Wednesday, August 31, 2005

What Else Does This Man Suck At

What Else Does This Man Suck At?

John Brogden was the leader of the Liberal Party in NSW until very recently. He wanted to be the Premier but his party has been in opposition for about 10 years now. John was seen to be a great hope at ousting the Labor Party from office.

He obviously sucks at telling jokes at functions as he called Bob Carr’s, the former Premier, wife a “mail order bride”. Bob Carr’s wife is from Malaysia and happens to be a successful businesswoman in her own right. The joke didn’t go down too well.

At the same function he propositioned a female journalist and pinched another on the bottom, none of whom was his wife. He sucked at that too.

Following this not-so-successful function he resigned, with the blessing of our Liberal Prime Minister John Howard. The fact that John Howard didn’t like him wouldn’t have helped.

The latest news is that he sucks at suicide. Overnight he apparently tried to kill himself and was taken to hospital and may even be released today. Couldn’t have been even close to successful. The police called them minor injuries.

Is there anything that this man is good at? Forgive my cynicism but I think that he tried to kill himself in his electoral office so that his wife would receive a larger payout as he would have died on the job.
I've Had Enough Of Spammers

Sorry folks but I've had enough of spammers leaving comments on my site. If you wish to leave a comment you are most welcome but you will have to look at a picture of some letters and type that in a text box for verfication purposes. Then I don't have to go about deleting the comments and emails that they generate.
Whilst Searching For The Grave of Admiral Yi Sun-shin I Came Across...

Checkout this Website and read the section on Tumuli Park - Cheonmachong Tomb. It's the third last article.

Isn't English a funny language?

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Grammar Standards Are Slipping Dramatically I'm Afraid


"Don't" buy from a "Professional" who doesn't proofread his own mass-circulation flyers!


This is from the Primary School! Makes you wonder, eh?
New Orleans - The US Venice

She's a bit wet in New Orleans at the moment. Sales of canoes must be on the rise.

Did I really think this? Yep.
What's Your Local Petrol Price?

There has been much talk about the price of petrol these days, mainly because the price of a barrel of oil has skyrocketed. And there doesn't seem to be a great deal of relief in sight anytime soon.

Eleven years ago I went on a jaunt around the world. I found the price of fuel in different places to be most interesting.

UK - 52.5 pence/litre (equated to A$1.25/litre on the exchange rate at the time)
US - about US$1.19/US gallon (A$0.43/litre)
Aus - about A$0.60/litre
Norway - can't remember how many kronor, about nine I think (A$1.80/litre)

About the cheapest fuel in Perth today is A$1.16/litre with an average around the A$1.20 mark. In Korea it is approaching 2000 Won/litre (nearly A$2.50/litre). I see that from this report that the Yanks are paying about US$2.61/US gallon, which equates to A$0.98/litre. Gee, they're doing it tough.

What is it today in your neighbourhood? Tell me. Please.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Big Blowhard In The USA

And for once I won't mention, too often at least, George W. Bush. The big blowhard in question is Hurricane Katrina. If I were living in New Orleans at the moment I would be crapping my dacks. Winds of 260 km/h, strong rain and a probable storm surge of 8m. Ooooh, that's powerful. And scarey.

They showed some of the to-be-renamed "We-have-to-rebuild-it-to-make-it-New Orleans" on the news. It, the city, is situated next to a large lake. In fact, it is built about two or three metres below the level of the lake. The view on the telly was quite clear. Why would anybody in their right mind build a city that was a few metres below sea level with a large body of sea-level height water situated next to it. A catastophe waiting to happen.

And what if the levee banks are broken and much of the city is flooded? Is George W. gonna recall the troops in Iraq to rebuild it? Methinks not. I wonder if the Bush Administration would be able to sue the French who were responsible for building the city of New Orleans in such a ridiculous spot. Plausible.

I'm very surprised that something catastrophic hasn't happened before as people have been living there for a couple of hundred years. Well, since the city of New Orleans was founded in 1718 by the French. Bloody French. And I've just learnt that they sold Louisiana and Florida to the US. Think of all those French condominia they could have had. Sorry, got a little sidetracked there.

I've experience a typhoon in Japan. Bloody strong winds and a bit of rain. Ruined my flight for that day. Next day was perfect weather. Minimal damage but there wasn't a storm surge to contend with.

I bet the sale of boats is going to increase in New Orleans, seasonally adjusted of course, following Hurricane Katrina's havoc. Hang on to your hats people. I hope everything works out ok. But pictures of mass destruction would make a raft of documentaries possible.
Ridiculous Calls To Ban Muslim Headdress

How stupid. Bronwyn Bishop, Federal MP, opens her big mouth again and says that girls shouldn't be allowed to wear the Muslim headdress in government schools. What on earth is going on with our politicians? Nothing out of the unusual I guess.

Are we going to ban Jews being circumcised because it is an obvious defiance of our "Christian" culture? Do you ban people wearing the cross on a necklace - State and church should be separated you know?

If I wish to start my own religion what is to stop me from conducting myself in any manner I want to because my religion allows it? Oh, that's right, I already worship money. Forgot. Sorry.

People are entitled to their own beliefs. Luckily, I don't have too many of them. Does the wearing of the Muslim headdress bother the ordinary everyday Aussie? Probably not. Mind you, you don't see too many Jews wearing the skullcap day-to-day. Do we not have Jewish people in this country or are they scared to wear their heart on their sleeve, or cap on their head as the case may be? It's not as if all of the Satanists aren't already running around in black leather jackets, black lipstick, black boots and hair dyed black. Oh, they're just our normal teenage girls, aren't they? My mistake. They are just trying to be different from everybody and looking the same as each other.

Religion. Let's have a war about it. Maybe let's not. There's no oil involved is there? Surely there is something more interesting going on in politics than a headscarf.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

A Football And Golfing Tragedy

Not quite on terms with Othello et al.

Friday night saw the inaugural weekend of the new Hyundai A-League. It’s now called football and no longer known as soccer. Perth Glory took on the Central Coast Mariners from New South Wales. A crowd of 11113 people turned out for the late 8pm kick-off. What a disappointment. We have an Australian midfielder in the name of Simon Colosimo who did bugger-all for the whole game. Within the first 10 minutes we had the best chance of the match when our new 37 year old striker, Brian Deane, the first player to score a goal in the English Premier League, headed a ball down beautifully for Bobby Despotovski to tap in. If only he had touched it.

As it was the first half ended scoreless. The second half saw the Glory coming to the Shed end which is always worth a goal. Hmmm, the only goal of the match came from the Mariners with one of the best strikes I have ever seen from about 35 metres out. Hugely disappointing.

When I arrived home I noticed a message on the answering machine and it was my golfing partner for the next day. He was quite sick and wouldn’t be able to make it. So, to round off a disappointing evening I watched England pile on the runs against Australia in the Fourth Ashes Test.

Saturday morning I struggled out of bed and rang my former golfing partner to meet up with him later in the day at his shop. Then I rang Miky and Yu-Jin and things seem to be improving for them. Miky is not pleased with her 12-15 year olds whom she is teaching grammar as they have a very limited vocabulary which means they are unable to understand even a simple sentence. Korea’s schooling system has a bit to answer for, methinks.

I rang the golf club to cancel my booking for a group of four and then see if I could join a group of three. Had to get there reasonably quickly and got ready and took off. Upon arrival at the golf course I noticed that I didn’t have a handle for my buggy. It wasn’t in the car or in the boot so I drove home. It wasn’t in the house or in the car and I checked both twice. Not wishing to pay money to hire a buggy I tried to install an umbrella as a handle and that was fine with the buggy.

Headed out to the course again and once I put the golf bag on the buggy I realised that there was too much weight for the umbrella. Giving up and deciding to hire a buggy I picked up my bag and realised that there was a strange club in the bag – my buggy handle. Aaagghhhh!!

Paid my fees and I could’ve teed off straight away but I preferred to wait for 20 minutes as I needed a warm up. I soon wished that I hadn’t as on the practice putting green I was sinking a number of three-putts which augured badly for a good game.

Managed to get off the tee much better than last weekend but could not hit anything from an 8-iron down and my putting was terrible. Actually played the front nine four shots better than last weekend including one ball into the water. I played with three blokes for the front nine.

On the back nine I joined a couple of Englishmen and they were a laugh. They played quite nice golf and we cracked lots of jokes. I had a good time – except on my approaches to the greens. To hit a cracking driver off the tee followed by a lovely three wood off the fairway and then to hit my 9-iron approach to the par-5 green sideways into the trees most very bloody frustrating. This scenario occurred on several occasions.

A funny thing happened on the 17th. I had the honour to tee off first and sent my drive straight into the trees. I played a provisional that went into the trees as well. Played the provisional from under a tree and punched it out, directly towards the golf buggy that the Englishmen were on. I got a decent piece of it and it slammed into the front wheel of the buggy and scared hell out of them. I ended up finding my tee shot and whacked that back out onto the fairway followed by a three wood that nearly cleaned up one of my playing partners. It was a few metres away from him and was never going to hit him so I didn’t bother yelling “fore”. At least he saw the funny side of it.

A pretty terrible round all up actually.



Went home and had lunch then drove to the city to catch up with JJ, my former golfing partner. He had some nice things in his shop but as I wish to buy them duty free I’ll have to wait until I’m about to travel. They closed the shop and were heading back to their car when they decided to stop for a snack in a Malaysian restaurant. JJ’s shout so I have eaten out since Miky and Yu-Jin left but I didn’t pay, so it doesn’t count. JJ and his family are lovely people and we’ll probably catch up when they return in December. Nice time to play golf me reckons.

On the way to the shop noticed a tourist shop selling cheap hats, and no wonder – ”AUSTARLIA” hats for $2. I’d be surprised if they got $2 for them. I’d be shocked if they were manufactured in Australia. And dismayed.

Last night was spent watching Brett Lee take the long handle to the Poms with three massive sixes. Not that the rest of the Aussies batted well but to see a tailender smacking the Poms about was the highlight of the day.

Footy tipping has been ok so far. I picked the West Coast Eagles to lose at home and they had won their last 19 home games. With the minor premiership up for grabs it was an important game but the Eagles lost. A few weeks ago the bookies stopped taking bets on the Eagles finishing the home and away season on top as it was so obvious that they weren’t going to give up top spot. Funny thing football.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Another fun thing to try on the Net. Those of you who know me do you think that this sums me up?








Your Birthdate: Not Bloody Likely

Born on the 7th day of month gives you a tendency to be something of a perfectionist and makes you more individualistic in many ways.

Your mind is good at deep mental analysis and complicated reasoning.

You are very psychic and sensitive, and you should usually follow your hunches.



You may not take orders too well, so you may want to work alone or in a situation where you can be the boss.

This birthday gives a tendency to be somewhat self-centered and a little stubborn.




I found this link at An Abundance of Lisa having found that site via Gleek's blog.
Spammers - Go To Buggery

I placed my environmental post this morning and almost immediately somebody posted a comment along the lines of "Thank you for your blog - I love it!" and left a link from Rockport Shoes Guy. Curious I checked the link and found it to be a Website for selling shoes.

I have news for you buddy. You can shove it. I made a comment and didn't see the delete comment bin as I did so, but once my post had been completed I was able to delete the spammer's comment. It's the second time I have been spammed. The first occasion was from some God-botherer and linked to a site in English and Cyrillic. It wasn't until someone else commented that I had been spammed that it occurred to me that I had.

Starting to see why blogs are becoming more difficult to post comments on as people must be sick to death of receiving spam. It's the rubbish bin for you spammers.
Doing My Bit For The Environment

I like to think that I do my bit for the environment. Whilst out for my walk this morning I killed four snails. Even had to backtrack to get one. Oh no sir, you won't be getting away. The world has been saved from countless millions of their spawn.

I don't require any letters of thanks as I am a humble man. I'm just doing my bit for the planet.

Waddya mean it's cruel? Rubbish! They have armoured protection in the way of a shell. Mind you, that was no protection when I took to the black berry tree with the secateurs.

Perhaps it is one reason we aren't allowed to wear shoes in the house.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Had A Good Yack On The Blower This Evening

The new phonecard works fairly well. I'm astounded at the quality of the line given that I am paying only 0.5 cents/min to ring my wife. My half hour phone call cost all of 75 cents, due to a 59 cents connection fee. Hell, I would struggle to be able to ring a mobile phone in Australia for 75 cents for two minutes. It's fine as long as I can talk for over 20 minutes. Some people may say that I have the gift of the gab and restricting myself to 20 minutes would be the difficult part. Those people may be right.

Anyway, the missus starts a job teaching English grammar tomorrow. Rather ironic I think as many a time she has been fed up with speaking English in Australia. You can't please some people. She therefore wants me to plan my trip over to Korea and book my tickets, preferably for January so we can get some time together. If she has to work all the time I am there it kind of defeats the purpose of going.

Guess I had better do some study online then.
Not A Lot Going On Here

As I said, not much doing. Rang the missus last night as I knew she would be back from her day and a half trip back to her hometown. Her spirits certainly sounded lifted.

Used up all of my expensive phonecard, from Optus, as my Shout! card wouldn't connect. Then I made the call to Shout! to find out what was happening. The customer service operator couldn't get it to work also. He noticed that all of my calls on the card had been placed through Optus, as it turned out. Finally he said that he would transfer my credit to a different card, Ozcall, and I agreed. All done.

Go to make a phone call with my new "card" (it's not real, just a dial-in code and a PIN) and it says that I have no credit. Not amused. Get put through to customer service and waited 13 minutes to talk to somebody. The same guy that I spoke to before as it happens. He said that the credit had gone through six minutes ago. Seeing as my old card was cancelled immediately I thought that I would be able to use the new card straight away. Wrong. Try again tomorrow. Not pleased with making a 20 minute call and then spending the next hour talking with, or waiting for, customer service.

I suppose a couple of things did happen. My mum's computer buggered up again. She's calling in the professionals this time.

Rang my best man only to find his phone disconnected. Rang his mum and she said that he and his family had moved and had a new phone number. As it was he was still in China and wouldn't be back until Thursday anyway. Had a nice old chat. Check out his mum's gallery. She is a talented artist.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

The Patience of an IT Helpdesk Saint

I must be developing my patience. My mum has been having great problems with her computer as her user account mysteriously disappeared although all of her files were still there. We couldn't back up her files to CD using Nero or Windows. All through this she was getting rather concerned about losing everything that she had done.

Last night I gave the long distance IT helpdesk another try and we tried a system restore. It worked beautifully and we only had to reinstall a couple of programs afterwards.

What a relief. I'm glad that mum managed to get through it all. I'm glad I managed to get through it all. It's like finding patience where you've never found it before. I've been through much the same thing myself and it tested the old brain cells trying to remember the necessary steps, let me tell you.

The new phone came in handy as the battery on the cordless seems to have gone kaput. I was stretching the cable a bit to make the call while seated in front of my computer. Next time I try the long distance IT helpdesk I might get her to let me have remote access. That would be a scary experience.

Monday, August 22, 2005

So Embarrassment

Big day for me today. Got up, got myself dressed. As I said, it was a big day for me today. Went to work. It was only then that I realised I hadn’t put a belt on. I couldn’t very well traipse around the office with my winter jacket on all day so I bit the bullet and took it off. Nobody commented. At lunch time I walked to Subi Post Office to post some stuff to Yu-Jin. I didn’t notice any looks.

I’ll try harder tomorrow.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Lobby Groups In China Need A Greater Voice

It is with concern that I note lobby groups in China are decidedly lacking in power. Where is the voice of question when it comes to the greeting card industry? A large market has been destroyed by the Commies.

In China you won't see these types of cards:

Get Well Soon - Uncle
Bon Voyage - Aunty
Happy 18th - Brother
Congratulations on Your Wedding - Sister
Hope That Hip Mends Soon - Great-Aunt
Merry Christmas - Third Cousin once removed

I'm surprised that Hallmark aren't up in arms over this. It is the backbone of their industry, their bread and butter. And who is going to stand up to the Commies? Well, obviously no-one.
Take That You Carlton Bastards!!

Yes Nick, that means you. I bet your old man and your sister weren't at the 'G to witness a massacre - Essendon 28.14 (182) to Carlton 11.17 (83)

Yeah, I remember copping a bit of stick earlier in the season when we lead by 28 pts at the last change and then were pathetic enough to lose. Not this time round boyo. Apart from some rubbish umpiring we could have won by 120.

Playing for a priority pick were you? Bunch of losers. And the Bombers had only half of their first-pick team. No Fletcher, Rioli, Laycock, McPhee, Peverill, Ramanauskus or Solomon. What on earth would have happened with a full list?

Still reading? I doubt it. Just wanted to stick one up you.
Don't Forget Me When You're Gone

Can't remember the name of the group who sang "Don't forget me I'm gone" but maybe it was Survivor. Took a few pics for the missus and boy so that they don't forget me while they are gone.


The Aliens Landed Overnight

I've uncovered the evidence of an alien landing. It has all the hallmarks of a landing site, i.e. the flattened vegetation, circular nature of the site, etc.




In actual fact I got up this morning and cleared the rest of the sand that had been delivered to the front of the house. Finally. It was a good 45 minutes of exercise and tested the back out after yesterdays golf, from which I have a lovely big blister on my heel after using my new golf shoes. New for the fact that I haven't worn them after winning them 12 years ago. They only lasted about five holes before I changed back to my sneakers.

What else did I get up to this morning? Oh yeah, transplanted the hibiscus, as the missus requested, but I feel that it will die. My mate Bill said that the hibiscus is not an ideal plant for transplantation once it is established. I'll give it a bit of extra loving care for the next week or so.

I also pruned the black berry tree out the front of the place. And by pruned I mean cut the hell out of it. Pruning generally means that the plant is placed close to death. At least when I do it.

I even went to the trouble of removing the silicone around the benchtops, sanded same benchtops and then oiled benchtops for a better finish and to combat mould. That tong oil has a bit of smell to it so I left the fan going for a few hours.

It's taken a couple of weeks but I have decided to get off my arse and do a bit around the house.
What A Lovely Day For Golf

Who'd have thought that the middle of winter was a perfect time to be playing golf? The temperature reached 17.8 degrees and it was bright and sunny. I rang Collier Park Golf Course to see if there was a threesome I could join. They told me when I should pop down. It cost $25 for 18 holes which is getting up there but I rang Burswood Park Golf Course and they cost $30 for 18 and there is a two week waiting list!!

The Pines 7th

They teamed me up with Nor, JJ and Sharil, a family of golfing regulars from Malaysia. That made me feel a bit nervous as I haven't played for about nine months. My first tee shot was straight down the fairway and went 200m. I can tell you that I have never putted so well and would say that only one putt, a steep downhill putt, went more than two feet past the hole. Which was a good thing as the rest of my game was crap. What stonkered me was the inability to get off the tee as I shanked all but about four tee shots. I even hit myself with the ball on one occasion which attracted a two stroke penalty. But, get this, when the ball was in the rough and I took the three wood to it, I managed several beautiful shots. I can't understand it.

Started off the front nine three over par after four holes. On the next hole I took 11 shots to get on and then only one putt. There were times that I wanted to break my woods it was so frustrating. Scored two pars, eight bogeys and eight "others" with my worst being a septuple bogey. Guess it wasn't so bad as I only had four putts as a warm-up.

The Malaysians were quite funny. The son has a beautiful swing and could play off single figures if he put his mind to it. The dad chipped in for a birdie on the first hole and the mum played very steady and straight golf all day. Sitting down following the match they were almost bickering about money. It turns out that they had been playing for money the whole time. The winner was calculated on Stableford points and best scores for each nine. I hadn't realised that they were so serious about their golf.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable day and I will book for next weekend and we will all meet up again. Have to bring my A-game with me. Should be much better for the hitout yesterday. Don't feel too stiff today in actual fact.

Friday, August 19, 2005

Fancy Having To Buy A Phone Just To Use A Phonecard

Yes, this happened to me. I have found a phonecard that costs about 2.5 cents/min to ring Korea. It has been working well enough over the last month and a half. Up until a week ago there was no cause for complaint. Since then I haven't been able to connect but have still been charged for attempted calls. A call to their service centre, followed by a 34 minute wait to talk to somebody, resulted in a refund for the non-connected calls. Didn't cover my dial-in fee but you get that. They did mention that my cordless phone may be causing the problem but as it was fully charged there probably wasn't an issue with it. Like I said, it had been working fine for a month and a half.

Tried calling again the other night and encountered the same problem. Got the company to refund my money and the person I spoke to this time said that the phonecard was incompatible with cordless phones. That's a new one on me. Just before asking for all of my credit to be refunded I rang from work yesterday, using the phonecard of course. No problem to connect. So last night I went and purchased a phone.

There were plenty of phone shops at Carousel Shopping Centre but I saw only two or three different corded phones. Even AllPhones didn't have a corded phone for sale. I think that their name is misleading and constitutes false advertising. Got my phone, from the Telstra Shop would you believe, and had a chance to use it last night. I even purchased an extension cord to go with it so that I could sit in the lounge whilst making a call. That's why I bought a cordless phone in the first place. I didn't wish to be stuck next to the base unit.

Worked fine. Can't believe I had to buy a phone to enable me to use a phonecard. Mind you, the $30 I spent for phone and extension lead will almost pay for themselves within a month so as not to rely a more expensive phonecard.

It's a case of spending money to save money in the long term. Still nice and frugal.
How Un-Australian Is This?

It appears that some of the public parasites, er servants, have too much time on their hands and just want to stir up trouble. A ban on greeting people at Parliament with the word "mate" had come into effect. How absurd. It's just not on.

What could provide a warmer greeting than, "G'day mate" as you approach our Parliament? It provides a sense of security as you feel you are in safe, Aussie hands. The public servant responsible probably doesn't have the brainpower to understand how stupid his edict was. It brains were dynamite he couldn't blow his nose.

On a lighter note it reminds me of the groundsman from my high school. His nickname was "Hey Mate" as he greeted everyone with a cheery, "How ya goin' ol' mate?" Very nice chap was our groundsman. Damn hard to understand though. I've never heard such a drawl when speaking. I even asked him one day where he was from, where he was born. I think that I offended him in actual fact as it was with some sadness that he said Australia. How was I supposed to know? I'd never heard anybody like him before, or since, and you had to make up some of what he said to understand it.

So, I'd like to send a special "cheerio" to Mr Tonkin, alias Hey Mate, on this special day when Parliament will overturn the edict to stop greeting people with the term "mate".

Have a good day, mate.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Suck The Big One Idiot

Out for my walk this morning. Yes, I'm reasonably well behaved while the missus is away. On the way back I was approaching an intersection and I saw some yobbo in his Holden ute with a broken tail light hoon off when the lights changed. And he was giving it to him. Then there was some bloke racing after him. All in front of the cop shop on Albany Highway.

Shaking my head in disbelief. These idiots never get caught. About 300m down the road I heard a siren. The car following the idiot was an undercover cop and he pulled him over and booked him. I jogged down to where they were to tell the cop "well done" but he had finished by the time I got there. Our police are given the credit that they deserve.

Brightened my morning up.
The Boy


School photo time. How come kids never look right for their school photo? Not that I look so great now but my school photos were always horrible. And I had a terrible cow-lick in my hair to contend with. Perhaps my mum could have taken a little more notice of when the photos were to be taken and given me a haircut just prior to the fact. Don't think that it would have made any difference though.

It wasn't until I saw one of Arnie's movies that I realised the haircut that was for me.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

What's A Guy Supposed To Think?

Just kicking back, reading the news, had tea, did some IT-help for my mum over the phone (one profession I never want to take up), spoke to my son (using an expensive phonecard) as my wife had gone for a walk, spoke to a phonecard company to complain that I was unable to connect using their card but had done so for some time previous to the last week, and then listened to some music.

Most of my music is from the 80s and early 90s. I wouldn't have even bought 10 CDs since getting married (one a year if I am lucky) so you can imagine what the collection includes. I'm listening to Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet, at the moment. And eating scorched almonds in chocolate. Stop reading now if this is turning you on.

Welcome back every reader. I don't believe that I lost anyone there. As I was listening before on came some Bryan Adams. And then it just hit me - I have to ring my wife. Gee, we both like Bryan Adams. It's not like we have a special song that we consider to be ours or anything. He's just a beaut bloke with a beaut voice and who sings songs that we love. I wonder if my missus thinks of me when she hears his music? Chocolates are all gone now. Chris Isaak is another of those blokes whom we both enjoying listening to. Kim Gun-mo (he's not really that geeky looking) is pretty easy on the ears as well.

It's funny how these things remind you of the one you love. Just seeing a couple together on the telly or on the street makes me think of Miky. I still imagine myself coming home to a house full of noise with a certain young fella running around the house.

Yeah, I miss them. What else is a bloke supposed to think about?
Cool Number Plates Spotted Recently

We had an advertising campaign in Australia for souped-up pieces of crap called V8 Holden Commodores and, apart from admitting that they were morons, the men just uttered "I just want one" as the meaning for purchasing one. Well, I spotted one the other day and the number plate was great:

I GOT ONE

Then today I saw a yellow Monaro. Who, in their right mind, would purchase a yellow car? These things go for about A$60k so it was a guy with more money than brains but enough money left over to buy a personalised number plate. He was obviously a person with a great sense of humour and probably a baby boomer, judging by the age of the joke:

WHOSON1ST

There are some good ones around Perth. I'll share them as I see them.
An Attempt At Creative Writing - All The Rage

The Night was dark and stormy. A cold front accompanied with a low pressure system was moving through the vicinity, bringing with it unsettled weather conditions. The toilet light was dim. He was a Frugal Bastard and freaked out at having anything greater than a 25 watt lamp installed as it was a waste of electricity and an unnecessary expense. All around the house was quiet. He was a miserable old codger who couldn't stand the thought of having fun and preferred life as a recluse. Not even a mouse was stirring. The old coot disliked vermin intensely and would use any means possible to eradicate them.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005


By request, sans numbers. Ha ha.
Another Case Of The Australian Media Thinking That Aussies Are The World's Most Important Species

Helios Airways, or Airless Airways as one of my workmates put it, are under a bit of scrutiny at the moment. Shocking to think that some people were still alive after all of the drama.

Now the Australian media is reporting that three Aussies died. It was pointed out that the father left Australia in 1993 and that his two daughters who perished with him, along with his Cypriot wife, were aged 9 and 10. I'm not sure that they were Australians then. It is more likely than not that they weren't born in Australia. The father was an ex-pat Aussie, this much is true, but did he still consider himself to be Australian?

And there was talk about whether the bodies would be brought back to Adelaide for burial. Well, his two year old son, left orphaned, will be brought up by his grandparents in Cyprus I believe. I don't know why the family would be brought back to Australia as he was probably the only one born here and what is left of the family is in Cyprus.

Another media beatup. The only other mention of nationality of the passengers is that "most of them were Greek Cypriots". Not altogether caring, eh?
Australia Needs A New Intelligence Agency

There is much speculation in the media about the number of people in Australia with terrorist tendencies and how our intelligence agency, ASIO, is watching them. If we want real intelligence on suspect characters in this country to be carried out then we need a new intelligence agency.

And I know who it should be. My idea is to have a joint venture between Citibank and American Express. These bastards can track you down, doesn't matter how many times you move, where you move to or if you try to cover your tracks. I was only telling Miky just before she left that Citibank and American Express have no trouble finding you.

And guess what happened? The next day I received an application form from American Express. No shit. I will be returning it, sans personal identifiable information, so that they can pay for the postage and for some people to open the envelope. I am sick of their junk mail. Is there an opt out from Citibank or American Express form? I guess if you join them they stop bothering you.

I did notice that you now need to earn A$40000 p.a. instead of A$30000 p.a. for the American Express.
Cricket - Third Ashes Test - My View

A draw. Nice way to finish five days of cricket. Everyone is thinking that England came so close to winning the match. Wrong. Australia, down to the last pair at the crease, only needed about another 15 overs and we would have scored the runs. Let the truth be known, they just ran out of time. Everyone knows that our last three wickets involve the best battting.

England, you were never in the game.

Monday, August 15, 2005


So flat you could land a Cypriot Airliner on it.

Gee, what a horrible story. If the Greeks hadn't sent up a couple of military aircraft it would have been quite a bit more difficult to work out how the tragedy happened. What makes me feel for the people and families involved is that it could have happened to anyone.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

What Did I Just Say About People Who Buy Their Vegies At Supermarkets?

Friday at lunch time I generally go to the markets in Subiaco for my fruit and veg. Last Friday was very wet at lunch time and as I am home by myself there wasn't a great need to purchase anything.

So, where did I find myself buying fruit and veg then? Yes, you guessed it, at the supermarket. And to make matters worse there was a guy in front of me picking mushrooms one at time, completely oblivious to people waiting behind him. Field mushrooms yes, but button mushrooms, no! Stick your bloody hand in and fill your bag up! They are all the same and you don't need to be so picky.

Aaaagh!!
We Are Top Of The League

Welcome back to the Premier League, Hammers. Following the first round of matches after being promoted and we are top of the league.

Bring on Man U - we all hate you.
The Return of Superman

Superman is not dead. What a performance by him today - vaccumed the house, washed the dishes, into town early for a haircut, picked up a friend for lunch, cooked lunch (and tea at the same time so that he didn't have to waste time later), watched two games of football and then some of the cricket. After dropping the friend back home he then ironed his shirts for work.

What an effort. Oh, yeah. Remove "Superman" and insert "me".

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Phonecard Ripoff

Let's face it, they all do it. How difficult is it to find a phonecard company that provides a great price and great service? We've found a cheap phonecard, roughly 2 ½ cents per minute to Sth Korea, and it was working well. The last couple of nights however I have been connected but not actually able to speak to the person on the other end. Talk about frustrating.

So I went to a newsagent today looking for another card. There were a few other well-known phonecard companies but on closer inspection I noticed that the access phone number was the same as the one I already have or they were owned by the same company. The newsagent recommended one from Optus which I decided to go for as they are the second largest telecommunication company in Australia therefore I shouldn't have any trouble getting connected. The rate was set at 2.8 cents per minute off-peak.

After having taken another look I discovered that the off-peak period is from 2am to 6am. Quite obviously that is the most likely time that I will call. Not very handy if you wish to make your call in this timezone or one hour ahead. They all do it - offer a ridiculous off-peak time that no-one is going to utilise. That basically amounts to false advertising.

The connection was fine but my first attempt I only got my mother-in-law as the missus had gone out. Call quality was fine if you continued talking. Any pauses and there was a strange silence. Good to have a half hour chat with the missus in any case. Now I just need to get her to feel comfortable with a Webcam conversation.
There Are Some Useless Bastards That Breathe Our Air

I mentioned just before that I had to do the shopping this morning. I parked my car in a reverse position in the carpark, you know, to make a fast getaway. You can imagine how annoyed I was upon returning to my car when I found that some arsehole had placed a shopping trolley right in front of my car. I make sure that I when I have a shopping trolley that I place it in the trolley bay when I have finished with it. No point in being insensitive towards fellow human beings.

But there are obviously some people that don't deserve to be allowed to breathe the air that we do.
Cold, Wet and Miserable

And the weather isn't much better either. Well, I'm not miserable. But the weather has really turned into Winter. Plenty of rain and it wasn't too warm today. I stayed up to watch the cricket last night so I didn't drag myself out of bed until after 9am. Had to get my arse into gear as I was going to a friend's house, you may know him - Ben, for lunch. That meant having to start the washing and do the shopping. And then I had a couple of days worth of dishes to do before heading out.

Ben's wife made a lovely curry for lunch for us and her cousin. Quite different to the type of curry that is eaten in Asia. We had a good discussion over lunch and it is interesting that all of the adults at lunch have, or are, attending Curtin University. Three of us even did IT or IS so we had the same lecturers.

I got to see their new house which will give them a bit of work to do when they have the time for renovations. Being an open-plan layout it is difficult to keep it warm. I know the relief in having your own place though.

After lunch I made some popcorn and luckily it is one of the few things that I can cook well. It went down a treat. Ben's youngest daughter speaks a lot more than Yu-Jin did at that age. And she feeds herself. My boy, you could learn from her.

Ben was a bit worried about what we should talk about as we are both bloggers. He needn't have bothered. It was great to catch up with some of my friends and see that they are doing ok.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Excellent Luncheon

Yesterday was brilliant as our directors shouted all of the employees of the company to lunch at The Witch's Cauldron in Subiaco. I've been there once before but I believe they have extended it since and it goes from one end of the block to the other. Wow. We had a business lunch menu which meant you could choose two out of three courses. Bummer.

Deep fried camembert for entree and chicken linguine for main course were my choices. I was as full as a goog by the time I had waded through that lot. When the few desserts that were ordered came around I could have polished off a dessert though. There was plenty of wine, champagne and beer flowing and three soft drinks was enough for me.

What a lovely way to spend the day. Just over half a day of work and having the afternoon off and getting lunch paid for. I realised just how hard we work as we don't have time to talk about the things that we spoken about over lunch whilst we are at work. It was greatly appreciated by all. Super meal too.

And the best part was that because I had had enough to eat I didn't need to cook tea for myself!!

Thursday, August 11, 2005

One Of My Pet Peeves

Thursday night. Late night shopping. Grab the stuff you need. Wait in a queue. Wait in a queue for 10 minutes - for only one shopper in front of you. I hate people that buy their vegetables at the supermarket. Fifty three bags of different items, each to be weighed, and the checkout chick, who has obviously lost her "I'm only a trainee, please forgive me for being so slow" badge, doesn't know what half of the vegetables are. If I hear your till beep at you one more time because you have entered the wrong code I may go supermarketal.

I set everything up nicely. I partition my groceries. I remove the partition once all of the groceries of the lady in front have been scanned. Checkout chick then asks if my groceries belong to the lady in front of me. Bloody hell. I'm thinking, "That's 10 minutes of my life that I won't be getting back."

During this tirade that I kept internal I come to the realisation that the lady in front who infuriates me by having the audicity to purchase her vegetables at the supermarket and ruin my life is actually purchasing her vegetables in the supermarket that I have shares in. A sense of calm overcomes me. Killing tendencies subside. Mmmm, dividends.
No Appearance of The Shed, Yet

Maybe I lie a little. The new shed is lying in the carport. I received a phone call on Sunday night that they were coming on Monday to erect it. On Monday the guy who was actually going to do the installation work rang me to say that his son had been taken ill, in fact he had been taken to hospital, and as his wife was away he would have to go and look after him. I understand what it is like to look after your kids when they are sick and sympathised with him.

I told him to take as much time as was required. In the four days since the weather has been perfect. The next four or five days are going to be very wet and so no work is going to be done on the shed for the foreseeable future. Bugger. I'm getting sick of one of my cars beng parked outside and want to have it under the carport. Plus I want the new shed to be up so that I can clean the rubbish out of my house. And there is the small matter of having to jack the door up with a screwdriver to enable me to close it with a power lead underneath. I won't be leaving a window open so that I can dangle a lead out of it.

My motto is still "Trust no bastard".
Australia vs China - Four Nations Tournament at Challenge Stadium

Last night I went out to enjoy myself. They were having a basketball tournament involving Australia, China, New Zealand and Lithuania at Challenge Stadium, which is situated only a few kilometres down the road from where I work. So I made my way out there and even paid for parking. I had noticed that the tickets for the night before were only $15 for any seat and hoping it would be the same for last night. Tried to check online but all of the computers across the country that took bookings were down and so didn't work.

I picked up a ticket for $23.85 which was standing room only. No cameras are allowed at the venue, which really pisses me off. The announcer kept mentioning no flash photography so I took a few pics. I did get told that no cameras were allowed. The Chinese bloke next to me kept taking photos anyway.


Although the photos don't show it, the place was nearly packed for the second game - Australia vs China. I was actually able to sit down for over half of the first match before the people with tickets came to claim their seats. One of the ushers told me to sit anywhere as I liked as it was nothing like a sellout. Hey, I could only purchase standing room tickets. There were certainly some tall people in the crowd.


My back is killing me today after standing for over three hours. It was a bit disappointing that Yao Ming wasn't on the team for China. Anyway, the Aussies knocked hell out of them 89-50. China, even though they looked so smooth in the warm up, weren't not too good with a bit of pressure come game time.


Not a great photo as it looks like the players were running as fast as Superman. That's what happens with zoom in a dimly lit situation with a digital camera. Takes a while to take the shot.

There was an interesting situation in the New Zealand vs Lithuania match when one of the Kiwis attempted a slam dunk which rimmed-out and as he was still hanging onto the ring he grabbed the rebound and slammed it home. Unfortunately that manoeuvre is outlawed so the basket didn't count.

There were a few scuffles and elbows were thrown, from both sides, during the Aussie/China match. Bit of feeling out there but the Chinese didn't fight out the game.

Forgot to add a few of the players' names.

Lithuania:

Drunkisskunkis
Sunovbichus
Sulammisdunkis

China:

Hu Yu
Wai Mee
Hu Da Man
No Pu
O No
Ya Hu
Flai Gai
Is This The New Way Of Conducting Sales?

I got home tonight after work and discovered a message on my answering machine.
"Hello, I'm So and So from So and So Real Estate Company. We have a house for sale for $309,500 and were wondering if you knew of anybody, or if you were interested yourself, in buying this property. If you know anybody could you please call me, So and So from So and So Real Estate Company, on Such and Such a number."

Yeah, right. I'm going to sell a house for you. You want me to do my job for you? What's in it for me? Somehow I don't think that I'll be wasting my 25 cents on returning his call.

Gimme a break.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Groundhog Day

It so happens that Groundhog Day is one of my favourite movies. And it felt a bit like it this morning.

I woke up and got dressed for my walk to the Post Office. Left home at five to six, same time as yesterday, and took the usual route. The mechanic who works at the Mazda was at his parking place a little earlier than usual and reading his paper when he arrived. The light on Albany Highway that always goes off as I am approaching or passing did so. But the spookiest thing was as I rounded a corner I saw a large woman with a handbag on the other side of the road in the exact position I had seen her yesterday. She would have crossed the road in front of me but, as happened yesterday, she had to wait for a car. A real sense of deja vu was apparent.

No more dramas as I got my mail and made my way home. The guy who rides past on my journey home was a couple of minutes late and I did meet the guy with the little black dog who crosses the road near the Albany Highway intersection at about the same spot as yesterday. Just before I crossed Albany Highway the day before today a car was approaching the intersection and turned into a carpark (no magic trick) and it was at the same position that happened the day before today. Another creepy moment.

Didn't meet the Chinese woman jogger that I usually bump into but just as I was about to walk up my driveway I spotted the woman who takes her labrador for a walk several times a day in the same place as yesterday, although this time she wasn't walking with the lady from a few doors down with her two Collies.

A freaky start to the day. Let's hope that work isn't the same as yesterday.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

My First Batch Of Homemade Kim Chee

In the nearly eight years that I have been married I have never been shown how to make kim chee. I'm sure that Miky wishes to keep the secret from me. It's funny you know, she complains that I can't cook and then when I ask she doesn't want to tell me. Women, can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em.

Anyway, she cut up a chinese cabbage before she left and salted it. Didn't even wash the thing which shocked me. She went about creating a fish sauce and chili powder mix for the fermenting that needs to take place. Then she gave me the instructions about draining and washing before applying the pasty mix that makes it so spicy.

A couple of days later and there you have it. Call me gutless but I didn't want to eat it by itself for the first time. I chucked a bit in my spaghetti bolognese that I cooked up tonight for tea. Pretty hot stuff but edible and I enjoyed it. Wish me luck in building up the courage to eat it on its own. It certainly looks a bit more firey than I'm used to eating.

In all the build up to them leaving I didn't consider too much that I would miss the kim chee enormously. How my tastes have changed for the better since getting married. Well, I didn't have salt or pepper before when I was single. What a waste of money!!
Get Off The Bloody Phone Woman

Does it infuriate others when faced with a similar situation. I rang my missus tonight and one of the sisters-in-law answered the phone and told me that she was "working". I knew that she wanted to have a few weeks break before getting a job and suspected that she went walking instead. And so it turned out to be.

She rang me once she had arrived home and I was to call her back. I'm using a phonecard that costs about 2 cents per minute. It takes time to dial using a phonecard and when you press the wrong number and try to correct it which only brings up another menu for setting the volume (WTF?) followed by a few unsuccessful connections, well, you get the picture. It took nearly five minutes to get through. The first thing I said was practically "Get off the phone woman" when Miky told me that she had tried calling me. Some people don't see the point that I'm trying to make the call so you don't try calling me in the meantime. And she's telling me not to get upset! Why try to call me twice when I am dialling your number? And Miky knows how difficult it is to connect sometimes. I would have thought that she would have been a little more considerate.

It appears that Miky and Yu-Jin went to a taekwondo class today and Yu-Jin will be enrolling for a month. He will get some discipline, maybe learn some Korean, do a bit of exercise and get to meet other kids. Miky says that the kids in Korea have too much to do and not enough time for playing and I tend to agree with her. They went to a park today and a couple of 7 or 8 y.o. girls were interested in Yu-Jin. Didn't speak much English but still wanted to be next to him. He's had a haircut and probably looks much more respectable. He wanted to chat a bit more on the phone tonight so that felt nice.
60th Anniversary of Japanese Atomic Bombs

Great time to plug myself, not top myself - Hammy's Japan/Korea Blog. There's a lot of photos, all links I'm afraid, of my month in Japan and Korea. I guess that I took a lot of pics of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Parks but I don't know that I went there with a purpose in mind. There was an immense sense of feeling about those places.

I was over in Japan with my mate Wayne during the 51st anniversary of the atomic bombings. We watched the Hiroshima ceremony on TV as we were in Matsue at the time. We visited the Peace Park and Museum in Hiroshima and it sure makes you wonder about the necessity of atomic weapons. Especially their usage on civilian populations.

We were actually in Nagasaki's Peace Park for the ceremony and it was almost an enlightening experience. You have a bit of time for self-reflection and I changed the way I thought about destroying other humans by visiting the places and hearing some of the stories of death, destruction and survival. There was a hell of a lot of it.

Nuclear power doesn't bother me too much but I don't have much time for nuclear weapons. I don't see the point in having something that can destroy so many innocent lives and uses the power of fear to hold one's position.

Japan is a peaceful nation now. It wouldn't necessarily have been the case had the bombs not been dropped but that is not a good enough reason. I hope that the nuclear bomb is never used again.
Which Leader Are You?

I visited a blog during my lunch break, Brainxplosion and they had done a test to see which leader you are based on a short quiz. My result is below. Take the test to find out about yourself.



Any comments, smartarse or otherwise, are most welcome.
I'm Frugal But Not That Frugal

A couple of weeks back we went to McDonalds. Not for a "meal" but a snack, to get out of the house and to get the young fella onto the playground so that he could mix with a few kids of his age.

A woman, of the homeless variety, came into McDonalds and went to the toilets. There had been a family sitting opposite us and they left. I don't know who these people think they are but they didn't bother to clean up their table and put the rubbish in the bin and the tray away. I can't stand people who do that. Anyway, this woman sat down and started eating the chips that were left and even drank the leftover soft drink.

I'll finish off the missus' meal if she can't eat it but I'm not that frugal. Perhaps I would be if I was in the same situation, I guess.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Celebrity Spotting in Subiaco Today at Lunchtime

Decided to walk into Subiaco today to visit the bank and then, as I had time, I dropped into the Post Office to pick up a complaint form relating to the tardy delivery of my son's passport. Crossing the road after picking up my form and who should I see but...

Did I say celebrity spotting? Perhaps it was more a case of personality spotting. Hang on, that can't be right. There's not a lot of personality there. How about famous people viewing? Well, famous in Perth anyway. Hmmm.

Ok, I saw Adrian Barich. Nice bloke all the same.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Miky And Yu-Jin Are Safe And Well

I spoke to Miky tonight. She didn't get any sleep on the way over and was very tired. Yu-Jin behaved himself very well on the plane but didn't get a lot of sleep. They didn't have any touble coming through Immigration. They took a bus to Seoul and then caught the KTX to Busan. Korean and English info. It travels at up to 300 km/h but Yu-Jin said that it wasn't as fast as he had expected and he was a little disappointed. There's no pleasing some people.

Miky's sister's ferry from the island of Geo Je-do broke down so she was a bit late to pick them up. Miky got to catch up with one of her friends in the meantime and Yu-Jin enjoyed the attention that she gave him. Once on the island Yu-Jin got along with his cousin Ye-rim very well. I think that he will have a good time. Apparently he got a fair amount of attention from girls around the place.

I spent the day pulling my old shed down in readiness for the erection of my new shed which is scheduled for tomorrow. Didn't get as much done as I wished too, didn't even buy a paper, but enjoyed the day anyway. I hate a very late breakfast and tea at the normal time. Hopefully I'll get around to more than two meals per day on the weekends. Good to watch a bit of footy and listen to some more while woking outside. If I didn't have to pull the shed down I would have been playing golf instead as it was a marvellous day.
What a Test Match

The Second Ashes Test Match at Edgbaston was a ripper! I stayed up until 1:30 this morning watching the 3rd days play. I must say, the Poms have come a long way in the last 15 years. They finally have some bowlers and some batsmen, and, in Andrew Flintoff they have both.

Start of the fourth morning and Australia needed 107 runs to win with only the last two wickets to do it. As unlikely as that seemed it made for enthralling viewing. Australia's tailenders showed how to face some fearsome bowling and scored 104 runs, only going down by two runs.

Well done England. Bring on the Third Test.

Allow me to reminisce a little and cast your mind back to 1993. I went with my best mate Nick to Adelaide for the Test Match between Australia and West Indies. It took us five hours to drive up there and we stayed with Nick's Aunty and Uncle. We saw the first days play and then went to TimeZone for a lock-in, from midnight to six am, any game you wanted to play, for only $10. We missed the first part of the second days play, as you can imagine, and were listening to the radio on the way to the ground when we heard big Merv Hughes hit Ian Bishop for six. This made us run to the ground from where we were at the time.

We spent the whole four days at the Test and even got seats in the Bradman Stand at one stage. What an exciting game of cricket as it went right down to the wire. The target was 186 and at 7/74 it looked like an early end to the match. At 8/102 the Aussies still needed 84 to win with the last two wickets. Tim May batted manfully with Justin Langer, who had been struck many times in his gutsy Test debut, and with No. 11 Craig McDermott. The tension was brilliant as May and McDermott withstood the barrage that was sent their way and it got down to two runs to win. The McDermott, apparently, gloved one through to the keeper and the Windies had won by one run. To this day I don't believe that it came off the glove. It must have come off McDermott's arm. Actually, I don't remember seeing the incident on TV.

Here's the scorecard of the narrowest Test Match victory in history.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

And They're Off - Safe And Sound

Miky and Yu-Jin got away safely this afternoon. Well, I haven't heard otherwise.


One good thing about going to the airport is the plethora of people to take your family's photo. We don't get together enough for family photos.


Me an' the boy.


Yu-Jin acted as the official photographer for this photo of the parents.


Nice pic of mum and son while in the waiting lounge prior to departure.


And Yu-Jin is off. He can't wait to get on that plane and head off to Korea. He was pretty happy about going.


The last photo that I took of them as they depart from Perth's International Airport.

What did I do after they departed? Watched some cricket, listened to the footy and then headed off to watch Perth Glory beat Newcastle Jets 2-1 at Members Equity Stadium. Get this - you can even buy a wood-fired pizza at the ground during the game!

Bobby Despotovski scored a reasonably well-earned penalty (not by him) before some poor defending (Glory trademark, I'm afraid) allowed Newcastle to get a goal. In the second half the Glory had a free kick just outside the box and I tried to get my camera warmed up to take a video. The camera started just after the ball had struck the back of the net following a fabulous kick from Despotovski. C'mon Glory.
It Would Be Interesting To Be A Fly On The Wall

While I was waiting at the service desk at Woolies this afternoon one of the girls said to the two on duty that a person had collapsed at the service deli. Then she added that the man was a diabetic. I asked the guy who was servicing me if it was a daily occurrence, jokingly of course. With quite a relaxed response he said, "Pretty much". I hadn't expected that it was nothing unusual for somebody to collapse in a supermarket. There must be a hell of a lot that goes on that the general public is unaware of.

Perhaps the next reality show will be called Big Supermarket.
Gee, It's Quiet Now That They've Gone

The plane should be taxiing on the runway as I type this. And boy, is our house quiet. I'm really glad that we had the extra week together as we did things together that we should have done all of the time but let the pressures of life get to us and hold us back.

Last night we went to watch Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I rang Miky at lunchtime and asked her if she wanted to meet me at the cinema after work. She wasn't sure if she wanted to watch it and so asked Yu-Jin if he wanted to go. She received a resounding "Yes" and so we went. I had reservations about taking Miky to watch it as I didn't think that she would enjoy it. I shouldn't have worried. It was a very enjoyable movie for the family to watch. The acting on an emotional level was poor, some of the fighting was not flash but the build up to the finish was great - a very strong storyline to complete the prequel series. I give it three to three and a half out of five.

I've just raced outside to wave goodbye to the plane as it flew overhead. Our house is directly under the flightpath and it isn't too difficult to pick out the colours of Malaysia Airlines. Gosh, four months before seeing them again is going to feel like such a long time.

I told Miky yesterday to not have any plans for today, Saturday, as the day would fill itself up. After breakfast we went for a walk down to the Castledare Miniature Railway and then to the Kent St Weir and playground. Then we went to the Chi Restaurant in Vic Park for lunch. We got home about 15 minutes before we were due to leave for the airport and everyone had a shower. I left all of the packing up to the missus so that any problem was her problem (I don't like the blame game). So, we ended up leaving 30 minutes late for the airport but luckily we only live 15 minutes drive away. Checked them in and only had 20 minutes before they had to go through immigration and board the flight.

No tears this time. Plenty of feeling and emotion though. Yu-Jin kept hugging and kissing me and telling me how much he would mss me. He's so grown up and excited about travelling. Miky wants to go but knows what to expect and doesn't quite have the same enthusiam but is very glad to go.

Oh well, I'll see them in four months, as I said.

Dropped in to Woolies to do my shopping before I came home. Bought chocolates, chips, ice cream, snags and soft drink. I don't think that guilt will set in for a few weeks yet. He he.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

The Goodies Return To The Screen

In my childhood (was it that long ago since I was a child?) one of my favourite shows, along with Dr Who, was The Goodies. Years and years have passed by and the occasional interesting item, such as "Where is Bill Oddie now?", has emerged in the media, but nothing substantial.

My mum sent me a DVD of The Goodies which I received yesterday. I watched two episodes with Yu-Jin last night and he cracked up laughing. Perhaps it isn't as funny to me these days as I have outgrown some of the humour but he wanted to watch the whole thing. And first thing this morning he wanted to continue watching where he left off. I don't think that I have the episode "Kitten Kong" but it is still an enjoyable show to watch together. I guess once he leaves on Saturday I won't be able to watch it by myself. It may be dated but it is great to be able to relive some of my childhood and do so with my son.

I did notice that it was rated for 15 year olds!! That doesn't make sense as it was staple TV for all schoolkids back in the 70's and 80's.
Korean Scientists Have Cloned A Dog

Korean Scientists have managed to clone a dog after three full years of research. The reasoning behind this extraordinary achievement is that dogs suffer from many of the diseases that people suffer from also. They are hoping that cures for diabetes and the like can be found.

Perhaps the Koreans should share their skills with their Japanese counterparts so that world hunger can be cured. You know, teach them how to clone whales so that no Japanese person need go hungry.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Explosives Discovered In Perth

This is slightly disturbing. My friend Ben, who wants his own blog, posted this in an email. It happened today, in Perth.

check this out

Police disarm explosives found in Perth. 03/08/2005. ABC News Online

What is Perth coming to? Is it trying to shed its image as Dullsville forever? Have fireworks come to the foreshore early this year?
Crazy Motorbike Woman Rides Again

The woman I mentioned recently who was buzzing around outside my work is a serial crazy by the looks of it. Whilst driving to work this morning along Hay St in Subiaco I saw her parked on the side of the road, helmet off, looking jovial and waving a couple of Australian flags. She was opposite a building site and so I think she has an obsession with hating people who work on building sites. Or maybe she just doesn't like progress.

She is a laugh though on her little scooter.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Erection Dysfunction

My shed was supposed to be erected last weekend. The guy from the shed company rang to say that there had been a bit of rain and so they wouldn't be able to get it up. Don't know when I will have the erection.

I didn't think that rain caused erection problems but you live and learn.
Problem With The Flight To Kuala Lumpur Last Night

Miky and Yu-Jin could well have been on this flight yesterday. Luckily they weren't.

Thanks Australia Post.
The Slab Is Down

And no, we're not talking about a carton of beer. Saturday (the 23rd) saw the, late, arrival of a cement mixer so that I could lay a slab in front of my shed. This is to facilitate the erection of a larger shed in its place. I need more room to store my crap. And it needs to be a little more waterproof.

Yu-Jin was the official photographer for the day and he went quite sick with camera. His perspective is a bit different to mine and it is interesting to look at his pictures.



The cement mixer - and the gut



The truck's grille - whatever interested the photographer



Down and dirty



If Yu-Jin was taller there may have been more of me in the photo - I said that he had an interesting perspective. And his hand is fairly steady too.



Mum was pretty busy learning some new skills

It turned out that I had more cement than was required. We didn't even empty the cement mixer and I had an overflowing wheelbarrow load extra as well. Bit of hard work to level the pad but it turned out alright.



The slab getting laid out



Hasn't he learnt a few things from his old man?



Another one of those professions that Yu-Jin would like to take up



Don't it look luvly?



What to do, what to do?

What to do with the extra cement? I did have a brilliant idea of relocating the clothes line and using the cement as a base to hold it in place. So I dug a hole where I wanted to move the clothes line to and found another septic tank there. That buggered that idea up and I ended up putting the extra cement alongside the driveway in the carport. It looks nice and I only wish now that I had emptied the cement mixer.



Wish I had more cement to finish the job off
Thank You Australia Post For Making My Wallet Lighter

Australian Air Express let me know yesterday at three minutes past two in the afternoon that they had found the package that had been due to be delivered by 12 pm on Friday. They wouldn't be able to deliver it until the next day however. Never mind. It only cost me A$397 for Miky to change her flight to the next Saturday. Get this - she had to upgrade her seat in economy. No, not business class, just another economy seat that is more expensive.



Thank you Australia Post. Very much. You bastards. You will be hearing from me.

Monday, August 01, 2005

The Passport Has Arrived

And they will be departing on Saturday arvo.
Batman Begins - Great Movie

Seeing as we had the weekend to ourselves, not entirely due to circumstances created by ourselves, we decided to watch Batman Begins, which we had been promising ourselves to do. Here's the trailer.

What. a. great. movie.

Mind you, 45 minutes into the movie Yu-Jin, who was sitting behind us, leaned over and said, "When does the Batman movie start?" He was referring to the fact that there was a great deal of build-up and the action didn't start immediately. That's what happens when you have a five minute attention span but at least he did get a long way in before realising that he was bored.

Action scenes were great and the storyline was well written. I wouldn't say that the movie was predictable either.

What was Katie Holmes doing in the movie though? She added absolutely nothing to the movie and I am glad that she hasn't been written into the next one. What does Tom see in her? Why is she the love of his life, apart from himself?

An excellent movie that our whole family enjoyed. It's on at Picadilly Cinema in the city for only A$6 at the moment.
Times Change And So Do The Jokes

Remember one of those old favourites?

Q. What did Snow White say when she was waiting fo her film to be developed?
A. One day my prints will come.

Someone of my son's generation just won't understand the joke. I'm not sure what Generation he is, I think that I'm X, but he could be the Now Generation. As soon as you take a photo on the digital camera he wants to see it. No waiting one week to send the roll of film away for processing.

I guess with progress the jokes need to progress also.