Despite having a silent number, and fiercely protecting it, I do get the odd telemarketing call. They are almost all from offshore call centres, and almost all during business hours, when I’m not generally home. Call centre dialling systems are meant to detect when an answering machine picks up. But evidently their systems think my ... [More]
You know those sandwich board advertising things? A-frames, I’m told they’re called. The IGA in Ripponlea has recently got one. It’s as big as a person. On the bright side, it’s unlikely to blow over in the wind. Though if it did, it’d probably kill somebody. Update: Speaking of advertising, I just added Google ads ... [More]
If there’s one thing you want to be working in your house, it’s the drains. At their worst, if there’s a complete blockage, you’ll end up with nasty smells and even nastier effluent in the house. Thankfully things weren’t that bad, but there was that suspicious level of water in the toilets, and some stuff ... [More]
Marita and I were walking along the Centre Road shops on Saturday when we saw a passport on the ground. We picked it up. From the cover, photo, and identifying marks inside, it appeared to belong to an Australian-Canadian boy of Asian (perhaps Chinese) appearance. Looking around, we couldn’t see him. A couple of bystanders ... [More]
When I last went to the dentist, they said I had a touch of gingivitis, and suggested mouthwashing for a couple of weeks. It’s obviously pretty powerful stuff, because apart from any cleaning it’s doing, it makes my teeth look horrible, in a way that mere toothpaste can’t fix. My teeth now resemble those of ... [More]
I didn’t watch much of Live Earth, but it has inspired me to sign up to the pledge. Or at least, my variation of the pledge. 1. I will continue to reduce my carbon emissions, both by switching to more efficient appliances and equipment where practical, and by reducing my use of them. 2. At ... [More]
Four media stories published yesterday, not placed together, but maybe I’m not the only one to see the link. State government wants 2.2 billion dollars from the Feds to widen the Western Ring Road. People keep buying cars, despite high oil prices. With governments (particularly the Feds) pouring billions into roads and spending a fraction ... [More]
Ten points to the first person to guess what these are.
Is housing really unaffordable? Sure it’s increasingly expensive in the inner/fashionable suburbs (I should know, I’m paying for it), but that’s all about choice. More and more people are choosing particular suburbs, driving the prices up. From yesterday’s Age: “While the family, now based in St Kilda East, could afford to buy a home further ... [More]
After a year and a half of living here, I finally bought a ladder. It’s probably something I should have done as soon as I moved in, given without it I can’t re-light the heating pilot light, or get tennis balls off the roof, or clean the gutters. I also plan to use it to ... [More]
I’m relatively used to seeing my name in the newspaper, but most of the time I know it’s coming (like this morning) and I know it’s going to be in a particular context. So when my Google News RSS Feed (surely a sign of a healthy ego) showed up Virginia Haussegger’s article yesterday, I looked ... [More]
“DANIEL Bowen you are so dumped. We are like so over. I’m not even going to send you a text or an email. You can just work it out for yourself. You’re finished.” — Virginia Haussegger in The Canberra Times. No, really. Go read it. My thoughts later. My thoughts here.
The memorial service for the victims of the Kerang disaster was this afternoon. One can only hope that it provided some solace to their friends and family. Life for the rest of us goes on. It’s been interesting to read the thoughts of some of those close to the scene. Katrina, a Kerang local writes ... [More]
After signing up weeks ago, my box of green goodies from Origin Energy finally arrived. That is, a card from the post office arrived, and I went down to collect it on Tuesday. As the lady dug around behind the counter to find it, I looked across. There must have been 7 or 8 Origin ... [More]
So, John Laws is retiring. I liked Matthew Ricketson’s report, which talked about “a conga line of” praising politicians — surely referencing Mark Latham’s “conga line of suckholes”. Lawsy might air on 71 radio stations around the country, but that doesn’t include any in Melbourne. I’d like to think we’re a bit more cynical (particularly ... [More]
Recycled tissues are back in the mainstream supermarkets, if my local is any judge. Naturale 100% recycled. I’ll stock up. Sadly the Continental brand chicken sauce I (and the kids) like seems to have vanished completely. It seems to have morphed from two jars into one, and adopted the dodgy-sounding brand name Indian Tonight. Last ... [More]