Ballooning

Tapware technical details

Tapware Project

The Auction Dinner

Reflections: Week 5

Last week was week five of semester. There are 12 weeks in each
semester, so we are nearly half way through. This is a really scary
thought in itself, but is made even more scary because we will have
assignments and tests very soon. I'm not sure how I will cope. The
majority of this week was spent working on my tapware project. Linda
showed me how I should render my images using PhotoWorks and I made some
smexy layouts in illustrator. I spent some time over the weekend working
on some of the more technical aspects of the faucet, including
engineering drawings.
One of the highlights of the week was going back to regular 18 plus
meetings on a Monday night. I didn't realise how much I missed everyone
from the group until after I had not seen them for a month! So it was
great to be able to catch up with everyone and just spend some time
together.
Another highlight was that on Wednesday I went to see "The Lake House"
with Chris and Brendan. (Brett was supposed to come along too, but
dipped out at the last minute.) We went to the usual place, in Boronia,
and had the theater to ourselves again. I want to encourage everyone
reading this to support their local independent cinema next time you
visit the movies. (www.metroboronia.com.au I think...) The actual film
was quite well done, but at times a little difficult to follow. One of
it's main themes is one of a second chance. Everyone has a second chance
at everything in life. It made me think a little about how this is
reflected in my life.
On Thursday, I had a really full on day at uni. Mauris, Evan and I spent
quite a bit of time on our idea for the retail design project. Our tea
lights will look so smexy! hehe After uni, Fred and I hung out a bit and
had dinner at this place near the Prahran market followed by yummy hot
chocolates. It was such an enjoyable break from the every-day busyness
of my life.
Saturday was the day from hell. I started work at 6am in the city, then
drove straight from there to Kmart to work another six hours. By the end
of that I was quite tired, but my day couldn't end there. I went to the
Ferntree Gully Uniting Church auction dinner which I was helping to
organize. The evening went really well, raising over $1000 for our
church. Heather and I were very surprised and happy. I bought a trip on
puffing billy with lunch included, which I think I will give to Dad for
fathers day.
The auction dinner was a little stressful on another level. It was the
first event where Mum and Dad were there as well as Chris's Mum, Janet.
I think it went fairly well, considering that I didn't give Mum and Dad
any warning. I think it was good for Mum especially to be able to have a
chat with Janet. I hope things become a little easier for Mum and Dad.
Sunday morning I had ballooning work in the city again. It was a really
windy morning so I found it difficult to get photos of both balloons. I
was so angry with myself. After work, I spent the rest of the day
helping get the house tidy for Tim and Marion's engagement party. I
almost got run over with the wheelbarrow when I was trying to take mulch
up the driveway though. LOL.
Sunday night was X-worship, so Chris and I helped out with the sound
system. (Chris did most of the work, I just suggested adjustments
really.) It was an awesome worship, and gave us the opportunity to catch
up with Di and Russell. Di mentioned that her work is hunting for
designer desk lamps at the moment, so I am on a mission to find some
funky lamps... any suggestions would be welcome. =)

The run away

At what point do you stop "staying at a friends house" and start "living
with" your friend? This is a perplexing question which I have been
pondering for a short time. Is the answer simply wherever you spend more
than 50% of your 'home' time? Is it more than that?
Life is always such a puzzle.
I've probably told most people in person or on MSN, but the excitement
of this week has been the prospect of getting a new car. (Well, second
hand, but new to us...) The one Chris and I are considering is a SAAB
1998 model which was first registered in 2000. The owners live in
Sydney, but are moving overseas and need to sell their car. It's hard to
say if you want to buy a car having just seen photos of it, but Chris is
fairly convinced. (I'm becoming convinced too, and I'm always such a
skeptic.)
Dean kindly offered to go and check out the car for us, as well as
complete some of the paperwork. Last night we visited Drew and Dean to
try and organize things a little further. After speaking with Dean, I am
so glad that he knows what he's doing! It sounds like there is so much
stuff you have to worry about when you buy a car privately that it
barely seems worth it. Chris and I are so lucky that Dean and Drew know
what they are doing. Anyway, maybe this time next week I might be
driving a roadworthy car??!! Very exciting.

Avanda MANstone

Avanda MANstone was a huge hit at MARB 2006. (And with legs like that, who wouldn't be?)

Happy 21st birthday Anthony

Photo Backlog.

Ok, so I have been really slack about posting photos lately... so now I am going to catch up. Here are a bunch of photos from the past couple of weeks.
There's one of me when I opened my MacBook. Then there are a couple of photos from Preeti's 21st pirthday. I also have a couple from Anthony's 21st birthday party.

MARB 2006

MARB 2006 was last night, the theme for the annual ball was "a night of
elegance". I went in a very elegant dress that Linda and Diana helped me
choose out. I got all frocked up, and there is a slide-show to prove it!
I have to send big thank-yous to Linda, Diana, Cori, Brendan, Liam,
Chris, Di, Robyn and Jess. (Hope I didn't forget anyone!) Anyway, enjoy
the slide-show!

Week 4?

I think uni is up to week four, but I am not 100% sure. I guess that
time flies when you're having fun. One of the highlights for this week
was that the entire class got an extension without even asking for one.
(That's impressive.) So now the Reece Bathroom Innovation folio is due
in on the 30th, instead of the 23rd. I'm really glad that we have been
given the extra time to complete the project properly, otherwise mine
was going to be very last minute.
Last night I had to work at Kmart. I started at 6pm, and at this time of
year, that means driving to the store in twilight. This would not have
been a problem, except that the wiring in my car is not working
properly, and so the lights didn't register as being turned on, even
thought they were. There are a couple things this means..... the first
is that I have no tail lights (which even though it makes my car
un-roadworthy, is manageable) The second thing that shorts out is the
lights on the dashboard, and the beeper that tells you when you have
left your lights on. (And we all know how hopeless Andrew is without his
gadgets beeping at him)
I left my lights on. My battery went flat. My car was slowly dying. Is
it a sign that Bruce should be replaced? Chris is trying to convince me
that Bruce is trying to tell me to buy a 1998 SAAB we saw on the
internet. It's about $10,000 under the red book price, and has really
low kms. Very tempting, but I think that we should probably just get
Bruce repaired. Decisions, decisions. It's a SAAB 95 SE, and has leather
everywhere. =) It has dual zone climate control, manual transmission and
comes with a roadworthy. (And I'm sure the beeper saying you left the
lights on works too...)
ok ok, I can hear everyone saying "enough about the car already!" So
lets move on...
This week I have quite enjoyed spending time with Cori and Jim. Chris
and I went to their place on Wednesday night for dinner. It was most
enjoyable, and lots of laughing happened (which is always a good thing)
Uni has been quite enjoyable as of late, but I feel that maybe things
are getting too busy. I think I may be letting my engineering subjects
slip while spending too much time in design related subjects. It's a
worry. I guess I will have to find a balance before the end of the year.
The one good thing is that there will only be two exams at the end of
this semester, as opposed to four at the end of last semester.
Anyways, I should probably stop babbling. I am going to try and post
some photos really soon. I have a backlog of ones I want to share.

Wow! It's windows..... On a MAC!!

Well, this last week has been slack and busy at the same time. (If thats
possible) Slack in that I don't feel like I have done anything for uni,
and busy in that I don't feel like I have had much of a chance to rest
up and have a breather.
There have been a couple of highlights this week, the first of which is
that I finally finished re-writing my resume and cover letter for Apple
Computer in California. I sent it off to a contact that my Mum's second
cousin gave me. Apparently he goes to the gym with her husband or
something. (So you can see there is a strong connection there!) Anyways,
she seems really nice, and said she would read over my resume over the
weekend and let me know what she thinks. I hope she will be able to put
it into the hands of the right people.
I also worked a lot on my application to Ford Australia for their IBL
program. It's nearly finished, and will be submitted sometime this week.
The cut-off date is on Sunday. (All PDE people reading this should apply!)
Another highlight from this week is that I went to Andrew and Liz's
engagement party on Saturday night. It was a fantastic night, and I
really had fun. I have never heard anyone quite analyze m&m's th same
way as Liam and Brendan did that night. LOL. (I will never look at the
bag of mixed m&m's the same again!)
The third, and perhaps most impressive, highlight of the week is that
Russell and Di helped to get windows working on my new MAC! It's using a
new program called Paralells, and it runs windows faster than most
laptops I have ever used. (Should I say, it is faster than Dad's desktop
at home...) So now I can run SolidWorks in windows, then alt-shift back
to mac OS whenever I like. It's awesome, and has really impressive
transition animations too, but I guess that is not the most important
thing. The most important thing is that SolidWorks finally works.
Russell also put the MAC versions of PhotoShop and Illustrator onto my
notebook, so now I can actually do something productive when I am
playing with my laptop at uni. (Not that I was being un-productive
before... lol)
Another highlight for the week happened just last night, Anthony's
surprise 21st birthday. Anthony's girlfriend organized everyone (family,
old friends, new friends and uni people) to come along to Sofias in
Burwood for dinner. I don't know how surprised Anthony was, especially
after he saw us all through the window from the carpark, but the night
was really fun. I kinda like being able to take the time to socialize
with friends outside of the normal routine.
Anyways, I think I have blabbed enough for one post.... I will try and
put some more photos up soon... Cya

John and Jeff's new place

Thought for the day.

MEME, taken from Mark D. Warren's blog.
We all have friends who have things we envy - and not necessarily
materialistic. So leave a comment saying what you find envious about me,
then repost this in your journal so I can say what I find envious about you!

Week Two

Well, it's the end of the second week of university classes and i still
feel totally unprepared for the semester ahead. I've had a couple
classes in metal forming, which I don't feel like I am getting anything
out of. The good news is that I am actually enjoying some of our
plastics and polymers lectures. (This may explain why all modern
designers prefer to use plastic over metal)
Thursday afternoon was an unusual time. I have no classes scheduled, so
usually I try and work with Alfresco doing drafting work. However when I
called to see if they had any work for me to do I discovered that Steve,
my supervisor, had been sacked. It's an awkward position to be in. He
said they didn't need me that day though. So I went to get a air cut and
then spent the rest of my day at home, working on tap-ware designs.
The highlight from today was that I was able to go on an outing with
uni. It's for that retail design class, and the aim of our little
expedition into the city was to get a feel for what kinds of products
can be successfully marketed in retail stores on a small scale. Some of
the most interesting objects were manufactured from polyprop sheeting,
which is fairly flimsy until it is folded or bent into a shape. Another
notable design was a necklace in the shape of a dinosaur skeleton. It
was made from lazer cut acrylic, and cost about $200 retail.

Wednesday

Well, it's half way through the week, and I am still loving my new toy.
The MacBook let me make a presentation for retail design while I was on
the train, complete with snappy looking slide transitions. It's so cool.
I got my e-mails up and running just yesterday, and managed to figure
out the wireless network password for the wireless at home. I still need
to transfer all my photos and music over from the desktop PC, which I am
hoping will prove to be a painless process. I can't figure out how to
get iPhoto to act more like Picasa, in regards to scanning for image
files automatically, But at least it has a decent wizard for importing
photos from digital cameras.
OK, maybe I should shut up about the new toy, let's look at the events
since last weekend. On Monday I woke up feeling a little sore and sorry
for myself. I have this sore thought 'thing' that keeps coming back....
I've hit it with Ricola, Dimetapp, Benadryl and Sudafed, but nothing
seems to work for longer than about an hour. I blame having the sniffles
on Phil, because he had it last week. I think what made matters worse is
that after a week of hanging around with the germs, I thought it would
be a fine idea to go out to the pub. While this is not particularly bad
in itself, the amount of standing outside in the cold night air possibly
could have been a problem. So thats it, no more going outside at night. lol.
I skipped church on Monday night, because my cold got the better of me.
(That reminds me, did I tell you what happened last Sunday night at
church?)... On Sunday we showed up for what was supposed to be a 5.30pm
start with pizza dinner followed by worship, only to discover that at
the last minute plans had been changed to meeting at 4.30pm then going
to worship at another church and coming back for pizza tea. Chris and I
waited around so tat we could catch up with everyone over dinner. It was
fun, even if it was a little dis-organized.
Tuesday was a pretty typical day at uni, except that I awoke about 2
hours later than I had planned. his made me about 45 minutes late for
uni. Once I actually got there, I discovered that it was very
challenging to follow what Yat (the lecturer) was on about by looking on
the board. Quite disappointing really.
Tuesday night was rovers as usual. It was good o see everyone, although
the planned 'MARB costume making night' was not very productive.
This morning I woke up with more of the sniffles, and what feels like a
spikey thing in my thought. I reached for the medicine, only to discover
that this will be my last dose. I will have to get some more from the shop.

Week One

Well, semester two (or teaching period four) began this week. It's not
as exciting as I had imagined. We have two engineering classes that seem
like they will actually be quite challenging, and a double design subject.
The engineering subjects cover mainly techniques and principals, with
little focus being on calculations or anything boring like that. While I
enjoy subjects like this during classes during the year, I usually don't
go so well when it comes to exam time. Maybe it's because there is just
such a great volume of information to remember... I guess I am stuck
with these subjects, so I can't really complain.
The design portion of this semester consists of a couple little classes.
One of the classes is learning to use FEA (Finite Element Analysis) with
3D models that were developed in Solidworks. Another of the classes is a
series of lectures about plastics. These classes are accompanied by two
design projects, one is to design some tap-ware for a design competition
run by reece design. The other project is a design for retail project,
and seems pretty difficult really.
Well, enough about the boring news.... onto the highlight of the week,
Friday. When I arrived home on Friday, I discovered a little brown box
had been delivered for me. I guessed it was my laptop, and then
confirmed this by checking the shipping stickers. YAY! It has finally
arrived. Unfortunately, I had to work on Friday night, so I took the
entire brown box over to Chris's house for opening after work. It was
very exciting.
Once I opened the box there was a smaller box contained within. The
small box was printed on the outside with very smexy artwork showing the
MacBook in all it's glory. I couldn't wait to unwrap it and find the
little white box inside. The laptop was so carefully packed it was
almost as if more effort was put into the packaging than the actual
device itself. Upon opening and switching on the MacBook, it became
clear that this was most certainly not the case! There were only about 2
or 3 setup screens, and then we were in, starting up for the first time.
Everything just works! It's ridiculous! I love it.
I have been playing with it ever since, and am using it everywhere I go.
It's so cute and little. hehe. I couldn't be more happy. Now I just need
to put some of my more important programs onto it, such as solidworks
and photoshop etc...