... the IT man in LibraryLand
So after yet another Training Day where I was expected to earn my free lunch by presenting IT stuff to my staff, and a few days of last minute RFID tagging and nigh-constant scanning of books I was stopped dead in my tracks on Wednesday night.
Upon my arrival at Exploding Ninja Pony's Fortress of Doom™, The Viking Hat GM promptly presented me with two pre-cooked meals to help me in my quest for better bachelor living.
Of course I was immediately suspicious - a condition that continues despite the wonderfully satisfying full-belly feeling from the pumpkin soup last night. So far only good has come of it but you never know, it could be a slow-acting poison...
In a move more in his traditional style TVHG and The Blithe Bogan are at this moment trading blunt email ripostes over the state of the gameplay from that night. I plan to roll up my sleeves and dive in shortly after finishing my scribing here. Hopefully things will stay on a civil level as I do hate it when mum and dad fight!
In another move of unexpected kindness next week has been dubbed "Be kind to AntagonisticAl week" because apparantly my relentless hounding of her in her capacity as a hated marketing officer is somehow a little upsetting. Go figure?!
It will be a struggle but I should be able to make it as the Monday public holiday reduces the duration by a whole 20%.
My one fear is that said kindness to A could become a habit in the way that many of our character flaws often do.
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Showing posts with label RFID. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RFID. Show all posts
... The End of the Busy Days?
I think that was just my biggest non-Svetlanaland break. As the title may give away I have had very little "free" time to blog and also because of the massive tome that Badger has had me reading since January first I have had no easy "just finished a book" posts to make.
That doesn't mean, however, that nothing has been happening - as this sample should prove irrefutably:
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That doesn't mean, however, that nothing has been happening - as this sample should prove irrefutably:
- a team lunch at The Yacht Club followed by gaming at my abode in the evening
- the physio's all clear for knee go-live day at soccer
- multiplying my RFID tagging output by ten at Hampton and reaching the allusive 100 items! (only 5467 steps that day however)
- another regular card tournament at my place with most of the regulars in attendance
- the soccer groups annual family BBQ
- spruiking the RFID at Brighton to not one but two visiting contingents of interested libraryland visitors, then rushing to Hampton to lose a battle with a virus infested staff computer, and consequently arriving late to night one of my second great experiment of gaming with The Viking Hat GM, and Exploding Ninja Pony - this time under the auspices of a new GM (blogname pending - edit: The Blithe Bogan)
- network outages ending, virus removal complete, and regular gaming all evening
- early morning wake up calls from The Tiger, who now needs me to stand by the bowl in order to eat - who says cats aren't neurotic!
- working on the desk with Sister Serials while the Sandy Squad talk about me in their staff meeting and, more distressingly, have cake and biscuits in said meeting without me.
- session two of gaming with a baby in the room. I must say it does inspire having the players encounter a screaming monster
- attending a morning tea and lunch - flanked by some talk about wireless hotspots - out in the far reaches of libraryland. The event itself being marred somewhat by the onset of yet another Man-Cold
- spending my training day preparation time suffering from the aforementioned YAMC. Being fuzzy headed and sneezy and sniffly is not conducive to scribing precise answers to IT questions. I did while away some time watching The King of Kong - force-lent to me by Sister Serials. It was lots of fun and I think I may have found my new hairstyle in the bad guys mullet. Mr Prada did ask the pertinent question though - "is it Svetlana approved?"
- a tortuously early start to training day under orders from Devil's Advocate to collect IT gear from the corporate castle, leaving me too exhausted to properly demolish the morning tea, lunch and post-event drinks
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... The Subject of Dreams
As is the way of synchronicity two individuals whom have never met - except in my mind's eye pan across the rogues gallery of people I know - have had me feature as a central figure in their dreamscapes.
It is understandable, of course, given how larger than life and mentor-y I am for both of them.
In any case the substance of their unconscious imaginings may shed further light on any actual cosmic connection.
The first instance occurred in the depths of Mr Prada's RFID induced delirium. Having spent most of an afternoon last week discussing how we were to move a heavy trolley from one branch to another - including the option of wheeling it the 1.9 kilometres (distance includes the block looping and doubling back that I am consistently able to produce in Google Maps) - his nights rest took on a nautical theme with the two of us transporting said device around the bay in a row boat, of which I was presumably the captain.
Our other case-study is MatrixMan who conjured me into one of his regular siesta-time somnabulances. In this instance he was napping on the non-existent balcony at my place, I decided to begin our latest tournament without waking him and he was peeved to no end. Obviously with or without a balcony that is something I would never do and I have already changed my plan for tournament day accordingly.
So there you have it - if you include the fact that I am a guaranteed gallivanter through Svetlana's nocturnals - I am the denizen of dreams of those I know and therefore shall probably be visiting your REM realms in the near future as well.
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It is understandable, of course, given how larger than life and mentor-y I am for both of them.
In any case the substance of their unconscious imaginings may shed further light on any actual cosmic connection.
The first instance occurred in the depths of Mr Prada's RFID induced delirium. Having spent most of an afternoon last week discussing how we were to move a heavy trolley from one branch to another - including the option of wheeling it the 1.9 kilometres (distance includes the block looping and doubling back that I am consistently able to produce in Google Maps) - his nights rest took on a nautical theme with the two of us transporting said device around the bay in a row boat, of which I was presumably the captain.
Our other case-study is MatrixMan who conjured me into one of his regular siesta-time somnabulances. In this instance he was napping on the non-existent balcony at my place, I decided to begin our latest tournament without waking him and he was peeved to no end. Obviously with or without a balcony that is something I would never do and I have already changed my plan for tournament day accordingly.
So there you have it - if you include the fact that I am a guaranteed gallivanter through Svetlana's nocturnals - I am the denizen of dreams of those I know and therefore shall probably be visiting your REM realms in the near future as well.
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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.
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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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... 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.
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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.
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... Mr Sniffles
I've been laid low with a most vicious strain of man-cold for most of this week, however I dragged myself out of my deathbed yesterday in order to fulfill my duties as Mr Secretary and host the local chapter of SPUN, the LMS group, at Brighton library.
I arrived early in the morning to find a Sister Serials Sniffles Survival Pack of tissues and canned soup awaiting me on my desk. I knew I was still sick when I caught myself thinking about how nice that was and how it would all be very handy during my recuperation.
After a quick and easy room set-up (with loads of help from The Administrator) the meeting went well and the morning tea was fantastic - a selection of cakes and biscuits from a local bakery. Dubrovnik Hater was in attendance in her new guise as "one of them" as were many of the other usual attendees.
Most stayed around afterwards to watch my demonstration of the all-consuming RFID system including real live borrowers and minor bugs.
After the main meeting there was an executive meeting with Madame President and our late arriving new, us yet un-blog-named treasurer. In the pub. Hefty decisions were made and after those drinks were sorted out we moved on to official business.
On returning to the library for a good half-afternoon's work (halfternoon?) I was greeted by Lord of the Small Fries who was giddy with glee over my new workroom moniker of Mr Sniffles. I'm sure this was the cause of my making a mess of some updates to the RFID kiosks and having to stay until closing time to straighten it all out.
Returning home I had some lovely soup for dinner and then promptly went to bed, and sleep, at the early hour of 11pm for the beginning of what turned out to be 9 hours of sleep.
Such rest invigorated me with enough strength to face work for a second day in a row and I pottered through the day today before coming home for an end of the week quiet night at home tonight.
I arrived early in the morning to find a Sister Serials Sniffles Survival Pack of tissues and canned soup awaiting me on my desk. I knew I was still sick when I caught myself thinking about how nice that was and how it would all be very handy during my recuperation.
After a quick and easy room set-up (with loads of help from The Administrator) the meeting went well and the morning tea was fantastic - a selection of cakes and biscuits from a local bakery. Dubrovnik Hater was in attendance in her new guise as "one of them" as were many of the other usual attendees.
Most stayed around afterwards to watch my demonstration of the all-consuming RFID system including real live borrowers and minor bugs.
After the main meeting there was an executive meeting with Madame President and our late arriving new, us yet un-blog-named treasurer. In the pub. Hefty decisions were made and after those drinks were sorted out we moved on to official business.
On returning to the library for a good half-afternoon's work (halfternoon?) I was greeted by Lord of the Small Fries who was giddy with glee over my new workroom moniker of Mr Sniffles. I'm sure this was the cause of my making a mess of some updates to the RFID kiosks and having to stay until closing time to straighten it all out.
Returning home I had some lovely soup for dinner and then promptly went to bed, and sleep, at the early hour of 11pm for the beginning of what turned out to be 9 hours of sleep.
Such rest invigorated me with enough strength to face work for a second day in a row and I pottered through the day today before coming home for an end of the week quiet night at home tonight.
... The Well Deserved Day Off
I don't want to be a martyr but boy have I suffered lately for this RFID project.
So to make use of some of the hundreds of extra hours I've worked over the past months I decided to take a single day off.
The first complication was cancelling my IT Team meeting - which wasn't in my calendar(not my fault, honest) - so that they wouldn't scheme against me without me there.
The next wonderful thing that happened was The Tiger deciding to wake me early because she felt the need for company while she ate the bountiful food I'd left out for her the night before. I tell you I'm looking forward to Svetlana's coming visit so I'll be able to kick her out of bed with orders to look after the little one.
This wakeup was followed by a call from Torchwood's temporary successor continuing the harassment that I'm sure Torchwood herself included in the position handover instructions.
Once my day proper had begun it was quickly spoiled by The Beaumaris Ballerina, who decided to make a Sister Serials-esque support call about - you guessed it - an RFID problem.
One of the benefits of being home was being able to fianlly have a phone conversation with Svetlana herself after a few weeks of mixed up weekend schedules.
So to make use of some of the hundreds of extra hours I've worked over the past months I decided to take a single day off.
The first complication was cancelling my IT Team meeting - which wasn't in my calendar(not my fault, honest) - so that they wouldn't scheme against me without me there.
The next wonderful thing that happened was The Tiger deciding to wake me early because she felt the need for company while she ate the bountiful food I'd left out for her the night before. I tell you I'm looking forward to Svetlana's coming visit so I'll be able to kick her out of bed with orders to look after the little one.
This wakeup was followed by a call from Torchwood's temporary successor continuing the harassment that I'm sure Torchwood herself included in the position handover instructions.
Once my day proper had begun it was quickly spoiled by The Beaumaris Ballerina, who decided to make a Sister Serials-esque support call about - you guessed it - an RFID problem.
One of the benefits of being home was being able to fianlly have a phone conversation with Svetlana herself after a few weeks of mixed up weekend schedules.
.. Betrayed into Blogging
I am only able to make this blog tonight because The Bastard cancelled tonight's game due to health issues. I am outraged. Did I cancel because of my near-decapitated knee? No - well not more than once or twice anyway - so how dare he!
Speaking of betrayals, I have now settled reasonably comfortably into Beaumaris branch after managing to get out of Brighton alive. I've even done more RFID tagging here in two days than I did on 2 months at Brighton. I guess you could say that Brighton is a high-maintenance branch, but I never would.
Oh and speaking of bastard GMs I spent a little while before putting the hat back into The Viking Hat GM's name for the handful of posts for which he'd made an appearance. It seems he didn't like it's absence, despite the fact that only a small handful of geeks would even understand the phrase for which he is named. I hope he's happy now and stops victimising us at the Monday night game.
Now on to more important matters - Days of our Libraries has accused me of still being wedding-drunk during the scribing of my previous posting.
This is patently preposterous and this photo from the wedding, courtesy of Rugrat Twin, should emphatically clear my name.
Speaking of betrayals, I have now settled reasonably comfortably into Beaumaris branch after managing to get out of Brighton alive. I've even done more RFID tagging here in two days than I did on 2 months at Brighton. I guess you could say that Brighton is a high-maintenance branch, but I never would.
Oh and speaking of bastard GMs I spent a little while before putting the hat back into The Viking Hat GM's name for the handful of posts for which he'd made an appearance. It seems he didn't like it's absence, despite the fact that only a small handful of geeks would even understand the phrase for which he is named. I hope he's happy now and stops victimising us at the Monday night game.
Now on to more important matters - Days of our Libraries has accused me of still being wedding-drunk during the scribing of my previous posting.
This is patently preposterous and this photo from the wedding, courtesy of Rugrat Twin, should emphatically clear my name.
... The Lunchless Launch
Now that a few days have passed I have had time to recover from the severe lack of lunch at Monday's RFID launch.
The day started badly with Sister Serials having snuck in over the weekend and processed a huge mound of new magazines which yours truly had to load onto the tagging machine so they could be put away before the launch event happened.
The launch itself went without a hitch which is surprising given technologies usual reluctance to work properly under pressure. I was surprised to learn from the assistant to the minister's copy boy (or something like that, the minister couldn't make it) that up until RFID we'd been tagging books with up to seven tags! But then I'm not a librarian so what would know.
Now to be fair to Supervisor Grand Chief K there were some nibbles and bubbles supplied but there also appeared to be some sort of conspiracy to keep me busy and away from the table as guest after guest was trotted out with questions for me to answer. In the end I did manage to wash down a few crumbs of cheese with the dregs of the last bottle of bubbles - all under the pressure of Devil's Advocate hovering around to reclaim my glass like I was some sort of thief. Suffice to say I wasn't able to complete my set of champagne flutes.
Also this week:
Monday night I once more foolishly subjected myself to The Viking Hat GM's torture disguised as game. Perhaps it the abundance of snacks that keeps me doing it?
Tuesday night I had eight blokes pretending to be cowboys as our latest game - a supernatural western - began with some crazy hijinks on a train.
Wednesday Sonja Roster Queen and I began blasting (or zapping if you're SGCK) the Brighton collection to activate the RFID tags. I don't think I will every tire of the "blasted books" joke.
As it turns out blasting is not nearly as exciting as it sounds. The process involes waving an antenna wand over the books until they are all done - it actually feels more like you're caressing their auras than blasting them.
On Thursday The Administrator and I tag-teamed to train the public for a day consuming couple of classes due to trainer illness.
My week ended on a high indulging in a small after-work tipple with Groovy Spirits, Shirl, and Nurse Janet after the days duties were done.
Once Home I watched the footy until I was joined by Pirate Dave dropping off some cards for the next tournament. We tried to puzzle out his new World of Warcraft boardgame until late in the evening. Eventually he left when he guessed I was tired from my subtle move of passing out from exhaustion.
The day started badly with Sister Serials having snuck in over the weekend and processed a huge mound of new magazines which yours truly had to load onto the tagging machine so they could be put away before the launch event happened.
The launch itself went without a hitch which is surprising given technologies usual reluctance to work properly under pressure. I was surprised to learn from the assistant to the minister's copy boy (or something like that, the minister couldn't make it) that up until RFID we'd been tagging books with up to seven tags! But then I'm not a librarian so what would know.
Now to be fair to Supervisor Grand Chief K there were some nibbles and bubbles supplied but there also appeared to be some sort of conspiracy to keep me busy and away from the table as guest after guest was trotted out with questions for me to answer. In the end I did manage to wash down a few crumbs of cheese with the dregs of the last bottle of bubbles - all under the pressure of Devil's Advocate hovering around to reclaim my glass like I was some sort of thief. Suffice to say I wasn't able to complete my set of champagne flutes.
Also this week:
Monday night I once more foolishly subjected myself to The Viking Hat GM's torture disguised as game. Perhaps it the abundance of snacks that keeps me doing it?
Tuesday night I had eight blokes pretending to be cowboys as our latest game - a supernatural western - began with some crazy hijinks on a train.
Wednesday Sonja Roster Queen and I began blasting (or zapping if you're SGCK) the Brighton collection to activate the RFID tags. I don't think I will every tire of the "blasted books" joke.
As it turns out blasting is not nearly as exciting as it sounds. The process involes waving an antenna wand over the books until they are all done - it actually feels more like you're caressing their auras than blasting them.
On Thursday The Administrator and I tag-teamed to train the public for a day consuming couple of classes due to trainer illness.
My week ended on a high indulging in a small after-work tipple with Groovy Spirits, Shirl, and Nurse Janet after the days duties were done.
Once Home I watched the footy until I was joined by Pirate Dave dropping off some cards for the next tournament. We tried to puzzle out his new World of Warcraft boardgame until late in the evening. Eventually he left when he guessed I was tired from my subtle move of passing out from exhaustion.
... The Less than Satisfying Movie Experience
With Legion2 and BrotherStealer all miffed I inherited their pass to an advance screening of Pineapple Express tonight. There was some confusion with Rugrat Twin who double-booked and ended up seeing something else so I attended on my own.
Being an advanced screening the security was tight - I had to hand over my phone because it could be used to take photos of the movie!
So anyway after lining up to stash my evil technology I waltzed right in without anyone checking my ticket and commenced to sit for around 20 minutes admiring the lovely red curtains.
Eventually the film began and it was pretty much what you saw on the adds. There were a couple of extra bits but no real surprises. It would make a good diverting airplane movie I guess.
I did nod off during the hijinks in the middle so there may have been some fantastic stuff in there but I somehow doubt it.
To make my movie experience even better the venue gouged me more than the cost of a ticket for parking on-site - so much for a free film. Hmmm, perhaps giving me the ticket was some weird sort of revenge ploy from Legion2 for all that older brother stuff I did to him when we were growing up...
Oh and it was RFID go live day today.
Being an advanced screening the security was tight - I had to hand over my phone because it could be used to take photos of the movie!
So anyway after lining up to stash my evil technology I waltzed right in without anyone checking my ticket and commenced to sit for around 20 minutes admiring the lovely red curtains.
Eventually the film began and it was pretty much what you saw on the adds. There were a couple of extra bits but no real surprises. It would make a good diverting airplane movie I guess.
I did nod off during the hijinks in the middle so there may have been some fantastic stuff in there but I somehow doubt it.
To make my movie experience even better the venue gouged me more than the cost of a ticket for parking on-site - so much for a free film. Hmmm, perhaps giving me the ticket was some weird sort of revenge ploy from Legion2 for all that older brother stuff I did to him when we were growing up...
Oh and it was RFID go live day today.
... The Days of the Machines
My last few days have been a blur of IT activity.
It started with the delivery of our new RFID kiosks. Luckily they were also delivered with techs to get them set up and working. So in between all my other wonderful problem solving escapades I have been liaising with said techs and LMS suppliers and staff and maintenance persons.
And today has been training to get staff up to speed on the machines. Of course all this talk of machines brings to mind the recent, and wonderfully Terminator-esque, "You know in the end the machines will win" gambling billboards seen around Melbourne ( viewable on Daniel Bowen's blog).
On top of all that busyness it appears several of our machines have up and walked out of the library so I've had to deal with The Law as well.
The one sweet spot of the week has been savouring my success and emplacing myself on the desk formerly known as Torchwood's.
Oh and speaking of machines, Tuesday night gaming really could have used some computer assistance to work out how to apply my simplification of the game system we are using for our new story arc. I can only surmise that the problem lies with the players as my games designing skills cannot be called into question.
It started with the delivery of our new RFID kiosks. Luckily they were also delivered with techs to get them set up and working. So in between all my other wonderful problem solving escapades I have been liaising with said techs and LMS suppliers and staff and maintenance persons.
And today has been training to get staff up to speed on the machines. Of course all this talk of machines brings to mind the recent, and wonderfully Terminator-esque, "You know in the end the machines will win" gambling billboards seen around Melbourne ( viewable on Daniel Bowen's blog).
On top of all that busyness it appears several of our machines have up and walked out of the library so I've had to deal with The Law as well.
The one sweet spot of the week has been savouring my success and emplacing myself on the desk formerly known as Torchwood's.
Oh and speaking of machines, Tuesday night gaming really could have used some computer assistance to work out how to apply my simplification of the game system we are using for our new story arc. I can only surmise that the problem lies with the players as my games designing skills cannot be called into question.
... The Celebration of Brighton RF
Yes that's right we're halfway through Brighton's RFID tagging and running to schedule - take that Skeptic L, and you doubted me at the last SPUN meeting.
The celebration took the form of free nibbles and drinks in the staff room at the end of the day.
I am suspicious that there was a conspiracy to keep me away from the event with Bomber Babe unnecessarily calling me out to the library to fix the minor problem of no public internet connection - causing me to miss the best of the nibbles!
Once I joined the celebration it was quite a cheerful event with my personal highlight being this short conversation involving the newly blonded Big J.
The celebration took the form of free nibbles and drinks in the staff room at the end of the day.
I am suspicious that there was a conspiracy to keep me away from the event with Bomber Babe unnecessarily calling me out to the library to fix the minor problem of no public internet connection - causing me to miss the best of the nibbles!
Once I joined the celebration it was quite a cheerful event with my personal highlight being this short conversation involving the newly blonded Big J.
Someone else: How do those two borrowers communicate?.
Freeloading Phill: With the International language?
Big J: What, Esperanto? ... ... oh.
... My Guitarist's Anniversary
Saturday last I took a trip down Eastlink, aka sculpture lane, to visit My Guitarist and his wife to celebrate their upcoming 5 year anniversary and his impending aging.
I was the only non-family member so it was a little odd being there with their in-laws but they're all okay. In any case the free lunch was a delicious roast and My Guitarist provided copious hand carved beer.
On the long drive home I listened to the footy to hear the Pies beat the Swans and realise that my long-held dream of being able to wear my Collingwood jumper to work Monday morning and get a rise out of Big J was close to fruition.
Sunday was the first gaming Sunday for quite a while and the highlight was definitely ElfBoy coming along for some gaming with the three-week old Elflet strapped to his front.
Monday night's gaming saw The Viking Hat GM get his way and the game was changed to the one he wanted to run. (Unlike every other gaming related post this one should excite Supervisor Grand Chief K no end as the new game is heavily influenced by Spooks.)
Yesterday provided some lovely cake courtesy of Groovy Spirits before an afternoon RFID meeting had me running late for the final session of my Tuesday Night Judge Dredd game.
Today was a day of niggling little job after niggling little help request and I am quite glad to see the back of it. Honestly I don't know why people turn to me for all their IT help...
I was the only non-family member so it was a little odd being there with their in-laws but they're all okay. In any case the free lunch was a delicious roast and My Guitarist provided copious hand carved beer.
On the long drive home I listened to the footy to hear the Pies beat the Swans and realise that my long-held dream of being able to wear my Collingwood jumper to work Monday morning and get a rise out of Big J was close to fruition.
Sunday was the first gaming Sunday for quite a while and the highlight was definitely ElfBoy coming along for some gaming with the three-week old Elflet strapped to his front.
Monday night's gaming saw The Viking Hat GM get his way and the game was changed to the one he wanted to run. (Unlike every other gaming related post this one should excite Supervisor Grand Chief K no end as the new game is heavily influenced by Spooks.)
Yesterday provided some lovely cake courtesy of Groovy Spirits before an afternoon RFID meeting had me running late for the final session of my Tuesday Night Judge Dredd game.
Today was a day of niggling little job after niggling little help request and I am quite glad to see the back of it. Honestly I don't know why people turn to me for all their IT help...
... RFID Tour Day
Yesterday was a day of visiting several westerly libraries to check out their RFID setup and workflows.
The first stop on the tour was a Sydenham library - a return for me after last years visit.
Wisely deciding to avoid Supervisor Grand Chief K's suspect driving I took the train to meet the group at Sydenham. It was quite a site seeing Mr Prada, Big J, Sonja Roster Queen, Groovy Spirits, Torchwood, Ms Magpie, and Devil's Advocate disembark from the bus and swarm into the library like a school of bibliographic piranhas.
After much investigation - and no morning tea - we took our lives into our own hands and boarded the bus to head on towards our next stop - Caroline Springs (or, in Torchwood parlance, Alice Springs. tsk tsk tsk oh the Welsh.)
Once there we once again swarmed through the library devouring their RFID and other IT set-ups and no morning tea - in a moment of desperation I had to buy myself a mocha at the library cafe.
It wasn't long before we were once again on the bus of death and heading for Sunshine library.
Along the way we made a short stop at this little local attraction.
Sunshine was more of the same but also included a rather unsettling moment of thinking the same thing as Torchwood when the locals replied that they hadn't done any yet to T's question about communicating with the borrowers about their new system which went live last week.
Anyway, after my eyebrows eventually came down again, Supervisor Grand Chief K announced that we were finally going for lunch. Oh, but what a cruel announcement that was. Picking a delightful little wine bar we discovered that lunch would be out of our own pocket!!
After lunch I made up a plausible reason to catch the train rather than spend any more time under the vehicle directing "skills" of SGCK.
I made my way straight home, pausing in the city only long enough for some gaming-related shopping - having the latest edition of Traveller being a requirement to put me back ahead of The Viking Hat GM in the collection stakes.
After some well-earned rest I headed out for the semi-annual soccer night out consisting of some lovely dinner and conversation at a pub along with free drinks from the match payment kitty.
The first stop on the tour was a Sydenham library - a return for me after last years visit.
Wisely deciding to avoid Supervisor Grand Chief K's suspect driving I took the train to meet the group at Sydenham. It was quite a site seeing Mr Prada, Big J, Sonja Roster Queen, Groovy Spirits, Torchwood, Ms Magpie, and Devil's Advocate disembark from the bus and swarm into the library like a school of bibliographic piranhas.
After much investigation - and no morning tea - we took our lives into our own hands and boarded the bus to head on towards our next stop - Caroline Springs (or, in Torchwood parlance, Alice Springs. tsk tsk tsk oh the Welsh.)
Once there we once again swarmed through the library devouring their RFID and other IT set-ups and no morning tea - in a moment of desperation I had to buy myself a mocha at the library cafe.
It wasn't long before we were once again on the bus of death and heading for Sunshine library.
Along the way we made a short stop at this little local attraction.
Sunshine was more of the same but also included a rather unsettling moment of thinking the same thing as Torchwood when the locals replied that they hadn't done any yet to T's question about communicating with the borrowers about their new system which went live last week.
Anyway, after my eyebrows eventually came down again, Supervisor Grand Chief K announced that we were finally going for lunch. Oh, but what a cruel announcement that was. Picking a delightful little wine bar we discovered that lunch would be out of our own pocket!!
After lunch I made up a plausible reason to catch the train rather than spend any more time under the vehicle directing "skills" of SGCK.
I made my way straight home, pausing in the city only long enough for some gaming-related shopping - having the latest edition of Traveller being a requirement to put me back ahead of The Viking Hat GM in the collection stakes.
After some well-earned rest I headed out for the semi-annual soccer night out consisting of some lovely dinner and conversation at a pub along with free drinks from the match payment kitty.
... The Bus Man's Holiday
The highlight of my last week would have to have been the Bayside RFID Investigation Team boarding the Council Youth Services mini-bus and cruising down the highway to the glorious sounds of Best of the 80's Volumes 1-4.
We were off to experience another RFID tenderer demonstration. This one came with morning tea and lunch which I managed to partake in despite my mild nausea from Supervisor Grand Chief K's erratic "driving".
My one mistake for the day was to do some actual work and ask technical questions. That little slip-up lead to me forgetting to have any of the cakes!! Luckily for me Sonja Roster Queen had stuffed her bag full of wedding-esque cake parcels and I was able to savour the delights of a caramel slice sugar rush on the journey home.
My time at the wheel finally came after we had dropped SGCK off for another "important" meeting. Repaying Sonja Roster Queen's earlier kindness I drove in a manner that caused her to scream her delight at my driving skills.
The rest of the week included: my scoring again at soccer; BestFriendSincePrep forcing me to eat far too much pizza on Saturday night before a board games evening with SpawnOfBestFriendSincePrep playing his newly acquired copy of Mousetrap; a Geektogether memorial Gary Gygax Dungeons & Dragons game; a late night phone talk with a very fluey Svetlana; finished The Urth of the New Sun Gene Wolfe's slightly lackluster sequel to the books of the New Sun; and far too much wrangling of the new printers.
We were off to experience another RFID tenderer demonstration. This one came with morning tea and lunch which I managed to partake in despite my mild nausea from Supervisor Grand Chief K's erratic "driving".
My one mistake for the day was to do some actual work and ask technical questions. That little slip-up lead to me forgetting to have any of the cakes!! Luckily for me Sonja Roster Queen had stuffed her bag full of wedding-esque cake parcels and I was able to savour the delights of a caramel slice sugar rush on the journey home.
My time at the wheel finally came after we had dropped SGCK off for another "important" meeting. Repaying Sonja Roster Queen's earlier kindness I drove in a manner that caused her to scream her delight at my driving skills.
The rest of the week included: my scoring again at soccer; BestFriendSincePrep forcing me to eat far too much pizza on Saturday night before a board games evening with SpawnOfBestFriendSincePrep playing his newly acquired copy of Mousetrap; a Geektogether memorial Gary Gygax Dungeons & Dragons game; a late night phone talk with a very fluey Svetlana; finished The Urth of the New Sun Gene Wolfe's slightly lackluster sequel to the books of the New Sun; and far too much wrangling of the new printers.
... An RFID Afternoon Tea
Today, after the delivery of snazzy new printing equipment at all my branches, I headed off to an RFID demo by one of our tenderers.
The cakes for afternoon tea were particularly delicious, although Groovy Spirits did nab some of the chocolaty ones I'd earmarked for myself so I had to settle for lemony ones for thirds and fourths.
There were some inciteful questions asked by Miss Amanda and Sonja Roster Queen but I was too busy ruing the loss of all that hedgehogy goodness to take much in.
The session ended quite well with my being able to go home early.
The cakes for afternoon tea were particularly delicious, although Groovy Spirits did nab some of the chocolaty ones I'd earmarked for myself so I had to settle for lemony ones for thirds and fourths.
There were some inciteful questions asked by Miss Amanda and Sonja Roster Queen but I was too busy ruing the loss of all that hedgehogy goodness to take much in.
The session ended quite well with my being able to go home early.
... The Trade Show Dinner
After my first day of work consisted of hacking my way through a jungle of email to the bottom of my inbox it came as a welcome relief to see that Supervisor Grand Chief K had remembered to invite me along to the VALA trade show this time. She now realises that taking your IT man to an IT focussed event is probably a good idea.
I also had an invite to a dinner put on by our LMS supplier. I agonised for all of one second about skipping gaming night for a free dinner before accepting the invitation.
So yesterday morning, after an interesting meeting with representatives from a printer and PC control company, I was able to take off in the early afternoon to head home and prepare for the impending fun.
Once home I freshened up, donned my trusty excursion bag (see Svetlana, I told you it would be useful once I was back!), gave The Tiger a quick few minutes of stuff-chasing fun, and caught the next train for the big smoke.
I decided to walk from Flinder's street only to discover that the event was not actually at Jeff's Shed but across the river at the convention centre. Upon my eventual arrival I met up with SGCK and Mr Prada and we began the great stuff hunt.
I may be becoming a little blasé but not much of the stuff was that interesting. Most of the pens were flimsy plastic affairs and I already have popping tins and such-forth from Information Online last year. I did pick up a great pen from Civica, and my drawing of a tree earned me a lovely green watch which was far too small for my wrists made rugged from years of keyboard pounding. I was disappointed in the stands that thought a brochure about their product counted as free stuff but what can you do?
I may also have accidentally gained a little first-hand experience about different RFID products along the way.
Our little Bayside triumvirate managed to evade expulsion from the hall and was able to stay for the cocktail reception which was up to the usual beer or wine is a cocktail libraryland standard.
Mr Prada and I tried to find the optimum point in the hall for food tray interception bumping into Madame President and several other of the usual suspects before joining the SPUN friendship circle and heading off to the dinner.
Dinner was at Breezes restaurant in Crown which is a delightful place to relax with dinner except for the hourly huge explosions just outside the window.
The service was of the much appreciated bottomless wine glass style - except for the strange neglect of Sonja Roster Queen's glass which lay barren for the first half hour. I was a little suspicious that they were making fun of me when they produced a double-sized glass for my use for the second half of the evening.
SGCK was flitting around enabling everyone, The Flibberty Gibbet fell off the wagon but was surprisingly well behaved, and I even managed to have a civil conversation with Dubrovnik Hater.
All in all it was a good evening and we left at a reasonable hour as there was nobody with a hotel room and mini-bar to raid.
Fighting off jet-lag on the train I narrowly avoided missing my stop and was home before midnight.
This morning sees me coming into work for my birthday day of work - brightened immeasurably by the presence of Days of our Libraries birthday cake. I also received a wonderful card from Sister Serials - ever the pinnacle of card selection - featuring one dog saying to another:
"I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless, incessant barking."
I also had an invite to a dinner put on by our LMS supplier. I agonised for all of one second about skipping gaming night for a free dinner before accepting the invitation.
So yesterday morning, after an interesting meeting with representatives from a printer and PC control company, I was able to take off in the early afternoon to head home and prepare for the impending fun.
Once home I freshened up, donned my trusty excursion bag (see Svetlana, I told you it would be useful once I was back!), gave The Tiger a quick few minutes of stuff-chasing fun, and caught the next train for the big smoke.
I decided to walk from Flinder's street only to discover that the event was not actually at Jeff's Shed but across the river at the convention centre. Upon my eventual arrival I met up with SGCK and Mr Prada and we began the great stuff hunt.
I may be becoming a little blasé but not much of the stuff was that interesting. Most of the pens were flimsy plastic affairs and I already have popping tins and such-forth from Information Online last year. I did pick up a great pen from Civica, and my drawing of a tree earned me a lovely green watch which was far too small for my wrists made rugged from years of keyboard pounding. I was disappointed in the stands that thought a brochure about their product counted as free stuff but what can you do?
I may also have accidentally gained a little first-hand experience about different RFID products along the way.
Our little Bayside triumvirate managed to evade expulsion from the hall and was able to stay for the cocktail reception which was up to the usual beer or wine is a cocktail libraryland standard.
Mr Prada and I tried to find the optimum point in the hall for food tray interception bumping into Madame President and several other of the usual suspects before joining the SPUN friendship circle and heading off to the dinner.
Dinner was at Breezes restaurant in Crown which is a delightful place to relax with dinner except for the hourly huge explosions just outside the window.
The service was of the much appreciated bottomless wine glass style - except for the strange neglect of Sonja Roster Queen's glass which lay barren for the first half hour. I was a little suspicious that they were making fun of me when they produced a double-sized glass for my use for the second half of the evening.
SGCK was flitting around enabling everyone, The Flibberty Gibbet fell off the wagon but was surprisingly well behaved, and I even managed to have a civil conversation with Dubrovnik Hater.
All in all it was a good evening and we left at a reasonable hour as there was nobody with a hotel room and mini-bar to raid.
Fighting off jet-lag on the train I narrowly avoided missing my stop and was home before midnight.
This morning sees me coming into work for my birthday day of work - brightened immeasurably by the presence of Days of our Libraries birthday cake. I also received a wonderful card from Sister Serials - ever the pinnacle of card selection - featuring one dog saying to another:
"I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless, incessant barking."
... A Cup Day BBQ
After some relatively sedate Monday night drinks to celebrate Legion4's birthday Melbourne Cup Day began with a much needed sleep in - barely feline interrupted at all.
My impeccable complimentary gastronomic timing had me arrive at MrRogers's BBQ just as the meat from the spit roast was being served. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching races, fashion and kids running amuck. BestFriendSincePrep brought his brood and so did The Electric Tiger. It is uncanny how the kids know to come and stand in front of the TV for the three minutes of The Race after being elsewhere for an hour.
Later in the afternoon I was subjected to some SMS stalking by The Flibberty Gibbet thanks to the enabling activities of Supervisor Grand Chief K.
Some pseudo regular gaming occurred in the evening with Legion2 and ArchEnemy.
After such a lovely day off I returned to work today to confront issues small and large and the prospect of the looming RFID implementation. All that work ahead makes the prospect of being kidnapped in Svetlanaland seem all the more tempting.
My impeccable complimentary gastronomic timing had me arrive at MrRogers's BBQ just as the meat from the spit roast was being served. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching races, fashion and kids running amuck. BestFriendSincePrep brought his brood and so did The Electric Tiger. It is uncanny how the kids know to come and stand in front of the TV for the three minutes of The Race after being elsewhere for an hour.
Later in the afternoon I was subjected to some SMS stalking by The Flibberty Gibbet thanks to the enabling activities of Supervisor Grand Chief K.
Some pseudo regular gaming occurred in the evening with Legion2 and ArchEnemy.
After such a lovely day off I returned to work today to confront issues small and large and the prospect of the looming RFID implementation. All that work ahead makes the prospect of being kidnapped in Svetlanaland seem all the more tempting.
... The RFID Disaster
This Wednesday was a meeting discussing RFID which went all morning and ended without a free lunch! The presence of Krispy Kremes for morning tea does make up for it somewhat but still... what was Supervisor Grand Chief K thinking sending people away starving after such a long meeting.
As to the content of the meeting... it was interesting and has certainly started the thought processes that will lead to us not just walking blindly into adopting this new technology.
As to the content of the meeting... it was interesting and has certainly started the thought processes that will lead to us not just walking blindly into adopting this new technology.
... The Mountain of Disappointment
This weekend was the annual camping trip with BestFriendSincePrep, Legion2 and other friends from high school. It was the twentieth anniversary of the first time we went up to Mt Disappointment, just north of Whittlesea, for a night of bonfire, booze and blokeyness. It was just the core group of six this year, though not by design, as things had been a bit too hectic to invite others along.
In library news, last Thursday Supervisor S and I went out to Sydenham Library to investigate their RFID set-up and self-check machines. Our guide from the library was a clone of Mr Prada! (although he didn't have quite the sense of style of the original). Scary for an IT man like myself was the 38 (although their website claims 40) public access PCs!!
On the home front things are looking more like a home now and less like a messy warehouse.
In library news, last Thursday Supervisor S and I went out to Sydenham Library to investigate their RFID set-up and self-check machines. Our guide from the library was a clone of Mr Prada! (although he didn't have quite the sense of style of the original). Scary for an IT man like myself was the 38 (although their website claims 40) public access PCs!!
On the home front things are looking more like a home now and less like a messy warehouse.
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