I spent a fabulous week in Adelaide & Kangaroo Island. The video (sorry, 38 MB!) shows my first attempt to use a snowboard on sand in the sand dunes of Little Sahara on Kangaroo Island - have fun and leave a comment if you like it :)
I also posted some photos on photos.subpersonic.net
More details to follow face-to-face. Btw: I will be in Austria from the 21st Dec. to 14 Jan. I think, looking forward to going home & cu all again
The season for the Victorian state league is over for my team. We had a terrific game yesterday, which we unfortunately lost in the 5th set (19-21). Maybe it was my best game ever, it was just fantastic.
Now a new team is being formed to play in the Australian league. This team will travel to Sydney and Canberra to play against other teams from all over Australia. I joined the training today and it was just great (the coach used to play in the Chinese national team, it's just unbelievable). Anywho, they are still looking for players who are committed to spend a lot of time and money to play and I have to reach a decision until tomorrow. Hmm, would be a wonderful challenge, just to train and travel, but time and money are biiiiggg issues, hmm....
I had a great birthday yesterday. thanks for all the text messages, mails, gifts, calls... and the time you devoted to me (and sorry to those where I haven't had time to reply yet :)
I'm about the leave the office and will fly up to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland tomorrow morning - my first holiday in Australia - yipieeehhh!
I've started gym training last week. It's related to my research but also out of personal interest to become better in volleyball (my goal is to jump higher than Mika, my 2.05cm tall colleague :). It's much more fun than I thought (thanks to my trainer Peter), but it's also far more difficult than I had assumed.
Anyway, my colleagues suggested that I should use myself as a case study and take a picture each day to track the progress. Not sure if that's a good idea :)
Does this movie title ring a bell? The original title of the film is "Für immer nie am Meer". It's an Austrian movie by two of my favourite comedians, namely Stermann & Grissemann. (the trailer is on youtube)
I almost couldn't believe it, but I found this film in the program of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). The film was shown last Friday and the huge cinema was almost sold out. I didn't have high expectations, but I thought it could be nice to get some kind of experience from at home, listen to Austrian dialect, music and jokes. And the film didn't disappoint me. It felt almost like sitting in a comedy program by Stermann & Grissemann. I enjoyed it a lot and I think my two German-speaking colleagues who joined me might also had a good experience. But I'm not so sure if the subtitles in the film provided the same experience (I'm not even sure if it was the same for non-Austrians). Anyway, there must have been a few more Austrians in the audience, because a couple of people also laughed with me during the jokes that definitely only Austrians could get (or consider funny).
To sum up, I had a good Austrian experience here in Melbourne, and I think I can recommend the movie, at least to FM4 and/or Stermann & Grissemann fans.
It's holiday time and this means guests for me in Melbourne. I had a wonderful weekend with a guest from Brisbane two weeks ago :) This weekend a friend from Austria, whom I haven't seen for years, is here in Melbourne. Finally next weekend my mum and her friend (the mum of one of my best friends) will come to Melbourne. That's fantastic, I enjoy it when I can present my new hometown to guests from all over the world, especially with people with whom I spent great times in Austria.
I just finished my last major update again on my PhD Research website (at least I hope so) - thanks in advance for any constructive feedback :)
As so often software systems grow or change like cities - largely unplanned. I started with some ideas on paper, but in the end I played a little bit with photoshop, dreamweaver and blogger and changed the website architecture & design.
The main reasons for the change were, (1) that I wanted to separate the private and research/studies area so that when someone googles me for my research (if that ever should happen :) he or she is not immediately forwarded to the private blog. (2) I wanted to get rid of the frameset and simplify maintenance and (3) I needed distraction from studying :)
It is still a beta version (I'm still looking for better pictures), but i hope you like it. However I would appreciate critical & constructive feedback, thanks!
Have a good weekend!
I plan to update my website and I started with a first draft of my future research/studies website on http://web.dis.unimelb.edu.au/Pgrad/berndp/
It's just a quick draft and I have not yet startet with a real design (it's definitely not very accessible yet), but any constructive feedback for that draft is welcome.
What are Aussies doing on Sunday afternoons - BBQs, right. I've been to BBQs the last two weekends and I learned that it is the best way to spend the Sunday afternoon when you have a slight hang-over. Just relax in the sun, have a beer and enjoy the food.
For those who seek relaxed activity I can recomment lawnball. I haven't heard of it before, but it can be easily described. It is similar to boccia: Everyone has a ball and the goal is to come closest to a ball in a distance. However instead of throwing the ball, you roll it on the lawn. Sounds simple so far, but the trick is that the ball has different weights on each side. Thus it makes a curve when it rolls. The main challenge thus is to estimate the distance and the curve it makes.
I hope I didn't confuse you with my description. You can see some pictures taken by Tom, a volleyball colleague, and his friends at his birthday party last weekend.
PS: I forgot to mention that similar to Boccia, it is mainly played by elderly. However I can't understand why, because it's really cool.
I justed wanted to show a friend that Rafiki stands on the desktop in my apartment. Hopefully he helps me to find my way here in Melbourne, like so many friends who helped me to make it to where I am now. In this way this picture stands for a big THANKS to all of you who encouraged me, actively helped me with my application and supported me with this move. I couldn't have done it without you.
I've been to the volleyball training of the Renegades yesterday. After my degradation to team 2 on Monday I was allowed to join the Honours team yesterday so that the coach could watch me. It was a good training and I learned some new offenses: First a short and a long (variations of a 1) and furthermore a 21, which was totally new for me. The basic idea of a 21 is to run for a 2 (which is signalled as a 4 in Feldbach and as a 3 in Salzburg, the numbers are different everywhere), and then make a fast step aside to a 1 and hit the ball. The intention is to confuse the block on the other side, however I think trying the 21 confused me even more :) Nevertheless it's good to learn new things, though my biggest challenge at the volleyball trainings is to understand the coach and the other players - c'est la vie.
Finally after 2 weeks extra holidays in Auersbach I arrived in Melbourne. What can I say so far about my new home: the weather is fantastic, the people are sooooooooo friendly and helpful, the flat is more than just ok, and the uni seems to be amazing. Nevertheless I miss Austria a little, but I think that's normal. Look forward to meeting new friends and commencing with my studies. First I have to get some basic items for my flat, like linen, pillows, dishes, ..., suncream (very important! :) ...
I'm overwhelmed by all the impressions (and the tons of information brochures I got from uni, housing, ... ;-). It feels great to be here.
