Count Your Chickens

I am now awake to a brave new world. There are a lot of things that could have contributed to this but, its really just because I have increased my dosage intake of coke zero. For a while there I wouldn't even need to drink any. I just wouldn't have any for days... But since getting back on the bandwagon life is good again.

My challange is going ok, maybe not as quick as I would like, but its progressing. Being prepared seems to be the most effective thing I can do. Its like preparing for an exam, where you get to drink beer, feel like crap and not actually write anything. So, its nothing like an exam apart from the fact you forget everything you were supposed to remember... Portals have been opened to deal with this problem.

Edit: I also pay my bills before they come in the mail. My mum is confused.

My 80 Cents

Recently I bought a laser printer, it was cheap, and now I can print cheaply. Or am I being ripped off in the long run? The Printer cost $88. We have these printers at work and since a whole bunch blew up, we bought new ones. I wondered how much the tonner costs. Because of how cheap the unit was to initialy purchase they are easily disposed of if u get a problem. For example a new drum is $150. And tonner, well its actually $75. So for an extra $13 you could get a whole new printer. Why even bother having a flap to replace the tonner cartidge? Just get a whole new printer. The only difference is its more convenient to interms of having to dispose of rubbish. The tonner box is smaller. The other thing about this printer, is its lack of extras. Other printers I have purchased have come with paper, special photo paper, 20% cartridge vouchers, free online photo printing and a usb cable. There was no USB cable in the box. Which is very weak. I doubt it costs much to manufacture a USB cable. But it still costs $15 odd to get one. Why? They should be giving this away, its a piece of wire with conectors on each end. If they can make an entire laser printer for less than $88 surely the cable can't be more than 80 cents.

Public Warning

My computer is fixed. Wasn't that hard changing the power supply. So all is good. It has reiterated the fact that I need to get a new computer before anything else breaks on this.

My week has been very up and down. A few people died. My computer died. I found a dead moth on my desk. Lots of death. I am also making slow progress in the challenge, which has been both good and bad. Good when I do it successfully and bad when I bail. So far I have had 10 days of progress which I should not complain about. But I can't help but feel a little tired. It just seems to be taking a little out of me every time. I also hate going to the shops, I never liked it and still don't but for the challenge its essential. Although I am completing the missions, I need to be trying a little more in terms of my time commitment to the challenge. Theoretically I study the material, but for field trips I am a bit weak as I am trying to do the challenges during my lunch break. Today I did we had to approach 4 women and compliment them on their appearance. I got 3:

1. My mum started going to the gym today and I told her she looks slimmer already (convenient and easy)
2. women with boots in street. "Wow, nice boots" (yes, she also had nice boobs). This was probably the most difficult one. But I did it quickly without thinking about how I would do it and just remembered about my posture and to speak clearly and the rest took care of it self. Afterwards you could see me speed walk to my car, not sure what it was. Post approach anxiety or adrenaline. "um, thanks"
   
3. Women at counter with tight hair. (retail is getting easier)

Its good that I just do the exercise and just push through it, because at this stage I am looking not for anything, just testing out what I can do and seeing what responses I get. But I also feel that I should be trying to put together the previous days learnings.

Logically though its just situational. Today I had to make my own dinner and install a power supply into the computer, and its now 7:30. So realistically I don't have much time to go to the shops anyway. Getting to the shops is a 30 min exercise and you don't want to be there near closing time as everyone including the workers are in a rush. So even though I had planned to actually do some of the challange today its just not practical. I also don't feel like it, and from the first 6 days its evident that my mental state is more important.

Achivements of 2007

• Survive my first year in full time employment
• Pass my CPA exam (DISTINCTION!)
• Put on 6kg
• Start playing Badminton
• Bought my first car
• Took up a coke zero habit
  
• Paint the study room
• Did not have any new fillings
• Saw Daft Punk live
• Took up the stylelife challenge
• Shaved my mo

Click Click Schwooghhhhsss

Got my broken camera back today. The function selector could not be fixed which is a shame. But I now have a working camera so now I can get back to taking pictures of upskirts kittens and fields of wheat.

Conversely my GPS has decided to shit it self and have no sound. Which because I have it on the power saving mode, the screen is often off and the first thing I recognise is the sound as I don't look at it constantly. Having the screen turn off is quite helpful as you are not constantly looking at, even though its a straight road with no turns for the next 8.3km.

And tomorrow me and a trolley will attempt to move my bookcase back upstairs. If I die you can have all my books. They will not be any use to me as I will be dead and have no bookcase.

Something about banning drinking between the hours of 12 and 10 am.

New Zealand man gets audited has to pay tax, goes bankrupt in doing so. Buys Inland Revenue Building, kicks Tax office out. Opens hotel.

Run 800 meteres 10 times. Your average time for each 800 is your marathon time.

Looking at boobs makes you live longer. Also masturbating stops some kind of cancer. I will live to a mezillion.

Original Sesame Street classified as Adults only.

What is the deal with people that quit blogging. You have a cool blog then you stop. Why. you are as famous as you will ever be. Sure you get real life things to do, but blogging is so easy now. Its like bashing out an email with no one in mind.

There is the care factor and the fact that it doesn't actually add anything to your life unless you are being creative with it.

CREATE!

Slowly but surely things are returning to normal after we had carpet installed. Some things such as my Z-5300 are not where they should be. I am actually listening to music on my old altechs which I hate. They sound rubbish. Its just rubbish. Sure when you have nothing else it works fine. And listening to them with the iPod wasn't too bad as the iPod adds a nice musicality to things. I also had a problem with my sound card which didn't help. Had to take it out and put it back in. This is actually a time consuming and irritating task.

I have also learn't that people squint when smiling. And that only when you are genuinely happy will the brain activate this.

Back on the Tubes

After I think 6 weeks of slow torture I have my computer setup on a desk connected to the internet. When I first started my computer last Thursday I had a keyboard problem. Basicly anything connected to the PS/2 port would not work, which means I had to go buy a new keyboard. My first instinct was to get the G15 (version 2). $100 seems like a lot for a keyboard, but considering you cannot buy a keyboard that isnt wireless its a small price to pay to not have to use batteries for no reason. Oh and the LCD display and back lit keys.... I never remember keyboards being so expensive, mainly because they are wireless and the masses think this is somehow better. I never thought spending more than $50 on a keyboard unless it was somehow special. A lot of the keyboards I saw were just standard keyboards with a wireless module.

The quality of the keyboard was lacking, the key mechanism hadn't changed. And apart from adding a few media buttons its just stupid. Most manufacturers are focusing on wireless which means they are not updating the wired keyboards except in the gaming section. I figured since I am most likely to be buying a new computer early next year, I would wait till then to get something decent. But until then I did not want to live in the poverty of a shitty keyboard. So I went to buy a middle of the ground Logitech Media keyboard. Its an entry level keyboard. But they were sold out. So I ended up getting the 600. I didn't think there was much difference between the 2 except the volume jog dial. But after getting it home it really is better. The keys don't move around and its a lot quieter to type on. It also had low profile keys, much like a laptop, but a bit more depth and normal size keys. Its actually quite pleasant to type on. As you don't need to waste energy on pressing so hard. Another feature is its spill resistant. Didn't understand what this meant. What they have done is drilled some holes in the bottom so that any liquids just pass through it (think pencil in space) and the shiny black plastic is actually quite nice. I also thought the lack of a wrist rest would mean its uncomfortable, but the fact that its so damn skinny means you don't need it. I have a pretty standard MS keyboard at work it has a wrist rest and it seems that you only need the wrist rest if the actual position of the keys are far away from the desk. Also whats the point of having a plastic wrist rest. It should always be padded somehow with fake leather.

*sniff* *sniff*

No this post if not drug related. I am sad. Because my computer is disconected from the internet. The study is now painted, and didn't come out as expected. It does look nice that its painted, anything with fresh paint does. I am disapointed by my choice of colour which has come out as the opposite of the look I was after. Since I can't be bothered to repaint everything I now love the new colour. Hopefully bookshelves can coverup the ugly.

Now I have to get my internet fix at work, which isn't helping productivity. I have started setting my self smaller goals to finish things by a certain time. It helps, but I also recognise that its a just another excuse to procrastinate.

Random Annoying Shit

When people, namely work, eg my boss, jokes about having to come in on Saturdays to work. And then letting me prepare for such over a 4 days before telling me its a joke. HAHAHA. LOL. ROLF. bwahahhAHAHAHHAHAHAHMAMAWHWHAHAH

not

This has to be the most unfunny joke in the world.

People that want you to hurry up with your reversing by flashing their lights at you. Not only is this distracting it also sends mixed messages. Does it mean its safe or does it mean stop? Is there oncoming traffic I don't know about. When I'm looking at random shit. eg boobies or shiney lights, I don't do any driving. Please don't do this or you will just have to wait longer. Additionally, people without air conditioning need time to open windows. To the nitwit that thought it was a good idea to piss me off. Your car has been keyed for future identification.

Clients that think I am not doing anything and must do their work only. I understand its important to you but everyone says that. That's why I do my own scheduling/prioritising. I am smart enough to figure out what things are due when. I do this by writing them in my diary.

Business hours. I work therefore I can't do anything. I need to take my broke camera to a place where they can fix it.

The Bank. Why do you have to ask the same question every week. I come there every week. We are on a first name basis without having to look it up on the computer. Let's figure it out. I do not want a credit card.

Massive bass. I have no idea why people like huge amounts of overpowering bass over clarity of sound. I donated a sub to the sitting room to give the TV the kick it needed, but it doesn't have a crossover so its a bit muddy, and at high volume its just damn annoying. Sure you get rumble, but the rest of the speakers are over powered by the sub, THE BALANCE IS WRONG! If the floor is shaking, thats too loud. You will go deaf. This also goes for changing the settings on the computer, they are deliberately set lower than normal to avoid deafness. I have a set of Logitech Z-2300, 120 watts of thunderous bass is too much at 40cm away from your ear.

Dust.

I am also hating on TV because of the canceling of weeds and smallville on Australian TV. Sopranos has finished, Top Gear is on Saturdays at a time when anyone with a car is unlikely to be at home watching TV. There is nothing on TV on Thursdays.

Too much work. Studying and working full time is a lot harder than I thought. Is it worth it. I hope so. You have to take time off during the semester, not just at the end so you don't get too far behind.

Crappy beer. Only when its free.

Compression

Why do people use compression? To save space. But when space is not at a premium, its actually a pain in the arse to unzip stuff.

I'm doing a big clean up as we are getting carpet in a few weeks time, so if I throw some stuff out less to move. Instead of throwing shit out I am finding that I have more of everything. An example are razor blades. As we all know they are expensive, so loosing them sucks. Hard. When you run out/can't find new ones you go out and buy some more, not a big deal. I found 3 whole packs. One in the stationary draw, one in my junk draw (mainly contains stationary for my bedroom) and one in the stationary basket.

What can I learn from this experience? Firstly I have too many places for the same types of things. Which leads to buying more of things that I will never get around to using. Waste of funds and a waste of space. Totally inefficient. What about the stationary? Yeah, too much of that too. I am now trying to consolidate it into a box(s), for things like souvenir pens they should really just go into a souvenir box. Stationary seems to be something I can't control. But at least now that it's in one place it will save space.

Variety, thats the problem. Must have one of everything...

Exam is over but now I don't know what to do with myself. I do have a backlog of projects, but since its so friggin hot I don't want to move away from the fan. I have been so involved with studying for my exam I have forgotten what I did before then.

I should also mention kiwi fruit and ice cream is awesome. However I recommend putting the kiwi fruit in the freezer and mine were a bit soft. The acidic juice also melts the ice cream quickly. Something different from mango or passion fruit which seems to be the norm.

Exam

I'm back from my exam. Obviously I went ahead and just did the exam instead of piking out and deffering.

Wow, just wow. When you know you have a deadline you become very efficient. But I still didn't think I had a chance. But After my a week of study and after doing the exam I might just have a chance of passing. The main reason for this is MCQ. Most people find MCQ easy. Mainly because you automatically have a 50% chance of at least passing. Without even completing reading the options you can cross out 2 of the options. My average on MCQ is about 80%. Which has something to do with the way I learn and the inherant nature of MCQ's, and the secondary problem solving nature of MCQ's.

Ofcourse this isn't your average exam. Firstly you need 65% to pass which is the equivalent to a credit (5) at uni. Secondly the MCQ's often had sub lists.

Which options are correct:
1. something
2. what
3. I like cheese
4. it

A. 1+2+3
B 2 only
C 1+3+4
D 3 only

So it can get a little complicated, but since you can eliminate 3 as it makes no sense what so ever the answer is B.

I have learned a lot not just on Professional Practice and Reporting, but on how I learn. It had been two years since I have taken an exam, so it has been a struggle to get back into studying, hence my predicament of if I will pass and preparing for exams and the best way to present my work. I have come across a lot of different ways to study and now that I am studying externally its just another way. Written answer questions are of particular importance as they help you display your reasoning and therefore knowledge on the topic. Being able to construct your argument in a logical fashion is important in an exam, but also at work. At work you are constantly being tested. As long as you have the correct answers everything will be fine, but if you put in the extra effort and go through the process you will learn a lot more. And be able to actually justify your position clearly is someone questions you. This is rare, but it can happen. And as "The Code" says, you need to show due care. The decisions and therefore answers that you come up with and recommend to clients effects a lot of people. You need to take and go through the process, that also means proper documentation/working papers. Not only is it better for the client, but it also covers your own ass. The other benefit comes when writing letters and explaining to clients the reasoning behind a certain accounting procedure.

As a lot of these ideas are still fresh in my mind I am going to spend the next few days writing them down, so that next time I have an exam I know what to do/avoid. Motivation wise its good to have a reason to do something other than you have to. It has to have some benefit other then the fact you need to do an exam.

Marketing "People"

This reminded me of something I drew a while back. It was in a marketing class in my notebook, so it also has the feint lines through it.

Baconpops

Bacon on a stick. That should be McDonalds next menu item. Yes, its unhealthy and wrong. But they need to compete against KFC who have ingeniously created hotrods chicken nuggets on a stick. Its basically a sishkebab, but without vegetables.

McD, need to hit back with something equally awesome and since they are pushing bacon at 80 cents a pop, they should just put some on a stick, fry it and sell it for $2.95.

Stalled

So, the last 2 days I have had relativly low external distractions to my studies so I should have burned through a whole heap of material. But as it is Sunday evening, I feel it is time for another review.

I have not completed what I wanted to. And again I guess it is due to my underestimation of the difficulty of the material. I have also found that I can't concentrate in reading for more that 30 mins, which isn't that bad as I then spend 15 mins running through in my mind what I have read and how that relates to other shit. etc. Basically an internal review.

At this point in time I am very certain I am going to fail.

I am trying to be calm and relaxed about this whole thing, as I know I do not respond well to that sort of pressure. I guess if I set my self a goal of finishing all reading by Monday afternoon, then go get my exam supplies that gives me a few days to revise and prepare for the actual exam. Preparing for the exam seems to take a while, so as long I leave enough time for that I should be fine.

I have not thought about deferral but I think come on Tuesday I will.

the last of last.fm

It has come to my attention that my last.fm has not been updating. Curse you old plugin!

Anyway, I am back, but I have to use the official plugin/program which uses extra computer resources for no reason, untill the winamp plugin starts working again.

Dread

So my CPA exam is this Thursday and all my plans regarding study have shattered into a million pieces of despair. I knew Friday was going to be a write off but then I figured I would wake up on time. I was also concerned about the mess so, most of today has been spent tidying up. So now its 5pm Saturday afternoon. In the last 3 days I have done 4 hours study. Possibly less considering I don't remember anything I read yesterday. I still have about 1 days worth of reading to do, 2 case studies and revision. My tagging system is really dumb as I can't read my own handwriting. So I'm going to be spending time fixing that up. Went and bought some real tag thingys, hopefully they will help.

Planning for things that are variable like study, as you don't know how long it will take you to understand a particular topic, is easy. You guess. But then when it all falls apart you are left with a timer to failure. The pass mark is actually 65% not the normal 50% which I thought it was. Which is just another thing that is going to stop me from passing. The other thing is the exam location, its in Carsledine. Which is supposedly a one hour drive, but from what I know about the gateway its probably about 1.5 hours. So any extra cram time I could have had in the morning is now gone.

The one positive is that I know the first 3 modules really well. But the last 2 modules are worth 45% collectivly, so I really need to get those 2 down to have any chance.

The other spanner in the works is the option of deferring. I can defer my exam or cancel out of the subject and do it next semester. Deferring will leave a deferred mark on my record and will cost money. Canceling leaves no mark and the subject is removed from my record, but I still have to pay fees next semester to do it again. Money is not so much of a problem, just my ego that I couldn't do the subject.

Would failure be such a bad thing? It would give me a new perspective, just like the last time I failed. Which forced me to have significantly improved results from that point forward. But knowing this, would it be the same this time around.

The first step will be to finish reading. The second step will be to do the case studies, as they account for a large portion of the exam. The third step will be to prepare for the exam, by retagging and getting my notes organised so it is easy to find in the exam.

Time wise I am screwed, but I may be able to make up time magically, by not sleeping.