Packin’ Up The House

So, one has been a tad busy this past week or so packing up one’s old stomping ground in preparation for a Grand upgrading of facilities. 

Along with the likes of Mr Prada, Days of our Libraries, Country Girl, The Maple Maverick, and Sidekick, One has been dismantling technical equipment, moving furniture and uncovering dust bunnies not seen since the Jurassic (and the other half of that delicious biscuit one lost down the side of one’s old desk back in the Spring of ‘08). 

It has been quite an exercise in lifting, carrying, and cord untangling and it has proven tiring for one to direct all that frenzied activity. 

Going Solo

Of course previous weeks have also been busy as One was left to one’s own devices several weekends ago and forced to go solo with Salsa Girl and Hulk off to the sunnier Northern climes of Bendigo. 

... With Solo

The first solo occasion was marked by spending the evening with Sneaky Pete and BrotherStealer watching one’s copy of Solo which refuses to play on one’s blue ray. 

It was an enjoyable evening of of visual and gastronomic feasting. 

... with The Great Sandro

One’s next solitary activity was an expedition to that horrible stadium that is far from Marvel-lous to watch the Pies not play at all. 

Joining one in solitude were The Great Sandro and Sneaky Pete. The less said about the experience the better. 

After all that Solo activity the following weeks became a blur of work and school holidays - I am fairly sure that I attended the correct one. 

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Hulk - The Early Weeks

When one began composing this post it was rather naively entitles - Hulk, the Early Days.

Well since then the piecemeal nature at which one was able to add ones brilliant thoughts to the draft had made me believe that I was looking at having to re title it as - Hulk. Year One. While one would surely have enjoyed basking in the kudos this would have brought from such graphical story telling literati as Zombie Monkey and The Real Greg Dean, it has eventuated that my deadline has stretched out to mere weeks.

In any case many are the things that have occurred during the early days weeks of the time of Hulk.

One has been head down in reading materials wide and sundry - finishing long bookmark-laden tomes and making visible progress on one's to-be-read stacks, various. In fact all but the nigh insurmountable penultimate Wheel of Tedium volume have fallen beneath the scythe of my reading gaze.

One has had occasion to watch many a late night movie and has begun filling in may of the glaring holes in ones experience of the past few decades cinema. For example one now knows that Tom Hanks gets off the island.

One has even managed to make some small steps of progress in ones gaming projects in a way that may even make Fantomas believe that they could become real when one next attends the Tuesday Knights.

One has had several meetings in passing with Salsa Girl and even shared several meals.

Of course there has been some time spent with young Hulk. Why we've had special daddy-daughter time watching the mighty pies (and another team that looks similar but seems to have lost the mighty bit).

Hulk unable to bear the skill errors.

We also tried our hand at bonding over some solo gaming - managing to see off those pesky Persians at Thermopylae and winning the Battle of the Five Armies for the Orcs.

There have been visit from relatives various, a handful of friends, and late night hallucinations of the interesting kind.

As predicted by FridgePower one has been able to indulge in the ancient art of poo smearing - although much of the training I undertook cleaning up after The Tiger has gone to waste as there has been a suspicious lack of any positing (the nice word for baby vomiting) particularly of the furball kind.

In amongst all this Legion2 and the BrotherStealer have seen fit to try and steal my hard-earned spotlight by delivering their second a full six weeks early. One can only be glad that Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad have been away all this time so there would be no unseemly squabbling for the favour that is rightfully mine.

In any case this disjointed report has brought you up to date with the trials and tribulations we have been undergoing for the past few days weeks.

It only gets easier from here they tell me.

And then they snigger.
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Happiness is an Empty Blog

Well what do you know. Who would have thought that being in a state of happiness would have precluded one from scribing posts for The Tales?

Many things have been taking me away from the blogosphere and towards sublimity. Among them are: many an outing with Salsa Girl whom you may have realised is the successful candidate; the magnificence of the Magpies as we cruise into September footy action - enjoyed along with the Legion2, BrotherStealer, Mirri Cat Warrior and the aforementioned Salsa Girl; and the most recent piece of happiness to come my way is my attainment of Uncle status once more with Legion3 and Madmog providing me with my second niece.

So all in all I'm sure they are all fantastic reasons for one to be away from ones usual writing station and I accept your forgiveness for my little lapse into lassitude.

I'm sure that I shall be returning to a more regular schedule in the near future so keep your eye on The Tales.
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Becoming Crazy Uncle Phill

One has just heard from Legion2 that as of 9.40 tonight Mirri Cat Warrior has finally made good her arrival into this world.

Both she and BrotherStealer are doing well and the whole procedure was trouble free - well except for Legion2 unnecessarily missing Tuesday nights gaming.

The biggest problem we face now is tracking down Freeloading Mum and Handy Dad in the midst of their European Safari, and informing them of their new Grand status. But that is Legion2's concern which leaves me to ponder on how best to shape this new young mind into complete adoration of her crazy uncle Phill.
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Changing Rooms

So we were all prepared yesterday for the last day of gaming at Legion2's as the impending arrival of Mirri Cat Warrior was soon to take him out of circulation for a while and our current gaming venue with him.

However BrotherStealer once again deprived us of Legion2's company as she decided to begin having contractions that morning.

Great pain and effort was then gone to in ensuring all participants were aware of the change of venue to Chateau de Freeloading Phill. (A special thanks to Gavman for remembering Elfboy's penchant for not reading his email and getting the message through to him with this new-fangled SMS thing).

All ended up fine as we adjusted to the new surroundings and got under way at the usual time. One was disappointed that the expected farewell to Legionville cake did not eventuate from any of the guests but perhaps there will be a welcome cake next week?

In the end it turns out BrotherStealer was having hysterical contractions and as yet there has still been no action on the Mirri front although we are being told it's any hour now.
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Car Collection

My day yesterday included a most entertaining last minute trip to help Legion2 and BrotherStealer out on an errand.

Recognising the value of better mobility once their new addition arrives mid-year they have been recently looking for an automobile to provide the required increase in mobility.

Having decided on the particular vehicle to purchase they encountered the problem of having to get said vehicle from Dandenong back to our wonderful area.

With neither of them being well practiced in the driving arena they naturally called on the best driver they knew - yours truly.


We all took a most interesting taxi ride down to the collection point. Our taxi driver was equipped with the most inaccurate sense of crossing Melbourne. The GPS device he had - presumably to combat his terrible Melbourne sense - was unfortunately as poor in the navigation stakes as he was himself.

We started out with a long stretch in traffic rather than using some of the traffic avoiding freeways that our government has been busy constructing in recent years. After that it just became comical as he obeyed the GPS's instructions to move from one major road to another and then back onto the first major road as obviously the GPS knew of the best way to negotiate that particular intersection.

Once arriving in Dandenong proper the poor GPS became confused once more when the main road changed name and had our driver dutifully looping the block as he left and then returned to the straight forward path.


On arrival we quickly found the salesman and began the paperwork. Of course in this modern world the Rewards program was the first and most important thing to be completed.
Throughout the initial dealings I began to get a sense about our salesman and was reminded of the bumbling stereotype under pressure from the boss.
Of course this was vindicated when it came time to fork over the cash when on sight of the cheque book he uttered the fateful words "Oh, uh, didn't I mention it was supposed to be a bank cheque? I normally mention that."

A short check with the boss later and the purchase had been made on credit card - with a little extra fee for Legion2 and BrotherStealer - and we were into the auto and ready to be on our way.

Ignoring our salesman's parting advice to drive the wrong way down the service lane to get to the closer cut-through to the highway I took the law-abiding direction for all of the 50 metres it was to that cut-through and then we were on our way.


One pleasant drive home - using the short freeway route of course - and the new transport was parked in the driveway looking deceptively like the Gavman-mobile come to visit (I expect much confusion and joviality next gaming night).


I returned home for a quiet night in all the while pondering in what form I should take my reward from Legion2 and BrotherStealer - perhaps taking the first born Herod style?
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Geisha Girl on the Rocks

As shed week has turned into shed fortnight I have not much on which to expand this week. So let me take you back to the depths of my previous weekend and the glorious event of Geisha Girl's birthday.

The first stages of this epic were hosted at the new-ish ice rink in town. The idea being that all would partake in circling around the ice. However being the proud owner of one dodgy knee I thought it prudent to avoid the possibility of doing myself further injury and stay off the ice.

Joining me on the sidelines were BrotherStealer (understandable given her incubator status), Legion2 and Camo Spice - the latter pair declining to repeat their agonisingly slow-motion chase of a roller-skating night many years ago.

We watched Geisha Girl and The Composer go around a few times before GG herself took a tumble and immediately iced her bruise.
After that we all headed to some nibbles and conversation at a nearby establishment in the shadow of the remains of the great wheel.

After a while I made the difficult decision to forgo an early night and instead head back to Geisha Girl's for further conversation and some promised home-baked brownie.
The brownie was as delicious as promised and the sugar-rush kept me going until my nighttime tram ride dropped me at my doorstep.
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Shed Week

Shed Week was heralded in with a weekend party in honour of Agent Smith's newly constructed residence.

While transporting Legion2 and BrotherStealer to the shindig along with myself I may have become lost amongst the unfamiliar - and inadequately signposted - surrounds of the other side of the city. (Perhaps it should be other-other side, since work is already on the other side?) However it merely added to the sense of accomplishment once we did arrive.

At first the affair appeared to be merely a family one, and one did feel out of place amongst the relatives but soon the familiar faces began flowing in. There was The Valkyrie, and Amoeba, Mechwarrior Wayne, Camo Spice, Redneck Ben, Doom, The Doctor, and a most unexpected appearance from The Fungi Lady.

All in all a great night highlighted by Agent Smith and his band belting out some rock favourites in the pool room. The only downside was the good Agent outdoing my drumming prowess by also singing for several of the numbers - such five-way coordination having always been beyond my capabilities.


Early in shed week I snuck back into my home branch to try and recall what it was I had been missing these past few weeks. Alas no luck as the harassment soon drove me to spend the next few days in the IT shed at the corporate castle, ostensibly working on new PCs but actually just secluding myself from society.

Those days did allow me to finish reading The Men Who Stare at Goats which I found to be fun and interesting. It did confirm a lot of my conspiracy theories about the US military. Thanks to Badger for the birthday gift of the book.


A definite highlight of Shed Week was an Old School D&D bash, with The Viking Hat GM and others, in which stupid rules were enforced with TVHGM's usual forceful vigour. Despite all that my poor little Gnome character managed to survive and looks forward to serving his god Sumdertgud in future dungeon delving escapades.


Shed Week was wrapped up with a full day installing new PCs with my trusty sidekick Ms Magpie. Unlike my solo working style we got a lot done with minimal fuss - something it may take me some time to get used to experiencing.
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The Missing Weeks. Part the Fifth

Contrary to unpopular belief I am not instituting a new regimen of daily posting.
The recent frequency is merely a part of the effort to catch up to the present day - a form of time travel, if you will, where the events fly past much faster than normal as we spirit forwards into the future (well, the now actually).

So let's set the controls for the new year and see how far we get...


A Lazy Xmas Day
After a nice little sleep in I collected Legion's 2 & 3 and we made our way to Legion headquarters.

With Freeloading Mum working until the late afternoon lunch was only attended by Handy Dad and the Legion. We partook in a relaxed BBQ lunch with the sun shining down upon us.

Later, when Freeloading Mum arrived, we commenced our giving of token presents and some catch up chat.
Legion followed this with a game of Shadows over Camelot which took us right up until BrotherStealer and the cousins arrived (separately).
Only one branch of cousinage was attending the evening this year on account of holidays I believe. We did see the ever reliable to be in attendance at family gatherings first-name-stealing-cos-he's-a-few-months-older-than-me Cousin Andrew, as well as Cousin Dave and wife and nearly newborn.
An evening feast was had and then the baby-burdened had to leave because of upsetness.
The rest of the 'kids' retired to the garage and thus ensued many hours of Kelly pool playing on the wonky family table.

Thankfully the behaviour of Legion4 was in stark contrast to the previous Xmas day as he had only a moderate number of drinks and was quite the enjoyable company for the whole day.


An Average Boxing Day Board Games
Upon consultation with Pirate Dave it was decided to hold the nigh-traditional board game playing day on the Sunday between the actual day and the public holiday - sort of an average of the two.
ElfBoy, however, had other ideas. Having only cleared his schedule for the actual day - and inexplicably not checking his email on Xmas - he twisted my arm and enforced card playing for the evening of the actual Boxing Day. Of course Pirate Dave and Legion2 were also dragooned into the event.

The next day we gathered for the actual boardgames, swapping Badger in for the unavailable ElfBoy. We managed to knock out a whole mini campaign of my go-to wargame - Memoir'44. However without the assistance of The Viking Hat GM we Belgians could not even muster up a single win and had to give over France to the Germans.



There was not much else happening in the week leading up to years end, a few days off, a few work days that felt like days off and otherwise life as usual.


The New Years Eve Movie Night
Our plan for this New Years was to gather at MatrixMan's to participate in what I like to call "Educating Vengeful Vic". You see MM and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to rectify that terrible Escape from New York shaped gap in Vengeful Vic's cult filmic experience.
We gathered that evening with Legion2, BrotherStealer and Pirate Dave. Of course Couch Killer was also there, hogging all the attention as usual.

We opened the evening with pizza and wine - always the best way to start a movie night - and then commenced our support feature The Ninth Gate up until that point unseen by yours truly.
It was a good supernatural thriller reminiscent of your Damiens and Rosemary's Babies, requiring some thinking to figure it out but between the roomful of us we managed to reach the level of intellect needed.

After that it was onto our main feature which still stood the test of time despite being set in the Now of 1997, and having ginormous mobile phones as state of the art tech.



And so, this brings us to the end of our little series of catch up postings. You should all be well versed in what exactly occurred to this auteur in those many weeks of blogging silence.
A new year would be the time to make all sorts of resolutions about more regular updates but, sadly, the time has passed as I write this and I shall have to wait for New Years next before the opportunity for the declaring of such a resolution arises once more.


up next: a return to the irregular scheduling you must surely have become used to over the last year.
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The Missing Weeks. Part the Third

As we continue on with our investigation we find ourselves coming to one of those regular seasonal events that seem to occur naturally whenever the season is right.

The Branch Xmas drinks
This years occurrence was located at a different establishment than is the usual case for events such as this.

We gathered in a drinking house recently converted from being an automotive repair business - one presumes that easily hosed concrete floors are an exciting thing for those who earn their livelyhood from the alcohol imbibing industry.

Anyhoo, in attendance were: Mr Prada, Days of our Libraries, Kiwichick, The Pragmatist, Fifi, and even Supervisor Grand Chief K put in an appearance after fixating on my costume accessories for the next evening's party - in particular the handcuffs which just happened to be a part of the pack - and showed a shocking amount of ignorance of who the character I was going as actually was.

Much fun and frivel was had by all. The evening finished relatively early which was fine as the rest of my evening could be spent storing up energy for the next big event.


The 40th
The very next evening was the 40th birthday affair for BestFriendSincePrep. As is his want he had made the whole thing slightly more annoying as it was a costumed ball and therefore costumes had to be prepared. I do suspect though, that it was done purely so that he could wear a wig and experience a warm head all night.

Legion2 and the Brotherstealer where there as were Gavman, StumpyRudolph, MrRogers, MatrixMan, Vengeful Vic and Couch Killer.

My choice of costume - the legendary Snake Plissken - revealed some shocking statistics.
95% of women at the party had no idea who Snake was (one guessed the actor)
20% of men had no idea either - and that's allowing Gavman's guess of Jack Russell in Little China to stand as a success.
This country is obviously in need of a strong education campaign in the area of B-grade sci-fi movies from the early eighties.
I'm not even going to talk about the horrendous sub-100% recognition rate for Legion2's Han Solo costume.

But aside from all that the brilliance of BFSP in having a slushie machine was just one of the many masterstrokes in the nibbles department. All in all a good night and perfect preperation for the next days adventure.

up next: in which our hero traipses from one end of town to the other
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... The Nuptuals of Sir Clive

The big event this week was my attendance at the wedding of Sir Clive Pitbull. There was also some upgrade stuffgoing on as well but I wasn't paying much attention to that as my focus was on the free feed of the Saturday evening event.

I was once again designated Legion driver and packed Legion's 2, 3, Madmog and BrotherStealer into my transportation device for the leisurely drive down to sunny Williamstown.

Upon arrival my suspicions were confirmed - we were at the same venue that had hosted Doom and The Doctor's engagement soiree - so much for expanding my resume of Williamstown venue attendance.

So, while I struggled through my 'nam-like flashbacks of events in the venue, the ceremony and mixed finger-food reception continued forthwith. I could tell I was off my game as I repeatedly failed to be at the serving table as new dishes were brought forth for consumption. I even suffered several attacks of politeness and allowed others to serve themselves before I had taken as much as I could.
Still my condition was nothing as compared to Sir Clive's. His reputation as a fanatical purveyor of all musical things punk, noise and experimental was dealt severe blow after blow as
first: a karaoke machine was wheeled out without nary a whine from him, and
second: pop song after pop song played on throughout the evening.
The ultimate proof of his new status of "you've changed man" was when he took a place as a link in the conga line for Peter Allen's When My Baby Smiles at Me.

Departing at a reasonable hour I was only subject to a mild level of in-car shenanigans from Legion's 2 and 3 who had consumed a reasonable but unspecified number of beverages which still proved to be below the "too many" level.

All were soon home and warm and cosy after a good night out celebrating.
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... The Star Trek Review

So, along with Fantomas and Pirate Dave from my regular Thursday night gaming group, I decided to forsake the game tonight for the only thing geekier - the new Star Trek movie.

It was pretty good using many of the common tropes of the franchise to explain the reboot of the continuity and pave the way for not having to slavishly follow the previous series and films.
Highly recommended.


The geekiness of Star Trek has even managed to eclipse my other big geek event of the week - another Geektogether. The Viking Hat GM organised the first of these in almost a year to try and kick-start his flailing gaming career after the The Blithe Bogan abruptly put an end to its latest burst of activity a few weeks ago.


And in a contrasting non-geeky event I, along with Legions 2-3, BrotherStealer, and MadMog, attended the housewarming for Spare Legion this Saturday past. With Badger and Hector the Nazi also in attendence much drinking and fun and frivolity was had by all.
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... The Watching of The Watchmen

I went and saw the Watchmen movie last Saturday night with Legion2 and BrotherStealer.

I enjoyed it although the violence and steamy bits did seem to be pushed to make a contrast to the mostly talky way it all goes in the graphic novel. I'm not surprised that parents in the US who took their eight year oldsdecided to walk out - I am surprised (a little anyway) that they even took them into a MA15+ movie. It must be that whole attitude of "superheroes a for kids"

In an unintended homage to the films grim run-down eighties New York setting we saw it at the Greater Union cinema which had seen it's best in the eighties and is now a large, empty, grim, run-down space haunted by the ghosts of my teenage film viewing experiences.

The highlight of the evening was, of course, the Mexican meal afterwards. There's nothing quite like that bloated-by-beans-and-light-headed-from-margaritas feeling.
The lowlight of the evening was that Svetlana refused to talk to me on the phone while I was in my Mexican Nirvana. However that was rectified the following evening when it was just me talking with no margarita involvement at all.
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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.
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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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... 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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... 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 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.

... The Guide Updated

Not a Lot has been happening so I am going to release the next chapter of The Guide to cover the fact that I have no content.

There was a Saturday night poker game with Legions2-3, Badger, BrotherStealer, Spare Legion and Legion3's better half. I was late because I found that I had a flat tyre when I went to drive over and instead had to be chauffeured in style by Spare Legion driving with no night vision and using his old glasses which give him a "what's that blob?" level of vision.
I managed to come second in both poker games but more importantly I came home late and then had The Tiger getting me up ridiculously early on Sunday morning.

Speaking of fun Sunday morning activities there's nothing like changing a flat tyre while you have a knee injury.

The afternoon didn't really get better as I headed off to the footy with Legion2, Elfboy, and The Great Sandro. I amusingly ran into Agent Smith outside the ground after we'd been on the phone that morning trying to arrange a time we could meet up.
Collingwood didn't really perform at all and we were subjected to an antarctic gulf stream at the top of the Ponsford stand, so there was not a lot to enjoy for the afternoon.
The evening was much better. After dropping The Great Sandro home I caught up with Rugrat Twin for a late dinner on Victoria Street and ended up getting my hands on the next few volumes of Fables as I had quite enjoyed the first one.

Monday was spent at Beaumaris branch working out their new printing arrangement with Devil's Advocate.

I was back again on Tuesday to teach yet another class with the classy Mr Prada. After escaping from educating the public I made a quick stop at Sandringham and I found that they'd given up all hope of ever seeing me again after I'd not been by in less than a week.
Alas before I could let them bask in my Phillness for very long I was summoned to Brighton to deal with even more printer issues.
Thankfully that evening I was able to get a little stress relief in at gaming when, during the Judge Dredd game, I was able to interrogate all the characters about their woeful behaviour as Judges - something that seems to be fairly common when ordinary people try to roleplay as future law enforcers.

This morning I had the professionals repair the damage that a screw had done to my tyre before cruising in to Brighton to scavenge from their Staff Room Table of Bounteous Food and do a little work as well.

Okay maybe I lied - I guess a bit has been happening.

... Blogger's Block

Oddly I find myself with nothing that interesting to write about. I've been so busy lately with work and play that I've only got half-formed thoughts and can't even work myself up to the level of a mild rant. Maybe the act of writing will bring it out of me?

After my last Saturday night I can give a caution about Mexican food and free birthday meal vouchers. There I was with BrotherStealer and Legion2, happily using my free $22 birthday meal voucher at Taco Bills when the evening was brought to a crashing halt by the staff making the cheapest meal the one that was free and not mine - even after I specifically asked if the voucher applied on Saturdays while ordering my meal!
Nothing cheapens a free meal like getting ripped off on your voucher discount.


In my desperation to find something to write about I've even stooped to doing some more 2.0 - even if Supervisor Grand Chief K completely ignores my progress again I'll know I've moved ahead.
(246 Alternate Title: Thing #13 Tagging and Del.icio.us)
Well the first part of this is easy. If you'll merely look to your right you will see that I am somewhat of an expert at tagging things so much that you can get lost in the list. Although much to my shame my LibraryThing page is a little light on in the frivolous tagging department.

Del.icio.us is a little bit interesting as a accessable anywhere place to store your bookmarks (under your own tagging system, note the subtle connection with tagging). Although traditional bookmarks saved to a usb achieve the same thing. Where it seems to shine is in leading you along that path of interconnections by tags so that you can while away the hours online and forget about the rest of your life because it's all so fascinating.
Having come from a webpage creation background I already have my Phill's bookmarks webpage which is accessible to me from any browser by simply typing in the easy remembered web address.

Must off to bed now as my trawling of tag interconnections has used up my evening and taken me into the early morning.