|
Post by Karen on Sept 26, 2003 21:38:34 GMT -5
JW's birthday is June 23! But alas, not a Gemini, but a Cancer. My Bad. I thought he was a Gemini.
|
|
|
Post by Patti - S'cubie Cutie on Sept 27, 2003 1:09:54 GMT -5
I hope the down-load the episode works too. Last season when I looked at down-loading the episodes like the French girls did the estimated down-load time was 20 hours. Betsy seemed to think that my Dial-up connection was probably a problem. oh....that is no fun at all then. I really hoped you could do what Nan and Betsy have been doing, and thus you could stay up with us and there would be no problem and all would be well in S'cubieville... Oooh....look how my evil self is looking up at my good self (White Willow...)
|
|
|
Post by Patti - S'cubie Cutie on Sept 27, 2003 1:13:54 GMT -5
I'm an Aquarius. I'm the only sign that has a song for them. Beat that! Yeah, not that cool, I know. I'm a dork, crap like this amuses me. Not so! Remember that great old Madonna song ' Like a Virgo'? ;D
|
|
|
Post by Kerrie on Sept 27, 2003 2:58:49 GMT -5
And the word for the day is Colliwobles.
defn: Collingwood chokes in a grand final.
|
|
|
Post by Kerrie on Sept 27, 2003 7:33:59 GMT -5
In one of the other parts Anne said that she thought Australians lived in wooden houses with no fly screens. In my case this is true. I live in a wooden house with fly-screens for only half the house because the house is dark and I didn't like the way the fly screens made it darker. The other part of the house (an extension) has built in fly screens on large windows so we kept them. I should also point out that we live in a 'bush fire' zone so we need to have special fly screens to minimise the chance of the house catching on fire if there is a bush fire. We are not surrounded by bush, but we have a few large trees on our block: a cork-screw willow, pussy willows, a gum tree and other miscellanious smaller trees. About half the houses around me are wooden. The rest are brick. The suburb that I live in quite rural in a suburban way with lots of trees and shrubs and flowers and poor footpaths and minimalist roads. Our block is about a quarter of an acre and is very small for the area. There are farms on the outskirts of the suburb along with a "tourist" township. The people in the area are very friendly and most have lived here for generations. A new free-way has opened the area up for new-comers (like me) and property values are rising. In short it is a really nice place to live. I have also lived in Launceston, Tasmania. Launceston is a rural city in the north of Tasmnania with a population of about 50,000. Ian and I lived in house that was about 100 years old which is very old in Australia. It was a small wooden cottage, surrounded by streets full of other small, brightly couloured wooden cottages. There were fly-screens, because the cooler weather meant that there were no flies. It was very pretty and different for Ian and I. Tasmanians are polite, but not that welcoming of mainlanders. They tend to stick to themsleves, probably because most have never travelled. However, Ian and I liked living in Tasmaina and made friends with other mainlanders. We especially liked being able to walk to the city to go to the pub on Friday nights (about a 10 minute walk). There is a pub in the suburb we live in now, but it doesn't compare with walking to a place full of them (we like the concept of choice - we usualy chose the same one ). Before moving to Tasmania Ian and I lived with our respective parents in an outer Melbourne suburb. It was a new housing estate when we moved in about 30 years ago and it is still growing even now. All the houses are brick with fly-screens and airconditioners and gas ducted heating. Most are single story, but some are double stories and one or two even three stories! The new parts have smaller blocks than we had and have "court-yard" homes and even some terrace-style houses (medium density living as promoted by Paul Keeting, fomer Treasurer and Prime Minister). Ian and I think this is bizarre given the area, but it could be that suburn has changed. The people in this area were pretty accurately depicted in a sociological book called "Nobody's Home". Basically people keep to themselves and don't know each other very well. Ian and I met at a New Year's Eve party at a mutual friends, but we already knew each other because we had previously lived aroud the corner from each other before our respective parents moved to the new suburb. It onlu had one pub within walking distance. Although it did have a pretty decent Chinese retaurant and Pizza shop. It also had the requisite banks, real estate agents, supermarket and Fish and Chip shop. In any case it didn't matter - in the year that we knew each other before Ian moved to Tasmania I had a car and would drive the 40 minutes (off-peak) to the inner-city areas if that is where we wanted to go. Usually we just hung out at friends' houses. So now you all know all about my living experiences in Australia, please tell me about your living experiences in America (and Britain), without necessarily giving too much away.
|
|
|
Post by Anne, Old S'cubie Cat on Sept 27, 2003 9:47:32 GMT -5
I don't know who mentioned flyscreens, but it wasn't me. Not important, though. Thanks Kerrie, now I have a mental picture of where you live. Since my images of Australia all come from Nevil Shute's novels (way out of date and idealized) and Peter Weir's movies (seriously weird), this is most helpful
|
|
|
Post by Anne, Old S'cubie Cat on Sept 27, 2003 10:07:03 GMT -5
In Southern California, anyway.
Paul and I started out in an apartment in Pasadena, which is further inland but nearer my parents and my (then) job. When Emily was born, I quit my job. When Paul got the job in Brea, the commute was horrible, so we moved to an apartment here, and bought our house about 3 years ago. We got lucky - just after that, real estate went nuts and prices skyrocketed.
The front half of my house is the original bungalow built in the 1920's. Two bedrooms, bathroom in between, kitchen, living/dining room with fireplace with built-in bookshelves (already full), front porch, avocado tree, big cereus cactus with a camelia bush growing through it. About 12 years ago, the previous owners added on a den, master bedroom, some more closets, a laundry area (which we think was the original back porch). There's also a big backyard with fruit trees, a vegetable garden (so far, tomatoes and pumpkins), and a patio and an attached garage that would probably hold a Model T Ford; it's not big enough for a modern car.
We do have flyscreens, which you really need in California, and some of the original glass in the windows (it's so old it's gone wavy, which is kind of cool).
Most of the houses in my neighborhood are from the 1920's. We just got through fighting with the city - the council wanted to tear down some of the old bungalows a couple blocks away and build a huge apartment complex. The neighbors who led the fight managed to get the project scaled down, and our neighborhood declared "historic".
We live a few blocks off the main streets (one of which is a big state highway), so I can walk to the market, pet store, Cost Plus World Market (my favorite mini-vacation), a book and CD store, and even a movie theater. We also live within a block each way of two public parks, which is nice for the girls. The public library is a bit too far to walk, but it's a nice little one, and we can request books from any other county library, which is helpful for Paul's and my oddball research projects.
There are about 35400 people in Brea, as of the last census, and sometimes it seems like they're all on the road in their SUVs.
That's probably more than you ever wanted to know about my neighborhood. Next time, maybe, Southern California geography (we do have forests here, also deserts and beaches). California is a weird place.
|
|
|
Post by Betsy on Sept 27, 2003 11:27:44 GMT -5
oh....that is no fun at all then. I really hoped you could do what Nan and Betsy have been doing, and thus you could stay up with us and there would be no problem and all would be well in S'cubieville... Oooh....look how my evil self is looking up at my good self (White Willow...) I downloaded both at work yesterday and watched Just Rewards at lunch yesterday. I have a new computer with tons of memory and a T1 connection. Downloaded in a matter of minutes. Came home last nite and downloaded both. With a DSL each full episode file took like 35 minutes, but better than a dial up connection. But when I went to watch Conviction, the audio was fine, but the video portion ran a bit behind the audio and was very herky jerky. Do any of the Technopagans know what causes this? Do I not have enough RAM? My computer here at home is 368 MzH and 256 of RAM?
|
|
|
Post by Kerrie on Sept 27, 2003 16:59:47 GMT -5
Thanks Anne. I have been led to believe California is similar to South Australia which also has beaches, deserts and bush (Australian forests). As you say it is a weird place, but then South Australia is probably a lot larger than California. What is a SUV?
|
|
|
Post by Nickim on Sept 27, 2003 17:21:20 GMT -5
Thanks Anne. I have been led to believe California is similar to South Australia which also has beaches, deserts and bush (Australian forests). As you say it is a weird place, but then South Australia is probably a lot larger than California. What is a SUV? Sport Utility Vehicle. 4-wheel drive vehicles that seat at least 4, sometimes more. Jeep Cherokee being an example.
|
|
|
Post by Karen on Sept 27, 2003 17:43:16 GMT -5
Thanks Anne. I have been led to believe California is similar to South Australia which also has beaches, deserts and bush (Australian forests). As you say it is a weird place, but then South Australia is probably a lot larger than California. What is a SUV? S. Australia is about 4 times larger than California. I've never been to California, but when I think of it I always think of the Beach Boys, surfing and earthquakes!
|
|
|
Post by Anne, Old S'cubie Cat on Sept 27, 2003 17:57:28 GMT -5
Thanks Anne. I have been led to believe California is similar to South Australia which also has beaches, deserts and bush (Australian forests). As you say it is a weird place, but then South Australia is probably a lot larger than California. What is a SUV? California actually has big tall native pine forests, including sequoias, which are the tallest in the world. Those are more Northern and Central California, though - down here we have regular pine forests in the mountains, and California oak trees lower down. Emily's high school is actually on the edge of the city limits, right next to a wild area, so they get rabbits, hawks, crows, ravens, rattlesnakes and the occasional deer on campus. We also have lots of your lovely eucalyptus trees, because they love the climate and grow quickly here. Of course, every once in a while they drop a big branch on someone's car, but you can't have everything, right? The famous palm trees are also imported. I think your bush is probably closer to our manzanita - that's more of a desert ecosystem. At certain times of year, when everything works out, you can literally spend a day at the beach, then drive inland to the mountains, and spend a day skiing. The odd thing is, So Cal is actually a desert - all the nice trees and grass are brought in and take tremendous amounts of water to keep up. Don't even ask about golf courses... SUV = Sports Utility Vehicle - with rotten gas mileage and a tendency to roll over on sharp turns. Us tree-hugging liberals dislike them intensely. Picture a hard-topped Land Rover (they make SUV's) and you'll get the idea. Orange County is full of them, usually carrying one person with a cell phone in one hand and a coffee in the other.
|
|
|
Post by Anne, Old S'cubie Cat on Sept 27, 2003 17:59:51 GMT -5
S. Australia is about 4 times larger than California. I've never been to California, but when I think of it I always think of the Beach Boys, surfing and earthquakes! Also brush fires, don't want to forget those, and the resultant mudslides and flash floods! And the 75mph Santa Ana (very hot) winds that drive the brush fires... And smog... Tell me again why I live here? Oh, yeah, family. I knew there had to be a reason.
|
|
|
Post by Anne, Old S'cubie Cat on Sept 27, 2003 18:07:25 GMT -5
I'm a happy budgie - the mail today brought several eBay wins. ;D ;D ;D
Two books on Goddess worship in ancient cultures by Marija Gimbutas (one I've been borrowing from the library, and one completely new to me).
Also a picture of Kate Bush, aged about 17, with the KT band, aka her brother Paddy and his friends. I'm going to HAVE to start putting stuff in frames now...
Happy, happy, doing the S'cubie dance...
|
|
|
Post by Kerrie on Sept 27, 2003 18:13:10 GMT -5
California actually has big tall native pine forests, including sequoias, which are the tallest in the world. Those are more Northern and Central California, though - down here we have regular pine forests in the mountains, and California oak trees lower down. Emily's high school is actually on the edge of the city limits, right next to a wild area, so they get rabbits, hawks, crows, ravens, rattlesnakes and the occasional deer on campus. We also have lots of your lovely eucalyptus trees, because they love the climate and grow quickly here. Of course, every once in a while they drop a big branch on someone's car, but you can't have everything, right? The famous palm trees are also imported. I think your bush is probably closer to our manzanita - that's more of a desert ecosystem. At certain times of year, when everything works out, you can literally spend a day at the beach, then drive inland to the mountains, and spend a day skiing. The odd thing is, So Cal is actually a desert - all the nice trees and grass are brought in and take tremendous amounts of water to keep up. Don't even ask about golf courses... SUV = Sports Utility Vehicle - with rotten gas mileage and a tendency to roll over on sharp turns. Us tree-hugging liberals dislike them intensely. Picture a hard-topped Land Rover (they make SUV's) and you'll get the idea. Orange County is full of them, usually carrying one person with a cell phone in one hand and a coffee in the other. I wouldn't have thought the Australian bush was desert. Too many trees (Eucalypts, wattles and banksias) and ferns and other shrubs, but my geographical knowledge is abysmal so I am probably wrong. I love the Eucalypts too, even if they do drop branches making it hard for councils to choose to plant them. There is no snow in South Australia and barring bush-fires and occassional minor flooding there are no natural disasters to fear. South Australia is on an inactive fault-line aparrently. Snakes and red-back spiders are a problem, but most people don't worry and the bites are not widely publicised making me think it is not a common occurrence. Ditto for sharks.
|
|