My Blog Posts

As requested, I’ve increased the font size on this page. Hopes this helps those tired eyes. Oh, and we got a bargain in the sales today. Two Samsonite suitcases for the price of one, courtesy of the lovely people at David Jones.

For those who bypass the front page and come straight to this blog (wise move, I don’t change the front page often) I will repeat here the latest notice. New for March 2002. A picture of the family reeve has been added to the Miscellaneous photos page. Ben was mentioning that there were far too many pictures of people on the turps in my Photo Album (guilty as charged) and suggested we increase the family friendly content.

It is Good Friday so I’m at home. Bobo is out having coffee with a friend and I’m taking the opportunity to just “muck about” on the internet with my two machines at home. I know, how bourgeois. It has been commented that our dining room table more resembles the bridge of the Starship Enteprise than somewhere to eat when I am set up and working but I like it, so there.

There is a tannoy system in use at the building where I am currently working. Why? Because there is. Anyway, there was an announcement this morning which I could have sworn was; “The Rabbit Prototyping demonstration is commencing in training room 1a” The rush for the doors was quite imposing, almost a stampede. Well, actually it wasn’t but some puzzled looks were exchanged. Until we realised that they actually mean ‘Rapid’ and not ‘Rabbit’.

Everyone is talking about the Oscars, even Ciaran. I’d just like to say that I watched the show for about thirty seconds last night (we get a delayed telecast here - thanks Channel 9) and then Bobo had to change the channel just to stem the stream of foul languague coming out of my mouth. Utter rubbish. Overblown preeners who should really get off my television. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an avid consumer of Hollywood’s output. I watch more television than is good for me, I even go to the cinema every now and then. What I object to is self indulgent back slapping award fests that take up over four hours of prime time television. Do we really need to hear that the guy who did the make up for Lord of the Toss really liked New Zealand? I think not. Next year, just post the winners on a web page and let the rest of us get along with things.

Another wedding item can be ticked off on my to do list. I’ve booked our flights to the mother country, and whilst I was at it I hired a car to travel around in. All very painless and easy, thanks to the lovely people at Flight Centre. For those who care, we are leaving Sydney at 14:40 (local time, 06:40 GMT) on Virgin Airways flight VS522 on Monday the 1st of July. We have a three hour stopover in Kuala Lumpur and depart from there at 23:40 (local time, who knows when GMT) for London on flight VS502. We land at Heathrow’s terminal three at 05:50 (local time, 04:50 GMT) on Tuesday the 2nd of July.

An interesting day in prospect today. But first, see when you are going to cark it [courtesy of Scripting News]. My personal end day is in July 2042. If I was a morbid person this could prompt me to deep contemplation of my own mortality. Luckily I’m very shallow, so lets move right along. Specifically to Ribs and Rumps for a large slab of beef and some lovely red wine tonight. We are taking the international man of tax out for a wild night in Manly, and dragging the Palmers along as well. Who knows, we may even end up at the Steyne for a refreshing beverage or two after dinner.

We were woken by the telephone this morning (well, it was 9:15am). The Lewis family were on the line to let us know that Nigel is going to be gracing us with his presence. Its a bit of rush visit, apparently the local ratcatchers need some help from an “International Man of Tax” to sort out a couple of thorny issues. Due to the lack of planning he is only going to be here from Sunday night until Wednesday. That hasn’t stopped Bobo from frantically trying to organise what little spare time he will have during his visit. I think the trip to Uluru may be a little ambitious though.

It is another pleasant autumn afternoon in Sydney, the sky is blue and there are some light fluffy clouds about. The wind is, unfortunately, from the South East so that is keeping the temperature down to about twenty degrees centigrade. Still, a comfortable enough temperature to walk around in a t-shirt and shorts during the day. Life is tough.

How do you pickle pepper? You know, as in “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Pepper”

Well, perhaps evil is a string word, but collapse certainly does soak up time like a sponge. This game joins tetris and bubble puzzle as seemingly innocuous little game-ettes that will soon have you dreaming of coloured shapes. I’m sure there is some deep psychological point to be made here but I’m too busy playing to figure out what it is.

Ciaran has now got a website. Say hello to Really? I’m sure it will be a riveting read. Just watch out for the Star Wars and Lord of the Toss references, I shall be keeping count just to make sure that the number does not veer into the “extremely sad” range.

I haven’t got much to say today, so I’m going to take Shane McChesney’s advice and say nothing. But, if you fancy a little detour go and check out the biscuit of the week, courtesy of Ciaran. Well, it made me smile anyway. Oh, and Mr Hennessy, you can’t call yourself a sad techie unless you have your own web site. Get with the programme old man, even Jonny Palmer has one.

Its one of the great paradoxes - “I haven’t got anything to wear”, to which the attendant 2nd party says “But what about those wardrobes full of clothes?”. Which we all know is a foolish response. Today we will extend that with “There is nothing to eat”, to which the reply “But what about the fridge full of fresh vegetables, fruit and cheeses, the freezer full of ready meals and the pantry cupboard with enough dried food to feed a family of five for a month” is also judged superfluous.

Mum, get my old Commodore 64 out of the loft. Apparently I can press it into service as a web server. Don’t believe me? Have a look here. Every time I stumble across one of these web sites (usually via the lovely people at Metafilter) it brightens my day. It reminds me that there are people in the world who aren’t solely driven by the profit motive, or social position, or blind naked ambition, but who just do things because they are fun. Bless em.

I may have mentioned here before how much I love my job, but for those with short memories - its great. So great in fact that a colleague and I have today started an e-mail phrase contest. Its quite simple really, all you have to do to win a point is include a selected phrase in an e-mail. To make it checkable the other party has to be copied on the message and its purpose can’t be to simply use up a phrase. We are starting simply and currently only have two phrases;

For the first time on this blog, here is a quote of the day; Phillip Lopate. “The prospect of a long day at the beach makes me panic. There is no harder work I can think of than taking myself off to somewhere pleasant, where I am forced to stay for hours and ‘have fun’.” [Quotes of the Day] We are off on holiday to Batemans Bay for a week to lounge around on the beach. Make sure you behave whilst we are away and I expect you all back here in eight days time when we return.

Another productive day at work. All I’ve managed to achieve is to transfer some pictures from my new camera to my laptop, copy them to my web server and include one of them in this post. Here you see a picture of my beloved fiance doing what she does best, reclining on the sofa with Bagpuss. Isn’t technology marvellous, all it took was a whole day to get that photo up here. Alternatively I could have used an old fashioned camera, taken some photos and probably printed up a copy each of that shot for everyone who reads this blog.

Today I went out and bought a digital camera. Well, to be precise I purchased a Canon Digital IXUS V from the lovely people at Paxtons. I got a digital camera so that I could take lots of quick photos and easily post them on the web, either here, or at my other site. We now run into our first hurdle.

An entry for my beloved. You can now play your favourite computer game on line. Courtesy of the lovely people at Flash Arcade (and one of my hard working colleagues), here is Bubble Trouble.