Archive for September, 2001

Well, everyone else is doing

Well, everyone else is doing it, so I might as well follow the crowd. I’d rather have a rockstar girlfriend though. Hey Bea, learn to play a musical instrument.

CHOGM won’t be happening, which isn’t a surprise really. I have a friend working in Brisbane at a large hotel. She told me this afternoon that it has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Food, wine, reserving the rooms etc. At least the ‘shut down CHOGM‘ folk got what they wanted, although not by the nicest of means.

One of my favourite indulgences in life is peering out of aeroplane windows upon cities. Imaging my happiness when I stumbled upon this site. You can pick any city you like and view a satellite image of it. Be aware that when you click on the image to enlarge it, the resulting image is HUGE. If you only have dialup access you’ll be waiting a fair while.

With the above paragraph in mind, I also love being in tall buildings and looking down. Maps are also a passion of mine. I like knowing where I am in relation to other objects/landmarks etc. This guy went to NYC and took some great photos of New York’s buildings including a couple of the ill-fated Trade Centre. The concluding narration is eerie.

The young man blamed for the kournikova virus has been found guilty and received 150 hours community service. Hrmph. (sorry no links up for that news just yet - so why did I mention it then?)

Everyone’s a winner baby! Around

Everyone’s a winner baby!

Around 16 years ago (when I was 12…shite! Am I that old?) I can recall that the Catholic school I attended had a motivational speaker doing his thing. You know, one of those fruitcakes telling us all to create goals for ourselves, to achieve something new every single day, to make molehills out of mountains etc. Apart from the previously mentioned ideas, he suggested that every single one of us was a ‘winner’.

The logic behind his suggestion was the fact that each one of us is formed from an ovum and a sperm, the sperm being the winner of a race with millions of other sperm. As an imaginative 12 year old, I was off into my own world after that statement. I don’t think I can recall a single word that was spoken that day after the image of myself as a champion sperm was etched into my brain. Such are the wonders of a well rounded christian education. Pfftt!

As I ease myself into another Thursday evening I have rediscovered one of my favourite CD’s.The Mutton Birds’ 1993 release, Salty. One of New Zealand’s finest bands if you ask me. I had never heard of these guys until I was dragged along to an Indigo Girls gig by my girlfriend at the time. As I recall it must have been sometime in 1995. They were the supporting act and as far as I was concerned they should have been the lead act. For any regular gig goer, it is certainly a revelation when you fall for a support act.

Two other bands that I have discovered this way are You am I and Regurgitator. You am I supported Soundgarden at ‘The Roxy’ (now called ‘The Arena’) in Brisbane and Regurgitator were supporting a friend’s band at the ‘Lizard Lounge’ (upstairs at ‘The Embassy Hotel’), once again in Brisbane. This was, as far as I’ve learnt, the gurge’s first gig. So there’s my claim to fame. Seeing Regurgitator’s first gig. After a few emails I have learnt that it was sometime in March 1994.

Phew! Enough of the reminiscing. That was then and this is now!

Ummm…yeah. Errr…now. On the subject of bands, Mach Pelican are playing along with The Spazzys at the Tote Hotel here in Melbourne on Saturday night. I strongly urge anyone with $5 to spare to come along and at least stay to see The Spazzys. They are a truly lovely bunch of well adjusted ladies.

This blog is officially boring.

This blog is officially boring. So…five minutes ago I decided to grab my dictionary, close my eyes, open a page, point at a word and develop a few paragraphs based around that word. I grabbed it, closed my eyes, fumbled for a random page, pointed my finger and looked down. What was my index finger pointing at? The word labia major. For crying out loud. In the interests of good taste I won’t write a few lines about my knowledge of labia major because half the readers of this blog know all about the LM because they possess a set of them. The other half would claim to know all about them anyway. My housemate thinks a labia major is a senior member of the Latvian armed forces for some strange reason. I dunno, maybe he just misheard me. So, basically I think my experiment worked by finding something (although not something interesting) to say. With a bit of luck when I perform my ‘dictionary lucky dip’ tomorrow I’ll point at a word more likely to inspire liteary brilliance.

So what’s going on in this wonderful world today? Old man Pete announces a budget surplus in Australia, no doubt earnt from our pockets via the GST. It might come in handy over the next couple of years me thinks. Operation Infinite Justice has been renamed Operation Enduring Freedom.

Moving to repair damage to Muslim sensibilities, the Pentagon changed the code name of its military buildup to "Operation Enduring Freedom."

The change was made after the initial name — "Operation Infinite Justice" — last week ran into objections from some Islamic scholars on grounds that only God, or Allah, could mete out infinite justice in their view.

It has a less harsh ring to it don’t you think. Operation Law and Order would have been better but the NBC network has obviously already trademarked that name.

Grand Final day. Yes, the AFL final is a few days away. Many Melburnians have some sort of official function to attend. However a less formal gathering occurs at my house every grand final day. The loungeroom is placed strategically in the garden (television, couches, stereo…everything… except the carpet), a BBQ fires up and any object that has four sides and a bottom is transformed into a makeshift esky. I must remember to bring everything inside at the conclusion though, unlike last year when all loungeroom items were severely water damaged by a freak rainstorm.

Things aren’t looking to rosy

Things aren’t looking to rosy are they. Large corporations going bust, Coles/Myer firing left right and centre and Daimaru, one of Melbourne’s biggest shopping complexes has announced it is moving out and going home to Japan. Oh oh, who here is old enough to remember the last time shit like this started to happen. Of course, if we all lose our jobs we can put on a slouch hat and some fake bushy eyebrows and do our PM proud fighting for Infinite Justice.

One of Melbourne’s new trams

One of Melbourne’s new trams was spied upon by my eagle eye today. Quite freaky looking things compared to the old square boxes that rumble around the city at the moment. As it rolled down Collins Street heads turned and fingers were pointed. What’s even better about these trams is that they don’t have ticket machines installed yet. I guess that means they’re free, like all trams in Melbourne for the last 18 months.

The Atomic Bomb. One of mankinds not-so-fantastic creations. An excellent article with first hand accounts from survivors of the Hiroshima blast. Within this article there is also a link to the dictation of an interview with Albert Einstein in November of 1947. Both articles were lifted from atlanticonline.com. The more things change, the more they stay the same it appears.

The overuse of the word resolve lately is really starting to piss me off. George W. Bush loves using the word constantly and yesterday while watching Sunday I heard Alexander Downer use the word. Yes, what a word. RESOLVE. Of course when the pollies use it they intend the word to mean something like determination to achieve a goal. I wish they’d use it in it’s more usual context - as in fixing or settling an issue. I don’t know if I’m the only person that has noticed the overuse of this word lately. Maybe I watch and listen to too much news and current affairs. Sometimes I wish I didn’t give a shit about anything. No, that would make me listen to Triple M all day wouldn’t it.

Woops, a few people didn’t

Woops, a few people didn’t like my comments on possums yesterday. If you read carefully what I wrote you’ll see I didn’t condone pumping lead into a possum. My local council aren’t too friendly towards our furry friends either. Now leave me alone you bastards. Read this article that apeared in The Australian back in June and complain to Newscorp about it. Personally I don’t think my feeble attemps at journalism are worth whining about.

The great Aussie dream is

The great Aussie dream is slipping away from many people. Tell me about it. I could afford my own home right now but I don’t really feel like living 45km away from the city in some drab satellite suburb.

For the first time in years I went to bed early on a Friday night. By 10pm I was out cold. A surprising side effect of this was getting up early this morning. Strange. I went for a walk to the corner shop to get the paper and there were people everywhere. Walking dogs, power walking (I still laugh a people swinging their arms wildly whilst clinging to weights), neighbours chatting, sweeping patios etc. All at the ungodly hour of 730am. Maybe I should try doing this more often. It’s a whole new world.

As you walk down the hallway in my house all you can smell is piss. Don’t worry, I don’t sleep walk. It’s possum piss. For the last month or so, since I moved in to this delightful new house, I have been listening to the playful antics of Mr. Possum. The fact that he is up there in the roof doesn’t bother me one bit. I like to think of him as an adopted pet. Anyway, now that the weather is heating up the smell is unbearable. He must be removed. I’ve already had an offer from a friend who happens to be a federal policeman, which confirms my view that all cops are trigger happy. Yes, he offered to go into the roof and shoot it. Very brainy.

On the footy front my Tiger boys are in the process of being slaughtered by a bunch of Queenslanders with blonde tips. Any team that is born out of the pockets of Christopher Skase must be abolished and all players beheaded (So what if I’m a sore loser).

I’ve been pissing myself laughing

I’ve been pissing myself laughing for the last 5 minutes at this magnificent Norwegien web site. It has nude pictures of all our favourite Hollywood stars, sporting heroes and more (via Grouse). My favourite is Sandra Bullock’s nude diving shot. Check it out.

One of my housemates (Fiona) has buggered off to Holland for 5 weeks. So, here I am stuck in the house with a pot addicted hippy. His constant search for ‘inner peace’ is pissing me off. I feel like telling him that his inner peace is down the road at the pizza shop and while he’s out looking for it I’ll change the locks. Inner peace indeed.

Shauny has an impressive CD

Shauny has an impressive CD collection. But even more impressive is her athletic looking toes. Take a close look at the picture she took.

I am impressed with the amount of debate going on at the moment about all this terrorism buisiness. A lot more people are taking a wider view of events. It’s good to see. Of course there are some numbnuts who think that everyone who wears wrapped cloth on their head is evil. Sad.

One of the blogs on my link list (quirkified) hasn’t been operating since last weeks events. I hope the author, Hamilton is OK and that the server hosting his site is the only thing that is gone. He’s Newyorkese.

A good friend of mine

A good friend of mine came up with some interesting security solutions for airports from now on. In order to stop hijackings two simple procedures could solve everything. The first requires all passengers to travel naked. Nobody could smuggle anything on board and even if they somehow did, not one person would take them seriously. The second involves arming every passenger upon boarding, Interesting thoughts. Somehow I can’t see that they would be implemeted. Let Dave know if you support or disapprove of his ideas.

What a weekend! I am stuffed from attending my first cricket pre-season training session. We all must have run several km’s and loosened up our shoulders somewhat. The next two days are going to be filled with ooos and ahhs for 40 or so males in Melbourne. The lactic acid will be making it’s presence felt. I’ll have to start avoiding a sedentary winter lifestyle from now on. Maybe I’ll look for a local shuffleboard club.

I have found a couple

I have found a couple of links to well educated opinion about the events of the last few days. Graham (virulent memes) found them before me it seems. Smartarse!

Below is a copy of an email I recieved from Mike Moore (of The Awful Truth fame). His mailing list is well worth joining.
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We all need a laugh.

We all need a laugh. Tourette syndrome Barbie provided me with my laughs today (via yourshitisweak.com).

I’ve had my first PC for 18 months now but have run into big trouble. I have bad sectors on the hard drive and am hearing funny noises and experiencing lock-ups. FUCK! If anyone reads this and can suggest any good links for installing a new HDD and copying data onto the new drive, I would appreciate it muchly.