Thursday 24 February 2005

inter-ma-net

My freebox is coming. Ah, blessed connectivity.

props for Lach

After years of "almost", and a couple of years and a couple of ING games for South Australia, Lach finally got a callup for the Bulls a couple of weeks ago, for the ING cup semifinal. Unfortunately, his numbers weren't breaking any records, but he got a recall for the next game, happily the final, which I imagine was nationally televised. (Unhappily, Queensland lost.) More importantly, today he made his debut in the longer format, in a Shield game against SA, and he put up a very creditable 46 on what sounds like a tough track.

Talking to him earlier in the year, he was pretty stoked about his new job at the COE, although he had almost resigned himself to the idea of not playing for Queensland. Happily, again, he was wrong.

lamington

France does not look like this (from Ricky). What was I thinking.

Tuesday 22 February 2005

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Two years ago, if I had seen someone my age walking along the street with a black turtleneck sweater, carrying a baguette and wearing an iPod, I would have thought him an almighty tosser. Now, that's me. To boot, I'd just gotten back from shopping at the France equivalent of DJs, although in my defense this was in pursuit (fruitless pursuit, as chance would have it) of curry pastes (Thai, Indian, anything that doesn't claim "légèrement epicée" as a feature), since even the most basic non-European cuisines live in foreign food aisles here. Still, times have changed.

After last weekend's frivolities in Bern, this weekend was bound to be a bit of a social letdown. And it is. Meanwhile, back in Bern, it would seem Chris is knee-deep in attractive women, each more enthusiastic for his company than the last. Rennes, although not comparable to Bern, is also well-populated in this regard, with the important exception that enthusiasm has given way to something between apathy and disdain. Pas de chance.

Saturday night I caught Avenir's game against Brest, which they again won. Really physical, Liz copped one in the nose and had scratches everywhere after the game, and gave one girl a blood nose with a well-placed elbow. Anyway, it seems they're in a tie for first in their pool now, which I guess is a good thing. Liz is off skiing this week, lucky devil.

Thursday 17 February 2005

flash flash

I've been known to bash flash in the past, but these sites, by this guy/girl/conglomerate (via Mick), are pretty damn impressive. They're high bandwidth (sorry Mum, blame Telstra), but we're all using our employers' bandwidth, aren't we?

Wednesday 16 February 2005

Kyono

Erwan commented this morning that Australia is still not a signatory to Kyoto, which I read came into force this morning. It launched me into another grumble about disillusionment of Australian politics, not helped by seeing our diminutive leader claim that signing might actually be harmful in the absence of China and USA. His logic is not like our earth logic.

weekend in Bernies

I caught a night train out to Bern on Thursday, arriving Friday morning. Chris met me at the station, but we were both wiped, so went back to sleep. For lunch, we caught a ride with Fanni out to Yverdon for lunch with Mallory. I spoke French, Chris German, and all was good in the world. Rain in the afternoon dampened our touristic impulses, so we headed back to Bern for some Fastnachts reccy.

On Saturday, Bec and a couple of friends came up from Lausanne for the parade. She describes it better than I would, and will probably have photos. Anyway, it was good fun, and good to catch up.

In the evening, Chris and I again hit the streets. We talked to a scot, and then two Scotts, again multilingual at every opportunity, which amazed me. Chris' cold contact skills also amazed me, and its not impossible that a second Scott expedition might be attempted at some point. From there we went to Schlactehaus to meet Knorrli, her cousin, and Yvonne. Great time, albeit that my conversation was a little lacking, due to beer and some social ineptitude. Chris fared better, although we were both past our prime when we left about 5ish. Fair enough, I guess.

We spent the first half of Sunday feeling sorry for ourselves, then went and watched Sideways in town. Good flick, always refreshing to see that American cinema is capable of presenting interesting characters, and that the term romantic comedy can still carry some value. Then pizza, night train home.

I had more social contact in a weekend than I had in a month in France, and that was great. The night train experiment was probably a failure. Although I met a very nice swiss girl on the way over, I didn't really sleep on either leg, which put me in less than optimal physical form at each end. Next time, perhaps in 3 weeks if the Scott expedition greenlights, I'll try taking "normal" trains, perhaps via Geneva.

Thursday 10 February 2005

long time no post

Enthusiasm waning, long time since my last post. Long story short, done nothing. Bought the Sims at outrageous price, played it for a while, uni is crap, going nowhere with thesis, buggering off to Bern for the weekend to see Chris. Who knows, perhaps I'll come back refreshed and ready for work. Ha!

Thursday 3 February 2005

documanthropomorphism

I headed out to Mega-CGR the other day with Jacques and Sophie to see La Marche de L'Empereur, a documentary film about emperor penguins.

What a load of tripe. The film was off to a bad start with the appalling music they chose, but it all went to hell the moment the first penguin started speaking. When the second got chatty, I groaned, but it all went totally to shit when they popped a sprog and he started rabbitting on. Now, anthropomorphism (it's a big word, but I'm not afraid to use it) in nature documentary films is surely nothing new, but usually directors are content to use suggestion and analogy. As for the impartial eye of the camera, it obviously was absent the day they decided that the leopard seal hunting the penguins was a horror-movie villain, but that the penguins, themselves hunting fish, were benign.

David Attenborough wept.
Who do I keep doing these stupid things? Surely I have better things to be doing, like my PhD. Oh, right.

You are fark.com  You are popular, but many people don't take you seriously.  You like hearing yourself talk, and are fond of cliches. You like boobies.
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The moral of the story is: don't do personality quizzes when you're sick and depressed!