Good luck tonight everyone. Especially to those of us who can't open windows because their cat will destroy the flyscreen...
Ah, you’ve been here then
Don't get me wrong, I love the little gremlin, but fuck me it'd be nice to get a breeze going in the house sometimes.
I did it once when she was at the vet and that was it pretty much.
Did you guys see about the scientists who had managed to actually weigh a rainbow? It was pretty light
This is excellent. I was just thinking the other day that I was sad because I hadn't heard a good new joke in a long time but this has brightened my day, thank you
Yessss, thank you!! I just got my boss real good with this one!
About to get up a ladder and clean some gutters but....
Spoke to the old man last night and was reminding me about the ambulance vic subscription.
Then he decided to tell me about one of his buddies who recently had a fall off a ladder.
Apparently he fell backwards and his leg got caught between 2 steps quite high up, leg snapped in half and he was just dangling there until his wife found him an hour later.
Fucking nightmare fuel really bad timing.
Ouch. People do get very blase about ladders and disregard the risks involved. It's also something that people insist on doing when they become too old to do so safely (like driving). Stubborn old men who insist on climbing on the roof are a fairly frequent category of rescue the Fire Brigade go to, when said stubborn old main realises they can't get down again or have a medical episode from the exertion of climbing up.
Apparently the stats for men over 50 falling off ladders are quite startling. If you are under 50, then maybe you'll be OK ...
yeah I wouldn't get up there in this wind. Fuck that
Mega cudos to the roof plumber who [temp] fixed our shit in the big storm last Hols!
I forgot to water the plants all of yesterday because I was in the shittest mood/energy so when I greeted them this morning I felt a wave of resentment radiating from their wilted leaves. I will promise to give them a supplemental water as needed today.
This motherfucker is just growing like there's no tomorrow though, ever since I put it in a pot with a water reservoir. Time for a big chop tomorrow, freeze the leaves for use over winter, hopefully the new growth will stabilise over the next couple months.
healthy boi
ooh lush curry leaf
I really want some rain so I don’t have to water…. Tank is nearly empty too.
I know one of those blokes that has gone missing in Sydney... It is not looking good for them at all. :(
Oh jeez. 🫂
hope it turns out ok
Oh bad fire up around Beaufort :-(
EDIT: Western highway closed and VLine suspended both ways from Ballarat <-> Ararat. Vic emergency link if anyone needs it https://www.emergency.vic.gov.au/respond/
Yeah just saw this image from my relatives all the way in Delacombe. Looks worse than last week's fire around Burrumbeet or wherever it was.
Really glad we've had no bushfire smoke in Melbourne so far, although my air purifier is sitting pretty
At long last after weeks of procrastination I took my haul of manzano chillos from the fridge (and washed off some fuzzy growth...) and a head of good garlic and made this forbidden smoothie
Chucked it into an ice cube tray to make little cubes for wintertime pasta/stir fry.
Also took the uselessly spicy Thai chillis and blitzed it with ginga, garleck and little red shallots plus some lime joos, and dried shrimp, fried it all in oil. THIS thing is almost unusably spicy. I hope it mellows out over the next few weeks. attention @Bottom_racer
hawt hawt hawt
RIP my fingers though, I was doing well until I got some spicy oil on one hand.
Ooh that looks angry.
We've been invited to a wedding but the reception joint was set on fire last night. Interesting. More to come.......
I'm convinced that all CEOs and those in equivalent leadership positions are psychopaths and it's only a matter of degree as to how strongly they show those traits.
Yes
I think there's a study that shows a greater concentration of sociopaths in executive level positions.
Statistics would say you are almost correct, a pretty large number of CEOs exhibit psychopathic tendencies.
Welcome to the wonderful world of cutthroat corporate competition. Capitalism encourages this sort of thing.
I was going to talk about my feelings, but deleted it. I don't care, everything will be fine. Ugh
Hug
which is an anagram of Ugh
Prime minister on the radio basically admitting he would never force Coles or Woolworths to divest, but said oh we've got an inquiry, oh we are looking at mandatory code of conduct with penalties.
Cut the shit that is fiddling around the edges. And breaking up large companies is not a Soviet policy. If anything it's a pro capitalist policy by returning to a more balanced market with greater competition.
I don't see what an inquiry is going to accomplish, just confirm what we all knew all along and make them do nothing to help?
It's to make it look like they are doing something without doing anything.
Unlikely the inquiry will change much. Best thing to do is vote with your wallet if you can. (I know not everyone has access depending on where you live). Shop at Aldi, green grocer, butcher, markets, Costco.
I wish I could. If physical inability to shop (and particular needs around kitty's litter/wet food) weren't a factor I'd possibly be happy buying exclusively at Aldi
That's basically what I do. I have a Coles, aldi, a butcher and saccas in close proximity.
I am so utterly disappointed with Anthony Albanese
Are everyone's pets basically puddles of fur from all this heat?
Nah because the air con is on but when it's not, my dog will dramatically flop down on the carpet like those fainting goats. We call this "dead dog".
Ain't no thang like a chicken wang!
Noice.
Next week I'll get Tucker Time back up and running.
And that will have to be a no today
Yum!
Godspeed to those of us with warmer than expected rooms
New computer parts arrive today and it'll be too hot to do computer work.
I got this massive tempered glass computer case as a gift and let me tell you it isn't worth it.
Tempered glass computer case?
That sounds really fragile?
I forgot to reply to this, but it's a Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL case a friend gave me a few years ago. The front and side panels are glass, and it's about twice the width of a regular case to fit the power supply and drive bays in their own special areas.
Just got an email from ex-work asking me to return a whole bunch of equipment: monitors, mouse, keyboard, adapters, USB hub, etc.
I can't even, they don't even keep track of what they've given out?? I only took the two adapters and the USB hub because I have a dual monitor PC set up at home already. Mentioned this to them a thousand times, and they think I took monitors, a keyboard and mouse home on PT?? As if I would use their crusty keyboards over my mechanical one haha
Good grief, I was slightly regretting leaving (I shouldn't, I was suicidal) but I'm certainly not now.
I'm not going out today, so they will have to wait till Friday or Monday.
I’m not going out today, so they will have to wait till Friday or Monday.
OR: Counter proposal: How about they go suck a dick?
I dont think legally you can withhold pay over equipment. or so my HR tell me so I just watch laptops basically walk out the door everytime we hire someone and they quit inside a month.
Interesting, they are withholding my pay until I return these three items.... But I don't want to burn bridges with them either....
Hmmmmmmmmmm, I shall ponder this!
They sent out a rote letter, but yeah, they really are fuckin' bad. I got the same when my old workplace rolled up, could be I heard of possibly a someone else who realised they had no fucking idea of inventory and got themselves a lenovo out of it...
It's a small business, literally 10 office workers including the cal centre, accounts, boss, and IT. And this email came from my manager. So obvious when I checked the adapters and USB hub I have at home and they don't even have serial numbers. I can't believe they have no way of tracking this.
I don't need the adapters as they're usb-c/HDMI and I don't need the hub. Plus, the had us using Chromebooks for work. Everything is based off the Google suite. I fkn hated that shit. I had to relearn all the shortcuts which is such a pain, and Google Sheets fucking sucks ass.
Sorry, just triggered a rant haha
If they don't keep track of who has what, just reply that you don't have anything?
They don't have anything I value haha, the adapters and USB hub are useless to me, and they issued us all Chromebooks of all things, which I left at the office anyway. Absolutely despise Chromebooks, useless pieces of crap (to me).
My PC can run Spotify, Baldurs Gate 3, Cyberpunk, etc. I don't need their shitty tech hahahaha
If they had something I value or was useful I'd perhaps consider it, but I'm too much of a goody two shoes and would just return it anyway hahahaha
Just a quick reminder that Saturday (and every February 24) is International Coriander Hatred Day for those of us who celebrate it.
Fuck coriander 🖕
I prefer to put it on my food.
I shall have a giant bowl of something Thai to memorialise you.
Can you be indifferent to coriander? I neither like it or hate it.
How do I know if I have the gene? Coriander tastes slightly bitter to me.
Fuck! Shattered tooth. All the bad dreams are true
Oh no! :(
First am appointment Obtained. Will still have to deal with looking like a cartoon until then.
Mostly passively cooled house 24.7 degrees, outside 31.6, still bearable inside. We have no A/C, only cooling is ceiling fans and curtains on only 6 out of our 30 windows. I’m glad we aren’t having too many hot days in a row this summer.
Bill and Ted are having a great time hunting crickets. :)
in the lounge room
Ah
Rain has just hit Fitzroy. Not sure how long it will last.
Couple suburbs east of you and it was spitting down, just now getting hit by a small cell of rain. Looks like little pimples emerging over the bay and city on the radar.
I gotta say that buildup before the rain, after a dry heat, is really.... arousing.
I was sleeping ok until someone came into my room asking if they should stay home from school today. We need to have another talk about not disturbing mother unless there's a fire. 😡
Not me wondering why aircons aren't minimum standards for all rentals. Cat threw up four times last night because she just can't cope.
When the cat can't cope, there's a big fucking problem - they're desert animals!
Are they? Surprises me since they have a that fur. But I guess the desert can very cold at night.
Indeed! I was shocked too when I found out - turns out their fur is light enough that it acts as insulation against both heat and cold, which is impressive. That's why they don't drink much water straight up - they evolved to pull moisture from their food instead
Summer is only 3 months of the year. Having said that, my investment property has an aircon and ducted heating.
Alas mate, that three months is dangerous for both people and animals. When it comes down to it, having one quarter of the year being unlivable is not remotely reasonable.
Glad though you have your investment property properly set up for all seasons, imo that should be the standard across Australia, not the exception.
Summer is defined as three months of the year.
March and april get into the 30's easily
Dearest Vietnamese Ice Coffee,
My love for you is unbridled and everlasting.
Forever yours,
UMG
34 outside, 23 inside, zero grid usage. 'twas priciest part of the reno but zerooooo regrets.
I’ve got to look into that - there’s so much info it’s a bit overwhelming
same! my total reusable energy percentage takes a hit at night though. I was ~90% but dropped to ~80%. Cant wait to get my first bill and see what it looks like.
I have secured a date with the God Emperor in March.
Bless the maker and his water.🪱
I may eat my words, but I'm not too phased by the heat until it kicks over 40.
I'm so sweaty 😭
Power out already sigh….
?? What happened?
guessing big wind go wooooooo, power line go splat.
just had to add some cardboard boxes and another blanket over the window in the study. Rest of the house is ok but the study is struggling. I feel for those without AC today, this is pretty warm!
If you can spray water on the outside walls, the paths near the house and the garden. The evaporative cooling of the area will help a bit.
@Seagoon_ @TinyBreak very sage advice.
Good advice. I did this Wednesday, unfortunately the wall in question is the longest in the house, and gets blasted with all of the afternoon sun. even after 2/3 minutes of cold water on the bricks the water was still warm by the time it reached the bottom of the wall. I think its the dark tiles on the roof that make it the worst though.
Sky not so pretty
Its getting quite apocalyptic. Really weird glow
sky smoky :(
So I've been finishing all the half watched movies and yesterday it was In Bruges.
More than half way thru and I'm thinking, Wow, I've never seen Liam Neeson so good in a role, it's like he's really acting. It was Ralph Fiennes. 🤪
Strange sleep utterance of the day: people are all duct tape
Just looked at the bom website - Melbourne's forecast top temp is the highest in Australia ...
Had a lovely beach day in Jan Juc yesterday. So nice without the crowds. Then stayed for the sunset in my favourite viewing spot.
Glad I chose yesterday to go, I think today would have some with some sand wind whipping.
beautiful, we are so lucky to have so many beautiful beaches nearby
Followed up a package which I hadn't received. Apparently was posted yesterday, so now I am in a state of anticipation. Pakige.
Kind of happy to be spending the day in hospital just for the air-conditioning! Poor housemate was cranking the evaporative cooling as I was walking out the door.
✊🍺
That reminds me Brunswick Original Kippers on sale for $2 a tin at woolworths for the next week.
Time to stock up, thanks!
👋🍺
Boop🍹
Heh...
dins
Chives are $5 extra at a restaurant easy.
That's a $15 plate right there sans chives.
How do you buy a house? Real question.
It seems like 8000 steps all of which cost money before you even look at a place, let alone start installing petunias.
Step One: have money
If you do not have money: cry
Step 1 - sort the money - talk to bank about borrowing limits, knowing that these can change in a blink of the eye. If you can get a guaranteed borrowing amount GET THAT IN WRITING and the expiry date. Step 2 - look at houses available. Set up list of criteria in 4 sections - 1) Must have 2) Nice 3) Nice but can do without 4) Dealbreakers. Get agreement from spouse and kids on these. Step 3 - identify possible purchase. Then get council reports, engineering reports, architectural reports - and any other reports you think apply like flood prone land, possible future freeways, asbestos and other soil contamination etc. They are cheaper than remedial works - trust me on this. Step 4 - start negotiations. If the house needs essential work, an estimate of price of the work (not from the REA) should form part of your calculations. If they want the $$ fast, expect to get a substantial discount for settlement in less than 60 days. Don't allow REA to panic you into a fast decision. You might want to employ a purchasing agent - they charge a fee but do Steps 2, 3 & 4 for you once they have your criteria. As these are the difficult bits, this might be time/hassle effective.
Step 5 - pay up. Step 6 - move in.
Step 7 - discover all the stuff that you should have done in steps 2, 3 and 4 above. Scream and regret not having a father/brother/sister/cousin with electrical/gas fitting and other general trade qualifications. Step 8 - install petuniasSource: purchased just before the pandemic. Yes I did employ a purchasing agent cos I was ignorant/out of date of all that stuff. Seamless experience which I recommend. They even went to the auction and bid for me (within the limits I'd set) so I didn't have to panic about that either.
Everyone's covered money and process well so far, so I'll just add some advice.
A global pandemic really helps. I'm not kidding. Never let a good crisis go to waste. Be prepared to strike when opportunity presents itself. We brought in covid, and couldn't afford this place if it went on the market today. If you can, going country can help. Warragal got expensive, but further out isn't too bad so long as you don't have to do the city 5 days a week. Seymour has houses for under 400k, and a vline to Melbourne taking 1.5 hours (which isn't THAT much worse than Pakenham to Melbourne).
Talk to your parents and sibs.
See how much assets the family owns.
Discuss if you want share buying a house, if anyone is up for being a guarantor, if they will help with deposit.
See how much you can repay every month.
Organise first home buyer benefits.
Look at houses that are way less than you can afford. This way you won't be too stressed.
Try to buy something built in 60s or 70s, even if it's in a crappy suburb. Be close to PT, hospitals, schools and parks.
Aim to live in the house your whole life if possible. Buying and selling , stamp duty, is a terrible waste of money.
Make sure you have money for maintenance.
-
have money
-
Engage a mortgage broker. This will use some of your money but it is well worth it. They will be able to help you go over your finances and see what kind of loan you can get, they will do all the legwork finding out best rates and such, and you can even state preferred banks. They will also do all the negotiating with the bank for you, so you just need to look over what they present you, nod assent or shake thy head and then provide some ID and signatures.
-
When you have your loan, you have your budget. Begin looking at places within this budget, preferably below it so you have some wriggle room for reno or repairs. When you find a place you like enough to attempt to purchase it, engage the services of a building inspector (this will cost you money, but is worth it). The REA flogging the place will not bat an eye at this and will allow them access to do all their bits and bobs.
-
look over the building inspection report and see if there are any deal breakers. If not, then place an offer usually "pending finance" (see below). This will bandy back and forth between the REA and owners a bit.
-
If all goes well and everyone agrees, there is usually a deposit to be paid and then the bank will shove its beak into the property, looking here and there and making sure that it's worth what they're lending you. This is the pending part. They will also request you get insurance on the property (this will cost you money but is worth it). If all goes well, they say yes, you may purchase it with your loan and you start the torturous crawl towards the settlement date.
Once settlement date arrives the bank transfers the money to the seller, the debt to you, and the keys are placed in your hand.
-
Lots of good advice here already. I will add, if you haven’t already, get a spreadsheet out and make a budget to know exactly what your living costs are. Put in everything - food, car, entertainment, healthcare, insurances etc. Now add in the extra costs that you would have if owning a house - house insurance, rates, body corp if buying a unit. Then see what amount of money if left for repayments. Next, work out what size loan you can afford based on how much you can afford for repayments, but make sure to estimate at a higher interest rate than is current, because this a pretty much a certainty in the next year or two. Now you can start narrowing down what kind of properties and which suburbs to look in. Look in suburbs where you can afford the median house price. Don’t forget to factor in stamp duty into the purchase price. This will mean you are at least looking mid-market, so won’t be restricted to renovators delights. Good luck.
Breakfast 🍏🍎🍐🍊🍋🍈🫐🍓🍇🍉🍌🍒🍑🥭🍍🥥🥦🥑🫛🍆🍅🥝🥬🥒🌽🥕🥐🍠🫚🥔🧅🥯🍞🥖🥨🧀🧇🥞🧈🍳🥚🥓🥩🍗🍖🫓🍕🍟🍔🌭🥙🧆🌮🌯🥗🍲🍜🍝🥘🍛🍣🍱🥟🦪🍥🍘🍚🍙🐠🍤🪼🦀🐙 🍗🥮🍢🍡🍧🍰🧁🥧🍦🍨🎂🍮🍭🍬🍫🥜🌰🍪🍿🍯🥛☕️🍵🍺🍶🥤🧋🧃🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🧉🔋
Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, and hot coffee please. Gotta carb load before it gets too hot to eat, or my brain will cease functioning. If it hasn't already.
🥞🥓🍯☕️
Whatever they serve in those ice castle bars thanks
🧊☃️🧊
Fried rice with prawns please - but actually add some flavour to it, unlike this place I went for lunch yesterday 😞
🦐🍚🌶️🌶️🧄🧅🌶️🌶️
Cat has gone back to sleep… meanwhile I’m struggling to stay awake and work.
Fingers crossed the weather isn’t too nasty today, worried about fire more than power outages
Happy Margarita Day!
What’s everybody watching? Need a new tv show.
Edit: Thankyou all, I now have a list to choose from!
Yellowjackets on paramount, am enjoying. Plane of girls soccer team crashes in Canada wilderness 30y ago. It's like 50/50 between then, and present time. Girls go nuts in wilderness, girls in present time deal with consequences.
I'm actually reading something that now I have to try to finish before the series comes out... Shogun
omg omg, that's a total blast from the past. I read all the Clavell books in my teens.
I read those books as a teen. I think a few of the political subtleties in Tai Pan and Noble House went over my head due to my age but they were all very good
Griselda was good. So was Boy Swallows Universe. Both on Netflix.
Far from new, I'm watching Blakes 7.
Cool. ( my home server is called orac )
Clark and Beef are both on Netflix and are excellent. Mr Inbetween is probably somewhere (Disney+?) and was awesome.
Mr Inbetween is on Binge.
The English. Amazon.
Finished s1 of Halt and Catch Fire, it's okay but I'll keep watching.
Heard good things about For All Mankind
Cool change is here 🎉
I got given some used items from work, some cushions and a seemingly very big expensive bean bag that I'll need to wash before using.
I barely managed to fit the bean bag into my back boot of the car, I have feeling that it's going to be way too big for my place but it might be nice to be able to lean back into a bean bag.
I love my beanbags and will often nap in them (mostly accidentally, the cat will come up and then we're both napping lol). But as an over-30 it does a number to my back haha.
Good for gaming in if you have a console too, or reading, chilling. Our beanbags were our couch for over a year before we could buy an actual couch haha
My setup at home is a little be awkward when it comes to laying down a beanbag in front of the telly. I might have to move it off to the size.
The biggest problem is that it's massive.
If it's this one it's at least 160cm long!
https://noomi.com.au/collections/bean-bags/products/outdoor-xl-giant-bean-bag?variant=5030007177250
Home from pub. Those margaritas are fully dangerous, even without the coriander. House was 28 deg inside on entry, have opened all the windows and watched the thermometer drop 5 degrees in as many minutes. I may yet be able to sleep tonight. Tho I suspect the margaritas will help.
margs sound nice 🍹
Mango is my favorite. Closely followed by watermelon.
Mosquitos are out with a vengeance.
radar is down
It’s so unsatisfying!! I want to see the rain!
Come on cool change...
Just came from the beach and the cool change hit. 60km SSW of melbs.. you guyzz just have to.. rave choon it
Hold on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXwcewJwLb8&list=RDDzrnVun6GwY&index=7
Hmmm yes, that electrical safety issue our company identified 2 years ago will be fixed this time. Want to buy a pretty tower in Paris?
Buona notte
Sweet dreams all 😘
I think I'll go home via an air-conditioned pub. The cool change has apparently reached Ocean Grove but no further until 7 pm.
It has just hit about 20 mins ago :)
Coriander Margaritas..🍹
With some chilli sprinkles - could catch on.
Got out all my art stuff today. Finished fixing up the trolley/organiser. Sorted my books. I have a new set of chinese water colours and a dinosaur colouring book I'm going to use to practice brush skills. I have a book on calligraphy page layout ordered and soon to be "pakige". 🤗 So excite.
Sky pretty
cracker this morn.
Is $1500 reasonable for a conveyancer? Via the www.home-in.com.au portal.
Does that include all the certificates etc that they need to order as part of the process? If not, that price is a couple of hundred dollars too high. Shop around.
