That's All Folks

OK, that's it for now.

I'll be back as soon as possible. I promise.

It'll totally be worth it.

I could even do one of those "Next week on....Just Because I Can...."

You can look forward to...

• At least 2 celebrity spottings
• Maybe more
• Me making fun of NTB
• A post about Ice cream (who doesn't love ice cream?)
• Some less than ideal travel adventures
• The worst ever trip to Queensland travel diary
• The Tale of the Vegan and the Airport Bar
• Probing question number 742 - how well do you have to know someone before you can ask for a bed for the night?
• Queuing friends
• Advice to Virgins. Ummm - make that Advice to Virgin Airlines
• Back in the olden days musings

And that's even without counting on anything that happens in the next couple of days!

So tune in soon...same place, probably a similar sort of time.....

J.

The Last Supper

Is there anything more depressing than the last night on holidays when you realise it’s pretty well all over and you’re flying out the next morning?

You’ve pretty well scoped the place and gotten into the groove of the place. You know your way around, and have figured out the sort of places you want to hang out in your time there, and then suddenly it’s all as good as over.

We hit this point pretty much straight after our trivia disgrace. And then missing the courtesy bus back to our accommodation. It was pouring (who would believe it would be 14 degrees and raining, even in winter, in Byron Bay) and taxis were pretty much non-existent.

We decided to go get pizza and try to catch a movie.

Well, on the cusp of end-of-holiday depression, we stumbled upon the most amazing pizza. Bloody amazing!!

Is there anything that pizza can’t fix??

Not Competitive at all

Sunday in Byron Bay heralded the start of the foul weather that is currently continuing up North. So what is a couple to to with the last full day of their holidays in a relaxed seaside town?

Pub Trivia, of course!

NTB and I turned up and settled in, with our pencils sharpened. The two of us, with a couple of other mates were quite the trivia aficionados a couple of years back. We had a regular team and used to play every week and do pretty well.

It’s fair to say that with our background we went in pretty cocky. We may have even discussed what we would do about the prize if we won.

Of course, according to the rules of false pride coming before a fall, we may have not done as well as we had hoped.

OK, second last, since you asked.

Bugger.

Burger Etiquette

There are as many ways of eating a big fat burger as there are people. What’s your preferred technique?

I personally go for the “cut into quarters and eat from the outside, in” technique, whilst trying to drop as little as possible all down my front. What does everyone else think?

For the record, in case you were wondering, it was a tofu burger. And a Damn good one, at that!

Holiday Joys – Part 2

Has anyone else out there ever been in a float tank. It was one of those things that was there at the accommodation and you totally feel like you have to give a go.

I personally enjoyed the whole float tank experience. It was pretty strange. After we booked in, there was the whole question of float tank etiquette – what do you wear? Deo you turn up in your bathers? Shower beforehand? How do you know when you’re done? Is it going to be like a coffin? What if I freak out?

Just for reference, the answers are: Nothing. No. No, that’s part of the process before you get in. There’s instructions about the music being played in there so you know when to get out. No. You open the hatch or get out.

I really enjoyed the experience. There were a few initial things to figure out – like how to put in earplugs, and the correct positioning of the neck-cushion so you don’t get a sore neck, and what to do with your hands. But once I got the hang of it, I ended up so relaxed I actually fell asleep in there. It was also way larger than I expected, which helped with my main reservation about the whole experience.

The only weird bit was waking up after drifting into the land of nod and being a bit disoriented about where I was. After a few seconds, though, all was good and relaxing again.

After an hour in there, followed by an hours’ massage, followed by an hour sitting on the beach reading my book, I don’t think I could have possibly been more relaxed! I highly recommend the whole experience.

Holiday Joys – Part 1

Walking as far as you physically can in both directions along a beach, for hours and hours and hours. Is there anything more relaxing and refreshing and better for the soul?

Backpacker Hostel Bonus

Hi to Clare and John. One thing I totally love about staying in backpacker hostels is that you can literally talk to anyone, and you make friends so easily. We made friends with the gorgeous Clare and John who we are looking forward to seeing again in Sydney this weekend. Yay facebook, also, as it totally makes these things a lot easier to organise!

Thanks also to the couple who taught us to play Texas Hold 'Em one night!

Classy Pub Essentials Part 2

1. The Meat Raffle
2. An Equal ratio of kids to grown-ups
   

More Fun and Games

OK, here is the second installment of holiday posts as promised.

Hang in there, I've just discovered that I' have somehow managed to double-book my weekend this weekend with one of my high-school friends, Alison, as well as my parents all coming to visit (I thought they were due the following weekend until a couple of hours ago).

It's possible I'll be running around trying to coordinate various plans with various people over the next couple of days, but will try to get on to give the odd update when I can.

In the mean time, enjoy the several posts on holiday adventures!

J.

On an Unrelated matter

CONGRATULATIONS!!! To Karen and Anthony, who are expecting a baby in February!!

More to follow......

Holiday whinge number umpteen

Ooh – the perils of trying to sleep in whilst on holiday. You’ve got to love the child having a temper tantrum directly outside your window at 7.30am on the first morning of your holiday!

Classy Venues

One thing every classy joint should have: the requirement for patrons to pay a deposit over the bar for use of a pool cue and the white ball.

Sharing is Caring

So, hypothetically, say, this couple (friends of mine, you see) were out to dinner. It’s a Thai meal (hypothetically, of course), and they share a couple of dishes and have a drink each.

At the end of the meal, the girl has hypothetically half of her drink, a red wine, left in her glass. As she is finishing, the waitress brings over the bill, and with it a plate with 4 scorched almonds on it. A lovely touch, I though. Umm, she hypothetically thought.

Not wanting to ruin her palate, she decided to finish her wine before partaking of her tasty scorched almond dessert treat. Her dining companion, chatting away about how delicious the meal had been, hypothetically eats three scorched almonds off the plate.

Do we hypothetically think maybe a manners line was crossed?? You know, hypothetically speaking?

A Question:

Hammocks: as comfortable in practise as they are in theory?

Musings on Flying – Part 2

What sort of parent thinks that the appropriate toy to keep a young child amused on a flight is a plastic mobile phone toy that makes an array of beeping noises when each key is pressed; each more earsplittingly irritating than the last? And then allows them to play with it for the entire trip?

Musings on Flying – Part 1

I’ve never yet missed an airline flight. Amongst my siblings that’s something of a rarity and I’m touching wood as I type this.

I do, however, think it’s a huge hypocrisy by airlines, that if you are even a couple of minutes late checking in for a flight you can be refused admission onto the flight. On the other hand, airlines fell free to delay or even cancel flights or leave customers waiting in flight lounges indefinitely with impunity.

P.S. I actually wrote this one at the very start of my trip. You have no idea how ironic this post is but will do if you keep reading.

J.

Warning – Intensive Travel Adventures Posts Ahead!!

The Telstra debacle piece appears to have been cancelled due to lack of interest. Guess you’ll never know what you missed out on (well, unless I hit a case of writer’s block in the near future), but good news is at hand. I have recently returned from a sensational holiday and am brimming with inspiration.

Whilst on holidays I invested in a good sturdy notebook to capture all those fleeting thoughts, so you my loyal readers, strap yourself in for a rollercoaster ride!!

Enjoy!

Democracy

So, let's put it to a vote...

If anyone requests it, by the time I get back from holidays (Tuesday next week, thanks for asking) I'll post up the ongoing saga of my dramas with my internet provider.

I know this sounds kind of dull, but since it seems to be a conversation between me and a clueless automatic email response system, and I happen to be a bit of a smart-arse who intends to find out just how cheeky you can be to one of these things before someone steps in and actually reads one of your emails, I actually think it's kind of funny.

So what do you think?

J.

p.s. I'll think of you all whilst I'm relaxing in Byron Bay....;)

Happy Birthday to Me!

So are you doing the calculations and scratching your head? Wondering how my birthday snuck up without me making a big deal of it?

Me too.

Especially when a birthday card rocked up in my mail today.

Afraid it was a month too early.

Easy mistake to make. I totally understand.

Except it was the same person who gave me hell for ringing her a day early to give her best wishes a month ago....

Does this count as quote of the day?

Another cool link...

OK, it's another nerdy one, but a good one nonetheless. Especially if you're into saving the world and all that.

New cool nerdy-link

It's a cool one, especially if you're into eighties pop culture....

New Discoveries

Oooh...I've just discovered Skype. I may be a bit slow on some of these new fandangled things, but never let it be said that I don't embrace these things once I finally catch on!

So, anyone else have Skype? I've already spoken to Bec tonight, and it's not so much fun on your own....

Office Politics

Do you think it's bad form for a grown woman, making sandwiches in the office kitchen, to cut the crusts off?

Just wondering.

J.

Someone get this girl a cosmopolitan.

Oh, I mean - I feel truly cosmopolitan.

It's kind of cool to see how people come to visit from all sorts of places, but I would like to say a special hello to my first Guatemalan visitor.

Hello!

J.

The best souvenir ever

I was at Old Parliament Hour last weekend. Mainly to go to the National Portrait Gallery, which was awesome (but that's another story), and after the all the viewing pleasure of the exhibition (which was great, by the way) there was the mandatory browse through the gift shop.

Whilst there, I think I saw the best souvenir ever. They had these amazing postcards. You could write on them and post them, like a normal postcard. But on the other side was a very special photo of OPH (Old Parliament House), and inset into the postcard were two plastic lenses.

The trick was, that if you folded on the dotted lines, once you received the postcard, the lenses and the very special picture, set up this fantastic 3-dimensional picture of OPH.

Sensational! I think they should do that for all the good tourist destinations!

A shout out

Hi to Karen, NTB's sister, who's been back in Sydney tonight, from Brisbane, and took us back to her old Uni job premises, the best Indian food ever.

Thanks for a great feed and a great night!

Britney Spears Hair

I have an issue with Britney Spears' hair.

If you remember back to March this year, Britney shaved her head. I think it was some sort of breakdown thing. High celebrity drama and all that.

You may also remember, 2 weeks later, that I also shaved my head. I did it for charity. The wonderful people at World's Greatest Shave will attest to the fact that I actually gave them money...it wasn't my euphemism for a breakdown.

So what bugs me is the fact that Britney Spears is appearing in public no, doing more somewhat mentally-challenged things, but with a shoulder-length bob.

I, on the other hand, am still sporting the latest in pixie cuts (on a good day).

So are we talking a really good wig? Hair extensions? How does that work?

I think I might start a rumour - do you think she's using hair plugs? A la Warnie?

Visitors

I had visitors for lunch today!

Hi Bec & baby Benjamin!!

Ode to my new bed

I have a new bed.
It is very comfortable.
It is a great thing on which to lay my head.
And it is also very good.
Very very sleepable.
It is much better than my poetry.
I think I shall go and have a nap.

Mmmm...Tasty

So I was at the supermarket the other day. I spotted a pack o f"low carb" pasta.

Given that I love pasta, but find the fact that it's pretty high in kilojoules and fat, so try to only eat it occasionally, I thought I'd check it out.

I read the label, and true to the headlines, it was substantially healthier than my usual brand, I bought a pack.

Tonight I decided to cook it up. MMMM...Tasty!

But I bet I could replicate the recipe, without shelling out the $5.40 for the pack of pasta. Check the recipe below:

1. Buy normal pack of pasta
2. Cook pasta according to instructions
3. Discard pasta. Retain cardboard box pasta was packaged in.
4. Rip cardboard into pasta-shaped pieces
5. Pour source over.
6. Eat.

So now I have half a pack of foul-tasting pasta. If anyone's interested in trying it out, I'll sell the remainder of it to you for $2.50...bargain.

Kidding. I'll let you have it free.

OK, you drive a hard bargain...I'll give you $2.50 to take it off my hands.

Ahh, bugger it, it's going in the bin.

Telstra Sucks

That's it.

Telstra Sucks.

Except....

for quote of the day for yesterday....

"Mmmm...Andrew Gee is a God. He's more than a God. He's a Godess"

Hey there

Hi everyone, I'm still alive, but very, very, very tired.



I've been to Canberra, been to a fancy dress party, had a random school-reunion moment, and enjoyed my favourite holiday - the Bank Holiday. I won't bore you by repeating last year's post.

And I had a very busy week last week and I'm very very tired.

And I have a new bed (yay! thanks to the ATO) and I'm far too eager to be in it to think straight enough for a decent post.

I'll try soon, I promise.

J.

Coolest Link I've Seen In Forever

You should absolutely go and check these photos out.

Trust Me.

All Hail the Queen

Is there anyone out there who doesn't love new gadgets?

If there is, they're nothing like me.

I have a new gadget (other than my new internet connection. YAY!).

It was actually quite an exciting story...well, for me, anyway.

I've had a bit of bad luck with rice cookers. I managed to kill 2 in a matter of a couple of months. Don't even ask. It's not relevant to the story anyway.

So consequently, I decided that I would actually invest in a good quality rice cooker (I'm sure if you've read even a few posts on here, you'll realise I take cooking very seriously).

Being me, I did my rice-cooker research. Checked up on the internet and a few stores, compared brands and features and reviews, and settled on the exact brand and model of rice cooker I was after.

It was quite a pricey one. I figure you get what you pay for. For that reason, I put off actually purchasing the coveted rice cooker. I love a bargain, so I thought I'd wait until somewhere had it on sale.

3 Weeks ago I was logging onto my internet banking. I was doing my usual bill-paying and pay-redistribution activities, when I saw that the balance on the rewards points I get for using my credit card was getting up there. I usually like to use my balance fairly regularly (I got totally stung when I lost bucketloads of frequent flyer points I'd been saving up in the Ansett collapse, when I ended up sitting at the airport for 3 hours, only to be sent home, frequent flyer points and flights down the toilet).

I clicked the link to the catalogue of things I could cash in for...and right there was the exact rice cooker that I wanted!! And I had enough points!!

I may have had to wait for delivery by post, but the whole thing is so much sweeter now that I've used my points on something I really wanted and was prepared to buy anyway!

The gadget is great. I have been making rice galore, plus using the slow-cooker option to make risottos, curries and more. Just call me the queen of the slow cooker.

The first step is admitting you have a problem

Hello, my name is Jacki, and I'm an addict.

I blame Madeleine. I went along just to keep her company and was determined that I did not need another pair of Birkenstock shoes.

I have 2 pairs already. And they last practically forever. And I don't need another pair.

Maddy really wanted a pair, though. I was happy to take her along to the specialty store so she could make the most of the opportunity during her Sydney visit.

Maddy sorted herself out with a lovely pair. Although she did have a bit of trouble deciding between two that were both very nice.

Once she decided, she insisted on me trying on the other pair. They happened to be in my size.

I wore them out of the store, with my old pair in the box.

I think maybe I need to stay outside the shop next time. Either that or demand a commission from Birkenstock. Do you think they'd pay it in store credit?

They are beautiful, though. And they'll last just about forever. And I'll get a lot of wear out of them.

I can justify this.

Long Weekends

It was a very big, not to mention long, weekend.

I took Friday off to spend time with my friends Jon and Maddy who have been up visiting from Tassie.

We've had a complete ball - we started with some shopping (although not quite the type of shopping you would imagine as Maddy is terrible at that sort) as Jon took a nap and the girls went off to buy me a new mattress for my bed. That's probably a whole nother story.

We had a night at the pub for dinner and drinks on Friday. We went to the art gallery and then to vegetarian Yum Cha and then the aquarium and then home for dinner and board games and even an old-fashioned sing-along with the guy with the guitar at the party until the wee small hours until told to shut it down by the neighbours (usually I'm the crabby neighbour!)

Then we made it to the Rocks markets and headed back to get Jon to the airport, then Maddy and I made some more shopping mischief with a trip to the Birkenstock Shop.

It's Wednesday and I'm still recovering, but what a fantastic weekend! Maddy & Jon are 2 of my favourite people and it was so good to spend some time with them. Cheers to old friends!

Note to users of the office kitchen

1. Don't dump your dirty dishes / glasses / mugs / cutlery in the sink. We have 2 double dish drawers that are regularly packed and started and then emptied a couple of times a day. You have it pretty good, all you have to do is put stuff in it.
2. Those nifty little velcro signs tell you which drawers are clean and which are dirty. These, however are not entirely infallible. Have a look at the contents before you stick your dirty stuff in. There are several drawers.
3. If the dirty drawers are full and there's no more room for what you want to add, maybe you could consider emptying a clean drawer? I'm pretty sure hell is unlikely to freeze over.
4. If all else fails, there are sponges and there's washing up detergent under the sink. You could always (gasp!) wash up by hand.
5. There is no number 5. It's a four-step plan. Got it?