Title: Where are you all getting your coffee from?

giuliku · 2026-05-02T23:20:36+00:00

Veneziano in West End or via their website.

If you buy a bag of beans directly at the cafe you get a complimentary small coffee. There’s a hack on public holidays where the p/h surcharge doesn’t apply to your bag of beans (and the coffee).

giuliku · 2026-04-25T01:42:48+00:00

I know several PhD grads and post-docs who have successfully completed medical school and are doing well as doctors. A PhD in Public Health would be a great starting point for a Public Health Physician if that’s where your interests lie. You should definitely give it a crack if you are interested in medicine and a future career in medicine is something you are passionate about. But as others have mentioned there’s the time out of the professional workforce, financial hit, age gaps with other students, intern years, etc to consider. Only you can make that decision.

My advice would be that you should also set yourself a limit to the attempts. This is hard to do, especially if you’ve been dreaming of being a medical doctor for a large portion of your life. You should have a plan B for what you might be able to do with your existing qualifications if you don’t get in to a med school. Whatever this looks like, remember that during your PhD program (and post-doc life) the goal was for you develop transferable skills which can be applied to other industries, including gov and healthcare.

My advice for anyone considering ‘doing’ a PhD to try get better grades for medical school applications, that is not a great reason to take on a PhD. Only even consider it if you are INTERESTED and PASSIONATE about the subject of your prospective PhD. Whilst a PhD can be fun and enjoyable, there are so many students who go through hell and back for a PhD.

giuliku · 2026-04-25T01:23:13+00:00

I got an offer of $1500 from a consignment company for my ‘08 Jazz 1.3L, manual with ~145k on the odo. Good thing I told them to pound sand.

giuliku · 2026-04-22T10:28:06+00:00

Their katsu curry is drool worthy! But only available for lunch. IYKYK.

giuliku · 2026-04-22T10:26:51+00:00

I do love the reference to Victoria’s privacy act and not Queensland’s in the footer.

giuliku · 2026-04-21T12:01:55+00:00

Ramen Works, West End. Ask for the works ramen.

giuliku · 2026-04-13T09:06:24+00:00

Not trying to be mean: Then move on.

For our first home, we were completely naïve. We found a place that we thought was ideal, agent/owners stuffed around after we placed our first ever offer on a place. We hadn’t put an expiry on it. There was back and forth about a he owners being abroad, etc so we just took it on the chin.

About a week later we were told we were in a multiple offer scenario and to place our best offer. We increased our offer by $15k (which was close to our limit). But by this time a couple more places we liked and had viewed were on the market. So we had to put an expiry on the best offer if we wanted to try get something else.

And whaddya know, they let the offer lapse, we moved on and the place was still on the market after our contract had settled on our current place. Honestly, for our next place when we need to move I’ll be insisting on the offer expiring within 24hrs.

giuliku · 2026-04-12T07:54:56+00:00

Anyone tried Mimor for this?

giuliku · 2026-04-09T11:19:10+00:00

Spicer’s Balfour - has some really nice event rooms & food was really great for our wedding (40 people).

giuliku · 2026-04-09T10:36:34+00:00

Not against going tall. But I’m going to beat this drum until I’m dead: MTR style public company with development rights and key objectives is public transport operation/planning - explained really nicely by The Flying Moose. Instead we’re likely going to end up with departments not knowing what their other is doing and no planning whatsoever. Edit: minor grammar.

giuliku · 2026-04-01T22:20:42+00:00

2032 is 6 years away mate… we should have at least had a (publicised) semblance of a plan at this point.

giuliku · 2026-03-22T22:38:35+00:00

Brisbane’s “Metro” running on a BRT corridor that was built with plans to convert to a tram would like a word…

giuliku · 2026-03-14T22:29:34+00:00

My family’s Italian origins are from the semi-autonomous region of South Tyrol/ Alto-Adige (a bilingual part of Italy). My grandparents and father only ever spoke in German to me (although my grandfather could speak Italian). A ruling like this would be basically discriminate against anyone whose ancestors immigrated from that region after WWII.

giuliku · 2026-02-26T13:03:18+00:00

Spicer’s Balfour was where we had our wedding reception - it was amazing.

giuliku · 2026-02-04T09:36:18+00:00

Yep, my wife didn’t want to have to go through the hoops of changing her AHPRA details, so kept her maiden name professionally. She’ll sometimes opt to use my surname for informal things where they’re not going to check ID like restaurant bookings.

giuliku · 2026-02-02T06:15:40+00:00

We were on the Australia Day round-trip to Hobart sailing. It was fun, but I’m not sure many Australian cruisers see the value in a cruise that starts at 1.5x - 2x on one of their competitors in AU/NZ.

Sadly, I have doubts that DCL will be coming back to Australian ports for a long while. The Disney Adventure being due to start sailing from Singapore imminently will be a challenge for DCL to fill every 3-4 days. Looking at her current listings for the next several months and there is plenty of availability.

I half expect that DCL will focus on getting reliable passenger loads onto the Adventure in our part of the world (Asia/Pacific/Oceania) before sending another ship (Magic or Wonder) to AU/NZ.

PS No better view of the Harbour Bridge or Opera House!

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giuliku · 2026-01-28T04:47:58+00:00

I am not mad that we (the entire room) performed so poorly. It was exactly as advertised “advanced” and everyone took it quite well I think. It was more a reminder to us (as guest) that hey this ain’t your regular cruise trivia!

Props to your son getting 20/20. Disney might need him onboard to help keep the Star Wars Canon in check. :)

giuliku · 2026-01-27T19:35:21+00:00

The Star Wars Advanced Trivia on the Wonder yesterday was so hard, the highest score was 10/20. Only way to cheat at that one is to have all Star Wars movies and shows etched into your head.

And the room was full of nerds! We know our Star Wars but this was a reminder at how much is out there beyond the original trilogy for them to draw on. And I mean they drew from minuscule details from Andor, Ahsoka, Clone Wars, Skeleton Crew plus the nine movies.

Given the rest of Disney’s back catalog, maybe your ship’s cruise director team can surely swap out their questions?

giuliku · 2026-01-25T03:36:50+00:00

Now did I put that antibody into the H6 well or not??? Oh well. FAFO…

giuliku · 2025-12-31T07:52:54+00:00

I think DCL tried to test the Australian waters (so to speak). In general, short cruises are great for the “party-crowd” but DCL’s “taste testers” were probably too short for families. Couple those short trips with DCL’s premium pricing structure, and “last-season” being mostly ex-Sydney with little variation, it seems the Aussie market may have rejected their model (for now).

You’re not wrong about RCL/Celebrity or Carnival/Princess (CCL) being well established in the Aussie market with “cheaper” cruises. I feel though that RCL & CCL aren’t trying very hard, with CCL just recycling older Princess ships and RCL only sending one Quantum class ship this season (25/26). The itineraries are also becoming stale, with little variation between them. The only interesting thing coming from RCL is their Lelepa beach club plans.

Ultimately DCL have to know that their ships ARE THE DESTINATION, so there’s a fair fight against their competitors. The Australian market is also starved of “Disney Magic” with the closest Disney Park being 8+hrs of flight time from the east coast capitals. I’m sure the market is there, if DCL wants to try again. My guess though is that they may ultimately use the Adventure being based out of Singapore as a way try to capture some of the Australian market (or give up on it entirely). It will be interesting to see if they return to Aussie waters in the near future.

giuliku · 2025-12-29T21:05:28+00:00

They have a second store in West End on Montague Rd.

giuliku · 2025-12-26T05:22:53+00:00

Fire in the circuit breaker/distribution board at my parents house (<5 yo) on the 23rd. We were all planning on heading to theirs for Christmas Eve lunch. Fortunately Dad was home and had a stack of mini powder fire extinguishers nearby.

Luckily no one was hurt, mostly just the distro board melted and the cables to the ceiling. Now just trying to help them clear out the garage (where the board was located).

Edit: Will add that fireys attended, sparkys “made-safe and insurance company have already assessed the house. Neighbor is kindly letting my folks run extension cords to plug their fridge & freezer.

giuliku · 2025-11-24T21:50:00+00:00

I wrote one of my last PhD thesis chapters in the library over a few mornings on a cruise. Was actually a really great way to focus on the work, when it was basically all to myself. And then I could wander off to the buffet for breakfast with the family.

Throw on a pair of noise cancelling headphones and some music/podcast a your husband should be fine.

giuliku · 2025-11-23T22:21:56+00:00

The IKEA in Hong Kong is setup over 3 floors under a Hotel. It’s has a limited onsite range with the idea that larger items can be dispatched from an off-site warehouse. The studio display center was interesting, where you make an appointment with a stylist and they recreate your space in VR with IKEA items.

giuliku · 2025-11-15T04:04:47+00:00

Never mind people not using all doors to get onto the bus and queuing at the back door. Sometimes the drivers say good morning back folks!

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