Friday, August 23, 2013
iScribble
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Tell Bill
It's been under 2 months into this break and I've written a web app!
Tell Bill
Tell Bill is a Mobile Web Application designed to help you split the bill with your friends at a restaurant. Tell Bill will run on any modern web browser, so it will work on iPhone, Android, mobile, tablet or PC. It's free and if you wanna check it out, just visit http://tellbill.net. Hope you like it!No installation is required. Just visit the site and it will be saved into your browser's Application Web Cache so you will be able to use Tell Bill even when you're offline.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
The Day Before I Turn 33
Last Year
Last year was a big year and this year I hope to be equally 'big'. It's been so long since I've written but let's see how much I can remember anyway. Firstly, I got married last year, on the 24th of March 2012 to my beautiful wife Melissa. Rewind 2 days before that, and I was turning 32. But I wasn't really celebrating my birthday, I was wedding planning.The Year Before Last
The year before last, was big too because we (Melee and I) were wedding planning back then also. Planning your wedding with your partner is a big project. Venues, celebrants, guest lists, menus, decorations, bonbonnieres, seating plans, vows, flowers, cakes, photographer, run sheets, invites, place cards, bridal parties, MCs, colour themes, back-up plans, wedding dances and song lists are just some things you will have to consider if you choose to partake in this tradition of union.The Big Day
And so, last year, we got married on a perfectly fine day which followed a week of heavy rains, so when the skies opened up for our special day, we were so relieved. On the whole everything went fine. Guests arrived, vows were exchanged, photos were taken. Oh the photos. I'm not used to so much attention, let alone smiling for shot after shot after shot. Then food and drinks and speeches and dessert and wedding dance and social dancing and then carrying on drinking and partying till 4am with some of my very good friends.The Big Night
What else? Oh I guess getting married was probably the happiest, biggest, most memorable day of my life. That night, we met Tom Green at the hotel we were staying at; Emporium. You see it was around that time that the Brisbane Comedy Festival was happening so Will Anderson was there, and Tom Gleeson too. Our wedding suite was beautifully decorated with rose petals and we had a bottle of wine was waiting in our bedroom. We enjoyed the spa and chocolates, had our fun and soon collapsed into heavy slumber.The Big Week
A week later, we enjoyed our honeymoon cruise to Vanuatu and nearby islands. We'd never been on a cruise before. Never had I eaten so much food. ALL food is included and we ate and ate and slept and swam and toured and ate and sat. Cruises have pretty good entertainment every night too. There were musicals, dance performances, talent nights, comedians, magicians and acrobats to entertain us for the week. We had so much fun. We also had a lovely steward who made animals out of our towels each time he replaced the old ones.The Big Year
Returning back to work on a high and newly wed was a good feeling. It was time to get back into work mode. A few projects came to our team which I was involved in. Not too long after there was some staffing shifts and re structures and culture shifts in our office. I became acting team leader. It was a busy year. By the end I had made the tough decision of resigning. I'd been with the same employer for over 12 years and had enough long service and annual leave accrued to quit and still have 6 months worth paid out. It was time to try something new. No sooner had I handed in my resignation, than a new opportunity came up conveniently, and I worked my last 4 weeks of notice and signed up to a new short term contract.The Big 33
So here I am now, reflecting on events recently past. Just to summarise; got married, had a blast, got sick of job, resigned, got new job, am happy now, I turn 33 in 20 minutes, tomorrow (Friday) I don't have anything planned but that's ok. On Monday, we take off for New Zealand to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. So this year has some more uncertainty after June. That's when my contract finishes. I might get an extension. I'm not sure. But this position isn't quite what I'm trained in, so I'd like to get back to IT work eventually before I fall behind in skills. I have some options seeing as I have over 6 months worth of recreational leave and long service leave. So in that time I could spend sometime at home upskilling before I start actively looking for new work. Or I could just start looking for new work after our NZ holiday but before my contract runs out.The Next Biggie
I guess I'm in that phase in life. I've recently gotten married, alot of my friends are engaged or getting married too. Got a new job, and a lot of my friends are either resigning too or have switched jobs. Soon it will be all about babies and families and school planning. Some of Melee's friends have already started that phase.I know this year will be a big year and a 1/4 of it has already gone. There are some uncertainties, but I got a good feeling.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Four meetings in one day.
(Modified version of Crowded House song Four Seasons in One Day)
Four meetings in one day
Lying in the depths of your imagination
Worlds above and worlds below
The sun shines on the black clouds hanging over the domain
Even when you're feeling warm
The temperature could drop away
Like four meetings in one day
Smiling as the shit comes down
You can tell a man from what he has to say
Everything gets turned around
And I will risk my neck again, again
You can take me where you will
Up the creek and through the mill
Like all the things you can't explain
Four meetings in one day
Blood dries up
Like rain, like rain
Fills my cup
Like four meetings in one day
It doesn't pay to make predictions sleeping on an unmade bed
Finding out wherever there is comfort there is pain
Only one step away
Like four meetings in one day
Blood dries up
Like rain, like rain
Fills my cup
Like four meetings in one day
Four meetings in one day
Lying in the depths of your imagination
Worlds above and worlds below
The sun shines on the black clouds hanging over the domain
Even when you're feeling warm
The temperature could drop away
Like four meetings in one day
Smiling as the shit comes down
You can tell a man from what he has to say
Everything gets turned around
And I will risk my neck again, again
You can take me where you will
Up the creek and through the mill
Like all the things you can't explain
Four meetings in one day
Blood dries up
Like rain, like rain
Fills my cup
Like four meetings in one day
It doesn't pay to make predictions sleeping on an unmade bed
Finding out wherever there is comfort there is pain
Only one step away
Like four meetings in one day
Blood dries up
Like rain, like rain
Fills my cup
Like four meetings in one day
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Metallica Brisbane 19thOct 2010
That was just your life: Jumped straight into this as soon as Ecstasy of Gold intro finished. Lasers!
Four horsemen: Boom, lights on, lasers off.
Ride the lightning: crowd goes even wilder! (incl me :) )
The thing that should not be: Oldie but a goodie!
The Unforgiven: trippy acoustic intro; a really sweet version.
Harvester of sorrow: I thought it was Sad But True at first 'coz I was sure SBT was coming.
Disappear: a rare play. I know this song from the Mission Impossible sound track.
Sad but true: There it is! "DO YOU WANT HEAVY?", brisbane RAWRS! "Metallica give you HEAVY BABY!"
4 leaf clover: Another one that I dont think gets played often.
Orion: YES! I was hoping they would play this. This makes up for them not playing Fade to Black. I also think this is the song where Rob mucked around a bit on his Bass on his own for a bit.
One: Obligatory concert song. With much piro.
Master of puppets.
Fight fire with fire. More PYRO... makes sense for the song name sake.
Nothing else matters: Kirk did a strange instrumental, almost spanish sounding.
Enter sandman: They always play this after Nothing Else Matters.
Blitzkrieg: I love their cover of this song.
My apocalypse: Not my fav Death Magnetic song but oh well.
Seek and Destroy: Another tried and true concert song. And the black inflatable balls came bouncing out onto the crowd.
Four horsemen: Boom, lights on, lasers off.
Ride the lightning: crowd goes even wilder! (incl me :) )
The thing that should not be: Oldie but a goodie!
The Unforgiven: trippy acoustic intro; a really sweet version.
Harvester of sorrow: I thought it was Sad But True at first 'coz I was sure SBT was coming.
Disappear: a rare play. I know this song from the Mission Impossible sound track.
Sad but true: There it is! "DO YOU WANT HEAVY?", brisbane RAWRS! "Metallica give you HEAVY BABY!"
4 leaf clover: Another one that I dont think gets played often.
Orion: YES! I was hoping they would play this. This makes up for them not playing Fade to Black. I also think this is the song where Rob mucked around a bit on his Bass on his own for a bit.
One: Obligatory concert song. With much piro.
Master of puppets.
Fight fire with fire. More PYRO... makes sense for the song name sake.
Nothing else matters: Kirk did a strange instrumental, almost spanish sounding.
Enter sandman: They always play this after Nothing Else Matters.
Blitzkrieg: I love their cover of this song.
My apocalypse: Not my fav Death Magnetic song but oh well.
Seek and Destroy: Another tried and true concert song. And the black inflatable balls came bouncing out onto the crowd.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Japan Catchup
I've been without Internet for the last few days until yesterday. So event memories have run into each other. I'll have to skip the details and just do it in checklist format, because it's all blurred now.
Tokyo
Stayed at Shiba Park Hotel in Minato-ku for first few days.
Visited Ginza, Akihabara, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Ueno, Shibuya... probably more.
Ueno Zoo
Ate lots
Walked lots
Kyoto
Stayed at Westin Miyako Hotel
Ate
Shopped
Monkey Park
Bamboo Forest
Temples/Shrines
Back to Tokyo
Stayed at Hotel Ginza Monterey La Soeur
Tokyo Game Show
Shopped a bit
Ok besides being brief, I think that kinda somes it up.
Tomorrow we head to Odaiba, near the water.
One thing I'd like to say is that "winging it" is the best way to go.
Have a rough idea of what you want to do, but don't plan too much, especially when you don't know the city well.
Things have really worked out amazingly, and it couldn't have happened any other way any other time because things just fell into place seemingly randomly.
Tokyo
Stayed at Shiba Park Hotel in Minato-ku for first few days.
Visited Ginza, Akihabara, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Ueno, Shibuya... probably more.
Ueno Zoo
Ate lots
Walked lots
Kyoto
Stayed at Westin Miyako Hotel
Ate
Shopped
Monkey Park
Bamboo Forest
Temples/Shrines
Back to Tokyo
Stayed at Hotel Ginza Monterey La Soeur
Tokyo Game Show
Shopped a bit
Ok besides being brief, I think that kinda somes it up.
Tomorrow we head to Odaiba, near the water.
One thing I'd like to say is that "winging it" is the best way to go.
Have a rough idea of what you want to do, but don't plan too much, especially when you don't know the city well.
Things have really worked out amazingly, and it couldn't have happened any other way any other time because things just fell into place seemingly randomly.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Japan Day 2
Getting lost is still too easy even on day two. At least we've got our JR passes activated now, empowering us with the gift of mobility! After stuffing our faces with French pastries for breakfast it was off to the Ghibli Museum.
Ghibli is a studio that has made anime films such as, Spirited Away, Ponyo, Laputa Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke and Totoro. The museum is a tribute to all that is Ghibli. For more info, check out this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki
We got there around 11am, just in time for a screening of a Ghibli anime only shown at the Museum. It was an impressive and entertaining film. Now let me briefly tell you about the museum. Think of a giant house built for kids with stuff to play with made for kids, with lots of rooms and sprial stairwells designed for kids. Don't get me wrong, adults are more than capable of enjoying the museum too but putting myself in the shoes of a child, I could see it would be like heaven. Lots of memorobilia, storyboards, interactive displays populated the rooms of the Ghibli Museum. I particularly enjoyed the displays which cleary demonstrated their animation techniques.
Ok. Fast forward to Shinjuku district in the early afternoon. If Minato-ku was tame and Ginza was posh, Shinjuku would be cool uncle that takes you to the games arcade and brings you along to the strip clubs when you're only 11. (No, I do not have an uncle like this but you get the point). Shinjuku is a little bit naughty in some areas, but full of youthful energy. Just the Shinjuku train station alone is full of department stores targeted at young women; You now the drill, skirts, dresses, makeup, shoes, all that jazz. South of the station are adult shops and entrances to what I can only guess are peep shows. Between this cheeky area and the station is what blew me away. Pachinko-overdose; Shop after shop, each one a multilevel establishment dedicated to the past time of the Japanese equivalent to the Pokies. If you could cross breed a pinball machine with a pokie machine and throw in some video game DNA, you would give birth to Pachinko. Boy do they love it. There must have been at least fifty pachinko parlours there if not more.
*Hold on - women's judo is on TV* ...
LOL accidental head butt. Ok where was I? Ah yes. Finally after wading through all the pachinko parlours, we found the departmental stores. Most of these were still above our budget, but not as intimidating as Ginza.
I'll keep this summary moving. Today we ate Tempura and Okonomiyaki for lunch. It was oishii desune. I'd just like to say Japan rocks, and so far all the food has been cheap and delicious with impeccable service. It is evident they really do their best to accomodate my tatty grasp of the Japanese language.
In the later evening we enjoyed freshly barbequed yakitori (skewers) with some sake on our way back to the hotel. We still get confused at the menus that don't have pictures or plastic food models, but it is definitely heaps of fun doing it on our own and not getting spoon fed on a pre packaged tour.
That's all for now.
Ghibli is a studio that has made anime films such as, Spirited Away, Ponyo, Laputa Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke and Totoro. The museum is a tribute to all that is Ghibli. For more info, check out this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki
We got there around 11am, just in time for a screening of a Ghibli anime only shown at the Museum. It was an impressive and entertaining film. Now let me briefly tell you about the museum. Think of a giant house built for kids with stuff to play with made for kids, with lots of rooms and sprial stairwells designed for kids. Don't get me wrong, adults are more than capable of enjoying the museum too but putting myself in the shoes of a child, I could see it would be like heaven. Lots of memorobilia, storyboards, interactive displays populated the rooms of the Ghibli Museum. I particularly enjoyed the displays which cleary demonstrated their animation techniques.
Ok. Fast forward to Shinjuku district in the early afternoon. If Minato-ku was tame and Ginza was posh, Shinjuku would be cool uncle that takes you to the games arcade and brings you along to the strip clubs when you're only 11. (No, I do not have an uncle like this but you get the point). Shinjuku is a little bit naughty in some areas, but full of youthful energy. Just the Shinjuku train station alone is full of department stores targeted at young women; You now the drill, skirts, dresses, makeup, shoes, all that jazz. South of the station are adult shops and entrances to what I can only guess are peep shows. Between this cheeky area and the station is what blew me away. Pachinko-overdose; Shop after shop, each one a multilevel establishment dedicated to the past time of the Japanese equivalent to the Pokies. If you could cross breed a pinball machine with a pokie machine and throw in some video game DNA, you would give birth to Pachinko. Boy do they love it. There must have been at least fifty pachinko parlours there if not more.
*Hold on - women's judo is on TV* ...
LOL accidental head butt. Ok where was I? Ah yes. Finally after wading through all the pachinko parlours, we found the departmental stores. Most of these were still above our budget, but not as intimidating as Ginza.
I'll keep this summary moving. Today we ate Tempura and Okonomiyaki for lunch. It was oishii desune. I'd just like to say Japan rocks, and so far all the food has been cheap and delicious with impeccable service. It is evident they really do their best to accomodate my tatty grasp of the Japanese language.
In the later evening we enjoyed freshly barbequed yakitori (skewers) with some sake on our way back to the hotel. We still get confused at the menus that don't have pictures or plastic food models, but it is definitely heaps of fun doing it on our own and not getting spoon fed on a pre packaged tour.
That's all for now.
Japan
It is only the first real full day in Japan. Yesterday was taken up by travel. We got up at 4:30am and arrived at Narita Airport, 7pm Tokyo time.
The pilot's landing was perfect. The staff were friendly and the 30$ upgrade to get more leg room was well worth it. Who says JetStar is the "Death Star"!! I was very satisfied with the service.
But boy was it a long day. After arriving at Tokyo, we still had to catch a bus to Tokyo City Air Terminal, *then* catch a cab to our hotel. I was feeling a little culture shock by that stage, compounded by tiredness.
For a country all my friends said, "You don't need to know Japanese", there certainly was a distinct absence of English around. Fortunately, I still remember words like, Hello, Good Morning, Thank you, Excuse me, Dont Understand, Sorry. Some newer words that I've picked up also came in handy like Bill, Receipt, 2 people.
Today, we still had not activated our JR Rail Pass because we are here 16 days while we only have a 14 day JR Rail Pass. So we walked and we walked, and walked and walked and then rested, then walked again.
I don't know if it's me or what, but the Minato-ku area seems to have not much for tourists. Sure theres cheap eats that are easy to be found, and the food is delicious! There's also a couple of things to look at like in Rappongi. But thats not really Minato-ku anymore really. So walking has it's limitations because we can't go that far. We went to Tokyo Tower, which has a couple of observation decks. It's shaped similar to the Eiffle Tower but a little taller. We visited a couple of shrines and temples but things didn't really pick up until we decided to walk to Ginza in the evening.
*Aside* As I type this you certainly see a lot of random things on Japanese TV.
Anyway back to Ginza. It is no short walk to get to Ginza, maybe 30 minutes from Shiba Park Hotel. But the walk was WELL worth it! The bright lights the huge buildings the array of departmental stores all standing proudly street after street after street, criss-crossed with sidestreets of restaurant after restaurant can only be described as mind blowing for a lil' ol' Brisbanite who's never visited a big city.
The main drag was filled with the trendiest shops while even shops like Armani sat humbly 3 blocks behind. We were starving and stumbled across a small sushi bar. A Japanese couple (I assume, because of how they were dressed), were waiting outside to be seated. A waitress advised it would be over 30minutes wait for us. We were tired of walking so were happy to wait with the already waiting couple.
Again, our patience was worth it. The service was impressive. Our waitress new English which was very helpful for us. There were 3 chefs in front of us to assemble our orders. They are very animated and the experience felt very personal and intimate. If you've ever had tepanyaki... that is the kind of chef/customer relationship I'm talking about. And the sushi was the best I'd ever had, but could you really expect any less, it being Japan?
To conclude, pretty awesome first day, and I'm even leaving out a few random good bits that happened throughout the day.
The pilot's landing was perfect. The staff were friendly and the 30$ upgrade to get more leg room was well worth it. Who says JetStar is the "Death Star"!! I was very satisfied with the service.
But boy was it a long day. After arriving at Tokyo, we still had to catch a bus to Tokyo City Air Terminal, *then* catch a cab to our hotel. I was feeling a little culture shock by that stage, compounded by tiredness.
For a country all my friends said, "You don't need to know Japanese", there certainly was a distinct absence of English around. Fortunately, I still remember words like, Hello, Good Morning, Thank you, Excuse me, Dont Understand, Sorry. Some newer words that I've picked up also came in handy like Bill, Receipt, 2 people.
Today, we still had not activated our JR Rail Pass because we are here 16 days while we only have a 14 day JR Rail Pass. So we walked and we walked, and walked and walked and then rested, then walked again.
I don't know if it's me or what, but the Minato-ku area seems to have not much for tourists. Sure theres cheap eats that are easy to be found, and the food is delicious! There's also a couple of things to look at like in Rappongi. But thats not really Minato-ku anymore really. So walking has it's limitations because we can't go that far. We went to Tokyo Tower, which has a couple of observation decks. It's shaped similar to the Eiffle Tower but a little taller. We visited a couple of shrines and temples but things didn't really pick up until we decided to walk to Ginza in the evening.
*Aside* As I type this you certainly see a lot of random things on Japanese TV.
Anyway back to Ginza. It is no short walk to get to Ginza, maybe 30 minutes from Shiba Park Hotel. But the walk was WELL worth it! The bright lights the huge buildings the array of departmental stores all standing proudly street after street after street, criss-crossed with sidestreets of restaurant after restaurant can only be described as mind blowing for a lil' ol' Brisbanite who's never visited a big city.
The main drag was filled with the trendiest shops while even shops like Armani sat humbly 3 blocks behind. We were starving and stumbled across a small sushi bar. A Japanese couple (I assume, because of how they were dressed), were waiting outside to be seated. A waitress advised it would be over 30minutes wait for us. We were tired of walking so were happy to wait with the already waiting couple.
Again, our patience was worth it. The service was impressive. Our waitress new English which was very helpful for us. There were 3 chefs in front of us to assemble our orders. They are very animated and the experience felt very personal and intimate. If you've ever had tepanyaki... that is the kind of chef/customer relationship I'm talking about. And the sushi was the best I'd ever had, but could you really expect any less, it being Japan?
To conclude, pretty awesome first day, and I'm even leaving out a few random good bits that happened throughout the day.
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