I hope it is not...

Hi there,

A few days ago it was Dolly's birthday she turned four...
So among other things we took her to her favourite restaurant, a buffet place, where she can have all the ice cream, jelly and cake that she want, after the prawns and some mashed potatoes...
Yes four years olds loves some strange mix sometimes...

Any way, in the middle of our dinner, my mobile phone rang, and it was one of our neighbours calling to know where we were, as he said that he wanted to wish a happy birthday to the birthday girl.
So I passed the mobile to my little one and she spoke animatedly with him and passed me back the phone, I told the neighbour that we would be back home shortly and hang up.
Then my child looked at me excitedly and said: "he told me he has a birthday present for me!"
So I asked if she knew what it was?
She said no, and suddenly become very calm, with a worried look on her face...
I asked her what was going on?
And she said: "I hope it is not beer"...

I had to reassure her saying that I was sure that he would not gives her some beer.
But I honestly do not know where this come from, as we are not beer drinkers...
And yes the neighbours drink beer sometimes on the weekend, but as she has never been left alone with them, I do know that she has never been offer some...
But she was very worried about it for a second...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

Bad luck car crash.

Hi there,

So last Sunday I was in some sort of little car crash while on my way to my Unicycle lesson.
Bad luck more than anything else, but as always I had my seat belt and that I am sure, made a difference in the final result.

I have to thank Ms K, my unicycle instructor, as she was quickly on the spot after I called her to say that I would have to cancel the day lesson.
She was very supportive and took care of our car by getting it under cover at her place.
That was a great help at a time when Ms Frugal and I needed it.
Ms K acted as a true friend, at a not so easy time in her own life, thank you for that.

Ms. Frugal did a post of the story on her blog, so I won't write about it for too long.

Basically I was just slowing down to let a big Blue Tongue cross the road when a guy hit the back of my little car with his four wheels drive.
This will teach me to care for our wild life...
Just kidding...

The truth is that i am just very happy to still be able to walk on my feet.
I am just a bit worried about the whiplash now.

Even if we don't have a car any more, as it is a total write-off...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

So much rain that it was a storm

Hi there,

Today we had a big storm...
As we had been flooded on a similar day in the last wet season, I rushed home from work during my lunch break, and the rain was pretty strong.

Our street started to get flooded...

Water from one side of the street to the other.

Then the water was rising and cars could not go down the street anymore.

I started to think about sand bags...

So I went and dug some sand from the little one sandpit and made some sand bags from it. Got drenched doing it.
Started to put them in front of the door, but the water was starting to go down.

So we did not get flooded this time. Yet I have trouble to understand how the council can say that every thing is alright and under control when we get either flooded or nearly flooded every years.

Where is a good planer when we need one?
This remind me of a song from the Pet Shop Boys that go a bit like this: Where is a policeman when we need one...
Strange how the brain works and makes some association sometimes...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

Blogs VS. Reality TV.

Hi there,

For a few days now, I have been wondering about a possible link between the huge numbers of blogs on the web, and the popularity of reality TV shows...
Could we find a nearly filial relationship between the two medium?

Are most of personal blogs just a cheap and maybe more direct, less edited and prepped  experience than Survivor, X Factor, Big Brother, Tool Academy, Keeping Up with the Kardashians and other?
Is this what makes the success of today's blog phenomenon?

From a very long time people have been writing personal diary, but since how long have they been willing to share out these diary with who ever want to read them?
With very little control on the potential or actual readers, yet still being excited by personal rating in terms of visitors, followers and comments.

Some blogs are very personal and describe some very private thoughts or situation, and would in very recent times have been seen as either exhibitionism or breach of privacy.
Are personal blogs another chip taken from the mantle of privacy?
Or are blogs authors always in control of what is written and shown on the different blogs to be found out there?

Is having a successful blog a way for the commoner, to attain a semblance of fame aspired by so many in our celebrity driven society?

Certainly I do not have the answers for all of these questions. But this is some of the things that keep my brain busy lately...
I am sure that someone must have done a PhD on the topic, I would be interested to read about it.

In fact it is a bit like life, so many question, an so few certitude...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

How cruel is that?

Hi there,

So two days ago, I was quietly plodding along at work, when this message from my mate Sheeby came in:

Hey mate,

I was at East Point cliffs all morning...there are a lot of fish around!

I had the worst luck today.

First I hooked up on to a GT and then it spat it just after. Another had a go at the lure (a stick bait) but missed and flew a couple of meters into the air.

Next there were good macks around the rocks. Some were easily a meter long. I had a live gar out and it kept getting bitten in half just before the hook! A guy and his son fishing beside me were having the same problem but they eventually hooked and landed a 1m spanish mackeral.
I had a big queenfish chasing my gar around but it wouldnt take it! Agggggh!

Once the tide dropped right down ( about 3 foot deep over the flats) there were big fish cruising around. I had a live bait out which got smashed by a small mack when I was on the phone and I missed it. I put a bit of dead gar on and casted near a dark shadow swimming past. The shadow turned and ate it and I was on. It was a BIG barra and it charged out over the flats, stipping a good 50m off the saltist...The 60lb LEADER snapped!!!! 

I think anyone within 500m would have heard me swearing.
The mackeral must've bit the line and weakened it and I hadnt noticed.

Ended up with two huge longtom. 

I have a score to settle tomorrow.

Oh How is work 

I just replied: "Work is great thank you!"

Now how mean and cruel is that to send me this kind of message while I am trying to get some work done...

Ok, he is the guy who gave me a just caught Mackerel last weekend... Still... I then spend the day thinking about fishing.

The following day, I got a call at work from another mate, to go fishing in the evening , with a third bloke.

So we went to a river that I had never fished before...

Well, let me tell you that the place had Big Crocs written all over it, and around 10 billions of hungry mozzies... Very hard for me to relax and enjoyed the moment, thinking about what might be lurking under the muddy waters.

And between the three of us we didn't raised a single scale...

We said that it was because of the storm we went trough on our way to the river, it had cooled down the water temperature and shut down the fishes...

View from the car on our way to the river...

Good fishermen always have a valid excuse...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Don't go there!

Hi there,

Yesterday morning as I was leaving the nest to go to work, my little one asked me: "Are you going to work Daddy?"
I replied: "Yes, and today I will even go to the hospital for a meeting with.."
And she started to cry and said:" No Daddy don't go there! Don't go to the hospital, I don't want you to go to the hospital..."
So I had to tell her, that I was not going to see a doctor and that I would not get a big needle in my back, that I was going there for an important meeting to talk about data storage and archival... That it was ok that I was fine and happy to go there...

Poor little thing, she's afraid of doctors.
Which I can understand, as most of the time she had seen them so far it was for her injections...
It is funny/strange the things that we take for granted and easy but that can still be terribly scary for a little one...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.