I pick up catch-phrases from various places. One is “Shimasu!”, which I use as a kind of Japanese expletive, when struggling to wake up in the morning, or when exerting myself in some extraordinary way. shimasu.mp3 (MP3 format; 2 seconds; 9Kb) Said the right way, it sounds like something they might have said on one ... [More]
It’s great having a phone with a half-decent camera. It’s nowhere near as good as my “real” camera, but because I almost always have the phone with me, I can snap photos anywhere, almost no matter what I’m doing: And because a phone doesn’t look like a camera, even dogs of a nervous disposition, such ... [More]
Dishwashers: On the subject of water (I think Andrew or somebody mentioned this a while ago) in last Sunday’s Age M magaziney thing, there was an article noting that dishwashers generally use less water than handwashing. Dishwashers are in the 13 to 20 litre per cycle range, whereas handwashing is up around 40 to 60. ... [More]
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The magnet
A fridge magnet arrived in the mail. They’re always useful for sticking things to the fridge, and this one includes emergency numbers, which if could be potentially useful if there was ever an emergency in the house and I happened to be near the fridge and in the heat of the moment had forgotten that ... [More]
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Winter and water
Winter has arrived. The heating’s back in use, and I’ve started wearing jackets to work again, after some time of managing to avoid it. (Normally if the forecast high is at 20 degrees or higher, it’s not worth taking a jacket, since I only end up sweating on the walk from the station, and at ... [More]
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Follow-up comments
I get some terrific comments on this blog. Quite a few of them, too. The database reckons over 6000, though I think there might be some suspected spams in there. Then again, there are some old comments from 2003 that haven’t been imported into WordPress yet. Here’s some followups on some recent comments, and on ... [More]
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On the box
I don’t normally watch much TV, but I’ve got a few things earmarked for the coming weeks. Tony has reminded me: Life On Mars starts this Sunday night on ABC. Everything I’ve heard says it’s good. Series 3 of Doctor Who is hotly rumoured to be coming on Saturday nights at 7:30pm again, starting in ... [More]
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On the road
You don’t have to be a 4WD owner to drive like a moron. Even Prius owners do it sometimes. The other contender this week was red Mercedes TLH 385, zooming down Jasper Road with at least one indicator and brake light not working, tail-gating and generally driving like a maniac on Wednesday night. Also seen ... [More]
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Hello AGL
Hello to my readers at AGL. I know they’re reading because earlier this evening someone from their customer advocacy team rang me up, saying AGL management had found the whole name change saga (Googling “AGL”, apparently) and passed it to him. He explained what had happened (old data used by a mail house). I understand, ... [More]
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No more recycled tissues?
A couple of years ago I noted that supplies of recycled (facial) tissues were getting more scarce. But I was able to keep buying the Safe brand at Coles in Caulfield until just recently, when they stopped stocking them. Or maybe they stopped receiving them some time ago, and they’ve finally run out. Recycled toilet ... [More]
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All hands on deck
I can’t say I’m going to go quit my job (not even for six months), but it does remind me of why I do the extra-curricular stuff I do, and why I’m always on the lookout to learn new things and try and make a difference.
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I am not a morning person
Yes, I had a heads-up about the story on the front page of yesterday’s Age. Yes, I went to bed early(ish) and woke up early, ready as I could be for the onslaught. No, it was not an audio problem on 3AW — I was half asleep at 6:25am when I spoke to them. “Government” ... [More]
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Mother’s Day moving
Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and I headed over to my mum’s place with a card in hand. From what I can see, about 80% of the Mother’s Day cards out there are the excessively soppy ones that I’m not that keen on, and that she wouldn’t appreciate. That generally leaves just a few semi-jokey (and ... [More]
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Grade 6
Isaac has reached grade 6, top of the heap at primary school. The grade 6ers get to wear special shirts and jumpers, and get School Leader status for a term. In my year of grade 6 at Ripponlea PS in 1982, I was flag monitor, with my friend Mark. On the first day, we initially ... [More]
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Emergency undies
Does everybody have a pair of emergency underpants? You know, the undies that are not actually unwearable, but are far from preferable? Not actually falling apart, but maybe the elastic’s stretched just a teensy bit too far, or they were a new brand you purchased that didn’t turn out to be as comfortable as your ... [More]
Ties are essentially useless. Purely decorative. I bought one yesterday. Nice. What I can’t quite come to terms with is men who wear bow ties for everyday business-wear. It just looks wrong. It’s like they’re trying to scream “I’m whimsical!!” (Awaiting comments from all my bow tie-wearing readers…)