Wednesday, September 28, 2005
I'm a multi-thousandaire
I was about to go to bed at a reasonable hour last night - and I noticed that "The Up-late Game Show" was on TV. For those that don't know, The Up-late Game Show is a late night game show (fancy that) hosted by Simon "Hotdogs" Deering from Australia's Big Brother 5. On the show contestants call a 50c telephone number to solve puzzles for prize money. Puzzles such as this - how many triangles?
(Answer: 118)
Once a contestant wins the basic puzzle (which is worth around $100 to $300), they get a chance at the "Bonus Board". The bonus board is a series of eight left or right questions, if you get them all right you win a bonus amount (anything over $1,500). They keep the same pattern until someone wins the board - so if you watch a few people stuff it up - you already know most of the answer. Here's an example (starting from bottom to top):
Anywho - as I was watching the show, someone got the last question of the bonus board incorrect - thus telling the viewers the complete correct path (as shown above).
I don't mind trying to win stuff - so I called through before they showed the next game, hoping that I'd be quick enough to get chosen - even though I hadn't worked out the puzzle yet. Luckily, the puzzle was quite easy and quick enough to solve pretty much straight away. Here was my question:
(Answer: 14)
Luckily, I was the first person to be chosen in the queue and scored $200 for answering the first question. The bonus board had been going for a little while - so I scored $2,000 from that. Long story - long, I've got a cheque for $2,200 in the mail - yay!
While most of it will be going to house / wedding / honeymoon expenses (such as a fridge), my girlfriend suggested I might just have to find some money for a gift for myself.
(Answer: 118)
Once a contestant wins the basic puzzle (which is worth around $100 to $300), they get a chance at the "Bonus Board". The bonus board is a series of eight left or right questions, if you get them all right you win a bonus amount (anything over $1,500). They keep the same pattern until someone wins the board - so if you watch a few people stuff it up - you already know most of the answer. Here's an example (starting from bottom to top):
Anywho - as I was watching the show, someone got the last question of the bonus board incorrect - thus telling the viewers the complete correct path (as shown above).
I don't mind trying to win stuff - so I called through before they showed the next game, hoping that I'd be quick enough to get chosen - even though I hadn't worked out the puzzle yet. Luckily, the puzzle was quite easy and quick enough to solve pretty much straight away. Here was my question:
(Answer: 14)
Luckily, I was the first person to be chosen in the queue and scored $200 for answering the first question. The bonus board had been going for a little while - so I scored $2,000 from that. Long story - long, I've got a cheque for $2,200 in the mail - yay!
While most of it will be going to house / wedding / honeymoon expenses (such as a fridge), my girlfriend suggested I might just have to find some money for a gift for myself.
Monday, September 12, 2005
I think I'm ready to buy an iPod
iPod Nano
I was considering taking my MiniDisc player with me to America for the flight there and back - and the US interstate trips. I wasn't too happy with the idea though, as it's battery life is too short and I don't have any of my later music on the discs. You can't directly copy MP3s to my model of MiniDisc player (I bought it one version too early), so I'd need to play each of them on the PC and record on the MiniDisc. Otherwise I'd need to play them on my PS2, and copy them from the digital output (better quality, but will need to go through each CD).
The Nano's 4 GB model (black) should be fine for me, as I've only got around 3.5 GB of music - and 500 Meg of that is comedy (Jerky Boys etc). The 14 hour charge is good for the flights as well - as I'll be on the plane for about that long when going between Melbourne and LA.
I think I've never wanted to buy an iPod because I didn't want to admit that the MiniDisc was a poor purchase decision - but this Nano is sweet. And you can't say I'm rushing into buying an Apple music device!
I was considering taking my MiniDisc player with me to America for the flight there and back - and the US interstate trips. I wasn't too happy with the idea though, as it's battery life is too short and I don't have any of my later music on the discs. You can't directly copy MP3s to my model of MiniDisc player (I bought it one version too early), so I'd need to play each of them on the PC and record on the MiniDisc. Otherwise I'd need to play them on my PS2, and copy them from the digital output (better quality, but will need to go through each CD).
The Nano's 4 GB model (black) should be fine for me, as I've only got around 3.5 GB of music - and 500 Meg of that is comedy (Jerky Boys etc). The 14 hour charge is good for the flights as well - as I'll be on the plane for about that long when going between Melbourne and LA.
I think I've never wanted to buy an iPod because I didn't want to admit that the MiniDisc was a poor purchase decision - but this Nano is sweet. And you can't say I'm rushing into buying an Apple music device!
Monday, September 05, 2005
Honeymoon Itinerary
As part of our honeymoon to America, we'll be travelling to a few US cities - catching planes between each destination. I wanted to make sure that we had a hotel booked for each city - and that we weren't flying in at 6pm when there was a hockey game booked at 7pm - so I did a quick timeline.
While I was playing around with it - I used Google Maps to show the directions between hotel / airport - as well as between airports. I also put up links to pictures that show the view we'll be getting for each of our hockey games at Mellon Arena.
I'm using this to help plan out what we'll be doing each day ("Where are we staying on the 29th again?" etc) - so the map locations of each hotel are good. I'm currently reading New York's Lonely Planet Guide to get a few ideas.
While I was playing around with it - I used Google Maps to show the directions between hotel / airport - as well as between airports. I also put up links to pictures that show the view we'll be getting for each of our hockey games at Mellon Arena.
I'm using this to help plan out what we'll be doing each day ("Where are we staying on the 29th again?" etc) - so the map locations of each hotel are good. I'm currently reading New York's Lonely Planet Guide to get a few ideas.
