I’m buggered. Huge day followed by a huge night. I had lunch yesterday with Snod and Leyton at Sizzler (haw haw haw, stupid sizzler patrons and serving wenches haw haw haw) and I can heartily recommend the Spicy Chicken Thigh and Shrimp add-on, which is like $3 with a salad bar, but really quite good. We all had it.

I retreated back to work, what with Ed being back now and all, and spent a busy but unproductive afternoon madly typing away. Tuesday night, as regular readers will no doubt be aware, is family night, and Mum had cooked a Lamb Roast for the occassion. Bryce’s friend Rhys was over for the second family night in a row - perhaps Bryce hasn’t yet realized the sanctity of the family night, which is why he continually desecrates it with his friends coming over. Sure, I’d invited Godfrey, but he didn’t show, so I’m in the clear on that score.

I think Law & Order: Criminal Intent was a repeat last night - anyone care to confirm?

I had started this off as a comment - but then considered it worthwhile enough to become a post (it’s not like the standards are that high):

Sounds like you had a good weekend - it’s a shame Lara and I had to miss it.

Fortunately, the next long weekend is at hand. I’ve been kicking around a few ideas, namely:
Caxton St Beer, Wine and Seafood festival (Sunday 4 May)
A day at the races (Monday 5 May)
The long-awaited casino royale extravaganza - pretty much anytime on the weekend the relevant players are available….

Heyas. Well, the long weekend is over, and all we can do now is quietly and patiently wait for the next one - next weekend. Ooh, boy, that’s tough. But here’s the kicker - I also get a long weekend the weekend after, because I am taking holidays from Saturday 10/May to Sunday 18/May - one glorious week of sheer laziness. I can’t wait.

To recap on the weekend: Thursday evening Rob and Nadia were over for Indian food and cheap wine. Good stuff. Slept till midday on Friday, when Blacky and I headed up the coast (picking up Bek on the way) to Caloundra. My car got broken - it’s the first long-ish trip I’ve taken for ages, and it turns out that the suspension is screwed after a while of driving. Bummer, that’ll cost me. Anyway, we get to Caloundra and meet up with Leyton and Tim, who’ve already checked in to the hotel, and all is sweet. Ate fish and chips near the beach while kids built sandcastles. Headed back and got stuck into the grog and cards. Stumbled down to the 24-hour bakery that they have in Caloundra and bought a cheesecake for desert. While we were there, I though “why not order some croissants for tomorrow morning?” So I did. Sweet, pickup croissants for breakfast at 10am. Went home and played some assorted card games, until Bek flaked out and went to bed. We then moved on the The 500 Championship of the World, and Tim won the first game on an Open Mosaire call, so it was over in about 5 minutes, but the second game went for 3 hours to make up for that. When it was finally won, everyone practically ran for the beds, forsaking all else.

Saturday morning was good - I went down to pick up the croissants and was told that “they’re not quite ready yet, can we deliver them up to you?” which I correctly assumed was code for “we sold them, so now we have to bake some more.” Fine. I bought some other brekkie bits and headed back home, stopping off in the book exchange, where I picked up a well-thumbed copy of The Godfather for $2. I’ve been meaning to read this for a long time, and can I just say that this book is FANTASTIC. I highly recommend it, so far. No promises about the ending, though.

Spent most of the day lazing about, reading the Godfather, and Rob had come up from Brisbane for the day. We all sat around chatting and reading the paper, before doing Fish and Chips for lunch again. Croissants arrived at about 1pm. Yes, 1pm. Lucky I’d abandoned all hope of eating them and gotten on with my life. Headed down the beach for a bit of a kick-around and an impromptu game of touch footy, before heading home, getting cleaned up and going out for dinner, all fancy-like, to a much-raved-about Thai restaurant. Good meal, pretty good wine, and great company. A truly memorable night.

Next morning we’re staggering around, and Leyton rings down to the front desk shortly before 10 and asks what time checkout was. It was 10. A flurry of bag packing and cleaning up as we salvaged what was left of the food and headed down the beach to sort out who owed what. Back on the road, my car was still broken.

Almost at home, got this call from Snod saying “can you give me a lift somewhere?” Excellent timing. We were practically right where he was anyway, so that was a real no-brainer. Dropped everyone home and had a nap.

Joseph had invited me around to his place for dinner on Sunday, so that filled the evening. Pleasant enough, but too many kids around for my taste. They’ve just got so many bones.

Hi all, just a quick note that I’m running late with my entry today. Try checking back tomorrow

Oh and major props and birthday wishes to Leyton today! You old bugger.

Still no word from Bek as to whether she intends to join us this evening for another 24. Bek? Hello? Mental note: I hope I remembered to tell her that it was on tongiht. After soccer. My casa.

So last night I got home and was just stuffed. I couldn’t be arsed cooking, and I couldn’t even be arsed going out for food, so I picked up the phone and ordered Indian. The minimum delivery order is like $25, but I figured I’d get two dishes so there’d be enough left for lunch today. Lucky I did too - John came over for a Sopranos hit of two episodes and shared the vast quantities of food with me.

Last day of the week. Booya. Leyton’s got some place on Caloundra booked for us to trash, so that’s where I intend to be mostly. Godez gets here tomorrow, but he’s got some conference thingy that will take most of his time this first week, I predict.

Now, Caloundra is a nice place, and perfectly suited to my current frame of mind. We must remember to take the fireworks and giggle like school children as we run from the law enforcement officials trying to beat our mirthmaking out of us. Remember that, Glenn and Lara? The cross-country Mission Impossible Great Escape?

Word of the Day: Cavil v. To find fault unnecessarily; raise trivial objections.

What’s new? Nothing.

M&D are back from their houseboat adventure, so family night last night went on as regularly scheduled programming. Lucky too, as the Foo was on the menu for dinner, which was great as always.

Chaz and Simba were exceptionally cute now that there’s a housefull of people again. Ham sandwiches for breakfast.

Oh, here’s a new thing that I’ll do until I get bored of it: Word of the Day. Todays word? Captious: (adj) Marked by a disposition to find and point out trivial faults: a captious scholar.

I’m glad, in a way, that I decided to work these three days this week - it’s relatively quiet, I get to get out of the house, and thanks to this TV tuner card I’ve installed in my PC, I can watch Judge Judy from work, so … who’d waste their annual leave?

For those who I didn’t catch up with this weekend, my news is this: the America trip is off. Edward rang me on Friday morning and told me that we just didn’t have the money. This is fine with me - I just can’t understand how we had the money a fortnight ago, but now we don’t, so the only rational explanation is that we didn’t have the money a fortnight ago either. So that makes me … nervous.

The rest of Friday was spent with John, watching The Sopranos on DVD. The first series ended on a real high note, and we were pumped to get on with the second, except of course, that we didn’t have it. Gorged ourselves at Ribbett’s more-than-you-can-eat Ribs, Pizza and Pasta that night too. Whoo boy.

Saturday was half spent at Rob’s (the intranet is coming along nicely, thanks for asking) and then an impromptu dinner party sprang up. Had Dave and Julie, and Glenn and Lara join Blacky and I, and it was a pretty good time. The Dave and Julie dinner on Thursday night was great, too, BTW, looking at all these old photos when we were younger and more hip, and playing Ricochet Robot, which is the new game du jour. Check it out at the website: http://www.ricochetrobot.com/

Sunday was a late-rising morning, followed by a bbq lunch at Rob and Nadia’s. Grooved around to M&D to visit Bryce and Callun for easter, before Glenn’s Formula 1 and Stock Exchange Monopoly extravaganza.

Monday was a big TV day - watched 2 episodes of the new Sopranos (John had been shopping that morning), and then helped Bryce and Callun put Mum’s swing chair we got her for her birthday together. That night Leyton came around for really slow-roast pork and 24. Bek had been incommunicado all weekend, despite leaving messages left, right and center, so she missed 3 episodes. Sucks to be her, I guess.

Anyway, I’m spending today cancelling flights/hotels/trains and the like. Should be a crap day then.

Can anyone believe Collingwood are paying $3 for a head-to-head win? Sure, the game is at the Gabba, and the Pies have played relatively weak teams so far, but $3 is the second highest price this round (West Coast are paying $3.30 against the Crows).

Anyway, a day of punting, pool, and beer sounds like a plan for Saturday. If Mick’s keen, the Redbrick could be a goer - starting just after lunch (or at lunch if they have decent food?)

WOO HOO! Last day of work for a long long weekend!

Blacky and I were talking last night while watching the last bit of Survivor, and I made the comment that Matt was dumb. Anyway, that raised a brew-ha-ha about how wrong it was for me to consider myself better than others, etc etc etc. So I had a think about my position on this, and here’s what I’ve got: People have different strengths and weaknesses, and if I’m not afraid of mine, I’ve got nothing to fear by judging others on their own. Is this wrong? Maybe. I’m keen to hear opinions on it. I don’t consider myself to be Albert Einstein here, but I’m reasonably sure that in a battle of wits I’d kick the crap out of Matt. In a battle of strength, however, I’d run as far as my fat ass could go, before wheezing my way to defeat. I’m just saying, is all.

How good is it that this is the last day of work for the week? General consensus is that it’s 98% good, amongst a random survey group, 2% of whom had to work tomorrow and were bad sports about it, so they ruined my survey. Pricks.