Another bullet point post, because that’s how I roll.

• Having a new car to drive is wonderful. It is so comfortable and easy to drive that sometimes I feel kinda guilty for not missing the old car. We went past the dealer last week and saw they had the Golf in their used car lot for $8999! That’s more than double the trade in price they gave us. Ouch!
• Speaking of the new car; I’ve had my heart in my throat several times when random and unexpected objects have come dangerously close to hitting the car. The first item was a full beer keg. I had just dropped the husband off at the train station one morning when a beer keg that was being rolled along the footpath from the delivery truck to a pub’s cellar door got away from the toothless gimp delivery guy and bounced off the kerb then rolled merrily within half a foot of the driver’s door before the delivery guy stopped it. Gah! Then the next morning I was most of the way to work when a delivery truck fully laden with empty blue wheelie bins rounded the corner some three or four cars ahead of me. Foolishly some idiot had elected to ride in the back of the uncovered truck so as to attempt to hold the tall stacks of bins steady. Inevitably as the truck rounded the corner two stacks of bins fell off and bounced along the road. Myself and the other drivers had to take evasive action to avoid hitting them. The last item to nearly hit the car was a moron attached to a leaf blower. Again I was on my way to work and there had been a car accident earlier on that had just been cleared. For whatever reason, the Road and Traffic Authority Guy was walking along the median strip with a leaf blower in his hand. I was just a few car lengths from him when he changed the angle of his grip and the length of the leaf blower stuck out well into my lane. I braked and just as I was about to pass him (and go *clunk*), he suddenly changed the angle of his grip again so the leaf blower was pointed in front of him. Emergency diverted!
• I’ve been really stressed these last few weeks with work and uni but the final exams were this week and now that it’s all over (at least the study part is, the work part hasn’t changed) I feel like a new person. The biggest weight has been lifted from my shoulders. The exam itself wasn’t particularly hard, there was just one question that I wasn’t sure about but when I went back to it after answering the rest of the paper, I had an answer for it.
• Speaking of work, we’re gearing up to do another round of interviews. There were 41 applicants that I’ve culled down to seven. Two look really worthwhile, one looks interesting and four aren’t suitable but met the criteria so therefore we’re obliged to interview them. I really can’t wait until we’re fully staffed again. I’ve got mountains of paperwork piling up and while my assistant does try very hard, she just doesn’t have an eye for detail. The sooner we can get someone else on, the sooner I can get my assistant onto tasks that better match her skill set and the happier I will be! The husband and I are even toying with the idea of taking a holiday. It’s not far off first wedding anniversary and with losing the baby shortly there after, it really feels as though it’s been many years since our last break. I guess ultimately it will depend on how long it takes to appoint and train up the new recruit as well as any developments with the swine flu hamdemic. Good times.
• Babies. The (in)fertility treatment doesn’t appear to be doing much. Meh.
• My sister inlaw is pregnant and due to give birth in August so to help prepare my little niece for the arrival of her little brother, the husband and I gave her a newborn Cabbage Patch Doll. She instantly fell in love with it and delighted everyone by giving it cuddles, drinks from its little plastic bottle and naps in its little plastic capsule. Adorable! She even had a mini-tantrum when my girlfriend’s ten month old daughter picked up the CPK’s bottle to play with. Hilarious! I was so happy that I could give my niece her first CPK. I have found memories of my own and while she’s far too little to remember receiving it, it’s still kinda special. :)
• I celebrated another birthday a few weeks ago and can honestly say it was one of the best. The husband asked me what I would like for my birthday dinner and I decided to have my favourite meal — Christmas dinner. Turkey, baked vegetables, cranberry sauce. Lovely! The girls at work had a morning tea for me and gave me a variey of birthday cards (and a gift voucher for the local department store). The husband, bless him, turned the event into an extended celebration by giving me a little gift each day for a few days either side of my birthday. One of the gifts he gave me was House of the Dead 2&3 for the Wii — it was my favourite game on the Dreamcast (remember that thing??) and I loved reliving the zombie blasting fun so much that I couldn’t grip a pen properly for a day or so afterwards. Stupid trigger finger. Heh. He also gave me Call of Duty 4 which I’ve been loving. For a day or so I tried to convince the husband that I really was Soap MacTavish, SAS and awesome. He wasn’t buying it.  I finished the single player campaign very quickly; in what seemed to be just five or six hours.  It ended just as I was really getting into it which was very disappointing.  I guess I’m just use to massive roleplaying games like Oblivion that take 200+ hours to complete.  Speaking of Oblivion, I still have the Shivering Isles expansion to finish.  I love this time between uni semesters!  Game on!
• What with it being Winter and all, I’ve made a scientific discovery. It would appear that the degree of sluttiness of the skirt plus knee length boots combo can be directly correlated to the percentage  of body fat of the wearer. It appears that the sluttier the skirt/boot combo; the greater the volume of body fat, particularly in the thigh/arse regions. I wonder if this is a local phenomenon or if it’s global? Clearly I should apply for a research grant.
• The first prize in Ozlotto is $90M this week. Lemme just spell that out for you: A$90,000,000.00 Jesus wept!

This is another bullet point blog post because anything is better than nothing, right?

• Two weeks ago we tyre-kicked a few cars before buying the new Skoda Octavia. We picked it up yesterday. Man, it kicks! We bought the 1.8L turbo with the 6 speed manual. It’s got the same motor and gearbox as the Audi A4… and it effing goes! Woo! I’ll never be late for anything ever again. Ha!
• I’m still on the no-refined sugar and low carb kick and have managed to keep it up pretty consistently with the exception of two small infringements. The first was when the husband dumped chocolate sauce over the top of my low-cal icecream without thinking and the second was last Thursday when one of the doctors bought a hot chocolate for me during a coffee run. It’s really easy to keep on track during the week; I have the same thing at the same time every day (fruit for breakfast, vegetables for lunch, Lean Cuisine or similar for dinner) but the weekends are a lot harder. I’m crazy for marmalade on toast for breakfast and lunches are normally toasted sandwiches. Dinners are often out and inevitably something like that awesome gourmet pizza that I love, or pasta, rice, Vietnamese noodles, etc. By Monday I’m feeling pretty blergh (?food coma) and then it starts over again. I have managed to lose a few kilograms with the new diet food regime and I’m feeling better than I have for a while. I’m onto the second month using Clomid and have noticed more side effects this time than I did last month. I was getting over the flu when I took it last month so I guess the side effects were probably camouflaged.
• Finals are just a few weeks away and I know I should be hitting the books in a big way but I’m really struggling to find the inspiration. I’m mostly too tired to study when I get home from work, and the weekends have been busy with car-hunting, family dramas, etc
• Speaking of work, we’ve just advertised for another full time admin. I’ll download the applications on Monday and commence the culling. I suspect there will be a lot of applications – I just hope we can find someone suitable. I can’t deal with anymore wackos!
• I’ve developed this stupid eye twitch which is infinitely worse when I’m stressed or tired, and that is basically every day. I asked Dr Google and it appears that Botox can be useful for eye twitches. Heh.
• Speaking of Botox, I’m about to turn 28. Again. I’m now younger than my younger sister. Hell, in another year I’ll be younger than my younger brother…
• The new Placebo CD was released this week. I’ve had it on repeat while cleaning the house this weekend. Big thumbs up.