What's really in a colour?

So I was sat on the train today and saw the guy in front had a PSP but his PSP was not the standard black. Oh no, this was white!

This made me ponder for the rest of my journey, just why has white become the new black.

Well, I reckon the reason why white is now the coolest colour is all down to a gadget that was first launched in 2001 - the iPod. Since the iPod came out in it's distinctive white jacket every other manufacturer of gadgets has jumped on the white bandwagon. As pointed out at the beginning, you can now get PSP in white, Nintendo's new game console Wii is white.
OK, so I've run out for my list but you get the idea. What's next? Perhaps SLR camera's will be launching in White. But does white really sell that well?

A guy I know used to work as a car salesman, we discussed why people buy white cars. It's something that I still don't understand but he did tell me that they called the cars 90 day white because it would take 90 days longer to sell a white car than any other colour. If white is now so cool and trendy perhaps now is the time to buy a white car to put your white iPod and PSP in. You could also put your food mixer in there as well if you wanted.

Which raises another question on the colour of gadgets. Moving on from white, which was predominantly used as the colour for kitchen accessories we now have the choice of yellow, blue, green and ..... Pink! Yes, you lucky ladies can now do your mixing and blending using a pink machine. You can drain your vegetables and pasta using a pink sieve. You can toss the salad using pink tongs and eat your food from pink plates. Oh what joy!
Okay so there are other colours out there, not just pink but why the necessity to colour code everything? Surely too much of one colour is overbearing, isn't it? And does it make it work any better that the standard white or clear plastic or even stainless steel? No! But they will charge a few dollars or pounds more for the option of having a different colour.

So why did I pick on pink, well I'm fed up to the back teeth of having pink shoved at me everywhere I go. I can't even go to a hardware store without seeing pink power tools. Why do you need to make a power tool pink to attract women? Surely the purpose of what the power tool does enough? Even in the decades gone by of the '40's and '50's when women weren't seen as being as equal and as capable around the house, they were using standard screwdrivers and hammers to fix the broken draw in the kitchen while hubby was out to work. They didn't need it to be pink. And who decided to bring in this god awful colour to the toolbox? I hate to say it but it was probably a woman! Dear me, we fought for our right to be treated equal to men and then we go and get pink power tools.

I know it isn't the colour's fault but I really hate pink. I never used to hate it, as I child I liked pink and even now I have the odd top that has some shade of pink in it. Yet I now despise the colour. I don't like how pink is associated with girlie things or to make things seem girlie. Just let the colour be!

Of course, pink isn't just for women and girls. Men are also now jumping on the pink bandwagon. It is now cool for a man to wear pink shirts. Is it? Is it really cool for men to wear pink shirts? That's what everyone keeps telling me but I just think it make you look poncey. I don't like men in pink shirts, it's just not right. If we go back to the argument that pink is used to make things more girlie and feminine, then what is a pink shirt doing to a man?
I rest my case!
Sorry, but I like my men to be men, butch and burly. It doesn't mean that they don't have a caring side. Why have we turned men poncey? Most men will use some sort of moisturising lotion if they have dry skin, particularly if they work outside. But that's not good enough, now they have a whole skin care range as well. I don't have a problem with men trying to look their best but are we making them too soft? "I'd love to help you change that wheel but I've just put hand cream on and don't want to get them dirty again" All I asked you to do was stop the spare rolling away!

Nope, I think the colour pink is turning us all soft and pathetic. It's probably just as well that my favourite colour is blue :-)

And to top it all......

Work let me go this morning.

Yep, I'm now jobless as well. What a great 2007 this is turning out to be.
I'm wondering what is left to go wrong. Shhh, I'm sure there is plenty more bad stuff in store it's just waiting for the most inopportune time to happen.

Shit happens, as they say. I just hope that from all my shit that I'll soon start coming up roses.

For those of you that don't know yet

I'm afraid it's more bad news following on from my last post. A dear friend of ours back home in the UK, passed away last night.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer and was due to have her last round of Chemo but she contracted a chest infection and went into a coma.

My deepest sympathies and thoughts are with her husband.

Rest In Peace Anne.

It's not good, not good at all

Yesterday morning was not very nice for Mr M and I. First there was the phone call I took from Mr M's sister to say that her husband has something far worse than the aneamia he was diagnosed with after Christmas, he now has bowel cancer as well. There are more tests happening this weekend.
They have had such a terrible time as Mr M's sister hasn't long been given the all clear after having breast cancer.

Another friend of ours back home is currently undergoing chemo as the doctors also found that she had cancer after complaining about pain in her jaw. The chemo is knocking her for six but she is responding well to it. Hopefully she will get the all clear too.

With all these cases of cancer happening in the familly and to friends, I also got a message yesterday that another friend who has been battling cancer for 12 years is critically ill in hospital. The doctors are giving her days but they have said that before and she still pulled through but now they have stopped treating her so it's a case of playing the waiting game and making sure that she is comfortable. It's just so sad that after fighting for so long that they can't do anymore for her. God bless her, she still is in good spirits and talks about it all so matter of factly. She has more courage than I could ever hope of having.

It's been a while....

Since I blogged last but that is because I've been super busy. Actually I've been on holiday for the past week and got to do a touristy thing in Sydney last Wednesday..... I completed the Skywalk challenge!

It's not really a challenge but I guess people who don't like heights would find it a challenge to look through the glass floor while you feel the wind in your hair. It was sooooo cool!
I've been up the tower twice before but only ever to the observation deck as the Skywalk wasn't open back then. The observation deck is pretty good, you get nice views of the harbour and surrounding suburbs of Sydney but the Skywalk is so much better. Rather than looking out through the glass you actually go another floor up and walk along the outside. It's not as scary as it sounds as you are harnesed and attached to a guide rail as well as there being a glass and metal wall to surround you outside. I felt perfectly safe and was more than happy to jump on the glass floor as we were told to. Only problem was I coulddn't jump to much as the harness kept rubbing the sunburn on my neck and caused be to have a huge horrible blister for a few days. But all in all the Skywalk is excellent and I'm now a member of the Skywalk club which entitles me to a free walk if I go with someone who is paying. This means that Mr M and I can go BOGOF! Excellent! Have to plan to do a night walk now.

Mr M's Neice was over for a few days so we took time off work. Monday was spent up at the Blue Mountains which is a lovely place. Tuesday we did the Bondi to Coogee walk, a nice coastal walk and we had lovely weather although my factor 30+ still didn't stop me getting sunburnt but it wasn't too bad. Wednesday we did the Skywalk and went to the Opera House in the evening to watch La Traviata which was a superb production. Thursday we walked around The Rocks and went to Susannah Place Museum which told us the story of The Rocks from early settlers to near enough present day.
Neice left Thursday afternoon so Friday we managed to go shopping and spent the weekend chilling before going back to work on Monday.

The Saturday before we had had a party in the house so it was nice to have a relaxing weekend. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the party, it was lovely to finally have friends around as we'd been talking about it for so long. It was a really good night and I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. Nobody went home feeling hungry which is a good sign and most people staggered out of the front door, yet another good sign! As well as doing the usual nuts and crisps for snacks I was also a little more creative and cooked Devilled Eggs which we a huge success as were the red capsicum Pin Wheels. The Jalepeno ones were just as good but being very spicy they were for a selective palate.

If anyone is interested ( I had a few people ask at the party) here are the recipes:

Devilled Eggs
12 Eggs
Mayonaise
Hot Mustard
Dash of Worcester Sauce
Dash of Milk
I haven't put the quanities as I myself didn't follow the recipe I had exactly and instead mixed to my own taste. I did only use one teaspoon of Mustard but if you like it hotter you could add more. Also with the Mayonaise it again depends on taste, I think I must have put about a table spoon in the mixture.
Method
Boil 12 eggs so that they are hard boiled. Shell and cut lengthways.
Scoop out yolks into a bowl and mash with a fork and mix with other ingredients.
Either spoon or use a piping bag to put yolk mixture back into egg halves.
Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Pin Wheels
6 Tortillas
1/2 tub of Sour Cream
1/2 tub of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Small Brown Onion finely diced
2 Garic cloves crushed
Grated Chedder Cheese
Red Capsicum diced (pepper in UK) or any other filling of your choice.
Method
In a bowl mix together the Sour Cream, Philadelphia, Onion, Garlic and Capsicum.
Spoon mixture onto a Tortilla and spread using the back of the spoon.
Sprinkle grated Cheddar Cheese over mixture and roll the Tortilla.
Do the same for the rest of the Tortilla's. Then roll them up in Glad Wrap (Cling film) individually and place in fridge overnight.
Unwrap, cut into slices and serve.

Enjoy!

Ashes to Ashes

The Ashes debate rages on..... Should they be allowed to stay in Australia?
I personally think they should. The Aussies won them fairly so why shouldn't they get to keep the little Urn until the next Ashes test? I understand that it is fragile but if that is the case then why do the keep whipping it out of the case, why not keep it in the glass case? It already does a fair bit of travelling anyway so what is the difference?

The argument is that it belongs at Lords. But I thought that they were playing for this? For the Ashes. Surely then they should be allowed to keep it for a short while?
Maybe the Brits think that the Aussies will steal it and never let it return. Perhaps they could hold it for ransom?
It is nice to see that there are other people out there that are influential enough to make a bit more noise about it. The Keep The Ashes In Australia pitch now has the help of Richard Branson, Alan Boarder and Ian Botham. However the other side has the Barmy Army and I think they can sing louder than RB, AB and IB. I don't think it will happen somehow, I think the Ashes will return back to the UK to be kept at Lords as it always has been.

Coincidence

Okay, so I'm just slightly drunk 'cos we've just got in from NYE! Which was awesome but is not what I really wantedd to say right now. What I did what to say (after concentrating greatlry on the keyboard!) was that Mr M and I managed to send each other exactly the same Christmas card! How freaky is that?! I mean identical. Same front, same verse, same bloody card!

Weird! But kinda nice at the same time :-)