Skatorama

Mick came skating with us last night, we have been getting really into it. Aparrantly its the same exercise as jogging but with zero impact on the knees, unless you are Mick and are sporting a nice shiny bruse on your left leg today....

Perth sunsets

Cycling home from work the other night and saw this. Camera doesn't really do it justice, amazing colours.

Appropriate usage of a music stand

Tristen demonstrates appropriate usage of a music stand post-gig.

Rielly after a big walk

The latest skating recruit

Oliver came skating the other evening, he was very good. We are getting right into this skating lark, I still haven't figured out how to steer properly or stop without falling yet though.

the cantina tune

Check out this arrangement of the Star Wars Cantina Theme I did for a friend a few months ago. Pay particular attention to the expresion indications....

Atticus the beast

Here is the world biggest baby Atticus downing a few at the local rollerdisco

Swingtime with aunty jane

Guitar lessons from Finn

Toasty marshmallows

Here is Finn enjoying a few marshmallows from last week.

Uncle charlie, baby magnet

I was on the way out to a gig yesterday and these two dudes wrestled me to the ground. Atticus is nearly 1 and can just about walk and Finn is 4 and going to school now too.

Minicinema

The two lads were in the lap of luxury the other night with their outdoor cinema complete with popcorn maker.

Hammock afternoons

Perth's finest pastime

Skate-o-rama

Finn's first skating night at the local rollerdrome

Bikemod

I took finn into the fireworks last night and we knew parking would be tricky so I modified my bike with some pipe, cable ties, tape and cunning. The upgrades include additional handlebars, footrest and super padded crossbar. On the way home he was tired and getting bored so i velcro'd my phone to the centre of the handlebars and we watched ice age 3 for the last few km's. What a way to travel in style.

Ozzie day bbq

Shrimp on the barbie

More gardening

Earning his rent

Finn stayed over last night, here he is volunteering for garden duty

Cold turkey

Its ok, I can quit any time, its only when I'm drinking.......

Duets

Here we are at a sleepover with the finn man performing an eclectic duet in e minor in front of the fire

New room

We are gradually moving into the new place, preparing rooms as we go, this is the latest, our music room. We have always had a room that was multifunctional (cinema/lounge/bunk room etc.), but now we have one specially for music. We have all our instruments and books in there and can leave stuff out if we like. Spiffing.

Rollerama

We went to the rollerdrome the other day,it was hilarious. I haven't skated in eons, it was two hours long and I didnt fall until the very end, and couldnt get up for ages. mighty craic. Can you name all the charachters in the sign?

Upgrade

We inherited a newer bbq the other day so the old beefmaster 2000 got donated to the lads across the road.

I saw that

Leyroy's new sausage cutting technique

The diplomat

Finn pointed out that the cones were too small so negotiated himself another.

New blogging settup

Hey guys, this is my new blogging settup, its my new Nokia N8 with bluetooth keyboard and mouse (apple magic mouse, the best and only apple product I have ever bought}. It is possible to plug the phone via its HDMI output into either the plasma screen or the projector for giant internetting. I use this all the time now instead of the laptop, Nokia have really done well for mobile computing this time.

Universal studios

Here I am in singapore, santoza island, at universal studios. I had never been to a real theme park before, the layout was really great, 5 different theme zones, jurassic park, water-world, shrek, new york and future-robo-zone. The shortest que (only 35 mins) was for a 4D shrek mini-movie where the 4th dimension was shaky chairs and getting sprayed in the face every time there was water onscreen, mighty craic.

Retro-phrenology

I was in bunnings a few weeks ago and came across this selection of hammers and was reminded of Terry Pratchets theory of retro-phrenology. Phrenology being the 13th centuary method of identifying ailments by examining the shape and lumps of the head, Terry postulated in one of his books that by manipulating the bumps and grooves of the scalp one could alter the state/condition of the person, and then he went on to describe the selection of hammers required, and it looks like bunnings has the lot.

The spice rack

Check out my collection of chilli sauces, ranging from mild to face-melting.

A match made in heaven

The aftermath of a party we had over christmas at home, beer and lego, how can it get any better?

Fionns new do

Here is Fionn mid-wash a few weeks ago, check out his muttfro...

Cookin up a storm

Huzzah, the blog is back, i found a really neat way of blogging direct from m new Nokia N8. Ever since we moved house our computer stuff has been all over the place, and because I havent been at my work PC in over a month I am out of my usual routine, so thanks to pixelpipe we are back in business. HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody! 2011's new year resolutions are in full effect, exercising, drinking slightly less and trying to make more time for family and friends all kicking off. Not really looking forward to going back to work, these teachers holidays are almost too long. House renovations are coming along pretty well, we have hosted a few parties here and the new house is well and truly broken in.

This is a photo from yesterday, Finn and Oliver came over for the day so we went to the playground with the dogs, the cinema and even baked some cookies, these little dudes are great fun.
Anyhooo, good to be back in action, watch this space.

Pong On

Twas my birthday last week so I hosted a ping pong tournament, might fun, and here is the cake Jane made, a giant rice crispie cake with table tennis features including a white lindt ball

Pong off 2010

This was the trophy for the competition.

A little help around the house

Aer pringus

Inventive leathermanery

Ibass

Saw this in singapore on holidays

test

testing new blog feed

School Holidays

Hello bloggers. Apologies for Novembers abysmal bloggery content. Due to it being the last few weeks of the school year, doing a gala ballet run and all the usual musical giggery shenanigans i haven't had a chance to blog a single thing. In summary I can say we moved house, but on account of the olimpian workload, we still haven't unpacked. Considering we packed all our stuff almost a month and a half ago, its almost like being on holidays living out of a suitcase these last few weeks. Well, school finishes tomorrow, and apart from the odd gig and a few more violin lessons its free running till the end of January. No real holiday plans, just intend on catching up with the last few months of living, no doubt the bloggery content shall increase so keep watching this space.

Hooner 4000 moves on....

You all remember our old car, the Hooner 4000, well, it was time for it to go, so i popped and ad up on gumtree and later on that day a gent was happy to take it off my hands for a trade, in the ad i had specified a table tennis table, and he showed up with the goods, four brand new bats and everything. I think he got a bit of a rough deal, the car was falling to pieces, he didnt mind thought, he was just happy that it started.

Liam came over the other night and we set it all up in the carport under the house.

GAME ON!

New gig settup

Remember that Roland Mobile Cube I got a few weeks ago, well i used it last night at a solo violin gig for the first time. It was a cocktail function, new office opening, and they wanted some easy listening background music and also a PA to use for the speeches. Well my roland worked a treat. Above you can see it mounted on a mike stand, electric viola resting on the side and a line with a mike running to the podium.

Note the excessive use of velcro on the back of the unit. I used my pedal juice for power, (the unit itself runs on 6 AA batteries, but I treat those as emergency backup) so no mains plug required (less wires and looks neat) and played some backing tracks I made last year using Band In A Box, jazz standards mainly with the odd novelty tune thrown in for fun, (flintstones, batman and a few others, nobody even batted an eyelid when I played a jazz version the doors 'light my fire') and just crooned along for an hour, then a break for the speeches, then more jazz crooning in the keys of D and G, it was great. Also, i used my phone to play the backing music, which for every track change, would bluetooth the song name to my watch, so I would know what is playing next without having to refer to a playlist or anything like that. It really made for seamless music and effortless crooning.


And here is the most important item of all, the beer holder. It took a while to set it up as it was my first time doing it, but next time I reckon I can get it all down to about 5 mins settup and soundcheck. Also, due to the compact nature of the whole thing, this was a gig I could cycle to and enjoy a few beers without worrying about driving or parking. I have another gig exactly like this in a few weeks so I'll be well practiced by then.

Sound equipment

I used my small PA system for a gig last saturday, here it is all wired up to rock the place, two mikes and two instrument inputs, MP3 player velcro'd to one side (along with backup MP3 and a charger) and my violin preamp velcro'd to the other, didn't need to remove the desk from the speaker at all and yeilded the quickest pack up in ages. Punchy sound, yamaha stagepass 500.



On my preamp is a very fancy button usually reserved for starships and sci-fi clifhanger episodes, its the "Phase Inverter", just flick that wee switch and hey presto your phase is inverted. You know the stuff: "captain, we cant penetrate their shields", "try inverting the phase, ensign", "huzzah it worked", that kinda stuff. I once played a computer game (star trek bridge commander) and the last level took about absolutely aaaaages to solve, eventually realising that the solution was to invert the phase. If only I had that button....



In a tetronian effort after the gig here is the fiddle and bike in the back of the hatchback without folding down the seats.



Also, I got one of these last week and cant recommend it highly enough. It runs on batteries for about 20 hours, also runs on mains (or the pedal-juice), and can take three inputs. Plenty loud enough to function as a speaker for one of my solo violin gigs, or as an on-stage personal monitor when playing with bands or just as a boombox out at the bbq. Also good for practicing at home with the electric viola without having to set up all the big equipment. Its really small, about the size of a small shoebox, here and here are demos where you can get an idea of the scale. It can be mounted on a mike stand or just leave it on the floor. I have a gig next week where I am going to use it to play jazz backing tracks for a few hours whilst I croon away and at the break the host is going to use it with a mike to make a few speeches. The best bit about all this is that I can now cycle to gigs with a PA system, score another one for the environment.