I’ve decided that I do need to get fit again. I had all these good intentions about getting into good habits when I started my new job in February; but then I got pneumonia, and my doctor gave me a stern lecture about not exercising until I was totally better.Continue Reading
I was doing a puzzle with D this evening (who is just 3). It was about a farm, and he asked me “where is the farmer?”. I pointed out the woman who was putting hay in a wheelbarrow. He said “girls aren’t farmers”. I’m amazed by this, as we haveContinue Reading
The US has released their stats on names for 2005. I found a link there via some blog or other, and went back to check on my name the year I was born (I wasn’t born in the US, but I wasn’t born in Australia, either). I reckon from myContinue Reading
I was taken to lunch at the Australian Club today. It’s quite a strange phenomenen. In a modern (well 60s) office building, the club has three or four floors decorated in late Victorian english style (to ape the London club it is trying to be). I was in the guestsContinue Reading
I’ve always hated the idea of Mothers’ Day. It has always seemed so commercialised and meaningless. The recognition aspect has completely fallen by the wayside, and now it’s just about commercialism. Lately it seems to have got even more commercialised, so that it is now compulsory for all mothers toContinue Reading
This week’s book review is a survey of Neal Stephenson‘s work. I’ve lately been on a kick of re-reading all our Neal Stephenson books, partly prompted by tigtog‘s rave review of SnowCrash. Tigtog’s rave was mostly about one of the main characters, YT (a sexy intelligent kick-ass woman), a variantContinue Reading
The AFR this morning had an interesting article about the budget plans to improve childcare.Apparently, the way in which this government will improve childcare is to “improve market intelligence”. “Family and Community Services Minister Mal Brough is adamant that leaving the provision of childcare to the market will solve problemsContinue Reading
I’ve recently gone from being a PAYG taxpayer (pay tax quarterly, generally get an interest free loan from the tax office for six months for your tax, but in charge of making sure you pay the right amount of tax) to being a PAYE taxpayer (tax is deducted from myContinue Reading
I went to a fantastic playground on the weekend that I’d not been to before, which made me wonder – what do you need in an ideal playground? For me, you need: a pretty big space for running around with a ball either a fence, or a big area whichContinue Reading
The world press has faithfully reported another milestone in older mothers – Britain’s oldest mother at the age of 63. She’s 7 months pregnant with a donor egg. The articles are all full of disapproval of how someone can become a mother at that age – a small section onContinue Reading