We got to Wollongong around lunchtime. It was relatively quiet compared to Sydney. Actually feels like a Sunday. Took a walk along Crown Street Mall. It's a 2-3 block strip of pedestrian shopping, like Sydney's Pitt Street Mall. There's some retail shops here and there, some already closed. There's David Jones, Myer, JB Hi-Fi, etc. The only time I got excited was when I spotted some $20 PS3Singstar bundles and a ceramic white PSP on clearance for $99. (Take a further 20% off for the missing battery.)
After a late lunch, we went to the beach and the lighthouse for some picture-taking with the birds. (Real birds.) Not too many tourists there. By 4:30pm all of the shops, except for DJ, are already closed.
Next day, MIL woke up early and went out for a coffee. It was 9am, and all the shops and cafes are still closed. Good thing we found Campos Coffee and that's where we had our (big) breakfast.
I know Truffles is very difficult to find, but this is getting ridiculous. The address given to us was 427 Princess Highway, Wollongong. We set off from our hotel around 6:15pm hoping to locate it in 15 minutes using our GPS units. We got to the place, but no Truffles. We got out of the car, searched the whole block. Nada. We asked around and somebody told us it's near the Corrimal RSL. Nope, it's not. (Remember, it's Truffles Restaurant, not Truffles Bistro.) We called them up, and were given some vague directions. We headed back in the direction of Wollongong, thought we might have missed it, so we doubled back. Nope, must be the other direction.
We finally found the restaurant at 8pm. Way past the babies' bedtime, which made them really cranky. The menu sounds very nice, but tastes average. Or maybe I was just not in the mood anymore. Prices are quite reasonable though, especially when it's somebody else's treat.
Not a lucky day for me. Rushed out of the house to find that I have left all my keys and even wallet behind. All I've got is my backpack and my phone. Called up the wife. Really no point to have her drive all the way home to open the door for me and drive back to work. Called my siblings. All of them have left for work already. At least Mom's home. I decided to walk the 1.5kms to get the spare keys from her.
A few hundred meters down the road, it started raining. Ran to the nearest taxi rank and hopped into a cab. Lucky for me, my cabbie doesn't mind the short distance and the fact that I don't have any money with me. Though I did pay him with the money I borrowed from Mom. So I grabbed the spare house keys, took the spare car and drove back to my house. The keys won't work. In our haste, we got the wrong keys.
Drove back to the house. This time, my Mom's already waiting outside with the right keys. Got back to the house, grabbed my keys and wallet, switched cars, off to the office.
Has been drizzling the whole day. If it weren't for the date-specific tickets, I would've just stayed at home, instead of going to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. The rain stopped for a while by the time we got out of the bus, so it's not too bad. Still happy that the wife and baby didn't come along, as the whole place is packed. First activity we watched is the dog races. Man, those dogs are really hyper. I wonder what the trainers do to make them so motivated. Next, we watched the daredevil bikies do some stunts. The ground is still wet, so they only performed the easy ones. Started drizzling again, so we took shelter inside the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome. Everybody else had the same idea, so the place is packed. Love the produce displays.
Lunch is hotdog on a stick for $4.50 and chips for $6.50. Strange that the chips cost more than the hotdog. If you look hard enough, you'll find stalls selling hotdogs for $6. Ponchos for $5. Umbrellas for $9. After lunch, we checked out the cows, the horses, the sheep, the cats, the blokes chopping wood, etc. By 5pm, it's time for the Grand Parade, which has more cows, more horses, more sheep, more alpacas, more pigs, etc. Can't believe we wasted 1.5 hours for that. By 6pm, I was in such a hurry to meet up with the wife, I didn't have the time to look at the showbags anymore.
Dropped in Tony Roma's on Sussex Street for some all-you-can-eat-pork-ribs goodness, compliments of a Cudo voucher. Normal price of a pork ribs buffet is around $30. With my Cudo voucher, it's only $15 for every person on the table. But wait, there's more. You also get rice or fries as a side.
With the first round, you get three big slabs. Once you've finished everything, they'll serve you smaller pieces, about three bones wide. This is about what we can finish within the two-hour time limit anyway.
Aidan's first day at swim school. Got to the Aquatic Centre a few minutes late. No big deal. Then my wife tells me that the class lasts for only 20 minutes. What?! Mad dash to the kiddie pool without even taking a shower. I hope the others will understand.
Today's lesson involves the instructor taking the baby and gently swaying him in the water left and right. Then she pushes the baby towards the parent. After a few rounds, a rubber mat was brought out. The babies were left sitting on the mat. We turn the mat round and round (while singing Ring-a-Round a Rosie). At one point, we lift our babies and let them splash into the water. Then back on the mat for more. None of the babies liked it, as most were bawling at the end of class. They're probably confused as to what going on.
Spent most of my free time watching Season One of Louis Theroux' Weird Weekends. In this offbeat documentary series, Louis takes us into some strange and unfamiliar subcultures. He doesn't just interview the UFO fanatics and porn stars and off-Broadway wannabes and black nationalists and white supremacists, he goes deeper than that. He stars in an infomercial; he joins a rap competition; he goes under hypnosis; he interviews some potential Thai brides; he joins a demolition derby.
Been a while since we came down to the city. With free tickets to the Home Buyer & Property Investor Show, we took the opportunity to visit Darling Harbour.
The expo is pretty much the same as last year. Most of the booths are hawking investment properties never-heard-of suburbs. Some even offer rental guarantees.Heck, for the price of one apartment in Sydney, you can buy five rental properties in the US with a return of 15% or more.
The deals are so good, I'm surprised I haven't signed any contracts yet.
Just next door is the Trading and Investing Expo. Even less interesting for someone who's too busy to trade shares and play with foreign currencies anymore.
My manager sauntered down the corridor, went in my cubicle, and casually handed me a plaque celebrating my 10 years of service with the company. I also get a MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art) perpetual calendar designed by Gideon Dagan and made in China. It's a perpetual calendar because you have to mark the day and month yourself, every single day of the year. That'll remind me how time flies.
To think that I spent weeks looking for an affordable EyeToy USB camera on eBay. If you know how, you could've gotten one *including* the EyeToy Play 2 disc for only $7.
I went to EBGames and bought Play 2 for $7. The guy asked me if I have the camera. Thinking this is another cross-sell, and I do already have an EyeToy, I said yes. Went back home only to find out that I already have Play 2. What I'm after is the original Play. Went back to EBGames the next day to return it. A different guy asked me if I have the camera for the game. Again, I said yes, I have my own camera. Oh, the games come with the camera, the guy mentioned. Hmm, is that so? Anyway, I found Play for $4, and asked for the camera. This time, the camera is not included. Bummer.
So I went back to the bargain bin, and looked around for Buzz! titles. If you read the item codes carefully, it actually tells you if hardware is included. For my efforts, I got a Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz game disc plus FOUR Buzz controllers for only $18. Not too shabby.
First time to attend a HillsongChurch service. Church is a bit misleading because the place is more like a convention centre. We were there for a dedication service for a friend's twins. We asked around and were told that we must be mistaken because there's no dedication scheduled for today. Apparently, there was some kind of miscommunication. We later located the harassed mom, who's trying to make things happen. Good thing the Hillsong guys agreed to add in a short dedication to their regular service.
We walked in the auditorium and was amazed by its size and the number of people attending the service. What's even more surprising is the availability of a parents' room complete with changing table, microwave oven, curtained booths for breastfeeding, and a flatscreen TV showing a live feed of the service. We stayed in the parents' room the whole time as baby needs a feed, then sleep. Also, I don't think he can handle the loud volume inside the auditorium.
With summer coming fast, I'm onto eBay to look for a portable air conditioner. A no-frills portable airconditioner will set you back at least $150. If you opt for the reverse-cycle one, that's usually around $250 or more.
So I find a portable a/c for sale. A closer look at the description says it's a Dimplex DAC-12004RC, which tells me it's actually reverse-cycle. No wonder there's relatively little interest from the bidding public. The item location being in Horseley also helps.
minutes to go before the auction ends, we're still in Westfield. I took out my E75 and went to the mobile eBay site. No HSDPA, only 3G. Started putting in higher and higher bids until I got the winning bid. To prevent a last-minute upset, I upped my max bid some more. Must've put in the wrong number because I ended up bidding $13,500. With only a few seconds to go, it's panic time! It's a good thing 3G is quite slow, so I was able to stop the transaction. Ended up winning the RC portable aircon at $113. Add in a $5 Paypal voucher for not using my 99c free listings last weekend, and I'm a happy camper.
Would've good if I found out about this earlier. After days of having the baby crying on and off, and not knowing how to pacify him, we turned to Google/Wikipedia/YouTube, and found out about the 5S's.
If your baby is always unsettled or crying after a feed, he probably has colic. Now, noboby knows what's the cause of colic, but most people think it's due to stomach gases. Regardless, Dr. Harvey Karp, author of the best-selling The Happiest Baby on the Block, tells us that all babies have a calming reflex. If we know how to trigger this calming reflex, it'll calm the baby immediately. And so I give you the 5S's:
swaddling - Swaddle the baby tightly to recreate the sensation of being in the womb.
side or stomach postion - Hold the baby on his side or face down.
shushing - Constant shush sound or other sources of white noise, like hair dryers or vacuum cleaners
swinging - A little bit of jiggling of the baby from side to side
sucking - Breastfeeding or the use of pacifiers
As soon as I learned these techniques, I applied them immediately to Aidan. From my experience, shushing works best, but don't overdo it. This is not some mild, gentle shushing sound. From the video, it's a strong, constant in-your-ear shushing. Very effective though. Not sure whether it's the calming reflex at work, or the shush sound is so overpowering that it paralyzes the baby into inactivity.
Sucking also works, but be careful with pacifiers. I read somewhere that it might cause ear infection. At the very least, too much sucking prevents your baby from having a deep sleep and makes them hungrier faster. Swinging is also quite effective. Again, take care that you don't jiggle baby's brain into mush. Swaddling, my baby doesn't like it. It prevents him from moving his arms around (obviously), which makes him crankier. YMMV.
It's been a week since I took paternity leave from work. I'm finding I have more free time, yet I'm also busy day and night.
I spend the day (and night) bottle-feeding the baby, washing and sterilizing the bottles, boiling water, bringing out the laundry and back, changing nappies and baby clothes, preparing the baby's bath, taking out the trash, and buying stuff from the chemist.
And oh yeah, downloading the Masterchef episodes that we missed.
Baby Aidan was supposed to make his appearance two weeks later, but he just can't wait. The warm bath in the bathtub pacified him for a bit, but by midnight, he's at it again. At the Canterbury Hospital, Mau was taken to the birthing room and put on the laughing gas. The jokes must be lame because I don't hear her laughing. It did make her forget about her contractions until we were able to find an anesthesiologist awake enough to give her an epidural.
By morning, when everyone is up and awake, the doctor walked in and announced yup, it's time for business. So Mau started pushing. She huffed and she puffed, but she wasn't pushy enough. So out comes the scissors - snip, snip. In goes the forceps. And before you know it, Aidan slid out into the world. 2.49 kilos, 49 cm.
What better way to celebrate the first anniversary than to eat?
For our anniversary lunch, we make a booking at Oliveto Ristorante & Bar, nicely located at the Brays Bay Reserve in Rhodes. It was a sunny day, and we got a table overlooking the bay.
Menu, please: Primo
Crispy pork belly, orange, radicchio, snow pea runner salad, apple jam
King prawns alla diavola, tomato chilli, garlic
Secondi
Lamb rack, confit truss tomatoes, radicchio, fennel, black olive tapenade
Confit duck, pearl barley risotto, morello sour cherry sauce
As part of Vivid Sydney, the whole of Macquarie Street is converted into one big lights and sound show called Macquarie Visions.
This is already the last week, so I decided to take some photographs after work. It was colder that I expected. I had coughing fits, while walking my way to St. Mary's Cathedral. After picking up my complimentary festival torch, I proceeded to watch Designing the Nation, projected onto the facade of St. Mary's. On the way to the Hyde Park Barracks, we pass by the Downer Macquarie Arch, symbolizing the construction of the road over the Blue Mountains by Macquarie.
Next up is Fair Go at Hyde Park Barracks Museum and Common Wealth at The Mint. The Parliament House is featuring Advance Australia, with interviews on inspirational projects. At the State Library of NSW, we see Words on the Street. There's more at the Conservatorium of Music, but it's too far and too cold for me.
At Circular Quay, some of the building nearby also have special lighting turned on.
I'm in the market for a convertible baby car seat. Instead of going to Kmart or BigW or Babies R Us, I went to eBay. The secondhand ones on eBay are definitely cheaper. The only downside is that there are so many brands and models and price ranges, and you're not really sure what condition they are in.
So I find this auction for a Safe-n-Sound Premier baby car seat ending soon. $78 sounds reasonable to me, so I put in my bid at the last minute. Just to test the waters. There were a few interested bidders, so I'm pretty confident someone with increase the bid. I wanted to see how much a Premier really costs. I ended up winning the auction.
Cut fish fillet into small chunks. Marinade fish chunks with salt and a little rice wine for half an hour. Boil water. Put fish chunks in boiling water together with ginger slices and drain when the meat has changed colour. Pour a little oyster sauce on the fish. Heat oil on pan. Fry chopped garlic until golden brown. Sprinkle on top of fish. Serve.
