... the IT man in LibraryLand
After a delayed flight from Melbourne and a sprint to catch my international connection at Sydney airport I did finally make it safe and sound. Of course all did not go so smoothly on the flights. The delays were caused by thunder storms which were also the cause of turbulence all across the Australian part of the trip and caused the disaster of one of the free meals being skipped! I also had to wander Frankfurt Airport for a while in order to find my final connecting flight (which actually had jet engines this time). The good news was that I was bumped up into business class for that flight and received breakfast instead of just a cookie.
Flying into Svetlanaland international Airport I noticed that there was this strange white stuff on the ground. After fruitlessly waiting for my bag which had apparently been unable to make the sprint for the flight at Sydney I headed out through customs to the patiently waiting Svetlana.
After reacquainting myself with Svetlana for several minutes she informed me that, yes, there was snow, and, yes, she was wrong and there would actually be snow before late January this year.
We headed straight from the airport to the traditional welcome lunch with the parents, where I think I passed the grandma test as I wasn't given the evil eye.
Several free lunches, dinners, and breakfasts later it was suddenly Christmas eve and it snowed. Not just any old snow, mind you, but real movie/TV snow. Fat flakes floating gently down and covering everything in a blanket of white.
I had the fun of cleaning the car - removing great powdery heaps of snow from the roof - before Svetlana and I headed off to a friends for the traditional Christmas Eve drinking of home made wine from Korchula until midnight.
After a morning sleep in Christmas lunch was a relaxed affair at the parents place out of town. Grandma had definitely accepted me and was repeatedly trying to make me put on another layer to make sure I stayed warm enough. I was stuffed full of food and brandy and then went sledding with Svetlana's two young nieces. The countryside was a magnificent pure snowscape and the experience was breathtaking - especially after all that food.
Since then I've mostly been indoors with the occasional foray out for coffee or drinks. The snow has begun to turn to mush and our plans are now being solidified for exploration across Europe.
Oh, Svetlana has just returned from drinks with friends and I have to go now, I'll write further when they let me out again, bye.
... The Last They Ever Saw of Freeloading Phill
I'm flying out on my trip to Svetlanaland today.
This makes for the perfect opportunity to make use in my heading of the literary device that is used quite often to foreshadow a final parting.
In my reading experience it is used most often by Mr King when one party his heading off into certain doom and I am quite fond of the little device (picture me patting it on the head with fondness) - though I am no longer shocked by the usual twist of it being the party left behind that suffers the terrible fate. Still, you all better still be here when I return...
Special Bonus Posting - The Advance Copy
Arriving just before I return to the East is the advance copy of the first chapters of my new book. I think you'll all agree that it looks just spiffing.
I'm hoping that the rest of the chapters can be done in the new year although it may need to be revised with my current trip taken into account.
Anyhow, have a read of the sample chapters and decide for yourself.
This makes for the perfect opportunity to make use in my heading of the literary device that is used quite often to foreshadow a final parting.
In my reading experience it is used most often by Mr King when one party his heading off into certain doom and I am quite fond of the little device (picture me patting it on the head with fondness) - though I am no longer shocked by the usual twist of it being the party left behind that suffers the terrible fate. Still, you all better still be here when I return...
Special Bonus Posting - The Advance Copy
Arriving just before I return to the East is the advance copy of the first chapters of my new book. I think you'll all agree that it looks just spiffing.
I'm hoping that the rest of the chapters can be done in the new year although it may need to be revised with my current trip taken into account.
Anyhow, have a read of the sample chapters and decide for yourself.
... The Pressure to Blog
Well my loyal readers I have to say that I am now feeling some pressure to continue the tales with the high standard they have been maintained at for so long.
This whole process is a voracious content monster. No sooner have I relaxed after making a post than suddenly it's a few days later and the monster wants feeding again.
And now I fear that Supervisor Grand Chief K may have enabled a whole lot of people into expecting amazing mind-blowing revelations about about anything they may have experienced by my side.
Take last Friday's Work Social Club Xmas party for instance. It contained the usual amount of over-consumption (not from yours truly though I sensibly stuck to my four glass limit... or maybe five); bad dancing, loud boisterous conversation; outrageous costuming by Beeby; enforced "on-call means on-beck-&-call" chauffeuring of SGCK and friends from one tacky venue to another (who builds a replica train carriage inside their bar anyway? (ooh and I do mean tacky - at one stage Sergeant PoodlenaThePoodle needed help peeling his shoes off of the floor at Transport bar so that we could leave at closing time)) until I could escape home for some much needed rest; but really nothing spectacular or blog-worthy happened so what am I to write about??
I suppose I could put in something about Legion4 moving in to begin his house-and-Tiger-sitting stint on Saturday, or about Sundays Last gaming for 100 miles session, or possibly even about the wonderful timing my new blinds have by being ready for pickup tomorrow but there's really nary a chuckle or a cautionary tale in those events, is there?
This whole process is a voracious content monster. No sooner have I relaxed after making a post than suddenly it's a few days later and the monster wants feeding again.
And now I fear that Supervisor Grand Chief K may have enabled a whole lot of people into expecting amazing mind-blowing revelations about about anything they may have experienced by my side.
Take last Friday's Work Social Club Xmas party for instance. It contained the usual amount of over-consumption (not from yours truly though I sensibly stuck to my four glass limit... or maybe five); bad dancing, loud boisterous conversation; outrageous costuming by Beeby; enforced "on-call means on-beck-&-call" chauffeuring of SGCK and friends from one tacky venue to another (who builds a replica train carriage inside their bar anyway? (ooh and I do mean tacky - at one stage Sergeant PoodlenaThePoodle needed help peeling his shoes off of the floor at Transport bar so that we could leave at closing time)) until I could escape home for some much needed rest; but really nothing spectacular or blog-worthy happened so what am I to write about??
I suppose I could put in something about Legion4 moving in to begin his house-and-Tiger-sitting stint on Saturday, or about Sundays Last gaming for 100 miles session, or possibly even about the wonderful timing my new blinds have by being ready for pickup tomorrow but there's really nary a chuckle or a cautionary tale in those events, is there?
... The Devoured Earth by Sean Williams
I finished the final book of the books of the Cataclysm today during my late lunch.
It was a fitting finale to the series and definitely puts it as the series of the year (although with only Fantasy-Family-Saga to compete with its not a huge field).
It may have been a little easy for the characters to defeat the realm consuming being in the end but otherwise it was quite a satisfactory ending to the series.
It was a fitting finale to the series and definitely puts it as the series of the year (although with only Fantasy-Family-Saga to compete with its not a huge field).
It may have been a little easy for the characters to defeat the realm consuming being in the end but otherwise it was quite a satisfactory ending to the series.
... The Unstoppable Goal Machine
Last nights soccer saw me once again score the final goal of the evening - and the year!
That's two weeks in a row now and I'm considering becoming a full time forward.
My tally is 7 goals in 15 months.
I was late to last nights final gaming session before my big trip to Svetlanaland. Mostly because soccer is like a relationship - when you score you have to hang around and talk afterwards.
I also had a phone call from Svetlana herself which may have contributed to my lateness. When her money ran out I attempted to call her back with my calling card but the line quality was atrocious. Coincidentally I had just that day received a letter from Telstra that was pimping their new international rates as "better than calling cards" and having "Telstra's superior line quality". I was instantly reminded of my ADSL experience.
The gaming, once I did arrive, did bog down in a big fight scene until we worked out how to streamline the process (it involved not interrupting each other and only having a small amount of time to think about what your character will do). Of course by the time we were streamlining we were all also starting to fade out from exhaustion. Hopefully the rest of the group will have it perfected by the time I return from Svetlanaland.
That's two weeks in a row now and I'm considering becoming a full time forward.
My tally is 7 goals in 15 months.
I was late to last nights final gaming session before my big trip to Svetlanaland. Mostly because soccer is like a relationship - when you score you have to hang around and talk afterwards.
I also had a phone call from Svetlana herself which may have contributed to my lateness. When her money ran out I attempted to call her back with my calling card but the line quality was atrocious. Coincidentally I had just that day received a letter from Telstra that was pimping their new international rates as "better than calling cards" and having "Telstra's superior line quality". I was instantly reminded of my ADSL experience.
The gaming, once I did arrive, did bog down in a big fight scene until we worked out how to streamline the process (it involved not interrupting each other and only having a small amount of time to think about what your character will do). Of course by the time we were streamlining we were all also starting to fade out from exhaustion. Hopefully the rest of the group will have it perfected by the time I return from Svetlanaland.
... A Burst of Geekiness
Monday night I attended my third Geektogether. This time I convinced Pirate Dave to go along as proof that I'm not making up all the stuff I say about gaming with other people.
Summary of the evening: Dave did an excellent job of making me look good by overindulging in Guiness and getting loud with the other geeks; I consumed many Guini myself - two of them after I'd stopped; lots of good gaming talk; surprisingly a bit of political and religious talk; about seven new gamers that I've not met before.
Tuesday was a gaming night, and one that BestFriendSincePrep deigned to actually show up for and, along with Legion2, Gavman and ArchEnemy, played a one-shot game of Special Forces - Action Movie role-playing. Zombies, demons, clichés and fun were the result.
Workwise I've spent most of my time hanging out with CC and Imposter Phil (who thematically came out to me as an "ex" gaming geek yesterday) getting ready for new PCs for Beaumaris branch.
Summary of the evening: Dave did an excellent job of making me look good by overindulging in Guiness and getting loud with the other geeks; I consumed many Guini myself - two of them after I'd stopped; lots of good gaming talk; surprisingly a bit of political and religious talk; about seven new gamers that I've not met before.
Tuesday was a gaming night, and one that BestFriendSincePrep deigned to actually show up for and, along with Legion2, Gavman and ArchEnemy, played a one-shot game of Special Forces - Action Movie role-playing. Zombies, demons, clichés and fun were the result.
Workwise I've spent most of my time hanging out with CC and Imposter Phil (who thematically came out to me as an "ex" gaming geek yesterday) getting ready for new PCs for Beaumaris branch.
... The Week that Was Suddenly Over
Monday - The Apprentice
My first day of being saddled with a work experience student who inexplicably was interested in Library IT. I took to heart the task of cautioning him about the detrimental effect if being immersed in LibraryLand. He was also initiated into the wonders of "Hey Phill!" problem solving for most of the day.
Tuesday - Corporate Drive By
The Apprentice started the day by asking me if I was going to start working soon, so I decided to punish him by taking him into the Council Corporate Centre IT department.
It didn't phase him.
So I took him to several of our branches in an attempt to overwhelm him with librarians and locations. He was made of sterner stuff than that and shrugged most of it off with a hmmph. So far he looked like prime IT material.
Wednesday - Road Trips, Meetings and Paperwork
The Apprentice and I traveled up and down the Seaside Road today to fix problems that were already fixed by the time we arrived at the branch. So far he was getting an excellent introduction to the life of an IT Man in LibraryLand. The next test was the IT Team meeting. The afternoon's meeting was attended by all team members and The Apprentice fitted (fat?) right in by nodding off in tandem with The Pragmatist.
After The Apprentice had gone home I stayed back at work diligently catching up on the paperwork that I was just not cruel enough to force an innocent minion to complete.
Whilst I was catching up on said paperwork, The Flibberty Gibbet, enabled by Supervisor Grand Chief K of course, made another stalking phone call. This time I was able to legitimately say I was working on RFID - it was a strange feeling, kind of itchy.
Thursday - Chocolates, Soccer and Snoozes
I was able to offload The Apprentice onto Sister Serials as a box unpacker while I attended the Service Coordinators meeting. We then spent the afternoon working out how to embiggen the print size of our slip printers and installing it on Bomber Babe's PC as a test.
The surprise of the afternoon was the box of chocolates The Apprentice gave me as a thank you for dragging him all over my little corner of LibraryLand. I shared them of course - it would have looked greedy if I'd eaten more than 80% of the box.
I rushed off to soccer delighted at being able to play in 32 degree heat for the second week running. The upside was that I scored the "last goal wins" goal by dribbling a kick over the line while we all watched on exhausted. The goal arrived right on target keeping me at a my goal every three months average. The post game recovery took a full hour but finally I was able to drag myself off home and then to ArchEnemy's for falling asleep on the couch during gaming.
Friday - SPUN and Branch Drinks
The morning was our free xmas lunch at Civica HQ preceded by the quarterly SPUN Meeting. I brought Mr Prada along as a minion to show my new stature as Mr Secretary but completely forgot to have him Fight Flibberty's minion in the pit, oh well there's always next time. I had a quick catch up over a glass of free wine with Madame President to cover where the exec was at and then headed out into the city.
After a quick drop by visit to Rugrat Twin's retail workplace I trained my way back to Sandringham.
After booting up my laptop I shut it down and we all headed off to the branch xmas drinks and dinner. It was a good evening with a cameo by Chanlib, and the evening seen out in increasingly slurred conversation with Mr Prada and Scully.
Saturday - A BBQ and Librarians Running Amok
A last minute BBQ with Fridgepower, Judgemingus, their spawn and several others left me rushing a little to make it to Miss Amanda's delightful residence for the Library Xmas Party soirée.
It was a very well attended event, with magnificent food and much joviality. I was able to meet the infamous infamous Mr Amanda, and noted the family resemblance when Little Miss Amanda called me the best customer for food trays.
The evening took a turn for the surreal later on when the Sing Star computer game was fired up. I tell you nothing compares to a 15 librarian chorus of Unchained melody - it almost killed Torchwood with hysterics (watching said fit may have been the best ten minutes of the evening).
Sunday - Legion Gathers
And finally I get to today. The clan was having a get together to celebrate several birthdays and my impending departure for Svetlanaland. No wait they weren't celebrating my leaving they were saying farewell. Handy Dad, Freeloading Mum, Legion2-4 and various partners were all there and we had a nice lunch before heading home for some much needed rest.
Hey I just found out that you can only have 200 characters of Labels on a blog post. Though the error message is confusing as it just says that you have more than 200 characters but not that it's only the labels that it cares about. I was thinking that I needed an Everything label for this post and now I had to trim out some of the less important tags.
My first day of being saddled with a work experience student who inexplicably was interested in Library IT. I took to heart the task of cautioning him about the detrimental effect if being immersed in LibraryLand. He was also initiated into the wonders of "Hey Phill!" problem solving for most of the day.
Tuesday - Corporate Drive By
The Apprentice started the day by asking me if I was going to start working soon, so I decided to punish him by taking him into the Council Corporate Centre IT department.
It didn't phase him.
So I took him to several of our branches in an attempt to overwhelm him with librarians and locations. He was made of sterner stuff than that and shrugged most of it off with a hmmph. So far he looked like prime IT material.
Wednesday - Road Trips, Meetings and Paperwork
The Apprentice and I traveled up and down the Seaside Road today to fix problems that were already fixed by the time we arrived at the branch. So far he was getting an excellent introduction to the life of an IT Man in LibraryLand. The next test was the IT Team meeting. The afternoon's meeting was attended by all team members and The Apprentice fitted (fat?) right in by nodding off in tandem with The Pragmatist.
After The Apprentice had gone home I stayed back at work diligently catching up on the paperwork that I was just not cruel enough to force an innocent minion to complete.
Whilst I was catching up on said paperwork, The Flibberty Gibbet, enabled by Supervisor Grand Chief K of course, made another stalking phone call. This time I was able to legitimately say I was working on RFID - it was a strange feeling, kind of itchy.
Thursday - Chocolates, Soccer and Snoozes
I was able to offload The Apprentice onto Sister Serials as a box unpacker while I attended the Service Coordinators meeting. We then spent the afternoon working out how to embiggen the print size of our slip printers and installing it on Bomber Babe's PC as a test.
The surprise of the afternoon was the box of chocolates The Apprentice gave me as a thank you for dragging him all over my little corner of LibraryLand. I shared them of course - it would have looked greedy if I'd eaten more than 80% of the box.
I rushed off to soccer delighted at being able to play in 32 degree heat for the second week running. The upside was that I scored the "last goal wins" goal by dribbling a kick over the line while we all watched on exhausted. The goal arrived right on target keeping me at a my goal every three months average. The post game recovery took a full hour but finally I was able to drag myself off home and then to ArchEnemy's for falling asleep on the couch during gaming.
Friday - SPUN and Branch Drinks
The morning was our free xmas lunch at Civica HQ preceded by the quarterly SPUN Meeting. I brought Mr Prada along as a minion to show my new stature as Mr Secretary but completely forgot to have him Fight Flibberty's minion in the pit, oh well there's always next time. I had a quick catch up over a glass of free wine with Madame President to cover where the exec was at and then headed out into the city.
After a quick drop by visit to Rugrat Twin's retail workplace I trained my way back to Sandringham.
After booting up my laptop I shut it down and we all headed off to the branch xmas drinks and dinner. It was a good evening with a cameo by Chanlib, and the evening seen out in increasingly slurred conversation with Mr Prada and Scully.
Saturday - A BBQ and Librarians Running Amok
A last minute BBQ with Fridgepower, Judgemingus, their spawn and several others left me rushing a little to make it to Miss Amanda's delightful residence for the Library Xmas Party soirée.
It was a very well attended event, with magnificent food and much joviality. I was able to meet the infamous infamous Mr Amanda, and noted the family resemblance when Little Miss Amanda called me the best customer for food trays.
The evening took a turn for the surreal later on when the Sing Star computer game was fired up. I tell you nothing compares to a 15 librarian chorus of Unchained melody - it almost killed Torchwood with hysterics (watching said fit may have been the best ten minutes of the evening).
Sunday - Legion Gathers
And finally I get to today. The clan was having a get together to celebrate several birthdays and my impending departure for Svetlanaland. No wait they weren't celebrating my leaving they were saying farewell. Handy Dad, Freeloading Mum, Legion2-4 and various partners were all there and we had a nice lunch before heading home for some much needed rest.
Hey I just found out that you can only have 200 characters of Labels on a blog post. Though the error message is confusing as it just says that you have more than 200 characters but not that it's only the labels that it cares about. I was thinking that I needed an Everything label for this post and now I had to trim out some of the less important tags.
... The Evils of BestFriendSincePrep
Yesterday was the wedding of MrRogers. As is his way BestFriendSincePrep had planned everything out for us to have a huge session as part of the celebrations.
It began with my not being on the complementary bus but instead ordered to drive out to StumpyRudolph's place where it was all going to happen, so that we could both stay the night and still have transport back home in the morning.
Once ceremonial proceedings were underway BFSP began to force feed me beers and didn't let up until we last four survivors trundled off to bed at three in the morning. Oh to have Svetlana there to protect me by drinking my beer as she did at Gavman's wedding.
It was almost twelve hours later that my body began to win the battle against alcohol poisoning and as I type this right now, a further six hours on, I'd say that I'm back to about half human.
Ooh I can make this into a caution.
Never, ever, ever, think that it's even remotely possible to keep up with BestFriendSincePrep. It's just not humanly possible and you'll end up spending most of the next day incommunicado and, most importantly, be a tad too seedy to partake in free bacon and eggs for breakfast.
It began with my not being on the complementary bus but instead ordered to drive out to StumpyRudolph's place where it was all going to happen, so that we could both stay the night and still have transport back home in the morning.
Once ceremonial proceedings were underway BFSP began to force feed me beers and didn't let up until we last four survivors trundled off to bed at three in the morning. Oh to have Svetlana there to protect me by drinking my beer as she did at Gavman's wedding.
It was almost twelve hours later that my body began to win the battle against alcohol poisoning and as I type this right now, a further six hours on, I'd say that I'm back to about half human.
Ooh I can make this into a caution.
Never, ever, ever, think that it's even remotely possible to keep up with BestFriendSincePrep. It's just not humanly possible and you'll end up spending most of the next day incommunicado and, most importantly, be a tad too seedy to partake in free bacon and eggs for breakfast.
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