Off to the land of the long white cloud

We are off to New Zealand tomorrow, the land of sheep, bungy jumping and much better chocolate than Australia. Have to wake up at 4am (shudder).

Haven't planned anything - we are flying by the seat of our pants...

Will let you know how we go!

Best weekend ever

Had an absolutely awesome weekend - flew up to Sydney to see my sister Em. Also got to catch up with nb's uncle Paul. I've not really liked Sydney that much in previous visits (might have had something to do with running 14km in the City to Surf last time), but this time we got to have so much fun and really experience the place.

Had a great brunch at Cafe du Coeur and then walked around the Rocks and Darling Harbour. Also got a tour of the city via the monorail (monoraaaail! monoraaaaail!) Crapped ourselves while walking along Pyrmont Bridge, as this guy on a loudspeaker was telling everyone to get off the bridge immediately as it was about to open. People started bolting, it was so funny. After the bridge closed we then went up to the control room and talked to the operator, who was pretty passionate about his job - it was great.

Had a quiet night in watching the Drew Barrymore & Hugh Grant movie, "Music & Lyrics". I think Em put it best when she said "I think Hugh is a bit past the love interest in the rom com". It was ok for a bit of mindless fluff.

Today we wandered all around the botanic gardens, which were just beautiful. They border the harbour, so the views are phenomenal.

It was great spending the time with Em. It's so funny when I realise how similar we are in our thoughts. We love the same things, hate the same things and whenever there was something funny/weird/strange we gave each other the same smirk and sidewards glance and then cracked up. It's a sister thing that nobody else can emulate.

Always thinking of you Em - thanks for an absolutely awesome weekend. You rock.

Can program, will travel

nb just got off the phone with a UK recruiter. It wasn't even 24 hours ago that he sent his resume and they are salivating over it!! Gotta love that.

Review: Eskimo Joe

Had an absolutely fantastic night last night. Went out to dinner at Claypots in St Kilda with nb, Phuc & Bec, which was great - would highly recommend it.

Then it was just a short walk to the Palais, which was an awesome venue. Really old world and intimate. I think it felt even more intimate with the seats we had. It was the closest to the stage that I had ever experienced. A big thanks to Phuc for that one!

This was the first concert I had been to where I was looking forward to both the support act and the main feature. Little Birdy did a great job as the support act, they have a really diverse sound.

Eskimo Joe were great - they really got the crowd going. They opened up with 'Beating Like a Drum' from 'Black Fingernails Red Wine' which was awesome. The drummer did a phenomenal job through the whole show.

The best songs would have been 'From the Sea' and without a doubt 'Life is Better With You' (both from 'A Song Is A City'), which towards the end turned into a rendition of 'Weather With You' by Crowded House - absolute magic, as I loved the Crowdies.

My only complaint would be that the playlist had a similar format to the last Powderfinger concert I went to. They gee up the audience with some really fast paced songs to get everyone going and then bring it down with too many ballads. I know you want to hear a cross section of their music, I just think more thought could be put into the song order. But hey, what would I know?

I got really excited at one point, cause I thought they were going to play one of my favourite songs, which is a really old one ('Sweater'). No luck there. I even threw away all inhibitions and yelled out for it!! Much to the disgust of the little teenyboppers in front of me (and to nb, Phuc & Bec I think - heh heh).

vistasucks.com

Have had to cave to Vista. It’s like selling my soul to the devil.

Turns out that Sony is Microsoft’s bitch. The Vaio can only be used with Vista. There are no other options for other operating systems. Oh joy.

Have had to go and buy another router as Vista would not connect to the one we had, which meant I couldn't connect to the net. All good though, cause we now have a wireless router and I can surf wherever I want. Nerds paradise.

Welcome to the world...

Ziggy 2!
This little guy came into my life today and all was good in the world.

May we have lots of adventures together.

Now I just need to figure out how to get Microsoft Vista off! Cancel or allow?

Chuffed!

How chuffed was I to see this little blog list when I was lurking at one of the blogs I like to read:


I am on a list!

Better watch out, may start to sound like Sally Field in that acceptance speech: “You like me! You actually like me!” Thanks hazel :) Still new to this blogging palaver, so it made my day.

In a bit of a “blink or you’ll miss it” moment, I was on tv tonight. We were in the audience for the taping of Spicks & Specks. Some quality shots of the back of our heads.

Seeing Eskimo Joe this Friday - should be great - sit tight for a review.

Workin' 9 to 5 - just tryin' to make a livin'

Have now had 2 people ask me to forward our CVs to them as they have friends who run recruitment firms in London. Will be getting onto that toot sweet.

Have also just sent my CV to a large IT recruitment firm in London, so will wait and see what that brings.

Cirque Du Soleil

Saw the Cirque Du Soleil show “Varekai” tonight. I have never been a fan of the circus, but this was absolutely phenomenal. A truly amazing show. If you ever wanted to see an example of the true human form, you just need to look at the cast of this show. The muscle definition they had was out of this world. The ability of the performers was excellent - obviously a tremendous amount of effort goes into these shows.

The show went for a good 2 hours and we had pretty good seats. Unfortunately we were surrounded by a few kids around the ages 4-6 who ask never ending questions. Maybe it’s a parent thing where you can switch off and not hear their grating high pitched voices. I don’t have that skill. I wouldn’t have recommended it for kids under about the age of 8. This post makes me sound like the Wicked Witch of the West…."I’ll get you my pretty! cackle, cackle, cackle"

It's payback time

I wrote previously about sending travel emails – we got payback big time this week from nb’s little sis. Here are some quotes from her email:

“After our speedboat adventure from Krabi to Koh Lanta we were told that our room had been upgraded at Pimalai to a Pavillion Suite (freestanding villa on the beach with own verandah and HUGE bathroom) from a Superior Room (very basic room in the middle of nowhere)”

“The jungle and views of the beach are just breathtaking and we feel like we are the only people here!”

“We got here about lunchtime and swam and drank cocktails for the afternoon”

“Lots of love coming to you all direct from PARADISE!!!!!”

I am so fricking jealous! Now I know how it feels to be the recipient. Man, I am going to ramp up my emails/blog posts big time next time I am travelling to rub it in.

Meanwhile, we are jetsetting even more this month. We are flying up to see my little sis (awesome!) in Sydney (great!) on Jetstar from Avalon (doh!) for the weekend (bummer – should be longer). Get back on the Sunday night and fly to NZ on Wednesday morning.

Just you guys wait for the paradise emails that await you from Sydney and Auckland. Ooh yeah, you’re gonna get it.

** News flash **

15 weeks and 3 days til we are off!

(Mental note to self – figure out how to put a counter on the side bar to count down sleeps).

The idiot box or the idiot for watching?

Because I have been sick I have been watching quite a bit of daytime TV, which has been driving me bonkers. I found it a bit disturbing the other night when the only conversation I could make with nb was to tell him something funny that happened on Dr Phil that day. I realised based on his facial expression and as I was listening to the words coming out of my mouth that it wasn’t funny at all. At that moment I realised I was pathetic.

Considering I knew I couldn’t go far, I realised in my infinite wisdom that I should go to the video shop that is literally minutes from our house to make this house arrest somewhat tolerable.

Our video shop has this great little deal where you can get 8 movies for 8 bucks, including 3 new releases. So then my mind started to race about all the movies that nb never lets me get. This is because we have THE RULE. This rule states that we have to get movies that we can both enjoy (fair enough you say, or you might say screw that! I wouldn’t be fenced in by that draconian rule and just get whatever goddamn movie I want. Your choice). Therefore, we never get any sci-fi (not watching that weirdo crap – me) or any period costume dramas (no effing way – nb).

Anyway, I blame my movie selection on me still being sick and going a bit crazy with the freedom. Here are the movies and my reviews:

Wilfred Series 1 – an absolute pearler of a little series from SBS. As Molly would say, do yourself a favour and get this one. If you like dark humour, eg: Black Books and the like, you’ll like it. It’s about a girl, her boyfriend and her dog, Wilfred. Wilfred smokes bongs and drinks.

Mrs Henderson Presents – a Dame Judi Dench film that has been recommended to me quite a bit. The reviewers have never been under 50, so you can make up your own mind on this one. I liked it.

Ladies in Lavender – another Dame Judi film. It’s about 2 old sisters who live together and take in a Polish lodger. It was ok.

The Holiday – I would never have been allowed to get this movie based on THE RULE (see above). Jude Law and Kate Winslet - good, Cameron Diaz and Jack Black – woeful. This is what is known in my family as a ‘Manda Movie’. My sister Amanda thinks that if people have gone to the effort to make a movie, then it has to be at least ok, bless her cotton socks. Other examples of Manda Movies include things like ‘The Sweetest Thing’ (one of the most awful films ever to have burnt my retinas) or ‘In Her Shoes’. I hate Cameron Diaz and Jack Black – why did I get this movie again? I tolerated it to the end. Unlike Anchorman. See below.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy – I can assure you I haven’t been ill recovering from a lobotomy. That would be the only reason why a sane person would choose this movie, so I cannot explain myself. We made an attempt to watch it. 17:21 is how we went. We couldn’t even see out 18 minutes of Will Ferrell’s absolute shite attempt at comedy. What a sad little man. Absolutely woeful.

Happy Feet – always like to be up with all the animated films so I can talk the lingo with the nieces and nephews. Was a bit late on getting onto this one. Cute, but still doesn’t beat Toy Story.

Song for a Raggy Boy – haven’t watched this yet. Based on a true story about Irish boys and the Brothers that teach them at a Catholic school. It looks like this will be a pretty grim story.

Brothers Grimm – haven’t watched this one yet either. Haven’t heard good reviews, but to get to 8 movies, I was struggling. I don’t watch horror, thriller or sci-fi, so I am rather limited in my selection. It has to be comedy, drama, art house or kiddies.

Went and saw ‘The History Boys’ at the movies today. Wouldn’t rave about it. Quite self-absorbed and stereotypical. A shame, cause it had the potential to be good.

This has turned into a bit of an epic post. Makes up for me being quiet I suppose.