Categories
driving

The trouble with cars

Well, I said this month would be car maintenance month. Four nice shiny new tyres plus fitting plus whatever other surcharges they tack on: $544. 200,000 Km service, including ultrasound analysis of the fuel injection (!) and numerous other tinkering: $842. (But it does purr like a kitten now.) A tank of petrol: $62. But  ... [More]

Categories
Politics and activism

The truth behind cattlemen?

According to a sticker left on the glass partition of a now dis-used office at work, “Mountain cattlemen care for the high country.” The other week I was chatting to a friend about the issue of the Victorian Government banning livestock grazing from the Alpine National Park. Apparently the image of the mountain cattlemen —  ... [More]

Categories
Geek Home life

Things that make my life easier

Some random things that make my life easier: The dishwasher. Run it every few days (when full). Cool. RSS. Lets me catch up on news and blogs in seconds flat. The 8:06 and 8:17 expresses. Bentleigh to Parliament in 17 minutes. If there’s a faster way into the city in peak hour (barring helicopter) I’d  ... [More]

Categories
News and events

ANZAC Day

It’s ANZAC Day today. This is the cenotaph in Bentleigh, with fresh flowers placed there on Sunday. Most suburbs and towns around the country have something similar. One of these days I’ll rouse the kids early and get us all up to the Shrine for the Dawn Service. I did go one year. It was  ... [More]

Categories
driving

Zooooooom!

It seems the state government has decided to reveal all the possible locations of mobile speed cameras for the first time. I know other juristictions have done this kind of thing before, but I don’t quite see how this is a good thing. Doesn’t it just give lead-foot motorists (and there’s plenty of them out  ... [More]

Categories
books Film music

Music, Foreigner and WarGames

Saw a guy on the train with an old-style portable CD player. ‘Cos, you know, digital music from real CDs have a warmth that MP3/AAC on iPods just can’t match… Watched WarGames again the other night. As Marita commented, no wonder geeks like it — geeks get to save the world. (Though they almost destroyed  ... [More]

Categories
General

Followups

There’s a lot of great comments that present themselves from readers on this site. Allegedly in the innanet industry this is what the marketing types call user-generated content or some such. Whatever, but it shows what highly intelligent people you all are. My old school mate KTK remarks that obscure names are an advantage for  ... [More]

Categories
Culture

You’re right

“Sorry.” “No; you’re right.” I’m not sure where I picked it up, but it seems to be a new speech pattern that’s entered the language that makes much more sense than the higher-profile “Yeah, no, yeah.” If someone says sorry, but it’s for something they really shouldn’t be apologising for, I won’t say “That’s okay”,  ... [More]

Categories
driving

New tyres

So I moseyed down to the tyre place yesterday afternoon. The bloke looked over my tyres, and just as I’d suspected, told me in no uncertain terms that they were beyond the bounds of roadworthy. He also puzzled over why there were non-standard (wider than usual) tyres on the car. “Someone in the past must  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism Home life

I am no longer gormless

Yesterday I followed a time-honoured tradition, something done by countless millions on the Easter Monday holiday, right across the western world. I returned stuff to Ikea. As many did, I had gone along on Saturday, full of good intentions and a cashed-up wallet, ready to splurge on something new and exciting to spend time building  ... [More]

Categories
Photos transport

Still impressive

I don’t agree with the name change, but I do think the renovated Southern Cross Station is impressive. Compare this picture from about a year ago to how it looks today (yep, there is a massive tram stop in front of it, seen here with a massive tram, so it’s a bit harder to see  ... [More]

Categories
Home life TV

Great Friday

Ah, Good Friday. It seems like ages since I’ve been able to sleep in, then laze about the house in my pyjamas. Shortly I’ll watch the vid of last night’s West Wing, then maybe, maybe I’ll consider having a shower and shave and getting dressed. But no rush. I’ve decided, by the way, that the  ... [More]