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Spent another weekend at the Grampians. It rained quite a bit again, but we managed to set up some top ropes on the Back Wall in Summer Day Valley. I wanted to clean a few climbs that gave me a bit of trouble last time. One climb that gave everyone problems was Tootsie Direct (22). There is only the one move, but it is not a straight forward affair. It involved smearing off a tiny not so positive crimper, then crossing over to another crimper. After quite a few attempts, I managed to make the move, then eventually cleaned it.

Some other climbs on that wall included Tootsie Indirect (19), Overkill (17) and 666 (17). We were lucky the skies only made threatening gestures, but did not rain. It was an easy going day. We were just happy that we got some climbs in.

On the way back, we decided to stop over in Ararat at the Blue Duck Hotel (yes, it sounds gay, but no, it ain’t), to have a nice steak. The place is a very unassuming pub, complete with a few locals who could be mistaken as fixtures if you didn’t look closely enough. The walls were plastered with photos from district footy triumphs, as well as what passes for local humour.

We got there too early for dinner, so huddled near the fire place to warm up. After having a couple of beers and a game of pool, we adjourned to the dining room to make our orders. Everyone ordered the eye fillet, because that was all K and I talked about on the trip there.

Although not cheap, the eye fillets were big, thick and juicy. Served on a blue stone brick heated to 400°C, it was up to the diner to cook their steak the way they liked it. I had it medium rare, with a hollandaise sauce. *drool* Definitely the place to drop in for a good steak if you are anywhere near Ararat!

After the awesome steak, we made our way back to Melbourne, as the weather closed in and it started pissing down outside. Another great weekend, all in the spirit of training for Railay at years end! Woohoo!

I am still astonished when I read about top Olympians taking drugs to enhance their performance. Are they that desperate to get a medal? Why don’t they just take a baseball bat to the knees of their opponents and be done with it?

What really erks me is when these “athletes” win, they seem so proud of themselves for taking out the title. How can someone be proud about cheating?

I have an idea! How about the Olympic Committee create another Olympics. One called the “Drug Affected Olympics”. At these games, athletes would be allowed to take any performance enhancement or recreational drugs they wish. At the end of the day, it would be the result that really mattered. The motto for these Olympics could be “Win at any cost and feel good doing it!”.

Imagine athletes lining up at the starter blocks for the 100m sprint. On the “Get ready” signal, they would all have a line. The starter’s gun would go off and before you know it, the race would be over! World records broken at every race! Everyone would be happy, win or lose, because they would all be puffing away on huge reefers at the finish line! The winners would be truly proud. They would have won fair and square…

DA Olympics for 2012! Bring it on!

Articles:

• Rival sickened by Jones’ drug admission
• Jones’ gold for controversial Greek
• Jones hands back Olympic medals
• Legalising drugs may be only option, says Talbot

It’s funny how as kids, you look forward to your birthdays, while as adults, the older you get, the more you dread it.

Well, this year I’ve decided to embrace it and look at it from a different angle. Not sure what angle that is yet, but I’ll let you know when I find out.

The big birthday bash was last Friday. Went to Hofbrauhaus, a German restaurant in the city, for dinner. They served traditional Bavarian food, while for entertainment, there was some slap dancing! Very entertaining indeed!

We then headed off to Paul Van Dyk @ The Metro Palace. It was ages since I’d seen PVD live. It was also ages since I’d been to a trance party.

PVD was not as I remembered him to be. Either the trance was stale, or I’ve moved on in music taste. Maybe it was both. That’s not to say it was a bad gig. Far from it, judging by the hour I got home.

Normally I don’t enjoy my own birthday - too much fussing, but I have to say, Friday turned out to be a great night! I can thank E & P for putting it all together, and the rest of my friends for showing up! Thanks guys!

The other big milestone in my life recently is the opening of my food shop, Skew’d. It took quite a while to plan and execute that ‘little’ project, but I’m glad that it has finally reached fruition. We will wait to see if the concept takes off in Melbourne. I am quietly optimistic!

Anyway, have you noticed that as you get older, time seems to pass by more quickly?

But don’t they say, “Time flies when you are having fun”?

Does that mean the older you get, the more fun you (should) have?

I will let you ponder about that one…

I know many of you are waiting for the new version of KQF to come out. I’ve been working on some new features that I think you will like. Some minor bugs that crept in after the release of WP 2.3 have also been squashed.

The latest version will be smoother in operation, since it will be fully AJAXified. In other words, it should operate more like a desktop application. No more page refreshes!

It should be out soon. Cheers!