We had our TV cabinet delivered last weekend. It looks great. Even better is that we went out and bought a new TV. Panasonics latest 50 incher. It’s being delivered on Tuesday. Now all we need is some surround sound and we’ll be cheering! (The photo above is the exact same TV, but a review unit from Panasonic. I was so impressed that we went out and bought the same model. Continue reading →

The past couple of weeks have been tough – From Hong Kong to Sarah’s Birthday to the Influence Conference in the Hunter Valley to a week of events, I’ve been running myself ragged. So much so that yesterday morning I woke up coughing up all colours of the rainbow (a pleasant enough image for you all, I’m sure).

However, today I feel pretty good. And do you know why? It’s because of a little drink called the Hot Totty.

When I was in Ireland back when I was 18, I got pretty sick. I prescribed myself to a diet of Hot Tottys, and my cure could almost be considered miraculous. Since then, it seems I’d forgotten their medical power to battle the cold, until last week when I made one for Lauren when she was a bit crook.

Anyway, to get back to the subject, I have perfected the Hot Totty. I’ve just finished my course for the evening, and fully expect to wake up feeling well tomorrow.

If you want to know how to make the perfect Hot Totty yourself, check below:

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On my way home from Hong Kong this week (I was there for an HP conference), Lauren asked me to pick up some duty free makeup. No worries - I do it every time I go on a business trip. Except that this time, at Hong kong airport, as I went to purchase a series of make-up removers and lotions, I was told no. And while it took me a while to understand exactly what the woman was telling me, it turned out that because three out of the four bottles I was purchasing were over 100ml, I couldn’t take them on board the plane as hand luggage. Continue reading →

Last night, Lauren and I made the long trip down to Wollongong to see Birds of Tokyo. Aside from leaving me half deaf, it was amazing – the singer Ian Kenny’s voice is sensational. See for yourself below:

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Today has been a struggle. Hell, every Monday is a struggle, but this weekend was harder than most. Namely because our dog Simba spent most of Friday night and half of Saturday vomiting. It started about 2am Friday night. At 4:30am, Lauren and I decided that we’d put him outside (we gave him a comfortable bed) so we could get a few hours sleep. A couple of hours later, he woke us barking so we brought him in. Continue reading →

www.youtube.com/watch There seems to be a real split in opinions over this ad. I like it – probably because it doesn’t actually try to sell me anything. It tries to entertain, and while it’s not hilariously funny, I actually had a smile through most of it. I think the lack of any mention of Windows or Vista was a good move, incidentally. As soon as they say anything about Vista, the Internet minions will cry out against it just for that fact. Continue reading →

Last night at about 7:30pm, there was a knock on the door. Naturally the dog sprang up and I forced my way out of recline to see who it was. Flicking on the front light switch I opened the door to be greeted by a young door-to-door salesman. “Good evening,” he said as I squinted through the screen door. “I’m here to offer you a great deal on your Internet and…” Continue reading →

Funny thing happened to me yesterday: Lauren and I had decided to try a new recipe for dinner (Lion’s head meatballs, for the curious) which required dried chinese mushrooms - not something we keep a lot of lying around the pantry. So anyway, I went to get my haircut yesterday morning in Camden, and when I couldn’t get in for a coupl of hours, I decided I’d pop into Coles to pick up the dried mushrooms. Continue reading →

Those who know me well are aware that I’m one of a few thousand Australians who are huge Dave Matthews Band fans. So I’m obviously devastated by the untimely death of the band’s saxaphonist, Leroi Moore.

Leroi past away on August 19 due to complications that arose following an ATV accident. Then, just hours later, the rest of the band had to take to the stage in LA to perform – from everything I’ve read, it was an emotion-packed night.

I met Leroi (albeit briefly) after the band’s first Sydney concert. He was a fairly quiet guy, but had plenty of time to hang around with fans and chat about the concert and Australia. He seemed like an absolute champion, and will be sorely missed by millions.

R.I.P. Leroi. And thankyou for the music.

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So, hello from The Broughall Shuffle. I’ve just finished importing my previous “it’s pronounced bruffle” blog, so bear with me while I set everything up properly. The reason for moving was twofold – number one was I wanted my own domain name, and “it’s pronounced bruffle” just seemed too wordy. The second was that I can blog from the iPhone via Wordpress, which is a very appealing proposition for me… Continue reading →

For the past two weekends, I’ve been painting the loungeroom. I would have been done after the first weekend, but for the fact that the previous owners did such a dodgy job that you could see their patching on the cornices. So ok the weekend, along with bottling beer, I painted the cornices on the loungeroom. But to add insult to injury, when I went to peel the painters tape off the ceiling, it came with the added bonus of pulling off the paint as well. Continue reading →

The latest batch of homebrew (a Bock) has been bottled, and is now waiting for that magical process of secondary fermentation to take place, giving it the bubbles that make beer so enjoyable. But among the success of this batch of beer is tragic news that the local home brew store (Jay’s homebrew in Camden) is closing down. Now what am I supposed to do? While I can pick up a Coopers or Tooheys kit from Coles or Woolworths, it’s the premium sugar and yeasts that you really need a homebrew store for. Continue reading →

Stephen King has teamed up with Marvel to create a webcomic of one of his short stories. The result is awesome. There's a new episode every weekday until August 29 – at the momnet we're up to episode 14, and it's a bit of a cliffhanger. I love it when traditional outlets like books and film harness the web for good. Like Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog, this one looks like it's on the " Continue reading →

I had a rant the other day on Giz about Google’s new StreetView service. Basically it was in response to an SMH article that claimed that a guy named “Bill” (not his real name) was photographed passed out on his mother’s lawn after a big night on the drink mourning his recently deceased best mate. The SMH claimed it was an invasion of privacy. I disagree. But, perhaps worse, there are now millions of people who have seen the photo as a direct result of the SMH article, as opposed to the dozens who might have seen it on StreetView. Continue reading →

How frustrating! Imagine training your ass off for 10 years to make it to the Olympic Games, only to have a hardware malfunction ruin your first opportunity. Yesterday that happened to Chappo my old school mate who’s rowing for Australia in Beijing at the moment. The Men’s VIII was struck with a faulty rudder and at the 750 mark (of a 2,000 metre race) essentially had to stop rowing, missing out on the direct route to the finals. Continue reading →

At 7:40pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on Sunday 10 August 2008, an old school friend of mine by the name of James Chapman will be rowing for Australia at the Beijing Olympics. A long time ago, in what seems like a different life, I used to row with James. While part of me wonders what could have happened if I wasn’t such a lazy bastard, most of me just hopes that Chappo can bring home some gold. Continue reading →

Wow – I knew it had been a long time since I updated here… but a full month? I guess that just goes to show how busy I’ve been. Crazy. At the moment, I’m battling a cold after two long weeks of working too hard. There was the Sydney Apple Store opening, which was great for Giz, plus countless other events along the way. Now I just need to get myself an iPhone so I can stop wishing for one. Continue reading →

For the second time since the inception of the Super 12 Rugby competition (and its migration to the Super 14), the NSW Waratahs have made the final. What’s more, they actually look like they can win. They’re playing good rugby. The forwards are going forward and the backs are hitting hard, making breaks and scoring tries. The Crusaders will be a tough ask this weekend, especially in NZ, but I actually believe that the Tahs have a good chance. Continue reading →

I was fortunate enough to get a single pass to the premiere of the new Indiana Jones movie last week in Sydney. My thoughts on the film can be found over at Giz, but a quick summation is that its enjoyable, but they overstepped the “suspension of disbelief mark” a couple of times, which really detracted from the film. When we went into the theatre, we had to hand in all mobile phones and cameras. Continue reading →

Normally I don’t have a problem at the dentist. The drilling, the grinding, the scraping… so what? But today I saw something that made me cringe. And it wasn’t just the bill (although that wasn’t anything to smile at either). It was my wisdom teeth. Or more to the point, the 1.2cm gap behind my back right molar caused by my wisdom teeth pushing out. So far, I haven’t really experienced a lot of pain, but if I do nothing, I run the risk of losing that back molar as well as the widom tooth. Continue reading →