Xbox Invited out to TeajawaproWed 25/06/2008 08:49 PM
On Monday night, the Coles family invited my xbox to tea - so I got to tag along.
A nice tea, and a fun time watching the Cole's crash around the race tracks on my xbox - a good night out all around.
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So that's what was in the bag...jawaproSat 21/06/2008 05:47 PM
Ok - suspense is over now - you can relax.
This is what was in the Toyworld bag from last week.
Martianleader guessed it - it's Lego!
You see - I've been working on doing an inventory of all my lego sets over the last few weeks, and comparing them with the official inventories on http://www.peeron.com. Considering how much I played with my lego over the years - I'm not really missing that many pieces.
At the same time I was talking to Mike (Oblivion) about Lego, and complaining that the only sets I'm interested in are ones that aren’t produced any more. Of course, there is the Star Wars Lego - but I'm not collecting that, because there's just too much of it.
Most of the Lego I'd like to collect is about 10-20 years old now, and you can only get it second-hand. But there has been a couple of modern themes that I've liked the look of - but even they have been discontinued already.
One such theme is the Viking theme. It didn’t last very long - and there's only about 5 different sets (good for collectors, because it's easy to complete). I'd been watching a few of the Viking Long-boats on ebay, but they all sold for over $100 plus postage.
So I was very impressed when I walked into Toyworld in Devonport and found one still for sale. I was actually there to look at the boxes of bricks, to see if that would be a better way to complete my sets (I ended up going for http://www.bricklink.com instead) when I found this beauty.
I might have kept the suspense going a little longer - but my sister is planning to come and spend some time at my place while she's on holidays - and would have probably discovered the box, so I'm breaking the news before it gets spoilt.
I'll post some pictures after I build the set.
I'm planning to do some more Lego animating shortly - so stay tuned...
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My New Tellie....jawaproThu 19/06/2008 10:32 PM
No- this is NOT what I had in the bag a few posts ago. This is my latest purchase, and is much larger and more expensive.
For a while now I've been considering buying a larger TV. Partly cause my old one was a little smaller than I'd like, and also so I can plug my computer directly into it to watch stuff on (media centre).
I've had a look at a few, but they are very expensive pieces of kit, so I was waiting for a good special.
And when I checked the mail, I had a catalogue from Kmart with such a special. They were selling Sony TVs for about $600 cheaper than normal.
The sale only started today, but I knew about it yesterday, so I rocked up to Kmart to see if I could take a look and see what they were like. Unfourtuantly the staff there weren't allowed to bring them out until the sale started. They did warn me that they were expecting them to sell pretty fast though.
Last night I stayed at my parents place in Exeter to catch up with my Grandparents who were up for the night. I decided I'd try for a tv, and set my alarm to wake me up in time to get to Kmart in Devonport by 8 (when they opened).
I was a little slower than I expected (lots of fog) so I was about 5 minutes past 8 when I arrived. 5 minutes shouldnt count for much - should it?
Kmart only had 9 tvs to start with, and in the first 3 minutes they sold 8 of them.
The only remaining one was on display - but the guy offered to rebox it if I wanted it. So with far less time to umm and arhh than I'd like (preferably about a week) I had to make up my mind - so I took it.
The box was so large it would only fit in my car with one of the windows open.
I took it home, and pulled it out of the box, and realised there was no way on mars that it would fit in my entertainment unit. I didnt have much time to worry about it though, cause I had to go to work.
After work, I came home and re-arranged my entertainment unit so the tv could stand on top. Now I just need to secure it to make sure it wont fall off - and work out where to put the odds and ends that didnt fit on the entertainment unit anymore.
The tv is great so far though. The in-built tuner beats my set-top box hands down. I can finally watch TDT (although the only thing on when I tried was Big Brother, so there wasnt much point). I can also watch all the HD channels.
Might not be as exciting as a trip to England - but that's my news.
*NOTE: The movies being played are Beowulf and Serenity. Serenity is by far the better of the two.
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Keeping it in the family....jawaproWed 18/06/2008 02:17 PM
I had originally planned to blog about what was in the bag (see previous post) or perhaps about my trip to Hobart to see the VMware presentation, or perhaps about Ebays decision to hold off on it's Paypal only rule.
But something else has come up.
Remember when I was still a uni student - there was that competition for itsnotcheating.com.au? I entered my little story about King William Gates and the evil Lord Macintosh. I won first prize - a Vespa scooter (which I sold).
Then, I was asked to turn that into a video, and got an Xbox360 for my efforts.
Well - the competition was on again. I couldnt enter, cause I'm not a student anymore.
But my sister is and did.
She didnt come first ($10,000) unfourtuantly.
She didnt come second (a laptop) or third (a phone).
Unstead - she won the People's Choice award (4th place sort of).
Unlike the other places, People's Choice is all about how many people comment on your post. Remember a month or more back when I suggested people check out her blog - that's why.
Well - Emma got the People's Choice.
And what was it?
A trip for 2 for 2 weeks to Europe!
I'm not sure where the trip goes other than London - but it's still very exciting. Even if London was the only place it went, it would be exciting.
3 prizes (if you count the xbox) from Microsoft in the family. Awesome!
And what's more, my sister said she might take me with her. For some reason she didnt seem to think they'd accept Fidget (her cat) as her travel companion.
Now I guess I have to go and get my passport organized and keep on my sister's good side....
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Mowing the lawn (again)jawaproSat 14/06/2008 07:06 PM
Apparently I’m boring because I don’t post enough. Thanks Em!
At least I’m not as bad as certain nameless friends of ours who officially stated they would post once a week, and then didn’t post again until the following year. In fairness, it was only 2 weeks away. The weekly thing feel apart pretty quick, and we were lucky to get 2 a month. They’ve picked up again recently though.
Anyway - enough whining about broken promises.
The photo above isn’t me. In case you hadn’t noticed. It’s my Dad. But it’s relevant because I did the mowing today, and have the same problem he did. I actually did the mowing a few weeks back - but it was so long that once wasn't enough - plus it grew again. Lawns seem to have a tendency to do that.
I don’t own my own mower yet, so I borrowed Dads. It’s a catcher mower, or a mulching mower, depending what attachment you put on it.
The bad news is that if you have longish grass - neither attachment works.
The catcher is a great idea - but the grass gets clogged up around the blades and the mower eventually stalls - and there’s hardly a blade of grass in the catcher. It’s hopeless. It does catch the grass - just in the blade compartlment, not the catcher bin.
The mulcher attachment basically prevents it getting rid of the grass, so it has to chop it up until it manages to fall down underneath the mower. But when the grass is getting clogged up anyway - that would only increase the problem.
The only solution (other than getting a different mower) is to find something to hold the back flap up, and throw all the grass straight out the back. It still clogs up eventually, but lasts a lot longer than the catcher does. I’m not sure why it doesn’t throw the grass into the catcher - but it doesn’t.
It’s not designed to be used like this, because if something gets flung up, it’s headed straight for your legs - so you sort of have to walk besides the lawn mower, not straight behind it.
Anyway - my lawn is mown now - so hopefully I don’t have to worry about it for a while, and when I get myself a mower, I’m going to think hard about getting a slightly more expensive model that throws the grass out the side like our old ride-on did. These catcher mowers are more work that they should be. I still had to rake the grass up afterward which sort of defeats the point.
Anyway - that an interesting enough post for you Loopy?
In case not - here’s a little suspense for you.
I went to Toyworld today (yes, I’m sad, ok) and bought something rather large.
And just to keep you interested - I’m not going to say what it was!
You're welcome to guess though. And no spoiling it Mike - I know you know what it was....
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