Efficacious redundancy

This was the real colour of the sky at my place last night. Everything around was bathed in this bizarre yellow, but that didn't come across too well in other pictures.

Outrageously sagacious

Storm clouds gathering? Not at all :)

I think this sums up pretty well my more recent approach to action, and why I've been able to recover more effectively from the odd bad month. It really is the journey, not the destination, as long as I know the things I'm doing are important (and enjoyable) to me.

Work shouldn't feel like work it it's what I want to do. And walking isn't (all) about the weight I lose, or the fitness I get, but the enjoyment of the walk, the beauty of the sights.

I've felt horrendously tired the past few days, and the second half of my walk last night my body felt like lead (even though usually the walk is a breeze). But despite that, my mood has primarily remained bright, I haven't complained to anyone at work and Extras has returned to TV. Life remains quite good :)

Irrelevance personified

I've caught little snippets of Labour criticism towards our PM about bad mouthing Barack Obama but, seriously, nothing said by anyone in Australia (except maybe The Wiggles) could have the slightest impact on the US election. Maybe Labour's starting to believe Howard's self-deception that our country has an important role in world affairs?

I'm not saying Australia couldn't be a leader, just that the lack of vision in our government means there's not even positive local influence, let alone anything on a global scale.

Xenophobic implant

Some random new pics, to prove I'm carrying through with my threat of more photography:







While I've been kinda sick for the past week, both with nausea and fatigue, I'm still making sure to action on :)

Sepia outlaws

Have you ever wondered what computer monitors looked like in the 19th century? My guess is they were something like this:



Actually, that was just a hella lame excuse to try out one of my camera's features that doesn't start with the prefix "auto". I've been planning to learn enough about my camera to do something a little more creative, and I'm now armed with a few more techniques (courtesy of a re-read of the manual). Now I just need to concentrate on taking more pics :) I've browsed Flickr and favourited some photos to give me a little extra motivation, so no excuses!

Comet McZero

Don't worry, it's not an optical illusion, there's nothing to be seen in my photo of Comet McNaught. If I'd had a tripod, and remembered how to set a longer exposure time with my camera, I may well have come up with something cool like all of these.

Regardless, it was actually clearly visible to the naked eye, and genuinely impressive.

I used to be a keen astronomer, with my own telescope and star wheel, and journal for recording seeing conditions, but somewhere between the disappointing smudge that was Halley's Comet back in '86 and this latest event I lost interest in looking at the night sky. Strange, since insomnia lends itself to that kind of activity!

Mothra

Anyone with mottephobia turn back now.



This guy was a surprise visitor in my lounge room last night when I returned from my walk and settled in to watch the cricket. Definitely the biggest moth I've ever seen, and I have no idea how he could possibly have gotten inside.

Anyway, he now has a Vita Brits home on my front porch, and can leave any time he wants.

Huh?

What's that? You haven't seen a new toy on my blog for weeks, months even? How about this one, which you can see in action by going to The Shenanigans Files and hovering over some links.

I'm not sure yet whether I like it or hate it, but it's new!

Great googly moogly

This post from Slow Leadership effectively describes some beliefs I've let stand in my way in the past, preventing me from being as happy as I can be. I set my standards low to avoid disappointment, and let fear of just about everything limit me to doing same-old, same-old.

"The most useless and harmful beliefs aren’t just wrong; they actively prevent you from doing or understanding things that would improve either your own life or the lives of the people around you."

Obviously it's not a simple leap from flawed beliefs to those which lead to positive action (well, not simple for me anyway!), but it's clearly a path worth pursuing.

Over the past few weeks, I've finally started to achieve a work/life balance, which means they're not balanced at all and that work is purely another aspect of my life. I actually want to be there when I'm there, not thinking about what else I'd rather do in my "life". Which is a pretty amazing feeling, and really helps with the "be in the moment" approach to enjoying life I've been moving towards for several months.

The one weird side-effect of that, though, has been I have no idea what day it is at any given time. Which, if all of my workmates had the same approach would be fine, but I still need to show up at times I'm expected. Not really an imposition, but a little quirk in "work" being more a smooth continuity of my week than it seems for many others.

None of this is entirely consistent, and I still have many moments when I slip back to thinking negatively. The difference for me now is I've improved in taking what feels negative and working out some action I can take to improve it. It's all about the small gains for me, taking satisfaction in how I handle any "tiny adversity" I might face.

Peripheral exigency

Thanks to the B's generosity and complementary DVD library, I got to see the following five movies over the weekend:

American Dreamz
Some excellent comic characters, with unsubtle digs at current US policy (always welcome). Paul Weitz hits again, after American Pie and About A Boy also in his canon.

Bring It On - All Or Nothing
or, as I'd prefer to call it, Bring It On-est (the second sequel to Bring It On and Bring It On-er).
Stars the super-powered cheerleader from Heroes as... a cheerleader. I started off watching this a little critically, then thankfully stopped taking it even slightly seriously and enjoyed it thoroughly as a result. Some entertaining crunkin', lots of stereotypes and an unsurprising but cheery happy ending.

Harvard Man
I was expecting a stock-standard girl-whose-Dad-is-in-the-mafia tries to fix college basketball game using her boyfriend-the-point-guard, but instead it's some crazy drug-taking, FBI-college-professor-threesome, Al-Franken-cameoing trip. Weird.

... and the big Corey double ...
Just One Of The Girls
I can't believe I didn't watch this as a teen. I mean, c'mon, Nicole Eggert! Nonetheless, anyone believing Corey Haim as a female cheerleader... I guess it was the era of big shoulders!

Dream A Little Dream
I don't even know where to start with this. Old man dreams himself into Corey Feldman, and Corey doesn't seem that keen to resume his old life... the rest I'll leave to interested viewers to discover :) And, if you like it, there's even a sequel!

Ventricle somnambulism

Climbing up from the comparative mediocrity of my 2 ADAC average of the previous four months, I managed to maintain an average of 4 actions per day throughout January, including a crazy peak of 10. This sets me a high standard to maintain, lets me know that this method of motivation is actually working for me, and has lead me to focus my energy on the right things, things which make me happy.

Wiley verdantistic

So, where have I been the past week? As this graph shows, I've been walking:



One walk short of my best, thanks to 10 walks in the past 10 days. I won't be bridging the gap tonight, as I'll be enjoying B's dinnertime company (way higher priority), but it's twice the effort I put in last month, so I'm really pleased.

When I haven't been walking, I've been continuing to enjoy my work, reading, watching lots of Simpsons episodes and Secret Agent Man, and talking/writing/IMing with friends. I couldn't have asked for a better start to 2007!

Now I just have to avoid the consistent drop-off in effort which my delightful walking graph clearly shows. Don't need a stats degree to see a pattern there...

Presumptuous and pernickety

Just getting in the tennis spirit :)

Cranial maelstrom

These random post titles are using up my good SSS words...

I've been feeling amazingly energised the past week or so. Waking up somewhere between 6 and 6.30, after having had a solid 5 or 6 hours sleep, getting into work early on the relevant days and churning through lots of work. Every day seems to be better than the last right now with my team and our projects, and while there are still plenty of frustrations for someone as impatient as me, I actually feel in control of removing obstacles to getting things done, rather than a passive victim of circumstance.

None of which makes very compelling reading I'm sure, and I'll spare you the details of what feels exciting to me in a work context, but it hopefully explains why I dared to leave a 2 day gap between posts :)

I've just been in an almost unflagging good mood for a whole week, and I'd forgotten how amazing a feeling that is. Being able to carry it across into all the conversations I have and the work that I've been doing is something even rarer. I hardly remember even complaining about anything (well, except for the heat...) but that may just be a figment of my overly positive imagination. Me, not complain?!? Inconceivable!

(I'm taking a huge risk being so cheery on this blog, it usually signals a horrible health collapse of some kind. So you all better squeeze some positive vibes out of it for yourself, while they last!).

Tenacious gargantuan

OK, I know there were no charts for December, and there will never be, as they were extremely lame, including my second worst walking month ever. So, instead, I'm going to dazzle you with impressive stats :)

Exciting stat #1: 70 - the (approximate) number of kilometres I've walked per month since starting to count back in March (not including all the shorter walks I've done). This makes for a total of 730km so far!

Exciting stat #2: My ADAC for this month is running at 4.5, more than double what I've managed in previous months!

See how exclamation makes the numbers seem more compelling!!!

The beaten path

I was provided more proof of my brain's tendency to get in my way over the last few days, along with evidence that I can ignore it when I need to.

Saturday evening rolled around, my usual walking time, feeling really sore, decided I wouldn't bother going for a walk. Before I knew it, I was 15 minutes into my walk, and thoroughly enjoying it. Sunday, same story, and once again I was magically walking, all thanks to the positive habit developed over the past year, where it is now genuinely easier to walk than to not walk.

I'm starting to believe this action thing might actually stick!

I done a pikcha!

What does that mean?

Dichotomous frenzy

Any day is already totally awesome when I've hung out with Em, Liv and K before it's even noon. So getting home from Civic and knowing that I have a whole afternoon to enjoy new comics, read one of the pile of unread books sitting in front of my CDs, or just veg in front of a DVD makes for a great start to the weekend.

I don't often do the kuka gratefulness thing, because it'd get a bit dull for everyone when I constantly said how lucky I am to have family and friends who always accept me for who I am, are patient with me when I complain endlessly about anything I can find, and who help me along my path to self-betterment without ever judging my many failures, or telling me what to do. Be assured that, despite my rarely demonstrating my gratitude (yeah sure, that's the word I should have used above), I never take any of you (and you know who you are) for granted.

Anyway, as I said, that would be dull, so you won't hear me thanking all those people who bring joy into my life :) Well, not after this anyway, since you'll all just get a big head!

Disclaimer: May continue to thank people...

Dissonant connection

Recently, I've been focusing very hard on changing a long-term habit of mine from defaulting to "No" rather than "Yes" when invited somewhere, or when I have an idea, or make tentative plans to act on something. I'm extremely good at talking myself out of things. Now on the good side, that makes me almost immune to peer pressure, but peers (particularly mine) are frequently sources of positive pressure too, which I'm also resistant to, which isn't so good after all :) I can easily list (or invent) many, many reasons not to do even clearly beneficial, fun things. Which means that in order to break my habit I have to overpower the part of my thinking that jumps in with a "No", forcing it to become a "Yes" until that becomes my new standard.

I was expecting this to be much harder than it has been (although it hasn't been completely trivial) and I wondered (as I like to do) ... why? Today I found my answer! I think this whole default to "No" when taking actions is an outlier in the rest of my thinking, and that in every other aspect of my life it's the reverse.

For example:
When I listen to a new bit of music, or watch a new movie, or read a book, I always go into the experience expecting I will enjoy it. That's why my reviews are always so "soft". Any of these artforms have to go out of their way to piss me off, before I will even consider not liking them. Exactly the same applies when I deal with people. While I'm not good at initiating any kind of relationship, and am basically an awkward dork around anyone I don't know (and many I do!), I hold a strong belief in the goodness of others, that everyone has good in them. There are, of course, people who challenge that belief by their actions, although no one I know personally (but I'm sure you can guess which political figures fit into this basket!).

So maybe living as the positive person I (on my good days) believe myself to be, is no harder than treating the remaining parts of my life, which I pass judgment on before the fact, overthinking religiously, as if they're no different to putting on a DVD, something I rarely analyse too deeply. Hurrah!

Jiminy jillikers

Here's a snippet of something I said in a conversation on Tuesday - "blahdyblah mild summer blahdyblah sleeping well blahdyblah haven't even needed my fan to keep cool".

If ever there was a way to bring on 38 degree temperatures, that kind of self-deceiving stupidity is it!

[Book] The End of Science

Today I finished reading The End Of Science (Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the Scientific Age) and, even though it was written 10 years ago, it makes points which are still worth pondering.

Basically, the author posits (through numerous interviews with well known scientists) that most of the big science is already sorted out, and all that remains for today's scientists is application and fine-tuning within the frameworks laid out by such grand theories as Darwin's evolution, Einstein's general relativity, quantum mechanics, etc. He also states that a Theory of Everything simply isn't going to be found (not in any objectively measurable form anyway). Here's some more detail, in the author's own words.

That sounds pretty negative and, if it's true and if you're planning on being the next Einstein, it probably is. I must admit that it doesn't bug me too much, as computer science doesn't impact my daily life anywhere near as much as managing people. The complexity of software and hardware (or any of the physics and mathematics underlying them) is rarely the limiting factor in my work. Computers today still follow the same basic principles defined by Alan Turing back in 1936. There are plenty of people with far deeper knowledge and interest in computing theory than me, who continue to seek improvements to make computers more useful, but until that happens it's my job to use existing technology to help with real business problems.

More generally, there are plenty of unsolved societal problems which improvements in applied science can undoubtedly aid with, so there's no need for anyone who loves science, in any of its forms, to slip into a metaphysical funk :)

Gundaroo Jack

"Revelation" #1
The more action I take, the better I feel. I set a new action PB of 6 on Sunday, to be quickly topped by a 7 yesterday (leading to an ADAC so far in January of 4.0). Skype chats, writing letters, lunch with my only Canberra-based ABS friend, plus a return to a stretching regime all add up to a really positive vibe :)

"Revelation" #2
Buying good quality shoes translates to even more enjoyable walking. This evening I christened my new foot-holders and they're awesome! In fact I feel like going for another walk right now, even though I just got home! Go for it Bertie, walk again! ... Nah, I'm going to watch the 20/20 game instead...

Ready to walk

Here's a picture of my fancy-schmancy new walking shoes (I only just noticed the orange flavour... they were obviously calling me!):



and here's the reason I needed new shoes:



That hole goes all the way through to my foot, and is repeated on the other sneaker too. My $15 pair lasted me over 100 walks, let's see what $80 of Nike does for me :)

Labels

If you've ever wanted to see all my graphs collected together, or confirm how soft I am in every movie review, you can now use the handy new label feature.

Right now, you can check out everything tagged as 'action', 'tv', 'movie' or 'music'.

[DVD] Superman Returns

On the cutting edge of entertainment, as always, I finally got around to watching the continuation of the Superman movie saga...

And it was excellent! Brandon Routh was perfectly cast, and managed the duality of the Clark Kent/Superman roles really well. There were a few moments of inconsistency with Lois Lane, but through the script, rather than Kate Bosworth's performance. James Marsden was strong in his role as the third vertex of a love triangle. And you can't go wrong with Kevin Spacey and Parker Posey, as they balanced the comedic and dramatic needs of their characters perfectly.

I'd read that the movie was low on action, but I thought it had just the right balance between character and full-on spectacle.

A worthy addition to the Superman canon. (Plus, with 3 hours of making-of on the DVD, you're left in no doubt how it all came together).

Obnoxious permanence

As kuka points out, it didn't take me long to fall off the wagon of non-postage. I got too caught up in my "Earl" watching, and then reading The End of Science, as well as going for my first walk of the year (not getting home from that till almost 9, since I had to wait for the heat to ease off).

I don't actually want to be the master of mediocrity, so I'm going to display what little common sense I might have in only posting when it feels pointmore to me. It shouldn't all be about the stats :)

Most of my thoughts the past week have been work driven, and I'm not sure yet how much I want to post about that. Screen caps of budget spreadsheets don't necessarily enhance the excitement factor of my writing... or maybe they do... in which case this is even more dull than I thought...

Happy now B?

Delicious subsidy

Ah, sleep, how sweet it tastes! I finally managed to grab enough zzz's to help me power through a busy work day and a bus ride to my family's place, before finally succumbing to an almost-nap (watching the cricket can do that to a person).

I'm really pumped about some of the stuff happening at work right now, although I have to avoid getting too excited, since that leads to insomnia for me just as surely as stress. It's all about balance and moderation (and Bertie Mabootoo!).

The cynical among you will note this is a post purely to extend my streak to 6 straight days ;) That might even be a personal best already! Quantity over quality! The battle for mediocrity is mine!

Indelible legacy

I've finally given up on meaningful titles (at least for now)...

Had a great time at dinner last night, catching up with Liv, J, Shaq and The Darwin Two (confidentialising names can make for an interesting sounding group :) Enjoyed a tasty Aloo palak at the Taste of India, then a so-so decaf soy capuccino (the second wankiest drink I've ever ordered, not quite matching the blended soy ice mocha) at Cafe Essen.

When I got home at midnight, I was stunned, thinking it was maybe 10.30 and never once having checked the time. Being with friends totally overcame my tiredness and for 5 wonderful hours I was largely ache free and my brain actually functioned a little conversationally.

I've found out I won't be getting a new housemate yet after all, the prospect found a better location yesterday, but I've done the soul searching necessary to realise that I'm kinda ready to share my house again. Or maybe I'm just sick of buying my own DVDs...

This is exactly the kind of blog post derided in conversations at dinner last night :) Am I worried about alienating my devoted readers with bland tellings of the events in my life? I can't afford to worry about that, it's all I've got!

Filler

Really, I'm only writing this to help me stay awake long enough to go out again, on a bus ride to Civic. But I do have some stuff to say:

1. I've been awake since 4am, less than 4 hours after getting to sleep, and still survived my first day back at work for 2007.


2. I may have a housemate again for the first time in over 12 months, without even having to advertise.


3. I'm going to dinner tonight with a group of friends (none of whom I've seen since 2006!) once again requiring no organising effort on my part.


4. I hurt all over because of my fatigue, but my stomach is behaving, and so I'm happy.

How much longer can I maintain my post-a-day habit? Suspense abounds...

Ah summer!

I hope the rain is helping someone, because it's certainly playing havoc with my walking plans! Any climate change doubters still left might possibly be convinced by the fact that Canberra now has afternoon storms more fitting for the tropics... (although thankfully without the heat).

Farewell 2006

Because no other blogger in the world will be doing a wrap up of the year just finishing...

I have to say that, despite my current bout of nasty fatigue having the potential to negatively colour my feelings, 2006 was a really positive year for me. I made at least one new friend, strengthened other friendships, found the cause (and some of the solution) to years of nausea, walked heaps, blogged plenty (almost twice as much as 2005), regained my enthusiasm for work (which had endured 18 months of doldrums), lost 10 kilos and even travelled to far-flung Melbourne.

The trick for me now is to not see that as being the end of the line, but as a launching pad. There is still so much for me to do to feel comfortable with who I am, to increase the positive contribution that I make, to actually feel like I'm not just squandering some vast well of potential by not acting on any of it.

Will I be writing a post 12 months from now where I bemoan missed opportunities, or will I be celebrating great success in meeting my still nebulous goals? You'll just have to keep reading to find out :) Thanks for joining me on the oft-dull journey so far!

The dark side

On the other side of the customer service coin, or somewhere in the middle, I bought a new DVD burner on my way home yesterday and the sales guy, although friendly, was a bit too keen to dazzle me with his detailed knowledge of not only the item I was buying, but also computers in general. Since I at no stage had a chance to get a word in, he had no real way of knowing what my expertise level was, and didn't seem too worried about whether I comprehended his techo spiel. Perhaps I'm too obvious an IT geek?

Nonetheless, I now have a fully functional DVD writer in place, as opposed to the barely limping one I've been dealing with for over a year. Even better, the drive worked first time, which I haven't been able to say very often in my previous CD, DVD and hard drive self-installs.

I did, somewhat ironically, miss the slightly-dusty-but-still-easily-readable label at the bottom of the case telling me how to take the front off so I could actually remove the existing drive. After that, though, it was plain sailing :)

Lights out

Yesterday, after a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon catching up with K, having lunch and seeing "Happy Feet" with B and The Boy, and avoiding a thorough drenching in the sudden downpour (which arrived while we were in the movie), I got home to find that my lights were out. All my appliances continued to work, and flicking the circuit breaker did nothing.

I called ActewAGL, got straight through to an operator, and something mysterious was done to fix my lights within an hour of the call, before it was even dark outside. So, in an era of poorly thought out automated messages, it's nice to find a bastion of excellent customer service which involves real people solving a problem in a timely way with a minimum of fuss.

Slow learner

A list of the simple, obvious things I've been trying to drum into my head over the past several years in an effort to clean out lots of mental baggage. Am I getting there? Not really, but I remain optimistic that with continued effort I will successfully deculcate myself of any last vestiges of adult thinking :)

[TV] Bones

If being compelled to watch 22 episodes in 4 days (especially when I worked on 2 of those days) is any indication of quality, then this is a winner. If that's not enough evidence for you, well there's just no pleasing some people... but I'll try and satiate your curiosity.

Emily Deschanel plays Temperance "Bones" Brennan, a major genius in the field of forensic anthropology, who speaks her mind and is usually right. David Boreanaz plays Seeley Booth, an FBI agent who convinces Bones to become his unofficial partner. Hijinks ensue :)

This is the closest you're going to get to the Mulder/Scully camaraderie of The X-Files, with the addition of a host of quality supporting characters, all of whom have interesting back stories that are gradually revealed as the season goes on. There are plenty of comedic touches, genuine tension and drama, tugging of heart strings and one moment that actually made me jump in surprise, which almost never happens. There's action too, but the beauty of it for me is watching smart people come up with answers to problems, instead of rushing around shooting everyone.

Basically, I'd like to believe I'm smart enough to maybe make it into Bones team in a small supporting IT role :)

We want action!

"So Bertie", I hear you ask, "did you actually graph anything for November?" Sadly, the answer is yes. Happily, you now get to see those graphs...

First, an above average walking month:


"Sure Bertie, those columns look great, but what if I want to see them as lines?" I'm glad you asked :)



Finally, with a slight improvement of 0.04 over last month's ADAC (despite partying too hard for my birthday and forgetting all about weights) the overrated action count:

New music

Rather than continue with my lack of posts, here's one of my many easy outs. You know the one , where I list all the new CDs I've bought without actually bothering to say any more about them...

Nothing Safe - Alice In Chains
Mutations - Beck
Blur - Blur
The Datsuns - The Datsuns
Greatest Hits - Devo
I Don't Think I'm Pregnant - Diana Ah Naid
Mallee Boy - John Williamson
Attack - KMFDM
Hau Ruck - KMFDM
Bricks Are Heavy - L7
Public Warning - Lady Sovereign
Hollywood - Little Birdy
Freaked Out And Small - Presidents of the USA
Love Everybody - Presidents of the USA
John Henry - They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants - They Might Be Giants
Here's To The Mourning - Unwritten Law

Stupid new toys!

OK, obviously as soon as I got access to Blogger Beta, I decided I'd change all three of my blogs. It worked OK for two of them, but this one had been so heavily modified that it's going to take me some time to restore the 3 columns and other niceties I'd put so much work into.

I could just go back to the old one, but I'm practising only moving forward :) A chance to learn a whole new set of syntax, specific to Blogger layouts...

Much easier than thinking

Stealing material from B, here are my much less interesting answers...

Four jobs I've had:

Research assistant at CSIRO
Maths tutor
Coder extraordinaire
Team leader

Four Movies I could Watch Over and Over:

Terminator 2
Bad Eggs
The New Guy
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

Four places I have lived:

Canberra
Canberra
Canberra
Canberra

Four TV Shows That I Love:

Veronica Mars
Angel
Arrested Development
The X-Files

Four places I have been for a vacation:

Byron Bay
Melbourne
Tomakin
Around Australia

Four websites I Visit Daily:

I don't actually go to websites much, thanks to the wonders of RSS feeds, but here are some blogs I lurk at...
Slow Leadership
Management Craft
Positive Sharing
Joel On Software

Four Favourite Foods:

Tuna and rice
Chicken schnitzel with mushroom sauce
Spaghetti bolognaise
My Dad's chips

Four places I would rather be:

Location-wise, I'm pretty happy right here
More metaphorically, with friends

Four friends blogs I read every day:

Krafty Kuka
Dreaming All The Time
Hello, Here's Me!
Two Fruits

Destination: Mystery! (Part 3)

Day 5



Caught a train to Em's and spent the afternoon chatting with her, and having a lively debate on politics and world affairs with her grandmother. Enjoyed a few forkfuls of mixed vegetable fried rice for dinner, my most substantial eating for a week (I'd forgotten how awesome food could taste!).

Day 6
Walked uphill into the CBD to meet Jen and AM for lunch, at a lovely little eatery called "Wheat" (the irony of this, given my gluten-free past, was not lost on me as I struggled through part of a tasty chicken salad). Tick catching up with my 3 Melbourne friends, my trip was now complete!

Had a brief chat with Em on the phone, distracting her from all the work she was stuck late at work trying to get done, then spent the evening in front of not much on TV and some more fried rice.

Day 7



Wandered the Crown Casino Complex and Federation Square, taking a sunnier set of photos to complement the overcast ones from earlier in the week, while trying to work out at least one touristy thing to do. An hour of walking later, I stepped into the Immigration Museum, which was just round the corner from my hotel, and spent an enlightening 3 hours looking at everything on offer.

On my way back to the hotel, a young guy asked me for directions to Lonsdale St, and I confidently pointed him in the right direction (confirming, when back in my room, that my confidence was warranted). Almost a local in one week!

My final night in Melbourne was made perfect by an actual restaurant meal with Em and, as I saw her off at the train station, my thoughts turned to my imminent return home.

Day 8
Woke up at 5.30 having had 3 hours sleep and, after killing some time trying to stomach my breakfast, headed into a windy, cold Melbourne morning. The beginning of my trek home! My plane was delayed by half an hour, which was exactly what I didn't need, but I had the whole back row of the plane to myself and a little shut-eye let me enjoy the view as we closed in on Canberra. 13 degrees in Melbourne became 31 in Canberra, but the most important thing as my Dad dropped me off home was that I survived (and even enjoyed!) a week away for only the second time in the past 3 years.

Will I be rushing headlong into a new life as an intra/international jetsetter? Well, no, because it was frankly exhausting to fight my poor health the whole week, and it'll take me some time to store up enough energy to launch myself at my next challenge.

The more important question, though, is: Did I enjoy my holiday? To that I can say a resounding Yes. Thanks largely to the efforts of awesome friends like Em and Jen, who spent time with me despite their own busy schedules, I feel that I squeezed every last moment of fun out of my Melbourne week.

Bertie, what was the point of that story? ... I like stories :)

Destination: Excitement! (Part 2)

Day 3
No sleep = Not feeling good. Note to self: Don't stay next to a main street without double-glazed windows next time.

Failed in my attempts to catch up with my ABS pals, but wandered the CBD anyway, in a glorious quest for another salad sandwich. Quite the gourmand, huh?

Tried to nap, but sleep continued to elude me, so I threw caution to the wind and headed to St. Kilda with Em for an extravagant sushi dinner (well, a single piece of vegetable sushi...). Before I knew it, 10pm had rolled around, and it was time for me to leave Em to the excitement(/crowd/smoke/noise) of the Gotye concert while I headed back to bed, finally catching some sleep thanks to the wonders of ear plugs.

Day 4



Yay! Sleep! Still staying very light on the food, but strolled the Yarra waterfront, busily snapping photos for the first time since I arrived. Coincidentally, this was the only overcast day of the entire week, thus my later set to show how much brighter the sights were during the rest of my visit.



Met up with Em to see the outstanding Earth From Above exhibition and do more riverbank wandering (leading to my favourite photo of the trip).



Stay tuned for Part 3 where I catch a train, a plane and see some automobiles!

A century of "change"

A quote I saw at the Immigration Museum really jumped out at me, prompting me to think that our current Government's immigration policy and fear of "others" is really no different to that espoused by our first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton over a century ago:

"The doctrine of the equality of man was never intended to apply to the equality of the Englishman and the Chinaman. There is a deep-set difference, and we see no prospect and no promise of its ever being effaced. Nothing in their world can put these two races upon a equality."

Of course today's prejudice is less bluntly stated. Earlier Australian governments attempted to hide the racism of the White Australia policy behind the Dictation Test which draws an easy parallel with the proposed "Values" test proposed by current "leaders" (including the Labour opposition).

There are plenty of people who would easily pass such a test who I don't consider to be "Australian" in the positive sense of the word at all, our current Prime Minister for example, who has never been about the "fair go" that he bandies about so smugly.

Instead of establishing meaningful demographic policies (e.g. in the search for a sustainable, balanced population), we get ridiculous initiatives like the "baby bonus". Maybe I'm naive, but there seem to be an awful lot of people clamouring to move here already, who either have necessary skills or are willing to develop them. Unfortunately for potential immigrants, our education system overall is constantly being downgraded as a priority, and the avenues for developing skills such as spoken English are insufficient. Chances of gaining citizenship under such an arbitrarily focused test are minimal, except for those whose background most closely mirrors the current economic and political power players. While we're at it, we might as well use the IQ test instead, for all its validity as a measure of Australian-ness, or of a person's innate value.

Destination: Adventure! (Part 1)

(aka visiting Melbourne for a week)

T minus 2 days
If I had to choose the worst time for a return of my nausea, 36 hours before a flight to Melbourne would be right up there. And so it was destined to be! Prescription for self: Rice cakes and baby food, hot water bottle and peppermint tea, and many Newsradio episodes to keep me distracted.

T minus 1 day
More of the same, with a few teaspoons of plain mashed potato for variety.

Lift-off!
I usually enjoy flying, but almost no food and sleep in the past 2 days meant I was feeling terrible by the time I finally made it to Melbourne. Luckily I had Jen there to meet me, and her cheer (and long history of driving a pale me home from work) took the edge off my nausea long enough to make it to the Hotel Enterprize and lie down. Thanks Jen!

Em came to visit after finishing work for the day, and was treated to my alternating green/grey hue and nibbling of rice cake morsels. I'm a super host! But by the time Em left I was feeling almost human again, and much more positive about my recovery chances. Thanks Em!


(note the extent of my bedside snacks - baby food, water and lemonade)

Day 2


Visited the Crown Complex for some much-needed food - a basic salad sandwich - and then spent the rest of the day in bed watching cricket and concentrating on keeping my food down. How jealous are you of my trip so far?

Luckily my planning consisted entirely of getting to see Em and Jen, which I already achieved yesterday, so even 5 more days of bedridden-ness would count as a success. Gotta concentrate on the positives :)

What will Day 3 bring? To be continued...

The Return

I made it back home, somewhat relieved, after a week in Melbourne. Getting to spend plenty of time with Em was fantastic, while my poor health made the overall journey much harder work than it might have been. I'm now in recovering-ready-for-work-next-week-mode, having at least given my brain a break from such prosaic concerns. I didn't even suffer from internet withdrawal!

Proper stories to follow, some of which may integrate my latest photos, but if you want to get a visual taste of my trip right now, just head to Melbourne 2006.

Blur

Watching the live Blur concert on jtv XL last night, I noticed for the first time a strong Bowie flavour to Damon Albarn's vocals. Having just re-listened to Parklife (the only Blur album I own), I'm reassured that it doesn't come through as forcefully, so maybe I'm not as oblivious as I first thought.

What I did realise is that I definitely need to grab some more Blur. I've always been firmly on the Blur side of "Blur vs Oasis", and love both Gorillaz albums, so this is another in my series of musical no-brainers.

[CD] Broke - (hed) p.e.

The third album from (hed) p.e., released in 2000, is a great, head-banging listen.

More at the Korn end of "rap/metal" than the Limp Bizkit end. Touches such as guest vocals on Feel Good by Serj Tankian (System Of A Down), help avoid the sameness that many albums in this genre suffer from, including when the intensity lets up slightly to inject a little funk into the mix.

Not really for the Gotye lovers, but enjoyable stress-release music for a try-hard metal fan.

[CD] When Your Heart Stops Beating - (+44)

The debut album of (+44), the child of Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker (two-thirds of blink-182) is an interesting (but not too dramatic) shift in direction.

Lyrically, it heads further along the path of the final blink album (more serious, less jokey), and musically adds a significant electronic undercurrent which wasn't present in blink's work. Mark's duet with female vocalist Carol Heller on Make You Smile makes it clear you're not just listening to retreads of old material.

If you love blink-182's entire back catalogue, as I do, this should push all the right buttons. Otherwise, I don't think this'll convert you.

[DVD] Grey's Anatomy - Season 1

I rarely bow to peer pressure, but the insistence of Jo, kuka and Em that I give this medi-drama a try was too much. And, as is sometimes the case, my friends were right to nag me :)

It's funnier than I'd been led to believe, which was crucial to my enjoyment. The relationship stuff was involving, rather than painful and nauseating. It makes me glad not to be a surgeon, while being relieved that some people are. And every episode was personally affecting, in a "how would I handle that?" way. Only 9 episodes in S1, so I've yet to see whether a full stretch of shows in Season 2 will maintain the quality (and my interest).

Yay for music!

I've spent the past week trying to do some CD shopping and finally managed to squeeze out some time at lunch today so, thanks completely to Kam and Liv, here are my latest musical additions:

Political Prisoners (EP) - Insurge
Untouchables - Korn
Greatest Hits - Eurythmics
Timeless - De La Soul
Silent Alarm - Bloc Party
Broke - (hed) p.e.
No Touch Red - Bodyjar
Freibentos - Pangaea
Elva - Unwritten Law
The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
What Are Rock Stars Doing Today - Magic Dirt
Beautifulgarbage - Garbage

For anyone counting, that's 155 new tracks of rock, punk and a dash of hip-hop to keep me company on my travels. I did try to buy more Avril Lavigne or Lindsay Lohan, purely for the look of disgust on K's face, but no such luck...

Insomnia

This is a just a little bleary-eyed post to vent my frustration at not being able to sleep. I've managed 12 hours sleep since Thu 7am (which was more than 90 hours ago for anyone counting), never more than 2 hours at a time.

I got to sleep at midnight, after an awesome day out with friends (to celebrate the triple threat birthday of K, Shak and I) then woke up at 2am and, after no more sleep was forthcoming, decided to get up and do something, rather then stew in my own sleepless juices.

Thanks to kuka and Em for blogging and thus giving me something to read :)

A plethora of graphs

Given the way-out-of-proportion positive reaction to my last set, here's a whole bunch more blog-padding charts.

Firstly, graphic proof of my dominating October walking performance:



Next, look how much action I got last month! (Thanks to kuka and her tempting Pure Blonde ways for making the 31st negative ;) Nonetheless, an ADAC of 2.19



And, finally, my return to weights is progressing nicely:

PB

18 walks this month and a new personal record! I was tempted to slack off yesterday, and take my chances that I'd walk a couple of times before Wed, but braved the cold winds (wearing a jumper and jacket, after being in shorts and T-shirt 3 evenings previous).

The record's made sweeter by the fact that I only walked once in the first 6 days of the month, while searching for some motivation, so I've only missed 6 days since then, half of which have been my Thursday off.

Is that enough walking stats for everyone?

Now that's irony

On Media Watch during the week, which was covering the possible impact of new ABC guidelines on impartiality, I heard this hilarious quote from Alan Jones (well known radio imbecile):

"I can't give any credibility whatsoever to anything Media Watch say. They are an outfit with unbelievable agendas and have lost any sense of credibility in the wider world of the media."

I'd say pot... kettle... but there's really only one indefensible side to the statement. Self-delusion can be funny after all.

Rudebox

I've had a (admittedly cursory) listen to Robbie Williams' latest - "Rudebox" - and agree with kuka that Bongo Bong And Je Ne T'aime Plus is the best track on the album, the only one making it to my illustrious "Top Rated" playlist (for 4 and 5 star ratings). For the rest, the hard edge of some of the lyrics are weakened by the lack of any drive in the electronic backing. I expect even my pop to be more rock, I guess. And the repetitive swearing in the hidden track seems, to someone who enjoys blink-182's Happy Holidays, You Bastard and What Went Wrong, gratuitous without the redeeming humour I usually associate with RW.

So, basically, I continue to enjoy Robbie's attitude more than the majority of his music. I can't dismiss anyone who so clearly enjoys what he's doing :) And when he gets it right, it's classic pop, such as earlier releases like Me and My Monkey, Hot Fudge, Rock DJ and Let Love Be Your Energy.

I give it 6 Take That reunions out of 10 :)

25

More new music that I've been listening to, largely triggered by another podcast covering independent bands with female lead vocalists:

Krill - a 5 piece from Sydney, with a token guy guitarist. Just an awesome rock/electronic sound.

Jaed - young Melbourne punk band.

Beangrowers - from Malta, with a lot of Chrissie Amphlett in the vocals.

You can check any of their stuff out either as streamed tracks on the various linked sites, or previews in iTunes.

What a view!

This afternoon the first noticeable step in the demolishing of Cameron Offices occurred, as evidenced by this series of photos, as taken from my window. I spent my first 6 working years in that building (well, actually a few wings along). I can't say I'll miss it, but it had at least been blocking some of that dreaded sunlight which will now come flooding in... aaargh! It burns!!!







Going... going...


Gone!

The Trundler

This is now officially my best start to a walking month - 9 walks total, helped by walking 8 of the last 10 days. (My ADAC is even up to 2.00!)

Helping to keep me company as I attempt to break my March record of 17 are some new music-related podcasts:

The Sounds In My Head - generally softer stuff, with just some back announce and a little bit of backround on the songs/artists. No artsy/fartsy analysis of themes, just the facts. One I just listened to had a couple of tracks from the movie Happy Endings sung by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who has an amazing voice (in addition to her obvious acting chops).

The Bang Music Hour - lots of excellent, driving rock music with minimal talk.

Eclectic Mix - focuses on a single artist each week, none of whom I've heard of, let alone heard, before.

Add to this the hilarious Hi My Name Is Mark, put out by Mark Hoppus from blink-182, which helped get me through my nasty illness of last month with its mix of great new punk tracks and lowbrow comedy. If I can just get the latest damn episode to download...

Hey presto!

In a masterstroke of misdirection, I ended up with a totally different double play. The second movie? Dodgeball. The link? Ten Bertie points for the correct answer! (1,000 Bertie points redeemable for a free can of Coke).

Micro-wave goodbye

Not the best start to the day, as the act of pressing Start on my microwave (to cook my morning porridge) was met with a resounding phttt and the death of my nuke-machine. So I got to spend my morning traipsing into Fyshwick to buy a replacement (which was at least a good chance to hang with my Dad). After that, though, all has been good.

I've spent time listening to some new music podcasts, as well as re-watching The New Guy for the umpteenth time, and finding it just as laughtastic as ever. I'm tossing up whether I'm going to make tonight:

• a Zooey Deschanel double with either Elf or HHGTTG,


• an Eliza Dushku double with Soul Survivors,


• a DJ Qualls double with Road Trip, or


• an Eddie Griffin double with Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.

What a cruel dilemma! Or is it a quadlemma? I bet you can't wait to find out how this one turns out!

Virtual tour

I realised the other day that some of the people who read this blog have never actually visited my house, despite being regaled with envy-inducing stories of it being paid off, 5 bedrooms squandered on a lonely single guy. So here's a brief tour (and not one of those tarted up misleading ones which Liv pointed out).

First, a rough plan, as drawn by my sister, which gives an overview of how it all fits together.



The lounge room in which I spend time reclining in front of my DVD collection.



The kitchen and adjoining bar, which for years saw no culinary adventure greater than heating up of tuna and rice.





My "sun room", which is starting to turn into a furnace already, and the computer room which opens out from it, meaning that I'll be driven to the relative cool of the front of my house momentarily.





So now when you envision me (and I know you always envision me) composing another enthralling blog post, making a bowl of cereal or just relaxing in front of my latest DVD acquisition, your mental picture will be sullied by the grim reality which is my house enlivened by the radiant wonder which is my house :)

Adbusters

Well, the Apocalypse is on its way now, as SBS goes the way of the unwatchable commercial stations, filling Mythbusters with in-show advertising. I can understand why, since a 'tween-show ad block doesn't actually reach viewers - hello, toilet break! - and it's hardly insufferable in practice, thanks to my hard-drive recorder. However, I feel morally obliged to complain about ads, if only in principle.

Praise the ABC, last bastion of free uninterrupted viewing!

[TV] Time Team

I've been watching Time Team (Tuesdays at 6pm on ABC) for the past few months, and it's one of the few shows on my must watch schedule. Why?

Well, for one thing, I feel like I'm actually learning something just by tuning in each week. I chip in with words like tesserae, as evidence of Roman occupation, before it's spelled out for me, and am even starting to get a feel for the timing of Bronze Age -> Iron Age -> Roman Occupation. I was never into human history much when I was younger, although I did love prehistory, but have found in recent years that I've been missing out on some really interesting stories because of dismissing it as a topic to dwell on, in preference to the "hard" sciences. All that said, though, I think the main reason is that I love seeing the enthusiasm of everyone involved in the show. They clearly love what they do, and a number have been involved for a decade (which I only just discovered when finding the link above). It's the same reason I enjoy DVD outtakes/bloopers and commentaries. They make it obvious that these people are doing exactly what they want with their lives.

Now that could easily be depressing, with my persistent, recurring uncertainty and aimlessness, but I actually find it energising, knowing that it's possible to find that Holy Grail of happiness. It's a little part of my attempt to find joy in the things I do right now, even if I'm not sure they're part of my ideal future. And it lets me know that I shouldn't settle for so-so, but can (and should) continue to push myself, without making myself miserable with dissatisfaction along the way.

Graphic content

I had hoped to avoid the need for scanning these, since there are 128 pics on 8 unwieldy, large sheets but, since B requested them so insultingly, I figured I'd go to the trouble of showing some of my $'s at work.

What are they actually showing? I'll leave it up to the biologist to explain... Sadly I couldn't find the gallstone, but hopefully these are interesting/gruesome enough to satisfy those foolish enough to ponder about my insides.

Watch out, Radioactive Man!

14 hours with nothing but a muesli bar, half a litre of what I assume was barium sulfate solution and an injection of another contrast material, along with stacks of X-rays and a $900 bill. That sums up my morning, so what do I have to tell? Basically, all appears to be well with my insides and back except for a "4mm diameter gallstone in the gallbladder neck". Sounds like fun, huh? I'll hopefully visit my doctor soon to see how I need to treat it, and it'll be back to "normal" for me.

Before you go rushing our for your own CT scan, after I've sold it so compellingly, keep this little factoid in mind:

The effective radiation dose from this procedure is about 10 mSv, which is about the same as the average person receives from background radiation in three years.

I'm not sure that's as reassuring as the website I read it on intended, but just one of the downsides to being in a machine which speaks with calming Enterprise-style tones to "Breathe in. Hold. Now breathe normally."

I must admit the disruption to my eating routine hasn't left me feeling too great, but I still went for an evening walk around 4.30 and, although it was more of a struggle than usual, I felt better for a little while afterwards. Plus the sense of accomplishment helps me feel less like an invalid, when I see that gallstones are much more common in obese people over 60 :)

Ignorant beatniks

Is it cross promotion if I link to another of my own blogs?

Ever wondered what I'd look like as a muppet? (a bit too much like Bert methinks). How 'bout a quick sketch of the fancy case for my Battlestar Galactica DVDs? Or even a random comic face?

Nothing very exciting, but another small step along the path to more consistently drawing.

Where does the time go?

By popular demand, a continuation of my series of pointless charts...

First, a new look at my walking progress, showing my September lameness (2nd last column). As well as having the first 11 days written off entirely by bedridden-ness, I was simply bored with the whole walking thing. I'll do much better this month, as the weather (and hopefully my health) improve, giving me renewed enthusiasm.


Next come a couple of pictures illustrating my new "Action-O-Meter" (TM) scale of judging whether I'm doing anything.





I'll leave it to the reader to work out what it all means, and how I can have a negative action count (as lazy as I am that seems a bit extreme!). Since I know you're interested, my average daily action count (ADAC) for August was 1.82, dropping to a sad and sorry 1.21 in September. Stay tuned for more ADAC updates! King of the nerds!!! (And before you ask, drawing graphs doesn't add to my ADAC, so my actionosity is dropping as I write this...).

Time to grow a ponytail...

Triggered by the master quizzer herself...

Which Star Wars Character (Episodes 1-6) Are You?

You are Obi-Wan Kenobi! You are almost as good as Yoda, but not quite! You are extremely brilliant and an accomplished fighter, plus you look good while kicking ass! When you get older you will be very distinguished looking!
Take this quiz!








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| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Mendelevium snaps

Typically for me, I woke up at 6am this morning with no pain and feeling pretty good... no, wait a minute, that's not typical at all... Of course that now means total uncertainty over my need for a CT scan next week, as I'm a bit dubious about miraculous recoveries (although currently grateful).

Anyway, I wasn't going to let that unaccustomed health go to waste, so went for my first proper hour-long walk in weeks, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I did realise that listening to comedy podcasts while wandering supermarket aisles is a good way of having people look at me strangely, as I attempted to stifle laughter.

Upon my triumphant return home, I watched Star Wars: A New Hope, the original theatrical version with 2.0 sound and grainy film stock now on DVD, and realised that it remains an awesome movie, having aged much better than me. Unlike the legions of fanboys who turned their homemade lightsabers in George Lucas' direction when he tinkered with the originals, I didn't have a real problem with the new versions, other than the fact that the old ones weren't available. Now that's solved, and everyone who managed to wait 10 years before owning the original trilogy can rest easy.

Arrested Development quiz

Just to show that kuka's not the only one who can fill in quizzes... I have no idea what the numbers mean, since I got 30/30 right, but what the hell, not everyone can be a statistician (not even me!).

You scored 96 Bluthism!

Incredible!! You even spotted my trick question pitfalls! You are without a doubt the biggest Arrested Development master who has ever walked the earth!

My test tracked 1 variable - How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Bluthism

Link: The Arrested Development Test written by HibachiTheHutt

Whoops shebang

Actually, my last fortnight wasn't totally uneventful. I had a visit from Liv on Monday, which was muy excellente; the aforementioned work goodness, where I'm finally starting to feel like I can make a positive difference, after being unmotivated for a couple of years; and the biggest news is that I'll be travelling to Melbourne for a week at the end of November.

"Big deal!" you say disparagingly, comparative jetsetter that you no doubt are, but this is total-way-hella-cool news for me, having travelled away from Canberra only once in the past 30 months (Road Trip 2005). My flights and accommodation are all booked, I have a few friends to hang out with while I'm there, and the rest will be making things up as I go. (Although if you have advice on must-sees/dos for Melbourne in late Spring, feel free to suggest). Only 47 days to wait!

Nothing happening blues

Two weeks with nothing I felt like writing about, so I'm resorting to my ever-present fallback of new health problems...

Basically I've been having some serious back and stomach pain for the past few weeks, and eventually decided it wasn't one of the many things I know to be wrong with me, so I ventured to the doctor. Turns out I was right to check, since the treatment I've been trying the past few days to rule out just a back problem has been ineffective, meaning on Monday I have to book a lumbar/abdominal CT scan, to rule out (or confirm) a problem with my pancreas.

As briefly entertaining as it was to quote The Simpsons with an "Ow! My pancreas!" line, I was seriously hoping that it was just a minor back thing which required some rest and stretching... but that would have been far too simple for my stupid body.

Luckily, work has been excellent and energising in recent weeks, and so I haven't been tempted to stay in bed feeling sorry for myself. I said a number of times while ill with persistent nausea that I would much prefer old, faithful pain, as I could cope with that. I got what I wished for...

So, in summary, mostly happy with a dose of frustration thrown in.

[DVD] Battlestar Galactica 2.0

After re-watching all of (the new) Doctor Who (Series 1) and thoroughly enjoying the mix of humour, drama, accents and whiz-bang effects, it took me a few episodes to get back into Galactica-mode.

At the end of the first season, they'd started to inject a little levity into the scripts but this is a return to dark and gritty, humankind in peril stuff. Which, after I acclimatised, became very compelling and I definitely got caught up in the story. Not always comfortable viewing, and therefore not likely to appear on my watch-again list (I like my "drama" interspersed with craziness/comedy, ala Scrubs, X-Files, Threshold, etc.).

If you dug S1, this second installment will certainly not disappoint. Awesome space battle scenes alone (with a more "real" CGI style I'll always associate with Firefly) made it impressive to watch, and the acting is consistently powerful, making me care what happens to the characters. Throw in guest appearances by Michelle Forbes and Dean Stockwell, and you've got a nice little package.

[Movie] Nacho Libre

If you like dodgy accents, creative salad arrangement, spandex and the weirdest training montage you'll ever see, then this movie is for you.

A little of Jack Black's trademark song styling, extensive use of the word "crazy" and impressive fight choreography add up to a non-stop thrill ride of spills and chills... or, more accurately, a consistently laugh-inducing, warm and fuzzy 90 minutes well spent.

(Thanks for the invite B!)

Curly metal device

I'm not going to be quite as foolish as Liv in talking up the arrival of Spring, since after that post we had gale force winds and plenty of showers for over a week (lucky I was in bed most of the time anyway). So, instead, I will let the new additions to my Walking photoset speak for themselves.

Health watch

A full day of work, followed by a 40 minute walk as soon as I got home, and I'm actually feeling good. Well, my leg muscles are a bit rubbery, but I suspect that's because I haven't walked more than a few minutes at a time in the last 16 days. I can only assume that all the hard walking and good eating earlier this year (plus all the good comment vibes) have helped me bounce back waaaaay better from my post-viral fatigue. I'm actually stunned, in a good way! Considering how totally drained I felt yesterday, I expected to feel at least a little tired today, but I seem pretty close to normal. Yippee, time for a day off!

The rebuilding begins!

I returned to work today and managed a busy 9-4, really getting the feeling that I am needed and I do have a contribution to make, which is something I often find myself struggling to believe. Maybe the only thing stopping me from loving my job is actually recommitting myself to it, getting properly involved in things, rather than handing everything off to others. While I feel thoroughly exhausted right now, and will have to wait to see how I "back up" for another full day tomorrow, I'm actually feeling pretty positive. So, rather than analyse that feeling too much, I'm going to go watch some more Simpsons episodes (since my arms feel like lead and so anything more strenuous will have to wait).

Wotsikmewotch

A slew of DVDs have been keeping me company the past week, and here's a little summary:

Earth 2 - The Complete Series
From IMDB: "Colonists, crash-landed on an alien planet, begin the long trek to their originally designated landing place, facing both alien and human threats."
12 years old, but still extremely entertaining. Despite its sci-fi premise, it really is more about the characters and how they handle the situation the find themselves in. Touching, humorous and often thought-provoking.

Arrested Development - Season 3
Sadly this is the final season, but it went out with a bang. Every episode hilarious and I'm going to have to rewatch just to catch the many jokes I missed while laughing. It was definitely worth the wait. If you haven't seen the first 2 seasons, watch them first, because the number of callbacks to earlier jokes might actually make this series unwatchable for newbies.

Veronica Mars - Season 2
Although I'd already seen the first 15 (of 22) episodes, they were equally enjoyable second time around, and I was consistently stunned by how much story was packed into each 40 minute show. Lots of red-herrings, humour, pop-culture references and a climax that resolved big questions while opening plenty more for the 3rd season (starting October 3 in the US)to resolve. Not a painful cliffhanger ending, though, which was appreciated, and showed some faith that viewers will return for the quality of the show, not because they're tormented by a lack of answers.

Currently being watched: Fresh Prince of Bel Air (S2) and The Simpsons (S8)
Next on the list: Doctor Who (S1) and Threshold (The Complete Series)

Biding my time

Since I'm out of sick leave without a certificate I actually relented and went to the doctor this morning, to find that I have a mild respiratory tract infection. No antibiotic solution, though, so it's just a wait and see approach. In the meantime, I have a whole certified week off, to laze around watching DVDs (good), napping (tolerable) and occasionally coughing my head off (bad). I'm hoping to very gradually return to some exercise over that time, as my knees and back haven't liked the lack of movement, but judging by how poorly my lungs took to a slow 5 minute sunshine shamble at lunchtime I'd say I won't be rushing into any hour-long sessions too soon.

One other piece of good news is that my blood pressure is down to 110/70, which means that I'm probably not as stressed as I sometimes think I am, and that the exercise has made a significant difference (my BP reading had been something like 140/95 last year, which is right in the high pressure zone). That measurement alone will hopefully allow me to relax, in what may possibly be irony, or maybe just some kind of sensible mental feedback mechanism.

So (1) I'm afraid that weekend plans aren't really on my radar (sorry Em!) and (2) a certain J needs her own blog, when the comment is longer than the original post :)

Craptastic

A sickness break from blogging, with no particular end in sight. After foolishly raving about all sorts of positive things, and how good my exercise habits were, etc. I've been sent crashing back to reality with a cold/flu/virus which has kept me from any real work or walking for the past 8 days. I'm supposed to somehow survive a 3 day training course starting tomorrow at 9, when I actually feel worse than I did last Monday, my first sick day since I started on my wonder pills. Since I can't use caffeine, and cold/flu medicine seems entirely ineffective, I remain doubtful of being an enthusiastic participant.

So, as is usual for me when I get sick again, after a whole 3 months of comparative health, I lose my confidence that this kind of chronic illness crap will ever end, that my life is going anywhere, that I know what the hell I want to be doing, blah-de-blah-blah. Some of my pessimism surfaces from a lack of activity, and the distancing effect that being confined to bed has, but the fact that negativity sits so close to the surface just makes me think I'm usually just fooling myself that I'm cheerful, and as soon as I get fatigued and have no energy for self-deception the truth comes out.

And that's why: (1) I call this the World Wide Whinge, and (2) why I shouldn't post when I'm feeling sorry for myself. Nothing is ever as bad as I make it sound (quite how useful a talent that is, I don't know) and I'm sure that once I can do more than move from bed to lounge and back without needing a nap I'll be my faux-positive self again. Hoor-koff-koff-ay!

Bored yet?

Looking at all the fancy new templates being used by my friends has finally prompted me to live up to a long-ago statement that I would ease up on the orange and "pretty up" my blog a bit. I've finally succumbed to the lure of widgets, either slowing down page loading for the sake of gimmickry OR creating a cutting-edge new look which appeals and excites (depends on your point of view :)

In any case, I've set it up so the main links and content get loaded first, so the new toys don't get in the way of my entertaining writing... And if they don't work, it's not my fault.

I hope y'all like it!

Life gets in the way

I've been having too much fun to blog the past couple of weeks, but a lonely lazy Friday night gives me time for an update on goings on in the excitement-fest that is Ber-T's world:

S-Club's 30th on the 5th was heaps o' fun, and because of the Shenani-dogs I even talked to people who weren't wearing orange! I ate way too much junk food, amazed youngsters with my long public service career and my Sunday walk was taken care of as I left the party at 1am to get home a little before 2, meaning a sleep-in and day of laziness were my reward.

(Wed the 9th) It's iPod time! I managed a half hour walk in winds strong enough to nearly tear my beanie from my velcro-stubbled head, before deciding that, new toy or not, I was going back home.

(Friday the 11th) I left work and headed to Civic rather than home, with no actual plans (Em would be proud) except the vague hope of seeing some friends. I tried visiting K but he'd already gone to the pub, so I propped up his business by purchasing a handful of comics, and organised impromptu drinks with B and The Boy. A pint of conversation later I returned to Impact, this time meeting K, who looked frantically around for escape before resigning himself to an OK Corral dinner and a second King O's pint with me. He ran screaming for an imaginary bus, which he assured me was his via a shouted over-shoulder goodbye, around 10 and I rode my own flexibus home with a smile borne of a satisfying week.

(Wed 16) A rare catch up with Redhead Kingpin (the first time since Fishy's wedding), then an awesome chat over tea/coffee with Liv, before meeting up with B for Thai dinner (vegetarian massumun, at least that's how the menu spelt it, but I remain skeptical) and it was off home to once again relish the joy that is hanging with friends.

Vegetarian

Since my health has been going so well, and I'm enjoying what that feels like, I'm trying out a vegetarian diet. As much as anything, it's to force myself to eat more vegetables, as my tuna and rice habit made me lazy in my food preparation, settling for tinned and processed goods.

So far, over 10 days with no meat, I'm still feeling really good. Coping fine with full work weeks, partying till 2am on Saturday in the cold, and my regular walks. Compared to my gluten-free diet, it's actually a breeze.

I've known for a long time what I need to do to be healthy, but have simply fooled myself into thinking I don't have time, or energy, or whatever, to do those things. Walking is one, getting rid of Coke is another (10 weeks and counting without a drop of cool, black gold). I've had almost no red meat for 2 years anyway, so cutting out chicken and tuna was the next step to try, and not much of a burden (so far).

So even if I don't stick with "cold turkey" (reverse no-pun not intended), I should at least have supplemented my diet with appropriate amounts of veges, and will eat less meat.

Oh for some patience!

Aaargh! Got home at 5.30 to find that my iPod was available from noon at my local post office, but since it closes at 5.30 I have to wait till 9am tomorrow to grab it :( Still, should make for a fun day off, playing with my new toy :)

July - month of walking

As this handy graph shows, I managed my second best month, despite being washed out a number of times, it being very cold, and me wanting so much to return to being lazy.

I've even managed my best ever start to a month by walking this evening after getting home from work.

New toys

Toy #1 - LG Digital Video Recorder
160GB hard drive, twin HD tuners, timeshift, etc. Why would I fork out lots of cash for a new device to tape the nothing that is on TV? Why? ... I've made a huge mistake...

Toy #2 - 60GB Video iPod
Finally sick of issues with my much-abused three year old MP3 walkman, I've succumbed to the lure of the pretty black item below. It should be in my hands early next week.


Pretty :)