Total Arnie

For those total sci-fi geeks out there I finally laid my hands on a copy of Total Recall after many years searching. Finally get to recite two weeks ad nauseum. Ahh the bliss of it all...I even had a promise from my wife that she will watch it!

I can finally rest in my DVD quest now that I have this spot filled. Sure there are other classics out there...Blade Runner or or um, well I'm sure there are more.

Needless to say I think I've had enough tea for today.

Are we afraid yet?

I've just been sitting here reading about all the furour over the infamous cartoons of some certain prophet. You know what? I'm almost sure that most of the people out there that are up in arms have not seen these cartoons and are only looking for reason to decry the wrongness of western society.

I'm sorry but that just pisses me off. I mean really I've always thought that Australia was a multicultural place. Meaning of course that we have lots of cultures in little pockets, none of which mingle.

This isn't totally true, there are lots of cultures out there that don't have a problem with each other. Its when one culture says to another, I'm better than you therefore you have to do things my way, that the trouble begins.

Ok, I've already said enough. I don't think me adding to the debate is really going to do anything but geez, to quote a famous movie, can't we all just get along?

Are you all still there

Ok, as you can see I'm getting bored with this blogging thing.

My issue is that it's a one way medium essentially.

Well ok it is for me. Noone comments on my posts so I have to assume that they are not interesting else noone reads them.

Well what can I do to make them interesting? I don't know. Perhaps I'm not interesting inherantly and thus can never make an interesting blog.

Of course my ego says otherwise and thus I'll keep plugging away at it and see if it gets me anywhere.

The other more real excuse of course is that I simply don't have the time to pour my brain out into this place once a day. I should make time but work is one of those things that takes your time away without every saying sorry.

So here is this meta-blog entry for you to think about.

On other news, I'm almost up to date with the Pottering. One more book to finish and I'll be part of the club!

Looking forward to blurting out crap in the near future...

Hello Peoples

Sorry for not blogging for a while but just been feeling a bit off.

When I get sick its rare that its bad enough to knock me down and out it just kicks me down a notch. Thus for the last week I'm sure I've had something, being really tired slightly sore throat but its just not enough to stay home from work.

Yet at the same time I'm just not feeling well enough to splurge on a blog entry.

Sorry for those of you that hang on my every word.

Better luck next time.

Easter Already?

Has anyone else noticed that since christmas is all but over the stores are pushing out the next run of goods...easter eggs!!!

Now I would have thought that the cost of having these eggs on shelfs for two extra months is not really outweighed by the extra profits of all those people buying them.

If I didnt have little nieces and newphews I would so love to boycott the whole easter egg thing. I really dont see the point of it all for a religious event.

But when you see their faces upon recieving egg after egg you cant stand there and be the evil uncle not handing some out! Its just too hard.

You may as well tag easter the chocolate festival and leave it at that.

So I dont Rock

Do you remember that sinking feeling when you know you've just fucked up big time but are beyond the point of no return.

The time when you play through in your head all the nice saves that you know are impossible, just so you don't have to face the magniture of your fuckup.

Well I was there yesterday. Without getting into details I did an upgrade that has now turned sour. Trying now to work out how to get things back on track.

I hate feeling stupid yet doing stupid things does it. At this point I have no confidence in myself or my abilities...but I guess I will feel better later when I somehow manage to recover what I have put awry.

I Rock!

Ok, well I'm not a rock god or anything but I did get my Uni results back today and I'm proud to say yet another Distinction. My fifth since returning to uni. I only wish I could have worked this hard the first time around rather than doing it the hard way!

But it's a good feeling to know that I am smart and that I can do this. Now just to finish.

The Secret Life of Others

Ever wonder what your friends think of you? Or your co-workers. Something their not going to say to your face, yet they might say online in a chatroom or a blog.

I wonder, is it wrong to check out other peoples online musings just to get a feel for your own worth? I mean come one, we all get worried sometimes about how we are percieved in the world, so why would it be a bad thing?

If you put stuff out there you shouldn't really expect it to go unnoticed. I mean that's why I'm here spewing out such drivel as I do. So that people like you will read my musings and think better of me. Think that somehow having taken this leap I am a better person.

But it's all bull really. Just another outlet for the mind to pour forth shite. Well ok not everything is shite...some of it might be considering insightful and witty. But usually I write here just 'cos I get a feeling about something or I'm feeling down. The I tell the world about it and somehow that makes it better.

So now my life isn't so secret. My thoughts are yours to digest. Maybe I'll let out some secrets but generally I'll just gripe about the world and offer my angle on it all.

There. Now doesn't that feel better?

Life under the Thumb

Tell most people you're married and they'll come back with some comment about your boss (ie your wife) or something about having to get a leave pass in order to go out.

Yet after being married almost 4 months I hate to say I can't see any of that!

Makes me think that some people have a raw deal in marriage. Then again I guess these musings come down to the compramises we have to make in order to live with someone. When we're single and living alone its the ultimate in freedom. Noone to check with noone to call when your home late. In theory its the ideal situation.

Yet after being married I wouldn't go back. The comprimise made is far outweighed by the joy of having a lovely wife to hang out with for ever and a day.

Wife: Yes, this is about you.


I think somehow the fact that we both went through the aguish of planning a wedding of our own accord means that we really want it. Doing that, liasing with families, bargining guest lists and tables working out what to do after. It all proves that we're on the right thing. If we faced these things and turned and ran, well that would be saying something wouldn't it!

I love my wife and I'm so glad I'm married.

Nuff said.

Please dont make me get up early again

Ok here's the deal. We've been having lots of eletrical work going on over the last month or so. Big deal you say? Well for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of working in close contact with electricians won't know that electricians for some unknown reason like to start work at 7am!! Even if they are commuting from the Central Coast (1hr away by car). This of course means that if you also don't start work at 7am then your electricians are sitting around for an hour or so waiting for you to come and let them in.

But don't think that means that just work back an hour. Oh no! They will still leave at their normal finishing time of 3pm. Thus you get sparkies that look to you to be very lazy.

So my point is why? Why do they have to start so early. Most of the working world doesn't! Well ok, all tradies seem to start early and having been the person to let them in early for the last week or so I'm beginging to wonder why. Why can't they just adjust to our hours and be done with it? Surely they wouldn't mind the sleep in? I know I would!

All right, it's a lame rant but dammit it's a rant! I'm tired and no amount of coffee is going to fix that this morning. Perhaps I should just sleep under my desk for an hour or so until someone else rocks up!

Grrr.

My Geekdom

Ok here is my confession:

Step 1. I am a geek.
Step 2. I am proud of that fact.
Step 3. Noone else is.

You see, I like being geeky and yet I feel that noone else appreciates my geekyness. Perhaps this is why geeks cluster together thus aggrevating the whole isolation a geek feels when attempting to interface with the real world.

But I have to go now...duty calls, I will blog again soon and expose my geekiness to the world!!

Bye for now.

The Routine of life

It's funny the love hate relationship we have with routine. On the one hand we like to think of ourselves as free creatures able to do what we like when we like.

Yet we are bound to routine by life . If you want to live you have to eat.
If you want to eat you must shop, cook and cleanup. Washing must be done. So many things are dictated to us by outside (or inside) influences. We are not really as free as we would believe.

When the routines of life fall apart we find ourselves not really living anymore.

During my whole kitchen upgrade all the usual routines fell aside. Not just the ones you would assosicate with a kitchen upgrade. Yes cooking stopped. But shopping also stopped. Clothes washing stopped. And general tidyness had to stop.

This is where humans natural lazyness comes through. We have to work to survive but given the choice we would revert to our natural lazy mode albiet to conserve energy that is so precious!

When one routine stops it becomes much easier to justify not doing other things. Much easier to do less than not.

I cant help wonder what the future holds when technology makes it easier and easier to live. Where things like shopping and cooking and cleaning are done for us. What then? What will we become when we revert to lazy mode all the time? Who knows. I for one would prefer doing things myself if I can help it. Makes me feel like I am actually responsible for my survival when I know full well I'm not. No matter what I do society will take pains to protect me from myself and itself from me.

Therefor I conclude I'm not really a free agent doing what I want when I want. I am a social creature doing what I have to in order to get along. Working to live, living for some undefinable goal that I may never achieve.

I hope it's all worth it.

Phew I made it

Finally I have finished the uni year with hopefully a good result. For having missed many weeks of lessons and having unintelligable lecterers I think I have done well.

Ok, quick background...I've been slaving away at my uni degree for 13 years now and hopefully I will be able to complete it in my 14th. Having started straight out of school I got disenfranchised with the whole process, seeing people pass by cramming before exams, coming out with degree without any understanding of the material.

But now I'm back with a vengance, trying to finish my degree before the kids come along. Trying to justify this huge task by nothing more than a sense of acomplishment. Big call if you ask me.

It would be different if I'd been promised more money at work from having completed a degree but I know that' s not going to happen. I got this far without it, why would having one make a difference? And it's not like the knowledge I'm learning is that useful to what I do, yet at some level I feel better for having known it.

No, to be honest my real reason is for my kids. I want to be able to say to them that it was worth it. Going through the process is almost as important as the stuff you supposedly learn. I want to be able to face my kids down the track and show them my degree (if such things are still relavent) and encourage them to do the same. I don't want them to be academically lazy like I was. Taking the easy way out might be well easy but it takes much longer to get where you're going. I'm only finally getting somewhere where I wanted to be and I've only been at it 8 years.

Sigh. That's my rant for this week!

See you all next week.

Finally

For those of you on the edge of your seats...
My Kitchen is finally being completed tomorrow. Mind you this ins't the end as they still haven't sorted out the range hood, but for the most part there will be a complete kitchen that we can use. Having a kitchen that was missing a kitchen sink is like having no kitchen at all!

It will be so good to finally pack everything back into the kitchen again and start using it!

I'm so happy I've been humming. Now ain't that wierd!

My cutie pie

Isn't she beautiful? What more could a man want than a beautiful bride who can make cute faces!!

For those that don't know, I was recently married ( I think I might have blogged about it) and this was one of the photos from the day. It's amazing how quickly we get used to the concept of being married yet long for it for so long. You would think we wouldn't be able to get over ourselves once over the threshold but yet here I am calmly talking about the most fantastic day in my life as though it was a thing I do every other weekend!

Yet on remembering, it is a really fantastic thing and I'm so glad I did it. It's such a comfortable thing to have a friend always on hand, someone to hang with, talk with and just you know be with all the time.

Well, I should stop here before I get too mushy. Isn't good for the audience I hear.

Later. 

Almost there....broom

I think I must be in the running for the longest running car repair. Just rang the shop where my other car is housed awaiting repairs. I can't recall exactly but I believe it's been over a year that it has been there. So, having spoken to him I asked what the status was and was told that it would be early next year that he would be able to get to it. I guess it's a low priority job for him!!

On the upside, I was told that it's still fully functional and working fine. And he always keeps it inside when the shop is closed so I guess that's something. It's still works and it's not weathering away.

Still, I would like to get it back onto my turf...clean her up and look after it again...it's been a bit of a curse this car having only really been on the road a couple of years in the last 7!

Oh well, cars are the bain of our modern lives. We couldn't function without them yet they cause us untold grief. All this before considering cars we might have a soft spot for.

Never fear, I will keep you all posted for the eventual return of my car!

Grrrr

Ok, so tomorrow is Melbourne Cup day (its a horse race) and normally I don't give a shite about it. But tomorrow for reasons unknown to me, my two colleages are going on a harbour cruise at the invite of our of our vendors. Why am I not going you ask? Well aparantly I don't exist. Else this company doesn't know that I exist. I wasn't invited and thus am not going.

I know I shouldn't care about such things given that I don't care about Melbourne Cup day and all that but it irks me that my junior is going to a vendor sponsored shindig and I'm not. I hate feeling left out and I can't understand why this vendor omitted myself. I deal with them just as much as anyone else here so I don't understand it.

Needless to say I'm not happy but I will expect that tomorrow whilst my boss and the junior are out on this cruise that I will be sitting here not being happy. Perhaps I'll blog about it...but I should get over it. I've had the odd vendor sponsored thing before. I just don't like being forgotten or ignored or unknown.

Then again I guess most people don't.

Grrr.

You'd think they'd know what they were doing...

Ok, This is a blantent gripe so...
I can't get why a kitchen company isn't very good at doing kitchens

Well ok, lets look at this a little more objectively...so far we have had 4 things missing from out delivery. This is potentially going to push back the completion of the kitchen costing them more money in extra tradie hours to finish the job on another day. So why are they not careful in checking these things out? Who knows. Probably the same reason the delivery men started unloading the kitchen before checking for payment.

People are fallible. It's a fact of life. People fuck up and other wear the shit. Oh well, I do at least have confidence that my kitchen will get finished eventually as I have a binding contract that says so. As for getting the kitchen done by the weekend which is what has been stipulated...I'm not holding my breath.

There, I feel much better. Better for having pushed these thoughts out into the aether were noone will read them but I will at least be rid of them.

Hmm, now back to my coffee...

Official Google Blog: Bird flu basics

I'm so over it

Ever get yourself into a situation where you're thinking, "How on earth did I get here?". I was thinking that last night whilst I was tiling my kitchen floor. Wondering how long I'm going to remember all the little bumps that I _know_ are there. How long it will be before I forget how hard it was to tile that damn floor and how tired I feel now as a result. My guess is at least 10 years. So my hope is it will be another 10 years before I attempt tiling again. Lets hope thats the case. It seems like a good idea at the time, do your own tiling save lots of money. But for reasons beyond my comprehension I was unable to foresee things that last night were very obvious!

Thus I have compliled this handly list for would be tilers who think its a good idea to do their own tiling:

• You can never have enough spacers. Running out of spaces is a _bad_ thing. Forget having a floor you can be proud of, try having a floor you can bear to look at!
• Motar gets everywhere! Yes everywhere. During post tiling showering (next moring) I found unknown bits of concrete stuck to my skin like some medival disease!
• Emergency cutting is something to be prepared for. Tiles never fit the same as when you laid them. Be prepared to trim tiles to fit...even if it means eliminating spacers to do so!
• Tiles set real quick so make sure you get them in the right place at the right time. Finding that the row you did 10 minutes ago is slightly out of place is too bad as you cant change it now. If it means your carefully cut tiles no longer fit, tough, you never expected it to look professional did you?
• Those careful lines you drew on the floor during layout to keep your tiles nice and straight are no longer useful. Funny how you don't expect that to be a problem beforehand. Let me tell you, when you stick a tile down, it doesn't just sit there, it floats around meaning it goes wherever it wants (until it butts up against something else that is). So even though you think just by pushing tiles up against each other is enough to ensure a straight floor...it isnt!!
• When you cover 3 rows in 1 hr, don't expect another 3 rows to take another hour. I think tiling sufferes from an exponential decay in tiling rate. You start at some enthusiastic rate and slowly decay to a much much slower one which results in your early "we'll be done in two hours" claim to fall by the wayside. I'm attributing this to two factors:

1. You can't possibly estimate how tired you'll get tiling. I mean I love crawling around on the floor on my hands and knees...but not normally for 6 hrs!!!
2. You slowly realize what a shoddy job you did at the begining and start trying to be more careful...the result? Each tile now takes 5 minutes to line up...and then it doesn't stay put.

Ok. Nuff said on that topic...Next week...how to tile your walls without getting shite all over your nice new kitchen benches!!!

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Long live the duff.