LaunchPad: Episode III : Revenge on the Beach

I know, I know... its a corny title. But in view of the measly 4 hours I slept in order to ensure that I slot in my eBay bid at the last minute, I think I can use sleep deprivation as an excuse. I'll come up with better ones next time. Another week has gone by. The pace of my flying training has finally picked up. In my current phase of circuits, weather tolerance during the flight is greater, so I can fly more often even in marginal weather. So that's a good thing I guess, unless you think of the compacted amount of time I have to prepare for my next flights.

So let's see.... What have I done last week? Definitely wasn't watching the 26 Dvds I bought but never recieved. Its a long story, and not a very legal one either, but suffice to say that I now have to arrange for my Dvds to be shipped over to Perth coz I didn't recieve them before I left Singapore. I Ebayed alot, started and maintained my marathon/triathlon training schedule thus far (fingers crossed on the next few weeks. Going to go running tomorrow. Yes Chris, I mocked you and your triathlon training, but I'm also doing it now...) and did the stupidest thing I can think of thus far - went to the beach in winter. No, there's no snow/ice at the beach in winter. This is not Alaska, but the water was freakin cold nonetheless. Luckily, with the ozone hole above australia, the sun's pretty intense (not EXACTLY a good thing either. Loads of SPF 70 was used that day...), which helped with the numbing coldness once I was out of the water. Peter actually turned green in the face due to the cold waters. And we swore never to go back in Scarborough waters till mid summer.

Enough with the words. On with the pictures...

eBay is so addictive... it is pure EVIL. It has to be one of the most evil and sinful things mankind has ever produced. I rank it up there together with B&J ice cream, WMDs, George Bush (both of them), and the spore gahmen...

The pictures of the 2 bikes are what I won from bidding on eBay. Which color's nicer? Red or Black? Feedback pls. I got only one of them of course. Won the red one, but requested from the seller to give me the black one instead. Looked cooler I think. Tell me if I made the right choice. A pointer to all eBayers out there. The idea is NOT to drive the price up at the START or the middle of the auction. The idea is to wait till the last 5 minutes to put your maximum bid up. Like this, no one bids anymore than they are willing to pay at the outset. Don't help the seller by bidding early and forcing other bidder's psychological limit to go higher and higher. A bidding war will ensue, and that will only result in 1 of 2 things: 1- You lose the bid. 2- You win the bid, but at a much higher price than you INITIALLY wanted to pay. Either way, YOU LOSE. Well, that's exactly what I did for the bike. It started out with me wanting a road type bike. My budget was a measly AU$300 for any bike. In Perth, that would mean you could only afford a mountain bike (and it has to be one on a very good discount to boot) that had its wheels changed to slick ones. A real hybrid road/mountain bike would cost 400-800 bucks at entry level, and a real full on road/racer bike would set you back a cool 800-1K. So you see, I was in a bit of a fix. But then I saw the above auction on ebay. It was bidding at around 150 initially. I watched the item of course, and saw the price quickly climb up near the final hour due to a bidding war started by 2 of the bidders who constantly upped their maximum bid in order to outbid the other. Finally, it stopped at 222 coz obviously one of them couldn't afford to go any higher. I noted the pattern of small increments in the past bidding and patiently waited and waited till there was only 1 minute on the clock and I bid a max bid of $250. I became the highest bidder for the bike at $233 (my max bid was $250, but eBay's automated bidding system registered $233 as the minimum needed to break the other bidder's max bid. cool system isn't it.) . 16 seconds were left on the clock, and I won the bike without giving the other bidder another chance to up my bid. So I won my racer at $233. WAY below 800-1K and even below my budget of $300. Nuff said. And so started my addiction to eBaying. I even woke up in the middle of the night just in order to repeat that method so that I could win items at an equally low prices. I bought 6 items from ebay in the last 1-2 weeks. EBAY = EVIL

Pair of Shimano sunglasses I won. Much cheaper than retail of course. Sorry baby, I just couldn't resist.

That's me walking down to the beach, wondering what I'm doing there in the middle of winter...

Yoda vs Sith Lord
Pete: Hmm.... throw you into the cold waters I shall...
Calvin: Oh yeah? You and what army?
Pete: Know the power of my Force you will.
Calvin: Your Force? I'm gonna Force this light-saber right up your a**!!

Super Calvin!! Or issit just Outtaman?

Ever used a metal toilet bowl before? I now can proudly say that I have... Wonder what that blue box in the corner is about.

A ladybug decided to follow the happening hunks from Jandakot to the beach. :D This is a shot of her running along the beach ala Baywatch style.

Pamela Anderson jumping into the waves to rescue one of my guys who was drowning. (or at least pretending to be)

Pete: Now that we are out of the water, and all dried up by the sun, lets compare whoose trousers shrank the most.
Calvin: Yay! I win!
Pete: Yeah, I think you did.

Bikini babe suntanning? Or simply a lazy sand angel (cousin of snow angel)? You decide.

Pete: Hmm... Guess how many armpit hairs I have?
Derek: ....

Me: Let's see who has the tallest.. erm.. column!
Pete: Yes, Let's do that.
Me: I tell you, you have to make a pouch to protect it from the elements.
Calvin: I am Poseidon! Hear me roar!! *Wave rushes over and crushes all the columns*
Pete, Me: Dammit, our columns are crushed.
Ian: ....