... the IT man in LibraryLand
Well I made it despite my doubters.
It was a hard slog and after the blog-a-day experience I think I shall take a blogiday (a holiday from blogging) and return to my weekly-ish posting frequency.
I have felt that my posting standards slipped and I at least noticed the lack of editing time - not to mention time for other things (no weight gain from all that Xmas feasting being but one of the many side effects).
Still it has honed my writing and especially my stream of consciousness skills as many of these posts were banged out from only a title idea and ended up going on and on for paragraphs.
Oh well, a happy New Year to you all. I am now off to Legion3's for a laid back New Years with much less dancing than last years Svetlanaland soiree.
.
... The Last Day
So it's the last day of the year and instead of being quiet I am being besieged with a billion little tasks and jobs to be finished before the year is out.
To be fair most of them are jobs I should have finished months ago but I won't let that stand in the way of my outrage!
In particular Sister Serials has been hounding me with questions about new books and the RFID process. Also, puzzleingly, AntagonisticAl has also been throwing tasks at me in some sort of attempt to undo all the good work she'd done to earn my favour.
And now I am sitting here as all the staff leave and I have to wait for another one of those drawn out processes runs until it finishes. Ooh it just finished, I better get to it so I can make my evening rendezvous.
.
To be fair most of them are jobs I should have finished months ago but I won't let that stand in the way of my outrage!
In particular Sister Serials has been hounding me with questions about new books and the RFID process. Also, puzzleingly, AntagonisticAl has also been throwing tasks at me in some sort of attempt to undo all the good work she'd done to earn my favour.
And now I am sitting here as all the staff leave and I have to wait for another one of those drawn out processes runs until it finishes. Ooh it just finished, I better get to it so I can make my evening rendezvous.
.
... Train Works and Tiger Bites
Last night's quiet night in was frequently punctuated by The Tiger insisting on, at first, food and then all that attention she deserved by birthright.
In her catty way she demanded that I stand beside her as she ate - either that or she has some sort of feline dementia and forgets that there is food in the bowl until I follow her eager escort to the kitchen and lo and behold I have miraculously half filled her bowl and she can now chow down.
In either case it came to the "give me attention" point of the evening and then all of a sudden rubbing against Phill's hand became nipping which became digging the teeth in as the hand was pulled away.
Later, after application of a bandaid and much scolding, I retired for the evening only to be awakened a scant few hours later by the glorious sounds of workers enthusiastically getting back to the nearby overnight railway line work after their Xmas break.
I'm not certain but I do believe they were employing cranes to swing the new rails against each other and create that far-carrying and penetrating ringing sound of metal on metal - they were quite good at it too, carrying on for almost an hour.
Of course all of that night-time hullabaloo left me a tad tired today and, combined with the mind-numbingness of stats work, meant that I slipped up at Devil's Advocate's birthday lunch and didn't think to follow up on the Turkish bread component of my meal when it failed to show up for it's imminent consumption.
I did, however, recover enough in the afternoon to make copious use of the thank you chocolates given to library staff and left unprotected in the staff room.
.
In her catty way she demanded that I stand beside her as she ate - either that or she has some sort of feline dementia and forgets that there is food in the bowl until I follow her eager escort to the kitchen and lo and behold I have miraculously half filled her bowl and she can now chow down.
In either case it came to the "give me attention" point of the evening and then all of a sudden rubbing against Phill's hand became nipping which became digging the teeth in as the hand was pulled away.
Later, after application of a bandaid and much scolding, I retired for the evening only to be awakened a scant few hours later by the glorious sounds of workers enthusiastically getting back to the nearby overnight railway line work after their Xmas break.
I'm not certain but I do believe they were employing cranes to swing the new rails against each other and create that far-carrying and penetrating ringing sound of metal on metal - they were quite good at it too, carrying on for almost an hour.
Of course all of that night-time hullabaloo left me a tad tired today and, combined with the mind-numbingness of stats work, meant that I slipped up at Devil's Advocate's birthday lunch and didn't think to follow up on the Turkish bread component of my meal when it failed to show up for it's imminent consumption.
I did, however, recover enough in the afternoon to make copious use of the thank you chocolates given to library staff and left unprotected in the staff room.
.
... Learning to Fear the Desk
After a nice few days rest and a relaxing afternoon gaming on Sunday I was thrown head-first into the maelstrom today.
There I was innocently minding my own business and trying to motivate myself to get started on a mass of stats that needed to be done when Miss Amanda conveniently realised that there was a rostering muck-up and I was needed to cover out front for "only 25 minutes".
As naive as I am I did not see the trap I was blithely walking into as I considered that it was both holiday time and rather nice weather outside so why would anyone want to while away their time in a library.
Nearly two hours later I am reeling from the nigh-constant flow of borrowers with mountainous piles of books to return, unique queries, and bizarre desire to join the library. On top of all that I had to repeatedly fiddle with some of the equipment which was obviously still in holiday mode and had decided to work for only five minutes before having a little rest.
After finally crawling away to safety I made my way outside for some welcome outside-ness and fetching of a late lunch.
The whole experience has made me much wiser about accepting short shifts on the desk although I was obviously still a little stunned for the rest of the afternoon as I neglected to pay the bountiful cake and snack table in the staffroom the attention it deserved. Luckily I'm back there tomorrow.
.
There I was innocently minding my own business and trying to motivate myself to get started on a mass of stats that needed to be done when Miss Amanda conveniently realised that there was a rostering muck-up and I was needed to cover out front for "only 25 minutes".
As naive as I am I did not see the trap I was blithely walking into as I considered that it was both holiday time and rather nice weather outside so why would anyone want to while away their time in a library.
Nearly two hours later I am reeling from the nigh-constant flow of borrowers with mountainous piles of books to return, unique queries, and bizarre desire to join the library. On top of all that I had to repeatedly fiddle with some of the equipment which was obviously still in holiday mode and had decided to work for only five minutes before having a little rest.
After finally crawling away to safety I made my way outside for some welcome outside-ness and fetching of a late lunch.
The whole experience has made me much wiser about accepting short shifts on the desk although I was obviously still a little stunned for the rest of the afternoon as I neglected to pay the bountiful cake and snack table in the staffroom the attention it deserved. Luckily I'm back there tomorrow.
.
... Helliconia Winter by Brian Aldiss
Making my way into work today on the holiday-time crowd free train allowed me to finish of this book, and with it the Helliconia Trilogy.
Much like my experience this year the series covered a great year. In this case it was Helliconia's great year which includes centuries-long seasons (you could guess that from the volume titles couldn't you?)
I enjoyed this one a lot more than the second one. There was no annoying flashback storytelling device and it was an interesting thing to see where the civilisations would end up as they headed into the long winter.
Billed as Sci-Fi it is in reality mostly a dawn and growth of civilisation tale with a small touch of supernatural and a an almost non-intersecting sub plot about observers from Earth.
Enjoyable but probably won't rock your year.
.
Much like my experience this year the series covered a great year. In this case it was Helliconia's great year which includes centuries-long seasons (you could guess that from the volume titles couldn't you?)
I enjoyed this one a lot more than the second one. There was no annoying flashback storytelling device and it was an interesting thing to see where the civilisations would end up as they headed into the long winter.
Billed as Sci-Fi it is in reality mostly a dawn and growth of civilisation tale with a small touch of supernatural and a an almost non-intersecting sub plot about observers from Earth.
Enjoyable but probably won't rock your year.
.
... The Year of Gaming Dangerously
In the tradition of The Viking Hat GM's 2007's gaming in review here is the summary of my years gaming for 2008.
All up I had 123 gaming events for the year!
That is down by 3 on last year but I was unavailable for almost 2 months this year.
They break down like this:
21 sessions with ORC
43 sessions with my Tuesday Knights group
27 sessions with the Black Guild on Thursdays
13 Sundays gaming group days playing board, war and card games
5 Spontaneous boardgaming get togethers
4 Spontaneous Magic playing sessions
2 poker nights
4 Magic Tournaments amongst our group of players - one for each new set
1 Geektogethers
2 visits to LURG my old uni games club
All up I played with about 34 different gamers (and about 8 non-gamers).
Phew! Luckily I can cut and paste most of that from last years wrap up.
I the coming year I expect to drop back around the 100 mark as I intend to avoid the three times a week that was the middle of the year - damn you tempting chance to run stuff on Thursday nights!
.
All up I had 123 gaming events for the year!
That is down by 3 on last year but I was unavailable for almost 2 months this year.
They break down like this:
21 sessions with ORC
- 7 playing Just Speculatin' homebrew scifi
- 1 doing crazy character generation
- 13 playing Osere II homebrew modern spy
43 sessions with my Tuesday Knights group
- 4 playing Magic as the main event (there are usually some games each week) well down on last years ~50% thanks to some recruiting
- 32 running roleplaying. 17 on Judge Dredd. 1 on a one-shot called Tribe 9. 14 for Deadlands.
- 7 playing boardgames
27 sessions with the Black Guild on Thursdays
- 2 running a Special Forces one-shot
- 14 running In the Sand improvised based on The Peace War
- 4 running a Traveller one-shot Gzan's Recruits
- 4 playing the Shadowrun kids game
- 1 running The Shattered Earth one-shot
- 1 playing the Battlestar Galactica boardgame
- 1 creating Traveller characters
13 Sundays gaming group days playing board, war and card games
5 Spontaneous boardgaming get togethers
4 Spontaneous Magic playing sessions
2 poker nights
4 Magic Tournaments amongst our group of players - one for each new set
1 Geektogethers
2 visits to LURG my old uni games club
All up I played with about 34 different gamers (and about 8 non-gamers).
- 4 players on Mondays
- 8 players on Tuesdays
- 6 on Thursdays (3 shared with Tuesday)
- 18 at Sundays gaming, 7 from Tuesdays, 11 not. Multiple attendees: 6 from Tuesdays, 2 others.
- Spontaneous Magic was only with Tuesday night gamers.
- Poker was with around 8 non-gamers.
- Magic tournaments brought 5 from the Tuesday group, plus one ex-Thursday and 2 ex-Tuesdays players and another non/beginner-gamer.
- The visit to LURG gave me a couple of board/wargames with 3 or 4 new gamers.
Phew! Luckily I can cut and paste most of that from last years wrap up.
I the coming year I expect to drop back around the 100 mark as I intend to avoid the three times a week that was the middle of the year - damn you tempting chance to run stuff on Thursday nights!
.
... Twilight
So a few weeks back BestFriendSincePrep rocks up to gaming night and starts raving about the trailers he's just seen for a new werewolf movie coming out.
Neither myself nor any of the internet savvy others at the table had heard of any werewolf film debuting soon and so queried, "Do you mean Twilight the vampire film?"
"No. it was definitely a Werewolf film!" came the authoritative answer. We shrugged and figured we must have missed hearing about it.
Last night he organises for a trip to the movies and whilst lurking in the foyer deciding what to see he points to the poster for Twilight saying "That's the werewolf movie".
After sorting out the confusion, and explaining that it's based on some teen vampire romance books, he decides that we're seeing it anyway.
Sitting through the movie he was jabbing me in the ribs everytime there was a wolf on screen and giving me knowing looks.
Coming out of the cinema afterwards he pronounced it to be the "Best Werewolf movie ever!" in his usual critical style,before going on to say that he thoroughly enjoyed it.
As to my own opinion, well, having watched Buffy I'd have to say I saw many of the same themes of teenage confusion and sexuality being played out on the screen albeit slower and with less depth:
I felt that there was almost no sense of romantic attraction between the main characters although I did appreciate the background montage of getting-to-know-each-other talks as a reasonable device for not having to script such a hard thing to show on screen, I just think they could have had it earlier in the relationship instead of after they were already deeply in love and ready to spend eternity together.
Overall I give it a couple of stars for looking okay but things like the nonsensical Munsters-like "have to play baseball in thunderstorms" scene snapped my belief suspenders. I can see many seeds for sequels and they are wrapping up the second one, so it must be doing something right for a lot of people.
Ooh I almost forgot. During our session we had two people walk out and a gentleman behind us was regularly letting out long suffering sighs so it may not be as general as they seem to be marketing it.
As for BestFriendSincePrep, he gives it his usual five stars and I think I'll be hard pressed to not be forced to see the sequel especially as it's titled "New Moon" which suggests the BFSP will get his werewolves after all.
.
Neither myself nor any of the internet savvy others at the table had heard of any werewolf film debuting soon and so queried, "Do you mean Twilight the vampire film?"
"No. it was definitely a Werewolf film!" came the authoritative answer. We shrugged and figured we must have missed hearing about it.
Last night he organises for a trip to the movies and whilst lurking in the foyer deciding what to see he points to the poster for Twilight saying "That's the werewolf movie".
After sorting out the confusion, and explaining that it's based on some teen vampire romance books, he decides that we're seeing it anyway.
Sitting through the movie he was jabbing me in the ribs everytime there was a wolf on screen and giving me knowing looks.
Coming out of the cinema afterwards he pronounced it to be the "Best Werewolf movie ever!" in his usual critical style,before going on to say that he thoroughly enjoyed it.
As to my own opinion, well, having watched Buffy I'd have to say I saw many of the same themes of teenage confusion and sexuality being played out on the screen albeit slower and with less depth:
- young teen with seperated parents - check
- older vampire trying to be nice and only feed on animals - check
- older vampire attracted to special teen - check
- teen falls for boring aloof vampire - check
- both try to fight the wrongness of being together - check
- the importance of staying human - check
I felt that there was almost no sense of romantic attraction between the main characters although I did appreciate the background montage of getting-to-know-each-other talks as a reasonable device for not having to script such a hard thing to show on screen, I just think they could have had it earlier in the relationship instead of after they were already deeply in love and ready to spend eternity together.
Overall I give it a couple of stars for looking okay but things like the nonsensical Munsters-like "have to play baseball in thunderstorms" scene snapped my belief suspenders. I can see many seeds for sequels and they are wrapping up the second one, so it must be doing something right for a lot of people.
Ooh I almost forgot. During our session we had two people walk out and a gentleman behind us was regularly letting out long suffering sighs so it may not be as general as they seem to be marketing it.
As for BestFriendSincePrep, he gives it his usual five stars and I think I'll be hard pressed to not be forced to see the sequel especially as it's titled "New Moon" which suggests the BFSP will get his werewolves after all.
.
... The Great Sandro's Special Day
Well not much of great import happened on boxing day - some cricket watching, a walk, some computer time, and a lot of relaxing.
Today however was dominated by the extended phone conversation that is a short call to wish The Great Sandro a happy birthday. You might remember him as my footy frequenting buddy but we do have the occasional outside of footy things - like phone calls to, umm, organise which footy games we're going to attend in the coming year.
TGS has an intellectual disability that puts him at around the early teens level which, aside from bringin him down to my mental level, makes for some strange and fun turns of conversation and also makes him someone who would stay on the phone all day.
Luckily some catastrophe crashed our connection after only an hour and a half so I had the rest of the afternoon to myself.
I filled some of it with a little website work for Blind Willie - who incidentally was The Great Sandro's previous footy buddy.
Oh, speaking of childish minds, BestFriendSincePrep has just called with some movie going idea. I'll keep you posted of how this looming disaster unfolds.
.
Today however was dominated by the extended phone conversation that is a short call to wish The Great Sandro a happy birthday. You might remember him as my footy frequenting buddy but we do have the occasional outside of footy things - like phone calls to, umm, organise which footy games we're going to attend in the coming year.
TGS has an intellectual disability that puts him at around the early teens level which, aside from bringin him down to my mental level, makes for some strange and fun turns of conversation and also makes him someone who would stay on the phone all day.
Luckily some catastrophe crashed our connection after only an hour and a half so I had the rest of the afternoon to myself.
I filled some of it with a little website work for Blind Willie - who incidentally was The Great Sandro's previous footy buddy.
Oh, speaking of childish minds, BestFriendSincePrep has just called with some movie going idea. I'll keep you posted of how this looming disaster unfolds.
.
... The Very Messy Xmas
Xmas day started off with a glorious hour long phone call with Svetlana discussing such interesting things as the weather - it was -5 in Svetlanaland at the time.
After all the scintillating conversation was finished I set out for a twenty minute walk/jog to counteract the coming feasting but unfortunately my MAMILS was acting up a little so the jog part dropped by the wayside.
I collected Legion2 and headed over to our ancestral home for a lunchtime BBQ with Handy Dad and the rest of the Legion. Of course I had to do some updating of Freeloading Mum's computer while I was there and didn't notice how quickly Legion4 was downing the beverages.
Time came to head over to Aunties for the traditional evening meal and cousin catch-up. Legion3 headed home while 2 and 4 piled into my vehicle. I failed to notice that Legion4 had thought it necessary to bring a beer for the 20 minute trip. I did notice though when said beer was finished within the first half of the journey.
Upon arrival we reacquainted ourselves with cousins, uncles and aunties. We also acquainted ourselves with Cousin Dave's wife.
Pre-dinner conversation and nibbles commenced in the backyard in the wonderful Xmas day evening twilight. It was during this part of the evening that things began to turn messy. Legion4 had continued to avail himself of the amber liquid since we arrived and became variously loud, obnoxious, angry and incomprehensible. He also seemed to come down with a special case of Tourette's repeatedly loudly blurting out things unrelated to current conversation topics - I suspect they were all in-joke sayings he and his friends share when they get smashed at the pub.
Needless to say the embarrassing and cringe-worthy nature of his behaviour brought on a telling off from Handy Dad - quite a surreal experience as one drunk person staggered over to tell the other they were a disgrace and embarrassing the rest of the family. Legion4's only response being an imploring "why me? What did I do?" look towards the rest of the group.
After a dinner time lull he was back at it and yours truly had to leave before dessert to take him home - making it the third time this month that I had missed dessert, hmmm, is the universe trying to tell me something?
The journey home was a wonderful fusion of a building headache punctuated by sudden shouting with small bouts of driver interference all topped off with repetition of "Where the f*** are we?" even twice while waiting at the same set of lights.
Finally he was dropped home and peace descended. Dropping the pleasantly affected Legion2 home was sheer bliss in comparison and then it was straight to bed for me to shake off my blinding headache that had mysteriously developed over the course of the evening.
.
After all the scintillating conversation was finished I set out for a twenty minute walk/jog to counteract the coming feasting but unfortunately my MAMILS was acting up a little so the jog part dropped by the wayside.
I collected Legion2 and headed over to our ancestral home for a lunchtime BBQ with Handy Dad and the rest of the Legion. Of course I had to do some updating of Freeloading Mum's computer while I was there and didn't notice how quickly Legion4 was downing the beverages.
Time came to head over to Aunties for the traditional evening meal and cousin catch-up. Legion3 headed home while 2 and 4 piled into my vehicle. I failed to notice that Legion4 had thought it necessary to bring a beer for the 20 minute trip. I did notice though when said beer was finished within the first half of the journey.
Upon arrival we reacquainted ourselves with cousins, uncles and aunties. We also acquainted ourselves with Cousin Dave's wife.
Pre-dinner conversation and nibbles commenced in the backyard in the wonderful Xmas day evening twilight. It was during this part of the evening that things began to turn messy. Legion4 had continued to avail himself of the amber liquid since we arrived and became variously loud, obnoxious, angry and incomprehensible. He also seemed to come down with a special case of Tourette's repeatedly loudly blurting out things unrelated to current conversation topics - I suspect they were all in-joke sayings he and his friends share when they get smashed at the pub.
Needless to say the embarrassing and cringe-worthy nature of his behaviour brought on a telling off from Handy Dad - quite a surreal experience as one drunk person staggered over to tell the other they were a disgrace and embarrassing the rest of the family. Legion4's only response being an imploring "why me? What did I do?" look towards the rest of the group.
After a dinner time lull he was back at it and yours truly had to leave before dessert to take him home - making it the third time this month that I had missed dessert, hmmm, is the universe trying to tell me something?
The journey home was a wonderful fusion of a building headache punctuated by sudden shouting with small bouts of driver interference all topped off with repetition of "Where the f*** are we?" even twice while waiting at the same set of lights.
Finally he was dropped home and peace descended. Dropping the pleasantly affected Legion2 home was sheer bliss in comparison and then it was straight to bed for me to shake off my blinding headache that had mysteriously developed over the course of the evening.
.
... A Proper Level of Service
Finally it was here, the day I'd been waiting all year for, Xmas Eve, which also happened to be a much more important date this year - the day of the free Xmas lunch courtesy of the council!
After disentangling myself from the perfidious RFID machines at Beaumaris I made my way to the Corporate Castle to partake in the feasting.
Upon arrival I was informed that due to my slightly late arrival I had missed out on the turkey.
As disastrous as this was I was able to keep it together and hold out my plate for the ham, potatoes, and salads that remained. It was all made better by this years twist to procedures that had the Senior Management Team serving us and one of the seniors was Supervisor Grand Chief K herself. I took a moment to revel in receiving the kind of service I should be receiving all the time.
After fetching myself a nice glass of red I found the library table joining The Administrator, AntagonisticAl, and Devil's Advocate as they finished off their repast. In an unnerving repeat of several weekends ago the dessert was whisked away from our table before I could partake.
Strangely consoling myself with work I went to harass SoccerBuddy about network issues. After growing tired of that I decided to head back and try my luck with obtaining dessert. Luckily there was another library table in the second sitting and I seamlessly joined them and had some wonderful hedgehog and conversation.
After the excitement of lunch there was not much left to the day and I wrapped up my day with a quick trip home and a quiet night in.
.
After disentangling myself from the perfidious RFID machines at Beaumaris I made my way to the Corporate Castle to partake in the feasting.
Upon arrival I was informed that due to my slightly late arrival I had missed out on the turkey.
As disastrous as this was I was able to keep it together and hold out my plate for the ham, potatoes, and salads that remained. It was all made better by this years twist to procedures that had the Senior Management Team serving us and one of the seniors was Supervisor Grand Chief K herself. I took a moment to revel in receiving the kind of service I should be receiving all the time.
After fetching myself a nice glass of red I found the library table joining The Administrator, AntagonisticAl, and Devil's Advocate as they finished off their repast. In an unnerving repeat of several weekends ago the dessert was whisked away from our table before I could partake.
Strangely consoling myself with work I went to harass SoccerBuddy about network issues. After growing tired of that I decided to head back and try my luck with obtaining dessert. Luckily there was another library table in the second sitting and I seamlessly joined them and had some wonderful hedgehog and conversation.
After the excitement of lunch there was not much left to the day and I wrapped up my day with a quick trip home and a quiet night in.
.
... Postcards from the Svets
Well Xmas cards actually. Well card to be exact, but I won't let that interfere with a great title.
So it has come to my attention that I have only mentioned Svetlana in passing since her demise, I mean departure. There are no suppressed anger or passive-aggressive issues involved, merely passive-lazy ones. We have spoken several times on the telephone and continued to exchange electronic mail so quit your worrying.
Anyway, I had a joyous moment coming home from work the other day to find an enormous envelope postmarked from Svetlanaland.
Upon tearing it open I discovered a huge Xmas card with some sentimental message inside and - best of all - a picture of her local castle in the midst of winter on the front. The lady knows me too well.
Of course she timed it all so I would be unable to return post a cardboard missive in time for the occasion. (Since then we've had another epic phone conversation which I hope has alleviated the need for cardboard sending)
Things are going okay for her although the job front looks a tad shaky so there is the slight possibility that she may have to return to my side. In which case I would be able to return to a once a fortnight posting schedule instead of this inhumane level you have me at now.
.
So it has come to my attention that I have only mentioned Svetlana in passing since her demise, I mean departure. There are no suppressed anger or passive-aggressive issues involved, merely passive-lazy ones. We have spoken several times on the telephone and continued to exchange electronic mail so quit your worrying.
Anyway, I had a joyous moment coming home from work the other day to find an enormous envelope postmarked from Svetlanaland.
Upon tearing it open I discovered a huge Xmas card with some sentimental message inside and - best of all - a picture of her local castle in the midst of winter on the front. The lady knows me too well.
Of course she timed it all so I would be unable to return post a cardboard missive in time for the occasion. (Since then we've had another epic phone conversation which I hope has alleviated the need for cardboard sending)
Things are going okay for her although the job front looks a tad shaky so there is the slight possibility that she may have to return to my side. In which case I would be able to return to a once a fortnight posting schedule instead of this inhumane level you have me at now.
.
... The Meaning of Xmas
Nobody has actually mentioned this but recently I began using Xmas almost exclusively when talking about the Saturnalian end of year festival.
It always used to bug me seeing the pseudo-abbreviated version of Christmas everywhere and I went out of my way to spell it out in full rather than use the crass commercialised version of the word.
Then a couple of months back it occurred to me that I actually do think Xmas is a crass and commercialised holiday with only a token connection to the Christ part of it's origin.
After slapping myself silly, I decided to switch to using Xmas, the crass commercialised shortening, when I am talking about the crass commercialised holiday.
I know this may earn me the ire of those, like Mr Prada, who hate Xmas (only the abbreviation I think, but you never know...) but hopefully it will be the first step on their path to enlightenment.
ps. It may not be clear above that I think Xmas is a crass commercialised holiday so I better tell you - I think Xmas is a crass commercialised holiday
pps. hey, crass is one of those words that after you write it a few times it begins to look really weird and not like a real word at all. They ought to have a word for that.
.
It always used to bug me seeing the pseudo-abbreviated version of Christmas everywhere and I went out of my way to spell it out in full rather than use the crass commercialised version of the word.
Then a couple of months back it occurred to me that I actually do think Xmas is a crass and commercialised holiday with only a token connection to the Christ part of it's origin.
After slapping myself silly, I decided to switch to using Xmas, the crass commercialised shortening, when I am talking about the crass commercialised holiday.
I know this may earn me the ire of those, like Mr Prada, who hate Xmas (only the abbreviation I think, but you never know...) but hopefully it will be the first step on their path to enlightenment.
ps. It may not be clear above that I think Xmas is a crass commercialised holiday so I better tell you - I think Xmas is a crass commercialised holiday
pps. hey, crass is one of those words that after you write it a few times it begins to look really weird and not like a real word at all. They ought to have a word for that.
.
... Resorting to 2.0
Not a lot happened today for me to pontificate about. Sure we did receive our corporate Xmas present, and it was chocolate instead of the plum pudding of the previous few years, but Supervisor Grand Chief K made sure that there was no point me travelling to all branches to receive multiple handouts by doing all the handing out herself.
Incidentally my plum pudding is still going great guns as a doorstop in the flat.
So anyway after all that sugar based excitement there was not a lot going on in the nearly empty library. I fixed a few things, upgraded some others and tried in vain to resurrect a dead RFID pad.
In order to have some real content, and not receive another telling off about frivolous posting from LittleBigGirl I have decided to revisit my 2.0 progress and knock another one off the list.
So here we go:
(246 Alternate Title: Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards)
I glanced through the winners for 2008 and a couple caught my eye.
The first was Galaxiki in the Games and Entertainment category. It is described as:
I rather quickly became bored though as when looking around I couldn't find any signs of life much like the real galaxy, I guess, but not a lot of fun. There were some nice planetary orbit maps though and I am a sucker for a good map.
So I moved on to exploring Wufoo which is an online form builder. It's sort of like a grown up Doodle poll with a lot more options and a lot prettier too. The dealbreaker for me though was the small amount of stuff you get in the free version - which to my mind makes it more of a product than a 2.0 site.
So there you go, another chunk of 2.0 done and only about four steps to go to finish. I almost think I can make it to the end in the next year.
.
Incidentally my plum pudding is still going great guns as a doorstop in the flat.
So anyway after all that sugar based excitement there was not a lot going on in the nearly empty library. I fixed a few things, upgraded some others and tried in vain to resurrect a dead RFID pad.
In order to have some real content, and not receive another telling off about frivolous posting from LittleBigGirl I have decided to revisit my 2.0 progress and knock another one off the list.
So here we go:
(246 Alternate Title: Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards)
I glanced through the winners for 2008 and a couple caught my eye.
The first was Galaxiki in the Games and Entertainment category. It is described as:
A science fiction and fantasy wiki, the site is home to a fictional galaxy over which the community as total control.
I rather quickly became bored though as when looking around I couldn't find any signs of life much like the real galaxy, I guess, but not a lot of fun. There were some nice planetary orbit maps though and I am a sucker for a good map.
So I moved on to exploring Wufoo which is an online form builder. It's sort of like a grown up Doodle poll with a lot more options and a lot prettier too. The dealbreaker for me though was the small amount of stuff you get in the free version - which to my mind makes it more of a product than a 2.0 site.
So there you go, another chunk of 2.0 done and only about four steps to go to finish. I almost think I can make it to the end in the next year.
.
... Surprising BestFriendSincePrep
I have just returned from the surprise birthday party for BestFriendSincePrep. It was cunningly organised over email by his wife and he was none the wiser, being one of those strange people who don't frequent the internet.
Since BestFriendSincePrep's new residence is a huge hike out to the country I drove, collecting Legion2 and the BrotherStealer along the way.
Other gamers in attendance included Gavman, and Pirate Dave with Elfboy pulling out at the last minute with the pathetic excuse of food poisoning.
The surprise part of the day was going perfectly until Pirate Dave decided to arrive at the same time as BestFriendSincePrep. It turns out that a someone you know crouching down behind a car out the front of your house makes you a tad inquisitive, especially if you live halfway to the countryside. Other late arrivals such as The Electric Tiger had the good grace to arrive after the party was well and truly under way but, well, it was Pirate Dave and such are his ways. In the end he had to resort to "forget you saw me, go inside and act surprised."
The food was all good and the donut birthday cake did indeed taste of donut - I tasted it twice just to be sure.
Still mentally scarred from the combinatiuon of BestFriendSincePrep, free beer and summer days I made sure to not stay all night and even decided to forgo some probable free pizza in order to head home before beer-fueled disaster could strike.
.
Since BestFriendSincePrep's new residence is a huge hike out to the country I drove, collecting Legion2 and the BrotherStealer along the way.
Other gamers in attendance included Gavman, and Pirate Dave with Elfboy pulling out at the last minute with the pathetic excuse of food poisoning.
The surprise part of the day was going perfectly until Pirate Dave decided to arrive at the same time as BestFriendSincePrep. It turns out that a someone you know crouching down behind a car out the front of your house makes you a tad inquisitive, especially if you live halfway to the countryside. Other late arrivals such as The Electric Tiger had the good grace to arrive after the party was well and truly under way but, well, it was Pirate Dave and such are his ways. In the end he had to resort to "forget you saw me, go inside and act surprised."
The food was all good and the donut birthday cake did indeed taste of donut - I tasted it twice just to be sure.
Still mentally scarred from the combinatiuon of BestFriendSincePrep, free beer and summer days I made sure to not stay all night and even decided to forgo some probable free pizza in order to head home before beer-fueled disaster could strike.
.
... Workin' on the Desk Again
It seems an age since I was last formally slaving for the public covering the desk while some meeting took place. At least it's a long time since I blogged about it.
I was on with Supervisor Grand Chief K who was fascinated with seeing the RFID machine up close so, of course, I had to do everything - including puzzling out how to open the doors and let the borrowers in.
Eventually I worked out that we used a key to open the door and the library opened only a handful of minutes late - I don't think anybody noticed.
I had to fake my way through quite a few reference and VCE preperation queries, and other such un-fun things while SGCK played around with the RFID machine - trying to get near the machine was like trying to take The Tiger's bowl away during dinner time. Finally I did get to have a go at the machine but then Mr Prada appeared post-meeting and whisked it away from me and put it to his own nefarious uses.
With no RFID machine to play with I had to resort to fixing broken PCs in the afternoon before zooming down to Beaumaris to join their Xmas drinks and nibbles.
I was a touch late but thankfully there was plenty of un-nibbled fare. Ms Magpie and I made some work-related small talk so I feel justified in nibbling half the food on the table.
.
I was on with Supervisor Grand Chief K who was fascinated with seeing the RFID machine up close so, of course, I had to do everything - including puzzling out how to open the doors and let the borrowers in.
Eventually I worked out that we used a key to open the door and the library opened only a handful of minutes late - I don't think anybody noticed.
I had to fake my way through quite a few reference and VCE preperation queries, and other such un-fun things while SGCK played around with the RFID machine - trying to get near the machine was like trying to take The Tiger's bowl away during dinner time. Finally I did get to have a go at the machine but then Mr Prada appeared post-meeting and whisked it away from me and put it to his own nefarious uses.
With no RFID machine to play with I had to resort to fixing broken PCs in the afternoon before zooming down to Beaumaris to join their Xmas drinks and nibbles.
I was a touch late but thankfully there was plenty of un-nibbled fare. Ms Magpie and I made some work-related small talk so I feel justified in nibbling half the food on the table.
.
... Lollies, Lunch, and Cake
Thursday dawned bright and early with an eager IT Man trekking to Beaumaris for the last Strategy Team meeting of the year. The meeting went well with two types of lolly bowl circulating and only one call out to work my magic on misbehaving machines.
The celebratory Xmas lunch was a little dissapointing - the phrase "at your own expense" causing me much pain and going against my whole ethos. However I did fare much better than Big J and Sonja Roster Queen who were both voicing their displeasure at the surprisingly small size of the portions of their menu choices. Alltogether Heather amused all when she refused to believe that a dish with Porterhouse in it's name could be anything other than a steak.
After lunch I found some IT reason to remain at the branch and was "lucky" enough to be there for The Beaumaris Ballerina's birthday cake. It just got better when she handed out bags of lollies and mine had a Caramello Koala in it! It's like she researched and found that I like chocolate and caramel!
The day took a turn for the worse however, when I inadvertently bonded with AntagonisticAl whilst we were both working late trying to get our work done without any other staff around. I ended the day thinking nothing bad of her, particularly as she gave me the rest of her lolly bag. I wonder if I'm coming down with some illness?
.
The celebratory Xmas lunch was a little dissapointing - the phrase "at your own expense" causing me much pain and going against my whole ethos. However I did fare much better than Big J and Sonja Roster Queen who were both voicing their displeasure at the surprisingly small size of the portions of their menu choices. Alltogether Heather amused all when she refused to believe that a dish with Porterhouse in it's name could be anything other than a steak.
After lunch I found some IT reason to remain at the branch and was "lucky" enough to be there for The Beaumaris Ballerina's birthday cake. It just got better when she handed out bags of lollies and mine had a Caramello Koala in it! It's like she researched and found that I like chocolate and caramel!
The day took a turn for the worse however, when I inadvertently bonded with AntagonisticAl whilst we were both working late trying to get our work done without any other staff around. I ended the day thinking nothing bad of her, particularly as she gave me the rest of her lolly bag. I wonder if I'm coming down with some illness?
.
... Flashback Fun
Not much to write about work wise - other than the continued printer hell I have been suffering, can you believe I had to actually install alternative printers AND set up label printers that have only been on my to-do list for six months! I mean really, the amount of actual work I have had to do in this lead-up to Xmas is becoming a bit of a a sore point. Add in the serious lack of free Xmas snacks in the branch kitchens and it makes for a rather unhappy IT Man and that way lies madness...
Anyway, I digress.
In my mad scramble for content in this pre Xmas post frenzy I thought I would mention the goings-on at the gaming table last night.
It all actually began as I was on hiking to the station to catch my train home. BestFriendSincePrep called to inform me that not only was tonight the last gaming night of the year (not true as both the next two Tuesdays will see dice tumbling action) but also that because of said significance I should email everyone else to bring a plate of snacks.
Now far be it from me to fan the fires of rivalry but my gaming table is quite a different place to the rigorously enforced snack bringing domain of the likes of The Viking Hat GM - our table realised years ago that snacks contribute to fatbeardiness and making this change a) less than an hour before starting; b) out of the blue; and c) for a completely misperceived reason; is just a befuddling event.
However as it came from BestFriendSincePrep it makes perfect sense so I had him call Gavman - likely to be the only one still at his work desk that late in the day - and get him to email everyone else who wouldn't be at their computers anyway.
I dutifully contributed to my now habitual late arrival by diverting to a snack haven on my way to Legion2's so as not to dissapoint everyone on such a momentous occasion.
In the end, as expected, only myself and BFSP brought anything and the whole thing is sort-of re-scheduled for next week.
Oh I meant to say something about the actual game.
The actual role-playing part of the evening was reasonably rewarding for me as I was able to include a Flashback sequence for ArchEnemy's character and have the rest of the table play extras in various scenes (allowing for some repeated vengeful slaying of BFSP's characters).
The flashback is a device for which I've always carried a certain amount of fondness in gaming, despite the inherent problems of improvising something when you know at least a little of how it is supposed to turn out.
I think the attraction for me is in being able to add back-story to characters in a way that's more memorable than a couple of paragraphs on a sheet of paper.
I do think everyone enjoyed it though or maybe they just enjoyed the unusual occurrence of snacks at the table?
.
Anyway, I digress.
In my mad scramble for content in this pre Xmas post frenzy I thought I would mention the goings-on at the gaming table last night.
It all actually began as I was on hiking to the station to catch my train home. BestFriendSincePrep called to inform me that not only was tonight the last gaming night of the year (not true as both the next two Tuesdays will see dice tumbling action) but also that because of said significance I should email everyone else to bring a plate of snacks.
Now far be it from me to fan the fires of rivalry but my gaming table is quite a different place to the rigorously enforced snack bringing domain of the likes of The Viking Hat GM - our table realised years ago that snacks contribute to fatbeardiness and making this change a) less than an hour before starting; b) out of the blue; and c) for a completely misperceived reason; is just a befuddling event.
However as it came from BestFriendSincePrep it makes perfect sense so I had him call Gavman - likely to be the only one still at his work desk that late in the day - and get him to email everyone else who wouldn't be at their computers anyway.
I dutifully contributed to my now habitual late arrival by diverting to a snack haven on my way to Legion2's so as not to dissapoint everyone on such a momentous occasion.
In the end, as expected, only myself and BFSP brought anything and the whole thing is sort-of re-scheduled for next week.
Oh I meant to say something about the actual game.
The actual role-playing part of the evening was reasonably rewarding for me as I was able to include a Flashback sequence for ArchEnemy's character and have the rest of the table play extras in various scenes (allowing for some repeated vengeful slaying of BFSP's characters).
The flashback is a device for which I've always carried a certain amount of fondness in gaming, despite the inherent problems of improvising something when you know at least a little of how it is supposed to turn out.
I think the attraction for me is in being able to add back-story to characters in a way that's more memorable than a couple of paragraphs on a sheet of paper.
I do think everyone enjoyed it though or maybe they just enjoyed the unusual occurrence of snacks at the table?
.
... A Touch of Title Tampering
Thanks to Fridgepower, one of my most loyal readers, it has come to my attention that the full title of my previous post did not make the best grammatical sense.
As it is my intention that every post should work well with the prependtion "Freeloading Phill and ...", I have quietly slipped in and edited the title to seamlessly make it conform to the style guide for The Tales.
Nobody but us shall be the wiser that it ever had a different title so you are now a member of a special privileged group.
.
As it is my intention that every post should work well with the prependtion "Freeloading Phill and ...", I have quietly slipped in and edited the title to seamlessly make it conform to the style guide for The Tales.
Nobody but us shall be the wiser that it ever had a different title so you are now a member of a special privileged group.
.
... The Abandonment of Mr Prada
(Ex: ... Abandoned by Mr Prada - apologies to Fridgepower)
This morning I was looking forward to tackling another classroom full of 2.0 recalcitrants with Mr Prada my partner in crime only to have him cancel his appearance for the measly reason of having to open the library and serve the borrowers.Shouldering the immense burden, I soldiered on and proceeded to instruct Ms Magpie, Bomber Babe, Alltogether Heather, The Beaumaris Ballerina, and The Administrator in the mysteries of the 2.0 world.
In other new AntagonisticAl's printer pranks have continued to get worse as a follow-up phone call today revealed that the the part I ordered on Thursday is "Not in Stock" and has to be back-ordered. So not only did they not inform me of the extra delay I also found out that the order wasn't put into their system until after 12 the day after my call!
.
... Freeloading Mum's Birthday Feast
Most of the afternoon was taken up with my attendance at Freeloading Mum's significant birthday bash.
All of Legion was in attendance as well as BrotherStealer and of course Handy Dad. Various relatives and friends of mum's were there as well and I had to pay for my free lunch by listening to countless tales of babysitting hijinks and sandwich cutting fussiness from all those years ago.
I suspect that there was some sort of conspiracy of denial afoot as when I approached the dessert bar and placed my order I was quickly informed, "Oh sorry sir, we closed just before you got here. The previous person had the last dessert order."
It brought back memories of the Library Xmas party where - apparently - there had been calamari but they ran out just before I got there.
To console myself over the loss of free dessert I indulged in some evening card gaming with Legion2, ArchEnemy and ElfBoy. It just wasn't the same as honeycomb cheescake.
.
All of Legion was in attendance as well as BrotherStealer and of course Handy Dad. Various relatives and friends of mum's were there as well and I had to pay for my free lunch by listening to countless tales of babysitting hijinks and sandwich cutting fussiness from all those years ago.
I suspect that there was some sort of conspiracy of denial afoot as when I approached the dessert bar and placed my order I was quickly informed, "Oh sorry sir, we closed just before you got here. The previous person had the last dessert order."
It brought back memories of the Library Xmas party where - apparently - there had been calamari but they ran out just before I got there.
To console myself over the loss of free dessert I indulged in some evening card gaming with Legion2, ArchEnemy and ElfBoy. It just wasn't the same as honeycomb cheescake.
.
... A Very Library Xmas
Well the big event of yesterday was the library staff Xmas Party.
Sonja Roster Queen had foolishly offered her residence as the venue. It was a miserable day with constant downpouring rain but I was determined to get my free complimentary drink and dinner. So I made my way across town through the monsoon rains to eventually arrive on the doorstep only mildly bedraggled.
I had barely swigged my first Cointreau Kiss and started on the dips before Supervisor Grand Chief K, making a brief cameo, officially opened proceedings with a big thank you for the years work to all staff and especially the IT Man who had been working tirelessly all year.
Food was very good and a strangely cowboy hat festooned Kiwichick was quick to claim credit although I suspect food that good can only be the work of Days of our Libraries.
There are not too many crazy goings-on to report - the usual karaoke accompanied by The Administrator's fine air-guitar work featured for many hours, with a bonus Mr Prada and Days of our Libraries Bonnie Tyler duet this year. There was also the yelling contest that is the kris kringle ceremony. This years unexpected fall was Devil's Advocate's collapsing chair mime-routine, complete with unspilled champagne glass.
I spent a large part of the evening cloistered under the veranda roof keeping out of the rain with the dirty-smokers as that was the place for contemplative conversation. It has been so long since I came home with the stench of smoke upon myself that I don't begrudge anyone for the remainder of the bad old night out side effects.
I completed my night with my usual taxi duties dropping Beeby and Groovy Spirits off in quick succession before taking The Maple Maverick on the long haul back to our neck of the woods.
Oh and AntagonisticAl did absolutely nothing to be ashamed of all night.
.
Sonja Roster Queen had foolishly offered her residence as the venue. It was a miserable day with constant downpouring rain but I was determined to get my free complimentary drink and dinner. So I made my way across town through the monsoon rains to eventually arrive on the doorstep only mildly bedraggled.
I had barely swigged my first Cointreau Kiss and started on the dips before Supervisor Grand Chief K, making a brief cameo, officially opened proceedings with a big thank you for the years work to all staff and especially the IT Man who had been working tirelessly all year.
Food was very good and a strangely cowboy hat festooned Kiwichick was quick to claim credit although I suspect food that good can only be the work of Days of our Libraries.
There are not too many crazy goings-on to report - the usual karaoke accompanied by The Administrator's fine air-guitar work featured for many hours, with a bonus Mr Prada and Days of our Libraries Bonnie Tyler duet this year. There was also the yelling contest that is the kris kringle ceremony. This years unexpected fall was Devil's Advocate's collapsing chair mime-routine, complete with unspilled champagne glass.
I spent a large part of the evening cloistered under the veranda roof keeping out of the rain with the dirty-smokers as that was the place for contemplative conversation. It has been so long since I came home with the stench of smoke upon myself that I don't begrudge anyone for the remainder of the bad old night out side effects.
I completed my night with my usual taxi duties dropping Beeby and Groovy Spirits off in quick succession before taking The Maple Maverick on the long haul back to our neck of the woods.
Oh and AntagonisticAl did absolutely nothing to be ashamed of all night.
.
... Lunch and the Single Launch
This morning was the annual Xmas meeting and free lunch at the LMS suppliers in the city.
Comrade Treasurer and Skeptic L where heavily involved in running the meeting and after a couple of hours of blah, blah, blah - including something like 100 site reports instead of the usual dozen since they come out of the woodwork for a free lunch - it was finally time for the lunch.
It was quite adequate and even though mingling kept getting in the way of my grazing there was always plenty there for me to keep nibbling on.
Of course Supervisor Grand Chief K showed up after the meeting for only the lunch part of the event - showing her years of experience in LibraryLand functions - something I'll have to try next year "Sorry I'm late everyone, my train was delayed. Let's eat!"
A highlight of the lunch was being waited on by Dubrovnik Hater who, having gone over to the dark side and now working for the LMS supplier, found that an overlooked clause in her contract required her to take on the waiting staff role for the Xmas lunch. She did quite well bringing the food to me and topping up my wine glass although at one point she did approach with a platter of fruit...
Sadly I had to cut short the lunch after only a couple of hours in order to head back to work in order to make it to the RFID launch for Beaumaris branch.
One drowsy train journey later I was back in time to catch a lift down with Big J and Groovy Spirits.
The launch itself was well attended - by staff and we were even allowed to partake of the cakes before the official launch spiel from Supervisor Grand Chief K (I did make the mistake of having one of AntagonisticAl's yummy lemon-blob topped bickies without checking for poison first - have to be more careful in future).
We did have to wait until after to hoe into Days of Our Libraries usual delightful cake but Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum took the cake, so to speak, with her creation that included Playmobil borrowers using little RFID kiosks.
.
Comrade Treasurer and Skeptic L where heavily involved in running the meeting and after a couple of hours of blah, blah, blah - including something like 100 site reports instead of the usual dozen since they come out of the woodwork for a free lunch - it was finally time for the lunch.
It was quite adequate and even though mingling kept getting in the way of my grazing there was always plenty there for me to keep nibbling on.
Of course Supervisor Grand Chief K showed up after the meeting for only the lunch part of the event - showing her years of experience in LibraryLand functions - something I'll have to try next year "Sorry I'm late everyone, my train was delayed. Let's eat!"
A highlight of the lunch was being waited on by Dubrovnik Hater who, having gone over to the dark side and now working for the LMS supplier, found that an overlooked clause in her contract required her to take on the waiting staff role for the Xmas lunch. She did quite well bringing the food to me and topping up my wine glass although at one point she did approach with a platter of fruit...
Sadly I had to cut short the lunch after only a couple of hours in order to head back to work in order to make it to the RFID launch for Beaumaris branch.
One drowsy train journey later I was back in time to catch a lift down with Big J and Groovy Spirits.
The launch itself was well attended - by staff and we were even allowed to partake of the cakes before the official launch spiel from Supervisor Grand Chief K (I did make the mistake of having one of AntagonisticAl's yummy lemon-blob topped bickies without checking for poison first - have to be more careful in future).
We did have to wait until after to hoe into Days of Our Libraries usual delightful cake but Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum took the cake, so to speak, with her creation that included Playmobil borrowers using little RFID kiosks.
.
... Complicity by Iain Banks
Several days on the train this week have allowed me to speed through this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. The prose flows wonderfully, the story imbues that feeling of wanting to know what happens next, and having been written in 1993 it is quite an insight to the society of the UK back then, albeit fictionalised.
It did remind me somewhat of Michael Marshall's crime books with the whole cynical smoking protagonist thing but it was it's own story and I am interested in reading more of his stuff - once I've cleared the backlog which is currently weighing down my to-read shelf.
.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. The prose flows wonderfully, the story imbues that feeling of wanting to know what happens next, and having been written in 1993 it is quite an insight to the society of the UK back then, albeit fictionalised.
It did remind me somewhat of Michael Marshall's crime books with the whole cynical smoking protagonist thing but it was it's own story and I am interested in reading more of his stuff - once I've cleared the backlog which is currently weighing down my to-read shelf.
.
... Printer Pranks
So yesterday I had to spend about 10 minutes changing a part on the public printer - including having an archaeological dig in the supplies cupboard to actually find the correct part - only to have the screen come up afterwards showing something like this:
Another ten minutes later I finally make it back into the workroom only to find that AntagonisticAl has taken inspiration from the machine out the front and broken the staff printer by fiendishly sending a print job containing Yellow to the printer. After digging through the supplies cupboard I find and change the toner and then the staff machine screen shows something like this:
Apart from being astounded at how much text they can fit on the screen I was ready to throttle the technicians who decided it was not a good idea to tell you about all the parts that need changing at the same time.
And people wonder why I don't get along with marketing officers.
.
Oh and I need this other part changed too. So head on back to the supplies cupboard and dig through the mound of boxes in the dim light and find it where you stacked it away because you wouldn't need more printer parts for months.
Another ten minutes later I finally make it back into the workroom only to find that AntagonisticAl has taken inspiration from the machine out the front and broken the staff printer by fiendishly sending a print job containing Yellow to the printer. After digging through the supplies cupboard I find and change the toner and then the staff machine screen shows something like this:
Oh and I need this other part changed too. So head on back to the supplies cupboard and dig through the mound of boxes in the dim light and find that you don't actually have a spare one of it and need to order it and install the standby printer on most of the staff machines so they can print - and everyone prints all the time these days.
Apart from being astounded at how much text they can fit on the screen I was ready to throttle the technicians who decided it was not a good idea to tell you about all the parts that need changing at the same time.
And people wonder why I don't get along with marketing officers.
.
... The 25 Blogs of Christmas
So here's a crazy idea.
Looking at the Shelved Posts part of The Tales I realised that I'm 25 posts away from hitting the magic 100 posts for the year. At my usual posting frequency I'd only get another two or three posts in for the year leaving me at about 78 and having to make the run at the ton next year.
However I don't have the patience to wait that long for the glory so I'm going to attempt to make it to the 100 this year by making micro postings. I won't be cheating and making frivelous posts (frivelous compared to my usual posting style, anyway) but I will be attempting to post daily and a bit and making a few catch-up posts to get me well on the way. I may even have to stoop as low as to doing some more of the 23 2.0 things!
Hold on tight, this is going to be a crazy ride...
.
Looking at the Shelved Posts part of The Tales I realised that I'm 25 posts away from hitting the magic 100 posts for the year. At my usual posting frequency I'd only get another two or three posts in for the year leaving me at about 78 and having to make the run at the ton next year.
However I don't have the patience to wait that long for the glory so I'm going to attempt to make it to the 100 this year by making micro postings. I won't be cheating and making frivelous posts (frivelous compared to my usual posting style, anyway) but I will be attempting to post daily and a bit and making a few catch-up posts to get me well on the way. I may even have to stoop as low as to doing some more of the 23 2.0 things!
Hold on tight, this is going to be a crazy ride...
.
... The Wiper Swiper
So you go to Legion2's place for the regular night of gaming. A good night is had by all and then at the tail end of the festivities you make your way to your car - parked just outside the front door in the driveway twenty metres from the road - and find the driver side mirror folded flat towards the front of the car.
You put it down to some weird joke as it does fit into the realm of things-Pirate Dave-would-do-on-his-way-out-the-door.
However, once you start driving you quickly realise that your driver side windscreen wiper is gone and on closer inspection so is half the arm that hold it in place.
It then takes you some time to fall asleep as you mind is awash with images of right-of-passage "go up the driveway and get the aerial off that car" kind of things which your cars short and stubby roof-mounted aerial thwarts leaving the wiper blade as the next best thing; or stranger bizarre revenge plots.
It all shifts from the weird to the mirk-some (mirked = mildly irked) when, after instructing another room full of 2.0ites, you find that the arm bits and rubber come with a $50 replacement cost (well $48 but I rounded up for dramatic effect.) - and they have to order the part in!
- -
Speaking of 2.0, while in the process of instructing Kiwichick and others it came to light that, despite my resolute proclamations to the contrary, I had already done del.icio.us.
Also present was AntagonisticAl, our latest marketing person. For some reason she was deeply suspicious of me and contemplating pre-emptive blog-based revenge. I suspect something about tormenting me must be in the handover notes from Torchwood or possibly inserted into the marketing position description by Supervisor Grand Chief K.
.
You put it down to some weird joke as it does fit into the realm of things-Pirate Dave-would-do-on-his-way-out-the-door.
However, once you start driving you quickly realise that your driver side windscreen wiper is gone and on closer inspection so is half the arm that hold it in place.
It then takes you some time to fall asleep as you mind is awash with images of right-of-passage "go up the driveway and get the aerial off that car" kind of things which your cars short and stubby roof-mounted aerial thwarts leaving the wiper blade as the next best thing; or stranger bizarre revenge plots.
It all shifts from the weird to the mirk-some (mirked = mildly irked) when, after instructing another room full of 2.0ites, you find that the arm bits and rubber come with a $50 replacement cost (well $48 but I rounded up for dramatic effect.) - and they have to order the part in!
- -
Speaking of 2.0, while in the process of instructing Kiwichick and others it came to light that, despite my resolute proclamations to the contrary, I had already done del.icio.us.
Also present was AntagonisticAl, our latest marketing person. For some reason she was deeply suspicious of me and contemplating pre-emptive blog-based revenge. I suspect something about tormenting me must be in the handover notes from Torchwood or possibly inserted into the marketing position description by Supervisor Grand Chief K.
.
... The Black Crusade by Richard Harland
I knocked off this reasonably entertaining humorous horror story this morning. It would have been last night but a full house at gaming made for a later night and I was ending up with book-dents on my forehead as I tried to read those final 5 pages.
I've liked Mr Harlands previous detective scifi books (yet another case for multi-genre stickers!). This one was amusing with only the slightest touch of the trying-too-hards - it even has it's own fiction as fact website!
One of the reasons to finish off the work in question this morning was to free me up for The Administrator's birthday lunch. Not a free one, but I think paying my own way shows my appreciation for her shouldering of the many tasks that I shirk.
.
I've liked Mr Harlands previous detective scifi books (yet another case for multi-genre stickers!). This one was amusing with only the slightest touch of the trying-too-hards - it even has it's own fiction as fact website!
One of the reasons to finish off the work in question this morning was to free me up for The Administrator's birthday lunch. Not a free one, but I think paying my own way shows my appreciation for her shouldering of the many tasks that I shirk.
.
... A Lazy Weekend
I've been enjoying my first lazy weekend for ages after surving the tail-end of my anniversary week.
I do think that I have to point out that box cake might come from a box but it is still stirred (by hand I might add) and bunged into my oven. I want to squash those rumours of my bringing cake straight from the shop, as we all know that shop-cake means reputation death in the library staff room.
Anyway, thanks to random computer and borrower failure, I was only able to have one piece of the cake as it was naught but crumbs by the time I got back to it at the end of the day. Oh well, I can just say that it's a part of my renewed fitness program.
Friday started off well with an invigorating pre-work walk/jog. Things soon took a turn for the worse when I arrived at Brighton to find that Sister Serials and I had "worn the same dress to the ball". It turns out that when Svetlana gives you a green polka-dot shirt it's part of some cosmic joke and SS will be there in her red twin of your shirt the moment you enter the building and you'll have to put up with Xmas themed humour at your expense all day.
In any case I soldiered on and, with the help the disturbingly Miami Vice like collarless Mr Prada, proceeded to run yet another 2.0 remedial class. Sonja Roster Queen, Sister Serials, Nurse Janet, Devil's Advocate and a new casual were the victims of the day. From some points of view it was successful as yet more staff finished their 23 things before there IT Man.
Friday was finished off with a surprisingly dinner-free Sandringham Xmas dinner. Still it was good to be home again although it does sound like I'll have to give them an anniversary cake of their own. Hmm, I wonder if etiquette allows me to buy this one?
I was going to make a one sentence post saying that a lazy weekend leaves me with little to write home about but I seem to have blathered on and filled my quota.
And blather is what it is compared to some of the heartfelt blogging I've read recently from the likes of LittleBigGirl re her and BigBen's horrible health issues; and Tooticky's farewell to a monster I knew in passing; not to mention The Viking Hat GM's world/people saving efforts. Still, I am famous, judging by LittleBigGirl's blog, so I must be doing something right... right?
.
I do think that I have to point out that box cake might come from a box but it is still stirred (by hand I might add) and bunged into my oven. I want to squash those rumours of my bringing cake straight from the shop, as we all know that shop-cake means reputation death in the library staff room.
Anyway, thanks to random computer and borrower failure, I was only able to have one piece of the cake as it was naught but crumbs by the time I got back to it at the end of the day. Oh well, I can just say that it's a part of my renewed fitness program.
Friday started off well with an invigorating pre-work walk/jog. Things soon took a turn for the worse when I arrived at Brighton to find that Sister Serials and I had "worn the same dress to the ball". It turns out that when Svetlana gives you a green polka-dot shirt it's part of some cosmic joke and SS will be there in her red twin of your shirt the moment you enter the building and you'll have to put up with Xmas themed humour at your expense all day.
In any case I soldiered on and, with the help the disturbingly Miami Vice like collarless Mr Prada, proceeded to run yet another 2.0 remedial class. Sonja Roster Queen, Sister Serials, Nurse Janet, Devil's Advocate and a new casual were the victims of the day. From some points of view it was successful as yet more staff finished their 23 things before there IT Man.
Friday was finished off with a surprisingly dinner-free Sandringham Xmas dinner. Still it was good to be home again although it does sound like I'll have to give them an anniversary cake of their own. Hmm, I wonder if etiquette allows me to buy this one?
I was going to make a one sentence post saying that a lazy weekend leaves me with little to write home about but I seem to have blathered on and filled my quota.
And blather is what it is compared to some of the heartfelt blogging I've read recently from the likes of LittleBigGirl re her and BigBen's horrible health issues; and Tooticky's farewell to a monster I knew in passing; not to mention The Viking Hat GM's world/people saving efforts. Still, I am famous, judging by LittleBigGirl's blog, so I must be doing something right... right?
... Upgrades and Anniversaries
So you're doing this upgrade and you need a file of all the items in the library.
Of course you start the eleven hour file creation process mid-afternoon, confident that it will finish at about 1am and you'll be able to collect the results in the morning - just like you did last May.
At great personal sacrifice you wander in to work at some ungodly hour to download the file only to find that it's a temporary file and the server decided to clean up and remove it within a few hours of it's creation!
You weep, and then start the whole eleven hour process off again realising that your much looked forward to leaving at five just isn't going to happen today and you'll have to be there at 7 to save the file.
Seven comes and goes and you are still fiddling around with file transfers, scheduled copying and other assorted IT shenanigans which are eating into your valuable gaming evening.
An then, the next morning the scheduler still didn't run so you have to start it manually and when it finished all the staff are rather conveniently in fire warden training and you have to do all the new item tagging on your own. And to think Supervisor Grand Chief K doubts that I do any work.
I almost feel like letting tomorrows 3 year anniversary of working in this LibraryLand institution slide by but, showing true character, I have made my traditional box cake to help everyone celebrate having had me around.
.
Of course you start the eleven hour file creation process mid-afternoon, confident that it will finish at about 1am and you'll be able to collect the results in the morning - just like you did last May.
At great personal sacrifice you wander in to work at some ungodly hour to download the file only to find that it's a temporary file and the server decided to clean up and remove it within a few hours of it's creation!
You weep, and then start the whole eleven hour process off again realising that your much looked forward to leaving at five just isn't going to happen today and you'll have to be there at 7 to save the file.
Seven comes and goes and you are still fiddling around with file transfers, scheduled copying and other assorted IT shenanigans which are eating into your valuable gaming evening.
An then, the next morning the scheduler still didn't run so you have to start it manually and when it finished all the staff are rather conveniently in fire warden training and you have to do all the new item tagging on your own. And to think Supervisor Grand Chief K doubts that I do any work.
I almost feel like letting tomorrows 3 year anniversary of working in this LibraryLand institution slide by but, showing true character, I have made my traditional box cake to help everyone celebrate having had me around.
.
... The Long Silence
Well it's been four weeks since my last post and finally The Viking Hat GM has cracked in this staring contest of will-I-post-again-or-not and left a comment on my last post - as Kiashu (remember the devil wears many hats!).
So I win the staring contest and can resume updating you, my loyal readers, on the oddities that surround me in daily life and in LibraryLand.
(Egad, while I've been drafting this missive Days has cracked as well. I better get on and release it if I ever want delicious cake again!)
SOoooo anyway the main reason for my lack of postings is that I've been far too busy with my starring role in The Lazy and Crazy Show that Svetlana's visit was. (I won't tell you which one I am but the good lady is of Eastern European extraction and I spent a whole lot of time doing nothing over those three weeks so make an educated guess...)
However now Svetlana has fled the country - as of several Saturdays ago - leaving me to the long silence of the now empty apartment. Even worse the kitchen has mysteriously stopped producing yummy dinners for me!
And so the parade of dvd watching, beer drinking, shopping expeditions, relative visits, beer drinking, a Cup Day drive to Mt Macedon and Hanging Rock, catch up drinks with all and sundry, trimming The Tiger, popping into work with slightly less frequency than normal, beer drinking, paddling in the shallows at the beach, much unavailable-in-Svetlanaland Asian food, rearranging of apartment (or should I say arranging, as it was all just shoved in there when I moved), and beer drinking, comes to an end.
Since my dear lady's departure I have been nose to the grindstone proving that the best way to appear to be working is to do some actual work. I dunno... I think faking it is easier.
I've also slipped the odd gaming event in and have spent a bit of time reacquainting myself with the internet. I like it and I think I'll stay. We'll talk more soon.
.
So I win the staring contest and can resume updating you, my loyal readers, on the oddities that surround me in daily life and in LibraryLand.
(Egad, while I've been drafting this missive Days has cracked as well. I better get on and release it if I ever want delicious cake again!)
SOoooo anyway the main reason for my lack of postings is that I've been far too busy with my starring role in The Lazy and Crazy Show that Svetlana's visit was. (I won't tell you which one I am but the good lady is of Eastern European extraction and I spent a whole lot of time doing nothing over those three weeks so make an educated guess...)
However now Svetlana has fled the country - as of several Saturdays ago - leaving me to the long silence of the now empty apartment. Even worse the kitchen has mysteriously stopped producing yummy dinners for me!
And so the parade of dvd watching, beer drinking, shopping expeditions, relative visits, beer drinking, a Cup Day drive to Mt Macedon and Hanging Rock, catch up drinks with all and sundry, trimming The Tiger, popping into work with slightly less frequency than normal, beer drinking, paddling in the shallows at the beach, much unavailable-in-Svetlanaland Asian food, rearranging of apartment (or should I say arranging, as it was all just shoved in there when I moved), and beer drinking, comes to an end.
Since my dear lady's departure I have been nose to the grindstone proving that the best way to appear to be working is to do some actual work. I dunno... I think faking it is easier.
I've also slipped the odd gaming event in and have spent a bit of time reacquainting myself with the internet. I like it and I think I'll stay. We'll talk more soon.
.
... Expeditions, exhaminations and other extreme events
So it's been a week since my last post.
A week of Svetlana's stay gone by in a blur of:
.
A week of Svetlana's stay gone by in a blur of:
- expeditions to fondly remembered parts of Melbourne - quite a few of them neither of us have been to for over two years!
- extreme furniture rearrangement in the flat (you know - all done on bmx). Now more open space and 5% less clutter
- examination and acceptance from my library staff (including unfortunate bonding against me with the shady likes of Days of our Libraries)
- excessive eating while on a visit to local relatives. There may have been some excessive drinking but I blacked out after my second scotch before lunch...
- extension of our traditional memorial Absent Friends Jyhad Card Game into it's third year with a good turnout who all adapted to the newly reconfigured gaming environment with consummate ease
- exasperating network outages (for which I did not get the memo!) dragging me away from Svetlana to fulfil my after-hours support role for a few too many "after" hours.
.
... Supervising Svetlana's Sleeping
As of last night Svetlana is in the country. [Phill does the dance of joy]
There was much reacquainting and examining of the flat - everything passed inspection [Phill does the dance of relief], although the study/junk/games room did almost cause a cardiac incident, but it is my contractual blokes room of the house so it is excluded from the upcoming extreme house makeover.
After all the excitement of her 30 hour flight Svetlana is still snoozing away well into this morning.
I keep going in to sit by the bed and watch her sleep in a way that's totally romantic and sweet and not at all creepy and stalker-ish.
It is hard to believe she finally made it - I might have to go in and pinch her one more time just to be sure.
.
There was much reacquainting and examining of the flat - everything passed inspection [Phill does the dance of relief], although the study/junk/games room did almost cause a cardiac incident, but it is my contractual blokes room of the house so it is excluded from the upcoming extreme house makeover.
After all the excitement of her 30 hour flight Svetlana is still snoozing away well into this morning.
I keep going in to sit by the bed and watch her sleep in a way that's totally romantic and sweet and not at all creepy and stalker-ish.
It is hard to believe she finally made it - I might have to go in and pinch her one more time just to be sure.
.
... Farewells and Frantic Preparations
With Svetlana flying in this week I have been saying my farewells to clear up the schedule. Monday night was farewell to The Viking Hat GM, The Mad Magyar, and Exploding Ninja Pony as we wrapped up our Spooks-esque game. It was a great story arc we played through and I intend to return to their table some time in the future.
Tuesday was the farewell for the library courier. I convinced him to leave in case our blokey camaraderie would be too much of a threat to Svetlana once she arrived.
With the farewells over I have spent my remaining time preparing the flat - i.e. franticly scrapping a year of bachelorhood away - and making the place look spiffy. Although I do think the romance of a vase full of roses is diminished somewhat after The Tiger has had a good chew on them.
Oh, well, I better sign off and get myself out to the airport.
.
Tuesday was the farewell for the library courier. I convinced him to leave in case our blokey camaraderie would be too much of a threat to Svetlana once she arrived.
With the farewells over I have spent my remaining time preparing the flat - i.e. franticly scrapping a year of bachelorhood away - and making the place look spiffy. Although I do think the romance of a vase full of roses is diminished somewhat after The Tiger has had a good chew on them.
Oh, well, I better sign off and get myself out to the airport.
.
... Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch
I finished this one during the conference but had more exciting things to write about.
It was passed on to me by Badger as part of his continuing effort to halt the reduction of my to-read pile at home - I mean honestly, two metres of shelf space and he keeps lending me stuff!
So onto the story - it was a rather Vonnegut-esque tale of a conscientious objector poet imprisoned and then, along with the other inmates, subject to an intelligence enhancing experiment.
It was interesting reading, if a little hard to read prose-wise (particularly once the madness started).
I recommend it if you don't mind a slightly challenging read.
It was passed on to me by Badger as part of his continuing effort to halt the reduction of my to-read pile at home - I mean honestly, two metres of shelf space and he keeps lending me stuff!
So onto the story - it was a rather Vonnegut-esque tale of a conscientious objector poet imprisoned and then, along with the other inmates, subject to an intelligence enhancing experiment.
It was interesting reading, if a little hard to read prose-wise (particularly once the madness started).
I recommend it if you don't mind a slightly challenging read.
... Smashing Sandy
So there I was minding my own business and innocently parking to avoid Mr Prada's Pradamobile when, all of a sudden, Sandringham Library lept out in front of my car.
Even my finely-honed reaction skill was not enough to stop the occurrence of a small impact, however I did save the building from major damage. My license plate cover was not so lucky, the remains of it had to be removed, and my license plate is enjoying the freedom of the open air with only a small dent giving any hint as to its adventure.
Interestingly, on closer examination, Mr Prada was able to determine that the library wall appeared to be made from cardboard (probably one of Supervisor Grand Chief K's cost-cutting measures).
After Days of our Libraries' schadenfreude had worn off I swore the witnesses to secrecy so that Svetlana never hears of this and will not be able to use it as an excuse to be the one driving when she arrives in ... OMG less than a week!
.
Even my finely-honed reaction skill was not enough to stop the occurrence of a small impact, however I did save the building from major damage. My license plate cover was not so lucky, the remains of it had to be removed, and my license plate is enjoying the freedom of the open air with only a small dent giving any hint as to its adventure.
Interestingly, on closer examination, Mr Prada was able to determine that the library wall appeared to be made from cardboard (probably one of Supervisor Grand Chief K's cost-cutting measures).
After Days of our Libraries' schadenfreude had worn off I swore the witnesses to secrecy so that Svetlana never hears of this and will not be able to use it as an excuse to be the one driving when she arrives in ... OMG less than a week!
.
... The Prisoner of Adelaide
I'm back safe and sound in Melbourne after having spent the rest of last week at the Annual user group conference, this year in Adelaide.
Unofficial Day 1
In my capacity as Mr Secretary I decided it was best if I were to grace the city with my presence a day before the festivities kicked off.
Accordingly I flew in on the Tuesday to arrive in the early afternoon. The flight was quite pleasant, including a wonderfully delicious sandwich, although I did have to lean out into the aisle for most of the hour as my manly broad-shouldered physique did not do well seated next to another gentlemen of similar proportions.
On arrival it was a short trip to the Hotel where I settled myself in. After making my selection from the Pillow Menu (I highly recommend the number 8, it has a wonderful after-taste of summer berries and chocolate) I proceeded to update Madame President of my status and see if she required any assistance for the afternoon.
Relieved to hear that all was under control, I headed out to walk the streets, see the sites of the new city, and carry out my traditional search for, and investigation of, the local comic and games establishments.
During my discovery walk I was horrified to discover that, despite what they say on their website, South Australia is yet another of the "no Ice Break" states in Australia. Still, I don't have an addiction, can stop any time, and it's only four days of alternate beverage choices so I wasn't worried.
Upon uncovering the gaming shops in town I alternated between horror and pity to see that their role-playing game choice was limited to only D&D and WOD - something that needs to be rectified if SA wants to be seen as a modern city.
My horror was almost overwhelming upon seeing that center stage in their board game section was given over to multiple copies of MageMaster, one of the most annoyingly drawn out and random games Gavman has ever made us play. Don't just take my word for it though, let's see what ArchEnemy has to say:
Finishing my tour I returned to the hotel for a pre-dinner drink with Madame President before we headed to the swanky end of town for a nice Thai meal (you can tell it was swanky because they looked down their nose at me when I ordered the house red).
After the meal it was time to retire for the evening in order to be rested enough to face the remainder of the week in Adelaide.
Official Day 1
I was up bright and early to make sure I didn't miss my go at the breakfast smorgasbord which amazingly included a chocolate fountain complete with strawberries on sticks!
First up after breakfast was some extreme satchel stuffing, which is actually much less rude than it sounds.
Luckily we were finished in time for lunch and began to greet the gathering SPUNites.
I had opted for the bus trip to a brand new-ish library outside of town. It was a beautiful afternoon tea, I think I saw some interesting architectural and IT stuff as well
After the bus returned us to the hotel I began to feel the first effects of the absence of Ice Break in my system as the need for a Disco Nap became almost overwhelming. This year I decided to always set the alarm clock in order to avoid a repeat of last years late for dinner fiasco.
Suitably refreshed I made my way back downstairs for the libraryland cocktails session.
Once I was forcibly removed from the drinks arena I headed to the resteraunt area for a late dinner with Dubrovnik Hater, Skeptic L, The Beer Drinking Machine and others. I note that we were served by Adelaide's trade-mark snooty waiter (I'm sure that I am not the linking factor).
Official Day 2
After another banquet breakfast the morning sessions began with much laptop and USB juggling by yours truly - an occurance that was to become a motif of the conference. There was so much of it that first morning that I had a minor attack of nullusmanevictusophobia. Thankfully Madame President had her priorities correct and saved me a muffin from the morning tea selection.
The afternoon session ran more smoothly although rushing to a biscuits-only afternoon tea was a little disappointing.
Once the session had finished I found myself in need of a further nap prior to attending dinner - obviously going without Ice Break was affecting my endurance.
For the dinner I was seated at a table where it was easy to strike up many an interesting conversation while we indulged in some quite splendid food. There was also red wine of the type I particularly enjoy - that in a bottomless glass.
Following dinner I retired to the bar with many others for one last wine (unfortunately not bottomless) and the trading of IT war stories late into the evening with TT and The Ex-President.
Official Day 3
I awoke on day three to find that Ice Break withdrawal symptoms had kicked in while I slept. Nevertheless I struggles through the tummy and head pain, forced some toast down and joined Madame President and Comrade Treasurer at our preparation session for the upcoming AGM.
Said AGM went smoothly, too smoothly in fact as I developed a near-debilitating arm cramp from my frantic minuting of the proceedings. Our attendance list did remain only partialy filled out and I suspect a plot to cover up for those that inexplicably elected for shopping over a meeting.
The AGM was followed by lunch and afternoon tea broken up with some more sessions and then,
suddenly, it was all over.
Baggage was gathered and there was a general libraryland exodus to the airport.
Dubrovnik Hater was kind enough to sneak me into the Qantas Club with the secret pass phrase "he's my one allowed guest" - I have to remember that one. Inside the club was a stark contrast to Canberra's Friday night food trough/sardine cramming - this was wonderfully relaxed and the food and drink was easily accessible - a very good thing since I had many long hours to fritter away until my flight was leaving.
After the short flight I was home to my faithfully whinging flatmate and the comfort of my own bed (no number 8 pillows though).
Unofficial Day 4
After a good sleep-in I traipsed out for another of my famous walk/jogs in an effort to drop those last stubborn 20 kilograms before Svetlana's arrival in a scant 12 days.
Afterwards much computer catching up was done until the evenings main event kicked off - Legion3's birthday and home brew tasting session. Legion's 2&4, BrotherStealer, Badger, Spare Legion, and Hector the Nazi were among in attendance and a great time was had by all. Thanks to daylight savings we were up until quite late which forced today to be a day of total rest.
.
Unofficial Day 1
In my capacity as Mr Secretary I decided it was best if I were to grace the city with my presence a day before the festivities kicked off.
Accordingly I flew in on the Tuesday to arrive in the early afternoon. The flight was quite pleasant, including a wonderfully delicious sandwich, although I did have to lean out into the aisle for most of the hour as my manly broad-shouldered physique did not do well seated next to another gentlemen of similar proportions.
On arrival it was a short trip to the Hotel where I settled myself in. After making my selection from the Pillow Menu (I highly recommend the number 8, it has a wonderful after-taste of summer berries and chocolate) I proceeded to update Madame President of my status and see if she required any assistance for the afternoon.
Relieved to hear that all was under control, I headed out to walk the streets, see the sites of the new city, and carry out my traditional search for, and investigation of, the local comic and games establishments.
During my discovery walk I was horrified to discover that, despite what they say on their website, South Australia is yet another of the "no Ice Break" states in Australia. Still, I don't have an addiction, can stop any time, and it's only four days of alternate beverage choices so I wasn't worried.
Upon uncovering the gaming shops in town I alternated between horror and pity to see that their role-playing game choice was limited to only D&D and WOD - something that needs to be rectified if SA wants to be seen as a modern city.
My horror was almost overwhelming upon seeing that center stage in their board game section was given over to multiple copies of MageMaster, one of the most annoyingly drawn out and random games Gavman has ever made us play. Don't just take my word for it though, let's see what ArchEnemy has to say:
Gavman if you ever suggest we play Mage Master again I will come around and burn your house to the ground!
Finishing my tour I returned to the hotel for a pre-dinner drink with Madame President before we headed to the swanky end of town for a nice Thai meal (you can tell it was swanky because they looked down their nose at me when I ordered the house red).
After the meal it was time to retire for the evening in order to be rested enough to face the remainder of the week in Adelaide.
Official Day 1
I was up bright and early to make sure I didn't miss my go at the breakfast smorgasbord which amazingly included a chocolate fountain complete with strawberries on sticks!
First up after breakfast was some extreme satchel stuffing, which is actually much less rude than it sounds.
Luckily we were finished in time for lunch and began to greet the gathering SPUNites.
I had opted for the bus trip to a brand new-ish library outside of town. It was a beautiful afternoon tea, I think I saw some interesting architectural and IT stuff as well
After the bus returned us to the hotel I began to feel the first effects of the absence of Ice Break in my system as the need for a Disco Nap became almost overwhelming. This year I decided to always set the alarm clock in order to avoid a repeat of last years late for dinner fiasco.
Suitably refreshed I made my way back downstairs for the libraryland cocktails session.
Once I was forcibly removed from the drinks arena I headed to the resteraunt area for a late dinner with Dubrovnik Hater, Skeptic L, The Beer Drinking Machine and others. I note that we were served by Adelaide's trade-mark snooty waiter (I'm sure that I am not the linking factor).
Official Day 2
After another banquet breakfast the morning sessions began with much laptop and USB juggling by yours truly - an occurance that was to become a motif of the conference. There was so much of it that first morning that I had a minor attack of nullusmanevictusophobia. Thankfully Madame President had her priorities correct and saved me a muffin from the morning tea selection.
The afternoon session ran more smoothly although rushing to a biscuits-only afternoon tea was a little disappointing.
Once the session had finished I found myself in need of a further nap prior to attending dinner - obviously going without Ice Break was affecting my endurance.
For the dinner I was seated at a table where it was easy to strike up many an interesting conversation while we indulged in some quite splendid food. There was also red wine of the type I particularly enjoy - that in a bottomless glass.
Following dinner I retired to the bar with many others for one last wine (unfortunately not bottomless) and the trading of IT war stories late into the evening with TT and The Ex-President.
Official Day 3
I awoke on day three to find that Ice Break withdrawal symptoms had kicked in while I slept. Nevertheless I struggles through the tummy and head pain, forced some toast down and joined Madame President and Comrade Treasurer at our preparation session for the upcoming AGM.
Said AGM went smoothly, too smoothly in fact as I developed a near-debilitating arm cramp from my frantic minuting of the proceedings. Our attendance list did remain only partialy filled out and I suspect a plot to cover up for those that inexplicably elected for shopping over a meeting.
The AGM was followed by lunch and afternoon tea broken up with some more sessions and then,
suddenly, it was all over.
Baggage was gathered and there was a general libraryland exodus to the airport.
Dubrovnik Hater was kind enough to sneak me into the Qantas Club with the secret pass phrase "he's my one allowed guest" - I have to remember that one. Inside the club was a stark contrast to Canberra's Friday night food trough/sardine cramming - this was wonderfully relaxed and the food and drink was easily accessible - a very good thing since I had many long hours to fritter away until my flight was leaving.
After the short flight I was home to my faithfully whinging flatmate and the comfort of my own bed (no number 8 pillows though).
Unofficial Day 4
After a good sleep-in I traipsed out for another of my famous walk/jogs in an effort to drop those last stubborn 20 kilograms before Svetlana's arrival in a scant 12 days.
Afterwards much computer catching up was done until the evenings main event kicked off - Legion3's birthday and home brew tasting session. Legion's 2&4, BrotherStealer, Badger, Spare Legion, and Hector the Nazi were among in attendance and a great time was had by all. Thanks to daylight savings we were up until quite late which forced today to be a day of total rest.
.
... Movies, Footy and Music
Good things have continued to happen as, not long after making my last post, Mr Prada finally released his vice-like grip from Doctor Who series two and allowed my reservation to allocate. I recommenced catching up with the good doctor that very evening.
Friday night's good thing was a movie outing with Rugrat Twin and Alecto in celebration of the Rugrat Twin's birthday. The Twin chose a double of both X-Files movies at the Astor (pronounces Ass-toor by the staff, I mean staaaff). It had been a very long time since I'd graced the venue with my presence and I was pleased to see that she hadn't changed a bit. My bum was a bit displeased that they hadn't changed the seats one bit though.
Rewatching the first movie - now 10 years old - gave me a weird sense of deja vu as things happened that I vaguely recalled. Obviously it was an unforgettable experience the first time I saw it.
The new movie vindicated my expert search skills when Skully, conducting doctory research into stem cell treatments, used Google - and only Google - and found exactly what she was looking for. I believe that since I do not go beyond the big G, that makes me eminently qualified to be a reference librarian.
Saturday's good thing was, of course, the Grand Final BBQ.
This year it was organised to be at StumpyRudolph's chalet in the hills - the scene of my rather unfortunate run in with BestFriendSincePrep's idea of a good nights drinking. Everything was much more sedate this time however I did have some nam-like flashbacks on visiting the rest-room I had spent so much time in.
The game itself went well and for once Legion2 and I were supporting different teams so we had a legitimate reason to abuse each other. My team won of course.
Leaving the BBQ early - i.e. the same time as everyone else - I rushed back to civilisation to join the festivities at Rugrat Twin's birthday slash flat-warming party. This kept me up until pumpkin time listening to the verbal acrobatics of Evil Twin.
Sunday was a prearranged get together with Tuck to go through our musical memorabilia from the band we were in together, oh, FOURTEEN YEARS AGO! The pictures were the most interestingly scary. Unfortunately my scanner was misbehaving and, not having anyone IT savvy enough around to fix it, I won't be able to show you any of them for a few weeks so forget I even mentioned them. In any case we unboxed many fascinating relics from those Malaclypse III times and whiled away the afternoon in reminiscent conversation.
The most recent good thing to happen was everyone believing me that I was working from home today. A few strategic emails and phone calls and the rest of day was mine.
My luck may have turned though. I unthinkingly used my bountiful non-work time to have my flowing locks trimmed so I could look all spiffy and suchlike for this weeks conference - ignoring that Svetlana has decreed that my locks must stay at least a certain length (I think so that they are easily used to guide me towards her side of any discussion we may have).
I may be forced to have hair extensions installed in order to escape her wrath when she lands in, oh, 15 more sleeps!!
.
Friday night's good thing was a movie outing with Rugrat Twin and Alecto in celebration of the Rugrat Twin's birthday. The Twin chose a double of both X-Files movies at the Astor (pronounces Ass-toor by the staff, I mean staaaff). It had been a very long time since I'd graced the venue with my presence and I was pleased to see that she hadn't changed a bit. My bum was a bit displeased that they hadn't changed the seats one bit though.
Rewatching the first movie - now 10 years old - gave me a weird sense of deja vu as things happened that I vaguely recalled. Obviously it was an unforgettable experience the first time I saw it.
The new movie vindicated my expert search skills when Skully, conducting doctory research into stem cell treatments, used Google - and only Google - and found exactly what she was looking for. I believe that since I do not go beyond the big G, that makes me eminently qualified to be a reference librarian.
Saturday's good thing was, of course, the Grand Final BBQ.
This year it was organised to be at StumpyRudolph's chalet in the hills - the scene of my rather unfortunate run in with BestFriendSincePrep's idea of a good nights drinking. Everything was much more sedate this time however I did have some nam-like flashbacks on visiting the rest-room I had spent so much time in.
The game itself went well and for once Legion2 and I were supporting different teams so we had a legitimate reason to abuse each other. My team won of course.
Leaving the BBQ early - i.e. the same time as everyone else - I rushed back to civilisation to join the festivities at Rugrat Twin's birthday slash flat-warming party. This kept me up until pumpkin time listening to the verbal acrobatics of Evil Twin.
Sunday was a prearranged get together with Tuck to go through our musical memorabilia from the band we were in together, oh, FOURTEEN YEARS AGO! The pictures were the most interestingly scary. Unfortunately my scanner was misbehaving and, not having anyone IT savvy enough around to fix it, I won't be able to show you any of them for a few weeks so forget I even mentioned them. In any case we unboxed many fascinating relics from those Malaclypse III times and whiled away the afternoon in reminiscent conversation.
The most recent good thing to happen was everyone believing me that I was working from home today. A few strategic emails and phone calls and the rest of day was mine.
My luck may have turned though. I unthinkingly used my bountiful non-work time to have my flowing locks trimmed so I could look all spiffy and suchlike for this weeks conference - ignoring that Svetlana has decreed that my locks must stay at least a certain length (I think so that they are easily used to guide me towards her side of any discussion we may have).
I may be forced to have hair extensions installed in order to escape her wrath when she lands in, oh, 15 more sleeps!!
.
... Getting Back on Track
After recovering from my recent serious illness I've spent my time catching up on the things that I let slide.
I'm sure you all know how illness lowers the body's resistance to obsessive compulsive behaviour and, unfortunately, the click-reward, click-reward cycle of the internet has brought new dimensions to time spent home sick and before you know it - it's Monday and you're back at work. Suffice to say not much was done about the flat being knee deep in cat sheddings and other detritus.
However as of last Sunday morning I woke feeling much more my manly self and proceeded to recommence the exercise regime with a wonderful walk/jog along the 'river'. This left me feeling invigorated enough to get things done all afternoon and even carried over into this working week.
My new-found attitude also managed to influence Fate itself as the wireless hotspot install at several branches, and an ADSL switch-over, and some RFID fix-ups all went without a hitch. In fact I even managed to organise myself for the conference next week and actually fulfil my role as an organiser of other people for the event in question.
Phew, I think I need a lie down now, and I better think some more to come up with a FridgePower approved plan for Operation Svetlana Anchor (thanks to Gavman for the obscure code name)
I'm sure you all know how illness lowers the body's resistance to obsessive compulsive behaviour and, unfortunately, the click-reward, click-reward cycle of the internet has brought new dimensions to time spent home sick and before you know it - it's Monday and you're back at work. Suffice to say not much was done about the flat being knee deep in cat sheddings and other detritus.
However as of last Sunday morning I woke feeling much more my manly self and proceeded to recommence the exercise regime with a wonderful walk/jog along the 'river'. This left me feeling invigorated enough to get things done all afternoon and even carried over into this working week.
My new-found attitude also managed to influence Fate itself as the wireless hotspot install at several branches, and an ADSL switch-over, and some RFID fix-ups all went without a hitch. In fact I even managed to organise myself for the conference next week and actually fulfil my role as an organiser of other people for the event in question.
Phew, I think I need a lie down now, and I better think some more to come up with a FridgePower approved plan for Operation Svetlana Anchor (thanks to Gavman for the obscure code name)
... The New Word
Footcuum foot·cuum [v. foot-kyoom, foot-kyuh-m]
–verb
1. usually of a bachelor; to vacuum a carpet or rug by rubbing one's feet, or shoes with grip, across the surface; with Svetlana's imminent arrival Phill decide to footcuum the living room earlier than normal this year ..
–verb
1. usually of a bachelor; to vacuum a carpet or rug by rubbing one's feet, or shoes with grip, across the surface; with Svetlana's imminent arrival Phill decide to footcuum the living room earlier than normal this year ..
... Mr Sniffles
I've been laid low with a most vicious strain of man-cold for most of this week, however I dragged myself out of my deathbed yesterday in order to fulfill my duties as Mr Secretary and host the local chapter of SPUN, the LMS group, at Brighton library.
I arrived early in the morning to find a Sister Serials Sniffles Survival Pack of tissues and canned soup awaiting me on my desk. I knew I was still sick when I caught myself thinking about how nice that was and how it would all be very handy during my recuperation.
After a quick and easy room set-up (with loads of help from The Administrator) the meeting went well and the morning tea was fantastic - a selection of cakes and biscuits from a local bakery. Dubrovnik Hater was in attendance in her new guise as "one of them" as were many of the other usual attendees.
Most stayed around afterwards to watch my demonstration of the all-consuming RFID system including real live borrowers and minor bugs.
After the main meeting there was an executive meeting with Madame President and our late arriving new, us yet un-blog-named treasurer. In the pub. Hefty decisions were made and after those drinks were sorted out we moved on to official business.
On returning to the library for a good half-afternoon's work (halfternoon?) I was greeted by Lord of the Small Fries who was giddy with glee over my new workroom moniker of Mr Sniffles. I'm sure this was the cause of my making a mess of some updates to the RFID kiosks and having to stay until closing time to straighten it all out.
Returning home I had some lovely soup for dinner and then promptly went to bed, and sleep, at the early hour of 11pm for the beginning of what turned out to be 9 hours of sleep.
Such rest invigorated me with enough strength to face work for a second day in a row and I pottered through the day today before coming home for an end of the week quiet night at home tonight.
I arrived early in the morning to find a Sister Serials Sniffles Survival Pack of tissues and canned soup awaiting me on my desk. I knew I was still sick when I caught myself thinking about how nice that was and how it would all be very handy during my recuperation.
After a quick and easy room set-up (with loads of help from The Administrator) the meeting went well and the morning tea was fantastic - a selection of cakes and biscuits from a local bakery. Dubrovnik Hater was in attendance in her new guise as "one of them" as were many of the other usual attendees.
Most stayed around afterwards to watch my demonstration of the all-consuming RFID system including real live borrowers and minor bugs.
After the main meeting there was an executive meeting with Madame President and our late arriving new, us yet un-blog-named treasurer. In the pub. Hefty decisions were made and after those drinks were sorted out we moved on to official business.
On returning to the library for a good half-afternoon's work (halfternoon?) I was greeted by Lord of the Small Fries who was giddy with glee over my new workroom moniker of Mr Sniffles. I'm sure this was the cause of my making a mess of some updates to the RFID kiosks and having to stay until closing time to straighten it all out.
Returning home I had some lovely soup for dinner and then promptly went to bed, and sleep, at the early hour of 11pm for the beginning of what turned out to be 9 hours of sleep.
Such rest invigorated me with enough strength to face work for a second day in a row and I pottered through the day today before coming home for an end of the week quiet night at home tonight.
... Scheduling Svetlana's Sojourn
The only important thing that happened recently was the confirmed booking of Svetlana's visit to these fair shores.
It is now booked in and paid for (on my credit card, see how generous I am, and I expect nothing in return) and I have only about 40 sleeps to go until I collect her from the airport.
Of course that's not nearly enough time for me to clean up the apartment - some things are still boxed up from the move a year ago!
I figure I can get away with it if I say "it was cleaned yesterday but The Tiger went crazy and messed it all up". If that doesn't work, well, she needs something to do while I'm at work...
Now, more importantly, I have to work out how to make her stay permanent.
Naturally my first thoughts turned to some sort of basement internment. However the closest thing to a basement my block of flats has is the communal laundry, and there may be awkward questions about the woman chained up in the corner - not to mention the reams of paperwork involved in getting Body Corporate permission to install said chains.
Plan 'B' is the trickier "knock her up ploy" which I suspect may fail due to her being several months back in Svetlanaland before realising her knockedupedness and therefore likely to nest where she is.
Plan 'C' is currently percolating half-formed in the back of my mind but I know it involves flying monkeys in some way.
Oh and there was a total system crash this weekend as well
I suspect it was orchestrated by Sister Serials as she was the first to interrupt my weekend.
It is now booked in and paid for (on my credit card, see how generous I am, and I expect nothing in return) and I have only about 40 sleeps to go until I collect her from the airport.
Of course that's not nearly enough time for me to clean up the apartment - some things are still boxed up from the move a year ago!
I figure I can get away with it if I say "it was cleaned yesterday but The Tiger went crazy and messed it all up". If that doesn't work, well, she needs something to do while I'm at work...
Now, more importantly, I have to work out how to make her stay permanent.
Naturally my first thoughts turned to some sort of basement internment. However the closest thing to a basement my block of flats has is the communal laundry, and there may be awkward questions about the woman chained up in the corner - not to mention the reams of paperwork involved in getting Body Corporate permission to install said chains.
Plan 'B' is the trickier "knock her up ploy" which I suspect may fail due to her being several months back in Svetlanaland before realising her knockedupedness and therefore likely to nest where she is.
Plan 'C' is currently percolating half-formed in the back of my mind but I know it involves flying monkeys in some way.
Oh and there was a total system crash this weekend as well
I suspect it was orchestrated by Sister Serials as she was the first to interrupt my weekend.
... The Well Deserved Day Off
I don't want to be a martyr but boy have I suffered lately for this RFID project.
So to make use of some of the hundreds of extra hours I've worked over the past months I decided to take a single day off.
The first complication was cancelling my IT Team meeting - which wasn't in my calendar(not my fault, honest) - so that they wouldn't scheme against me without me there.
The next wonderful thing that happened was The Tiger deciding to wake me early because she felt the need for company while she ate the bountiful food I'd left out for her the night before. I tell you I'm looking forward to Svetlana's coming visit so I'll be able to kick her out of bed with orders to look after the little one.
This wakeup was followed by a call from Torchwood's temporary successor continuing the harassment that I'm sure Torchwood herself included in the position handover instructions.
Once my day proper had begun it was quickly spoiled by The Beaumaris Ballerina, who decided to make a Sister Serials-esque support call about - you guessed it - an RFID problem.
One of the benefits of being home was being able to fianlly have a phone conversation with Svetlana herself after a few weeks of mixed up weekend schedules.
So to make use of some of the hundreds of extra hours I've worked over the past months I decided to take a single day off.
The first complication was cancelling my IT Team meeting - which wasn't in my calendar(not my fault, honest) - so that they wouldn't scheme against me without me there.
The next wonderful thing that happened was The Tiger deciding to wake me early because she felt the need for company while she ate the bountiful food I'd left out for her the night before. I tell you I'm looking forward to Svetlana's coming visit so I'll be able to kick her out of bed with orders to look after the little one.
This wakeup was followed by a call from Torchwood's temporary successor continuing the harassment that I'm sure Torchwood herself included in the position handover instructions.
Once my day proper had begun it was quickly spoiled by The Beaumaris Ballerina, who decided to make a Sister Serials-esque support call about - you guessed it - an RFID problem.
One of the benefits of being home was being able to fianlly have a phone conversation with Svetlana herself after a few weeks of mixed up weekend schedules.
... The Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth
Legion2 passed his Scifi Masterworks copy of this on to me a few weeks ago.
It was a quick read that took me almost two weeks for it's 180 pages due to work pressures stealing my lunchtimes and train trips.
Given it's vintage (from the '50s) the story is eerily predictive of a world of excessive advertising, consumerism and corporate control of the government - at times it feels like you're reading an expose of current underhanded advertising techniques.
The story itself is interesting and if you can get your lunchtimes and train journeys then its well worth the short reading time.
It was a quick read that took me almost two weeks for it's 180 pages due to work pressures stealing my lunchtimes and train trips.
Given it's vintage (from the '50s) the story is eerily predictive of a world of excessive advertising, consumerism and corporate control of the government - at times it feels like you're reading an expose of current underhanded advertising techniques.
The story itself is interesting and if you can get your lunchtimes and train journeys then its well worth the short reading time.
.. Betrayed into Blogging
I am only able to make this blog tonight because The Bastard cancelled tonight's game due to health issues. I am outraged. Did I cancel because of my near-decapitated knee? No - well not more than once or twice anyway - so how dare he!
Speaking of betrayals, I have now settled reasonably comfortably into Beaumaris branch after managing to get out of Brighton alive. I've even done more RFID tagging here in two days than I did on 2 months at Brighton. I guess you could say that Brighton is a high-maintenance branch, but I never would.
Oh and speaking of bastard GMs I spent a little while before putting the hat back into The Viking Hat GM's name for the handful of posts for which he'd made an appearance. It seems he didn't like it's absence, despite the fact that only a small handful of geeks would even understand the phrase for which he is named. I hope he's happy now and stops victimising us at the Monday night game.
Now on to more important matters - Days of our Libraries has accused me of still being wedding-drunk during the scribing of my previous posting.
This is patently preposterous and this photo from the wedding, courtesy of Rugrat Twin, should emphatically clear my name.
Speaking of betrayals, I have now settled reasonably comfortably into Beaumaris branch after managing to get out of Brighton alive. I've even done more RFID tagging here in two days than I did on 2 months at Brighton. I guess you could say that Brighton is a high-maintenance branch, but I never would.
Oh and speaking of bastard GMs I spent a little while before putting the hat back into The Viking Hat GM's name for the handful of posts for which he'd made an appearance. It seems he didn't like it's absence, despite the fact that only a small handful of geeks would even understand the phrase for which he is named. I hope he's happy now and stops victimising us at the Monday night game.
Now on to more important matters - Days of our Libraries has accused me of still being wedding-drunk during the scribing of my previous posting.
This is patently preposterous and this photo from the wedding, courtesy of Rugrat Twin, should emphatically clear my name.
... The Day Geisha Girl and The Composer Were Married
Yesterday was spent having a wonderful time at the Zoo in celebration of the nuptuals of Geisha Girl and The Composer.
The ceremony began in glaring sunlight in the lush Japanese Garden and ended in light rain which helpfully covered any emotional tears that may have been shed - obviously only by those less rugged and blokey than I.
After the service Legion2, BrotherStealer and I had a ramble through the grounds and made an almost fruitless search for zoo animals. We found only giraffes, elephants and orangutans - even with the added searching skills of Tooticky and Usuakari all the other creature remained unfindable.
Giving up our search we returned for libraryland "cocktails" and some delicious snacks.
Shortly thereafter we were ushered inside the cosy Rainforest Room for the reception proper.
I was seated at a table with Legion2, BrotherStealer, Agent Smith, Tuck, and a good bunch of strangers. We all enjoyed some scintillating conversations and magnificent food.
Rugrat Twin and Amoeba shared the MCing and speechifying wonderfully, even seamlessly adding me into the toast after I was caught at the bridal table when it all started - although BrotherStealer was heard to remark that I had ruined yet another wedding.
After the main course I risked life, limb, and ruined knee, to give Rugrat Twin a twirl about the dance floor. She seemed happy to come away with both feet intact so I count it as a success.
Many others were in attendance including an amazingly uncamoed Camo Spice (whom I'd gamed with until ridiculous o'clock in the morning the night before) and most of the gaming and gothing geeks who knew the couple well.
The last official act of the evening was no strange cake cutting tradition but the completely appropriate merging of the lego collections of the happy couple to show their level of commitment to each other.
We all left the strangely animal-lite zoo at the end of the evening to head home happy and tired and with inexplicable soreness of the head.
The ceremony began in glaring sunlight in the lush Japanese Garden and ended in light rain which helpfully covered any emotional tears that may have been shed - obviously only by those less rugged and blokey than I.
After the service Legion2, BrotherStealer and I had a ramble through the grounds and made an almost fruitless search for zoo animals. We found only giraffes, elephants and orangutans - even with the added searching skills of Tooticky and Usuakari all the other creature remained unfindable.
Giving up our search we returned for libraryland "cocktails" and some delicious snacks.
Shortly thereafter we were ushered inside the cosy Rainforest Room for the reception proper.
I was seated at a table with Legion2, BrotherStealer, Agent Smith, Tuck, and a good bunch of strangers. We all enjoyed some scintillating conversations and magnificent food.
Rugrat Twin and Amoeba shared the MCing and speechifying wonderfully, even seamlessly adding me into the toast after I was caught at the bridal table when it all started - although BrotherStealer was heard to remark that I had ruined yet another wedding.
After the main course I risked life, limb, and ruined knee, to give Rugrat Twin a twirl about the dance floor. She seemed happy to come away with both feet intact so I count it as a success.
Many others were in attendance including an amazingly uncamoed Camo Spice (whom I'd gamed with until ridiculous o'clock in the morning the night before) and most of the gaming and gothing geeks who knew the couple well.
The last official act of the evening was no strange cake cutting tradition but the completely appropriate merging of the lego collections of the happy couple to show their level of commitment to each other.
We all left the strangely animal-lite zoo at the end of the evening to head home happy and tired and with inexplicable soreness of the head.
... The Lunchless Launch
Now that a few days have passed I have had time to recover from the severe lack of lunch at Monday's RFID launch.
The day started badly with Sister Serials having snuck in over the weekend and processed a huge mound of new magazines which yours truly had to load onto the tagging machine so they could be put away before the launch event happened.
The launch itself went without a hitch which is surprising given technologies usual reluctance to work properly under pressure. I was surprised to learn from the assistant to the minister's copy boy (or something like that, the minister couldn't make it) that up until RFID we'd been tagging books with up to seven tags! But then I'm not a librarian so what would know.
Now to be fair to Supervisor Grand Chief K there were some nibbles and bubbles supplied but there also appeared to be some sort of conspiracy to keep me busy and away from the table as guest after guest was trotted out with questions for me to answer. In the end I did manage to wash down a few crumbs of cheese with the dregs of the last bottle of bubbles - all under the pressure of Devil's Advocate hovering around to reclaim my glass like I was some sort of thief. Suffice to say I wasn't able to complete my set of champagne flutes.
Also this week:
Monday night I once more foolishly subjected myself to The Viking Hat GM's torture disguised as game. Perhaps it the abundance of snacks that keeps me doing it?
Tuesday night I had eight blokes pretending to be cowboys as our latest game - a supernatural western - began with some crazy hijinks on a train.
Wednesday Sonja Roster Queen and I began blasting (or zapping if you're SGCK) the Brighton collection to activate the RFID tags. I don't think I will every tire of the "blasted books" joke.
As it turns out blasting is not nearly as exciting as it sounds. The process involes waving an antenna wand over the books until they are all done - it actually feels more like you're caressing their auras than blasting them.
On Thursday The Administrator and I tag-teamed to train the public for a day consuming couple of classes due to trainer illness.
My week ended on a high indulging in a small after-work tipple with Groovy Spirits, Shirl, and Nurse Janet after the days duties were done.
Once Home I watched the footy until I was joined by Pirate Dave dropping off some cards for the next tournament. We tried to puzzle out his new World of Warcraft boardgame until late in the evening. Eventually he left when he guessed I was tired from my subtle move of passing out from exhaustion.
The day started badly with Sister Serials having snuck in over the weekend and processed a huge mound of new magazines which yours truly had to load onto the tagging machine so they could be put away before the launch event happened.
The launch itself went without a hitch which is surprising given technologies usual reluctance to work properly under pressure. I was surprised to learn from the assistant to the minister's copy boy (or something like that, the minister couldn't make it) that up until RFID we'd been tagging books with up to seven tags! But then I'm not a librarian so what would know.
Now to be fair to Supervisor Grand Chief K there were some nibbles and bubbles supplied but there also appeared to be some sort of conspiracy to keep me busy and away from the table as guest after guest was trotted out with questions for me to answer. In the end I did manage to wash down a few crumbs of cheese with the dregs of the last bottle of bubbles - all under the pressure of Devil's Advocate hovering around to reclaim my glass like I was some sort of thief. Suffice to say I wasn't able to complete my set of champagne flutes.
Also this week:
Monday night I once more foolishly subjected myself to The Viking Hat GM's torture disguised as game. Perhaps it the abundance of snacks that keeps me doing it?
Tuesday night I had eight blokes pretending to be cowboys as our latest game - a supernatural western - began with some crazy hijinks on a train.
Wednesday Sonja Roster Queen and I began blasting (or zapping if you're SGCK) the Brighton collection to activate the RFID tags. I don't think I will every tire of the "blasted books" joke.
As it turns out blasting is not nearly as exciting as it sounds. The process involes waving an antenna wand over the books until they are all done - it actually feels more like you're caressing their auras than blasting them.
On Thursday The Administrator and I tag-teamed to train the public for a day consuming couple of classes due to trainer illness.
My week ended on a high indulging in a small after-work tipple with Groovy Spirits, Shirl, and Nurse Janet after the days duties were done.
Once Home I watched the footy until I was joined by Pirate Dave dropping off some cards for the next tournament. We tried to puzzle out his new World of Warcraft boardgame until late in the evening. Eventually he left when he guessed I was tired from my subtle move of passing out from exhaustion.
Flood by Andrew H. Vachss
Due to the overly rainy weather today I sat down and finished reading this ripping crime novel.
As recommended by Badger and Legion2 it is the sort of book that hums along in it's own over the top paranoid American urban survivalist mode.
Flood is the first of Vachss's Burke books and, while I quite enjoyed it, I think I can see why Badger characterises the books as guilty pleasures and also where they would become repetitive.
Speaking of flooding, I seem to have survived the near arctic conditions at the MCG last night man-cold free after The Great Sandro and I braved the elements to watch the pies win an old style game of footy against the Saints - none of that "running through the middle in formation" stuff to be seen.
As recommended by Badger and Legion2 it is the sort of book that hums along in it's own over the top paranoid American urban survivalist mode.
Flood is the first of Vachss's Burke books and, while I quite enjoyed it, I think I can see why Badger characterises the books as guilty pleasures and also where they would become repetitive.
Speaking of flooding, I seem to have survived the near arctic conditions at the MCG last night man-cold free after The Great Sandro and I braved the elements to watch the pies win an old style game of footy against the Saints - none of that "running through the middle in formation" stuff to be seen.
... The Guest Posting
With so much going on I'm finding it hard to have a regular posting schedule.
To that end I present some excerpts from a conference report for a conference that Supervisor Grand Chief K refused to allow me to attend!
The report is scribed by the lovely Svetlana.
Perhaps you can see why I'm so fond of her.
To that end I present some excerpts from a conference report for a conference that Supervisor Grand Chief K refused to allow me to attend!
The report is scribed by the lovely Svetlana.
Perhaps you can see why I'm so fond of her.
NAME: LIDA 2008: Libraries in the Digital Age 2008.
PLACE: Dubrovnik and Mljet, Croatia
Major topics: Reference in Digital Environments Education and Training in /for Digital Libraries
LIDA brings together researchers, educators, practitioners and developers from all over the world in a forum for personal exchanges, discussions and learning, made easier by being held in memorable locations.
On this particular occasion, there were 145 participants from all over the world (mostly Croatia and USA, but also Canada, Singapore, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, France, Greece, Austria, Sweden, Lithuania).
Now that you have all the important details (who, what, when, where and why), let me give you my side of the story.
...
Arrived in Dubrovnik on Monday 02 Jun 2008 at about noon, so I was fashionably late for conference opening ( which was pretty good since some people arrived two days later wondering around, maybe they were lost) and discovered the monastery where I was staying was a few steps from IUC, where everything was happening. Have to admit I was a little bit nervous about all the accommodation with nuns, but they were great. I had the whole first floor for myself, two bathrooms (I was using a different one every day just because I could), a little kitchen and fridge to store extra beers.
Well, no TV, radio or Internet but who cares? I was on a mission to find out what's new in the library world.
Day one was all like ’no one is talking to each other', no eye contact, etc. In my humble opinion, that was an oversight made by organizers, e.g., not introducing people properly.
...
Just let me show you the the most important place at the IUC , which is in the backyard with coffee breaks…
...
Day two had two great things and one that was not that great.
First good thing
Susan McGlamery and Lynn Silipigni Connaway presented a cooperative virtual reference QuestionPoint 24/7, which allows libraries to expand their reference services beyond the walls of the library and beyond normal working hours. The service includes 1,400 libraries in the United States and the United Kingdom. All these librarians are able to provide their users with assistance 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
The exciting part is that you may ask a question in Los Angeles and get an answer from a librarian in London. They are still working on policies and procedures, and they are also very keen to spread this service around the world. What I really liked is the enthusiasm they have for their project, about sharing knowledge and their work, in general. Pure inspiration.
Boring thing
Now, the “not so great“thing was the Greek presentation. Two guys, Aggelos and Giannis, talked about ‘using qualitative research methods for the improvement of collaborative information searching tools design’. Their pronunciation of English was really hard to understand, plus they used very ‘scientific’ expressions...boring. Too bad, they really tried.
Second good thing
This is something I enjoyed. Dr.Erich Renhart and Manfred Mayer from Vestigia Manuscript Research Centre in cooperation with University of Graz, Austria developed a little machine called ‘The Traveller’s Conservation Copy Stand’ which allows time efficient digitization of rare and sensitive material such as manuscripts, autographs, incunabula (an incunabulum is a book, single sheet, or image that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe. These are very rare and valuable items).
With this kind of material careful handling and support is essential. This kind of collection CANNOT leave the buildings where they are stored, so the mobile copy stand was developed to address the need for digitizing materials from these kinds of collections, especially in eastern and southeast Europe. The price is around 7,000 euro.
Now before we go on, let me just remind you what this is all about. In short period of time, digital libraries have become a global phenomenon, and subject of research in number of fields like computer science, information science and library science. The future role of libraries and librarians in the process of digitization has been discussed for years.
The increasing amount of digital content available anywhere and anytime makes that discussion more relevant than ever. Who is going to be in charge of sorting out the “ocean“ of information? What kind of models will be needed to sustain the organization, maintenance, access and preservation of digital information over the long term?
The answer is that computer scientists and librarians will have to work hard together in finding solutions, and they have already started.
Project Gutenberg, Google Book Search, Windows Live Search Books, Internet Archive, Cornell University, The Library of Congress World Digital Library, The Digital Library at the University of Michigan, and CMU's Universal library are considered leaders in the field of digital archive creation and management.
Day three - the best part was the Poster session (as I have mentioned at the beginning: short graphic presentations on research studies, examples, or preliminary work presented in a special poster session)
...
The girls from Montréal really enjoyed the Adriatic Sea and I was proud of my country's beauty. That day we had an afternoon with the guest of honour Peter Ingwerson (Royal School of LIOS, Copenhagen, Denmark)
He talked about context – driven integrated framework for research on interactive IR, and if you think the title is complicated …you should have heard the guy. Nevertheless, he was on the panel for students who were PhD candidates and presented their projects, so they had very good, constructive and useful feedback.
In the evening people were networking at the banquette. We were exchanging ideas about wines, food, EU, and digital libraries of course.
Last day …
At this stage we were all a little bit worn out. This was the closing day LIDA 2008, and the only people hanging around were students trying to improve their projects by talking to professors.
Others just enjoyed the easy day.
All together, digitization is a process that is going to make a huge change in world of information, and we will be witnesses of the continuing growth.
We departed from Mljet looking forward to LIDA 2009, which is supposed to happen May 25 – 30, 2009 in Dubrovnik and Zadar with two major themes:
Heritage & digital libraries: digitization, preservation, access
Reflections : changes brought by and in digital libraries in the last decade
The End
PLACE: Dubrovnik and Mljet, Croatia
Major topics: Reference in Digital Environments Education and Training in /for Digital Libraries
LIDA brings together researchers, educators, practitioners and developers from all over the world in a forum for personal exchanges, discussions and learning, made easier by being held in memorable locations.
On this particular occasion, there were 145 participants from all over the world (mostly Croatia and USA, but also Canada, Singapore, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, France, Greece, Austria, Sweden, Lithuania).
Now that you have all the important details (who, what, when, where and why), let me give you my side of the story.
...
Arrived in Dubrovnik on Monday 02 Jun 2008 at about noon, so I was fashionably late for conference opening ( which was pretty good since some people arrived two days later wondering around, maybe they were lost) and discovered the monastery where I was staying was a few steps from IUC, where everything was happening. Have to admit I was a little bit nervous about all the accommodation with nuns, but they were great. I had the whole first floor for myself, two bathrooms (I was using a different one every day just because I could), a little kitchen and fridge to store extra beers.
Well, no TV, radio or Internet but who cares? I was on a mission to find out what's new in the library world.
Day one was all like ’no one is talking to each other', no eye contact, etc. In my humble opinion, that was an oversight made by organizers, e.g., not introducing people properly.
...
Just let me show you the the most important place at the IUC , which is in the backyard with coffee breaks…
...
Day two had two great things and one that was not that great.
First good thing
Susan McGlamery and Lynn Silipigni Connaway presented a cooperative virtual reference QuestionPoint 24/7, which allows libraries to expand their reference services beyond the walls of the library and beyond normal working hours. The service includes 1,400 libraries in the United States and the United Kingdom. All these librarians are able to provide their users with assistance 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
The exciting part is that you may ask a question in Los Angeles and get an answer from a librarian in London. They are still working on policies and procedures, and they are also very keen to spread this service around the world. What I really liked is the enthusiasm they have for their project, about sharing knowledge and their work, in general. Pure inspiration.
Boring thing
Now, the “not so great“thing was the Greek presentation. Two guys, Aggelos and Giannis, talked about ‘using qualitative research methods for the improvement of collaborative information searching tools design’. Their pronunciation of English was really hard to understand, plus they used very ‘scientific’ expressions...boring. Too bad, they really tried.
Second good thing
This is something I enjoyed. Dr.Erich Renhart and Manfred Mayer from Vestigia Manuscript Research Centre in cooperation with University of Graz, Austria developed a little machine called ‘The Traveller’s Conservation Copy Stand’ which allows time efficient digitization of rare and sensitive material such as manuscripts, autographs, incunabula (an incunabulum is a book, single sheet, or image that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe. These are very rare and valuable items).
With this kind of material careful handling and support is essential. This kind of collection CANNOT leave the buildings where they are stored, so the mobile copy stand was developed to address the need for digitizing materials from these kinds of collections, especially in eastern and southeast Europe. The price is around 7,000 euro.
Now before we go on, let me just remind you what this is all about. In short period of time, digital libraries have become a global phenomenon, and subject of research in number of fields like computer science, information science and library science. The future role of libraries and librarians in the process of digitization has been discussed for years.
The increasing amount of digital content available anywhere and anytime makes that discussion more relevant than ever. Who is going to be in charge of sorting out the “ocean“ of information? What kind of models will be needed to sustain the organization, maintenance, access and preservation of digital information over the long term?
The answer is that computer scientists and librarians will have to work hard together in finding solutions, and they have already started.
Project Gutenberg, Google Book Search, Windows Live Search Books, Internet Archive, Cornell University, The Library of Congress World Digital Library, The Digital Library at the University of Michigan, and CMU's Universal library are considered leaders in the field of digital archive creation and management.
Day three - the best part was the Poster session (as I have mentioned at the beginning: short graphic presentations on research studies, examples, or preliminary work presented in a special poster session)
...
Day four - meeting at Port Gruž and transfer to Mljet
Just kidding….we had this boat
After arrival in Mljet, finally had a good swim. The coast is full of sea urchins, which are supposed to be a sign of clear water.
The girls from Montréal really enjoyed the Adriatic Sea and I was proud of my country's beauty. That day we had an afternoon with the guest of honour Peter Ingwerson (Royal School of LIOS, Copenhagen, Denmark)
He talked about context – driven integrated framework for research on interactive IR, and if you think the title is complicated …you should have heard the guy. Nevertheless, he was on the panel for students who were PhD candidates and presented their projects, so they had very good, constructive and useful feedback.
In the evening people were networking at the banquette. We were exchanging ideas about wines, food, EU, and digital libraries of course.
Last day …
At this stage we were all a little bit worn out. This was the closing day LIDA 2008, and the only people hanging around were students trying to improve their projects by talking to professors.
Others just enjoyed the easy day.
All together, digitization is a process that is going to make a huge change in world of information, and we will be witnesses of the continuing growth.
We departed from Mljet looking forward to LIDA 2009, which is supposed to happen May 25 – 30, 2009 in Dubrovnik and Zadar with two major themes:
Heritage & digital libraries: digitization, preservation, access
Reflections : changes brought by and in digital libraries in the last decade
The End
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)