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Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:34:48 -0800

Just testing� some new apps and codes.

http://borderline.stumbleupon.com/review/37475295/

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:51:11 -0800

This more or less sums up my week with Laurie. Of course it's an oversimplification, of course I'm being superficial - only because I can't even begin to convey all the fun and sheer enjoyment of sharing each other's life for these past few days. It's not my style to get deep and meaningful here, but it's a given that Laurie and I will be lifelong friends in the true sense of the word.

We both thought that we'd be producing some amazing stories and pictures for our respective blogs. We were only partially correct. We did have the adventures and we took lots of photos, but we've been just too immersed in those moments to make much of an effort to translate them to SU. I've made a token attempt, but Laurie hasn't even been able to get started. The whole Australian experience has blown her mind, and I know she's happy for me to speak for her until she comes back down to earth :)

She leaves here tomorrow morning with her two travelling companions to start the last leg of her Australian visit. She'll be driving the Great Ocean Road for a few days before heading back to Melbourne and flying to New Zealand for two weeks.
I'll miss her more than I can say...but I'm not sad - because I know she'll be back. And it will be sooner, rather than later.
She's not the first Canadian to be seduced by this wonderful place, and she won't be the last. Yes, we are a special breed - but it takes one to know one :)

See ya later, mate!

http://borderline.stumbleupon.com/review/37391075/

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:34:44 -0800

The first Tuesday in November is Melbourne Cup Day, often referred to as 'the race that stops a nation.' We even get a public holiday in honour of it. Imagine, our whole state gets the day off work to go to the races or to bet on the races. Our country is built on such fine democratic principles.

On Tuesday morning, Laurie and I set off to explore the historic Port area of my town. Everything is only two blocks away from where I live, so it wasn't exactly a long journey, but it's certainly an interesting one.
In the 1800's this was a major inland transport route; the Murray River and its paddlesteamers, barges and assorted river craft plied their trade through South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.

We started at the red gum timber milll, moved to the blacksmith's forge and then to the wharf for some paddlesteamer photos. We sampled some liqueur shiraz ( the fortified wine formerly known as 'port' ) at a wine cellar,and had an antipasto lunch with fine beer in the courtyard of a very old pub which has a secret basement bar. Laurie found this concept quite fascinating.

The next stop was the gallery of a brilliant local Koorie artist whose work I seriously lust after. I wasn't surprised to find that Laurie was equally enamoured. Maybe between us we could pool our pocket money to buy one of his small paintings and timeshare it.

On to the old Movie House and Penny Arcade, where we tried some free fudge - which then led us to the most amazing lolly ( candy ) shop, full of childhood memories at 2009 prices. Laurie bought humbugs, acid drops and licorice. In a somewhat contrary cross-cultural mood, I bought Reece's peanut butter cups, to which I have a dangerous addiction.

It was getting close to 3pm and time to find somewhere to watch The Race. We briefly studied the form and odds at the betting shop, but decided our money would be better spent on liquid refreshment. With this in mind, we entered my favourite pub (an Irish one, wouldn't you know?) and I introduced Laurie to the staple drink of my Trivia Night group - the Snakebite.
It's a mixture of beer and cider with grenadine floating on the froth. De-licious!

There was much excitement and noise as the race was run, and the winner was a horse called 'Shocking'.

It was an educational outing, and a whole lotta fun :))

Currently, we're editing a video we filmed on Sunday night. We keep falling about hysterically every time we see it, so the process has been delayed somewhat. Invitations to its debut will be sent to our respective (and responsibly responsive) mutual subscribers.

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Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:22:00 -0800

Sunday was hot and sweaty weather but we ventured north to a little town called Koondrook to be part of their Red Gum Festival. It's a typical Australian county town on a bend of the Murray river, and they had the kind of exhibits and crafts that Laurie and I could really relate to. Namely: making preserves, quilting and embroidery. As if.

Of course, there were also axemen and chainsaw artists, winemakers and woodturners. We purchased and tasted, sat in the shade by the river and swapped stories. It was a vignette of life in a farming and timber community, and a lovely way to spend a pleasant afternoon.

http://borderline.stumbleupon.com/review/37301348/

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:23:40 -0700

Big hugs all round when we met Laurie at the airport, and we didn't stop talking
all the way back in the car. We took the scenic route and L was pleasingly appreciative of the areas we travelled through, declaring the scenery the nicest she's seen so far in Australia. In other words, she's the perfect diplomatic guest ;-)

We strolled to a local beer brewery & restaurant for dinner last night, then along the river to watch the moon and the houseboats. She can't get over how warm it is at night, and opens her arms to embrace it every time we go outdoors.

We're also sorting our way through the language barrier; I'm teaching her how to pronounce Australian place names and explaining Australian phrases. So now she knows that when I call her a 'dag', it's a term of endearment, not that's she's literally a flyblown piece of poop hanging from a sheep's arse...

We stayed up late last night drinking and playing guitar and singing. She's a much better guitar player than me, ( I have some serious practice ahead of me) but I make up for it by singing louder. Pat was grinning from ear to ear as we performed, but it could have been a grimace...
( Edit: nope, he says we sounded awesome!)

Laurie's all set up on our home network too, so she can be online all she wants now. We three sit here with our shiny silver MacBooks, and it's like Revenge of the Nerds Downunder ;-)

It's a really hot day here already this morning, and we're planning to drive to a little town about 40 minutes away to participate in a Red Gum ( trees and timber) festival. Wood carving - with a chainsaw -, bush dancing, wood chopping ( manly men with big....axes) and camp oven cooking.

If L behaves herself (unlikely) I might let her get her face painted as a wombat or an echidna. My guess is that she's going to want to wrestle a chainsaw from a burly bushman and get creative with a tree trunk.

Stay tuned.

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Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:32:28 -0700

Here's a sample from the several hundred photos that I took last week at the school camp. Some of them look quite stunning full size, and I'll get around to uploading them later. I've put a few of them in an Animoto movie which I'll link to when I've finished tweaking it.

I also made an iPhoto slideshow with a groovy soundtrack to show at assembly this morning on a huge interactive whiteboard. It went over a treat. Kids love nothing better than seeing themselves on the big screen, and there were a few 'candid' shots they didn't know I'd taken, which made them squirm with embarrassment.
it's times like those, that I love my job :)

With all this going on, you may well ask what the hell I'm doing still on a computer in my leisure time.

I ask myself the same thing :p

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Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:12:55 -0700

Halloween costumes I'd like to see.
I'm picking Laurie up from the airport on Halloween.
Wonder what she'll� be wearing?

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Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:11:41 -0700

Does this dress make me look fat? Should I change my hair color? Is Bobby a homosexual? What's for dinner? Who wrote the Book of Love? Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? Did I take one hit of acid, or two? Who framed Roger Rabbit? Is "shrimping" something people actually do? Where's my other earring? Why does this always happen to me? Who my baby daddy? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck? What sort of people watch "Tyra"? Is someone at the door? Am I hearing things? Is that for here or to go? Whatever happened to Baby Jane? Where's my wiglet? How can you live with yourself? If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh why, can't I? Do the curtains match the carpet? When is Daylight Savings Time? Is it starve a cold, feed a fever? Why did I ever leave Ohio? Isn't it rich? Isn't it strange? Have you never been mellow? Paper or plastic? Which shoes should I wear? Why did the chicken cross the road? Who's the fairest of them all? Who slew Auntie Roo? Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady? Do fries come with that shake? Mr. Lee, how do you get your shirts so clean? What the bleep do we know? Didn't this all happen before?
Where's the off button?

* image and words taken from an utterly fabulous place�

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Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:59:20 -0700

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Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:13:51 -0700

This poem was wirelessly sent to my desktop by my beloved.
How romantically hi-tech can you get?
Being the visually oriented geek I am, I felt compelled to add graphicality to functionality.