Friday, August 26, 2022

MWNews 199

Let's give this a shot. I have about 10 minutes. I am at another Bendigo and the computer is almost finished. I was going to start this earlier but I had to go get a box and then fill out all the paperwork, so I have only 10 minutes before I have to box it up.

No way I should mention this, it is probably a corporate secret, but it looks like Bendigo Bank is going to close. I was told yesterday, and have heard the same thing a few times, that they are closing most of the branches and the main office where I am now is closed. You can't get into the building and it is a 14 story building. All the doors are closed and there are signs up about it being available for lease. There is a coffee shop on the bottom floor and that is open as it has a window out onto the street, but the sitting area is closed. Not sure what is going on, but I have heard that they are closing 2/3 of the branches and shutting most of the offices. It was already a ghost town in the offices I go to and I have been responsible for closing some of the branches, packing up all the equipment, so that part is definitely true. The rumor I heard yesterday was they were cutting most of the staff and then were going to sell the name. But it is all rumor at this point and I am sure I am not allowed to talk about it. Since no one actually reads this, I will probably not get into trouble but then again, make it will make me famous for being the first to report it publicly.

Now that I have wasted five minutes of me time allotted, I should probably just end this and get ready to go. I am at the branch office which is next door to the building that is closed. I brought the family along so we can go look around in the city. I am in the city in case I had not mentioned that. They are waiting a few blocks away. But since Maeghan keeps texting me asking when I am going to finish, I don't get to type in here, so it is kind of a wasted effort. And now she just told me they went to the market, one of the main reasons I brought them into town, so we could go to the market together. Now I have to make them all go again because I have wanted a sausage from there for over a year but am never in town while it is on. 

30 seconds left, so I am going.

Well, I'm back. On the normal day, Friday at work. I never made it back to this. I almost started again yesterday but then decided not to. I was at the computer early in the morning and I could have started but it was early and I wanted breakfast so I never did. Thought about it though, so I get some credit. Not half but maybe 14% credit. I will tally it up and see where it falls on the meter.

I finished up the computer I was working on, packed it up and sent it on its way. I was going to meet everyone at the downtown market but when I asked where the others were, they said they had already been to the market. Kind of thought that was the main reason we came into town was to go to the market together but there it was. They were in the crappy mall that substitutes for a shopping center in town. By the way, that sentence had five miss spellings in it, crappy, substitutes, shopping, center and town. I can tell this is going to be a crappy day. And by crappy, I mean bad, not fishy as some of you probably thought I meant to say. I just can't type at the moment and I might just give up and come back to it. I got here early and then had to sit through a Covid test, as I always do, and I could not get it to work so had to do it twice. By that time, the boss found me and asked what I was up to today. I told him I did not know yet so he said to drop by. I am typing this instead of going over there so I should stop, admit I can no longer type correctly, and find out what he wants.

Or I could just sit here and hope it gets better. I think it might be as I warm into it but we will see. I used to be able to type 120 words a minute while I was in school, and that was on an old IBM selectric or whatever they were called. 120 words a minute and for the test, you had to do it with less than 2 mistakes. I remember being able to type while people talked to me, making a lot of mistakes, but the fact that I could keep up was amazing in itself. Now, I cannot even remember what I was going to type when I start a sentence and then get to the end. It is always an adventure trying to remain coherent. And I could have sworn I miss spelled that word, I even reached for the mouse to fix it, but it turns out it was correct the first time, so things are looking up.

Let's get back to the day in town. They had already eaten. They had already done most everything. My plan was to go to the market, walk down by the river, go to East street pier and then walk back to the train station. They had already gone to the market, the river walk is still closed and the East street pier is under rehab from the floods. So it left very little for us to do. We walked down a fancy shopping street, actually just a walkway in the middle of a building that pretends to be a street but is actually just a walkway with expensive shops in it. We had coffee and a pineapple upside down cake. Maeghan and I figured out it was not really pineapple upside down cake as it was just a regular cake with pineapple on top but it was ok. William wandered off so we sat and waited for him for a while. He had money and could not wait to spend it, like his mother, so he was anxious to find a place to spend it. I think he got some candy or something.

After that, we went back towards the shopping center again. Did I mention I do not like that place. It is the Myers center and has a few floors of shops in the middle of George street. There used to be amusement rides in the top of it but that is long gone and now there is just an arcade and movie theater up there. I did not go back in. I said I was going to go to the market and meet them back there. 

I went to the market but the line for sausages was a 30 minute wait. They said it was really long when they stood in it but I did not want to wait that long, so I made on lap of the market and headed back. It is a very small market, comprised almost exclusively of food trucks. I think there are only three places that are not food related, so it is not much of a mall. I have always wanted a sausage from the sausage place as there always seems to be a line there, but I am sure it is just the normal array of sausages at all sausage carts so it might not have been that special. I have wanted to go there for a couple of years but something always stops me. This was no exception and I once again did not get a sausage.

By the time I got back, they were still in the mall so I waited out on the benches and watched all the people go by. They eventually came out and sat with me. Juanita said she enjoyed sitting there. William was hungry again so I ordered some food remotely and had him go pick it up. He took a while and I was just about to go try to find him when we saw him headed back. They ate the food and then we decided to just head home. 

On the way back, we went by Wintergarden shops so we went inside to see if it had changed any. It had not. Juanita bought a bag to carry stuff in. Maeghan and I went up to the third floor where the bowling alley is. Never been inside there but they have bowling and laser tag and a bar. I decided we didn't need to go in as it was too expensive to bowl and no one wanted to play laser tag, except William who is always ready to play but he would probably been playing by himself at that time of day and that is certainly no fun. So we left.

We were headed back to the train but I decided we wanted a beer from the Pig-N-Whistle. There are a few of these along the walk, one at each end and one over by another building. The one we stopped at is one where a guy had once bought me a beer. Long story but he was a drunk crazy guy and I had stopped to get something to eat and he heard me talking and recognized my American accent and decided to by me a beer and talk non-sense to me. It was a few years ago and not much else to tell about it but we stopped there before we went to the train.

I had a small Guiness, Juanita had a green tea, and William had a giant Pepsi. Maeghan had been looking for some stickers or something so she went to another store to see if they had them. I am not sure what stickers she needed but the store she went to did not have them either.

Once she was back, we left. Went to the train, went home. Nothing else to tell.

I am going to stop this entry right here. It is relatively short, so that is good. I will probably start another one this afternoon but right now, I am going to get coffee, or go find out what the boss wants. I just heard him make an announcement over the speakers that someone needs to go move their car because they are cleaning the walls beside where it is parked and it will get sprayed if they do not. Not sure why they are cleaning the walls but I am sure they need it for some reason. This place just had their accreditation renewed so I am sure it is part of that.

So until next time,

Later

 

Monday, August 22, 2022

MWNews198

 

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Then again, this is not my neighborhood. I am at another job in Wilston. Wilston is a very rich suburb.. Lots of expensive houses. I think it is proximity to the city and not the actual neighborhood itself. There are really steep hills and very small roads and shops. When I say steep hills, I had to drive up one of them and I was not sure the car was going to make it. It was barely moving by the time I got to the top. I was just about to give up and go around, but it made it. Very, very steep. 

I say the houses are expensive but I am only assuming so. Old houses built on hills. I think the average around here is about 1.5 million. It's expensive. I am at a real estate agent. I suppose I could ask them but that would be embarrassing. I have been here a number of times. This place is always reporting problems and when I get here, the problems do not exist. I am just here to be the eyes and ears of whomever is going to fix it. Whenever I come, I get here and they tell me the problem is fixed but no one knows how or even what the actual problem was. I once came here to find out that the WiFi was not working because someone had moved it to another location and did not plug it in. I am here today to find out why they keep losing their WiFi. It is working right now, so the plan is for me to sit here until it stops working and then try to figure out why. Yes, I know, a total waste of my time but I get paid for it, so I suppose someone has to do it. I am not allowed to connect to the WiFi, so I cannot check it myself, I am just allowed to sit here and wait. It should be a fun day.

So I thought I would type. Maybe get that last bit of EKKA news out. Maybe complain about my work. Now that I have the complaining part out of the way, I will begin the report. It should not take long, unless I decide to complain about my typing, which as usual, is bad. At least this time, I can see what I am typing so I know immediately when I type something wrong. Appears to be about every other word or so. It is loads of fun.

To the EKKA. Doesn't have the same ring as to the Batmobile, but we will have to live with it. Maybe to the Show, or to the Arena. I'll work on it. I forgot my water in the car so I may start to dehydrate as I type, so if the words start to slur, you know why.

After we ate, we went to find the special location for people in wheelchairs. It was fairly close and very nice. There were spaces for wheelchairs and spaces for seats to you could sit next to the wheelchairs. It even had a roof on it so if it had rained, we would be covered. But more about that later.

We were about an hour early, no idea how we managed that, so we had our choice or seats. Plenty or room for everyone. We found out later that most of the spaces were to be taken up by people with prams, with or without a baby in them. I had noticed earlier when we had walked by this place that it was completely filled with people with prams and there was not one wheelchair in site. I also suspected that some of these people did not actually have babies as the prams were filled with toys and stuff from the fair. I think they just bring them so they can park in special parking and take of places where only prams and wheelchairs are allowed. But that is just be cynical. We had the two wheelchairs, Maeghan and mine, so we only needed the three seats next to them, which gave us plenty of room. Later, a couple of wheelchairs did show up but the rest of the spaces were filed with prams and I know I saw people in wheelchairs back behind where we were who could have used those seats. But no one said anything. Not that should have but I would think the fair officials could have said something. I don't begrudge them anything, as a person who has someone who is bound by a wheelchair, you plan for this type of thing and get used to the rudeness of others, but still, could have been a little more discipline involved.

The show is a series of things. I might forget some of them and get them out of order, but how would you know, you weren't there. It all starts off with the MCs coming out about a half hour early to tell you what is going to happen. Some kind of local celebrities I assume as I did not know either of them but they seemed to think we all knew who they were. I think they are local news anchors but I am not sure. They were mostly annoying. They did say that they had enjoyed the first night, we were there on the second, and we all had a good show to look forward to. Not sure what they would have said if the show had been bad but it gave us some idea of what to expect.

Right after they stopped talking, they started showing music videos on the big screens they had setup in the middle of the arena. This is a typical stadium type arena, seats all the way around, field in the middle, track around the field. I am not sure what they play on the filed but I assume it can be setup for a number of sports. They had cars and trucks setup in the middle and a big three sided screen. We assumed the trucks and stuff were to be used later.

When the music started, of course it was loud, I entertained everyone with some dancing. I tried dancing for real and managed about five minutes of it, then got tired and had to dance in my chair. Shayla was sitting next to me and I am told she joined in but I did not really notice. Juanita and Maeghan told me we looked good dancing together. I think William was jealous as he has wanted to do the goofy things I do for a while but no one ever seems to notice him. I will try to get him involved but if there is not an audience, he is not really interested. I have not explained to him that he and Maeghan are all the audience you need and I do it for them but he wants to do it for Juanita and she rarely laughs at thinks it is clever even when I do it. She is just embarrassed. I think that is part of the charm but William is like his mother and he will see it the same way she does, so he does not commit or do what needs to be done to make it entertaining. He will get it someday. I just wish I had the energy or the stamina to do it for longer than just a few minutes. After a while, I got angina and had to stop and this scared Shayla so she stopped too. But it was fun while it lasted and most of the crowd around us enjoyed it too.

They did a lot of corny bits during the show. Like trying to start a wave or using a kiss cam to try to get people to kiss. They did not get a single one. The started a dance cam to show people dancing but they only looked at one place and I think it was a setup to just show a few people who were in the stands. It was the bad part of the MCs but the rest of the show was pretty good.

They had horses to begin with, as you would expect at a livestock show. Interesting but the announcer/main person was really bad. He was enthusiastic but he tried to make everything the end all be all of whatever he was doing. Like it was the best thing ever done and the best thing we would ever see. It was horses running, horses stopping, horses following him around. Maybe that's a good trick in the horse show world but it was just horses running to me. Not bad but not the best thing we had ever seen as he was telling it. It ended with some lady riding a horse with a spotlight on her and someone somewhere singing a really long song. They had her on the screens but I could not figure out where she was. I thought it was the lady on the horse for a while and they were just showing someone else in the stands but I never figured out who exactly was singing. It was good singing but went on forever. Eventually, the announcer and her went around taking bows on their horses. I forgot, at one point, they had a bunch of donkeys come out of a truck who did the same running and stopping thing. This was only worth mentioning as there appeared to be more donkeys in the truck than could have actually fitted in there and they had been in the truck for a couple of hours as far as I could tell. The truck had been there from the beginning when we got there and the donkeys must have been in there the whole time. Lots and lots of donkeys, but more of the same things. This part was finally over. Not really bad, just annoying.

Next, there was harness racing. One race, four laps around. I have never seen it in person and the kids had never seen any kind of racing, so they enjoyed it. Not a lot to it as they just ran around the track and no one ever passed anyone or anything. Not a lot of drama but it was good to see it since we had not seen it before.

The next thing was the racing cars. Small old timey racing cars that ran around the dirt track around the field for a while. Maeghan and William thought they were racing and wanted to know who won. I told them it appears to just be an exhibition and they were not actually racing each other. It was good. It was the sliding around the turns racing, I can't think of what that is called, using these old cars that did not go real fast but on the small track, they went fast enough. And they were loud enough so it felt like real racing. I don't think they were allowed to pass each other.

Next came what I would normally call the best part. The motocross people. Guys doing incredible things on motorcycles. There were a couple of racing cars also but they just drove fast and didn't really do anything. Supposedly racing but since they were going in opposite directions, it was just race around the corner and then come back. Whoever got back first wins. I am sure it is all planned so no real suspense. It was good but compared to the motorcycles, nothing special.

I am still in awe of what these guys can do, and do it in front of a crowd and do it consistently. Jumps with flips and completely letting go of the bikes and then hoping back on in mid-air and landing perfectly every time. I am sure they have done this hundreds and hundreds of times but seeing it in person is just phenomenal and amazing. I'd go anywhere, anytime just to watch that. And the best part, and I don't know if it was planned or not, but that they seemed to have left too much time before it got dark so they just did jump after jump to make up the time. The fireworks were after this, so it had to be dark. The announcer said they would continue until someone chased them off for the fireworks. As I said, don't know if it was planned that way or not but it was spectacular. They did double back flips, superman jumps, where they leave the bike, go all the way to the back of the bike, and act like they are flying and then climb back up the bike and sit back down, all before the bike lands. Amazing.

At some point during all this, I can't remember when, they had a monster truck. Not really a monster truck, kind of small, and not very interesting except when they made it jump a ramp. That was unexpected and good. Made a really loud noise when it revved up and took off, so it scared everyone as we were not expecting that but overall it was just a truck with big wheels.

After the motocross riders, it was time for the fireworks. That took a while to setup. There was this big giant crane in the middle of the field next to the screens. It had been used to drape some ribbons down from for the horses to ride around and tie into knots. I thought that was a waste of a giant crane but it turns out, it was used during the fireworks as well.

It was a good show. I mean, nothing like what I had ever seen. They used people with glowing, flaming ribbons, giant poles that shot fire out of them. One of them quite close to us, and all around the stadium. They had little remote controlled cars that had fireworks and sparklers on them, I mean big sparklers that shot sparks 20 feet in the air. They had horses with lights and flames shooting out the back ridding around the stadium. Not sure how they train a horse to do that but it was amazing. The big crane had little pods up and down a cable hung from it and these shot fireworks all the time. Fireworks on the ground in pods that had really big displays and then it shot shot fireworks way up into the air, that hissed and exploded up above us. I say up above up as this is where the roof over us was a hindrance. We could only imagine what the ones that went up high were doing. We could hear them but we could not see them. It wasn't that bad, we did not see any of the explosions, but we could hear it and there was plenty of stuff going on on the ground that was good to watch. If you were looking up at the ones in the sky, you might have missed the ones on the ground. 

It was a great show. Lots and lots, too many to name them all, of things going on everywhere. Alas, this is where I am going to have to end my tale of it. This entry, once again, is way too long. Maybe I should have done more, probably done less, but it will have to come to a close soon.

I will mention that after the fireworks, there was a massive crowd we had to get through. We would have just waited for it to clear, we were not in a hurry, but we all had to go to the toilet and we did not know where the closest one was, so we attempted to get to the one we knew was closest. Turns out, this was in the same direction the whole crowd was going. We had to split up, according to how urgent the need was. Juanita went ahead, pushing her way through. The kids and I followed but got separated by a large crowd also. We came to a place where they were stopping the crowd and letting one lane go through and then switching to the other. The toilets we wanted were on the other side of the switch. Juanita was no where to be found but I did finally see her waiting in line at the toilets we were headed for. The kids came to the switch first and did not know that the toilets were one way and the crowd was going the other. They followed the crowd and since they were not going out the exit where everyone else was headed, they went down to where the big ride place was, under the bridge and through. I came to the switch, saw Juanita, and tried to stop on the side. I was told I can't stop there and I pointed to where my wife was and I was waiting for her. They let me go into some alcove and wait. Juanita had seen me also, so she came and found me. I messaged the kids and told them to come back. They had to wade through the long lines again to get back to us. By the time they got there, we found out that they were closing the toilets. I have no idea why they were closing the toilets but all the ones in that area were closed. We ended up going all the way back across the whole show to find one that was open. It was near the entry where we came in, so we assumed we could go out that way. Nope, you had to go out back where we were stuck in the crowd. So we took our time, got some more food, looked a couple of things and then go back to the train. All in all, it was a pleasant time as the crowd was gone as we walked back and only a few late stayers were still there. It was supposed to close at 9:00 and the show had ended at 8:00, so most people had left directly after that, so it was a nice walk, even though most of the food places we came to were out of the food we wanted.

But we made it. And that is the final thing to say about it at this time. Now that I closed this a few pages ago, it is time to really close it. I missed a call earlier, while I was tying, that told me to go check on something, so now I have to pay attention and can not type anymore. So it is a good place to stop. Haven't looked yet, but maybe my longest entry to date. I need to make a better effort to shorten these. Not sure if it is writing more often or not telling every single detail. I know sometimes, I have nothing to say but I still manage to wander on for a couple of pages. Not sure why so many people read this. Then again, I don't know that anyone reads this, but I am sure there is someone in the far distant future that will use this as a justification for whatever it is they believe and want others to believe with them. Or not.

So until next time, 

Later

Friday, August 19, 2022

MWNews 197

Ok, now I am pissed. I know I started an entry on my phone the other day and I was going to get back to it. Now I can’t find it. I have no idea what it was I was talking about but I remember saying I was doing a live entry while I was waiting for something. Maybe that was a few entries ago but I thought it was the last thing I did. Guess it doesn’t matter. I can’t remember anything, when, where and why doesn’t mean anything anymore.

I’ll just start anew. But now I see this is not formatting correctly so it’s continued progression is in question. I am on my phone and it is not jumping to the line I am typing so I can’t see all the misspelled words. I’ll have to go back and re-read it to find out and that risks finding other conceptional errors. That’s a situation we don’t want to get into as I believe the entire blog is a conceptual error. Did I spell that right. I don’t think so, but I won’t know until I go back and re-read this. Seems like a catch 19 issue. I’d say catch 22 but that is a copyright issue and I am too old to go to jail. 

Let’s see. I think I have the second half of the EKKA to talk about. Hopefully, it will be much shorter. But I doubt it.

We had just had lunch, I believe. Or some kind of mid-day meal. We had also desperately sought a toilet but we can skip that part this time. Our next goal was to find the showbags. That’s a really big thing here in Austria. Showbags. I think it is everyone but it might be just a my family thing, or from Juanita’s family. I know when I was a kid, we never got any showbags. We never got any rides either. We were happy just getting to go. Probably a money issue, but we were happy just being there and looking. I’m sure we got something, probably just fair food but that was good for us.

Now, everyone has to have a showbag, and usually more than one. We set aside enough money to do that but it is the buying of them for all the people who are not with us that kind of irks me. I’d rather pay for them to get in and go to the show with us than spend meaningless money on showbags. Plus, there is the carrying them around the rest of the day where I think we should wait until the end of the day before we buy them. But since I am no longer required to carry them, it’s not so bad. So on with the show.

We could not figure out where the building was. Maeghan and I had seen it the previous day from the hospital where we had taken Juanita. We knew it was near the big wheel but we couldn’t even see the wheel.

I had to leave this entry yesterday. I was waiting on Juanita to get back from a Drs appointment and she came back in the middle of me typing. So I left it. Now I am getting back to it on my normal day, while at work, so I should be able to finish soon. Or relatively soon as I am about to go get coffee. It's always something. I'll continue the riveting tale of lost youth and wandering spirits when I return.

I'm back. Didn't take too long. Sorry to leave you hanging on my very perplexing point.

We had to ask someone where the showbag building was. They said you had to go down under the railroad tracks and then into the big ride area. It was further along from where we had been sitting for the toilets. I have no idea how that worked or how we had missed it when we came in on the train. When you get off the train, you go under a walkway and into the show. Apparently, there is another platform further down where you get on the train to get back. It is under that railroad that you have to go to get to the other ride area. I have no idea why we could not see it from where we got off but we found it.

The way the showbag building works is all, or most, of the showbags are at different booths in the building. I am thinking that's not such a good idea. What seems to happen is that every booth sells the same things. So you walk between them, and since it is very crowded you barely get to move, and look at the same things over and over again. Sometimes, there is something different but not often. It is all the same.

I have to say at this point that I was not going to make it for the rest of the day. I was exhausted and feeling rather poorly. The wheelchair in the picture is for me. We used it mostly to carry the bags but it was there in case I started to get bad. I was really getting bad at this point. I did not want to let anyone have to push me around. It was very hilly and lots of things to run over so I was not going to ride around in the chair. At the showbag building, I decided they could all go through the building and I would sit in the chair and rest a while. Juanita wasn't happy about it, she said she could push me, but I just wanted to sit and do nothing for a while. After they left, I decided to roll myself over to what I thought was a coffee shop but turned out to be the grilled cheese sandwich shop. Another side note, at the show, they have a special deal where they sell grilled cheese sandwiches for a ridiculously cheap price, $2.50. Sounds like a bargain compared to everything else but since they make so many, they pre-make them and they are cold when you get them, so it wasn't that big a bargain. But it wasn't bad.

William was the first to come out and find me. I told him to go find the others and tell them where I was. They eventually all came back, more quickly than I expected. That is when they explained that all the booths were the same and they could find nothing new so they just walked through and came back. Each of them got one bag, plus a couple of others for those that were not there. All in all, we only spent about half an hour in there where I expected them to be there for a couple of hours, mainly just trying to make their way through all the people. But now they had returned and they each had their bags, so we were ready to go out to the real rides. 

I had pre-purchased ride tickets, as I think I explained before. The rides were expensive so doing that was not going to save us any money. I heard Shayla say she wanted to ride the big stick. Maeghan and William were not going to get on that so they went looking for something to ride. Once again, I decided I was too tired to walk around, so they went off on their own. Juanita pushed me through the showbag building, to my complaints about just wanting to sit there. We went all the way to the other end but could not find a table or anything for her to sit at. I told the kids, via text, where we were. I found a shady spot and Juanita went to meet them somewhere because Maeghan had found a ride but needed someone to watch her wheelchair while she went on it. They were supposed to bring the chair back to me but that never happened. Probably a good thing as while I was sitting there, I fell asleep. I am not sure how long I slept but I think it was at least half an hour if not a full hour. William came back to me twice for something, I don't remember what anymore. I asked him where everyone was and after the second time, I decided to go try to find them. While I was getting up from the chair, several people came by and asked me if I was ok and if they could help. I am not sure why they were asking that but maybe there was some reason.

I walked all the way down to the entrance to the area where we had come in before. I found them all sitting on a bench down there. They still wanted to go on a couple of rides so I sat there and waited for them to finish. Shayla and William went on a log ride. A portable log ride. I have never seen such a thing. How do they do that and keep it safe. I guess there is not a lot of water in it but you go up two fairly large hills and slide down into a pool and water weighs a lot so I am not sure how that was safe. Maeghan did something but I forget what it was. They all eventually came back. I actually was feeling better from my nap, so I was now walking again, leaning on and pushing the wheelchair. It was getting near 5:00, so we decided to find something to eat before the show started 6:30.

I think I mentioned that I had food tickets also. While we were having lunch, in the food pavilion which turned out to be a great disappointment but I will try to refrain from going into that, we did not find any place where you could actually use the coupons. I asked several places and they had no idea what they were. They had not heard of them. Kind of strange. The tickets did say only at participating booths but I would think they should have least have heard of them. Nope, no one had. I was beginning to think there was only one or two places that might accept them and we would have to search around to find them. I ended up asking one of the information booths where it was they were being used. It turns out, it was the section of the show we were currently in. Near the stage I mentioned before and near the food pavilion. We had already walked through this area but I had not noticed that all the food places had little signs on them that said we accept the food card, which is what I had. So we set out looking for a place to sit so we could eat.

We eventually found a place inside one of the buildings in front of the coffee shop. The places that were accepting the card were the most expensive places for food. Cheapest thing was about $18, so the card was not going to go far. There were about a dozen different places, all selling a different type of food, so everyone had to decide what they wanted and I would go get it. We ended up getting some fairly decent food, even if it was very expensive. I wanted to just stay there and keep eating but we couldn't afford that and the night time show was going to start soon and we needed to go find seats. We did end up going back through there on the way out after the show and we had a couple of things, but I need to talk about the show and this entry is way too long once again. 

So I am going to end this now and talk about the show in the next entry. Three entries all about the same thing. That should never happen but once I start typing, I can't seem to stop and keep going on and on about wild tangents. Not entertaining, but lengthy, so there is that. But I should be going, even though it is only noon and I don't leave work until 3:00. I have no idea what I am going to do between now and then. Work doesn't seem like an option but you never know. But I should do something, so I will be going.

So, until next time,

Later
 

Friday, August 12, 2022

MWNews 196

 

Made you look. After closing out the previous entry pre-maturely, I have started a new one. I could have just continued the old but why. This works just as well, although it does show two entries for the same day. Or maybe it will. Maybe I can just submit this one tomorrow and it will look like I did it two days in a row. That might be worth it.

This is a picture from the EKKA. So was the last one. This might be a trend for a while as I have about 5 or six pictures, plus some from Southbank but we will see which ones I use.

The EKKA. Not sure what I was going to write so let's just get started and see if I can remember.

We decided on the train as the best way to get there. I found out why you could not look it up beforehand. The station that is onsite is normally closed. There are no trains there. They only open it for special events, like the EKKA. So if you looked up how to get there on the train before the EKKA was started, it told you to take the bus or walk. Made no sense but I eventually figured it out.

As a side note, They are supposed to build a new station there. It is for the Olympics in 2032 that will be held in Brisbane. Brisbane has about 13 billion dollars committed to Metro improvements. New road, bridges, stations, and busses. Lots and lots of new things. None of them will reach all the way out to where we live but it is ten years away so we will probably have moved by then. Or some tragic event will have happened and this blog will have ended.

They are also building or improving a lot of new stadiums and event plazas for the Olympics. It will take place over a very large area, from north of us on the Sunshine Coast to south of Brisbane on the Gold Coast. Lots of different places and new buildings, or improvements to existing buildings. So lots of new construction that will interrupt our normal living until they finish. It all looks good in the drawings but we will see how it actually turns out. The Queens Wharf will be finished. A new hotel, shopping, tourist destination on the river across from Southbank they are currently building. I think that is supposed to be finished next year or in a couple of years. They have a new pedestrian bridge being built that is about halfway built. It was hit by the floods and while I did not hear anything of possible damage to it during that time, it has not made any progress I can see since then. It is impressive but only half finished so we will have to see what it looks like when they do finish it. It goes from the yet to be completed Queens Wharf and the big Ferris wheel on the other side of the river.

The Queens Wharf is a group of five high rise buildings with a hotel and apartments and shopping center in them. I have heard it is supposed to be a new casino also but the old one is next door and is a historical building so I am not sure they are allowed to replace that. The building will still be there but I have heard there will be a new casino in the new buildings. Not sure how that will work.

And now that I have wandered off topic from the EKKA, I will try to get back to it.

We were going to get on the train at Morayfield. I noticed that we did not have enough gas to take Shayla home after the show, so I decided to go get petrol from Costco since it is so much cheaper there. Since we were well past our normal station, I had to decide between one close to Costco or Petrie. Petrie would have been the better choice but I am never sure how to get there directly. I drive by it sometimes but I have never driven into it or know where the actual entrance is so I decided on Mango Hill, near Costco. The problem with that is you have to take the Redcliffe line to get there and that train stops at every stop along the way. Petrie, there are only two stops before you get to where we need to go. But we went to Mango Hill. Since it was the weekend, the train only runs once every half hour so we waited for 20 minutes for the next train. Maeghan has her wheelchair and no one was at the station to get the ramp to allow her to get on the train. No one got out of the train to do it either. We eventually just had her drive straight on, something she hates as the gap is sometimes too big and she is afraid her wheels will get stuck. This gap was not that large but still scary for her but she did it. While we were getting on, the train driver got out and shouted at us asking where we were going so they could have someone waiting with a ramp when we got there. A nice gesture but not really helpful.

They have special trains for the EKKA. They only go to four stops. Roma, Central, Fortitude Valley, and Exhibition. The show is at Exhibition. Fortitude Valley is the first one we come to on our train, so we got off there and waiting for the EKKA train. They run every five minutes so it was almost immediate that we got on. Then only one stop to the EKKA. Exhibition station is not built for wheelchairs. The gap is huge and the train is very much higher than the platform. They used a long ramp so it was not that bad but it was still a steep drop for Maeghan to drive down. She considered getting out of her chair and walking it down but decided to try it while sitting. Turns out that was not the biggest issue with the wheelchair. While the show is all paved, they have to run power lines everywhere and she frequently had to drive over the them. This presented a problem several times but she eventually got over all the ones we came across. Scary for her each time but she made it.

I think it was because they have not held the EKKA for three years but it was really, really crowded. Hard to get anywhere and hard to see things over all the people. As soon as we got there, Juanita had to eat. She went to the first place she found. I would normally try to see a few possibilities before I decided on something but she needs to eat when she needs to eat, diabetes, so we stopped and she and William had a breakfast burger. She talked me into getting an iced tea but it turned out to be a horrible tea that was very expensive so I did not make that mistake again.

Not knowing where anything was, I forgot the get a map, we did not know where to go first or where to go at all. There was cow milking right near the gate where we went in but there was a massive line of people going in and out of there and while we followed them in, there was lots and lots of cow patties in there and very little space to try to avoid them so we did not actually see any milking going on and we ended up just walking from one end and then back again. There were two shows going on and I could kind of see them across the crowds but Maeghan had no chance and the others had no interest so we got out of there. I think Maeghan still has cow poop on her wheels.

Next, we came to the dog pavilion. Still huge crowds, so you could not get close enough to the animals to see them. You could see a few that were out of their cages but for the most part, we did not see very many of the hundreds and hundreds of dogs that were in there. We did stop for a few minutes to see some of the judging, but it was really boring. We only watched one dog get judged and then we left. As we came out of there, we still did not know where anything was so we went down a couple of dead ends and walk arounds. We did see lots of horses but they were mostly in the barns and we were not allowed in there. They were taking a lot of them out to go somewhere so we got see them but the horse exhibit was non-existent as you are not allowed to walk through the barns.

As we came out of there, we came to the petting area. Line was wrapped around the building and I am not sure how long it would take to go through the exhibit, so I asked them if they wanted to wait and they all said no. I think they would have enjoyed it but it was so crowded, I am not sure they would have been able to get close to any of the animals, so we moved on.

From there, we were at the rides. We did not know it at the time, but this was the small kids ride area and not the big rides for the adults area. We went through it but did not see anything that interesting. Since I had pre-paid ride tickets, Shayla and William went into the fun house. Looked very boring and they seemed to confirm that when they came out but it costs $10 for each of them. If we have known at the time that there were more and better rides in the other pavilion, we would not have spent the money there but we did and they walked through it. Maeghan went to catch a bucket of fish. She won a small prize. Only one point away from the big prize but she got a small stuffed bear so she was happy.

Still having no idea where we should go or what was around, we went walking down some path. Still very crowded and we came to the cat pavilion. All the cats were in cages about ten yards away from where you were allowed to walk. There were benches there you could sit and watch the cats from. I think they might have done shows at different times but I did not go through the line to see what they did so I am not sure what the attraction was. Maeghan waited in the line and saw some of the cats but they were still a long way away from you and you could not really see them up close.

After that, we came to some buildings that had people selling things in them. Kind of like a flea market setup but indoors. It was our first chance to lose William. He wandered off. Instead of worrying about it, we just kept looking. Not really a lot of things I was interested in but it was shopping so Juanita and the girls had to look at everything. I went to the end of the first building looking for a place to sit down. Found William, at the entrance to the second building. He was buying something. Turning out to be a plastic throwing knife. I sat down and he was upset that I did not follow him in. He said there was something else he wanted. I told him we would go in there when the girls caught up so we waited for them.

Turns out the thing he wanted was a wooden sword. He said they only had two of them and the one he got was partially damaged. I should have been with him as I could have pointed out he should get a discount for the damage but he did it on his own and was really proud of himself. He had to carry it the rest of the day but he did not seem to mind. We did really see anything else we wanted. Maeghan looked at the little dolls or whatever it is they are called that she likes. They did not have any she did not already have. I think Juanita bought something also, but I don't remember what it was. Shayla bought something too, but not sure about that either. There were some interesting things at the end of this building. It was virtual reality chairs. It seems you put the headgear on and were strapped into a chair. The chair was then raised into the air and you went on a virtual reality adventure. We watched a guy on a roller coaster. The chair was raised up and down and tilted from side to side and then it was spun upside down. It looked interesting. There were several adventures you can choose from. Problem was, it was $40 to get on one. Way, way too expensive. Might have been fun for $15 or $20 but not $40. I am not sure how long the ride lasted but I am sure it wasn't more than a couple of minutes. We kept moving.

At this point, Maeghan and I were starting to get hungry. We came past a place that served meat on a stick. They had chicken and pork belly and something else I don't remember. I had the pork belly and Maeghan had the chicken, although she did not know I had bought hers already and she ordered another one so we had two. I gave the chicken to Juanita. There were two sticks with each order, so Juanita and I split ours, one stick chicken and one pork. The pork was delicious, the chicken not so much. We enjoyed it though. I was having to go to the restroom at this point and had to run off to try to find one. When we first walk in, there was a restroom every 20 feet it seemed but where we were now, I could not find one and ended up walking a long ways to find one. By the time I got back, they were ready to go but I was exhausted, but we moved on. On my travels, I saw one of the stages where people were singing. There were kids singing at this one. I told them but they did not want to stop and look so we went to the end of the building, which I thought was the food pavilion but turned out to be the agriculture building, where I had found the restroom. Maeghan and Juanita had to go. There was a coffee place right there but I stupidly suggested we go into the agriculture building to find a place to sit down and have coffee. They did not have one. After going through this, and it was very crowded so once again, you could not really see anything with all the people around, we had lost William again. The next building was the food pavilion and it was the biggest most crowded yet. No room to even walk and no room for Maeghan's wheelchair. We would move a few feet and then wait and then move a few more feet and move again. I was needing a place to sit down but all the tables and chairs were taken. We got almost to the end of the row before I spotted a table and sat down before someone else took it. They were all stuck in another part of the line but I waved them over. They did not come over and Juanita was yelling at one of the kids for a while, not sure why, but they did eventually make it to the table, after I had to fight some other people off from taking the chairs or sitting at the table with me.

While I was waiting, I sent William a message about where we were. I was not sure he would be able to find us but he eventually did. He was hungry and thirsty by then so I had to go find some food and drink while they watched the table. It was so crowded, I just got one of the first thing I came to. I got William some Dr. Pepper and Juanita a coke. I found a place that had a cheese plate and I got that for Juanita and I. It was ok but all the cheese tasted pretty much the same so it was not really a treat. While there, Juanita got me a show bag from the American store. That is where I had gotten the Dr. Pepper. Mine had A&W root beer in it. It also had a twinky and some other American stuff. I am not a big show bag guy but it is kind of obligatory when you go to the shows in Australia. I think we got some other things, I know the girls got some flavored teas in mason jars that you got to keep. Not sure what I got William to eat. I got a bag of caramel covered nuts, although it is not really caramel it is covered in but they are ok. I am eating them while I am typing. I got it only because I asked for boiled peanuts and they did not have any. Normally, this company has them but today they did not. I had already gotten a couple of drinks from them and felt guilty about not buying anything else, so when they said they did not have boiled peanuts, I got these. 

At this point, lunch time, I am going to stop this entry. I can tell it is way too long already. I will finish the rest of the story some other time. Maybe today and have three entries from the same day. Probably not. But this had been a while and I have to eat lunch and think about doing some work. I did some work today, so my quota is filled for the day, but I am sure they will come to me with some things right before I leave again. It always happens that way. I am getting ready to leave and they come in and give me all kinds of problems. Last week, I just left. I was not going to try to investigate why someone's phone was not working on some parts of the building. That would require me to contact all sorts of people and try to figure it out and then find out that it was a user ignoring their phone. I am sure that is how that would have turned out. So I left. Going to try to do the same thing today.

So I am off. Be back soon. Have fun and don't lose your earrings. It sets a bad precedent. 

Until next time

Later

MWNews 195

 

Live, from the EKKA. Ok, not so live. That was two days ago. But it could have been live. If I had sat down and typed this, I am sure it would have been live. I guess we will have to pretend.

Of course, I won’t finish this in one sitting. I am typing on my phone, having coffee, waiting for Costco to open. So I’ll type a bit then get back to it. We are actually sitting at a rinky-dink shopping center, outside a cheap bakery, having coffee about to go into Drakes. Drakes is an upscale IGA, or an IGA wannabe. I suppose you have to know what an IGA is. It’s an Independent Grocery Association. It’s how these mom and pop grocery stores get their groceries. You join the IGA and you can use their distribution network to order and get stock. 

Or, I could be making that up. I know that is what it stands for but I don’t know how it works. I think you can rename it to something else but IGA has to be in their somewhere. I’ve seen Linda’s IGA and IGA West and others but most are just known by IGA. Drake’s is like that. There are several or maybe even a lot of them around but it’s basically the same idea. Each independently owned but part of an association.

Think I will stop writing about IGA now. Going to go into Drake’s and they might get upset.

Wasn’t sure if it would save correctly on my phone so I’m back checking it before I go into Drake’s. Seems to have worked so we will do it again and finish later.

Never actually made it back to this entry. I am at work now, some days later. Not sure when I started this so basically, I will start again. Maybe I should publish and then create a new entry. I think I have a lot to go over about the EKKA but maybe I don't. I will get started on it and see where it leads us. Slim to no possibility we will go back on the weekend. Not that we had fun but Angie and hers say they are going to go and we get in for half price if we go back, so if they do go, very doubtful, and they tell us, we might go meet them there. Too much money to do that but we might.

Going to get coffee now. I think I will publish this and start a new entry. Always helps to get the numbers up. Problem is always the lack of pictures as my picture taking days are limited. Can't seem to get Maeghan and William into the same picture lately. We will see.

So until next time,

Later

Friday, August 05, 2022

MWNews 194

 

You might notice there are no kids in this picture. You could only see the tops of their heads so I cropped them out. So let's just imagine they are in the water watching the dolphins jump up to catch flying fish that they threw in an attempt to get the dolphins to come home with them. It didn't work.

I will say I am trying to type this with a wrist strap on my wrist and it is proving difficult. Not sure why since I only use one finger at a time to type but it would appear this is going to be a long process. Maybe someone will come in to rescue me and by the time I finish, I will have taken the wrist band off, but at the moment, I just put it on and probably need to leave it there until my hand goes numb. That seems to happen lately. I think my wrist has swollen and it cuts off the circulation to my hand when I have the strap on. It never used to do that but I have not worn it in a few months so anything is possible, Maybe it shrank, or gremlins got it. More likely, the mouses got it. Either way, I need water.

Ok, I am properly hydrated now, although it took a whole bottle of water to get that way and now I am out of water again. Plus, I will probably need to pee soon and that is the boss's office so he will see me and put me to work. I'm not feeling that great today and would have liked to have taken the day off but since I am the sole source of income, taking days off when you do not feel well is not an option. I had hoped for a positive Covid test this morning but no such luck. Have to stay and tough it out.

I did get an email and a text message about some problems they are having during the week but I don't think they understand that I only get paid for the Friday work and talking them through and solving their problems during the week is not part of my job description. They don't see it that way but someone needs to explain it to them. 

Speaking of strange calls/emails/messages, I got a call from someone about some company that I am supposedly supporting. They said they were the new customer representative and wanted to introduce themselves. She said she had tried calling someone else but found out they do not work for that company anymore. I asked her what company she was trying to reach and it turns out it was a company I did some work for almost a year ago. I told her I was no longer with that company either. She then started to ask who was and that is when I started having suspicions that it was maybe a scam or something and she was gathering names and numbers. I told her I did not now any names or numbers and said goodbye. She seemed to accept that so it might have been real but it was strange. It tells me that the company in question has still not got their act together and cannot tell their clients who works for them or who is supporting them. I had lots of that kind of trouble when I was working with them in that they did not know anyone's names or account numbers or even what the setups were and the master accounts for accessing them. I recognized this as a major issue and got out the best I could, faked a heart attack was my main solution. They said they would wait for me to recover but I never called them back and they did not try to get me again. Hated to leave that way but it was chaos there and I did not want to be part of it, especially since they were not paying me and wanted me to send them bills for the work I did. Even when I did that, they disputed what they owed me so instead of arguing, I put it down to some charity work for them for a couple of weeks and got out of it. But that is old news and we are here to talk about something else. Might be the kids, but I doubt it.

Gotta have more water.

We are going to the EKKA Sunday. We got Shayla a ticket also and she is going with us. We told the others but they have not committed to going yet and you have to get your tickets online, no tickets at the door, so I told them if they go, get their own. Still haven't heard back from them. We did tell them to look up the show bags and pick one out and we will get it for them if they are not there. There are almost 400 different show bags to choose from and I am not going to try to find something for each of them so they will have to give us some idea of what they want. I doubt if that will happen.

Ok, I just drank my second bottle of water, that will be my forth today. Juanita says my ankles are swollen, or they were yesterday. I am taking my fluid tablets so I should not be retaining water but she says they are swollen and that is the first sign as far as I know. Not sure if I should go to the doctor or just increase my dose myself. Seems a shame to waste a day going to see the doctor to have him tell me the same thing I already know but he will probably want a blood test so I should probably go. 

Anyway, the EKKA. I got $50 worth of ride tickets. That will either be too much or way too little. I think the rides are $12 each, if not more, but since Maeghan will not go on them and William says he is too big, that leaves Shayla to shame them into going. If she does, we will need more tickets. If not, then we have too many. It's only one ride each but I did not want to pre-purchase too much just in case. You only save $5 per $50, basically $45 for $50 dollars worth of tickets, so the savings of doing it before hand is not that great. If they want more, we will buy them individually when we get there.

I did get me a food ticket, basically the same thing for pre-purchased food items. The problem with that is they do not tell you where you can use them. It only says valid at participating shops but it does not tell you what the participating shops are. If it turns out to be only a couple of places, then it is a waste of money. If it is most of them, then once again, it is not that big of a savings so we can just buy it there.

We have not been to the EKKA in over 20 years. No idea what to expect. We have been to the Sydney Easter Show a few times and it is basically the same but the big difference with the EKKA is it is located on a narrow bit of land that goes for a couple of kilometers. Where the Easter show was all in one big place, the old Olympics site in Sydney, the EKKA is weird and I am not sure what it entails. We saw part of it from the hospital yesterday but it follows along some rail tracks or something and goes for quite a ways in each direction. Or so I remember. I am not all the sure.

Juanita wants us to drive there and find handicap parking but I do not want to be trying to find parking in what I can only assume will be a major traffic problem. We were by there yesterday and the traffic was terrible, even though the show has not started yet, it is really bad around the hospital district and always is. Lots of one way and narrow streets to navigate and I do not want to do that with a car full of kids. I am planning on us taking the train. I am told that is a good way and there is a train stop there but looking at the website, I have no idea what or where it is we need to go. The directions for the train leave you with a kilometer walk to the show and it is at stops that make no sense. I am planning on just asking when we get to the train station about where and when we need to be going. I think it will be much less of a hassle. Juanita seems to think they are going with me when I take Shayla home after the show but that will be late and we will all be tired so I am sure that will not go well. If I park near home and take the train, we can take the train back and then I can drop them off before I take her. I will take much longer that way but it gives them the option of staying home or going with me and not getting back home until one in the morning.

More water. These are 750ml bottles of water, and this will be my fifth of the day. I will probably have at least four more today and probably six more, depending on when I get home and get to bed. I usually have two as soon as I walk in the door but since everyone is meeting in South Bank to pick up Shayla, I have no idea when I will actually get home. Probably have to buy more water when I get there, which means more water bottles and I have noticed I now have a collection of 14 at home. Time to throw some out.

Time to be going anyway. I have to do some work and this entry is too long. I have noticed that I am making longer entries lately, not as long as some in the past but I was trying to do this more often and less length with each one. But that hasn't worked out. Too much complaining or explaining my life and my problems. I have to keep reminding myself, this is the kids, not me. You can see that has failed. More me than anything. That is why I wanted to start something new, but have not gotten around to it. Or maybe I did and you have yet to discover it. It's a poskability. Probably not though. This is what you get and this is all there is, for the time being.

Still have not gotten all the pre-EKKA information out. Probably be a live blog from the EKKA as the next entry. Maybe I will do another today, but I am tired of typing and I need to take this wrist band off soon or loose a couple of fingers. I can't feel by wrist anymore but my fingers are still working for the time being.  

I went back and re-read this, as I usually do, not always but usually. There were a lot of references I did not elaborate on, like the mouses. And more EKKA. And more hospital and Shayla and everything. But, too long and I am tired. Will have to wait until after lunch, or after work, or after sleep. Probably just after after. I could have even mentioned the dinner last night, but after after. That is the plan.

So until next time,

Later