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Bobbi's Pole Studio: The new XBX of fitness

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PHOTO GALLERY: Bobbi's Pole Studio End of Term recital MOVIE CLIP: Poledancing - the perfect workout for the modern urban cyclista In just a couple of years since my mother and daughter excursion into this femme fatale fitness fad, it seems poledancing has become the new 5BX - or rather X(XX?)BX of exercise for women of all ages, stages and sizes. I landed back downunder to discover that the local PoleStars franchise, where I did my introductory course, was up for sale. However, an outfit called Bobbi's Pole Studio was going great guns, with reportedly 1000 students. When I asked Bobbi, an utterly magnificent speciman of the XX chromosome, why she was leading the pack, she replied, "I've been doing poledancing all my life." Her studio, discreetly housed on the 4th floor of an old diva of a building, has zero street presence, perhaps to deter any riff raff. When you mount the stairs, you arrive on a floor bathed in pink lights and shiny fabrics and p

Test driving a traditional Chinese Massage

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Picture of the moment: Speaking of bodily use-by dates (see below), this Will kit for Singles caught my eye - clever marketing, since it probably contains little more more than a Post-it note to pencil in the solitary name of the person you're leaving your stufforama to - that's right, Thou Thyself Thou! Highway robbery at $24.95 - how stupid do they think we singles are? OK, I admit I did turn it over and over and wonder exactly what it said inside ... I paused in front of a Chinese Massage/Acupuncture clinic today, and decided to go for it. I've been suffering from a bit of a stiff upper back, plus a disturbing recent development where my skull and neck make a loud "crunching" sound when I look down. It's probably everything to do with my work and play - I ride a bicycle for a living, I spend too much time laptopping, and I'm going to be 50 in 5 years' time. Despite conscientious efforts to stretch and remain flexible, poledancing classes and sepa

tikiting around the traps

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Pictured below: Can I get my former adland mentor Siimon out of his Aston Martin and onto a Bike Friday tikit ? I know the bike will go in the boot! We'll see when I get back from Melbourne and Sydney ... Pictured above right: Celebrating Melbourne's new "All bagged folders on trains, at all times" policy. What do you do with a folding bike? Be conspicuous, like a good company gal. Check the BF events calendar for dates of my Film Fest (7-10pm, May 13, 6 bond St Melbourne and May 15 Manning Clark IV Theater ANU, Canberra) where I'll be showing my handlebar movies. www.bikefriday.com/events Call me at 0420 968 967 or email galfromdownunder@gmail.com What am I doing downunder? 'Avaread.

Out of this world in Cowra

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Now here's a sight for a jaded junketeer's eyes ... A home made telescope (alright a pretty durn serious one) in deepest darkest Cowra, somewhere Downunder, afforded me this peeping-Tom's-eye view of the sexy, sultry, siren of all planets ... Mars. OK just testing you. I got to see it on the Australian Bike Friday Club annual Gathering - read my multimedia report which includes a movie clip of me oohing and ahhing the beast. I've seen 2001: multiple times, played Space Invaders, ogled the pictures in the "U" and "P" volumes of World Book Encyclopedia and those oversized Time Life tomes; seen endless "artists impressions" of the solar system on wall charts, books and of course, the web. As a teen I was mesmerized by a book in the library called "Black Holes, Quasers and the Universe", and would nip in there every other lunchtime to stand in the aisle, reading and re-reading the two pages on how an astronaut gets strung out like sp

Will the real TurboTax please stand up?

I think I've been duped by a fake Turbotax site, so consider this a public service ... and not an ad for the grannies at H&R Block, really: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog-post/work-life-will-real-turbotax-please-stand if you see someone called Lynette Chiang who doesn't look like me, driving a slew of kids in an SUV to the soccer field, it ain't me ...

Flat out like a lizard drinking!

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... that means I've been busy as a botox kiosk in Beverley Hills. Doing what, you might ask? Take a look: San Francisco/Berkeley Hawaii Arizona Desert Camp making like Charles Atlas as you can see at the right ( Lon Haldeman took that shot) And now I'm off to Australia for all of April and May '08, carousing with customers here . My FastCompany blog slowed right down when they ported it over to a new system which didn't quite work at first. But now it's up and running as is my latest post (which says March 3 but it was actually March 15). One thing I tried in Hawaii, was to get a Hawaii driver's license. I thought it would be the coolest thing to hip out and brandish when the weather drops below freezing in other parts of the country. I haven't needed a car, or to drive, for 15 years. But apart from the envy factor, something tells me it might be useful to have one, especially in an emergency, and not be a burden to others. In a nutshell I passed the wri

Famous paintings on vacation

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The latest addition to Wayne Takazono's 'Famous Paintings On Vacation' series. Buy a cool print of this original for $29 from the man himself, email wtakazono at hawaii dot rr dot com Ah, my Hawaii sojourn is drawing to a close. Before I jet off to Arizona for the annual Bike Friday Desert Camp I'm making a quick trip over to check on my postage-stamp-sized piece of Hawaii and dream about what I can do with it. I was thinking of investing in a condo of some sort (using coconuts and bike parts for currency) but this is one alternative to consider - build your own shack, rather than pay dearly for someone else's shack. Especially when the sun and rain are free and plentiful in Hawaii. No insulation needed, no heating or airconditioning if you build it right. Land has dropped down to around 10-15k a lot, but you don't buy there to make a killing. You buy because it's just one killer place to live. Take a look at my photos from '05-06. The lava is slow