Big

I'm really quite big now and am not entirely fond of the idea that I still have another two months of expansion ahead. How much room does a baby need... really? We should evolve to lay eggs instead.... small ones. Then maybe tying shoe laces or getting a decent night's sleep wouldn't be so hard. I really need to buy a body pillow or something very soon.

On the upside, I really enjoy Shawn's reaction when he feels her moving around and I like feeling her moving around... mostly... when she's not being aggressive about it.

p.s. Today is my birthday.

7 Months

I have exactly ZERO photos of my pregnant self. Due to my first five to six months of shocking morning sickness, I don't think anyone would have dared come near me with a camera. Now I don't get nauseous unless I'm really sleep deprived. I should make sure I get at least one before this time is over.

I quite like having a big belly since for the first part of the pregnancy you tend to just look fatter, not pregnant. At 7 months there's not much mistaking that you are actually pregnant, except for people on public transport, as they have a particular blindness to these things. It also makes it far more real. Many weeks have passed without us thinking about the reality of it too much so that now, all of a sudden, you can't not pay attention. The funniest thing that I'm prone to doing at the moment is going to close the wardrobe door and it being blocked by my belly. All of a sudden it's really out there. Neither of us can quite grasp that there's any more room in there, but I still have another two months of expansion.

I was telling Shawn that when I feel her moving around or kicking, I want to take her out, cuddle her, play with her for a bit, then put her back in again... except without all the blood and surgery that would involve. We imagine opening a little hatch on my belly and lifting her out of a snug, red velvet lined pod.

Road Trip

It's been a week and a half since Shawn and I got back from our little road trip. It went something like this.

On Saturday we drove to Canberra and stayed for two nights. I haven't been there since I was 12 so it was kind of all new (again). First impressions: very quiet, very leafy, very suburban. Dinner on our first night was at Alto, the restaurant at the revolving Black Mountain Tower. Yummy. Dessert was my favourite. A type of chocolate pudding with a mandarin salad that was warm and spicy. Really good. Next time we'll go for lunch so we can actually see the city design a little better.



We managed to wander around Floriade at Commonwealth Park for a while, but I probably wouldn't bother again. The highlight was seeing varieties of strange-shaped tulips I hadn't seen before. The lowlights were all the people and the rather boring displays. The park itself was far more pleasant to me.

From Floriade we walked down to Lake Burley Griffin and got a half hour boat ride, which at $5 each was worth well worth it. It gave my pregnant self a chance to rest while taking a look at a lot of different landmarks and getting a commentary on them.



We also took a guided tour at the War Memorial. Guided tours in general are great. You hear a lot of interesting stories that aren't always written on the little white cards next to exhibits and tend to take in a lot more as a result. Some stories are best not heard when you have pregnancy emotions though.



We were going to drive on to Wagga to see family, but we had a call from my Aunt saying the farm was pretty much under lock-down due to Equine Influenza. Another time.

So from Canberra we drove on to Melbourne, arriving at Narelle's place, where we stayed for three nights before staying at a serviced apartment in the city for a week.



It was weird being back in Melbourne after being away so long. If Melbourne could be relocated to Sydney, I'd be very happy. I really love Melbourne, but I think the weather is better up here and it's closer to family.

Melbourne activities included:
- spending an inordinate amount of money at The Chocolate Shop
- catching up with friends (sad that I have more friends in Melbourne than in Sydney)
- a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria to see the Guggenheim exhibition
- eating great pub food in Brunswick
- driving around old neighbourhoods
- making very good use of our weekly tram tickets
- visiting the Botanical Gardens
- buying treats from the cake shops on Acland Street in St Kilda
- pointing out The Esplanade Hotel to Shawn so he could see where RocKwiz is made
- Visiting Queen Victoria Markets and buying a new wallet in a great shade of green
- Melbourne zoo
- walked along the Yarra for a bit



We did one day trip out of Melbourne to Phillip Island to see the Little Penguins. We booked a ranger talk beforehand as well. It was cold and wet, but it was very cool to see them all hurrying to their burrows in the sand. Extremely cute.

It was sad leaving Melbourne, we'd almost convinced ourselves that we lived in the apartment.


(Crappy pic, but it was a challenge getting a good shot from the car.)

We drove back up the Princes Highway. A lot prettier than the Hume. Lots of green hills, Canola fields and happy looking cows (a very different experience to seeing how cows are kept in the US).

We stopped in Merimbula overnight and by a total accident, looking for food, we happened upon the Zanzibar Cafe, just when we were thinking we'd be stuck with fish and chips. This worked out perfectly because we'd planned to have at least two high quality dinners on our trip, but after Alto in Canberra, we just didn't seem to get around to it, then we hit this place. Given a 14/20 by The 2007 Good Food Guide. We have a tendency to agree with them.

On our last day of travel we stopped at Bateman's Bay for Lunch. Fairly uneventful, except for the high winds and my fear that the poor little echo was going to end up with something punctured by the branches and twigs strewn all over the road... Did I say uneventful?



It was, right up until we hit the highway that is. We rounded a bend, to see a tree laying across the road. It must have only just come down because we were the first car on our side to come across and people coming from the other direction had just gotten out of their cars. Thankfully, one of them had one of those fluorescent road workers vests and started running past our car waving it around so no one ran up the back of us. Lots of nearby men shoved fruitlessly at the tree (which I could have told them was not going anywhere in one piece), while the slightly more practical started trying to get through to SES or the RTA. After a very short time (with the arrival of the sixth car back) a man drove up and got out of his car with a chainsaw!



What luck!.. or do a lot of people around there carrying a chainsaw with them? So the tree was dismantled and the pieces pushed off the road in no time. Interesting experience.

During all our driving we stopped approximately every two hours so I could stretch and I have to say that on the way back it was definitely needed. My growing uterus is now pushing up against my ribs causing me a lot of discomfort. By the time we got to Nowra my ribs were killing me so we stopped at this park. We happened to have some bread in the car so we spent some time sprawled on the grass and feeding ducks.

We arrived home and enjoyed a 3 day weekend before work again on Monday. I was even relatively chipper on my first day back at work... weird.

21 weeks

And I still have morning sickness. Mostly I just feel sick, but I'm still throwing up on the odd occasion as well. Hurrah.

A few days ago I felt the baby's kick with my hand on my belly, not just from the inside as usual.

Today is supposed to reach 27c. Which is a shock. I think it's time to go buy a maternity skirt or something. Actually, it's time to buy some maternity clothes regardless. I need a belly band to extend my t-shirts and hide the belly belts that have been extending my jeans and trousers.

Kicking

When a doctor or ultrasonographer tells me that the movement I feel would only be like "butterflies" at this stage, I now know I'm not insane to disagree. Last night, for the first time, Shawn was able to feel the baby kick too, which was pretty exciting.

At this stage I don't mind the kicks and find it reassuring, I'm thinking that further down the track I'll be happy if the baby is a little less active.

Work Has Moved

My first day at the new location was pretty bad. So many things went wrong that I don't want to relive them by listing them here... okay, just a few. It's FREEZING here. Why is aircon so hard to get right?! I left the house without my glasses and had to go back, my monitor died, but was forced to use it to shop for new monitor and I felt like I was going to faint or throw up during travel to and from work. The lack of somewhere to sit when waiting for public transport isn't good when you're pregnant and then trying to get a seat is another matter, especially if you don't look pregnant (but are still suffering from nausea, fatigue, etc)... although I'm not entirely sure how much that'd help these days. People can be appalling, especially on public transport. I guess I'll see how true this is when I get closer to my due date and start sticking out a lot more.

I should also say that the office space is very swish. We have windows we can see out and the transition was made a little easier by the fact that work hired a chef to cook us breakfast on our first day. So not all gloom.

Second day has been a little less eventful, thankfully.

Centennial Park

On Saturday, Shawn and I went to Centennial Park for a picnic. It couldn't have been a better day for it. Sunny and nice and warm. A little respite from winter. I think the key to a really good picnic is going well prepared. We had a picnic blanket, two pillows, lots to eat and drink and a book. Just being outside was really nice, watching the different birds flying around together, chasing each other away from their nests and hopping down to chirp at us and see if we'd feed them. I think the best thing about this day, other than just getting out, was the fact that I got to eat a sandwich. I don't get to do this a lot these days. Being pregnant, I can't eat cold deli meat or salads that haven't been freshly washed. This rules out most places that serve sandwiches. So for this day we bought a cob loaf and stuffed it with cooked chicken, Swiss cheese, semi dried tomatoes, artichokes and various other salad bits and pieces. I loved it. So nice to eat just a simple sandwich again!

19 Week Ultrasound

Yesterday, I had my 19 week ultrasound. They took a look at all the organs and did lots of measurements. Everything is going fine and best of all (although they say "No guarantees") we found out the sex. It looks like we're having a girl. Both Shawn and I were positively giddy about finding out. Now we just have to warn people against buying overly pink, frilly stuff for her. Not sure how successful that'll be. I really enjoy going for ultrasounds, actually seeing the baby moving around, looking at it's little feet, but I think this is the last one, unless they decide they didn't get a good shot of something or something needs to be checked further down the track.



To celebrate the ongoing well-being of the little one, we went out to Newton's Cocina for dinner. The food was fresh, cooked well and in good (large) portions, but sadly very bland. Great for someone who hasn't been well or has morning sickness and can only eat bland foods, but not great if you're after great Mexican food. Also? A little expensive. We'll give it a miss in the future I think. Baja Cantina tastes better and is cheaper.

I Take it Back

I threw up on Saturday. Since I've been feeling better I guess I've been a little over-confident with what I think I can get away with. Apparently getting into bed after 10pm is not something I can get away with. I might have made it if I could've slept longer in the morning, but a headache and a strong desire to go to the bathroom killed that.

I Still Keep Ginger Nut Biscuits With Me

But I haven't thrown up for 17 days, which is great. To replace this I have headaches every day instead. I still feel off colour every morning, I'm still required to fight off waves of nausea at regular intervals as well and often go off food, but, as mentioned previously, it's so much better than uncontrollable vomiting.

The cafe across from work have been concerned that I don't drink their coffee any more. I've explained that it's not them, it's me. I could probably stomach a full cup now, but it tastes very bitter to me now.

I think I can safely say that chocolate now tastes amazing to me again.

Financial News

The stock market has taken a downturn, which means it probably won't be a good year for my superannuation, however, today I can't seem to care as I've just paid off a very persistent debt.

6 Days and no throwing up!

The five day run has been broken! This doesn't mean that all of a sudden I feel great, I still feel pretty bleh and have to fight off waves of nausea every morning, sometimes all day, but these kinds of days are no where near as bad as throwing up days. I also mentioned to Shawn that I've been craving chocolate more often lately, whereas previously I'd gone off almost everything. I'm hoping this is the morning sickness easing and that it's not just a freak event.

Things I miss and don't miss

I miss going for long walks with Shawn. The foot with the torn ligaments is healing gradually, but is not 100% yet. Aside from that, I feel exhausted and lethargic all the time. A big grocery shop is a challenge for me at the moment.

I miss being able to function on eight hours sleep. I can get away with nine and a half (sometimes), but feel much better after ten and a half, and those occasions where I get eleven or twelve hours sleep are heavenly.

I miss being able to eat what I want. Sushi is what I'm missing most at the moment.

I miss not feeling sick every morning and lying there before I get out of bed wondering if getting up will make me throw up.

I miss being headache free. (headaches caused by pregnancy hormones)

I don't miss worrying about putting on too much weight and not being able to get back into better shape. Being pregnant it would actually be good to put on some weight about now!

I don't miss my hair! I had a hair cut on Saturday. What once trailed down my back to reach my waist, now only just grazes my shoulder and it feels liberating! Now that the crispy ends are gone, it's so soft! Today will be it's first post-cut wash so I'm interested to see what it'll do once it's not in it's hairdresser-perfect-straightened state. It'll be so much quicker to wash and dry!

Baja Cantina

Last night I took Shawn to Baja Cantina in Glebe. He has been missing Mexican food big time, my favourite Mexican place had closed down (Why? Why?! Hot Salsa Mexican Kitchen, you were so good!) and I wasn't really motivated to take him to a mexican place that just wasn't to his Californian-Mexican standards. Since we were going to be over that way I decided I should bite the bullet and suggest we go to Baja Cantina. So glad we did this. Shawn loved it. Not in a: "This is good for Australian Mexican" way, but in a "This is some of the best Mexican food I've ever had" way. I've always thought comments like "Oh, we only have crap Mexican food in Australia" were misguided, ok just plain wrong. I've had Mexican food in several places in California and several places in Sydney and I really think that we rate pretty well. I mean, I guess they could be more "authentic" (in both places), but then I'm just not that big on offal. It should also be said that I've had what I consider to be bad Mexican food in California. They aren't immune!

It lingers

The morning sickness I mean. I've lost a few kilos because of it. I can't seem to break the five day run. I'm still feeling crappy on those five days, but I can go without throwing up for that amount of time... if I'm really lucky... okay, I've only gone that long twice, but it's better than nothing. Tuesday was my worst day yet and I had to take the day off work. I did force myself out to get to a tax appointment in the afternoon. It was quite the challenge, but I'm glad I did it. I can't wait to get my return back to see if I still have any student loan left. I'll be glad to see the back of that.

Yesterday I had my 'booking in' appointment at the birth centre at the RPA. I was reassured that I was doing fine and that the morning sickness isn't making the baby suffer, just me. The size of my uterus is fine for 15 weeks.

The midwife (Sarah, I think, caribbean accent) said she'd only look for a heartbeat with the doppler if I wouldn't worry if she didn't find one. Since there was no ultrasound to tell her where to point the thing I said I wouldn't worry. She did find it though. It was pretty cool to listen to. It's funny. I don't really worry about the pregnancy or how the baby is doing or think a huge amount about these appointments until after I go and then I feel pretty excited and happy about things going well and seeing or hearing some physical evidence that the baby is, in fact, there and is doing fine. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm not showing yet so I don't see that I'm pregnant. I hear this is common for first pregnancies since our stomach muscles have never been stretched out and are keeping everything nicely tucked away... although I know this won't last long.

Morning Sickness

My most heartfelt sympathy goes out to anyone who has to go through this. It makes me wonder how, as a race, we continue to procreate. I haven't thrown up for 5 days now, so I'm hoping it's on it's way out.

12 weeks and 2 days

Pregnant that is.

We had an ultrasound on Monday and it was waving it's arms around like crazy.
Sonographer: "There's a party going on in there."
Shawn: "What've you been eating?!"

I don't think tomato and cheese on toast with a little oregano warrants arm waving, but what do I know. It's very reassuring that it seems healthy though.

What I Love to Hear from a Client

"love it! love it! love it! you are brilliant. I think it's perfect!
I am so happy."

It's not that my ego needs vigorous stroking, it's just that it's nice to have someone say that you did a good job. It also makes up for the clients who are absolutely hideous.

I also like it when they realise that they might not know everything this is to know about my profession:
"... not sure if its possible and if not please tell me to get with the program..."

Some clients are just great.

I Don't Like Renting

I have a lot to be thankful for. My health, great husband and a pretty decent job to name a few. One thing I'm not thankful for is our landlord. We've been without water since Sunday morning. He said he'd see me this afternoon at 4.30 to fix it, however, he is notoriously unreliable, so I called him at 3.30pm to confirm this. He informed me that the plumber had already been around and fixed it at around midday. This is incredibly displeasing to me for two reasons. One is that I was home for lunch after 12 so I know it wasn't done. The other thing is that he organised to send someone to our place without our knowledge. I don't take well to strangers (or agents or landlords) in my house, without informing me and without me being present. Forget about the fact that I find it incredibly rude, what if I came home and found a strange man in my house? Is he trying to give me a heart attack?

Impending Work Move

At the end of July/beginning of August, my workplace will be moving. I'm not particularly enthused about this. It means that instead of a 15 minute drive to work, I will have about 50 minutes on public transport. I do feel like I've been quite lucky having a parking space at the current place so I'll get over it. At least most of winter will be over before the move.

The other thing is that we're all being given these small kidney shaped desks. What this means to me is that I will not have enough space for my printer, scanner, phone, computer and CRT monitor. Despite the fact that I have more equipment, I will not be allowed a different desk. Apparently this will ruin the "harmony" of the space. I am unsure as to how harmonious it could possible be when most of us hate these desks. I'm also wondering where I'm expected to put everything. Maybe they were able to get me a slightly larger one? Or one with a seamless add-on. I live in hope.

I have also been asked what I would like for a new LCD monitor, since my old CRT won't fit. I declined the first two options since they weren't, in my opinion, fit for graphic design. I seem to remember the GM saying I could have a nice big cinema display, but my boss tells me that the budget is apparently no where near accommodating this. Promises, promises. I've chosen another as a backup if I can't keep my CRT. It also isn't ideal, but I'm sure it won't be the end of all things good.

Or will it. This means I can't really duck home for lunch either.

And now to list the pros of this move for me... Oh wait, there are none.

Sunday, 29th April 2007

Our first wedding anniversary was on Sunday. Yay us! Everything is good and it just doesn't feel like a year. We're both much happier people to each have the other in our lives.

To celebrate we went to The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay for lunch. Yum. I love that place. Perfect seafood, great views and to top it off, it was a beautiful, sunny day. I had steamed John Dory with Yabbie Bourride, Potato and Saffron. It was amazing. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Then I tasted Shawn's Snapper Pie... Wow. We shared a large side salad of Rocket, Pear and Pecorino Salad with truffle dressing. Also, fantastic. For dessert we shared a Hot Chocolate Pudding with Strawberries and Chantilly Cream. LORD it was good. They served up the snapper pie and the dessert with some flare also. I was contented beyond belief.



We then ran up to Janny's Cakes in Chinatown and got some dumplings to steam for dinner so we weren't doing much of the domestic on our first anniversary.

Our gifts to each other for our first anniversary were the dinner, and also to finally get a nice dry mount photo album for our wedding photos. I've started putting the album together, starting with our wedding certificate (the one from the celebrant, not the extra-official one from Births, Deaths, Marriages) and a few things from the table settings at the wedding: the menu, name tags, the order of service. I should make up an invite and put it in as well. Next is to get the photos developed.

Five Days Off

Last week I took Thursday and Friday off using annual leave. I just really felt like some time off and Since Anzac Day was on the Wednesday, it made sense to make the most of it. A full 5 days away from work was fantastic. I spent time colour correcting wedding photos, being domestic, making an amazing stew with parsley dumplings, enjoying not being at work and listening to the Lorikeets in the Bottlebrush outside, being very cheeky and noisy.

Anzac Day 2007

I made Anzac Biscuits for the first time ever. Wanted to introduce Shawn to a bit of Australian history.

A relaxing day spent eating and watching dvds... ok, fine, they were Stark Trek: Next "Gen. episodes. Nerdy enough?

Learning Japanese

On Monday, Shawn and I had our first Japanese class. It's great to be doing this with him because we can practice together. He's very quick to pick it up and has no problem with pronounciation. I'm finding it so, so, so much easier than Mandarin. No tones to remember! Yay! I'm sure it helps that I went to Japan in 2004, albeit for only 6 or 7 days. I taught myself a few phrases before I left and actually used most of them... probably badly, but at least they could understand me even if I couldn't understand much of what was said back to me. I'm very interested to see how I'll feel by the end of the course and I'm really looking forward to being able to go back to Japan, this time with Shawn, and use what we've learned on native speakers. There is no planned trip or anything and we're busy trying to save money at the moment, but one day, I'm definitely going back.

Earth Hour: Saturday 7.30-8.30pm

I signed on at Earth Hour. This basically means I agreed to turn all my lights and any unused appliances off for an hour on Saturday night. I was quite keen to go for a walk up the street to look over the city to see if there is much visible difference between lights on and lights off. Of course, then I remembered that we're going up to my sister's this weekend. Erg. Still, I sent a comment to the organisers saying I think it'd be a great idea to post during and after pics. I guess I'll find out if they agree.

Cable Ties are the Best Things Ever

On Friday came across this article on Life Hacker. It instantly fired me up to fix the state of our computer desk, mainly the cable mess.

I didn't tackle it exactly the same way that Adam did on Life Hacker, but I'm still very pleased. He used a cable basket screwed to the back of his desk. I have a beautiful desk, custom-made to my design by my brother-in-law and I wasn't about to screw anything into the back of it, especially since one day it may not always be our computer desk. In the future it might be a hall table or something.

So I bought some cable tie mounts and cable ties (zip ties) at an electronics store and went to work. I also cleaned up stuff that didn't need to be there, moved the lamp into the bedroom, etc. but still! Just compare the cable chaos alone! So much easier to slide the chair in the use the computer now.

BEFORE


AFTER


We could still use some more storage so we have homes for all the blank cds and dvds... have to work on that.

Energy

Not the kind that allows me to get up in the morning and go for a walk, but the kind that powers my house, etc. I've been thinking a lot about cleaner energy lately and I've taken a couple more steps towards being less wasteful.

I've been using 100% Green Power for almost two years. I signed up with Jackgreen then found out that they were using already established hydro power and weren't actually contributing to establishing new renewable sources of energy. Not what you want to hear when you just signed up for a three year contract. I recently discovered that they now use mostly wind turbines for their electricity, but still use some hydro as backup. Good news.

I'm not against mining coal because we need it for producing steel and cement. As for the production of electricity. Do we really need coal for that? Can't we build more sun and wind farms and create (or at least replace) jobs in the process?

The problem for Australians is that coal is our largest export and the economy would collapse without it. When is this clean coal production supposed to get here? How clean is it anyway? If only we could not use it at power stations or sell thermal coal. If we could sell fuel cells containing solar generated power instead... how awesome would that be?

I suppose I should mention nuclear too. I can't get my head around the fact that everyone, all of a sudden thinks it's great again! We'd be moving from one finite resource to another. It is a far more dangerous option than renewable resources, for those who work with it and those who live near the reactor, where it's being transported through and where it's being buried. It produces radioactive waste and we still haven't figured out how we fix emissions from coal! I don't think that burying radioactive waste in the ground and hoping it isn't disturbed for a long time is a very good solution. Also, how do you replace parts at a nuclear reactor? Parts become contaminated over time. Do we bury all that as well? At what time do we run out of low-seismic ground to bury everything in. What if that ground does eventually become active? Erg. I don't like it.

In nicer news.. On the weekend we changed all our incandescent bulbs to compact flourescent bulbs. Just on replacement value they end up being cheaper than incandescents. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner given that it costs less to use these. I'm also very interested to see how it effects the energy bill.

I did an energy comparison between my little car and a Toyota Prius. The Prius uses 4.4 L/100km and my car uses approx. 6.5 L/100km. That's not that bad. I'm not super motivated to go for a hybrid car just yet because my car doesn't guzzle a lot of fuel, I'm not ready to buy a new car anytime soon, hybrid's are so expensive, the batteries only last eight years (Honda only guarantee their batteries for 5) and cost approx 3k to replace. How does the rest of the car go after ten years? I'd probably sell a car after owing it for ten years, but this will effect resale value. I'll revisit the issue when I'm thinking about buying a new car.

How is it March already?

Really... weren't we half way through February just a few days ago?

Haven't felt theres much to report. Really there's not. Having said that...

I've started getting up before work to go for a walk most days of the week. I feel better for it and I'd like to do more of it, but as the mornings get darker, the waking up is getting harder!

Even though the interest is only inflation for that year, I've started attacking my old student loan more aggressively. I'll be glad to get rid of it.

We went for a drive to the northern beaches on Sunday for the sake of getting out of the house and so Shawn could see another part of Sydney. It was raining so there really weren't any photo opportunities, but it was a nice drive regardless. I like the feeling that summer is on the way out.

Valentine's Day

(Yes, yes, I know this is a little late.)

I've not been that big on celebrating Valentine's Day, but I think that when you're in a great relationship, it's worth celebrating that. People say that this day was originally started by greeting card companies to make money. I would suggest not buying cards if it makes you feel better. These days I think it's worthwhile celebrating whatever love you have for someone. It's too easy for all days to be the same and to not take some time to actually think about, celebrate and appreciate love.

So on Wednesday night we went to Elio for dinner. I had roasted veal rolled with buffalo mozzarella, spinach and pancetta on balsamic button mushrooms and Shawn had venison with an au jus and pumpkin souffle. Really, the best dining in Leichhardt. So we ate, chatted about our days, celebrated this being the second Valentine's Day that Shawn has been in Australia and sampled some boutique beers. So a really nice night was had by all... except the couple we saw on the street, arguing and having a struggle over a bunch of roses... but that's another story and someone elses to tell, I'm sure. Glad it wasn't us though!

Lazy

I've become a very lazy blogger. I'd like to try and remedy that because I'd actually like to have a rough idea of what I've done over the years. I was talking to someone who had recently given up smoking. This made me realise that I don't actually remember how many years ago I gave up! Five? Maybe...

Permanent Position

A couple of weeks ago, Shawn was offered a permanent position at his current job. Nice that he actually gets paid for sick days and holidays now. It also seems like a good environment to work in.

Hat and Boots

Friends of Shawn's had a baby about three weeks ago and I've made them these hat and boots. Hopefully they'll like them. I love them: a little bit funky, a little bit vintage and very cute.



The yarn is Paton's Powder Puff. The pattern for the booties is from CraftBits. I wanted it to be a little less frooey so I decided to forgoe the shiny ribbon. I'll be interested to see if they stay on without it.

The hat is just a rectangle of garter stitch sewn together. I was really guessing with size for this, so I hope it fits.

I'd like to try making a jacket to go with these at some point.

TV brain won

The TV centric part of my brain won the debate, so I now own a shiny new TV that fixes a lot of the problems we had earlier. Our old TV really was very small. The HD tuner cleans up the signal coming through our "bunny ears" antenna so well. The new TV has an energy saving mode where it can be dimmed slightly and you save on electricity. If you watch most of your TV at night like I do, then this is perfect, during the day you may want to use it on standard so it can compete with natural light. As an LCD it doesn't generate as much heat as plasmas do and is cheaper to run (Oh yes, I did my research. This is one reason I went with LCD). I can now see DVDs a lot better. The PS2 can be plugged in permanently. No more having to swap between PS2 and DVD cables and less mess now that everything has it's place. The screen has a matt finish so reflection is reduced. The sound is in stereo. It's very nice.

Having said all this, I'm suffering from consumer guilt. I really don't like the idea of spending largish amounts of money on something like this, even though I really did get it at the cheapest possible price. I look at this way though: It did fix a lot of problems and I won't be needing to buy a TV for a very, very, very... very long time.

Work Review

I had my yearly work review yesterday. They still love me. The imp in me had the urge to say: "Woo! So I'll be expecting a raise then! Thanks!" I refrained. It was nice to hear good things about me. It helped to lift my mood.

Having said that, I am hoping for a simliar bonus to last year. When thinking about the best use of this bonus, my brain tells me two things: "This money would be better off used in my online savings account, accruing interest, or knocking some of that old student loan out with", but it also says:"You've had this TV for 6 or 7 years now. It wouldn't be so frivolous to upgrade it now. Every time you watch dvds, the 16:9 content is scaled down to fit your 4:3 screen and it makes the content annoyingly small. If you set it to crop the content, you miss vital detail and nobody wants that... You should buy an LCD TV with that bonus." It puts forward a very logical and persuasive argument. Don't you think?

CD Afternoon

I arrived home from work yesterday to a little package from a friend. This friend and I haven't conversed via mail for ....oooh 15 years? Upon seeing her handwriting, I experienced a personal zeitgeist, since we used to write letters to each other all the time. It was a most welcome feeling. She'd been thinking about me and about how I must be doing of late and decided to send me a couple of CDs. My favourite was from Mew. Their harmonies remind her a little of Ride and their soundscape approach to guitars reminds me of My Bloody Valentine. So I forgot all about the things that needed doing and just let myself lie there for a good couple of hours listening to music. I think it was a good idea to spend some time just being still, rather than trying to distract and busy myself.

Kimba ?/09/1991 to 29/12/2006

Kimba was put to sleep on Friday evening, the 29th of December 2006.

Initially we were trying to stop an infection with antibiotics. It turns out that the infection she had was due to a rupture in her gut which was caused by either a tumor or an abcess. In either event it was inoperable for several reasons, not the least of which was that she was so anaemic and unfit that she wouldn't have survived an operation.

So, given the above info and that she was weak, not enjoying life, no longer had an interest in food, which had to be force fed daily via a syringe (those who knew Kimba will know how telling this is), and no interest in water, which was being administered via subcutaneous injection daily, the vet and I came to the conclusion that it was time to let her go.

She was quite a unique cat: very vocal, never wandered outside our fence line unless she was chasing off another cat, and for a lot of her life she took to following me around like a dog might. She was very affectionate and was far more interested in getting pats and time on my lap than chasing toys. Often, when I'd try to entice her to play, she'd look at me as if to say: "You must be joking". Those times when she was inspired to play, it'd often end with her pausing as she realised I was watching, then trying to make it look like she was just cleaning her paws, or just stretching, or that she was engaged in some other sensible pursuit.

Kimba was friendly to other cats when she was a kitten and as young cat, but a after a few bad experiences she would readily attack any other cat (or dog) who came onto our property. She was still tolerant of animals that she had seen me accept, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She suffered family dog Chan, a little Shih Tzu that loved her dearly and wanted to play with her all the time, and never hurt Ebony, a sensitive domestic shorthair cat that belonged to my sister.

At this stage I don't know if I could own another cat. No time soon at least. People say that getting another cat helps you to get over it. I think that getting another cat would be unfair to the other cat given that I'd only be wishing for Kimba back.