General
Travel
Hockey
Technical
Gaming
Catalogue
Movies
TV Shows
Music
Video Games
Stats
Pages
Travel Plans
Live Music
Phone History
Things to Do
Europe Trip - 2012
Links
About
Blog Archive
Current Blogs
June 2011 (1)
January 2011 (1)
2010 (18)
2009 (28)
2008 (25)
2007 (67)
2006 (23)
2005 (32)
2004 (10)
Blog Tags
General
10 in '10 (4)
Books (1)
DVDs (3)
Funny (13)
Gadgets (5)
Hawt (1)
Movies (14)
Music (7)
Pets (4)
Recipe (16)
Running (3)
TV Shows (2)
Web (29)
Travel
Calgary (2)
Edmonton (12)
Kuala Lumpur (1)
New York (7)
Niagara Falls (2)
Phuket (2)
Pittsburgh (5)
Washington (4)
Hockey
Pittsburgh Penguins (25)
Technical
.NET (3)
Java (4)
Software (3)
Work (2)
Gaming
Commodore 64 (2)
Master System (1)
Mega Drive (1)
Rock Band (1)
Xbox 360 (16)
XNA (1)
The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Viewing blogs in section General
Friday, January 15, 2010
Pimpy McHat Attack
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 15/01/2010 00:41:41I'm flying through my 10 things for '10 list, wearing a hat at number 8 has now been crossed off.
As part of my birthday outing, Bell and I went shopping for some clothes for me. Firstly - it's brilliant to have jeans that don't require a belt to prevent panty flashing. I also made sure we added a hat to the shopping trolley, and I'm now the proud owner of a pinstripe fedora.
Proud owner might be too much. Maybe a resigned owner
To be honest - it's clearly not something I would normally wear - but I guess that's the point of my list. I got a bit of crap for wearing it - but I actually didn't mind the look of it, especially when I have it at the rakish angle that Bell taught me.
So that's two down, only eight items to go. Too easy!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: 10 in '10
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Chai did it!
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 14/01/2010 21:28:03Well - number 1 has been successfully crossed off from my 10 things list.
I really loved the Chai Latte - but don't think I'd have it often with all that sugar and milk. When I tried a normal Chai (sans milk and sugar) yesterday I still really enjoyed it. I love cinnamon - so I don't know why I never gave Chai a try before.
I've also started some of my longer term items such as getting more sun and boxers or briefs - but I'm not ready to cross them off yet.
Wonder how long I can maintain this pace
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: 10 in '10
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
10 things for 2010
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 12/01/2010 22:54:10At work I'm often accused of resembling a grumpy old man. It's partly because I don't like many other people (they generally shit me), and partly because I'm very resistant to change. An example of this is that I eat the same meal every night, because it's easier to prepare one large batch each Saturday. (I personally believe I'm just sacrificing variety to gain ease, price and healthiness).
So to expand my horizons and teach me that change is not always bad, a list of 10 new things were drawn up for me (and neatly laminated). The intention is that I will slowly try these 10 new things in 2010. Here's the list:
Things To Eat
1. Chai Tea / Chai Latte
Chai - apparently Chai means tea, so Chai Tea is like saying PIN Number or My Cute Ragdolls
I don't drink tea or coffee, so we thought Chai would be a good start. I've actually almost achieved this one already, as in the afternoon I tried a Chai Latte. It may have something to do with the copious amount of sugar - but I really liked it, I'm looking forward to a proper Chai.
2. Sushi
Knitted sushi
I'm not too happy about this one. I've been told I don't have to try the crazy raw-fish sushi, but my main problem with sushi is the seaweed. I really dislike the taste. But who knows, my taste buds may have changed in the last few years so I'll give it a go.
3. Feta
Is feta better? No whey!
I'd really like to enjoy this new thing - as I absolutely love cheese. Cheese is right up there with onion as my co-favourite edible ingredients. I like pretty much every type of cheese I've tried. Some I like more than others - but I've often said that cheese will improve most meals.
My problem with feta is illustrated by the above image. At the deli, the feta is sitting in water. Apparently the water is actually whey, but I just don't enjoy seeing my cheese sitting in a water-like liquid. I think after I try it - I'll quite like feta.
4. Vegetarian
Thankfully it's only for a week
Another one I don't really agree with - I'm going to be vegetarian for most of one week (Monday breakfast to Friday breakfast inclusive). It's supposed to show me that meals aren't necessarily bad without meat - but I assume it will prove the opposite. I predict a lot of canned baked beans during that week.
Things To Do
5. Get more sun
Sunbathing Turtles
It is no secret that I am a very pasty-white individual, most of my family is. Our mixed-basketball team's name of The Clag-Eaters is a reference to this. So one of the list's contributers thought that 10 minutes of sun, three days a week for a month would be a benefit for me.
I predict I'll fry within a week.
6. Take Drum Lessons
I kinda snuck this one in - as I've been wanting to learn the drums for a long time now. Once I sell the house, one of my first purchases will be a drum kit and drum lessons. Surely my countless hours at Rock Band has made me a rock god by now!
7. Overseas Trip
U R Gay [tee hee]
Another one I'm not too upset about - who doesn't want to go on a holiday. The idea behind this one is that I'm not allowed to go to the US or Canada - I need to step outside of my comfort zone. I would like to visit some Asian countries - or maybe Europe. Another one that needs to wait until the house is sold.
Things To Wear
8. Hat
The awesomeness is clear
I've lost around 15 to 20 kilos over the last 6 months - so most of my clothes don't fit me anymore. I've been planning on doing a big shop soon to re-stock my wardrobe, and maybe trying to buy clothes that the young people might call trendy. Part of this effort would include buying a hat that is not a baseball cap. But probably not a knitted mustache hat either.
9. Boxers or Briefs?
Nice!
My little sister bought me a crazy pair of novelty Domo Kun jocks, all brown with Domo's unmistakable mouth in the crotchal region. I thought they were hilarious, but I've worn boxers exclusively since I started high school.
Boxers or Briefs is my attempt to become ambi-jock-drous (i.e. wear either boxers or briefs, as the situation requires).
10. Sandals
Eww!
Thongs disgust me. I do not own a single pair of thongs, and I do not remember ever owning thongs. I may have had some when I was too young to know better - but I hope not. I think it's mainly the rubber thing going between the toes that offends me. And as far as footwear goes, thongs are quite dangerous.
When it gets hot - I still wear my normal shoes which can get uncomfortable. I would not budge on the thong issue - but I did agree to give sandals a try.
Hopefully I'll achieve all 10 new things in 2010 - there shouldn't be too much holding me back. It would be a good result if I found a few extra things I could enjoy in life - but I'm not holding my breath!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: 10 in '10
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Party like it's 1999
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 09/01/2010 20:54:37With the most recent New Year ticking us over to the year 2010 - it made me think back to the millennium (hard to believe it was 10 years ago).
This made me remember a pair of Coke bottle I've kept since the year 2000 - pictured below:
Party into 2000 - and beyond!
I had a quick look on the Intertubes and found a site that was selling these bottles for $50 each, although the site is currently "Account Suspended" if you don't view it through the wayback machine.
Thinking I'm sitting on a gold mine here I took some photos and went straight to eBay. During the sale listing process it shows you some similar items, which is where I saw the exact same bottle as mine being sold a few months earlier. For $18.95.
Thinking about it now - I wonder if it's worth going through the hassle of listing, selling, packing and sending of the bottles even if I was going to score $50.
Maybe I'll just wait until 2020.
That's genuine 2000-vintage Coca Cola in that bottle!
# Posted in the General section
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Literal Music Videos
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 02/01/2010 18:29:43Updated by Joel Dixon at 02/01/2010 18:33:39
The Internet doth provide. Literal Music Videos are classic video clips re-dubbed with more literal lyrics. Here are my favourite examples:
Take on Me
Take on Me: Literal Video Version - watch more funny videos
Total Eclipse of the Heart
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Funny, Web
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Green Day - Melbourne, 2009
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 17/12/2009 20:58:41I had never been to a live music show. No concerts, no festivals, no high school recitals. I never had the cash in high school - which is when I wanted to go to The Offspring, The Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, etc. When I started to earn enough money to afford such events, I started to feel like the first concert I went to would need to be worth the wait. So I just never went to anything (stupid, I know).
Green Day postponed their second Melbourne show, which had been planned for Tuesday. I had nothing on Wednesday night - so I thought I'd try to get tickets. Fortunately, someone had just returned their front-row lower seating tickets before I got to the ticket office - and my first concert was planned.
The slightly off-yellow tickets
Jet was the support act - and I was pretty happy to be able to see them live. Cold Hard Bitch sounded great and it was good to hear Look What You've Done again. For some reason about 5 male strippers joined the band for Are You Going To Be My Girl. I guess there was a fair few women in the audience - but it just seemed weird.
This is Jet - just take my word for it
Then, before too much waiting, Green Day took the stage. I really did pick a great act for my first live show. They played for two and a half hours pretty much non-stop. The set list was incredible. They played seven songs from 21st Century Breakdown, a good number from American Idiot, Minority, a few from Nimrod (Hitchin' A Ride was awesome), a few from Insomniac and most of their hits from Dookie. A kid was pulled out of the audience to sing Longview. While it would have been good to hear Billie Joe sing it - it was great to see how happy the kid was to sing with Green Day backing him. He did pretty well too, pacing the stage and pointing to the crowd at times.
It was an amazing show and the 150+ minutes just flew by. It's done two things to me. Made me want to buy a drum kit and graduate from Rock Band, and see many more live acts in 2010. Here's hoping Daft Punk tours again soon. Or Boston decides to visit Australia.
Green Day - A surprisingly good picture - considering it was taken from my phone
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Music
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Great Australian Run - 2009
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 29/11/2009 15:28:23Updated by Joel Dixon at 29/11/2009 16:31:27
I was planning on running in the 15km Great Australian Run today. I did a 4km run about 6 weeks ago and loved it - so trained up for the 15 km.
I certainly had preparation covered last night. Laid out my clothes, pre-pinned my race number, packed a bag with toilet paper, band-aids, drinks etc and pre-attached my registered baggage tag. I analysed three potential methods of travel and decided on a primary and backup strategy (train / tram or car if I slept in). I then went to bed for an early night.
Of course, I slept through an hour and 45 minutes of my alarm and had almost no chance of making it to the race. Bell offered to try to drive me in - and I accepted - knowing it was probably too late.
I skipped my shower, breakfast and my morning good-luck toilet stop. Somehow we made it into the city in under an hour, and after dropping off my bag just made it to the starting area with one minute to spare. No time for a proper warm up - I just had enough time to remove a stone from my runners. But I was happy the last six weeks of prep wouldn't go to waste.
I actually felt really good over the first 5-7 kilometers, until my knee started to act up. As I've been training for this my left knee has been getting progressively worse - and today it was very sore. Had it not been the big race - I probably wouldn't have kept going. But I wanted that medal!
I suffered through the knee pain, the cramps and the rain, and I eventually crossed the finish line. The last 500 meters felt great, but as soon as I cooled down again I had great trouble walking. I think this is my last run for a few months!
It looks like my sore knee was also affecting my times - or I just got too tired after the first 5 kilometers
I like the yellow ribbon, stylish!
The run would be the 14.1 km Run 4 The Kids, which I'm certainly starting to second guess.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Running
Sunday, October 11, 2009
I ran a[n eighth of a] marathon today!
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 11/10/2009 20:44:21About two months ago, I had been going to the gym for a few weeks and started to really enjoy the treadmill work I was doing. So, of course, I went too far ahead of myself and said to Bell "I want to complete a marathon before I turn 30". This was partly because I think running a marathon is a good bucket list goal - and partly because of Hamish Blake's effort.
So I signed up for the 5km event of this year's Melbourne Marathon. I chose the 5km distance because I was still new to running - and just wanted to see how much harder running would be when not on a treadmill. Over the last few months I've found that 5km isn't that long - and I predicted I'd finish the race in around 30 minutes, maybe 25.
The race started a little annoyingly - I was so far back at the starting line - I just stood there for a full minute while the long line ahead of us got started. But when I got running it was great fun! The weather was excellent - and spectators were littered around the course offering encouragement.
By far the most enjoyable part of the race was the final 800 meters - a semi-lap of the MCG. Running in through Gate 3 of the 'G to apparently 10,000 people sporadically cheering was amazing. Sure - most of them were there for the proper runners (half and full marathons) - it still felt pretty good.
After the finish we all received a participation medal. Sure, it sounds like "everyone gets a medal day" - but it was a really nice quality prize. In roller hockey, I've won grand finals, team and league MVPs and various other sporting trophies - and none have looked as nice as my 5km participation medal. The longer distance ones looked much nicer too!
My bling
I had a look at the online results - and I actually finished in 19 minutes and 51 seconds. I'm pretty surprised at that - it's an average of 15 km/h - I guess I've been slacking off when on the treadmill. My official position is 400th (out of around 4,000) - but my net time (i.e. discounting the time it took me to get to the start line) puts me around 300th. I'm pretty happy with that - especially for my first race.
My Results
In the end - I wish I had have run the 10km race. 5km isn't enough to see if I have the right kind of endurance to get a full or even half marathon. I'm going to give the 15km Run For The Kids a go next March - should be a better challenge.
To top it off - our mixed basketball team won our first non-grading game by 38 points tonight. I scored 12 points - meaning I wasn't allowed to score anymore. The "can't score more than 12 rule" is one that I thought would never need to be applied to me during a game. Perhaps I should go for a 5km run each morning before basketball!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Running
Monday, September 21, 2009
Wet Pussy
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 21/09/2009 21:34:15Updated by Joel Dixon at 21/09/2009 21:40:55
I love funny cat videos, and this one is pretty good:
On the site a caption says "This cat successfully figures out the least efficient way to drink from a faucet" which pretty much sums it up. Still - you can't say it's stupid - he does get a lot of water.
http://www.break.com/index/dumb-cat-cant-figure-out-how-to-d rink.html
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Funny, Web
Sunday, August 16, 2009
District 9
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 16/08/2009 09:07:58I went to see a District 9 at the movies last night and it was pretty awesome! Go and see it.
I really hope they are already working on a sequel!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
Previous Page | Next Page
Recent Blogs
Log o' cats I'm number 1! Resolute Phuket, Thailand - 2010 Mr. Potato Head Mashups Random Travel #2 - Thailand You have been the ones, you have been the ones for me. Balls Caramelised Pumpkin Risotto Malaysian Vegetable CurryFeed
Blog Entries
Recent Comments
Log o' cats
posted 10 months ago by joeldixon
ha ha - I didn't mention that I bought two copies of Lock, Stock after the creation of this catalogue ... link
Log o' cats
posted 10 months ago by Brad
I made a DVD list for the same reason and just last week bought The Green Mile on Blu-ray before ... link
Balls
posted 2 years ago by joeldixon
Exactly. What's wrong with the kids today when they can't spell genitals? And you and I have been using ... link
Balls
posted 2 years ago by abrereton
I'm just glad that they spelt it correctly in the end. link
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 2010
posted 2 years ago by joeldixon
Definitely, you have to let us know when you're free for UBs! link
Comment Standings
1. the man with no name (45)
2. Hoff (39)
3. Gav (27)
4. Hitman (26)
5. Brad (23)
6. Eryc-Ads (13)
7. Deep Lurker (6)
8. thefury (5)
9. Dieter (4)
10. Zelks (4)