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.