Bread and circuses.

The Commonwealth Games have started. This weekend has over forty hours of coverage on Channel Seven, and the Rugby Union Tri-Nations game too. This is what couches and two room flats were made for, if only I could take time off work. I have blisters on my fingers from shelling pistachio nuts. Commentating nonsense of the day: "bleeding like a stuck pig".

Alice Matsumoto's keychain: Chack.
(Thanks to Claire Robertson).

Two log entries in two days, and links; what's happening here? What have I done with the real me?  ¶ 21:19 0 comments

  The sky looks positively impending.

On Tuesday I sent off a raft of emails to office managers prostituting my services as a Family Assistance Office Customer Service Officer, Administrative Assistant and LAN Support Officer with nine years experience. A similar message was sent in hardcopy via the internal mail. Half an hour later I was talking to my supervisor about the rumours I was going to resign. After I explained the "not coming back from leave even if I don't have a new job" aspect of my schedule (for November) he said he would talk to some higher ups at the Area Leadership Team meeting (people I have spoken to already) about spotting opportunities for me. When I got back to my desk I had a response to one of my emails. On Wednesday the Northern ACT Customer Service Centre Recruitment Manager had promised me a material response within the week and one of the FAO Team Leaders was creating a position for me. Yesterday I was offered a job if I pay my own way down in time to start on 19 August. Yes! Just as soon as my manager has spoken to the Leadership Team to see when I can be released. Today, nothing happened. I recall two weeks is barely enough notice for a two page pro forma referee report to be completed, perhaps "rate determining step" would be accurate than "manager". I'm not holding my breath but I am quietly confident.  ¶ 18:58 0 comments

  And yet...

My internet service has mysteriously improved. Last night the connection rate was over 2.2Kb/s, getting up to 7.4Kb/s occasionally and I even saw 9.5Kb/s flash up for a fraction of a second. I say mysteriously because I read in the paper today that Telstra has no plans upgrade the local hardware to improve internet service because it Townsville is not a priority area (blah blah blah).

So now I am able to report that recently my life has been the same old same old. I gave blood today which made my arm sore so I rented some videos, bought some fried food and spent my day off on the couch. I watched Mullet, which was ordinary, and Josie and the Pussycats, which was great. I should have seen it on the big screen. I saw Scooby-Doo at the movies last week, which was nice.

Tomorrow Channel Seven are showing the final two episodes of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer season six to get it out of the way before the Commonwealth Games start on Thursday. So, with tonight's episode, there will be three hours of Buffy to enjoy with our pizza this week. Sweet.  ¶ 22:20 0 comments

  Meanwhile.

Quote of my week: "When an electromagnetic wave hits the ferrite particles, the magnetic part of the wave is absorbed."

I saw Men In Black 2. Fortunately I was not expecting a story, unfortunately I was expecting some impressive special effects. Space Invaders would be a harsh comparison, but I think it could be made. (Hyperbole is a valid critical tool.)

I went out to dinner with my mum. Kangaroo tastes good. Also, I ate too much at Andrew's birthday party. Cake tastes good.

My real estate agent left a thank you note after inspecting my flat, which was nice.

I watched my first DVD (Unbreakable, not my choice) with Katey and Luke. The surround sound was very impressive, but the picture was squeezed onto a 30cm television which was not impressive.

On Saturday I woke to the sound of Emily urinating in the wrong place. She has the brain of a cat.

I watched The Complete Fingerbobs on video.

Mum flew home. My evenings are my own again.

Dawn was ill so pizza and videos were at Lawrie's for a change.  ¶ 01:24 0 comments

  Does the 'I' in 'ISP' stand for 'inadequate', 'ineffective', or 'intermittent'?

Wake up Jimbo. Happy Yesterday! You can go back to sleep now. And while I'm at it, many happy returns of the day to Polly on Tuesday and Andrew on Thursday. Who knows when I will be able to connect again?

Our office administration procedures were audited this week. One thing we did wrong was having nobody in the office who knows how to issue a cheque properly. The auditor was surprisingly amused by that. Another thing we were doing wrong was entering the serial number of a manually issued concession card on the customer's record; then recording the serial number by hand, dating and signing the paper record. Instead we should be entering the serial number of a manually issued concession card into a script which enters it on the customer's record and prints out the paper record. This saves us from having to write anything by hand and uses exactly fifty times as much paper.  ¶ 21:35 0 comments

  You know it's winter when...

Mum brought a southerly wind with her from Canberra, and from Antarctica before that. I have rediscovered: the joy of washing dishes in steaming hot water with hands numbed by the cold; why my jacket had a zipper as well as press studs; the challenge of the windscreen fogging up after you join the rush hour traffic; the inconvenience of having to leave the shower when the hot water runs out; just how painful static electricity can be; and what a large number of things long sleeves can be dragged through or snagged on.

I like DJ Doof next door more than Mr Stompy upstairs. DJ Doof has more than two CDs and he does not start up at 2:00am.  ¶ 21:45 0 comments