Rest in Peace Iset

Jan. 2002 - Feb. 29 2012





We went to the vet to say goodbye to Iset this morning. The vet brought her into a room for us, and we all gave her pats, and Elizabeth gave her a goodbye kiss. Then Lachlan took the kids out of the room, and I stayed with Iset while the vet gave her the needle. I patted her the whole time, and kissed her, and told her I loved her, and told her that she could leave her old, sick body behind and go on to better things. I think she was gone before the syringe was even empty - she just put her head down on her paw and that was it.

I'm going to miss my darling girl.

EmailCash - $90 cheques, plus $66 membership
Pure Profile - $161 direct deposited
Your Voice - $95 in vouchers
That's-What-I-Think - $20 in Paypal, $10 in vouchers
SpiderMetrix - $30 in vouchers
Homescan - $90 in vouchers and a badminton set
Flybuys - $90 in vouchers and a casserole pot
Lightspeed Panel - $40 in Paypal
Ciao Surveys - $10.43 in Paypal
Opinions Paid - $100 in vouchers
Valued Opinions - $20 in vouchers
OzRewards - $13, need to get $20 to cash out

Please let me email you a referral if you want to join Ciao, That's-What-I-Think (movie surveys), YourVoice, or Valued Opinions.

I've been looking over the various survey and webclick sites I'm a member off, and have decided to start keeping a record of how much I've made off them. I also thought I'd put up some referral links, in case anyone is interested in joining.

EmailCash - get points for shopping through their affiliate sites, for doing surveys and for reading occasional advertising emails. Convert the points to dollars and when you have enough, order a $30 cheque. So far I've made $90 from this site. Without shopping with their partners, it takes me about 7 months to make $30. Australia/NZ only.

SpiderMetrix - get points for surveys, and use the points to buy vouchers or cash. So far I've got one $30 amazon.com voucher. This site is a lot slower than EmailCash, and it seems most of the surveys they send me these days only work in IE, which I don't use. Open to various countries.

YourVoice - run by AC Nielson. Get points for surveys. Better amounts of points than EmailCash. Points can be used to buy items from the rewards catalog (including gift vouchers) or donated to charity. Please give me your email address for a referral. Last redemption I got was $80 of Coles vouchers, but I've had stuff from them before. Australia only.

That's What I Think AU - Get points for doing a survey about movies once every few months. Slow to get points. They do now offer Paypal payments, though it takes about 45 days for them to process. I've had $15 so far. Australia only. If you want a referral, please give me your email address.

Pure Profile - get cash rewards for doing surveys and clicking on sponsored links. When your account balance gets to $25, you can have it direct-deposited into your bank. So far, I've earned $111. Australia only.

Lightspeed Panel - do surveys, and get paid into Paypal. I've been paid $10 by them so far. Australia only.

Ciao Surveys - I just joined this one today. Looks like it pays cash amounts for doing surveys. Pays into Paypal. Australia only. Please give me your email address for a referral. Very slow.

OzRewards - cash rewards for online shopping with their partners and for joining affiliated sites. Pays cheque, Paypal or vouchers. Australia only. Starting bonus of $1 credit. I've so far (in about 3 months) got $10 of rewards there without shopping through them, though I think the minimum redemption value is $25.

FreeStuffDay - not a rewards site as such, but a fun competition site which has a stack of prizes from various business, and during the once-a-month open time, you log in and try to win something. It can involve hours of refreshing of pages, but the prizes range from keyrings and pens to toys, toiletries, vouchers, all the way up to cameras and holidays! I've won a nice necklace pendant from them. Australia only.

FUCK!

Lachlan just came and woke me up. Someone's been in the house tonight and stolen my wallet and Novonde from my handbag, and his Novonde from on top of his backpack.
I've cancelled my credit card and Visa debit, and scanned the box the Novonde came in and printed it out to give to the police when they get here.
I only had $20 in my wallet, but that's not what shits me. I also had my weekly train ticket in there, which I needed for work.
What really freaks me, is that when this happened (between 11pm and 2am), Lachlan was at his computer, with his back to the loungeroom which the burglar would have walked through. I'm so glad they didn't get it in their mind to hurt him or the cats. Lachlan's got these fantastic noise-cancelling headphones, so he didn't hear a thing. I've told him that they are now banned, and I'll just have to learn to put up with his music and computer game noises.
Obviously, the person knew what they were after - the only thing out of place was that one of my handbags was on the floor (the Gucci one, ironically - worth as much as the media players), and they also ignored my Bolle sunnies on the countertop.

They may have looked through the (double-locked) sliding glass door and seen my bags on the kitchen counter. Lachlan says he'd left both of the front doors unlocked, which seems unusual, as he's usually really obsessive about locking up.

Fuck, I'm so freaked out. Moreover, how the hell will I get to work tomorrow?

EDIT: Lachlan's going to go to his ATM and get me some money for a new train ticket, after the police get here or at 4am, whichever comes first.

So, 2007 will be the Year of the Pig. I wasn't even thinking about it, but Mum pointed it out. That makes it my year! Are there any other pigs on my friends-list?



I hope this makes it a great year for all of us intelligent, generous and hedonistic pigs. :)

All the measurements are using Australian standard measures.
Here's a conversion chart for all my overseas friends.

( Moroccan Savoury MinceCollapse )

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( Lentil & Vegetable SoupCollapse )

Because I am an Aussie, and I recognise the love and hard work Steve Irwin has put into raising awareness for the endangered and less-understood animals of Australia. He was both an Australian icon and a cheesy stereotype, just like Paul Hogan back when Crocodile Dundee came out. Through his work, many people have come to have an interest in Australia - not just in our animals, but in our culture too.

I've never met the guy. I was never one of his fans, but he was a true-blue Aussie and I think he'd be pleased with the way he went out. Admittedly, according to John, a stingray was about 106th on his list of things that might possibly kill Steve Irwin (crocodiles and death adders topped the list), but I think he at least died doing what he loved. Nobody who heard the news today was surprised that he didn't live to be an old man. We were all shocked, I suppose, and it's given rise to an interesting mix of respect and ridicule. That's the Australian way, and Steve Irwin would be laughing with us.

My thoughts are with his wife and kids. Cheers, Steve, there won't be another one like you!

Happy Easter to all my friends. I hope you have a safe and relaxing weekend.
And Happy (is that the right adjective?) Passover to those who are celebrating that, too.

( Happy EasterCollapse )

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first (few) line(s) from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song. (I'm not counting songs with no words, obviously!)
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from. (In the case of covers - marked * - , either the original artist or the cover artist is acceptable, but bonus points to those who guess which version I have!)
Step 4: Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly.

( Lyrics belowCollapse )

Good luck people! Some of those are too obvious. And I skipped all the non-English songs, since I can't understand German, Indian or much Japanese. I also skipped the one that was likely to offend a few people.

Borrowed from lisawolf and slightly modified.

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Do you trust my taste in music? Pick one or two numbers from 1 to 387 and I'll find the corresponding song in my playlist. I'll upload it for you to grab. When you've gotten a song from me, go post this meme in your own journal, replace the number with the number of songs YOU have so I can grab a random song from you.

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Lisa originally said 'pick five', but I'm too lazy to upload that many songs. So one or two, if you please, although you can have another go after I've uploaded the first lot for you.
My music collection is very eclectic, so where necessary I will explain why I have the song/what it means to me/my thoughts on it. If it's a song that might offend, I'll put a warning next to it. Like in the case of "The Vagina Song", Bad Cabbage's "You're Rude", or "Woomera".
Go for it. Grab a piece of my mp3 collection. :)