Mikes Blog v2.18

Goodbye my lover...

2007-09-17T10:24:00.000+10:00

It is a sad day indeed....

It is with a heavy heart that I bring you this news today. For you loyal faithful readers of iMike you will know that my battle with Facebook has been a long and arduous one. Over the past 6 months, Facebook has sucked my readers away from me like a hurricane does to a duck farm. Leaving in its wake, only the feathers of dignity and self belief. Principles some may say, but principles worth fighting for none the less.

Some may call me a hero, a martyr even for the greater good. Most know I went down fighting the good fight! No....i'm none of those things....I'm not a hero, I'm just a simple boy from the town of Narooma, who, when my number was up and i was called to duty, responded to the call. No...i prefer to think of myself more like King Leonidas who held off 1 Million Persians with his brave 300 at the Gates of Thermopylae!!

And like King Leonidas, although my battle ends in defeat as I sign up to a facebook account today, my story has become a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds. The monster that is Facebook!!!!

So in saying goodbye, i shall close with some quotes that capture the moment precisely...as of today, I will become a Persian.

Stelios: It is an honor to die at your side.
King Leonidas: It is an honor to have lived at yours.

________________________________________________
King Leonidas: [points to Arkadian soldier behind Daxos] Hm... You there! Arkadian what is your profession?
Free Greek-Potter: A potter, sir.
King Leonidas: [points to another soldier] And you, what is your profession?
Free Greek-Sculptor: Sculptor, sir.
King Leonidas: Sculptor
[turns to a thirdrd soldier]
King Leonidas: And you?
Free Greek-Blacksmith: Blacksmith.
King Leonidas: [turns around to Spartan soldiers] SPARTANS! WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION?
Spartans: HA-OOH! HA-OOH! HA-OOH!
King Leonidas: [turning to Daxos] You see, old friend? I brought more soldiers than you did.

________________________________________________
Spartan King Leonidas: Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty... For tonight, we dine in hell!

________________________________________________
Messenger: This is blasphemy! This is madness!
King Leonidas: Madness? THIS... IS... SPARTA!

HAAAAAAA-OOOHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please add me as your friend on Facebook..... =)

Real Transformers

2007-06-22T19:29:00.000+10:00

I have to go so this is going to be quick.

This transformers video is MADDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!! I want one of these suits!!!

I LOLLED so hard when i watched this.

hahah

Australia vs Britain

2007-06-18T23:26:00.000+10:00

Ok, i'm not exactly unpatriotic, but when it comes to talent...i don't really know how to say this in a nice way...so i'll just say it....Australia sucks!

When the series "Australias got talent" was on Channel 7 i used to watch it thinking, here we go, finally some quality television to give me a break from the relentless onslaught of Big Brother-esque reality television or super confusing dramas. I was hoping to be entertained and even amazed by what i would see. I gotta say i wasn't either. I mean half of the "acts" were freakshows and it felt like i was watching a circus rather than a talent search...

So imagine my surprise when i came across this on the British version of the show called "Britains got talent", thinking it'd be much the same, and found myself totally blown away, and for the first time in my life...appreciating opera.

Watch...

Then i thought, yeah i'll search youtube the source of all goodness to see if this was a once off freakshow or whether they actually do have talent. To my amazement, Britains really got talent.

Acts like l'il Conn'ie were amaz'in....

Dominic blew me away with his smooth tones..

And the animated choir made me laugh...

The man with the monkey was far better than anything i saw on the aussie version..

So finally, not to diss Herb too much..cos i think it actually takes a bit of talent to do what he does...i know i wouldn't be able to blow a tune on a gu leaf.....but if this is the MOST talented person in Australia...then Australia.... we have a problem....

I don't need Facebook!!!

2007-05-04T09:16:00.000+10:00

I can have just as much fun on iMike!!!!!!

*Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke*
*Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke*
*Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke*
*Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke**Poke*
*Poke*
*Poke*

MOOPS

2007-04-12T11:36:00.000+10:00

Bit of a random one, but has anybody else noticed this "MOOPS" sign on the train doors or is just me? Mainly it's the old silver rattlers that have it. I seem to always find myself staring at it. I'd stand at the door and it's just at eye level where the 2 doors meet in the middle. It's been carved in with some sortta razor or something...

Is it because i'm always catching the same train or has it been etched into a lot of trains as a statement like that guy who chalked "eternity" all over sydney's sidewalks...

So randomm.

RNSH ATM ram raid

2007-04-05T09:24:00.000+10:00

Crime is rampant nowadays. It's everywhere! I seriously can't believe how common it is. My dad owns a small business and he's told me there's been at least 3 or 4 incidents where people has walked right into the shop and taken money straight out of the counter without him even knowing. There's nothing normal shop owners can do about it.
Then there's other stories of people he knew, who had either tried to be heroic by stopping the thieves and ended up with a face full of blood or had been physically attacked even without putting up a fight.

Anyway the point is, these incidents are becoming more and more normal and it's very sad to see the state of Sydney the way it is.
This morning i came across this article about people ram raiding the Royal North Shore Hospital and making off with the money from the ATM that sat inside the lobby.
Can you get any lower??? It's a hospital for goodness sakes. That's where people go who are sick and DYING!! By causing the damage they did they've probably put people lives at risk not to mention they could've killed someone in a wheel chair or something with the initial impact.
It's sick!! And my goodness, how many other ATM's are there in Sydney, why would you choose to hit a hospital? What's next, the local church offering bag? The Orphanage? Those guys who sell the Big Issue?

Instinctively i'd say "where are people's consciences" or "don't people have any sense of what's right" but all i can say it that it's a terrible reminder of the sinful world we live in where people are without God and without care for others. Thank God for Easter coming up and the reminder that God has dealt with our sins once and for all. It is the only hope we have of eternity as we are bombarded every moment of every day with news like this....

Green machine

2007-04-03T08:04:00.000+10:00

It's the start of the season again and so i must do my annual plug for the raiders and how they will win the premiership this year. This is it! This is the year!

After being tagged favorites for the wooden spoon after having lost their first two matches and South's on a rampage winning their last 3 matches, i was very happy to hear on the radio this morning that they had won their first match of the season against the Knights!

Quite awesome indeed! Go the young guns! Most of them are first time premier league players so if they were to win this year, it's what dreams would be made of.

Go Raiders!!! Go the green machine!!!

Raiders destroy the knights

You can be my wingman any time

2007-03-16T14:37:00.000+11:00

Maverick: I feel the need...
Maverick, Goose: ...the need for speed!

Beat this! Come on i dare you!!!

Now for some more memorable Top Gun quotes.

Maverick: Jesus, this guy's good!
_________________________________
Goose: Great balls of fire!
_________________________________
Maverick: [spots Charlie for the first time] She's lost that loving feeling.
Goose: She's lo...
[catches up]
Goose: No she hasn't.
Maverick: Yes she has.
Goose: [objecting] She's not lost that lo...
Maverick: Goose, she's lost it man.
[walks off]
Goose: [to Mav] Come on!
[to himself]
Goose: Aw sh... I hate it when she does that.
_________________________________
Maverick: Tower, this is Ghost rider requesting a flyby.
Air Boss Johnson: That's a negative Ghost rider, the pattern is full.
_________________________________
Iceman: You two really are cowboys.
Maverick: What's your problem, Kazanski?
Iceman: You're everyone's problem. That's because every time you go up in the air, you're unsafe. I don't like you because you're dangerous.
Maverick: That's right! Ice... man. I am dangerous.

To my lil sis

2007-03-15T09:49:00.000+11:00

Happy birthday Lena!!!

Sorry i didn't call or write yesterday, but you know that i knew that it was your birthday so it's all good.....

Hope you had a great day and enjoyed the celebrations!!! Also i apologize for getting your age wrong on your birthday card that i sent you....umm....you know that i knew what your actual age is and you know that i just wrote the wrong age on your card to be funny....and it was PRETTYYYY funny....hohoho

Right???

Ringo you're dumped

2007-03-13T15:21:00.000+11:00

My brief love affair (i can't even call it that)/fling with Ringo is officially over. I was young, naive, i didn't know any better and most importantly i was tricked into a relationship i never wanted. That's the worst kind of deceit. I've never regretted anything in my life but i do now. Anyway, so i've ditched it and deleted my account. Sorry to all those people who became my "friends" during our brief encounter, i couldn't hack how disappointing it was that every time i logged onto Ringo all i saw were pictures of Silhouettes.

Goodbye Ringo, hello Picasa Web Album.

I've always loved Picasa and since it's upgrade to allow Web albums to be created at the click of a button i love it even more. I haven't uploaded any photos yet but if i do i will put it on my Picasa web account. I recently found my battery for my Nikon, so will definitely start dragging my camera around with me again, so expect updates soon.

I heart google soooo much!

Also, if you already have a Picasa Web Album account can you please let me know so i can add you? Thanks

Leaders Retreat 2007

2007-03-13T13:11:00.000+11:00

1You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. 3Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs�he wants to please his commanding officer. 5Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. 6The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. 2 Tim 2: 1-6

Was a great weekend that reminded us of the attitudes we are to maintain if we are to keep serving in ministry. I think it is good that Leader retreats maintain a theme that can be followed throughout the entire weekend. For example this time round, we looked at how we can adopt the attitudes of 3 occupations, a soldier, an athlete and a farmer in our ministry. On one of the other camps we looked at Hope, Faith and Love...really helps with remembering the teachings from the weekend.

So in ministry we are to maintain our focus like an athlete who keeps his eye on the prize, the real purpose of why we do what we do and that is to see people come to know Christ. As a soldier, we are to not get distracted by "civilian" things also to expect and endure the hardship that comes with being a soldier because we are at the front of the battle. As farmers we are to work hard at what we do, night and day and to be diligent.

Definitely was a great reminder that ministry is not meant to be easy and when things go wrong, well, that's actually normal. But at the same time, great encouragement to keep focused on the end goal because for each of the imageries used in the verse above, the reward is great whether it be the "first to receive a share of the crops","please his commanding officer" or "receiving the victor's crown".

As well as the great teaching by Hongas and Menzies (thanks heaps btw fellas) there were quite a few funny moments. Can't write them all down but probably the most memorable was when all the guys turned a game of cricket into a game of bullrush/rugby inside the main hall. That was mad fun. Sorry Dan for your glasses btw. I don't think i stepped on them, but yeah definitely not cool what happened. A few injuries were had, but they'll heal. No problems. The raft building exercise was hilarious! Wish i had a photo to show the final version of the "raft" the other team built....haha

Still on the rollercoaster

2007-03-08T16:06:00.000+11:00

I don't know why but everytime things seem to be getting out of control at work, a little song starts playing in my head and it goes something along the lines of
"I'm so dizzy, my head is sppiniiinnnning"....

Kinda like Dr Dorkian in Scrubs....

I can almost see the little record player needle in my head hit the spot whilst the record is spinning and that little "eeek" sound it makes before the song actually starts...

But i only know these two lines so that just keeps repeating over and over again...

I had no idea what this song is about. i thought it might be about some guy on drugs or drunk or hallucinating or something which is kinda what i feel like sometimes, but its about a girl thats making him crrazy. Hmmm...doesn't exactly capture my moood very well....

Oh well....spin that record Mr DeeJay

*eeek*
"I'm so dizzzzy my head is spinning"

Dizzy, I'm so dizzy my head is spinning
Like a whirlpool it never ends
And it's you girl making it spin
You're making me dizzy

The first time that I saw you girl
I knew it I just had to make you mine
But it's so hard to talk to you
With fellas hanging round you all the time
I want you for my sweet pet
But you keep playing hard to get
I'm going round in circles all the time

Dizzy, I'm so dizzy my head is spinning
Like a whirlpool it never ends
And it's you girl making it spin
You're making me dizzy

I finally got to talk to you
And I told you just exactly how I felt
And I held you close to me
And I kissed you and my heart began to melt
Girl you've got control of me
'Cos I'm so dizzy I can't see
I need to call a doctor for some help

Dizzy, I'm so dizzy my head is spinning
Like a whirlpool it never ends
And it's you girl making it spin
You're making me dizzy

Comfort in knowing Christ

2007-03-05T08:51:00.000+11:00

Work has been a bit stressful lately. It's true the saying "when it rains it pours". A few things have gone wrong recently. I gotta say i went to bed on Friday night quite stressed and worried, which is quite rare for me cos usually i can remove from my mind whatever happened during the week once it hits 5pm on Friday afternoon, but this week was a little different. Didn't have a very good night sleep on Friday cos of it. Woke up on Saturday morning feeling quite anxious which again was weird but as i sat at the table eating my thousand year old egg with slim pork congee for breakfast, i began doing my quiet times (daily bible reading) and by God's grace stumbled across this passage.

�Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus� Philippians 4:6-7

It's quite amazing how God can speak to ones heart through his word, at just the right time and with just the right words. This verse reminded me that God is a personal relational God who knows and cares for our troubles. He is someone we can trust and present our worries and requests to through prayer and he is in control. He doesn't promise that all the worries of the world will instantly be taken away and that everything will be fine and dandy once you pray to Him, but he does guarantee peace in Jesus Christ. This peace comes from our identity and knowing who we are, that we are loved by God, loved by Christ no matter what because he has proven this to us on the cross.

As the old saying goes "We don't live to work, we work to live". But i think i'd like to add a bit more to that and to say that "We don't live to work, we work to live and to honor God in all we do". So as i return to work today, all the problems and issues that i left on Friday are still here and will need to be resolved, but i can go about it knowing that what I am doing here at work is to try and honor Christ because of my relationship with God.

Do not worry

Office Ultimate for uni students

2007-03-01T13:17:00.000+11:00

Wow, this is a bargain! Uni students can get a copy of Windows Office Ultimate edition for $75!!

Normally retails for $800+. Are they for real? It looks real enough. Either way, im applying for a copy. After teaching Sunday school for so many years, i can finally reap the rewards of my labor, well here on earth anyway, will wait a bit longer for my heavenly rewards =)
My old sunday school boys have now graduated into uni so i have plenty of sources to get a copy from. They better get one for me!!! They owe me!!!!

hahahha

Look like my computers specs are ok to run it as well, although i'll be pushing it with the RAM, but still passes. Now all i'll have to do is keep an eye out on any special offers they uni may have for windows Vista ultimate....

So yeah, if you know any uni students you may want to ask them to help you as well.

It's not cheating.com

Microsoft Offer

You Tricked me

2007-02-28T09:30:00.000+11:00

I got an email this morning entitled "New Photos/Videos" and a subject "Check this out" with a link to Ringo thinking that J had posted up some photos from the UK and wanted me to have a look.

My sis had been sending me quite a few Ringo albums recently so i thought it was just another one of those.

Clicked on it and for some reason this time it was different, the screen asked me to enter my dob, first name, last name etc. So i entered it thinking maybe theres some special security feature on this album.

Before i knew it i had registered for a new Ringo account. Damn this!!!! I never wanted this to happen! I swore to never sign up to any of these social networking pages. I never imagined that it would end like this...beaten by trickery and my curiosity.

Oh well, looks like i might as well make the most of it. I guess ill start posting photos up and sending it to people. My sis has been saying how good Ringo is for the last couple of weeks so i guess its time for me to jump on the bandwagon.

So if you get an invite from me to sign up to Ringo...pleas accept....=(

Dumb and Dumber

2007-02-27T12:54:00.000+11:00

This is definitely the dumbest thing i've read in a while. Pretty funny i can imagine this being in a scene of Scary Movie or Dumb and Dumber.

Oh, actually this reminds me of the email that Jianj sent to me a while back titled Top 4 idiots of the year. That was a classic.

This is my favourit from that list.

Idiot 4

Blur between reality and technology

2007-02-23T09:49:00.000+11:00

No! I'm not just posting a picture of a girl!

This is amazing. What you're looking at is a computer generated picture. How real does it look? I would not be able to pick that it's computer generated. Up until now, even the best ones i've seen can still be picked as CG, but this is literally impossible. The thing is it contains flaws and blemishes which make it realistic. Traditionally CG people are usually so clean and perfect it's easy to tell...

This is almost scary...has anyone seen that movie where Russell Crowe plays a CGI character who somehow manages to become a real person and goes on a killing rampage??? That springs to mind...don't know why...

Welcome your majesty

2007-02-20T12:08:00.000+11:00

The Queen Mary sailed into Sydney Harbor this morning and there's definitely a bit of buzz around town about it. I gotta say it's quite majestic. Just looking at the photos, all the other boats around it look like ants. It definitely lives up to its name as Sydney gives it a royal welcome, with helicpoters, fireworks and a legion of boats to usher it in to our harbour. I wish i could go down to the docs and see it. I went up to the top of our building to see it and it's massive, it really is...but i'm sure it would be more awesome if i actually stood next to it.

I kinda want to go on a cruise now but i think the price tags a bit tooooooo expensive for me.

Lena, if you're reading this, can your next contract be on the QM2? I can get staff discount and sail for 50 bucks. Sweeetttttt.
No seriously...do it!!!

What's the point of a blog?

2007-02-19T13:14:00.000+11:00

I'm having a blogging identity crisis. Don't know what i want to say, don't know how open to be in my blogs and don't know how much of myself to show.

I don't want to blog about superficial non personal stuff all the time anymore. It's getting boring and there's no point. It's a waste of my time and a waste of the readers time, when people can easily just read up on the latest mobile phone, gadget, fast car or windows vista ultimate penultimate grande silver platinum release on webpages that are dedicated to that kinda stuff. So why do i need to do it? There's still a place for the occasional funny youtube video or what not, but if every posts is like that then what's the point...

However, i also don't want to get too personal on my blogs like "this is what i had for dinner, and then i saw the cutest cat" cos as long as it's a public blog then i don't want everyone in the world to know things about me.

I want my blog to be about me though, because for me, the humble blog has evolved from being just a place to muck around with web design and graphics to a place that a few of my close friends and family go to visit regularly (as egotistical as it sounds) to find out about me. Friends and family who i am not able to contact on a regular basis and they're living overseas..

So why don't i just write emails to them you ask? Well, emails take a lot of time and they don't always reveal everything you're into. Email's can sometimes feel like a 20 second summary of your life and it takes away the personal aspect...which i think blogs somehow provide...

So where to from here. Three options.

1) Keep blogging as i do, blogging about impersonal things and offering my subjective views about the blog topic of choice.

2) Turn this into a private blog that require people to log in to read

3) Keep blogging as i do but get over myself and not worry that "random" people can read up about my life, my thoughts, my dreams and my desires on the wwww. In other words, keep the same format but just make it more personal.

Any other options that you can see? Which option would you prefer....yeah im talking to you....the person i actually know reads my blog. Need your opinion. There should only be about 3 or 4 of you at this point...

Year of the Pig

2007-02-13T07:28:00.000+11:00

Chinese New Year is coming up soon. No big deal really for me. It's in the middle of the month and i never actually know what the date of Chinese New Year is, according to the "old calendar".
This year will once again involve going out to dinner with family and having a feast. i'm looking forward to it. I know Chinese New Year's for chinese people is always about the family. In Hong Kong i know people would spend the entire day visiting their parents house and all the kids who have grown up, moved out and built their own families would come home.
This is nice but i've just sortta realized it's very different to our australian culture.

For us New Year's Eve is all about partying and being with friends. It's about which party you'll be at or which group of friends you'll be with. In fact, if you were to be at home with your family on New Years Eve and brave enough to tell your friends about it, you'd probably be considered a bit of a loser. (not by me off course) Totally opposite of what Chinese New Year is like.

I guess i've come to realise there are a lot of cultural differences when it comes to australians and chinese. I'd have to say i'm really starting to appreciate those differences and embrace them. it's quite cool that these differences exist as i feel privileged to be able to chose the best bits of both worlds.

My Boo!

2007-02-09T10:13:00.000+11:00

Wow, it's been so long since i've updated my blog that when i signed in to blogger this morning, it asked me to fill in details to complete the transfer to Blogger v2 and that from now on i'm supposed to sign onto blogger via my Google Account?!?

I'm lost.

Anyway, so yeah its been a while blah blah.
I'll try harder to update more consistently blah blah...

Lies!!! All LIES!!!!

So here's a video i saw on YouTube that i thought was cool. I think they're brothers and sisters, and that makes it even cooler. It's a cover of one of my favourite songs, and there are bits in it that are a bit sketchy like the guitar rhythm changes a lot, but on the whole great effort.
I don't think it's that they're really awesome that made me like this so much as the fact that they're just enjoying what they do and they just happened to be good at it.....just enjoying the song...just enjoying the music...enjoying singing with each other...thats cool.

Now for the real version..

MTB to the Xtreme

2006-11-16T15:57:00.000+11:00

Wicked!!!

WooOOOOoooOOO

2006-11-10T13:10:00.000+11:00

I can't remember the last time i laughed so hard. I literally had tears in my eyes! Oh man, this is absolutely hilarious and the guys on Whose Line Is It Anyway are absolute geniuses!

WooooOOOOOooooo

By the way, im not posting in response to the previous posts comments cos that would mean i lose....hahah

Firefox 2.0 - get it now

2006-10-25T09:33:00.000+10:00

I'm slow with the news. Firefox has just released version 2.0 of their browser. I've always been a supporter of Firefox and always will be.

I had a go of IE7 the other day, just not the same.....they tried to copy Firefox's features but to me....it just feel foreign. Think i'm too used to Firefox now.

Some features include better tabbed browsing, enhanced RSS readers and Phishing protection.

Get it! Get it now!

Australian Idol 2006

2006-10-20T08:58:00.000+10:00

This year's Australian Idol has been fantastic! I'm a bit biased cos for the first time they've allowed musical instruments, and funnily enough most of the people are guitar playing singer songwriters....my favourtie type of musician! Some people might find it boring but i've been hanging on the performances every week for the past 6 weeks or so....except disco night...that was hopeless! The only reason they have disco night is cos of Marcia and that was just the worst show ever!

I was a bit surprised that Bobby left so early but to be honest i didn't really like him. He's too artistic....i just didn't get it. Mark Holden kept going on about how good he was but it's like conceptual art....it's so artistic it makes it bad!

Dean Geyer's probably favourite to win. I hope Lisa gets far. Shes awesome but im kinda hoping she doesn't win. Shes too young for this kinda stuff and it'll probably ruin her life.

Damien Leith is very intriguing but i think the most talented one left is probably Lisa Mauboy. She'll have a good chance to win i reckon.

Interesting to see, still so much talent left in the final 6. I'm glad to see Idol got better again. Cos the last 2 years have been shockers!