Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Thank you
Joseph says a big thank you for all his cards and Birthday presents. I think he particularly enjoyed eating his first birthday cake - how do you get cream off carpet by the way?


MrT 3/23/2004 08:33:00 am [+] : Feedback!

Jo Walk
Joseph started doing this today.

MrT 3/22/2004 09:43:00 am [+] : Feedback!

Googlewhack Connections.
Managed to get last minute tickets to Dave Gorman's GoogleWhack Adventure tonight. It was really good and the first time I got the chance to look inside the new Sydney Theatre.

It was fairly busy, but got even busier for the next show that started around at about 10pm. The next show was dedicated to up and coming new UK comedian, Ross Noble. I have to say I vaguely recognized him, but haven't really seen any of this stuff. He's had a couple of radio programmes on Radio 4, which you can still listen to here..

When I got home, Vic and I both squirmed through the Parky interview with Meg Ryan, very strange. Victoria noticed that Ms Ryan's pupils were very large throughout the whole interview, despite the presumably bright lighting. Perhaps she was on something.

I'm currently reading David Attenborough's autobiography - Life on Air which I'm enjoying. Although I've only got a few chapters to go and we're still only at the end of the sixties. I'm not sure whether he is going to rush through the next thirty years, or whether he plans to write a sequel.

Victoria reads about three books to my one, but has currently started The Dante Club.

MrT 3/20/2004 11:35:00 am [+] : Feedback!

St Patrick's Day Joke

An Irishman walks into a bar and orders three glasses of Guinness, drinking them one at a time. Noticing this odd ritual, the bartender explains that the beer goes flat when poured and informs the man his beer would be much fresher if he ordered one glass at a time.

The Irishman explains he began this custom with his two brothers, who have moved to America and Australia, respectively. This is their way of remembering all the time they spent drinking together.

The man becomes a regular at the pub, well-known for always ordering three beers at once. One day he walks in and orders only two beers. Assuming the worst, a hush falls among other patrons.

When the Irishman returns to the bar to order his second round, the bartender quietly offers his condolences. The man looks confused for a moment, and then explains, "No, everyone's fine. I gave up beer for lent."

MrT 3/17/2004 09:08:00 am [+] : Feedback!

The Computer Generation

Joseph is becoming increasing obsessed with the computer. If you leave him alone for a minute, he can always be found on his tip-toes, typing away and removing all our icons from the desktop.

We are convinced that he has ordered many items from eBay and I even stumbled across his very own Blog site this evening.

MrT 3/11/2004 11:54:00 am [+] : Feedback!

Chatisfaction

Here's another entry from the wordspy web site, that scans the media for the appearance of new words that have not yet been admitted to the Oxford English dictionary.

NEW
frienemy (FREN.uh.mee) n. A friend who acts like an enemy; a fair-weather or untrustworthy friend.

The lingo of lingering and lost friendship is an interesting one. To 'de-friend' is to cease contact — perhaps because you fear the person is really a 'frienemy' (veering from a friend to an enemy), or because of a reduction in 'mutual chatisfaction' (conversational enjoyment), but usually because, consciously or unconsciously, you just let it happen. To 'contract Palzheimer's' means to let a great pal drift from the mind, as a result of the passage of time, lack of time, relocation, a new 'friendscape' (field of acquaintances) and/or changed values.
—John Hind, "What's the word?," The Observer, December 14, 2003

MrT 3/10/2004 09:07:00 am [+] : Feedback!

Celebrate!

Went last night for birthday drinks with Mark and Aleta. We left Wendy, our favourite babysitter, with both Louis and Joseph screaming the house down. Both were fast asleep, when we returned - she's a marvel.

We had a few too many sherberts for a school night and we were both feeling a little worse for wear this morning.

Last Sunday, it was my turn to go to the pictures, and I went to see "Stuck on You", the film about co-joined twins. It's got some pretty good gags in and seemed a touch more lighter hearted than The Passion of the Christ which was also released this week, here in Australia.

Our fancy DVD broke last week and we returned it to Grace Brothers. To our surprise, they just refunded the money with no questions asked. And so now we've been thinking of all of the ways we can spend this windfall. A new fridge is currently running favourite.

MrT 3/10/2004 08:54:00 am [+] : Feedback!

John Edward
Have been thinking about the "pyschic phenomenon" John Edward this week. I suppose this was triggered by a documentary we saw at the weekend about his visit to Australia over the last few weeks.

I'm not sure if his TV shows have been aired in the UK, but for those of you who have seen them, I guess there are a few possibilities.

1. He is for real, can communicate with the departed and has chosen to demonstrate this in the field of entertainment.
2. He has no real ability to communicate with the dead, but personally believes he does posess the ability.
3. He has no real ability to communicate with the dead, but believes that he has a positive impact on the people who buy tickets to the shows.
4. He has no real ability to communicate with the dead, but believes he can manipulate vulnerable people to make money.

I found this quite disturbing and have read a few articles on the Internet, about his techniques that supposedly range from "Cold reading" audience members by using suggestive language and questions to "Hot reading" that actually uses personal information that has been researched prior to the events.

There are also lots of statements about careful editing, microphones in seats etc.

Ultimately though, the damning evidence lies in the fact that if you had the gift of being able to communicate with the departed, how would you choose to use it.

Would you find more out about the afterlife, try to answer some of life's big questions such as Why are we here? Where did we come from? Is there a God? Would you try to offer some comfort to the dying or to help people with terminal illnesses or to devote your time to academic philosophical studies.

Or, would you use your "gift" to tour sell-out stadiums full of people who have paid $50 a ticket to see you "read" five from 30,000 people to order relaying things that they know full well already, some fairly trivial details.

My conclusion - he's fake.

MrT 3/09/2004 02:18:00 pm [+] : Feedback!

Come back Jonny

The sun doesn't always shine in Sydney, we've had about three days of solid rain, and over the weekend too. Still, as long as it brightens up for Helen and John's visit in three weeks time, we won't complain - too much.

We are four weeks into a touch rugby competition at work that takes place each Friday afternoon at 4pm. Some of the old skills are returning, but the body is suffering a bit. I limp home each Friday evening, after stopping off at the bottle shop, to colapse on the floor, whilst Victoria makes me do my stretches. I think it's fair to say, I don't have the most supple body.

Went to the Australian Hotel last night for a sly pint of locally brewed Beez Neez and swore I saw Andy standing at the bar talking to a big group of Aussie Rugby Fans. It was the spitting image, whilst I sat and read the paper and finished my pint, I had built up this fantasy of Andy and Michelle dropping in for a surprise visit, and popping in to our local before coming round and surprising us on a Saturday evening. After ten minutes of this, I had thoroughly convinced myself, and then had to go up for a closer look. From one metre, the similarity ended and I was gutted.

Come on Andy, book those plane tickets!

It's probably a good time to get out of England anyway, what with the team losing to Ireland, it's the first time since the six nations have been on that I've been glad it's not being televised here. Still, that won't stop me copping a fair amount of grief in the office tommorrow. Come back Jonny.

MrT 3/06/2004 10:38:00 pm [+] : Feedback!

Was trying to find the long term forecast for our hols in Cairns, when I came across this:

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD for short) .

This is when the combination of short wintry days and less sunlight makes you miserable! Don't seem to have that problem in Oz.

Yes as you guessed it Scotland is pretty much the most miserable place in the United Kingdom at the moment. And let's face it even as the daylight hours grow longer, for the poor old scots, that doesn't necessarily mean more sunlight! Yep Rickets Central!

You can get it for just the UK, but it's nice to see how the rest of Europe's respiratory problems are doing. My personal favourite is the Aches and Pains forecast. Today Birmingham will be mostly achy with a few moderate shooting pains!

Just checked out aches and pains for Europe and you'll be pleased to know that most of France will be in pain for the next 24 hrs! Well to be fair they had it coming! The inventing champagne thing is only good for so long!

MrT 3/03/2004 01:59:00 am [+] : Feedback!