http://www.chriscourt.net The official RSS feed for ChrisCourt.net en http://www.chriscourt.net/index1207.html#down Finished work yesterday. Whee! Off to NZ on Friday to embark on the next stage of the seemingly random sequence of events that make up my life. I have a sneaking suspicion that my blog may start to become a bit more interesting again over the next few months ;-) http://www.chriscourt.net/index1207.html#evel Another American icon, Evel Knievel died yesterday, at the age of 69. Doubtless the archetype and role-model for many of today's X-Games competitors, it's somehow heartening that it was liver failure that did him in after a lifetime of performing the spectacular but perilous stunts that made him famous. [...] http://www.chriscourt.net/index1207.html#race I caught the train down to the Gold Coast this morning to join Ian aboard Aquarius, his little Noelex 25<, in a dash-for-cash race around a small island on the Broadwater. Unfortunately we came 60th out of 66 boats, so the only cash to be seen was when Ian won a lucky draw for $100. Still, it was a fun [...] http://www.chriscourt.net/index1107.html#aquantique Here's a newspaper article with more information regarding the sinking of Aquantique on a reef North of New Caledonia last month. It doesn't leave much hope for a salvage, but at least Bill was rescued to fight another day. What a bummer. http://www.chriscourt.net/index1107.html#onwards Today I handed in notice on my job. It's not a bad job, and I work with some great people, but I seem to be suffering from a case of designer's block and need a change. Or at least a holiday. I'll be finished in two weeks, after which I plan to fly to NZ 'till early in the new year, and then... [...] http://www.chriscourt.net/index1107.html#reputation A couple of days ago I finally got around to watching Ed Woods' infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space, reputedly the worst movie ever made. Well, what can I say? It's excruciatingly bad. Terrible acting and even worse special effects, all backed by a script that seemed to be made up [...] http://www.chriscourt.net/index1107.html#steady For the last three months I've been piggy-banking all the one and two dollar coins from my pockets each evening, and yesterday I cashed them in. $315!! As this felt almost like free money I decided I wouldn't feel guilty about spending it, so went down to Ted's and bought a nice sturdy Manfrotto tripod [...] http://www.chriscourt.net/index1107.html#tuneup The Cannondale had been getting progressively noisier over the last week or so, with some nasty sounding grinding and rattling coming from the mechanicals, however an investment of $35 in two sets of new brake pads has seemingly turned it into a new bike. What a difference! http://www.chriscourt.net/index1107.html#combat Cycling past the park around the corner from my house this morning I was distracted by a terrible ruckus. I stopped to see what all the noise was about, and found an aggressive sulphur crested cockatoo attacking a baby possum. The cocky was screeching loudly, raising his crest and spreading his wings menacingly [...] http://www.chriscourt.net/index1007.html#aquantique I heard yesterday that an acquaintance, a retired Australian guy we met in Colon, Panama, just lost his boat on a reef in New Caledonia, and had to be rescued by helicopter. Terrible news, but heard down the grapevine, so I'm hoping that the reality is not so bad as it sounds at this point. I fervently hope that he is able to make an effective salvage. http://www.chriscourt.net/index1007.html#kites Last Sunday a buddy and I jumped on the train with our bikes and headed out to Murarrie to take a look at the Brisbane Kite Festival. The wind was up and I found it fairly entertaining with some nice looking kites in the air; dramatically coloured foils, dragons, butterflies and giant squid [...] http://www.chriscourt.net/index1007.html#hive Yesterday afternoon after a long and boring day in the office, someone noticed that there were a lot of insects flying around right outside the studio window. I ran down to the carpark to find a swarm of bees on the move, looking like they were about to make their home in a crack in the [...]