Sales tactic

Went passed Farmers yesterday...saw their new counters. I think it is quite appealing...don't you think? It makes you wanna go and 'pay'...

A bad BK experience

I like BK...I like the food. Among all the burger chains here in NZ, BK and Wendy's are both on top there for me.

Anyway, went to BK West City yesterday and had a bad service experience. Nothing so bad that I'd come out fuming...more like a disappointment-tupe bad experience.

First of all, the floor is very sticky. But a lot of fast food places have similar floors mainly caused by kids spilling their drinks. I think this is more common in BK because you get free refills. Ok...so I'm over that...moving on...

I placed an order...waited a few minutes then there was a boy who just received his fries and asked for ketchup. The girl said they had none. For a burger chain this is bad. You cannot serve fries without ketchup...that's ok...I'll let it pass...moving on...

I got my cup so I went to the machine and got myself a coke...there were no lids...first it was the ketchup then now no lids....hmmm...ok..It's 3pm and I'm hungry...moving on...

Got my order and sat at one of the tables inside. This was the only table without rubbish on it. Normally I'm fine with that because I leave rubbish on tables myself. I think I paid for food and services at BK so services should include cleaning up after me. But the other tables also have dirty/soiled surfaces. It looked like they haven't been wiped since the morning. It is hard to see in the photos but I'm posting them anyway.

Then we started noticing that there are unusually high number of black dots flying...flies are all around. I looked over across the room and found both rubbish bins are wide open. One didn't have a rubbish bag in it and flies are crawling in and out of it.

The other one by the entrance is extremely full.

This was around 3pm. The queues are not that long. In fact when I approached the counter I waited for a total of 5 seconds and it was my turn. There were around 2-3 counters open.

I do not think this branch deserved an 'A' from the council.

700 cheers for Shane Warne

well, Warney's done it! 700 Test wickets, which is apparently unheard of in international test cricket! congrats, and even if i know very little about cricket (except perhaps Australia having the best cricket team in the world!), i join this milestone and celebration as the best spin bowler ever heads for retirement.

How was your Wiikend?

Mine was great! Decided to get the Wii the other day...The Wii is certainly japanesey. Dont get it if all you want or care about are HD games like gears of war...The Wii is more about fun, interactivity, and different ways to play games. So far I only managed to play Wii Sports (which came with the console), Wii Play (Which came with the extra controller), and Red Steel.

Console
The console is is very small. Even smaller than a Gamecube. It sits beside my TV and most people will miss it if they don't look carefully. I think most people are right to say that is is probably a repackaged Gamecube. Sometimes the size is deceiving though. The power adaptor is separate but it is about half the size of the Xbox 360 Power adaptor. The Wii uses channels as their main console navigation feature. You have the game channel (the disc you inserted which can be a Wii disc or any GC game disc), the Mii channel for creating your Mii characters (kind like profiles of yourself and others...I already took the liberty in creating some of the kuyas), the photo channel (if you have an SD card with photos, insert them and you can view photo slidehows and more here), the shop channel (for buying new channels and games from previous Nintendo and Sega game systems), the weather channel (weather forecasts - very nice and relaxing), and the news channel (currently not working but hopefully will soon).

I've downloaded a trial version of the internet channel which alloows you to browse the internet using your Wii and your TV. Btw, the Wii connects to your broadband connection using a wifi connection. You can also purchase a network adaptor (for wired connections) but this is not available here in NZ yet. The Wii's got 4 controller ports (for 4 gamecube controllers), 2 USB ports at the back, an SD card slot at the front, and two GC memory card slots. I specially like the backward compatibility with GC games, controllers, and memory cards. It feels like you dont lose out and have to sell off your old GC games and accessories.




Wii Sports and Wii Play
Awesome game. Of course these games are not just for fun but are designed to help you acclimate to using the Wiimote and Nunchuck controller. The best ones are tennis, golf, and bowling...heck I like all the sports games. My shoulder and biceps are a bit sore...I just hope I don't develop tennis elbow.

Redsteel
Crap graphics...no doubt about that. Well it would have been good if you haven't seen HD game graphics. But that's fine...Gameplay..a bit odd. You need to get use to it. You use the nunchuck to move around. Then use the Wiimote to point at the screen and shoot. This is what I like the most...to reload, just flick you nunchuckdown. :)

Redsteel art is like XIII....some cutscenes are set in comic/cel type graphics which will appeal to some.




Almost forgot...some opponents fight with swords. This is a japanese yakuza game so it is about fighting and honour... you use your nunchuck to dodge and parry attacks and use the Wiimote to slash.

Ok...i think you get an idea of what it's like. For more info, click here. There are lots of trailers and screen shots on this site plus some concept art.

I'm going back to play...

PS3 review

On our second to the last day at work, we managed to get an invitation from Sony to go and have a play with the new PS3 console.

First impressions....the PS3 is quite bulky (but so is the Xbox 360). It's got Blu-ray, HDMI out, HD capability, etc.

We played about half a dozen games. The first one is MotorStorm, is an off-road racing game. The great thing about this is that your car breaks apart and eaqch time it is completely different depending on how you crash. Crashing in this game seem to0 be a huge deal...but then again there is nothign much you can do with racing games so the crashes are definitly highlights. The game is also designed to take advantage of the high detail capabitlity of the new PS3 console.

Second game we played is called Lair. It's like Lord of the rings combined with action and flying games. The first stage is flying the dragon and it takes advantage of the 6-axis tilt controller [idea] that Sony stole off the Nintendo Wii controllers. But It is still good. Takes a bit of time to get use to since all previous generations rely on buttons and joysticks for control.

Lair graphics is quite good. When I was flying above the water I could stop looking at the water graphics quality. Gameplay-wise it's not bad. First, you fly around attacking other dragons. You can shoot fireballs at them or if you dare, target your dragon, zoom fly in, once you switch to action mode, you fight the dragon mid-air and leap onto the enemy dragon and kick out the enemy pilot. Very dramatic....lots of oohs and aahs..

Third game we played is probably not much worth writing about...It's called Genji, a third-person samurai type fighting/adventuire game. Hated it.

4th one...another one I personally do not like...F1 racing...Once you played one racing game, the rest is pretty much the same. But I must say the graphics is really good. If it is raining, you will see the rain drops on the screen screen which will later slide sideways when you speed up.....Just graphics details...nothing special.

The last one we played is very very good. Well I'm a bit biased because I prefer playing action games specially first person shooters.

Resistance: Fall of man is the last game we played and one we had most fun. Graphics is quite good - highly detailed. AI is also good with good adaptability. One moment you are hiding/crouching and getting ready to shoot at the enemy...next thing you know he is walking around to get you.

I managed to play about 4 checkpoints/scenes...enemies in the beginning range from you usual grunt type aliens to these Jurassic Park mini-raptors and scorpoions looking creatures coming at you.

We managed to get to a stage where we are required to drive a tank. That was sort of fun ... running over enemies but it wasn't much fun...seem to easy....well that's because we've set difficulty on easy...duh! I would have set it on normal setting but I wasn't alone. Resistance reminds me of Halo.


Overall it was a great experience. All the games played were still on development code and therefore buggy and some run on 720p resolution. But considering it was on development code and that the console is a prototype, the PS3 only crashed once and it wasn't during gameplay. We also never experienced any lag like we did on Xbox 360 Gears of War. It'd be interesting to see how PS3 performs at full capacity and full HD.

The controller is wireless (woohoo) but it seems to me it was something they forgot and tried to include as a catch up...to connect your wireless controller to the console, you have to plug it in using the USB cable. Unlike the Xbox 360 and Wii controllers where all you need to do is press a button on the controller and it will sync up to the console, the PS3 is not exactly wireless...I'd rather call it semi-wireless or pseudo-wireless.

I don't think the $1200 planned price tag is worth it...maybe when its cheaper...but I do love it...Sony, if you are reading this, please give The Kuya Club a free PS3 concole set with games. :)

Shakoo's Birthday

For Shakoo's b-day, we went out for a bit of fun at the driving range.
Here he is showing us how it's done.

It's not baseball!!!
Hey the ball is still here...

Demo number 2...


Ernie finally decided to give it a try.




Ernie got bored and started playing with his PSP.

Air NZ Building Visit

For the past few months, I haven't been able to create regular entrie to this blog due to a project at work. Now that the project's completed and I'm on my Christmas break...I'll try to catch up with a few entries that I've been holding off for a while.

Let me start with my visit to the new Air NZ Building, thanks to Shakoo.

The new Air Nz building is across the road from my building. I can see into the building if I stand by the window.

Above is the view from their window into ours.

Office space is abundant I thought. They spared no expense. Designs and facilities are awesome. Here are a few samples...

First we have the runway style carpet...

Then we have the Brabantia rubbish bins. This aint cheap...around $500 a piece...maybe more.

Nice spacious kitchens. It'd be a shame to use this kitchen just to make instant noodles.

This is a meeting room...I took a photo of this because I liked the concept of covering the wall with glass virtually turning it into a giant whiteboard.


In addition, they have coffee machines everywhere!

Happy Christmas to all Kuyas!!

Home Brew: Day 30

Three weeks had passed since I bottled my home brew. Actually I couldn't wait and opened a bottle 2 days before.

I must say that I'm quite satisfied with the results. Well I wasn't sure what to expect. What was I looking for...was it drinkable? Was it contaminated? Does it taste good?

First of all it is not contaminated...as with any culture where you grow some kind of organism, there is always a chace of cross-contamination. In this case, I've been observing the bottle every week. The solution was clear and the yeast sits at the bottom of the bottle.

It was certainly drinkable and the taste was uite alright.

This formula is called Pale Ale so the taste is not like your normal heinaken or Steiny. It is a bit more full bodied...Malty...

I told my colleagues about it and one of the first things they asked..."is it bubbly?" I said yes...Then they said "because that is one of the harder things to accomplish...for the beer to be bubbly" I told that when I opened the first bottle, I forgot I was pouring beer and I poured it into a glass straight...and there was a 1-1.5 inch foam head and it almost overflowed...

They all cheered in approval..."then it's good! Once you get the foam, it means you've done it right..."

I was relieved...

I'm not sure what the alcohol content is but I certainly felt the effect of the alco after I had a glass..However, the beer is quite heavy...I couldn't have a second glass or at least I didn't try...I wonder if leaving it in the bottle a bit longer will age it and make it better.

What's next? I'm already planning to start fermenting the next kit...possibly one of the darker ones...need some empt bottles though and I'm thinking whether to let the current one age further and buy new bottles or drink these ones first before starting the next one...

Horrendous F1 accident - not for the faint hearted

GR along the Yarra...!

as the release date of Ghost Rider looms ever so closer, we are now exposed to a few images from the Nic Cage film. this one was shot along the Yarra River in Southbank with the Crown Casino as the background. the first to tell me what that structure GR rides over with his ghostcycle gets a Cherry Ripe!

The atmosphere was electrifying! The crowd were buzzing! The chips were... all gone!?!

The Crown Casino came alive for the Corporate Games: Poker Tournament a couple of Fridays ago, and yours truly ended up in the top 100 (ranked 88 when I got eliminated)! Companies from all sorts of industries were fairly represented, and the competitive edge was certainly evident (especially between Telstra and Optus, methinks). The pace was much faster than what you and I would've seen on TV, but the dealers were very helpful in letting us know where the game's at.

I went ALL IN once with a pair of aces. The second time I went ALL IN, my King-Ten got beaten by a King-Jack! :(

'Twas a good warm-up for next year for sure! I would recommend joining the game, even if you're a beginner like me. Thanks to those who dropped by in Melbourne for a visit and the support!

Image of the day: Fantasticar

December 1. Sigh... I'm just getting used to October! 'Twas a hellishly hectic day, and it's meant to be TGI Friday. Sigh 2. Well, here's the debut of the Fantasticar for the upcoming "Rise Of The Silver Surfer". Er, where's The Thing?

Digital Technology can make anyone an expert musician

U2 Concert Review

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/print.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10412406
Review: U2, Kanye West, at Mt Smart Stadium
12.10am Saturday November 25, 2006By Russell Baillie
They might have not played here for 13 years, postponed for another 8 months and then got delayed coming on stage because of the rain which cleared on cue (thanks to the man upstairs, possibly).
But U2 more than made up for their tardiness with a riveting, affecting and boldly passionate show before the first of two sold-out Mt Smart stadium crowds.
>>View concert picture gallery
It was one which neatly binded the songs of their 21st century albums to their breakthrough days of the 80s, leaving their often confusing, intervening decade largely untouched. That worked a treat, whether it was leaping back in time to early single I Will Follow or causing happy pandemonium - complete with a visual message about the plight of Africa - during The Streets Have No Name.
It was a show to remind that whatever you think of Bono and his campaigning ways, the man sure can sing - among the night's most affecting highlights was his ode to his late father Bob, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own. While later in Miss Sarajevo he easily ascended the original's Pavarotti bit.
And he and band figured out some canny ways of connecting to their NZ fans. There were rewritten lines in Beautiful Day referencing the long of the long white cloud and aroha. That was followed by One Tree Hill with a tribute to late Kiwi U2 crew member Greg Carroll who inspired what is still a grand song, while the light show glowed with koru patterns. And one of the other lyrics songs that Bono magpied into U2's lyrics was Four Seasons in One Day, though there were snatches of the Beatles, the Clash and others throughout.
Also sampling up a storm was opening act hip-hop megastar Kanye West who did his best in his early set battling against the elements and a certain lack of projection into the arena. But he departed grateful, saying it had been the warmest welcome he had got on his U2 excursion Down Under.
The U2 set did hit its own damp patch mid set with Bono's bit of blindfolded political street theatre out on the extended ramps in the aftermath Bullet the Blue Sky. But the performance soon regained an energy which sustained and inspired all the way through to the encores.
For the most part, it was a performance that managed to do the impossible of a stadium show - marry real emotional punch to extravagant gesture.
Brilliant.

Home Brew: Day 6

This morning SG was measured at 1.016 - same as yesterday morning. I was hoping that it would go down further but this is not the case. For all I know this is normal for this beer recipe (Mac's Pale Ale). So I decided to wait unitl tonight and take another measurement sicne I started the brew around this time on sunday.

After dinner, I took another sample and still the same measurement. I read the instructions again and it turns out I was taking the SG measurements incorrectly. This is ok I thgouht since my method was consitent for all measurements. But just to compar how much different it would have been, I followed the instructions to the letter and took a reading. It turns out it is not all that different...The reading ended up higher at 1.018.

The fact remains that the SG didn't change for 24 hours and according to the instructions, this indicates that it is time to bottle. I toook out the new bottles, added some more sugar as instructed and started bottling the beer using the bottle filler provided. This special nozzle made it much easier to bottle the beer.

So now I have 14 and half bottles of beer on the wall, 14 and a half bottles of beer. We will wait for 3 weeks and let the beer mature even more and maybe we'll be able to enjoy 14 and half of bottles of beer on the wall.

Home Brew: Day 4

The initial fermentation stage is said to take between 4-7 days. Today is day4-5 (somewhere in between). Specific gravity measurement is currently at 1.016.

Since we are at day 4, I'll be taking measurements every 24 hours and if or when SG stops dropping (i.e. no change in 24 hours) it will be bottling time.

The sample today didn't have as much foam as two days ago. Possibly it is a sign that reaction is slowing down (and I hope NOT dying down :)).

Google in 10 years

Hmmm...whirlpool...

Home Brew: Day 2

Looking good so far. Monday night I got home worried that the yeast in my brew might die due to excess heat. The temperature must be kept between 18-28C. My brew is sitting in the garage (because that is the only place the wife will allow it. Ideally I'd like it to sit on the kitchen bench). But luckily when I got home, the temperature was at 24C and I imagine during the day it wouldn't have gone higher than 26C in the garage.

Last night it was at 24C and this morning at 22C. I did my first specific gravity (SG) monitoring last night and it was sitting at 1.022 from 1.049 two days ago. What this is measuring is the sugar level in the brew. Higher means more sugar. Since the SG dropped, it meant the sugar is being consumed by the yeast and CO2 and alcohol is produced as a by product.

From the top there is this airlock where the CO2 comes out and you can see bubbles inside indicating CO2 presence. The brew is also starting to smell like beer now. It smelt like stale beer at the moment and when I took a sample through the tap, there was this huge foam head.

A good sign...

Home Brew: Day 1

Yesterday I bought myself a home brew starter kit. I bought it from the BBT and it was on special so I couldn't resist. I've been wanting to try brewing my own beer at home and this small kit was my chance.



The steps are pretty simple. Basically there are for main steps. First is sterilising. Any work involving microbiology requires sterilisation steps. Luckily this kit comes with a "No Rinse" sterilisation powder (sodium percarbonate). You need to sterilise all the equipment specially the ones that will be in contact with the brew. Second step is the actual mixing of the extract and water. I have three kinds of extracts. Lager, Pale Ale, and Stout. Sine I already tried the Lager at BBT, I thought I'd try the Pale Ale. It was as easy as making milo except this one is in a 11.5 litre container. The temperature must be within 18-28C (mine was around 23-24C). You then add the yeast and seal the container. After this you measure the specific gravity of the solution using a hydrometer provided in the kit. According to the guide, this initial reading would be between 1.045-1.055. It measures the amount of sugar in the solution. Higher means more sugar. My reading was 1.048. By the way, I didn't add any sugar. Everything is in the can. I'm using Macs which is an all malt brew.

The next step is monitoring. The temperature must be kept between 18-28C. This is so fermentation can progress at a reasonable rate and the yeast will remain alive. Higher temperatures will kill the yeast. After about a week (4-7 days actually), the sugar in the solution will be gone. They would all have been consumed by the yeast. Once the specific gravity of the solution remains constant for 24 hours, it will be time for bottling.

Bottling step: This step involves adding sugar into bottles before adding the solution in. The sugar is for the next step of fermentation. The bottle will be left in a warmish place for another week to boost the second fermentation step then kept in a cool place for 2 more weeks. After this the beer is ready to drink.

I was told that keeping it longer will make the beer better.

So...I intend to create this batch. I hope it goes ok. After bottling, I will try and do another batch. This time stout. I'll have to get more botttles though as I only have 15X 750ml bottles. I should have at least 30 bottles by christmas.

All kuyas welcome to try if all goes well. For those across the tasman, we'll drink the beer on your behalf.

For those who are interested, watch this vid. And if you like, you can purchase your own kit and share stories.

A week after Derby Day...

a week after Derby Day in Melbourne, the weather seems perfect today with the temperature in the mid-20's, with not a rain cloud in sight. it's Stakes Day, and the crowd in Flemington seem to have beaten the Derby, Oak, and Cup Days quite easily in terms of numbers. but good on NZ horse, Efficient, for winning the major race last week! too bad, I bet on a different one that came in at 7th place. all in all, it was a great experience for godzilla, myself, and the ladies and most likely everyone who would give it a try in the future, except if you don't like standing under the sun for several hours with just a drink in one hand until the arrival of the horses for your betting race. one thing's for sure, melburnians love their horse-racing holidays and events (not to mention the fashion and their hats)!

Men and their egos

your job kills...

A VicHealth report has found that job stress is a leading cause of heart disease and depression. What's more, the heart disease we're seeing in these workers is quite independent of other health risk factors such as weight, smoking, diet or family history, reports the Gallup Management Journal.

So is it just the job or are there other factors?

Rising prices, having too much to do and not enough sleep were the biggest worries, according to a survey from Harris Interactive.

Sure problems at work were cited. But then so were concerns about health, illness of a family member, too much information to process at one time, loneliness, ageing parents, frequent or excessive noise, problems with children and abuse of personal privacy.

Funny thing is no-one mentioned IT issues. That's the one that spins most people out. Every day.

Job stress is bad but it seems to be part of a bigger picture.

The other question is whether stress causes the problems, or whether the problems cause stress? And how do we deal with it?

Here are some tips from high-flyers in this SMH report. The answers are pretty obvious: hobbies, passions, spending time with kids, physical activity and meditation.

Another comes from an interesting study from Michigan State University's School of Labor and Industrial Relations via the Management Issues online journal. which found that reducing your workload and hours leave you more motivated and working better. And the study found it has no effect on your chances of promotion. So the idea is you work less and gain more.

So what stresses you out? How much of it is to do with your job? Is it worth it? How do you chill out?

Ultimate Alliance wallpapers

Fireworks season

We are nearing Guy Fawkes day and the usual shops have started selling fireworks this year. Already we hear incidents of stupid kids shooting each other with fireworks and even shooting buses and cars on the road.

There's been some arson attempts as well and firefighters have been called out to put out shrubs and burning letterboxes.

I don't think this will end unless the government ban the selling of fireworks to the public. I do not want to admit it but the kids today and are too careless and irresponsible with fireworks.

Last year, there were a few incidents. This year, I feel the worst is yet to come.

MUA: The wait is over!

"When the Masters of Evil unite, it’s time to form an Ultimate Alliance." wotta geek!

Nick, i've done my duties as a True Believer, and pre-ordered for the Xbox in time for the Nov 2 release in Oz. Spider-sense tingling!

In Struggle

it is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees! ---Emiliano Zapata

NBA: Ultimate Fantasy

this is the Commissioner Gimli's Cup!

below is the el kobe lineup (my team!), and appropriately enough, i got kobe himself in this virtual league that was organised by Godzilla! i'm still not all too sure about the mechanics of this ultimate fantasy NBA, but it's all about the stat points that each real life NBA player generates in the upcoming season. i haven't been able to watch that much games in the 2006 season, but i got my mythical five granted to me by sheer luck (yeah, i wish it was lotto instead): Kobe Bryant, Shaq, Manu Ginobili, Steve Nash, and Tracey McGrady (special mention to Melburnian Andrew Bogut of course).

I've noted below the other lineups for other teams, which I think have got a colourful mix as well.

Ian's lineup:

Stewie's lineup:

Team Rav's lineup:

Henson's lineup:

Rennan's lineup:


And the new NBA conference starts at the end of the month!

Food Review: Anatolian (Broadmeadows)

the Anatolian at the Broady Town Centre along Pascoe Vale Road was a surprise treat over dinner not so long ago for myself and the family. it's my nephew's first month, and coincidentally, the first year that i've been engaged to my lovely fiancee. but i digress.

we came in on time, and the service at the counter was very professional and courteous. we were given the choice of staying on the ground floor because of the pram, but we opted for the balcony setting upstairs in the new Broadmeadows Mall extension.

the table was already set for a massive party of 10, and the first to grace our palates was this salad setting. i'm not sure how early those were placed on the table, but noticing some of the other guests who came in later, it would have been just a couple of minutes before they sat down. it's nice to see how meticulous they were with their booking system.

it was a couple of minutes wait before the soup came in. this looked like some vege-soup because of what seemed like seeds. when we finally dug in, they felt like pasta or really soft rice! definitely a surprise appetiser in terms of texture and (un)expectation. although it didn't really taste much for me, the experience was enough to pique my interest on what else was to come. the waitress tried to explain that the soup didn't have an english translation, but it's called something like "shekaia"?

the turkish bread and various dips were so intoxicating that i thought that's what really made me too full by the end of the night. a vegetarian and several meat-lover dishes were served shortly, and they were prepared really well that even the lamb-haters in the party didn't mind the kebabs! the course was finalised with a noodle-covered baklava, which is just that: different. all in all, the meal was scrumptuous and the service equally admirable and appreciated.

4 out of 5 stars for this one.