It's a big week in the Arrigo household this week.

All our kids are heading back to school -  Billy starts Grade 6 today, on Tuesday Antony goes into Year 8 and Emma starts Grade 2 and on Wednesday, our baby Brice goes in for his first day of school!

All 4 kids at schools - what is their mother to do with herself now?? Time to sit on the couch and eat bon-bons???

[listening to: Better The Devil You Know - Kylie Minogue ]
8:56:27 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Mitch did it, so did Darren, Geoff and Eddie, so I thought it's time I did it too. I took the evil test. Who would have thought!!!

[listening to: Star 69 - Fatboy Slim ]
10:56:57 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • Random

Antony sent me a link to this.

I'm not sure if he wants it, or he is suggesting I get it for me

[listening to: Radio Ga Ga - Queen ]
5:56:10 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

We're working hard to prepare the party to end all parties.

Tomorrow our baby turns 5!

[listening to: Let's Rock - Smash Mouth ]
8:11:09 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Yesterday I came out of hospital, after spending 6 nights connected to a IV for the treatmeant of my recuriung problem. Yes, I was admitted back in October 2004 for the same problem. You think the nerd god king would learn by now.

During my stay I took some photos with my "illegally smuggled into the room" XDA II. The funniest one was the Windows XP Channel I found when I was swapping channels on the inroom telly. How about the dodgy warning on the equiment and everybody's favorite the "NIL BY MOUTH" sign.

How many of you have had an IV? It's not pleasant. They stick in this thing called a cannula, which had a really long pointy needle, into a vein and then they add tubes, tape and god knows what else to complete the system. I had 4 different cannulas during my 6 night stay, as well as 4 failed attempts. My arms look like an Iraqi battlefield. The doctor who botched it all, who shall remain nameless but I know who you are mate, made a real mess of it all. I finally met the hospital's IV maestro who sole job is to look after these IV installations. He was the Jedi Master of  intravenous cannulas. I never felt the needle go in, and in one fell swope he plugged me, taped me and was gone.

During my stay I noticed so many inefficiencies in the day to day business of treating patients - technology could really a HUGE difference and I am sure there are medical facilities out there using lots of great stuff. I hope NOT to stay in any of them in the near future.

Anyways, I am now out of hospital and sitting at home recouperating. I'm sitting in my bedroom, blogging, listening to music and the odd podcasts, drinking my 2 litres of water a day and looking forward to my next high fibre meal. 

[listening to: Walking Contradiction - Green Day ]
10:42:51 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • Health

It has been a slow and lazy week at home. On Monday, Moira was complaining to me that we didn't have any interesting DVDs!

So, I went onto Amazon and ordered a few new ones. They arrived this afternoon (Thursday). We now have some new movies to watch. Moira, I hope you are happy.

• DodgeBall
• Garden State
• The Manchurian Candidate
• The Terminal
• Anchorman
• Napoleon Dynamite

Now, to get Antony to update the DVD collection.

[listening to: Microsoft CES - Microsoft ]
2:23:21 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests • TV

We all love Sponge Bob Squarepants. The kids like it, I like it. What can I say, it just rocks.

When we found out that a SpongBob movie was in production, we counted day the days for it to open here in Australia.

Well, today was the day.

We lined up outside the theatre waiting to get into see the movie. When they finally removed the rope, I was first in line to buy tickets. Then the boys raced up the stairs, made a mandatory biological pit stop, and then we all ran inside into Cinema 2.

90 minutes later (give or take) we left Cinema 2 feeling very satisfied. Yes, Brice had sat still *AGAIN*. The movie even had a Deus ex machina in the form of David Hasselhoff. (Antony told me that)

We all walked out singing the SpongeBob theme song (download it here).

Ahh, good times.

[listening to: Veronica - Elvis Costello ]
1:56:29 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests

Today was a overcast humid miserable day in Sydney - even the cricket was delayed by rain, so we decided to take the kids to the Powerhouse Museum to visit the recently opened Lord of the Rings exhibit.

The exhibit consists of props from the movie (costumes, jewellery, armour, models, digital effects etc..) as well as a bunch of video interviews (kinda of like the stuff you find on the extras section of a DVD), as well as some special events, such as the Shire playspace where hobbits under 10 can dress up an elf or create a sword.

Well, when we got there, there was a queue snaking out of the museum. Looks like the rest of Sydney had the same thought as we did. Since we are Powerhouse members, we went in the express lane. When we got in, we found another queue to get into the exhibit! 30 minutes later we made our way into the exhibit. Phew. It took a lot to keep Brice entertained in the queue - three more corners to go. Oh this is the last corner before we can get in, yada yada yada.

Now, I like LOTR, but I am not that really crazy about it. Seeing the clothes and the walking tree, and touching the swords was kinda ok, but not worth the time it took us to get into the place. To make matters worse, Antony freaked out when he saw the crowd and spent the whole time complaining and wanting to get out. This set Emma off as she complained she never watched the whole movie and the monsters were ugly.

In the end we rushed through the exhibit bumbing into the other freaks and geeks who made the pilgrimage to middle earth.

Finally we exited via the obligatory tour via the LOTR gift shop - luckily for me no one wanted a plush talking Gollum doll.

[listening to: Poison Moon - Elvis Costello ]
8:13:08 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests

My kids gave me a copy of State of Fear for Christmas.
I have yet to start it. It is a really big book. I feel intimitated by it.
Besides, as soon as I start reading this, I am sure that Brice will want me to build blocks with him, or Moira will need me to take out the rubbish, or Emma will want me to take her for a bike ride.
The book has left *ME* in my own state of fear

[listening to: If Every Day Was Like Christmas - Elvis Presley ]
8:00:24 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests