Definition

Kev (abr. Kevin)
name
Irish, Gaelic orgin. Caoimhin.
1. adorable. 2. gentle one

Walkabout (walk-a-bout)
noun
1 (in Oz) - a walk in the Outback by Aborigines that lasts for an indefinite amount of time. 2 (chiefly British) - an informal stroll among a crowd conducted by an important visitor e.g. a monarch. 3 a walking trip.

Wednesday 31 October 2007

Vids from the Great Walkabout

Well, below are some of the vids that were taken while at the last resting stop/village, as well as after finishing the Great Walkabout! Pretty much super tired after the whole journey..haha.. but still gotta capture our 'alibi'! Enjoy the vids!


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Nearly 30km walk in 7.5hrs

It was certainly a long and tiring walk! Yesterday (28th Oct) was the day of the ‘7 bridges walk’ walk event, where it was sort of a charity event cum promotion for healthy living through walking. And oh gosh, walk we certainly did – a whooping 28km walk around the Sydney harbor region and its neighboring suburbs. And coupled with the cursed up-hills that were ever so steep and down slopes, I would have easily walk about 30km! And why did I want to put myself in such a torturous situation?

Part fun and part greed. Yup, you read correctly. Probably to attract people to take part and donate, the organizers had given out vouchers that allow one-for-one entry to the Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Wildlife World, and Sydney Tower. Meaning that 2 adults can tour all these places of interest with the price of one! Whoo hoo! That is simply great… my eyes literarily lit up! Haha… well, because my dearly Limin will be visiting me this Jan 08, and thus with those vouchers, it meant that I can save up quite a lot on all these entrance fees! Mind you, each adult ticket to each of this places of interests can easily hit at least AUD$25! And if we tour all the 3 places, it would mean a savings of about $75! Yup, I’m cheapskate. I had seriously wanted to donate $10 or so at the end of my walk, at the very last station. But, somehow I just forgot about it when I’m at the finishing line! Guess I was simply too happy to finish it, as well as too disappointed with the ‘finishing line’ to remember… argh… don’t feel too good taking all these freebies and not giving some back…

Anyway, I met up with Cat and the NYP gals in Circular Quay, and had breakfast at MacDonald’s – my first MacDonald’s breakfast in the Land of Oz… Nothing spectacularly different between those in Sydney and Singapore. We started off our exodus to the land of foodless at 5 minutes to 9am, after collecting more event passbook (with more vouchers!). And so we started off at the Rocks, and headed towards Pyrmont Bridge as our first bridge of the day. Pretty easy walk still, passing by the Fish market and towards the Darling harbor where Pyrmont Bridge is. Took a photo and get our event passbook stamped, and off we go to our second bridge – ANZAC Bridge.

Thereafter we crossed the Iron Cove Bridge, Glasdesville Bridge, Tarban Creek Bridge, and Fig Tree Bridge during the first half of the journey. I must say, the views from some of these bridges are excellent. Not really those out-of-the-world types of scenery, but still it would look exceptionally good on a post card. Anyway, fatigue and pain were starting to kick in for some of the gals by the 3rd to 4th bridge, but for me, I was still feeling alright. Aching from my foot is definite, but nothing too serious that I could’t bear or hindered my progress. But what I absolutely hate is the steep up hills and down slopes that is so frequent throughout the last 2/3 of the journey! Argh...

We had wanted to have our lunch somewhere in Hunters Hill – before Fig Tree Bridge, but we didn’t find any restaurants along the way! Yes, lots of residential area in the suburbs, but no eateries etc. These residents must be filthy rich and drive to city have their meals etc or they just simply cook at home and not eat out, therefore no need of having restaurants around! Land of the foodless! And so, we have to resort to eating the chocolates and biscuits that the gals brought, in the station/village in Lane Cove that is after the Fig Tree Bridge. Bought an ice cream as well, and for a freaking $3.10! Oh well, the weather was hot and ice creams were just the right thing to have!

Continued our journey again at around 2.15pm, and the journey was really killing with up-hills and fatigue at this later stage. Coupled with the need to constantly wave off the relentless flies that keep buzzing around you and landing on your face whenever they can, this last 2 hours of the 7 bridges walk was the toughest. And at long last, after a grueling 7.5hours since the start of our journey, we managed to reach our final bridge and destination – Sydney Harbor Bridge. This would be the second time I cross this bridge, the first being the Sydney Harbor Bridge 75th anniversary celebration where I got to walk on the road of the bridge itself. This time round though, the road weren’t closed, and thus we use the pedestrian walkway by the side of the road instead.

Anyway, the ending was rather disappointing. We got off the Sydney Harbor Bridge at somewhere near Argyle Street, to get our last stamp of the journey. And, well, after a long and tough walk I was expecting some fun, some carnival of some sort or something like that to mark the end of nearly 30km walk. But little did I expect all that greeted me was just a couple of guys seating under a huge umbrella stamping my event passport, and that’s it! No cheers for completing, no carnival, nothing fun – what a let down! And it’s so pathetic that I have to print off my cert of completion online as well. I would have felt better if they would have a ready-made piece of cert, and just write my name on it on the spot and gave it to me!

Haiz… anyway, luckily the dinner was not bad, which kinda make up for the disappointment. As the event passbook came along with a free side dish voucher for Wagamama, we decided to head to Wagamama for our dinner. I ordered a Teriyaki Steak Soba, Shikoku island ice tea, and 2 scoops of ice cream, all for $27.40 in total. The soba was nice, a little salty but is still delicious overall. My only complain on it is that the portion is too small – kinda only half full after finishing it. My Shikoku island ice tea was really very nice and refreshing – absolute vodka splashed with ginger ale and lemon iced tea. Probably the best drink in the house! LOL… Had black sesame and lychee ice cream – yum yum… Overall, it’s a nice meal over at Wagamama with nice restaurant layout etc. A piece of advice though if you decided to visit Wagamama, do not go in the afternoon! That is because that the Wagamama restaurant is a semi-open concept style of restaurant, where there is no wall on the side of the restaurant that is facing the darling harbor. And this is the side that faces the west, which means that the afternoon and setting sun is going shine straight into the restaurant and at you! Therefore, it kinda makes eating in the restaurant and attempting to look out to the nice darling harbor view in the afternoon kinda hard on the eyes. But nonetheless, it’s a restaurant that I would definitely consider going back again!

And after our dinner, we went over to Cockle Bay to grab a seat, chit chat, and enjoy the night view of the Darling Harbor for me, and finally end the long day about an hour later… We went over to Chinatown, wanting to grab the famous pie from Harry de Wheel but it was closing when we got there.. argh… oh well, just have to get it again some other time…

Overall, a fun and eventful day!! =) And oh, do check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/tummybear/sets/72157602761163803 for more pictures of the 7 bridges walk!

Monday 29 October 2007

Magic loans

Magic Loans has just launched its new website lately. As the name suggested, it provide services or rather secured home loans to people. What I like about the website are its colour scheme of the webby, and the fact that it has detailed explanations of what each loan the company is providing on the website. And furthermore, there is a loan calculator as well, thereby enables you to calculate your sums with ease.

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Finally PR of 4!

Wow... got quite a shock a few mintues ago when I went over to my blog! I saw that my blog has a PR rank of 4! I was like 'huh!?'. I couldn't believe my eyes! There are a few instances where the PR rank of my blog increased, but when I refreshed my blog, it reverted back to N/A for PR. So, I thought this must have been another of those instances. But look and behold, it still remains as PR of 4! Oh man! I'm so happy! haha... Thx to all the other blogger who have linked to me one way or the other. With this PR rank of 4, I'll be able to do more PPP opps, and earn more money! Yeah! And thx again to all!!

Friday 26 October 2007

Pro360.com

Casino - a place where only the rich can go? Probably so when the Integrated Resort is up and running in Singapore, where you have to pay a hefty sum of entrance fees. Or simply feeling bored at home, and don’t wish to go all the way to the Casino which is super far away? Well, now you can bet online, in online casino. At pro360.com, a online casino review website where you can search through the hundreds of online casino and see which suits you most. There are online casino games such as online poker, slots and roulette – basically a lot of casino games which should almost suit everyone’s need.
But that being said, though having a game or two to win some cash is enticing, but please be responsible when playing in such online casino website! Know when to stop, and do not have the mentality that you can always win all those back with just a game! Truth is, you will lose almost all the time! It is responsible gambling that makes it fun and safe! It is only when people have a sense of responsibility where even the most dire game / activities can be fun and rewarding!

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A breather finally

Finally able to get some breather after a busy week or so... But this is going to be a short lived break! Besides the usual rushing of my experimental work to clear as much as possible before I go back to Singapore in about 2 and a half months time,I had to go for this 2 half-days radiation safety course. But, lets digress a bit, and wow!!! only 2 and a half more months to go! Time sure past by very quickly - I've been in Oz for 8 months! And that is like almost a third of my PhD candidature gone. So fast... so many things to do... so little time...

Anyway, back to the radiation safety course on the 17th and 18th Oct. Yup, there are plans for me to handle radioactive materials for my experiments next year, so gotta know how to handle this hazardous stuffs correctly and safely. Else I'll be the 'radioactive man' in the NBC series HEROES. So I went over to the Library building to attend the course. And, phew! As the room is on the 12th floor, the scenery from the life lobby of 12th floor is simply gorgeous! Never knew that there is such a place to look at the whole lower campus of the university! Not only that, one can see the Randwick racecourse and the skyline of the Sydney city from the lobby! Wow... I don't mind working in such environment, overlooking my dominions! haha


Besides the course, I had also been very busy lately with my annual PhD presentation. Argh... it's going to be on the 7th Nov, but because that my rehearsal/trial presentation falls on the lab meeting day which is on 25th Oct, that means that I have to finish everything, and practice on my own at home before the 25th! Well, I'm someone who isn't very articulated, especially when it comes to oral presentation. So, I need to write a script of what I intend to say in the presentation, and just follow the script and memorize as much as possible. So,... been really busy - amending my slides at the last minute of the practice presentation, rushing to write the script but ended up never finishing it. 'Cos there isn't just enough time to finish the script and practice on my own before the practice run. But, times still turned out ok during the practice. Was quite comfortable at the front of the presentation, as that was the part I had the script written and practiced beforehand. But towards the later part, I guess my nervousness starts to show, and wasn't that confident, and started to fumble abit with what I'm trying to say... argh... practice makes perfect... luckily there is still like about a week to go till 7th Nov. But, one thing - some of the staffs were pretty surprised that I did so much things in this 8 months that I was here! Haha.. that was really a comment that I never expected to hear. A lot?! Nah.. I was still thinking along the line of not doing enough! Oh well... as often said by Ju Yoo Rin in the kdrama'My Girl'- aja aja fighting!

=D yup... I'm hooked on kdrama lately! Haha.. yes yes yes, I'm always half a beat slower than others. When folks were crazy about kdrama I was like 'eh? nice to watch meh? no lar. see how'. And after many beats later, then I start to catch on the craze.. haha.. So, I was after the show 'My Girl' lately, which is a very nice sorta romantic comedy. Highly recommended it, unlike the winter sonata type which I absolutely hate. Quite sad now, cos I've finished with the show.So... just gotta find new kdrama to watch... and I think I will give 'Goong - princess hours' a try.

Tuesday 16 October 2007

The power of pointing = powerpoint

It must have ages since I last updated my blog. Let me see..hmm.. last update was like 8th Oct... which is like exactly a week ago!! Busy has been the word, and stress is what I'm starting to feel. Busy as I'm still trying my best to speed up my work, so that I can go back to Singapore in Jan-Feb in peace. And now there is only like 2 months and 3 weeks left! Haiz... have a feeling that things are definitely not going as planned, and I'm going to have loads of backlog when I come back in late Feb next year. And stress, 'cos my progressive annual review for my PhD is coming up btw 7-9 Nov. Argh.... stress. Have to have my work thus far reviewed by a panel of 3 reviewers, as well as giving a presentation to the reviewers, as well as the lecturers and PhD students in the whole department! Stress with my powerpoint slides now... The power of pointing - the powerpoint! And I will have to give a mock presentation to the lab staffs in two weeks time as well... so many things to do, and yet, my eyesight has failed me. An oversight rather. Never cross my mind that the Rosette strain requires chloramphenicol for selection, besides ampicillin for my own recombinant plasmid. Argh... so grew my cultures on ampicillin only. Though I spent one whole day harvesting the cells, couldn't really use them. =( Hopefully my bacteria glycerol stock has can grow in both ampicillin and chloramphenicol, else I will need to do the whole transformation again! Argh... why? why is it that when you think nothing much can go wrong, and murphy's law have to kick in!?? Numb, Numbed, Numbdened!

Wednesday 10 October 2007

Monday 8 October 2007

Carguygarage.com

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In lab in the wee hours

Now is 1.15am Aussie time. And here I am still in this lab, doing my work - running a SDS-PAGE to be exact. Hmmm.. seems as though it would take another 1.5hours before I can go home. Well, hopefully I will be able to finish it and go home before 3am! Actually, I did came in to the lab earlier today, or I should say yesterday, in the afternoon. Did my experiments till around 8pm. But.... haiz.. I thought everything would go well, which I should have known better then to expect something good in an experiment! Anyway, I ran my soluble fractions for my protein expression in SDS-PAGE earlier on... but I didn't see any protein being over expressed at all! Argh... And so, after I reached home, and had my KFC dinner... I can't help but to ponder over it again and again... why? Is there protein expression? Is the protein in the insoluble fraction?! argh... I'm those kinda ppl that can think about some failed experiment throughout the day and night - I simply can't stop until I find out why. And so, here I am... came to lab again at 11.30pm to work on the problem, to troubleshoot it... hopefully the protein is in the insoluble fraction... haiz.. I shouldn't have any hope... no hope no disappointment... no hope, maybe good results will follow... no hope... don't hope...

Saturday 6 October 2007

Responsible gambling

Well… I always enjoy a game or two of cards etc when it comes to festive season such as Chinese New Year. And especially when it comes to events such as World Cup that is held every four years, betting on my favorite team is sort of one to support my team and hopefully to get some cash in returns too! LOL…

According to bet365.com, they provide a range of online betting services through their online casino, sports betting facility such as soccer betting, interactive games sections as well as a dedicated online poker playing area. Furthermore, they provide a wallet system so that one can enjoy benefits from a wide range of services all in a single account! Of course, security is most important when it comes to money, and thus they have a secure online environment as well.

Enough said, though having a game or two to win some cash is enticing, but responsible gambling is what makes it fun and safe! Meaning that, set a baseline and spend only what is ‘extra’ and never ever use money that is set aside for daily livings etc for such gambling activities! It is only when people have a sense of responsibility where even the most dire game / activities can be fun and rewarding!

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Friday 5 October 2007

My shirt has arrived!

Yeah! Finally the shirt I ordered online has arrived today! I had previously order a shirt online last Wed (26 sep 07) from Jorge Cham's PhDcomics webby - a charcoal-coloured shirt that wasn't my first choice. But since the first choice that I wanted has already sold out, and that I find this current shirt that I bought is not that bad either, I decided to purchase this. Costed me US$17.50, and including the US$8.65 USPS first class international shipping fees, that amounts to a total of US$26.15! Wow... An expensive shirt huh! I guess partly it's because that the shirt is made of pure cotton as well. Anyway, since I use the money I earned from Payperpost to pay for this shirt, my heart isn't aching at all! =) Am going to wear that to school tomorrow!

Anyway, while I was home over the past weekend and public holiday Monday, there was this bird that likes to frequent my window ledge. As my desk/room is behind a curtain, the bird didn't see that I was actually watching it! Else I think it would have flew away. But, the bird was kinda noisy sometimes... happily chipping away... argh... maybe I should record down its voice, and play it back to the bird and see its response! Hahaha...

Well, here's a picture of the bird, and a picture of my desk (nothing better to do, so take a pic of my desk! Hahaha)


Thursday 4 October 2007

Coupons chief

It’s already October, and soon Halloween will come, follow by Thanksgiving and Christmas! It’s truly a season to be jolly, and enjoyment! And it’s also a season of presents! Now what present would be a good one? Hmm… the fact that I can get great Travelocity deals from Coupon Chief, a well deserved holiday with Travelocity will be a good idea! And now since everyone of use has a present, how can we left out the cute little doggy in the house? Haha.. to get this dog a present is simple enough – just get her some food PetFoodDirect since she loves to eat! Furthermore, PetFoodDirect coupons are available from CouponChief.com as well. This sure is going to be a joyful season for all!

Tuesday 2 October 2007

Get rich quick?! for real??

Happened to come across this webby http://www.123easybiz.com/ while blog surfing etc... and hmmm... it is actually based on the Ultimate Wealth Package program that I had came across several times... hmmm... am quite tempted to try it out since I only need to pay $50, and I can do it using the money I earned from PPP. After all, those money from PPP are actually 'extra' money since even if I lost it to the scam it should be quite alright? Hmmm... has anyone actually try it before?

Maybe I'll try it and blog about it to tell people if this is really true! But $50 might be too much also... hmm... anyone wanna take the plunge and share with me to invest in this? We'll split the profits if it is really what it claim to be, else at least wouldn't lost too much money!!

-------------------updates--------------------------

My dear went to help to research on this Ultimate Wealth Program thingy... and apparent it aren't as good as what it claim. People have bought the program, only to find out that they need to folk out more money to invest in Google adwords. Check out this webby for more info http://www.affhelper.com/opinions/ultimate-wealth-package.html Hope this helps to deter people from falling prey to this scam! Thanks dear!

Monday 1 October 2007

Forced to take a break

Well, finally I'm forced to take a break after weeks of work without a single day of break. As my primers and reagents aren't here yet, that would mean that I can't do any work at all. So, I spent Sunday and Monday at home - Sunday being a weekend and Monday being Labor's Day in New South Wales/Australia. Hmmm... while I was busy with my work, I always long for a break in between. But now that I have a break finally, I feel bored, listless, nothing to do, just feel that my life is rotting away! Or maybe as people always say, which I believe since I have absolutely no luck in 4D or toto etc, that I have a 劳路命- just gotta work and work and work non-stop. But, maybe as what Cat had said, as long as we have luck in our line of work good enough. Might be quite true, but then if I have the luck to win like a million or two in toto, then I can just quit everything, sit back, and relax for the rest of my life!

Anyway, here are some of the video that I took during my Canberra trip.


HotelReservations.com

Travel, one of my favorite but the most expensive hobby! But lately I realized that it might not be entirely so. There are numerous online travel website that allows one to book online, bypassing agents/middle man etc, and one get to choose from a whole array of travel services available. Indeed, I’m planning to go over to Cairns come this end of the year, and I should start researching on where to go, cheap hotels to stay etc.

Did a quick search on ‘Cairns’ in HotelReservations.com and out came a whole list of hotels and accommodations for vacation rentals as well! It’s good though that they have vacation rentals, as it is definitely more worth it to rent a whole place than to stay in hotel if one is intending to stay in a place long and with a large group! What’s more, these are internet rates, which mean you get the accommodation at a cheaper rate, up to 70% discount on normal rates!

They also provide a maximum of $100 rebate for booking accommodations with them as well. However, I personally think that it will very troublesome to claim this $100 rebate. Because I would still need to fill out the rebate form and mail it over to the US! And to get $100 rebate I would need to book 12 nights! Else for a normal 3 to 5 days booking, there will only be a rebate of $20-30; definitely not worth the effort to fill up the forms and send it over. But if one is from the US, I guess one would stand to gain!

Besides cheap hotels and vacation rentals, the Hotel Reservation website also offers flight bookings and car rental as well. But I think their rates for flights can be better improved. Nonetheless, Hotelreservations.com would certainly be one of the websites I’ll be looking through when I’m deciding for my accommodations in Cairns!

This post is proudly brought to you by HotelReservations.com


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