Apparently it's for sale but I have no idea how much they're asking. They had a full size Jar Jar Binks and Darth Maul too, very cool!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Special Guest at the wedding I am
Apparently it's for sale but I have no idea how much they're asking. They had a full size Jar Jar Binks and Darth Maul too, very cool!
Wedding Present
We artists work well under pressure!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Wedding Pictures
The present and the future? Me and my Dad. Is this a vision of what I'll look like when I'm 70? If Dad and Dad's Dad are anything to go by the answer is yes as Dad looks more and more like Big Pa every time I see him. I don't know whether he'll like that or not but there's no arguing with the facts. Similarly my Mum is looking more like her Mum, my Nan, too. He is currently sitting beside me as I post this, playing with his lap top as we compare blogging and computer notes.
My sister Vicki, mother of the bride, and Dad who always refers to her as his favourite daughter. No such preferential status is conferred on me! May have something to do with him having 3 sons and only the one daughter! I hope so!
L-R Dad (Grandpa) Stacey, Jake, Mum (Nan)
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Home in One Piece
We're home.
After 35 and a half hours on the road we arrived in Busselton safe and sound.
Apart from the hordes of kangaroos taunting us after Eucla everything went smoothly and we touched down at 8.45pm.
The kids were excited, having a real live Grandpa come to visit them.
Grandpa was a little too tired to be excited but he enjoyed their welcome.
Back to work tomorrow after a very BIG weekend so it's time to go to bed!
After 35 and a half hours on the road we arrived in Busselton safe and sound.
Apart from the hordes of kangaroos taunting us after Eucla everything went smoothly and we touched down at 8.45pm.
The kids were excited, having a real live Grandpa come to visit them.
Grandpa was a little too tired to be excited but he enjoyed their welcome.
Back to work tomorrow after a very BIG weekend so it's time to go to bed!
Monday, March 05, 2007
Kangaroolette
We're at Balladonia. Where's Balladonia?
The middle of the middle of nowhere!
About 1000km from Perth actually, at a Roadhouse, the first one we;ve found open in the last 4-5.
We left Adelaide at 8.15am Sunday, stopped at Wudinna for a couple of hours and left there at about 5.pm.
It's now 9.15 am WA time and we've been on the road about 26 hours.
Someone warned us that there was 300km of kangaroos from Eucla onwards.
Sure enough, there was 300km of kangaroos from Eucla onwards.
For about 4 hours we played Kangaroolette.
While one drove the other spotted and it was a full time job.
Most of the roos had the brains or the decency to get off the road or stay out of the way but every now and then 1-2 of them would decide to tempt fate and jump straight across the road in front of us.
We were driving pretty slowly so managed to avoid them all although the jury is out on whether Dad has lost his 100% clean record of never having hit a native animal; one little roo scampered across the highway and sharp brakin resulted in the bumper bar just clipping the tipof his tail. Neither roo nor vehicle were harmed but we await the decision on whether this constituted an official "hit".
We were mightily relieved to see the last of them about half way between Caiguna and Balladonia.
We were both pretty tired by then so stopped for a rest and got about three hours sleep in the front seats of the car, not a bad result.
We've stopped for breakfast, then onto Norseman, approx 300km west of here before taking a dirt road from there to Hyden then on home to Busselton.
ETA. 9.pm
The middle of the middle of nowhere!
About 1000km from Perth actually, at a Roadhouse, the first one we;ve found open in the last 4-5.
We left Adelaide at 8.15am Sunday, stopped at Wudinna for a couple of hours and left there at about 5.pm.
It's now 9.15 am WA time and we've been on the road about 26 hours.
Someone warned us that there was 300km of kangaroos from Eucla onwards.
Sure enough, there was 300km of kangaroos from Eucla onwards.
For about 4 hours we played Kangaroolette.
While one drove the other spotted and it was a full time job.
Most of the roos had the brains or the decency to get off the road or stay out of the way but every now and then 1-2 of them would decide to tempt fate and jump straight across the road in front of us.
We were driving pretty slowly so managed to avoid them all although the jury is out on whether Dad has lost his 100% clean record of never having hit a native animal; one little roo scampered across the highway and sharp brakin resulted in the bumper bar just clipping the tipof his tail. Neither roo nor vehicle were harmed but we await the decision on whether this constituted an official "hit".
We were mightily relieved to see the last of them about half way between Caiguna and Balladonia.
We were both pretty tired by then so stopped for a rest and got about three hours sleep in the front seats of the car, not a bad result.
We've stopped for breakfast, then onto Norseman, approx 300km west of here before taking a dirt road from there to Hyden then on home to Busselton.
ETA. 9.pm
Sunday, March 04, 2007
A Good Day
The wedding was lovely. Not without it's disappointments but considering all the factors it went well. Familys are very difficult animals at times!
I just finished my painting by the time we had to leave, and even did a few little touch ups once we were at the wedding to finish it properly.
Afterwards we had dinner at a pub and I was able to watch the frst half of the Geelong game on Foxtel. I listened to the rest on the radio as we drove home and back at the unit and got very excited as Geelong first snatched a draw then again came from behind to win in extra time against Port.
We leave for Wudinna early in the morning then onto WA. Should be home tomorrow night all going well.
I just finished my painting by the time we had to leave, and even did a few little touch ups once we were at the wedding to finish it properly.
Afterwards we had dinner at a pub and I was able to watch the frst half of the Geelong game on Foxtel. I listened to the rest on the radio as we drove home and back at the unit and got very excited as Geelong first snatched a draw then again came from behind to win in extra time against Port.
We leave for Wudinna early in the morning then onto WA. Should be home tomorrow night all going well.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Arrived Safe and Sound
Other than my flight being delayed about half an hour everything else went smoothly today and I am now at my sister's unit in Adelaide the night before the wedding.
Dad and Rex picked me up from the airport, Vicki and Mum, Matthew and Rhianna (and their sleeping boys) were all here when I arrived.
Amidst plenty of laughter and stories I pulled out my paints and set to work on a wedding present for Stacey and Jake. There was plenty of "creative input" from the family audience who I think are skeptical about the final product having only seen the preparation stages tonight!
Hopefully it will be pleasing to the happy couple and satisfactory to the various family art critics by the time it's finished.
It's only 12.30 by my body clock but 2.00 Adelaide time so it's time for bed.
Dad and Rex picked me up from the airport, Vicki and Mum, Matthew and Rhianna (and their sleeping boys) were all here when I arrived.
Amidst plenty of laughter and stories I pulled out my paints and set to work on a wedding present for Stacey and Jake. There was plenty of "creative input" from the family audience who I think are skeptical about the final product having only seen the preparation stages tonight!
Hopefully it will be pleasing to the happy couple and satisfactory to the various family art critics by the time it's finished.
It's only 12.30 by my body clock but 2.00 Adelaide time so it's time for bed.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Adelaide Here I Come
I'm about to pick up Jordan from school and head to perth. He's going to a concert tomorrow, I'm flying to Adelaide tonight to go to Stacey's wedding tomorrow. One of the best bits about weddings is getting together with family and friends. I'm looking forward to seeing my sister Vicki, pictured above. She lives at Wudinna, a small town on the Eyre Peninsula and the edge of the desert in South Australia. We don't see one another very often so it's always special when we get together.
Dad has driven down from Queensland already, and likewise, visits are a long way apart so it will be great to see him, and the rest of the clan.
The day after the wedding Dad and I are heading west, driving home across the Nullabor.
The following weekend even more of the family will regather in Perth for Jenna's wedding.
Bring it on, it's party season.
Reading the Cards
Apologies that these pics are sideways, it's too late to work out how to fix it now.
These cards are from the AFL Ambassadors function at Subiaco Oval on Sunday night that I went to with Sport Boy. At the end of the function I found them on the seats in the front row and thought they were interesting.
The first is for Peter Bell, senior player and former captain of the Fremantle Dockers, who spoke to the group about his life in football. The card is in good condition as you can see. Admittedly Belly arrived late and was not seated for long before he got up to speak.
The second looks quite different as you can see. It was for Chris Judd, captain of the West Coast Eagles. I don't know if he was bored, or anxious or nervous but he certainly gave his card a good hammering in the half hour he was sitting there before he too spoke to the group.
Perhaps he was concerned about the latest indiscretion of one of his team mates who had been arrested the night before for serious assault?
The final card is fro Dr Neale Fong, head of the WA Football Commission. If anyone should have been nervous it's Neale. In his other life he's head of the WA Health Department and is Australia's highest paid public servant, earning twice as much as the Prime Minister. Why should he be nervous? Because the health dept is continually under fire and he has been taken to task by the media many times for perceived shortcomings in fixing the problems in the health dept. His wife also got into trouble last year for a driving offence which attracted some negative publicity. Despite this, he was cool calm and collected. I know Neale from yet another previous life, as head of Youth Ministries in the Church of Christ, and apart from being a West Coast fan is quite a nice bloke.
These cards are from the AFL Ambassadors function at Subiaco Oval on Sunday night that I went to with Sport Boy. At the end of the function I found them on the seats in the front row and thought they were interesting.
The first is for Peter Bell, senior player and former captain of the Fremantle Dockers, who spoke to the group about his life in football. The card is in good condition as you can see. Admittedly Belly arrived late and was not seated for long before he got up to speak.
The second looks quite different as you can see. It was for Chris Judd, captain of the West Coast Eagles. I don't know if he was bored, or anxious or nervous but he certainly gave his card a good hammering in the half hour he was sitting there before he too spoke to the group.Perhaps he was concerned about the latest indiscretion of one of his team mates who had been arrested the night before for serious assault?
The final card is fro Dr Neale Fong, head of the WA Football Commission. If anyone should have been nervous it's Neale. In his other life he's head of the WA Health Department and is Australia's highest paid public servant, earning twice as much as the Prime Minister. Why should he be nervous? Because the health dept is continually under fire and he has been taken to task by the media many times for perceived shortcomings in fixing the problems in the health dept. His wife also got into trouble last year for a driving offence which attracted some negative publicity. Despite this, he was cool calm and collected. I know Neale from yet another previous life, as head of Youth Ministries in the Church of Christ, and apart from being a West Coast fan is quite a nice bloke.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Opposite Sexes
Found this on Cliff's Blog (one of my Dad's bloggging mates).
Very funny.
The Difference between men and women.
Very funny.
The Difference between men and women.
Stormy
Wild weather has hit town today, making my bike ride with the year 10's a dodgy proposition this afternoon, and causing the cancellation of Beach Volleyball tonight. When I got there not only was nobody there, half the beach was missing too.
I came home and painted!
Only two more sleeps until I fly to Adelaide for the weekend to go to my niece Stacey's wedding.
Dad is coming down from Queensland and then we're driving back to WA across the Nullabor together, for driving companionship, and "some bonding" as Dad put it on the phone, pretty enlightened for a 70 year old Aussie male!
I came home and painted!
Only two more sleeps until I fly to Adelaide for the weekend to go to my niece Stacey's wedding.
Dad is coming down from Queensland and then we're driving back to WA across the Nullabor together, for driving companionship, and "some bonding" as Dad put it on the phone, pretty enlightened for a 70 year old Aussie male!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Good For Business? Hardly!
I don't drink alcohol.
I don't smoke.
I don't use other drugs.
But I am very partial to Vanilla Diet Coke.
I buy it in bulk when it's on special. I've been known to drive around to half a dozen shops and service stations looking for it, quite prepared to stay thirsty until I find some. (A fruitless search in Dunsborough by the way!)
So it's no great surprise that I drove 5km out of Bunbury to the Shell roadhouse yesterday afternoon in search of a VDC. (I was already in Bunbury for a doctor's appointment in case you're wondering.)
No good.
They didn't have any. There was row upon row of straight Coke, and even plenty of Diet Coke, but no Vanilla Coke, let alone Vanilla Diet Coke.
I wasn't happy.
I asked to speak to the manager. I figure I'm a customer, if I don't let him know what I'm looking for how can he provide for me?
After a couple of minutes he appears.
One of my kids has called me on the mobile so I can't speak to him straight away.
He walks away, wiping his hands on a paper towel, showing very little interest in me or anything I may have to say.
I get off the phone, follow him and introduce myself as a customer, offering a handshake and saying my name is Marcus. He didn't tell me his name.
"I'm a customer who comes through here reasonably often. I'm disappointed that you don't stock Vanilla Diet Coke, not even Vanilla Coke."
I don't know exactly what response I expected, but it certainly wasn't the one I got.
"No, and I won't be getting it in either, not just to satisfy one person".
He was wiping his hands of me in exactly the same manner as if I was the dirt he washed off before coming out at my request.
Am I naive or are people in business supposed to have a vested interest in gaining, keeping and satisfying customers?
"So you're not interested in my business?"
(Sure, I know a bottle of Coke isn't worth much, but if, as often happens, I want a drink and need petrol then he's got a potential customer of worth. I've bought fuel there plenty of times.)
"No I'm not".
I'm amazed at his bluntness and lack of courtesy.
"Well if you're not interested in my business I guess there's nothing else to say".
and I head for the door.
Not content with losing me he throws a taunt after me.
"I'm not losing a customer, I'm gaining business."
This totally flaws me because he's said directly to me that by not stocking a product I'm interested in he is improving his business!
How exactly?
Due to his lack of interest, rude response, dismissiveness and arrogance I can promise you that I will never buy petrol, Coke or anything else from his establishment again. How that can be good for his business is beyond me.
I want to stress that throughout this exchange I was polite and friendly, certainly up to the point when he treated me with such disdain.
Make up your own mind but I certainly won't be recommending the Shell Roadhouse just before you get to Bunbury to anyone!
PS. I couldn't find a picture of the Australian version of VDC on Google, but I did find disturbing news that both Vanilla Coke and Vanilla Diet Coke have been phased out in America and the UK!
That's not good!!
I don't smoke.
I don't use other drugs.
But I am very partial to Vanilla Diet Coke.
I buy it in bulk when it's on special. I've been known to drive around to half a dozen shops and service stations looking for it, quite prepared to stay thirsty until I find some. (A fruitless search in Dunsborough by the way!)
So it's no great surprise that I drove 5km out of Bunbury to the Shell roadhouse yesterday afternoon in search of a VDC. (I was already in Bunbury for a doctor's appointment in case you're wondering.)
No good.
They didn't have any. There was row upon row of straight Coke, and even plenty of Diet Coke, but no Vanilla Coke, let alone Vanilla Diet Coke.
I wasn't happy.
I asked to speak to the manager. I figure I'm a customer, if I don't let him know what I'm looking for how can he provide for me?
After a couple of minutes he appears.
One of my kids has called me on the mobile so I can't speak to him straight away.
He walks away, wiping his hands on a paper towel, showing very little interest in me or anything I may have to say.
I get off the phone, follow him and introduce myself as a customer, offering a handshake and saying my name is Marcus. He didn't tell me his name.
"I'm a customer who comes through here reasonably often. I'm disappointed that you don't stock Vanilla Diet Coke, not even Vanilla Coke."
I don't know exactly what response I expected, but it certainly wasn't the one I got.
"No, and I won't be getting it in either, not just to satisfy one person".
He was wiping his hands of me in exactly the same manner as if I was the dirt he washed off before coming out at my request.
Am I naive or are people in business supposed to have a vested interest in gaining, keeping and satisfying customers?
"So you're not interested in my business?"
(Sure, I know a bottle of Coke isn't worth much, but if, as often happens, I want a drink and need petrol then he's got a potential customer of worth. I've bought fuel there plenty of times.)
"No I'm not".
I'm amazed at his bluntness and lack of courtesy.
"Well if you're not interested in my business I guess there's nothing else to say".
and I head for the door.
Not content with losing me he throws a taunt after me.
"I'm not losing a customer, I'm gaining business."
This totally flaws me because he's said directly to me that by not stocking a product I'm interested in he is improving his business!
How exactly?
Due to his lack of interest, rude response, dismissiveness and arrogance I can promise you that I will never buy petrol, Coke or anything else from his establishment again. How that can be good for his business is beyond me.
I want to stress that throughout this exchange I was polite and friendly, certainly up to the point when he treated me with such disdain.
Make up your own mind but I certainly won't be recommending the Shell Roadhouse just before you get to Bunbury to anyone!
PS. I couldn't find a picture of the Australian version of VDC on Google, but I did find disturbing news that both Vanilla Coke and Vanilla Diet Coke have been phased out in America and the UK!
That's not good!!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Sunset over Subi
Wow!
How I'd have liked a wide angle lens and a higher quality camera to fully capture the scene.
Familiar Faces at the Footy
He and Bruce were both merry as a result of their hip flask enhanced Diet Cokes!
At the pre-game function for the AFL School Ambassador Program I met up with a former Carine student, Brad Smith, who plays for West Coast. Sadly he's had two knee reconstructions in the last two seasons, one of which resulted from an injury at a scratch match down at Busselton that Sport Boy and I went to. While I was chatting to Brad and listening to the lows and depression he went through dealing with his injuries, another former Carine student, Nicole came over and said g'day. She's a primary school teacher and a school ambassador. With all this reuniting of Carine people happening, (incidentally, Bruce Mike and I are all former Carine students as well
as staff members) it was sad to hear that the father of one of Nicole's school friends had died suddenly last week, aged just 53, of a heart attack. I encouraged Nicole to never pass up opportunities or waste time waiting for life to happen, we never know when we're going to die or how long we've got.
It was great to catch up with old friends, and to enjoy the footy.
Sport Boy Flying the Flag For Freo
Sunday, February 25, 2007
G'day Mate, it's Bruce, you know our boat?
Would you like it?
Confused silence.
What do you mean?
We don't have room for it any more and we were going to sell it but Simon said, "Why don't we give it to the Holts?
Wow!
So, would you like it?
Yeah! Fantastic. Thank you.
This conversation took place three days ago. This evening we met up at the Augusta Mission Team reunion in Bunbury and Bruce delivered the boat! He oriented me to it's features, how to load and unload it, how to start it and drive it, even how to clear the tricky little blockage that occasionally occurs in the carby etc. Never having owned a boat it was a bit of a crash course and I'll need some practical experience to really get the hang of it. It's not suited to real ocean going, more for rivers, or the days when Geographe Bay is calm and tranquil. It comes with a "Biscuit", an inflatable raft that you sit or lie on while being towed along by the boat! That's pretty cool!
I'll need to get my Skipper's Ticket and find out the ins and outs of owning a boat. One of the teachers at school runs classes to get a Skipper's ticket so I should be able to get that without too much drama.
Our main challenge is working out where to store it. It will have to live in the backyard for now, in between the trampoline and the rabbits.
Ahoy!
Wow!
At the Augusta Reunion tonight our team cook Jenny was a little late, having been at her son's wedding all day. We were all rapt to see her, especially as she looked so lovely all dressed up. I want to say this tactfully but this is not normally how we see Jen. She looked great and was glowing, a product no doubt of it being such a special day.
Mum and Walter called in for a while before heading to Perth. Mum flies out to Adelaide on Wednesday and I fly on Friday night, we're going over for my niece Stacey's wedding.
It's obviously wedding season because the following weekend is another niece, Jenna's wedding back here in Perth, so we'll be enjoying a double dose of family gatherings.
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