OMG its August already?

It feels like time is blistering past. It's August already, I'll be going on holidays in 20 days! I'm glad that summer will be back soon. The days are slowly starting to get a longer.

Let's backtrack...

Today after finishing late from work, I was in the carpark and noticed that it was the first clear sunset in nearly a fortnight, so I had to take a photo (with the new camera).


That photo was taken with my new SONY T30 digital still camera. I bought two on Saturday (one for me [black] and one for mum [silver]). I'm still getting my head around all the features, but it's a great little camera. Very similar to my old SONY P32 in terms of the menus etc.

Earlier on Saturday Trav bought a Canon 30D digital SLR. Takes wicked photos... Err, Trav takes wicked photos.

On Tuesday I was stunned out of bed when my home phone rang (noone ever calls me) at 5am. It was Trav and I had no idea what was going on. I had slept in and forgotten to set my alarm so I could take him to the airport. (Sorry bubs!) I was wired for the rest of the day and I still feel bad about it. I guess shit was meant to happen that day.

Yesterday I was meant to head out with my two mates Ben and Julian for a meal, but good old work called Ben in a day early. You missed the best burger ever!
The PSB Moto Italiano guys and some of us Jap-bike fans all headed down to the Norfolk Hotel in Fremantle for some good old banter and a meal.

OMGWTFBBQ - check out ein berger!


And finally for this blog installment, I had a presentation today for the second year mining engineering grots at Curtin University. It was for drilling and blasting - I winged a presentation that someone else did in 2004 (thanks Pete!). They found it pretty informative and I was quite content that they were all still awake at the end of it. The 2 hour time slot was only occupied by me for 55 minutes. More tav time I say...! Some dodgy Malaysian noodles and a Stella went down a treat on the balcony at the staff restaurant - cheers Norm!

Oh, and tomorrow I'm playing teacher again as I help out with some software training for some customers at work. Should be alright. I'm hoping to score a free lunch out of that one as well!

What's Cookin' in the Kitchen?

Chikky biker babes! Today was the group photoshoot for the PerthStreetBikes.com girls "Kitchen" calendar, AND the "Kitchen's" 2nd Birthday. One of the lovely ladies Col donated her house to have the photoshoot. There was also a BBQ and cake and I even managed to get Trav to come.

Before the fun began..

Nip blowing up a balloon, check out the little girl's face!

Stu and Trav cooking up a storm.
(Spot the Engineer - folded arms and all!)

The girl's are hot!

PSB Girls 2nd Birthday

Time for celebrations... and cake!

BIG THANKS to Col for letting us dirty up her house, thanks to the boy(s) who did the BBQ-ing, Dave and Keez for sorting out photos, and all the lovely ladies that made the day as fun as it was, especially doing Roo Tails on Nip with the tea towels. Nice meeting some new faces too!

Poker Night

Trav had a poker night at his house on Saturday, which meant one thing - a nice night in. We had the table set up with chips, the green felt mat, dips, crackers, chocolates, salami, chips and of course beer. We started not too long after 7pm and had people crashing all over the place. In the end (2am) we were all dying and Trav and Brad were the last two. After a few rounds of 40c bets, they called it a tie and split the difference. I was SO tired after that. But damn that cheese and bacon dip was nice!

Luke, Brad, Tony, Scott, Trav, Julia, Leanne.

Scott and Trav

Julia and Luke

Me and Luke.

We ordered some pizzas later in the night and had the radio and heater going. After running out of beer just after 11pm, things slowly started fizzing out. In all, the dip was nice, I was dealer and I'm looking forward to the next one.

PerthRiders.com BBQ #2

I finally got some photos of the PerthRiders.com BBQ #2 that was held on Sunday July 30.
Thanks to Matt for the pictures nearly a week after the actual event. And yes, after MUCH BITCHING... photos!

Me, lookin' so cool.

There were so many dogs!

The lovely Robin (aka "Turbor")

Did I mention those dogs? There was a HomoDog too...

The BBQ was good fun. Heaps of fantastic people and lots of laughs were had. It was nice to meet some new people and catch up with the more familiar faces too. Thanks to all the people that cooked the snaggers and kept the bevvies cold.

Saf's Meet and Greet - SUNDAY JULY 30

As per my post below, Ivan "Saf" Safranek is going into politics. If you've read the introduction and are interested in supporting him, come down for a meet and greet tomorrow.

SUNDAY, JULY 30th 2006
6:00pm till 7:00pm
Scarborough Beach, lower carpark (or Peter's by the Sea if it's raining)
For a meet and greet, come pickup a form!
You'll see the guy in the yellow wheelchair, can't miss Saf!

Someone say something about a PARTY?

Well, kind of. Let's get serious for a moment.
One of my mates is going into politics - here's what he has to say about it...

Hey peoples,

If i may spend a few mins of your time and introduce myself to those of you that dont know me from PSB or AHG, Barbagallo or the drags, my name is Ivan Safranek, and ive been a car and bike person my whole life. Ive raced motocross from age 4 till age 17 when i was forcefully made to retire back in 1992 with a broken back and spinal cord damage. This is how many of you may know me, the guy with the Toyotas in the 'chair.

Currently i own a few Toyota's (Supra RZ TT, Gt-Four GRP A) and a couple Nissans (R32 Skyline race car project, 180sx Nurburgring racer in Europe), aswell as bikes, a few Hondas. I currently race a 175rwhp Honda CBR 1000 RR Fireblade in the state Superbike championship at Barbagalo raceway. I am also a long time perf part fabricator of exotic car and bike parts, however that may soon change.

Sitting around and speaking to people in the last couple years i have seen a lot of change. I have seen laws get tighter and tighter, ive seen Police get less tolerant and im seeing less actual driving exp on the roads along with more road rage. Im 31 at the moment, so i dont fit into the P Plater hoon demographic, nor the 50+ old and senile "get that noise outa here" either, but i care for where things are going.

How so ? . Well, i am about to enter state politics to give this place a bit of a shakeup, and give the car and bike people some actual real representation. I am tired of the former Michelle Roberts types, or the Grant Dorringtons who sit there and slam these laws and guidelines down upon us, and smile as they do it, because they know we havent got a leg to stand on.

How many of you have recieved yellow stickers you cant get around , when they have actually been incorrectly issued ??? . I know quite a few. So how are you goign to stand up to the law ?. You cant. I marched in the Rally Aus protest march .... we get to Parliament house, we demanded to see Mark McGowan, (yet nieve idiots we were, we didnt even know if he was there) and they pretty much laughed at us. Waste of time. I got a cold, and nothing more. This is the way things are in Aus, you can protest, piss and moan , and NOTHIGN will happen, NO-ONE WILL HEAR YOU or care for that matter.

There is only ONE way to get things resolved, and thats form the inside.

So why me ? . Why not . I have been run out of the river with my Jet Ski's, i have lost one of my guns when it was deemed that perhaps a legit owner in a wheelchair may take his gun into a bank and hold it up, ive seen laws that say "mess up and we take your car" , i see no places to drift (excpet Wanneroo & Collie, but even they arent proper drift circuits), i see no-where for me to stunt my CBR929RR Fireblade bike, yet we arent allowed to do this on public roads. Am i the only one who see's a contradiction here ? . The govt says that the laws are fair, so if we take a Datsun Stanza for $200bux and do the same thing in the road as a $80,000 R34 GT-R , and get them taken off you ..... is that fair ? Is it the same punishment ? . What about you can drive drunk (and get nailed) not once , not twice, three times for eg, and you keep your car. Do a chirp from 1st to second, and you could be walking. Justify that !. I AM SICK OF the crap we live in here. People like Michelle Roberts (past) and Grant Dorrington dont care what the REAL issues are, if they did they would teach drivers of Perth how to simply merge, keep left and learn to correctly drive. Its all about revenue my freinds.

As ive said before, to make simple changes id need to get around the whole "data shows" debate and actually push the obvious views. You can have a picture of a elephant in a jungle and you think "oh how lovely ...... " , zoom out and see there is a guy holding a gun ready to shoot its ass dead and take its tusks .... and some people in power would only revert back to the pretty picture and say "look , that elephant is so happy ..... ".

So, what can you do ?. I need your help, its that simple. I need your help with a $25 membership to join my branch (i do not recieve this money, it goes to the party) and make the numbers. We need numbers and strength. I dont care if you drive a atmo Silvia, or a nitrous fed 355 Commodore, its irrelevant at this time, what isnt is that we stand together on this one.

Twenty Five bills is what it will take, and to spread the word. Simple as that. Its not too much to ask and its not something you will miss, but it is something that will go towards a change. How so you may ask ? ..... well, you then bring one of your own (me) into the state govt and form there with the numbers, we can make a change to laws, we can put forward proposals , we can keep the future of what we love, without it being cut off at the knees.

The numbers?. Think of it this way, and without going into too deep political debate, numbers rule politics. Numbers is power. Think of two hills and a valley. On one side you have 60 people. On the other you have 300. In such a case .... its not really even a war, its a mercy killing.

I need to get pre-selected, and again with numbers, this isnt a problem. I am not working on this alone, i have long time insiders who are helping me get to where it is we need to be, and make the change.

So what party is it ?. It will be with the Liberal party. Now some of you may have an issue with that, and some may not. I will not go independant, spend 12 years to loosen hoon laws for eg, and then retire with bugger all done. You need to work in with the "big 2", and that leaves the Libs or Labour. Considering that Labour spawned the Roberts' and Dorrington's, there isnt a hope in hell ill support such a party, so please, i dont wnat replies with conversion and low ball comments on what you think the Libs stand for. Its a question of support, or no support.

So whats the policies i can bring ?. Well, when your going to run for pre-selection its not a time when you stand up with policies, as you are joining a established liberal party, with liberal policies. If this were a voting support post, where im running for Premier or PM, then yes thats different, but its not the same deal here. How it works is (as a forum memeber decreibed it on another forum that was clear as day)....

Imagine im applying for a job, and i need your support. I get into the job, i can then as an employee of a company speak to the management and make a change simply because i have many customers behind my cause. Politics isnt exactly like that, but thats a really rough annology. The poiint being is.... if you have a issue with something, you then have someone who has the power to make a change, and preserve what we want to keep going for the future.

For those that are interested, i shall be setting up banking details next week to get this ball in motion. Thanks for the time guys, and please dont dismiss this as "it doesnt really effect me", as it does, and i really do need your support. Thanks

PS: Ill cut and paste this into a few forums here in Perth, please dont be shy to spread the word !!

I had a big long talk with Saf on Wednesday nite about politics and shit. He explained to me that things needed to improve.

I know that there's HEAPS of people that "don't know" or "don't care" about politics. I guess I'm a little bit like that too. I'm not fussed which party is better than another. I've joined up because:

FINALLY, after all these years of the motoring/motorcycling community bitching about our current government state, there's someone that's put their hand up and said "I hear ya!"

Yes, someone said " Hey guys, I'll do it" and there's crickets chirping...

POWER IN NUMBERS. Unless you're a die hard labour supporter (and I doubt there's that many), come on guys, grab your keyboard, jump on NetBank and transfer your $25 and sign up now. You'll have a voice. This is your chance. Right now. Yes now. So if you've been thinking about it, get cracking. If you've been avoiding it, maybe reconsider.

The time has come to raise your voice! Really! I can't help but emphasise how important this is! So get to it!

I've nominated myself as Saf's helper for this, trying to get numbers is too difficult for one person to do. THIS WEEKEND - Saf and I will be at Scarborough Beach carpark with sign-up forms. Come meet him, fire those tough questions and realise that he's here to help. I'll post more information as it comes.

Here's a comment from PerthStreetBikes.com that I found motivating:

Okay. I want you to stop and think for 5 minutes. Seriously, pull yourself away from the monitor, go get yourself a drink, walk outside to your Honda, Suzuki, Kwakka, Ducati (If your fortunate enough to own one) or whatever. Now I want you to have a good look at the bike, and think how much longer you are going to be able to twist the throttle anywhere?!? How much longer you are going to be able to go down to the motorplex, or up to Barbagello raceway and pay a reasonable amount to get some track time? How much longer before they take your licence away for doing a mono, or going 30 over the limit?

Now think about how many threads have been written about these types of things. And think about how many of these threads you have contributed to.

And now seriously ask yourself, "What have I done about it?"

Well, to be honest, to this point... Nothing really. Now, consider this, if for the cost of $25, you could start to make a difference. Seriously. We have one of our Moderators willing to try and make a change, to go out and do the hard yards for us. All Saf is trying to do is get our voice heard because at the moment, nobody is listening to us. A minority is only a minority as long as it can't be heard.

Now, hopefully, with enough support, we can have our say. We can have a say in things like wire rope barriers, Lanesplitting and our Draconian road laws.

If we all sit around and say "it will never happen" then it never will. I just ask you to seriously consider this, think that we may just start the ball rolling, and when it's rolling we can attract more people to the cause. I'm sure that Motorcycle riders aren't the only people on the road getting shafted.

And if in the end, if we can't do anything, or nothing happens, then what have you lost? At least you gave it a shot.

FEAR FACTORY - Coming to Perth

Fear Factory are coming to Perth, ONE SHOW ONLY
at Metropolis Fremantle.

Tuesday September 19th, 2006 - doors from 8pm
Tix available from BOCS right now for $61.35 - 18+ only

OMGWTFBBQ - I have two tix already! w00t!!1!
Back from O/S just in time for the gig.
ROCK!
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