Blog

The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

Weddings & Koumbari

Categories Life

Andrew and Sarah's WeddingOn Sunday Despina and I were koumbari (or sponsors/best man/matron of honour) at Andrew and Sarah's wedding.

It was a really great day, and a great experience too. It's the first time either of us have been koumbari, and i think I managed to pull it off without stuffing up too much.

The only hickup on the day was the groom forgetting the rings (which is usually the best man's responsibility, but I was relieved of this much earlier on in the planning process ;)), but other than that everything went really well.

I'm pretty sure I did the stefana … Read more →

Recovery: The Flood Cleanup Begins

Categories Life, Work

Brisbane Flood CleanupThe waters in Brisbane are receding, and for now the flood is largely over. The waters peaked on Thursday morning, and thankfully they peaked about 1 metre lower than the authorities were fearing. It didn't quite get up to the 1974 levels and this made the difference for a lot of people, but for many others their homes were still very much inundated.

The metre made the difference for my brother's house in Rocklea: it meant that the water stayed underneath his house and thankfully didn't get up to the floorboards of his living level.

At work the floods inundated … Read more →

Disaster: Brisbane Starts to Flood

Categories Life, Work

Brisbane floodsI'm typing this entry quite distressed and tired. There's no other way to describe what's happening in Brisbane at the moment other than an unfolding 'disaster' in the true sense of the word. The whole city next to the river is beginning to flood in truly epic proportions.

When people were saying in the days before today that it could get as high as the fabled 1974 floods, i admit that i thought it was all media hype and exaggeration. Watching what is happening today, i have no doubt about that any more.

The amount of water coming down the … Read more →

Data Centres & Rain, Rain, More Rain

Categories Life, Work

It's been raining here like crazy over the past few days and weeks. The floods further west and north of the state have been devastating for entire communities. I really encourage everybody to give what they can to the flood relief appeal.

Although all this rain has dampened many peoples summer (quite literally), I for one am loving the lower than usual temperatures it has brought this season. I'm pretty sure you can count the number of 30+ degree days we've had this summer on one hand, and we're almost half way through the season. It's really quite unprecedented … Read more →

Nice Try Retailers, Maybe Stop Ripping Us Off?

Categories Rants

Australian Piggy BankTime for my first rant of the year!

In the news recently, and highlighted today, are some of Australia's biggest retailers campaigning against the tax-free threshold for buying and importing goods online from overseas.

For the unaware: in Australia people can buy something from overseas and import it into the country, and providing the value of what you are importing is less than AUD$1000, you don't have to pay any GST (Goods and Services Tax) on the goods.

The big retailers argue that it is killing their businesses, and want a level playing field by either the Government taxing … Read more →

Tron Legacy & Mass Effect

Categories Gaming, Movies, Work

Today was the last day before I go back to work tomorrow, and i've taken advantage of the past few days to relax before the fun of migrating the entire office server infrastructure to a dedicated data centre begins.

Mass EffectI felt like playing through an RPG, and probably one of the biggest RPGs that I haven't touched at all in recent years has been the Mass Effect series. The first Mass Effect game was only $15 on Steam, so i finally decided to get it and see what all the fuss was about.

I just finished the game today, and … Read more →

2010: Year In Review

Categories None

It's been no secret that 2010 has been an incredibly difficult and trying year for me, probably the most trying of all my 28 years. Two hospital emergency admissions, three other sets of procedures done in hospital, and almost countless continuing scans, MRIs, and blood tests means that this year will largely be remembered as one in which my health took a decided turn for the worse.

The issues with my health have brought a lot of things into focus, and i know it's cliché, but have made me appreciate the things that really matter and make me happy, whilst … Read more →

The Best and Worst of 2010

Categories None

So it's that time of year for my critical wrap. Here are the Best and Worst of what i saw and played in the year that was 2010.

How To Train Your DragonMovies

Best Movie: How To Train Your Dragon

HTTYD was easily my stand-out movie for me this year. I loved the story, the 3D was spectacular (even rivalling Avatar in my opinion), the visuals were great, and the score was wonderful. Such a great movie, and the fact that it's the only movie this year i've seen multiple times cements its status as my favourite of the 2010.

Honourable mentions: Scott Pilgrim … Read more →

Christmas 2010 Coding: Friendly URLs and Page Titles

Categories None

Hello, my URL is now friendlyChristmas 2010 was a pretty standard affair in the end: Church followed by a whole day of visiting family's places. I guess the only big difference is that my parents being away for Christmas made it feel a bit different than normal.

After getting home yesterday evening, rather than vegging out as usual after the big day, i felt in the mood to get something done.

I was in the mood to do some coding/programming, and it usually happens about once a year (the last time being when i added comment notifications to this blog). I've been wanting to … Read more →

Storms, Summer & Biopsies, Baubles

Categories None

2010 Christmas BaubleSummer has truly arrived in the past week, almost every day has seen 30-plus degree weather, and also more than a few storms for the past few days.

I can't say I really like it, but the nights haven't been bad enough to resort to the air-con, so I probably can't complain too much.

A big event over the past week was me going into hospital on Monday to get a liver biopsy done. It's a result of my confusing relapse and symptoms that have reappeared over the past few months.

It wasn't a fun procedure, as it required me … Read more →