Movember 18

My mo has come a long way since my last post (sorry for the delay). The photo doesn’t quite show it but there is actually quite a bit of blonde in my mo. It’s a little bit strange. It reminds me of Pat Rafter, the great former Aussie tennis player. He had a very odd blonde spot on the top of his head. I have the same thing, only it on my face.

I think though that my mo has turned the corner. With less than 2 weeks to go in Movember, I feel that now it is easily distinguishable and can be clearly seen as a moustache.

Still though, my mo is barely existent compared to Dusty Halse’s. The other night Dusty, Steve, Mills and me went for a late night walk around Lilydale to check out the vibe. We were soon approached by a couple of intoxicated youths named Dan and Fletch. Paying no attention to my mo, they went straight for Dusty, lavishing praise on his mo. They called him ‘an Aussie icon’ and ‘Merv Hughes’ love child’. They stroked it and said that Dusty was the coolest guy that had met (apart from the bloke at they met at the train station – he was pretty cool they said). Meanwhile my mo went unnoticed and unappreciated.

It’s not too late to support my mo-growing efforts and give to the movember foundation. You can do so at http://au.movember.com/mospace/65642

5th Movember

My mo isn’t coming along quite as well as I would have hoped. I’ve come to realise that I have quite a lot of blonde/grey in my mo. It’s not as weak as it looks in the pic. The picture doesn’t do it justice. Although, I have had a few blows to my mo growing confidence this week. One of my clients commented that a girl she works with at KFC can grow a better mo! Secondly, after a shaved of my handles someone actually thought I had shaved the whole thing off. Perhaps she needs to get her eyes checked!

Movember update

Firstly I managed to find a picture from Erin’s 80’s birthday party in which I look like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite. Here it is..

For me, Movember began today. Kate at work kindly organised a bit of a fundraising lunch (to the tune of $87). In front of everyone I shaved off my 3 days growth leaving just the handlebars. Here it is..

I’m off to a good start. Like I suspected it’s a little weak on the upper lip. Although I am a long way off Dusty’s impressive mo. He has had 3+ months of beard growing before fashioning this beauty!..

Don’t forget that you can donate to the Movember foundation with money going towards men’s health issues, in particular prostate cancer.

Donate at http://au.movember.com/mospace/65642

Cut your keys!

This is a public service announcement to remind everyone to ensure that you have a spare set of keys hidden somewhere. To reitterate this message, let me tell you a story or two..

Yesterday I caught the train to work. As per usual I was running quite late and was in danger of missing my train. I asked Erin if she could drop me at the station to save me the walk. We took my car. Knowing that she was going to be out when I arrived home later, I took my house keys and left her with my car key. Thinking nothing of it we said goodbye and I jumped on the train.

Erin returned home and realised that her keys were inside and she no longer had my keys! Also inside the house was her phone! Still in her pyjamas she decided she would have to break in. So she searched for a window that she might be able to open and discovered that the laundry window was slightly ajar. Unable to pry it open she concluded that she had no option but to smash it. She grabbed a hammer from the shed, smashed the window and climbed on in. Crisis over. Not.

The thing about our house is that we actually have two lockable back doors. Firstly there is a security screen. This doesn’t have any mesh on it and leads in to the laundry. Separating the laundry from the rest of the house is another lockable door. Erin had climbed into the laundry, feeling victorious having entered the house, only to find that she was now trapped! She couldn’t exit out the security door because it could only be unlocked from the inside with a key. She couldn’t get back out through the laundry window because it was too high. And of course she couldn’t enter the rest of the house because the door was locked! Erin had found herself trapped in her own laundry!

About an hour and a half later of sobbing, (possibly cursing), blisters, cuts, bashing at the door handle and trying to wrestle it loose, she entered the house. Eventually she managed to break enough of the wood around the handle to pry it loose, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

This not the first time something has been broken in one of Erin’s attempted to get inside to house. In our first week in the house she arrived home with a set of newly cut keys. She went to open the front door but the lock was snibbed from the inside. She went to the back only to find that the newly cut key to the security door didn’t turn. In an attempt to turn the key she managed to break the key and also the door handle. I returned home about an hour later to find her slouched to the back deck.

One more story.. A few weeks ago Mark and Jamie Buscombe were in town and staying at our house. Jay was the last to leave one day so Erin gave Jay her set of keys so that she could lock the house. The next day Mark and Jay returned to England.. still with Erin’s keys! So for the next few days while we waited for them to arrive in the post, we only had access to one car!

So my message to you all… please remember to make copies of all your keys. Ensure that you have a spare car key and that you have house keys in a secret spot, should you ever need them.

Movember

I’ve always wanted to grow a mo. There have been many times when shaving I have left a bit of mo just to see what it would be like, but then shave it off before anyone sees.

I have actually had 2 moustaches before. The first being for Erin’s 80’s birthday party. Many people thought I was dressing up as Kip from Napoleon Dynamite but it was purely unitentional. Needless to say, this particular mo was not successful.

My second moustache was while holidaying on a houseboat. I decided to experiment with the handlebar mo. Unfortunately at this point my mo growing capability wasn’t fully developed. It grew beautifully down the sides but my upper lip was very sparse. In order to end out the spread I resorted to applying a little bit of Erin’s mascara for effect. Again, my mo-growing attempt was unsuccesful.

Dad proudly displaying his fish and mo

I should be able to grow a good mo. My dad, since I was born, has only not had hair on his upper lip for about 2 days. I wouldn’t recognise his without his well developed facial hair. He used to have a very full beard but in more recent years has just gone with the mo. You could say I have good mo-growing pedigree.

So I’m having another crack at growing a mo. I have to cause I’ve signed up for Movember. Not matter how bad it looks, I’m sticking with it for the month of November. I’m little apprehensive about it but at the same time excited. I want to grow a mo but don’t want to fail or end up looking like someone who should be on the sex offenders register. It’s for a good cause though. By growing a mo I will be raising awareness and funds for men’s health – specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.  It’s a worthy cause and one worth growing a mo for!

Please donate at http://au.movember.com/mospace/65642

Also, be sure to check back in here to see pictures of my mo’s progress in the month of Movember.

Could I be a tradie?

At the moment the building I see when I look out my office window is being demolished. This is bad for 2 reasons. 1) It’s incredibly noisy, and 2) the only legal, free parking around the area is now taken up by big skip bins. On the other had though, I am enjoying watching it all take place. There’s something about smashing stuff. I’ve always enjoyed it. Back when I used to play with Lego, I would have just as much fun making stuff as I would smashing it to pieces again. Or like when my old car went to the wreckers. I couldn’t let someone else have all the fun so I got a hammer and got the wrecking started. I loved that car but I couldn’t resist the chance to make a few dints and smash out some lights.

Watching this demolition take place also reminded me of a particular piece of play ground equipment. You may remember the playing on the mini sand pit excavators. I used to love playing on these! Some people were into swings and slides but I loved the excavator. I could sit there all day digging around in the sand pit. At the moment a much larger version of the excavator is putting all the rubble into a skip bin and compacting it down. What a job!

Perhaps I’m in the wrong job. Maybe my desire to wreck things should have been harboured and channeled into a career as a wrecker? Or an excavator? I think I could have been alright at it. I reckon I would have fun at least. I’ve often wondered if I would be better suited to some sort of trade. Not necessarily as a wrecker but maybe a builder. Or a sparky. Or plumber. Or plasterer. I know what you’re thinking.. that would be the last thing you could imagine me doing. Fair enough. I don’t have any skills in any of those areas or the arms. But maybe, just maybe, if I had my time again I could have been a tradie. I love the thought of not being stuck in an office. I could imagine it would be very therapeutic. Also, it would be kinda nice to go home and feel like you’ve done a hard days work. Pure manual labour. None of this decision making and stress that comes with my job now. You tell me what to build and I’ll build it. Or if it’s broke, I’ll fix it.

Or maybe I should just stick to a few odd jobs around the home..

The times they are a changin’

In the words of Bod Dylan, “the times they are a changin”.

I’m in a bit of a reflective mood today. I realised just how much things have changed when I looked over my old blog the other day. Of course, change happens and is inevitable but sometimes it’s only when you look back that you can see just how different things are. Obviously there have been some big changes for me – getting married, moving to ‘the sticks’, changing church, just to name a few.

In this post I’d like to reflect on one such change.  Before reading any further it’s important that you read the following posts and if you have time read the associated comments. It will give you some persepective.
http://freindy.blogspot.com/2006/04/to-drink-or-not-to-drinkthat-is.html
http://freindy.blogspot.com/2006/04/clarifications.html

As you can tell I grappled with the issue of alcohol. In fact, it wasn’t so much about alcohol as it was about the Salvation Army soldiers covenant. After much deliberation I decided to do what I felt like I needed to do. I spoke to the corps officer at the time and advised him that I no longer wanted to be a soldier. I had previously signed the covenant when perhaps I shouldn’t have. I was young and still working out where I stood on certain issues. (I should add that this doesn’t mean that I am opposed to soldiership. Also I have no problems if young people sign up – as long as they know exactly what they are signing. Anyway, that’s a side issue.) It wasn’t a decision I took lightly. Questions of allegance and who am I being true to were questions I was asking. I concluded that my faith would not be affected by drinking alcohol. My abstinence was based on a Salvation Army stance that actually had no relevance to my life, to put it bluntly. So then the question was, do I refrain from drinking to stay true to the Salvation Army, or do I do what I would like to do and be true to myself? All the while, I believe I was being true to God.

Not too long after making my decision I changed church. It had absolutely nothing to do with the alcohol issue. I always wanted to make this clear. My now wife, Erin was attending a different church. I made the decision to join her there, a decision that has proved to be a very good one. Ironically, my new church is called Yarra Valley Vineyard.

It’s now been more than 3 years since I last discussed the alcohol issue on my blog. So where am I now? I am still a Christian. I still go to Vineyard. I still drink. Has my faith diminished as result? No. Not at all. In fact, some of the most encouraging, uplifting and faith-inspiring conversations I’ve had have been over a beer. I have many Christian friends who enjoy a beer. Quite often we’ll go fishing and bring some beers. I’ve found it to be a great time of fellowship (for want of a better word).

Not only do I now drink beer, I also brew it! For about the last 6 months I have been brewing my own beer. It’s one of my latest hobbies. I’m still very much a novice but most of my beers have been at worst, drinkable. Hopefully one day I’ll have some really nice tasting beers.

So I’ve gone from not drinking at all to brewing my own beer. Times really have changed. I still don’t really drink much though. I enjoy a beer but never too much. I don’t have a problem with alcohol and understand that it can be a problem for some people. For me, I like the taste and I like having a beer with mates.

Humble Pie and Robyn’s CD

On 26th August I posted that “on the 14th of July I tweeted this; “shopping on eBay for vinyl records since Erin accidently disposed of my entire collection!..It was only a small collection in her defense.”“

I’m afraid I have some humble pie to eat. Erin and I have begun packing for our move to the new house. Part of this process involves sorting through junk that has been accumulated. I had a few boxes out in the shed so I brought them in to inspect what was inside. There wasn’t anything too exciting… some old note books, my collection of SABAV trophies. All of which was thrown out. As I got to the bottom of the box I noticed through the junk the word ‘Kamahl’. As I looked a little closer I saw the words ‘Peace on Earth’. It was in fact Kamahl’s Christmas album. I threw it straight in the bin but then saw the rest of the records that were believed to be gone! Rather sheepishly I informed Erin that I had wrongly accused her of having thrown them out. I was wrong. I apologise. So now I have a few more records to my collection. Actually, to be honest, most of the ones that were found were then thrown out. I decided to hang on to Nat King Cole, The Beach Boys, and a compilation of pub songs.

This whole ’situation’ made me think of my mother in law, Robyn. For years, even before I was around, she has been carrying on about a Crowded House CD that has gone missing. Just about everyone has been blamed at some point for having lost it. Of course no one has admitted responsibility. It’s quite a contentious issue and a mystery that has not been solved. Robyn was obviously very attached to this CD and is not prepared to let it go. I can understand that. For someone who is quite anal about their collection, I can relate to that. For example, earlier this year I organised Erin and my CD collections into alphabetical order. This is something I was looking forward to about getting married. Some of my CDs are missing and I can feel her pain.

Given my blog’s massive popularity (6 visits yesterday) I have decided to help her and put the call out.

Has anyone got Robyn’s Crowded House CD or know where it is?

Please let me know if you information. A reward of a Kamahl christmas record will be offered to anyone with information.

Perth trip

Last week Erin and I were in Perth. I used to live there back when I was a kid. Although I haven’t lived there since 1990, I still call myself a Western Australian. Like Indigenous Australians, I feel like I have a connection to the land. There’s just something about it. Maybe it’s the red dirt, or the ‘black boys’ or the abundance of water. I’m not sure what it is.

Let me give you a quick run down of some of the highlights of our trip (for those who are interested).

Fremantle
This was our first destination on our first day. The sun was shining and the markets were buzzing. It was a great start to our holiday. Usually I hate markets but this one was nice and relaxed, like much of WA. Fremantle is a very historical town and the markets haven’t lost that edge. Great food, live music, street performers and potato tornados!
Another great thing about Fremantle is Little Creatures Brewery - our day 1 lunch location. This place had a really good relaxed and fun vibe and good food and beer.
We didn’t make it to Cicerellos’s for fish & chips we is apparently a Perth icon. Oh well..

Maraget River region
We spent 2 days down south around the area. It is known probably firstly, it’s wine and secondly it’s coastline. The other thing it has is breweries. Day 1 was a visit to 5 brewries. Suffice to say, Erin was driving. The first one was my favourite. It was called Bush Shack Brewery. The name speaks for itself. It is literally a bush shack but their beers are good and their tasting glasses are a very generous size! Dirty Dan’s beer was my favourite. It was a dark ale with very strong coffee flavours coming through. Very nice!
Another day 1 stop was Margaret River Chocolate Factory. The best thing about this place was the bowls full of samples. I went back to these several times. I remember year ago when I was last here. My dad went one step further and filled up his pockets! You can get away with doing that if you’re a kid maybe. Day 2 was our winery day. It actually started with another brewery though. The Irish guy serving the beer there was great. He told us where to find all the good wine. He gave us a list of recommendations and was right on the money. Here are our favourites..
Browns Hill Estate
Stella Bella
Moss Brothers
One of the best things about this part of the trip was chatting to the locals. Everything is very quiet this time of year so everyone has got time for a yarn. We met some very interesting people.

Northam
This is the town where my dad grew up. My Nanna and Pop lived here for virtually their whole lives. I have fond memories of this place so it was on our ‘must visit’ list. Their really isn’t much in Northam but there is Freind Park and Freind Place! For most people, have a street with their surname isn’t all that special. But for me it is. This is the only Freind street and park in all of Australia. What makes it even more special is that it was named after my Pop. I remember being at his funeral. It was massive. He was such a well-known and loved man in the town. The funeral precission walked down the main street of town. Everyone came out of their shops and their was silence as the coffin went past. Such an amazing man and certainly worthy of the recognition he has received. Although, the park is looking quite run down at the moment. I might need to write to the local council..

Subiaco Oval
I was very exiciting about this one. I’ve only been to Subiaco once before and was keen to go back and check out the West Coast Eagles team store. It was a fair walk from the train station but I was determined to check it out. Erin, understandably wasn’t so keen. Finally we reached the shop only to find it had closed at 1pm. Bummer. So it wasn’t really a highlight but I thought I’d mention it anyway.

Tim Bailey
It’s always good to see Tim. I haven’t really seen him since he left Melbourne and drove direct to Perth without sleeping! He hasn’t really chnaged. And that’s why I love him. I still can hardly understand what he says but what I can understand is very funny. Tim told us about some of his teaching exploits. His class was involved in a game of soccer against another class. Tim, not to take things lightly, worked out all the matchups and got them printed and laminated onto a big piece of cardboard at Officeworks! Tim’s class won and I’m sure the other kids won’t ever live it down. He also told us about how he got one kid to write 200 lines for misbehaving. Only thing is that the ‘line’ was about 100 words long! Tim did feel pretty bad though.

and of course..

Visting family
I have a heap of family in WA. Erin had never been to Perth before and hadn’t met most of my family. So we managed to get around and see a few of them. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a lot of my family so it was good to see them.

So there’s the run down from my holiday. Now it’s time to start packing and pulling out weeds for when we move house.

Erin at the market

Potato tornado

Fremantle harbour

Bush Shack Brewery

Erin at a winery

Canal Rocks

Freind Park

Freind Place

Avon River, Northam

Aunty, Uncle and cousin

Aunty Glenys

Nanny

Along the coast

King’s Park

Hopefully some more anecdotal type posts to come soon..

Perth

Just a quick note to say that Erin and I are in Perth for the week. Probably won’t be blogging. But stay tuned cause when I get back I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say.