Just occasionally I feel like researching something to the Nth degree, gathering some stats, working it all out. Sometimes it’s useful; sometimes it’s really not. This probably falls into the latter camp. Some may recall one day in December 2005 when I got 28 pieces of junk mail in my mailbox on a single day. ... [More]
Happy New Year! The last one seems to have gone pretty quickly. Must be because I’ve been so busy. Some followups from 2006: After driving a Prius a few weeks ago, I note Bill Shorten in The Age called for the car companies locally to work on hybrid cars. At the start of the Christmas ... [More]
Just before Christmas I got to meet some of my relatives for the first time in quite a while. My aunt(-in-law) Gem and my cousin Justin were in town for a few days. Hadn’t seen Justin in almost 20 years… both of us were much younger than at present, and while I barely remember it ... [More]
Christmas was the usual combination of family, presents, and too much food. After a day or two of recovery, we headed off for the Melbourne Aquarium yesterday. So did half the city, apparently. It was crowded — perhaps too crowded to be really enjoyable, in fact. But it was spectacular, particularly the “Fish Bowl” and ... [More]
OK, I admit it, I’m getting a little stressed about Christmas. After a good start, the shopping has all fallen in a heap over the last few weeks. I’ve still got numerous things to buy, both known and unknown. The way it’s looking, this Christmas it won’t quite be gift vouchers at twenty paces, but ... [More]
To the readers of my blog, a Merry Christmas to you all! (Moved off the front page so people don’t get the singing when they don’t want it!)
On Monday… Deposited my tax return, which was twice as much as I expected. Work gave me a big basket of Christmas goodies. (Nice change from the Gold Class cinema tickets I never get around to using until the last month before expiry). A new food court is opening in my building. They came through ... [More]
In Christmassy terms, I had a very successful couple of days — on Friday I managed to get my Christmas cards (and annual letter) to UK relatives into the mail. I’ve gradually reduced the number of cards I send every year as more people get email. I’ll do some kind of email card in the ... [More]
As you may have spotted, I’m not much of a fan of cars. Oh sure, modern western society relies on them, but far too much. But even in my version of suburban utopia, they’d be there by neccessity for some people and some trips. So given they’ll always be around, it makes sense for them ... [More]
Two great blog posts I’ve read recently: If you’ve ever worked in a service industry, and been on the receiving end of someone’s arseholedness, have a read of this — Nice consumer takes-on Nasty. I don’t recall ever encountering people of the moronic calibre when I was working in a shop. Either I was lucky, ... [More]
Star “Sarcasmo” Foster has passed away, aged 33. (via Ren) I have to admit I didn’t regularly read her blog, but it’s always sad to hear a peer (of sorts; however distant) is no more, especially at such a young age. PS. Andy’s pulled together a list of posts on this sad event. Tue 31 ... [More]
I’m not going to name names, but it seems this needs spelling out. Ladies, DO NOT pull a gentleman’s tie. It’s not funny. It’s just annoying. A tie is a highly-tuned precision garment. Sometimes it’s a great deal of effort to get it looking just right. Sometimes it’s even a great deal of effort to ... [More]
It’s bin night. Someone finally noticed “their” recycle bin didn’t have their street number on it, and have returned it to my driveway. It’s got some of their recycling in it, but otherwise it’s pristine. And thus my inaction (I didn’t get around to ringing the council yet to replace my stolen bin) is rewarded.
Yesterday it got to 42.1°C (that’s 108°F for those of you in the countries still using that retro measurement), before a refreshing cool change virtually halved the temperature. I was pleasantly surprised at how cool it was inside, given my house is weatherboard and has no airconditioning. At its hottest, the thermostat reported 30°C, and ... [More]
It may be the Christmas party season, but I’ve managed to miss two in the last couple of days. One on Friday night that I was just too tired to contemplate attending (sorry Tony and Anna). And another on Saturday, but a bout of Bowen Belly struck me down for the night. Not nice. (Sorry ... [More]
Smoke has descended on Melbourne, from the bushfires elsewhere in the state. Down in the shopping centre this morning, the haze over the street was noticeable. Marita commented on how bad it was. “Yeah”, I replied. “It’s like a mix of smoke and fog… they really should have a word for that.” Later I had ... [More]