sieze the day

MMU 11th Annual SANTAS CRAWL to PROMOTE ORGAN DONATION

"Two Things....Your organ's can be used for two things when you die - they can be used as fertiliser or you can donate them to another person who needs a transplant organ to continue their life", and with these words, the HEAD SANTA made it very clear to all that this was not just some inane drinking binge, but a drinking binge that was for a very good cause!

Hundreds of young Melbourne people donned their Santa outfits again this year to join the 11th Annual Santa Pub Crawl that is organised each year by the charitable organisation MMU Ltd www.mmu.com.au.

This year, the SANTA CRAWL was to raise funds and create greater awareness of Organ Donation and a very grateful donor kidney recipient , Kevin Green, was on hand to tell the assembeled Santas what a difference organ donation had made to his life and the four wonderful years he had been gifted since receiving his donor kidney.

Who else was there and where are all the photos I hear you ask!! ...Well this year, I am putting up just three of my favourite pictures and as well, there will be a link at the end of this blog article to all the (good) photos that I took at the event.

 Here we have (L to R) Mary Rose, Tracey, Renee and the very funny and friendly Michael...A really great fun group who had me in stiches with their antics and "stories" ...Thanks guys I really enjoyed your company!

(This was shot with the SAMSUNG NX200 with 20mm - 50mm kit lens ISO 100, Flash, Auto White Balance, Shutter 1/60, Aperture f5.6)

  ANother favourite shot was a reindeer with her elf carer..

These two lovelies were seen having lots of fun - Note the REINDEER costume!! Very innovative...

More Santa merriment'

(L to R) Anouska who is a relationship Manager with Westpac and on the (reader's) right, Mikhala is a number cruncher (an accountant) for a large property development company.

 

Follow this link http://phtshp.us/uxflte #PSDC to see more photos of the 11th Annuela MMU Sata crawl and if any of you want a copy of the FULL SIZE photo, send me an email or leave  acomment below with your email address.

 

 

 

Keith Home Made Cakes - Doing their bit for flood fund rasing

I am just sitting here in amazement at a realisation that has just struck me ...and that is, in the time that I have been writing my weblog, I have not written about KEITH HOME MADE CAKES in Church Street BRIGHTON - Melbourne Victoria. It is one of my VERY favourite food destinations on a Saturday and going there on a Saturday has been almost a ritual for me since about 2003! Nearly 8 years. It is absolutely a Brighton ICON and the proprietor Oi Lan and her family including the front-of-house manager (lovely) Linda, are some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet (on either side of a shop counter).

Here is a shot of Jodie - the new casual staffer and some of the cup-cake produce on offer

 

Keith Home Made Cakes in Brighton make the absolute best pies IMHO (pies of many varieties - my favourite are the potato pies). As well as a big range of pies, you have a  choice of meat or vegie pasties, sausage rolls, party pies and pasties, spinach and ricotta pastries and lots of family size pies of all types to take home (cold) and heat up later to feed the family. Fresh, great quality fillings, BEAUTIFUL tasting, PERFECT PASTRY - simply the BEST!

And if the talent that is evident in the beautiful pastries, cakes and cake decorating are not enough to enchant you, just have a look at the web-site - http://www.keithcakes.com.au - this is a web-site that any multi-national patisserie chain would be VERY proud to call their own - and again - this web-site has been designed and built by Linda and her web-site development business.

When I walked in to Keith Cakes today I was immediately struck by the FLOOD RELIEF fund raising initiative that Oi Lan had introduced to raise money for the recent flood victims.

Oi Lan decided that she wanted her business to raise money for the flood relief appeal so she decided to make special cup-cakes and sell them for $10 per pack and donate ALL the proceeds to the flood appeal - what a great and generous and caring initiative. Well done Oi Lan and staff at Keiths - you are a great role model of community contribution.

Every week, (for the entire month of FEbruary), Oi-Lan will total up the sales of cup-cakes for the week and update the fund-raising barometer - and, so far, Keith Cakes have raised a huge $2,618.80 (I wondered about the odd amount - must be due to GST?? - maybe the accountants amongst us (wake up!) could enlighten us on that one!)

Anyroad, I couldn't resist buying a couple of cup-cake packs and before I could photograph them, "somebody" (Kylie?) had already decided that the cup-cakes needed eating so apologies for the "odd cup-cake out" in the photo.

 

I replaced the hastily eaten highly decorated cup-cake with one of the "plainer" variety - see if you can spot the odd one?

There will be a special mention for the contestant (who responds by comment below) who picks the "odd cup-cake out".

Finally - here are the staff who were on duty today (from L to R - Kelly, Oi Lan and the latest addition to the casual team - Jodie)

Thank you Keiths - Oi Lan and staff for making such great pies, pasties and cakes - I love your food and I encourage readers who want to have a "little bit of Brighton" on a Saturday morning to go down, buy some tucker and sit outside in the warm sun and enjoy the food, the ambience and the passing parade!

Kris Sayce - A financial opinion - "Melbourne's Costly Hobby" -

I subscribed to this free newsletter some weeks back and I must admit I find the propositions and positions expounded by Kris and his colleagues to be interesting and at the same time challenging and to a degree confronting. HAve you seen any of Kris' other articles - what are your thoughts on this article and the ideas, propositions and arguments put forward - would love to hear some agreements and/or disagreements and rationale for same - think it makes incredibly interesting mental excercise - Please feel free to leave your comments

Melbourne’s Costly Hobby
Friday, 4th February 2011
Melbourne, Australia
By Kris Sayce
Melbourne’s Costly Hobby

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“If the property value goes up every seven or eight years and it doubles, which I understand, I agree – how many years do you have to hold the property for the property to make enough cashflow… to cover your mortgage, your rates, your water and all your outgoings?  Ladies and gentleman it’s sixteen years.  So the property can double in seven years, it can double in eight years but for you to walk away from your job it takes sixteen years… before it makes enough money for you to stop going to your job to support it… so what happens is we find people go ‘I’m worth a fortune’, and they are.  But they still have to go to the job every day at 6.30 in the morning because they’ve still got to put money into the fortune!”

That’s probably the most sense we’ve heard from a property “guru” in years.

Money Morning reader Pat brought it to our attention.  The words come from property financing whizz Rick Otton.

The fact is, most property investors are in the same financial position as the doddery old English Lords of the manor… asset rich, cash poor, and debt heavy.  The Lords have to sell off the family silver to stay liquid.

...MORE (Entire Article)

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BE AWARE - The following few sentences are the VALUE PROPOSITION for you to subscribe to the NEsletter

From August 4th to October 27th 2010, shares in Aussie mining heavyweight Rio Tinto rose 13%. Not bad. But in that time you could have made 130% from another Aussie miner your broker would never tell you about...
Between August 27th 2009 & March 23rd 2010, Australia’s biggest airline Qantas gained 7%. Meanwhile you could have doubled your money investing in an airline your broker would have told you to stay away from...
To find out the names of these ‘shunned’ stocks – and 3 more like them for 2011 – CLICK HERE

 

A Beautiful Exotic Dish - and some Chinese lemon Tea Dumplings!

It's the first week-end of Chinese New Year - the year of the Wabbit - and Melbourne turned on an amazing sunny Sunday afternoon for the riverside (Yarra) Hawker festival to celebrate the ringing in of the New Year.

And that is where I found the lovely Vivienne (wife of Kelvin) slaving over a pot of hot pork lemon tea spectacular!

For those who know me very well, you will understand that I could not bring myself to have any of the temtations on offer but I did enjoy speaking with Vivienne, her husband Kelvin and I really appreciated the chance to take a couple of snaps of their kitchen creation - a labour of love and passion without a doubt!

I wish them all success in their culinary endeavours - who knows, I might walk into a beautiful Chinese restaurant one day and find Kelvin and Vivienne there as the proud owners. That will be a great day!

 

 

Santa(s) lots of 'em - come to Emerald Hill!

Sleds and reindeers were nowhere in sight but at the Emerald Hotel on Friday night 10th December, 2010, literally hundreds of would-be Santas of all shapes and sizes spilled out onto the footpath and raised their glasses in merriment and to raise money for a number of very worthy charities.

Upon investigation, it turns out that I was witnessing the 10th Anniversary of the MMU Melbourne "Santa Crawl"

And what a great warm and friendly welcoming bunch of Santas they were - After snapping off a couple of Nikon D7000 pix via Nikon 28mm - 70mm lens, I decided to go and find out what this was all about...

It turns out that MMU has organised "Santa Crawls" in three cities this year - Melbourne, Brisbane and London and in all cases, each "pub crawling" Santa pays $20 that goes to generate profits which are donated to worthy causes. This year MMU is supporting organ donation to help increase the rates of donation. IT is SANTA’S GREATEST GIFT.  

This year the Head Santa has also organised each Santa to bring a wrapped toy to be donated to the Smith Family.

Rachael (Left) and her two friends were very friendly and made me feel very welcome - so much so that I will be tempted to don the red gear next year (although I am working very hard to have anything BUT a Santa like figure by this time next year!!)

And if I needed any further persuading after meeting Rachael and friends, (which I didn't), it came in the form of an "Elizabethan Lady" Santa and her "Court Jester" style Elf - and I was very impressed to hear that our lady Santa had herself made BOTH outfits - yes - her outfit and the Elf's outfit were NPO's (North Pole Originals!!). Lovely.

For more information on MMU - see http://www.mmu.com.au

And here is the "Head Santa" and his closest compadres!

 

LABOR TO DEFY SENATE DISABILITY MOTION

Mitch Fifield, Liberal Senator for Victoria introduced a motion in the Senate calling for support for Insight.
Provided to Headhunter blog courtesy of Insight Education Centre for the Blind and Vision Impaired on Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 9:38pm

The Senate today passed a motion calling on the Government to provide funding to establish a school for blind and vision impaired students in Melbourne and to establish a Disability and Carer Ombudsman.

The motion passed despite opposition from the Government which indicated it will defy the Senate order.

Senator Mitch Fifield, Shadow Minister for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector introduced a motion in the Senate calling on the Government to provide $2.2 million in capital funding to the Insight Education Centre for the Blind and Vision Impaired in Melbourne.

Senator Fifield’s motion also called on the Government to establish a Commonwealth Disability and Carer Ombudsman to undertake a nationwide audit of special schools in order to establish the needs of students with a disability that exist across Australia.

"While mainstream schooling is appropriate for many children with disabilities, some students require more intensive support for a period of time in specialist environments," Senator Fifield said.

"Insight Education Centre is a parent led initiative that needs the support of the Government to extend opportunities for blind and vision impaired students."

Senator Fifield said it was disappointing that the Government refused to support the motion and had rejected the Senate’s call for the establishment of a Commonwealth Disability and Carer Ombudsman.

"A Disability and Carer Ombudsman would give Australians with a disability and carers a real and independent voice within government, and would serve as an activist on their behalf," Senator Fifield said.

Senator Fifield called on the Government to take the needs of students with disability and their families seriously and to comply with the Senate order.

ATTACHED: Notice of motion as passed by Senate.
Notice given 17 November 2010

Senator Fifield:

To move—That the Senate—


(a) notes that there are six schools for deaf and hearing impaired students in

Melbourne but no dedicated school for blind and vision impaired students;

(b) acknowledges that whilst mainstream schooling is appropriate for many children with disabilities, some children require more intensive support in specialist environments for a period of time;

(c) supports the right of parents to choose the educational setting that best

meets the needs of their child;

(d) commends the parents involved in the Insight Education Centre for the

Blind and Vision Impaired for their tireless advocacy and hard work on behalf of blind and vision impaired children; and

(e) calls on the Government to:

(i) establish a Commonwealth Disability and Carer Ombudsman to undertake a nationwide audit of special schools that cater for particular disabilities to establish the needs that exist across Australia, and

(ii) provide $2.2 million in capital funding to the Insight Education

Centre for the Blind and Vision Impaired.

www.mitchfifield.com 18 November 2010
(photo:www.mitchfifield.com)

Tuesday 11th September, 2001 - Still lost for words 9 years later

The images of that day need to be indelibly imprinted into every human being's brain - this act of deception, betrayal and hideous cruelty is profoundly inhuman and the perpetrators are beyond evil and insane.

The atrocity that is the terrorist attack of September 11 2001 is the conception and formulation of beings that do not possess even the slighest shred of sanity or humanity.

Insight School for the Blind & Vision Impaired - IMPORTANT election NEWS

Hi readers - finally - a reason in this election campaign to vote one way or the other!!!

Insight School for the Blind & Vision Impaired - IMPORTANT election NEWS

As you may have seen and heard in the media, these last few days have been busy and hectic for us all.

 

The Federal Coalition has pledged $2.2 million, which will ensure the establishment and opening in January 2011 of the Insight Education Centre for the Blind and Vision Impaired in Glen Waverley. The Internet link to the Herald Sun article announcing the pledge is below, as well as a link to the ABC TV 7:30 report on Insight:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/promise-to-help-build-blind-school-in-victoria/story-fn5ko0pw-1225906581349

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/08/04/2973707.htm

 

This is a huge commitment, a huge achievement. We are grateful to the Coalition and thankful to Greg Hunt, Liberal MP for Flinders, Mitch Fifield, Liberal Senator for Victoria and Mike Kabos, Liberal candidate for Bruce, for taking this issue to heart and wanting to ensure that the blind and vision impaired children and youth of Victoria at last have CHOICE in education.

 

We have worked tirelessly since January 2009 to make this a bipartisan issue, repeatedly calling on both sides of politics to support quality education for the blind. Unfortunately, we have received support from only one side, as you will hear in the link below, an mp3 recording of the 774 ABC radio debate on August 19 between Greg Hunt and Bill Shorten (Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities), hosted by Jon Faine.

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/local/melbourne/201008/r622525_4188679.mp3

 

Following the debate, Greg Hunt invited Alan to speak at his environment policy press announcement at 1 pm to make the case for Insight bipartisan funding.

 

If the Coalition gets elected on Saturday, the blind and vision impaired children of Victoria will get a school.

 

If you want that to happen, there is now something very concrete that you can do.

 

No matter how you voted in the past, or how you will vote in the future, this Saturday, a vote for the Coalition means a school for the blind and vision impaired will happen now.

 

Please pass this message on to everyone you know.

 

Every vote is worth $2.2 million for the blind and vision impaired kids of Victoria. Whatever your political beliefs, and whatever your family’s, friends’ and colleagues’ beliefs, this year a Coalition win will make sure that our children and their families have the services they so desperately need.

 

We urge you to keep this in mind this Saturday.

 

We will keep fighting, whatever it takes, as long as it takes, but we could wake up this Monday with a new future for all vision impaired youth.

 

A big thank you to all of you who support Insight.

 

All the best.

 

__________________________________________________

Alan & Maria Franca Lachman

alan.lachman@sctelco.net.au

From July 2004 to June 2009 - 5 years since my first weblog post!!

About 5 years ago, I did my first blog post and it is hard to believe that 5 years has elapsed since that time.
I aquired my first mobile broadband device - and how things have progressed since then.

The big news now is the impending release of the new 3G Iphone - the second 3G IPHONE.

Here are a couple of my favourite weblog posts to celebrate the last 5 years...

Photo - Bella and Max

Live Band Review - Dr. eELephant in Nov 2004 - Vocalist Damien WIcks - later of "Biggest Loser" fame

Handy Work for Non-Handy People - My best photoshop efforts!

And one more for a laugh!

Up and coming Melbourne Artist - Hannah Gatland

Had the pleasure of meeting a very talented young Melbourne artist who has a very unique and engaging style.

Her name is Hannah Gatland, and you can see some of her art here

I particulalrly like THIS PAINTING