Victoria is not a bright spark

So I got my new Dell laptop delivered on Friday, and managed to F&&&**&ck it up within a day.

I accomplished this amazing feat by getting my SD card (the kind that you put in your digital camera) firmly wedged in the CD slot. I was tired, on autopilot, the slots are really close and stuck it into the wrong slot by accident. Seems like I am not the first one to do it either:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=835147&page=4
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100101223331AAxBdZ1

But unlike these people, I can't get it out! Can't even feel where the SD card is now, it's stuck good and tight and not rattling around. And now my laptop won't boot up. So it's all good news from the weekend :(

Two weekends ago...

This happened:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/storm-causes-mayhem-20100306-ppc3.html

This is the entry I wrote at the time:

This would be OK if you are snug and safe inside your house, watching and listening to the mayhem outside while enjoying a nice warm cup of tea. Unfortunately for me, I got caught in it while riding my bike about 10 minutes from home. Hail = OUCH. To add insult to injury, this is what I found INSIDE the house while I finally made it, soaked to the bone and miserable. And there was no hot water. And there was nothing the agent could do until teusday.

So I made a video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S14_xHQpEFs

My russian pirozhki worked :)

I first tried to make these back in 2008, inspired by Zoya's beautiful photos(http://fioleta.blogspot.com/2008/10/comfortable-challanges.html). But my dough didn't rise and it was a bit of a disaster.

This time they came out looking and tasting much better:



But I question whether it was worth it for the amount of work you have to put in? Basically takes 4-5 hours, and rolling out the dough is hard!

Verdict: only on the weekend, when the mood strikes

Run for the Kids

Miracle of Miracles, I can run! I was very slow (number 14,616 out of a total of 16,829 runners), but my aim was to run all the way non-stop and I did that. It really helps mentally that you are part of an organised run and everyone around you is doing the same thing - you get into the rhythm of it quite naturally. I don't think I could have done it on my own.

First 5km were quite comfortable, next 5km it got hot and people started walking, and the last 4.5km I found really tough. Next goal - improving my time...

Busy Bee

Can't believe I've been back for 5 weeks already... so, major updates:

Moved out to Flemington. The process of finding a place, moving out, and trying to organise your new house is not fun. I can't imagine how you do it when working full time. I know I promised photos to some of you, but it might be some time before I am satisfied with the way the place looks sufficiently enough to share.

Went back to work. There are pros and cons to going back to the same place. Pro: getting paid and having friends to chat to all day. Con: feeling like the past 10 months is nothing but a dream. Overall the pro wins out.

That doesn't seem like that much, but when you add:
- Sorting through a mountain of paperwork
- Taking care of various admin matters
- Catching up with friends
- Trying not to lose my new-found fitness
- Enjoing what's left of the Australian summer

etc... it's been busy!