New Year's

New Year's Eve party at our friends', Brendan and Kim:


Much fun. Lots of cheek kisses at midnight, thanks in small part to a contingent of Italians (including a couple visiting from Italy who spoke no English).

Burgers

In honor of our 2000th day in Australia (Marjorie figures these things out in Excel), burgers shaped like Australia:

Boxing Day 2

Since Boxing Day fell on a Saturday, we got a bonus Boxing Day today. After house cleaning we took a ride up the river, as far as this Russian Orthodox Church:


Then, since we have a friend's car for the week, we took the dingo up to a fenced in area I discovered on an earlier bike trip, for a little rare off-leash time:

Mall

Braved the Westfield Mall today:


Meet the new mall. Same as the old mall.

Boxing Day

A great day for relaxing...

Xmas chow

Our Xmas day meal:








Just for the two of us! Our fridge is as stuffed as we are right now. (I made the sweet potato soufflé.)

Pierogies

Our Xmas eve tradition: gorging ourselves on pierogies...


Traditionally it's done at my grandmom's house, but obviously that's a lot farther these days than over the river and through the woods. Instead, Borscht, Vodka, and Tears has to suffice.

Ick

Woke up this morning to my eye looking like this:


How did people live before the Internet? Within seconds I was able to learn that it's harmless, often causeless, and will likely go away within ten days.

Sidewiki

Remember this idea I posted about, way back when, about a comment system that lets you post comments on any web page?

I actually forgot I had that idea so long ago. It's been percolating around since then, and I still hadn't found any inherent flaws in it. Recently, I ran it by a couple of coworkers at lunch, and they both thought it was a good idea.

So, finally, after two and a half years, I set a plan to at least work up a prototype over Christmas. Then, just the other day, I ran across a little company who had the same idea. For all practical purposes it's EXACTLY the same idea. It's been getting some buzz.

I've recently come to the conclusion that laziness is my defining personality trait, and here we have a classic example. I can't be too angry, to have come up with the same idea as the mighty Google, but of course it's a little disappointing. I'm mostly just happy that someone built it - someone with clout and technical competence - because the other reason I was excited about the idea was that it was something that I want to actually use.

Radio shows

When I was a kid, my mom and dad used to take us on long car trips every year, down to Florida. I think it was on one of these trips that my dad brought along cassettes of some old radio shows. I don't remember where he got them; maybe they were just rebroadcast some decades after the fact, and he taped them off the radio? At any rate, there were two in particular that I remember, quite distinctly in fact. I thought of them again the other day, and decided to see if I could find them. And I did. See what you think of The Thing On The Fourble Board and Three Skeleton Key (starring Vincent Price). Lots more episodes here and here.

Xmas in Oz

Xmas shopping in Bourke Street mall:


The crowd on the left is queuing for the window display, which is as close to pageantry as Melbourne gets:


A few cheesy animated displays. Don't mean to be a Scrooge, but it's more conveyor belts than the animatronics you'd expect in America.

McDeco

This is the art deco McDonald's in our neighborhood:


I refused to eat at Mackers (as they call it here) for fifteen years prior to coming to Australia. Finally went back once while we were in a the middle of a hectic move, and one more time soon after that, but I decided it was gross and haven't been back since.

Behind this Mackers, there's a brothel (no lie).

M$ Xmas

At the Microsoft Xmas party last night, at a somewhat over-the-top nightclub called Silk Road:

Sauce

Think we maybe should've thrown this out a while ago:

Xmas party II

Marjorie at her office Xmas party, at Fitzroy Bowling Club:


Obviously bowling has a different meaning here.

Ahhhh

Weather was perfect today as I waited for Marjorie and our friends Tamara and Simon to show for our night out at Japanese restaurant Yu'u.

Xmas Party

A few lousy shots from my office Xmas party, same place as the Thanksgiving do we went to last week, and the same lousy weather...

Butterfly Club

We stopped by one of Melbourne's nuttier nightclubs, The Butterfly Club, for a tipple this evening:





It's in an old hotel, and each room is decorated differently. The main attraction is that have actual cabaret, though we have yet to see it.

Trivia

Big winners! We had an epic night at trivia tonight at the Cornish Arms - there were only four of us, but not only did we win first place ($50) for the second week in a row, we also won the $175 bonus question (they add $25 every week until someone gets it) by correctly answering these three questions:

• What chemical element has the lowest boiling point?


• What inappropriately-named land is known as Kalaallit Nunaat by its natives?


• With 89.5 million visitors, what country drew the most tourists last year?

Of course, it's all bar money, meaning we have to go back...

Crush

The morning crush outside Flinders Street Station:


The pedestrian walk signal gives pedestrians the whole intersection.