Casey Stoner Retiring

As many of you may already know, I love motorcycles. 

I love riding them alone, riding with mates, watching them live and on TV & talking to my mates about them.

On May 17 2012, Casey Stoner announced to the world he was retiring from MotoGP.

At first I thought he was completely mad. Born in 1985, he's still a pup.

Over the next couple of days, I have come to realise, through many different sources, that he's been racing since he was 12 years old and that its become nothing more than a job to him.

He is one of the the very few fortunate people in the world to make a living from something he loves to do.

This isn't the last you'll see of Casey, but on behalf of all of us us Motorcycle fanatics out there, thanks for putting on a great show mate.

Harley X

Facebook...Friend Request

So, I log into my Facebook account on Thursday night and I have a Friend Request waiting for me.

Excellent!

Low and behold, my Mother has moved into the new millennium & has sent me a Facebook Friend Request.

Its great that she's moving with the times somewhat, but its a little confronting having her seeing everything I post.

Lets see how this plays out...

My Next Book: The Quiet American..

So, I have finally finished reading my last Kindle book, which was only 230 pages, but took 6 weeks to accomplish.

Sometimes I have the attention span of a gnat. Especially when reading on the train, to & from work.

It was a good book. Riding Man by Mark Gardiner.

If you are into motorcycles, motorcycle racing & the famous or infamous, Isle of Man TT, you'll enjoy it. 

If you are not into motorcycles, you may find it as boring as bat shit....

Anyway, I digress. 

The latest book I have downloaded is "The Quiet American"

I'm really looking forward to it

Blogger - Next Blog is SHITE!

Why is it that when ever I update my blog, & I hit the "Next Blog" function at the top of the screen, it ALWAYS leads me to religious blogs?

Is this coincidence?? I think not....

Time to move onto Tumblr???

Being Mildy Drunk does help you think!!!

I always spoke highly of having a beer to get the creative & strategic juices flowing...

http://bit.ly/KObI5P


Thanks University of Illinois...

Cultural Food Shift.....

Its probably been obvious to a lot of people out there, but there has been, or there still is, a shift in what we are eating based on our ethnicity.

This is NOT a generalisation, just a random observation.

For example, I went down to the local Food Court near my work today for lunch.

It consists of most the major Fast Food joints, (McDonalds, KFC, Oportos, Nandos, & Starbucks) and the usual sprinkling of Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Turkish and Sandwich places.

I was in the mood for a Kebab today, so I grabbed one (extra chili), sat down and looked around at the hoard of eaters surrounding me.

What struck me, was the number of people of Asian descent eating McDonalds & KFC, and the majority of diners of an Anglo Saxon background (because you can't say "white" these days....sigh) eating predominantly Sushi, Thai, or Pho.

This isn't the first time I have witnessed this, but it really looked so obvious today.

What has happened? How & why did this occur?

Is it because Asians tends to generally eat Asian food at home, & prefer to eat something different when out?

Is it a generation thing? The younger Asian adolescents are generally bigger, taller, wider than their parents. Is the Western Diet a contributor to this fact?

And for the masses with an Anglo blood line. Is the move to more Asian foods (East, South East & South) in their daily diet, consistent with the fact that as a whole, Asian Food is believed to be more healthy and nutritious.

I'm not sure on how or why this has all occurred, but I am sure that the topic will create much debate...

Reality Check.....

So my bus to the train station was late this morning, so that didnt start my day well.

I got to the station & found the trains were all running late, so this annoyed me even further.

I checked Twitter via my phone whilst waiting for the train, and come across this tweet courtesy of TIME ..

http:/ti.me/JAIxqr

I want to give myself an uppercut.

Sometimes we need to step back & take stock of what we have, & how some people are more fortunate than others... 

EXPEDIA Ripoff...I want my money now!!!!

As you may know from my earlier blogs, my Holiday to Fiji was cancelled due to the Cyclone & flooding the country experienced in early April 2012.

I called my Travel Insurance provider and spoke with a very pleasant young girl, who provided me all the information & documentation I needed to complete in order to have my travel expenditure reimbursed.

I completed all the forms, along with submitting my American Express statements and all the other receipts to confirm what I have spent on flights, accommodation, & day tours.

A couple of days later, I received a call from the Case Manager of the Travel Insurance provider to inform me they are going to refund most of the amount (minus the claim excess & government charges - taxes). Very proficient!

She then went onto inform me that the government charges (taxes) on the flight, need to be refunded by Expedia (the travel company I went with). She said that it was compulsory by law to have them refunded, but EXPEDIA are notorious for not informing you that they are indeed to be refunded, and that it takes them up to 10 weeks for them to do so (if you catch on), and you pretty much have to hound them on a weekly basis to do so.

So for the next 2.5 months, I have resolved myself to the fact that I have to call these idiots on a regular basis, demand they give me what is owing & to tell them to stop ripping off the the traveling public!


Lesson for young players: Online Travel Agents may appear to be cheaper upfront, but if you dig a little deeper, do the research & check online forums, you may find it could cost you a lot more, especially if an issue ever arises and you need to deal with them one on one.

Will Microblogging take over email?

Interesting story from www.smh.com.au what the merits of microblogging at a company can be & whether it will take over email as a standard communications piece.

http://bit.ly/IB5ZUd

Personally I don't believe microblogging had the maturity model set to take over email, but what do I know?

As always, I invite your comments...

Chicken Fried Steak

This Saturday, I'm attempting to make my first Chicken Fried Steak!!

We don't call it Chicken Fried Steak in Australia, we just call it "Crumbed Steak", and either nobody eats it, or they have never heard of it.

I had it on a trip to L.A many years ago, & I'm very keen to perfect it with my own version, which is not unlike an original recipe, just adding some more zing to it through some Habanero Pepper...

I'm keen to hear from people with their own versions of this...