Had a great catchup with Sean today and I mentioned I was staying at my Mum’s place. He hadn’t seen my Mum’s place since it was an old house which I was squatting in before it was demolished (rats in the kitchen, furry wallpaper, termites, you name it). The new house has been finished for a couple of years now, it’s brand new but the salt is eating away at everything, even the marine grade lights and all the stainless steel furniture but that’s the price you pay (and then some) for living right on the water.

I’ve seen pictures of my Mum’s house pop up on the net, one recently popped up on fffound (geez, it must be cool then…).

I thought I’d post the images up on here in any case. It’s a lovely house and one which my mother put a lot of blood sweat and tears into. She worked very close with her architect, builder and interior designers (pikewithers which are old clients of mine, their site is over 9 years old and still working!) and all the hard work has quite obviously paid itself off.

To design my own house from ground up is definitely still one of my missions in life (has been for some time now) but for now the rennovations on my own house have given me a taste. I’ve made some mistakes, lost the plot a few times, rushed things, settled for things which I shouldn’t have and blown a lot more time and money than I had planned but I’ve got a feeling that I’ll be rewarded once it’s finally finished, that reminds me, have got to take more pictures of the progress to show. Will do tomorrow :)

PS: Just got back from Unas (again!). My stomach is still very much digesting Chicken Jaeger. I was going to post up a group shot but thought I’d see if Charles has updated his blog (I saw him rattle off a few shots see) and sure enough he has, check his Unas review here.

PPS: Definitely check out the cake shop next door to Unas (the little shop looks and feels exactly like the patisseries in Paris). Go the little Petit Fours (I got the strawberry one) they’re great!

Grant with new 29’er.

Ash with new Glory.

Carbs!

New Faith.

Holy Bling Batman.

Do I have to wear spandex to ride that?

Last night I got to attend the Giant 2010 performance launch which was held at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Coogee Beach. Giant invited all their Sydney dealers along to check out the new range of bikes, dinner and drinks were served as well. Click here for my full write up and pics too.

My vent for today: I called Westpac/VISA up before I went overseas to let them know my card was meant to expire last month, the guy on the line said don’t worry, they send them out late. I let him know I had a problem with it going missing last time, again, no worries, you will get a letter which will let you know that your card is at your local branch at the end of the month. The letter never came so today I went into the local branch and hey presto it’s not there, it’s not at any branch so they’re ordering me a new one (5-10 business days). I wouldn’t whinge about it except that it’s connected to all my bills (RTA/cable/adsl/gas/electricity/web hosting and more) /vent.

It’s warming up and Monday night Loftus rides are on again.

I sold my niterider lights before winter kicked in as they weren’t bright enough for the pace we were starting to go at, not to mention that as it got colder and darker earlier we all failed to keep up night riding so it was a good time to sell them. Another reason for selling them was that I heard that the new Ayups were going to be on sale soon (they’re Australian made lights which everyone else is using, not cheap but they’re damn bright).

Tonight I borrowed one of Jing’s lights but the good news is that the new Ayups are now on sale, bit more expensive than last time but they’re more refined (brighter and more waterproof kit). I was still way off the pace but at least I didn’t feel sick like I did last ride. The weather was perfect too, not too cold, just right, no mozzies, perfect.

I had planned to come back home to a roast chook but the boys wanted to hit up McDonalds so I did the social thing and tagged along. After reading Charles’s review of the new Angus Burger I gave it a go and too right it was juicy and wasn’t as bad as some of the crap burgers I’ve had at pricey cafe’s. Can’t say I’d recommend them though, that would be bad Kharma right?

When I was a kid I was baptised and went to Catholic schools but I never understood Religion. I never felt it then and I still don’t feel it now but the 3 week Europe trip, especially visiting Rome, has changed something in my thinking.

Whilst Jesus Christ (“Christ” might not even be his real “surname”? Perhaps Jesus of Nazareth is a little more accurate?) is the central figure of Christianity I’m still unsure of how Christianity gets the whole “Jesus is divine” thing. The resurrection after his crucifixion, the “Son of God” who came to provide salvation by his death for their sins, his virgin birth, performance of miracles, ascension into Heaven, it’s all quite fascinating.

I don’t believe in Christianity but after soaking up so much historical art, architecture and culture from Rome I am now pretty sure of one thing, and that is that Jesus did actually exist, that he was a Jew who was regarded as a teacher, that he was baptised by John the Baptist and was crucified on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire.

On a side note: I loved surrealist art when I was in high school and viewing all of that amazing art (especially the stuff depicting scenes in Heaven and Hell, demons, angels with wings, cherubs etc.) in Rome with the same eyes opened me up to appreciating the creativity of Religious art a whole lot more.

Might sound stupid, but it’s a bit of clarity to me. /Spam

My old S2000 BEFORE

My old S2000 AFTER

There’s a great thread over at JDMST on pictures of peoples cars before and after. Whilst I prefer to see the process of a build I love these kind of threads too. You can check out the thread here or click here to view just my cars before and after (I’ve owned and modified 12 cars in the span of 9 years, pretty crazy huh?).

Last weekend’s JDMST EOMM was held at JDMyard. The last few meets have been awesome, the old school faces are coming back out and the vibe’s been great, not to mention some insane cars as always. You can find good coverage of the meet (lots of people with cameras these days!) here.

And in other related news: Suga scratched a rim. Might not be a big deal to some of you but it’s a massive deal for some of us! She almost cried. If it was me I’d be both crying and losing sleep.

:(

And this is my new flywheel for the GT-R, which I get back this week minus a new quiet exhaust which is still on the way in from Japan.

And in not so related news. I had a booking with Apple to fix my iPhone on Saturday night and they fixed it in 10 minutes by doing a “screen reset”. Happy… I suppose?!

Teaser?

Buying a guitar with Richie the other day inspired me to get a few guitars out and start putting a bit of love into them (all of my guitars are so dirty and abused). My Jackson Flying V’s my fave guitar, it’s just got such a fast neck but I’ve worn a fret down which is pricey to fix and it’s also impossible to sit down and play (it’s got a “V” shaped body). My Fender Strat is a Korean Squire which I’d happily trade for an American one and my ESP LTD is shithouse. It’s not got a fast neck (although it should as it’s a metal shredder) and it’s got no tone at all, just completely flat.

Despite being a cheap Strat, the Fender has great tone and it’s lovely to play which makes me want to run out and buy a pimp one but I also want a shredder so I dropped Dave at ImportStrings.com a message to see if he could help me out.

My mates Chris (he used to be the sales guy at IS Motor Racing who look after my GT-R) and Dave have been importing immaculate rare guitars from Japan for a couple of years now. I designed their logo and site at mates rates and they’ve been doing great ever since they started. Dave was more than happy to help out and instantly started to send me images of guitars available in left handed versions. After a bit of discussion both online and on the phone he presented me with a killer guitar which I think fits the bill perfectly. I’ve put the money down and it should be here in a few weeks from now. I’m excited!

BMU hits the Dam.

Last night I got to sleep at 11.30PM and woke up at 3AM but instead of getting out of bed like I have been the past week I forced myself to stay in it and slept through until 5.45AM so it’s looking like I’m back on track. I had a piece of toast, a coffee, packed the Reign into the Jazz and set off to meet the guys at Manly Dam.

It started raining as soon as I got out of the car but it stopped before we set off on our ride. We had 9 guys with us this morning (I like riding in big groups). For the 1st half I was feeling AOK. My legs were fine but I was having trouble breathing. It felt like I was missing about 15% of my lung capacity but I still managed to stay in the middle of the pack.

We ran into another large group of riders and one guy was walking it up the techy 3 step section which was once such a challenge for me. I didn’t hop off the bike and managed to get up it at walking pace behind him which felt pretty good but after the big uphill (heartbreak hill they call it) I just died.

I got up the hill, but that was more mental strength than physical. When I stopped at the top I got dizzy and came so close to throwing up (I’ve never come so close to throwing up on a ride before). It felt like I wasn’t going to get any better but once I started pedalling I found that the sick feeling went away and I actually felt better (lesson learnt there). I stayed at the very back of the pack until the end haha.

Great ride, great to be back on the bike and I’m looking forward to getting my fitness levels back up there again for sure.

I only managed to take a few little clips, hope you enjoy them!

Foose action between Richie and Christina in Rome.

There were so many awesome street musicians in Barcelona. I’d never seen some of the instruments they were playing so seeing them and hearing it all was a massive treat. These guys in this clip were going off. The guitarist/singer was sitting on a wooden box which he set up like a drum kit and the bass player, well just look at him. Eyes shut and totally feeling it.

The long lift ride to the Eiffel Tower Restaurant.

At night on the hour the tower would dazzle.

Crazy Paris traffic on this huge roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe.