Birthdays and drinks

Last Thursday was Ivan's 33rd birthday and this Thursday is my Grandma's 80th, so we've been quite busy of late. For Ivan's birthday I attempted to make him a dinner of his choice, which thankfully wasn't a disaster, and that night Mum, Dad, Maria and Steve popped around to wish him well and to pass along their gifts.

On the Friday night we went to the Griffin's Head Tavern to meet a swag of Neverwinter Nights Internode users, which I was a little apprehensive about simply because I find it a little nerve-wrecking to meet a bunch of people I don't know but on the other hand I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately Matt couldn't go so the only people Ivan and I were going to know were Ivan and I, thus I was a little relieved when Alex called announcing that him and Eric were coming along to shout Ivan some birthday drinks.

It turned out to be a really fun night and we met a bunch of great people and Ivan got a little drunk which was quite amusing, hehe! We took some photos of the night which may seem meaningless without names to point out who is who but if you want to have a look at them they can be found here.

Now that I am back to my normal duties at work things have settled down to something more controllable and I am starting to see parts of my desk again which has been very nice. Towards the end of last week I was in the "I can't wait until Sandra comes back" stage, although I could get used to the extra money.

Today has been particularly awesome because we have received new colour coded files for each area and the colour we got in the area I work in is PURPLE! So I have gone on a little filing frenzy just so I could use the new purple files, although admittedly it didn't take long for the novelty to wear off.

And now a final note for the day: Ivan watches Big Brother more than I do but pretends he isn't by saying "it's just on in the background". Pfft!

More stuff and things!

I am soooo looking forward to having a long weekend due to Easter it isn't funny. Although I feel I have regained a little more control over my workflow, work is still so busy and thus today I figure I may as well leave early and start my long weekend off on a positive light, so I shan't be here for much longer indeed!

Once again my life outside of work is rather limited. However, last weekend Ivan and I did go to Darren's place for a LAN which was heaps of fun. Ofcourse, I came last in the Racedriver 2, and ofcourse I remained middle of the pack in Tiger Woods Golf, but I had hoped to do better in F.E.A.R than the third place I got, damn Shane and his actual practising of the game. Damn him!! We played a few other games throughout the night to keep things fresh and I must say I can't think of a single thing where I thought it wasn't that good. Well done to Darren for making the night fun as always!

Those sorts of nights can wipe you though, especially when you get to bed at 4am, and so my weekend was no more constructive than that. This weekend I am really looking forward to some time at home, as I can barely get myself out of bed to come to work these days. Tomorrow I'll probably go to church with Mum and Grandma and then on Saturday we're having lunch with my family, so the rest of the weekend I hope to catch up on some reading and TV shows and perhaps do some housework (things are looking a bit on the gross side). Yeah I know it's not at all exciting but you're the sucker reading this :P

Happy Easter everyone :)

Quiet Schmiet

Although still under the pump at work, things have settled into a somewhat controllable routine about the place and I actually feel like I'm getting through things rather than just having them pile up on my desk threatening to bury me.

In fact, the only bad thing to happen to me while I was at work last week was buying a "fresh" salad from a salad bar only to find it was still thawing, with the egg not being fully defrosted. And hey, if that's the worst thing that happens to me in a week of work, I know I am very lucky to have such a job.

So another weekend has been and gone, with this one being much more quiet. I had such a nice relaxing one, it's a wonder I have needed coffees today. On Saturday all I did was go and get a facial and then on Sunday I visited Mum briefly but then hurried home to watch the F1 Grand Prix. God I wish the F1 racing was still here in Adelaide - I really must get to Melbourne for it one year, there's just nothing quite like it.

Anywho, as usual nothing exciting happening on this end of things but at least I am now updating my blog needlessly ;)

Clipsal 500

Ahh, another year, another Clipsal 500. Since the F1 races left Adelaide, Dad and I tend to go to the Clipsal 500 every year, even if just for a day. Last year we didn't go because he had just had operations on his foot so this year we were extra excited. He was going on all 4 days, with me agreeing to go with him on the Saturday. Mum then found out a couple of days beforehand that she could get 4 Gold tockets from her work, so she snapped them up, so in the end the whole family went.

I had such a great time, with the only downside being the heat. We weren't undercover so spent most of the day in the shade, finally returning to our seats for the big race. All in all it was a fabulous day - my family all got along, I got to go to a Motorsport event for the first time in a couple of years, it didn't rain (although some clouds would've been nice) and the race itself had lots of cool incidents which kept things interesting :) I'm looking forward to going again next year already! Unfortunately, every single one of us forgot to take cameras with us, so the only photos I have are on my mobile. I'll probably post a couple when I get to downloading them off my phone.

P.S. I know I have neglected this Blog big time. There are only two things happening in my life at the moment - work and playing Neverwinter Nights when I get home, so I haven't had much time nor anything exciting to write about. I'll try and keep this place alive until I find some inspiration again though.

Waaaaaay overdue

I know it's been three weeks since I've updated, but believe it or not this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write. Work, where I normally update from, has been incredibly busy and I've thus had no time to do any of the web browsing I would normally do from work. The problem has been that a couple of our staff have left at once and there are so many things to do that each day until right now has been chockers. I have not been the nicest person to work with, I must admit, and have gone home lately quite discouraged with this place, but it has its good days too so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Aside from work when I get home I don't log on to update my blog as I'd much rather spent the time playing Neverwinter Nights which is slowly killing me I think, but oh it's a good, fun death! On the few occasions I have left the house for reasons other than work I've either been seeing the family or being lucky enough to see Michelle's family for the first time in many months. I can't get over how quickly those kids grow, I must endeavour to catch up with her more often.

Hmm, what else... Ah yes, Valentine's Day has been and gone again, and I must admit that although Ivan and I have a long-standing agreement that we won't fuss over each other on the day, reading other people's blogs make me go "Awww, I wish we'd done something more". Damn you Tim! Nah he did cook me a delicious dinner which was very nice as he hardly ever (read: never) cooks, and it turned out which was even better.

I think that's it, I'm leaving work early to go shoe shopping so I'd better wrap this up :) That's right, today I get to blog AND shop, I truly am spoiling myself today.

Pleasing

Mum and Dad's houseguests left on Sunday which has made them very happy indeed, as from what I heard they were not the most pleasant people to live with for a couple of weeks. On Saturday we had their farewell lunch at Mum and Dad's which went later than I'd hoped, but on the plus side I got to see my family and so there was at least one positive to the day. We did very little for the rest of the weekend except play Neverwinter Nights, and I've enjoyed having a few quiet weekends.

Anyway, so the house guests. Mum and Dad told me many stories about their behaviour but I guess a couple of incidents stand out. The first is the fact that, even though you're a guest at someone's house, surely you could at least wash your own clothes, no? On another occasion, after dinner Dad made everyone little sandwiches as an after dinner snack. The lady promptly put the plate in front of her and ate all four sandwiches. Who does stuff like that? I dunno, maybe I was just brought up differently but I thought people could be polite no matter how they were brought up. I've travelled and stayed with other people on several occasions and it seems only nice to put your dishes in the sink, offer to help with housework, take care of your own laundry, surely? Ah well, now their lives can return to normal. They sounded very happy on the phone after dropping them off at the airport and I think they won't be accepting houseguests again any time soon.

Today at work has so far been bad. Just found out that annoying Manager is staying for 2 more months. This makes me a sad panda.

Run in

Bloody hell, what a morning already. Dad dropped me off at work today and a set of traffic lights changed in front of us which is where I decided to get out of the car. Ofcourse, I didn't look, and thus a cyclist was there I was unaware of. Thankfully, as the lights were red and she was slowing down too, it was not as bad as it could have been and the timing was so that she was able to stop before hitting the door, but bloody hell did I get a bit of wrath. Immediately I said "I'm so sorry, I didn't even look" with her looking like she wanted to punch me, and my word I think sorry was just never going to be enough for this girl. She raised her voice at this point, replying "I know you didn't look!" Well, friends, I wasn't going to stand on this street corner arguing the point (although seeing as we both agreed I didn't look, I'm not sure what we'd be arguing over) so I replied, "I'm saying I'm sorry, what more do you want?" I actually did feel really bad... until she pointed to Dad's number plate as if memorising it to report it later. Fucking pedal bitch.

Insanity

For the last 2 and a half months we've had an Acting Manager, someone who came from outside this office. In that time I have tried to be patient and calm but my goodness, this week he seems to be more annoying than ever. He's one of those "but that's not how we do it in the other office" people. Well buddy, you don't exactly do things right in that there place! I have no problem with people asking questions but this guy's problem (well, one of them anyway) is that he doesn't believe your answer. So he'll ask the person in the next cubicle. Then he'll ask his Manager. Then he'll ask his Manager's Manager. Each person confirming what you bloody told him to start with. And must he question every damn thing we ask him to sign? MUST he? Apparently the answer is yes. Or possibly no, but he will anyway.

The only way to somehow get through these days without banging one's head against a desk is to email your colleagues and vent your frustration like so... "Argh he drives me insane!!! We're not asking you to assess the bloody thing, just DO IT!!!" You get the idea. God bless my colleagues, for we are all going through this madness together.

To the land of Edon

I have become completely addicted to playing Neverwinter Nights online, and the only person to blame is Hoogs. He was over one day, telling Ivan about how much fun it was to roleplay the game online, and thus hooked us in (especially me, the wannabe story teller, very good stuff for the imagination). Ivan went and bought it one day and the next day I did the same, and since then there have been a lot of late nights as a result. It is so addictive because each time you join a server it's a new experience and you can make as many different characters as you'd like.

So anyway, that's pretty much been life for the last few days. Aside from that the only thing that's been happening is that we have some relatives down from Hungary, staying with Mum and Dad for the last week. It's apparently a cousin of Mum's and his wife although Mum hasn't seen them in around 30 years or something. So on Saturday we all went to Gorge Wildlife Park. I can't remember if I've been there before, like back in Primary School or something, but I had a great time. We stayed there for a BBQ then headed home and Darren came over for a few hours. One thing though, I stupidly relied on Whereis.com to give us a quicker way to get there and it sent us on some crazy trip through the hills. One of the streets it sent us down was Corkscrew Road and for a person who hates driving through the hills it was a nightmare. We arrived with queesy stomachs indeed! Needless to say, we took the easier option home, even if it was a few kms longer...

Not the best of breaks

Thursday was Australia Day and thus, a day off work, and in effort to get a long weekend I also booked Friday off as an Annual Leave day. I imagined myself getting some housework done and above all else, relaxing my arse off, but so far that's not really been the case.

Ivan had a big data entry project to do which he anticipated might take him the whole 4 days so in an effort to free up his time I decided to give him a hand. We worked all of Thursday and Friday afternoons on it and got it finished. We'd just talked about how we'd go out somewhere for dinner with some of the money earned as a bit of a treat.

Then Ivan was packing the stuff up, moving the chair back around to the other desk but had to lift it to get it over the desk. In doing so, he tripped over the wastebasket and the chair went through the front window of the unit. My immediate reaction was to laugh, because I always laugh when something bad happens as some crazy defense mechanism and also because the vision of him tripping over was quite bloody amusing. But then I realised most of the money we'd just earned had just, literally, gone out the window.

We phoned a couple of glaziers and one came out at a reasonable price last night but didn't have the right sized glass and ofcourse, he has not yet returned today so our front window is currently patched up and all our neighbours are now well aware that we're idiots.

In an unrelated topic we also seem to have an ant problem. The problem is, we keep getting odd ones around the place and not a stream so we have no idea where they're getting in but their singularity is starting to annoy me.

So aside from all that crap I haven't done very much at all besides watch a bunch of Smallville episodes. I'm frantically trying to get through the Season 2 episodes. And the extent of my housecleaning so far has been cleaning the toilet. Not exactly the break from work I had planned...

Last

It's the last day to vote for my blog in the 2006 Australian Blog Awards so get to it! Follow those links to the right and vote away! And unlike John Farnham, this really is the last time [to vote].

As an aside, today is possibly the last time I have pasta for lunch when I'm wearing a white shirt. Will I never learn?? Apparently, because this shirt is stripey the spillage is not as obvious but methinks my workmates are just being kind.

Oh, to be (filthy) rich!

After having the same $10 sunglasses for just under 10 years, I decided it was time for a new pair when I put them on recently and could hardly see out of one eye due to the lenses getting scratched in my handbag. Sunglasses are something I have never splurged on because of the fact I either a) lose them, b) sit on them, or c) scratch them. But this time, I thought, I'd look for something a little better and attempt to take care of them.

I went into Shades first, which was a huge mistake. I tried on a few pairs and fell in love with this one pair which, I was very disappointed to hear, were going to cost me $400. $400 for a pair of sunglasses! I'd never want to take them out of their case! I'd require an alarm thingy with them so I could locate them! They'd need to be completely unbreakable. Unfortunately, the price was mainly due to the name, and not for any of these nifty features. Woe is me.

Ofcourse, every other pair I tried on and looked at after just couldn't compare to this pair I'd fallen in love with. I searched high and low for something reasonable. In the end, I went to the Chemist and ended up buying a much more respectably priced pair of sunnies, but alas, they don't look quite as good.

FYI for those in Adelaide, the Sunglass Hut I don't think have ever heard of customer service. I went in there twice (yes, I gave them a second chance!) and each time the "customer service" staff walked right by me not to someone else, but just to wander around the store aimlessly. Good job, ladies.

New planet discovered!

This morning NASA sent off a probe to Pluto, but let me tell you, I don't need no fancy high speed thingy to discover my own planet in the last few days. This planet is situated... get this... on my leg.

Yes, I speak of a pimple. On my freaking leg. Who gets a pimple on their leg? I mean that rhetorically but clearly the answer is me. I don't know why or how but somehow it appeared on the lower half of my leg earlier this week, and from the looks of it, it's here to stay for a while. And it's not just a little one either, it is HUGE and stands out like dog's balls. So in this 35+ degree weather I can't even wear a skirt to work. Bastard of a thing!

A challenge indeed

My poor Dad seems to have a continuing run of bad luck when it comes to sucky employers. There was as some might remember the whole debarcle pre-Christmas 2004 when the place he'd worked at for 15 years decided to give him the old heave-ho and then the challenge of getting them for unfair dismissal. SO he wanted to get out of that industry and start something new, and since then poor Dad has had trouble finding his place in the workforce.

I don't know why my family kept it from me, but I only found out a couple of days ago that Dad's no longer doing delivery work anymore because again, basically his boss was a bit of a prick (this time, no evidence of something we could take him on, unfortunately). I was initially told Dad was put on standby because the company lost the delivery contract, but then last night Mum told me she suspects it was because he made a pay enquiry with his boss after working on a public holiday and the boss apparently flew off the handle. How can people be such total arses?

So this morning Dad had an appointment with a recruitment agency that Ivan had set up (bless his cotton socks). I went along with him before work as it was an informal get-together just to hand in a Resume basically and arrange a time to fill out paperwork, etc. She was such a positive person and was very reassuring, so I hope something comes out of it that above all else makes Dad happy! God knows he deserves to be happy after putting up with crappy workplaces for so many years.

It really got me down thinking about it last night, probably because I remember my own crappy experiences. Thankfully, I have had pretty good working relationships throughout my working life, but when I started off at Bi-Lo as a 15 year old I had the biggest dickhead as a boss, ever. He gave me a written warning on Christmas Eve for the love of god! In fact, the only two written warnings I ever got were in the first 3 months of working there, both from him, and I worked with that company for 9 years with no other verbal warnings, even. I hate that man to this very day.

So, get it off your chest, what bad experiences in the workforce have you guys faced?

A shameless plug indeed

In honour of my 300th post, and also because I'd like to bask in some kind of e-glory, I bring your attention to the fact that you may now vote for me in the 2006 Australian Blog Awards (see links in the sidebar). Unfortunately, you need to be registered with Collective Apathy to vote, so one link directs you to the nominations screen where you can register, and the other link takes you to the voting page for the category I'm nominated in. I've made it as easy as possible for you all to sign up and vote for... well, whoever you like :) Signing up to the site is easy and well worth it to cast a democratic vote. So, vote away (if you please)!

Has it been that long?

I was getting into such a good habit with updating this Blog regularly and now, before I know it, almost a week has passed since my last update. Oh well.

Not that I have anything interesting to report, really. I was intending to get on here a few days ago and discuss the "controversy" (and I use the term loosely) that is Brokeback Mountain, and I'm sure I had other things to prattle on about, but that moment's passed so I'm left with a quick boring update.

With the whole metering data saga work has been really hectic as I was responsible for moving the project forward while someone was on leave, and at times over the last 3 weeks I was sure I'd go somewhat crazy, but thankfully he's back from leave now and my own work can slowly return to normal.

The weekend passed with little fanfare, although it's just what I needed after the leadup to Christmas, than New Year's, than a LAN. A rest was definitely in order. On Saturday I went to visit Mum and Dad for a few hours and that was about the only time I left the house over the weekend. The rest of the time was spent watching the Cricket, watching Smallville episodes, catching up on other weekly TV shows, playing a couple of games, reading, and generally just sitting on my arse. Fabulous. (Or should I say, fabularse, ha ha).

My apologies for not leading a more exciting life at the moment :)

JeStEr's Arcade

On Saturday we went to Darren's place for what he has named JeStEr's Arcade, i.e. a LAN. He's running it so every 3 months he has one with prizes and points for games tally over the year so that each year he can name a Gamer of the Year. That sentence contained the word "year" a hell of a lot.

He's planned it really well actually, and we had a lot of fun despite turning up late and being assigned to The Hot Room (temperature-wise, not looks-wise). There were 8 of us in total (he's gonna keep the same 8 coming each time to make the points fair). The games that were up for competitions were F.E.A.R, Tiger Woods 2006 and Racedriver 2. After F.E.A.R where I'm not too shabby my downhill slide down the ladder began but not to worry. I didn't manage to walk away with any prizes this time either, curses.

Other games we played for fun were Flatout, SWAT 4 and good old Worms World Party for a few laughs to finish of the night. We got home at around 3am so on Sunday we did as little as humanly possibly, with me watching a lot of TV shows and vegging on the sofa.

The only other thing that has happened to me this week is the air conditioner at work is broken and they're endeavouring to fix it ASAP apparently, and they appreciate our ongoing understanding. I don't understand at all, I'm afraid. Would much rather be working from home. Pfft, who am I kidding, I wouldn't get a thing done!

Hmm, better go get something done...

Topics for discussion

I swear, sometimes at work we have the strangest conversations.

I can't even remember how we got onto this topic, but I somehow managed to hear that Karen believes Jesus was actually a vampire. This somehow morphed into the beliefs of Scientology. This somehow morphed into South Park. We then eventually all returned back to working.

Today the topic of discussion was mouldy food, and when it is ok to simply pick off and continue eating the once-mouldy food item, and when it is not. The concensus was that picking off mouldy bits of bread and cheese were ok, but anything meat or yoghurt related were definitely not. And any growth that looked furry was a definite no. And apparently people have died from eatting green potatoes. Then we questioned how blind people would know if their potatoes were green.

Ah yes, you can learn wonderful things and have wonderful conversations in an office environment.

2005 in dotpoints

2005 was very much a topsy-turvy year for me, with a summary of my year below:

• I got to go to Sydney (my favourite city) in January for the Wave Aid concert with Bron. We had an awesome time but I still have the tanlines from getting extremely burned while we were there.
• Dad had his unfair dismissal hearing and won (big relief for the family).
• Music Month for Bron and I continued with us going to the Big Day Out (hadn't been since 1997). Even though this was in February, and thus not the same month as Wave Aid, we still called it Music Month. Being come on to by some guy who was the most drunk I've ever seen someone was the lowpoint.
• At the end of February I moved back to Adelaide from Berri and started my new job in the city with the same Department. I still miss the people I worked with while in Berri but things are so much easier now.
• I started getting into golf even though I am so very bad at it.
• I finally got some new glasses and got to ditch my old 80's frames.
• Ivan started a second job, which took us some time to adjust to.
• Mum had a major operation but is all good now.
• I finally got the geckos I've wanted for ages and adore them despite them getting moody with each other and needing to be separated. Damn drama queens. Their names are Geckotron and Merkenschlager :)
• I got some scary moles removed. Scary stuff but all good in the end.
• I turned 26 with no fanfare but had a nice birthday for a change.
• BF2 was released and was played furiously for a while but now I haven't loaded it since August.
• My sister and Steve got married. It was beautiful.
• My own relationship with Ivan fell apart briefly, with me even looking at other places to move into, but thank goodness, at the eleventh hour he told me the truth about how he felt. We've now passed our 6 year anniversary.
• I lost one of my best friends.
• I gained some new good friends at my new job.
• I got to meet a bunch of friends I speak to online from interstate.
• I went to Victor Harbor for the first time in years.
• I went bush camping for the first time in 2 years. Man, I'd missed it.
• I went to the Barossa with Bron to see Pete Murray and The Whitlams.
• My parents have had some major financial hardship, which unfortunately looks to be continuing into 2006.
• Christmas was the usual quiet affair, and this year we (the family) didn't drive each other crazy. A Christmas miracle!
• NYE was spent at Alex's with a BBQ and a retro games night, playing stuff like Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly and Park and Shop. Bloody hell it was fun :D

As is customary

Just wanted to do a quick update and wish everyone a great New Year's Eve. Hope you all have a great night, whatever it is you might be doing, whether spending it with others or by yourself. I think I've outgrown the "get wasted" aspect of NYE a few years ago and I think the night is no big deal really, but I hope you all enjoy it and stay safe :)

Will update again in 2006!