Shalalalala HTC

Joy to the world, for new years has come.

Chrstmas was a blast, kind of. I cooked an awesome macadmia/basil pesto roast pork, italian herb/garlic turkey, roast ham and steph took care of a multitude of salads. Her family enjoyed it, and I would say it is the best roast pork I have done. I like it when family visits but damn that's a lot of people in a kind of small apartment.

Speaking of apartments, the landlord wants to increase the rent. Steph and I are considering what's available to buy, or if we want to rent and research more. Fun times. But yeah, Melbourne is the GO. New years party tonight; who the hell picks the theme "9". Oh yeah, Seth does. grr @ seth.

so... any ideas for the theme - maybe a cat (9 lives) or something - sms me as there are only a few hours left.

SMS hey.... I now have a new phone. I succumbed to the revolution and got a PDA/phone. The HTC touch Diamond:

WM6.1 / 4gig internal memory / wifi, 3G, sms, mms, office, mp3, mp4, voice calling, vid calling, 3.2mp, blahhh.

I am now with telstra, and they paid me $200 to go from optus to telstra (cost me $109 to leave Optus). Ahh business plans, so much better.

I am not the only person at work today - hooray for Dakang working his ass off too.

I am going to get back on top of things and not leave people/sites etc neglected (including logging into facebook more than monthly).

RG hits 20k

So, for those of you who don't know: I participate in researchgate. It's a form of social networking/collaborating/data sharing etc site for scientists. Any form of researchers really (including arts/history etc). Recently it hit 20,000 members. In like what, 7 months. Anyway, it's rad - check out the entry about it's 20k membership - http://blog.researchgate.net/index.php?/archives/49-ResearchGATE-celebrates-20,000-members.html

I mean seriously - what is the deal with ferrero Rocher, how much money are they spending on marketing?

Nikon

So, as everyone knows - I prefer canon. But if someone throws Nikon equipment in your face, it's hard to say no.

So... after doing parts of the Monash Micro Imaging Live cell imaging course and playing around with millions of dollars of microscopes from Leica, Olympus and Nikon ... I'd have to say that yeah Leica rocks (depending on the model, the LX is a LEMON), olympus is ok (good images but buggy setup) and the Nikon a1: 

is damn good for the price.

So, the reason I just pimped Nikon? There was a lucky door prize and I just won a free Nikon coolpix S210 (3x optical, 8mp, vibration reduction, nikkor lens).

 

So yeah - one positive output from the week anyway.

update and overdue realisation

So I was watching this doco on ABC by david attenborough covering the Lakes district. Apparently steph and I chose to drive up the steepest road in the UK when we visited a few years ago, hollister pass. We also drove by the sing side stone circle, quakers hill etc. David attenborough has such a cool voice, despite his voice.

Yeah what else - been shit busy with work... yay.

Bought a new GPS - 4.3" widescreen, bluetooth and a built in DVB-T tuner (shh don't tell the cops). - have virtually every piece of software available for it.

Researchgate is taking off... be a part of it.

Wrote a mini-review for the faculty of F1000 - an elitists society for scientific publications/evaluation etc. It's good to have a boss with a big name.

Doing lots of crazy live cell confocal microscopy.. expensive lasers to play with, yay.

Just watched man city play man utd - damn good match!

It hailed down here last weekend, for no reason, and apparently even snowed in the city (very briefly). This weather is damp sporadic.

The christmas tree is up, where has the year gone. Where has my life gone.

My sister is pregnant, so is Em, so is Cindy, so is Lisle so is Panny, etc etc - so many kids around aswell.

and yeah.. that's it. more soon.

software, tunes and photos

so - currently I am studying phagocytosis and autophagy. A lot of hardcore visual microscopy and computer modelling-

e.g.

The above is from software called Imaris. $10k +$5k maintenance /year/computer. I have a 1 month off-site licence on my laptop for October (free, yay).

As far as tunes go - KMH's new cd is out saturday. I have been listening to it on Nova. She has gone like mainstream alternative. i.e. it's very much "quirky pop"... nothing really show's off the potential of her voice. There are a few songs on their with real singing - but the rest are ok I guess. She is playing in Melbourne next month, I think i'll go.

Photos - so many photos to go through and convert to jpg... eeek..

vicroads

In general, most roads down here are much wider then back in QLD. So why the hell do people almost run you off the road when on a freeway???

and why do people spontaneously decide they want to kill you if your reflexes aren't good enough to avoid their crazy driving.

Ahh well, the daily challenges of driving in Melbourne.

p.s. My washer/dryer has the longest, craziest "finished" tone sound.

Belgium

So.. recently I saw

Released: 2008


Go to IMDb page

Information © IMDb.com

In Bruges

Elizabeth Berrington, Olivier Bonjour, Ann Elsley, Jean-Marc Favorin, Brendan Gleeson, Zeljko Ivanek

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What can I say... damn good! One of the best movies I have seen in a while, unique, well written and a good laugh. It is the directors first full length film, but he did well. You can tell he is a playwright - and I like the style. Anyway - go see it.

a little happiness

So, there is a little good news. I have a new portable HDD... and a laptop that seems quite reliable... and a desktop that behaves.

Steph wants to buy a mac laptop, they are sexy.

I have some new camera equipment, canon EOS 40D, 17-70 f2.8 sigma, 70-200 f4L IS USM, canon 430exII speedlite/flash etc.

Settled into melbourne, working hard, little time for fun - but oh well.

sadness

so... i've ben meaning to post for a while. but meh. Life is busy, another year older, a bit more broke.

My old computer crashed, the one I used to store a lot of my data/photos etc. I've lost the original (raw's, some jpgs) of a LOT of my photos. 50gb of data, irretrievable. THAT FUCKEN SUCKS. so yeah, I have a few jpgs, the ones on my gallery, in high quality - but most of the originals are GONE.

so yeah - I booted it up to back it all up and ... bam... grinded to hell.

I now have a 500gb portable HDD for scientific data and photos... aswell as dvd and my computers HDD (laptop for some, desktop for others). hmm.

purchases

So, recently steph purchased:

HTC touch dual - http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=142 

 

(work will pay, eventually).

Recently I purchased:

Canon EOS 40D - http://www.canon.com.au/eos/range/eos40d/default.aspx

Sigma 17-70mm F/2.8-4.5 DC macro - http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3315&navigator=6

Canon 70-200mm F/4 IS L series - http://www.canon.com.au/products/cameras_lenses_accessories/telephoto_zoom_lenses/ef_70-200mm4lisusm.aspx

so yeah, I feel guilty.

what a bust

Damn, 4.4 tonnes, 15 million tablets or $440 million worth of ecstasy. They claim it's 60% of Vic's eccies. One would imagine a price rise. At least the dealers not arrested won't be affected by federal inflation for a while. That's a lot of drugs to be in tinned tomatoes... I hope the legitimate shipments of tinned tomatoes from Italy aren't held up. I am quite fond of the ones from my local importer.

full hdd

So, mental note: clicking cancel (then yes to delete the torrent) on a partially downloaded file in ShareAza does not delete the data. It leaves it sitting in your temp files in the shareaza directory. After struggling to work out why the windows system drive was full - I deleted 30gig of partially downloaded files. yay.

In other new... yeah nothing really. Had an awesome sat/sun away at blairgowrie (mornington peninsula).

Photos on FB, so far.

It's good to chill. So much cleaning etc to do this w/e. tax return is back, yay.

I might go buy a camera.

The universe

The universe apparently wants the hooker-look-a-like Miss Universe: Venezuela to be the new Miss universe.

 

Miss Venezuela (as per the judges)....

or

Miss Colombia.

ahh well..I'm happy with steph :)

miss universe

so... 5 left. I think MU: Australia should have scored higher. Stunning dress she had and yeah, talent. MU: columbia, damn... she is utterly gorgeous. The judges actually seem to be leaning her way (they never agree with me). Anyway, we'll see in a few minutes.

reviews

Researchgate: Going strong, lots of pimping and many conferences, societies etc joining in. They offer many web-based tools that companies pay lots of money to implement. All free. Just do it!

Monash Imaging: some funky new equipment, but I still miss UQ's easy access to decent equipment.

Kung Fu Panda: seriously over-rated. Kind of funny, drags on a bit though.

Get Smart: average. 99 is quite decent :), max was ok. The secondary actors were a bit ave though. Worth watching, but the TV show was cooler.

Bruce and LLoyd out of control: a spin-off movie of the two tech guys from Get smart. Worst movie I have seen this year.

Shutter: Kind of freaky, a little odd, very much japanese styled horror. Reminiscent of the Grudge. Dawsons creek guy did a good job.

Street Kings: definitely worth watching. Good acting. Different to most.

animal training

There is a cat lover speaking to me atm, she is arguing that animals should not be used for research. She is however, a vet, and her training required animals for practice. Interesting. It's also interesting that she sits here saying she doesn't want animals used for research and will do her best to reject your applications.

So yeah, fun times today. monash has wifi in most buildings. Once connecting with the VPN it's quite easy (for vista) to gain access to everything.

Cinque Lire on monash clayton campus has good coffee.

half a year

So half a year is gone. Crazy hey? Damn time can fly.

So yeah, they are giving me my PhD. UQ certainly takes their time sorting it all out.

Work is moving along. Lots of pain and annoyance with cloning - c'est la vie.

Spain won the euro2008. Good for them, they haven't won since 1974 (but nearly always make the quarters/semi's etc).

Ever wondered what I work on?

Here is a simplified version of one of my projects:

Isn't science fun.

I know you all love it.

MMM coffee. I know I am addicted.

Garuva's was fun and the old lab peeps are fun. I'll miss them all. Melbourne is a little chilly today - damn breeze.

Sooooooooo many minipreps to do!

Yay for end of the financial year - now I just have to wait for my tax return.. Big return - heaps of HELP repayments and I should still have a decent return to py off some debt with. Forced savings.

The Hulk

So, I thought edward norton did a good job. I quite liked the film. Marvel is doing well now. Ironman + the hulk + hancock.... will be an interesting cross-over film.

So yeah, the incredible hulk is worth watching. Stan Lee doing his normal cameo appearance. Liv tyler did well...she's odd but sexy. The other actors all did alright.

Australia lost to China, but are through anyway. yay. Is it wrong to know more about european countries football teams then you do about Australia's.

anyway, stress is not good.

anti-religious games

SO, with the trend of violence in computer games now comes a trend of violence and anti-christian/muslim. A new game previewed here http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/object_of_new_video_game_is_to_stop_the_spread_of_christianity_and_islam/11957/

focuses on killing religious leaders, abraham, mohammed etc before they get a chance to spread religion. The atheist designer seems like an immateur toss, and I know most atheists would not share his opinion.

But seriously - how screwed is the world?

heads up to sendai for pointing it out to me.

Football, the real football

Euro2008 is underway. My $15 has allowed me to watch (at least parts of) 4 games so far. Setanta-by-broadband is pretty cool. Especially with skitz fast net. hmm Skitz, haven't used that word in a while.

Anyway, unsure who I am going for in euro08 yet, germany, italy, croatia, spain..... I wish Turkey had a better team then I would support them.

So yeah, lack of sleep come the week of the finals... damn talk gets in the way a bit.

Working

So today is a public holiday for victoria, and many other states. For some reason, Monash university has declared it not a public holiday and everyone must go to work. We get 1.5 days leave in compensation between christmas and new years. Somehow, the EULA contract the union has sorted out with monash syas its ok, even though it is not an AWA or anything. c'est la vie.

so 54% of people say they are now worse off with Rudd then Howard. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=577014 interesting - the headlines say MOST Aussies are worse off... I guess 54% is the majority, but "most"? ahh well, I agree.

Anyway, working is good, tax isn't. Tax return should be :)

Week of crap

So, a week of really crap lab results, or no results, triggered by continuous stuff-ups by myself. Intermixed with random bits of crap, my car overheating going down the M1 and me luckily pulling off (and noticing it) just before roadworks would have prevented stopping for about 5 kms. To top that off I was sick for a bit, but got over it pretty fast. The weekend was good, victory vs juventis friday night. Melb played better than expected though the end killed them with some awesome Juve' goals. Sat night was colonial tramcar restaurant with steph, Em and Seth. A little over-rated, but good nonetheless. Following this was casino, random walk across the city to get coffee and then chai back @ my place. sunday was a bit of shopping, and bunnings and using the BBQ to cook dinner (after buying gas from bunnings). So a decent end I guess... except for sunday's work (in between shops etc) and monday's work giving NO DAMN PROTEIN from my purification. argh!. I am use to things at least partially working lately.

tiger vs top gear

So if you are watching TV and not watching david attenborough's Tiger finale, or Top gear, then you suck. Both awesome shows... though tigers gets the main showing and top gear during the breaks. Log cam is a damn interesting feature, and the tiger's seriously ignore it. Great work for mobile cams carried by elephants.

Anyway, top gear also rocks. Jeremy (host) recently got caught out telling a reporter that he did 186mph on public roads. That's 300km/h.

Damn I want to race in a lambo against a porsche or aston. Though that is probably the only porsche I find attractive.

So yeah the new lotus/proton elise is hot. As are the new protons. My 97 model proton sucks. Not only is it damaged (body) but it is currently in the shop getting the water pump and aircon pulley replaced. Hopefully it's just that, or I may well be ditching it.

eurovision

If people vote for spain - they deserve to die.

There are some very attractive euro acts, and a little musical talent.

Tonight is a night of crap. Indy 4 is average, starts of quite good then yeah, goes down hill. They did well to keep it themed in the 50's, and was filmed quite well (yay for spielberg). Ahh well, it better be over with no more sequels. I watched about 5 minutes of Big Brother, it's still crap but at least it's different to previous years. Now flicking between CSI, eurovision and all the other junk on free-to-air digital.

I am not a fan of steph working nights. I should prob do some work.

P.S. movie prices in melbourne SUCK! I miss southbank cinemas.

Icey

So this morning I wander on down to the proton, which I have finally paid off the student loan for, and it was covered in ice. colder weather is starting to kick in. None of this crappy brissy ice on the windscreen, it was virtually covered in ice. c'est la vie.

damn students loans are evil, as soon as you are "expected" to graduate they hit you with bigger interest.. nothing compared to a normal personal loan, but still. I want to buy before the end of the year, need to save $$$$.

blah, almost time for the coffee van to arrive.

Lab or Lib

So, who is happy with the new government? Are people amazed by the new budget? Has it made Australia better off. Are they happy with the labor government's point-of-view that a complete stagnation of the economy is the only solution?

Regardless of what I think, the figures don't add up. 16000 people will apparently miss out on the baby bonus now, and about 40,000 will miss out on some form of family benefit tax. Interesting since the last sensis showed 216,000 Australian households earning over $150,000.

Funding for medical research/science has been redistributed, reconfigured and essentially reduced. The previous government has steadily increased funding over the last 10 years to come almost level with other developed countries (obviously paling in comparison to the states). This government kept the total amount of funding the same. When you factor in quite a large inflation, funding for Medical research/Science has decreased. No wonder people head overseas and take their gifted minds/inventions with them.

I liked Rudd when he was just the local MP in brissy. The government is screwing the country up, and the liberals are like pathetic little kids bickering over the scraps thrown to them after their defeat.

today

Weirdest realisation of the day - Toby Maguire looks a lot like K.D. Lang. seriously messed up.

rainy cold weather is perfect for chilling on the sofa bed and watching a movie. First day that was 'cold'. I like it.

Got back from my holidays down the great ocean road 2 days ago... A good break. Had some nice wine at Otway estate.

My 7" digital photo frame arrived today, a freebie after buying a HP printer 6 MONTHS ago!

FA cup is on tonight and I can't be assed heading into the city at midnight to find a pub that has it on tv... I wish I had foxtel.

Parkour meets futsal

tv

so, I watched a little TV recently (Apart from replay premier league and catching up with underbelly). There are some cool doco's on the HD free-to-air channels. Some crappy soaps aswell. I can't remember what I was watching - oh yeah the Rove dance after party thing.

Mischa barton rocks. There is a cool photographer called Chris Weeks that I follow/occasionally chat to through uber, deviantart etc. He doesn't care for technique, or what people think, as long as it sells. He has had the chance to photograph mischa a few times and keeps saying how cool she is. I didn't believe it till the rove interview. Her favourite TV is animal planet/nat geo etc. anyway, she's cool.

During this crap there were a few ads for BigBrother 08. It looks like a total freakshow. Might be worth a laugh, for once, until the media shuts them down for discrimination against, dwarves, mentally impaired etc etc.

so yeah, there is no real point to this post other than waiting 5 minutes for the hood, and Mischa being cool, and BB08 freakshowness.

Crust

Crust Pizza (Burked Rd, Camberwell) is the worst gourmet pizza place I have been to. $15.50 for a piece of crap that ended up having half of it thrown away. The base was good, so they did well with the crust. that's it. Perhaps they should sell bases to other pizza places. Anyway, my calzone was not much better, absolutely dripping in tomato juice and oil. Totally crap. Just thought I'd rant about it.

P.S. Here's a photo to relieve your boredom from the above rant.

why

why do melbournites dress so casually, yet it still looks cool.

why do they drive 20-30kms over or under the speed limit, but never at the speed limit.

why does the monash-westgate bridge upgrade project have mythical "roadworks" underway with reduced speed-limits (for months).

why does indomart sell organic, preservative free 500g tubs of tofu for only $1.80.

why does gelsolin give me issues cloning one fragment, but not another.

why does PKR never abide by the rules.

why do coated peanuts taste so good.

why is steph so hot.

why does nastro azzuro taste so good

just a few questions I have thought of recently.

byebye office

so the office area is being renovated... and I have to pack up my desk. It's kind of annoying after finally getting settled in. At least I haven't accumulate much yet.

So busy times, work, fun, work. Sister is down this weekend with her hubby. Jared's friend terry is down at the moment, so should be catching up with him. Joe cremin is moving down to melbourne next wed. My parents are visiting end of may...

Ahh well, stuff to do. I am addicted to coffee, I am drinking way too much of it lately. Not good. Need to slow down I guess..

Going to be redoing my photography site. My personal photo collection will be dumped (might put it up on facebook). My blog is almost done. The katharine kerr site is getting a long overdue overhaul. The worldsoffantasy.net main site is also getting a new look, which I should help with I guess.

I have so much crap to get sorted, stuff I just kept putting off till later. Now it's later and I still barely have the time. My aspect on life, work etc has changed. very little gets put off till later now. Refocussing.

TV

hey wow, gladiators is as crap as the original series. even in HD on my 32" it is still crap. haha, correction - it is MORE crap.

I have been watching a lot of sports lately. delayed telecasts (streamed from iinet) of premier league matches, asia cup, soccerroos friendly's, euro championship and even the AFL. It is impossible to avoid it down here... "football" (soccer) is still better though.  Hopefully I will start playing soccer down here aswell.

The variation of the HD channels is cool, especially with the extra doco's they seem to show. 

Not liking steph working night shifts, but ahh well, that's life.

I want to go to the Werribee zoo/safari park, before village roadshow spends $220M screwing it over.

Melanie Burford

So last night I went to the Kaleidoscope theatre at RMIT to see Melanie Burford give a seminar on photo journalism in the online age. It is sad, but true, that paper circulations are dwindling massively. The crew at Dallas Morning News, are like most of the US circulations, in that they are moving to the online world. More emphasis on audio, slideshows, video etc. The still image is dying, for that purpose anyway.

She is an incredibly laid back kiwi, shared winner of the pulitzer prize and several other awards, and inspiring. She cares, unlike most photo journ's.

Check out the Sugar Hill slideshow or The McCrays Full cycle or ... I'll add more later.

melb - the start

So, I haven't been out in melb too much yet, but gradually doing it. Our adventures took us to the Abbotsford convent which was built in 1861 or something. Right near the centre of melbourne (Carlton), next to the Yarra.

We also managed to get to the Howqua river, near lake eildon, for a day.

indomart

Ahh (one of) my local asian supermarket is good. Fresh organic tofu, 1/2kg $1.50. KohKae coconut cream coated peanuts at half the normal price. Redbean buns, BBQ pork buns, $3 for 4. And the awesome cashew/honey candy thing.

melbourne

This concept called seasons is quite interesting. Spending the last 23 yrs in brissy and the last quarter of a century up north really alters your view. Melbourne has seasons. stable summer and unpredictable "other". The other can be a mix of the three stereotypical seasons. Today is 9-20 degrees, rain, no rain, a bit of sun, the no sun.

Don't get me wrong, I am liking it, just quite different.

p.s. I like tunes, and vanilla biscuits from floriana's and wine and coffee and my new merrel shoes and my new couch from freedom that will arrive tomorrow and stephs return from her rural rotation TODAY!

mmm knoedl

Kartoffelland Knïdl - halb'n'halb in onion, mushroom and leffe radieuse (bavarian dark ale) gravy with some awesome lamb.. yeah that's a good meal.

Why was I born in australia?

That's one of the benefits of melbourne I guess, it's not just the occasional gourmet deli that imports foreign food  - it's fricken all of them. Well a lot. Although for some damn reason it's so damn hard to find prosciuto. I am not a fan of the million and one salami's - but like my cured/semi-cured Pork products.

Someone wants to give me and my 2 siblings $5k. Now I am torn as to whether my scepticism over it being a possible scam and my debt being reduced a bit. Have one more aspect to check out tomorrow to see if it's a valid trust/insurance payout company, two avenues seem all clear so far.

Juno

So, I watched Juno. Quite impressed actually. A little slow at points, but overall quite a good, mostly unique movie. Simple, but entertaining. Go watch it.

p.s. Dodgy old fluoro lights + white shirt + shiny screen = bad reflections. Lets see if they replace the light fixture when they do the roof tiles and desks for the office area next week.

new blog

so peeps - changing servers. new blog will be at http://worldofannwn.net/night/blog/ <- nightshadow.co.uk will be redirected there soon enough... a few new tricks, once I get them sorted - like openID support - prefpass if it chooses to work, new syndication - windows live writer plugins to crosspost to blogger, lj and my site. etc etc...

mmm beers + tiesto make work on a sunday almost pleasurable. (p.s. a real tiesto CD, bought from a store, my how the times are changing).

I am just starting to get over a nasty bug - it may well be real influenza. Knocked me in the ass, which is very frustrating since i never get that sick.

paying off debts, working hard, steph managing to get the car towed, buying some new furniture (cheap ikea bookcase etc) and ...

A new laptop.

Asus F3SR, 15.4" WS, C2D 2.0 Ghz, 4 gig ram, 160gb sata, BT, abgn wifi, DVD multi, fwire,fprint reader, cam, vprem etc

A fast lappy (bought for work, not geekiness, photog etc) and fast net (nakedDSL) is a nice combo.

No time to set it up how I want it yet, just installing the basics.

Steph is now sick, so thats no fun. Also got to clean the apartment, and take more crap to the storage locker downstairs

My head hurts, I might take some codein with some beer.

What is the benefit in stagnating a countries economy?

Kudos to Tim Burton. I quite liked it. Very odd and I did not realise it was a full musical, rather than just token songs. Anyway, i enjoyed it. Nicely put together, well filmed and Tim Burton up to his usual antics. The plot isn't the thickest, but it's unique at least.

p.s. lab audits suck

p.s. melb does rock - going to the grape grazing festival on sat. mmmm wine

Wed Feb 6th, 2008

Once upon a time, a person could do a medical degree and then choose to work in science. Physically doing labwork aswell as being a group head or even the director of an institute. They could even come up with the method for producing a vaccine against cervical cancer and sell the patent. licensing. These "medico's" prove to be quite good at research, for the most part, due to the ability to look at thigs from different perspectives. Yeah there are a lot of tosses that think they can work in science because they are doctors, but the good ones are really good. Nowadays, you need to pursue different paths. You need science, honours, sometimes masters, then a phd. To be a 'group head' you need publications, a good standing record and lots of ass kissing. The divide between science and medicine is increasing. There is a great divide between those pursuing direct treatment of individuals and those searching for an idea as to how the bigger picture works. One is not better than the other, but there is a lot of negative tention between the two. In Aus/US/UK etc this is particularly true. The lack of communication accelerates the negativity one shares with the others. People need to realise the benefit of intertwining the two disciplines. A lot of Euro countries still pursue it, why not the others. Now that doesn't even touch on the government pressure to provide a "translational" or clinical outcome, and the shit clinical treatments that are being pushed out the door without fulling understanding the reason as to how it works. But that is another story, along with China's sheer dominance over the number of publications being released. With proper guidance, china can be an impressive force in the scientific community.

Steph is cool, she lets me go to Australia vs Qatar, FIFA World Cup Qualifier.

Tomorrow night



so yeah...