06:36 pm : Long time no comp....

current mood: accomplished

I haven't really posted much for a long time...  Wow, a month and a half.  Haven't really taken many photos either.   Life has fallen into a pattern an and any blips that happen I make the incidental comments on my twitter.  Trying not to spend too much also adds to not going out as much.

Had a friend visit from Japan.  Originally a Melbourne boy, he's pretty much a lifer now.  Oh, I did start documenting and mapping restaurants we've tried recently.  I'll be adding to that as things go along.  ^_^

Last week was a big blip on the events radar.  I participated in the State Kendo Championships, taking part in the Kyu Division (below Dan/Black belt) and the Kyu Teams.  I would have competed in the Open Division, but we were restricted to a single individual division per person.

Results?  Not as good as I'd like but well enough.

I didn't get out of the 1st Round/Pools unfortunately.   We operated on a 3/4 man pool
3-man was
A vs B
A vs C
B vs C

4-Man pool was;
A vs D
A vs C
B vs C
B vs D

The person with the most wins progressed to the latter stages, which were knock-out.  If there were equal Wins then it was on points by those tied.  If points were equal, then a 1-point playoff was played.

My pool was against a member of the Melbourne University Kendo Club and a member of the Monash University Kendo Club.

MUKC vs me : I lost 2 men-points to 0
MUKC vs Monash : Monash lost 2 men-points  to 0
me vs Monash : I won 2 men-points to 0

In the end, the MUKC player had the most wins and progressed to the next round.  I think I did well, but seeing as I was one of the last rounds on the court, I had cooled down too much since the warmup and was all stiff.  I should have done another round of warmups...

Knowing what to expect for the next day, I was properly warmed up for the Teams event.

Our opponent was Melbourne University, and I was placed as 3rd in the lineup (中堅 = Chū-ken) in our team.

先鋒 (Senpō) MUKC 1, 2 men-points vs FUD1, 1 men-point
次鋒 (Jihō) MUKC 2, 1 men-points vs 2 men-points FUD2
中堅 (Chū-ken) MUKC 3, 1 men-points vs 1 men-point and 1 kote-point R.Modesto
副将 (Fuku-shō) MUKC 4, 2 men-points vs 0 FUD4
大将 (Tai-shō) MUKC 5, 1 men-point vs FUD5

Because of the last win against out Tai-shō we didn't make out past the 1st round.  The Tai-shō had to have won for ust to get to the next round.

Oh well, there's always next year.

このポストの日本語版はミクシにのせま～す

10:52 am : New Android icon...

...for any fAndroid-ing I'll be doing.

And Livejournal needs a mobile friendly page/version. :p Bookmarked m.livejournal.com

Yes, I have joined the ranks of the Smartphone users, a nice Android 2.1 device called HTC Desire ... which is apparently called the Softbank x06HT in Japan. So I know it will work over there when we visit family.

So far it's been wearing in nicely, I've got it all (con)figured out with useful apps - none of this 'lightsaber' stuff. A few games and a few phone managementy things. Battery time's been good. The first few charges went quickly due to downloads, playing with settings and all that. but it seems to be holding at about 10-12 hours on stand-by with wifi, bluetooth, gps all turned off, but still synching email, twitter etc. That's a projection by looking at the battery graph app I have.

Today I'm trying to minimise use to confirm that stand-by time. But with heavy use it seems drop about 10-20% or an hour.

Memory and lag wise, no worries. The Google intergration is, as I'd read in many places, absolutely great. My calendar and contacts went right in there.

I can't wait for the Android 2.2 (FroYo) update that's coming and all that that will bring with it. :)

So far, app wise:

• ³ aka 'cubed' for music
• Simeji Japanese IME keyboard
• HandCent SMS app, and replacement ringtone manager.
• Layar Augmented reality
• Battery Graph good tool to see how fast you're using your battery charge
• File Manager by Apollo Software
• Task Manager by Apollo Software
• Lots of google apps like Gmail, GoogleTalk, Google translate, SkyMap, Goggles etc etc
• Smart.fm language learning/vocab
• Games like Sudoku, RoboDefense etc...
• Barcode Scanner
• AK Notepad
• a few utils like TramTracker, Yellowpages, Whitepages

If anyone has any good Android app recommendations, let me know. :)

Update: Added Amazon Kindle for Android and Bump

08:53 pm : Engagement Parties and Mushrooms and Dams, oh my!

It being Queen's Birthday and a fine day at that (Finally!), me and the lady went off for a drive. Truthfully we've been wanting to go for a few weeks now, but the weather's been of or we've had something on.

So off we went to Silvan Reservoir and on the spur of the moment, off to Cardinia Reservoir, all the while driving through the mountains. Good fun. There was a path that we walked at Silvan that was a bit of a wetland/forest area. Being damp and dark, there were lots of mushrooms and fungi about. Lots of those are in this batch of photos.

The others are from, of course, food; and from my friend from Primary School's Engagement party. Enjoy!

The rest of this batch here

11:11 pm : CBD Night Photowalk

Last night, I went on a Photowalk that an old classmate from Secondary School had organised. The fruits of which can be seen here.

It was rather fun. There were about 7 people total with varying levels of equipment and experience. The city makes it rather interesting with its various light sources and colours. But since it was night, tripods were a must. For most of us. Glenn had a snazzy new camera that had a really high ISO (film sensitivity) so could take nice shots by hand.

All in all I took about 100+ photos, but again trimmed it down to the best. Enjoy!

06:59 am : ... I've posted this everywhere but this is just to amusingly awesome.

current mood: sick

Ninjas rescue student from muggers
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/ninjas-rescue-student-from-thugs/story-e6frf7l6-1225868928257

Did you need any other headline than that?