Draw Two Skips

It's been a rainy few days, so what better time for a game of UNO? And what better hand could I expect?

I'd played two number cards, and picked up the red and yellow Skips when a Draw Two was played at me.

For a rainy day, that was a fairly exciting moment.

Smaller on the Outside

I've recently started a new job. My colleague had this on her desk, and I was very excited. So excited that she gave it to me.

Turns out that you can download and print these foldable designs from various websites. Apparently another work colleague printed them out, and it was a short 'team-building' exercise to construct them (long before I started here).

I get the impression that my colleague it didn't value the finished item as much as I do.

Related link: Exterminate

Trick of the Mind

My state, Queensland has optional preferential voting. Voters choose how many preferences to allocate.

Which means at elections you get extra signs like these:

They look official. They're in the colours of the voting authority. They don't mention any candidate. You might think they are official signs.

But you'd be wrong. If you have a magnifying glass handy, you can see a party name in the tiniest print. And what each party suggests will favour that party.

I think it's a bit sneaky by both of these parties - to trick people by posing as official advice.

A voter at my local voting place complained to the officials. The funny thing was that he only complained about only one of them.

The Mind Trick
Perhaps coloured by his party preference he thought the other sign was perfectly fine.

What do you think?
Are they both unethical? If just one is dodgy, which one?

Who Gives A Crap?

What if helping really poor countries was as easy as going to the toilet?

Now it is. Social enterprise Who Gives a Crap gives half its profits to build toilets in the developing world. From the moment you receive your (home delivered) box of toilet paper, you feel good about it.

The box has various encouraging phrases, including their main slogan "Good for your bum. Great for the world." Each roll is also encouraging, reminding you of the benefits.

Also, as you unwrap it, there's another inspiring message inside, like:

or

If all that wasn't enough, they've come up with the ingenious idea of the emergency roll. Store it in a different place. Should you ever need to grab it - you know it's definitely time to re-order!

Of course, being Christmas - and having ordered the Christmas themed set - I just had to arrange them as a tree.

It shrank over time - especially as I gave many away as novelty gifts.

Sunrise

There are benefits to getting up early. Skies like this morning's is definitely one of them.

OK it's not the most scenic photo ever. But it's a great start to the day to see this out the window.

Earth Hour 2014

Some of the candles from our Earth Hour celebration.

Lettuce In

One of my latest things to grow on my balcony is lettuce.

It's not type that you traditional spherical-shaped lettuce. This is good because I can just pick off as many leaves as I need for a meal, while letting the rest keep growing.

Ride for Refugees - the extras

Once I (and the other riders) were out on the course, there was a mini-ride for kids involving a few laps of the circuit. Obviously I didn't get to see it, but it looks so cute, with even preschool age children taking part - training wheels and all.

Meanwhile, I'd been out on the course (which feels very country-like) and was glad to discover a drinks and snack station around the 7km mark. I was pleased to see a selection of muesli bars, fruit and lollies :)

Ride for Refugees - the start

For those who sponsored me in the 25km Ride for Refugees (and for others who are interested) here are some photos from the day.

Ready to go and awaiting the start:

Underway! Just 24.985 km to go ;)


The ride started with a lap around the criterium circuit before heading out on main part of the ride.

Ride For Refugees

I'm a fan of helping refugees - and of bike riding. So signing up for this year's Ride for Refugees seemed like an obvious move. I'm going to be riding (at least) 25km - and can imagine that this will be somewhat of a shock, given that my normal bike ride is 6-7km tops.


To add to the challenge, if i get more than $221 of sponsorship, i'll double the ride to 50km!

Why $221 precisely? A refugee in the community has to live on $221 a week (including paying rent) and is not allowed work to earn any extra. (I hear that's 40% less than the dole).

Anyway, the groups that are supported by the ride do things to help refugees with education, learning English, medical and other issues.


So if you'd like to sponsor me, or ride yourself, that would be great. :)