Stuck at the airport

Turns out it's been a few days since I blogged... I could have sworn I blogged another day this week but it turns out I was mistaken.

So..... I don't really have a lot news to talk about... I've had a bit of training this week which has been quite good.

Other than that it's been a quiet-ish week... I've been training another consultant after hours so it's pretty much been work and sleep this week so not a lot of anything else.

I did pick up a copy of Boom Blox today so that should be a good interlude on the weekend.

I'm currently stuck in Sydney airport waiting for the airport to reopen after a lightning storm. I'm off to Adelaide tonight and for the rest of the week. At least I have my DS with me this week so the plane trip won't be a complete loss.

The C4 has landed (and gets it's first big drive)

This weekend we picked up our new toy the C4. We got quite a few surprises on it's first little journey. First of all we weren't really prepared for the reversing sensors which gave us a shock.

The glass roof is great, it's just like being the worlds quietest convertible. It's not quite the wind in the hair feeling of MinX but it's still great to have the sun streaming in.

Vanessa did most of the driving yesterday and it was a great car to be a passenger in. It also gave a good chance to work out some of the gadgets in the car. One of my favourite features is the HUD.

It's linked to most of the functions on the steering wheel or the stereo. We took it for a drive up to Montville today and it was the easiest drive I've had to do in a long time. We stopped at a couple of places and had a bit of a look at a few key spots but the main idea was to wear in the car. I've always been a fan of cruise control but the C4 also has speed limiting as well which made for a very easy drive up the highway without having to worry about breaking the limit and getting a flash from a camera. We also filled up the stacker with 5 discs and discovered just how well the automatic audio leveling worked (not that it ever got very loud in the car). It was a great smooth ride and will be a nice long distance car.

Morning from Adelaide

The last couple of days of my week are in Adelaide after a bit of a stretch in Sydney early in the week. I made a bit of a mistake not taking any gaming devices with me this week. Good Game (and work) has filed most of that gap for me though. I haven't been able to watch them during the week (mostly due to a lack of ABC2) so I downloaded a stack of past episodes and I've been slowly churning through them this week. It's a bit of a flight back tomorrow so I've made sure I've got one for the flight home.

Wiiware came out this week in Australia (a little disappointing as I can't be sitting there in front of the screen waiting patiently for the gaming glory to arrive).... Good news though is that it looks like you can share demos with your friends. Dr Mario is on the list for the Game downloads... I'll be sending around a few demos on the weekend I imagine.

First toys for Paris?

These cute little items popped up on Play Asia this week. They are even more cutesy than Mario Galaxy itself (who would have thought that was possible). They are probably not safe from birth but as sure as our new arrival hits six months the gaming indoctrination will be starting off with a few Mario Plush toys.

Contemplating a new PVR

So it's probably not much of a surprise to anyone that I was contemplating an upgrade to my PVR at some stage. The Topfield PVR5000t has been great over the years but it's limited to SD and doesn't have HDMI support. The trouble with choosing a new PVR is finding something that has the same level of features as my old Topfield hasn't been easy. Yesterday, however, I got an email that made me rethink my strategy just a little.

Foxtel HD+ was launched yesterday to those who'd signed up at their site and I got an email outlining the pricing plan and offerings for the service. The box itself is based loosely on the Sky+ box in the UK which gets rave reviews from the likes of What Hifi (it's probably also the reason that for the most part the new HD content is from UK Channels).

The pricing is by no means cheap but when compared with the price of getting a new HD PVR (~$1000) it's not completely hideous. I'm not sure if I'll jump just yet and by the looks of the reports it could be a long time coming if I do....

A post for a Monday morning

Well we’re back at Monday again and I’m back on a plane, this post comes to you from 8900m above sea level (well technically it was written at that altitude but obviously I won’t be posting it until we land... we still don’t have Wifi on planes just yet). Yesterday was a bit of a role reversal for travel, Ness was off to a conference on the Gold Coast so I was the one staying home (well at least for one night) and bidding farewell. Being at home on my own I spent some quality time with the projector and settled in with a movie on the big screen. I’m still wading through the huge list of HD and BluRay titles that I’ve been accumulating. The new setup has made a substantial difference to the performance of the Sub. It’s now in the middle of the front 3 speakers directly under the sub and up against the brick wall. The deep bass is now much more integrated with the rest of the front stage and delivers the music aspect of soundtracks better than ever before. Explosions still have their same usual punch and deep rumblings as before, something the system never really struggled with. The best bit about the whole thing though was I got to use the projector in complete darkness something that doesn’t happen too often, no matter how good their ambient light performance, it always feels a bit more like a cinema when it’s just the light bouncing back off the screen.

We took the C4 for a drive on the weekend and will now be picking it up on Saturday. It was a bit of a shock going from MinX to the C4 but it was a really comfortable ride and the glass roof is just great.

We also started stage 1 of Paris preparations for the nursery. Although there isn’t anything that looks like a nursery, we’ve started relocating the study into other rooms of the house (or other people’s houses as the case may be. The iMac has found a new home on the Transformer bed and the gaming station is going to be relocated around the arcade table. The ‘Library’ as it’s now called has had the bookshelves rearranged and consolidated.

For those who are interested (probably no one but it helps pad this post) we’re now at 12600m above sea level.

As this is turning into a weekend update here’s the rest of our weekend, Friday night we went to Salon for a bon voyage dinner for Tom and Susan before they headed on their 6 week holiday. We went to Salon because Tom had missed out on the Slow Cooked Beef dish at my birthday party. So we had a bit of a Spanish style dinner with a Pork Belly, Slow Cooked Beef and Wild Boar dish. After one bite of the beef, though, Tom was hooked. We cut a deal with the girls and traded sweet desert for beef desert. Best Desert EVER!

Waiting in the airport...

Ah airports.... A place I both love and hate... for example, today I was over joyed to be heading to the airport. End of a project, heading home for 3 days (in a row) pretty good as Thursdays go. Now however it's 8pm, no sign of my flight leaving any time soon (which is already an hour late). So they are always a bit of ying and yang.

So tomorrow I have a 9am meeting which isn't going to be much fun when I get home at well past 10:30pm...

Blogging 'cause Ness is...

So I really have nothing to blog about... I've been really busy so far this week (12 hour days is cutting into my personal time) so I haven't got a lot of news (not even vicarious news from google reader), but I know Ness is blogging so I can't be left out.

In a very "OMG I'm going to be a Dad" moment I did feel Paris wiggle for the first time on the weekend which was very exciting, no kicking yet but it can't be far away now. (which is really only exciting news for me)

I'm still waiting for my stuff from thinkgeek to arrive, it's been a bit of a struggle with DHL and getting them to deliver but hopefully it will arrive some time this week though and I can be safe and warm in my /dev/blanket when I get home.

There are some good Blu Ray deals and some new titles on Amazon this week so I might be putting in a new order... there are a couple of DVDs that might slip into the mix as well.

Finally... (as this blog is as a result of Ness blogging)

This is not an appropriate use of the arcade table!!!

Monday airport ritual

It's a Monday morning and unsurprisingly I'm at the airport waiting for my flight... At a guess it's going to be delayed (when are they not) the 630 has already been pushed back due to air traffic control so I imagine it will be a similar story for the rest of the flights.

The new stereo setup is working really well and is reducing the amount of TV we're watching. The setup is working really well with music though and I managed to listen to a fair chunk of the music on my iPod while I was working away.

I didn't get up to much this weekend (other than work) so I don't have a lot of other news to report, that and it's time to board.

Graph of Mario Kart

Amy sent me this great cartoon that pretty accurately maps Mario Kart.... although I think ITSM could definitely take a share of the Mario Kart Slice.

Car shopping success....

This weekend we've managed to not only work out which car we want to get but also found one we like AND put a deposit on it.

We decided on a Citroen C4 in Rouge Lucifer with a Glass Roof.

The only option we didn't end up getting was Leather but the Glass roof was a good trade...

Now I have the perfect excuse to put these videos up.

Great Dinner..

Last night we went out for dinner with a few friends and discovered what a great little restaurant the Blue Frog is. Ironically in all the time I worked in Toowong I never went there once, but last night was really good. One of the best things about the menu is the number of Gluten free dishes across entrees/mains/deserts (they also list lots of other dietary options against each meal).

While on the subject of Gluten Free, I've been staying in the Old Sydney Hotel while I've been in Sydney and they too have a great selection of Gluten free on their menu. The restaurant's menu isn't as well sign posted but they have everything marked on the Room Service Menu (much of which is shared with the restaurant). The staff have been quite quick to confirm anything that is gluten free though and they have a great blueberry and almond tart that is worth trying.

Working late....

As you can probably tell (from the Dilbert post) not exactly a breeze work wise at the moment... as a result I'm pulling a few long hauls to try and get the project over the line. The blog post fits in while I'm waiting for my dinner to turn up.

I started back with some exercise today, being away so much doesn't always lead to much sport/gym etc. I went for a run around the harbor this morning which was quite brisk. In the world continuing to laugh at me I've managed to hurt my knee in the process and it's REALLY painful. Ironically I felt great after the run and only noticed the knee when I got up to get a coffee this morning. Continuing the injury theme a huge bruise mysteriously appeared on my arm today, presumably a result of the lounge room make over on the weekend. It too is surprisingly painful seeing as I haven't noticed it before today.

Back briefly on the work stress, one good thing to come out of it is a new soothing distraction I've found in baby related gadgets. At the risk of sounding overly gooie, there is something inexplicably exciting looking for cool stuff for your unborn child. And it gives me a great excuse to refit the house is Philippe Starck's ghost chairs.

A bit of a gadget insight as well I was looking at getting some speakers for my Project Turntable... I was considering something small and self powered but in a small technology related revelation today I though the best solution would be teaming it with a Tivoli Model Two. Both are old school audio technologies and would suit each other nicely...

Lastly (but not least), Tom and Suse are going overseas in just over a week... I know it's payback for our holiday last year but I'm sure we'll miss them! Have a great holiday.

My life in Dilbert comics

You learn something new everyday

Gee, the things you learn...

Also this is the coolest baby blanket ever... if only I knew someone could crochet....

Early Morning Flights

My favourite thing about morning flights, after being delayed of course, is a cancelled flight. You get up at stupid o'clock, cab it out to the airport, check in, try to scoff some breakfast to then be told you're flight was cancelled. I could have slept in to stupid o'clock +30 mins.

Anyway, as you can tell (from the previous post), there was some Mario Kart Wii action at my house last night. Mandy and Tom kindly bought over their copy and we played for a few hours over dinner. I still think it's fantastic (even though it's not my best karting effort ever). There is something about the new mario kart that I can't seem to master... I'm sure it will come in time.

I'm back to Sydney for the rest of the week. I'm meeting my folks there for a bit either side of the weekend (Mum is flying to Sydney for Mother's Day). I've got a double day today (on top of an early start) and I'm feeling tired just typing that. It's a half day requirements session, then a full day project hell, then a few hours on other project that's just starting.

Small update on the new cabinet, I was a little worried about how it would hold up heat wise being fully enclosed. Yesterday was a pretty good test with a full day of music (all be it not very loud) and then about 5 hours of Mario Kart (both the Wii and the Amp are in the same compartment) and while the cabinet was warm it wasn't at overheating levels. The big concern is when the fan forced heater (aka Xbox360) comes back into the cabinet. I have a place for it in a compartment of it's own so at least it won't be sharing it's heat around too much. Speaking of the 360 I started off it's repair process, which turns out isn't going to be a short process. I'm still waiting for a response from MS Support with a case number so I can send it in.

Mario Kart Wii Code

For those looking for some online Mario Kart Action.

CamDS
1032-1880-7138

Message me back your code and I'll add you!

Oh and a small gripe with this... why can't they add a "Send mario kart friend request" from people I already have in my Wii Address book? Why people??

A busy Sunday.

It's a long weekend in Brisbane this weekend, unfortunately though as I'm working for someone in NSW they aren't on holidays and I'm working. We worked on making the most of the Sunday though. This morning we went out and had b'fast at Lock and Load at West End which was a good b'fast and even better chat.

After that we worked up the courage and played with the Xplory our current top pram choice. After working out how it folded up and changed all the bits that changed. We decided that it's definitely the pram for us and it also managed to reduce our possible car lists.

The rest of the day was dedicated to building a new Stereo cabinet and rewiring the system.

Stereo makeover

The new cabinet looks great and hides away all the components and wiring really well. I'm a bit exhausted though... carrying the TV and all the bits of glass has worn me out a little, it's luck I don't have to be up to fly tomorrow.

Wii Fit

I haven't picked up any new Wii games for a while, WiiFit and Mario Kart are on the list... but having Rabbids for WiiFit is almost enough grounds to own it.

Mario Kart Wii

Just 'cause it's Mario Kart

Can I take your order???

(So I admit I stole this post name from a chat I was having, sorry Roman)Anyway, I'm taking my geek levels to a new low tonight and I've taken my laptop to dinner in the Hotel Restaurant.

I was getting a bit sick of sitting in a restaurant trying to amuse myself while I ate and the hotel is quite used to "high flyers" working during dinner so some guy in jeans with a laptop doesn't phase them too much.

So a bit of an update on the week...

The Project from Hell which I've been on (and in Sydney for eternity for) is coming close to it's deadlines and despite it's continual scope creep there is no extension to the timeframe we're just working longer hours (because what else would I do I'm in Sydney and apparently may as well work) to fit about 3 months worth of work into 3 weeks. As a result there hasn't been much time for blogging (or catching up the sleep I missed out on. Something I've successfully failed at this week).

Tuesday night though I did manage to get out and have some social time. I caught up with Casey who cooked a fantastic barbecued and flame grilled chicken.
This was followed up by some Mario Kart Wii, I was a little worried how I would hold up after my demise to Mandy and Tom. I managed to pull out a few wins here and there though so it wasn't a complete embarrassment. The new game is fantastic... I was really impressed with the graphics and particularly with the online capabilities. The addition of the Channel so you can check if you have friends online even if you don't have the game in the console is a great improvement over their previous online attempts and a much closer experience to the polish of the Xbox Live interface (disregarding the annoying 12 year olds).

It was a great night and proved that Mario Kart, like pool, is often played better after a couple of scotches.

The rest of the week has been pretty much work slavery so not much else to report.... I managed to slip in an episode of BSG Season 3 though for good measure.

On a side note though I have managed to a lot of music this week (in order to avoid random people from "Project from Hell"s company talking to me about irrelevant things for HOURS on end when I'm already cramming months into weeks)

I'm very much looking forward to getting home this week... I've been a bit homesick this week. I think the combination of overtired, lots of overtime, the endless weeks away and Paris are catching up with me... I'm very much looking forward to the end of May when I'm supposedly starting a project a bit closer to home.... (fingers crossed)