jayneandmarty.com

OK, so this has nothing to do with either Jayne or I, but there’s no doubting that the new iPod Shuffles are very cool.

It’s not summer yet, obviously, but it was such a cracking day today that we decided to fire up the barbie for dinner.

Had to swap-and-go the gas bottle and clean the barbie off a bit, but after a good 20 minutes of heat it was ready for our cajun chicken pieces.

May there be many more this summer. We’re looking forward to sorting out the decking, buying some outdoor furniture and hosting some lazy Saturday evenings with friends and family.

Oh, and fishulous.com is up and running.

Got a surprise in the mail today - a Golf Link card.

I’m a member up at Howlong on the Murray, but to be honest I thought they’d forgotten about me. I haven’t played there for at least a year and was sure that my handicap would be struck from their records as punishment for being a bad member and not spending enough money on the pokies/in the pro shop.

But no. Howlong still love me.

Golf Link is an online system where I can swipe my card (I think) at any course and have my round entered into the system. Great idea. I had a whole bunch of cards to submit for handicap purposes to Howlong but never bothered because I had to post them in the mail.

Anyway, my handicap remains at 14.4, which was accurate in April 2005 but is quite inaccurate now. I went round Waldara’s front nine 11-over on Saturday and that was flattering, to be honest. Enjoyed the round and great to be out there in the sunshine again but I was a bit wild. 20 or 21 is probably a bit closer to the mark, but as your handicap only moves out by 0.1 every bad round you play it’ll take me more than 60 rounds to get back to that, by which time I’ll be quite good again.

So I’m stuck with 14.4 for now. Sounds good when you tell people but not when they see you top your tee shot off the 1st into the bushes.

P.S. A short story about when I joined Howlong: it was 2003, I think, and Johnboy and I had been talking about joining up there for a while, primarily to get a cheap handicap - $55 a year with reciprocal rights at a few courses an hour or two from Melbourne.

Anyway, we played up there one morning and after our round headed to the office to sign up. The office lady presented us with an official-looking form to sign and near the bottom we noticed that we were required to be proposed and seconded by current members. Not knowing anyone at the club at all, we could see our well-laid plans coming unstuck by this piece of blah-blah red tape.

Office lady soon allayed our fears.

Office lady: "Right then - I’ll propose you and we’ll see who’s around to second you. Oh look, there’s Bazza. BAAZZZAAAAAAA!"

(Bazza exits pokies with schooner of beer. It is 10.30am.)

Office lady: "Bazza, these young gentlemen would like to join our club."

Bazza: "No problem. Known them for years, eh boys?"

John and Marty: "Er … yep. Thanks."

And that’s pretty much how Howlong works. Good on ‘em. Hope to get up there again soon - it’s a beautiful little course, particularly when you get a cart.

Found this today via 37signals - a Flickr photoset of scans from 1970’s "The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement".

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikelove/sets/72157594238584883/show/

We’ve been looking for inspiration for our living room for a while now ………….

My recent yahoogling for fishing information has left me thinking that there’s a place out there in internet land for an Aussie fishing blog.

So, I hereby announce

fishulous.com

- a blog about my attempts to learn how to fish. As they say, a man needs a hobby.

I expect to have the site up and running later this week.

You, o reader of jayneandmarty.com, will benefit from this exercise because:

• You will not be inundated with boring posts on jayneandmarty.com (like this one) about my attempts to catch those crafty fishies with Jayne and/or Matt and/or anyone else.
• You might learn how to fish too, if you read fishulous.

What will I write about on fishulous?

What I did, where I went, who I went with, and what I’ll try next time. Every now and again I might even get to write about what I caught.