Thinking about the Easter Show. Thinking about St. Brigid. Thinking about making it fitted, like this or this. Thinking about wools. Thinking…
Month: August 2009 (page 2 of 7)
Nerd Cupcakes. Lots of fondant there. I don’t think I like fondant. (Link courtesy of the Snook.)
AverageCats – for people who can’t stand LOLspeak or anthropomorphism. My favorite is definitely this one: “Cats can’t make hats out of citrus fruit.” No, not even pomelo helmets. (Link courtesy of Christian’s Twitter feed.)
Food for the Future Fair
I’ve just been told that this year’s Food for the Future Fair will take place on Saturday, 24 October. I’ll post more info as it gets closer, but so far it sounds like it’s going to be a great day: local & sustainable food, launch of the Chippendale Fresh Food Coop, tours of the area, fresh produce available for purchase, Michael‘s ideas for urban farming, entertainment… I’ve even floated the idea of the Inner City Guild group having a stall to teach folks to knit!
Neat! If you’re a Toodledo user, they’ve just released a Gmail Gadget. Now you can embed your To Do list in your Gmail. I heart Toodledo.
Update: On second thoughts, I think I still like having my list open in another tab. I turned off the gadget.
Last week started so well and then fell apart. Tuesday I had a fantastic 5km run in the Domain at lunchtime. Afterwards though, I developed a little bit of a cough. I figured it was just from pushing myself a little harder than normal, but it didn’t go away. Wednesday I did a workout at Spudds and felt okay, but when I got home that night, I suddenly realised that my throat was sore. A headache soon followed, and I ended up staying home from work Thursday. I saw my doctor that night and he told me no running for the rest of the week. So here I am less than four weeks out from the half-marathon, not having run in the past 7 days. ARGH.
This week: 5.25km (3mi)
Last week: 20km (12.5mi)
HOWEVER – things are looking up. I feel like I’ve turned a corner today, and I’m not coughing nearly as much. I’ve been thinking about running form, and specifically whether forefoot running would help with the persistent back pain I’ve been having. Brandon is a big proponent, and Steve Runner is a recent convert. Brandon is always raving about his Newton shoes, which promote landing on your forefoot. On a whim, I looked them up and saw that there were a few retailers in Sydney. So I emailed HERT and Mark told me to come on in and check them out. I went over at lunchtime to try some on. He was clearing out last year’s models, so they were $60 off. What the hell. I decided to go for it. So I am now the proud owner of some very ugly shoes. I’m hoping to try them out tomorrow for a very short run around the neighbourhood. (I know you really have to ease into the forefoot technique.) I’m excited to see if it helps at all!
A dude in Lafayette, Indiana caught a piranha last weekend! That’s, like, my Dad’s dream. (The DNR guy says it’s probably just a pet somebody released. One would hope so.)
Darling Harbour, 1985. Amazing photograph. I’m really looking forward to the Powerhouse’s 80’s exhibition.
I might need to have a sprog just so I can decorate a nursery with this baby nerd stuff.
You have until Friday to send a submission to the senate about your support of same sex marriage. My submission (which incorporates a few previous blog posts) is below. Thanks to Lara for the link.Dear Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee,
This is my submission to your inquiry into marriage equality. I fully endorse the submission made by Australian Marriage Equality in favour of the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2009.
I’m a woman and I’ve been with my (male) partner for more than nine years, but I never wanted to get married. I just couldn’t see the point. It seemed like a big hassle and expense, and anyway, our “de facto” status gave us most of the same legal protections, right? We’re not religious, and I didn’t have any desire to play Princess for a day. It seemed an antiquated, pointless institution.
Then in 2004, we attended my partner’s aunt’s 50th birthday party. Her girlfriend Sue made a speech and then proposed to her in front of all their family and friends. I kept thinking about it for days. I mean, they can’t legally get married. So what was the point of proposing? Obviously it was a big moment for them. Why? Eventually I came to the conclusion that it was the fact of making it all public. We knew they’d been off-and-on for years, but now Sue was telling everyone that she intended to be there for the long haul, that she was making a public commitment to be with this person from now on. And I saw the good in that. Linda knew that Sue was willing and unembarrassed to tell the world how she felt about her. They also knew that by making their relationship “public property” in a way, that there was now the pressure to make it work. We know how they stand. That’s a good thing. And I decided that if it’s good for them, it’d be good for us.
I still couldn’t stomach the thought of a big traditional wedding, so instead we got married on a holiday to Las Vegas. It was just the two of us (and Elvis). It was one of the best days of my life. We celebrated with family and friends when we got back to Sydney. I have no reservations whatsoever about making the commitment to my husband… but it makes me sad that Sue and Linda – and all of our other gay and lesbian friends – can’t make it “official” in the way that we have. We don’t plan on having any children. We’re not religious. Why should our relationship have a different status than theirs? I love my husband, but part of me still regrets that I took advantage of a right that many others cannot.
It’s just unfair.
Kristine Howard
Sydney