Stanthorpe

Think I might take the missus to Stanthorpe this year for our anniversary. Anyone been? Im not a wine expert, but do enjoy the odd glass. Got a great deal on a spa cottage with daily breakfast. Not sure if November is a great time wine wise, but at least it wont be cold. Probably arrange some kind of wine tasting tour, so hopefully we will be able to stock the wine rack at home when we get back. Providing we don't drink it all while we are there.

Our last venture into wine country was Mount Tambourine a few years back. Should be fun.

Gold Coast and Oktoberfest

My favourite part of the year.

Last weekend I went down to Surfers Paradise with an old mate for his birthday. Nothing but warm sun, beach and drinks. Thanks to the Le Chelsea for another enjoyable stay. Highlights were the pasta at Billy Baxters, The Sushi Train at Broadbeach, The Beer Garden nightclub and The Groove Train bar in Robina. Top weekend as always.

This weekend marks the annual Brisbane Oktoberfest at the RNA Showgrounds. Thousands of people enjoying beer, sausage, pork knuckles and the music. If you're bored pop down for a beer, we'll be there, starting just before lunch on Saturday the 13th.

Pics from last year

Back

A little late, but I did end up going to the South Island of New Zealand and it was magnificent. I'm still getting together all of the photos and will put them up on my website soon.

Our itinerary was:

Flew from Brisbane to Christchurch and stayed one night there. We had dinner down the road from the motel at the Monteith's Hotel. It was fantastic, the beer was superb and my first taste of NZ seafood was a terrific blue cod fish and chips. Sarah had the pork belly which was massive.

The next morning we flew to Queenstown and checked into our hotel at the Mercure Queenstown Resort, which was nestled on one of Queenstown's massive mountains. The view was spectacular. Since we arrived a little early to check in, the concierge booked us lunch at a restaurant that is only assessable via gondolier. We travelled up into the sky and had a huge all you can eat buffet. We got some great photos, checked out the town and went to bed early after some tasty room service.

Early the next morning we were picked up from our hotel by Real Adventures who took us on an all day tour to Milford Sound. The trip was long, but enjoyable. Once we arrived there, we were put onto a boat that took us on a nature tour around the sound. We got some more photos and got close enough to see some lazy seals. After the long day, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was nice.

The next day we had two things booked in. Number one was an exciting ride on the Queenstown Shotover Jet. A high powered jet boat that goes through the Shotover river and through some canyons. Pretty cool. After that we went into town for lunch and then got picked up for our afternoon event, which was a tour out to the Onsen Hot Pools. We had the indulgence package which included champagne, grapes and an hour in our own private hot tub that had its own retractable front wall and roof that gave us a view over the mountains. After that we went into Queenstown for dinner, Sombreros Mexican Restaurant. Definitely recommended.

After another early morning pick up, we headed out to do some skiing at the Cardrona Ski Fields. Sarah went skiing, I did the snowboarding. Sarah was probably the better of the two of us. We spent most of the day in lessons, so in hindsight we should probably have done two days there. Dinner was room service again...gotta love those room delivered pizzas.

The last day in Queenstown was unplanned, so we just hung around the town. Breakfast was very nice, we killed some time at the Wharf Casino, then some Chinese for lunch and then hit the local wine tasting place. After some very tasty beverages we tried the local Italian place. The service was wonderful and the wine was prefect. The pasta itself was a little bit of a let down, but still an enjoyable day.

The next day we flew back to Christchurch where we once again hit up the Monteiths Hotel (massive chicken wings with sweet chili sauce and sour cream for entree...so awesome). Steaks and Lamb for dinner with some more of their great beer capped off our trip nicely. The next day we flew back to Brisbane.

A terrific holiday that I would thoroughly recommend. We did have perfect weather the whole time, so I guess we were a little lucky. Also with all our early morning starts, we didn't get a chance to check out the Queenstown nightlife, so a return trip with a group of mates will have to be done.

choice trip bro

Holiday

Ok, been a while since I last posted. Tax time has come and gone for me. For once the tax man was kind. So the next logical step is a holiday. I've thrown around a couple of options, but the one leading the race is the New Zealand South Islands. The plan is to land in Christchurch, then make my way over to Queenstown. Plenty to do there I've been told. It will probably be cold. Other options are Fiji and on a smaller budget, our own Hunter Valley. Fiji for the beach, the Hunter for the wine. Kiwi-land will be the more expensive option. We did get Flight Centre to do a quote for us. Although Sarah might not be happy with the possibility of driving with snow chains. I would, but unfortunately hire car company's don't care for P platers. Ether way I should be flying somewhere around mid August. Any of my kiwi friends let me know your tips for the South Island if we end up on going. It will be choice bro.

Euro's continued

Ok, so I was off in a few of my tips. Who would have picked Greece and Czech Republic to finish top two of a group that contained Russia and Poland? Especially after the Russians smashed the Czech Republic in the first game. My Spain v Germany final is still on track. The competition is now up to the quarter final stages.

Czech Republic v Portugal
The Czech's will need a bit of luck and players like Rosicky to be ready when Christiano Ronaldo and Nani come to town. Ronaldo is flying and will tear them apart if they are not careful. The Czech's will rely on a bit of experience in their keeper Cech and striker Milan Baros. But i think Portugal will be too strong after emerging from the group of death and gladly playing the Czech Republic instead of Russia.
Prediction - Portugal 2-0

Germany v Greece
The Germans couldn't have planned it better if they tried. The Germans are just rolling along at the moment, not smashing teams, but doing enough. Even in second gear, the likes of Ozil, Gomez and Schweinstiger will be way too strong for the 2004 champions.
Prediction - Germany 3-0

Spain v France
The game of the quarters. Both teams loaded with talent. Spain started a little slow but are still the best squad on paper. Torres is liking his starting spot, Xavi is calling all the shots and they are about to hit their stride. France are struggling a little, but are all class. Benzema is demanding up front and with a little help from Ribery and Nasri, they could cause a big boil over here.
Prediction - Spain 2-1

England v Italy
England are performing very well despite their lead up. New manager Roy Hogdson has the squad gelling very well. Rooney leading the front line with Wellbeck should ask the Italians some good questions. The Italians are struggling to score. Pirlo is pulling the strings from midfield, but the strikers are failing to capitalise. Balotelli could be the wildcard if he gets some time on the pitch.
Prediction - Italy 2-1 (in penalties)

Euro 2012

One of the biggest football events is about to take place on the far side of the world. The 2012 UEFA European Football championship. The final tournament is played between 16 teams every four years (2 years between the world cups). Unlike many other big world-wide supporting events, the Euro's are tough to follow when you live in Australia. SBS is the free-to-air holder this year and they are treating us to 8 games out of 31. 4 of these are delayed coverage that airs over a day and a half after the game is played. 2 quarter finals, 1 semi final and the final are live. I could live with that as long as the other games were covered by foxtel. Unfortunately that is not that case. The Irish television network Setanta currently holds the rights for every game. So you have to pay an extra $50 to get the channel added to your foxtel packaged for a minimum of 2 months...so i did.

Now the event itself should provide us with the best football nation in Europe (please don't let it be Greece again!). This year's host nations are Poland and the Ukraine. The defending champions are the all conquering Spain, who also currently hold the world cup. Here is my rundown of the key players:

Greece - Samaras (Celtic striker, experienced campaigner)
Poland - Szczesny (Arsenal keeper), Brozek (another Celtic striker)
Russia - Arshavin (Arsenal striker), Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham striker), Pogrebnyak (Fulham striker) Zhirkov (Former Chelsea midfielder currently plying his trade back in his home country) 
Czech Rep - Cech (Chelsea keeper, champions league winner), Rosicky (Arsenal midfielder), Milan Baros (Galatasary striker)
Germany - I could list the whole team here, but the key players IMO are Ozil and Khedira (midfielders in Real Madrid), Gomez (striker for Bayern München), Podolski (striker I believe is heading to Arsenal) and captain Lahm (Bayern München)
Netherlands - From what i saw this morning, Schneider (Bayern München midfielder), Van Persie (Arsenal striker) and Robben (Bayern München midfielder) will be their key players. Van Der Vaart (Tottenham midfielder) will provide able support
Portugal - One man, Christiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid midfielder/striker), they will also rely on Nani (Man U midfielder) and Pepe (Real Madrid defender)
Denmark - Bendtner (Arsenal Striker currently on loan to Sunderland) and Agger (Liverpool defender)
Italy - Captain Buffon (Juventus keeper), De Rossi (Roma midfielder), Pirlo (Juventus midfielder) and up and coming superstar Balotelli (Man City striker)
Spain - Again could almost list the entire team here. Great depth at the keeping position with Casillas (Real Madrid), Valdes (Barcelona) and Reina (Liverpool). Ramos (Real Madrid), Pique (Barca), Xavi, Ineista, Fabregas (all Barca), Silva (Man City), Mata and Torres (Chelsea)
Ireland - Given (Aston Villa keeper), Damian Duff (Fulham midfielder) and Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy striker)
Croatia - Look to Tottenham for their stars Corluka (midfielder/defender), Kranjcar (midfielder) and Modric (midfielder)
France - Clichy (Man City defender), Evra (Man U defender), Malouda (Chelsea midfielder), Nasri (Man City midfielder), Ribery (Bayern München midfielder) and Benzema up front (Real Madrid)
England - Tough to name players that aren't key in this team. Hart (Man City keeper), Terry (Chelsea captain and defender), Gerrard (Liverpool midfielder), Lampard (Chelsea midfielder), Rooney (Man U striker) and Carroll (Liverpool striker)
Sweden - Mellberg (Olympiacos defender), Ollson (Blackburn defender/midfielder), Larsson (Sunderland midfielder), Ibrahimovic (Milan striker)
Ukraine - Led by experienced striker Shevchenko (Dynamo Kyiv) and Tymoshchuk (Bayern München midfielder)

My tips will be a Spain v Germany final. I would expect to see England challenge along with the Dutch. Italy and France will be thereabouts. My roughies are Sweden and Ireland. I hope Germany can get up, but i would expect Spain to take out the title again.

Player of the Tournament to be Xavi
Golden boot to be Van Persie

"Niech rozpoczną się Igrzyska"
(let the games begin in Polish)

Thirds football

Ok, lets talk local footy. The Mighty Yeronga Thirsty Thirds have just completed their first round of the season (played all of the other 4 teams once). What we can take from the season is this: Another top quality team has joined our competition replacing the outgoing young, fast and strong Bond University as well as the older other 'thirds' team Beenleigh. With one team coming in for two outgoing, we are now down to a 5 team competition. With a top 4 finals finish, the equation is simple. Don't finish last and you will play finals.

The final 5 for me will be in this order:

Pine Rivers Swans - This new team who arrived from Div 3 North are a force to be reckoned with. They are the remaining members of the now defunct Strathpine team, who once won the senior div 1 comp that our Yeronga Seniors used to play against. The new brand of Swan player is big and fast. They love the dry conditions and will be hard to beat at home. Mike Salmon and Nate Boucher among their better players. 

Jimboomba Redbacks - The reigning premiers finally have some competition from new boys Pine Rivers. They have been the dominant team of the past few years. The redbacks are an older team with good team structures built around a solid bunch of blokes who have played together for a long time. Their key player is Kim Watson. This bloke is probably the player of our division and is very hard to stop. Old stager 'Ringa' tends to be at the top of the goal kicking list most years. He has recently taken the coaching position and along with the Heppel brothers, Luke Valdes and Bear they form a formidable opposition. They should make the final this year, but might be a little behind Pine Rivers at this stage.

The Woodsmen - Playing out of the Sherwood ground, the Woodsmen have always been a tough team. They rarely have all their players available at the same time, but when they do they can rack up a high score. They are the most improved team this year and could challenge those two above. Their oldest player Mousy is their most skillful, but does tend to get injured. Their star at the moment is Tim Green, back from a spell on the sidelines with a broken arm.

Yeronga - I think we have what it takes to grab the decisive 4th spot. Our mixture of experience and youth is coming together well. This season is probably the newest team we have fielded in a few years. Some great ins and some tough outs (Jorgo, Doutta, BJ and even single game player PT). Skipper Vossy and VC Kieran are the heart and soul of the team. The latter missing a few games recently with a calf problem. Best players are hard to judge, but the form players for us at the moment are: Ben Freke - Tough as nails defender who reads the ball better than the opposition forwards. His run out of defence sets up a lot of our play. Josh P is a new addition with a lethal left foot. Josh is not typical thirds player and would be playing in the higher grades if it wasn't for work. Josh is a fitness machine and racks up huge possession counts. Russ is another key thirds player who has also suffered from injury lately. On his day can be one of the most damaging players in the competition. Russ has sublime skills and is tough to bring down when in possession. Others of note in the season new crop are; Josh H, Nate A, Jordy, Aidan and Bryan. Returning super stars Carlo, Jeremiah, Beefy and DJ Tribe have all been in good form. The next matchup between us and Collingwood Park will be a terrific contest.

Collingwood Park Power - The team we need to beat to make the finals. Like us this team is a combination of a few older players mixed with a lot of young blokes learning the game. Yeronga's last taste of finals came at the Power's expense. Their skipper Duey is the coach's son and their best player. He is tough, hard, fast and can tear apart the opposition. He is also a little hot tempered at times which i'm sure causes Collingwood Park some headaches. Livewire runner Jesse Koining can also be damaging on his day.

Well that's the wrap up. Apologies to those that don't like football, but I'm sure you wouldn't have read this far if you didn't.

Saturday

Well what a big day Saturday was. I won't go into detail about the Pies v Lions game as I don't remember much of it. But the parts i remember were fun. During the day we went down to the Piney for some beers and footy. We also got to meet the DT Talk website guys. These guys really know their stuff.

Hunger Games

To be honest, I'd never heard of the book until the movie came out. And i didn't really intend on seeing it. But i came across the book whilst scrolling though my kindle store and thought I would give it a go. The book is a great read and I'm already onto the second. Suzanne Collins is a terrific writer and also did the screenplay for the film. The film is also quite well done and sticks to much of the novel due in part to her writing and executive producing role. Jennifer Lawrence is spectacular as the protagonist and delivers a memorable performance. Woody Harrelson revels in his mentor role (possible because he gets to have hair) and old man Donald Sutherland plays the bad guy well. I look forward to the sequel. 4 stars.

Playoffs Part 2

For those waiting for the second part of this blog, sorry it took so long.

The West

Spurs v Utah (spurs 2-0)
Still hard to believe the jazz did so well this season without their past season superstars Deron Williams (nets) and Carlos Boozer (Bulls), but they surprised us all. Their current key player, NBA journeyman Al Jefferson has had a terrific season supported well by Devin Harris and some productive rookies. They are out of their depth in this round however as one of the championship favourites the San Antonia Spurs keep rolling along. Even when they rested their all stars Duncan, Ginobli and Parker at the end of the season, they still won. Aussie point guard Patty Mills who was getting around 3 minutes per game was seeing starts and did not disappoint. One game he produced 34 points and 12 assists!! So to summarise, the spurs run very deep and will take some stopping. I don't see the jazz getting anything in this series. Spurs 4-0

Thunder v Mavs (Thunder 3-0)
The defending premiers vs the youngest superstars in the league. The Mavs haven't had a great season. They started with a nightmare 0-7 start before their all star power forward Nowitski pulled them out of a hole. The loss of newly crowned defensive player of the year Tyson Chandler (Knicks) played a big part. The thunder however are flying behind scoring champion Kevin Durant and playmaker Russell Westbrook. Their speed and explosive attack coupled with the shot blocking ability of Ibaka makes them a formidable force. I think the mavs will get one back on their experience, but the series should end soon. Thunder 4-1

Lakers v Nuggets (Lakers 2-0)
The Lakers for some reason were dreadful on the road this year. They could not get it together. Their three all stars in Bryant, Gasol and Bynumm should be able to crush most teams but they seemed to be missing something. Enter Ramon Sessions. This quick little guard focused the laker offence and gave them another scoring option. They have stormed into championship contention and if Kobe can stay healthy, they are a big chance. The nuggets have had an up and down season. But have maintained good pressure on the top teams. Lawson has had a breakout year while former Knick Gullinari played well in spurts. They don't have enough this time however and the lakers will progress, probably after dropping a road game. Lakers 4-1

Grizzlies v Clippers (1-1)
Well after a pretty boring conference competition wise. We now look at this interesting little match up. The grizzlies have a vibrant little lineup that has surprised teams. Former high draft pick Mike Conley is having a great season and should be 2-0 by now after blowing a playoff record 27 point lead late in the 4th quarter in game one...wow. They regained their composure to level the series, but will regret that first game at home. The clippers are the entertainers of the NBA. Blake Griffin is a human highlight film. And with Chris Paul throwing the lobs and draining bombs from downtown, they are never out of any game. A close series this one, i say the Clippers in 7. LA 4-3

Well that's it. My beloved Knicks are now 0-3 and now own the biggest playoff losing streak in NBA history. That's bad...but at least i dont' follow the bobcats...I'm looking at you Michael Jordan...peace out

Playoffs part 1

The shortened NBA season is over, now time for the players to perform on the big stage. The NBA playoffs.

Bulls v 76ers (Bulls 1-0)
The 76ers are the surprise packet of the NBA at the moment. The lack of stars in a well rounded team scraped into the 8th seed up against the top side in the east. Their franchise player Andre Iguodala has had an interrupted season and is getting good support from elder statesman Elton Brand and scoring punch from point guard Holiday and 6th man Lou Williams. The bulls are strong, but have just lost reigning MVP, Derrick Rose with a torn ACL. They are one up in the series and I still think they run a bit deep to get over Philly in 6 games.

Heat v Knicks (Heat 2-0)
The big three vs the new three. King Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh will be striving to prove they are championship contenders after losing last years final series to the Mavs. While the Knicks are still learning to combine all stars Carmello Anthony and Amare Stoudemire with new sensation Jeremy Lin. Unfortunately this spate of knee injuries in the NBA have cut down Lin and unless they can progress past the first round, you wont see him again this season. The heat are all class and will be too much for my boys. The heat in 4 games and Lebron to come away with the league MVP...but will he finally get a championship ring to go with it?

Pacers v Magic (1-1)
The most improved team up against a Magic team that limped into the playoffs and now without their superstar Dwight Howard. Another round probably ruined by a season ending injury. The magic will struggle to put points on the board without him. The pacers are another depth team with a solid starting 5. Their hopes of advancing will hinge on Granger, Hibbert and Paul George. While Dave West is having a great end to the season and will push the magic in a tight series. I see this going to 7 with the pacers winning with a slightly larger firepower.

Celtics v Hawks (Hawks 1-0)
The celtics came into the playoffs with good form. The old big three of Pierce, Garnett and Allen has almost been overshadowed by the form of their new superstar Rajon Rondo. The hawks team has built solidly over the past couple of seasons and are very tough to beat at home. This made harder by the celtics dropping their opening home game. They will now have to win in Atlanta to push the series. The suspension to Rondo for chest bumping a referee not helping things. Another close series and I think Pierce and the boys will come back and win in 7.

Part 2 we will look to the west, stay tuned.

Traffic

Well this morning I decided to drive into work, so I would have my car to get to footy training. Big mistake. The trip took me 20 minutes longer than my usual train trip...and that includes changing trains. But it wasn't the time that was the worse thing. I kind of accepted it would be long. But the boredom of sitting bumper to bumper for over an hour. With nothing to entertain me except idiotic morning radio DJs. I usually don't listen to the radio in the morning, so i was surprised to realise that all the major commercial stations had changed to talk back radio for their morning shows. Is it too much to ask for a little bit of music? I will definitely be stocking up my car with CD's when i get home. Anyway it was an experience that has made me a better man. But I think next time ill go back to my old trusty quiet carriage on the train with my kindle reader and pass the time hanging out with Harry, Frodo and the gang.....i mean the latest football autobiography.

The roar

Quick blog today. Super busy after a few days off lately.

Went to the A-League GF yesterday. Terrific day and a good win for the hometown heroes. I went sober to Suncorp. A unique experience for me, but worth wile as thanks to Benny and Jeremiah's sister I had a car park right near the stadium. Also due to me finally passing my driving test, I was able to drive myself all the way from Strathpine.

Anyway back to the game. Perth held a slender lead after an unfortunate own goal just after half time, but in typical roar fashion they fought back to equalise through a Barisha header. The game was decided unfortunately by a referee error in my opinion. But the roar deserved the victory nonetheless. Thanks to Benny Stewart for organising the tickets.

What's up

Been pretty slack lately with my blogging. But in my defence I have been busy hurting my liver with excessive drinking. With my wife working everyday over the Easter break I found myself home alone in front of the tv, often with a stubby in my hand. On the plus sign, I managed to watch a lot of sport. Most of my teams doing ok. Collingwood managing to scrape over the line against a plucky Tigers team (I say plucky as i hate the term 'brave' that the media uses every time an outsider goes down in a close game). They were plucky because they were down and out a few times, but didn't give up...as crap as they were. Manly pulled themselves out of a form slump to smash the terrible panthers in their first home game for the year, despite missing several key players.

Chelsea had a mixed bag over the week. They qualified for the semi finals in the Champions league last week after a close second leg against Benifica. They also beat Wigan to give themselves a chance of making the top 4, but drew this morning against Fulham to make it a little more difficult. The Knicks got up in a cliff hanger against the Chicago Bulls in overtime thanks to 43 points from Carmello Anthony. My lower league English football team Ebbsfleet United (of which I am a part owner) drew this morning to Braintree Town to ensure our survival in the Blue Square league for another year. A big accomplishment after being one of the favourites for the drop. Liam Daish doing a fantastic job with a limited squad. I may even put my stamp on his contract extension for the next few years.

Well that's it from me in the world of sport. Catch you next time.

The Hangover

This is not a post about how awesome the film is, but more a reflection on the days following my annual Melbourne trip. Got 13 hours sleep yesterday and I'm still not up to my best. Got tons of work to get through though, so this will be short. Melbourne 2012 was quite simply outstanding. 4 good games of footy, some good bro bonding and some terrific memories. Thanks for the good times Caesar, Butters, Rocky, Dregs, Jockey and Crowny.

Last day

Last day of work before our trip to Melbourne. This will no doubt be a slow day watching the clock. This time tomorrow I will be on the plane. Footy games we are attending are Carlton v Richmond, Collingwood v Hawthorn, Brisbane v Melbourne and Essendon v North Melbourne. My tips are blues, demons, kangaroos and I hope a pies victory. Although not at all confident with a few injuries to start the season and the hawks in good early form. Other highlights of our trip will be a trip to the Hofbrauhaus, St Kilda for a lions training session, numerous pub crawls and much more. One more day to go. With 7 blokes and no girls, things could get ugly

Melbourne

3 sleeps till epic Melbourne trip...that is all

Footy season

Ok after a long off-season, the AFL and local footy kicks of their seasons this weekend. The AFL in their wisdom have decided to rob us of all but one game for their opening weekend. GWS v the Swans. Hard to see the Giants doing anything but watch the Swans rack up a cricket score. For the local leagues, the mighty Yeronga Devils begin their season against Robina at home. It is past players day. So if you are like me and have played in the red and black of Yeronga, come on down and have a drink and watch the new generation run around. Cheer, cheers for the old red and black!

Not much

Little to talk about today. Bit of a slow week. Gearing up for a big weekend. Yeronga Football Club is having their past players day this Saturday. Since I am now a member of the past players. Im looking forward to having a beer with the older players, watching some footy, eating a couple footy ground style hot dogs and seeing 4 Yeronga Devil victories....oh yeah ill probably vote too.

The Walking Dead

Top TV show from creator Frank Darabont known for his work on Stephen King movies The Myst, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. This show was developed from a comic book series and resembles a TV version of the George A Romero Dawn of the Dead movies. The show basically follows a group of survivors who try to avoid the thousands of shuffling undead creatures that dominate the TV landscape. The show is like one big movie and has just concluded its second season. Good show if you are into the zombie genre. 3 and a half stars.

St Patrick's Day

March 17 is always a great day for me. Not only a great drinking day in the name of the irish. But my good mate Vossy's birthday. As tradition we head down to Dicey O'Reilly's Garden City and spend the day drinking and enjoying the atmosphere. However this was to be our last at this venue with Dicey's closing down next week. Cheers for the good times guys!

Kindle

Finally loaded up my new Kindle with some books. Pretty good read too. The back-lighting simulates the pages of a real book. I got the new touch one. It does have a few bugs in it however. The touchscreen is no way near as responsive as an apple or samsung smart phone. And very rarely it will jump ahead a couple of pages with one press. Despite these small bugs it simplifies the reading process and stops me carting around a whole bunch of books. The prices of the e-books are a lot cheaper and obviously a lot quicker delivery.

John Carter

Went and saw this in 3D yesterday. Was a good flick as long as you don't take it too seriously. Kind of a mix between Stargate, Avatar and Star Wars Attack of the Clones. The actor who played Carter is the long haired guy from the TV series Friday Night Lights. Entertaining with some great special effects and a fun story. I look forward to the inevitable sequels. 3 stars

Thirds training

My legs hurt

Tough night on the track last night, starting with a 1km time trial. My time was way down on previous years. Need to work on my fitness a little bit. Otherwise it was a fun session, some good drills followed by a water-logged scratch match. There will be some very good players at the club this year. Big John, Jasper, Jack and Jordy among the standouts last night. Skipper Voss was solid down back for the white team.

The night wasn't without incident however. I managed to crush my finger while turning on the shower afterwards. Those things are dangerous :)

Footy

Busy day today, so a short post.

Headed up to the Sunny Coast for the lions v blues NAB cup game on Saturday. The Lions easily beat a young blues team who failed to score a single point in the second half. The ground was pretty good although a little soft underfoot from all the recent rain. They probably could have fit another 5 thousand or so in there. Special thanks to the Duporth Tavern for their steak sandwiches and free shuttle bus to the game.

Gilhooleys Strathpine

Being a new member of the Strathpine community. Sarah and I haven't really had a chance to check out much of the local restaurants. So for Sarah's birthday yesterday we headed down to Gilhooleys. First impressions were not great. The smoking section was packed with a bunch of loud council workers (not that I minded that much, it is a pub after all). The main floor of the pub was a large empty concrete expanse. Almost as if the place was under construction. But looking at the many photos around the place, it seems like that was the look they were going for. The bar person also acted as the hostess, so we had to wait till they finished serving drinks before being shown our seats. We got a booth which was comfortable. Although we had to order our food at the bar. Strange considering we had to be shown our seats to begin with. I mean why bother with the 'wait here to be seated' sign only for them to disappear after seating you without taking any orders? The specials menu advertised a Chicken Parmigiana plus 3 vodkas or 3 beers for $14.95. Which was great, although since i was driving i went with the steak. Sarah had the lamb shanks. The food came pretty quickly, although there wasn't a great deal of customers eating at that time. Sarah's lamb shanks were good. Plenty of meat served on mash potato. My steak however was not great. For the second time in a few days (the other at the Victory Hotel) I was given a medium rare steak that was pink in the middle (good) but charcoal black on the outside. The whole steak tasted like it was cooked in a fireplace. I'm not sure if this is the new way to cook steaks in pubs. But it will put me off ordering steaks for a while. Anyway the accompanying chips were good. Overall not a fantastic experience. I give it 1 and half stars.

Eastbound and Down

Today's post concerns the very low-brow and ridiculous comedy that airs on HBO. The show is centered on a former major league baseballer Kenny Powers and his attempts and making a comeback. The show has no real direction, contains mass amounts of vulgarity and humour targeted at the very low points of our amusement....

And I love it..

Danny McBride as the old, fat wannabe baseballer is hilarious and continues to surprise me at the depths of his low character (last nights episode he almost sent his only son floating down the river in a wicker basket Moses-style).

Steve Little as Steve Janowski, Kenny's pathetic side-kick who provides a ton of laughs as he recklessly follows Kenny everywhere (often to his own downfall).

Will Ferrell guests stars as Kenny's arch enemy Ashley Schaeffer. Ferrell also produces the show with Adam Mackay through his production company Gary Sanchez Productions.

Jason Sudekis as Shane. This new character is Danny's new catcher at the Myrtle Bay Mermen. I love this actor, his roles in Hall Pass and Horrible Bosses are hilarious. His character here is similar to Kenny's although he seems to be in a dumber lower-class (if that were possible)

This show is definitely not for everyone. Sarah doesn't rate it. I give it 3 stars and look forward to watching this last series.

"You're fucking out. And I'm fucking in!" Kenny Fucking Powers

Project X

Busy day today, so short post

Saturday morning I saw the film Project X. Pretty funny party movie in the vein of superbad. Lots of nudity, drinking and party craziness. The movie is about a bunch of nerds who throw a party to become cool. The party gets crazier throughout the night. Check it out if you're into that kind of thing. 3 stars

The good, the bad and the ugly

To take a phrase from Peter Griffin. You know what really grinds my gears?

Let's start with last nights NRL game.

The good
Finally the off-season is over. League is back and started off with a bang. The dragons finally getting over the top of the knights in a thriller. Despite the absence of Wayne Bennett and full back Boyd, the dragons were solid for most of the night. Soward behind most of their attacking raids. For the knights, Mullen was back to his best and should look to get back the half back spot in the NSW origin team.

The bad
Knights defence was slow and gave the dragons too much room to move. For the dragons their new full back Stanley and prop Matt Prior continued to cough the ball up at crucial times.

The ugly
Channel Nine. After all the build up for the season launch and even though they have a perfectly good high definition channel at their disposal. The game was an hour delayed in regular definition. Inexcusable in these times. The AFL are way ahead in this regards. Not only does Channel Nine do this, they also do not allow foxtel to pick up their slack and broadcast the game live. Even more amusing was the ads for sportsbet broadcasting "We hope you are enjoying the game between the knight and dragons. Don't forget you can bet live right now with tab sportsbet." If this were true, i could make some serious cash with an hour's future knowledge.

And that's what grinds my gears.

P.S. Foxtel is not entirely blameless in this discussion. Im growing tired of watching the NBA on ESPN where they are advertising the second part of the double header only to switch to a replay of a college game from a week ago instead of the live game our American friends are watching.

Beer

For lack of a better subject. Today it is beer. Since the start of the year, I have cut down on my consumption. Purely to help my weight loss. Although it hasn't had a huge impact in that department. It has helped me appreciate the taste of beer more. Instead of throwing back a bunch XXXX golds while watching the footy, I am now a little more selective. Since I am now looking at one 6 pack on a Saturday night, I make sure it's a good one. My favourite beer of choice is usually a James Squire. Either a Sundown Larger or a 150 Lashes Pale Ale. I also don't mind the Indian Pale Ale. I'm not sure how long the 150 Lashes will be around for, so I'll probably get some of that this Saturday while watching the Pies in their round 2 NAB cup game.

Thirds intra-club game

I popped down to Yeronga last night to get an early glimpse at our new look thirds up against the under 18s. With over 40 players to choose from, Dingo had his work cut out choosing a team. He ended up playing two different thirds teams interchanging them between quarters. The under 18s were very quick and very skillful. Best players for the thirds in my opinion were new players, Aiden and Bazza and past thirds champions, Frekey, Finny and Jeremiah.

Biggest Loser part 2

Controversy in the biggest loser house! After sitting pretty with both remaining members guaranteed immunity. The blue team inexplicably smuggled alcohol into the house. One of the favourites for the competition, Luke managed to drink an entire bottle of spirits, behaved inappropriately and was consequently booted out of the house and disqualified for winning any prizes (including biggest loser outside of the house). With a thousand tv cameras positioned around the house, the act in itself was very strange. Maybe he'd had enough. Anyway, another one bites the dust. Oh and the red team once again dominated the weigh in and continue to lead the competition. However with only one remaining blue team member, the house is surely due for a reformation of the teams. Probably girls v guys.

Weekend

Another quiet weekend. Footy off-season seems to have gone forever. Spent most of the weekend either playing Skyrim on the PS3 and watching the NAB cup and cricket. I seem to remember looking forward to weekends more in the past. Not sure if it has been the reduction in my weekend drinking or an increasing enjoyment at work. Either way Ill be glad when footy season proper starts. Footy trip to Melbourne for round one will be the highlight.

NAB Cup part 2

Some good games tonight. Cats, Saints and Swans. Should be a good chance to see the premier's new kids and to see if the saints will be challengers this year. Also this weekend is the lions, suns and dees. Will be interesting to see Clarke up against his old team. My predictions are saints to finish top out of their group and the suns in a bit of an upset top theirs. Suns kids should be much better with a full season under their belts while the lions will still look to nurse a few of their older bodies through the pre-season. And the dees, well they are a bit of an unknown at the moment. They will rely heavily on Mark Jamar with two of their main ruckmen going down with season ending injuries.

Parks and recreation

Stumbled onto this show the other day on foxtel. For those familiar with the US version of the Office will notice the similarities. The producers of The Office Greg Daniels and Michael Schur (who plays Mose, Dwight's cousin on The Office) came up with the concept and it is now in its fourth season. As the name suggests it is set in the office of the Department of Parks and Recreation. The show is quite funny led by a great cast in Amy Poehler (Saturday night live), Rashinda Jones (The Office) and my personal favourite Aziz Ansari who is an up and coming comedy actor that we will start to see more and more soon. He has been in a few films like I love you man, Funny People and Observe and Report. I look forward to seeing how the show pans out. 3 stars.

Yeronga Thirds

Spent a bit of time updating the thirds page on the Yeronga website last night. http://www.yerongafc.com.au/thirds.html

Might be heading down to watch a few games this year, so I thought I would have a crack at posting some news and photos just for the thirds. Check it out. I haven't had time to put up all of the thirds photos from last year yet, but hopefully they will be up soon. Go the thirsties!!

Biggest Loser

Getting stuck into the latest season of The Biggest Loser on Channel 10. This season the theme is singles, with some kind of small suggestion of the contestants to fall in love (might be difficult for that Margy girl, not many options in the biggest loser house for same sex relationships). Apart from the theme, it's mostly about this bunch of people losing the weight the quickest possible way. The house was originally divided up into boys and girls, then again into young and old. This week they joined the old and new together for a battle of the sexes, which the girls won handsomely. The girls have 4 of the 5 fittest people in the house and this works well for the challenges. They also seem to be the toughest and hardest trainers as reflected at the weigh in. The youngest girl in Michelle leads the charge, though she is reaching the low 90ks now and her weight loss percentage will start to suffer soon. Margy and Lynda are strong and are two of the hardest workers in the house. While the blokes are carried by their only shining light in Luke. However despite him working the hardest of the guys, suffered a bad week on the scales. His diet of only orange food for the week (a result of losing a challenge earlier) might be the factor behind this. He was lucky not to be picked for elimination. The biggest contestant in the history of the competition, Ryan was this weeks eliminated contestant as he was generally disliked by both teams. The contest is a little close to call at the moment. Trainer Shannon usually has the winner at the end, so you would have to think Luke would be the favourite with Hamish a dark horse with youth on his side. But my pick would be Lynda at the moment with Margy the girls dark horse.

Cricket

Gabba on a Sunday is a great place to be. Work the next day is not however. Great time yesterday and a great win. More info and photos will be up on fraserland soon on the news page.

Footy training

First session back at Yeronga thirds training last night. And boy it did hurt. My legs were a little rubbery this morning. Good numbers last night. 5 or 6 returns from last year but about 25 new blokes. A lot of speed too. Should be some good signs this year for improvement. They are in a very tough league so they will need to hit the track running. Good luck the thirsty thirds!

Nothing in particular

Bit of a workload to get through today. After an extended lunch with Jorgo at the pub (drinking diet coke today) and picking up my Lions NAB cup tickets, an hour long meeting and a small detour to the bookshop, I have little time left to get some work done. For those who wonder if I actually do any work at my job you might be surprised to know that I do in fact get quite a bit done during the day. It is now afternoon tea time (uncle toby muesli bar) and I have about an hour an a half left of work before I head down to footy training. A strange activity for a retired player, but I felt like getting some fresh air and having a kick with some mates.

Lions Intra-club

This morning Jorgo and I headed down to Coorparoo to watch the lions vs lions intra-club game. We took our cameras, hoping to get some good action shots. If any of them are any good I'll post up on Fraserland shortly. The game started off a little scrappy. Players not holding their marks and turning the ball over a fair bit. Although that is to be expected in their first competitive hit out. New additions Billy Longer, Ben Hudson and Jordan Lisle went ok, Hudson probably had the best game of the three. Pierce Hanley showed great poise and was often in space with his superior running capacity. Andrew Raines was probably the best on field with numerous clearances and hard running. By the fourth quarter both teams started to hold their marks and the game flowed nicely. Not sure who won out of the blue or maroon teams, but I'm sure the coaches would have been happy with the effort.

NAB Cup

Well footy season is almost upon us. The real stuff is a month off, but in the meantime the NAB cup provides us with a chance to see our clubs showcase their youngsters and for some of us to check out the new fox footy channel. First up is the triple header between Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Richmond on Friday night. For the keen dream team enthusiasts, this is a great opportunity to find some young bargains for the year. It is also a good chance to check out the blokes coming back from injury to see if they will last the year. Players like Brian Lake and Lenny Hayes to name a few. So come Friday, let the siren sound and prepare for another season.

Premier League

After a very eventful weekend in the English Premier League the title race between the two teams from Manchester is still neck and neck. United amidst the controversy surrounding their captain Patrice Evra and Liverpool striker Luiz Suarez came away with a comfortable 2-1 win over the mersysiders. A nice little collect for me on predicting the correct score too. City came straight back this morning with a hard fought 1-0 win over Aston Villa. On a fantasy front, some poor captain choices from the top three prevented any big scores. The big scorers for the week were Wayne Rooney with another double slowly coming back into some hot form. Togolese forward Adebayor came up with 4 assists and a goal to be the pick of the week. For our league, Geoff had another solid week helped by some good scoring off the bench. My defence scored two goals which helped me while Jimmy slipped down the ladder slightly after a tough weekend. Team of the week surprisingly went to bottom placed Jeff with a 67 thanks to a superb move of throwing the captain's armband on Rooney and 18 points from his Manchester City defence. Could Jeff make a late run to get off the bottom of the ladder? Tune in next week to find out.

Cricket

No time for blog today. Watching the cricket and sweating a bit after a little bike ride. About to hit the weights, just wanted to say, how good did Forrest look at the Adelaide oval?

Jeremiah's Cafe

Late breakfast this morning. Our venue, Ashgrove's Jeremiah's Cafe.

Our current favourite venue for breakfast, Jeremiah's checks all the required boxes for a great breakfast. This morning's dish was the ham, cheese and mushroom omelet. Cooked to perfection served with english breakfast tea for me and a steaming mug of cappuccino for the missus. A quiet relaxing way to enjoy the start of the weekend with a good catch up from the proprietor and a full stomach to leave with at a very modest price.

4 stars

Fantasy football

For today's post I will talk about one of my passions. With AFL season not far away, a lot of people I know are preparing their Dream Teams. However before the Dream Team competition for me there was the original fantasy game, Premier League soccer. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Dream Team, it doesn't have a thousand different stats to count. But there lies the appeal, its simplistic in its approach and very addictive. I am now in my 13th season and still hooked. The game is easy, points for goals, assists, clean sheets. Then a few small points for keeper saves, cards and bonus points. There is no set number of trades, but if you spend more than one a week, it will cost you some of your points. The current season sees Geoff once again at the top. Geoff is the local king at this game, winning more often than not. I haven't worked out his secret yet, but his trades and captain choices are normally spot on. I'm currently second with Jimmy right behind. We watch a lot of EPL on TV and pick more on the look and feel of players on the pitch, more than simple stats (probably our downfall). I like to trade based on favourable fixtures and try to avoid picking too many players from one team. Next up is JP, a newcomer to the game and doing a pretty good job. His team is unique, usually with a sprinkle of of unknown players. A dark horse of the competition. Trimsy is next, now in his second season in our league. Hard to get a gauge on his team. Generally has a unique captain choice...I mean walcott as captain? Who saw that coming? Next up is BJ, a very raw rookie in every sense. Started like a house on fire with some great first up picks. However his experience is starting to catch up with him as he starts to drift off the pace. Phil is next, the creator and usual manager of the comp, his team always has a liverpool feel and this is the position he normally occupies on the ladder. Holding up the ladder is my mate Jeff. Who is a passionate city supporter, however this passion sadly does not transfer to this game. Although only his first season, he is sure to improve next season.

Next week I'll give a review of this week's action.

Reading

Since my move to the northern suburbs I have definitely stepped up my reading volume. Sometimes knocking back 2 books per week. This is good for my wife as she reads them after me without having to purchase additional ones. A friend of mine put me onto this fantastic business called 'The Book Depository' It is the largest dedicated online bookseller in the UK. The best part of all is they ship anywhere in the world for free! So when I'm a few books away from running out, I put in an order for some more. Usually the books I'm after cost only $8. A bargain compared to the prices I was paying in Aussie bookstores. I have three writers who I have almost read in entirety. Nelson DeMille, Stephen King and John Grisham. The later two go without saying, but you might not know DeMille. If you get a chance, check him out. His most famous is probably The General's Daughter, which was made into a film staring John Travolta. Anyway even with the help of the low price books at 'The Book Depository'. I still find myself spending too much on books, as well as filling up all of my bookshelves. So the next step will probably be a Kindle. I was hoping to get the new touch screen one, but Amazon isn't currently posting that one to Australia. Anyone using a Kindle at the moment? Also if anyone has an author they would like to suggest, I am running out of books from my favourite authors. My genre's are thrillers and horrors mostly.

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/
http://nelsondemille.net/content/index.asp

Quiet train carriage

Anyone else take the quiet carriages on the train? For me I have a 40 minute trip, so I enjoy reading my book and zoning out for the trip home. The quiet carriage is great for this. However, I always seem to get the one person who doesn't know it's meant to be quiet or really doesn't care. Conversations I can handle, as it's hard to ignore your friend you happen to get on with. But making very loud and long phone calls is another thing. Every time I hear a phone ring accompanied by a "No I'm not busy, I can talk", I look around for the surly older person who simply shouts at the talker, "Excuse me this is a quiet carriage!" Sadly these helpful volume controllers are not always on my train. To the bloke from yesterday arvo, I don't care how excited you are about your upcoming weekend plans you are. But it's hard to point the finger too much on these people, as the lack of signage and announcements doesn't exactly make it clear to all passengers. And that's Fraser's two cents for the day.

Superbowl

Another classic encounter. As tradition, I stayed home to watch the yearly NFL decider. The New England Patriots vs New York's Giants. As my Steelers were rumbled out by Tebow and the Denver Bronco's in round one of the playoffs, I jumped on the bandwagon of the underdog Giants. Coming in to December the Giants had a pretty ordinary record of 7 wins and 7 losses. The bookies had them at 45-1 to win the superbowl. The Giants went on to win every game after and beat the league's best team for the past 5 years. Eli Manning, the captain and star quarterback had already been to the big show before and dragged his team of old veterans sprinkled with a few bright rookies to the summit of NFL's showcase game. Not that the Pats made it easy for them. 3 time superbowl MVP Tom Brady made them work until the last second of the game before they could celebrate. The Giants 4 point winners.