Aden Steinke's Home Page
Hi there, my name is Aden Steinke, and this is my personal homepage.
I am the manager of Planning Services at the
University of Wollongong,
which is of course located at beautifull
Wollongong
on the south coast of New South Wales (Australia),
in the University Strategic Planning Unit. It made a change from
economic appraisals and research in the State public service.
I am beginning to suspect that the sort of homepages I have been involved
in developing over the years at work over the years have had an effect on
my personal pages :)
certainly the colour scheme
probably has something to do with my time way back in the 1980s
teaching Word Perfect 5.1 (still the
worlds finest word processor :) ) for DOS to beginners.
In 1996 I completed a Masters
in education planning and policy,to give me a qualification more
closely related to what I do for a living, adding to my bachelors degree in
commerce (econometrics), and was accepted in
a Master of Education (Hons) research degree from 1997 onwards, however I
abandoned that in 1998 and I then enrolled in a BA in
Japanese \(^^)/ which I hoped to do slowly over the next 5 or 6 years.
The first two years saw the completion of only two subjects, but 2000/2001
summer session
saw me finish the third and final subject that makes up first year
of the program.... I then spent September 2003-February 2004 studying at
Sophia University in Tokyo doing Japanese and Japanese history. An excellent
experience, but since then work pressure has forced the abandonment of my
studies for the immediate future.
Outside work and study, my interests include being the husband of Shihoko,
which combined with being the father of
Lina
occupies much of my time. In addition I indulge in regular training in
Jodo (a traditional Japanese martial art using a short (4 foot long)staff),
Iaido (drawing and atttacking with the Japanese sword) and
Kendo, (also known as Japanese fencing)with the
University of
Wollongong Kendo Club for which a
Japanese language web page is under construction.
These arts absorb much the remaining time, though these days I am
training as little as once a week, more usually twice
(down from 4 or more weekly kendo sessions
before I married, when even more time was eaten as state Kendo
association secretary for the 3 1/2 years untill December 2000).
The reading and watching of Japanese cartoons (anime) is another hobby.
(I was the President of the University of Wollongong
Anime and Manga Society for two years 1999-2000,
after a couple of years as secretary), and watching Japanese movies /
TV Doramas with my wife takes what little is left.
Other interests include reading books about more traditional
Japanese art,
listening to country music and the blues,
Wargaming,
and working (or playing) with computers (now a 20 year+ invovement since
I submitted my first set of punchcards into the maw of the beast in 1980
:) ).
As a loyal new south welshman
I have to watch rugby league (though since August 1998 the Illawarra Steelers
are no more, now part of the Saint George-Illawarra Dragons -
the 1999 losing grand finalists, 2000 feather dusters redeemed in 2001 by at
least making the playoffs before sinking again),
and follow the Wollongong Hawks
(our National Basketball League champions in the 2000/2001 season
- the first NSW team to accomplish the feat, and perennial semi finalists)
and of course
bet on it.
I am also an unreconstructed Science Fiction addict.
In particular my imagination has been captured by three different
science fiction 'visions' over the years, these being...
Star Wars which
made me a convert as soon as it came out. The long wait over,
the re-mastered Star Wars was released here in Australia in
March and April 1997,
after 20 years the death star again loomed majestically
overhead in the cinema - then the two year wait for the first of the prequels.
All three of the
special edition with the redone special effects and extra snippets added
were magnificent spectacles (except for the Han / Greedo change),
and reminded me of how far the books stray from
the original concept.
I hoped the prequel films would restore the direction lost
with pulp mass production of thousands of pages of books
a year, but sadly - even
though the success of Phantom Menace meant that from August 1999 untill the
end of March 2000, the Star
Wars saga were 4 of the top 10 grossing movies of all time - it failed to
quite live up to the promise, Jar-Jar in particular jarred, coming straight
out of the pulp, but was still worth viewing. By mid 2005 the saga were
still 6 of the top 23 grossing movies (US market) of all time.
In Attack of the Clones I
had the experience of being a rubber headed alien jedi extra - a Klatoonian -
...
discovering that a days work is hours of standing or sitting around for 45
seconds of filming, and something I wouldn't have missed for the world.
Myself (green lightsabre) and some friends
at the Phantom Menace midnight premiere in Wollongong.
The groundwork was laid for the final movie - and the prequels got better with
each one (given Jar Jar how they could have gotten worse I don't know).
Dr Who, the longest
running science fiction show of all time, returning to the BBC in 2005,
which I followed
devotedly from the days of William Hartnell as the first
Doctor in the 1960s in black and white onward, and most recently
Bablyon Five, the finest sci fi tv series of the 1990s,
see the
Lurkers Guide to Babylon 5
which has the most excellent and definitive episode guides, complete
with commentary from the producer (collected from the B5 newsgroups).
Despite the network forcing an abrupt end after four of the five years
planned - with a season five being delivered, but not on free to air
television - the presence of challenging sci fi in a coherrent universe has
affected the genre. Sadly Crusade, the spin off series has also ended
prematurely, but 5 1/2 years of episodes, plus telemovies provide a rich and
cohesive universe to digest and enjoy on DVD.
On the topic of swords (and when are they ever far from the mind),
I fell into practicing the Japanese sword art of Kendo
in 1994 from collecting edged weapons, especially east asian ones,
of which the Javanese
Kris was my particular favourite
(the high cost of genuine Japanese
blades put them out of my reach for many years, even now I have
only one genuine katana) though Sumatran, Phillipine and Balinese kris are
not without appeal.
Since starting Kendo, however I have found a growing fascination with all
Japanese weapon arts, in particular I
enjoy watching (and doing where possible)
tameshigiri, iaido/iaijutsu (the art of drawing and attacking with the Japanese
sword, in which I am a Shodan) and
jodo (the jo is a 128cm long staff, in which I
hold the grade of Nidan).
Naginata or Japanese
halberd, and the even more
esoteric art of Kyudo
or Japanese archery are arts that I have only been able to watch.
My regret
being that there is insufficient time to pursue all of them, and there are no
teachers here in the Illawarra. Also there is
no apportunity to follow the refined art of
Sumo
(which I watch religiously when in Japan, and in Australia I catch the
Japanese news in the morning on SBS for daily results).
European swordsmanship and historical treatises on
technique by authors like George Silver
also hold much interest, I have a small collection of western blades such as
sabres, a cutlass etc.
Of course there is more to life than being serious - there's
Dilbert so the web equipped can keep up with the activities of Catbert the evil HR manager and friends...I know my cats and I do so religiously.
Aden
1996/1997/1998/1999/2000/2001/2002/2003/2004/2005
aden_steinke@uow.edu.au