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 Let me tell you a little bit about this bunged up weather we're having here. Some would say it's the start of another environmental catastrophy caused by climate changes, others might tell you its something much more simple, like the end of the world.
Freak weather has been rocking the shit out of the eastern states of Australia. Queensland has been getting some nasty dust storms up north, Sydney is being subjected to lightning and hailstones, whereas here in Victoria, it's just been pissing down.
The middle of Melbourne is flooded as you can see in the photo of the Yarra taken earlier today, a kid's gone missing, tens of thousands of homes have been without power, national and international airports have been blocked off, heavy snow has been falling in the alpine regions (despite temperatures of 36C just a few days earlier), a guy was injured in Ballarat when a tree fell on his car, a 10-year-old girl was pinned to her bed by a tree which crashed through the roof, winds of 120kms/h have been blowing in Tasmania, a 16-year-old Sydney schoolgirl was killed by a falling tree while on a school camp, a school building's roof was blows clean off, and dust storms in Queensland have cut visibility down to 100m in some areas.
Here in Shepparton, it's just been freezing cold and raining non-stop for the past 24 hours, and some strong winds reduced my heavy side gate to shattered planks of wood. Nothing too major but totally bizzare for the middle of summer and especially only a couple of days after a sweltering heatwave.
For more details on this nutso weather, check NEWS.com.au.
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| Posted by a very wet MadDog
on Thursday February 3, 2005 at 3:13:30 PM - 1 comments |
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It was my birthday yesterday. I'd like to end the post here, as I don't like to make a big deal about my birthday, but it's very fact that's making me keep typing.
I remember when I was a kid, and it was about a month until my birthday, I'd wake up, saying "one month until my biiiirthdaaaay" to everyone I saw. The next day it was "29 days until my biiiirthdaaaay". Lather, rinse, repeat until the big day when I'd totally spaz out. Birthdays were all about take-out for dinner, pressies and maybe even a sleep-over party with videos. They were the bomb-diggity. But then something changed. I went and did something stupid, something I swore I'd never do. I grew up.
I like to think that I'm still as childish as the next 10 year old. It helps me to keep my sanity when stressed, however staying childish is easy. It's maturing that cant be helped. I think I've found a pretty good blend of childishness and maturity which has helped me to start my own business, have full-time employment in a field that I enjoy, a wife that I love and a baby daughter that means the world to me. A little thing like not getting excited about birthdays is a small price to pay for all of this.
Forgive me for getting all introspective and self-indulgant, but hey, that's what birthdays are all about these days.
PS. Thanks for the link, Laura.
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| Posted by a very reflective MadDog
on Friday December 3, 2004 at 9:31:58 AM - 1 comments |
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Just a quick note to inform you all that Amy has now started mimicking noises we make. She's only doing the one at the moment. I do this thing with Amy where I hold her hands abover her head and say "up", then I pull them down to her sides and say "DOWN!". This usually gets a giggle or two, so I repeat until she gets bored with it, but in the last couple of days, Amy's been talking to herself, repeating the phrase "Uh... Daaahh! Uh... Daaahh!" in the exact same tone that I use. It's totally cute. That's all. :) |
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| Posted by a very delighted MadDog
on Friday November 5, 2004 at 8:10:57 PM - 1 comments |
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 Here I am. I've just finished my last day in the job I've held for the last seven and a half years. I thought I'd pop on the old blog my thoughts and feelings at the moment, but to tell you the truth, I don't know how I'm feeling. I know for sure it's a good feeling and I know that I'm definately heading in the right direction, but it's also kind of sad to say goodbye in a way. I had a presentation in front of the editorial team for my farewell, where the company director said a lot of nice things about me and I was presented with a screaming, singing and dancing James Brown doll. This kind of totally mental gift suits me to the ground, so that's all good, however now a lot of people think that I'm a big James Brown fan. I've alredy used it to terrorise Amy, who I am now sure will develop a life-long fear of James Brown. I was also given a humourous, oversized card signed by a lot of people (mostly people I've never really worked with).
Looking forwaord, I start my new job on Monday, so there's no break in between, but I'm sure the first couple of weeks aren't going to be that tiring. Mostly orientation and getting up to speed with the organisation. As well as that, prospects for my freelance work are looking good, and I'm busy enough finishing off my CMS and the new version of OzChat, so I think I'll be kept rather busy for while.
Right now though, it feels kinda weird to think that I'm now unemployed (for the next two days at least). |
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| Posted by a very resigned MadDog
on Friday November 5, 2004 at 7:46:47 PM - 1 comments |
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It's been a while since I've posted some photos of Amy, so here's some for you now. I wanted this babyblog to show how Amy changes as she gets older. Unfortunately, seeing her every day makes it hard to tell how much she has changes. However, looking at the last pics that I posted here, I realised exactly how much she HAS changed since I last updated. She's got TWO teeth now, she's pulling herself to her feet and she walks with you when you hold her hands. More impressively, she's demonstrating that she's actually learning the things that are said to her, for example, she now can wave bye bye (when everyone else is doing it), and clap her hands.
Below are photos of Amy, taken about 30 minutes ago, wearing her new jacket that arrived from our friend morgan in the US this morning.
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| Posted by a very cheerful MadDog
on Friday October 29, 2004 at 2:21:49 PM - 4 comments |
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It has been brought to my attention that I am a slacker who doesn't update his blog nearly often enough. For this I apologise, but not enough to give you a decent excuse. :)
First of all, the big news at the moment is that I have resigned from my current workplace to take up a new position which pays a bit more money, offers less stress and allows me to persue some extra-curricular, out-of-hours projects. This move is huge for me, jumping out of a massive comfort zone I've been in for over seven years, and I wouldnt have done it if I wasn't sure that it was the perfect thing for me to do right now, thinking about where I want to be in about 5 years time. The timing is pretty spot-on for this kind of move.
I've had a chat with the manager at McPherson Media and he's offered me ownership of the OzChat domains, so I've decided to have a crack at writing my own web chat, and make the best damn OzChat I can. It's looking very promising at the moment and could potentially bring in a spot of advertising revenue. I'm also getting into the web hosting business, offering domains and hosting on top of the freelance web design I'll be doing. Also, madSite, My content management system (CMS), that I've been writing for the last 2 years is almost ready for a v1.0 release (I know I said that about a year ago, but I really think I'm getting close :). Top this off with a prospective virtual tour website for real estate agents and you've got yourself one very busy little Mikey.
In other news, I've recently had the mis-fortune to have lost my wallet and my mobile phone together. After getting a new SIM card and going back to my old phone, I stupidly lost that phone the following week. $33 for yet another new SIM card later, I'm back to my old OLD phone. There was around $60 or so in the wallet, but the killer was stopping all the bank cards, waiting for replacements to arrive, arranging a new drivers licence (with a fatter-faced Mikey in the photo), and no knowing what else was in the wallet that could be exploited. Anyone who knows me, knows that I keep my life in my wallet. It's like Seinfeld's George Costaza's, bursting at the seams with Subway vouchers, reciepts, business cards and memorabilia such as my first parking ticket, and my first speeding fine. All gone. I'm over it now, though. I have a cool new leather wallet with a nice big clear window for a photo of Amy, and a coin purse and all the other wallet neccessities, so it's not all bad. |
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| Posted by a very bewildered MadDog
on Thursday October 21, 2004 at 3:10 AM - 4 comments |
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Amy is now crawling, and I'm not talking your namby-pamby commando crawling (although we were pretty proud of her when she started commando crawling). I'm talking, full on hands and knees, left-right-left-right crawling. Of course, she pretends that she doesn't know how to crawl when she's called, but if you put the TV remote control or the Xbox controller on the floor, BAM she's there in a flash, and shoving it into her mouth. Therefore, the carpets are vaccumed twice a week, all speaker wires have been pushed down under the carpet, and Maddi's dogfood bowls have been placed at the other end of the kitchen.
She's also started learning that pressing buttons on her activity center can make music play, as can pressing the buttons on her toy mobile phone. In fact, sometimes she seems a little upset that the old Commodore 64 joystick I give her to play with doesn't play music when she presses the buttons. She's also learned the difference between banging on the old broken keyboard I give her to play with (which does nothing special), and banging on my good keyboard (which makes Daddy go bananas). She also likes the pretty blue button on my PC next to the sparkly red flashing hard drive light. She also likes the funny, noisy dance Daddy does when she presses it and makes the monitor go black.
And just when you think she couldn't have possibly learned anything else this month, she's learned that it's fun to drop things on the floor and watch as Mummy and Daddy pick it up and give it back for the process to be repeated. Simply fascinating!
Somtimes, I wish she'd stop learning things. |
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| Posted by a very beaming MadDog
on Wednesday September 22, 2004 at 4:36:53 PM - 2 comments |
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Hey, look folks. I've been sitting here on the couch thinking "It's been a while since I've made a crazy Planet MadDog drunken update" so I thought I'd pop online and indulge you all with what's going on inside my head after consuming a half bottle of Jim Beam Small Batch , and I promise I won't delete it this time, only correct the drunken spelling errors.
First of all, an update on where my fantastic little girl, Amy, is at. Well, she's seven months old now, and I'm noticing new aspects to her personality on almost a daily basis now. I'm seeing her learn new emotions, such as surprise, frustration, and contempt (which I experience after pulling her away from a potentially dangerous, yet fun and crinkly, plastic bag that she's enjoying).
In other news, Gracie and I have started on the Weight Watchers diet and have started seeing some results. I've lost a kilo or two at least (I haven't had the proper weekly weigh-ins (that you pay $17 per week for), but I'm feeling a bit lighter at least, and my belt has gone in a notch), and Gracie has resumed her usual tri-weekly visits to the local gym. I didn't mention this before, but Gracie had previously stopped going to the gym because the creché had been neglectful in looking after Amy, what with her being bitten by an older child twice, and her head being run over by a toddler with a toy pram, and we'd also heard reports of other babies being bitten by older toddlers. We cracked the proverbial shits with them, and they assured us that they were aware of the problem and that they were dealing with it, so after a month or so absence, Gracie decided to give them a second (or was it third... or fourth?) chance. Besides, Amy has her first tooth, at the front on the lower-left side, with its right-hand neighbour about to surface any minute. She bit my finger tonight and for the first time, it actually hurt, so we though if anyone was going to bite her, she could go and bite them right back. Well, since returning to the gym's creché, Amy was almost bitten again (they stopped it happening at the last minute, by putting Amy into a high chair (wow, what great child-care skills)). This puts us at a bit of dillema. Gracie is trying to lose a bit of weight, we're eating healthy, and she wants to go to the gym and tone herself up a bit, but the only form of casual day-care available to us is this crappy creché. So where do we go for here? Working for the local newspaper , I've been thinking of suggesting this as a possible story, but I dont know if that would have any effect. I dont normally ask for comments, but I tend so be a bit less stubborn and more open to suggestions when I'm drunk, so they would be greatly appreciated in this case.
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| Posted by a very drunk MadDog
on Friday September 3, 2004 at 10:15 PM - 4 comments |
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I don't normally read the spam email I get, which is understandable, as I get hundreds of junk emails every day, however this one caught my eye. Not through any brilliant marketing ideas mind you, but rather by a poor grasp of the English language.
Darling Reasonable Customer!
I am "Actuality C. Hydroelectric", and I work at Low-Software INC.
You are is so momentous for all of our company!
You waste your earnest money and your time on my representation, and We want to let you know that our corporation have end update of soft assortment.
Our firm like remind You that our company propose that now Our Company have more bigger choice Top programs for very cheap cost with your individual Client price reduction.
Would you be so kind as spend few of your high cost Times to our renovated warez Catalogue righ here: [LINK REMOVED]
With regards,
Clients Service Department, "Actuality C. Hydroelectric"
I like to imagine that who ever wrote this email is actually named "Actuality C. Hydroelectric" and that he is actually a wacky Japanese midget with blue hair and glasses. |
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| Posted by a very thirsty MadDog
on Thursday August 12, 2004 at 10:41:53 AM - 4 comments |
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| Damn that infernal bird... |
Now since Amy is now six months old, and also because I've been majorly neglecting this section of the website, I've decided to give you all an update on where we're at with everyone's favorite baby.
- Shortly after she was born, Amy's hair started to get really thin, and a bald spot had formed on the back of her head where it would rub against the sheets as she slept. Well, the hair has started to grow back now, so that's good.
- She's a mad rolling machine. She was a bit slow in learning to roll over, and just when we were wondring if she'd ever learn, she started rolling all over the place. This means we have to pay a lot more attention to her now, making sure she doesn't roll behind the couch or into the heater. One time Amy was in the lounge room while Gracie was taking a shower. She rolled straight out the door, through another room and into our foyer. Gracie was amazed to find her in the middle of the room smiling away.
- That's another thing. Amy just LOVES to smile, which is great because I love watching her smile. All you need to do is look at her and she'll give you the cutest smile.
- She's gotten quite good at using her hands now. If there's something she want to play with, she'll reach out and grab it, before attempting to shove it into her gob. If the object is out of her reach, she'll reposition herself and roll on over to it. Again, we have to be very careful with what we leave lying around now.
- Amy LOVES to be nude, but then again, who doesn't. When Amy starts to get cranky, and we need to kill some time until her feed/bath/bed time, we can usually buy some time just by nuding her up and letting her kick around on her blanket.
- She's starting to learn that our actions are actually reactions based on her own crazy actions. She's doing more and more things to try and get our attention, like slapping her hand on surfaces that will make some noise, or making high-pitched squealy noises. I often think she's hurt herself, or she's crying about something, but she's just happily squealing away, smiling at me as if to say "made you look!".
- Along with these squealy noises, Amy's been learning how to use her vocal chords by babbling on randomly, blowing spit-bubbles and lauging at the many amusing faces and noises I make. I get a kick out of her reactions to new sounds I make, but eventually she tires of it and I have to find something else to get her attention.
- Speaking of getting her attention, Amy LOVES the Dodo Internet adverts. Whoever makes these ads should make kids shows, because no matter what we're doing, Amy will stop and and jerk her head towards the TV and will NOT take her eyes off thawt damned blue bird until the ad is over. It makes feeding her very difficult at times. On the other hand however, she also loves watching The Simpsons, which is great, and obviously shows that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
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| Posted by a very conjested MadDog
on Wednesday July 28, 2004 at 3:05:24 PM - 0 comments |
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