Tag: personal

Insights into the private life of Ricky Robinson.

Categories
Random observations

Complete lies

So Tinni has invited me to participate in a meme in which I need to list five complete and utter lies, and one truth. The first person to guess which is the true thing wins (the meme rules do not stipulate the nature of the prize, but I reckon another blog entry identifying the winner should suffice). So here goes:

    1. Biology was my preferred degree up until the last few days prior to making my final choices at the end of high school
    2. I made my debut for the Northstar XXXX League U-19 team at the age of 15
    3. In 2002, I caused a two-car accident while riding a moped around a Greek Island
    4. With respect to US politics, I believe the Democrats are, in general, a worthier party than the Republicans
    5. I have never smoked tobacco
    6. In 2003, I was arrested for being drunk and disorderly at Gilhooley’s in the city while partying with my cousins

      I tag the following people:

      Categories
      Random observations

      A drive in the countryside

      It was nice to finally get a day where Karen and I could do whatever we felt like; we haven’t had one of those for a several months. We decided to just jump in the car and go for a drive. As it turned out, we headed down the Ipswich Motorway/Warrego Highway and turned onto the Brisbane Valley Highway towards Fernvale and Esk. We drove up past Fernvale and the Wivenhoe Dam, through Esk and turned off towards the Somerset Dam and Kilcoy. The countryside out there is absolutely bone dry, though it did drizzle a bit while we were driving through. We stopped at the Caboonbah Homestead: not much to see there. Cattle were grazing in the mostly dry bed of the Brisbane River. We were hoping to catch another glimpse of the Wivenhoe Dam, so we turned down the Wivenhoe-Somerset Road and headed back towards Fernvale. Remarkably, neither of us had ever been to Mount Glorious, so instead of going all the way back to Fernvale, we got onto the Northbrook Creek Road which took us up into the D’Aguilar Range. We stopped in Mount Glorious for lunch, at a little place called Coffee in the Forest. Coffee in the Forest is owned by Ken and Shirley Olley, who are better known for the production of organic honey, and there are numerous honey-based products for sale in their cafe. I can highly recommend the Ambrosia (honey mead). We bought a bottle of it after eating our meal of spring rolls, garlic rice, salad and sweet and sour sauce (the sweet component, of course, being provided by a honey base). Then we headed back to Brisbane via Samford. We stopped at the Eden Bistro in Bardon, having been recommended by Clinton, for coffee and cake. Very nice. Lovely view, too. Not yet satisfied that our day’s journey was circuitous enough, we explored various parts of Fig Tree Pocket and Chapel Hill, before finally returning home. A great day.

      Categories
      Random observations

      Married!

      Karen and I were married in a beautiful wedding ceremony at Mount Tamborine at 1pm on Saturday, April 15. Thanks to all who came to help us celebrate our special day.


      Married!

      Categories
      Random observations

      My new set-top box

      I think many people observe that birthdays come around faster as they get older. For me, the last year seems to have flown past, despite the fact it has probably been one of the most eventful of my life so far. It started with an overseas holiday and ended with a new job as a researcher. Along the way, I submitted a Ph.D. thesis, began and ended a job as a software engineer, got engaged, bought a house, moved into said house (thereby leaving "home" for what was the last time), watched Australia finally qualify for the World Cup, and was awarded a Ph.D. (in something like that order). Needless to say, there are many, many people to thank for helping to make that year what it was.

      So this year has a lot to live up to. It will start off well enough, for I’ll be marrying Karen in April. What else happens during the year remains to be seen, but I’m looking forward to it! I’m thoroughly enjoying my new job, and my interest in ubiquitous computing has been re-energised. On the one hand, I’m hoping for another eventful year (as long as the events are positive!). On the other hand, it would be nice to have a quiet year in which Karen and I can just enjoy being married.

      Karen bought me a Humax set-top box for my birthday/Valentine’s day. It’s standard definition since we only have a standard definition 4:3 television anyway. It’s got an 80GB hard disk drive built into it for recording, and it has some nice features like being able to press pause while watching live television and having the stream buffered to the HDD. Handy for when you’re watching football and you get interrupted by a phone call. We used it last night to record Gilmore Girls, but I think we might have missed the end of it since the stupid Commonwealth Games swimming qualifiers went way overtime. Do television viewers really find it interesting to watch people swimming laps in a pool for so many hours on end? We were at Suncorp Stadium watching a highly entertaining game of football. :-)

      Categories
      Random observations

      BBQ

      Every year since we graduated with Bachelors degrees in 2000, my friends and I have got together at around Christmas time to catch up and remember some of the things we did in our undergrad years (because, let’s face it, there’ll never be a time like undergrad again, and there are some things worth remembering!). This year we had a BBQ at Karen’s and my new house last Monday. It was really great, because everyone was able to make it: Ben and Marice (sans baby Daniel), Anna and Will, Kai and Julie, Rhys, Ian, Matthew "Boggo" McGill and Nathan. Karen also invited her friend Belinda around. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I always look forward to these occasions, and I’m looking forward to next year’s get-together already!

      Categories
      Random observations

      Everything days

      It’s been another one of those days when everything happens at once. Already today we’ve had a fridge, dishwasher and BBQ delivered. A guy is currently putting Cool or Cosy insulation in our ceiling (I don’t envy that man: he must be frying). At work this morning I also received delivery of our new ADSL router/modem/switch/wireless access point from iiNet. Karen and I have been using the free dialup account that comes with any iiNet ADSL account. It’ll be good to have a fast connection again! In addition, I collected the permanent copies of my Ph.D. thesis (I was awarded my Ph.D. on the 29th of November), collected graduation ceremony tickets and had my sunglasses fixed.

      On the way back from the University I ran into Bill Segall (from Mantara) and had a bit of a chat with him. I’ll be catching up with a lot of former DSTCers this Thursday at the DSTC Xmas reunion party.

      Categories
      Random observations

      Moved In

      Well, Karen and I have moved into our new house. The move went very smoothly, but there’s still boxes everywhere, of course. Random seems to like his new home.

      We had dinner at my Mum’s and Dad’s house on Saturday night after we’d done as much unpacking and arranging of furniture as we could. Even though I’ve only moved a few suburbs away from my parents and brother, saying goodbye was pretty hard. So Saturday was a happy day and a sad day at the same time. I know it’s going to take some time for Mum, in particular, to readjust to the way things are now.

      There’s a few things that need doing to the house in the short-term. Karen and I are looking forward to putting our own touches to the house. Should be fun!

      Categories
      Random observations

      The Cat Empire

      Last night Karen took me to see The Cat Empire at the Tivoli Theatre. It was a graduation present (gosh I’m lucky, although I’m still waiting for somebody in ITEE to give me the go-ahead to print the bound copies of my thesis). Anyway, the concert was totally awesome. I was blown away by the performance. You often hear a recording of a live concert that doesn’t sound much like the studio recordings. The Cat Empire live sounded just like the Cat Empire on CD, only they extended each number with fantastic improvisations. I am definitely even more of a Cat Empire fan now than I was before.

      The warm up act was performed by King Curly, who were not too bad. They played a style of music which might be described as "lounge rock": rock mixed with laid back jazz.

      Categories
      Random observations

      Our House

      At just before 4pm yesterday afternoon, Karen and I became the proud new owners of a lovely little house in Ellen Grove. Karen’s currently in Cyprus on work matters, so we won’t be moving in immediately. I suggested that I could have everything moved in by the time she gets back, but Karen needs to make sure that everything gets put in its right and proper place. ;-) Regardless, it won’t be long now before our new address is Ellen Grove.

      Categories
      Devonshire tea review

      High Tea at the City Garden’s Cafe

      On Sunday previous, we (Karen’s family and mine) celebrated Karen’s birthday at the City Gardens Cafe. Neither Karen nor I had ever partaken of a proper high tea before, so it was something we were both looking forward to.

      Since I haven’t done a Devonshire Tea review in a while, I will do a short one for the high tea instead.
      The food, of which there was an abundance, was served on a three tiered platter. The bottom platter had an assortment of pesto sandwiches. The middle tier had battered fish pieces, meat balls and scones with jam and cream. The top platter had a multitude of sweets such as cakes, slices and white chocolate. Everything was delicious. The scones were small, but perfectly baked. (Their small size was more than compensated for by all the other food anyway.) The jam and cream came in the requisite little pots, and the tea itself was better than acceptable, though there was not nearly enough of it. The setting couldn’t have been more perfect. The cafe is situated on top of a hill towards the rear of the Brisbane Botanical Gardens. We all went for a walk after eating our fill.

      I’d definitely go to the City Gardens Cafe for high tea again. 9/10.