Xbox 360 I want and Brukunga Trip

Last week Microsoft annouced the price of the Xbox 360; it will cost only US399!!! So cheap for such a powerful and highly capable console! I want I want! Somemore it comes with the console, the removable hard disk, a wireless controller, a headset for Xbox live, a special DVD remote and HD_Tv cables (if we are ever going to afford a TV as expensive as a Kancil to use that cable). Somemore it comes with 30 day free trial of Xbox Live! It is due to arrive soon at the end of the year in US, Japan and Europe, but gods knows when it will come to Singapore or let alone Australia. So no chance of getting one while I am still here :( Still, I wonder if I can cough up US 399 for the console itself and another US100 for 2 Xbox 360 games. Atleast the Xbox 360 is better than spending RM 1500 on a Sony PSP, which I still thinking if I should get one as the 360 will take a while to arrive in Singapore. I'm sure got some ppl go and import the 360 from Japan, but like the first PS2s to arrive from Japan, it will cost a bomb :(

Today I went on a field trip to the Brukunga Fire Training Centre 40km from Adelaide. Guess it was part of the benefits of doing the Fire Engineering Elective :P Anyway got to see the facilities where firefighters are trained and some pretty expensive fire simulators for them to be trained. The picture on the left you see a tanker hot pad training rig which is called the "upside down LPG barbecue under water " tha t cost half a million dollars. It can simulate smoke coming out from the tyres, fire on the tanker itself and the big one, a big bad flame on the road, or in the following picture:-


On the pad. Take note that when I took this picture IT IS VERY VERY HOT. There is alot of radiant heat coming from the pad itself flame and being an LPG flame with little or no smoke the combustion is almost perfect. Also take note at how far I am standing from; it is quite some distance from the rig itself and I can feel my fore head (the only part exposed, except the hands and face) beginning to get hot as well.

Here are 2 more pictures showing another "upsude down barbecue under water" hot pad.

Final sem = so much work :(

Have not been able to blog anything lately. So much work that when I come home i am simple too lazy to do anything that require some thinking (writing this blog with proper English is one of them). My Xbox also I never play as often when I first got it. Maybe it is because I got a RPG game which will suck up so much time I rather not start on it otherwise I will play it for 3-6 hours none stop. Also, got some pretty good stuff to play on the PC at the moment.

First is the F.E.A.R demo. It rocked when I saw it when it was shown on E3, it rocked again when I tried the demo! Too bad my computer isn't up to par with the required specs needed to run the game as intended, but my computer has just enough juice to allow the "bullet time" and particle effects to be displayed :P The graphics was superb! The wait to download it, stalled at 98%, downloaded it AGAIN payed off.

Then there is the Dungeon Siege 2 Demo. It was a whopping 1.5 gigs to download. Thankfully it was downloaded without any hitch at all. The game was ok, the sheer size of the download was due to the fact it came with a full motion video introduction of more than 5 minutes and some fantastic cutscenes. Played it pass the first mission and stopped there though. One rpg at a time is enough.

So that's 2 games in the horizon to get, provided my computer still has the power to play them. Somemore I am expecting Serious Sam 2, Star Wars Battlefront 2, the Dawn of War Expansion..... .. Xbox 360, PSP... so many things to play not enough time nor money!

Tommorow I am going to attent the one and only Level 4 lab this semester; The Air-con lab. It is at the Thebarton campus west of the city. From what I see, I can get there without even alighting in the city as my bus will continue on past that area. Still I still need to alight as I will meet my friend for lunch b4 heading there together.

Now I got 2 assignments due in the coming weeks. Still got the seminar abstract to do somemore :P