Modern Manners

There is a guy in our office. Lets call him Dave. He always seem to have whatever cold or bug is going around and coughing. The thing that really bothers me is that he never puts his hand over his mouth when he coughs.

Even my 5yr old can do it, so why can't he. Now I don't mind the odd out in the open cough - but I'll always put my hand over my mouth when close to people, but Dave won't even do it when standing next to you.

Poos me to tears. I am blaming him for making me sick.

Real fresh Organic fruit !

So we are on this Organic thing at the moment. We have a local company that you can buy $35 boxes of mixed fruit and veg and it gets delivered to your door. Now this stuff is fresh (and certified Organic), but over the weekend we found just how fresh and free of pesticides it really is.

My 5yr old likes to go to the fruit bowl and help herself to what ever is in there. I was in the shed working on a repair when I heard a big scream. I went outside to investigate to find the Mrs with the fruit bowl covered in a tea towel. WTF I thought. Turns out a little visitor had hitched a ride on some bananas. A little green frog.

So of course I got the job of using a stick to get it out the bowl and set it free in the garden.

So if you hear of some frog plauge taking over Sydney it wasn't me....

everything will kill you (eventually)

Found this today - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7490202.stm - Tofu is now bad for you.

and apparently brocolli stops altzeimers. Last week it was chocolate or wine or something else.

Bloody hell. I'm not going to open the paper anymore as everything is either really bad or really good. Then every few months the tables are turned and its back to being really good and really bad.

We're all going to hell in a handbasket so I'll eat what I bloody like. I have a tinfoil hat to stop altzeimers - no wait didn't they say Aluminium can cause it....

life is like.....

How come the pack of lollies behind the one you just bought in the vending machine always looks like a better selection than the one you got?

Freaky things people do in their cars

So I am waiting at a set of traffic lights this morning and I look in the rear view mirror to see the chick in the car behind me using a set of Eyelash curlers. Why would you do that in rush hour traffic.
Why ?

New Camry Model

So I was driving to work this morning when I noticed a Camry parked on a foot path and half blocking a junction. Having a closer look it was a model I had never seen before - a Camry Intrigue. Oh yes as there is nothing more intriging to me that the actions of a camry driver.

I look forward to the release of the Camry No-Indicator and Camry Can't-use-mirrors models in the near future.

Irony or Karma

Well here I am in an interesting paradox. I spend my life bashing a certain brand and model of motor car and harping on about how everyone should be greener, and then what happens?

THIS !!
There is a deal in the pipeline to build Toyota Hybrids in Australia. The model chosen. Camry. Nooooooooooooooooo !

I wonder if they come with a driver education program?

Displays as sales tools

There is a 4wd shop round the corner from where I live that has a display in its window that has fascinated me for some months now, mainly due to its pathetic nature.

Its a display of LED fittings for your trailer / 4wd / boat, but the problem is that half of them have dead leds or don't work properly. What a great example of effective marketing ! (Note the red and white unit at the top left - yeah I know its a bad photo but its a stupid phone camera..)

Here is a great product that works really well in the window of a shop, so it will be great on you outdoor, full sun, all weather application.

First rule of advertising - if it doesn't work don't show it ! Or at least don't plug it in and call it an engineering sample.

Anzac Flapjack

So we had ANZAC day here recently and I though I'd do the right thing and make some ANZAC biscuits. Unfortunately I misread the recipe and used too much bicarb of soda. Now bicarb of soda (or Sodium Bicarbonate if you prefer) is used to make the biscuits rise and expand. Guess what happens if you use too much..


I present the Anzac flapjack. It was about 4mm thick and spread across the entire baking tray. Tasted OK though..

Earth Hour

So tonight is Earth Hour and we are all encouraged to turn off our lights for the hour.

Well heres a thought for you. Most Foxtel boxes draw close to 90w at all times. So if you want to really make a difference tonight turn off your pc and unplug it. And your foxtel box, although I will miss the way it warms the tv cabinet.

Driving me mad !

So I had a bit of an 'incident' with my bloved Honda CR-V a few weeks ago. The clutch basically decided to screw with the gear box and poped a linkage in the engine. I am not very car minded, so it could just be what the mechanics tell you so they can charge $1500 to fix it.

Anyway I got a loaner CR-v (Luckily not one of the new ones which are butt ugly and look like a nightmare to reverse park.)

Thing is the loaner was an automatic. Nice relaxing drive to work, but a couple of times I had the feeling that the car was not really under my control. As a Manual driver I will often change down early and use engine braking to control speed.
Can't do that in a Auto.

It is very easy to become a bad driver in a Auto. I wonder if they do Camrys in manual?? Nah, must all be autos..
(Ha ha interesting note that the spell checker wants to change Camrys to aneurysm - is that a sign?)

Oh the irony

So I had to pop down to Coles for some bread (no really...)
I was perusing the Soy and Linseed section when a couple of young things wandered past and stopped at the health and alternative stuff section which happened to be opposite the bread section.

"Oh my god they only have two types" I heard, so I turned round to see them looking at the weight loss pack things as they both stuffed their faces with take away chips.

I was so tempted to say something, but let it go...

Sounds of the suburbs

As you should have worked out by now I am a pretty tolerant person, but when something pushes my buttons I tend to snap.

This week its my neighbours dogs. A nice young couple moved in next to us about 6 months ago, but they have these two cattle dog things. During the day they will lock the dogs in the backyard while they are at work, and at night they will stick them out the back.

Problem is the dogs get bored - there is not much excitement in a 6 x 10m back yard for a couple of dogs. So they like to jump and bark. A favourite trick is to sit at the gate that goes down the side of the house (next to our bedroom) and bark at people passing in the street. Sometimes (3 -4 times a day) the two dogs will start barking at each other and then howling.

For christmas I got the wife an ultrasonic dog scarer which we use to make them shutup. Works quite well through the fence, but I don't see why I should need to do that at all hours to get some peace and quiet.

I was working late in the shed the other night and could hear one of the dogs walking up and down the fence line growling and trying to dig out under the fence. It would then also whack the fence with its tail which makes the whole fence vibrate and clatter.

Weird thing is these people never take the dogs out for a walk. I have never seen the dogs outside the house or backyard. When they moved in we had to get the fence repaired as they were worried that the dog could jump the fence (2.4m high colourbond) - apparently they had done it before. They also bricked up the little gap at the bottom of the fence.

I think its not only cruel, but if I have to spend an hour getting the baby back to sleep beacuse of those stupid dogs howling at each other one more time I am going to snap. I also now have a 4 year old who is scared of dogs as she thinks they will attack her.

Luckily Mrs neighbour is now up the duff so we will see how much she likes it when the stupid dogs wake up her kid 3 times a day..

Other option I though of was to work the dogs into a frenzy one day and call the RSPCA - but that would be cruel...

American Idle

So I was watching the US version of Idol on cable tonight. Let me tell you this - it is the most boring looking show in the world. bland bland blannnd.

At least the Australian version has some depth and layers to the lighting design. The US version has no leds or big effects lights like the local one with the High End Shotguns they had last season. They did however have some flashing neon.

For a country of so many people you would thing they could find someone with enough imagination to make it look good.

Modern communication

I work in an office and use all kinds of technologies to keep in touch - mobile, sms, skype and email.

Sometimes I'll ping people in the office a quick Skype message to ask how they are going or for a quick clarification on something.

Sometimes I use it to have a conversation that might be too awkward to have face to face. I did that this morning when I noticed a collegue who seemed a bit down, but I knew if I asked him face to face in an office he would probably just go - 'yeah I'm ok'. So I sent the message and got nothing back. So now how do I talk to him without mentioning it ?

Do we both ignore it and pretent it didn't happen, or do I wait till he goes somewhere and ambush him ? Hmmm, not really confortable with that.

Maybe I should just mind my own buisness, but as a friend I want to know if I could do anything to help. Sometimes I thing how great it would be to work in an office in the 60s where there were no faxes or emails or even phones. I could spent my day writing letters and reading mail people sent. Life must have been so much slower and more controlled instead of the constant blast of data and communications we are under now.

There was a promo on TV recently that stated that a child by the age of 8 had been exposed to more information that our great grandparents were exposed to in their entire lives. Thats a scary thought.