Six months...

First post for 2008

2007 is over and done with. 2008 is just beginning. I don't feel any different yet so much has happened in the past year... it feels like more than a year has passed and at the same time... time has stood still...

I have stopped working and started studying again in the hopes that it will lead to a better paying job. Something I could enjoy and still earn money doing so. My first exam was supposed to be today but I postponed it cos I wasn't feeling particularly confident. Both my exams are on for next week now and I am working towards getting more knowledgeable.

I started up three new blogs last year and I have been doing pretty good with them too (I think). Sure one of the blogs still has just one post but the other two I have managed to update a lot. Khuscentinel is easy to update cos most of the things I am posting are stuff I find while I surf the Internets. Khuscensations require a lot more time and commitment cos I need to do a little research sometimes.

And this blog? I was going to keep it for just personal updates and personally I have been procrastinating a fair bit. Though I am going to try a bit harder this year on working towards some of my goals.

Keep watching this space.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

A Very Cottony Anniversary

Two years as husband and wife...
Two years in a shared life...

The Weekend

Its been a while since I got to spend the whole weekend at home with my wife. The fact that I used to work on Saturdays meant that I was away for a part of the weekend and when I got home I was usually too tired to be able to do much. This past weekend has been quite different to that and I can get used to this.

Yesterday was also the day of election for Australia and there was pretty much nothing on TV except the election coverage. Kevin Rudd has become the new Prime Minister and John Howard has been sent packing after 11 years of being prime minister. This doesn't really affect us in any way... YET!! Didn't much like John Howard because of his IR laws. If that had not been in effect when I started working I would have earned a lot more than I had so I am not that disappointed to see him leave.

Went to the Vic Market today and bought a whole bunch of stuff. Made me realise why we don't go there so often. But we tried some Spanish Donuts and they were awfully good. I might head back there soon just to get some of those.

Another week starts tomorrow...

sigh...

I Know Everything

I know everything...

I just don't know what they are called or what they do...

The First Day...

The first day was quite enjoyable actually. Instead of learning just about software problems I get to learn about hardware as well. So by the end of this course I will be able to take a computer apart and then rebuild it piece by piece by my very own self. I am starting to get really excited about it now.

Oh and I wrote about that going away present that my coworkers got me - that new schoolbag??? Well turns out that the course actually provides everything that I would need for the course. And I mean everything! So i got an awesome new backpack, as well as all the tools and books. So all in all I have three bags now. How awesome is that?

It was pretty intense. But then I was expecting it to be. And it's only going to get more intense from now on. But I will deal with it... and enjoy myself whilst doing so...

A New Beginning

Yesterday was my last day of work and tomorrow I begin my new studies. Its a bit scary going back to studying after a long break but I have done it before and hopefully I can do it again. Its all part of the master plan.

Last night the place I worked at had their annual Christmas party which I went to as it would be my last time to celebrate with those people with whom I have worked with for more than a year now. It was an OK party and I got hit with a few surprises. I knew they were planning to give me a going away present (as I had seen the envelope with all the collected money and the list of people who had contributed.) But I did not know it was going to be that big.

The girl who organized everything had given me a ride that morning and before that she had said she needed to go into JBHiFi to get a gift card for her son who was having a birthday. I went with her there and after she finished she gave me a lift home. I was quite pleasantly surprised when that gift card ended up with the rest of the gifts that I got. The sneaky little thing! I also got a new schoolbag (*rolls eyes*) and an engraved pen and key chain set.

The party started at 8pm and it was on a boat which sort of cruised the Yarra river for four hours. Dinner and drinks were provided and there was music and lots of dancing. When it finished we were dead tired and went straight to bed when we came home. I guess Dina is still tired out from it as she is taking another nap right now.

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Hey Primary0

Is this how I am meant to view your blog? Or is there something wrong with your website? Or is there something wrong with my computer?

The Case of the Missing Midori

Some weeks ago My wife and I found ourselves in a position in which we needed cash but there did not seem to be any ATMs around. So after walking around for a while and trying at different stores that we came across a bottle shop but we needed to buy something before we could take any cash out. So we opted to buy this 4 pack of Midori Lemon liquor.

Now neither myself nor my wife drink alcohol. That is not to say that we haven't tried any - just that we haven't come across any that we liked enough to keep on buying them. Coca Cola is good enough for us. Anyways after we brought this Midori home, I opened one and tried it, thinking that it should taste of lemon so how bad could it be right? ... It was pretty bad.

So anyways this open bottle went into the fridge and the other three went into the cupboard where it stayed till Dina got fed up and told me to take it to my workplace and give it to my co-workers. So thats what I did.

They seemed to love it. It turned out to be one of their favourite drinks actually. So M put it into the fridge saying it tasted better when cold. That was a Wednesday and we had planned on going to lunch after we finished. And M did not take the bottles with her. They remained in the fridge for two days.

On Friday, I came into the tea room and there was a big riot going on. M was furious as the bottles had disappeared. She was in a real state and had started a tirade about thieves and rotten bastards! It went on for a full 10 minutes after I came in and seemed to have been going on for the past half hour.

So anyway she was giving me a ride home and she was still a bit mad. Her mind was still on the stolen Midori and she almost ran a red light. Luckily she managed to stop before having an accident and I swallowed my heard back down again.

Of course the next day we found out what had really happened to the Midori. The other three in my crew had taken them! When I had brought the bottles in I had told them it was for all of them and M had taken the initiative and put them in the fridge. The other three had thought she might have taken hers already and they had taken the rest! M was not too pleased!

Through all this of course I had a big smile on my face. Who knew that when I bought these drinks that I could not drink, it would lead to so much entertainment.

Motivation pic

via

Birthday Chocs

I got my birthday present from my svigermor last week. They took a month to get to me but they were delicious!

Poor Maldivian

It was so sad. The horse going by the name of Maldivian and who was favourite to win the Caufield cup yesterday did not even run in the race. Just minutes before the race started he reared in the stalls and hit his head in the gates. He was lead away with blood pouring from a neck wound.



photos via heraldsun

Breaking Fast

Ramadan has come and gone and what have I accomplished?? Well, I managed to cook not one but two different Maldivian eats for the breaking of fast. YEP! Two out of Thirty aint bad!


The cutlas came out good. They tasted just as good as when my momma makes them. And I went one better than her. They didn't crack up when being deep fried.

Oh yeah... I ran out of dough while making gulha and six of them went into the deep fryer naked. It didn't taste any good either. The ones in the traditional coats did taste all right. For a first try anyway...

A horse called Maldivian

Yesterday while I was browsing through the news websites I came across this story about Maldivian being the favourite to win the Spring Carnival. Of course at first I thought that it was "A" maldivian and not a horse that went by the name of Maldivian.


Australians are pretty much bonkers about horse racing. They get all dressed up in the best attire and go to races and blow all their money on drinks and betting. Sometimes it seems that the races are no even about horses but just an excuse for the Aussie women to show off their latest fashions. But I digress....

So this horse called Maldivian is a favourite among punters to win the Caulfield Cup which is going to be held on Saturday. If I was a betting man (if I had any money to bet) then I might put it on this horse, and if I win the headlines next day would read : MALDIVIAN WINS BIG ON MALDIVIAN.

Now that is a headline I wanna see. (Also I could use the money...)

The importance of friends

It really is important to have friends. You never know when you are going to need one...

Books, books and more books...

I don't think I will buy books from bookshops for exorbitant prices anymore. I have discovered a much cheaper way of doing that. That is from the secondhand shops. There are so many people who buy books, read them once and then give it away to these secondhand shops to resell them. And they are cheap!

There is a store on Sydney Road called "Savers" which is sort of a secondhand mega store. You can find almost anything there form clothes and books to kitchen utensils and other household item such as curtains, bedsheets etcetera etcetera. I have bought many books from this place for a pittance of their original price. I bought Dean Koontz's Forever Odd, JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and three books containing collections of short stories.

Yesterday I went to this Fete at the local church. They have this every year it seems and there were lots of books there as well. I almost did not go but the wife (God bless her) dragged me there and I bought five books there for just 6 dollars. It would have cost me 12 but they were almost finished with the whole thing so every book was for half their advertised price. Sure some of the books were yellowing and a bit dog-eared but I am not going to keep those ones. I will read it and then probably hand them into another second hand store or even the next church fete.

I should get back to reading now...

Motivation pic

So about this explosion...

I got woken up this morning because my wife saw a news story about the "bombing" in Male'. I ran out to the TV but they had already turned to another story. My thoughts then were that it must have been pretty big to make the news here in Australia. Either that or it has been a very slow news day.

So anyways I got on the internet and the Maldives blogosphere was overflowing with posts about this incident. Someone had made an IED which had exploded in Sultan Park injuring 12 tourists. Two Brits who got the worst of the deal had about 50 percent burns to their bodies and are still in ADK hospital. The ten other tourists have been treated and discharged.

After this morning's news I kept an eye on the TV and about an hour ago SBS World News also reported this story. They also reported that the Australian Government have issued travel warnings to Maldives.

The CCTV video of the explosion has bveen posted on Haveeru. There is also this video on Youtube showing a news report by the BBC. It is a small explosion but given the place it happened, so close to home, it sends chills down my spine.

So Maldives seems to be following in the footsteps of Sri Lanka, Burma and countless other countries where this sort of thing is almost commonplace now. I have friends in Sri Lanka who have relocated to escape the fighting there. I hope, I hope that it doesnt get that bad, that this was just a one time thing and that someday I would be able to bring my wife home with me.

Disappointing...

I was expecting today to be full of excitement what with the planned strike at work and all, but nothing happened! No one went on strike! No one talked about it! It was as if there had been no plans for it at any time and I was only dreaming about this! So it turned out to be just another routine day at work.

Well, on thing did happen. One of my colleagues had her last day of work today. She resigned as there was some conflict between her and her immediate boss. I am not gonna go into details but it was sad as I had been working with her for almost a year now and I probably won't see her again. Good luck to her anyways!