Dry Your Eyes...

After Said Stress

2009-04-14T17:18:00.003+10:00

It was 2 weeks ago but still...

Whipped them. Whipped them good. Club Champion again. Woo!

Almost got a DSQ because I was mistaken for one the boats that was over the line at the start. David turned back but Josh didn't and as I'd started dead astern of the two I'd slipped into their lee. So the start boat wasn't sure if it was Josh or me over the line. Luckily, they DSQ'd neither.

Trying not to Stress

2009-03-25T21:49:00.001+11:00

3 days...

8-10 knot E/SE

Uni Starts in 5 Hours

2009-02-23T03:45:00.002+11:00

(-)

I can't sleep

My babybeast is broken and wont get fixed until Tuesday

I have a horrible clash with 2 of my subjects

I might have to go part-time this semester

Someone nicked off with my bottom section and someone else has borrowed my top section

(+)

I have a beautiful 3 foot 1/8 inch wooden boat to build

I built a shed

What's the point?

2009-01-24T01:47:00.001+11:00

Interpret that as you will.

I'm getting Old

2008-11-10T01:58:00.003+11:00

Bah humbug!

Plus my elbow hurts

Engineering Enterprise and Environmental and Sanitation Engineering exams this week and then my STD* test on the 24th...

And then Fallout 3!
*STD = Steel and Timber Design

It's Alive! Now to work on my shoulders...

2008-11-02T21:29:00.003+11:00

That is, my shoulders feel dead

So, being bored enough to actually check out Mike Paget's blog has in a roundabout way led me back here. I wish I knew what to write...

Sailing started about 2 months ago. It's been going ok. 3 wins in 5 races. I did manage to trash my centreboard hitting a rock. That was fun. Insurance thankfully paid for a replacement but I'm glad the hull didn't break.

I've also gotten into a bad habit of hitting Greg lately. One time it was my (stupid ratchet block's) fault and the other was a miscommunication but still...
I seem to have lost a lot of speed upwind lately and I'm not sure why. I think I need to actually go out and do a bit of practice but I don't have the time or motivation.

Speaking of motivation, I've been losing a lot of it with uni. I just can't be bothered to do my work and with 2 assessments and 3 exams left for this year I should be more motivated. Sigh...

Penguins, Revisited (and Reinstalled)

2008-03-18T02:47:00.002+11:00

So I've had to reinstall my Lappy over the weekend. It just crashed for some reason. Ah well. Fun times. I've got it set up how I like it again, which is good. It involved a lot of cussing, which is not so good.

I'm discovering that the more I spend using Linux the more I hate how uncustomisable Windows is. I've got custom shortcuts galore in Linux (half of which are the windows way of doing things, it's called reflex actions) and I really miss them in XP.

Plus non-wobbly windows are just boring!

Anyway, I have to be up relatively early tomorrow so I can get more work done on (yay...) Metals Lab report.

Bed time...

Yay.... (extreme sarcasm)

2008-02-29T00:59:00.000+11:00

20 knot southerly for Saturday

Sigh

MARINERS!!

2008-02-11T02:28:00.001+11:00

One more win to go!!

MARINERS!!

Confused?

And now for something completely different

2008-01-19T01:29:00.000+11:00

The Dalai Lama is apparently a huge fan of Star Trek.

Go figure...

Wind!

2008-01-12T11:16:00.000+11:00

Seabreeze still saying heavy winds. The only good thing is that Fort Denison seems to be reading 5 knots less than the forecast does, so possibly in the harbour it's going to be about 10 to 15.

Penguins!

2008-01-12T03:47:00.000+11:00

Well, after talking about it for the last, like, 3 or 4 months, I have finally added (more) penguin-ness to my life.

Thats right, I'm finally outing myself as a geek.

I've installed Linux

And it looks HOT!
No, really...

The final straw was XP's Media Centre crashing almost every time I started the TV. Plus a whole bunch of other niggling little things (damn Norton). So anyway, still dual-booting with XP because I refuse to be without my precious(sss... Gollum.. Gollum..) games. i.e, gaming still sucks on Linux. I think. I have yet to try out any of the native Linux games out there and probably wont be until I can get to uni and get the wireless running so I have ridiculously fast download speeds. For that I'll probably be needing Eh, Steve's help. Sigh

On the other hand, Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 works perfectly in Linux...

As to why I'm up at this hour, um, I blame..., um...

Ah, I'm waiting for Seabreeze to give me its 4am update for tomorrow's wind strength. Going sailing tomorrow. Sailing's started again. Maybe I should get some sleep...

A final thought, just to get this out there. As a result of my (starting to become a bit infamous, at least to Kylie) random internet wanderings, I came across Date to Save. Visit at own risk. This site is what happens when early teen American girls get their hands on a Bible and a dictionary and start to notice boys. Well at least, I'm assuming it's teenagers. I'd hate to think adults in America can be like that.

A quote:

Doesn't God look down on missionary dating and tells us to not be "yoked with unbelievers"?
I (like) looked up (like) yoked, and (like) the dictionary says it's (like) a "A crossbar with (like) two U-shaped pieces that (like) encircle the necks of a pair of oxen or other (like) draft animals working together.(like whatever!)" I would (like) never encourage anybody to do this on a date... (like totally)

In case you hadn't noticed, I've gone and added the words which like totally should be there...
And it gets worse.

Truly scary place. And in a way, quite sad also. Sigh

Well anyway, forecast says 14 to 15 knot nor-easter from 2 til 3.30 (rough race time). Sigh. might drop. It was predicting 11 to 13 just twenty minutes ago. I'll check it again tomorrow morning.

Anyways, bed time for me.

Tom*

So True

2007-11-21T13:39:00.000+11:00

"Engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyse so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance" - Dr AR Dykes

I should study...

At last, Football Manager without the guilt!

2007-11-10T00:47:00.000+11:00

P.S., I'm 21!

With regards to title, I finally finished the last of my assignments for the year. Now only 2 exams stand between me and holidays. Oh, and some online stuff for Construction...

Ah, the glorious feeling of completed assignments. And on time too!

Anyways, back to managing footballs

Tom Tom (age 21) out!

Everything's falling apart again

2007-11-05T21:18:00.000+11:00

Life just suck right now.

2007-09-14T01:21:00.001+10:00

i hate my stupid head

Yawnskies

2007-08-25T01:17:00.000+10:00

What am I doing up at this hour? Bedtime! Now!

Ok, 5 minutes...

Stupid Open Source Nerds!

2007-08-22T14:55:00.000+10:00

What the title said!

I've been trying to install Adempierre on Lappy today. Wonderful documentation on how to install the software from sourceforge.net has some very detailed and informative instructions*

Step 1

Install JDK 5.0

You can get it from here Java JDK

[Ok I get that, not too hard to download and install something.]

Step 2

Add JRE path to Windows PATH variable:

[Le what? I understand add, but path to this path variable? I'm a civil (never met one in my life) engineer, not a CSE! Stupid core subjects expect everyone to have the same base knowledge. ]

I am so lost with this stupid program. I know what the problem is. The subject co-ordinator likes Linux. Hence it seems we should all have a solid background in open source crap! I mean, I like Firefox and Thunderbird but that's about as far as it gets for me.

Ok, have managed to add those paths, now to install some database thingy. Why cant these people just combine everything into one little 'setup' icon that does it all for you?

It seems I'm finally getting somewhere. I think. I certainly hope so.

Ok stuck again. What do I know about servers?!? Man I hate it when I have to deal with this sort of crap. Excel? Yeah. VB? Maybe. Power Point? Easily. Anything else more complicated with a computer? No idea!

Woohoo woohoo! Am managing to get places despite being blind and incompetent. Quite an achivement for me

Ok I've officially given up. I will get the tutor to fix it up for me tomorrow. Which means I need to drag Lappy in to uni tomorrow as well. Sigh. Ah well, at least I've gotten somwhere*

Tom Tom out.

*excessive sarcasm warning

2007-08-16T22:00:00.000+10:00

And it's been exactly a month since the last time I wrote something. I really am lazy

I'm not sure which is cooler

2007-08-16T21:31:00.000+10:00

Check these out.

On the left we have simply the mightiest individual in this world. Chuck Norris. With possibly the mightiest beard in this world.

Possibly the best quote I've read about Chuck Norris: "That's Chuck Norris. One bullet won't stop him , and he's so fast we won't have time to shoot two!"

On the right there is burnination. Oh, and consummate (consummate!) Vs.
And maybe one of those big beefy arms.

Well I can't really decide which one is cooler. Or maybe I'm just being a total nerd.

Heheheheheheheheh, girls...

Ok, definitely being a total nerd. Meh, like I really care. Nobody reads this anyway.

Tom*

*repeat as necessary

OK, I'm lazy

2007-07-16T22:36:00.000+10:00

And I have too much other stuff on my mind. Wow, I've managed to go for more than a month without posting on this thing. Maybe I should rectify that.

Finally finished my internship (hooray for finished internships) last Tuesday. For the record The Challenge ended up with some 8500 odd (I stopped really counting them during the last few days) emails. Congrats to all who contributed. Will post stats and honour roll soon.

Kylie's still in Mongolia.

Can't wait for sailing to properly start again. Once a month is just not enough. While still on the topic of waiting for things to start, I can't wait for uni to start either. Maybe I'm just missing my friends, maybe it's because uni seems to be like a holiday compared to 8:30 to 4:30 every day.

Bored now

Laters

Another Product of My Random Internet Wanderings

2007-05-21T10:05:00.000+10:00

How true...

"A proper man loves a woman on three levels: as a dear child who is to be chided, perhaps even punished on account of her unreasonableness, and who is protected and taken care of because one loves her. Then as wife and as a loyal, understanding comrade who fights through life with one, who stands faithfully at one's side without hemming in or chaining the man and his spirit. And as a goddess whose feet one must kiss, who gives one strength through her feminine wisdom and childlike, pure sanctity that does not weaken in the hardest struggles and in the ideal hours gives one heavenly peace."

Gold Star to whoever can give me the originator of this quote. No cheating.

Why is it...

2007-04-12T17:15:00.000+10:00

...that the more you pay for food the less you actually get? (And salad doesn't count. If I order meat I want a plateful of meat, not salad)

So yeah, took the girlfriend out for dinner with the family on Wednesday (Dad was paying). Food was nice, but a $17 plate of calamari was unfortunately not very filling. Good thing I'd ordered it as an entree.

Still couldn't finish the pizza I ordered but...

Anyways, laters!

Hows this for an analogy?

2007-03-29T10:05:00.000+10:00

God + Jesus + Bible + Holy Spirit
=
Carbos + Protein + Gym + Streoids

It's an interesting idea. I like it cos its funny but it kinda works. Anyways, back to work...

The Lumberjack Song, now with extra Students

2007-03-20T11:55:00.000+11:00

Jimi, you make me laugh...

I'm an undergrad and I'm ok.

I sleep some nights and I work all day.

I estimate, I work with quotes, I use electronic mail

On two nights I do uni, and try hard not to fail

I click my pen, squeeze my stress ball, and swivel on my chair

I often am reminded that I should cut my hair

I drink coffee, I eat my lunch, and talk to my colleague

Drink majik juice to wake up, whenever I'm fatigued.

And now the response from Kimi

I am unemployed and I'm ok

I don't sleep nights, but I do sleep days

I answer my phone, do interviews and occasionally find work

Mr centrelink gives me money, but that's the only perk

I email, I watch TV, and meet up with friends for lunch

Thats the funnest part of the week, 'cept for me it really is brunch

I'm off to work, for another half day, to spend my time a-filing

Then heading to soccer, oh why do I bother, my emails will be piling!

Farewell to a Peetie

2007-03-02T11:15:00.000+11:00

Ok, so Jimi wrote this 3 days ago, I've been busy...

Kind Sir Peetie, What a sweetie,

Blessed we've been to've been treaty

To his gentleness and wit,

So kind, so wise, so tall, so fit.

Sassy Massie, rarely gassy,

and a hit with all the lassies

Sadly must now go away.

He has spent his final day.

Grand old Petros! Yes, his old boss

Dissed him, but now he can get lost

Though his work he sometimes hated,

Pete now stands emancipated!

So, Fly, Peter! Spread your wings!

You can do a thousand things

Where you fly next, time will tell

Saddened, we now bid farewell

Wow, 2 posts in 2 days, I must be bored

Deja Vu

2007-03-01T19:47:00.000+11:00

Reminiscing...

I've somehow found myself sitting in a computer lab at uni late at night and all by myself. There is nobody on the Concourse (at least, not when I was last there)

The only difference is I'm not feeling totally depressed, stressed and frustrated (for varying reasons). Which is an awesome thing!

Uni seems to be as dead after 6 p.m. as I remembered it to be

Sigh. I miss uni

Thats all the rambling for now. Will post update on The Challenge soon

I've run out of work

2007-02-06T12:57:00.000+11:00

I have been sitting here doing absolutely nothing for the last hour. I wonder what that comes under on my time sheet...

Well I just went and got myself work to do. Go me!

The Long Awaited Part 4

2007-02-01T08:51:00.000+11:00

Part 4:

Late, at 8, Sam Tan ate

A plate of steaks and 8 baked cakes

His hunger sated, his trap baited

His breath bated, Sam Tan... waited,

In his shelter, Sam Tan sheltered

In the dreamy steam he sweltered,

all around the trained rain pelted

and his drained brain helter-skeltered

In his hazy, lazy, steamy

Long orangutan-themed dream, he

Dreamed of being a greedy duck

And yearned to earn a slick, quick buck

By selling the oranguatan

Instead of sharing with his nan

In the hot hot heat a-stinking

On this theme Tan Man kept thinking

Following a similar vein

Till suddenly, he heard his name!

"Sam Dan Andy Pandy Tan,

I panned plans and band-sanded hands,

Still, that's no way to treat your Nan,

So you come out right now, young man!"

Sam Tan, flutt'ry hearted, started

From his steamy dreams, departed

From his sweltry shelter sheltered,

through the chorussed forest pelted

till he reached the round brown ground

where he'd set his strapped trap down.

There, he, in the steamy night

Saw something that caused quite a fright.

"Nan, what are you doing there,

with your long hair everywhere,

upside down and spinning round

thirteen feet above the ground,

Flapped up, wrapped, tapped, snapping claptrap

At my strapped trap as I cat napped?"

"I'm going nowhere in a hurry!

It's ok Sam, don't you worry,

After leaving in a flurry,

I came back to say I'm sorry!

As I walked here, by-and-by

What is it should catch my eye,
but your Charmed, Farmed, Balmy Ghana

Harmless Snake Charmer, pro-Harmer

Kharma-drama Banana farmer's

Festy, ex-fresh west banana!"

"Aw, I'm sorry too, Nan, that I snapped

As I strapped my wrapped, tapped, trap

But I made the Sam Tan Plan

Cos I am your biggest fan.

You want an orangutan?

Then that's what you'll get, grand-nan!"

"I don't need orangutans,

When I've got you, young Sam Tan,

Let's put this sillyness behind us

And see if we both can find us

A Cadb'ry hot chocolate drink

(they're in purple jars, I think)"

So Sam Tan unsnapped, unstrapped,

Unwrapped, untapped, unflapped his trap

Then, when Tan's Van was repacked

Sam Tan and Nan Tan made tracks.

Here ends the tale of our Sam,

His Nan and his Grand Tan Plan.

The general consensus was "Thats Gold"

The Poetry of Naturally Jim

2007-01-30T11:56:00.000+11:00

I think the word orang utan does have roots in a variation on "orange" actually.

Part 1:

Sam Tan's grand-nan

Demanded an orangutan

Sam Tan, nan's fan

Ran to nan with Tan's Grand Plan

Nan panned Tan's plan,

Handed him a helping hand,

(having had a grand-nan gander)

in granding Sam's Tan's grand plan grander

Tan's grand-nan manned Tan's band sander,

Sam Tan, a left hander, fanned her

Nan band-sanded Sam Tan's left hand, and

Sam, not understanding, banned her

Part 2:

"Why oh why?" Sam tan did cry

"Why sand my hand? Next, try my eye!

I hope you die, hope we both die!

You made me cry, now fly, goodbye!"

"...sigh..."

"Without Nan, my lend-a-hander

To my plans I still can pander

Nan just doesn't understand

She pans my plans, and sands my hands.

Still I'll catch that orangutan

Then every man will be Tan's Fan."

Tan was on fire, he did not tire.

He, full of spite, worked day and night

On his ape-catchin' contraptions

Watching movies with closed captions

Part 3:

At roughly one the fun was done

So Sam had lunchtime in the sun

He ate some clean greened steamed creamed buns

Poked pointy sticks, admired his guns,

Slammed down Dave Hahn's canned jam flan

Then set out to enact Tan's Plan

Mr. Van Man helped young Sam

Strap the trap to Sam Tan's van

"Mr Van Man, Mr Van Man,

Thanks, I'll pay you when I can, man!"

After visiting his florist

(Henry Benry Benson Morris)

Sam Tan drove down to the Forest

Where in thirds, he heard birds chorus

He unstrapped straps and unflapped flaps

From his strapped up, flapped up trap

He wrapped the gap and turned the tap

And in a snap his trap could trap

He found some soft ground lying around

And on this ground, his trap went down

Sam checked the tapped trap was well wound,

Then drove the Tan Van to safe ground

One time, west of balmy Ghana

Sam had bought a fresh banana,

Charmed it from a harmelss farmer

(who was a part time snake charmer,

and a fan of Wendy Harmer,

and feared, most of all bad Kharma)

In the grounded, wound-ed trap

With tapped up taps and wrapped up gaps

Lay this Charmed, Farmed, Balmy Ghana

Harmless Snake Charmer, pro-Harmer

Kharma-drama Banana farmer's

Festy, ex-fresh west banana.

Ah Somehow Jim, classic...

A Challenge Has Been Set

2007-01-11T18:01:00.000+11:00

Whilst whiling away the hours at work, and constantly checking my email, the sheer volume which I had already accumulated (263 in 7 working days) led me to set a goal for myself over my internship.

The challenge stands thusly:

I will attempt to, over the course of my entire internship (finishing in mid-late June/early July), accumulate in my work email inbox 5000 (yes, five thousand) emails.

Therefore, to all who have been privileged to have received my work email, continue your contributions towards my goal, and as a challenge towards yourselves, attempt to increase your output daily, so that this challenge can be overcome!

To those who have not yet received my work email, I am willing to hear requests for such, but may not disclose said email unless I deem it worthwhile.

Be advised that there may be awards, at my discretion...

And finally, the honour roll.

1st email: Kat
50th: Kat
100th: Claire
150th: Kat
200th: Steve
250th: Kat

Breathing, by Lifehouse

2007-01-07T15:42:00.000+11:00

I dug up one of my random music CDs today, and this was on it...

I'm finding my way back to sanity again
Though I don't really know what
I'm going to do when I get there
Take a breath and hold on tight
Spin around one more time
And gracefully fall back to the arms of Grace
 
I am hanging on every word you say
And even if you don't want to speak tonight
That's alright, alright with me
'Cause I want nothing more than to sit
Outside heaven's door and listen to you breathing
Is where I want to be
 
I'm looking past the shadows
Of my mind into the truth and
I'm trying to identify
The voices in my head
God which one's you?
Let me feel one more time
What it feels like to feel
And break these calluses off me
One more time
 
'Cause I am hanging on every word you say
And even if you don't want to speak tonight
That's alright, alright with me
'Cause I want nothing more than to sit
Outside your door and listen to you breathing
Is where I want to be
 
I don't want a thing from you
Bet you're tired of me waiting
For the straps to fall
Off your table to the ground
I just want to be here now
 
'Cause I am hanging on every word you say
And even if you don't want to speak tonight
That's alright, alright with me
'Cause I want nothing more than to sit
Outside heaven's door and listen to you breathing
Is where I want to be
 
I am hanging on every word you say
And even if you don't want to speak tonight
That's alright, alright with me
'Cause I want nothing more than to sit
Outside heaven's door and listen to you breathing
Is where I want to be

Blog From Work

2007-01-02T14:31:00.000+11:00

I'm on break...

I work at Structural Systems in Mortlake (20 minute walk from my house). It's fun. I'm doing work! And getting paid for it! Handsomely!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

Glad that's over. I did end up seeing probably over 30 dvds (nobody was counting) over the last 4 days, and I spent most of this time on one couch. In Springwood!

Ah, fun all round...

Managed to get up (almost) on time this morning despite not getting a decent sleep due to dvd watchingness. And I wasn't late for work, although the guy (who's name is George) who was supposed to teach me what I needed to know was...

Anyways, lunch break is almost over, so I'm gonna get back to work!

laters
- Tom Tom, Junior Engineer

Hybrid Children Watch The Sea...

2006-12-26T20:04:00.000+11:00

It's Boxing Day

That means the Sydney to Hobart is on!

The Sydney to Hobart (for all you people who CLEARLY have been living under a rock all this time) is one of the biggest ocean races in the world (along with the Fastnet, Transat, Vendee Globe, Volvo Ocean Race...)

Now I know that I have often said I hate yachts, I make an exception for beautiful racing machines such as these. There is nothing sexier that a pure-bred 98 foot racing machine which powers through the water like Wild Oats XI here:

I really wish they'd put better pictures on the official site...

Still, I'm quietly supporting ABN AMRO ONE, a Volvo 70 from the latest Volvo Ocean Race, even thought they really have no chance against the supermaxis.

For more information and the Yacht Tracker, go to the official website for the race.

- Tom Tom out

Update: ABN AMRO ONE takes the lead! By 0.9 nautical miles, but still the lead!

Take A Look To The Sky...

2006-12-23T22:21:00.000+11:00

Ok, check this thing out. It's called a Boat Lift. But it's not just any boat lift. It's the Falkirk Wheel!

This thing is insane. Whoever designed it was a genious and an artist all in one. Beacuse both tanks (top and bottom) hold the same amount of water, and because a boat displaces its weight by volume, they are perfectly balanced.

Which means that it takes very little power to lift a boat 24 metres up to the canal!

Oh, man is it beautiful...

The wheel in action...
Sorry, I'm an engineer...

-Tom Tom out

Dance Little Tin Godess, Dance...

2006-12-19T03:01:00.000+11:00

Drain you of your sanity... Face the thing that should not be!

2006-12-18T23:45:00.000+11:00

Bored...

Seeking slurpee and play equipment

Of Laps and Slurpees

2006-12-15T22:37:00.000+11:00

Heh...

Well it's official

2006-12-14T15:18:00.000+11:00

This is my new blog. I've gotten fed up with the uselessness of Windows Live Spaces on Firefox and am totally over it.

WELCOME!

Above is a fine example of a Laser start. I'm in my gorgeous girl Wings (187882), hence the current (and definately temporary) blog name.

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions towards a new and better name for this blog

Well, that's it for now

IRBS

-Tom Tom out

So it works (sort of)

2006-12-13T21:49:00.000+11:00

I'm still talking to myself here...

But I think I like this new blog, only downside is crappy blue background. I miss the flames... (from old blog)

Still, piccies!

If you're reading this...

2006-12-13T19:57:00.000+11:00

You've found this place by accident because I havent told anyone yet...

Still deciding on a few things...

- Tom Tom out