To Know Me Is To Love Me...

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Suave raconteur and dinner party favourite. Once held the Olympic torch, has delivered newspapers to prime ministers, shaken hands with Prince Charles, wrecked Jason Donovan's skateboard, climbed 300 metre granite cliff faces, surfed with dolphins, appears on community radio and is in demand for these and the accounts of other thrilling exploits!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Remember

Do you remember when YouTube was actually a useful site? When you could type in the name of a song or an episode of a TV show? (which is pretty much all I ever used it for).

Ever since the fun nazi's (read corporations) found YouTube and lawyered it up, it sucks. Type in anything and you'll be surprised exactly how many crappy Fan Made videos appear. Its like the children who grew up with 'Funniest Home Videos' have now each been issued with a camera and an iMac.
The value that was once YouTube is being increasingly diminished by the number of sad, talentless people who want to record and 'share' themselves playing guitar (badly) to 'Chains of Love' (for example).

On a related note, I ocassionally get spam messages from an old Friend Finder website I tried many years ago. Do these people just live under a rock, in a cave, on f*&king Mars?!? How hard do their employees work to keep the boss from finding out about Facebook?
It boggles the mind...

This is Sparta

In fact this is the 301st post on Bubbajay!! So a little bit of a milestone blog wise.

I am finding the difference between the me at home and the me at work is becoming quite marked. I spent most of last night trying to have a conversation with Evie and singing to Ladybird. I seems, for no good reason, that country and western songs are working at the moment. Perhaps its the lower register or the prevalence of songs in the key of G or D. At any rate we've worked through most every Johnny Cash number I know, Glenn Campbell has worked as well. Last night was John Denver covers and Patsy Cline.

Don't get me wrong, in no way do I want to project an image of begrudging my beautiful daughter music. I love to sing, it gives energy and light to the soul (as I believe Beethoven said).

Personally I'm just amazed at just how many Country and Western CD's I actually own. So the difference between the work me and the home me... There is a lot less singing being done by the work me!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Monster Raving Looney

What they don't tell you in the 'So your going to be a Dad' type books is that the sound of your childs screaming is one of the most (simultaneously) annoying and heartbreaking sounds imaginable.

Last night Ladybird began exploring the higher range of her vocal cords. In each case I was trying to mind bub while her mother could have a shower, leave the room for 15 minutes, talk on the phone (you get the picture). In each instance of the scream, the mollifying answer was ... 'I is hungry'.

I have had to date a good level of success with my kid wrangling skills, but an inconsolable progeny has, I have to admit, defeated my usually fail proof charm.

Got to bed late last night. Had plans to re-string one of my guitars. Wound up trying to cuddle an extremely displeased baby who calmly waited until the commercial breaks were over to begin broadcasting her displeasure. That was my entire evening.

My admiration for the job her mother is doing knows no bounds.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Now is Winter

Hooray! Hooray! these winter's is killing me! (sincere and heartfelt apologies to S Terry and B McGhee)

Today is the first day of Winter. With snowfall promised for the week to follow it has been a great start to the snow season. Alas however our family trip to the snow in August is under threat, numbers are fluctuating and people worrying about price of accommodation.

Earlier this year I had a fancy to get some skis, I am glad that I did not commit to them this year. Looks like we won't be going up as often as I hoped (was planning for at least 2 trips). Which is always the problem with skis. You buy a good pair and within three years you need a new set (because they are old tech and daggy).
Years a go I was given the excellent advice of buying a great pair of boots and just hiring the premium brand skis each time you go. That logic held true then and holds true now. My boots are an excellent brand, specially fitted for me and will last for years to come. Skis are subject to fashion sense and can date very quickly. But even from an economic investment/capital acquisition perspective, for an $800 pair of skis, how many times would you use them in one season? Compare that price to the cost of renting a great pair... (eg if I make it to the mountain twice that's still less than a $100).

Well the only downside to renting is the added time it takes to get your gear fitted out versus being on the mountain. But an other upside is being able to dump your rented gear off when you leave rather than worrying about transporting it home. Plus its rented kit, so you can be less mindful of how you ski on it...

Aqua Teen Awesomeness

Cartoons for TV seldom make the transition to a movie format as well as the Aqua Teen Hunger Force have. The movie is one for fans (which is why they made it) and if you haven't seen the series, well you are not missing out on much character development in all honesty.

In my humble opinion the opening of the movie starts good and it just keeps going. Great song at the start about etiquette while watching the film. Time Traveling Lincoln makes an appearance (explaining that part at long last...)

I may sound even remotely serious about the movies qualities as if I'm some kind of movie review expert (I'm more your professionally qualified book review expert, thank you Vic Uni). If I was a qualified movie-review-professional-guy I can tell you there are far more cerebral television or movies for someone like that to review (eg True Blood) .

But I digress, as is my want. The real scoop here is that I managed to watch most of it in one sitting. My darling and beautiful daughter comes first. So I managed to watch the first 15 minutes over the course of 40 minutes or so. There was a nappy changing, cuddles, me singing 'New York, New York' (mental note, must learn actual lyrics) to help Ladybird get some sleep. Then some serious Daddy/Daughter time as she slept, fitfully, allowing her wonderful mother to rest.

The unspoken reality here is that the ONLY time Ladybird will ever have an interest in watching a movie like Aqua Teen Hunger Force with her dad, is when she is asleep or very young. And here we are...

So in conclusion: ATHF Movie ***********************************

Watching it with my Daughter: * times infinity plus infinity plus one more *

(She earns the extra * for not asking questions during the good bits, 'Who's that guy? Why is he a milkshake? I don't get it?' etc)

Friday, June 12, 2009

Run to the hills

The Australian Ski season opens this weekend!!
There has been an amazing dump of snow for the start of 2009 season, unlike previous years. Some have opened to bright blue skies and green rolling hills. It matters not for me, any skiing this year will include a co-ordination with Ladybird minding duties. Ladybird will learn how to ski early and often we have both decided.

Although my '3 Year Theory' of snow fall in Australia marks this year as the dud year, the snow fall so far is impressive. Evie's brother commented the other day that the ash from the Victorian bush fires has settled in the upper atmosphere creating nuclear winter conditions of the Snowy Mountains. Perhaps there is something to that, it would be nice to think there is a silver lining to the devastation those fires wrought.

So two positives then, hopefully a bumper snow season and also all that snow will melt and ideally fill up the dams that feed drinking water to the rest of NSW and VIC.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Right about now

I have been cruising the internets for movie trailers. Its something I like to do, I happen to like movie trailers. Besides if I waited for Murdoch or Fairfax to decide when I should see something...

Actually it's more of an excuse to mind Ladybird while her mother gets some sleep. She is a week old today. In the week just gone I've seen more rain that I've seen in years. Personally I see that as a good luck sign for the arrival of my daughter who is currently fast asleep and farting.

Next Monday I'm back in the office with a lot of work to do, so I should just enjoy this rain (now the sun is shinning) and Ladybirds company :)

Fun Movie

It's called 'The Goods', I don't know much about the plot or reason for it - except that it is about selling. And its by the same guys who did Talledega Nights and my current favourite Step Brothers.
It just looks funny, in a 'someone will get hurt' kind of a way. Which, I have to tell you, is OK with me.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Safe and Sound

Ladybird has arrived at long last on Wednesday night.
I am a father to beautiful baby girl. She has a little scrunched up face that looks like each of her three cousins up in Sydney at the same age.

So I will be forming a consortium of Right Thinking Fathers with Daughters. Current membership includes chapters in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. The purpose is to use our collective buying power to purchase barbed wire, shotguns, wild dogs and rocking chairs. There will speech therapy classes to perfect phrases such as "Ain't nuthin here for you boy" and "You make my little girl cry, you gonna die" and "Get off my lawn douchebag" with suitable menace.
Planned activities will include Daddys Little Angel Appreciation Class, How to spot a Deadbeat and what I hope will be a perennial favourite Sound Financial Management and Business Development Class. Fathers Day will be replaced with the more practical Why Daddy is Right Week.
Contenders for our anthem include a reworking of the Cramps classic, "All Men are Bad (except for Dad)" and the Brandenburg Concertos.
Our founding philosophy is something along the lines of, 'While it may be a mans world, very few of them are good enough for my little angel' (Some of them can obviously be trained to pay for dinner and buy my little angel shoes, houses etc) (Mental note explore option of expanding into credit reference checks for potential suitors).

We will also be conducting Douchebag identificaiton training for future Dads. Examples of Douchebag tells include, Wearing sunglasses on their head on a cloudy day while inside, wearing of the collars upturned. Not liking Magnum PI or not knowning who he is. Fondness for comercial radio, fondness for the AFL, being short. Borrowing money, concerning levels of familiarity with Creed, Jonas Brothers or Bette Midler (that last one will require an intevention and a shifting of candidate from the Douchebag list of suitors to the Douchebag list of 'will not give her mother grandchildren').

Suitable male role models include; Dad, Mr T, Barrack Obama, Bob the Builder and Elvis (the Vegas years)
Unsuitable male role models include; Elvis (the early years), Prince, People who are Not Dad and Helen Clarke.

There is much work to be done and the final draft of our founding charter to complete. However our core message is resonating well with Right Thinking Fathers with Daughter everywhere and we will consider expanding into new territories soon.