Over at Vox, Todd VenDerWerff has put together a list of the best TV shows of 2015. I've got a couple of months to do some binge-watching, so I'm putting the ones I'm interested in here so I can find them again.
Togetherness (HBO)
Hannibal (NBC)
Review (Comedy Central)
Homeland (Showtime)
Jessica Jones (Netflix)
Getting On (HBO)
Mom (CBS)
Black-ish (ABC)
Rectify (Sundance)
Fargo (FX)
Manhattan (WGN America)
The Americans (FX)
The Leftovers (HBO)
Transparent (Amazon)
The Grinder (Fox)
Other shows that have popped onto my radar in the last week or so that I want to check out include:
The Man in the High Castle
The Expanse
Monday, December 21, 2015
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Flat-pack Living - My Trip to Ikea
My Get Out of the Damned House activity for yesterday was to go to Ikea. I've never been before, but they opened a store here in Canberra last week, so I thought I'd go check it out to see what the big deal was.
It took me about an hour to get through the store. I don't think I saw it all, but I saw most of it. I think. I didn't go in the restaurant, because the menu didn't look that great, and there were queues. Long queues. To eat in a giant furniture store. Fuck. That.
I was surprised by the number of people out there. I knew there were big crowds when it opened, but I thought that mid-day on a Tuesday would be a pretty safe bet. That's the way it seems to work at Costco. But not at Ikea. Maybe it's too new. Maybe it's more popular. I have no idea, but there were a lot of people there. Not crazy-crowded, but it took a while to find a place to park, and it wouldn't have taken too many more people inside before it started to feel uncomfortably crowded.
I guess I can see the appeal. They sell a lot of stuff. And the prices seemed pretty good. I don't shop for that kind of stuff to know for sure, but from what I've heard, they sell stuff cheap. Or they sell cheap stuff, however you want to look at it.
And I guess I had an idea about what Ikea furniture looked like. That there was a certain Ikea style that I'd easily recognize. So I was surprised by the variety. And by the fact that I wouldn't mind having some of it in our house. I didn't buy anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if I bought something the next time I go.
It took me about an hour to get through the store. I don't think I saw it all, but I saw most of it. I think. I didn't go in the restaurant, because the menu didn't look that great, and there were queues. Long queues. To eat in a giant furniture store. Fuck. That.
I was surprised by the number of people out there. I knew there were big crowds when it opened, but I thought that mid-day on a Tuesday would be a pretty safe bet. That's the way it seems to work at Costco. But not at Ikea. Maybe it's too new. Maybe it's more popular. I have no idea, but there were a lot of people there. Not crazy-crowded, but it took a while to find a place to park, and it wouldn't have taken too many more people inside before it started to feel uncomfortably crowded.
I guess I can see the appeal. They sell a lot of stuff. And the prices seemed pretty good. I don't shop for that kind of stuff to know for sure, but from what I've heard, they sell stuff cheap. Or they sell cheap stuff, however you want to look at it.
And I guess I had an idea about what Ikea furniture looked like. That there was a certain Ikea style that I'd easily recognize. So I was surprised by the variety. And by the fact that I wouldn't mind having some of it in our house. I didn't buy anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if I bought something the next time I go.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Out on the Town - Summer 2015
A couple of days ago I wrote about using various online event services (like EventBrite) to find out what's going on in town and getting out and doing stuff. I'm looking for things to do because I don't work in the summer, and this is going to be the year that I don't just sit around in my underwear trying to catch up on all the television I've missed over the last twenty years.
So last night I went to the first event I'd found. The John Gee Memorial Lecture. Yes, I go to public lectures. One of the many ways my nerd flag flies. The topic of the lecture was Australia and the challenge of weapons of mass destruction. I have to admit, this is not a topic I think or care about much, except in the general sense that I grew up during the last decades of the Cold War, with a real fear that I (and pretty much everybody else on the planet) might end up dead in a horrifyingly stupid act of mutually-assured thermonuclear destruction. So, you know, I'm not a big fan of weapons of mass destruction, and I think it's a good thing that people are actively working to stop (or at least slow down) their creation, proliferation, and use.
The lecture was given by Peter Varghese, currently the Secretary of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and previously (among other things) the Director-General of the Office of National Assessments (an intelligence agency that reports directly to the Prime Minister). Honestly, I don't remember too much about what he said. A lot of it was fairly general stuff about the threats posed by WMDs, the history of Australia's (and John Gee, in particular) role in establishing treaties, international agreements, etc. I hadn't realized that an Australian had been so prominent in the efforts to create the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Other tidbits of information that I picked up over the course of the evening was that there may be more support (among diplomacy/strategy/defense/intelligence types, not necessarily the general public) for the establishment of nuclear waste storage facilities here in Australia, as well as for the development of nuclear-powered submarines. I don't think it was mentioned, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the same people in favor of these things also supported the creation of a nuclear power industry here.
Again, growing up during the Cold War, and the events at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc., I guess I'm fairly anti-nuclear. But I have to admit, I'm not sure that my views on it all are particularly well-informed or based on a rational understanding of the pros and cons. Given my interest in future development, including post-fossil fuel energy, it might be something I need to look into a little more.
So even though it wasn't really my scene, it was an interesting peek into an area that I don't really know much about. It was a reminder that the ANU (the Australian National University, my employer) is deeply involved in the diplomacy, intelligence, international affairs, strategic/defense arenas. And it was cool to see and listen to the ANU Chancellor, Gareth Evans, who was the Foreign Minister of the Keating Government when I first moved to Australia. There's always something to learn when you're in a room with a couple hundred smart, knowledgeable, experienced people, no matter what the topic might be.
Oh, and the wine (I had a glass of cab sav) was nice, and the food (sushi, flat bread with hummus, quiche, etc) looked fine too, but I didn't eat any since I was having dinner right after.
So last night I went to the first event I'd found. The John Gee Memorial Lecture. Yes, I go to public lectures. One of the many ways my nerd flag flies. The topic of the lecture was Australia and the challenge of weapons of mass destruction. I have to admit, this is not a topic I think or care about much, except in the general sense that I grew up during the last decades of the Cold War, with a real fear that I (and pretty much everybody else on the planet) might end up dead in a horrifyingly stupid act of mutually-assured thermonuclear destruction. So, you know, I'm not a big fan of weapons of mass destruction, and I think it's a good thing that people are actively working to stop (or at least slow down) their creation, proliferation, and use.
The lecture was given by Peter Varghese, currently the Secretary of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and previously (among other things) the Director-General of the Office of National Assessments (an intelligence agency that reports directly to the Prime Minister). Honestly, I don't remember too much about what he said. A lot of it was fairly general stuff about the threats posed by WMDs, the history of Australia's (and John Gee, in particular) role in establishing treaties, international agreements, etc. I hadn't realized that an Australian had been so prominent in the efforts to create the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Other tidbits of information that I picked up over the course of the evening was that there may be more support (among diplomacy/strategy/defense/intelligence types, not necessarily the general public) for the establishment of nuclear waste storage facilities here in Australia, as well as for the development of nuclear-powered submarines. I don't think it was mentioned, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the same people in favor of these things also supported the creation of a nuclear power industry here.
Again, growing up during the Cold War, and the events at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc., I guess I'm fairly anti-nuclear. But I have to admit, I'm not sure that my views on it all are particularly well-informed or based on a rational understanding of the pros and cons. Given my interest in future development, including post-fossil fuel energy, it might be something I need to look into a little more.
So even though it wasn't really my scene, it was an interesting peek into an area that I don't really know much about. It was a reminder that the ANU (the Australian National University, my employer) is deeply involved in the diplomacy, intelligence, international affairs, strategic/defense arenas. And it was cool to see and listen to the ANU Chancellor, Gareth Evans, who was the Foreign Minister of the Keating Government when I first moved to Australia. There's always something to learn when you're in a room with a couple hundred smart, knowledgeable, experienced people, no matter what the topic might be.
Oh, and the wine (I had a glass of cab sav) was nice, and the food (sushi, flat bread with hummus, quiche, etc) looked fine too, but I didn't eat any since I was having dinner right after.
Friday, November 20, 2015
What's Happening in Canberra? Online Event Guides Help Me Find Things to Do
Now that I'm about to start my last day of work for the year, I've started looking around for things to do around town over the summer. EventBrite has a lot more event listings than in previous years, but there are still a lot of things going on that aren't included. So I thought I'd put together a list of all the different websites that have information about what's going on in Canberra.
EventBrite
EventFinda
Eventful
EventsACT
I suspect there are more, but these are a good start.
EventBrite
EventFinda
Eventful
EventsACT
I suspect there are more, but these are a good start.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Shopping in July
Okay, I've dug up all the receipts I can find, and I'm going to try to figure out what the hell happened.
Week 1
6 July Coles $113.43
6 July Aldi $66.65
9 July Coles $42.65*
10 July Aldi $19.30
11 July Coles $23.05*
Total : $265.08
Week 2
13 July Aldi $89.20
16 July Coles $24.58*
17 July Aldi $34.51
Total: $148.29
Week 3
20 July Woolworths $96.01
20 July Coles $60.94
20 July 1st Choice $54.00
22 July 1st Choice $55.00
22 July Aldi $74.91
23 July Coles $53.63*
23 July Aldi $85.36
23 July Coles $34.52*
Total: $514.37
Week 4
26 July Coles $58.27
26 July Aldi $137.31
26 July Woolworths $49.47
27 July Coles $18.37*
Total: $263.42
Monthly Total: $1191.16
Weekly Avg: $297.79
*Karen
These numbers make sense based on what happened over the course of the month. Week 1 was a fairly normal shop. The only thing unusual about it was that I didn't blog it. Then Week 2 was when the two older boys left. I was just cooking for Tom and myself, so I just bought some quick and easy stuff from Aldi. Sausages, sandwich stuff, frozen chicken strips, stir fry stuff, and a bottle of bourbon. Then I went back a few days later and bought frozen fish fillets, more sandwich stuff, and spaghetti fixins.
In Week 3 the boys were still away, but Karen needed stuff from Coles and Woolworths, so I did a proper sort of shop. But with only 3 people, it was cheap. Under $200. Plus $200 or so worth of liquor. Good times, good times! Apparently I made a second trip to Aldi that week, but I don't have a receipt for it and I'm not entirely sure what I might've bought. I'm guessing there was a fair amount of liquor and junk food involved.
Then in Week 4, the boys came home, I went back to work, and it was time to start behaving myself again. And I did.
I've checked the bank account, and if there was more shopping done, it was done with cash and there's no records. In the end, while we didn't stay under the $240 weekly limit I've set so that we can save for our holiday this summer, we did manage to stay under the old $300 a week limit. And only looking at my shopping, I kept it under $250 a week. Nearly on budget.
But I have to cop some of the blame for her crazy shopping trips, because we've learned that if I keep the pantry stocked with all the crap she likes, then she doesn't need to go to the grocery store, and she doesn't go in there and go nuts. As an example, that trip to Coles on the 27th was the Friday after I'd gone back to work, and her last day off. We'd gone to the movies, then to lunch, but she wanted to go buy herself a bag of chips, and I didn't want to go. So she dropped me off at home and then went by herself.
Keeping in mind that a bag of Kettle chips costs around $4 a bag, and that I had just done the grocery shopping the day before, she ended up spending nearly $20. On what? I have no freaking idea. I'd bought her everything she'd asked for on Thursday. The only reason I didn't buy her a bag of chips is because she told me not to, because she started a new healthy-eating kick that week. Apparently the healthy-eating kick was over by Friday, when she had popcorn and a Coke at the movies, then a burger, chips and a Pepsi at lunch, and then decided she needed a bag of chips and whatever-the-hell-else she bought that afternoon.
So a couple weeks of junk-food bingeing and drunken debauchery didn't break the bank, and while we could've saved that money for our summer vacation, we still managed to hit 80% of our holiday savings target for July, so that's cool.
Week 1
6 July Coles $113.43
6 July Aldi $66.65
9 July Coles $42.65*
10 July Aldi $19.30
11 July Coles $23.05*
Total : $265.08
Week 2
13 July Aldi $89.20
16 July Coles $24.58*
17 July Aldi $34.51
Total: $148.29
Week 3
20 July Woolworths $96.01
20 July Coles $60.94
20 July 1st Choice $54.00
22 July 1st Choice $55.00
22 July Aldi $74.91
23 July Coles $53.63*
23 July Aldi $85.36
23 July Coles $34.52*
Total: $514.37
Week 4
26 July Coles $58.27
26 July Aldi $137.31
26 July Woolworths $49.47
27 July Coles $18.37*
Total: $263.42
Monthly Total: $1191.16
Weekly Avg: $297.79
*Karen
These numbers make sense based on what happened over the course of the month. Week 1 was a fairly normal shop. The only thing unusual about it was that I didn't blog it. Then Week 2 was when the two older boys left. I was just cooking for Tom and myself, so I just bought some quick and easy stuff from Aldi. Sausages, sandwich stuff, frozen chicken strips, stir fry stuff, and a bottle of bourbon. Then I went back a few days later and bought frozen fish fillets, more sandwich stuff, and spaghetti fixins.
In Week 3 the boys were still away, but Karen needed stuff from Coles and Woolworths, so I did a proper sort of shop. But with only 3 people, it was cheap. Under $200. Plus $200 or so worth of liquor. Good times, good times! Apparently I made a second trip to Aldi that week, but I don't have a receipt for it and I'm not entirely sure what I might've bought. I'm guessing there was a fair amount of liquor and junk food involved.
Then in Week 4, the boys came home, I went back to work, and it was time to start behaving myself again. And I did.
I've checked the bank account, and if there was more shopping done, it was done with cash and there's no records. In the end, while we didn't stay under the $240 weekly limit I've set so that we can save for our holiday this summer, we did manage to stay under the old $300 a week limit. And only looking at my shopping, I kept it under $250 a week. Nearly on budget.
But I have to cop some of the blame for her crazy shopping trips, because we've learned that if I keep the pantry stocked with all the crap she likes, then she doesn't need to go to the grocery store, and she doesn't go in there and go nuts. As an example, that trip to Coles on the 27th was the Friday after I'd gone back to work, and her last day off. We'd gone to the movies, then to lunch, but she wanted to go buy herself a bag of chips, and I didn't want to go. So she dropped me off at home and then went by herself.
Keeping in mind that a bag of Kettle chips costs around $4 a bag, and that I had just done the grocery shopping the day before, she ended up spending nearly $20. On what? I have no freaking idea. I'd bought her everything she'd asked for on Thursday. The only reason I didn't buy her a bag of chips is because she told me not to, because she started a new healthy-eating kick that week. Apparently the healthy-eating kick was over by Friday, when she had popcorn and a Coke at the movies, then a burger, chips and a Pepsi at lunch, and then decided she needed a bag of chips and whatever-the-hell-else she bought that afternoon.
So a couple weeks of junk-food bingeing and drunken debauchery didn't break the bank, and while we could've saved that money for our summer vacation, we still managed to hit 80% of our holiday savings target for July, so that's cool.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Shopping Day: 2 August 2012
Aldi: $89.68
Woolworths: $54.90
Coles: $119.19
Total: $263.77
I'm over the $240 weekly average, and I'm not done yet. Tomorrow I'll go to Costco and grab a few things, which will add another $28 or so, which will bring me up to around $300. I should be able to make up for it in future weeks, but I also need to build up my stockpile again. I'm starting to run low on some things.
Things got a little crazy last month. I had the month off, the two older boys went to their grandparents for two weeks, and I got a little carried away with eating, drinking, and generally being merry. But I kept my receipts, and I'm going to try to piece it all back together and see just what the hell happened.
But for now, I'm just focusing on this week. And the main thing is that I'm pretty damned happy with this week's grocery adventure. I'm a bit bummed out that I haven't seen any really great bargains that make me want to fill up my shopping cart with 643 cans of tuna or something, but on the other hand, I'm happy that my basic trip to the grocery store(s) is costing a lot less than it used to. I've got a weekly menu worked out that the kids are happy with, and I've got another month or so of winter before I'll start changing it up a little.
One of the big changes in recent weeks that's saved us a little money is that I'm buying more fresh fruit and vegetables from Aldi. This week I got shallots (spring onions/green onions), avocados, cauliflower, iceberg lettuce, carrots, leek, sweet potatoes, red onions, bananas, white cabbage, and red capsicums (bell peppers), and it was all cheaper than I could get it at either Coles or Woolworth's. Maybe I could've gotten it cheaper at the Belconnen Markets or at the Farmers' Market, but then again, maybe not. And at this point, I just can't be bothered making those trips to find out.
The trip to Woolworth's was short and sweet, just to grab a few items that were either on sale or just cheaper than Coles anyway. Nothing special, although they're giving me a discount ($2.95 instead of $3.69) on my low-carb SlimPasta because I'm an Everyday Rewards member, so I'm grabbing a couple of packets every time I'm there.
Coles was great this week, because I bought a lot of stuff that was on sale--canned borlotti (pinto) beans, frozen chicken strips, frozen spinach, and more--and because I had a voucher for 500 bonus Flybuys (worth a whopping $2.50) if I spent over $120 (my total was $131.38), plus I saved $2.19 from my Flybuys My5, and then I got another $10 off for spending over $100 (apparently this was a Docket Deal (coupon printed on your receipt), but I knew nothing about it, didn't have one of the coupons, but the checkout chick gave it to me anyway. She also gave us about 4 times as many Sports for Schools vouchers than we'd earned, so the school may end up naming a playground or stadium after Tom or something.
So hey, it's no Extreme Couponing kind of thing, but hell, I got heaps of groceries, started building up my stockpile again, and just eyeballing it, I think I probably saved around 25% on the whole trip.
Woolworths: $54.90
Coles: $119.19
Total: $263.77
I'm over the $240 weekly average, and I'm not done yet. Tomorrow I'll go to Costco and grab a few things, which will add another $28 or so, which will bring me up to around $300. I should be able to make up for it in future weeks, but I also need to build up my stockpile again. I'm starting to run low on some things.
Things got a little crazy last month. I had the month off, the two older boys went to their grandparents for two weeks, and I got a little carried away with eating, drinking, and generally being merry. But I kept my receipts, and I'm going to try to piece it all back together and see just what the hell happened.
But for now, I'm just focusing on this week. And the main thing is that I'm pretty damned happy with this week's grocery adventure. I'm a bit bummed out that I haven't seen any really great bargains that make me want to fill up my shopping cart with 643 cans of tuna or something, but on the other hand, I'm happy that my basic trip to the grocery store(s) is costing a lot less than it used to. I've got a weekly menu worked out that the kids are happy with, and I've got another month or so of winter before I'll start changing it up a little.
One of the big changes in recent weeks that's saved us a little money is that I'm buying more fresh fruit and vegetables from Aldi. This week I got shallots (spring onions/green onions), avocados, cauliflower, iceberg lettuce, carrots, leek, sweet potatoes, red onions, bananas, white cabbage, and red capsicums (bell peppers), and it was all cheaper than I could get it at either Coles or Woolworth's. Maybe I could've gotten it cheaper at the Belconnen Markets or at the Farmers' Market, but then again, maybe not. And at this point, I just can't be bothered making those trips to find out.
The trip to Woolworth's was short and sweet, just to grab a few items that were either on sale or just cheaper than Coles anyway. Nothing special, although they're giving me a discount ($2.95 instead of $3.69) on my low-carb SlimPasta because I'm an Everyday Rewards member, so I'm grabbing a couple of packets every time I'm there.
Coles was great this week, because I bought a lot of stuff that was on sale--canned borlotti (pinto) beans, frozen chicken strips, frozen spinach, and more--and because I had a voucher for 500 bonus Flybuys (worth a whopping $2.50) if I spent over $120 (my total was $131.38), plus I saved $2.19 from my Flybuys My5, and then I got another $10 off for spending over $100 (apparently this was a Docket Deal (coupon printed on your receipt), but I knew nothing about it, didn't have one of the coupons, but the checkout chick gave it to me anyway. She also gave us about 4 times as many Sports for Schools vouchers than we'd earned, so the school may end up naming a playground or stadium after Tom or something.
So hey, it's no Extreme Couponing kind of thing, but hell, I got heaps of groceries, started building up my stockpile again, and just eyeballing it, I think I probably saved around 25% on the whole trip.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Shopping Day: 29 June 2012
It's good to know that even after things got a little crazy (including Jack being home sick most of the week), everything worked out in the end. No big bargains this week. Just a simple shop that'll get us through the week on budget while still making sure that everybody gets their little treats.
Woolworths: $40.33
Coles: $59.79
Aldi: $79.03
Total: $179.15
My limit this week was $183.29 and I came in $4.14 under it, so that's sweet. My totals for the last four weeks were:
$274.99
$226.91
$274.81
$179.15
And my average for this month was $238.96. Cool cool cool.
Woolworths: $40.33
Coles: $59.79
Aldi: $79.03
Total: $179.15
My limit this week was $183.29 and I came in $4.14 under it, so that's sweet. My totals for the last four weeks were:
$274.99
$226.91
$274.81
$179.15
And my average for this month was $238.96. Cool cool cool.
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