This morning…

Swim: 1000m various

Hoping to get ready for the Palm Beach – Whale Beach swim at the end of January. 2.5km open water. I’ve never done an ocean swim before, so the plan is to concentrate on swimming for the moment.

Had a weekend of splurging on food. Went to Oh Calcutta for dinner on Saturday night, with Tom, Sean, Kevin, Mal and a few others. It has won the Best Indian Restaurant in Sydney for most of the last 10 years. Lots of nice food with a really nice goat curry for a main. Then on Sunday it was Michael’s birthday, so Jacqui’s family and me went down to Doyles in Watsons Bay for a seafood extravaganza. Doyle’s is a Sydney institution, so only the best food for me this weekend. Will probably have to a bit extra in the gym this week to try and make up for it ;-)

Had a great weekend. Moved into my new place in Sydney. Nice and spacious, though there are a couple of issues; a) no cable TV yet, b) electric cooker. Other than that all is well. Went to IKEA to get a few bits and pieces, bought a washing machine etc. Settled down in the pub on Saturday night to watch England vs Australia in the World Cup Final. The lads had their Irish jerseys on, but I’d left mine in Canberra. We were constantly approached by supporters from both teams hoping that we’d be on their side, but our loyalties were divided. I was supporting the Aussies, given that I’m living here now, but some of the lads were supporting England, on the grounds that they wouldn’t have to listen to 4 years of crap if they won. There was a great atmosphere in the pub, plenty of shouting and a cracking game of rugby. In the end the English won a tight fought match, at which point the majority of Aussies left the pub and went home. John Howard, the PM, was a grumpy bastard when handing out the medals, which spoiled an otherwise enjoyable occasion. The man is an arsehole!

Just back from a weeks holiday, following the Rugby World Cup. First to Adelaide, to see Ireland narrowly beat Argentina, thereby ensuring our passage into the quarter-finals. Got interviewed for Irish TV, complete with face paint! Surprisignly, they actually showed the interview ;-)
Drove to Melbourne, via the Great Ocean Road. Spectacular scenery, nice countryside and great fish ‘n’ chips. Arrived in Melbourne, saw Ireland beat Australia in the compromise rules game on Friday, in the last ever game to be played at the MCG before the member’s pavilion is torn down and rebuilt. Then the big one – Ireland v Australia at the Telstra Dome. Unfortunately, we lost by one point, but I’m claiming it as a moral victory. We beat Australia in all the stats, and had them running scared for the whole of the second half, and most of the first. We missed two penaltys and a drop goal, which we can’t afford to do at this level. Photos to follow…

George ‘Wanker’ Bush is in town today to officially pin the Deputy Sherriff badge on Johnny ‘Lying Bastard’ Howard. Woke up this morning to the sound of fighter planes flying around protecting the airspace. Loads of demonstrators are expected to show up, so it will be interesting to see what happens. Hopefully someone manages to hit either, or preferably both, with an egg, or a custard tart, but the proles are unlikely to get that close.

On a more positive note, I’m on holidays later today. Off to Adelaide and Melbourne to watch Ireland in the Rugby World Cup. Woo hoo!

Had a good weekend in Sydney, culminating in the Rugby World Cup game last night. It poured rain throughout the game, but we Irish are used to that sort of thing. I also had seats in a relatively sheltered section of the stadium, unlike some of my friends who got soaked. Ireland won as expected, 64-7. Photos are up here.

Back in Canberra now for a couple of days, then heading to Adelaide and Melbourne for the games against Argentina and Australia. Should be fun.

Skipped the gym last night and went to See Italy play Tonga in the Rugby World Cup. It was a good game. Pretty close until the second half. Italy had the upper hand throughout, but they were playing cautious rugby and the crowd didn’t like it. They kept getting booed when they opted (repeatedly) for penalty kicks rather than scrums.

I was up for Tonga, but they were too disorganised. They did manage to score two tries though, which at least gave me something to cheer about. All in all, it was a nice evening’s entertainment. Got home and had to watch those assholes on Channel 7. The panel is OK, but the Rugby Clubhouse is atrocious!

Just finished another long weekend. Dave and Brian arrived from Ireland for the Rugby World Cup, so myself and Tom took Friday off and picked them up from the airport. There’s a lot to be said for two long weekends in a row, with only a 3-day week in between ;-)
The World Cup has finally started. Ireland beat Romania, and got the bonus point, so we’re off to a great start. Spent the weekend watching games with a multicultural audience: 2 Saffers, 2 Aussies, 2 Kiwis and me, the lone Paddy. The weekend basically boiled down to lots of good food, lots of beer and lots of rugby.
It’s all good.

Zzzzzzzzzz…

Got up early this morning to watch the USA Grand Prix. Turned out to be a waste of time. Montoya endured every piece of bad luck that could possibly have happened, leaving him 6th at the finish, and out of the world championship. Schumacher looks like he’s going to take his 6th title, only needing one point from the last race in Japan.

<img src=“/photos/general/small/goggle.tan.jpg” vspace=2 hspace=2 align=left> Well here it is. My professional snow-boarder look that I mentioned yesterday. Noice!

Apparently the weather forecast is looking good for this weekend, so there’s a slim possibility of doing a day trip to the snow on Saturday, for one final day boarding this season. It was 26C here yesterday, and 9C down the snow, so I can’t see how there’d be any left.

Failing that, we might head to the zoo. You can meet a cheetah of just go on a tour and feed some animals, including a tiger.

Had a great day snow-boarding on Saturday. Sunny day, decent cover all over and very few people, so there were no queues on most of the lifts. Had a spectacular wipeout early in the morning at the bottom of the Interceptor which stunned me a bit, but only briefly. Just as well I bought a helmet this season. It’s the third time I’ve banged my head since I got it. All the skiers are getting them now. Tom got his a few weeks ago, Neil showed up with a blue version of mine, and Gus, Kev and John are planning on buying ones next year.

Saturday night was spent in with a few beers and everyone cooking a big feed. Sunday morning was like a hospital, with everyone acting like walking wounded. I think there was so much boarding/skiing done on Saturday that everyone was sore. Got up to the slopes after 10, to find that all the crucial lifts were on wind hold, so turned around and went home. A bit of a disappointing end to the season, but Saturday was a great finish, even if we didn’t realise it at the time.

I also forgot to put on sun block, so I’ve a beautiful goggle mark on my face. I took a photo but forgot the cable to upload it, so I’ll do it tomorrow. At least I now look like a pro!

Went for a few drinks with the guys from work instead. We only do it once every month or two, so it would be rude to miss it ;-)

The snow is looking good. In the last week 1.3 metres has fallen, so the season is back on in a big way. Myself and Tom are thinking of heading down on Friday, and maybe staying until Monday. No point wasting the snow while it’s still here!

As I’d pulled out of going snow boarding, I spent my first weekend in Canberra for a long time. It’s amazing how quiet it is and how little there is to do. I suppose we could do some touristy things, but most of the time we can’t be arsed. Back in Bondi, there’d be nice weather, people to see etc. Down here, nothing.
Started doing a bit of J2EE study in the hopes of swinging a job in Sydney in January. Job market seems to be picking up a little, but it’s a bit early to say fir certain. Surprisingly hard to get used to studying again. Must also do that Java Certification exam sometime soon as well.
Went to see 28 Days Later last night too. Great movie. Well thought out story, and a refreshing change from the Hollywood blockbusters.

No snow boarding this weekend after all. Forecast is for wind starting on Saturday and continuing into Sunday, which means most of the the chair lifts will be either closed, or running so slow they will piss me off. It’s just no worth the cose to go down and be restricted to Smiggins Holes, so I’ve decided to stay home.
Bloody typical. Late snow falls mean we get a nice long season, but wind won’t let us use it. Seems fine during the week, so may have to skive off work.

Had a good weekend boarding. Perisher wasn’t great, but Thredbo was fun on Sunday. Better snow conditions and better weather. More advanced slopes too, which I can now handle after the trip to New Zealand. I reckon we’ll be spending a bit more time there than we did this year.

The only downside is that my lift ticket fell off the tag holding it to my jacket. I spoke to some asshole in ticketing who acknowledged that I had bought a ticket earlier, but still wanted me to pay another $50 for the remaining two hours of the day! I tried making the point that it’s not my fault if they provide a sub-standard method of attaching the ticket to your clothing, but he claimed that that was my responsibility. So much for “The customer is always right”. I told him to stuff it and then went back on to the lifts anyway. It seems the lifties realise how easily the tickets come off and weren’t too fussed about it that late in the day.