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So says my project manager. So tonight and last night and probably the next two weeks I’ll be burning the midnight oil at work. Yay!

Geez, it feels like ages since I last posted. Nothing much interesting has been going on. Well, hold on, I did get those tickets to see the shuttle launch. Hopefully the dates for the launch don’t change around too much, if at all. Apparently you can see the space shuttle shooting upwards from here in Plantation. Keeping in mind that the Kennedy Space Centre is about 200 miles away from here, I’m pretty stoked that I’m going to be only 6 miles away when it does launch. Awesome.

I did do something really stupid recently. I have the ability to do this at least every week it seems. I had to retrofit a new DC power socket onto the end of a transformer that I bought over here that is used for Technics keyboards. No problemo I thought. A soldering iron, some solder and 5 mins later I had a working digital piano. That was until a couple of days ago when I moved the piano around and shorted out the transformer. You see, I left 2 wires going into the plug exposed. I meant to put electrical tape around one of them to isolate it from the other but was too slack. Now I really pay. I now have to open up the transformer and replace the blown fuse, and I can only open the transformer with a hacksaw. The screw heads are welded blunt. Now come on Kristian, repeat after me: “A stitch in time saves nine”

Tickets for the next Space Shuttle launch go on sale tomorrow morning here in the US. Although it doesn’t really matter if I don’t get them – there are still places I can go to view the launch for free – the tickets get me the closest to the launch (6 miles away). That will be absolutely friggen awesome I think. Plus, Andrew Thomas from Adelaide is one of the astronauts. Even more awesome.

Did I ever tell you I love astronomy? I love it so much that I get pissed off when people say “look, there is the saucepan!” I’n my head I’m thinking “Well, that’s actually part of the constellation Orion…”. Bah! Anyway, I spent many a night with my telescope looking out at the night sky when I lived in Pata (we lived there for a couple of years again when I was beginning high school). You could imagine that viewing conditions there were awesome because there was nothing else around.

Anyway, one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up, apart from an archeologist, psychologist, biochemist, doctor or electronics engineer was an astronomer. The thought of going up in a space shuttle always freaked me out a little – especially after seeing the Challenger disaster in 1986, so I never wanted to be an astronaut. I guess at the time I settled for the next best thing, in a sense. But now that I like rollercoasters maybe I should give it a shot? Heheh.

I’ve just uploaded 50 or so pictures from my trip to Australia. I’m still not completed with all the pictures though. There are some from the Adelaide 500 that aren’t up, plus I’m missing a whole CD of pictures that are still back in Oz. Ahh well. The ones I have uploaded are here.

I only took a few pictures in Sydney because I didn’t have enough time to get all touristy. Most of the pictures are from when I went to visit my Uncle and Aunt out on the farm(s) which is about 25 kilometres from Loxton. I think one of the coolest pictures though is of my 9 year old cousin driving a manual car. That was just awesome! You’ll also realise I have a penchant for old stuff – whether it be old houses or broken down machinery. Not all of those pictures are up yet. Might I add: not all of Australia is like this! Most of the Australia population lives in cities along the coast. I’ve deliberately gone out of my way to show this side of Australia. Oh, and there are no pictures of kangaroos. We did see some, but they hopped away to quickly for me to get a picture of them.

There are also a few pictures from inside an old house. My uncle used to hold parties there apparently and everyone was given paint and they could paint whatever they wanted. There is some pretty interesting stuff there.

If you’ve been watching the news, Florida has been in it again. Damn, a lot of stuff goes on over here… or at least the media would have you believe that. What I have seen just made me sick, and everyone thinks they should have a say in what happens. It’s really not anyone else’s business. Let the people who are affected be in peace. But I’m not going to comment on that any more 🙂

Otherwise, I’ve been struggling with a dodgy home internet connection this week, which sort of sucks because I’ve gotten used to data flying around at high speed. And I’ve been reading books and stuff. I’ve got nothing further to add though.

Oh, Sony did release their PSP over here this last week. I am not interested in buying one at all. (1)

Also, now that I remember, I did go to Opium Garden in South Beach last weekend. My quest to get to most of Miami’s cool bars and clubs continues. It’s a pretty awesome place and had some cranking music playing. I don’t know how the hell we got in, considering we didn’t have any girls with us. I didn’t see any Hilton sisters or anyone famous, or at least I didn’t recognise anyone famous. If I saw Puff Daddy (or whatever the heck he’s calling himself) there I probably would have spat on his shoe (in my vibrant imagination, anyway) for all the unoriginal music he’s pumped out.

(1) Yeah, right.