Sunday, October 27, 2013
Friends for tea
At the highland ball, Megan won a bottle of red wine. Wracked with (survivors?) guilt and the fact that she does not drink red wine motivated Megan to invite some friends to tea. We shared a meal of lasagne, chicken, salad. Red wine of course. Mango and ice cream for dessert.
Friday, October 25, 2013
C2C Fundraising Row
Friday 5:15am we met at the boat shed armed with 11mm spanners and pulled the boats apart. There are 3 boats on this trailer kindly loaned by Grammar. Tomorrow we meet at the Terrace shed and begin the row.
I row in the boat on the top and our back bit is at the bottom left. There are two of the white boats with blue ends.
I think gloves might be a good idea.
Donate money here
https://yourwayforheart.everydayhero.com/au/frank
SATURDAY
Awake early as usual and leave Megan to sleep on her own. I prepare for the day. Timing will be tight.
Last off is the Scottish ball and before that the 25km rowing marathon. I decide to gather stuff for that first. We will be in the boat for hours. Space and weight are limited. I want to take a couple of bananas and a muslie bar in the hope that we will stop for a snack on the way. I will need money and because I will be driving beforehand I at least need to take my drivers license in the car. I decide to pace the phone, license and credit card in a Ziploc plastic bag. That and the fruit and 2 x 600ml water bottles all go into a plastci coles bag. I get my zootie, hat, a white tee shirt to protect my shoulders from the sun, and a pair of socks and put them all in the coles bag.
Then into a suit pack I put my suit and white shirt and purple bow tie. That is left near the back door. One of my crew (Jeff) came by later in the day picked it up.
From 10-12:30 I was scheduled to assist with coaching at the BGS shed. The Westend markets happen on Saturday mornings and for some that means great fresh produce. For others it is funky clothes and for others it is a great cup of coffee. But for me on this particular saturday the Westend markets meant traffic congestion and parking problems. Already running late and knowing I had no cash with me I grappled with the ash tray and luckily there was a $5 note. Currency bought me a position in society and entry to the paid parking at the edge of the market and fairly close to the BGS boat shed.
Already running late I ran to the shed and arrived to find that there were still a few boats yet to put to sea. I paired up with James who was to coach the 6th junior quad. I grabbed a tinny and met James at the ramp as he supervised the kids launching their boat. By 12:15 we were back at the shed and retrieving the boat and by 1:00 we were done.
With the markets winding down and on a time frame I drove toward the Terrace playing fields at Tennyson (near Graceville). As I was passing my work on the way, I dropped in to go to the loo, change from BGS coaching clothes to rowing "Zootie". You know the term MAMIL (Middle Aged Men In Lycra) normally applies to cyclists. Well the rowers have gone one step worse. Middle aged men in leotards.
As I continued on my way I thought socks. Rummaging through the various bags with my left hand while driving with the right and occasional glances produced no socks but realisation that the process of gathering data was creating unnecessary risk and not particularly quick at arriving at a conclusion. Were there any socks in the car?. Pulled over. Rummaged. Established beyond unreasonable doubt that there were no socks. Swore. Phoned various numbers at home. U turn. Hands free. Chris was directed around the house. As I sped (on the limit of course) toward home, Chris located the socks and placed them at the end of the driveway. Nose in teh driveway. Door open, Reach out.... Ah not quite. Get out. Grab socks. Back in. back out. On my way. Arrive Tennyson. We have been advised not to park inside the terrace grounds as our cars will be locked in. Conveniently there is a small grassy area to park on.
Grabbed the disposable plastic supermarket bag now with socks. Ensured the right hat was on my head. Sunglasses on face, sunscreen in hand and walked with a small jog toward the boat shed. With my arrival we have a crew but not a lot of traction to get moving. There is some discussion of strategy followed by a photo and we are on our way.
Rowing on Oxley creek is a new experience for me. All my life I have launched and rowed on the Brisbane river. Our boat is longer than Oxley creek is wide so there is no possibility of doing a U turn. We enter the river. Set up and then do a warm up. The day is mild and sunny. There is a little wind. But really a great day for rowing. Then disaster. Someone has an equipment breakage. 5 seat has a problem with their foot stretcher. A bit of a delay and it is fixed. The rest of us sit in our seats. It is not really considered to be the right thing to get up and walk up and have a look. Boat etiquette.
Now we are on our way. We are doing several minutes of hard work followed by a minute of lighter work. There is mention of 90% and 75% work. I am more binary so it is hard and light. The first half an hour goes well and we get down near the green bridge at the uni. Mind you I could do with a drink and the wind is picking up. After we past the uni boat shed our cox (Angus) advises we will drop out one pair at a time for a two minute break. Starting with bow pair. That's all good. Gives me time to plan. My two minute break is taken with me at half slide. That means I am sitting in a sort of crouching position because if I were to straighten my legs the man behind me would shove his oar handle into my back. First a big drink of water. Next open a banana and finally wash that down with another drink. All too soon We (stroke and I) are called to attention and join back in.
We rowed down Milton reach. Past the GPS and then the BGS boat sheds and on under the first cluster of bridges. This map starts around Yeronga as we actually started on Oxley ck which is just near the end of the word Graceville.
The table from the RHS is: (Remember that we started earlier than the table shows)
This is not us. We started in front. So far in front that they could not catch up. So far in front that Megan missed us and got a snap of these guys. The Honey Badgers.
I row in the boat on the top and our back bit is at the bottom left. There are two of the white boats with blue ends.
I think gloves might be a good idea.
Donate money here
https://yourwayforheart.everydayhero.com/au/frank
SATURDAY
Awake early as usual and leave Megan to sleep on her own. I prepare for the day. Timing will be tight.
Last off is the Scottish ball and before that the 25km rowing marathon. I decide to gather stuff for that first. We will be in the boat for hours. Space and weight are limited. I want to take a couple of bananas and a muslie bar in the hope that we will stop for a snack on the way. I will need money and because I will be driving beforehand I at least need to take my drivers license in the car. I decide to pace the phone, license and credit card in a Ziploc plastic bag. That and the fruit and 2 x 600ml water bottles all go into a plastci coles bag. I get my zootie, hat, a white tee shirt to protect my shoulders from the sun, and a pair of socks and put them all in the coles bag.
Then into a suit pack I put my suit and white shirt and purple bow tie. That is left near the back door. One of my crew (Jeff) came by later in the day picked it up.
From 10-12:30 I was scheduled to assist with coaching at the BGS shed. The Westend markets happen on Saturday mornings and for some that means great fresh produce. For others it is funky clothes and for others it is a great cup of coffee. But for me on this particular saturday the Westend markets meant traffic congestion and parking problems. Already running late and knowing I had no cash with me I grappled with the ash tray and luckily there was a $5 note. Currency bought me a position in society and entry to the paid parking at the edge of the market and fairly close to the BGS boat shed.
Already running late I ran to the shed and arrived to find that there were still a few boats yet to put to sea. I paired up with James who was to coach the 6th junior quad. I grabbed a tinny and met James at the ramp as he supervised the kids launching their boat. By 12:15 we were back at the shed and retrieving the boat and by 1:00 we were done.
With the markets winding down and on a time frame I drove toward the Terrace playing fields at Tennyson (near Graceville). As I was passing my work on the way, I dropped in to go to the loo, change from BGS coaching clothes to rowing "Zootie". You know the term MAMIL (Middle Aged Men In Lycra) normally applies to cyclists. Well the rowers have gone one step worse. Middle aged men in leotards.
As I continued on my way I thought socks. Rummaging through the various bags with my left hand while driving with the right and occasional glances produced no socks but realisation that the process of gathering data was creating unnecessary risk and not particularly quick at arriving at a conclusion. Were there any socks in the car?. Pulled over. Rummaged. Established beyond unreasonable doubt that there were no socks. Swore. Phoned various numbers at home. U turn. Hands free. Chris was directed around the house. As I sped (on the limit of course) toward home, Chris located the socks and placed them at the end of the driveway. Nose in teh driveway. Door open, Reach out.... Ah not quite. Get out. Grab socks. Back in. back out. On my way. Arrive Tennyson. We have been advised not to park inside the terrace grounds as our cars will be locked in. Conveniently there is a small grassy area to park on.
Grabbed the disposable plastic supermarket bag now with socks. Ensured the right hat was on my head. Sunglasses on face, sunscreen in hand and walked with a small jog toward the boat shed. With my arrival we have a crew but not a lot of traction to get moving. There is some discussion of strategy followed by a photo and we are on our way.
Rowing on Oxley creek is a new experience for me. All my life I have launched and rowed on the Brisbane river. Our boat is longer than Oxley creek is wide so there is no possibility of doing a U turn. We enter the river. Set up and then do a warm up. The day is mild and sunny. There is a little wind. But really a great day for rowing. Then disaster. Someone has an equipment breakage. 5 seat has a problem with their foot stretcher. A bit of a delay and it is fixed. The rest of us sit in our seats. It is not really considered to be the right thing to get up and walk up and have a look. Boat etiquette.
Now we are on our way. We are doing several minutes of hard work followed by a minute of lighter work. There is mention of 90% and 75% work. I am more binary so it is hard and light. The first half an hour goes well and we get down near the green bridge at the uni. Mind you I could do with a drink and the wind is picking up. After we past the uni boat shed our cox (Angus) advises we will drop out one pair at a time for a two minute break. Starting with bow pair. That's all good. Gives me time to plan. My two minute break is taken with me at half slide. That means I am sitting in a sort of crouching position because if I were to straighten my legs the man behind me would shove his oar handle into my back. First a big drink of water. Next open a banana and finally wash that down with another drink. All too soon We (stroke and I) are called to attention and join back in.
We rowed down Milton reach. Past the GPS and then the BGS boat sheds and on under the first cluster of bridges. This map starts around Yeronga as we actually started on Oxley ck which is just near the end of the word Graceville.
|
Distance
|
Pace
|
Elapsed Time
|
|
1 km
|
04:49
min/km
|
4:48
|
|
2 km
|
05:23
min/km
|
5:20
|
|
3 km
|
05:39
min/km
|
5:39
|
|
4 km
|
06:00
min/km
|
5:59
|
|
5 km
|
05:17
min/km
|
5:16
|
|
6 km
|
04:59
min/km
|
4:59
|
|
7 km
|
05:46
min/km
|
5:45
|
|
8 km
|
06:04
min/km
|
6:03
|
|
9 km
|
05:44
min/km
|
5:42
|
|
10 km
|
06:04
min/km
|
6:01
|
|
11 km
|
06:02
min/km
|
6:00
|
|
12 km
|
05:17
min/km
|
5:16
|
|
13 km
|
06:54
min/km
|
6:51
|
|
14 km
|
05:56
min/km
|
5:56
|
|
15 km
|
05:41
min/km
|
5:41
|
|
16 km
|
05:12
min/km
|
5:10
|
|
17 km
|
05:18
min/km
|
5:17
|
|
18 km
|
06:29
min/km
|
6:28
|
|
19 km
|
05:33
min/km
|
5:33
|
|
20 km
|
05:42
min/km
|
5:40
|
|
21 km
|
05:52
min/km
|
5:48
|
|
21.6 km
|
07:50
min/km
|
4:21
|
This is not us. We started in front. So far in front that they could not catch up. So far in front that Megan missed us and got a snap of these guys. The Honey Badgers.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Flashpoint 27-OCT-2013
PREAMBLE
Well this weekend is going to be just a bit busy.
Sat -
10am - 1pm: BGS rowing helper. Then hop in the car and drive to the Terrace fields where I expect our crew will meet and launch the rowing boat in readiness for our 2:30 start.
2:30 - 5pm Row down to Breakfast creek. Aptly named as I expect we may arrive in time for breakfast.
Shower at the St Margaret's boat shed (I believe).
Suit up
Taxi to Irish club.
Attend BBC (not BGS) Old Collegiate Pipe Band dinner and dance. Missing out on the BGS rowing evening at the Cloud land night club in the valley.
Midnight I expect taxi home and get to bed.
Sunday:
Rise and shine
9:00 Flashpoint at church.
10:00 depart Sherwood for BGS
10:30 Marcus sings and or plays in the great hall.
And thats just me.
We have Megan attending something run by Yarni on Saturday. Jemma with gymnastics. Sunday has Dan performing at some musical thingo and Megan trying to get there to watch that straight after flashpoint.
Whatever happened to the idea of a day of rest!
FLASHPOINT
Turns out lectionarywise that we are in year C. The readings are:-
Joel 2:23-32; Psalm 65; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 14-16; Luke 18:9-14
In 2007
Its what is inside that counts.
A burn proof balloon.
Well this weekend is going to be just a bit busy.
Sat -
10am - 1pm: BGS rowing helper. Then hop in the car and drive to the Terrace fields where I expect our crew will meet and launch the rowing boat in readiness for our 2:30 start.
2:30 - 5pm Row down to Breakfast creek. Aptly named as I expect we may arrive in time for breakfast.
Shower at the St Margaret's boat shed (I believe).
Suit up
Taxi to Irish club.
Attend BBC (not BGS) Old Collegiate Pipe Band dinner and dance. Missing out on the BGS rowing evening at the Cloud land night club in the valley.
Midnight I expect taxi home and get to bed.
Sunday:
Rise and shine
9:00 Flashpoint at church.
10:00 depart Sherwood for BGS
10:30 Marcus sings and or plays in the great hall.
And thats just me.
We have Megan attending something run by Yarni on Saturday. Jemma with gymnastics. Sunday has Dan performing at some musical thingo and Megan trying to get there to watch that straight after flashpoint.
Whatever happened to the idea of a day of rest!
FLASHPOINT
Turns out lectionarywise that we are in year C. The readings are:-
Joel 2:23-32; Psalm 65; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 14-16; Luke 18:9-14
In 2007
Its what is inside that counts.
A burn proof balloon.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Do red frogs make schoolies too attractive?
Today Natty talked in church about her involvement in the Student Life schoolies project. It sounded really good.
Reminded me that a week or so ago, Marcus came home from school and announced that he and some friends wanted to rent an apartment at The Gold Coast.
Turned out that the school has organised the "Red Frogs" people to come and chat to the kids. Now I assume that the intent here is to warn the kids about some of the dangers at Schoolies. There is a word for the unintended consequences of laws. I wonder if that applies.
A few definitions...
Schoolies is nominally a week immediately following the end of the final year of grade 12 where the just graduated students head to the gold coast for a week of sin and debauchery.
Red Frogs is/are an organisation / group of well motivated mostly young adults who attend to provide counseling and support to these kids. As I understand it they carry some red frogs and offer the kids are red frog as a conversation starter. So these are the good guys.
The third group - the baddies - you gotta have a resident evil, are the toolies. The toolies are the18+ people who come to the coast hoping to take advantage of the naive schoolies.
To ponder....
On the one hand do we keep our kids in ignorance and hope they do not get into trouble?
Does one educate and hope that knowledge leads to sensible decisions?
Do 17year olds works as a logica machine anyway
It seems to me that had the red frogs person not make the offer of pancakes and something seem so attractive then Marcus and his mates would have been content with having their grade12 coming of age somewhere else.
Reminded me that a week or so ago, Marcus came home from school and announced that he and some friends wanted to rent an apartment at The Gold Coast.
Turned out that the school has organised the "Red Frogs" people to come and chat to the kids. Now I assume that the intent here is to warn the kids about some of the dangers at Schoolies. There is a word for the unintended consequences of laws. I wonder if that applies.
A few definitions...
Schoolies is nominally a week immediately following the end of the final year of grade 12 where the just graduated students head to the gold coast for a week of sin and debauchery.
Red Frogs is/are an organisation / group of well motivated mostly young adults who attend to provide counseling and support to these kids. As I understand it they carry some red frogs and offer the kids are red frog as a conversation starter. So these are the good guys.
The third group - the baddies - you gotta have a resident evil, are the toolies. The toolies are the18+ people who come to the coast hoping to take advantage of the naive schoolies.
To ponder....
On the one hand do we keep our kids in ignorance and hope they do not get into trouble?
Does one educate and hope that knowledge leads to sensible decisions?
Do 17year olds works as a logica machine anyway
It seems to me that had the red frogs person not make the offer of pancakes and something seem so attractive then Marcus and his mates would have been content with having their grade12 coming of age somewhere else.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Gravity the Movie
Megan and I went to see "Gravity" the Movie last night. Thumbs up. We watched it in 3D.
I first heard about Gravity a month or so ago and I wondered how does one make a movie that will keep anyone interested when there are only two actors and both of them are floating about in space suits. Then I started to hear good reviews from a variety of sources - David and Margaret on the ABC at one extreme through to a review on JJJ and they were all positive.
Gravity is effectively a scifi version of Sandra Bullock's last film "speed". Fast things, explosions, Sandra coolly driving, a difficulty in communicating with someone and in all of this white knuckle tension she never has to pee. Apart from the setting in space, the key scifi ingredient of the film is the use of a time warp that results in Sandra who is pushing 50 showing up looking 30. To confirm this she manages to find some air locks on various space stations in which to remove her space suit - sex appeal - tick.
It has great cinematography. Seemingly long takes that I assume are stitched together green screen CGI as I did not see the credits state "Filmed on location in space". In a way scifi is somewhat peripheral. Sure its set in space but there are no aliens and the technology is present day. The accident that leads to the drama is plausible.
On to more earthly things, having decided to go and received Megans acceptance of my invitation I set about investigating times, places and costs.
The first thing we discover is that even though the web is primarily a visual medium, the movie theater web sites although colourful make it dam hard to find out the ticket price.
SouthBank was the easiest to find prices and at $11 was by far the cheapest
http://www.cineplex.com.au/pricing.php
The Palace Barracks came in second at $22.50. Only double the price.
https://www.palacecinemas.com.au/sessiontimes/session/121/65893/
The Eldorado at Indooroopilly was not showing it in 3D and in anycase they seem to have been absorbed by some bigger organisation.
Event Cinemas at Indooroopilly Shopping Town take the cake as the most expensive and the hardest to actually work out the price. They had only a couple of seats left anyway so they are obviously doing something right.
https://www.eventcinemas.com.au/ticketing/step2?source=sessionfinder&sessionid=4099919
$42.50.
Let me say that again $42.50
wow. IS that Gold Class or something. Not as far as I can tell.
I first heard about Gravity a month or so ago and I wondered how does one make a movie that will keep anyone interested when there are only two actors and both of them are floating about in space suits. Then I started to hear good reviews from a variety of sources - David and Margaret on the ABC at one extreme through to a review on JJJ and they were all positive.
Gravity is effectively a scifi version of Sandra Bullock's last film "speed". Fast things, explosions, Sandra coolly driving, a difficulty in communicating with someone and in all of this white knuckle tension she never has to pee. Apart from the setting in space, the key scifi ingredient of the film is the use of a time warp that results in Sandra who is pushing 50 showing up looking 30. To confirm this she manages to find some air locks on various space stations in which to remove her space suit - sex appeal - tick.
It has great cinematography. Seemingly long takes that I assume are stitched together green screen CGI as I did not see the credits state "Filmed on location in space". In a way scifi is somewhat peripheral. Sure its set in space but there are no aliens and the technology is present day. The accident that leads to the drama is plausible.
On to more earthly things, having decided to go and received Megans acceptance of my invitation I set about investigating times, places and costs.
The first thing we discover is that even though the web is primarily a visual medium, the movie theater web sites although colourful make it dam hard to find out the ticket price.
SouthBank was the easiest to find prices and at $11 was by far the cheapest
http://www.cineplex.com.au/pricing.php
The Palace Barracks came in second at $22.50. Only double the price.
https://www.palacecinemas.com.au/sessiontimes/session/121/65893/
The Eldorado at Indooroopilly was not showing it in 3D and in anycase they seem to have been absorbed by some bigger organisation.
Event Cinemas at Indooroopilly Shopping Town take the cake as the most expensive and the hardest to actually work out the price. They had only a couple of seats left anyway so they are obviously doing something right.
https://www.eventcinemas.com.au/ticketing/step2?source=sessionfinder&sessionid=4099919
$42.50.
Let me say that again $42.50
wow. IS that Gold Class or something. Not as far as I can tell.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
2013 HOTY TT1
That stands for ... Head Of The Yarra Time Trial One
A 9 km row down the Brisbane River starting from near where Oxley Creek runs in down to the finish line at UQ.
This is in preparation for our big race of the year where we travel to Melbourne to sample the culture and have a row.
Here is some video. The first bit is the row on the way up. I frank am in 7 seat. Count 1 at the Bow front of boat. Note that later in the video there are other crews not just our crew.
A 9 km row down the Brisbane River starting from near where Oxley Creek runs in down to the finish line at UQ.
This is in preparation for our big race of the year where we travel to Melbourne to sample the culture and have a row.
Here is some video. The first bit is the row on the way up. I frank am in 7 seat. Count 1 at the Bow front of boat. Note that later in the video there are other crews not just our crew.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Multi Faith Music and a big pot of curry
Thursday evening and Derek had asked me to come and give a hand videoing a musical thing at the Griffith uni multi faith centre. There was a Muslim choir from the Islamic school at that big intersection at Inala, a black christian group and blow me over Megan and Naomi and another woman singing. The final act was a Jewish fellow who blew into a horn thing and told humorous historical stories - very entertaining.
Those alive in the 80's would associate the Dean Brothers with the dozing of the Bellvue and Cloudland. Well one of the Dean Brothers turned up with the biggest vat of curry you have ever seen and it was very good curry. Hot enough to have taste but not so hot as to have the heat spoil the taste.
Monday, October 7, 2013
2013 Rocktober
Marcus, Chris, Dan and Frank spent the weekend on a men & boys weekend at Pauls place at Stanthorpe.
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