amphigoric macoronical pointlessness

well that was an interesting weekend.

on friday we cancelled a group from canberra. later that evening a group turned up from melbourne, that were due a week later. they shoulda read their emails, but we managed anyway. a bit rough getting them on, and a few seasick people, but you get that.

cool stuff from the weekend:

dolphins chasing fish near where we were anchored. fish were jumping out of the water to get away, and the dolphins were jumping after them.

whales cruising through the bay. probably humpbacks or pilot whales.

dolphins jumping out the water. usually they just put their dorsal fin up and breathe, but heaps of them were jumping out of the water.

on a night dive as i'm helping a diver out of the water. a fairly penguin surfaces about a metre away, looks around, makes some penguin noises, then scoots away. too cool.

about lunch time sunday i got picked up by another diveshop's boat so i could go home. my mate driving it didn't feel like driving. i wonder what the divers they had thought. someone gets dropped on their boat, dumps his gear in the cabin, then goes upstairs and drives the boat back :-) how does the diving industry work? i have no idea. but it was fun. i didn't put the thing alongside the wharf or anything complicated like that though. when your stuffing around with someone else's multi-thousand dollar boat, you don't park it without instruction. the only thing i parked next to was a lone seal swimming in the water on the way back, but it didn't stay to play.

gah! life is never boring.

the bosses just rang up. the customers from melbourne are waiting on the dock. panic panic. so we're on after all. now i'm glad i ironed yesterday (for the first time ever). we're all too pissed to drive so we're getting picked up shortly, dropped off somewhere or other, depending on how quickly the bosses have moved, via the chemist of course so i don't get sea sick, then loading them all on.

i feel like shit cause i've had to tell the kids i can't have them, and spent a few mins on the phone apologising. got a 20 year school reunion on this weekend as well. but i was never gonna make that anyway. they were so disorganised i only found out about 2 weeks ago, i was already set in stone to work this weekend. i found out at lunch today i wasn't working, then just now that i was. oh well. maybe for the 30th hehehe

may you be cursed to live in interesting times....

friday

thank the gods it's friday. especially the god of having fun on the weekends.

we had twilight soccer last night. now i know summer is coming. the kids are hassling me to go surfing in the afternoons and summer soccer is happening. we did our usual. ran around like idiots. had a lot of fun, laughed, stuffed up heaps and generally avoided acting our ages.

unfortunately we also had tragedy the other day with a poor guy from Wagga Wagga getting caught in a rip and drowning. so that's put a dampener on the whole week. and as is always the way in a small town, our neighbour knew of these guys. she said they'd come over for a funeral (i think) and while they were here they thought they might as well go to the beach. as you do. well, that's what got related to me about 15th hand, it's probably wrong.

that reminds me it's time to start hitting the pool. it's all well and good to tell people how to react in a rip, but you should still be a good swimmer. we should be spending a bit of time at the beach this year i reckon. if the damn car ever gets fixed and/or replaced. i am getting confident that the kids can deal with small seas now, wetsuits and surfboards make a big difference, but i'm still paranoid enough that if i can't see them i start to worry. i wonder when that stops. when they're big enough to rescue me i spose.

the boss just rang up and she said that they've cancelled the weekend charter. i was kinda looking forward to it, but i don't mind a weekend off. i'll see if the kids wanna come over. apparently the seas have come right up. they're surfing across the creek entrance where we board the customers, and the strong nor-easters forecasted will leave us pretty much nowhere to go. it's gonna be a busy season anyway, a weekend out won't hurt. although the bosses will feel the pinch with a full charter being cancelled. oh well. occupational hazard i guess.

parked in jutland parade

my stupid commondore broke down on monday. i've been nursing the transmission for ages as it's been vibrating and slipping, but after driving down to get on the boat for the weekend, it only just made it home. i think i might have been a bit too optimistic trying to get to work on monday with it though...

fortunately i did get to work, the last 500 metres at about 5 kph, hazard lights on and traffic trying to avoid running into me (hit me hit me! i need the insurance!). anyway i just got it into the carpark and parked it somewhere i shouldn't and left it until later when the brain fog cleared and i could work out what to do with it.

a few hours later someone from our division turned up and gave me the keys to his car. he's on leave for a month and i'm minding his car. i'd completely forgotten about it. well that's sorted out how i get to and from work during the weeks. no idea how i'm going to get to the boat as i can't use it for anything unrelated to work, just getting to and from work. maybe i should just tell them i live somewhere else on weekends. i'll run it past the boss and see what he says anyway.

so after lunch when i was feeling a bit more switched on, i did a bit of a look around who would fix it for me, and booked it into one of the local repairers. $2400 for an exchange transmission. i thought that was a lot, but the last time it broke down (fortunately under warranty) it cost the insurance company $3000 for a complete rebuild (by another repairer). and it only lasted another 2 years anyway.

now, how do i get the damn thing over there. i had visions of attempting to drive it and breaking down in the middle of traffic. so i rang the nrma for my free tow :-) they said they had to send a dude out first to make sure it needed towing, and i said i was at work, gave them my number and told them to call me so i could be there.

next thing i get a call saying that the guy had been and gone, but couldn't do anything because i wasn't there. i replied that was probably because you didn't ring me like i asked! morons. take two. i get a call, get out there to find the guy cruising round the wrong carpark, no probls, i flag him down and take him to the car. he sits in it and drives it backwards and forwards about 2 feet. he thinks it's ok, i can hear the fucker slipping from here buddy, and i'm not a frikken mechanic. so i say ok. you follow me down to the repairers, if it breaks down, you can call the tow truck from wherever.

i had the luckiest run ever. when it's cold it works for a while (not a long while though) and as the oil warms up (or something i dunno, autos are black magic to me) it starts acting up. so i managed to run through the lights and corners and intersections without stopping. he thought it was a foregone conclusion and asked if it mucked up at all. maybe he couldn't hear it over the stereo, it was slipping heaps.

now to wait for the damn bill, and flog it off as fast as possible. frikken commodores. not buying another one. gonna get an old hq ute, or maybe an old valiant ute. when it breaks, fix it my damned self. as long as it'll fit me, 2 kids and surfboards, it'll do.

mondays suck

well apart from feeling like shit and being inside on a lovely sunny monday, i had a good weekend.

didn't do any diving though. not over my flu enough yet. and i didn't miss much. the viz varies between 1 metre to about 8 metres. with all the recent rain there's been a lot of runoff into the bay and a lot of the water is stained brown from the tannin in the tree roots (or something or other like that. i wasn't paying attention when it was explained to me). some interesting people on board, some return customers, some late nights and bleary eyes in the mornings :-)

next weekend i'll drag out the dive gear and see if i'm up to it. it will also be a good test of how well i serviced my dive gear. so hopefully it won't stuffup. in the meantime i think i'll have a few early nights and try and recover a bit from last weekend...

rules to remember

jaegermeister is not a party drink.

when you're pissed jack daniels is a bad idea (and so is jaegermeister).

helloooo! jack daniels is a bad idea! wake up dipshit and smell the roses.

steer clear of rum

ok, sorry this doesn't make much sense. it's a geographical thing. if you were there, it wouldn't make much sense either. but don't drink jaegermeister. it's vodka for me from now on

rats

well much as i love the rain and stuff, i like it mostly when i can stay indoors and watch a video or play on my computer, or otherwise spend my time unproductively.

this weekend i've gotta work. i thought i'd swapped weekends with one of the other galley slaves, but it turns out that by swap, he meant i work his weekend and mine as well. so time to stock up on panadol (having frikken migraines) and sea sick tablets and get my self organised.

not gonna bother taking my dive gear though. i'm still not 100% and the visibility is about 1 metre, which is great if you're diving in the uk, but not here. plus with the swell coming down the coast it should be nice and bumpy...

looking at the forecast it looks like the swell and the wind will be coming from opposite directions, except maybe on some of saturday. it's gonna be like a washing machine. bleah!

Illawarra Coastal Waters, Port Hacking to Ulladulla and 60nm seawards:

Friday until midnight: Wind:SW 10/15 knots gradually tending more SW/SE during the day. Sea:1 metre Swell:NE 2.5 metres
Saturday: Wind:NW/NE 10/15 knots, SE change 10/20 knots during the afternoon. Sea:1 to 2 metres Swell:NE 2 metres
Sunday Outlook: Wind: S/SE 15/20 knots
Monday Outlook: Wind: E/NE 10/15 knots

rain

rain, rain, glorious rain
we're getting some in the catchment too, but it looks like sydney isn't. i love scrolling through the various radar stations up the coast.

in my next life....

i am not working with fucking computers. and the next time my boss goes on leave i'm not standing in for him either. too much fucking grief for not enough reward.

the head of the department said that i didn't have to worry about replacing a disk drive that had failed. it's on a server that is being phased out and he's the only one using it. so he said that's one less thing for me to worry about. great! but here's 3 more things to add to your list. fuck!

and in my next life it definitely won't be microsoft shit on the computers that i won't be working with. half baked poxy crap with half arsed support, useless/non-existent documentation... arcane frikken configuration that doesn't work as it's meant to anyway.

unix is meant to be arcane while microsoft sells itself as easy to use. ha ha fucken ha

the universal rules of data protection:
1. do not buy a computer
2. failing rule 1, do not turn the computer on
3. failing rules 1 & 2, avoid using software
4. failing rules 1, 2 & 3, keep duplicate manual records of everything.

testosterone :-)

another weekend in front of the telly watchin the racing. it's heaven. well except for a bit of overindulgence. gotta take a few weeks off the grog cause i'm a shot duck.

valentino once again shone to the front, with our main man troy bayliss finishing strongly but not on the podium. in the 250cc our main chance of an oz podium, anthony west, unfortunately crashed in qualifying yesterday and smashed himself up a bit too much to continue today. in the 125cc class casey stoner did well to ride with an injury to get 3rd position.

motorcycle racing. if it wasn't for that. i wouldn't bother turning on the fucken telly at all. if only i was rich enough to afford pay tv. ok i can probably afford it now, but i mean rich enough to afford it and only watch it occasionally and not really give a shit. there's nothing like getting to a really cool bit of the race only to be interrupted by neighbors ads (ok, sure they're trying to harp up some lame people to watch because they think they'll see some girl on girl action, ha ha frickken ha) and ads for australian karaoke, aka idle australians. i've seen more talent down the pub on a saturday night. shit, i think i've been more talent down the pub on a saturday night. and when it comes to singing, i'm down there below the chipmunks and woody woodpecker.

idle australians. some of the shit they put on telly just makes me puke. but on the other hand, i only watch the motor racing and the simpsons, and whatever movies the kids pick when they come to stay. so i really couldn't give a flying fuck what the punters amuse themselves with.

drat. it's the end of the weekend. another hungover monday. but i hate mondays anyway, might as well have a reason...

i can see it already. one of the punters at work will come up, and assume that because i'm foolish enough to work in information spasmology, they'll ask me to fix their fucken computer, for free, just because i love it.

they're always so surprised with my rates. but like i care, i'm sure the other's in town will fix it for less, sooner or later. and i'm always happy to recommend them to go somewhere else. i've gotta find another job. fucken computers...

woohoo. friday again

after drinking all last weekend and sitting in front of the telly, i thought i'd have a few weeks off the grog and try and burn some fat off... getting a bit of a fat roll (bleah!)

but it seems that the motogp is on at phillip island this weekend. so i'll be camped in front of the telly again. oops.

so i'll just have to promise myself to start doing some exercise again. i've been pretty much a beer drinking sloth since winter soccer finished. last night was our first game of summer soccer, and i scored a goal, woohoo. and now i'm tired and sore. DOH!

each year the teams are getting younger and fitter, or maybe it's just me doing the opposite. oh well. time for pain. gotta go to the gym at least once this week....

hmm, just had a thought. if i go to the gym this arvo, that means i can have a few beers tonight :-)

dumb timing - yet again

i casually looked in the paper on wednesday to see if summer soccer was due to start, and lo and behold if there wasn't a draw in there for the start of the summer season. yay!

so thursday afternoon, after a few wind down drinkies at the pub, i headed out to the grounds to be there on time. hmmm, looks different, kiddies playing on the full sized grounds, no summer soccer setup, on the phone to one of the guys in the team and i've got the week wrong. drat drat drat. back to check the paper and yup, they put it in a week early but did put the date in there for next week. one of them little details i always miss.

i think it runs in the family though. mum sent me to school a day early, for my first day of kindergarten (hmmm, what was she trying to say?) and most of the family have been guilty of stuff like this on at least one occasion.

on the bright side it's our presentation this saturday. a game of golf and beer, followed by presentation and beer. hmmmmm beeeerrrrrr. then sitting in front of the telly all sunday watchin the great race as ford and holden v8 supercars race for supremacy. woohoo!

ok, it's not new news, but i found this on marshall brain's blog while looking for pretty car pictures the other day.

so if you want to see a pretty video on the bugatti website, and you can be arsed stuffing around with it, then

Go to www.bugatti-cars.de
Choose "English".
Along the top, click on "Models"
Choose "Veyron 16.4"
Choose "Engineering"
Choose "Engine"
Along the bottom, choose "Legends from 1001 HP"
Click on video segments 1 through 7 in sequence. You may have to click the play button (small arrow) to get them to play initially.
(apologies to marshall brain, i nicked that from his blog)

there's a bit on this how stuff works website about it. ok, what can you do with a 400kph motorcar? dunno, but i'd still like to go for a drive...

swinging voter

ok. i'm still undecided. don't want howard though.

[disclaimer]
this is a one-off political rant. here's the shorted summary:
fucken stupid dumb fuckers. fuck fuck fuck fuck. fucken howard, fucken latham, fucken keating, fucken downer, fucken gee-willikers-bush. morons the fucken lot of 'em
like "I" have a fucken clue anyway.
[/disclaimer>]

in my ignorant opinion, little johnnie took us to war and either lied to us, or was ignorant. either is equally unforgiveable for someone in his position. especially when he was in such a strong position when he could afford to be honest. are you listening little john? it's ok to say "ok, we fucked up, there were no nukes in iraq. but we still got saddamn-who-sucks out. at the moment the situation is pretty fucked, but we're working on it." say that, and you'll win my vote. i don't want us involved in it. but there's a lot of little iraqis who are happy that saddamn-who-sucks is out. and then again, there's a lot of crazy mother fuckers who really don't give a shit and just want to make people miserable.

[aside]
i read an interesting article the other day, written by a moslim. it said something along the lines of... "not every muslim is a terrorist. but it seems that most terrorists are muslims."

but only a few hundred years ago the christians were the ones travelling the world killing pricks. i couldn't give a flying fuck about religion. nasty cunts who just want to hurt people use religion as an excuse. get ignorant kids to blow themselves up at soldier checkpoints. fuck 'em. nuke them 'till they glow then shoot them in the dark.
[/aside]

on the other side of the coin. vote labour? latham is an unknown quantity. keating was a prick. but he was a hard arsed prick and he had my respect. still makin my mind up with latham. but he's the best chance they've had for a while. but the liberal person here is Joanna Gash. and she's damn good for the area. listens to the locals and really seem to accomplish stuff.. the labour alternatives for the last few years have mostly comprised of idiots. wayne smith. fucken moron. i think they only offered him because this is such a strong liberal seat.

so i'll probably vote for the "no nuclear mowers on sunday mornings" party again...

and while i'm ranting and shit.i find it funny that howard is bagging the shit out of latham's background in finance. when howard was treasurer wasn't it all fucked then too? did latham fuckup? or was it all ok. i reckon howard takes too much on himself praising himself for our current economical fortune. seems to me that when the world is doing well financially, so do we, when it all turns to shit, then we have keating's "depression we had to have". fuck knows.

and while they say labour can't pay for their promises, they are promising similar deals? where's the money coming from then dickhead? oh wait. let me guess. it's not a "core promise". fuck you very much

but don't lick the yank's arses. when it comes down to economics they don't give a flying fuck who helped them in iraq. they just care about making money. short and simple.

rant ends here. like i give a shit anyway. i'd just be glad to see howard get shafted

expect this to be my last political post. i'm the most politically ignorant (and why stop there they say, you're just ignorant) person i know

the long weekend

and even though the weather has been ordinary, the roads are chocka-block. i've spent all friday and saturday indoors trying to get over this stupid cold. this morning i had to get up at sparrow's fart to go and retrieve my sister and brother-in-law from the airport.

getting up at 4:30 wasn't that hard. stupid cold means i can't sleep properly anyway, except in the middle of the day. the stars were bright and so was the moon. i could see the big swell rolling in to the beaches on the way. big and messy. needs an offshore breeze to brush it up a bit.

the line of clouds along the horizon were like a big broken wave, foaming and bubbling to the north. they made the horizon look heaps closer than usual. and the moonlight on the water made the waves really stand out.

then the sun came out and i realised i'd left my frikken sunnies at home in the crap mobile. (borrowed mum and dad's car to make the trip. they said they'd just use my car to go over town and get some stuff. i said, ok. probably best if you don't try and use reverse. and if it starts shuddering and stuff, take your foot off the accelerator and try again) so i dropped into a servo for a pair of sunnies and a second red bull to keep me alert and stuff.

only took me about an hour and a half to get to the airport, which i thought was pretty good considering the few stops. then i realised it's double demerits this weekend, so the trip home was a bit slower. they were suitably excited to get home, get off the plane, and have a cigarette. and a few toilet stops to let out some of the free alcohol from the flight over.

on the way home they regaled me with stories of travel and stuff. and the usual pommy bad weather and how warm it is here (i'm wearing a jumper) and whinging poms everywhere they travelled over europe. they thought it was pretty amusing. they are lined up at customs in italy, trying to get in, and a couple of poms behind them are whinging about the place already and they haven't got in yet. they've just left behind the land of the permanent cloud and they're unhappy? although looking at the pommy tabloids i think whinging is a national sport. but seein as i mostly whinge on here, maybe i should shut up now...

dropped them and the car off at mum's, went home and had a nap. gonna be a big day today. the footy grand final. bein such a fan of the sport and all. last night dad rang up to say his telly was stuffed (again). "can i borrow yours?" he asked? ok, no probls. i drop it off, stuff around with cables and stuff. then mum says something about the big game tomorrow (today) and the penny drops. oh, the grand final is on this weekend. ok, i do actually know who is playing though. one of the guys at work is a bulldogs supporter, and he's sent all his mates an email about how well the dogs are gunna do, with a big doggies jpeg. and another mate is a roosters supporter, so he's replied in the same vein with a roosters jpeg. so now i know who are playing

so how do i know who to barrack for? easy, the opposite of everyone else hehehe. or i could do what my mad soccer mates do when we watch the grand final for soccer and we're not in it. cheer for our team anyway. confusion is good...