JamesX

I can’t believe it’s been a week since my last entry. It doesn’t seem all that long ago, but I’ve had a full week with absolutely no spare time at all. It’s unusual, but for the whole week, I worked all day, and went out every night. I know I promised to get the photos up from Bright, and those who have been waiting (read: Mel), they are now up in the gallery. Every pixel has been lovingly transported into the cyber world using my FTP truck but I take no responsibilty for how they look! I haven’t had time to do touch ups and I really can’t be bothered. :)

So what was I doing all week?

Well lets take a look shall we? Monday was, of course, Labour Day so we made the journey back to Melbourne along the Hume. Scarily enough, I’m actually beginning to remember all the bends in the road and anticipating all the unusual road signs, police hot spots and speed cameras even before TomTom has them on the screen. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been up there now - but thanks again to Richie.

Tuesday was back to work, back to uni, and the Year 10 Play. Yes, that was Keysborough -> Home -> City -> Home -> Keysborough, for those who are playing along at home. And for once, Connex got me there ON TIME. I know, it’s incredible.

Wednesday… more work, more Year 10 Play. Venue Management is so much fun. :)

Thursday and Friday were very much alike. They both involved a lot of work, Chris decided to be a girl and take both off becuause he had a sore throat and I had social engagements after work. (Thursday was the monthly dinner which had a very berry flavour and Friday was Catherine’s 21st - Happy Birthday again!)

Oh and I almost forgot. Just when you thought you could have a rest, you have to go to Geelong for the swimming finals on Saturday. It was a good day, but far too early for my liking, but we won so it made it all the more worthwhile.

Needless to say. Today I’ve been doing pretty much nothing at all. Although I did catch up with Marc for a quiet breakfast this morning. I wonder what surprises next week will hold?

It’s day two of our weekend escape and today I woke to Chris and his acoustic guitar. He was out on the deck with Mel playing whatever came to mind at the time just relaxing in front of the sunrise over the valley. It’s kinda cool having someone who’s actually musically minded in the house. None of my mates can really play an instrument, let alone sing in tune. Which reminds me… for like the last year, Chris has been working on his newest offering of music. If you’re interested, you can check it out at triple j Unearthed. You probably should, and you probably have plenty of time right now since you’re reading this page in the first place.

Anyway, we’re off to Mt Hotham today. It’s beautiful during the summer so I’m sure there’ll be lots of photo taking opportunities again. The photos from last summer’s trip to Hotham are in the gallery if you’re interested. I’ll post the new ones once I’ve actually taken them. :)

Three days away from work. Who would have thought that were possible! For the first time, Chris and Mel have ventured up to share the country air, sunshine and pleasant surrounds. The weather is great and we spent most of the morning roaming along the bank of the Ovens River taking photos and paddling in the cool water. The photo up top is one that Penelope managed to snap of a forklift that was parked alongside the Bright Brewery - which is where we stopped for a quick break before lunch at the Riverdeck Cafe.

Now we’re back home and Richie is cooking up a storm in the kitchen. We just finished mounting the screen for the data projector on the landing upstairs. Maybe a movie night is on order…

When I’m back in Melbourne, I’ll upload some of the photos for everyone to see. Ah it’s so good not having to actually DO anything.

It’s my one weekend off (no Saturday sport or Rehearsals) so I took the opportunity to head up to Bright. To my surprise, the weather up here is actually cooler than Melbourne by about six degrees or so. It’s usually hotter this time of year but I’m not complaining! Bright is such a great town all year round.

Now I don’t usually blog while I’m up here, and that’s because dial up is a pain and makes everything ten times harder. So why am I blogging this time? Well it’s because I have Telstra Wireless Broadband. The whole wireless broadband thing sorta frustrates me. The speed is surprisingly good, but the cost really outweighs the benefits. Now I know there are the economists out there who’ll say that Telstra are simply paying off their investment in the whole NextG Network, but c’mon $109 for 1GB/month. That’s a little extreme.

It’s so typical of Telstra to overprice their services that it makes me wonder what would happen if they ever lowered them to a reasonable level. People might actually start to buy them! But who am I kidding, nothing is going to change. At least for the meantime, I can enjoy broadband speeds wherever I am!

Today marks seven days until the official opening of the 2006 skiing season and with plenty of snowfalls of late (due to all the cold weather!) it looks like it’s going to be a great season indeed. This year I decided to buy a season pass to Hotham and Falls Creek so I’ll be heading up there quite often. Since it would cost a lot to hire all the gear every time I go up there, I figured it would be more cost effective to just buy my own gear. So on Friday I splashed out on a heap of new stuff that will keep me skiing long into the future!

Richard also managed to find the time to create a Hotham widget (pictured), that shows up-to-date pictures of the Hotham cams. It’s not a bad one actually so if you’re interested, go get it!

See you on the mountain!

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.