Got The Blues

The 2007 State of Origin series has been won and lost... Queensland were by far the better team and defeated NSW to claim the series 2-0.

Not much I can say or blame about that, despite the QLD winning try coming from a forward pass and a dubious penalty, but ultimately the better team won the game and the series.

So it becomes a bit of a naval gazing exercise as to how the cause of NSW can be improved.  Clearly the NSW team needs a clean out and players in good form should be picked as opposed to reputation.  I believe we will probably lose the 2008 series as a result as well, but thats what happens when you allow some players to hang around on reputation.

Definite players never to play again include:  Jamie Lyon, Braith Anasta, Steve Simpson, Brent Kite, Danny Buderus.

Players who should only be picked on form if it warrants it next year:  Matt King, Matt Cooper, Brett Kimmorley, Nathan Hindmarsh, Andrew Ryan (and only one of Hindmarsh and Ryan should be picked - not both), Luke Bailey, Anthony Minichello.

Of the current team, I would persevere with Jarrod Hayne, Brett Mullen, Greg Bird, Brett Stewart and Willie Mason.  The rest are up for grabs...

I would be looking at for immediate inclusion Robbie Farrah at hooker, Mullen into 5/8 and retain Kimmorley for Game 3, persist with Stewart over Minichello, give King a chance (but only one) at centre and look to an exciting winger not a centre to play wing... Nathan Merritt? In the pack, persist with Hoffman, but look to a young tyro on the bench as opposed to Steve Simpson - someone with a bit of passion... Steve Southern at the Cowboys springs to mind... maybe Watmough from Manly...  Front Row?  Where is Mark O'Meley?  Slot him in, but I just dont think Brett White is the guy for NSW.  O'Meley brings that nutty aggression...

I dont want to sound like a repeat of the papers this morning, but the time has come for the big broom....

Judge sues Dry Cleaners for $64m over lost pants

File this in your respective "Only In America" folders...

Crazy!

Judge sues dry cleaners for $64m over lost pants

On The Hunt

Many long term Lime Kettles readers will recall that we bought a kitten some months ago after the passing of our old moggy Tonya...

A cute little Russian Blue Cross kitten we named "Charlie" entered our home and was incredibly playful.  Over time Charlie has taken to us well and is very cuddly and spends alot of time with the girls and in fact generally sleeps in Kate's bed for the first few hours of every night.

All great except one thing... Charlie is growing and is I guess going through adolescence and in male cats that means one thing - killing.

Charlie whilst retaining the cuddly demeanour around the house is a killing machine in the back yard... since Friday he has attacked 2 birds and a frog and on each occasion has brought his prey to the back door generally whilst it was still alive.  I had to put a sparrow / finch type bird out of its misery on Friday and I removed a dead frog on Sunday and yesterday he attacked a bird and had it in his mouth until Niki was able to prise its jaws and the bird flew away (which is a good sign I guess).

I am ambivalent to all this in the sense that Cats Kill Birds... its Mother Nature... and that as long as Charlie stays in the backyard (which he does) then the birds will stay off the grass and our trees once they know he's about... and they do because when he's patrolling the backyard you can hear the birds squawking at him from up high.

But Charlie has now realised that the feathery things he chases outside also includes our Cockatiel "Jimmy" amongst their number.  Just yesterday we have twice caught Charlie standing on his hind legs "rocking" Jimmy's cage.  We locked Jimmy in our bedroom and when Niki went in the bedroom, within seconds Charlie was on the bed just inches from Jimmy's cage.

Jimmy at this stage is rather blasé about Charlie, but that will change should Jimmy be knocked over because Jimmy's cage is actually broken in that the top piece will come off if it hits the floor... and Jimmy doesn't fly either (he has wings, but chooses to walk - thats another story) so if the cage gets knocked over, Jimmy will be lunch.

So now we are keeping them separate, but what can we do?  Seems as though now we have to isolate one of them everytime we go out and even when we're home, we have had Charlie making beelines to the cage every chance we get... and Niki doesnt want him outside as she's worried about the local wildlife.  Do cats grow out of this??

Queenie Queenie, Who's Got The Ball

Today M'lords and M'Ladies is the Queens Birthday Weekend...

Australia, as a Commonwealth country gets today off despite a) we pretty much all want to be a republic in our own right and b) today isnt actually the Queen's real birthday.

But it is a day off, so we'll take it!

It is reason to celebrate as Paris remains in custody (the evil girl that she is) and the world is safe at least for the next 40 odd days... amazing how a spoilt rich girl gets so many headlines given the worlds problems...

The rains in New South Wales have abated for the time being and whilst us people in the mountains were not in danger of flooding, I was joking the other night that there was so much water falling from the sky that I thought my property may soon have water views - despite its 230m odd elevation above greater Sydney!  hehe!

Today has been a lazy day... I have glued and pinned some blood bowl minis (a Minotaur and a Beast of Nurgle to be precise) and am still painting the orcs slowly for my mate Noyz.  Kate has a ballet exam practice this afternoon and I am waiting to watch my Dragons take on the Cronulla Sharks in the NRL match this evening... and thats about it, nothin' else happening but I did just return from the Village shops were I picked up a Cappuccino... love winter holiday afternoon's in the mountains :)

Yesterday, we went to Tommy's son Asher's 5th birthday party.  Super Hero theme and Batman turned up to entertain the kids!  He's a comic mate of Tommy's who does kids parties in a variety of costumes... he was excellent and had a pretty well done Batman costume and entertained the kids non-stop for over an hour.  He was then off to do another party as a Mutant Ninja Turtle apparently.

Saturday was pouring rain and we basically did Sweet FA apart from visiting friends Julie & Con in the morning and Niki's parents in the afternoon...

Been a very relaxing weekend... should be more of them!

Ridiculous

Paris Hilton.

Paris Hilton.
WTF is happening there?

Will those other people who are feeling "unhappy" about being raped in the showers, living with impending violence around them and poor food et al be now released because they've got "a rash".

Words escape me... I cannot believe the clear favouritism.

It Rains... we're late.

For non-Sydneysiders, today its bucketing down with rain and that meant everyone in my office was late today.  I personally was not in until 9:30 today as my normally 65min train trip ballooned out to nearly 2hrs.

Trains were late, out of timetable order and essentially I think the trains were just scrambling to get into the city and it was pot luck if you were in OK or if you were held up.  We also sat outside Emu Plains for about 10mins as some train in front had broken down and the trip was really kyboshed due to the weather.

Arriving at 9:30, I found I wasnt last in as the roads were equally atrocious and essentially we have come to the point that on wet weather days, Sydney grinds to a halt.

This is comforting too given the stat announced yesterday that over the next 10-15yrs, Sydney's traffic will increase by 50%.  Should be great commutes in then hey!

Debt Free! w00t

My existing bank's online banking site is telling me I no longer have a mortgage...

My new banks online banking site doesnt show a mortgage on it...

I AM DEBT FREE!

How long will it last?  My shout at the pub tonight... hehe...