Le portrait de Max

Max is my father's Fox Terrier. She's been around a while, as you can tell from the photo. She's getting on a little. While she's mellowing in some ways in her old age, you still don't leave her alone around small children, lizards or birds. Unless you want them eliminated.

Happy, crabby, jealous, intrigued, lazy, active, snappy, licky, and instinctive.

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It's not like nothing happened...

Sheesh! 6 weeks and I've not written anything? What's going wrong?

It's not like nothing happened...

The Boy, Little Miss and #3 are busy, busy...Good Lady Wife is real busy...I'm real busy despite a downturn in work...

It's all a bit of a headspin really. Still, I shouldn't be surprised, it happens every year about this time. Then we hit winter, and it slows down a bit.

Fingers crossed.

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The hamstring destroying weekend of fun

This fine, feathered monday morning finds me in a little trouble at the old desk here.

You see, I offered up my services at The Boy's school on saturday for some yard work, which involved a lot of weeding of gardens followed by wheelbarrow loads of mulch spread by hand. Naturally, this involved a lot of squatting, bending, and general leg work. Not something I do a lot of, but it was good to lend a hand and get outside for a few hours of manual labour.

I felt the legs tightening that evening, but nothing too bad.

Sunday I got up early for my weekly bike ride, with just myself and one other regular attending. Whilst not setting a cracking pace like the week before, we still steamed out on the flats, definitely working the legs over. I got home and felt good, the warm up and down doing the legs good.

But now, monday, let me just say this: uuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh

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Now we can move on, yes?

Heath Ledger won his Oscar. Kate Winslet won hers.

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Black Saturday 2009

By now the world knows about the bushfires that ripped Victoria's middle to pieces last weekend. The death toll is rising rapidly now that the fire has passed and teams are able to access townships and homes destroyed.

An opinion piece has been posted in The Age by a former fire-based magazine editor. He makes several valid points, although perhaps some people wont want to read to them right now. Points raised could have saved many lives.

I have never been close a large bushfire. I have seen what the end result is though, and through the internet I think a whole lot more people are seeing the destruction caused. Although Saturday was such a unique set of circumstances, as the author points out, they were no worse than previous fires that resulted in significantly less lives lost. Granted, people dont want someone to tell them to evacuate their home if they cant see a threat, but Saturday's fire turned and swallowed several towns that could have been emptied hours earlier.

The one point that I would distinctly agree with, no question, is the mandatory bushfire shelter or fire proof structure in fire-prone areas. There exist building standards for fire-prone areas now, and an expansion would be simple. More cost to the home-builder? Certainly.

But what's your life worth?

I sincerely hope you haven't lost any friends or family in these fires.

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Sir David Attenborough gets hate mail...

And these select Christians think of themselves as forgiving and understanding?

Link.

I pity them. I really do. Perhaps its an unfortunate case of 'all tarred with the same brush', but you cant be a creationist and not a Christian. Although, you can be a Christian without being a creationist. Try it sometime.

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Your month by the stars - February

Aquarius - January 21 - February 19

A bout of Dengue Fever will halt your marathon pie-eating attempt, but don’t take it to heart. The support base of family and friends will still be in town after their hospital visit. You should anticipate a month-long recovery and simply try again.

Lucky letter: G


Pisces - February 20- March 20

Flying at such high altitudes is just asking for trouble. You deserve what’s coming. Listen for the phrase “Watch your six…”, then panic.

Lucky letter: C


Aries - March 21 - April 20

Your month holds promise as the total stranger you saw on the news as “the only person ever to return from an event horizon” (not the movie) awakes from a coma speaking your name.

Lucky letter: S


Taurus - April 21 - May 21

That business prospect in central Europe that you are intent on seeing should remain at a good distance for another few weeks. Just until this whole "global economic crisis” thing blows over. It’s remarkable how the human brain can adapt to tough situations and still see a sucker coming a mile off.

Lucky letter: W


Gemini - May 22 - June 21

Your neighbours are always fighting, their dog keeps coming into your yard and defecating on your lawn, and now their step-son is hooking up with your foster daughter. It can get worse though. Keep the baseball bat handy at night.

Lucky letter: B


Cancer - June 22 - July 22

There’s a Tom Jones lookalike contest on the 25th at your local entertainment venue of choice. You should enter, cause I just got a good feelin’ about this one.

Lucky letter: P


Leo - July 23 -August 21

Human Botfly larva. Google it before your upcoming trip. Take tweezers.

Lucky letter: F


Virgo - August 22 - September 23

Graphic design was always your strong point. Staying off the drink was not. Your strategy, however, will pay off handsomely when you forget about the meeting you had scheduled, and in a hung-over state, give the board of Shell the 1970 version of their own logo in the hope they forgot what it looked like.

Lucky letter: H


Libra - September 24 - October 23

Mark the 2028 Olympics down now for the debut of your as yet unborn child in the sport she will pioneer. Oh, and a boyfriend is in your near future, too.

Lucky letter: Z


Scorpio - October 24 - November 22

An old friend will re-enter your life, and your bank accounts while you are drugged and face down on your bed. You can scarcely imagine what else he will enter while you’re out. Take precautions and be very wary.

Lucky letter: L


Sagittarius - November 23 - December 22

Scandinavia used to be so friendly and open. What happened?

Lucky letter: Q


Capricorn - December 23 - January 20

New Zealand Customs officials will question the birth date on your passport as you try to get out of the country following your visit to their highly renowned plastic surgeon. They don’t take too kindly to 10-year old boys flying on their own. Rethink your level of surgery, particularly if you are a 52-year old woman.

Lucky letter: Y

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Sydney's NYE Celebrations

The City of Sydney have announced that the theme for this year's New Year's Eve celebrations is Creation.

In a note to other groups, the City said:

Weightlifters - the theme is not Creatine. Don't break out the plastic spoons and milkshakes just yet
Christians - the theme is not Creationism. Do not expect Dinosaurs to magically appear from some unseen force only to vanish equally as fast, nor should you expect anyone to believe your story.
Darwinists - the theme is not opposed to you specifically. We're not all that stupid.
Literary persons - we are not having a live reading Gore Vidal's novel, Creation.
Iodine deficients - the theme is not Cretinism. Don't feel victimised.

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Kermit the...blerrrrghhhh!

"I feel kinda crook....oh no...blerrrggghhhhhhh..."

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Song of the Week

Yeah, yeah...very lax...

But this is a great Australian song.

Oh no, not you again
Australian Crawl



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Sometimes I miss these

Sydney Buses.

Strangely enough, yeah. Public transport is OK sometimes. Gives you a chance to read those novels you want to get into, newspapers, magazines, advertising material, etc. And when you live on the bus route I do, they always start and finish looking like this. No worries about standing about swaying and lurching for an hour as you bump into other commuters.

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Singapore, Day Thirty-One

Yeah, yeah...this is late. Very late. But what can you do?

Singapore, Day Thirty-One, stopping off on the way home. We had a lot of chop coming out of Heathrow, the worst I've flown in by far. When you drop what feels like 6 feet in an instant, you're grateful for seatbelts. 12+ hours later, we landed in Singapore at 1pm monday. I didn't sleep on the plane, more a light doze. Of course, being 6'2" and having a seat in your knees rarely helps. I'm just thankful it wasn't 20 hours straight through.

Got to the hotel and thought about sleeping early, but pushed on. Funnily enough I enjoyed the steam and the afternoon rain, and sparked up enough to get out and get some Indian at local food court (for want of a better term). I went down the next morning and got measured up to have a suit made, and found a cheaper internet place than the first time to send emails home. Up at 6am the day after for the run home to Sydney. Landed at 7pm or so, and got out quickly through customs and quarantine. I never had a delay getting through another airport out of all the ones we went in or out of (Singapore, Frankfurt, Munich, Cork, Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Heathrow), just Sydney. Makes you wonder about US airports.

Cab home to the Good Lady Wife, with the Offshoots already tucked up in bed. Presents the next morning, before The Boy and Little Lady went to daycare.

I'll fill in the rest of the trip soon. Honest.

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Singapore, Day One

Well...got to Sinkers without trouble. On time leaving Sydney, bit bumpy the first half hour, so much so they suspended the meal service! The flight smoothed out quickly though. The back seats were quite good actually, and walking room was OK. Watched Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda, read half of the book I'd bought, and stared out the windows a bit.

We landed in a misty Singapore at 5:45PM local time. By 7:20pm we were at the hotel, and went looking for a feed. Found a cheap and cheery place up the road and got spruiked inside by an amiable lady.

Came downstairs to find internet, found it (obviously), and sent messages via email to home and The Brother Man. His bag turned up!

Going to try Sentosa tomorrow, and keep an eye out for gifts we'll get on the way back through. Maybe try the big wheel they've got. It's 10:20pm here, so 20 past midnight Sydney time...

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GraphJam

I've been looking about on GraphJam of late, laughing at the endless pop culture references and such that can be turned into official looking graphs.

Here's are a few of my own.

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The Pope and The Dope

First to The Pope...

We've just come out of a thing called World Youth Day here in Sydney. World Youth Week is probably a more correct moniker though, as it did seem to extend for more than a simple Day.

From dozens of youths gathered at bus stops about my area, climbing onto buses with scraps of paper with billet addresses on them, to the posters on every church, school and spare skerrick of advertising space, World Youth Day has been going for months really. The Pope came in on Thursday, staying at a nice little Opus Dei centre, before partaking of his duties and celebrations.

Road closures started on the Saturday night for the Sunday mass at Randwick Racecourse, something the punters and horse-folk alike had been lamenting, fighting, and ultimately compensated for. Out of Government coffers, of course. You can’t expect the Catholic Church to pay for putting other people out. The Pope said mass for the masses, and this morning was leaving the country bound for...some other place.

This morning the deputy Premier was stating on the radio that the whole thing was a 'huge success', as the images of Sydney would have gained worldwide exposure amongst the Catholic world. The airport is expecting a very busy day as thousands of pilgrims fly out, not bothering to look around at the city and its environs after coming for mass. I fail to see how it’s boosted our image. I'm sorry, but if you didn’t know where Sydney was, or seen any images of it prior to coming for WYD, then you aren’t likely to come for any other reason.

I wonder how much of a windfall WYD has been for the state? The Church asks the state to shut a racecourse for them, compensate the people put out by the event, had roads closed and traffic diverted, and no doubt put one heck of a bulge in the infrastructure.

If you're one of the richest organisations in the world, can't you be expected to pay for the cost of mounting some of the event?

The splinter groups and outsiders wanted a say, and it seems the church is a veritable goldmine for controversy. The 'annoying pilgrims' law that was passed created a fair hoo-ha, but doesn’t seem to have been used, except maybe a few odd times. The pictures on the news of three people dressed as giant condoms handing out condoms in a churchyard was a little overt. And the sexual abuse groups demanded the Pope's personal apology for the previous sins of the church-appointed priests. You can’t be responsible for everyone in your organisation, and there comes a time when you've just got to distance yourself from some people. You can apologise, but you wont undo what others have wrought. If your faith is that strong, then be assured that the abuser is bound for downstairs, and your own selves, by forgiveness, are going to the man up top with all haste.

And now for The Dope...

The Tour de France is on again, and entering week two we've already had four or five guys busted for EPO in various states. One team has withdrawn because of it, after winning three stages in their colours. Another is down to 4 riders through doping and injury.

But, that said, its still exciting to watch the guys you believe are clean. An Australian, Cadel Evans, leading for a handful of days. Another Australian, Simon Gerrans, winning a stage overnight. A Manxman winning 4 stages in one edition through a thunderous turn of pace. Frenchmen, Italians, Australians, Spaniards and Belgians all out front, showing the international flavour the race enjoys.

A loose crank arm derailed my own Tour de Parkway on Sunday afternoon. It makes me wonder how much these guys train, and the array of doctors and legal drug assistance that the riders have to make the 21-stage race in the times they do. Sure, anyone can ride for 6 hours, even through some discomfort, but to do it at the speeds they do, and for 21 days out of 23 is an amazing feat.

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Song of the Week

Been a while...

We Care A Lot
Faith No More

We care a lot
about disasters, fires, floods and killer bees
about the NASA shuttle falling in the sea
about starvation and the food that Live Aid bought
about disease, baby Rock, Hudson, rock, yeah!

Oh, its a dirty job but someones gotta do it
Oh, its a dirty job but someones gotta do it

We care a lot
about the gamblers and the pushers and the geeks
about the smack and crack and whack that hits the street
about the welfare of all the boys and girls
about you people cause we're out to save the world

Yeah!

Oh, its a dirty job but someones gotta do it
Said, its a dirty job but someones gotta do it

We care a lot
about the army, navy, air force and marines
about the NY, SF and LAPD
We care a lot
about you people
We care a lot
about your guns
We care a lot
about the wars you're fighting gee that looks like fun

We care a lot
about the Garbage Pail Kids, they never lie
about Transformers cause there's more than meets the eye
about the little things, the bigger things we top
about you people yeah you bet we care a lot

Yeah!

Said its a dirty job but someones gotta do it
Oh, its a dirty job but someones gotta do it
Said its a dirty job but someones gotta do it
Oh, its a dirty job but someones gotta do it

Oh, its a dirty job but someones gotta do it
Oh, its a dirty job but someones gotta do it

Oh, its a dirty song but someons gotta sing it now


Catch the live performance from the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney from 21 October, 1997. How can I be sure? I was there.

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I had a good weekend

I did. Really.

I didnt know I was going to, but it turned out to be a good one.

Saturday morning we take Little Lady and The Boy to swimming lessons. I get in with LL, The Boy goes off with the swimming instructor and learns while the Good Lady Wife and Offshoot #3 watch on from the sidelines (does a pool have sidelines?) We got home and had a brief play on the jumping castle we borrowed from friends. Once that excitement wore off, it was about lunchtime, then the sandpit was open for business.

The sandpit work continued unabated while I did a couple of running repairs to a bike. Naturally, Little Lady got curious, and knocked it over, but not onto herself. So, a fresh little scratch on the brake lever (courtesy the ground) and a nodding head as I said "please dont touch" was all that resulted. By this time Offshoot #3 was not doing what her programming was telling her, and I bundled her into the stroller for a walk of epic proportions. For me, anyway. I havent walked so far for ages.

Surprising even myself. I had a destination and a task, and it was half an hour before I was there. That done, I thought we may as well walk further afield. By the time we pulled up to watch the rugby at the end of the street we'd been gone an hour and a half. Constantly walking, aside from 5 minutes at the bike shop. I guess its good conditioning for my overseas trip. #3 decided to wake up from being still for more than 0.3 of a second, so after 5 minutes of watching the rugby, we left. The other two didnt get up till after we got home, so #3 went for a feed while we performed the 5pm Ritual.

The 5pm Ritual consists of The Boy asking "Is it 5 o'clock yet? Can I watch a movie?" If so, yes. If not, he waits, begrudgingly.

Dinner, shower, bed for the Offshoots. Watched the Wallabies beat the French in the rugby that night. Saturday: gone.

Sunday was an early start for a bike ride, my first time out for a few weeks. Oddly enough we had the full complement of four riders for our run, which is a rarity in the cold weather, and since #3 came into the world. I stuck it out with the quicker two for much of the run, falling off towards the end in both directions. Aside from a mishap with a ground peg and four coffees by one of the others, a nice ride and a pleasant enough morning once the sun got serious about 7:30. Starting from the beach at 6:30am in winter is rather cool.

The Boy and I went to see Kung Fu Panda after that. Tai Lung scared him a little, but he got past that, and enjoyed the film. As did I. It was awesome to hear Jackie Chan's voice in it. We picked up a couple of things at the shopping centre and went home to find a quiet house. The Boy reluctantly had a sleep, while #3 decided to do a Saturday and not sleep. It worked yesterday, why shouldnt it work today? For a half hour it did, and we walked down to the supermarket to get milk and bread.

#3 started the vocals in the line at the checkout, and continued till we got home, thirty minutes later. I'm sure I got a few sympathetic looks as I passed people on the way home. A feed helped, as it generally does, and #3 drifted out till quite late that night.

Dinner out with the Offshoots, Good Lady plus 4 of the in-laws was nice, even if Little Miss Contrary did act up a bit.

Home, Offshoots in bed, Good Lady in bed with #3 out of it. Sunday: gone.

I had a good weekend.

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STUFF! (that looks like other stuff*): Part 4

With great delight I present Part 4 of...

STUFF!(that looks like other stuff)*

You know it's one of those mornings when your coffee growls at you.

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*A shamelessly stolen idea, thanks Ben.

Those wacky Japanese!

The Boy got a box of biscuits from his great-Aunt when she came back from holiday in Japan recently.

I just had to share.

If the front wasn't enough, the side spreads the love even further.

And I'm just not sure about what's going on with this character.

In honour of the box I call them Super Happy Pants Biscuits.

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Countdown!