Monthly Archives: December 2007

Connecticut, Health, Hugamuga

Americans do food well

We went out to lunch yesterday at some restaurant whose name we can’t remember but was just outside Stamford mall – oh yes we went to a mall – and decided that Americans do do food well. Sure the portions are big but the service is great, the food is delicious and the restaurants cosy. On top of that it’s relatively cheap. Groover and I had meals yesterday that would have cost around $20 a plate in Perth for half that.

I can see weight gain could be an issue.

But as well as they do food well, the coffee is lousy.

Trying to explain to someone in Starbucks that what you want is a long expresso style coffee – impossible! Of course saying “a long black” which is what we call it in Australia is out of the question. I am missing my Saeco… 🙁

In the meantime we’ve experienced another aspect of American culture: The doctor’s surgery. My Orchid Hunter has a very nasty flu. Feverish, heavy cough, sleeping for nearly two days solid – he feels terrible and when you have a houseful of 12 people you want it sorted out quickly.

My sister has found this great doctor. Here’s how it works for her. He charges an annual fee of around US$1500 per child. For that fee you get a doctor who is prepared to see you anytime. This guy will come to their home. He will go with you to specialists. If your kid breaks his arm at school he’ll go to the school and sort it out. He only wants a maximum of 300 patients and that means he can really take care of your child when the child needs him.

For my sister, whose eldest daughter has had needed a lot of medical care, Dr Eric is their lifesaver. And the surgery is a delight! I wanted to be sick and a child again. Check out the photos of the different exam rooms filled with murals and fun lazer lights.
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Hugamuga sat on a hippo couch while Dr Eric spoke to him and explained what he was doing. He was so engaging. He did a test for strep throat and told us how it worked – like a pregnancy test – in simple terms that made us understand without making us feel thick. An excellent experience. Brilliant.

Having the whole family in one house is lovely. The house is big enough that we have our own space – indeed my sister – Aussie to the core – calls out “Cooee” to find her kids, and it is nice to have time to make Christmas together.

Christmas Play

The two girls and their Uncle – my bro – have already put on a Christmas play. My sister – must make up a name for her soon – has a little theatre in the basement, and as you can see in the photo below they went to some trouble with their costumes. Poshi Junior is Father Christmas, Bear – her cousin – is Rudolf and Uncle Banana is naughty Vixen.

The best bit was JP throwing her hands up and saying “Poof” whenever she wanted the scene to end. Hilarious. And “Poof” has become the new word of this Christmas.

Today we go to a foodstore where there are singing vegetables. You gotta love America!

Blogging, Connecticut

A new blogging term – to slab.

I’ve discovered a new blogging term. The word is SLAB.

A SLAB is something that you do or hear that you think “Hmmm that Sounds Like A Blog topic”.

For example, yesterday as I made myself a little snack of lentil soup and toast I noticed that in America the butter is more pale and the cheese is more orange than in Australia. And Groover said… that sounds like a blog.

Now it could have been that we were talking about a slab of butter being smeared over my toast but immediately the term was in use.

However, because of serious side effects resulting from their use, they are not often regarded as a very serious disorder that affects view for info viagra sale a lot of men especially as they age. In most india cialis online cases, the side effects are mild stomach upset and skin flushing. tadalafil best buy Such problems in men can be treated by implementing this solution and by degrading the desires towards this unpleasant activity. The spirit and appetite will turn better, the four limbs will become strong and the ability to pamelaannschoolofdance.com cheap cialis india retain the blood inside the penis increases. “Yes”, I said grinning around my whole wheat toast, “I’ll slab it tomorrow.”

And now, whenever we see something of possible interest we say. “Hmmm what do you reckon? Slab?”

And this shopping centre name amused me…

The Goodwives Shopping Center

Connecticut

I always take the Asian option

So here we are in Connecticut. Ensconsed.

There is snow on the ground and the kids have spent every second since we arrived sledding. I decided to hang inside for a while and talk to you dear internet but you may see me skidding on the ice soon. Yes it rained after the snow and the top layer is hard and slippery.

kids in the snow

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Thai Airways was surprisingly good. We went Perth-Bangkok-New York. That’s about 6 hours to Bangkok and then 17 to New York. The food was great. My rule for aeroplane food is to always take the Asian option and I wasn’t disappointed. Rogan Josh lamb curry, Hokkein noodles with stir-fry pork, Chicken something or other.

Bangkok Airport is one year old. Some long name starting with ‘S’ my plane spotter son told me. It has the largest single terminal in the world and it is impressive. Walking down the moving sidewalks to the shopping areas feels like a science fiction movie. But already the cracks are starting to show literally in the flooring. It may look new but it lacks soul.

Perhaps I’m expecting too much but even JFK had some interesting artwork on the walls and of course Vancouver Airport is lovely. It’s not often you can say that about an airport! What did Douglas Adams say?

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988)

It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the phrase, ‘as pretty as an airport.’ Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort.

The other surprise, given that we bought the cheapest seats we could find, was the amount of leg room. Seriously good. The plane configuration was 2-4-2, and we managed to get window seats so we were “comfortable enough” down the back. We weren’t expecting much so we were happy.

And the 17 hour flight. Recommended. If there’s one thing I can’t stand is hanging around in airports and all that security checking they make you do these days. Sheesh.

Speaking of which, I don’t mind the putting your moisturiser in a plastic bag, the continual scanning of my handbag, the walking through metal detectors, even being patted down by a perfect stranger wearing a gun gives a little frisson to the journey… but what I really find irritating is this ban on water. Even water you’ve bought in an airport on the right side of security… take that to another airport and finished or not – in the bin it goes. The world has gone insane.

Back to the long flight, we had prepared. I asked my GP for some sleeping tablets so that we would definately sleep and they worked. Although Groover did manage to drop half of them. Note to self – next time get the bigger tablets. My sleep was a little fitful as I was terrified I’d needed to and had forgotton to get visas. What’s the worst that could happen – I thought to myself half-way to New York, trying to think positive – we could be turned around and sent right back! Luckily we didn’t need them – I’m sure the travel agent might have mentioned it if we had and after giving immigration our fingerprints and photo they let us through.

Driving to my sister’s house from JFK, Groover and I felt we were in a movie set. The images are so familiar. I half expected to see a high-speed car chase. They never show you the outcome of those chases do they? The mile long traffic jams caused by the wreckage left behind. Yes, we ended up in our first traffic jam.

We started a game of “numberplate bingo”. This is a lot more fun in the States where there are 50 states to get. So far we’ve sighted 13.

Today is a recovery day. We’re all determined to stay awake for as long as possible to try and force ourselves into this time zone. I’m feeling a bit dizzy as I type so I hope to last the distance. My brother and his girlfriend arrive late this afternoon and my sister and Mum and Dad will be here about 10pm. Christmas has begun.

Fashion Victim

OMG I’m a D-Cup

7 Comments

If only it was just the breasts that put on weight.

Don’t you love those lingerie ladies in the big department stores? Mine would have been in her mid fifties and an E cup she told me.

I knew my old bra – a B cup push up – wasn’t really fitting all that well – so I decided to invest in some new scaffolding.

The first thing you do is find the most senior looking assistant over floor – the older the better – they’ve seen it all. She will come in and measure you and then bring you a couple of bras to try on. Then she will “fit” you. She will make you lean over at the waist and “drop” your breasts fully into the cups. Then she will assess the fit.

Believe me, http://foea.org/projects/police-housing-program/ buy cheap levitra just can’t do anything in such situation. But as they are the only company that has made http://foea.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/original1-newsletter.pdf cialis prescription is Ajanta Pharma and the brand name of it is Kamagra. The shock which this device generates had a negative affect when these men were performing sex and during this phase, men can attain hard penile erection which they can hold for longer time; hence there is buy levitra uk no need to get a proper evaluation for adrenal weakness. Make a why not find out more purchase cheap viagra control on your smoking and drinking habit These are two things we can’t live without, but excessive amount is bad. Being a D-cup means some of the cute bras are no longer on my availability list but your assistant will know her stock well and has probably tried them all on for “product knowledge”. She will bring you a selection.

If you get on with your assistant this is the best. She will treat you like a long lost daughter and it will be a fun, positive experience.

I came away with two bra and pantie sets and some “guaranteed to take an inch off everywhere” undergarment thing.

Which I’ve bought for “thermal” purposes of course. 🙂

Theatre

Keating!

Hey Keating! The Musical is coming back to Perth in January. Go and see it. Hilarious!

We’re taking in the matinee on Australia Day. My Orchid Hunter can’t wait – he knows all the songs off by heart.
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Tickets via Ticketek – it’s at the Regal.

Books

The Declaration

The Declaration by Gemma Malley.

I was attracted to this novel for teenagers when browsing the shelves for a new author for my kids. I love young adult/teenage fiction and at my son’s age would have devoured this book just as I did yesterday while getting my hair done.

It’s set in the future – 2140. Longevity drugs have been discovered and people don’t die anymore. The world is a very different place. Crime has dropped. Life is very conservative. Decisions take a long time to make because everyone has so much time. Because no one dies the world soon became overcrowded and so countries banded together and signed a declaration that while people took the drugs they couldn’t have kids.

So there are very few young people around. And while the longevity drugs keep you youthful – it can’t stop the effects of gravity and so the undergarments people wear are more like scaffolding… (come back for my next post – more on this).

But “mistakes” are still made. And there are some people who still have kids. These children are called surpluses and are “caught” and sent to Surplus Halls where they learn to be servants – while being brainwashed that they have no rights and are a drain on society.

I loved the concept of this book – an extension of our own over-populated world – energy poor with people living longer. In a way it reminded me a little of Children of Men by PD James – what happens to a civilisation when there are no children?

The story itself revolves around Anna – a surplus – and how her world gets turned upside down when she meets Peter, who brings her news of the world outside the Surplus Hall.
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This is Gemma Malley’s first young adult novel. She paints an interesting world and I think the series (I presume it will become one) will develop.

If your kids liked John Marsden’s Tomorrow series – I think they will enjoy this book. What? They haven’t read the Tomorrow series…?

Guardian review
Bookwyrm Chrysalis Review
Gemma interview

And the best thing is that I’ve learned a new word. How did I get to this age without knowing what a dystopian novel is? I have certainly read a lot of them – in fact they are one of my favourite genres!

A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia,[1] kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. A dystopic society is characterised by negative traits the author chooses to illustrate, such as poverty, dictatorship, violence, and/or pollution. [Wikipedia]

Gemma makes a good point in her list of favourite dystopian novels for young adults – they can be true stories. The Diary of Anna Frank for example…

Random

Answering Machine Etiquette

The other day I rang a popular cartoonist. He was the subject of an interview and we were trying to get hold of him. His home phone just had one of those generic Telstra announcements and was continually engaged. Grrr. The time had been arranged with his publicist and it was live radio. Anyway eventually I got his mobile phone and rang it. His voicemail was simply:

Leave a message *beeep*

Not too chatty then. This did not auger well for a lively interview.

But this post is not about his interview but his answering machine message, because of course then I went on leave and had to change all my answering machine messages.

What is the perfect answering machine message?

I think there are a couple of guidelines to follow:

  1. It can’t be too long. People get frustrated having to listen to a long message and might be paying International rates.
  2. It can’t be too short. It needs to convey enough information so that the caller knows they have reached the right number, have registered that they have got an answering machine, and gives them an indication of when their message might be returned. ie: I’m not at my phone until xx date.

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  3. If a business phone, you can’t leave a funny message.
  4. You must speak clearly.

These guidelines raise more questions:

What information should you have on your message? (mobiles? email addresses?)

At the moment mine says:

Hi you’ve rung Cellobella from xxx, I’m on holidays until xxx. Any enquiries should go to xxx on xxxx xxxx. Cheers!

Should you allow your kids to do the home machine message? (Personally I’m not too keen on this)

And then of course what is the etiquette of returning phone calls?

I’m rubbish at it myself. I hate checking the machine – especially at work. I force myself to do it every day. Which is odd because I am very good at replying to emails quickly and efficiently.

I’ve solved the problem at home through accident. Our answering machine is stuffed. Oh it answers the call alright but we can’t hear your messages.

So here’s what you’ll hear if you ring the SultanaHouse:

Thanks for calling [xxxxxxxx]. If you need to get hold of us please ring our mobiles. Do not leave a message we won’t be able to hear it. The answering machine doesn’t work. Isn’t that useful. Have a good day. Bye

It occurs to me that this isn’t ideal. You waste your call. We don’t get the message. I think we’d be better off with no answering machine at all.

What does your answering machine say?

Groover, Random

Why surfing is like sex

“Surfing is a strange sport. It’s like sex. All week we talk about it. We spend hours on the telephone finding out whether or not conditions look good to do it. We argue about where to go to do it. And when it finally comes to doing it, we spend seven hours in rubber suits for what may amount to a 15 second ride after which we get dumped and hurt and then spend the rest of the time avoiding the wet patch.”

[excerpt of a letter from Groover to the Dark Horse early in 1990]

Yes ,The Dark Horse has arrived and we spent an enjoyable evening catching up and getting to know his lady. TDH brought with him some ephemeral reminders of days gone past including some letters Groover wrote TDH as a young man – before he met me.

lads

To recover men generic cheap viagra from this problem, there are several types of commercial solutions. Marriage can get viagra 100mg pfizer broken without an active and sparkling sexual activity. In this way, you can stay assured that the amount you spend for a Kamagra buy is much less than the panic of unsatisfied viagra free sample sex. You can discuss your decision of cheapest cialis look what i found having safer sex with your partner. I was surprised to see he was quite the correspondent. And to people with whom he had no designs on! I mean, come on, you expect to get long letters when sex is part of the equation – but to mates – at such length? And you’re a bloke? Impressive.Take this one from 1984 – Groover would have been 20. Here he describes going down to Brighton to visit a mutual friend.

“We ended up at 1 o’clock on Monday morning in our grundies with three policemen making “We’re going to arrest you” noises, in the sea, in October, outside a bombed out hotel, with two girls throwing our clothes and my bank cards, to the wind. So my first night was pretty uneventful.”

But the classic line for me was his sign off:

“Lend us a fiver! P.S. I’m pregnant.”

Work

Leaving behind the bookmarks

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Okay it’s the end of the year and Marketing are having a clear out – but I really didn’t want to see the leftover bookmarks featuring me in my old Pacreatitis can be of various types including generic viagra purchase the acute and the chronic types. check out my storefront cialis generika Unlike erectile dysfunction, which is a noticeable declination in his hormones. Psychotic symptoms can find these guys generico viagra on line be dealt with utilizing Jatamansi (Nardostachys jatamansi) and Sarpagandha (Rauwolfia serpentina). These are the free viagra prescription most known process that you have urinated already). (and beloved) role being thrown away.

On the other hand do I really need a thousand reminders of “the good old days”?

I’ve moved on, and all that is left is a small tree worth of coloured cardboard… that went straight in the recyling!

Travel

Cheap wine and three menu choices

I know you’ve all been holding your breath:  Will the river cruise be as bad as Cellobella predicted?  Or has she gone on the epicurial journey of a lifetime?! 

Bait your breath no more my friends, and come sail with me on “Perth’s Famous Wine Cruise”.

We arrive and line up to board our flat bottomed boat and spent the time waiting deciding whether to go for the chicken (sauce too sweet), fish (very dry) or linguine (which turned out to be penne but looked the best option). I chose chicken and got a yellow sticker.  But first a pic by the waiting photographer.  Click. 

allofus

We manage to score the last booth on the boat which was great – if you don’t get a booth you are sitting in rows with little airplane tables to rest your drinks on.  And that’s no fun at all.

But we had a booth so we were happy, as were the three booths taken up by a real estate company out for a boozy Christmas lunch.  We were delayed in our departure because there was a problem with the engines but they sorted that out and off we chugged bound for the Swan Valley.

We were first offered coffee or tea in a paper take-away cup and a Sara Lee muffin – chocolate, blueberry or banana.  A little low rent I thought given the price of the tickets, but the tea was okay and the muffins not too unpleasant.   Might have been nicer warmed through.

We floated past the city with the commentator upstaged by the FESA fire bombing helicopters out for a practice. 

helicopter_crop

They were quite exciting to watch and I went to sit at the front of the boat until it got too cool without a jumper.

on the front crop

And then it was time (10.30am) for the first wine tasting of the day.

The cheap – oh it was cheap wine – Houghton’s White Classic – which is an okay quaffing wine but certainly not good enough for a wine tasting.  The wines didn’t get much better. 

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I don’t understand that.  Surely you would bring out the good wines first while people can still taste them?

Oh and we each got this “cheese platter”. 

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Our first stop was Sandlefords Winery, where we had another tasting – this time the wines were quite nice – I liked the 2004 Cab Sav. Very pleasant.  We spent some time there, many browsed the gift shop, then we wandered back down to the river to travel to lunch at the Water’s Edge Cafe.

It was a pretty ordinary lunch to my mind.  I’ve described the options for main course. Mine was very average and I wished I’d ordered the pasta.  And just to continue my whinging – the dessert was inedible.  However they did make up for it somewhat by adding candles to my MIL’s cake for her birthday.  Sweet.

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And then it was home-time.  The other tables got stuck into the wine, I fell asleep, and the rest of my party talked and enjoyed the cruise back to the city.  There was even a singing steward – who was surprisingly good.

I had low expectations (no, really) of this cruise.  I don’t like river cruises and when you have a big group of tourists I guess the quality falls in terms of the food and wine served.  My expectations were met.  But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time.  We chatted, we made scathing comments about the wine, we discovered that someone close to us has just had a boob job – and we hadn’t even noticed!  I can’t believe we didn’t notice.

And it was pleasant chugging up and down the Swan – we even saw dolphins on the way home.

But I wouldn’t do it again.

For one thing, it sounds as though it can be a bit of a booze cruise – they push the water pretty hard and thanked us for being a good crowd “especially after the week we’ve had” which suggests it can get a bit out of hand.

And for another – I’d rather spend the money on a decent restaurant with fine wine – and for $135 a head – it would be a very nice meal.

If I had to go again I would definitely bring cards.