Got the call from T at about 10am – E had a C-Section around 0900 this morning, and one healthy 2.73kg (6lb in oldspeak) boy was born. Looks a bit more like his maternal granddad than his older brother does, but I reckon he’ll still have a reddish beard one day .. image:: /images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

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Mum and bub both well. Very happy.

Last week, iirc, Chipdancer took delivery of a coffee roasting unit. Shipped from Taiwan and he got a good price…. but of course, being a coffee nut, that’s just encouraged him to order more beans. (He ordered mundo kgs today).I went round for a triple shot on Tuesday morning, and experienced some of his first batch at 36 hours post-roast. It was quite bitter, but not sour, and most definitely not rubbery. I know that’s a strange term to use for coffee, but it did seem the most appropriate term to describe the commerically roasted and somewhat older beans we tried for a followup doubleshot.I’m really keen to see him keep track of his bean origins, what program settings he’s using on the roaster, and tasting notes. I reckon it’ll be a good thing to do, especially since coffee really seems to be what makes him tick these days.(I’m really keen to get some of J’s mother’s Central Qld coffee done in Chip’s roaster and then properly ground and espressed. That would be a very good thing!)Oi! Chip! Hurry up and get some notes on your blog ya slacker!

Over the last few weeks when J and I have been cycling along the bikepath I’ve gotten to thinking that it would be really nice to make use of the Shimano SPD cleats that are on the other side of my SPD-M324 pedals.During the week I rocked up to the LBSG (that’s “local bike shop guy” thankyou Spoonboy) in the shop at 80 Albert St under the Sun office and got me a pair of these: .. image:: http://www.shimano.com.au/publish/content/global_cycle/en/au/index/products/shoes/mtb/product.-code-SH-M122P.-type-.html

Aka Shimano SH-M122P. Not too fussed about the pearly-whiteness, but it’ll do. Made sure I got them adjusted for my gait etc, and spent a few minutes on Tuesday evening figuring out how to clip in and out, so on Wednesday I was all set ready to go.Managed to get myself out for a quick (12-14min) 4.5-5km circuit around the local area every morning this week, which I’m really happy about. Might not get going tomorrow until much later, but I’ll definitely do it. The muscles just above my knees are telling me lots of things now, and I just hope that persistence in keeping on with the training rides will eventually pay off.Come to think of it, J and I still haven’t been to Brisbane Forest Park, but perhaps we might make it there this weekend. Really gotta get ourselves off the pavement and onto something less regular.

I got this picture from my sister. I have no idea who invented the image, nor who owns the copyright. .. image:: http://www.jmcpdotcom.com/roller/jmcp/resource/new_shoes.jpg

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latest fashions in the monsoon belt of Queensland

After my engagement in town ended this morning, A and I went off to JB Hifi on Adelaide St to kill some time. Found our way to the classical section, and there was a copy of Kennedy’s recording of the Beethoven and Mozart violin concerti. With the cadenza I so wanted.Well…. not quite exactly as I remembered it, but still really really good. I wish we’d hung around at the end of the concert – I might have been able to get it autographed. shrug I’ll live.For the technical details, have a wander over to http://www.kennedybeethoven.com – and be aware that EMI assume that you really do want to have a popup to present the info. Sod that boring old concept of “here’s a window let’s use the space within it”….grrrrrrr……. Idiots.The music is good. Go get it.

While perusing David Dale’s SMH blog, I followed on the comment links to Encyclopedia Dramatica‘s entry on Australia.Quite funny, but very very biting. I particularly enjoyed the photo captions of Koalas, and the lolcat pics of Kevin Rudd.Separately, I hit CNN to catch up with the news in Jesusland and realised that CNN is running a political futures market, with a separate sub-market for Super Tuesday. It’s very interesting for me to be able to watch how this all plays out, not least because I reckon the whole Electoral College concept is a massively anti-democratic concept.

Last night J and I hopped on the bus to have a good night out – dinner on Little Stanley St at Obsession, followed by Nigel Kennedy and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra playing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.4 in D, K218 and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major Op, 61.He’s a strange bloke, is Nigel. Cockney sorta accent, very interesting stage manner (including gangsta style handshakes with the concertmaster) and he “warmed up” with the Praeludium from Bach’s Solo Partita number 3 (in E Major). I’ve been listening to Richard Tognetti’s version of the Solo Partitas and Sonatas for about a year now and it was very interesting to hear the difference in tone. Even allowing for the fact that we were sitting up the back of the QPAC Concert Hall, Kennedy’s version seemed quite a bit softer in tone, though every bit as vibrant.The Mozart… well, I reckon Mozart has written better works so I found it quite disappointing. Except for Kennedy’s cadenza, that is – first time I’ve experienced a “whole of orchestra” cadenza. It was really, really good. I hope he records it at some point because it’s definitely worth hearing.To round out the first half, Kennedy and the SSO Concertmaster, Dene Olding (who he went to Juilliard with) played some short Bartok pieces. Never been a fan of Bartok, really, so this left me cold.The second half was Beethoven, and a much better piece. Where I found the Mozart to be sort of thin and ill-defined, Beethoven’s work was well fleshed out, had serious depth and had much greater exploration of its themes. Of course, I know, he had a greater range of instruments to work with and he wrote it aged 36 whereas Mozart was 19 when he wrote K218. And it shows.To finish off the concert they then played Csardas and an arrangement of Hendrix’s Purple Haze. Reminded both J and I of Fourplay String Quartet in style, just a bit. Interesting to experience a similar crossover for classically-trained musicians when they try their hand at Jazz or Rock. Very interesting indeed.So we had a very nice evening, caught the bus home and turned into pumpkins.

Today I pumped water from the tank into the pool (with our Onga RivaFlow ittybitty pump) … and while J and I were off experiencing Sweeney Todd in Gold Class @ Indro, it seems to have been bucketing down all through.That makes 4 from 4 – whenever I put water back into the pool, it rains heavily. Note that because I don’t wash our car there’s no correlation to be had on that front.Weird. Must be some science-y reason for I’m sure.

Alan showed me this link: “Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House? (Helping Your Child Understand the Stay-At-Home Server)”It’s hilarious, and I particularly love this slide.And it’s a real book, too – check out amazon.com’s page for it,The whole premise had me rotflmao. Nice one, Microsoft .. image:: /images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

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In #opensolaris yesterday (2nd Jan):

Jan 02 16:14:20 nayyares        Tempt, e^ipi whats the resolution for 2008?
Jan 02 16:14:32 Tempt           1920x1200

Much rotflmao ensued.