Ouch. When Marjorie was back in the states, she got me some Dave's Insanity salsa and sauce. It's, like, really hot and stuff. I can only do about a spoonful of the salsa at one sitting. It hurts, but I get a strange sort of happy buzz from it -- probably endorphins or something. Heat aside, too, i'ts actually tastier than anything you can buy here.

What year is it where you are? It's been 2005 for a couple of hours now here. At ten til midnight we took the dog down to the beach and watched the fireworks. We could see them in three different directions. There were a hundred or so people down there, including three guys who decided to ring in the new year with a screaming naked run into the bay. Behind our house, in the apartment over one of the Greek-owned stores, a bunch of guys are still singing away.

Happy New Year to all!

In an attempt to start the new year off right, Mark and I have donated some money to Doctors Without Borders to help out with the Tsunami relief effort. I urge you to do the same, there are so many organizations that are helping you can take your pick. I know CARE, OXFAM, and the Red Cross are involved. And if you need a selfish reason, the 31st is the last day to make a donation and write it off on this year's taxes (in the States anyway, I not sure what happens here). The devastation is so horrible, and unfortunately this is probably only the beginning of what is worse to follow in terms of disease and loss of income (many of the areas affected were largely dependent on tourism which is sure to lag for some time now).
In happier news, since we had a rental car until 5pm, we spent the day trying to keep Laika happy and took her first to the Yarra Bend Park to see some flying foxes, and then to the off-leash dog beach in Brighton, which must be the closest thing to Heaven she's experienced so far. The beach was perfect for the dogs, very wide low tide area with pretty much no beach to lay-out on, so perfect for the doggies without too much appeal to non-doggy folks. There were probably over fifty dogs there, which given the area didn't seem too crowded. Laika LOVED it!! It's a shame it's too far from home to take her more often.
This evening we're planning on cooking some chicken and corn on the BBQ and maybe walking down to the beach around midnight. Should be a very laid back new year's eve.

Happy Holidays! We're enjoying our time off together. Still, my thoughts today kept drifting over to S.E. Asia and the Tsunami. I can't even begin to get my head around the number of people they are estimating died. It's just too big a number to comprehend. And cholera is expected to be a real problem in the devastated areas. My heart goes out to all the victims and their families.

Took a nice trip today down the Mornington Peninsula, all the way to Sorrento and Portsea, and even beyond to the national park on Point Nepean. We went to the beach as well, and I went skimboarding for the first time in, oh, ten years or so. I can still jump on the thing but I seem to have forgotten what to do when I get the waves. Still, I managed to show up some ten year old kids.

Though there were signs for kangaroos and echidnas, the only real wildlife we saw were some Australasian Gannets, which are common there, but still a new sighting and pretty cool.

A neat catch on TV tonight; we caught the film adaptation of King Rat. I read the book, and never even realized they made a movie out of it, way back in 1965. And they did a really good job with it, too. It's set in Singapore (in a Japanese prisoner of war camp), though it obviously wasn't filmed in Singapore (there were mountains in the background).

We're planning a getaway for later in the week. We'll probably just rent a car and take a trip down the Mornington Peninsula towards the ocean. Today was actually cold here, but it's supposed to warm up.

Laika is slightly "touched". Really, she's a nutter. Every once in awhile, about once or twice a day, she gets a bit crazy and just decides to bite us. It's relatively gentle biting usually in the form of ankle nibbles or hand chews and generally inspired by play or good petting. It's hilarious, but still a bit worrying. I've never known a dog that did this before. She's like a cat, that lashes out when they are most enjoying a pat. Crazy dingo.

Happy Holidays! We had a very low-key Christmas at home with the dog this year. It was nice to miss the hustle of traveling this year and instead just make gluttons of ourselves at home. We gorged ourselves on perogies on Christmas eve, and then on turkey, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, Waldorf salad, stuffing, and mixed green salad on Christmas Day. Plus munching on the cookies and muffins we baked, and chocolates brought into the house for the holidays.
We also managed to go to the beach with Laika as the weather was pretty nice. Then we came home and made Margaritas. Overall it was a really nice Christmas.
I hope all our friends and family have/had an equally relaxing and enjoyable holiday!

Memories. Check out the top 100 toys of the 70s or thereabouts. I (or a friend) had 97, 95, 93, 90, 86, 83, 81, 79, 74, 71, 70, 69, 68, 64, 62, 61, 58, 57, 56, 54, 48, 47, 46, 44, 41, 38, 36, 35, 28, 23, 19, 10, 8, 7, and, uh, 1, I guess.

46 (Ricochet Racers) was my favorite, and I had totally forgotten about it for the last thirty years.

The year in music. Another year without me devouring any albums in particular. The problem this time wasn't the location (Singapore was a musical wasteland) but rather the lack of a car. I just don't listen to music that much without one. I could take a CD player on the tram but I find it cumbersome to carry them around. And MP3 players are still too labour intensive to load up. Around the house I never sit idle long enough to concentrate on the music. There's nothing like a car CD player for music enjoyment.

I did hear some good albums this year from Tom Waits, Jet, the Shins, Ron Sexsmith, Franz Ferdinand, the Finn Brothers, PJ Harvey, Modest Mouse, Sam Phillips, and Keane. But I haven't really fully digested any of them.

I do have an opinion on the Song of the Year -- Jet's "Look What You've Done". It's like a lost Beatles track. I just learned it on guitar today and it has sweet little chord structure to boot. Marjorie likes it too, but we're both of the opinion that the song needs just one more idea in it for it to have become a true classic. Jet is a young band though, and definitely going places. They hail from right here in Melbourne, so I'm looking forward to catching these guys live.

One more thing I'm excited about -- My Eagles are 13 and 1! Too bad their star receiver is injured and probably out for the season. Typical.

Five things I'm excited about:

1. We have tickets to see The Polyphonic Spree at the Forum and the Shins at the Corner Hotel.

2. As Marjorie pointed out, we found the necessary centerpiece for my traditional Christmas eve dinner -- pierogies. It won't be the same without my grandmother cooking them, though. We also have a turkey for Christmas.

3. On Christmas Eve the Cassini probe we sent to Saturn will start the process of dropping a probe onto Saturn's moon Titan. This may be the last, best chance to see anything like this in my lifetime.

4. Books, books, books. I had forgotten how many I had. I'm trying to simultaneously re-read Catch-22, Beatlesongs, and The Winter Of Our Discontent.

5. Some time off. Since the office is moving, tomorrow is the last day I can work until at least the 4th of January. Which kind of sucks while I'm contracting, but it is still time off.

Ten dog behaviours of Laika, the dog:

1. Playing with her new squeaky toy. The first toy we ever got her that hasn't been killed within a day. We're guessing it's because it squeaks when she bites too hard. She's taken to whimpering while she plays with it, which we can't figure out.

2. Sleeping with four legs in the air.

3. Sneaking off to sleep on the guest bed.

4. Running her face through high weeds.

5. Sitting down when another dog tries to sniff her butt.

6. Hiding from the vacuum cleaner. Every dog does this, but we're happy to know she's normal.

7. Yelping at puppies, especially when two are fighting each other. It gets her really excited but she doesn't know how to express it.

8. Chewing on sticks. If she finds a piece that's three or four inches long, she will eat it.

9. Trying to get you to play tug-of-war with the leash if she's not ready to leave the park yet.

10. Jumping up and down whenever Marjorie or I head for the front door, if she hasn't been to the park in the last two hours. I think she thinks that we don't ever take her unless she shows enough enthusiasm.

Corporate shill. A new list of products I endorse:

Braun electric razors. I used the same one for over a decade back in the States. I had to give it up to come overseas, and used some other brand in Singapore. Now I have me a brand new Braun and will never use anything else.

Jock's Ice Cream (83 Victoria Ave, Albert Park). The ice-cream place around the corner from us. It's really, really good, and dangerous to have so close. For something different, try the coconut-lime.

Redken Rough Paste. Yeah, it's hair product. But it works so much better than any spray, mousse, gel, or wax I've tried. Redken Rough Paste. Ask for it by name.

The Eclipse IDE. No IDE has been able to tempt me to stop using just an editor to develop, until now. I've been using this to develop Java at my new job, and I won't go back. It even makes CVS workable.

Team America: World Police. Parker and Stone's message is starting to get a little tiresome, but this is still a really funny movie.

New Aussieisms that I've noticed:

"How did you pull up?" Basically, "How did you feel afterwards/the next morning?" Used when inquiring about the after-effects of a night of drinking or strenuous activity. Quite common.

"How good is that?" "Isn't that great?" Quite common as well.

"You should call in." "You should come by." Actually, this may be more Irish than Aussie.

"Chockas" Chock-full of things, people, or events. As in, "We tried to get lunch at the restaurant on the corner but the place was totally chockas." I had never noticed before, but this is rather common as well.

I've started to blog several times in the past week, then for some reason couldn't get into it. So now I'm just going to force it out, to clear out my blotter, so to speak. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I just received my official letter of offer for my job. The most beautiful thing in it is the leave entitlements: I'm entitled to 4 weeks of recreation leave per year, and 3 weeks Sick Leave (after 5 days I would have to bring a medical cerificate). After 10 years of continuous service within the organization I will be entitled to 3 months paid long service leave. This is all standard in work contracts here in Australia. What a beautiful thing!

Our things are indeed here, and amazingly, in two years of storage and three months of transport, nothing was broken. In three days we've managed to unpack most of it, and our house is starting to look like a home. Finally. I'm especially excited about having my xmas ornaments and stocking here. It wouldn't feel like Christmas without them. In the same vein, Mark was very pleased that we could find perogies (at the super IGA) to make for xmas eve dinner to continue one of his family traditions.
Laika is surprisingly unfazed by all the new stuff, beyond being a little peeved that she isn't allowed on the couch or the newest bed. She's currently most fascinated with this caterpiller squeaking toy I bought for her. She carries it very gently in her mouth everywhere she goes. I expect her to kill/destroy it at any moment now as her toys usually don't last for long. It's amazing to me how attached Mark and I have become to her in such a short time. She's our baby, and practically runs our lives now. She's a charming little girl.

Stuff! Our things have arrived. Wheee!!!!

We've been living basically out of a suitcase for two years while all our worldly possessions have sat collecting dust in storage for the last two years. Hence, unpacking is a trip down memory lane, and our house is instantly more homey.

I'm currently most excited about: THE COUCH, my books, kitchenwares, Marjorie's guitar, my leather jacket, other clothes, and the extra bed. Christmas has come early.

Spree. Purchases made this past Friday/Saturday/Sunday:

Computer desk

Six kitchen chairs

Buffet cabinet

Vacuum cleaner

Tall bathroom cabinet

Saw

Two screwdrivers

Shoe rack

Microwave

Light bulbs

Brita filter

Barbecue

Can of spray paint

Several bunches of coat hangers

Two basil plants

Shelves

Subaru Forester (okay, we only rented that)

Bottle of Cointreau

Bottle of Cuervo