ghostbusters

We're having a company awards night soon. You know, one of those evenings where they try and make you forget that you're unappreciated the other 364 days of the year.

Anyhoo, it's an 80s theme night, so four of us decided to go to as Ghostbusters.

I ordered four flight suits from a US Army Surplus store a few weeks ago, not really thinking about the time it would/could take them to get here. With the awards night on this Friday, they have to arrive in the next two days, otherwise instead of these:

we'll have to wear spray painted versions of these:

which don't really look that authentic, even without the hood.

The fun/fiddly part was making the proton packs out of meat trays, old cups and bits of bucket.



The gun is a spray painted "Pleasure Supergun" with the sight and handle cut off. The barrel has flashing lights in it, and I cut out the speaker that makes machine gun noises. It actually looks pretty cool when it's running. I still haven't figured out how to attach it to the hose, but if all else fails, I still have a couple of glue sticks left :D

The hard part now is waiting for the next two days for those damn suits. I really think I'll be gutted if they don't get here in time,

laziest character development ever

Heard from the female lead role during the pilot for J.J. Abrams new show "Fringe":



"Petty bastard. He's pissed because his best friend sexually assaulted three marine privates, and I'm the bad guy cos I put him away"


and later:


"If my past job performance as U.S Marine Special Investigator offends you..."


Nothing like having to fit an entire back story into a couple of lines of dialogue.

christian vs atheist beliefs

Gods that Christians don't believe in

Gods that atheists don't believe in

Aesir Agasaya Agdistis Ah chuy kak Ah cun can Ah hulneb Ah puch Ahulane Ahura mazda Aine Airmid Aizen-myoo Aji-suki-taka-hi-kone Akea Alberich Ama-no-minaka-nushi Ama-tsu-mara Amaethon Amaterasu Amatsu Amatsu-kami Ame-no-mi-kumari Ame-no-wakahiko Amidaam-no-tanabata-hime An Anahita Anat Anath Andhrimnir Andraste Andvari Angrboda Angus og Ankt Annapurna Anouke Anshar Anu Aphrodite Apollo Apsu Apukohai Arawn Aray Ares Arianrhod Artemis Artio Asclepius Asherah Ashur Astarte Astrild Athena Athirat Athtart Atla Atlas Audhumla Ba'al hadad Baal Baal-hammon Baalat Babd catha Bacchus Badb Baku Balder Balor Balrama Bast Ba xian Beg-tse Bel Belatu-cadros Bellona Belobog Benten Benzai-ten Bergelmir Berstuk Bes Beyla Bhuvaneshwari Bimbogami Binzuru-sonja Bishamon Bixia yuanjin Blodeuwedd Borghild Bosatsu Bragi Brahma Bran Branwen Brighid Brigit Bris Brono Buddha Bugid y aiba Buluc chabtan Burijas Butsu Bylgia Camalus Camaxtli Camulus Cariocienus Caswallawn Ceres Ceridwen Cernunnos Cerridwen Cerunnos Chac Chalchiuhtlicue Charun Chemosh Cheng-huang Chien-shin Chimata-no-kami Chup-kamui Crnobog Cupid Cybele Cyhiraeth Dagda Dagon Dagon Dagur Daibosatsu Daikoku Dainichi Damkina Danu Davlin Dawn Dazbog Demeter Dev Dewi Dhanwantari Dhumavati Diana Diancecht Di cang Dionysus Disen Don Donar Dosojin Dozoku-shin Druantia Durga Dylan Dziewona Ea Ebisu Eir Ekchuah Ekibiogami El Elaine El elyon Elli Emma-o Enki Enlil Enyalius Enyo Eos Epona Ereskigal Erra Eshara Eshmun Farbauti Faunus Fenrir Flidais Flins Flora Forseti Freya Freyr Frigg Fudo Fujin Fukurokuju Funadama Futsu-nushi-no-kami Gaia Gama Ganesha Ganga Garuda Gauri Geb Gefion Gekka-o Geong si Gerd Giobhniu Gu Guan-di Gun Gwydion Gwynn ap nudd Hachiman Hades Hadur Hai Haniyasu-hiko Haniyasu-hime Hanuman Hathor Haulili Haya-ji Heimdall Hel Helios Heng-o Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hermod Hestia Hiaka Hiiakawawahilani Hinakuluiau Hiruko Hod Hoderi Holler Hoori Hors Horus Hoso-no-kami Hotei Hsi-wang-mu Huitzilopochtli Hygeia Ictinike Ida-ten Idun Ika-zuchi-no-kami Iki-ryo Inanna Inari Indra Inti Irmin Ishtar Isis Isora Ixtab Izanagi Izanaki Izanami Janus Jarilo Jarovit Jinushigami Jizo Jord Jormungand Juichimen Juno Jupiter Jurojin Juthrbog Juturna Kagutsuchi Kalaipahoa Kali Kaluannuunohonionio Kamado-gami Kamapua'a Kami-kaze Kaminari Kamohoali'i Kamooalii Kanaloa Kanayama-hiko Kanayama-hime Kane Kane-hekili Kapo Kapohoikahiola Karewit Kari Kartikeya Karttikeya Kathirat Kaupe Kawa-no-kami Kenro-ji-jin Keoahikamakaua Keuakepo Khepri Ki Kiha Kingu Kinich ahau Kishar Kishi-bojin Kishijoten Kishimo-jin Ko-no-hana Kojin Koleamoku Korrawi Koshin Kothar Koya-no-myoin Krishna Ku Kuahana Kukailimoku Kukaoo Kukulcan Kukunochi-no-kami Kuni-toko-tachi Kura-okami Kurma Kuula Kvasir Laamaomao Labraid Lada Lado Laga Laka Lakakane Lakshmi Laran Lares Libintia Lie Liza Llyr Lofn Loki Lono Lonomakua Lotan Lugh Luna Macha Maeve Magna mater Magni Mahulu Maia Manannan Mani Manua Marduk Margawse Marisha-ten Marowit Mars Maru Marzanna Matangi Math ap mathowny Matka gabia Matka ziemia Maui Mawaya-no-kami Maya Mebd Medb Melqart Menhit Menthu Mentu Mercury Mextli Mider Mikaboshi Milu Miming Mimir Minerva Miro Mithras Mixcoatl Miyazu-hime Moaalii Modi Mokosh Mokualii Moloch Monju-bosatsu Mooaleo Morrigan Mot Mummu Murukan Musubi-no-kami Myrrdin Nacon Nai-no-kami Naka-yama-tsu-mi Nammu Nanaja Nanna Nanse Neith Nemain Nemesis Nephthys Neptune Nergal Niamh Nikko-bosatsu Ninazu Ninhurzag Ninigi-no-mikoto Nintu Ninurta Njord Nominosukune Norns Nott Nut Nyorai Oanomochi Odin Ogoun Ohkuninushi Oho-yama Ohonamochi Ohyamatsumi Okuni-nushi Ops Orgelmir Oro Osiris Ostara Ouli Owatatsumi Oyamatsumi Pales Pan Papa Parvati Pele Perperuna Persephone Perun Phaethon Phoebe Phoebus apollo Pilumnus Pluto Podaga Poliahu Pomona Porewit Poseidon Proserpine Puea Qadeshtu Quetzalcoatl Radegast Raiden Ram Rama Ran Re Resef Reshep Resheph Rhea Rod Rugiviet Ryo-wo Sabazius Sae-no-kami Saga Sakhmet Sambo-kojin Samulayo Sarasvati Sarutahiko ohkami Saturn Segomo Selene Sengen Septu Seshat Seth Seti Shachar Shaka Shakti Shalim Shamash Shamayim Shapsu Shemesh Shen yi Shichi fujukin Shinda Shine-tsu-hiko Shiva Shoden Shoki Shu Si-wang-mu Siebog Sif Simargl Sin Sirona Sita Siwa Sjofn Skadi Sleipnir Sol Stribog Suijin Suitengu Sukuna-biko Surya Susanoh Susanowa Svantetit Svarog Svetovid Svetovit Syn Takami-musubi Takemikadzuchi Taki-tsu-hiko Tatsuta-hime Tawaret Tefnut Tehwom Tenjin Teutates Tezcatlipoca Thanatos The zorya Thor Tiamat Tlaloc Tonatiuh Toyo-uke-bime Toyouke-omikami Triglav Tsuki-yumi Tu Tu matauenga Turris Tyche Tyr Uba Uga-jin Uga-no-mitama Ukanipo Ukemochi Ulaulekeahi Uli Ull Utu Uzume Vali Valkyries Vamana Vanir Var Veles Venus Vertumnus Vesta Vidar Vishnu Volturnus Vulcan Wakahiru-me Wata-tsu-mi Wepwawet Wurukatte Xipe Xi wang-mu Xochipilli Xochiquetzal Yabune Yam Yam-nahar Yama-no-kami Yamato Yarikh Ymir Yu-huang Yuki-onna Yum kimil Zababa Zana Zedek Zeus Zirnitra Zislbog Zizilia Zroya

Aesir Agasaya Agdistis Ah chuy kak Ah cun can Ah hulneb Ah puch Ahulane Ahura mazda Aine Airmid Aizen-myoo Aji-suki-taka-hi-kone Akea Alberich Ama-no-minaka-nushi Ama-tsu-mara Amaethon Amaterasu Amatsu Amatsu-kami Ame-no-mi-kumari Ame-no-wakahiko Amidaam-no-tanabata-hime An Anahita Anat Anath Andhrimnir Andraste Andvari Angrboda Angus og Ankt Annapurna Anouke Anshar Anu Aphrodite Apollo Apsu Apukohai Arawn Aray Ares Arianrhod Artemis Artio Asclepius Asherah Ashur Astarte Astrild Athena Athirat Athtart Atla Atlas Audhumla Ba'al hadad Baal Baal-hammon Baalat Babd catha Bacchus Badb Baku Balder Balor Balrama Bast Ba xian Beg-tse Bel Belatu-cadros Bellona Belobog Benten Benzai-ten Bergelmir Berstuk Bes Beyla Bhuvaneshwari Bimbogami Binzuru-sonja Bishamon Bixia yuanjin Blodeuwedd Borghild Bosatsu Bragi Brahma Bran Branwen Brighid Brigit Bris Brono Buddha Bugid y aiba Buluc chabtan Burijas Butsu Bylgia Camalus Camaxtli Camulus Cariocienus Caswallawn Ceres Ceridwen Cernunnos Cerridwen Cerunnos Chac Chalchiuhtlicue Charun Chemosh Cheng-huang Chien-shin Chimata-no-kami Chup-kamui Crnobog Cupid Cybele Cyhiraeth Dagda Dagon Dagon Dagur Daibosatsu Daikoku Dainichi Damkina Danu Davlin Dawn Dazbog Demeter Dev Dewi Dhanwantari Dhumavati Diana Diancecht Di cang Dionysus Disen Don Donar Dosojin Dozoku-shin Druantia Durga Dylan Dziewona Ea Ebisu Eir Ekchuah Ekibiogami El Elaine El elyon Elli Emma-o Enki Enlil Enyalius Enyo Eos Epona Ereskigal Erra Eshara Eshmun Farbauti Faunus Fenrir Flidais Flins Flora Forseti Freya Freyr Frigg Fudo Fujin Fukurokuju Funadama Futsu-nushi-no-kami Gaia Gama Ganesha Ganga Garuda Gauri Geb Gefion Gekka-o Geong si Gerd Giobhniu Gu Guan-di Gun Gwydion Gwynn ap nudd Hachiman Hades Hadur Hai Haniyasu-hiko Haniyasu-hime Hanuman Hathor Haulili Haya-ji Heimdall Hel Helios Heng-o Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hermod Hestia Hiaka Hiiakawawahilani Hinakuluiau Hiruko Hod Hoderi Holler Hoori Hors Horus Hoso-no-kami Hotei Hsi-wang-mu Huitzilopochtli Hygeia Ictinike Ida-ten Idun Ika-zuchi-no-kami Iki-ryo Inanna Inari Indra Inti Irmin Ishtar Isis Isora Ixtab Izanagi Izanaki Izanami Janus Jarilo Jarovit Jinushigami Jizo Jord Jormungand Juichimen Juno Jupiter Jurojin Juthrbog Juturna Kagutsuchi Kalaipahoa Kali Kaluannuunohonionio Kamado-gami Kamapua'a Kami-kaze Kaminari Kamohoali'i Kamooalii Kanaloa Kanayama-hiko Kanayama-hime Kane Kane-hekili Kapo Kapohoikahiola Karewit Kari Kartikeya Karttikeya Kathirat Kaupe Kawa-no-kami Kenro-ji-jin Keoahikamakaua Keuakepo Khepri Ki Kiha Kingu Kinich ahau Kishar Kishi-bojin Kishijoten Kishimo-jin Ko-no-hana Kojin Koleamoku Korrawi Koshin Kothar Koya-no-myoin Krishna Ku Kuahana Kukailimoku Kukaoo Kukulcan Kukunochi-no-kami Kuni-toko-tachi Kura-okami Kurma Kuula Kvasir Laamaomao Labraid Lada Lado Laga Laka Lakakane Lakshmi Laran Lares Libintia Lie Liza Llyr Lofn Loki Lono Lonomakua Lotan Lugh Luna Macha Maeve Magna mater Magni Mahulu Maia Manannan Mani Manua Marduk Margawse Marisha-ten Marowit Mars Maru Marzanna Matangi Math ap mathowny Matka gabia Matka ziemia Maui Mawaya-no-kami Maya Mebd Medb Melqart Menhit Menthu Mentu Mercury Mextli Mider Mikaboshi Milu Miming Mimir Minerva Miro Mithras Mixcoatl Miyazu-hime Moaalii Modi Mokosh Mokualii Moloch Monju-bosatsu Mooaleo Morrigan Mot Mummu Murukan Musubi-no-kami Myrrdin Nacon Nai-no-kami Naka-yama-tsu-mi Nammu Nanaja Nanna Nanse Neith Nemain Nemesis Nephthys Neptune Nergal Niamh Nikko-bosatsu Ninazu Ninhurzag Ninigi-no-mikoto Nintu Ninurta Njord Nominosukune Norns Nott Nut Nyorai Oanomochi Odin Ogoun Ohkuninushi Oho-yama Ohonamochi Ohyamatsumi Okuni-nushi Ops Orgelmir Oro Osiris Ostara Ouli Owatatsumi Oyamatsumi Pales Pan Papa Parvati Pele Perperuna Persephone Perun Phaethon Phoebe Phoebus apollo Pilumnus Pluto Podaga Poliahu Pomona Porewit Poseidon Proserpine Puea Qadeshtu Quetzalcoatl Radegast Raiden Ram Rama Ran Re Resef Reshep Resheph Rhea Rod Rugiviet Ryo-wo Sabazius Sae-no-kami Saga Sakhmet Sambo-kojin Samulayo Sarasvati Sarutahiko ohkami Saturn Segomo Selene Sengen Septu Seshat Seth Seti Shachar Shaka Shakti Shalim Shamash Shamayim Shapsu Shemesh Shen yi Shichi fujukin Shinda Shine-tsu-hiko Shiva Shoden Shoki Shu Si-wang-mu Siebog Sif Simargl Sin Sirona Sita Siwa Sjofn Skadi Sleipnir Sol Stribog Suijin Suitengu Sukuna-biko Surya Susanoh Susanowa Svantetit Svarog Svetovid Svetovit Syn Takami-musubi Takemikadzuchi Taki-tsu-hiko Tatsuta-hime Tawaret Tefnut Tehwom Tenjin Teutates Tezcatlipoca Thanatos The zorya Thor Tiamat Tlaloc Tonatiuh Toyo-uke-bime Toyouke-omikami Triglav Tsuki-yumi Tu Tu matauenga Turris Tyche Tyr Uba Uga-jin Uga-no-mitama Ukanipo Ukemochi Ulaulekeahi Uli Ull Utu Uzume Vali Valkyries Vamana Vanir Var Veles Venus Vertumnus Vesta Vidar Vishnu Volturnus Vulcan Wakahiru-me Wata-tsu-mi Wepwawet Wurukatte Xipe Xi wang-mu Xochipilli Xochiquetzal Yabune Yam Yam-nahar Yama-no-kami Yamato Yarikh Ymir Yu-huang Yuki-onna Yum kimil Zababa Zana Zedek Zeus Zirnitra Zislbog Zizilia Zroya Yahweh

this is why we need a car

It's pouring with rain and I want to get some stuff from Ikea. It's a 5 minute drive or close to 40 mins catching the tram(s). I'm not sure if you've noticed, but wet people smell
when they're sitting beside you.

lawsuit waiting to happen

These guys win the award for dumbest product ever:

Why bother teaching your kid not to eat Lego when these buggers come along and undo all your hard work.

Thanks to Penny Arcade .

the official god f.a.q

Read the F.A.Q here

os x tip: alias for network folder

Here's a quick Mac tip that I figured out by myself today. This is a big deal, because I'm not a mac fan (we just have a mac mini for a media server)

After Deb upgraded to OSX Leopard, OS 10.5, or whatever the hell they're calling it these days, we lost the ability to create an alias to a network folder (in Windows, the closest equivalent is a shortcut). I scoured the interwebs and couldn't find any way around it.

The solution is really simple:

1. Create an alias for any old file
2. Open the alias file info
3. Click on "Select new original"
4. Navigate to your network folder and click ok

And that's it! Too easy.

God knows why the powers that be decided to drop that bit of functionality, but if I've learned anything from the Mac community it's this: Steve Jobs is god and don't you fucking dare question ANY decision that Apple makes. If you don't like something it's because YOU are wrong and what you are trying to DO is wrong.

google earth 3d plugin

This is pretty freakin sweet: Google has created a proper 3D plugin for Google Earth.
Basically, you can bung Google Earth into a web page and do anything with it that you can do with Google Maps.

excessive phone bill

If you've ever microwaved a cd, this is even better.

re're saring our rown rives

As weird a concept as this is, its a hell of a lot more fun than a lot of the "entertainment" on western TV

H.E.R.B

princess

how long do your socks last?

moving graffiti

This is hard to describe without using the words "fucking" and "awesome".

chicken coconut soup

We've made this a few times recently and it keeps getting better with each ingredient we add.

1 Tbsp peanut/vegetable oil
6 spring onions (or a small, finely chopped normal onion)
Tbsp chopped chilli
2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
2 Tbsp lemongrass (I use the stuff from a tube as it's not all woody)

3 cups chicken stock
1 can coconut milk
1 Tbsp fish sauce

1 can creamed corn
1/2 can Baby corn (cut in half longways)
Thinly sliced chicken breast
Salt to season
1 Tbsp soy sauce

Heat the oil in a wok or large pot and fry the spring onions, chilli, ginger and lemongrass for a minute or so.
Add the chicken stock, coconut milk and fish sauce and bring to the boil uncovered (if you cover it, the coconut milk goes all curdled and disgusting).
Throw in the creamed corn, baby corn and chicken and let it simmer for 7-8 minutes.
Season with salt and add the soy sauce, mix it up and serve. I'm sure the presentation would look better with a sprig of coriander on top, but you won't find that gunk in my kitchen.

high tech poster

This is an informational poster out by our lifts.

In case youre' wondering, clicking didn't do anything.

miscalculation

Why are burger patties sold in packs of 4, but hamburgers in packs of 6?

mario theme with wine bottles

Patience. So much patience

geebung

i love this guy

riding home

royal exhibition building

garfield minus garfield

For some reason it took me years to realise that Garfield just isn't funny (seriously, how many times do you think that people will laugh at lasagne?)

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"


garfieldminusgarfield

cbd

Just filling in time, waiting for Deb.

rail trail photo map

This is neat. It's now easy to embed my photo map right on the page instead of linking out to it!


View Larger Map Thanks to the commenter on this page for the tip on using your own map.

how many?

This has always bugged me:

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.

and i thought they were just a myth

Deb swept our steps out and found this little bugger:



I'm not a big fan of spiders, so knowing that I'd been walking barefoot past this web for the last month is a little creepy.

rail trail

Deb and I did the Otago Central Rail Trail in NZ a few weeks ago.

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.

deathstar

off to nz

Deb and I are hitting Dunedin for a couple of weeks including three days cycling through central Otago. Should be nice if a little tiring.

kitty

andy roddick v michael berrer

It's 9.10pm and 18 degrees. Normally it wouldn't be too bad, but I've gotten used to the 28 degree evenings. I'm cold and Deb's lips are turning blue.

australian open

We got some pretty good seats tonight. First game is Sharapova v Davenport.
I might post some more pics later.

we are so insignificant

I don't know about you, but things like this make my mind explode.

federation trail

We're currently on the Federation Trail. It's surrounded by chemical factories, rubbish dumps and thistles. Appropriate then that it was built over an old sewage line

this burger is too big

it's good to have options

Best when firm or soft.
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.

pointing out the obvious

So, what other options do pedestrians have?

at least it was early in the ride

I was on my way to the gym on a SATURDAY when this happened. Bugger

what's with the shoes?

merry xmas

Roast lamb, roast veges, ham, fruit salad, plum pudding, pavlova.
It may have been only Deb and I for Xmas lunch, but that was no reason to miss out on anything!

cloudburst

The rain in Melbourne for the last few days has been ridiculous. It's been falling so hard that water bounces back up to your waist. I joked about buying an umbrella off the guy from our noodle shop tonight, so he fashioned a raincoat out of a big rubbish bag for me. I laughed at the time, but it really kept me dry. I guess I owe him a beer!

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:


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

I took time out from the stress of trying to find the perfect xmas present to have a look in EB Games. Super Paper Mario is selling brand new for $99 or pre-owned for $95. What a great business! They buy back the game for bugger all then sell it again for almost the original price! Do mugs really buy these pre-owned games or am I missing part of the equation here?

meetings are suck

"no to all" tip for windows

This is probably a well known tip, but I discovered it today and it is totally invaluable!

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:


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 hard drive that I store all my photos on is starting to play up. I can't open a couple of dozen photos, but luckily most of them are backed up in various locations.
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.

hehe, neat

I couldn't wait until we got home, so I posted this from the train :)

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.

maybe the coolest thing in the world

Create your own plastic 3D models with this:

Product page

I love the idea of being able to print out my own Angelina Jolie action figure.

another tree

We've got our tree up now.

It's sitting in front of a window, so is hard to take a good photo. You'll just have to use your imagination.

stupid fruits of the world #19: mango

If there's ever been a strong argument against intelligent design, it has to be the 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.



Verdict: fuck it, stick to apples

8-bit christmas

This is in downtown Madrid (Spain for you less worldly types).





Thanks to Gizmodo and Clipset

nice tree...

This from the fashion capital of Australia.

i'm assured it's hygenic

I came back from grabbing some lunch to find that desert had been supplied.
Shame it was my favourite red stapler.

Now I'm going to have to set the building on fire.

vietnam gallery

The photos from Vietnam are closer to being finished.
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.

and we're back

Nice day in Melbourne, tired as shit, photos to follow

tan son nhat airport

Our plane from Saigon to Singapore has been delayed, which means we'll only get to spend 3 hours at Singapore 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

Our last day in Vietnam is in Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon as every single person still calls it). This is the view from our breakfast table at the Majestic Hotel. It was a treat being able to sleep in clean sheets, have a shower in water that doesn't smell and have people waiting on you that appeared happy to do so. (appeared was supposed to be in italics, but my phone can't do that :).
Next stop is Singapore for a bit of duty free then we're back in Melbourne in time for work on Monday.
Woo hoo.

mui ne

We're finally in the sun! We are 5 seconds walk from the beach and I've just had my first shave since we arrived in Vietnam. Deb isn't too pleased.

da lat

This is weird. After walking the streets of Hoi An being eyed up like a walking bag of money, we're now in Da Lat feeling like celebrities! People walking past yell out hello ard get big grins on their faces when we reply with xin chào. We paid next to nothing for a couple of coffees (around 1/3 the price we've had to pay up until now) and the hotelier looks honestly pleased to see us. I'm pleased we did the north first so we could really appreciate the difference.
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.

raining again

Just booked our tickets to Dalat. From what I can figure out, we get a cab to De Nang, train to Nha Trang, stay the night and then a bus to Dalat.
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.

and again

They have free wi-fi AND free pool. How could we refuse?

tam tam cafe

We ended up at a bloody westerner bar in Hoi An. Oh well

noodles please, hold the typhoon

We arrived in Hué a few days ago to clouds and drizzle. Caught a couple of cyclos for a tour of the citadel, but eventually got sick of the wet cushions soaking through our clothes and finished the tour on foot.
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)