Just. Do. It.

I have had a collection of three wall-mounted guitar hooks for almost as long as we have lived in this house (we moved in August 05 - you do the maths, I'm too lazy). I've put off installing them for quite a while because, as previously mentioned, I'm somewhat lazy. It didn't help that when I was finally motivated to put them up, I discovered that my stud finder[1] worked less effectively when used slowly and carefully (it screws up its sensitively and it falsely reports when it has found the edge of the stud) and therefore I was drilling screws into plain old plaster, which wouldn't even support the weight of the hooks, yet alone the weight of a guitar as well.

When I changed jobs late last year, I finally started to get my act together and began adopting a Getting Things Done attitude, somewhat inspired by the 43 Folders/Lifehacker aesthetic. Part of the GTD method is break your big picture things down into "next actions" - that is, "what do I have to do next?" - the theory being, it's easier to go ahead and do something if the task is small and easily achievable, rather than some monolithic project hanging above your head like some sort of Sword of Damocles.[2]

Part of my @Home list (which doesn't get whittled down very quickly, but I am working on it) involved getting these guitar hooks up. A couple of weekends ago I went out and bought some nylon plaster plugs which allow me to hang up to 10kgs without needing any support behind the plaster. Over the last couple of weekends I have installed two of the hooks with one more to go (which will actually have a djembe and a ukulele hanging off it rather than a guitar or bass, but it still gets junk off the floor of the study/computer/music room).

I may not be much of a handyman, but every now and then I manage to do something vaguely DIY. Enjoy the before and after shots.

The wall before (well, technically, it's the opposite wall because I didn't think to take a photo until it was too late. However, it looked exactly the same. Trust me.)
















And here is the after shot (which is of the actual wall. Trust me.)













[1] a phrase that still makes my wife giggle uncontrollably - for extra fun, I like to tell her I bought my stud finder in Bangkok. You'd never guess that I'm the immature one in this marriage

[2] Of course, GTD is more than that. One of my favourite parts of GTD is the idea that most people are stressed because they carry around everything they need to do in their head, instead of recorded somewhere. Because it's all stored in their head, it's much easier to forget things and you tend to spend a lot of your time stressed because either (a) you just know you've forgotten something important but can't think what it is or (b) you're frantically doing damage control around some disaster, caused by you forgetting soemthing important. One of the strengths of GTD is that if you can develop a system of recording your next actions that you can trust completely, the mere act of recording stuff you need to do reduces your stress almost exponentially becuause you don't need to carry it around in your head anymore. I didn't really believe it until I tried. GTD and my trusty DIY Hipster PDA has meant that I forget nowhere near as many things as I used to, and I no longer find myself lying awake at night, my mind racing (or remembering stuff just before I go to sleep and forgetting it when I wake up and not remember it again until too late). In turn, I feel much more organised and relaxed although my wife has said she hasn't noticed any difference. I feel it though, and that makes a difference to me.

In search of a comet

It will come as no surprise to people that know me that I'm a little bit on the geeky side. So, when I found out that the brightest comet in over 40 years was clearly visible to the naked eye, I thought "this is something I've got to see...". The comet in question is the McNaught Comet.

I live very near Tuggeranong Hill, which I had heard afforded fantastic views of the surrounding area. While called a hill, it is technically a mountain so I figured I was pretty safe. If I could scale the fire trail that leads to the top of the Hill, I reckoned I could get a pretty good view of this streaming ball of cosmic ice.

The journey would be difficult for two reasons:

1. the comet was best seen at dusk, which is also not long after we normally put Elijah to sleep; and
2. being up the top of the hill at dusk would mean walking back down a fire trail in the dark, because, in hindsight, I have no brain and it never occurred to me to take a torch.

Elijah went to sleep quite easily in the end and I left for the hill, imaginary leave pass from my wife imaginarily clutched in my sweaty little hand. Now, I'm not unfit, but I'm definitely not fit either and the 20 minute walk up the hill was hard work. It was made harder by the fact that the fire trail is not the most stable of surfaces and was showing signs of erosion after the hard core storms that swept through the area over Christmas/New Year. Still, there was plenty of light although the sun was setting and I reached the top without incident.

I have always wanted to climb up to the top of Tuggeranong Hill and the view from the east did not disappoint.


I quite liked the view to the south as well.


The view to the west (where, apparently, the comet would reveal itself) was none too shabby either.


Since I had some time, I also checked out the TV broadcast signal repeater (appropriately adorned with a cheesy slogan - considering it's a hell of a walk, some people really are dedicated to their vandalism)...


... and then there was some sort of doodad dealy up there too (I have nfc what this is at all, but you can see the broadcast repeater tower in the background).


The sad thing about all this is, I waited for over an hour in the rising breeze, getting colder and colder as I regretted climbing a small mountain in t-shirt and shorts and shoes without socks. I got cold, it got increasingly dark and in the end, I had to head home disappointed, lest I break my neck on the descent.

Sometimes geekiness has a price that must be paid, a toll that must be extracted.

No comet for me.

Go here for a photo on Wikipedia of what the comet would have looked like in Canberra if I had been able to actually spot in the dusky sky.

Edit 1/2/07 21:57 to remove an orphan link. Oops.

Trim the sails, the wind has gone...

Ever had an idea, kicked it around with a friend for a while, decided it was worth chasing and discover someone else has already had it?

It can be, well, somewhat deflating.

That's cool. Life is full of good ideas. Maybe the next one...

(No, I'm not sharing the idea, but rest assured it was a cool one. There may still be hope in another form. One day.)

Edit: btw, post 1oo! Wow, has that taken a long time.

Just can't leave well enough alone

My skin, for some reason, has been playing up a little lately (too much information? Probably. Deal.)

Yesterday afternoon, I found a pimple that only I could see (and that was because only I can feel it) and it started driving me mad. When I got home, I just had to get at it. I just had to. I don't know why. I just did.

It was stubborn. It was deep. It was not its time. I didn't care. After much effort, I finally got it (well, some of it). Of course, for my efforts I now have what can only be described as a plasmay, leaky mess near the corner of my mouth. Luckily I can hide some of it in my facial hair but I can still see it. I know it's there, mocking me, whispering "You never learn, do you. Punk."

One day I will learn. On the upside, I did derive great satisfaction from the process. After all, it's the journey that is important, not the destination.

Oops. No site stats for you!

Unintended consequence of switching to New Blogger #1

I didn't think to check that the javascript from Sitemeter followed the template over to the new layout. Turns out it didn't. Here I am, thinking that no visitors just meant no one cared. It seems that not only do people not care but machines are actively working against me, too.

My last recorded visitor was on 18 December 2006. By my calculations, that means that I should have received at least 4 more hits since then.

I'm so popular.

Tip? I’ll give you a tip…

I don’t think anyone would argue that airports operate within a financial system that is a universe unto itself. It is probably only a matter of time before they start charging people for the air that they breathe inside the terminal (and I shudder to think what sort of margin they would be adding on top of that as well).

At the end of our recent holiday, we found ourselves in the departure lounge with a little bit of time to kill. The Boy needed to be breastfed and my wife was really thirsty (breastfeeding will do that to you). Since I had forgotten to fill up a water bottle and pack it in our carry-on luggage, it fell upon my shoulders to find a suitable replacement.

It was not long until our scheduled boarding time so I needed to find somewhere close with quick service. Casting my eye about, I chose a nearby store. Now, I use the word “store” in a not so much loose as liquid sense. The facility was a large bank of open-fronted refrigeration units where you perused and selected your chosen product, and one small check-out manned by a bored looking assistant.

After choosing a 750ml bottle of water, I was stunned to discover that the going rate in this dislocated economy was $4, more than twice what I would pay for this product in most supermarkets. However, as it was my fault we had to buy anything in the airport anyway, I gritted my teeth, took my karmic lumps with internal good humour and fished out the coins to pay. It was while I was paying for the bottle that I encountered something that really made me question just what it is that gets put into the water supply.

Prominently placed on the counter was a bowl with some coins, adorned with a sign communicating one simple word that is still burned into my occipital lobe – TIPS (and yes, it was in all caps, too). The rage seethed and bubbled deep within as part of my brain transmitted with full power over the entire telepathic spectrum with quiet fury: Not only did I select the bottle and physically transport it myself to the front counter and then pay well over twice what it is worth, but YOU WANT A FREAKING TIP? FOR WHAT? THE “SERVICE”?

Of course, making a scene is not my thing (deep down inside I’m just a spineless coward, like all the other sheeple) so I just quietly sighed (well, maybe not that quietly) when I found out that water now costs $4 and walked away.

You know what baffles me more than anything else? There were coins in the bowl. Either the proprietors of the kiosk have such a low opinion of people that they think that by chucking a few coins in a bowl, peer pressure will out and people will tip if they think the person in front of them in line did, OR, people actually have felt obliged to tip the staff in thanks for being gouged in an extraordinarily lazy manner (points for style, I guess).

I’m not sure which one is worse…

Offline for Christmas

Back mid-January.

Stay safe and have fun.

Christmas break

Well, the end of the year and Christmas is upon us all once more. As is often the case, it's time to rest, take stock and plan for the year ahead.

After an extended period of quiet from me, there's going to be another one. I need to reconsider much of what I do in my life (time online is just one of these things).

It'll be interesting to see what the new year will bring.

Peace and goodwill to you and yours...

Back again

Sorry, life's been hectic.

Apart from Elijah not wanting to sleep, I also started a new job on 16 November. It's been hard to find time to do anything but exist at the moment. Hopefully things will ease up again soon.

In the meantime, gratuitous footage of Elijah being cute at bathtime (for anyone who hasn't seen it on Little Elijah...)



I know, life's got so desperate I'm pinching content from my own blogs...

Shake shake shake

Shake shake shake

Shake your booty, oh yeah, shake your booty!

Since I've declared I'm never going to put video of my victory dance online, this narrative representation is just going to have to do.

I got my marks back on my final assignment, and they were good enough to tip me over the edge for the clean sweep - 4 from 4 High Distinctions!

Awwwww. Yeah.

Oh, shake shake shake...

Meh. Still sick.

Still whingeing too.

I've been poked, prodded, given erythromycin (a broad spectrum antibiotic) and blood tested. Hopefully I'll soon know why I'm coughing all the time and have a sore throat. The latest guess is bacterial bronchitis with a remote possibility of whooping cough, which the blood test is meant to rule out (and is mainly just a precaution as whooping cough and babies don't play nice together).

After taking today off work, I do feel much better albeit still a little tired and still with a sore throat. Now that it's night time, the cough is starting to return and the tiredness is creeping back.

Off to work again tomorrow. I have exactly one week left in this job before I start my new one. The next 6 work days are going to be a blur of tidying up loose ends and writing up some handover. Woo.

And then there was none...

It is done.

The final assignment has been submitted electronically.

I've had headaches, a continually sore throat, constantly dripping sinuses, hacked up my lungs on a number of occasions and slept on the lounge the entire week so I don't keep my wife awake with my coughing, but I did it.  I don't think the marks will be good enough to make it a clean sweep of High Distinctions for my Grad Certificate (there were some intricacies of Open Office Base that I couldn't quite work out and to be honest, I'm not sure if it's me or the software), but quite frankly right now I could not physically care any less.  It is done and it will just have to do.  I only need 12 or 13 out of 25 to claim a Distinction and I'm almost certain to get at least that many marks.

So, it's off to the doctor again tomorrow because apparently I should be much better by now, and then after some more sleep, life will return to a semblance of normality.

yay.

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Boo-yah!

I'm still sick (turns out I had laryngitis) and struggling through my days, but one small piece of news caused me to do the most joyful victory dance I have done in a long time.

I got the marks back tonight for the final assignment of one of my subjects (Introduction to Data Networks), and the mark (14.1/15) was high enough to push me over into the High Distinction category with 87.7%.

Awwwwwwww yeaaaaa-uh.

Of course, this is pending final weighting of marks but I'm feeling pretty confident that I'm going to just scrape in there. This makes 3 from 3 HDs for my first year of part-time study/full-time work/full-time dad/slightly neglectful full-time husband. I had convinced myself that I wouldn't get the marks required to push me over 85% into HD territory, and this made the victory dance that little bit sweeter.

Just one assignment to go. I really don't think I'm getting the required marks to make it 4 from 4, but it is within the realm of possibility. It's just not all that likely.

*victory dance including obligatory butt wiggle*

(no, I will not tape it and put it up on YouTube)

I hate being sick...

It's weird. I get sick maybe once a year (twice at most). I generally complain about this because it means I don't get time off work. Problem is, when I do get sick, I complain about endlessly. In fact, I'm so pathetic and needy and whiny when I get sick that my wife usually can't take more than a day of it (two at most) before telling me I must be feeling better and shouldn't I be going back to work now?

Right now, I'm sick. Sore throat, dripping sinuses, aching back and neck and pretty cranky (actually, that last one is true on just about any given day). I've got an assignment due in just over a week, but that can wait until tomorrow.

I hate being sick. Bleh.

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Taking better pics

There's some great tips here for how to take a better photograph. Some of my favourites:

• tilt the camera
• get up close, don't use the zoom
• stop looking through the viewfinder (you'll have more fun this way)
• turn off the flash (the difference can be amazing).

I know that for the photos of our trip to Tasmania, the ones I liked the best were ones where I went for different perspectives or just snapped off a quick shot without thinking too much.

I'll post my favourite Tassie photos later, but they're all in our Tasmania Gallery.

New Shoes

Last Friday I bought new shoes.

This may not seem like a monumental and earth shattering activity for normal people but as a quick perusal of this blog would demonstrate, normality is not my "thing". My recently departed shoes (actually they're sitting in the kitchen waiting for me to remember to remove the shoe laces and then dump them in the industrial bin) had a small hole over the left big toe (I have no idea how it got there but the leather just got thin I guess) and the sole of the right shoe had begun separating from the upper, leaving a gaping chasm where, if it ever rained here, water could seep in when splashing in puddles. My shoes have been in this condition for about 3 months, which is a conservative estimate.

I last bought new dress shoes for wearing to work in the months leading up to my wedding (which was in July '03). I had had those shoes since 1999. They replaced shoes that I had for seven years. I had got those shoes at the beginning of Grade 11 and only replaced them after I slipped over in the kitchen of the restaurant where I managed the bar and fractured my elbow. They had already been re-soled once and I didn't see the value in doing it again as the soles wouldn't be non-slip (nor were the new shoes for that matter - curse you lying sales assistant at Colorado, Myer Centre!)

I don't replace shoes very often, although football boots is another matter (if they last two seasons, I've done well).

I don't have much of a point here except to say I like my new shoes. Comfy. Shiny. Leathery.

I wonder if I can break double figures with these ones...

US bans vegemite

Edit 29/10: As has been pointed out, this is in fact not true: http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/vegemite.asp

Heresy!

The US government has banned vegemite! Apparently it's because vegemite has folate added, and in the US you can only add folate to bread and cereals. Bah! Weak excuse if I ever heard one.

This should be considered a declaration of war, in my opinion. Vegemite on toast is one of the finest delicacies known to man (to this man anyway) and now thousands of expat Aussies will be denied this simple pleasure unless they can smuggle it in from Canada or Mexico.

Is this any way to treat an ally, Uncle Sam?

A new job

Most people who read this would be aware that I'm merely a small administrative cog in a large, federal, administrative wheel.  On 16 November, I'll officially enter the lowest rungs of management as I become the least powerful executive level administrative functionary.

It's actually pretty cool to me and is the culmination of my 5 year plan when I moved to Canberra back at the start of 2002 (which means it just scrapes in to my 5 year plan, but it still made it).  One of the positive personal benefits is that it provides just enough security of income that my wife can continue to be a stay at home mother for the forseeable future.  This, more than anything else, is what I love about this promotion.

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4 down, 2 to go

I did the exam tonight and got 37 out of 40 (I did it online through WebCT which means it got marked straight away), which translates into 14 out of 15 (there's some beneficial rounding going on there, I'll concede but that's the way the system does it). That leaves me sitting on nearly 84% for this subject, but there's still 45% of the marks to go (one assignment submitted but not yet graded and one due 27 October).

I now have just 2 assignments to go and then I'm free for the year and Helen can have her husband back and Elijah can have his Daddy back (although I always try and make room for Elijah, but I have been woefully neglectful to my wife - I am well aware that some things must change).

Yay. The end of the year is in sight! Woo!

3 down, 3 to go

Assignments and exams still suck, but at least there is a whole let less of them now...