My First Hangover in OZ...

Simplyjen posted a comment in my previous post about beer.

Well, last night, our company had a BBQ after work (And my friends, that is the 4th BBQ I have attended since I started work... be envious ! hahaha.). So had meat and of course beer.

Well, it was getting colder as the night went on and I had my fourth or fifth bottle of light beer. And then the beer ran out. Was still chatting with my colleagues from all over A/NZ, took some white wine.

I left around 9+.

Boy, did I get into big trouble... Bad idea to mix I guess. It hit me after I showered and was watching some TV.

Slept all the way and had a hard time waking up this morning. Had my 2nd worse hang-over in my life so far. Felt like puking, headache, shivering, etc. Still went to work and only cleared up around noon.

Cold...

Visited a nearby town fair, for a charity fund-raising. It was small and half the stalls were selling food. Anyway, had a sausage bun that tasted quite nice... maybe because I was hungry.

Anyway, its been almost 2 months since I reached Sydney. This is the longest period I have stayed in a cold place. Previously, it has just been a week or 2, holiday to cold places like New Zealand.

The nights are about 10 degrees and the day is probably about 20 or 21. But it does feel colder if the wind blows, even if I am under the sun.

Need to put more moisturizers and lip balm to prevent cracking of various skins.

Spent money on buying heaters and energy bills heating the room.

After every shower, I come out shivering before it becomes comfortable again, no matter what kind of heater I use.

After washing dishes without using warm water, my hands are so cold that I can't touch any other part of my body or I will shiver.

First 5 minutes in bed is always cold.

This is Autumn in NSW. Winter will be another 5 degrees or so colder.
Still, wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Enjoying HD

Its the weekend now. Enjoying free-to-air HD TV programmes here...

Been a busy week, with a day trip to Canberra (4 hours away). And the coming week will be busy with CeBIT and next week another exhibition out of town where I will be staying in a hotel for 2 nights.

Anyway, posting while watching TV... so its a short one.. haha..

Oh, also, remember the LED bulb that I bought for my MagLite ?

For many days, it couldn't turn on.. Or it would turn on for a while and then turn off. Thought it was the cold weather, switch contacts, etc..

Screwed in the old incandescent bulb, it works fine. Put back the LED bulb, it flashes once and stays dark...

Finally, on a hunch, I swap to new batteries... It worked fine !

I guess I have to change the mindset that LED bulbs behave like normal bulbs... that the light output will dim as the battery goes low. Good LEDs are regulated to give constant power and just cuts off if insufficient.

Lawn Bowling

Had my first experience on Friday afternoon.

Went out with sales to meet customers. Instead of yachting (which was supposed to be the plan until something happened to the yacht) it was changed to an afternoon at a local bowling club.

Probably like golf, except everyone can hang around and interact more, as compared to just 4 per flight at golf.

Was my first time and it was quite fun with all the guys and the gals. In the blazing sun for the whole afternoon, had BBQ lunch and beer while bowling and yet not getting wet under the armpits and sweaty all over is definitely a nice feeling.

Hope that I can go yachting the next round.

What's in a name ?

Was watching the news this morning about a report of a cyclone in Burma...

Wait, I thought they are called Myanmar ? I have been using and hearing that name for a long time now. I thought they had changed it eons ago...

So I checked this morning. According to Wikipedia :

On 18 June 1989, the military junta passed the 'Adaptation of Expressions Law' that officially changed the English version of the country's name from Burma to Myanmar, and changed the English versions of many place names in the country along with it, such as its former capital city from Rangoon to Yangon (which represents its pronunciation more accurately in Burmese though not in Arakanese). This prompted one scholar to coin the term 'Myanmarification' to refer to the top-down programme of political and cultural reform that led to and followed in the wake of this renaming.[6] This decision has, however, not been subject to independent legislation and no national referendum was held to decide this change by the people.[1] The official name of the country in the Burmese language was Myanmar, and the official name of the country in English was Burma ever since the country gained independence from Britain in 1948. Within the Burmese language, Myanmar is the written, literary name of the country, while Bama or Bamar (from which "Burma" derives) is the oral, colloquial name. In spoken Burmese, the distinction is less clear than the English transliteration suggests.

The renaming proved to be politically controversial.[7] Opposition groups continue to use the name "Burma," since they do not recognize the legitimacy of the ruling military government nor its authority to rename the country in English. This name change was recognized by the United Nations, China, India, Singapore, Thailand, Lao, Vietnam, Bangladesh, ASEAN, and Russia. However it was not recognized by many western governments such as the United States, Australia, Canada or the United Kingdom, which continue to use "Burma," while the European Union uses "Burma/Myanmar" as an alternative.

And according to CIA Factbook :

Country name:
conventional long form: Union of Burma
conventional short form: Burma
local long form: Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw (translated by the US Government as Union of Myanma and by the Burmese as Union of Myanmar)
local short form: Myanma Naingngandaw
former: Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma
note: since 1989 the military authorities in Burma have promoted the name Myanmar as a conventional name for their state; this decision was not approved by any sitting legislature in Burma, and the US Government did not adopt the name, which is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw

So what does it show when you see this :



And this :



Can't see the subtle difference ?

Hint : Note the country name and the city name...