Amazon Kindle Fire – five reasons I can’t wait

I’m looking forward to the Kindle Fire, though no news as to when it may be released to the Australian market (if you’re desperate you could get it from the US).

Five reasons I’m excited about this:

1. It’s a 7 inch tablet
2. It’s supported by Amazon the largest online retailer (this could be bad/good)
3. It has a USB port
4. It runs Adobe flash
5. It retails at $199 USD

I could think of a whole handful of other reasons why this will be great, but I just thought I’d throw those thoughts out there.

What are the cons?

The cons I can think of are probably the lack of unified world release dates, the content available to Australia and the low 8gb storage capacity. It’s also a new device in a heavily run Apple OS market. If Amazon can gain enough ground, this could be the product which moves some of the market away from Apple. The Samsung Galaxy looked promising, but patent drama aside, what Samsung lacks is the service side of the business which is Amazon’s core. It’ll definitely be really interesting to see how the Kindle Fire changes the market, especially considering this is a device that can do what the ipad can do but at a much cheaper price – for a consumption item it might hit the market where it’s most wanted/needed.

What features are you looking forward to seeing and would you get a Kindle/Ipad or is there something better?

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Purina Shedeze – Dog or cat deshedding tool

Since I’ve been so quiet, I thought I’d add something I’ve been impressed with lately!

We procured some supplies for Empress Dowager from our local Petbarn and one of the things we came away with was the Purina Shedeze (a deshedding brush). We had seen this advertised somewhere previously and liked that it went through and stripped the undercoat, while leaving the top coat of the animal. It has a nifty button to push off the collected fur once you’ve finished brushing your furry friend, as well as, an easy to use screw flip blade system – which switches between coarse and fine teeth. The brush we bought was the small sized brush, which was $39 (referred to as ‘small sized dog’). It is a bit odd that they only advertised the brush as a dog grooming tool on the packaging, but I did ask a few staff members and was assured it would be fine for cats. This made sense as I’d seen the online Purina site, which had cats being brushed with it. So I suppose a bad packaging scheme for them, but don’t be tricked!

Anyways, I tried the Shedeze straight away when we got home and the cat loves it – she’s rolling around and purring loudly lapping up the brushing, but that is her default. I think the best part about this brush is that you’re actually having fun while combing the cat and the cat also enjoys it to no end.

Easy to use and surprisingly fun

I’d definitely recommend having a look at this if you’ve got a cat/dog which generally sheds a fair bit or if you just want something that’s going to help your pet out for the hot summer days.

Update: we lent this to a veterinarian friend of ours who wanted to try it on her pet cat before investing, her cat also really enjoyed it and she ended up purchasing one for her cat too.

If you’re cat is not a big brush fan, they may find it a little odd. I’ve now gotten into the habit of brushing our cat every afternoon when I come home. She will automatically run to the shower and wait to be brushed, the Shedeze is great every now and then. Otherwise, I use a rubber brush as seen below and she loves it.

True Story

Presenting: Owl’s Birthday Story

Once upon a time there was an Owl. It was Owl’s birthday and despite Ant’s best efforts to write Owl’s story at midnight on the 13th of October, WordPress decided that daylight savings hadn’t kicked in at Sydney yet so it published on the 12th. Sigh. Anyhoot, It was Owl’s b’day and Owl had a tad bit too much cheese but wanted moar:

Ant was in a bit of a predicament for there was no cake to be found. “Aha! I will nip across the road and steal the cake from that kid’s Bat Mitzvah,” thought Ant cleverly.

Unfortunately, this happened:

Should have left the cake alone… And then of all days it had to be the one where Ant forgot. Hmm… you can haz a

Just kidding!

Owl just couldn’t win, not even on a birthday! Oh well. Hammie Birthday, Owl! Thanks for all the fun times  🙂

Love, Her Royal Highness, the Empress Dowager Keep Me Where The Light Is. &

Snag Stand, Sydney

“A gourmet hot-dog stand? Now that’s worth having a look,” I mused. So it was a fateful day where Owl and I trekked up to Westfield in the city to try Snag Stand’s food. I had spent about an hour the night before agonising between The famous Reuben Sandwich ($13.50) from Reuben & Moore, the Hand-crafted Chilli Crab Burger from Charlie & Co.’s ($18), and Snag Stand’s ‘haute dogs’ (as they put it).

When I finally decided on SS, it took me another hour to decide between the Pork & Fennel (w/ sautéed tri-colour capsicum, balsamic glaze & shaved parmesan on a toasted brioche roll; $9.90), the Toulouse(w/ sautéed onions, rosemary mushrooms and truffle aioli on a toasted brioche roll; $10.90) or the African Boerewors option which isn’t on their menu anymore. I slept on it and emerged fully convinced that the Pork & Fennel was the way to go, and I was not disappointed. Aside from the gloriously smoky capsicum and complementary combo of the balsamic and pork, that particular hot dog was the ‘Special of the Day’ – which meant it was a dollar off at $8.90. Score!

Owl decided on the Spicy Spanish Chorizo (w/ semi sun-dried tomatoes, chipotle aioli, baby rocket, and shredded Spanish goat’s cheese on a brioche roll; $9.90). I thought that it would be too salty but we were pleasantly surprised to find that everything amalgamated well, leaving a slight tingle of spice and a satisfying savoury aftertaste. The chips were crunchy and, again, not too salty although I did regret not getting a $1 dipping sauce to go with them – the Spiracha Mayo appealed to my love for chilli.

I love the sturdy little cartons the food came in, adding to the whole ‘hot-dog stand’ feel. Fare with flare is how I would describe this unassuming place. Next time I have a hot dog craving, I wouldn’t mind checking out Stitch Bar which has hot dogs, curly fries and ice-cream sandwiches to boot! Heaven…

Snag Stand
Level 5, Westfield Sydney Food Court
Cnr Market and Castlereagh St
NSW Sydney Australia 2000