Category: This Week In The Loft

I just heard on the news that the government has changed the laws about who can own the poker machines that we find in pubs and clubs.   And after the announcement Tabcorp (one of the few “allowed” owners) had 1/3 wiped from the value of the company.   My opinion is that anyone living off extorting money from people are in a risky business.   The government could change the laws which could affect your business at any time.  It’s just like prostitution really…  the laws could change anytime and put a lot of people out of business.  I’m sure Tabcorp have creamed it in over the past years from all those people with gambling addictions…  I don’t feel sad for them at all.

I have written about this before.  I am continually amazed at how little protection some motorcyclists/scooter riders wear when they get on their bikes.   Well it looks like I’m not the only one who has noticed.   Check out Victoria’s TAC ads (click on the pics above) that are playing on TV at the moment.   I don’t need any convincing.

While I was on the TAC site I also noticed the special road safety site that has been set up to remind people about safe driving on our roads.   It’s quite touching what they have done here.   The friends and family affected by traffic accidents tell their stories at “Pictures of You“.

Okay so it’s time to get caught up in the Private Room. It’s amazing how quickly behind I get when there is so much shooting to be done! I’ve finally posted my favourite shoot so far. And that was the Australia Day weekend shoot on the beaches on the south coast of NSW. It was a perfect summer day and we had the beach all to ourselves. So I have just added 10 new galleries and 16 new videos. That’s 360 videos all up now if you were counting.

I absolutely love this song. It is probably my favourite Morrissey song. It actually gives me shivers when I hear it. I actually fantasize about killing people when I hear it! Seriously! Of course I never would… I have always been surprised when I hear it playing in unusual places… like a hair salon in a mall in the suburbs. What is your favourite Morrissey or Smiths song? Click the Mozza pic above to play the video.

Who doesn’t love a long weekend?   Today was Labour Day and was also the last day of Melbourne’s Moomba Waterfest.  It should finish with some fireworks over the Yarra River tonight.   I was going to head out on the scooter but as soon as I hit the road I started sweating madly.  It actually got to 39 degrees today.   Instead I headed up to watch the Moomba Parade.  Lord Mayor John So announced that the Moomba Parade is the largest “family” parade in Australia.   It is actually quite an entertaining parade as loads of community and cultural groups march, dance and prance down Swanston Street.   Mostly it’s fun watching the teenagers who were so obviously forced into the parade by their parents.   I also spent the long weekend learning how to make Flash videos…   you’ve been warned.

When I got home from Queensland I headed down to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre with Dart to see the annual motor show.   I was a little disappointed because many of the cars seemed to be the same cars as last year…  or maybe they all look the same to me.  The stand outs were the Hummers, the Rang Rovers, the Volvos (really) and the BMWs of course.   I have this goal of eventually owning a BMW, and possibly one of the station wagons.   I really like the feel of them.  I haven’t actually driven one yet.  I just haven’t worked out yet how to raise the $60k for one of them.

And here is Dart showing me how flimsy some of the cars can be.   It seemed that damaging or stealing parts from the cars on display was a bit of a sport again this year.

Oh…  and I loved the Car Show Spruiker…   he looked like a wedding singer romancing the back seat of the new Falcon.

Last weekend I had a chance to visit my family on the Gold Coast after having not seen them for almost a year.  I was in Sydney working so rather than come home right away I took off to Sydney on Friday night and then headed back to Melbourne on Monday.   It was nice seeing them all again.  It’s amazing how much stuff I miss out on when I don’t live up there.   It’s also nice having some distance between us too.

It looks like this year is going to very busy travel-wise.  I already have a trip to Sydney and then a trip to Perth planned.   Both work trips.   There is a lot of process improvement activity going on so it should be an interesting year.

I haven’t posted in the past week because my faithful old PC has broken down.  Either the video card or power supply is failing.  I’m hoping to fix it next week because it acts as a backup to my Mac Pro.   And up until today I was not able to update this blog on my Mac.  Thanks to Tyson I worked out that it was Safari that had a problem.   So i am now working in Firefox…   which so far seems like a lovely web browser.

I hope this summer lasts forever!

As I was walking to work this morning I was amazed at the outfits some people were wearing as they rode their scooters in to the city!   During my scooter riding course we were taught about how important it is to wear the right protective gear.   So now it takes me a while to actually get dressed up before going for a ride.    Well, what took my eye was a girl wearing an open faced helmet on her way into the office in peak traffic.   Now I knew she was going into the office because she was wearing a skimpy skirt and matching suit jacket with high heel shoes!!!   

There are laws in Australia where motorbike riders must wear a helmet….   but it seems the rest is up to you.   Then I saw a guy doubling his partner into work on the same stretch of road…  and again the only protective gear they ahd on was a helmet.   Are these people crazy??   My mate has come off his scooter 3 times now…  and he knows the benefits of having protective riding gear.   And the shot above?   I just liked it.