Golf on board Costa Cruising

Guests on the Costa Luminosa and the Costa Deliziosa can work on their short game using the customised putting green, which is just a chip away from the simulator. Situated near the top of the ship on Deck 10, the practice area is approximately 100 m2 and features six different holes. The ultra-light synthetic turf and special construction techniques provide true ball roll and make this putting green realistic for the discerning golfer.

In addition to the onboard golfing experience, the Costa Deliziosa and Costa Luminosa have introduced itineraries featuring stops at resorts with actual courses and dedicated golfing excursions.

In the 2010 (northern) summer season, both vessels’ Northern European trips include tours to world-class golf courses from the two main Norwegian ports: the Baerum GolfKlub Oslo and the Meland Golf Club in Bergen.

The Costa Deliziosa offers two regular seven-day cruises: the first to the Northern Fjords departing from Copenhagen (Denmark) with stopovers in Flam, Hellsylt, Geiranger, Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo (Norway).

The second itinerary also operates out of Copenhagen and takes in the Baltic cities with port calls at Tallinn (Estonia), St. Petersburg (Russia), Helsinki (Finland) and Stockholm (Sweden).

The Costa Luminosa is deployed on two regular 11-day itineraries: the first goes to the Baltic cities with departure from Amsterdam (Netherlands) and calls at Copenhagen (Danimarca), Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), St. Petersburg (Russia) and Tallin (Estonia).

The second cruise sails to North Cape from Amsterdam, and includes stopovers in Hellsylt, Geiranger, Honningsvag, Tromso, Giavdal, Trondheim, Andalsanes and Bergen (Norway). There is also an exclusive 20-day cruise to Greenland onboard the Costa Luminosa.

Next (northern) winter on their Arabian Gulf cruises, the Costa Deliziosa and the Costa Luminosa will be offering tours to famous golf clubs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi; a session on the practice range followed by a round on lush courses carved out of the desert against a backdrop of sea, endless beaches and luxury hotels.

Cruisers who choose the Mediterranean routes on one of the other Costa ships can take excursions to the Do Santo Da Serra Golf Club in Funchal, Madeira (Portugal), the Costa Teguise Golf Club in Lanzarote (Spain) and the Glyfada Golf Club of Athens amongst others.

http://www.costacruise.com/

Ready to go knock ‘em dead!

Every girl wants to ensure they have everything they need for a night out, but there’s usually just one problem – fitting them all into your cute, new bag!

With the party season almost upon us, there’s never been a better to organize your chic new satchel so that you have everything together for instant touch ups and fashion emergencies.

Introducing Borne Naked’s Party Girl Essentials kit!

The ultimate liners include everything that a girl needs to ensure that their hot new ‘bang on trend’ look lasts from cosy cocktails at 9pm until dancing ‘til the early hours of the morning. Even when a fashion disaster threatens to ruin your night out!

The handy liner fits perfectly into your handbag – keeping all of your essentials secure and in one place. The essential items include:

Mini Cedel Hairspray makes sure you can fix your ‘do anytime during the night.

If your top’s becoming a little too revealing as the night progresses and the drinks are flowing – Fashion First Aid Tapeits can secure the top and your modesty in a flash!

Every girl knows that it’s essential to have the key make-up items on a night out. With the must-have Australis Eye Pencil and Revlon Artificial Lashes, your eyes will continue to look fierce as the night goes on.

Chipped nails are never a good look… with good reason. With handy OPI Nail Lacquer on-hand in your Essential pack, you can make quick touch-ups in a flash.

As if all that isn’t enough, the pack also contains a mirror to check yourself, mints for fresh breath all night long (even after the pizza at 3am) and Kotex Panty Liners… just incase you get caught.

To bounce back the morning after the night before Hydrodol can help you to minimize the symptoms that most of us experience after a night on the tiles. Hydrodol is best taken whilst enjoying your drink of choice. It can also be taken the morning after to help relieve the brutal results of over indulgence.

Amanda George founder of Borne Naked

Borne Naked Founder, Amanda George comments:

“I often get feedback from my loyal customers explaining how they use their Borne Naked liners: make-up bags, travel bags for their lotions and potions or to keep their phone and ipod sand-free on the beach. It was whilst reading the feedback that I realised that it would be a great idea to provide the liners for specific occasions containing an array of products that a girl would need.”

“The feedback I’ve had so far has been really positive, I’ve already received orders for presents and stocking fillers, the great thing is that the Borne Naked Essentials packs contain many gifts in one.”

All of the party girl essentials are contained in the clear (‘Naked’) liner, just one glace and you can grab the essential item of choice for a quick touch-up! Even better, if there are any spillages – they stay in the wipe-clean liner, and not in your beautiful new purse!

There is also a choice of four other ‘Essential Packs by Borne Naked’ to choose from, Beach, Travel, Everyday and Mum’s.

So what you waiting for? Order your Party Girl Essential pack online at www.bornenaked.com before it’s too late.

This summer while you sweat it out and cover it over with some cologne or perfume consider your hairy flatmates. Yes, that’s right, pet perfume has touched down to ensure everyone in the house can escape some unforunate oders.

Essential 6 is the latest in pet perfume bought to us by Pure Animal Wellbeing (PAW) and because these guys know pets (from veterinarian Dr Alister Webster) and their owners they know you’d accept nothing less than 100% natural ingredients to spray on your 4 legged friend.

The team behind Essential 6 has thought of everything, this stuff ensures your best mate maintains a shiny coat, but also provides your household ankle bitter with moisturised skin.

The application seems simple enough, squeeze a little between your furry friends shoulder blades and let the good times roll.

At just over $30 bucks a bottle Essential 6 is happy days for those hot summer days.

Essential 6 is available in packs of 4 from veterinary clinics nationally and online from www.vetproductsdirect.com.au and www.petalia.com.au.

When I was around the age of six I realised that there were people and entire countries out there that spoke different languages. It was so strange and interesting to me, it was like thinking about how the universe goes on forever, it just blows your mind!

Ever since I’ve always wondered what I’m missing out on by not being able to speak their (those foreign peoples) languages. Do they have views and ideas that can only be explained in their own language, as the English language might lack meaning, or dual meaning, or lost in translation or have no translation at all.

In Middle School I decided to give Japanese a shot. Japan seemed so far away and so different, plus it helped that one of my best mates was a Japanese exchange student, he had a hot sister and my mum had long thought Japan was going to be a huge global player and it would help me get a job. No pressure!

I spent 3 years learning the language and the culture, and I wasn’t too bad, not too good either, and I think my teacher was below average. She was a woman absolutely obsessed with the culture, but it was like watching an untrained white guy trying to play basket ball, they just can’t jump and in her case even to the untrained eye she just seemed to miss the point, or take it too far.

University came and went, and I’d lost the passion and was focused on my working career and entertaining the ladies. Hey, I know what you’re thinking, but they were laughing with me, not at me! So now I find that my Japanese is restricted to the use of a few words, which I rarely use and have always wished I’d kept it up.

Well, now I’m in my thirties and I’ve read the 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris, and after a recent stint of unemployment I found myself with plenty of spare time. Again, I can hear you thinking, ‘With all this spare time, what are you whinging about, go out, do stuff, or just relax’, but it turns out it is not that easy.

I find myself questioning what I’m doing, what should I be doing, should I be applying for jobs, or taking a breather? It’s almost impossible to relax as I know every dollar going out ain’t coming back in. I always feel on edge, I’m comparing myself, I think to myself of the lost income and what will happen with my retirement fund? And all you can think about is that you’re wasting this precious gift of time, it should be relaxing, I should be discovering what I want to do, getting involved with the community somehow, feel that connectedness that you felt was missing in the 9-5 job.

Well, the 4-Hour Work Week at Chapter 15 addresses these exact issues. It is one of the most critically important chapters I’ve read in a long time, it’s called ‘Filling the Void’, and although I don’t want to bastardise what Tim has so elegantly put together I’ll try to summarise how one can potentially go about filling the void:

Filling the void (be it through unemployment or retirement) is required, a void allows the mind to turn on itself and creates problems during periods of the nothingness. There are only so many cafe visits you can make until you either have a headache from the caffeine, feel guilty about the cash or just get bored.

I have been through the phase of just being lazy, it lasted a few weeks, it involved movies, popcorn, massages, hanging out with friends in the city during their lunch hours… and not much else. I think everyone needs it to some degree, but then you reach a point, it’s time to find something else – you need the challenge, or you’ll challenge everything that’s going on in your life. It is uncool and unfare to those around you.

To fill the void and really focus on achieving something the following are great starters:

1. Learn a new physical activity - Maybe break dancing, like Tim will show you here.

I’ve decided to give Yoga a crack, I’m 3 weeks in and absolutely loving it, especially the after session hang out time in the kitchen over a fresh cup of chai tea! If you live in Melbourne Australia here’s an awesome place to begin (It’s Ashtanga Yoga and pretty physical).

2. Really get your brain focused on a new culture and language, the goal is to get fluent within 6 months (I’m going to try 3!).This is where you the reader is required to help me.

Asides from trying to reactivate the Japanese within me, I’m looking to use Tim’s recommendations/techniques for learning a language in 3 months but I have been thinking long and hard and I can’t decide what language I want to learn.

I wish in Australia we had a significant influence, the US has Spanish, if I use that model maybe Mandarin is a good choice for down under? Although Asian languages for some reason seem to have little romance to me, so maybe a passion filled language like Italian or French is what is in order? Should I choose a European country that has good employment prospects, learning French might be good for going to Brussels (European Union and all)?

Basically, you can see how my mind works (or doesn’t), it’s not an insignficant choice, so I’m putting it out there, to you the reader. If you can suggest a language and why it’s a worthy language and I believe it is that comment that swayed me one way or the other then I’ll post you Tim Ferriss’ new book when it’s available including postage! I’m going to weigh my options up within the next 2 weeks and choose.

So, please write a comment below and tell me what Language you think I should learn, along with why. If you include any online resources you think are helpful it may also assist in swaying my mind and ultimately winning you the book… Looking forward to reading the suggestions!

This is where Flipster’s come in, they’re convenient (they’re better than disposable flip flops/thongs – or as I call them flip brokens – last pedicure I had in Singapore they lasted 5 steps out of the shop – and they wouldn’t replace them!) and I think they should have a place in the back of anyone’s car, handbag or manbag. If not for yourself, then for people like me when appropriate footwear is not worn. And frankly I don’t care if they’re made for women or men, these things keep bindi’s out and ensure I’m not going to screw up the weekends pedicures (look it was one time, but now I’m branded Mr Pedicure, so I’m rolling with it!).

On the topic of inappropriate footwear, with Spring Carnival upon us, all the women who choose to wear heels that allow them to see old man bald spots, they should consider throwing a pear of Flipster’s in the bag with the hidden booze to ensure they’re looking after their foot digits on the way home when almost all high heels get the flick.

Currently you can buy Flipster’s online at www.flipsters.com.au and enjoy free shipping for a limited time. At $29.95 in 3 sizes there is no reason not to protect your feet – let’s face it, they walk you practically anywhere, also at $29.95 if you step in something uncool at the park, just toss them and buy a new pair!

When I was first getting into wine, I remember being a little scared of the whole food and wine matching thing. It just seemed so complicated. How could you predict which wine would be best? So I decided to start a life long experiment. After all, I was pretty sure no one had ever died from a poor food and wine match – how bad could it be?

After many a good (and not so good) bottle, and a few years working as a winemaker in some of the most beautiful wine regions in the world, I’ve developed my own philosophy on how to maximise the pleasure in your food and wine partnerships.

I’ve summarised them in the form of some basic ‘rules’. Please enjoy and feel free to add in any of your own tips for making the marriage between wine and food a rich and rewarding one.

the 7 simple rules for food and wine matching success

i. There are no rules
OK -  I know this sounds a little Monty Python-esque but the most important thing with putting food and wine together is to use your imagination. There are no rules that work for every situation and every person so relax and don’t waste your time worrying about breaking them.

As long as you and your guests are having fun then your food and wine matching has been a success, regardless of what the traditional rules would have us believe.

ii. Match wine with people first
Just as some people always have and always will hate anchovies, some people just don’t enjoy certain styles of wine, regardless of the quality of the vino. Sometimes this may be based on a bad experience with a poor quality example, and if the person in question did actually try a decent Sauvignon Blanc they may find that they love it. But forcing people to try new things may do more harm than good.

If you suspect that your guest may be open to giving it another chance, by all means make the offer but please, please do not insist they try your perfect match. No matter how well those oysters and that minerally fresh Riesling go together in your mouth, to someone who just loves to drink big reds it’s unlikely to taste any good.

Respect that everyone’s palate is different. Think about your guests and their wine preferences first and think about the food matching second.

iii. The food and wine must both taste great on their own
Sure duck and Pinot Noir have been known to make a little magic on the taste buds when the two are united, but it’s not always the case. A watery, insipid cheap Pinot is still going to taste sad and bland even if it is teamed with the most succulent duck confit.

The same goes for the food, if it’s not going to taste any good on its own, it is very unlikely that your wine match, no matter how delicious, is going to make the food taste better.

iv. Weight is important
Lighter, more delicately flavored food generally works best with lighter style wines. Heavy tannic reds tend to be best with more robust meaty dishes but of course there will always be times when a light wine could team marvelously with a heavy rich dish (see rule number v.)

v. Wine and food can contrast one another
Contrast is something that we personally love to play with. Using a light acidic wine like a Sauvignon Blanc to cut through the oiliness of fried fish and chips is always a winner. Unless of course you’re with someone who hates acidic wine (see rule ii).

vi. Wine and food can compliment each other
Sometimes finding flavor similarities can result in a harmonious food and wine matching experience. The earthiness of mushrooms in a mushroom risotto can work a treat with a funky earthy Pinot Noir. A fresh, minty Cabernet Sauvignon to compliment classic roast lamb with mint sauce can also be a flavor explosion.

vii. Trust your own instincts.
Like most things in life, if it feels like it’s a bit dodgy and it isn’t going to work then you’re probably on the right track.

It isn’t the end of the world if the food and wine are more at the divorce end of the relationship spectrum as long as you follow rule number three, you’ll be able to enjoy each on their own. A judicious sip of palate cleansing water in between mouthfuls can make all the difference.

[read more from jules at her blog stonesoup | minimalist home cooking HERE]

Peak cashflow:

One key ingredient is the principle of peak cashflow. This is understanding how, at certain times of the year, and even at certain times within a month, the flow of cash into the business can ebb, if not dry up completely. Being prepared for this eventuality is what can make the difference between a business staying afloat or going under.

The business owner who gets this right can plan ahead so that finances can be balanced, and banking and credit facilities can be geared to cope.
The cashflow killer:

Late payments are the curse of the small business owner, especially if payment periods extend to 90 days, as is more common since the recession. This clearly has a knock-on effect on cashflow, because the small business owner also has bills to pay, but these may not afford the same 90-day grace period. Where possible, however, that is exactly what the business owner must strive to achieve – deferring his or her own outgoings to more evenly match the cash that is physically coming into the business.

Slack banking habits must also be avoided. All money coming into the business must be banked as soon as possible. A cheque sitting on the desk may count as paid, but it will have no positive effect on cashflow until it is in your business account.

Ideas to increase cashflow:

Make certain that requests for payment are clear and that your business banking account details are plainly understood. Offer as many ways to pay as possible to facilitate the customer’s ease of payment.

If possible, delay large business purchases until one of your historically better cashflow periods.

Keep a single dedicated business account.

Talk to your bank about setting up a special overdraft facility to easy cashflow worries and carry you through the tough times.

Make use of your own interest-free credit period by using a business credit card rather than petty cash. Just make sure you keep track of purchases so you don’t get a nasty surprise when the statement arrives.

Offer incentives to customers to pay early, such as discounts for those who pay within 7 days, or even within 30 days – no matter whether you believe this should be the norm.

Charge late fees to customers who exceed your mutually agreed payment period.

Consider legal advice if payment periods are being routinely flouted.

Do a background check on new customers to ensure they have no troubling credit history. If necessary, request references.

Send out invoices the same day as the product, not weeks later, and never send out new product to customers who are not up-to-date with their payments, however good their sob-story sounds.

Try not to hoard inventory unnecessarily. Product sitting on factory shelves does nothing for your cashflow.

As a last resort, consider selling your unpaid invoices to a debt collection company. You will get a reduced figure, but if it makes the difference between continuing to trade and liquidating the company, it might be worth doing.

This article was written by Jeremy Cabral who is a regular writer and part of the team at Credit Card Finder, a 100% free Australian credit card comparison and application service. Visit the Credit Card Finder website for more information on the available Business Credit Cards, or Subscribe to their RSS feed for more practical articles.

Type II diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, osteoarthritis, sleep apnoea, depression… the chance of having one or more of these conditions increases with every excess kilo. On top of that, being overweight can lead to an early death, knocking 12 – 13 years off your life.

So the question is, why are our waistlines still growing? We all know the risks involved, so maybe it is becoming more social acceptable to be overweight and to not do anything about it. Keeping that in mind that so many people seem to be happy to gain weight, to let things slide, to increase their waistlines, to invite health complications into their lives and struggle to fit into their clothes; here is a guide to help you gain weight. After all, there is plenty of information out there on how to lose weight and get healthy, but so many people choose to ignore it.

Step 1 – Skip breakfast
Eating breakfast is only good for those looking to maintain a healthy body or to even increase there weight loss. By having a healthy breakfast, you are kickstarting your metabolism which will help you burn more calories during the day – and we all know that burning calories wont help you get that muffin top you’re chasing.

Step 2 – Eat more convenience meals
An adult male should consumer around 2550 calories per day, while a an adult female should take in about 1940 calories. If you are planning to keep your weight on or even increase your weight, you are going to want to add more convenience meals. For example, a McDonalds’s Big Mac, large chips and milk shake will get you 1195 calories. That is just under your recommended daily calorie intake consumed in just one meal. How great is thatif you’re hoping to add a spare tyre to your stomach?! And a deep pan meatlovers from Pizza Hut has 470 calories per slice, you only need to eat three or four slices and you are almost there.

Step 3 – Move less
Now that you have been able to increase the amount of calories into your diet you will want to make sure you arent burning them off and wasting them during the day. It goes without saying, make sure you drive everywhere you can, take the lift instead of the stairs and save your self some money and get rid of that gym membership and personal trainer, after all it is to hard to get there anyway.

Congratulations! You can now reap the benefits of an embarrassingly overgrown waistline.

You don’t need to worry about changing anything and you will never need to worry about doing a push up or going for a run again.

But before you make the decision a permanent one, think about it – just because everyone else is happy to stack on the kilos, is that a good reason for you to it too?

Is living a life of poor health and junk food worth dieing 12 – 13 years younger than you should? Is it worth feeling terrible as your multiple health conditions cut into your life, restricting your ability to have fun, to catch up with friends, to enjoy your life?

Maybe it’s time to get some help, take some steps so you can stop the spread and get that waistline back in check or prevent it from getting worse, rather than just accepting what you see and putting your health at risk.

Calorie amounts were found on calorieking.com.au

Guest contribution by Jonny “B Bad” @ www.jonnybbad.com – Creating a world that is all about you!

Well, I’m guessing it’s the liberation of being face to face that keeps the speed daters dating.

When it comes to that special someone my view has always been – I’ll give everything a shot once. I mean let’s face it, if you’re even contemplating going speed dating then that means someone else out there just like you must be thinking the same or already doing it. I guess in the past there has been some stigma to online dating and dating events, but for the most part I’d say as a society we’re well beyond that – in fact the majority of my single friends engage in some sort of dating assistance – be it a match making services, online or speed dating.

So, back to the issues I see with online versus offline. I know in my general day to day dealings I’ll generally tackle an issue by email or some form of electronic means, most of generation x & y would use an actual phone call as a distant second choice, but online doesn’t require me to have to real-time interact, I can pre-think what I want to say.. but with dating there are other issues, I mean I’ve tried a ways of dating, and the first thing that struck me with online [specifically] instant messaging was the delay. I just assumed the girl of my dreams on the other end was chatting to 30 other wannabes, so she was jumping between chats… I remember one young lass even wrote a sentence that wasn’t meant for me… the person who was intended to receive that message clearly had a more advanced relationship with the girl than I.

So how do you meet someone if it’s not online? We’ll there’s the pub, nightclub and friends parties, but if you’re lucky you’ll blow a hundred bucks and maybe meet 1 interesting person and get 1 number.

There has to be a better way, right? When you lay it out like that speed dating makes sense. You pay the cash, which is cheaper than a Friday night out, you get 10 of the opposite sex to chat to, and here are the big wins if you ask me:

1. Everyone is genuinely single – I can’t count the number of times my friends or I have been chatting to a gorgeous someone, bought a few drinks and then found out towards the end of the night that they have a partner – this is by far the worst, you’ve blown cash and a large chunk of your social weekend on someone who only wanted an ego stroke! Painful!

2. It is safe – yep, as a I guy there is nothing worse than a female stalker – so I’m told. But for women it’s a safe environment and the host keeps everything flowing nicely. Let’s not forget it’s also a guaranteed way of meeting other singles who have a job (eg at least they had the cash to buy a ticket to the event).

3. No single friends required! Now this is something I learned by speaking to some single women, and I think it’s a biggie. Many women have seen their closest girlfriends hook up, get a long term boyfriend or get married and there are don’t have a single girlfriend to head out with on the weekends. The ‘hooked-up’ friends are more interested in a house warming party, or going out for dinner – they don’t want to hit the local bar and chat up some local talent. With speed dating you just show up on your own and away you go – simple! “Speed dating is actually a great way to find a girlfriend to go out with on a Friday night” said Candy – a speed dating host with Fast Impressions.

4. If you look at the champagne, finger food and 10+ dates you get across 3+ hours it’s actually a pretty economic way of meeting people – I did the sums and if you take away the cost of drinks and food, you’re paying between $10 and $15 an hour to be there depending on how much you drink – I mean for the most part it’s cheaper than the movies!

So I decided to grab a single friend, and give this a shot - we went with Fast Impressions – word of mouth works wonders and these guys have a great reputation, they have regular events (and most major cities around the country) and from what I can see the venues are all the types of places we’d normally visit for a catch up on a Friday night. This particular event took place at the Long Room on Collins Street in Melbourne’s CBD.

Long Room - Collins Street, Melbourne

Now, there are obviously a number of different service providers out there, so how do you choose one? Besides doing a Google search for speed dating (which lets face it, probably not a bad start) how else can you find a good speed dating company?

After interviewing a number of speed daters, there were a few interesting things that came up.

Clare says “You need to think about the venue, I don’t want to be in the back of a pub, I want a classy venue, decent champagne and great food close to work and not too far to walk in heels”.

Debby pointed out that the price counts, “You need a price that isn’t the bottom of the market, but still represents value”. This is an interesting point, if the price is more than $50 but less than $100 then you can be fairly certain it’s going to attract a particular type of crowd – the same goes if you pay $20 for the night, it’s going to attract a completely different type of speed dater.

Melissa added that “I’m not going to lie, the person I’m dating, it matters that they can afford a decent event, it means they have a profession or skill that is valuable, plus that means they can also afford to take me out”.

Bruce said “The quality of the website made a difference, I figured if they invested in the website and the venues then they’re probably going to give you a superior experience”.

How do people find out about speed dating? It turns out that some of the speed dating firms also offer group singles parties – they’re slightly cheaper but again provide you with an environment to mingle and be social knowing that everyone is single. Single party goers are often offered cheaper ticketing and are exposed to the brand that way.

What types of people do speed dating?
Well I pretty much saw the whole gamut, I mean you go to these events to see diversity, have a conversation with someone you might not of otherwise had. So of course there might be 1 or 2 you’re not attracted to, but the point is if there are a few there you are attracted to then I’m prepared to say you’ve hit a home run!

Melissa pointed out that for really confident people they have no problems dating, “I mean they [confident] people don’t have an issue telling someone they like them, and strike a conversation, but if you’re a little reserved or worried about rejection then speed dating is soooo for you, speed dating is an equaliser”.

When you think about the fear we all have of rejection it makes a lot of sense that speed dating is a great way to break the ice – I have a few friends that if only someone could break the ice and get passed the first 15 seconds of fear and embarrasement then they’d find a genuine, honest awesome person.

For the confident person, rejection (being told to f’off) is simply their cue to talk to someone else, for many it can spell disaster.

Before the event do you get nervous?
The answer to this is yes – it’s not as bad as public speaking but my friend who went as a dating single required a few drinks before hand to calm the nerves.

I believe the nerves are a normal part of the process, the speed dating host for the night was Chris from Fast Impressions and he said depending on the crowd and venue (and who gets there first) there is generally a segregation of sexes, but by half time the segregation is gone and the mingle is on!

Something else that a few of the daters mentioned is that they feel the time pressure of speed dating ensures that there is no game playing. People are forced to converse within a time constraint, so you don’t get people playing head games, it’s an exchange of genuine body language and conversation.

Bruce said he has met same-sex friends at the events as well “I often get talking to a few of the guys before, during and after and you find you have a similar job, you’re both single and you end up heading out on a Friday night to give each other some backup”.

Bruce also said in the controlled environment of speed dating that he doesn’t feel like a drink supplier, the speed dating specialists ensure all the needs of both sexes are taken care of, which means he can focus on finding out more about the other person and doesn’t have to contend with the “is she using me as a drink supplier for the night, and keeping another man at home” situation.

So for my friend who attended, I guess you’re wondering how he went? Well firstly we had a beer after the event to debrief and it was hard to get him to talk about anything else, he was definitely on a high.

He said the cash for the event would have been the best spent money of the week, and this was a man who just a few short hours earlier thought it might be a waste of time.

Participants are given a binary scoring sheet (yes or no) and if two people tick yes to each other they’re emailed the next day with contact details of the other.

At the end of the speed dating everyone is encouraged to hang back and have a drink, talk a little more to those that interest them. It was at this point a few interesting methodologies came out to filling in the score cards – the women at the event tended to be pretty conservative, marking yes to a select few males. On the other hand the guys tended to be a little more liberal with yes votes, they tended to mark more than 50% of the women they dated as a ‘yes’.

As for my friend, he fancied a few of the girls and marked a number of yes votes, so now we wait and see if their feelings are mutual – I know he’s got his fingers crossed on a couple – you’ll be duly updated in a few days, I promise! Although I’m only going to track this to see if he gets a date or not, beyond that he’s on his own with the ladies – I don’t want to invade a potential blossoming relationship – ok, yes I do, but he doesn’t want me to hinder finding someone special.

Lastly, I’m going to end this story with a quote from one of the speed daters, which I think summed up the speed dating experience pretty well -

“Why try to catch fish in the ocean, when you can shoot them in a barrel!”
- Jenny September 2009.

To book your next speed dating adventure, we recommend www.fastimpressions.com.au

Like this post? Please take a second to digg it here or facebook it here.

All the quotes above are real although the names of individuals has been altered to disguise their identity.

Sydneysiders are being warned to stay indoors as the huge dust cloud descends on Sydney.

The dust storm was carried east over much of New South Wales and Sydney as winds up to 100kph (that created the dust storm) continued to push it eastwards.

The report this morning from the weather bureau said that the dust should settle late this afternoon.

High winds are expected throughout the rest of the day.

Warnings to remain inside have been issued for those suffering from poor health, asthma and heart and lung disease.

Sydney Harbour Bridge under Dust Blanket

Sydney dust storm

Sydney dust storm - taxi

Image taken by Yegor Korzh @ www.yktravelphoto.com

Image taken by Yegor Korzh @ www.yktravelphoto.com