Steven Rowlandson

I recently dug out the Massive box of Lego from my Youth. Whilst its depressing to see the ‘heavily played with’ state of a lot of the bricks, it does bring a flood of memories back of my childhood. I have started sorting the bricks in an attempt to rebuild all my old sets. Carting lego around the world and many moves has meant quite a few bricks are missing and replacements are needed. Instructions at also long gone. The task was made easiy by producing an inventory on the BrickLink site and then linking directly into the Brick Sales to purchased the missing parts.

World of Bricks produces a lot of Instructions, particularly sorted by year.

Filterstorm Pro make a fantastic Ipad / iPhone for editing Photos directly ont he iPhone / iPad.

Having many ways to get photos on to the iPad when on holiday / in the field, namely Shuttersnitch + eyefi card, On One Softwares DSLR Remote or simply directly copying them using the Apples Camera Connection Kit. Most of the simple photo editing features are available.

Want to setup your Camera on a tripod and control it manually but from a distance. Well you need a DSLR, Small Laptop, USB cable and a n iPhone or iPad with On One Softwares DSLR Remote. Recently onsale for a massive 75% of and only $5.99 it was a bargain that couldn’t be missed.

I often find cool Ipad / iPhone apps and think, I must buy that. Then I forget the name. Shuttersnitch when coupled with a wireless transmitting SDCard  from Eye-Fi means most Digital Camera’s can wirelessly shoot photos and send the result directly to my iPhone or iPad for viewing. Which helps as photos look much better on the iPad than the tiny little screen on the camera.

As with most people, if only they made a Compact Flash version Or I could afford

When going on a ride, after suiting up with all the right Safety gear, set the choke and firing up the FT, it pays to check the fuel tap. Otherwise you get a couple of streets from home before the beast stops, for no reason. Sure it ‘may’ be disguised as stalling from being cold and the idle set low and that constant cranking will see the battery flat. Its also very difficult to push start a bike on a wet road. After pushing the bike home, stripping off of the gear and then running 10 minutes late to a meeting, you realise you had turned the fual tap off on the last ride and forgot to turn it on Stupid 1 day of the permit down for about 500 metres of riding.

Many years ago, whilst working for Creative Factory, Vince, the Passionate guy who sat in the opposite side of the room to myself, and had a whole heap of cool kit (mixing desk, high end pc, multiple super fast SCSI drives) was working on a Movie. We got invited to the Premiere, in Carlton. The movie was quite cool. Funny at times, and worth woatching for a decent locally made Aussie Comedy. It was on the same night, directly after watching Ralph, I saw what has become one of my all time greatest movies. Chopper. Chopper was also premiering that night with an interview with the Director and Vince Collosimo. It was a great night.

I recently found that Ralph has been sliced up and placed on Youtube. So enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0B362ghP2o

I won’t lie. The FT500 has terrible consumption. After doing about 3-4 decent long rides I have realised the fuel consumption is woeful. Something I need to address.

After hitting the reserve a few times, I decided to carry some fuel. I had the option of strapping a 5 Litre plastic fuel can on the pack rack. Its big enough to get a fairly decent range. Instead I 0pted to use my 1 litre MSR fuel bottle and the second 375ml Fuel bottle. Not a lot of fuel but enough to ‘get me out of trouble’ Securing these to the bike was a pain. I tied them on with a length of Paracord then duct taped them to the pack rack to secure them. Not elegant but functional.

Chatting to a mate about carry fuel on the bike showed how a lot of people don’t know about the fantastic invention and product, Rotopax.

These 1 & 3 gallon fuel cans are secured to the bike using a simple mounting system. Available in a series of colours to cover all fuel types, water and even a storage version for holding important items such as a first aid kit.

I think its time to order a pair of Fuel Rotopac and a water & storage pack for the back of the FT.

Cut up some Pumpkin (I use half a Kent/Jap or Butternut) and chuck it in a pot.

Add a chopped up potato (or 2) to the pot.

Finely slice an onion and whack that in too.

Options: I have put in roasted Red (peeled) capsicum / carrots / sweet potato with great results.

chuck in a 1/2 teaspoon of Keens Curry Powder and cover with water and bring to the boil then simmer until all the potato / pumpkin becomes very soft. I then turn it off and leave it to sit. Place the veg in a blender and blend until smooth adding enough liquid to get the consistency required. Season to taste. Serve with a dash of sourcream or Riccotta cheese

Mix some Tandoori psate with a little yoghurt in a bowl. Cover it with pieces of chicken (mixture of Breast and Thigh) and leave for a few hours.

Brown the chicken in a hot pan then place the pieces in an oven and bake for about 30 mins until cooked.

Whilst the chicken is cooking fry some ground cumin seeds, coriander seeds and turmeric in a fry pan. add some onions and garlic in  fry pan until the onion is soft then add a few tins of tomatos, a tin of tomato soup. Return the chicken to the pan from the oven and cook through the sauce. Just prior to serving stir through a bottle of fresh cream.

With the lease on our 2010 Toyota Aurion AT-X drawing to an end, it wsa time to order a new car. Over the years, having a sweet deal on leasing Toyota’s and turning them over often (6-9 months) has meant we have had a few Toyotas. 2 Corolla’s, a Starlet, another Corolla, Echo, 2 x Camry Sportivo’s, then an Aurion SportivoSX6, Rav4 Cruiser, Aurion AT-X x 3 and a couple of ‘loaner’ Camry’s whilst the lease car was in the ‘shop’

We were happy with the Aurion. Its a comfortable car for driving to work, around town. Its big enough for 5 people and economical to drive (was pulling 7.6l / 100 when we had the consumption guage in the SX6). Since we upgraded the second car from the 2001 Corolla to the Rav4 ZR6, the extra power and comfort was no longer required and the lease car’s duties changed slightly.

Upon inspection of the current list, there isn’t much left in the way of ‘fun’. Initially we looked at the Corolla Range although with the import price increase, we could get a Camry for similar money thats a tad bigger and a little more practical. Although, I do miss the Corolla Sportivo. Toyota really do need to get back in the Hot Hatches and a high Kw, AWD Corolla Hatch would be a addition to the lineup would be awesome.

The Camry range have 9 models to choose from, 2 being the newer Hybrid. It would be nice, but i don’t think we have access to these on the lease. We have a Grande as a loaner whilst the last AT-X was in getting the petrol cap repainted, and I must say it was a nice rig. The pop up sun shade, whilst being useless, gave the James Bond feeling when cruising down the highway.

We settled on the Ateva, whilst missing the sun shade, leather, sat nav and sunroof, it keeps the much needed climate control, cruise and rear camera to make things easier when driving around town.

Although, at $46k, an FJ Cruiser was tempting but I would have taken a Hot Hatch Corolla if Toyota would hurry up and bring back the similar spec, Toyota Corolla Sportivo of the past, possibly turbing it under the TRD banner.