The decent coffee quest continues.
I tried, and settled for the Steam Expresso Bar, then the brew yesterday tasted like insipid water.
I had to go across the river at lunch time, so waited until I got to Gloria Jeans for my hit. I sighed with relief. Paul, still not as good as yours, but at least it rolled smoothly over my tongue.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Hellstra
I have discovered what happens to you in hell.
They send you Telstra bills, then make you sit on the phone to them for eternity.
Here are the stats.
- Rang the number and it hung up on me before I got to speak to a real person: 7
- Put through to the wrong number: 4
- Finally found someone who could answer my question and they could suddenly NOT hear me: 2
- Just randomly got hung up on: 2
- Times I explained my problem: 8
- Number of times I gave my birthdate and phone number: 12
- Number of times I cried: 2
Length of phone call/s: One hour and twenty minutes.
They send you Telstra bills, then make you sit on the phone to them for eternity.
Here are the stats.
- Rang the number and it hung up on me before I got to speak to a real person: 7
- Put through to the wrong number: 4
- Finally found someone who could answer my question and they could suddenly NOT hear me: 2
- Just randomly got hung up on: 2
- Times I explained my problem: 8
- Number of times I gave my birthdate and phone number: 12
- Number of times I cried: 2
Length of phone call/s: One hour and twenty minutes.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Too much of a good thing cont.
Friday and the search for a decent coffee continued. I ventured into the Qld Flour Mill in the heritage end of town. I love this part of Ipswich. I love the stained glass windows above the door of the Qld Flour Mill. I really, really wish I loved thier coffee.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Too much of a good thing
My favourite barista has shut up shop and left town. It's like he doesn't care about me at all.
The question is, can the city of Ipswich offer me a decent cup of coffee.
So far:
Monday - De Lamantra - 38 beans to choose from. Mine is so bad I tip it down the sink. Tastes like dirt.
Tuesday - on my way to a meeting so I stop at MacDonalds. Coffee is like thier food. Bland.
Wednesday - De Lamantra is the closest so I give them a second chance and try another of the 38 beans. I am thinking 38 beans is 37 too many when you only have 38 customers a day. Dirt taste I am putting down to stale beans. Not worth $4.00
Thursday - Mammoth effort on the phone to Telstra for and hour and twenty minutes. It all ends in tears. Do I need a coffee! The Cactus Expresso Bar is next on my hit list. A cup the size of thimble. Not worth the walk up the hill.
The last day of the week, Friday approaches and I am still hopeful.
The question is, can the city of Ipswich offer me a decent cup of coffee.
So far:
Monday - De Lamantra - 38 beans to choose from. Mine is so bad I tip it down the sink. Tastes like dirt.
Tuesday - on my way to a meeting so I stop at MacDonalds. Coffee is like thier food. Bland.
Wednesday - De Lamantra is the closest so I give them a second chance and try another of the 38 beans. I am thinking 38 beans is 37 too many when you only have 38 customers a day. Dirt taste I am putting down to stale beans. Not worth $4.00
Thursday - Mammoth effort on the phone to Telstra for and hour and twenty minutes. It all ends in tears. Do I need a coffee! The Cactus Expresso Bar is next on my hit list. A cup the size of thimble. Not worth the walk up the hill.
The last day of the week, Friday approaches and I am still hopeful.
Monday, March 15, 2010
How Racist are You?
When I was 12 years old, I went to boarding school. A girl shared my dressing room. She was Torres Strait Islander from Badu Island. One day she picked up my acne cream, read the label, and asked me about it.
My first surprised thought was, “She can read!” My very next thought was, “Of course she can read. What would make me think she couldn’t read?”
The question still remains, decades later. What causes a 12-year-old child to believe that a person, because she is brown and has tight curly hair, is less smart?
So I have to rewind to the first twelve years of my life. I belonged to a farming family, in a community of predominately German descendants. If there were Aboriginal kids at my school, they didn’t tell us about it. I remember nothing rampantly and obviously bigoted. Yet somehow, like osmosis, I absorbed unsettling stereotypes.
What was my 1970’s education telling me? It told me Captain Cook ‘discovered’ Australia, and the ‘first settlers’ struggled to tame a wilderness. It told me, almost in these exact words, the Aboriginal people did not fight back. Underneath these untruths was a subtle message. It said the Aboriginal people were not capable of fighting back, they didn’t try hard enough, they didn’t deserve to ‘keep’ this country.
What did 1970’s television tell me about Aboriginal people? Most likely it said they were absent and invisible. I don’t remember any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander faces on The Sullivans or Young Talent Time.
The Department of Education sent some Aboriginal dancers to our school. The boy sitting next to me said, “They are not real Aboriginals – look their palms are white.” I looked at my palms, I looked at their palms, and I could see his point. But it made no sense that they would send out pretenders.
By the time I got to university, my friends and I were going to Land Rights marches. Sadly, at the end of the day we went back to our own lives. We did not really connect. But we were questioning what we had been ‘taught’ as children.
When my daughter was 6 years old, she said, “Mum, I always wanted to meet and Aboriginal person.” It is a step up from the boy who denied those dancers their aboriginality. It said to me she was curious, perhaps respectful, seemingly lacking any negativity. But it also says to me, there is still a divide in our community.
My first surprised thought was, “She can read!” My very next thought was, “Of course she can read. What would make me think she couldn’t read?”
The question still remains, decades later. What causes a 12-year-old child to believe that a person, because she is brown and has tight curly hair, is less smart?
So I have to rewind to the first twelve years of my life. I belonged to a farming family, in a community of predominately German descendants. If there were Aboriginal kids at my school, they didn’t tell us about it. I remember nothing rampantly and obviously bigoted. Yet somehow, like osmosis, I absorbed unsettling stereotypes.
What was my 1970’s education telling me? It told me Captain Cook ‘discovered’ Australia, and the ‘first settlers’ struggled to tame a wilderness. It told me, almost in these exact words, the Aboriginal people did not fight back. Underneath these untruths was a subtle message. It said the Aboriginal people were not capable of fighting back, they didn’t try hard enough, they didn’t deserve to ‘keep’ this country.
What did 1970’s television tell me about Aboriginal people? Most likely it said they were absent and invisible. I don’t remember any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander faces on The Sullivans or Young Talent Time.
The Department of Education sent some Aboriginal dancers to our school. The boy sitting next to me said, “They are not real Aboriginals – look their palms are white.” I looked at my palms, I looked at their palms, and I could see his point. But it made no sense that they would send out pretenders.
By the time I got to university, my friends and I were going to Land Rights marches. Sadly, at the end of the day we went back to our own lives. We did not really connect. But we were questioning what we had been ‘taught’ as children.
When my daughter was 6 years old, she said, “Mum, I always wanted to meet and Aboriginal person.” It is a step up from the boy who denied those dancers their aboriginality. It said to me she was curious, perhaps respectful, seemingly lacking any negativity. But it also says to me, there is still a divide in our community.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Shutter Island
I like to go to the movie theatre well informed. It is all too expensive to turn up at any old random movie that has an interesting name. I choose to go to the movies I think I will like.
There are times though, when I get invited to a movie and attend through social politeness. This has been at times traumatising - Jerry Maguire - its been 12 years and I still remember sitting in that theatre surrounded by people laughing hysterically wondering why it just made me want to spew.
More recently Mamma Mia! proved not quite traumatising as irritating. What to say to my fellow movie goers who loved it?
I knew nothing about Shutter Island Big names do not a good movie make. Happily I was neither traumatised or irritated, although the soundtrack needed a bomb put under it. I was in fact intrigued and until the last moments unsure which way the film would go. It won't go on my list of all time favourites, but it was interesting enough for our family to discuss for most of the car trip home.
There are times though, when I get invited to a movie and attend through social politeness. This has been at times traumatising - Jerry Maguire - its been 12 years and I still remember sitting in that theatre surrounded by people laughing hysterically wondering why it just made me want to spew.
More recently Mamma Mia! proved not quite traumatising as irritating. What to say to my fellow movie goers who loved it?
I knew nothing about Shutter Island Big names do not a good movie make. Happily I was neither traumatised or irritated, although the soundtrack needed a bomb put under it. I was in fact intrigued and until the last moments unsure which way the film would go. It won't go on my list of all time favourites, but it was interesting enough for our family to discuss for most of the car trip home.
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