Saturday, February 9, 2008

David - Insert Something Witty Here

Sill in New Hampshire. Have spent the entire week battling rampant insanity, my only weapons being logic and the unholy power of a pissed off COO. The next politician I meet wot says private companies are more efficient is getting a punch in the face.

Expecting worse next week now that the enemy has figured out I am serious. Which of course means that we will go back to playing "you don't need to know that" games. On the plus side I am so pissed off right now that I have broken through to the other side and am capable of maintaining rational thought - relatively speaking.

In other news I am exhausted and may be going to London on Tuesday. For 2 days. Sorry Fasledan - maybe we can catch up at the end of Feb when I am over for more than 2 days.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Shoshe - Car! and snow

We got my car back this afternoon! It's been in the shop since the end of November. I do not recommend the body shop we used, but the insurance people (not the national free-call people, but the people down the road from my parents who we've been with at least since I got my licence) kicked some body shop arse in the end (I have a new fender! It replaces the one that the body shop scraped up).

It's been above freezing for days now, and our snow actually disappeared (almost completely and by melting, instead of slowly and through sublimation). But it was back below freezing today and it snowed all day, so it's okay. Except that my right snowboot seems to have a leak.

Dan - week of eatin ' and illin'

So in addition to Elora's immunological antics (third week of childcare and she's already got Rubella! It'll be the Black Plague before the year is out!), I've got both a throat thing and a gut thing going on this week, which don't seem to be going away. Of course, it's Chinese New Year (Gong Hei Fatt Choi, y'all), and the necessary overeating that accompanied that didn't agree with me at all the other night.

Also, we got moved to a new office with less windows. On the bright side, it's got good aircon, so breathing is a whole lot easier than it used to be. And work is interesting and not too arduous at the moment, which is a pleasant change.

Anna : I left high school right?

I went for a swim yesterday at Noel Martin. While I was treading water at the deep end about to head off for a another lap I hear a small voice say "Excuse me ..." and turn and see there's a 10 or 11 year old girl hanging on the lane rope next to me.

Girl : "Do you go to Sceggs?"
Anna : "Sorry?!?"
Girl : "Do you go to Sceggs Darlinghurst?"
Anna : "Um no, I really don't ..."
Girl : "Cause you look like someone who goes there ..."
Anna : "Nope, that's not me"

Does high school really never end?

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Withdrawal

The coffee truck didn't make it to work today. Normally you can tell the city-office refugees, by the enmasse rising from seats as soon as the horn toots its merry tune.

Instead, there were a lot of suffering people.

Pub on Friday?

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Becstarr : Progressions

Gave Jj a family send-off at Sydney Airport, bound for London. She will be most of the way there by now.
Tim got his VP promotion at Deutsche - congrats T!
Ursul (Wed night game) got a random wife from the Earl and had a son - both doing well after the first year, though still unnamed.
Handover at work proceeds apace, with a new LMS Admin learning the ropes while there are still 3 of us to share the teaching.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Tired, and then a biscuit

Spending too many, too long hours at work recently. Actually asked a guy on the phone today whether or not they really wanted us to pass on their offer, and give the contract to someone else. Pull your finger out guys!

Climbed at the gym (1 hr - too short), then big dinner, and an arnott's scotch finger. Mmm, shortbread.

David - A Moment

Sometimes life just gives you a moment. One of those precious - yet small - moments that make you grin. Remind you how good your life would be if you could just get out from under whatever piece of shite happens to be raining down on you.

I thought mine had arrived last Friday when due to an office move, I got to spend the afternoon in a delightful local brewery, enjoying a nice drop with a roaring fire. And then it started to gently snow. A lovely Portsmouth winter afternoon.

But it turns out that was just the opening act. I am sitting in the bar at the Hilton. And 4 sailors in dress black uniforms have just walked in. Now if you will excuse me - I have work to do.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Anna : Do the Hustle!

Anyone up for a global Hive Hustle Off!

Get dancing : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TsRdkrxl4g

Jaime - Man I want to learn Kendo again

Went and saw Seven Samurai tonight and it was sooooo cool, seeing these movies at the Samurai festival are making me want to take up Kendo again.

Anna : Worst Case Scenario

Well the power in our house continued to be up and down all last week. The electrician came in on Friday, left a "tradesman trail" all through the house and ripped my parasol but declared that nothing was wrong. But when Guy touched the sink he was still getting shocks. So we waited to see whether the power would go out again, hoping against hope that it wouldn't go out on Sunday night after the hair dressers had closed ... 3.54pm *pop* down goes the power. We rush downstairs but not a hairdresser to be found ... *sigh* so Guy and I went out for a late lunch / early dinner and then sat about reading by candle light and then put on extra PJ's to sleep in our slowly cooling bed.

YL - It went boom. And now I'm sitting in a computer lab.

Sitting in the UTS computer lab reminds me of the old days when we worked in Fisher/Carslaw/Engineering.

1am - Loud explosion sound that shook the whole building I live in. And you know how big the building is.

Turns out, a gas pipe/something exploded destroying the whole bottom floor of the section on the opposite side from my lift lobby across the courtyard. Glass had shattered everywhere. Everyone ran out from the whole U shaped building. There was at least 1 injured bleeding person. I assessed that he was not in immediate danger and rang the ambos. Fortunately police & fireys had already turned up.

Magical chaos.

Now I'm hiding out in UTS in my PJs. Apparently fierys may not be letting us back in until the morning. It's 2.15am now. I still have to go into work.

Will my home be there in a few hours? Hmmm.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Becstarr : Grass rustling

What a strange weekend.
Lots of family time including lunch with Mum and her younger sister, an aunt who I used to see heaps of as a child, but whom I've barely seen since I was about 12. Re-meeting relatives as an adult can be a very odd experience that makes one re-evaluate past situations.

Also jumped the back wall at J's over to the abandoned Sydney Korean Ethnic School (so says the sign in the courtyard) and co-opted a large amount of grass growing between their bricks. The big bare patch in the lawn has been turned, forked, and composted and replanted with the rustled greenery!

Jaime - Europe is go

We have purchased our tickets for our April/May Europe trip, which is both exciting and terrifying