G-n-L

A decision...

2010-04-26T21:08:00.002+10:00

Finally, a decision has been made... I ran out of time to rebuild a free version of blogger for all those in the same predicament as myself... But I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel on a regular blog, so I've come up with an alternative.

This month I have been slowly reducing my workload which was getting out of control, so I can go back to my ideas and give them the best chance of working. No more websites, massively reduced volunteering and a commitment to my own projects:

Sustainable Streetscapes/Transition Towns: My street planting project and transitioning my own suburb towards self sufficiency and moving away from oil dependance.
Trash 2 Treasure: A website dedicated to reusing waste, featuring a listing fee free shop and 'how to' guides as well as my new blog on recycled items (suggestions always welcome).
Green Card Training: Making my free environmental training program available to the world, for free!

It's still a big workload, but nothing compared to what I was facing before and I now no longer resent turning to my computer, but am excited to work on these projects which is how it should be!

Thanks to you all for reading...

Farewell to Blogging?

2010-03-27T13:54:00.003+11:00

It's been quite sometime since I wrote here and I do apologise. While I have been exceptionally busy, I've also been slightly disheartened to learn that blogger will no longer be offering ftp support from May 1st of this year, after which I'll no longer be able to post my blog. There are 2 real options here - the first to end the blog, or the second to write a script to recreate blogger functionality for everyone in the same situation as me to use! (Still deciding...)

In other news we've just said farewell to our second set of couch surfers - a German couple on a tour around Australia for 5 months... We've done a few interesting things recently - clay target shooting - the melbourne city romp (an amazing race in melbourne!) - and I've founded the West Heidelberg Transition Town, the first meeting to be on Thursday at our place. I've learnt that people will buy software that you've written online for $5 without any guarantees that you aren't dodgy... Andrew has been recovering from surgery... Lachie is in Tassie... and Mum has been cooking up war time rabbit recipes that her mum used to make. Dad & his family have been preparing for the big trip to the UK and the move to Darwin... and we're off to an apple tasting festival and Permablitz tomorrow!

Anyway, lots to do - so another fleeting post!

Oh, and the beautiful illustration came from: inkvanilla

Nepalese Cookbook

2010-02-26T21:44:00.002+11:00

It has been a long time since I've written here... I do apologise! It was an exciting weekend of bike riding over the West Gate bridge, cycling with the Banyule Bug and helping out at the Sustainable Living Festival last weekend, and of course work has been rather interesting of late... but no more excuses! I'm writing to update you all on the progress of the Nepalese Recipe Book!

After weeks of cooking up a storm in the kitchen we've honed in on a few winning recipes including (in no particular order):

Daal Bhaat
Chickpea, Spinach and Tomato Curry
Asparagus Bhutuwa
Lamb Quantee (Lamb with bean sprouts)
Paratha with Vegetables
Lamb Sekuwa
Gajar ko Halwa (Carrot Pudding)
Mahendranagar Samosas
Vegetable Pulao
Tarkari (Mixed vegetables)
Creamy Coconut, Cauliflower and Lentil Curry
Quick and Easy Potato and Zucchini
Chicken, Broccoli and Tomato Curry
Tibetan Momos
Beans and bamboo shoot curry
Lamb Curry
Shikarni (Apple, Cinnamon and Honey yoghurt)
Kheer (Rice Pudding)
Banana Chiya Bread
Chiya (Spiced Tea)

Unfortunately I'm still missing some good recipes for chow mein, thukpa, laddu and achar... Not to mention a guide to hosting your very own Nepalese Dinner Party! If you have some suggestions, know of anything vital that I've missed or can help me convince G to call his mum for help please let me know :-)

Mini-Adventure 8: Phillip Island

2010-02-15T11:51:00.002+11:00

Wow... It's been a rather hectic few weeks... With the couch surfer, outings, cleaning up the yard for the first bbq on the mexican chiminea and starting off my involvement in the Transition Town movement - valentine's day was a rewarding and relaxing day of fun...

G and I have agreed that instead of getting involved in the consumerism of the event we should organise to do something together each Valentine's Day... last year we went horse riding through wineries... this year we decided to use our Christmas Presents (jet boating at Phillip Island!)... On the way down to Phillip Island we stopped off at the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens to get ideas for our front yard. An award winning garden it may be, but it was not in the least bit inspiring. It was definitely a beneficial stop though because it turned out to be hard rubbish day in Cranbourne - or a 'Gold Mine' as G termed it. We now have a large assorted array of power tools in various states of disrepair that will soon sit proudly in our shed :-)

The next stop, just over the bridge was the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory. A feast for all the senses we just had to stop for a delicious hot chocolate given the stormy weather. I can still taste the melted chocolate pouring down my throat... mmmm....

We were very lucky in that the thunderstorms held out long enough for us to be thrown around on choppy seas in western port bay... A couple of times we were literally thrown from our seats as the boat swerved over large waves and lept across the ocean. We saved the penguins for next time and headed back to Melbourne to discover free mulch - a feast for the veggie patch! And to implement G's method of super savings shopping... (I've put G in charge of all food preparation this week while I take over the garden and chook care)... should be fun! :-)

Invictus: Unconquered: Inspiring!

2010-01-30T22:25:00.002+11:00

I have a new appreciation for rugby after seeing the film 'Invictus'... The true story was an innovative solution to the question - 'how do you inspire a nation?'. How do you unite people separated by so much hate and create something incredible. I was so impressed that Nelson Mandela was able to analyse the needs of the country so well and come up with such an inspired solution! Obviously not the focus of all his attentions but it's an important lesson for any community project or business that I want to get off the ground - people need to be inspired first!

Speaking of inspiration I'm extremely excited about week 1 of 'do something different month' - this is what's planned for the week:

Sunday: Salsa dancing in Fitzroy! (Still working on convincing G to come!)
Monday: Magic Monday at Dante's - Magical comedy night!
Tuesday: Having a couch surfer come to stay - our first official one :-)
Wednesday: Visiting the community 'generosity kitchen' Lentil as Anything
Thursday: Jeannie's birthday party at a Vietnamese restaurant
Friday: Playing pool night at the Albion
Saturday: Visiting a shooting range

Speaking of productivity the Nepalese cook book is progressing well, though has hit a slight road block in recipe variety... We need ideas for recipes that don't involve rice now :-) And as a result of the great Australia Day beer tasting I've discovered my favourite type of beer is cider - not beer at all! (G is still wearing his australian flag temporary tattoos in recognition of some delicious pear cider)...

Well back to work!! Lots more websites to program!

Observations on Chicken Behaviour...

2010-01-17T14:27:00.003+11:00

This has been one of the more interesting weeks of chook-keeping that we've had. As you may already know, our game hen Russet has always been extremely timid and is often pecked by the largest 2 of the red hens (Big Red and Copper). The situation had been slowly improving until friday when G left the chook pen door open accidentally. I'm not sure what happened during the day but when we returned home all the chooks were in the backyard, Russet was visibly distressed (but un-injured as far as we could tell) and wouldn't stop making noise (which is extremely unusual, she's usually very quiet). When we rounded the chooks back into the pen the largest 2 kept chasing and pecking Russet for no reason at all. Then out of the blue the 3 large hens (including Sienna) turned on a pigeon that had walked into the coop and tried to eat it!! They managed to swallow a large number of feathers before we could intervene to save it. I guess that explains all the pigeon carcasses in the chicken coop.

We made the executive decision that the 3 big hens had to go. Obviously Russet was never going to improve with 3 crazed pigeon killers as coopmates. We listed an ad and separated Russet from the others as a short term measure. G was of the opinion that Sienna was a good chook and that she and Russet could be friends while I was of the opinion that Sienna was only being nice to Russet because she was smaller than Red and Copper and as soon as they had gone Sienna would be 'queen of the nest' and start pecking Russet too. G decided to test the theory and purchased 2 new game hens (yet to be named!) to form an army with Russet to defend against the gang of 3. My theory turned out to be correct. As soon as Copper and Red were separated Sienna turned nasty. So we halved the coop with the game birds on one side and the gang of 3 on the other side. The two new game birds were about half the size of Russet and things started off well... but soon even they turned on Russet!!

I started to consider that perhaps sometimes my shy behaviour led others to treat me in the same way Russet was being treated! Not that I've ever noticed that but it really made me think... People treat you in the way you behave. And even tiny game hens thought they could beat up on Russet because she was timid. If you demand respect you seem to get it in this world!

Avatar : It just keeps getting better!

2010-01-10T22:58:00.003+11:00

The first time I saw Avatar at Village in 3D I was impressed - the graphics were stunning, though I felt the story line was a little cliche, the characters overly stereotypical. The second time I saw Avatar was at Imax at the 3rd largest screen in the world (yes, I did feel a bit guilty about those 15000 watt lamps and the energy required)... I was inspired, awed and amazed. The creativity displayed in creating an entire culture, language and planet in Pandora was astonishing. Each little detail became increasingly evident, each glowing footprint, each flickr of the network built into the environment, each intensely stimulating selection of colours on the fluorescent planet, the ring in Nyteri's ear that made her appear more human than the other Na'avi, even the 2d photographs that appeared remarkably 3d for a moment. Who wouldn't want to live on a planet with floating magnetic islands, mystical trees where memories and thoughts could be downloaded, flying on brightly coloured teradactyl type creatures, sleeping in giant cocoon leaves and experiencing a deep and fulfilling connection to the environment? The movie is a creative masterpiece regardless of whatever the critics might say.

A few bricks short of a load...

2010-01-10T22:34:00.002+11:00

You may possibly consider G and I a few bricks short of a load after hearing what we did today... Having stumbled across what we assumed to be a small lot of cement covered bricks on ebay for only $10, 8km from our house we excitedly prepared the little yellow car to collect our new veggie patch path. On arrival it became clear that we definitely bought more than we bargained for. Sitting on the front lawn of the house were 400 cleaned and neatly stacked bricks, and about 1000 more cement encrusted bricks randomly scattered around the garden. Evidently not a job for the little yellow car. We hightailed it to the nearest Budget rental and hired a '1 tonne ute'... Even with this impressive vehicle it took us 3 trips and most of the day in the searing heat to pile the bricks up in our backyard. We now have enough bricks to last us a very long time - though we are of course too tired to do anything with them today. Instead we strung up the defences for the plants against tomorrow's 43 degree heat wave.

I also packed my bags for the first day of bootcamp! I start a 1 month, 3 mornings per week intensive bootcamp course tomorrow to get back into shape for 2010... Am looking forward to the workout, but definitely not the heat or the 5:15am start! Oh well, the sacrifices we must make to attain good health. Oh, and in health news apart from the chocolate thickshake and chocolate chip cookies I scoffed today, the Nepalese cookbook trial has been enormous success :-) Apart from the daal every single recipe has tasted delicious :-)

Fingers crossed for a fire free scorcher tomorrow!

Happy New Year 2010!!

2010-01-01T14:51:00.004+11:00

What a thunderous and dramatic start to 2010... Happy New Year everyone :-) I hope you didn't get too wet last night. After a roasting 38 degrees all day the sound and light show provided by nature during the fireworks was only rivaled by the eerie vapour rising from the roads. It felt like the world was coming to an end - but of course we have to wait for 2012 for that to happen!

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes... I'm looking forward to the surprise birthday dinner mum has organised with some very old friends - at a Bollywood restaurant no less! And I have to say it has been a healthy start to 2010. While I may have eaten cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner in previous years, there has been not a crumb of cake this year. I had an extremely healthy yoghurt for breakfast. Some tea and oranges that a friend dropped around with my pressies at lunch and I'm looking forward to a healthy indian vegetable curry tonight at Planet Bollywood!

We're also welcoming a house guest for the new year who has had some misfortune and has nowhere else to go... if anyone has any suggestions on how to make her feel more comfortable and at home here please let me know! It must be hard enough living with strangers as it is...

I hope all of you have a beautiful 2010 filled with happiness, health and success in your endeavours :-)

2010 Resolutions!

2009-12-31T15:31:00.003+11:00

You could almost say 2009 for me was exactly like the picture to the left. I spent most of the year plastering the walls, whiteboards, blackboards, refrigerators, iphone, gmail and my desktop with to do lists... hundreds and hundreds of to do lists. The things that were most likely to be done were the things I really cared about that were broken down into manageable chunks... so this year I'm only going to do things I really care about. Me! Not general societal expectations... Not things I think I should do... Not things other people want me to do... Not things I think I should do for other people... Only things I care about. I spent too much time this year on other people and my projects have lapsed as a result! 2010 is the year to finish everything I start and love every minute of it!

Write a Nepalese Cook Book: My hypothesis is that Nepalese cooking is healthier, cheaper and more satisfying than traditional western cooking. I'm setting out to eat and cook nothing but Nepalese food for the month of January, writing a cook book we can use at home in the process, saving money and reducing my waisteline (that's the theory anyway).
Have a 'Do something different' month: I feel like I'm stuck in a rut at the moment, repeating the same activities over and over again. I would like to dedicate February to doing something different/unusual everyday - something I wouldn't normally do. Something small, as I obviously have to work, but something new/unusual/inspiring/fun!
Play more sport: I'm keen to join taekwondo officially this year. I have the money. I want to play sport. I want to be able to defend myself and I want to be more involved in the local community. I think this will be a great way to meet new people as well and hopefully recruit more like-minded individuals for the Sustainable Streetscaping Project. I should be braver and ride the bike to work more often. Or at least once or twice a week. 60km or so isn't that bad and it definitely gets the heart pumping! I'll also be joining dancing classes at monash uni in march when the union reopens. It's cheap, it's fun and it's a great way to break up the work day!
Creative Recycling (T2T): I'm continuing this resolution on from last year. I really want to make a go of this. The time is right. The idea is fun and good. And I'm so so close! Aiming for 1000 sales at least by the end of 2010.
Learning: I still want to learn Nepali. I need to devise a better way to teach myself though! I'm also loving the iPhone as a learning tool. By playing the guess the flag game I've almost taught myself all the flags of every country in the world. I'd like to work on world capitals and geography next. Then learn more history and philosophy through iTunes U (an amazing open university concept I'm completely taken with!).
House & Garden: I'd like to implement my ultimate garden design and put the finishing touches on the interior decor of the house. It's so refreshing walking into a house that inspires!
Be better at my job: I was a bit slack in 2009. A lot was going on personally and I think I let the team down at the Synch. I'd like to make a proper go of it this year and take a lot more initiative at work.
43 things: Achieve another item on my 43 things list!

If anyone has some unique resolutions or good tips on how to keep them let me know!!

2009 recap

2009-12-31T13:10:00.002+11:00

Wow.. the end of another year. It always creeps up so quickly on you! December has just flown by with Christmas preparation, the trip through the Nullarbor, extreme distress over Copenhagen and the lack of climate action, last minute catch ups with people we haven't seen in a while and projects! Yes, we have finally finished the four poster bed. After sleeping on a mattress on the ground for an entire year we have built a bed out of reclaimed and renewable timbers. I've always wanted a four poster bed so I'm living out my romantic princess fantasies atm. Thanks must go to G for his patience with the router. I was much more likely to take the quick route and chisel things out but his routering has given the bed a really smooth and professional finish.

I should also add here that we had a lovely Christmas... simple and fun with family and friends. And this year I extended the invitation to a number of people who were going to be by themselves this year... overall a Christmas how it should be.

Now for the part I've been dreading... How did I go on this years resolutions??? Let's take a look:

Get Healthy: Okay, well it wasn't 10kg, apparently I like chocolate too much for that, but I did lose 3kg this year. I've also given up some of my bad habits like baking cakes and treats every weekend but there's a lot more work to go on the exercise front in 2010...
Carbon Footprint: This is a tough one. If I exclude the trip to China/Japan (which I offset) I've done very well... including that trip it's been a disaster!
Style: I have made an effort this year. I've introduced hats and accessories to my outfits and made some real progress with choosing clothing and putting outfits together. I still slip up occasionally though - like today! But I'm happy with how this went this year. I think I'm ready now for an end of year cupboard clean out.
Creative Recycling: Another lapsed one I'm afraid. Too much other web dev work has meant this has fallen behind. On a positive note though the coding of the site should be ready by January 10th 2010 so we can start filling it up with data!! :-)
Voluntary Work: I did join the SES this year, though it's been a long intake process with the forms only just recently being filled out. I've also made contact with the council and organised to run some free courses through the Olympic Adult Education center next year so I've been preparing for that as well... And of course trying ot acquire funding for the Sustainable Streetscapes project!
Learning: On books this year I've been very good. I started borrowing from the Ivanhoe library and have almost finished reading all of the top 100 books as voted by the British. I also undertook a conversation class with the CAE and attended some bollywood dance lessons (before they closed down!). Not much progress with the Nepali - I need to convince G to help me with my podcast - learn nepali through song :-) And I have scoped out some dancing classes I can afford at Monash starting in March next year - yipee!! One good thing about the location of the synchrotron is that you get access to all of Monash services :-)
43 Things: I did achieve my life long dream of going to see a solar eclipse this year!! Woo hoo!!
Focused Blog Posts: You be the judge!
Make 2 new friends: Hmm... well I'd have to say I've made 1 good friend this year - definitely something to work towards next year as well :-)...
Mini adventures: It wasn't quite 1 per month... 7 in total, plus a very long (and expensive!) trip to China and Japan is pretty good though. In backwards order 7. Drove through the Nullarbor 6. Participated in an Adventure Series Race 5. Rode around the Bay in a Day 4. Skiied in a blizzard at Buller 3. Bike rode the artists trail in Heidelberg 2. Went horse riding through vineyards down the Mornington Peninsula 1. Lived the life of an 1850s Gold Mining couple at Sovereign Hill
Be less sensitive: I think I am actually... at least I project it on to other people less!

I'm looking forward to another exciting year ahead!! I hope you all had a productive, happy and healthy 2009 and I wish you all the best for 2010!!

Edit: I should note that there has been some fantastic progress with household projects this year. I'm almost at the stage where the interior decor is perfect and I've sketched out plans for the ultimate garden which we're currently working towards. One of the great things I learnt this year was vision posters. I put them up in relevant areas and am continually inspired to improve the house :-)

Mini-Adventure 7 Recap: Perth to Melbourne

2009-12-14T18:06:00.001+11:00

No set of mini-adventures would be complete without a trip to the desert... Or the nearest limestone plain as the case may be. Xin, Ganesh and I set off on the epic once in a lifetime journey across the Nullarbor from Perth to Melbourne by car - 3456km of mostly desert on Friday the 11th of December 2009... It was a slow start, getting used to the manual camper van and trying not to rip out the gear box by moving from 1st to 4th gear but once we made it out of the city and on to the highway it was smooth sailing.

Checkout our journey below!

View Perth to Melbourne in a larger map

Google Wave

2009-11-27T11:43:00.003+11:00

It's the dawn, or perhaps the late morning tea, of the technological age and G has once again proven himself to be committed to technology and innovation. He secured a google wave invitation from his boss and deemed me worthy of it's splendour so I'm now google waving along with everyone else who has been doing it for weeks... He has also managed to secure a secondhand iPhone from a colleague at work who has decided to purchase a super new windows phone so all in all he's having a good week technology-wise.

I'm extremely excited about his iPhone... A mac plus an iPhone leads to enormous potential for green apps... I'm thinking T2T and Green Card! Check out Tree Hugger's guide to the 100 coolest Green Apps for the iPhone.

Well, it's time to press send and see if I really can blog from my wave account...

Well it turns out I can't... Bloggy is currently only working with the Developers Sandbox but stay tuned for more on this.

Learners Permits!!

2009-11-17T19:55:00.002+11:00

G-n-L now have motorcycle learners permits!! We passed both theoretical and practical riding tests today and we are licenced to learn :-) I'll admit it was touch and go for me there for a while. Apparently you're supposed to have ridden quite a bit before you take the course... Mid way through the course the instructor told me I was hopeless and was going to fail, but I improved quickly after his words of caution and managed to complete the entire test without a single mistake. Ganesh was fine of course - he was strong all day and received glowing praise from the instructor, but we were expecting that! Another step towards my 43things goal of "Obtaining a motorcycle licence" :-)

Mini-Adventure 6 Recap: Kathmandu Maximum Adventure

2009-11-14T17:53:00.004+11:00

Outdoor sports and activities that get me out into the bush are a welcome change from city life so I signed team 'genloz' up for our first adventure series race through Kathmandu Maximum Adventure. The race essentially consists of 28 markers, in this case spread out through Lysterfield Park which you use different means - mountain biking, kayaking, running (or a short swim in once case!) to navigate to.

As it was our first race we weren't trying to come first, just not last! But we were off to a shakey start 5 mins in when, having reached the lake for the initial kayak G decided to change clothes... We waited patiently while all the other kayaks moved off the shore and as we pushed our kayak into the water absolutely last. Fortunately this was short lived. By the start of the first run we'd caught up to larger group at the back and were back in shape!

Our adventure series buddies were Caitlin and Lucy - we seemed to be keeping pace and they were always smiling no matter how hot it got. Both on a gap year over from the US they seemed to be making the most of their time in Australia and certainly looked very athletic and prepared for adventure. All 4 of us found the first stretch of mountain biking the most challenging - though Ganesh was loving it by the end! Mountain biking on small narrow paths through beautiful green bush is amazing fun. What's not fun is the tree crossings. I don't think it had anything to do with my bike and everything to do with me but on the whole day I think I only managed 5 successful log jumps - every other time I just fell off the bike! It's harder than it looks... Because I was looking at my pedals in that first stretch rather than at the road we overshot the elusive marker no. 9... Whoops!

There were a few quite serious looking injuries people had sustained on the course - gravel burns from coming off the mountain bikes - but I was so impressed that people continued on through the entire course anyway... obviously a tough and determined group.

The final kayak was quite tiring but I'm proud to say we finished the 35km course by lunch time, a little tired but very proud!

Which electorate are you in?

2009-11-05T11:39:00.001+11:00

Someone asked me recently which electorate I was in, and the answer completely eluded me! Despite my aversion to much of politics there really is no excuse for political ignorance... I admit I usually catch up with details around election time and anytime there's a pressing climate change issue (like Copenhagen!)... but I've decided to do a bit of research about my electorate, which happens to be Ivanhoe. There are over 37 000 voters in my electorate - that would require at least 100 door knocks a day for a year if I was going to visit everyone to discuss voting green in the next election. A rather sobering thought! Though I am impressed that so many candidates door knocked the neighbourhood when I lived in Malvern - a mammoth task.

Craig Landon is evidently the man of the moment, but not just the moment - the last 13 years! He stormed the 2006 election with a 60%/40% result. I guess this is a pretty safe Labor seat... though I was thrilled to discover that an independent has previously held the seat of Ivanhoe (it was in the 40s though). Craig appears to have completed high school in the area, but never attended university, going straight to work as a bank officer. He has been caught up in a number of scandals, including being accused of having a secret gay lover, inappropriate political conduct including pressuring prospective mayoral candidates to drop defamation suits against him and he has even been accused of trying to run over a councillor's son!

Most of his previous major projects have revolved around the Austin hospital and development of police labs, court houses and schools, with future and current projects all falling under the same pattern. In fact, to date he has not been involved in a green project at all. Very disappointing. I think I'll have to organise a meeting with this fellow - it's time to take on the challenge of the Australian Conversation Foundation and ask him to be accountable for climate action!

I'm really glad I undertook this fact finding mission - though extremely disappointed to find out what sort of leader we actually have in here in Ivanhoe.

Motorcycle chic

2009-11-03T22:55:00.003+11:00

I've never really been much of a 'biker chic'... Not quite rebellious enough or coordinated enough I suppose! Especially after the unfortunate incident of injuring my leg in thailand after crashing a hired scooter in the curb and requiring daily dressing changes for the rest of the trip. I have always been a fan of being driven around on a motorcycle though - the fresh wind, the high speeds, the feeling of freedom... Incredible! And of course it's impossible to deny the environmental benefits of single person transport over large cars... so when Ganesh finally decided to purchase a motorcycle (after weeks of discussion) I was actually thrilled. I finally had a chance to learn to drive properly!

Unfortunately my enthusiasm was short lived when I excitedly told my boss at work that I was to be a 'biker chic'... He was thrilled for a moment until he found out that I really don't know anything about bikes... "But you're a technical person" he cried in despair... So I've downloaded the equivalent of "The idiot's guide to motorcycles" and I'm all set to read up. If I'm going to be a biker chic, I'm going to do it properly!

Here's to the future of g-n-l biking!!

The Spice of Life

2009-11-03T21:50:00.002+11:00

Yum! I think I have a new favourite restaurant... We went out to the Moroccan Soup Bar last Saturday with a few friends for an absolutely delicious 3 course moroccan meal... One of my new favourite foods is the Moroccan Chickpea/Yoghurt Bake - one of the 7! main course dishes brought out for the 5 of us ~ and all for $20 each. The restaurant inspired me to take on a challenge... Cook all the recipes from a cook book - a Moroccan cook book! I'm going to master the art one recipe at a time, and of course have officially added this goal to my list of 43 things.

I'm actually quite excited today because I've come closer to finishing all my outside-work work than ever before.... Only 2 items remain on the list... and of course there are 3 new potential clients/jobs sitting in my inbox but it's exciting all the same. This has been hanging over my head for quite some time and I've been desperately trying to catch up... and now it's almost happened!! :-) Nothing like a day off work to get ahead (thank-you Melbourne Cup Day)...

I'm thinking my next restaurant to try will be the Wild Yak... Momos here I come :-)

Update on the 3 week challenge

2009-10-24T22:18:00.002+11:00

In the midst of recent excitement - Riding Around the Bay in a Day (the 100km challenge was a fabulous success), Ganesh's return from home and today's exciting 350.org protest - what do we want, climate action! When do we want it? NOW! - I have neglected to update you on the results of the 3 weeks to a better life challenge.

Health & fitness: I feel fitter and stronger - Around the Bay in a Day, Ride to Work day and other bicycle adventures are testimony to that. Moreover I now have no fear of hills! Even the steep steep hill near the Austin hospital! I haven't lost much weight though - just 1kg overall - but my diet has improved as well and I feel much healthier so I count this as a success!
Ideas & Business: Well the ideas side is certainly strong, however hiring is obviously a weak point of mine. No matter who I seem to hire, they are never as committed and seem never to be as skilled as if I just did the work myself. Unfortunately I don't have much time to do everything so I need to improve. I've already attempted to hire 3 separate people for trash2treasure.com - all unsuccessful! Clients are abundant though and new jobs are coming in for ecoIT which is positive.
Household Improvements: A big tick of approval. The home improvements look great - exactly as I anticipated! And there are lots more projects on the list to keep me busy.
Relationships: Mixed results here, but overall I've improved in my ability to be open, to converse with a range of people and to care more about the people I'm close to. Further work is required but I'm pleased by the progress made just by being more open to opportunities.

So you really can turn things around in a mere 3 weeks!

Mini-Adventure 5 Recap: Around the Bay in a Day

2009-10-18T22:06:00.001+11:00

Riding Around the Bay in a Day is actually one of the achievements I'm more proud of this year... Of course we only went 100kms but we did go riding each weekend beforehand to slowly build up a level of fitness that would get us up the hills in Mt Martha! Not only did we build up a good level of 'bike fitness', but we also learnt useful tricks like how to remove bike pedals... the type of alan keys required to turn handle bars parallel to the frame... and the best place to park in the city at 4am on a Sunday morning!

We were off to an early start, and there was a long queue of riders waiting to pack bikes onto trucks and load into the buses to head down to Sorrento... The atmosphere was great though, everyone helping each other to prepare bikes for the trip. 15000 riders participated - that's a logistical nightmare in a city with only 4 24-hour car parks! We arrived a little late in Sorrento, and sadly missed the 8am grand start but we made good time over the first 20km to Dromana for a quick bite of breakkie and some water. The second leg to Frankston was the longest and included all of the hills but we were still hyped on race day excitement so we pressed on after a quick orange stop.

I have to say the 70km point was the worst... My bottom started to hurt... I began to feel my muscles and my wrists were feeling the pressure of the tight grip over the bumps in the road... But a short stop for lunch completely revived us and the last leg of the journey began... We'd done this part of the ride before so it was a smooth run into the city, though it slowed near south melbourne as we began to run into multiple traffic lights and cars. We completed the ride at around 2pm, approximately 5 hours after we'd started... and though tired, I was entirely proud and excited to try for the full distance in 2010!

Jonathan Creek Returns

2009-10-12T13:21:00.006+11:00

For those who don't know, I'm a committed Jonathan Creek fan... So committed in fact that I considered writing a script just to cut out the majority of the work so it would be filmed again! (Each episode takes approximately 6 months to write)... But, my time (and perhaps the general public!) were saved when the screenwriters decided to bring Jonathan Creek back to tv!!! Last night the movie length episode, The Grinning Man, aired on ABC 1... and rumours are already circulating about another movie length episode to be aired in 2010! I knew next year was going to be a good one ;-)

The episode got off to a good start... though both Maddy and Carla were sorely missed... Adam's move from stage to tv seemed to be in character, but the 3d porn and the snow white lady were a bit tasteless for a traditional Jonathan Creek episode... The mystery was good, but not quite as precise as previous episodes... Of course, I'm not complaining in the slightest! I love having Jonathan Creek back on tv and I hope the series will one day return...

I think what makes Jonathan Creek such a good watch is the blend of humour and mystery... and the fact that Jonathan himself is essentially a good person in an increasingly bad world. His sure sense of right and wrong combined with his nerdy competence at solving crimes make him one of the best characters on tv!

For those who've missed it I have, of course, pre ordered the dvd (out on oct 19th) so you are more than welcome to borrow it (or the rest of the collection!)...

And to my friends who've put up with my excited babbling all week, it must be a relief that it's finally over!

Honesty and a Week 2 recap

2009-10-11T13:21:00.001+11:00

Week 2 of the "3 weeks to a better life" plan has been more of a spiritual quest than a physical transformation - though I did finally manage to lose 1kg! Yay!

I think it's all about being open to ideas... to share more of oneself and to be honest about everything! When dinner with Catherine turned into a surprise game of competitive netball (filling in for some missing team mates) - I had a blast! :-) and despite not being very good at netball anymore the subsequent bbq invitation was a welcome change... It turns out that a saturday night spent with chemical engineers (all with phds!) is actually rather entertaining :-)

I also took a conversation class run by a rather inspiring lady, Jacqueline Wise, who clawed her way back from a complete mental breakdown in South Africa (where she couldn't even buy tissues at the shops) to become a world renowned conversationalist and counsellor (though with a terrible memory from the electric shock treatment she received)... I found her honesty refreshing... she's 62... divorced... her house is worth a fortune now, though she bought it when it was worth nothing... etc etc... It made me wonder why I've ever been embarrassed about my age... or my skill levels... or what I have or haven't done... No one can be perfect... and it's actually quite selfish to be shy and nervous and anxious. It made me feel much better about instigating conversations in the streets. I had quite a good chat with the mechanic about the bulbs in cars and how it all works together and how to change them...

I made a small amount of progress with household improvements, though Dad and I hit a major road block with the study shelves - apparently the entire wall is a mess of pipes, electrical cables and indented bathroom shelving... I have high hopes for my steel road through the brackets suggestion but Dad thinks it's too much of a technical challenge... he's off to Darwin this week anyway to get some sun and run a lab up there for a week - funnily enough he's considering a permanent move while Will is still young... (and yes, the rumours are true - I really saw him crawl!)...

Overall a positive and productive week!

Yaaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn

2009-10-01T11:05:00.003+10:00

I would have to say the most unexpected side effect of trying to lead a better life is exhaustion! I've been crashing around 11pm-12pm and flirting with the idea of a sick day every single morning at 6am just for a few more hours of peaceful slumber! I'm sure I didn't always need so much sleep... what happened to all nighters spent coding for my old workplace?

So how has it all been going? Well Sunday was off to a good start with an 84.6km bike ride on the brand new Merida (picture here!). It really is a dream to ride, I feel like I'm floating along an ideal theoretical frictionless surface... The exercise bike has been getting a workout, but not every single day... Last night I got home from a friend's at 11pm and just fell asleep after the normal household duties, so I'm glad I held off on the gym membership! I did cook up the vat of veggie soup and have been diligently eating it for lunch in the lunch room every single day... combined with lots of fruit and cups of tea it's getting me through 'til dinner when I'm either out (mum's, grace's, ikea etc) or I end up having a mug of hot chocolate and a couple of oranges. This entire process has had absolutely no beneficial effect on my weight whatsoever... Disappointing! In fact, I appear to have gained a kilo, but that may be due to digestive troubles.

The projects for the house have definitely made progress... I have most of the materials and just need to polish off the painting before saturday morning... I've even managed to obtain some of the missing '100 best books' from the library to add to my list... I'm still pretty behind for the web work I need to do though... Will keep an eye on that as it should be finished asap...

Just wish there were more waking hours in the day!

3 weeks to a better life

2009-09-26T17:17:00.005+10:00

Apparently it only takes 3 weeks to change your habits and to be living a better life! With Ganesh away for three weeks and the big 'Around the Bay in a Day' trip the day before his return, it seems like the perfect opportunity for self improvement :-) Areas of focus will be health and fitness, ideas and business, household improvements and relationships...

A rough guide as follows:

Week 1

Daily trips to the gym or taekwondo (1 hour every day)
1 hour on the exercise bike each day
Follow the Kickstart diet all week
Have lunch in the lunch room (not at my desk!) everyday and be sociable - try to recruit greenies for the implementation of the sustainable ideas jar project
Recruit a programmer to finish Trash 2 Treasure coding
Get back to various people regarding their job offers and finish their web work!
Obtain recycled wood for bookshelves & workbench project
Clean up the entire house
Clean out the shed
Visit (after work): Mum & the boys, Grandma, Paul, Catherine, Grace
Organise mum's birthday present
Draw out the plan for the garden
Make a final decision on what to decorate the fridge with
Post a daily green card blog entry
Obtain books from the library to read
Create mood boards/project boards for each room of the house for constant inspiration
Make a decision on which photos to print for the photo wall & have them printed

Google's 10^100

2009-09-26T16:23:00.002+10:00

Ganesh has gone off to Nepal for 3 weeks to see his family for dashain... This means that I am manning the fort alone for the immediate future. I wasn't absolutely thrilled to discover this occurring right at the same time the chooks have gone broody but my mood got a mega boost when I discovered that the project I suggested to Google's 10^100 was one of 16 chosen out of 150 000... apparently a few other people had the same idea, but my sentence made it to the project page:

Create an online educational platform that provides free training and education as part of a worldwide, officially accepted degree

If enough people vote for the idea it will be implemented!! Wow!! I'm really excited about the possibilities :-) Please vote here to ensure the project is a success!!

Vijaya Dashami everyone!