Tuesday, August 31, 2010

lounges are all the same

Once upon a time travel was exotic and romantic and I loved it. Actually, I do still enjoy it I don't play the world weary traveller that well, do I? but one thing that has palled for me are the business and first class lounges. for example,the air new zeala one I,m innow is nice but that's it, nice! I don't really feel special, I'm no more relaxed. I,m not distracted from the 16 hours I'm about to spend onthe plane.
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Friday, August 27, 2010

using android

yay I'm joining the 21st century and blogging via smartphone, nothing can stop me now.
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Another only in America moment

I really loved living in the USA and deeply regretted that I didnt get to see or do enough while I lived there. But I've got to be really honest, there is one part of the US culture I was very glad to leave behind and I desperately hope never makes it across the Pacific - the insane obsession with guns.

I hope to never have to see a sign like this at a Folk festival in Australia.

PS. This was taken at the Seattle Folklife festival 2010. I suspect the bans and signs were brought on by the killing of a person at the festival the year or so before when a simple fight between a couple of guys went very very bad.

Remember, guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

The 2nd best government since the war defeated.

Ok, the best government Australia has had since the war, perhaps ever, was the ALP government from 1983. That government transformed and modernised Australia, laying the foundation of almost three decades amazing prosperity.

The 2007 ALP government was not that good, the GFC robbed it of any chance of having the same trans-formative capacity. However, the Rudd governments astoundingly decisive and effective response wins it a clear second place in the pantheon of Australian governments.

That Australia just voted the ALP out of office has revealed one thing however, that the party that can govern will always lose to a party that can campaign. For years the ALP has told itself it has the most professional campaigners, the most hard nosed and pragmatic administration. That has been shown to be utterly wrong. The party must reach out and find minds from outside its current gene pool. It must find new ways of thinking, communicating and rebuild itself for the 21st century.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

365 Days. Day 4. Hmmm nectar of the gods


Hmmm nectar of the gods, originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

Ok, while I'm trying to develop some good habits there are a couple of bad one (or if not strictly bad then not great) that I will continue to indulge.

One of those is coffee, but being at elitist snob I struggle with instant, bags or even plain filter coffee these days. My favourite poison is a soy cappuccino with one sugar (preferably raw sugar).

What a great part of the day and something I got to enjoy today.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

365 Days. Day 3. Why favourite new toy and why.

Its perhaps a little sad that three days in I'm resorting to defining myself by stuff I own but I dont really feel too much shame. The little camera on the right is my new toy, a Sony NEX5 with a 16mm 2.8 pancake lens. This thing is so small that in july I doubt its been more than 20 feet from me and in one month I've taken more photo's than i did in the 6 preceding it.

There's a lot to love about the NEX5, mostly because its rekindled the simple joy of taking photos.

Monday, August 9, 2010

365 Days, Day 2. Another challenge

Well day two. They say thirty days to make a habit, so 28 to go. And here's another habit. At work, they've instituted the 10,000 step challenge to promote more active lifestyles for us and get the more lardy amongst us (yes, people like me) moving.

Well I've been going sporadically fro a few weeks but here's today's result. A little short of the target but on the way.

PS. 10,000 steps is a lot!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

365 Days. Day 1. Bruised but ok.

With a big (and very weird, day I figured now was the ideal time to restarted my aborted 365 day project. I've been wondering if I'd use this but what the hell.

So what happened?

Ok, this is not a love bite, its a bruise coming from a punch I took at our local Westfield shopping centre. Now getting punched at a Westfield is just wrong, how can that happen? Well here's the story.

I was minding my own business, having a spot of Sushi with my daughter when a girl and a guy went racing past screaming. Now the Westfield foodcourt is a bit of a hang out for the young folk so I just thought they were playing. But I noticed that the girl in front of me had this look of horror on her face and so turned to see what the problem was.

Well it appears it wasnt just a bit of fun. Actually the guy was assaulting the girl, he had her on the ground, was pulling her head back by the hair and was trying to punch her. This is in the middle of a busy foodcourt with perhaps a 500 people sitting or standing around. But no one was moving. I am not a reflexive hero, so I didnt jump from my seat immediately and wade in but it was pretty clear that no one else was going to do anything so I got up, stood over him and told him to stop. He immediately got up and rounded on me, ready to fight.

I had given this so little thought I hadnt even put down my sushi, so I'm standing there confronted by a psycho hose beast ready for anything with a slightly fuzzy head from a cold, wielding a california roll and suddenly realising this could get really messy.

But, in for a penny, in for a pound so I could hardly say "sorry, didnt mean to disturb you" so I just stood there and told him to stop again. Thankfully the girl got up and ran and I figured security must be coming soon. I had another quick look to make sure the girl was out of there when my psycho finally lost it with me an threw a punch. He was obviously aiming for my face but while I moved slow it was just fast enough to make him miss and hit my neck.

Frankly I was so surprised, I hadnt been in a fight for 30 years, I just turned back to face him and said "is that it?" I wasnt being smart, it wasnt an action movie one liner, I was really just taken aback at how little the punch rocked me.

I dont know if psycho was worried he hadnt put me down or just deciding that the rest of the crowd was gaining a little courage and others were moving in but he then ran. I followed but a couple of others were quicker and security turned up a in a few seconds and it was all over.

So, the guy could've been on drugs, he could have had a knife (this being Australia a gun was pretty unlikely) and all in all in could have been much worse. And I clearly showed that I am no Chuck Norris, the process of actually fighting doesnt come naturally to me. But whats the alternative?

I feel pretty stupid, picturing myself standing there clutching my seaweed, rice and fish dinner, essentially just taking a punch but I would have felt worse if I didnt do anything. If I had just sat there, ignoring the assault going on just behind me. I know it can go terribly, terribly wrong but surely living a life we can be proud of means risking that occasionally.