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2003 - The Year That Was
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This page is still under construction
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2003 Was considered by many to be the
turning point in the history of MEGA. It caused the official change in
direction of the purpose of this great club from a giver of information, to a
giver of social interraction!
New Committee!!!!
With just over quorum, MEGA has elected 3
rookies to the ranks of committee, and elevate 2 current members
to the executive. The ship will now be guided by Jon Dusting,
who already has made it known that he is looking for a cover to
throw exorbitant drinking parties (and bring back the stereotype
mentioned in the soccer review below...). Under his command,
will be Karlis Atvars as Secretary after departing the ranks of
Social Secretary as the most prolific social events coordinator
(who will forget that meeting when it was found that with events
still to come, we had already claimed our quota from c and
s!!!!) And third executive is Andy Chan as Treasurer, who will
learn to fill the accounting shoes of frugality and accuracy.
The rest of the committee is as follows: Vice-President will be
the chef'd'extraordinaire Owen Gould, Social Secretary will be
the local Green Officer Justin "Timberlake" Leontini, and in the
caboose is the Induction Officer, ably filled by Aran
Fitzgerald. Thank yall for showing up at the EGM. Remember,
these positions are only until the AGM in april, so if you think
they're not up to it, you have four months to tell them! For
a complete summary and repeat of positions, go here
<<About MEGA>>
Soccer BBQ
* Soccer - (24/11/03) This
was the event that MEGA HAD to have. With so much enthusiasm on
show (people even wore cleats!) and so much skill to use and
pretend to have, that it was inevitable that we would get such a
turnout. Firstly, thanks to Katrina for filling the shoes of Owen
so commendably (no doubt also to Bronwyn for support) - We haven't
had snags that ready that quickly in some time!
Andreas and Karlis in goals, teams were split evenly, with the
underdogged 'Alexander37' led defense standing up to some vicious
offence. Raj - RAJ - Wow what a competitor - Pulled some great
defensive moves to support the right flank and the mid-field. Tai
and Justin swooping the back line for the defense were always in
great position, marking each goal post. (Who will forget
Timberlake's tackle on an Owen foray to the right side, to prevent
the cross to the flamboyant Solids offensive line of the Afouras
backed team, of Andy, Krishna and Min!) Sammy's runs through the
mid field, with support from the lumbering goliath that was Aran,
and the sheer brut strength of Josh to set up plays in the middle.
Some more memorable moments, (neglecting my prerequisited
celebrations of each of our goals) included the surprising grace
and skill of the ten Jonnos - running hard all day, sometimes
loosing, but also winning the ball for the setups to Krishna.
Also, the set play from a pretty standard save by alexander37 to
pass to Josh up the left side, cross to Sammy, support by Aran,
and a final easy slot past Afouras - It was all class. But the
cake goes to the last goal before tucker, when the call of "last
goal wins" went out, the potent Solids offence looked to score on
a hard fought scramble, but were prevented by the goalie. Then the
ensuing set play missed at the other end, but the returning set
play from the Afouras back line up the left side finished with a
great cross to a well positioned Tom on the right post to blast
the winner into the left net (if we had one).
Thanks to all who showed, and stayed for the bbq. Great venue for
meals, and chatter. Just next time, remember your duty to your
stereotype: We are engineers. We only drink pepsi when we've had
enough BEER.
Events Been:
*
Road Trip (**/11/03) - It was bound to happen - The Funkmaster needed more parts, and the Webmaster needed to get out
more.
The saga
continues...<HERE>
* BBQ (30/10/03) -
Without a doubt, the honour of this bbq goes to the newly
found culinary genius that is Owen. We
thought we knew the pinnacle of chefdom,
but that was before we received a gift
from the isolation cubicle on the spme
side of eng. (minus the spa-toola he
didna bring)
From the very outset, OG knew what had to be done to get that muck
off the cooking surface. "What do you
need, Owen - delegate!" came the order
from the standing Social Secretary (SS).
"Karlis, I need a jug of water. Katrina, paper
towels would be adequate, yes." and it
was on.
With 6 dozen snags to plough through, and the sun making it's only
visit for the day for the hour between 1
and 2, the cooking was orderly, the
turnout swelled, and when the aroma of
cooked flesh filled everyone's
(including Aran's) nostrils, OG dished
it out. Onions, variety of meats (he
remembered the names, but had to guess
which sausages they referred to), good
sauce, bad sauce, and plenty of VB and
coke. And like the true professional
that we could see before us, Owen waited
till everyone else had received their
fill before getting out of the
kitchen, and getting stuck into what we
all knew he was dying for: long,
fatty, thick, hot, thoroughly cooked
compilations of Clayton's best meat
extracts (and at $6.50 a kilo who could
blame him!).
PS: Thanks must also go to Jonno,
Cedric, and Min, who knew when it was
time to get out of the way of Karlis and
Aran when it came to cleaning up. Kevin
knows two pairs of hands on deck are
better than 5 (where Kevin is any deity
you wish to worship).
PPS: Lewis, we needed you about
20mins earlier. But thanks for clearing
the stove at the end anyway!
* Europa Dinner (17/10/03) - The
Quite Mega Evening went good, 'cept for the turds who didn't pay for their
drinks...
* Pub Crawl (10/10/03) - This was
a grandios night, which involved chatter, watching rugby, bouncer issues, more
drink, deafening music, and more drink. Starting at the Rebar, ($8 pots - last
time I go there) for some pleasant introductory chatter, but soon it was time
to head to the Prince of Wales, to stand around, chatter more, and watch the
rugby. Plans were formulated to get people into the Nest, but due to a private
function we stayed in the main Robarata area. Due to a blocked dunny, we soon
left for The Saint. Some people got turned away, so we finally mostly
met up at the E&W. That was loud, packed, and plenty to drink.
Generally thought, the night was a success, with lots of people meeting new
people, and it all kind of dissolved around 1am, while some of the more
hard-core pressed on into the night.
Thanks SPME for organising, and MEGA for showing up!
* Road Trip (26/9/03) - After
some mishaps, the webmaster, and the funkmaster went out for a drive one sunny day to get some spare parts
for their studies.
Here is their story.
At the risk of
editorialising (sorry Jonno) I am happy to leave a little paragraph like this
for other people to show off their post-grad adventures too! Doesn't have to
be a MEGA event, but you must be a member!!!
* General
Meeting (19/9/03) - As promised,
there was PIZZA, and was there ever! Good discussions were had, especially
regarding the printer, which was productive (though I notice it remains
unresolved...) Cedric pulled finger and so minutes are now linked from
here for general perusal.
(But
bug him for it
here if you really want...)
* MOVIE NIGHT (10/9/03) - A solid turnout managed
to find their way to the back of the Glen, and in a group witness in silence
(except Karlis and his phone - jeez, either hang up or walk out with it) sheer
horror on the
cheap
I guess we shoulda told yall that the movie was going
to be a little graphic, but how was Jonno to know? Then again at $8, I ain't
complaining.
* BBQ (29/3/03) - Healthy turnout to our new venue (20m down the road) on
one of the windier sunny-winter-days seen this year. Snags were absolutely delicious this time (well
chosen,
Karlis), drink was plenty (thanx for coming only at the end, Andreas) and was
consumed well (too well, Karlis), and we even had salad/tomato prepared! (thanx Aran!).
Once again, thanks go to former Social-Secretary Anthony Buchanan for his quite intelligent
display of raw-meat-cooking management (Say "hello and thanks" to him if you see
him) - Next time bring a scraper, mate.
* Pub Night / Evening Drinks (1/8/03)- Small, but
sociable turnout. Plenty to drink, enough hot food and overall social merriment
was exchanged. Then we all smelt like smoke.
* BBQ -
(21/6/03) This event has received good reviews. "It was good" - Jonno. Food
was plenty, and the rain stayed away. No photos.
* Paint
Ball (26/7/03)
Anthony (at
Mt. Hotham) has decided that, due to lack of
interest (and a thumb print on
Andreas' forehead), paint ball will be
postponed indefinitely.
News
WELCOME NOTE
This an official welcome message to all 2nd Semester
Post-Grads.
WELCOME...
That's all, please come again another day.
No seriously.
Welcome Tai Heng Hoon to the solids section and Owen Gould to the fluids
section. We (MEGA, that is) also welcome some international final year project
students who are resident in the post-grad room and generally take part in
post-grad things. That is Giovanni 'Italian Stallion' Berselli from the
Bologna, Italy (that's right, where bolognese sauce comes from!) and Kirsten
Weber from the lovely Hamburg, Germany (where hamburgers come from!).
Don't forget to drag yourself away from the Thesis and come to a MEGA event so
you too can meet all these personalities and form lifelong friendships and all
that mushy stuff. You'll know Owen by the length of his pants (they could only
be described as shorts) and the ever present deep fryer that he keeps by his
side day and night. Tai will be recognised by his challenge to Krishna's
ability to look like he has vacated his desk for lengthy periods of time, only
to turn up the next day. That's right, Tai is just as neat and puts us all to
shame, SHAME.
That's it, I've had enough, the supervisors are on my back (like monkeys).
Aran (Induction Officer, MEGA) Fitzgerald
P.S. Remember, if you are having any problems, don't hesitate to call Karlis. Newbie - Mon 24th Nov
Justin has been here 5 months, and has decided
to take on a final year student. She is Bronwyn, she does
computational, and she is in the Big post-grad room. So if you see her around, make her feel welcome,
make snide comments to Justin, and consider taking on a student
yourself! (ps: Gender balance needs to be encouraged...)
Aran taking on the world.- Tue 18th Aug
This week, newbie Aran Fitzgerald managed to put together a rather good poster to present at a week-long international conference in Sydney. His poster,
entitled "*something*" is in colour, on A2 paper, and describes some mixing ideas for bio-reactors, especially the problems of trying to mix biological liquids efficiently yet keep sheer stresses in the fluid to a level that body cells can survive. "I don't know how you can spend a week standing next to a poster." muttered Justin through his lunch roll.
Aran is due to return triumphantly from his
altruistic endeavours on Monday with sugar packets for his office.
International Experience- Mon 4th Aug
A new and cultured addition to the large post-graduate office has arrived, in the form of German exchange student Kirsten. She will be here for 4 months, working under the guidance of Dr. Damon Honnery on a filter system. The catch for her is, she has to have it finished before she leaves!
New Committee
Elected April sometime.
For a while
there, it looked like a military junta
(pr. "Hoon-tah"),
with the old being replaced by the
old. That was until two new members
emerged from the seats to take up
vacating positions on the MEGA
committee.
Aran Fitzgerald [1st year
Numerical Fluids] was elected as the
new Induction Officer, and
Karlis Atvars [1st year Experimental Fluids]
as the new Social Secretary...
Feature Article: Jo Nathan Dusting
EDITORIALISING THE WEBSITE
 The
MEGA website is one of the cornerstones of the mechanical
engineering postgraduate experience. It provides an artistic,
informative, and philisophical relief from our dreary existence.
The webmaster, Mr. Karl Atvian, has taken many hours out of his
PhD research in order to ensure that whenever the poetic words
http://yoyo.its.monash.edu.au/groups/mega/ are displayed on
the screen, we are confronted by the familiar fluro blue insignia,
poorly aligned Arial font, continuity equation, and blurry
pictures that make it look like we are the leader in space
research.
However, of late, we have seen a disturbing trend develop, whereby
there appears to be an increasing trend in the amount of
editorialising appearing on the website. I, as the secretary for
this once-great club, wish to clarify that none of these
statements represent the views, spelling, and font-colour
preferences of the MEGA membership or its committee.
In particular, contrary to what one may think after perusing this
website: - Not all members like, let alone are obsessed by, beer
or any other amber ale.
- Not all members think that it is appropriate to hang shit on
Halal food.
- Some members understand that 'sheer stresses' and 'shear
stresses' are entirely different things!
- Some members may not think that the Cascade Premium at Cafe
Europa is pricey.
- Aran is not the only member with a website.
- Jonno is possibly not the only member who needs an apology for
the editorialising.
- Not all members believe that it is only a matter of time before
the Dixie Chicks come around and make girl on girl on girl on guy
love to them. ie. It is possible that some members may cringe at
the word 'yall'.
- Some members may have got over the fact that Karlis and Aran-
the fluids outcasts in the big postgrad room- were elected to the
committee (for God's sake man, it was in April!).
In conclusion, I call on all members to feel free to add other
comments to the website, if for no other reason than to provide a
little balance to the geri-curled onslaught that we are currently
faced with...
Jon Dusting
Secretary
11th August, 2003
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2003
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