Handcuffed Mexican Children Steal US Border Patrol Vehicle

Another goody....

Border patrol handcuffed three mexican 'children' because he suspected they had marijuana in their truck. So the policeman put the kids in his patrol car while he searched the truck in question.. meanwhile, those industrious kids, still handcuffed, drove off in the car (and escaped!)... lesson learned: perhaps lock them in the back if you're going to leave the car running?

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22485435-13762,00.html

And I was going to include the story about a Russian boy who was running away from home and climbed into the wing of a jet... and took a 2-hour flight (at 10K feet)... to survive, but with severe, severe frostbite. But it's too sad :( I think he's going to lose both his hands. OK -- no more news.com.au! Back to work, kersti!

Doctors find consuming 60 pints of beer over 4 days is bad

Okay, I'm really into the world news today... this one's from Scotland.

A man had a crazy beer binge following a domestic crisis, consuming 60 pints of beer over 4 days (~35 liters)... surprisingly, instead of instant death, this led to a 4-week hangover involving intense headaches and blurred vision. It took them 6 months of blood-thinning treatments to restore his vision!!

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22496816-13762,00.html

17 pound baby born

And in world news today, a 43-year old woman gave birth to a 17 pound baby in Siberia... it was her 12th (TWELFTH) child. She said, "I ate everything, we don't have the money for special foods so I just ate potatoes, noodles and tomatoes," she said, adding that all her previous babies had weighed over 5 kg.

Note to all... avoid potatoes, noodles and tomatoes during pregnancy, at all cost. Here's the link to the reuter's article...

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22490809-5013016,00.html?from=mostpop

Poker Night

The boys let me join in on their poker night yesterday... it was quite fun, and I only lost 40 cents (of my initial investment of $5). Billy made up for my loss, making $10 on top of his $5.
We were pretty high stakes players, as you can see. We played texas hold'em. I think next time I will do even better because I won't fold at the inappropriate times (like when I already had placed a double blind bet and tried to fold before anything had been raised). Oh well! It was pretty nice when a few times billy and I were the only two left in the hand... I didn't care who won since we'd take the pot no matter what! We'll have to monopolize on this husband-wife-poker duo. Maybe there's a bright future for us?!

Tasmanian Devils

We went to Tasmania back in May, but at the time we were not able to post videos on the blog. Now that we can, we thought it would be fun to share with you some footage of these very interesting little creatures... after watching these, you'll know why they are named 'devils'.

Tasmanian Devils Play...



Tasmanian Devils Eat....

Billy Goes to Work

While this is several weeks old, Blogger now lets us upload videos... so here he is, heading off to join the corporate world! And now he'll tell you about it...


So I have now settled into my new job at Nemmco, and things are going well. A bit of a change wearing a suit and tie everyday, but things are pretty relaxed at the office. I take the tram to and from work everyday, right into the the business district, and I've got a nice view of the river and bay from the twelfth floor. I can even see the sailboats out in the bay, a bit of a reminder how much I'd rather be out on the water!

I still have a hard time describing my job and what Nemmco does, here is their website for more info: http://www.nemmco.com.au/. Basically, they run the electricity market in Australia. They are a regulated company, meaning they are run just like a company but there income is set so that they can't make a profit (as they are a natural monopoly). I compare them to the ASX, except for the electricity market. NEMMCO is also in charge of ensuring that everyone gets their electricity as well, so when there is a brownout in Australia you know my company is having problems!

My specific job title is Metering Data and Process Analyst. Very official sounding. Basically my job consists of two parts. The first is that I organize the auditing of the metering providers. In other words, we randomly select buildings and check to make sure that the electricity readings (and resulting bills) coming from that building are correct. So of course, I signed up our own apartment building for the audit.

The second part of my job is more interesting. It invovles the analysis of the data set. It is the thought to be the largest data set in the Southern Hemisphere, as it basically includes all energy transfers within Australia, with the price of electricity set every half hour. There are a few measurables in terms of system's performance that have been steadily decreasing, so my job is to figure our why and come up with a fix.

So, I'm learning a lot about the utilities market and database analysis skills, as well as getting used to working at a corporate job. My co-workers are really helpful and friendly, it is a proffesional but relaxed environment. But it is mentally tiring, especially because my boss sits directly behind me so can see what I am doing at all times (even while I type this blog).

Okay, that's all for now. After all, I'm a working man nowadays...

Bill

To enlarge the photos... just click on them

To see larger versions of the photos, just click on the picture and it will make it a little bigger!

Birds: Crazy & Colorful

If you're a faithful reader, you may remember a previous post from our trip to Darwin in June... we mentioned how a huge bird (a whistling kite) swooped down and stole my peanut butter sandwich from right out of my hands... well, now I have been attacked a second time! It was just up the road in the park where I frequently run. I don't know what kind of bird it was, but it wasn't a kite.... and I can't get this picture to align correctly... but the point is, it's a mean looking black and white bird with a huge beak.


I was biking alongside Billy as he went for a short run through the park. He stopped to stretch so we pulled over and I left my helmet on (it was doubling as a nice sun visor!).... within a very short time, I was hit in the back of the head by the bird! It approached me from behind (just as the kite had)... so Billy saw it just as it hit me! CRAZY.... My helmet is shiny and red... maybe I looked like a tasty fish (?). I think these birds need to learn some better survival skills.

After the chaos had passed from my attack, we started noticing these beautiful birds up in the tops of the palm trees... THEY ARE CALLED RAINBOW LORIKEETs

I'm no ornithologist so I don't know what these are, but they are so beautiful, and friendly. Not once did they try to attack us.


Here is Billy stretching after his 2nd run since his July 2006 surgery! He ran for ~15 minutes! Good job, Billy! It was a beautiful day to be in the park... what a way to spend our Saturday.

Again, Blogger won't allow me to change the orientation of the picture (grrrrr.) But anyway, here's Billy waving to me beneath the palms.

Party time at the Postgrad Ball

The theme for the postgrad ball was 'Over the Top', so we went for glitz and glam... Billy even wore gold suspenders, or 'braces' as they are called here. And he was wearing a gold necklace like Byron and Julian, but for some reason it's not featured in the pictures! He also had a big fake diamond on his little finger, for a little bling. The ball was at the top of the Eureka Tower, which I believe is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere... so we could see all the way to Fiji. Loads of fun... and the elevator ride was wild. It travels 9.8 meters/second... nearly 30 feet a second. So it took no time at all to reach the 89th floor. So here are a few pictures... they are the only ones that don't show how terrible my fake eyelashes looked! Unfortunately, you can't see my gold shoes... they really completed the outfit nicely :)

Kersti, Roxanne, Sophie, Billy, Lisanne, Byron and Julian

Billy the artist. Medium: sand.

Billy worked on the boat today... they waxed it while it was pulled out of the water. So I went to meet him in the beautiful beach town of Brighton (after the hard work was done, of course). He met me at the train station and we had a lovely outdoor lunch and then walked past the pretty houses to the beach. It was there that Billy decided to experiment with body art. (See video)





The beach is lined with these little houses that are independently owned--great place for storing the barbie and beach chairs! I wonder how much people pay... probably a lot.