Well well well… look who has popped up their head now. Compare the Meerkat in Australia… anyone want to compare meerkats?

*Disclaimer: I work for Compare the Market Australia. Who may, or may not, think Aleks is one awesome dude.

So it’s been a busy year so far. 2012 is the year that I: bought a house, turned 30, changed jobs (twice!) and (in a few weeks) get married. All in all, a hugely hectic 12 months.

On the job front, at the beginning of the year I left my Digital Marketing Coordinator role at Tourism Queensland, although I had some serious fun while I was there. I then headed on over to agency-land, although only lasted 5 months there; unfortunately, it turned out that the environment just wasn’t my type of gig.

And now, for the last two months, I’ve been working in a new in-house role that I had to keep on the downlow due to the brand not actually having been publicly launched.  But with the launch of comparethemarket.com.au today, I can finally say that I’ve accepted a role as SEO & Earned Media Manager for Compare the Market Pty Ltd.

And if you think this post is just an excuse for link drops… well, you may know me better than you think.

A few weeks back I gave my future father-in-law’s (future step-father-in-law? These modern families are so confusing!) website a bit of a makeover. He runs Marinetronics down on the Gold Coast, which specialises in – you guessed it – marine electronics. Anyway, this bit is a bit of an experiment, but I just wanted to promote the fact that he is your go-to guy for 12 volt marine airconditioners… just, in case, you were after one.

It could happen.

Tomorrow I bid farewell to my twenties. It’s been a good decade, and one on which I’ll look back fondly.
In my twenties I:

• Graduated from University with a BA (Hons) English Post-Grad Degree.
• Lived the life of a (lesser) rock star, with a lot of radio airplay and two commercially released albums under my belt.
• Enjoyed a hedonistic and debaucherous “playing the field” stage.
• Realised that cats actually aren’t so bad.
• Had my heart broken numerous times, once after travelling over 10,000 km to be with the girl.
• Said goodbye to my Nina.
• Threw up from drinking too much.
• Became an uncle… twice.
• Uprooted my South African veldskoene and emigrated to Australia.
• Cried.
• Became an Australian citizen.
• Changed jobs and career paths a handful of times.
• Laughed.
• Watched personal heroes such as Dylan, Clapton, Taylor, Rodriguez, Ryan Adams and more perform live.
• Realised that if there’s one thing you’ll miss, it’s the friendships you had back when icecreams were made to dribble down your grubby hand, and the only thing worth worrying about was who would get to be the king of the fort (treasure them).
• Met, fell in love with, and proposed to a girl who never ceases to amaze me with her impromptu dances.
• Purchased my first house, along with said fiancee.

Tell you what… if the thirties are anything like the twenties, I say: bring ‘em on!

… this time about something that I actually, really truly dig. A while back, I noticed that the domain comics.net.au was available for purchase, and I thought the domain was far too good to let go to waste. So I bought it. And now I’m creating a site featuring comic reviews, and comic related news. So, if you’re into comics, be sure to swing by. I’d totally dig to see you there.

Can you believe it’s already been another year since the last SMX Sydney event? As I did last year, I’ve posted a recap of my time there over at Conversation Media… so if you’d like to hear about SEO shenanigans, head on over to my SMX Sydney Recap for 2011!

First off, everyone in the field knows what the real point of this post is

But just in case anyone here is interested, I’ve started an NRL tipping site over at http://nrl-odds.com.au. The site features NRL betting news, news, and all the best odds that are offered on current games. And with the footy season kicking off in just over a week, I’m hoping the site will pick up a bit of traction. And, of course, here’s the sales pitch: if you’re looking to take a punt on any of the games this season, then consider signing up through the banners on the site. You’ll not only get a $200 bonus bet (for new accounts) from Sportsbet, but you’ll also get my everlasting love.

Or something like it, anyway.

So, here’s the thing. I’m going to be celebrating Australia Day.

Over the last few days, I’ve noticed a pretty major trend in my twitter stream: and that’s folks talking about how “Australia Day is only for bogans”, “Australia Day is for racists”, that “Celebrating a country is ridiculous, jingoistic and nationalistic”.

Hookay. So, I can’t celebrate what a great country I live in, without being considered “an ignorant, racist bogan who celebrates in the luxury that I know how morally corrupt Australia is but do nothing anyway?” (ok, I’m picking on the extreme tweet here, but the sentiment remains the same)

Me, at my Australian Citizenship Ceremony.

Let’s step back here for a second. I’m only a recent Australian. I arrived in the country from South Africa just over 5 years ago now, and I’ve been an Australian citizen for just over 2 now.

I made the choice to move here because the opportunity was open to me (due to family) and I didn’t see the sort of future I was hoping for happening for me in South Africa. But as hard as it was to leave my home country (and, don’t get me wrong, I still support the Springboks), I’ve never regretted the move out here. Not only do I not regret it, I celebrate it. I have the shot at a life out here that I don’t believe was possible to me previously, and – for that – I have a lot to be thankful to Australia for.

I’m thankful to Australia for fostering the kind of mateship that I’ve seen on display in the last couple of weeks. For new friendships. Hell, I’m thankful to Australia for a new love. Why can’t I celebrate that bundle of absolute awesomeness without the negativity being lumped with it?

Here’s the thing. I don’t like racists. And hell, while I’m not sure if anyone out there actually has the same definition of “bogan” as the person next to them, I know I don’t like people who are not cool to other people. Because I mean, really, that’s what it comes down to. I respect people who treat people well. Everyone else can piss off, in my opinion, but boiling it right down, I don’t care who you are, what you do, or even what you’ve done… as long as you’ve treated people with respect and kindness.

When I first arrived in the country, my next door neighbour had one of those “piss off, we’re full” bumper stickers. I had the line thrown at me more than once in my first two years. So yeah, I know there are some absolute knobs out there who use Australia Day as a chance to bring out the “piss off back home” schtick.
And yes, I know there are other people who look at it as just a chance to get drunk, and cause trouble. I know there are people out there who use it as an excuse to further their own, exclusionary agendas.

But do you want to know something? That’s not going to stop me celebrating the good.

Back in the bad old days of South Africa, people felt that we shouldn’t celebrate the country at all. But if we didn’t celebrate the good that was all around us – even then, at the worst of times – what would have been the reason behind struggling to make things better?

I celebrate Australia Day because, quite frankly, I choose to. And no racist yobbo is going to take that away from me.

As usual when posting about things involving my employer: caveat emptor, see the disclaimer in the sidebar, yada yada etc…

There’s quite a few cool things happening over at Tourism Queensland lately… not least of which is our current Facebook campaign, “Passport to Shine”… which is yet another part of the launch of the new branding “Queensland, Where Australia Shines”. Suffice to say, it’s pretty damn cool, and you should head across that way to check it out.

Another pretty cool thing that’s happening at the moment over there is our current foursquare promotion. Tourism Queensland and foursquare have released the limited-edition Shine Seeker badge, and – again – great holiday prizes are up for grabs for those who manage to unlock the badge. Regardless of whether you go in for badges or not, I’d suggest you check out our foursquare page anyway… there are some really cool tips of things to see and do around Queensland… even for us locals!

Which brings us to the point of this post… in order to celebrate our “Shine Seeker” badge, we’ve decided to schedule a foursquare meetup/”swarm attempt” at Queen St Mall in Brisbane this Thursday. If you’re one of the 50 to check in and help us unlock the badge, come and find us there… if you’re one of the first 50 to find us, we have real life “Shine Seeker nerd badges” for you to proudly wear and proclaim your geekiness… so come along, will ya?

All details can be found here, but in a nutshell: this Thursday, 21 October, between 8 – 9am, Queen Street Mall. Be there, or be square. Actually, be there AND be (four)square.

… you can probably move on now. Because, y’see, this is one of those times when I post just as a bit of a test. And that test, this time, is this: the 2011 Telstra NRL Premiership Draw has been announced.

Yep. That’s pretty much what this is about. Just in case you were wondering.

Like I said, nothing to see here, move along now.

(This is a bit of a “where have you been lately?” catch-up sort of post. You know the type…)

So, where have I been lately?

Those of you who know me personally know that three months ago, I started working at Tourism Queensland, in their Digital Marketing team. It was a crazy time to start at a new place, with so much exciting stuff happening… particularly in the Digi Marketing team. Today, a lot of that work became public with the launch of Tourism Queensland’s new global brand, “Queensland, Where Australia Shines“. Check out the new video below…

Part of the new brand involves a brand new look for the Queensland Holidays website, will looks pretty darn cool I think. The Queensland Youtube channel has also had a major face-lift… and there’s still more to come.

If you’re interested in learning more about the reactions to the launch, you can read media releases on Tourism Queensland’s corporate website, and we also have a page on Queensland Holidays dedicated to the new launch which you can find here: Tourism Queensland launch new brand, “Queensland, Where Australia Shines”.

Below recounts the day we became men, brewing our very own beer.

****

6.35am: Phone alarm goes off. Quietly curse Hillsy for booking us into the brewery for an early start.

6.36am: Kick toe on way to kitchen where phone is plugged in. Hop for a few minutes to wake up.

6.44am: Toast pops up, burnt. Turn dial down on toaster in preparation for next toasting tomorrow, which will inevitably simply warm up the bread, necessitating another toasting, which will almost certainly go for too long and burn it. Toasters… who can figure ‘em, eh?

7.15am: Kiss sleeping girlfriend goodbye. She’s sleeping with a faint smile on her face, because Bed is so damn comfortable. Silently curse Hillsy for the second time today.

7.32am: Get on train into the city.

7.33am: Why do kids insist on wearing those caps with the ruler-straight peaks, turned slightly to the side? Don’t the realise how silly they look?

10 seconds later: Realise I’m nearing 30. When did that happen? Damn those kids and their fashion.

7.52am: Pull into station. Walk down to meeting point, meeting Andrew and DT.

7.59am: See the Pajero careening around corner… Hillsy’s on time? Catch breath after shock.

7.59am: Russ walks up. Can’t believe the guy’s timing.

8.20am: Stop off at Macca’s drive through to ease Mini’s complaining stomach. Everyone gets coffee. Obviously they’re “Macca’s coffee” rookies.

8.27am: First complaint about coffee.

Classy... BRU4U

8.40am: Walk through BRU4U’s doors. See barrels and barrels of beers. Feel pang of jealousy, knowing that ours will still need to ferment for weeks after today.

8.44am: Hear more than I ever needed to about Canadian beers from our host.

8.46am: Am told that I can’t be from South Africa by host. Smile, but generations of Saffa ancestors rattle their bones in indignation in their graves.

8.59am: Finally agree on two types of beers: One, a “Corona-ish blend”, and Two, a “Asahi-ish blend”. My suggestion of a low-carb beer is met with shaking heads, projected derision and suspicious eyes.

9.10am: We’re off! Following our recipes, we begin pouring litres of light and dark lager malt mix into tubs.

9.12am: Fight first urge to simply dunk head in tub… malt. Is there anything better?

9.16am: Attempting to get measurements right to the very gram. This causes problem for those with a lack of patience, as the scale seems to take a second or two to catch up with what’s actually on it.

9.20am: Discussion about yeast and how it’s actually bacteria. Start daydreaming about dunking head in malt.

9.27am: Put in about 20g too much glucose. Isn’t it the glucose that makes the alcohol percentage increase in the end? Silently make mental note to take it slow when these beers are in hand.

Steam Kettles

9.30am: First lot (the Corona-ish mix) goes into the steam kettles.

9.35am: Repeat process with the Asahi-ish mix. Watch as DT measures grams like a surgeon. Watch Mini throw the ingredients into the bowl like it’s an all-you-can-eat.

9.43am: Second lot goes into another steam kettle. We’re seasoned professionals by now, and the mixing only took 8 minutes.

9.44am: Realise that we now have nothing to do while we wait until we need to add next ingredients. Sit down around barrel-bar table, which apparently could be ours for the low low price of $1750.

9.45am: Host brings us complimentary beer. It’s a dark ale, courtesy of someone named Ron.

9.46am: Thank Ron in his absence, begin downing drink.

9.47am: Smacking of lips and looks of approval. I’m not the biggest fan.

9.59am: Halfway through the drink, realise that I could get into this.

10.02am: Finish beer. Laugh at myself for questioning Ron. I mean, it’s Ron, right? Good beer that.

10.03am: Begin looking around, hoping that we’ll be offered more free beer.

10.04am: Curses. No free beer, just an alarm reminding us to add more barley.

10.06am: Watch a couple bring in their empties, clean them, and begin filling and sealing their bottles. Am reminded that we now need to find 288 empty beer bottles for our 12 cases. Sigh. Silently say sorry to my liver.

10.20am: Watch a father bring his two young daughters in. They’ve been trained well… the girls, who are probably 8 and 10 respectively, put the empties on the bottle cleaner like pros, and start the spinning. Horrified, yet impressed at the same time.

10.30am: We’re offered an “experimental” sarsaparilla. Watch DT fight his inner demons the whole way towards the tap.

10.31am: Watch DT drink said sarsaparilla, acknowledging that he can never turn down a free drink.

Russel pours in some barley. Hillsy supervises.

10.35am: Alarm goes off again, reminding us to do… well, something. I’m comfy on this chair though.

10.38am: Those two girls are helping bottle and seal the father’s beer now. Seriously, how long has he been bringing them here?

10.42am: Offered another free beer… this time, a cream ale. It’s not bad; fairly crisp, and quite a clean taste.

10.47am: The mixtures are done! Watch as they’re piped from the kettles to respective barrels. Good god, that looks good.

10.55am: Pay the friendly lady. After these beers, I’m prepared to forgive her the “you can’t be South African” remark. Lock in a date to come in for bottling: 14 August.

10.56am: Realise that the couple are still busy bottling their 6 cases. Realise that we have 12 cases between us. Mark down to keep the entire day on the 14th open.

10.59am: We’re out the door. We came in mere drinkers, we leave… well, slightly more educated beer drinkers.

****

And that’s it. Of course, on the way home we stopped off for various other adventures, but that’s a tale for another time…