Planet MadDog

New Amy photos... finally

It's been a while since I've posted some photos of Amy, so here's some for you now. I wanted this babyblog to show how Amy changes as she gets older. Unfortunately, seeing her every day makes it hard to tell how much she has changes. However, looking at the last pics that I posted here, I realised exactly how much she HAS changed since I last updated. She's got TWO teeth now, she's pulling herself to her feet and she walks with you when you hold her hands. More impressively, she's demonstrating that she's actually learning the things that are said to her, for example, she now can wave bye bye (when everyone else is doing it), and clap her hands.

Below are photos of Amy, taken about 30 minutes ago, wearing her new jacket that arrived from our friend morgan in the US this morning.

Posted by a very cheerful MadDog on Friday October 29, 2004 at 2:21:49 PM - 4 comments

And where the hell have you been lately, mister?

It has been brought to my attention that I am a slacker who doesn't update his blog nearly often enough. For this I apologise, but not enough to give you a decent excuse. :)

First of all, the big news at the moment is that I have resigned from my current workplace to take up a new position which pays a bit more money, offers less stress and allows me to persue some extra-curricular, out-of-hours projects. This move is huge for me, jumping out of a massive comfort zone I've been in for over seven years, and I wouldnt have done it if I wasn't sure that it was the perfect thing for me to do right now, thinking about where I want to be in about 5 years time. The timing is pretty spot-on for this kind of move.

I've had a chat with the manager at McPherson Media and he's offered me ownership of the OzChat domains, so I've decided to have a crack at writing my own web chat, and make the best damn OzChat I can. It's looking very promising at the moment and could potentially bring in a spot of advertising revenue. I'm also getting into the web hosting business, offering domains and hosting on top of the freelance web design I'll be doing. Also, madSite, My content management system (CMS), that I've been writing for the last 2 years is almost ready for a v1.0 release (I know I said that about a year ago, but I really think I'm getting close :). Top this off with a prospective virtual tour website for real estate agents and you've got yourself one very busy little Mikey.

In other news, I've recently had the mis-fortune to have lost my wallet and my mobile phone together. After getting a new SIM card and going back to my old phone, I stupidly lost that phone the following week. $33 for yet another new SIM card later, I'm back to my old OLD phone. There was around $60 or so in the wallet, but the killer was stopping all the bank cards, waiting for replacements to arrive, arranging a new drivers licence (with a fatter-faced Mikey in the photo), and no knowing what else was in the wallet that could be exploited. Anyone who knows me, knows that I keep my life in my wallet. It's like Seinfeld's George Costaza's, bursting at the seams with Subway vouchers, reciepts, business cards and memorabilia such as my first parking ticket, and my first speeding fine. All gone. I'm over it now, though. I have a cool new leather wallet with a nice big clear window for a photo of Amy, and a coin purse and all the other wallet neccessities, so it's not all bad.

Posted by a very bewildered MadDog on Thursday October 21, 2004 at 3:10 AM - 4 comments

Lock up your daughters loose items

Amy is now crawling, and I'm not talking your namby-pamby commando crawling (although we were pretty proud of her when she started commando crawling). I'm talking, full on hands and knees, left-right-left-right crawling. Of course, she pretends that she doesn't know how to crawl when she's called, but if you put the TV remote control or the Xbox controller on the floor, BAM she's there in a flash, and shoving it into her mouth. Therefore, the carpets are vaccumed twice a week, all speaker wires have been pushed down under the carpet, and Maddi's dogfood bowls have been placed at the other end of the kitchen.

She's also started learning that pressing buttons on her activity center can make music play, as can pressing the buttons on her toy mobile phone. In fact, sometimes she seems a little upset that the old Commodore 64 joystick I give her to play with doesn't play music when she presses the buttons. She's also learned the difference between banging on the old broken keyboard I give her to play with (which does nothing special), and banging on my good keyboard (which makes Daddy go bananas). She also likes the pretty blue button on my PC next to the sparkly red flashing hard drive light. She also likes the funny, noisy dance Daddy does when she presses it and makes the monitor go black.

And just when you think she couldn't have possibly learned anything else this month, she's learned that it's fun to drop things on the floor and watch as Mummy and Daddy pick it up and give it back for the process to be repeated. Simply fascinating!

Somtimes, I wish she'd stop learning things.

Posted by a very beaming MadDog on Wednesday September 22, 2004 at 4:36:53 PM - 2 comments

Drunken Update

Hey, look folks. I've been sitting here on the couch thinking "It's been a while since I've made a crazy Planet MadDog drunken update" so I thought I'd pop online and indulge you all with what's going on inside my head after consuming a half bottle of Jim Beam Small Batch , and I promise I won't delete it this time, only correct the drunken spelling errors.

First of all, an update on where my fantastic little girl, Amy, is at. Well, she's seven months old now, and I'm noticing new aspects to her personality on almost a daily basis now. I'm seeing her learn new emotions, such as surprise, frustration, and contempt (which I experience after pulling her away from a potentially dangerous, yet fun and crinkly, plastic bag that she's enjoying).

In other news, Gracie and I have started on the Weight Watchers diet and have started seeing some results. I've lost a kilo or two at least (I haven't had the proper weekly weigh-ins (that you pay $17 per week for), but I'm feeling a bit lighter at least, and my belt has gone in a notch), and Gracie has resumed her usual tri-weekly visits to the local gym. I didn't mention this before, but Gracie had previously stopped going to the gym because the creché had been neglectful in looking after Amy, what with her being bitten by an older child twice, and her head being run over by a toddler with a toy pram, and we'd also heard reports of other babies being bitten by older toddlers. We cracked the proverbial shits with them, and they assured us that they were aware of the problem and that they were dealing with it, so after a month or so absence, Gracie decided to give them a second (or was it third... or fourth?) chance. Besides, Amy has her first tooth, at the front on the lower-left side, with its right-hand neighbour about to surface any minute. She bit my finger tonight and for the first time, it actually hurt, so we though if anyone was going to bite her, she could go and bite them right back. Well, since returning to the gym's creché, Amy was almost bitten again (they stopped it happening at the last minute, by putting Amy into a high chair (wow, what great child-care skills)). This puts us at a bit of dillema. Gracie is trying to lose a bit of weight, we're eating healthy, and she wants to go to the gym and tone herself up a bit, but the only form of casual day-care available to us is this crappy creché. So where do we go for here? Working for the local newspaper , I've been thinking of suggesting this as a possible story, but I dont know if that would have any effect. I dont normally ask for comments, but I tend so be a bit less stubborn and more open to suggestions when I'm drunk, so they would be greatly appreciated in this case.

Posted by a very drunk MadDog on Friday September 3, 2004 at 10:15 PM - 4 comments

Well, they've got MY business

I don't normally read the spam email I get, which is understandable, as I get hundreds of junk emails every day, however this one caught my eye. Not through any brilliant marketing ideas mind you, but rather by a poor grasp of the English language.

Darling Reasonable Customer!

I am "Actuality C. Hydroelectric", and I work at Low-Software INC.

You are is so momentous for all of our company!

You waste your earnest money and your time on my representation, and We want to let you know that our corporation have end update of soft assortment.

Our firm like remind You that our company propose that now Our Company have more bigger choice Top programs for very cheap cost with your individual Client price reduction.

Would you be so kind as spend few of your high cost Times to our renovated warez Catalogue righ here: [LINK REMOVED]

With regards,
Clients Service Department, "Actuality C. Hydroelectric"

I like to imagine that who ever wrote this email is actually named "Actuality C. Hydroelectric" and that he is actually a wacky Japanese midget with blue hair and glasses.

Posted by a very thirsty MadDog on Thursday August 12, 2004 at 10:41:53 AM - 4 comments

Amy update
Frodo... Frodo... Little Hobbit Guy!
Damn that infernal bird...

Now since Amy is now six months old, and also because I've been majorly neglecting this section of the website, I've decided to give you all an update on where we're at with everyone's favorite baby.

  • Shortly after she was born, Amy's hair started to get really thin, and a bald spot had formed on the back of her head where it would rub against the sheets as she slept. Well, the hair has started to grow back now, so that's good.
  • She's a mad rolling machine. She was a bit slow in learning to roll over, and just when we were wondring if she'd ever learn, she started rolling all over the place. This means we have to pay a lot more attention to her now, making sure she doesn't roll behind the couch or into the heater. One time Amy was in the lounge room while Gracie was taking a shower. She rolled straight out the door, through another room and into our foyer. Gracie was amazed to find her in the middle of the room smiling away.
  • That's another thing. Amy just LOVES to smile, which is great because I love watching her smile. All you need to do is look at her and she'll give you the cutest smile.
  • She's gotten quite good at using her hands now. If there's something she want to play with, she'll reach out and grab it, before attempting to shove it into her gob. If the object is out of her reach, she'll reposition herself and roll on over to it. Again, we have to be very careful with what we leave lying around now.
  • Amy LOVES to be nude, but then again, who doesn't. When Amy starts to get cranky, and we need to kill some time until her feed/bath/bed time, we can usually buy some time just by nuding her up and letting her kick around on her blanket.
  • She's starting to learn that our actions are actually reactions based on her own crazy actions. She's doing more and more things to try and get our attention, like slapping her hand on surfaces that will make some noise, or making high-pitched squealy noises. I often think she's hurt herself, or she's crying about something, but she's just happily squealing away, smiling at me as if to say "made you look!".
  • Along with these squealy noises, Amy's been learning how to use her vocal chords by babbling on randomly, blowing spit-bubbles and lauging at the many amusing faces and noises I make. I get a kick out of her reactions to new sounds I make, but eventually she tires of it and I have to find something else to get her attention.
  • Speaking of getting her attention, Amy LOVES the Dodo Internet adverts. Whoever makes these ads should make kids shows, because no matter what we're doing, Amy will stop and and jerk her head towards the TV and will NOT take her eyes off thawt damned blue bird until the ad is over. It makes feeding her very difficult at times. On the other hand however, she also loves watching The Simpsons, which is great, and obviously shows that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Posted by a very conjested MadDog on Wednesday July 28, 2004 at 3:05:24 PM - 0 comments

Geek in training

Another couple of camera phone shots, this time of Amy modeling the Think Geek wear that was bought for Amy by zenny.

Geek in training Still a geek in training

Posted by a very smitten MadDog on Thursday July 1, 2004 at 7:45:54 PM - 1 comments

Camera Phone Powers!
I've recently aquired a Nokia 7650 phone to use for a while, so I decided to use my new camera phone powers to take a pic of Amy to use as the phone's wallpaper. You can download it below, and if you have the means and the will, you too can have a smiley baby on your phone.

Awww....

Posted by a very clucky MadDog on Wednesday June 30, 2004 at 2:20:33 PM - 2 comments

No Ashley, I don't bloody know.

Which one's which? Who friggin cares. Which one's which?
Who gives a damn?

Did anyone happen to catch the Ashley Olsen interview on Rove last night?

Did anyone happen to catch the number of times she said "you know"?

I did.

52 friggin' times.

No Ashley, I don't bloody know . Why don't you tell me instead of, like, you know, hiccupping the same damn thing over and over.


Update: Cheers to Sandie for pointing out that the Herald Sun's Ashley Olsen interview has obviously been heavily edited to remove all of the "you know"s, because according to them, she only said it twice.

Posted by a very conjested MadDog on Wednesday June 30, 2004 at 12:49:41 PM - 2 comments

Soap box alert.

I've been getting heaps of hits lately from people asking Google how much does Beyonce weigh. Well, guess what? Although I'm number five for this particular search query, I haven't got the slightest clue what she weighs, nor do I care.

Last year, the Destiny's Child member said in a magazine interview that she eats six slices of tomato and four slices of cucumber for lunch. If she wants to do that, then good on her, but I think that by saying that, she's setting a bad example for her younger fans. Young kids need proper nutrition for their growth and development. She went on to say "I go through agonies to keep my stomach as flat as possible". Our culture seems to have an obsession with wafer-thin waifs who appear either sick or drug-dependant. Beyonce has a classic hour-glass figure. She's "got back", as the great Sir Mix-a-lot put it. It would be a shame for such a diet to curb that "backness".

"I wrote that because, at the time, I'd gained some weight and the pressure that people put you under, the pressure to be thin, is unbelievable... You should be thinking about building up your character and having fun and the song was just telling everyone just forget what people are saying, you're bootylicious. That's all. It's a celebration of curves and a celebration of women's bodies."
Beyonce Knowles , on the song "Bootylicious."

Just a quick note to any papparazi out there. If you see Beyonce in your journeys, put down the camera and give her a ham sammich from me.

Posted by a very bootylicious MadDog on Tuesday June 22, 2004 at 3:42:18 PM - 2 comments

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