Here's a slideshow of some pics from our recent weekend in Shanghai!
So it's been over 5 months since anything was written here. I'll summarize. In December/January, Mum Stevenson made the trip down under to visit. Work and work travel seemed to fill in the following months - Jen stayed in Oz, while Dan spent a bit of time in Hanoi and Hong Kong. All of the travel got the best of us both and we have been battling colds and the flu for what seems like months. Jen's sister Jaime and her fiance John were married in Mexico in April, so we spent about 3 weeks overseas celebrating.
Back to the grind now, we're looking forward to hosting a guest from the US this weekend. After that, Dan will have a business trip to India in late June and we're running City2Surf again in August. Until next time!
I have never really felt compelled to put together an end-of-year list; however, I feel like this year was pretty special. 2010 was a pretty big deal for Team Stevenson. We became Australians in 2010. The year was dusted with fantastic music, food, travel, art and family. For us, the year 2010 set a new standard by which all future years will be measured. So in the spirit of celebration, I hope to give you a bit of insight into some of the things that I would say have changed my life this year.
2. My iPhone 4 - Jen and I bought an iMac a couple of years ago and have been very happy with it. I suppose that this makes me a fanboy now, but my iPhone is another gadget that I don't think that I could live without. I've been wanting a smartphone for a while. I previously had a Sony k750i which was a hand-me-down from Jen. We bought it in London in 2006, and while it worked just fine, it didn't have all the bells and whistles and the other kids on the playground were making fun of me because I couldn't do all of the things that they could do. So when Apple announced that the iPhone 4 was coming out, I decided to take the plunge and jump on board the bandwagon. When Jen and I travelled to South America in November, we didn't take a computer. It was the first trip that we hadn't also had a laptop in tote. It didn't matter. The iPhone did everything. Jen's sister got engaged while we were in the Galapagos. No worries, mate. Video chatting from bed in Peru a couple nights later, we were able to see the ring, hear the story, and share the news face to face...sort of. The phone does everything I want it to, and it does it pretty well.
3. Fitness - It's true that including 'fitness' as a life changing item may clash with the number one item of confit duck. Early in the year, Jen and I started to book the details for our holiday in South America. As part of the holiday, we hiked the Inca Trail. It's a 3.5 day, 45km hike to Machu Picchu at altitudes of 2300 - 3500m (7,539 -11,473 ft). It was tough. The good news was that we had about 9 months lead time before we had to lace up the boots and put on the packs. We set a mid-year goal of running City2Surf, 14km from Sydney's city centre to Bondi Beach, and started training. I took the position that any health benefits I realised would need to be resulted from improvements in activity, not in diet. Our lavish food hobby was not something that I was willing to negotiate - thus, the duck confit was safe. After City2Surf (which we both finished without passing out), Jen and I were able to keep up the pace and we found the Inca Trail to be difficult, but definitely manageable. Had we not been in the groove of some fitness regimen, I don't think that we would have had as pleasant a trip. In 2011, we'll continue running. I have just treated myself to a pair of new shoes, and the Christmas gift of a GPS watch will feed my data hungry brain and create more motivation to keep improving.
4. Tying Shoes - Somewhat 'tied' in with number 3, I'm proud to report that at the age of 31 years old, I have finally learned to tie my shoes. Albeit a bit late to the party, this year, I realised that there are literally dozens of ways people tie their shoes. As a kid, I started with the Bunny Ears approach, but quickly graduated to the more advanced 'Make a Bow, Round It & Through' position. This is where I have stayed for years...until 2010. I came across a blog post encouraging me to ditch the granny knot and to embrace the reef knot. I won't tie my shoes the same way again. With that in mind, tying my shoes makes the list for things that have changed my life in 2010.
5. Twitter - Twitter is famous for being the most banal of all the social media platforms. It's often joked that those people who use twitter make Facebook statuses sound like Shakespeare. Aside from the criticism, twitter has served a number of purposes for me. Straying slightly from the 2010 focus, Last year, I was able to use a quick twitter exchange I had with the premier of New South Wales to get a story in the Sydney Morning Herald. To make a long story short, it was all about train timetables and mobile applications, but it ended with the sweet taste of victory for rail commuters and software developers alike. The point is that I use twitter to get things done. Unlike most other communication methods, twitter is entirely out in the open for the world to see. That way, when I ask LAN Chile Airlines why my flights are all screwed up, they respond quickly and turn around the situation much faster than they would if the whole internet wasn't watching. I have escalated airline issues, secured last minute restaurant bookings and avoided traffic issues. It effectively accomplishes tasks that are both acutely local or international in reach. It's certainly not perfect, and it's not even useful in a number of situations - but for 2010, twitter certainly does make the grade.
Honourable Mentions go to Merino Wool clothing, specifically the Icebreaker brand. For our South American trip, both Jen and I stocked up on this gear for our layers and were totally impressed. I have a pair of underwear made by these guys that I probably shouldn't talk too much about, but it's like $60/pair and they're so good that I went and bought two more. They are really that good. Also quite good is the Drunk History series from the website FunnyOrDie.com as well as all of the AutoTuneTheNews stuff on YouTube.
Leave comments if you have anything introduced to you in 2010 that you feel changed your life.
Hi everyone! I realise that it's been a long time since we posted, but it's not been from lack of exciting events! We have just returned from a three week holiday to South America where we visited a hacienda in Ecuador and role horses to Cotopaxi volcano, spent 8 days aboard a catamaran sailing the Galapagos Islands, and then we hiked 45km along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu! Enjoy our pictures below!
Jen and I took Friday off and hopped down to Tasmania for the weekend. I'm still working on getting some of the photos up, but here is a quick slideshow of what has been uploaded so far. You can also click on the flickr link above to get another view.
This Sunday, Jen and I ran the City2Surf race - stretching from Hyde Park in Sydney (a short walk from our place) to Bondi Beach. If you don't know City2Surf, it's the largest timed running race in the world with 80,000 participants enrolled this year. The race is a mix from pretty serious runners - Olympians, professionals, etc. to people who dress up in costume to make the run. The route takes you over 14km from the city through some beautiful neighbourhoods with a constant view of Sydney's bays, skyline and finally the white sand of Bondi. Here are a few pictures from the day (apologies for the quality - it's all from my phone):
Above: Pre-Race: In the lift from our building
Below: In our group with other runners, waiting for the starting gun
Below: In our group with other runners, waiting for the starting gun
Above: After the race, with our medalsBelow: tough to see, but that is an epic-long queue from the beach to get a bus. It took us as long to get home as it did to run there.
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