... the IT man in LibraryLand
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.
.. 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
... The Less than Satisfying Movie Experience
With Legion2 and BrotherStealer all miffed I inherited their pass to an advance screening of Pineapple Express tonight. There was some confusion with Rugrat Twin who double-booked and ended up seeing something else so I attended on my own.
Being an advanced screening the security was tight - I had to hand over my phone because it could be used to take photos of the movie!
So anyway after lining up to stash my evil technology I waltzed right in without anyone checking my ticket and commenced to sit for around 20 minutes admiring the lovely red curtains.
Eventually the film began and it was pretty much what you saw on the adds. There were a couple of extra bits but no real surprises. It would make a good diverting airplane movie I guess.
I did nod off during the hijinks in the middle so there may have been some fantastic stuff in there but I somehow doubt it.
To make my movie experience even better the venue gouged me more than the cost of a ticket for parking on-site - so much for a free film. Hmmm, perhaps giving me the ticket was some weird sort of revenge ploy from Legion2 for all that older brother stuff I did to him when we were growing up...
Oh and it was RFID go live day today.
Being an advanced screening the security was tight - I had to hand over my phone because it could be used to take photos of the movie!
So anyway after lining up to stash my evil technology I waltzed right in without anyone checking my ticket and commenced to sit for around 20 minutes admiring the lovely red curtains.
Eventually the film began and it was pretty much what you saw on the adds. There were a couple of extra bits but no real surprises. It would make a good diverting airplane movie I guess.
I did nod off during the hijinks in the middle so there may have been some fantastic stuff in there but I somehow doubt it.
To make my movie experience even better the venue gouged me more than the cost of a ticket for parking on-site - so much for a free film. Hmmm, perhaps giving me the ticket was some weird sort of revenge ploy from Legion2 for all that older brother stuff I did to him when we were growing up...
Oh and it was RFID go live day today.
... One 'L' of a Time
Since deciding, back in my uni days, to start using both Ls of my Phillip in my Phill I've had to deal with the problems that arise with the use of slightly variant spelling of one's name.
I've noticed how unobservant people are as emails are replied to with a plain old Phil - or even corrected to remove the extra L from the email address and therefore fail to work. Most, like Days of our Libraries for example, eventually get it right after a half year or so although one representative with a previous printer supplier took the cake in the email stakes when his regular SPAM-like "Have a good weekend" emails inexplicably changed from signing off with Phil to signing off with "Have a good weekend Peter".
On a side note I've also had to deal with the bizarre incorrect naming in phone calls - "goodbye Shaun" being my personal favourite (although some of Svetlana's name calling comes close).
But the killer event has to be when a letter comes addressed for Mr Philip [name withheld for identity theft reasons] and it turns out to be a holiday itinerary for Handy Dad and Freeloading Mum flitting off on a central Australian adventure.
What hope have I got if the woman who birthed me can't even get the spelling of my name right? THE NAME SHE CHOSE FOR ME!?!
Sigh, I'll probably get nothing from their will as they'll have made the same mistake there.
On a brighter, clearer, note I collected my new glasses today. Not much different, so it'll be interesting to see which of the non-blog readers notices the difference.
They came in a Prada case which should gain me a smidgeon more respect from Mr Prada if I can manage to reveal it strategically.
In any case I am currently enjoying that warped-at-the-edges-tunnel-vision that always accompanies the first few days with new glasses.
I've noticed how unobservant people are as emails are replied to with a plain old Phil - or even corrected to remove the extra L from the email address and therefore fail to work. Most, like Days of our Libraries for example, eventually get it right after a half year or so although one representative with a previous printer supplier took the cake in the email stakes when his regular SPAM-like "Have a good weekend" emails inexplicably changed from signing off with Phil to signing off with "Have a good weekend Peter".
On a side note I've also had to deal with the bizarre incorrect naming in phone calls - "goodbye Shaun" being my personal favourite (although some of Svetlana's name calling comes close).
But the killer event has to be when a letter comes addressed for Mr Philip [name withheld for identity theft reasons] and it turns out to be a holiday itinerary for Handy Dad and Freeloading Mum flitting off on a central Australian adventure.
What hope have I got if the woman who birthed me can't even get the spelling of my name right? THE NAME SHE CHOSE FOR ME!?!
Sigh, I'll probably get nothing from their will as they'll have made the same mistake there.
On a brighter, clearer, note I collected my new glasses today. Not much different, so it'll be interesting to see which of the non-blog readers notices the difference.
They came in a Prada case which should gain me a smidgeon more respect from Mr Prada if I can manage to reveal it strategically.
In any case I am currently enjoying that warped-at-the-edges-tunnel-vision that always accompanies the first few days with new glasses.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)