Annoying red devil

Another example of having too much time to find things on you tube that I found funny on tv.

Sydney Rd Food

A couple of weeks ago, I was told of a restaurant which served some of the best Middle Eastern food in Melbourne. Being located on Sydney Rd, Brunswick, that meant it had a lot to live up to, as this is a centre of Middle Eastern restaurants. Actually, the area really does feel like you are in another country, as the signs are mostly written in a mixture of Arabic and English.

This week some friends and I went to sample it. We went into the restaurant, and instantly I felt at home. It was like I was visiting the No Name in Long Xuyen with the furniture looking strikingly similar. However, there were a few give aways that made me realise this was not the case. No beer, no Vietnamese language, and the food was different, noticeably the lack of vegetables.

The service was interesting until Said spoke in Arabic. It wasn’t impolite though, just sort of indifferent. Well anyway after a bit of talk we ordered the recommendation. Little did I know, it was a lamb!

The lamb in question with a bit more salad then I remembered!

There were many different delicacies on the plate. Sausages, spicy chicken, and some lamb (just making things up now so look at the picture). There was some salad, and potato salad, yet why waste time on that. It was so good as you see below the contented faces of stuffed men. I felt like I was going to give birth to the lamb after the meal, like a phoenix meal deal.

Contented men.

On the way home after savouring the meal, I realised that I missing have choices of mains like in Vn and in this restaurant and I think variety is the spice of life.

Men are from Mars, etc.

Oh behave!

I think Austin Powers is a great movie series. I have to admit I was not so enthused about watching them originally yet after seeing the spy who shagged me I was captivated. In Goldmember some of you might remember the scene of the Japanese twins. Well that scene came flashing back to my mind recently as my friend introduced me to the best noodles in the world.

And a close up of the name. Pronounce however you wish.

And the classic memory from Goldmember that came to mind after looking at the noodle package.

Food prices

My phd thesis is studying about the effects of climate change mitigation strategies on food prices., even lthough, I haven't done much on it so far this month. So to alleviate that guilt, every now and then I decide to search for things on these issues.

I have found two reasons, beyond the fact that there is drought everywhere that matters, which are different.The first is the eco-religious view that our current way of life is just wrong and a sad excuse which is so implausible that it is laughable.

Are they for real?

Ay! Mi vida muy complicada

Last night I went salsa dancing and I felt like I was on the titanic. Slowly slipping below, and feeling numb with every beat in the song. I have started going to a new school in a hope to improve the amount of moves I know. This new school has a class just around the corner from work so it easy to get too. And, unlike the other class the male-female ratio is pretty even, so far.

The first class I go to is really basic, just can practice on adapting to a new style (it is a little different from the class I usually go to) and reinforcing the basics so that it becomes second nature. However the first time I went to the class next level up it was just a simple continuation of the first class.

Last night though it was about 4 really complicated semi-related sequences (they all started with the first same move and that’s were it ends). And worse it was fast. Then after class I felt demoralised as I couldn’t lead my partner into any of the moves. The last girl said she felt like she was playing the lottery with my random lead. I laughed it off knowing it felt that way for me too.

Beginner 2 Class (simple)

Beginner 3 Class (complicated)

I was wondering why this happened as prior to the last class, I was doing well. I also remembered the same thing happened on Sunday night. I don’t know what it is yet I think it is related to not feeling any tension in their arms, which makes it hard to feel the lead. From my perspective I tend to be a bit jerky and sometimes late on the lead adding to her confusion.

On the way home I was thinking I might give it up. I realised I have plateaued for about month, and it is becoming frustrating. Yet, I think the greatest contribution to that feeling was the busy day (actually month or two), the shoulder injury, lack of physical exercise (2 weeks now have been invalid), and friendship drama.

I do miss the simple life. Wake up, go for breakfast, go back to sleep, get up for lunch, watch AD, look at what to teach, realise that class starts in 5 mins and nothing is prepared, and for the millionth time this year play hang man. At 4pm realise that the class is bored of hangman so send them home early as you got the call to go to the NN or any other fine establishments in town and go on all night until 3am. Then recycle.

Yet as simple as that life is, it is not the secret to hapiness (I have read). It is the challenges that we face everyday that makes life enjoyable. Looks like I got some good times ahead :).

Inspiron 1720

It has been a busy week. Got a ton of energy stats dumped on me to decipher, and that job just keeps getting bigger the more I understand. Also, I injured myself playing sport and back to handicap status again, and I might have been dumped on the phone. As emotionally taxing all this is, something good happened this week. I got my work laptop.

Now this was ordered through Dell, an interesting setup. Order online in Oz, send payment, then they build it in Asia, and send it back to Oz. Cheap business model except they lost payment. So we had to organise a search party to find the missing payment yet once resolved things proceeded smoothly.

Now this baby has got everything. Webcam, super fast processor (2.4 GHz for you techies), more RAM than my first computer and a NES (4GB), a huge half terabyte of hard drive space (I never thought I would need more than 30GB 3 years ago) bluray DVD watching capability, wireless, Bluetooth stuff, and it goes on. Windows Vista is interesting, not as impressed with it as some people I know, however it does have some cool features, particularly the search. Yet what I like most is the screen, yeah baby 17 inches. Check it out below.

Life in Pictures - Degraves Lane

I usually go to get a coffee in the afternoon at a place called the quarter. It is located in a place called Degraves which is just off Flinders St and Flinders Lane opposite the best know icon in Melbourne - Flinders St Station. This place has great coffee/ chocolate and the staff are really friendly which makes it a nice highlight for the day. This poster amused me on the way one day, as I recall some late night discussions in the ER.

Road to nowhere

I had always thought that after graduating from my undergrad that engineering probably wasn't really that hard although I know that I would not have done as well as I did in business, I would have just gotten the degree. If I had passed and got to work on projects, and based on my lego experiences I would have built roads like these below.

Beyond the barrier

I like youtube. Although they do some silly things, there is a large variety of entertainment available. Hardly working early one evening I thought about the boxer Micky Ward and did a you tube search. There are quite a lot of his fights. I gotta say I love the intensity of this fight. Every round is just like a first round and it goes the distance (10 rds). The classic Ward-Gatti rumble is also there.

Photoshop Disasters

Somewhere, somehow, someplace, I came across the website Photoshop distasters. Having dabbled in the crop photo and red eye reduction features in photoshop I have found myself an expert in photo touchups with photoshop. I have been proven wrong. There is a whole bunch of things out there that I can do. Here are 3 of photos from this week I found interesting.

No matter how photogenic I am I will never look as good as the red, yellow, and purple clothed girls.

I am confused, two bodies, how many legs?

Great! A book that can teach me to make freakish photos with photoshop.

Aagggghhh

History was made Wednesday night. Against most of the statistics, Chelsea beat Liverpool. I am disappointed about that yet I am happy about the fact that Liverpool has broken their recent goalless curse at Stamford Bridge. To get over the loss, I have some funny pics to keep my spirits up as I wait for next year's tournament. Or maybe even the Euro tournament.