Wala

As a surprise, I took mum (and Carey and Michelle) to see Wala, a traditional African dance and music group. Their performance was great fun. It was a mix of music - mostly percussion - singing, and dance. The whole performance was unflaggingly energetic and the artists' stamina was amazing. And they were obviously having a great time performing, themselves.

The coolest instrument was the aslato, or kashakas. Each aslato is a pair of wooden balls connected by a short string, which are filled with something (grain?) that rattles when shaken. So they make a rasping noise when shaken and a clacking noise when the balls collide. The guy who played them - one pair in each hand! - spun them around his hands and fingers in intricate patterns that you'd miss if you blinked for an instant, all the while singing and dancing. Very cool stuff.

If you're rich and idle, they run a workshop-resort in Ghana where you live in the group's community and learn drumming and dancing and stuff. It'd be fun to be able to go to something like that!

Nick's Public Interface, a Service to the Community

A couple of weeks back there was a new face at Kendo. I introduced myself, and he asked "Oh, are you Brett's mate?" Afterwards, I enquired how he knew that. It turns out, by coincidence, that he was searching for "kendo" and "Rockhampton" in google, came up with my blog, saw that I played Selbunster on World of Warcraft, thought "hmm... that's familiar", and asked his friend Trevor where he knew the name from. The guy was Tony, aka Dhaosneth, a friend of Trevor who's a friend of Brett. So I thought it was pretty cool that someone had come to Kendo through my blog, and we happened to know each other online!

Now just today I've had an anonymous comment left on my blog, on a post I made earlier this year about sunglasses, saying that they'd been searching for Zenith sunglasses and came across my post, and wanted to know where one can buy Zenith sunglasses.

Now the curious thing is, I can't find my blog on google if I try to (yes, I give it a try now and then; I'm vain remember? :p ), and here are two people recently who have come across it by accident.

So, to the person who left a comment, my answer is: I can't find info online either, but they're a popular brand (in Australia), and you should be able to find them in any sunglasses store such as Bright Eyes.

And... can you tell me what search terms you used to find my blog so I can as well? :D :p

Nick is... vain? :p

From Melanie's blog:
Google "[your name] is", with quotes. Share the results!

Oooh Nick is coming to town!
Nick is one in a million!
Nick is knowledgeable and conversant.
Nick is not One Of Us. Nick is one of the Good Aliens from that planet where everybody has style and grace.
Nick is God! Nick is God!
Nick is disgusted by the moral decay that he witnesses.
Nick is a fearless and independent voice.
Nick is always calm, cool, and collected.
Nick is the greatest person I have ever met.
and finally
Nick is really stupid.
Nick is arrogant as well.
:p

Soccer Referee Nick

I just refereed at the Central Queensland Junior Robotics Competition. Was lots of fun. I got to referee about 4 games I think, including the second last match. Jason naturally took the grand final for himself :p He does a great job though!

I tried to follow the advice of being as much a commentator as a referee, and I think it's a good idea. People are much less likely to take issue with your decisions if you explain why you're making them as you go. And they'll learn more from their mistakes.

It was a bit chaotic at times with half the teams arriving late (blown bus tyre on the way from Mackay), but once things got underway it was very exciting. I wish they did this when I was in high school!

The only sad point in the entire day was that Sarah, Official Guardian of the Yowies, didn't get to keep the yowies after the competition. :'(

Savings

I'm trying to figure out why Westpac's "Max-i Direct personal" savings account is so good. Not that I'm complaining, I just don't understand. Essentially it's a holding place for my money that attracts a high interest rate and has no fees, and the only way to interact with it is to move money to or from it using online banking. That's only a small hassle though; there's no penalty for moving money back and forth as many times as you like.

The thing is, the interest rate is really high! I can't figure out why you'd put your money anywhere else, even a long-term deposit account. Some figures: The interest rate was recently 5.5%, it's just gone down to 5.25%, but it has a guaranteed lower limit of 5.0%
Compare that to the cash management account, which tops out at 4.8% for amounts over $500,000, or term-deposit accounts, which only approach that figure for amounts over $10,000 invested for 2 years!
Interest rates are similar elsewhere, for example ANZ and Commonwealth.

I just can't figure out why even at the same bank you would use anything else, and I can't find anything like this at other banks :S

Disclaimer: No, I am not employed by Westpac :p