Marc and Amanda’s Wedding

Patrick Brisvegas, Travel

I’ve known Marc and Amanda sine the earliest University days and it was my great pleasure to share, with them, their wedding day on Friday. Things started off ominously with the volcanic ash in Europe threatening to leave the to-be couple stranded in London. Fortunately they ended up leaving even earlier than expected, getting on one of the earliest flights to leave shortly after the government lifted the flight ban. Things continued to look up with a perfect Gold Coast day heralding in the beautiful ceremony at the Hyatt at Sanctuary Cove.

Everything ran really smoothly and it was a wonderful ceremony attended by many great family and friends from both sides. Things continued on after the ceremony with a lovely reception and dinner at Arundel’s Country Club where a final farewell saw the newly-weds depart the venue. I count myself particularly lucky knowing what a wonderful couple these two make and will continue to be over the next coming years.

Catching up with all the crew

Patrick Brisvegas, Travel

Returning to Brisbane and the Coast after so many years – about three and a half since the last time I’d returned – it was great to catch up with so many people. I’ll admit I didn’t exactly leave a lot of time to do so, but I’m really happy to have fit in so many visits in just under a week. This has, of course, meant plenty of eating and drinking that I will no doubt pay back when I return to London.

Ben and Michelle were the first people I saw, almost literally as I hopped off the plane in Brisbane. I had a frantic time picking up a sim card – Virgin Mobile had a great deal including 1GB of data before organising to meet these guys around Brisbane. We had a fantastic lunch in the luxuries provided by the Valley’s Cloudland. What an awesome time that was. Great food, beer (fat yak FTW) and awesome company.

Later that evening, I met previous Brisbane generations of TWers and the current generation of TWers at the Regatta. I caught the City Cat from the city, really enjoying the ride where we stayed until closing. I think we got the hint when they turned they almost turned the lights so low we thought they’d turned it off, as well as the roller doors closing in on the boathouse.

I then headed out to Milton, walking along the bikepath, to catch up with Gary, Jen and their toddler, Lila where we had a delightful breakfast and plenty of coffee. Lunchtime I returned to the city to catch up with Mike, Marie and their fresh little girl, Tara where we headed over to Punjabi Palace to relive some good ol’ times.

The evening sent me into the valley to catch up with some friends from high school, Kia and Josh where we enjoyed the amazing mixologists at The Bowery Bar. I’d seen Kia when we came over to London last year, but hadn’t seen Josh since I worked in Brisbane. It was really great to catch up.

Mel and Ben joined us later in the evening where we enjoyed their company and departed for a late evening meal to the Tibetan Kitchen. I’m amazed they let us in since it was really late for a Brisbane dinner although we got the hint when they started mopping down the floor around us that it was time to go.

I saw those guys off to catch one of the late trains before heading back into the city. I had to get up really early, after scheduling a breakfast at The Gunshop Cafe when it first opens at 7am! This meant getting up even earlier so that I could walk across. Here I met Paul, Michelle & Ethan, Hamish, Kate and Amaya and Matt for a delightful relaxed breakfast. It’s so refreshing to occupy a table even with a waiting queue and never feel rushed off the table – leisurely ordering a coffee, tea or juice and ordering really late.

Down the coast, I’ve also managed to catch up with Suz, Al and their three kids (whew!) as well as another high school mate, Dave and his, now wife, Bianca (last time they’d just gotten engaged). I finally caught up with lunch with Shannon who’d come and visited London about a year ago.

I have Marc and Amanda’s wedding to go to today before I fly out for Melbourne for a week of work. It’s been a bit of a hectic schedule but I’m really glad it’s all worked out in the end. Thanks everyone for making time to meet me. I certainly appreciated the short time I got to spend with everyone.

Back in Brisbane

Patrick Brisvegas, Travel

I’ve spent the last week travelling between Bangkok and Brisbane only to return to Australia Marc and Amanda’s wedding on the Gold Coast this Friday. I spent a few days in Brisbane catching up with as many people as I could before heading down to the coast to spend time with the family and before I fly out to Melbourne for work.

It’s remarkable to see the differences in Brisbane having not been there for three and a half years now. Some things don’t change.

For instance the City Cat ferries are still going on providing links by those lucky enough to live, work or study so close to the river. It’s a fantastic way of getting around and Brisbane has done a lot to integrate more of the transport systems using an Oyster-like system to do so.

Brisbane’s bikeway are still popular as ever. Watching all the people cycling around made me miss how easy it was to get around, although once again, it’s only those lucky enough to already live on the bike paths – with very little provided for those living in the northern suburbs or those greater away from the Brisbane CBD. Instead, there are many more bridges (I think they have plenty now!) and a number of tunnels providing ways of bypassing the city centre. I would have liked to have seen more public transport develop, but I’m afraid it seems like most people drive everywhere.

Other things change such as St John’s Cathedral (pictured above) finally finished their building and construction. I think I remember them trying to fund raise lots of money and plenty of construction still to come. Like other things, Brisbane now has plenty more buildings and redeveloped areas including many CBD-based apartment blocks.

Even places like Chinatown have been redeveloped, although that area is looking much less Chinatown and much more inner city living. I can see the impact that places like Cathedral Place have had bringing more affluent younger people closer to the city.

There’s even a Wheel of Brisbane that gives you a fairly decent view of the city during the day, although the same tinting that keeps you from being roasted during the day makes it apparently impossible to see any decent views during the night.

I’m glad to see Brisbane continue to develop. The CBD is still heaving during the day, but the same quietness descends in the evening as the rush of people spread out to the outer suburbs. It feels slightly busier, but given the weather and the laid back way of life, it’ll never feel as busy as London ever does. I can’t complain about the weather though 🙂

Kick Ass

Patrick Movies, UK Life

Over this Easter holiday period, I ventured down to Brixton (I’ve forgotten what it looks like during the day) to the very nice Ritzy cinema. Tickets are a bargain at this place charging only £7 for a ticket, and you can even pre-book allocated seats. Just like band venues like the Brixton Academy, and The Forum, the Ritzy still has it’s traditional theatrical decorations, making it a much more enjoyable experience watching the movie in such a great atmosphere. Anyway, back to the movie…

I had little expectations about this movie, other than what someone told me over a birthday bash at the start of the Easter break – be warned… it’s violent! Indeed. However, it’s almost violent in a black comedy sort of way. The story is simple, following the life of a high school kid who dares to dress up as a super hero without the lack of special powers. His act triggers a set of consequences that makes for a very laughable story. I’m amazed at hearing (post-movie) that this film was made with British money as well, apparently turned down by Hollywood – it certainly felt a lot more like an American movie than anything else. What an amazing production.

This movie won’t win any acting awards, but it’s a fun movie that has lots of laughs, enough squeamish parts and plenty of action. Great for the bank holiday weekend.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Patrick UK Life

I haven’t posted an update for quite some time. Life’s just been very busy. I’ve been between several different projects at work, ran a number of presentations including a very last minute notice to present at invite-only QCon London all whilst battling a cold that seems to have lasted a number of weeks.

Fortunately I’ve been able to enjoy the weather with a few small days in the office and at least one weekend where I wasn’t deathly ill (sorry Nathan for missing your engagement party!) or preparing for the next conference/presentation. I did manage to see the premier of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 3D Imax although it was a pretty disappointing film. I think the reviews that talked about Burton and Disney fighting it out with Disney coming out on top definitely rang true, and even the 3D did little to make it any better.

I did see another movie, and The Blind Side which was an underrated movie released in the US last year about the opportunity given to an underprivileged kid whose natural protective nature makes him a football star. I also saw several weeks back now, the very entertaining 39 Steps at the Criterion theatre that I would definitely recommend and was a huge laugh with only four actors playing an entire cast.

Despite being very under the weather for the longest I’ve been, I’m still around and kicking at least 🙂

Spoon at the Electric Ballroom

Patrick Entertainment, Music, UK Life

Tuesday proved to be a very wet evening but that didn’t stop me from heading out to Camden’s Electric Ballroom to watch American Indie band, Spoon. They’ve got plenty of albums and although they never really hit the mainstream, they certainly had enough fans to fill out the Electric Ballroom. When listening to some of their albums, I recognised a few of their songs, although by far probably the most popular is, The Way We Get By off their Kill The Moonlight album.

They were supported by New York band, White Rabbits who also put on a really amazing set. I noticed that they had their own gig at the ICA next week, so I’d definitely recommend checking them out if you happen to be free.

Spoon were here promoting their new album, Transference, which definitely takes a much more experimental take on their style of music, full of songs lacking choruses. Still pretty decent performance. A great night out and a perfect way to beat the poor weather.

Samsung N210 Weeks Later

Patrick General, UK Life

It’s been at least two weeks since I’ve had the Samsung N210, so I thought I’d continue with the review that I previously wrote. I’ve been using this as my primary commuting device – as it’s both lighter and smaller. On the upside, the weight has relieved the strain on my back, particularly useful if you’re wearing a courier-like side satchel. The smaller size has a number of advantages as well, such as being able to comfortably use in in a commuter train without being in the more spacious four person seat. I can comfortably prop this up on the bag and then type away whilst sitting on one of the smaller two-person seats on an East Coast Rail Train, and still be able to see the screen at a comfortable distance without craning my neck.

I’ve continued to tweak with most of the system settings, expunging as much of the start up services as I think I can get away with. The biggest contributor (it seems) so far was to disable the microsoft indexing/searching service as it seemed to cause typing to be jittery whenever running. I also managed to play some other video formats using VLC player (MP4) and the machine seems to be able to handle it fine.

I also did my first backup of the system, using the in built Samsung Recovery Manager. I figured this would be quite important seeing as I don’t have a reinstaller CD for it. Using a little portable hard drive, it took about an hour to backup the 20GB of installed programs so far.

I haven’t had any problems browsing the internet or using it for normal writing use, however I want to see what it’s like with upgraded RAM, so I’ve ordered a 2GB stick off crucial. I’m hoping programs load a bit faster if I have other things running. I think installers will probably run faster but seeing as they are a once-off affair, it’s not really going to bother me in the long term. I can’t really complain about the startup/shutdown speed. It’s plenty faster than I remember on my last PC box.

The keyboard has been the biggest win so far. I’m a touch typist, absolutely hate using the mouse if I don’t have to, and the chiclet keyboard has been a lifesaver as I don’t feel like I am modifying the way that I type to type normally. When I do use the mouse, I do appreciate the gestures they’ve built in – something that my work laptop (a Mac) has been training me in use and would be frustrating to return to without it working. I’m pleased that it continues to work although I’m happy for that right click button.

Not everything has been perfectly plain sailing though. In use, I’ve found the opening latch, that plays dual role of power switch) a bit fiddly. As a right hander, I want to use my right hand to flick the switch, but the “stickiness” of the lid means that I have to use both hands to carefully open the laptop. I can’t honestly say I’ve gotten used to it but definitely not a show stopper.

I’ve also noticed that the default setting lets you switch resolution modes (from its default 1028 x 600 to a pixelated/stretched 1028 x 768) that I triggered by pressing SHIFT+FN+LEFT or SHIFT+FN+RIGHT keys. Being a touch typist, it took me a while to work out which combination of keys triggered this (you can use their Easy Resolution Manager application to change this just as you can use their Easy Resolution Manager Options application to disable this shortcut).

The only other thing that has been slightly annoying is the mouse buttons that you have to depress slightly forcefully – something that isn’t really a problem if you prefer the keyboard, but I could see potentially affecting those who like the mouse. On the flipside, you would probably bring a travel mouse or something like that.

Given that the issues I’ve had are very minor, everything else has been true to form. The screen is lovely and bright, and the battery life seems to work very well.

Kinetica Art Fair

Patrick UK Life

This weekend saw the return of Kinetica Art Fair, an exhibition dedicated to Kinetic Art. Put simply, it is art involving some sort of motion or movement. It moved to a different location this year, to P3 a cool, underground exhibition space, although very inaccessible due to the number of staircases involved.

The art fair really surprised me with amazing interpretations of kinetic art. The idea of movement can be the art itself, or through the person watching it, or through a combination of both makes for a wide variety of visually stunning art. Combined with simple mechanics, modern lighting technology and sometimes more complex computing displays, much of the art ended up being interactive, and therefore, much more exciting to be around.

This display above was a simple spinning loop, yet combined with mixtures of lights ends up as a fascinating display looking for repeating patterns and occurrences. They even had performance art scheduled throughout the day, although you need to pay additional for that and I didn’t hang around long enough to see any of them.

The great thing about something like this is that the exhibit puts the creators completely accessible to you at each of the display. This means if you’re interested to know more about what they do, or how they put the exhibit together and what inspired them and what message they’re trying to convey you get a first hand view – something you don’t tend to get in any of the museum around London. It was definitely worth the £8 entrance fee and I can’t wait to see what they have for next year.