October 2006 Archives

A bit of silliness goes a long way. No matter how much of a crappy mood I'm in, there's a few things that have the instant effect of changing my mood. One of these little things is scrolling through Chrispitality's Flickr set called Hotel Bed Jumping. It appeals to my inner child. Also check out his BedJumping HQ blog for a bit of writing to go with the fun.

Iron Man 75% Superman 70% Spider-Man 65% Hulk 65% Supergirl 65% Green Lantern 60% Catwoman 60% Robin 45% Wonder Woman 45% Batman 45% The Flash 35%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius. TUB ^.

^ Yeah, I added TUB into the mix here for comic effect.

The Beautiful Couple, originally uploaded by Alicia & Dan.

You can see the rest of their wedding shots here.

But I really like this one a lot.

This entry was posted with flickr

My workspace, originally uploaded by timbeckenham.

Given my position of being TUB and needing to fill my days, I've been spending more and more time rummaging around the internet looking for those items that will keep me entertained and occupied. So this has led me to this truly boring entry where I'm talking about my desk and its setup. Yep, a stereotypically geeky entry on a geeky blog.

If you click on the above image it will take you through to my Flickr photos and this will reveal all the notes I've spent silly amounts of time & energy labelling this photo with. Much to my lament, the blog entry posting engine that Flickr provides doesn't conserve these notes, so you will have to use that well-worn clicking finger to satisfy your unending curiousity about this strange 'Flickr Notes' concept.

I just recently picked up a few new additions to my office space thanks to birthday well-wishers. In gadgets, I obtained a Mierke External HDD enclosure complete with a 320Gb Western Digital HDD and a Logitech USB keyboard from Cybermart down on Huaihai Zhong Lu. Lin bought me a bookshelf and several large photo frames from Ikea. Really nice gifts. Thanks everyone.

One thing I can't make my mind about is a second monitor. It's not that I'm unsure if would use it, of course I NEED one, but TUB isn't bringing significant money in right now, and can't really justify the expense in lieu of rent, eating and drinking a beer or two on the weekend. On my Flickr page, a series of comments from what I have labelled 'like-minded geeky individuals' have been prompting me to get it, with the general theme being bigger the better.

However, I don't expect this to be continuing for much longer as I've started to pull it all together. I proffer bathing before 9am, getting a proper haircut & leaving our apartment at least five times a week as evidence for such a turn-around. And then there are other such things, like looking for work, reading scientific papers, and having a generally more positive outlook on all things Tim-related.

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Finally! My G4 Powerbook Battery Replacement, originally uploaded by timbeckenham.

I'm not very happy with Apple Customer service. In earlier entries I've written about the problems receiving my Apple Powerbook replacement battery. I've been very frustrated by dealing with Apple Australia during this. I took the opportunity to replace my battery during an extended visit back home in Oz when I was informed that I would be supplied with another battery within the duration of my stay. Nuh'uh! As of Monday evening this week, it took 10 weeks for my Powerbook replacement battery to arrive in my hot little hands. That's +6 weeks from the 3 to 4 weeks I was originally told.

Understandably, I have 'special circumstances' that required co-ordination of both Apple Australia & Apple China to deliver my battery. The scary thing was that this arrangement had been established over 6 FUCKING weeks ago. For six weeks, no one bothered to pull their their proverbial finger out to deliver this battery. For the past 3 weeks, I had called Apple Australia to determine the status of this replacement, but was met with stone-wall responses from three separate customer service representatives along the lines of....

"Hmm, that should've been done by now, I'll look into it".

No sh!t Sherlock! It's amazing what a threat to deliver a letter of complaint, and then a letter from a solicitor can do to motivate a bunch of people and a company. I felt as though resorting to the John Laws/Alan Jones demographic's standard response of "I've got a good mind to write a letter about this..." was a little outside my generation's slacker response - but there you go. After this threat, it took 3 working days to receive my battery after this last phone call. It looks as though I have learnt something from my time working for 'The Man'.

I have been informed that person handling my case was dealing with torn stomach muscles. Ok, that's bad. But the problem is that Apple as an organisation hadn't deemed it necessary to reassign the case to a capable agent? I still haven't been informed why the person's case hadn't been dealt with in a timely manner, like passing it back into the work chain? The disdain that I've been treated with during this case is fucked. If Apple was serious about their customers, they would have provided replacement batteries upfront to those people who bought (through no fault of their own) poorly-engineered laptop batteries. Fucking terrible Apple. Service like this will make people switch to Mac for sure.

The only good thing about this is that I'm mobile and able to change my workspace at will. It's good to get out of the apartment I've been relegated to most of the day.

This entry was posted with flickr

Just like the rest of the world, Australia's eyes are on China. During the boom of the Chinese economy, many Australians and Australian companies have greatly benefited from increased trade-relations from China over the past 10 years. China is in the news everyday. Our image of this country is shaped in large by what we hear and what we read care of the Australian media. One of the positive aspects we hear repeatedly about China is its booming growth, on which Australian's can benefit through increased trading opportunities. Yesterday, I wrote an entry touching on this aspect (while simultaneous taking the opportunity to link to a bikini model), but for the bulk of Australians, experience of China and the Chinese way of life remains a mystery. Myself knowing little about China and the Chinese way of life before expatriating to SH, I experienced a perspective shift that reset my preconceptions about this city, China and Chinese people. Each day, I continue to witness these shifts when new expats and visitors lodge with us in SH. There's quite a lot that people outside of China don't know about China! So let's look at this a little more by scanning the press (well, in this case, the Australian press).

With an eye to the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, I have started to see an increase posting of stories about Australia's sporting teams and their likelihood of success in China. Here's just a few links I've come across in the last few days that have some interesting insights into Australia's (well, the fourth estate's) opinions and perspectives of what could be in store in 2008 in Beijing.

The Australian -Sports - Steroid School Escapes Penalty
A follow-up story regarding the news that broke earlier this year when it an anti-doping raid revealed that the Anshan Athletics School in north-east China allegedly had implemented a systematic doping program in its schools. With the headmaster missing, no progress or charges have been laid on those organising the ring - except for punishment of the children caught up in the middle of it.

The Australian -Sports - Beijing road test runs out of puff
First glance at this title suggests the Aussies will be hard at it in Beijing. Sailing grounds without wind? Bring your own perhaps? Or just lose 10% of your body mass to get that extra edge? The adverse anthropological environmental conditions of Beijing might throw out our athlete's preparations. So might the food. But one thing comes through, that a few Olympic venues & support appear to be awesome (besides lack wind), and they're ready and waiting.

When you hold the Olympics, there's a lot of eyes on you. If there's an association with Australian sport, then there's going to be a little more attention thrown your way from us. Added to this, when you're as big and dominant as China is, those sets of eyes will be trained on you long and hard. Here's a few from the recent past.

AU.Yahoo News - World - Yao calls on China to be more courteous for 2008 Olympics
Yao must understand what it means to be stared at and shouted at a lot.

The SMH - World - Beijing Chief To Target Air Pollution
Same vein as the above story, but highlighting some positive announcements from the top of China's government.

News Limited - World - Vendor Fights To Sell 'World Cup' Air
Striking out on the Olympic Air Rights, Li Jie takes the next obvious step.

News Limited - World - Boxing Roo Show Is A Cruel Blow
Shanghai's hosting of the 'Animal Olympics' gets another thumbs-down when Skippy jumps into the ring.

NineMSN - World - Olympic Boycott Call Over Organ Claims
Regardless of the call for a boycott, this concept is head-shakingly horrifying. Could this really be?

News Limited - World - Ethnic Games Blighted By Cross-Dressing Cheats
Australian tend to think that their sporting champions dressing up like women is high-brow comedy, but on the sporting field? That's where we draw the line. And so does China. This is weird.

For me, these stories represent snippets of life from what I've seen from my time in China but just stories from the peaks and the troughs. A long list of weird, striking, abhorrent, and not-so wonderful things about China from the Australian perspective. Yes, information like this has influenced the way I see China on a daily basis. But one thing I have come to learn as an expat in China is that there's a lot of other stories, information and life that goes on between these snippets. So what are the key reasons for such gloss? One of my favourite China bloggers, Imagethief, has just written an eloquent, incisive and well-thought entry that explores the poor relationship between foreign and Chinese media, and lays the problem down an an inherent mistrust of State-controlled media coverage with an element of stodgy, sloganised delivery thrown in. But what I can take from this is although the information may be filtered to foreign press agencies, it is still there. Information is accessible to foreign media using their myriad of news wire sources, people on the ground, foreign correspondents, and dare I even say it, talking to people on the ground. The way is there, but it is rarely utilised. So what's going on? Is too hard to nut out that story? Will it sell papers? Is it easy & convenient to keep stories in the stereotypical Chinese story basket? Or do we really don't care about China as a nation to look beyond the sensational?

Please just remember when reading about China in your morning paper or listening to some talking head on the telly, that for each one of these reports, there are thousands of others ranging from daily life, to local events, community news, disasters, corruption scandals, success and failures that won't even rate a mention. Yeah, China is different from back home, but there is a whole lot of normality to be found here too.

Perplexed about my use of the Australian vernacular? Well, you might well be if you're in Shanghai this week. It is officially 'Celebrate Australia' Festival Week in Shanghai. This Austrade-sponsored marketing event is aimed at increasing Australia's export markets in China.

With various promotional events linked with this festival being staged in locations such as Xintiandi, M on the Bund, the Shanghai Grand Theater and Fuxing Park, this campaign is definitely aimed at the more affluent segments of China's population.

After arriving in Shanghai, I quickly appreciated how much emphasis on capturing the Chinese trade & tourism market by various Australian governments and businesses. Due to many hours spent commuting on Shanghai's metro, I've been witness to an inundation of ads promoting tourism in Victoria & Queensland, fly to Oz using Qantas, and to drink Jacob's Creek wine. Anyhow, how does this YouTube-linked video (above) relate to this? Well, this is the current in this long string of promotional campaigns to get Chinese to come to Australian shores and spend their RMB. This ad is also part of the controversial Australian tourism marketing campaign launched last year. I first noticed a Chinese version of this ad playing in the video screens of Shanghai's metro stations early last week. What I found a little bit hilarious is that these screens are usually ignored on the platform of the metro stations, but in the times I've seen this one played, there was always and avid collection of viewers. Could the reason for all the attentive viewers be this?

That's if you happen not to be laying down shots in Shanghai's only fallout-shelter bar this Halloween.

Yes, from the 'strange but true' files of my Shanghai life, my apartment complex does appear to have incorporated its own bomb shelters for its denizens in each building. I'm not 100% sure if this is accurate, but it does appear to be so. If not, people in our apartment complex really value their bicycles!

The functional apparatus of our shelters appear to be the real thing. Sequential lighting displays, big air-recycling looking things, heavy concrete doors with rubber seals, loudspeakers on some corners. Yes, it could be a scene of The Hatch taken from Lost, but without the retro 1970's furniture & record collection. In fact, the only decor consists of a large selection of our neighbour's push-bikes. And in all reality, I'm convinced that this area is only ever going to be a glorified bike shed forever more.

I had heard about Shanghai's mega-underground shelter quite a while ago via Shanghaiist, and part of me wonders if our complex is linked up to the heart of that subterranean beast wherever it may be located. If the worst does come to fruition, it could be possible that there is the potential for an underground community along the lines of Sly Stallone's movie, Demolition Man, but without the cool "fightin' The Man" theme.

There's an obsession with 'underground' things in Shanghai. Please don't confuse this with your local music aficionados beating their chests, but a loose collective consciousness that requires a cage of pure logic to harness. Failing to produce such a cage, I decided to build one based on ludicrous. Here's my idea. Persuade the Shanghai populous into adopting a Morlock lifestyle. It could be an easy sell. I believe the key attributes that indicate this predisposition for this already exists within a large portion of Shanghai's populous. Tapping into the Chinese obsession with minimising sun exposure will almost guarantee success. Sure, you'll be pasty coloured, but unfortunately you will develop a penchant for human flesh and sprouting blue hair on your body. A small inconvenience really. For most Shanghairen, we work in tiny, nearly windowless boxes so a shift into the underground lifestyle is the next natural move. See, life really is better underground. You also have your favourite fall-out shelter bar or Window's Jing'an Temple (I think I saw some Morlocks there previously but they disappeared after a few beers), you can enjoy crappy tourist bubble rides with your friends, or you can go shopping for our favourite fake goods via the fancy underground train. Life as a Shanghairen Morlock - it's already at your fingertips - go on, try it out for size.

But in all seriousness, in the event that the highly improbable occurs, please remember that even if you fail to make it in time to my place when the first couple of nukes from the DPRK/Iran/that pesky Taiwan/emerging power of Tuvalu arrive in SH, be comforted in knowledge that at least Lin & Tim's bicycles are safe from harm and that the mutant people from the future will have something to ride on amongst the rubble.

Reading this entry has made me realise that its time to end being TUB and to go out and find some proper employment and have a real life. Wish me luck.

Given my current lifestyle as TUB, I've been spending a lot more time being introspective, delving deeply into trivial matters, and pretty much spending very little time doing anything worthwhile whatsoever. Regardless of the ins & outs of my situation, one positive thing is that I've had a lot more time to investigate the online world, and in particular current events and happenings within and around China. I should really be outside enjoying the remaining days of Shanghai's 'good' weather before the inevitable winter wind, humidity and drizzle appear. Despite this lament, I'm a little upbeat that I've discovered some cool stuff on the web recently, and as I'm the sharing and caring kind of guy, I'm more than happy to put my 2 fen worth down on pixels of your screen.

So as I'm suffering from a drought of material for documenting my life (yes, the reason for this blog), I've decided to do a little bit of documenting about other things. So amongst my online scrambling, I discovered the joy that is The Hao Hao Report. Sinosplice has previously mentioned this Chinese-based clone of digg. digg wasn't one of those websites/tools that I could easily become addicted to. Why? Unlike having lists of really cool things like bookmarks or tag clouds that facilitate quick access to grouped information, digg in its default configuration didn't really provide a focus for my internet use. It is like a giant State or National Library archive that doesn't lend itself to browsing. This is where IMHO that The Hao Hao Report has differentiated itself by creating a China-focused swap-forum of information collectors which is much more manageable to browse through. Is it a domain of the nerdy for the nerdy? Yes. That is why I like it. Submitting articles to the Hao Hao Report is easy through the use of bookmarklets or redirection links that you can easily add to most of the popular web-based dynamic content management systems (WP, MT, Blogger, etc).

So through this site, I 'caught' up on a lot of China-related topics, discovered a few more blogs based around the whole China/Chinese experience. Trust me, it is an easy way to lose a handful of minutes. Along with the China Blog List, I don't think you could possibly miss anything happening regarding China in the English-language documented internet.

Don't attribute this one to me. I'm still getting a hold upon the basics of the language (pathetic I know).

This essential guide to insult someone fifty different ways in Chinese is brought to you via The Humanaught via TalkTalkChina.

This may spark my interest in the language. How else would you abuse referees in Chinese?

Live In Shanghai is a new sub-portal on The Shanghai Daily website. This is perhaps the best English-language city guide to Shanghai that I have come across. Well done Shanghai Daily! There's a lot of information here - particularly on how to get around the city via public transportation. The only thing it appears to miss in this category is an English-translation of Shanghai's bus-timetables & bus-stops (the holy grail in my mind's eye). Go and check it out!

Self-defense? What a load of bollocks!

This from the SMH.

Since relocating to Shanghai, I have regained my passion for basketball. So, in a sense I keep an eye out for anything to do with basketball with a Chinese bent.

Anyway, here's a story from the SMH about Sun Ming Ming - potentially China's newest guardpost on its 'Walking Great Wall' Men's national basketball team. He makes Yao Ming look like a weed.

Tumour behind hoop giant's spurt - October 9, 2006 - 10:23AM

At nearly 236 cm (7 feet 9 inches ) tall, with size 19 feet, Chinese basketball player Sun Ming Ming dreams of joining the National Basketball Association.

But what has made him so tall and given him dreams of following his countryman Yao Ming into the US professional ranks was also a threat to his life.

A tumour at the base of his skull was pressing on his pituitary gland and making him grow, and had to be surgically removed last year. Without the surgery, he faced the possibility of heart failure and early death. A tiny piece of tumour remains.

"Yao Ming is the pride of all Chinese people," Sun said from Greensboro, North Carolina, where he is training to improve his speed and agility.

"Could I be like him one day? This is not something that can happen just because I wish it to happen. I need to work hard and even if I work really hard, I don't know if it will ever happen."

Sun arrived in the United States from China in February 2005. Sports agent Charles Bonsignore says he took a risk by taking on the then lead-footed player and agreeing to raise funds for medical bills that already exceed $100,000.

"I said, 'Let's see what we can do and make this guy into an NBA player,'" Bonsignore said from his office in Ventura, California.

Sun was eligible for the 2005 National Basketball Association draft, but wasn't chosen because of his lack of stamina. He landed awkwardly and felt winded often.

Sun's huge feet were covered with corns and welts, his toes were gnarled and an X-Ray showed the bones in his toes were deformed because he didn't have shoes that fit him properly while he was growing up.

Then doctors made a more shocking discovery: a tumour was crushing Sun's pituitary gland and it was secreting excess growth hormone that caused him to grow and grow.

Dr. Hrayr Shahinian, director of Los Angeles-based Skull Base Institute, who performed the brain surgery on Sun in September 2005, said the condition was a blessing and a curse for Sun, who barely needed to jump in order to dunk a ball.

"It is a curse because this disease, if it is left alone, if untreated, can be fatal and he may die of heart failure right on the basketball court," he said.

Robert Pershing Wadlow, who suffered from gigantism and died in 1940 from a foot infection at the age of 22, is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the tallest man in history at 272 cm (8 feet 11 inches).

By all accounts, Sun's recovery from surgery has been successful. But a tiny piece of tumour remains lodged in his skull close to the carotid artery, the main blood vessel from the heart to the brain, and the optic nerve.

Treatment could include radiosurgery or special drugs, both of which are costly.

If he succeeds in playing in the NBA, Sun would be the tallest player in its history, overtaking Manute Bol and Gheorghe Muresan, both 231 cm (7 feet 7 inches). Yao Ming and Shawn Bradley, both 229 cm (7 feet 6 inches ), are the tallest players currently in the league.

"The first thing you notice about Sun Ming Ming is that he's the largest human being you'll ever see on Earth," said Bill Paolantonio, executive producer of a (the) documentary about Sun. "It is an amazing feeling when he walks into the room. He stops the room. He's that large."

The documentary, Anatomy of a Giant, airs in the United States on the Discovery Health channel on Oct. 15. It follows Sun's journey from Harbin, China, to his recovery in the United States after the three-hour brain surgery.

Sun's height is one thing that impressed Dale Osbourne, general manger and coach of Dodge City Legend in Kansas and prompted him to sign Sun onto the minor league team for a short contract in March.

The 360-pound player averaged only about 5 minutes per game, said Osbourne. That compares to about 20 minutes for an average player.

"It's going to take time," said Osbourne. "He's got to continue to work hard on his foot movement, continue to work hard on his stamina and he's got to continue to hit the weight room and get stronger upper body and lower body strength."

Sun is now training about five hours a day, yet still finding time to soak in a little Americana, from learning English to eating new food; shopping to playing pool and even getting a taste of night life.

"The dream that I had when I came to the United States has not changed," Sun said. "It will be great if I can play in NBA one day. I will work as hard as I can, do my very best to achieve that goal. But if it still can't happen in the end, at least I will have no regret."

Happy Birthday To Me!, originally uploaded by PhotoShmoto.

^ This is what I thought birthdays in China would be like.

Now, where's my party dress...?

This entry was posted with flickr

Chez Moi Dancers!, originally uploaded by timbeckenham.

Linda and I now live in what you could call a 'fancy' apartment complex. In no way is it a 'USD$Millions in a villa somewhere with umpteen drivers and support staff' but rather a nice, clean and surprisingly tasteful apartment. Indeed, each time we receive visitors from overseas at our place we are often met by a degree of shock (or at least surprise) to the 'niceness' of our lodgings. In fact, on our recent trip back home we commented that my sister's & brother-in-law's place was really cool & spacious to which a retort in the like of "don't tell me that our apartment is enormous when in fact you both have a drinking room in your apartment" was proferred. We had no reply. It is one of the perks of living in China.

Yeah, we think its pretty special, and also a steal for what it costs.

Anyhow, we reckon our apartment and our apartment complex is pretty special. Its not far from transport links, not far from Jing'an Temple, not far from the metro, not far from Cloud9 mall at Zhongshan Park, and conveniently for this TUB not far from dubious DVD stores. In essence, we live in a great apartment in a great location.

Now we can add to this list - we have a great apartment community. To celebrate the impending Mid-Autumn Festival, our apartment complex threw a performance extravaganza last Thursday night. We were treated to Britney Spears inspired pop dancing (whoa!), perhaps too much kareoke, various popular renditions of Chinese favourites, more singing, tap dancing, fan dancing, and old stories from a 'veteran' entertainer call Zhang Laoshi. This was all free and put together by the people living in our complex. Pretty amazing. So amazing in fact that people strolling by outside our apartment complex were pressed against every nook, cranny & vantage point to grab a look at the action.

It wasn't really an occasion to take photos, but rather sit back and enjoy the show. The photo above represents a taste of what we saw that night. I believe we have some pretty talented neighbours.

This entry was posted with flickr

Hmm, it seems I've been fairly prolific in documenting my recent trip back to Australia. In terms of a timeline, it started out with an awesome flight experience, some problems with getting my Powerbook fixed, meeting up with friends & family for dinners/coffees/beers/story telling, visiting a beautiful tropical island, attending my sister's wedding, buying lots of stuff to bring back with me, playing a lot of golf (despite my complete lack of aptitude for it), and exploring my thoughts about home.

The only thing I haven't documented is getting from Brisbane to Shanghai. I'm amazed I actually made this leg, as I missed my connecting flight from Brisbane to Sydney by 1 minute at check-in because I was stuck behind the obligatory Japanese tour group (grumble). Then there was that whole late-night packing thing, slow to get going in the morning thing, repacking in the morning thing, etc. I won't dwell on that further. I was put onto the next flight (7:30am to Sydney) which was due to arrive at 9am - just 30 minutes before the closure of my Shanghai flight's boarding time. The problem I faced was transferring from the Domestic terminal to the International terminal in less than 30 minutes. [Insert diety of your choice here] smiled upon me, and I made my Shanghai flight. What was even more amazing is that once again I snared a spare seat on an almost full plane. Cool. What's even better, I managed to get a chicken dinner this time (doubly-amazing!).

Unfortunately, my travel karma was all used up after arriving at Pudong Airport in Shanghai. No, I didn't get the rubber glove treatment, but rather I took the mother-of-all diversions while riding on Pudong Airport Bus #2 to Jing'an Temple. For some reason (which I could not verify by talking directly the driver), we traversed the southern reaches of Pudong for almost 50 minutes before crossing over into Puxi. Normally, a little diversion from a usual route can be expected when travelling from Pudong Airport in a taxi - but this was the "ever-reliable" Airport Bus #2! It does not deviate. I've taken this bus a number of times and even the lane changes appear to run according to some unknown but somehow predictable routine. I wasn't the only passenger a little concerned by this world-shift, as witnessed by the increasingly confused expressions on the faces of my fellow ticketholders. In all, it was a 45 minute delay. Much better than missing an international flight. I'll wear that.

So after time apart measuring just on one week, Lin was there to meet me at Jing'an Temple. The residual bad luck from the bus ride affected our ability to hail any form of taxi, so we lugged all my stuff back to our apartment. All 35kg of it. Linda wasn't happy. But then I showed her why the bags weighed so much. That eased the pain very quickly. Home sweet home!

As you may have read earlier, Lin & I have just returned from a decent holiday back to Australia. While we were there, we did the usual thing when you visit your home towns after 18 months away. Visit friends, visit with family, eat a lot of steak, go to the beach, buy stuff, sort out red tape governmental type thingies. All the usual.

But despite all these little tasks & desire to see your loved ones, there was an over-riding impetus for me and Lin to go back to Oz. It was the wishes of Bridezilla. My sister. Now, first of all let me state that in no way was I subjected to sustained and detailed wedding planning as the rest of my family (and I doubt knowing my sister and Danny this was the case for anyone in our collective families). However, with all weddings, there is the threat of Bridezilla that hangs over us like the Sword of Damocles. There would be no excuses for not showing up.

I would also like to add that I really wanted to go back for this wedding. Its not everyday you lose a sister and gain a brother (what a swap!), and even rarer that you get invited to swank parties in cool surrounds. And then there was that whole brother/sister relationship thing we'd built up over the past 28 or so years. Small ties really*. So in all, both Lin & I had been preparing for this trip back for a while and had arranged both suits and formal dresses long long long in advance.

The wedding itself was awesome. Both Lin and I joined my family & the rest of the bridal party at the engaged couple's apartment for some pre-wedding sushi, Bollinger & photography. We then went via limousine to the wedding venue, The Brisbane Powerhouse. Not what you would consider as a traditional location, but chosen as it was just a few hundred meters from where the wedded couple first met.

The choice of The Powerhouse was fortunate as Brisbane had just welcomed a few weeks worth of dreary rainy weather, which suspiciously coincided with both Linda and my arrival in Australia (sorry sis!). If you know either Alicia or Dan, you'd know that they have plans A through to Z (and onwards) ready in any case of emergency. The ceremony was moved indoors a few days prior to the wedding, and was held in a top-floor room that overlooked the Newfarm reach of the Brisbane River.

Alicia arrived in style to the ceremony, accompanied by the dulcet tones of Nina Simone's "Feelin' Good". The ceremony was simple, with words and emotion being the focus of the ceremony. It was over quite quickly and I was happy to have been there for my sister's big day.

Afterwards, there was a reception in the Spark Bar inside the Powerhouse where I took the opportunity to take a few photos and mingle with many of the old family friends that attended the ceremony. Later, the reception was held in the Powerhouse's theatre. The food, entertainment (pianist & jazz band), and occasion went swimmingly.

It was a pretty awesome wedding.

There will probably be an inundation of photos from the wedding as soon as A&D return from their honeymoon, but as you can see I've posted just a few here. Keep a lookout for a private group on Flickr for shared photos of the event. Not sure what that means? Send me an email and I'll let you know the ins-and-outs of this.

*In the true brother/sister dynamic, a large portion of this post was meant to stir and poke fun my rival sibling. I love my sister heaps & this is all in good jest.

It has been a long time coming, but yes, I finally did get around to changing this site. I didn't quite meet all my goals, but I am a lot happier with the layout (more amenable for dynamic resizing), cleaning up some of the CSS, and also starting to play around with phpFlickr and MagpieRSS to see if I can mirror some of my Flickr photos on this portal.

The site changes will also allow me to add some new multimedia to my site in the coming future. I'm experimenting with Flickr's flash slideshow at the moment, but an awesome Flash app that I first spied on Shanghaiist has caught my eye.

So, I've said farewell to my Gallery installation. It served me well, but now all my photos (including Gallery's) are all over on my Flickr page.

I'm also going to look at cleaning up of both my Feeds page and my Shanghai page. Both need a bit of TLC. They've been neglected of late.