Former Company Get Together At Burswood Casino

A company that I used to work for has irregular meetings for former employees. It's been nearly four years since I left and I've never attended one of these get togethers. Usually it is because I wasn't notified until the day of the event, it was on the other side of the city and I generally had something on. Well, I must have had a months notice for this event so wasn't going to miss it even though I would have to skip taekwondo training for this one.

As I left work an hour or so before the do and it was a short walk I went with camera in hand. Shot around 80 photos and the 20 minute walk took me an hour. I got caught in the rain just before reaching the destination but it didn't dampen my enthusiasm for the night. Couldn't spot anybody within the pub, Paddy Hannan's, but spotted one of my colleagues, a former employee of the company also, who had offered me a lift from work as he arrived at the same time. We started having a drink by ourselves at the bar.

Soon afterwards everyone started arriving. Almost everyone that came was working at the time I was there but a few had started after me and before the ultimate demise of the company. The doors were closed some nine months after I left but that was because they had lost the right to sell a product that constituted 90% of their sales.

It was great to see so many people that I had enjoyed working with and catching up. I guess the thing about working at a successful small business is that it is usually run by a bunch of nice people. About half of the people I hadn't seen since I'd left, a couple I hadn't met but had spoken to and a few that I kept in touch with business-wise.

Allow me to indulge my passion of photography with a photo album of my Walk From Work to Burswood Casino on Facebook.

Kevin Rudd Has Too Much Gall

Well, obviously the gall of the man reached amazing levels. That's got to be why Kevin Rudd went to hospital to have his gall bladder removed today. How else do you explain it?

There were a few theories at work:

- The knife from Julia Gillard and her mates went in so deeply that it struck the gall bladder.
- He's doing it for the sympathy vote in the upcoming election.
- The doctor wanted to take the piss out of him after the rest of the country had had a turn.
- Being kicked out of the prime ministership by his own party after having taken his party to the greatest number of seats ever was just too galling for him.
- He was desperate to lose a bit of weight after not having time to exercise.

Interesting that he went to a private hospital and not a public one. Mind you, with the fact that if you earn over A$75k/yr you need to have private health insurance or pay a higher Medicare levy in this country. Not really surprising at all in that case, after all.

Just Like Tony Abbott

I took an online quiz, Federal election 2010: What's Your Politics Tool, this morning to show from the multitude of libertarian, authoritarian, conservative and progressive political figures what my political leanings are. Interesting result. Not only do I have the same ears as Tony Abbott but I also share his political views.

Just like Tony Abbott.

False Shoplifting Accusation Pays

I heard on the news this morning that a six year old Irish boy (five at the time of the incident) was falsely accused of stealing a bag of chips in a supermarket. His mother found him crying after the incident and even when she produced a receipt the manager refused to believe that he hadn't been shoplifting. The mother sued for assault, slander and wrongful imprisonment and the boy received a payout worth A$10,800.

Reminded me immediately of my experience as a kid of being wrongly accused of being a shoplifter. Pity that I received an apology otherwise I could have been set up for life.

Photos of Nature and Natural Events

I've taken a few photos recently. I'm a great believer of taking your camera wherever you go. Much like Jimmy Olsen. Must be the Japanese blood in me. He he.

Checkout my Photos of Nature photo album on Facebook.

When Will We See A Real Danny Green Fight?

Danny Green is quite a popular figure in Perth. He gets his face on the news quite often, Channel 7 promotes him with some vigour, and he boxes for the people of Perth. That's the offical storyline anyway.

After an enormously popular fight with Anthony Mundine some years ago Green has struggled to find top level boxers to fight. Or has he? Perhaps if you have a world title you're not willing to put it on the line against someone who could actually beat you and rob you of the gravy train that you find yourself on. Green is 37 years old and he doesn't fight many boxers who are in their early 20s. None, actually.

It was, and it wasn't, a huge surprise to see his latest opponent, Paul Briggs, who retired from boxing three years ago, to go down in the first round. The fight was over after only 29 seconds which included the 10 second count which took about 13 seconds to conduct. Some people are even going so far as to say it was a dive. Apparently it is going to be investigated by a retired judge. When you have odds of $10 for a first round knockout drop to $1.50 in the hours before the fight what does that tell you? Not too many satisfied onlookers who handed over plenty of dough to attend the "fight". Drink bottles were thrown at Briggs as he left the ring. Only three punches were thrown and the one that brought him down was a glancing blow to the head. After being struck he staggered and appeared to be thinking, "Would now be a good time to go down?" before deciding that indeed it would be. A $200,000 - $250,000 purse for him as the loser was incentive enough it would seem to be involved in this farce.

I don't think that we'll see Danny Green involved in a real fight again. This is a sad note in the twilight of his career.

I think that if you want to see real fighting just switch to YouTube and look for girls fighting in the playground. You'll see more real punches and more onlookers satisfied with the outcome.

Black Box Flight Recorder Inventor Dies

The inventor of the black box flight data recorder, David Warren AO, has died. Would it have been too ironic for him to die in a plane crash rather than quietly in a nursing home?

Frugal Bastard's Tip of the Day

Frugal Bastard's Tip of the Day - when dealing with suppliers listen with sympathy to their cries of anguish regarding the fact that they are almost giving the product away and not making money. Just don't offer them a tissue to wipe away their tears. If you do you won't get the best deal.

Forty First Anniversary of First Manned Moon Landing or Forty First Anniversary of World's Biggest Hoax?

Today's the 21st of July. Either it's the 41st anniversary of the first manned moon landing or the 41st anniversary of the world's largest hoax. I'm in the manned moon landing camp myself.

One of my favourite vids is below - be warned that there's lots of swearing. And it's not worth watching if you can't handle the swearing.


Onion Moon Landing - includes lots of swearing.

Word For The Day

I watched the Tour de France last night. As I do most nights. Andy Schleck from Luxembourg was wearing the Maillot Jaune. He's a great, gutsy young rider who has a bit of a rivalry with Alberto Contador from Spain. Ahead of Contador by 31 seconds going into the stage, Stage 15 - Pamiers to Bagnères-de-Luchon, Schleck used his teammates to set the pace up the worst mountain climb in the Pyrenees, to Port de Balès, to make the other riders crack. When all of his riders had exhausted themselves he took it upon himself to break Contador. It was a very gutsy move and I was quite excited to see it. Only problem was that his chain popped off and Contador sprinted away to the summit why Schleck had to get started again which could not have been easy. He blew away several riders on the remaining climb and probably burnt an amazing amount of energy in the process. Unfortunately for Shleck there was only one other rider with him for much of the descent and he was unable to offer any pacesetting. Contador, on the other hand, had a couple of great descenders in his group and he managed to finish 39 seconds ahead of Schleck.

Word for the day - "Schlecht". It's German for "bad". Andy appears to speak English well and it may well have more letters in it than any English word that came to mind.

Thought For The Day

Love involves trust but you only need a hint of mistrust to hate someone.

Pupil-Free Day

It was a pupil-free day today where the pupils stay away from school and the teachers attend school without them. I reckon close to 95% of teachers would like to have it this way all of the time but perhaps we'd better not put this to the vote. I had to stay home to babysit The Boy. Isn't it funny how we fathers refer to it as babysitting but the mothers just "stay at home with the kids"?

I had a few plans for my day off which, by the way, I earnt by working on Saturday. Nice to swap Monday for Saturday, whereby I got much more work done due to less disruptions, but I know that I'll pay for it on Tuesday with a full inbox from the rest of the country that was at work. Plans almost went to the dogs as I'm not feeling too well. Bit of a cold and a deal of associated coughing. I was hoping to take The Boy to the golf course to actually play a game. He's only been on the driving range previously.

I did want to take him to the movies also. Managed to find out that Hoyts has a matinee special if you purchase at least two tickets for movies prior to 5pm. The 3D version was on special for only A$12 as opposed to the normal A$20 for an adult ticket. Bargain! Wasn't impressed with the 27 minutes of ads and trailers prior to the movie starting. I think we had only 26 people in the cinema so it wasn't packed.

We watched Toy Story 3. I'd heard that it was good, as was Shrek 4 The Final Chapter, but The Boy wanted to see it more.

Great movie. Better than Toy Story 2 and about on par with Toy Story the original. Wasn't overly impressed with the 3D version as nothing jumped out from the screen apart from the ads. Could have been so much better. Much like watching a normal movie although I find the 3D glasses to be a bit distracting and annoying. I don't know how people put up with wearing glasses normally. Really enjoyed the movie.

Toy Story 3 Display at Hoyts.

Back home to make a subway-style sandwich for The Boy, which he really enjoyed (bit of a surprise there) and then off for some shopping before a visit to the doctor to obtain a blood test for The Boy. He has a nut allergy and we need more information on it. No taekwondo training for me today due to my cold. Not a bad day off though.

Thought For The Day

Here's a thought for the day - You're not necessarily a great lover if you're only capable of taking the breath away of an asthmatic.

Hitler Hates Mount Gambier Development Issues

Brilliant movie - especially if you know anything about Mt Gambier. I dips me lid to the guy who put this together - Minor Earth Major Sky.

hitler hates Mount Gambier development issues from minor earth major sky on Vimeo.

Hitler Hates Mount Gambier Development Issues

Speeding P-Plater

One would consider a probationary driver exceeding the speed limit by 60 km/h to be rather foolish and unworthy of being entrusted with driving on the road for the safety of other road users with immediate effect. There was a report in the local rag back home recently of an 18 year old p-plater from Adelaide, some 270 km away, who was caught driving her father's BMW at 140 km/h in an 80 zone. Consequences of her actions were a $692 fine and disqualification from driving for six months. The police allowed her 24 hours to drive home before the driving ban came into effect though.

What were they thinking? At the rates of knots this young woman travelled at she only needed two hours before the car could be parked in the garage at home. Get her off the road. I dare say that daddy wouldn't have been too impressed either. But he's lucky that it was in South Australia and not Western Australia where we have hoon laws. That car would have been impounded by the police had the offence taken place over here.

I was relating the story to a colleague and he informed me that his daughter had been caught exceeding the speed limit by 25 km/h on Saturday and her car was impounded. He didn't think that speed was such a bad thing if the driver could handle the car at such speeds. To consider this thought think about a young man that he knows who has a CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motor Sport) licence which allows him to be a race driver. The guy is only 16 and has a learners licence and so isn't allowed to drive on public roads by himself but can run around a race track at over 150 km/h. Maybe there are some drivers who would be much less of a danger to others on the road as they have been taught to drive instead of taught to pass a driving test but I can't condone excessive speed when the roads are full of idiots who don't know how to handle vehicles properly.

Love the fact that the local paper brings to life the misdemeanours of ordinary people. It's not something you read about in the big smoke and it does make you think that perhaps the system is working. The consequences of criminal behaviour is punishment. I'd like to see this in the large daily newspaper here too.


Crime Report from Border Chronicle

Google Images - Phillipe Troussier

Whilst reading the news at lunch time today I spotted an article relating Everton's David Moyes stating that Australia deserves to host the 2022 FIFA (TM) World Cup although he didn't think too much of the pitches on offer in this country. To the right of the article was a poll for "Who is your pick to replace Pim Verbeek as Socceroos coach?" This caught my interest and I looked at whose names they were putting forward. Names included Graham Arnold, Marcelo Bielsa, Fabio Capello, Paul Le Guen, Marcello Lippi, Frank Rijkaard, Philippe Troussier, Aurelio Vidmar and Other. Had to do some searching with Google for Marcel Bielsa and Philippe Troussier as I wasn't sure who they were. Have a look at the search result, especially the images.


Images for Phillipe Troussier?

Judging from the pictures I think that Phillipe Troussier does a mighty fine impersonation of Bernd Stange, one-time much-loved Perth Glory coach. Well, there is a button to "Report images" but it's only for reporting of offensive material. Not to tell them that their image search is a little muddled.

Mistaken Identity In The Media

There's a test match being played in England at the moment between Pakistan, the home team, and Australia, the visitors. That's a funny story in itself being the first test match in England not to feature the home team in some 98 years or so. If you look at most of the English teams of late you'd be hard pressed to find any players that were born in England but that's another story.

What I found amusing was a report in The Telegraph, a respectable British newspaper, with a picture of left-handed Simon Katich. Or so they tell us. Make up your own mind. And they blame ACTION IMAGES as the source. I reckon it has more to do with poor editorial skills myself.

Left-handed Simon Katich?

Thoughts On The World Cup Final

- Arjen Robben needs to be told that prima donnas don't win World Cups. Only Maradonas win World Cups. His attack on the referee for failing to pay a free kick close to goal when being hampered by Carles Puyol was ferocious. If only he had the same attack on the ball the Netherlands would have been three goals up by that stage. Can't say I've ever seen such poor sportsmanship aimed at a ref, without physically assaulting him that is, by anybody else. Disgusting behaviour worthy of a red card, almost. Officials should never be treated with such contempt. Hang your head in shame, Robben.
- When is a studs-up tackle to the chest not a red card offence? When Nigel de Jong kicks Xabi Alonso. And to think that Miroslav Klose got a second yellow card for an accidental trip. Refereeing needs to be consistent.
- Xavi Hernandez, I'm pretty sure, received a yellow card for playing on too long after offside was called and kicking the ball away to waste time. Good call ref. But Arjen Robben, already on a yellow card, does much the same thing and doesn't get penalised later in the game. What did I say about consistency in refereeing decisions?
- If the Dutch had played their natural game they would have had a much better chance of winning. Where was the free-flowing, complete football?
- You'd think that a professional striker would have the ability to chip a goalkeeper. Robben again gets a mention.
- Only one team was trying to play and that was Spain. Counterattacking is rather counter-productive.
- Spain deserved their win. And my heart wanted the Dutch to win.
- I had red eyes from getting up at 2am to watch the game but the Dutch players will have red eyes from crying for the next four years.
- I was alarmed at Xabi Alonso being substituted and then David Villa with extra-time/penalties looming. But it indicated that the Spanish coach didn't want it to go to penalties and was looking for the winning goal. Great coaching, as it turned out.
- Tactically the Spanish were superior and the Dutch coach only has himself to blame for the loss. That much is apparent and I normally wouldn't place that much emphasis on the coach's ability to influence how the game pans out with tactical changes.

Frugal Bastard Presents - Magic Card Trick

I came up with a magic card trick with The Boy as my midget assistant. I think the movie turned out to be quite funny and better than expected.


Frugal Bastard Presents - Magic Card Trick

Frugal Bastard Presents - More Piano From The Boy

The Boy's Grandma requested some more tunes on the piano from The Boy. Here are a few videos taken this afternoon.


The Boy plays Jewish folk song by Larry Sitsky.


The Boy plays Quadrille by Joseph Haydn.


The Boy plays Raisins and Almonds by Anonymous.

More Proof Of Global Warming?

Global warming this. Global warming that. I'll have you know that Perth has just experienced 15 consecutive nights where the temperature dropped below 5°C. A record. The previous record was nine consecutive nights. Not that I can find a decent link to the record but this site is close.

I blame global warming.

Frugal Bastard Presents - Slow Down or Stop

I like a good joke. I like a good Lego man movie. So I thought that I'd combine the too. You be the judge of how successful I've been. If you like the movie email the link to your friends. Tell the world. It's all about viral marketing people. C'mon, my son's Lego man movies have had more hits than mine.


Frugal Bastard Presents - Slow Down or Stop?

Jayant Patel on Suicide Watch

Jayant Patel, aka Doctor Death, was on Suicide Watch this morning prior to his sentencing for the manslaughter of three patients and grevious bodily harm for another. Is Suicide Watch being streamed on YouTube or is it another reality TV program on Channel 10 like Big Brother?

A sentence of seven years was handed down. Seven years for the loss of three lives? His defence lawyer said, "Patel had been subject to public shaming and humiliation as a result of negative publicity from the case. (He has) not lost just a career, but the publicity has sought to take away his reputation as a human being."

I'm hardly surprised that he's lost his job. But only seven years of his liberty? Give me a break. But not a leg. I wouldn't want to end up in a hospital where he might be working.

Patel. Thought that I might look up the caste name meaning. Apparently it means "headman" or "village chief". Interesting. Perhaps he shouldn't have been working on bowels and the like.