Sydney has been sitting in the mid-to-high 30s all week, and it sucks. No skateboarding just now - I'm not even riding my bike to work after a dizzy spell as I rode home a few days ago. I had to cancel a harbour walk on Sunday as my Scottish skin explodes into heat rash if I allow enough contact with the sun, and I haven't slept well for some time (it didn't drop below 30 celsius last night).
Yesterday I attended the ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) 'Information Online' conference. It was often interesting, particularly the keynote address from ABC Innovation's Chris Winters - there is so much going on in our corporation that I am unaware of, mainly because the continuous daily graft of my job doesn't allow much time to explore these things.
I have recently become aware of John Rattray's blog, A Predatory Bird. If you don't know John Rattray, he is a professional skateboarder from Banchory, near Aberdeen, in Scotland. He used to skate at the old Factory in Dundee (more of which at a later date), when he was known as 'Rat' and when I made occasional small talk with him, but now he resides in the USA and skates for Zero. Somewhere in between he got a physics degree in Glasgow, and he's a pretty admirable chap.
In this post he has a video featuring another Scottish skater called Div. I actually trounced this sucka in a skateboard competition at Stirling skatepark. I doubt that is a fair reflection of either of our abilities, but I used to skate that horrid wee park all the time, so I had that massive advantage working for me. Check it oot: The Predatory Bird
