With the move overseas coming up later this year, Tarz wanted to do some more visits to the relos and this time it was off to Dubbo for the weekend. Now as stinking hot as Canberra has been, Dubbo was much hotter and heaps drier. This of course makes sense given Dubbo’s location in central-west New South Wales, but just because it was expected it doesn’t make it any easier to tolerate.
Anyway enough ranting about the weather since its something I can’t change anyway…..yet.
So in a nutshell, we spent the weekend hanging out with Tarz’s sister Melissa and her hubby John and the two boys, Joe and Tom. Nice and relaxing and pretty fun getting to muck around with two little guys aged 4 and 2. Just like playing with my nephews!!!!
The highlight of the trip was the Saturday night trip to the Gilgandra Speedway. As a born and bred Canberran, I had ample opportunity when younger to attend the speedway at Fairbairn Park or Tralee or wherever the hell it used to be, however not once did I head out there. Car racing has never really been the peak of excitement for me let alone watching cars scream around a 400m oval track made of mud and dirt.
Anyway, we drove the 50km to the Speedway which is located on the Dubbo side of Gilgandra. On the drive over there I had this vision of a high tech racing stadium with grandstands and replay screens and super facilities etc. Don’t ask why I envisioned this but I did. I should have realised that Gilgandra isn’t really a thriving example of a big city. We pulled off the highway and into the dirt carpark and I saw the ‘grandstand’ which was a grass/dirt hill all the way around the track. Luckily for Tarz and I, Melissa had brought us fold out seats. So there we were sitting on the hill with all the country folk waiting for the racing to begin.
Even though I'm not the biggest car fanatic, I really enjoyed the evening. The track is supposed to be heavily watered to keep dust down but in this drought they could only put a bare minimum of water down. So as the cars went around, dust was churning and these semi-hard mud balls would fly from the rear wheels right into the crowd.
We probably saw about 20-25 different races of all sorts of different classes of car from juniors (13-16 years old) right up to the NSW State Championships for the Super Sedans. My favourite would have to be the Fender Benders. You basically take any car that has less that 8 cylinders, throw a roll cage in it and away you go. Bumping and spinning other cars is allowed and I believe it is encouraged in this class.
So after five hours of country-style racing entertainment, we left the track at around 11pm. I was still in a singlet and boardies and still sweating – that should give you an idea of how hot it is out west in Australia.
In summary – if you get a chance to do something you have never done before go ahead and do it because you never know how much fun you might have. Even if it is stinking hot.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Soy finalmente un español
Well today is Tuesday 16 January 2007 and it is my first day as an official Spaniard!!!!
The last six months have proved extremely frustrating as i have tried to take out my citizenship with Spain. The initial problems were with the Spanish embassy here in Australia. I actually live in Canberra where most embassies are located so I can only imagine the trouble for those people not in Canberra with ease of access to the embassy.
The issues started in the middle of 2006 when I made many phone calls to try and ascertain whether I qualified for citizenship or not. My mother is a full-blood Spaniard and my reading of the website said I could indeed do this. The fact that I am 28 and mum never 'registered' me as her child with the Spanish authorities became the big issue so Mum ended up applying for a 'Libros de Familia' or family book which was the first step in me becoming Spanish.
The problems continued however and I was soon faced with what appeared to be a no-brainer of a decision. The Spanish authorities require new citizens to sign a form renouncing their current citizenship. so basically I had to choose Spanish or Australian. I don't care what nationality you offer me, I am never giving up my citizenship to the greatest country on the planet.
So progress was halted while i tried to contact the Department of Immigration to find a policy on such forms. In typical government agency style (I should know given the almost 4 year stint in a gov dept which I'm about to finish) I was passed from person to person, area to area, real people to recorded messages and you get the picture. No one wanted to give me a straight answer as to what happens if I sign that form!!!!
I decided to elevate this issue to the top. Rather than continue with the Department of Immigration I decided that I had had enough of their procrastinating and rang the Immigration Minister's office direct. And wouldn't you know it, within 24 hours I had confirmation that my signature on that Spanish form has no legal standing in Australia and I can keep both passports/citizenships. The fact that they also told me that the USA require new citizens to sign a similar form makes me think that there is definitely a policy that is easily accessible within the Department and that I just copped the public service at its absolute worst.
So with all the legal issues sorted I went back to the embassy and filled out the forms just before Xmas. Now mum had warned me that the embassy is much like actual life in Spain in as much as they are only open short hours and have a close down i the middle of the day for siestas. I had visions of this process dragging on and on and on.....
Imagine my surprise when Josefina from the embassy called on January 2nd to arrange an interview with the ambassador (he endorses new citizens pending how the interview goers). As I can only speak the bare minimum Spanish (sad I know, and if i have one regret from childhood it is not learning Spanish) I took Mum in with me to be the translator. The interview went really well (mainly in English but also a decent amount of Spanish) and the ambassador signed off on the papers. When leaving his office Josefina told me that considering I don't speak Spanish, the ambassador was nowhere near as hard on me as he usually is with non-Spanish speakers. I think taking Mum with me sealed the deal.
So yesterday arrives and I get a call and my passport is ready for collection!!!!
So as of the 16th January I am officially a dual citizen of Australia and Spain.
The last six months have proved extremely frustrating as i have tried to take out my citizenship with Spain. The initial problems were with the Spanish embassy here in Australia. I actually live in Canberra where most embassies are located so I can only imagine the trouble for those people not in Canberra with ease of access to the embassy.
The issues started in the middle of 2006 when I made many phone calls to try and ascertain whether I qualified for citizenship or not. My mother is a full-blood Spaniard and my reading of the website said I could indeed do this. The fact that I am 28 and mum never 'registered' me as her child with the Spanish authorities became the big issue so Mum ended up applying for a 'Libros de Familia' or family book which was the first step in me becoming Spanish.
The problems continued however and I was soon faced with what appeared to be a no-brainer of a decision. The Spanish authorities require new citizens to sign a form renouncing their current citizenship. so basically I had to choose Spanish or Australian. I don't care what nationality you offer me, I am never giving up my citizenship to the greatest country on the planet.
So progress was halted while i tried to contact the Department of Immigration to find a policy on such forms. In typical government agency style (I should know given the almost 4 year stint in a gov dept which I'm about to finish) I was passed from person to person, area to area, real people to recorded messages and you get the picture. No one wanted to give me a straight answer as to what happens if I sign that form!!!!
I decided to elevate this issue to the top. Rather than continue with the Department of Immigration I decided that I had had enough of their procrastinating and rang the Immigration Minister's office direct. And wouldn't you know it, within 24 hours I had confirmation that my signature on that Spanish form has no legal standing in Australia and I can keep both passports/citizenships. The fact that they also told me that the USA require new citizens to sign a similar form makes me think that there is definitely a policy that is easily accessible within the Department and that I just copped the public service at its absolute worst.
So with all the legal issues sorted I went back to the embassy and filled out the forms just before Xmas. Now mum had warned me that the embassy is much like actual life in Spain in as much as they are only open short hours and have a close down i the middle of the day for siestas. I had visions of this process dragging on and on and on.....
Imagine my surprise when Josefina from the embassy called on January 2nd to arrange an interview with the ambassador (he endorses new citizens pending how the interview goers). As I can only speak the bare minimum Spanish (sad I know, and if i have one regret from childhood it is not learning Spanish) I took Mum in with me to be the translator. The interview went really well (mainly in English but also a decent amount of Spanish) and the ambassador signed off on the papers. When leaving his office Josefina told me that considering I don't speak Spanish, the ambassador was nowhere near as hard on me as he usually is with non-Spanish speakers. I think taking Mum with me sealed the deal.
So yesterday arrives and I get a call and my passport is ready for collection!!!!
So as of the 16th January I am officially a dual citizen of Australia and Spain.
Monday, January 15, 2007
5 Card Draw Sit N Go’s
Well over the weekend I was mucking around on the laptop and thought I’d play some poker. I have been playing pretty much nothing but No Limit Hold Em cash tables and doing fairly well but I thought I’d try something different for a change so I entered a one table Pot Limit 5 Card Draw Sit n Go.
Now I’ve only ever played one or two games of 5 Card Draw as it isn’t exactly the most entertaining of poker games. Anyway, the simplicity of the game, combined with the miniscule buy-in ($1+$0.10) ensured that regardless of my experience, I was a shot at turning a small profit.
The game consists of this: 5 cards to each player, a round of betting, discards (between 0 and 5 new cards to replace those thrown out) and then a final round of betting after which the best 5 card hand wins. Pretty straightforward really and the ease of the game meant I could enter a few of these straight away.
I won’t sit here and bore you with details of hands or anything because 5 Card Draw isn’t really spectator-friendly like Hold Em. The point of this post however is that out of the 6 Sit n Go’s I played I won 5 of them. Not exactly enough cash to be rolling in it but not bad for an afternoon’s poker without having to completely focus on the action.
So now I play Hold Em regularly, Omaha High/Low semi-regularly and 7 Card Stud now and again. Well add 5 Card Draw to the list. Next up is 2-7 Triple Draw!!!
Now I’ve only ever played one or two games of 5 Card Draw as it isn’t exactly the most entertaining of poker games. Anyway, the simplicity of the game, combined with the miniscule buy-in ($1+$0.10) ensured that regardless of my experience, I was a shot at turning a small profit.
The game consists of this: 5 cards to each player, a round of betting, discards (between 0 and 5 new cards to replace those thrown out) and then a final round of betting after which the best 5 card hand wins. Pretty straightforward really and the ease of the game meant I could enter a few of these straight away.
I won’t sit here and bore you with details of hands or anything because 5 Card Draw isn’t really spectator-friendly like Hold Em. The point of this post however is that out of the 6 Sit n Go’s I played I won 5 of them. Not exactly enough cash to be rolling in it but not bad for an afternoon’s poker without having to completely focus on the action.
So now I play Hold Em regularly, Omaha High/Low semi-regularly and 7 Card Stud now and again. Well add 5 Card Draw to the list. Next up is 2-7 Triple Draw!!!
Tumut
After the spider incident Tumut was a super location to kick back and relax. We stayed at Tarz’s Nan’s place (Nan Hef) and it was awesome. Also staying there were Nan, Gail and Dave and Buzzy and Chris (Tarz’s Uncle and Aunty). The two days consisted of great food and refreshing drinks. We basically ate ourselves stupid for two days on super food (Buzzy is a very talented chef), drank beer, wine and Guinness and just enjoyed the time away from city life on the back deck overlooking the wide open expanses of the Tumut region. After two days of luxury it was back in the ute to head home.
Friday, January 12, 2007
The Manifestation of All Things Evil
Due to us being in no mans land with no clue as to where we were going we followed Gail and Dave (Tarz’s mum and partner) to Tumut with Melissa and the boys behind us (Tarz’s sis and kids). Dave was giving it to the Harley Davidson and I did my best to keep up. As we approached Tumut we came through small town called Adelong. Well Adelong could be a metropolis for all I remember because as we started leaving the towns outskirts my worst nightmare became a reality.
We had just hit the 100km speed zone and I was winding the ute up trying to keep pace with the Harley. It was a hot sunny day and as the drive wasn’t too long I had the window half down instead of the sir con on. Out of nowhere Tarz says to me in a very worried sounding voice, “How about you do up your window?” Given the heat and the fact that there was no apparent reason for the window to come up I instantly knew what was happening.
I glanced quickly at my window and saw some monstrous hairy brown legs crawling through. Now in the ute, you sit a little higher than in a car and my face was about 8cm from the huntsmans face with a billion eyes. Anyone who knows me knows full well that I completely lose the plot if even a harmless Daddy Longlegs spider comes near me so this was absolute hell for me.
I don’t really remember much about the next few seconds. I can remember thinking two things and only two things – I had to get out of that ute ASAP and I had to make sure the handbrake was on before I ran. I was absolutely terrified. The huntsman was centimetres from my face and I was almost crying with fear and panic. Tarz was doing the same but it was probably more fear of me crashing the ute as opposed to actual fear of the spider.
Without thinking I ran the ute off the road (luckily there was a side road), reefed up the handbrake and got the hell out of there. Gail and Dave had seen us run off the road in their rear view mirror and swung the Harley around to see what had happened. By the time they arrived, Tarz was yelling at me to find a stick to get the spider with, I was screaming that there were no bloody sticks and I didn’t want to take my eyes off the spider anyway – if I lost sight of it before it died then there was no way I was getting back into that vehicle of arachnoid pleasures.
Gail calmly walked over, asked what had happened, removed her helmet, caught the spider in it and then stomped it dead. It almost looked too simple. Some 20 mins later when talking about the incident with Tarz I found myself covered in goosebumps and a cold sweat. Even thinking about it now makes me shudder.
We had just hit the 100km speed zone and I was winding the ute up trying to keep pace with the Harley. It was a hot sunny day and as the drive wasn’t too long I had the window half down instead of the sir con on. Out of nowhere Tarz says to me in a very worried sounding voice, “How about you do up your window?” Given the heat and the fact that there was no apparent reason for the window to come up I instantly knew what was happening.
I glanced quickly at my window and saw some monstrous hairy brown legs crawling through. Now in the ute, you sit a little higher than in a car and my face was about 8cm from the huntsmans face with a billion eyes. Anyone who knows me knows full well that I completely lose the plot if even a harmless Daddy Longlegs spider comes near me so this was absolute hell for me.
I don’t really remember much about the next few seconds. I can remember thinking two things and only two things – I had to get out of that ute ASAP and I had to make sure the handbrake was on before I ran. I was absolutely terrified. The huntsman was centimetres from my face and I was almost crying with fear and panic. Tarz was doing the same but it was probably more fear of me crashing the ute as opposed to actual fear of the spider.
Without thinking I ran the ute off the road (luckily there was a side road), reefed up the handbrake and got the hell out of there. Gail and Dave had seen us run off the road in their rear view mirror and swung the Harley around to see what had happened. By the time they arrived, Tarz was yelling at me to find a stick to get the spider with, I was screaming that there were no bloody sticks and I didn’t want to take my eyes off the spider anyway – if I lost sight of it before it died then there was no way I was getting back into that vehicle of arachnoid pleasures.
Gail calmly walked over, asked what had happened, removed her helmet, caught the spider in it and then stomped it dead. It almost looked too simple. Some 20 mins later when talking about the incident with Tarz I found myself covered in goosebumps and a cold sweat. Even thinking about it now makes me shudder.
Junee to Tumut (The Brungle Road)
We left Junee on the morning of the 27th of December but not before Tarz dropped a mug of coffee fresh from the kettle over my thighs thinking I had a hold of it when I actually didn’t. Not to worry – pain is just weakness leaving your body so I had to embrace it!!!
About halfway along the main road between Junee and Tumut, a few local trucks had formed a road block. I slowed down to ask what the deal was. This typical country bumpkin truck driver type waddled up to the side of the ute. Apparently we couldn’t go any further on the main road due to a truck losing its trailer up ahead and the roads being blocked by said trailer. The rest of the conversation went pretty much like this:
Me: Do you know an alternate route to Tumut?
Truckie: Do you know the Brungle Road?
Me: Nah mate – I’m from Canberra and have no idea.
Truckie: Well you SHOULD know the Brungle Road!
Me: Ill just ask the other people in our convoy thanks mate.
About halfway along the main road between Junee and Tumut, a few local trucks had formed a road block. I slowed down to ask what the deal was. This typical country bumpkin truck driver type waddled up to the side of the ute. Apparently we couldn’t go any further on the main road due to a truck losing its trailer up ahead and the roads being blocked by said trailer. The rest of the conversation went pretty much like this:
Me: Do you know an alternate route to Tumut?
Truckie: Do you know the Brungle Road?
Me: Nah mate – I’m from Canberra and have no idea.
Truckie: Well you SHOULD know the Brungle Road!
Me: Ill just ask the other people in our convoy thanks mate.
Junee
After a huge Xmas feast at my sister’s place, Boxing Day signalled the start of our 3 day road trip to Junee and Tumut to see Tarz’s relos. We arrived in Junee and did the whole relo thing in a nice country setting. Pretty quiet afternoon and evening with nothing to report on except for the fact that Tarz’s uncle Russell owns a huge horse-like dog called Pedro. Pedro is a cross Great Dane/St Bernard and given those bloodlines, it is no surprise that the hound weighed in at almost double my modest 85kgs. Well, he only weighed about 120kgs but you get the idea – the dog was enormous!!! Pedro had a few other animals as pals and the neighbour’s dog apparently spends so much time at Russell’s house that it has earned itself the nickname ‘Intruder’. It was quite funny to watch him blatantly ignore his real name and only answer to ‘Intruder!!!’
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The Famous PMAC Returns!!!
Well I guess it can be safe to assume that 2006 wasn’t exactly the year that I embraced blogging as a pastime!!! As I look over the only real post on this blog I have this strange sense of déjà vu. It was about this time last year when I decided to actively keep a blog. Now, 12 months later, I’m preparing to play in the 2007 version of the Australia Day Poker Championships!!! I’d like to think that I was simply much too busy to get to my blog but I think the word I should really be using is lazy.
Anyway, 2007 promises much more than 2006 did and, as such, the 22nd Precinct will be updated regularly even if I’m finding I have nothing to write.
So I’ll start off 2007 with a little story from my Christmas holidays. Please note that the next few posts are 100% true and nothing (and I mean nothing) has been exaggerated.
Anyway, 2007 promises much more than 2006 did and, as such, the 22nd Precinct will be updated regularly even if I’m finding I have nothing to write.
So I’ll start off 2007 with a little story from my Christmas holidays. Please note that the next few posts are 100% true and nothing (and I mean nothing) has been exaggerated.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)