Being able to get your self dressed everyday is a big step in becoming independent.
A mathamagician has calculated the most efficient way to tie your shoelaces.
Runners world has some methods to best suit your feet.
After reading both of these articles I can proudly say I feel slightly more independent.
Clients: Part 2
And its annoying because you just cant tell how much work would be involved, and if you over estimate then they may decide to go somewhere else and if you underestimate and when the project is finished and you send them the bill they get upset and "you told be $XXX", "but I did spend the last 2 weeks working on it putting aside other work". Oh and the other thing that gets me about clients are the ones that ask you to get something done quicker and then dont bother to even collect that day and wait a week, when you could have comforatbly done it over the the week.
Virus
Luckily the computer caught the virus instead of me. And it was all may own fault. Considering the number of questionable sites I visit, you would think that I would have viruses more often. This is my first virus and maybe in my haste to get Doom 3 to work I didn't notice the evil file I was downloading. As soon as you extract the file the virus (it was actually a Trojan, but it had the ability to create more copies of it self etc... it was quite nasty) the virus loads it self on the computer, then downloads more shit from the internet called Win Anti Virus 2007. It was very well done and looked legitimate, but when stuff starts to download it self you know somethings wrong. Or when you cant get to your anti virus program as it puts its window 'always on-top'. So to get rid of this nasty virus I had to download about 8 different scanning programs and 3 file analysis programs and run them in various numerous times to get rid of this virus. It took 3 days. Which is better than my recovery time. But I still don't feel safe, I will be doing a clean install. But weirdly the package that contained the virus actually had working keys for Doom 3. So in a way its still good. But I think in future I will stick to more well known sites... Oh and run Anti-virus when downloading packages. And run the program on a virtual machine...
Clients
Seth Godin of The Dip fame wrote something funny about one of his clients: [edit: This is not one of Seths clients. I, however have gotten a lot of this over the past few weeks]
For inspritation on how to deal with your clients go here.
"So a client calls me on a Friday - 4PM.
CLIENT: I'm about to talk to the pharma client, I need a computer graphics budget for an interactive CD-ROM.
ME: Great, email me the project details, how many screens, client deadlines, etc.
CLIENT: Well, can't you just give me a ballpark figure?
ME: A ballpark figure? But, I don't know any of specs, nor any of the client info. Please send me what you have, I'll look over it this weekend and I'll have something for you first thing Monday morning.
CLIENT: Well, we need to send them something today, by 4:30PM. Can't you just estimate it?
ME: Okay, $100,000.
CLIENT: $100,000! Why is it that much?"
For inspritation on how to deal with your clients go here.
Revision: Blog Manifesto
Turns out I did have a blog manifesto and it was also my first post. I was supposed to learn some sort of progaming something something and make my own blogging app. The saga did continue for a few years but after a few months I do concede defeat to the almightly blogger.
Blogathon
My freinds Jonathan and Karl have restarted their blogs. Both are in search of work and both will be blogging daily (we will see how long that lasts...) about their endevours to find work.
Jonathan is using the blog as stimulus to get over his 6 months of writters block. And as a potential journalist would probably have starved to death by now if he did actually have such a job. Karl is blogging daily to keep track of his goals in getting a job in design. Which reminds me I have to lend him GTD.
And as always my blogging manifesto is blank. Maybe I could start a blog to discuss what things I could write in my blog.
Jonathan is using the blog as stimulus to get over his 6 months of writters block. And as a potential journalist would probably have starved to death by now if he did actually have such a job. Karl is blogging daily to keep track of his goals in getting a job in design. Which reminds me I have to lend him GTD.
And as always my blogging manifesto is blank. Maybe I could start a blog to discuss what things I could write in my blog.
12 Interesting Facts abotut Icky Thump
1. Icky Thump has no piano performances (unlike it's predecessor which was mostly written and performed on piano). And is the first White Stripes album to contain no piano based songs.
2 It has the most guitar solos Jack White has ever recorded to tape.
3. It is the first time the band has collaborated with horns and bagpipes.
4. It is the first time The White Stripes have ever recorded and mixed an album at a conventional modern studio.
5. Icky Thump was still, however, recorded to reel-to-reel, and mixed to tape in complete analog fashion.
6. The album was recorded in three weeks. Shockingly, the longest the band have ever spent working on a record.
7. Icky Thump contains the first spoken dialogue song to appear on one of their albums; "rag and bone".
8. Icky Thump is the second longest album of The Stripes pantheon thus far. Second to Elephant with more than 48 minutes in running time.
9. The album's title is a morphing of the phrase "ECKY THUMP" which is an exclamation of surprise or wonderment in northern England.
10. The synthesizer used in the title track was also used on the song "Telstar" recorded by Joe Meek.
11. Jack White used the exact same guitars on Icky Thump that he has recorded with on every White Stripes album.
12. "I'm Slowly Turning Into You" is possibly the first song to be written based on a video treatment. This was inspired by one which was given to The White Stripes by Michel Gondry.
[Source: Boarders Newsletter]
2 It has the most guitar solos Jack White has ever recorded to tape.
3. It is the first time the band has collaborated with horns and bagpipes.
4. It is the first time The White Stripes have ever recorded and mixed an album at a conventional modern studio.
5. Icky Thump was still, however, recorded to reel-to-reel, and mixed to tape in complete analog fashion.
6. The album was recorded in three weeks. Shockingly, the longest the band have ever spent working on a record.
7. Icky Thump contains the first spoken dialogue song to appear on one of their albums; "rag and bone".
8. Icky Thump is the second longest album of The Stripes pantheon thus far. Second to Elephant with more than 48 minutes in running time.
9. The album's title is a morphing of the phrase "ECKY THUMP" which is an exclamation of surprise or wonderment in northern England.
10. The synthesizer used in the title track was also used on the song "Telstar" recorded by Joe Meek.
11. Jack White used the exact same guitars on Icky Thump that he has recorded with on every White Stripes album.
12. "I'm Slowly Turning Into You" is possibly the first song to be written based on a video treatment. This was inspired by one which was given to The White Stripes by Michel Gondry.
[Source: Boarders Newsletter]
Achewood Wolfmother Reference
The current story arch in Achewood has Lyle and Cropes start a band called Mister Band, with Lyle playing bass. and of course Ray signs them.Todays strip has Lyle trying to get out of playing bass as he doesnt like playing the same same note over and over very repetivly. Anyway, the last panel in todays strip looks like a reference to Wolfmother. Which I think is a bit harsh, mainly because Chris Ross knows at least 3 different notes (not to mention he has to play keyboard at the same time).
One of the disadvantages of having a full time job and a handful of clients is that you have no time. Time you could spend watching TV or trying to complete GTA:SA you are in front of the computer doing something productive.
Being productive gives you a lot of confidence, but it can also be a bit boring being so productive. As in once you are productive, what else is there to achive? I'm thinking about making a mess so I have interesting to do.
Being productive gives you a lot of confidence, but it can also be a bit boring being so productive. As in once you are productive, what else is there to achive? I'm thinking about making a mess so I have interesting to do.
Back on Internets
YAY! After a few days without internet, I am now back online. Not that this is really exciting news to anyone, but it is to me. Of course having a desk job enables recreational internet usage anyway. So I wasn't completely deprived of precious internet.
Normal programing will now resume
NEEEWWAAWWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW [GOTO 10 MIND CONTL]
Normal programing will now resume
NEEEWWAAWWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW [GOTO 10 MIND CONTL]
Pay Day
Today was my first pay packet. Was quite exciting thinking about all the stuff I still cant afford. But non the less it is good to have money. Dont have to save up for 6 months just to buy something... However it is also a little scary, as in what to do with this money?
Of course I still have to buy some more shirts so, I will most likely hold off any major purchases until I have enough clothes to wear for work.
Of course I still have to buy some more shirts so, I will most likely hold off any major purchases until I have enough clothes to wear for work.
No More Centrelink
Today was the last day I will ever have to hand in a form with centrelink. I was a little anxious, but overall it was quite a liberating experience. Walking out the glass sliding doors, was like stepping into a new world, not necessarily a better or worse world, just a new one. I have also noticed having time limits on things makes time not seem as long, at Butter Beats there is no time limit for lunch, yet, I mange to decide what to eat, procure food, eat it and still have 30 mins to walk around. For some reason, having an hour for lunch now seems shorter. It could be because I have been unable to straighten my arms for the past 1.5 days. Which is very weird and annoying because I cant reach stuff. And it hurts.
Day One
My first day of full time paid employment is complete. Got to finish 10 mins early. Everyone was very happy about that. Apart from doing some auditing, I also got to do some data entry/bookkeeping. Supposedly this is more exciting than auditing. After doing bookkeeping for 2+years, I am just a little over it.
In my lunch break I rang centrelink about my new job. They were happy, but still want me to hand in my form so they can finalise it officially. But I can fax it in. YAY!
In my lunch break I rang centrelink about my new job. They were happy, but still want me to hand in my form so they can finalise it officially. But I can fax it in. YAY!
Trivial Update
Life as me seems to be getting better. I bought, what is probably my favorite movie of all time for $12. I also got a job interview. And now I have work experience this Friday. This is despite stuffing up in the interview and saying I have no experience. Which proves that if they really need someone they will hire you. Not that I have the job yet, but its looking good.
In other news I bought a headset, why I don't know. But it was cheap and I didn't feel like buying any Telstra Shares. They turned out the be the most uncomfortable headphones I have every placed on my head. They just sit on your head, the back of the cups don't close, plus because the cans are square (I thought this was some kind of genius new design), turns out my ears arnt square. So they dont fit properly.
It does have a decent microphone, so it will be good to use them for making internet phone calls.
WHOA!
I got an idea. Start a podcast... I can just talk and wont have to use ten digits to type away on an ill designed keyboard, resulting in costly corrective RSI surgery.
In other news I bought a headset, why I don't know. But it was cheap and I didn't feel like buying any Telstra Shares. They turned out the be the most uncomfortable headphones I have every placed on my head. They just sit on your head, the back of the cups don't close, plus because the cans are square (I thought this was some kind of genius new design), turns out my ears arnt square. So they dont fit properly.
It does have a decent microphone, so it will be good to use them for making internet phone calls.
WHOA!
I got an idea. Start a podcast... I can just talk and wont have to use ten digits to type away on an ill designed keyboard, resulting in costly corrective RSI surgery.
How to run a successfull small business. Start off with a Medium sized business and watch it go down the drain.
Kingdom Come
Finished reading J G Ballards latest book, Kingdom Come. It continues the theme of looking at middle England. The book is well paced and assumes the reader is capable of filling in the gaps. Over all the book was pretty good, you wanted to know how far it could really be pushed, and pushed it got. The premise for this book is a mans farther is killed in a shopping centre. He doesn't know his farther very well so he goes to this place to see if he can find out something about him. But instead he ends up looking for the killer as the police are incompetent or in on it... so why kill an old man?
The store centres around the shopping centre and its very patriotic citizens. In a way its a futuristic book in today's setting. Its also probably a good indication of what might happen in the future, which is quite scary.
Consumerism is bad.
The store centres around the shopping centre and its very patriotic citizens. In a way its a futuristic book in today's setting. Its also probably a good indication of what might happen in the future, which is quite scary.
Consumerism is bad.
New Dealer
I bought my first moleskine about 1 month ago. Its a pocket squared moleskine. I got it from Boarders. They didn't have much a selection, A lot of chasiers, which upon closer inspection is really a waste of money since the quality of the paper isn't as good and the cover is just a heavier stock paper. Sure u get 3 but I could make one for less that the $10 they are asking, and still have change left over. The main problem is the crappy paper...
The squared notebook, is really nice. Small, portable, lots of pages, the paper is a nice off white creamy colour. So its nice to read from. I do have a problem with the paper not taking up the ink from my uni-ball. Probably because its quite smooth. I have to let it dry before I close it or I get bleed onto the opposite facing page. And it smudges easily. So I have to find a new pen to write with. Probably a roller ball of some kind. I was hoping to use a fountain pen, but if the uni-ball wont stick I doubt the fountain pen will.
The new quest is now a smooth pen, that has a nice rich colour and I find comfortable writing with. I guess the main advantage of the uni-ball is that its a decent pen, nice rich colour, smooth AND has a nice size barrel which I can hold onto. I really don't like skinny pens. Pencils and automatic pencils mostly come in the skinny variety, however I have found the Lamy Scribble, which is a fat mechanical pencil. Its a little pricey for what is essentially a pencil. I need a pen. The pencil can wait.
So, Boarders is switching around their notebook/journal section, and have moved the moleskines near the magazines in the 'gift book' section, and now have a special section for girly notebooks. However, they have forgotten to actually stock a variety of moleskines, meaning the ones people don't want, eg the squared large cashiers etc, are hanging around. I thought they may have got some new stuff in, since they have the diaries.
So, there was basically no place to get moleskines in Brisbane, subsequent searches of the internet showed that there were other places to get moleskines from, meaning I didn't have to fork out for shipping, hurray.
Its lunch time and I decided to go try something completely different, and eat in a different location. I end up at the Queens Plaza food court, for such a fancy mall, there seems a lack of quality food vendors... basically its got the same stuff as in the other food courts at any other shopping centre. And then I pass by a paper store, with a big sign that says "mmmm delicious paper". How could I resist, then, all of a sudden, through the trendy white displays I notice rows of moleskines. Its dark cover drawing me in like a black hole about to destroy a solar system. With the full selection of moleskines on offer, I regressed back to my tried and tested "I cant decide". But these days I have a plan, I call it, come back later.
After work I went in picked up a large squared moleskine, and I still had time to catch the bus. Why I bought the large squared. I'm not sure, I probably should have gotten the lined one, now that I think about it, but the squared one means it should be easier to line stuff up, and do my little diagrams and graphs while I try to explain something to my self.
The squared notebook, is really nice. Small, portable, lots of pages, the paper is a nice off white creamy colour. So its nice to read from. I do have a problem with the paper not taking up the ink from my uni-ball. Probably because its quite smooth. I have to let it dry before I close it or I get bleed onto the opposite facing page. And it smudges easily. So I have to find a new pen to write with. Probably a roller ball of some kind. I was hoping to use a fountain pen, but if the uni-ball wont stick I doubt the fountain pen will.
The new quest is now a smooth pen, that has a nice rich colour and I find comfortable writing with. I guess the main advantage of the uni-ball is that its a decent pen, nice rich colour, smooth AND has a nice size barrel which I can hold onto. I really don't like skinny pens. Pencils and automatic pencils mostly come in the skinny variety, however I have found the Lamy Scribble, which is a fat mechanical pencil. Its a little pricey for what is essentially a pencil. I need a pen. The pencil can wait.
So, Boarders is switching around their notebook/journal section, and have moved the moleskines near the magazines in the 'gift book' section, and now have a special section for girly notebooks. However, they have forgotten to actually stock a variety of moleskines, meaning the ones people don't want, eg the squared large cashiers etc, are hanging around. I thought they may have got some new stuff in, since they have the diaries.
So, there was basically no place to get moleskines in Brisbane, subsequent searches of the internet showed that there were other places to get moleskines from, meaning I didn't have to fork out for shipping, hurray.
Its lunch time and I decided to go try something completely different, and eat in a different location. I end up at the Queens Plaza food court, for such a fancy mall, there seems a lack of quality food vendors... basically its got the same stuff as in the other food courts at any other shopping centre. And then I pass by a paper store, with a big sign that says "mmmm delicious paper". How could I resist, then, all of a sudden, through the trendy white displays I notice rows of moleskines. Its dark cover drawing me in like a black hole about to destroy a solar system. With the full selection of moleskines on offer, I regressed back to my tried and tested "I cant decide". But these days I have a plan, I call it, come back later.
After work I went in picked up a large squared moleskine, and I still had time to catch the bus. Why I bought the large squared. I'm not sure, I probably should have gotten the lined one, now that I think about it, but the squared one means it should be easier to line stuff up, and do my little diagrams and graphs while I try to explain something to my self.
Glider Mission
For the past 12 months I have been trying to crack this stupid glider mission on Ratchet & Clank 2: Locked & Loaded. Mainly because I am crap at all flight missions/games. But it is a releif to finnaly be able to move on. The next mission is in space so I have a feeling thats going to suck as well, but theres shooting so that should break up the monotony.... A similar thing happened in GTA:SA, where you have to get your flight license. Its the circle the airstrip mission. After about 6 months of trying to get past that I just reset the game.
Blogging is hard work. And since I'm trying to blog regularly/everyday, its even harder. Why is it hard? Its just words.... True the typing and bulk of the post is probably the easy part. But getting started, the initial idea is the hardest part.
Ideas, you need an idea of something, anything, then you can start writting. Well thats not entirely true. But unless you want the standard mumbling blog about nothing its not even worth trying. Even rants need a good idea to rant about. You need that purpose, to drive your words towards some conclusion.
I found a cool article which had 5 steps on how to write etc. Basicly you have to have an idea. Then you have to write it down and think about what you are going to write. Then you should let it 'incubate', so you can develop more ideas. Then you can start writting. And if you get stuck, you can always fall back on the incubation.
Ideas for blog posts:
Ideas, you need an idea of something, anything, then you can start writting. Well thats not entirely true. But unless you want the standard mumbling blog about nothing its not even worth trying. Even rants need a good idea to rant about. You need that purpose, to drive your words towards some conclusion.
I found a cool article which had 5 steps on how to write etc. Basicly you have to have an idea. Then you have to write it down and think about what you are going to write. Then you should let it 'incubate', so you can develop more ideas. Then you can start writting. And if you get stuck, you can always fall back on the incubation.
Ideas for blog posts:
- None
- None
- None
- None
Today has been a good day, applied for six jobs. And I quite frankly don't care anymore. Its not my problem. I apply. That's it. I'm not really sure why I'm so happy, I only got paid $40 in the past 2 weeks and I still got my gambling debts to pay...
It could be because I'm not coughing up chunks of my diseased lungs every 2 minutes. I also managed to get Scarface out on DVD. It's never in so I went to another video store... but I got it and I will watch it tomorrow.
I was also lucky at boarders where I got the new book, 'Kingdom Come' by Ballard. Its the fourth book in the series that lets the middle class implode. Millennium People was great, so I'm expecting this to be similar. Super Cannes and Cocaine Nights, I haven't even seen at the store. Hopefully by the time I finish this book they will have them back in stock.
HAHAHAH turns out Kingdom Come isn't available on Amazon yet.
It could be because I'm not coughing up chunks of my diseased lungs every 2 minutes. I also managed to get Scarface out on DVD. It's never in so I went to another video store... but I got it and I will watch it tomorrow.
I was also lucky at boarders where I got the new book, 'Kingdom Come' by Ballard. Its the fourth book in the series that lets the middle class implode. Millennium People was great, so I'm expecting this to be similar. Super Cannes and Cocaine Nights, I haven't even seen at the store. Hopefully by the time I finish this book they will have them back in stock.
HAHAHAH turns out Kingdom Come isn't available on Amazon yet.
South Park - Scientology
They just showed the infamous scientology episode of south park. The episode that made Chef quit. Tom Cruise wouldn't 'come out of the closet'. At the end everyone from scientology was going to sue Stan because he said they scientology was not real religion. Which is what happened to Matt and Trey (Tom Cruise tried to have the episode banned). So everyone on the credits was either John Smith or Jane Smith.
The episode was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. Which it didnt win.
During the show there is an explination of what scientology is about and is based on actaully what happens, which makes it even more funny. With a big disclimer on screen saying:
"THIS IS WHAT SCIENTOLOGISTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE"
More can be found on wikipedia.
Evil Sickness
I think I am becoming sick. I feel realy weak and I'm coughing a lot. So not good. I was actually looking forward to going to work this week as I was ahead on most of my projects, which is a nice feeling...
ugh
ugh
Soap
Snakes on a plane, is everything you would want it to be. The title is the plot. Samuel L Jackson says the famous words
"Enough is enough! I have had it with these muthafuckin' snakes on this muthafuckin' plane!"
That is gold and it seemed like everyone really enjoyed the movie. Especially with the open clapping/cheering throughout the movie normally reserved for more art house type movies at premiers etc, you know the exclusive stuff. I'm pretty sure there weren't many 'movie aficionados' in the theater, so I am going to have a wild stab here and say it was mainly blogger/iPeople (iPeople = people from the internet). If you have experienced either of those you will hopefully understand what I am trying very hard to explain. Enough of this ...
Just in case it needs clarifying, this is a high quality B-grade horror flick. So many unbelievable things happen its justnot funny. Therefore its not to be taken seriously. As long as you realise that you are about to be entertained, you will very much enjoy this film. Definitely a movie to go see at the cinema. It truely lived up to the hype. And if you follow the hype, soap is payday.
"Enough is enough! I have had it with these muthafuckin' snakes on this muthafuckin' plane!"
That is gold and it seemed like everyone really enjoyed the movie. Especially with the open clapping/cheering throughout the movie normally reserved for more art house type movies at premiers etc, you know the exclusive stuff. I'm pretty sure there weren't many 'movie aficionados' in the theater, so I am going to have a wild stab here and say it was mainly blogger/iPeople (iPeople = people from the internet). If you have experienced either of those you will hopefully understand what I am trying very hard to explain. Enough of this ...
Just in case it needs clarifying, this is a high quality B-grade horror flick. So many unbelievable things happen its just
Fun Fridays
Fridays are great. But today seemed extra awesome. Why? Because I actually got work done, and still had time for PlayStation and watch Bill Hicks - Sane Man.
Applying for jobs seems to get more fun the less you care about it/take it seriously.
Centrelink thinks that applying for 10 jobs a fortnight will get you a job. I'm not sure that one job per working day is really enough. So just to show I am actually trying to get a job I have been applying for 4 jobs a day (not including days I get paid to do work). Because I have applied for so many jobs I now have a huge bank of cover letter on which to call upon and even then I find it quicker to just type one up. But on average it takes me about 2 hours to apply for a job.
I would like to think of this as a short period of time, as I do have pretty established process that I go through in applying for a job. But I do have a feeling some people get through applications a lot quicker. In any case, a good quality application is more likely to get you an interview. Right?
Applying for jobs seems to get more fun the less you care about it/take it seriously.
Hint: The quicker you realise that actually applying for jobs wont actually get you a job, the more fun you will have.Because it literally doesn't matter. Even if you do have a kick ass education, experience and are a generally accepted nice guy. You still aren't going to get a job. I can take a hint. And after 8 months of intensively applying for jobs, writing custom cover letter, pages of selection criteria and reams of wasted paper I have Finlay got the message.
- Does content matter? - No
- What about how you say it? - No
- Method of application? - No
- Have you tried using gold stars or purple paper to stand out from the crowd? - NO!
- What about word art? - No
- Have you got a job yet? - No
- Does you think anyone read these resumes? - Only people looking to get out of their current shit job (No one that matters).
Centrelink thinks that applying for 10 jobs a fortnight will get you a job. I'm not sure that one job per working day is really enough. So just to show I am actually trying to get a job I have been applying for 4 jobs a day (not including days I get paid to do work). Because I have applied for so many jobs I now have a huge bank of cover letter on which to call upon and even then I find it quicker to just type one up. But on average it takes me about 2 hours to apply for a job.
I would like to think of this as a short period of time, as I do have pretty established process that I go through in applying for a job. But I do have a feeling some people get through applications a lot quicker. In any case, a good quality application is more likely to get you an interview. Right?
Millions of Pains
There are many kinds and types of pain. I have millions of pains. This special type of pain is where your entire body is in pain. The reason for all of this pain is rocks. Lots and lots of rocks, millions of rocks...
In the space of about 3 hours I moved one cubic meter of rocks. One cubic meter may not seem like much. But just imagine one meter, now imagine another meter at 90 degrees now imagine another meter up in the air. That's one cubic meter. I guess its more a matter of the weight, than the sheer volume. Especially considering I have moved 3 cubic meters in a day before, but that was just (yeah, just...) mud. Which is a lot lighter.
Even typing is labouring...
In the space of about 3 hours I moved one cubic meter of rocks. One cubic meter may not seem like much. But just imagine one meter, now imagine another meter at 90 degrees now imagine another meter up in the air. That's one cubic meter. I guess its more a matter of the weight, than the sheer volume. Especially considering I have moved 3 cubic meters in a day before, but that was just (yeah, just...) mud. Which is a lot lighter.
Even typing is labouring...
Just Because You Run a Book Store Doesnt Make You Smart
The management at Boarders are idiots. Every week they have a 20% off sale. Why?
Because they are morons. Here's some free advice, stop trying to squeeze every penny out of a book.
Also by having vouchers, 20% of days, and then you give away vouchers, you are setting an unhealthy precedent. Customers are going to expect vouchers. Example is Dominoes/Pizza hut. Any one that buys a pizza at full price is a sucker. No one wants to be a sucker, so they will even go so far as make up an excuse that they forgot their voucher then pay full price. The pizza companies know this, Everyone uses a voucher. Its factored in. The only benefit for the pizza companies is the marketing they get out of it. No one wants a pizza hut menu delivered in the junk mail twice a week. Its like an excuse to send out these leaflets to remind you to eat pizza.
Boarders are probably giving the vouchers to existing customers because it would be too hard for them to do a letter drop. So you have the marketing taken care of. People then talk about or give away the vouchers, more talk, recommendations.
But are these small, incremental/questionable benefits worth the stigma of being a 'voucher store'?
Want to sell more Cd's and DVDs? Sell them at the same price as any other music store. You don't have to compete with JB Hifi or Big W etc, but try Sanity or HMV. Just send down some low level employee to write down the price of a bunch of DVDs and do the math. No one in their right mind is going to pay full price for [insert crappy romantic comedy]. What is a full price DVD, at Boarders its $34.95. Someone is getting screwed and its defiantly not me.
Because they are morons. Here's some free advice, stop trying to squeeze every penny out of a book.
"Computer says no"There's some profound wisdom in that.
Also by having vouchers, 20% of days, and then you give away vouchers, you are setting an unhealthy precedent. Customers are going to expect vouchers. Example is Dominoes/Pizza hut. Any one that buys a pizza at full price is a sucker. No one wants to be a sucker, so they will even go so far as make up an excuse that they forgot their voucher then pay full price. The pizza companies know this, Everyone uses a voucher. Its factored in. The only benefit for the pizza companies is the marketing they get out of it. No one wants a pizza hut menu delivered in the junk mail twice a week. Its like an excuse to send out these leaflets to remind you to eat pizza.
Boarders are probably giving the vouchers to existing customers because it would be too hard for them to do a letter drop. So you have the marketing taken care of. People then talk about or give away the vouchers, more talk, recommendations.
"Buy from boarders, here's a voucher I'm not going to use."You may also have increased sales because people feel compelled to buy a book. You have a voucher so you got to use it.
But are these small, incremental/questionable benefits worth the stigma of being a 'voucher store'?
Want to sell more Cd's and DVDs? Sell them at the same price as any other music store. You don't have to compete with JB Hifi or Big W etc, but try Sanity or HMV. Just send down some low level employee to write down the price of a bunch of DVDs and do the math. No one in their right mind is going to pay full price for [insert crappy romantic comedy]. What is a full price DVD, at Boarders its $34.95. Someone is getting screwed and its defiantly not me.
The Notetaker
Here's an idea for a funny skit.
You know how waiters/waitresses come up to your table, ask you what you want and write on a not pad. Now imagine you have someone who may or may not be a waitee (is that a word?), but they don't ask you anything, instead they just stand there and write notes in their notepad.
Part 2
Now if the person sitting down starts telling the waitee what they would like for lunch, they just continue to take notes. Obviously this person is then going to get a little annoyed and inquire why the waitee is just standing there.
"oh I'm just taking notes."
You know how waiters/waitresses come up to your table, ask you what you want and write on a not pad. Now imagine you have someone who may or may not be a waitee (is that a word?), but they don't ask you anything, instead they just stand there and write notes in their notepad.
Part 2
Now if the person sitting down starts telling the waitee what they would like for lunch, they just continue to take notes. Obviously this person is then going to get a little annoyed and inquire why the waitee is just standing there.
"oh I'm just taking notes."
Nike Emo
To the emo fags that wear nike high tops. Stop it you imbeciles, you have probably never touched a basket ball in your entire life. I'm sure you like balls, but please stop ruining a perfectly good shoe. Those fluro colour are from the 80's, not gay land. OK I will admit the 80's were pretty gay. But never literaly.
Cock a load of Radiation
Red Rooster isn't very good. In fact its probably the worst fast food place on the planet. I just assumed they had the the chicken in a warmer, then put the burgers together. Sure they put the meat in, squirt on some mayo, dump a shit load of lettuce on and top it off with the other half of the bun. They wrap it up and bung it in the microwave.
That's right microwave. WTF! I thought Hungrys was the only place that did that. McDonalds doesn't even do that. It has been a while since I had "fast food" so maybe that's why I have found this practice to be utterly disgusting.
That's right microwave. WTF! I thought Hungrys was the only place that did that. McDonalds doesn't even do that. It has been a while since I had "fast food" so maybe that's why I have found this practice to be utterly disgusting.
Mercedes Benz Meclaren SLR
Yes, the car is amazingly beautiful, has appropriate engine to match, sounds awesome, goes like a rocket and is super reliable. However. The amount of exposure this car has received on top gear is ridiculous. Sure the show is mainly super cars that we can only dream about. 20% of the show is stuff you might buy 30%, what you would buy if you had some spare cash. And the other 50% is normally what you dream about.
Today, they decided to road test the SLR. They had a race, from London to Oslow. Jeremy drove the car and the other two monkeys had to use mass transport, ie a boat. In total the SLR took up 50 minutes of the 60 minute show. After spending 2 days in that car Jeremy felt tired. I also felt tired from watching him drive the thing on the highway for 50 minutes.
"Dear Jeremy,
Please show more than one car on the show. It goes for an hour, so it shouldn't be too hard to fit it in. I hope I don't have to remind you of the days when the show was only 30 Min's.
Thanks."
Beta Blogger
Blogger is currently rolling out some new features. Its more of a major overhaul, but things are starting to happen. The biggest feature is labels or categories. This was the single reason to setup 18 different blogs just so I could have categories. Now I wont have to worry about that shit anymore. So all the features aren't available yet because its beta. But I am so inspired I am planning to write up a post every day in celebration.
Obviously starting today.
I am writting about the blogger stuff in D-specs. Specifically this post. Here. No, wait. Its here. - just check out D-specs.
Let the Blogathon begin.
Obviously starting today.
I am writting about the blogger stuff in D-specs. Specifically this post. Here. No, wait. Its here. - just check out D-specs.
Let the Blogathon begin.
So its Saturday, the weekend newspapers are out. And so begins the weekly ritual of apply for jobs from the newspaper. Most of these jobs are quite small and dont get posted to the internet. Atleast not that I have seen. Ofcourse I have not had much with these jobs either... With internet jobs they atleast send you an automated confirmation that you didnt get the job. Which gives me piece of mind I dont have to go for any interviews or actually do work in the near future.
Earth Dialogues 2006
Over the weekend I spent my time at a forum, where some very smart people gave a lot of lectures and held discussed the key issues facing society today. We then were able to attend mini forums on the issue of the day and discuss the issue in the context of either:
Sustainability was a big issue, and a generaly theme throughout the forum. Two people got kicked out on Saturday afternoon for trying to hijack the conference. Also there seemed to be a pandemic of people trying to hijack the question time for people to listen to their own speaches. And in general people asking questions just went on these long winded rants about nothing inparticular. Resulting in not very good answers by the pannelists, as its pretty hard to answer a question without a question mark? I feel sorry for the pannelists when they get these crack pots. It must be hard not to start laughing, or just stop listening. Sunday was infinatly better, except for one women who wanted us to join her super race... (I'm pretty sure this topic was covered previously...)
Appart from everything starting late, going over time and the over oppressive ushers. It was pretty worth while event. It was like the ideas festival only more focused.
- Cities & Spaces
- Governance & Accountability
- Human Development and Economic Growth
Sustainability was a big issue, and a generaly theme throughout the forum. Two people got kicked out on Saturday afternoon for trying to hijack the conference. Also there seemed to be a pandemic of people trying to hijack the question time for people to listen to their own speaches. And in general people asking questions just went on these long winded rants about nothing inparticular. Resulting in not very good answers by the pannelists, as its pretty hard to answer a question without a question mark? I feel sorry for the pannelists when they get these crack pots. It must be hard not to start laughing, or just stop listening. Sunday was infinatly better, except for one women who wanted us to join her super race... (I'm pretty sure this topic was covered previously...)
Appart from everything starting late, going over time and the over oppressive ushers. It was pretty worth while event. It was like the ideas festival only more focused.
Millenium People
Finished Millenium People last night. Read the last 5 chapters in one go... once you get to that stage its hard to put it down anyway, so I planned for it. Stopping at chapter 30. The book was awesome. A lot more black humour than the diceman, which had more laugh out funny bits.
The book is about a man who gets involved with a middle class terroist group to find out the killer of his ex-wife. Its quite interesting since there are things going on today (now), that can be related to the book. Such as terrorism, politics and the middle class being squeezed.
The book is by J.G. Ballard, and after a bit of reseach realised he was infact a good writer. I can now confirm this. Since it was a really interesting read I'm not sure if I want to search out another author or just go through his entire repitoir. I'm leaning towards lulaby by Chuck Pulanchik (fight club). He's also supposed to be quite interesting, and it might be funnier then Ballards other works. Besides the book store didn't have cocaine nights or super-cannes. Which is a pitty, as Millenium People is the third in the "series" (concepts tie the books together).
So its on to Amazon to figure out what I will read next.
The book is about a man who gets involved with a middle class terroist group to find out the killer of his ex-wife. Its quite interesting since there are things going on today (now), that can be related to the book. Such as terrorism, politics and the middle class being squeezed.
The book is by J.G. Ballard, and after a bit of reseach realised he was infact a good writer. I can now confirm this. Since it was a really interesting read I'm not sure if I want to search out another author or just go through his entire repitoir. I'm leaning towards lulaby by Chuck Pulanchik (fight club). He's also supposed to be quite interesting, and it might be funnier then Ballards other works. Besides the book store didn't have cocaine nights or super-cannes. Which is a pitty, as Millenium People is the third in the "series" (concepts tie the books together).
So its on to Amazon to figure out what I will read next.
E-tax 2006
Here is a list of direct links to the ATO website to download all the programs to do your tax online.
e-tax module http://ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/etax2006_1.exe
Family Tax Benefit http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/etax2006_2_ftbdll.exe
Capital Gains Tax http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/etax2006_2_cgtdll.exe
Publications Module http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/etax2006_2_docs.exe
Link to Medicare online statement http://ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/mts2006_1.exe
30% Child Care rebate http://ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/ccrta2006_1.exe
Baby Bonus http://ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/bbon2006_1.exe
Good luck
e-tax module http://ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/etax2006_1.exe
Family Tax Benefit http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/etax2006_2_ftbdll.exe
Capital Gains Tax http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/etax2006_2_cgtdll.exe
Publications Module http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/etax2006_2_docs.exe
Link to Medicare online statement http://ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/mts2006_1.exe
30% Child Care rebate http://ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/ccrta2006_1.exe
Baby Bonus http://ato.gov.au/content/downloads/etax2006/bbon2006_1.exe
Good luck
Play Time is Over
No gym today. Instead I stayed at home and ran around in the garden like a maniac for 30 mins. The main reason for not going to the gym, is the wind, and it looked like it was going to rain. It didnt actually rain. But it looked scary.
I'm so sweaty its like I've had a shower with my clothes and shoes on. This may not surprise many people, but I can assure you its all sweat. Normaly it would take me 1 hour of cardio to get to this point at the gym. Just goes to show how much more the real world can offer in terms of "working out". Or it could be the air conditioning and fans... Either way, it felt like an hour.
I'm so sweaty its like I've had a shower with my clothes and shoes on. This may not surprise many people, but I can assure you its all sweat. Normaly it would take me 1 hour of cardio to get to this point at the gym. Just goes to show how much more the real world can offer in terms of "working out". Or it could be the air conditioning and fans... Either way, it felt like an hour.
Yesterday some of the downstairs power sockets stopped working. It was only some, but thats more than some people can handle. Mainly because it took out the TV, microwave and telephone. So basicly we had to call an electrician to come out. No one was free. Eventually someone turned up. And all that they had to do was change a fuse. We had some old school wire type fuses. So they changed all the fuses to these new switch type ones. Way cooler. If the fuse goes you just go to the switch and flick it back. Simple.
Pain
This week hasnt been a good week in terms of my physical (and possibly mental) health. Firstly my tooth was giving me greif. So I was unable to eat properly. Then I had to goto the dentist to get that fixed. Then I got a sore throat, which has gotten worse over the past 24 hours. And recently I sprained my wrist trying to take a picture of a book I am going to try and sell on ebay.
I'm just waiting to get hit by a car. Most likely my own car rolling back over me.
Contributors of my sorethroat/cough is probably the dust that has accumulated in my bedroom whilst I was on holiday. I started trying to clean it up last week, so that does coincide with this illness.
My wrist feels really weird. Using the mouse with your left hand is also weird.
I'm just waiting to get hit by a car. Most likely my own car rolling back over me.
Contributors of my sorethroat/cough is probably the dust that has accumulated in my bedroom whilst I was on holiday. I started trying to clean it up last week, so that does coincide with this illness.
My wrist feels really weird. Using the mouse with your left hand is also weird.
The Moonotones
Went to the gym today for the first time in 6 weeks... I started out ok on the x-trainer. Went accross to the bike. After I got off that, my body began telling me it wasnt in the mood for the treadmill or the rower. So here I am. It was a good workout. But while I was there it got me thinking about gym membership and how its a "club" that you "join", and how all the profits goto one person. Anyway, if it was really a club, then shouldnt the benefits of paying for the gym go back to the "members". I just think the language used to describe the business is kinda wrong. I have no sugesstions of what should be used I just think its a little sugar coated.
Shampoo
For the past week I have been using my sister shampoo to wash my hair. And Since it is wrecking my hair I decided to go out and buy some. I normaly use pears, but I can never find it when I need it, so I had to pick something else. Pears is great because it feels like my hair is clean, is cheap and comes in a large bottle. What I found was that shampoo is extreamly expensive. And el'cheepo shampoo no longer exists. This could just be capalaba woolworths,
Toppsy Table
I just sat down to eat some chicken soup I had neglected at lunchtime. And I sit down, then the middle section of the table falls...
I'm ok. The table is one of those "expanding" tables that have a middle section that you "add" to make the table bigger. What it really does is just make it more complicated and more prone to breakage.
I'm ok. The table is one of those "expanding" tables that have a middle section that you "add" to make the table bigger. What it really does is just make it more complicated and more prone to breakage.
Eggs and Ham
No green eggs here. Just normal eggs. Because of my toothache I have had to eat softer foods that would not cause me pain. At first I thought that weetabix - yes thats right I have weetabix (mauwahahah). But this proved to be more painfull than eating an apple. Mainly becuase the milk was cold and it would get into the cavity. Causing severe pain. So, I am not restricted to foods that I dont have to use my front teeth for, cant be liquidy, and dont need much chewing. Eggs are soft, often dont require much chewing, and with practice none at all.
Consequently I have been making a lot of ommlets and scrambled eggs, and am well and truely sick of them. However I have gotten better at making them. And have developed a few recipies for a bit of variety.
One of the recipies is easy, and very quick.
This whole process should only take no more than 4 minuites, depending on how quickly you cook the eggs. I like to use a lower heat so that the eggs dont dry out. But depending on your time frame you can just crank it. So as you can see, and after you give it a try, its very easy to put together, easy to get the ingredients (should have these things in the fridge) and very quick.
Consequently I have been making a lot of ommlets and scrambled eggs, and am well and truely sick of them. However I have gotten better at making them. And have developed a few recipies for a bit of variety.
One of the recipies is easy, and very quick.
- Heat pan with oil.
- Crack 1 or 2 eggs into pan
- Stir SLOWLY - this will turn ur eggs into scrambled eggs
- Grate a small amount of cheese - any cheese is acceptable. Something sharp is nice. Leistershire cheese I have found to be a bit dry tasting.
- add salt - continue to stir (salt is bad for you)
- put eggs on a plate (heated plate is a nice touch)
- Sprinkle grated cheese
- heat up some ham on the frying pan
- Cover eggs with ham - By covering the eggs with the ham it aids the cheese in melting properly
- eat
This whole process should only take no more than 4 minuites, depending on how quickly you cook the eggs. I like to use a lower heat so that the eggs dont dry out. But depending on your time frame you can just crank it. So as you can see, and after you give it a try, its very easy to put together, easy to get the ingredients (should have these things in the fridge) and very quick.
Heat
Today I got a little heater for my bedroom. Previously I used to lug the big one from downstairs up everynight... Not really a solution since the rest of the family then complains there is no heating in the morning... And I get up late so I cant take it back down. So I got an e'lcheepo one from CrazyClarks for $27. A three dollar saving from bunnings... Its not very big so it doesnt exactly heat the room. Basicly it just takes the edge off the cold night air.
Wanted to go the gym today, but lucky me my sister parker her car in the freaking way. GAH! So annoying when you spend 30 mins looking for a water bottle. Then getting a fresh towl. Spend another 45 mins looking for your gym shoes only to find them under your bed. She has her own car space. But no, that would be too much trouble...
The Big Adventure
Last Friday I got back from the little big adventure to England. The purpose of the trip was for my cousins wedding. A lot happened so I'm trying to document it in one big write up. Which I may or may not post. But in anycase this means a return to the blog.
More Watts
Today I installed a new light bulb in my room. The reason for doing so is obvious. The bulb has blown. So for a few days I have been using my desk lamp to see in the dark. Its only 60 watts, which is more than adequate for using at the desk, but quite dim when trying light up the entire room. So I found a spare bulb in the garage. Still boxed. It was a four pack. And it contained one 75 watt bulb. I made sure the light switch was turned off... And removed the bulb, to find that it too was 60 watts. Pretty weird how different lamp shades and a good position can change how much brighter it can be. Or atleast more efficient at distributing its light evenly across the room.
Now that I have the 75 watt bulb in there now its a lot brighter. And better to do things in general, but I have a feeling it would be a lot harder to sleep with the light on now. Maybe I could swap the 60 watt with the 75 watt bulb.
Now that I have the 75 watt bulb in there now its a lot brighter. And better to do things in general, but I have a feeling it would be a lot harder to sleep with the light on now. Maybe I could swap the 60 watt with the 75 watt bulb.
Breathing Easier
For a long while I couldn't be bothered with the run down and general broken rowing machines available at the gym. For the past few months I have been noticing I have been puffing for air more then I should be at a certain heart rate. I just put this down to not doing cardio regularly enough. The gym has kindly purchased and installed some new rowing machines. Which are quite fancy with a large LCD that can tell you lots of information about your rowing. Its also a lot smoother than the old ones and is actually a pleasure to use. Despite the lack of actual water, it seems to simulate rowing conditions better...
I have been incorporating the rowing machines into my cardio workout, and weirdly I think its helped my breathing. Its very easy to get your heart rate / breathing up on the rowing machine. I only do 5 mins of rowing at any one time, but I think the fact that I have to think a little about when I breathe and the rhythmic nature of the rowing machine has helped my breathing when I am doing other cardio activities. It could also be that you workout out the upper body as apposed to just your legs in most cardio.
What ever the reason, using the rowing machine has helped me improve my cardio fitness overall. By allowing my to breathe a little easier when trying give my heart a workout.
I have been incorporating the rowing machines into my cardio workout, and weirdly I think its helped my breathing. Its very easy to get your heart rate / breathing up on the rowing machine. I only do 5 mins of rowing at any one time, but I think the fact that I have to think a little about when I breathe and the rhythmic nature of the rowing machine has helped my breathing when I am doing other cardio activities. It could also be that you workout out the upper body as apposed to just your legs in most cardio.
What ever the reason, using the rowing machine has helped me improve my cardio fitness overall. By allowing my to breathe a little easier when trying give my heart a workout.
Mothers Day ooo6
Today is/was mothers day. Hopefully you actually bought some crappy present and you mum got excited for a few minuites, then went into a 3 hour rant on how you (the sponge) are not doing anything with your life.
I got my mum chocolate and about a dozen instant scratchies.
I spend the rest of the day looking productive by hoovering the carpet in my room and pointing out the fact that my sister didnt get my mum a card.
HAHAHAH
Happy times.
I got my mum chocolate and about a dozen instant scratchies.
I spend the rest of the day looking productive by hoovering the carpet in my room and pointing out the fact that my sister didnt get my mum a card.
HAHAHAH
Happy times.
oh ok
I have been catching the bus a fair bit and so have been using that time to write my thoughts in my notebook/journal. All the time meaning to blog something atleast once a day. This has not happened. And then you get busy and nothing seems to make sense or has any order. Which for me is like a death wish. I cant get anything done when things are a mess. They still are, but I at the stage where I just think that enough is enough and I need to start again. Sort of like formating your harddrive.
Thats what I am about to begin.
Thats what I am about to begin.
Post D Day
After the life altering events of D day (the day I deleted everything from my inbox). I can say with great enthusiasm if I wanted that life is better under this new regime. Everything is a lot simpler and I think now the challenge lies in actually keeping up to date with new newsletters.
Post D day was celebrated with the help of a very milky cappachino. Is it me or are all take away cappachinos extremely milky. I felt like I was drinking warm milk. This isn't the first time this has happened either.
Post D day was celebrated with the help of a very milky cappachino. Is it me or are all take away cappachinos extremely milky. I felt like I was drinking warm milk. This isn't the first time this has happened either.
Deleted
I just delted all the junk from my inbox. I have a few filters for regular stuff. But often I'm too lazy to make new ones... So it just tends to accumulate in the inbox. Most of it is newsletters as I dont get much personal email so I like to substitute it with the fake friend of email lists.
More to the point I delted it all. About 150 unread messages. I wasnt exactly going to go through each one. If I need informaiton I can just look it up... But now I feel like I can actually do stuff/things. I feel free to continue my life without the anxiaty that is associated with hundreds of unopened emails.
It probably has more to do with clutter. The less clutter the more "room" you have to do actual work. Productive things. When things are cluttered is twice as bad. But now I have less things to think about and I can actually see the email that I need to reply to.
I may also do this to my desktop, which is also pretty cluttered. I have a system of arranging my icons in columns or rows acording to their "genre". But I dont think its that productive to minimize everything (its only one click I know) and then search for an icon, then click it. Why not just use start or quicklaunch or put folder thingys on the task bar. I think I will try this experiment in the future.
More to the point I delted it all. About 150 unread messages. I wasnt exactly going to go through each one. If I need informaiton I can just look it up... But now I feel like I can actually do stuff/things. I feel free to continue my life without the anxiaty that is associated with hundreds of unopened emails.
It probably has more to do with clutter. The less clutter the more "room" you have to do actual work. Productive things. When things are cluttered is twice as bad. But now I have less things to think about and I can actually see the email that I need to reply to.
I may also do this to my desktop, which is also pretty cluttered. I have a system of arranging my icons in columns or rows acording to their "genre". But I dont think its that productive to minimize everything (its only one click I know) and then search for an icon, then click it. Why not just use start or quicklaunch or put folder thingys on the task bar. I think I will try this experiment in the future.
Recently I was thinking about the music that I like. Most of the tracks are quite long. As in longer then 4 mins (which is about the normal length of a peiece of music these days). I do listen to short stuff as well, just most of what I listen to isnt, at least 70% is longer than 4 mins. I do have a few remixes in my playlist, so maybe that may effect the figures. But, currently my average track length is 13:38 minuites.... I realise I have tracks that go 8 to 15 mins, but 13 minuites... Thats quite a long time.
Primary Slave......... None detected
GAAAAAHHHHH!!!
I have had many scary things happen to my computer. On a scale of scaryness. Anything that is harddrive related is scary. Other things, like the graphics card or sound card can be replaced. But the harddrive. The holder of your information. And when you really think about it, there is a lot of stuff on your harddrive. Music and games might take most of the space. But the stuff that you write. Like your resume, pictures, stuff you write, bookmarks, actual information in general. And ofcourse a lot of notes on various things that you are trying to learn about.
When I booted up my computer this afternoon. The bios is doing its thing and checking for a disk to load from. This is before the check for a boot record to load windows from. Basically the bios didn't detect a harddrive at all...
initially I thought it meant that the hard drive had physical died. But I still heard the sound of it spinning. So I tried restarting it a few times. Still nothing... Time to go kill my self. Nothing else to live for etc... I turned the power off at the wall and walked away. *snif*
I thought about the opportunity I had to buy another harddrive. Take the pressure off this one... But no, I was selfish. I wanted the bigger one. After about 30 minutes of "cry me a river" I decided to give it another go.
YAY! it works.
I have no idea what happened. But it all works now. I don't think I will turn off my computer until I get a new harddrive, or atleast until I get a chance to back everything up.
Since I have an interview/"group activity" tomorrow. I was hoping today to be a good day to relax and try and brush up on a few team work skills. And read some accounting stuff. So that it looks like I know what I'm talking about. Instead I think I will go to the gym, get some decent sleep and hopefully I will be refreshed and be able to argue my point in the group. Atleast that what they tell us.
Basically we have to discuss a topic, and we are given a point of view to argue. The aim is not to win, but to see how well and quickly we can develop into a group. And how we work in groups. The method of giving us a point of view to discuss so they can observe us should be quite funny. I am a little scared/nervous of what it could be like. But then again it could also be a lot more easy going then what I am imagining. As long as I stick to the basics of accounting I can't go wrong. I think working at Butter Beats is going to pay off.
I have had many scary things happen to my computer. On a scale of scaryness. Anything that is harddrive related is scary. Other things, like the graphics card or sound card can be replaced. But the harddrive. The holder of your information. And when you really think about it, there is a lot of stuff on your harddrive. Music and games might take most of the space. But the stuff that you write. Like your resume, pictures, stuff you write, bookmarks, actual information in general. And ofcourse a lot of notes on various things that you are trying to learn about.
When I booted up my computer this afternoon. The bios is doing its thing and checking for a disk to load from. This is before the check for a boot record to load windows from. Basically the bios didn't detect a harddrive at all...
initially I thought it meant that the hard drive had physical died. But I still heard the sound of it spinning. So I tried restarting it a few times. Still nothing... Time to go kill my self. Nothing else to live for etc... I turned the power off at the wall and walked away. *snif*
I thought about the opportunity I had to buy another harddrive. Take the pressure off this one... But no, I was selfish. I wanted the bigger one. After about 30 minutes of "cry me a river" I decided to give it another go.
YAY! it works.
I have no idea what happened. But it all works now. I don't think I will turn off my computer until I get a new harddrive, or atleast until I get a chance to back everything up.
Since I have an interview/"group activity" tomorrow. I was hoping today to be a good day to relax and try and brush up on a few team work skills. And read some accounting stuff. So that it looks like I know what I'm talking about. Instead I think I will go to the gym, get some decent sleep and hopefully I will be refreshed and be able to argue my point in the group. Atleast that what they tell us.
Basically we have to discuss a topic, and we are given a point of view to argue. The aim is not to win, but to see how well and quickly we can develop into a group. And how we work in groups. The method of giving us a point of view to discuss so they can observe us should be quite funny. I am a little scared/nervous of what it could be like. But then again it could also be a lot more easy going then what I am imagining. As long as I stick to the basics of accounting I can't go wrong. I think working at Butter Beats is going to pay off.
Back Pain
Today I am feeling some pain in my back. I have always prided my self on not having back pain, mainly so I can mock people that do have back pain. Its not as if they could do anything about it. Firstly becuase its true, and the truth is always funny. Secondly they are in pain and cant move qucikly which means I can run away in the time it takes them to get up off their fat ass.
Ideas Festival
I went to the ideas festival on the weekend. And as the name suggests it was all about ideas. Basicly a whole bunch of lectures on different topics, presented by intelectuals/academics/specialists. Every lecture was interesting. Its sort of thing you wouldnt mind seeing at uni occasionaly. Lots of smart people talking about smart stuff. The event seems to be held every 2 years. So go check it out in 2008. The main reason for attending the festival was because there was all day demonstrations for robowars.
The lectures were very interesting and get you thinking about things, and actually doing something about it rather then just complaining like a lemming (do lemmings winge?). The whole experiance was very stimulating. Also it was mostly free, a few lectures you had to pay to get into. I only did this once, and it was worth it.
I also got to drink a lot of coffee. Which I think I am still feeling the effects of. Yawn. Tired. What happened was I only managed to get 3 hours of sleep the night before which meant I had coffee after the first lecture, then more coffee as we missed that lecture getting the first coffee. After, what seemed like 5 coffees I felt mildly awake.
The lectures were very interesting and get you thinking about things, and actually doing something about it rather then just complaining like a lemming (do lemmings winge?). The whole experiance was very stimulating. Also it was mostly free, a few lectures you had to pay to get into. I only did this once, and it was worth it.
I also got to drink a lot of coffee. Which I think I am still feeling the effects of. Yawn. Tired. What happened was I only managed to get 3 hours of sleep the night before which meant I had coffee after the first lecture, then more coffee as we missed that lecture getting the first coffee. After, what seemed like 5 coffees I felt mildly awake.
BIG FUCKING CAPITAL LETTERS
WTF!
I just completed an application for william buck and gmail is down. I fucking dont believe this shit. Of all the times... I have never wittnesed gmail to be down. Only when I need to email some important shit
!!!
I don't lie ->
I just completed an application for william buck and gmail is down. I fucking dont believe this shit. Of all the times... I have never wittnesed gmail to be down. Only when I need to email some important shit
!!!
I don't lie ->
Graduate Jobs
March is the month when all the graduate jobs for accounting are applied for. As always I left it to the last minuite. That not entirely true... I had created 3 versions of my resume for various/differing positions. And I had created a good cover letter that can be speicaly tailored to the 3 positions that I would be applying for. So essentialy all the hard work was done...
Not exactly... there are often specific questions that they ask in the application, eg "Why do you want to work here", or "give an example of a time you displayed leardership/teamwork/idea/inspiration"...
GAH!
Today has been extremly stressfull. But I have got a lot of work done, and now see that I am capable of much more than just one application every other day, and four applications on Wednessday...
Alas my work is not done. Rather I am sick of answering these questions, I just cant bare to do anymore. I am completly over the whole "graduate" bull shit. Hopefully I will atleast get one interview out of this. And that will be an experiance. I will now pin all my hopes and dreams on small accounting firms to give me a chance to do accounting stuff.
So I am trying to get back into the swing of things, by ranting about it on my blog. Which I am entitled to do.
Not exactly... there are often specific questions that they ask in the application, eg "Why do you want to work here", or "give an example of a time you displayed leardership/teamwork/idea/inspiration"...
GAH!
Today has been extremly stressfull. But I have got a lot of work done, and now see that I am capable of much more than just one application every other day, and four applications on Wednessday...
Alas my work is not done. Rather I am sick of answering these questions, I just cant bare to do anymore. I am completly over the whole "graduate" bull shit. Hopefully I will atleast get one interview out of this. And that will be an experiance. I will now pin all my hopes and dreams on small accounting firms to give me a chance to do accounting stuff.
So I am trying to get back into the swing of things, by ranting about it on my blog. Which I am entitled to do.
Krogoth Encounter
Its been about 6 years since I played Total Annihilation. One mission that I never got to was the Krogoth Encounter. I wanted to wait untill I had finnished all the missions. That and it came with Battle Tactics which i never had. Now that I have got it, this was one of the first missions that I played. The first few times I played, I failed misserably. Jonathan came over one evening and we tried to crack the puzzle. Even though we failed we were able to learn more about the map, learn the benefits of each others playing styles and stratagise a plan that would eventualy enable victory.
1993
Today I bought my first pencil case since 1993. Not becuase I need one. My Jurrasic park tin still lives. But becuase it was on special and it was cool. Batman and all. With the BaTank.
Cant argue with $2.00
Since I have a few tins already, its kinda like a collection of tins. So I feel obliged to add to it. Also I just like stationary. Maybe the jurrasic park tin can take a rest for a while and I can use the BaTin. Or keep it in mint condition. You know I can...
I think the fact that the Jurrasic park tin has actually been used gives it more charachter. Rather then the. "I have never used this in my life" look. Mint condition stationary is good. But the stories that the tin can contain (pun not intended) is a lot more interesting then something that looks more at home on a shelf at Officeworks.
Although collections do look better if they are in good condition.
Fuck its just a Batman pencil tin...
Cant argue with $2.00
Since I have a few tins already, its kinda like a collection of tins. So I feel obliged to add to it. Also I just like stationary. Maybe the jurrasic park tin can take a rest for a while and I can use the BaTin. Or keep it in mint condition. You know I can...
I think the fact that the Jurrasic park tin has actually been used gives it more charachter. Rather then the. "I have never used this in my life" look. Mint condition stationary is good. But the stories that the tin can contain (pun not intended) is a lot more interesting then something that looks more at home on a shelf at Officeworks.
Although collections do look better if they are in good condition.
Fuck its just a Batman pencil tin...
Writing by hand
1. Writing by hand simplifies the work of organizing ideas into an essay. Compare the tedium of creating an outline in Microsoft Word with the ease of arranging and rearranging on paper, where ideas can be reordered or added or removed with simple arrows and strikethroughs. With index cards, reordering is even easier.
2. Writing by hand serves as a reminder that a draft is a draft, not a finished piece of writing. For many student-writers, writing an essay is a matter of composing at the keyboard, hitting Control-P, and being done. More experienced writers know that an initial draft is usually little more than a starting point. Without the sleek look of word-processed text, there’s no possibility of mistaking a first effort for a finished piece of writing.
3. Writing by hand helps to minimize the scattering of attention that seems almost inevitable at a computer, with e-mail, instant-messaging, and web-browsing always within easy reach. Even without an online connection, a word-processing program itself offers numerous distractions from writing. Writing by hand keeps the emphasis where it needs to be — on getting the words right, not on fonts, margins, or program settings. Writing is not word-processing.
[ Quality ]
Basicly hand writting forces you to stop spewing mindless garbage and write only what is of consequence. Additionaly its less distracting, no need to worry about font/sizes/margins and other shit. Just write.
2. Writing by hand serves as a reminder that a draft is a draft, not a finished piece of writing. For many student-writers, writing an essay is a matter of composing at the keyboard, hitting Control-P, and being done. More experienced writers know that an initial draft is usually little more than a starting point. Without the sleek look of word-processed text, there’s no possibility of mistaking a first effort for a finished piece of writing.
3. Writing by hand helps to minimize the scattering of attention that seems almost inevitable at a computer, with e-mail, instant-messaging, and web-browsing always within easy reach. Even without an online connection, a word-processing program itself offers numerous distractions from writing. Writing by hand keeps the emphasis where it needs to be — on getting the words right, not on fonts, margins, or program settings. Writing is not word-processing.
[ Quality ]
Basicly hand writting forces you to stop spewing mindless garbage and write only what is of consequence. Additionaly its less distracting, no need to worry about font/sizes/margins and other shit. Just write.
Raid Zero
No, this is not the title of the latest action movie. Go see Aeon Flux. Its supposed to be a spoof movie so I'm sure it will be funny, however I think they saw that they can make more money by marketing it as a real movie... anyway, its probably shit, but even shittyer if you rent it out.
Enough about movies.
Raid zero, as I'm sure you are aware is a computing err thingy. Raid is supposed to provide a backup to the data in one hard drive, by mirroring it in another (thats raid 1). Raid 0 isnt technicly a raid becuase it does not provide this backup feature... Anyway, raid 0 just speeds up your read and write and the throughput. This is done by having 2 hdd acting as one.
atm I'm thinking of upgrading my hdd space as I only have 4 gigs left... not quite enough to do what I want to do... So the idea of using raid. More specifcily raid 0 with sata drives has caught my attention. It will cost more. But you get twice the speed in access times and in writting to the hdd.
My computer is about 3 years old. It still works fine. Can play games that came out during that era... Graphics card is ok, just doesnt have the lates "shading version 3.0"... I have more ram than I know what to do with. HDD space is the problem. But what if I could also improve the overall speed of the system by increasing the speed of the hdd. How much would this be worth. Another consideration is money. As always money is an issue. My computer does not natively support SATA (I or II). So I can buy a SATA card. Which adds to the cost of a SATA setup. I could go with a raid 0 on my standard ultra 100, but I dont know if my motherboard supports raid... Supposedly its an option, but I cant remember if I included it :(
Should just open it up and find out. It would make the over all experiance cheaper, but not as fast. And if I did buy a new computer in the future, would I take the parts out of this computer and put in the new one? Not likely. I think if I did use SATA the make hhd space I could get would be 160gigs. When I was really looking at installing 250gigs of IDE. The SATA converter card can only handle SATA I, The only SATA I hdd I can find is an 80 gig, or 300+... Seems to be missing a bit of the middle section... So bascily thats 160 gigs, anything bigger and I have to move upto SATA II which is a waste of technology or a more expensive SATA card. Even Excel is unable to help fully with this issue. Well I just dont feel like setting up a decision matrix for this...
Enough about movies.
Raid zero, as I'm sure you are aware is a computing err thingy. Raid is supposed to provide a backup to the data in one hard drive, by mirroring it in another (thats raid 1). Raid 0 isnt technicly a raid becuase it does not provide this backup feature... Anyway, raid 0 just speeds up your read and write and the throughput. This is done by having 2 hdd acting as one.
atm I'm thinking of upgrading my hdd space as I only have 4 gigs left... not quite enough to do what I want to do... So the idea of using raid. More specifcily raid 0 with sata drives has caught my attention. It will cost more. But you get twice the speed in access times and in writting to the hdd.
My computer is about 3 years old. It still works fine. Can play games that came out during that era... Graphics card is ok, just doesnt have the lates "shading version 3.0"... I have more ram than I know what to do with. HDD space is the problem. But what if I could also improve the overall speed of the system by increasing the speed of the hdd. How much would this be worth. Another consideration is money. As always money is an issue. My computer does not natively support SATA (I or II). So I can buy a SATA card. Which adds to the cost of a SATA setup. I could go with a raid 0 on my standard ultra 100, but I dont know if my motherboard supports raid... Supposedly its an option, but I cant remember if I included it :(
Should just open it up and find out. It would make the over all experiance cheaper, but not as fast. And if I did buy a new computer in the future, would I take the parts out of this computer and put in the new one? Not likely. I think if I did use SATA the make hhd space I could get would be 160gigs. When I was really looking at installing 250gigs of IDE. The SATA converter card can only handle SATA I, The only SATA I hdd I can find is an 80 gig, or 300+... Seems to be missing a bit of the middle section... So bascily thats 160 gigs, anything bigger and I have to move upto SATA II which is a waste of technology or a more expensive SATA card. Even Excel is unable to help fully with this issue. Well I just dont feel like setting up a decision matrix for this...
A Telephone Call
Get a call from a job agency today. So after months of "sorry your application was unsucessfull", I now have some hope. Or rather my efforts are finaly starting to have an effect. It spent most of the time trying to ring back. Rang me, then I rang back, then they rang back.... etc times 3....
Eventually got to talk to someone. They asked some questiontions mostly I answed ok. Two questions I did stutter/answered crap.
Hopefully I will still get the interview.
Eventually got to talk to someone. They asked some questiontions mostly I answed ok. Two questions I did stutter/answered crap.
- What sallary are you looking for? - "anything, I am just looking for experiance"
- Do you want to work in insolvency? - "Yeah"
Hopefully I will still get the interview.
Clutter
Clutter is bad. You never get anything done when there is clutter. Atleast that is my experiance. So from consistantly being lazy and not actually opening email and saying I will look at it later, the inbox can get pretty full. And eventualy you have like 70 unopened emails from various newsletter and shit like that. And then you just dont even want to check your email as its just plain scary.
Today that has changed. I selected all the shit from my inbox and hit delete. If I havent read it so far then I'm not going to read it in the future.
And I feel much better.
I can now get stuff done [re: GTD].
Which will hopefully include getting a jay oh bee.
Today that has changed. I selected all the shit from my inbox and hit delete. If I havent read it so far then I'm not going to read it in the future.
And I feel much better.
I can now get stuff done [re: GTD].
Which will hopefully include getting a jay oh bee.
I'm Melting.....
So, our wippersnipper hasnt been working that well for a couple of months and we were basicly resided to the fact that we will need a new one. So in a final effor to make it work, I did everything I could to make it work. Basicly if it did not work we would buy a new one. If it did I can struggle on... So I emptied the fuel. Put new fuel in with the CORRECT mixture of oil. Replaced the spark plug, cleanded the air filter. Oh and the manual says to use leaded petrol...
Ok. It starts. But its still piss weak. Its like its on idle whilst on full throttle, and on idle it just dies. hmmm
So I firstly increased the idle. So it wont stop everytime I release the throttle. Second problem solved.
Now the main purpose of a wipper snipper is the power that it provides to cut stuff. If its just twirling a plastic string around its not going to do much damage to anything. So there are these two adjustable screws that allow you to alter the air fuel ratio or something. I vaugley remeber reading this in the manual when we purchased this machine some 8 years ago.
So after putting in the correct fuel mixture it actually starts. So far so good. Then I change the idle so that it actually keeps going. And then the fun part. See there are 2 screws. Both of which I have no idea what they do. I do know that a fire requires 3 elements. Porn Porn and p0rn. jk. Fire requires fuel, air and ignition. Now as its already running. I figure dont really need to worry about the ignition. So these screws most likely control the how much fuel is going in and possibly at what rate. It could also control the amount of air. But I'm not sure this screw really connects to the air... Also I think the choke controls the bulk of the air.
So the first screw looks seemed to make more noise, but sort of sounded like it was running too rich and I just couldnt get it to give me more power. So I gave it a half turn to give it more fuel and also gave the other screw a turn. Disaster. The whole thing stops...
So maybe more fuel is not the answer. Could be flooding. So instead give it less fuel. Extreamly low power and need to keep it at full throttle just to keep it going. Now turn the other screw. Magic. The more I turn it the more power I get. Hooray.
Ok. So when u keep turning its just howling away at a speed not known before. Power can be very seductive, but I know that if its running this fast its more likely to die for some reason. Probably from some kinda overloading. Probably not possible, but you never know. And just a half turn back was quite adequate. In fact at this mental speed it would not idle properly. So I think reliability is much more important than a tiny bit of extra power.
YAY! it works. I was right to be annoyed at having not enough power to actually do a decent job. And now that its working I figure I should also do a bit of wippersnipping before it decides to stop working again... Managed to get the backyard done. Also needs mowing and I normaly do that first. But today was a special occasion. Will hopefully get around to doing it tomorrow.
So I move onto the front yard. I am happily using the bump feed. As it is working, mainly becuase its spinning at a sufficient speed to get it out of its plasitc cocoon. Little did I know that a modification I made was going to put an end the new begning for the WS.
*Flash Back*
---------------->There is a little screw that keeps the spindle of line attatched to the machine. This screw was encased in plastic. And also acted like a plastic washer, providing greater surface area to push down on. This broke. So I replaced it with a metal washer.<-----------------------
So far this has not been a problem. Today it is. Becuase of the increase in speed/power and the ability to use the bump function. The metal screw transfered the heat to the washer. Causing it to melt a hole in the plasctic spindle. Basicly this means that the bit that holds the line melted. I just thought that smell was the plant matter that got stuck in it burning. It was actually plastic melting away...
hahhaha
I can laugh about it now. But was quite annoyed at the time becuase of all the hard work I had put in to make the damn thing work. Now I have to try and find out if I can buy another spindle thingy.
Ok. It starts. But its still piss weak. Its like its on idle whilst on full throttle, and on idle it just dies. hmmm
So I firstly increased the idle. So it wont stop everytime I release the throttle. Second problem solved.
Now the main purpose of a wipper snipper is the power that it provides to cut stuff. If its just twirling a plastic string around its not going to do much damage to anything. So there are these two adjustable screws that allow you to alter the air fuel ratio or something. I vaugley remeber reading this in the manual when we purchased this machine some 8 years ago.
So after putting in the correct fuel mixture it actually starts. So far so good. Then I change the idle so that it actually keeps going. And then the fun part. See there are 2 screws. Both of which I have no idea what they do. I do know that a fire requires 3 elements. Porn Porn and p0rn. jk. Fire requires fuel, air and ignition. Now as its already running. I figure dont really need to worry about the ignition. So these screws most likely control the how much fuel is going in and possibly at what rate. It could also control the amount of air. But I'm not sure this screw really connects to the air... Also I think the choke controls the bulk of the air.
So the first screw looks seemed to make more noise, but sort of sounded like it was running too rich and I just couldnt get it to give me more power. So I gave it a half turn to give it more fuel and also gave the other screw a turn. Disaster. The whole thing stops...
So maybe more fuel is not the answer. Could be flooding. So instead give it less fuel. Extreamly low power and need to keep it at full throttle just to keep it going. Now turn the other screw. Magic. The more I turn it the more power I get. Hooray.
Ok. So when u keep turning its just howling away at a speed not known before. Power can be very seductive, but I know that if its running this fast its more likely to die for some reason. Probably from some kinda overloading. Probably not possible, but you never know. And just a half turn back was quite adequate. In fact at this mental speed it would not idle properly. So I think reliability is much more important than a tiny bit of extra power.
YAY! it works. I was right to be annoyed at having not enough power to actually do a decent job. And now that its working I figure I should also do a bit of wippersnipping before it decides to stop working again... Managed to get the backyard done. Also needs mowing and I normaly do that first. But today was a special occasion. Will hopefully get around to doing it tomorrow.
So I move onto the front yard. I am happily using the bump feed. As it is working, mainly becuase its spinning at a sufficient speed to get it out of its plasitc cocoon. Little did I know that a modification I made was going to put an end the new begning for the WS.
*Flash Back*
---------------->There is a little screw that keeps the spindle of line attatched to the machine. This screw was encased in plastic. And also acted like a plastic washer, providing greater surface area to push down on. This broke. So I replaced it with a metal washer.<-----------------------
So far this has not been a problem. Today it is. Becuase of the increase in speed/power and the ability to use the bump function. The metal screw transfered the heat to the washer. Causing it to melt a hole in the plasctic spindle. Basicly this means that the bit that holds the line melted. I just thought that smell was the plant matter that got stuck in it burning. It was actually plastic melting away...
hahhaha
I can laugh about it now. But was quite annoyed at the time becuase of all the hard work I had put in to make the damn thing work. Now I have to try and find out if I can buy another spindle thingy.
You know those days and you just know the shit is in the air and its making its way towards a fan. Or on our case ducted airconditioning... Well that was today. And as seems to be the case its around lunch time and you're really hungry. And so you go to your nearest quick hunger fixer place. I chose McDonalds. Mainly becuase u can purchase and eat a cheese burger in under a minuite and still have time to take a piss. Sadly though the McD's that was conveniently located accross the road is now closed.
Thanks for nothing "broadway on the mall" You suck!
The only reason to go there was McD for a quickie. There is a coffee club in there but I haven't tried it yet. Should try it next time. But the rest of the food court sucks. The kebab place makes crap kebabs. There are about 5 places selling pasta in a plastic box. And there are two "roast sandwich" places (you know what I mean). And then there's the shopping. Well unless you want to actually buy something from Harvey Normal, theres not much to choose from...
Thanks for nothing "broadway on the mall" You suck!
The only reason to go there was McD for a quickie. There is a coffee club in there but I haven't tried it yet. Should try it next time. But the rest of the food court sucks. The kebab place makes crap kebabs. There are about 5 places selling pasta in a plastic box. And there are two "roast sandwich" places (you know what I mean). And then there's the shopping. Well unless you want to actually buy something from Harvey Normal, theres not much to choose from...
Cricket = Lost productivity
Watched a bit of cricket today. And as always you try and do work while its on, but for some reason still manage to get nothing done except small 2 minuite tasks. Which is always good to get them cleared off your to-do list. So today I would have to report that my I was a little productive. Couldn't say that I got anything done, but I have done a lot of little things.
Unemployment is really getting to me. There is just no concept of time. I dont even know what day it is...
Haven't applied for many jobs this week. Only 10, which is a significant drop on my weekly rate of 30... I thought I could bump it up this weekend, but so far I have completed a total of zero applications. And with only hours left in this week, its not looking good.
Unemployment is really getting to me. There is just no concept of time. I dont even know what day it is...
Haven't applied for many jobs this week. Only 10, which is a significant drop on my weekly rate of 30... I thought I could bump it up this weekend, but so far I have completed a total of zero applications. And with only hours left in this week, its not looking good.
Done
After a further 1 hour on the comptuer I finaly got up and tidied my pile of clothes up.
One small step for man kind, one gian leap for Me
One small step for man kind, one gian leap for Me
Whats going on?
Considering I am virtually unemployed. Technicly I am employed, but thats another story. Yeah, I should probably be posting every day. A lot of things I am supposed to do everyday I have not been doing. And its hard to see how I am ever going to get out of this deep sleep. Just seems like it gets worse, ironicly, everyday....
I'm gona go to my room now. Thats the place where I sleep and thats about it and put my clothes where they should be.
I'm gona go to my room now. Thats the place where I sleep and thats about it and put my clothes where they should be.
Got Depression?
Why is that drinking has to occur in the evening. It just seems like the most inappropriate time, especialy when you want to get some serious drinking done. My main arguement is that most of the time you try and stay up, sober up, then go to sleep to staive off a hang over. Which means that you could end up staying up till 4am.... Aditionaly when drinking you are more are more relaxed and therefore sleep like you're a bear in hibernation. I know this is mainly because it couldn't have been helped so we just started later. But on numerous occasions now the evening seems like the only time... Noted it is cooler and people are generaly more free in the evening. Basicly you need about 3 hours to feel "safe". Could probably get away with 2. Which means if you stop at say midnight then you get to bed around 2/3 ish, if you sleep 10.5 hours (probably about right, and also taking into consideration the sleep cycle...) that means you wake up about midday, which for me atleast is normal.
However much you like to sleep. Just think about the day time. Maybe its the darkness of the night, but for somereason I feel like the light of the day may also be just as fun.
Note 1: Drinking is bad for you.
Note 2: I am not currently drinkign
Note 3: There is no note three, oh yeah, dont drink alone, that would be depressing and sad. Get depressed with other people so you will realise your problems arent as bad (that advice from too much coffee man (note 3.1: not my coffee))
However much you like to sleep. Just think about the day time. Maybe its the darkness of the night, but for somereason I feel like the light of the day may also be just as fun.
Note 1: Drinking is bad for you.
Note 2: I am not currently drinkign
Note 3: There is no note three, oh yeah, dont drink alone, that would be depressing and sad. Get depressed with other people so you will realise your problems arent as bad (that advice from too much coffee man (note 3.1: not my coffee))
KavaKoffee
Today I bought some takeaway coffee from KavaKoffee. Its this little booth on Adelaide street in the Broadway mall. Firstly, never buy coffee from them. I bought a flat white and it tasted like I was drinking warm milk. Not the wake up hit I was looking for... I bascily wanted to try it out becuase it was cheaper than SB, which I'm sure is very consistantly taste around the world, just like McDonalds... anyway, its expensive. Why, becuase it costs like $5 for a freaking medium... and most other places are giving this shit away for $3.30 (standard price here in Brisbane). So I figured how bad could it be. Freaking bad, I think I'm just gona have to stick with the Coffee Club, not only is it only $3.30 you know its gona taste good, just like their eat in coffee.
In summary dont visit KavaKoffee, its crap.
In summary dont visit KavaKoffee, its crap.
Whilst doing the clean up, I found some more old records, these were all exclusicly 12" and were in much better condition then the crap I have been listening to. However they were all in Hindi, which means its going to be a very interesting couple of weeks.
Also bought a Thelonious Monk Record (its a double). Fianaly got the change to listen to it the whole way through today, each side is about 20 mins so x 4 thats 80mins... But it was pretty good. Not as much swing as Bassie or Duke, but still awesome, I think there is probably less instruments, as in its not a big band (obviously), so each instrument gets a turn, if that makes sense. It has piano so I'm happy.
Also bought a Thelonious Monk Record (its a double). Fianaly got the change to listen to it the whole way through today, each side is about 20 mins so x 4 thats 80mins... But it was pretty good. Not as much swing as Bassie or Duke, but still awesome, I think there is probably less instruments, as in its not a big band (obviously), so each instrument gets a turn, if that makes sense. It has piano so I'm happy.
Quarterly Clean Up
The quarterly tidy of the garage was done today. I would not ordinarly mind this, but since I had planned a completly different day, mow the lawn, go to the gym, read a book... I was a little annoyed that I couldn't get done what I had set out to do this morning. And I probably wont get to do any of it untill Wednesday... Turns out that a lot of the rubbish this time was empty boxes that I had collected thinking that we needed more so that we could organise our junk. Which is extreamly ironic.
Also today is the start of Kwanzaa, where you must celebrate your African-American herritage. Some say that this holiday was infact concuted by a newspaper to "de-whitise" christmas, or a black man in a prison on charges of tourturing two women in a cult (United Slaves (US)) he created. But who cares, Chirstmas was created by a company that sold cocaine in its drinks ... [at least we know what they were on] So lets just get on with the drinking and stuff.
Christmas 2005
Well that day we have all been waiting to get over with for the last 3 months has arrived and gone in much the same fasion as every year. And now we can get on with the real task of shopping and watching cricket.
Was interesting weather, as I was trying to have a bbq, with coal. And it started to rain... But I used my firebug instincts to make fire, and then cook the food. Which was tandoori chicken (better than dry turkey...).
Was interesting weather, as I was trying to have a bbq, with coal. And it started to rain... But I used my firebug instincts to make fire, and then cook the food. Which was tandoori chicken (better than dry turkey...).
Two Dollars
I just finished watching a movie that was not called Two Dollars. It was called Garden State. I got it out becuase:
I feel like I have been ripped off by the hype of Zaf Braf. I watch scrubs when its on becuase its funny. It makes me have laughter, but this movie was just really crap. It felt like the movie was being held back buy a giant boat anchor, and I know why. Becuase this movie is so crap it needs to be tied to the bottom of the ocean so that no one will ever have to bare the pain of having to waste, $2 and 90 mins of their life.
- I had not seen it before
- I was only going to have to spend $1.95 to rent it out
- it looks reasonalby funny
- it had "award" labels on it
I feel like I have been ripped off by the hype of Zaf Braf. I watch scrubs when its on becuase its funny. It makes me have laughter, but this movie was just really crap. It felt like the movie was being held back buy a giant boat anchor, and I know why. Becuase this movie is so crap it needs to be tied to the bottom of the ocean so that no one will ever have to bare the pain of having to waste, $2 and 90 mins of their life.
Voltron
I admit I have never watched any of the orginal Voltron. I watch transformers etc. I guess it never really made it to the UK back in the day. Anyway. I just got a newsletter from madman (they distribute these kinda DVD's here in Australia), it had a picture of Voltron. I realised for the first time that I have Voltron. Thats right I have atleast one vehicle voltron. I say one becuase I used to have 2 but I think I've lost a few vehicles... So I kinda have like 1.5 voltrons...
I wonder how much I would get for it.
"One Voltron + parts, great project robot $1,000,000 ono tel:0101011100110100010"
I wonder how much I would get for it.
"One Voltron + parts, great project robot $1,000,000 ono tel:0101011100110100010"
MP3 player died
About a week ago I lent my sister my mp3 player. That same day it died... It only had 3 days till its first birthday. I guess it was inevitable that one day it would die, becuase of its (or mine...) cheapness. Or more to the point I dont want to spend $400 on something portable, that if it got a scratch on it I would, in sympathy, cross the road...
So as I am a commuter (takes me an hour to get into town), I need a portable music device. I'm sure I could of got a very good tape player capable of lasting 20+years for the same money, but mp3's are so convenient and small etc...
So the quest for a new mp3 player began. My last mp3 player, also my first, took some thinking. especialy since I had just got my first real (I have responsibilities) type job. And hence some money. This time around, it was easier. My tape player is no longer around to compete with the mp3 player so it cuts out one option. Also having and using one previously means you know what was crap about the old one and can easily recognise good or bad design for a new one.
Obviously the most important feature of a flash based player is the price/Mb (and a screen...), appart from that I guess quality. Size isnt really an issue anymore as they are all freaking small. and an extra centimeter here or there isnt going to worry me. Mainly its the price. My max was $150, preferably with 512mb of space.
Firstly I checked the internet. Gamedude and bluetin. Its ok to check prices, but then you have travel/postage costs... and the fact that it takes ages for it to arrive... so fuck that. Next was JB Hifi, generealy cheapest for DVD/CD's and supposedly AV equipment, but never really had a chance to test this out. Untill now. They have a very good selection of MP3 players at reasonable prices, but nothing really cheap. And the one that was cheap was this LG (I fucking hate all LG products...) thing, which is a direct rip off of and iShuffle (how a large company like this can get away with it is anyones guess) it had no screen, again, how are you supposed to know whats playing or even search for a new track??? I admit, that flash players dont have that many songs, you can easily scroll through a few and be right back where you started... Plus my old MP3 player didnt have a search function, so the screen was basicly a waste of power... Maybe the screen just makes it look cooler (7 different colours....). I really think you need a screen on any thing 512 or . so 256 I would not care about a screen, as thats only 2 or 3 albums anyway. So at this stage the iShuffle is actually looking pretty sweet. Its cheap, reasonably solid and you can get a case for it, so its not going to die within a year. Basicly this time I wanted something cheap, but something that would last atleast 2 years.
The IpodNano became the bench mark because of how small it is, largeish capacity, colour screen and (going by other iPods) decent sound, and the price isnt too bad at 15cents/mb) [note: the 60 gig colour ipod is less than 1cent per meg...] Seriously though, I would'nt mind saving up for a couple of weeks and getting that if I couldnt find something cheaper.
After spending too much time there looking at the 200+cm rear projection TV they have there from about 30 cm away, I went for a walk to the department stores. Target and Kmart surprisingly had very little. They had your normal selection of ipods and one other one, that was $200 for a 512... After much disapointment I went to Big W. I knew they had DVD's but never looked at the electronic junk before. They actually had a large selection of protable audio. The first thing I saw (must of been fate) was the 1gig Sandisk mp3 player. I think the large "1" on the packet got me interested. The price. $138. Some would say that being an accountant may help in calculating things. But I did not even have to work it out. I knew it was pretty much the cheapest (ok, so I did work it out in my head, and its 13cents/mb, and the ipod nano was 15cents (the benchmark that I had set)). So it was infact cheaper then the default purchase. Plus I would only have to shell out $138. For some reason I didnt purchase it right away, I thought it must be too good to be true. So I went home, redid the calculations, and yes it in fact is freaking cheap. That evening I went back, broke into the store and got one... Just kidding. It was late night shopping.
I had another, closer look at the product I will eventually buy. Even if it was crappier I would of still bought it simply on price. And the fact that I now know these things dont last forever. It looked pretty good, and looked way better in terms of quality than my last stick of junk (sorry stick of junk: RIP). After purchasing I was very excited at the prospect of having double the space and the faster usb 2 (thank god).
So as I am a commuter (takes me an hour to get into town), I need a portable music device. I'm sure I could of got a very good tape player capable of lasting 20+years for the same money, but mp3's are so convenient and small etc...
So the quest for a new mp3 player began. My last mp3 player, also my first, took some thinking. especialy since I had just got my first real (I have responsibilities) type job. And hence some money. This time around, it was easier. My tape player is no longer around to compete with the mp3 player so it cuts out one option. Also having and using one previously means you know what was crap about the old one and can easily recognise good or bad design for a new one.
Obviously the most important feature of a flash based player is the price/Mb (and a screen...), appart from that I guess quality. Size isnt really an issue anymore as they are all freaking small. and an extra centimeter here or there isnt going to worry me. Mainly its the price. My max was $150, preferably with 512mb of space.
Firstly I checked the internet. Gamedude and bluetin. Its ok to check prices, but then you have travel/postage costs... and the fact that it takes ages for it to arrive... so fuck that. Next was JB Hifi, generealy cheapest for DVD/CD's and supposedly AV equipment, but never really had a chance to test this out. Untill now. They have a very good selection of MP3 players at reasonable prices, but nothing really cheap. And the one that was cheap was this LG (I fucking hate all LG products...) thing, which is a direct rip off of and iShuffle (how a large company like this can get away with it is anyones guess) it had no screen, again, how are you supposed to know whats playing or even search for a new track??? I admit, that flash players dont have that many songs, you can easily scroll through a few and be right back where you started... Plus my old MP3 player didnt have a search function, so the screen was basicly a waste of power... Maybe the screen just makes it look cooler (7 different colours....). I really think you need a screen on any thing 512 or . so 256 I would not care about a screen, as thats only 2 or 3 albums anyway. So at this stage the iShuffle is actually looking pretty sweet. Its cheap, reasonably solid and you can get a case for it, so its not going to die within a year. Basicly this time I wanted something cheap, but something that would last atleast 2 years.
The IpodNano became the bench mark because of how small it is, largeish capacity, colour screen and (going by other iPods) decent sound, and the price isnt too bad at 15cents/mb) [note: the 60 gig colour ipod is less than 1cent per meg...] Seriously though, I would'nt mind saving up for a couple of weeks and getting that if I couldnt find something cheaper.
After spending too much time there looking at the 200+cm rear projection TV they have there from about 30 cm away, I went for a walk to the department stores. Target and Kmart surprisingly had very little. They had your normal selection of ipods and one other one, that was $200 for a 512... After much disapointment I went to Big W. I knew they had DVD's but never looked at the electronic junk before. They actually had a large selection of protable audio. The first thing I saw (must of been fate) was the 1gig Sandisk mp3 player. I think the large "1" on the packet got me interested. The price. $138. Some would say that being an accountant may help in calculating things. But I did not even have to work it out. I knew it was pretty much the cheapest (ok, so I did work it out in my head, and its 13cents/mb, and the ipod nano was 15cents (the benchmark that I had set)). So it was infact cheaper then the default purchase. Plus I would only have to shell out $138. For some reason I didnt purchase it right away, I thought it must be too good to be true. So I went home, redid the calculations, and yes it in fact is freaking cheap. That evening I went back, broke into the store and got one... Just kidding. It was late night shopping.
I had another, closer look at the product I will eventually buy. Even if it was crappier I would of still bought it simply on price. And the fact that I now know these things dont last forever. It looked pretty good, and looked way better in terms of quality than my last stick of junk (sorry stick of junk: RIP). After purchasing I was very excited at the prospect of having double the space and the faster usb 2 (thank god).
Well its that time of the fortnight. And its not going to plan..... But hopefully seek will save the day... I have been working on my resume(s) etc for different jobs, so its not like I have been completly lazy, just busy to actually do the sending of them to the employers... So now I have just have to start sending them out.
Success in numbers...
Success in numbers...
Sled Draw
Over the past three weeks I have been working with the government on a project code named "Sled Draw".
Basicly its an old bookshel that I cut in half for some reason, and the remaining piece ceased being a bookshelf... So I put some semi circular wood on the back (I think its moulding/skirting type stuff) in tow rows, thereby making a sled, which I can slide in and out from under my bed. And the shelf space is perfect for a pair of shoes. ATM though there are no shoes in there, but the large collection of empty plastic bottles that has accumulated under my bed.
So I have successfully used some old stuff and re-used it. I think this is the second stage of recycling (might be the first, but I think the first one doesnt allow modifications and its just reusing in the current form, where new materials arent..... blah blah...)
Thats enough green stuff for this week, next week, I will discuss the benefits of destroying stuff.
Basicly its an old bookshel that I cut in half for some reason, and the remaining piece ceased being a bookshelf... So I put some semi circular wood on the back (I think its moulding/skirting type stuff) in tow rows, thereby making a sled, which I can slide in and out from under my bed. And the shelf space is perfect for a pair of shoes. ATM though there are no shoes in there, but the large collection of empty plastic bottles that has accumulated under my bed.
So I have successfully used some old stuff and re-used it. I think this is the second stage of recycling (might be the first, but I think the first one doesnt allow modifications and its just reusing in the current form, where new materials arent..... blah blah...)
Thats enough green stuff for this week, next week, I will discuss the benefits of destroying stuff.
Blanket be gone
Today marks the annual removal of the "blanket". I'm surprised at how long it has taken, but I have decided for my own health to get rid of the second layer of bedding. Mainly because its too hot at night, and around 35 degrees during the day... I know I'm going to miss the weight, but it cant be helped, maybe if they can make a blanket thats heavy and is cool.
I would buy one.
I would buy one.
Akio Suzuki
On saturday I went to go see Akio at the powerhouse. Because public transport is so advanced in Brisbane it only took me 3 hours (this is not a joke, I left at 4:15 and got there at 7:30, so in actual fact it took 3 hours in 15 mins, but whos counting...). Considering how hot and muggy it was today, it was actually not a bad night (not too cold, not too hot). Anyway, getting there was the easy part. Waiting 30 mins at the powerhouse was not...
See there was this show called "Dances of the World" and it there was an intermission, and a lot of children running around. It was crazy. So in the interests of my own personal saftey (and some other peoples...) I took a walk around, and found the "Notice" sign. If you have not seen this sign, I strongly suggest you hop on a CityCat and go find it. Its at the powerhouse, somewhere. If you find it and have a camera with you take a picture for me. Thanks. Its worth going just for the sign.
While at New Farm I noticed a lot of drunken people drinking on the lawn. Now I respect people's choice to drink etc and dont want to spoil the cool deal that New Farm has with whoever they neeed to have a deal with. But how is this different to other people drinking in parks.... As long as people don't do anything stupid then it should be ok. I agree. But as far as danger goes, New Farm is probably the most dangerous place to be drinking as its next to a RIVER. With no rails to stop you from falling in... Anyway I can't be bothered writting about this as theres no point. Or rather I have made my point and don't need to keep explaining it futher.
Back to the main reason for going to this part of town... Akio Suzuki. So eventualy we get to go in. Initialy there wasnt very many people, but eventually it filled up about 1/3 of the theater so I guess thats a few (4 x 20 x 2 = 160). I would say about 100 people, so thats a lot. More than I would figure there would be. Before the main attraction (Akio), there was a video presentation form some Americans living in Berlin. There was these two TV's with two different things showing at the same time. Basicly it was the same room filmed during the day and at night. And for 25 mins we watch two people opening and closing windows. The one at night started off with them walking very slowly and doing things slowly, by the end of the tape there were going fast (running). In the day film it started with them running, and then slowing down... Remeber there were both shown at the same time, so it was kinda weird, but a waste of tape at the same time.... As they were trying to "explore the urban sound scape" and the effect that windows have in blocking that sound..... It was stupid to say the least.
Then came Akio. He was awesome. The his first set was called "newspaper", which bascily consisted of him tearing paper. Even though this was a step up from what I had just witnessed, I was thinking I had just wasted 4 hours of my life... By the end of it, this was not what I was thinking. I don't know what it was, but near the end I think I started to understand what he was on about.
The second set was and instrument he had made. Which was sort of like an adult version of the "paper cup walkie talkie". But the insane sounds that came out was just amazing. And because there was two cups it had some weird stereo effect. I cant really explain the sounds, but just imagine you were the ocean and there was a whale inside of you that could play a musical instrument.
The third set was with the use of another homebrew instrument, after getting a closer look, it was some glass tubes. Again, the number of different sounds that came out of this one thing is a credit to his genius.
The last set saw him use two rocks. I did not even know rocks could make that kind of sound. I have increased respect for pebbels now. Some how made them sound like a scicada and some other cool stuff.
Overall it was an awesome audiable experiance (I can't get underline to work, but if I could "experiance" would be underlined).
See there was this show called "Dances of the World" and it there was an intermission, and a lot of children running around. It was crazy. So in the interests of my own personal saftey (and some other peoples...) I took a walk around, and found the "Notice" sign. If you have not seen this sign, I strongly suggest you hop on a CityCat and go find it. Its at the powerhouse, somewhere. If you find it and have a camera with you take a picture for me. Thanks. Its worth going just for the sign.
While at New Farm I noticed a lot of drunken people drinking on the lawn. Now I respect people's choice to drink etc and dont want to spoil the cool deal that New Farm has with whoever they neeed to have a deal with. But how is this different to other people drinking in parks.... As long as people don't do anything stupid then it should be ok. I agree. But as far as danger goes, New Farm is probably the most dangerous place to be drinking as its next to a RIVER. With no rails to stop you from falling in... Anyway I can't be bothered writting about this as theres no point. Or rather I have made my point and don't need to keep explaining it futher.
Back to the main reason for going to this part of town... Akio Suzuki. So eventualy we get to go in. Initialy there wasnt very many people, but eventually it filled up about 1/3 of the theater so I guess thats a few (4 x 20 x 2 = 160). I would say about 100 people, so thats a lot. More than I would figure there would be. Before the main attraction (Akio), there was a video presentation form some Americans living in Berlin. There was these two TV's with two different things showing at the same time. Basicly it was the same room filmed during the day and at night. And for 25 mins we watch two people opening and closing windows. The one at night started off with them walking very slowly and doing things slowly, by the end of the tape there were going fast (running). In the day film it started with them running, and then slowing down... Remeber there were both shown at the same time, so it was kinda weird, but a waste of tape at the same time.... As they were trying to "explore the urban sound scape" and the effect that windows have in blocking that sound..... It was stupid to say the least.
Then came Akio. He was awesome. The his first set was called "newspaper", which bascily consisted of him tearing paper. Even though this was a step up from what I had just witnessed, I was thinking I had just wasted 4 hours of my life... By the end of it, this was not what I was thinking. I don't know what it was, but near the end I think I started to understand what he was on about.
The second set was and instrument he had made. Which was sort of like an adult version of the "paper cup walkie talkie". But the insane sounds that came out was just amazing. And because there was two cups it had some weird stereo effect. I cant really explain the sounds, but just imagine you were the ocean and there was a whale inside of you that could play a musical instrument.
The third set was with the use of another homebrew instrument, after getting a closer look, it was some glass tubes. Again, the number of different sounds that came out of this one thing is a credit to his genius.
The last set saw him use two rocks. I did not even know rocks could make that kind of sound. I have increased respect for pebbels now. Some how made them sound like a scicada and some other cool stuff.
Overall it was an awesome audiable experiance (I can't get underline to work, but if I could "experiance" would be underlined).
The past week has not been fun. Being sick is not fun. Not being able to go to work to earn money to buy stuff is not fun. Ok, well its not that bad, getting to stay at home for a week was pretty sweet. Kinda like the last few weeks.... except that I was sick, and unable to do anything. Hasnt help my sleep cycle either, as its been quite hard to get to sleep, when you're coughing up your lungs. So you end up getting up at 2pm... and then spend the rest of the day preparing to go back to bed again...
For about the past 3 months I have been delving into the world of personal efficiency. I guess I've always been quite organised... but this has been something quite different. And seems to have quite a large following. The main thing that I know my system lacks is conformity, consistency and trustrworthyness. The last one being the most important. Almost always, I would create a new system for every new situation, which means I do not trust the current system in place, therefore it needs to be replaced with something new to be made for that unique situation (bespoke). I know this is worng, but I do it anyway. So as I always do, I try and find a turn key solution and copy it. Presenting GTD or Get Things Done. This came to me not because I was looking to be more organised, but because I procrastinate. A lot....
So I found it while trying to find ways how not to procrastinate. I'm not sure why, but its actually taking a long time to gather all the information I need to make the system work. One of the things that I like about it, is that someone has taken the time write this stuff down on paper, think about it and make the whole thing make sense. Rather than the ad hoc approach of my efforts...
The point of this story, is that I wanted to by the book (of the same name). Which I thought would be about $30, which seems like a normal price of these types of books. And with amazon retailing it at $9.95 I figured that's a good figure to save for. So today I went to the book shop to buy this book, but sadly they didn't have it. I'm gona try borders on Monday and if they don't have it, then I guess the internet is my last resort. My complaint is that its weird that a popular book such as this is not at the book store. I find that weird.
For about the past 3 months I have been delving into the world of personal efficiency. I guess I've always been quite organised... but this has been something quite different. And seems to have quite a large following. The main thing that I know my system lacks is conformity, consistency and trustrworthyness. The last one being the most important. Almost always, I would create a new system for every new situation, which means I do not trust the current system in place, therefore it needs to be replaced with something new to be made for that unique situation (bespoke). I know this is worng, but I do it anyway. So as I always do, I try and find a turn key solution and copy it. Presenting GTD or Get Things Done. This came to me not because I was looking to be more organised, but because I procrastinate. A lot....
So I found it while trying to find ways how not to procrastinate. I'm not sure why, but its actually taking a long time to gather all the information I need to make the system work. One of the things that I like about it, is that someone has taken the time write this stuff down on paper, think about it and make the whole thing make sense. Rather than the ad hoc approach of my efforts...
The point of this story, is that I wanted to by the book (of the same name). Which I thought would be about $30, which seems like a normal price of these types of books. And with amazon retailing it at $9.95 I figured that's a good figure to save for. So today I went to the book shop to buy this book, but sadly they didn't have it. I'm gona try borders on Monday and if they don't have it, then I guess the internet is my last resort. My complaint is that its weird that a popular book such as this is not at the book store. I find that weird.
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