I tried to make out what the music was, but couldn’t quite get a handle on it. Being soft, soothing music with a feelgood sort of vibe, I thought they must be carols and that the cabbie was getting into the spirit of things.

I asked her if she had Christmas carols playing and was ready to launch into a bit of a conversation about the business of it all, followed by good times with family.

She shot back a quick “Hey? No. No.” and that was it.

I never recovered and we travelled the rest of the trip in silence, with me sending text messages to people I hadn’t spoke to in a while…

For those who haven’t, this bloke filmed himself doing a daggy jig at various spots around the world, cut the dances together and put some music to it. That was 3 world trips ago and now he’s made a career as a public speaker, travel guru and now the face of a marketing campaign for Visa.

To sum up, he went and had an adventure and now it’s his career. I can think of nothing better - if only someone would pay me to read books and take long lunches…

Watch Matt’s latest video and see if it doesn’t give you a bit of a fuzzy feeling.

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama’s appearance on CBS’ “Sixty Minutes” on Sunday witnessed the president-elect’s unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama’s decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota , some Americans might find it “alienating” to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

“Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement,” says Mr. Logsdon. “If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist.”

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, “Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off.”

The President-elect’s stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska .

“Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can’t really do there, I think needing to do that isn’t tapping into what Americans are needing also,” she said.

My wife and I have welcomed our first baby, a boy we named Leo! More will be at beingadaddy.net once I finally finish the opus that is the ‘Birth’ entry. So much to say and now, so little time in which to try and get it down on paper online. I have never felt so happy (wedding is very close though!) and I cannot wait for each new day as a family unit. Am sure to write loads more about this as we go along.

My workplace has moved offices, from a crappy dive in North Melbourne to brand-spanking new digs in the Docklands. Whilst I love being closer to the city and being able to look through a window again, it has meant I can’t drive to work anymore. My nice little 35 min commute is back to being a 70 min car-train-walk journey again. While it sucks as far as time goes, I do have time to read again and am enjoying that aspect. Just this week I knocked off The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer Uncut (tip of the hat to lunaminor for the good review). What a mogul he was, in every way. On to The Shark Net now, borrowed off the mother unit when I last visited her a few weeks ago.

Have finally engaged in this Twitter caper and added a little widget to the upper RHS. I’ll try and make it interesting but no promises.

Also discovered that Bob Ellis is still writing columns, for the ABC’s ‘Unleashed’. Given he hasn’t updated his own website for two years, this was a welcome discovery.

I’ve started keeping a diary again, a lovely Moleskine Much trepidation about whether it’ll last 3-4 weeks and fizzle, as has been my wont. Time will tell, as they say.

Obama won, slaying the limp forces of McCain-Palin, the freak show that political union was. I have a lot of hope (pardon the pun) that he will do some great things and am pleased he has a somewhat pliant Congress to assist. Again, time will tell.

Shall post again soon - proper entries too, not this pathetic little ‘Dear long-lost friend’ jotting.