Big TV Night
Kathleen is excited. Tonight is a two-hour season premiere of Medium on one channel. Prison Break and Heroes are on another channel. SVU is back on from tomorrow. The summer dearth of quality (?) TV programming is officially over.
Wed, 31 Jan 2007
Tue, 30 Jan 2007
A Kylie Kwong Lookalike
One of the funnier incidents from Lucy's 30th occurred when Kathleen was introduced to the girlfriend of Ray, one of our friends of a friend. Seemed she looked familiar to Kathleen, who told her so.
Later that night, after quite a few drinks, Ray's girlfriend came over. "Hey, you know that you looked familiar too! You reminded me of someone," she slurred.
Kathleen waited for her to go on.
"Yeah, you look like that woman on TV, that Chinese chef," she continued as Kathleen's jaw dropped in horror.
"Oh, I mean that as a compliment!" she said, seeing Kathleen's reaction wasn't what she was expecting. Unfortunately, she chose to continue talking.
"You have the same hair!"
I don't think Kathleen talked to her the rest of the night.
Why does Kathleen dislike Kylie Kwong so much? The answer to that may have to wait for another day...
Lucy's Birthday
Went to Dickson and Lucy's on Saturday for Lucy's 30th. It was meant to be a rooftop party on the roof of their Surry Hills apartment block - which considering the weather the day before sounded like a great idea! Unfortunately, it was a cold and windy night, with everyone huddled in the corner out of the wind.
Still, it was a fun night. D&L's friends have started having babies, and one couple came along with new baby strapped to dad's front in one of those baby backpack things - Dad had a beer in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. The cats freaked out and ran and hid in the bedrooms. Another couple broke up a few days before the party - it's a bit of a mortifying moment to find that out after you ask one of them "So, where's your other half?"
Kathleen got Lucy a necklace and a Japanese cookbook, both of which went down well.
Mon, 29 Jan 2007
Australia Day Long Weekend
We had Tam and Darise up to stay with us for the Australia Day long weekend.
On Australia Day itself, we made it a Sydney Scenic Special, taking them (plus Steph and Eva down to the Rocks to watch the yachts on the Harbour. Over to Circular Quay, taking a few shots with the camera phone of the brilliant blue skies and the blinding white of the Opera House to SMS to friends overseas in the midst of a northern hemisphere winter. Then we headed up to Hyde Park to watch the Triple J Hottest 100 live countdown.
Dinner was at a Korean restaurant in Castlereagh St.
And finally, we were down at Darling Harbour to watch the fireworks.
Funnily enough, the entertainment was actually the most moving of the day. Just before 9pm, the giant video screen in the middle of Cockle Bay played a recording of recent arrivals to Australia, who've just taken out citizenship, people from India, from Germany, from over the world, talking about their reasons for becoming Australians. And as the video ended, a boat drew close to the shore, and the people we'd just watched on the screen were there on the boat, waving and smiling. And everywhere around me, people were cheering and waving back, welcoming them.
Something that no doubt had been banal and politically correct on paper became so much more real on the night.
The mood of the night was such that even a Shannon Noll song played over the loudspeakers became almost an anthem.
Then on Sunday morning, we all met up with Matt and Greta, also up from Melbourne for the weekend, for a day in the sunshine at Manly. If ever you wanted to show people what Sydney was about, this was the weekend for it.
Sat, 27 Jan 2007
New Car
We picked up the car today. Only an hour in the showroom this time, largely spent signing documents. I think I now know how a celebrity feels, writing signature after signature after signature.
After we drove out of the dealer, I suggested we take it for a quick drive around. Kathleen declined - she wanted to go home and prepare food for Lucy's birthday party instead! Talk about priorities!
Anyway, I whipped up a mix MP3 CD so she can play that in the car. She should have fun with that.
Tue, 23 Jan 2007
Team Lunch
At work, there are 8 people in my group of testers, including 5 women. This week, given the progress we've made on our project, as well as to celebrate the project manager's anniversary of arriving in Australia from England (which he nicely timed to coincide with Straya Day), the topic of a team lunch was mooted.
Being British-born, our manager suggested an Indian restaurant, Indian food being almost the British national dish.
One of the guys in the group suggested a number of other alternatives. One of these was that known bastion of fine dining in the west of Sydney, Hooters.
Ha ha ha, joked our manager. I know why you want to go there. Ha ha ha.
He didn't, however, immediately shoot this idea down. In fact, the choice of restaurant eventually went to a vote.
Luckily (or due to the fact that there are 5 women on the project, plus me who wasn't really comfortable about it either), wiser heads prevailed and it'll be Indian.
I still can't get over the fact that it was a serious suggestion and was seriously considered.
Mon, 22 Jan 2007
New Car
We just bought a car.
Kathleen's been complaining for a few months about how the little blue Corolla lacks grunt going uphill, especially on trips to Newcastle for work. She'd had her eye on a Mazda 3, and on Saturday we went around the car yards.
Toyota at Chatswood got a black mark straight away for the casual attitude of the salesman. When we discussed a trade-in, after we arranged for a test drive on the following Wednesday, he came up with a line that sunk his chances.
"Why don't we look at the car for its trade in value on Wednesday, rather than today. We have a better valuer in then."
A better valuer? How does that work? A better valuer for them, since he'd reduce the price we'd get, or a better valuer for us, giving us a better trade-in figure? We decided that he was just too lazy to get out and spend 15 minutes looking at the car.
The next stop was Mazda down the road. The showroom was gleaming white and, with the air con, about 15 degrees cooler than outside, where the burning sun beat down. It was truly beautiful inside. That probably helped their chances of getting our money considerably.
We had a test drive (Kathleen's second in that car, her third visit to that showroom), waited a bit to discuss financing options with their finance bloke, waited a bit more to have the Corolla valued for trade-in, waited a bit more for the sales manager, and then Kathleen got a fair bit knocked off the final value and we shook on the deal. Actually, we shook a few times. Seemed everyone wanted to come in and congratulate us and shake our hand. "Thanks again," they kept smiling. "Thanks. Congratulations." Etc. etc.
By this stage, it was 3pm. We were tired. We were hungry. We were overwhelmed by choices and options and alternatives. We just wanted to sign the papers andthen go somewhere and eat. However, we still weren't done.
"I'll just hand you over to Followup Girl, who'll show you how to care for your new car," said the sales manager.
What?
So we then, after the purchase, got a hard sell about aftermarket accessories. Underproofing. Overproofing. Rust proofing. Paint protection. Vinyl protection. Birdcrap protection. Spill protection.
"This all sounds fantastic, but we're too tired and overwhelmed to even think about it," we told her. "Give us the brochures and we'll call you on Monday."
But she kept going and going and going and going and going. Security dots. Reversing sensor ("Since that man ran over his kid in his driveway in Mosman, it's been sooo popular," she assured us). In the end we had to cut her short, and asked for the features at half price in an attempt to get her to shut up and let us leave. We got them, too. "Ok ok, let's wind this up" was our mantra.
Then we literally raced down to Crows Nest to eat, too famished to appreciate the second-biggest expense we've ever signed up for.
Symphony Under The Stars
On Saturday night, we went with Steph and Eva to Symphony Under The Stars. It was a perfect night to pack some food and drink into a picnic bag and sit on a rug outside - balmy, still, cloudless.
The music was OK - I'm not much of a classical music buff, especially for a program advertised as US-centric as this one: "Barber to Bernstein". The company was much better.
Unfortunately for Steph and Eva, their train ride home coincided with an incident in Redfern where shots were fired at police, sparking a lockdown of the entire suburb. As part of the lockdown, all train services were prevented from passing through Redfern. And of course, since this is Sydney, that meant they stopped all the trains.
We must have been lucky enough to get the last train home before they stopped services north of the city. I can't believe that two men can throw Sydney's transport into such disarray and inconvenience thousands of people that easily.
Tue, 16 Jan 2007
Not A Smart Spider
So the flyscreens have generally proved their effectiveness. Except for one notable exception:
The kitchen window.
Here, the spider (who we never see but who constantly builds massive webs that we have to clear away) has managed to spin his web inside the fly screen. We have no idea how he has managed to do this, since there doesn't appear to be a gap big enough even for a spider to get through.
Regardless, he's not going to get much in the way of food landing in his web, since it's on the inside of the flyscreen. Idiot.
Mon, 15 Jan 2007
Third Time Lucky
Troy and his fiance Katie finally managed to get themselves back to Geneva yesterday after an unexpected additional two days here with us.
On Friday night, as they fronted up to the Austrian Air counter at Sydney Airport, they were told that their expired work permits meant that they weren't allowed to board the flight. Apparently, no one checks at the other end, but that's not something you can tell an airport employee.
So, a frantic rush to organise a way around the impasse - booking another outbound flight from Geneva that could be cancelled afterwards - ensued. Unfortunately, by the time the flight was organised through Qantas (since that seemed to be the only airline that actually sells tickets at the airport), the original flight had closed.
Six minutes earlier.
Boy, was Troy mad.
When I picked them up on the Friday night, he was still seething.
Saturday and Sunday they chilled out and just hung out, which was probably a good thing. After almost three weeks of catching up with family and friends in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney, I think they were thankful for a few days where there were no obligations, and they could just relax.
Unfortunately, the best they could organise on Friday night was standby for Saturday, and no spots opened up. Sunday was confirmed though, which was the best they could get.
Still, it was great to see them for the week (plus two days!) that they were here.
We grilled Katie at dinner on Thursday in Crows Nest about the biggest difference between her home in the US versus her brief time here. Apparently the biggest surprise was that dessert here is mostly fresh fruit, and a disconcerting lack of cakes and pies!
Sat, 13 Jan 2007
An End To Bugs
Last night we had the sliding glass door in our loungeroom wide open, to try and let some cool air in.
We didn't get a lot of the cool air, but we certainly did get a lot of bugs.
This morning, more than 14 months after we obtained the quote, we finally had someone come around to install flyscreens on each of the windows and the sliding door.
No more bugs! Which means that in summer, we can leave as many windows as we want open and not have to worry about mosquitos, flies, moths or any other arthropoda entering our house and biting us in our sleep. Hopefully, we'll now be able to banish the awful-smelling flyspray that Kathleen loves to wield.
Thu, 11 Jan 2007
A Melbourne Weekend
It was hot hot hot in Melbourne over the weekend. Damn hot. So hot you could touch the air and it would do that sss sound. It was hot, of course, because we were in town, and we are hot!
No, actually it was hot because it never dropped below 28 the entire time we were there - and that includes the night times.
We had a great time, though, as always.
Had a quick coffee with Tam and Darise in Centre Place, downstairs from DK, which is my favourite place in Melbourne.
For lunch, we went to Fifteen, which was the restaurant from the TV series where Jamie Oliver and his Melbourne mate organise a group of down and out kids into a well-oiled kitchen machine. We managed to see some of the kids that were followed by the cameras for the show, but I couldn't help but feel they must have days where they feel like trained seals, performing for the audience. It didn't appear to be a really busy day, since the way they were working seemed to be pretty laid back. The food was great - Kathleen and Darise had a seafood stew, I had a pork and lentil dish. Tam had pasta, which was smaller than the mains, but also around half the price. Really nice restaurant.
Later, we met up with Chang, Matt and Anj mid-afternoon at Camberwell, where we had the devil's own job of finding a car spot - the city must have been quiet because everyone was out here - and then saw my cousin Sean and his girlfriend Natalie over dinner. Back to their place to check out their photos from their South American trip. If we weren't already booked out on the overseas jaunt front this year, we might have ended up with a new destination.
Late Saturday night, wet up again with Darise and Tam at Kitten Club in town. Played designated driver duties. Except our passengers were in a mood to kick on...
Then on Sunday, we had brunch with Greta and Matt at the aptly-named Gluttony, wandered around Brunswick and Smith Sts before flying back to Sydney, utterly exhausted and needing a weekend to relax and wind-down from our hectic weekend!
Wed, 10 Jan 2007
Busy Christmas/New Year Break
I've been busy with strata stuff over the last few weeks - we've got a fire upgrade going on (with trying to sort out getting trade access to resident apartments and garages), problems with the wrong quarterly levy being issued by the managing agent just conveniently before they went off on holiday over the New Year, and some leaking guttering during the week of showers up here and the difficulties of trying to get hold of someone to fix it over the Christmas break. On their own, these aren't difficult or time-consuming issues, but they all conveniently came at the most inconvenient time of the year.
Mon, 01 Jan 2007
New Years
We went to Steph and Eva's for New Years. Eva was making cocktails from their well-stocked alcohol shelf. The BBQ went on at 3 and then again at 7. I think everyone was full by then.
Towards midnight, we all wandered across to Sydney Park. At the top of the hill, we were able to see the fireworks in the distance behind the CBD buildings. Unfortunately, none of the photos of the fireworks turned out. We did, however, take a bunch of photos of our friends - photos that I don't necessarily remember taking. Gregor brought sparklers, someone had champagne, there was a funny moment when Denzil put his arm around CC rather than his fiancee Lu...
It was a late start the next day.
