Hey Big Spender!

How much would you expect to pay for a Sydney view like this?

On the Saturday just passed, the ex-French Consulate of Sydney, "Le Manoir" was sold to Murdoch heir, Lachlan and his family. Sold for a jaw dropping $23 million. The highest price ever for a Sydney property.

So what does this mean for the average Sydney-sider?

• $23 million has gone to the French Governement and not staying to stimulate the NSW/Australian economy. 
• The property is now owned by Aussies and a great Aussie family if I may say so :-)
  
• The Murdoch Vs Packer tango is clearly won by the Murdochs this year.  
• The Australian Women's Weekly Magazine is probably already salivating at the idea of being invited to cover "behind closed doors" to see how the family live in their new abode.
• If our frisbee lands next door, we can yell out "little help" instead of finding the French equivilant. (although I'm sure the French equivilant would sound more dainty)
• Me thinks they will need someone to mow the grass ... Jim's Mowing, kaching! kaching!
• A Gatsby-esque party or two? Ohh, I hope so and here's hoping I have moved up in the food chain to be invited! Or at least see it in the Social pages on Sunday.
• You're off to the US for a while? Something for Daddy dearest? Oh ... where will I find a housesitter for you?
  

Photos taken from:

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,7144699,00.jpg

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,7144664,00.jpg

Cashing in and Confusing the Crowds.

The names of our iconic sport stadiums confuse me.  I have no idea where they are anymore and the worst part is ... that every few years they change names.  I don't watch so much sport but my conundrum is when I am thinking of concerts or big matches like the football.

The SFS is still the SFS, the MCG is still the MCG.  But there are some other popular stadiums where I have no idea where they are or if its in the city or in the 'burbs. 

There is (or is it was?) the Telstra Dome, Acer Arena, Etihad Stadium, ANZ Stadium ... its all so hard to know what is what!  After a little research, I found out it's all over Australia!  The Dairy Farmers Stadium, AAMI Stadium, Coopers Stadium, Medibank Stadium, Lexus Centre, St George Stadium.

This is the Telstra Dome ... when it was the Telstra Dome.

This is the Etihad Stadium, nee Telstra Dome. Same stadium, different signage and paint job.

 

 

Apart from the inconveinience of not knowing where to go, my question is ... how far would they go to sell out an icon or location?

Would it be far fetched to see the NSWGovernment sell out our Sydney Harbour Bridge? Our Pylons are already abused during New Years Eve festivities, but it could be year round with a sign mounted on the top.  Does the QANTAS Bridge go down well with you? Or how about the Pantene or Sunsilk Bridge?

Pictures taken From:

http://www.nzafl.co.nz/Portals/0/telstradome2.jpg 
http://www.aviationrecord.com/Portals/0/Airlines-images/Etihad/Etihad-stadium.jpg

Recycled Fridge Magnets

Like most households, we get at least 5 magnets in the mail from plumbers, tradies and real estate agents. Quite hideous in design and layout and quite useless because we have our own regular guys.
We generally keep them on the back of the fridge but once in a while, we just want to chuck them all out.

Well.  I came across a really cool craft idea to recycle magnets and milk cartons!  So today mum and I had a bonza day of making a whole bunch of these magents.

I don't have the instructions to follow, but the jist is that we traced a milk carton template and then stuck on Japanese square washi paper on to it.  We then added a thin strip to make the collar and then super glued a recycled magnet on the back and voila!

Who Owns the Moon?

No one should! But then why does holier-than-though America think they can do what ever they want with it?

NASA sent 2 spacecrafts crashing and slamming into the moon in the hope of finding water molecules. Nothing much came of it.

What if Russia, China, Nth Korea or India wanted to do simiar things to the moon or worse, actually blow parts of it up in order to research?  Would the US and NASA stop them? Who has the right to draw the line?


I'm sure they are doing all their analysis on it but why also waste millions on doing something like this when their economy is in recession?

Reference -

(http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/nasa-mission-kicks-up-a-lunar-dust-storm-20091010-gr1g.html)
(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/10/09/science/09moon-600.jpg)

Recycled wrapping paper

I try to be aware of my environment and to act sustainably where ever possible. I'm never going to be one of those crazy Prius driving, hemp wearing hippys but I do like to follow the philosophy where we can reduce our waste, protect what we can of the environment and save money.

My latest project was wrapping presents. There is nothing better than a beautifully wrapped present, regardless of how much the paper and the ribbon cost. It was my sisters birthday a few days ago and this is how I wrapped her present ... using a recycled Franklins catalogue.



I found some solid colour strips so that is the "ribbon" and then with the rest of the sheet, I just wrapped it. As for the bow, I just made one of those floral things by looping long strips of the paper and then stapling it to hold in place. I did it twice, one big and one smaller so it looks fuller.

Its still uses sticky-tape and uses 2 staples, but I think I made it look presentable and am proud of it. After she unwrapped it, the paper then was put straight into the recycle bin. Saved me money and looked good.

I pick up everywhere!

The other day one of my friends asked me if I still collected pamphlets. I know, strange but while growing up, I was notorious for picking up everything from travel brochures, business cards, menus and random magazines. It was my thing (one of ...) and it gave me pleasure. I flipped through all I brought home, clipped out interesting things and stored and hoarded anything and everything to do with business, travel and other interesting tid bits.

I thought that if it was worth the print, it was worth at least a flip-through.

It has provided me with lots of random information over the years. I find out about talks and festivals, whats happening, profiles of people etc. I still to this day pick up stuff that looks interesting. The Avant Card postcard racks are a goldmine for me with free or buy-one-get-one-free movie deals. I dont always find something useful, but sometimes there are coupons, 2-4-1 deals, programs to festials or just something really funky that I can re-use or give to someone who I know would like it.

There is so much random stuff out there and I find so many things interesting. I once heard the mayors of Mumbai and London speaking, there are secret sale, free perfume samples etc.

With everything now on the web and things done through Facebook, e-newsletters and RSS feeds there are volumes of new things to learn, great information and freebies!

Look Up!

I learnt a very important lesson from my dad about communting when I was younger. "When you cross the harbour bridge, you drop down your newspaper and enjoy the view." Or textbook/magazine in my case.

It takes only 10 sec out of your day/what you are reading/ what you are talking about/while sleeping but can really alter your mood. Esp. if you are heading into the city, it really is the calm before the storm.

I now take heed from my dads advice and everytime i get on the bus I make sure I sit on the "correct"side of the bus so that as we cross the bridge, I am on the Opera House side.

Its something small but I dont like to take it for granted. Some people pay thousands of dollars just to get a glimpse of if and some poor others, well they will never get a glimpse of it at all!