Let Me Tell You About My Successful Cousin…

Procrastination seems to infect people around here. People arrive, all bright-eyed and enthusiastic, and then you give them a couple of months and they’re just like the rest of us. I was going to go to Japan at the end of last year, you know. I just put it off for so long that I felt … [Read more…]

The Quest for a Happy Head

My friend, Sue, is thinking of buying a portable hyperbaric chamber. If you think that sounds high-tech, you’d be right, but not insanely so. It’s basically a pop-up chamber large enough for person to hang out inside, which creates an internal air profile that’s higher pressure and higher in oxygen that standard ambient conditions. The … [Read more…]

Kid Needs To Let Off Steam

Ah, the joys of travelling with a three year-old. You can’t sense my sarcasm from there, can you? Oh, you can? Well, that’d be because travelling with a three year-old is a ridiculous thing to do wrapped in a fiasco waiting to happen. Alright, that was a bit on the negative side. But you have … [Read more…]

Window Frosting Fun

Grrr! My boss at the gift shop has gone overseas again, and left me with some ridiculous tasks to attend to. I mean, I’m all for shouldering some responsibility. Making an Easter-themed window display I can do; no problem. But arranging to have the windows frosted in a custom seasonal design? That seems like something … [Read more…]

Gumboots and Glass

The shop is starting to looking super stylish now. Gumboots aren’t the easiest product to merchandise, but I think we’re getting somewhere. Come winter, everyone and their dog is going to be hanging out for pair of ethically manufactured rain boots sporting reproductions of work by local street artists. A recent challenge was realising, a … [Read more…]

Clinical Competition

My sister in law, Brianna, has just qualified as a clinical psychologist. Having never been exposed to one, I’m not 100% clear on what that role entails, but I know enough to understand that the better part of a decade has gone into attaining the qualification. Anyway, she’s itching to get started, and I’m guessing … [Read more…]

Expanding the University Right Into the Water

I know our university is on the waterfront, but I never really considered boat parking to be something we’d need. How many students could possibly be arriving via yacht and/or sailboat of some sort? One, perhaps two maximum? Usually it’s zero, but this year we’ve suddenly had a petition signed by sixteen students who’ve all … [Read more…]

Tree Cutting For The Garden Competition

With the annual garden show coming up I knew I had to step up my game to reclaim the title from Betsy Pinehurst. I held the best garden title for 5 years before Betsy moved in and stole it from me with her over the top Palm trees and tacky pink roses. I wanted to … [Read more…]

The Simple Joy of Pebble Aggregate

I feel really sorry for the people of Venice, sometimes. Actually, I have a regular cycle of people I feel for in that way; suppose the wheel just landed on Venice this week? Anyway, I was watching a documentary this week called ‘Venice: The Vanishing City’, and it was all about how the whole place … [Read more…]

Beauty Treatments Are Just Nuts

Don’t know what it is about beauty treatments, but every time I hear about them I can’t help thinking of that Bob Marley song. You know the one, it’s about Buffalos. No idea what the connection is there. Good song, though… So my GF is doing a beauty course. Yeah, cool, good for her, so … [Read more…]