Lexifab

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 03:18:00 +0000

I am trying

Blogger keeps doing whatever retarded not-working thing it's doing, otherwise there would be a new blog entry up here by now. This comment will probably also be cast into some netherweb limbo by Blogger's unfeeling palm, but I'm willing to keep at it until one of us cracks.

Late news

Apparently the problem may be related to the expiry of the otherleg domain name. I'll sit here patiently, until it all sorts itself out, I think. And then, per Andrew's advice, I may change to using Wordpress.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 05:55:00 +0000

Work still busy and Blogger still acting up. Let me summarise

I�d been thinking that I could recap the multitude of events since my last blog entry one by one until I�d caught up, but of course at my usual rate of blog productivity, by the time I�ve finished that, I�ll be a couple of months behind again. Instead, I�ll cheat and summarise stuff, in no particular order of occurrence or significance:

Tasmania - Fi and I went to Tasmania for two weeks, including Christmas, riding motorbikes (and one car) about the twisty mountain roads with Meagan, Kath and Hector, Soozie and Brenda and her two girls. It was a lot of fun, but kind of one of those hard-work holidays that represents a good solid break from work but is not particularly relaxing. Not that we were doing it any great pace � it was more �ride for a day, sightsee for a couple of days, ride to the next place� � but I was still worn out by the end.
Xmas - Was celebrated in a small, well-appointed cottage on a sheep farm south of Devonport. It rained a lot and was bloody cold, but there was an activity room with a pool table and a spa and an extraordinary number of Xboxes and PlayStations, so who cares about the weather? Tragically, in the soon-to-be-traditional Christmas re-enactment of the 2002 Football World Cup, Argentina (Hector) repeatedly demolished England and Australia (me). I feel I would have stood more of a chance if the button used for aggressive tackles (or �fouls�) was not so easy to mash�
The boat- We took the Spirit of Tasmania III from Sydney to Devonport. It�s comfortable enough, though I would make the following recommendations. 1: No matter how resistant you think you are to seasickness, chances are that after 22 hours of a swell that varies between non-existent and interesting, you may wish you�d packed some Dramamine. 2: Stump up the extra cash for a personal cabin, as the cheap bunk arrangements are only barely more comfortable than a hammock located in the bilge tanks.
Back to work - Chaos, mayhem and human drama at work while I was away. Got back to discover there had been a major blow-up/falling out/resignation incident involving a key member of Project Porkpie. Apparently it became very heated and went from mild tension to serious wobbly in a very short and disorienting space of time. The outcome was very unfortunate and probably � well, possibly � avoidable. I certainly doubt that I would have contributed much to the sanity of the situation, although it�s possible it would have gone down differently if I�d been around. Given the clash of expectations and personalities involved, though, I guess I should be relieved it didn�t end up worse. I spent the first couple of days trying to get to the bottom of what happened and the next couple trying to placate sooth and otherwise reassure the skittish remnants of my team. Looks promising � I think the �shit happens� effect is starting to kick in and everyone is just getting on with things. But with one of the most inflammatory players back on deck tomorrow, there�s a chance that a few lingering problems could surface. Fun, huh?
Mum - Has been visiting us for the past few days. Apparently there was enough left over from Dad�s keno winning�s last year to afford to put her on a plane to Canberra for her birthday. It�s been lovely having her (well, mostly she�s stayed with Ian and Sonnie, but close enough). We had dinner on Saturday � did the full regalia, crystal and all, served our favourite five-spice duck and finally nailed the vegetable accompaniment. Success all round. We�ll catch up with her again tomorrow, when cousins Steve and Jen will be visiting, and then she�s back hom on Wednesday. Our turn to visit her next, I suspect.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 05:02:00 +0000

Bugger

After planning to spend the day progressively filling in the past six or seven weeks in micro-blogs, Blogger seems to have stuffed that plan by completely crapping out. I've no idea when this entry will end up appearing. Sorry about that, in anticipation.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 22:45:00 +0000

On blogging

It�s a diverting enough exercise when there�s time to do it. For me, blogging serves a range of purposes, from straight diary-style recording of the day�s events, to capture and distribution of amusements and information, to passive and usually futile prompts for conversation on whatever topic happens to be bugging me, to uninformed and usually unwarranted complaints and/or rants railing against the iniquities of life or At least the irritant of the moment.

I sometimes forget that for several people, it�s also the only source of information on whether I am, in fact, alive. The art of regular correspondence being a dead one, as far as I�m usually concerned, the sole reassurance that many of my scattered friends and colleagues have of my ongoing corporeality is the (very occasional) reward they get for going to the effort of clicking on that Lexifabricographer link in their bookmarks.

So for the surprising number (i.e. more than one) of correspondents who enquired after my health, having noted the unprecedented lack of blogging in recent epochs, thank you kindly for your well wishes and rest assured that all is well and I am still of this mortal coil.

I am, of course, still quite lazy.

Since the end of the holidays, it has by turns been either too hot to want to bother with typing or too dramatic to spare the time for catching up. I�ll try to fill in some of the details over the course of today, so expect lots of little snippets rather than the usual mass of semi-organised information. Or amusement. Whichever.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 20:24:00 +0000

Better outlook

This last week's been a pretty unhappy one (if you don't know why yet, then you don't need to know, okay?) but things are starting to turn around now.

Yesterday Jimbo and I went to Ian and Son's place for the auction of their house. Jimbo wrangled Flynn off to the pool and Norbet the deaf, thick dog was quietly removed to a less exciting location than a yard full of potential bidders. It was not quite the first auction I've been to, but it was the first when I had any interest in the outcome. Must say it was very nerve wracking at times. For a long while it looked as it the bids weren't even going to make the reserve, and then it looked as if it was just going to sit at a miserable couple of grand over that mark. But a (presumed) combination of bid craziness and approaching rain accelarated events, and in the end they got comfortably more than they had hoped for.

Not ones to waste any time, they immediately put in an offer on their preferred new house. The vendors were at the auction, and I think they may have accepted on the spot, but then perhaps they went away to think about it. Not sure about that part. I was busy making cups of tea in an effort to be of some use.

Ian and Son were over the moon, of course. They've been looking for a few months now, and all their plans have fallen into place quite nicely. The new place will be similar to the current one, but with a couple of extra rooms. Needs work, though nothing too major. But they know it's the right one, because Flynn picked out his room when they first inspected it.

Weather report

The auction wrapped up a bit hastily as the rain got closer. It hit just as we were all about to drive off. Jimbo and I headed out to the highway (the quick way home), and got a couple of hundred yards before we realised that things were getting a bit silly. First came the rain, a torrential swirling wall of water that intermittently reduced visibility to "uh oh". Then came the hail. And not just a little bit of hail either - it was if anything heavier and more impenetrable than the rainfall had been. Louder though, blattering deafeningly as it was on the pristine paintwork of our new Mazda. We picked our way home through the increasingly bizarre chaos of pounding hail, fallen trees, numerous cars sheltering under potential fallen trees, banks of hail, little white rivers threatening to cut the road and people driving inexpicably close to one another despite the obvious hazard of not being able to get a grip on the road surface (rant about the stupidity of drivers failing spectacularly rto adapt when even momentarily taken out of their comfort zone deleted).

It lasted basically the time it took us to crawl home (most of the trip at about 40 kph and with hazard lights on) and probably dumped the entire month's worth of Canberra rainfall in that time (most of it in frozen form). Some of the streets we passed were about five minutes away from flooding. Reminded me an awful lot of Townsville, especially when we passed a couple of kids in wetsuits come into the street with boogie boards.

The car seems to be fine though. The hail was fierce, but the stones were small, so perhaps there was no real hard done. I'll have a closer look when the light gets better.

Has anybody else been watching the gymnastics?

Fiona went to Melbourne on Thursday to watch the gymnastics world championships with her brother Niall. They saw the last world championships held in Australia, which were held in Brisbane in 1994. Watching gymnastics is Fi's only real concession to a nerdy hobby, which she hardly ever indulges. Thankfully, she understands that I find gymnastics a little bit entertaining, but not four-days-of-sitting-in-a-stadium-cheering-and-clapping entertaining. So I get to stay home and play on the computer (not cricket though - it's still raining, and the pitch was more than likely ruined if the hail got to it) instead.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 03:50:00 +0000

Dog tired

I have singularly failed to muster the enthusiasm to blog lately, despite the emergence of several incidents/occurrences that excite me sufficiently to want to record them. Since today is not really any better �in fact I�m almost falling asleep right now � I�ll keep this short.

Cricket�s started again. I am unfit (may be a contributing factor in my ongoing lethargy crisis). On the weekend I played a very ordinary game and couldn�t really get too excited that I wasn�t doing better. I attribute this mystifying loss of obsessive interest to the ridiculous decision to make me the team captain on the basis of my willingness to organise things. Why on earth would anyone want to look to me for decisions on batting orders or field placements? Those things are impenetrable arcana to me. Sigh. We lost, of course, though not by much and probably not solely due to my uninspired leadership.

What, is the real world not good enough for you?

Lately I�ve been tinkering (for which you should read �obsessing mildly�) with a new online world game called Project Entropia, after reading about a player paying US$100,000 for the ownership rights of a virtual space station (which isn�t quite as insane as it sounds � he�ll be able to make real money off the investment).. The game has an interesting business model � it�s free to download and play, but your character starts with nothing but the clothes on his back and some extremely limited (and boring/painstaking/arduous) means of independently raising cash. The alternative is to buy in-game cash for real world money, at a rate of 10 pixie bucks for 1 American greenback. Accumulate a sufficiently large supply of pixie bucks, and one can convert them back into real world cash (for only slightly exorbitant transfer fees). It is, in theory, possible to play indefinitely without spending real money (and a number of players at least claim to have done so) but in reality the lure of being able to do the interesting stuff in the game (which requires equipment) soon overcomes the virtuous tedium of doing it the hard way. Luckily for me, I made friends with some nice people who gave me some entry-level mining gear, so I�m keeping my virtual head above water in the game through prospecting.

Yes, it�s more fun than it sounds. But probably not that much more fun.

Things I am not doing at the moment:

Sleeping properly
Fending off a variety of external problems for Project Porkpie
Calming down about the so-called �WorkChoice� IR laws
Successfully feigning disinterest in Australia�s World Cup prospects (though I am gleefully and mischievously willing to ascribe all success to date to John Safran�s curse-busting)
Inking that Spit cover design I drew last week
Learning to play piano
Failing to recognise the genius of Johnathon Coulton - listen to Skullcrusher Mountain. Now. I implore you.
Rushing out to buy a copy of The Movies, a new PC game that combines Hollywood mogul studio management antics with the production of dodgy animated features. Omigod it's like they reached right inside my head and plucked out the top item from my secret hindbrain wish list (well, after "make money from writing bad first draft novels and dubious novelty songs"! But luckily for me it's eighty bucks, and I can probably resist spending cash on yet another timesink obsession...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 22:44:00 +0000

Old friends

I had lunch yesterday with my old Pimlico High friend Marcus Hassall, whom I haven�t laid eyes on for at least 15 years. Well, except for the week before last, when I ran across him in the city � or rather he saw me, said �Hi Dave� in an oh-so-casual fashion, and then bemusedly watched me wander on with a muttered �Oh hi� of half-recognition. About ten steps later I worked out that this wasn�t just a face I vaguely recalled from around the office, and turned around and walked back with a very embarrassed grin on my face.

Ahem. Anyway, we sketched in a rough outline of the last 17 years over lunch. He�s been doing various legal work since he finished his degree, and now he�s with the DPP�s office. He�s getting married in February at the Carrington to a South African �migr� named Kirsten. They have bought a house out in the far west of Belconnen, which they�re renovating.

There�s more details to fill in of course, but you should probably just drop by and say hello yourself.

From yesterday�s Senate Hansard

Well, I haven�t put anything remotely political in this here blog for a while now, but the following bears wider circulation.

Senator MURRAY (Western Australia) (2.56 pm)�I am unaccustomed to hearing Senator Faulkner speak so briefly. Since I have been dragged across the continent to pass the Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005, I would have felt obliged to talk on the bill anyway, just to justify the effort. I will use the occasion to make remarks on the question of our liberties, but first I will talk about this bill. Records and first-time events are always interesting. In 104 years, I think this must be the first ever special recall of the Senate just to change one word in one piece of legislation. In fact, in the grand spirit of this momentous moment, the Senate should bring this to the attention of the Guinness Book of Records. I suspect they would confirm that this is the first time in the recorded legislative history of mankind that any country anywhere has recalled its legislature specifically to change one word in one piece of legislation. But what a word! �The� must be changed to �a�,� the Prime Minister roared. �I agree,� squeaked the opposition leader: �Now. Yesterday. Send helicopters!� �No, calm down. Qantas will do,� said the Prime Minister.

Qantas could not rustle up a connecting flight at short notice, so I left at 13.20 Western Standard Time on Wednesday. I had to sleep over at Melbourne airport, and I got to the Senate 16 hours later, this Thursday morning. But I would do anything if it meant changing �the� to �a�. This, after I got home to Perth on Tuesday at midnight Eastern Standard Time after two days of Senate finance and public administration estimates committee hearings. On Wednesday morning in my Perth office I was greeted with the breathtaking news that I was called back to Canberra for a special Thursday Senate hearing to change the definite article �the� to the indefinite article �a�. I knew then that this must be really, really serious. I knew then that the fate of the nation must be at stake. Changing that word would definitely stop any terrorist in their tracks. I could see the mullahs going out and finding Osama somewhere in his lair and saying, �Stop! Stop! The Senate has changed �the� to �a�!�

This definitely could not wait four days until Monday, when the Senate sitting was scheduled. These four days will make all the difference, won�t they�even though the terror alert stays unchanged, exactly where it has been for four years; even though right now we have laws that can see anyone intending a terror act grabbed, nabbed, charged and denied bail under conspiracy or individually. This bill will surely make all the difference, won�t it?

If in the next four days no-one is charged under the new law, we will know it is just politics and posturing, designed to exaggerate a public fear and to put pressure on the Labor Party and the Labor premiers�it seems to be an easy thing to do these days. It is about power and politics, that is all�same old, same old. It is not about an emergency at all. It is just another exhibition of group think. It is just another manipulation of the gullible. What is needed instead is a heavy dose of good old Aussie cynicism and disbelief. Where are all the political cartoonists and satirists when you need them? Where are the journalists prepared to shout, �The emperor has no clothes�?

I saw a comment the other day trying to place terror in the scale of things the government must address. Statistically, terror deaths and injuries may well rank far behind the death toll from alcohol, drugs and tobacco related consumption, from asbestos and chemical exposure, from road trauma and from suicides caused by paedophile priests and paedophile others. But the government and the public are still right to take terrorism very seriously indeed. I support them taking it seriously, and that is why I object to and resent them not taking it seriously with this display today. I object to and resent them minimising and trivialising what is a very serious matter. I support maximising our ability to respond effectively to terrorism within the boundaries of the rule of law under the principles of liberal democracy. I support us maximising our efforts to address the causes of terrorism. I support this bill too, minor as it is, even if I do find this recall four days early to deal with it a contrived and pathetic overreaction.

I am not going to attempt to address the new antiterrorism legislation today. That will, thankfully, now be better addressed by a Senate review process originally intended to be shortened to 8 November but now given an extra three weeks. When I turned to Senators Bartlett and Stott Despoja on the Senate floor that day and said, �Go for 28 November,� I am glad they did and I am glad we succeeded.

What I want to say briefly is that intellectual and legal analysis of the antiterrorism legislation needs to be accompanied by the dominance of values and beliefs� of liberal democratic values and beliefs, not conservative values and beliefs, not authoritarian, antilibertarian values and beliefs. It is not strength to turn back on our legacy. It is not strength to undermine and diminish the protections we have. It is not strength to give the police powers which cannot be reviewed by the judiciary or cannot be restrained under review. It is not strength to create secret police or political police. That is weakness. Strength is standing up for our traditions, for our conventions, for all the things that the soldiers and sailors and airmen of Australia have fought for through several wars. Strength is defending our liberal democracy and its values and the rule of law.

We have marvelous police women and men but you cannot take the idiot factor out of large groups of people. There will be a minority who will abuse powers. There will be a minority who will behave in a way which will result in harm to members of the community. There will be a minority who will make mistakes. That is why you want the separation of powers. That is why you want the rule of law. That is why you want police integrity commissions. That is why you want review processes. That is why you want judicial oversight. That is why you want warrants only being granted by the judiciary and magistrates. That is why you need the protections, because there is always a minority who abuse power. Everyone in this chamber, everyone in this country, knows that there has been a royal commission into the police in just about every state of this country. Everyone knows that the majority of police men and women do a wonderful job but that a minority caused those royal commissions. Everyone knows that innocent people have been convicted because of standover tactics, mistakes and abuse. If you give people powers and you do not have the proper protections and controls over those powers, you have a problem.

What has offended and concerned people who defend the liberal democratic values on which this great country is founded is that the government is asking us to trust and give powers to people who have proven in the past that they do not warrant being given that trust and those powers. They need, for their own good as well as for ours, the protection of the rule of law and of habeas corpus. I will repeat that: of habeas corpus, which all our fathers fought for, and for the ability of people to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law under our system. It is not weakness for me to stand and repeat those tenets of liberal democracy. That is strength. What is weakness is to override them and to try to confuse people that what you are about is in fact preserving the very rules that you are violating.

I want to give you an example. I am ashamed to say that it is an example from my own state. I am ashamed to say that it is from a person who was educated at my university. I am ashamed to say that it is of a person whose intellectual history, knowledge, training, education, principles and beliefs should rule otherwise. I am talking about Geoff Gallop, the Premier of WA. WA�s Terrorism (Extraordinary Powers) Bill 2005 proposes that the police commissioner can issue search warrants if a person in any jurisdiction has grounds for suspecting that a terrorist act is going to be committed. This means the police commissioner�or, if the police commissioner is unavailable, anyone down to the position of superintendent�can issue a warrant without an objective assessment of evidence simply on someone�s personal suspicions. This proposal offends the fundamental protection afforded us by the separation of powers and the independent judiciary. Only judges or magistrate should issue warrants.

There is also no provision for a review of this decision even if it is later shown that this personal suspicion was false or nonexistent. Clause 20 unambiguously says that the decision to issue such warrants cannot be:

...appealed against, reviewed, quashed, challenged, or called in question, before or by any person acting judicially or a court or tribunal on any account or by any means.

This is absolutely outrageous. This is not a fight between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party or between the crossbenchers and the other parties. This is a fight by people who support, protect and defend liberal democracy against those who are conservative and authoritarian from any party. It is absolutely outrageous.

Premier Gallop has said that this legislation is to protect WA�s unique lifestyle. Nonsense! It strikes at the very heart of what makes WA a great place. It attacks a fundamental aspect of a civil society. Such powers are typical of a police state, and we should not be making WA into one. People too easily say, �You can�t raise the issue of a police state in a country like Australia.� Yes, you can, if the powers given to the police are equivalent to those powers which are characteristic of tyrannies or of police states.

I have said here before in this place that I am very much marked by my past. I do not stand here as a novice in these matters. I know what banning and detention without trial is. I know what house arrest is. I know what it is like to live in tyrannies and to talk to people who have gone through the effects of tyrannies. Those tyrannies are not tyrannies because the majority of police in those countries are bad people, but because the minority abuse things and secret police turn into political police, because political power is exercised wrongly through what should effectively be a protective and defensive body.

I am a very strong supporter of good strong laws which enable us to stamp on terrorism in this country or any other, but I am also a very strong defender of the proper protections that should be there against the abuse of power, against the innocent being locked up for days at a time, against turning a blind eye to torture or standover tactics, against the judiciary not being brought into play to watch over these matters. I am as aware as anybody else that there are a number of politicians or judges or policemen or people of any nature who are likely to be less than heroic in their ethics or values. I am as aware as anybody else that standing behind every dictator and tyrant in the world have been rank after rank of judges and lawyers. I do not put great faith in a judge or a lawyer being an automatic protection, but, when you set the judiciary and the legal system on one side and you have the police on the other, then you have the proper checks and balances. What we are in danger of doing in these debates, in defending our country from this current threat, is overturning the great wisdom and values and decency of Mr Menzies and Mr Curtin and people who, out of the Second World War, knew that great tyranny means you must defend the very basics of liberal democracy.

I am taking the opportunity today to express my concern about the underlying problem with what has been put before us. The problem for us all�the crossbench, both sides of the house, and the public�is that we all want terrorism dealt with, but the people look to us to at the same time safeguard their general rights and protections, and underpinning all this antiterror legislation is a march against our liberties, which will mean that innocent people will be in danger.

Thank goodness there are great members of the Liberal Party, great members of the Labor Party and members of the crossbenches who are prepared to work to try and ameliorate the worst effects of what is being proposed. Thank goodness the Senate will now have a period of review and reflection. I know people throughout all the houses, and they are fine people, but for goodness sake they must not just march into line. They must not just submit to group-think. They must not become forelock-tuggers. They must defend what is important to this country and to our democracy. They must prevent the Terry Lewises of the world being given the power to issue warrants to allow superintendents below them to conduct search and seizure actions. They must prevent a situation such as there is in New South Wales, where a policeman who acts wrongly cannot be brought up before his peers for proper judgment, simply because issues of terror are involved. They must prevent people being detained without trial. They must allow for public monitors and for proper videoing and recording of all interviews. They must permit visits during the detention period. They must allow immediate family members and legal representatives to be advised of what has happened, because if that does not happen it is the innocent who will be affected.

This is why most parliamentarians oppose the death penalty. Many more parliamentarians support the death penalty in their hearts than will vote for it, because they know that about a third of all people who ever get the electric chair were not guilty in the first place. Mistakes happen. You cannot take the idiot factor out of the system and you cannot take the malicious out of the system, so you have got to have the proper checks and balances and the proper safeguards. The purpose of my remarks today is to encourage those who can hear these words and who might be affected by these words to allow the intent of the terror legislation, which is to prevent and to minimise terror, to go through but to retain within the legislation the protections and safeguards which are absolutely essential in what has been a great and liberal country.

What he said.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 03:57:00 +0000

A lack of blogging denotes a lack of character

I know this. You don�t need to say anything.

Mobile

So, Fiona�s mobile temporarily died, which seemed like the perfect excuse for us to get replacements. I�ve never had one before, and have never really missed the lack, but there�ve been a couple of times when it would have been useful to have one, so I�ve bought into the global communications conspiracy.

Not wholly, mind you. We went for basically the cheapest, most frills-free options available. It makes calls, it receives text messages, and if I forget my watch it will tell me the time. About its most useful function is freeing me up from having to find my address book when I want to call someone whose number I haven�t memorised.

Should this somehow include you, send me an email and I�ll send you my number.

Another lazy weekend

Actually, it was anything but. Had another long weekend as I work off my excess leave before I�m Deemed (a Public Service Capitalisation denoting the odd practise of just striking you off as being on leave whether you�re at work or not). Ironically, because of the short week, that means that I had to come into work on Saturday and do overtime to pull together some documents for a meeting this week.

No, there�s no reason why any of that should make sense to you. It doesn�t to me.

If you don�t play World of Warcraft much�

�then this will make even less sense to you. But it is, in fact, bloody hilarious.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 03:18:00 +0000

Tired. Details or completeness too much to ask right now.

Haven�t updated in ages. Too much to do at work, not enough time to get anything done at home. Lots has been going on. Ate at Sage. Kicked off a SpyCraft game. Bought The Prisoner DVD box set. Had the first cricket practise of the year. Hurt a lot. Katie crashed her car. Our team won a game of netball. Project Porkpie hit a few snags here and there. I found out what good scotch whiskey tastes like.Heaps of people I know went to a pop culture con in Sydney (but not me).

Lots of stuff�s been happening. It�s hard to keep track. I�m sure you�ll let me know if I�ve left anything out.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:34:00 +0000

Happy birthday, Mistah Simno

Today�s Si�s birthday. This revelation came as something of a surprise to me when he mentioned it in the car last night. Actually, I was a bit annoyed at myself, because I usually do remember the birthdays of close friends and family. But this morning I finally realised the likely reason that I didn�t see it coming � it�s because I missed his last three birthdays as well. Which, because it�s two days after my wedding anniversary, an occasion we usually celebrate by going off somewhere exotic and expensive for several days. Which is a perfectly reasonable excuse for missing the birthday of someone who lives in the same house as you, right? Right?

Anyway, I confess that I�ve been caught offside. I must now make amends by running around and getting something appropriate at the last minute (and it needs to be good, because it has to match or top his present to me this year, which was a Trogdor the Burninator t-shirt). Shopping for Si is rarely easy though, because anything he wants, he buys as a matter of reflex. Still, there will be something out there with his name on�t.

(By the way, if you follow that link, stay with it until the song...)

It�s all coming back to me now

Okay, apart from the fact that I�m not actually doing any work right at the moment, the last couple of days have started to feel a bit more productive. I still have a mountain of work to do on the unappealing quality document I�m supposed to be writing for Project Porkpie (a task for which I have zero interest and possibly even less qualification), but it�s inching towards, if not completion then at least a state viewable by other people.

But there are worrying signs that it�s all going to drag on well past the original expected end date of May next year. It�s probably just as well that I didn�t get that news last week, when I was feeling pretty down on the prospect of having to keep plugging away for much more than another nine months at the same job without a change of scene. I don�t think I could have coped. Now, I�m just a little fretful.

Fortunately, we�re all have a team-building long lunch at some swanky Frenchesque restaurant today. On top of that, it�s beers and dinner with Emma and Chris after work, so I am quite resigned to not getting very much of value done today at all.

Other people�s jobs

Gazza reports that Sonnie has won her promotion, so now she�s an Executive Level 1 like Fiona. Ian�s over the moon, of course (presumably he now believes he�ll never have to work again, which might well be the case). Immediately upon receiving the news, they put the house up for auction. They�ve been looking for a few months for something with a bit more space, and the security of Son�s job�s means that it�s a goer now.

Heh

This comic is pretty amusing. Well, it amused me, anyway.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 03:28:00 +0000

Commencing Year Four

So today is the third anniversary of my marriage to the wonderful Miz Fazza, which shows no signs of losing any of its myriad appeals. In a sense it feels like it�s understating the longevity of our relationship to just count Octobers the Fifth, since we were together three years before that, but it�s a notable occasion nonetheless. It�s probably traditional to impart some vaguely smug observation about what keeps it all so fresh and wonderful, but since most of us know couples who�ve been together much longer � my Mum and Dad, for example, are closing in pretty fast on 40 years � I might just leave that to wiser minds. Suffice to say we�re deliriously in love and expect the condition to be utterly incurable.

What�s my motivation for this scene?

As is perfectly normal and to be expected, I�m having an appalling time getting back into work since the holiday in New Zealand. Part of that is that I�ve had a cold dogging at me on and off since almost the minute we got back to Canberra. More to the point is the feeling of lost momentum on Project Porkpie. Before, I felt on top of (nearly) everything and had a real sense that I knew how everything was tracking and what needed to be done. Since the holiday, I�ve completely lost that perspective and I�m having a hard time rebuilding it, or even finding the enthusiasm to goad myself into it.

Fortunately, the apparent lack of activity is illusory, or at least it�s more or less exclusive to me and not the project as whole. There have been some delays, and concerns continue to grow about the deadline, but mainly the problem is in my head rather than anything particularly tangible.

That said, I do have rather a lot of work to get done, in the face of a real reluctance to just cowboy up and do it. I�m slowly overcoming the inertia, but maybe too slowly, and the more I procrastinate, the more the pressure builds. I half suspect that I�m subconsciously engineering a crisis for myself, presumably on the assumption that I either work better under the gun or that I will finally be exposed as a complete charlatan and removed from any position of responsibility.

On the other hand, I could be over thinking what is, in essence, acute laziness.

So very disenthused

It�s not just work, mind you. There�s a dozen little projects at the moment that - to borrow from Homer Simpson � �I�d love to want to� work on, but I can�t muster the energy for any of them. Resume learning piano. Continue the renovations. Do the cover artwork for the Spit album. Song writing. Writing in general. Running a regular roleplaying game. Plant a vegetable garden. All potentially spirited endeavours, except that I can�t summon the spirit.

Oh, it will pass, for sure, and I�ll get to all of those things sooner or later. But I�m keenly feeling the absence of a sense of immediacy, of urgency and drive. If I feel like doing anything, it�s kicking back and reading a book or watching a bit of TV or just sort of hanging around and idly chatting. But if I actually do any of those things, I give myself a massive guilt trip for wasting time. Sometimes I think my subconscious is just taking the piss, really.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 05:21:00 +0000

Knackered

It doesn�t bode well that there�s still 9 hours until tonight�s midnight premiere of Serenity kicks off, and I�m so tired I�m seriously considering either going home or taking a sleep under my desk. In fact, I�m pretty sure that�s what I�m going to have to do in order to avoid passing out right now.

What about the Land of the Long White Whatever?

I keep wanting to randomly assemble my thoughts on the New Zealand trip, which was one of the best holidays I�ve ever had, but I�ve been sleepy and stressed and a bit fluey ever since I�ve been back, and the motivation to do anything that resembles work is not unexpectedly absent.

To add to the tidbits I�ve committed to the ether, though, I will observe that although the original plan included a vague notion to go and visit places where they filmed various Middle-Earthly scenes, there was really no need for that. The whole place is just spectacular. Offhand I could recall only about two or three vantage points on the whole trip where we couldn�t see a snow-capped peak or sweeping verdant hills or treacherous gorges or, you know, something breathtaking. It really is the most ridiculously sight-seeable place imaginable.

Be warned though: the food is not cheap. However, their beer is pretty bloody good. And Queenstown is a total tourist trap of the order of Airlie Beach, but if you have money and an adventurous spirit, there�s an almost inexhaustible supply of cool stuff to do. Most of it is still there even when the snow goes away. We didn�t get to Milford Sound or Aoraki Mount Cook or any part of North Island so we�ll be going back.

And we wrote a lot of songs. Some of them will eventually become music, and then you�ll be sorry.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 00:52:00 +0000

Took one o� them internet personality test things

It seems to be a moderately perceptive specimen of the breed.

the Wit

(57% dark, 30% spontaneous, 21% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN COMPLEX DARK

You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.

Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.

You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

The 3-Variable Funny Test!
- it rules -

If you're interested, try my latest: The Terrorism Test

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 72% on darkness

You scored higher than 7% on spontaneity

You scored higher than 8% on vulgarity

Link: jason_bateman on The 3 Variable Funny Test written by OkCupid Free Online Dating

It thinks I like Woody Allen more than I usually do and of course it is insufferably smug, but otherwise it�s a pretty good call.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 00:10:00 +0000

End of the holidays

Our two week adventure in New Zealand ended with a rather sleepy train ride back from Sydney on Sunday, and now here I am back at work. Don�t ask me what I did yesterday, because I can�t remember through the fog of self pity and desperate fantasising about being somewhere else. To be honest, it�s not much better today, but I am steadily drawing closer to the point of being a functional worker again.

(Clearly that�s not the case right at the moment, as I am writing a blog entry instead of working, but be assured that by small iterations I am creeping stealthily towards actually doing something useful).

I�m not going to get all the details of the trip down now � I don�t quite have so little regard for the multitude of tasks I�m supposed to be dealing with � but a quick synopsis: it was great. There was skiing/snowboarding, there were plentiful quantities of fabulous kiwi wine, there was so much scenery you wonder if your brain is starved of oxygen and you�re hallucinating, and there were good friends in fine spirits. What more could I have asked (apart from another two weeks off work?).

And now the return to reality

There seem to be a million things to do. Normally I would ascribe that to the usual post-holiday malaise, but actually I think there might actually be rather a large amount to get done as soon as possible. I�m kind of nervous about lifting up the rock on a few of the more obvious jobs, because I strongly suspect that all sorts of nasties are going to come scuttling out. I just don�t know that I�m in the head space to deal with nasties right at the moment. Conventional wisdom says that it takes a few days to get back into work routines after a good break. I�m just hoping that until then I can keep treading water without stirring up more muck than I have to.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:17:00 +0000

So much to get through, Colonel

Lots been going on since the last update. The second day of the cricket�s on now, so this update may tend a little towards the distracted at times:

The mystery of the missing guest - So it turns out that Frank wasn�t able to make it to dinner on account of having a stomach infection. Now he�s on antibiotics for at least a week and may need more treatment if that doesn�t work. Hopefully he�ll be better shortly � we�ll probably schedule another dinner party soon after we get back from New Zealand, as he�s terribly fun company.
This is an ex-Telstar - So Fiona�s beloved car started overheating and losing pressure last Saturday, and by the end of the weekend it was pretty apparent we should stop driving it until we could get it looked at. There was a distinct suggestion that some kind of explosion might result in further use. Hector came over during the week and sadly pronounced it a bit too expensive to fix. This could have come at a better time � two weeks before we leave the country, and immediately after we sign up for a roof restoration. So we�ve had to cancel the latter (no point cancelling the trip, since it�s half paid for and is also obviously not something we�ll be cancelling) and since then Fiona�s been looking for a replacement. Since the Telstar�s done something like 350,000 km, we�re pretty much after something that will similarly keep going and going forever, or at least 10 or so years. One likely prospect, a Mazda 626 for sale in Sydney, was being offered for well under the usual market rate. Unfortunately we got the NRMA inspection report today which suggests that the car�s been in an accident and needs a lot of work. So while that one�s not quite off the drawing board � the sellers think it�s fine, so they�re going to get a second opinion and bring the price down if there�s work that needs doing � but it looks like we might have to keep at it.
Lumpy - Discovered a surprising lump on my leg on Tuesday night, unpleasant colours and extremely painful. The surprising part was that it must have been around for at least a couple of days without me noticing. Anyway, it hurt, so I disdained my usual treatment of picking at it in favour of getting a doctor to look at it. As expected it seems to be an ingrown hair that�s become infected, though it could also be a cyst (that�s become infected?). A course of antibiotics for me, and hopefully no need for any kind of excision. Seems to have started going away on its own anyway, so I don�t expect it to bother me for long.
Spy games - In my usual style, rather than pick up some old game that I know and love and know how to run well, I�ve gone and picked up a copy of the newly revised Spycraft roleplaying game. It�s about spies, doncha know. I�m looking at running a game based on a secret intelligence branch of Doctor Who�s United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (which on the show was mainly depicted as a military detachment without a huge resource of intelligence to speak of, notwithstanding the Doctor�s occasional help). It�ll have Cold War shenanigans, Bond-esque super-criminal masterminds and (as Jimbo puts it) cars crashing into Daleks. Well, it might have something like that, anyway. Reckon it will be fun. We�re not rushing into it, though � the rules are pretty complex, and I want to get across it pretty well before I start trying to run it. In the meantime, we�re playing board games and probably will start the odd session of D&D run by Chris when we get back from hols.
More dinner - We�re having another dinner party tomorrow night � Mauro and Tracy, more of Fi�s old Raiders club co-workers. So tomorrow will be another big day of cooking and cleaning (not so much cleaning though, since the place is still relatively tidy after last week�s scouring). Another duck dish is on the menu (duck breasts with balsamic cherries), as well as pumpkin and fetta pasta, and something else I can�t quite remember. Oh, and the usual bucketloads of wine. I�m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Right. Lunch is over at the cricket. Back to it.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 01:19:00 +0000

After the dinner party

Dinner went okay, though Frank didn't make it and Emma and Chris were clearly pretty weary from their travels (and Emma's been sick, so she was positively subdued). None of the dishes were particularly thrilling, which is a shame.We always like to try out something new for our dinner parties, but I suspect we might have been better off last night with at least one tried-and-true course. Never mind, was still heaps of fun.

It was ChrisT's birthday yesterday (unrelated to the timing of the dinner party, but a nice bonus). Amongst the swag were a couple of new games - Puerto Rico from us and Zendo from Linda, both of which come highly recommended from various sources and should keep his devious strategic brain ticking over � and a copy of the third season of Blake's 7 with what looks like a Ludo popper on the cover. Don't ask. Anyway, all of this should keep him occupied for a while.

Gamin'

While the World of Warcraft bug hasn't completely released its deathgrip on my vital organs just yet, I have been starting to think about considering the possibility of entertaining other forms of escapist distractions. Since we've been doing not much other than board games for the past few months of Tuesdays, Chris is obviously thinking along the same lines. He wants to run a D&D game that parallels his one-Saturday-a-month game, which I occasionally make but more often miss. After that, I'm thinking about a seventies spy thriller game, the details of which I have yet to commit to paper or indeed my forebrain. Keeping things simple and short seems to be the ticket, otherwise we all lose enthusiasm and interest trails off.

Workin'

Things are a bit stressful at work � while on the one hand Project Porkpie is moving along at a nice pace, there's a growing gnawing feeling that the timeframe is tighter than we'd like. This is pretty normal for IT projects, but it's particularly difficult given that there isn't much we can drop out of the scope in order to bring it in on time. Given my predilection for stressing about things that I can't do much about, like reality, I can see a long, long few months stretching out ahead of me. I know intellectually that at some point I'll just have to stop giving myself a hard time about the fact that there is more work to do than there is time left to do it in, but until I actually go through it and emerge with my sanity and job intact, I'm not really going to get there.

Travellin'

Did I mention how very very much I'm looking forward to the New Zealand trip? Probably not, since Mum didn't know about it, so here it is: I can't wait. Two weeks, six of us on the ski slopes at Mount Hutt (or five, since Fi sounds more and more resolute about not being arsed about skiing), then exploring South Island, looking at glaciers and fjords and canyons and wineries. It won't be exactly relaxing, but it will be a welcome break.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 20 Aug 2005 08:19:00 +0000

Live from the dinner party

Mz Lindor, ChrisT and Mz Emma are due here in the next half hour or so for another of our epic dinner parties. I say epic because it takes all day to clean, cook and otherwise prepare for them, so by the time you add four or five hours of eating and drinking on top of that, it certainly feels liked you've walked across Mordor and been thrown into a volcano.

Frankie E may also be joining us, depending on whether the hospital comes through for him. He's apparently been having stomach pains for the past few days and thought he should probably go and check it out. Hopefully he'll be okay, but we don't yet know whether he'll show or not.

The menu is a bit experimental, as usual. All vegetarian, except with an alternate meaty main for the carnivores. The soup's an asparagus affair with parmesan crackers. The second course is a sort of layered tower of eggplant and dumplings made from chickpea flour and buffalo mozzarella (it sounded inteersting � not sure how it's going to go though). The vege main is a pasta in walnut and gorgonzola sauce. The meat main is veal with a porcini and coffee sauce on a turnip mash. There are, of course, wines for each course.

I'm stuffed, and I could do with a feed. Had yesterday off because the cold that's been harrassing me for a fortnight (and laying Fi out for even longer) finally became too much to struggle against. Instead we lay in until about lunchtime, then did the grocery shopping and cleaned the house. Fun day off.

Guests have arrived. More later.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 06:30:00 +0000

Winter � well, that was exciting!

Everyone here is clustered by the window enjoying an extremely brief and utterly rare Canberra snow shower. It took all of two minutes to come and go, and there�s no real evidence of it now, of course (ground�s too warm, not that you�d know it if it came in contact with your skin�). It�s kind of reassuring to be able to point at something tangible that says �You know, the winter�s here really are pretty bitter�. And hopefully it bodes well for the New Zealand ski trip that�s about three weeks away.

Update � ooh, ooh! It�s back! More updates to follow!

Oh, my, yes

In the weird and murky world of fan fiction, there is a particular phenomenon known as the �Mary Sue�. This is where the author inserts a new character - essentially themselves with various wish-fulfilment trappings (ranging from the innocuous, such as mysterious and alluring physical features, to the ridiculous, like magical powers) � who saves, helps, is rescued by or is otherwise the best new friend of the regular characters, not to mention everyone else they meet. Harry Potter fanfic, for example, is rife with Mary Sue-esque new students at Hogwarts who are braver than Harry, smarter than Hermione and�um, taller than Ron (and let's face it, Harry Potter skirts dangerously close to Mary Sue-ism in the original text...)

This Lord of the Rings effort is a Mary-Sue parody, and a sublime one at that.

New tooth

My newly-reconstructed back tooth disintegrated again on Monday, resulting in yet another morning of reconstructive dental hilarity. At first I assumed that the filling I got a couple of months ago had just broken down, but in fact it was another quarter of the same tooth that has shaved off like a bit of errant iceberg. Turns out that the real problem was with the tooth in the opposite jaw putting too much pressure on it when I grind my teeth (which I do unconsciously all the time, and pretty much always have). I have now had the offending protrusion flattened out a bit. If that doesn�t work, the next step is a rather expensive crown, so I rather hope that it does work�

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 06:28:00 +0000

You can see our house from up here

I spent about half an hour on the roof today, applying a hacksaw (and some rather less delicate instrumentation) to remove part of the guttering. According to the guy that came to give us a quote on restoring the roof, when the extension was built, they ran the new guttering in to meet up with the roof cap of the original house. But what thet seem to have done is lift the roofcap slightly to accommodate the shape of the gutter. So ever since, if it rains sufficiently heavily the water running down the extension gutter, instead of meeting the sloped roof and running off, jets up along the underside of the roofcap and runs down the roof and beams on the other side. This, rather than mere simple holes, has been the cause of our leaks and drips every time it has rained heavily since we moved into the house.

Since this is clearly a result of building efforts dating back to the early 1980's, when the extension was built, this means that the roof of our house will have been leaking in the same place for more than 20 years without anyone actually having done anything about it. Judging from the condition of parts of the roof, nobody with any great expertise in the field has been up there in all that time. Yet another complete non-surprise, given the frequently shoddy renovation and maintenance efforts that have taken place here over the years. I feel better about all the minor bungles that we've committed over the last year � none of them have been anywhere near as stupid as some of the stuff our predeccessors buggered up.

Anyway, I hacked off about half a metre of guttering so that it will drop onto the roof early, rather than running right up to it. The roof guy reckons that will do the job (and hell, it can't make things any worse that having to get up into the ceiling cavity every single time it bloody rains). And it was a nice day to be outside, so � bonus.

Al's footprint shrinks slightly

Fiona's brother Al is moving back to Melbourne sometime soon, and will need some of the stuff he's been storing in the garage since he left here in January. We spent the morning sorting out which of his twenty or so packing crates are actually useful, and which ones are (in some cases literally) rubbish. Al has one of the most serious cases of packrat behaviour I've ever seen (yes, worse that Simon) and sorting out what stuff is actually going to be of some use to him in what will presumably be a limited space is no simple matter. He's bound to want something that we dismissed back into storage as 'useless crap'.

Still, all this does mean that we will get several square yards of our garage back before too long.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 13:14:00 +0000

Happy Gazzaday

In honour of Ginge's birthday, we've pretty much done nothing at all, since we went over to his place last weekend for a birthday get-together. He and Son are thinking about getting another house before too long � they're finding the one they have now is a bit cramped, I think. Can't happen for a little while yet, I gather, but that didn't stop Ian spending his birthday surfing the net for possible bargains. As Fi said, house hunting becomes a bit of an obsession once you start at it.

One house is not enough

We've got to get back into the search for decent investment properties again pretty soon. It's tax time, so presumably before long we'll have a (no doubt modest) return to put on the mortgage. It's getting towards being comfortably manageable now, which according to the Plan means we can start looking at taking on more exciting levels of debt.

At this stage there are no plans for long term investment in valuable research and development, sorry, Doctor Clam.

Crass entertainments

While World of Warcraft continues to form the backbone of my diversions from reality, I am also reading Bill Bryson's A Short History of Almost Everything - just finished actually, and it's an excellent work for someone like me who is deeply fascinated by all things scientific except the maths and the intellectual discipline � as well as the new Harry Potter (with which I am deliberately torturing Lindor by reading no more than a couple of pages a day), the first of the new Doctor Who novels (serviceable, and rewatching the televised episode Boom Town again last night, I noticed a subtle piece of cross-promotion which is common enough but somehow seems a little vulgar coming from the BBC) and Coldheart Canyon, which is by-the-numbers Clive Barker, inasmuch as it's slightly predictable, elegantly written, occasionally moving and somewhat decadent. All good diversions, though.

Speaking of Doctor Who, ChrisT, Si, Lindor and I went to the theatre on Tuesday night to see Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Katy Manning doing a stage show called Inside the TARDIS. Mostly it was entertaining, though the choice of the least-best ex-Doug Anthony Allstar Tim Ferguson as host was, I think, an unfortunate one. Oh, sure, he had a few good lines and was on rare occasions able to deliver them with adequate comic timing. But he also fluffed just as many, had his usual high opinion of himself and, least forgiveably, often stifled the stars he was supposed to be supporting. Disappointing, though more or less as expected.

Katy Manning, who played Jo Grant back in the early seventies, was hyper and shrieked a lot (much of it a deliberate sendup of her original performance, but mostly obviously natural ebullience turned up to 11). Colin Baker was the epitome of a �real British actor who takes his craft seriously�, but fortunately tempered it with a sense of humour. Sylvester McCoy was, no doubt about it, utterly mad. He spluttered and raved and hammed up for the audience outrageously. I liked him the best.

Anyway, good show, though I rather suspect I'd enjoying seeing them more in a more casual and relaxed setting. (Maybe I should go to one of them huge conventions thingies one of these days. I think I'm a big enough geek to qualify). Oh, and Kate and Jon would have been much better as hosts � I guess it probably wasn't an option for all sorts of reasons � than disappointing ol' Timbo.

Speaking of being a big enough geek

It appears that the Trogdor the Burninator T-shirt that Simon got me for my birthday has left my other geek-culturally sensitive colleagues mystified. This is one of those memes that briefly achieved near-total saturation on the net for about one week (see also: �All your base are belong to us�, the kung-fu salmon-loving brown bear and more recently the Carlton Draught �Very Big Ad�). It also rated a mention in the final episode of Buffy, if that helps at all. As to what it actually means, I'm not really sure I can help you with that. It's all a bit odd.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 06:24:00 +0000

Pictures from the coal face

Giles, technical team leader of Project Porkpie, managed to snatch a few seconds in our busy Fiji schedule to take a few photos and get them up on his corner of the intertronic web. Check out the indelible evidence of our dedication to the Good of Our Nation.

These are the same ones that he linked to in the Comments earlier, yes.

Rugose humour. Or possibly cyclopean.

Found on Neil Gaiman�s website: H.P. Lovecraft fanfic. Highly amusing.

Under construction

The empty lot next door suddenly commenced conversion into a house this week. Various warmly-dressed chaps with theodolites tramped about in mud churned up by enthusiastic bobcats, trenches suddenly appeared like ebola lesions and were just as suddenly patched up with reinforced concrete sutures, bricks commenced to be stacked, unstacked and restacked. It looks rather like the entire block will soon be full of a very large, very expensive house.

My greedy materialistic heart notes that this will be a big shot in the arm for our land values, but at the same time I suspect that the house plans we took a look at back in December failed to adequately convey just how much of our view of the neighbourhood is about to be subsumed by concrete.

In eight months or so, I mean.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 22:56:00 +0000

Resume cautious blogging

After Ms Lindor comprehensively outed the existence of Lexifab to my work colleagues last week, I have been too busy at work and lazy at home to do any updates. But now I�m forcing myself, on the grounds that I don�t want to seem like I�ve got something to hide. Giles did manage to find an old oblique reference to himself in which I dubbed him The Young Punk, but in context it was not intended as a term of abuse, so I reckon I got away with that. I presume he�ll let me know if not.

The week in Suva was productive and a little more entertaining than my first visit. Apart from the fact that Giles and Wendy were much better company than monsoonal rains and horrific bouts of flu-based impairment, I did actually get out and see some bits of the city. I can report that it�s still pretty dingy, but we did discover a couple of acceptable bars and a reliance source of extremely good curry. We also stayed at a large bed and breakfast which had a fabulous pool and a glorious view of a serene valley, the bay and some mountains to the south. This all made me happy.

Less pleasing elements of the trip included the woeful performance of Queensland in the State of Origin final (which is huge in Fiji, by all accounts), getting hustled into buying crappy �genuine� folk art by fast talking scammers with �genuine� Fiji Tourist Board accreditation (wish I�d read the Lonely Planet Guide warning about that before the incident in question) and the rubbish tip fire that burned out of control all week and pumped vast quantities of probably highly toxic smoke into the aforementioned serene valley (and the lungs of the several hundred residents therein, who were advised to leave the area after about three days of said poisoning).

Anyway, we got out of it what we went for, and Project Porkpie is poised to leap into actual action. Giles and the developers will actually start coding (or preparing to code, or whatever) next Monday, which means we�ll have informally moved past the point of no return. It�s probably time I told the business owners they�re up for more money than previously advised, I suppose�

Mister Sandman

Neil Gaiman did a guest presentation at the ANU last night, so Si, ChrisT (newly returned from the wilds of the Orient), Ms Lindor and I went along. Lie probably a lot of authors, he didn�t seem all that comfortable in front of an audience � by his own admission, his preferred convention style is one where he sits in the vicinity of a bar for three days chatting to anyone that comes past and occasionally dashing off to be funny at a panel for an hour before resuming his place � but he did have his moments. Without careful reference to his incredibly popular web page, he seems mostly to be touring to promote Mirrormask, a semi-animated film written by Neil and directed by long-time collaborator Dave McKean. McKean, certain of you may recall, produced the gorgeous, eclectic and occasionally quite disturbing cover images for every issue of Gaiman�s Sandman series. From the couple of short clips shown, Mirrormask is gloomily beautiful, deeply strange and unmistakably a McKean production. The pick of the clips almost defies description � a collection of tailors� mannequin/robot/jack-in-the-boxes dress the heroine in goth stylings while singing The Carpenters� Close to You - but is utterly compelling. I would say �Don�t miss it�, but Neil was pretty pessimistic about the schedule for its theatrical release in Australia, so perhaps �Don�t hold your breath� is a bit more on the money.

He also did a reading from his nearly-released new book Anansi Boys, which is one of the more fun fantasy titles in recent memory. The scene he read was very reminiscent of Douglas Adams (in fact sounded a lot like the interplay between Ford and Arthur in Hitchhiker�s but I have absolutely no complaints about that. He also mentioned that he and Roger Avary�s version of Beowulf now seems likely to be made, and that Terry Gilliam�s version of Good Omens is as likely to be made as it ever was (which is to say, who knows?). He did mention that Gilliam�s script includes a scene with Gilliam and William Shatner, so I really do want to see it myself now.

I didn�t feel like standing in line for probably more than an hour for an autograph (and in any case I forgot to bring my copy of Good Omens, or for that matter any of my favourite issues of Sandman) and nor did Simon, but I would love to have asked him if he ever thought his script for one of the Modesty Blaise movies would be made. Trouble is, it would have been a rhetorical question�

Busy week

Seem to be packing more and more into each day at work, which is strange and satisfying, but why exactly is it that the more work you do, the more work you seem to have left to do? I feel like I used to have time to ponder deep philosophical insights like these, once upon a time�

Fiona�s been away in Adelaide doing training all this week, but she�s back tonight. Normality soon to be reinstituted, and not before time.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 03 Jul 2005 11:48:00 +0000

Off again

I'm getting up at some appalling hour tomorrow to get on a plane for Suva. I'll be there for a week again. In many ways, I expect it to be a relaxing week, because I will basically be able to focus on one thing rather than the thousand or so problems I dealt with this week. Yay for no phones! (It's not that there are no phones, of course - it's just that it's highly unlikely that anyone will try to call me on one of them).

I'll get back to town on Saturday afternoon, just in time for another elaborate dinner party of fine wine, rich food and staying up too late. I hope by then I've learned how to sleep on a plane.

Other phat lewt news

I got some other cool stuff for my birthday. Meagan gave us a copy of another Aubrey/Maturin novel (we're only about three books from having the full set now), which was cool. But the prize for history's least anticipatible (anticipible?) present has to go to Jimbo's gift of a framed Cricket Australia shirt signed by Steve Waugh. S'got a plaque and everything.

It'd be going straight to the pool room if we had one, but as we don't I am presented with the slight difficulty of working out where the hell to put it. One thing's for sure though, there's no way I'm giving it away.

There's probably other things I should be mentioning as having happened this past week or so, but my brain is foggy from staying up until 4 in the morning watching Australia and England tie the one day final. And the Live 8 concert is on telly, so I think I'll watch that until I pass out.

See you in a week or so.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 03:25:00 +0000

35 today!

It�s my birthday, and I can go to work if I want to!

The weird part � the really, really weird part � is that I actually wanted to go to work today. I still can�t really get my head around this �enjoying my job� thing.

Anyway, here I am at work and some of the gloss has come off that notion, but I did get in late after having a very lovely breakfast with my exceedingly wonderful wife, and I can�t help but notice that my co-workers have brought a cake for afternoon tea!

In other birthday lewt news, Chris and Emma gave me a game with pirates! Woah! And Ev called to say hi and we chatted, and Meagan�s making her yumboriffical kofta meatballs for dinner. Life is good.

Ironic

I have been slightly miffed over the past few days because I have lost my set of keys and I don�t know where they are. Take that how you will.

Short movie reviews

We saw Batman Begins last week, and though we were able to find a few gaping flaws in the plot, they had surprisingly little impact on my enjoyment of the film. It�s good! I think I�m surprised by that mostly because so much of what I�ve been looking forward to seeing in the past year or so has been disappointing (except Sin City, which starts real soon and is real good and you should real see it�er�).

Also, I want to look forward to War of the Worlds, which starts on my birthday (just another reminder � that�s today!) but I don�t know if I can trust Spielberg to make a Saving Private Ryan rather than an A.I.�

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 00:02:00 +0000

Contact! We have radar activity.

There's no special reason why I haven't bothered to update lately, just a sort of general malaise and sense that I should be doing other stuff at work. A particularly acute sense of that, actually. It's getting busier, and with it I am getting closer to the sort of work that I am very new to and not yet comfortable with, which includes the exercise of decisions regarding the direction of Project Porkpie. Why is it that when they were telling me I was going to be a project manager, nobody mentioned that I might have to appear decisive and in control? I feel I could have steered them a little clear...

And the else?

Since so very much time has passed since the last Lexifab entry, I'll just itemise everything that's been going on rather than attempt to provide details. This is the sort of skill I need to practise for my job. I will also work backwards to give my morning brain time to remember some of the less recent stuff

Today - It's Eurovision 2005! Our Eurovision SongContest party is on this afternoon and already the house is starting to fill up. Meagan's ex-Hobart friends Chris and Robert arrived last night, and sometime during the morning we expect something like a dozen other people to rock up. The house will be bursting at the seams with sequins, fake fur and various other crimes against fashion.There will heckling and �mock� karaoke. There will be exotic booze and rich foods. Every year, we dress up and watch the ESC, laugh along with Terry Wogan's increasingly scathing commentary and reel with horror at the sheer awfulness of Europe's finest vocal talents. This will be a day to remember, yes.
Also today - My cousin Becca and her boyfriend Joel are tying the knot today. There will be a wedding of some desciption, though I don't really have any details since I only heard about it a week ago. Still, good on 'em. With their second bub now officially on the way, it'll make our Nan happy (I half suspect that that's actually their main motivation for going through with it, but that's just a guess).
Yesterday - Spent the day in bed (and, all right, on the computer) with what seemed to have been a touch of the flu � headache, aching joints etc. Apart from a sore neck, it seems to have vanished now, so I either beat it or imagined it and either way nothing shall now stop me from glamming up for this afternoon's festivities. Yesterday's important achievement's included finally getting around to watching The Second Coming (a TV movie starring new Doctor Who Christopher Ecclestone as the Son of God. No, really). It's pretty damn good. And I found got together enough cash in World of Warcraft to afford a riding kodo (kind of a rhino-looking thing) for Vasharda to ride around on. If I posted pictures on here, I'd post a picture of that. Oh, and the giant dinosaur that ate me while I was standing back admiring my new riding beast and trying to set up a photo...
Houseful of family - My cousins Jenny and Elizabeth moved to Canberra some months ago, and we finally managed to actually get them over for dinner on Wednesday night, along with both sets of parents. I haven't seen Rob and Jocelyn (Jen's parents) or Hilary and Alan (Liz's) for years, and in fact Joce hadn't even met Fiona yet. Meags made a very yummy stew and we had a lovely evening. Apart from the very pleasant company, the most remarkable thing was discovering our dining room has the capacity to comfortably seat 14. Now all we need is a table (or tables) large and cool enough to do the space justice, and our dinner parties will be the greatest triumphs known to man. Or something.
Birthdays, celebrated and actual - Tiffany hit 35 on Wednesday. I would declare her officially old, but Fiona and I are making the same milestone next week, so bugger that. Ted and Sumie welcomed Hana Renee into the world a couple of weeks ago, but we heard about it this week.
No more Defender of the Universe - Chris' cat Emily passed away on the weekend. She was an odd cat, given to unprovoked startlement and twitchiness. For this and many other unusual and not always endearing qualities, it had long been assumed that she was uniquely able to perceive threats to the existence of the universe completely invisible to the rest of us, and was charged by some higher force with seeing them off with a hiss or a long blank stare. Fortunately for us all, she discharged this duty with great fervour throughout her time in this world. Presumably the mantle has now been passed to some new Chosen One, perhaps in Hong Kong or New York City.
Other stuff - There's probably been other stuff going on, but as yet the brain has not recalled it, so let's leave it there. Too bad that this afternoon's celebrations will probably scourge any vestiges of my short- and medium-term memory, so whatever it was I can't quite recall right now will be gone forever. That's my guess anyway.