finally! the great vic bike ride

today i am off on the great vic. not looking forward to a 5 hours bus ride in the 32 degrees that is forcast for today though. but the beach at port fairy will be awaiting us.

wont be back until Sunday week, so i will tell you all about it then!

WiFi trains??

I was reading through the tender websites as i do every morning at work and i came up with something quite interesting

VicTrack, the government people who are supposed to keep an eye on Connex i am told, have decided to look into the possibility of having wirelss internet access at stations around melbourne and victoria and also on the trains!

They were talking about having a special wirelss carriage, so it wont be the whole train that will be enabled.

But wouldnt that be cool. You see a lot of people using their laptops on the train these days. and you need to do something to fill in the time when the trains are being slow and delayed (like today...)

I wonder how it will all work though. You will probably have to pay heaps to use it.

daggy but fun

This will keep you going for hours

http://www.wagenschenke.ch/index2.htm

Ben^chans goodbye dinner

Some photos of dinner at Man Mo's in Docklands where we went to say goodbye to Ben for a year as he jets off to Tokyo, Japan to do my job.

Great restaurant, not too pricey and tasty and fast food.
I dont think they liked us much though cause we originally booked for 20, thinking that Ben would invite some work friends too. We changed the booking to 13 the day before, but on the day only 6 turned up :(

But we had fun, and i hope Ben did too

Take care Ben. Anyone who want to see him off, his flight is on Tuesday arvo from Avalon...

Free information seminar

Found this ad in the MX the other day

"Russian Brides How to"

- Find your future bride
- Safely travel to Russia
- Avoid common mistakes
- Bring your bride to Australia
- Make cross-cultural adjustment easier

Have you questions answered by proffestional
- Introduction agents
- travel agents
- Immigration Attorney
- Family Law Attorney
- Cross-cultural family advisor

Time: 2pm on Saturday Dcember 4th, 2004
Place: Russian Ethnic Representative Council of Victoria
543 North Rd, Ormond, VIC 3204

Booking is essential as seats are limited
Call (03) 9686 8411 or visit www.russianbrides.com.au

I wonder what kind of people would actually go to this kind of seminar...

Tomorrow's escapades

Tomorrow is my last exam, and i am so over it. tried to do some study tonight, but as you can see there has been more blogging than studying going on. and kath & kim was on too..

But tomorrow after my exam i have 2 interesting things to do.

I have been invited to listen to a man called Ian Schubach speak at 5.30

African game ranger and lion expert, Ian Schubach, speaks around the world
on lessons from the wild. A game ranger in Southern Africa and business
consultant, Ian has a unique understanding of business and nature, and how
the two can mirror and benefit each other.

A dynamic and inspiring speaker, Ian believes that teams, and especially business teams, can absorb and learn from the animal kingdom. Ian uses the analogy of a pride of lions as a metaphor for business team success. Ian is a very different speaker - powerful, entertaining and with excellent lessons for business. He is a master of the 'Pride' a great powerful unique presentation!

After that it is off to Docklands for dinner at 8pm to say goodbye to Ben-chan. He is off to Japan to do my job i did last year. i am excited that another one of my friends is able to continue on my legacy.

But for now it is off to bed. WIll need to get up early for a bit of last minute studying, and maybe a small bike ride. I got out yesterday and teh day before for about 30km each day, Its only 1 week till the Great Vic and i am so out of training...

woho! 2nd from the top

I got an email today from someone who works/will be working at this Anaconda place in Bayswater.

I am assuming they did a bit of google-ing themselves for "anaconda baystwater" and found me. 2nd from the top! I am good for something.


Hi Carly,

Read your melbourne tales post about anaconda.
That orange sign has many people around Bayswater
asking what it is and the suggestions are definitely varied.
Hopefully the website gave you a bit of an insight into
the types of adventure anaconda is all about.

I work in the bikes department and though i cant
give you an exate date of opening i can tell you its SOON!
When you do see us open come in and say hello.

Everyone at the store is very excited about it and i'm
sure you will be too.

Cheers,

Karina

Swinburne at its best

To apply for the JET program next year, I need to submit a letter that says that I will have graduated by the departure time in July. This will be a certainty as long as I don't fail any subjects - I only have 3 subjects to go until I have fulfilled the requirements.

Anyway, after my CRM exam today I went and talked to the people in the Information Kiosk in Ethel Hall. Kate had warned me of how difficult they are, but I thought I should give it a try myself.

Apparently the reason they cant give me a letter saying that I am "expected" to graduate in July 2005 because if I don't actually graduate by some twist of fate, they could get sued or something.

SO pretty much they are not going to cooperate and are taking away the chance for me to apply for JET

My only other option is to try going to the school of business and see if they haven't got the same rules. But they close at 5pm and when I arrived at the door it was 5.01 and they had already packed up and left for the day.

All it needs to say is that I have three subjects remaining and my expected date of graduation in July 2005, its not that hard.. And I believe by using the word "expected" as opposed to "definite" that would alleviate any legal worries they might have, and everyone would be happy

3 down, 1 to go

Today i had my CRM exam,

Our lecturer for CRM had decided that we should do our exam on a computer. Last year it was a take home exam so i am a bit annoyed we didnt get that this year, but i thought well at least a computer will alleviate any spelling issue i was bound to have.

So it was a novell idea.

until today when we actually had the eaxm.there were about 60 people in my class so imagine all of us lined up in front of our computers in the EN building lab. ready and rearing to get it all over and done with.

not so simple

the exam was supposed to start at 2.10pm. but this did not happen. for some reason we had to wait for our lecturer to turn up. he was late

and then, about 5 people couldnt get their computers working.
- one had no mouse
- one had something stuck in the disk drive
- one peson couldnt figure out how to log onto the computer
the list goes on..

the exam didnt start till about 25 mins after it was suppoed to. and they made us sitthrough 5 mins of reading time even though we have had the questions for the last 3 weeks.

i dont think computer based exams are such a good idea anymore...

Tropfest 2005

Got this in the email today. To all aspiring short filmers -

Sony Tropfest would like to now officially invite you to submit your films for entry into Sony Tropfest 2005!

Official entry forms and filmmaker info guides are now available to download from the Sony Tropfest website http://www.tropfest.com and for the first time ever entries can now be submitted on DVD! Check the entry guidelines for further details.

All short films submitted can be no longer than seven minutes and must include the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI) to show that the film has been made specifically for Sony Tropfest. The TSI for 2005 is 'Umbrella', which you can incorporate into your film in any way you like.

Entries close on Thursday January 20th 2005 at 6pm, so you have just over two months to get your masterpieces to us. Sony Tropfest will accept entries any time up until the closing date, so if your film is ready to go, don’t delay, get it to us today!

Best of luck and we look forward to receiving your films!

Stay tuned to TropNews over the coming weeks for more Trop revelations!

Sony Tropfest

p.s Sony Tropfest has just launched our new website with our great new creative design for 2005. Click below to check out the site.

www.tropfest.com...

What is Anaconda?

Spotlight in Bayswater has moved to the old Bunnings/Hardware House site, and in its place someone has come along and painted the building bright orange and placed a big sign there saying that "anaconda is coming"

But what is it?? ooh the suspense

Yesterday i did see a new sign there saying adventure playground.
So i am assuming it will be a place along the lines of timezone/lazer hunt/a McDonald's playground..

I wonder if it is just for kids, or us big kids can go and play too?

After a bit more google-ing (procrastinating exam study really), i found the website
http://www.anaconda.com.au/development/welcome_to_anaconda_australia and apparently it is some kind of retail store but it has a fish tank and a climbing wall?? what the?!

melbourne tales

in other funny work related news..

i was collecting a bag from one of the rooms a guest had left behind, and could hear a strange sound. i took the bag outside to the luggage trolley and the sound seemed to follow me out there.

on investigation i discovered the bag itself was vibrating!

what a conumndrum! do i open the bag to find out what it is and stop it? but what might i find? a bomb? a vibrator? who knows?

so i gave in and decided that it would be best for all concerned to turn what ever it was off. i was hoping that whatever it was was something innocent..

when i opened the bag, all i found was an electric toothbrush! it could have been a lot more embarrasing

Keep left!

Isnt it funny that on every rent-a-car i have had to drive for work, there is a little sign below the speedo which reminds the driver that they need to keep to the left hand side of the road.

Do not adjust your televisions

sorry for the slight interruption in your daily blog viewing.

the censors have been at work and i was required to remove offensive postings from this site

i remember blogger had a DIY guide about how to keep your blog from your parents. but i cant find it anymore and its too late now..

Spam spam baked beans and spam

06 Nov, Sat, 22:29:26 Google: 2004/05 australia email address directory @hotmail
07 Nov, Sun, 00:02:39 Google: 2004/05 japan email address directory @hotmail
07 Nov, Sun, 00:37:32 Google: 2004/05 online japan cars marketing email address directory @hotmail

this is probably why i shouldnt have my email address on my website...
but i guess it is too late now. i am already getting such a crap load of spam

RIP Thinky

This morning, my laptop passed away.

For a while now i had been noticing that the screen was getting a red tinge and that it was flickering a lot. Well, at around 11.00am, it flickered its last flicker

Great timing, with exams coming up and me needing my computer to do study for them. But maybe that was the problem. Death from overwork. "Karoshi"

This arvo Matt dragged me out to look at new laptops. Its all very confussing. So many different variables. I dont know what i need. But i know what i can afford. Not much.

In the mean time i have plugged in a huge-arse monitor from an old computer so i can still access my files. It barely fits on my desk.

Why couldnt Thinky have hung on that little bit longer until i could buy a nice fancy one in Japan?

what the?

I got this email today. If you can read it, its very odd

私、占いを勉強していて「運命の人」って占いをしてみたんです。
そしたら、あなたのメールアドレスが出てきました。
最近これと言っていい出会いもないし、占いの結果を信じてみようかなって思ったんで、
メールをさせてもらいました。
もし、迷惑でなければ私とメールを始めてみませんか？　お返事待ってます。

Pretty much the guy says that he has been studying astrology, and he was searching the stars for his "soul mate" and my email address came to his thoughts!
And he wants me to write back if it is not too much trouble.

Well i dont think that is going to happen! Obviously his stars were wrong.

Radio woes

I am sick of commercial radio.

The radio in my car only cost me $30 so you can imagine what kind of functionality it hasn't got. No digital display to help me find the channel. So most of the time all I hear is fuzz. I don't change the channel much once I find one

I had been listening to Nova because I got decent reception and I liked their morning show. And that is when I mainly listen to it because I am driving to the station.

However, I have gotten sick of hearing the same songs played every hour over and over again. Its just not on

So I changed to Triple M to see if they were any better. Their breakfast show sucks, but when I started listening they were going through their "Spring Clean" so there was a different song every time.

But...

There is always a "but"..

Now the Spring clean is over, they are just as bad. I heard "teenage dirtbag" 4 times in one day! And this isn't even a new song!

What is going on in radio land?

I think I am going to have to try hard and find Triple R somewhere on my dial. At least then I will get some variety.

More Oaks day fun!

Erin's Photos of the grand event can be found here.

Oaks Day capers

Photos here!

Oaks Day is otherwise known as Ladies Day, or should we say "Blokes" day. But i sadly have to say there was no talent out there..

We started out with a champagne breakfast in Greensy at Kate's house, a long and champagne filled walk to the station, a champagne filled train ride and then a champagne filled day at the races.

The rain did fall, but not enought to upset hair-dos and hats. (i love my hat)

The horses ran their races, but i think we missed most of them. I lost a grand total of $5 on "Mango Daiquari", chosen for its alcoholic inspired name. But i dont think the aim of this day is to see any horses.

We were hanging out on the lawn just in front of the fashions on the field tent. We had lots of picnic rugs and food to keep us going. The only time we need to move was for more champagne and toilet trips which took about 1 hour to push through the crowd.

Eveyone caught up with people they knew. I saw my cousin there and he needed a bit of help finding the train station after the free drinks he had been getting in his marquee

The train ride home was equally as fun and the pizza to soak up the champagne was equally as good. I hung around at kates for a while till i was sure i was allowed to drive home..

All in all a very fun day at the races. If i am still in the country next year we will be going again.

exam study..... a how not to guide

It gets to this end of the year and who can really be bothered. The holidays are only 3 weeks away but 4 exams stand in their path.

Today i dedicated to studying for my "foundations of international business" exam, but it seems that i have done anything but that. Since i woke up I:

1. went for a 30km bike ride
2. helped organise Ben-chan's good-bye party
3. chatted on msn to various people
4. booked an eyebrow wax for the arvo
5. had lunch
6. went to get eyebrows waxed
7. stuffed around with updating various aspects of this blog
8. read some other blogs
9. wrote this post

In the 6 hours that have passed since i woke up, perhaps 45 mins have gone towards exam study. Not very productive..
But foundations is such a boring topic, i just cant keep my attention locked onto Globalization, terms of trade, comparative advantage, WTO, FDi, balance of payments etc for more than 10 mins at a time.

RU21?

I was randomly clicking on the google ads on Funny Face i Love you, and came up with this one. Why cant i get fun ads like this. All i get is ads for biker dating. But i seriously doubt its promises, it comes from Russia...

RU-21 is an all-natural supplement that has been clinically proven to regulate alcohol metabolism in order to prevent alcohol-related damage to the vital organs of the body. RU-21 was developed by the scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences over the course of a 25 year-long research project studying alcohol metabolism. RU-21 received endorsements from Russia’s top scientists and health officials and is already a #1 selling product in Russia, where it’s been dubbed "KGB-Pills", because RU-21 had once been secretly tested at a KGB laboratory in the late 80’s and even remained a classified project for several years.

New photos up

I have uploaded some new photos onto the fotopic site

New additions are from
- friday night last week
- 80's trivia night
- camberwell market
- kristy's cocktail party
- amsterdam
- my birthday (yes all the way back in march)

sorry they took so long to get there