Here are a few shots.
Lauren and her boyfriend Cory
Kasey and Steve getting along :)
Steve and Peter
Monday, November 24, 2008
Weekend Cricket
Last weekend we went to the cricket with Kasey's dad and siblings. It was a lot of fun, nice and relaxed watching the cricket :)
Here are a few shots.
Lauren and her boyfriend Cory
Kasey and Steve getting along :)
Steve and Peter
Here are a few shots.
Lauren and her boyfriend Cory
Kasey and Steve getting along :)
Steve and Peter
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Law Society Big-To-Do
Last night Kasey and I went to the Law Society Ball here in Brisbane. For family and friends who wanted to see our swanky outfits here are the photos
Kasey and Justine
Jusstine (left) Kasey and Gina (Right)
Kasey, Justice Kirby, Chris
Kasey and I :)
Check out the flash!
End on a good note :D
IT was a lot of fun and the speeches were excellent. Plus all the free grog you can pour down your gullet! I am paying for it today though. All and all well worth it.
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Kasey and Justine
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Jusstine (left) Kasey and Gina (Right)
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Kasey, Justice Kirby, Chris
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Kasey and I :)
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Check out the flash!
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End on a good note :D
IT was a lot of fun and the speeches were excellent. Plus all the free grog you can pour down your gullet! I am paying for it today though. All and all well worth it.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Too many projects
Not sure if other people feel this way but I have soooo many small and major projects going on at the same time I never seem to complete any on time (my time frame).
I do my day job but what about the evenings? Do I spend them painting my war gaming figures? Programming online geek tools for D&D? Levelling my character(s) in warhammer? Or getting those plants in the ground that we bought ages ago, or have been grown by seed? Or should I be working out?
It is funny. At work I have this same problem but I organise myself, at home it all goes out the window! At work I use Freemind (google it) to organise my projects and time, it was also used to time the wedding tasks etc. I do have one for home but I never open it ;-)
Ahh well - that’s life.
At least I finished my linux server! (See post below).
I do my day job but what about the evenings? Do I spend them painting my war gaming figures? Programming online geek tools for D&D? Levelling my character(s) in warhammer? Or getting those plants in the ground that we bought ages ago, or have been grown by seed? Or should I be working out?
It is funny. At work I have this same problem but I organise myself, at home it all goes out the window! At work I use Freemind (google it) to organise my projects and time, it was also used to time the wedding tasks etc. I do have one for home but I never open it ;-)
Ahh well - that’s life.
At least I finished my linux server! (See post below).
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Damn the man!
It has been a long long time since I have posted but I hope to have a few more things to write about these days.
Lately I have been on a quest to damn the man! Which means I am F'N tired of paying for shit because some monopoly forces us to. When I say paying for shit I mean MONEY or even worse MY TIME (which is worth way more then money :P ) The two big offenders?
Phone and TV
Both of these areas are full of big fat companies who make loads of cash exploiting you either by charging way too much for a simple service OR in the case of TV waisting your life away with commercials for shit I don't need to buy.
So! the quest has come up with a few treasures.
The first to get the boot is the phone company. We got a new service called Naked ADSL which is a new ADSL style that does not require an activated phone line! :D So you call the phone company and tell them to go drown themselves. Next you contract for your Naked ADSL. They kindly provide you with ADSL over a phone line AND give you VoIP with a REAL phone number.
So we now have
* A real phone number
* Free calls anywhere in ozzie land
* No fk'n bill from the phone company :D
Next? TV
This was a little harder to crack. We recently bought a new computer to act as our linux server for home (Web proxy, DNS cache, file server, file download system, etc). So I installed the MythTV software which specializes in capturing TV and allowing you to setup recording times and the big kicker? It can "save space" by stripping out commercials!
So I went and spent 70$ on a HighDef TV capture card and set to work. After awhile of reading bad info on the net I finally got it all working! I am going to post up my solution later for others.
Now I can record, digital TV and HD TV which are free in ozzie land and all the commercials are being stripped out :D So we can watch shows now without all the crap!
TV 0$ a month!!
Damn the man! :D
Future work is to get these videos to play on the TV downstairs over the network. This isn't hard just need more equipment. I'll build a slick looking system that can do all kinds of playback. Blue-Ray, MythTV, Music, Etc etc.
Lately I have been on a quest to damn the man! Which means I am F'N tired of paying for shit because some monopoly forces us to. When I say paying for shit I mean MONEY or even worse MY TIME (which is worth way more then money :P ) The two big offenders?
Phone and TV
Both of these areas are full of big fat companies who make loads of cash exploiting you either by charging way too much for a simple service OR in the case of TV waisting your life away with commercials for shit I don't need to buy.
So! the quest has come up with a few treasures.
The first to get the boot is the phone company. We got a new service called Naked ADSL which is a new ADSL style that does not require an activated phone line! :D So you call the phone company and tell them to go drown themselves. Next you contract for your Naked ADSL. They kindly provide you with ADSL over a phone line AND give you VoIP with a REAL phone number.
So we now have
* A real phone number
* Free calls anywhere in ozzie land
* No fk'n bill from the phone company :D
Next? TV
This was a little harder to crack. We recently bought a new computer to act as our linux server for home (Web proxy, DNS cache, file server, file download system, etc). So I installed the MythTV software which specializes in capturing TV and allowing you to setup recording times and the big kicker? It can "save space" by stripping out commercials!
So I went and spent 70$ on a HighDef TV capture card and set to work. After awhile of reading bad info on the net I finally got it all working! I am going to post up my solution later for others.
Now I can record, digital TV and HD TV which are free in ozzie land and all the commercials are being stripped out :D So we can watch shows now without all the crap!
TV 0$ a month!!
Damn the man! :D
Future work is to get these videos to play on the TV downstairs over the network. This isn't hard just need more equipment. I'll build a slick looking system that can do all kinds of playback. Blue-Ray, MythTV, Music, Etc etc.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Traveling rock
In my old leather jacket (you know the ratty one I have had since I was 15) I felt something strange today in the liner. Maneuvering it to the hole in the liner I found it was a smooth round blue rock about the size of my thumb (I'll have to send it off to Eric for analysis :) )
And I started to think; Where did I get a rock in my jacket? This jacket has been with me everywhere I have gone. Could have come when I was sleeping in the park over night in Japan and used it as a pillow? Or camping when I didn't have a proper sleeping bag and used it to lay on between me and rocks? Or maybe coming off the BMX and hitting the pavement at some point.
Still - wonder where this rock came from and how long it has been with me? I think I'll put it back in the liner - just in case.
And I started to think; Where did I get a rock in my jacket? This jacket has been with me everywhere I have gone. Could have come when I was sleeping in the park over night in Japan and used it as a pillow? Or camping when I didn't have a proper sleeping bag and used it to lay on between me and rocks? Or maybe coming off the BMX and hitting the pavement at some point.
Still - wonder where this rock came from and how long it has been with me? I think I'll put it back in the liner - just in case.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Garden Plants
Here are some photos of our plants :)
Potato Plants - Two of them, they are massive!
New tomato plants, the potatoes help to shelter them.
Passion Fruit - Kasey and I built the lattice
Argentina Garlic - We found this sprouting at the farmers market put it in the planter and BAM
Cos Lettuces
Japanese Clumping Onion - Why not!
Ozzie Garlic
Shiso - Japanese herb
Tomato plants and Basil - They help keep bugs off each other
Our big tomato plant. Go punk go
Yellow Bell pepper / Capsicum - looks orange t0 me!
Little chili plant with a big chili! Hang on there champ
Habanero
Basil
Oregano
Thyme
New tomato plant - sheltered by the potatos
Mint - This punk started off as a bunch of mint from the supermarket, it grew like wildfire and then got a white fungus and just about died. Kasey cut it back to just sticks and we moved with it. For weeks we thought it was dead then BAM! It comes crawling out. Tough bastard. 2 years old and kicking.
Potato Plants - Two of them, they are massive!
New tomato plants, the potatoes help to shelter them.
Passion Fruit - Kasey and I built the lattice
Argentina Garlic - We found this sprouting at the farmers market put it in the planter and BAM
Cos Lettuces
Japanese Clumping Onion - Why not!
Ozzie Garlic
Shiso - Japanese herb
Tomato plants and Basil - They help keep bugs off each other
Our big tomato plant. Go punk go
Yellow Bell pepper / Capsicum - looks orange t0 me!
Little chili plant with a big chili! Hang on there champ
Habanero
Basil
Oregano
Thyme
New tomato plant - sheltered by the potatos
Mint - This punk started off as a bunch of mint from the supermarket, it grew like wildfire and then got a white fungus and just about died. Kasey cut it back to just sticks and we moved with it. For weeks we thought it was dead then BAM! It comes crawling out. Tough bastard. 2 years old and kicking.
Ozzie Hotel Room
We are having out first guests come stay with us, friends from here, so Kasey and myself (dragging my feet and muttering) bought a bed (large double! You lucky bastards), mattress, etc etc.
SO! We now have somewhere for people to stay :)
Please start booking in your trips / times and we'll send you a quote :D
If you can't afford to pay us we have plenty of work around the house to do ;-)
Who is first?!
SO! We now have somewhere for people to stay :)
Please start booking in your trips / times and we'll send you a quote :D
If you can't afford to pay us we have plenty of work around the house to do ;-)
Who is first?!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Lemons o moi
Well yesterday we scored a nice dwarfing lemon tree and planted it out front. Our soil is shit out there as it is mostly clay :-/ So digging the hole out we replaced a lot of it with compost and got the sucker in there!
We also scored a coffee tree! :D Woot. So that should be interesting. Still haven't planted that one yet.
The screens for the windows come in today (score) so the only thing left is the phone line and we are set.
Sub-note: Kasey's new computer should be built this weekend. Woot. The CPU, Memory, a few other bits showed up from USA (Thanks mom) and the other parts we will pickup this Friday when they arrive. Most notably is the 24" LCD of DOOM! Videos will come ;-)
Speaking of which. I did the videos for downstairs I am just lazy. Will post soon.
We also scored a coffee tree! :D Woot. So that should be interesting. Still haven't planted that one yet.
The screens for the windows come in today (score) so the only thing left is the phone line and we are set.
Sub-note: Kasey's new computer should be built this weekend. Woot. The CPU, Memory, a few other bits showed up from USA (Thanks mom) and the other parts we will pickup this Friday when they arrive. Most notably is the 24" LCD of DOOM! Videos will come ;-)
Speaking of which. I did the videos for downstairs I am just lazy. Will post soon.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
New style
Holas!
I think instead of witting these things like a massive update where I try and say all the big stuff that is happening I'll just spew on here about day to day stuff which will grab the big stuff just through brute force ;-)
So my new goal is to try and do one of these each day or at least every other day?
Comments help keep me motivated so if you like this crap then comment. If don't like or don't care then don't comment and I'll prob loose interest in this new idea soon hehe.
I won't talk about work though as people get nailed to the wall and gutted all the time because they crap on about work then amazingly someone from work reads it and BLAM! Your dog food mate.
So the extent of my work related talk will be things like "I am working a lot". hehe
Today? Lets do it
Went to the local farmers market as we do each saturday to buy the good for u veggies and fruits. Big on the list today was MIKAN (Japanese for mandarin) I freak'n love mikan. The first time I had one was in Japan, which is why I use the japanese name all the time, and since then I am a big big big big fan. Bought 2kg of the little suckers today and that should last Kasey and I a week :D Second on the list was chicken legs. Man once you figure out how to cook those things right they are the best damn thing.
Wondering?
Well you can either strip the meat from the bone using a very sharp knife for things like stir fries or my favorite to bake the suckers. Get your sharp knife and remove the skin, takes a little practice but I can de-skin half a dozen in about 5 mins. Then get a hot hot pan and sear the puppies. This has the effect of sealing the outer layer of meat. Then take them out and optionally score them (Making small cuts longways). Wrap them up with herbs or sause and bake / BBQ and that is some good shit my friend.
Sigh, so thats the market. Did a little gardening, planting 10 more garlics and looking after some of the other plants. I a little worried about the chili plants... We have only one thai chili plant and it has flowers. How the hell is it going to make fruit unless we have more then one? Anyone know? Can it pollinate itself? I should just Wiki it eh?
Okay folks. See you tomorrow or monday.
I think instead of witting these things like a massive update where I try and say all the big stuff that is happening I'll just spew on here about day to day stuff which will grab the big stuff just through brute force ;-)
So my new goal is to try and do one of these each day or at least every other day?
Comments help keep me motivated so if you like this crap then comment. If don't like or don't care then don't comment and I'll prob loose interest in this new idea soon hehe.
I won't talk about work though as people get nailed to the wall and gutted all the time because they crap on about work then amazingly someone from work reads it and BLAM! Your dog food mate.
So the extent of my work related talk will be things like "I am working a lot". hehe
Today? Lets do it
Went to the local farmers market as we do each saturday to buy the good for u veggies and fruits. Big on the list today was MIKAN (Japanese for mandarin) I freak'n love mikan. The first time I had one was in Japan, which is why I use the japanese name all the time, and since then I am a big big big big fan. Bought 2kg of the little suckers today and that should last Kasey and I a week :D Second on the list was chicken legs. Man once you figure out how to cook those things right they are the best damn thing.
Wondering?
Well you can either strip the meat from the bone using a very sharp knife for things like stir fries or my favorite to bake the suckers. Get your sharp knife and remove the skin, takes a little practice but I can de-skin half a dozen in about 5 mins. Then get a hot hot pan and sear the puppies. This has the effect of sealing the outer layer of meat. Then take them out and optionally score them (Making small cuts longways). Wrap them up with herbs or sause and bake / BBQ and that is some good shit my friend.
Sigh, so thats the market. Did a little gardening, planting 10 more garlics and looking after some of the other plants. I a little worried about the chili plants... We have only one thai chili plant and it has flowers. How the hell is it going to make fruit unless we have more then one? Anyone know? Can it pollinate itself? I should just Wiki it eh?
Okay folks. See you tomorrow or monday.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Working like a dog
Greetings all,
I know I haven't posted any pictures or updates about the house... I have been working mad hours lately. Sunday I was here for 8.5 hrs and yesterday was here for a killer 14! Today doesn't look much better, but the extra money is welcome :)
In short - the house is very good, we have a small garden starting up out front, lots of chili plants! WOOT.
We have our new couch coming this week after Kenji soiled ours a number of times - sometimes he likes to show how stressed he is ;-) Once that arrives we are just waiting on the phone line to be hooked up (Been over a month now! We do live in the tropics and people are a bit slack on timeliness), and for the screens for the windows (next week).
After that I hope everything will slow down to a dull roar and we can properly settle in.
Overall - very happy with the purchase and glad to be there :D
I know I haven't posted any pictures or updates about the house... I have been working mad hours lately. Sunday I was here for 8.5 hrs and yesterday was here for a killer 14! Today doesn't look much better, but the extra money is welcome :)
In short - the house is very good, we have a small garden starting up out front, lots of chili plants! WOOT.
We have our new couch coming this week after Kenji soiled ours a number of times - sometimes he likes to show how stressed he is ;-) Once that arrives we are just waiting on the phone line to be hooked up (Been over a month now! We do live in the tropics and people are a bit slack on timeliness), and for the screens for the windows (next week).
After that I hope everything will slow down to a dull roar and we can properly settle in.
Overall - very happy with the purchase and glad to be there :D
Sunday, March 16, 2008
First Weekend
Well the first weekend is almost over and it has gone fairly well. We have finished up packing about 75% of the crap we own ;-) and have the blinds and curtains up to give us a little piracy and environment control.
We also went to the farmers market and ordered 300$ worth of Tiger Grass Bamboo which usually costs about 30-40 bucks a pot but we are getting it for 12 :D We also got a number of exotic sort of plants for indoors which are usually outside because of their size but hey we have more room these days so we can afford to have the bigger plants.
The pictures are coming once we have things more unpacked and organised, its still a bit of a mess around in certain areas.
This might not be very exciting for anyone else, considering it is a house you don't live in, but too bad! My blog my crap :D
We also went to the farmers market and ordered 300$ worth of Tiger Grass Bamboo which usually costs about 30-40 bucks a pot but we are getting it for 12 :D We also got a number of exotic sort of plants for indoors which are usually outside because of their size but hey we have more room these days so we can afford to have the bigger plants.
The pictures are coming once we have things more unpacked and organised, its still a bit of a mess around in certain areas.
This might not be very exciting for anyone else, considering it is a house you don't live in, but too bad! My blog my crap :D
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
New House
Well we have finally moved in! The place is very nice and we both are very happy with it. Last weekend we moved in with the help of Kasey's brother and dad and sunday we spent all day installing new curtains, blinds etc (Drilling holes in the walls hehe). Good stuff! we are enjoying things like having a washer/dryer, a refrigerator that works, and just having more space!
The cats were not very happy with the whole thing but now that it as been three days they are quite happy with the new place.
So all is going well :D I will be posting here more often once we get the computers setup properly and the pictures / movies will be online about the same time as the next post here.
Keep tuned for more stories about a house you don't live in and probably don't care much about!
Till next time adventure fans!
The cats were not very happy with the whole thing but now that it as been three days they are quite happy with the new place.
So all is going well :D I will be posting here more often once we get the computers setup properly and the pictures / movies will be online about the same time as the next post here.
Keep tuned for more stories about a house you don't live in and probably don't care much about!
Till next time adventure fans!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Japan Trip Route
Here is an updated view of our Japan Trip :) I have added in some lines to show the route we hope to take
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Camping and Fossicking
Touch up came out well! ;-)
Well after two nights and days camping out at the farm we are a bit tired. The experiment with Fossicking went well! I had a great time digging up muck and rocks - not finding much but the farm isn't in a gem rich area - our next trip(s) will be to more rugged areas looking for Sapphires and Rubies, mostly Sapphires though.
Camping on a whole went very well. We weathered through a few showers of rain, cooked a few great meals and drank through about 18 beers :D Woot!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Japan, Gems, oh my
Well it has been a long time since I have posted but it has been a long two months. The house saga continues to drag on but on the upside we have saved a lot more money for the initial deposit as well as saved enough for a trip to Japan! So this week we will be booking our tickets to Japan for 28 days! Score
We will fly into Fukuoka (Bottom Left).
View Larger Map
We will then travel up through the countryside and visit most of the major cities along the way but also we really want to see the countryside so stopping at mountain villages etc on our way to Nagoya (Right Middle). There we will stay for a week and half or so visiting friends, going to markets we used to go to and generally experiencing natsukashi (Feeling of nostalgia). Once we are done in Nagoya we will travel perhaps to Kanazawa to visit a friend and her family and continue onto Toyko. We will do all the Tokyo stuff and then fly back to Brisbane :)
We are going to do an idea I had as well which should make for an interesting website when we return. As we travel, when we get up in the morning we will write a quick journal entry about what we are going to do. Then we will take photos during the day and then at night we will write about what actually happened. So in the end we will have something talking about what we expect to do/happen, the photos and then what actually happened.
On a side note, Kasey and I are going to try our hand at Fossicking, which is the australian word for hunting for gems and gold ;-) Not really doing it for profit or to get rich quick but to go out camping and have something to do during the day and it might pay off a little here and there. One of my workmates here turned me onto it by showing me the stones he has collected over the years - WOW!
Well that is all for now! Be back soon.
We will fly into Fukuoka (Bottom Left).
View Larger Map
We will then travel up through the countryside and visit most of the major cities along the way but also we really want to see the countryside so stopping at mountain villages etc on our way to Nagoya (Right Middle). There we will stay for a week and half or so visiting friends, going to markets we used to go to and generally experiencing natsukashi (Feeling of nostalgia). Once we are done in Nagoya we will travel perhaps to Kanazawa to visit a friend and her family and continue onto Toyko. We will do all the Tokyo stuff and then fly back to Brisbane :)
We are going to do an idea I had as well which should make for an interesting website when we return. As we travel, when we get up in the morning we will write a quick journal entry about what we are going to do. Then we will take photos during the day and then at night we will write about what actually happened. So in the end we will have something talking about what we expect to do/happen, the photos and then what actually happened.
On a side note, Kasey and I are going to try our hand at Fossicking, which is the australian word for hunting for gems and gold ;-) Not really doing it for profit or to get rich quick but to go out camping and have something to do during the day and it might pay off a little here and there. One of my workmates here turned me onto it by showing me the stones he has collected over the years - WOW!
Well that is all for now! Be back soon.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Share the net
Kasey sent me a link to the next ten great things this year and this was one of them!
meraki.com
A cool idea of sharing the net around you with others. This wouldn't work for small towns like Yuba Duba, but its a great idea for high density places.
meraki.com
A cool idea of sharing the net around you with others. This wouldn't work for small towns like Yuba Duba, but its a great idea for high density places.
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