Almost Moved (and a bit of an update)

Well we got just about everything done over weekend on getting the house together. About 80% of the boxes are unpacked it's really only Ness's craft gear and the DVD's that are left to unpack. We had a few casualties from the move but overall it was pretty smooth process. We lost one picture (which was my fault, I didn't catch the door before it closed on picture frame), a couple of bowls (well actually only one, but they were a pair so it wasn't much use having one without the other), a crisper tray from the fridge (no great loss, we didn't use it), but the biggest (and most surprising loss) was the Onkyo DVD player. It was the most surprising because we moved it ourselves. It was unplugged, carried to the car, driven to the new place, carried up stair, plugged in and that was it! Now it is no longer with us, it just refuses to turn on.

I've started looking for a replacement, the current winner is a Toshiba SD-350E. The thing that turned it to me straight away was it's built in upscaling (to 1080i) and HDMI output.
It has a fairly impressive list of features including playing DivX Compatible discs. I hadn't done a lot of research as upgrading the DVD player wasn't exactly on our list of things to do but having the HDMI will make it much easier to upgrade my display later on without having to worry about connection options. The latest (October 2005) What Hifi has a review of the player which gave it 5 stars with impressive reviews about it's picture reproduction. As the Onkyo was a very impressive DVD player for it's time I'm keen not to take a step backwards but this player seems to be a step in the right direction.

This week also brought about a triumph return to sport. I started playing indoor cricket and touch football (yes both on the same night) again. Cricket was a pretty good match, I was happy with my return to bowling with a couple of stumpings and a few caughts also got a run out and a catch (without dropping any) out of my normal position. Batting was no where near as exciting with a few mix ups in the running between wickets and some stupid shots on my side. All in all though it was a pretty good match and we won... which helps. We lost touch, but that wasn't unexpected. We were playing the top team and we really didn't want to win being our first season we'd like a bit easier run in the bottom group rather than having to tough it out every week with the top teams. We put in a pretty good show, only going down 4-2. I am amazed at Ben's ability to change direction at speed. He has this unnatural ability to dodge every touch that seems to come near him. Anyway, I'm glad he's on my team and not someone I have to run down every week! (Which was my highlight of the match, running down a guy who'd made a break and was headed for the line! I don't ever remember to step when I'm in attack so my only hope is to shine in defense)

On the internet/phone front I'm still battling. I've got a pretty busy week at work so I haven't had much of a chance to chase any other ISPs or to put the boot into Ozemail. Complaining to iiNet got me a quick response and a connected phone line but no calls to mobiles. I still can't transfer my ADSL ozemail informed me that I need to inform my phone carrier to move my phone service and then contact them once this has been completed..... and so the saga continues.

I'm quite addicted to Mario Kart DS at the moment. I would like to play a bit more of Kirby Canvas Curse but Ness has well and truly monopolized that! I've unlocked all the courses on 50cc so far and have got Star ratings for all but 3 of the courses. I've gone away from my traditional favourites of Mario or Toad and am use Dry Bones at the moment. Obviously with my internet drama's I haven't played online yet. I've had a few challenges with Ness and the multiplayer aspect of the game is a joy...

That's about it for the moment...