thehutcho.com

Chicago is my kind of town

2006-05-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Mardi was in Chicago for work so we decided I would come down for the a long weekend too. Saturday we went shopping along Michigan Avenue. In the evening Mardi's cousin Noelle joined us for a few drinks and Jazz at Al Capone's last club The Green Mill.

On Sunday we hung out at the Millennium Park and Shed Aquarium which was fun. We were lucky to have awesome sunny weather the whole time we were there.

Monday and Tuesday Mardi attended her conference so I wandered the Chicago Art Institute and Contemporary Museums.

2006-05-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

My good mate Jaclyn (right) visited for the weekend on her way to Ireland for the Summer. We met on my season at Big White.

Anna (left) is Jaclyn's friend from school. She's is on a six month sabbatical in Tacoma, WA. They only by chance discovered they would be in the same city at the same time.

It was great to catch up after three years. After few drinks at our Loft in Belltown including my dismal attempt to make Margaritas we headed out in Belltown. We wound up at the Crocodile in a one sided screaming match with a band from Wakefield, England. They won cause they were up on stage with microphones and big speakers. We ended the evening with hotdogs from my favourite hotdog stand on 1st Ave.

Weekend in Santa Monica, CA

2006-03-27T19:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time between drinks. I haven't blogged since Mardi and I posted our Christmas video card.

Turns out I really only like to take pictures. And when I have new pictures I put a link on my blog. I haven't taken any photos for a long time so this would explain my blogging absence.

Mardi and I flew down to Santa Monica, California for a nice long weekend. It's Dee Dee's birthday trip. Marie, Dee Dee, Babs, Mardi and I all stayed at Santa Monica beach and went shopping in Santa Monica and Hollywood. We spotted Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver at the cafe at Barney's. I think I accidentally interrupted Maria's shoe shopping later on by sitting right where she was trying on shoes. Mardi called me over to her to get me out the way. It's tiring waiting while the girls shoe shopped.

Sorry I didn't get any photos of everyone. I only managed to get the camera out on the last day.

Happy Holidays

2005-12-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

View this clip on Vimeo

Weekend at the Races

2005-10-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

We didn't pick a winner but had bonza time in Lexington, Kentucky at the races. We sincerely thank Jimmy and the Dawahare's for their Southern hospitality.
View this clip on Vimeo

Big Grandma

2005-10-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend in Vancouver celebrating Grandma's 85th birthday. A technology storm arrived at her home on Saturday afternoon bringing 3 laptops, 1 projector and 1 scanner. Belinda and I spent the afternoon scanning old photos and having Grandma narrate them. Here's the first in a series of movies that will be a living history of Big Grandma. The software we used is Windows Movie Maker which is included in WindowsXP View this clip on Vimeo

Happy Birthday Marie

2005-06-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

Marvelous Marie
Originally uploaded by hutcho.

All of Marie's friends came over to our loft to help celebrate her 40th birthday.

Mardi went crazy organising the party. I think she was treating it as a dry run for the wedding.

100 Cupcake Royal cupcakes plus heaps of Salumi cured meats plus cathlene catering plus a $50 block of cheese with copious amounts of alchohol equals lots of sore heads.

Erik's Birthday... Again

2005-06-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by hutcho.

Erik keeps dreaming up new ways of extending his birthday.

So, if the long weekend in Vancouver wasn't enough we had a dinner party at HhLoDesign studio (Henry's place). Shannon cheffed up a storm as a gift to his partner (Oh, Business Partner) and friend, Erik.

We were treated to six courses of inspired food including foiegras and kobe beef flown in especially.

The house where I grew up

2005-06-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

Our Home
Originally uploaded by Bill Hutchings.

This is where I grew up. Bond Street Brandon Queensland Australia.

May babies

2005-05-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

Birthday boys
Originally uploaded by hutcho.

The whole Belltown gang went up to Vancouver BC for the memorial day long weekend to celebrate all the may birthdays (Erik, Erica, Tom and Marie). We drove up on Friday night late to avoid all the chaos of the Canadian border. Long weekends are crazy for getting out of the city.

Saturday Mardi, Tiny and I walking around Vancouver soaking up the beautiful sunshine. Tiny loved the off leash park near the river.

Saturday night was the official birthday party at a restaurant in Yaletown called Glowbal. The night continued at a cool night club on Granville St and maybe an Irish club somewhere I can't remember. Then finally at the very cool club at the Opus hotel where Erik pounded (polished off) a bottle of champange. Classy.

On the way home Mardi and I popped in to see the Lewingtons (Heather's parents) Harold and Cathy.

All in all a frickn' great weekend.

Paul's BTL Art Opening

2005-05-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by hutcho.

Every month or so Belltown Lofts have an art show opening party in the foyer. This time it was Paul's turn to show off his talent with his black and while photographs. Paul is a friend of Grace who along with Justin do all the leg work for these cool events. I got the prestigious job of bar tender.

Kentucky Derby at Emerald Downs

2005-05-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

"YourGoldGirl" came in first
Originally uploaded by hutcho.

A few of the Belltown Lofts gang went to the race track in Seattle to put some money on the Derby. They simicast the big race on all the TV screens. Eric put $5 on the winner at 50/1, the second longest long shot ever to win the Kentucy Derby. Lucky bugger! I managed to win $14 for the place on "YourGoldGirl" in a local race who was trailing by more 5 lengths and come up to win.

2nd Anual ANZAC Day Cricket Match

2005-05-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

Mardi on the right team
Originally uploaded by hutcho.

This is the second time Mardi and I have organised a back yard cricket match here in Seattle. All of our friends we treated to an awesome day of sunshine and cricket. Plenty of Aussies came along to help teach the locals how to play.

We played in the park next to Nancy and Mary Ellen's house. Thanks again Moms.

After a spot of BBQ lunch on the deck we were underway. I played on Erik's team who by the way won the match. I'm still sore from the desperate dive to avoid a run out. To speed the game up we played hit and run.

A big "Good on ya, mate" goes to Erik who looked the part donning his whites and playing very well, for a yank that is. If there was a huge cheque for man of the match he would have got it. But there wasn't.

Happy Birthday Nancy

2005-04-10T21:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a perfect day for a BBQ and spectator sport, sunny and warm. The family all went to Safeco Field to watch the Seattle Mariners play the Texas Rangers for my mother in law Nancy's birthday. We cooked up sausages on the BBQ before hand up on our roof top deck. Then it was leisurely walk to the tram station to ride to the stadium. It was a very close game in the end with the Mariners loosing by two in a rain soaked finish. I've never seen the stadium with the roof closed let alone it close on us during the game.

I'm alive, really.

2005-04-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

I'm just hoping you'll forget that I haven't been updating the blog and we'll pick up where we left off.

Lucky Poodle Casino

2004-11-26T21:30:00.000-08:00

Lucky Poodle Casino
Originally uploaded by Brian.
More photos here [Brian | Me]

After everyone was finished eating our place transformed in the Lucky Poodle Casino.

Henry had all the orphans for thanksgiving down at his apartment. So he and all his guest came up to join the party and gamble. We had two blackjack tables, a poker table and a roulette wheel. Everyone took their bag of chips on entry to the Pink Poodle.

Mardi had bought all the necessary gear an automatic card shuffler, 4 decks of cards for each blackjack table, blackjack shoes, discard card holders and bonefide felt for the tables.

Near the end of the night we auctioned off prizes where everyone bid with their winings.

Thanksgiving Before Shot

2004-11-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

Before
Originally uploaded by hutcho.

Thanksgiving was a real blast. Mardi and I hosted our family friends this year.

I had never cooked turkey before and thursday would be my second thanksgiving ever. My good mate Henry gave me a recipie and we worked together to prepare a bloody great turkey. The bucket is to soak the turkey overnight in brine which is chicken stock, candied ginger, all spice berries and lots of salt. I was really pleased with the result an awesomely moist roast turkey.

Halloween Party

2004-10-31T15:57:00.000-08:00

Henry (Odd Job), Me (Alex) and Arron (Ali G)
Originally uploaded by hutcho.

Mardi and I hosted a Holloween Party on Saturnday night. Mardi called it our Haunted House Warming. It was great to entertain in our new loft downtown. Plenty of room with the wide open space. At the highest point we had over 70 people. Plenty of places to hang out. I even had gas patio heaters up on the deck. It turned out to be a beautiful night with no rain in sight and a lovely 5 degrees (~40). Check out Some more halloween photos here.

iPod people

2004-10-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

iPod people
Originally uploaded by hutcho.

Mardi, Aarron, Henry, Tom and I all went as iPod people to Neighbour Chris's Halloween party on Friday night. Not many people at the party got it. It was Mardi's brilliant idea. Especially the coloured backgrounds. If you haven't seen the iPod ads then you won't get it.

John Kerry Pumpkin

2004-10-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

John Kerry Pumpkin
Originally uploaded by hutcho.

Mardi's family and some friends came over our place to carve pumpkins. I've never done this before you see. It was totaly fun. We had these special pumpkin carving kits that have the patterns and tiny saws to carve with. Even safe for kids to use as the saws aren't sharp. The patterns range from easy to bloody elaberate. See the photos for the finished products.

Business End of a Saturn V Rocket

2004-10-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

Mardi was flying down to Orlando Florida for an IT conference so I decided take a few days off and tag along. It took all day saturday to get down there so I didn't have much time to sight see.

Mardi went with me to see the NASA visitor centre at Cape Canaveral on Sunday. So cool. That's me standing underneather the first stage of the Saturn V rocket which one like it would have been used to throw an apollo space craft to escape velocity.

1 mile was as close as we got to any of the launch pads. We were driven down the road which is right next to the crawler way. You know that f--k off huge bulldozer thingy that transports the shuttle (upright) from the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) to the LP. (Do I have to spell that one out) I love how everything is an acronym.

We even got to see inside the Space Shuttle or Orbiter. Check it out all my Canadian mates, I didn't know Canada made the cargo bay arm. Well Done!

Brisbane's run ends

2004-09-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

Four in a row wasn't to be. Port Adelaide Power beat Brisbane Lions last night in the AFL Grand Final at the Kangaroo and Kiwi pub in Greenlake. It was a great night. All the Aussies around seattle come out of the wood work. Lots of locals turned aswell.

I invited american workmates to come along. Luke was up for his first grand final party. James and I recruited him to barrack for the Lions.


Doesn't Mardi look great in her Lions T-shirt.	Jono, Scarlette and Tom cheering for Port Power.

Henry, Jen and Davo enjoying Coopers beer and Aussie meat pies.	Go Lions! Luke, James and I all cheering for Brissie.

8 Clap, 8 Clap

2004-09-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

A bunch of Henry's friends flew up from LA for the UW Huskies UCLA Bruins game. We started the afternoon at our place in Belltown with brunch and bloody marys.

To avoid traffic we caught a ferry from Ballard across lake union to the stadium. The ferry dropped us off amongst these huge yaughts and cruisers moored infront of the stadium. This party on the stern of the huge boat were offering vodka shots to passers by.

Our seats were in the visitors stands. With this comes sitting amongst the enemy and listening to them cheering. One very popular cheer with the Bruin fans is the 8 clap. Its just that 8 claps followed by spelling out U-C-L-A with more clapping. It didn't take Mardi long to figure out that Henry's initials H-H-L-O fit the song too.

I thought the cheer leaders lead the cheers. But I was wrong this time. A middle aged guy we called "polyester Man" whipped the visitor crowd into a frenzy in his all yellow getup and prompt cards.


A view of the city from the ferry on lake union.	The Seattle and LA gang.

UCLA score a touch down.	polyester man.

Henry loudly confident.

Visit from Trevor

2004-09-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

Trevor was in town for Business from Melbourne and hung out with us on the weekend. We caught up for drinks at Fado on Saturday night. It was great to catch up with you, Trev. Next time your over here I'll have a better touristy thing to do instead of the Puallip Fair.

Loft Painting Weekend

2004-08-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

We're just about ready to move into our belltown loft. We spent the whole weekend painting it with help from two Millionaire Club guys and Hank. We plan to move in next week.


View of the kitchen below and the main bedroom above. You can see the red stairs leading up to the roof top deck. We were only going to take Henry's advice to paint under the stairs red if he did it.	View of the stairs up to the loft level and front door below and the second bedroom above.

Henry got his head stuck in the railing putting on masking tape.	This is Hector one of the Millionaire Club guys. He was the most experienced painters on the job. Just he could talk the leg off an iron stove (in broken english). Nearly drove us crazy.

We're moving

2004-08-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry for being off the air so long. We have been packing every weekend for our move. Yes Mardi, I didn't realise how much junk, ah stuff you have tucked away in little nooks and crannies.

After the commercial space in the vine building fell through we had practically given up on moving downtown and were warming to the idea of staying put in Fig Leaf. We found out the loft next to Grace had just become vacant. We jumped at the chance to rent it...so now we have a great opportunity to live downtown while we don't have kids and then maybe build out in Issaquah in a couple years.

The place is a double wide loft ~1500 f/sq in the Belltown Lofts building. It has a ~500 f/sq root top deck also which looks out to the city and to Mt Rainier. We can see the water if we sneak onto Grace's deck. ;)

I went to the Seahawks Broncos preseason game on Saturday night with TonyG. Seriously, every time I go out him I get way to drunk. What great seats. I was right on the 50 yard line only a few rows back from the guard rail. Thanks Tony for the first fix of football for the season.

After the football I walked down to belltown from the pub. Grace was hosting a party for our Brian. Happy Birthday Mate!

Weekend at Open Sores

2004-08-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

Mardi and I had the perfect weekend at Ocean Shores with Shace and Bribeca.

On the way there on Friday afternoon we stopped in Aberdeen the town where Mardi grew up. We drove by her house up on "Think of Me Hill" and her school.

It was a fantastic opportunity to relax, read magazines, talk shit, play board games and drink among great friends. The conversations would invariable veer towards technology and design. I really have hit the ground running with friends here in the USA. I'm so lucky to have met you guys otherwise I would never have met "The love of my life...". Some know the end of that Dion-ism. Thanks Grace, I have already started using my 1980's blog Mark gave me.

Lizzy our Nissan Z really enjoyed the weekend too. Driving on the tree lined windy roads was so much fun. Except when there were cars in the way especially Yamaha motorcycles :)


Mardi writhing in the sand	It's harder than it looks. Mardi trying to climb up to the little cave carved into the sand cliff.

Bri becca	Dion, Shy and Brian

Hot in Seattle

2004-07-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Mardi and I wanted to get some exercise in on Saturday morning before it got too hot. On the way to Green Lake the temperature gauge in Liz-zee (our new 350Z) read 80 something degrees at 8.30 in the morning. The mercury topped out at 100 degrees around 2pm. All we could do was to lie low in the basement where it's cooler.

That evening we met up with the Sultan Gang and some of the Belltown gang to see "The Muppet Movie" at the Fremont outdoor theatre. I had forgotten how funny the muppets were. Thankfully it started to cool down around 9pm.

A new addition to the family

2004-07-21T01:03:00.000-07:00

I finally got rid of the gold buick and bought a Nissan 350Z Coupe Touring over the weekend. I would have blogged about it earlier but we've been driving it non stop.

It's a two seater so when I told Mum she asked where the baby seat will go. Nancy, Mardi's mum asked where the dog will sit.

Weekend of firsts in Chelan

2004-07-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

Mardi's first Triathlon and my first time to Chelan.

Mardi and Dee Dee crossing the finish line. Months of training making it all worth while. Dee Dee and Mardi started and finished together.


Henry, Kelly, Mardi and I had this cool holiday apartment with a huge deck right on the water. After the race the whole gang hung out sipping corona and margaritas with our hotdogs and blue cheese burgers.	Mardi, Jennifer and Dee Dee in the transition area before the race.

Mardi and Dee Dee starting the cycle leg.	Starting the run. This photo was taken just before Mardi stopped to give this photographer a huge kiss.

Kelly crossing the finish line.	Emma

Hank	Nadja

Belinda broke her arm just weeks before. Despite this she still raced. Dean entered at the last minute as Belinda's training partner didn't go through with it. He even let her cross the finish line first. What a top Bloke. What a bloody amazing effort Belinda.

4 July Road Trip

2004-07-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

With a new top on Sal (our 68 mustang) and long weekend ahead of us, we decided to take a roadtrip around the North Cascade mountain range. No particular destination in mind, just on an adventure looking for cheesy roadside attractions.


first stop on the roadside attractions tour: stonehenge. It is a WW1 memorial to 14 solider from Klickitas county	second stop: Lyle (guess who recommended this stop)

Lyle Hotel in Lyle, Washington - Dad is still trying to convince us the town is named after him	Mt. St. Helens from the South

The "meatball" in the Ape Caves	on the road to Mt. St. Helens

the North side of Mt. St. Helens	backyard of our cabin at Eco-Park Resort where we saw 20 elk crossing the road. We want to bring the Aussies here next year

our new friends in Toutle - Mike, Martha, "Martie" & Pat. Pat was camping on Mt. St. Helens when it blew in 1980	Where Dion was introduced to a "real" American 4th of July. Beer & fireworks galore!

Dion driving Sally home

Happy Retirement Mary Ellen!

2004-07-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Mary Ellen's retirement at Marrakesh, a Morrocan restaurant in Seattle. We sat on the floor, ate with our hands and were entertained by a belly dancer. Rumor is that Mary Ellen is taking up belly dancing between gardening and enjoying retirement.

Engagement Party

2004-06-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the Siglers for throwing us a swanky engagement party. It was great to see friends that I hadn't seen for years and for them to meet Dion. The theme was romance and their house was decorated beautifully with rose petals and the "Romance Tent". Unfortunately, Dion lost 2 million dollars in a pool game at the end of the evening. Thanks to all of our friends and family who celebrated with us.

Jon and Kathryn demoing the "Romance Tent"

Finger Splitin' Good

2004-06-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

In the last game of the softball season I injured myself. In around the 3rd innings a ball was driven straight towards me on 3rd base. I remember the ball bouncing once before it jumped away from my left hand which had a huge piece of leather covering it to my left hand. It slammed into the tips of my middle fingers and then wedged them apart until the webbing burst open. I didn't know what happened at first. I thought my fingers were smashed and the bone had compounded outside my skin as there was a tremendous amount of blood running out on the in field.

11 stitches later and a couple of weeks I'll be good as new. My doctor regretted to inform me that I'll never hand model again.

To beer and back

2004-06-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

Mardi, Hank and I rode our bikes along the Burke Gilman Trail. We started at Matthew's Beach and ended up at the Red Hook brewery in Woodinville. After an hours riding or 13 miles we stopped for lunch at the Red Hook beer garden. Mardi had cacluated we burned enough calories to justfiy a big hamburger. I don't remember how the case for thick shakes was put to the group but they were good. Sorry Hank you made the cutting room floor. You took the better photo.

We've set a date!

2004-06-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

August 7, 2005 is the date we have set for our wedding on the love boat bound for Alaska . We're hoping that our family and friends will join us on the 7-day Inside Passage Cruise sailing roundtrip from Seattle via the Inside Passage to Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria and glacier-viewing in Tracy Arm. More details coming soon!

Congrats on your engagement Bribecca

2004-06-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

Our really good mates Brian and Rebecca aka "Bribecca" anounced their engagement last night. Good luck you kids. Lots of love from Mion.

Happy Birthday Davo

2004-06-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

The boys from work and I all went for Dinner to celebrate Dave's birthday. Luckily there were no vegetarians among us as I suggested The Buenos Aires Grill. Perfect for a boys night out.

We couldn't get a table until 9pm so we had a few beers before hand at Brian's bar. As far as I know it doesn't really have a name dispite the small neon sign outside which says "The Whiskey Bar" from the previous owner.

I ordered the "Parrilla" for the table which is all you can eat meat served on small grills with their own supply of coals loaded with BBQ meat and sausages.


Rune is one of our cool Norwegians on the program and the birthday boy.	Filip another Norgie and Kevin tucking into the feast.

It's just not Cricket

2004-06-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday afternoon during the spring I play Softball. This is the second season I've played mixed Boeing league for my team "The Frozen Ropes".

Me hitting the ball. It appears that I really got hold of that one. What you can't see is the ball is high above my head.

The bathroom is almost done.

2004-06-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our mate Dean who came over on Saturday night the bathroom project is almost complete. Dean wired up all the light fittings, power outlets, switches and bored holes in the tile next to the tub for the taps. You rock Dean! All that's left to do is the plumbing for the tub. We are definitely having a party when its complete.

Belinda and little Grace Anne visited with Dean. Mardi and her niece Grace Anne decided to have a little play date. The projects included making iron on transfer t-shirts, paper cut outs and a sarong made out of pink ribbon and white dish cloths. Ah good times. Not content with the huge mess downstairs they proceeded to play dress ups with Snoopy and his girl friend (Belle?). The hundreds of little doll out fits are still on the floor as your read this. I think little Grace had a great sleep over with Aunty Mardi and Uncle Dion.

And in the morning we had waffles! Hello Kitty Waffles.

Welcome to the World Lucy

2004-06-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

Our very good friends Lee and Amy had a lovely baby girl yesterday. Happy Birthday Lucy.

Skip Jacks Italian Style

2004-06-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

Its our 10 month anniversary. We celebrated in the traditional way by having dinner at a "Skip Jacks" restaurant. This month was "The Olive Garden". Probably the most expensive chain restaurant there is. The food was pretty average.

Happy Birthday Marie and Rebecca

2004-05-31T19:01:00.000-07:00

The whole gang went down to Portland, Oregon for the long weekend to celebrate Marie and Rebecca's birthday.

Friday afternoon Mardi and I drove down to Portland stopping into Vancouver to visit Mardi's cousins Jason, Maggie, Jennifer, Jeff and Little Maggie. Thanks guys. Great to finally meet you.

A benefit of visiting Portland is there is no sales tax. So spending most of the weekend shopping downtown was easily justified. It's surprisingly fun to watch Marie and Mardi shop. Saturday night we had drinks at a bar called 750ml and dinner at a really cool restaurant called Blue Hour. Thanks Hank for the great choice of restaurant. The rest of the evening we spent at Aura a night club near that huge book store. The barman there really liked me. These sort of things always happen to me. I was buying a round of drinks which came to around $35. I handed him what I thought was two $20 notes but I in fact handed him a $100 and a $20 and promptly told him, keep the change. When last call came around I went to get that last beer and the barman told me it was on him. I remember bragging to Henry the barman game a free drink. From now on I am going to get the change back and then tip. I blame the bloody "same size, same colour" currency. That's right I spelt colour with a "u".

Sunday morning Mardi and I looked after Shy's two girls Tom and Danni while he and Grace were pampered at the day spa. The girls help me shop for jeans and t-shirts at Diesel. That afternoon some of the more crazy members of the gang jumped out of a perfectly functioning airplane for shits ang giggles. I have no desire to skydive.

Sunday night we spent the night at Mardis' grandma's place in Vancouver. Very funny watching old videos of Mardi as a little kid. As soon as we arrived at my parents place in Australia out came the naked baby photos.


The Birthday Girls. Happy Birthday lots of love Mardi and Dion aka Mion.	Dee Dee and Babs having a fab time.

Tom and Grace gettin' funky.	My lovely fiance and I.

Tom and Danni out shopping with Mardi and I.

Boeing vs Alenia: 1 All

2004-05-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

Lee coming off the field after a fast paced first half with the score still nil all.

The Boeing soccer team played a friendly match against an Italian supplier Alenia at Seahawks stadium. A great game with loads of exciting shots on goal. It even looked and sounded like a bonafide international match with the visitors yelling out in Italian and taking a few dives for penalties. A group of us from work went to watch our work mates Lee and Hafiz play. Awesome game guys. Lee, we're pretty disappointed you didn't get a yellow card this year.

Happy Birthday, Tom

2004-05-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

Bad weather spoiled our plans to celebrate Tom's birthday on a yacht. "Plan B" was to see a movie at the Seattle Film Festival. Hopefully Tom will leave a comment on the film because I didn't end up going to the movies.

Lee, Henry, Scott and I decided to play tournament Texas Hold'em poker instead of the movies. We all put in $20 and split all the chips. I lost all my chips in the first round after Scott called my all-in Bluff. The second round finished head to head with Henry and I. My last hand was a Ace King and with all the common cards I had a pair of aces. That's my first poker game I have walked away ahead.

We all joined Tom for dinner at the Pink Door near the Markets. I still don't think that door is pink. Somehow my argument didn't get much support being colour blind. Happy birthday mate. Hope you had a great day.

Children's Art Show

2004-05-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

Grace often hangs art in the foyer space of her building in Belltown and puts on fab opening parties. Last night was art painted by primary school kids. Mardi and I arrived late so we didn't get to buy any paintings. The prices started at $25 or more depending if you wanted to donate over and above the price. I really liked this cool painting of the Texas flag which I think was painted by a fourth grader. I suppose it's fair enough that parents got first dibs.

Mardi, Tom, Danny, Grace and Amy in front of the childrens art which will remain hung in the building entrance for a month for residents and visitors to enjoy.

Wedgetail First Flight

2004-05-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

Whoo Hoo, it flies. This marks the completion of the aircraft mods for the first RAAF AEW&C 737. Special guests from US and Oz as well as Wedgetail program employees were invited to witness the first (official) take-off. A small group of us decided to get a better vantage point. We all went inside the office of a helicopter school and asked them if they would let us watch from their ramp on the other side from the Boeing hanger. They offered an even better deal. A roof top deck. Photographs courtesy of David Rule.

737 AEW&C "Wedgetail" paraded in front of dignitaries, invited guests and program employees.

Taxiing to the piano keys.

The chase plane was in the air before the 737 and buzzed the take off of the 737 to observe the take off and no doubt take photographs.

Dion's wrist has signed in

2004-05-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

I have a SPOT watch. It's very, very cool. I can receive data via FM like MSN Messenger messages, my outlook calendar, news, sport, weather and more. Mark's company developed it with Microsoft and MSN Direct. Thanks a heap Mark. Hopefully I can configure my wrist's MSN account properly so me crew can send me messages while I'm riding my bike. Oh yeah and it tells the time aswell ever aware of the correct time from an atomic clock.

Gas Works Park

2004-05-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

We didn't end up going for our regular Saturday morning ride because of rain. Seeing the sun come out Sunday afternoon was enough to motivate us to go for a ride along the Burt Killman Trail. We stopped for a rest at Gas Works Park which is a park right on the water where an old oil refinery used to be. I'm guessing we are talking about petrolium instead of natural gas.


"I think it was some sort of gas refinery." - Mardi	9 miles from home at Gas Works Park on a nice spring sunday afternoon.

Hank and Tom came over to Maple Leaf for dinner. We were pretty tired after our 12 mile ride we were asleep when they arrived. Luckily I started my curied chicken and papadums before I lay down to watch telly. Mardi loves papadums, she takes them to work burning them in the microwave and stinking out the whole floor.

Mean Girls

2004-05-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

I was surprised by the movie Mean Girls I saw last night. And I'm not going to lie to you the leading girl Lyndsay Logan is hot! Mardi and Marie dragged me to see it. I feel obligated to say this to cover myself from any future abuse from my mates. Its a very, very funny movie. Everyone can relate to cliques at high school. Too funny in parts. A couple of very funny scenes were directly followed by a dialog which was drowned out by laughter.

Happy Mom and Mums Day

2004-05-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

I called my Mum in Oz at Midnight saturday night. I forgot to do it earlier, but I didn't forget my Mum. Happy Mothers day Mum.

Sunday we spent Mothers Day with Mardi's Mum, sorry Mom, Nancy and Marry Ellen, Belinda, Dean and Grace Anne. We all went for a bike ride along the bike path which goes to Steven's Lake near Snowhomish. A lovely picnic lunch in the shade afterwards topped off the afternoon.


Nancy, Me, Mardi, Mary-Ellen, Grace and Belinda	Grace and Nancy feeding the horses

Card night

2004-05-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome time over Jon and Kathryn's place on the east side in Madina Friday night. We started out playing cards with a few drinks. I had played Eucha before and it was Mardi's first time. Despite this Mardi is no fool and teamed up with the Eucha grand master, Jon. However Kathryn and I were ever confident we were going to prevail.

"I'm at my best when I'm at my worst" - Kathryn, 2004

After Kathryn and I got slaughtered in cards we decided to switch to 8 ball to even the score. This is where the evening went wild dancing to 80s music and downing vodka and cranberry. It came down to the last game. Yes, Kathryn and I are the pool champions.

"90% percent of the game is half mental" - Some football coach (please comment if you know)

Finally we all got to bed at around 4am. The breakfast at the Pancake House made up for the fact I didn't have any Berroca. Thanks Jon and Kathryn.

Cruise Ship Tour

2004-05-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

Mardi arranged through our friendly cruise travel agent Dean a tour of the cruise ship Oosterdam. The boat, ah sorry ship is only a year old but it looks like the interior was salvaged from the love boat from the 70s. I think Trump was the decorator. The rooms are much better than we expected and lots with verandas. I think our wedding/honeymoon will be pretty cool with our family and friends as long as I'm not harrased by impatient little old people. Its a long story.

Mustang Sally

2004-05-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

Another saturday morning triathalon training session. Mardi, Jen, Henry and I decided to ride our bikes out to Elliot Bay Marina and back. A little lunch at Maggie Bluffs balanced out the workout.

Saturday afternoon Mardi and I drove "Sally" out to Fish Lake to join the Sultan Crew Belinda, Dean, Grace Ann, Ashlie and Janelle camping. What a great drive in the convertable down the other side of Steven's Pass.

Sunday night I went with Grace, Marie and Mark to Frank's cool deck party downtown. We had to cut the camping trip short as Mardi had to leave for San Francisco by 6pm. I haven't been back to Frank's for a while. Frank's New Years Eve party was where I proposed to my lovely Mardi. The band at the party played out on the deck during the sunset. I really want to live downtown again.

We have Bikes

2004-04-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Mardi and I have Bikes! Mardi is set for her triathalon and we both can ride togther for exercise. We went to Recycle Cycle just looking and came away with a bike each. We got a brand new Giant Cypress touring bike for Mardi and a relatively new Specialised Comp mountain bike for me. My lovely fiance is awesome and getting shit done and finding awesome deals. Love you babe.

Anzac Day Cricket Match and BBQ

2004-04-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

Mardi's parents place is right next door to a park. Perfect for a casual game of Cricket. Aussies, Kiwis, Indians and Americans playing a great game in the best afternoon we've had this spring. Mardi and Henry as captains started out picking the teams. We ended up with ten players each enough for a two batsman game. Henry won the toss and elected to bat. They made a couragous 44 runs on a pitch which was tough to read to say the least. The crappy rubber ball we used wasn't easy to hit on the clumpy grass. My team were in second with a reasonable total to chase. We came away with the victory. I'm not bitter at all after mardi got me run out in our breif partner ship. I didn't have a too bad of a knock with 10 runs.


Mardi batting.	Raju holding the buggered ball. No ball tampering here. Just Henry's pace bowling.

Their First Triathalon

2004-04-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

Mardi and some friends are in training for "The my first triathalon" on 10 July. As my knee is still playing up I opted out of running around greenlake and rode Henry's bike around instead. I think I want to buy a bike now.

That evening was a dinner party at Henry's. Mardi and I along with Grace, Tom, Alex and Tonya had an awesome meal. Thanks Hank!

Free iTunes songs

2004-04-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

I recieved an email today from apple. It basically said hurry up and redeem your free iTunes songs they expire soon. Thanks to Pepsi I ended up with 11 songs. I didn't hear about the looking up throught the full bottle to see under the cap in the shop trick untill all the iTunes Pepsi ran out. Thanks anyway Henry. I bought the three best cake songs and a Miguel Migs album Colourful You. Bloody cool that.

Is there a 14th Inning Stretch?

2004-04-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

The Mariners win a game after 14 innings! Thanks Marie for a fantastic time at the game. Marie, one of Mardi's best friends and manager orgainised a party for her team at Safeco Field in a private suite. Sweet! Invariably when I go to a baseball game someone brings up Cricket. It's not me I swear. Once and for all, Yes, baseball is more boring. Of course you can't hit the ball consistently with a cylinder for bat. I love the game all the same.

Whistler Rocks!

2004-04-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Henry, Aaron and I drove up to Whislter Saturday morning early. 5am early. We went up there to catch up with Henry's mate from University, Micky who had just flown in from NYC. We stayed with Boon, Micky's cousin, in his fathers log cabin. Bloody nice! The skiing was pretty good Saturday, spring conditions.

Saturday night was the 2nd last NHL game between Vancouver and Calgary. I had forgotten how exciting and bloody violent hockey is. Cool. Vancouver won by 1 in the 3rd overtime period. Oh yeah I learned that the machine that cleans the surface of the ice isn't a Calzone.

Sunday sucked in so many ways. The slush from Saturday froze, I had a huge hang over and I was spewing in the trees. I slid down the mountain and thanked god that I didn't get the urge to chuck while I was downloading on the gondola. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the beer garden of the Long Horn drinking water and running downstairs to that bloody toilet. I remember the looks from the girls running the desk of the tour operators as I'm running in my ski boots down the stairs.

Weekend at Nancy and Mary Ellen's Cabin

2004-04-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Fantastic weekend spring skiing at Steven's Pass. Thanks Nancy and Mary-ellen for allowing the whole Belltown crew stay at the cabin at Money Creek. A highlight was teaching my American family how to play Cricket.

"No, you have to run with the bat". & "You have to yell HOWZAT!"

Well done Mardi, bowling me out on my first ball. I maintain it was beginners luck. :)


Mardi and Dee Dee wearing their helmets in the Mustang	Me about to face a tough delivery from Ashley

Dee Dee, Tom, Scott, Henry, Me and Mardi	Mardi and I at Steven's Pass