On the downhill run

Well as you may already know, we've booked our flights home in time for Christmas. We have started thinking about catching up with everyone and are looking forward to it although we will miss the friends who have kept us company this year. My housemate tried to convince me to stay for another year last night but we couldn't do it to you all! (I know my mum at least would kill me) Its hard to believe that it is almost August. Time has gone by so quickly. We have our trip around central Europe towards the end of August. 2 nights in Berlin, 2 in Prague, 2 in Krakow, and 2 in Budapest. It'll be great. I've always wanted to go to Berlin after studying Nazi Germany in Year 12. We're also going to Auschwitz-Birkenau which is just out of Krakow. That will be an experience in itself. Very sad.

The sun has finally showed its face in the past week. Dad is here visiting at the moment so I have been doing the touristy bit with him around the city. He keeps saying he never thought he might get burnt in London. Sure enough, he did as did I. Its been about 30 degrees which has brought out pasty arms and legs everywhere so I'm back to wearing my sunnies to block out the glare and the odd pasty chest of the guy who thinks its too hot for a shirt. Londoners don't cope too well with the heat and don't really have the provisions for it. They're good at heating but on hot days, the tube isn't too pleasant. We went on a boat down the Thames to Greenwich with Dad on Saturday and one of the guys came on the speaker and said "Due to the adverse weather conditions, we have opened up the front doors. Please do not walk on the front deck of the boat as we will be forced to close the doors." Matt couldn't quite figure out what they meant by "adverse weather conditions" at first. We found it funny that they were refering to the heat.

Enjoy the cold and rain Sydney :)

kms

I've come up with a new way of contacting people. I've coined it a 'kms', similar to an sms, but using keywords to link to someones website which they later find using website statistics software.

I sent Guthers a message, which he commented on here. He replied with "hey mattandtheasblog - come home soon :(". I will Guthers, I will.

Have I successfully come up with a new idea, or has this been done before?

Also, any ideas for a better name than 'kms'?

Is it possible...

...to take a photo of a camera, with that very same camera, and the camera isn't perfectly horizontal in the photo? Using photoshop or something similar doesn't count.

If you work it out I'd be impressed - I may even share some warm fuzzies with you that Dave gave me the other week... (go check his site out - warm fuzzies all around)

I haven't given it much thought, but I'm thinking it will take a curved reflective surface or something. Maybe you could get tricky with multiple mirrors, but I can't see how that would change things.

In case you're wondering why on earth I'm thinking this, it is because I've seen a few self portraits of people on facebook etc lately taken using a mirror, and just wondered if you could do it and not have the camera perfectly straight. It can be interesting (some may say pointless) to ponder that which hath never been pondered before.

ps, Think a little harder before you're tempted to just hold your camera on an angle in front of a mirror and snap... ;)

Feeling perky?

Hey all you coffee people out there (I suppose I'm particularly talking to SG, SR and MT, but others in the know are more than welcome to comment).

I'm wanting to buy a coffee percolator, but I have no idea what the go is. I found this one on amazon. Any good? It certainly doesn't have to be top of the line.

If not, any recommendations? It's to give my minister, as we meet up Friday mornings before work for coffee, but he only has a single cup percolator and so it'd be helpful to get a slightly bigger one when other people go around.

Thanks
Matt

Guess the tunes - actuarial style

I got emailed these the other day at work - funny stuff.

Return flights...

...are booked. We leave London on 16th December at 2130, and arrive in Sydney on 18th December at 0710.

See you all soon!

Bizzare British Bits #4

Hey everyone

Thea's post the other day reminded me that our readers out there are interested in important things. Things that matter, not random, trivial, everyday things that are simply lame observations of the things around us.

So, on that note, I bring your attention to chip packets. You probably take for granted that you can generally take a packet of chips off the supermarket shelf and know exactly what flavour it is without actually reading it. You'll never come across someone at Coles starting at a green packet of Smiths chips saying "What flavour are these chips? I have no idea. I left my glasses at home, and now I can't decide whether I want the blue, pink or green chips because I can't read what flavour they are".

Last Sunday after church a few of us went to the local to watch the rest of the soccer. I bought four packs of chips to share around - light blue, red, green, and purple. And the flavours? Cheese and onion, lightly salted, salt and vinegar, and Worcester sauce respectively.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

Honestly, that is ridiculous. Someone could get hurt with that sort of negligence.