Missives Fugnonymous
I’ve determined that I’m less than enthusiastic about posting these days, because my this layout is such crap. Half my graphics don’t work anymore due to the server switch, and I just hate it. One of these days I’ll get up the motivation to do something about it.

Personal DNA Report
Took this personality survey today, realizing after I got the results that I had seen it originally on Barry’s site.

How Do I Live Without You? I Want to Know
All of you American people who read this, I need you to go to the grocery store and thank your lucky stars that you have access to all those beautiful brands. Brands like Nabisco, Keebler, Totinos, Campbells, HERSHEYS! Brands that are all but non-existent here.

Oh, we have Nabisco here in Australia. With their VAST assortment of five (FIVE!) products. That’s so few, I will even list them right here: Oreos, Ritz, Premium Crackers, Chips Ahoy!, and In a Biskit crackers. (They also have water crackers, but water crackers are yucky. Nobody in their right mind should eat them, so I don’t include them in the list.)

Compare this to the American Nabisco list, and you might notice at least two SHOCKING omissions. Wheat Thins. (This pains me so, because my cheese ball of joy is especially joyous with Wheat Thins.) And Honey Maid. And since we don’t have Keebler, this means that I live in a country that has no understanding of Graham Crackers, thus no S’MORES!

We were going to build a campfire with Hans’ brother and sister-in-law this weekend, but I don’t know if I can bring myself to do so knowing that s’mores aren’t even an option. It’s just sick, if you ask me. I’m appalled.

Riders on the Storm
A couple people have asked if we were affected by Cyclone Larry. While it apparently was pretty devastating, it hit much further north of Brisbane. Today it’s kind of like Tennessee weather after there had been hurricanes in the gulf–really overcast with rain here and there, but nothing severe. Apparently Brisbane is pretty safe when it comes to cyclones. They weaken considerably by the time they get down this far, and then there are some outlying islands that sort of break the force as well.

Here is an animation of the path of the cyclone. Brisbane is even further south yet of Rockhampton, which you can see on this map.

Unfortunately, Hans’s brother and sister-in-law had gone up to Cairns for a vacation this week. I called them yesterday morning, and they were fine. They were warned about the storm the night before and were told to get some food and supplies… but when nothing seemed to be happening by 8:00 that night, they didn’t worry about it. They said it started to get windy at 3 in the morning, and then REALLY windy by 4… but by the time they got out of bed in the morning, it had calmed considerably. There were lots of branches down, and no stores were open except for a convenience store beneath their hotel. But it foils their plans of going out on the Great Barrier Reef. The water is too choppy now to do that, but maybe we’ll just have to go back up there with them sometime.

So it’s big news here. Since we don’t have a television or really listen to the radio that much, we didn’t actually realize it was coming at all. We just happened to see someone on the bus yesterday with a newspaper with a giant satellite photo with the clouds covering half of Australia on the front page.

I was warmed to see an article about the President conveying his sympathies to the Aussies.

And then there is also an article that mentions the other cyclone that is developing in the same area. I’ll keep you posted on that one!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day
I didn’t mean to miss one of my favourite holidays, so I’m altering the day of this one just to do my traditional Irish blessing.

Hans didn’t wear green, but my shockingly kelly green shirt made up for both of us, I’d say.

After work, we met up with my aussie BFF and her housemate. We picked up Indian food, for lack of wanting to tackle our way into a pub. We watched Veronica Guerin (with Circle of Friends in mind as our Irish movie back-up in case we couldn’t rent the first). And we enjoyed a nice bottle of wine that was chosen solely based on the amount of green on the label. Good times!

Irish Proverb
May God grant you always…
A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.

Back in Brissie
It was with mixed emotions that I went back to the airport on Wednesday morning. That mixture of sad/happy/relieved/nervous/tired/refreshed. It was such a nice and relaxing time. And it’s no secret that I love New Zealand, and more so because Tash is there.

Thanks for the beautiful time of retreat, Tasheesh!

A Conversation
At the airport. A brush with celebrity.
Tash: Just so you know, you were in line with P-Money. The short one. He’s a rapper.
Me: Well, I sorta thought those guys looked like they must be in a band, but then I thought, naah, they are just children.

TV on DVD
We don’t get reception at my current dwelling, so we’ve been watching shows on DVDs ever since I got here. Marj has something like seven seasons of M*A*S*H, but believe it or not, one can get sick of M*A*S*H after a while^*. However, we just got a whole new crop of shows. Chris bought this great Brit comedy Hardware. We’re borrowing Lisa’s first season of House, M.D.. I just got my DVDs of Significant Others, and Hans got season one of Project Runway. Yippee!

^{* This reminds me of a hilarious sight we encountered when Hans and Marj brought me to the airport on Saturday. We were waiting in line for some coffee, and there was an Asian lady in front of us. She was wearing a green camouflage hat that said “H*A*S*H” on it. We all sort of wondered if she knew what it said.}

Game Addiction
I must say, if I haven’t before, that I am completely addicted to Weboggle. I totally suck, but I’m finding that my scores have been improving lately.

Teary, My Dearie
Thanks for the note, Erin. I got a little weepy. LOVE!

Also, I was so sad the other day, because I was using my little prayer card that I got at Alektor Cafe as a bookmark… and we couldn’t find the book! I told Hans all about how I got that card the last time the three of us were together in Nashville right before I came to visit him the first time. But we found the book yesterday morning, so when I got home to find you letter, I was like “this is one of the bookmark girls!”

Kia Ora!
Greetings from New Zealand. Just here for a few days savoring some quality time with my dear friend Tash. It’s been so nice to be with someone who knows me again.

We’ve gone to see Walk the Line, lounged around, had some serious coffee action, and some great conversation. Only a couple days left, but it’s been great!