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trixtahI got a new knife-sharpener last week, since I'd been hanging out to get a decent one for ages. While this might sound trivial, anyone who's known me for more than 10 minutes knows I have a wee fetish for extremely sharp knives (of course, it's not practical to keep your knives extremely sharp all the time, since you end up ruining the edge, but it's nice to have them sharp enough). I've been doing ok with my standard butchers'-style sharpener, but I got a really fabulous Istor-style sharpener (with one metal and one ceramic side), and now all my knives are super-sharp (yes, yes, they won't stay that way for long, but it was fun doing it).
Betsy Gilhooley in my Soc of Tech course is still driving me nuts. She also appears to be a fan of really bad WordArt in her PowerPoints. GAH. Also, we need to do an ethnological survey as part of the course. This means interviews (it could mean other things, but bugger that for a joke). Luckily none of my team members were keen on the idea of mutual workplace visits, which was old Betsy's initial suggestion. If anyone fancies being interviewed re their experiences with records/document management systems in organisations, please do give me a shout-out (I'm going to oppress some of the people at work, but a bit of diversity won't hurt).
I roasted a nice organic chicken yesterday, and today I turned some of the remainder into a vaguely-Mediterranean chicken/lentil/tomato stew, which I invented on the spot. Nom. Carving the chicken was fun.
It turns out that it does take upper-body strength to drive my no-power-steering 1290kg car. I went to the gym today for the first time in ages, and since it was the uni gym, I drove there (I've never driven to a gym before). Driving back home was fun of another kind. Ow ow ow.
I spoke to my ex D last night, and I've gotten over my irritation with her, since she was much more relaxed with our conversation last night. She and her bloke bought an engagement ring while they were on holiday on the West Coast of NZ, which is pounamu set in silver, "and it reminds me of the chunky amethyst ring that you had made for me when we were together". Awww. I'll be seeing them next month when they visit Canberra, which should be nice. I do think I want a holiday back home first. Maybe, that is, in between the new staff members starting and all the other assorted connuptions at work.
One thing that disgusts me, though, is that apparently a lot of the greenstone sold in places like Hokitika is cheap shit imported from China, and you have to specifically make sure what you're buying is from the South Island. Nice way to fuck up your tourism industry, guys. Perhaps they should make pounamu/greenstone "reserved" words, and if you're selling crappy Chinese jade (I know there's nice Chinese jade, but I can guarantee they don't flog much off to NZ), you can only call it jade.
PS. Cloudy Bay Pelorus NV is not worth $35, to my taste. I'd rather drink Lindauer for 2/3rds of the price (even the cheap Lindauer is more tasty to me). I think the Pelorus is more "European style", which is great if it's Veuve Cliquot or Moet & Chandon at twice the price. Or more. But I don't like the cheaper French fizz either. Obviously this makes me a philistine.
Betsy Gilhooley in my Soc of Tech course is still driving me nuts. She also appears to be a fan of really bad WordArt in her PowerPoints. GAH. Also, we need to do an ethnological survey as part of the course. This means interviews (it could mean other things, but bugger that for a joke). Luckily none of my team members were keen on the idea of mutual workplace visits, which was old Betsy's initial suggestion. If anyone fancies being interviewed re their experiences with records/document management systems in organisations, please do give me a shout-out (I'm going to oppress some of the people at work, but a bit of diversity won't hurt).
I roasted a nice organic chicken yesterday, and today I turned some of the remainder into a vaguely-Mediterranean chicken/lentil/tomato stew, which I invented on the spot. Nom. Carving the chicken was fun.
It turns out that it does take upper-body strength to drive my no-power-steering 1290kg car. I went to the gym today for the first time in ages, and since it was the uni gym, I drove there (I've never driven to a gym before). Driving back home was fun of another kind. Ow ow ow.
I spoke to my ex D last night, and I've gotten over my irritation with her, since she was much more relaxed with our conversation last night. She and her bloke bought an engagement ring while they were on holiday on the West Coast of NZ, which is pounamu set in silver, "and it reminds me of the chunky amethyst ring that you had made for me when we were together". Awww. I'll be seeing them next month when they visit Canberra, which should be nice. I do think I want a holiday back home first. Maybe, that is, in between the new staff members starting and all the other assorted connuptions at work.
One thing that disgusts me, though, is that apparently a lot of the greenstone sold in places like Hokitika is cheap shit imported from China, and you have to specifically make sure what you're buying is from the South Island. Nice way to fuck up your tourism industry, guys. Perhaps they should make pounamu/greenstone "reserved" words, and if you're selling crappy Chinese jade (I know there's nice Chinese jade, but I can guarantee they don't flog much off to NZ), you can only call it jade.
PS. Cloudy Bay Pelorus NV is not worth $35, to my taste. I'd rather drink Lindauer for 2/3rds of the price (even the cheap Lindauer is more tasty to me). I think the Pelorus is more "European style", which is great if it's Veuve Cliquot or Moet & Chandon at twice the price. Or more. But I don't like the cheaper French fizz either. Obviously this makes me a philistine.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-10 08:04 am (UTC)As I understand it, Chinese jade is actually a different mineral, not as hard as the NZ stuff, so couldn't be used for blades, axes, etc. It's just the colour that's the same (more or less).
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-10 11:39 am (UTC)So the darker coloured jade hitting NZ's shores from elsewhere isn't the premium-quality stuff, but as you say the toughness/brittleness of nephrite/bowenite vs jadeite are different. Although there's brittle nephrite in NZ as well, it's hardly the stuff that anyone bothers extracting.