The One that got away

The great white hunter, MDR, became the hunted today, set upon by two tiger sharks whilst spearfishing near Arlington Reef off Cairns. More precisely his Fishski was set upon, the Fishski is MDR's floating catch receptacle which must be quite irresistible to the sharks, a mesh bag hanging off a float with gore from dead fish oozing out into the water, just like burley really.
Fortunately the sharks didn't actually attack MDR and he was able to escape unscathed, albeit with a smaller catch and a lower ranking in the spearfishing competition.
MB declared that MDR is grounded from now on, of course MDR is studiously ignoring this plea from his beloved.

Siege Central

MB had a close shave at lunchtime today in the Cairns CBD. At midday she went to a shop in the city mall which is 2 blocks from the office, on the way back she stopped in at Beethoven's in Grafton St for an air dried beef sandwich on rye (best in town).
The street at this stage was blocked off with Police stationed at each intersection, then some ambulances turned up, then more police arrived and started barricading part of the street. A staffmember at Beethoven's told MB there was siege happening over the road.
Just before 1pm MB returned to work, just at the end of the block, but had to walk a long way around as the street was blocked. Not long after this police were fanning out even further and wouldn't allow us to even leave our offices. Two of our staff members at lunch couldn't return so ended up going home.
The guys in the office heard a gunshot while I was out but I missed that. Turned out to be a disgruntled constitutent bailing up a defenceless female staffmember at the Member for Cook's office, the MP happened to be away. The poor woman, must have been unimaginably terrifying for her. The siege lasted approximately 3 hours with the DC giving himself up quietly to the Police.

Success

Phew! The birthday cake turned out pretty good. Ran out of red dye so the red coloured frosting was more like pink, but it was Sunday so no chance to run around finding more dye. MDR was a tremendous help, MB would have been lost without him. He cut the cake to plan and was a gem at doing the licorice outlines. One of the guests at the party was admiring the cake and asked what MB & MDR planned for next year's party, MDR responded with "I'll be in Tassie". Eljay had a ball, but couldn't quite get the hang of the Pass the Parcel game!

Party Flurry

MB managed to escape from the kitchen to report on this weekend's momentous event, the first birthday of the Little Prince Eljay. FBD has organised a beach party on Sunday afternoon at Clifton Beach and requested a Tonka Truck cake from Granny MB. Cool Cat MDR weighed in and drew up an actual size plan, the first version of which would have meant the cake was going to be nearly a metre wide. After some vigorous discussion MDR retreated to draw up second version no wider than his briefcase, Tonka Truck Mark II. All agreed the new version was very nice and perfectly proportioned. Now the challenge is on to cut and decorate the three slabs of cake cooked so far so it does actually look like a truck. Little Eljay of course is completely oblivious to the fact that he is going to be the centre of attention and showered with gifts tomorrow. Party games such as Pass the Parcel are being arranged, FBD is of the opinion that the games should be rigged so each one of the littlies wins a prize. Ruthless MB wants to leave all that to fate and chance. It's been raining all week, hope the weather Gods are kind tomorrow.

The Brains Trust

World's dumbest Phishers:
------------------------------------------------------------

From: Westpack Online

Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 10:37 AM

Subject: Westpack Online Statement Notification

Dear Value Customer,

Westpack Internet Banking, is here by announcing the New Security Upgrade. We've upgraded our new SSL servers to serve our customers for a better and secure banking service,against any fraudulent activities. Due to this recent upgrade, you are requested to update your account information by following the reference below.

Click the link below.*
http://www.http:/ www.westpack.co.nz/secure/update/ssl.cfm
Regards Westpack Bank, N.A. and its affiliates.

Local Councillor Initiative

Just received this in the snail mail post this morning, very proactive of our local Councillor.

PIM Software

MB just has to vent about Outlook, seemingly the world's most used but distressingly unfriendly personal information management software. MB struggles daily with this inflexible, time wasting software at work. Using it for email is fine, but utilising it's other features is ageing MB prematurely, it's a complete WOFTAM. Give me Time and Chaos any day, it's quick, nimble, feature rich, and anyone can learn it in a couple of minutes.

HOT Coffee Please

Two months since the last post... Unforgiveable. MB's only excuse is being too stretched since agreeing to work full time until June and working at a screen all day is not conducive to interacting with the PC after hours.

MB and first born daughter dropped into Target today during their lunch hour to check out what all the fuss was about with the new Stella McCartney fashions in store. Nice gear if you are an anorexic size 8 and 6 feet tall. MB did manage to find a silk scarf as well as a t-shirt that might fit, if it doesn't she can auction it off on Ebay.

After the rummaging amongst the racks a flat white was in order. FBD kindly went to order them so her elderly Mummy could rest. FBD remembered to ask for hot coffee, to which the Crunchie* behind the counter responded with the bleeding obvious "Our coffee is always hot". FBD then asked again if the Crunchie could make sure the coffee was extra-hot, as that's how Mum likes it. The Crunchie replies, "Oh OK, a lot of OLD people ask for that." After all that sparring with the Crunchie the coffee was only just hot.
*Crunchie - Blond on the inside, brown outside.

Colleagues Only

MB's other half, MDR, is commuting to Brisvegas every two weeks or so to supervise a rather large project. He is spending more and more time there so his employer has rented a 2 bedroom apartment in a holiday rental complex for use by MDR and any other staff travelling to Brisbane.
MDR moved in recently and the next day another colleague, Gary, travelled down. Being newly arrived they had to pop out for some supplies and when both colleagues returned to the apartment laden with shopping bags, their neighbour who happened by introduced herself and MDR's first line to the neighbour was "We're Not a Couple!"
MB can just imagine the neighbour cynically thinking "Sure, sure, why be so defensive about it." Whenever MDR & MB see same sex couples in holiday precincts this is honestly the first thing they both think.
PS Just love Blues' comment about regurgitating the MB family, had all of the MBs chuckling merrily away. MB wishes she could be half as witty as him.