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)