Green Apple Cat

The Moneys

2011-12-11T08:06:00.001+10:00

At five o'clock this morning, I was looking out the window of a hospital room on the second floor. The sun was already shining through mist hanging over bush on the hill behind. It was a beautiful sight, I must say.

At the very same time, I had in my hands, a carpet extractor. I was using it to clean up an enormous diarrhoea "spill". I was reminded of a conversation I had the evening before with Freya.

F - You going to work?
M- Yes Freya, I'm going to work.
F- You going to work to get the moneys?
M- Yes. I'm going to work to get the moneys.

3 band names I thought of today

2011-10-13T21:48:00.001+10:00

Whale Fall see here
The Dormant Blogs
The Beatles

New Weight Loss Concept

2011-04-22T08:17:00.003+10:00

I was thinking I'd like to write a book called "Lose Weight Without Sweating."

Then I thought I'd probably just like to read a book called "Lose Weight Without Sweating."

Then I realised all I really wanted was to lose weight without sweating.

I'm confident I'll be successful with the no sweating part.

An Error of Comedy

2011-02-03T20:38:00.007+10:00

Just before Christmas, I told a joke on Twitter. I didn't get a single retweet or acknowledgement. And this was back when my Twitter account was linked to my Facebook account. No one even liked it!

Today while ironing my uniform, I was listening to an old Mitch Hedberg "CD". Old to the world, new to me. He told the almost exact same joke and everyone cracked up. A huge laugh!

I've been thinking about it and I think I've worked out why he got laughs and I didn't.

Mitch Hedberg was a professional comedian who'd honed his skills for years. He endeared himself to the audience and they wanted him to be funny. Also, his audience didn't have to click on a link for the punch line.

An amazing story that can't be told

2011-01-29T09:28:00.005+10:00

Firstly, as it was happening, I thought, "Geez Louise. I can't believe I'm seeing this! And I won't be able to tell anyone because of patient confidentiality."

Then, this morning I was about to tell Miranda anyway, then I remembered, "Oh shit. I can't tell Miranda because, although intensely vivid, it was just a dream and I'd better not bore her to death."

Don't ya hate that?

Did you know if you Google "other people's dreams" the first suggestion that comes up is "other people's dreams are boring"? But I guess that's no surprise.

In other news, watching Rage this morning I had the old man thought: There's a lot of crap around these days. Then they played some old songs from the vault and I remembered, there's always been a lot of crap around.

Good Morning!!!

2011-01-19T09:44:00.001+10:00

New Resolve

2010-12-31T13:02:00.002+10:00

Ok. It's time. This year I gotta do some music. Carting around all these cancer patients at work has got me thinking. If anything else, I just wanna do it so Freya has something decent to remember me by if I get hit by a bus before she gets to know me properly.

I've got my soundcloud account activated, iPhone technology, GarageBand with a keyboard for midi and a bevy of sweet guitars. No excuses.

It's ten years since I made a CD. Don't get me wrong, life is great, but I got a few tunes wriggling around in my carpal tunnels, burning to get out.

'tis the season

2010-12-01T12:27:00.003+10:00

Yesterday I realised two of my personalities hate each other. There's the guy that puts up the Christmas lights and the guy that takes them down. Let's call them Stan and Clive, respectively.

You should have heard Stan bitching about Clive yesterday. "Why didn't he roll these up nicely before putting them away? He really should've thrown out these ones that don't work. Where the hell did he put all the gutter clips?!" Then Stan went about winding the lights around branches more times than he needed to just to annoy Clive.

I remember Clive's whinging last year too. "Bloody Stan. Did he really need to use so many clips?" And then after starting to roll up the lights, "Stuff this. Sam can deal with it next year."

Anyway, while they're arguing, this is worth a look if you haven't already seen it.

Wish List

2010-11-12T11:03:00.004+10:00

I've seen a lot of my favourite bands/artists over the years but there are a few I'd still like to see before they/I die:

David Bowie***
Fred Eaglesmith***
Spice Girls***
ABBA (it's unlikely, but still possible)***
Tom Waits***
TV On The Radio
M.I.A.
Built To Spill
Secret Chiefs 3
Neil Young
Chemical Brothers
Willie Nelson

Can't think of any others. Maybe Daniel Johnston, but that could be a bit awkward.

*** Would even go on a school night

Can I please have $1000 worth of mixed lollies?

2010-07-07T12:55:00.002+10:00

The kindness of strangers

2010-06-14T18:58:00.008+10:00

Yesterday, at Carindale shopping centre, I felt the earth fall beneath my feet when I reached into my pocket and realised my mobile had fallen out.

To cut this short, after about 45 minutes of searching and panic and harassing countless shop assistants, I recovered my iPhone at one of the concierge desks. Who ever found it probably tried turning my phone on and felt sorry for the sad little geek who owned it.

If he'd turned my phone on he would have seen this:-

The molecular structure of caffeine.

And then, if he'd slid to unlock he would have seen this:-

The middle of a game of chess.

NERD!!!!

Now though, if anyone were to slide to unlock, they will see this:-

I've learnt a valuable lesson.

Will add more soon (maybe)

2010-05-21T13:08:00.000+10:00

Fear of Sleep

2010-04-28T14:04:00.002+10:00

Go here and skip forward to 7 minutes 15 seconds

Mike Birbiglia

@birbigs

Crazy stuff.

Worth listening to if you have time.

The Woman Knows How To Pick DVDs

2010-04-26T20:32:00.002+10:00

Miranda got out four DVDs for the long weekend. We've watched three so far.

Bad Lieutenant. The new version with Nicholas Cage. Was much better than I expected. Werner Herzog rules.

Coraline. Also better than I expected, and my expectations were high. I think I'll wait a few years to share it with Freya cuz it's pretty creepy in parts.

This Is It. Awesome. Michael Jackson rules.

The last one is Moon, which I hear is also good. Will find out soon.

Great selections Miranda. 100% is much better than my usual 12.5% strike rate.

Slip Slop Slap

2010-04-23T17:00:00.003+10:00

Hey everyone. This is just a general health warning for people to stay sun smart. If you live in Brisbane, I recommend visiting the Coorparoo Skin Clinic for a regular check up. They're very thorough.

My uncle, my mother-in-law and myself all had things removed this week which were found at this clinic.

Martian Bossa Nova

2010-04-22T12:31:00.001+10:00

Watch this if you like music.

Don't scroll down to the next post if you don't like hideousness.

Wanna see?

2010-04-22T12:06:00.001+10:00

Tomophobia

2010-04-19T21:34:00.003+10:00

On Wednesday, I'm going to get a BCC removed and I am feeling a little uneasy about it. Because of where it is on my nose, the surgeon guy is gonna have to use a bit of my ear to reconstruct my nose.

I'm worried about the following:-

Post-anaesthesia nausea. It'll be my first general anaesthetic. I've had nausea before though, and I reckon it's worse than pain.
The skin graft being rejected. My main concern is that I'll get a runny nose and wipe my nose while I'm asleep or half asleep and wreck the graft before it heals properly.
Not being able to listen to headphones in stereo. I don't know how long it'll take for my ear to feel better enough to wear headphones again. I'm not even sure exactly where on my ear the skin/cartilage is coming from so maybe this won't be a problem at all.

That's about it. Writing it down has put it in perspective and it doesn't seem so bad now.

So I guess I can just look forward to experiencing the loss of time everyone describes with a general anaesthetic. I think it'll be cool to be turned off and turned back on again an hour or so later.

I guess I should be worried about my nose looking gross for a little while, but I should be able to avoid mirrors and let that be Miranda's problem.

Hmmmm. I wonder if Freya will be scared of me?

Stay At Home Dad

2010-03-30T14:47:00.001+10:00

Now that I'm a stay at home dad, I'll have more time for updating this blog... Not!

So anyway....

2010-02-27T09:58:00.003+10:00

While it may look like I've been busy not updating my blog, I've actually been busy doing other things.

A couple of weeks ago, I resigned from my job as a warehouse manager for a painting accessories company. My last day will be March 17th. Before then I have to find a replacement and train them up. Scary stuff.

The reason for leaving this safe and secure job is to look after Freya while Miranda works, instead of sending her to daycare where she continually gets sick. Freya has ended up in hospital with an IV twice in the last couple of months.

As well as being a house husband, I'm still gonna need to contribute financially so I applied for a housekeeping job at a hospital. It was weird being on the other end of an interview. I must have interviewed more than fifty people over the last couple of years.

Anyway, I got the job! Yee ha! I wasn't looking forward to getting back into job hunting. It can be really depressing. This time, one application = job secured. I like it.

That's all for now.

Except to say, Freya came home from daycare with a runny nose yesterday. We've definitely made the right decision.

Dear Leonard

2010-01-12T19:43:00.002+10:00

Leonard Cohen's Villanelle For Our Time came on my old iPod yesterday.

"This is pretty crap" I thought. "These words are weird and lame, not weird and cool. All this time I've been regretting missing his show last year for nothing."

I just found out he didn't write the words. Apparently he was asked to participate in a tribute to F. R. Scott, an old poet guy.

Listening to the rest of Dear Heather now. I think he should have left Villanelle For Our Time off it. The rest is so good.

Back to regretting missing his show. :)

Christmas Spirit Alive and Well

2009-12-13T17:45:00.003+10:00

This blog has trailed off to become rather sporadic. I apologise. Anyway, you MUST watch this. If you check reader or whatever on your phone or you don't have time to watch it now... make sure you come back and watch it when you can. This is just that great, you can't miss it.

Seasons Greeting all.

Britney - The Long Awaited Truth

2009-11-29T10:21:00.005+10:00

Last Tuesday, Miranda and I went to see Britney Spears at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

We took our seats as the curtain descended on DJ Havana Brown. It sounded like exciting stuff from outside but we only caught a glimpse of her skimpy outfit before she disappeared into the stage.

At least we didn't miss the 25 minute second-by-second countdown projected on the large circular screen/curtain suspended above the stage. I reckon all bands should do this. There's something comforting about knowing exactly how long until the show starts. The last sixty seconds get the crowd pumped up too.

...4, 3, 2, 1, The Big Apple Circus

These guys were great. A few clowns including a midget. A guy spinning stuff. A man and a woman on a trampoline, (the woman had no legs). Another graceful woman being flung in the air by a couple of large fellas. All to a thumping soundtrack.

Then... a crazy, scary Tom Waits-ish welcome to the circus on the video screen. A hideous Perez Hilton with a creepy baby's head on a stick gave a "step right up" monologue with freaky circus things going on around him. The video ended with Britney shooting him with a crossbow. I was frightened and excited. Then Britney herself was lowered from the ceiling and the song Circus began.

I admit, the lip syncing was a bit strange but it was Britney Spears goddamn it! The one and only media freak! She followed with Piece Of Me which I believe is the best media freak song there is.

After that some acrobats tumbled out of the ceiling on long flowing curtainy-type things and did some pretty cool stuff with thunder and lightning effects. A couple of songs later she did Ooh Ooh Baby and I thought "that guitar guitar sounds a bit out of tune???" Until then I hadn't noticed the little orchestra pit with a live band. It was pretty much straight in front of us and the concert must've been going for about half an hour before I saw it.

Then it seemed even more strange. Live band. Recorded voice. Oh well. Whatever. Show was going well. The dancers where fantastic. I'd like to thank So You Think You Can Dance for giving me a greater appreciation of just how great they were.

Everything was pretty raunchy but If U Seek Amy was particularly raunchy. Wondered about the parents of young girls in the audience. Some of those girls must've been as young as 8! Haven't these parents listened to any 21st century Britney?

Did you hear she actually sang a song? Everytime. She stood still while she sang it on our night but apparently she got hoisted up in a swing while she sang it the next night. She sang it well and used the opportunity with the microphone to say "What up Brisbane!" Nice.

There was a Bollywood version of Me Against The Music, a magic act where Britney got cut in half and a martial arts demonstration in there somewhere too.

I have to share this very strange interlude/costume change moment:

On the screen, a video of Britney singing the Eurythmics' song Sweet Dreams at some kind of Eyes Wide Shut party.

The music, played live by the band.

The voice, ... Marilyn Manson or a VERY good impersonator. Very weird and back to the creepy feeling at the beginning of the show.

Next were Freakshow followed by Get Naked. Both off her excellent Blackout album. Both highlights for me. Another highlight was Slave 4 U which ended with her in a bucket being lowered into a ring of fire while singing "I'm a slave for you." Touching imagery of her living in hell for our entertainment.

A guy was pulled out of the audience by the clowns then put on a sofa in the middle of the stage. He looked very uncomfortable. Then Britney came up on the stage and walked around him singing Do Something. There were a couple of heavies standing nearby in case he did do something but I must say Britney still didn't look too comfortable with the idea of a stranger being up on the stage.

See finished with Toxic, Baby One More Time then Womanizer and what must have been about a tonne of confetti. Gotta love confetti. She looked the strongest and happiest of the night performing Womanizer. It's a great song but I wonder if it was the same sort of strength and happiness I feel at a quarter to four on a Friday afternoon.

It was a spectacular show, worth evert cent, but as we left the building I couldn't help feeling sorry for Britney and hoping she's not too lonely. We love you Britney!!!

Spoilt Boy

2009-11-20T09:02:00.003+10:00

I have scored big time on my birthday today. Miranda gave me this, as well as heaps of other good things, including but not limited to;

A Hannah Montana Secret Star Chocolate Beauty Set,

A couple of t-shirts that represent how cool I am,

Christmas lights,

and Miranda's sister Lisa gave me a Britney DVD circa 2004

I also got a happy baby welcome to the day from Freya. Yay! She's still going off on all the toys she got yesterday. We're both reveling in consumer happiness.

Oldie But A Goodie

2009-11-18T17:30:00.003+10:00

It's so good to hear this song after not hearing it for a while. Listened to it in the car on the way home today. Thought I oughta post it on YouTube to share with others but someone else beat me to it. Thank you TheBalrogEE.

Use considerable volume for maximum pleasure.

Worried About Robot Rights

2009-11-15T07:20:00.001+10:00

It's old news, but still worth being aware of: Ethics_of_artificial_intelligence

Message to the week ahead...

2009-11-08T21:55:00.000+10:00

Please be nice.

Mystery Solved!

2009-11-04T18:37:00.003+10:00

Thank you Simon and Mad Cat Lady for helping me in my quest to find C. C. La Due. I feel like I've found the end of the rainbow.

The search continues...

2009-11-03T19:47:00.003+10:00

I still can't find anything more about C. C. La Due.

This is a video Basil and I made for one of his songs:

It's not really designed to go with the music. I was just trying a few things with the new iLife 9 on my Mac.

My iPhone Loves Me

2009-10-30T20:34:00.002+10:00

After a helluva week my iPhone just healed me with it's random magic as I did the washing up.

C.C. La Due - Crow Dog
Fred Eaglesmith - Thinkin 'bout Her
New Buffalo - Misery and Mountains, Arrows and Bows
The Breeders - We're Gonna Rise
Elliot Smith - Needle In The Hay

Three cheers for music!!

Twilight

2009-10-25T18:12:00.003+10:00

We watched the first Twilight movie last night. Miranda was attracted to Edward Collins, the main vampire character, in a Mr Darcy sort of way. At least she got that out of it. The lead female was kinda excrutiating. I gave it two stars.

I thought I had more to say about it so I thought I'd use my blog instead of Twitter. But when it comes down to actually writing stuff, I'm nearly as bored by thinkng about it as you are reading what I think about it.

Why aren't there any bands like Split Enz any more?

2009-10-18T21:15:00.002+10:00

I mean melodic, innovative, humorous while simultaneously melancholy, colourful and nerdily cool.

Talking Heads are another example of what I think I'm after.

Maybe bands like this do exist in the modern age. Can you point my ears in their direction please?

worriedaboutsatan

2009-09-20T16:59:00.007+10:00

Check them out http://www.myspace.com/worriedaboutsatan

YAY FOR THE COMING WEEKEND!!!

2009-09-15T17:17:00.006+10:00

1). The Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba.
We've been meaning to go since moving down to Brisbane 5 years ago. We went to Toowoomba with Miranda's folks last year, when Miranda was sick with Freya. Early days. Well before we told anyone about the pregnancy, including Miranda's folks.

It was a real nice town. Looking forward to the drive out there on Saturday.

2). Beyonce.
Need I say more?

3). Lisa's visit.She'll actually be arriving tomorrow, but she's staying until Monday. Lisa is Miranda's eldest sister, and when I say eldest, I mean eldest. She's ten years older than Miranda and Miranda's no spring chicken herself. That makes Lisa almost 50. :-)

Good ol' Lisa will be babysitting Freya for our first night out without Freya since she came home from the hospital.

4). It's the start of my week off!Feet up. Relaxation.

Sweet!

Father's Day

2009-09-06T17:57:00.005+10:00

Today was pretty good. So was yesterday.

We took Freya for her first swim at an almost empty public pool this morning. It was fun. She liked it too.

Totally unrelated, David Ellis Dickerson (mentioned previously here) is doing Greeting Card Emergencies. He seems like a nice guy.

Baby Paparazzi

2009-08-12T09:26:00.004+10:00

Bear on outfit stitched by Aunty Susan
Doll from Granny (Mammy)

Outfit sewn by Aunty Susan
Horse from Grandpa (Reconcy)

The begining of another spat of music videos?

2009-08-01T10:39:00.000+10:00

Maybe

Not Brit & MJ

2009-07-25T19:40:00.003+10:00

Something different before I break any of Tim's records.

The Queen Of Pop

2009-06-29T22:13:00.004+10:00

We purchased our tickets today. I'm so excited! I didn't realise just what a big fan I was.

Looking back, Britney's already appeared on my blog a couple of times. Back on September 26, 2007 and January 4, 2008.

I never bought her first album but I did buy Oops... I Did It Again back when it came out. The song Lucky reminded my of Nine Inch Nail's Hurt. She also covered the Rolling Stone's (Can't Get No) Satisfaction with the following adaptation....

When I'm watchin' my tv
And that girl comes on to tell me
How tight my skirts should be
Well she can't tell me who to be
Cause I've got my own identity.

Her second last album Blackout was outstanding. Circus is ok but I'm gonna have to listen to it a lot more so I can sing along at the concert!!!

A few truths

2009-06-28T15:13:00.002+10:00

It's boring as hell to read about some baby who you don't really have anything to do with.
I try not to write too much about Freya because of it.
I just can't help getting excited about some of the stuff she does.
This afternoon as I was feeding her her sweet potato, she held a spoon in her right hand as I fed her with another spoon.
In between mouthfuls, Freya would take her own spoon and put it in her mouth.
I haven't seen her do this before and I thought it was pretty damned amazing.
At one stage she dropped her spoon so I held it up for her to grab again.
She grabbed it, but at the end of the handle instead of the middle where she was holding it before.
Her first couple of attempts found the spoony end of the spoon in the middle of her forehead.
On her third try she adjusted to the different length of handle and got it straight in her mouth.
I thought this was damned amazing too.
I love Freya!

I'm Happy Man

2009-06-24T16:46:00.003+10:00

Work day over. Sweet. Lock door. Get in car. Flick through radio stations as I turn out of carpark.

Bingo! Britney Spears' Radar just starting on B105. Crank it. Such a great song. So excited about seeing her in November!

Song finishes. Flick again before Hamish and Andy can annoy me.

Bingo again! Opening bar of Beyonce's Sweet Dreams on Nova. Can't believe it! The woman can sing. So excited about seeing her in September!

Not so lucky this time. Triple J? 4ZZZ? 101FM? BayFM? All chatter and boring music. But wait, what's that in front of the gear stick? A Betty Boo CD! Whack it in. I'm On My Way. Pure pop pleasure.

Home before the song finishes. Quickest run home in weeks. Miranda waiting at the door. I must be the luckiest fella in the world.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2009-06-21T21:48:00.003+10:00

Happy Birthday and Happy Winter Solstice.

Happy Father's Day and Happy Summer Solstice too, seeing as you're in England.

Cute Cute Cute

2009-06-21T21:44:00.005+10:00

Lovin' the "Rite of Spring" Google logo today.

2009-06-17T17:45:00.003+10:00

The Cat's Whiskers

2009-06-10T17:24:00.004+10:00

I'm an uncle!!! I've been an uncle since I married Miranda, but I've never become an uncle before.

Miranda's sister Shayne had a baby boy today. I'm unsure of how to spell his name as yet so I'll save that for later. Mother and baby are well. Baby is in special care because he was five weeks early but everything looks good.

Congratulations Shayne, Mark and Ayden!!!

And now for something completely different...

Ten things that could improve Freya

2009-06-04T21:15:00.002+10:00

Nothing
Zilch
Can't think of anything
Nada
Zero
The opposite of something
Nil
No clue
A synonym of nothing
0

Ten things that could improve the iPhone

2009-06-04T20:58:00.003+10:00

Ability to remove/delete songs or podcasts "on the go" ***
A visualiser
Ability to use songs as ring tones without going through rigmarole ***
Ability to record video ***
Ability to make video calls ***
Bigger hard drive or ability to add memory ***
Ability to copy and paste
MMS capabilities ***
Ability to pause iPod when using the speaker without turning the screen back on ***
Bluetooth voice dialing ***

*** I have had Nokias that could do this.

kind of like a metaphor

2009-06-01T21:09:00.003+10:00

A debilitating cut to the left middle finger. When playing the guitar one manages to work around the finger as best as possible but occasionally presses down on the sore part without realising until the nerves start yelling, "Oi!!! Stop that!!!!" and you realise you really miss being able to use that middle finger.

This is how I feel this evening. I left my iPhone at work. Probably on the forklift. I was using it as a calculator. Doh! Miranda has told me how terribly addicted I am to my iPhone, but now I really know it. I can get by, but there are so many things I rely on it for.

Exciting stuff!

2009-05-30T20:54:00.002+10:00

Miranda, Freya and I saw the big ship of evil pig germs today. Cool huh?

Hmmmm

2009-05-29T18:21:00.002+10:00

I'm getting a bit slack at blogging. Nearly as bad as Tim.

There's nothing too insightful or critical I have to say. But here's some stuff anyway:-

We've been watching Master Chef. I'm surprised, impressed and happy that Kate chose to leave.
I've started teaching myself guitar again. Getting back into scales. I managed to get through E major in three octaves last night. Now I just have harmonic minor, melodic minor and the arpeggios (tonic triads and dominant sevenths) to go. As well as all the above in F, G, A, Bb and B using im, mi, ia, ai, ma, im, imam, apoyando and tirando fingering. Not to mention being able to apply the various dynamics, articulations and rhythms specified by the AMEB. This is for a Sixth Grade level exam. I did Fifth Grade a few years ago and nearly had a meltdown when it came to the scales cuz I hadn't practiced them. Even though I have no immediate plans of sitting another exam, I'm trying to better myself so as to become a good father.
I've also started a weight loss program which involves eating less chocolate bars, burgers and pies and walking Digby up Mt Gravatt. I probably won't be blogging my progress this time. I'll be keeping track on my iPhone instead.
It's tea time and nearly time for Master Chef Masterclass.
Have a good weekend.

Another Humourous Blog

2009-05-15T22:44:00.002+10:00

Stuff White People Like

Brought to my attention by Carl O'Connor

iPod/iPhone joy

2009-05-15T17:39:00.003+10:00

A few years ago when I got my 2nd iPod (a 60GB iPod video click wheel) I was gonna write a blog post giving it's pros and cons.

Things I loved about it:
Fits most of my albums on it
So easy to use
Great little games available for it
Great little screen for videos

Suggested improvements:
Get rid of gap between songs. Especially annoying for tracks which are meant to flow into each other.
Add visualizer like the one on iTunes.

The gap between songs was eliminated in a software update long ago. This made me very happy.

Now I'm just waiting for a visualizer. I still use my 60GB iPod a bit cuz it's got all my favourite songs on it but mostly I just use my iPhone for music now. With only 8GB I have to be very selective with what I put on it, but I s'pose I can deal with that until the 200GB version comes out.

I reckon the visualizer can't be far away for iPhone. For now, I'm enjoying Spawn Lite which is a free interactive pretty thing. Not particuarly awe inspiring, but enough to look at and play with while concentrating on listening to the music.

All it is is a bunch of multi-coloured worm things, evolving colours all the time, kinda like a screen saver. The cool bit is they follow your finger around the screen and when you double tap they explode into fireworks.

I like it.

Year of the Dentist continues

2009-05-08T18:27:00.003+10:00

I had my sixth visit for the year yesterday. An hour and a half in the chair. They let me bring in my own DVD. I chose to bring Heima, a Sigur Ros movie with heaps of beautiful footage of Iceland and heaps of beautiful music.

The dental nurse pretended to like it. Although she hadn't heard of Sigur Ros before she said, "Iceland. That's where Bjork's from, right?" The dentist made no comments about it which was nice to think he was concentrating on the job at hand.

If on the south side of Brisbane, I highly recommend Soni Denta l. If in Townsville though, there's no other choice besides Dentist On Paxton.

I've been to a couple of other dentist since moving to Brisbane, but I like Soni's place. Free, easy parking in the PA Hospital carpark. Really nice, experienced dentists (both of them) and a small town feel. (Plus they let me watch Heima in the chair)

One more visit to go (hopefully)...

Just found out my mother-in-law's gotta get a root canal too. This seems like an opportunity for all sorts of humour.

Beyond Boundaries

2009-05-07T19:55:00.003+10:00

We watched this last night. It was an adrenaline pumping hour. Maybe not the whole hour, but there were definitely moments of chest tightening. It's probably on iView but we dunno cuz we used our quota already this month and our bandwidth's been throttled back to almost zero. Otherwise there's more stuff about the show here.

Just found out it's not on iView. :-(

Funny American Writers

2009-05-07T14:29:00.005+10:00

Amy Sedaris
David Sedaris
A. J. Jacobs
Mike Birbiglia
David Ellis Dickerson

Alex introduced me to Amy Sedaris and Strangers With Candy. By association I learnt of her brother David. My brother Tim used David Sedaris to lure me into listening to This American Life podcasts. This American Life introduced me to The Moth podcasts. The Moth introduced me to A. J. Jacobs, Mike Birbiglia and David Ellis Dickerson.

The main reason for this post is to share a couple of Mr Dickerson's bar napkin cartoons:-

Heh, heh, heh.

2009 : Year of the Dentist

2009-04-18T14:26:00.003+10:00

Before this year, I had only been to the dentist once or twice in about ten years (or more). Today was my third visit this year.

In January I had my bottom left wisdom tooth out(1) and then needed to go back a few days later because I developed dry socket*(2). This morning I returned (although to a different dentist cuz the first fifteen places I rang were full) for a toothache on my right jaw(3). And so begins my first root canal...

It's not too bad so far, the anaesthetic hasn't worn off yet. I've gotta go back at least another two times. Curse Brisbane and it's non-fluoridated water! Ok, it's fluoridated now, but it wasn't when we first moved down here. In Townsville, I got away with half-arsed brushing cuz just drinking the water kept my teeth in good nick. Now I'm paying the price for using toothpaste as "after dinner breath freshener" without scrubbing or trying to get to those back corners.

In other news;... Freya is still cute, Miranda is getting plenty of sleep, work is stimulating and rewarding and Digby is very well behaved. (Pick the true statement)

* Note: Dry socket is the pits.

Excitement about being part of a universe

2009-04-09T20:01:00.000+10:00

The girl

2009-04-08T20:44:00.006+10:00

I must say Freya is going very well. She's starting to talk. Just single words at the moment. Not English words either, but she's definitely talking.

She blesses us with the occasional smile and cheeky grin too, which is sweet, as in "Sweet mate" type of sweet.
Miranda's teaching her this and that about fashion and she's picking it up very quickly.

Freya has slept through a few times now, if you call 12am to 5am sleeping through.

She's interested in things and stuff which is apparently a good sign of an inquisitive mind. Apparently Einstein had an inquisitive mind. Apparently you can use the letters from apparently to make "parent play".

So there you go.

It goes on and on

2009-04-08T20:30:00.003+10:00

I got music pouring out of me.

Not sure if it's the baby or the extra hours at work causing it. Whatever it is, Digby's getting to hear a lot of new songs lately.

Three cheers and a yee ha for rock and roll!

Movie Magic

2009-04-04T11:33:00.003+10:00

My brother sent me a link to this interesting series of articles by Mark L. Lester, the director of arguably the best action film of all time; Commando.

I've been fascinated by the movie making process since I saw Ten Minute Film School by Robert Rodriguez when DVDs first came out. The insight provided by Lester about the production of Commando has enriched my memories of the movie and made me want to watch it again (and again and again.) Miranda hasn't seen it yet, so maybe I should look for it at the video shop when we return Hellboy II today.

Speaking of which, Hellboy II was a beautifully shot love story about the commitment required in a serious relationship, particular to those who are considering (or have just had) a baby. Four stars from me. I'm a little surprised Miranda didn't want to watch any more after seeing the first five minutes. I'm sure she'll sit through Commando though, with it's themes of parental love for a child.

Digby (after playing in the snow again)

2009-03-21T16:33:00.003+10:00

some home video

2009-03-21T13:12:00.001+10:00

Monkeys Allowed back in the charts

2009-03-18T18:01:00.003+10:00

Monkeys Allowed (no relation to Girls Aloud) have returned with their new smash hit Time Is On My Side, a cover of the The Rolling Stones' song. Produced by Max Martin (no relation to George Martin or Chris Martin), Monkeys Allowed's latest track is expected to remain in the US charts for the next sixteen years.

Today is our third wedding anniversary. All is going good. Little Freya is a magic little pixie. Keep checking the fuzzyshot thing for photos if you're interested.

blah blah blah. enjoy your evening

Monkeys banned from workplace

2009-03-14T09:18:00.001+10:00

Lunch time shenanigans at Uni-Pro

2009-03-04T19:25:00.002+10:00

This is what happened at work today. It seems when there's too much testosterone in a workplace, a constant battle of one-upmanship ensues. When this sort of thing goes on for too long, it can really get out of hand:-

WARNING! SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND THE AGGRESSION IN THIS VIDEO DISTRESSING

Restaurant Review #2

2009-02-28T14:28:00.005+10:00

The main reason I haven't written a restaurant review since last time is we haven't been out to a restaurant since then.

Last night we took Miranda's parents to Chives for their 45th Wedding Anniversary.

Ambience:- Maybe more classy than Modern Thai. Maybe not. Modern Thai looks nicer in my opinion, and is more relaxed too.

Service:- Friendly. Water refilled. A bit vague. Kinda forgot my meal and wasn't easy to get their attention.

Also, we organised an anniversary cake for them bring out as a surprise. After dinner the waiter asked if we wanted the desert menu, Miranda had to whisper to the guy about the cake. It was all a bit obvious and ruined the surprise.

Then, when they brought the cake out, it was still in the plastic wrapping with the sticker of the cake maker on it AND they didn't bring any cutlery or a knife to cut the cake!

Food:- Pretty good but over priced. When my meal eventually arrived, it was tasty, until one piece of the deliciously fatty crispy duck I was biting into turned out to be still frozen in the middle. They took it off the bill.

Toilets:- Public toilets of The Village in Upper Mt Gravatt.

My overall restaurant rating:

1.5 stars

We used to go there semi-regularly but it seems to have all new staff now and is all a bit dodgy.

A Freya Update

2009-02-16T17:09:00.005+10:00

Freya and her amphibian acquaintance, Lillymae, were recently apprehended trying to run heroin into Costa Rica across the Nicaraguan border.

Thankfully they only had enough evidence to convict Lillymae so Freya is home safe with us.

Freya had a cold all weekend (which we think she caught on the plane back from Costa Rica). I've never tried to get snot out of another persons nose before. It's not easy, even when they have similar gaping nostrils to my own.

She's better now and Miranda and I are feeling much more rested. (Although the heroin sewn into Freya's nappy might have something to do with that)

Who wants to be a millionaire?

2009-02-16T16:56:00.002+10:00

Me, that's who, so I can buy a big pile of dirt, and pour water onto it and make a million dollar pile of mud. Oh yeah baby, Mud Mud Mud.

Freya digs mud too. She's right into. Literally. The "digging" AND the being "into it".

Here's a picture:-

Whadya mean, whadya mean, whadya mean?

Huh?

Well anyway. I'm pleased to say I'm getting plenty of sleep now. AND

I am walking....

THE COW

Black Flag

2009-02-08T17:34:00.000+10:00

Memories...

(of listening to the album, not seeing them live or anything)

EBM

2009-02-01T22:41:00.004+10:00

EBM is one of many acronyms I've learnt over the last few months. I've written a song made up of them, that's how many there are.

Anyways, I just wanna say the Dr Brown's Bottle Brush is a fantastic product. It's great for getting dried up beer scum out of long tall beer glasses. (just kidding Miranda.)

Also, I just got around to writing some stuff for the post below (January 17)

See ya soon peoples!!!

A Digby ate my baby!

2009-01-17T09:16:00.006+10:00

So anyway, this is Digby keeping a close eye on Freya as he is want to do.

Today is/was the first day of February. How time flies. The girl is now more than twice her birth weight, despite her intense love for vomiting.

Sleep is a luxury. I've always kinda liked a bit of luxury, but I love sleep. Yes indeedy. Especially sleep without nightmares.

Miranda I think is getting less sleep than me these days, but I'm not really sure cuz everything is a milky haze.

I particularly like our cute little monkey. She is choice. Rad even.

I wish I had a camera permanently attached to my glasses so I could snap all her cutest moments and expressions. Gee whiz she can do some mighty cute things. It's a bit overwhelming sometimes, having Freya and Digby cuting away in the same house, and then Bentley and Basil with there occasional bouts of cuteness. I should look up some synonyms for cute.

From Thesaurus.com:
ambrosial, appealing, attractive, captivating, charming, cute, darling, dear, delectable, delicious, delightful, dishy, dreamy*, fetching, heavenly, hot*, luscious, pleasing, precious, sexy, suave

Hmmm. I think I like cute best.

Here's an example:-

This is Freya looking at the universe. While it is only a small part of the universe, it is significant to her.

She's been closely examining various sections of universe, along with experimenting with her vocal range. It's a joy to witness. I might post a little video or two soon.

Well I must get some sleep so's I can continue to bring bacon home for those Sunday morning fry ups. Know what I mean? I kinda do, but there was no bacon this weekend. There was bacon in the fridge, but we were two busy filling up on baked treats to bother with bacon (but we did have eggs on toast for teas tonight)

I really must get going so's my brain can regenerate some form of sanity. Perhaps coherence is a better word. Well, oh well. Good night for now.

Photo blog

2008-12-29T15:02:00.005+10:00

Click here to see more photos. I'll be uploading photos of Freya from my phone to fuzzyshot regularly(?).

Here we are

2008-12-27T19:38:00.011+10:00

Well. It's been a while. There's not much time for blogging these days. I'm actually posting this from my phone at the hospital while Freya is sleeping on my chest.

Freya only spent about a week in intensive care before she was moved to special care, (which is less hardcore.) She got to spend some time under blue lights for jaundice, which she seemed to enjoy cuz she got to wear some cool sunnies. On the Friday before Christmas, Freya was released from her plexiglass incubator into an open cot. A huge step forward. Now we can get her out for a nurse nearly whenever we want.

Santa came to her, which was pretty cool. We were so busy rushing to get here for her 6:30am feed, we left her present at home. Luckily Santa (the nice nurses) had it covered with a beautiful handmade stocking filled with stuffed toys, hand knitted clothes and a little wood turned snowman made by one of the nurses fathers.

She now weighs 2.22kg (4lb 14oz) and is off her big monitor. Now she's on a portable monitor which just checks that she's still breathing. All she has to do now is establish her feeding and we can take her home!!!

The doctor told us this on Christmas Eve so Miranda and I have had to do some mad panic shopping in the post Christmas sales to make sure she'll have somewhere to sleep, something to come home in the car in and something to bath in when she comes home. We also got her "one or two" things to wear, in case she gets bored with the 20 odd outfits she was given for Christmas.

Although the Boxing Day sales were insane, it was really nice to go shopping for our little girl for the first time and actually buying things without worrying whether she'll ever get a chance to wear them.

I've finished this blog off at home cuz blogging on the iPhone is kinda like blogging underwater. Will get my act together (maybe) some time soon and post heaps of photos.

PS. She is very cute.

Progressing...

2008-11-30T08:26:00.002+10:00

Just a quick update. Not enough time in the day for details. Freya is going well.

Will write more later.

Freya Heather Waterhouse

2008-11-19T20:22:00.014+10:00

God must've laughed at my last post:

My plans for the day include unloading a container of painting supplies and posting a blog entry that will change lives (stay tuned).

A few things have changed since Saturday. I will no longer be unloading a container tomorrow, and the blog entry I planned to publish is no longer relevant. I hadn't exactly planned what I was going to say, but it was going to contain the following points:-

Miranda is thirty weeks pregnant.
Miranda is due to give birth on 27 January, 2009.
Miranda has been at home for the last ten weeks to help avoid premature labour (which is what happened when William was born early.)
Things are going well so far.
The above picture was taken at Miranda's last scan on 2nd November.

While a lot of people in Brisbane experienced massive storms on Sunday night, Miranda and I spent a quiet evening playing chess. But when Miranda got up to clean her teeth and go to bed, her waters broke. Ten minutes later we were on our way to hospital.

Thankfully she didn't go straight into labour so they were able to give her some steroids to help the baby's lungs grow bigger and stronger. She also had some other drugs to hold off labour so the steroids had a chance to work. Monday and Tuesday were 48 hrs of anxious "resting" and waiting which felt more like two weeks than two days.

This morning, at 9:30am, Miranda and I went down to the operating theatre for the fabulous Dr Rod Allen (and a heap of other fabulous staff) to perform a caesarean section. Miranda had a "spinal" so was able to be awake for the whole thing. I got to be with her too and she was VERY brave! Imagine knowing someone's gonna shove a pointy thing in your spine then cut your belly open. Bad enough at the best of times, but when that belly contains the hopes and dreams you've been nauseous to the point of vomiting for; given up alcohol and caffeine for; given up work* and your social life for; been kept awake in pain for; been trying for more than two years for; I can tell you it's a very scary thing. Especially when the hopes and dreams are supposed to stay in your belly for another couple of months.
* (Not a difficult sacrifice)

At 10:45am, 19 November, 2008, Miranda had a little baby girl. We have named her Freya Heather Waterhouse.

Freya weighed 1.37 kg (3 lb in the old money) and was 40.5cm tall/long. This is apparently good for 30 wks gestation. For the moment she's in intensive care but she's doing very well. She's breathing with a bit of help from CPAP which is great because we thought she would probably need to be intubated. She will probably be in hospital for a couple of months, but if that means we get to take her home alive, we're ecstatic.

Miranda has only been able to see her at the time of birth today. Hopefully tomorrow morning she'll feel up to going down to the intensive care ward in a wheelchair.

Margaret (Miranda's mother) and I went down to see Freya this afternoon and she is awesome! She was sleeping at the time (apparently she'll sleep most of the time) but the staff told me she'd been screaming her little lungs out earlier. So much so, they'd had to give her a dummy! Heh heh. Pretty cute, huh? (I imagine it would've been.)

We're allowed to touch her, once we've removed watches and jewellery and sterilised our hands. She held onto my finger! I can't really explain how amazing that felt.

Just....

amazing!

I'm a dad!

The next few weeks are going to be pretty rough at times, but we're praying for a happy ending. Miranda should get to come home from hospital on Sunday if all goes well.

Stay tuned for any new developments. I'll leave you with this little video I took on my camera today:- Miranda meets Freya.

Birthday Wishes

2008-11-15T19:08:00.002+10:00

It's my birthday next week, and I just watched this video from my new favourite crazy man and thought it would be a good idea to advertise the fact so you can all send me love and presents.

My birthday is this Thursday 20th November. My plans for the day include unloading a container of painting supplies and posting a blog entry that will change lives (stay tuned).

If you wanna send me something, may I suggest cash. Some people don't like $100 notes, but I personally don't see anything wrong with them.

I also like three month overseas holidays and Jaguars. I have nearly enough guitars now, but a Fender Jazzmaster wouldn't go astray.

I know I haven't given much notice, but I'm not a vindictive person. If I get this stuff by Christmas, I won't be angry.

Land Of Opportunity...

2008-11-15T13:48:00.001+10:00

The opportunity to be a crazy man...
There's plenty more where that came from.

Mr. Deagle

2008-11-14T17:37:00.007+10:00

We met the man who lives across the road from us this afternoon. Not the nice North East neighbour who knocked on our door to let us know about the snake. This was the nasty South East neighbour.

I can't remember the conversation word for word, so instead I'll give you this which has the same spirit:-

From Gremlins (1984)
Ruby Deagle: I want your dog.
Billy Peltzer: Barney?
Ruby Deagle: Give him to me. I'll take him to the kennel, they'll put him to sleep. It will be quick and painless compared to what I would do to him.
Billy Peltzer: What could you do?
Ruby Deagle: I'll catch the beast myself. He'll get what he deserves, a slow painful death.Maybe I'll put him in my spin-drier on high heat.
Mr. Anderson: That would do it all right!
[Barney then jumps from the bank counter and smashes Mrs Deagle's snowman head and starts barking at her]

We all know what happened to Mrs Deagle, don't we?

Unfortunately the Universe doesn't dish out karma as well as Hollywood does, so Miranda and I are planning our own sweet revenge;... Christmas lights, and lots of them.

Restaurant Review #1

2008-11-09T08:49:00.002+10:00

I'm going to start reviewing a few local Brisbane restaurants. First off is Modern Thai Restaurant on Logan Road in Mt Gravatt. I can't find any pictures on the interweb so I guess I'll have to take my own next time we go there.

I s'pose I should come up with categories. Let's see:-

Ambience:- Kinda classy, but thongs ok.
Service:- First rate. Friendly. No-one makes you feel like a toad or a cockroach. Water constantly refilled. This is a particularly good thing in my book.
Food:- Also first rate. My favourite is Hot Wok Duck, but last night I had the duck curry cuz father-in-law Fred got the Hot Wok Duck and I have a thing about getting the same as someone else. Duck curry was super too.
Toilets:- The only let down. Get a key and walk half a km down a dark alley. Brings my overall restaurant rating to:

4.5 stars

This review isn't particularly well written but my inlaws are here and I don't really have the luxury of editing anf stuff. Jobs to be done, favourite old t-shirts to be rescued.

Vote For Change Rewarded!!!

2008-11-09T07:54:00.003+10:00

What else can I say?

We got a new bed

2008-11-01T20:20:00.002+10:00

DVD Blues

2008-11-01T15:26:00.003+10:00

Miranda accuses me of picking bad movies every time I go to the video shop. I was thinking I'd just had really bad luck but now I've come to the realisation that 99.9% of movies available are steaming piles of turd so my chances are of finding anything any good are extremely slim.

Nov 4th, Mebourne Cup Day

2008-11-01T15:21:00.004+10:00

Australian can't vote in the US election, but at least they can bet to make things more interesting.

Arnold Jacobs

2008-10-31T17:39:00.004+10:00

Otherwise known as A.J. Jacobs. I discovered him on my drive home this afternoon listening to the most recent podcast of The Moth. I even "laughed out loud" at one point, something I usually reserve for David Sedaris books and my own jokes.

In other news, Miranda and I have stocked up on sweets for Halloween. I would have liked to have bought more; a few packets of mini Mars Bars; mini Kit Kits; the entire range of mini chocolates. Miranda thought we should keep it to a minimum because we've never had anyone trick or treat before... All the more reason to buy heaps of good stuff I say.

Adrian Belew

2008-10-28T17:33:00.001+10:00

Although it may look like I'm regressing to the eighties, I'm not. I just like the idea of a big electric cat.

Elizabeth Logelin

2008-10-22T20:12:00.003+10:00

This is an excellent blog Miranda follows.

It has truckloads more substance that the triviality you find on my blog.

One day his daughter is born...
http://www.mattlogelin.com/archives/2008/03/24/update-715pm/

The next, his wife dies...
http://www.mattlogelin.com/archives/2008/03/28/liz/

And this was less than a year ago!

If you're in a situation where you have a lot of time to spend on the net, it's worth reading through his blog. There are lots of great photos. It's bitter sweet indeed.

Simon Baird

2008-10-22T19:24:00.001+10:00

The stationary cinematographer strikes again

Gary Numan

2008-10-19T11:29:00.003+10:00

Been watching Video Hits off and on this morning. I was impressed with the new Kylie Minogue film clip, although I still find her rather repellent. I also enjoyed the Panics song. Nick Cave looked ridiculous, but I think that's what he's going for.

But this,... this is the shit:-

Coming to an Australian capital city near you in March next year.

Guillaume Apollinaire

2008-10-17T19:35:00.001+10:00

The way things were.

David Mercury

2008-10-17T18:23:00.003+10:00

The way things are.

Robbin Waterhouse

2008-10-15T21:10:00.001+10:00

John Key

2008-10-12T10:34:00.003+10:00

As the world heads into a global recession, all eyes are on the election. Mary and CH have brought up some vicious dirt on Barack Obama, but I've never heard of him and don't think he's really a contender.

We should be focusing on the guy who's more likely to get the top job. I've just found this damning information about him.

He allegedly ripped off Coldplay's Clocks for his campaign.
He's Jewish.
HE HAS A NEW ZEALAND ACCENT!!!

Truly outrageous.

Linda McCartney

2008-10-11T20:13:00.002+10:00

Miranda and I had Chinese takeaway for tea tonight. The menu reminded me of last night's repeat of The Simpsons.

Dorian Gray

2008-10-11T18:31:00.004+10:00

Today I designed a cd cover for an album I made seven years ago. I guess I can move on to the next project now.

Daniel Johns

2008-10-11T18:07:00.004+10:00

At 1:50, there is a Daniel Johns resemblance.

At 2:28, there is a Daniel Johns resemblance, (as pointed out by Simon.)

At 0:23, there is a Daniel Johns resemblance. This is my favorite Silverchair song. It sounds a bit like Split Enz (in a good way.) Don't ya love Split Enz?

John Henry

2008-10-09T17:18:00.004+10:00

This month, I intend to give each post a name. Today's name is John Henry after the They Might Be Giants album.

The guitar solo in this song is definitely in my Top 100 Guitar Solos Of All Time list.

Karl Pilkington

2008-10-07T21:02:00.000+10:00

BLACK FRANCIS

2008-10-04T16:11:00.003+10:00

In all, it was good. The bass player smiled a lot. The singer/guitarist screamed a lot.

I saw some people I hadn't seen for a long time, including Peter (who I knew at scouts), Paul (the guy who organised the Geek Club in Townsville) and Mary (the author of an entertaining blog). They were sitting around a table playing a danish board game.

Is it a coincidence that Black Francis attracted Kim Deal to the Pixies with an ad for a female bassist who liked Peter, Paul and Mary and Husker Du?

Ok, I lied about the board game. There's no furniture whatsoever in the cess pit known as the Arena. I also lied about "Peter from scouts." But I didn't lie about the bass player smiling a lot.

Mister Black only played material off his last two albums, Bluefinger and Svn Fngrs, plus a couple of rarities.

One of the most rocking songs of the night was Get Away Oil which is apparently a B-side to Threshold Apprehension. I'd never heard it before but liked it quite a lot.

I was a bit let down, as were others, that he didn't come back for an encore, despite the crowd yelling for more. After all, he still had The Seus up his sleeve to totally bring down the house.

Three days later now, and I am left with an image of the fat man screaming his heart out, a bright orange t-shirt and a Black Francis stubbie cooler, which is currently cooling my Kokanee Glacier Beer.

Movies I like with...

2008-09-30T19:09:00.003+10:00

Movies I like with Bud Cort:-

Harold and Maude
Electric Dreams
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Movies I like with cars with bicycles on the roof:-

Electric Dreams
The Vanishing (the original version of course)

My only friend

2008-09-30T18:07:00.002+10:00

With the singularity just around the corner, I thought this was fitting.