Stowaway

Well, I finally arrived home this morning. Following Friday's debacle, my planned flight home last night hit a snag at the Canberra airport. The weather closed in just as we got here, and after two aborted attempts to land, we were taken back to Melbourne. The airline put us up in the Mantra, but with 180 odd people on the flight, and a full Qantas fight being billeted there too, it was 1:30 before I got a room. They ran an extra flight this morning to get us home, leaving at 5:45, so I had to be up at 4:30 to make it to the airport on time.

So I managed a bit less than 3 hours sleep last night, thank god I had the foresight to take today off work to get all my cleaning and washing done. But I also discovered that I had a stowaway. I have picked up a cold. My head hurts, my nose is pouring, my throat is sore and I'm a little feverish. So today has largely been spent in bed - although I did get a couple of loads of washing done.  But right now, I'm feeling pretty miserable.

I did manage to secure one awesome bargain in Melbourne though. We went to Harbour Town and the Levi's outlet had a big sale on. I scored a really nice military style raincoat. Normal price $179.98, marked down to $79.89 and then a further 50% off. So for $40, I got a really nice jacket, and it came in very handy when the wind and rain came on!!

Its not the weather - its the service

I was meant to be going for a weekend jaunt to Melbourne. Turns out the weather is crap and flights have been canceled left and right. That's annoying, but hey - Virgin Blue don't control the weather. Wat really pisses me off is the extremely poor service I got. Now I fly with Virgin a lot, and have found them much more helpful than Qantas. But this evening was just a debacle.

The Canberra airport has recently been upgraded, there are now no flightboards at the checkin area, you have to go through security to see the boards. Well half those boards dont work. All the boards that were working said the plane was flying, all the way through to the gates, where there was one board, right up the end that was working. And suddenly it said the fllight was cancelled. there was no announcement, no staff in the gate area and on the way back to check in, all the other working boards still said the fight was on.

The staff at the check-in area were actually pretty helpful, but given the trouble finding out the flight was canceled, all the available seats on tomorrows flights were taken.

Recovery

Last week I was reasonably unwell. I received a whiplash injury a couple of years ago and my neck now has a mind of its own. It periodically decides that it doesn't like me and causes nausea, migraines, other headaches and general discomfort and pain. For most of last week I had a mild urge to vomit and a more or less constant pain traveling from the base of my skull to behind my right eye.

On Tuesday I had a full blow migraine - waking at 4 in the morning to intense pain and the desire to hurl all over the sheets. I managed to scoff a couple of codeine tablets and lapse into unconsciousness until morning when I could force some food down in order to take the real drugs - the ones that actually work. After a day in bed, I managed to make it to work on Wednesday, but a lot of people noticed I didn't look too good. In fact I'm fairly sure a few people thought I was hung over. The sad thing is, that the day or so after a migraine it does feel rather like a hang over - only you dont get the fun night out.

But people who dont suffer from migraines, and have never seen anyone really suffering from one, have no idea just how awful it is. To so many people, its just a headache, get over it, and get back to work.

I'm finally feeling like I have recovered. Last night I finally had a good night's sleep. I woke this morning with my neck feeling almost normal, no headache, not longer feeling slightly hung over and actually ready to take on the world.

To all those out there who dont get migraines. Be kind to those who do - in fact, go and drink a couple of bottles of vodka, and when you wake up tomorrow with a blinding headache, can't stand the light or loud noises and cant hold down your breakfast, think about the poor soul with the migraine who didn't get to drink the vodka!

Oooooooo.... Shiny!!!!!!

I have my new laptop. Its very pretty. Its fast, it has 8 times as much storage as the old one, and its about 1/2 as thick. I like it a lot!

Ouch and double ouch!!!

I woke up at 4am today with a raging fever and a migraine. I blame this on my neck, which is feeling particularly unhappy today, probably a result of the nap I took yesterday on my couch (I hadn't intended to nap so I ended up awkwardly leaning on some cushions with my neck at a weird angle). This is the ouch part, but some codiene at 4am and a large dose of aspirin with breakfast at 8am and some more sleep have largely dealt with this ouch.

The double ouch? Well I ordered a new MacBook Pro on the weekend, and I got a text from the girls at work telling me it arrived this morning. Thankfully they were able to sign for it and locked it up in the office for me, but it is somehow incredibly fitting that I happen to be stuck at home feeling unwell and sorry for myself just when my shiny new toy arrives, so I have to wait patiently (NOT) for tomorrow before I can play with it!

Le sigh.......

How to spot a bargain

So I have been eyeing off a new laptop for a while. My old one is over 7 years old and is really starting to feel its age. So every couple of weeks I have been popping onto the apple website and eyeing off the laptop porn, sometimes i even go so far as to select the one I want and add it to my cart. This morning I did that and it was $100 cheaper than it normally is. I'm not sure if there is a glitch somewhere in the system, but the price of the additional software wasn't added to the total. And I succumbed. In a few days I will have a shiny new MacBook Pro to play with.

I like new toys!

Wild Target - a barrel of laughs

Red was full so we saw Wild Target. It was incredibly funny, in the way only the british can be. Full of recognizable faces (Ron Weasley from Harry Potter, Emily from The Devil Wears Prada, and the guy from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy to name a few), dark content (hit men everywhere of course) and deadpan delivery with brilliant comic timing. I give it 4 stars, definitely worth your time :D

To the movies and beyond (Friday night out take 2)

So, yesterday the plan was to go to the movies. (ie Friday night out) But as I blogged yesterday, due to some interesting dizziness and nausea, that didn't happen (it is also worthy to note that I apparently looked very pale and unwell too). So tonight we are going to attempt take 2.

We have 2 movies on the list:

Red, featuring a list of strong actors past their prime (well - by industry standards no longer suitable for sexy roles) who play retired CIA agents who know too much so are the targets of a murderous plot, and

Wild Target, featuring Bill Nighy as a hitman who falls in love with one of his targets and then has to avoid being popped off by the pissed off client who contracted him to kill her.

The plan is that as they start at roughly the same time, we'll rock up and see which one has seats available, and then catch the other one some other time.

I'm looking forward to it, both movies have real potential (although if bad, then like all potentially great movies, they are bound to be absolutely terrible!). I'll report back later with my thoughts.

In other news from today, it has finally started to warm up in Canberra. We are now nearly at the end of Spring and finally the day time temps are hitting the mid 20's. Its about bloody time! I can finally crank out the shorts and get some colour so my legs don't glow in the dark!

Friday nights in....

Tonight we (note the 'we') planned on going to a movie, but at the time we were due to head out I wasn't feeling well - dizzy spell with associated nausea (no idea folks, probably not enough water on this lovely warm day). So we are spending the night in. We have Triple J on the radio, a pot of tea brewing, the laptops out checking the blogs (yup folks, there are geeks in the house) and the evening stretches before us with nothing planned. It is indeed a nice way to spend the evening.

So excuse me folks while I return to reading rather than writing the blog and take it easy.

Enjoy your own friday night ;)

Nothing jogs the memory like a smell..

I have been craving corned beef now for weeks. It was a regular feature in the menu at home while I was growing up, accompanied by veges boiled in the brine and a cheese and onion sauce. So I have given in to the craving. Today I bought a nice piece of corned beef, and right now that classic smell from my childhood is wafting through my apartment.

It turns out that my boy has never had corned beef, so tonight I'm going to introduce him to it. I hope he likes it, I couldn't not have it in my world :D

Too much sugar is bad for you

Particularly when it is fed to 3 small children who are in your immediate vicinity.

Yesterday was my nephews 1st birthday. An event much anticipated by his sisters who are old enough to have worked out that this means cake, lollies, and assorted other foods they aren't normally allowed to have. And of course, presents - ie. toys that they get to play with too!

I arrived after work, reasonably exhausted (it was a rather long day at work, accentuated by the Melbourne Cup events - I won by the way) to find that all 3 kids were hyped up on sugar and going nuts. I delivered presents (a cool little scooter thing from from Gran and Pop and a push along lawn mower from me) which were pounced on by the girls who then got very upset when they were told off. We went for a walk (the girls ran with Mum while Aunty pushed bub in the pram at a more sedate pace) in a failed attempt to wear off the sugar.

Bath time was psychotic, dinner time was a nightmare and no-one wanted to stay in bed.

I was totally exhausted inside about 20 minutes, and by the end of the night was barely able to manage a shower before crawling into bed before 9pm.

So sugar is bad for you - forget all the health concerns and weight problems - being that close to so much energy could kill you!

P.S. Following the comment below that the guest of honour barely rated a mention, I am adding the following postscript. He loved his scooter - unitl he fell off it and it fell on him resulting in tears. He loves the noise the lawnmower makes, but can neither pull the cord ot make the noise, nor stand steadily enough to use it yet (finding suitable presents is hard, so I went for something he could grow into, provided the older siblings dont destroy it first). HE was an angel at bathtime, and ate all his dinner without a tantrum and he went to bed without a fight - although he was still awake, and in fact was quietly practising his headstands in his cot when a last minute delivery of an express post parcel caused his mum to see if he was still awake so she could open it.

Poor little mite will spend the next 17 years of his life fighting off those sisters of his I think......