A Storm is Coming

Most of my friends don’t care much about sport, and I don’t either, unless I get caught up in a tipping contest (I think I’ve won this year) or if it is the cricket and perhaps if it looks like Richmond is going to finish ninth.

I put on the radio last night to listen to a program about television, and as I put it on a bit early and caught the end of The Storm Hour. Probably the only hour on radio in Melbourne dedicated to the Rugby League team Melbourne Storm.

The Storm is playing in a final on the weekend and the weather forecast is for a storm, ie hail, rain, thunder, lightning, wind, etc. However the nice Melbourne Storm supporters in Sydney interpreted the weather forecast, not as a forecast for the weather but a forecast of the match, the Melbourne Storm will triumph – which tickled my sense of humour.

Bring your raincoats and good luck.

The AFL grand final is on this Saturday and instead of watching it, I’ll be watching a play – does this mean that I’ll have to move to WA or Tassie? (I dont think I'ld enjoy QLD or SA. And I'm too much of a Victorian to move to NSW)

What is Intelligence?

What is Intelligence?

For a number of people intelligence is perceived to be linked to what you/they have read. Who hasn’t heard someone say: “You haven’t read Niffenegger? What sort of slime have you crawled out of?”

I love lists of books. I love circling the books that I would love to read. My friend Erin sent me this list of 100 books (And most of them are very well known – there are only six that I have not heard of) and I have read 29 of them. That made me feel a bit un-intelligent, also because the ones that I have read are mostly either kid’s books or science-fiction. Then again, I think people should read the types of books that interest them, and not read books just because the book is a “classic”.

Working at a leading educational University I showed the list to an academic and she said “I’ve read ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ and it is an awful book” . Movies on the other hand, any one who hasn’t seen “The Dish” should be deported...

...However, getting back on topic… “The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books” If I only have to admit to reading six, I will choose…

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
I quote it almost every day (well definitely every day that I talk to Stace – thanks for suggesting that I read it, it’s just a shame I didn’t read it for about three years after you suggested it)

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Because of how it relates to Jasper Fforde – and I shouldn’t hide my geekiness (thanks E and S).

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
Amazing book and I like it how list incorporate new books, especially books such as The Curious Incident, which I can imagine will be seen as a classic in ten and fifty and a hundred years time.

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
Because I read most of it to my nephew which was a very nice experience.


I don’t like how the list contains both: “The Complete Works of Shakespeare” and “Hamlet” I have not read Hamlet. I’ve started Hamlet, and I’m sorry to say that I couldn’t get into it and I couldn’t finish it. It just might not be my cup of tea. I’ll give it a rest and have another go in a year or two. But I think the list would be better served by replacing Hamlet with: “The Princess Bride – by William Goldman.” Or something else…

Am I a book snob? I hope not – though I probably am. Anyway I’m not going to let the list get me down. I will use it as motivation (though that is not quite the word I want) and find five books that I would like to read (I leave the fifth book as your suggestion):

1. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
2. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
3. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
4. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
5. ___________________________

Or what books would you like to add to the list????

Anywhoo here is the list, do to it what you wish.

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. Tag other book nerds---and that would include me. I want to know who's read what.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Total Read: 7

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (about half of them)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger -
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

Total: 3

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

Total: 3

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

Total: 3

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown -
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

Total: 2

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Total: 3

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Total: 0

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt

Total: 2

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

Total: 4

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Total: 2

Grand Total: 29

In Search of Relaxation

After a very busy and stressful month at work it is nice to take a few days off and go in search of that weird concept called rest.

People have different ideas of what rest is, for some it is gardening, and for others it is sports. However I think that you can’t go wrong with a good book and a coffee or two. And while I’m searching for a coffee perhaps some music…

The forecast was for a fine day with strong winds developing at 5:00pm with hail, rain and lightning. But I would be fine. I’ll be back by four (famous last words?).

The day started out fine. The sky so clear and blue, as if it had been newly washed and the trees and grasses were green!

David has been rehearsing the trumpet part for Miserable Les for his symphonic orchestra which made me want to hear Phillip (from Play School) sing about stars, (as it naturally would) so I put on the CD as I drove down the Monash and the South Gippy Highway. Enjoying the nice trip and the nice scenery.

A calming two hours and 201.7km later I find myself in Yarram. A sign informs me that the time is 11:45 and that the temperature is 14 degrees Celsius. I stepped out of my car (after parking it), breathed in the fresh air, flipped a coin to help choose between “The Brightonomicon” and “The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse” and took the winner to find some coffee.

And lo and behold, Coffee was found at the Crazy Dog Café.

One cappuccino and a couple of intriguing chapters later and the wanderlust hit me again, so I staggered up, returned to my car and drove peacefully to my next stop. Which is roughly where I caught Hunters and Collectors singing “Throw Your Arms Around Me” on 96.7 (Triple J) – I think it is a conspiracy that previously I have only heard Paul McDermott sing it, once extremely, extremely well. And the other times not at the same standard.

A salad sandwich and a coffee and more chapters of THCBOTA were consumed in a helpful town where large flags proudly boasted the town’s name outside shops in bright patriotic spender.

Though their music shops had a lot of CDs covering both kinds of music (country and western), sadly I couldn’t find the Blues’ Brothers soundtrack for my brother. However I did see this nice pun on a furniture shop.

Which made me think of some of Weird’s music, which I listened to on the way home (Poodle Hat). But then hunger set in. I drove through Morwell, no cafés jumped out, and the only prominent places to eat seemed to be fast food joints.

I continued driving to Trafalgar where I found Café Obsession whose staff and cliental were happy and jovial and I ordered a cappuccino and a bite to eat. The chocolate muffin was superb – not too chocolately, just right. And the cappuccino was delicious. - by far the best stop on my route.

And I had a groovy second coffee and read in total relaxation, enjoying the atmosphere and gazing out the windows.

And what lovely windows they were:

Near the bottom were swooping birds and a list of substances available at the Café; cupcake; chocolate; experience; latte; hope; etc. And that is what I associate coffee with; experience; love; acceptance; friends; happiness…

And then a gentle drive home (with a little bit of rain a bit of wind (gusts up to 100km/hr) and a bit of radio 774am)

Good Weekend

I’ve had two beautiful weekends. I have travelled to Canberra and chatted with three great friends and hopefully made a new friend. I’ve been called Uncle Andrew which has a nice feeling to it, and slipped behind Stace’s back and had a game of Chess with Aidan. Shhhh!!!! Don’t tell Stace. It was very very nice to see S and A so very happy.

And then I took Ewan, my six year old nephew, to Science Works and they had a Star Wars exhibition which was amazing. We got to see models of space ships, clones, puppets, costumes. It was very fun. And I think Ewan enjoyed it too. I know that he did enjoy singing Weird Al’s “The Saga Begins” and “Ode to a Superhero” (Spiderman) for the entire hour long trip home. I really need to introduce him to the original “American Pie” lyrics or he will get very confused later in life…

I wonder what next weekend will bring…

"My my this here Anakin guy
Maybe Vader someday later
Now he's just a small fry
He left his home
And kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin'
Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi
Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

Weird Al Yankovic's 'The Saga Begins' to the tune of Don McLean's 'American Pie'

Work

Things that annoy me - Number 32 - Bosses who can’t use Email properly.

I occasionally send emails on behalf on my bosses. I just sent out one to about 280 students. About 80 have replied to me so far instead of the boss. So I forward the email to her. Instead of her repling to the student, she sends the reply to me and I forward it to the student. This wastes heaps of my valuable time. Which I have gently informed her. And I have told her how to copy the student’s email address and paste it into the “To” field, but she just keeps on forwarding them to me.

On the other hand at work you get esteemed doctors noticing the sun shinning through a window and promptly fainting in surprise

Which then gets this song stuck in your head…

Gliddy glub gloopy nibby nabby noopy
La la la, lo lo
Sabba sibbi sabba noody aba nada
Lee lee, lo lo
Tooby ooby wala
Nooby aba naba
Early morning singin’ song

Drinking Problem

Okay I admit it, I have a problem with coffee, well with drinking coffee. Imagine the scene, its one of those beautiful Melbourne Autumn mornings where everything is fresh and misty, the sun is starting to come out and warm up and you just know that it will be a nice warm day.

The time is 10am and you have had a productive morning and you deserve a break, so you shout the boss to a cup of coffee. You are sitting down, enjoying intelligent conversation and cradling the coffee to warm up your hands – too hot to drink. Then you blink and suddenly your cup is empty, the entire contents are now on your lap. The coffee spreading out looking like you have seriously wet yourself. Your think woollen jumper soaked through, your t-shirt as well.

You ask the octogenarian barista for some napkins, he is too busy flirting with some first year students and you receive one measly small napkin which doesn’t help at all. Now the milk is making your woollen jumper smell, and smell bad. The barista finally realises you need help but it is too late, there is only one thing to do and that is to go home, change clothes and have a shower. But first you must go up three flights of stairs to your office to get your stuff, you take your jumper off, holding it in front of your soiled pants hoping to hide the huge stains and sneak up the back stairs. You get your stuff run for the car and drive home.

Oh Coffee, after every thing that I have done for you?

Hello, my name is Andrew and I have a drinking problem...

Coffee Problem? Me?

I wanted to take a photo of every coffee and hot chocolate that I drank for a week, but I quickly realised that I would have heaps of photos that look almost the same. So instead I took photos of coffee and hot chocolates from all the places where I consumed such drinks in about a month.

cuppachino at work

cuppachino in Yarragon

a very large hot chocolate

cuppachino in Mount Waverley

white coffee at Dad's house

hot chocolate Glen Waverley style

cuppachino in Nagambie by the lake on a wintery day

chocolate martini at my chocolate spot

cuppachino at the pizza place in Chadstone
bust coffee in Chadstone says my aunt

at work when a normal cuppachino wont do

white coffee at Gran's house

when waiters give you a take away cup when you wanted to eat in

sister's house in Healesville
similar table to at work

a latte in my chocolate spot in Chadstone

a hot chocolate in my chocolate spot in Chadstone

in Eltham

cuppachino to go with the cake?

accross the road in Bundoora

at work

best coffee in Benalla

more cuppachinos in Benalla