like birds of a feather,
they flock together.
I wish you joy and love,
and happiness forever n ever.
Congratulations to the both of you!!!
Very happy for guy guys. Melbourne wedding yes? Reminds me, we're almost certain to do a China and HK visit in Dec/Jan so whatever happens let me know asap. Wholly crap congrats again...contact me!
Congratulations Owen and Sophie.
That's awesome news! Congratulations to you and Sophie. My fingers are crossed for a Melbourne wedding, or at least some sort of Melbourne-based celebration.
Sophie: Congratulations to you, as well!
Happily after I waved goodbye to Owen , to the man I know I can love for the rest of my life, memories started calling : Around year and half together, he is the one who brought me happiness , touched my soul, healed my wound and strengthened my will. He is the one who made me want to be a better girl all the time. So Yes , Owen , "死生契阔，与子成说。执子之手，与子偕老“...
That's awesome, Owen. Congratulations!
(The lengths some people will go to, in order to breathe life back into their blog...) ;)
i lost your mobile again owen - you hold the record for dissapearing from my phone the most. sms me or better yet, email me so i have a copy incase my phone get's wiped again.
congrats =)
After yesterday the world is a little brighter; the greens greener and the skies bluer, like someone turned up the saturation dial a notch or two. The biting cold and driving rain did nothing to quell my high spirits; even the jolting movement of the cramped bus dropped away to the background, a distant memory as we alighted and walked together, side by side, keeping just out of umbrella range. Happily I waved goodbye to Sophie, to the girl who said 'yes', as we parted for the day and she waved back wearing my gift.
So now that I have a shiny new iPhone, what sort of junk can I fill it with to make it more awesome?
I miss the weather report given by Canberra ABC's Mark Carmody. He and his flowers cracks me up. The downpour we had today is a sign that I should ditch my motorbike and get a car. Plus there are more crazy drivers potentially rear-ending me all the way to the morgue.
Any riders here on sketches?
Thanks, Calv.
If you also saw Charles Barrington's bit and liked his work, he's doing a solo show for the Fringe Fest: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137085164848&ref=mf
So, I got the iPhone 3GS and I'm generally happy with it. It's miles ahead of the old 2G which I now use as my remote control. Things it does for me that I'm guessing the N96 doesn't do include:
Yet battery life is abysmal and I know what you mean about the app store. And even with those drawbacks it is the best phone I've ever had.
Also, one last point in its favour is that iPhones from Hong Kong are completely unlocked - internet tethering, different SIM cards/operators, etc. This means I was able to use it when travelling with my lovely girlfriend to Zhoushan, China to watch the total solar eclipse of July 22nd. We were lucky enough to glimpse the spectacular diamond ring effect as the moon ate the sun and then see perhaps 10 seconds of the burning black orb before clouds once again covered the sight and we were left standing on a very dark beach for the better part of 6 minutes. It was well worth it.
I've heard that tours to Rapa Nui for the next eclipse are already sold out...
While I do like the iPhone, my next phone will probaly be the Samsung Galaxy (i7500). This phone is to be released in Australia during September 09. It's AMOLED screen is a winner IMHO. When the capacity of micro SD cards increases, Gary can have his 100+ GB of storage space (but for now i'll settle for 40 GB)!
I will try installing HTC Hero's firmware on it, as the Sense UI is a good improvement over the standard Android UI (yes it stole pinch controls from Apple).
If Sony anounces a reasonably close release date for the stylish Xperia X3, I could be tempted to wait for the Android phone with a 1ghz processor and 8mp camera.
Owen, hi! I'm going to be in Malaysia very late December / early Jan. Im hoping to use Malaysia as a launching pad into Hong Kong, if: A. you are there and B. you are accepting visitors. Yep, this long overdue visit might just happen!
don... you have a wicked sense of humour mate. just saw you on raw comedy (abc) 5 mins ago. you should have won the award. spewing i didn't make it to the show this year to see you live on stage (was in china). keep it up
oh hi everyone =)
Not planning on getting an iPhone yet. They look nice, but they really don't do anything my current phone (Nokia N96) doesn't already do, and they don't have enough space to combine mp3 player and phone, for my use at least (gadget convergence == win).
On this topic, what I want to see (in the immediate future) in a phone:
- Minimum 100GB storage
- Nice interface for multimedia
- Good application store (Apple has the potential for this, if they didn't keep banning apps I want.)
- Good camera, I'd be happy for the phone to be bigger if it included optical zoom. My current phone camera is pretty good.
- GPS that doesn't suck the battery dead, so I can leave it on all the time for a) Google Latitude and b) automatically tagging the location of photos/videos.
In the more distant future, I want to see:
- No need for local storage, because of...
- Very fast data connection (>1Gbps)
- No need to take it out of my pocket for anything. Unobtrusive HUD for all interfacing, maybe attached to my glasses? (Watch this video for an idea of what it could do.)
I'm going to be waiting a while.
In other news, my apologies for the lack of Italy updates. Teaching English to kids has sapped all the life out of me, I have no energy to write. Teaching has finished now, so I will hopefully have time to catch up on writing/photos/videos/etc.
Edit: Heh. "the other side of the world". Nice, Owen.
...I want one... but I have 15 months on my current contract...
rice-boy is very creative indeed. reminds me of fantastic planet. I mostly read megatokyo, sluggy and applegeeks. If you count manga then I also read naruto, bleach and one piece.
sorry Calv, I deactivated my facebook account again. I didn't take that many pics anyway. Mostly tried to enjoy the moment(s) and let Arf/Trang take the pics. I didn't buy much either. Just a couple of books, a few trinkets and some DVDs.
Our itinerary allowed us about 3 days at each city. Some random things I noted... Amsterdam isn't full of stoned pot heads as I expected. Mostly the tourists were the ones high. I never knew the Vatican had such a large collection of artworks, probably as big as the Louvre Museum. Venice has smelly canals. Ancient Rome is very impressive. Paris is beautiful at night and very liberal on sex. Barcelona's buildings reminds me of Melbourne, except for the ones Gaudi built. Klimt is Austrian. East Berlin still needs a lot of rebuilding. London's tube is hot and stuffy. Mushy peas taste really good with fish and chips.
www.rice-boy.com
I just found this recently and have been enthralled by the artwork and creativity involved. Anybody else read this before? Very highly recommended. You can jump right in on page one here.
What other webcomics do people read?
I commonly read Penny Arcade, the text/journal entry of which is normally at least as good as the comic. Xkcd, which again, is often improved by the alt-text. And also, Megatokyo, which I used to really like in the early chapters but now seems to have lost both the plot (a little) and pace (certainly). I occasionally read Whattheduck, Ctrl+Alt+Del and Awkard Zombie, but I’m certainly not a religious follower.
What’s your favourite webcomic?
I will shortly be in the market to switch from China Mobile to a 3G mobile provider in Hong Kong, and I am not a fan of PCCW. I know it's highly unlikely anyone here has any suggestions, but it's worth a try.
i can see pentax being a very niche market for fanboys and diehards. and as you rightfully pointed out, 3rd party support is lacking.
canon - the recently released 500d is my current pick and the way i see it, it's a generalist camera with pros and cons. pros are good support and cheap 3rd party peripherals.
always have been a canon boy (cept for the first camera which was a nikon coolpix 2500). but will give the pentax a go when i save up the cash for the purchase.
on another note, why the hell is internet so expensive in OZ. i've been with optus bundled internet and phone for the last few years and i was getting great value (sis and mom would rack up $4-500 worth of calls) but i only pay $99 with 20gb on cable speeds.
signed up to 3 mobile broadband... don't do it unless you know your area has low mobile broadband users. because in docklands, a lot of people are using it and it saturates the network back to 28.8k dialup or worse (pages dont even load after 20mins and 5 refreshes). trying to cancel the 24month contract now.
naked dsl or adsl is a complete rip off! hurry up with the pipe network (go live september). pay for phone connection, pay for adsl connection then incredibly high monthly plans.... not happy jan. /rant
I’m going to try to not to write an essay here, from a personal perspective (mostly based on the K20D, which I own and the K200D which I’ve shot a little with):
Major Pentax Wins
-In-body image stabilization: Also found on Olympus and Sony (who is ex-Konica Minolta). A major win for these brands. For the big two (Canon/Nikon = C/N) you need to pay a premium for lenses with stabilization. Essentially, for C/N you're buying stabilization many times over.
-Fantastic feature set and image quality for the price point: Pentax cameras are frequently competing against much more expensive cameras when compared based on image quality and features set. Eg Pentax K20D (~$815AUD) vs. Nikon D90 (~$1190AUD) vs. Canon 50D (~$1460AUD) – DxO Mark, DPReview (and the Pentax is more than half a year old than these models)
-Weather sealing: On a level only matched by the “Pro” cameras (1Ds, D3) by C/N. A big plus for me and Pentax have just released low end lenses with weather seals (previously it was just high-ish end lenses)
Minor Penatx Wins
-Unmatched backwards compatibility: Since they used to be the largest SLR company Pentax has a lot of quality, old glass and has gone to great lengths to maintain compatibility with it all (also note that a 30 year old lens will be image stabilized on Pentax but neither C/N)
-Stellar prime lens (single focal length, non-zooming) selection: Pentax has gone a different direction to most manufacturers where they’ve developed modern high-quality prime lenses while most have been working on zooms. While primes are undisputed in their image quality, they lack the convenience of a zoom.
Minor Pentax Losses
-Comparatively low fps high speed shooting: Even the highest level Pentax would be insufficient for the machine gun photography used for sports and other fast paced activities.
-Comparative lack of zoom lens line-up: Pentax certainly has high quality well made zooms for most focal lengths (possibly missing the very long) but they don’t have nearly the range of choices offered by the big two.
-Lack of peripheral features – high end LCD, tilt/swivel, movie mode, etc: Pentax has often been tardy in introducing features that improve convenience but don’t directly result in better images.
Major Pentax Losses
-Lack of significant upgrade path: Pentax has just announced a new high-end DSLR, but they will never have the sort of pro support offered by C/N. Pentax pros are typically studio shooters and will often move to medium format (which Pentax has an offering in). This means that if you invest in a tonne of glass, you won’t be able to upgrade bodies to the same extent as Canon/Nikon.
-Difficulty in finding accessories, lack of competition between vendors, general low profile: Pentax just has a lower profile. Fewer (cheaper) third-party lenses and accessories made to suit Pentax, no vendors working hard for your business, smaller second-hand market (although backwards compatibility helps this) and I had one hell of a time trying to find a Pentax compatible battery or charger in Vietnam (when I stupidly forgot to take mine) despite the fact that Pentax has a lens plant there!.
In the end, Pentax is a niche brand. Although die hard fans will claim they can go anywhere and do anything, the truth is they’re not the best tool for every job.
For the very top end of 35mm format, I think Nikon is currently the way to go. Pentax can’t match the long, fast glass, can’t shoot enough fps and most importantly doesn’t have the pro level 35mm body (eg, Nikon D3, Canon 1Ds).
For someone with no real interest in photography, but wants a DSLR to take “better” point and shoot snaps with “pretty bokeh”, I’d think C/N is the way to go, not that I’m sure which one or if it'll matter. Typically, they couldn’t be bothered with prime lenses, manual settings etc.
Pentax is a great choice for a serious amateur or someone who loves photography. It’s certainly not the only choice, and depending on which features suit your intended use, maybe not even the best choice. Every DSLR camera (with the right lens) will be able to take stunning photos.
Interested in superior build, weather sealing with an eye towards image quality over convenience (primes lenses)? Test-drive a Pentax and see how it feels in your hands.
~Joe
Although I could continue to ramble on, perhaps it’s better saved for an email, instead of continuing to subject everyone to my opinions.
thanks for giving me something to kill time with. i'm at work trying to rebuild a database i broke earlier. data loads are taking aeons.
i like your style of photography, its making me hungry - going by your post and flickr camera details what's pentax strength in the dslr world? compared to canon? not trying to start a war but i've been wanting to get a dslr for errr 2 yrs so wanting to gather as much info prior to purchase. something else always comes up and chews up the funds.
Hi All,
I Thought I should probably write a first post since I have been lurking here for... years. Owen originally set me up an account a long long time ago, even before he moved to Japan, I think. But it's taken me this long to get around to posting.
I'm a pathological lurker. Even on boards where I'm very interested in the topic and know the answer, rarely will I post.
Can you judge enough about a person from where he/she spends his/her time online? Perhaps for some people, and thinking about it, probably for me. My top sites for trawling and/or procrastinating are: Rockclimbing.com, PentaxForums, MapMyRun, Facebook and Flickr.
I also have a blog where I'm uploading a photo of something I've eaten for everyday for 1 year. 365 Days of Food or some-such. Today is Day 127, which is just over a third of the way.
Perhaps it shows that I try to import all the things from my "real world" into my digital one, or perhaps it just shows I spend too much time procrastinating online... Either way, that just about sums me up... I'm Joe
nice touch =)
so i moved into my new apartment on friday and spent the remaining weekend getting it to a livable state. 90% achieved (throw out some boxes, garbage bags, and move my speakers + pushbikes from the old place) and we're sorted.
it was nice to walk 15mins to get to work - more importantly getting up at 8:20am after 1am sleeps all weekend. but the plan is to wake early to hit the gym. my chances of catching swine flu is drastically reduced now i am not packed into sardine cans with germ infested commuters - i had a headcold all of last week because some idiot would cough or sneeze in front of me, everytime i'd nearly recover it'll all start up again.
sorry i don't have much to add in terms of headphones - i prefer not to use them too much due to ear health reasons.
post up some photos on facebook meng... i wanna see!
After 2 nights in Amsterdam, this is ou 3rd night in Berlin. So far so good, The city has a lot of history and after only 20 years since reunification, Berlin appears to be one city with only remnants of its previous East Vs West days. Everyone practically speaks English and most things are fairly easy to understand. Trains are frequent with one every 5 minutes and every 2 or 3 minutes during peak times. There is a very big Turkish population here and it can be seen by the many Doner Kebab outlets. Curry Wurst and Crepe stalls are also prominent. Our tour guide was from Sydney and has been studying and living in Berlin for the last 2 years. I definitely would not mind living here if I had the money or job.
The Etymotics are expensive everywhere. You remember them, V: the white earphones with Christmas trees that you're expected to shove into your ears. I like my ageing Sennheiser open headphones and maybe those iPhone ones are worth a look... or maybe I'm just a sucker for punishment.
Yep, search, courtesy of SearchLogic. It only searches posts, but who's using links anyway?
After a week I can say I'm very satisfied so far with my Creative EP-630 inner-ear phones. Mario, I was going to buy the CX300 but because I had to buy 3 pairs, I didn't want to spend more than twice as much. I also bought a few of the Sansa Clips which I can't recommend highly enough. I think Bidbox have a 1gb version for $26.50 so perfect for the gym or those times when you don't want to carry something big or expensive. Think ipod shuffle g2 with similar size and clip, but with screen, cheaper, way better sound IMHO plus equalizer, super cheap, drag-and-drop, all OS, and extras like FM and recording.
Etymotic ER6 are well over $200 here in Australia. Damn you Australia with your huge price premiums!
Well looky here, we have search now?
I still have my Etymotic ER6 in-ear earphones and still love them. They've been around the globe who knows how many times now and I still love them.
Don't use them at home though - for that I have these wonderful open headphones made by Grado Labs. They are divine. Sad thing is I only recently (like last weekend) plugged them into my stereo amp. Oh my - they are twice as good as I previously thought. I now want a portable headphone amp.... and def one for next to the computer at the desk.
Oh, and I got my Sun business cards about 14 hours before the announcement of being acquired by Oracle came out.
But things in Drizzle land are going well - good team, good people, awesome work and a huge amount of momentum and interest. Plus, I'm getting to rewrite parts of the database server that have bugged me for years :)
in comparison to all your tragic mishaps I've been fortunate enough with my Sony headphones. Not sure which model but it is a four year old predecessor of this one. Lately though the foam has disintegrated and I have had to wear them without the soft cushions. There is still a bit of padding so it isn't completely uncomfortable.
I have been trying to hunt down some replacement foam but haven't had any luck until today. SG Airlines had disposable foam for their in-flight entertainment headset and it looks like it might be large enough. Hopefully these will fit...
V: I found out today that I'm only staying one hour in Frankfurt before going to Amsterdam...
