SandStorm by Darude - Grooveshark - Listen to Free Music Online

SandStorm by Darude - Grooveshark - Listen to Free Music Online

Interesting service for listening music online. The interface is in Flash and serves like a multimedia/audio player with a playlist and a large database of media available.

Better than recharging and carrying around a music player while at work.

Cooking

I’m getting very used to freedom of choosing food for meals. Sometimes I mix variety of small bits of different food and that makes a dinner. Other times I cook. Usually I make sandwiches for lunch, as well. I’m mostly enjoying just mixing tastes and experimenting with food. I find there’s more of that going on rather than preparing actual dinner. Although I do get to eat what I prepare, there are usually leftovers for tomorrow. So now I’m quite confident that cooking is not a big deal at all. Especially with microwave cooking it gets very convenient in terms of number of different bowls required for food preparation. I just bought a ceramic bowl today and it is perfect for microwave cooking. Got a plastic cover with holes in it, made for microwave cooking to keep most of the moisture within the bowl and the food being cooked. I’m quite happy with how the food turns out. The difference with gas or electric cooking is that the bowl rotates in the microwave automatically and there is no steering needed. The food gets cooked equally. This gives me time to work on other bits of the meal or making those sandwiches for tomorrow. I quite like how things can be simple and easy sometimes.

Cherry Lake, Altona

Yesterday I went jogging around Cherry Lake in Altona, catching the last rays of the Sun for the day. I was impressed by the surrounding of the lake. And, the more away I was from Altona, the more amazed I was. At times it felt as if I was in the nature far away from urban life. The grass was cut, there was lake and different plant species. It was wonderful. I saw a bunny (rabbit) next to the track. This is definitely one of the most beautiful jogging tracks I’ve seen around here. The scene of the Sun setting was magnificent, with blue and red colors mixing in the clouds.

Later, on the way home, I did stretching on the grass football field. All this is only minutes from home. Feels like a place from my imagination…

Booko: Compare book & DVD prices in Australia with Booko

Booko: Compare book & DVD prices in Australia with Booko

Book online search aggregator.

Microwave Cooking

It has been a couple of days of successful microwave cooking. Every day after I get back from work, I check out a new microwave recipe and do the cooking. Seems that most foods can be cooked in a microwave. There are different timings and intensity of power. The good thing is that it takes me only one bowl to prepare a meal.

Today I cooked some rice. It went on for five minutes on High power. Then four minutes on Medium power. After that I added the calamari and sauce and cooked for further three minutes. The only downside so far is that it takes forever for the food to cool down. :)

Food prepared in microwave oven causes cancer? - Yahoo! Answers India

Food prepared in microwave oven causes cancer? - Yahoo! Answers India

After I moved to a new place I started looking for a quick way to prepare meals. Apart from fruit, spreads, and salads, I would like to have some cooked food but without the overhead of having to prepare them for a long time and do a lot of cleaning up afterwards. If I had to do that every night it would occupy all of my time, which is pointless.

Browsing the shops today for some household stuff, I ran into some plastic rice cookers that caught my eye. The cooker was nothing special but next to them was a booklet about pros of microwave cooking. Having read a few interesting things in there, I decided to research more info online.

From what I could see, microwaves are not a health hazard if used properly. I generally don't like plastic containers so I'm using Pyrex glass dish to heat and cook food in microwave. It was interesting and refreshing to see quite a number of recipes in the booklet mentioned.

So, now microwave looks like a perfect answers to my prayers. I can use a single dish to cook small amounts of food. There is not much to wash afterwards and the food is good. I managed to cook scrambled eggs, which I considered impossible initially. Well, seems I'll be doing more microwaving in the days to come and experience the pros and cons compared to conventional gas or electric cooking.

Moved to Altona

The Altona move has been completed over the weekend. Everything has fallen into place in those two days. I got Toyota Corolla at the rent-a-car and moved the majority of the things in two rides. It was a funny thing playing Sokoban in my mind while packing the things into the car.

On Sunday I finally found the hanger stand, which I missed in Ikea on Saturday. The Internet access has been arranged with the owner so by Sunday night all was all set. Now even my SIP clients for VoIP work without any problems.

Monday was also good. First real trip to work on a train after two years. I have to say I got exactly what I was looking for. When I walk through the town towards the pier I can smell the salt in the air. On the way to work, in the morning Sun, I can see the blue vastness of the ocean. Now I’m going to enjoy this feeling for a while. Until the times comes for a new adventure.

Moomba Festival – Hailstorm

Moomba Festival is going on in Melbourne at this time of year. There is river skiing and –boarding on Yarra. Today the day started really well. It was sunny and warm. All until about 2pm when it looked like a shower coming but is going to pass soon so that we could continue looking around the park. But…

Have a look at some photos below

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158502

Altona Visit

What a wonderful day. First a friend and I searched for tennis courts around Melbourne on Gogle Earth and found some nice ones in Royal Park. There is 14 courts as a part of a club there and there are some more not far from that place. While the friend was checking for a price, the woman on the phone told him it was too hot today and that he should go to the beach instead.

Then I went to Altona to confirm the new place and talk to the owner. The owner was so cool, he gave me two weeks half rent since I will not be moving in immediately but only after our four weeks notice expire. The Internet has also been arranged.

In Altona everything is close by, at two minutes walk. RSL, shops, cafes, supermarket… Saw a lot of retirees from ex Yugoslavia playing bocce in the park. There is a library nearby. That means I could spend more time in the near future reading books or watching movies. I can read on the train. Went to the beach and walked in the water. If I did not have cold I’d have a swim. I might start to getting used to living on the shore and go for regular swims. There is a bus line to Coburg and eastern parts of the city. I topped up myki card and used it on a train for the first time.

On the other side of the street where the new place is there are several grass ovals. Perfect for jogging and exercising. Right next to that is a big lake with a bike/jogging path around. It looked as such a perfect environment for running around. I also found an indoor pool and some tennis courts.

I have such a wonderful feeling about Altona. Loved it so much that I even spent some time daydreaming and looking at houses for rest and sale. There is everything I'd want in that place.

Thinking of my time arrangements during the day, I plan to cook more to practice my culinary skills. There will be more time to prepare food and even have the lunch at work. Also enough time and shops close by to get milk and cereals for breakfast every day.

Being in Altona feels like being on a holiday. Now that I came back home the city now looks so busy and crowded.

Had an Apple cider on the Yarra shore after I came back, then had a look at some cool festival on alternative lifestyle - healthy food and alternative sources of energy - solar and even bike (pedal) powered. There was a solar panel supplying enough power for a water turbine.

Yeah, today was such a great day. I’m also feeling better and my coughing is almost gone.

Edit:
Forgot to mention, Altona is the home of Australian aviation. Back to the roots. :)

St.Kilda Laughs Festival

I just won the tickets to St.Kilda Laugs Festival at work. This is awesome for a couple of reasons. First, it is a comedy festival and I am really happy to go and watch the shows. I had a really good time watching some shows during Melbourne Comedy Festival in the previous years. And second, I simply knew I was going to win this one. :)
I’m not used to this sort of thing where a company has the budget for entertainment. Most the projects and companies I worked for had nothing like it. It is a quite nice surprise (although I said I knew I was going to win, I know)…