Justin Fox | Page 368

ADA update

Posted on 22 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

My 1st attempt at a simple aquascape.

Mr. Mantis lives in the cave on the right. I really need a white light, or blue even and a black background might work nicely, or white even.

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Chris’ new 135i

Posted on 22 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

Yesterday I caught up with Chris who’s been working in Vanuatu. I hadn’t seen him in ages (a year or more maybe) and I’ve only just caught him as he’s about to leave for Vanuatu again this Friday.

I got a bit of a shock when I went outside and saw his new car. He just picked this up yesterday!

He had the exact same plates on his S2000 so that confused me as the plates were the first detail I saw. I then realised it wasn’t an M3, nor a 335i but a 135i! I then got even more confused: Chris aren’t you living and working in Vanuatu?!

Strange little car. Strange lines on the outside and inside. Car feels very firm and solid though, even at 3000rpm you can feel that it’s a very powerful and fast car. Chris drove it in Auto. The car felt a lot like an automatic, not a clutchless manual. I got Chris to shift down a few gears with his paddle shifters and it didn’t sound like it rev matched (so it might just be a full automatic gearbox?).

Cars aside, the real big news is that Chris and his wife are expecting! He’s excited which in turn made me excited for him!

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More track day pics by MJ

Posted on 22 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

MJ takes a rad photo. Here are a few pics he took of the golf yesterday:

More here

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ADA Mantis Tank update

Posted on 21 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

I’ve not bothered with the aquascaping just yet. The Ikea lamp is just temporary too. No substrate yet either (still not 100% sure I want to put sand in) but the Mantis is now living in the tank and he’s busy smashing and eating snails. I’ve got a huge hang on back Aquaclear 110 filter loaded with carbon and denitrate too. It’s almost as wide as the tank!

Over filtration = a good thing. I’ve literally got no more room to play with back there too, tight fit, just perfect!

In other good news my main display tank is almost 100% clear. Phew! Now to call Uncle Tekky and see where he’s at with the stand & hood!

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Private Track Day

Posted on 21 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

Private track day at Wakefield yesterday. Almost destroyed me as I was feeling pretty fat and tired from the Melbourne trip! (we only got back the night before!).

The drive was painful but hey, cruise control (can’t complain!). This time around I had my seats in (still no harnesses though) and my new Brembo front brakes too.

I’m now 1 second faster. Man I hate this track so much it pisses me off to no end. I’m either going in too hot or not carrying enough speed because I’m braking too hard. Grrrr!

Yonas and Zi were there. I tried to keep up with Yonas, impossible!

This FD was on the track. Surprised me as I thought it was all show but damn it’s fast, sounds insane and respect for tracking with those massive SSR’s too!

Zi’s new company car. Mods should make their way onto the car soon.

George from Slippery Little Suckers came along for the day. I’m not sure he had too much fun in his Statesman though. Lack of headroom meant that he had to bend over as his helmet was hitting his roof all day!

A lot more pics here.

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Melbourne Day 4

Posted on 21 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

Degraves (again!). Potato & onion omelette.

For lunch we dropped into the Hutong Dumpling Bar to try the best dumplings in the world (according to Tanja and Ben!). We got there before they opened and waited 20 minutes but glad we did as people came from absolutely nowhere once the doors opened.

Duck dumplings were great.

I’m a huge Din Tai Fung fan and I have to say that Hutong’s Xiao Long Bao had slightly thicker dumpling skin but it wasn’t better or worse than Din Tai Fungs.

Chilli wontons were great.

Beastman has an eye on Megan Gale.

Spotted at Mag Nation (think Borders, but just magazines). A past edition of IdN Magazine with my name on it!

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Melbourne Day 3

Posted on 21 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

The next morning we headed over to (you guessed it) Degraves St. We hooked up with the 2 Mikes who’ve helped me run JDMST for years now.

Spanish Eggs: chorizo, beans… perfect!

Peppermint Twist. Sunday Markets outside the NGV.

Cookies & Cream.

I missed my old friend and flatmate Tanja when she came out to Sydney last week so we hooked up for dinner at Cavallero.

Head to Tail: I had the beef cheeks. So good I wanted another one straight after!

Tanja & Ben.

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Melbourne Day 2

Posted on 21 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

We now officially haunt the cafe’s on Degraves for breakfast every trip.

We hooked up with one of Christina’s work mates and checked out the Tim Burton exhibit at Fed Square. Massive exhibit which featured a lot of sketches and work from when Burton was a little kid (which was totally awesome to see). So many “untitled” works. I can’t say I’m a huge Burton fan but I enjoyed seeing so much process. Highlights for me were reading hand written letters he writes to actors on set (looks like he doesn’t email or text!) and seeing a lot of the amazing work that his team do. IE: The teams that make his cute sketches reality really are just as amazing as Burton himself.

That night we had a combined VWGolf.net.au + JDMST meet at Melbourne’s Docklands. John/Pharkus and his wife picked us up from the hotel to take us there which was super nice of him.

You never know what’s going to rock up to a JDMST meet. This old skool Corolla was awesome.

The Golfs.

Silver MKIV so clean it still had it’s warranty sticker on it.

Terrence/Big Yellow’s beasty R32.

The Integras.

Sugoi. So hot huh? Girl owner too.

Nice S2.

The lads.

Small meet but great company!

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The Press Club

Posted on 21 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

Suga and I booked a dinner at The Press Club months ago when we saw it on MasterChef. I have to admit I had my reservations and no-one is pickier than I am when it comes to food. I’m afraid of hype and what I hate the most is paying heaps of cash for crap food. It’s sad but a lots of ‘fine dining’ from all over the world has failed to impress me.

A stroll away from our hotel. The Press Club.

We were greeted by the lady who runs the floor (we recognised her from the show). She was awesome and gave us this welcoming card.

George’s quote on the menu.

We went À la carte. It turns out there was a new menu (not on their site yet). Christina’s chicken dish was so yum. A poached egg and the crispy little bits are fried chicken which made the healthy poached chicken underneath taste so naughty.

I had the Kingfish. The flavours of the fish, calamari and kipfler potatoes just went together insanely well. He outdid any Japanese fish dish I’ve ever had (and any seafood dish I’ve had from recent memory!).

The lamb is his signature dish so we both couldn’t pass it up. Roast loin, 16hr glazed neck and almond skordalia (a lot like hummus). Too good. TOO GOOD!!!

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better. A waitress sprayed rose scent in the air above us and George’s Aphrodite came out. ART!!!

This dessert came out too, lovely but nowhere near as special as the Aphrodite dish above.

Seeing old letterpress letters surprised me as I didn’t assume The Press Club had a literal connection to typography & print. Massive bill but totally 100% worth it!

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Melbourne Day 1

Posted on 21 September, 2010 by Justin Fox

Christina and I just got back from Melbourne where we celebrated our 4th year together. We got back last night and I had a track day out at Wakefield today. I’m buggered! I’ve got a lot of pics to go through. I’ll start with day #1!

We ran into my sisters friend/client Michael at the airport, turns out he was on our flight! He also offered us a lift into the city as his partner Kerri was picking him up (together they run fashion label Amar from Sydney).