Monthly Archives: January 2010

The bromance has ended

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As it turns out, at the end of the day, when all is said and done – you have to find time for your mates or they will leave you for someone else.

My bromance with Gerrod has ended and our relationship has reverted back to just friendship, maybe even just acquaintance. You see I’ve taken him for granted. He finds the time every weekend to call me on a Saturday night between 6 and 9pm and every weekend for some reason or another I have been selfish enough to be out and about and never at home to receive the call. Every week our answering machine — Anma — takes his message of hurt and rejection. Anma is the perfect listener.

Well over the course of a couple of months, it seems that Gerrod has developed a strong meaningful relationship with our answering machine and now he calls to talk to Anma rather than me.

It’s easy for me to pass blame off with excuses like “It’s a Saturday night – I’ve got a life and don’t have to be hanging around the house all the time.” but I’ve realized the error of my ways and promise to be more attentive. This is one bromance I will win back.

Weekly doings

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We’ve been terribly fortunate to have our great friends, Jaimee and Damian (aka Jaimian) over in Australia the last two weeks and we’ve been doing our best to get in as much time as we can with them.

However, all great things come to an end and Jaimian flew back on Saturday. But before leaving they held some engagement drinks at the Limes Hotel on Friday night. It was great going up to the rooftop bar and catching up with old friends that we haven’t seen for years and of course, to celebrate Jaimee and Damian’s engagement.

On Saturday, we celebrated Michelle’s school friend Danielle’s 30th birthday. She had a massive do in her Mum’s backyard and even put on a spread of Red Rooster chicken. It was a great night, even if hassled by the most persistent mozzies I’ve ever seen. I must say, I’ve never been to a party where the speeches were so well done. Danielle and her sister – Tash – are the most amazing public speakers.

The next morning, I got up early and changed my bike over to be mountain bike ready. Pieter (a mate from work) came over and we peddled our way to the Jinker Track at Albany Creek for some downhill mountain trailing. We had so much fun but it was so hot that we couldn’t stay long. We felt like we were going to die.

In the afternoon, I caught up for a coffee with my mum before Michelle and I hit the cinemas to catch a screening of Avatar but more importantly we were there to get into the air conditioning for a few hours.

Just another week really.

Weekly Doings

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An eventful week we had. We managed to celebrate a birthday, catchup with friends and celebrate xmas/new years again with family.

Last Tuesday we downed some delicious cocktails at the Bowery Bar in the valley before feasting on some delicious Chinese at the Valley Corner restaurant. The occasion? Mel Bourke’s birthday.

The following day, the Australian contingent of “uno gang” members met up at ours for some delicious arvo tea. We snacked on chocolate crackles, home made fruit cake and the most delicious, fresh, warm sponge. It’s a shame that Dave, Pierro and Tony weren’t there to help us eat it all.

Friday snuck up on us and on the drive home from work Michelle and I had to formulate a plan to avoid be stay-at-home-friday-nigels. The plan we came up with? Drive to “strathers” watch a movie (It’s Complicated) and then dine in at Ziggabalis for some fine Italian cuisine. Turns out staying at home that night may have been the better option but not because of the film or restaurant – just the foul stench that is “the pine” :)

Saturday, we jumped on the Suboobaru express and gunned our way down to Hope Island to celebrate a belated xmas/ny with siblings. All the kiddlings were there except for my bro, David and his girl Haley. We had an awesome time just chilling and enjoying some drinks. I think I enjoyed too many drinks though. Sunday was a complete write off.

Wasting the hours away…

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While I have 676 things to do in my todo list I always find a way to put them off in favour of watching some tellie. I am very good at multitasking when it comes to AV entertainment and have multiple shows on the go at once.

Here’s what I’ve been watching that I highly recommend:

  • Dollhouse – a sinister corporation runs underground doll houses which are tantamount to brothels but offer programmable human beings to perform whatever service is needed – whether that be a romance doll, or an FBI agent, or a replacement mother for an orphaned child. The possibilities are endless and the morality of the concept underpins a deeper storyline.
  • Tool Academy – a group of guys are tricked into applying for a TV show called Mr. Awesome – they believe they are going be the spokesmodel for a new energy drink however find out that there girlfriends have nominated them for the show because they are ‘tools’. The show then follows these tools on a journey through counselling and challenges to help them become less toolish.
  • Gavin and Stacey – a British comedy that follows the burgeoning relationship of a Welsh girl and Essex boy. It’s filled with eccentric characters that really open the door for some fantastic scenarios and dialog. Comedy as only the Brits know how.
  • The Tudors - Michelle “made me” acquire this show – a dramatization showing the history of King Henry VIII, his wives and the formation of the Church of England. The first episode started off with a horse drawn carriage and men dressed all weird and I thought “here we go. a period drama. shit” but within minutes I was glued to my chair. A fantastic show. Makes me want to travel back to England and revisit a lot of places.
  • Survivor – Best. Show. Ever.
  • Gossip Girl – another teenage drama that yet again has 17 years old acting like they are 40 year olds. It’s about some uber rich kids (who all come from old money) having to deal with the hardships of the family name and the bitchiness of well – high school kids. It’s surprisingly entertaining – if not for the eye candy alone.
  • The Big Bang Theory – a show tailored just for me and all other geeks out there. The sit for this com is 4 nerds are befriended by a hot chick. The story lines are endless. Great stuff.
  • Elders – Andrew Denton interviews inspirational figures of a mature age. Anything Andrew Denton does is gold.
  • 30 Rock – wacky comedy show featuring Tina Fey (remember fake Governor Sarah Palin?) and Alex Baldwin that doesn’t follow standard US formula. Hilarious fun.
  • Bros and Hos (aka Brothers and Sisters) – a family of shits go out of their way to be selfish, indignant and annoying much to the chagrin of the mother who worries about them all. One of the greatest dramas on earth with plenty of humour to boot.

2009 – Gadget of the year

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This year has been a lean year for acquiring gadgets. It must be because of the GFC or it may because I already have them all :/

Here’s the short-list:

Panasonic DMC-T27 Compact Camera – Last year, I purchased a HD Camcorder to record video of the important moments in our lives. It was a great video and still picture camera and served me well however as with all technology it was being superseded fast. It turned out I could purchase a normal still-picture camera that had the same functionality for less than 1/2 the price. Seeing as the Sony was only a year old I thought I would see if I could sell it for a good price and then purchase a more convenient and cheaper product. Turns out I could. The Panasonic is a true beauty. 12x zoom. Wide-Screen still photos, 720p HD video all in a convenient sized package. Perfec.


Sony PS3 Slim – Last year’s original PS3 gadget died in the ass just out of warranty. It couldn’t be repaired and Sony had just released an updated, slimmer version of the PS3 when I won some serious money on the ponies. What could a boy do?

iPhone 3GS – Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger than it’s predecessor plus it comes with a 3mp auto-focus camera that can record video and a compass for enabling turn-by-turn gps navigation. Awesome!


FreeNas Backup Solution – Not matter how much storage space I seem to amass I always need more and with every bit extra you need you then need to purchase at least twice as much so you can have a backup. This year — with the help of a mate –, I bought and built a FreeNas (Network Area Storage) backup box. It has three 1TB drives in it arranged in RAID 5. This means that if any one disk fails or dies the data isn’t lost and can be recreated from the other two disks. This beauty cost $500 to make and has been a lifesaver in terms of sorting out a storage/backup solution – once and for all.

It seems Apple can’t be stopped and once again I announce their latest iPhone as my gadget of the year. It goes everywhere with me and is used constantly throughout the day for a variety of uses (email, internet, camera, ebook reader, gaming machine, music, watching movies, etc). Hard to beat.

What’s your favourite gadget of 2009?