It’s been a while since I last posted here. I thought life would slow down after BMX nationals in May, but life just seemed to get busier. Well I have a little bit of time this weekend…no BMX, no major plans and a day off on Monday. So here I am, blogging from my new Samsung Galaxy S.
This is the phone I really needed a couple of years ago when I got my Blackberry. After a week with it, I highly recommend it to anyone looking at a new smartphone.
The phone runs on the Android platform which has been developed by Google. With the app store for it (Android Market) catching up with the Apple App store for content, this phone is a real contender when you put it up against the iPhone4.
One of the things I love about the phone is the Swype method of text input. When some people, often iPhone fanboys, see me using Swype they ask me what I am doing. I show them and they just have to have a go. They love it. In fact, this whole article has been written using Swype.
So there you go. Blogging from my Samsung Galaxy S. Great phone, great platform. Expect more blog posts from me on the go now!
With the post Winter Olympic buzz still in the air and the recent opening of Icehouse in Melbourne’s Docklands, I got together with a couple of friends at works for a skate on tight a$$ Tuesday last week. I also backed this up with another skate there on Sunday with the family.
The first time out on the rink was ‘Tight A$$ Tuesday’ which is half price entry (but not half price skate hire). I hired ‘premium’ hockey skates and hit the ice with a Canadian (ice in the blood?!) and another work friend who used to play ice and inline hockey. Just a note on the Tuesday night session…it is BUSY. I asked on my return visit on Sunday how many they put through the doors Tuesday night and they said 700 skaters…HUGE. Previous weeks had been between 250 to 400 skaters.
I haven’t ice skated for about 10 plus years and last time I did I was terrible at it, so I had low expectations when I got out there this time. I did however have a lot more inline experience under my belt including playing some high level inline hockey.
I got out on the ice which I am told was reasonably hard and good quality (better than the last times I skated at Ringwood or Oakleigh…from memory). At first I was a little shaky when I got on the ice, but I felt at home after a while.
After about a half an hour or so, I decided it was time to figure out the difference between ice and inline hockey stops. I knew the way it needed to be done was essentially the opposite to inline, and there were some other old friends at the rink I knew from my inline hockey days that gave me some tips on the differences. I started to get it working to the left, but the break through didn’t come until I was reminded to bend my knees more. By the time I had it sussed, it was time to go home.
I headed back the the Icehouse on Sunday with my family after my brother invited me. My daughter has spent minimal time on inlines lately (too much BMX) and my ‘wife’ (no we are not married, but partner doesn’t sound right) also skated and played inline hockey. So they picked it up OK. My brother even got out and did some spins on the hire hockey skates to upset the figure skating dude that was there.
The covers were also down on the main Henke rink (aka rink 1) where I assume a lot of hockey and figure skating will take place. They were still working on the ice there, as apparently roof leaked in the crazy weather we had on the weekend and set them back. There are only stands on one side of that rink which I find odd, but I guess they may have been space and budget constrained.
On the whole the facility is good. The cafe prices are OK and not as high as I expected. The DJ had no real idea how to run a session so I guess he may be an outsider, but ice rinks also don’t seem to run their sessions quite like roller rinks. There was a comment from another experienced skater that the management has no idea how to run an ice skating facility, and I would agree at this point in time. They seem adamant to get as many people through the doors in as many sessions as possible while the buzz is there. But the way they are operating is making it very easy for patrons to just sit around between sessions and skate the whole day after their first admission (trust me, I saw it happen first hand). We will see what happens in time.
Given that there is a fair bit of government support behind this facility it should last, especially since it is home to the Winter Australian Institute of Sport. But if Australia doesn’t start getting hockey teams, figure skaters and curling teams into medal contention at future Winter Olympics, will it be fully privatised?
Here is a little video with some of the Tuesday night session and my attempts at hockey stopping for the first time, and some pictures of the rinks.
You may have seen me out in the middle of the track taking pics at the 2010 Track Attack BMX round and came looking for the shots here. To save you waiting around here, all of the pictures I took of Track Attack are over on my other website, Xenon Photography. You can even buy them there now! Enjoy.
Steven Gedye at Park Orchards Track Attack 2010 (Round 5) - Used with permission of Xenon Photography
I wasn’t going to enter this week, but I shot this yesterday and thought it fit with the theme. When I looked at the image on the camera screen I thought the subject looked like they were floating out of the lane and into the open street.
Yes, it is true. I was the official photographer for the BMXV State Championships. However, the pics won’t be posted here. They are on my new photography website, xenonphoto.com.au. So head over there, check out what I shot along with my off-sider for the weekend, Gavin D Andrew of XBR fame.
