Wednesday night was the blogger meetup – quieter than usual, in more ways than one. But at least in a quiet venue I could (mostly) hear what others were saying. A few drinks and a small but friendly crowd, which came to a slightly abrupt end when the bar closed. Normally I switch off my ... [More]
This picture taken Wednesday morning, when it was even colder, and the ice much more obvious. I didn’t fully appreciate how cold it was overnight until I got into the car this morning and noticed a strange pattern on the windscreen. "Ooh, interesting pattern", I remarked to the kids, before in my innocence I turned ... [More]
I must have looked out of place. I must have looked like a tourist, looking around with too much curiosity. Yesterday afternoon I was in Springvale, a long way from my usual neighbourhood. I was approaching the bus stop for Nunawading, walking slowly towards it, looking up at the funky (and not quite working) electronic ... [More]
When I moved house, I took the opportunity to up my level of anonymity just a notch or two to match some mild paranoia. This was to tackle two main problems: telemarketers love me. Because I have a telephone. Conversely however, I’m not so keen on them. While some of them have been put off ... [More]
Well I think I’ve got my new neighbour at work housetrained. Now when he makes a speakerphone call, he closes his office door beforehand. And everybody’s happy. The guy who is in Mr Speakerphone’s former office seems very quiet. No booming laugh, no loud meetings with the door open, and no speakerphone calls. He does, ... [More]
"Number 61! Number 61!" The girl paused, looking around. "Number 61!" Number 61 was AWOL. "Number 62!" Number 62 stepped forward. I looked down at my ticket again, to check the number. Number 64. A bloke came forward. He didn’t take a ticket from the dispenser, but went right up to the deli counter, well ... [More]
Instant movie review: Shaolin Soccer. On the way to meet the others for the movie, I was waiting to cross Lonsdale Street when a bloke behind me spoke into his phone. "Yeah I’m almost at Village. I’m just walking down Little Bourke now." I felt like shouting LIAR! into his phone. I mean really. I ... [More]
The semi-traditional weekend update. On Friday night I bought some shoes. This is something of an achievement, as I am majorly crap at buying shoes. I’m better at buying clothes than I was, but the shoe-buying skill still eludes me somewhat. It had to happen though – my usual work shoes, having put up for ... [More]
Click. Beeeeeeeeep. Someone pushes the door open and we pour out of the train, onto the platform and start towards the exit, a narrow gap between a ticket validator and the wall. Stop! A lady is entering the platform to get on the train. She passes and the throng continues on, somehow orderly squeezing ourselves ... [More]
I’m trying to organise a housewarming. At this rate, the house will already be warm by the time it happens, but what the hell. However, it presents a number of quandaries. Can I manage to invite the right mix of friends who are social enough that they can keep conversations rolling along through the night? ... [More]
Mr Speakerphone departs tomorrow. Part of the big re-org that’s happening has meant the company no longer require his services. As you might recall, his services (at least as far as I can see) involve mostly leaving his office door open while he shouts into a speakerphone. This has been curtailed recently. Since he’s known ... [More]
Decorative poles, Carnegie On Saturday I cooked up some rather delicious chicken tikka masala, and watched the Fellowship of the Rings DVD. Now this is a movie for which it is definitely worth fiddling to get the TV and DVD player into 16:9 mode. I haven’t seen it properly since in the cinema in ... [More]