Brain dump mid flight

It's a strange thing my blogging habits, the more and more I have on (like at the moment) the less and less time I have to blog. I'm actually using the time on my flight to Townsville this morning to blog.

There is one nice aspect of the flying at the moment, I do it so infrequently that it's turned in to a nice time for me to catch up on my huge backlog of iTunes downloads and frivolous stuff like blogging. It's now a bit of a guilty pleasure not only for the catch up time but also because I'm also leaving the littleone and Vanessa to fend for themselves.

First of all on iTunes, I'm loving the whole Genius concept. A while ago a setup a few favourites Smart Playlists so I could easily managed all my music using ratings and genres on the iPod/iPhone/AppleTV. The downside is that I've not got over 500 songs in my "top favourites" and this means that if I'm in the mood something it's always followed by something I'm really not interested in. I threw on a genius playlist the other day and it was pretty much spot on although I've discovered that it seems to "like" some songs more than others. But on the whole it's become the way I listen to the songs on the iPhone. I love the fact that you can save them and even refresh them.

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy, stressful and exciting. I'm sorry if I've been not much of a conversationalist while I've been musing about things and life in general. There were some pretty big decisions to come to in the end which was pretty tough, especially over the weekend. In the end I've taken a bit of a risk but I'm pretty confident that it's the right move and will pay off in the end. I think I might make a few people unhappy in the process but I'm hoping that they understand that's not my intention. Well that's probably enough soul searching for one post.

I've been slowly but surely doing a few upgrades to my arcade table. Nothing major but the CRT that was in it was starting to go in the corners and I was also looking for a way to solve the side by side game problem with the cocktail style cabinet. In the end it was a disaster of viewing angles that generated the solution. I had a couple of 19" LCDs around that I wasn't using any longer (with my nice new shiny 24" in the house) and I put one in to replace the 19" CRT. The issue was it was unusable at the flat angle of the table top. To solve the problem I managed to slot the monitor in the table at the right viewing angle for player 1 but it completely obscured from player 2. Then it dawned on me I could dual mount the monitors one for each player. Result : Instant dual screen cabinet that still looks like and is every bit a cocktail cabinet but Aliens Vs Predator multiplayer is a reality. It's almost complete I've just got to source the VGA splitter to run the dual monitors and it's done. The Littleone already loves the cabinet and this way I'll be able to train him up as a wing man for double dragon.

and here's the descent... Well that's the end of this blog.... until the flight home.

Back at the airport... guess not much has changed..

So only about 36 hours after I left BNE airport I'm back... I'm off to Sydney. Fortunately this time I'm flying Virgin and not my other favourite carrier. I must say I am really getting sick of the continual flights, I'm due back in Sydney on Thursday.

Another plus so far is that I'm not suffering too badly from jetlag, although I haven't really had much of chance to let it take hold.

One of the big distractions on Sunday was setting up the new receiver I bought just before I left. The setup process was a breeze and with all the great video scaling I managed to eliminate about 50m of cables from the current setup. I have to say that the auto speaker calibration is just amazing. I'm not sure I could ever own another amp without it!

Well looks like my flight is going to be delayed today so I could be in the lounge a little longer.

Training Training and More training

It's day 3 of the training and it's really starting to take it's toll. The 11+ hours each day is starting to get a bit draining and it's getting harder to stick it out. That combined with the late nights networking are going to make it easy to sleep on the way home.

Not much else to report other than that...

Pleasanton.... anything but...

Well it's not really all that bad, a bit of a come down from the sightseeing from the last 2 days though. Today was the start of the training course and it's pretty full on. We're going from pretty much 8:30am until 7:30pm everyday. The course is pretty good, just very long days... also everyone on the course (except me) is staying at the same hotel so I'm a fair bit away from the action... although tonight I did head back to the "course" hotel for dinner (not helped by the lack of restaurant at my hotel).

So onto my few gripes with America.... What is it with Starbucks? Really? There was one IN my hotel in SF and when I walked out the front door I saw another 3. In the hotel here they have thermoses of Starbucks for breakfast (and at the course as well). I don't really know what they serve but it isn't coffee that's for sure.
Also I know why they have a weight problem over here (not that I can point the finger at the moment); 1. the food is... um... well... Let's just say my breakfast selection today was a) an egg pancake wrapped around a cheese slice covered in cheese spread, b) some sort of cake in caramel sauce, c) bagels, d) muffins e) watermelon. And the stuff they put in their "Coffee" is mind boggling... I'll take my camera tomorrow and try and sneak a few snaps.

I had something else really important to say in this post and it seams to escape me at the moment....

Anyway, the people here are great and being the only Australian who isn't from the Vendor (and only 1 of 4 people total not from the vendor) it could have been a little lonely.

It's almost midnight so probably time I signed off for the night and got some sleep for the long day tomorrow.

Oh wait... I remember... We went out for dinner at this really nice Mexican Restaurant and I had a fantastic Mole Poblano which I had to try after the Ominvores Hundred post.

San Francisco, Day 2

It's another beautiful day here, I think I'm going to try and hit the shops today (at least in the middle part). The Sunburn from yesterday won't be much fun if I repeat it today. I didn't bring any sunscreen with me and so far haven't found one I'm not allergic to.

I really wanted to get to Alcatraz today, but the labor day holiday has foiled my plans with tickets really hard to come by. I did have some successful shopping yesterday, highlighted by a trip to BabyGap for some stuff for Paris.

(Un)Fortunately I've only brought small bags and they are pretty packed already so there won't be much room for any really big shopping sprees...

This is my last day in San Francisco proper, tonight (and for the rest of the week) I'm staying out at Pleasanton. Yesterday was fantastic (apart from the sunburn, which is more embarrassing than anything) got to see lots of great sights and pack in quite a few different things yesterday. My favourite though has to be the cable car ride at night. Hanging off the front of the through the lit streets was great.

Ness is keeping me up to date with everything that is going on back home... which is fantastic.

A big day of sight seeing in San Francisco

I tried to pack a lot into today, for one tomorrow is Labor (sic) day so I'm not really sure what is and isn't open and two it was a really beautiful day...

I've updated some more photos and I know I promised to blog but it's late, I'm sunburnt and the jetlag are all too much....

Quick Highlights
Golden Gate Bridge
Union Square
Riding on the outside of a cable car
The Pier
Lombard St
and a fabulous steak dinner at the Urban Tavern.

A few SF Photos...

Just back for a quick camera upload and a snack before I'm off to hit the shops...

Here are some of the snaps... hopefully I'll get a couple of night shots tonight

San Francisco

Landed in San Francisco....

Not much to report really, flight was bumpy but uneventful.. I've checked into my Hotel and am about to head out to take in some sights.

The view from my hotel isn't much... but it's nice to have a view all the same.

On an annoying note.... my phone doesn't work. Not sure if it's the network or the phone but either way I've got no communication other than my laptop.

Leg 1 over, onto leg 2...

I've made it to Sydney, checked in (again) and swept through customs in record time so it's back to the story from before.

So after a failed web check in, it was a similar story with the kiosk at the terminal (that has a useless interface) which promptly spat out a "go see the service desk". The service desk told me that I couldn't check in there/web/kiosk because I was on an international connecting flight and sent me on my way. I sat in the international queue for about 20 mins, to only be called back to the service desk to check me in because international was too busy...

Fortunately United were much friendlier only adding further fuel to my "Qantas are terrible" stigma.

The added bonus of "you don't have a seat, want to upgrade to business class?" is that I'm now also enjoying the Air New Zealand lounge.

What to do in San Francisco....

Ok blog readers... I have a question for you all. I'm going to San Francisco in the next couple of weeks and I've only got 1 (and a half) days in SF and I'm looking for what are the number 1 things I've got to take in and best places to check out!

HELP!!!!

Back from hospital!

I'm back home again... I was discharged from hospital late yesterday and told to take it easy for a few days. The best news I could have hoped for! The Cardiac wing isn't exactly the place you want to spend your week.

I've been diagnosed with Pericarditis which should clear up after some anti-inflammatory drugs and rest. So it's onto the couch and catch up on some TV for me this week. I've also been ordered away from planes until a checkup in a couple of weeks.

At the airport.... in a good way!

Ness and I are off to Melbourne for a long weekend. Lots of sleeping in, shopping and general enjoyment are planned. We're in the VB lounge... but it's nothing like the normal rush for the morning (although I am planning on doing some work).

We're on a pretty late flight but with nothing to do tomorrow there really isn't much to worry about. We did discover that you can't have an exit row if you're pregnant though...

Chalk up another Premium Upgrade

I’m flying back to Sydney today and I’ve been lucky enough to get another upgrade to Premium which will be nice to get a bit of shut eye and miss all the school holiday kids on their way home... The big thing with the Red Seats is not so much the leg room but the extra arm room which makes using the laptop an option without having to dig my elbows into my next door neighbour.

It’s been a fairly quiet week, but it’s been great to be home (for what seems like an eternity but really only a bit over a week). I’ve caught up with a bit of gaming and some recorded TV. The big gaming addition for the week was Super Smash Brothers Brawl, which is just like the Game Cube version but better. It’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea (even if you are a fan of the fighting genre). It’s currently up there alternating with Mario Kart as my no1 Wii game (although I am trying to put in some Wii fit time every day, except today). Mandy and I put in a few tracks online last night with mostly favourable results... My online rating is slowly climbing towards 7000. It’s a brilliant concept having dual screen play online, human players are always more fun to take on than the AI and it’s often you’ve only got one other player around...

We’re slowly moving towards being ready for the new arrival. We’ve order a few more bits of furniture and started clearing out a lot of the stuff we don’t use. It’s getting close to serious with the stereo wiring with hopefully a few quotes rolling in next week. I think we’ve decided on colours for painting so hopefully that won’t be too far away either.

The Tivoli setup has got a surprising amount of use. I’ve found myself just flicking it on in the mornings when I get up or at night when I get home rather than firing up the projector. Tom lent me a phono stage to do some testing with the Project turntable and it’s the best sound I’ve got out of it since I’ve had it. The DAFT PUNK LP kicked out really well and even when the bass kicked in it still held its own, it’s never going to shake the room (well not before I add the sub at least) but the low frequency don’t cause the unit to sweat too much. Most of its work, though, has been on the radio and I must admit a fair amount of that has been a classical channel. I think because the system just shines on classical music.

On less exciting topics though my laptop is starting to cause me a bit of grief, Vista is crashing on all too regular intervals. Its favourite trick at the moment is to crash and reboot every time it goes to standby. It failed completely earlier in the week and ran an automatic system restore which removed most of the applications that I’d installed since I got it, apparently this was the last “Stable” restore point... Of course it’s only after this that it won’t go to standby anymore.... *sigh*. I’m seriously considering the “upgrade to a more familiar experience” at the moment.

I’m off to Melbourne next week but it’s not actually for work. I’ve cashed in one of the public holidays that I’ve had to work; Ness and I are going to fly down Thursday night for a long weekend away.

That’s about it for this flight to Sydney, it’s time for me to try and claw back a few minutes of sleep...

Sometimes I have really good flight experiences.... and then

Sometimes they suck... So for my flight back to Brisbane:

• Rude Check in staff.
  
• I'm checked into an earlier flight but it's delayed so much it's landing 45 mins after my original flight because of high winds
• They MADE me check in my carry on because it was 600g over the weight limit (with my laptop in it)
• I accidentally left everything (phone, iPod, DS, earphones) in my bag so all I've got is my laptop (with no charger) and my wallet
• I have a middle isle seat
• The lounge is so full I can't get a seat...

Guess that's pay back for the all the free Premium Economy upgrades

Something to blog

I'm in the Adelaide Virgin Blue Lounge and I feel compelled to blog but can't really think of something to blog...

That's not going to stop me though. It's been a busy week which wasn't helped by the end of Financial Year. I've still got a few bits and pieces to tidy up over the weekend making sure everything is settled.

I'm back to Sydney on Monday and will hopefully catch up with a few people for a beverage or two. I've managed to get a relatively free day on Friday next week (Not really sure how... I thought I was booked somewhere but it seems I was mistaken) so I'm hoping to catch up with some Brisbane stuff.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out on Thursday (months after it's out everywhere else). I was hopelessly addicted to the GameCube version of the game so I've been looking forward to it. Apparently the online play is just as seamless and lag free as Mario Kart Wii which will probably mean a lot of online battles from my end.

That's managed to fill in a bit of time, at least enough for me to get to boarding...

A bit of a new flight experience...

I’m off to Adelaide this morning, not a new thing I know, but today I’m flying in one of the new E190 aircraft. Over all it’s a pretty nice way to commute, the seats are significantly bigger than the ones on the Boeing flights, there are only 4 seats per row (2 per side) and there is even a bit more leg room. There are a few down sides though, not in flight entertainment... at all, I wouldn’t normally be too worried but I’m only got 45mins left on my laptop battery and I’m not sure how charged my DS is. As in flight entertainment goes though, the sunrise is pretty spectacular from 24,000 feet this morning.

I’ve had quite a few blog worthy things this week but I’ve been a bit flat out with the End of Financial year to get around to it. First off all, I had a bit of a taste of how the other side lives on Sunday when I dropped Ness at the airport for her flight to Canberra. She was flying with Qantas and I must say I’m very glad that it’s not my regular carrier. They have also opted for the “Self Check In” option but seem to have no idea what to do once people need to drop off their bags. We arrive with a little over an hour before the flight was due to depart and only made it to security check in with 5-10 minutes before boarding. The only way that people actually get to their gate on time is by “breaking from the queue and lining up at a desk” which then defeats the purpose of the queuing system as all the desks end up dealing with those flights that are about to board. The most frustrating thing about the whole system was the obvious dedication of resources to Qantas Club travellers who have as many staff on dedicated desks as the rest of the passengers desks.

Next on my list for this week was lining up at a Bank. I had to do some no transaction based banking at NAB there other day and again it was a disastrous queuing scenario. Everyone knows the bank at lunch time is never going to be fun but when I found myself only 4 people from the front of the line I thought I was in for smooth sailing. Sadly though, it took me an hour to get to the front of the queue. Again it was the staff dedicated to other areas not taking up any overflow that was causing the issue. It certainly didn’t make me think about changing any of my accounts over to them.

Onto more pleasant things though, I managed to fit in a bit of gaming this week. I had the house to myself for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, so I was planning on cramming in as much gaming as I could. Unfortunately a fair bit of work got in the way but I did manage to cruise through a few achievements on Assassin’s Creed. The game is pretty enjoyable and if you haven’t played it, I would definitely check it out especially while it’s on sale. It’s worth playing just for some of the scenery.

I also found THE BEST gluten free bread for making toast ever! I found it at my local IGA store (which is the one on Brunswick St in the Valley if you’re interested, which had a huge range of other gluten free stuff as well), it’s a Potato based bread and it makes the most fantastic toast. It’s almost like “normal” bread (although it’s been so long since I’ve had normal bread that my view’s probably tainted by now). It comes unsliced and was in the frozen section of the Deli. I only started the loaf yesterday and I’ve already eaten more than half of it...

Speaking of Gluten Free, I also have a had a couple of good GF dining experiences at Southbank in the last couple of days. Timmy’s which is a little restaurant at the end of Gray St (well actually it’s not on Gray st at all but it’s up the end where the Griffith Buildings are). They have a great range of GF options on their menu all the way through to desert (and I’m not just talking about the standard Jaffa Cake that everyone has). Their service was quite good, but the food was excellent and not particularly pricey, I would definitely recommend a dinner there. The other place we stumbled on was “Viet de Lite(s)” which is almost at the piazza end of Gray St. We found it last night on our way to the Kransky Sisters which was hilarious (although not the best thing to be going to before a 6am flight to Adelaide). They have the whole menu marked for Gluten Free with almost more GF than not. The food was very tasty and it was a pretty cheap and cheerful dinner (fantastic chicken rolls for entree!).

That’s probably about it for this flight as my battery warning light is starting to do the “I’m going to shut down soon” dance, so much for 45mins of time. At least that will give me a far bit of time in my rediscovery of Geometry Wars on the DS for the rest of the flight.

A longer haul upgrade

It's another upgrade this week... a bit better this time heading from Adelaide to Brisbane. Speaking of which... I'm boarding...

Sunrise at the Airport

It's Monday morning and to everyone's surprise (I'm sure) I'm back at the airport. I woke up with a bit of a cold this morning so I'm not really looking forward to the week. I've started on the cold and flu tablets already so that should make the flight a bit easier.

It's not looking like I will repeat Friday's luck as it's 6:35 and the 6:00 flight has only just finished boarding...

One thing I forgot to report from the weekend was we managed to make a trip to Bunnings and leave with only a $50 outlay!

Best Flight.... ever!

Usually I don't have the best luck with flights often they are late and I'm sitting in the lounge for a while... This week was a bit different. Flights out of Sydney were delayed, some of which was due to fog earlier in the day but mostly as one of the runways were closed. When I turned up to the desk I wasn't hopeful but they swapped me to the earlier flight which was due to fly when I was scheduled. They they upgraded me to premium economy (because there weren't any normal seats left). The best surprise was the flight started boarding before I'd even finished checking in so I was on the flight straight away and arrived home only 30mins after I was supposed to leave Sydney...

HD+ has landed....

Yesterday, after not much of a wait at all, my new Foxtel HD+ service was installed. The new HD Sport Services are great. It was a little bit of a let down though seeing an NRL match in HD on Foxsports to follow it up with SD for the origin but I'm sure Channel 9 will be on the bandwagon soon enough. ESPNHD is one of the best HD channels though... After origin I was watching the NBA playoffs just because the picture was so good. I would have to say that some of the HD Content even looks better than some of the HD/Bluray Disks I have.

The iQ2 is also a great little device. It has one of the best interfaces of a STB PVR that I've used. My favourite feature so far is the ability to pick up another channel to record without having to change channel you're watching. During the Origin we realised that I hadn't put in a reservation to record Spicks and Specks or The Gruen Transfer. I simply had to scroll to the ABC channel in the preview panel and hit the record button. The Series Link option for the recording looks like a great idea I'm yet to see it in action though so I can't really say how well it works.

I'm off to Sydney today (I know, just for something different) and I've set up quite a few things to record on the "Series Link" option (the idea being it will record all the entries of that show when ever they appear). So we'll see how well it works (although I did notice that the "Series Link" option isn't available for the Free to Air HD channels)