Merry Chickens

Hi all, sorry I havent posted for ages! Ok, I had better fill you in on
whats been happening, since I finished my exams, I havent thought about uni
at all. It's been the best feeling.. hehe.. But the results do come out
tomorrow, so I better not jinx it.
I've been working alot lately, which is good, cause I have money. I have
also spent alot of time just catching up with friends. It's been cool, and
apparently we are doing new years down at Rosebud, or my other option is
Marysville State Park.. I still havent decided.
I dont know if I wrote earlier about going to germany, but apparently there
is a study tour running at the end of next year for the second year PDE
students, so I cant wait to find out more info. I better start saving tho.
:)
I had my birthday, which was alot of fun. I am now officially 19. I had a
BBQ with a bunch of friends down at Jells Park, and it was cool just to hang
out for a while. Unfortunately, I dont have many photos to post up for that
one. As usual, we had a family dinner to celebrate my birthday on the actual
day, but because we were all so busy, we ended up having chinese. It was too
challenging to properly cook. hehe. As it turned out, we ordered way too
much food, and had left overs for a couple days!
The other major event that I feel I should write about is my confirmation. I
got confirmed into the Uniting Church, which I have been attending since I
was really little. Now it's official though, and before I got confirmed I
did a series of workshops. I may have written about them before. I have some
photos from the day, so I think I will post them up here.
Another church thing is the childrens advent workshops that we run every
year as a sort of outreach program. The aim of the program is to educate
children about the true meaning of christmas. Anywho, I've been helping out
with that, just supervising crafts and things like that.
Now that we are well and truely into the christmas season, we must spread
christmas cheer, and that means lots of happy shoppers at work... *rolls
eyes* It seems that people all need their christmas gifts early and they all
need the same things, we just cant get enough tamagotchi toys, or game
consoles. I was quite impressed when myself and Tim collectively sold four
XBOX ultimate packs in 10 mins! !!That's the power of a almost completely
commercially driven holiday these days!!
Anywho, I think I am just yabbering now. Catch ya laters, oh, and if i
forget... **MERRY CHICKENS** hehe
-Andrew

The whole family came to my confirmation, and Grandma came along too. 

Tina is another of the lay ministers, and she took the lead with the confirmation workshops.  

Tim and I just following the confirmation, with Ken, one of the lay ministers. 

** Happy Birthday to me ** hehe 

Exams... ARRGHH!!!

Long time no blog, ey? I have had a decent excuse though, exams... I've finished one exam, which went well I thought. I've two more exams to contend with, Maths and Electronic Systems. Both will be challenging, but Electronics has me more scared than maths.
Since last time I posted, I finished off a rendering folio for design, and quit my job at the post office. I'm just working at Kmart now, which is a lot closer to home, and a lot more enjoyable than the post office. Almost everyone at Kmart is my age, and they are really cool.
Today I went into uni to look over some past exams, which was kinda helpful. I have to study it more closely though. I need to stop playing sims 2! It's so addictive. I've made a couple custom sims, and so now I am trying to create the perfect neighborhood, filled with sims based on my friends. hehe. That's for after exams though... lol.
Anyways, untill next time,
-Andrew

Lamp down, exams to go

Today I handed in my lamp! It worked great and finished up really nicely. There is just one more thing to hand in for that subject, and then it's over. Design subjects dont have exams, thankfully. The other 3 subjects do have exams though, and are not going to be fun. All my exams will be done by my birthday, and I will be able to relax.

I still havent organised all my work things, my boss at the post office said she has to get back to me about my proposal to consolidate some of my shifts down to one or two. I should know by next week.

I attended the Wheelers Hill SC art show, it was alot of fun, and all the artwork was of a very high standard. It's good to see that the arts are so strong at my old high school. :)

-Andrew

Nearly there!

Today marks a milestone in the lamp saga, with all work being complete on the exterior, and now I can focus on the electrics inside the lamp. Only 2 more sleeps till it is due, and I get the feeling that they could turn out to be 2 very short sleeps! lol. I still have to make packaging for my lamp, so today at work I will have a look for some cardboard boxes, if I cant find any the right shape, I might have to modify one from some boxes we have at home. Mum will be glad if I manage to get rid of some of the cardboard cluttering up the garage. lol.
Right now I am on my way to work at the post office. Today I plan to ask my boss if I can consolidate some shifts so I don't have to travel so much. As it is at the moment, I travel 1hr each way to get there, which is ok while uni is going, but in the holidays, it seems kind of pointless travelling 2 hours a day just so I can work a 3 or 2 hour shift. So I hope it all works out ok.
Yesterday I had the last of my confirmation classes, and we plan to have the confirmation service on the first Sunday in advent. That would make it the 28th of November I think. Sometime around there anyway. Tim and I are getting confirmed together, but I'm not sure if Daniel will, he's still making up his mind about who Jesus is and what he did for us. So I think he could get confirmed later, maybe in the next group. We'll see how it all works out.
-Andrew

This is what the final product looked like just before I placed it into the box i modified for it.  

I used beads to soften the LED light source. 

Jaycar are LIARS

Well, it's Monday yet again, it is hard to believe that this is the last week of the semester! I can count my projects and tests on one hand, as the year winds up. It's a good feeling, but I am not looking forward to one of my exams. Mechanics of structures is not one of the funnest subjects, but my other 2 exams shouldn't be to bad. So as the year winds up, I am putting the finishing touches on my lamp project. This weekend I painted my lamp some more, and managed to get a color coat onto one part. I'm really happy with the color, and with all the layers of primer I sprayed on, the fnish is almost flawless. I think Dad is surprised at how much time goes into finishing and spraying every part. There is one more part that has to be made for my model to be complete, This is to be made from clear plastic, and this morning dad has gone hunting for the material to make it out of. I went hunting for the perfect variable resistor, but had no luck. I even called ahead to the electronics shop, and they said they would have them, but as soon as I got there, they all denyed having any knowlege of my phone call, and as it turns out, they don't have what I need. I was not very happy with that, but Dad recons he knows a place that sells ones like I need, and so he's going to have a look there later today.
-Andrew.

The mad rush.

Well, just under two weeks of Uni classes left, and someone has pushed the panic button. The past couple of days have been a blur of part time work, and assignments and wood shavings. Perhaps I should explain, I had my first shift at Kmart in my department, 'Sound and Vision'. It's really cool, we get to choose the music to play in the area where the cds are, instead of 'kmart radio' like the rest of the store. And also, we get to play with all the cool new expensive gadgets. Unfortunatly, a large portion of product from our department gets stolen, so we have to carefuly put security tags on everything, or put a dummy product on shelf. More thought goes into shoplifting prevention than I expected. I have another shift this coming Thursday.
Uni work is reaching fever pitch, and every week it seems we have assignments due in and tests to study for. My biggest assignment is my lamp, I've posted some concept illustrations up here before. Now I am working on building a working model out of HDF, it's very time consuming, but it's going well, and the results are impressive. I'm really quite lucky to have a Dad who can help me out with this kind of thing. Dad has worked on it with me, and I've learned a lot about how to use the lathe that Grandpa owns. At the same time, at uni we have been completing a unit of work about internal strains and stresses, and I can just imagine the stresses we are placing on the wod to shape it correctly! One part broke off, but is able to be fixed, another part also snapped off, but will be harder to fix. I'll try and post some photos.
I've also been going to these confirmation classes for church, which have been interesting, and I think my confirmation will be fairly soon, though a date hasnt been set,
-Andrew

Verners in Melbourne!!

I have some very exciting news, yesterday I visited a specialty lolly shop, which Andrew told me about. Andrew said he saw root beer in the window, and when I went into the store, they had sold out! The storeman did have cans of Verners available though, for $3 a pop. The shop is on Glenferrie road, just up the road from my post office. It's yuppie central there, so I wasnt surprised at the prices of candy. Hershy's products, milk duds, and reeces peanut butter cups were also for sale. I couldnt spot any tootsie rolls, but I'm sure the could find them for you. I'm so excited that I found a place in Melbourne stocking our favourite goodies from the US, and it's just around the corner from uni too! When I am feeling rich, I shall buy som goodies from there. I cant wait till root beer gets stocked again!
-Andrew

Howard's back.

The big news this week is that John Howard has returned for a fourth consecutive term in office. Our local member is Jason Wood, it's his first term. Jason even managed to get his photo in the paper above the fold, along with the PM. I imagine he would be pleased. The Liberal party also scored a majority in the upper house, so people are nervous that they will be able to pass any bill they want. The next couple of years should be interesting.
A little closer to home, Dad is helping me out with my model lamp. We have bought all the wood we need, and Dad has started laminating it together. Hopefully on thursday Dad can teach me how to turn it properly on the lathe at Grandpa's house. The wood we are using is high density fibreboard, or HDF. I have used MDF (medium density) before, and thought we should use that, but dad says that HDF will be easier to turn. It sure is alot heavier!
Last night I was 'squired' into rovers. It's kind of like being welcomed offically to the crew, then after you complete training, you are invested, and become a full member. Judging by how long it has taken to be squired, i'm not holding my breath to be invested. There are a few activities I have to complete before then.
The weather here is turning hot, the past few days have seen 30 degree days, and a hot north wind. There is alot of pollen in the air, and i hear quite a few sniffles on the train.
Only 2.5 weeks left of school! (but who's counting?) I spend so much of my time at uni or working on uni projects, I dont know how I will fill the holiday time. Maybe I should take up running, or fix up my bike and go cycleing more often. I realised how unfit I have become last sunday, when I got puffed out from walking 200m up a steep hill. I blame my car, it has stopped me from walking as much as i used to. lol.
-Andrew

Friday again!

The rest of my week went past like a flash! Every day this week I had something due in. It has been annoying to not be able to go outside and enjoy the sunshine. I like this time of year, because its warm and sunny, but not too dry and boiling hot! Anyways, I guess the countdown to my birthday is on, I've got a little over a month to wait until I turn 19. Some of my friends recon I should have a party, but I cant decide if I actually want to organise one. One suggestion involved going clubbing then having a meal in the McDonalds party room. lol. That would be so funny. lol. I'm not sure I want to drag a bunch of drunk friends to an organised gathering at maccas. lol... anyway, I'll see how it goes.
Tomorrow is the Australian election. It will be interesting to see who wins. It will be the first time I have voted, so it is very exciting. The only problem is that I havent decided who to vote for. According to something I heard on the radio, I am not alone. More than a million voters havent decided yet, I bet that makes the polititions nervous. lol. I'll keep you posted on the election results,
-Andrew

Back to school

Well back to school again. After one day, I feel really drained. Maybe I need to get some more rest, I seem really tired. Only 4 weeks left, then some exams. So that will be fun. lol. Nothing much else to report, Peter and Phil went back to school too.
Until next time,
-Andrew

Holidays just flew past

WOW! Where did the holidays go?! I've been so busy, but still I dont seem to have worked on much homework. Some of the highlights of this week include starting work at Kmart. I think it will be harder than I expected to keep up with 2 jobs and uni. depending on how many Kmart shifts I get, I may have to leave the post office. I dont know what I will do...
Anyways, another highlight of this week is that I managed to create aa computer model of my lamp. I still have to work on another mock up though.
Today I have to clean my room, so I can find my maths assignment.

Grand Final day

For those of you who are unaware, this weekend footy fever hit Melbourne. The last game of the season was played at the MCG today, and Adelaide won. I don't really follow the footy much, but we took the oppertunity to spend an evening at Nyssa's place with her family. It was really nice. I have not posted any news lately, but some of the highlights of the past week include going to the wheelers hill hotel to see 'the machine' play. I had never heard them before, but they played a good variety of music. Friday night, Mandy, Cameron and I went to Shana's 19th birthday party. Shana studys product design with me at swinburne, so there were couple other uni people there too. After Shana's party, we went to the village green, so it was nice to catch up with people from wheelers hill.

Grand Final day

For those of you who are unaware, this weekend footy fever hit Melbourne. The last game of the season was played at the MCG today, and Adelaide won. I don't really follow the footy much, but we took the oppertunity to spend an evening at Nyssa's place with her family. It was really nice. I have not posted any news lately, but some of the highlights of the past week include going to the wheelers hill hotel to see 'the machine' play. I had never heard them before, but they played a good variety of music. Friday night, Mandy, Cameron and I went to Shana's 19th birthday party. Shana studys product design with me at swinburne, so there were couple other uni people there too. After Shana's party, we went to the village green, so it was nice to catch up with people from wheelers hill.

Holidays

The grass is green (in comparison to how it was 6 months ago), and the birds are singing. The sun is shining and the world is a happy place. (well, my little part of it) So far this holidays, I have managed to avoid school work almost all together. I have been focussed on cleaning and work. On Saturday I completed the online training I have to do before my first shift at K-Mart. It took me almost 5 hours to complete! Then on Sunday, after church I spent the day figuring out what I can get rid of from my computer. I found this very productive, and I lined up many DVDs that I had to burn, as well as distributed alot of my media files onto the other computers on the network. I wish I had a DVD burner like on dad's computer, so I can burn 4700MB onto a disk, rather than the 750MB I can do on my machine. I guess I'll have to save up and get one. :-) Monday I spent most of the day burning disks, and managed to half the amount of data on my hard disk. Which I thought was quite an accomplishment. It made me think about how far computers have come since I have been using them. I remember when we got our first 1GB hard disk, and now I think nothing of burning 4 times that amount onto a DVD. It's amazing. So that was a nice trip down memory lane. I also saw my good friend, Sravan, on monday afternoon. He's visiting Melbourne on his Uni holidays, but will have to return to Adelaide in 2 weeks. Today I plan to spend the morning burning a couple more DVDs that I missed yesterday, and then go to work at the post office. This evening I have rovers. I think we have a games night teamed against another crew.

Finally the holidays!

Well, I just got out of my last day of Uni. Well, for 2 weeks anyway. hehe. The school holidays should be filled with fun and laughter, but will probably be one really long homework session. I'd better clean my room too, so I can find my mechanics of structures textbooks. The next step will be to actually read them! Tonight I'm off to the Village Green as usual, but this is the last week of the for the holiday to NZ. Cameron, Mandy and Mirriam formed a team, and now we have to get as many people to come along as we can. Each remaining team will be doing the same, so the place will be packed! Will be fun. :)
-Andrew

I survived another *almost* all night effort to complete my mock ups. They all look good, but I think I need more sleep. hehe. I have posted some photos of my concept artwork incase anyone is interested. 

Concept 3, Chosen for refinement 

Concept 2 

Concept 1 

MSN is the devil!

MSN messenger is so distracting. Last night I was distracted by it for 3 hours while I was supposed to be working on mock ups. It also didn't help that the OC was on TV, so I watched that too. Last nights episode introduced Hayley, who is Seth's aunt. She is a trouble maker. lol.
Not much other news from here, except that Mum and Dad are going to parent teacher interviews for Peter and Phil this afternoon. It could be an interesting evening. hehehe.
-Andrew.

What DID I do today?

Hmm, not a whole lot actually. LOL. I missed my train on the way to Uni so I was 15 mins late. Once I finally got to Uni, I had one lecture, then I had to wait around for 2.5 hours until I started work. I didnt mind, and I used the time to work some more on rendering my concepts. Tonight I have to construct some elevation views and also make several working mock ups of my concepts. These are used alot just as form studys.
Anyways, I had better get to it, :)
-Andrew

Mandy and I 

Happy 19th Birthday Helen! 

What a weekend

Hey all, just a quick post to let you know that my weekend was really good. I went to the Village Green on Friday night, which was really fun, then afterwards we all went to maccas. It was cool, cause we all got free Smirnoff stubbie holders from the promotions girls. :) This friday is the last week of the Eliminator competition, so everyone has to come along, and use free passes that say TEAM 7!
On Saturday, I spent the day searching high and low for innovative materials to make my lamp from. Finally we found something that kinda looks the same... :) We had to goto a specialist teddy bear shop to get this plastic though.
Saturday night i had two parties to attend, one was to celebrate Jess's 19th birthday, and the other was for Helen's 19th birthday. I ended up staying the night at Helen's place along with a bunch of other people. Was kinda fun.
Sunday afternoon I attended Melissa's Queen Scout presentation. I read the opening prayer, and the whole ceremony was good.
Today seemed to be a nice change of pace as I returned to school. All my lectures went well today, even if math was a bit boring. hehehe.
Tonight I am working on some concepts for my lamp. I can't stick around, I have to get back to work! :)
-Andrew

Finally Friday

Uni insists on wrecking all the good days of the week, a couple Sundays ago we had the expo. That punched a massive hole in my day. And now they have to go and wreck my Friday, by scheduling a lab assesment in the morning, followed by a math test! I will be glad when today is over and I can catch up on some sleep.
This weekend should be fun, Melissa has her queen's scout presentation. I will be reading a prayer at the begining and maybe talking about some of her badges that we earned together. Also this Saturday night I have been invited to Helen's 19th birthday party. I used to go to school with Helen, so it will be a nice oppertunity to hang out with the gang from high school. I'm looking forward to it, the problem is that it looks like it could be another late night, so I had better do alot of sleeping to make up for it hehehe.
Anywho, I had better go, after today, I have one week left of Uni classes. After next week, We have a 2 week break, which I will probably spend most of working on projects. Or working at my new job at Kmart. The build up to christmas is heading twards us like a freight train, so I gotta keep just one step ahead of it!
-Andrew
ps: I recieved an e-mail last night advising me that I was not selected for the SWY cruse. That's a bit of a dissappointment, but maybe I can go somewhere with the family now, or do the NCYC convention in Adelaide. We will see what happens.

Blue and Foamy

I'm sitting on the train, beside me is a chunk of blue foam anout twice the size of my school bag. Fortunantly, it isn't nearly as heavy as my bag. Today, everyone in our our class had to make a short presentation about the cafe they chose to research. Everyone's style boards looked excellent, and most presented well. For next week, we have to complete three concepts, with working mock ups. This explains why I am sitting on the train, with a very large chunk of toxic blue foam, and people are looking at me funny. hehe. I cant wait to make my mock ups, it will be so fun! I guess we will see how it goes with my concept presentations first. I plan to use resin in one of my lamps to dispurse the light, but I need to find somewhere that sells it, that could be a problem...
-Andrew

Umm, yeah...

Today was definantly 'one of thoes days'. And it started out so well too... I got marks back for a couple assesed tasks, the first went better than expected, with a score of 14.5 out of 20. (that should just about offset my poor performance in the previous test.) The second assignment I got back today was much better, with a score of 3 out of 3. It wasn't until tom's electronic lecture that I realised exactly how tired and run down I am feeling, I had trouble staying awake!
After school I had work, and from there it all went a little pear shaped. Maybe it is cause I was tired, but my supervisors were unusually grouchy today. Perhaps Kamala missed her afternoon coffee. Her and Raya always seem to be fighting about one thing or another. On the up side, I did collect my pay today.
Kamala can't understand why I never take any of my pay as cash and insist on direct deposit to my account. Cash is almost dead, don't you agree? And it is harder for me to spend money if i don't have change lying around. lol.
Tonight I think I will sleep early and see how I feel tomorrow.
-Andrew

Stamp me

There is a lot to be said for e-mail. For one, you dont have to stamp it, and it arrives instantly without human input. These are the words of a man who just spent 3 hours applying stamps to corperate accounts. Now that I think about it, it would be rather difficult to e-mail a prospectus to all your shareholders. I'll let you all know when I manage to wash off all the stamp glue.
Today I came to uni early, to work on some electronics questions with some of the guys. We managed to get them almost all done, with just a couple of parts I will have to ask dad about. It's really cool that dad can usually help me out if i get stuck. Mum thinks he's more into some of the projects than I am at times. lol. I spent some time today before work doing some quick thumbnail sketches. I have one more page to do, as well as some models to make. I should see if i can get some blue foam, but i don't return to prahran until thursday, and that is the day they are assesed. I will make some card models instead, or i could try some mini clay ones, it's just to play with form.
-Andrew
ps: sorry again to thoes people who were commenting appropriately.

No more anon posts

Sorry to all the people who were using the anon posting options responsibly, but due to a select few users abusing the right to post without a username and password, I have removed this feature. You can still Post comments if you are a member of blogger.com Membership is free, so I urge everyone to sign up. If you sign up for an account, please advertise your new blogger address to the world by leaving a comment on this post.

-Andrew

Monday-itus

Monday, the start of a new week! I'm already running a little late to my first lecture, perhaps i should have gone to bed earlier.
Yesterday, Matt was presented with his queen's scout award. It was also fathers day. I think Matt enjoyed combining the two events, so we could see the entire faimy. It was great to see most of the cousins in attendance.
I spent most of the day on Saturday researching lamps and lighting fixtures for my next major folio. Saturday night, our family participated in a trivia night to support the scouts. Our table came second last, only beating the table with the 'scouts' on it. Most of the trivia questions were from the 1930's, so I guess the youth tables could have expected to place last.
Sunday morning, Barbara left for her world vision ambassidor trip to Ethiopia. I hope it all goes as planned.
I spent most of Sunday helping out at the queens scout presentation.
....
4.45pm
Just handed in my maths assignment. he didnt give me a new one to work on, so I guess i should spend the time brushing up on unit 1 and 2 before the test on Friday. Today I got a start on some thumbnails for my lamp. I need to do 5 pages by Thursday, as well as 3 'style boards'. lol, maybe i will have to cut out some of my msn time!
Anyways, happy fathers day to all the dads out there.
-Andrew

Another day another dollar

Yesterday's interview with the team at K-Mart proved to be worthwhile. I was offered a casual position over christmas. The seemed keen to have me, because my uni holidays begin during the lead up to christmas. I am looking forward to starting there. The manager who interviewed me said that they will try and place me in the audio visual department. That is right up my alley!
In other news, I am planning to go and see a band play tonight. they mainly do covers, but they are reasonibly good. (www.hysterialive.com) It will be fun because it is a good excuse to see all my friends from school.
-Andrew

Major folio 1 complete!!

Well, I am on my way home from University. Thursdays are my 'design' days. I have a studio class and a lecture. Todays lecture was all about how to present to a group. We had a chance to practice our newly aquired skills during the studio class. Everyone had to submit their major folio today, the task was to create a pop up book. Each student had to present their final work to the class. My pop up was based around the interior of a train. Many others were inspired by buildings or animals.
Actually getting my work prepared for submission took me almost all night. I got about 1 hour of sleep. The main thing is that it is over. My next project is to create a cafe table lamp, I am looking forward to working on it. This afternoon I plan on taking a nap, then I have a job interview with K-Mart. I hope I can pick up some extra shifts over my school break.
-Andrew

Stupid trains!

I arrived at the station this morning expecting to be able to catch the city bound train scheduled for 7.44. Upon my arrival I saw a train leaving the station. I checked my watch, 7.35am, the train was on time. I made my way down to the platform, expecting to be able to catch my 7.44 only to find that the next train arrived at 7.51!! My train must have been cancelled, not that there were any announcements from connex on the issue. Luckily I had a timetable on my palm, so I could plan an alternate route. (The 7.51 went express past Glenferrie station)
Anyways, yesterday's study on structures is about to be tested, through one of 3 tests. I hope it goes well. The last test we had was very challenging.
Last night's progressive dinner was alot of fun. We had soup at Brendan's place, then moved to Tim's house for a main of chicken with this yummy potatoe and veggie mix. We all moved on to have dessert at the hall.
Today's plans include work, that stupid test, a couple tutorials and frantically completing my folio for submission tomorrow. I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a late one! .... Maybe I should pick up some V to keep me going. LOL.
-Andrew.

Tuesday

I begin my tuesday mornings with a drive to school. Most other days I catch the train, but my job at the post office means they may need me to go pick up mail, so I need my car. Tuesday nights also means rovers, and tonight's activity is a progressive dinner. We start with an entree at Brendan's place, and continue on from there.
Other things I have planned for today include some study for 'Mechanics of structures' and finishing off my pop up book design folio. I also have a electronics lecture, which I am on my way to as I type.
Anyways, till next time...
-Andrew.

My first post!

I decided it would be a decent idea if i started blogging, just so people know what's going on with my life. This is my first post, just trying to figure out the whole system, but this seems pretty cool.