New Phone
The Sony Ericsson flip phone I have had for a while has been causing me some grief lately, so I have decided an upgrade is in order. However, after extensive research I failed to find an appropriate phone in the current market. Why? I:
- Do not want an iPhone or other-touch only phone;
- Do not want a blackberry-style keyboard but do want a QWERTY keyboard (flip out);
- Want a phone that runs Android - 2.2 has just come out and looks very good.
So after failing to find a phone that meets all of those requirements (the closest were the HTC Dream; the Motorola Milestone aka Droid; Motorola Backflip; and the SE X10 Mini), I did some rumour searching and discovered that
- HTC are planning to release a Desire-style phone called the 'Vision' with a fold-out QWERTY keyboard (Desire is, in my opinion, the best touch-screen phone on the market right now).
- Motorola are releasing two new phones potentially in July, possibly the Droid 2 (fold-out QWERTY) and a Desire-style touch-only phone called the Shadow.
As I'm off to Africa in two weeks and the fact that it is far cheaper to order phones from the UK (as long as the $A holds up) than buying them locally, I have decided to wait until I get back in early July to re-evaluate the market. Hopefully the above two phones have been released and my decision will be relatively straightforward (new HTC qwerty-touch vs. Motorola qwerty-touch)!
South Africa 2010 Shirts
So after a week of concept and discussions, the final designs for the South African World Cup 2010 Drinking Team are complete! Two examples are below, from the Australian Team:
Potential copyright infringements aside, they look pretty damn good if I don't say so myself!
Mobile Phone Caps
I recently signed up to a new mobile carrier, LiveConnected. After doing a significant amount of research, they were - by a long way - the best value for money. They run on the Optus network, so let me quickly compare their $23.99 (reduced to $20.00 if you agree to have SMS advertising sent a few times a day) cap with Optus's $29 cap (I would compare it to the $19 one but it just blows it away).
Live Connected Apollo 20
- No Contract
- $300 credit
- 1,000 free Optus-Optus minutes after 8pm
- 300Mb of Data (excess charged at 44c/Mb)
- 80c/Minute voice and video call rate
- 35c Flagfall
- 25c National SMS
- 35c International SMS
- 50c National MMS
- Standard call charge for voicemail (free deposit)
Optus 'yes' 29 Cap BYO Plan
- 12 Month Contract
- $150 credit (+$150 if you sign up for 12 months with your own phone)
- $160 Optus to Optus credit
- No included data
- 82c/Minute voice call rate
- 35c Flagfall
- 25c National SMS & MMS
- 50c International SMS
- 75c International MMS
- $1/Minute video call rate (+standard flagfall)
- $1.50/Minute international video call rate (+standard flagfall)
- 30c/30sec charge for voicemail (free deposit)
I don't know about you but for less money the LiveConnected one looks like better value (and no contract!!). Lets just hope that it isn't 'too good' and that they can stay in business for a long time to come! And no, I don't work for LiveConnected and I'm not being paid or receiving any benefits for posting this here. I just want other people to enjoy the great value that I currently am (more competition in the mobile industry never hurts)!
Best Credit/Debit Card?
Always on the lookout for a bargain and wary of my past experiences with travellers cheques, debit cards and exchange rates, I decided to for once prepare myself for my upcoming adventure and do some research into the best credit or debit card for travelling around Europe. Here are the results:
Wizard Clear Advantage Mastercard
Available here, the Wizard Clear Advantage Mastercard was the card I was almost about to sign up for - unlimited overseas transactions and ATM withdrawals for free, no monthly or annual fee, as well as some other nice perks. The only problem I found was that Wizard was recently taken over by Aussie (they used to be owned completely by GE Money) and since the takeover their terms and promotion of the free overseas transactions has "gone missing" - something that used to be a big selling point for them. That, combined with several unconfirmed reports of issues (Wizard blocking cards that have a positive balance; no insurance on any positive balance you have if you lose your card; and so on) made me continue looking. That and I never really wanted a credit card in the first place.
NAB Visa Debit Card - Gold Banking
When I stumbled upon this card (make sure you select the Gold Banking option) I thought there had to be some catch. As with the Wizard card they had no fees for overseas banking, great exchange rates and it's a debit not a credit card! It's also a Visa, which means I can keep my current Westpac debit Mastercard hidden away for emergencies and effectively have my bases covered. The only catch with this card is that there's a $10 monthly fee, quite a bit for Australia but when most Debit cards charge approx. 1.5% + $5.00 per ATM withdrawal, it's not such a bad deal. They will also waive the fee if you deposit $5,000 each month into the account and the balance is irrelevant, meaning you can transfer $5,000 in on one day and send it straight out the next and still pay nothing for your account. For the two months I'm travelling though, $10,000 is approximately my budget so there shouldn't be any issues. I'll simply cancel or downgrade the card when I return!
I hope this helps someone else who's frustrated with bank fees while travelling. In the meantime, I've yet to buy any insurance and I'm open to suggestions!
Travel Blog? Bugger that!
As everyone is aware - yes, I know no one reads this blog, so everyone (me), is aware - I was intending to use this space to blog as I travelled from country to country around Eastern Europe this July/August. However, over the past few days I've come to reconsider this idea: in fact, I've decided to scrap it entirely. Why, you might ask, have I decided to scrap my journal? A few reasons.
Reason One: Past experience has taught me that I just don't have the willpower to sit down for an hour every day and write about what I did, where I travelled, what I ate, who I saw and so on. I don't even have the willpower to write those things down in note form, let alone the desire to then transform them into some kind of coherant blog post.
Reason Two: My travels tend to be a bit...x-rated. When I say that I don't mean that I go around participating in satanic rituals, animal sacrifice or mass orgy's; but nonetheless, I would likely have to censor a lot. As everyone who knows me knows, I hate censorship. But, unfortuantely, when publishing for the "public domain", it's sometimes necessary - some things I think are perfectly normal, like pissing in the shower, a lot of people take offense to (yeh bad example). If my travel experience was going to be like something out of "Euro Trip" or "How I Met Your Mother" then I'd be perfectly happy to blog about it. However, in the real world nothing is that corny and Americanised (repeated spousing of words such as "awesome" and high fives left-right-and-center to go with the rest of the PC humour), so I'm not going to even try to lower myself to that level.
Reason Three: No one cares. Really, who cares? Anyone who actually gives a toss will just ask me when I get back and I'll be happy to give them a rundown.
Finally, rather than waste an hour every day jotting down what I did in a notebook then spending a considerable amount of time finding a LAN cafe, typing it all up, formatting it and publishing it, I can spend that time reading, sleeping, drinking or doing something more productive than blogging about the blur that was the night before, the most recent epic queue or the latest statue I saw. So with that covered, don't expect to see anything substantial posted in the "body" section of this blog while I'm travelling (I may post a summary when I return). However, please do remember to check the right side of this page often -- I'll be posting quick notes, or status updates to show I'm still alive, as well as my latest phone number so you can call me while I'm away (I decided global roaming was a pain in the backside I just didn't want!).
Adios!
120th Playlist Completed!
Huzzah! Two weekends of trawling the net for songs and I've finally finished!
I've attached the list below this post if anyone is interested. Let me know if you want a copy.
Total playtime is 14 hours, 8 minutes, 56.778 seconds.
Band |
Song |
| AC/DC | Highway to Hell |
| Aerosmith | One Way Street |
| Allman Brothers Band | Ramblin' Man |
| America | Ventura Highway/Sister Golden Hair |
| Andrews Sisters | Rum and Coca Cola |
| Animals | We gotta get out of this place |
| Astrud Gilberto | Girl from Ipanina |
| Atlantics | Bombora |
| Beach Boys | California Girls / Kockamo |
| Beatles | Please Please Me |
| Bee Gees | Staying Alive |
| The Drifters | Under the Boardwalk |
| The Big Bopper | Chantilly Lace |
| Bill Haley and the Comets | Rock Around the Clock |
| Bill Withers | Lovely Day |
| Billy Joel | Only the Good Die Young |
| Billy Ocean | When the Going gets Tough |
| Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs | Poison Ivy |
| Bob Dylan | Just Like a Woman |
| Bob Marley | No Woman no Cry |
| Bob Segar and the Silver Bullet Band | Against the Wind |
| Brian Hyland | Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini |
| Buddy Holly and the Crickets | Everyday |
| Buffalo Springfield | For What it's Worth |
| Byrds | Mr. Tambourine Man |
| Cat Stevens | Old Schoolyard |
| Charlie Daniels Band | Devil went Down to Georgia |
| Charlie Drake | My Boomerang Wont Come Back |
| Chicago | 25 or 6 to 4 |
| Chris de Burg | The Lady in Red |
| Chubby Checker | The Twist |
| Chuck Berry | Maybelene |
| Cold Chisel | Khe Sahn |
| Cowsills | Hair |
| Cream | White Room |
| Credence Clearwater Revival | Bad Moon A Risin |
| Crosby Stills and Nash | Ohio |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young | Woodstock |
| Crowded House | Weather with you |
| Daddy Cool | Eagle Rock; Daddy Cool |
| Dave Clark Five | Bits and Pieces |
| David Bowie | Ground Control to Major Tom |
| Dean Martin | Little Ole Wine Drinker, Me |
| Deltones | Get a Little Dirt on Your Hands |
| Derek and the Domino's | Layla |
| Dingoes | Way Out West |
| Dionne Warwick | Walk On By |
| Dire Straits | Sultans of Swing |
| Donovan | Mellow Yellow |
| Doobie Brothers | China Grove; Listen to the Music |
| Dr Hook | Only Sixteen |
| Dusty Springfield | I Only Want to be with You |
| E.L.O (Electric Light Orchestra) | It’s a Livin Thing |
| Eagles | Hotel California |
| Easy Beats | Friday on my Mind |
| Ella Fitzgerald | Mack the Knife |
| Elton John | Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting |
| Elvis | Jail House Rock; Blue Suede Shoes |
| Elvis Costello | Oliver's Army |
| Eric Bogle | And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda |
| Eric Burden and the Animals | We Gotta Get Outa This Place |
| Eric Clapton | Lay Down Sally |
| Eva Cassidy | Aint No Sunshine |
| Fess Parker | The Ballard of Davy Crockett |
| Fleetwood Mac | Don't Stop |
| Frank Sinatra | New York New York |
| Gene Pitney | Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa |
| Gene Vincent | Be Bop A Lula |
| George Harrison | Something |
| Gerry Rafferty | Baker Street |
| Graham Nash | Our House |
| Guns n Roses | Sweet Child of Mine |
| Hall and Oates | Private Eyes |
| Harry Belafonte | Island in the Sun |
| Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass | Tijuana Taxi |
| Hogy Carmichael | Georgia on my Mind |
| Hollies | Bus Stop |
| Ike and Tina Turner | River Deep Mountain High |
| Jackson Browne | Running on Empty |
| James Brown | I Got you (I feel good) |
| James Taylor | Fire and Rain |
| Jan and Dean | Surf City |
| Janice Joplin | Me and Bobby McGee/Mercedes Benz |
| Jeff Buckley | Hallelujah |
| Jefferson Starship | We Built This City on Rock and Roll |
| Gerry and the Pacemakers | I Like It |
| Jerry Lee Lewis | Great Balls of Fire; Whole Lot of Shakin Goin On |
| Jimi Hendrix | All Along the Watchtower; Hey Joe |
| Jimmy Cliff | The Harder they come (the harder they fall) |
| Jimmy Gilmore and the Fireballs | Sugar Shack |
| Joni Mitchell | Big Yellow Taxi |
| Joe Cocker | With a Little Help From My Friend |
| John Farnham | You're the Voice |
| John Lennon | Imagine |
| Kim Carnes | Bette Davis Eyes |
| Kingsmen | Louie Louie |
| Kingston Trio | Tom Dooley |
| Kinks | Waterloo Sunset |
| Larry Laprise | The Hokey Pokey |
| Led Zepplin | Stairway to Heaven |
| Leo Sayer | You Make Me Feel Like Dancing |
| Leonard Cohen | Bird On A Wire |
| Leslie Gore | Its My Party |
| Linda Ronstadt | Blue Bayou |
| Lionel Ritchie | Dance the Night Away |
| Little Pattie | He's My Blonde Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy |
| Little Richard | Good Golly Miss Molly, Tutti Fruiti, |
| Little River Band | Cool Change |
| Lonnie Donegan | My Old Man's a Dustman |
| Loudon Wainright III | Dead Skunk (in the middle of the road) |
| Louis Armstrong | What a Wonderful World |
| Loved Ones | Ever Lovin Man |
| Lovin' Spoonful | Summer in the City, Daydream |
| Madness | Our House |
| Mamas & The Papas | California Dreamin' |
| Maria Muldur | Midnight at the Oasis |
| Mark Knoffler | Local Hero |
| Mel Taylor | Monster Mash |
| Men at Work | Land Down Under/Who Can it Be |
| Midnight Oil | Beds are Burning |
| Mike Nesmith | Rio |
| Mike Oldfield | Moonlight Shadow |
| Monkees | Little Bit Me Little Bit You |
| Monkey Magic | Gandhara |
| Monty Python | Always Look on the Bright Side of Life |
| Morning of the Earth | Morning of the Earth; Open up your Heart |
| Murray Head | One Night in Bangkok |
| Nancy Sinatra | These Boots are Made for Walkin |
| Nat King Cole | Mona Lisa; Summer Breeze |
| Neil Diamond | Sweet Caroline |
| Neil Young | Cinnamon Girl |
| Nitty Gritty Dirt Band | Mr. Bojangles |
| Norman Greenbaum | Spirit in the Sky |
| Paul Evans | Seven Little Girls (sittin in the backseat) A Kissin and a Hugging With Fred |
| Paul McCartney | Band on the Run |
| Paul Revere & The Raiders | Kicks |
| Paul Simon | Mrs. Robinson |
| Peter, Paul and Mary | Puff the Magic Dragon |
| Petula Clark | Downtown |
| Phil Collins | This Must be Love |
| PJ Proby | Mission Bell |
| Platters | Smoke Gets in your Eyes |
| Police | Every Step You Take |
| Queen | Bohemian Rhapsody |
| Ray Charles | I Cant Stop Lovin You; Shake Your Tail Feathers |
| REM | The End of the World as we Know IT; Losing my Religion |
| Righteous Brothers | Unchained Melody |
| Roberta Flack | Killing me Softly |
| Rocky Horror Show | Timewarp |
| Rod Steward | Maggie May |
| Rolf Harris | The Court of King Karatakas |
| Rolling Stones | Ruby Tuesday; Little Red Rooster |
| Roy Orbison | Pretty Woman |
| Ry Cooder | Down in Hollywood |
| Sam Cooke | Wonderful World |
| Santana | Smooth; Black Magic Woman |
| Searchers | Love Potion Number Nine |
| Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 | Mas Que Nada |
| Shadows | Apache |
| Sheb Wooley | Purple People Eater |
| Shirley Bassey | Goldfinger |
| Simon and Garfunkle | Sounds of Silence |
| Simple Minds/Bouncing Souls | Don't You (Forget About Me) |
| Slim Dusty | Pub With No Beer; Duncan |
| South Pacific Movie | Bali Ha'i; Wash that Man Right Outa My Hair |
| Steelers Wheel | Stuck in the Middle with you |
| Steely Dan | Ricky Don’t Lose That Number; Reelin' in the Years |
| Stephen Stills | Carry On |
| Steve Miller Band | Abracadabra |
| Stevie Wonder | I Just Called to Say I Love You |
| Sting | Roxanne |
| Supertramp | Breakfast in America |
| Surfaris | Wipe Out; Surfer Joe |
| Suzanne Vega | Luka |
| Suzie Quarto | The Wild One |
| Talking Heads | Once in a Lifetime; Burning down the house |
| Tears for Fears | Mad World |
| The Honeycombs | Have I the Right |
| The Trashmen | Surfin' Bird |
| Them | Gloria |
| Thin Lizzy | Boys are back in town |
| Tina Turner | The Best |
| Tom Cochraine | Life is a Highway |
| Tom Jones | Delilah |
| Tom Petty | I Won't Back Down |
| Tommy Steele | Singing the Blues |
| Tornados | Telstar |
| Toto | Africa |
| Tracy Chapman | Talking About a Revolution |
| Travelling Wilburys | Handle Me With Care; End of the Line |
| Troggs | Wild Thing |
| Turtles | So Happy Together |
| UB 40 | Many Rivers to Cross |
| Van Morrison | Brown Eyed Girl |
| Ventures | Walk Don’t Run |
| Who | My Generation |
| Willy Nelson | Blue Skies |
| Wilson Pickett | Mustang Sally |
| Wings | Live and Let Die |
Looking Good!
The blog's starting to look pretty good...this is basically just a test post for what my posts when travelling around Europe will look like. I'll keep my current phone number updated (top right) depending on where I am and I'll also start my blog posts with something like this -- a picture of whatever country I'm in to the left!
Lets hope this works out..
Perth
In the meantime, feel free to send me a tweet. I'm not sure whether or not to include public tweets on the right side of this page.
Thoughts?
P.S. I'd better note that the site is under HEAVY CONSTRUCTION. A lot of stuff won't work! I'll let you know when it's functional.
Second Post
Just testing the archive system...
First Post!
I'll be using this page to blog while travelling around Europe later this year. I'll also keep my current mobile # posted here (I'll be buying local sim cards as I go).
Stay tuned for updates closer to the departure date -- July 2009!
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