Sorry I haven’t written for a while – holidays have been on and between taking friends down to Anglesea for a couple of days and study I haven’t really had time for much else. Also there ain’t much really happening at the moment – it’s that awful time of the year where social lives dry up due to impending exams, while even the staple of sport becomes a little scarce, with the footy finishing a week ago, and the cricket season still a month away at best (not counting the Johnnie Walker Super Series), starting this Wednesday!

So yeah, if you thought this would be the post to break the drought, you’d be wrong!

Pete

So the Swannies got over the Eagles – and what a match it was! As far as I’m concerned it was the most competitive Grand Final for well over a decade. That said, it shouldn’t have been. The AFL tribunal should hang its head in shame for allowing Barry Hall to play. The reason the tribunal exists is to ensure unnecessarily rough play and illegal tactics are stamped out from the game. For a judicial system that has been overhauled this year, it’s certainly doing a good job at appearing remarkably flawed.

Basically, for those not coy to the actions of the last week, Sydney played St Kilda, and West Coast played Adelaide last weekend for a spot in this weeks AFL Grand Final. In the first quarter of the Sydney V Saints match, Barry Hall, the Sydney captain (for the time being) and star forward purposely and without (much) incitement punched St Kilda’s Matt Maguire in the stomach, an offense that, taking into account the punch was intentional and out of play, would have normally excluded the player from the next 2 or 3 matches. However, Hall appealed a 2 match suspension that was offered to him and had it reduced to no penalty – even though a precedent had been set earlier in the year with another player suspended. Although I concede that allowing Hall to play made the match a far more enjoyable affair than it would otherwise had been – West Coast would have almost certainly won without Sydney’s star forward and captain to worry about – I certainly wouldn’t want to be an Eagle right now.

The AFL is going to have to thoroughly examine the processes by which Hall got off this summer if it wants to keep an ounce of credibility for the tribunal system.

Pete

As a little bit of advice for all you spring chickens out there: do not attempt an absolute rager before disecting a cane toad the next morning. Taking Alcodol at every opportune moment or not, I can guarantee that it will not be a pleasant experience.

Now let me shower to get this smell off me, then sleep. Oh beautiful, wondrous SLEEP!

Pete

So. The Monash Science Ball is tonight. I’ve been dragged along by my dear friends, but I must admit I’m looking forward to it, at least somewhat. Even though it’s at Moorabbin’s less than world famous Kingston centre (\as opposed to the Crown Palladium Ballroom where the Law society has theirs) it should be a lot of fun, especially as the event is sponsered in partnership between Carlton Draught and Alcodol. All you can drink wine and beer, and 5 spirit tokens along with a 3 course meal, and with no hangover to look forward to in the morning. Not too shabby if you ask me!

Anyway I don’t have long to get ready, best run off and change. Maybe I’ll take some photos so you can all see the progression from painful sobriety to joyous intoxication.

Pete

Unlike what some salty sea dog would have you believe, I did NOT infact forget that today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, I just didn’t blog about it yetrrr.

YARR! TIS STILL 3 MINUTES LEFT OF TLAPD!

(Pirate) Pete

The rumour mill is operational again, this time with news that the Australian version of the iTunes Music Store, the force that has single handedly wiped out every instance of music piracy in the US, UK and 18 other countries around the world is due to open in early October (the 3rd according to macrumors.com).

After an apparent premature opening for an hour in April, the music store seems to have finally sorted it’s problems with the rogue labels that were threatening not to sign on to iTunes Australia. This means, dear children that Australia will finally stand alongside the rest of the western world with all the music it could ever possibly want or need…

Oh joy.

Pete

In less football oriented news I was so excited today after remembering a Chemistry lecture from months ago. A box arrived via courier this morning, which was filled with god-knows-what but packed with those little packing worms. Well, in days gone by those worms would be made of polystyrene, used once and landfilled, never to be seen again. However that is both a waste of petroleum based products and a scourge to our environment, so apparently some companies have swapped to packing worms made of waste starch from potatoes and rice. These worms appear almost identical to the old polystyrene worms, but are compostible, and therefore environmentally sound. The best thing, however (and interestingly the thing I remembered from Chem) is that they were edible. So, the first thing I did after opening the box and remembering that these things could be edible was to try and eat one – and let me tell you it was delicious. Kind of the cross between cheezels without flavouring, and popcorn without the hard kernelly bit that gets stuck in your teeth. If ever you are searching for a new snack to see you through the day, order some fragile stuff in a box and prepare to be blown away by the awesome new taste of packing worms.

Pete

I have been a little quiet regarding football recently, admittedly due to Carlton wooden spooning, but also thanks to the cricket, university and other distractions that have devoured my time like no-one’s business.

So, for those who didn’t watch this evening’s Preliminary final, it decided the first team to play in the Grand Final next Saturday. Sydney smacked St Kilda by 31 points, kicking 7 unanswered goals in the final quarter after trailing by 7 points at three quarter time. Thanks largely to Leo Barry, Big Bad Barry Hall and Nick Davis, the Swans are now one match away from breaking a 72 year premiership drought.

The most upsetting thing about the win is that I couldn’t be happier. I know St Kilda was Melbourne’s last chance at a return of the premiership cup for the first time in 4 years, but the Swans are really still just South Melbourne with a name change, albeit 20 years old. Anyway that now means that Sydney will lock horns with either Adelaide or West Coast next week. Regardless of the opposition, I’ll be rooting for the Swans – it’s about time if you ask me.

Pete

It’s been 2 days since The Ashes slipped from Australian hands, and let me assure you they haven’t been a very pleasant 48 hours for cricket loving Australians.

The barrage of horrible British tabloid headlines has been unrelenting, as has been the snide remarks from sore winners such as my Uncle in London, Ian in Nottingham, Dave who happens to be in Italy at the moment and the bastard pom I made friends with at the pub a couple of months ago, who recalled with great delight my drunken predictions to him of a whitewash in Australia’s favour. Ok, so perhaps I was asking for trouble with that last one.

Anyway, at least the English are English. What I mean by that statement is that there are plenty of other countries in the world who would rub it in far more mercilessly than the poms, given the circumstances. England last won the Ashes (which is played every 2 years) in 1986/7, and given the amount of flak poms take from Australians, and infact the rest of the world regarding sport, if I were in thier shoes, I’d be flaunting like there was no tomorrow. All you have to do is look at the sportsmanship of the English players, or the manners of the sellout crowds at any of the 5 tests to see what I mean. You could argue that it’s easy to be sportsmanlike when you win, but the way the Barmy Army started chanting “If only you were English” to Warney at the end of the 5th test on Monday was heartwarming.

That said, the whole lot of them are still bastards. Just wait until next summer, when the English tour Australia. We’ll show them… bwahahha

Pete

I’ve spent the best part of two weekends slaving my arse off at the bottom of a septic tank down at Anglesea, and the strangest thing is that I haven’t despised the job. Granted, it was a very small tank that hasn’t actually been used for a good twenty years, but none-the-less, breaking up several hundred kilograms of concrete that was once covered in human excrement is not the most pleasant thought in the world, and that’s without factoring in the very real threat of a cave in burying me in six feet of earth and concrete, and the many creepy crawlies inhabiting the manmade chasm at the back of our beach block.

Anyway I’ve decided that if world domination, or a simple job don’t pan out particularly well, I’ve always got an interest in septic tank excavation to fall back on.

Pete