Ahh, I've heard about the casinos in Mississippi, woodlock. I've never been to a casino. I'm just too cheap - I would probably lose, then I would be upset that I wasted money on gambling that I could have spent on something like chocolate or wine - a sure thing! I've never been to Vegas either, though I do have a fascination with the whole floor show thing. Do they have shows at the Mississippi casinos?

I hate tornados and hurricanes. Poor Elf! Stay safe.

Hello All!
They have river boat casinos don't they Woody? Or is that just in the movies?
ANyway, Be safe. I don't want to hear of any Elf's flying away.

Yogi Las Vegas is fun. There is so much to do besides gambling. All the shows they have, and the different attractions. It's great. I went to one show that had a guy that looked and sounded just like Prince. Of course, they also had Elvis. You really felt like you were seeing the real people.

kscatlvr Definetly go to the audition. You'll have to tell us all about it. What it's really like.

I hope everyone is doing well. Me, I"m cooking and cleaning today. (Big fun) Nothing else is really going on. The pooch went to the doctor on Friday, we don't find out the results till Monday.

Everyone have a good rest of the day.

Thanks for the good luck wishes, yogi bear, AussieGirl and Teena10242. I found an old thread about tryouts and posted my experience, such as it was, on that thread as that seems to be the more appropriate place to talk about it.

Hey Guys, Here in the Mississip they have both boat casinos which you really can't tell you are on a boat because the front of the buliding is on land, and on Indian Reserves which is were we went, but as far as I know there wasn't any shows, they had bands, but they sucked, Vegas is so much better! heh.
Good Luck Kscatlvr! I need to find some sort of vidio camera so I can apply some day hee.

Dim Sum
Yum Yum!

No, Woody there are no Wal-Marts in Queensland or anywhere in Australia. More's the pity.

I actually liked that movie, Yogi - it was the first time I'd seen Natalie Portman in anything and I thought she was quite good in it. And I have to agree with Teena - Vegas is cool, baby! It's like nowhere else on Earth! I'd like to go there again when the kids are older - it was hard to do a lot with them being so young and all.

kscat keep us posted the moment you hear anything! And good luck!

Australia is at this very moment hosting a charity cricket match, to raise money for the tsunami victims. It will be televised in 122 countries and it's expected that nearly a billion people around the world will watch it. The best players from all around the world flew in (free of charge from Qantas) to play in it. The two teams (of 11 players each team) are Asia vs The Rest of the World. Asia have players from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. ROW have players from England, New Zealand, Australia and the West Indies. Australia has 5 players in ROW (well, we are the world cricket champions!). The nice thing about it too is that the players are Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists and they are all just coming together for a common cause. Companies here are doing things such as donating $1,000 for each run scored (at half time that totalled $344,000 so far), and another company is donating $50,000 for every 6 hit (that's the highest number of runs per ball you can make - sort of like a baseball home run) and so far there have been five 6's. All the catering companies are donating all their profits and it looks like many more millions of dollars will be raised. Even though Australia is a very small nation population wise (only 20 million people) so much money has been raised over the last 2 weeks and it doesn't look like stopping anytime soon. Did I tell you I am immensely proud to be an Aussie?

Well, the Tsunami Appeal cricket match just finished, and raised over $14 million in Australia - a phenomenal amount raised from just a game of cricket! And that's on top of the $20 million raised from a concert here at the weekend and $100 million already donated by people in Australia. The Australian Government has also donated a billion dollars - all in all, an incredible and phenomenal effort from the 20 million people of Australia. I cannot even put into words how heartening it is for me to see such generosity from my fellow Aussies to those in need. Go Aussies!

Aussie, my dear sweet friend, let me just be the first Yank to say You Go Austrialia, as long as our country can do something of good I hope we do, and I pray it's not another "we are the world" :)

That's great about the cricket match charity. So who won, Asia or the ROW?

IMissEthan, Rest of the World won by 110-odd runs. Also, the tops worn by the players are being auctioned on eBay with all proceeds also going to the relief fund. Currently, Shane Warne's (one of the Australian players) top is sitting at a bid of over $100,000, with 14 hours left on the auction.

Considering it was over 30 degrees celsius here yesterday, it was great to see so many people (it was a sellout and currently the MCG's capacity is less than normal due to works, so that was 80,000 people) turn up to the game and stick it out in the heat!

Woodlock, there is talk here that a group of musicians (not sure if they are just Australian or international as well) will be doing a special remake of The Pretenders "I'll Stand By You" to sell for the relief fund, so you're close with your "We are the World" prediction!

Looks like I opened a big ole can of worms with my talk of Easter Egg chocolate! I must emphasise that it cannot be any old EE chocolate for me, it HAS to be Red Tulip brand. There are subtle differences in taste between each brand and the cheaper stuff just doesn't taste quite right. My favourite are the bunny shaped chocolates, althought I'm not adverse to the regular eggs (either small solids or larger hollow ones) or Humpty Dumpty eggs either. Humpty Dumpty eggs are hollow eggs filled with smarties (an M&M type candy, but slightly larger and brighter coloured shells).

I also noticed that Hot Cross Buns (sweet fruit buns with a cross on the top that you toast and eat with lashing of butter whilst hot so that the butter drips all over your hand) are in the supermarkets too. Did I tell you all that Easter is my favourite time of the year?

Also want to add my voice to the pro-Wal-Marters out there. On our coast to coast road trip so many eons ago, we made sure to ALWAYS stop in a town with a Wal-Mart and we always bought something, even if it was only a pack of hairclips!

I guess the closest we have over here would be Big W. KMart and Target just don't come close.

Oh and I'm another one who loves Vegas as well. I mean, where else would you find Coca Cola World and M&M World??? And mid week accommodation at five start hotels for bargain basement prices?

Tracey Bee, I think I'll be getting me some of those heart candies this Valentine's Day! Definitely add me to the anti-VD crowd.

So I saw on the news last night that there's some very vicious weather going on on both coasts of the US - people stuck in their cars for 15 hours in the snow in Nevada and flooding in Pennsylvania to mention just a couple of incidents. I hope all US MMers are safe and sound, and not affected adversely.

Heh, that's great Hejjie, I love it when there is trouble and/or disaster and muscians are like "I know let's sing a song!", I relize that's what they do for a living, but it does seem kinda laugh able, I mean they have money, donate it to the relief foundation.

Hey Hej, welcome back! How was your road trip?

iME while The Rest of the World won, it was really great to see that the whole game was so not about winning - rather, making as many runs as possible. At $1,000 per run that added up to so much. The total raised so far, from just one cricket game, has exceeded $15 million. I hope you guys in the US get to see it, I saw highlights of it on CNN this morning, and it's good that it made the news there.

Also saw on CNN the stories of snow and landslides in CA etc. Unbelievable. I too hope everyone is safe.

I can't remember if you guys have Hot Cross Buns there at Easter time. A funny story - when Big Little Aussie was 5 and in his first few days of school, he was in a religious education class. Now, we haven't raised our kids in any particular religion, rather, we tell them about all religions and let them make up their own minds what they think. Anyway, he came home that day and said to me, "Jesus died on the Hot Cross Bun". Hee! Out of the mouths of babes!

And thanks, Sweet Elf!

Yes, some of the bakeries have hot cross buns here, but it's not supercommon. Hot cross buns. One a penny, two a penny. Hot cross buns. If you have no daughters, then give them to your sons. One a penny, two a penny. Hot. Cross. Buns.

Oh, hot cross buns! I luuuuuuurve them. But then, I never met a carbohydrate I didn't like.

Still waiting for the Cadbury eggs to be in the stores. They'll probably be out right after Valentine's Day.

Me Three! And I always chant the poem when I eat them too! One a Penny, Two a Penny. (Gotta tell you, the cost a heck of a lot more than that in NYC.) I've never taken them with butter. The icing makes them sweet enough for me. But I especially love them when they have little currants. Yum....

OH MY HECK! I want one now.

Gambling on the Mississippi sounds very romantic. I shall go and wear chiffon....

Cheers to the Aussies - What a great country, continent, group of folks!

What are hot cross buns? And have y'all noticed that I don't know anything, cause I sure have heh.

Woody see Hejjie's explanation of Hot Cross Buns above. And don't worry about not knowing anything - sometimes I think I have early onset Alzheimer's! Heh.

Alrighty, Thanks Aussie, not only am I dumb, I can't read either heh.

You are so funny, Woody!

And Yogi, thanks for your cheers!

Aussie, the road trip was good, but long and tiring - 2,000 km in three days! The hire car we used though was absolute luxury - a Holden Statesman with everything controlled by electronics. Only downside was that it was like parking a boat!

This week I've been doing some shorter day trips - Tuesday to Shepparton and back, yesterday within the metro area and today the final one down Gippsland way. I was in the office on Monday, but as it turns out my PC has had a bit of a hissy fit and now the IT Manager now has to rebuild it totally for me - hopefully it will be finished by tomorrow morning when I go back.

The heat aside (up to 38 degrees celsius on Tuesday and 35 today), the road trips have been kinda fun, but I'm certainly not looking forward to the mountain of work that will be waiting for me tomorrow morning!

I had forgotten about the hot cross buns ditty suctionprints - thanks for reminding me!

Woodlock, aside from the proposed "I'll Stand by You" recording, I've just heard on the news this morning that a group of Melbourne musicians are today recording "I Get By with a Little Help from my Friends" (is that the right title??) - the Joe Cocker version. It's started!

Hey Hej, glad you had a good time on the road trip! Sounds like fun! BTW, did you know I used to live in South Gippsland? Dairy country! We're having a little cooler weather here finally, looks like you got stuck with the heat, mate! Oh, and did I tell you how cool it is to finally have another Aussie here? :)

I could never make up my mind which version of that song I preferred - Joe Cocker's, or The Beatles'. On the one hand, Ringo's voice singing so out of key was very endearing; on the other Joe Cocker did an excellent version of it making it sound nothing like the original. Kind of like Zoot when they did a version of Eleanor Rigby (way back in the late 60's) and it changed the whole song around, but it was good!

Hey Yogi - are you back from CA yet?

Hey Guys!

So it's raining cats and dogs here, I'm so not used to rain so crazy, but unfortunatly the plumbing(sp?) here isn't all that good, I guess back woods could describe it, but when it's raining a lot, which it is, if you use the shower, the toilet somehow over fills and dumbs its contents on the floor, so yeah, I'm a trapped stinky elf today haha. :)

SkaChicka, hows the new job going for ya girl?

Dodo, any luck finding a new temp. job?

Well hugs for everyone, but not for reals cause there is only so much deodrant can do ;)

Oh, Good Gravy Marie, Woodlock, that sounds like a nightmare. Seriously, to me, the bathroom is sacred ground. I find it very difficult when plumbing is less than stellar, and having lived in Paris, I know something about less than stellar plumbing experiences. What do you suppose that is all about anyway? Low water table, or something? Does it flood easily there?

I love road trips too, hejjie. The best part is road trip food. I'm partial to fritos. I never eat them except on a road trip. Luckily, I generally only take one road trip each year - heh. I understand a popular road trip food in the south is a tube of Tom's peanuts poured into a bottle of Coke-Cola. Salty and Sweet. I've never tried it, though. I can think of nothing I would enjoy more than a road trip though Australia. What is the road trip food there? Kangaroo? Koola? Shrimp on the Barbie? (I know lot about Aboriginal Art and nothing about Australian culture.) Oh, maybe a Pavolova (which sounds like canabalism a bit as all I can think of is a ballerina in a white tutu.)

I have had a tasty thing to eat today. A baked tortilla covered in cinnamon with the ends dipped in chocolate. I highly recommend it. It is tasty, delicious, and rather low in fat.

Hey, we can't eat hot cross buns all the time!

What's Aussie road trip food? That would have to be meat pies! With mushy peas! What do you reckon, Hej? And a couple of beers.

The pavlova (named after the ballerina Anna Pavlova) would be a bit messy to eat on a road trip, but I guess no messier than above mentioned meat pies.

Yogi, if you ever come out here, you can be sure we'll do a long road trip somewhere, maybe up to the Reef. You bring the Fritos! I'll get the pies! But be warned, there's not really much to choose from ie wherever I travelled in the US, you could always count on some really good diners to stop in and have a good meal. Here, you stop at the servo, get some petrol, and grab a pie on the way out.

And why not?

Yeah Miss Yogi, I enjoy a good bathroom too, this just isn't one of them, actually we are going to Texas for Valentines and I've talked it over with some friends and my aunt and they all think that I need to stay so I'm gonna talk to my mom, and so we will see what happens, it's one of those things you never know what you are going to miss untill they are gone.

Aussie, what is a meat pie?

Oh God, a meat pie... it's a pie (pastry) filled with meat and gravy. You can get it with mashed potatoes on top (then it's called a cottage pie) or mashed peas on top. You squirt tomato sauce on top and you're away!

Hej? Help me out here! Heh. All is know is the old saying of things Australian: football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars...

Aussie, sweety, you are gonna get tired of my questions lol, but what is a Holden car?

Have a good weekend everyone!

Woody, Holden is a brand of cars here, kind of like Ford over there. :)

Alrighty that makes since! :-P Hows the Litte Aussies doing? Keeping away from spiders I hope.

Oh great, now I have this mad craving for hot cross buns. Gahhh.
Poor Woody! Crappy bathrooms are the worst! Boo! I'm like Yogi, I have to have a nice bathroom. It's crazy- the rest of my house is a nightmare covered in dust bunnies but my bathroom is so clean and organized.
I am so relaxed right now! This is my one full day off this week and I could kiss someone! Lord knows I need a break, I was on the verge of a nervious breakdown. I was suppose to help move my sister today (who bytheway, just got engeged!) but it was so icey I decided not to risk driving there.

Hmmmmmm.... the good ole meat pie, what to say, what to say? Personally, not one of my favourite foods unless I make it myself - too many years of going to the footy (AFL football - VERY different to gridiron) and seeing people hoe into them (smothered in tomato sauce/ketchup) in the most unappealing way. Also, the aspersions cast about their true ingredients have always put me off slightly!!

Aussie, I see you are an advocate of the ole pie floater. I have to say I've not tried one of those mushy pea pies before. Although I'm sure it wouldn't be that much different from a shepherd's/cottage pie, except without mashed potato, right?

Woodlock, Holdens are an icon of Australia. True car lovers over here are generally one of two camps - Holden or Ford (the rest of us are quite content to have a car that gets us from A to B safely and efficiently). Holden drivers have a bit of a rep for being hoons (crazy drivers) and those I've met seem to really take the rivalry with Ford (particularly in the V8 racing circuit) seriously. When one of the Holden V8 drivers defected to Ford, there was a huge outcry! This driver had previously been the darling of the Holden set but now they cannot stand him! Kinda like one of your favourite football or baseball or basketball players going to another team.

Yogi, as Aussie said, the road trip food opportunities over here are a lot less fun than those in the US. When we did our trip over there, we would select our exits/pit stops by the type of food outlets available (favourites were IHOP and Taco Bell!). Whereas over here, you are very lucky to get a decent roadhouse/service station (gas station) at which to get supplies. A mandatory on any road trip is mixed lollies - snakes, jelly babies, etc. Also, plenty of soft drink and we always try to throw in some fruit (to kid ourselves we're being healthy!).

As for Kangaroo being on the menu... in many places it is. I've not had the pleasure myself, but I understand it's not that different to beef, albeit slightly peppery. On a road trip, however, you're more inclined to see them squished by the side of the road (they tend to jump out of the shrubbery on the side of the road at an unexpected pace and will do much damage to your vehicle, unless of course you happen to be piloting some sort of huge truck).

I'm guessing that many of the US based MMers are settling down to watch the Golden Globes (or will shortly do so?). We get it here later this evening but will also get a half hour red carpet special - that is probably all I will watch as I love seeing what everyone is wearing and I know I can get the results off the 'net much sooner than they will actually be broadcast here. The papers over here are talking up Cate Blanchett's chances for winning an award - it would be nice to see her get it, although The Aviator hasn't yet been released over here yet so it is hard to judge her deservedness.

Thanks, Hej - you're much better at explaining all these Aussie-weird stuff! Now you'd better explain to them about the edible snakes, or they might think we eat the real things! Ditto with the jelly babies, lol!

Kangaroo is on a lot of menus here, and getting more and more popular. I've never eaten kangaroo, I just don't think I could bring myself to eat one of our national treasures. I remember driving out on a beach road one sunset, southeast of Grafton, and there were literally hundreds of them to try to drive through. It was quite eerie. They are mesmerised by headlights.

Woody the kids are staying away from spiders, but I found two redbacks the other day, right under the chair I was about to sit on. Eeeeekk!

And congrats to Pinki sister on her engagement! Glad you are having some time off, PiP, working too many days without a break is not a good thing!

Hee. Jelly babies. I remember those.

I usually didn't like meat pies when I was down there, except from this one bakery in Cronulla, an oceanside town we ended up living at for the last couple of months of our trip. Wow. I'm getting hungry just thinking about that. I'm sure they put a whole pound of lard in that crust, but hey! The ocean air sure helped work up an appetite.

Yeah, the good old jelly babies, nothing quite like them. It's cool that you remember all these little things, suction.

We took the kids to Dreamworld, another massive theme park on the Gold Coast yesterday. It was our first visit there and we had a good day. Heaps of rides (some very scary ones), lots to see and do including a magic show and a ride on a paddle steamer and a really cool ride section for the little kids. We ate at a restaurant called Billabong, good food instead of fast food, air conditioning, and it was so Aussie themed with a gum tree growing in the middle of it, and a clothesline with tank tops etc on it. Hee! I thought you guys would probably love it. All in all we had fun. It was unbearably hot outside though, and because it's kind of outback/bush themed, there wasn't a whole lot of shade to be found. We decided to get annual passes, so we'll be going back again soon. Dreamworld is also where they film the Aussie version of Big Brother, so if I start watching that, we can go visit them in the house. Imagine if you could do that with Survivor contestants - go visit them on the island, heh!

On the way home we stopped for dinner and I had a previously mentioned cottage pie, chocolate eclair and capuccino. Yum!

Hello fellow MMer's. Sorry i've been away for a while. Been having some computer problems. I hate computers! Been working a lot of overtime this week also, so when I get home I eat and go to bed (don't be to jealous of my life now, k?).

First off poor Woody I hate bad bathrooms. Makes you feel like you need to be deloused after. Yuk!

MMM Meat pies. My aunt makes a good meat pie. She usually does one for Xmas, but didn't this year. I got her recipe though, so I can make my own.

PiP I hope you had a good day off. I'm thinking of taking some time off myself. Too much work is not good. Congrats on your sisters engagment. When is the big day planned for?

BTW. Puppy is doing well. Her blood count is up to 25, Yeah! The doctor reduced her chemo pill to every other day. After this last blood test she had friday, if her numbers are still good they'll reduce one of her Prednisone pills. She has been so spastic on these pills. the poor thing can't stop eating, and she keeps barking because she is so hungry.

Well, that's it for me right now. We have a nice little blizzard happening in beantown right now. They are expecting 2 feet of snow here, and maybe more, by the time this is over. If I can find the computer through the snow drifts, i'll write back soon

Hey Teena, glad to hear your puppy's condition is improving. And wow, that's a lot of snow! I just can't imagine what that must be like, while I sit here typing and sweating in this heatwave.

I just attended a small TWopcon here, just 5 of us, and it was fun to meet up with them. They're all nice people.

So, where did everyone go? Are you all on holidays? Yogi did you get back from CA alright? And Babalu, how was your cruise?

Hey guys! Not much going on here, but ya know what else is new heh. But all I have to say is wow, Mississippi is scary, we went to a restaurant last week, and man Klassy with a captial K, There was like this middle aged woman in like this peach colored track suit thing, I wanted to talk to her and ask her what was wrong with her? I mean that kinda think is bad enough on teenagers but at least they don't know any better, not to mention most the waitressess were missing teeth, oh and Jeff Foxworthy sponsers the place, man was I shocked...Not heh anyways that's all I got for now.

Wow, Woodlock, peach track suits should simply not be allowed. I don't even think Paris Hilton would look thin in one of those. It sounds like you were dropped into a fashion emergency dimension of the twilight zone. What restaurants does Jeff Foxworthy sponsor?

I'm so happy to hear the puppy is doing better, Teena. That would be terribly upsetting for me - I'm so ridiculously crazy about my crazy dog. We got her boots for Christmas because the salt hurts her paws so much. It's hilarious to see the dogs walking around the city in their overcoats and boots. I love the way the dog's sartorial splendor reflects the owner's taste. Of course, my dog looks like the canine equivilent to a little 5 year old girl.

Wow, Aussie Girl, an Aussie TwoP Con! Imagine all the virtual miles crossed to bring you all together. It's a wonder. I'm glad you had a good time.

Yeah it was quite scary :), the restaurants are called Shoneys, something like that, I never saw one before but they actually do have good hamburgers haha.

Oh, I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day, and she is going to be getting a new postion at work, she is gonna go work in the er, and it would just be every monday thru wensday, so she'll get every weekend off, not to mention every Peachy day off, but funny thing is, she doesn't like survivivor for some reason.

Yogi, please excuse my ignorance, but why is your dog walking on salt? I've never seen a dog in boots and overcoats, sounds so cute!

Today is Australia Day, so Happy Birthday Australia! Yeah! It's raining and windy here, so no bar-b-ques for us. But I do believe the cricket will be on... (from another State, where hopefully it's not raining and windy).

Happy Belated Australia Day to our friends from Down Under. I hope you enjoyed having the "cricket on" (though I hope that means you put the sport on the television rather than the insect on the grill...)

As for the salt issue, when it snows a lot, the paved surfaces are first plowed and then the remaining snow is salted to avoid icing up. The same thing is done to sidewalks. So the sidewalks are covered with large grains of road salt. This gets into the dog's peds and causes a lot of discomfort at best. (Perhaps because my dog always walks on pavement, her peds aren't very thick, and we have never needed to have her toenails cut because it's like she is walking on an emery board all the time.) So in the last year or so, more and more NYC dog owners are putting their dogs in boots. The problem with doggie boots? They have to fit, and there are no doggie shoe stores (yet, it's only a matter of time in NYC.) The boots we bought for our one are too big, so we put her feet in a bucket after her morning walk to clean out the salt. I know, it's all too silly for words!

The other major problem with the salt is that unfortunately it is an excellent conductor of electricity. So when doggies are walking on salt coated streets and pass by a lamp post that is improperly grounded, or any of the myriad wires under the blacktop that may be frayed, they get shocked. People don't usually feel this because we're wearing shoes, but a woman was killed last year in the East Village due to Con Ed (our power company) negligence. It's a real problem in the city and one that doesn't appear to have an obtainable solution any time soon.

Man, so ice and salt sucks, that sounds really bad. Of course where I'm from the times it does snow and ice, more heavy on the ice though they just let it happen, and of course everyone thinks that they can drive the speed limit during this time, but what can I say, they is not so bright haha.

Wow. Dogs, snow, ice, salt and electrocution - you learn something new every day, heh! Thanks for the explanation. The strangest thing I've ever seen on a dog was this pic in the paper of a dog wearing a collar that had a kind of umbrella as a sun shade coming up out of it. I don't know if it worked or not. :)

And yes, the cricket was on the TV and the Aussies won again. What's new? And no, we don't throw insects on the barbie, (they fly onto there all by themselves), heh! Kidding. The flies are really bad right now. Dozens of them just swarm around you whenever you go outside, and they line up by the screen door just waiting to go for the chance of coming in. Reminds me of a postcard I once saw - on an all white background was this pic of Australia, made up entirely of flies, complete with 3 or 4 of them for Tasmania. The caption read "Nice place, shame about the flies". Hee! (That was a take off of a song that was popular here many years ago, called "Nice legs, shame about the face"). Well, it was popular with a lot of males, not so much understandably, with women. But I thought the postcard was cool. Do you remember that one, Hej?

Out here they put extra gravel or sand on the roads, depending on where you are. I don't think they salt here because of us being so close to the river, it would kill the fish or something.
Eddie (the dog) has two coats, a sailor suit, and a life jacket.
Speaking of dogs... My poor Eddie. Poor, stupid Eddie. I was going outside to get the newspapers like usual with him (no leash of course, my fault) and he decides that he wants to fight with the neighbors dogs. Now, Ed is a Jack Russell, and weighs about 20 pounds. The neighbor's dogs are well over 100 punds, one a German Shepard mix and the other a Chow mix. The short and short of it is that he got bit on the chest and had to go to the vet and get drainage tubes put in. He's fine now, playing fetch and everything like usual, just with these terrible looking tubes sticking out of his shoulder. Sigh. What I've learned is that small dogs do not know how small they are! Ed thinks he is a Doberman! I called Mrs. Down the Road and asked how her dogs were. They were fine, of course. But I wouldn't have been suprised if he had bitten their ankles or something. Stupid dog. I love him.
Ugh, Aussie, you poor thing! I hate flies! They're so gross and just... ugh!

AussieGirl, I forget where you live in Australia. Are you at all interested in tennis? I've been watching less this year, but I love the Australian Open, even though the US coverage of it often stinks. The time difference is a problem, I admit, but we are constantly being shown boring matches featuring US players instead of better matches featuring non-Americans.

Hello all
Hope everyone is doing well. I'm doing well, except for all this snow!
I"m looking forward to spring this year, as well as everyone else, i'm sure.

Pip Poor Ed. I hope he is ok. How long does he have to keep the tubes in?
Why do males insist on picking fights with other males bigger then them? haha
Well, I bet he won't be pickin fights anytime soon.

Happy belated Australia day to all those Aussie's out there. Hope you had a great day!
Aussiegirl uuggh, those flies sound horrible. Does this happen every year?
How is little big Aussie doing in school? Does he still like it?

Not much going on here. Puppy went to the doctor Friday, and her blood work showed her numbers are still going up. She is at 28 now. We got to lower her prednisone dose again. Eventually, we hope, she will get off them all together.

Everyone have a good night!

AussieGirl, I don't think I remember that song, althought it sounds like something Austen Tayshus (sp?) or Kevin Bloody Wilson might sing! Oh and I'm totally with you on the flies. They're everywhere at the moment. I don't think I remember them being this bad for a while either; it looks like the heat is here to stay in Melbourne, so I think the flies are too, unfortunately.

BTW, did you see the Tigers at Dreamworld? We've earmarked Dreamworld as the next theme park we go to. Last time we went, the Tiger Island had just been set up and they had a mix of cubs and full grown tigers. VERY cute. Of course now the Big Brother House is there, that's ANOTHER reason to go!! Last time we were up that way we went to Seaworld to see the polar bears. They were lots of fun.

iMissEthan, the Australian Open is being held right here in my home town; in fact the arena is literally a hop skip and jump away from my workplace. There's been a few marathon matches of late - lots of bleary eyed people staggering in to work the next day after staying up past their bedtimes to see the outcome. This is the first year also that the Men's Final has been a night game, so it'll be interesting to see if they still get a large crowd. Jim Courier has been commentating on the coverage over here and he's been a big hit. Do you get the same commentary or are there US commentators that come out here to broadcast it back to the US?

I like that I can come on to the MM and learn something new nearly every time. I didn't know that large salt grains could hurt dogs' paws, nor did I know that salt could also conduct electricity! But now, thanks to yogi and IMissEthan, I do!

Teena and pretty in pinki, I hope that both your puppies are fit and back to full health soon.

Hey Woodlock, I've just heard about a third "We are the World" type collaboration for the Tsunami Appeal! This time, Eric Clapton and others are recording "Tears in Heaven".

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm off to an 80s club tonight (or rather, a club that plays 80s music). Yay! Other than that, a fairly quiet weekend. My main source of excitement at the moment is that TAR6 starts on our screens next Tuesday. Yay!! (Is it odd that I'm so excited about this event? No? Good).

Teena and PiP, how are your dogs doing now? I hope they're both recovering from their skirmishes/illness. And Teena yes, the flies are like this every year, and it's just so annoying. You go to sit outside, and a dozen at least come and buzz around you. Urgh! Even at the charity cricket game on TV you could see the players about to bat, and have to stop just to brush off the flies. BTW, they call that, when you brush off the flies, The Great Australian Salute, heh!

iME I live in Brisbane, which is about 2,000kms north of Melbourne where the Australian Open is being held and where Hejjie lives. I do like the tennis but haven't been watching it much this year, mainly because the cricket has also been on, and I prefer that.

Teena Big Little Aussie is doing well at High School. It's very different to Primary School, in that they are doing subjects like cooking, and learning more about social studies, things that are of interest to them and are making them think. I have always been supportive of teaching kids more life skills at school and it's nice to see this is happening. So far he has not had much homework, and what he has had has been of interest to him, so that's also lessened the stress considerably.

Hejjie we didn't see the tigers at Dreamworld, because it was still in the peak season school holidays with so many people around and in blazing heat. But we have season passes and will be going back there again soon, so hopefully we'll see them on our next visit. And if you liked the Polar Bears at Seaworld, wait till you see Shark Bay, which opened last April. That is fantastic! You can view them from above the water just while you're walking around, or you can go down and view them through glass under the water. I highly recommend it. One of the best attractions at Seaworld, I think. Oh, and I can't remember who sang that song, it was just a couple of yahoos who got drunk at the pub and wrote it, as far as I can recall. It was back in the early 80's. Bloody yobbos. It was probably Steve Irwin. Hee!

Ed's doing much better, thanks, Aussie. He got his tubes out Friday and is running around like a puppy again. Teena, I hope your puppy's doing better! Give him/her a pat on the head for me, kay?
I wish I got to see tigers. Grumble, grumble. Maybe I'll have to go to the zoo...or better yet, Australia! And I can have a meat pie and find out who or what is a yobbo.

Pinki a yobbo or a yahoo is what we call hooligans, or ockers - kind of like if you got Steve Irwin and Russell Crowe all rolled into one (God help us!). They sit in the pub and just drink and drink and sing silly songs etc. And BTW, I'd love it if you came over here - and meat pies and tigers at Dreamworld would definitely be on the sightseeing plan!