Google have uploaded their high-res pics of Sydney taken on Australia Day.

The resolution is not as good as Las Vegas or Frankfurt (although in some places it's approaching it), but is still pretty good. Can see Alan & Marylon's house and car very clearly.

The silly thing is half the buildings in the CBD are taken from the north and the other half from the south, so they meet each other in the middle in a big wiggly mish-mash.

EDIT: the resolution on Bondi Beach is superb! Can see clothes (or lack thereof) on people :)

Here's the plane as it flew over

Watched Metropolis tonight. It was pretty cool. I think though it'd be more fun with a bunch of people to sit and speculate what they are saying .. at times like these I wish I could lip read!! :) And sheesh it's bordering on pornographic for 1927! hehe

Of course when it was done I couldn't help but put on Video Hits II to see Radio Ga Ga, but of course you can't just stop at that, you have to watch the whole thing, so I've been singing along like a drunk crazy person .. oh wait, that's what I am! hehe

1. Can you cook? Yeah, although I'm not very imaginative
2. What was your dream growing up? To be able to fly
3. What talent do you wish you had? That I could play the piano
4. Favorite place? Maybe Lord Howe Island. Soooo need to go back there
5. Favorite vegetable? Potato (so long as it has lots of oil and/or has been baked or fried :) )
6. What was the last book you read? Body Clutter by Marla Cilley and Leanne Ely
7. What zodiac sign are you? Leo
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Just my two ears
9. Worst Habit? Too many to mention ;)
10. Do we know each other outside of Livejournal? I don't believe in Livejournal ;)
11. What is your favorite sport? er...
12. Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude? Negative
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? Probably chat about crap
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you? Probably having my car stolen and later crashed
15. Tell me one weird fact about you I used to eat Nutella and muesli sandwiches (they were yummy!)
16. Do you have any pets? Lots of fish
17. Do you know how to do the Macarena? No
18. What time is it where you are now? 5:57pm - beer o'clock!! .. pity I've just run out of beer :(
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? Scary
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? My height
21. Would you be my partner in crime or my conscience? Conscience
22. What color eyes do you have? Greenish
23. Ever been arrested? No
24. Bottle or Draft? er.. either..
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it? Go to Europe
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew? er.. whatever..
27. What's your favorite bar to hang at? Don't really have one
28. Do you believe in ghosts? Not really .. but not saying that evil spirits don't exist in some form
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? Waste time on my puta or watch dvds
30. Do you swear a lot? No
31. Biggest pet peeve? Stoopid people
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself? Insane
33. In one word, how would you describe me? Vampiress .. heh :)
34. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you? nah cause noone ever does my memes, but if you want to do it I can give you the code :)

Seen at Karla's the other week

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was your first thought?
I don't really remember, I didn't really actually look at myself much and if I did I didn't have any earth-shattering thoughts :)

2. Do you read while you�re in the bathroom?
Used to, but not much anymore

3. What�s a word that rhymes with �fit�?
bit

4. Favorite planet?
Saturn (aside from the obvious)

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list?
Bit hard to see missed calls on my Blackberry, but fourth last received call was from Stu

6. What is your favorite ring on your phone?
An ancient nokia one that used to go "beep"..............."dee-di-leep"..................."dee-di-lee-di-leep"........... it was very subtle and I could often pick it up without other people realising it had rung.

7. What shirt are you wearing?
My navy Millers tshirt

8. What were you doing 20 minutes ago?
Reading webpages (imdb I think)

9. Name the brand of shoes you�re currently wearing?
Feet.

10. Bright or Dark Rooms?
Bright (unless it's night and the blinds are open)

11. What do you think about the person who posted this survey?
Totally jealous of her (living in Europe and regularly doing short trips all over Europe)

12. If you�re in a room with two beds, which one do you sleep in?
Shrug, don't much care, altho I suppose I'd take the one most out of the way

13. What were you doing at exactly midnight last night?
Sleeping I think

14. What was your last text message you received on your cell?
"Boy killi dead :-(" (ok so technically that was the second last received)

15. How do you like your eggs?
Sunny side up, scrambled or omelette good too

16. What�s a word/phrase that you say a lot?
"It wasn't me I didn't do it"

17. Who told you he/she loved you last?
Stu

18. Last furry thing you touched?
My hair?? The carpet?

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?
Five servings of EtOH; copious quantities of Sunset yellow FCF, Allura red AC, Sodium citrates, Disodium 5�-guanylate and Disodium 5�-inosinate (among many others); various animal proteins (mostly chicken); some lactose; various complex and simple carbohydrates; some DHA & EPA.. yeah quite a lot of them really :)

20. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?
None, although I do have photos from two memory sticks to download off my camera

21. Favorite age you have been so far?
Shrug. 11??

22. Your worst enemy?
I only have one enemy that I know about, not mentioning any names

23. What wallpaper do you have on your desktop?
Stu!

24. What was the last thing you said to someone�.
byeeeeee

25. If you had to choose between a million dollars or to be able to fly?
Fly!!!

26. Do you like someone?
I like lots of people, but especially Stu :)

27. If you could punch one person in the face, who would it be?
er, noone.. maybe George W

28. What is the closest object to your left foot?
My right thigh

29. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be.
My brain

30. If one thing about you could always remain the same, what would it be.
My health

As seen at Dave's the other week

A- Available or Single? No, engaged to Stu :)
B- Best Friend? Stu
C- Cake or Pie? Pie (most fruits)
D- Drink of Choice? Orange juice
E- Essential Item? My digital camera
F- Favorite Color? Aqua blue
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? er.. worms mabye
H- Hometown? Sydney, Australia
I- Indulgence? right now, Doritos cheese supreme
J- January or February? Dunno. January probably - usually quieter at work, but too hot
K- Kids and Names? Don't have kids
L- Life is incomplete without�? Stu
M- Marriage Date? Dunno yet. Maybe October.
N- Number of Siblings? One
O- Oranges or Apples? Probably apples. I like oranges, but they are too sticky/messy
P- Phobias/Fears? Cobwebs
Q- Favorite Quote? Live long and prosper
R- Reasons to smile? Stu, I'm healthy, and got enough money to do some of the things I like
S- Season? Spring
T- Tag 3 people? I don't tag
U- Unknown Fact About Me? er.. dunno
V- Vegetable You Hate? Brussel sprouts aren't very pleasant.
W- Worst Habit? No comment :)
X- Xrays You�ve Had? My left foot, my chest, my teeth (don't have that one though)
Y- Your Favorite Foods? Roast pork with crackling, cheese flavoured potato crisps, my potato bake
Z- Zodiac? Leo

Spent the entire day attempting to remove viruses and upgrade SAV on people's computers. Only to have the updated scanners pick up even more spyware nonsense lurking around. Tomorrow is going to be no better I can tell...

So I thought I'd go down and see the Queen Mary 2. As it seems, did the rest of Sydney. Couldn't get down Oxford St. Then found out they'd closed Art Gallery Road. Went back round to Crown St and down, but then couldn't get across William St. Ended up going round more blocks and stopping in the first park I found on William St and just walked down.

So yes, it was big. They say the biggest ship to ever visit Australia. But I'm sure the Constellation was bigger (or longer rather). I'll have to go check the stats. I think the Independance is even bigger than the Constellation but I didn't get any good pics. But I digress. EDIT: According to the SMH the largest ship ever to have been here before was the "Iron Pacific" - which I've been on!!!

Fought my way through thousands of people. Took some piccies of a big boat. Watched the news being broadcast live. Took pics of reporters I don't actually know the names of. Waited impatiently for the QE 2 to arrive, as I was in a parking spot half an hours walk away that was rapidly running out of time. Got a glimpse of the QE2 coming down the harbour, then attempted to race back down Mrs Macquaries Road. Against thousands of people walking up the road. Argh! Managed to be far enough back to the car when the QE2 came by, and managed to get a photo of the two ships together! Sweet! And got a cool movie of them singing to each other. And then nearly died trying to get back up to the car before my time ran out.

So here's some pics.. :)

First up, the lovely Queen Mary 2. Gotta love a wide angle lens!

Some channel 7 reporter I think EDIT: Samantha Armytage I think

And another channel 7 reporter

A channel 9 reporter I think EDIT: Damien Ryan, Channel 9

The whole spectacle

Queen Mary 2 through the trees

Life boat trials

Big red funnel

Bridge closer up

I bet you guys weren't expecting to be on the internet in your bath robes hey? hehe

These things were buzzing up and down the harbour all evening

Cameraman hanging out the door of this helicopter

Crowds gathered on the back of the Queen Mary 2 to see the Queen Elizabeth 2 come in

QE2 down the harbour

QE2 a bit closer, behind cloud unfortunately

QE2 nearing Circular Quay

Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Mary 2 in Sydney Harbour

Time is going too fast. Every month I run a bunch of routine security stuff over my servers. It takes the better part of a day to do it all. But it seriously feels like I only did the last round of checks a week or so ago, and it's flipping time to do them all over again!! Since when has time been going so fast??

And when did people become so disrespectful? ok that's a stupid question, people have *always* been that disrespectful. Like the yobbo neighbours who have no respect for rules, the peace of other people, or the water crisis, by bombing into the pool and wasted bucketloads of water. Or the ones that open the door less than 30 seconds after I've closed it so their four year old son can get back into the building. Well lady, if your son is not big enough to press the buzzer to get back in, then maybe he's not big enough to be playing outside BY HIMSELF?!?!?! I won't even start on the rubbish situation. I'm going to bed.

From Karla

• Where were you when Armstrong first walked on the Moon?

  Half of my DNA was wherever my mother was, but that I don't know.

• Where were you when you heard Princess Di had died?

  I was at home at the parent's place. I was by myself. My brother called the house. I also remember talking about it when I went to church at St Matthias that night.

• Where were you on New Year�s Eve of 1999/2000?

  NY2K at Homebush. We only just managed to get in the gate before midnight though. We were on the dancefloor and someone came around giving sparklers to people to use. Midnight came and I thought "well we still have power. cool. can party all night" hehe. The only people at CIA that could have done anything about the servers doing anything silly were all at parties all night. Vic and Janelle and I got home at 6am or something, saw that everything was working ok, and didn't think much more of it. hehe.

• Where were you on Sept.11, 2001?

  I was at CIA. Gamera was being stoopid and fussing over one of its disks. While I was working on it, Marc was online and called me over to tell me. We found pics on the BBC website, and when I saw both towers on fire I know it was deliberate. But the pictures were so small I didn't think too much of it. Came home and turned the telly on and stayed up til 3am watching it all.

• Where were you when you first heard about the big 2004 Tsunami?

  Can't really remember. The initial reports listed only a few hundred people dead, which didn't really stick in my head. I remember being at J&G's though talking to Ralph about it and watching the news there when the count was more like 15000.

• Where were you when you first heard that Madonna would go on tour last year?

  er.. did she announce that did she? shrug :)

Well I can categorically say when our wedding *won't* be. July 21.

Other than that I have no idea. Truly.

Ok, well I suppose I have *some* idea. No, scratch that, I don't really, I've just had a few thoughts, but no real ideas.

Date
Later this year. Dunno when. Depends on my job situation.

Honeymoon
Was hoping to get to Europe this year, perhaps as a "pre" honeymoon, and then just go away locally for a weekend or week after the wedding.

Location
Dunno. My church doesn't meet in a church building, which makes that difficult. I kinda like the idea of Yass at Annie's church, or that cute little church between Canberra and Murrumbateman. I kinda liked the idea of a late August wedding when all the cherry blossoms are out for some nice photos, but don't know Canberra well enough to know whereabouts to go.

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen
We'll probably pass on that. We want as low fuss as possible, and trying to organise other people for that sort of thing is so tweenies.

Dress
This is one thing I don't want to pass on. I really want a nice dress. Have started looking online for things I might like.

Hair and makeup
Something with cascading curls I think. Makeup I dunno. I'm crap at makeup. Might have to find some professional to do it for me.

Flowers
That's starting to get a bit hard. Maybe just something for me to hold.

Reception
Dunno. We kinda like the idea of something informal. Maybe a catered afternoon tea or something. Dunno where.

Guests
I'm thinking small. Like 50 *tops*. Was 42 at D&Y's and that seemed like an ok number. Stu wants small too.

I suppose someone should give this to my mother to shut her up for a while... or maybe she'd just ask more questions ..