Christmas Party Roundup
The past two weeks have been full of various Christmas-related festivities.

First there was Spudd’s annual party at a pub in Glebe. (Spudds is Mark Carroll, my trainer.) He gives an “award” to each of his corporate clients, so here’s me collecting on behalf of my office.

Next was “SKIP” (i.e. Sydney Knit in Public). A few years ago some of the Sydney knitters decided that the annual WWKIP Day in June was just too darn cold for sitting outdoors, and we wanted a summertime KIP too! So the Christmas KIP was born. Each year it’s been held at the Sidewalk Cafe down at the Opera House. We had about a dozen knitters this year, and we got some serious double-takes from tourists and theatergoers.

And then we come to the office Christmas Party, which was held last Friday at Baia at Darling Harbour. I broke out my old prom dress for the occasion, as well as my foam reindeer antlers. This is me and Josh, my new coworker from the U.S.

Another one of me and Josh from our table at the restaurant. This one cracks me up, especially with Sven looking inadvertently stern in the center.

Here’s Sandeep, Kunaal and Josh. We had nerdy tech fun at our table.

And I swear, if I ever record an emo album, this is going to be the cover. It’s me, Fransiska, and Fei looking particularly melancholy.

Merry Christmas!

Non-Newtonian fluids. The second video actually made my jaw drop. Didn’t they do it once on Big Bang Theory? Regardless, that looks WICKED COOL.

Broiled Mussels from Smitten Kitchen. These look good. I’m still more of a mussel fan in my head than I am in reality, but I think I’ll get there.

Awww, nice! My sock monkey tutorial is a featured friend link on Sock Monkey Sisters.

How to: Make an Ironing Mat.

The High Cost of Books
Everybody who visits or moves to Australia ends up being astounded by how much books cost here. I always just chalked it up to transport costs and local profiteering. That’s why I was interested to read former NSW Premier Bob Carr’s blog post this morning: “Protectionism Means You Pay More for Books”. So it sounds like there’s some rule that local bookstores can’t import stock from overseas if there’s an Australian publisher carrying the same book (inevitably for a higher price). The justification is that by propping up local publishers, we’re ensuring they’ll continue to publish Australian literature. Huh! I had no idea. THAT SUCKS. I guess that’s why most people I know get their books from Amazon or The Book Depository.