July 31, 2003
Aussie Homebrew, Part II
Got a phone call from my brother last night. He'd cracked open the first of the bottles of homebrew we'd slapped together a couple of weeks ago.
His report? Nice immediate fizz when the top was lifted, beer kept it's head all the way to the bottom, taste was palatable but nothing to write home about, and, most importantly, it didn't turn him blind.
I call that a success and look forward to trying some over the weekend.
July 30, 2003
Where does it end?
At what point do you have to step up and take resposibility for your own actions? This story in the paper today makes wonder what goes through these people's minds:
This woman goes to the pub for a few drinks before going to pick up her kids from school. Then goes back to the pub for more drinks afterwards.
If this sort of case gets decided in her favour, it opens a real can of worms. Pub owners will be hounded and no doubt their insurance will go up, costing the average punter more for his/her beer.
July 29, 2003
How to Attack Australia
Isn't it nice of the government to research where our biggest national security issues are and then make that information public...
How to bring the nation to its knees
What baffles me is that this "blueprint for terorism" is "is so sensitive The Courier-Mail has been advised to not print the author's name or the website address."
But it's perfectly alright for it to be on a website in the public domain in the first place.
July 27, 2003
Suncorp Stadium
I was deciding what to do with my Saturday evening when my next door neighbour called and asked if I would like tickets to the Broncos v. Manly rugby league game at Suncorp Stadium. It wasn't a difficult decision.
Since he had two season tickets, I called around the folks I knew to see if anyone else wanted to go. Since it was 4pm and kick off was at 5:30pm, it wasn't too surprising that I ended up going on my own.
Getting to the stadium is very easy on the train. A wide walkway from the train station over the main road to the stadium entrance means fans can pour into it in large numbers and not have to effect the traffic.
The stadium has only recently been re-opened after a couple of years of renovation and despite all the controversy surrounding the decision to make it bigger, better, best, I have to say they've done a fantastic job. Plenty of staff are on hand to direct you where you need to go, there's heaps of bars and food places (charging stadium prices, of course), and there's not a bad seat in the house.
The seats I had were fantastic, and the huge screens at either end of the park means that you can watch the live action and then catch perfect replays of all the exciting stuff.
Also displayed on these acreens are public service annoucements which are concurrently read out over the public address system. I laughed out loud at one that advised patrons that the seats in Suncorp Stadium are of the "flip-up" variety, meaning they naturally flip up when no one is sitting on them, and advised caution when sitting to make sure the seat is down. I mean, how stupid would you have to be to not realise that little nugget?
However, after jumping up to celebrate a Brisbane try in the corner, I sat down without thinking and nearly doused the person in front of me with my beer as my bum hit the flipped up part of the seat.
Last night the stadium was fairly empty, only 18,500 fans of a 52,500 capacity. Probably due to all the other sport going on at the same time. And after giving a friend of mine so much shit over the years for the horse mascot of the USC Trojans running up and down the field after a touchdown, I'll now have to shut my mouth as the Brisbane Broncos have the same thing. Except instead of Tommy Trojan, it's riddne by a chick in Driz-a-Bone gear.
Big Night of Sport
Last night was a feast for the sport lover:
1. The Bledisloe Cup rugby test between Australia and New Zealand.
2. Top of the table AFL clash between the Brisbane Lions and Port Adelaide.
3. Brisbane Broncos took on Manly at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
Unfortunately I think I'm the Kiss of Death for the teams I want to win. I watched most of all three games and they all lost.
The Broncos had several Origin and Kangaroo players backing up and should have won the game. But Manly kept testing the Broncos defense and some stupid mistakes by the home team late in the game cost them a victory, 26-20.
The Australian rugby team played much better than they have recently (in my opinion, I haven't read the papers yet), but they were outclassed by an excellent All Black team, 50-21. They are without doubt the team to beat in the World Cup later this year.
The Lions lost by a single point in a cracking game at the 'Gabba. It's tough for a team to come away with nothing from a game like that, but it was very entertaining.
July 26, 2003
Who's Next?
After the Aussie Kangaroo rugby league team demolished the hapless Kiwi's in tonight's test match 48-6, you have to wonder who's going to give the Aussie's a decent game.
It's a fast track to losing supporters if international games continue to be no contests. While I'm happy that Australia is better than everyone else on the planet at rugby league, it'd be more satisfying if it was hard won.
The rugby union test later tonight will be a sterner test for sure. Australia are solid underdogs to the mighty All Blacks with their fancy jerseys.
July 25, 2003
Valley Fiesta 2003
From having been totally unaware of this music festival going on this weekend, I've since read all about it in the paper and had two different friends suggest going along to it at some point.
Should be good fun with heaps of music to choose from in a variety of venues. There's a few free shows too.
Check out the site for more details: Valley Fiesta 2003
July 24, 2003
Government bans Spam
And just like that, all of Australia's spam problems are solved.
Just because it's illegal doesn't make it any easier to find these people. And what about international spam? You can't stop that, or charge the people that do it. I'd be interested to learn just how the govt plans to stop all this spam. Good luck to them, I hope it works, but I'm not holding my breath.
July 23, 2003
Touch Footy
Just got home from playing some touch footy. Blood knackered too. Got that taste of blood at the back of the throat you always get when you've over exerted yourself. Been some time since I've run around at that intensity and I know I'll be sore in places tomorrow. Been some time since I played touch too (maybe 7 years), so I'm sure I looked like a muppet out there. Hopefully the finer points of the game come back to me after a few games.
Good to be exercising again though. Now if I can just find a gym in Brisbane that will tell me how much it costs to join without making me sit through a 20 minute "interview".
July 22, 2003
Brisbane International Film Festival
The 2003 BIFF kicks off next week, July 29-Aug 10. It's the 12th year of the event and looks like it has quite a following. I spent some time last night reading over the short blurbs describing the films on offer and I have about a dozen highighted in yellow marker that I wouldn't mind checking out.
It's free, but you can't have it
Dealing with the many time zones the Boots guys and I are in means that sometimes I forget what day I'm on. My laptop clock is set to Portland time and if I use that to check the date, it's usually a day behind.
To combat this and keep track of upcoming events, I went down to the local shopping centre looking to buy a calendar. At this time of year, they're not so easy to find and I went to 4 different stores with no joy.
As I was walking home I saw a dollar store and figured it's worth a try. After some searching I found what I was looking for and went down to the cash register to pay my $2.20.
But the lady would not sell it to me. They were trying to get rid of outdated stock like this and the calendar was free when you purchased anything else from the store. She wouldn't sell me a free item (or just let me have it) and insisted I buy something else from the store.
Not wanting to pick up a piece of useless crap just for the sake of buying this bloody calendar, I looked around for something I could actually use. It wasn't easy. Dollar stores being what they are, there's not many useful things for a buck or two. Eventually I found a "Super Chamois" and the deal was sealed. This will come in handy for cleaning the dust off my desk and/or drying the BootBus after a wash.
July 21, 2003
Aussies Win Basketball Gold
The Australian Under-19 men's basketball team (the Emu's) have won the junior World Championships in Greece. They beat Lithuania in the final by a record 126-92.
Not bad, especially since you consider they had to not only beat the Americans in the qualifying rounds, but also had to beat them by at least 7 points to make the final rounds. They did so comfortably, 106-85.
Good onya lads. Ian Crosswhite would be proud.
July 20, 2003
Wooloowin Open - Match II
T. Innes d. C Heidrich
6-2, 6-2, 6-2
Weather: Cloudy Temp: 21 degrees
The first rematch of 2003. Although having a rather lengthy session on the slops at the Sunnybank Rugby Club the day before Chris stated in his pre-match press conference (an ATP requirement, just ask Leyton Hewitt) that he was confident of placing a notch in the winners column for the first time this year.
Things didn't start well for Chris, losing the best of 3 warm up and being invited to serve. The dominance of Toby's all round game was there for all to see. Chris, constantly being punished by his own backhand, was at the mercy of the Wooloowin court, the large crowd and the cunning and guile of his opponent.
Following the straight sets defeat a spectator in the crowd was heard to say, "the scoreline was not a true reflection of the game. It should have been 6-0, 6-0, 6-0."
If Chris is to be competitive in the next game he would not want to leave his game at home.
Ladies Day at the Rugby
An invitation to attend a Ladies Day seemed like a good idea. $40 included drinks and food, and funds raised went to support the Leukemia Foundation. I was expecting an indoor event with a mixed crowd (although probably more women), with a chance to watch some club rugby.
What actually happened was almost the complete opposite.
Three or four canopy/sunshades were set up behind the goalposts at one end of the field. Underneath were two blokes handling 'the bar' and the rest were women. I was told that I wouldn't be served any drinks because I was a guy and I could not buy a ticket. No big deal though, I could buy my drinks at the clubhouse bar and walk back in.
However, it seemed as though none of the other guys at the rugby club had figured that out, or perhaps the rugby was too entralling, as I was the only bloke there for the entire afternoon. Not complaining, mind you. Can't be upset spending an afternoon drinking beer in the occasional sunshine with over 100 women, all drinking beverages of wonderful colours. What I don't understand is why you'd want to keep everyone so separated.
In the evening, however, is when things really took off. The two camps were combined and the fun began. First off was a player auction - first grade players were put up on a table, one-by-one, and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Some players fetched more than others, but the average was $90-$100. That was, until the last player who went for a whopping $1500.
The players were then required to perform a task for their new 'owners'. Some ladies chose drinks service. I saw another getting a foot massage. Two others chose lap dances and the crowd learned very quickly that rugby players don't wear underwear. That was more than I really needed to know.
It was a good day out and was still going strong when I left, a full 8 hours after I'd arrived.
July 18, 2003
More Madness
I was just enjoying an avacado and prawn sandwich, watching a bit of the Aussies punishing the Bangladeshies in cricket (6 for 60) when I saw a disturbing thing.
Talking belly buttons.
I had seen something similar before leaving the States, with a Levi's commercial, where they were singing. It caused something of a stir over there.
This was for an indigestion remedy or something like that, and I'll give them credit for throwing in some very ordinary looking bellies, but it's still enough to put me off my food.
July 17, 2003
You Bloody Beauty!
Pleasure last night to see the Maroons stick it up the Blues in a try-fest in the thrid State of Origin match. Say what you want about the series being over already and you could argue that the Blues rolled over a bit, but it was still great to watch. As a friend of mine said, it was a game to make you appreciate being home again.
It will be interesting to see how the Austraian Test side looks after last night's display. At the beginning of the series it was offered that QLD would struggle to get any players into the national squad. The first two games might have backed that up somewhat, but it's always hard to ignore the most recent performance.
July 16, 2003
State of Origin III
Final game of the State of Origin rugby league series between Queensland and New South Wales kicks off tonight. The game doesn't matter except for pride as NSW has wrapped things up 2-0 already.
Be my first game of league I've watched in a few years and I've always enjoyed the fiery encounters between the Cane Toads and the Cockroaches. History shows best how closely contested this annual series is, with nothing separating the teams. Going into tonight's game, here are the stats:
Games: NSW 33 QLD 33 drawn 2
Series: NSW 10 QLD 10 drawn 2
You can't get much closer than that.
GO THE MAROONS!!
July 15, 2003
Aussie HomeBrew
Last week I helped my brother brew up a batch of homebrew. I figured the brews I'd helped Sean with in Oregon might offer some experience in the matter. How wrong can a bloke be?
First up was a run to the supermarket to pick up a few supplies - beer recipe, sterilizing powder, bottle caps, and a couple of other nick-nacks. Back at the house, the process began in earnest. No hours of boiling water and mixing grains and malt extract needed. Just drop the "beer in a can" into some hot water to loosen the contents.
While that's doing its thing, the electric jug is going, boiling more water so we can sterilize the carboys. Being used to the 5 gallon glass carboys, the black plastic ones of indeterminate volume were considerably lighter. David was the Master of Sterilization.
Now that our equipment was free of nasty germs it was time to consult the instructions. And very simple it was too. Combining two litres of boiling water with a full kilo of sugar and then dumping the contents of the beer can. Stir until dissolved and then add 19 litres of cold water.
Everything was going to plan until we figured that our black plastic carboy of indeterminate volume was not going to be enough. A few descriptions of the situation using four letter words ensued. Victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat by a second black plastic carboy of indeterminate volume being sterilized in record time and the wort divided between the two.
Cold water added, we dumped in the yeast satchel, screwed the tops on and crossed our fingers. Here's the result.
David and I will bottle the brew tomorrow evening and then we'll have to wait some more before we'll know if we've been successful. In the meantime, I'm off to the bottle-o for a six pack.
UPDATED, July 17
Bottling went smoothly. The brew was pretty cloudy, so confidence is not high, but we'll keep the fingers crossed and keep an eye on things.
July 14, 2003
Smooth As Silk
Ouch! Australian Woman Rips Way to Bikini Wax Record
What constitutes a waxing?
I'd hate to be the poor sap cleaning up after all that.
July 13, 2003
The Workshops Rail Museum
Today I drove out to Ipswich with my family to visit the Workshops Rail Museum. My dad's a train buff and my nephews are of the age where this stuff is still very cool.
A campus of the Queensland Museum, this huge facility is devoted to the history of Queensland Rail, so important to the state's development in transporting people, animals, produce, raw materials, etc. The basic entry fee gets you into the main display areas showing how the rail system developed and rail technology progressed. A few dollars more gets you a one hour tour of the "Working Workshop", touted as a 'behind-the-scenes' look at maintaining the rail network.
I thought the museum was very good. The displays are nicely spaced with plenty of train engines and carriages to look at, and video stories and information boards to tell the stories behind the displays. There was also enough interactive displays to keep kids entertained. A ton of information to be soaked up in nice sized chunks.
Kids and school groups certainly make up the majority of the people that visit the museum, as evidenced by the mini hard hats, track worker flouro vests, and paper trainspotting binoculars the kids could colour in before they entered the museum. There was also a "Little Nippers" play area where kids could go nuts with train toys and take a break from all the history. I thought it was a great idea to have a place kids could let off some steam in the middle of a museum before getting stuck back into the exhibits.
My brother made the comment that it was unusual (and refreshing) to see the gift shop and museum cafe/restaurant off to the side. You didn't have to pass through either to leave the place and unless you were interested in buying something, you didn't have to waste your time.
It was a good day out. We spent about 3 hours out there, but you could easily spend more if you enjoy trains and/or history. We did not take the tour, but I'm sure that is excellent too. I give this place a thumbs up.
For more info, opening times and prices, see the Workshops Rail Museum website.
July 12, 2003
Jeanette Bergman
This evening I became the third BootBoy to meet Jeanette Bergman in person. We've known her for years via BootsnAll, but her first attmept to come visit us in the US occured over September 11th, 2001 (while her plane was in the air, I believe).
As it turned out, Sean met her first during his stay in Oz in February. Three days later, Jeanette was on a plane to meet up with Ant in Seattle.
And tonight it was my turn. I wandered down to the R.E. pub in Toowong for a couple of Carlton Midstrengths and we remarked at the chances of the two of us actually meeting in our home town, considering all the time we've spent overseas in recent years.
Jeanette's been home for about 18 months and has been busy getting back into life in Brisvegas. She's lived in about 5 different places and gone through two jobs already. She was over in my side of town looking for a new place to rent that could accommodate her dog.
I caught Jeanette up on all the latest BootsnAll news and we talked about her time in the UK and Ireland and how much travelling she was able to do in small chunks while working full-time. We also compared our pub jobs in England (since 99.9% of all Australians in the UK have pulled pints at some stage).
It was a fun evening and great to finally meet face-to-face someone you've known only via email and message boards. I'm sure she'll feature again on the OzBlog.
The R.E. was looking very fancy these days. A lot of work has been done on the beer garden, so now it's all stained wood instead of the concrete and plastic chairs I was used to during the student years.
July 10, 2003
Concrete Jungle
Saw an article in the paper today describing how animal noises will soon be available as cell/mobile phone ring tones. Lions, parrots, penguins (??!), pigs, etc.
How annoying were ring tones before? And now this.
Unfortunately, Aussie animals have been deemed too quiet to qualify for their own ring tone. I guess I'll have to wait for my quokka and wombat symphony.
July 09, 2003
BootsnAll Australia
For anyone interested in a sneaky peek at the office of BootsnAll Australia, I took a couple of photos the other day:
July 08, 2003
Almost Famous, Part III
On Sunday afternoon I ventured out with my friend who had emailed me about the Lebanese kebab shop that has a photo of me up on the wall. It had been some time since Bron had been there, and as we were catching up on each other's news in the car we got a little lost.
The kebab shop is on a main road though, so it wasn't long before we drove by and Bron exclaimed, "That's it!"
"I have never, ever been in that place," I declared with certainty.
Bron had described the place as a hole in the wall joint that you'd easily wander by without noticing and would probably never sit down to eat inside. First impressions validated this description.
We parked the car and we were both keen to discover the authenticity of this photograph. Alas, when we arrived at the front door we found it was closed. We peered through the window to see if we could see anything, but to no avail.
The place was pretty beat up and had what appeared to be a large bullet hole through the plate glass frontage. The window was cracked in other places too, so perhaps Annerley at nighttime can be a dodgy place to be.
I snapped a few pix and we popped over to the West End for a pub lunch and called it a day. I have promised to return another day to see if it is still in business and get to the bottom of this matter. Besides, Bron tells me they do a mean baklava and I've got a huge sweet tooth.
July 07, 2003
Target Practice
The Queensland Police force hit the headlines today after it was revealed they were using real people's faces for target practice on their firing range.
Interestingly, the TV news portrayed it as though the police we using mainly photos of Aboriginal criminals, which caused an uproar in the Aboriginal community. The newspaper report gives the numbers and demographic breakdown of the photos: 28 real-life images in target training, including two pictures of Aborigines and four of women.
The reason the police gave for using these images was to help train the officers to identify the bad guys in real life situations. Considering the fact that some of the photos were also of members of the QLD Police force, I wouldn't want to piss any of these guys off.
Bounceball
I found this sport while looking at indoor soccer facilities. A cross between volleyball and trampolining. It looks like fun and I wouldn't mind giving it a go sometime.
July 06, 2003
Wooloowin Open - Match I
T. Innes d. C Heidrich
6-0, 6-3, 6-3
Weather: Fine Temp: 23 degrees
Just like Star Wars the saga continues. In one of the longest sporting rivalries seen in Australia, Chris and Toby will be locking horns in the first tennis match of 2003. This competition between two of tennis's best has been running for over 14 years (since year 11 at High School). This match was undertaken on an Antbed court in Kalinga Park, Brisbane. Antbed courts are like clay, low and slow with the odd variable bounce (much like Chris & Toby).
Both players started out a bit sluggish and only one player ended that way. Tennis was as usual the winner. Toby got to take home the bragging rights and put another dash in the win column.
Meeting Maree
Last night I met with Maree, one of our QLD Insiders at a buzzing neighbourhood in Rosalie.
Lots of cafes, restaurants and ice creameries all crammed into about 2 blocks, with outdoor seating made easy by plenty of large heaters. This place has grown plenty since I was last here and was very popular on a Saturday night.
Maree was coming off a late night the night before (Powderfinger concert) and I was knackered after being thoroughly thrashed in tennis earlier in the day so we chose a Thai restaurant to get some grub.
As an Insider, Maree says she gets a few queries every week and enjoys helping those people as much as she can. She received help from countless strangers during her travels and feels this is a great way to give something back. Maree winces at the cliché, but I know what she means.
Maree has travelled quite a bit - Germany, UK, USA, Mexico, and she mentioned Asia but we didn't get to that - and adopts super-budget mode when on the road. She's spent nights in airports or riding on overnight buses and trains to save on accommodation, which she then spends on sending home memorabilia from her trip. She says she has boxes and boxes of stuff from her trips all piled up that she just can't bear to get rid of.
After living in Brisbane for about 6 months she has itchy feet again and wants to try and find work overseas. Given her choice of destinations, she'd probably hit South America next, though Africa is also high on the list.
Maree is meeting up with someone else today (Sunday) who also contacted her through BootsnAll. Pretty cool to see the community in action.
Last night was a lot of fun and I'm sure I'll catch up with Maree again while I'm here.
July 05, 2003
Almost Famous, Part II
I posted just over a week ago about meeting John Long in Perth. I was watching a science program on the ABC last Thursday and was quite surprised to see his face on the telly.
Dr. Long was the palaeontologist responsible for extracting the most amazing discovery of his career. Deep in a cave in the Nullabor was a perfect skeleton of a marsupial lion.
He's also something of an adventurer, having written a book and a TV series about the illegal fossil trade biz.
July 04, 2003
Your mum would be so proud
Would this cause a PR disaster for an American president?
Beer-drinking PM honoured in Latin
Who wants to be a guinea pig?
There's a new drink that could hit the market here in QLD shortly. It's causing a stir because it's opium-based.
What cracked me up was that the Naughty Boy (as it's called) director said it would be trialled on the Gold Coast before going statewide. I wonder how the "white shoe brigade" will take to it. Perhaps they could use a shot.
July 03, 2003
Jazz & Blues Fest
Anyone out for some good music for an even better cause should check out the Jazz & Blues Festival this weekend:
Should be fun.
Why we're not Yanks
This was an article in today's Courier Mail, Brisbane/QLD's local newspaper:
But isn't it a contradiction in terms that we should declare a day of independence of American culture on America's independence day? Isn't it an example of how much we observe that culture that we even know what day of the year that is?
I don't know, or care. If anyone says 'sup' to me here, or in the US, I'd be hard pressed not to slap them anyway. I thought it was cool though that she lived in Oregon and could only be talking about the UO in Eugene when talking about a "great US college".
4000 year old art in Oz
Cave art and stuff found near Sydney
July 02, 2003
Almost Famous
I received an email from an old Brisbane friend that I first met in England. She had some intriguing news for me...
How's it going - hope this is still your address. Anyway, I saw a photo of you at a certain Lebanese kebab shop at Annerley recently!! I visit that little place once in a while to get the best kebabs in Brissie and was pleasantly surprised to see a photo of you stuck to the front counter for all to see. When I said I knew you to the lady behind the counter - she sung your praises - 'Oh Chris,' she said 'Yes, yes we know Chris!'...with a big smile on her face. Funny... she never smiled at me before?!?
Very weird. I don't hang out in Annerley often (ever?) and I don't remember having my photo taken there, or even going to a kebab shop. I shall be investigating further, so watch this space for updates.