Please make welcome...

http://www.saowen.blogspot.com/

Now let's see if Maureen will come and play...

Congratulations!!!!

To Tim and Jennifer who were married on Saturday!

*throws confetti because birds die on rice*

I guess now is not the right moment to bring up all those cute little stories of when you were little.

All I can say is, Kum Koon Restaurant must have *loved* watching the Tsai/Cheang kids grow up!!!

A Note to My Readers

tsaiWare is not my blogspot. tsaiWare belongs to my sister, Joyce.

Some of you may have clicked on that link and thought, 'My goodness... Jude knits! When does she have time to do that? Maybe she knits between records... '

Well, I don't. Nor do I understand knitting, crochetting and quilting. I have nothing against them, I've just never been good at sewing or textiles or whatever you choose to call it.

And I certainly have no affection for Blythe dolls. They sit right below clowns on the fear factor list.

Careers Expo

Well... I've been asked to go along with James to the University of Melbourne, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning Careers Expo on Monday, September 12th. We will be presenting our 'firm to students and talk with them about the process of gaining employment'.

I don't really know what I'll have to say to them considering I sort of fell into this job.

I also suggested to Murray that it would be a better idea if they had someone more friendly and approachable there. As in *not me*.

Alas, I've been roped into it. Fun. I might stand there waving my arm slowly, yelling 'GO BAAAAAACK!!!'

Are Nokia mobile phones the superior phone?

I don't think so.

I used to be pro-Nokia but now I've really adapted to my Motorola. That and I love having a flip phone.

I do still have a Nokia but I find it very cumbersome and not at all user friendly when it comes to sending text messages and whatsits. Even simply accessing the right menu is a pain in the derriere. Plus I've really grown accustomed to having assigned ringtones for my friends... There's nothing quite as exhilirating (or embarrassing) as having 'Holiday' by Madonna blast out of your phone at work because you've forgotten to put it on silent.

But I digress... My main gripe about Nokias is that you aren't provided with the data cable and transferring software when you purchase your handset. It's a travesty.

Not really.

Mother Hubbard

Chester goes incognito.

That's not happiness to see me...

'I don't care if you've worked with Julie for 10 years, you're still paying to get in.'

Just because she drinks raspberry lemonade, doesn't mean she's nice.

One of the best door bitches in town.

Ladies and gentlemen...

For your viewing pleasure...

Introducing the 'Requests Hall of Shame'!!!

I will be working on this blog this weekend so hopefully there will be something for you to look at come Monday.

As I was saying to Jane this morning, now that I've acquired a digital camera, I have just increased my chances of being thumped in the head by ten-fold.

Two words... GOOD TIMES!!!

Yes... I confess...

I love my new camera.

I haven't used it yet but I've taken it out of the box and looked at it. It's hot. It's about the same size as my mobile phone (both of them, even) but thinner.

This camera will provide endless entertainment at the next disco, as I take random photos of unsuspecting people. I might even learn to pixelate faces in order to protect peoples' privacy!

I also might take my camera to the pub on the weekends and take photos of the nice and not-so-nice patrons for your viewing pleasure.

Yes, that's what I'll do. And I shall get a lanyard and wear the camera around my neck. It shall swing freely next to my mobile phone, which will also be attached to a lanyard and worn around my neck. And attached to my mobile phone will be a Hello Kitty radiation prevention device.

Then I shall look out the window and gaze upon the flock of pigs as they fly past in V-formation... and take a picture.

I can cast a spell...

You rock too, Joyce!

Joyce got knitting needles...

And I got one of these.... Thanks Jane!!! You rock!

When buying DVDs...

Jude chooses to shop at JB Hi-Fi.

They seem to have a perpetual sale going on there.

But most importantly, someone there knows the alphabet.

All hail the JB Hi-Fi DVD store!!!

The world is getting lazy...

Last night, Jimmy and I went to K-Mart because we wanted to get The Golden Girls Season 1 on DVD.

Being Jimmy, she marched straight up to the counter to ask if they had any left and was given a blunt 'You'll have to go look on the shelf.'

So we went over to the 'TV Series' section and we were greeted with the K-Mart Alphabet, which is very, very random. It's as if they used a bag of Scrabble tiles and randomly drew letters to decide where to put the DVDs. And I'm not just talking about the 26 letters of the alphabet, but the ENTIRE bag of Scrabble letters so you have Bs, As, Ss, Ts, As, Rs, Ds, Ss, etc. scattered randomly on the shelves.

Is this some sort of retail ploy to make you look through each and every display to find the item you actually want so that you just might possibly stumble across something else you might want and buy that too? Is it? IS IT?!?!?!

Maybe it's the obsessive-compulsiveness in me that makes me think that it's not too much to ask that things such as DVDs, videos or CDs, be alphabetised on the shelf .

Then again, maybe the world is just getting lazy...

This is Hugo...

Hugo is Jo's dog. He is a maltese x spaniel.

Perhaps I should make a blogspot dedicated to Pets that Don't Belong to Me.

This is Woody... Also not my pet.

Ruzzafruzza... they make me very angry...

What is the point of putting locks on your work desks if your own colleagues are going to break into your desk and take your stuff? Hmmmm?

I was off sick yesterday and when I came in this morning, my desk had been raided. Not only that, it was left open.

And good on you for leaving the petty cash sitting ON my desk which is in the open plan area. Can we get some applause here? Well done, son.

Stay the hell away from my stuff if I'm not here, you stupid jerks.

Lord of the Rings

I've been bed-ridden the past couple of days so I thought 'Since I can't move, I might as well spend 9 hrs watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.' I'm glad I didn't watch them at the theatre because I don't think I would have made it through to the end of just one of them without having to face my fear of public toilets.

I *love* the Master Dwarf and Legolas. The hobbits were just annoying. Especially those two little red-headed ones. . I even found myself yelling at one of them in 'The Return of the King.'

No one was more annoying than Gollum... if only i could have strangled him!

Tell me... how come elves never run out of arrows? And why didn't Gandalf fight with magic?

Lastly, is it possible for me to suspend disbelief for 9 hours????

Oh, and did anyone else expect to see Sean Astin pull out an asthma puffer at any moment, just like in The Goonies?

Paranoid? Most probably...

If I were to come up with a conspiracy theory, could I post it on my blog without getting in trouble?

After all, a theory is a theory, and by no means am I making accusations. I'm merely pontificating. Hypothesizing, if you will.

So... Can I hypothesize on my blog? After all, comments made on this blog are my opinion only...

Santa spotting...

On Friday afternoon on my way home from work, I spotted the BEST Santa yet on my tram.

Alas, the tram was way too busy for me to get away with taking random photos of strangers and posting them on my blog.

However, I will be keeping my eye out for this Santa... he's bound to be on the tram again. It's almost as if there's one for each day!

And yes, yes I will try to document my Monday to Friday Santas.

Happy 50th Blog!!!

(a.k.a. What I miss about Winnipeg, which I must admit has been in my thoughts a lot lately having discovered Google Earth)

1. Osbourne Village - Having left Winnipeg at a ripe old age of 16, I never really got to know Osbourne Village but I do remember it to be a funky old place.
2. The drive from Fort Garry to St. Norbert.
3. The drive from Fort Garry to Tuxedo.
4. Going to Mac's on a summer's night.
5. Playing tennis against VMC wall.
6. Riding around Wildwood Park.
7. Riding down Chevrier Boulevard to White Ridge.
8. Trying not to fall off my bike while going around that corner at Crescent Drive Park, then pedalling like the dickens while trying so hard not to look at the cemetary on my way out of Crescent Drive Park.
9. St. Boniface.
10. Not getting to see more of Winnipeg.
11. 49c Super Big Gulps.
12. Walking out your front door and seeing someone you went to school with.
13. Dairy Queen.
14. Seeing the Blue Bombers home ground grandstand in the distance as you drive to Polo Park.

Santa Claus has come to town...

No matter what time I leave work, Santa Claus *always* gets on my tram. It's kinda freaky.

However, with today's frigid conditions and the possibility of snow in the CBD, I now understand why I see Santa everyday. Apart from the whole 'he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake' thing.

Very good.

Ta da....

It's a shoddy picture but an awesome stereo. Very happy. Very happy, indeed.

Look who's coming to dinner...

It's about freakin' time... Thanks Jane and Joyce!

Good thing I didn't drink all those bottles of red last night...

Yay to music in my bedroom... I'm sure Betty, Chris and that man whose name I don't know will greatly appreciate it.

Verve, verve and more verve

And I don't mean the people that sang 'Bittersweet Symphony'.

There is a series of compilations out by the name of 'Verve'. They come in 'Remixed' and 'Unmixed'. Currently I have Verve Unmixed 2 & 3 and Verve Remixed 1 & 2 on high rotation on my iPod.

Sidebar: I finally worked out how to update my Shuffle the right way. First of all, don't have your work server drive mapped to your Shuffle drive. Very bad.

Anyway, back to Verve... These are my favourites from Verve Unmixed:

1. Sinnerman - Nina Simone
2. Brother, Where Are You? - Oscar Brown, Jr.
3. Whatever Lola Wants - Sarah Vaughan
4. Fried Neck Bones and Some Home Fries - Willie Bobo
5. Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair - Nina Simone
6. Little Girl Blue - Nina Simone
7. Sing, Sing, Sing - Anita O'Day
8. Just One of Those Things - Blossom Dearie
9. Lilac Wine - Nina Simone
10. Baby, Did You Hear Me - Dinah Washington

My Verve Remixed favourites are:

1. Is You or Is You Ain't My Baby (Rae & Christian Mix) - Dinah Washington
2. Feelin' Good (Joe Claussell mix) - Nina Simone
3. Don't Explain (Dhizan & Kamien mix) - Billie Holliday
4. Manteca (Funky Lowlives mix) - Dizzy Gillespie
5. Sinnerman (Felix da Housecat's Heavenly House mix) - Nina Simone
6. Brother, Where Are You? (Matthew Herbert mix) - Oscar Brown, Jr.

Pardon Goddess of the Night...

I think today is the day my stereo will arrive. One big clue is that it has been raining non-stop. The last time I received an electronic goods delivery, it was raining non-stop. All signs point to yes.

Mental note: If your parcel isn't delivered the first time around, it's always best to give them your freakin' mobile phone number so that when they write down the incorrect address AND suburb, they can call you back and say, 'I'm sorry, we're dumbasses.'

>:O(

It's not here, it's not here, my stereo isn't here.

I think if you can't deliver a parcel within the SAME city within a period of 5 business days, you should not have the words 'Priority' or 'Express' in your business name.

I think that's a pretty fair ask.

Whatever happened to....

1. Captain O.G. Readmore, the reading kinda cat.
2. The bill, sitting there on Capitol Hill.
3. Conjunction Junction, does it still function?
4. Mr. Owl (personally, I would have pecked the eyes out of the kid that kept asking me STUPID questions about Tootsie Pops)
5. Keibler Elves.

If you have the answers to my questions, or if you want to tell me that I spelled 'Keibler' wrong, please feel free to comment.

Randomness

I see a couple of people have commented on a couple of my posts.

Actually, I didn't notice but my sister did and asked me who they were.

I have no idea who they are or how they found my blog but enquiring minds want to know.

So.... who are you?

Who who?

Who who?

Kleenex tissues contain the recommended daily dietary intake of fibre for kittens...

Don't forget to chew, Pringles!

Meh.

I'm getting one of these. >:O)

Allegedly it's here.

But it's not.

Still waiting.

The demise of the allen key

If anyone has recently bought any furniture from IKEA and it does not come with an allen key, can you please let me know?

That would be fantastic.

Yet another picture of someone else's pet...

This is Chester.

What the...?

Ok, this isn't the greatest photo because I took the picture using my phone but I picked up this little pearler of a coffee table from IKEA on Saturday for only $36. That's right, shoppers, $36!!!

But wait... that's not the exciting bit. Prior to taking the parts out, I pulled out the assembly instructions* and was surprised to see that the tools required were a Phillips head screwdriver and rubber mallet!

What the....? Has IKEA abandoned its trusty old allen key?

Anyway. That was one of the most exciting things that happened to me this weekend.

Oh... I also learned how difficult it is to screw things in when your screwdriver is too small.

And one more thing... I did manage to break one of the 'feet' on the coffee table when I was assembling it. Dumbass.

*(Shut up, I know the table looks basic and I would have to be a real moron - shut up - to not figure out how to put this table together but I have previously encountered assembly instructions where the parts have been assembled backwards. I was just checking.)