1st Driving Lesson

Well yesterday i got my L-plates after about a month of waiting. I wanted to get them on my birthday but mum was too lazy to book it in on the right date. Anyway the test was really easy. I scored 94% which is 2 questions wrong. Id done a few practice ones online so id seen most of the questions before. only a very small percentage of the people at VicRoads are Australian and it took them 2 goes to spell my name right and all the had to do was COPY it from the form i had to fill out.

Today i had my first drive with dad down at Casey Fields. Down there it is mostly dirt and gravel roads so i didn’t get to go much faster than about 40km/h. So we worked out a circuit that had a variety of right and left hand turns and give way and stop signs. It all went well and by the 3rd lap i pretty much had most things sorted out. It doesn’t help that my bros car (1990 Nissan Pulsar) is way out of alignment in the front which he will have to get fixed coz u have to hold the steering wheel at about the 11 o’clock position to go straight. Hopefully I will get to go for another drive this week because my parents are on holidays so they can take me whenever.

Until next time

- JD

Edrington Concert

Today me and monkey were down at Edrington to do lighting for their concert which is on tomorrow night. The day was pretty much a bludge. The lighting rig is pretty much parcan galore with a few borrowed fresnels because Edrington has very few of its own lights. The new hall at Edrington has some really stupid stuff. They have a whole desktop PC set up just to control the temp of the air con, there is a talkback socket on every second wall (eg there is one right under the mirror where makeup is done, theres a heap of them that will never get used) , fire extinguishers behind locked doors with the sign on the outside of the door, and an exit sign that is nowhere near an exit. The house lights have their own sheet with all the abbreviations for the switches and turn turn off the houselights for the concert you need to press seven buttons. The rig is a pain to focus because it is like Newlands where the bar lowers so u have to eyeball it to get it right. Also the patching panel and dimmers have been put under the stage which is like a bloody maze. But other than that it is a pretty good hall for what it is designed for.

Whilst at Edrington we were treated like royalty and it was totally different to what we were used to there. We were asked if we would like tea or coffee and the art teacher who is normally really strict on supplies and cleaning up let us just have some metho and a cloth to clean the profile and she even cleaned it up for us. We are also invited to dinner tomorrow night before the concert. It was a good chance to catch up with staff members that we get along with and haven’t seen in a while. So all in all it should be a good concert but theres like 20 acts so it could go forever.

- JD

Yr 10 ‘Leadership’ Camp and X Country Relays

Thursday and Friday saw the annual Yr10 ‘leadership’ camp. Which really involved nothing to do with leadership at all. We were down at Phillip Island adventure resort (same place we had yr6 camp). The camp was pretty lame and our group didn’t even get to do the good activities like the giant swing and the crate climb because we weren’t there for long enough. On Thursday night we had a disco and karaoke night which was really bad. The girls didn’t turn up until there was only 25mins left because of their guest speaker. Friday was time for more activities and then off to home. But it also involved a bag check which took 3 hours because someone had their ipod ’stolen’. So all in all a pretty average camp that didnt live up to its intended purpose.

Now this morning i am a bit pissed off because it was cross country road relays in Bundoora which took ages to get to. I was forced to run a 3km time trial by myself because the other members of my team were no-shows. It went alright and i was quite happy with my time but thats not the point. If people are going to pick a sport for school then they should at least bloody turn up so that it does not disadvantage other members of the team. School sport is compulsory and there is no reason whatsoever to not be there especially when you have said to the coach that you are available to play. Hopefully heads will roll on Monday. Well done to the U16 boys who won their race by a very convincing margin.

- JD

Tech Update

Well as something a bit different i have decided to do a tech update

Firstly the worlds largest TV, made by JVC, is now available for retail. It has been on display before but not as a retail model. The screen size measures 110inches, it weighs some 330kgs and it will set you back US$53k. This image size is comparable to many projectors on the market. (just look at the size of the thing compared to the remote). Full article available HERE on engadget

It seems that we like all things wireless and it now becomes a necessity such as mobile phones, radio, networking and internet. Researchers have found a way to power a 60W globe wirelessly from a few meters away. There is definitely a good chance for further development in this. The full article is HERE on Ars Technica.

Well thats all for now
- JD

Weekend and V-Tech Rampage

Greetings

On Saturday i had cross country. It was a very muddy track and you had to stomp every so often to get the mud off your shoes otherwise they would get too heavy. Haileybury was against heavy weights Scotch and Xavier. We beat Scotch but narrowly went down to Xavier by 4 points. The good thing though is St Kevins drew with MGS leaving a good chance to win the premiership if we beat Caulfield and St Kevins in the final two rounds. Once home from Geelong i had a rest and did some homework. On Sunday afternoon i went to the football and saw St Kilda take on Geelong. The Saints played like shit and the umpiring was just as bad with the controversial hands in the back rule.
Today i had school. Double Geog, Electrotech, Double Science, English and Geography. I eventually got my History done throughout the day and it took me forever to print in the library because the computers are so slow and take forever. English was a waste of time where we spent the lesson talking about mobile phones for some random reason and had to write i story that involved a mobile phone.
I also saw a link to this game on overclockers.com.au today. Yes, this game is in bad taste but it intrigued me and i had to try it out. It is a flash game about the Virginia Tech Rampage and it is quite controversial it can be found HERE on the newgrounds site.
Well thats it for now. Happy Gaming
- JD