![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XgKT4PzHykE/R9NVktlfDAI/AAAAAAAADYI/P-F_YMt9m38/s320/IMAGE_070.jpg)
March 09, 2008
March 04, 2008
garfield minus garfield
Now if you take Garfield out of the picture all together, it makes:
"an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life"
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XgKT4PzHykE/R80jJ05BYxI/AAAAAAAADWs/dlxqsr7WknA/s400/GminusG.png)
garfieldminusgarfield
February 17, 2008
February 13, 2008
rail trail photo map
View Larger Map Thanks to the commenter on this page for the tip on using your own map.
February 11, 2008
how many?
As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
And every wife had seven sacks
And every sack had seven cats
And every cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?
The person telling this "riddle" usually looks smug when they tell you the answer is 1, instead of the alternate answer of 2800 you could have fairly calculated (if you were only counting the kits, cats, sacks and wives that the riddle requests)
I want to know how you can tell which direction the man and his wives are travelling in! Assuming they aren't just standing still (which is yet another option) they could also be on their way to St Ives to sell the 2744 cats, which would seriously slow them down, enabling the narrator to catch up and easily overtake them. Also, if the answer really is 1, you would have to assume that the narrator was a kit, cat, sack or wife, which was never mentioned.
This is similar to those stupid "brainteasers" like: "There's a large room with a high ceiling, a man is hanging dead at the end of a short rope 5 metres above the floor. There's nothing else in the room except a large puddle of water. How did he die?"
The "answer" is apparantly that he stood on the block of ice, put the rope around his neck and waited for the ice to melt. One problem with this, is a block of ice that big would have taken a very long time to melt, so the bloke would have died of hypothermia or starvation before he was strangled by the rope.
Who's to say though that he wasn't hung by a lynch mob who then washed away all of their footprints with a hose?
Yeah. Think about it.
These kinds of ambiguous riddles do nothing except wind me up, because there is NOT just one answer, even if only one answer was supplied in the FW:FW:FW:FW chain email that you received.
Verdict: welcome to Monday.
February 10, 2008
and i thought they were just a myth
February 08, 2008
rail trail
It was three days and 150km of riding (which doesn't sound too bad until you realise you're riding a mountain bike on gravel the whole way).
The accomodation was great, the scenery fantastic and here are some photos:
Click the picture above to view the album.
February 07, 2008
January 24, 2008
off to nz
January 19, 2008
January 16, 2008
andy roddick v michael berrer
australian open
I might post some more pics later.
January 15, 2008
January 13, 2008
federation trail
January 09, 2008
January 08, 2008
it's good to have options
So which is it? Should I eat them when I first get them, or wait a week until they get mushy.
I hate being confused by food.
January 07, 2008
January 05, 2008
December 30, 2007
merry xmas
It may have been only Deb and I for Xmas lunch, but that was no reason to miss out on anything!
December 21, 2007
cloudburst
We've had leaks in our lounge roof in the past. The first time it was repaired it didn't rain again for six months, so we didn't know that it wasn't fixed. The second time around, the roofing dude said he couldn't find any leaks on the roof, but bogged up the most likely areas, so every time it rains we expect to come home to a big puddle of water on the table.
And now you know the back story.
Deb was out on the booze tonight and I felt like having a laugh. I sent this picture message to her phone:
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XgKT4PzHykE/R2uZgvQ_5RI/AAAAAAAAC3U/K3a2-ndcqX8/s400/ceiling.jpg)
It was a 2 minute photoshop, so it doesn't look like much at this size, but I guess it looked convincing enough on her mobile screen, as her phonecall's first words were "what the fuck?!"
It made my night anyway :)
pre-owned chump
December 18, 2007
December 16, 2007
"no to all" tip for windows
When you're copying a large number of files from one place to another (as I tend to do when backing up photos), you're presented with this option:
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XgKT4PzHykE/R2Te-vQ_2-I/AAAAAAAACWY/RI61NrHD2W8/s800/dialogue.jpg)
For simplicity, you can just overwrite all of the existing photos with an exact copy, which really is just a waste of time. What's even more of a waste of time though is sitting there for 20 minutes clicking "No" for every file so that you only copy over unique files.
Here's the tip: hold down Shift when you click no. It's essentially a virtual button that says "No to all" on it. Frikkin' sweet.
Thanks to Jigar Mehta who happened to be the first link I clicked on.
back up your photos
The problem now is finding out where the dodgy files are and replacing them either from the backup drive (that I haven't used as often as I should), Deb's laptop (that only has backups of more recent stuff), the portable hard drive that we used in Vietnam (that was going to be used as a proper backup drive from today) or my backup at work (which was current as of around this time last year).
This year, the plan is to build a proper RAID file server so I won't have to worry as much about failing hard drives. Of course, I also need to figure out what the hell RAID really is, but that's a small detail.
December 15, 2007
hehe, neat
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XgKT4PzHykE/R2NYNvQ_27I/AAAAAAAACWA/VVYzp15fsl8/s320/15122007-782512.jpg)
Here's a better photo now that we're home:
and one that the Jeweller took:Ian from Ellissi was fantastic. He's really down to earth and having spent his entire working life in the trade, knows his stuff too.
Legend.
December 14, 2007
maybe the coolest thing in the world
Product page
I love the idea of being able to print out my own Angelina Jolie action figure.
December 09, 2007
another tree
stupid fruits of the world #19: mango
On the outside, it looks like a normal, easy to eat fruit, but no. To prepare it, you have to cut the "cheeks" off and to avoid wastage spend a further 5 minutes hacking slivers off the great big seed in the middle. It still looks tasty, so you inevitably try and nibble the remaining flesh off the seed, but instead end up with masses of hairy fibres between your teeth.
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XgKT4PzHykE/R1uxSm1kZvI/AAAAAAAACUg/kjNHSQ3H5Os/s400/mango.jpg)
Verdict: fuck it, stick to apples
December 07, 2007
December 01, 2007
November 29, 2007
i'm assured it's hygenic
Shame it was my favourite red stapler.
Now I'm going to have to set the building on fire.
November 28, 2007
vietnam gallery
I've uploaded a good chunk of them to a webalbum, so if you're interested, have a look!
http://picasaweb.google.com/reidcparker/Vietnam
We're still in the middle of captioning everything, and we really need to do that before we forget what everything was. I've also been tagging the locations on Google maps, so if your bandwidth is up to it (sorry Mum), you can view the satellite images of Vietnam with our photos pinned onto it.
November 18, 2007
November 17, 2007
tan son nhat airport
/sarcasm
We needed to get water and barely had enough cash left. This is because we were used to paying no more than 5000d for a bottle and they were charging 32000d for them after passing customs.
Cool, we're boarding now!
saigon
Next stop is Singapore for a bit of duty free then we're back in Melbourne in time for work on Monday.
Woo hoo.
November 15, 2007
mui ne
November 12, 2007
da lat
We're doing a day trip with the Easy Riders tomorrow which should be a laugh. It's our first time on the back of a motorbike since we've been here and the traffic is ridiculous, but I'm sure we'll be fine.
November 09, 2007
raining again
The weather has turned a bit rainy in Hoi An, so the bad stuff is going to hit the coast soon. Hopefully it clears up or we'll have to skip Mui Ne and spend a few days in the Mekong Delta instead. At least the typhoon has been downgraded to a tropical storm, so we'll be a bit safer.
November 08, 2007
November 07, 2007
noodles please, hold the typhoon
The next day was a bus tour of the DMZ which ended after visiting the Vinh Moc caves where civilians lived for 6 years during the war.
We're now in Hoi An, after an afternoon getting fitted for suits, shirts pants and jackets.
It was a little daunting walking past the dozens and dozens of shops, each one full of bolts of material and clothing samples. We settled on a place that looked good and was staffed by a couple of friendly young girls with good english. After poring over catalogues thicker than the yellow pages, we settled on some clothes that looked good. We go back tomorrow to see what they've achieved and if it's all good will order some more.
This post is a little lacking in detail, but I'll fill it out when we get some more time (and get to use a computer that isn't sharing a dialup connection with 2 other computers)
November 04, 2007
xin chào
It means that instead of being able to update this on the fly, I need to sit in an internet cafe and try writing about a whole week all at once.
So following on from the last post:
We were walking back from the train station after missing our train when a minibus pulled over, a couple of vietnamese (mother and son I think) jumped out and started waving us onto the bus.
We eventually figured out they were going to Halong Bay and there were another couple of tourists (Chris and Jo) on the bus as well so we thought we'd give it a shot.
4 1/2 hours, half a dozen crammed on new passengers, a crying puking baby and an attempt to overcharge us later, we arrived in Halong Bay. The English couple who were on the bus with us were going to Cat Ba island as well, so we bought our boat tickets together and set off.
After visiting some natural caves (thoughtfully lit up for us with coloured lights) we arrived on Cat Ba island. To get to Cat Ba town, it was then just a 20 minute ride in a minivan (16 people in a 12 seater with all of their luggage) which wasn't nerve wracking at all..
Accomodation was easy to organise and we spent the evening dozing after a hell of a long and tiring day.
Before going to sleep though, we managed to take the obligatory millionaire photos:
Cat Co 2 is a beach that is accessible via a rickety boardwalk attached to the rocks around one of the bays. Apart from the parts held together with sticks and wire, it was actually pretty sturdy.
We were the only ones there at 8 in the morning, so after booking a couple of loungers, buying some beers and getting rid of the syringe that was spoiling the view, we sat back and enjoyed a bit of sun.
After a while, a dude came along offering a 40 minute massage for a couple of dollars. After turning him down for a few minutes I caved in and let him do his stuff.
I could get used to having those regularly I think.
Kein was born on Cat Ba and has been trained in Hanoi and China as well as doing a bit of time in Sa Pa as a porter and part time masseuse. Nice bloke and maybe the first genuine person we'd come across in Vietnam (don't worry, he wasn't the last).
That evening we had dinner at a seafood restaurant, so Deb thought she'd be adventurous and ordered the crab "with lemongrass".
Perhaps the lemongrass made it sound fancier than it was, because she ended up with a whole boiled crab sitting on a plate. It hadn't been prepared at all, so after hacking into the thing with nutcrackers, the owner arrived laughing with a pair of scissors and cut the thing in half for us.
I have a feeling that Deb won't be ordering crab next time and will just stick to the dog.
Day 3 in Cat Ba was our last day, so we rented a couple of scooters and took off around the coast of the island. Deb was a little nervous but got the hang of it eventually and we had fun nipping around the roads and tooting our horns like authentic Vietnamese.
We dropped the bikes off after a couple of hours, checked out of the hotel and hopped in a van to take us to the "fast ferry". The ferry was maybe 10-12 metres long, so it was nice and crammed once the dozen motorbikes were rolled on. I ended up sitting right at the front of the boat keeping an eye on our bags that were just sitting on top of the roof.
After the ferry, we were transferred onto the bus to Hanoi with a lot of other locals. Luckily we got on fairly early, so didn't need to sit on plastic stools in the aisle (as was the case for everyone who got on after us).
We made it back to Hanoi without any dramas, checked into our hotel and went out for a couple of cheap beers. By cheap I mean 2000D (which at last count was around $0.13AU).
Tune in next time for: "Name that Smell" and "No motorbike for me, please"
October 29, 2007
ha noi
Here's a quick run down:
Arrived in Hanoi around lunchtime.
Caught a minibus from the airport to the city (only $2 or so).
After being dropped of at the hotel we asked for, decided to say no thanks to the scammer and walked round to the other side of the lake to the actual hotel.
Walked around that evening trying to find the train station to buy tickets for the morning train to Hai Phong. Couldn't find it (apparantly a lot of people have had trouble with the Lonely Planet map of Hanoi), so we went to a restaurant for dinner and asked one of the guys at the hotel to pick up tickets for us instead. I proposed to Debbie at the restaurant, which caught us both by surprise. This photo was taken a minute or so later :)
Getting up at up at 5am the next morning, we found that they hadn't managed to get tickets for the decent seats, so didn't buy them. We thought we'd just go to the station and get normal tickets ourselves. Shame the hotel dude sent us to the wrong station, which we discovered after taking a taxi there, but luckily a guy with a three wheeled motorbike heard us mention Hai Phong in amongst our jibberish and drove like a madman for a couple of km to get us to the right station.
Ok, this place is too hot, need to get a beer. Will finish the story later.
October 27, 2007
singapore
Damn, there was a photo for this, but we wandered out of the wireless coverage area and couldn't be arsed walking back again.
I'm also really in need of a shower so with at least three more hours of flying to do, I'm gonna be nice and ripe by lunchtime.
October 26, 2007
airport
Started well: missed our train by about a minute, so had to get a cab. I'm pretty sure the first thing cabbies learn when they get of the plane is that the ONLY way to get anywhere is to take the CityLink. Seriously, if you ask them to take another route they revert to their childhood and forget their grasp of English.
Off to customs now.
Peace out.
off to vietnam
I'm mainly looking forward to the food... but also the cheap beer.... and I guess the bargain tailor made clothes in Hoi An are pretty inviting... don't forget hanging out in Hanoi's old quarter, eating grilled pork from street vendors... and shooting AK47s in De Nang is going to be neat as well.
Man, that three weeks is going to go by in a heartbeat!
Ok, gotta dash, see you all on the flip side.*
* flip side? What the fuck does that really mean? My life isn't a bloody record, and why would you guys be on the b-side?
October 17, 2007
national ride to work day
We usually pass only a handful of cyclists on the way to work in the morning and seeing hundreds more today showed that loads of people are capable of doing it, yet would rather sit on a train or drive to work.
It lead me to assume that most people only rode in today to be part of something instead of trying to stave off an early death due to FATNESS.
Sorry, I'm not a fan of people who do things like catch the lift to avoid a single flight of stairs or fat people who drink 2 litres of diet coke to make them feel better about the choloate they had for breakfast.
Hmm, that didn't end as planned. Here's a picture:
September 21, 2007
still lovin' it
September 17, 2007
September 06, 2007
chasers
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