Cows with Guns

I was walking through Devin late last night, when suddenly this song struck me. It has been stuck in my head ever since. I thought I would share this song as I find it quite funny, and always enjoy listening to it.


Cows With Guns.. Enjoy..

Satellite over 1 million, Lauch and control systems over 1 million, Watching some students get a camera up there for $170 dollars. PRICELESS!

Ok So I admit, with the title of this story I am ripping off master-card for no reason, and at the same time over-exaggerating what these students achieved. Comparing launching a digital camera up into the outer atmosphere (28 kilometers above the earth is as high as the camera got) does not really compare with launching a satellite into orbit, but still it is a really cool thing to have achieved.
Basically what these students did was fill a weather balloon with helium and attach to it a Styrofoam beer cooler. Inside of this they placed a Cannon A470 camera and programmed it to take photos every few seconds. The students also placed inside a mobile phone with GPS capabilities, to ensure they could find the container when it landed. The final touches being a parachute that opened when the balloon popped and a pair of winter gloves to protect both camera and phone from the -40 degree temperatures of the outer atmosphere.
The flight took just over 4 hours with the cooler taking approximately 40 minutes to land from the outer atmosphere with the parachute attached. All this was completed for $170 USD (116 euro), an amazing achievement to get some great photography.
I know myself as a young-en and even today I still dream about launching rockets, this is right up there with those ideas, to be able to get something to that level for that price is an amazing feat. I take my hat off to these guys.
Just to prove how cool this stuff all is, here is a photo of the camera they used:


If you would like to visit their website to see how you yourself could make a similar project then visit http://space.1337arts.com/

Below is a time lapse Video of the event.. enjoy..

Travel

Alright, I have to come clean. I have a TV channel at home on my TV (were else?) that I am totally and utterly addicted to. It's called travel channel, and basically what it is is a whole load of different travel programs aired all day every day. But they are not your typical programs. These are not some well dressed, overly attractive person who is strolling down a beach with a cocktail in hand telling you that this bungalow on the beach in Bali is great value at 10 000 USD a night, even though it has no electricity and no TV. ( o.k I admit, I over exaggerated that) Still, the normal travel show seems obsessed with showing your average person places were only a big bank CEO used to be able to go. (notice I said used) Which was totally pointless, and kind of pathetic, not to mention absolutely depressing.
Well, now you can begin to understand why I am totally addicted to travel channel, the have real, unscripted people traveling to places, on budgets that even I could afford. Saying how you can stay here or there for only a couple of euro/dollars a night. Its absolutely brilliant, these people rough it, go to historical sights, see things that you would usually see when backpacking or traveling on a normal budget around the world. The presenters are also awesome, they strike me as down to earth people, who are not signed with a multi thousand (insert currency of choice) deal, they are people who are in love with traveling and actually want to feel what its like to be somewhere. Somehow through the screen they can drag you along for the ride as well. What a ride it is, exhilarating. Until you turn around and find that you are just sitting at home in your boring old lounge room, not going anywhere interesting.
Depression sets in. But like any addiction, there is always a low after such a great high.

Globe Trekker is exactly what it sounds like, people roughing it around the world. Meeting people as they travel and experiencing the culture.
My two favorite presenters of this show are are:

Ian Wright
Megan McCormik

Another great show on the channel is the Julian and Camilla's world Odyssey. These two New Zealanders travel the world as cheaply as possible and see all there is to see when you are traveling on a budget. It is brilliant, not just for the show but seeing how they also interact with each other through all the highs and lows..

So once again I find myself today getting ready for what of the world I am going to be able to see. Wanting desperately to get out and have my own adventures.

Little Brother - The BEST book I have read this year..

As the Title Suggests, I am praising a book in this post. For those of you who didn't realise, yes I do actually read. Funnily enough, yes I do actually enjoy it too.. This is one of those books you just randomly spot somewhere and pick up. I was in the school library and saw it, thought, hell I have some time spare to actually read something, Ill give it a shot.. Little did I know that this would be one of the few books that I would get so into that I couldn't put it down. The plot is full of suspense and so vividly and believably portrayed that you feel like you are actually living in a city that has gone crazy due to "terrorism". Cory Doctorow writes with a style that keeps you hanging onto every word, waiting for an unexpected twist or turn, its amazing how this book can have your heart racing and looking around you for people you expect to see. The way Doctorow also describes things such as encryption and jamming, makes it all seem like possible things to do with you computers, and gadgets. It brings to life the story of the characters. Stuff that I am DEFINITELY going to have a go at working out. ( Encryption )
I urge everyone to read this book, it is a great insight into society and scarily were we are heading as a society.
The book has been made available for free download by Cory Doctorow, so you have no excuse not to have a look. Download it to your PC's, E books, or Xbox Universals :)..
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

The Most Beautiful City in The World

Sydney is without doubt the most beautiful city in the world. It's built around the most beautiful natural harbour and has many great views to be seen from it. The Harbour Bridge and The Opera House are standard places people can think of. I also think a great view is looking up to the CBD from the waterside next to the Opera House.
Now on a normal day Sydney is Beautiful, but as if to lend credit to my belief, I have never seen a city look as beautiful when blanketed under a cloud of dust. Today a dust cloud covered Sydney and indeed most of the State of N.S.W. I have never seen the city look so interestingly beautiful.
Take a look.....

Sydney CBD from Next to the Opera House

Sydney Harbour Bridge on a Clear Day


Harbour Bridge during Sydney Dust Storm 2009

Sydney Harbour during Dust Storm 2009

Joys Of Teaching

Ahh Teaching can be such a hard job. Its something that is quite difficult to do at times. Especially in today's world of such technically intelligent kids. The class that even my grade 1 kids look forward to most now is no longer PE or Library, but Computers. The only problem is that sometimes their enthusiam outdoes their ability. This comes from the amount of technology kids of all ages have the ability to get hold of, Dvd players, Xbox's, Playstations, Computers, Phones. etc etc
To prove my point I can just look at the first 2 days of school this year. Now the kids I teach are 5 years old. In the first 2 days I confiscated 3 phones from the students, one phone I confiscated after finding a student taking photos of others during class!..
By the time these kids are in grade 2 they will be able to do things like program a laptop!
The problem now is, That with so much technology available to kids, How are we going to keep them interested in lessons?? A Blackboard and books don't seem as cool anymore..

Wiki Friends

In this new age of Internet 2.0 it seems that everyone now has a Wiki Friend, You all know who this is, someone who constantly checks on your statuses, or makes notes on your facebook profile, someone who just cant help themselves when it comes to commenting on something all their friends do.. But now it seems Wiki friends have hit a Wiki 2.0 level. No longer is the internet a place to express individuality, its now a place to express conformity. Just like Emo's want to show how different they are by all wearing black and being depressed, now there is no longer difference of opinion. We must all think alike, like individuals..
You all know you have a Wiki friend who just agrees with you for no reason, we used to have them at school.. Now they are invading everywhere ...

Mountain Biking

WOW What a Weekend, Lucia and I were entered into a mountain bike competition on saturday. Lucia's mum hired us mountain bikes at at 10:30am I found myself on the start line of a mountain biking + orienteering competition.. We had to look at our route and plan which points we wanted to get to... It was great fun and a lot of hard effort to cycle along the paths through the forests, some of the riding was incredibly difficult, but great fun too.. Today I am so sore, but it is in a great way, I am hurting in a way that I didnt realise I miss, I miss cycling so much and this day of biking made me realise that.. I miss the sheer enjoyment of cycling up a hill and conquring it, and then the adrenaline of trying to go down as fast as you can, picking a route betweent the obsticals and going through it, letting the bike flow, letting it ride bumps and slide slightly on loose gravel... ahhh sheer beauty.. I LOVE IT!!!....
All these means, I HAVE to get back on bikes properly and ride competitively again. And the best thing is, now I have found a way to race, and also have goals to train for... Motivation..
Me mountain biking::

The Bike I now Want to get: A Giant Talon 3.

The Longer You Work.....

It is true that the longer you work with some people, the more you hate them. For me a case in point is Kevin Guerrier. Every time I work with this great guy I end up hating him by lunch time. Why Lunch time? I hear you ask..
Well the fact of the matter is that Kevin brings the best lunches to school every day I work with him. When I look down at my Slovak Ministry developed and approved rubbish, I just feel like Kevin is mocking me (which he is by this stage) which is so inhumane that I want to kill him. Technically the only Humane thing to do at that time....
Depending on what time he tells me about his lunch the hate starts earlier or later and builds to a different degree...
All I know is that if I ever have to eat a crap lunch across from him and his home cooking again i'm going to snap, and cry....

Which makes me think... I wonder what I do that affects others like that? Probably my music taste in the staffroom... he he he...

Living away from home...

I love living away from home. It lets me do all sorts of really cool things. I don't have to make my bed, or turn off the tv at meal time, let other people use the internet, make hot drinks for 5 peopl every time I want a coffee, wake up and be sociable, watch whatever TV I want, eat whatever I want from the cupboard. All these things make living away from home really cool. As long as you dont mention that no-one does these things for me:
1) Cook
2) Clean
3) Shop
4) Pay Bills
5) Make me coffee
6) Reminds me of events
7) Makes sure I get enough sleep
8) Gives me money for no reason

Wait A Sec.....

Mum Can I move Back home???

Život Je Vždy Dobrý

Life is ALWAYS good.. When you are drinking coffee. Its only when the mug is empty, and you can see the colour of the bottom of that cup, that the world starts to look dismal again. This morning I woke up tired, like I had some sort of serious disease, but once I had my morning coffee, even a staff meeting couldn't get me down.. Now I have been a few hours without it during the day and i'm starting to get down. Life doesn't seem so rosey anymore...
Many workplaces are like this, I really wonder if there have been any studies into the productiveness of coffee. It would be interesting to read..




That is all....

Dan and the not so magic Castle

Yesterday I had planned a great adventure. A boat trip to Hainburg, a small town on the Austrian side of the Danube. I figured out we could catch a boat from Devin and the price was cheap at 4 euro return so everyone could afford to come. So I invited a few people and told them the plan. In the morning we all met and walked to the dock of the boat. I was all excited, I had got these 9 people together to go on a trip with me, so it would be a a great day! Little did I expect what was in store. We arrived at the dock and I read the sign, at first I was a little disappointed because the sign read 11:30 for the boat, not 11 as I had advertised. That disappointment steadily grew as I looked up the sign to the top, to realsie that this sign only advertised boats from Bratislava to Devin and return. With horror I looked around to the people around me, they were all expecting a great day out with a boat trip and walks through a small town. Softly mentioning what I saw they all sighed and decided to wait until 11 to see if a boat showed up anyway.
But the boat never came....
it never came.....
Depressed I walked down onto the docking plontoon, thinking I might just throw myself into the murky, cold, fast flowing water of the danube. Something made me turn around, and when I did I saw a remarkably well dressed young man.

"hello there young man, would you like to buy a castle" He said with a huge grin across his face.
I wasn't too sure, and told him as such, you see I only had twenty euro's left of my money and I needed to make that last a month more. In reply I was told by this man not to worry, it was a magical castle, sure most of its walls had fallen down, but the ones that hadnt were structural and magical, and so would be able to be used to re-magicafy the rest of the walls. The fact that it had no roof wasnt a problem eiher, I was told it was exactly the same as the roof in the Hogworts castle and so I would always be able to see the sky outside. At this point I was getting very excited, I asked the price.
Instant deflation, the price was 3 billion euro's. I was told not to worry, If I gave him 20 euro's now then I would be able to pay off the magic castle in steady monthly repayments. I thought about this and decided it was the best Idea I had ever heard and so readily handed over my 20 euro. As soon as this happened the man disappeared, but I owned a castle. To cover the disappointment of not getting the boat, I invited all my friends to come over and enjoy my new house in the castle. All was great until evening, when It started to rain, It turns out the castle doesn't have a magical roof. More disappointment came when we were asked to leave the castle by the staff as it was closing time. No matter how many times I told my story they didnt believe me and told me I had to leave. Slowly I walked back home, on the wet, cold, stormy night. When I finally got home, all I could do was make myself a cup of instant coffee and sit watching the tv, but I wasn't watching, I was crying..
I lost 20 euro after all.

Above is the Castle that I thought I had bought... (Devin Castle is in my home town of Devin here in Bratislava)

Mosquito Wars

Last night while lying in bed trying to fall asleep I heard that familiar drone of a mosquito heading towards me. 'just lie here and wait' I thought to myself, employing that age old technique of waiting until the drone stops and then slapping at a random part of my body nearest to where I last heard its noise...

hhhhhmmmmmmmmm......... (silence).........SLAP!!!!

I thought it was over, I had won, little did I realise I was battling the smartest mosquito I had ever come across.

A couple of minutes later the drone started again, HA! I thought, I have a bedside light, ill turn it on and then squish him for sure. So I turn the light on, instantly the drone stops.. No mosquito.. for 20 minutes a battle of wits ensues...

Drone .... Light on ..... (silence).... light off.... [repeat process]

Finally I have had enough, I retrieve from the cupboard my weapon of mass mosquito destruction, bug spray. Spraying liberal amounts of it all over my apartment I go to bed knowing I have finally won the war.
I go to sleep hoping I havent poisoned myself in the process.

RESULT!!

Daniel : 1
Mosquito: 0

Whats Wrong with the world today?

I was asleep last night when I started having a very strange dream, I was dreaming that I was in a game with some friends when for some bizarre reason I ran into a pole.. Now while this hurt A LOT, another interesting side effect was blurred and double vision. This made me lie down on a conveniently placed bed, while laying down a doctor came and pronounced that I must have swine flu. As a result I had to make a decision, either start taking a natural remedy that probably wouldn't do anything OR take some very hard drugs. I was then informed that if I took the drugs option I would then have to go to rehab at the end of the course, as once I was cured of swine flu I would almost certainly be a drug addict. This confused me greatly, and soon after none of my friends would talk to me anymore, they were all to scared I would give them swine flu too.

This made me think about the world, and how crazy it is that we find epidemics everywhere and every few years there is a new one, that splits us all again. Someone gets a sniffle and instead of it being just a normal thing, it has to be some sort of flu.. Or perhaps the pigs were just finding it dam unfair!!



Perhaps I have paranoia flu? I feel like just weeping about the state of us all...



At this time, don't we all feel like little piglets with a sniffle?

This Time Of Year.

Do you ever feel like its all falling apart? Well that would be Fall/Autumn... Its just this time of year..



But Remember after this its only 3 months of depression through winter..
Then we can be happy again with Spring!!
Looking forward to it already..
Think i might go cry now.

An Obsession

Well I have been back in Slovakia for a week now, and I'm developing an obsession. Its not good, I'm getting back into my photography, BIG TIME. Its hard to give away something you love, and when I got back to Australia all that happened was I renewed my love of taking photos, and using my camera. Also while I was there I bought myself a old Kodak Brownie II camera, it doesn't work, but has become a part of what I hope will be an expanding collection of camera's. At the same time at the moment i'm also looking at buying a fish eye lens for my Pentax camera to be able to take some more interesting shots.

Later this month I am entering in a photography competition in Vienna, Austria. I hope to do well in it as I have a good camera and I think quite a good eye for nice photos, but we will see when we get there.

Yesterday Lucia and I went to a camera store, Inside was such a wide array of Vintage camera's and extra lenses for camera's, it was soo exciting and I am very lucky I didn't have money with me otherwise I may have gone crazy and bought a lot of old camera's and extra lenses for my Pentax.
It was such an overwhelming experience that when I walked out of the store I almost cried.


Kodak Box Brownie II

Passing Time

The days are rushing past, I never seem to get anything done. Yet I know Im doing more work and thinking about things more than ever before. For the last two weeks I have been working on the school's Cambridge exam results and creating the awards for students. This has taken up so much of my time, without leaving the apartment. It can get my head in a complete fuzz, looking foward to getting out into the school tomorrow, working with the kids again. Its just so much easier when I can talk to people during the day.
Also have alot to think about with summer, got to decide where to go, what to do, etc etc.
Going to look at some cars on the weekend. Got my eye on a few Alfa's. Would like to check them out, got to get back on track after the calibra, I cant let it get on top of me.
We will see where I am after the weekend, Im really looking foward to going to Trnava on the weekend to have a meeting about the Junior Youth Camp that starts on July 1st. Im going to be MC and Facilitator, have a funny hat to wear and everything. :D

Long Days

Well what a weekend, Its amazing how they can be so long and so short at the same time.
I was dealt a small blow on friday, I had desperately hoped that my car would be ready for this weekend, however, it seems the mechanic is waiting for parts and so needs to keep the car until sometime this coming week. Ahh well, Ive waited so long now, how hard is it to wait for a few more days? I still have to work out insurance and registration anyway. if you wan to see what I am planning to do with the car have a look at europeroadtripsummer2009.blogspot.com it details the plans that Lucia and I have for about 3 weeks of the summer between the Junior Youth camp in Trnava and also the Baha'i Summer School in the High Tatras of Slovakia.

Well I decided to just let everything go in regards to worrying about my life next year, I just let it all fall away, the stress the worries, everything. It seems that due to this things may be coming back my way, I dont want to speak to soon yet, but I might find myself working in a new area of the school that will at least give me some motivation to work each day.

Its been a pretty good weekend of sport watching with the Socceroos making it into the 2010 world cup. It was not the best of games to watch, the Socceroos were on top for a majority of the game, yet failed to score with any of their numerous attempts on goal. The closest attmepts coming from an amazing Tim Cahil overhead kick, and a supurb Harry Kewell strike that somehow was stopped by the Qatar keeper. BUT I am now thinking about possibly going to the world cup, it doesnt seem like too much money, and I will have time to save before June Next year, We will see.. :D.. Maybe..

Anyway, Tomorrow its off to the park with all the kids from the school for their children's day celebration. Got to do something for the kids hey!!

Well I still do not have a clue what I will be doing next year, and I really hope it will sort itself out soon. Its funny how life has a way of sending you a message without realising. Today one of our students came into class in the morning to show Jane the shirts he wanted to wear for the school play we are going to perform at the end of the year. When Jane looked at the shirt she burst out laughing and turned to show it to me. It Read;
"The more you complain, the longer God lets you live."
Once I read this, I burst out laughing as well. It is such a funny thing to have happen. Just when I was starting to get down about everything around me, and complaining about what I would do next year, Instead of focusing on now and what I can do to change it, life decides to smack me in the face with the message that it wants me to understand.
It got me to thinking, perhaps the more we complain, the more we show God that we are not ready to move on to what we want, as we are not prepared to face the challenges and tests of today. These are the things we usually complain about, and its often the people who complain and always look at the negative that dont seem to get the opportunities in life that they long for.
I want to get those opportunities, seize them with both hands and run with it as fast as I can. So that means for the time being, its chin up and work hard.

Update

Well, Things have been up and down havent they. Work continues to trundle along, being the teachers assistant for Mrs Jane in Grade 2 is coming to an end with only 3 weeks left of school for the 2008-2009 school year. Its really quite hectic when the school comes to the end of the year though, assignments, trip and exams all come to happen at once. Leaving all of us pulling our hair out, not remembering where we are in the world, and just looking towards that light at the end of an ever darkening, ever shrinking tunnel.
I have found it even more difficult to get into the swing of the last few weeks of school, as my grandparents have just had a visit. In their time here we travelled all around the area, to Austria, Hungry and Eastern Slovakia. It was so amazing to see family after a year, and especially nice to be able to share my 21st Birthday with them. While it was beautiful to have the time with them, it was like being given freedom, only to be jailed again with the bigger freedom just within reach. It is hard to be motivated.
The Calibra is nearly ready to be on the road. The most frustrating thing about it is that I havent had the money to do everything at once, then I also keep having periods of travelling, meaning I dont get to devote as much money towards it each month as I would like. Now it is at the mechanics, and soon it will be on the road with registration and the insurance. I am so lucky to have a great bunch of people around me that help me get these things done, because In a strange country like slovakia, I would be lost on my own.
It needs to be ready for the rapidly approaching summer, as Lucia and I will be travelling around europe in the car. I cant wait for this trip, it is going to be an amazing ride and I can not manage to stop my thoughts from wondering to it every day. I really am going to love the driving vast distances, camping nights, seeing concerts, sporting events, meeting random people, serving the Baha'i's, and all the other things that will happen to me on the journey. It is such an amazing thing travelling, opening ones eyes to so many different lifestyles and viewpoints. I want to spend my life travelling, seeing people, tasting foods and experiencing culture. I have been so gifted to be able to come to Slovakia and spend 2 years living in this country, the opportunities I have had, and things I have experienced I never would have had happen to me anywhere else. No matter what happens I must remember that about Forel and my time at this school and be thankful.