Well, I've got some good news...

Waterslides

2011-01-06T17:31:00.002+11:00

When it's hot the whole town goes to the swimming pool
When it's not the whole town stays inside
Walk past the way memorial
Towards the waterslide.

I hope I always remember the first time Ella went down the waterslide all by herself.

----

OH, and yesterday I taught Tali to abseil off the balcony in our carport!!

VISITORS ON THE WAY!!

2010-11-19T19:17:00.002+11:00

Such beautiful weather. The birds are singing outside (actually the birds are corellas and considered pests but they sound much prettier than traffic noise would in the city), the sky is a deep blue, the sun is shining, the house is (phew) reasonably tidy.

Oh, and the beer fridge is overflowing.

It's going to be a fun weekend. We're going out to see Mt Hope and maybe show the visitors the full Murray. It really is mighty when it's like this. And I'm cranking up the outside wood pizza oven too. Very good news.

Hooray!!

Proven by science!

2010-10-07T18:43:00.006+11:00

Today we proved conclusively that South Australia has the most delicious gingernuts, as voted by 6/9 of our testers. I didn't even know they varied by state until one of the many Queenslanders in the office told me. We designed a mostly-double-blind* testing protocol and ranked them from best to worst.

* It's hard to truly double blind this one when one of our testers is addicted to specially imported Queensland gingernuts..

Here are my tasting notes:

Qld - too soft, but a good level of gingeryness. Not a satisfying crunch. 3/10
NSW - hard. Really hard. Kinda too sweet. 5/10
Vic - Spicy. Not too sweet. Not as crunchy as NSW but still good. 7/10
SA - a good balance of hardness and spicyness. Not overly sweet. 8/10

ky is pronounced 'q' and means yellow belt :-)

2010-10-06T20:38:00.003+11:00

Summer

2010-10-05T19:22:00.002+11:00

Ella did a proper handstand tonight that went for a full 3 or 4 seconds!!! And she learnt how to do a full 360 flip on the monkey bars.

Man - I'm just astounded at how much of a difference all this sunlight has made - that there's suddenly so much light left after dinner that you just HAVE to go down the back and kick balls around and roll in the grass for a while. I feel like I've been indoors huddled around the fireplace for a million years and suddenly SUMMER!

(ok, spring time. But it's really nice here. You'd love it. You should come and visit.)

trying something just cos someone you like likes to do it

2010-09-03T10:14:00.000+10:00

So dancing is a lot of fun, and it seems to be an important part of my life, the way basketball, tennis, climbing, skiing, doing a PhD and being in bands have all been. But when I dance, I dance with people I know from dancing. Only rarely can I dance with a friend, someone I already know. Elisabeth and Linda are two marvellous examples of this. So I was chatting with one of my favourite people in the world the other day, when, completely unprompted, I received the following shiny message:

I'll come dancing with you in melbourne, but you have to understand I do it under sufferance
[me: if you do it, you get massive brownie points!]
you can make me do it but you can't make me enjoy it. ok you can make me enjoy but you can't make me want to enjoy it. ok, you can make me want to enjoy it but i'd find it weird.

Man, I feel so loved! This totally made my day! The only sad part is that I want my other favourite person to say the same thing...

I'M GOING TO THE SNOW TOMORROW!!!!!!

2010-08-25T13:00:00.002+10:00

http://www.mtbuller.com.au/Winter/Snow-Report/Snowcams

Spending two nights on Mt Buller with my parents and the kids to do some sight-seeing, snow-creature construction, tobogganing and obviously snowball flinging. I haven't been skiing for about 12 years so I'm hoping to fit in at least a half-day somewhere. I'm so excited.

And then - next week - ~~Anna and Sacha~~* and Steph and Gustav are coming to visit to do some 4WDing and canoeing and drinking in the spa.

And then - week after - we're taking the kids on their first plane ride up to the Gold Coast to do some theme parking.

And then - week after - we're going to stay at Chris and Lauren's place up in Ipswich to do some sight-seeing and gossiping and drinking.

* excused for reasons of having housewarmings.

Oh my god I'm going to the snow tomorrow I have to pack!

5k to 10k

2010-08-04T20:40:00.002+10:00

Hard to believe it was only 4 months ago that I shared my joy at making it to 5k. Today I went out and ran 10k non-stop... well.. probably more like 11, I wasn't measuring it exactly. Got some great tunes from the freeway to 10k and the motion traxx podcasts, and they got me to 10k without too much trouble!

Now that I work in the city, I've joined the army of people who run around the domain/opera house area at lunch. I think most tourists who are out there assume that there's some event on, but it's just like that every day.

Now I feel like I should have registered for the city to surf this weekend - it's only 14km. Oh well.

look ma no hands

2010-07-29T12:37:00.000+10:00

wow, this one totally snuck up on me. When I started riding a bike here in Reykjavík, I started trying to ride no-hands, like we always used to do when we were kids. So that's about 2 years ago I started trying, and it was really hard. But, riding home from the swimming pool the other night at about 3am (night-swimming, yay!), I realised I was talking to my friend and I was just riding along no handed, without even realising it! Woo-hoo! How great when a long-term project like that finally bears fruit! :D

Woot!

2010-07-04T19:40:00.002+10:00

This week I've shot a shot gun, driven a 4wd over some insane obstacles, gone out into the forest in Rob's Land-rover to use my chain-saw to get a couple of trailer loads of wood (there was SO much mud), played poker and did some plumbing on the sprinkler system.

The country can be fun! Expecially when the slabs of Becks cost $49.

(BTW, that's the new, hipper, country way to spell. There's a guy here who says 'arkse' every time he means 'ask'. Isn't it endearing?)

It's the return of Sink Cat

2010-05-17T17:25:00.008+10:00

Pepper-sink-cat circa February 2010:

Pepper-sink-cat cat circa May 2010:

Found things!!

2010-05-06T19:46:00.002+10:00

Ooh! Ooh!

I found my pocket knife! Once again I can smugly walk about with a pair of blades, some little but remarkably effective pliers/wire cutters, an assortment of screwdrivers, a can opener and, importantly, a bottle opener on my person, ready to whip out and solve people's problem that they didn't know they had and lecture them that a pocket knife is "usually the WORST tool for the job, but you can normally get something done well enough while everyone else is still looking for the right tool. Ah! There you go! Finished. You can put those scissors away, we didn't need them after all!"

Hooray!

Oh! And I found the camera! Which means that I can take a video of Ella on the climbing wall - she's actually really very good at it when she doesn't know that she can't do it. Because she's so little just about every hold is a clear 1 or inches out of her reach and she has to stretch from full tip-toes to the very tips of her fingers then quickly transfer her weight. It just reinforces for me that kids are natural climbers: they do little tricks and moves that grown adults take months to learn.

Oh! And yes! The camera was with my work phone - for which I have been in deep shit for not being able to find this week. I'm very happy to have found that.

new music!

2010-05-01T10:36:00.000+10:00

It's always a bit of a wild punt buying cds at a gig where there's just some bloke bashing away on a guitar, and his cd is 'with a full band'... This gig I was at last night started out with 3 people in the audience - me, my friend who was also support, and his housemate, and finished with just over a dozen people in the room (which we filled out pretty nicely - it's about the smallest venue I've ever seen!). Anyhow, I think this is my new favourite cd! I thought it'd be more Darren Hanlon-y, but it's kind of more Man Bites God-y - TOTALLY right up my alley! But in Icelandic, of course :D Yeah, and I haven't yet worked out a) what the guy's name is, b) what the band's name is, nor c) what the cd is called. Nor does the intermanet/iTunes know - I'm so edgy, vikings keep falling off me!

Couch to 5k

2010-03-30T10:02:00.003+11:00

So I've been doing the "couch to 5k" programme. It's supposed to be a 9 week thing, but I've taken about 6 months on it what with sickness and injury and laziness.

Anyway.. I ran exactly 5km without stopping for the first time yesterday! I was pretty stuffed by the end, but my legs were still moving. Totally stoked that I got that far - this is the most fit I've been in my life.

Being the gadgeteer that I am, I recorded the track (incl. warmup/cooldown walks)

Next target: 10km.

(edit: make the link link..)

New job!

2010-03-26T22:11:00.003+11:00

I got a concrete offer today on a new job. I'm really keen on it. I'll be working in the city for a change, and it'll be with some people I know are awesome. Oh, and for more money. Start there May 10th. Can't wait!

I have an awesome

2010-03-26T20:43:00.002+11:00

climbing wall in my garage.

And this is just the start.

2010-03-12T20:58:00.002+11:00

I just went for a walk in bare feet through the grass around my house. It needs mowing and it's thick and lush. It was like walking on air, cool massaging air.

Soooooooo niiiiiiiiice.

hiiiiiiiiiiiYA!!

2010-03-10T20:37:00.002+11:00

I SPARRED tonight at karate!! It was so much fun!

Ok ok I spent the first half having the other guy (a white belt) (ie, the lowest) (actually, I'm the lowest because I don't even have a white belt yet) (next week) make mincemeat out of me and the second having a 15 yr old girl (in a purple belt ok) make mincemeat out of me. But it was very exciting.

I'm taking lessons with Tali out at Koondrook. 6pm Wednesdays. 5 bucks. Doug, a 65 yr old ex cop who showed me the bullet wound in his knee and where the bullet went in and came out. The men there have been really good for Tali.

(Oh, and I won at tennis last night - 4-6 6-5 6-2. I thought they had us at 1-3 in the 2nd, but we brought it back and won the tie-breaker, then shot out to 5-1 in the last set. It's so beautiful up here in the evenings playing tennis - the courts are set in a huge natural ampitheatre with tall trees on all sides of the footy ground and you can see an always-orange sunset light up the whole sky. Corallas (sp?) abound. They're pests, but you sure know you're in the country when a huge shrieking mob of the bastards come shooting past in the evening sunsetlight.)

Wish you were here.

Mountain Conquering On A Lazy Sunday Afternoon.

2010-02-28T19:26:00.005+11:00

Tali and Ella and myself climbed to the top of this (note, entire photo appears in google reader. Website displays partial image.) today. Ok, we went around the back up the gully, but it was pretty cool. We saw a rotted wallaby carcass and some wicked looking gold and red spiders. Tali really liked climbing up and Tali-sized boulders he found, and both he and Ella could be heard to shout "On to the next challenge!!" as they clambered upwards through the boulder-strewn and overgrown bush.

We checked out this 22m grade 13 (it is visible as the left leading crack on the towards the right on the top image) and it looks really quite doable. Apparently there are rappel chains at the top which is good because I had a go at clambering up what I thought might have been the descent from these climbs but ended up being a scarily suddenly exposed handholdless ledge out in the middle of nowhere and I was staring down at my kids thinking "Uh oh, I'd really better not die out here because they'd never make it back and no-one knows we're up here time to go down now."

I think this may be top-ropable, or at least, we could climb this to start with then set up some top ropes then rap off att he end of the day.

Climbing anyone?

more iceland

2010-02-25T12:42:00.000+11:00

Luce finally got his manager's manager's manager to okay his spending the rest of the year in Iceland, so that's a huge relief. Apparently his manager had to go and argue his case for him a bit - yay for managers who are on the side of good!!

And, while neither of our embryos took, and we've got the whole process to look forward to when we get back next year, on the bright side we don't need to worry about obstetrics and the like in Icleand, or whether I can fly while preggers. Aaaand we don't need to worry about whether being pregnant will affect my snowboarding in January on the way home... So, more living life now, which I am very focussed on enjoying.

Oh, and I learnt heaps in the 6 day stats course I just did, where the learning was finding out the maths and reasoning behind the stats tests I already know how to do, which means I feel very confident now in my statistical analyses, and am unlikely to forget it very soon. Yay again!

2010-01-29T16:42:00.001+11:00

playing mario kart with the kids on my lunch break gives me a happy.

Yep, she's still cute

2010-01-19T09:57:00.002+11:00

omg omg omg kittens are so cute!

2010-01-18T17:08:00.004+11:00

And Pepper's the cutest:

Long weekends and red red wine...

2010-01-15T16:01:00.000+11:00

Coming down to Melbie tonight to drop the kids off than see Dan and go to a rock festival at Philip Island then staying at Cowes overnight. And it's looking like I'm getting JJJ Day Monday off - so it's REALLY looking like I'm getting a beach holiday this year which very much excites me. Here's hoping I can get in at the PROM!!! Huzzah!! Huzzah!!

...also - Kate Miller Heidke (who's playing at Philip Island along with Bob Evans and TLE) is reeeeeally good. Was either bursting out laughing or bursting into tears on my first listen through. Subsequent listenings did not disappoint either.

countdown begins!

2009-12-03T10:57:00.000+11:00

I've passed the ovulation test! Both the blood-test yesterday, and the poas-test today!

So, we're implanting Francoise (embryo #1) on Saturday. And, this also means I won't need another blood-test on Friday YAY!, so I'll be able to try out the new class at the gym YAY! Much to be happy about today!

Oh... yeah...

2009-11-30T18:40:00.002+11:00

Also, I haven't recorded here yet that I've:

a) got a job
b) bought a house
c) made the move to go live outside of Melbourne for the first time in my life.

I really should get around to doing that one day :-)

New shoes

2009-11-30T18:38:00.003+11:00

It was one of my goals when we invented this website with Zuz that, one day, I'd be able to write

NEW SHOES NEW SHOES NEW SHOES!!!

I'm now the proud owner of a pair (actually quite expensive) New Balance tennis shoes so that I can play tennis up here in Cohuna.

Next stop: restring or replace my racquet which has been used 3 times in the last 8 years.

2009-11-30T18:37:00.000+11:00

Happy happy news!!

Last night, in a quiet moment after a BBQ:

Son: Dad, do you believe in God?
Me: (pause) No I don't.
Son: Me neither. I don't believe in things you can't see.

............................... HOORAY!!!!

I swear to - goodness - that I never once put him up to it!

Success!! Rational parenting win!!

We had a brief chat about how we wouldn't say things like that Gran, because it's not very polite, and my wife was listening so I couldn't fall to my knees and say "Oh, thankyou thankyou thankyou." I think I handled it very neutrally.

I wish I had a camera in my eyes...

2009-10-30T01:42:00.002+11:00

...so that when I put on goggles and swim under the water I could forever capture the image of seeing my son swimming without floaties for the first time under the water to pick things up off the bottom of the pool.

I substituted by saying 'click' to myself and trying to etch it into my visual memory forever.

Ella also learnt to kick today, so she can now make her way around through the water. Every time I take them swimming they get new skills without even seeming to try.

Happy and hungover on the eighteenth of october...

2009-10-20T05:36:00.000+11:00

Well, I managed to get pretty swimmingly drunk on my trip to the Faroes. I'm going through my receipts (it was a work trip), and I seem to have still been buying rounds at 3:45am, which is soooo not me. I remember singing eurovision songs with some surprisingly drunk Icelanders, and talking five kinds of garble with (very drunk) Faroese people, aaaand I remember having a D&M in an underground bomb-shelter-like thing outside the toilets. The amazing part here is, while I quite naturally enjoyed every second of the night as it was unfolding, I also enjoyed the hangover the next day, and, most astoundingly of all, the D&M isn't embarrassing me! Now I count THAT as a win for t!

I did it.

2009-10-18T19:56:00.002+11:00

Am now incredibly tired, but satisfied to say that on top of (and despite) everything that's been going on in the last couple of months I've now done the 210km Around The Bay In A Day for a second time.

Highlights include being the last over the bridge - WOOHOO, the amazing weather (14-16 and a bit overcast the entire day) and not having to do THAT again for another 12 months.

I was three kinds of knackered when we rolled into Alexandra Gardens, but you better believe there was a sprint finish!!

I did it.

And that can't be undone.

Afternoon mini-vacation

2009-10-16T11:58:00.003+11:00

My team leader said that since I've been exceeding my hours recently and am meeting all my targets and stuff, I can have an afternoon off next week. Yea!

Any suggestions for an afternoon mini-vacation?

Ever wondered just how many posters are on those poster poles in the city?

2009-10-14T12:17:00.001+11:00

How very cool!

nooooooob...

2009-10-11T03:44:00.000+11:00

Mwahahah! Look out world, I am officially the new script kiddie on the block! Look at just part of the script that I wrote to fix my mucked up experiment:

%s/$[a-ö][a-ö]*$ c /\1 - /g

Luce taught me how to make the file, but I made this evil-looking substitution all on my own! I even had to make a special other script to test this particular bit. :D (Cos, getting instructions off some guy's webpage counts as doing in on my own, doesn't it?)

2009-10-07T09:46:00.002+11:00

It's been a while since I've had good news worthy of reporting, but I got some the other day. My car insurance renewal came!

Normally this isn't good news, but this year I turn 30 and that means it costs $300 less this year. Sweet. In related good news, I saw an ad for a place called sakenet which ships Japanese booze in Australia for not-too-bad prices. What better way to spend my hard-earned $300?

2009-09-17T16:21:00.002+10:00

Rain!!!!! hooray hooray hooray!!!

Riding to pick up tali from primary school in the driving rain. All the mums and me watching Ella jump in puddles while waiting for him to come out. Riding through puddles with Tali to get home. Rushing about to change into dry clothes to go back out and race paper boats in the gutter.

Love it!! :-D :-D

(oh - and am reading It right now, so you can appreciate that it took a certain amount of rational courage to take my children out and play with paper boats in the rain...)

- taking this opportunity to warm my cockles with red wine :-D

House Husband

2009-09-03T17:28:00.002+10:00

Successful day of having a little friend over to play for Ella this morning for the first time.

I picked up Emily from Tali's school this morning and we all rode home. Then they _vanished_ out into the cubby house all morning. I only heard from them when they arrived in the kitchen with demands for fairy bread and strawberries.

My little girl.

Not a baby any more.

Ella demon scooterer

2009-08-12T20:09:00.002+10:00

I would like to report that, while I snarl and complain almost the entire time (because we're usually running late, my fault), it is one of the unexpected joys of my life right now that Ella insists of riding her little scooter down to Tali's school. It's a 1km ride, actually quite a distance for a little girl, and the sight of her barreling along with her oversized helmet and little legs pumping on those little pedals make me laugh out loud. She yells out "What Dad?! What are you laughing at?" and I say "You're adorable" but she can't hear me because she's already zooming off. We ride past the high school and I hear the big kids say to each other "OMG, do you see that little girl? That is so cute!!"

Tali continues to become faster and faster on the bike, and I am ready to upgrade him to the next size bike as soon as the opportunity presents itself. He's just discovered skids. Actually I had to teach him how to do it. Although I did have to say to him, "Tali, now that I've shown you how to skid I really should tell you to stop it, you're ruining the tyre."

I love that I'm able to be here for these times - I love watching my babies be such capable and energetic people - I love that I'm able to give them the opportunity to be developing these skills and confidence - but most of all I love seeing Ella going hell for leather down the pavement with her little legs going EE-ee-EE-ee-EE-ee and her wild blond curls flying out behind her.

2009-08-10T18:53:00.002+10:00

Very quickly am in fantastic mood today because after many many many weeks of radio silence in the job dept I am interviewing with two companies (that you will have heard of - Willow Ware [they make tupperware and stuff] and Britax [they make all the prams and car seats at Target and Kmart. Our pram was a Britax {Steelcraft} pram]) in the space of 24 hours.

Beth continues to rock hard with the emergency teaching.

2009-08-08T08:23:00.003+10:00

wish us luck - am heading out with lucien on maiden ATB training ride for the year in new knicks and new wind vest.

having not dropped below 12 degrees for weeks and weeks it's currently 3.3 degrees. woohoo!! is bright beautiful sunny day. this is going to be so much fun!

2009-08-06T20:14:00.002+10:00

I did bench presses today. Maybe 15kg, so not breaking any land speed records yet - but... you know... first time in 14 months that I've done it without fear of my wrist snapping right off.

Rock-climbing scheduled for yesterday - but called off because of cousin's parents' reluctance to let her avoid meeting them - feeling confident that I can do it.

turns out some parts of England are very nice indeed

2009-07-17T07:15:00.003+10:00

"camp life suits me very well. The hard ground, a morning bathe, the absence of flesh food, and no chairs don't make one nearly so ill as one would suppose." Maynard Keynes, of the Grantchester Group. I could say of conferencing that IT suits ME very well - the strange beds, the morning runs, the absence of family and the constant linguistics don't make one nearly so ill as one would suppose. LFG09 here in Cambridge has been awesome!!

2009-07-15T14:38:00.000+10:00

tania comes homes in one week's time.

2009-06-24T09:39:00.001+10:00

My dad - the TV star!

2009-05-21T17:39:00.003+10:00

Everyone saw my dad on The New Inventors last night, didn't they? He was awesome! Don't forget to vote for the People's Choice Awards: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2570802.htm.

If you just so happened to be washing your hair when he was on, you can download the episode or watch it on iView http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/program/372000

Hooray for atheism!

2009-05-19T12:22:00.003+10:00

I am pleased to announce that I have (possibly without success) argued the case of atheism with a non-Christian. In fact, I think Josh might not even be a religionist, so much as a divinitist. I think he's on drugs actually, but I do remember him from high school as being a very very nice person.

Hooray! It's not just Chrisitianity that I disagree with! It's all sorts of other nonsense as well!

Joshua thinks it's funny - the entire universe is not explained at all, but then people want something within it to be inexplicable for them to believe in anything mystical, divine, or transcendent! Otherwise they won't have a bar of it! There's no evidence!

Brent at 11:19am May 17
the universe is inexplicable on its own special level that requires no further inexplicability. The extent of the lack of explanability of why and how reality is does not suggest that anything more mystical or divine happens. The universe is unclear, but it is real.

Joshua at 6:15pm May 17
What? Is there not a universe? Do you know its source? Can there be in your reckoning anything that *could* suggest mystical or divine happening? I say the entire thing is that! You say it is what? "real" what does that mean? Did the universe say to you in the morning "I am real"? No, you call it that, thus the basis for its so called reality is in... Read More you not the universe. Without this ascription you give it "this is real" "this is reality", it has no more to say for itself than does a dream or a film, both of which can be believed on their "own special level". You dislike the concepts "mystical", "divine", fine - then what are we to say of this reality? What vantage point do you hold to say ("the universe"'s) "own special level"? It implies awareness of levels other than the universe does it not? Such awareness has gone under names like the "mystical", "divine", "transcendent", I don't see why any of them shouldn't be permitted. They are no more questionable than "Being", "reality".

Joshua at 6:43pm May 17
I mean by "no more questionable", they are no more "brimming with wonder" to me anyway. And yet the latter are regarded as commonplace and "scientific" expressions, like "truth". I would suggest Religion and Science (or Materialism/ so called "Rationalism") are two forms of worship, one explicit the other implicit, but what the ultimate difference ... Read Moreis I don't know. Both are founded upon ignorance, yet they are to be commended if it is by wonder that they attract their disciples for at least this means awareness of ignorance, as Socrates said, he was only wiser than his fellow men in that he *knew* he did not know. This wonder points toward our nature which is not bound by the universe, or the 'known', or 'appearing' thing.

Brent at 11:14pm May 17
i didn't say not permitted. I said not required. And yes. The universe does tell me that it's real. Look. *tap* *tap*. You can bang it. It's there.

Religion is founded upon a certain level of ignorance and making up the rest. Sciencee is founded uopn a certain level of ignorance and a desire to uncover the rest.

I dislike terms like divine and mystical because if those levels of reality are really really like, say, this table *tap* *tap* is really real, then they function on such a ridiculously inconsequential way as to be meaningless. It adds nothing to the universe that there may or may not be some level of hocus pocus floating around out there obvserving, eternally fascinated by the spinning of atoms like a high undergrad transfixed by the lights...... Read More

People put too much weight onto nonsense like "You can only know that you dono't know anything" because look, *tap* *tap*, this really exists. This.

Joshua at 10:47pm May 18
You can't bang it when you're not there!

And speaking of "hocus pocus", what do you think about the "dark energy" and "dark matter" they say is, "floating around out there", making up the vast bulk of the universe? Does it wield no "consequential" or "meaningful" power over the remaining 'known' universe? Does this dark stuff have nothing to do ... Read Morewith your table? I reckon saying that 96% of the universe you observe is made of "dark energy" and "dark matter" is a massively *uncertain* level of ignorance making Alice's Adventures in Wonderland look worthy of reviewer-remarks like: 'naively sober', 'much much too common-sensical', and 'it's so dry, I fell asleep'. As for the "desire to uncover the rest", well one starts to wonder if it isn't perhaps a bit ambitious from the vertex employed til now!

96% dark energy and dark matter makes the remaining 4% that we "know about" (ha ha) sound almost like it must "function in such a ridiculously inconsequential way as to be meaningless"(!)

Joshua at 7:46am May 19
It was actually "Alice's experiences in Wonderland" that I wanted to say above, but the eventual structure of the sentence didn't suit that formulation, at least not without some confusion as "reviewer-remarks" would imply the book. I mention it because the word "experiences" better holds the terrain I am trying to address.

When I say "from the ... Read Morevertex employed til now", I am indicating then a potential change in vertex which may be beneficial to science but perhaps, to which it has been blind, or in which it has trodden very uncertainly namely the nature of experience involved in scientific judgments, which in a background, or more general sense, we may call consciousness. It may seem like a philosopher's trick to say "You can't bang it if you're not there", but it contains a scientifically significant truth - and it's not different to those things going on in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass which might seem like play but are also serious.

Brent at 10:23am May 19
1) Parentheses much? What feature of unknown material implies divinity?

2) "You can't bang it if you're not there" is not a truth, it's an axiom. Which I don't agree to accept. I agree to the axiom Cogito Ergo Sum. I'm here: I insist that I do. I'm from the same substance as that which I hit, and I have the sensations of doing so, so the things I ... Read Morebang are there too.

Science is doing just fine. Any system of rational thought which replaced science would have to be have so many features of science that it would really BE science, which is, really the central feature of science, that it evolves.

Joshua at 12:01pm May 19
"What feature of unknown material implies divinity?" is no different, essentially, to asking "What feature of known material implies divinity?", to which I would answer beauty. And yet one suspects that the calling of the material "known" is highly dubious given the acknowledged 96% backdrop of "unknown"; if, for instance, I was familiar with but 4... Read More% of the alphabet it would be outrageous to even call this familiarity "knowledge" of the alphabet without serious qualification, for it would amount to "knowing" but 1 letter. Is it knowing? Is analysis of the letter Q, analysis of the alphabet, or even of the letter Q *as* a letter?

In the mystical tradition of science (say, Pythagoras, Plato; and more recent time Newton, and I think to some degree Einstein) there is no anomally between the beauty of creation and its scientifically appreciated order - the two are one. And the latter proceeds in direct correspondence with awareness of the former.

Joshua at 12:12pm May 19
Anyway I can't force divinity down anyone's throat, I am just saying that there is a fine tradition of science which doesn't neglect or treat hostilely this level, on the contrary, it is animated by it and doesn't see the wonder of science as at all in tension therewith but as a natural emanation of it - it is a wonder, first of all, that there should even be an order that is intelligble, but partially, to man. Without wonder science cannot begin.

Brent at 12:18pm May 19
"Without wonder science cannot begin." This is completely correct.

I also accept that there are fundamental things about the universe that We haven't even begun to understand.

Einstein wasn't into the mystical side of science, people always make that mistake.... Read More

For me beauty is appreciating what IS, that this beauty exists inside what I understand as being this universe.
Write a comment...

twilight and twilight fans

2009-05-13T08:25:00.004+10:00

Okay, so the more I read about the Twilight series, the more I realise I'm so not alone in being obsessed by it - the books, the movies, the audiobooks, edward, rob, jacob, bella, alice... I even read comments about the actors. But seriously, it seems like people with all levels of education are totally into Twilight - I laughed out loud at one fan's defense of the actors, about how they're real people with real lives, and about how we should stop expecting them to actually be like their characters, and all the celeb palaver, etc.

"People need to stop putting actors on pedal stools".

HA HA HA HA! ROTFL! Is that like some kind of shroom that makes you rush intead of hallucinate? Or like a racing rocking chair? AbsolUTEly LMAO!!!

Big boy now

2009-05-06T10:47:00.001+10:00

In cycling news - I made it, although barely, around the 100km Ballarat ride on the weekend. Lucien is a machine finishing 2 hours before us, and Daniel made it through on pure boyish energy.

Also in cycling news - Tali's off his training wheels and loving it.

Good Friday, I'm miles away and missing you already...

2009-04-11T23:08:00.003+10:00

I tell you guys what, I just had a MASSIVE Good Friday - I don't think I stopped smiling all day! It all started early, had to finish making the 2 batches of hot cross buns - one wheat and sugar free. Guests (Björn the Kraut from Icelandic class, Karl the Yank from salsa/beach going, and Linda, Auður and Björk who are Ási's family and my best friends, ALL of them :D) started arriving at 10am (yes, my god, I did a 'brunch'!). The hot cross buns went down a treat, special dietary needs and everything :D Woo-hoo, I entertained ALL on my own! And breakfast too, no less!

Björn, Auður, Björk and I then went to the beach (Linda went for a run), and it was blue skaaaies and sunshaaaine the whole time. 10 degrees! (That's HOT.) And 5 degree water! (That's NOT ICE-COLD.) Even with the first day of summer still 2 weeks away!!

Then Linda, Auður, Björk and I went and had a lovely lunch (roast lamb, which the Ási's had had for dinner the night before, with me and Linda's uncle as guests, so I guess my Easter holiday started early). Me, Auður and Björk had to drive to FOUR shops before we found one open to buy bread, tomato and sláttur. It was very small-town, but also a nice little adventure :) (cos it had a happy ending you know).

Then the four of us ladies went and played some basketball (although we only found an open petrol station to pump up the ball at the SEVENTH place we checked, another adventure!), which was really, really nice. Me and Björk vs Auður and Linda. I was pretty impressed with all of them, and the mini-rings was a good idea for Björk. It's really cool the way kids learn - I could actually put Björk's hands in the right positions for her to shoot, and she had a very nice shot when I did this.

Then the four of us watched Twilight together. Linda and I sighed together at Edward (he is SO lovely. and weird still. but still...), while Björk looked at us all funny throughout most of it, and Auður kept asking 'what's going on?' in every suspenseful bit, and checking how much time was left. (Björk is 10 and Auður is 14!)

Then Linda and I rushed out to Selja Church to see Bach's St Matthew's Passion or something, some Good Friday tradition. Of course we got lost on the way, even stopping in at the wrong church (there's no such thing as a Melways in Reykjavík, so everyone just points themselves in the general direction of the suburb and hopes - it does lead to a lot of driving in circles, but at least we had an excuse for being late to Karl's choir, that meant we didn't have to mention Twilight...). Karl the Yank was actually outside the church having a coffee when we arrived, we waited for a break between pieces, then went and listened to some really lovely music. One of the singers was Ási's cousin, naturally. At interval I met up with a lady from one of my Icelandic classes, a very happy, easy-to-laugh Dane, and we've arranged to go hiking.

So, that was my massive Good Friday. Just received an email from Tolli asking if I want to come over tonight, should be fun :) I'm going for a run in a bit, and I'm reading my Icelandic book at the moment. Tomorrow is chocolate day, I've bought an easter egg for myself from Luce, at 11am another one of Karl's choirs is singing in Hallgríms Church, and we saw last night that there still appears to be snow at Bláfjall :D

I don't think I stopped smiling all day yesterday, I had SUCH a lovely time. And it wasn't a so-insane-I'm-going-to-explode/i'm-feeling-bipolar kind of happy, I just had a really nice, balanced, SATISFIED kind of day. Luce is in Adelaide, with people I really like, and I know he'll be having a really lovely time too (assuming they didn't bring any viruses with them!), and that is also making me very satisfied and content. Only 8 weeks til I see Luce, it hardly seems like anything, a mere blip.

Woo-hoo, we should have sunny holidays with our friends more often!

(PS, we had a bit of a 'religion' discussion, which I think prompted every paragraph starting with 'And theeeeen...' Sorry!)

2009-02-09T22:32:00.002+11:00

Oh My Freaking Gawd you should have seen the length of the splinter that came out of my toe just now.

I thought it was just the very end of the spike visible, but it was fully 7mm long, going IN to my big toe. It just *bloop* popped out when I squeezed.

I know this isn't necessarily 'good' news, but it HAS been in there for 2 weeks now... (I'm ready to get the rest of them out now...) but it allows me to...

...rewind back to the first part of the heatwave - I'd taken a couple of extra days of vacation after the Prom trip. We'd gotten home on the Monday, then spent the Tuesday parking arse and watching the tennis and just getting nothing done because it was so darn hot. On Wednesday we got up early and put on sunscreen.

I just love that 'going to the beach today' feeling. It's like having new shoes, a secret and a quest all at once. I just love that my kids are now learning about this stuff - about sand, waves and buckets - about being deeply excited about adventure - about laughing in the surf until you literally drop - about saying the magic magic words "Mum I caught one all the way".

We'd gone to Williamstown beach and got there just before it got really hot. Put the umbrella up. Kids went down to the water with Beth while I pumped up the little boat. We went for a swim amongst the multitudes, the kids floating in the boat, I swam out until it was quiet, we threw the ball.

Eventually me and Tali went exploring over the breakwater and looked down the other side. The water was like glass - you could see every rock on the bottom 3 metres away. We went and got Beth and Ella, and the kids floated out into the deep water with me in their floaties. There was a flat rock that we could sit on in the sea water up to our necks and the water was so still that it really honestly didn't move you back and forwards. No waves.

Diving from the rocks.

Swimming out in the coolness of the ocean and looking back at Melbourne searing.

Finding the nicest little spot in all of Melbourne's urban beaches for a quiet moment with just my family.

So after that we had to pack up and drive all the way home to get changed, have some lunch, then zoom out to Tullamarine to see Tania off at the airport. It was still above 40 degrees after dinner, so we all looked at each other and...

... went back to the beach.

Buckets. Boats. Balls.

Ella makes pies by digging a hole for an oven. She can spend 7 hours making pies at the beach.

It was still 40 degrees at 10pm when we headed for home. I remember thinking that this would most likely be a lasting memory for the kids - swimming at the beach in the hot air hours past bed time amongst the multitudes of bathers - being pulled out past the breakwater in the little boat to see the sun setting over Geelong - running full pelt up and down the beach in the darkness to bring water up to the 'kitchen'.

(Amongst all this I managed to kick a couple of sea-urchins, sending about 14 spines into my right foot, 5 of which I got out cleanly.)

2009-02-05T09:57:00.003+11:00

From 2009 02 02 Michelles wedding and Talis first day And Prom Trip

2009-02-05T09:50:00.001+11:00

Seeing Tania again
Christmas time
Road trip to Warnambool
Prom trip
Getting new Tevas in Mansfield
...seeing Waifs tonight - woohoo!

2008-12-09T16:53:00.001+11:00

that was SO much fun!!

2008-11-28T12:31:00.000+11:00

I hadn't forgotten how much fun it is to go fast... but it sure did come as a welcome shock to the senses!

First ride to work today on the real bike - I worked out that me and it have been wounded or recuperating for 6 months now, but now we've just got a couple of scars and aches.

It's SO much fun to floor it on a bike and feel it surge underneath you. My MTB is like an old holiday park trail ride horse: "You can kick and kick all you like buddy - I've already made up my mind about how fast we're going". My real bike is like a thoroughbred: "You said fast, right? Ok, let's go really fast! Left? Right? Go! Go! Go!"

2008-11-26T23:40:00.002+11:00

I go pick up my bike tomorrow.

And I think I'm ready for climbing again - although in the 10 hours since I arranged it my hand has suddenly started to hurt...

1st off the assembly line...

2008-11-19T15:44:00.000+11:00

Speaking of good newz...

2008-11-06T13:43:00.002+11:00

snúa og snua, og bremsa og bremsa, ...

2008-11-06T07:43:00.003+11:00

HAH! I've been taking Swing/Rock'n'Roll dance classes at the Háskóli, and cos I'm sick of Icelandic guys not dancing, I've been learning to lead. And tonight we were learning to dance with 2 girls!! Aaaughhh!! Actually, it's not THAT hard, if they're dancing in time/together. But THEN the teacher said, oh, now let's see what happens when you turn one girl twice and one girl once, and continue on with other moves we've learnt to dance one-on-one ... Chaos! Mayhem! But *I* mananged to do it in the end, even doing the 'turn the other girl twice' to get them back in step!! Woo-hoo! OMG!!

2008-11-01T22:00:00.002+11:00

sunburn fairy floss horses tractors petting animals show bags jumping castles merrigoround alpacas live music driving grandad cows wood chopping scottish sword dancing

yep. that was a day at the whittlesea show.

honey... have you seen my horrible red and yellow beach shirt?

2008-10-29T23:24:00.003+11:00

angel angel sea YEAH angel angel sea YEAH angel angel sea YEAH angel angel sea YEAH

(That's my "We're going to Angelsea on the weekend because Anna is awesome" dance).

I am awesome

2008-10-27T00:10:00.003+11:00

I picked it. From the opening scene I picked it.

All I had to work with was an assassin's gun sights trained on a blonde swimming in a roof top pool and I picked it as being Dirty Harry.

I rule.

Officially a cycle commuter once more

2008-10-24T12:12:00.003+11:00

Barring unforeseeable screwy stuff happening in the next 5 hours which might render me incapable of going home on the bike I rode here I can safely call myself a bike commuter now because I...

...have ridden to work each day this week!! I got a perfect 10!

You know how it is - there's always some reason each week why you don't ride on at least one day. But this week I managed a perfect no-driver. This marks my transition from injured sap forced to succumb to Steel Cage Travel back to fully self-reliant normal person.

In corresponding news I think that the bill to fix my real bike is going to be under $150 - I had bought a $75 rear derailleur, but it turns out that I only really need the $20 hanger so I returned it. That's like getting $55 of free stuff!! I'm thinking about cadence measuring computers or uncracked helmets.

I've got a fancy new bright blue rear tyre. Now all I need to do is take her to a LBS and say "Put her back together. I need to ride her this weekend like she's never been ridden."

Late night drunken IM pocket knife goodness!

2008-10-15T09:53:00.003+11:00

me: i played guitar in dan's shoe

set list

Tania: what set list

just impro?

me: set list

???

don't you know?

Tania: i didn't get a messag about that

me: very big deal

Tania: is it a tv show?

me: dan had a show

3 weeks

Tania: ok...,

3 shows

me: 100% impro music

Tania: on channel 31?

11:45 PM me: each night in one genre

live

Tania: fun :(

me: folk

Tania: :)

me: then jazz

Tania: where abouts?

me: then rock last night

trades hall

Tania: ooh

lots of people?

you there each night>

me: wendy came to last night but beth was sick

yes

i rocked out

Tania: cool, poor beth

nice one!

me: I was, like, integral to the success

Tania: bloody oath

you been playing some more then?

me: (yes, beth's ears still bursting. v.bad)

Tania: at home i mean

me: more? at ALL

11:46 PM 1 month ago I couldn't even play for an hour at t time

Tania: well, you said a few months ago that you'd picked up the guitar

me: last night: rocking the house

zackly

Tania: so, if you've picked it up again since, that's 'more'

me: which is why is was so cool that I could string together a solo

me: oh oh oh oh oh

so!!!!

OMFG OMFG OMFG

11:48 PM I had the pcket-knifer's WET DREAM!!!

like... wow

song #2

broken string

Tania: what's a pcket-knifer?

me: (I'd gotten money from beth's mum for a pocket knife)

(and I've found a 'mechanic' brand)

11:49 PM (You have to scour the globe for these things. not available in australia)

Tania: your new pocket knife has guitar gizmos on it

me: (they come with pliers and wire cuttters)

I broke a string in song #2

Tania: i need pliers

me: and then they played apiano song while I dashed outside, repaired string with my PLIERS and WIRE CUTTERS and show didn't skip a beat.

rule

11:50 PM Tania: :D nice one!

me: nice??

nice?!?!?

Tania: tha's the good thing about impro, huh

me: fucking AWESOME one

Tania: hey, there's a smiley and an ! there too

me: I'm going to tell EVERYONE

I'm so psyched

Tania: on the blog?

me: yes

when I get a moment

Sundays are great.

2008-10-05T13:19:00.002+11:00

Lying out under the patio on the hammock reading the paper until I fall asleep with a thin rug over my knees to stop my legs from getting cold in the refreshing breeze while the kids watch some daft Seinfeld bee animated movie and when they've watched it twice through they come out and my son climbs into the hammock bringing icy poles for himself, me and his sister as she climbs up on the BBQ to shout "I'm a PIRATE!! Ahoy there!!" wearing just socks and a singlet and the bright morning sun highlights her ragamuffin unruly shock of blond hair.

Sundays are great.

TLE

2008-10-03T13:23:00.002+10:00

So I was in a mosh pit last night!!

I saw The Living End with Beth. Well I say with Beth, but she was perched up the front against the barrier so she could watch the whole show, and so that she could score a used drumstick (yay Beth!), while I was up the back trying to explain to the person (who was very sweet about it) that I have to stand in front of SOMEONE (I'm tall).

But then I chased some kids up to the front to join the mosh pit and I did some slam dancing and some moshing and the Living End just rock.

Light!! Aziz! Light!

2008-10-03T13:19:00.002+10:00

Light, I've got light in my office!

I come in this morning and my desk light is turned on and pointed on a funny angle. So I changed it. It was still giving off an extraordinary amount of light. So I turned it off. It was STILL light. Then I looked up. LIGHT!!

Aha!!

My boss had been good to his word, he'd moved the flouro fitting from the hall to above my desk - there's light in this office now (ok, hall is dark now but that's an SEP). All this time I've been working in a little dungeon, peering through the darkness into my huge pair of flat LCD screens... talk about eye-strain... but now... LIGHT! I have LIGHT!

Quiet night

2008-09-30T09:41:00.002+10:00

Last weekend was heaps of fun; I had the day off for my birthday on Friday, I went shopping in the city, fancy dinner at a French restaurant, birthday lunch yum-cha on Saturday, laughing at all the Hawks supporters going nuts at the pub in the afternoon, birthday cocktails in the evening, then a big housecooling party at Matt's uncle's place on Sunday. Who said that birthday weekends were supposed to be relaxing?

Last night I made dinner, watched TV and sat around on the couch. Now I'm looking forward to a week of not doing much more than this :-D

Frequent flyer

2008-09-29T19:05:00.003+10:00

I'm off to Japan again next week. Some people don't like business travel, but I think it's fun! This time I go to Utsunomiya, famous for dumplings and "its abundance and quality of cocktail bars" according to the ever reliable wikipedia. Woo.

Phew!

2008-09-29T18:07:00.001+10:00

I got an assignment back today that the majority of students fail. I passed!

Retroactive good newz

2008-09-25T09:46:00.004+10:00

Last week after I left the physio they didn't want me to make another appointment. Woot!
Had my 30th birthday party and had a great time. I got both kinds of presents - beer and scotch. Woot!
Found birthday money from my mother-in-law safe in my bag under the bed after looking absolutely everywhere all week (including going through the garbage piece by piece). Can now go buy that pocket-knife. Woot!

Lost ... and Found

2008-09-21T20:48:00.002+10:00

Well, some of you might have read about this on my iced-tee blog, but I managed to lose several personal items last week, and then they ALL returned/were found, ALL in DIFFERENT places! And the good run has continued, since other items which I thought had been lost for even longer, have also turned up - my second (actually first) pair of water-proof over-pants and BOTH reflective anklet things, which I can now wear when I ride to work! Right on!

Rode to work today

2008-09-17T10:51:00.001+10:00

Ok then. I rode my bike to work today.

It's a bit scary, honestly, being back in the saddle, but I think it's scary in a good way.

I'm here. I'm in one piece. And I'm doing it tomorrow, and that's what counts!

Oooh sunny

2008-09-17T09:29:00.005+10:00

Ok, the weather hasn't been too crash-hot these last few days, but while warming my face in the sun at the train station this morning I was reminded of just how warm and sunny it was on Saturday. Welcome, Spring!

2008-09-08T09:20:00.002+10:00

Ok, at the start of this week I'm going to claim that my good news is that I've had the flu shot.

While I left family all sick in our bed (they all rolled over and I fell out) this morning I come in to work to fill out my flu tracking survey and I read in the latest results that "In this past week of the survey, cough and fever was reported by 4.3% of vaccinated respondents and 6.9% of unvaccinated respondents. The combination of fever, cough and absence from work or normal duties was reported by 2.7% of vaccinated respondents and 4.6% of unvaccinated respondents."

If you buy now, I'll throw in some steak knives!

2008-09-05T08:48:00.001+10:00

Today is the last day of my course with IMC (the Internet Marketing Company), learning how to write the online equivalent of infomercials.

I've learned an enormous amount, much to my chagrin.

2008-09-02T18:48:00.003+10:00

Huzzah! Huzzah!

Huzzah!

I'm able to ride again! I get a trainer for my 30th (write it down, Sept 21st, I like Scotch, music and Cabernet), and Beth didn't exactly manage to keep it a secret :-)

I got it hooked up tonight and IT WORKS!! While my wrist is building strength I'm going to be able to EXERCISE... like a NORMAL PERSON!! My 'real' bike is still in bits from the accident (you can see it on the table) but this crusty old thing has got pedals that go around and around and around and around just fine.

Huzzah!

I have 3 things, this week alone...

2008-09-01T21:08:00.004+10:00

My "secret project" has gone alpha! My shaman, Moltenboron, (nobody doesn't like him) reached 70! I used colours in my blog post for this week!

And hooray! I'm cross-promoting!

Ultima 7

2008-09-01T12:23:00.002+10:00

I played Ultima 7 using Exult most of yesterday, and it was way cool. I remember well the beautiful swirling red colours of the load screen. I used to watch for ages as my old 486 chugged through loading as much as it could into its puny memory. Can barely catch them now, but at least I can play the game. Think I'll play some more tonight.

2008-09-01T11:26:00.001+10:00

Went skiing last week. It was my first time ever - turns out...

Skiing is awesome!

Spring

2008-09-01T10:34:00.000+10:00

Hey hey - first day of Spring today!

New shoes!

2008-09-01T10:19:00.001+10:00

Yesterday I went shopping and I actually bought new shoes!

Joy!

2008-08-31T21:23:00.002+10:00

Spent this afternoon at a winery near Woodend watching my beloved perform in the chorus of Pirates of Penzance, eating cheese and drinking wine. Joy!

I has an iPhone!

2008-08-29T15:11:00.002+10:00

First post sent from my iPhone. Yea!

What apps would you recommend?

Progress on my wrist...

2008-08-28T19:43:00.005+10:00

I had a good moment this afternoon on the way back from the physio - I'm up to Exercises, not just stretches.

Basically it's now stopped healing and I'm up to rehabilitating my wrist. I've got a piece of silly putty that I'm supposed to squish between my thumb and hand.

It was neat walking out of the hospital as a healthy, recovering person. Somehow the wind was less cold, the sunlight just a bit more summery and I was walking just that little bit lighter.

I'll be strong like He-Man any minute now - Mt Arapiles here we come!

How cool is my mum!?

2008-08-27T16:27:00.003+10:00

Last night our cute (but short) bartender host, Ben, made an original cocktail from brandy and peanut butter and ice cream and vanilla, but didn't have a name for it. He came over to our table to have a chat, and Mum suggested "Devil's Advocate". Two minutes later we overheard him telling the table next to ours that his new cocktail was called just that. My mum named a new cocktail. How cool is that!?

Next time you're at Madam Brussels, skim through the cocktail list. You might even see it there.

Prom prom prom prom

2008-08-27T11:52:00.002+10:00

A couple of days ago the news came through that we've won the booking raffle for the Prom this summer - got the sites booked that we wanted!!

View Larger Map

We've got 2 sites next to each other for the 2009 Australia Day weekend - right near 4th ramp and the Beach Block toilets. (Hot running water baby!)

The List so far:

Sam Marion and Euan
Anna
Stephanie and Gustav
Tania and Lucien
Brent Tali and Ella
Cliff and Karin (my mum and dad)
Dan and Mia

It's going to be great!

An Open Invitation

2008-08-26T13:56:00.003+10:00

We were discussing today about how easy it is just to talk about things that annoy us, but we don't often talk about the good news in our day... the small things...the kittens. We thought: "wouldn't it be nice if we had a place where we could talk about the good stuff that's happening", so we've started a blog about just those things.

This isn't only about us, though; we'd really love you to read this blog and contribute to it yourself. If you'd like to join in, let us know!

-- Brent and Zuzanna.

Ladies' Night In The Parlour

2008-08-26T12:15:00.000+10:00

Tonight I'm meeting up with a few friends for Ladies' Night In The Parlour at Madam Brussels:

The next forum will be hosted by the handsome and award winning cocktail expert, Mr Benjamin.

He will walk you lovely ladies through some cocktail basics. What to order, how to order it and how to get the bartender's number! There will be plenty of sexy cocktails to drink and a few hints on how to make cocktails at home with all those half empty jars in your cupboards.

I'm excited! So... cocktails at my place this weekend, anyone?

I can play guitar again! Woot!

2008-08-26T10:56:00.001+10:00

Last night I played guitar for the first time in about 12 weeks. My wrist is now healed enough that I can start playing without too much difficulty.

I played a couple of Weezer songs, a Ben Folds number and what I remember of "Run to paradise".

I love the feeling of the strings under my fingers - a guitar can go from inanimate object to breathing living beast just by banging it with your hands. It's just a simple pleasure - but that means it's the best type, right?