Jizz Fashion

Just couldn't resist taking a photo of this shop near Town Hall in downtown Sydney:



I can only guess that the hapless store owner consulted the Macquarie Dictionary which only lists the non-crude meaning of the word "jizz". (Macquarie Dictionary online requires a subscription to access, but you can see both meanings of the word at Wikipedia's Wiktionary.)

Another post for no reason

Hey there. Just to prove I'm still here too (and sniffling but forgi already complained about that for both of us), here is a post about nothing much. Well okay, there is a little bit of news - I'm now an uncle! My brother Greg and his lovely wife Julie just had a baby girl named Nancy. Yay!

Also, we just visited Canberra and saw lots of old friends and some family (well just Rachel's family because mine were not at home during that week - nice timing Ben!) There is the biggest economic crash since the great depression - and Barack Obama is going to win the whitehouse because of it. I won the last two Magic sealed tournaments I went in, both Shards release tournaments, which is a first for me - yay me! I also just got my CDs printed at long last (my plans to do that pre-date this blog! and go back to "cubins" our other blog) - also go to lastfm.com and search for me as "entrippy" if you would like to hear and/or download the music I wrote (it's free!!!)

Oh, and I've got NFI (N stands for No and I stands for Idea) as to whether or not now is a good time to buy a house!

That is all! Happy now!? Jeez Louise!

Does anyone care?

I've had a complaint that we never update this blog anymore. Sorry about that. We do sometimes add photos to facebook, but somehow we are a little over the whole online thing (I know, I'm as shocked as you are). Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of this, we were on leave last week and I didn't read ANY web-comic til Friday. (My current list of comics I read regularly is 25 comics long, which should give you an idea of how into them I usually am.)

So anyway, we have not been doing anything particularly exciting lately. Mostly we have been sick. Just colds and viral tummy bugs and colds and frankly we are sick of being sick. We work and spend the weekend trying to get well enough to work again. "What a bunch of boring wingers" you are thinking to yourself... Well now you know the other reason we haven't been writing on the blog.

More updates when we have anything to say!

GetUp on Fuel

Here is one of GetUp's more amusing ads, this time about the government's new "FuelWatch" program, that forces petrol retailers to publish their prices on the web 24 hours in advance. Some would prefer the money to set up this scheme to go to, say, renewable energy research...

As requested by Mr Bee.

What does Rachel do at work?
Important science....



(admire my awesome photoshopping skills, this is harder to make than it looks!)

What's been happening?

I thought it might be time for an update!

It is getting colder here and we have little oil heaters in two rooms (no central heating). We have a lot more furniture (much of it from Ikea) but some of the stuff is still in boxes... I have still not made it to the ice-rink (which is on my way to/from work). BUT we got B a Wii for his b'day so we have been getting some exercise with that! Also I walk to work which is lovely at the moment.

Since getting here I have submitted two grant applications (well, one was an expression of interest), and nearly nearly got ethics approval for my main set of studies. I have started running a smaller one (that was able to be made as an amendment to the overall group ethics). I also attended a conference in Perth and gave a seminar. Phew!

In terms of fun stuff we have been to two concerts and also been to dinner in the city a couple of times. We saw the Chemical Brothers, and also Air. Air was at the Opera House concert hall which meant no dancing but was spectacular visually. We also went to Melbourne for a friends 30th and caught up with a range of people, so that was tops!

I have four rainbow lorikeets, two currawongs and two ravens that come to be fed (only the lorikeets eat out of our hands which is probably a good thing... check out the links to a look at the beaks on the others!) The lorikeets pretty much only like grapes, the currawong will also eat some other fruit but prefer grapes and the ravens eat almonds... We haven't been game to feed the Kookaburras because they require meat!

Things we miss in Canada

Other than our friends, the thing we are missing most is the Dundas shops!
Particularly we miss Picone's, the Horn of Plenty, the cheese shop (whatever it is really called), the tea shop, Cumbrae's, and Taylor's tea rooms.

Things that we are finding hard to get here that were easy to get there
Kale (apparently they used to try and sell it, but no one really liked it)
Salsa (there is one brand in the supermarket and some expensive fresh one's in the deli section)
Good Tortillas (although we can get other flat breads that are better for toasted sandwiches)
Hemp seeds (the kind you eat, not plant to smoke! I may have to try and order them online)
Sausages that have more spices than just salt.

Also, it's really nice to have shops where people KNOW you, at least by sight. So if you see any of the folks from these shops please say "Hi" from us!

On the up side, we can really easily get nice Asian veggies at our local fruit shop, plus lots of lovely fruit, and we can get hormone free grain fed chicken which is NOT the same as the organic stuff (costs mid-price, people in the shops in Canada had never heard of it).

Now I KNOW that it is possible to get some of these things in Australia, we just have to find the right shop. The mega mall near us doesn't have quite the range. When we lived in Belconnen, Canberra, there was a place at the markets called Eco Meats that sold the yummiest Kangaroo sausages... Mmm skippy... we can't get THAT in Canada!

Still, if we could find a brunch local like Taylor's we would be very happy!

Margaret's Music Certificate at UNSW

Hi!

Some quick photos of me and Rachel with my Aunt Margaret, my Grandma Stella and my Uncle Stephen with friends and family at the John Clancy Auditorium where Margaret received her AMusA in singing. That's a big deal! It's one of the highest awards you can get in your instrument (in this case voice), and she already has one in piano as well.

They came down from Moree (which is a day and a half to two day's drive) for the occasion. Margaret is easy to spot with the scholar's robes, Gran has the red and white shirt, and Steve is the guy who isn't me.

From let to right: Anita, Leonie, Eileen, Steve, me, Margaret, Stella, Kathy (behind Stella), and Rachel. Eileen's sister Kathleen is taking the photo I think (we scanned these in from printed photos Margaret sent in the mail).

Names

Hey.

So we're trying to think of names for people. There are lots of really great names out there like Norelle, Sharelle, Cherise, Kevin, Gavin, Bevan and so on.

We think there aren't enough good names out there and we should add a few new ones.

How about Bavin for a boy's name? Can also be spelled Bavon.

Or Caveron? Maybe with a K?

Beveridge sounds like a good girl's name.

Gablin for a guy? Perhaps Gammin.

I think Gavrilon would also work.

Tell us if you've heard a really great name lately that you think more people should use.

Lane Cove National Park

Hi there!

So we're getting more settled in our new place in Macquarie Park. We have a dining table now so we don't have to use computers on the floor. We also have wireless so we can both connect to internet at the same time (wow progress!) A couch is going to be delivered some time in March. Our belongings from Canada still haven't arrived which is starting to worry us, but hopefully it's just Australian customs being slow/thorough.

My job is good. Really hard actually, in the technical sense. I don't recall being as mentally taxed for quite some time - the HWDSB job required quite a lot of political manoeuvring to get stuff done, but the maths was dead simple. I'm kinda glad to not have to worry so much about the politics any more - when you're surrounded by others officers of the same profession (in my case statistics), you don't have to work so hard just to keep people convinced that your point of view is relevant. You can actually spend time getting stuff done instead.

Anyway, this post was actually meant to be more about our backyard. Our "friends" have visited a few more times...

...as well as other neighbours who visited this morning. They are making a killing with all the litle lizards and skinks around...

(they were about 3 metres away in these shots, and the one at the top was eyeing me suspiciously and trying to decide if I was a serious threat). A bit after this, three of them roosted on another branch nearby and did their maniacal laugh all together. Very nice!

Other wildlife is a little more scary:

These are orb spiders. They're supposedly not dangerous (as opposed to say a funnelweb spider whose bite can kill you), but orb spiders build these great big webs between two trees that it's really easy to walk into accidentally. The main web lines are this weird yellow colour and they're really strong - like guy ropes. I got as close as I dared to this guy - their body is maybe as big as your little finger up to the first knuckle.

Mike and Jan visited with another car-load of our junk (which they kindly stored for us while we were in Canada) and we had a walk around down toward the river. It's a nice spot, but pretty hard to get around. You have to do some bush bashing (no, nothing to do with the American presidency).

The weather has cooled off a lot. Summer seems to have passed us by mostly, thanks to La Nina. Still, I'm told that Sydney does really great winters, in terms of mildness.

We're going to see the Chemical Brothers at the Sydney Exhibition Centre on Friday coming up, and we've heard that Air are coming to the Sydney Opera House in April. So we're making the most of living in Australia's biggest city. Yay!

--

This post was brought to you by Mr Random with cheese.

Grants and Rants

Hi everyone!

Just to let you know I AM still alive, but I have been busy writing a grant. That goes in on Monday so I should become more sociable again. :)

In other news I would just like to say don't ever ever use DHL as a courier because the are the most useless people in the world!
We had problems with them in Canada so I almost didn't use them again, but foolishly I thought it might be different here. BUT NO!
They apparently tried to deliver it when I was HERE, and there was no little note left. AND they have no phone numbers on the web. So I sent a little message through their web site asking them to give me contact details for the local people. The guy was very apologetic, but didn't give me any phone number. So I tried to stay home a little later today, and missed them by an hour! Again NO NOTE, but they did leave a phone number so I range them up. They were very NICE, but said it was their policy only to make two delivery. AND WHERE THE HELL IS THE NOTE?? Lumpy thinks they are trying to deliver to the wrong place (despite having our address correct). It's true we are a little hard to find, but a two different sets of delivery people as well as Australia post manged to find us. In short, THEY SUCK.

Ok, I'm done now. Back to the grant. :P

Wildlife

So it seems that we've moved into some sort of bird sanctuary.

These are rainbow lorikeets and I don't believe I've ever seen them so tame. Someone around here must be feeding them regularly. They showed up at our balcony this afternoon and more or less demanded to be fed something. Rachel has a grape which one particularly bold lorikeet is eating out of her hand here.

Our new place is really cool! It backs onto the Lane Cove National Park - which is part of the reason why the wildlife is right on top of us. We've also seen and heard the kookaburras:

and currawongs

and other wildlife...

all from our living room balcony.

Wot? No more grapes?

Bye!

B

A quick update

Hi there

We still don't have internet at home yet, so just a quick one...

I've started at work at the Sydney ABS office and all's well. Rachel started at Macquarie Uni too. We're just in that inbetween stage where we are living in a mostly unfurnished house, and we're slowly acquiring things. Our new futon arrived on Friday so at least we've got something comfortable to sleep on (we had been sleeping on spare matresses that Rachel's folks brought up from Canberra - and may I say how much easier it is to do this when parents are within driving distance!).

We should get the net within the next week or two - Telstra just have to send us the new ADSL modem.

Anyway, now we're going shopping for a couch! It will be better when there's somewhere other than the carpet to sit on!

At least we have a great view over the Lane Cove National Park - we could hear the kookaburas laughing last night which was good!

Bye!

10 things we noticed about Australia having been in Canada for 2 years

Hey there!

So we've been back a week and already we've bought a car, bought Sim cards for our old mobiles, caught up with our respective families, gone shopping for new work clothes (B), got haircuts, visited financial planners (F), driven to Sydney to visit 7 possible rental properties, and completed full applications for 5 of them. I also snuck in a day at the Magic Sneak Peek Morningtide tournament on Sunday (no I didn't do particularly well but it was fun).

2 years is a long time to be away from your home country as it turns out. We had some fairly strong impressions about things when we got here, including a few things we had forgotten...

1. It's really really bright here! The summer sun in Aus is really strong (and it's easy to get sunburnt). I didn't seriously need my sunglasses in Canada - and the locals probably thought I was some sort of pratt for wearing them. Canada (and more to the point, UK) really has dim winters because the sun just never gets that high in the sky.

2. The internet is really slow! Don't know yet if it's just the various internet plans that our folks are using, but it does seem just that the technology isn't up to muster compared to the cable link up we had in Canada. Part of the problem of course is that Canberra never really got their broadband cable rollout sorted. We'll find out soon whether or not Sydney is any better.

3. Cars adhere to the speed limit. It was really noticeable driving up to Sydney that all the cars were doing pretty much right on the 110km/h limit, as though they'd get booked for doing mroe than about 5km/h over. Of course, that was the Australia Day long weekend with double demerit points if you got caught, so everyone was being extra careful. On the way home from Syd, we saw at least 3 speed traps, including a purple-hot-rod-unmarked-cop-car that shot past us on the way to an arrest.

4. The air is clean! Even with a really bad head cold, I could still smell the eucalypt around the Macquarie University area. I really don't miss the smog in Hamilton and Toronto - sorry guys, there's no polite way to put this - your province stinks!

5. Tap water is soft and tastes pretty much like rainwater. This makes tea that is way better and doesn't have the weird scum that floats on top. (I actually thought the scum was something about the tea bags in Canada, but I'm told that it's the hard water there and I believe it!)

6. Local news, instead of being obsessed with violent crime (Hamilton Spectator I'm looking at you) is obsessed with violent car accidents (eg Ten News on the TV). Blowed if I know why - I don't think our road toll is any greater than Canada, nor is our violent crime rate any lower. And I don't know anyone in either country who enjoys hearing about people dying violently. Go figure.

7. Temperature inside houses is much more uneven. It might cool off in the evening and, instead of turning up the central heating as we would in Canada, you just go and put a jumper on. Of course, this is just a product of the generally more temperate climate in Canberra - and the lack of pressure for houses to have good insulation. In Canada, it is way too cold to even consider not heating your house in winter. Given this, I'm mystified at reported figures showing that Australians use more energy per capita than Canadians - where do we make up the shortfall?

8. Our newly acquired car is a 1995 Mazda 121. A 12-year-old car in Canada would have had it's bottom fall out due to rust from the salt on the roads. In Australia, cars survive to a much older age. My first car, a 1977 Datsun 180B, was older than I am!

9. Fresh food!!! Mangos taste awesome! Also, KFC Zinger burgers are actually spicy!

10. Do we really sound like that? 2 years is apparently long enough to forget what your average Australian accent sounds like. We really are a bunch of twangy yokels! How can anyone take us seriously? I mean that in an endearing way of course - they're our yokels!

Bonus point: At the Canberra Games Convention last weekend (CANCON), I saw a biker-Dad with his four boys who had matching mullets (known in Canada as "hockey hair" according to Wikipedia). I felt patriotic.

--

This "10 things" post is dedicated to the memory of Heath Ledger

back in the 'berra

Hey there!

I've decided that we're going to start a new blog to coincide with our return to Australia. Just as our Canada blog cubins was intended for Aussies back at home, this blog is intended for some of the lovely Canadians we met during our time in Ontario. We'll be posting photos and updates about how we're getting on as we establish ourselves back in Aus, and just general insights and things we think of that might be of interest.

There's way too much stuff going on at the moment ... hmmm where to start ...