Just a quick update to report that all is well with me, the baby, and Mum-to-be. Less than a month to go now until the big day and things are coming along nicely here - we have everything we need except a cot (which won't arrive until early November thanks to a manufacturer stuff-up), the room that I am sitting in at the moment is well on the way to becoming a child's bedroom, and all of our pre-natal classes and the like are done.
Really, it would be good if the next month or so would go just a little bit faster - I'm looking forward to being a Dad and I'm also hanging out for the Federal Election.
Sunday 23 September 2007
Tuesday 26 June 2007
Kick, kick
Exciting news: the other night, I was finally able to feel the baby kicking by placing my hand fairly firmly on my wife's belly. That was quite cool :)
Not long to go now, and still so much to do - as evidenced by the fact that I'm sitting here typing this in the room that I should be busily turning into their bedroom, but it remains for the time being a cross between study and shitpile. Sounds like a job for this weekend, then.
Not long to go now, and still so much to do - as evidenced by the fact that I'm sitting here typing this in the room that I should be busily turning into their bedroom, but it remains for the time being a cross between study and shitpile. Sounds like a job for this weekend, then.
Saturday 26 May 2007
So, I'm off phone shopping tomorrow...
Not by choice really, but because....well....
I have one of those leather phone pouch things with a clip, that I normally clip onto my left pocket (clip outside, phone inside). Been doing this for years, never a problem.
Anyhoo, tonight here at home I head off to the dunny, and just after flushing, I see that the phone is hanging outside the pocket, which happens from time to time. And like usual, I think, "one day that's going to fall out of my pocket and into the toilet".
Well...you'll never guess what happened next.
Yep. That.
Fished it out quick smart, saw that it was still lit up and switched on, screen still working, and thought I might have gotten away with it. Quickly took it out of the pouch, sat it on the edge of the sink to get some of the water out of it....and oh dear, no, the screen's died now.
Maybe I could have saved the screen if I'd dried it more quickly, but chances are the water was making its way to that part of the phone and there wouldn't have been too much I could do.
Ah well. Was a good phone (Motorola V550) that didn't give me any trouble. Had it for two and a half years, so not a bad run.
Still...bugger.
I have one of those leather phone pouch things with a clip, that I normally clip onto my left pocket (clip outside, phone inside). Been doing this for years, never a problem.
Anyhoo, tonight here at home I head off to the dunny, and just after flushing, I see that the phone is hanging outside the pocket, which happens from time to time. And like usual, I think, "one day that's going to fall out of my pocket and into the toilet".
Well...you'll never guess what happened next.
Yep. That.
Fished it out quick smart, saw that it was still lit up and switched on, screen still working, and thought I might have gotten away with it. Quickly took it out of the pouch, sat it on the edge of the sink to get some of the water out of it....and oh dear, no, the screen's died now.
Maybe I could have saved the screen if I'd dried it more quickly, but chances are the water was making its way to that part of the phone and there wouldn't have been too much I could do.
Ah well. Was a good phone (Motorola V550) that didn't give me any trouble. Had it for two and a half years, so not a bad run.
Still...bugger.
Thursday 24 May 2007
Update
Not much to report, so just a quick update on recent events:
- I've decided against buying the HQ Kingswood I mentioned a few posts back;
- Things have been busy work-wise lately;
- I've taken to going to the gym a bit more recently and I already feel better;
- Our social lunchtime soccer team (yes, I play soccer, yes, I am unco, please don't laugh, it brings back bad memories of primary school) won our first game of the season 6-4 on Monday;
- I scraped the underside of the Commodore's front bumper exiting a steep driveway in Wollongong last weekend, which fortunately you can't see unless you're actually underneath the car. So no big deal.
Tuesday 15 May 2007
Try marketing to this demographic
What does it say about me that the only TV shows I can say that I regularly watch are Top Gear, SBS World News (Late Edition) and Lateline?
Oh, sure, I see other things - At the Movies is one, and some of the medical and cop dramas I watch sometimes by default (because they happen to be on, not through any deliberate action on my part), but those three listed are the only ones I actually go and seek out. Top Gear because it's the best car show around, SBS World News because it's actually a really good news programme and it's on at a time that suits me, and Lateline becuase it's typically the last thing I will haev on the TV before I go to bed at night (to the point where if it's been a long day, I fall asleep in the middle of it) and because I think Tony Jones is probably the best serious journalist on TV these days and I like it when he gets irritated with guests who won't answer the question properly.
(I wonder if Tony Jones finds it a little disturbing that the majority of the viewers of his serious nightly wrap of news and current affairs with a heavy political focus are in bed?)
So yes, from a marketing point of view, how do you sell to that demographic? I suppose someone needs to build a car with a radio that only tunes to ABC stations and then try and sell it to me...
Oh, sure, I see other things - At the Movies is one, and some of the medical and cop dramas I watch sometimes by default (because they happen to be on, not through any deliberate action on my part), but those three listed are the only ones I actually go and seek out. Top Gear because it's the best car show around, SBS World News because it's actually a really good news programme and it's on at a time that suits me, and Lateline becuase it's typically the last thing I will haev on the TV before I go to bed at night (to the point where if it's been a long day, I fall asleep in the middle of it) and because I think Tony Jones is probably the best serious journalist on TV these days and I like it when he gets irritated with guests who won't answer the question properly.
(I wonder if Tony Jones finds it a little disturbing that the majority of the viewers of his serious nightly wrap of news and current affairs with a heavy political focus are in bed?)
So yes, from a marketing point of view, how do you sell to that demographic? I suppose someone needs to build a car with a radio that only tunes to ABC stations and then try and sell it to me...
Pre-cold
You know that feeling you get when you know the flu is coming, but isn't quite here yet? You're tired, you're a bit sniffly, you're not feeling 100%?
Yep, that's me today.
I thought I was in this stage a few weeks ago, then seemingly got over it - now it's back with a vengeance. Not sure what I might have done to trigger it, other than walk down to the shops to mail some letters at about 8:30 last night when it was fairly cold, and if that's the case then it's odd that it's only manifesting itself now.
Might be plenty more time for blogging later in the week, then, if this takes hold...
Yep, that's me today.
I thought I was in this stage a few weeks ago, then seemingly got over it - now it's back with a vengeance. Not sure what I might have done to trigger it, other than walk down to the shops to mail some letters at about 8:30 last night when it was fairly cold, and if that's the case then it's odd that it's only manifesting itself now.
Might be plenty more time for blogging later in the week, then, if this takes hold...
Monday 14 May 2007
Should I say 'not the Kingswood'?
So I'll set the scene for you. Down the bottom of the hill from our house, there is a 1971-74 vintage (HQ series) Holden Kingswood for sale. It's been parked out the front of that particular house for a while now, but lately it's moved to the footpath with a for sale sign taped to its windscreen. At least on a drive-by inspection, it is in excellent condition for its age, and my Darling Wife tells me that she's walked past it, they want $1000 or nearest offer, and the sign also notes that the car 'runs well'. That's not a lot of money at all for a seemingly well-kept car of its vintage, that is approaching the stage where it is about to start being worth more as it ages, rather than less. For instance, you can't buy a good condition 1963-65 EH Holden (the one I really want) for less than about $8-10k these days.
So, you would think, given I've been saying for some time that a project car would be an interesting diversion, and old Holdens are famously easy to work on and get parts for, this would be a no brainer. Go and have a good look at the car, and if it's in good condition without rust, then hand over some money and drive it home.
Yet I have a reluctance to take this on, and I'm not sure why. My first thought was that it wouldn't fit in the garage, and I wouldn't want an old classic sitting outside. Then I measured the garage and discovered that I could, just, make it fit with millimetres to spare. Now I'm thinking that with a baby on the way, there is probably not going to be the time or the money to look after an old car like this properly, and I worry that it would deteriorate under my ownership. I also tend to think that I will probably want to spend time with my baby rather than be out in the garage working on an old car. In any case, I probably wouldn't have time to ever drive it anywhere and I wouldn’t want to be shifting baby seats all the time between it and the Commodore so I could only really ever go somewhere in it on my own. And then, of course, once I had it registered and back on the road, I'd be paying money to register and insure a car I didn't drive all that much. Plus old cars tend to be a bit crap to drive, so I might get tired of it very quickly. And I've heard plenty of stories about older car restorations that started out as just a quick coat of paint/bit of engine work/interior trim work and end up being $30,000 from the ground up restorations.
Yet, the other half of me thinks 'yeah, but old cars are cool, you can just work on it when you have time…'
What to do? I suspect the answer might be to let this particular car go by, good as it appears to be, and re-assess the situation in a year or two, time and money wise. But it looks like such a good car...
So, you would think, given I've been saying for some time that a project car would be an interesting diversion, and old Holdens are famously easy to work on and get parts for, this would be a no brainer. Go and have a good look at the car, and if it's in good condition without rust, then hand over some money and drive it home.
Yet I have a reluctance to take this on, and I'm not sure why. My first thought was that it wouldn't fit in the garage, and I wouldn't want an old classic sitting outside. Then I measured the garage and discovered that I could, just, make it fit with millimetres to spare. Now I'm thinking that with a baby on the way, there is probably not going to be the time or the money to look after an old car like this properly, and I worry that it would deteriorate under my ownership. I also tend to think that I will probably want to spend time with my baby rather than be out in the garage working on an old car. In any case, I probably wouldn't have time to ever drive it anywhere and I wouldn’t want to be shifting baby seats all the time between it and the Commodore so I could only really ever go somewhere in it on my own. And then, of course, once I had it registered and back on the road, I'd be paying money to register and insure a car I didn't drive all that much. Plus old cars tend to be a bit crap to drive, so I might get tired of it very quickly. And I've heard plenty of stories about older car restorations that started out as just a quick coat of paint/bit of engine work/interior trim work and end up being $30,000 from the ground up restorations.
Yet, the other half of me thinks 'yeah, but old cars are cool, you can just work on it when you have time…'
What to do? I suspect the answer might be to let this particular car go by, good as it appears to be, and re-assess the situation in a year or two, time and money wise. But it looks like such a good car...
Thursday 10 May 2007
No, I'm definitely not buying a motorcycle
I'd like to make a general announcement, directed nowhere in particular, that I am categorically ruling out buying a motorcycle.
Every now and again, the thought enters my head that it might be a fun thing to do. I pretty much like anything with wheels and an engine, and it does look like a lot of fun. But it's just too bloody dangerous. Pick up a motorcycle magazine and there's a tribute to someone who died while riding. Look at the death and injury statistics and motorcyclists are massively overrepresented compared to car drivers. Talk to people who ride, or used to, and they'll tell you about the crash that they had that landed them in hospital getting gravel picked out of their flesh, or with various broken bones, or on painkillers for the rest of their lives.
With all due respect to those who ride - because I love your machines and I think what you do it great - it's just too dangerous to be seriously considered. Just this week I read the news that a regular poster on one of the car forums I frequent was killed last weekend riding his bike out in the country - exactly what I would do if I owned one. He was a year younger than I am, and he'd been riding for about six months or so. Most riders who've been riding for longer than that will have learned from their mistakes and no doubt generally be quite safe out there on the roads, and are probably more at risk from inattentive car drivers than they are from their own actions. But the mistake that gives you something to learn from could be the one that kills or seriously injures you in the first place.
If, in a car, I take a corner too quickly and the car is thrown off line by a mid-corner bump that I hadn't anticipated, I may well end up going off the road sideways or backwards. I could well end up in a ditch, in a paddock, maybe even in a tree. But my chances of survival are excellent unless I hit something very large at high speed, in the manner that killed Peter Brock. I'm surrounded by lots of thick steel and I have a variety of airbags that will spring into action. I may even hit nothing at all and just come away feeling a bit stupid, but able to drive the car back onto the road and keep going.
Imagine the same loss of control happening on a bike - I would almost certainly fall off. Then I'd be sliding across the road, largely out of control, and no matter what I hit, it would hurt. There would be nothing beyond a helmet to cushion any sort of impact. And, of course, the bike would definitely be damaged in some way, simply because it too was sliding off into the scenery somewhere and being thrashed across the ground on the way. The damage would be far, far worse than it might have been in a car.
No. Much as the writings of keen motorcyclists such as Top Gear's James May and other journalists make it all sound very appealing, for me, the risk vs benefit tradeoff has far too much weight on the risk end. I'll stick with cars, and admire motorcycles from afar.
Every now and again, the thought enters my head that it might be a fun thing to do. I pretty much like anything with wheels and an engine, and it does look like a lot of fun. But it's just too bloody dangerous. Pick up a motorcycle magazine and there's a tribute to someone who died while riding. Look at the death and injury statistics and motorcyclists are massively overrepresented compared to car drivers. Talk to people who ride, or used to, and they'll tell you about the crash that they had that landed them in hospital getting gravel picked out of their flesh, or with various broken bones, or on painkillers for the rest of their lives.
With all due respect to those who ride - because I love your machines and I think what you do it great - it's just too dangerous to be seriously considered. Just this week I read the news that a regular poster on one of the car forums I frequent was killed last weekend riding his bike out in the country - exactly what I would do if I owned one. He was a year younger than I am, and he'd been riding for about six months or so. Most riders who've been riding for longer than that will have learned from their mistakes and no doubt generally be quite safe out there on the roads, and are probably more at risk from inattentive car drivers than they are from their own actions. But the mistake that gives you something to learn from could be the one that kills or seriously injures you in the first place.
If, in a car, I take a corner too quickly and the car is thrown off line by a mid-corner bump that I hadn't anticipated, I may well end up going off the road sideways or backwards. I could well end up in a ditch, in a paddock, maybe even in a tree. But my chances of survival are excellent unless I hit something very large at high speed, in the manner that killed Peter Brock. I'm surrounded by lots of thick steel and I have a variety of airbags that will spring into action. I may even hit nothing at all and just come away feeling a bit stupid, but able to drive the car back onto the road and keep going.
Imagine the same loss of control happening on a bike - I would almost certainly fall off. Then I'd be sliding across the road, largely out of control, and no matter what I hit, it would hurt. There would be nothing beyond a helmet to cushion any sort of impact. And, of course, the bike would definitely be damaged in some way, simply because it too was sliding off into the scenery somewhere and being thrashed across the ground on the way. The damage would be far, far worse than it might have been in a car.
No. Much as the writings of keen motorcyclists such as Top Gear's James May and other journalists make it all sound very appealing, for me, the risk vs benefit tradeoff has far too much weight on the risk end. I'll stick with cars, and admire motorcycles from afar.
Monday 7 May 2007
Stand in awe of Renovation Man
Yes indeed, I am pleased to announce that yesterday, just before lunchtime, I finished repainting my deck. And it only took me four months, including all of the weekends when I decided there were better things to do with my life, the incident on Anzac Day where I ran out of paint with only a couple of metres of the railing left to go, and repainting over the part of the railing that I thought would look good with a colour change (it would have, if it had turned out grey like on the paint chart rather than purple like in reality).
Four months...that's pathetic.
This, though, leads me to a broader philosophical debate that I mentioned to the good wife last night - in the five and a bit months I have left before our baby is born, should I spend the time getting a whole bunch of stuff done around the house, or should I rip into life with reckless abandon and do all the fun stuff now that I might not be able to do later? On the one hand, I will probably have far more time at home in the future on weekends and so on with a new baby and will probably be looking for ways to occupy myself, which might finally lead to me having a decent garden and all the broken things being fixed. So I might as well go out now, go driving, go go-karting, take off to somewhere interesting on five minutes' notice, read some good books, etc. On the other hand, I might be so busy with a new baby that there won't be time for doing anything else around the house so I should get stuck in right now.
(If there is plenty of time to spare after the baby's born...I wonder if I will have enough time and money to start on a project car? Hmm...)
In any case, the baby's room will need to be sorted out and repainted relatively soon. Given that it is currently being used as a sort of study, you can imagine how full of crap it actually is and how much of it is about to end up in my garage. But I can promise you one thing - given my history with colour changing around the house (the super-vivid blue bathroom and purple deck railing), I won't be changing the colour of anything. I will go and find the square on the colour chart that most closely matches 'bought in bulk new house grey' that the walls were painted in back in 1994....and paint them that colour again.
Four months...that's pathetic.
This, though, leads me to a broader philosophical debate that I mentioned to the good wife last night - in the five and a bit months I have left before our baby is born, should I spend the time getting a whole bunch of stuff done around the house, or should I rip into life with reckless abandon and do all the fun stuff now that I might not be able to do later? On the one hand, I will probably have far more time at home in the future on weekends and so on with a new baby and will probably be looking for ways to occupy myself, which might finally lead to me having a decent garden and all the broken things being fixed. So I might as well go out now, go driving, go go-karting, take off to somewhere interesting on five minutes' notice, read some good books, etc. On the other hand, I might be so busy with a new baby that there won't be time for doing anything else around the house so I should get stuck in right now.
(If there is plenty of time to spare after the baby's born...I wonder if I will have enough time and money to start on a project car? Hmm...)
In any case, the baby's room will need to be sorted out and repainted relatively soon. Given that it is currently being used as a sort of study, you can imagine how full of crap it actually is and how much of it is about to end up in my garage. But I can promise you one thing - given my history with colour changing around the house (the super-vivid blue bathroom and purple deck railing), I won't be changing the colour of anything. I will go and find the square on the colour chart that most closely matches 'bought in bulk new house grey' that the walls were painted in back in 1994....and paint them that colour again.
Friday 20 April 2007
My V8 is a bigger tree hugger than your hybrid
Following on from this morning’s discussion about getting a performance car now before it’s too late, there is however a way you can have your performance car and eat it too. Well, you really shouldn’t eat it as such, but you can certainly drive it without helping to stuff the planet.
This morning, I signed my car up with Greenfleet. They calculated that, given my level of fuel consumption and the distance I drive, my car will produce 6.78 tonnes of greenhouse gases this year, more or less. 26 trees will sort that out, and for the non-that-expensive sum of $61.17 (which would only buy me three quarters of a tank of petrol, after all), they will plant 26 trees on my behalf – which is nice. It will probably cost you less, because chances are your car is more environmentally friendly than mine. But, until you sign up, my car is now more environmentally friendly than yours, and more environmentally friendly than a hybrid car that hasn’t been signed up, which also appeals to my well-developed sense of irony.
I don’t know if the scheme will keep working if everyone signs up – we could possibly run out of space to plant trees in, or if last night’s news is anything to go by, we will certainly run out of water to grow them with – but this sort of carbon trading model certainly is a good way to enjoy guilt-free V8 performance.
This morning, I signed my car up with Greenfleet. They calculated that, given my level of fuel consumption and the distance I drive, my car will produce 6.78 tonnes of greenhouse gases this year, more or less. 26 trees will sort that out, and for the non-that-expensive sum of $61.17 (which would only buy me three quarters of a tank of petrol, after all), they will plant 26 trees on my behalf – which is nice. It will probably cost you less, because chances are your car is more environmentally friendly than mine. But, until you sign up, my car is now more environmentally friendly than yours, and more environmentally friendly than a hybrid car that hasn’t been signed up, which also appeals to my well-developed sense of irony.
I don’t know if the scheme will keep working if everyone signs up – we could possibly run out of space to plant trees in, or if last night’s news is anything to go by, we will certainly run out of water to grow them with – but this sort of carbon trading model certainly is a good way to enjoy guilt-free V8 performance.
Life's too short to eat fast food
So they say that money can’t buy happiness. The hell it can’t. Earlier this year I spent probably far more money than I really should have on a new car, and I’m as happy as Larry (Larry Perkins, in this case, seeing as what I went and bought myself was a 6 litre V8 Holden Commodore SS). I have to say, this is the only car that has ever made me laugh like a loon while driving it simply because of what it is capable of, and puts a smile on my face the rest of the time.
There wasn’t really anything wrong with my old car, other than the fact that it was a bit small for me and I was starting to get aches and pains from driving it. But, for reasons I can’t really explain, around the end of last year I started to form a view that time was running out for performance cars given global warming and the likelihood that the oil will run out in our lifetimes, and that every day spent driving an Astra was a day not spent driving something more interesting. Before we know it, our car choices will be down to boring Toyota Prius-style hybrids that you can’t even get with manual transmission, and tedious crossover recreational vehicles that are part 4WD and part people mover, a brilliant combination of two of the least inspiring vehicle types around. The performance car is likely to be doomed in the face of environmental pressures and ever-increasing overregulation of driving (as I like to say, there are laws against speeding but there are no laws against acceleration – yet).
No, I decided, the time to act was now before it’s too late. And this is the point I want to make. Because life really is short, when you think about it, so make hay while the sun shines (if clichés do it for you). I’m a car guy, so I leapt at the opportunity to buy something I really wanted as soon as I could afford it, and before life got in the way of me being able to do so. But it doesn’t just apply to cars, it applies to everything. Love the piano but stuck with a Casio keyboard from the 1980s? If you can afford it, go out today and buy yourself a proper piano. Love your beer? Stop drinking VB and switch to something good like Boag’s or Cascade immediately. Are you dreaming of seeing Paris? Book a ticket and go there while you can.
I think this is part of a whole attitude shift for me. I used to be content to put up with near enough is good enough. I even used to eat at KFC from time to time. And I used to put up with doing things I didn’t want to do for far too long. Well, no more. There simply isn’t enough time available in a lifetime to put up with crap. I’m not saying you should be selfish – indeed, there is little that is more satisfying than genuinely making a difference to someone else who really needs your help – I’m just saying that if there are things in your life you don’t like, and something that you really, really want, take action while you still can.
There wasn’t really anything wrong with my old car, other than the fact that it was a bit small for me and I was starting to get aches and pains from driving it. But, for reasons I can’t really explain, around the end of last year I started to form a view that time was running out for performance cars given global warming and the likelihood that the oil will run out in our lifetimes, and that every day spent driving an Astra was a day not spent driving something more interesting. Before we know it, our car choices will be down to boring Toyota Prius-style hybrids that you can’t even get with manual transmission, and tedious crossover recreational vehicles that are part 4WD and part people mover, a brilliant combination of two of the least inspiring vehicle types around. The performance car is likely to be doomed in the face of environmental pressures and ever-increasing overregulation of driving (as I like to say, there are laws against speeding but there are no laws against acceleration – yet).
No, I decided, the time to act was now before it’s too late. And this is the point I want to make. Because life really is short, when you think about it, so make hay while the sun shines (if clichés do it for you). I’m a car guy, so I leapt at the opportunity to buy something I really wanted as soon as I could afford it, and before life got in the way of me being able to do so. But it doesn’t just apply to cars, it applies to everything. Love the piano but stuck with a Casio keyboard from the 1980s? If you can afford it, go out today and buy yourself a proper piano. Love your beer? Stop drinking VB and switch to something good like Boag’s or Cascade immediately. Are you dreaming of seeing Paris? Book a ticket and go there while you can.
I think this is part of a whole attitude shift for me. I used to be content to put up with near enough is good enough. I even used to eat at KFC from time to time. And I used to put up with doing things I didn’t want to do for far too long. Well, no more. There simply isn’t enough time available in a lifetime to put up with crap. I’m not saying you should be selfish – indeed, there is little that is more satisfying than genuinely making a difference to someone else who really needs your help – I’m just saying that if there are things in your life you don’t like, and something that you really, really want, take action while you still can.
Thursday 19 April 2007
Photo Day
So our baby had its first picture taken the other day, by ultrasound. I was surprised to see how much detail there actually was – I was fully expecting to see some sort of grainy blob wherein the ultrasound operator would point out various features and I’d nod along pretending to have seen it, but secretly not being able to tell which end was which. But no, there was a clearly visible head, and two arms and legs, and some finger movement was visible, and you could even see a rather well formed spinal column and all. The best bit, though, was the little heartbeat which I thought exceptionally cool.
The good news is that everything seems to be in order, and we are not having twins or triplets.
I did try to work out if it is a boy or a girl. Let me just say that I saw no evidence to suggest that we are having a boy. Apparently, though, my efforts to work it out were pointless as it all looks pretty much the same at this early stage. We aren’t planning to find out before their actual birth, but I thought, hey, if I can figure it out from here then good for me, and I’ll keep my findings to myself.
Stubborn, though, just like Mum and Dad. They had found a comfortable position, and they were sticking with it. Nothing at all would convince them to move around so they could have their picture taken from the other side. A household with two stubborn parents and a stubborn child, what could possibly go wrong?
I was thinking, though, that when they are born I will be turning 27 myself, and realistically, when they are older, they will have no memory of me that has me at anything younger than about 30 to 32. And it’s really odd to think that they will have no idea what I was like as a kid, what I was like as a teenager, what Mum and Dad did before they were born, or anything like that. In fact, those things hadn’t occurred to me about my own parents until recently – you just sort of assume that your parents were always the way they are now, and not that they might have been different before you were born, and have different views to the ones they hold now, and do different things on a weekend and so on.
But no, your parents were probably people just like you once. Does that mean you’ll turn into them?
I once read somewhere that you’ve turned into your Dad when you set aside a stick specifically for stirring paint with.
I have several of those already. Does that mean I’m now even more like my Dad than my Dad is?
The good news is that everything seems to be in order, and we are not having twins or triplets.
I did try to work out if it is a boy or a girl. Let me just say that I saw no evidence to suggest that we are having a boy. Apparently, though, my efforts to work it out were pointless as it all looks pretty much the same at this early stage. We aren’t planning to find out before their actual birth, but I thought, hey, if I can figure it out from here then good for me, and I’ll keep my findings to myself.
Stubborn, though, just like Mum and Dad. They had found a comfortable position, and they were sticking with it. Nothing at all would convince them to move around so they could have their picture taken from the other side. A household with two stubborn parents and a stubborn child, what could possibly go wrong?
I was thinking, though, that when they are born I will be turning 27 myself, and realistically, when they are older, they will have no memory of me that has me at anything younger than about 30 to 32. And it’s really odd to think that they will have no idea what I was like as a kid, what I was like as a teenager, what Mum and Dad did before they were born, or anything like that. In fact, those things hadn’t occurred to me about my own parents until recently – you just sort of assume that your parents were always the way they are now, and not that they might have been different before you were born, and have different views to the ones they hold now, and do different things on a weekend and so on.
But no, your parents were probably people just like you once. Does that mean you’ll turn into them?
I once read somewhere that you’ve turned into your Dad when you set aside a stick specifically for stirring paint with.
I have several of those already. Does that mean I’m now even more like my Dad than my Dad is?
On wallpaper
The background colours for this blog have an interesting ambience, I've just noted - it's rather like old wallpaper in a conservatively decorated bungalow, and I'm half expecting to also find plenty of old wooden furniture with velvet cushions and maybe some fine china sitting in a glass display cabinet.
I wouldn't decorate my house this way, but I quite like the way the blog looks.
I wouldn't decorate my house this way, but I quite like the way the blog looks.
Sometimes I'd rather be...elsewhere
From time to time, I find myself thinking that on the whole, on any given day, I’d rather be in one of the cities I visited on my honeymoon trip to Europe and Japan last year. It’s usually a different city each time – Rome one day, Paris another day, Bologna once in a while.
Actually, let’s stop that right there. The main reason I liked Bologna is that they have a café called La Nutelleria. As the name suggests, it’s a Nutella-themed café, so everything – crepes, ice cream, biscuity things etc all have Nutella in them. We went there, just to see what it was all about, and while I think we pretty clearly understood what the idea was, the guy in front of us in the queue clearly didn’t:
“I’d like an ice cream, thanks. What flavours do they come in other than nutella?”
“They only come in nutella”.
“Only in nutella?!”
But I digress. Sometimes Tokyo, sometimes Dublin, and so on.
One place I have to admit I didn’t think too much of was London, but I’m starting to wonder if I didn’t really give it a fair go. For one thing, we went directly from Paris to London, and in terms of aesthetics at least, that’s right up there with looking at a Rembrandt first and then wondering why you’re not overly impressed with a crayon drawing immediately afterwards, or with driving a Ferrari F430 and then finding your Kia a little below par. London is not a particularly attractive city, and I think the problem is all the brown brick. But then, maybe that’s the charm of the place which I missed because I’d just had my mind blown by Paris. But apart from that, I also found London hideously expensive when travelling on the Aussie dollar, the hotel we stayed in was crap, they wouldn’t let me in to the Houses of Parliament (I’m a sad case who visits Parliament pretty well anywhere that has a Westminster system, so so far I’ve been to Parliament House in Canberra - Federal and ACT Legislative Assembly - Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Wellington, and only didn’t go to the ones in Paris and Rome when I walked past them because both of those cities have better things to do), and the shower made a pretty good attempt at killing me. Let’s digress again on to that one.
So there I was, having a shower in one of those awful showers-in-a-bath that are just an accident waiting to happen. The hotel was pretty dodgy – the fire extinguishers were missing, the windows wouldn’t shut properly, many of the lightbulbs didn’t work, that sort of thing. I slipped, dropped the soap which made a loud noise, and did that whole trying-to-get-grip-shuffle that you do when you’re on something with no traction at all like ice. In one of those slow-motion moments, I decided the only thing I could do was grab the folding shower screen and hope that I didn’t rip it out of the wall, as that would surely end with my being killed.
Fortunately, it held up and I was able to steady myself. But that sort of thing coloured my experience of London, and I don’t think I gave it a fair go.
I liked the rest of England, though – well, at least the parts we saw, which were basically Bath and York. But I couldn’t help but think there was probably no real reason to visit, because all of the good things about British culture – good music, good TV shows of the type that the BBC produces, Jaguars, Aston Martins, tea, and so on – are all readily available here in Australia. Admittedly the whole English Gentleman thing that I do also quite like isn’t really available here, but it’s not as though you can visit the country and just converse with some polite chaps for a few weeks.
I think I need to go again, and do Britain properly, because after watching far too much Top Gear over the past few months, there do seem to be a lot more interesting places than just the ones I went and saw. I almost certainly need to spend more than four days trying to see the entire country, I think.
(Incidentally, Top Gear is the only thing that has ever made me think that living in England might be a good idea – for the sole reason that, if you start in London and drive for a few hours, you could for instance spend your weekend in Paris, or any one of a number of interesting places in Europe, with no real effort. If I start here and drive all day, I’ll just end up in Adelaide or Brisbane, which are not that different to here).
Actually, let’s stop that right there. The main reason I liked Bologna is that they have a café called La Nutelleria. As the name suggests, it’s a Nutella-themed café, so everything – crepes, ice cream, biscuity things etc all have Nutella in them. We went there, just to see what it was all about, and while I think we pretty clearly understood what the idea was, the guy in front of us in the queue clearly didn’t:
“I’d like an ice cream, thanks. What flavours do they come in other than nutella?”
“They only come in nutella”.
“Only in nutella?!”
But I digress. Sometimes Tokyo, sometimes Dublin, and so on.
One place I have to admit I didn’t think too much of was London, but I’m starting to wonder if I didn’t really give it a fair go. For one thing, we went directly from Paris to London, and in terms of aesthetics at least, that’s right up there with looking at a Rembrandt first and then wondering why you’re not overly impressed with a crayon drawing immediately afterwards, or with driving a Ferrari F430 and then finding your Kia a little below par. London is not a particularly attractive city, and I think the problem is all the brown brick. But then, maybe that’s the charm of the place which I missed because I’d just had my mind blown by Paris. But apart from that, I also found London hideously expensive when travelling on the Aussie dollar, the hotel we stayed in was crap, they wouldn’t let me in to the Houses of Parliament (I’m a sad case who visits Parliament pretty well anywhere that has a Westminster system, so so far I’ve been to Parliament House in Canberra - Federal and ACT Legislative Assembly - Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Wellington, and only didn’t go to the ones in Paris and Rome when I walked past them because both of those cities have better things to do), and the shower made a pretty good attempt at killing me. Let’s digress again on to that one.
So there I was, having a shower in one of those awful showers-in-a-bath that are just an accident waiting to happen. The hotel was pretty dodgy – the fire extinguishers were missing, the windows wouldn’t shut properly, many of the lightbulbs didn’t work, that sort of thing. I slipped, dropped the soap which made a loud noise, and did that whole trying-to-get-grip-shuffle that you do when you’re on something with no traction at all like ice. In one of those slow-motion moments, I decided the only thing I could do was grab the folding shower screen and hope that I didn’t rip it out of the wall, as that would surely end with my being killed.
Fortunately, it held up and I was able to steady myself. But that sort of thing coloured my experience of London, and I don’t think I gave it a fair go.
I liked the rest of England, though – well, at least the parts we saw, which were basically Bath and York. But I couldn’t help but think there was probably no real reason to visit, because all of the good things about British culture – good music, good TV shows of the type that the BBC produces, Jaguars, Aston Martins, tea, and so on – are all readily available here in Australia. Admittedly the whole English Gentleman thing that I do also quite like isn’t really available here, but it’s not as though you can visit the country and just converse with some polite chaps for a few weeks.
I think I need to go again, and do Britain properly, because after watching far too much Top Gear over the past few months, there do seem to be a lot more interesting places than just the ones I went and saw. I almost certainly need to spend more than four days trying to see the entire country, I think.
(Incidentally, Top Gear is the only thing that has ever made me think that living in England might be a good idea – for the sole reason that, if you start in London and drive for a few hours, you could for instance spend your weekend in Paris, or any one of a number of interesting places in Europe, with no real effort. If I start here and drive all day, I’ll just end up in Adelaide or Brisbane, which are not that different to here).
Wednesday 18 April 2007
Blog title clearly inaccurate
The more astute readers among you will have noted that, despite the title, this blog is not, in fact, blank as such. Well done to you. It is, however, a corruption of what is possibly my best-known catchphrase, if not my only catchphrase, which is Large Blank Space, like so:
Large Blank Space
However, I used to have a blog called that, and after I canned it, someone else moved into the space and as far as I can tell, set up a bogus blog full of ads that Blogger is now looking at canning for violations of the Terms of Service. So I might move to that address later on, or I may not.
Rather than tell you what this blog will cover in great detail (which is likely to be, ooh, cars, the impending birth of my first child, and random amusing things that happen to me, as well as my thoughts on the world at large, and so on), I’ll tell you what this blog definitively won’t cover:
Politics – as I have very firmly held views on this subject and anyone who disagrees with me is clearly an idiot, so that would just be a waste of everyone’s time, and;
What I do for a living – because it’s the sort of thing you will either wholeheartedly support or violently oppose, and I don’t want to enter into that debate with you (or get fired).
I’ve also decided that I won’t bother switching on the ‘clearance’ function for the comments, so if you comment, it will go up straight away. Yes, I know that will probably lead to it getting spammed, but hopefully some of that spam will make for good satirical fodder, or at the very least, be totally irrelevant so I propose that we just let it happen and have some fun with it.
So there you go. I give this whole caper three months, tops.
Large Blank Space
However, I used to have a blog called that, and after I canned it, someone else moved into the space and as far as I can tell, set up a bogus blog full of ads that Blogger is now looking at canning for violations of the Terms of Service. So I might move to that address later on, or I may not.
Rather than tell you what this blog will cover in great detail (which is likely to be, ooh, cars, the impending birth of my first child, and random amusing things that happen to me, as well as my thoughts on the world at large, and so on), I’ll tell you what this blog definitively won’t cover:
Politics – as I have very firmly held views on this subject and anyone who disagrees with me is clearly an idiot, so that would just be a waste of everyone’s time, and;
What I do for a living – because it’s the sort of thing you will either wholeheartedly support or violently oppose, and I don’t want to enter into that debate with you (or get fired).
I’ve also decided that I won’t bother switching on the ‘clearance’ function for the comments, so if you comment, it will go up straight away. Yes, I know that will probably lead to it getting spammed, but hopefully some of that spam will make for good satirical fodder, or at the very least, be totally irrelevant so I propose that we just let it happen and have some fun with it.
So there you go. I give this whole caper three months, tops.
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