October 2008 Archives

ok so had *slightly* too much to drink tonight... def need a yokult... oops....

I did my tax the other week but didn't actually submit it.

So went to do it tonight and realised the password (and all previous tax returns) are in a box at the new house.

*sigh*

I've uploaded interior house photos.  Email or leave a comment if you'd like access.

So settlement on our house was today.

Needless to say we are very excited :)

Went over after work and took a hundred or two photos of the place.  Discovered you *can* actually see the tower from one of the rooms, but really only if the breeze is blowing a tree out of the way :)

The real estate agent gave us not just a bottle of champagne (Moët & Chandon baby!!) but a whole platter of yummy nibblies.  We stuck the champagne in the freezer for half an hour and have been enjoying it immensely.

It being a half year and all, we dug out the first half...



Corner bits had to be divided up evenly of course ;)

Was going to watch Toy Story tonight (cause it was on telly last night but we were busy with other things), only to remember I don't actually have it on dvd :(  (only vhs).  So that was a bit sad making.  So I went to the dvd collection and flicked through trying to think of something to watch, and came across *batteries not included, which obviously *had* to be watched.  Made Stu watch it too.  He *said* he enjoyed it, I hope he did.. :)  Cause I certainly did.  Such a cute/sad/happy movie :)

Have I ever mentioned I have the bestest sweetie ever?

Look how sparkling he made the oven today...

Watched Neil's copy of The Final Countdown last night.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.  Only very slight differences to the book.  It was beautifully filmed, tonnes of great aircraft carrier/military/aeroplane footage.  Maybe I should get it for my dad for Christmas.. he'd probably enjoy it again too... heh

What happened ?!?  Got lulled into a false sense of spring and then suddenly *bam* .. apparent temperature less than zero this morning!!

Will curl up in bed back in winter pjs and nice warm doona....

About, oh, a week or so ago, we were at the markets and grabbed a bag of those big mushrooms for a dollar.

So Stu made up a filling of breadcrumbs (leftovers of several slices of bread from a work function, so cost nothing), some parsley (free from the garden), some garlic (maybe 5c worth?), salt and pepper and paprika (microcents), and topped with some cheese (also not very much).

The result was pretty amazing, although I'd have had a binder in the mix, as while delicious and crunchy, it was a little crumbly...

During the week I finally finished dismantling the Millenium Falcon. 

I swear it took nearly as long to dismantle it as it did to build it!

I didn't actually time it, but it took an awfully long time.  The reason being that I wanted to pull it apart in sections as per the manual, so that next time I build it I'll just have a little baggie of pieces for the section I need to work on.  This should make it a *lot* faster to build than the 18 hours it took last time.

Here's it all rebagged into baggies..

I first saw *batteries not included when it came out at the movies here in 1987.  From memory (which could be wrong or mixed up with Flight of the Navigator), my nana took us to see it at Beverly Hills although didn't actually come in with us to watch it.

Anyway.  I completely loved the movie and have done ever since, even owning it on dvd.

So I grabbed the book at the book fair the other week, and finished it this morning.

The book was just as lovely as the movie, and follows it pretty closely.  Definitely a keeper this one :)

Last Saturday morning I finished reading The Final Countdown by Martin Caidin.

It was quite an easy, enjoyable read, I'm glad I picked it up at the book fair.

Apparently it follows the movie fairly closely.

Just need to remind Neil to lend me his dvd (was hoping to watch it this weekend, oh well).

Stoopid getting home two hours late from work after having a crap day and then watching tv after having dinner and having to do all the washing up and fighting with Optus' website then suddenly it's 11pm.

Life sux.

Was going to blog last night but somehow didn't get around to it.  Then was gonna blog tonight but D&Y came over for dinner, so didn't get around to it again.

Oh well. 

Tomorrow.  Promise!

:)

Went over to Julia and Paul's tonight.  Where roast was ate and Buzz was played and cointreau was drunked and Fifth Element was watched.  Was a very pleasant evening :)

The Bourne Supremacy was on telly tonight.  So we watched it live, even though I had it on tape from the last time it was on telly and we could have watched it without ads.. oh well :)

But I'm glad we hadn't watched it before our honeymoon, cause it meant I could get all excited over the been-theres in Berlin :)

I know, I know.. small things.. ;)

I have this really bad habit of opening tonnes and tonnes of tabs in various browser windows with links from Life Hacker and Boing Boing and blogs and such places.  As well as links that I open and use but then never close.  Of course then my computer starts chugging under the load.. oops...

So thought I'd clear a few out..

There's the eight year old Google search as seen on Blogography a while back.  Eight years ago I was still on the front page of Google for Kazza :)  Apparently this won't be around for very long.

I completely and utterly want one of these for Christmas.  And a licence to fly it.  And a maintenance crew to take care of it.  Ok I'd settle for going in one.  Hell even seeing one in the air would be nice...

I still have Beep Beep open in YouTube, and the lyrics, although these aren't quite correct.. I suppose I could look for more correct ones but that would require effort. 

A useful tutorial I found on crontab when I was looking for the syntax for setting one up.  I've setup to download a snapshot of the Untersberg web cam three times a day to qualitatively see how often the mountain is in cloud.  And see the changing moods of the countryside.  I first saw some fresh snow there in late September, but that quickly melted.  There was a good covering a few days ago but that's melted too.  One of these years I'll get up that mountain - it's one of my missions in life!

Edit: Added The Atlas of the Real World, with pics here and here.

So the Reserve Bank slashed interest rates by a full 1% today.

The Australian dollar has dropped significantly against the US dollar.

Banks are merging.

At the moment I'm just a little freaked out about the financial world.  As one might be wont to do after buying a house in the current financial climate. 

Now I know that unless one of us gets made redundant and house prices fall significantly that we shouldn't be affected too badly by all of this.. and indeed the interest rate cut will make a big difference to our repayments in the beginning.. but I just can't help feeling a little scared.  And it doesn't help watching videos like this one...

Why is it I always seem to leave blogging photos til the end of the weekend..? :)

This was actually taken during the week - Canberra is so green at the moment.  Gotta love that la nina weather.  But even with all the rain we've had this year, our dams haven't risen all that much.  Which is why cramming more people into Canberra is rather a silly idea..

At work on Friday, one of the sections had some of these for their morning tea - Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs!!  I haven't had these in years (although I've had caramelised popcorn in that time).  I instantly got a craving, so when Windy said he was going to the shops I asked him to buy me a packet...

Yum! Delicious!

On Saturday we trekked out to Fyshwick to pick up a printer for me little brother. What a beast! This stoopidly big A3 laser printer that he picked up at auction for $7 (!) We also stopped at a coffee machine shop so Stu could drool over the coffee machines and grinders. Then we went to Fisher Discounts to go to the upstairs section that we missed last time we were there (which we never would have known about had someone at work not told us). I got myself a model of the Space Shuttle which I've wanted for ages (although this one is by Revell so the quality may not be great), and Stu got a bunch of little bits and pieces to go with his wargaming stuff. But the total came to less than the price tags we added up, so we were under the voucher by like $20. To save having to come back and spend the remainder, we impulse bought a little electric screwdriver that was at the counter. Oops :)

I also took some more photos of our English Country Garden on Saturday. It's really quite a lovely garden, and things take their turns flowering all through spring to summer. At the moment the lilac is starting to bloom, the wisteria is going nuts, this big creeper thing is about to explode with flowers, irises have burst forth all over the place, some pink/purple daisies are quietly doing their thing in the shade, and lavendar and roses are getting ready to go. Some fresias I planted are also quietly blooming yellow in the shade near the daisies. Rosemary and daphne have been and gone, as have the jonquils that I planted. I'll actually kinda miss this garden when we move. Will have to try and take some cuttings of a few things...

The rest of Saturday was spent packing, cleaning, and dismantling the Millenium Falcon.

Sunday: repeat.

Monday: repeat, with weeding of the yard.
Actually didn't get much packing or cleaning done today. Oh well.

MIB II was on tonight just as we were ready to eat dinner, so we ended up watching that.  And cause Tommy Lee Jones is kinda cute in that, I had the urge to watch Under Siege as well heh :)   Definitely need to get back to Hawaii to have another tour of the Missouri (and get to Alabama one day to see the Alabama as well).

Other than that, we trekked out to Fyshwick to pick up a beast of a printer for me little brother, and spend one of our wedding vouchers.

And started packing....

Feeling very ugly right now.

I suppose it doesn't help that I was dropped all over the concrete and have a scratched up face, arm, and shoulder (and glasses)  :(

So I finished reading "Minority Report" by Philip K Dick today.  Actually I finished that a week or two ago, but finished the last story ("We Can Remember it for you Wholesale") in the collection of short stories today.

I've never read any Philip K Dick before, so thought I'd give it a go.. starting with what I'd seen in the movies.  Of course the two aforementioned stories bear little relation to the movies, other than their beginnings and the general premise.  But still interesting reading nonetheless.

Some of the stories reminded me a little of Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected - a little dark with not-your-average endings. 

Some were a bit creepy.

Some were just "huh??"

I may read more of his stuff later.. we shall see...