... 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:

• 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.

Updates may be few and far between in the coming weeks but you can probably get the gist of what I've been up to by re-reading this post every four or five days.
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... 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.
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... 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.
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... 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.

... 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!
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... 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:

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.
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