...and contrary to the lyrics, it's not a lovely way to burn.
Yes, our little girl has been suffering a high fever since late Thursday night. We were unsure of it's cause (the doctor had no idea on Friday) but on Saturday Jessica was finally diagnosed with...tonsillitis! She was put on antibiotics on Saturday afternoon, which helped her somewhat. She's been in a lot of pain, has been completely listless and unable or unwilling to eat or drink anything of substance, and she has had very little sleep. By midday today she had started to perk up a little, and her temperature is now thankfully nowhere near the 40+ degrees that it had been on Thursday/Friday. She still has a lot of sleep to catch up on and eating/drinking are obviously still causing her a lot of pain. Poor little thing: such a big illness for such a tiny little girl...
I think that you shouldn't be allowed to come down with any illness that you can't spell. Or at the very least, the number of syllables in the name of the illness should be in direct proportion to your age: if you're only 1, you can have a cold, if you're 2 you can get meas/les, at 3 you can maybe get chic/ken/pox. So, by that reasoning, Jessica isn't allowed to have ton/sil/li/tis until she's 4 (and that ton/sil/lec/to/my will have to wait until she's at least 5, thankyou very much). OK, so that's not a very satisfactory ruling, and I don't wish those nasty things on kids of any age (or spelling capability). But it is very, very difficult to watch and hear your child in any sort of pain, let alone protracted pain that leaves her absolutely exhausted. I'd love to take that pain for her of course, and you'd naturally do it in a heartbeat, but that option's not in the rules yet either.
So there's no pretty photos or clips tonight: we're all quite exhausted and looking forward to the likelihood that Jessica will be feeling even better again tomorrow. Mel is working in the City tomorrow, so it's my day with Jessica. Looks like it'll be another day of The Wiggles, Play School & Hi-5 DVD's, while we rest on the couch eating ice cream. OK, so there is eventually a small upside, even to nasty big words like Tonsillitis.
Matt
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Last Exit To Brisbane
This airport lounge posting has become quite a habit. I’m starting this post at 5:27am on Thursday 26th, having arrived at gate lounge 2 17 minutes before boarding is scheduled. I even seem to have beaten most of the crowds (either that or they are at the Gloria Jeans booth I pass on the way to the gate). I’ve considered a nice latte myself, but have decided against it only because the flight to Brisbane is so long! And besides, I’m already sitting here with a laptop open, and an iPod connected to my ears, so the addition of a latte would probably make me look just that little too pretentious. Tres prétentieux, en fait :).
I’m listening to Mute Math as I type this, and I’m trying to type at the same pace as the music. I’m not doing well, and there are many, many typos as a result. The MM CD arrived last week from Amazon, and is terrific (as evidenced by the fact that I’ve used “Noticed” in the last post). Amazon actually shipped us a version of the CD which didn’t have the advertised bonus disc, so they apologised profusely, refunded us the total amount and invited us to keep the CD due to the cost of postage (they had run out of the bonus version). It’s always so refreshing to be treated well as a customer: the kind of customer service that is so good that you feel bad for accepting it! Anyway, the CD and concert DVD are fantastic - and I'm even starting to win over Mel as a MuteMath fan.
Today’s flight to Brisbane looks like it will be my last. After 5 trips, my scheduled tours have been cut short to focus on some other local issues, and I certainly won’t miss the travel. For one thing, I think I’m too tall for QANTAS Economy seating – but it’s not likely that our company will ever spring to bump us up to Business Class. I have had some pleasant surprises in the past few flights though as far as that goes – at least three times he person scheduled to sit next to me (and these CityFlyer flights are always packed) has failed to arrive, meaning that I can angle my legs out to the side for the 2.5 hours. Last time, the check-in lady moved someone from Aisle 14 (over the wing exit, hence much more leg room) and gave me their seat when she saw my height. But this morning’s flight has me sitting in the back, in the middle of a 3 seat group, and the gate lounge is fast filling up.
Anyway, it’s now 5:42 and I have about three minutes to exercise my legs before they are squashed into the back of someone’s seat for the next couple of hours (at least this is a morning flight: on the afternoon flights, the person in front often likes to recline their chair too!). I’ll save this and go for a quick walk to appease my legs. "Come on legs, you can do it: only two more flights to go!"
Matt
I’m listening to Mute Math as I type this, and I’m trying to type at the same pace as the music. I’m not doing well, and there are many, many typos as a result. The MM CD arrived last week from Amazon, and is terrific (as evidenced by the fact that I’ve used “Noticed” in the last post). Amazon actually shipped us a version of the CD which didn’t have the advertised bonus disc, so they apologised profusely, refunded us the total amount and invited us to keep the CD due to the cost of postage (they had run out of the bonus version). It’s always so refreshing to be treated well as a customer: the kind of customer service that is so good that you feel bad for accepting it! Anyway, the CD and concert DVD are fantastic - and I'm even starting to win over Mel as a MuteMath fan.
Today’s flight to Brisbane looks like it will be my last. After 5 trips, my scheduled tours have been cut short to focus on some other local issues, and I certainly won’t miss the travel. For one thing, I think I’m too tall for QANTAS Economy seating – but it’s not likely that our company will ever spring to bump us up to Business Class. I have had some pleasant surprises in the past few flights though as far as that goes – at least three times he person scheduled to sit next to me (and these CityFlyer flights are always packed) has failed to arrive, meaning that I can angle my legs out to the side for the 2.5 hours. Last time, the check-in lady moved someone from Aisle 14 (over the wing exit, hence much more leg room) and gave me their seat when she saw my height. But this morning’s flight has me sitting in the back, in the middle of a 3 seat group, and the gate lounge is fast filling up.
Anyway, it’s now 5:42 and I have about three minutes to exercise my legs before they are squashed into the back of someone’s seat for the next couple of hours (at least this is a morning flight: on the afternoon flights, the person in front often likes to recline their chair too!). I’ll save this and go for a quick walk to appease my legs. "Come on legs, you can do it: only two more flights to go!"
Matt
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Play Station Three
Only a quick post tonight, as I'm up at 3am tomorrow for another trip to Brisbane (just a couple of days this time), and I'm yet to iron or pack (or help get Jessica off to bed).
I had hoped to post an ANZAC Day message today, and part of a video I took of the dawn service at the Shrine in 2005 (the last time I made it there, I'm ashamed to say). In the near-darkness, the Army choir were singing the hymn, "Be Still My Soul", and it was a very stirring moment. I think I'm going to run out of time for that though.
But I will quickly post one, completely-unrelated clip though. We went to a new local play centre on Monday, and had a great time. For whatever reason, we had the place pretty much to ourselves, hence the title of this post. This clip shows a little of the fun we had...
Oh, and Melly has recently updated her blog with heaps of photos from Jessica's party and elsewhere, so make sure you check in there too...you can even follow this link if you like!
Take care,
Matt
I had hoped to post an ANZAC Day message today, and part of a video I took of the dawn service at the Shrine in 2005 (the last time I made it there, I'm ashamed to say). In the near-darkness, the Army choir were singing the hymn, "Be Still My Soul", and it was a very stirring moment. I think I'm going to run out of time for that though.
But I will quickly post one, completely-unrelated clip though. We went to a new local play centre on Monday, and had a great time. For whatever reason, we had the place pretty much to ourselves, hence the title of this post. This clip shows a little of the fun we had...
Oh, and Melly has recently updated her blog with heaps of photos from Jessica's party and elsewhere, so make sure you check in there too...you can even follow this link if you like!
Take care,
Matt
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Flight Risk
(this post was written over a week ago but it was stuck on my work laptop, hence the delayed posting).
Well it’s the second time that I’m writing a post from Brisbane Airport departure lounge, and it turns out to be at a remarkably similar time. It’s a Friday again, and it’s 3:05, so again I have about 25 minutes to write until the boarding starts. Have just spent another week up here with work, and it now sounds like there may only be a couple more weeks required up here – so that’s great news. I will of course miss the motel where I stayed this week: it was located in the middle of an industrial estate, with 6 lanes of traffic out front (who needs an alarm clock when you have B-Doubles and heavy vehicles waking you up at 4am?), nestled among an Adult Shop and two petrol stations, and the place was absolutely filthy. When I arrived I noticed that the bathroom still had the soap scum, whiskers and a razor from the last person who used it – and that didn’t change for the entire week. It's not a good sign when you feel compelled to pack everything back into your bags and take them with you to work each day, rather than leaving them in the room (yes, I did that all week - and I wouldn't have said that I have any OCD tendencies).
Unlike my last post from this location, I’ve just seen someone famous. Gough Whitlam just got off the plane that I’m waiting to board, and was driven away on a little golf-cart thingo. I don’t often see many famous people out where we live, so my big opportunity is when I travel. Merv Hughes was standing beside me a few months ago as we waited in Melbourne, but he and Gough have been pretty much it so far. I don’t know that you’d call Gough Whitlam a star though, so this doesn’t really qualify as star spotting. To many people, bumping into Gough Whitlam wouldn’t even rate as having bumped into anyone of note: he’s certainly been a polarising figure. (Case in point, I told Mel by phone that I had seen Gough Whitlam, and she asked if I had punched him!)
Just as I type this, some type of alarm has started going off. It’s VERRRRY loud, and there’s no explanation as yet as to what it means. I’m tipping it’s an evacuation alarm that’s been tripped by mistake (an exit alarm was triggered 3 times when I was here last - by the flight crew trying to get onto the plane – so maybe they’re just trigger happy here)....
....OK – well that was interesting. Just after I typed that last line, the entire Brisbane Airport was evacuated. We all made our way along the corridors, down the escalators, back through security check-in, outside onto the grass. A few thousand of us in fact. Everyone was very patient and well behaved, but I can’t say that the airport safety response team covered themselves in glory. It was ages before any announcement was made to clear the building (we were already most of the way out), no staff were where they needed to be directing the masses, and there was no apparent leadership at all. Myself and the people sitting immediately around me only decided to move off of our own volition, after observing one woman speaking to a group a fair distance away, then walking off with them: She didn’t come anywhere near us (must be my clothes).
The slowest part of the whole incident (which they’re now saying had something to do with a suspected fire – despite the fact that the fire department and police never attended) was getting a thousand or so people back through the security metal detectors. Almost everyone was calm and patient and orderly – we only saw one guy push his way past us and jump ahead of about half of the waiting crowd, gesticulating wildly. And that only served to make the rest of us chuckle amongst ourselves at how self-important and ridiculous he was being. Maybe society isn’t unravelling at quite the rate I tend to think it is: if only one guy out of a thousand throws his weight around and pushes through the crowds in an emergency situation, and the others have a bit of a laugh together after he’s gone (rather than coming to blows) then maybe society will last a few more years yet. Maybe.
Anyway, I have to get on this plane now – it’s been delayed well over an hour but it looks like we are finally ready to go. I should still be home by about 8:30. I’ll leave with a couple of photos of just my section of the crowd (I was trying to be discreet, so didn't pan around) – just to prove I wasn’t making it up.
Take care,
Matt
(PS: On the flight home, we watched three selected films from TropFest 2007. The winning short film was really ordinary (in my opinion), and I can’t believe it placed, let alone won. On the other hand, the other two clips they showed were great entries. My favourite was called "Road Rage", and involved an abusive driver slowly making a human connection with the man he had just verbally abused, understanding a little more about the tough times he's going through, to the point that the situation changes completely (eventually culminating in a group hug with men from the dozen or so cars banked up behind them, after they each share a bit about the problems in their lives). Such a great idea for a short film. The other one was set at the time of the Cronulla Riots, and shows two potential rioters arriving early to a deserted beach, waiting for their friends to arrive and for the riot to get underway. They’re each from the opposing faction – and should be enemies – but with nobody else there they start up an awkward conversation and realise they actually have a lot in common. After waiting and waiting for their friends to arrive, they take the cricket bat that one had brought as a weapon and start playing beach cricket together. I especially like their ongoing discussion about when it would be appropriate to start fighting: they decide that just two guys fighting would look pretty pathetic and when one suggests that the proper quorum might be 10-12 guys, the other corrects him by saying that a group of 10 guys bashing each other would just be written up in the papers as a brawl not a riot – since that’s what happened when they got into a fight at the footy club. The clip ends with one of them getting a phone call telling him that he went to the wrong beach, and that he missed the Cronulla riots completely. So they decide to share a ride home. Another great little film.
In light of the calm and orderly evacuation at the Airport, these two short films springing up about relationship and human connection amid aggression, and the lovely conversation I had with a middle-aged couple on the plane (who held hands throughout the flight and even through to baggage claim, beaming about Jessica and their kids and grandkids the whole time), maybe there is still some small hope for the world that Jessica will have to grow up in after all.
Well it’s the second time that I’m writing a post from Brisbane Airport departure lounge, and it turns out to be at a remarkably similar time. It’s a Friday again, and it’s 3:05, so again I have about 25 minutes to write until the boarding starts. Have just spent another week up here with work, and it now sounds like there may only be a couple more weeks required up here – so that’s great news. I will of course miss the motel where I stayed this week: it was located in the middle of an industrial estate, with 6 lanes of traffic out front (who needs an alarm clock when you have B-Doubles and heavy vehicles waking you up at 4am?), nestled among an Adult Shop and two petrol stations, and the place was absolutely filthy. When I arrived I noticed that the bathroom still had the soap scum, whiskers and a razor from the last person who used it – and that didn’t change for the entire week. It's not a good sign when you feel compelled to pack everything back into your bags and take them with you to work each day, rather than leaving them in the room (yes, I did that all week - and I wouldn't have said that I have any OCD tendencies).
Unlike my last post from this location, I’ve just seen someone famous. Gough Whitlam just got off the plane that I’m waiting to board, and was driven away on a little golf-cart thingo. I don’t often see many famous people out where we live, so my big opportunity is when I travel. Merv Hughes was standing beside me a few months ago as we waited in Melbourne, but he and Gough have been pretty much it so far. I don’t know that you’d call Gough Whitlam a star though, so this doesn’t really qualify as star spotting. To many people, bumping into Gough Whitlam wouldn’t even rate as having bumped into anyone of note: he’s certainly been a polarising figure. (Case in point, I told Mel by phone that I had seen Gough Whitlam, and she asked if I had punched him!)
Just as I type this, some type of alarm has started going off. It’s VERRRRY loud, and there’s no explanation as yet as to what it means. I’m tipping it’s an evacuation alarm that’s been tripped by mistake (an exit alarm was triggered 3 times when I was here last - by the flight crew trying to get onto the plane – so maybe they’re just trigger happy here)....
....OK – well that was interesting. Just after I typed that last line, the entire Brisbane Airport was evacuated. We all made our way along the corridors, down the escalators, back through security check-in, outside onto the grass. A few thousand of us in fact. Everyone was very patient and well behaved, but I can’t say that the airport safety response team covered themselves in glory. It was ages before any announcement was made to clear the building (we were already most of the way out), no staff were where they needed to be directing the masses, and there was no apparent leadership at all. Myself and the people sitting immediately around me only decided to move off of our own volition, after observing one woman speaking to a group a fair distance away, then walking off with them: She didn’t come anywhere near us (must be my clothes).
The slowest part of the whole incident (which they’re now saying had something to do with a suspected fire – despite the fact that the fire department and police never attended) was getting a thousand or so people back through the security metal detectors. Almost everyone was calm and patient and orderly – we only saw one guy push his way past us and jump ahead of about half of the waiting crowd, gesticulating wildly. And that only served to make the rest of us chuckle amongst ourselves at how self-important and ridiculous he was being. Maybe society isn’t unravelling at quite the rate I tend to think it is: if only one guy out of a thousand throws his weight around and pushes through the crowds in an emergency situation, and the others have a bit of a laugh together after he’s gone (rather than coming to blows) then maybe society will last a few more years yet. Maybe.
Anyway, I have to get on this plane now – it’s been delayed well over an hour but it looks like we are finally ready to go. I should still be home by about 8:30. I’ll leave with a couple of photos of just my section of the crowd (I was trying to be discreet, so didn't pan around) – just to prove I wasn’t making it up.
Take care,
Matt
(PS: On the flight home, we watched three selected films from TropFest 2007. The winning short film was really ordinary (in my opinion), and I can’t believe it placed, let alone won. On the other hand, the other two clips they showed were great entries. My favourite was called "Road Rage", and involved an abusive driver slowly making a human connection with the man he had just verbally abused, understanding a little more about the tough times he's going through, to the point that the situation changes completely (eventually culminating in a group hug with men from the dozen or so cars banked up behind them, after they each share a bit about the problems in their lives). Such a great idea for a short film. The other one was set at the time of the Cronulla Riots, and shows two potential rioters arriving early to a deserted beach, waiting for their friends to arrive and for the riot to get underway. They’re each from the opposing faction – and should be enemies – but with nobody else there they start up an awkward conversation and realise they actually have a lot in common. After waiting and waiting for their friends to arrive, they take the cricket bat that one had brought as a weapon and start playing beach cricket together. I especially like their ongoing discussion about when it would be appropriate to start fighting: they decide that just two guys fighting would look pretty pathetic and when one suggests that the proper quorum might be 10-12 guys, the other corrects him by saying that a group of 10 guys bashing each other would just be written up in the papers as a brawl not a riot – since that’s what happened when they got into a fight at the footy club. The clip ends with one of them getting a phone call telling him that he went to the wrong beach, and that he missed the Cronulla riots completely. So they decide to share a ride home. Another great little film.
In light of the calm and orderly evacuation at the Airport, these two short films springing up about relationship and human connection amid aggression, and the lovely conversation I had with a middle-aged couple on the plane (who held hands throughout the flight and even through to baggage claim, beaming about Jessica and their kids and grandkids the whole time), maybe there is still some small hope for the world that Jessica will have to grow up in after all.
Monday, April 02, 2007
MMTV...
Two posts in one day? No, not really. The last one was mostly written in an airport lounge on Friday, so that's cheating. And this one is only a small, single-subject post anyway.
I discovered a fantastic “new” band in the last week (well they’re new to me anyway): "MuteMath". I came across a MuteMath video podcast, where they perform their song “Typical” on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. They have such afantastic sound, with some great lyrics, and I think they’ll come to be among my most favourite bands (they are certainly in very high rotation in my head at the moment, and I only know two of their songs!). Sure, the lead singer Paul Meaney plays a key-tar, but he makes up for that with a terrific voice. Problem is that no retail stores in Australia have ever heard of them (I’ve asked at JB, Powerhouse, Sanity, Virgin…and people think I’m just making it up a random name, or I'm some old fogey who overheard some kids talking about a great new band, and I've got the name wrong…”Mutewha?” they all say). Actually, they’ve toured the U.S and Europe with The Fray and others, and have been featured as the next big thing in Billboard & Spin magazines, so they’re probably going to be big in Australia in the very near future. Unfortunately as an Australian resident you can’t purchase the songs via iTunes’ U.S. store, and they aren’t for sale on the Australian iTunes store. Will have to make do with the two songs on YouTube for a while until a CD can be delivered from Amazon (it's already annoying Mel how often I play the clips - she said to me this afternoon, rather sarcastically, "Oh, I wonder who this could be...???"). I’ll link to both "Typical" (the music video, not the live performance) and "Chaos" (a live performance), which the band have posted on YouTube. The Typical clip is one of the best music videos I’ve seen in a long while, which is already gravy given the quality of the song itself.
Here's "Typical"...
And here's "Chaos"...
Goodnight,
Matt
I discovered a fantastic “new” band in the last week (well they’re new to me anyway): "MuteMath". I came across a MuteMath video podcast, where they perform their song “Typical” on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. They have such afantastic sound, with some great lyrics, and I think they’ll come to be among my most favourite bands (they are certainly in very high rotation in my head at the moment, and I only know two of their songs!). Sure, the lead singer Paul Meaney plays a key-tar, but he makes up for that with a terrific voice. Problem is that no retail stores in Australia have ever heard of them (I’ve asked at JB, Powerhouse, Sanity, Virgin…and people think I’m just making it up a random name, or I'm some old fogey who overheard some kids talking about a great new band, and I've got the name wrong…”Mutewha?” they all say). Actually, they’ve toured the U.S and Europe with The Fray and others, and have been featured as the next big thing in Billboard & Spin magazines, so they’re probably going to be big in Australia in the very near future. Unfortunately as an Australian resident you can’t purchase the songs via iTunes’ U.S. store, and they aren’t for sale on the Australian iTunes store. Will have to make do with the two songs on YouTube for a while until a CD can be delivered from Amazon (it's already annoying Mel how often I play the clips - she said to me this afternoon, rather sarcastically, "Oh, I wonder who this could be...???"). I’ll link to both "Typical" (the music video, not the live performance) and "Chaos" (a live performance), which the band have posted on YouTube. The Typical clip is one of the best music videos I’ve seen in a long while, which is already gravy given the quality of the song itself.
Here's "Typical"...
And here's "Chaos"...
Goodnight,
Matt
Travel sickness.
My very first blog posting from an airport departure lounge! I’m sitting in Brisbane airport at 3:01 on Friday, waiting for my flight back to Melbourne. I wonder how much I can type before we have to board in 29 minutes? Regardless of how little I type, it’ll be more than I’ve posted for the last few weeks, so it’s worth pressing on.
I’m heading home from a third week of working out of Queensland. It’s been quite a challenging/stressful few weeks actually, involving week-on/week-off stints supporting our company's new project just out of Brisbane. Those travel arrangements are due to continue at least until mid-May, so I have another three weeks in Brisbane at the very least. I'm sure that for many people the idea of business travel has some level of excitement or even glamour attached to it (or maybe some just enjoy getting out of the house for a while?), but that's not how it feels to me. Perhaps it's another one of those situations where the "ideal" of something doesn't sit well with the reality: all I know is that as soon as I check in I can't wait to get home. I'm not actually "sick" of travel - so the title of this post is misleading - but it'd be infinitely nicer to be sitting at home with the girls. I did have this beautiful picture of Jessica with me - on the desk in my hotel - so that made things a lot more bearable:
Today I was supposed to be on hand as a presenter for 4 tour groups, and the schedule of the tours was to have meant I would be getting home at about 11:30 tonight. Surprisingly, but thankfully, the last two tours were cancelled at the last minute, so I’ve rushed to the airport and been able to grab a flight that gets in 4 hours earlier. After getting up at 3:30 each day this week, I’ll be very glad to get home and get some rest. It's actually a funny/distressing story about how I came to be on this project, and why I'm travelling so much, but I might leave that for fear that it'll degenerate into another mopey, whine-y work story. We don't need another one of those on this blog.
Now, to quickly change the subject before I have to go... For a bit of fun, Mel & I both entered a few photos in a local agricultural show recently. Mel went really well, and in fact one two Third Prizes and a First Prize! I'm not going to post her entries here, as I'm sure it's more appropriate for her to post those on her own blog . It hasn't been updated this year (she's been very busy, especially with an AWOL husband!), but you'd have to think that introducing her prize-winning entries would be a great way to kick things off again...
Anyway, that's enough for me - must fly (no pun intended - although if that were true I probably would have deleted the word and replaced it with something else). On some level the pun must have been intended.
Matt
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