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7th June 2006

Wednesday What’s Up II

Ok here’s the second episode of the weekly round up of what I’ve been taking an interest in this week…

LISTENING : my most recent CD acquisition is probably one of the best albums you’ve never heard of - “In the Aeroplane over the Sea” by the interestingly named band Neutral Milk Hotel. It’s a raw “indy pop” album from 1998 that actually defies categorisation, but I guess if you like Bright Eyes then you might be able to get into this also. The lyrics are often cryptic and bizarre, and the singer Jeff Magnum has a most unusual voice, best demonstrated on the second track where he wails “I loooove you Jeeeesus Cccchriiist” to unexpectedly good effect …. the other artist that has been getting big play in our household this week is Colin Buchanan - he’s an Australian guy who you may have seen as one of the hosts on the Playhouse Disney channel, who also happens to have a second career as a singer-songwriter doing Christian kids songs. Mostly they are in a rock/country style, with the occaisional German polka thrown in for good measure. The boys, especially Luke, insist on playing his CD every time we get in the car. We also discovered that the CD has the sheet music as a PDF also, so I’ve since given the boys a few renditions of the songs with my own guitar as well :)

WATCHING : Last weekend we got a new HD LCD projector for our home theatre - a Panasonic PT-AE900. The picture is awesome for DVDs and even better watching HDTV (just in time for the World Cup). The first movie we watched on it was Peter Jackson’s King Kong, which I actually really enjoyed (although Jenni found some bits a little too creepy) - the special effects were amazing, and I found the humour and the retro 1930’s feel of it to be quite engaging. The other program I’m looking forward to watching this is the final of the Amazing Race, which is on tomorrow. As I’ve said before I usually loathe reality shows, but this one’s got me hooked - my favourite team : B.J. and Tyler, the hippies.

READING new books started this week are Alister McGrath’s ‘Christian Theology‘ and the Ephesians section of N.T. Wright’s ‘Paul for Everyone’ commentary series. Still plugging through Romans, Greek, and ‘The Christian Tradition Vol 1‘ by Jaroslav Pelikan, who died last month (I discovered this the other day after coming across his obituary in The West Australian newspaper of all places!)

TREATING : nothing much of interest today - lots of pregnant patients, colds and flus, arthritis and other aches and pains

EATING : just about to head off for some Chinese food - having lunch with ob1

CELEBRATING : Owen’s birthday. He turns five tomorrow, and we’re having a big space themed party on Sunday afternoon for all his friends.



Categories : Current, Personal | 2 Comments

7th June 2006

Good news

Just received two pieces of good news in the last half hour.

  1. I don’t have HIV. Not that I seriously thought that I did but it’s nice to know for sure. Basically my insurance company requested I get some tests done in order to increase my insurance. So on Saturday I went down to a pathology lab in Mandurah and had the bloods taken. This was not the best of experiences. Normally I’m fine with needles and blood tests but after praising how good my veins were, the phlebotomist then proceeded to completely miss the vein in one arm and do a very botched job on the other arm. I still have an 8mm scratch at the site, 5 days later, which is inexcusable considering it’s a 1mm needle. I would have been better off taking the blood from myself! Jennifer thinks it was probably that she was nervous after realising that the name of the patient on the form and the name of the doctor were one and the same. Also she somehow missed one of the other blood tests I requested so I’ve had to ask the lab to add it on. But at least I don’t have HIV :)
  2. My Palm is on it’s way home, or at least a replacement for it. Got an email just now to say that it has been dispatched and is now hopefully winging it’s way back across Australia. Even 6 days without a Palm is hard to take. Actually this time it’s not so much that I’ve missed the PDA, it’s more the fact that I’ve had to make do with an archaic Nokia from the early 2000’s as my phone. Hopefully tomorrow I can give the Nokia the flick again.



Categories : Palm, Personal | 0 Comments