Sat, 23 Jun 2007
Two years ago, our apartment block had a gardener who used to come around for an hour or so each week and tidy up a few things around the garden. Unfortunately, he seemed to spend a fair bit of time sitting in his van reading the paper, rather than what his job description listed.
So, we fired him, saving ourselves about $1000 a year in fees.
We replaced him with a designated set of 'working bees', in which a group of residents would come down, hack around in the bushes with shovels, rakes and saws, get hot and sweaty, and then have a few cold beers. The benefits of this were obvious:
- It's a great way to get to know our neighbours better, especially over beer and Tim Tams.
- The garden looks great. With a bit of care and attention, and hard yakka, it actually looks quite decent now, whereas before it was looking tired and forlorn.
- Living in apartment block does not lend itself to being close to nature by regularly getting your hands dirty in a flowerbed. Working in a communal garden is the next best thing.
Today, we mulched around the garden. The mulch looks really great, too. We hacked into some of the old weeds and dead plants along the side of the building, clearing that all away in preparation for planting something more attractive in that space. And, dirtiest of all, we (actually, I) cleaned out the drains at the bottom of the driveway, clearing out a good 20cm layer of thick, dark mud that had accumulated over the last four years and which had been made wet by the recent rains. It also prevented any run-off water from actually draining from the driveway. That'll be good in the compost bins.
So, we ended up feeling really, really good about how the garden is looking, and how nice our neighbours are. A feeling like that is a great way to finish a cold, grey Saturday.
What's an even better way to finish a cold, grey Saturday is a big cook-fest at Steph and Eva's!
From the SMH's Column 8, Friday June 22:
"My three-year-son, Thomas, can't yet pronounce 'homogeneous', but he's got the general idea," reports Bronwyn David, of St Leonards. "Walking through a modern mall in Hong Kong last week, he turned to me and asked 'Mum, are we in Chatswood?' Next time we'll save the airfare.
This picture has no relation to the story above, apart from the Asian theme, but I find it hilarious, no matter how many times I look at it:
Mon, 18 Jun 2007
On Saturday we went along with Steph and Eva to the Good Food Show at the Exhibition Centre down in Darling Harbour.
We went quite early - around 10.30 - given that the main drawcard of celebrity chef demonstrations were likely to run out of tickets. Luckily, we managed to pick up tickets to each of the three chefs, Ainsley (who is so famous in the cooking world he only needs to go by one name), Curtis Stone and Donna Hay.
By the time we'd wandered around the stands looking at the various stands (including a veritable smorgasbord from Tasmania), it was time to join the throng in lining up for the first show - Ainsley.
Ainsley was exactly as you'd expect from his TV show. High-energy and ultra-enthusiastic. Lots of double entendres. Very sweaty shaven head under the bright lights. He dragged a poor sap from the audience to tease by making him cook in front of all the keen amateur chefs in the audience (hey, who else would go to these shows?) despite the bloke's protestations that he was only a weekend cook. And then, just when the guy seemed to be holding his own and getting through it okay, Ainsley passes him a small bowl of paprika for the food he's mixing up.
"Here," said Ainsley casually. "Add some paprika for me."
And damnded if the poor guy didn't just take him up on the offer, beginning to up-end the entire amount into the mixing bowl.
"No-o-o-o-oooo," giggled Ainsley, grabbing the bowl back as the female proportion of the audience drew in a gasp of shocked breath. The male proportion, on the other hand, including me, didn't see anything wrong. He was asked to add an ingredient, he went to add it, and look what happened! A coolly set trap in the kitchen!
And some wonder why I don't stray from the designated recipe...
Anyway, the rest of the show went swimmingly. We really enjoyed it, and I don't think I've laughed so hard out of sympathy with someone out of his element in front of a massive crowd in a long time.
On a side note, looking at some of the cookbooks that were available at the show, it appears as though modern 21st century cooking seems to exist entirely without the use of capital letters. As exhibits, refer to the following:
I could list a lot more, but this list is already obsessive-compulsive enough. What is going on? Is there some sort of conspiracy against proper capitalisation? Chefs using lowercase as a metaphor for not being tied down by rigid rules?
Wed, 13 Jun 2007
"Wow, I can't believe how strong these women are!" exclaims Kathleen over the phone. "This woman is hanging up-side down on a pole, and she's holding herself up using only her legs!"
Kathleen is searching on the net for poledancing websites while we talk. Before you start thinking impure thoughts about my wife, I should point out that it's purely in the name of research. Research for Lu's hens night. Apparently, poledancing lessons are the current Big Thing for hens nights.
Unfortunately, it appears as though the attendees see it more as a fitness thing than something that might cheer up their husbands or boyfriends, so the chances for repeat performances at home are low.
Sun, 10 Jun 2007
Rowena and Brendan's yesterday to watch the footy (Swans v Hawthorn). A room of people whose loyalty was mixed between the two teams. Hawthorn started strongly but Sydney played like Sydney usually does, and the game became a dour, boring contest. Still, it was good to see some of our friends who we haven't seen in ages, even if the game didn't go our way.
Then, to Hogs Breath in Bondi for Steph's 3xth birthday. Don't worry, Steph, the secret of your true age is safe with me. A great night with friends, made even more special by the dramatic weather outside. The bitterly cold wind and rain pounding in from the east made for some impressive images from the shelter of inside.
As we drove from R&B's place in Bellevue Hill to Bondi, we passed two poor unlucky buggers moving house in the middle of a torrential squall, trying desperately to get their furniture into the van before it became too sodden. Worst. Moving day. Ever.
Sun, 03 Jun 2007
I read somewhere that one of the main reasons why people don't take regular leave is that they know that upon their return they will have a veritable shirtload of things to catch up on. I used to pooh-pooh that idea - everyone needs a break, and postponing regular holidays from work for the false economy of continuous, non-stop work just makes you tired, run-down and unproductive.
This week, I learnt to know better.
It was a veritable week from hell, starting with the realisation that the guy filling in for me while I was away did a passable job at holding the fort, but was not overly effective at heading off any potential problems. As a result, I spent the last three days of the week, plus today, frantically catching up on a lot of programming and testing work, on a project that was approaching the go-live date.
It was not pleasant at all, and I actually started the day a few times last week waking with a queasy stomach in anticipation of the unpleasantness of the day ahead. To add to the mix, a bunch of new starters commenced work, and the time and assistance required to get them up to speed was not factored into the project dates, and the Project Manager hasn't quite worked out that things like that can actually decrease productivity ("But we've got all these people now, so all the work can get done!") for a horrible few weeks until the new starters get their heads around the work.
But it wasn't all bad news. We had Denzil and Lu, Steph and Eva and Dickson and Lucy over for dinner last night, to go through the China photos (both us and Dickson/Lucy did a tour) and to celebrate Steph and Eva's engagement.
I went into work today and got six hours of peace and quiet with no interruptions, resulting in some decent work that should make things much, much smoother this week. Just goes to show the benefits of quiet workspaces for getting stuff done.
At home, we finally got around to installing Skype on the computer, and talked to poor, sick CC in London. Plus a few people overseas have shared their contact details, so hopefully this will usher in a future of better communication with them.
I bought the latest Arcade Fire album, Neon Bible after playing the first one Funeral over and over and over. Funeral was a birthday present from Kathleen, from a recommendation from Greta. I love Greta's musical recommendations. Oh, Neon Bible is awesome, too, but a lot darker.
I booked the flights for the US trip for Troy's wedding. I'll be spending a few days in San Francisco, some in Memphis and a few in Chicago. In each city, I have friends that I'm really looking forward to seeing again.
Plus the weather has been lovely and sunny, and it's hard to be too stressed with sunshine and blue skies about.
