The Off Topic Thread #2 - Page 2

Now it appears that his sister, who lives closer in to Brisbane, has also been flooded, but is able to stay in the top story of the house.   I saw those beer gardens and the boats floating down the river and getting smashed on one of the CBD bridges in Brizzy.  The floods have received a lot of coverage here in the UK.

The loss of crops will be devastating to your agricultural businesses.  The prices of many items will have to increase a LOT to take the losses into account, I suspect.

Hope all my Australian friends and thier families get through this.  I helped with the cleanup in New Orleans for 4 months right after Katrina, it wasn't pretty and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, much less anyone here. Warm thoughts for you all.

My niece lives in Melbourne - she said that it was lucky that the floods in Victoria were in a fairly sparsely populated area, rather than a huge conurbation like Brisbane.  It doesn't lessen the awful devastation, but at least the chance of people losing their lives was lessened.

That's the thing about living in a place of seasonal extremes, DC...!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC Sunshine 

Hi Ishbel,

 

Yes the floods have been devastating.  An area the size of Germany and France has been flooded, some places up to 20m.  Many have lost everything, some have lost their lives, many are still missing.  Have never seen anything like it.  There are houses, cars, tractors, wharfs, boats, even wharfside restaurants floating at high speed down the rivers.  The impact will be unbelievable.  Queensland is one of the major crop growing and mining areas of our country.  Financial losses are unimaginable, apart from the impact on human lives.

 

I wish the best for your family members over here - it must be so heartbreaking.

 

Take Care - DC

 

And as if the floods weren't bad enough, they've just had a hurricane as well.
 

I saw on the BBC that there are terrible bush fires around Perth, too.

Honestly, this year seems to be like Armageddon for Australia. 

I hope that now that summer is supposedly over, the weather will quieten down a bit for you all.

The disasters in Australia are heartbreaking. I hope everyone here is hanging in ok ... what else could I say? It's so sad.

There are a couple of things I like about living in Seattle. I'm actually in Lynnwood, just north of Seattle, but same diff.

One thing I really like is the variety of foods and markets here. H Mart (with mostly Korean groceries) has been one of my favorite places to get tasty stuff. I love their kimchis, seasoned vegetables, seafood and other stuff. Yum. Today I got something that threw me off--"seasoned sesame leaves". It has a little bit of something like miso mixed into. I tried a little of it, plain, and my taste buds complained loudly. Is it an acquired taste? Does it have to have to go with something? This is the first thing I've gotten there that wasn't yummy at first bite.

I also got dolsot bibimbap at a restaurant nearby that was so good!

Todamgol restaurant is where I got the really good dolsot bibimbap, by the way. The banchan (their side dishes, however you prefer to spell it) are great and add a lot to the meal. I got 6 or 7 of these, I think, as part of the meal and with free refills. I paid about 12 dollars for lunch, I think. Service is really good. If you're in the Lynnwood area and looking for a casual, reasonable Korean restaurant, I recommend Todamgol.

One person who really made an impression on me was a customer I had when I was doing HVAC service. He was full of energy and just so positive that you couldn't help but get caught up in it. I spent some extra time on that call talking to him.
He was in his 90's and he had framed pictures of the airliners he had piloted. He showed me his Model A that he'd restored and was having a lot of fun with. It was gorgeous. He invited me to take a ride with him on the weekend, and asked me if I'd bring my kids with me.
He'd named that Model A "I'm not dead yet". A few years before, some health problem had gotten in his way and he was going to sell a lot of his stuff. But he got past that and decided he wasn't going to give up. He kept the car because he wasn't done having a lot of fun with life ... hence the name he gave it.
People like that, you can't help but learn from. I'm smiling just remembering the time I was yakking with him :^)

The main reason I like this thread (which a cool person started) is that I can post here without having to have a theme. Sometimes I just want make informal conversation, with nobody trying to prove I'm wrong. It's pretty laid-back, too. Also, I can answer myself if nobody else does.

Sounds pretty lame, Yeti.

OregonYeti,

Of course you know it is alright to talk to yourself, even ask yourself questions, but when you start answering yourself????

Though random association does often spur interesting results.