The other thing about insurance is that during the big storms in the Brisbane area, we were unlucky enough to receive damage to our house.  It’s really got me thinking if we’ve done something evil and this is Karma kicking our butts.  In no way is our house one of the badly damaged houses that’s had the roof blown off or the house has been blown away.   We have what is known as a flat roof with box gutters.  So when Mother Nature unleashed it’s fury, the roof and gutters couldn’t cope with the amount of water.  We were left with a swimming pool in our kitchen.  It flowed down the walls, in all the cabinets, and onto the floor.  Once there was enough water, it started leaking through the kitchen floor and through to the Office which is directly under the kitchen.  The office smelt for quite a while.

So at the moment, I’m really enjoying cooking all of our meals on our camping stove!  

So I asked work if I could get an Ergonomic Keyboard.   I picked it up from UMart on Friday and today’s my first day using it.  I have never used an ergonomic keyboard and it’s quite different to the qwerty keyboard.  I’ve noticed I’m hitting a lot of wrong keys and I must’ve cheated a lot with the wrong fingers / hands on the old keyboard.

I spose I’m a lot better now than I was first thing this morning, but its all fun for a Monday.  I’ll just have to get one for home cause I don’t think it will be easy going to and from this to a qwerty.

What’s happened in the past month or so…

My Birthday - I got a Wii Fit… I’m porking it on though as my gym membership ran out and I’m procrastinating.  I miss playing indoor soccer with the guys from my old work **cry**…

Rental House -  The tenants absolutely trashed the house.  I’m talking there was probably one wall that didn’t have a hole or needed replastering.  We’ve had to put in a new kitchen, bathroom, wardrobe doors, new internal doors had to be installed because they were broken or ‘missing’.

Sick - I am currently working from home as I have a chest infection and both ears have infections… Triple whammy!! I hate being sick and can’t stand doing nothing. Hence why I’ve got my work lappy at home and am processing accounts payable… How sad…

Melbourne Trip -  Last weekend, I went to Melbourne for a bit of a girls weekend.  Went with Seraya.  Top chic really.  She had to work Thursday & Friday, so I went shopping.  I started to feel ill on Friday (see above - yes I’ve been sick for a week now - Grrrrr) so we didn’t really do much on Saturday / Sunday because I couldn’t find the energy to do anything.

Visitors -  Glen’s sister’s came over from NZ in the first week of October.  We just hung out at our place and ate heaps of food (see item one re: porking it on!)

There’s probably heaps else that’s happened (work wise) but I’m not going to rave on about it here.  Talk soon, I’ve got heaps still happening…

When Glen originally bought it (quite some years ago, I think it was 2001 or 2002), he hunted for ages trying to find a 300zx that was in good condition and hadn’t been flogged.  It is really a fantastic car and realistically, I’ve driven it more than Glen.  I used to have this crappy Holden Nova that cost $2500 and when I had to drive anywhere other than work / shopping centres, I’d take the Z.  Since Glen’s gotten into 4wds and I sold the Nova and got the GTiR (since sold),  the poor Z hasn’t really been driven much.

I went up to Bundy the weekend before last and I wanted to take the Z.  I wasn’t allowed to because it would put too many k’s on it.  Talk about baby-ing a car.

 I really want the Z to sell cause then I can get my engagement ring!!!!  So if you want it, let me know…  I think Glen’s got $11 000 on it.

Where I work, the premises that they used to be in have been deemed unsafe due to electrical problems.  We were given a week to move.  Seeing that we didn’t have a lot of time to figure things out, people went to where ever they could.  The Finance Team (of which I am the manager) and some other teams have actually moved into the Ingenuity Office.

We also kicked the tenants out of our rental house.  They trashed it.  There are holes in most walls; the kitchen needs replacing; we have gutted the bathroom & toilet and; it needs new paint.  So in my spare time, I’m helping out with the renos… Plus the insurance company are not being exactly cooperative! GRRRR!

Anyway, the email is below that I got about Andy Rooney’s rant…

Andy Rooney said on ‘60 Minutes’ a few weeks back:

I don’t think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens…Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.

Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, which is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE?

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.

I have the right ‘NOT’ to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability.

I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American/Canadian/British citizen, you should have to speak English!

My father and grandfather didn’t die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.

I think the police should have every right to shoot or arrest you if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can’t understand the word ‘freeze’ or ’stop’ in English, see the above lines.

I don’t think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special National Assistance, loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, corner store, or any other business.

We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.

I don’t hate the rich I don’t pity the poor

I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn’t stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that’s better, and put your name on the building.

It doesn’t take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say ‘NO!’

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don’t pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don’t want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!

I am sick of ‘Political Correctness.’ I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa ; so how can they be ‘African-Americans/Canadian/British’? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don’t go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was fromEurope . I am proud to be fromAmerica and nowhere else

And if you don’t like my point of view, tough…

I can’t tell you what the weekend involved, but I can tell you how I felt. On Friday, it seemed that the course was going slow and I wanted it to pick up pace. On Saturday, I found myself chewing quite hard on some of the information that Murray put forward and I had to challenge myself on why I was feeling the way that I was. I would swing between being comfortable / uncomfortable during the weekend. By Sunday, I didn’t want the weekend to finish. The understanding and truth that was in the room was indescribable.

It was a really big weekend. We didn’t finish til quite late (11pm - midnight), so it was big on learning and big hours too.

I did the course by myself, and if I had my time again, I would’ve gone with Glen. If you are experiencing issues with your relationship, I can advise you to do this course. What I learnt, I can use with every relationship I have, not just my personal relationship. I cannot speak highly enough of Murray and his team from REAL Education. What an educator!

I’m looking forward to my next course! Woot!!

Lush Boudoir was set up for ladies to have professional photos to make them feel special (and sexy!). I’m not one of those girls that gets worried about how I appear. So I didn’t mind having to get my “bits” out for the photos. I thought that the pics would be a great anniversary present for Glen too.

Ainslie (the photographer) is one of those top chics that you just click with. Her studio is at her house, and you just feel really comfortable. She had funky music on and you just get into the groove.

I am waiting for the copies of the photos to get to me (and I will put up my favourite)- but in the mean time check out the website. Those of you that know me will be able to recognise me. Let me know what you think!

I think that we need to start thinking about oil. I do not have my finger on the pulse of everything that’s happening in the world, but I do not understand the price of oil. Are we running out or is it the billionaire’s who are controlling the supply of oil deciding how many barrels of oil will be produced a day pushing the price?

I know that oil is used in quite a few things, but the main place that we are feeling it is the price of Petrol. And the price is getting beyond a joke. I have a company car, so I don’t have to pay for petrol out of my pocket. YAY! So this may seem a little strange for someone in my situation to have a rant.

I think that it is about time that the world in general needs to start looking at the bigger picture. I remember an episode this year that was on Extra.  Some retired guy has come up with a way that he can run his car on water…. Ok - well it seems like it works (they showed it running) so why don’t we implement it?

The other way that has been getting talked about for years is a hydrogen car.  I believe Honda has a prototype and it is running quite well.  I’ve been told the hold up is that the Government is unsure of how to tax us if we don’t have to go to a station to fill up with petrol. True??

The last part of my rant.  We have 4wds that run on LPG.  When we first bought one of them in 2004 (it seems so far but not really) LPG was a staggering 18.2 cents a litre.  Now we’re talking about the 70 cents per litre.  Why is LPG so expensive now?  Seeing that Australia is exporting LPG for a couple of cents a litre - why are we (the silly taxpayers) paying this????????????