Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Hide And Seek Austrian-Stye

It appears that the reigning champions of Hide-And-Seek are all Austrians with the latest revelation that an Austrian man hid his daughter, so that he could continue sexually abusing her, for 24 years. Obviously a new champion of this sport has emerged after beating the eight years set recently by Natasha Kampusch's captor, Wolfgang Priklopil, who managed to hide her away after abducting her. In another recent game a mentally ill women kept her three daughters locked away for seven years. Not really a contender methinks.

I think that someone needs to explain the rules of hide-and-seek to the Austrian population as a whole.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Quiet Sunday Afternoon

This three day weekend was a most welcome and unusual one. I normally have a day and a half off and it's usually spent rushing around. Friday was pretty full-on with Anzac Day but Saturday was a bit more relaxed.

We went shopping together in the morning and ended up buying another electric toothbrush. Our old one is long in the tooth, if you'll pardon the expression, as it is about nine years old. Bought a super-duper whiz-bang one, with a free hand set, in Myer. They had it on special but I found another shop where it was on sale for $20 cheaper and got them to do a price match. The MyerOne points made the choice for place of purchase.

Saturday afternoon saw me prepare the bathroom for painting. Gee, it took ages just to put the masking tape around the ceiling cornice in preparation and then Miky made a lovely Korean seafood pancake for lunch which interrupted proceedings (nicely). She took the boy off to taekwondo and I did the painting. Once it was finished and I'd cleaned up even though I wanted to watch the football or jump on the computer I controlled myself and cleaned the house.

Sunday, after a sleep-in (I'm a sleep-deprived person [of my own doing]), the boy and I had a Weetbix eating competition. Well, not really, but I made him have cereal for breakfast as all he ever wants is toast and that's not great brain food. He actually started off with a banana and then ate six Weetbix. Yes, six. Scrawny little bugger he is and he managed to put them away. I had eight for breakfast which was a bit of a struggle. I used to have 10 for brekkie. After breakfast we went across the road to kick the football. About 20-25 minutes later I decided that a walk along the wetlands through the bush would be a good idea. Yu-Jin really enjoyed that and just as we finished mum joined us. So we showed her our new walk and that started the ball rolling. She decided that a walk through the wetlands would be a good idea. It was thoroughly enjoyed and talk of bushwalking came about. Maybe next weekend we'll drive up into the hills and do some bushwalking followed by a picnic.

Back home I cooked a BBQ lunch and watched some footy whilst the other two watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which was taped from the night before. Finished reading the Sunday newspaper, which is a rarity in itself and joined them.

Sunday night is bulgogi night so we kept that tradition going followed by viewing So You Think You Can Dance Australia grand final. I'm a bit of a homophobe but I was very disappointed to see that Rhys didn't win and only came runner-up. He's a superb dancer who lives for his art and has captured the imagination of many over the last three months. Maybe the Rainbow vote isn't as strong as everyone would have us believe. Jack is a worthy winner however.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Anzac Day 2008

Australia's day of national remembrance is held on the 25th of April each year. It represents the day, figuratively speaking, that Australia (and New Zealand) became a national as it was the first time, in 1915, that it had gone to war as its own country and not for Britain. The fact that the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) were still commanded by inept British leaders is beside the fact.

Every year I pay my respects for those that fought to maintain the beliefs and freedoms that I now use. The day starts with a pre-dawn visit to the State War Memorial in Kings Park. It's the only day, other than Christmas Day, where so many people get up so early. Prior to 6am we are shown footage and provided with commentary on a battle that Australian and other allies fought in. At six the formal ceremony begins with wreath laying and a speech by a prominent military officer. It was Commodore Shandler this year, I believe. There was no cannon firing this year but we were treated to a flyover by a Roulette and a formation of biplanes.










THE ODE

They shall grow not old
as we that are left grow old

Age shall not weary them
nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun
and in the morning
we will remember them.

LEST WE FORGET

The playing of the Last Post is more spine-tingling than watching any horror movie (Miky and I watched "The Eye" from Hong Kong last night).

Following the dawn service I did my fruit and veg shopping before returning home to have a nice hot breakfast. Even made breakfast in bed for the missus - Anzac Day fills me with pride and some adrenalin. She looks after me every day so it is the least I can do. After brekkie the boy and I attended the Anzac Day Parade in Perth. I'm very glad that he was happy to go and enjoyed himself. There were some old diggers marching and it was a lovely day.

I found it rather ironic that, at this stage, this is the second wettest April on record, being only 3mm short of the record, and with four days with rain forecast to finish off the month, that it didn't rain. It is traditional for it to rain on Anzac Day.


Digger showing us how to have a shave digger-style












There certainly weren't too many survivors from the Normandy D-Day Landings that marched. Numbers were thin amongst the over 80s. It is sad to see their numbers dwindling. The march was almost as disorganised as the Gallipoli landing as you were unable to tell which line was going to march and the diggers themselves didn't seem to know either.

Just to round off a great day after preparing a roast vegetable lunch (haven't I been a good boy today?) I get to sit down and watch Essendon play Collingwood in the traditional Anzac Day blockbuster at the MCG. Now, I was thinking at six o'clock this morning when eight magpies landed on the Cenotaph at War Memorial and started warbling that that might be an omen for the match. The were already "crowing" about winning it. And so it turned out. To the tune of 73 points no less. Ruined a good day of paying respects for those that have sacrificed so much for our way of life. And the dishing out has begun already. And I so deserve it.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Spotted

Some great local ads advertising the fact that public servant can now dob in evil-doers. They don't quite have the power of the police but they are "Eyes on the Street". Look out crims. Apologies for the quality of the pics.





Foxy Loxy

Got a bit of a shock last night when returning from taekwondo. We'd just about reached home when I spotted, quite clearly, a fox by the roadside. No mistake about it. From a distance it appeared similar to a dingo but it was much smaller. I've seen a wolf in Los Angeles but never a fox in Perth. We parked the car and went to look but it had shot through by then.

Once inside I rang the council who take care of animals and left a message. Andrew, one of the council rangers, phoned back a couple of minutes later and said that they looked after domestic animals only and that I should talk to CALM - Conservation And Land Management. We had a bit of a gasbag and he said that on night shift he quite often spots foxes in our area. Shows how much I drive around at night time, doesn't it?

What I'm most worried about is our pet rabbit who spends all day running around free in the backyard. He's an open invitation for lunch should the fox smell him.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Full Moon And Interested Onlookers

Yesterday in the morning we had a full moon on view. As did everyone else in the world so I guess that that's not really newsworthy. I thought that it would be nice to take a photo of it behind the pump house near work after I got off the bus. So I went to the parkland and knelt down to take a few shots. It was then that I noticed a reflection on the viewfinder and thought that somebody must be going for a walk and may walk in front of the camera. "Strange," I thought to myself, "I didn't see anybody in the park when I was preparing to take the photos. Put the camera down and saw that it was three magpies who were quite interested in what was going on. Or perhaps they just expected me to feed them. Odd, as magpies aren't generally the friendliest of birds.




Saturday, April 19, 2008

Giving Myself The Evil Eye

On Thursday my right eye was bugging me. Much like have a bit of "sleep" stuck in the eye. I washed it a few times during the day but the irritation just wouldn't go away. Come Friday and the eye was very fiery. Everyone at work commented on it. Although it wasn't painful it was annoying.

Wandered down to the nearest chemist. His diagnosis was that the eye was infected and that I required antibiotics. Not the sort of news I wished to hear. I bought some eye drops, the best that the chemist had and recommended. If the eye didn't clear up within 48 hours it would be time to visit the doctor.

Went back to work and after another three hours or so had had enough. Time to go home. I caught my boss wandering past as I was at the photocopier and called out to him, mentioning that I was going to go home. His response was, "Did your wife throw something at you?" It's funny when someone not known for his humour tries to make a joke.

Had to go out for tea for the missus' birthday and I'm not sure if she really wanted to be seen in public with me. He he. We went to The Bellhouse Cafe and then to Dome in South Perth. The meal and cakes afterwards were quite nice.

Saturday morning dawned, I ignored it as long as I was able to, and then awoke. The fire had died down in the eye and it didn't feel too bad. Spent the day shopping for croissants for breakfast and then installing some chicken wire on the gate to keep the rabbit inside before heading off to taekwondo. All this evening Miky and I have been viewing Korean music videos on YouTube.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Sex At Work

Sex at work. It happens people. And it happens to all of us. Don't think so? Well, consider this:

Either you have sex with the boss at work, or,
The boss screws you over at work.

What's the difference?

Bathroom Renovation

Was it back on March the 19th that we started renovating our bathroom? Was it back then that we started taking baths Korean-style in the laundry? I think it was. Oh, so long ago.

We decided to remove the old Roman bath and shower setting that had been in our house for centuries. Well, maybe I exaggerate by a few years. It was old and not comfortable if a long, thin, gangly bloke like myself wanted to have a bath. The decision was made, by the lady of the house, to renovate and install a bath.

Just finding a tiler was a job in itself. Quotes ranged all over the place and then some of them didn't want to remove the existing tiles, instead expecting us to do that backbreaking job, and others were just in it for the money. We didn't choose the tiler with the lowest quote. We chose Jason, a young guy who had spent six years doing up his own house and had the photos to prove it. Seemed like a decent chap.

First snag. We spent some time visiting bath shops in Osborne Park searching for a standard acrylic bath. Prices weren't too bad but when you included the $60 or so that they wanted for delivery it became a bit unreasonable. Bunnings had a suitable bath on display and so I ordered it. This was two weeks prior to the tiler coming. Some 10 days later I finally got in touch with a person at Bunnings who could assist me with how my purchase was progressing only to be informed that the bath I had ordered was obsolete. "Well, what about the display unit?" Miky asked. Nope, health and safety meant they'd require a cherry picker to remove it so the bath would stay on display. Desperate to obtain a bath I purchased another model, unseen. Size seemed alright though. All the time there were phone calls back and forth with Miky and Jason. Delivery was three days away - after Jason was due to start. It meant that he had three days with no work. I felt bad as I put the guy out but he was happy to have the time off to catch up with paperwork and look for another worker to assist him.

Received the call from Bunnings that my bath was ready to be collected. I hired a trailer from Bunnings to get it home. Asked the gate attendant to check my lights and it turned out that I had no brake lights. So I drove the car home using hand signals. That weekend was spent going back and forth to the auto parts shop obtaining brake lights and it appears that all three of the lights, including the central one, were blown. Even went to the extent of checking whether or not power was reaching the brake lights. Finally fixed that problem. Because we were late with the bath we had to wait nearly two weeks for Jason to have a slot for our job.

Shower - pre-renovation

This is the Roman bath and shower pre-renovation. Not the most comfortable or eye-catching you would agree. We'd put up with it for five and a half years but no more!

Shower - end of day one

Most of the tiles were removed on day one. Gee, I'm glad that I didn't have that job. Even though the bathroom door must have been closed for the majority of the time the house was covered in dust. According to Jason it was pretty hard going. But we had plumbers coming first thing on the Monday morning so he was back on the Saturday to finish removing the tiles.

Shower - all tiles removed

Starting to look like a blank canvas.

Prior to bath installation


Bath being installed


Bath installed

I spent Monday morning at home to supervise the plumbers. Couple of young blokes who spent too much time talking and working slowly for my liking. I wasn't too pleased considering that I was paying a discounted rate of $88/hr for each of them! The initial plan was to have the bath about 150-200mm out from the wall and brick it up. But the plumbers thought that it was best that the bath be mounted slightly into the back wall. The taps had to be raised for the bath but they would be slightly off centre. Slightly being the operative word. I didn't get out of there until nearly 12pm and ended up working until half past eight to make up for lost time. One of the guys even called me up to see if I was ok as my boss, whom I'd told on Saturday that I would be in at about lunchtime hadn't informed anyone. It's nice to know that I was missed.

When Miky came home she was on the phone to me straight away. The taps were not in the right place and, honestly, they weren't slightly off centre but markedly off centre. And the bath was too high. Well, the plumbers were the best judge of how high the bath should be mounted and it was determined pretty much by the pipework leading to the drain. Not a lot I could do about that. I decided to let her deal with the plumbing company. Talk about a catfight ensuing. Miky told them that the bath was too high and we have a little boy. If he should fall and hurt himself then we would sue them. Wow, did that stir them up. I had a 15 minute phone call to the plumbing company with the woman who organises all of the jobs and had to call her on her mobile at home because of all the stress caused. Phone calls all afternoon.

Miky organised for another plumber to move the taps. They came first thing in the morning. Now, why was it so difficult in the first place to find plumbers? That put the tiler back another day in his job. I'd have to say that Jason is a very patient man.

Bath bricked up and ready for tiling

The wall has been rendered and the bath bricked up. Doesn't look like much at the moment but the finishing touches have yet to be added. It wasn't long after this that Jason realised there weren't enough tiles to complete the floor and he was worried about the number for the wall as well. We'd already had to purchase more mosaic tiles for the vanity unit. I think the floor tile shortage was a combination the bath being against the wall which accounted for one row of tiles and it was higher than expected which meant another row of tiles. Managed to scrounge enough spare white tiles left over from a previous job.

Of course the tile shop didn't have stock of the colour we wanted (actually we wanted blue/grey not light bluey grey originally) and had to order them in. That was another three day wait. Jason had another job to do at this stage and couldn't come back until Good Friday.

Bath tiled


Shower installed in the bath

Talk about a horrible job - installing the taps. And this took the best part of a week and a half. A man has to earn a living and the little woman does too. The special taps that Miky bought just let the water through. It didn't matter which way you turned the handle there was no way to turn the water off. I tried again to install it a couple of days later with the same result. Miky knew that one of the dad's from school was a plumber. He agreed to come to our house to help out but he was expecting a shipping container to come from South Africa with all of his family's furniture in the next day or two so we would have to wait. And then when the container turned up much of the furniture was damaged and required repairing which put us a few days further back in the queue. When he did come around he did pretty much the same job as me for exactly the same result. Not seeing that anything was wrong with the existing pipes he said the taps must be faulty. Looking through the tap we could see that it would leak at any point in its operation. He did recommend installing an adapter though.

Back to the bath and tap shop for Miky. The guy swapped them with little fuss. Come Saturday afternoon I had to stay home and install the taps. Talk about a frustrating afternoon. Journeyed to the nearest hardware store after they said that they had male and female adapters. Having just called eight or nine plumbing supplies stores and not receiving a single answer I was already in a bad mood. Arrived at the store and the assistant realised that he was thinking of a different tap altogether. I installed one of the taps and after turning the water on it was quite obvious that the same problem existed with the replacement taps. I then tried to remove the tap. The extender that I already owned just loosened off and left the rest of the tap there. Had to go back to the hardware store and purchase a tap spanner. As soon as I arrived home I discovered that the newly bought tap spanner was the wrong size.

So I travelled to another hardware store as they had more tap spanners on offer. Purchased a multi-sized one but couldn't obtain a different spindle for the tap. The new tap spanner worked well except for the fact that it only removed a cover. Luckily I was able to put an adjustable spanner on the spindle to remove it.

To say that I wasn't in a good mood by this stage would be an understatement. Two hours or more of my life that I'll never get back. I could have strangled the tap seller if given enough of an opportunity. Luckily he was closed on Saturday afternoon.

Come Monday and I went to work early so that we could all go to the shop before it closed. We exchanged the taps for something a little more ordinary and I spent a few hours installing them. Managed to get them to work but there was a gap behind the tap for the bath which means we can't use the shower until I grout it up. Very little swearing involved with Monday nights work.

Finished shower


Finished bath

Finished product doesn't look too bad, does it? Still need to install a shower screen which should be a nice touch. Jason, who finished work about 6:30pm on Easter Saturday, left the cleaning of the tiles and sealing of the grouting up to me. I can see why he did this because it was about a three hour job spread over two days.


Vanity unit - pre-renovation

I did the original tiling. One of my better efforts I thought.

Vanity - end of day one

What has happened to my beautiful tiling job?

Vanity - all tiles removed


Vanity half tiled


Vanity tiled


Finished vanity

Talk about some exquisite work. This guy could be a master. He was patient with us and we with him some I'm very happy with the job. He's probably gone a little over the top with the mosaic tiles but they look brilliant. I didn't envisage that the finished product would come out so well - just look at the edges.

I have Jason's contact details should you wish to utilise his services south of the river in Perth. He has black coffee with two sugars and doesn't say "No" to a good feed. I'm sure that you'll agree he does a great job though.

What did Murphy say?? Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Jobs For The Boys, Er Girls

Australia's latest prime minister is the leader of the Australian Labor Party. As such, he has a fair amount of backing from the unions. Parliament has always been a place whereby, if you do your best to uphold the party line, you'll be rewarded with a plum job later. This usually involves a role representing Australia overseas, high pay and plenty more networking opportunities. It's also known as "jobs for the boys." He's becoming quite good at pushing women into the spotlight too - a sort of affirmative action for women.

The position of Governor-General of Australia is the ultimate rubber-stamping job in the country. Basically the G-G is the Queen's representative for our sunburnt country. There is a bit of power involved, i.e. the Government can be sacked (and has happened once!), but it is usually just to approve laws passed. Nothing special.

Kevin Rudd appears to favour his home state of Queensland and his fellow Queenslanders. Now the plum role has been awarded to a fellow Queenslander and I guess that's it not too much of a surprise. The big surprise is that the new G-G is a woman. A woman with a man's name no less - Quentin Bryce. Quentin, a most unusual name for a woman, IMHO, is known for her appearance and not having a hair out of place. So what's happening with the PM's hair? How can the G-G appointee be seen in public with him? This country is moving into the future at a rapid pace.

Quentin Bryce - the G-G appointee. But what's up with PM Kevin's hair?

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Busy Weekend

After working Saturday morning I was given a job of finishing off the taps in the bathroom for the afternoon. The night before we had a plumber come around and he said that there was nothing wrong with the pipework therefore it was the new, and expensive, taps that meant water could not be shut off. Miky changed the taps in the morning as the shop assistant agreed that they would leak.

Talk about a frustrating afternoon. Journeyed to the nearest hardware store after they said that they had male and female adapters. Having just called eight or nine plumbing supplies stores and not receiving a single answer I was already in a bad mood. Arrived at the store and the assistant realised that he was thinking of a different tap altogether. I installed one of the taps and after turning the water on it was quite obvious that the same problem existed with the replacement taps. I then tried to remove the tap. The extender that I already owned just loosened off and left the rest of the tap there. Had to go back to the hardware store and purchase a tap spanner. As soon as I arrived home I discovered that the newly bought tap spanner was the wrong size.

So I travelled to another hardware store as they had more tap spanners on offer. Purchased a multi-sized one but couldn't obtain a different spindle for the tap. The new tap spanner worked well except for the fact that it only removed a cover. Luckily I was able to put an adjustable spanner on the spindle to remove it.

To say that I wasn't in a good mood by this stage would be an understatement. Two hours or more of my life that I'll never get back.

Miky had purchased a CD tower for me from Ikea so I gave up on the bathroom and started doing something for the bedroom. Time flew by and it was soon time to go out to tea with some friends from interstate. Quick Korean-style bath in the bathroom and went to pick them up from their hotel (he's a workmate) and we ventured to Senoji, our favourite Japanese restaurant. Ended up ordering too much food but nothing went to waste. After our meal we went to South Perth for a walk along the foreshore. Great night out. Should do this more often.

Sunday

Breakfast. Fruit and veg shopping. Cleaning the house. Furniture put in the shed for storage, installation of a blind, two shelves, three downlights and fixing the bookcase to the wall before it tips over. Some four hours of my time (working on the house that is) well spent. Got to listen to two games of football. Had a shower after cleaning up and the boy and I went to the pool. Nice way to finish the afternoon. Miky had prepared bulgogi for us and after I did a few vegies it was time to cook. Lovely meal it was too.

Time for a rest - must go back to work.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Newest Olympic Sport

There should be a new Olympic sport at this years Beijing Olympics. Protesting should make its official Olympic debut. Several countries are partaking in qualifying events in the lead up to the Games. France and the United Kingdom have been at the forefront and the United States has just picked its representatives. Tibet will have a strong field, if allowed into the Olympic Village.

For those of you not familiar with the sport of protesting it borrows much from many other sports. There are elements of wrestling, fencing (or walling - remember the Great Wall of China? It's not just there to keep out the rabbits.), taekwondo and shooting. Let's not forget the discus-like tear gas canister throwing and the cheering on of the team by supporters. One popular rallying cry at the moment is "Free Tibet!"

Competition for places on the teams is fierce and it might even be easier to obtain a position in one of the relay teams. I'm still expecting China to take the gold medal in this event but it will be closely fought. Literally.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Wrong Way, Jose

Perhaps in this case it should be "Wrong way, Josephine." Yesterday there was a new bus driver on the route that I take most often. She didn't appear to be in a good mood and one can only guess the reasons for this. About five minutes into the journey she was supposed to make a left turn to continue but instead she just carried on. I was reading a newspaper and so didn't notice for another couple of minutes. I was thinking that we were going to arrive in the city fairly quickly and that there would be quite a few irate usual passengers, especially those who would have seen the bus go past as there is a stop quite close to the turning point and there are two regulars who get on the bus there.

Halfway into town and the driver stopped at a bus stop even though the traffic lights just ahead were green. At this point I believe she realised that she'd taken a wrong turn and decided to pick up as best she could. Back to the usual route we went but she didn't double back. Seeing as the bus comes only about every 30 minutes for that route I'm glad that I wasn't one of the stranded passengers. I quite often see one of them when I'm leaving work but yesterday this wasn't the case. I'll have a chat if I do see him though but I don't think that he'll be laughing about it too much.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

What Are The Customs Import Restrictions In China?

Australia is quite strict when it comes to what you can, and can not, bring into the country. We are rather generous when it comes to the amount of goods that you can import before having to pay import duties, around the $900 per adult mark I believe, and that probably has more to do with politicians going on overseas junkets and wishing to buy their goods duty-free. Quarantine is a different matter. It is very difficult to import wood, grass, food or animal products. Even baby formula is banned from importation. We're careful about diseases, that's for sure.

I wonder what you are allowed to import into China? How strict are Chinese Customs? I find it very hard to imagine a Chinese Customs official saying, "No, you can't bring that into the country," mainly because practically everything that you buy is made in China anyway. You're not about to hear, "That toaster looks suspect," because it was made in China.

I think Chinese Customs officials would be just as stern as every other country's Customs officials but there would be very little that wouldn't be allowed to be imported.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Creepy Sunrise

I enjoy getting up early. It allows you to see some strange things at times and I thought the sunrise the other day was rather creepy.

Creepy sunrise

Spelling - Make Up Your Mind, People

I'm a bit of a pedant when it comes to spelling. Let it be known. And I prefer the British English dictionary. If you are writing "ax" then you only have two-thirds of the item. Australia uses the Pommie spelling. So it really bugs me to see a shop having an each-way bet. Are signwriters in this country half-wits or do they not question the customer?

CENTRE or CENTER - make up your mind, people.

I think these guys have used a little too much poetic licence. The Language Police should be paying them a visit. How do we expect the youth of today to formulate a consistent technique of spelling? Or am I reading too much into this?

Losing Weight With The Frugal Bastard

Ever since attending a wellness seminar in January I have sworn off biscuits, chips (fries) and potato chips (crisps). I try to eat as healthily as possible and generally have two pieces of fruit per day. Not much has changed on the exercise front as I still catch the bus and go for a wander around the lake during the break for lunch. Oh, soft drink (soda) is almost completely banned. Except for an after work do where they serve beer or soft drink and then the choice is somewhat limited.

This morning I weighed myself. Tipped the scales at 72kg which is five or six kilos lighter than in January. And this was after Easter and let's not forget that there were two birthdays at work and I'm not one to miss out on free, yummy cake. It's not really that free though. I've bought a couple of cakes for my birthday and they set me back nearly fifty bucks. So you have to make the most of it when given the opportunity.

Just swear off the crap that you are pouring down your throat people.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Subway - Eat Less

I know there is a drought in Australia. I know that inflation is high. I know that interest rates are high. All the more reason to supply your customer with that which they are expecting.

The boy joined me at work today and we decided to have some Subway on the way home. Pulled in to the nearest one to our house and ordered a couple of footlongs. I noticed that there was very little topping on the bread. Closer inspection revealed that all of the breads had bugger all topping. An Italian herbs and cheese is supposed to be smothered in herbs and cheese. The one the shop assistant was going to give me had four or five thins strips of cheese on top. I informed the assistant that this is not the way to treat your customers. If I buy something I expect what I'm buying to be the same as what is advertised.

In my opinion the shop owner was skimping on product as his costs have risen but it amounts to ripping off his (once were) customers. I won't be heading back to that shop. We walked out and went home to make toasties.

Childless For The Night

The Boy's best friend's father invited him to stay over for the night. Sounds like a deal to me. He stayed at our house a few weeks ago. Gee they have some fun when they are together.

So, what does a loving couple do when they are childless for a night? They sell some secondhand furniture to a recently arrived Korean woman. It was obvious, wasn't it? But what might surprise you is that after loading a three seater sofa in the back of a station wagon she told us that she'd need help putting it into her house as her husband was working in Poland. She'd decided to come to Australia for her kids' education in the interim. We dressed up to go out for tea and headed to her house. It wasn't far away and near a restaurant zone.

Lo and behold we were unable to fit the sofa through the front door. It wasn't going to squeeze down the side entrance nor the back. Ha! Then Miky thought about taking a flyscreen off the front window and passing it through the window. No problem! I didn't need to get sweaty in my good clothes but there you have it.

Nice pumpkin and pistachio risotto with a chicken and avocado foccacia for tea at Dome in Northbridge. Haven't been there for a while. Then we visited the city where I bought a shirt with my birthday money. Thanks mum. Also purchased Green Day's American Idiot CD for ten bucks.

Funny thing happened in Myer - I bumped into a guy I went to uni with. He recognised me and I recognised him but neither of us could for the life of us remember each others name. Still carried on a conversation though. Then, when I went upstairs, I bumped into my old project manager who left a few weeks back. Talk about having a night out.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Rabbit Stew Is On Tonight's Menu

That rabbit would be on the menu tonight if we were going out for tea. Little bugger has chewed through the speaker wires on my stereo. It's a pity that I wasn't listening to it at the time. I wonder how much damage he has done to the power cables in the vicinity.

Rabbit stew. Mmmm. Just in time for the onset of winter.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Smartriders, And Others

As I've mentioned before, we have a smart card system in place for public transport called Smartrider. You sign up and either have automatic payments deducted from your bank account with a 25% discount or reload your card on the bus/train/ferry with a 15% discount.

This system must have been introduced about two years ago but there are still people that travel everyday and pay full fare. Not only do they hold up the bus that I'm travelling on but they must scrounge for change everyday. And it costs them more to do so. Not the greatest usage of travel money. I haven't come up with a name for them yet.

Then there are the Not-so-Smartriders. Those people that have Smartriders but don't know how to tag on properly or aren't sure if they've tagged on or off or try to tag off too early, etc.

The final group I have decided to call the Dumbriders. These are the people that fumble for change, have no idea how much the fare is and try to pay with $50 notes. I overheard a driver yesterday say that they can refuse to accept large notes as people just try it on knowing that not much change is kept and expect to get a free ride.

Wordplay

The boy had a bit of homework the other day involving opposites. There was a list of words and he had to find the opposites. Most of them involved adding the suffix 'un'. E.g. Hinge - unhinge, related - unrelated, real - unreal.

He asked me what the opposite of 'succeed' was. Now, I don't believe in turning him into a robot so of course I couldn't say 'fail', so I told him it was "suck". If you don't succeed then you suck. Makes sense doesn't it? I just hope he doesn't tell his teacher.