Steve, Don't Eat It!

"I love my wife, but does she really have to be such a mammal?"

Check out this very funny site here: Steve, Don't Eat It!

Soft

I love this photo. The soft lighting and consistency of colour is so beautiful. For more of this guy's work, check out Chromasia.

Camera Phone Pic o' the Day

Found this shop at Chadstone shopping centre on the weekend. They sell all kinds of gifts and I figured Craig would love to see this!

On another note, I won a pair of Converse sneakers in a competition. They are ... uh... not real attractive though. I was trying for an MD player or video camera!

2nd Prize in a Beauty Contest - collect $10

It still reminds me of Monopoly, but I won 2nd prize in a contest run by my hairdressers, Toni & Guy. First prize was a new Ford Focus valued at $31,000 and second prize was a package of all sorts of stuff valued at $1,000. While I'm stoked that I've scored $1,000 of free stuff, I was so close to winning that car! If only!

I'll update when I find out exactly what it is I've won! :)

Interesting...

I went out for dinner on Saturday night with Rynelle from dancing, and she brought along her friends Nicole, Lisa, Renee and Catherine. We went to a restaurant and jazz bar called Manchester Lane off Flinders Lane in the city. It was really beautifully decorated -- a modern vibe with comfy chairs and mood lighting. The menu was great and the food was pretty darn good. We had some extraordinarily bizarre conversations at the table until the swing band came on and the joint started jumping. At first only one or two couples got up to dance, but after a while Rynelle and I decided to give it a go. I can safely say that I was pretty crap, as I only know a few swing moves so I just repeated them over and over! Then we managed to drag the remaining girls (well, except Lisa) out of their chairs and onto the floor as well, and before we knew it the floodgates were open. Soon the dance floor was crowded with people who didn't really know how to dance but were wanting to have a good time anyway!

The band was great and we had a faboo time. After that we went to a pub/club on Elizabeth street but I don't recall the name. Anyway, it was really smoky in there and so we didn't stay long. That was one of the cool things about Manchester Lane. You get the nightclub vibe without any cigarette smoke! It's a non-smoking joint!

What made the night so interesting (at least for me) is that I found one of the girls to be particularly funny and cool, and so I got her phone number. Maybe....? Who knows? Updates as they come.

Camera Phone Pic o' the Day

Yes, it's blurry, but that's what happens when you try to take a photo whilst wearing ice skates! Read about my full encounter with Reggie from 'Skating on Thin Ice' in my skating blog.

Camera Phone Pic o' the Day

Saw this in Safeway at Balwyn (Woolworths for you non-VIC folk). Great to see that the firm who makes these signs for them have insurmountable spelling powers!



(For those confused, it should be 'wedges', not 'wegdes')

The Veronicas

I just love that new song "4ever" by The Veronicas. I was wondering why it was so catchy when I noticed the song writing credits... written and produced by Max Martin! Aha! (For those unaware, he's the songwriter and producer for most of Britney's big hits and the Backstreet Boys too. He also recently wrote and produced "Since You've Been Gone" for Kelly Clarkson). Go the Brissie girls!!

Camera Phone Pic o' the Day

Er...? Saw this in the bathrooms at Box Hill Centro shopping centre. Scares me that they have to specifically ask this! (Apologies for the darkness but I don't have any photoshopping programs to brighten the image up.)

Nineteen Eighty-Four

I just finished reading "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell, and it was really cool. Disturbing in many places, and definitely thought-provoking. Written in 1949, it is where the whole 'Big Brother' idea began.

Recommended.

Harry the Handyman

An old Kenny Everett skit goes:

Girl: "What we really need now is a handyman."
(knock on door)
(door opens)
Man: "Hi! I'm Harry the Handyman!"
Girl: "Great! Can you fix our spaceship?"
Man: "Nope."
Girl: "Can you fix our engine?"
Man: "Nope."
Girl: "Well what makes you think you're so handy?"
Man: "I only live around the corner."

----------------------------

I got a chance to play handyman yesterday to fix the leaking tap at the kitchen sink. I trudged outside and found the water supply for our flat, turned it off and went back upstairs. I unscrewed the taps and tried to figure out what to do next. A call to my dad was in order! He explained the process and I managed to follow the instructions, and then I made a trip to Bunnings for the replacement washers and such. Luckily, they have these little packs called "FIX-A-TAP" which has everything you need! I grabbed one of those and came home, followed the instructions on the back of the packet and voila! The dripping taps were fixed! I felt very manly. :)

Shake Ya Tail Feather

Stacks of fun again last night at dancing! Danielle and Jacquie were both there which was cool, as Danielle hasn't been there in ages due to Uni. I found out that Jacquie is getting married next September, so that effectively puts her out of contention... oh well. Still, they are both great fun to dance with and we had a kick ass time. Catherine came along as well so pretty much the whole gang was there. One of the girls (Lesley) had to run so fast to get from her previous dance partner to me that she slipped and fell over in front of me. Another girl said "What did you do to her, Scott?". I replied "Oh, women are always throwing themselves at my feet." If only that were true!

They ended the dance with a funny rendition of "Shake ya tail feather" from the Blues Brothers. Seeing Catherine do that dance cracked me up. Danielle, Jacquie and I watched safely from the sidelines :)

Desperate Housewives Finale

Well, it's over. Last night was the final episode of season 1 of Desperate Housewives. It was a great episode too, with a cliffhanger ending. Does this mean that Mike is now Zach / Dana's dad? Freaky!

I feel sorry for Bree though. She's getting it tough.

On a side note, I added a link to my new ice skating blog on the right. I didn't think that posting every last detail about my skating in this blog was the right forum. Now I've got a separate area that can be of interest to other adult skaters, if they should ever find out about it. Warning: reading it may be excruciatingly boring to non-skaters!

Stack

Had a big stack at the end of my Sunday morning session in skating. I was getting tired and lazily lifted my right foot for a stroke when it caught the toe pick -- I went down on my left knee hard and flipped over. It hurt a LOT. But it was also really embarrassing! I now have a nice purple bruise on my leg today to show for it! Badge of honour? Er...

The Lovely Amber

I just spoke (or rather 'texted with') Amber whom I haven't chatted to in ages. She said she had a dream about me last night, and I quote:

"In the dream I was telling you we should work things out and be together but you said it could never happen cause you were gay."

Hahaha! I really miss her.

Life is Beautiful

I'm having just too much fun at the moment.

First off last night it was squash with the boys. I played really well, much better than last week, and I won most of my games -- some of them easily. My serve was kicking some serious butt!

Then I went skating to break in my new boots. Had a wicked fun time! Everyone at the rink (especially the adults) is just super nice and very encouraging, and it's almost like a little community of people who are trying to be the best skaters they can be. I saw some girls doing jumps in the middle of the rink and I just had to stand and watch for a while as it was just so cool. I can't wait to start jumping! But for now, I have to keep working on my standard skating skills, like gliding, spirals, t-stops, backwards skating and crossovers. They are all coming along slowly. My new skates are TOTALLY different from the rental skates I was using... they are so sharp that it really changes how you skate. And I hit that toepick at least a million times -- on the rental skates the toepick is basically non-existent. (The toepick is like a very fast-acting brake, and if you hit that thing it makes your foot stop dead on the ice which can cause you to fall on your face!) So I was a bit shaky for the first hour! I also had my first fall last night, and that ice is not exactly soft. Ouch. If only I could wrap myself in a hundred thousand rubber bands... then it wouldn't hurt, right? Er.

Ahhh, life is good! :)

Money Money Money

Well, the tyre situation was just all bad news. When I went back to get my patched tyre they showed me the inside of the tread. It was completely bald. At first I thought they'd pulled a fast one and switched tyres, but then I checked the inside tread of my other front tyre. Identically bald. Seems that my alignment was out and it was dragging my tyres along the inside and wearing them out. The practical upshot of all this is that I had to fork out for two new tyres and an alignment, totalling $170.00! Oh well. It drives like an absolute dream now.

Got my new skates. They are a bit.... cosy? The leather will stretch as I break them in, but at the moment they feel pretty tight on my feet widthwise. The length is fine though, and they are infinitely more comfortable than the rental skates. They look cool too in jet black. I'll skate in them tonight for the first time and see how they hold up. The guy who sharpened my skates (Mike) was an absolute legend and a really nice guy... explained to me about how to check for good sharpening versus bad. Top bloke. And sharpening is only $5 so at least I'll be able to afford that without any hassles. I need to sharpen every 30 hours of skate time or so.

Dancing last night was a quiet affair. Very few people were there, and my friendgirl Catherine and her mum piked out. But it was still a lot of fun nonetheless! The Lone Ranger is currently in Sri Lanka but will be rejoining the classes when he gets back in about a month.

Flat tyre!

Well, I haven't had a flat tyre since I learnt how to drive some 15 years ago. Last night I pulled into the service station to check my air pressure, and the front left tyre was down to 10 psi -- very, very low. I refilled them all back to 32 psi and then checked the front left again -- it was now 31.5 psi. So I assumed there was a minor leak and filled it up to 34 psi, with the expectation of going to get it checked for leaks tomorrow. I drove around the corner to the newsagent and parked the car. While I was reversing the car felt weird, so when I stopped I got out and checked that tyre again. It was completely flat. Right on the rim. The drive from the service station to where I parked was about 25 seconds. That's a fast leak!

Due to my lack of experience a call to Dad was in order (aren't mobile phones handy?). I told him what had happened and he advised me to not drive on it at all, for fear of damaging the rim. He reminded me of the steps to change a tyre, and so there I was in my business attire, changing the tyre on a main road! It was kind of cool though, in that manly 'do-it-yourself' kinda way. Took about 30 minutes and then I drove safely home on my spare.

This morning I dropped in at Bob Jane and gave them my leaky wheel. They are going to patch it up and refit it later today.

Injured

Ow.

I've got a nasty injury which means I can't play tennis anymore, at least for the short term.

I think it's the connective ligament between my forearm and tricep, but what the heck do I know about anatomy? I'm going to go to the physio first, and then if that fails I'll go to the doctor for some x-rays. I tried to play tennis on Saturday but only managed 15 minutes before the pain was unbearable and I had to stop. So I can't play tennis until it's fixed. Squash doesn't seem to affect it as much, and I can get in an hour long game with it hurting only a small amount (it still hurts though). Hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed and get back on the court soon.

Luckily, I've found a new addiction to replace tennis while I'm healing. Ice skating! I love it and am taking lessons to improve now. I had two beginner lessons on the weekend, and had the most wicked fun. I've ordered some skates of my own (they arrive Tuesday) so now I'm all set to go.

Skating it also infinitely cheaper than flying which I also did on Sunday! I flew another Piper Warrior over the Moorabbin area for thirty minutes, and it was an absolutely glorius day to fly. Blue skies, perfect sunny weather, with clear visibility all the way to the horizon -- magic! Did a lot better this time too, and managed to control the plane right up until the very last seconds of landing, when the instructor took over. It really is amazing fun, but soooo expensive. $230 per hour for instruction and plane hire, whereas I can get skating instruction for $50 an hour. I've attached a photo of me and the plane I flew.