Thursday, March 30, 2006
well the car is finally past the initial run in period. i'm just gradually increasing the revs, so i'm taking it to 5000 rpm for a hundred k's, then 6000 etc...
gearbox shifts a lot nicer when you give it a few more revs :-)
had to go to sydney yesterday for a microsoft thingy again. a mixture of interesting and dead boring. but i survived. did my usual few u-turns, got lost a few times, and parked in the wrong place.
apart from that, nothing too kooky to report.
gearbox shifts a lot nicer when you give it a few more revs :-)
had to go to sydney yesterday for a microsoft thingy again. a mixture of interesting and dead boring. but i survived. did my usual few u-turns, got lost a few times, and parked in the wrong place.
apart from that, nothing too kooky to report.
Friday, March 24, 2006
finally friday. not been as successful as i would have liked getting km's on the new car. only 600km so far, so another 1000 to go before i can start taking it past 4000rpm.
i've given up driving over the mountain for now though. it's too easy to rev too much while trying to overtake. so i've found a few other windy roads that'll keep me from sitting on the same speed for too long.
no driving this weekend though. back on the boat. i think i'll need retraining as it's been 5 weeks since i was onboard. i'm looking forward to it. a new group of people to play with and irritate.
plus i've got to find a post hole digger so we can put up the soccer goalposts. the season is upon us. and with even less than our usual crappy preparation :-)
i've given up driving over the mountain for now though. it's too easy to rev too much while trying to overtake. so i've found a few other windy roads that'll keep me from sitting on the same speed for too long.
no driving this weekend though. back on the boat. i think i'll need retraining as it's been 5 weeks since i was onboard. i'm looking forward to it. a new group of people to play with and irritate.
plus i've got to find a post hole digger so we can put up the soccer goalposts. the season is upon us. and with even less than our usual crappy preparation :-)
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
i've got a new car! woohoo!
finally got rid of the toyota avalon with the foot operated suicide device (park brake) where the clutch pedal should be, and got a new subaru impreza with a clutch pedal where a clutch pedal belongs.
only now i've got to run it in, no going over 4000rpm for 1600 kilometres. and no sitting on the same speed/rpm for long periods of time during this period either. so it looks like during lunch and after work for a week or so that i'll be going for a hoot up and down the mountain, well a slow hoot anyway.
oh well, i was impressed, the kids were impressed. now to see if the surfboards will fit :-)
finally got rid of the toyota avalon with the foot operated suicide device (park brake) where the clutch pedal should be, and got a new subaru impreza with a clutch pedal where a clutch pedal belongs.
only now i've got to run it in, no going over 4000rpm for 1600 kilometres. and no sitting on the same speed/rpm for long periods of time during this period either. so it looks like during lunch and after work for a week or so that i'll be going for a hoot up and down the mountain, well a slow hoot anyway.
oh well, i was impressed, the kids were impressed. now to see if the surfboards will fit :-)
Saturday, March 18, 2006
definition of cool: is when you lend someone Valentino Rossi's biography, and they send it back with a copy of Barry Sheene's.
(even if the frikking postman knocks on the door when i'm trying to get a few extra zed's and go to work late)
good onya Dirk.
(even if the frikking postman knocks on the door when i'm trying to get a few extra zed's and go to work late)
good onya Dirk.
Friday, March 17, 2006
usually wednesday is a good day. but it didn't start off so good. every other wednesday i remember to put the bin out the previous night. and the garbage is usually collected sometime during the day.
wednesday morning, for the first time, i heard the garbage truck come while i was still in bed. typically, it was the first time i hadn't put the damn thing out.
thursday turned into IT nazi day. i'm spent a few hours trolling the network looking for mpg, mp3, avi files and stuff like that. it added up quite quickly. about 500MB of movies, mostly multiple copies of jokes, and a truckload of jpg files. plus the usual powerpoint files that users didn't compress properly.
thursday arvo, on my way home, i nearly crashed. my over 35's soccer team was training! usually they train, warm up and warm down in between the start and finish whistle of the games on thursday nights. 2 weeks till the conk starts.
3rd grade training tonight. only it's st patrick's day. i can see training ending up being at the local pub :-)
wednesday morning, for the first time, i heard the garbage truck come while i was still in bed. typically, it was the first time i hadn't put the damn thing out.
thursday turned into IT nazi day. i'm spent a few hours trolling the network looking for mpg, mp3, avi files and stuff like that. it added up quite quickly. about 500MB of movies, mostly multiple copies of jokes, and a truckload of jpg files. plus the usual powerpoint files that users didn't compress properly.
thursday arvo, on my way home, i nearly crashed. my over 35's soccer team was training! usually they train, warm up and warm down in between the start and finish whistle of the games on thursday nights. 2 weeks till the conk starts.
3rd grade training tonight. only it's st patrick's day. i can see training ending up being at the local pub :-)
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
time for some tacky photos :-)
unfortunately from the first session only. i can tell because there's no scratches on the right lower side, and the exhaust is pristine. also because i'm going really really slow, as opposed to just slow
Sunday, March 12, 2006
feeling a lot better today, although also a bit hungover too.
eastern creek was a blast. i really had a great day. our lead rider unfortunately dropped the bike on turn 4 when he found a false neutral and then it went back into 4th gear and locked up. a bit of pushing and unbending later and the guinea pig (me) was out for a few shakedown laps to see if anything fell off.
fortunately nothing did and while i wasn't having as much fun as at phillip island, i had a great time.
we paid out on him big time though. cause he's the first out of us to crash it. he won't be the last but seein as he was the first we took the opportunity to give him a hard time.
i ended up being in the wrong group, due to a paperwork screwup, i should have been in the next quicker group i think, i ended up in the newbie group and spent a lot of time dodging people who were going from edge, to apex, to edge. don't get me wrong though, they paid for their day and unless they are doing something stupid, how they ride and enjoy their day is up to them. i think i stuffed up one of the lads who was also in our pit shed though, coming out of turn 2, i passed him on the outside, and ended up riding over the concrete. very untidy. i should have apologised but i couldn't remember which yellow bike it was and felt a bit embarrassed as it was without apologising to the wrong person.
after that i picked my overtaking places a bit more carefully, if they hear you beside them (and if i hear someone beside me) they give you a bit of room and let you through. so if you give them a bit of space in front of you, catch them through a turn and turn up the wick on the straight bit you can blast past pretty quick and even if (as i managed a few times) you cock up the next corner and go through too slow, they'll give you room and you can get your rhythm back and go again.
i tried to do that to an instructor who was following a group of first timers. ended up doing my first high speed power wheelie coming out of turn 9. frikken awesome feeling. (and no, i didn't get round him, the bike has the grunt, but the rider didn't have the skill) this bike is so fast and so predictable. i don't have the balls to brake late for turn 1 though, and despite the others telling me i was doing around 200kph going into turn 1, i think it was probably slower than that. i managed to do whole session of under 2 minute laptimes though, a couple of 1 min 55 second laps. as our B rider handed me the bike after his session he said he was power sliding coming onto the straight so the slicks were starting to go off. but then, he accelerates a lot more aggressively through the turns while i get a lot more upright before i wind it up.
between turns 5 and 6 is good, i really like turn 5 (probably cause i'm not going quick enough) and coming out of there i can pick a hole and shoot through. i got a lot of people between 7 and 8, and frightened the shit out of myself going through turn 8 a lot quicker than i'd planned to. but then, i go through probably midrange in 3rd gear, while the other two either do it high revs in third, or midrange 4th.
the straight is the best place, the two turns onto the straight are like southern loop at phillip island, you have forever to settle into the turn and get your speed right, then blast past anything down the straight. there was only one bike there apparently that was quicker than ours in a straight line, a 999 ducati in the second racer group according to our B rider. i even managed to overtake someone going through turn 1. which is a big thing for me 'cause that turn frightens the shit out of me.
we have a new quick action throttle as well. no more double-take to get full throttle. the first half of the throttle action is as per standard, then the next is, um there's a word i can't remember, it means that it increases more and more as you turn. anyway, no power sliding for me thanks :-) that's why his best lap is 10 seconds faster than mine. although his "can cruise at this pace all day" lap is only 5 seconds faster than my "can cruise at this pace all day without scaring myself too much" 1min 55sec laps.
ok, i've bored you enough with this dribble.
B rider looked at me after one of our sessions and said "you're hooked aren't you". and he was right. phillip island was like a religious experience to us all. those beautiful turns that go forever and you lean and lean and lean. photos later when i get them. still no knee on the deck, although i went around the outside of a few guys who had their knees on the deck. i use my knees to grip the fairing :-) my knee sliders are in pristine condition!
eastern creek was a blast. i really had a great day. our lead rider unfortunately dropped the bike on turn 4 when he found a false neutral and then it went back into 4th gear and locked up. a bit of pushing and unbending later and the guinea pig (me) was out for a few shakedown laps to see if anything fell off.
fortunately nothing did and while i wasn't having as much fun as at phillip island, i had a great time.
we paid out on him big time though. cause he's the first out of us to crash it. he won't be the last but seein as he was the first we took the opportunity to give him a hard time.
i ended up being in the wrong group, due to a paperwork screwup, i should have been in the next quicker group i think, i ended up in the newbie group and spent a lot of time dodging people who were going from edge, to apex, to edge. don't get me wrong though, they paid for their day and unless they are doing something stupid, how they ride and enjoy their day is up to them. i think i stuffed up one of the lads who was also in our pit shed though, coming out of turn 2, i passed him on the outside, and ended up riding over the concrete. very untidy. i should have apologised but i couldn't remember which yellow bike it was and felt a bit embarrassed as it was without apologising to the wrong person.
after that i picked my overtaking places a bit more carefully, if they hear you beside them (and if i hear someone beside me) they give you a bit of room and let you through. so if you give them a bit of space in front of you, catch them through a turn and turn up the wick on the straight bit you can blast past pretty quick and even if (as i managed a few times) you cock up the next corner and go through too slow, they'll give you room and you can get your rhythm back and go again.
i tried to do that to an instructor who was following a group of first timers. ended up doing my first high speed power wheelie coming out of turn 9. frikken awesome feeling. (and no, i didn't get round him, the bike has the grunt, but the rider didn't have the skill) this bike is so fast and so predictable. i don't have the balls to brake late for turn 1 though, and despite the others telling me i was doing around 200kph going into turn 1, i think it was probably slower than that. i managed to do whole session of under 2 minute laptimes though, a couple of 1 min 55 second laps. as our B rider handed me the bike after his session he said he was power sliding coming onto the straight so the slicks were starting to go off. but then, he accelerates a lot more aggressively through the turns while i get a lot more upright before i wind it up.
between turns 5 and 6 is good, i really like turn 5 (probably cause i'm not going quick enough) and coming out of there i can pick a hole and shoot through. i got a lot of people between 7 and 8, and frightened the shit out of myself going through turn 8 a lot quicker than i'd planned to. but then, i go through probably midrange in 3rd gear, while the other two either do it high revs in third, or midrange 4th.
the straight is the best place, the two turns onto the straight are like southern loop at phillip island, you have forever to settle into the turn and get your speed right, then blast past anything down the straight. there was only one bike there apparently that was quicker than ours in a straight line, a 999 ducati in the second racer group according to our B rider. i even managed to overtake someone going through turn 1. which is a big thing for me 'cause that turn frightens the shit out of me.
we have a new quick action throttle as well. no more double-take to get full throttle. the first half of the throttle action is as per standard, then the next is, um there's a word i can't remember, it means that it increases more and more as you turn. anyway, no power sliding for me thanks :-) that's why his best lap is 10 seconds faster than mine. although his "can cruise at this pace all day" lap is only 5 seconds faster than my "can cruise at this pace all day without scaring myself too much" 1min 55sec laps.
ok, i've bored you enough with this dribble.
B rider looked at me after one of our sessions and said "you're hooked aren't you". and he was right. phillip island was like a religious experience to us all. those beautiful turns that go forever and you lean and lean and lean. photos later when i get them. still no knee on the deck, although i went around the outside of a few guys who had their knees on the deck. i use my knees to grip the fairing :-) my knee sliders are in pristine condition!
Thursday, March 09, 2006
http://www.sinfest.net/ (it's a comic, you have to scroll down a bit, but only if you're bored or feeling cynical)
it's a bit cynical i know. sorry. i'm a bit lost today. i was all cool and collected last night/this morning, then it went away.
it's a bit cynical i know. sorry. i'm a bit lost today. i was all cool and collected last night/this morning, then it went away.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
today is new washing machine day.
ever since i moved into my grandmother's house i've been washing with a twin tub washing machine. i hate it. stupid piece of rubbish.
so i went out to "the good guys" and paid $900-ish for a new fisher and paykel, bells and whistles washing machine, only to find out from a friend of mine that she had a 2-3 year old fisher and paykel that i could have for $150. only 5.5 kg, as opposed to the 7.5 one i was gonna get, but if i have to wash anything that big i'll go and use mum's.
so i went back to the good guys and got a refund and tonight i pick it up. yay! i should take the twin tub with me while i've got this ute i've borrowed and push it off a cliff.
ever since i moved into my grandmother's house i've been washing with a twin tub washing machine. i hate it. stupid piece of rubbish.
so i went out to "the good guys" and paid $900-ish for a new fisher and paykel, bells and whistles washing machine, only to find out from a friend of mine that she had a 2-3 year old fisher and paykel that i could have for $150. only 5.5 kg, as opposed to the 7.5 one i was gonna get, but if i have to wash anything that big i'll go and use mum's.
so i went back to the good guys and got a refund and tonight i pick it up. yay! i should take the twin tub with me while i've got this ute i've borrowed and push it off a cliff.
Monday, March 06, 2006
drat!
single again.
oh well. you get that. and being terminally useless at relationships doesn't help much. i should be used to it.
she said that our lives were too different and she didn't see it working out in the long run. i don't see that. i just go with my emotions and make everything else fit. but if she doesn't want to be with me, then that's that. so i'll sulk for a while then try and get over it.
at least i know that i can still feel that way about a girl. my last few relationships ended in disaster (hey, i've got a perfect record, not one successful relationship) as i wasn't in love and tried to just to casual and relaxed and see if anything came out of it. with this girl it was totally the opposite. i knew right from the start that i was smitten. which means i should have also known it would stuff up.
oh well, i'm gonna get drunk, play computer games and feel sorry for myself.
eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may diet.
ps: frikken f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck! großes Scheißehaus
maybe i should rename this relationships101... cause i'm a fucking great example of what not to do. tim the toolman, lookout
usually i exorcise my demons by going for a surf, especially if the surf is a little big, but the surf was crap this arvo, and i hadn't found out yet anyway. but this friday is eastern creek. a great chance to clear the mind and scare the shit outta myself a few times. bring. it. on.
single again.
oh well. you get that. and being terminally useless at relationships doesn't help much. i should be used to it.
she said that our lives were too different and she didn't see it working out in the long run. i don't see that. i just go with my emotions and make everything else fit. but if she doesn't want to be with me, then that's that. so i'll sulk for a while then try and get over it.
at least i know that i can still feel that way about a girl. my last few relationships ended in disaster (hey, i've got a perfect record, not one successful relationship) as i wasn't in love and tried to just to casual and relaxed and see if anything came out of it. with this girl it was totally the opposite. i knew right from the start that i was smitten. which means i should have also known it would stuff up.
oh well, i'm gonna get drunk, play computer games and feel sorry for myself.
eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may diet.
ps: frikken f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck! großes Scheißehaus
maybe i should rename this relationships101... cause i'm a fucking great example of what not to do. tim the toolman, lookout
usually i exorcise my demons by going for a surf, especially if the surf is a little big, but the surf was crap this arvo, and i hadn't found out yet anyway. but this friday is eastern creek. a great chance to clear the mind and scare the shit outta myself a few times. bring. it. on.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
well this week wasn't too bad. i actually feel like i'm starting to accomplish things at work. only now i'm not even sure if i'll be there at the end of the year. oh well. we shall see.
today i went to go to a fiftieth birthday party for a friend of mine. only to find out i was a week early. with the rest of the day free i decided to go for a surf with one of the kids, before mowing and doing the edges and crap like that.
tomorrow is a christening for one of my friend's kids. only i keep on getting the wrong word and telling everyone i'm going to a crucifiction. which is a pretty good indication that most of my exposure to religion and church stuff is from watching monty python's "the life of brian".
i'm sure i did other stuff this week, only for the life of me i can't remember what. obviously nothing very exciting though.
today i went to go to a fiftieth birthday party for a friend of mine. only to find out i was a week early. with the rest of the day free i decided to go for a surf with one of the kids, before mowing and doing the edges and crap like that.
tomorrow is a christening for one of my friend's kids. only i keep on getting the wrong word and telling everyone i'm going to a crucifiction. which is a pretty good indication that most of my exposure to religion and church stuff is from watching monty python's "the life of brian".
i'm sure i did other stuff this week, only for the life of me i can't remember what. obviously nothing very exciting though.
