I haven't forgotten to blog...

I haven't I swear. Ok, maybe I did.
A quick update:
- I went on a Desert Camp to Sturt Meadows and Mutawintgee National Park
- Tab had a scan and the new bub is good.
- We just got a Digital Set-top box.
- I'm back at uni for the spring semester.
- We've ordered cool new stuff for our computers: The Mac box set and Office 2008.
- Addie's in her own room (my study is now in our bedroom)

That's all for now. More soon.

Breakfast: The Most Important Meal

As we all know, a good breakfast can set you up for a great day. Even Adelaide (not yet 10 months old!) knows the importance of this meal and has been making her views abundantly clear to all those nearby in the mornings.

The offending bowl

Addie has been having 'wheat biscuits' for brekkie and every time she reaches the end of the bowl, she howls. The past couple of days we've even given her a bit more to eat, but the result is the same.
This morning there were really sad tears. You would have been forgiven for thinking I had pinched her and eaten her brekkie in front of her (I didn't!). I haven't seen her that sad for a while.

So make sure you have a good breakfast. But don't feel you have to cry when it's over.

Caught 2nd Handed

Broken Hill has a great second hand market. There are community markets often, garage sales every weekend, op-shops, 2nd hand furniture and bric-a-brac stores and the town tip even resells stuff tossed in (relatively) good condition. Tab and I love to find the treasures hidden in these places.
Over the past 3 days, I have made 4 trips to the tip shop (making a purchase every time!), plus 1 trip to the Lifeline yard (where they sell 2nd hand stuff other than clothes- which go to the Lifeline op-shop).
Tab accompanied me on 3 out of the 5 trips.
Here's our haul:

Bird Cage, mini sewing machine, drink cooler, toolbox, portable turntable, sewing machine, sprinkler, steriliser and typewriter

The best finds of the lot are definitely the typewriter (which Tab has already written several letters on) and the stereo. Tab's research makes us think the typewriter is from the 1920s! Although we're not expecting the stereo to work, we think it may be repairable (a practice that we are becoming increasingly proficient in). Even if we can't repair it, we think it's nice and would make a great show-piece in a shed/garage/workroom.

Here's the two in all their glory:

Typewriter: $2

Sanyo portable record player/radio: $5

Bonus round:
In the bag for the mini-sewing machine, Tab found an extra little prize!

Finding a needle in the bag: priceless

Tab theorises that some little old lady with diabetes left in there. I'm more suspicious- I think it was robot ninjas injecting themselves with space-age nanotech biotronic laser powers while they sewed new ninja masks to disguise their grotesque robot faces. Naturally, they needed to use a mini sewing machine to be more discrete about their plans to destroy mankind. 

Dad Songs

As a young father, I see it as my pleasure duty to occasionally act the fool. Please don't misunderstand, I definitely do not believe this to be the only role for the modern day Dad. But, showing/teaching kids 'fun' is also important. I find one of the best ways to do this with Addie, or to just entertain her, is with 'Dad songs'.
Dad songs are kid's songs or nursury rhymes with words changed to be a little bit rude/funny.
Here are some of my favorites:

To the tune of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star':
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Daddy says you're a ball of gas,
Mummy says that he's an ass.
Twinkle, twinkle Little star,
How I wonder what you are!

also,
Tinkle, tinkle in the bath,
Make your brothers and sisters laugh!
When the water turns to brown,
That's right when they'll all frown.
Tinkle tinkle in the bath,
Make your brothers and sisters laugh!


To the tune of 'Hey, diddle, diddle':
Hey diddle, diddle,
The cat did a piddle,
In the middle of the kitchen floor!
The little dog laughed to see such fun,
So the cat did a little bit more!


To no tune in particular:
(My Dad taught me this one when I was a kid)
Ask your Mother for sixpence,
To see the big Giraffe.
With freckles on whiskers,
And Pimples on his...
Ask you mother for sixpence,
To see the big Giraffe (continue repeating ad nauseam)

El Jacketeet-o

For a while I've been drooling over the custom odd-jackets/sport-coats at A Tailored Suit. Currently these are out of my price range, but op shops are just right. The other day we were at St James' op shop down in South Broken Hill, next door to Patton Park. While Tab looked at everything else, I looked at the small men's section in the corner and found some jackets.
Unfortunately, my eye for sizing is not very good, so when Tab was nearly done, I enlisted her to find the larger ones for me to try on. We picked this nice jacket from the back and I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to wear it.

I love the 'aged' look on photos

For more info on odd-jackets, sport-jackets and men's fashion, consult A Tailored Suit's Style Guide and Art of Manliness' Dress and Grooming section.

Dress sharp Gents.

Build her a cake or something...

Tab and Addie went away for about 10 days last week. While they were gone, I thought I should do something for them when they got back, so I got my bake on.
I picked out a cookbook that looked pretty simple and found the cakes section. I picked the "French Coffee Cake" recipie becasue I like coffee and it looked easy.
My first attempt was a flop. It didn't rise, was really crumbly and just didn't have that "cake" goodness.
My second attempt was awesome!
These were the first cakes I'd made since home-economics in junior high-school, hence the pride.
Here's some pics of the cakey-goodness:

It was pretty tasty too!

*drool* Saddleback Leather Co.

There are some things that are just cool. There are some things that seem to manly without trying (but could be used by a woman without her looking too masculine). There are some things that scream 'rugged' and 'style' all at once.
Just about anything from the Saddleback Leather Company fills all these criteria.
My latest drool-fest is over their Medium 'Dark Coffee Brown' Travel Case.

Medium Dark Coffee Brown
...and yes, that is awesome

 I think Dave (the guy behind Saddleback) nicely summarises what it is and what it's for:

I set out to make a great toiletry bag, but ended up using it for my tools, then my hot wife commandeered the small one for her makeup.  I've heard it's "perfect" for lunches, first aid, sewing, ammunition, organizing desks and trucks and for all that medicine old people have to take.

 Personally, I really like the idea of having one of these as my toiletry bag, and a small one for ammo when I'm out hunting wabbits (when I eventually get a licence & gun).
There are two sizes (Small and Medium) and four colours available (Tobacco, Carbon Black, Dark Coffee Brown and Chestnut). Prices are US$164 for medium and US$147 for small. As the site quotes Pasquale: "Buy the best: Cry once"

Repost: The Key to Blogging

from xkcd.com/741! Go there. It's funny and geeky.

Funny blog: Dads Being Funny

As a Dad, I see it as my duty to say/act stupid sometimes. Most people call these 'moments' Dad-jokes. Well, I stumbled upon a blog completely made up of photos of Dads in the middle of Dad-jokes.
Go to dadsbeingfunny.com to enjoy the hilarity (or maybe pick up some ideas for your next opportunity.
Sample:

Wugga Wugga: I'm a bushman

My head's in a circle! 

Call the game warden!

If you have any photos of Dad's being funny, please submit them to the blog at dadsbeingfunny.gmail.com . 

Repost: Open Dictionary

I must admit, I use the dictionary built into OS X a lot. Whether to choose the right word or to understand one, it's a handy tool. But as always, internet-land has some tricks. You won't always find the right meaning of a word in common parlance online in a regular dictionary-
For example, this is the entry for 'leet' in the Oxford Dictionary that the Mac app uses:

Not exactly what I think H0m13_d4wg_1998 meant on the forum.
Urbandictionary.com has been the go-to guy for this problem, with questionable results.
The great thing about urbandictionary.com is that every-day interweb users can post their own definition of any word. That means that H0m13_d4wg_1998 can tell me exactly what he means when he says 'leet', in his own words.
The problem is that definitions may be offensive, irrelevant or just plain wrong (look at the list of definitions for leet as an example).
Macmillan Dictionary has an answer: Open Dictionary. Basically, the concept is still one of user-submitted definitions, but now instead of being voted up and down the page by other users, the good people at Macmillan do the editing, adding the definition to their mainstream dictionary when appropriate.

Open Dictionary by Macmillan Dictionary via LifeHacker