She is the Cat’s Mother

What a rich tapestry of language we have. I remember when I was young that my mother would use the expression “She is the cat’s mother” if I ever said she when referring to a girl or woman in the room.

I always thought yeah what ever …

Recently I have seen (Heard) a resurgence in the expression and I have often wondered at the root of this term. So today I had a little search about for it and here is what I have discovered…

Male cat = Tom

Female cat = She

so by extension “She is the cat’s Mother”

Hmmmm So what about all the cats whom have never had litters??

Doesn’t matter She refers to the Sex and English speaking mothers the world over have been I assume confusing their sons and daughters for a very long time.

Geek TV should be …

Fun and Quirky and while the main characters are wonderfully cast and drive forward the story I find my self with an affinity for the Geeky supporting cast right now I’m watching 3 shows with very strong supporting cast Warehouse 13, Lost Girl and Earth Final Conflict

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBFOSKKVXnI&hd=1]

Kenzi is the one that makes Lost Girl enjoyable for me.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi3CLccWoAI&hd=1]

Claudia Donovan–Warehouse 13 Geek Chick.

“Street” my other current favourite Geek Character

I really like Trance Gemini in Andromeda but have not watched in a while but will soon because it is that much fun.

Trance Gemini is really fun and then there is some more seriousness toward the end of the series Trance is one of my favourites

I think the Eyes have it

Yesterday I watched the First Episode of Lost Girl and then caught up on some of the stuff in my iQ… I watched Joy Division a Documentary about the band.

The thing I noticed was Ian Curtis and Ksenia Solo both have eyes that seem too look back through the Camera at you. I find that both kind of eerie and intriguing.





I got to thinking they also reminded me a bit of a photo I saw of Alessandra Torresani from Caprica (Must go back and watch it again)

I think she has a similar look in this photo at least. What do you think?

How to Troll Friends and Family using Google +

This has been doing the rounds on Google + and elsewhere ...

I got it from www.intech-bb.com/how-to-troll-friends-family-using-google-fun/

No one’s like to troll their friends and family in real life, but how about for the sake of fun? Below we have shown you funny steps to troll your family and friends on Google+

Step One
Randomly divide everyone you know into two separate circles.

Step Two
Post to circle 1 that you just got an awesome new job.

Step Three
Post to circle 2 that you just contracted some disease.

Step Four
Post to your extended circles that “Tomorrow is my last day”.

Step Five
Watch resulting comment battle between the two groups.

Have fun while trolling your friends and family around!

If you are looking for an Invite (because I'm a little bit lonely) make sure I have your email address and ping me for one.

So very proud of my son right now Sketchbook Project 2012

My son Alexander is participating in the Sketchbook Project 2012 with the Arthousecoop.com, he let me scan what he has done so far and I thought I'd share with you his in my opinion fabulous work.

Lanyon Homestead with Catie

		Lanyon Homestead VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Thanks GFI and Jinx

I entered a draw for a free T-Shirt some weeks ago and I buy tons of Jinx T-Shirts too. Today I got an I’m a Tech Blogger T-Shirt from GFI and a Sticker Pack from Jinx so to express my Gratitude and Joy I have made this my Photo 365 Project snap for today.
Had they not come it would have been something else.


I am really glad to have been selected by GFI for the T-Shirt and Best get back to blogging more on my Tech Blog

Of course as I have said before I love Jinx and almost exclusively wear their T-Shirts so if you click the Banner Below when you order I’ll get a small amount of Jinx Gold for my very expensive habit

This would have been ….

The Photo 365 Project photo if I hadn’t got cool stuff in the mail.

New lunchtime ritual …

Words with friends (that game is with my Best Words with “Friend” OneCrafteeMumma ) and a sandwich.

Hopefully the salad sandwich will stick

@PiaWaugh When I first saw you ...

I was really impressed.

Now that is not how the lyrics go but in case I was unclear I thought that your gig was pretty good not for a first in 8 years deal, pretty good unqualified.

Now I’m done with the Sycophancy let me talk about what I did last night …

A girl I follow on twitter has been talking about doing a gig at the Pot Belly in Belconnen for a while now and since I have been listening to her stuff on Sound Cloud I was pretty keen for a look.

So wanting to make sure I’d get a seat and and not have to fight my way through the crowd I arrived nice and early and settled in with a nice refreshing Schooner of Bulmers Original Cider. Well crowds were not a big problem and that is a bit of what made it nice for me not being one for crowds.

Turns out there were about 6 people there just to see the gig and a few others who were quite boisterous were celebrating a birthday.

I’m a little sad I didn’t take my Flip because I was very impressed with the Gig Generally and Cover my Eyes and Greed in particular.

Of course the other part I enjoyed was the opportunity to chat briefly with Pia which I’d have to say is always nice albeit only twice thus far.

I noticed some folk ordered food so maybe next time we can encourage others to come break some bread and made an event of it. I will definitely be back for a listen.

I’ve embedded some of the Sound Cloud content so you can get a listen.

[soundcloud width="100%" height="185" params="" url="http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/717326"]

Some times I wonder what kind a place this was ….

Back when these slogans sold products.

Kind of interested in those Sanitized Tape Worms what even does that mean?? All of these were sent to me via email sometimes I spat coffee.

 

Cider Testing Take 2 …

On Saturdays we go to Swimming Lessons with Miss 7 and today after the lesson she said “Can we go to Toys ‘R’ Us for their toy sale? It ends Tomorrow Please?”

Well the best part of this excursion is I remembered that Toys ‘R’ Us are at Majura Park near the airport AND so is Jim Murphy's Airport Cellars. While we were out there I had a look for Bulmers Pear Cider and Surprise Surprise Surprise they had it but surprisingly to me at least don’t have a 330ml version just the 500ml. They do have BOTH 330 and 500ml versions of Apple.

I bought a crate of Apple and a crate of Pear and did the same Taste Test as last night and got exactly the same result which should definitely NOT surprise me.

AND then I remembered something in the Bulmers WikiPedia Entry

a premium packaged cider aimed at the "served over ice" market, which has grown in popularity over the last few years.

I tried both over ice and WOW let’s just say it make both fabulous and I can happily announce I staying with Bulmers but the 500mls and while my liver may not appreciate the up size my taste buds will.

So glad our new fridge makes Ice

It’s a long way to Tipperary it’s a long way to go …

It is pretty close to how far I have travelled in search of Bulmers Pear Cider.

So you would think doing a simple Double Blind test of which cider I like better would be easy … I even involved SupaWife and of course she picked the opposite one to me and said something like “I prefer this one because it tastes fruitier”.

Why choose at all you might ask? Here is the Answer I just gave SupaWife…

I have been drinking Bulmers and I understand they have a pear variety, what a pity I have not been able to find a retailer.

I have however been able to find Magners Pear and Apple Ciders in Coles Liquor. I want to know if I can swap to Wagners and enjoy pear AND Apple or just stick with Bulmers and Apple only.

and so begins the Taste Test SupaWife has an Alcohol three sip rule if it tastes like alcohol by the third sip she won’t drink it should I point out she drinks Strongbow Sweet and likes the Bulmers, so do I but I really do think I can switch to Magners for access to the pear.

So why is this a hard choice? Because I like Cider AND when asked why couldn’t I drink Bulmers Apple but Magners Pear I guess I could but I said … Brand Loyalty (WTF???)

Something I found Interesting is …

Commercial cider production was started in Clonmel, South Tipperary in 1935, by local man William Magner.^[1] Magner bought the orchard from a Mr Phelan from Clonmel. Magner quickly established a successful business. In 1937 he joined forces with the English cider-makers H. P. Bulmer and Company.^[2] Dowds Lane in Clonmel was the location of this burgeoning enterprise. In 1949 Magner withdrew from the business and the Bulmers name came to the fore. However H.P. Bulmer maintained international rights to the Bulmers trade mark, which prevented the Irish company exporting the brand from Ireland.

Of course that long bow could mean that they are the same and of course this is not true today. I think I like the Magners for a refreshing quick drink, but if settling in for the afternoon I think the Bulmers.

In other news I think SupaWife likes the Bulmers because it is Stongbow in Disguise … Not really but owned  by the same people …

Bulmers cider can be found worldwide and Strongbow is sold across Europe, USA, Australasia and the Far East. The company is owned by Heineken.

BUT here in Australia they are both owned by Fosters the makers of that thing Fosters Lager

You don't know me but i might have started following : An experiment in Authority

UPDATE: *** Experiment Abandoned ***

Results such as they are will be released at another time

Last night I was looking at tweepi.com to see some information about who I should follow or NOT.

I noticed a feature where you could follow everyone someone else follows which I must say was better when first implemented because you could click one button and bam all done. Apparently Twitter was not a fan of this behaviour as far as terms of service, SO you have to click every one individually.

The temptation was to not follow all 397 people but I wanted to behave as if the button was working so followed all of them. Then quickly un-followed the persons ISP AND a feed notifying of when certain files were available for use. EVERYTHING ELSE got followed, now over the next fortnight or so I will start to follow people I don't have much affinity with so maybe I will loose Donna and Martha very quickly.

Rules:-

• No un-follows for 7 Days to give time for an opinion


• Read feeds in FlipBoard this brings out rich content this is supposed to be interesting


• Favourite things in FlipBoard if I read all of it


• Anything favourited read the authors last 20 tweets to get to know them

When unfollows reduce the volume I will follow folk in my profession so looking for an influential in Opalis, FIM 2010 and Config Manager.

Adventures in fitness C25K might take longer

Thursday morning I embarked on a hugely underestimated journey to start getting fitter. I chose to start doing couch to 5 Kilometres and wow I might die, or at least have an experience like the dude in this clip. Yes I know they are blaming the treadmill and selling a credit card but bad stuff like that could be due to me collapsing too.

For Me more about the dude than the card

So I did not cope with the running and at the third run cycle of C25K I was in big trouble so stopped.

I am very grateful to my support network for the encouragement and yes it does make a difference.

 

Okay here is the plan:

• I'm starting to walk on the treadmill every day (Today I walked for 25 Minutes and went just shy of 2 Kilometres)
• At the end of next week I will add 5BX
• On or Before November 1st 2011 I will start C25K again
• Because I'm easing in I would hope to transition to 5to10K in first quarter 2012

So that's the plan and I'll use Twitter to keep honest. I wonder what these small changes will do let's find out.

Made my first dish from SuperChef @BenPobjie

On the weekend my Daughter (Miss7) and I went into Manuka for Baby-chino and a quick browse through the PaperChain bookstore. I picked up a copy of SuperChef by Ben Pobjie, she got a Disney Princesses book to help with decorating her room. I love step one "Prepare your space" which at our house means... Borrow a shovel from Daddy ;)

Anyway SuperChef comes highly recommended by my dear friend @gnomeangel and she told me Ben was running a competition on his Blog being a habitual joiner, I thought why not "Glass up" my first dish well you get the picture...

So with no further ado I present ... Esther's Stress-Water from page 201 ENJOY.

BTW the link to the book was going to be random but I giggled when I saw it was a cookbook site.

If you have not heard much about this book Ben has a promo for it

SuperChef

Extremely Disappointed although nothing happed to me

I have been told something very disturbing and I got agitatedly angry about it, and while nothing happened to me it makes me think about how people can be shallow and selfish. Not to mention how that reflects on me as a human being.

I was visiting a friend and was explaining how I had stepped on my dick again but hopefully this time not too badly when I asked a friend if they were moving. They told me that they were splitting up with their spouse, felling a little off guard I had not explored too deeply.

Imagine my bemusement when I discovered the reason for the break up was because the other partner would not lose weight.

The friend who told me about it had said she was upset by the situation but her husband indicated that she bear in mind that it wasn't her that it had happened to.

You see one partner has recently found the joy of working out and are making in roads into getting fitter (and not wanting to make a judgement but in my view has a way to go), but now the other partner seems to no longer fit the new view of what a partner should be so they are GONE ...

Let me describe myself and where I am coming from for context...

• I am 42 years old
• Weight more than 150 kilograms
• Am bad in bed
• Don't follow through when I start things
• Like my computer and Internet more than people

So in short a real catch ;).

What is certain is I love my wife and know without question she loves me.

We have even discussed this issue and she assures me we will not divorce over weight but she will divorce me if I keep tweeting about Masterchef :)

So why this type of response? I don't really know but I do need to consider if these are the types of people I want in my life. Yes I have in the past been much more about suck it up and move on but this degree of superficiality is making me feel angry later in life.

Before you go there I understand the "Beauty is only skin deep" and "What is on the inside that counts" are things fat and ugly people say.

Is a marriage vow based on "To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long we both are fat" not sure I remember that. To be clear if anyone has ground for complaint in my relationship it is SupaWife she has got a third more man than she planned on, while I have less than 12% interest on the investment I made ;)

Am I saying physicality does not play a part of course not, but if it's all about that then you are a "Preening dumb tool" search that on YouTube to see what I mean.

My wife is my life, which is a big change from when I once said "Navy life is my wife" and I need to ensure she knows that every day.

So why did this touch me in a way that makes me mad. If you are just looking for people to bang don't tie principles of monogamy and commitment to it. If you think a wedding ring has a 500 mile radius don't wear one.

AND if someone treats you like the way this couple have demonstrated don't, whatever you do take them back ever.

So I have ranted about issues that have not effected me...

BUT as a man I am offended by this and really hope the partner left behind realizes the bullet they have dodged.

Oh and an example of what does matter ..... Enjoy

Cooky’s been to war and Lila’s been to Denver

@CRDLderby Roller Derby is so VERY Cool

Tonight we went to our FIRST Canberra Roller Derby League bout and to say it rocked is to understate.

The Red Bellied Black Hearts (RBBH) 114 Defeated the BrindaBelters 110 at Southern Cross Stadium in Greenway ACT

There were thrills and spills and non stop entertainment. The lead changed many times culminating in a draw decided by a full two minute Jam and no lead Jammer so no early stop just a full on fight to the death. So Cool.

BrindaBelters vs Red Bellied Black Hearts

Now I don’t know anything, but to me the scoreboard didn’t show how truly marvellously the RBBH’s played. The Blockers skated in formation to create a wall against the Belters Jammer, when their own approached they opened and then snapped right back to the defensive stance. They seemed to have a play book which they followed.

Have a look next week when the Bout is Televised on ChannelVision Aurora Community Channel (Foxtel/Austar/Optus TV channel 183). you will see what I mean.

Any way my 12 Year old son and I am sold and he has become a RBBH’s fanboi in just one night. He has said next time we need to take a pen so I can get Autographs. He is also a Huge AC/DC Fan and loved the way Back in Black was played as a victory song.

For those who could not be there live here is the twitter feed link

iPad2 my first day or two

I have been REALLY outspoken about the iPad and Apple platform in general. Well I bought an iPad2 and am starting to realize that some boys marry their first girlfriend because they just know it is right. Not just because they are desperate nerdy losers. I'm not quite there yet.

Not saying I'm ditching my PC and only using the iPad there are lots of applications that I need that are Windows only, oh and BTW I have mentioned I make my living designing and deploying Windows based networks.

So are there other platforms? You bet and for slate type tablets there is he rise of Android, I've played with a few recently and have even loaded a Gingerbread (Android 2.3) ROM on my HD2 so I'm not afraid to play around a little. I have found most of the devices I've played with a little clunky and well heavy too.

So far I'm liking the experience and will take it to work for a few days I also plan to log when I use one of my droid devices and of course when I use Windows it is a given I'll be in Windows at work mostly.

BTW These are the Apps I “Think” will let me do most things I do Daily

@Kateburge Thought of you...

Driving into Civic this morning I was listening to the radio and three songs made me think of someone I know through the inter webs but am yet to meet IRL.

So here are the neural links:

·         Babushka - Kate Bush

For no other reason than it reminded me of Kate Burge ( @KateBurge ) in a rhyming slang kind of way.

I note she often tweets of scary songs to her twitter.

·         One Perfect Day – The Little Heroes

Did anyone notice what a perfect day it was outside today I have seen Kate comment on how lovely it is here in autumn and today I’d have to agree. As the song played I looked out the windows of the truck and thought yes yes it is.

·         Start me up – The Rolling Stones

Funny that I think of Kate twice with this. Once for a lively discussion we have had online about a current affairs issue and the second because I love to moan about her Words with Friends “meanness” when I really enjoy the stretch goal of one day being able to hold my own.

She can make a grown man cry (as if).

So Kate nothing other than to say for about ten minutes today someone was randomly thinking about you and not in the shower.

I do much of my best thinking in the shower so if I have never said “Hey I was thinking about you in the shower this morning” it may well happen.

Nice Outfits

Definitely a Perfect Day

Really Might Cry

Life’s a show and we all play our part …..

And when the music starts, we open up our hearts.

I have found it difficult to make and maintain friendships throughout my life and largely I’ve never been too stressed about it because I don’t really like people. Luckily for me I mostly spend time making computers talk to each other, I also do that as a contractor so I should approach those things from the perspective of a visitor. Opting (usually) to keep a barrier from the people I play with at work.

Well that is until recently and that is making for an interesting journey for me which I will explore overtime.

Right now there are relationships I feel a strong desire to grow and others I am being encouraged to pull back from:

• Of course my SupaWife and children are the most important relationships I have and yet I think I need to pay more attention there too.


• Two girls I know from work inspire me and you can not help but want to spend time around that… Now apart from being remarkably strong women they are also:
  
  
  
  • Funny
  
  
  • Kind
  
  
  • Sweet
  
  
  • and very much like me in many ways, sense of humour, and demeanour amongst other traits.
  
  
  
  

I could wax lyrical about why I am inspired by these two fantastic friends but another thing I have learned is some of the reasons we admire people is best said only to those people and I assure you they both know.

Now I don’t know if it is the influence of Blossom and Buttercup, Mid life or just time to slow down and look at what is important but this niceness seems to flow quite freely toward others whom I know peripherally and this might be cause for caution at least if I am to heed the warnings of those who have my best interests at heart.

Not wanting to sound as though those opinions are not welcome but I think I need to open up before applying aperture control.

A song from the Sound Track to “Once More with Feeling” gives me pause to think when ever I watch the episode

Life’s a show and we all play a part
And when the music starts,
We open up our hearts

It’s all right if some things come out wrong.
We’ll sing a happy song
And you can sing along.

….

Life’s a song
You don’t get to rehearse.
And every single verse
Can make it that much worse.

Still my friends
Don’t know why I ignore
The million things or more
I should be dancing for.

All the joy Life sends.
Family And friends.
All the twists And bends
Knowing that It ends.
Well that Depends…

There is a lot more to the song but mostly foundational stuff for the circumstance of the plot.

For me these verses say it is worth it to play openly and honestly and perhaps that is a lesson I needed to learn about 40 Years ago.

Give me Something to sing about