Welcome Back Jimmy!

Like many Essendon Football Club supporters I’m elated with the announcement that the 3rd greatest player the club has ever produced, James Hird is returning to Bomberland as head coach for the 2011 season and beyond. Unlike many fellow supporters I won’t be racing to the clubs membership turnstiles to sign up with my hard earned dollars. I don’t need too - my membership will auto renew like it has for the past decade. I’m the worst (and best) kind of supporter, I’m a footy tragic. 


Despite my passion for the club and a yearly attendance of between thirteen and eighteen games a year, I too had lost faith, and didn’t like the direction Essendon was heading. Even with a finals birth in 2009 I was apprehensive of our 2010 fortunes, as the retirement of veteran’s Lloyd and Lucus alongside the departure of mature and experienced bodies in Lovett and McPhee left a large void in the best 22. It was always going to be a hard task to improve or produce a similar result. I predicted in my heart of hearts a slide in form despite the occasional glimpse of decent football; I didn’t however expect the circus that surrounded the club in the last half of the season.


It is almost comical to recall that at the half way mark of the 2010 season the Don’s where only sitting in a slightly unfavourable five wins and six losses. Prior to a very narrow loss to Sydney at the SCG, they’d amassed three wins in a row, two of them against a pair of the seasons fancied premiership contenders. The team’s fixture wasn’t ideal but it wasn’t too bad, some experts even gave them a chance of making the eight. A mere month and a half later and the Bomber headlines where anything but rosy. Six consecutive losses, including a six goal towelling - at home - from interstate wooden spooners, West Coast stamped the seal on the Essendon 2010 season - disgraceful.


I’m a pretty forgiving person, and while I had some strong reservations in late 2007 when the club appointed Knights to the lead coaching position, I’m pretty good at going with the flow. I did broadcast an ‘approval’ percentage of Knights, starting at a low fifties base and over a season and a half eventually settling on a low nineties value. The delisting of Kepler Bradley was a good start, but I do digress.


The beautiful thing about hindsight is you can never be wrong. Knights turned out to be a poor coach, among his greater faults was turning a number of senior players against him. I credit the early retirement of Essendon’s own goal kicking legend, Matthew Lloyd to differences between Knights coaching ideas and Lloyds clear strengths. Lloyd has been a revelation in the media this year, opposition supporters that couldn’t stand his on field demeanour and idiosyncrasies have – begrudgingly – told me they honour his opinion. His knowledge, presence and footballing smarts where greatly missed in 2010, his track record should have secured him the automatic key forward role in the 22, playing second fiddle to slowly developing forwards that should be learning in the reserves is madness and ultimately why the number 18 hung up the boots. 


In a personal first, in round 21 I did the unthinkable and knew then and there that Knights would be very lucky to be coaching come 2011. At half time in the Essendon versus Brisbane game I picked up my bag and trotted down the many steps of the stadium, proceeding to leave the match all together. This was a huge action for me; I typically can’t understand why supporters leave games with minutes to go in the last quarter. Yet I was leaving when the match was as close to the beginning as it was to the end. This wasn’t a completely isolated incident as over the preceding month I’d lost interest in my four or five weekly football related panel shows. Opting to delete the recordings I’d scheduled over enduring the predictable bashing of the clubs current state. 


I didn’t even bother attending the last match of the season against the Dogs, and I wasn’t alone. It was the lowest attended match at the Dome of any Essendon match played there in the last decade. Without knowing it for sure, but having an inclination I’d voted to sack the coach. The board acted swiftly and within 12 hours of the end of Essendon’s 2010 season it had also become coach less. A feeling I’d never experienced in my first near thirty years of supporting the club had now occurred twice in almost as many years.


Regardless of my elation at the eventual signing of Hird as the head coach of the Dons, it is not without huge risks. The club has essentially appointed a multi million dollar coaching panel that will be lead by a 2010 under 9’s coach. That coach just happens to be a dual premiership player, Brownlow medallist and five times club best and fairest. Hird does have a certain right to the role, but many would like to see him fail – a word he doesn’t seem to understand. While Hird denies that he is a marketing puppet designed to right the clubs commercial opportunities it would be naïve to disregard that component of his appointment. 


This alone, is the sheer brilliance of the signing. Hird has taken the role to pour his considerable football knowledge down the throats of an exited and willing young list, to rebuild the club to the envy of the league. The board has appointed him to unite the clubs supporters, board members and of course corporate sponsors towards a common goal. While Hird’s coaching abilities are raw and untried his strength in the corporate world and in front of a media conference are second to none. He is a born leader of men; on the field he led by example, his sheer will to contest carried others to greater things. Essendon are attempting to assemble a super football department to train him to inspire from the sidelines in much the same way he did on the field. Hird ticked too many of the right boxes to really ever consider anyone else for the role if he was available. Regardless of if Hird is a great or horrendous coach the decision to appoint him was always the right call …

Rediscovering my PSP

Last week I finally decided on a course of action that I’d been leaning towards for a number of months. It was one of my many internal arguments and will likely go unnoticed outside this collation of humble words. I turned my back on the somewhat underground world of custom firmware (CFW) and returned to the highly regulated hand of Sony Official Firmware (OFW) for my PSP.

Don’t get me wrong, I strongly believe there is a need and market for CFW on the PSP or any other embedded device or proprietary system for that matter. However it is these justifiable loopholes that are being exploited for the more unethical features of custom firmware. Sadly I was using the seedier features of customer firmware, over any positive enhancements other budding technology enthusiasts had added to the PSP’s repertoire.

I bought my PSP nearly 5 years ago; when my now Wife and I headed on a holiday of a life time to England and select European countries. It was a life saver and made many a long train, bus or plane trip that little bit more manageable. On returning home I was sure its existence would be fulfilling and plentiful. I intended to get a job based in the CBD and commute daily by train sharing the same joys it provided in transit while on holiday. This was not to be, my eventual place of work was located a comfortable drive away in a neighbouring suburb. The PSP had been shunned, over time it moved from the top of my desk to the corner of a draw. Then to the back of the draw and finally to the box that everyone has but doesn’t know what to do with.

Twelve months had passed, I’d invested a considerable amount of money in the platform and outside of a couple of months of glory it wasn’t giving me anything back. A trip to a holiday house for a week was looming and I though it was time to spark new life in the old girl. I couldn’t justify spending more money on a platform that was failing me, so I did the next best thing. I used my own gadgetry skills to port it to the dark side so that I could test out the current games on the market and see if my PSP had any more love to give.

In a way it is an education in monetary value. In our consume driven, capitalistic world, products aren’t sold for how much they cost to make and develop but rather how much the market will pay for them. You then likely associate that value with the product and with any luck it fills a purpose and at the end of the day you feel like you’ve got your money’s worth. Although after paying for the initial hardware and two games I was left feeling less than compensated, I found the opposite was also true. If I didn’t spend anything on the software then I wasn’t compelled to get any value out of it at all. I’d take the time to get a software title, but often not even bother to play it than alone finish it. This resulted in the PSP resting in the same ill fated box.

So with the amalgamation of a couple of factors such as purchasing a PS3 and reading some positive things about PSN mini’s I’ve decided to go full circle, as I mentioned earlier and return to Sony OFW. As a pretty enthusiastic gamer it is a little embarrassing how many gaming capable devices I own. I guess it is the enthusiast within, that still understands the strengths and weaknesses of each device and can see a use for all of them in one way or another. The most likely competitor to the PSP that I own is my iPhone, though as much as I over rely on my phone there is something entirely necessary about buttons that not all games can emulate on a touch screen interface.

So far I’ve had mixed results in the week or so that I’ve been sporting my OFW PSP. Having recently finished the Harry Potter books I’d opened up a large void of free time on the 55 plus minute train ride I endue each way to work. I purchased a couple of Mini as well as a full title game (all be it electronically) and had little issues getting them on the 8 Gb stick I’ve loaded in my PSP. I also found the official Comic Book reader application present on the Sony OFW and set about checking out some of the freely available comics. I enjoyed reading a number of the free comics and playing a handful of the games for a couple of days. I’ve since found my nose back in a book so time for mobile gaming is again Ad Hoc and more complementary to a device like the iPhone which is always a fingertips length away and much more casual the PSP.

I don’t regret the decision by any stretch of the imagination and are happy to be back on the easy path to new features and integration with my PS3. I even had some gaming Kudos thrown my way scoring a copy of a new PSP exclusive release via Kotaku and eagerly await its arrival in the mail ...

Rest in Peace Mindy Dog

It is with a pang of regret but many happy memories that I remember the late Mindy Pickstone. My families last pet dog. She passed earlier this week; from what can only be described as old age, and leaves everyone she ever meet with muddy paw prints at about waist height. While only a medium sized dog she always found reason to bound up to greet a returning or fresh face.

She is and will always be the first dog I knew from day dot, and was as loving and loyal as you’d expect of her kind. An English Springer Spaniel a breed my father painstakingly picked out. She loved wide open spaces, the water and above all else the lap of a willing participant settled down in front of the television. I think Dad still suspects she willed herself to remain that little bit smaller than usual, in order to keep the privilege of being a lap compatible canine. He’d lovingly label her a ‘runt’ of a dog, but her nuzzled snout against his favourite chair was always enough to secure her an occasional snoozing place upon his lap.

Mindy could very easily have been a rat and not a dog at all. Many years had passed since my family’s first dog; Rani passed from old age. My younger sister starting to get a little stronger in her convictions of having a family pet, and after a weekend of looking after some school rats she made a startling declaration. Years of prior hassling for a dog hadn’t paid off as she could never counter the argument of what to do with a canine when the family was away for the weekend. My sister calculated that with feeding bottles and food rat’s where much lower maintenance and the same argument couldn’t prevent her from having at a pet if not a dog.

After hitting up the research books on what type of Dog was right for our family, Dad and Mum announced to us kids that they'd organised a puppy for the family and we'd be picking her up from Melbourne in a couple of months. It might have been weeks and while I'm filling in a few of the gaps with assumptions, the announcement only felt like a day or two after my sister's declaration of rat ownership. My sister either through pure genius or complete dumb luck had won, and the family was better for it.

I still remember driving up in to the then strange hills of the outskirts of Melbourne to pick her up from the breeders. Dad likes to do these kinds of things right, so she was a pure breed English Springer Spaniel, now 16 years older and hopefully a little wiser I realise that she likely cost a pretty penny too, a price she returned in spades. If I recall correctly Mum and Dad had secured her as the last of the litter so we didn't have much choice in which pup we where taking home. Even at that early age she was a little smaller than her siblings, but showed the same canine curiosity as her kindred, greeting us strangers at her Mothers pen.

It was a decent drive back to my Aunties where we where staying that night and then a much longer trip back to Portland her eventual stomping ground. I think spending so much time in the car with us initially gave her an absolute love for car trips. Car was one of the first words she ever learned to recognise. Upon hearing it uttered she'd bound to life and circle frantically between the front door, garage door and the kitchen draw that her lead was stored in. All necessary in her puppy brain to make sure she was included in any potential adventure.

Even a week old she was the centre of a family tale I’ll never forget. The so called fool proof system that Dad insisted would give everyone an equal say on her naming. This system inevitably tied with boys versus girls so unmistakeably she was named as the ladies of the house wished. I ultimately found more joy in Dad's claims that his system was infallible, so at the end of the exercise at least three of us where happy, and I think Dad had more fun coming up with the system than interest in the name in the end anyway.

She had the same energy explosion upon hearing the phrase 'walk' uttered in mid sentence as she did when hearing ‘car’, always keen for another wander through the streets of her stomping ground. In her early years my sister and I made the mistake of teaching her to run before she could walk. On roller blades or bicycles we'd use her to propel us all over the neighbourhood inspired by her raw puppy enthusiasm. It would be almost a decade before she out grew the desire to tug on a lead and while a mistake at the time, it crafted her into the dog we all knew. Her later years on the lead might have had fewer children's giggles but her enthusiasm never wavered as she accompanied a combination of Mum, Dad or both around the Fawthrop Lagoon. The image of Mindy returning muddy and water logged is as true to her being as curled up on a lap and snoozing.

She didn’t seem to pick favourites and loved every family member equally. If any of the four of us weren’t home she’d happily camp by one of the many front facing windows and keep an eye out for our safe return. We soon realised that the windowed outside world was a bit like a dog TV. A deep rumble of a bark would occasionally accompany a ruffling of the curtains. It sounded so out of character to her temperament, I’d be amazed if she didn’t surprised her self the first time she let out her rumbled low bark.

To as loyal and loving a dog as any family could ever wish for, we thank you for the memories Mindy. You will be sorely missed and forever remembered, you where the perfect companion and gave more than you ever asked for, may you rest in peace as you continue to your next walk of life ...

Oh snap! … I’m all grown up.

As the movers and shakers of Australian parliament name call, seduce, lie and contradict each other all under the guise of forming a ‘minority government’. I realised an undiscovered truth about myself in the fallout of the 2010 Australian Federal election.

I care

This might well be insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but if I’m honest with myself. I have to admit that my opinion of Australian politics is likely to have changed forever. It is comical that I’ve come to this insight after we have headed to the polling booths, but then we could be heading back sooner than we think.

Since coming of age and having a say in my nation’s future I’ve always taken a pretty bullish and simpleton view of the political landscape. I would whimsically declare “I don’t think either party has any true power to influence or change anything in my life”, so I’d vote for the same party every election regardless of polices.

Despite taking great interest in a number of issues that affect a minority of Australia’s. Such as R18+ censorship for video games or the recently announced intention of the government to ‘try’ and censor electronically distributed apps to tap into a source of revenue. I didn’t really draw the dotted lines together and see that either lack of action or attempted action would negatively impact my life.

Unfortunately with this new found appreciation to at least take an interest in what is going on in the nation, I can only concur with the rest of Australia. It is pretty much a dead all draw as to which party I favour running our borders, digital highways and general coming and goings.

I hope to do go back to the polls, and both parties run another campaign based on what they learnt listening to us the people. Given the decision is clearly on a knife’s edge either party could make an ever so slight adjustment and potentially stream role the opposition. It might even be proof the whole kit and caboodle system actually works!

Now while I’m on a role, maybe its time I try Vegemite again, you never know I might even like it this time around …

Inception

I recently caught myself reading my own reflections of some choice movies I posted about last year. I was delighted to rediscover the insight I’d had on them; so having seen a couple of good films lately, hopefully I’ll continue the trend.

As I posted almost twelve months ago, while I’ll try and keep this entry spoiler free it is definitely better to read it after you’ve seen the movie in question and formed your own view of the film.

In my review of the Soloist last year I commented that while I don’t mind a good thinking man’s film I usually prefer them to be interlaced with a couple of explosions and some exciting action sequences. Enter: Inception.

While I don’t consider myself a film geek, as I rarely know the director of a film when walking into the cinema. If I’m particularly inspired by an idea or enjoyable film I’ll often crave more of its back story. This is a pretty simple venture in today’s world with the internet and sites like IMDB and enthusiast podcasts etc. It turns out that Inception is directed by one of the more critically acclaimed talents in the industry today. Nick Nolan is rapidly becoming a household name, directing the two latest Batman movies as well as Memento to name a small sample of his back catalogue.

Upon reflection it becomes obvious that Inception is directed by a gifted film maker, some of the action scenes in the middle of the film are brilliantly original, no mean feat in cinematography these days. I also found the pacing to be extremely well staged with clever - tried and true - storytelling tricks injected to keep the audience as well informed of the story as required. I can’t say the story isn’t completely void of plot holes but sometimes I think these are purposefully positioned to let the audience interpret it themselves – much like a cryptic line in a the words to an emotional song.

I was also pretty offended by the ending of the film; I read it described as “a fifty/fifty bet each way by the director”. I tend to agree with this as some in the audience would have liked to be told the story ended one way, and the other potion of the audience would anticipate the other. The film simply refused to confirm either, creating its own social networking buzz among patrons that have viewed it.

I’ve formed my own opinion but still feel slightly robbed that it wasn’t expressed in full by the film itself. It’s the storyteller’s story to define the ending … not mine.

At the end of the day Inception is an easy movie to recommend to others, and I even look forward to my eventual re-unrevealing of its mysteries when I watch it anew …

69,081 Words later ...

After a rather seemingly unsuccessful attempt to reboot my blog a couple of months ago it would be easy to assume that I haven't been writing anything. This couldn't be further from the truth. Around the same time I was motivated to fire up the blog again I discovered a rather unusual metal exercise (for want of a better word) that I have taken to with surprising ferocity.

750words.com is a beautiful website created by a budding technologist in the US, that has taken the existing concept of 'Morning Pages' and completely retrofitted it into Buck Roger's century - well our 21st century at the very least. The idea is you dump your thoughts, concerns, successes, fears and triumphs on to paper - preferably daily. Well that was the "old skool" version anyway. Buster's version (as I affectionately know him from his update emails) removes the need for paper and replaces it with a very comprehensive web portal. Rather than write you rambling's, you type them; and while the core concept is perfectly intact, Buster has improved it with some incredible innovation.

I'm not sure exactly why I've continued with it to be honest, but today I will have contributed yo my own 750 words journal for ninety days in succession. The tag line of the site is "Private, unfiltered, spontaneous, daily" and couldn't be more articulate. The original creator of the concept, Julia Cameron describes the exercise as the minds wake up call, or a mental morning shower. I concede it does sound pretty cheesy, but as a convert to the exercise I have to agree with this analogy.

Some of the innovation that Buster has brought to the table with the website 750words.com are blatant 'hooks' to give you a feeling of obligation to return each day and dump your words. Simple yet brilliantly implemented features such as monthly score boards in association with achievement milestones in the shape of badges can be earned over continual usage of the site. I think these are wonderful additions as self discipline can only motivate people so far. I can think on a couple of occasions after I'd amassed a streak of over thirty days or more in a row. I didn't feel like adding my days entry, but instantly turning that thought around when I pictured the streak being broken and having to start again.

So over the last three months - yeah it has been that long - I've been writing vigorously to myself about all manners of topics, all of which I'll keep private as per the nature of the 750words.com site. However I've also realised that I like writing to an audience, no matter how small and hence the second re-boot of the virtualsteve space. Like last time I've still got plenty of topics that I want to cover but haven't been making the time. This post is simply a public declaration that I still want to contribute to virtualsteve regardless of my daily electronic dairy commitments. For a long time I've felt that writing to myself was adequate but have slowly discovered that they are similar but distinctively different ventures to writing to an audience.

So while I've written 69,081 words to myself in the past 90 days its long time I re-begin to write a couple of words to everyone else ...

fun-ote 03

It naturally mimics the hierarchical structure of most reasonably complex websites, and groups things so that our tiny ridiculous minds can navigate a large number of options with ease.

This got a genuine laugh out loud of me, the entire article is actually brillantly written and any web developer would agree. Check the whole article out here

Iron Man 2

I recently caught Iron Man 2 in the cinema, and it is worth disclosing that I'm a pretty big fan of the original. The original is actually one disc in my two movie blu-ray collection but I guess that is another post on to itself.

I should begin with the customary read at your own peril, as while I'll make efforts not to provide any spoilers these thoughts are best read once you've seen and formed your own opinions.

Strictly speaking Iron Man 2 doesn't bring anything new to the table, but then I don't really think there was anything missing from the first instalment. I've recently gotten in to the habit of completely inverting my eyes from any film promotion that I've already decided I'll go see. Once again this tactic served me well having not seen all the blowy-up-bits in the shorts. I recommend this tactic to anyone else who thinks modern day trailers are to revealing for their own good.

As far as special effects go they where ace, but then these days unless the director is after a cheesy half baked look they often are flawless. - well with the exception of this film. I also liked the way the storyline of the first was vaguely extended but different enough to provide both films with independent endings, I'm looking at you "Kill Bill: Vol 1" and "The Matrix Reloaded"

However the really innovative thing that Iron Man 2 contributes to is the 'comic book' like cross promotion that Marvel have been brewing for the last two years as we lead up to the visionary 'Avengers' movie. Together with the recent Hulk film along with Iron Man (1) and the scheduled next year releases of Thor and Captain America. The Avengers movie set to hit big screens in 2012 will include all the aforementioned super heros and one can only imagine a band of super villains to match.

It really isn't anything new for the comic book scene with super heros and villains often making cameos in each others source material. However it is great to see Marvel extend the idea to the big screen, which is arguably risker given the cost to illustrate a comic versus bank roll a hollywood blockbuster feature film.

If you haven't already seen Iron Man 2 I highly recommend it and make sure you stick around after the credits for the teaser scene and keep an eye out in movie for the Captain America reference ...

Time for a reboot!

I've been a little disappointed in myself over the last six months and my complete lack of posts. Much has happen in my life so I can't really blame a lack of content, I've just failed to find the time to pen it to paper … um, electronic pages.

Given that I perceive this blog as a kind of electronic journal its pretty useless as a retrospective view of my goings on if I don't make any post. So it is time for a reboot of virtualsteve as I still think it has place online, all be it a small.

I hope to spend the next fortnight or so catching up on some of the many posts I've told myself I'll write over the last six months. Covering a number of subjects from almost buying a block of land to moving in with the family in law. As well mush lighter subjects such as reviews on the movies I've seen and the video games I've completed.

So tune back in it'll be a shotgun ride for the next month or so and then hopefully this new found passion will persist and I'll get back to making a post or three every week ...

My take on the 'No Russian' scene of Modern Warfare 2

I’ve recently found some time (no scrap that) made some time to enjoy one of more controversial hobbies.

I began writing this post with the intention that anyone not as familiar with the video game industry could still understand my key points. As it is an opinion piece on the evolution of interactive media but I kept getting bogged down in the introduction so I’ve decided to go with a different tact.

About a fortnight ago, Infinity Ward (a software developer) released what was dubbed and pretty much attained the title of “biggest game release in history”. Famous for their ‘Call of Duty’ franchise this title was unique in two ways. If was the first time the company had created a sequel using the same story arc to an existing title and the first time they’d dropped the tag ‘Call of Duty’ from the game title.

‘Modern Warfare 2’ (MW2) is the sequel to the record breaking ‘Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare’ (CoD4) and although a 1st person shooter the original title was ground breaking in both its single player story telling technique as well as its addictive ultra competitive multiplayer modes. The original title is easily one of the most successful titles on this generations hardware and available on Xbox 360, PS3 and traditional PC.

I must admit I missed the ‘Call of Duty’ band wagon favouring more arcade style shooters such as Halo which places a one man army against an intergalactic threat. The ‘Call of Duty’ franchise is far more contemporary pitting two or more human forces against each other with near real world inspired weaponry. Originally set in World War 2 each ‘Call of Duty’ game traditionally provides a handful of playable characters typically from multiple factions of the same alliance through a fictitious but history inspired theatre of war.

Given my almost non-existent experience with the World War 2 titles it’s safe to assume that my comments are restricted to the Modern Warfare variants. Given its key to my observations is should also be noted that both CoD4 and MW2 both have a ‘Mature’ rating and earlier titles where rated a more relaxed ‘Teen’. Essentially the realism of the violence is more confronting with the advancements in technology between the latter titles and those released earlier in the decade.

As you might imagine the enemy of the Modern Warfare titles is terrorism, and a factitious Russian private military organisation are the wrong doers of the games universe. 24-48 hours before the sequel was released the world media went into melt down reporting on a mission in the game that placed the player as a Terrorist during a raid on innocent civilians throughout a busy Airport.

It single handily ruined one of the more confronting and admittedly controversial interactive entertainment experiences of the decade. Being an avid gamer I consumed the world media’s interest in my own hobby despite its obvious negative connotations and innocently spoilt my potential reaction to the scenario.

The game essentially pits you as an undercover operative trying to gain the trust of a terrorist cell as they terrorise an Airport with fully automatic weapons with catastrophic casualties. I found the experience to be particularly alarming due to the constant sound effects of screaming civilians more so that the visual cues. However I knew it was in the game and anticipated it occurring to the point where I had pre-meditated my reaction and refrained from killing any unarmed assailants but crossed a grey line when police forces arrived to retaliate our (the terrorists) actions.

In the end it was all for nothing as my actions where inconsequential and the story played out as the developers intended, and while much criticism for how the story was told has been printed I’m more annoyed that the surprise was ruined. Due to Infinity Wards innovation and the controversial nature of the subject matter the world media essentially to borrow a film’s paradigm blabbered “Dr. Malcolm Crowe is Dead” on the eve of the “Sixth Sense” Premier screening.

It is said that the average age of a gamer is around 30 years old, yet a video game aimed at adults exploring adult themes can be spoilt. Instead of reading the plot like in a book or watching the screenplay unfold similar to a movie because elements of interaction are necessary to progress the same linear story line it is considered untasteful, inconsiderate and unfit for society.

I guess it is the freshness and constant evolution of the media that increases its appeal to me but how narrow minded people such as Michael Atkinson can continue fighting against the legitimacy of adult only games still baffles me ...

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If you're up all night, is it still called breakfast in the morning?

Let's get physical

On paper I consider myself a pretty active person with interests in Tennis, Golf, Squash, Swimming, Hiking, Bike riding, and when the stars align I even try my hand (and feet) at Surfing. Unfortunately between these exciting outdoor activities I’m typically bound to a desk during work hours and enjoy couch based video games as well us far too much unnecessary food between meals.

Between actively exercising and following a more disciplined diet to neglecting physical activities and making very poor snaking choices, I estimate over the past five or more years I’ve let my weight yo-yo by as much as 25 kg and have never been able to reach my ideal weight. The good news is I’m back into a weight loss mindset; the bad news is my latest spree has put me in close to or possibly the worst shape of my life.

I do despise how cliché my change in mind set aligns with the rest of society. It’s a pretty common occurrence to let one self go a little in the winter months with less sunlight for motivation and more hearty meals as hurdles. Nevertheless with my now annual pier to pub swim less than three months away on top of my decision to compete in the next BRW Cooperate Triathlon in February 2010 there is no time like the present to get ‘back’ in shape.

So like any gadget obsessed self proclaimed nerd I completed my Nike plus set! The love child of Apple and Nike and outside of the obvious attempts to sell their own wares, Nike plus tries to provide you with a set of tools and utilities that encourage you to run, and run more often. Nike plus isn’t new by any stretch of the imagination and I estimate without doing too much research that it is at least three years old and could even be five.

What is Nike plus? Well I’m glad you asked! At a very basic level it is the pairing of your running shoes to a computer in order to record basic workout stats each time you go for a run. Uploading the workout data to the web then lets you monitor your workouts over time and in theory you will see your own improvement and can then even train for certain distances etc. Add a sprinkle of social networking to the mix and you can compare workouts with friends, place challenges to like minded runners and even track your overall distance ‘ran’.

The real genius behind the system is for a decade or more runner where already carrying the computer, listening to their favourite tunes while on a run in the form of an iPod. All Nike did was make a range of shoes that you could hide a tiny radio transmitter in and Apple added some software to the iPod to record the radio signal from the shoe. Then with the help of iTunes you could elect to upload your workouts to the Nike plus web application and presto you have an advanced running aid; available all over the world.

It has taken me over eighteen months to collect all the bits and pieced needed to utilise the system, but yesterday I got my first taste of the whole experience. A few too many beers the night before had me leaving my car at a good mate’s place for the night, and the next day it came time to collect it. After the customary hour of procrastinating – since I’d decided to run there – I was all set with iPhone, sensor and Nike+ shoes. 18 minutes and 39 seconds later I had navigated the 2.48 Km distance and cursed every single sausage roll and packet of chips consumed in the last 12 months.

The real magic occurred hours later, upon getting ready for bed that evening I decided to charge my iPhone by plugging it into the USB cable connected to my Computer. The customary iPhone synchronisation process was kicked off, but before long I was prompted on whether or not I wanted to upload my workouts to the web. Curiously I agreed and before long I was navigating the Nike plus web application and exploring what it had to offer. It took me a little while to work out which links where plain unadulterated ‘advertising’ and which links actually provided ways to analyse my run. At the end of my exploration I’d subscripted to a 12 week training routine to get me from “walk to run” and taken note that I’m scheduled for a 15 minute, 1Km walk tomorrow (well today).

I’m not so disillusioned to think that this one utility is the savour to all my physical conditioning problems. I understand that this tool is just as useful as a gym membership and just as pointless if unused. All the same I’m happy to try it out and with luck it will help me with my least favourite discipline (running) and hopefully force me in to some ongoing good habits ...

The problem with idolising Boys

This entry is more than a fortnight late and while I don’t apologise for the delay I do feel it loses a little bit of its bite. I hope to keep more up to date with my entries in the future. For the time being please humour me and cast your minds back not a week or even two, but around three to Grand Final and its lead up.

I was asked on the Saturday (Yes GF day – try and keep up) if I was disappointed ... with the Lloyd decision to retire. I grimaced and responded to be honest I’m more disappointed with the Hurley incident. It is ridiculous that I judge the single action of a nineteen year old boy during the post season the greater of two evil versus losing the clubs single greatest goal kicker – ever!

If you haven’t heard, Michael Hurley who’s teenage brilliance at both ends of the ground in the closing rounds of the 2009 season, was involved in an altercation that include the play book of don’ts. "Alcohol", "Police", "early hours of the morning" and "assault" where all words alleged in the articles and news clips reporting the incident. It was devastating to have one of the brighter shinning kids of the football club being consistently brought up in talkback radio and editorial’s in conjunction with Brendan Fevola‘s Brownlow night antics.

The only defence Essendon faithful have is that Hurley is a teenager and Fevola should know better. Despite the fact that Hurley is as young as they come it still doesn’t remove the fact that he has a strike against his name and depending on his actions for the next decade or more, it could haunt him forever.

I know I’m being a little melodramatic but a West Coast supporting friend of mine still grimaces when reading media stories about Ben Cousins and even Michael Gardiner. Instead of calling them Premiership player or All Australian respectively they are often tagged as ex-drug attic or disgraced ruckman, just for dramatic effect by editors trying to sell newspapers.

I will miss Lloyd and thank him as I did Lucas for over a decade of spectator-ing goodness, but just as the winds of change blow the shadow of a new era over Essendon FC. It will take the emerging brightness of kids like Hurley and Pears to eradicate that shadow and ensure the club’s star burns.

From all reports the incident was completely out of character and everyone, especially teenagers should be given the benefit of learning from their mistakes. I’ve already seen a glimpse of Hurley on the field and still - though a little nervously - look forward to his growth both on and off it in the red and the black for many years to come ...

2009 Grand Final Week Predictions

One hundred and eighty four games later and only two teams remain. Melbourne is a buzz with Grand Final week and talk back radio and news print is rifle with predictions of who will take out Season 2009’s grand prize.

I have to admit I'm a little surprised by the swing in favouritism for the flag from arguably the best team all year (St Kilda) to arguably the best team in the last three years (Geelong). In a final series that for the first time unfolded by the numbers, with each highest placed team defeating its opposition I’m not ready to rule out the Saints.

Statistically the Saints sport the best defence ever assembled in the history of the game only conceding a measly 1411 points during the season proper. That is a staggering 67 goals less than their grand final opposition. In addition no team has failed to win the premiership after winning the first 19 games of the season.

While statistics are interesting for analysis after the fact they give us little insight into what will actually happen. The real reason I favour the Saints is a combination of the amount of pressure they place on opposition teams collectively in partnership with their twin towers forward line.

Nick Revolt has had a sensational year and more importantly for any remaining naysayers a magical finals series. I still recall back in the early naughts when St Kilda was still rebuilding, a young blonde headed kid popping up to slot seven goal s over a then far superior Essendon outfit. In that particular match it was to no avail as the Dons easily accounted for the Saints but the warning signs that this kid could play where clear.

Premiers: The Saints by 12 points in an epic contest, the Cats to suffer from inaccuracy once again.

Norm Smith: Nick Revolt for a bag of three plus goals and an incredible last half work rate.

Brownlow Medallist: Leigh Montanga for a breakout season.

Brownlow Medallist Smoky: Mitch Clarke for an outstanding season as Brisbane #1 ruck ...

Coffee musings by the number

An acute reader would recall that I recently delved into the world of coffee having avoided it for most of my life. An innocently observed tweet of this brave new world and a friend called me up on my musing and - reading between the lines - threw down the electronic gauntlet.

So without further ado, here are my first official coffee musings:

#101: If it's gone cold but only a mouthful remains, don't do it, it's not worth it, throw it out!

#102: I'm quickly learning that the last cold mouthful of coffee in the morning is a necessary evil.

#103: There is coffee, and there is 'good' coffee

#104: A good Barista and good Coffee makes a nice Cuppa, can't have one without the other.

and as an added bonus ...

#105: Always treat the coffee cup lid with respect, a catastrophic failure is only ever an absent minded sip away.

To the argumentative among us I'm sure you're thinking that #101 and #102 are in direct contradiction. Whilst I concede this point I can only record my journey and I'm confident having shared the culture for as little as a handful of weeks you have to agree. That first cold mouthful seems like the worst decision ever yet come the next time when that last mouthful remains you take the same regrettable mistake ...

fun-ote 03

Marriage means commitment ... but then again so does insanity.

I got this from the an Australian forum, it was the post signature of The_Hawk and made me laugh

The Mac Way

There has been some media buzz in the Operating System space recently with consistent opinions and experiences of Windows 7 and the seventh release of Mac OS X making headlines. Version 10.6 or more commonly Snow Leopard has been seen by many as a service pack to the previous version and Apple have unofficially conceded this with a more than generous $AU39.00 price tag.

I personally got on board the Mac bandwagon in mid to late 2007 and while I technically received a copy of 10.4 (Tiger) with my iMac I took advantage of an upgrade offer on 10.5 (Leopard) and don't consider myself to have ever really used OS X 10.4 (Tiger). Almost two years on I'm very happy with the Mac OS X and recently performed my first clean system update. As a hands on technical type I followed the advice of fellow Apple geeks and instead of performing a simple wizard style clicking exercise I orchestrated a fresh Operating System install.

In a Windows based world the idea of installing the newer version over the older version is almost non existent so the typical upgrade path is to always perform a fresh copy. You typically copy all the files you think you'll need on to a spare HDD or neighbouring networked computer. You then proceed to format the drive and install the new OS. You then hunt down all the drivers you need for your hardware to work with the new OS along with regular software packages and finally copy back all the files from the spare HDD or locally networked computer. It's a long boring process and you are typically still changing default system setting to your own preferences weeks after the upgrade.

The Mac way takes the Windows way places a large piece of "get the hell out of here" down its throat and mercifully detonates it. While the full blown nerd way still comprises of formatting the drive and installing a fresh version of the new Operating System its the availability and simplicity of both third party and integrated tools that make the data migration process faultless. I'll concede that the process I followed was time consuming and tedious but I credit this to a fear of the unknown than to a problem with the process.

Outside of making a Time Machine backup (Apples own data recovery utility) I also made a separate bit for bit copy of my Mac's HDD on a bootable external HDD. Once complete I tested it by independently booting my system from this drive, seeing the exact files, application and preferences in action. Just for fun I even loaded it from my wife's Macbook Pro and it didn't even display a shadow of a complaint despite the underlying hardware and monitor resolution changing. I imagine Windows would have had a brain explosion at that point.

Once I had a working backup of my Mac; along with a secondary backup via Time Machine, I carried out the usual step of formatting and Installing the new OS. Now for the real magic once my install had completed I then used Mac's own Data Migration tool to start copying all the user settings and user data from my backup. In the end my old wall paper and all my system preferences where just as I'd left them. I was given the option to copy over applications but opted out of this preferring to install them fresh.

Brillant …

The Soloist

On my recent trip to Adelaide I was left with the better part of a full day to entertain myself, with limited resources I decided that a trip to the cinema was as good a solution to kill a couple of hours as any.

Besides bumping into Cale Hooker, Tayte Pears and Tom Bellchambers in the Cinema Foyer and yelling out encouragement for the then pending Footy final. I found myself in the next most interesting scheduled session. With little to pick from and having already seen District 9 and expecting to see some of the other candidates with my wife I settled on 'The Soloist'

The irony isn't lost on me that I found myself watching the Soloist alone. For the most part I've no issues with checking out a movie, event or even an interstate football final solo. There is a remarkable amount of freedom when you only has to consider their own whims and fancies and not require a general consensus before deciding on a course of action. Interestingly the movie did touch on some of these emotions which induced a little self reflection

Nevertheless I digress. The Soloist isn't my usual cinematic genre but given my selection criteria my expectations where non existent. Brilliant performances by Iron Man err … Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx made this a very compelling Drama that did captivate me at times. The dramatic undertones and serious characters did feel like attempts at getting nominated for the upcoming cinematic award season. As professional actors its in their best interest to get critical acclaim so it's hard to really fault Downey Jr or Foxx for this.

While I did enjoy the movie you would typically need to be in the mood for the themes this picture exposes the viewer too. Personally I'm probably only open to this heavy a movie half the time unless they can disguise the intellectual context behind thrilling or action packed sequences.

The other true marvel of this film is how Downey Jr can look so good all the time even in a random arrangement of hats ...

District 9

I'm horribly late with my thoughts on District 9 but given I sight a decent smattering of films at the cinema I wanted to pen my thoughts on any flicks I deemed worthwhile.

I should begin with the customary read at your own peril as while I'll make efforts not to provide any spoilers these thoughts are best read once you've seen and formed your own opinions.

It is a rare film these days that manages to not only introduce new IP but also stays under the buzz radar yet seem genuinely well financed. District 9 seems to have all the production values, special effects and attention to detail you would expect in an over hyped summer blockbuster. Yet only receive a week or two of promotion in comparison to what seems like months of over-marketing the large films bombard us with.

I'd actually already made my mind up to see District 9 prior to seeing any direct promotion of the film. I'd heard about it due to its link with Peter Jackson and the now debunked Halo Movie. The story goes that Microsoft had began early production on the Halo movie and while Peter Jackson was producing, Neill Blomkamp was to direct. Due to lack of financing the Halo movie project was canned and Jackson and Blomkamp decided to pursue alternative projects and settled on producing and directing District 9. Interestingly enough Blomkamp had never made a full feature fill but District 9 was both based of his short film 'Alive in Joburg' and some of the assets and early work they'd both started on the Halo movie. So naturally given my enthusiasm for the Halo universe even this loose coupling had be interested.

I found it a marvellous immersive world that mirrored and maybe even openly exaggerated some real world multi cultural challenges. It takes the audience on a pendular journey of prejudice. However I think it would equally entertain a team of football players as it would a room of scholars. It is brilliantly paced and wonderfully acted and a must see for any science fiction action fan.

If you don't mind a little senseless violence it is an excellent thinking mans social commentary and while I won't rate it as this isn't a review I do highly recommend it …

Wolves Premiers 2009

This years AFL advertising campaign was brilliant, dubbed "In a league of its own" and featuring the best players throughout the league running, crashing and bashing their way through a handful of sporting backdrops. It was backed up come finals time with the revised slogan "The hardest, fastest, fiercest finals series ever"

One thing is for sure, the Wolves of 2009 where in a league of their own! A keen observer might have browsed my post in early August about the pending finals series for my beloved fantasy football competitions.

In a marvellous feat or fantasy player management and brilliant tactical mastery I managed to walk away with both Dream team and FootyHero silverware. As a keen spectator of the game and a long term advocate of footy fantasy it was great to take out the top honours against some like minded enthusiasts.

The real challenge now is defending my premierships better than Hawthorns 2008 campaign ...