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The Endless Drizzle

It’s been raining cats and dogs today. I have hardly known Melbourne to rain that much, and while driving today my windscreen wipers were on the faster setting, something I hardly used since I got my Jazz. Was out looking at houses today and saw one with an inverted design, the bedrooms on the ground floor, and walking up the stairs you’d have the kitchen and living area. Right next to the living area is an outdoor veranda, with an outdoor furniture set and BBQ, it looked almost ideal.

Prior to all the scurrying around, Vyanne and I had breakfast at Tom Phat, a west meets east kind of cafe. Had a grilled pork chop and egg on rice for breakfast, basically a reimagined Vietnamese pork chop on broken rice. Heh, the dish I had was good, with such an aromatic rice, and I’m most certain that the egg came out of a wok, with its crispy edges and puffiness. The porkchop had charred marks, probably grilled on a griddle. Vyanne had a roti omelette with salsa. This dish had an interesting taste profile and there was a slight chewy glutinous feel to the roti. Both were generously sprinkled with coriander, giving it a distinct Asian taste.

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Despite the current economic gloom, both Vyanne and I have managed to spend a little to acquire our own ‘toys’, although mine is a little bit more pricy than hers. She’s been wanting a Belgian waffle maker since forever and they don’t really sell these items in Australia. We’ve been scouring eBay and other international sites in hopes of finding one, but even if the logistics of shipping one from overseas wasn’t bad enough, the fact that most of them used the 110v plug (US based items) means that while we could import one, we still couldn’t use it. I tried to outsmart the system by considering the purchase of a step down transformer, but even that was a futile approach as most would only supply up to 1000w of electricity, and at a very hefty price might I add. Waffle makers have heating elements, so they also consume a lot more juice than most standard electrical appliances.

Heh, so when Vyanne found out that Sunbeam was bringing a Belgian waffle maker to Australia, she became very hopeful. It was announced in November on their corporate website that these handy machines would be available on retail very soon. After dinner on Friday night, we chanced by Myer to see if they had any available and after going through the shelves of electrical appliances, I instantly recognised the Belgian waffle maker. The amazing thing was that the machine on display was the first device brought out of storage, and it had only been put out on that very day. So after a little waiting for them to grab another box out of storage, Vyanne became the proud owner of a new waffle machine.

I’ve managed to sample some of the waffles with some Danish butter and Canadian maple syrup and it tasted quite heavenly. So now we’ve added to out arsenal of kitchen appliances and I can have nice, puffy, Belgian waffles on demand during the weekends.

Here it is with savoury toppings. Yummm.

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Heh, and what did I buy? My first paycheck spurred me to buy something a little more outlandish, and since flirting with the Eee PC while in NYC earlier in the year, of which I have sold to Vyanne’s mom, I have now acquired a newer model of the device. It was on sale online and I decided what the heck, I’d just get it. I have no practical use for it, since I already have so many computers at home (one of which will be eBayed off shortly), but with its portability, I can think of other uses for it.

It comes with the same tiny keyboard (which I can touchtype on as I’m posting this blog) but with a much more frugal processor (in terms of power consumption), a beefier battery (5 to 6 hours of usage on one charge), more storage space and most importantly, a slightly larger screen with better resolution. It runs cooler than the 7″ Eee I had and the fan hardly turns on at all, so it is virtually inaudible. Surfing the net feels more comfortable now and the device is really quick enough to do most tasks. It’s currently running Windows XP which came installed by default. Part of the reason I got the Eee was to experiment Linux on it. There are a lot of interesting apps for Ubuntu that I’ve been playing around with and as I keep reiterating, I’d like to become more familiar with it so as to not rely on Windows too much.

Study, Work and Play

I realise that whenever I start taking photos of people in public, I go back to my caveman instincts. I just quickly put my camera up and take a snapshot. This was totally by luck that the person looked up and smiled at me. Lots of people are happy to have their shot taken, even if they have absolutely no idea who you are. Then there are those who mind being snapped. During my photography class, the teacher just mentioned that you should just try to take the shot and worry about it later. He was once chased a few blocks in France because the people he tried to take a shot of thought he worked for the government. Heh, go figure.

This shot has been stylised a little. Had it in black and white before but Vyanne commented you couldn’t tell what he was doing (true, the sausages were a pile of black). Did some fluke adjustments and ended up with something I quite like.

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Play is almost non-existent, other than the occasional movie now and then. Life’s been more about work and study of late. Both seem to be bleeding into the other at the moment. Heh, touching on the subject of financial statement analysis at the moment and relearning all those accounting concepts from university. The concepts are instantly applicable to my job, which has been given a broader scope in the sense of analysis, and not just the day to day business support functions that I’ve been performing.

Coming to grips with what I need to deal with at work. I had plenty of time to sink into it and I’m still learning, but it isn’t as much a curve ball as it was when I joined a hedge fund just slightly more than 3 years ago. Things seem to make sense more quickly these days and due to a personal change in character, a properly thought out question will save you the trouble of taking too long to figure something out. This is one of the fundamental changes of how I approached doing things after working for a while.

I now realise that my character to figure things out first and ask questions later (before anyway) was part of my Chinese education. I was conversing with a colleague from a similar background and we were used to the idea of being told what to do and how to do things. Heh, it took me a while but I find that Australian culture is different in that if you don’t know something, you ask. No one is going to tell you how to do things.

I’m glad I’ve adapted quickly to the new job role. Heh, just happy to be working now, as the economy is looking gloomier by the day. That’s a topic for another day.

Summer is Here

There are so many interesting eateries around Melbourne. Just hop onto the Internet, look up breakfast places on blogs, food review sites etc, and you are bound to discover a hidden gem tucked away in a corner of Melbourne’s suburbs.

The above is corn fritters with bacon and a sort of avocado relish. It’s sweet, tangy and salty all rolled into one. Rather tasty and would have been better with a little extra relish.

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Was busy swatting flies yesterday. Summer is here, as evidenced by the large number of insects suddenly springing to life from nowhere. When it gets hot, the insects invade. I’ve been clearing out ants as well, as they are appearing in large numbers, attacking the cookies that were left unattended at my desk.

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My first hectic day at work. It hasn’t been too hectic for a long while now. Heh, was doing some number crunching and I’m glad this is one of those tasks that only need to be done every 6 months or so. The work schedule feels like a stroll in the park as opposed to when I was in New York.

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Got my first paycheck in a long, long while. Heh, went on a shopping spree snapping up tickets for a FIFA World Cup qualifier between Australia and Japan in June next year. Won’t know what I will be doing then, but it’s soccer, I’m a big enough fan to allocate time for it. Heh, also bought tickets to Dralion, a Cirque du Soleil production in May. I’ve always wanted to watch one of these performances and the title is short for Dragon and Lion, mixing Eastern and Western acrobatics into the show.

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Barely sticking to my study schedule, which reminds me, time to cram in a few chapters before turning in. Heh.