Oldie.

An old photo I took of a fisherman working on the boat we were using as a film loading space while shooting Lucky Miles in Coffin Bay in 2006.

A first.

I went to the bank today. Our new branch just finished extensive renovations. Now, it's all spiffy and classy. When you walk in, a nice lady welcomes you and asks you what you need. Then, she directs you to one of the three sections.

One, the regular tellers. Nice counters and slick glass. And there's like five of them, so you never wait long. And they are super friendly.

Two, little kinds of booths with customer service experts. They can help you with anything. Credit health check, questions about mortages, credit cards, loans, you name it. Again, super helpful, super friendly.

Three, a lounge area with really cool chairs and an awsome sofa. Coffee table, coffee machine. Just in case God forbid you would have to wait five minutes to speak to a customer service person. They call you by your name, they don't rush you, and they are just fantastic.

I walked out of there pretty impressed. I deposited a check, got information about my upcoming new credit card, received confirmation about a remote access wireless debit and credit machine for my new small business, and learned about a new card that I can use when I come to Canada that act like a credit card, but that directly uses my money in Australia. All, in record time. See, usually, I would have hated talking finance and numbers and stuff, but not today. Everything was easy and pleasurable. I never felt that content walking out of a bank before.

Go Commonwealth Bank, go.

Some good in the news.

I was watching the news tonight.
They were talking about how when an organ is harvested from a donor, it only has four hours of 'life time' until it is no longer viable.

That basically means that if you need a heart and you live in Perth, for example, and you are critical, you can only get hearts that come from Adelaide or Darwin. It takes too long to fly a heart from Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns or Brisbane to Perth. The heart does not survive the long trip. So your chances of getting a heart are significantly reduced. Australia is just way too big. And there's nothing else around. So lots of people die waiting.

But this is what the news report was about.
Australians researchers have just discovered a cocktail of medication that when pumped through and organ, it doubles it's life span.
Which means that instead of four hours, the heart can now be viable for 8, 10, even 14 hours. And that is not only for hearts. Livers, lungs, kidneys and pancreas.

I thought that was just awsome.

Love it.

There is nothing like finding a clothing company that seem to make stuff that just FIT you. It can be a rare thing, and that's how my love story with the Gap began. Didn't matter how tall I got or how many pounds I put on here and there, their garments always seem to fit me comfortably and correctly. And I could afford them. Once you know the marked down cycles, you never buy full priced items ever again.

In Australia, nothing seems to fit me.
Everything is made to fit pre-teens that have no boobs and hips like a 12 year old boy.

Frustrating.

But lately, there's been a wave of nice Gap things on ebay, all new, and cheap, even for shipping. After finding a nice pair of shoes on the official website and sending the photo to my mom, she searched the Gaps around Montreal and found them for me, and sent them in my care package. It is just wonderful. It really made me realize how much I miss the Gap. But I can't ask my mother to do that all the time.

So that's when I went on ebay and found a dress, and a nice zip up top. Getting them in the mail was like Christmas. And they fit. Perfectly. How nice.