Slow down, Hello Kitty!

Watch out for strolling witches!

Long time no blog

Haven't blogged in a while, and it hasn't been because I've been busy learning how to use my camera.

I did however give it a go this weekend, playing with aperture and using a Lego figurine as the subject. Shadow couldn't help but be curious... she is a cat after all.

Sigma 10-20mm Wide Angle Lens

As with any obsession that I have, I like to throw money at it (or get every accessory possible for it). For my "new" camera, I've purchased a secondhand Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM lens. I do plan to take landscape photos so I can somehow justify it. :P

It's a bit cute... the big lens on the little camera. Can't wait to get it to Bali!!!

My new camera

Haven't blogged in a while because I'm pretty much on Facebook now. However I thought I'd still keep this "alive" and still upload a few photos now and then... especially now that I have a new camera.

Behold, my Nikon D40X (with a couple of kit lenses).


Tarn and I are planning a trip to Bali in the near future, so I've prepared myself with this camera for many photo ops during that holiday. I bought it early so I could learn how to use it. I still stand by my "I don't know how to take good pictures", and am relying on this camera to fix that. :)

Middle Blocker

Forget basketball... we've got a centre blocker!

Yao-Ming

For the doubters...
This was taken a few weeks ago.

OH MY GOODNESS!

How exciting! The PM wants to watch my Twitter.

New Outdoor Furniture

Last week I redeemed a whole bunch of reward points on my American Express card for some Bunnings Warehouse vouchers. This weekend we made 2 trips to our local Bunnings in Mascot and then finally out to Ashfield to get this little outdoor setting.

Let me tell you, I will never complain about the parking situation at Mascot ever again. Ashfield really tested my patience with humanity.

It is complete

The Vostro was delivered to me on Wednesday afternoon.



I haven't had a lot of time to play around with it yet, other than to install a few things. I am waiting for my copy of Microsoft Office to arrive and then it will feel whole. I haven't set up my email on it yet because I don't want to use Outlook Express in the meantime.

Unboxing pictures can be found at this Ovi Channel.

More Redfern Randomness

Some kind of dinner part on the street:

Hairdressing on the same corner, a few weeks later:

Aww... nice...

Wow...

My online order status hasn't changed since yesterday, but I just got a call from Dell and my new notebook will be here tomorrow morning! *claps* I'matadbitexcited!

Edit: There was a status update in another tab...


Edit again: More updates!

New Toy on the way - Dell Vostro 1200

I've been mesmerised by the number of netbooks that are on the market at the moment. Every now and then, one will pop up on Catch Of The Day (like Woot) and I'll spaz out for 24 hours going "I want one", then "I don't need one", then "I want one", then "I don't need one". I already have my trusty Nokia N800 Internet Tablet and my Nokia N82 with wi-fi and 3g capabilities, so I really didn't need a netbook!

Prior to the netbook fascination, I had been thinking that it was time to upgrade my notebook. It's around 3 years old now and is starting to show its age. Also, Tarn's started school and needs to use it often for assignments and research, which is important and I completely understand, but I'm not so good at sharing.

I finally talked myself out of netbooks because it'd be a step backwards... slower CPU, less RAM, smaller hard drive (or none at all) and screensize, no optical drives, etc.

I found the Dell Vostro 1200 with the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T7250. And I found it at the perfect time. 12.1" screen so it's still portable if I need it to be, 2.0 megapixel webcam, fingerprint reader (who *doesn't* need one of those!), and the usual bells and whistles. Not only were they offering $200 off, a free bluetooth mouse, and upgrading the 4-cell battery to 6-cell, but on Friday afternoon they also took another 15% off the price. Saved nearly $400 off the already low price! *claps*

Here's a picture of it... lines and numbers not included.



So now the wait... 6-10 business days. But it is on its way!!! Here's a shot of the delivery progress.

Channeling Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor

With the help of an awesome hammer drill (thanks JM & LM), we put these up so that the jasmine plant below it has something to entwine itself on, once it gets taller.

More whitegoods.

Back to Bar Fridges

Tim O'Connor has more stock! And plenty of free bags.

Traffic cam action.

Most of the time, traffic cams are boring. Today there was some kind of excitement on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Screen grab courtesy of the RTA Live Traffic Cam site.

Testing a blog application

just trying out an N800 blogging application.

Peekaboo!

Reward for sale!

Tim O'Connor still needs a lock up garage. Now he's posted a reward for help in finding one.

Random in Redfern #1

One of the charming things about living in Redfern is that some random and amusing things often pop up. Here are a couple of things that I saw today...

Frosty hanging out in a back lane. Sleazy!


A dirty full-length mirror on the corner.

A close sign!

A few years ago, one of the "bar fridge for sale" signs appeared perilously close to the front entrance of the building I used to live in.

Today, I found this right at our building entrance. SPOOKY! I think Tim O'Connor is stalking me!

Day Trip to Cockatoo Island

Over the weekend, we had our plans canceled on us so we had some unexpected free time. On Sunday we spent the afternoon on Cockatoo Island, checking out some of the Contemporary Art installations during the Biennale of Sydney 2008.

Now, I normally don't understand art at the best of times, so Contemporary Art really confused me. However I really enjoyed wandering around the old industrial site, looking at the old warehouses and buildings and rusty cranes.

Here are some pictures of the structures on the island:






Here is the obligatory tourist photos of the view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the island:


Here's a photo of a sign erected in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art (back on the mainland) with some buildings in the background:


And here's the only photo of the two of us on the day:

2 cats in a pot

More and more we are finding both of the minis in the same spot, which is usually odd. This time we know why they are sharing this big pot... we caught the naughty brown cat urinating in the other one.

Unboxing - LG LCD TV

This morning we turned on the TV to watch Sunday morning videos, but found that the TV had somehow blown half of itself up overnight. The left half of the screen was operational but the right half was dead.

We'd recently been talking about getting an LCD TV, so I guess this was the perfect time. We chose this LG 32" TV with built in HD Tuner. Awesome!

In true nerd fashion, I present to you... the unboxing.

The package.

The base, wrapped up.

The base, unwrapped, with protective plastic.

A box of stuff.

The stuff - Manual, Instructional DVD, Remote Control, Power cable, cable organiser, batteries, screen cleaning cloth.

The TV, wrapped up, lying on a pillow.

The TV all set up and in place.

Shadow enjoying the box before we recycle it.

Puppy reading the instructions.

Watching the Swans defeat the Tigers (sorry J3).

Dodgy

Whenever these two are in the same spot, there's sure to be something dodgy going on. You can tell by their Terminator eyes.

Partial Sign

Found this in the gutter. It's part of one of the signs from a couple of years ago where the Bar Fridge Man was looking for some storage space.

Ah, the good ol' days.

Sideshow Bob

A few years ago, T's mother gave us a bromeliad. It somehow bred with itself and soon 1 became 5. We separted them apart and re-potted them (in a 2/2/1 configuration) and put them in different areas of the balcony. They must be lonely plants because the pots with 2 bromeliads have not had any more offspring, but the one that had a single bromeliad in it had 2 babies to keep it company.

Recently I've been complaining because they spread out and take up a bit of valuable balcony room (hence the nickname of Sideshow Bob because they explode outwards like his hair). Also they have spines along the entire edge of every leaf and have been attacking me. We decided that it was time to give some away, but in the meantime we put all the pots together in one area.


Since doing this, the 3-plant pot has now also grown a flower. This hasn't happened in the 4 years that we've had these plants. I wonder if this has happened because the whole family has reunited?

My new setup

This is my mobile internet unit... My trusty N800 (a.k.a. Machine) & my new iGo Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard (which doesn't have a name yet).

Another sign

I nearly missed this one. My first thought was that someone had her purse stolen and the thief left it hanging there. Then I spotted the writing!

Autobot

An Autobot in Redfern

Duck Pond in Centennial Park

This is a photo taken using the Panoman application mentioned in my N82 post.

The lighting appeared to have changed as I was taking the photos. You can see where they have been stitched together.



Anyway, I'm just pleased that I now don't have to learn photoshop or use the panorama software that came with my digital camera and/or the one that came with my memory card.

To help you stalk me...

I'm trying out some Nokia Sports Tracker, Widget, and photo uploading features. I'm not sure how this works yet so bear with me.

In order to view the Nseries Widget you need JavaScript and Flash Player 9+ support

(If nothing displays here, right-click on the blank space above then select Play)

The widget doesn't look like it's displaying my rides accurately (I would have recalled riding through buildings or on top of water) so click here if you'd like to see a more accurate view of this leisurely 20km ride.

Modified sign

Found on Wilson St. Newtown

I ♥ the N82

I recently purchased a second-hand Nokia N82 on eBay. I don't mind that it's second-hand, I don't mind that it's got scratches on it, I don't even mind that it was unexpectedly a Hong Kong model so there's Chinese key-strokes next to each number on the keypad and that I can't get the latest firmware update yet*. Is it wrong to love a phone this much?

My favourite features are:

• the 5mp camera with Xenon flash
• WLAN connection
• accelerometer
• GPS

My favourite applications so far are:

• Panoman - an application that takes photos then automatically stitches them together to create panoramic pictures. I've only used this once, in my living room. I'll play around with it more this weekend and post a more interesting photo then.
  
• Nokia Maps - I haven't used it to try to navigate anywhere yet, but I love it when the GPS can tell me where I am.
• Nokia Sports Tracker - I've only used this a few times but it's so cool. It uses the internal GPS and tracks my bike ride/walk/drive/whatever. You can also take photos with the phone and upload them and they'll use the geo-tag to place the photos on the correct position of my route's map. Here's one I prepared earlier (although some of the pictures aren't in the right place because I had paused the application so it didn't tag properly)
• Photo Detagger - This application can remove the geo-tagged details from photos if I'm paranoid about someone working where I am/was.
• Share Online 3.0 - After taking a photo, I can automatically upload the photos to Flickr and Ovi in about 3 clicks. There is another application that supports upload to more sites. I'm sure I'll be checking that out sometime soon!
  

My "I can live with them" annoyances:

• the cable plugs into the side which makes it hard to hold while recharging
• the mini-USB connection is a slightly different shape to standard mini-USB cables
• the N-Series PC Suite

Anyway, just thought I'd share. Now I'm going back to hug my phone.

*[edit] I just checked the Nokia site and my phone model can now update the firmware! I'msohappy! I'll be doing that tonight!
*[edit] Firmware successfully upgraded. All is good.

Signs...

Looks like the Bar Fridge man is back in business! I'm not certain that his name is Tim O'Connor or not. Maybe one day I'll ring to find out.

Since I can't access the old Bar Fridge For Sale site to update it, I'll be blogging the signs here.

Cope Street, Redfern

Cope Street Shops, Redfern

Not one of the Bar Fridge Man's signs, but worthy of being posted anyway. I can't remember where this was taken.

One of my favourites, in a back lane in Newtown. It has since been removed.

Melbourne 2008

February saw us head off to Melbourne for the first time since we purchased our home.

It seemed to be a fairly popular time for star-spotting as well. Firstly, Marcia Hines queue-jumped in front of us in the x-ray and security screening at the airport. Secondly, also at the airport, we saw Alexander Downer (or an incredible look-a-like) yelling to his wife that he'd found their mobile phones. We also saw Paul Capsis in St. Kilda. And our our way home we spotted Harbhajan Singh from the Indian Cricket Team at Melbourne Airport.

The first part of the trip to Melbourne was primarily filled volleyball games (the main reason for our trip). The second half was a nice little holiday for T and I.

Volleyball was fun and very tiring. My whole team was broken by the end of it. For our efforts we came in 2nd in our grade. Hooray.

T and I stayed in St Kilda after my team went home, and we managed to spot a few "Little Penguins" (apparently the name changed from "Fairy Penguins" as the name wasn't politically correct).

More photos can be viewed in my Facebook album.

Stolen :(

Our bikes have been stolen. We are very sad. Quelle dommage!

My New Toy - Nokia N800

I've increased my nerdability stakes by purchasing the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. It's *not* a phone... it's exactly as it says it is - an Internet Tablet (although if you subscribe to Skype, you can use its phone-like features).

I've only had time to update the operating system to OS 2008 and install some essential programs, and have had it hooked up at home a few times. So far so good. I love it. We don't have WiFi at work (and if we did I'm sure it'd be so secure that only work-approved WiFi connections would be allowed) so I'll be spending my lunch hours wandering the streets of Sydney looking for free WiFi.

Here are some pictures. I didn't go all the way and take un-boxing photos or videos. There are plenty of those in Flickr and YouTube.

Front of box

Back of box

The N800

Future Cambodia Fund - Not Kudos

As some of you may know, J3 is going on a bike ride across some of Cambodia for "Street Retreat Charity Ride – Temples to Sea".

For my birthday present, I asked J3 to donate to the cause on behalf of me, instead of buying a present.

There's only a couple of weeks left before J3 will be riding more kilometres in one day than I drive in a week...

GOOD LUCK J3! Take lots of 5MP pictures! Thanks for inspiring me to get back onto 2 wheels (but not onto quad-skates).

My Trek 4300

Today I picked up my birthday present which T, J2, my folks, and myself all chipped in for.

Behold, the Trek 4300 in all its glory...


I haven't given it a name yet. :P More photos can be seen in my Trek's album.

Christmas House of Horrors

My attempt at taking a night photo of the lights in front of my parents' house on Christmas Eve. It turned out a bit Amityville Horror-esque.

Paintball is hazardous to your butt...

Yesterday, T and I joined her workmates and others in a gentle game of paintball. I say gentle because I spent most of the day well-protected at the back of the pack.

We started the day off shooting our own acquaintances on a level playing field (we all had the same basic guns) but then eventually merged with another group... a scary group... a group Middle-Eastern men with more powerful guns that shot around 5-10x faster than our basic guns. Boy did they like to shoot. Boy did they buy a lot of bullets!

Then we were joined by another group of Indian guys. By then there were so many people and the teams were all mixed up no one could tell who was who, except by their height, shoes, and guns.

Although I hung back to "defend", I did take a couple of hits on the top of my head and now sport a small slightly painful bump under the hair line. I was also hit behind my elbow and a bruise is coming up quite nicely, thank you very much. If you're trying to work out the logistics of a bruise BEHIND the elbow... yes, I was hit by my own teammate who somewhere behind me.

Everyone came back with a number of welts and bruises, some more than others. Some of the women are going to have to rethink their NYE outfits.

No one lost an eye. This time.

Bruise of the day goes to T though, for taking one for the team on the ass. Nice shot, Rodney!

Festival Purchase

We picked up a couple of quirky little pieces of artwork at the Festival. Some very creative woman used sardine cans as the medium for her work. It's hard to tell in these pictures but the hearts and flowers are actually 3D and lacquered into the tin cans. The designs reminded us of old sailors tattoos.





Anyway, our home feels a little funkier now that we have rubbish hanging up on the wall. :)

Surry Hills Festival

Here are a few photos of Surry Hills Festival.

Stalls as far as the camera can see

An incredibly energetic and loud band at 11am.

Another band - no idea who they were

An electronica band/dj - again, no idea who they are.

As you might have guessed, I have no idea who the above bands are but they were pretty good. We had hoped to see Blue Juice but we got the set time wrong, and sunburn was starting to set in so we missed it.

On this day of eating, T and I shared a large plate of food from the Hari Krishna stall. It was very nice... for vegetarian food.

I ♥ festivals

You know that summer is coming when Sydney fairs and festivals start up. So far in the past 1.5 months, there've been:

• Marrickville Festival (a community/suburb street festival full of community/political/shopping/food stalls)


• Feastability (Food and Wine festival in Newtown)


• Surry Hills Festival (another community/suburb festival)


• Sydney Art & About (art installations around the CBD)


• Night Noodle Markets (Sydney Good Food Month)

And coming up are:

• Danks Street Fair (Sydney Good Food Month)
  
• Sydney Food and Wine Fair (Sydney Good Food Month)


• Newtown Festival (community/suburb festival)


• Sydney Festival (Sydney cultural events)

When these festivals roll around, you can be sure of one thing... Gözleme!!! As I have mentioned in my blog that doesn't exist any more, gözleme is this turkish pastry/bread that you can't seem to get anywhere else except at stalls at festivals. I've managed to stay away from them so far but there's still plenty of opportunity to be tempted by them. Either way, it sounds like I'm going to be eating my way through summer.

Baby Love

Josie's blog reminded me that I hadn't blogged about Baby Love at CarriageWorks yet.

Baby Love is wifi mobile installment by artist Shu Lea Cheang. Read more about it here.

I'm not sure what the artistic symbolism and meaning of this exhibition is... for me it was all about scootering around in giant teacups (not the Disney variety where you're on tracks... you actually drive these around) with a faceless baby who plays music which you can upload yourself, and any time you crash into something, the music mixes and scrambles.

Scary baby

People riding teacups. (I got out of the orange one and Tarn drove away. *shakesfist*)

AOOB

According to my new key tag, I'm an official member of the Australiasian Order of Old Bastards.

Surprise!

Either someone didn't have enough wrapping paper, or it's early Gate Night.

Need a stalker? Just buzz.

Mobile Street Art - For J2

Some may remember the car below from my original but now defunct blog. The car was part of an exhibit in a local art gallery (also now defunct - purely coincidental). It's been over a year since I last saw this car, but today it turned up in a laneway near my home. It looks as though some of the original artwork has been painted over, and only the dog (?) on the back is still intact.

Ah... faded memories.

Lunar Eclipse 2007

On August 28th 2007, we were lucky enough to witness a rare lunar eclipse where the moon turned red.

Some workmates and I went on a night trek in Gadigal National Park and had a little champagne picnic (just a little... we still needed to find our way out of the forest afterwards). I took my camera and tripod along to try my luck with night photography.

Here is one of the 120-odd photos that worked out pretty well. Don't ask about the 200+ that I've already deleted... I still have a LONG way to go in regards to learning how to use the basic features of my camera. The next lunar eclipse will be in 2011. I'd like to learn how to turn off continuous auto-focus by then. And to also be able to take time lapse photos.

More photos can be seen in my flickr Lunar Eclipse photo set.

Rising from the ashes

Welcome to my new blog site. As some of you may know, I recently deleted my google account, which in turn wiped out everything associated with it. So, I'm starting a new one. Ta-dah!

Hopefully I'll get around to at least photo-blogging a bit more, as I never have anything to properly blog about.