now i can definetly say that i surfed a real nice wave!
beginners have to start with white water ( "onda ja rebentada") and i was doing that for the last 2 months..although some white waves then form again in a green wave but they are smaller...
but enough of that! last saturday there i was at the spit! the waves were around 2 feet that day ( 3feet=1 meter) and it was a good surfing day! it was not very crowded..about 20 guys there
but after a while she came...a nice 2 feet wave formed and i paddled as a crazy and hungry man! stand up and there i was! riding the ocean! hands on the water...feeling all the vibes and the speed of the board below me!
i gotta say..the feeling it's amazing! it's addictive in a good way! it doesnt matter if you are tired or not..in that moment you cant think of anything..just concentrating on the speed and trying to make the best of that wave!
when it's done..another will come!
p.s- sorry i dont have any pics..havent reached that level yet where the photographers will be at the beach waiting for it!
segunda-feira, 23 de janeiro de 2012
the beast
this is for you nerds out there!
every phd student is obligued to get a new pc ( sucks right?) so with a $2000 budget (sucks again right?) i had to choose something. the guys at the office told me that i am going to do alot of image processing i should get a big screen...so i did!
every phd student is obligued to get a new pc ( sucks right?) so with a $2000 budget (sucks again right?) i had to choose something. the guys at the office told me that i am going to do alot of image processing i should get a big screen...so i did!
segunda-feira, 16 de janeiro de 2012
the new car
sorry for not being updating the blog lately but not alot has been happening apart from work and a desperate attempt to find a car!
something maybe i should have started looking earlier but i just waited until after xmas...well i had enough..enough of having to ride 30min to the beach and standing in the water for 2 hours just to catch a wave..enough of riding to the supermarket and ride back with a heavy bag ( although putting stuff in perspective there are billions in the world that wouldnt mind to walk much more to buy much less...so i cannot really complain!! it is even unfair)
so for the last couple of weeks i've been checking car prices at gumtree (very well known 2nd hand website) or carsales..i was only looking for toyotas!corolas or camry..japonese cars have the advantage of lasting longer and are pretty reliable. initially i was interested in a corolla that a PhD student in my office is selling but he was asking for too much money..
last week i took my bike ( it is silly to try to find a car without driving one as i will explain later) to ferry street..that street is packed with dealers and i went there to have an idea of car prices and to test a few..only found one corolla and the dealer was asking for 6.990! after the test drive and some chat he reduced the price to 5800 plus registration and stamps but it was too expensive so i basically told him: " yeah iam very interested but i will have to call you later!" which really means.." yeah later mate"
during the week i used to check those websites daily and had some nice experiences...advertisements were placed in the morning and if the cars had a very cheap price i would call them in the morning and because i was working i would tell them i would check the car later in that day..they often said: " well i had already some calls and someone is checking the car soon" ...the hard part is that i would need someone to take me there!
thank God, Geoff ( Geoff Redman as refered in a previous post) was helping me checking for different cars and even proposed to come down to the Coast to help me check for the cars...he knows much more about cars as i do (cant forget to put that in my man check list!) and i definetly need some help! so last wed i found this cheap car near brisbane and call geoff..he organized everything and later that day i would catch the train and meet this car dealer with him...but right when i was about to enter the bus the dealer call me :" sorry mate just sold the car!" great timing
anyway that first dealer called me and asked me if i needed to reduce the price..i told him i would think if the car was 5000 and he told me he couldnt make that...of course two days later he told me "Ok!" so i waited for saturday and me and geoff drove there...the car was in fact good but we decided to check this other car near brisbane. it was a white 98 corolla with 157000 and exactly the same model as geoffs so he was in fact the ideal person to test that car. it belonged to a family and it was well preserved! i guess the reason it was not sold earlier because it was not advertised! geoffs daughter found it in the street..
we went for a test drive..suprisingly for the lady didnt even came with us..that is trust!after checking the car we decided we could drop the price a little bit but in general it was in a very good condition! funny how geoff dealt with her..never told her the car was good or was in a good condition..the only thing he did was point out all the cars negative aspects and she was like " yeah you are right so i can drop the price" ( also good the fact we were dealing with a woman..man is out of town..easy to close deals!)
the other amazing thing was the fact that she accepted an online payment..usually people prefer to receive money and i was not liking the idea of travelling with that amount in my pocket during this week! and it was also a saturday and she wouldnt have access to the money immeadiatly.. but i guess i have a trusted face and so we shaked hands and she gave me the keys! i had just bought my first car! yessssssss!
and remember i am driving in the left side of the road and the wheel is in the right side of the car!
here it is in the garage...
something maybe i should have started looking earlier but i just waited until after xmas...well i had enough..enough of having to ride 30min to the beach and standing in the water for 2 hours just to catch a wave..enough of riding to the supermarket and ride back with a heavy bag ( although putting stuff in perspective there are billions in the world that wouldnt mind to walk much more to buy much less...so i cannot really complain!! it is even unfair)
so for the last couple of weeks i've been checking car prices at gumtree (very well known 2nd hand website) or carsales..i was only looking for toyotas!corolas or camry..japonese cars have the advantage of lasting longer and are pretty reliable. initially i was interested in a corolla that a PhD student in my office is selling but he was asking for too much money..
last week i took my bike ( it is silly to try to find a car without driving one as i will explain later) to ferry street..that street is packed with dealers and i went there to have an idea of car prices and to test a few..only found one corolla and the dealer was asking for 6.990! after the test drive and some chat he reduced the price to 5800 plus registration and stamps but it was too expensive so i basically told him: " yeah iam very interested but i will have to call you later!" which really means.." yeah later mate"
during the week i used to check those websites daily and had some nice experiences...advertisements were placed in the morning and if the cars had a very cheap price i would call them in the morning and because i was working i would tell them i would check the car later in that day..they often said: " well i had already some calls and someone is checking the car soon" ...the hard part is that i would need someone to take me there!
thank God, Geoff ( Geoff Redman as refered in a previous post) was helping me checking for different cars and even proposed to come down to the Coast to help me check for the cars...he knows much more about cars as i do (cant forget to put that in my man check list!) and i definetly need some help! so last wed i found this cheap car near brisbane and call geoff..he organized everything and later that day i would catch the train and meet this car dealer with him...but right when i was about to enter the bus the dealer call me :" sorry mate just sold the car!" great timing
anyway that first dealer called me and asked me if i needed to reduce the price..i told him i would think if the car was 5000 and he told me he couldnt make that...of course two days later he told me "Ok!" so i waited for saturday and me and geoff drove there...the car was in fact good but we decided to check this other car near brisbane. it was a white 98 corolla with 157000 and exactly the same model as geoffs so he was in fact the ideal person to test that car. it belonged to a family and it was well preserved! i guess the reason it was not sold earlier because it was not advertised! geoffs daughter found it in the street..
we went for a test drive..suprisingly for the lady didnt even came with us..that is trust!after checking the car we decided we could drop the price a little bit but in general it was in a very good condition! funny how geoff dealt with her..never told her the car was good or was in a good condition..the only thing he did was point out all the cars negative aspects and she was like " yeah you are right so i can drop the price" ( also good the fact we were dealing with a woman..man is out of town..easy to close deals!)
the other amazing thing was the fact that she accepted an online payment..usually people prefer to receive money and i was not liking the idea of travelling with that amount in my pocket during this week! and it was also a saturday and she wouldnt have access to the money immeadiatly.. but i guess i have a trusted face and so we shaked hands and she gave me the keys! i had just bought my first car! yessssssss!
and remember i am driving in the left side of the road and the wheel is in the right side of the car!
here it is in the garage...
domingo, 1 de janeiro de 2012
the new year
2012!
the beginning of another exciting year!
new years eve was again different from what i usually had! gladly i could join some folks from church and we had a good time! and because this is summer...we bought some beers and spend a lot of time in an exterior jacuzzi! just chillin...
before midnight we went to the marina and watch the fireworks..there were several places in the city with fireworks and we had a good spot to see almost all of them
a special thanks to my family who called me several times during the night! it was great to hear your voice!
the night ended with a visit to Macas! another silly aussie word for Mcdonalds! nothing better to start the year then a big fatty burger ( actually the burger was a little bit gross..Mcds is the same in every part of the world i guess..Volta Burger king estas perdoado!!)
unfortunatelly the 31st of December didnt start in the best possible way! or maybe it did! ( learning with bad experiences)
i have been going to this new surf spot called the Spit:
this is a good spot for surfing because it is a point and so more protected from the wind. in the first times i went there i placed myself near the artificial peer and caught some waves but on the 31st i went near the rocks! because the sweeps were coming southeast i got stuck near the rocks and i figured out that it would be easier to climb them then to paddle out of there! big mistake
it was really a stupid though because i was not thinking about the board! i had to let it loose because the leash got stuck in a rock and this is not very recomended if you want to keep breathing! so when i was trying to avoid getting injured in the rocks the board was projected by the waves to the rocks and it got bad!! several dings and cracks...MY NEW BOARD!! but thank God i got out of there alive (you dont say!!) with just some scratches in my legs..
basically my board is again at stuarts to be fixed! they told me everthing is fixable except if you have a car running over the board basically!
" this is what happens when you dont know what you are doing!"
the beginning of another exciting year!
new years eve was again different from what i usually had! gladly i could join some folks from church and we had a good time! and because this is summer...we bought some beers and spend a lot of time in an exterior jacuzzi! just chillin...
before midnight we went to the marina and watch the fireworks..there were several places in the city with fireworks and we had a good spot to see almost all of them
a special thanks to my family who called me several times during the night! it was great to hear your voice!
the night ended with a visit to Macas! another silly aussie word for Mcdonalds! nothing better to start the year then a big fatty burger ( actually the burger was a little bit gross..Mcds is the same in every part of the world i guess..Volta Burger king estas perdoado!!)
unfortunatelly the 31st of December didnt start in the best possible way! or maybe it did! ( learning with bad experiences)
i have been going to this new surf spot called the Spit:
this is a good spot for surfing because it is a point and so more protected from the wind. in the first times i went there i placed myself near the artificial peer and caught some waves but on the 31st i went near the rocks! because the sweeps were coming southeast i got stuck near the rocks and i figured out that it would be easier to climb them then to paddle out of there! big mistake
it was really a stupid though because i was not thinking about the board! i had to let it loose because the leash got stuck in a rock and this is not very recomended if you want to keep breathing! so when i was trying to avoid getting injured in the rocks the board was projected by the waves to the rocks and it got bad!! several dings and cracks...MY NEW BOARD!! but thank God i got out of there alive (you dont say!!) with just some scratches in my legs..
basically my board is again at stuarts to be fixed! they told me everthing is fixable except if you have a car running over the board basically!
" this is what happens when you dont know what you are doing!"
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