Good afternoon,

Another Christmas Day has come and gone and a most enjoyable family luncheon was held here at 'Windy Hill'. In between the lively conversation, we tucked into an oyster, prawn and crayfish salad starter, followed by roast beef, baked ham & turkey, roast vegetables then some home-made Christmas pudding, cake and shortbread all washed down with a little sparkling wine and good coffee. I must say that an evening meal was NOT required! Fortunately my Dad was well enough to get a 'Day Pass' from his hospital bed and enjoyed the meal, the company and a little 'freedom'. A big thanks to all those who came and contributed to such a great day!

Monica, Dad & Robin - Christmas 2009

The biggest, but I must say unwrapped, gift I received this year was from Robin in the form of a car trailer to transport my Porsche GT3 to various club race meetings across the state and beyond.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

I got an invitation to head down to the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit in mid December to join in with some testing and customer / sponsor laps with Maranello Motorsport and Jocaro Racing, who incidentally look after my car. Unfortunately, the principal of Jocaro, Calvin Pusterla couldn't attend due to other business commitments. He had kindly offered to 'show me the fast way' around the Island and check my times and help my development. Heaven knows I need it.

The Aston Martin GTR looked awesome! - 2009

So with no driving / learning to do, I could freely wander around 'perving' on the exotica in the pits and on the track. Every major motorsport brand was represented even though there was only a dozen or so vehicles present including Aston Martin, Porsche, Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and a Dodge Viper. It didn't get any worse in the car park, as 'supporting' the dozen or so track vehicles were a couple of Ferraris, a Porsche GT3 (mine!), several Mercedes AMGs, one Lambo Gallardo, the odd Rangie and a new Nissan GTR just to name a few. Sheesh...

This Maserati Trofeo was the LOUDEST on track! - 2009

'Arty' shot of a cool Ferrari 360CS - 2009

This Ferrari 360 has been around Le Mans a few times - 2009
...
The Dodge Viper was easily the BEST sounding car on the day - 2009

Although the temperature was in the mid 30s, the cars all ran well and a great time was had by all.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good morning,

For the last few years I have been wearing prescription glasses when driving to assist distance vision. In getting the glasses made, I was more interested in the 'coolness' of the frames and I let the optometrist figure out the glass piece.

After a couple of years, I recently had another check-up and my distance eyesight had stabilised (or actually improved a fraction, normal in 'old age' apparently) and I was interested in a new pair of driving glasses, especially those that change during bright light and shade, so called Transition lenses. And I wanted a thinner frame to slide under my helmet for track-day usage as well.

Upon investigation I learned that the transition lenses work off UV light and modern car windscreens block much of the UV rays so the lenses don't get the 'data' they need to do the transition-thing successfully.

So a middle solution was found, a lens called Drivewear which uses both visible and UV light to make it's photo-chromatic lens changes.

After just one days driving, I can tell you the difference is startling. Highly recommended!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good afternoon,

For my recent birthday, Robin took me to my favourite local seafood restaurant in Sorrento where I was able to indulge in Port Phillip Bay Snapper (in Japanese Breadcrumbs!) and Petaluma Riesling, all with spectacular bay views. Awesome!

Sorrento Seafood Tavern - Fresh Fish Menu - 2009

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good morning,

Madness has officially moved to clinical insanity at our place as ANOTHER car was purchased today. A graphite over slate grey, V8 twin-turbo diesel-powered MY07 Toyota LandCruiser Sahara, 44,500 kms young. Superb build quality, it even drives like a 'car', but is bigger than a Docklands studio apartment. With 650nm of torque, it will tow Robin's horses & floats without breaking sweat.


Will post more driving impressions shorty.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good morning,

Late spring means hay fever for me and rapid grass and pasture growth. The latter is goodness as we have been able to cut & bale hay from our property over the last few years. Early spring rains really freshened up the paddocks and this week our 5 acre back paddock was cut and some 376 high quality bales were delivered at the very productive rate of 75 bales per acre. Excellent.

I am delighted to report that for the first time in three or four years, there has been a significant amount of spring rain here in Melbourne and across Victoria. This has gone a considerable way to easing the drought conditions and our states perilously low water supply.

On a personal level our tanks and dams are full, and after some recent plumbing work, most of the garden water is being sourced from our dam. And of course everything looks wonderfully green. We have received over 50 ml, and ten days of recorded rain, so far in October.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

After a few false alarms, Della finally gave birth to Star on October 23. High excitement and some initial nervousness gave way to joy as Star finally got her feet after some stumbling which really should not be done in public. Star is a gorgeous light chestnut colour, and expectations are that she will get a little darker turning to a liver chestnut as she gets older.

It was a busy weekend here with large a number of visitors and our new neighbours children all stopping by to take a look. After only three days the little one is now walking, trotting and being cheeky.

She does sleep a lot!

Of course the new arrival was a great excuse to get the camera out and get some happy snaps. As the morning light arrived I had a mental blank in the excitement, couldn't remember where or what the camera settings should be for the light, subject etc. Ah, panic. No, just set the camera to 'P' and press the shutter! All worked fine on the end. I will post a "Gallery' entry for Star soon.

A candid shot (Photo by Robin Humphries)

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

So, an eighth place finish for us in 2009. Flatters to deceive I'm afraid. We won 10.5 games out of 23 for the year, after only eight wins in 2008. Not what you would call dominant and the signs from the coach and his high-handed treatment of senior players does not augur well for harmony and cohesion going into 2010. He seems to have a problem with experience, surrounds himself with junior coaches (almost solely) and doesn't appear to have gotten over the nature of his exit from Punt Road a decade ago. I wouldn't be at all disappointed if the Bombers didn't re-sign Matthew Knights at the end of his current three year deal in 2010. Going into next season with a 18.5 out of 45 record, and should we have another losing season I would hope that the new President and new CEO (fortunately neither of whom were involved in Knight's initial hiring) don't fall for the Knights-speak and judge his performance solely by our on-field results.

On the plus side, like most supporters I was delighted with the emergence of Pears, Hooker and Hurley as an exciting 'spine' for the future. It was great to see Andrew Lovett settle down and play exciting and disciplined footy (Update: Another Knights victim, gone.....). And unlike many fans I quite liked the efforts of Monfries, Henry Slattery, Dyson, McPhee and Hocking across the season often in difficult circumstances.

Disappointments? Serious injuries to Hille, Laycock, Welsh and Gumbleton of course, coaching / selection blunders (how can you not play a ruckman in any game, let alone a final?), Jay Neagle's aerobic fitness, the playing treatment of David Zaharakis, Bendigo Bombers losing all 20 games this year (can you spell 'development'?) and a one-dimensional game plan to name a few.

But to end on some more positives, congratulations to Jobe Watson and Patrick Ryder for their commitment and on-field leadership (after David Hille went down) and to our captain, Matthew Lloyd in maintaining his grace and focus under enemy, and allegedly friendly, fire. And where would we be without 'Fletch'. Just a joy to watch him run around spoiling opponents and kicking the long bomb! And finally, thanks to Scott Lucas for a superb career, and keeping the stereotype of the one-sided player alive!

Looking forward, albeit with some trepidation, to season 2010. To paraphrase an ancient Chinese proverb - 'May your team play in interesting times'!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good afternoon,

I am delighted to report that my pre-ordered copy of Apple's new operating system, code named 'Snow Leopard' arrived today, on the actual release day! I am so excited. What a geek!

It seemed like a good opportunity to take advantage of the upgrade promotion to raise our versions of iLife and iWork so I purchased the 'Mac Box Set' Family Pack to load on our three machines here.

Looks like a fun weekend ahead......

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

Our holiday in Maroochydore was most enjoyable.The flight / hire car arrangements were straight forward and as we bought the NavMan along with us, navigation was a non-issue.

Highlights?

Maroochydore by Night

Well our accommodation was the first one. On the tenth floor of a north facing building with nothing interrupting the view over the Maroochy River & inlet, the coast towards Coolum and beyond. Also it was large and airy to boot. Very easy to settle in and be comfortable.

On the restaurant front, for me the best meals / dishes were the Barramundi and Crab Chowder at Yabbi's in Maroochydore, Garlic Prawns at La Vida in Noosa, the Snapper House Special & Crepes Suzette at The Omeros Brothers in Southport and the Hawaiian Parma at the Alexander Headlands Surf Club. Hmmmm....

View North to Mount Coolum

Best of the sights included Montville (a fabulous tourist / local hangout) in the Blackall Ranges, Southport on the Gold Coast, Tewantin Wharf, Mooloolaba waterfront shops & restaurants to name a few. And most days we enjoyed a relaxing breakfast around the corner at the 'Cotton Tree' shopping precinct.

Chateau Royale Resort, Maroochydore

We hope to get there again next year. No higher praise than that!

Have to tell a funny story. Coming home, Dad was all dressed up in suit & tie etc for the flight. At Brisbane Airport, we entered security and he set off the alarms. Checked his pockets, went through again and set the alarms off again. The security folk suggested he remove his shoes. Which Dad duly did, but instead of putting them on the rollers to go through the scanner, he just pitched them through the 'walk through' scanner assuming he would get them again on the other side. I thought we would need medical assistance for the security team who were rolling on the floor laughing. It clearly made their day! The issue turned out to be coins in his jacket pocket. Who would have thought that an 83 year old pensioner could set off security alerts because he had too much money!

But happy to say that a good time was had by all.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good afternoon,

.....

I arrived home on Tuesday afternoon to find a new road outside my front gate. Not another road of course, just a new one!

It seems the old dirt Grant Road has had a thin layer of asphalt layered over the top of it. No idea who was behind this new piece of local infrastructure but well done to them We will check with the neighbours to see if they had any hand in it. It remains to be seen how well the surface actually seals but it may be that some of our summer dust / winter mud issues may be a thing of the past. Yippee!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

PS - Apologies for the dodgy photos, but I couldn't hold the iPhone steady out of pure excitement......

Good evening,

Great infrastructure news! The car wash tank has now been installed. A Bluescope Steel tank, painted Mint Green (I think) with 5,000 litres capacity and sourcing water from two sides of the house roof. It is here just in time for what looks like a damp week so it should fill quickly. No excuses now for not having a clean car! To finish the job, I just need to pick up a paint brush and get the new feeder and overflow pipes to colour match the tank, the eaves and the 'older' down pipes.

As of June 12, the tank is about 50% full. I washed the Turbo today using the old GMC high pressure pump and 'my' water, and I must say it does look cleaner!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

The Bombers were continuing to roll along nicely until hitting the proverbial submerged log today against the all-conquering Geelong Cats, by some 11 goals. I must admit I was a bit perplexed by some alleged experts who thought we might have been a chance to win, as they seemed to overlook the fact that we had out best two running defenders out and were planning to bring in a couple of older / slower types who were returning after injury or coming back after being dropped for poor form. I wasn't absolutely convinced we were matching up well with Geelong so I am not overly surprised (or disappointed) with the result, except that it does hit out percentage hard. This will be important, as a number of teams are bunched up around us and a decent percentage will almost be worth a game at the end of the year.

I hope the club keeps it's head up after today's loss and focuses on Adelaide for next week. Go Dons!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

The weekend started well on Saturday with the guys getting together for one of our irregular jam sessions. The group consisted of the host, lead guitarist and vocalist Mike, bass player (& part time drummer) Peter, guitarist Chris and myself fumbling away on rhythm guitar.

Mike has a midi / karaoke / backing system hooked up in the barn at his holiday house a little over an hours drive out of Melbourne. So you can just turn up, plug in and play along, although I do take my own amplifier just for fun and to get a different (better?) tone.

As a bunch of 50 something blokes, you can imagine the style of music played. Mostly up-tempo, danceable, sing-a-long stuff. Although being of German extraction, Mike has a favourite German pop song which he likes to belt out in his mother tongue. Interesting........

After a solid morning of setting up, tuning and deciding which songs to play, and getting a few favourites out, we break for a BBQ lunch and a chat. Then back to the tunes, while Mike's wife Julie, cleans up. Thanks!

Although it is an all electric affair, we do all have acoustic instruments and did chat about maybe having an 'unplugged' session one of these days. Should be a bit different and interesting I reckon. A bit like my visits to the camera club, these music days give me valuable practice in a relaxed environment and a chance to pick up some tips on techniques from the other guys who are all much better players than me. In readiness for going acoustic, I recently purchased an entry level acoustic guitar amplifier, a Kustom Sienna 30. I am currently fiddling with it but it makes the Martin sound a whole lot better than when it is plugged into the Fender electric guitar amp.

A great day was had by all and it is amazing how fast seven or so hours pass by when some oldies are having fun!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

The mighty Bombers are off to a pretty good start in season 2009. The Anzac Day, come from behind victory over Collingwood, was really one for the ages. We just seemed to want to win and kept forcing the ball forward with speed and energy, but not always with precision.

Any year that we beat Carlton & Collingwood in quick succession is a good year! I can forgive the belting by Port Adelaide over there in round one, but I must admit to being disappointed with the recent loss to North Melbourne. A wasted opportunity IMHO.

I feel really sorry for David Hille going down with a season-ending knee injury and wish we could get Scott Gumbleton back on the park again soon. Davey, Lovett and Dempsey are doing excellent things through the middle and our young defence is holding up surprisingly well.

Now for Brisbane this week!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good morning,

I hope you enjoyed your Easter break and didn't eat too much chocolate. We didn't, but probably over-compensated with substantial quantities of seafood & white wine.

Speaking of the diet taking a hammering, Robin and I found ourselves at the 'Wings & Fins' restaurant at Tooradin airfield yesterday for lunch. Just so happens they fly in fresh seafood from Flinders Island for their retail and restaurant businesses. I ordered a Chicken Kiev which was stuffed with crayfish as well as the usual garlic & oil. Unbelievable. Baked in puff pastry, not fried in breadcrumbs, it was absolutely outstanding. I wonder what time they open tomorrow..........

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

A couple of new technology advances recently here.

The first was participating in the social networking phenomenon of Facebook. Wow, as if I didn't have enough ways to waste my precious time, I come across this veritable 'black hole' of online frippery. Sorry, gotta go 'poke' someone..........

The second item is (yet another) iPod, this time the third generation Shuffle, with the feature of 'Voice Over' to announce songs, artists & playlists. Impossibly tiny form factor, cool technology and very good sound is sadly let down by proprietary ear buds which I just can't keep in my ears long enough. I need to wait for the after market ear canal type phones to fully enjoy this rather expensive 4GB player.

Update: Apple have a new pair of in-ear phones compatible with the controls required for the 3rd Gen Shuffle. Will give them a try.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,
Gee, it doesn't get any better than a surprise 80th birthday for your mother-in-law does it?

Of course I jest. Margaret and I get along famously, or as best we can between Carlton and Essendon supporters.

Some 35 folks attended the function on a gorgeous Tuesday afternoon in South Warrandyte to take some tea and cake and tell tall stories. Old school chums, former nursing colleagues, riding companions and business partners made up a pretty diverse crowd. Robin was in very verbose speech-making mode, seeming not to leave out any aspect of Margaret's 80 years to date!

A great time was had by all.

Live long and prosper Margaret.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

Very sad news in the family this month with Robin's step-father, Ian George Cleland passing away peacefully, but suddenly on March 18. In the course of his 90 years, Ian was successful in business, in sport, in the media and in charitable organisations. Simply an all-round good guy, Ian was always kind, respectful and generous towards me and I know he will be fondly remembered and deeply missed by all who came in contact with him. Rest in peace Clelo.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good afternoon,

This morning, Dad and I took our annual 'Father & Son' outing to the Melbourne International Motor Show. It is apparently the last one before Melbourne and Sydney start alternating Australia's largest (only?) new vehicle exhibition from 2010 onwards. The day dawned sunny and we made the trip to Jeff's Shed in good time. The crowd was relatively thin, with a number of school excursion kids filling up some of the available space.

The Shannons Auction vehicles outside the main hall seemed a little down in numbers than I had previously remembered, but an interesting array of mostly vintage and veteran marques nonetheless.

Driven no doubt by economic issues, Mercedes Benz (much to Dad's disappointment), Rolls Royce, Range Rover/Land Rover, Mini, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Saab, Volvo, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Ferrari were notable by their absence. Apologies to any others that I missed, who were also missing. The most impressive stands I thought were Audi/Skoda/Volkswagen and BMW (with the M1 'Homage' (above) & the By-Appointment-Only chiffon disguised 7 series salon) who both went to considerable effort with a large range of impressive vehicles on show. Lexus (with the LF A supercar below), Toyota, Holden and Ford were also commendable in their efforts.

Although to be fair, most / all exhibitors made a significant effort to attractively display their goods. Apart from the absentees, there wasn't a low-rent or Global Financial Crisis feel to event at all. I hope that bodes well for the motoring industry as a whole. A special mention however does go to Bentley, who as a small seller, seemed to have a very large part of it's quarterly sales allocation on display. Very tasty they were too, especially the four door Continental Flying Spur Speed (below).

Trends? Well, in general, there was a great emphasis on alternate / green fuel alternatives with most manufacturers (and after market specialists) emphasising their electric / hybrid / LPG / diesel credentials. Super for the environment, but not so exciting for those of us who may be somewhat less than carbon neutral........... And strangely, only one replica F1 car on show, rather than the usual flotilla.
The BMW 7 Series & the IS F

My top picks of show? Pretty easy for me. There were two, one of which will come as no surprise. Porsche had a special order 997 911 GT2, bi-winged in white with black logos & trim, and PCCB (look it up!) that looked extremely stunning for (sadly) upwards of $447K. The other was the Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640-4 convertible, which looked ridiculously imposing (in a good way) in white (again) with matte black accents & wheels and deep red pleated leather interior. Upwards of $800K would start the purchase conversation. It would be very hard to go incognito in either of these babies....... And the Lexus IS F (in blue, above right) continues to gnaw away at me as a quality M / AMG competitor while retaining many of the core values of the Lexus brand.

Best in Show

Any more affordable vehicles of interest then? Well, perhaps my favourite was the new Volkswagen Passat CC which was very attractive & well finished for mid $60K money, but otherwise I kept my hand on my wallet pretty easily. Not too hard when Dad and I rocked up in a pretty sharp looking Porsche 911 Carrera 4 S .........

A most enjoyable morning, so until perhaps 2011, adios MIMS.

But wait, there is more! After the show we moved on to a fantastic seafood restaurant, 'Rubira's' at the Swallow Hotel in Port Melbourne. Rubira's used to be a high-end seafood restaurant in Sorrento but fell foul of a fairly fickle crowd. John has opened up again with the same excellent combination of fresh seafood and fine wine selections. We had a delightful meal of Oysters Kilpatrick, King Prawn & Spring Onion Spring Rolls, and Grilled Gold Band Snapper all washed down with a 2008 Catalina Sounds Sauvignon Blanc. A wine that even Dad liked, but he couldn't get much of it as I had the bottle pretty close me (!), which resulted in the chauffeiring picture below. Thanks for the ride home Dad!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good afternoon,

February is a month for celebrations in the Humphries family with Dad's birthday and Robin's & my wedding anniversary.

It was my Father's birthday in mid February turning 83 years young this year. As usual we had to rack our brains for a gift, before heading out to a seafood restaurant to get Dad a feed of crustaceans & fish. 'The Rocks' in Mornington was the venue of choice and the food, wine and service was, as always, excellent. A bit tough for Robin as she doesn't eat shellfish. Oh well, at least she enjoyed the champagne!

The Dinner Group

The Seafood Fare

Late February is our wedding anniversary, with 26 years racked up this year. A most pleasant day ended with an outstanding dinner at the Flinders Hotel. Highlights were Wagyu scotch fillet for me and a raspberry souffle for Robin.

Lucky girl!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening from a saddened Melbourne,

*** February 2009 Victorian Bushfires - Australia's Worst Natural Disaster ***

On Saturday February 7, 2009 the temperature in the city reached 46.4C (or 115.5F), making it the hottest Melbourne day on record. The sad reality in Victoria is that with these temperatures comes devastating bush fires and loss of property and tragic loss of life. Many thanks to the thousands of fire-fighters who work bravely and tirelessly at these incredibly difficult times to keep us as safe as possible. And my thoughts go out to all the affected families and their friends who have lost loved ones and irreplaceable memories.

An absolute national tragedy.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

Sitting here tonight watching West Coast v Collingwood in the first of the NAB Cup games prompted me to pen a few words about the Bombers prospects in 2009.

Early injury signs were promising before yesterday's serious ankle injury to Andrew Welsh. I wish him a speedy recovery but he is a big loss. Also, best wishes to Brent Prismall for a speedy recovery from his knee reco.

My hope is for another strong year from our seasoned campaigners in Lloyd, Lucas, McPhee, McVeigh and Fletcher. Our mid level types need to continue to grow into leaders such as Watson, Stanton and Hille; and the youngsters in Lonergan, Myers, Pears, Monfries, Houli, Nash, Neagle and Ryder must start to provide discipline and structure. I really hope Lovett, Dempsey, Davey play with freedom and abandon and that Riemers 2009 boot colour doesn't distract us too much! Surprise packets and smokeys? Pre-season feedback on Bellchambers, Skipworth and Bock has been very promising. Best wishes to our high draft picks, especially Hurley and Zaharakis and is there any chance Gumbleton and Daniher can spend some quality time on the park? Concerns? Well I would be fibbing if I said I wasn't worried about the potential contributions from Dyson, Winderlich, Laycock and Lovett-Murray. I would be delighted if they proved me wrong.

I also expect significant improvement from the coaching staff. Particularly in their ability to work together, in devising strategies to win games we otherwise may have lost and to maintain overall team focus and competitiveness in the heat of battle (thereby maintaining a healthy percentage). And to be fair, our new off field development and conditioning staff need at least a year to prove themselves IMO so I'm sure so 2010 will tell us more about their contribution.

Therefore my 2009 ladder prediction is, sadly, around 9th - 10th. Nevertheless, go Bombers! Go hard or go home!

Bye for now, BomberBoy

PS - That is not an image of me at left. I have grown up a lot and matured in my attitude towards football and the evil forces that habitually conspire against us. Yes, really!

Good evening,

2009 has started wonderfully for the tormented residents here at Casa d'Eliza. Golf has recommenced for me, Robin is competing with the horses, my fitness is going gang-busters and we are both enjoying digital photography. Also the hi fi is kicking goals again, the guitar boys got together for a 'thrash' and I had an outing with the GT3 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit. Excellent!

Mornington Jetty (2008)

That's all fine & dandy except Melbourne is currently in the middle of a 'once-in-a-century' heat wave in late January, with four or five conscutive days greater than 40 Celsius.

Bye for now, BomberBoy

Good evening,

I did resolve late last year to take some steps to improve my fitness and general well being. So arrangements were made with a dietician (recommended by my surgeon) and the associated pilates & conditioning sessions provided important early results prior to year end.

Therefore, for probably the first time in my life, I am pleased to say that I am now in a mental / emotional place regarding my food / alcohol intake and exercise regime where I think about what I eat and drink (and when) and make similar decisions regarding a pretty simple exercise program. My weight has reduced by some 12 kilos (27+ pounds) and while I feel physically better, I also know that I look a hell of a lot better (from a low base!) and these dual motivators continue to help the ongoing process.

Those who know me well will understand that I am partial to a decent feed and associated cleansers. Yes I still am, but not multiple days in a row, or even within a given week. I am sure it is no surprise to those who understood this from an early age, but a slow learner like me, I thought no exercise, foolish food intakes and repetitive alcohol consumption would have no unfortunate 'side' effects and that life would go on pleasnatly for ever. Well, ah no. Of course.

By publishing this declaration openly, plus sharing my 'Too Much Information' physical details on the 'Who Am I' page here, I resolutely intend to maintain my efforts. Please work with me in this endeavour!

Bye for now, BomberBoy