An Australian In The USA

Golf Day

Mike250 — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:10:36 +0000

My good mate Markus is moving back home to Germany. He’s been in Australia about as long as we have, moving to Australia with his girlfriend Nina mid last year to study. We met them by accident through a friend who found them lost on a mountain trail, and haven’t looked back. Needless to say we’re very sad that they are returning home. We’ve shared so many exploring Australia moments and have grown very close. A plus is that we now have connections when we decide to tour Europe. (more…)

New Camera - Nikon D70

Mike250 — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:58:43 +0000

Courtesy of my wonderful Mother-In-Law I have an amazing new camera to take all my shots with. I already own a Minolta Maxxum 5 35mm SLR but find I don’t use it very often; there’s something about developing photo’s that turns me off. Plus I don’t have a great lens so I can’t really get into the nitty gritty. I end up taking all our shots with a 3 or 4 mega-pixel generic, but this is going to be fun. My new Nikon D70 Digital SLR is a 6.1 mega-pixel takin, 3008 x 2000 makin machine. The thing is feature rich and comes with a mind boggling instruction manual that’s going to take some time to weed through.

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08.08.08

Mike250 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:38:34 +0000

I won’t be rushing off to get married. I’m already married. And I’m not superstitious. In fact I find a bit silly that couples are pushing to make sure they get their slice of luck; especially since a quarter of couples who did the same on 07.07.07 are already divorced. I also personally find it rediculous that some spiritual leaders are being so religious as to hold meetings and prayers to perfectly coincide with the number 8. Pretty sure God isn’t into the religious following of numerals. (more…)

Google Maps Street View

Mike250 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:51:23 +0000

Has finally made it to my neck of the woods. I’ve played with it before; it was released in the USA in 2007 for only a handful of major cities. It was fun to “drive” around places I had never been before but I have to say it’s even more fun to “drive” around places I have been. I’ve already taken a peek at past houses I’ve lived in, schools and even the McDonalds I worked at as a teenager.

And I am looking now at the house I live in. When I spin around, the boy across the street is mowing his lawn. (more…)

Why Quickflix is bad

Mike250 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:38:46 +0000

I’ve finally decided to cancel my Quickflix account having put it into a Suspended state repeatedly over the past 6 months. Why? Plenty of reasons.

It’s expensive.

I was a fan and happy user of Netflix when I lived in the USA. Netflix is the pioneer of DVD-to-Home movie rentals, they do it well and they do it cheap. I had an unlimited 3-at-a-time plan for $17.99 per month. The same plan on Quickflix is $36.99 per month. (more…)

The petrol price debate

Mike250 — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:23:46 +0000

Time to get it right; just did the maths. Had a nice debate about fuel costs with one of the engineering guys Bryan, he’s driving to Austin Texas to live there (and working remotely like I do). Fuel price came up…

Outside right now it is $4.11 a gallon

We are paying $5.67 a gallon in Australia if it’s $1.50 a liter, which is roughly what it’s been hovering around. If the US dollar is what it is now then yes, we pay a lot more in Australia.

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Aussie Rules

Mike250 — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:40:19 +0000

Aussie Rules is a sport (short for Australian Rules Football): not a statement. Though it does have a pretty good argument if used as a statement. Aussie Rules. Onwards.

I’ve noticed that amateur sport is extremely organized in Australia. I guess I remember this from my teenage years but it’s different looking on as a parent. Everything is so detailed and professional. And I mean EVERYTHING.

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Welcome baby Hayden

Mike250 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:54:41 +0000

Jenifer and Michael would like to announce the arrival of their newborn son, Hayden Matthew born in Australia at 2:25pm on Tuesday 29th April, 2008. For those in the USA, the time was 9:25pm on Monday 28th April Pacific Standard Time.

The vital stats are:

3.64 kg or 8 lbs 0.3 ounces
52cm or 20½ inches long. (more…)

Liam goes to school

Mike250 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:09:46 +0000

Well the house is a bit quieter now since our youngest, Liam, has joined his brother at school. We’re so used to having Liam around the house; he’s always colouring or drawing something so I guess I won’t have to invest in paper afterall. He’s proud to be following his brother through the same gates at school while wearing the same colours. Liam has truly been looking forward to this for some time. I have no doubt that he is going to excel in his schooling. (more…)

First Australian School Photo

Mike250 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:50:37 +0000

We recently received Nevan’s School Photo’s and are most pleased with them. As soon as I saw the class photo I felt transported back in time; I was immediately having a flashbacks to my days in school. I love class photo’s, I like being able to look at them and amaze at how much someone changes over the years. I like the memories, even the bad ones. It all makes up who you are. From my experience they don’t really do class photo’s each year in the States like they do here in Australia. Perhaps it was the school’s Nevan attended but they never did class photo’s in Kindergarten in Colorado nor 1st Grade in California. (more…)