Fines

Just like Lena Douglas, who was fined $292 for cycling past a tram on Swanston Street in central Melbourne, we have contributed a ludicrous sums of money to the the Victoria state government since we've arrived. Red lights camera, parking fines.. etc. I remember only paying 12 bucks for parking overtime on Symonds St.. well.. more recently 24 bucks in the city.. but not the $100s of dollars fine they issue around here..

David Cameron

After 4.5 years in the opposition, David Cameron, at the age of 43, is the youngest British PM in modern times. 4 years younger than Bill Clinton when he became president. What will you be doing when you're 43?

Lin Yu Chun

Listen for yourself, there is hope people!

Cherry Call

This is a UK site, but they have sisters sites in down-under too. I must say I haven't tried this yet but my neighbor did, and she said it's fantastic service.

Sounds like all you need is some free minutes on your mobile phone and you're on your way, calling overseas for free. It just get charged as a local mobile call i think. Well, for the lebara sim card my wife is using.. calling a local call is 20 cents/min, NZ call is 5cents/min.. and there aren't any free minutes that come with lebara.. so doesn't work for her.

http://www.cherrycall.co.nz/

http://www.cherrycall.com.au/

Difference

Cat and bird together, the sheer beauty of this photo lies in the fact that you can find harmony despite difference.

Start by doing what's necessary..

then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. - Francis of Assisi

Every now and then, we all need a bit of a motivational talk.. this is from the current Monash faculty newsletter..

restaurants

Little did I know the the major shareholder behind Auckand's oldest Japanese restaurant Ariake was the Japan Airline. Now, after 30 odd years in business, it folded after the airline went bankrupt. Ariake will be missed, the sushi from there, from the the cheapest variety which I love - tamagoyaki to the exquisite scallop sashimi, were the best in the town.

Same can't be said about the New Orient. Despite being the city's oldest Chinese restaurant, the food was probably as good as food from any takeaway joints. If a restaurant cannot keep abreast with the changing macro-environment, it odd to at least serve good decent food. New Orient failed on these two counts.

Finally!

Home made food from dani, who needs "My kitchen rules"??

Yes, Peking duck at home, at my grandma's.

We finally have a new picture to hang on the wall! One of our favorite photo on our wedding day, done by "block mounting". It is not canvas, but the finish is really nice.

Health care reform

I really don't know enough about the debates on the US health reform to comment.

The NSH model of healthcare is the only one I knew as a child. If you're acutely sick, you go to the hospital, get treated promptly, and pay nothing. If you're not so sick, you queue up at the local ED, where a department would typically see around 500 patients a day. In the midst of it all, the sick ones still get sorted, the not so sick one, well, you just have to wait for hours but eventually you too would go home with some cough mixtures, if you're really not that sick. Having said all that, we never had to trouble the public hospitals. Mum would take me to the GP, and pay up front. We were lucky, not least to say none of us have any chronic aliments.

So, if the Obama reform means more (95 vs the current 83%) Americans will get health care coverage, it has to be a good thing. Even if it means even heavier healthcare spending in country which already spends to much in health.

It is the system that needs to be tweaked, no the fact that less people should be covered, I would have thought.

show me the money

Scanning today's news headline I can't help noticing there is a common theme to all the news piece.. money. Well.. that's how journalists pick a story to write I suppose?

1. A house in Toorak (I think it's like Remuera in Auckland) sold for 14.5 mil in Feb 2009, now sold for 25 mil.. the buyer is going to bulldoze the old house, and build a new one.

2. Theresa Gattung got about 3 mil a year when she had the top job at Telecom. Her successor, happens to be a guy.. currently gets around 7 mil. Oh.. and you guessed it, her former partner had an affair with a friend when she was the chief exec..

3. A GP in the UK gets about NZ$230,000 a year..

4. JAL shares closed at One yen before it went bankrupt in Jan 2010. This is shocking really. Reminds me of the book Corporate Collapse I read a few years ago, during the aftermath of Enron. oh.. apparently their uniform fetches for around NZ$4300?

5. No, I don't suppose money is everything because happiness is priceless.