G-n-L Ganesh and Lauren

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Mini-Adventure 3 Recap: Artists Trail

Sunday, 31 May 2009

Sometimes there's nothing more satisfying than an adventure in your own back yard... Today, with good friend Grace and Ganesh, we set out along the Heidelberg School Artists Trail on bikes... It just so happens that the famous 'Heidelberg School of Art' is just down the road (well I should say over a very large hill) and the trail featured the works of Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts amongst other artists I studied in school! The art school was really significant because it was the first school to paint the Australian landscape as it is, dry and red, rather than trying to fit it into an english mold...

We also rode through the heide museum of modern art and the giant sculpture garden which included some hilarious dogs barking furiously at tin cows, and a discovery by Ganesh of the same wild berries he used to eat when he was a school truant exploring the jungle! (They were a bit tasteless, but the rich red colour was impressive and you couldn't help but be charmed by his enthusiasm)... I was amazed to see a hidden agricultural paradise just behind the mansions in heidelberg... It was like riding through the english countryside - horses galloping in paddocks... farmers with hay... quaint clusters of houses on hills looking over the yarra and the floodplains... and to top it all off Grace surprised me with a beautiful handmade calendar of her exquisite photographs from Europe... Wow! I'm so impressed by people who can take beautiful photographs. I don't think I'll ever have the patience to master the art!

For more info on the artists trail checkout the official website.

Apart from that it's been a busy weekend... Angels & Demons at the movies... The big fence and gate build and painting... Scavenging for pallets (free recycled timber!)... A couple of website catastrophes... and catching up with work! Looking forward to next (long!) weekend to really get something done!

Labels: art, bike, mini-adventure

The Living Room Part I

Saturday, 23 May 2009

Like most people (I think!), I have rich fantasies about how the house should function and how it should look. The fantasies regarding the smart house that uses no energy, is completely wired up to the server, orders and cooks healthy organic local produce every night, keeps tabs on my health and won't let me go to bed until I've gone for a jog may still be a few years off yet... but I do have some control over the decor - keeping in mind the extremely limited budget!

I've wanted to use some of the sari fabric I bought in India for a while now, but every time I find a seamstress the prices seem excessive. I finally decided that despite my torturous experiences with sewing machines in my youth involving spending the entire textiles semester with a screwdriver in my hand fixing machines, and a tie dye skirt that I was immensely proud of until it fell apart while I was wearing it, I would get one... It took a while to find a bargain on ebay, but eventually I found a little $10 unit that I could pick up from one suburb over. I think the owner had been similarly frustrated with sewing machines because when I unpacked it the entire machine was covered in an enormous tangle of knots. Eventually with a bit of brute force and some help from Ganesh the machine was in working order!

I started on the simplest thing I could image - a table runner! (I think the knitting equivalent would be a scarf!).... then ventured into pillows. The pillows could use a bit more stuffing and I'm really not sure how long the zips will last but as you can see the end result wasn't nearly as bad as my tie dye skirt! I thought I'd make a start on my living room theme (white/wood/sari) while I was at it and so Ganesh and I cut and sanded some wood that we'd found in the backyard to make some candle holders... Against one of the white couches we got for an absolute steal on ebay (though picking them up in the trailer was an adventure in itself) I think it has improved the situation (though sanding and repolishing the very old table will be one of the next jobs on the list!)... of course your imagination is always leaps and bounds beyond skill, but it's a small step in the right direction.

Of course I'm pretty biased because I was involved in the work and was expecting a textiles catastrophe... in any case, good or bad, it was fun!

Okay, enough procrastinating - time to get some work done!

Labels: decorating, home improvements

Apple

The opening of a new apple store brings with it crowds of adoring fans... all queuing up to see what new and fabulous items they can spend their money on... As someone who loved apple before it was popular I'm happy for the company... at the same time it's a sad state of affairs when a better product is only recognised as better when it's got 'the look'... Fortunately Apple has a lot of substance so all those paying for a look are getting a lot more than they bargained for.

This morning I was at the Doncaster Apple store opening and happened to claim a free tshirt as one of the first 1000 visitors (who had all been through by 9:30am!) to the roars, cheers and claps of the apple staff... One of the apple staff looked exactly like one of my good friends from uni who I'm not really in contact with anymore. It's pretty much my fault and I feel terrible about it, so I sent out an sms to see if we were still talking - we are! It's always good to rekindle a friendship and have a chance to apologise for mistakes...

All thanks to apple... :-)

Labels: apple, future

The first eggs...

Thursday, 21 May 2009

The first eggs have finally arrived!! This morning there were 2 freshly laid eggs in the straw... Amazing! They are supermarket size and surprisingly heavy (I was expecting much smaller ones at first!)... It's very very exciting... I'm not sure which of the 4 chooks to congratulate, but I have now deemed all the chooks name worthy:

Russet : Our first game hen... smaller than the other chooks, scared of humans, likes to fly and has slowly integrated into the group. Has taught the others how to fly and prevent being put back into the coup during the night. Has learnt how to forage.
Big Red : The darkest chook and most aggressive of the bunch with a large red crest and a tiny white tail. Always the last one into the coup and always the first to try and escape to eat grass (and the veggies!). Not at all scared of humans. Likes to dig holes.
Copper : Tends to stay under the radar and follows the crowd.
Sienna : Has a big white tail and was one of the more aggressive towards Russet initially.

As yet not sure how really fresh eggs taste as these first two are going to Jeannie for winning the original naming competition!

Labels: chickens, eggs

Database woes

Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Sincere apologies for not writing in such a long time... I have been buried by a mound of oracle database disasters for the past week and a half... From the moment it became my responsibility the maintain this highly important production database there has been nothing but a series of disasters... Needless to say the biggest problem was restarting the boxes! We may never know what caused the original problems... It's finally back up, though I'm dreading the phone call that informs me that it is down again. I am back though... and looking forward to a few days oracle free. I've included this photo just for laughs... the entire oracle facility looks like a giant database schema!!

Labels: database, job, oracle

Home Sweet Home

Sunday, 10 May 2009

Ahhh.... back at home at last! We have been out a lot recently... lots of dinners... people over... going out... and it's been lots of fun... but I have missed home! Deep down I'm probably a home body. It's not even about a particular home, I could be at home anywhere in the world! But there is just something so comforting about having your own space, filled with your own projects and your own thoughts...

On that note I just wanted to thank mum this mother's day, for making home such a great place to be when I was growing up... it's probably why I like it so much now!

Well, it's time to catch up on the piles of work I've missed of late! Hope you all had a lovely weekend...

Labels: home

Nuclear Power

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

Nuclear Power has never been an option as a future energy source in my mind (on earth anyway - the sun is a different matter!)... If scientists have to create a new visual language to explain the danger of the waste because they don't believe that english will be spoken or even that civilisation will necessarily exist while the nuclear waste remains extremely hazardous into the future - that's when they should realise that it's a seriously bad idea. Even with the Generation IV and V 'environmentally friendly' concept reactors nuclear power is not renewable... Even without the waste issue we would be leading ourselves down the same path as oil... No. No nuclear in our future!

So I was prepared for some environmental backlash when I found out that I was being sent to the Lucas Heights reactor, a reactor that Greenpeace once stormed, especially from the more environmentally bent... Instead I had some surprising reactions... From 'I didn't know we had a nuclear reactor in Australia' to 'Don't bring home any green rocks'...

It seems to me that the issues surrounding nuclear power aren't as well known as I originally thought...

Come on Australia - get informed! Before our ignorance is used to push through nuclear reactors into your backyard...

Labels: nuclear