Transit to Hokkaido - Day 4

On the way to Niseko, Hokkaido. Most of the day was spent in transit, still there is something to mention here. The modes of transportation used to get to Niseko (and our home for the next 9-odd days) included: monorail, train, coach, van. Quite the spectrum of travel!

Hauling around luggage sucks. I should have packed less. It didn't really seem like much back in Sydney but 12-odd kilos packed into a suitcase whose wheels don't work is a real pain in the ass! Bit of an off-topic rant, but it needed to make its way into the journal somehow.

Checked out of the Shiba Park Hotel quite early. The hotel probably isn't the best place room-wise but the staff, the foyet, and the business-work area are great! Maybe we just got cheap-ass rooms. One of the biggest plusses of the Shiba Park Hotel is that it is quite central and easy to get to via train (3 trainstations inside a 10 minute walk).

The first mode of transportation was the monorail. We dragged our luggage across to the JR Station, Hanamatsucho, and caught the monorail all the way to the airport. At least there were no transfers this time! Getting onto the monorail at peak hour was intense. The Japanese call their train/monorails sushi-cars - and I can see why... we were packed in. I mean packed in. What really didn't help was the fact that we were travelling with our luggage. I spent an age jammed against the door with no hand-holds. An experience.

One of the wierdest things of note was a pair of school girls (private school based on the fact that they were wearing a uniform) catching the monorail all the way to the airport. Must be a field trip, otherwise the daily commute to school would be an expensive one.

The flight from Haneda Airport to New Chitose Airport was hassle free. I actually slept on the flight - so all was good. The commute is only an hour and a bit. Not only is it a short trip - it is a popular trip. Apparently the Handea - New Chitose link is the busiest air link in the world. Interseting, no?

Once we disembarked from the place we hung around at New Chitose Airport. There wasn't any real reason other than waiting for a Ski Japan representative to show up. None showed up. Somewhat disappointing given that everything in Japan is so efficient. We even trekked down to the Ski Japan booth at the far end of the airport terminal - still nobody. Arg. Eventually some Ski Japan people rocked up - it was easy to see why... they weren't Japanese - they were Aussies! Damn inefficient Aussies :D.

The trip from New Chitose Airport to Niseko Ski Resort (Niseko United) took approximately 2 and a half hours - with a brief stop-over in a little place called Forest. Ski Japan then managed to drop us off at Pension Grand Papa without too much fuss. I spent the majority of the trip asleep. So there isn't too much to comment on there!

Once we arrived at the Pension we headed up to the reception area. It was there where we first met two of the staff - the owner Yoko-san, and a young Japanese girl named Miyuki. We were lead to our rooms and were told of a few simple house rules. The house rules were quite liberal, but the common area was to be closed at 11pm each night.

The first order of the afternoon after checking into the pension was to hire our ski gear. We were recommended to hire our gear from the Australian-run store NBS by Ski Japan (Niseko Base Sports). We hired skis, boots, and ski-pants and I don't believe that we got a good deal... lack of research! Oh well. The service was somewhat sub-par, yet I guess that I was expecting something exceptional (more in line with Japanese standards).

A fairly lazy day today, though. Ate dinner at approximately 6:30pm at a restaurant on the corner of the main road (opposite the convenience store "Seicomart"). The restaurant was a sushi restaurant, quite a good choice and reasonably priced. What did we order? Well, it was a fairly predictable "sushi set". I don't believe that it was just for the foreigners though, as the Japanese on the table next to us were happily munching away on the same thing!

Back at the lodge we killed some time by bumming around in the Common Room. It was empty tonight. The common room is quite cosy at night - quite possibly due to the open fire in the fireplace. The night was made even more interesting as Miyuki came down for a chat. Dave and I tried to converse, and it was actually quite fun. Wish I knew a bit of Japanese. Points to note is that she is to begin learning English at Sapporo University this year. Wish I learnt languages at Uni... too late now.

Early night tonight - as the slopes awaited in the morning.



Seicomart


Exterior of the Grand Papa


Welcome to Grand Papa Manual

Mount Fuji and Hakone - Day 3

Day 3 and we embarked on another tour - this time we headed outside of Tokyo and made tracks for Mount Fuji and Hakone. Note: two different areas. Yesterday we headed out with a tour group called Grey Line Tours, this time it was with Sunrise Tours. The reason for the difference was solely because we got back to the hotel too late to sign up for the Grey Line Tours version of Fuji and Hakone.

The trip to Mt.Fuji was a somewhat more unusual and complicated one. We were picked up at the hotel and shuttled to a bus terminal. Once we were at the bus terminal we needed to check-in and board a coach. Once there, the real trip began! Our tour guide for the day was a middle-aged male, his name was Hari.

The first leg of the trip (out to Mt.Fuji) was fairly interesting. The trip out to Mt.Fuji wasn't the quickest but Hari ensured that we weren't too bored. Actually, I found the trip quite interesting! Hari gave us some trivia about Japan in general, outlined Japanese history, taught us some Japanese, and even explained why snow falls on Japan!

Driving down to Mt.Fuji on the Chuo highway also provided some humour. Hari was speaking about the Chuo highway and where it lead, suddenly he said the following:
"We are currently heading up towards the mountains. The speed limit is... 60 kilometers an hour ... and we are currently travelling at... 90."
Classic. He was so calm and blazze about the obvious fact that we were speeding. Furthermore, it wasn't as though we were overtaking other vehicles either! Everyone on the road was travelling at roughly the same speed - it was quite the experience. You had to be there, I guess.

Our first stop for the morning was the Mt.Fuji visitors centre. It was there we managed to get a few happy snaps of Mt.Fuji (aka Fuji-san). The visitors centre isn't too flash - but it is a toilet break before the long journey up the mountain. The visitors centre is a treasure trove of information... and there's also food and souveniers to buy as well.

There are four levels of Mt.Fuji - the visitors centre close to the base, a checkpoint at approximately 1km up the mountain, a checkpoint at approximately 2km, another at about 2.5km, and then there is the summit at 3337m. Due to the weather conditions we were only allowed to head up to the checkpoint at 2020m - not close enough to the summit... oh well.

After our little sojuourn to Fuji-san we headed back towards the base for lunch. Hari told us that on past tours the food that was served was Western and that after a survey was conducted the tourists preferred a Japanese-style lunch. Given the quality of the lunch that we had... I would heartily disagree! Given that we ate well over the last two nights the lunch here was an absolute shocker. It probably didn't help that we were eating Japanese food in a Chinese restaurant.

The next stop on the tour was a place called Hakone. Let me tell you, this place is absolutely beautiful. Pristine water and a landscape that is clearly postcard-worthy! Seeing nature in all its glory is a marvellous sight. Even more surprising is it's proximity to the megalopolis that is Toyko.

Once we got to Hakone we boarded a slow ferry which did a small circuit around Lake Ashi. This is definitely a place to go for relaxation purposes. This area has withstood the test of time... and modern man. The most striking facet of the trip across Lake Ashi was the stillness of its waters.

The experience was only going to get better as we took a gondola up to the top of Mt.Komagatake. The experience up at the top of Mt.Komagatake was just as serene as when we were at sea level. I'm not really a master of descriptive language, so it's probably easier to look at photos.

The tour ended up at approximately 7pm and we were dropped off at Shinjuku - apparently the hang-out place for the younger generations. Once getting there this seemed to be quite true. Furthermore, there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of girls than guys. Not that i'm complaining or anything.

The search for dinner was on almost straight away - as the lunch itself was totally rubbish! Shinjuku was one packed place and I don't think i'd be able to find my way back if I had my time again. We settled with this place called Ducky Duck. From memory there were only 3 guys in the cafe/restaurant, Dave and I counted as 2. Totally bizzare. Maybe it isn't so bizzare in the end as girls do enjoy hanging out at cafes and such back in Sydney.

To close this entry off- a strange phenomenon as we were paying whilst exiting Ducky Duck. The attentive look that I got from the shop assistant girl at the front as we paid for our meals. I'm not saying that she was attracted to me, but the look/stare that she gave was intense - there was eye contact for a few seconds. Yep, intense. She had blue-tinted contacts. Ahh... I bet she wasn't interested... such is life. I guess I can dream a little :).

I really need to take more photos of people...



Mount Fuji


Lake Ashi


Panaoramic from Mt.Komagatake


Shrine atop Mt.Komagatake

The Asakusa Grab - Day 2

The afternoon tour began (for those that were on the morning tour continuing onwards) in Ginza shortly after lunch had ended. The new tour guide's name was Reiko. The morning tour was one of enlightenment, however the funniest moment (and strangest) of the day was in the afternoon tour. This leads me to the first stop for the afternoon - the Asakusa Temple, a Buddhist temple.

To get to Asakusa shrine we had to catch a ferry. I don't quite remember the name of the wharf that we travelled to, however our destination was clear - Asakusa. The trip wasn't the shortest, 40 minutes, but it was quite the cruisy trip. I wasn't really paying too much attention to the announcements over the intercom, however it appeared to me that many of the bridges that we passed under are imitations of bridges that exist (or have existed) around the world. Odd, but whatever works.

We were greeted by a seriously packed temple after walking from the wharf. There were people everywhere! Dozens of tiny stalls lined the main walkway to the Temple building itself. True hustle and bustle style. After moving past the stalls Reiko stopped us and started to explain the story behind the temple and the pagoda, but the best part of the afternoon is to come.

On the way to the temple itself we came across a tiny little structure which had incense in it. I asked Reiko what this was for and she mentioned the incense smoke is meant to purify the body (wash away badness).

Classic moment here at the incense structure. As I was breathing in the incense and wafting the air around me a young Japanese couple caught my eye. They really only caught my eye because they were directly opposite me. I then started to observe their behaviour. The girl was closer to the incense and the boyfriend was close behind. He started to waft some incense her way and she breathed it in. Seemed like a fair enough thing to do. Next, something that I wouldn't have ever expected. The boyfriend stopped wafting incense and slowly moved his hand down and... grabbed her breast! Obviously, she gave him a playful slap and they walked away. Tell you what, it was hillarious to watch. As I said, classic moment. (Apologies if I have offended anyone).

On that note, i'll leave it there. Did end up going to Akibahara and Roppongi Hills as well as eat at a sushi/sashimi restaurant.




Ginza Shopping District


The Asakusa Grab



Roppongi Hills at Night

Tour of Tokyo Town - Day 2

Today was a little more structured, although still packed with adventure! We spent much of the day with a guided tour - the Grey Line Grand Tokyo tour. Given that we'd only be in Tokyo for a few days it made complete sense for us to take a tour of the place. It made even more sense considering that neither of us did much research on Tokyo proper. Woefully underprepared :). However, signing up for the tour ended up being a good choice in the end.

Woke up this morning at 7:45 am as the Grand Tokyo Tour was to begin at 8:45 am. So from this point of view, not much better than getting up at 6:45 am for work! Still, it wasn't too much of a struggle to get up, get ready and grab a bite to eat. So anyway onto the tour...

The tour for the day consisted of two parts - a morning segment and an afternoon segment, sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well, the distinction isn't due to the fact that each part occurs in different parts of the day - it's because each part had a different guide.

The first stop for the tour was Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower is a copy of Paris' Eiffel Tower, and as the Japanese would say - much better. Haha. When compared to the Eiffel Tower the Tokyo Tower is taller and lighter. Furthermore, the Tokyo Tower actually serves a purpose other than being a tourist point. Tokyo Tower is the main television transmission tower for the city. Quite the tower.

Tokyo Tower has two observation decks and milling about the first observation deck was part of the tour itself. Quite a good starting point for the tour, actually. Not only were we treated with a panoramic view of Tokyo, the guide also managed to point out several highlights of Tokyo - such as the entertainment/shopping districts of Shinjuku and Roppongi Hills.

After the Tokyo Tower we headed off to the Meiji Shinto Shrine. This was quite a sight! This was impressive for me as I wasn't expecting to see too many green areas in Toyko (besides the Imperial Palace). Words can not convey the majesty and beauty of the place. Briefly, there were native japanese trees lining a gravel walkway whilst an extremely light mist hovered all around. Serenity... how's the serenity.

Our time at the Meiji Shinto shrine was a great cultural experience. |We managed to pick up on a couple of customs - purifying the body before entering the shrine and making wishes, to name a few. What was most interesting however was that we managed to catch a glimpse of a Shinto wedding. Shinto weddings are quite different in the sense that only immediate family seems to be present - quite unlike the Western/Christian weddings where friends and colleagues are invited to both the ceremony and the reception.

The last stop before lunch was a trip to the Imperial East Gardens, which is open to the public. A nice garden (read park) to walk through although it wasn't as inspiring as the Meiji Shinto Shrine. All we really got to see was the garden proper and that's about it, the imperial palace proper is closed to the public for all but two days in the year. February 12 isn't one of those days.

Skip forward to lunch - lunch wasn't the best but you can't really expect much from a guided tour in a food sense. We ate in a restaurant in the fashion/shopping district of Ginza - what we ate was a lunch box, pretty much. More later.



View from Tokyo Tower


Meiji Shinto Shrine


Imperial East Gardens

Touchdown In Tokyo - Day 1, Part 2

So... the rest of Day 1. Dinner. We ended up wandering around for about half an hour before heading back towards the hotel and we spotted a neat little side stall with some Ramen plastic imitations out the front. It looked like a neat little place to eat, so we headed in. Trouble greeted us as we sat down - the menu in front of us (if you can call it a menu) was only in Japanese. Furthermore, the staff also only spoke Japanese. Arg. We did manage to order though - as we pointed to what we wanted to order (the imitations out the front). In the end it was quite a good feed, and it was also reasonably priced.

I've been told by almost everyone that everything in Tokyo is expensive. I don't really believe that this is the case, although it's really only Day 1. The ramen meal that I ate was 900 yen, which is roughly 9 Aussie dollars. Not too mch different than eating noodles back home. Will definitely have to see how it all pans out as the trip progresses.

One really odd part of the dinner experience was the lack of Japanese people around. For some reason this little Ramen shop on the main street seemed to be a bit of a foreigner's haven (although not foreigners in the blond hair and blue eyes sense). There seemed to be some people who spoke both Cantonese and Mandarin wandering into the store as we were sitting there. Strange. There were Japanese people inside though, but only a few.

So after dinner it was time to walk around for a little bit. It's always good to have a bit of a walk around after eating... well I guess it's always a good time to have a bit of a walk. Anyway, we walked this wide circuit out eastward gradually making our way back to the hotel. A few interesting points to mention whilst bumbling about town.

Petrol stations. Yep, petrol stations. Maybe it was the chilly night messing with my brain, or maybe it was something else - but I was thoroughly impressed with one of the Japanese petrol stations that we passed. The photo can be seen below. The fuel pumps come from the ceiling - quality. Furthermore, the price / amount of fuel is displayed on this electronic board above the entrance of the shop. I wish there was a Dr. Drive in Sydney. Classic. Actually, really don't know why I got excited about this... Japanese technology is great!

Respect. The Japanese seem to be big on respect, and this was quite true on the stroll around town. Being a big urban behemoth, Tokyo has quite a bit of construction work about the place. We passed by one of these contstruction sites and there were people assisting with the flow of traffic (both pedestrian and cars). As we were passing by one of the construction sites, one of the gentlemen there bowed to us. Impressive. Of course, a return bow was given :).

Finally, a little bit of humour - at the vending machine. Shenanigans at the vending machine - seriously funny. Got some video of this, but Blogger doesn't accept video as far as I can tell. If I can be bothered, maybe i'll whack it on You-Tube or something. So given that there are thousands of these vending machines about we thought we'd give it a try by purchasing some Hot Chocolate. It should have been easy - but it wasn't. Dave had a crack at the vending machine first - 120 yen required. Dave puts in a sucession of coins... all rejected. He gives the machine another look and tries again. Failure. Would have been highly embarrasing if anyone were to watch. So I then have a go. The money is accepted, I press the button for Hot Chocolate (as well as the funky one with the rabbit) and out it comes. Classic. In built discrimination! After I got my drink, Dave managed to get his. Quite the funny way to end the day.




Tokyo Tower at Night


Dr.Drive Petrol Station


Vending Machine Shenanigans

Touchdown in Tokyo - Day 1, Part 1

Day 1 was quite the adventure, things are great here overall plus i've started to keep a travel diary which is completely separate from the blog. I think the format for the future will be that blog entries will be summaries of the travel diary - although there's no guarantee that i'll be doing either. Planes, public transport, and bumbling around the city was the order of the day. Much to laugh about.

First i'll start off with planes and technology. I've always mentioned that there should be external cameras on commercial planes, but it appears that Japan airlines is way ahead of me. Obviously i've been watching too much Air Crash Investigation. Anyway, all off the passengers aboard the flight (Sydney - Tokyo) had access to two external cameras - one facing forward and one facing below. Novel!

Takeoff was quite the thrill, considering that there was more to see. Not only did I have a partial view out the window (just forward of the right wing), there were also the external cameras to look at. Flying has become that much better. Truly. I would highly recommend that other carriers provide the same external camera service for their passengers - it would also lessen the appeal of a window seat. Slightly.

Take off was 10:50am Sydney time and touchdown was 6:00pm Tokyo time. Slightly ahead of schedule. After touching down at Narita International Airport we had to make our way to the hotel via train - which leads me to my second point, public transport.

Getting around in Tokyo is quite simple, everything is in English as well as in Japanese! Even though there are masses of train/subway lines cris-crossing Tokyo it's still dead easy to get around... and quickly too. Everything is intuitive, and it is difficult to remian lost for long. A plethora of signs leading to stations, graphical displays of upcoming stations with approximate timings on the stations, and status indicators on the trains themselves (along with automated voice confirmations) makes travelling around in Tokyo a real treat. Truly a standard for City Rail should adopt, or attempt to adopt.

Sitting on the train also leads me to my little Lonely Planet joke. Although it sounds much worse written down (I promise). It's one of those random comments that seem to come out of my mouth from time to time. The situation is that i'm reading through some phrases out of the Lonely Planet book helpfully donated to me by Kieu... common phrases such as "Arigato gozaimasu", meaning "Thank you, sir/madam". Suddenly I flick the page and spot some odd phrases and start to laugh. This page contains the Japanese translation for the phrase - "I have diarrhoea". Seriously, I can see why it can be a Lonely Planet - with people using phrases like that I can see why it would be hard to make friends!

I've split this entry up into two, as there's lots to read and you probably want to see some photos!

-- Apologies for the poor use of past and present tense (if there are any errors), i'm sitting in the business centre of the Shiba Park Hotel but some retard is playing really annoying dance music... trying to concentrate damn it!!!

The Royal Sydney and Flying Away

Two themes over the past couple of days in the lead-up to the weekend - with them being Golf and Travel. It looks like i'm well on my way to getting some of my New Years resolutions ticked off for the year! Things are looking up indeed (although I still haven't done my review on 2006... meh).

So lets talk about Golf. I didn't play golf, but watched golf. Sounds kind of weak, but it was a good day out! So how did this happen? Well Eva and Georgie managed to get some free tickets to the Australian Women's Golf tourney (Day 4) and so they invited me along (plus Matt). Now, i've only really gotten into Golfing recently, so I won't profess to know much about the personalities of Women's Golf. The only person that I knew off the top of my head was Carrie Webb, who won the tourney comprehensively.

It was a great day out, truly was. Out and about on a nice sunny day, not being terribly active, plus hanging out with friends - what more could you ask for on a weekend? The day wasn't without it's interesting moments. First story will have to be the Fisher and Paykel model.

A few minutes after walking into the grounds of the Royal Sydney we walked under the grandstand of the 18th Hole. As we walked past I noticed this extremely attractive young lady, and consequently almost walked straight into a bunch of people. She was holding a bottle of wine, and a white t-shirt with some advertising on it.

After watching Carrie Webb have a few practice putts in front of the big scoreboard we headed over to the company tents. Lo and behold the attractive young lady that I spotted was standing at the Fisher and Paykel company tent. We hovered for a little while and she called out to us "Do you want to win a dishwasher?". I stalled, but Eva and Georgie did not. I was promptly grabbed and Eva called out - "Sure! Mark wants to win one... don't you Mark?". Trapped - although I wasn't complaining.

To win a dishwasher we had to fill out a piece of paper with personal details and 25 words or less on why I think Fisher and Paykel's washing machine is worth having, or something like that. I was stuck, had no idea. Plus I kept being distracted by the model, who was hovering about. After a couple of minutes the 25 words were written for me - here is the extract:

I know nothing about washing machines but the girl at the booth is hot. PS: Call me!

Hillarious! We had to submit the entries into a glass case (one of those revolving things) and even more embarrasing for me is that mine was placed outward so all of the text could be read.
I don't know if the model saw what was written straight away, but unfortunately it's all in the past for me. That was the first adventure - I spent the next few minutes disappointed in not getting a photo with her. Prime opportunity. As we left, she said she'd call me if I won - suffice to say... I haven't been called. Aww...

The next most noteworthy part of the day was following a few golfers around. We really didn't know much about the players themselves so we started to watch some ladies that looked interesting. It didn't take us too long to stop by Sarah Kemp (Australian) and Marta Prieto (Spain - I think). Why was it interesting? Well I guess we were drawn to the fashionable gear that Marta was wearing - yellow hat, yellow top, and knee high yellow socks. Quite the outfit and hard to miss! I must say, it's quite a fashionable place this Women's Golf thing. Didn't realise... Golf has become that much more interesting!

This blog entry is dragging on a bit so i'll quickly mention travel. I'm locked in for a trip overseas and i'm heading up to the Land of the Rising Sun - Japan... for some skiing. Haha! I've got the e-tickets and i'm ready to go! I'll try and keep the blog updated as I hop around Honshu and Hokkaido! Note: i'm proud of myself for getting some yen at 93.17! woohoo!

I'm in a security buggy

Following Kemp and Prieto

I'm in this photo - to the left of the stairs!
(Source: http://www.iseekgolf.com/images/womensaustralianopen_2007/r4/source/webb_adp0219.htm)

Back to School with Finsia

It's back-to-school time and it looks like i'll be going back as well. I've signed up for a post-graduate Diploma! Yay me. Perhaps I enjoy inflicting pain upon myself - who would want to study some more after 17 years worth of schooling? Meh, the damage has been done and so i'll probably be studying for two more years (part-time). Hopefully i'll learn something!

So what's doing? I've signed up for a Grad Dip in Applied Finance and Investment with Finsia. They have three sessions a year (called trimesters), and i'll be aiming to subscribe to one subject per semester. Exciting, eh? Time will tell.

Classes are on every Tuesday night and from the looks of things... it's packed. I don't always get to leave work before the 6pm lecture start time, so that leaves me with few options when it comes to seating. A pain in the ass... literally. Just this Tuesday I ended up sitting on my ass with my back against the wall for one and a half hours! I spent half the time striking a delicate balance between a dead leg and the tingly sensation of pins and needles. Fun plus a hundred.

Meh, will see how it goes. On a more exciting note, my travel plans have been confirmed! Yesssss. I'm off to Japan soon for some ski-action, but more on that one later. I have to do some reading because i'm already behind... it's only Week 2. Good thing I don't believe in omens - otherwise i'd be a gonner. I promise to write more about my travel plans, and even more once I get back.

Anyway, i'll finish off with a random pic from my new Camera. Am I an artiste or what! Haha.

I want a Wii

The weekend was a scorcher, plus it was packed. What did I do this weekend? Played sports of course, probably not the best idea in the world... but that's how it is. More importantly, I have succumbed to the allure of the Nintendo Wii - go the Spanish babes! So let's go through the weekend in order.

Saturday - Cricket, Symphony in the Domain, Wii. First up - not the best outcome for us. A good opportunity for us to secure our semi-final berth, being 3rd on the ladder playing the 2nd on the ladder. Fortune was not with us this day, with the opponents scoring 137 and our chase flailing at 6/50-odd. Stupid me threw away my wicket again - scored 5 in quick time before being bowled whilst playing a dumbass shot.

Moving on from the disappointing day at the cricket, Symphony in the domain. I believe that it a was the 25th year of Symphony in the Domain and the 75th year of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. I was quite impressed with the whole show - but I guess I wasn't the biggest fan of Jazz in the Domain, hence my less than glowing expectations. Met a whole bunch of people on the weekend also... but i'll fast forward onto the Wii.

Wii. OMG it's mad. First of all, it's a novel invention. Secondly, it's intuitive. Finally, it's hella fun! I'm going to go look for one now, but i'm betting that i'll be unable to find one given the demand for it. I played the Wii at Smoker's place and I just can't get over how cool the console is! Doing some research on the Wii (although i've already been sold) I was stunned by how serious some Wii-gamers can be. Check out this Philadelphia guy - losing weight thanks to the Wii!

Sunday - Bloody hot. Played basketball at the Cook & Phillip Fitness Centre (Cnr. William and College St.) and nearly killed myself. Running around with the mercury topping 40 degrees is a recipe for disaster. Summary: mixed basketball, was on the losing side, and i'm still terrible at shooting hoops. One positive is that next time we go to the Fitness Centre for basketball I can bring my boardies, as there's a pool in the complex! Mwhah.

Anyway, enough from me - time to search for a Wii.

Clarity of vision and new gadgets

This week I have spent lots of money, and I mean lots of money. At a glance i've almost spent a thousand dollars - yep $1k! I believe that it's worth it, however the sheer amount of dollars being spent is quite disturbing. Quicken tells me that i'm not doing the best job of saving money at the moment... damn.

So what's new? Well - first up... i've got a new pair of glasses! Finally i've ditched the old pair of partially chipped lenses and i've gotten a new set - Oakleys. Something a little more suited to an active lifestyle. The Oakleys have rubber on the tips and wrap around the head, so they won't fall off or move as easily as my older pairs.

Also, i've got a new gadget to play with - a Canon IXUS 65! Truly a fine little gadget. Looks quite sleek, has a large LCD display and seems quite capable judging from a few test shots that I took. Shall see it's true potential soon enough! Exciting times.

Anyhoo, enough from me - going to play with some labels and stuff (as Blogger has introduced some new features).

Happy New Year 2007

Back into the posting after half a year, why not. I'm not really one for New Year Resolutions, but it can't hurt putting together a few goals for the new year. Before I mention some of the wierd and wonderful things that i'll be doing in the year ahead I might as well mention how it is that I have come back to the blogging world.

Mark's blog has a massive fan base that is calling out for a revival? Nope... plus it's probably best that I don't know how many people visit my blog. Mark really wants to become a writer and needs to get some practice in before hitting the big time? Nope. "What is it then???" is the million dollar question - well, the real truth is that I was Googling myself to see what would come up (who doesn't nowadays) and my blog comes up. My thoughts: wow, I should update this... so much has happened since May 2006.

So - onto some goals/resolutions this year. I think i'll just name a few and see how close I can get. Hopefully this won't bite me in the backside later on... because the goals are on record.

• Travel overseas once more
• Update the blog at least once a month
• Score a half-century in cricket
• Start playing Golf

So there you have it some goals/resolutions on paper. I'll be happy if I do just one of them.

I shall finish off with some photos that marked the beginning of 2007. (Note to self: should do a write up on 2006 - a year in review... could be an interesting read)