Very tired. Burning the candle at both ends. And some of the middle. Got to bed at 4 and a bit in the am. Then peeled an eye open this morning to discover it was 10.30am. Ooops. A little late for work as a result. Not that I particularly care at this point. Just need some damn paperwork from my new employer (doesn’t bode well for them that it is taking so bloody long) and then I can resign. Then god help me it’ll be 8.30am starts and the wearing of the suit again. At least that will probably mean I’ll have to stop drinking so damn much. Nothing tells me that the used by date of a job is up more than the “I don’t give a fuck if I have to go to work tomorrow I’ll have another beer” attitude.
Archive for June, 2004
Tired and emotional
June 30th, 2004Chapter 3 in the bad
June 26th, 2004Chapter 3 first draft done and printing now. I rock. 
Five days ahead of schedule. And damn knows I am going to need every day I can get. But briefly yay me! Now off for a walk to clear my head.
Me, Mr Kim, and the North Korean embassy
June 26th, 2004Yesterday after a discussion about the merits of North Korea with my friend Den I exclaimed that I was so excited about North Korea’s large expanses of snow, ice, starving people and exploding trains that I was going to call the North Korean embassy in Canberra and request some information about emigrating to North Korea. After some research on the DFAT website I found the phone number of the embassy. Needless to say they also have a Hotmail account as their other form of contact. Whilst it is good to discover the North Koreans have embraced the Internet Age one hopes Kim Jong-Il – the Dear Leader of North Korea – doesn’t spend a great deal of his time on Ebay. The recent auctioning off of some Soviet-era ICBM launch keys might have quite a different meaning to Mr Kim.
So I plucked up my courage and called. Below is the transcript of my call:
Them: “Embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mr Kim”
No. Could it be? Mr Kim himself? How’s that for customer service. But no apparently not. Kim is like Park in Korea. Which is to say like Smith or Jones here.
Me: “Hi. I am calling to ask if you have an information pack with some details about the requirements of emigrating to North Korea.”
Several beats of silence.
Mr Kim: “I am sorry we do not have anything like that.”
Me: “Then can you talk me through on the phone some of the benefits and challenges of migrating to North Korea.”
Mr Kim: “No.”
Then Mr Kim hung up. When I attempted to call back there was no answer.
No wonder all those North Koreans are leaving the country. It’s just not a very friendly place.
www.smh.com.au – In Kelly country, fear and not much loathing
June 25th, 2004Wow. I am pleased to announce that none of the residents of the electorate of Lindsay attend university nor do any of them aspire to according to its Liberal MP, Jackie Kelly. Other gems from the article:
- The problem with public schools is that people think they are ‘bad’ not that they don’t have enough funding. Nor does the funding of private schools (who charge fees and therefore if market economics is such a good thing shouldn’t require ANY government funding) have any bearing on the matter.
- Private health insurance isn’t about money or wealth – its about childen. Only people with children really need private health insurance. And as 47% of the population of her electorate have private health they aren’t overly worried about Medicare. Of course the other 53% just better go out and get themselves from private health insurance I guess.
Some PR flack’s head is on the chopping block over this one I bet. Of course Jackie Kelly could be also assuming that none of her constituents read the Sydney Morning Herald. Or possibly she is hoping they can’t read at all – what with the crappy public schools and lack of ambition for an education. Or she could just be on crack.
UPDATE: According to Janice Reid, the VC at the University of Western Sydney, 2019 residents of Lindsay were enrolled at UWS (and many others at other universities I am sure) and that 8254 people in the electorate held university degrees. That Jackie Kelly – her finger is obviously totally on the pulse of her electorate.
Flak Magazine: On Character and Torture 6.24.04
June 25th, 2004Good piece of opinion from the people at Flakmag. Well worth a read. Thanks to Rane for passing it on!
Writing
June 24th, 2004Well Chapter 3 is almost at a close. If I can tidy up some loose S/WAN ends today and knock into shape the OpenSSH stuff I should be done with the 1st draft tonight. Then hopefully start the chapter on FTP and give it a day or so then proof Chapter 3. I think I will be able to knock the FTP chapter over fairly quickly with a bit of luck leaving me feeling a bit more comfortable abou the rest of the deadlines.
Weekend transcript
June 20th, 2004Been a hell of a long weekend. Packing up the house, trying to go buy an oven, cooktop and range hood from the rudest customer service fucker I have come across in ages. Needless to say I had no desire to give me any fucking commission after his little performance so we bailed on the store and we’ll find somewhere else to buy it. Rude. Ruined my Saturday afternoon and put me in a terrible mood.
Saturday night was Ingo’s birthday and we trooped off to Eigar in Petersham for some down home Swiss cooking. Now Ingo is German and the evening was organised by Red Kat and I think she thought Eigar was a German restaurant not a Swiss one. The picture of the Materhorn and the sea of Swiss flags quickly corrected that view. Food was alright. Not a fan of that sort of cuisine generally but everyone seemed to have a nice meal. Too much meat on the menu for me – all of it crumbed and fried. Though bratwurst. Like a decent bratwust. Non-pork naturally.
After dinner drinks required a retreat to the Rose of Australia in Erko and then after that naturally Mefcon and I adjorned to the Town Hall for a last couple of bourbons before we both turned into pumpkins and went homeward. Some fun conversation though. Very – well – interesting. *cough*
Also meant today was quiet. Slept in. Did work. Damn Internet not working when I needed it. Wrote. Then dinner at the delightful Bay Tinh with Brent and Sue. A very, very foxy waitress (it is alright Lu says I can look as long as I don’t touch. Apparently if I touch that’ll be the last thing I do with that hand attached. *grin* ) served us. I don’t normally find Asian women particularly attractive. Not a race thing. Just don’t push my buttons as it were (which according to Mefcon may mean I am insane because he most definately does not agree *cough and grin*). But this woman was very cute. And those traditional au dai outfits are very attractive and very flattering. Must see if they sell them in Marrickville and see if I can persuade Lu to buy one. She’d look stunning in one.
Interestingly it reminded me of going to Vietnamese restaurants as a kid (Dad served there and loves the food) and the staff being very Vietnamese and not much English being spoken. Also we’d be like the token Anglo faces in the crowd. We’d be lucky if there was another Anglo is most of the places in Victoria St in Richmond in the 1970s. Now you have to go further afield and actually visit Cabramatta or some of the more obscure Vietnamese restaurants to find a large number of Vietnamese people. But it is a good indication of quality. When the locals eat there you know its good. Also the staff tend now to be more Australian in manner than me. The waitress who served us was tall for a Vietnamese girl and had dyed purple streaks in her hair and I would put money on her having a piercing or two. If her mother is a traditional Vietnamese woman she’d be having a total fit.
Poor little cats are freaking out at all of the packing up. They were roaming around the house on Saturday evening and poor old Romeo (who is not the sharpest tack and has had a rough life) wandered around the empty sitting room and then yowled at me. Boojum is even worse. Her favourite spot – the couch – got covered with a drop cloth. She climbed on and freaked. When I came home from dinner she had ripped the drop sheet off the couch. Strong little girl that one. Mitsu is handling it the best. She’s lived through like 5 house moves in the time we’ve had her so I think she just thinks “Here we go again the crazy humans are putting stuff in boxes and I have to find a new warm spot to sleep in at some new house.”
Sudden resignations
June 18th, 2004It what may be a shock to some I appear to have a new job. One which may make this site a little interesting. I have never discussed names and anything more than the small details about my employment but I guess it wouldn’t be too hard to match who I am in RL as it were with the site. But my new job is with a huge organisation. I will also be working security for them. An organisation I suspect will have a hissy fit if I commented on anything work related – especially given the sensitivity of the field I work will work in.
I haven’t resignated yet. Waiting for the paperwork from the new mob to come through so I can have a careful read.
And weirdly I sort of don’t know how I feel. I should be happy I guess. This is a technical job, no people management – though it is a suit job again, in the city. It’ll also be challenging I suspect. A fairly steep learning curve. It’s probably also the way to go with regard to my career. But buggered if I know how I feel right now. Bears some thinking about.
Contractually obligated
June 17th, 2004Well the big day has arrived. Tonight we sign a contract with a builder. Then lodge a construction certificate with the council. Once that’s approved we start work. In a week or so we have another house. A 2 bedroom place round the corner from us – thankfully really, really close. Perfect for visits to the house to check progress.
The builder thinks 70 days of work. Which would be awesome and quick. Of course this being said I am sure it’ll take longer. Which is not all a bad thing since I have spoken to the provider’s of the ‘Kitchen ‘o wonder’ mentioned previously. They need 3 months to prep the kitchen. Which means we might have a house with no kitchen for a while. Well we can live with that. One step at a time.
Now how to break the move to the cats. They really don’t like change.
Ranting, Jet and coal miners
June 16th, 2004Spent last night ranting at poor Kate (and then later poor Ruth) about the state of world. Topics ranged across:
1. State of the education system and wondering why in hell so many kids these days can’t spell, string a coherent sentence together or have any understanding of grammar. And why they insist on writing and talking like a goddamn SMS.
2. Right wing asshat fucktards.
3. Why coal miners make lots of money and don’t end up being middle class but rather end up being working class people with lots of money. Alias – why Kate didn’t have a swimming pool and they did.
4. The Welfare cycle and how it contributes to children not learning anything in school and ending up 15 and pregnant with an interlude into why Tony Abbot is a dangerous lunatic who needs to be eliminated.
5. Why Jet suck arse. Or was the yesterday? Well anyways even if it was yesterday they still suck arse.
And some other stuff the alcohol is refusing to let come to the surface.
