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27. February 2007 12:53
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from 2004

27. February 2007 12:53 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

added photos from 2004


I have now added photos from 2004. The highlights from this year was a trip to the United States and Canada as well as a family trip to Egypt. This was also the year that Australia entered the war in Iraq, so there are a couple of photos from the anti war demonstrations.

Click here to read about 2004Click here to read about 2004

27. February 2007 10:25
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from Portugal 2006

27. February 2007 10:25 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

added photos from portugal


In Mid 2006 I was in Portugal for our International Partner Conference with the company.

It was a week of being busy setting up for the conference, socialising but also a lot of fun and partying.

The bridge across the river in Lisbon
Click here to see more photos from:Portugal/Slideshow

27. February 2007 08:14
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from The Blue Mountains 2006

27. February 2007 08:14 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

added photos from the blue mountains 2007


I quite regularly head up to the Blue Mountains to go Rock Climbing.

We normally camp overnight and then depending on the weather and temperature decide on the day what walls we are going climbing on. The photos in the gallery are a selection of some of the photos I've taken in 2006, but there will be more to come in 2007.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of photos of me climbing as I tend to forget to pass my camera to someone else.

Most of the time I go with my friend Sarah, but she has now moved to Canberra so she doesn't come up there as often as she used to.

Climbing
Click here to see more photos from: Climbing in the Blue Mountains/Slideshow

27. February 2007 07:47
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from Tokyo

27. February 2007 07:47 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

added photos from tokyo


In September 2006 I went on a business trip to Tokyo along with a colleague of mine Tsukada-san.

Most of the trip was hard work and very long days, but I did manage to snap a couple of photos here and there.

We did get the deal in Tokyo, so the trip was worthwhile, and we are now installing our solution across all of Asia.

Girls in Kimono
Click here to see more photos from: Tokyo/Slideshow

27. February 2007 02:36
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from Denmark 2006

27. February 2007 02:36 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

added photos from denmark 2006


In early 2006 my Mum had a stroke while my parents were on holiday in Thailand.

A few months later in April when I was in Europe for work I used the opportunity to go and visit and check up on how my mum is doing.

She is now in a wheelchair and still getting used to finding new ways of doing things.

I didn't do much while I was there, because it was mainly a social visit to help my mum and dad.

My mum
Click here to see more photos from: Denmark/Slideshow

27. February 2007 02:17
by Rene Pallesen
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Added a photo album for various photos 2006

27. February 2007 02:17 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

added a photo album for various photos 2006


I have a number of photos that don't really justify being in individual albums. I have now added all these photos from 2006 into one album.

Who's the clown? Click here to see more photos from: Miscellaneous/Slideshow

27. February 2007 01:41
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from USA 2006

27. February 2007 01:41 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

added photos from usa


In early 2006 I went a trip to Seattle for our annual kick-off event.

Some of us flew over there a few days early to go skiing in Wanatchee east of Seattle. If was a weekend of perfect skiing. It was my first time skiing so I took some lessons after which I was doing fine (blue slopes).

During the week we had lots of meetings and dinners. There were award nights as well as just social nights where we could meet up with the rest of the company.

The following all of us in International went down to Crystal Mountain at Mount Raineer to do some more skiing. It was a lot of fun and we all had a great time.

Me with Mount Raineer in the background
Click here to see more photos from: USA/Slideshow

27. February 2007 01:30
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from skiing in Thredbo 2006

27. February 2007 01:30 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

added photos from skiing in thredbo 2006


Mid 2006 I went with Soeren and his family (visiting from Thailand) to Thredbo to do some skiing. We drove down there Friday night and returned Sunday night. Thredbo is located in the Australian Alps 5 hours drive south of Sydney.

Generally the skiing conditions are pretty good, but last year was pretty bad, but we did get some skiing done. Soeren on skiis
Click here to see more photos from:Skiing in Australia 2006/Slideshow

27. February 2007 01:05
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from Holland 2006

27. February 2007 01:05 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

added photos from holland 2006


In 2006 I went to Holland a couple of time for work. We have an office in Vianen 50 milometers outside Amsterdam.

I normally don't take a lot of photos when I go there, but if you click on the link below then you can see some of the ones I did take.

Amsterdam
Click here to see more photos from:Holland/Slideshow

4. January 2007 12:27
by Rene Pallesen
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2008 has started

4. January 2007 12:27 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

2008 has started


The year 2007 as you can see was a busy year with lots of traveling and adventures.

It is now time to move onto 2008 and see what this year can bring.

You can follow my adventures in 2008 by clicking on this link.

Can I at the same time suggest that you bookmark this page and I can highly recommend using the new RSS feed features on this website.
Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

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29. November 2021 17:12
by Rene Pallesen
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Struggling

29. November 2021 17:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I was struggling a lot this year, through a combination of things ranging from self worth, lack of s
I was struggling a lot this year, through a combination of things ranging from self worth, lack of support, dealing with the boys, work and other things.

Mid-year during the lockdown it hit hard.



7. April 2021 22:04
by Rene Pallesen
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Camping Glenworth Valley

7. April 2021 22:04 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Over easter we went to Glenworth Valley for Camping. This location is about an hours drive north of
Over easter we went to Glenworth Valley for Camping. This location is about an hours drive north of Sydney in an easily accessible but beautiful little valley.

It is private propoerty, so you have to book beforehand and it does get very busy. We were very lucky that we were located down at the end of the property where it was more quiet.

In the evenings there were beautiful sunsets.





In the morning it was a bit more misty in the valley.






The owners also put on a great easter egg hunt for the children. There were hundreds of children with 20,000 chocolate eggs hidden in a field and there was an easter bunny riding a horse.









We also spend time playing some ball sports. I'd brought a baseball bat and ball. Because we were four families, we had plenty of people to form two teams. It got very competitive and the bat took a bit of battering, so I had to go a buy a more solid wooden bat.





In the evenings we had the normal campfire and baked dampers on sticks, marshmellows and baked potatoes in the fire.













There are also lots of walks witin easy driving distance, including some walks with beautiful waterfalls.













Also, people come to the valley for horse riding, so there are lots of horses in the surrounding paddocks.

And wildlife such as Kookaburras!


And going for a short stroll in the mornings was a beautiful experience with the mist and light changing.

Because of lots of rain, the whole area had been flooded just weeks earlier. Where we were camping would have been a meter under water, but because of the river running through the area the water had fortunately receeded.








21. March 2021 13:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Karate 3rd Kyu

21. March 2021 13:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I reached a significant milestone in karate this week. I graded for my 3rd Kyu (Brown belt) and at t
I reached a significant milestone in karate this week. I graded for my 3rd Kyu (Brown belt) and at the same Kim graded for her 5th Kyu (Blue belt).

On the occation I treated myself to a new dogi (karate uniform).


I was so nervous and tense - and screwed up a few places. There is now a lot of hard work ahead to get to the 2nd Kyu which is at least another half a year away.

Here are some photos from the grading. The ones from the dojo are a bit blurry because they weren't taken from my camera and I don't have the full resolution photos.












20. March 2021 14:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Karate bruises

20. March 2021 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Last year was a tough year with Karate.First the lockdown meant that we had to go online for trainin
Last year was a tough year with Karate.

First the lockdown meant that we had to go online for training, but even in the dojo I managed to get a lot of injuries.
Some of them visible and some of them not so visible...I have a whole stack of scans and x-rays as souvenirs from this year.

Some could have been avoided, but most are just part of the training.






I even earned an award for it...


The worst one was a kick to my chin. I dont have any photos of it, but I do have the indentation it made on my mouth guard I was wearing at the time. If it hadn't been for the mouthguard I am certain that I would have lost some teeth. This injury could have been avoided.


I have now gone out to buy a new and way cooler mouthguard (I created the design myself). It is thors hammer in the middle surrounded by the Fenrir wolf and Midgaards Serpent.


Even Kim got a few bruises.


13. March 2021 18:03
by Rene Pallesen
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My Burmese Dha swords

13. March 2021 18:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Back in the late 90's I visited Laos. In the northern corner of Laos I acquired two old swords from
Back in the late 90's I visited Laos. In the northern corner of Laos I acquired two old swords from a local.

Through some forums I have tried to find out as much as I can about them and this is what I have been told:

  • The swords are of a Burmese style called Dha (Means sword in Burmese).
  • They are of museum worthy pieces
  • I should NOT EVER attempt to restore them. This would degrade their value significantly.
  • The flower script design on the swords are reserved for the rulers and officers of those days.
  • အဲဒီဓားတွေကငါတို့ရဲ့ဗမာဓားတွေပဲလာအိုဆိုတာအရင်ကဇင်းမယ်လို့ခေါ်တယ်အင်းဝခေတ်မှာမြန်မာတွေတက်သိမ်းခဲ့တဲ့နိုင်ငံပဲဓားကိုငှက်ကြီးတောင်ဓားလို့ခေါ်တယ်ဓားကဓားကောင်းပဲ အခုငါပြတဲ့ဓားဟာလည်းသမိုင်းဝင်ဓားပဲငှက်ကြီးတောင်ဓားပေါ့ (Translation: These swords are our Burmese swords. Laos was formerly called Zin Mae, a country that was conquered by the Burmese during the Inwa period. The sword is called the Sword of the Bird. The sword is a good sword.).
  • It's a Ngat kyee daung Dah the sword that was once used by Burmese warriors and Thai during the dark age of Konbaung (1765–1767).
  • This Burmese Empire was destroyed during the English colonized to the East and totally wiped out by the English cannons kind of like a scene from the last samurai movie in the end! They were like charging to the enemy where they were being shot at.
  • These are also antique pieces in a good state of preservation! Swords, even if they are in such good condition, belong in the museum. You have to take a look at the Malaysia Sword Museum! They are great specimen
  • One would have to analyze the material metal wood winding fibers would certainly be very interesting! You don't see such a bundle every day
  • The handle on the smaller sword is made from wound rattan fibres.
  • The larger sword is made from silver and wound silver threading (I believe it is the typical not so pure silver/tin that was used).
This means that it is likely that the swords are up towards 250 years old and that the long one belonged to someone of a high status.

The area they are from is a place that has been ravaged by war for several hundred years right from the wards beween Burma and Siam (Thailand), conquer by the English empire, the Second World War, the Chinese civil war through to the Laos Civil/Vietnam war.

It is highly likely that the swords have seen some action. Although a bit rusty, the swords are still very sharp. Given that the blade on the longer sword is narrower at the hilt it is likely that it has been sharpened several times through history. Again this probably means that it had a practical use/purpose and wasn't just for display.








22. January 2021 01:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Newcastle

22. January 2021 01:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Between Christmas and New year we made a trip to Newcastle with the family.They had this beautiful l
Between Christmas and New year we made a trip to Newcastle with the family.








They had this beautiful little animal park that is maintained by the council and is free to visit.











Just outside Newcastle is fighterworld, which is an aircraft museum next to an active air strip.










Newcastle museum was also worth a visit on a rainy day.





One evening we went to the games arcade...no idea how Aiden managed to get a first place in racing.




21. January 2021 18:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Karate 2020

21. January 2021 18:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Karate during 2020 was challenging to say the least.I was devastated when everything moved online. I
Karate during 2020 was challenging to say the least.

I was devastated when everything moved online. I love the partner work and couldn't see how this was going to work through video conferencing.

The boys and Kim were okay with the new format and I hung in there. I was so happy once we were able to get back in the dojo again.






Just before the lockdown I had purchased a punching bag, so at least we were able to do some outdoor contact punching.









During the lockdown there was a kata competition and other programs, and we did get a few prices.




...but dojo definitely rules...







We have managed to go to gradings...












And I have kept all the grading certificated we have gotton...





















21. January 2021 14:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Tennis Award

21. January 2021 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Another encouragement award for Aiden. This time in Tennis...
Another encouragement award for Aiden. This time in Tennis...





31. December 2020 14:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Covid

31. December 2020 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

2020 was definitely a bit different because of Covid.Australia managed to get through with very few
2020 was definitely a bit different because of Covid.

Australia managed to get through with very few outbreaks because of very early and sever lockdowns.

This let people to panic buy. We spent the time to chill out and solve lots of puzzles in the evenings, do lots of exercise in the parks (which was still allowed), Karate online and work moving fully to conference calls.


















31. December 2020 13:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Challenging year

31. December 2020 13:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The last couple of years has been super challenging for Aiden all around.He is struggling all around
The last couple of years has been super challenging for Aiden all around.

He is struggling all around and this photo tells it all.


For myself I have been struggling equally, and had it not been for the release of karate I don't know where things would have been at. I often wish I had my own bucket to hide under. I don't think this year will be any easier unfortunately...