... 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.
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... 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.
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... 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!
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... 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.
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... 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.
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... 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.
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... 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?
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... 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.
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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!
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... 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.
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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.
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... 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.
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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.
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... 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.
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... 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...
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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...
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... 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.
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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.
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