Blog Marco

I was driving into Sydney city today via the M5 motorway. Driving along the freeway and I see those tire treadmarks leading off the road. I not only see one, but perhaps nine or ten skid marks. Some of the marks go straight into the concrete barriers, others into the grass and others into the wire barriers. I wonder if those wire barriers held up to a car and prevented it from crossing over? Just imagine if it didn't... it would almost certainly result in a head on crash... Hmmm... they should really rub those marks off the road... or maybe they should paint more on as a gimmick to keep drivers at the speed limit...

Time. Everybody on Earth has the same amount of time on their hands. What you choose to do with it in the present will determine your future. Time is our most precious commodity.

We can burn time. We can waste time. We can give away time. But we can never reclaim back lost time.

Everybody has a set limit of time. So don't waste time. There is no time like the present.

Every fleeting moment is precious. Don't throw your your time away.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's Raped! Like the wild title? The original YouTube video for this clip was "live! Turtle Rape". Enjoy the video of a turtle violently attacking another turtle...

Futurama...: "cursed by his own hubris":: Hubris - Excessive pride displayed by a character and often taking the form of a boastful comparison of the self to the divine, the gods, or other higher powers--often also resulting in harsh punishment.

Here's your word of the day: Avarice: a noun meaning extreme greed for money or gain. A simple search on Wikipedia redirects you to greed. I forgot where I read the word but I think the author was listing a few vices. So on a separate thread I searched for the seven capital vices a.k.a. the seven deadly sins: superbia (hubris/pride), avaritia (avarice/greed), luxuria (extravagance, later lust), invidia (envy), gula (gluttony), ira (wrath/anger), and acedia (sloth/laziness). The Catholic Encyclopedia has the following explanation for the word avarice:

After reading this article from the Sydney Morning Herald makes me wonder if it was a slow new weekend. I have a suspicion that the article is a result of a press release from Berlei - basically free advertising... I leave you with this:

Experts put the increase down to changes in diet. They said the contraceptive pill would also make a woman's breasts increase in size.

This Blog's one year anniversary just went floating by the other month. I posted up my first blog post on the 21st of August 2005. Since then the number of hits to this blog has been increasing. Blog Marco officially gets about 2000+ hits a day and has 844 blog posts (including this one).

In the beginning I was posting quite a few posts about Programming, but once I had the kinks out of this blog, I was also blogging about my trip to China, record petrol prices in Sydney and the City 2 Surf. But now I've been posting Celebrity photos, YouTube videos and Photography.

Thanks for everyone's support and I hope this blog will continue to flourish. Enjoy your stay.

The other day I was waiting at a traffic light on my way to Canley Vale. Checking my rear view mirror (as you do), I saw a woman doing up her makeup. No problem there. The light turned green. I saw her drop her makeup stuff (I'm a guy - I don't know the difference between mascara or powder blush) and switch it for a cigarette. A few minutes later, (still driving) she gets a call. So she's juggling a mobile phone on one hand, a cigarette on the other while she was driving. And you know what? She was driving a manual. Rush hour multitasking. It was mesmerising to watch. Switch the gear with the hand with the mobile, while the cigarette hand drove the wheel. Stick the mobile back near the ear, take a puff from the ciggie, letting go of the wheel momentarily. Then switching gears again. Hmmm....

I haven't counted but I think there's 96 days till Christmas...

Marco's Rice Crackers - yum. My mum found this somewhere and had to buy this packet of rice crackers because it bears my name. I was amused for a second. Everyone has an obsession with their name. It's something we have for our lifetime. And this isn't the first time I've taken a pic of something with my name on it. There was Marco Island in Florida, USA. I also have a "Cafe Marco" photo that I took from a Marco Polo hotel in Beijing...

30 minute CityRail train delays! CityRail! This was the first time I've felt the train jolt like that in my 11 years of riding these Sydney trains. It was like a slow speed car crash from the rear. The train jolted about 6 or seven times before the train driver finally had the train at Redfern station. The CityRail train did it a few times between Macdonaldtown and Redfern. A lot of people must have been late for work.

It took about 20 minutes for people to get from one platform to the other. Just imagine if there was an emergency at Redfern train station. If there was an accident and it takes that long to move up a set a stairs, many people would have died or suffered. Although, I guess there are two ways to exit from the platform, from the top or to the bottom end.

CityRail delays like this used to happen quite often. Especially with the old train timetable. Last year they revamped the timetable, with less frequent and much slower services. The trains suddenly became punctual.

I must've looked like an easy target for one of those ShoeMart (SM) scam artists to approach me (and my cousin). She came out of nowhere, clutching a handbag, looking very normal. She asked us if we were going to buy anything and if we want to exchange our cash for a gift cheque. This seemed odd, so we politely declined. At the counter thse was a notice to customers (the above photo): "Please say NO to strangers exchanging SM Gift Cheques with your cash." I guess they have some sort of scam going on where they would give you bogus SM gift certificates and offer you a little more than what you exchanged in cash. Be warned.

What a neat idea. They have a carriage just for female, elderly, children, & disabled passengers in Manila, Philippines. I guess because the carriages in the MRT (Mass Rail Transit) get so packed like sardines, it is probably wise to have a system like this to prevent and groping incidents and the like...

My Grandmother passed away a few years ago and we've decided to sell off some of the medical equipment my family used to take care of her at home. So if you are a home carer or know of some family that needs of equipment like these, please give my Dad a call at (Ramon) 0433 461 379. Of course, if you decide to purchase the goods you'll have to be in Sydney and be able to transport it yourself. So what's for sale?

1 x Wheelchair Commode @ $400
Perfect for use for those who are unable to assist themselves to the toilet. Used and In good condition.

1 x Hospital Medical Bed @ $1,200
Used, and in perfect condition. This hospital medical bed is tiltable for comfort and has roller wheels.

A friend and I were walking around the city on Friday arvo a fortnight ago and we saw this street performer entertaining a crowd of around 30 in Pitt Street Mall. In the trick this is pictured above he did a slight twist on the sword down the throat trick. Instead of a sword he used a rubber balloon. Gross, yet entertaining.