My view and thoughts on everything!

"Australia. Where the men are real men and the women are women - except perhaps during Mardi Gras" Aah yes. Australia. Where the men are real men and the women are women – except perhaps during Mardi Gras. It’s a tough bloke’s type of country, you know. We are tough. We work long hours, endure the hot baking sun and love that cold nectar running down our throat, and our beer guts, especially after a hard day’s yakka. Meanwhile our Sheila’s are all at home making dinner and looking after the brats, whilst watching a re-run of Neighbours on the television. This is very much a stereotypical view to some people of what Australia is really like. Just to clarify before I go on, we do not have Kangaroo’s hopping about in our backyard, and yes – we do have ‘shopping malls’. We do, however, like to throw a ‘shrimp on the barbie’. Well I have some news for you, dear reader. Australia is not a man’s country but is, deep breath, a woman’s country. What am I on about? Have I lost my marbl...

A belated Happy New Year to all! Firstly, I must apologise for the lack of blogs recently. The reason for this is that I decided to take a longer than normal break from blogging. Seeing that Christmas and the New Year have just passed I took the opportunity to recharge my (Duracell, or is it Energiser) batteries! Well I am fully recharged and am looking to a good year full of blogs, warts 'n all! There will be a slight change to my blogging though. I will be occasionally undertaking joint blogs with a good friend of mine who lives in the UK. Stay tuned for more details very soon!

"well it wasn't an online convention for Buffy The Vampire Slayer...a fun way to raise money whilst looking like a gay 1970's porn star" Last month I participated in a worldwide event that was something I have wanted to do for a long time. What was it? I hear you scream. Well, it wasn't an online convention for fans of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (though the idea does have some merit) but rather the ever growing annual event called 'Movember'. For the anoraks amongst us, Movember is an annual event whereby males (and, I suppose in some cases, females!! - eek), grow a moustache for the month of November. During this time the mo grower aka 'mo brotha' or his female support aka 'mo sista' raise money for men's health issues. It is, in truth, a fun way to raise money whilst looking like a gay 1970's porn star. Now I would not know what a Seventies porn star looked like, but mo's were very big (and hairy) in that decade of glam rock,...

"my hearing has diminished or it could be I have too much earwax...Snow White did a backwards flip into the hands of a minder" A couple of weeks ago I went with friends to the Acer Arena to see those loud and proud (and anti Napster) dudes that go by the collective name of 'Metallica'. Now I have seen them before on their last tour just after James Hetfield's well publicised rehab sessions. Now I should say that I am not a huge fan of Metallica but certainly like some of their music and they do put on an awesome show. You always get 110% from them. I have also found them not to be as loud as you may think. Yes, they are loud, but I have heard louder groups. It could be that as I have got older my hearing has diminished (probably the case) or it could be I have too much earwax!! You would have thought that these bad ass soldiers of metal would be snarling and growling all the time. Far from it, in fact. For the whole concert, until the end of it, there was no...

"my souffle making skills have improved beyond measure....obviously the architect had a sense of humour!" A few long years ago Alanis Morrissette released a song called 'Ironic'. It was a worldwide hit and is probably her most well known song. For the nerds reading this, the single was released in 1996. The songs lyrics revolve around the great ironies that is life itself. The reason for mentioning this is not to promote the song or Alanis' music career but to mention it because I have come across a few ironies recently. What are these type of ironies that I have discovered? Well, dear friend, read on. A few weeks ago I came across the Mosman Daily. It is a local, free newspaper that is delivered to residents in the lower north shore of Sydney. Nothing unusual or ironic about that is there? However, the irony is that the Mosman Daily is a weekly newspaper!! You would have thought that given it's not so daily frequencies that a name change would have bee...

"allow for inflation and say something like 'well that's the $123,267 question...a tinker is a mender of pots and kettles' Recently at a work meeting the Project Manager said a couple of things which got me thinking. Now I should state that the Project Manager said more than a couple of things, in fact he said quite a lot! In my experience they can talk as much as politicians (without th e rhetoric). Our Project Manager certain does suffer from a case of verbal diarrhoea at times. For the record, I do respect him and think he is very good at what he does. Anyway, he said a couple of things that woke me from my stupor (be honest, does anyone find long meetings exiting?) and i used my cheap ball point pen to jot them down. What was it that he said that got my inquisitive radar going? Read on, dear reader and all will be revealed. The first thing he sad was "well, that is the $64,000 question" That got me thinking, where did this expression come from? Also, if i...

"maybe they watched too many Vietnam war movies when they were growing up...whatever the case, these boot camp instructors are scary and dangerous" There is a phenomenon that has overwhelmed Sydney and probably most other cities around the world - certainly in the western world. What is it? I hear you say. Well it's not Justin Beiber - though this young pup seems to have well and truly made his mark - even if he does need a haircut and should learn how to shave. It is, however, the phenomenon known as 'boot camp'. Now, I for one am a great advocate of fitness regimes. Without a doubt they do help us all in our quest for a healthy life (mental note not to eat that chocolate bar that is staring at me!). However, the concept of boot camp truly baffles me. Let me explain. I can understand people signing up for a boot camp, but I cannot understand why you would sign up to get fit and be abused at the same time! You see, dear reader, that a lot of the boot camp i...