Far out

96 cases of swine flu in Victoria?! We have the most cases in the whole of Australia! \(O.o)/

I think I shall continue expanding my mini stockpile of food, thank you very much.

Miles

John is in Samoa for work this week. Samoa is in the middle of nowhere and consists of two islands. Why it is more expensive to call the island where their capital city is is beyond comprehension. I thought it would have been the other way around.

We are really feeling the distance due to three factors.

1) Time difference. Samoa is 23 hours behind Melbourne.

2) Prohibitive calling cost. Phone calls to a landline cost $1.50 a minute.

3) John's mobile hasn't got roaming. That means no texting either.

We are so looking forward to the end of this working week.

Swine flu

The swine flu has already hit Australian shores. I suppose it was inevitable given the amount of Australians that travel abroad. The worrying thing is that now even those who have not travelled out of Australia are being diagnosed with swine flu and authorities are stumped as to why that is the case. It is unlikely that the Australian government will declare a state of emergency but I have been stocking up the larder just in case.



This was a portion of my larder yesterday. It is a lot more crammed this morning because I just did the grocery shopping. :p

I think

That it is safe to say that the mystery plant is not a potato plant.

Mystery plant

I was going to plant some shallots in my backyard today when I stumbled across this plant.





It is growing right in the middle of what is going to be my vegetable patch. I can't decide whether it is a useful plant or not. It doesn't look like any of the weeds that I massacred last month... and I've ruled out onions, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes as possible options.

What do you reckon? Do you think it's a vegetable? I doubt that it is but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Dinner

First homecooked meal in a week and a half. Whenever my brother doesn't eat dinner at home, I don't cook. Somehow cooking dinner just for me seems to be such a chore. Preparing a meal for two people is definitely more of an incentive to cook.

Beef rendang



Broccolini, yellow capsicum, carrot and mushroom with garlic and oyster sauce

Facebook

My grandaunt just asked me to add her to my Facebook list. o.O

I could be wrong though. She could be my dad's cousin, which would make her my.. aunt? Second aunt? I'm not sure.

That would mean.. I have four aunts, one uncle and possibly fourteen cousins (or more) on Facebook.


Update: Just checked with mom and dad. She is dad's cousin and therefore my aunt. Whoops.

Work

Has been moderately busy of late. I've been enjoying it even though I seldom admit it. :)

I was discussing work with a colleague via webcam when he was in Hong Kong on business. Keeping a straight face was a bit of a challenge because both my bosses were standing right behind him waving enthusiastically at me and giving him donkey ears.

The bosses got back from Hong Kong on Wednesday only to discover notices on their doors reading "Attention! You have been quarantined as a suspected swine flu carrier. You must remain in this office until further notice." There was even a cartoon of a pig with an umbrella and another picture with a pink van with a pig snout and ears.

I do work in a mad little office. :)

Oh, and we went away for a work conference about two weeks ago and we just received the reward results from our bosses. Our company has a points based rewards system where we are awarded a certain amount of points for good performance, birthdays, employment anniversaries etc. One point is worth one dollar and we get to spend those points with any of our many suppliers. Keep in mind we deal with a multitude of things ranging from clothing to tech gadgets to wine glasses to executive gifts. Its a great job. I get paid to browse through catalogues!! (well that's not entirely true. browsing through catalogues is one facet of the job. it really taps into my "kay poh" nature).

Back to my story about the award results. One colleague was rewarded for (in my bosses' words) "being an absolute disgrace". She happily drank two bottles of wine before one of the bosses escorted her safely back to the room she shared with me. Another was rewarded for drunkenly proposing to his girlfriend in a crowded pub.. using another colleague's wedding ring. And I was rewarded for nodding off to sleep during a colleague's presentation. Hehhehehe... Awesome. :)