Suprise!

I'm back.

Firstly I should explain my absence of late. Whilst I haven't always had a reason to blog, I've been cooking, I've been seeing friends and family, I've even worked another emergency at work. I've also been a little stressed and have had headaches.

I made a very significant life choice before starting this blog. Without revealing it, it is the biggest decision I've made in my life. I've wrestled with it in my head and used a close friend as a councilor and am comfortable that it is the right decision for this time. Today that chapter was closed (or at least the bit I have control over). I feel like I have given someone else a chance I will never have and whilst it could become complicated, the more I think about it, the more it feels right.

I am hoping that I can now sleep a little better at night and get back to working on my diet, and am also very thankful that I have good friends who are not judgmental and there in my time of need.

Friday Night Cards

I haven't played poker in about 3 weeks. Work has been busy, the weather hasn't been great and I have been a little lazy. Today I was quite determined to play.

One particular friend often plays with me. She was unavailable today, so I played on my own. I have to say that I was in Auto pilot today and despite finishing the tournament only a few hours age, remember very few specific hands. I fumbled raises and played several weak hands.

Out of a field of close to 40, I still finished a respectable 9th. This was better than I deserved but still outside of the money. I enjoyed myself, but was pretty far outside of my zone and am quite rusty. At least I made it out.

Time to retire?

Today is my bosses birthday. Technically, he is not really my boss, but plays a team leader type of role in my team and shields us from a lot of heat. He turns 55 today, which is also legal retirement age.

He seems to think he is dispensable but he has a great deal of historical knowledge. He is also a great trainer and backed me moving into this role so I am eternally grateful. He is getting increasingly frustrated with the politics in the company and is planning an exit strategy.

Realistically, he wants to be made redundant and probably won't retire. Redundancy would probably be difficult as there are others who have a lot of respect for him also. He seems to undervalue his worth and whilst he deserves a payout, it probably wouldn't be in the company's best interests. ONly time will tell the future.

Government addicted to Spending

One of Tony Abbot's rhetoric's is that we have a government addicted to spending. He is always quick to compare spending today to 2007 - the last year of coalition government. In recent days, Labor's budget has blown out to $12B in the red, having the government scratching its head on where the money is to come from.

I think both sides of politics are to blame on this one. There was a perception that we would ride the mining boom for years, as such, revenues were high and we were afforded tax cuts, superannuation incentives, baby bonuses and a raft of other handouts. Now all of a sudden we have woken up with our major assets sold and trying to find ways to rake in extra revenue in an election year.

Politicians are well paid. Why can we never draw in quality. It feels that there is a great degree of self interest and representatives rarely do what is right for the country. When you look to Italy, Monte tried that and took massive swings against him. What is wrong with voters these days/

Stitched Up

My walking coworker has just come back from minor day surgery. He had a benign lump on his face that was growing to a point that it was rather large and consuming a fair piece of real estate on his upper jaw.

Since coming back, he has a vigour about him. He has started walking to and from work, has a spring in his step during his lunchtie walk and is very diet conscious.

I admire his will and drive. My pants right now is really tight and i'd love to lose a couple of kilos. Lets see if I can get anywhere this time.

Jungle Gold

I have been watching quite a fair bit of this of late after it was recommended by a coworker. it is a relatively short series on a couple of Americans trying to solve their financial woes by mining for gold in Ghana.

I don not know how much is real and how much is doctored for TV, but it is amazing how so much can go so wrong. It feels that the operation is always hanging on by a shoestring and noone is brave enough to call it off. It is interesting that we find the misfortunes of others entertaining in a show like this.

I'm probably watching too much crap on TV at the moment and not doing enough walking and interesting things. I really need to pull my finger out and correct this.

Sfogliatelle

My father has a particular Italian dessert he is fond of - sfogliatelle. It is a lemony custardy ricotta filling convered in very thin strips of puff pastry. My mother was watching a cooking show and they happened to show how to make this treat - there are very few shops that sell this locally. My youngest sister was visiting today so we went out and bought the ingredients and gave this a try.

The instructions said this should take approximately 2 1/2 hours. It took far longer than that. We had seen various youtube videos on how to make this but were not prepared on how fiddly these are to make, particularly to amateurs like ourselves.

The trickiest bit is to create layers pf puff pastry and involves rolling many many thin layers of dough into a croissant like shape.out effort seemed ratehr long for some reason and did not have the desired thickness around the trunk.

We pushed along and made lots of stuffing. When it came time to fill them, our mistake became apparent and our sfogliatelle were very small and we had lots of stuffing left over. We were all starting to get frustrated and decided to cut our losses and make puff pastry cannoli with the remainder.

I think we are all a little disappointed with our effort, but at least we gave it a try. The end result did not taste too bad, but is not the best I've had either. At least we were able to do something as a family.

Balancing Priorities

Today was a hard day to come into work. It was a day between a public holiday and a weekend and I had a big night last night. There was also another teams event which I had promised my poker partner that I would attend.

I pushed my weary body to work early and cleaned up what was a surprisingly busy day. My day became much worse in the afternoon - one of our customers has a habit of planning network changes on a Friday afternoon, and equipment/configs are most likely to dail when such work is being done. I ended up landing an emergency and was stuck in the office until evening working on a product I barely know. By the time the fault was finished, I could not make it to poker in time and had to let down my partner - even if I had made it there, i was mentally shot and very tired from the night before.

I ended up watching a little football before passing out on the lounge. I felt like I was in good spirits from last night, its amazing how fast things can change.

Chopper Show @ Enmore

Today is an Australian Public Holiday for Anzac Day. The last few years, there has been a Chopper comedy show at the Enmore theatre, I have wanted to see the chopper show, mainly because I like chopper but have often struggled to find good company to attend with.

This year I found a willing participant. She is someone I once worked with.She has a similar appreciation of comedy and we were overdue for a catchup, so everything just fell into place. My friend had never been to the Enmore before and was happy to check out the venue.

The Chopper show is a sampler of the Sydney comedy festival. There were about 8 acts separated by chopper comedy. Some acts were certainly better than others, but it was a nice mix that blended Australia and New Zealand together.

We also had dinner at a Spanish tapas restaurant across the road and I did something I rarely do - Drink alcohol. I was a little embarrassed to be a bit tipsy, particularly in the company of my relatively small and light friend.

All in all, I had a fantastic night. Good food, good comedy and good company. I had high expectations for today and all were met. Days like these are few and far between, and something to remember on the bad days.

Spending the rest of your life...

I'm not a regular lotto player, but like to buy the odd ticket when the jackpot exceeds $20 Million.  The current Powerball is $50 Million.

There is a small work syndicate that I am a part of with the same rule - we all put $10 in and but a couple of tickets to test our luck.

What has me wondering is that if I were to win, how would it change my life? I wouldn't quit my job and would love to go to Vegas, but would do that regardless of if I won lotto.

 Despite my odds being incredibly long, It is still something we do.Wish me luck.

Chopper

I am going to see a Chopper comedy show in a couple of days. In anticipation, I re-watched this aussie classic movie last weekend.

This was one of Eric Bana's first feature films. I was a fan of Eric from his days doing skit comedy as Channel 31's 'Poida'. He plays the role od Chopper brilliantly. I really liked how he developed the character - showing how Chopper could explode into a pit of rage, then all of a sudden can be hit by the consequences of his actions and become remorseful. He has a couple of classic cult scenes , particularly when storytelling his part actions and 'never letting the truth get in the way of a good yarn'. It is also impressive just how much weight Eric put on for the role - that is going the extra mile.

This is by no means a true story, but an artists interpretation on various Chopper stories that have filtered through the craps. Aussies love a villainous hero, and Chopper fits the bill perfectly. What ever you think of the real Chopper, this movie is entertaining and well worth watching more than once.

Taking the Shot.

I have put my opinions on gun reform in this blog before. In short, I feel save living in a country where gun possession is scarce and people in public are rarely armed. I am also saddened when I hear report after report of mass shootings in the US.

When Obama promised to push real gun reform, I was as pessimistic as most. The conservative media of the day tried to shift the focus into mental health and more guns being the solution. When solid legislation was presented to close loopholes on obtaining firearms without mental health checks, conservative media took another step to the right to stop any gun reform from getting through. There was slight hope when the senate came up with a very weak compromise, but seeing that not even that watered down bill could pass a Democratically controlled senate does little for me to instill confidence in US politics.

I would really love to see an anti-gun lobby garner enough support to counteract the affects of the NRA and get congressmen to vote with their heads rather than defend their report cards. I also with Murdock would take up Turnbull's challenge and proactively support gun control across his media.

Whatever anyone thinks of John Howard, getting rid of semi automatic guns and reducing overall gun ownership was his crowning achievement in my eyes, and whilst it had its risks and opposition in the day, is without doubt the best thing he did in his political career.

Stuffed Capsicums

I'm not huge fan of capsicum, however, love it when they are stuffed and fried. This dish is rarely cooked by my parents. I have been told many times that they are too fiddly and not worth the effort.

I had a couple at my nans about a month ago, and my uncle offered to teach me. That day was today. The dish is very simple but also very time consuming - you need to:

- Empty a few capsicums (the longer, thinner capsicums are better)
- Get hard bread and cut it into very tiny pieces.
- Dice a few tomatoes and add it to the bread.
- Chop up some anchovies and garlic, add it to the stuffing.
- Add salt, basil and oil. mix thoroughly.
- Fill capsicums with as much stiffing as possible
- Fry them, end first.

The capsicums were fantastic. I have a few left over for dinner tomorrow. What was even better though is that I had productive time with my nan and uncle - they enjoyed teaching me as much as I enjoyed learning. I can not wait to give it a go on my own.

Zero Dark Thirty

I watched this film today. In a nutshell, It starts at September 11 and follows the life of a CIA operative whose job it is to track down UBL.

I was one of those who was disappointed with Hurt Locker, which was directed by the same person, and despite good reviews for this one, had little expectation. It was not as bad as I was prepared for, but not as good as a documentary I had seen about a year ago on the same subject.

Maybe it is a cultural thing, but Americans need a hero. I don't know how fictional Maya is, but this sort of thing detracts from the movie for me. Also, to give away the obvious spoiler, I almost felt sorry for UBL at the end considering how many children were around when the assassination occurred.

Nonetheless, it was a movie that always needed to be made and this was a better than fair attempt at it.

Flat Out!

Work has been extremely busy this week. I am doing work for 2-3 different people and there has been a recent influx of cases. On top of all that, I have been trying to squeeze in some lab work and increase my competence.

I have to say the day is going faster. My job is far more satisfying when I am actually busy and not just pretending to be busy. Also, for the most part, the things I am working on is actually interesting. I like getting my hands dirty and playing in the lab, though I usually do very little of it.

As a consequence, it is Thursday and I am exhausted. At least I am earning my money.

She knows how to save it, she has no idea on how to spend it.

My parents and grandparents grew up in times of great austerity. My grandparents, all four of them, risked everything and came to this country with nothing. After many frugal years and relying on their kids to provide income, most of my grandparents have passed. My parents poured a lot of energy and went through much sacrifice to build the house we live in now and are now in a position to reap the rewards.

Only problem is that my mother in particular has no idea how to spend money. She enjoys saving far more than she does spending. She can go to a club and burn a couple of hundred in an hour or so, but you will never see her splurge out and go on a holiday or do something fun.

Case in point - My mum is a huge fan of The Voice. Her favourite star of last season, Darren Percival is doing a show locally tomorrow night. Tickets are $30. I know she would have a good time, and she could definitely afford the ticket, however, the thought of parting with $30 id too much of a leap for her. She has seen club shows for $5-$8 in the past, and that is about her budget.

My dad has loosened up a little. I am trying to get them to go on a holiday once dad retires. It will be a challenge though.

Boston Marathon.

I woke up this morning to the news that there were explosions that went off as runners were completing the Boston Marathon. As the morning went on, it was clearer that this was an act of terrorism.

Whilst the victim and their families have my condolences, it just goes to show how the actions of a few can have profound impact on many. I'm sure there will be increased focus on security and intelligence, with agencies scratching their heads wondering how they can prevent something like this in the future, but the truith of the matter is you cant - as soon as one loophole closes, people find another. There are crazy people out there and where there is a will, there is a way - particularly when some are willing to risk all to find a way.

I think the only way through this is via education. At least I can rest in the trust that the US will not use this as a catalyst to go to war into another oil rich nation.

Broadband for all?

The Liberal opposition released their NBN policy last week. Despite having a highly competent Communications Minister, It has been a major hole for the Opposition as they have consistently chosen to oppose it (and at one point even threatened to rip it out of the ground). With public perceptions and lifestyles warming to a fast broadband network, this was always going to garner a fair bit of attention.

The opposition went on the cost-saving route that used copper in the last mile in a model 4 times slower and 2 times cheaper than the governments proposal. In addition, the oppositions proposal would require ugly street cabinets on most streets and we would still need to invest money in maintaining aging copper to the last leg of the household. Fortunately, most non-murdoch press reported both sides fairly.

Personally, I think there are cost savings that the Opposition could utilise that are currently missed opportunities - Why not increase the satellite footprint since a satellite will be launched anyway? this would allow the fixed wireless component to encroach on the fiber areas and reduce costs considerably. How about re-using the existing HFC cables that are in most densely populated residential areas? sure they are not the same fibre but are still reliable and currently under utilised in most areas?

Personally, I am 3.1 kms away from my exchange. I get flaky speeds that are getting slower and am over dropouts. If the NBN is going to be done, I expect any government to do it once and do it properly. Is that too much to ask?

Caffeine Withdrawals

I have been having a daily coffee for about a year now. Lately I have been having 2 or 3 a day. It is not that I am having trouble staying awake or anything like that, I just enjoy the ritual.

This weekend I have been rather busy and went cold turkey. It was neither planned or intentional, but just the way the weekend ended up. Now I am left with a splitting headache and am not in the mood to blog, so will be keeping this one short.

I do not like how addicted I have become to coffee. This headache just makes me want to do nothing but drink fluids and watch TV. I was fine yesterday but have had it most of the afternoon and night today. Maybe this is a reality check and a sign that I really need to slow down on the caffeine hits.

Happy Birthday, Mum.

Today is my mothers birthday. Whilst i would love to reveal her age, I'm not 100% sure what it is, and even if I was, she would probably have me shot if I did. We have always grown up with my mother lying about her age - she is a few years older than dad and always used to use dad's age as a cover, however, now that dad is quite old himself the system is starting to come apart a little.

I don't mind that mum lies about her age - that is her choice, though I do not understand the point of doing so. You are what you are and I do not think any less of her if she is older. Nonetheless we learn to live with it. Mum hates the number 13.She thinks it is unlucky and this may have something to do with it.

It is also my aunts birthday. My aunt lives 10 doors down the street and has similar insecurities about her age. She and my mother are inseparable and if you haven't guessed by now, they are identical twins.

Regardless, they both have received heartfelt birthday wishes. It is their day to enjoy.

Teaming it up.

There is a new game of poker on at a venue that I used to play at. It is at the same venue I played at a couple of weeks ago and found disappointing, but the new game was on a Friday night and was a team event structure. Given that I like teams events, it was a Friday and had a partner keen to go, I was happy to give them another chance.

My partner was a little late, so I had lunch there and a little flutter on the football. I did not dare go to the Salmon Caesar Salad, so went Salt and Pepper Calamari. It was better than my last meal but rather small and nothing outstanding.I also made a couple of small exotic bets on the Roosters to beat the Bulldogs, my first footy bets of the season.


My friend arrived just after the game had started. In the first hour, we were flying solo and I was slightly down, she was slightly up. after our rebuys at the break, we were pretty close to an even chip stack. After our stacks combined, we were swapping control after 20 minutes and were both playing very well. We both seemed to be winning a big hand every level and kept staying in contention without having a massively dominant stack.

We finally make final table. My partner leads and is card dead It happens. On her last hand before a swap, she finally decides to push with a weak ace on her last hand before a swap and gets a fortunate double up. I then take control and see bad hand after bad hand. I was another three people eliminated and we were on the bubble for a payout. I push with 33 just before the changeover, get called by QQ and am eliminated shortly after. Both my partner and I are happy that we did the right thing, just a little sad that we made ti so close, yet so far.

Overall, I had a good night. I like the Friday game - I'm not concerned about getting up early the next day for work, the format was quite good, its great playing something a little different and catching up with my friend. All was not lost - my small football bet ended up playing for my night.

Oops...

I missed a post yesterday. I planned and thought about what to write, but fell asleep watching TV and forgot all about it until this morning. I nearly did the same today, however, remembered in the nick of time.

I have been stressed a bit lately. I have been reflecting on my life and what I have achieved and want to achieve. There are some big decisions to be made. Right now, I'm trying to discover what truly makes me happy, and what is just part of daily routine. I have been giving myself an evaluation of sorts and hope to come off better by the end of it.

XX9 Part Two

I had the opportunity to watch this behemoth this afternoon. I had to sacrifice a walk to do so, however, I was quite anxious to squeeze it in and wanted to watch it while it was still fresh.

This event felt like a sequel to last years WM - Taker on about his streak, AJ and Daniel Bryan holding their friction, same Main Event (Rock and Cena). most sequels do not live up to their predecessor and this event was no different.

In yesterdays post I mentioned that I thought the card looked predictable and had low expectations. Sadly, those expectations were met and the matches were very predictable. The biggest surprise I had was when Living Colour appeared and played "Cult of Personality" live during CM Punk's entrance. I was on the money picking winners in the big ticket matches. I was wrong on a couple of the smaller matches, but in truth these matches were insignificant anyway and more akin to filler matches.

Regardless of result, the WWE really needed to do something to add some spice to the event - this event had no standout moment that will last for generations. it was almost like a disposable event. There were no unannounced special guest appearance, no surprise announcements and not even an appearance by the boss himself.

I think my time would have been better served walking. Oh well, I guess you have to have rotten events once in a while to appreciate good ones.

WrestleMania XX9

I love this time of year, WrestleMania. I have email chains running with my friends and discussions with my dad and uncle. WrestleMania XX9 was hosted today. I don't know if i will get a chance to watch it, but the discussions around it keep me going.

I think the actual event will be a bit disappointing. The matches seem predictable on paper and there is no match that is an absolute standout as been on most cards. Nonetheless, I suppose events with little expectation have the most room for pleasant surprises. It feels like all the wrestlers I like are going to lose this year (Rock, CM Punk, Jericho, Hell No) but that is the way the cookie crumbles.

I have avoided all results and web articles in the hope I have the chance to see at least some of it in the next day or two. You never know!

AET

Today ends daylight savings for another season. Clocks jump back an hour, the mornings are temporarily brighter and the evenings get darker quicker.

While many appreciate the rare treat of an hours extra sleep-in gifted at this time of year, I am not of the same opinion. Whilst I agree with the principle of daylight savings - sacrificing an hours morning light for an extra hour of brightness in the evening - I do not understand the need to wind clocks back just because we are at the advent of winter. What is wrong with leaving our clocks in a different timezone and squeezing as much afternoon light as nature will give.us?

This hit home hard during my evening walk today. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have not been walking much of late. After the football today I forced myself out and was instantly hit with darkness replacing the sunsets I was becoming accustomed to. Maybe my lack of walking had contributed to the suddenness of this, but it still left me wondering what advantage was gained in the jump back.

I am left in hope that someone in power will one day see this as illogical as it is and correct the clocks once and for all.

Frankenweenie

Yes, this is not the kind of movie that I am likely to see or review, but fate had me watch this today so I may as well post about it. I first heard of this movie in Singapore, when a friend mentioned that she was going to watch it with some of her friends on the day we caught up. Today, I was in the situation that I needed to see a movie with my sister and mother that we would all enjoy and this seemed neutral enough for all to be contempt without anyone being overly thrilled to watch it.

The first surprise was that was entirely in Black and White. This was very unexpected for a Disney movie, particularly one made this decade. As the title suggests,. it is essentially a mini version of Frankenstein, with the dog playing the role of Frankenstein and a few little Disney add-on's to make it PG.

The movie is a little darker than what one would expect from a children's movie.I think Disney was aiming for the 8-12 year old market with this one.It is certainly OK for an andult to watch this with a kid, but not what I was expecting.

For those not wanting spoilers, please stop reading this paragraph. Fair warning. I was a little disappointed with the ending. I thought the movie had the perfect opportunity to let sleeping dogs lie but instead decided to go with the happy ending. Particularly for youngsters watching the video who had experienced pets dying, I really felt that giving the dog a final resuscitation was trying too hard for a happy ending - it was a dark film and could have been left datk.

All in all, It is probably best watched with children. It was OK to watch in the situation I was in, but is not the type of movie i would seek out and hunt for.

Super Schmuper

The big news of the week is that the government is fiddling with Superannuation. My father and Team Leader at work are taking a keen interest - feeling that they have much to lose if things do not go their way.

Whilst I acknowledge that I should be interested, the word bores me and I find it difficult getting motivated when discussing the topic. It took me years to consolidate my various super finds from former employers and whilst I have been advised to make voluntary payments, I have lagged behind and not been as regular with them as I should be.

I'm sure one day I will pull my finger out, but for now, I'm left wondering why I do not take the interest that I feel I should? Am I too young? do I not respect my finances enough? do I feel the mountain is too high to climb? maybe a little of all three.

Small Steps

I've been on call this week. The weather has been wet, particularly in lunch breaks. My weekend was at nonnas. These three points have conspired to contribute to me very little walking in the past seven days.

I managed to get out a little in my lunch break today. did nothing when I made it back home. My feet are going a special shade of cold that my body does to me when I haven't been walking enough.

I'm finding it very difficult to get out of the house and do something about it. WHilst I feel I have had valid reasons, I also believe that I could have done better if I was in better frame of mind. It is something I need to work on.

Reality TV

My mother is hooked on it. There are 3 or 4 she is hooked on, I do not even want to name them to further promote them, but there is a cooking one, a construction one, a weight loss one and a couple of singing/entertainment ones that she cannot get away from.

Even the newspapers print recaps of episodes. Contestants are almost instantly C-grade celebrities. Whilst I'm happy that home grown productions do so well in the ratings, surely we can do better than this rubbish, yet as a population we seem glued to it.

Thank goodness for Aunty ABC and their spread of quality programming.

Life, The Universe and Everything.

Watching my middle sister play with her dogs yesterday caramelised some thoughts I have been having.

Middle sister is now pretty close to mid-30's. She loves her dogs - she enjoys playing with them, she dresses them up on special occasions, sleeps with them, kisses them, has more than an album full of photos of them and it is difficult to have a conversation with her without her mentioning them in some way, shape or form.

I think that these dogs have taken the place of children. Despite not having a partner or children of my own, these kind of replicate my own feelings. It is difficult to explain, but I feel like my body is telling me that I should have settled down and have a family of my own by now and I do feel a little empty not taking any action by now. When i was younger, I always assumed that a family of my own was a given and one would find me eventually, now that I am older, I am disappointed in myself for taking that for granted and ending up in the situation that I am in now. 

For middle sister, i dare say that her dogs have filled that void. i do not know if she has come to the same conclusion yet, but for now she is happy. Ironically, I used to like dogs but watching the way my sister acts around them and talks about them as if nothing else is important has put me off dogs. 

At least I can rest in the solace that whilst I am fast running out of time, I am not out of time yet, All I need to do now is stop relying on faith and do something about it. 

Unleashing the puppies

Today was my last day looking after my nonna. Middle sister decided to visit as she had missed visiting on Easter Sunday. She took a chance and decided to take her two dogs for a walk and introduce her to my nonna.

Anyone that has met my nonna would instantly see how hygenically clean she is. She is a minimalist and I would not dare enter her house without wiping my feet a half dozen times beforehand. My sister has had dogs for 2 or 3 years now and despite my nonna hearing many stories, she had never actually met them before.

Well, the meeting did not go all that well. My nonna was suprised at how my sister handled them and was afraid at some point that they would attack her. She looked unimpressed when the topic came up that my sister lets them run free in her household and even sleeps with them. The breaking point was when one of them appeared to kiss my sister - my sister insists that it was just a lick on the nose, but it looked like a kiss and that is how the legend lies.

My uncle is back now and back to being my nonnas full time carer, much to my releif. I'm glad that my nonna will now have some fresh stories for him.

Happy Easter!

This Easter was one of the most nontraditional Easters I have had, mainly on account of me living at my nonnas and my dad, who is the main organiser of Easter, working for much of this holiday period.

One tradition that was maintained was that I exchanged chocolate with my middle sister. We have had a tradition for years that instead of exchanging eggs, we seek out weird and interesting chocolate animals. There have been countless animals in the past - last year was fish and beetles, before that there were wallabies, bilbys, wombats and more animals that I can remember.

It is getting harder and harder to find these, but I has happy with this years find.

My find - A Chocolate duck.

What was even more impressive was my sisters find:

Chocolate farm animals and Chocolate dogs

 Happy Easter everyone!

Easter Mass

I attended Easter mass tonight ahead of tomorrow for logistical reasons - I am still living at nonnas and want to keep the morning free to have breakfast with her.

The new priest's homily once again drove home people who are Christmas and Easter catholics and questioned whether they were really at one with God. Personally, I found mass disappointing. It started 5 minutes late, then all were standing while one of the ministers sang a prayer. You could see in the crowd a lot of restless children and distracted adults. The mass continued with lots of singing but it felt slower than normal.

At around the hour mark, the priest did a baptism. Don't get me wrong, I am a godfather to my cousin and have been to many baptisms, but attending baptisms to people I do not know at Easter is not productive to me.

I eventually lit my memorial candles at the 1.5 hour mark. There had been no collections yet, no communion yet and I suspect the mass is still going on now. Really, if they want people to go to Church more often, they need to look at themselves.

Home away from home.

My uncle is my nonnas full time carer. A couple of times a year, he visits a farm 5 hours outside of Sydney for the weekend. When he does this, I sleep and live in with my nonna and support her where she needed.

Sure, I enjoy the comforts of home - the internet, my big tv, my kitchen, my double bed and being able to walk when I want. I also appreciate the mammoth sacrifice that my uncle goes through as my nonnas fill time carer and am happy to give him the occasional weekend reprieve.

Communication with my nonna is difficult - She often subconsciously speaks in Italian and when she does speak English, we often repeat the same old conversations. It is not her fault, just a symptom of old age. If nothing else, at least my time.is appreciated.

Crest Fallen.

There is a poker venue that is a 20 minute drive away that I was once a regular at. A friend has run the game for the last couple of years now. I stopped playing there regularly about 6 months ago and hadn't played in 3 months. I was well overdue for a return and tomorrow being a Public Holiday, seemed an ideal place to play.

I was a regular here once mainly to support my friend, but there were a few drawbacks that stopped me playing there. - It is a drive away and I prefer venues I can walk to, the game has a 'bounty' gimmick whereby a raffle is drawn and if you win, you win a bounty (I wish regular nightly payouts were propped up a little instead of having a jackpot determined by chance), the blind levels are very short and rise steeply and the crowd is very young (I find older players easier to read).

One of the highlights of this venue is the Smoked Salmon Caesar Salad and it was one of the venues main drawcards. That said, I was very disappointed with todays. The caesar sauce was watery, they stopped using fancy lettuce and instead used lots of plain shaved lettuce and put on a little grated cheese in place of the generous slices they used to dress it with.

Another annoying factor today was that the club have now set up a children's playground adjacent to the poker area, and where in the past there was a music jukebox, now this is replaced by screaming 6-year-olds going down slippery dips - my gripe was not that kids were having fun, it was more about our proximity to them.

The game itself was equally disappointing to me. I ended up being a bounty but far from capitalised - I flopped a flush when my opponent flopped a higher flush, then my 88 ran into JJ to ensure my early night. Whilst I wish my friend success in his business, It may well be another 3 months before I play there again.

Drowning before you can swim

I have been in my current role for a few years now, but it feels like I am still the newbie. I have a very knowledgeable boss who is great for sharing information, but sometimes I do not push myself hard enough and tend to coast at work.

This week I was assigned a particularly hard and scary fault. It was quite critical and had the potential to be high impact. I wss initially concerned when it was handed over to me. After reading and re-reading the network diagram, I think I have a good understanding of the fault and can talk to it simply. I'm pretty proud of myself as I have learned quite a fair bit in the process.

These are the sort of victories that make my job satisfying.

Road to Glory?

It is World Cup qualifier season and I have been watching a couple of games with my dad. Today was Australia vs Oman. It was publicised as a "must win" - but truth be told, I haven't analysed the tables and do not know how many games are left (though I take it that its close).

The first half was relatively boring. Australia conceded an early goal and had a lot of posession in the wrong end of the field. My dad showed his italian roots and was demanding Bresciano come on for most of the half, but the squads went to the sheds unchanged.

The second half saw another early goal conceded, this time it was an own goal. My dad finally had his wish granted and Bresciano came on with immediate impact. All of a sudden, Australia had attacking options and before too long Cahill's header gave us a goal. Sadly, Bresciano was injured 15 minutes before time and needed to come off, but a solid strike from Holman leveled the score and the match ended 2-2.

I don't think either side was happy with the result, but for the Aussies, If we cannot beat Oman at home, what chance are we of being competitive at the World Cup?

Happy Birthday Nonna,

As the subject suggests, today is my grandmothers birthday. I only have one grandparent left, so she is special. She is 87 years today and whilst she has her fair share of health issues, is doing Ok for her age.


I did my usual Sunday visit there yesterday with my youngest sister and passed on my birthday wishes. She was very appreciative. In the run-in to Easter I will be spending a lot more time with her.

"Game Changer"? Not quite...

One of the top 3 pizza franchises in this city recently went under fire for launching a new gourmet pizza menu. It was heavily marketed as a "game changer" for the pizza industry before its announcement and through modern social networking tool managed to get a fair bit of social media buzz.

Needless to say, once the social media army realised the announcement was nothing more than a minor gig-up of their "gourmet" pizza range, they had no reservations expressing so on the media used to generate the buzz. This was soon picked up by the greater media.

It is amazing how modern marketing machines adapt to change. Time and time again, large companies falter on social media campaigns and the speed, ease and public accessibility of feedback can quickly snowball with undesired consequences.

Despite the controversy, I was keen to try these and I had the chance today, thanks to a discount coupon. It was definitely smaller than a regular pizza and the bases were much thicker, however, the toppings were better than their standard pizza ranges. My one big criticism was that most large franchises have preserved toppings for convenience reasons, making most of them taste the same. It is no comparison to fresh toppings on a pizza which is harder to come across.Whilst I may have these again, I'm not in any great hurry.

Aloe Vera Overload

So my mum is going through a new fad- Aloe Vera. She read or heard somewhere that it is virtually a cure/prevention method for cancer but pharmaceutical companies are withholding the information as they want to manufacture more drugs and make more profit. "Once word gets out, everyone will grow their own plant" she explains. For most people my mothers age, Cancer is a major fear and talking point.

So today, I took her around to a few chinese shops trying to find the cheapest bottles of Aloe Vera I could find. We bought a couple in the end, the first bottle that I tried was rather sweet but mum insisted that the benefits outweighed the negatives. It will be interesting to see how long this fad lasts for.

Blind leading the blind.

The big news story of the last couple of days has been the leadership challenge that wasn't. We felt moments away from getting a new (or should I say "recycled") prime minister only for Kevin Rudd to do his math, find out he was short and withdraw without challenging - hanging his colleagues who supported him out to dry.

Firstly, I feel for Simon Crean. He stuck his neck out for the good of the party and was let down by Rudd protecting his reputation and public image. I really wish he would have nominated himself for Prime Ministership but that wasn't to be.

Secondly, I cannot adequately express how disappointed I am in Rudd. Had he have been sensible and not challenged last year when he had no chance of leadership and challenged now, he would be Prime Minister today. Whilst he has a wonderful vernacular and speaks a language that resonates well with voters, it has been widely reported that he was difficult to work under and regardless of how many times he can say that he is a changed man, the events of yesterday prove otherwise. If you cannot get the numbers in this fragile climate, you will never have the numbers.

Now to our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Regardless what the media has said about her, she has held a minority parliament together for over 2 years now. She has passed many major legislation items and is liked by the caucus. She should be congratulated for that but also realise that she is not charasmatic enough to win over voters and is steering a sinking ship. Labor voters are no longer listening to her and she has no chance of winning, regardless of all this she stands defiant. I really hope she comes to her senses before next election - the last thing I want to see is a coallition landslide.

All of the above just highlight how disfunctional Labor has become and proves that something has to change in the way the party is managed. I'm all for balance but it certainly looks like annihilation from here.

Fire, Water, Burn.

I arrived at my friends hotel early yesterday to the sound of fire alarms. The building opposite my friends hotel was being evacuated and police had just arrived on scene. When going down the hill, I noticed large flames coming out of the side of the building

Fire crews were not far away and roads and footpaths were progressively being blocked off as emergency services needed more room on the relatively narrow street.

 Emergency services did their building walkthroughs and checks. The event was over in about half an hour. I waited for my friend in front of a temporary barrier manned by a police officer and listened to some of the silly questions passer by's asked. "Did someone Die?" asked one lady, "Can I run back into the building and get my phone" asked another. others tried to barge through barriers, some succeeded. In all, emergency services handled the incident well, people disappoint me though.

A coworker that I have high respect for surprised me last week and showed up at the office unannounced. The surprise was amplified as he is now based out of San Jose and was formerly from Melbourne. The Sydney office is the last place I expected to see him but he had the opportunity of a Sydney junket to help out a local customer and grabbed it with both hands.

As i was on call last week, we agreed to meet up for dinner one day this week and that was tonight. We spoke for hours on work issues and my future career progression plans along with personal chit chat. His insight was impressive, for someone in his mid-20s he has slot of.maturity and knowledge.

He told me what I needed to hear - I am cruising in my current role and either need to become an expert or learn another product. We ended with an extended walk around the harbour foreshore before I ended up catching the long train home.

I had a really good time tonight, although I am definitely getting too old for these late ones on a school night. I will definitely pay the slumber price tomorrow.

Credit Card Surcharges.

This week is meant to be the end of the dreaded overpriced credit card surcharge. For a few years now, merchants have been able to pass on credit card surcharges. For the most part, retailers have made their own call with most major retailers absorbing the charges as they always have and some choosing to pass on the charge.

There are three major players that have went above and beyond- Taxis, Airlines and Ticket agencies. They tend to charge well above the 0.5% - 2% charge that banks charge retailers and either slap on a fixed fee or a fee well in excess of what is being charged to them by the banks.

I have had run-ins with 2 of these this week. I've looked at flight specials this week thinking of planning holidays. On some sites, a credit card fee has been replaced with an equal "service charge". I also booked some tickets at Ticketek, on  $70 worth of tickets, they wanted to charge me a $5 "admin" fee for printing out my own darn tickets, then slap on a credit card surcharge on top of that.

I have no quarms with retailers passing on a credit card fee, particularly if a fee free option is also offered, but charging rates over 10% for using a card is just gouging in my eyes. Retailers who use processing costs to justify the over the top fees do not hold water in my book either - retailers need to expect that any form of payment requires a processing expense and this needs to be taken into consideration in any business model.

I really hope that pressure is applied to these companies and that the industry is revolutionised once and for all.

Waste - a pet peeve.

I have grown up in a household whereby waste is rare, particularly when it comes to food. Leftovers are always eaten and

On the weekend my dad noticed he had a pox of peaches rotting away,  so had the idea to boil them and turn them into a mushy sweet that he likes. He later had a change of heart and soaked them in cask wine to make a sangria with them - sure they were the wrong type of fruit for sangria but it did the job.

Today in my evening walk I innocently ventured behind a closed fruit shop and noticed an untouched avocado that was sitting there behind a roller door. It had surely fallen off a box and would have been wasted. I felt it my duty to take it home and let it ripen.

I feel good that so little is wasted, however, on the flipside, I do tend to hoard belongings and it is often hard to throw anything out, but that is how I have been wired.

F1 GP

My work walking partner is a fan of F1 motor racing. It has often been a talking point during our walks and a sport that I hav epassively followed over the last few years. Usually the races are on far too late for me to watch it, but today is the start of the season and the race is in Melbourne (falling conveniently in my timezone).

I do not relegiously follow a builder but barrack for the aussies (Weber, Riccardo). Sadly, luck were not on their sides today - Riccardo did not finish with technical issue and Weber had a horrid start and never recovered.

For years I had thought of it as a boring sport but it is starting to grow on me. The greenie in me is disappointed that they waste so much fuel and wish that there were incentives to be more environmentally conscious, but this may happen in time. At least I have something to talk about in tomorrows walk.

Time flies

Today marks 3 years since my grandmother died (my mothers mother). She had been quite sick for at least a year beforehand and was in and out of hospital with what was suspected as a form of Leukemia.

I was never as close to this grandmother as I am to my grandmother on my fathers side - maybe it is due to my mother not having the sense of strong family value that my dad does, maybe its because she would often go on rants (usually mostly in Maltese) and I could not understand what she was saying, or maybe because she was not as geographically close (though she wasn't walking distance, she was a short drive away). Either way, the cards have been dealt and I have no choice but to accept that.

Her death sparked a family feud of gigantic proportions. My mother and her sister believed she played favouritism and due to some clever accounting from a particular uncle, feels cheated. I don't know if she was a victim of her own stubbornness while she was alive or could not foresee the consequences, but it has made life difficult for the rest of the family and made interactions between cousins awkward.

When rivals meet.

Thursday Night Football is a relatively new innovation for the footy this season. For the first 4 rounds, we get footy 5 nights a week. Yesterday was the start of Round 2. My team the Eels met up with one of their traditional Sydney rivals the Bulldogs.

My father is a St George supporter but hates the Bulldogs. The game itself was good - there was lots of tries in the first half and the Eels played better than expected but they lacked creativity in the second half and ran out of time and lost by 4 in the end. Whilst the result was disappointing the game wast too bad - it was competitive from start to finish and despite a few silly mistakes had you on the edge of your seat.

The last live game I saw was a fey years ago now. I saw it with my dad. It was a finals game between the Eels and the Bulldogs. Dogs were favourites that game too but Eels managed an upset and ended up at the Grand Final. At least the Eels one the game that mattered.

May I have a large container of coffee

Today is March 14. Or 14.3. or, in the US, its 3.14, which is con incidentally a decimal representation of Pi.This it is International Pi Day.

Pi is a number so irrational that you can celebrate it twice. 22/7 is a pretty close fractional approximation, so some can celebrate it on July 22. I much like 355/113 as it is easy to remember (just split 113355 and reverse the values) and very close to accurate. Even this post subject is a decimal Mnemonic.

Calculators have probably spoiled a bit of the fun people have remembering Pi, but that doesn't mean you can't have a little bit of fun a couple of time a year.

Lacking focus.

I really need to get back onto the wagon. I have been using my bruised foot as an excuse to get out of walking. I have been trying the fasting diet and starting strong in the mornings and afternoon but see cracks in my defenses as soon as I am home to my open kitchen.

I have been up and down many times before. I just have to pay with disappointment and force myself into a cycle I am happy with. My walking needs to start up again. My diet needs to improve.

I know I can get there, I just need to find my focus. .

To the Conclave!

So a bunch of Priests are locked away at the Vatican, waiting for God to tell them who the next Pope will be. As all eyes are on temporary chimneys and all ears listening to the bells of St. Peters, Its a good time to wonder what the new Pope will hope to achieve.

Religion is fast becoming outdated in the developed worls and is a source of hope for the developed world. The new Pope is going to have to tackle child abuse and demonstrate that the Church has no tolerance for it. It would also be a good chance to modernise customs and beliefs.

I think men and women have urges that the vast majority cannot control. I do not see the problem with priests dating and marrying women. I would think no less of such a man. I'd also appreciate it if they spent their time with an adult and left our kids alone.

There are lots of little things that the Church can do to make religion more relevant. Don't forget - the bible is over 2000 years old. I think that the Bible was created to help explain the unexplainable 2000 years ago. Now, science has disproved large chunks of it and many parts are no longer relevant. It would take alot of courage for a new priest to modernise the Church, and would also take a great deal of commonsense. Sadly, commonsense is not always that common.

Working from the"Regional Office"

Recently, the CEO of Yahoo came under fire for banning her employees from working from home. I work for a company that allows Working from Home  and in a bid to reduce need of office space is starting to encourage it on a Seniour management level (although Line Managers do not seem as enthusiastic).

Someone who I play poker with is a line manager. His company's research suggested that employees were less likely to resign if they were allowed 1 work from home day a week. He told me a few weeks ago that he allows his staff to do it, however, requires that they update a procedure while they are at home. He felt that home workers were less productive.

I rarely work from home. I like overhearing my bosses technical conversations at work and feel that I benefit more from the knowledge I gain when I am at work. That said, I will do if I have good reason - usually when I have worked the night before or had to go to the doctors. Today I took advantage of it as I didn't feel like driving with my bruised foot.

Had I have not been able to work from home today, I may well have taken a sick day. Working from home meant that I could update my cases, do a training course I was avoiding and keep on standby for any faults that may have arisen. Sure, it wasn't the most productive days work I have ever done but I was far more productive than I would have been had I taken a sickie.

I think Working from home is worthwhile if done in moderation. It improves employee satisfaction and can save companies money if implemented correctly. It can be abused and line managers are right to be cautious but giving an employee a work from home day once or twice a month is more than reasonable.

Decisions

Today is the birthday of a former Uni friend and work colleague. We have been through a lot together. We failed similar subjects at Uni, We did several uni assignments together, spent countless nights intoxicated at UTS bar and have similar tastes in music.

In our final years of uni, we both secured full time employment at an ISP. We did our penance and started on Phone support. He ventured in to test based interactions and I dabbled into a few different areas but after a few years there we both knew that the job wasn't for us.

Our ministry is very volatile. My friend started a work before me, and in that time, the company changed ownership and names 3 times. Members went up and crashed down. there were several waves of redundancies and we kept ducking the water. We were both very bored there and needed new challenges but also wanted our redundancy packages before leaving.

One day, not long after knocking up his 5 years, my friend had drawn his line in the sand and resigned and moved to Ireland. Whilst I commend his courage, his timing was slightly off as had he waited 3 months, he would have received his redundancy package like the rest of us.
 
He still works in the ISP industry but is more into the sales side now. He is well settled and has a long term girlfriend there now. I haven't visited him or seen him in a few years now, but still think of him from time to time, particularly on this day.

Limping away

I managed to kick a doorframe hard today. This has caused pain and bruising around my rightmost toes on my rightmost foot.

I had wanted to walk up the road and watch the footy at a local pub over dinner, but my foot stood in the way of it. I limped all the way there and had missed most of the footy by the time I arrived. I limped home in quite a bit of pain holding a shoe.

While it is not visually pleasant right now, I'm really hoping that the pain subsides and I can get back into my walking routines.

Kick off.

Football season started last night. I like having a 5-month break away from football - when the season finally kicks off again you really get hungry for it. I have watched about 2 halves of football and am eager to see the eels kick off tomorrow.

This year I am in an el-cheapo tipping comp with my youngest sisters husband. So far, I am 1 from 2. I think it is relatively easy to tip an upset at this stage of the season and it will take a few rounds to sort the contenders from the pretenders. Still, its a talking point and worth the $20 to gee each other up about.

Being a little naughty.

I was all set and prepped for my regular lunchtime walk with a coworker. We work in different buildings that are about 15 minutes apart, so leave at the same time and meet in the middle.

I had put my walking shoes on and had entered the lifts to the ground floor. Just before it closed I had heard a familiar voice. "hold the door!". To my surprise another coworker was up from Melbourne for the day. We once worked closely but have always kept in touch on a professional and personal level.
He persuaded me rover ditch my walk - something I rarely do - and have lunch at a pizza parlour not too far away that I like eating at on the company. I had tried to decline, but the.offer was too good to refuse.

We caught up on changes in our respective offices and general office gossip. We also talked about a mutual former coworker that we havent seen in years. By total co-incidence, I saw her a few hours later in my local shopping centre. Just goes to show that ears can burn sometimes.

Playing to ones strengths

A few years ago, when middle sister moved out of home, middle sister wanted a PVR to replace her VCR. Her needs were simple - needed a USB port, decent sized hard drive, needed to be able to watch 1 channel and record 2 others and have a time-shift feature. I found her a box that was near perfect and highly recommended on forums. She bought it and has been happy with it for 4 or so years.

In the last couple of months, playbacks have been skipping for her. One of her friends recommended ditching the PVR and buying a TV with the PVR functionality included. I suggested to her that there are cheaper and better solutions, namely getting me to fix it. I've been reading a fair bit about the units and have a 4-pronged plan of attack to fix it.

I don't know if I can fix it or not, but certainly want to give it a try. When it comes to research and problem solving, I am in my element.

Fast

So I made a post about a week ago about how I was lacking motivation to lose weight. In the week since I posted that, I've heard alot about a fasting diet being mentioned. The basic premise is that you eat what you want for 5 days a week and only eat a quarter of a standard dietary intake 2 days a week.

The merits of the science behind it sound plausible. The hardest thing about losing weight is that unlike smoking, drinking or most other habits, you cannot simply give up food. You have to continue it in moderation. I don't know if this diet is just another fad or a silver bullet, but its something i'd like to give a go.

I had an aborted attempt at a fast day last Saturday, but decided to give it another try today. I had a small peach with my soy cappuccino for breakfast. By the time I finished my lunchtime walk I was starving. I wanted to buy a salad but was tempted into eating a seafood quiche with it. My big crack was getting a Cornetto when I filled up with petrol on the way home - It was hot and I was stuck in traffic.. I had a few rice biscuits when I finally made it home and had a small fruit salad for dinner.

Whilst I was not as disciplined as I was hoping for, I made a decent start I must admit that I am still hungry now and quite moody and tired as a result. I'm hoping I can keep this up. I am still not brave enough to get on the scale but my belt wil be the first indications as to whether or not this works. I may not be in the right frame of mind right now, but at least this is better than doing nothing feeling sorry for myself.

Death to the broadsheet

Today the SMH went from a broadsheet to a compact format. They are cautious not to use the word "tabloid" as that denotes a trashy form of journalism often dished out by News limited. The website has had a makeover as well, I expect in preparation for the paywall due in the coming months.

We have had the Daily Telegraph delivered at home for years. I hate the paper and would never pay for it. Dad likes it because it is loaded with biased stories that support his point of view. I think that the SMH being a broadsheet is a good thing. I've never worked out a way to hold the large pages and I wonder if the Daily Telegraph would be as successful if the SMH had put its act together years ago and changed format before the decline that all printed newspapers are going through right now.

I can imagine that there are fish and chip shops and charity outlets up in arms about losing such a solid source of disposable wrapping paper. I don't know if the move is too little, too late or not but I wish them all the best with it - the more competition News Limited has, the better it is for all.

The Bourne Legacy

It has been a couple of weeks since I have watched a movie and today was The Bourne Legacy's turn.It came highly recommended from my father whom rated it higher than Skyfall, although a coworker who had seen   both scoffed at the suggestion insisting that Skyfall was far superior.

 

I have seen the previous Bourne movies, I don't know what it is about this series but I find it very easy to forget them. The storylines feel intertwined and there were several references to previous movies, however, I wasn't able to make the links. It almost feels like Bourne should be a TV show instead of a movie series - the plots are detailed enough, but thats just my opinion.

As far as action goes, this was great. The effects were a little better in Skyfall but this was certainly up to scratch. I also liked how the plot developed - how you get constant and significant scraps at the beginning but have to wait until two thirds through it to make sense of what they mean.

All in all, I'd probably give the edge to Skyfall but there wasn't much difference between them. I'd love to sit down and re-watch the Bourne series one day which may affect this opinion.
Either way, its not a bad flick.

Light on my spinach.

My dad is quite strong. he is built like an ox and generally has no trouble lifting heavy objects. He often recalls stories from his childhood where he would carry oversized reams of firewood from their country farm back to the house or his weightlifting days as a teenager. He has other similar stories which are often busted out on days like tiese..

Today we bought a wardrobe and I help him move it around. Whilst you could sense that it wasn't my dads favourite Sunday task, he seemed to manage it with ease. I on the other hand am quite weak by comparison. I look strong and try but the lifting makes my arms shake. I don't know if it is because I work in IT and never had to lift regularly or whether I am just not built for lifting, but either way, I feel useless when I have to lift and struggle. I do my best, but it isn't easy!

It makes you wonder how much of be is biological and how much is environmental. If I had kids, what traits would I pass on? Would they be as weak as me or as strong as dad? Even so, would it be due to biological or environmental reasons? i guess there is no accurate answer, but the question has to be asked.

Rewarding a Bludger

I work in a cutthroat industry. There are several telecommunications equipment vendors out there and only a limited pool of customers. My company has a reputation as a market leader, however, is also relatively expensive and cost cutting, efficiencies and transformations are always at the front of upper managements plans. Labor costs being what they are, the Australian employee base has been gradually eroding over many years whilst people sparred are encouraged to be more adaptable and take on more work.

There is one particular employee who has been with the company a little over 8 years. He has a reputation for being invisible - he is a good talker but never does any work. His manager is based in Melbourne. My workplace allows people to work from home, but he takes true advantage of the privilege and turns up on average about once a month. There have often been snickerings my many, including yours truly, on just how he manages to keep his job. Is his manager incompetent? Is he blinded by this employees gift with words? Does this employee have a medical or personal condition making it difficult to get rid of him for legal reasons?

I have seen him turn up to work three times this week. Today I found out that he had been made redundant. He had kept the news quiet while he works his notice period, but will be entitled to at least 6 months pay. I think it is a positive move for the company as it is about time they cut their losses with this guy and am very surprised that it took them this long.

My walking partner was unaware of the redundancy until I told him, which is slightly odd since they are technically part of the same team. He is an older employee that would be ecstatic with a golden handshake and has a similar negative opinion of the employee in question. When I broke the news, he was quite upset. "Why is he rewarded for doing nothing?". He has a point - a more proactive manager could have dismissed him without a package. Maybe its because I am not looking for a package that I see the benefits of getting rid of him by any means outweighing the drawbacks of retaining him.

Knocking up my ton.

So hear I am! 100 days since I started this blog, and 100 blog entries to my name.

I realised that I wanted to start this blog in Singapore. I remember at the time hundreds of potential blog entries, matters I wanted documented and wanting to jot down opinions and reviews of issues current to myself.

At first, I felt like this blog was helping my life get more interesting - I wanted to go out more so I would have more to blog about and not appear as the miserable old man I feel like sometimes. It worked initially - i did venture out more. I had that motivation.

Of late the outings have dried up and I am sometimes left scraping for topics to blog about. It isn't always a scrape, but it is more often than I would care to admit to.

When I started this blog, I wanted to commit to a blog a day for at least a year. I still feel like this is achievable, but am thinking that I will have to reduce quantity and perhaps focus on quality after that. My friend who suggested blogging posts once a month and they are always interesting posts. While I feel this is too infrequent, I don't see once a day sustainable in the long term.

There is lots I have not discussed. Despite having no readers, some I do not feel ready for or it is not the right time. Others have disappeared from short term memory. Either way, I'll do my best to keep to my year commitment and stick this one out.

What could have been

My parents always had planned for me to go to uni, get a degree, get a good job and set myself up for life. They were uneducated themselves and a little light on the details of what they wanted me to do or study and while some may say they gave me freedom to do what I wanted and enjoyed, some may also say that their plan lacked focus or direction and I had to work it all out for myself at a time when I was very confused and undecided.

I browsed through the University guide in my last year of school, I had felt like I had led a largely sheltered life. I had few extra curriculum activities, hobbies or friends. I picked IT because I enjoyed computer studies at school, had recently purchased my first desktop PC and s and it seemed like a logical career choice at the time.

Whilst I am happy with my choice,  If I could do it all again with the benefit of hindsight, I wish I could pursue Psychology. I really enjoy looking for tells at the poker table. I like studying people and their reactions to questions or situations. I look for uncomfortable pauses or subtle changes in tone when talking to others. I like finding the boundary and skirting around it. Most of what I know is from trial and error, I feel i could have benefited from formal training.

As it stands today, my choice wasn't the worst I could have made, but my mind does wonder sometimes...

The wrong direction.

My weight is becomming a problem. I am at a stage where my belt has expanded, my clothes are tighter and I have a general feeling of unhealthiness that has come over me. I am too afraid to stand on the scale because I know it's going to be a big number.

I am definitely eating the wrong foods. I'm spending too much time eating supermarket crap. I am still walking regularly but with less od the oomph that comes so naturally when I am in the zone and I will also allow excuses to creep in and not walk. I didn't walk yesterday because it was too humid. I walked today but had to really push myself out of the house.

This is not he heaviest I've ever been, not by a long shot. Do not let that detract from the fact that I am very disappointed int the way I look and feel right now. I've looked for motivation and even posted here but having issues pulling that trigger and going into full focus.

I'm by no means giving up - I cannot let myself get any bigger.

Business is picking up

Work is actually starting to get busy again. Customers are upgrading and expanding, faults are happening. I'm starting to help out with a few interesting areas just outside my prime responsibilities. The days are going faster and I'm feeling more satisfied.

The only downer to all this is that I do not feel like I am learning. Maybe I am in cruise control and lost my drive? I'm not happy about it and going to have to do something to get back into overdrive. It is very easy to sit back into your comfort zone but that isn't really the job I get paid for.

Playing with a partner

I trekked off to Manly today with a friend for a teams poker tournament event. The event was $75 each plus $50 in add-ons and rebuys. Top prize was a week long all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas - a prize we both would have been delighted with.

Teams events are risky because you are not just playing for yourself, you are playing for two and you kinda do not want to be the person who busts the team.Whilst we have trust in each others play and teams events are a little risky, its fun to change it up a little.

We both started the tournament rather slowly. We were on our own for the first hour and lost roughly half or stacks. I was very fortunate to win the hand before the break with a flush and return my stack to a defensible level. My partner had done slightly better but neither of us felt we were in a great position.

After the break our stacks were combined and we completed our double add-ons. Teams swapped control after every blind period (20 minutes) and we treaded water for 3 or 4 levels. It felt like I was winning with bluffs and could not make my big hands work. Eventually, I managed to turn a straight when holding my favourite hand (72). My opponent had a straight also and went all in, which I had to call. His straight improved on the river and I was eliminated.

We ate at the overpriced bistro in the breeze outside away from the heat indoors and made the trek home. My partner was very forgiving and Vegas will have to remain on ice for the time being.

I need a life

Today has been a wasted day. Sure we have copped a drenching and I have played courier to my family but I feel like I have achieved nothing today.

Even if it had been a dry sunny day and I had no courier duties I'm not sure if much would have been achieved other than perhaps a good walk.

On my most recent courier duty, I drove through the heart of Newtown and saw so many young people enjoying their Saturday nights. I really need to find a good hobby but have so few friends, am not good at making new friends and am a relatively boring. My parents are hermits and I feel like I missed my 20's. I've been trying to play catch up but it is not as easy as one would expect it to be.

Pearl Jam

There was an interesting program on Music Max today about the top 50 albums of the 90's. This interested me as this is my favourite music period. Whilst I did not have much time to follow the full program, I did see about an hour of it and was in time to see them feature "Vitalogy"

I still remember buying this CD from my local record store back in the days where i would scour for my collection. The cardboard cover meant that it did not fit into my CD rack and I had to sit it on the floor of my stand.

Vitalogy Cover

I still remember one particular Thursday night back in uni days where a friend and I were at uni bar having a few drinks and we were talking about Pearl Jam touring and playing that night, only a few hundred meters away. The show was sold out months before but we took our chances and headed to the Entertainment Centre and tried to secure a couple of tickets. Ended up paying $100 each for a ticket from a scalper not even knowing where we were sitting. This was quite a massive investment for the time as was about twice retail price.

We entered the venue about 2 or 3 songs in and were ushered to our seats - first tier, Front row center. You could not have found better seats (although there was a large standing moshpit in front of us). We really enjoyed ourselves and the gig and in hindsight it was money well spent.

A few months later I was playing pool with some old school friends and picked "Spin the Black Circle" from the dukebox. They looked at me as if I was from another planet and could not understand how I could listen to such fast paced and alternative music.

Pearl Jam are a band that I have had alot of fun with and one of the bands that defined the 90's for me, yet I still would not put them up there with my favourite bands or call myself a die hard fan. Nonetheless, I still think they were a quality outfit and well worth a listen.

Benevenuti Del Piero

My father and I like soccer and are passive A-League fans. We watch World Cups quite intensively and squeeze in the odd champions league. My dad is Italian and we have always followed Italy in World Cups (particularly in the years when Australia kept missing out).

Last year when news filtered through that Sydney FC had pulled off a miracle and secured ADP, dad was estatic. Rarely is he keen to want to go to go out and watch a sporting event, but he is super keen to see ADP wear the Sky Blue shirt at least one time.

Between revolving around work schedules and general lazyness I have dropped the ball on this one. I still want to make this happen, only I'm not sure when. Fortunately, ADP has signed up for another year today and given us more chances to make this happen.

Giving way to the bell

Often walking paths are shared with cyclists. A simple courtesy that bike riders are expected to offer is a simple ring of a bell as they approach a walker.

Why is it that so few cyclists ring their bells when they approach walkers? their bikes are so quiet nowdays that you can never hear them coming. Even if there is enough room for a cyclist to pass, a bell ring is appreciated to help walkers who may be thinking of crossing the path or avoid being startled as a cyclist whisses past.

To further complicate matters, of those who do ring are usually children who ring the bell for no other reason than they have a bell and want to use it. Whilst this is much less of an issue it can be really annoying turning round to the sound of a bell only to find a kid playing.

To those few cyclists who follow bell etiquette, thank you. To those who don't, its not too late to change.

One of my few fantasies

A friend from work has decided to pack up shop and applied for a transfer to Silicon Valley. from what he says, the work is quieter than what he was expecting but he is enjoying the break away from home and the subtle differences that the US offers.

One of his indulgences was to splash out $60,000 on a V8 Chrysler Camaro. If I were to live in the US for a year, I would be parting with a third of that and looking for a early 80's Silver Deloreon.

Deloreons were the coolest cars going around when I was growing up, helped largely by the Back to the Future franchise. Any car with doors that open upwards get instant brownie points. Other than that, they just look cool. The Deloreon never made it to Australia and most have the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car for local use.

I went to Universal Studios in Los Angeles when I was a kid. I sat in replicas of KITT from Knight Rider and the cop car from Blues Brothers. There was a Deloreon on one of the stage shows and I was a volunteer in charge of rocking it for one of the shows but never managed to sit in it.

My fantasy will probably never come to fruition, but one can dream.

Com-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-puter-puter, puter games

Isn't it amazing how so much of our lives can be wasted playing games. At a previous job in an IT helpdesk there were several people addicted to World of Warcraft and Second Life. I was fortunate enough to skip these phases as the people who played them seemed to play them all night.

My dad recently acquired an iPhone from my youngest sister. I installed a few apps and he has been playing an italian card game (Scopa) ever since, addicted to trying to climb the points leader board and reach the summit to the point whereby the actual game stops being fun.

On the other hand, my mum has a FB Bejeweled addiction. It does not get boring for her. As annoying as it get sometime being not able to use the home PC, I think it actually does her mind good and may be helping to keep her mind active and starve off alzheimers.

I must say I find simple phone or PC apps far more addictive than long quest type games - maybe I dont have the attention span for longer games or I am plain not good at them. Either way, a good chunk of my life has been spent playing games and I wonder what I could have achieved if I had put the time to something more constructive.

Italian Elections

Italy go to the polls this week. Whilst overseas elections wouldn't usually interest me that much, this one doe as I voted in it. I don't know why, but my father is Italian and since I turned 18 I have had ballots mailed to me for federal elections and referendums.


The first thing that hits you is how difficult it is to vote if you don't know Italian. In Australia, when you vote, you can request instructions in any number of languages. In the Italian elections, despite voting in the Australasian and aftican block, all instructions are in Italian. Occasionally I will receive mail from a candidate with voting instructions in English and Italian and can work it out. The voting system is horrible as well. In Australia, with compulsory voting, they do all they can to make voting simple - all you do is number a box. In the Italian elections there is no preferential voting and you have to write the surname of the guy in the party you are voting for on the ballot paper, I haven't worked out if you are only voting for one guy or voting for a party and the winning candidate in that party gets the vote.


In any case, I voted with to stick with Monte, if for no other reason that he has kept to his word in calling an election after the budget and I feel he is making the hard choices for Italy that it needs in this time of crisis. I have never voted Berlusconi and never will. It would be interested to see the results somewhere once this election is finished but finding such information is very difficult

Total Recall 2012

About the only thing I achieved today was that I had the opportunity to watch Total Recall. I really liked the Arnie version, as such, had reservations about whether or not I should watch nte new version but I took the plunge anyway.

Total Recall 2012 Movie Poster

I like post apocalyptic future presentations that are rough on the edges and show a future where people have to resort to old fashioned methods to survive, but are fused with futuristic enhancements that you could only imagine. I thought the original movie did this quite well but this one was a little too futuristic. It made for great special affects but the movie lost some of its aura.

A new generation of fans will probably like this movie but for purists lime myself who had seen the original, it is no match. I think settling on Mars was more realistic than going through the Earths core (as unrealistic as settling on Mars is). I really liked the little details in the original like the Johnny Cab and entrusting a stranger for help - the new one you always had a s sense of who was good and bad and it made the movie rather predictable.

I think I would have been happier if they had engineered a sequel to the original Like they did with Escape from New York. Are we that out of ideas as a society that we keep to go around resurrecting old ideas? Makes you wonder if they will refresh it again in 20 years time.

What is his Storious?

I was a big fan of the Paralympics last year, moreso than the Olympics themselves. I don't know if it was Australia won more medals, if the coverage was better on the ad-free ABC, or if the constant swimming replays and lack of diversity bored me on Channel 9 or a combination of all of the above, but either way I was addicted to the games for those couple of weeks and watched as much as I possibly could.

In the last day or so the news that Oscar Pistorious had murdered his girlfriend has filtered down the media. I was as shocked as the next person, but have to say, am not one of Oscar's biggest fans. I am of the school that believe that he should not be able to race in the normal Olympics - at least not with the carbon fiber blades that he uses. It is a significant advantage in my mind and whilst I have sympathy for him being born without fibulas, do not believe that it is a level playing field if he competes.

That leads me to his tirade after he lost the 200m final at the Paralympics. He all but called his opponent a cheat for having better prosthetics, particularly as his opponent was an above the knee amputee. I think Oscar had a point, however, he should have targeted the people in charge of defining regulation instead of his opponent. There was an obvious sense of double standard and a general lack of sportsmanship, particularly as if Oscar had ran the same time as he did in the heats, he would have won gold. He later apologised, however, it felt like the true Oscar has let himself out of the bag and it was a lasting memory for me.

It is sad that someone seen as such a role model is capable of murdering someone. I hope for his sake and the sake of his fans that there is a logical reason why this occurred, even if it is not justified. I'm sure he will feel a great sense of remorse for what he has done and hope that some good can come out of it - maybe SA can get some gun reform or Oscar can reform himself and be a different kind of role model.

Valentine's Day?

Happy Valentine's!

My Valentine's is quiet and non eventful, not because I am on call and not because I think it is a lame excuse for a date, but because even if I were free, there wouldn't be anyone to take.

I have a new years resolution to go out on a date. I am kinda stuck in a rut whereby I just want something I can never have. I'll figure a way through it but it isn't easy. It's not a part of my life that I am particularly happy or proud of, but is something I have to learn to live with.

My youngest sister is a florist and as such, hates valentines day. It is the busiest time of year from her and she gets home exhausted. At least she hates it for the right reasons.

Numbers. Some keep haunting me.

People that know me are familiar with my better than average ability of remembering numbers. I am also good at remembering birthdays. I can remember birthdays for people i used to work with and people I went to school with - some I haven't seen in years and may never see again.

Today is someones birthday that I will probably never see again. It is the birthday of an ex-girlfriend. It is particularly easy to remember as it was the day before Valentines day. We broke up over 10 years ago, but she was special as it was my longest relationship, and the only relationship that I used the 'L word. I am well and truly over it now, but it was still a significant and important part of my life.

I met her in my uni days at the uni bar. She was quite shy and pleased that I gave her attention at first. If she gained anything from me, it was certainly confidence. Maybe it was a sign of my youth or experience, but for a long time, I took her for granted and didn't take the relationship seriously.

That changed very suddenly when I lost my best friend. All of a sudden, I realised how short life was. I started taking her seriously and felt like I really was in a relationship.  We had a very good 6 months and she helped me through my loss, then, she tragically lost her best friend.

I wanted to help as much as I could and felt like I was in the best position to do so. The problem was, her best friend was a Male and had a crush on her. She felt like I was somehow happy that he died which I promise was not the case and the relationship started to crumble. A few months later she started cheating on me and whilst alarms were ringing like sirens, there was nothing that could be done to save the relationship. She was no longer interested in me and as I went through the stages of greif finally found acceptance and finally accepted that I didn't want a cheater anyway and even if I was able to sustain the relationship, it was close to its use by date.

I have a habit whereby relationships do not end well. I am not friends with any of my ex girlfriends and this one is no different.This one took the longest to get over, but she was not right for me. Whilst it is her birthday, she will not be getting wishes from me. I do think of her on rare occasions but wish i could forget her birthday.

Pope quits!

I was shocked with the rest of the world this morning to wake up to the news that the pope had resigned. I remember from my primary education learning that Pope's do not quit so did not see this coming.

It is ironic that Benedict XVI was helped to his position as he was a conservative, yet has been doing his bit to anoint younger Archbishops and change the make-up of the church. He may have failed to make naughty priests accountable for their crimes, may not have accepted women priests, safe sex or homosexuals but he has helped lay the structure for them to be accepted by the church someday.

When you look back at his reign, I think history will remember him as the first Pope to resign in the modern era. It is a very clever move on his part - few people work in their mid-80's in this day and age and his decision has reason, particularly as the memory of JPII's final years and his lack of ability is still fresh in our minds. I think the Church is coming to a crossroads and some tough decisions are going to have to be made, lets hope the new Pope will have some of the courage that the current one lacked.

Gnocci

My favourite food growing up was homemade gnocci. My nonna used to make this in kilos and my nonno was quite big on it as well. When my nonno passed away, my nonna stopped making it and the recipe. She would make them from scratch and mostly by hand - I'm told it was simple but fery laborious and time consuming.

My nonna's aunt has a machine to automate most of the process. She has been making her own batches and giving a bag to nonna whenever she does. Nonna isn't a fan of machine made gnocci, so she has been passing it on to me who is only too happy to accept.

We cooked a batch on the weekend and it was great. One of my new years resolutions was to learn how to make it myself and give nonna a person to pass on the recipe to. I'm a horrible cook but really want to give this one a go. She says it is better done in winter months as the pasta is less sticky. Maybe it is old age but I think there is a part of her that doesn't want to do this, though I'd really appreciate it if she gives this a go - I really want to eat nonnas gnocci one more time!

Testing my luck.

I ventured back into the Casino today. The Sydney Casino has a big poker tournament next month which attracts a $2,200 buy-in. As I would never pay so much to play in such a tournament, my only chance is to qualify via satellites. Today's satellite attracted a $250 fee, with 1 ticket offered for every 10 runners. A friend was keen to chance her luck on it so it felt like a good day to go.

The tournament was scheduled to start at 2:15pm. We were a little early and registered quickly. There was a commotion at 2:15 when they announced the start was delayed to 3pm due to lack of runners - 19 players were already registered and ready to go, some of the regulars were vocal in their disappointment and management eventually agreed on a 2:30 compromise.

The first session was quite successful for me. I started off folding everything, so much so that I felt like I could get away with a few bluffs (and i did). Just before the break some of them were hitting and I went to the first break with my stack tripled. My friend had also started well but had taken a big hit just before the break. The late start was pointless as they only opened up 2 tables anyway and despite crawling to 25 runners, the extras were surplus and treated as reserves, only joining when one was eliminated.

After the break the table numbers started dwindling. My friend was eliminated and both tables had 3 or so empty seats so I opened my range. This tactic did not work for me and my stack started to erode. We eventually combined tables and I went card dead. I eventually made a move with KQ, ran into AQ and lost. I made it to 7th place, a respectable finish but still 4 outside the prize money.

The good thing about playing at Casinos is that tournaments are stricter than pub games, though today I must say that the organisers had no clue. They couldn't tell us when the tournament starts, how long the breaks were scheduled for, if antes were introduced in later levels and changed their minds about offering the final table a free drink. It is nice having a dealer look after the side pots and settle disagreements, however there in certainly room for improvement.

I may not have won money today, but it was still nice playing in a formal tournament and will try another one if I can squeeze it in. At least I was also able to catch up with my friend, who despite being eliminated relatively early, was able to recover $200 on the cash tables afterwards!

They're a Weird Mob

My little sister came over today and on strong recommendations from my dad, we watched an Australian movie from 1966 called "They're a Weird Mob". He built this as a predecessor to "The Castle" and I was curious enough to want to watch it.

They're a Weird Mob Movie Poster

I could see how my dad could fall in love with this one. It is about an Italian immigrant who came over by boat and getting used to the quirks of this strange world down under. This movie was made a couple of years after my dad would have made the same sea journey and had little bits of Italian in it, making it easy for him to understand it.

I didn't find it as funny as it was billed, however, there were some funny scenes and slight bits of humour, mostly centered around broken english and taking aussie slang literally.

The most interest I had is having a glimpse of Sydney from back in the day that my father immigrated.Seeing developing suburbs, the way Italians were treated, the old currency circulating, telephone switchrooms, old cars and labourers and the accents in the language were all eye openers for me. I particularly liked the panoramic camerawork of Sydney Harbour at the end of the film with a half finished Opera House - It has been there all my lifetime so it's hard to imagine a harbour without it.

The film itself fell short of expectations for my sister and I, but that may have been partly due to my dad's high appraisals. but the window into the mid 60's Australiana was well worth the effort.