90s Quiz Night

What does ABS stand for; with reference to cars?
Anti Braking System

What is a female fox called?
b*tch

…perfect *headdesk* moment

He comes back

They eat raw peanuts and other nuts…and don’t like sweet stuff.

Cockatoo

ghosts

CockatooHaven’t had a somewhat scary dream for a long long time now…

can’t rememebr the beginning of the dream…
but was somewhere, a stadium or a convention centre..or was it sydney uni?
anyways, a fren mentioned that she encounted something weird/unusual in the building the other day…
and…
later on, i needed to go to the toilet.
i went left, right, straight, left, right, whatever to find the toilet inside the building. kinda abit like a maze without ppl walking around, and the doors/walls filled with graffiti….finally found the men’s toilet…two cubicles..
since there was no one, i went into one and DID NOT close the door. there weren’t any windows there..high ceiling…bright fluorescent light up above, blue walls….anyways, started peeing…n just had to turn around to see if anyone (just checking)
..
the door to the cubicle starts closing..not slowly, but at the speed u would’ve normally closed the door. In that instance, my mind says “uh oh….there is no wind…is this the thing my fren encountered earlier?…and I’m still peeing…”
the door is almost shut now!
n then i felt something move to my right…n then press against me…like some bubble of air, pressing and pushing and shoving me out of the way…crap!
quickly stopped what i was doing and tried to get out of the ASAP…and as it was like a maze, i wasn’t sure if i would be able to get out and whether the THING would follow me…so, ran out, left/right/up/down/whatever….well, i did think…ppl say to pray for a super being to help out…but…i couldn’t think of who…in the end, it was more like i needed to do something myself rather than having to pray for some super being to help…
i think i got out of there…
and then woke up some time later…

what does it all mean?…umm..dunno…most religion would teach u to help yourself first and that was what i did sub-consciously

oh, i read or watched something about dreams before and that you can’t ‘read’ inside a dream. words will be muddled up. And for the record, I have read newspapers in my dreams.

…..

and as for the bird in this post?…well, it’s just one of my latest photos :p

Big Barra breakfast

Quite cheap big breakfast. $13.90

image

Summary of the Great Ocean Road Trip

Day 1: Waking up at 4.15am, and in Sydney CBD by 5.15am. We left Sydney around 5.30 to begin the 2800km journey. Police were up early this time around, rather than starting work at 8am. We drove by canberra, towards Bega and then to Eden. Eden supplies oysters to Sydney Fish Markets (carmen recognized the trays/containers). From Eden, it was to Lakes Entrance and Carmen drove this portion along the windy roads. Most cars were going in the opposite direction of us…probably like a ratio of 1:200 heading in the same direction as us as compared to the other side of the road. Also, we seemed to be driving the smallest car. Everyone was in their SUVs, towing trailers or big sedans.
Lakes Entrance was a pleasant town, and we were quite buggered already. Finished din at the pub by 7.30 and soundly sleeping before 9pm.

Day 2: I started off at 6am and took a RBT. Had to blow in the tube thingy. The police took out a plastic wrapping from the tube, and then i blew into it; and then said i was fine and could leave; and then he wrapped the plastic back onto the tube! Aren’t they supposed to discard all of those???
After a 3hr drive, we arrived at dandegong and thought we’ll check out the steam train. It was busy and wouldn’t have been able to get a seat until much later.

Ned KellyLuxBiteRazorbackLondon Bridge

So, we had a quick breaky and then headed off to Colac town (2.5hrs drive away). Whilst going thru Melbourne, we entered Toorak Rd and remembered Sam’s recommendation to try LuxBite :) (which was on Toorak road)…yum!
From Colac and borrowing the toilet @ mcdonalds, we headed off to Port Campbell (our accomodation); met up with Karen & Howard; and then decided to see some of the sights nearby before sundown. In the 1 1/2 hrs (5.30-7pm) that followed, we pretty much saw 4+ of the attractions of the 12 apostles (loch arc, london bridge, the arch, razorback, grotto..)

Day 3: Because we had seen most of the rock formations, we only had Gibson Steps left to do; so spent 30min there in the early morning. Sadly, we didn’t go to the 12 apostles visitor centre (which is apparently where u can see most of the structures!!!)
We instead headed off to Cape Otway to see the lighthouse. It was $18.50 entry fee and you’ll be able to spend about 1hr in there. It’s has the lighthouse; some old buildings, a short walk and a cafe. So, I guess the cost is OK. We had time, so decided to go in as well.
Walking out of the lighthouse at the top was abit scary at first and the height and paranomic view made me slightly giddy. All was well and i did two walks outside.
The drive outside of the Lighthouse had eucalyptus trees and there were wild koalas to be seen. They aren’t the grey ones you see at the zoo. The fur was brownish (maybe from the dust?).
Dinner was in melbourne, and we went to Omah’s coz Karen wanted seasfood. It was really nice surprise; the pandan leaves crab followed by a lemongrass crab. Quite different in taste but really nice. AND it was only about $40 per person. You can’t get that in Sydney!

Day 4: A 800km+ journey back to Sydney, with stops at Ned Kelly’s town, and pitstops at the petrol station. Nothing exciting to report. Tried vietnamese salad at Marrickville and it’s actually quite nice and refereshing.

All done..

Would I go back to Great Ocean Road? Maybe..if i’m already in melb, but doubt i’ll plan a trip just for it. The weather didn’t help in taking nicer photographs as well :(
See photos at http://timothyyuen.net/gallery/index.php/2013-Easter-Great-Ocean-Road-Trip

Signs on the Highway

The road signs between VIC and NSW have quite a different tone and impact. Which one is better or which one is more effective? During the road trip, I tried to remember/record what I saw and listed them below.

NSW

  • Double demerit points apply
  • Local police patrol targeting drink driving
  • In fog slow down
  • Stop Revive Survive
  • Road works speed limits enforced
  • Fatigue can be fatal
  • Accidents can happen to you Slow down
  • Speed cameras in use 24 hours
  • Driver fatigue. Wake up to the signs
  • Police radar use in this area
  • Check your speed Don’t rush
  • Police aerial speed enforcement

VIC

  • Safety cameras operate in this area
  • If you can’t read this, you are going too fast
  • Slowing down won’t kill you
  • Maximum reading of 107km/hr on meter
  • Take a break every two hours
  • High risk police patrol area
  • Sore eyes? Powernap now
  • Weary? Powernap now
  • Trouble concentrating? Powernap now
  • Tired? Powernap now
  • Yawning? Powernap now
  • Droopy eyes? Powernap now
  • Stop Revive Survive
  • Slow down. Speed cameras in operation
  • A microsleep can kill
  • Break the drive Stay alive
  • A 15 minute powernap can save your life
  • Open your eyes Fatigue kills
  • Don’t sleep and drive
  • Microsleep kills in seconds
  • High risk area Police enforcing speed
  • Drive left in Australia
  • Road safety cameras operate in this area

Looks like VIC has more creative signs :). The roads were wider, the fellow drivers kept to the speed limit and drove on the left (when not overtaking). When back onto NSW roads, most ppl drove on the right :D.

And the best of all…from the subtle signs of VIC and upon entering NSW near Albury, we saw

“Welcome to NSW”…(and then 20m behind this…)

“Double Demerit Points Apply”…(right! welcome back indeed..and happy easter!)

Building A Desktop

It used to be an easy affair to build a computer. It still is. It’s even easier now. but for a dinosaur like me, it is taking quite a bit of time.

INPUT & Materials: 1 Software Developer with years of experience; 1 IT support guy with years of experience. 1x boxed CPU; 1x case; 1x PSU; 1x SSD; 2x RAM; 1x TV with HDMI; 1x

OUTPUT required: A working desktop computer.

Not complicated right? So, we opened up the boxes and the case and everything else, marvelling at the screws that come with the case, the layout of it, the colour of the RAM, the big fans and all the little fiddly things that comes with the equipment. Awesome. Time to get to work. It should take long for us.

We’ve done it before (10yrs ago?).

– take out psu and fix to case………..done!
– take out CPU and fit to motherboard…ehhhh..hmmm..which way does it go?…how to u take out that lock? …..after a while, we found out how and slotted the CPU into it’s space. Now for the heatsink…. how the heck do u attach it?… we used to just force/push it in and clip/screw it in place. now, it’s got this fancy connection..we are impressed! and we are feeling old…
– next up…the ram and this was a piece of cake.
– now, to fit the SSD in the case and motherboard. arrgh….we were so slow in this part; and all the different screws and what not. we used to only have cheap plastic plug like things!
– now, to connect all the power and cables?!..ehh…what is this connector for?…crap…anyways, in short, we took a while to connect everything
– done…let’s test it
– connect hdmi to desktop to tv; turn on power…NOTHING……crap! does HDMI not work right off and we need to use VGA?…arrgh…gotta postpone.

Anyways, if you’re still reading, i finally got my new toy working; and the moral of the story…it takes 2-3hrs for 2 experienced ppl to build the desktop. baka!

Board Games

New toys!DSC03701
Finally managed to go to castle hill and get some new board games. much cheaper there than buying from chatswood/cbd.

settlers of catan…it’s taking us like 2+hrs to finish a game. is it because we’re interpreting the rules incorrectly, or we just suck at it? nevertheless, it’s quite fun.
next up is to make or buy better hex tiles!