Regional non-fast rail - Part 2

VLocity unit 15 has completed platform duties,
is closing the doors and is nearly ready to go.

VL 15 heads off around the bend, next station Heathcote Junction.

Track machines in the Standard gauge siding at the Melbourne end of Wallan loop.

This photo was taken at the Hobsons Bay Model Railway Club's Exhibition of Australian Model Railways that is held over the Easter weekend each year. Shown is an N scale model railway layout based on Wallan back when it was a more substantial station (compare now (sort of) and then). In the front are the broad gauge running lines, then the large broad gauge yard, while at the rear is the standard gauge line with two trains crossing in the loop. The track machines in the photo above this one are parked in a small siding that is not depicted, that runs off the start of the loop, and would be parked just behind where the blue and red locomotives are (these are NR class locomotives in Indian Pacific and The Ghan colour schemes BTW). Most crossing loops on the north east standard gauge have at least one such siding for the storage of track machines or broken down locomotives and rolling stock. This layout is owned by the Victorian N Scale Collective.

Regional non-fast rail - Part 1

Went for a drive today up to Bradford and back home again via Wallan. I decided to stop in at the stations of both these towns and was rewarded at each by a train within 10 minutes of arrival. It was interesting to note that V/Line is using the latest VLocity railcars on this line at weekends despite the fact that this line was not part of the regional fast rail project. During the week it is a mix of older Sprinter railmotors (railcars) and locomotive hauled carriages. Anyway at Broadford I took some photos of this Melbourne bound train, it appeared to have a full seated load which surely is a good sign.

VLocity 1131-1231 approaching Broadford station while on
route from Seymour to Melbourne Southern Cross.

This section of track between Craigieburn and Seymour is notable in that it is the last remaining section of double line block safe working in Victoria (if not in Australia). What this means is that the line is divided into sections or blocks. In total there are 5* blocks, these being:

• Craigieburn - Donnybrook*
  
• Donnybrook - Wallan
• Wallan - Kilmore East
• Kilmore East - Broadford
• Broadford - Seymour

* Until the extension of suburban trains to Craigieburn last year there was a block between Broadmeadows and Somerton and another between Somerton and Donnybrook. When the suburban extension to Craigieburn opened the block instruments from Somerton were moved to Craigieburn.

At each station mentioned above there are machines known as Winter's Block Instruments (Winter being the inventor), one for each section of each line. These allow the signaller to communicate with the signaller at the next or previous station using bell codes and indicator needles to negotiate the progress of a train along the line. The signals are sent along the telegraph wires or other communications lines beside the railway. The system is explained in much better detail at Vicsig.

VLocity 1131-1231 loading/unloading passengers at Broadford.

Anyway the point is that the infrastructure required for Double Line Block can be seen in the photo above. There is the signal box on the right which houses the signaller, signal levers and block instruments. Further down the line you can see the down starting signal in front of the train, which allows a train into the next block. On the right of the other line is the down home signal which accepts trains in to the station. These arrangements are reversed at the other end of the station (somewhat visible in the first photo). These are both lower quadrant semaphore signals. There is also a crossover which at a guess is only used in case of emergency under special instructions from the signaller and train control (Centrol) in Melbourne.

I should also mention Double Line Block allows stations to be "switched in" and "switched out" as needed. So for busy times all the stations can be switched in to allow a maximum number of trains through, while at quieter times some of the stations can be "switched out" . Today was one of those quieter times, and I believe it was operating as a single block from Craigieburn to Seymour.

VLocity 1131-1231 disappearing towards Melbourne.

In this final photo you can clearly see the standard gauge line from Melbourne to Albury to the left of the double track broad gauge line. This line has recently been re-laid with concrete sleepers for it's length and longer passing loops known as passing lanes are under construction. The concrete sleepers allow for higher speeds, particularly on curves, and have a longer life span that wooden sleepers (not to mention that we are running out of good quality red gum that is needed for environmental reasons to remain as trees). The existing passing loops are about 2 km at most, which defines the maximum length of the trains that can run on this line (to I believe about 1.8 km), and require many trains to be "put away" or stopped in the loops in order to cross (rail term for trains passing each other in opposite directions) a train in the opposing direction or be overtaken by a faster train . The new passing lanes in contrast will be many kilometres in length (perhaps 5 to 10 I'm not sure on the specifics) which will allow trains to simply pass each other while moving, which make for even faster travel times. All this work is being undertaken by the ARTC (Australian Rail Track Corporation) a federally funded corporation which manages the interstate standard gauge rail network.

Earth Hour

Last night people flocked to cities around the world to see them in darkness. This is what they saw.

The day before, in Melbourne

For some reason whenever I go to Sydney I come home and can't help but notice how run down Melbourne looks in comparison. (I'm sorry but it does!) This time it appears that they had started to dismantle it the day before.



In reality they were laying new tram track for the new island platform tram stop in Flinders Street. This involved replacing the crossing (the bit that looks like a #) with Swanston Street and the track for a whole block between there and Elizabeth Street. I'm not sure that an island is the best way to go,as trams are set up for left hand loading (although it inevitably happens at the end of every tram line), but one good thing to come out of it is a much needed set of mid block pedestrian lights. These are particularly needed on weekends and late at night when the Degraves Street subway is closed. I rugularly jay walk there on weekends.

Incidentaly they broke through the roof of the Degraves street Subway during the demolition of the tram line, and as of Tuesday it was still closed. There are a number of business' in the subway who no doubt will be seeking compensation for loss of trade. From memory there is a newsagent, a number of small boutiques, a barber and an internet cafe.

Sydney for a day

A few weeks ago when I was home sick from work (bad sun burn) I heard an ad on the radio for charity mystery flights for the Good Friday appeal. So after asking mum if she wanted to go I rang up and booked. 3 hours latter I checked my email and found out we were going to Sydney. Mystery solved.

View of Sydney across the harbour from Watsons Bay.

Last Sunday was the day and we had a good one. Before we left we decided to go to Watsons Bay for Doyles Fish and chips, but we also managed to squeeze in a train ride across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a ferry ride to Darling harbour via Balmain and Birchgrove.

Cliffs at The Gap

At Watson's bay I showed mum "The Gap" and the view across the Sydney Heads. Mum said she had no idea there would be so many people here, thinking we would be the only one's on the ferry. As to the fish and chips, I think they are some of the best fish and chips I've ever had, and one of the reasons I was keen to go back.

Watsons Bay Ferry

I dunno how but all our public transport connections worked pretty well, the longest we had to wait all day was about 20 minutes for our Watsons bay Ferry from Circular Quay. It was quite expensive though, but still good value. I was prepared for $16 day tripper ticket, but a return gate pass for the airport station alone cost me $14. Mum being a pensioner got away with the $10 pensioner special (normally costs $2.50 without the airport included).

Luna Park in Sydney

One other observation was the verdant green grass everywhere, something not seen in Melbourne (except the Fitzroy Gardens which come close). It's amazing what a bit(lot) of rain does.

I don't need to tell you what's in this photo.

It was a big day for different modes of transport, in all we caught 4 trains, 3 ferries and 2 planes, and drove 1 car. Speaking of planes, I just can't express how much better Qantas is than Virgin Blue. In most cases it's marginally more expensive, but that is made up for in better aircraft, better comfort, better service (had a really nice Japanese flight attendant on the way up, she went out of her way to make small talk with the passengers) and better food. Fly QANTAS.

On the way home

The Edge

A few weeks ago (actually about 6 now) my weekend wanderings took me down City Rd to photograph this phenomena. I think people were wondering what I was looking at.

Edge goes out.

Edge goes in.

This is full size un-rotated crop of "Edge goes out", if I'm not mistaken that is a star right there in the middle. There are one or two more visible in this photo, and in "Edge goes in" as well, but in the latter they are quite faint. Not bad for 2-3 pm in the afternoon.

Also if you look closely you can see right up that girls skirt...

You Tube - Tourism

Lately I think I've nearly been watching more You Tube videos than TV. Today I happened across quite a few interesting short films. One film of these that I watched was Misguided Tour.



Misguided Tour led me on to some legitimate tourism ads for Melbourne, such as, Run Rabbit Run for the Yarra Valley, the ball of string one, and what passed for a tourism ad in 1985. The last one shows just how far we have come in the last 20 odd years, replacing sport (it's nearly all sport) and nubile young young women with more abstract concepts of what Melbourne has to offer the potential tourist. Was greyhound racing at Olympic Park really a tourist attraction in 1985?

Then again who knows what people will think of the ball of string in 20 years time?

Librarial and other matters

Today I thought I'd go and have a nose around the City Library after work. After turning the corner from Degraves Street into Flinders Lane I was greeted by a sea of people and some flashing blue and red lights. Turns out the police were arresting a couple of drunk and disorderly types, there was a lot of arm twisting going on. I was surprised at the number of people just standing there watching. I didn't stop to watch though, I just kept going in to the library.

Once I was up the stairs and in the Library I turned right towards the catalogue computers only to find they had vanished. There was a paper sign stuck to the wall saying they had moved them to the pillars next to the stairs in the foyer. Sure enough they were there. What a bad idea though, talk about un-ergonomic. Although the screens swivel up and down to adjust for height, I would imagine these computers are pretty uncomfortable for anyone other than average height like myself to use. Not only that but the network in there is so slow, it took minutes to load up the page after hitting search, or clicking on a selection (couldn't help but notice that they had upgraded to Internet Explorer 7). I just gave up and went searching manually for what I wanted.

This led to my second qualm, which was the fact that there seemed to be more books sitting around on trolleys waiting to be put on the shelves than there were books on the shelves. This made finding what I wanted extra difficult, as if they were sorted in some sort of order, someone else like myself had come along looking for something and mixed them all up. I just gave up on the whole library thing at that point.

For the first time in my life I felt like I had to complain about something, so I went and found the suggestions box and sheets (at least I could find them) and spent a good 10 minutes writing out my complaints (in doing so I used the desk that used to house the catalogue PCs).

On my way out it seemed the police were still there, although there is a police station right opposite where the arrests were happening so I guess that is natural. I then took a tram up Collins Street to Spring Street where I was going to change to a train at Parliament, but decided instead to walk across the Treasury and Fitzroy gardens to Jolimont Station.

On the way I noticed how much cooler it was in the gardens. It was almost as if the coolness was radiating off the nice green lawns. This reminded me about something I was reading a few weeks ago about green roofs in cities and how they help to keep temperatures down. On a day like today at 39-40 degrees outside any relief would be welcome, not to mention the benefit of somewhat cleaner air and more public open space the rest of the year.

Greener pastures

I know how boring, another computer post. I promise this is the last computer post I will make for a long time (unless something goes horribly wrong).

I have given up on the 8800 GT dream, I have since found out that there are ways to make it work, but I can't be bothered any more. So today I went and bought a cheap little 256 MB nvidia 8400 GS from ASUS for $52 (in case you were wondering that's a photo of it at the top of this post). Maybe I am easily pleased, but I'm impressed with it. I tried it out on MSTS, and I can now run it at full detail levels for the first time ever. I tried out Far Cry too, which runs pretty well at moderate resolution and detail. It certainly beats the integrated graphics I've been used to until now.

As you can see by the games I've tested so far I'm not much of a gamer, which is why I think this card will do fine. One other game I am interested in is the oddly named (yet totally obvious when you see it on the shelf in the shop) The Orange Box, which is really a compilation of games. I have heard good things about it, and know a few people who have it, so I want to play too. This card will run it fine.

I would never have thought such a cheap video card could perform so well if it weren't for the videos I found on You Tube. Most of the videos were of people playing games supposedly running on this card, I believed them, and I think it paid off. I have come to realise that You Tube could be a big help in purchasing decisions from now on. Of course some of the videos were a bit painful to sit through, but I usually go to another when boredom starts to kick in. I'm starting to really like You Tube actually

Roadblocked on the Boulevard of Crappy Motherboards and Incompatible Video Cards

So I fronted up to MSY on Friday after work and bought a generic (actually xpert vision) branded 512mb nvidia 8800gt for the low low price of $240. When I got home I realised that the 350 watt power supply in my computer wouldn't cut it. So on Saturday I went to CPL to pick up a nice new Coolermaster extreme 500 watt power supply.

When I got home I installed the power supply and tested it, everything worked fine. Then I installed the video card and changed the BIOS to use the PCIe slot instead of the onboard video card. When I powered it up I got nothing. I checked the BIOS settings and again nothing.

After checking the internet my worst fears were realised, my crappy motherboard does not support the latest video cards. The question is what to do now. Do I replace the motherboard or just buy a cheaper, older video card?

At this stage I am leaning towards the later, as I don't really feel like ripping the guts out of my computer. I would be willing to spend up to about $100 on a cheaper video card, something like a Radeon 2400 or 2600, I'm not sure about the nvidia 8600, or the 9600 in terms of compatibility I doubt it. Actually thinking about it, if I could sell the 8800 I could buy a new motherboard and cheaper video card with the proceeds and not be out of pocket at all (much).

Anyone want to buy a new in opened box xpert vision 8800GT 512 MB video card? $200 sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Bloggers block

I just wrote two posts they make no sense at all. Saved as drafts and filed away forever. hopefully I'll come up something meaningful this month.

The time is nigh

...for a new video card.

When I got my new computer I mentioned getting a video card to replace the not so good graphics it came with. Until today I thought I would get an Nvidia 8800GT when the prices get pretty reasonable.

Well, today I did my weekly check of prices at MSY (the website is really crap but this is the place to go to get computer hardware, plus it's around the corner from work) to find that you can get a generic branded 8800 card for about $260 and a Gigabyte branded one for $290, which to me is pretty reasonable. What I also discovered was that the new 9600GT has been introduced. Going by price (about $240) it would sits between the 8600 (which it is a direct replacement of) and the 8800. Reading a review it would seem to be right in the sweet spot for me. The 9600 is based on the 8800s technology, but has some features and processing power missing, but it's cheaper, and better than an 8600. Sounds good to me.

Whether I get one or not is another issue. Thinking about going on Monday after work if I can wait, otherwise it's off to a swapmeet this weekend.

No idea

Can't think of anything else to blog about

Ooh just got distracted for several minutes by the fireworks out the back... The finale of a Defence force school of music concert. You should hear it when they do the 1810 overture...

Patriotism

Ah yes. I happened to read a certain blog on The Age website today at work. It is about flag-cape wearing yobs using patriotism as an excuse to be rude and obnoxious those they deem as "un-Australian". The writer of the original blog post was over generalising (again), but I guess that is his job in order to create a discussion. I dislike the racist under(0ver)tones. I've seen a few of the "Lovie it or leave it" stickers on cars, usually a hotted up Toyota Hilux with a massive bullbar, 400 gigawatts of lighting, a Conargo pub sticker, and some other sticker about pig shooting.

I guess some of the comments were correct in that harmless symbols become associated with certain groups over time that everyone else tries to disassociate themselves from. The example of the man who had a swastika tattoo before the Nazi's adopted it as a symbol was a good one. I quite literally cringe very time I see a youth (I feel old now, but it's apt description) with a flag as a cape. Like tonight on the way through Richmond station, they were everywhere.

On the topic of the flag itself, I don't really care about it. I don't mind the one we have, and I understand the meaning behind the parts of it. If it were to change , it would have to be a good design, so far I haven't really liked any of the proposals over the years. I guess I could get used to it if it were to change, I'm not a total stick in the mud.

Sunburn: The Saga Continues

In other news, my face has just about stopped falling off after Sunday's major sunburn incident. I think I've gained some insight into why it's rude to stare at people who don't quite look "normal". It may be that I'm a bit sensitive or delusional, but it's damn annoying having people looking at you all the time. I feel like telling them it's highly contagious.

The two days I took off work earlier this week did me some good though. And I know sunburn sounds like a weak excuse, but on Monday I think I would have struggled more than usual for a Monday, I was quite sore. Tuesday I was less sore but all the same, felt it best to rest. I did end up playing some backyard cricket with my nephew though, first ball and he belts it over the fence. The neighbours have given up and just allow him to go in and out of the back yard at will, and leave the ladder permanently up against the house for when a ball goes on the roof.

On Wednesday I thought I'd better go to work. after 5 minutes in the dry air conditioned air on the train my face started cracking up and flaking everywhere, and continued for the rest of the day in the air conditioning at work. I did take my Aloe Vera, which did help, but only lasted for a about an hour after I put it on before it started again. Thankfully on Thursday it stopped hurting so much, but I had a major "face-dandruff" problem. This morning most of the redness went away, but the shedding continues. My forehead, nose and chin are clear now but my right cheek (face!), ear and neck are having a go now. In general though, I feel a lot better.

Like a beetroot

Yesterday I went to the Point Cook air pageant. It wasn't a hot day at all, it was quite cloudy for most of the time. I had a jumper on all day, there was a lot of sun glare though. Lucky for me I had my sun glasses. On the way home I could tell my face was sun burnt, but it didn't feel too bad. I get home and look in the mirror and my face is beetroot red, the rest of my body is white, including the area shaded by my sunglasses. I treated it with ice and aloe vera, it still hurt. I wake up this morning feeling sorry for myself, and decide to take the day off work. My face is still red and sore. I'm not very happy with myself.

Why didn't I even consider putting sun screen on?! The thought didn't even cross my mind before I left home. At the air show I thought about it but dismissed it, it was cool and cloudy, I wouldn't get burnt. I feel so stupid.

I don't know if I can show my face at work tomorrow either. I think I'll lay low until it goes away. My new mantra is to just put on sunscreen before leaving the house, saves a lot of bother that way...

HD DVD RIP

No doubt you've heard about the official death of HD DVD, with this weeks withdrawal of support from the formats major backer, Toshiba. It's been pretty clear for quite a while now that Blu-Ray was the leader of the race. Blu-Ray had most (now all) Hollywood studios on board (the porn industry went HD DVD I believe, not sure), sold the most players (mostly SONY Play Station 3 consoles), and I suppose most importantly sold the most discs due to the wider range of titles available. It is good that the race is over, but people are rightly worried about pricing policies.

None of this matters to me, or to anyone really as "SD" DVD is still the most widespread format. To me DVDs just look and sound brilliant. Even if you happen to have a HD capable display an up-scaling DVD player can boost image resolution to near HD. Ironically it is said (on the DTV forum anyway) that the best up-scaling DVD player is/was the Toshiba XE1 HD DVD player (BD and players do it too, but not as well as this one).

At the moment I'm looking at a DVD player. The basic features I'm looking for are that it does all the usual things such as playing DVDs (a no brainer) and viewing photos. But what I'm really looking for is a player that plays DivX and XviD encoded videos and has a USB port. The reason I want DivX is just because it will come in handy from time to time. For me it's the USB port where things get interesting. Instead of burning mp3s and photos to DVD, it is much easier to just put them on a USB drive, the DivX videos are also playable from the USB port. Strangely enough it seems that the only models that have these features are up-scaling players, but that is of little use to me as I only have a CRT TV. At the moment it looks like the player I will get is the the Pioneer DV-400. I was looking at the more expensive DV-600, but I can't seem to find any.

On the train one day

This is a comment I made on one of High Riser's posts, and thought that it is worthy of it's own post.

One day on a train I sat down on the middle seat of group of three, someone was already at the window seat. Instantly I decided I was a bit cramped so I moved across to the aisle seat for more leg room. It was then that the person at the window spoke up and said, "it's OK I won't bite". I looked up, and he was an African man. I then realised that a few of the people in the surrounding seats were looking at me. I remember feeling quite embarrassed.

The comment was made in good humour, and I don't think he actually took offence at me moving seats. My action certainly wasn't made because of his skin colour, but I doubt a white or Asian person would make a comment such as this. I still think about this incident frequently when I'm on public transport. It is quite funny looking back at it.

I guess the point is that everything comes down to intent and perception. You're never going to get both to agree 100% of the time.

Smokey

So I am sitting here eating my breakfast and all I can smell is smoke. I look outside and the sky is that murky smoke colour that you get during bush fire. It's not far away either. I haven't worked out which way the wind is going. I suspect that it will be the bushland along the Plenty River.

Last Saturday morning the Chemist shop in Main Street Greensborough was gutted by fire, saw it only a few hours after, but before the clean up had begun. The windows were smashed and the inside was black. By Monday the front was covered in sheet metal and what was left of the destroyed awning at the front had been removed so it was now safe to walk past on the footpath, the smell remained. Don't know if it was deliberately lit or not.

It is also the 25th anniversary of the Ash Wednesday bush fires that ravaged large areas of Victoria and South Australia.


EDIT 10:27 AM: just heard on the radio that the smoke is coming from a fire near Mathoura in south western NSW.

Update 2: Random day out

It was Saturday the 2nd February. I resolved to go to a computer swap meet at Bundoora RMIT just to have a look at prices and stuff like that. At 9:30 I left the house and walked down to the bus stop to get the 9:38 513 to Greensborough. From there I intended to get a 566 to Plenty Road in Mill Park. I had no idea of the timetable for this route, and was prepaired to wait. As it turned out a bus was due shortly before 10 AM so I had relatively short wait. After 10-15 minute bus ride I was at my destination.

Navigating the grounds of RMIT to the sports centre was no mean feat, but I eventually found my way. As with every other computer swap meet I've ever been to I came out more confused than I was when I went in. It took me a few minutes to get my thoughts in order I walked back across the grounds to Plenty Road and over to the University Hill development.

After walking around the small, but considerably well used shopping area (considering most of the development is still under construction or in planning stages) I made my way to the tram stop and caught a number 86 tram towards the city. I hadn't been on this tram for a while, so it was interesting seeing what had and hadn't changed along the way. The corner of High Street (route 29)and Clarendon Street in Thornbury is still more or less unchanged from 16 years ago, when my nana lived there (in Clarendon Street). I can see that Thornbury, like Northcote before it is undergoing a "trendification" as the later becomes more expensive. Halal butchers are still the norm in both suburbs though.

The tram passed through the uber-hip (anyone know how to type an umlaut?) Westgarth (aka vegan/organic central) and crossed the Merri Creek into Queens Parade through Clifton Hill and North Fitzroy before turning south into Smith Street Collingwood. Smith Street is still very much rough around the edges. It's an intriguing mixture actually, as you've junkies rubbing shoulders with bargain hunters at the factory outlets. It was interesting to note that there are two Kathmandu factory outlets in Smith Street. One at the northern end and one at the southern end.

Along Gertrude Street and into Nicholson Street. I got off the tram at the intersection at Albert/Lonsdale Streets near the northern entrance to Parliament station and walked along Lonsdale to QV. Oporto for lunch at QV, and an obligatory trip into Big W, where for some reason I tried on a couple of pairs of shoes, Dunlop Volleys no less and some sort of skate shoe that didn't come in my size.

I wandered on along Lonsdale Street, stopping in a hobby shop and JB HiFi. It was here that I decided to just have a look at the computer shops in the Lonsdale/Queen Street area. The story goes that this particular shop had a large order, but the client wasn't ready to take delivery of the assembled PC's. So rather than have them sitting around the office they would rather sell them at cost price (I didn't buy that one for a minute). Apparently what I got was an upgraded version of the standard model they advertise (sort of, they advertise in every Tuesdays MX too). OK sounds good. I haggled a bit, took a few options out of the package (no monitor, kb, mouse etc) and within 15 minutes of walking in, I was walking out the door a brand new computer. I spent about what I thought I would, and got around about what I wanted. I'm still not sure if I got a good deal though. Doesn't matter now anyway.

I had to carry the computer to Melbourne Central where I stopped in the food court for water and a sit down. This computer buying and carrying business was thirsty, tiring, and not to mention awkward work. Feeling revived I went down to the station and soon boarded a train home. Thankfully I arranged a ride for the 1.6km trip from the station home. I've carried mice, keyboards, routers and monitors (LCD) that distance, but I don't think I could have made it with an actual computer.

In sumary:

walk-bus-bus-walk-swap_meet-walk-tram-walk-eat-walk-
computer-walk-drink-walk-train-car

Update 3: New Computer

I don't care if I'm posting these updates out of order. This is the easiest one to do...

Last Saturday during my random day out (see Update 2), I happened apon a computer shop and bought a new computer, just like that. It's big and black and very noisy because of all the fans. In comparison my old computer was silent. It's not a top of the line gaming rig but it serves my purposes very well. Did I mention it is fast, I like it.

Oh yeah the specs well lets see

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 4500 2.2GHz
Motherboard: MSI P4M900M3. - That's a Via chipset not Intel or nVidia possibly the major weak spot in the system, but we'll see...
RAM: 2 GB of 667 DDR2 ram of some generic flavour.
HDD: 250 GB SATAII Maxtor.
Optical: LG DVD burner -Lifes Good!
Case: In Win EA002

Notice I didn't mention graphics? Being a cheap computer it's got an integrated chipset. Believe it or not it's an S3 chipset, which I thought went out in the stoneage, Pentium 1 with Windows 95 and all that. Thankfully (or not) Via has decided to re-release an all new graphics chipset under the brand Via Chrome. I plan to replace it believe me. A guy at work was trying to talk me into an NVidia 8800GT, but I'm not sure if the motherboard would take it. We'll see.

As far as operating systems go I opted for Windows XP home. It's OK I guess. My old PC had Windows 2000, which is basically XP without all the eye candy. It's pretty similar except everything got moved around and I'm still finding my way around. Now this may shock people, but after using Vista on my laptop, and then XP on this computer, I'm thoroughly convinced that Vista is actually an improvement. Sure things look nicer but I think it is a better operating system, or will be once all the bugs get ironed out. Hopefully Vista SP1 fixes them. I actually wish I had gone for Vista Home Premium, and I still might.

It took me a week to get all my music, files, email and photos transfered over as my old computer has an ancient very slow network card (complete with a co-axial BNC connector), but as of yesterday this is now my main computer.

Now all it needs is a name...

Update 1: Down the bay

The Pier at Flinders. Philip Island and "The Nobbies"
can be seen in the background.

The 'straya day long weekend saw me tripping around the Mornington Peninsula on the Monday with my Mum. We went to Flinders and had fish and chips for lunch in the park overlooking the Jetty. After that we headed over to Rosebud. While there we went and had a look at my grandparents former home. My grandfather actually designed this house, he was an electrical engineer so he was pretty good at this sort of thing. A lady was out the front washing her car (Are the Mornington Peninsula on lesser water restrictions?) As is typical of houses of this vintage, it is constructed from fibro cement sheeting. To it seems as if most of Rosebud is constructed of Fibro.

After heading down to Rye we decided to turn back to Melbourne. We decided to stop at Rosebud for afternoon tea. We ended up at what is named the "New" Rosebud Bakery. While the service was pretty good, the chocolate milkshake I had was not so good. The best milkshakes are the ones where you get the tin cup with another glass or two worth of shake in reserve, sadly this was missing and my glass was empty all too soon.

Our refreshments done away with we drove to the Rosebud Pier across the road. It was a warm day, and this was the place to be. There were a lot of people on what little beach there was due to a high tide. What I've always found quite amusing about this part of the bay is how you can wade out for 100 metres, and the water goes no higher than your knees, and that's at high tide. On the pier there were lots of kids and teenagers jumping off and splashing around. Strangest of all some young girls were even sunbathing, strange given all the warnings of danger of this activity.

A ship passing Rosebud Pier

At both Flinders and Rosebud the colour of the water was unreal (as seen in the photos), I don't recall seeing water this colour before in Melbourne. Also on the pier there were a few people fishing. No one caught anything while we were there, but on the way back I saw a school of some reasonably sized fish. All this brought home to me the uncertain effects of the channel deepening dredging and eventual blasting of the heads that was due to begin in the next week or so after we were there. I have no idea, what will happen, but I suspect that the Port of Melbourne Corporation probably got the environmental effects statement they wanted.

Arthur's Seat from the Pier. The water really was that
clear, and that colour!

The road home lay ahead, taking us along the bay via Dromana, Mount Martha, Mornington and Farnkston to Edithvale where we headed up Springvale road and Westall Road home. Getting closer to home it was nearing dinner time so we stopped at Hungry Jacks at Forest Hill for a bite to eat. Why is it that the air conditioning in these places is always so cold?