Adam's Blah

What to do in New York City.

2007-11-23T01:25:00.000+11:00

Put together a list of things to do in NYC from Jackie and then edited by Kelly after her and Les visited. I plotted all the places on a map with the comments. Should make for a fun time with Noel!

View Larger Map

Up to speed

2007-03-09T15:31:00.000+11:00

So, considering I haven't posted anything in the last few months I should probably update everyone considering so much has happened. Let's see...

The bucks party was successful, although we went to none of the places I mapped out on Google Maps in the last post. We were far to messy to look at a map and try and find our way around, what was I thinking? Still, would love to go to Melbourne again soon and check out some of those places!

I got married, also a tremendous success. To quote Linda, "I want all of my kids to get married like that. It was seriously the best wedding I have ever been to." Was a beautiful day on the beach and a day that I'm sure Jackie and I will always remember fondly.

We went to Fiji on our honeymoon for 2 weeks. We had beautifully hot days, every day, it only seemed to rain at night time which was nice because it cooled down a bit. It was so nice to be pampered and not have to worry about anything at all. Our hardest decisions were what we were going to eat for our next meal. The imminent coup didn't happen until right after we left which was great.

The next milestone was be birth of my beautiful son, Aidan. Aidan Thomas Ullman was born at 3:42am on the 21st Feb, 2007 at 3.97kg and 50cm long (big boy). He was 15 days late and Jackie went into labour the day before she was due to be induced. The whole experience was amazing, Jackie was fantastic and gave birth without the use of any artificial pain relief. Still can't get over how amazing the human body is. I have been on an amazing high ever since it happened and I can't help but want to kiss and hug Aidan all day long. It's really disturbing my Masters work ;)

Bucks Weekend!

2006-11-08T22:38:00.000+11:00

Our Hotel (Website)

Here are a few options for where we can go for the Melbourne trip...

Croft Institute(Website)
Fitzroy Pubs
St Jerome's (You may have heard of the festival, this is the pub)(Website)
Borsch, Vodka & Tears (A kick arse Vodka/Cocktail place)(Website)
Los Amates (A wicked Mexican Restaurant, Jackie will be very jealous if we go here)(Website)
Jackie Also Suggested Polly Bar(Website)
Golf Course! No dress code, just pretty much can't wear a singlet.

I got some tips from a friend of mine in Melbourne so that we can fill in the gaps as far as Fitzroy pubs. Warning, she's really into the "music scene" and so these places are all "cool".

The Night Cat (Supposedly a kinda Jazz/Swing place with a cool crowd)
Bar Open (This is probably where we'll end up at the end of the night. It's open the latest, hence the name).
Black Cat (This place is your standard pub with beer garden but it's on the street, looks cool).
First Floor (They call themselves Melbournes only authentic late night street club. Whatever that means? I think it has to do with the fact that they play Hip-Hop, Dub and Reggae. Website looks cool).
For breakfast apparently we need to go to some place called Bebedes or something, on smith st, I can't find it though.

I just realised, this is kinda silly considering we probably won't have an internet connection down there... Am I supposed to print this all out?

Engaged? Pregnant?

2006-09-02T10:10:00.000+10:00

For those of you who don't already know, the love of my life, Jackie, is pregnant with my baby!

For the story from Jackie's point of view, read her blog entries.

For the story of the proposal from my point of view, have a look at my engagement flickr set.

Google Maps Test

2006-05-22T21:21:00.000+10:00

Went to a Google maps API presentation today. Feeling inspired.

Just added a Map to the contact us section of aromaki too.

Locked in the Attic

2006-05-20T10:55:00.000+10:00

IMGP0782
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Well, it was definitely "wicked hella awesome". The DJ was actually playing Hip-Hop! It was great, Common, Mos Def, Kanye. I couldn't believe it, it was perfect... Got entirely too messy, drank a whole lot of alcohol and made an "aweful mess" in the back of a taxi on the way home... Still have to get my jacket dry cleaned. I felt sick all the next day which wasn't too good because I was out to dinner with family for my Dad's birthday. Good to know I can still get irresponsibly drunk at the ripe old age of 25.

Jackie baked me a lovely chocolate mudcake on my actual birthday and she bought me some shoes from diesel! Tuesday was a day of lazing around and gorging ourselves. I took the day off and Jackie and I spent the whole day in bed. Then that night we went to Restaurant Balzac for a degustation menu. We went the whole hog, wines and cheeses and it felt like we had consumed a whole hog at the end of it. I seriously think I stretched me stomach out of proportion. So now, not only am I in my mid twenties, I'm also fat...

Birthday Weekend!

2006-05-12T13:38:00.000+10:00

Yay! My Birthday weekend is coming up, how exciting! Having a party tonight at the Attic Bar at the Art House dubbed "Locked in the Attic".

Right now the evite says 53 ppl are coming, should be wicked hella awesome fun!

Kanye West

2006-04-05T11:55:00.000+10:00

Throw your diamonds in the sky!

Flickr Pics

De La Soul

2006-03-25T13:41:00.000+11:00

Had a ragin' time at the De La Soul Concert at the Enmore Theatre.

Flickr Pics

Gimme Some More

2006-02-15T17:29:00.000+11:00

White Stripes

2006-01-27T11:19:00.000+11:00

Picture(88)
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Great concert, really makes me wish I was going to the big day out. Wanted to see Wolfmother, Franz Ferdinand and Kings of Leon.

But yeah, The White Stripes were great, a lot of noise for only two instruments! Hugh seems to think that Jack was on smack and went back for another hit before the encore, which was great! (the encore that is, not Jack shooting up). They played Seven Nation Army and Blue Orchid. Left us all pumped up! At one point I screamed "Have my babies Meg!" I think she heard me... A few people in front turned around and laughed, I didn't think it was that funny :D

I'll get some pics up soon.
Even better, Noel has videos up.

Hat To Cat

2006-01-23T10:58:00.000+11:00

Hat To Cat
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Check out the photo set

How clever is this name for a pub crawl!? We set out from The Hat (Hugh, Adam and Tanya's Place) to The Cat 'n Fiddle last Friday night. A shame we didn't make it all the way really, we might have to try it again sometime. It was 1.7km after all and we left a bit late so you can't really blame us.

Was a good night though, checked out all the local pubs in Balmain. I got told I looked like Heath Ledger by some girl who wanted to "pash" me just in case. How flattering :D I met a girl that I used to go to school with in Singapore! Her name is Jo, she was the year below me in Tanglin and she's friends with Jessup, they went to Uni together. But yeah, totally crazy, I think she's just about the only person I know in Australia that I went to school with (apart from my brothers and the people I went to school with in Melbourne). I think I'm going to get out some old year books and look her up.

But even better than that, my lovely girlfriend Jackie decided to suprise me on the night. I thought that she wasn't going to be able to come because she was going out for dinner with her mum, but she was in contact with Jessup and managed to turn up at the first pub. Clever girl, gotta love those suprises :D

NYE 2005 @ The HAT

2006-01-01T10:48:00.000+11:00

Had NYE party at The HAT in Balmain, had a blast. I can't remember most of the night which is a shame because apparently the fireworks were great. So I guess the pictures will tell a better story than I can of the night as is evident in this picture... Thank god for my mums morning after tonic, I think it actually worked!

The pictures I took kind of show how trashed I was too. They're all wonky and of people I don't know.

Barrington Tops

2005-12-29T10:31:00.000+11:00

Went on a lovely ;) trip with Jackie to Barrington tops (was my Christmas present from her). Had a great time. On the way up there we picked up a whole heap of wine (Brokenwood), cheese and beer (Bluetongue) from the hunter valley. Then up there we went horse back riding, bushwalking, tennising and did a whole lot of swimming, was hot! On the second night we scared the crap out of ourselves by watching the blairwitch project and then going on a little midnight bush walk, I had to throw away that pair of boxers...

On the way back we came across this abandoned gold mine that was in the middle of a rainforest. It was seriously like something out of Indiana Jones. It was very creepy, we had to jump a fence to get in there and we were wandering around expecting to stumble across some drug runners or some dead bodies. We found out later that you can book tours through this old dude called "Goldie" who is getting really slack. He actually takes you down the gold mine, I'd imagine it would be pretty damn scary!

Here are some pics of the whole ordeal.

Kris Kringle

2005-12-23T10:55:00.000+11:00

Had a Kris Kringle party at the Hat. The plan was that everyone draws a number, and people pic a present from the pile in order from the lowest to highest number. Sounds simple, but there was a catch! If you don't like your present, you can steal a present from someone else that has a lower number than you. So, where it would seem at first that having the lowest number is the best because you get first pic, it's actually the worst because if anyone else wants your present they can take it. So the highest number gets the pick of the lot.

I got the number 7, I started out with a poker set and a bottle of bourbon, I ended up with some porn (that Noel seemed to like). I would have prefered the poker set :(

Chino caught some pics of the whole occasion.

Milford Sound

2005-12-15T14:33:00.000+11:00

Went kayaking in milford sound today. Got decked out in some cool kayaking gear which included this cool 'skirt' that supposedly keeps the water out of your kayak.

As expected the scenery was amazing and everything seemed a lot closer than it actually was because of the sheer size of everything. As many other guides in NZ had done earlier our guide on this trip asked us to estimate distances to various objects. A waterfall that appeared to be 2 kms away was apparently 7 kms. We made this our target for the day and made it about half way. Then we all held on to one another and hoisted up a make shift sail which took us most of the way back, was actually pretty cool. Apparently they're the only kayaking company in the world (that they know of anyway) that does this sailing thing, they invented the method themselves, quite clever...

Milford Sound pics

River Surfing

2005-12-08T18:24:00.000+11:00

Went river surfing today in shotover river again (pictured in previous post). Was just Daniel and myself this time, we seem to be the only two "well hard" ones. This involved riding a body board down the rapids. Was great fun! I think it was definitely better than white water rafting because you spend the whole time right in the water! The coolest part had to be surfing the stationary waves. Basically in the rapids you find these waves that form backwards as the water flows down the river. So if you ride down the river backwards and kick REALLY hard you can get stuck in this stationary wave. AWESOME DUDE!

Shotover River

2005-12-07T18:42:00.000+11:00

IMGP0031
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Todays adventures involved this river in Queenstown. Went on a combo adventure which was made up of a Jet Boat ride, then a helicopter ride to the top of the river and then a white water rapids ride back down to the bottom.

All of the above were pretty amazing! The jet boat ride involved lots of spinning around and screaming past those sharp rocks at 80 km/h barely missing. Was great fun and got pretty wet.

That was followed by a helicopter ride which I was a bit disapointed in because apparently there are two pilots, one called "crazy Jim" who is a vietnam vet who still thinks he's there sometimes. Unfortunately we got "boring Keith" who talked in a monotone voice and didn't leave me feeling sick.

White water rafting was pretty fun, our guide was this annoying NZ sheep farmer girl who we could barely understand and who was constantly freaking out about falling in the water (bit ironic). Her fear rubbed off a bit and made it a bit more thrilling, but the only time anyone fell out was when we jumped out voluntarily at the "swimable rapids".

All in all was a great day! Have a few happy snaps that I took with a waterproof camera although I'm anticipating that most of them will be of my finger. I'll put them up later...

Bungy

2005-12-06T17:40:00.000+11:00

Went bungy jumping and luging (lugeing? on a luge?). Yeah was a great day in Queenstown, jumped from "The Ledge" which was 47m of pure AWESOMENESS! I'm well hard now!

Pics of my BRAVERY

Video of my MANLINESS

Video of me "acting" scared before I jumped.

The Luge basically involved driving down a hill on a little buggy thing that is kind of a cross between a go-cart, a bicycle and a sleigh. We were all racing down the hill like mad men, getting propped up on 2 wheels around corners and even getting a little air over bumps. Was actually great fun, we went 5 times. I won every time of course, 'cause I'm AWESOME! (<- what a dick).

Franz Josef Glacier

2005-12-05T18:48:00.000+11:00

Arrived in NZ yesterday afternoon, yay! Am pumped and ready for a riveting adventure holiday! I even bought a $425 Pentax Optio S6 Digital Camera (which I totally can't afford! But just checked on Staticice and I got a good price, cheapest on there is $445, better hope so being duty free) to capture all the moments. So prepare yourselves for some amazing pics coming up soon.

Spent all yesterday driving to Franz Josef Glacier which is apparently the WORLDS STEEPEST commercially climbed glacer and one of only 3 glaciers that meet rainforest. That's right, I climbed it! I have a certificate and everything. Got a few happy snaps of me conquering it like the legend that I am as well ;)

Yeah, it was pretty spectacular, really steep and suprisingly blue and not all that cold! Had to get decked out in stinky sweaty climbing gear but you get over that pretty quickly. I'll throw some pics up of me pimped out in my glacier gear once I have them.

Chino has put a few pics up of the NZ holiday, there are some Franz Joseph Glacier ones up there, unlike some (idiot!) he didn't forget to bring the battery for his camera.

Noel also has some pics up.

jamiroquai

2005-12-03T23:30:00.000+11:00

jamiroquai
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Chino is claiming that this is the greatest concert this week and I'm inclined to agree with him.

It was an outdoor concert with beer flowing and much dancing. Loads of people in Centennial Park and there was a great atmosphere. Almost worth missing a day in NZ for.

Here are some pics.

I just found some other dudes pics of the jamiroquai concert on flickr that are much better than mine, he got much closer.

FooFightersTicket

2005-12-02T15:46:00.000+11:00

FooFightersTicket
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Foo Fighters were great! I spent the whole time wishing I was in the general admission section though. Our seats were really crap, stuck up the back on the side so we were looking from the wrong perspective and the sound wasn't as good. People were still into it even up the back, standing up dancing, singing, shouting etc. But yeah, general admission was definitely the way to go, Dave Grohl is amazing!

They did divide general admission up into two sections, the front was definitely the place to be although sections of it degenerated into a mosh pit with jumping and the occasional punch, looked a bit scary (well for girls anyway, not scary for men like me, with massive guns, the kind that built the eiffel tower from steal and brawn!).

oasis

2005-11-30T15:36:00.000+11:00

oasis
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Well it's the beginning of a fun filled couple of weeks starting with Oasis at the hordern and then going on to Foo Fighters, Jamiroquai and then of to NZ!

Oasis was packed out and the music was pretty great, although I don't like to admit that I liked it too much. I don't think I'm allowed to tease Noel for liking them now that I have been to a concert. Had a great time apart from badly damaging my back by hoisting up Noel and Chino not to mention some random girl who came up and wanted to go on my shoulders.

Now I'm in pain just hoping that my back will be better before the Foo Fighters concert tomorrow night. Yayah!

Noels Pics from the concert

Pumpkin pie

2005-11-25T12:33:00.000+11:00

How to make a pumpkin pie for Thanks Giving.

Step One: Find a recipe online. I chose maple pumpkin pie 1.

Step Two: Purchase the necessary ingredients.

Step Three: Cook and stuff.

Step Four: Wrap it up and take it to work.

Step Five: Eat it.

Step Six: Be Happy and Thankful

Conclusions drawn from this cooking experience

Don't cook your own pumpkin pie

Pureeing your own pumpkin sucks ass! Canned is much easier.

If you want to cheat when pureeing your own pumpkin instead of putting it in the oven for 3 hours (crazy!) you can microwave it until it's soft and then put it in the oven for about 30 mins and blend it. That is if you don't care what it's going to taste like, you just want to impress the ladies. Let's face it, you don't want to cook too well or they'll make you do it all the time!

Chicks really are impressed at guys that even attempt to cook, even if the food tastes like shite.

Should use those real american orange pumpkins instead of butternut. Probably should use a bit more spices too.

Picture at Engo

2005-11-18T16:39:00.000+11:00

Tanya crawford and david tong showing h
Originally uploaded by aullman.

On level 4 of the Elec Eng building at Usyd this big framed picture is featured with a caption underneath that says "Tanya Crawford and David Tong showing how you do it at the 2004 Graduation Dinner".

I'm offended, this was my graduation dinner and there is no picture of me blown up in the halls of Electrical Engineering. I gave 4 years of my life to this institution, Chino (David Tong) dropped out after second year and was there as my guest. I can "show how you do it" with the best of them. Why not put me up there. In fact, I have just the picture, here's a picture of me, Adam, and Rosie "showing how you do it" at the 2004 (my!) graduation dinner.

Frame that and stick it on the wall, I even have a glass of wine and purple stained lips. Now THAT, Chino, is how you do it!

My New Phone

2005-11-18T12:04:00.000+11:00

mynewphone.jpg
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Just got the Sony Ericsson K300i, I got it for free from the insurance company. Kinda broke at the moment so didn't want to fork out $350 for a better phone. Still it takes pretty good pics, some of which I uploaded to flickr directly via email as a picture message, 1280x960 (1.3 Megapixels, but I think that it cheats to get this and it's naturally 640x480) and can take video, play mp3s etc. Only has 12MB memory though which is a bit of a bummer. But I think I'll hang onto this for a little while without a contract and go to a $49 cap without insurance this time. Then maybe after a year or so get a better phone. Oh the other annoying thing is that it doesn't have bluetooth so I have to get a cable to connect to my comp.

soceroos-ticket

2005-11-17T11:45:00.000+11:00

soceroos-ticket
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Witnessed history today with the Socceroos qualifying for the World Cup for the second time ever the last time being in 1974, 31 years ago! Go Australia!

Also found out today that I just got approved for the house in Balmain! Just need to go down and sign the lease. New Years Party will definitely be at our place with views like these.

To top that off I also found out from insurance that I'm going to get my new phone. Was actually quite quick seeing as I only picked what phone I wanted yesterday.

What a day! GO AUSTRALIA!

Melbourne Cup

2005-11-16T15:11:00.000+11:00

63171422_cc9c1a1b87_b.jpg
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Finally got some Melbourne cup pics up. Got some good pics up there, mostly of me and Jackie :D

Was a great time, didn't end up winning any money, pretty much broke even. Put a little bit on the diva but not nearly enough to cover my massive bet on bloody Railings! Stupid Noel...

New Place

2005-11-16T15:05:00.000+11:00

P1112_134347.jpg
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Check out the view at my new place in Balmain! Plan to be moving in in 4 weeks so just after the NZ trip. Looking forward to it!

More pics in my flickr library.

Whereis my new place

First Post

2005-11-05T10:29:00.000+11:00

This is my first post, I've created a blogger account, let's see how it goes :D

Chino after Randwick

2005-11-04T15:53:00.000+11:00

Races 010
Originally uploaded by aullman.

Bit too much to drink I think.