The last Potter book is coming out this Saturday, July 21. Borders is having a launch event that starts at 8am, which includes magicians, dress-up’s, face painting and so on. At 9.01am the book launches… Admit it, you’re a fan - maybe I’ll see you at Federation Square?

Community Indicators Victoria is providing information about the wellbeing of communities within Victoria. How did your suburb perform?

Several indicators are used including health, wellbeing, social support, volunteers, child health, perceptions of safety, crime, home internet access, food security, adequate work-life balance, transport limitations etc.

Looking at Melbourne city, it does extremely well for home internet access compared to other regions. But Melbourne city has the highest crime reported. Oh well, you can’t have them all …

(…Because I am grumpy that I have just been woken up by one who buzzed me on the intercom in the morning, refused to go away, and insisted that I called for a cab. Did not even bother to bloody apologise later.)

At the risk of generalising - I honestly think cabbies in Melbourne are atrocious. Other than today’s report on NineMSN alleging some cabbies to be distributing religious extremist DVDs,

Has anyone ever caught a good cab before?

I don’t know how many follow soccer, but there was a great match a while ago, with Thailand vs. Australia. We whopped them, with a 4-nil score (Socceroos come good to advance). This I guess is better than the 3-1 beating we took against Iraq!

Sadly, the Asian Cup doesn’t seem to be broadcast on free to air TV… Fox Sports 2 has it live though.

Victorian health officials are still looking for passengers who were on the Thai airline flight TG888 from Bangkok to Melbourne on the 2nd July 2007.

So far, around 50 passengers have been immunised after about 120 passengers were contacted out of 238. So, there are still approximately 118 passengers out there who have yet to be found. Where are you?

Symptoms of polio may include fever, vomiting and muscle stiffness. Polio can lead to permanent crippling, and in severe cases, death if breathing muscles are paralysed. Transmission of the virus is via contact with the faeces or through the saliva of an infected person.

News Link
Herald Sun’s Hunt for polio flight 118
The Age’s Polio is still a threat.

Its been a few weeks while I was jet-setting around bits and bobs of South East Asia, happily signing things on my ANZ-provided credit card (hey, gotta enjoy the Aussie dollar). Alas, the trip ends, and I’m back in Melbourne (glad to be actually - cool weather, lack of haze, and more to the point, nice folk).

Had to do a quick grocery shop last night. Visited the Burwood Coles, and bought a bunch of things when the checkout chick told me the total bill was only about $15. I grimaced, and told her to re-check, because I’m pretty sure I can’t walk out with $15 worth of stuff. She did, and insisted that it was correct. I however, insisted to her otherwise. Upon further inspection, she realised the POS system had frozen! Then came the hassle of un-scanning items, seeing what got counted, and so forth. I was being thanked repeatedly, by her. Eventually, my bill was $45 :-)

Did honesty pay off? I think it did. Though I can’t imagine why I had to line up even longer… In terms of time wasted, maybe honesty itself didn’t pay off… but I was told to never ever cheat on food, ever.

Today, collecting my mail. Walked into the post office, with those little cards the post office leaves behind, and immediately, one of the blokes behind the counter knew me (i.e. he said something along the lines of “colin charles, 8188″). After grabbing all my mail (sadly, I get too much of crap via post), he said, “Welcome back, mate”.

What was your nice experience in the last 24-hours?

It is National Diabetes week. Diabetes Australia is running a campaign asking people to measure themselves and to learn more about diabetes.

Apparently, excess weight around the abdomen increases one’s risk for developing type 2 diabetes, so the request to measure up. It is associated with blindness, heart diseases, kidney diseases and amputation.

Basically, keep fit and stay healthy!

Last night, I and some friends went out to Retro Bar (383 Lonsdale Street). We got there at around 11, and the line was enormous, but we got inside quickly enough. It had two levels; Niagara Hotel on the ground floor was brightly lit and the music was a little quieter. Wasn’t as crowded there, and it was a pub-type atmosphere (thought it still had a neat little dance floor and DJs). Upstairs was Retro bar, a clubbier atmosphere with louder music, colourful lighting and a little stage to get up and dance on. (Cover charge was $10, price of a lemonade is $3, and the only alcohol i had was bought for me, so i can’t say what that cost.)
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W00t! It’s almost been a year since I last advertised last year’s Melbourne Forum - so there you go, they are looking at Kids in the City this year.

The Age Theatre, Lower Ground Level
Melbourne Museum Victoria, 6.30-8pm
Visit: museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum for details
Free but bookings essential 13 11 02 or http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/melbourneforum/

A cold Melbourne night, and my partner and I were deciding what to have for dinner. Having just had minor corrective jaw surgery, my partner opted for congee. Afterall, apart from soup, that’s the only food she’s allowed to consume. Solid food ain’t cut it for her still healing jaw.

One of the best places for congee - don’t quote me on that - is Supper Inn in Chinatown. I’ve heard good things about the place so we decided to check it out.

We arrived to find a crowded Supper Inn. I exchanged pleasantries with the waiter and decided to wait for a table for two. Ten minutes later, a couple left. The waiter began clearing the dishes. And then a peculiar thing happened.
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