So, today was my birthday. The big three-oh. I appear to have survived.
Many things happened today. Notably, the first Port80 networking event with “mini talks” at the Velvet Lounge, which went really well. Then, Dave convinced me to leave early so we could go grab some dinner, it being my birthday and all. Then, he let on that he had a reservation at “That Little Mexican Place”, a restaurant we had been meaning to try. When we got there, all our mates were waiting. Sneaky.
I’ll write more about both the meeting and the restaurant later, and I have more photos. But right now I’m really tired so I’ll leave you with this funky chandelier from the Velvet Lounge.
The photo above is an attempt to establish scale, against Dave’s 15″ notebook. This little beast has a 8.9″ screen and weighs in at just 1kg, making it a cross between an oversized UMPC and a small TabletPC. Machine name is “Leviathan” 😀
It’s very small and very cool. Notice the fingerprints all over it already.
Here’s an update for everyone breathlessly waiting to see how my mailbox spider is doing. She’s still hanging out, threatening the postie and generally causing trouble. You know how those teenage spiders are. Her colouring is much darker and the red stripe is much more prominent. Although she’s not completely black, she’s definitely recognisable as a redback.
And so far, we’ve managed to get the mail out on a regular basis without incident.
Honey certainly does. And where it’s at is anywhere that sunshine is coming in through the window. Preferably through a closed window so it’s even hotter on her side.
I was thinking the other day that cats must have an absolutely insane tolerance for heat. Seeing as they don’t sweat (I think except from the pads of their feet, like dogs) and you rarely see them panting, except when they’re not well. And even when it’s stinking hot they tend to seek out the warm areas of the house. So of course I looked it up on wikipedia and apparently a cat’s average body temperature is between 38 and 39 °C, and they’re in trouble above 39.5 °C. So there you go.
So Photo Project, what day are we up to? 35 or something? I’ve skipped about four I think…
This is from last week. It was hot. Humid. There was thunder. There’d been fires, so it was smoky. In fact, although it looked amazing, as far as weather goes it really sucked.
Over the road from, slightly up from the “future recreational area”, lies a “proposed primary school” site. Right now there’s nothing there – well, in so much as that’s ever really true, because “nothing” is always filled with “somethings” of some sort.
Around the back of the lot there’s piles of rubbish – builder’s materials, bags of clothes, an old fridge, a rusting shopping trolley. Remains of fires and piles of empty beer bottles. Discarded cigarette packets and odd shoes. While the blatent disregard for appropriate disposal of said items is discouraging, at the same time the place is kind of fascinating – I couldn’t help thinking, as I carefully stepped around sharp and dangerous objects, what distant future archaelogists would think of what was found here. What crazy conclusions about our lives would they jump to, based on what we’ve thrown away?
If nothing else, there were some gorgeous textures. I will post more photos from this spot later.
Here’s yet another shot from Australia Day – a handheld one. The tripod was too low where we were and I couldn’t get a clear shot of the sky without ground light ruining it, so I tried some handheld shots. My arms got tired and Dave took over, so I don’t know which of us took this one but I think it came out pretty good.
We went tonight to the a Perth Festival sponsors and media garden party. Good fun, lots of free drinks. There’s lots of great events in this year’s festival – full details on the official Festival web site.
Keating!, the event that we’ve been aligned with, has sold out already, as well as a number of other events. Looking forward to that and a whole lot of others!
This is the south side of Hillarys Marina on Australia Day evening, before the fireworks started. The colours were amazing. I think this qualifies as a worthy photo project candidate!
First, you need the appropriate amount of Australia Day Brand Little Aussie Battler Spirit ™. I found I was able to “get into the zone” with these fine $5 Aussie Ashes Tour cricket thongs. Oi Oi Oi!
Next, you need BBQ apparatus. Not being in possession of such equipment, we went to Bunnings on Thursday afternoon and purchased said kit.
Item came in three large boxes. We hummed and harred about whether the boxes would fit in the Monaro with an employee of aforementioned hardware warehouse, before deciding to go with the Australia Day Brand Little Aussie Battler Spirit ™ maxim “she’ll be right mate”. The third box had to be unpacked in the carpark and items from it pushed into various nooks and crannies of the car.
Next, the BBQ will need to be assembled. This is a Man’s Job ™. Dave elected to start this task approximately two (2) hours before scheduled commencement of barbecuing. There was much swearing and sweating: the former because the instructions were badly put together, as were some of the pieces (and Dave is a champion of Ikea furniture construction, Taiwanese computer component assemblage and Lego modelling, so he’s a good judge of instruction booklets), and the latter because it was 39 degrees and we don’t yet have air-conditioning.
After successful attachment of all pieces, the BBQ needs to be placed in an appropriate position. This task can be completed with the assistance of BBQ guests. Thanks Ben and Deb for that.
Finally, add food. Sit back with a beer and marvel at the Australian-ness of it all. If it’s 39+ degrees and there are flies buzzing around your head, all the better.
Oh, and don’t forget the flames. Always need some flames.
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