordeaux

In case ne of u who r coming today are on crack, i am NOT up for a 9:20 screening

Eric, thats where ftp comes in handy. I'm looking for a new webhost and I think I'm going to go for servage.net

Don't tell me, your getting a M'asusbook Pro. Just be warned that opening large Office files is not doable (with Office mac anyway), especially in your line of work. If you're fine to go without intel, they you may want to consider keeping your iMac and getting a new (cheapie) iBook or PowerBook.

Kwong,
I got car hire at the airport and drove to San Jose. Pubilc transport is not viable here.

VW Bunny... I think I can get a special deal on that. Still prefer the Civic perfomance though.

Butters,
Yeap, brought iMac here. I'm thinking of selling it and getting a new one. :D

Char,
Nancy use to be a Cutco representative, so I know both how good their knives are and how dodgy their sale tactics are. =P

I don't think there is a brand that is 'the best'. But there are a few 'top' knife manufactures. These include Wustof, Henckles (both German) and Global (Japanese). Cutco and Leatherman are both good. Both are American.

I still feel most comfortable with a Chinese "cai" knife though. The Europeans and Americans only make meat cleavers, not Chinese all purpose cleavers. "Shun" makes a splendid cleaver however. Probably one of the best in the world. It costs about A$242. So it's one darn expensive knife. But I think it's worth it. I only need about three good knives, rather than a dozen mediocre ones.

Buying!

well sorry if this is a little bit of a hijack but i was led to believe that the movie was in george st. cinemas. If its 7:30 or later Flinky can make it, same with Joel and Sean. So yeh, anyone object to George St?

There is 7 and 9:20 at george st, so yeh; let me know...

Kwong, if you can find a place where I can upload zip files en masse, then I can distribute the photos. I can't be bothered to upload the photos one by one to flickr. OR, I can burn a copy after i've accumulated to 4.5gbs worth. Then you guys can share it around. I think Hash should have a copy of ALL our photos.

Session times for Fearless:
Eastgardens 6.30pm,
George Sts 7.00pm,
Ritz 7:15 pm

We will meet at the front of Mech Building at 5

Did you take your mac by the way?

I'll have a VW Rabbit, please.

The VW Golf is batched as a Rabbit over there, and their TV ads have playboy bunnies in them I think. :)

James, you take the train from SFO or by plane into SJC?

Eric, will all photos that you have taken/gathered be made available?

Haha if you're serious about knives, get these. The company has dodgy sales tactics, but the knives are just awesome. The blades have a double edge blunt resistant technology and are made of high carbon stainless steel. The curvature of the handles are smooth, sexy, and comfortable, which is reminiscent of the body of a certain life form. On top of that, they have a forever guarantee which means you'll never need to buy another knife anymore. Most of all though, it's American.

Hey James, get a set of these. :D

It seems you've already integrated into the San Jose lifestyle. What with the gorgeous foods and the great big shops with shiny cooking gear...

Tip us off when your work's displayed online! (within the limits of your contract of course...) ;)

James, good to hear that you've arrived safely. My aunt actually lives around Silicon Valley and I think my uncle actually works there...

Speaking of cars, you might like to consider the Honda Civic Type R...those are great cars =D...so how's adapting to the miles and gallons over there?

EDIT: James, i've just sent your airport photos to your parents...I'll find a way to try upload to some downloading sites...and post a link. Anybody know of one? Yahoo Briefcase or something?

Photos are up!

"Psychology is a science of many faces" - Gleitman. There is no simple answer. One of the things most people tend to overlook is that nothing ever absolutely is or isn't. Grey is lot more likely than black or white.

Psychology follows the scientific procedure, that is we develop theories and hypotheses and put them to experimental tests so to that extent it is a science. However our subject matter is lot more unpredictable. It is lot easier to determine that gravity causes an object to fall than determining that personality causes dementia.

Certain theories in Psychology and in fact other social sciences are investigated using social research rather than experimental research due to a)their nature must be investigated within the context of society (eg divorce) and b) ethics simply will not allow experimental investigation. When a chemical experiment goes haywire, you lose some ingriedients and maybe get an explosion or two; when a psychological experiment goes haywire, human welfare is at stake. When social research is in place, our conclusions are more predictive rather than causal. To that extent it is less rigourous as a science. But that does not dispel its fundamental scientific approach. I'd like to think of it as a science with flexible methodology.

Although at times I had wish it wasn't a science. That way thesis would be lot easier to write. On that note, rather than me telling you this, you can find out for yourself by participating in my study! I need 30 participants and three weeks to do the testing. if any of you is free on Wed or Thur, or even Tuesday morning, please drop by Mac Uni. You can potentially win some money and yes you'll be doing me a huge favour =), one that I can only repay with a lifetime of gratitude and an appearance in the Acknowledgement section of my thesis.

What kind of licence is Solaris on? nm wikipedia.

This is hilarious. I'm looking through all these operating systems to see what their licences are on wikipedia. Solaris, Linux, BSD, MacOS X. Out of all the OSes the only one subject to vandalism lockdown: Windows XP. Mature.

Best (and possibly worst) idea ever: wikipedia for law cases.

While checking my email, google advertised this article - Forbes.com Most Popular Stories - Why You Shouldn't Marry A Career Woman, since I had a few emails from Careers @ UNSW.

Looking for an excuse to procastinate I clicked it only to find it dead... My interest intrigued I did some googling and found out why, massive backlash. Here are the relevant articles of progression.

The article moved
The same article saved by a blogger
The response to the article
more responses to the article what amused me is the comment about scientists and psychologists XD
Finally a semi related linked article

Very good point guys, very good points.

I definitely need to test drive some cars. Sitting here and hypothesising can only go so far. One of the consultants from the relocation company will call regarding car and leasing so it should be good.

But one thing is for sure, I'm definitely getting GPS!

No wai! Get the British one with triangular exhausts

Hybrid fuel efficiency is all well and good, but I heard the maintenance is an absolute horror. My father reads up on cars a bit and he told me that if the battery runs flat, you'll need a few Gs to replace it or something.

Yes thats true john, gas costs less there. Solid points all round.

If you do get a hybrid, just don't start basking in a cloud of your own self-satisfaction and smelling your own farts :)

Or else, get a Lexus.

Ordinarily, I don't like Civics, but this model you're looking at is definitely a sexy beast on the front end. Back end is also improved, but still reminiscent of the old civic. That said, I'd be more than happy to sit in this car.
:)

I can also definitely see you sitting in this car. Well have you taken it for a test drive yet? What on earth are you waiting for? Go! As in, what if you don't like the ride? Drive it! I hope licensing issues won't stop you from testdriving.

Hybrid advantages sound great. John certainly has a point too. But don't forget it's not all dollar terms. If traffic is annoying, then T2/T3 lanes not only save you time and fuel, but it's the convenience of not headaching everytime you drive, thinking you'll be stuck in traffic. I know what I'm talking about after driving this much in the last couple of years. Driving everyday will take its toll on you to varying degrees, depending on the length of the drive.

Don't know about reliability of it but I am assuming it is reliable. It also has uber cool factor, something you cannot underestimate. Unless you have no ego.
:)

those hybrids may boast about its fuel efficiency, but i'd be careful about how much it actually saves, especially given the relatively low price of gasoline in the us of a.

you may save on parking, but you're paying a $7k premium and lower resale value, and battery performance degrades over time. how many years of parking can you get with $7k?

the t2/t3 lane may be an advantage, but i think the slower acceleration mitigates that selling point.

but could just be the zoom zoom in me talking =)

on the upside, you might impress certain people by how much less you're harming the environment.

I'm starting to lean more and more toward the Civic Hybrid now. It's 22k. But it has uber fuel efficiency. I get tax deductions. And in San Jose, it even gets free parking! And for the super duper cooles part -- it is allowed on T2/T3 lanes, even if you're the only one in the car. =D

Since your not gonna play soccer, leave $500 for a nice bike (if u live less than 5k from ur workplace)

Civic looks nice enuf. Isn't 14.6 k for the manual cutting it a bit close to ur margin?
Since u need registration, insurance and GPS

'sides you need something that can DRIFT!!!!!!

I want to get a new car for reliability. If a second hand car plays up, I can't go to work. So it must be super reliable.

I'm thinking I'll get GPS. It's just too darn useful when you're a stranger to the place.

Here's the US Honda Civic

Cooked pasta today. MmMM.

Is that 23k including exchange rate and (my assumption) the general lower cost of similar spec'ed cars?

Buy a Chevrolet Lacetti or a Suzuki Liana :)

haha. good to see you're alive and in possession of your passport. Things sound good...and reminiscent, over there.

A friend I had in Purdue owned a new VW Golf and paid US$16k for it. Very good new car for that price, beautiful drive. Fuel efficient I believe.

Drive safe. And concentrate at intersections. You'll get used to it all soon enough.
:)

$15k is around au$23k in terms of car buying power.

While in America do as the Americans and buy a hummer.

I reckon you should just get a 2nd-hand car and save up/invest the difference. Its the US so I'm assuming US$15k can buy you a lot of car. When you're well and truly into the swing of things over there and earning bucket loads of cash then get a new one :)

By the way, anyone who wants to tour the new law building, do it on Wednesdays because it is the policy of the faculty not to schedule classes today so you won't feel out of place because no one is here.

i don't know much about the market in the us, but the civic does look good for your price point. does the car have to be new?

my parents are considering getting one over here. not sure about whether there are any differences between the civics of australia and usa other than sheetmetal.

or you can go all american and get a dodge caliber or chevy cobalt... don't expect them to last though.

Dear friends,

I have safely arrived at San Jose. The 14 hour trip was not plesant. Economy beyond 10 hours is not consistent with the notion of human rights. It is more suitable for cattle. Actually, kobe/wagyu cows gets better treatment than passengers in economy. I want my beer and back massage!

My first acheivement since getting here is losing my passport. I dropped the whole folder, along with other docs by the phone booth. Luckily someone picked it up and I got it back at Lost & Found.

Driving on the right hand side is just jarjar. Thankfully I requested for GPS and that saved my butt. Should be moving into the corporate apartment in the coming days.

Have to buy a car within about 13 days. I'm looking at around the US $15k mark. The new Civic looks good but john will retort with Mazda something. So any recommendations here is welcome.

Marc, I am hungry too. Gotta find a deli to rival my favourite in Five Dock. Can't wait for my pots and pans and Weber to arrive. MmmMM.

Char, keep the quintessential acting coming. I'm looking out the window at the Californian hills. Amazingly, it resembles of Tuscany. Will post pictures soon. :)

To everyone, thanks for coming to the hastily arranged dinner at Norton St and the follow up 'de-gloomify-jono' session at his house (yes Jono, cheer up already!). I will never forget the fairwell we had at the airport. The comments on the photo album kept me laughing throughout the flight.

Off to arrange a bank account and rental today. Enjoy soccer everyone. I'll miss it.

-James

On a side note James has arrived safely in San Jose, and the he's 7 hours ahead in time without respect to date.

Refinancing home loans is a lot of paperwork and paper reading >.<

I might go to Fearless Friday... XD

(Acting innocent) I have no idea what you're talking about. It's odd how you would relate this to the topic of piracy =)

Of course I'd go Charlie.

I am firmly against piracy.
We owe those people for their hard work.

I can't believe your such a senseless pirate

Fearless? Seen it. Strange that Hash you're going, since I got the movie off you. Piece of related trivia: the makers of the movie were sued by Huo's descendents for inaccurate portrayal of his life.

Well, I'd be an Enlightened Middle-Pathed Buddhist

Seef ditch mofo
SEEEEEEEEFFFFFFFFFFF

Change ur nick - Mr. Sabotage

Actually it'd be Fascist Commie Nazi since it's Heathen Pagan Jew.

Soccer could be on the weekend but I think I'm gonna rest my leg for a week, so you guys can organise it, around what time did you watch Miami Vice last week and what cinema?

Heathen Pagan Jews? May as well call us Commie-Nazis

So, soccer this weekend? why bulletin say no soccer? HEATHEN PAGAN JEWS WE WANT SOCCER!

anyway, much <3 to all, and come to fearless.

What do people think of the proposal to increase the number of planets to twelve, to correct for the discovery of a distant body larger than Pluto?

Article

Personally I think it a terrible idea, as it involves an awkward compromise which makes no sense at all.

The solution supported by physics is to call a world a planet when it circles a star and gets large enough so gravity makes it into a sphere. That would make the our planet and our moon into a double planet system, which would take a while to become commonplace. But it would prevent adding meaningless distinctions just to avoid radical change right now.

As one compensation, this change should really annoy the astrologers...




One comment from the link: "Dr Andrew Coates of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Dorking said: "Something had to be done about the definition. It does change the textbooks somewhat, but it also demonstrates that this is a vibrant area of research.""

One comment from elsewhere: "I think this just shows that astronomers don't really have anything else to do."

James has left and already my world feels a little bit hungrier...

I'm not at the ITS today, but my extension is x51772 for the IT desk (this week Tues and Fri morning).

When I'm at the Centre (Wed and Thu morning), my extension is x59639 or something. Will confirm that.

James has left and already my world feels a little bit hungrier...

Marc are you at work? What's your extension?

Fo' shizzle ma chizzle

I would love to see you do 2pac again. Your facial expression was golden.

Shake up the US James!

Would love to pay homage to the departure of a dear friend, but unfortunately stuck at work. Please send my regards.

And James, as much as I hope this is not the last we see of you, your heart is not in this country, so I guess we'll just have to hunt you down in Tuscany one day.

P.S I don't hate you.

It could be black...lolz. I'll bring it to the airport. John was in the car, so he might have left it in my car while he was gonna give it back to u...

That may just be mine...but John had it last. I suspect there was an intercar transfer somewhere.
:)
But mine (the one Charlie gave me) was black from memory...

Hey guys,

While I was cleaning up my car, I found a FIFA Worldcup Drink bottle in my car. It's a dark navy blue bottle. Is it yours John? Since you and Darren were the only ppls that went in my car...

Also thanks Jono, for having us. Charades were fun...and "voice only" James...lolz

Well it is only a 32 pixel high bar at the top of the blog.. and it advertises nothing but blogger, a search function, get your own blog function, flag for questionable content function and a next blog function.

For example, check out The Fanatic Cook

blogspot has ads doesn't it?

Reminder for tomorrow seeing James off at airport:

Carpooling at 11:30am at Mech Eng to get to airport at 12 noon. Alexis and Jono are driving.

Confirmed for carpool:
Hash, Darren, Irene, Eric, Benny, Alexis, Jono

Lynn is apparently making her own way there? But we have space in the car if she wants to carpool with us.

Yi is getting dropped off by parents but will need a lift back to uni.

Why not just let blogspot.com host this blog for us?

If all we want is to keep this blog, then surely we can get accustomed to the URL http://derwesserfall.blogspot.com

Oh we might lose the WikiBulletin though. Hmm..

Hey guys, our accounts will be expiring at the end of this year and I've been exploring hosting options to place this blog. So far I've found two excellent choices:

DreamHost
Servage

Servage clearly beats DreamHost in terms of value and convenience (it offers Australian payment) and both have received good feedback but my cousin is using dreamhost right now which means I can give him a referral cashback and that we know dreamhost is good as he has been using it for well over a year now (my rabbit blog is hosted on dreamhost).

Pending their response on FTP accounts, I will sign up for one. The general idea is that we will pay 1 year upfront and everyone who wants an FTP account can contribute. So we're looking at $120/year divided by how many people want in. It will have SSH, FTP, scripting and all the like just like our CSE hosts.

Everyone interested in receiving an FTP account put in your name in the wiki.

Logistics: if we go thru with this then I'll kindly ask you not to store illegal materials in there and limit your space usage accordingly because I'm not sure if there are ways to restrict disk space for each account.

Thank you Jono for hosting, thank you James for the food and thanks to everyone who came for an awesome charades evening, I definitely needed it.

Who is up for Snakes on a Plane this Friday? I promise guys I wont ditch you this time.

Hey guys, great night at my place, thanks all for coming, it was very very nice. :) I hope you all arrived home safely too.

And thanks heaps to all for helping cleaning up, and in particular Lynn and Kim for all dishes and Benny for cleaning the BBQ. Of course much appreciation and a big kudos to James for most excellent cooking and food preparation and purchase.

For those interested in seeing James off at the airport, we will meet at UNSW to carpool to the airport. Since airport parking is expensive, we're aiming for full cars, and empty cars can be left at UNSW. Meet at UNSW at 11:30am, sign up on the wiki so we know how many are planning on coming. Call me for any questions.

Thanks again!
Jono

Orsome dinner James,

THnx Eric for organising prez.

Thanx KJ for the lift home.

Soz i can't attend today James, but while u threathen my life, my dad threatens all my electronic equipment.

So prolly see you guys if u wanna play soccer on Sunday, else maybe seeing James off at the Airport.

PS - Someone grab $20 of Busu, he owes me and i think he should have enug money now ...

You forgot to include your myer briggian type

Hey folks,
See you at Jono's at 7:00PM.

I bought all the meat already so if you don't come I'm going to kill you one by one!
We got:
- Jono
- Marc
- Darren
- Alexis
- Spain
- Me
- Benny
- BUSU!!! (Lots of great stories about shag-a-thon)
+_+

And oh, I am on RSVP!

So is anyone organising what's going on at Jonno's tonight? I don't know if i'm physically up for it, me gnome and sean didnt exactly sleep. but our dota game improved outta sight !!

anyway, ill call someone if there is no reply, and whatever happens i AM UP for soccer tomorrow morning, as long I know where.

Prithee tell, Hash, how is it "almost" as good as a driver-less PC?

Haha, irony strikes me again..

Marc, you mentioned that your mac used to keep the speakers on when you plugged in headphones, well I just tripped over headphones attatched to my laptop, wrenching them out from the socket and warping the socket from the pressure. The resulting enlarged socket still works, but the speakers now remain on even when I have headphones in..

alexis - if u can see this, turn on your phone.

alternatively, we will be waiting for u outside the mech eng building from 5 till late

wow marc,
that makes ur powerbook almost as useful as a driver-less pc

The new bootcamp fixes everything wrong previously:

- iSight works now
- the laptop speakers are silenced when the jack is plugged in
- the microphone works, albeit a preliminary test shows its not working great

Man, everyone is getting so Jaded these days.
Such contempt towards society Marc.

Already seen that. That guy is my cousin's idol

That's what video cameras and access to the internet are for.

For example...

I was catching the bus to the city from uni at night and I was fumbling for my TravelTen to dip and I was holding up the line so I politely smiled and apologised to the person behind me who gave me this dirty for some unknown reason. He was younger and looked very familiar and he had this seu yeung (literally translated from canto as hateful face. I can't really capture what it was in English) about him. He had a complexion like Marco except Marco looks dopey. He was "seu yeung" even when his expression was normal.

Anyways I shrugged it off, but then he and this friend started talking. His friend had what looked like a trophy girlfriend. Quiet, didn't say anything while her boyfriend talked big. Anyways, the topic of conversation ranged from his confidence in his application to Goldman Sachs and various other golden names to dining at Tetsuya. The conversation was not a simple exchange of facts. A correct summary of it would include the following words: "Try-hard elitist" and "wanker". It was intolerable. Admittedly I know nothing about dining but as soon as his friend said "Oh yeah, Rise is just a level [in rating] below Tetsuya" I just wanted to either slit my wrists or theirs, whichever would end it quicker. They must love the smell of their own farts and drive hybrids.

I have nothing against confident people [James? XD] but when they front like that (thinking they're the shit when they're just shit), its just embarrassing. Put it this way, it was like sitting through a Ricky Gervais skit, painfully awkward and embarrassing but hilarious at the same time. I just thought I may share and entertain you with that :)

I think James wants to meet GILEEEEEEH

When is the departure? At night?

I'll send off james on monday

I hereby second, third and fourth this motion.

I also second, third and fourth my seconding thirding and fourthing this motion.

I hereby forward the motion of Soccer on Sunday morning. I realise we might be a little tired to do any vigorous physical exercise Saturday morning, but that should not stop our endeavours to pick up GILLEH's at the park. Also I believe James will feel upset to leave without having a chance to play one last game with us.

Hash seconds, thirds and fourth's this motion.

Anyone want to join me in sending James off on Monday at the airport?

Apologies james, I heard Saturday over the phone in which I would have attended. Friday I will be joining Jono however I will join for your last supper (of kim chi noodle).

Jono - be thankful Alexis did not want to go.
He won't stop dissin' it.

I am able to Eat.... this friday

Have a good dinner fellas.

Not sure about CFN, but will at least at some point try to drop by to say hi. I'm also working Saturday 11-4, so won't stay long probably.

Not sure about Marc's presence either; he was planning on coming to the Unichurch thing as well (planned weeks ago), last I heard. But I'm sure he'll let you know of his choice soon, he's not online now.

Bit of a shame too, Alexis wanted to come and Marc and I were asking Charlie about it too, but priorities are priorities.
:)

Have a nice dinner! Will hopefully be in the US this December as per planned anyway.

How much do you like her?

The big green grouch (nvidia) shall soon have me. Before my enslavement, let us dine together, one last time.

I've made a booking for 14 people for this Friday at 7:30PM. We'll be dining at Moretti, located at 47 Norton st. Leichhardt.

If you're driving, you can park in the Norton St. shopping centre. Look for the Coles sign on Norton St. If you're coming by bus, take one on George st. heading out of the city. Many buses will take you to Norton St. These include: 440, L40, 436, 437, 438 and L38.

The following people have been contacted:
- Alexis
- Marc
- Char
- Yi
- James
- Spain
- Kwong
- John
- Eric
- Benny
- Scott
- Darren
- Hash

Jono will be spreading the word of God so he won't be joining us. However, he will be attending the "CFN One last time" event after dinner.

See you there!

Marc, I dismantled the laptop to apply new thermal paste since I thought the old stuff should have dried out by now and hence ripe time for a new application.

Hash, I've still got 2 years of warranty on this thing. I am a little worried if and when I take it in, they might ask me what's this silver stuff on the CPU.. o.O

Anyone interested in the Law Revue? I think I am going to the show on the 25th. $10 per ticket as usual. This time, aside from all the lame penis jokes, you can also laugh at Robin with me! :)

lol - I hope the warranty has expired for that Yi.
If not i'd like to link the flikr page to ur friendly fugitsu warranty provider.

Friend's easter trip to Tasmania's Federation Peak

Other favourites:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Maximum is 1280x1024, just make sure the ratio is correct though.

Why dismantle for?

My laptop for your viewing pleasure.

If anyone needs to dismantle a Fujitsu S7010 in the future, I am the man to do the job!

Hmm I don't like how Flickr doesn't keep your original image size.. maximum of 1024 is just so limited. :(

Whats the go on soccer tomorrow?

I want to thank everyone on a great soccer day, and an even better couple of star 3v3's!! Just when you think its over...

but yeh, much <3 everyone and more soccer next weekend, if not tomorrow.

Before you know it Alexis will be singing Four Seasons:

Oh what a night, late December back in '63...

The van challenge, john. King quote: Richard really did have a size problem...and his van was pretty small as well.

Anyone up for Sunday soccer?

We can use some of the orsome skill sets displayd on Miami Vice

I just had a microsleep....

I think she is too Asian for me Jono but on Monday I will sort it out...

What a night....

LOL@ caravan. That was faked I reckon...

They were using the cookbook that James has.

Soccer, sunny weather, Saturday mornings, let's go! Details on Wiki bulletin at left.

Kwong - wanna come to watch the biplanes aerobatic display at Manly Beach at about 12:30pm or 1:00pm Saturday?

Also for anyone who may want to get some outdoors gear, we're having another club gear sale night at Activate Outdoors in Town Hall (where I used to work) on Wednesday night (16th) at 6pm.

You can get like hiking packs, sleeping mats, dry bags, all assortments of outdoors gear at big big discounts (30-40% or more I think)
More details here
I'm going to check it out, Yi also came last time and bought packs, mats, pants and stuff. :) They also had a freebie last time; they gave everyone who attended a good medium size drybag, which was very cool and useful (normally about $11-14)

Spain is interested as well.
so is it ct or eastgardens

Would love to join you guys and watch Miami Vice, but it's my dad's birthday today so tonight is out.

haha I was going to vote for 6:30 east gardens session, and we could grab a bite to eat say up at Randwick Thai or Indian, or Kingsford Chinese. But yeah either way.

Will meet you guys outside mech eng at 5.

Eric - lift back should be fine.
Hash - that's fine. If you catch the 10:05 train then catch that; sleep in a bit, I can wait 5 mins I suppose :) But yeah earlier is better. either way just let me know.

Also everyone it's National Engineering Week so this Sat at Manly Beach there's an aerobatics performance with a few bi planes; flyover happens around 1pm. Wanna catch it after soccer?

I will try to meet up with u guys at 5 or so outside mech.eng.

If a majority of ppl want to go to 5.50 I can make that screening.

Also down for Soccer on Sat.
Jono can I get a lift? - I will be arriving at Central at either 9:35 or 10:05 - i'll give a call if its gonna be the latter.

Not that you want ice cream right, Alexis? :)

Phone died on me Jono sorry.

Well it can either be at:

Eastgardens at 6.30pm
City at 5.50pm, 6.40pm

Eastgardens is cheaper. The problem if I recall is that there was lack of places to eat when we went to watch MI3. 5.50 at the city might be pushing it for reasons ranging from the fact that Hash finishes a bit later than five and the lack of a parking spot near the cinemas - seeing how it is Friday night. 6.40 not only gives you more than enough time to find suitable parking but we could have an early dinner and afterwads we could head for ice cream.

I nominate the 6.40 session... of course the decision sways on majority choosing....

Or else we could all meet outside the mech building at 5 and then decide...

EDIT: Jono, is it ok for me to hitch a ride off you at central TO the place? FOund out that my sister doesn't have tuition on Saturday...Thanks.

I can pick up from CFN. Same time as last time, 9:50-10:00am OUTSIDE CFN. Rock on, see you all there!

Add yourself to the list on the left if you can come.

Alexis - What time are we watching Miami Vice and where? I very much need to know, to see if (a) I can make it and (b) where I can park, if it's held in the city.
I tried calling you at 6:15pm but couldn't get through.

Soccer on Saturday is on
the weather is fine.

We have quite a few people going so attend it's at 10:30am at Centennial Park just before the intersection of Dickens Dr and Loch Av

Spain, Jono, me, Joel (friend of Anthony's)

Maybe: Eric, James, Anthony, Hash

Jono might be picking people up at CFN again so yeah I'll wait on him

Good to have you back James.

So are we all down for watching Miami Vice this Friday after 5pm sometime? Kwong? James? everyone?

Did you have times/location confirmed Alexis? ie definitely city, or east gardens?

Soccer on weekend sounds good. Starting roughly on time also sounds good.

Woot! Sunday morning 11am soccer, central park? This time i think i'll say " I ReALLY MEAN 11AM YOU GRONKS!!!"

Marc,
Regarding north WA, see Wolf Creek. XD

I'm back folks. Free on weekend for soccer et al.

Marc, that really sucks! Not to rub it in or anything, but I didn't hold my license for 10 years last time when I had my accident. I was at fault and was issued a ticket because I smacked into his rear. Though the insurance company decided that both of us were at fault, I still copped the ticket/fine. However, I appealed on the grounds of it being my first offence, and being students..can't pay fine..blah blah blah, they let me off without demerit pts, and reduce the fees to about a hundred excluding court fees. Though I was charged with neg driving.

Too many 3D animated features with no real content or substance lately.

Hey guys,

For those of you who uses flickr, can you actually find out what my email is? I can't seem to log in to my account. I think i've forgotten which email i used...

8am dota - who's up for it?

Sorry to hear about that Marc.

Highly addictive.

On appeal (grounds of leniency for first-time offence) for running a red:

Using strict guidelines we considered the issues you raised and have concluded that the penalty must stand. We can only consider a caution for traffic offences if the driver has held a clear driving record for the past 10 years. We cannot issue a caution in this case because you have not held a driver's licence for this time.

Contrition did not work, Jono, but it was worth a shot I guess. I knew I should have gone guns ablazing! I'm too tired, will sleep and see how I feel about it tomorrow.

Homo games of dota, should have done team reshuffle. Yi and Benny, the two least experienced players on the same team, what on earth was I thinking? Anyways, you two fought valiantly. When you two get godly, we'll come back with a vengence.

now if it ran off a nuclear fusion core reactor, that would be something to see

That mechwarrior was funny as because it looked so unstable. Also funny how cars just drive past without slowing down or giving it a second look.

Crazy japs at it again. Transfomers! and real life Catapult from Mechwarrior.

What a truck and remember to treat a photocopier with respect!

Soccer tomorrow 11am at Central park.

We'll call it on. If it's raining then or too wet, we can go grab lunch, watch a movie, go CFN or grab Gloria Jeans or something.

If it's definitely off, say it's pouring at 10am, then I'll post it up here by then.

This is just too funny. Guns & Morons

Awesome ad

How is half of this possible? Amazing. Get at least to the 1.5 minute mark then you'll see

count me in if anything is organized

I think 1. lateness of planning and 2. weather will conspire against us. I'm down though as long as im home fairly early, I can't keep Julian up he's starting trials monday.

Isa soccer redo for Sunday still happening?

A pity about soccer today, with it not being on on account of it raining and all.. Weather permitting, I will be able to play next saturday.

Northern part of WA.. isn't that where Wolf Creek is?

Darren - after my passport is renewed.. no plans for the summer holidays.

Was talking about it to my parents last night and I haven't come to a solid conclusion which is a bit disappointing so far because I only started working to save up cash for it. Depending on how things turn out, I may have to forgo the end of year trip to undertake College of Law because if I start work early next year I may not have an opportunity to complete the practical part of admission (75 days).

Kilimanjaro is out of the question for me. I lack the physical prowess of Jono (not to mention the physical motivation) to keep up.

Charlie, Alexis, the guide, has not yet given a definitive response as to whether he is going to SA. I've only a mild interest in going (as well as risk factors associated with going Brazil I have heard - City of God/Men?).

If given the choice between SA and Contiki I would incline to Contiki. Problem is if we do Western Europe, then I've done a lot of it already so I would be less inclined to follow a Tour (not that I know a lot about Europe) and I'd rather wing it if its cheaper. Last time I went with my aunt on a Trafalgar tour (mainly for families and oldies) and I only had 13 days to do much of the venues on the Contiki tour so it won't be wasted if I go to Europe again provided I have enough autonomy. Bonus: I could leech off my cousins in London XD

Alternatively I've always been interested in the Northern part of WA and would definatlely go exploring there in the future, but you guys want to get away from Australia at the end of year right?

I need some pick-ups from central at 10:02 am plzzzzzz

Hash - Sri Lanka !!!!

(then India so I can do cheap MCSE tests)

haha sounds awesome Yi.

So we will assume Soccer is on unless it is absolutely pouring in the morning at 9am ish?

Charlie = South America
Jono = Kilimanjaro

Anything else going down this summer holidays?

Anyone interested in a Europe Contiki?

Simple statement should solve all your weather problems.

"Storm, Earth and Fire heed my call!"

Though you made need to have green skin to make it work

Yeah Charlie, also getting mixed reports from weather.com.au and BOM weather
But if it's only light rain, they play anyway. Heavy rain or hail they may call it off. From what I've heard.

This jet uses wing-tip vortex to divert thrust

Is that supposed to mean anything to me? All I'm interested in is how do I apply that in BF2?

Ong Bak was ages ago. I affectionately remember feeling really sick on the aeroplane and at Tokyo airport in transit from Europe and watching that movie in bits and pieces going back home. Their fighting style is a lot dirtier, no bars held and they enjoy showing the breakage of limbs.

Weather looks bleak for tomorrow.

The new Jackie Chan? This guy was in Ong Bak, a Thai boxing movie. It had some of the most original stunts I've seen. Here's a high definition trailer.

Cars, fast cars, and very fast cars.

Then some airplanes
More airplanes

And a stupidly fast gun reload

Good to see people keen for some Russian soccer on Sat morning. :)

Kick off occurs around 10:15am.

We play in Centennial park, just before the intersection of Dickens Dr and Loch Av. I'll be driving and will be picking up Darren from Central OUTSIDE CFN between 9:50 - 10:00am. Go there then if you want a lift.

Otherwise, you can easily whereis.com.au it. :)
If you have them, bring shinpads and/or boots.

GAME ON!

PS Benny, Indoor is confirmed. I've paid for the team. game on next tuesday!

You get an HD for dota. All other academic pursuits are irrelevant in this light.

Started watching top gear 8x06. Its only slightly more contrived than the usual episode but I'm more concerned about the pace of the episode. Its way too fast to enjoy.

Jono - I have the best deal for you if you r feeling lonely coz of no company at home.

I call it - PeZ SwAp.

We swap parents for a trial period of 22 years.
You can come home to my mum's bomb home-made cooking (absolutely orsome).

I can ... not come home at all (sweet freeedom).

Eric - I can give u the number and you can book it. I think I might be busy trying to scramble for thesis and postgrad apps.
Rite now i am having a really hard time trying to con my way into a schol with sub-par results and no viable skills (got lots of skillz but they dun count).
So I have to bet it all on the aiming for 90 thesis.

Lolz @ the US. My friend Hai will definitely be happy about the highly regarded Acura/Honda integra being the "highly sought" after in the black market. But, what is with the fascination of Integras when you can go one better with s2ks or the NSW?? I just don't get the yanks sometimes...

Bloody integra fan boys

Yea at least when my sister left I was living it up coz I still had parents to cook stuff XD

Now not the case, I'm getting caged again...

It feels weird at first (I used to leave the TV on) but you get used to an empty house kinda soon.

Thanks John!

So my brother is going to China for a month in September and a minimum of 6 months early next year to set up some business ideas. One of them is, coincidentally, to help a friend set up an Italian restaurant in China (not Beijing or Shangai).

He's just booked the ticket for the September portion, Sep 7 to Oct 5.

A year or more ago, I would have thought, "Sweet! I get the house and car(s) to myself, I can invite friends over, don't have to worry about coming home or whatever, I can do the laundry every 2 weeks instead of every week" and so on.

Now, it feels crap. I'll miss prepared, home cooked meals, and just having someone else in the house. Someone to share at least some of the housework with.

I guess it's compounded purely because he'll be going away for a minimum half a year next year, and since I'll be the only one living here, my parents want to buy an apartment somewhere for me to live in (after I come back in March from my round-the-world trip). This is so we can rent the North Sydney house out for like $600 or more a week. Which is understandable, but sucks, because this year I finally feel like this place is becoming home, 7 years after I first moved in. It always takes me a long time to call a place home though.

Will have to start cooking my own home cooked meals possibly on a very permanent basis once he leaves next year, then you get married etc or whatever and it'll never stop! He mentioned to me a while ago that he is quite likely to marry his current girlfriend at some point in the future, which means there's every chance we may not live together again from next year. I'm really going to miss these times.

Somehow, I was always under the false sense of security that these times of living with family would never end. I really appreciate them now.

Depressing!

jono's water bottle has been found.

Guys, is it ok if i ask my uni friends to come along to the saturday thing as well? Since Sat soccer will be my only sport, guess i'll just need to get fit there...lolz. Also, anyone wanna play tennis afta that? If so, Hash, mind booking again?

Hey guys, I've misplaced my Germany 2006 World Cup water bottle (sorry Charlie, the one you gave me recently). It's black, and I had it in John's car (shotgun seat) on the return from RNP. So it's definitely in Sydney.

I recall putting it on the floor of the front passenger seat while sitting in his car but don't recall taking it out. Has anyone seen it by any chance?

I've checked my car, my bags etc. John, sorry to bug you about this; I'm guessing you combed the car fairly finely, but just to confirm, you did check the floor right?

There's every possibility I left it between our two cars at Central after we returned to Sydney...seems unlikely though. Grrr

Thanks guysssss
Jono

Well
I may be down for indoor soccer if there are places on the team.

Don't you regret not playing dota (or any PC game ftm) now Alexis?

*EDIT*
Dota 6.35 is out, there are some changes, not massive.

e.g. they gave NS more strength ....

its cool man, thanks for checking all that up for me. Elitist bastards! But yeh, I might pop around to unsw sometime and play some casual soccer with you, in the meantime is anyone doing anything on the weekend? Feel like some soccer on sunday/cfn?

Sorry Spain, ignore that last message, regarding the costs. I just received this email from Sophie Wilson at the SA:

Hi Jonathan,

Unfortunatley because of insurance reasons we can only let UNSW students and staff members play.

Hope you still would like to partcipate.

:)

Thanks
Sophie

Which is odd, because I thought SA membership would be fine...bah

Spain - not so good news on your front for joining soccer. Spoke to the Sports Association, and you'll need to join the SA to play (insurance etc). Since you're no longer a student (of even an alternate university), it would cost, as far as I'm aware, a somewhat preposterous $125 just to join the SA as an Associate Member, then the additional $20 to join the team. This is a bit crap, and membership would expire in March next year, since all memberships expire each year in March regardless of when you join. So I'd completely understand if you're not so keen to join the indoor team. There are heaps of other opportunities to play at UNSW, we play outdoors Tues 1-2, Tues 4-6, Thur 1-2, Fri 12-1, and Fri 1-3 (yeah...I can play up to 5 times a week this session). Let me know if you'd be keen on that.

On another note - Benny, we're confirmed for Tuesday 12-1. We were going to change it to Wednesday but 1-2 of our team members can't make Wed. Is Tues 12-1 okay for you? I do recall it's your day off.

Also, it turns out we need 2 girls on our team (not 1) to classify as a mixed team. So I recruited another girl.

Please let me know if you're all good to play, thanks dude!

I remember screaming at you, but never saying "LOL".

Especially when I said "Plz tell me its not what I think it is...you f**king retard, I told you not to use the chicken! I told you this would happen!" - Me addressing Spain when he lost a Reaver (very expensive item) to the other team because he purchased it with a chicken.

Extremely not funny when someone brainfarts...lol

If its pudge, you always dance to counter hook. Same thing with keeper of the light. Once his shockwave spell gets sufficiently high, the casting time gives you heaps of time to get out of the way :p

mangs's! Seriously there is something about the mechanics of Dota that make it a very addictive game, very similar to cs in some regards.

Firstly it is eary to play and master, like CS, there aren't complicated commands and singleplayer skills to learn, so you can play it solo without too much stress. Secondly even more than CS it lends itself to teamplay since the solo play is simplistic, and because of differing hero types having synergies in survival and ganking.

All in all I just want to say you haters are missing out on a fun little game, which although much less deep than star etc, is nonetheless a good bit of enjoyment. Especially with friends screaming at each other across cfn "OMG RUN YOU FUCKING NUB HE'S GONNA HOOK YOU" "DUDE WHY DIDNT YOU HELP ME LOL?".

How is that you know or even find all these things?!

Hmm, depending on budgeting and how ebay goes, I am considering getting this. Won't sell my Olympus though because the 10x zoom has proven itself useful - thank you kookaburra :)