Sydney Stories - Week 75

Hello,

Hope you had a good week.

Quite a normal week here.

Currently on a book called "Speed of Trust" by Stephen M.R. Covey. I had bought the book initially thinking it was Stephen Covey the author of the 7 Habits. Apparently this is his son who wrote this book. The father has written the foreword and son keeps referring to his dad's words once in a while. One "concept"  that was new was the point about Trust being a factor of Character and Competence. I guess we normally think trust as a factor of belief, good will, honesty etc. However he goes about to a great extent explaining why competence is so important in building trust and good character alone doesn't cut it. Interesting so far.

Nandhitha's first school interview happened this week in a Catholic school. Guess she did fairly well in it mostly because of the fact that she had been to the pre-school here and she was used to playing with some of the "toys" they had given her to play.  Learning a few new rhymes from her now like 5 Cheeky Monkeys swinging on the tree. :-)

Family game time has started here with a kids version of Monopoly and Go-Fish. Remember hearing about Go-Fish many years ago (was it you Sav??) and I think I didn't quite get it then. Even now had to read up the rules several times to understand. It's not that complicated. (Guess  nothing is complicated once understood). Here mom and daughter have teamed up against me. Yet to figure out a strategy to beat them. Of course my winning streak has been on the higher side if it was just me against Nandhitha. ;-) (Shameless eh!!)

Have A Great Week

C

Sydney Stories - Week 74

Hello,

A bit delayed in last week's saga. Have been having a crazy work week with things to follow up over the weekend. Hope it slows down a bit this week.

So it is official now that I will be travelling to India and US for a couple of weeks next month on business (OB??) ;-) . The business visa stamping was quite cool. They just asked me a few questions about my work just to make sure I was consistent with what I had given in the form. I must admit that they were quite pointed questions that if someone was just making this up it was easy to miss. The most painful task was the filling up of the form online. These days even the photos have to be uploaded online. Luckily there are professionals here who know what they are doing. They knew the latest process and even suggested that I will need the photo on CD. Don't bother to save some pennies going to a post office (Australia Post) to get it done.

Am beginning to become a fan of any cleaning material that says "Oxy". The other day I had soaked a blender (with dried up onion-ginger-garlic paste) with a Oxyclean dish washing liquid. A few minutes later the stuff got self-cleaned and I just had to literally rinse it once with water. One might wonder what the great deal here is...but am sure the folks who do the dishes regularly know what I am talking about. ;-) Go Oxy!!

Came to know that I have new fans for my blogs now (Alysson and Ryan this is for you) at work. ;-) They seemed to be quite interested with the variety of cuisines especially the Thai dishes.

Have A Great Week

C

Sydney Stories - Week 73

Hello,

Hope you had a good week.

The dilemma of getting Nandhitha admitted to her Kindergarten next year has started. Yes, am officially in that phase of my parenthood. I've always thought that this problem is only in India where there is such a variety of schools even at the kindergarten level. Of course I have heard about trying to live in the "right" school district so your child can get admitted in a good school. What I had not thought of is the availability of other options. In Australia they have these Catholic schools. They are cheaper by 50% for non-PR holders. Non-PR holders have to pay the full fees - $4500 per annum (in one go) for a public school, whereas in a Catholic school it is almost half. We were aware of one such school but did not apply thinking it was a new school. Apparently it is a part of a well established group. By the time we went to apply we were too late. But then the principal did give us the application forms with a line saying "Do apply - who knows - The Lord works in mysterious ways!!".

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of my company happened to be in town. Had an opportunity to spend some quality time with him (and the head from Manila while showing around a few places in Sydney. It was an interesting experience and got to know a few insights at how top management looks at certain issues. The team here had a chance to raise some of their teething concerns as well. The message was very clear - perform and get rewarded.

This week also officially marked me taking additional responsibilities at work. No change elsewhere - just that it is going to be even more hectic. It's been a while since I posted in the Kitchen. Hopefully I get to add some today. This weekend is a long weekend - Happy B'day to the Queen!! Sydney seems to have a curse that it has to rain on long weekends. It happened during Easter and now again it was a complete washout. Not that we were planning to do much, but it just kept raining on and off throughout the weekend. I hear that this will continue through Thursday.

Today we went to Lollipops playland a kids play area. It's a nice concept with hardly any complex infrastructure. There is a one time entry fee which is good for the whole day. There's nothing great - just a few jumping castles, slides and 1 merry go round ride. If you have seen a kids play area at a Mcdonalds - just expand it by 2-3 times. That is all it takes to charge $40 per family.  If you want to drain out the kids energy there is nothing better than this (esp on a rainy autumn day). This is the 2nd visit for Nandha but the first time he enjoyed on his own. The last time we were here he was just crawling and I don't think he would've enjoyed so much.

Alrighty...you have a great week.

C

Sydney Stories - Week 72

Hello,

Hope you had a great week.

Mine was quite interesting with things at work that keep me on the toes all the time.

My weekend tennis had an absolutely pathetic starting set. It must've been a while since I had lost with zero games in doubles. I pitied my partner who had to pull through the ordeal. After a few sets I played with the same guy on the opposite side and he was wondering where this game was the first time.

How often have you had a chance to enter a restaurant and the food is right there waiting on your table? Am not talking about a buffet here. We started from home pretty late for lunch at a Thai restaurant. Luckily I checked their lunch timing and knew that they closed at 3 PM. As we were driving I called them up and ordered our usual favourites. By the time we could find a parking spot and enter the restaurant it was well past 3 PM. However the food was out there ready at our table and we just started to dig in. The only problem was the food did turn a bit cold. When hunger strikes - who cares!!

Happened to drive around some of the older suburbs of Sydney. At times it gives you an impression if you are in a developed country. Roads so small that only one car can go at any time but still meant to be two-way with cars parks on both sides of the road. At one point one car had to back out to allow us to pass by. Sydneysiders definitely know how to "preserve" their past.

Have A Great Week

C