You Have To Be Careful What You Say About Anyone

Volleyball last night. Matt, one of my teammates, introduced me to Greg, a friend of his who was to play for us. Matt and Greg have played beach volleyball together. I recognised his straight away, although the dyed hair made it a little more difficult to do so, and he said, "Don't I know you from Curtin (Uni)? You did IS (Information Systems), didn't you?"
Yep, I had seen Greg around and even spoken to him a couple of times on campus.

We discussed uni a bit and Greg mentioned that although he doesn't see a lot of people from uni most of the people who did IT (Information Technology) are not working in that field. I know about four fellow students who are working in IT and asked him, "Do you know Ben So-and-so?"
"Know him? I live with him," was the reply.

You can't have a bad word about anyone.

We got rolled in the first set of our match but the second set was much better and we lost narrowly. In the third set we played very well for a 17-11 lead and somehow blew it to lose 25-21 right on the stroke of time. Bugger - a 3-0 loss. And next week we have a bye. They've introduced another team into our division. It's difficult enough for me to find the time to play once a week and keep up a bit of momentum and now we've been hit with the ocassional bye. Better luck next time.

Is There Anything Cuter Than...

Listening to your kid laughing in his sleep?

Shelley Idol

Yu-Jin's school is having a talent contest to be held at lunchtimes. The kids can sing, dance, tell jokes, read poetry, do magic tricks or whatever they feel is going to be entertaining. It is held at lunchtime and there are prizes. Entry into the competition is by gold coin donation.

Yu-Jin was strongly considering entering and singing "American Idiot" by Green Day. When the competition was announced one of his classmates asked the teacher if he could sing "American Idiot" (popular song) and the teacher refused pointblank. I'm assuming that his teacher, an older lady, wouldn't know the song and just thought that it was inappropriate due to the title. How disappointing. Probably not a bad thing as Yu-Jin doesn't know all of the words.

Easter Happenings

What a busy Easter period. I need a holiday to get over it.

Thursday - Miky's car had been playing up (again), and so we dropped it off at the mechanic's place early in the morning. That meant that I was late for work. At lunch time I went to the markets, assuming that they would be open, and found that that wasn't the case. Fruit and veggies in Woolworths were too expensive so I bought some Easter eggs.

Miky rang later in the day to say that she was still at work and would be there for some time yet. That meant that I had to leave work early to get the car key, otherwise the car would need to stay at the garage for the whole weekend, Yu-Jin had to be collected, something had to be bought for tea and my friend Ben was arriving at the airport as well. As I was leaving my boss made the comment, "Arrived late, leaving early." Oh well. I couldn't help it.

Man, I didn't recognise Ben at the airport. It has been about nine years since I've seen him and we grew up together as next door neighbours. He thought that I would have lost my hair and was genuinely surprised that that wasn't the case. Ben's a bit thin on top and has put on a bit of weight. Anyway, the traffic was quite bad so I decided not to take the Tonkin Highway and we bought something for tea on the way home. Once arriving I realised that there may be enough time to get to volleyball. Ben had been warned volleyball was on the agenda.

Thankfully the traffic was leaving the city and I had a good run thereby arriving about seven minutes before game time. We only had four players but got Paul to fill-in. Finally we played well and won 3-0 with the scores locked at 14-14 in the fourth set when time ran out. I was on fire with my serving. If ever we were in trouble the ball only had to be sent to Phil on the other team. Phil appears to have Tourette Syndrome. Well, he carried on like a pork chop everytime he stuffed up. I don't think that he even got one serve over the net.



Frugal Bastard with the lethal volleyball serve.

Came home and Miky wanted to collect her car. It wasn't a good place to leave it, outside the garage, but it was late-night shopping so it wasn't as though it was the only vehicle in the car park, and all was ok. Interestingly the mechanic discovered that a coil for an electronic ignition was installed instead of one for points. That would have caused some of the problems that were evident.

Ben and I had a fair bit to talk about and went to be quite late.

Friday - went for a wander around the wetlands across the road, to the weir and around the miniature railway nearby. Easter eggs and hot cross buns on the menu. Maybe a couple of days early but I'm not religious anyway. Yu-Jin wanted to play games with Ben and we started to do a 500 piece puzzle. The afternoon was spent at Cottesloe Beach where Yu-Jin had a good time. I was a little surprised at the number of people at the beach but not too much as it was a holiday and the weather was very nice.

Cottesloe Beach was busy for Good Friday.

Some decent waves at Cottesloe Beach.

Yu-Jin spent a bit of time collecting shells.

Nice sunset at Cottesloe Beach.

Getting a bit adventurous with my photography - sunset at Cottesloe Beach.

Miky cooked bulgogi for tea. I told Ben that it was bull's testicles (bull go-gi) and I think that he believed me for a couple of seconds. It was difficult to keep a straight face. After we all watched a feature on Gengis Khan Ben and I watched The Passion of the Christ. Wow, what a powerful movie.

Saturday - On the way to Subiaco to do the fruit and veggie shopping I showed Ben around Curtin Uni. Following the shopping Ben, Yu-Jin and I went to the cinema to watch Zathura as there weren't too many movies suitable for Yu-Jin to watch. Not a bad movie, reasonably entertaining.

Miky joined us in the city following the movie and we went shirt shopping at Myer. I bought a very nice shirt for my birthday and Ben bought a couple of shirts. He did need to borrow Miky for a while, just so that he could get the opinion of a woman of course, as like most men he has little idea of fashion. I've changed a bit but still can't be left to my own devices completely.

For tea we went to Han's Cafe in Northbridge, the scene of our wedding reception. Bit of a walk around Northbridge followed by a visit to Dome Coffee, where none of us actually had coffee. Drove through the Northbridge Tunnel on the way home. Yu-Jin went to bed so Ben and I did some star-gazing, much like we did when we were kids. The moon was very detailed but the stars and one planet we looked at didn't reveal any details. Another late night talking.

Sunday - Four hours were spent finishing the jigsaw puzzle.

The finished jigsaw puzzle. Don't start one of these unless you have plenty of time on your hands.

Yu-Jin was sick so he didn't come to Kings Park with Ben and myself. Showed him around the War Memorial, the Treetop Walk and the DNA Tower.

Perth City as seen from the War Memorial in Kings Park.

Some major earthworks going on for the railway line to Mandurah.

View from the Treetop Walk in Kings Park.

South Perth from the DNA Tower.

Had a bit of time left over so walked around the city for a while before going home. BBQ for tea. Not so late night as Ben had to catch a flight in the morning.

Site of the new Perth railway station.

Monday - Brekkie followed by a bit of gardening before heading out to the airport. Bugger all traffic unlike the previous Thursday. Miky and I did a bit of gardening and I bought some concrete slabs from Bunnings.

Caught another mouse. This little guy had been hanging around in the computer room. In the arvo we went to Gloria Jeans Coffee, where nobody had coffee, before returning home early as Yu-Jin was still sick. Watched Mythbusters later on and it is the sort of show that really captures Yu-Jin's attention.

I need a holiday to get over the holiday.

A Wild Goose Chase Thanks To Perth's Planners

I needed to get a couple of new tyres for my car today, what with Easter coming up and the ensuing police blitz. I'd gotten enough usage out of them. Luckily in WA we are allowed a minimum of 1.5 mm of tread whereas your tyres are considered to be bald with 3 mm of tread in the rest of the country.

Had to do this on my lunch break and it took a lot longer to find the KMart Tyre and & Auto than it should have, thanks to Perth's planners. I knew it was 380-something on Scarborough Beach Rd in Innaloo. In Osborne Park I decided to look at the street numbers just to make sure that I didn't overshoot. The first number I saw was 424 so, "I must be getting close," I thought to myself. Next was 460-odd. Whoops, better turn around.

At 386 was a Beaurepaires store. It was about the right number and on the right street but not the right company. I asked if there had been a KMart Tyre and Auto store here and the guy explained that Scarborough Beach Road had the numbers starting in three different suburbs. So there could be a 386 in Osborne Park, one in Scarborough and another in Innaloo. How bloody dumb!

When I finally came across the correct shop it was a pig to get to on top of the car park above the shopping centre. And just as you think you have made it there is a no entry sign and you have to drive around the top to reach the entrance.

What a rigmarole. Street numbers of 1-1000 would be appreciated. Get your act together people who call yourselves planners.

Happy Birthday To Me

I've turned 34. Time to get on with life.

Went a bit cheap on the candles for the cake.

Golf was interesting yesterday. Played with Shayne, Mark and Kirin - a Canadian. I mentioned that John Wilson posted he was going to play golf on the weekend in Canada and it was going to set him back C$49, which was about half price, and he considered that to be cheap. Kirin, whose name had nothing to do with being conceived in a Japanese brewery, said that he had been a member of his club back home, about two hours drive north of Toronto, since he was five. And it wasn't unusual to pay C$200 for a game and $25 was unheard of, even on the worst courses. Mark had just become a member of Royal Perth. Only the most exclusive club in Perth. And probably the most expensive too.

I didn't even reach the ladies' tee off the first. Knocked the second shot onto the fairway, third into the trees and my fourth from about 110m was sitting in pine needles and I had a very small gap between some big trees to get through. Managed to get it out quite well.

Mark hit his drive 280m straight down the middle. Ominous start. Kirin got out of tree trouble very well. Shayne hit a lovely drive and a nice second shot. I had a dig at Mark and Kirin asking them if they, "Had not made the cut at The Masters and so had come to join us" as there was one ball only one foot from the hole and another about eight feet away. I received a bit of a shock to find my ball was the one only a foot from the hole. Mark missed his putt for birdie.

I started bogey, bogey and Mark started missed birdie, missed birdie. It was quite special watching Mark drive off the tee. By hell he can hit a ball. On the par-4 9th, which was playing about 25m shorter than its 342m, Mark drove the green. Unbelievable. His 15m putt ended only a couple of feet away and he birdied the hole. Bit hard to believe that his handicap was 12.

Kirin seemed to know his game well but was struggling. I did ask him what he normally played off (handicap) back home and his reply was, "I'm not playing well today." He managed to hit or go into the trees on every hole and really wasn't having a good day. That was evidenced by the fact his handicap is four and he shot a 51 - with only 14 putts. No wonder he called it quits after nine to go and play poker at the Casino. Mark quit after nine holes as well.

I was thinking during my round that if the French had invented golf it would be two sets of 10 holes. Just to extend the misery or to keep the decimal system going.

Shayne and I probably relaxed a bit more on the back nine but both started off with a nine. Shayne followed that up with a 10 after taking three shots to get out of a bunker in front of the green. Kirin had given me two Callaway balls that he didn't want. I played a couple of provisional shots with my ball, I gave one to Shayne, and they were wayward to nowhere-near-on-target. Shayne didn't have much more luck either. Perhaps it was poor golf from the two of us but there's no way I'll be buying a Callaway golf ball. Even if Phil Mickelson did win at Augusta with one.

On the 13th Shayne realised that I hadn't had a par up until that stage. I rectified that situation on that very hole. When we walked to the 17th tee he realised that he hadn't had a par yet. And he scored his par on that hole. I said, "And you'll score a 12 on the last but won't give a bugger as you have your par."

Guess what he scored on the 18th - yep, a 12. I shot a 10 though after four-putting on the last. Apart from the 10, two nines and an eight I thought that I played quite well. I would have been happy with that score and playing reasonably on the really bad holes.

Collier Park Scorecard April 9th 2006.

The AFL Knows About Football...

But the Website needs a bit of a revamp. The game between the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne had my interest and not only because I have $110 at work counting on a Bulldogs victory. They were 13 points down at half time but up by 26 points during the third quarter by the stage we had to go to taekwondo. It looked like they had the game in the bag.

After returning from taekwondo I logged onto the Website to see the scoreline. The Bulldogs won but take a look at the scoreline on the AFL's Website and then have a gander at the match report from a sport Website - Sportal.com.au

Unbelievable Western Bulldogs Scoreline.

More Believable Western Bulldogs Scoreline.

The AFL obviously stuffed up with their Content Management program as the scoreline was repeated on the main page.

The Main Page Scoreline Is Incorrect Too.

The editor hasn't really earnt his money before publishing the Web page. If my memory serves me correctly that would be the highest individual team score, highest losing team score, highest aggregate score and the most goals and behinds registered in a VFL/AFL match. Just wonder how long it will be before the mistake is noticed and corrected.

The AFL's Website is very popular and this can be attested to by the fact there are some 107000 tippers already this year (after round one) and there was a total of about 75000 at the end of last season. I'm in the top 3.25% after round one. It's all downhill from here.

Get this. I'm also in the Essendon Football Club footy tipping competition and used the same tips as for the AFL. Currently I'm about 1600 out of just over 6000 tippers. Does this mean that Bombers' tippers are so much better than the majority of other tippers?

P.S. I've just checked the AFL's site again and they have the score as 0.0 (0) vs 0.0 (0). Ah, don't you just love technology?

Bit More Sting From The Cobras

But still not quite enough. Effectively we lost by one point. The competition, The Beavers, won the first set and we won the second set. Yeah, I'm talking volleyball again. The third set was close and when the time ran out the scoreline was 22-20. You must get to 15 points with a margin of two to win the set. Bummer.

It would have been a bit of a hollow victory if we had managed it because we used two quite handy fill-ins. We played a bit better than last week though.

Just A Quick One

Daylight savings must be torturous for vampires.

Go back to your lives people.