More new HP

How come no one has pirated these yet so I can have a read as well? So selfish...

Celebrity spotting

It's been a while since I lunched at Ichiban Boshi so I decided head down that end today. On my way back south for a meeting at UTS I saw Andrew O'Keefe, dressed in a sky-blue jumper, much like his usual suave on-screen styles, & carrying his little daughter in his arms just along George Street. Then I decided to stop into this buddhist shop at Central & saw Ohad Rein (aka Old Man River) sculking around the shop! I actually didn't know who he was, just that he looked kinda odd in a creative way if you know what I mean. Alas that was it for the day & it was head back down talking about analysing surveys & making stuff up for the PhD...

The emperor's new clothes

I'ts nearing the end of May & we're getting sub-10'C night temps so it's time to thicken up for hibernation. Last winter was a particularly cold one for Sydney so I made a vest like thingy using some scraps for the dog but the elastic is now gone & bits of it is torn also from rolling around, so this past weekend I spent a morning making a new one using a more durable material & a free pattern that I found online. It is now off-white poly-vinyl with a snazzy cyan-blue velcro from neck-snap & buckle around the waist, very stylish. The padding, however, is quite bulky so now B looks more like a Merino sheep than a dog when he has it on. You can see his other photos here.

* Yay, even the titanium ring has arrived!

Mails galore

It's been mails galore these 3 days. First there was the pasta machine. My pasta machine broke a few months ago & last month I finally called the warranty people to see how to have it repaired. They told me to send it in, reply-paid; so I did, not thinking that I'd hear from them again. But out of the blue, someone rang the door bell late Tuesday arvo & it was a courier guy sending back my pasta maker! Well, a replacement. I haven't had time to try it out yet, but it looks brand new so I'd need to dough-clean it again before using it for real. Yay, fresh pasta for Games Night Spectacular Anniversary Party!!

For my up-coming trip towards the end of the year I need to renew my passport as my old one expired last Nov. They said 2 weeks but on Monday I got an email confirmation that it had already been done after just 1 week!! Yippy! So I got my new passport yesterday & quickly put the new details on my claim form to get my free tickets before my frequent flyer points expire in Aug. Ah, when are those freebies gonna come?

Finally found the Ray Ban Wayfarers that I had been looking for at a good price & it was FedExed to my office on Tuesday. But as I only 'work' Thurs & Fri I had to wait until just now to get my hands on them (chucked in a pair of Aviator in gun metal to take advantage of the sale!! :P). They are just as I had imagined but only better. Can't wait to try them out if not for being couped up indoors all day & the cloudy forecast...

Now only the titanium ring to come.

18.65

I was told that I haven't been blogging for a little while (which is true) so here goes...

Yay, WiiFit is finally released here in Aus!! Needless to say I pre-ordered it, which I guess was kinda a mistake. Not to say that it's not a good game, not at all. It was a mistkae simply because I originally ordered it online at JB which later notified me of a delivery delay so of course I promptly cancelled that order & placed another order at Dick Smith for the same price (A$134 minus the delivery fee). I actually shopped around for quite a bit before, with no one was able to tell me how much they would be selling the game for (Toys 'R' Us for example had a A$20 voucher rebate but didn't say if they were selling it at the RRP of A$150 or not). On Wednesday (day before release) all the new junk mail started coming in & I saw both K-Mart & Big W were selling it for just $119!!! I'm never doing pre-orders again! But that aside, WiiFit is great, & hard! I only tried it out for about 30min yesterday evening & I was struggling with the yoga & muscle workout sections. I wasn't even any good with some of the games like slalom & the headbuding. At least I got my weight measured & BMI calculated. Coming from a 13% body fat early last year I of course wasn't holding out for a 'normal' BMI. I think 1 time I calculated myself to be 15 or something which needless to say was sub/abnormal. To my surprise that the Balance Board actually measured me to be just a tick under 60kg & a BMI of 18.65 (based on my guestimate height of 178cm of course). For those who have tried out the WiiFit already you'd know that it puts you straight to work. After measruing my BMI it immediately asked me to set a goal for improvement (I set a measely 19.0 BMI in 2 weeks) & sent me to exercises. So far my left balance is better than my right which is I guess strange for a righty (even though I often play WiiTennis as a lefty & also sweep left-handed in real life). Speaking of tennis, can't wait for TopSpin3 to come out on Wii, which is scheduled for end of this month. After this there's only Bomberman!! Hmm, I wonder if it's online on the Wii Shop Channel already...