JamesX

This post is a continuation of Happy New Year…

July
War of the Worlds and Live 8 were making headlines in July and semester 2 and GigManX continued to roll along. Around mid July, grandma returned from the UK and Richard and I began to move into the Widget arena with the new assortment of ISP Usage widgets. Stu M managed to injure his back (obviously *cough* working too hard!) and Muppets Inc. was born in my Organisational Behaviour class. We celebrated birthdays for Ed and Gronow and capped of a relatively busy month with System Administrator Appreciation Day.

August
Uni was powering along well and my results were higher than ever. Podcasting was starting to make it’s debut and the ski season provided a perfect opportunity to get away for a weekend. Houses were burning down, the weather was crazy and the WordPress Tiger Style caught my attention.

September
September was a time for many developments. JamesX 5.0 was launched and rekindled the blogging spirit. September also saw the return of The Bitch Box and the surprise release of the iPod nano. eBay acquired Skype and my thoughts turned to how much snow would be awaiting me at Perisher. Returning just in time to expand my gadget collection with the Harmony 880 and RAM upgrades on the table.

October
October was quiet as the uni year ended (for RMIT anyway :)). James Blunt was in our ears and we had new iPods to listen with. Addo’s blog made a comeback along with my gallery. And that was it for October, but not before the clocks went forward and my new office was ready.

November
Spring Carnival fever hit Melbourne in November and it was Cup Day and Stakes Day that kept me busy this year. Dennis got older and I finished exams. The question now was what to do next. Two days at home and I had my gadget fix - TomTom GO 500 was here at last! Of course, November is always an exciting time for me, but this year was extra special for it was my 21st!. The party was huge and is still a fun topic. But it was tiring and some serious resting was in order!

December
December was seemingly busier than most with enrolments and concerts, birthdays and Christmas it was as packed as it could get. But I did get some toys along the way, new plates for the car and iPAQs for work. Then came the K600i to wrap up season, just in time for organising Boxing Day, it seemed it would never end. But it did, and it was time for a break, escaping to Bright for the last few days of 2005.

And so there you have it. The whole year in one (well two if you want to be picky) little package. For those who were here for the journey, thanks for your support. 2006 looks to be a promising year.

2006! Happy New Year!

It’s time once again to look back upon the year that was 2005…

January
Work started early on in January in preperation for the new school year and it wasn’t long before the heatwave hit Melbourne. January saw the least blogging by people and it was time for me to rant about it. It was also the month when I finally managed to get my eBay blue star, we celebrated Marc’s 20th birthday, and that horrible deer roadkill was unleashed upon the world. We continued to slug through the mountain of boxes at work and it’s also the same week that the RodentJet was born.

February
By February, uni was starting to appear on my radar and the timetabling gods seemed to be on my side. Either way, it didn’t phase me much as before long, the great South Pacific adventure had begun. It was one of the best, if not the best, holiday I’ve been on and by the end of it, I had taken almost 1,100 photos! The AFL footy tipping season was about to begin, Richard finally cracked the RMIT wireless problem and a new game was on the horizon…

March
Yes March is where it all began, World of Warcraft was taking centre stage at it began to occupy more than a little of everyone’s time. Our family friend Jean was over from England visiting and in between all of this, work and uni were plodding along nicely. As if it wasn’t already enough, No Worries, the latest play at work was a huge success.

April
It was a time for new things when April came around the picotux, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the list of 200 things, “never have I ever”, and the release of Tiger (although I didn’t get it until later) were enough to keep me busy. I also got to celebrate Oscar’s birthday and I uncovered the mystery behind the Graphinc Calculator application.

May
May Day was when Tiger arrived on my Powerbook and brought with it a host of new features to help convert those who still believe Windows is a better OS. Hitchhikers hit the movies, and a day later it was Andrew’s birthday. Then came Remember Ronald Ryan and the fifth season of Big Brother began in earnest. It was also the time to launch the new backend on the site. It would still be some time before it all tied together, but having grandma away for 7 weeks was sure to help.

June
It was semester one exam season around the time that my relations were visiting from England. I took them to the football and showed them around Melbourne - including Phillip Island. June was also the month that GigManX was born. It had been a long while since my last gadget purchase and it was time for something new. FOXTEL iQ entered the household and it hasn’t stopped recording since! Exams were over and reports were printed just in time to finish the month with dinner at Han’s.

So that’s the first half of 2005. The second half can be found in Part 2.

Last Saturday night - it’s taken 2 days to recover! - was the big 21st birthday party. A large gathering of my friends and relatives assembled at Red Terrace in Melbourne to celebrate the occasion. There was plenty of nibbles, drinks and party atmosphere to go around - including plenty of embarrassing photos of me as a youngster! The party finished at 1am and we moved on to Fitzroy Street to continue to party the night away. After finding it far to busy there, we moved to Toorak Road and the Lotus Bar before finishing the night (or should I say morning) in a cocktail lounge overlooking the fights and drunk people stumbling around getting taxis!

All in all it was a great night. Thanks to Addo for being the photographer for the night - a selection of photos is in the gallery for you all to see! (You’ll need to login for them to be visible)

I also need to congratulate Dean and Deborah on their wedding which took place on Saturday. It seems Saturday was a special occasion for many people. All the best! Enjoy next week.

The usual Melbourne Cup Day party at my place was a huge success. Pity my betting wasn’t as successful. I think I ended up about $65 down by the end of the day. Which is nothing really, but still worse that what I started with. With the weather being so warm hot, we spent the day outside with the TV setup on the patio. By the time the last race had finished, we dragged out the gambling games - Last Chance and Texas Hold’em.

If you ask me, I still can’t understand how the Diva won the cup. After two years I seriously thought it was a write off. I probably should have bet more than a token $2 on her. Of course, hindsight is a beautiful thing. Anyway, another exam tomorrow, great timing, but it’s Novell so it should be easy.

Well everyone I’m finally back home. It’s been an amazing two weeks and I’m already missing the ship. In 12 days we managed to take over 1,100 photos and 6 hours of video footage which is going to eventually be compiled into a DVD. I’m so full of energy right now because there’s so much to do on the ship I keep waiting for something exciting to happen. But alas I’m sitting at home - alone - itching for Ed to get home from school so I can say Hello. Even Oscar has fallen asleep!

Of course, I’m going to have to attempt to get the photos online, or at least a selection of the good ones anyway. There are just too many to put them all up. Unfortunately for me, I’m back at work tomorrow and Uni again on Monday so the holidays are quickly coming to an end.

I do have to say that the cruise was fantastic. I’d recommend it to anyone (unless you get sea sickness that is) because it’s a barrel of laughs. The staff on board will do anything to entertain you and the ports of call are stunning to say the least. In particular I’d like to thank Mazmur, Romel, Krista, Tri, Bernadette, Vetari, Aileen and Luigi for all their efforts throughout our journey.

We were also lucky enough to be on the same cruise as the film crew that were shooting the new commercial for the Pacific Sun. Marc and I managed to weasel our way into it and as well as being filmed, we also had photos taken at the bar for the P&O cruises brochure so I’ll have to keep an eye out and see if I make it in! In return, the crew shouted Marc and I a few drinks each, which inevitably lead to me falling asleep at 4pm that day.

It’s amazing how much you can consume when you eat, drink and gamble constantly. With buffets for breakfast and lunch, and 5 course meals for dinner, I certainly found myself quite full most of the time. There is literally food for any kind of appetite and there is an endless supply of it during the day. As for the bars, they are just everywhere. Every 100 metres or so there’s another bar and the staff just roam the ship handing out drinks if you are too lazy to walk up to the bar yourself. We made a decision early on that it was our goal to try every cocktail on the list and by the second last day, we had managed to do this. It’s a pretty good effort considering how many cocktails are available on board and the strength of some of them can be quite daunting!

Gin and tonic seemed to be my drink of choice throughout the cruise although I did try out many other drinks on the side. Chris had the Bundy and Coke, while Marc’s Baileys and Stu’s Illusions were’nt far behind either. The drinks on board were great value. Generally take the price of a drink in Melbourne, halve the price and double the alcohol content and you get the Pacific Sun equivalent. Overall I spent about $800 on board which is pretty good going for 12 days. That includes the bits and pieces I bought as souvineers too.

There’s so much more for me to say, but I really can’t type it all right now. I’ve approved any comments that were left while I was away too by the way.

Will I be going on another cruise? Definitely. Maybe next year? :)

Happy New Year everyone! Today marks the beginning of 2005 so let’s take a moment to remember what made the year that was 2004…

January saw the usual holiday IT work to get ready for the start of the school year. Lauren was heading overseas and I was enrolling at RMIT. In February, my uni course began and so did rehearsals for the School Play The Tempest, which would prove to be Haileybury’s most successful play ever. I stopped working full-time and started the Tuesday, Friday regime. By March, Tuesday had been officially named “Web Dev Tuesday” as Chris and I took the blog universe to new heights. The swimming team took out the premiership and I got my first APS premiership medallion. Things like the cocktail party and countless other birthdays made March one of the busiest times of the year. The Tempest’s six-night season opened in April to sell-out audiences every night. It was by this time I also realised that there wasn’t much hope left for Macroeconomics either but as time would tell, it wasn’t over yet. May 2, 7.30pm saw the 4th series of Big Brother Australia air, at which point the somewhat tedious “What’s the secret?” campaign came to an end. May also saw MTC’s Urinetown, The Apprentice, 24, the Summer Sports Night and Robin Smith’s 21st. RMIT exams began in June, Chris left for America, and I joined the local gym. More time passed and we rolled into semester two. Following the “success” of my semester one results, I took on some tougher subjects that would prove to be not such a good idea in the long run. Nevertheless I pushed on and started classes the week after my three-month obsession with Big Brother came to a close at the end of July. Ed turned 16 which meant that he was now eligible to get his learner’s (although he still hasn’t). By August, my RMIT timetabling nightmare was causing havoc and I shifted my work days to Wednesday and Friday and to add to it all, the Tattoo was looming. August 8 was my volunteer shift at RMIT’s Open Day, a week before Gronow’s 21st and two weeks before the Tattoo came and went. Finz opened its doors in September and it quickly became the new breakfast and coffee spot for countless weekends and after-work visits. The Blackboard crew were out to teach me new tricks and Centrelink moved all their income reporting online (finally!). Big Brenton turned 18 and got the shock of his life at his surprise party. October 9’s Federal Election allowed Johnny Howard to stay on as leader of the nation, although I still wonder why. Semester two exams began and the Class of 2004 graduated to a fun-filled Valedictory Dinner. November was easily the biggest, busiest time of 2004. With the whole blog shake up, my 20th birthday, Stu’s 19th, more exams, Speech Nights, The Spider Boy, pool, poker and movie nights, it was literally one thing after another. And with that came December: the weather slowly starting to heat up and Christmas decorations hung all over the house. Work was starting to wind down for the year and Dean and I got a chance to sit the Novell CNA course. December was also the time Alex flew in from London, Richard celebrated his 18th birthday (twice), I slammed my car into a tree and dad flew out to Singapore. Of course, no end of year celebration is complete without a proper festive Christmas, and I was leading the revoloution once again this year. Oh and let’s not forget the 893 Christmas tracks Chris and I compiled into our Xmas DVD.

So there you have it. The good, bad and ugly of 2004 all neatly presented in a little (and now proof-read - thanks Catherine!) package. Bring on 2005!