A Happy Holiday Weekend with Bees Who Tidy....

Hi!

Well. Here we are, Sunday afternoon. Although it's been thankfully nice and cool for once on a weekend, it's also rained off and on. That's ok tho, not complaining. Even the birds are out there happy to have the cool breeze instead of the stifling hot and humid we usually have on the weekends. They don't even seem to mind the rain. Then again they might sing a different tune if they knew what was coming, because unless they have email, the weather service has issued a "severe weather warning" for our little corner of Queensland over the next few hours and this little spattering of rain must be the start of the festivities. Geez, with my luck lately, I hope I can finish checking in before the lighting bolts start landing......... Otherwise, the early evening is lovely and cool with a nice breeze, the happy clean laundry is cowering inside with me away from the rain....... Got the usual hip n' groovy jazz tunes, even have a nice cool glass of one of the many stand-by white wines..... yes, life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good..... We had to move to a much smaller area than where

we were occupying (we basically commandeered a whole big corner of our vast and empty floor), and after the dust settled, I was issued a desk with a view of my kennel walls and the main walkway to the kitchen. Crap. I used to have a great view of the river and, well, the sky, with no pedestrians to distract me (or peek over my kennel walls as they now do). I'd get into the reasons why our little group of six had to move to cozier digs but it would bore you stupid. Suffice to say the pencil pushers in Finance didn't like the fact the we occupied a big space when, seeing as there's really only six of us, we could jam into a tiny space - apparently it's all about square footage versus cost codes, and logic/sanity. And just in time for the start of another apparent banner flu season. Fabulous. Good thing we all get along. And so much for our blistering productivity, now we just turn around in our seats and talk all day, solving the problems of the world and such. Ahhhhhh, whining aside, work is good. Not tooooo busy, but busy enough to make the day pass. And yes, although I may whine about my smaller kennel without a view, am just happy to have a kennel to go to everyday! Hooray for gainful employment!

And then there has been the weekend. And this weekend it has just been the bee's knees because it's Easter, and Jesus says we can have the Friday and Monday off. Awesome! And not content with just four days off, I've thrown in two of my "free" days off (March and April days off) so I can have the Tues and Wed off - even more awesome! Ok, so the weather is a bit poopy, that's ok - am not at work, am having a break! And the little break started off nicely after work on Thursday with a few (too many) glasses of wine with a couple work-folks at the quietest little bar I've seen in ages. It was a great evening. Unfortunately for Friday though, things weren't as rosy. Thankfully it was nothing some Advil, lots of water and about 4 episodes of Downton Abbey couldn't cure. And later that evening, my friends Kim and Carlos, along with a couple of their friends, at the last minute discovered they had a spare ticket to the rugby game that evening and asked if I'd join them. Cooool. Haven't been to this kind of rugby game before (there're like three different kinds and I can't tell them apart even after like 11 years being down here (NZ & Oz)). So went along to that and it was actually a fun albeit short evening. Bless 'em for having short games, not like football or baseball in the US that go for hoooouuuurrrrs. These games are a neat and tidy hour and a half, with something like a 15 minute half-time and no time-outs or any of that silly fluffing around. And even tho it's Easter weekend and most locals bolt out of town to go camping, there were still some 40,000+ folks filling the stadium! So even tho the local team, Brisbane Broncos, lost to the Melbourne Storm, I'd venture to say a good time was had by all. I did!

And then there's been the rest of the weekend. Lots of chores and much tidying. Not that the tiny apartment is all that dirty or cluttered, but seeing as I have the Invasion of the Real Estate Agency/Owner this Wednesday, I thought I might as well do the stack of ironing and organize the kitchen (and mah cluttered desk) a bit better, more presentable instead of, well, functional/comfortable. Nearly there. 

Otherwise, that's the nice, looooong weekend. No big plans but that's ok. Listening to some of my friends/work folks, they didn't have plans either. Am saving my $$$$ and my time for mah trip in July (I told you about that, right? SD from the 19th to the 26th, Tucson from the 26th to the 2nd of Aug, so see you then!), and then mah biiiiig Aussie road trip in October! So the vacation time is a precious commodity and the savings definitely need a bit of bulking up! But Adventure is coming!

And that's about it really. The usual - work, home, chores, repeat. And, like I say every time, the weather is only getting better, therefore, feel free to plan that trip down thisaway anytime! And let me know if you need any help or tips, although I've tried to think of everything you might need to help you plan by adding those links over on the right..... Let me know if there's something else you'd like to add or if you just have any comments at all! Hooray!

BYE!

J!

Beans, Bees, Falcons, and a Mystery Solved.....

Hi!

Well. Here we are. Let's try this again, only this time here's hoping the whole thing doesn't get mysteriously deleted, again............... Once again here we are on another too warm and too muggy Sunday afternoon....... But, have the hip n' groovy jazz tunes (thank you SkyFM, who, incidentally, added 5 new stations, including a Classic Motown one!), tho it's a bit early for a nice cool glass of the ol' stand-by white wine, perhaps as a celebration if this thing actually gets published without being deleted........ The laundry is all done and happily blowing in the breeze, tho the ironing pile hasn't moved in weeks - honestly, who wants to iron when it's 85 degrees with 75% humidity inside??? Maybe during the week if it's cooler. Otherwise, the birds certainly seem happy that summer is on its way out - they were chatty little things first thing this morning, that's for sure! Otherwise, life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. They  f i n a l l y  extended my contract for another year, although only after much hand-wringing and soul-searching (apparently). Whew! So that's a big relief and I can start planning vacations and maybe even moving out of this teeny apartment sometime this year (or, rather, what's left of it, if you think about it). So far I've managed to book one quick trip up to the US over two weeks in July (tho only one week in SD - so if anyone's around, drop a line and we'll try to catch up!); am feverishly looking at bigger apartments to rent; and will get planning my 4-ish-week, big, epic Australia Road Trip from Perth back to Brisbane - let the planning begin! But yes, work is good. Thankfully not as busy as I was, but that's really good. I've had to take over a kind of crappy publication that needs building from scratch, which I've not done before, so it'll be a good chance to put the stuff I've learned so far into action....... Ultimately, am just happy to have one more year of gainful employment! HOORAY!

And then there were the weekends. Hmmmmmmm...... Casting my memory back...... Last, last weekend started off slightly more exciting than am used to - my one good work friend Kim (who's apartment I may take over their lease in July, maybe) was let go along with six other folks because their project is winding down to completion, and a biiiiig party at a local pub, the Exchange Hotel, was on to celebrate. Kim's a lucky girl that she has such a nice and understanding (and gainfully well employed) husband who understands and accepts that she needs a break from the whole work thing to take a two year course in counseling. So she was pretty happy to walk away from the corporate drudgery. Lucky gal! But the celebratory drinks were really very good - met so many nice folks that I had nooooo idea worked in my same building! Most of whom I discovered are on contract too - hmmmmm, methinks the company has some serious commitment issues! But thankfully, I kept an eye on how much I drank as I had to continue on to Jason and Clare's, along with the usual suspects, for a lovely evening of pizza and games!
 
And then the rest of that weekend was the usual chores and fluffing around, although Sunday had a slightly sadder twist.... I don't know if I ever mentioned our Stafford Palace Mystery of the Missing Neighbor..... Well, our one, long-time neighbor, Daryl, went away at the beginning of January and no one had any idea whatsoever where he was. For months our theories ranged from - maybe he got a job in the mines in Western Australia, to - maybe he'd gone to Melbourne to visit family and decided to stay, to - perhaps he's ill? Well. I ran into the owner of Stafford Palace that Sunday afternoon and she said she didn't know any more other than he was in the local hospital. Hmmm. So, armed with a hastily potted clipping from his garden and an armful of magazines, I went off to the local hospital in search of him. Turns out they'd moved him to some geriatric rehab unit (???!) not far from the main hospital. So off I trudged to this GARU rehab place, thinking perhaps he'd had a stroke or something...... Finally found the place, and him. Well. Sad to discover that he's suffering from Motor Neuron Disease (a.k.a. ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease) and has declined so rapidly since January that he's confined to a wheelchair and requires 24 hour care. Fuuuuuudge. Poor, poor guy. He was a typical, tough Aussie Bloke and to see him now weighing not much more than me and confined to a wheelchair, well, it came as a bit of a shock. I had a word with his nurse/Doctor guy who was really good and explained Daryl's condition and where it's at and the support he's getting from therapists, psychologists and social workers... So he's in pretty good hands for not having any insurance (something you don't really need here in Australia - thankfully), although all they can really do is make him comfortable until it gets so bad that he'll need machines to make him breathe and eat. Poor guy. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. So I've been visiting at least once a week where I bring him stuff like his socks or magazines. He has one other friend that visits him pretty often, which is good, and one of my neighbors who lives next door to him, has visited him too..... So that was that Sunday, and by the time I got back from the hospital, it was too late to check in. Bummer dude.

And then last weekend was just more chores and relaxing. Although I did manage to try another refried bean recipe from a cookbook Mom swears by that I managed to find an original copy of on Amazon - Mexican Cookery by Barbara Hansen (it's the bees knees, or rather, las rodillas de las abejas)! They didn't turn out too badly, although I've since learned the hard way that when these recipes call for chili powder, they actually mean mild chili powder, as opposed to the powdered fire I have on hand (I don't even know if the grocery store stocks mild chili powder......)..... Still, they didn't turn out too bad, just have to keep tweaking it until they finally start to taste like something I recognize (more salt??)....... I have yet to find real corn flour too but most of the dishes I think I can get by without (worse come to worst I'll just buy corn tortillas, although, of course, my grocery store doesn't sell them at all so have to trek to another store - so much for inner-city convenience). So am hoping to make a few of these dishes and see if I'm any good at it........ But if you're in need of a good, practical, no goofy elitist ingredients kinda Mexican cookbook - this is the one. It was published in the 80s and it still gets raaaaaave reviews!

But other than that little burst, that was the week I'd finally found out about my job extension along with dealing with the real estate agency and getting them caught up on the whole Daryl story and stuff, that, come the weekend, I was exhausted. But, managed to pull mahself together enough to check in that Sunday evening, only to have it all disappear just as I was nearly finished! GAAAAAH! Man, I was mad. I'm thinking of moving over to a Tumblr account (I hear all the cool kids are using it these days - perhaps it's more stable than the one I use??) but thinking and clicking on their homepage is about as far as I've gotten. Honestly, two days to get stuff done isn't nearly enough!

And then this weekend has been the usual chores and reading - have been reading The Falcon and the Snowman and the sequel The Flight of the Falcon - sooooooooooo good! And true true true! I can't recommend these books highly enough, if you like that sort of thing that is. Read them anyways!!!!

And that's really been about it. Quiet. Of course, during the week the weather is perfect and on the weekends it's stinking hot and humid - so unfair. And because it's too hot and humid to do much more than sit and read, well, I haven't been up to much. But there you have it. Kinda dull but Adventures are on their way! And honestly, I thought this weather would be finished by now, but you're still more than welcome to come on down and visit annnny time from now until December!

BYE!
J!

Technical Difficulties Have Won This Round.

Eds note - Technical difficulties. I'd just written a whole post, added a few photos, hit a wrong button and the whole thing was deleted, not sure how. Needless to say, many strong words have been used and have cursed myself for not saving a copy in MS Word like I usually do. I'm not writing it all over again as it took forever. Will check in next week.

Adventures in Rainy Sydneytown with Maroon Gliders and Refried Beans!!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another rainy, late Sunday afternoon. Still, at least it's not hot and humid! Apologies for not checking in last weekend. We have a new express bus service, City Glider (Maroon), swinging through the 'hood and last weekend was the last time it would be free. So I thought I'd ride it from one end of its run to the other, just to see where all it goes and if it's any good. But more on that little adventure later. Suffice to say the evening ended a total waste and I should've stayed home and checked in on time! But never mind. Am here now, happy with a stand-by glass of red - 2011 Beaujolais-Villages - not bad, incredibly easy to drink (thank you France). Got some hip n' groovy swingin' jazz tunes (thank you SkyFM!), the day has been rainy, windy and generally miserable, but thankfully not hot - life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good........ But before I left Tuesday afternoon, my manager sent me a rather ominous meeting invite for Monday afternoon "to discuss my future with the team". Gulp. I asked if it was good news or bad news so I didn't ruin my Sydney Adventure Weekend worrying about it - he said "just go and have fun. We'll talk on Monday". Uhh, gotta love non-answers (would it just kill them to give me a hint?). So I've tried not to worry about it because whatever they've decided is beyond my control. Nothing I could say would swing anything. I mean, sure it could go the other way and they just extend my contract for another year (only to go through this stress alllllll over again in a year's time - yay.), but then they (the company in general, not necessarily my group) have been letting folks go left right and center, and it's a heck of a lot easier to cut a contractor loose than a real person (no payout). So, hmmm, I guess tomorrow all will be made clear............... Fingers crossed it's good news because there sure ain't a lot else out there right now....! Otherwise work has been good, not as busy as I was all last year, but that's ok. Well, I hope it's ok!? Will keep you posted!

And then there were a few weekends in there. Last weekend was chores and then Sunday was the Maroon City Glider Adventure. It was ok. I think the only reason why they set it up is to get sports crazy folks from Suncorp Stadium here in Paddington (where I saw U2 a couple Decembers ago!) out to the big cricket stadium, creatively called the Gabba, which is in the 'hood of Woolloongabba (hence the 'Gabba bit......) - all on the one bus. Other than that I saw no real reason to use it, well, other than it's a third bus added to our line through the 'hood that goes to town. Hmmmm. It does go to a collection of really good grocery stores in the next 'hood over, Ashgrove, but otherwise, eh. So I rode that for a while and when I got back to Ashgrove I thought I'd check out the huge grocery store and pick up some things to make corn tortillas and refried beans from scratch. Well. Turned out everyone in a ten mile radius had the same idea on a Sunday afternoon and the place was packed. I hate going grocery shopping at the best of times and to go to a massive crowded one, good god I thought I'd freak out at the next kid or angry housewife to drive into me with their overloaded cart. So I quickly picked up a few things, and finally made it home, but by then it was waaaaay too late to check in. So I figured seeing as checking in wasn't going to happen, I could at least make some corn tortillas to make sure the day wasn't a complete write-off. Well. Turns out Corn Flour in Australia isn't actually corn flour, even though it says it is all over the box and the ingredients say Maize Corn Flour. No. Two boxes later and with an almost-graduated chef's assistance, it's actually corn starch.Why they added the word 'flour' to it is a mystery. What a mess. A $5.40 solid, starchy, muddy mess. Hrm. So the hunt continues for real corn flour. Good grief. I will escape the confines of Old El Paso if it kills me by costing a fortune! 

And then there was this weekend. Well, it started off pretty good, if not stupid early, Wednesday morning when I flew down to Sydney! Got into town, checked into my hotel, the Amora Hotel Jamison - one of those LastMinute.com "mystery" hotels and it was a score! I mean, it was still expensive, but where I stayed, in The Rocks, which is spitting distance to the Opera House, The Rocks historical district and Circular Quay - it was cheaper than usual hotels in that 'hood. Put it this way, I tried to book a room at the Holiday Inn at the Rocks and I couldn't afford it. What kind of world is it a gal can't afford the Holiday Inn???! So I always have good luck with that LastMinute site....... Anyways, dumped my bag and headed off to see what to see. The day was really warm and muggy, contrary to all the weather reports I'd read the day before - so here was me stomping around Sydney harbor in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt wishing I was dead or at least had a pair of shorts and a tank top. Wandered around and took as many photos as I could before I decided to jump on the inner-city tourist hop on - hop off loop bus and get the lay of the land. Well. All I can recommend is if you ever get to Sydney, don't take the Sydney Explorer bus through the city. No no no. Waste of time (and monies). When you're not stuck in traffic you're waiting to pick people up. And really, afterwards, I walked to pretty much most of the places it stopped. But, to redeem itself, the Bondi & Bays Explorer tour was muuuuuuuuuuuuch much better. Can't recommend it enough. So I endured a hot sunny ride in traffic for two hours before rushing back to the hotel to get ready to go see Nick Cave at the Opera House! Oh it was SOoooo good! I know Nick Cave isn't for everyone, but man they were a goooooood show. Awesome! And by the time that finished and I got back to the hotel, I was dead on my feet (cut me some slack, I was up at like 3.30 that morning).

Next day dawned overcast and chilly - such a contrast from the day before! But I steamed out anyways to Bondi on the tourist Explorer bus. Well. Halfway there it started to rain, even raining sideways as the chilly wind kicked up. So as soon as we got to Bondi (the main stop, tho the bus stops at lots of the lovely little bays and coves before and after it gets to Bondi, which are, if anything, lots nicer than ol' hippy backpacker-riddled Bondi), I dove into the first surf shop I found and bought a wind/rain-proof jacket (similar to the one in the link but not as cool, much plainer). At first I was a little horrified by the price (curse you O'Neill!), but after being my new best friend in the wind and the rain for the last three days, it's since earned its price tag. So I did the tourist thing and walked from one end of the bay to the other, not sure if any of the photos I was taking were any good (couldn't really see with the wind and the sea mist). Stopped in at Ravesi's (second floor, with a bit of a view of the sea) for a really pretty good lunch that one of the guys in the surf shop recommended. Not a bad spot at all and not a hippy backpacker in sight - bonus! Then caught the bus back to town, which, by then, after battling the rain, the sand and the chill, man, I was ready for a super hot bath (my apartment is way too tiny for a tub, so when I go away and there's a tub, I have to have a bath - excellent!!!). Along the way I picked up some Lavender bath stuff a bottle of red and that was the evening. Ahhhhhhh vacation!

The next day was just as wet and miserable as the previous so I picked up a ticket to the Sydney Sea Life Aquarium at Darling Harbour. Well. I wasn't the only one with that rainy day backup plan - turned out everyone tourist that end of town (and perhaps beyond) came to the Aquarium that day. Well, thankfully it's big enough and interesting enough that everyone had room to move. Ultimately, it's a pretty good Aquarium (tho nothing can compare to Monterey Bay Aquarium, this one is a pretty good runner-up)! It has a few really cool glass-encased tunnels where the critters float around and above you - always cool! It's definitely worth a visit!

Afterwards, still pouring and windy, I thought I'd go see the new James Bond, Skyfall (yes, again) at the 7-story tall Imax theatre (how cool would it be to see a James Bond movie on a seven story screen??!?!). So I legged it all across the Harbour only to discover it was closed while they install new projection and sound gear! Gaaaaah! So I wandered back up to the string of restaurants near the aquarium and stopped at 'Baia the Italian' that had a really good lunch special. Half a pizza and two glasses of red later, I'd decided to wander back over to the Rocks and check out the Rocks Discovery Museum. A neat little free museum that documents the history of the Rocks area. I thought it was really pretty cool. Lots of info, really well presented, really interesting. Then I had to meet a friend for a glass of wine at the Fortune of War pub (oldest pub in Sydney - 1828!), just a couple blocks from the museum. It's a cozy little place and apparently quite hip n' groovy according to the mixed yet polished after-work crowd that packed in. Then, at the reasonable hour of 6.30pm, I headed back to the hotel, watched an episode of Grand Designs (I quite like that show for some reason), started to watch a documentary about the Dust Bowl in the late 1920's and promptly fell asleep. Being a tourist, even in the rain, is hard work.

Next day was up at a respectable hour to get mahself back together to check out and meet Kim and her friend Tanya (flight attendant with United in town on a layover) for breakfast at a little place called Rob's Cafe, not far from their hotel that tons of air crew go to (according to Tanya). It was fine. Diner-style food that Americans would love. Me, I found it a bit meh, but they seemed to quite like it. Nice, nice guy, Rob, the owner. Talked to us for a long time. Not a bad spot for diner food and good service! Then time came I had to leave them to catch the train back to the airport and my plane back to sunny rainy Brisbane! My god, it rained for two weeks before I left, it rained most of my stay in Sydney, and it's still raining here in Brisbane. Good if you're a plant I guess!

And that was the rained-out Sydney Adventure! I had planned to do all kinds of stuff - outdoors, and didn't stop to think of rainy day backup plans. Lesson learned. It was still a really good time, the hotel was bitchin' and it was fun to catch up with Kim and her friend even just for a couple hours. I got to know my way around town a little better and have a list in my head of things still to be done over the next visit.........?! Hooray for little Adventures!

And then today, Sunday was pretty much back to the usual dullness - went to the grocery store, picked Kona up from the Red Hill Cattery, did the laundry..... Oh, I attempted to make refried beans from scratch. I should've trusted my nose instead of some stoopid recipe from Emeril (a tablespoon of chili powder?? Really!?!). I can't stand the guy at the best of times but his recipe sounded good. In the end, no, not really. Should've stuck to my first idea which was to just pretty much leave them beans alone, as nature intended. Oh well. I mean, it's not baaaad, but I know how they should taste and this wasn't quite it........... Another batch!

And that's pretty much that! Whew! Otherwise all is well. Have my meeting tomorrow to discuss my fate at work - hopefully all will be revealed.......... Besides that, things here are fine if not completely rain-sodden. Odd weather for this time of year, normally we get this never-ending rain in December-January..... Hmmmm. Hopefully it'll go away soon and the good, beginning of Autumn weather moves in! But as far as visiting goes, feel free to c'mon down anytime! The weather's going to be lovely until November or so!

BYE!
J!