Seems some 18 year old got arrested for some virus that wreaked havoc on some easily exploitable operating system or other. I sure didn't notice anything. Although, I'm sure if it had been some sort of computer system that, say, the government or industry relied on they would also hold the manufacturers partly responsible. But I'm sure they're not so lax as to rely on such a poor system. But, on the other hand, it makes one wonder why they'd put so much work into catching this kid.

*shrug*
[sarcas-mo-ray generator dis-engaged]

AVAST, YE! Be not forgettin' that Sept. 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Yarr!

Stephen Hawking appears in the A-Z documentary on the Red Dwarf II DVD! He says why he likes the show:
"Unlike some science-fiction series, Red Dwarf does not take itself too seriously and does not try to be politically correct. This allows it to do stories in situations that Star Trek would never dare touch."
He later said that 'Back to Reality' was his favourite episode. Sir Patrick (Moore, Stewart, who's not a Sir, also puts in a few words) also makes an appearance looking healthier thand he should. Can't wait for the movie. =D

Friday:
My wifey suggested we hustle into the city Friday night and and see 'Space Station 3-D' at Imax. We'd been wanting to see this for ages. We met up at Sutherland where I caught the train she was on which would continue into Sydney. It wasn't until we were about to arrive

at Central that she realised she was still travelling with her weekly ticket which did not extend to the city. Let's just say we figured it out and leave it at that.

We caught the tram to Haymarket and walked to Chinatown for dinner. I'm supposed to point out that the tram guy was "chatting me up" (whereas I don't feel it was me in particular). This sort of is relevant later in a statistical sense. First let me say I love Chinatown. I love the closeness and bustle of places like this. The neon and cream puff hawkers and electronics stores and the restaurants trying to win your business. We selected a restaurant (whose name now escapes me, but we'll recognise it by the decor next time out). We had an excellent meal and lamented the loss of one of our favourite places back in Portland. We agreed we needed to come back often and try the others (and maybe spend some more time in the shops). As we walked out we gawked in aversion at one restaurant's tanks which lined the street and which carried some familiar creatures (lobster, prawns, etc.) as well as some we could not place. And we marveled at the stink of them. I've just now found that there was a Triad gang incident there some time last year. Freaky.

We headed back towards Haymarket and Darling Harbour in anticipation of some coffee at Starbucks before the movie. Yum! While we were waiting for our caramel lattes, I noticed that Paul (Pauly) Fenech from Fat Pizza was behind us! Sarah didn't recognise him at first (most likely since he was in a suit) when I whispered to her. When he came over to wait at the barrista's side I smiled and said, "Hi. Almost didn't recognise you in a suit." he smiled and said "Yeah, had a job interview. Usually ya'd see me in a tracksuit, eh?" We laughed knowing full well this guy was not on a job interview (but, you know, that's usually what people say when someone who doesn't wear suits shows up in one; 'got a job interview?'). He asked our names and where we were heading and stuff and he was a genuinely funny guy. He wasn't trying and he was shining. It definitely shows how he got where he is. Sarah, again, says he was chatting me up. I think he's just a friendly and gregarious sort of guy. We SMS'd Hef who, oddly enough was on his way to meet Dan from Big Brother*. FYI, I did not get Pauly's autograph. I'm kicking myself now...

We got to the Imax theatre early and, without thinking how long we had, got popcorn and drinks. When we realised the popcorn wouldn't survive nearly an hour with us just sitting around waiting, we decided to get something from the bar. And here I need to point out that Sarah says the bar guy was also chatting me up. But I would like to point out that she was not with me at the bar. So there. After a couple of drinks and me spilling 1/3 of the popcorn (second time this month) we went in. They used the polarised glasses instead of the goggles for this one. And oh my god, kiddies. It was awe inspiring. An amazing and captivating reminder of what NASA has done for us all. It struck me for the first time that NASA is the single creation I am most proud of my birth country for. If you have the chance, please go see this. It is incredible.
* - Yes, it appears there was a Kylie call as is his habit. ;) We did not get to witness it.

Saturday:
Saturday we got up and talked about going to the Powerhouse Museum but nothing showing really grabbed us. Sarah said coffee was definitely in order and we agreed we wanted Starbucks again so we still planned to go into the city anyway. And then she hit once again hit on the best idea (Friday having been her idea as well); the Taronga Zoo. We'd been planning on going for ages but had never gotten around to it. We had some disposable income (read: I got paid) so we headed out as soon as we could. We took the train into Central, then changed over to the loop to Circular Quay where we'd catch the ferry to the zoo. On the way we saw the jacket equivalent of the 'UCLA Yankee Cola' shirt, the 'Baseball, New York' jacket an elderly Chinese man was wearing. We embraced the hilarity.

We got to the wharf, got a Zoo Pass and grabbed a sandwich as we had about 20 minutes before the ferry was due (12:30). First off, let me say that pictures are forthcoming and it will be worth the wait. :) We boarded the ferry and headed out towards the zoo. On the way I noticed that the girl beside us looked exactly like the ex girlfriend of a friend. It was freaky. I took a pic of her for posterity. Got some beautiful shots of the harbour. After a few minutes we landed at the zoo wharf and disembarked.

Now, besides the zoo itself, Taronga has the neatest feature; You take a cable car up to the entrance up top. It was gorgeous and we could see all the new construction. We saw most everything we planned too (except tigers and meerkats because I got us turned around and we didn't walk to walk all the way back) and the zoo is wonderful. The best part has to be the chimps, though. We spent ages and took billions of pics of the chimps. The two babies were out and one was seriously showing off. We also saw the baby gorilla, but they had a barrier at the window to give the mother and babe some sanity so we didn't get any real pics of them. Anyway, the pictures will say far more than I can here. We'll put them up soon. After lots of walking we finally headed back to the cable cars and then the wharf. We even talked about how economical it was to become a zoo sponsor (and get unlimited entry privileges as a bonus). :)

Back at Circular Quay we discussed where to get that coffee we had wanted and what dinner would be. We headed back to Town Hall station where we planned to hit the Starbucks above Borders in Pitt Street Mall. Two lattes, an Agatha Christie collection (complete Hercule Poirot short stories) and John Douglas novel later we toddled off for dinner. We had initially planned on sushi at our favourite Pitt St. shop, but Sarah decided that Arizona was calling us. heh So we headed to the Arizona a little further up. After passing the tacky souvenir shop in the building, we settled in for some nachos. As some of you know, Arizona here are covered in US car licence plates. We asked the waitress if anyone had pointed out the numerous Canadian plates. She said "Really??? Are they? I'd have no idea anyway, I don't know where any of these places are." Sarah pointed out to me that this is akin to the stuffed kiwi in the Outback Steak House near our old place in Portland. heh We took pics. Again, for posterity. We'll post em with the zoo pics.

The talk of licence plates led to 'how many can you place on the map'. We talked about this a bit and scribbled some things on napkins. This led us to play 'Name That State' when we got home with a US map. I, shamefully, got only 29 states in their correct place. Sarah got around half that. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We headed home with our booty and decided to stop off at the video shop to see if 'Murder on the Orient Express' (which we'd both read recently) was available. We finally found it on VHS after some searching and decided to get 'The Crying Game' as well since Sarah had not seen it and Patti and the Pandemonium (an email list of some friends) gang had been discussing it. After arriving home we popped popcorn (thanks for the popper Hef!) and watched Albert Finney do his outrageous best as Inspector Poirot. It's been ages since I'd seen it and I never knew the liberties they took with the story. But it was still quite fun.

Sunday:
Today was an easy-going day for the most part. I slept in while Sarah cleaned the kitchen. After I got up around 10:45 we decided to make lunch breakfast and went to Cafe Chantellina for bacon and eggs and a megaccino. ;) Well, that and I was going to get a fan to replace the burnt out one in the laundry room. heh

Fan installed, fried rice and spring rolls for dinner (another brilliant idea from the wife =D ), kitchen clean and a couple of hours later we decided to watch the other movie (FYI: VHS is so hard to watch now... so much noise...). We mostly relaxed this evening and I ended up getting caught up in some television on ABC (The Shark Net and Robert Hughes' Goya documentary). Sarah read a bit and then went to bed (sorry, babe, I really didn't realise you weren't just reading still). And... here we are. Now it's off to bed (much later than I had planned) to read some more Harry Potter. I got the first 4 books on sale and have been enjoying them on their own outside of the hype. I'm half way through 'Chamber of Secrets'.

What a relief, PM's saved the human race.

Please sign the Million For Marriage petition. If enough people do, it's tangible evidence of the support for gay marriage and sends that message to the powers that be.

Why is gay marriage so important? Isn't it just a piece of paper?

I think this is a good time to note that Sarah and I recently got married. Well, we got married in our eyes. Beyond us, our friends and some family this is as far as the validity of it goes. So why do we want to be married legally. Isn't this enough? Well, most people don't think about the things that marriage gives and, honestly, a lot is taken for granted. But think about this:

✦ If I'm involved in a horrific car accident, my spouse should be able to be "family" and "next of kin" and be with me. She won't be. Unlike any of you here who are married, my spouse will have to wait outside until my mother or father shows up [after a 24 hour flight] and raises hell about it. Even then she might not get visitation rights. And heaven help those whose families do not embrace their union. The one will not be allowed past the waiting room and their spouse will die without them. The dying denied love because of someone else's beliefs and a government who ignores us. Where's the Christian charity in that? (let's not pretend that religion is not at the core of this)
✦ If we have a child and let's say Sarah is the biological mother, if she dies I have no rights regarding my child. (but had I married a man, and even if he was a psychopathic murderer, he'd have rights). Sarah's second cousins would have far more rights regarding our child than I would.
✦ If we're not both citizens the US, we have no rights regarding immigration as heterosexual couples who marry do. And immigrating to America is not as easy as many would lead you to believe. It's about the hardest place there is to gain entry to, especially these days. At least if you play by the rules and we're not about to do anything silly. If you want to 'buy' a Russian bride, bring this stranger to American and marry her, you sure can . But if you are in love but of the same sex, forget it.
✦ If special tax dispensations are given to married heterosexual couples (and they are), why should we not have those same privileges when we contribute the same ways socially and economically? This is a minor point, really, but it does illustrate the inequity.

No. It's not about the paper. And we really couldn't care less what it's called. If someone thinks up another word for it, I have no problem with that. Leave marriage to the Christian right if that's how it needs to play out. Give us "civil union" or somesuch. It's really all about equal recognition. But right now the rights afforded to those who can claim marriage are the rights we're denied. It's not about the paper, it's about the dignity, acknowledgement and respect that's denied us. We have our marriage now. It's between us and between us we don't need any paper to make it 'real'. But we don't have the rights that two drunken heterosexual strangers can gain in Nevada in about 30 minutes. Their union is deemed sacred and acceptable and legal. Ours, deviant and despicable.

We'd rather be living in America, but America won't recognise our union. So we live here in Australia because the door hasn't been shut as it has in the Land Of The Free. So, please sign and say you wish us all the same dignity and equal treatment that other couples have.