“Ode to my Socks” by Pablo Neruda

The moral of my ode is this:
beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter.

Isn’t that lovely? There’s a bit more to it; have a read at the link.

Hey you guuuuuuuuuys!
In honour of The Goonies turning 25 tomorrow (yes, really!), you should go watch the infamous deleted octopus scene. Yeah, we’re all agreed that was a good choice to cut, right?

I <heart> Catlux.
A totally unsolicited commercial endorsement: My coworker got a kitten on the weekend, which reminded me that I need to officially proclaim that Catlux Softwood Clumping Litter is the best cat litter in Australia. I’m serious. We’ve tried a lot of litters over the years, and we’d basically settled on the generic Coles clumping litter for cost-effectiveness. Then a few weeks ago, the store was sold out and in desperation I grabbed a bag of Catlux. IT’S FANTASTIC. Not only does it mask any stinky smells, it actually smells GOOD! It smells like fresh lumber. I ENJOY scooping the litter box! It’s also physically much lighter than the clay stuff, so it’s easier to get home. It doesn’t seem to track as much as other brands, and what little there is doesn’t hurt your feet if you step on it. It’s more expensive than what we were using, but each bag seems to last longer than the previous so it works out. Catlux = A+++ WOULD BUY AGAIN.

Keep Calm and Carry On
I’ve been looking for a metal water bottle for a while now, mostly because I’m tired of throwing out plastic bottles at work. (I prefer to drink from a bottle rather than a glass at my desk since bottles hold more.) Last weekend I found this awesome Keep Calm and Carry On aluminum bottle at Octopus Design in Newtown. I instantly fell in love with it. It’s red! It made me happy. I took it to work on Monday and promptly managed to spill it all over my desk. Whoops. Still, that’s why I bought a metal bottle, right? Because I’m clumsy. Later that night, I took it to the gym with me. I quickly found that the cap is easy to misthread though, and while moving from one station to the next I picked it up and the cap popped off, sending the bottle flying. I hastily picked it up and mopped up the water. Again, I told myself, this is why I got a metal bottle! The next morning I pulled it out at work and noticed that I’d put a smell dent in the shoulder. I wasn’t too surprised. What did surprise me though was the puddle of water that appeared on my desk after filling it. Puzzled, I wiped it up. It reappeared. There was a crack in my bottle! THAT SUCKED. I put sticky tape over it which seemed to staunch the flow. Later that week, I spoke on the phone to a nice guy at Opus who agreed that a metal bottle shouldn’t have broken so quickly! He arranged to have a replacement waiting for me at the Paddington store this weekend. So today, the Snook and I went over to claim it. I’m happy again! Thank you Opus/Octopus Design. 🙂

Looks like the Iron Chefs are back in town! I love these guys. We attended their dinner in 2007, and it was such a fun night. If you’ve got a silly amount of money to spend on a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I highly recommend it.