... the IT man in LibraryLand
So I spent most of the last week in training sessions in the heart of our beloved city.
Many and varied was my company including: Devil's Advocate, Sister Serials, Sonja Roster Queen and Miss Amanda for the majority of the time and special guest appearances by Mr Prada, Days of our Libraries, Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, and The Pragmatist.
All of these exciting training companions were overshadowed by the fact that this particular round of training was accompanied by an incredible four days of free lunches!!!
I don't believe I have ever had it so good. I didn't even mind heading out for a girly shopping expedition on behalf of Svetlana.
On top of this bounty of brunches came the Friday farewell party for a libraryland associate of years past - complete with free drinks and circulating snacks!
However, as with all good things, the universe had to right the cosmic karma imbalance and, during my Saturday attendance at the footy with Legion2 and The Great Sandro, my hunger got the better of me forcing the purchase of sustenance in the form of one $20 pie.
Things did swing slightly back in the other direction today when I was able to take advantage of a free trip to NSW care of BestFriendSincePrep.
I was recruited for my excellent company on the long drive and possibly to put my strength into lifting the package we had headed North to collect. Many hours of great conversation and camaraderie was had before we returned to his abode and he 'remembered' an IT issue he had that required urgent proffessional attending to.
Sigh.
It seems I can never escape IT on my weekends.
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... The So-called Weekend of Rest
Friday night was another branch drinks evening with Kiwichick up to her usual social coordinator antics and hustling a bunch of us including Fifi, Mrs Football and Easy-Going Em off for a post drinks dinner. Once ensconced at our table we discussed such enlightening topics as Mrs Football's best way to start a bender being with two bottles of wine and before you knew it the evening was over and we all trundled off home to sleep the sleep of the righteous - or is that inebriated, I always get those two mixed up.
Now one would think such a fun and frivolous evening would be the perfect way to start a weekend of rest, however one did not think to account for Sister Serials penchant for early morning "fix the computers please" telephone conversations. She was followed in quick succession by Kiwichick and others demanding that I make things work merely because it was my job and I was paid to do it - Supervisor Grand Chief K would be proud of her staff.
Suffice to say that most of a perfectly good Saturday was wasted trouble-shooting and then they were at it again today on the Sunday!
I tell you it's no wonder I'm so stressed and on edge all the time!
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Now one would think such a fun and frivolous evening would be the perfect way to start a weekend of rest, however one did not think to account for Sister Serials penchant for early morning "fix the computers please" telephone conversations. She was followed in quick succession by Kiwichick and others demanding that I make things work merely because it was my job and I was paid to do it - Supervisor Grand Chief K would be proud of her staff.
Suffice to say that most of a perfectly good Saturday was wasted trouble-shooting and then they were at it again today on the Sunday!
I tell you it's no wonder I'm so stressed and on edge all the time!
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... The Weeks of Too Much Work
Computer upgrades and crashes and so on have been claiming all my time recently - not that Supervisor Grand Chief K will recognise my effort and reward it with the suitable level of tickertape parade - so don't expect much in the way of updates until the new financial year.
I did pop down to see My Guitarist's new addition on the weekend with Redneck Ben which did end up taking most of the day but provided a most welcome break from all things computery.
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I did pop down to see My Guitarist's new addition on the weekend with Redneck Ben which did end up taking most of the day but provided a most welcome break from all things computery.
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... The Abandoned Book
With a slight dearth of things of which to elaborate upon I am going back a week or so to inform you all of the last book I was reading.
I should say attempting to read - as my post title states I was forced to abandon my reading.
The book in question is The Iron Tree by Cecilia Dart-Thornton whose author bio paints her as a bit of a loon.
Being a fantasy novel it is book one of her second trilogy. You'd think that she must have done something right with her first trilogy but the eminently trustworthy Miss Amanda informs me that she failed to make it past page 60 of CDT's first opus. To further cement my belief in the correctness of my book abandoning MatrixMan agrees about the waffling nature of the first trilogy and the obviousness of the authors particular favourite subjects of interest.
Anyway on to the actual book at hand. It is a psuedo-celtic high fantasy of the farm boy with a destiny variety. The pseudo celtic includes mini essays on houshold spirits, folk tales, and assorted wights who, for all the word-count devoted to them, don't have very much to do with the story at all.
There are also many indepth discussions of the particular ways that various craftsmen create their wares - a simple stroll through a market at one point takes an unbelievable number of pages to complete because it is apparently necessary that we know how the potter came upon his clay to make the tiny pots that the protagonist affords only a passing glance.
In general each sentence has at least one to many scintilating effervescant adjectives and all of the characters talk in a prithee thee manner.
A gave up at the halfway point when the big secret about the heros past completely failed to excite me and I couldn't face the remaining half of the book.
My rating is one and a half stars.
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I should say attempting to read - as my post title states I was forced to abandon my reading.
The book in question is The Iron Tree by Cecilia Dart-Thornton whose author bio paints her as a bit of a loon.
Being a fantasy novel it is book one of her second trilogy. You'd think that she must have done something right with her first trilogy but the eminently trustworthy Miss Amanda informs me that she failed to make it past page 60 of CDT's first opus. To further cement my belief in the correctness of my book abandoning MatrixMan agrees about the waffling nature of the first trilogy and the obviousness of the authors particular favourite subjects of interest.
Anyway on to the actual book at hand. It is a psuedo-celtic high fantasy of the farm boy with a destiny variety. The pseudo celtic includes mini essays on houshold spirits, folk tales, and assorted wights who, for all the word-count devoted to them, don't have very much to do with the story at all.
There are also many indepth discussions of the particular ways that various craftsmen create their wares - a simple stroll through a market at one point takes an unbelievable number of pages to complete because it is apparently necessary that we know how the potter came upon his clay to make the tiny pots that the protagonist affords only a passing glance.
In general each sentence has at least one to many scintilating effervescant adjectives and all of the characters talk in a prithee thee manner.
A gave up at the halfway point when the big secret about the heros past completely failed to excite me and I couldn't face the remaining half of the book.
My rating is one and a half stars.
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... The Gavman's Party
Friday night I attended a do at Gavman's place. The event was staged while The J Monster was out of town lest our fun and frolics should disturb their pristine abode. Legion2, Badger and ElfBoy were also along for the fun and games.
The original movie watching idea was subverted by much playing of Rockband. Initially it was Gavman who had all the enthusiasm but by the end I think we all enjoyed it - my own vocal rendition of Judas Priest's Painkiller being the standout track.
We did eventually get our movie - The International. It was quite interesting although I did flag a little by the end - as several reviews have said, "how can you top the Guggenheim scene".
Continuing the party tradition, Sunday was a gaming day and the first sighting of The Viking Hat GM out of his native habitat. He seemed to enjoy it as can be evidenced from his review of the main event.
The evening was a nice intimate blood-sucking affair with Doom and The Doctor coming along to play pointy-fanged Gothic people with Legion2 and myself. The whole evening was well hydrated by this rather appropriate bottle of wine.
All in all, and all up, it was all rather a nice weekend of partying had by all.
.
The original movie watching idea was subverted by much playing of Rockband. Initially it was Gavman who had all the enthusiasm but by the end I think we all enjoyed it - my own vocal rendition of Judas Priest's Painkiller being the standout track.
We did eventually get our movie - The International. It was quite interesting although I did flag a little by the end - as several reviews have said, "how can you top the Guggenheim scene".
Continuing the party tradition, Sunday was a gaming day and the first sighting of The Viking Hat GM out of his native habitat. He seemed to enjoy it as can be evidenced from his review of the main event.
The evening was a nice intimate blood-sucking affair with Doom and The Doctor coming along to play pointy-fanged Gothic people with Legion2 and myself. The whole evening was well hydrated by this rather appropriate bottle of wine.
All in all, and all up, it was all rather a nice weekend of partying had by all.
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