Scott T: The Blog

I'm Home!

Posted Wed, Nov 28, 2007 at 12:54pm by Scott
Tagged: fires, sailing, uni, water
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It's been a little while since the last post so time for an update. Firstly, exams are over! Hopefully everything went well. I'm also home again after leaving my uni accommodation after the final exam last Friday. I also picked up a new computer on the way :D

The fires were put out towards the end of last week and I got to see all the burnt out areas on the way home. A lot of the weed area that was there is now bare (and black) land. The Australian election was held on the Saturday with a reasonably one-sided victory to the Labor Party.

Finally, we also had state titles over the weekend so I spent a bit of time down at the yacht club, which also allowed me to see how the water has dropped.

I know the photo may not show a lot for those unaware of the area, but the water used to be some 10cm or more above that ledge on the log not too long ago so that gives ~20-30cm drop in the last few months. The lake also now has a beach approximately three times as wide as it used to be.

[[img|/images/gallery/4/60_med.jpg]]

Off to a Good Start

Posted Sun, Nov 18, 2007 at 10:37pm by Scott
Tagged: fires, uni
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This summer is off to a good start - and it's not even summer yet! The weather the past few days has been quite warm although it should cool down from the middle of this week.

Last Fridays exam was fairly good, nothing too unexpected. I think I'm pretty well prepared for tomorrow as well. Hopefully I can be just as happy after the one on Tuesday.

End of year exams 07

Posted Tue, Nov 13, 2007 at 10:36pm by Scott
Tagged: everyday, uni
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Short 'n simple. End of semester exams started last Monday. My first one isn't till Friday and then have another 3 next week. Wish me luck!

Also went shopping last weekend - ended up with a case of "There's always a bigger bag" (modified from Qui-Gon's 'Bigger fish' quote in StarWars Ep 1). I had a small bag inside a bigger bag which itself was inside a big bag (each containing items purchased from various locations). Provided my amusement for the weekend anyway :)

What's That Falling from the Sky?

Posted Mon, Nov 05, 2007 at 8:44pm by Scott
Tagged: fires, uni, water
5 comments

I went home for a weekend of attempting to ignore the pending exams - I enjoyed it but all good things come to an end and here I am back at uni for another 3 until exams are over. Tea each night was better than I get down here through my accommodation and I can't wait to get back after exams are over :)

The trip down was fairly uneventful although most of the way was spent with rain falling - quite a refreshing change although in the end there wasn't enough of it! The rest of the weekend was also winter-ish weather with a cold wind blowing both days (not that it stopped us from sailing).

[[img|/images/gallery/4/57_med.jpg||float=right|Mosquito state titles 2005-06]] Probably the most surprising thing was to find the that the lake level had fallen about 10cm since being blocked off some 7 weeks ago. Yes - our lake (photo on right taken October 05) was blocked off in order to help save the rest of the River Murray, predicted to save some 30 gigalitres of water per year from evaporation losses. As much as I didn't want it to occur, I see why it had to be done. Hopefully the water situation soon improves and the rain continues, especially upstream.

We have unfortunately been in a drought like stage for quite some years now. And I can't see it likely to improve dramatically any time soon - although El Niño effects have officially ceased, and the opposite (La Niña) is now in place, it has come too late, hence the rains associated are somewhat less likely to form. Great.

The lack of rain and water crisis also continue to remind me of a verse from "The Wine Song" by The Cat Empire:

In summer the bushfires rage and rage-And rage-On such beautiful days-And we fight them with water that runs through the cracks-Water we're desperately trying to save --- The Cat Empire, Wine Song

Rather appropriate given the precedent set last summer.

The Longest Journey

Posted Sat, Oct 27, 2007 at 7:06pm by Scott
Tagged: games, uni
2 comments

Only posting once per week is a valid option isn't it? Oh well... It is now.

The week started well with our tip across the city. Things didn't go quite so well as the first time (possibly as school was back from their mid-semester) and am sure we were stopped at possibly EVERY set of traffic lights for the trip across, eventually arriving 15 minutes late. Fortunately the prac wasn't as long this time so we still finished in time. The rest of the week was uneventful, with most of the time taken up by assignments and projects (which I should really finish).

Also on Monday evening, I found a new computer game, "The Longest Journey". Not really new considering it was released back in 2000, but a game I hadn't played or heard of. For those who haven't heard of it, it is of similar style game-play to that of Grim Fandango, the Monkey Island series and Full Throttle in that you control a lead character and puzzles are (almost) all inventory based, although the game setting is completely different.

Despite the aging graphics (compared to today's standards), it was very enjoyable and I even stayed up till the early hours of this morning to finish it. The game is heavily story driven so the game-play isn't as prominent but many of the games of the genre are similar to this. Now all I need is to find somewhere in Australia who stocks the sequel, Dreamfall.

I've also recently downloaded the Voices of the Lifestream album (a Final Fantasy VII OverClocked ReMix album). I am yet to listen to the majority of the songs (as they are on my computer, 300km away) however the first and last are very impressive so I have high hopes for everything else.

Only 4 weeks to go until summer holidays - scary.

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