Very cute

Yesterday was just one of those days when I wished I hadn’t got out of bed.

I walked out of work yesterday afternoon, excited about the impending day off work in lieu of Anzac Day, jumped on my bike, turned the key and pressed the button. AND. NOTHING!

The bike had no juice in it. Nothing WHAT SO EVER!! It was dead. Done. Dusted. Nada! Nil! Zilch!

I called Glen in a panic. He’d been to the dentist earlier in the day and had a numb and impending sore mouth. In the end, after about an hour of ringing around to the various tow truck and bike shop operators who didn’t give a crap, we decided to call the RACV. That in itself was a debacle as my scooter was not listed in our member care. So, Glen had to pay $100 or whatever to get the bike listed and then RACV tells him that they won’t provide roadside assistance, but they will tow! Yay for me.  Finally, the tow truck operator arrived at about 7.30pm and tolerating a little grumpiness, I helped him load the bike onto the rather large flatbed truck. I arrived home around 8.30pm and we hauled the bike into the garage and collapsed inside the house.

I later discovered that I stupidly left the bike on Park. PARK! How does a freakin’ bike have a park switch on the ignition and why does one need it?! Apparently in park, the lights are left on park and the battery is subsequently drained of all life. I feel stupid. How does one not realise that there’s a park switch on her bike? How does one own the bike since November and avoid this drama until now?!

I still can’t believe how dense I was. Today, of course the bike’s battery has been charged and my baby is back to normal. Except, that during the towing, the tow truck driver had to tiedown my bike which meant applying pressure to plastic parts of the bike. As a result, the fuel cap cover has been damaged and I’ll probably need to replace it.

I should probably read the manual. That would be a good idea.

Anyway, it could be worse, right? Right.

Blog stats

I recently discovered this section inside WordPress for Blog Stats and was rather amused. See below. I’m still not sure how some of them found my site. Hopefully the formatting keeps.

Search Terms for 7 days ending 2007-04-14

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2007-04-12

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2007-04-11

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2007-04-10

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2007-04-09

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2007-04-08

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Home Improvements

Tiling!

Originally uploaded by Sams76.

Glen and I spent every single day of our Easter weekend focussed on finishing the crappy bits of our kitchen. The biggest hurdle was getting the tiler in to put the tiles on the walls. We’re very pleased with the end result and it looks awesome, as you can see.

This will be a brief entry, but what we managed to get done was:
* Paint the external door inside and out
* Paint the architraves and internal doors
* Cut pieces for the skirting boards and paint them
* Clean out the computer room and replace all the books that Aella and Midgy felt needed to be stowed under the bookshelf or behind it
* Mowed the back lawn
* Did all the washing
* Watched every episode of Lost, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and Gilmore Girls

Really enjoyed my weekend. It felt productive and even though I was tired after it, I felt good.

More pictures later when I’ve got the camera software sorted on my machine. Glen had to blow away my laptop over the weekend and I just got it back tonight.

Something I learnt at university has really been ringing true for me the last few days. It was within my Communications courses that I learnt about Senders, Receivers and Messages.

You see, the Sender can send the intended Message, but this does not necessarily mean that the Receiver receives the intended message in the intended format. I know, confusing, but think about it. Sometimes the message gets skewed – there might be noise that changes the meaning of the message, or the Receiver might receive the Message with preconceived ideas or life experience that prevents them from receiving the Message in its intended form.

Thanks for your comments to my last post. It’s good to know people are reading. Well, at least dropping by. But you know, I wasn’t criticising anyone’s decision on the matter. It was a rant about annoying people at both work and in my personal life who make decisions on serious matters based on narrow-minded and ill-informed opinions and I find that sort of behaviour very frustrating.

I don’t generally make a practice of criticising the choices people make, so long as they are well-thought out decisions based on their own research and experience. Not based on the scare mongering tactics they choose to listen to, or the experience of one person amongst a world of millions.

I’ve learnt a lot in the process. Sometimes it’s just better to rant and not seek feedback and no matter how you intend the receiver to receive the message, sometimes it just might not make it out the other end in the same format. Kinda like Chinese Whispers, right?

Get over it

Seriously, I’m getting a little sick and tired of hearing people carrying on about the influenza immunisation shot that is being given this year.

Our work organisation has offered to give it to us for free this year. This promotes a healthy work environment and the organisation tries to ensure that people come to work – because they aren’t sick with the flu!

So, when I hear ill-informed people deliberating about the merits of the flu shot, I get a bit jack of it.

For crying out loud, it’s a dead vaccination! Dead! That means you AREN’T getting injected with a live influenza virus which means you only DISPLAY the symptoms, you don’t actually get them! It can last a few hours, or 24hours. Not DAYS, WEEKS like the real virus.

And for those who carry on about how they got the shot last year and they still got the flu. Bloody get over yourselves! The flu shot only covers the super dangerous, put-you-in-hospital-you-could-die flus. Not the little ones that keep you in bed for days, moaning and carrying on about how sick you are! Seriously! Just be happy that you didn’t get a worse version like the one YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMMUNISED FOR IF YOU HAD BLOODY JUST SHUT UP AND GONE TO GET A FREE SHOT!

And let’s not forget the fact that this flu shot takes up to two weeks to become effective – anything inside that period of time is just your dumb luck! Get over it.

And just remember one last thing. If your employer offers you a flu vaccination for free and you don’t have a legit excuse, such as being pregnant or allergic to the ingredients in the shot, like eggs and certain antibiotics, then remember this – your employer is not going to be happy to know that you opted not to get the shot and chose to become sick!

In this instance, the word FREE should not raise your suspicion!

Vent over. Apologies for the rant, but I’ve had enough of hearing ill-informed people carry on like it’s a government conspiracy. Seriously. Be concerned about the real issues like global warming and the injustice of the war in Iraq! Grrr. 🙂

Robert Decastello should no longer feel threatened

My running career has been cut short, for the time being.

I saw my chiropractor this afternoon and it was a particularly uncomfortable session and she asked me what I had been doing that might have contributed and I sorta kinda mentioned that I had been hammering the treadmill and I kinda mentioned then, that I had got carried away and began running.

So yeh, no more running. Not until it stops being such a strain on my hips and back. I’m disappointed, but I tried and although it wasn’t the best for my body, I proved to myself that I can actually run.

In other unpleasant news, I have developed a boil in the inside of my thigh and quite frankly, I’m a little more than put out! My legs rub together at that point and it’s very uncomfortable and sore! Bah humbug. For whatever reason, I am predisposed to getting such vile things. I guess it could be worse.

Anyway. It’s Tuesday night and we have two more days of work before the Easter weekend hits. Glen has an extra day off on Tuesday and I have taken leave that day, so it’ll be a nice five-day weekend 🙂

Maybe more later in the week. This updating thing is starting to take on a life of its own.

Mother hen coming home to roost

Thanks to everyone who sent messages and made comments in my blog. It means a lot to know there are people who are reading and who feel compelled to respond. It’s nice to know my blog entries compel some people to respond.

I hopped back on the treadmill yesterday. It’s been a week since I ran and I made the mistake of not stretching afterwards and also taking up Glen’s offer to massage my calves. So, yesterday after I ran, Glen massaged my legs and I stretched and it was good. So, I treadmilled tonight and although I couldn’t manage much running, I did walk a total of 30 minutes, so it’s nothing to be scoffed at.

There’s been a bit of a time lapse in starting this entry. I was interrupted by a phone call from my mother.

A bit of background here. Mum has been developing some health problems which have been severely affecting her life. She has been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and something associated with it called Sjogran’s Disease – I think. Anyway, she’s feeling down and it’s becoming harder for her to do things

Glen and I have been talking about this idea for a while and I guess I’ve always known that being the only child, there might come a time when I might need to take care of mum. Afterall, I am the only child and there is no Mr Sam’s Dad. I mean, there is – I am not the product of an immaculate conception and my father is out there somewhere, but I have lost track of him and I dare say, he could give a shit about me. So, I kinda always knew that mum and I would stick together until the end.

So, about two weeks ago, I pitched the idea to Glen who was completely supportive. I pitched it to a friend who also thought it was a good idea and then spoke to our pseudo financial advisor, who said it was a terrific idea.

I pitched the idea of mum selling her home (which she is already doing) and moving down here (which she is already doing) and moving in with us – so to speak. Not literally moving in with us, but the big picture plan is that she will sell her house in BFN, give us the money so that we can buy another place that has big enough land so that we can subdivide and build a townhouse at the back of the house. The townhouse would be mum’s home and we would live semi-separate lives. The benefits for us would be that we would rent out our current property and it would be negatively geared (a concept that I am yet to really get my head around) and that when mum might pass on, we would have the subdivided property that was sellable. We would sell both properties and move to a single house block again. However, we would have earned a nice portfolio of property etc and Mum would benefit from a lot more amenities, being close to us and vice versa and having access to all services, people and opportunities. My intentions were spurned from concern for mum and wanting to be closer to her, not increasing my property portfolio – in case you wondered.

I’ve lived with the fear of losing those I love. I lost a lot of family and friends as a child and I was particularly scarred from the loss of my grandmother and then of my only sister, so you can imagine that I have serious separation anxiety issues. Ask Glen. Maybe he’ll blog about it, who knows.

You know what her response was to this seemingly ‘to good to be true’ offer?

She got shitty and told me that wasn’t going to happen. She thanked me but was emphatic. I was hurt, but I let it drop.

Glen told me to let her think about it and let the topic go for a while. In the meantime, I spoke to my good friend Di, who suggested I write to mum and explain my case. Talk about the positives and the compelling evidence or wahtever. I agreed and had planned to do it. I knew Di was right because my mother can’t go one minute whilst I am pitching an idea without flapping her gums! So, that was the plan.

Skip ahead to tonight when she called and one of the first things she said was, “I’m starting to think you are right about moving there, so alright”. It was more or less a defeated resignation of her next move to a city. She hates cities, she compares Melbourne to Sydney and she hates Sydney. She grew up there and loathed it. But let’s face it, Melbourne is not Sydney and everyone loves Melbourne, don’t they?! 😉 hehe

Anyway, it’s a start and I’ll work on mum to realise that she isn’t giving in to the inevitability of moving into a city area. I know she’ll enjoy it and she will find that it’s more suburbia than a city and she will realise that it’s more interesting to her.

So, that’s my news and I have to say, it’s taken me a little while to realise she has said yes, but at the same time, it’s a bitter sweet occasion because she’s not entirely happy about it.

So, maybe I should still write that letter to her? Explain to her that having family nearby is important. Having your mother nearby when you have kids is important. Having your only parent and close relative nearby is good, right?

Right.

I need to pee.