On my our trip to the United States in '93 my girlfriend and I both came down with the flu and consequently spent a week in bed in a hotel just off Times Square.  With 80 channels of cable and nothing to watch I ended up watching a lot of C-Span which thankfully wasn't showing congressional committee meetings but instead the first Hubble repair mission.  I was mesmerising watching those guys doing the spacewalks.  Sure it's a pain when they take 15 minutes to undo a screw and count the revolutions of their cordless drills and relay it to Houston but I still love it.  After an hour or so I had to go back to the community access channel and catchup with the crazies - there was one guy I loved decked out in the full Jewish regalia standing at a lectern haranging the New York Times editorials - or as he called them "The New York Nazi Times".  I learnt a lotta stuff that week.

These days I just go to Nasa TV for my fix and lately I've noticed that Nasa is being more 'open' -- for example when the shuttle crews first enter the ISS after docking there's lots of laughs and hugs and so forth - The ISS crews have spent a couple of months alone in a tin can so you'd expect that.  Normally Nasa TV has someone doing a voiceover while this happens - tonight though we had audio!  Nice change., especially since there were lots of plumbing gags going around.  (see story)  I liked it when the first words said through the newly opened hatch were "are you the guys who called for a plumber?".

One thing I've noticed before from photos taken on the Shuttle and in use tonight -- a lot of standard-issue kitchen timers.  Nice to see some low tech earth gear being used up there.  It reminded me of the story about the million dollar pen allegedly developed by Nasa when the Russians just used pencils.  That's right, allegedly, because it seems that it never happened!  

Ever since I discovered the Prairie Home Companion I've become strangely interested in all things Minnesota - here's one more: Mission Specialist Karen L. Nyberg.  And she's a mechanical engineer too  - gotta love nerdy-yet-hot Minnesotan women!  I think there's some Nybergs up near Lake Wobegone if I'm not mistaken.

Can I give the Carlisle Castle a big plug?  The food is excellent, the guy from Oscillate Wildly has taken over the kitchen and the grub is first class.  Gnocchi to die for ditto seafood pasta.
It's a good little pub that I used to pass by in favour of the Courtie but this review in the Herald got me to embrace change:
"The Carlisle Castle Bistro is the latest venture for Ross Godfrey, owner of nearby Oscillate Wildly. Chef Michael Carter knocked around a few of Sydney's hatted restaurants, as well as London's famed St John Restaurant."
Having eaten at Oscillate back when you could have a booking in a mere six weeks I scuttled around there pronto and was not disappointed.  A and I now have a semi-regular Thursday night nosh-up there.

Saw Death of a Salesman at the Seymour last night.  First time for me never having read it or seen it and I liked it.  I've always liked American Lit. but only as an interested onlooker.  When I was a moody teenager I devoured it all, the usual suspects Keroac, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald etc.
Sean Taylor and Jackie Weaver did a masterful job as did Anthony Gooley as Biff.

After a lot of cussin' I finally got this cool photo library plugin working.  It neatly pulls photos from my Flikr account.  FuLy siK bro.
It uses a thing called Silverlight which is a bit like Flash.  You might have to do a little download but I think it's worth it, and not just for my crappy photos.  A lot of biiig sites are gunna be using it Real Soon Now.
The renovation photos are first cab off the rank but more will be forthcoming, I promise.

I must say I don't like it when people buy perfectly charming semis and terraces and then bury them beneath monstrous carbunkles, covering nearly the whole plot.  In our beautiful climate 90%+ of their space is indoors.  No wonder the nation is stacking on the kilos.

A couple of doors up from me this has happened.  Their poor neighbours to the south have virtually no direct sun anymore.  The exterior is an almost windowless cube covered in miniorb.  Why didn't they just cut to the chase and buy a McMansion?  Or an apartment?  (If I may be permitted to indulge in some smug self-satisfaction, my renovations will leave the house slightly smaller and the garden bigger.)

Do they teach architects these days to go out of their way to make spaces unlivable?  Remember Railway Square before the 'Lympics?  Sure it had a green bus shelter aesthetic happening but there were plane trees and seats and good old-fashioned galvo protection from the sun.  The SPF factor of galvo is considerable.

Now there's just a glass roof so you can get fried while you stand up waiting for the bus.  Progress... pah!

A couple of months ago I was telling a friend that my father and stepmother were coming to stay.  He asked: "Where are they going to stay?  In this building?"  At first I thought this choice of words might be due to the fact that English isn't his mother tongue but he's too fluent for that.  Sure things are a bit chaotic at the moment but it's still habitable if you're not too fussy about things like floors, walls and ceilings.

"Building" has been added to my personal lexicon.  "We can meet at my building", "I'm cleaning the building" etc. are now common phrases.

I've been hosting people through couchsurfing.com for a couple of years now although the renovations have limited it somewhat lately.  I'm also registered with warmshowers.org - a similar site for cyclists.  Here's my profile: http://www.couchsurfing.com/people/jollyswagman

A lot of people think having strangers to stay is a bridge too far but my experiences have been great.  I get to travel without leaving home and after a few days they head off for more adventures, often keeping in touch &/or blogging so I can tag along.  Richard and Di are a good example.  Di is the funniest writer, it must that northern thing.  I have a theory that the further north you go in England the more like Aussies people become - less moany, tougher, more fun.  Not to say I don't love the southerners - they're special people (not special in a retarded way OK).

Here's a clip that should explain everything:

Tomorrow I'm going to cash in my ticket to Paris.  I lose $700.
It's just the wrong time to go what with the renovations and that.
We booked 8 months ago when the ex and I were still together.  
We were going to be there for the Tour and maybe to see Cadel win.
At least I have SBS and Mike Tomilaris.
And this poster:

OK this is my first entry and I'm not sure whatI'm going to write about or where this will go but who cares?

Some of my current interests include:

• Renovating my house - exhausting but rewarding - here are the photos.
• Nerdy stuff - only to a certain extent though... I work as a software developer and I love it but I prefer the real world.
• Newtown - OK technically I live in Camperdown but I'm about 15 metres from the border and when you say Camperdown people mishear and think Campbelltown (eww) or they think apartment blocks and home reno stores
• Cycling - not getting much time for that lately (see point 1 above). 

I really like cycle touring and have done a bit here and there.  Here's a map of my European trips.  The latest trip (the blue line) was logged by GPS so if you zoom in it shows every wobble and every time I got lost...

and last but certainly not least la belle France - coz I've spent a bit of time there mostly riding my bike througfh their glorious countryside

For more fascinating insights vist my about me page.  Toodle-pip!