A Washed-Out Weekend

Steph and Lucy's first weekend in Oz wasn't the best. We've had glorious weather for weeks now but since they've arrived it has been miserable.

We did take them to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast on Saturday and braved the beach for a short while, but the wind was that strong we were getting sand-blasted.

We've not had much luck with restaurants either. We went to Amici's, an Italian restaurant on the South Bank in Brisbane Friday night, but the service was atrocious and the food pretty bland. Then, with the weather being bad on Saturday we went for a long lunch while down on the Gold Coast. And it was a long lunch. Again, the service was crap, we waited ages and when our meals finally arrived they screwed up the order. Gordon Ramsey could do with taking a trip out here for his next series of Kitchen Nightmares! Seriously though we're being really unlucky at the moment because it's not normally this bad.

Movember

Over the last few days I keep hearing people talk about Movember. It seems to be a big thing over here. Curious to find out what the hell people were going on about I looked it up.

Movember is a charity event held each November where men (and I'm sure a few women could qualify for this as well) start the month clean shaven and then have exactly a month to grow and groom a moustache, raising money and awareness about men's health issues along the way.

The participants, known as Mo Bros, are subject to the following rules:

1. You don’t talk about Movember outside of the month.
2. Movember runs for 30 days. No more.
3. There is to be no joining of the Mo to side burns—That’s a beard.
4. There is to be no joining of the handlebars—That’s a goatie.
5. A small complimentary growth under the bottom lip is allowed (aka a tickler).
6. You must remain clean shaven apart from your Mo for the entire 30 days.
7. You must speak with a dodgy Bavarian accent for the duration of the month.
   

Ok, I made the last one up.

Official Movember website

Just Typical

I've just picked Stef and Lucy up from the airport. Unfortunately, after weeks of glorious weather here we've now got heavy cloud cover and constant rain (the fine rain that wets you through as Peter Kay would say), and it's set to be like this right through until Monday. Bloody poms bringing the weather with them!

The Melbourne Cup

Today is Melbourne Cup day in Australia.

Billed as 'the race that stops a nation', the Melbourne Cup is the biggest even on the horse racing calendar in Australia and seems to be a pretty big deal judging by the fact that people have been going on about it for weeks now. Apparently, aussies are more likely to throw a sickie today than any other day (I thought it seemed quiet in the office).

Established in 1861, the Melbourne Cup is a thoroughbred race held over a distance of 2 miles.

The main race is on at 2pm our time so they're putting it on the big screen in the office (the one that usually shows the status of the IT Networks and major servers). I must be the only person who hasn't put a bet on. I did get given a sweep-stake ticket when I bought a coffee this morning though, so if Black Tom wins I'll get a free coffee. Whoo ooh! I tell you, they have got serious issues with gambling over here!

Melbourne Cup Official Website

UPDATE: Black Tom came 17th out of 21. There goes my free coffee.

What a shame - Ha!

It's been a little while since I last posted but after the phone call I had today I felt the need to share. I spoke to Craig (one of my technicians from Harvey Norman) I actually called him for some advice (I've dropped black eyeliner on my cream bedroom carpet but that's another story)

He said he was glad to hear from me and had news that may interest me, John, the guy who took over my job, has gone already. He lasted 6 weeks if that. Craig said he'd somehow managed to run the branch back into the ground and it was loosing money - again. How awful!!!!

Craig told me they're really struggling and haven't run as smoothly as when I was there since I left. I don't want to sound big headed but I did put a lot of work into that branch - what a mistake they made letting me go.

It actually did me the biggest favour I'm now earning the same money in a fantastic setting and without the stress - today me and my boss spent a good 15 minutes watching dolphins playing in the marina - where am I better off?

British Army Developing Invisible Tanks

If reports are to be believed, the Ministry of Defence in conjunction with QinetiQ (lots of MOD contracts), and the British Army, are testing technology that can make tanks and troops invisible. Apparently it works by using "cameras and projectors to beam images captured from the surrounding landscape onto a specially-adapted tank coated with silicon to maximize their reflective qualities". Now that sounds familiar, wasn't that exactly how the invisible car worked in Pierce Brosnan's last James Bond film - Die Another Day?

I gasped with despair in the cinema when that scene showed - thinking that they had surely gone too far into fantasy world this time.

The question is, do you think QinetiQ got the idea from Die Another Day? Just kidding of course. Mind you, it's not the first time that James Bond films have been ahead of the game when it comes to technology. The underwater camera in Thunderball (1965) and the digital watch in Live and Let Die (1973) are just two examples of gadgets that were shown in James Bond films before they became widely available to the public.

Come to think of it, Q Branch, QinetiQ. Could there be a connection?

Engadget - British Army looks to make tanks, troops invisible

I Was Wrong - It's Riise's Payslip

According to this BBC report, Liverpool FC have launched an investigation into how John Arne Riise's payslip has appeared on the Internet.

So, if Riise is on 120 grand a week base salary, what is Gerrard on?