So here I am, finally crawling out of the clutches of the dreaded flu bug that's been plaguing me the last week.
I have this theory: On average, I fall really sick about twice a year.
So counting this and the time back in January when Steph and Simon came to Singapore to visit and infected me with some pommie superbug from their England trip, I reckon I have reached my annual quota of great illnesses. If we assume that the past is a good predictor of the future, I'll be bullet-proof for the remainder of 2007!
Its almost midnight and I'm still slightly drunk. Was out earlier this evening for an informal catch up between my manager and the few of us Accenture folk working on this project. This was also a sneaky attempt by said manager running us through our annual performance objectives; what better way to do that than over dinner and drinks. I boldly suggested the european bier cafe across the road from our new office building on the posh end of Collins St and it was brilliant to break my 2 month abstinence from alcholol on Erdinger Weißbier Dunkel and Hoegaarden!!
2 more work days to go, I head up to Falls Creek this Friday for a 3 day weekend to have a go at snowboarding!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Sickie weekend
I've been feeling kinda sick this weekend, it must have been all those late nights and long days while travelling up to Brissy. Saturday was good enough to head out for a late 1pm breakfast at the South Melb markets with Steph and Simon.
I somehow made it to the gym for a good workout later in the afternoon before it started going downhill Saturday night and now I'm nursing a sore throat and body aches. =(
No matter, best way to get over any sickness is to distract yourself doing something else: So I spent all Sunday tinkering around on my PC.
Remember a couple of weeks back I was writing about experimenting with non-window$ based operating systems?
I finally did get down to giving Ubuntu a shot and almost drove myself to the edge of madness in the process.
Long story short: It is working now, and yes it was really fucking difficult to set up my wireless Internet connection on this damm thing (because yours truly had to use the top of the line WPA2 encryption). Not to mention sound, video and everything else.
I could almost pick up drinking again because of the stress involved in this.
.... but that's all sorted out now.... thankfully!
Here's some screenshots of how it looks. For normal web surfing, listening to music, chatting on messenger and stuff, it runs sweet and is stable as a rock. Not to mention it has a pretty slick interface.
Pretty much the default theme with a cool wallpaper in the background. Everything that I could do in WindowsXP, I can do here too now.
I'm running a music player called Amarok here, you can see the house channel from Digitally Imported running in the background and it even remembers and keeps a list of track titles and the times they were streamed.
I somehow made it to the gym for a good workout later in the afternoon before it started going downhill Saturday night and now I'm nursing a sore throat and body aches. =(
No matter, best way to get over any sickness is to distract yourself doing something else: So I spent all Sunday tinkering around on my PC.
Remember a couple of weeks back I was writing about experimenting with non-window$ based operating systems?
I finally did get down to giving Ubuntu a shot and almost drove myself to the edge of madness in the process.
Long story short: It is working now, and yes it was really fucking difficult to set up my wireless Internet connection on this damm thing (because yours truly had to use the top of the line WPA2 encryption). Not to mention sound, video and everything else.
I could almost pick up drinking again because of the stress involved in this.
.... but that's all sorted out now.... thankfully!
Here's some screenshots of how it looks. For normal web surfing, listening to music, chatting on messenger and stuff, it runs sweet and is stable as a rock. Not to mention it has a pretty slick interface.
Pretty much the default theme with a cool wallpaper in the background. Everything that I could do in WindowsXP, I can do here too now.
I'm running a music player called Amarok here, you can see the house channel from Digitally Imported running in the background and it even remembers and keeps a list of track titles and the times they were streamed.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Getting answers
Its been a hectic week for me.
Monday and Tuesday was burning it hard with 10-11 hr days at the office to finish my functional designs so that the developers up in Brisbane can start their technical work.
I made another trip up to Brisbane on Wednesday morning, it was pretty tough trying to stay awake after catching the 7am flight. Apparently it was a public holiday in Brisbane but we got the developers working through it.
This time round I was a one man road show coming up here, armed with only my laptop and trusty Analogue PDA (Notepad and pen) =)
It was good to finally meet development team face to face, since we've only spoken on the phone and through the email the past couple of weeks.
These are the guys who are going to be writing the data migration software based on the rules and designs I came up with from all the work done in the last 2 months. This is outsourcing at its best, seeing that they're migrated over from our various offices in India for the duration of this project.
The good:
The Indian team were great fun to hang out and work with.
Walking by myself up to the company we bought over to sit down with one of their programmers and getting all my important questions answered.
Room service food was yummy.
Fitness First on Adelaide St has a nice basement weights area which is a sweaty 4 wall dungeon filled with heavy weights.
The bad:
Getting hooked up at the Grand Chancellor hotel (again).
It ain't grand. In fact, it looks like it was built in the 70s.
Think porn movie set when you look at the raunchy red leopard print bedspread which matches the drab red carpets.
Situated on top of the tallest and steepest hill overlooking the city, you'd think it was an Everest expedition trying to walk up here.
At least the service was good, I helped myself to a cup of peppermint tea last night.
When I got back to the room this evening, sure enough the cups were cleaned etc, but the maid left a mug out next to the kettle with a peppermint teabag on top. Its little thoughtful gestures like this that really make my day! =)
Off to bed now.... So tired I can hardly keep my eyes open.
I can't wait to fly back to Melbourne tomorrow evening!
Monday and Tuesday was burning it hard with 10-11 hr days at the office to finish my functional designs so that the developers up in Brisbane can start their technical work.
I made another trip up to Brisbane on Wednesday morning, it was pretty tough trying to stay awake after catching the 7am flight. Apparently it was a public holiday in Brisbane but we got the developers working through it.
This time round I was a one man road show coming up here, armed with only my laptop and trusty Analogue PDA (Notepad and pen) =)
It was good to finally meet development team face to face, since we've only spoken on the phone and through the email the past couple of weeks.
These are the guys who are going to be writing the data migration software based on the rules and designs I came up with from all the work done in the last 2 months. This is outsourcing at its best, seeing that they're migrated over from our various offices in India for the duration of this project.
The good:
The Indian team were great fun to hang out and work with.
Walking by myself up to the company we bought over to sit down with one of their programmers and getting all my important questions answered.
Room service food was yummy.
Fitness First on Adelaide St has a nice basement weights area which is a sweaty 4 wall dungeon filled with heavy weights.
The bad:
Getting hooked up at the Grand Chancellor hotel (again).
It ain't grand. In fact, it looks like it was built in the 70s.
Think porn movie set when you look at the raunchy red leopard print bedspread which matches the drab red carpets.
Situated on top of the tallest and steepest hill overlooking the city, you'd think it was an Everest expedition trying to walk up here.
At least the service was good, I helped myself to a cup of peppermint tea last night.
When I got back to the room this evening, sure enough the cups were cleaned etc, but the maid left a mug out next to the kettle with a peppermint teabag on top. Its little thoughtful gestures like this that really make my day! =)
Off to bed now.... So tired I can hardly keep my eyes open.
I can't wait to fly back to Melbourne tomorrow evening!
Friday, August 10, 2007
So it was an acronym after all
A brilliant thing happened this morning; I got to the office building only to find everyone locked out from our floors. Apparently there was a burst water pipe on the 32nd floor and water was seeping into the floors below which posed an electrical hazard.
I waited around the lobby and talked shit with some colleagues while building management allowed small groups of us to use the goods lift under supervision of a safety warden to go to our floors to collect any valuables. The 27th floor where I worked looked fine except for the desks near the windows where water was raining down from the ceiling boards. Too bad I didn't bring my camera today to take some snaps.
I retrieved my laptop and am now working remotely from a couch facing the window with an awesome view from the Accenture offices below. Its amazing what you can do with wireless networking and remote access passes. =)
Remember back in this post I was bitching about the stupid names that IT people give their systems? Apparently FROG did stand for something: Feedback Register for Organisational Growth. Yep, of course it sounds perfectly logical......
The funny thing was that nobody on our project knew what it stood for the last 7 months.
I waited around the lobby and talked shit with some colleagues while building management allowed small groups of us to use the goods lift under supervision of a safety warden to go to our floors to collect any valuables. The 27th floor where I worked looked fine except for the desks near the windows where water was raining down from the ceiling boards. Too bad I didn't bring my camera today to take some snaps.
I retrieved my laptop and am now working remotely from a couch facing the window with an awesome view from the Accenture offices below. Its amazing what you can do with wireless networking and remote access passes. =)
Remember back in this post I was bitching about the stupid names that IT people give their systems? Apparently FROG did stand for something: Feedback Register for Organisational Growth. Yep, of course it sounds perfectly logical......
The funny thing was that nobody on our project knew what it stood for the last 7 months.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Badass Greek Burgers
Mention a hamburger and we'd normally associate it with the revolting dog crap served at fast food joints like McDonald's or Hungry Jacks (Burger King equivalent for those of you outside of Oz). Thanks to Morgan Spurlock's journey in the incredible documentary Super Size Me, I have since sworn never to eat another burger from the golden arches again. Even if I were trapped on a desert island and the last item of sustenance available was a happy meal, I'd rather eat sand.
However, there is nothing more satisfying than creating your own burger from scratch.
Here's a hunky & sexy creation of mine I did this evening in under an hour: Hamburger with a Greek styled influence.
Ingredients:
1kg very lean minced beef (I get mine exclusively from South Melbourne Meats; Shop 32, South Melbourne markets as they only use the leanest cuts of beef and grind it fresh at the store)
150g sliced black olives
2 red chillies, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
200g Greek Feta cheese
Handful of chopped parsley
Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Combine all the above in a VERY large bowl until well mixed and shape them into 4-6 patties depending on how big you want your burgers to be.
Me? I made 4 patties from the above and yes I like my burgers to be of ridiculously large proportions. =)
Slap these babies on the grill and cook to desired done'ness
While the burgers are cooking, I rustled up some greens on the side by slicing some cool and crunchy continental cucumbers and sweet vine ripened tomatoes. A quick toss with some leftover Feta and Olives, add a splash of Extra Virgin and a dash of salt and pepper.
and voila!
Nothing beats the simplicity and elegance of a home cooked meal. Bon Appetit!
However, there is nothing more satisfying than creating your own burger from scratch.
Here's a hunky & sexy creation of mine I did this evening in under an hour: Hamburger with a Greek styled influence.
Ingredients:
1kg very lean minced beef (I get mine exclusively from South Melbourne Meats; Shop 32, South Melbourne markets as they only use the leanest cuts of beef and grind it fresh at the store)
150g sliced black olives
2 red chillies, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
200g Greek Feta cheese
Handful of chopped parsley
Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Combine all the above in a VERY large bowl until well mixed and shape them into 4-6 patties depending on how big you want your burgers to be.
Me? I made 4 patties from the above and yes I like my burgers to be of ridiculously large proportions. =)
Slap these babies on the grill and cook to desired done'ness
While the burgers are cooking, I rustled up some greens on the side by slicing some cool and crunchy continental cucumbers and sweet vine ripened tomatoes. A quick toss with some leftover Feta and Olives, add a splash of Extra Virgin and a dash of salt and pepper.
and voila!
Nothing beats the simplicity and elegance of a home cooked meal. Bon Appetit!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Boring boring boring
Cheese and Wine session at Katie and Chops' place was fun earlier this evening.
After knowing them for more than a year, we finally meet up outside of a clubbing environment!
I met Katie in the weirdest of ways a year and a half back when I was standing at the door of the Seven nightclub in South Melbourne for a 9hr Stacey Pullen gig. Katie was the unfortunate one standing in between the club doors and was nice enough to hold them open for people walking in and out while still in the queue herself. I complimented her on that and the rest is history as we just didn't really stop yakking since then.
I love these random friendships that just happen out of statistically improbable odds. =)
So I did end up popping my head into Sunny.
For a very brief 2 hrs.
In that time I was wandering around in the dark, I bumped into my mad wog gym buddy, Milan and his crew. Was good to catch up with these massive blokes and his brother, Dragon.
I also bumped into Ben, an old friend I used to roll out to parties with and haven't seen in almost a year now.
However, as predicted, the music was boring as bat shit all thanks to Phil K.
Anthony Pappa did have some good moments up his sleeve but apart from that, it was all the weird break beat broken record broken rhythm minimal tech click zip zap wank fest sound served with a side order of boredom.
The vibe from the crowd was kinda off too tonight, definitely no love was felt when a fight broke out between 2 group of drunk retards on the floor around 3am.
I've been to enough bad nights to know when one is not really gonna improve and knew it was time to cut your losses and make a tactical retreat home.
Said my goodbyes to a few people and in 25mins here I am sitting at home, showered and changed, listening to nice grooves in the background of my room thanks to Ricardo Torres whom I reckon plays pretty awesome house.
Visit his site to download some great mixes.
http://ricardotorres.net/mixes/mixes.html
Dance music for adults. =)
Good night.
After knowing them for more than a year, we finally meet up outside of a clubbing environment!
I met Katie in the weirdest of ways a year and a half back when I was standing at the door of the Seven nightclub in South Melbourne for a 9hr Stacey Pullen gig. Katie was the unfortunate one standing in between the club doors and was nice enough to hold them open for people walking in and out while still in the queue herself. I complimented her on that and the rest is history as we just didn't really stop yakking since then.
I love these random friendships that just happen out of statistically improbable odds. =)
So I did end up popping my head into Sunny.
For a very brief 2 hrs.
In that time I was wandering around in the dark, I bumped into my mad wog gym buddy, Milan and his crew. Was good to catch up with these massive blokes and his brother, Dragon.
I also bumped into Ben, an old friend I used to roll out to parties with and haven't seen in almost a year now.
However, as predicted, the music was boring as bat shit all thanks to Phil K.
Anthony Pappa did have some good moments up his sleeve but apart from that, it was all the weird break beat broken record broken rhythm minimal tech click zip zap wank fest sound served with a side order of boredom.
The vibe from the crowd was kinda off too tonight, definitely no love was felt when a fight broke out between 2 group of drunk retards on the floor around 3am.
I've been to enough bad nights to know when one is not really gonna improve and knew it was time to cut your losses and make a tactical retreat home.
Said my goodbyes to a few people and in 25mins here I am sitting at home, showered and changed, listening to nice grooves in the background of my room thanks to Ricardo Torres whom I reckon plays pretty awesome house.
Visit his site to download some great mixes.
http://ricardotorres.net/mixes/mixes.html
Dance music for adults. =)
Good night.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Jungle Night !
Bring it on!
The fantastic crew at Sunny has yet once again outdone themselves!
2 weeks ago we had 5hrs of Anthony Pappa, this time they've got him back for another round playing back to back with Phil K!
Andy is very very tempted to go and misbehave badly again come Saturday night...... with or without usual group of clubbing friends (they're just soft-cocks and haven't recovered enough from the last outing)
Admittedly, I seriously hate Phil K's DJ'ing style, as he tends to get too experimental with the sound and at times it seems like he's playing just to himself. Seriously, why bother clubbing when the music seriously isn't that fun to listen to and wannabe dance music aficionado posers are just having a chin stroke about how eceletic-minimal-space-negative space-white sound-black noise and all the bullshit in between to describe weird music that sounds like breaking glass and electric clicks? Sounds like a wank fest to me.
Screw that, dance music to me is all about the emotions that get invoked just by the combination of baselines, rhythms and layers of complementary sound. You know you're listening to a good tune when in the absence of any external chemical assistance, you're brain is already rewarding you with good feelings just from that tune alone.
If the Victorian government has ever done something right, it is passing the new legislation on 1 July 2007 that bans smoking inside all indoor venues. Victoria now joins the list of countries with smoking bans.
Hurrah!
No more coming home after clubbing at 7am in the morning smelling like cancer.
No more getting burnt on the dance floor because some fuck wit was waving a ciggie around.
Now back to the dilemma at hand. To misbehave on Sat night or not to misbehave? I'll be catching up with Katie and Chops for a cheese & wine session at their house in the evening. Will play it by ear and see where the night takes me after that. =)
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
My Cracked Tooth
I've had 2 cracked crowns replaced today.
I broke my 2 front teeth way back in 1992 while my bike ploughed head first into an open storm drain, launching me head first into the concrete pavement. (when your a kid, speed and safety is not a factor in your mind until you first feel real pain) I pulled myself up from the pavement and opened my mouth to see bits of broken teeth falling like white Chiclets from my mouth along with a fountain of blood. Not a pretty sight.
I had them crowned a couple of years back and the dentist did a fantastic job manufacturing the teeth out of ceramic and got the shading just perfect. However, with wear and tear all things eventually break down.
What started as a hairline fracture eventually spread and became a crack the size of the grand canyon across one tooth!
Think I'm exaggerating? Have a look at this: This shot was taken before I ran off to work this morning. (I just discovered the cool macro function in my digital camera and am loving these close ups)
You can see that apart from the grand canyon on the right, a faint but visible San Andrea's fault has started to zig-zag across the bottom half of the tooth on the left.
The damage to the wallet? A whopping $3300! Of which I claimed $800 back from my private health insurance plan. Fuck. $2500 is going to make my credit card and wallet feel the pain long after the problem is gone. Double Fuck!
Well, the fun part at the dentist today was getting a massive injection into each tooth (yes, i'm a sick bastard sometimes).
Loved that feeling when my nose and the front of my face went numb and I was on the brink of la la land before he started filling the broken crown down and taking a mould for a replacement.
I've got a temporary crown in place until the dental labs manufacture the crowns in 3 weeks time. It hurts like hell now and I look hideous with this bugs bunny like crap stuck on my front teeth!
Grrrr...... Andy isn't very happy!
I broke my 2 front teeth way back in 1992 while my bike ploughed head first into an open storm drain, launching me head first into the concrete pavement. (when your a kid, speed and safety is not a factor in your mind until you first feel real pain) I pulled myself up from the pavement and opened my mouth to see bits of broken teeth falling like white Chiclets from my mouth along with a fountain of blood. Not a pretty sight.
I had them crowned a couple of years back and the dentist did a fantastic job manufacturing the teeth out of ceramic and got the shading just perfect. However, with wear and tear all things eventually break down.
What started as a hairline fracture eventually spread and became a crack the size of the grand canyon across one tooth!
Think I'm exaggerating? Have a look at this: This shot was taken before I ran off to work this morning. (I just discovered the cool macro function in my digital camera and am loving these close ups)
You can see that apart from the grand canyon on the right, a faint but visible San Andrea's fault has started to zig-zag across the bottom half of the tooth on the left.
The damage to the wallet? A whopping $3300! Of which I claimed $800 back from my private health insurance plan. Fuck. $2500 is going to make my credit card and wallet feel the pain long after the problem is gone. Double Fuck!
Well, the fun part at the dentist today was getting a massive injection into each tooth (yes, i'm a sick bastard sometimes).
Loved that feeling when my nose and the front of my face went numb and I was on the brink of la la land before he started filling the broken crown down and taking a mould for a replacement.
I've got a temporary crown in place until the dental labs manufacture the crowns in 3 weeks time. It hurts like hell now and I look hideous with this bugs bunny like crap stuck on my front teeth!
Grrrr...... Andy isn't very happy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
