February and another festival

Almost a exactly a month since we went to Big Day Out in Adelaide and
we backed it up with a trip to Future Music. First of all I'd like to
point out that it was wet and by wet I mean probably the most
saturated I've been when not swimming. It's definately the muddiest
i've ever been. So in that light I'd take any review with a grain of
salt.

Overall I was pretty disappointed. I think I was still basking in the
afterglow of Big Day Out and combined with the weather it was going to
be hard slog for it. I found the change overs took entirely too long
and the sets were too short in comparison. No one I saw (with the
exception of the fill DJ baby gee) seemed to play their full set time
and a quite a few of them started late.

Ok enough of the complaining there were highlights.
Franz Ferdinand: these guys were pretty good. Heaps of hits and some
great drum improvisation at the end of their set.
Prodigy: Great. Perfect run of songs from breath (almost opener) to
firestarter. I spent pretty much all of the set jumping. Almost felt
like I was back in highschool when voodoo people hit.

Unfortunately that was about the end of the highlights other than done
excellent crowd movement control.

Empire of the Sun: I was really looking forward to these guys and
after being very late, which was not their fault, I imagine the
continual downpours gave the set crews a major headache they were just
a bit weird. They really put on a show but it was more like a bad
musical theatre performance than a set. There was a comment that the
choreography was akin to a performance by Phoenix musical company.

I could go on and on but I think overall the stage setup, the sound
setup and the lineup were far below the standard of Big Day Out and
for the same (or more for VIP) ticket price combined with the weather
made it disappointing. While Prodigy were really good they weren't
enough to save the festival for me.

The biggest thing of note was the weather though it rained so much. We
were lucky we went late and had VIP tickets so we could hide in the
tents but by the end of the night we were all soaked to the bone and
covered in mud. When I saw the weather I chose to wear some water
proof shoes which was a great idea *until* they filled up with water
then they were not so great. For empire I was ankle deep in mud. The
shoes are all heading for the bin, hours of walking around in a horse
track filled with mud (or worse) makes them not worth resurrecting.
I'm just thankful that I came home with my shoes, more than I can say
for many other goers.

I didn't get many photos as I was trying to save the iPhone from the
weather (I had to keep it in a bag in the end because my pockets were
soaked through) but I will post some soon (mostly shoe mud progress).

Sent from my iPhone

This was supposed to be a post

I was going to post something informative and insightful today,
somewhere between thinking of that and actually putting finger to
touch screen it's disappeared.

There had been a lot going on lately but nothing of very much interest
to those browsing the interons.

The only real technology based news is I've decided to go back and
give 'Buzz' another try. With much of the security plugged back up i'm
willing to give it a second run. Still not sure if I can support yet
more social media services but I like the levels of potential
integration.

Well that's about all the padding on this I'm willing to do. Until
next time when I actually have something to blog about.

Sent from my iPhone

Clearoutathon

I am a bit of a hoarder. I come from a family of hoarders so it's not
surprising I've picked up the behaviour. I've tried to cut back but
every so often I slip back into some hoarding. This week though it's
been the complete opposite. Ness was watching an (heart wrenching)
show on compulsive hoarders. These people (often as a coping mechanism
for some incredible hardship) have so much stuff in there houses they
haven't seen the insides of rooms for over 5 years. This was enough
for me (one because I found it depressing to watch and two if they
could throw out things then I could at least clear out my study). In
the end it was pretty easy all thd documentation from my past working
life went and the odds and ends went with it. The bug seems to have
stuck though as I've continued to the kitchen tonight. Who knows where
it will go next.

In case any of you are wondering why there is a rather self indulgent
post at midnight. The Littleone(tm) is sick and has woken up with a
high temp again tonight. After some nurafen, milk and a cuddle he's
back asleep. I'm trying to stay awake to make sure his temp keeps
heading away from the 40 mark, hence the blogging.

Sent from my iPhone

Biking, a little one and a semi review of the Townie

Since he was about 6 months old our little one has been fascinated by bicycles. Doesn't seem to matter what type, he just wants to go and see what it's all about. He can spot a cyclist on a bike long before any one else does. The obvious solution to this was to get a bike and baby seat and take him for rides. We bought an Electra townie and appropriate seat and have since spent many hours cruising around the bike paths along the river.

So here is the townie semi-review:
I've had the townie for almost 6 months now and it's fantastic. It's actually become my preferred bike to ride. This is especially the case if I'm not in a hurry. There is something extremely relaxing about crusing around on it. It's certainly more work on the hills and while you can make to to +25km/h on the flat it's no cake walk. Somehow none of it seems to matter when you're riding a townie. It always makes me want to kick back, feel the wind and enjoy the scenery. It's never going to be the bike for you if you're going to spend the weekend claiming hills or heading up the peloton in the next road run, but as enjoyable way to get from A to B I can't recommend it enough.

Now back to the rest of this brain dump. After being at day care last week someone has a new found love for riding on bikes. The small trikes in the centre are the number one pick each day. So I renewed my search for the first cycle for him. I'd always intended to get him a Hudora Joey from My First Bike, but I spotted this awesome pre-bike from wishbone.

It seems like the perfect design, a trike to start with the option to change it to a balance bike when he's a bit older. Now all I need is a reason to give it to him, his birthday seems such a long way away.