As you know, I am a big fan of Patricia Cornwell. In fact I generally like books that involve mystery, death, intrigue and dark themes. That doesn't mean that I am unbreakable when it comes to Romance Novels. I have actually read some romance novels in my life, just not as many as books about forensics and serial killers. That aside, a good romance novel can be like chocolate without all the calories. A bit of escapism sitting alone on the beach, in a park, or in a cafe wistfully wondering about that someone special. I have encountered some people who are addicted to romance novels. Like I said, I am not one of these individuals but I remember seeing bookshelves lined with these titles at one of my relatives' place. I also remember sneaking a look at one of these books - I think it might have been written by Susan Meier, and (as kids always do) I found the rude part straight away. I think it was on page 112 or something. I remember chuckling and thinking how funny it was. I suppose when you are a kid you think a lot of things are funny that adults enjoy. It certainly can be nice to escape into a fictional world for a while, even if it is kind of unrealistic and fluffy, but it's all harmless fun.

Here are the shots from the Birthday round at Elsternwick. One of my favourite features of the course is the family of ducks that walk across the fairways and swim in the water hazard. They also fertilize the course!

The last photograph features a cockatoo of some description. I know it's not a sulphur-crested cocky because it has a few reddish-pink markings. Love to find out what it was exactly.

(Click to enlarge)

It was my birthday yesterday. My partner took me out to a lunch that ended up lasting all day and we had a brilliant time. We were planning to go to the Zoo but it got rained out. So we had to take a raincheck. (haaaaa!!) I had to make that joke, I'm afraid.

On my partner's birthday (last week), we went for a round of golf and found the most incredible bargain - A Greg Norman "Shark" Tiburon Titanium Driver for $40.00 The price sticker was still on the shaft reading "$249.00".

Incidentally, "Tiburon" means "Shark" in Spanish. Interesting bit of trivia. I couldn't find an exact photograph of this particular driver but here is a newer model:



















For this particular round, the new balls of choice were Maxfli D-Tec (High Launch) - said to be the "longest and straightest" - I can confirm they are definitely straight. It is hard to compare these balls to the Srixon Distance (see Field of Dreams post). There doesn't seem to be a lot between them. I noticed the Maxfli D-Tec were especially good for putting. The prices are comparable so it's really down to personal choice. I'd recommend both balls for those who shoot in the 90s or 80s.



















I will post a couple of pics from the course in 2 days, as soon as I get hold of the cable to download photos.

If you own a small business it can be difficult to take time out to set up an intranet system, in fact it can often be the thing that sits at the bottom of the "to do" list for time immemorial.

Some business owners prefer to work from home and to set up a system in one step would be a major boost for convenience for small business owners and employees. It would be handy to have secure file-sharing and on-line project collaboration, especially for those (I know!) who wish to spend more time in the country or combine work and various other activities.

Intranet Software UK provides the information necessary to set up an intranet system for your business. The site offers ongoing technical support and the pricing seems to be weighted based on the number of users who will be using the system. If you are interested in setting up this kind of system for your company, this may be an option for you.


This post brought to you by Intranet Software UK.

It started happening last week. A mysterious phenomenon in which I proceeded to go "beep" every time I passed through a security barrier. Supermarkets, Chemists, you name it, I went "beep".

I searched my mind for the cause of this sudden anomaly.

Well, I say searched...I actually spent a lot of time saying to suspicious checkout staff:

"It's okay! I went beep when I went in!"

Strangely, this has been quite sufficient as an explanation. Had I been an actual shoplifter this would have been quite a dastardly plan...

"I went beep when I went in! It's okay!" (with a bag stuffed full of...well...I'm not really sure what. Why would someone want to rob a supermarket? Unless you're really into groceries - perhaps extremely hungry?!?)

Another thing recently occurred to me - the security barriers don't seem to pick up on actual groceries. I know this beacuse I bought an item at one supermarket, then later in the day realised I needed something from another supermarket from the same chain (eg. Coles). I brought in that very bag with my item inside (with the receipt in the bag, of course!) - and nothing. The machine didn't go beep.

These machines are however brilliant at detecting people who have bought a C5 notebook and have forgotten to remove the packaging.

Yep, that's right - mystery solved. I forgot to take the plastic off my little notebook and it happened to contain something very similar to this:












I remember I went for an entire year going "beep" without realising that the nivea moisturiser in my bag had one of these silver microchip whatchamadoodles stuck to it.

It got me in quite a bit of bother when I tried to fly overseas. Luckily one of the security staff took pity on me. It was quite obvious that I was not armed and was quite clueless as to why I went "beep". I actually started to think that I may have swallowed something metal. Had I been a conspiracy theorist I would have thought aliens had given me an implant... or replaced my brain with liquid metal like that guy in Terminator 2...

Anyway, go figure. These supermarkets might want to recalibrate their machines.

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