Sydney Stories - Week 15

Hello,

Hope you had a good week.

This week went fast as usual. Had an opportunity to attend a free seminar in my area of work. It was 50% information and 50% marketing for their training programs. I suppose (reckon?) it is fair enough to expect a sales pitch when someone offers "free" information (coupled with food and drinks as well). Well I did get a new insight or two. So it wasn't too bad.

Nandha's visa process is taking 2 steps forward and 1 step backward. After some follow up I got to know that I had to produce proof of health insurance for us here. Initially when I asked about it I was told it was not necessary. Now that is required, thanks to Aussie efficiencies (in the insurance company) I have to wait for 48 - 72 hours to get a letter printed and emailed to me. That translates to 6 - 9 working days, which is 1 to 2 calendar weeks. On further persistence I was told that it may happen earlier but I cannot follow up until 72 hours. Oh well...

Saturday morning started with a few You Tube videos - thanks to my brother. Stumbled upon one over the other for about an hour. Got to know about another "self-help" guy - Tony Robbins. He seemed to make sense. His website has a free DISC survey as well. I had taken this DISC survey last year while I was in Bangalore. It is an amazing assessment of myself. I realized how badly "fish out of water" I was doing the work I was doing in Melbourne. No wonder it pushed me to quit. 

The weekend the schedule was a little disrupted when I got a call from my school friend (Siva)  to accompany him and his family on a trip to the aquarium. The aquarium was alright. Nothing spectacular if you have seen other similar ones. This was quite similar to the one in Melbourne. Of course there was always some new variety that I see in every new aquarium. I did learn one interesting fact though about Snapper fish. They are considered "protogynous hermaphrodites". In English, about 50% of them turn from female to male as they grow older. My friend's son (about 2 yrs old) was initially apprehensive about all the fishy fishy things around but got comfortable with the "environment" by the time we got out.

This weekend's cooking experiment was black-eyed beans masala and thai style chicken fried rice. Both turned out well. The key to make restaurant style fried rice (I think) is to really make it so i.e., to fry the rice. So far I have always added rice at the end. However, after watching a couple of YouTubes I've changed my strategy to fry the rice along with some veggies. Not completely healthy considering the amount of oil used. Guess an occasional indulgence can be permitted. :-)

Have a great week ahead.

Chetty