Follow up to the My Brand Project Poster is the My Brand Project Book! The brief was to customise the box. Homage to the Coke campaign bursting all over the world right now. Click image to see larger.

I just ordered a pizza online, weird… nice sleek flash ordering system though, oh gotta go pick it up now.

Definitely have to give this a go.

I’ve been wanting to get a digital SLR for a while now, and after some weighing of the options between price and need, it came down to the Canon EOS 400D and the Nikon D80. The D80 won out as everyone I’ve spoken to says the 400D, although cheaper, feels inferior to the D80. As with all big purchases I spend weeks deciding, reading reviews and opinions and just reading up on the subject matter. I used it for the first time today and I have to say, it feels and works like a dream, the reflex action and the cliclac of the mirrors inside is music at 2 beats per second.

I bought everything separately, starting off with the D80 body, a 50mm 1.4D lens, 2 gig memory card and a spare battery. I also followed Ash’s lead and got a Portable Storage Device because I’ll be making a trip overseas in January. I got all the camera gear from Discount Photographics, they have the best deals going I think because they are primarily an eBay shop operating out of an apartment. I think the next purchase would have to be a longer lens for shooting the surrounds, the 50mm is great but is best used for close range shots.

A nice effect of having an SLR in your hands is that it makes you look through the lens via the eyepiece to compose your shots, every shot I took today I automatically looked through the lens, that might be the reason my right eye is a bit achy… not use to winking ( ;

Nikon are really helpful with their online reference sites.

John Mayer is unbelievably sublime, that is all.

Those new Canon Eos 400D cameras look pretty cool, they are digital SLR and priced at the lower end of the professional range of cameras. Canon are currently running a competition to promote this camera based around the campaign/theme, Find Your Shot. Here’s mine and Haline’s. Register, submit your own photos and vote.

My little cousin’s public school had a Happy Rainbow Fete today, she won a competition to come up with that name, I wonder if all year 6 kids think that cute. The highlight for us was the thong throwing contest, I came within a foot of winning a goody bag.

Went to the Legs Eleven benefit concert on Friday night. The Domain is such a nice venue at night. Apart from the cold snap and smoking chimneys, the night was very good, I enjoyed Little Birdy and Bob Evans the most.

Symple is Kevin & Haline. We create beautiful and functional designs for a variety of Print, Interactive and Illustration projects.

Keep Left Studio has ceased operation. It was a great learning experience, no bad feelings and all good for the times ahead.

Harry’s Cafe De Wheels is now open in Liverpool. Its on the Cumberland Highway near the Office Works. Other fast food outlets in skipping proximity are McDonalds, Kispy Kream and soon, Subway and Oportos. I think its going to get a lot more hoony on Friday and Saturday nights now.

I found out my Grandma passed away after a week of sickness in Vietnam. It been touch and go for the past week and my dad phoned with the news this afternoon. I am devastated and gutted, she meant a lot to me, she raised me on her farm since I was a baby until I was 5 when I left Vietnam. I am glad that I got to see her 3 times as an adult, I am glad that she is no longer suffering. I will cherish the happy tears you shed when I came back to see you for the first time. I love you so very much.

We rode the Spring Cycle today, it was a great day out, sunshine, lots of people and the sites of Sydney. The day started at 5am with an 8km ride to Liverpool train station, we made it just in time for the special train for allocated for all the riders today. We got off at North Sydney station and rode up to St Leonards Park. From there the ride began, winding our way across the Habour Bridge, through the idealic riverside neighbourhoods of Brays Bay, Canada Bay, Five Dock, Rhodes and a few others I forgot.

I wasn’t sure how my legs would cope with the distance since I haven’t been riding regularly for a few months. About 30km into the ride and right at the bottom of the steepest road section of the ride, I developed cramps in both my quad muscles and couldn’t straighten my legs. I had to sit out for 5 minutes and stretch on the side of the road. I had to take it a bit slower after that. I think my bike is too heavy for me, its about 3-4 times heavier than an alloy bike of the same size, my legs have to work harder for every pedal after about an hour riding.

The ride was fun though, I covered the whole 50km course in 2 hours and 52 minutes. Full respect to those Tour De France guys who do hundreds of kilometres day in day out. Maurice, Dennis and I decided against riding home from Olympic Park, which was another 35km. We opted to catch the train back to Liverpool and ride the 8km home. Going to do it again next year and try to do better my time, hopefully with a new bike. Bicycle Australia photos here.

Ironic how Kraft Foods, an American company, makes Vegemite. But the black surce of B Vitamins for Australians is being banned there. Bet you didn’t know Kraft Foods’ parent company, Altria also owns Phillip Morris. I like the black stuff, especially with butter on toast.

We went up to Kenthurst on Sunday to attend Caroline and Peter’s wedding, held at a beautiful venue on a nice spring day. It was lush with green groves of bamboo, brown bark of eucalyptus and colourful formal wear. I wonder how everything would look in Autumn. The wedding was very intimate plus the surroundings added to the nice atmosphere. It wasn’t loud and bold with a band playing, although the song selection playing over the stereo was really cheesy. I like what they did, memorable without overdoing anything.