Mon, 25 Sep 2006
There was a really strange letter in the mail today. It was a piece of addressed junk mail that I was originally going to throw out, but something about it caught my eye.
"While dining in lovely surroundings, we will inform you about current trends and new scientific research into the subject of healthy sleep - completely obligation free."
So, it's from some mattress manufacturer. I have no idea where this came from, or why I'm on their mailing list. But there's a free dinner in it, in exchange for a hard sell. But, Kathleen has a bit of trouble with her neck and back because of the way she sleeps, so maybe it's worth going along to have a look.
However. Googling "wenatex" brings up this blog post as the third link. The exact same thing happened to this other bloke in Sydney. Turns out, they got his information from the Electoral Roll. Thanks, Australian government, for selling personal information to marketers.
What's funny about his experience are the comments on his page, where people associated with the company post comments trying to make it seem like it's not a hard sell, and that it's merely a friendly and relaxed seminar (with no obligations!):
I did attend a wenatex dinner and I was impressed.They supply a really nice dinner and have a profesional set up and if you dont want to buy there sleep system you dont have to so do yourself a favour if you have some free time and go get a free meal and get some interesting info about sleep.Its not a scam just a different sales aproach new to Australia.
Yeah right! Meh. I'll pass.
Sun, 24 Sep 2006
We went over to Steph and Eva's yesterday and ended up staying for tea.
Eva and Kathleen came up with a spur-of-the-moment feast: Moroccan spice chicken wings, pai gwat, this amazing eggplant dish with a dark mince sauce, laap cheong and greens. Wow.
Last night we went to see The Boy From Oz, the Broadway musical with Hugh Jackman.
With all the awards that Hugh Jackman has won for it, and the fact that the show has been on in Sydney for months, it's obvious that the show is fantastic, but I'll just say this:
HOW GOOD IS HUGH JACKMAN?!
Fan-bloody-tastic.
Sat, 23 Sep 2006
What a great game that was.
Sydney had a majority of the ball, but just couldn't get away from Freo, who always ended up getting two or three quick, late goals in a quarter to stay within striking distance. They were pretty unlucky, though, and when they got to within 10 points, I thought Sydney would get the yips and end up getting steamrolled. But Troy Cook didn't get an obvious free kick dead set in front of goal, Sydney rebounded and O'Loughlin kicked what ended up being the goal that finally put Fremantle to bed. If Cook had been paid, and he'd put it through, Fremantle would have been only four points down, and would have had all the momentum. That's the way it goes.
The Sydney crowd were probably the most vocal I've ever seen them, and it seemed like I was the only person who was cheering anything the away side did all night. Peter Bell's great left-foot goal from the left half forward flank, Pavlich's one-man target, a great goal from Farmer where he tackled Leo Barry, grabbed the loose ball and kicked it through. That was the only thing Jeff Farmer did all night.
In the end, Fremantle just had too many passengers, too many people who didn't put their hands up. Not enough forward targets.
But despite that, they managed to hang on until almost three-quarter time, and it was only in the last quarter that the game was not up for grabs. And Sydney were just too good on the night.
Being there at the ground, up on the wing with a great view of the entire field. The atmosphere was fantastic, even if they had to put the words to the club song up on the video screen for all the people who are riding on the Swans bandwagon.
Thu, 21 Sep 2006
It wasn't until I got home this evening, where Kathleen looked at my hair with a mixture of disgust and pity, that I realised that the barber that cut my hair had decided to part it in the middle, making me look like a right dork.
To the barber that inflicted this style travesty upon me: I didn't come in to your shop with a part in the middle, did I? It was completely obvious that it was on the side. And you, sir, decided to make me look like a dork by giving me flat hair, parted in the middle and slicked down with water. What did I do to you?
Was it the fact that I came in at 6.05pm, when you close at 6? Well, it was your decision to say "No worries!" and let me join the queue.
Was it the fact that I have to take my glasses off when you cut my hair, leaving me virtually blind and powerless to stop you if you do it wrong? And that, at the end of the haircut, when I put my glasses back on and you ask "How is it?" and I say "Yeah, yeah, no probs. Thanks for that." without really looking at it?
Maybe I should start paying a little bit more for these things. At least when I had a Number 1, you couldn't mess that up.
Sun, 17 Sep 2006
On Saturday, I was invited down to the neighbour's place for their son's 4th birthday party. Kathleen was out of town, so couldn't make it.
It was certainly the weather for it. Sunny, bright blue skies, which was just as well given that there were 10 or so young kids running around like madmen.
Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. The kids were just being kids, yelling and carrying on. It was mum Tanya who was running around keeping everyone topped up with drinks and food, and keeping the kids entertained.
The mums (most of the invited friends came from the kinder up the road that Nicholas goes to) sat back under the shading, and the dads hung around the barbecue drinking beer and talking about finance and reverse equity and downward deprecation and public property trusts or something or other. I tuned out of that conversation.
Pass The Parcel came and went - to save on disappointment and tantrums, everyone got a prize - and there was even a pinata. Pinatas these days seem to be made out of reinforced concrete, probably to prevent terrorism, because no matter how hard these kids whacked it, and no matter how frustrated and angry they got, the damn thing just Would Not Break. And boy, did one of them get a little bit frustrated and angry! Anyway, Tanya stepped in at the last minute, ripped the pinata apart with her bare hands, the lollies spilt all over the ground, the kids went "Yay!" and everyone was happy.
And then someone shouted "Who wants cake?" and the kids went "Yay!" again, but louder this time, and before you could blink, each kid had a plate of cake in their hands. They certainly don't mess around downstairs.
I don't think I've ever been to a funner 4th birthday.
Sat, 16 Sep 2006
Last year, Channel 10 screened a series where Jamie Oliver was trying to get healthy food into British school canteens, which cook lunches daily for the students. At the time, I couldn't believe the fact that the biggest source of opposition were the (low paid) cooks who suddenly had a larger amount of work to do. Chopping vegetables and preparing healthy dishes was a lot more difficult than just pouring pre-cooked offal onto a tray to slap in the oven.
The teachers and students noticed a big difference in the ability of the kids to actually concentrate when they weren't whacked up to their eyebrows on sugar, salt and artificial additives.
The other problem were the parents, many of whom didn't know how to cook, and didn't want to learn.
Which provides the backdrop to today's depressing news story from the UK:
Two mums are organising junk food runs to a South Yorkshire school - because they don't agree with its healthy eating policy.
Julie Critchlow and Sam Walker deliver fish and chips, pies, and burgers to hungry kids at Rawmarsh Comprehensive every day.
They say they have started the food runs because pupils are turning their noses up at the 'low fat rubbish' served up at the school.
Sam, of Monkwood Road, Rawmarsh, said: "This is all down to that Jamie Oliver. Well I don't like him or what he stands for - he is forcing our kids to be more picky about their food."
Julie, also of Monkwood Road, added: "Kids need a bit of fat in their diet - there is nothing wrong with burgers and chips. At school they only get chips once a week if they are lucky."
Fri, 15 Sep 2006
Yesterday I woke up with a headache. I managed to put up with it for half the day, but by lunchtime it had got to the point where I couldn't concentrate on anything else other than the fact that my head was pounding like the morning after a night on the turps. I finished off the doc I was working on, hoping that I'd cleaned up all the FIXMEs and TODOs, emailed it to the people that needed to read it and headed home at 2.
There's something slightly decadant and strange about having a shower and going to bed at 4pm on a weekday, whether you're sick or not.
Wed, 13 Sep 2006
I passed Waist Not in Barrack Lane in Parramatta on my way back to the train station after work. All the staff were outside in the laneway smoking.
I guess working in a salad bar shop must make you feel so healthy that it makes up for any other bad thing you can do to your body.
Sun, 10 Sep 2006
I haven't posted in almost two weeks.
Kathleen drove up to Maitland and Newcastle during the week for work, assisted in navigating by the Tomtom unit we bought a few weeks ago. Damn, that thing is cool! According to Kathleen, Maitland apparently has the largest congregation of dollar discount stored in a kilometre radius.
Kathleen, Lu and Eva went bridal dress shopping (for Lu's wedding) yesterday. Steph and I braved the rain and stayed indoors to watch the football.
I'm working for a few months on a project out at Parramatta. Parra is a nice enough place once you get there - it's the getting there that's a pain! Luckily, I can catch a direct train from Wollstonecraft station, but it's interesting how a journey that takes 45 minutes in the morning can take 70 minutes in the reverse direction. I won't pass judgment on Cityrail's incompetence, I will merely note that fact.
