what’s news

Well, what’s news you ask?

Friday night we went to the organ concert, at which Jack was an angel.
Saturday we hit the West End markets with Amy and Woo, voting on the
way, and then our neighbours visited, on Sunday I briefly helped Michael
move out of his shareplace at “the Bunghole” into Red Hill, and then
played cards with the gang at Glara’s. Good weekend.

Yesterday I took the afternoon off, and joined the fam for dinner at
family friends G&R’s. We thought we might visit the Gold Coast on the
way home, but were kinda exhausted so went to Coles on the way home instead.

Today I went to Centrelink and waited for an hour before lodging our
form. That pretty much covers it all.

happy birthday to Mint!

Today for Mint’s birthday we celebrated by going to Medicare and Suncorp
to get Medicare cards and bank accounts opened.

Such a wonderful day she’s having!

cute story

Mint’s mum is staying with us at the moment. She’s helping by taking
care of Jack (and getting a good amount of quality Jack time in the
process) while Mint madly does driving lessons, goes to Bangkok to
collect her visa, goes for a driving test (this afternoon) and I work
and/or pack.

Last night, Mint and Jack slept in her mum’s bed. As she went to bed I
said, “good night, wife.”
She replied “Good night, custard.”

Is she calling me fat?

Visa situation

Things move quickly.

Friday, our case officer at the Australian embassy called Mint and
asked a series of questions about our relationship etc, based on the
information we’d provided in the application. She was then put on to
me, and I was asked a set of questions - mostly about my finances and
ability to support a family in Australia. As a self-employed person,
the department required either a letter from my accountant, or my tax
returns for the last two years. I supplied the letter from my
accountant, my tax return for 2007, and a copy of my group certificate
for my not-yet-lodged 2008 return. The case officer was not certain
that the group certificate would suffice, but would consider it and
call back within a week if a formal interview at the embassy in
Bangkok would be required or not. The combined interview took about 30
minutes.

We’d been to Central Airport plaza on Thursday night, and Mint was
doing her “slowly slowly” method of shopping … one trip to look,
then you sleep on it, and then if you still want it, you buy it on the
second trip. She decided after the interview to go and buy the outfit
she was looking at, and toddled off, leaving Jack asleep. She called
me about a half-hour later. “Honey! Sathantuut (embassy) call me. They
say can visa Monday!”

I couldn’t believe it. She had been approved for her temporary spouse
visa in a little over two weeks. I was completely thrilled, and
couldn’t sit down. Jack woke up around that time and we went outside
to look at motorbikes ride by while waiting for Mint to come home.
When she came home, we talked about the call, and she thought it would
be a good idea for me to call the case officer and just confirm that
she had understood. She had. There was an appointment booked for
Monday for her to collect her visa.

Then we had some serious discussions to have … I had booked a flight
back for Andrew’s wedding, departing Thursday. It was a return flight,
but no changes could be made to it. We eventually decided that Mint,
Jack and I would all go to Andrew’s wedding, and we would then fly up
to Brisbane and settle there immediately.

Flight details:
Thurs 05-Mar dep CNX 2100, arr BKK 2210
Fri 06-Mar dep BKK 0015, arr MEL 1325
Dean W: Mon 09-Mar dep MEL 1105, arr BNE 1215

So things are happening, super fast. Packing has started. Things are
insane. I’m sorry if I’ve promised anyone anything, please bear with
me as I struggle to get everything done in time …

share market picks for 2009

I just found a scrap of paper on my desk that had stock market codes I
liked on it and thought I’d share.

SOL, Soul Pattinson currently trading $7.91.
RIO, Rio Tinto at $46.30
BHP at $28.60
LEI, Leighton at $19.08
ANZ at $13.05
QBE, QBE Insurance at $20.10
WPL, Woodside Petroleum at $35.98
SGP, Stockland at $2.71
WDC, Westfield at $10.25
NAB, National Australia Bank at $17.51
CBA, Commonwealth Bank at $29.80
TLS, Telstra at $3.68
AMP at $4.89
QAN, Qantas at $1.60
STO, Santos at $15.01
WBC, Westpac at $16.65

Anyone else got any to share?

a riddle

Here’s a riddle.

Let’s say your goal is a hamburger, fries, and coleslaw for the best
value possible.

Here are the facts:
A hamburger is 139 baht, and includes one side.
A gourmet hamburger is 189 baht, and includes one side.
Coleslaw as a side is 30 baht.
Fries as a side is 60 baht.
Fries ordered as a size are roughly twice as big as the “included” side
size with both hamburgers.

My solution to the riddle is:
2 x hamburgers @ 139 baht each, one with coleslaw, one with fries. Keep
the second hamburger for the next meal.
Total cost: 278 baht.

Alternative solution:
1 x gourmet hamburger @ 189 baht, with fries. Add one side of coleslaw.
Total cost: 219 baht.

The pro of the first solution is that you get a second hamburger for a
future meal. The con is that they aren’t delicious gourmet hamburgers.
The pro/con of the second solution is the opposite.

Poor solution:
1 x gourmet hamburger @ 189 baht, with coleslaw. Add one side of fries.
Total cost: 249 baht.
I think you’d really need to like fries for this to be a good solution.

Worst solution:
2 x gourmet hamburgers @ 189 baht, one with coleslaw, one with fries.
Keep the second hamburger for the next meal.
Total cost: 378 baht.
The biggest failing of this idea is that the gourmet hamburgers wouldn’t
keep as well on account of their gourmet-ish ingredients.

Discuss.

30 year old bones

Well thankyou for the birthday well-wishes. I had a pretty nice day
yesterday, allow me to brag about it:

First up I enjoyed a sleep-in, with Jack for some reason. I think Mint
woke up with him at 6-ish and put him back into bed without me noticing.
Then when he and I woke up, Mint came upstairs with bacon and egg
sammiches, with birthday wishes engraved upon them in tomato sauce. Very
sweet. I enjoyed these while nerding out for a few minutes watching the
latest episode of Battlestar Galactica and then took Jack for a walk.
While out, Mint started work on a beef stew we’ve been wanting to cook
to use up some celery in the freezer, and I ate stew while watching AFL
on the Australia Network.

I crept out for a movie that afternoon, Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise and
others, the story based on true events of the actions of the German
resistance and their efforts to assassinate Hitler. The movie wasn’t bad
but the chocolate ganache cookie that accompanied it was rewarding. The
aircon in the cinema wasn’t as cool as I’ve previously enjoyed either.

Came home and dilly dallied for a little while, before ultimately
heading out to Duke’s. Mint doesn’t particularly like it, but she came
because it was my birthday. Also, secretly at first and then less
secretly as we went along, she wanted to keep my boozing and eating
under control. Had a good meal, but Jack was squirmy, so it kinda dented
the enjoyment. He fell asleep in the songtaew on the way home, so that
kinda explains that.

Of course, when we arrived home, he was bright as a button again and
wouldn’t go to sleep. This morning he was up at 3am, and obstinately
stayed awake for a good hour and a half. I got him back to sleep shortly
after 4:30am and I woke up today to an empty house. Mint had taken him
walking, and buying stuff from the markets, so I enjoyed a breakfast of
friend chicken drumsticks and drinking yoghurt. Surely the kind of meal
everyone, everywhere, eats for breakfast.

christmas in february

So Bryce has hit a home run with a birthday gift for me: Pandemic.

Not a pandemic as in an epidemic of infectious disease
that spreads through populations across a
large region, but a board game with the unlikely theme of
epidemiologists conducting research to curb the spread of infectious
diseases.

For my money, the most consistently accurate game reviewer, Mathew
Baldwin, loves it.
http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/002653.html is his review.

The icing on the cake though, and the thing that makes it blog worthy in
advance of receiving it, is the way in which I’m receiving it.

Bryce is pulling a Homer Simpson and giving me, Marge, a bowling ball
for my birthday. He’s getting the holes drilled for his fingers, and
getting it engraved “Homer”. Not to the same extent of course, but it’s
still funny. Works out well too, since I will have nobody to play with
here in Chiang Mai, and Bryce actually has friends in PNG. They can give
it a few trial runs so Bryce can be even more adept at kicking
everyone’s (well, mine at least) ass when we finally get to play it
together.

Thanks Bro!

Totally nice shirt bro, no homo

This is something the kids are apparently doing these days. Teenage guys
who want to compliment another guy, yet are insecure about their
sexuality and worry that compliments could be understood by everyone in
earshot as an unsubtle come-on line, can now say: “Dude that is a
slammin shirt, bro. No homo.”

And voila. Their friend feels good about his fashion choices, and
neither of them worries anyone thinks the complimenter is coming onto
the complimentee.

I read about this online, see, and can only presume it only occurs in
western countries. Here, for example, you see 3 or 4 sixteen year old
dudes doubling on a motorbike. I’m pretty sure that when I was sixteen
there was no way my crotch would’ve been within a foot of another guy’s
ass. I wonder if they have to explain to every person they drive by,
“Yo, we just doublin’. No homo.” Trips must take a while.

Who’s a slack fellow

Look, I know I haven’t updated this blog, but life can rage out of
control.At least I updated the blog software powering the site. THAT”S
MORE THAN YOU”VE DONE!