7 Things Only My Dad Has the Guts to Ask (and Did)

My dad emailed me to tell me that I was (a) not only slacking off on my blog posts, but (2) forgot to post about the "7 Things That Dads Ask About." (This was in response to my "Mom" post.)

He was so kind to even provide me with the list of 7 Questions, which makes my job all the more easy. (Dads are great like that.)

Here they are:

1) "What is the price of a gallon of gas?"

Well, first of all, you buy gas by the liter here. A liter is close to a quart (32 oz) in size, and there are 4 quarts to a gallon, therefore roughly 4 liters to a gallon.

So, when you look at gas prices, you think, "WOW! THIS IS CHEAP!" and then you realize it's per liter, and to truly compare it to the cost of gas in the US, you have to multiply the amount by 4. Which means it's not all that cheap anymore.

Second of all, we don't have a car. And so neither Crash nor I have paid much attention to the prices, but at last check they were at AUS$1.32/liter. So here's the math:

A$1.32/liter x 4 liters = about A$5.48/gallon (about US$4/gallon).


2) What is the major sports attraction going on at the moment?

After juggling in Hyde Park on Sunday afternoon, we stopped into a bar with a few others. There was a row of TVs on the wall, each with something diffferent:

• snowboarding
• ice skating, with really (and I mean REALLY) bad costumes
• some sort of football-like event, but with no helmets and the guys were muscular instead of just plain big like american footballplayers. Perhaps it was rugby? I think so.

I have also seen horseracing and dog racing on TVs as I pass by them in stores and bars... I think there was a major horse race here a few weeks back.

A quick scan at the Sydney Morning Herald's Sports page in the paper reveals talk of the following:

• rugby
• Australian football
• soccer
• cricket

It's all about sweaty boys. Blah blah blah. I didn't pay much attention to it in the states, and I don't expect to here, either.


3. Do you own a TV? And if so what do you watch?

We don't own a TV, but we didn't in the states either (ok, I confess, I have a 13" b&w tv back in Seattle, but it only gets used during years of presidential elections and when there are riots and protests or a major catastrophe going on.) It's been awhile since I have watched any prime time shows; I'd rather be reading or doing something else, I guess. There was a time about 7 years ago that I realized that I was basing activities around TV shows — re-runs, none the less — and that pretty much put an end to my TV watching.

I'm not sure what's popular here, but there is an exhibit right now at the Sydney Powerhouse Museum, that is showcasing great moments in Australian Television.

We do, however, like to watch movies — and we both have computers with DVD players, so we watch movies on them. We have 2 video stores just down the street from us, but we have only used the local library so far, because it's not only free, but you can have the DVDs checked out longer than you'd be able to from a video store.

It's important to note, however that DVDs are region-specific. For example, my laptop is set to play US/CANADA/MEXICO dvd's, but Crash's default setting is for ASIA/PACIFIC. We can both change the settings, but you can only do it 5 times before the computer locks down and keeps only the 5th setting. So, we watch movies from here on his computer.

Last night we watched the original version of The Italian Job, the one with Micheal Caine, made in 1969. There was a remake a few years ago when the new Mini Coopers came out that I saw an advance screening of, starring Charlize Theron, Marky Mark Wahlberg, Donald Sutherland, and Edward Norton that I enjoyed for the sheer fun of it.

The original has some holes in the plot, and moves a bit more slowly than what we're used to in today's movies, but it still has a great car chase scene using not one, not two, but THREE original Mini Coopers. We even cooked popcorn the old fashioned way, on the stove top in a pan with sunflower oil. Never mind that we ate it 3 hours before we watched the movie. :)

So yeah... no TV. But it doesn't really matter, as you can see.


4. How are you making a living?

Ooooooo... right for the jugular, Dad. Why don't you ask me if I have health insurance while you're at it? (Becasue that's a "mom" question, right? But don't worry, I do have health insurance, and yes it covers me while traveling abroad.)

Crash is the process of looking for a job(mechanical engineer); he has updated and "Australianized" his resume, which means formatting for the longer/skinnier A4 paper size that is their equivalent to our "letter" size paper. We also briefly talked about whether one should change word spellings from the American version to the British version (think "flavor" vs. "flavour"), but didn't come to a conclusion. (Ok, so the truth is that I talked about it, and Crash just looked at me funny.)

As for me, I am still working with US clients — but from * THE FUTURE * . (We are a day ahead of the states here.)

A few months ago I was joking around with a client one day on email, and said, "I could be working from Spain right now, for all you know." And then I thought, "Why am I not in Spain right now?"

Being self-employed as a graphic designer definitely has its privileges; I figured it was time I took advantage of them. It simply rocks that I have clients that are completely cool about that.

Other than design projects, my job is apparently making posts to this blog. I certainly spend enough time doing it to make it feel as such!


5. What is the best local beer?

Well, it's not Foster's, I'll tell you that much. In fact, I have not seen a Fosters around here at all. The only beer I have tried so far is Toohey's Old and James Squire. Crash made the observation that finding good beer here is similar to choosing a president in the last US election — I suppose that living in the microbrew capital of the world these past 7–9 years has spoiled us.

We've got some more "work" to do before we can declare what the best local beer is (although the Toohey's Old bottles make for excellent flower vases), but I'll keep sampling the contestants.

In terms of liquor (I know you didn't ask Dad, but while we're on the subject...), I would advise to stay clear of the Bundaberg Rum, which the distillery describes as "a light, dark rum which is richly flavoured for a unique taste of Australia." (I'm reminded of the slogan for Olympia beer: "It's the water." Yes, yes it is. So throw it OUT.)

Well, that "unique taste of Australia" is actually an odd taste that I'm not too keen on, but of course we'll keep making fruity boozy drinks with it till it's gone. (We have to, because after a week-long quest to find little drink umbrellas, Crash finally found some — and some little Australian flag toothpicks — on Saturday.)

In the end, Nicaragua's got our vote for the best rum so far — not only is Flor de Caña decent, but it's inexpensive — at least in Nica it was (US$5 = bottle of fine rum + 2 liters of coke; cheaper than sunscreen but not really as helpful).

As for wine, I bought 2 bottles of a barely-labeled "local" wine from the bottle-o the other night to go with our Italian dinner, which turned out to be a lot like "Two-Buck-Chuck", so I don't think I'll be buying that again, unless it's to cook with. What's interesting is that the Australian Yellow Tail wine that is so popular in the States (and inexpensive, too), is more expensive here, where it's made. Go figure.


6. Have you met any friends?

The people I have met are all jugglers — there is a small group from our Sunday afternoons of juggling in Hyde Park that is fun and we have beers after practice is over. Although sometimes I bet practice might go better AFTER a few beers, at least for me.

Other than that, it can be kind of hard to meet new people, especially without a local work place. We're workin' on it though.


7. Do the toliets flush in reverse?

If you are asking if they spit back waste to you instead of taking it away, then no.

Our toilet just gushes, straight down. There is no direction whatsoever, and you have to hold the flush-button down for as long as you visibly need to. It's a waste of a LOT of water.

Not all toilets are like this, though; a lot of public ones that I have seen have 2 buttons, one for a half flush and one for a full flush. They all gush straight down too.

The drain in our laundry sink, however, does swirl as it empties, and so I took a picture to document its direction. As for whether or not this is different in the states, you'll have to tell me — I forgot to take note of it before I left.