I have been busy almost on purpose this week, because dealing with the 1st anniversary of my Gran’s death was something I didn’t want to do. I think I avoided it by just working eating and sleeping. By avoiding thinking about Gran I have managed to avoid talking to mum about it, however, if I avoid it for too much longer, it will be one of those horrible cycles.. I feel guilty I don’t call, I then feel guiltier for not calling, and before too long, it looks obvious you aren’t calling and then you have to eat humble pie when you do eventually call, and make up some excuse to the parental unit saying.. well i was working and just haven’t had the time. When in reality, if I had just done it in the first place, it wouldn’t be so bad. So rather than leaving it a couple of weeks, I’ll call tonight, and go visit them tomorrow.

I have been out walking much more of late and will need to redouble my efforts to become alot fitter.. mainly because I have found it’s been a good way of allieviating some stress I have been feeling over work and personal life. I am going to have to sort out my personal life sooner or later because I don’t like it at the moment.

Work has been hectic the last few days, they’ve had some promotion on which has trebled the numbers of tickets being submitted from their “standard” 50 a day, to about 600 a day for the last 3 days. I’ve had people messaging me asking for free money and having open 10 accounts all having been credited with free money, and then of course I have had the sob stories..

REQUEST:
i have never played with your accounts i just got on my comp ive been termanally ill for two months maybe my children were playing with you but not me i am very sorry i didnt no theywhere using my computer i apoligise for that but i havent had the oppertunity to even try your site please respond thank you danny

REPLY:
Hi again,
Not meaning to be difficult, you said you had a terminal illness and signed off as the name Terry on 24 December 2003. Now you are saying the same thing under then name of Danny. We can not give away free bonuses to multiple account abusers. Here’s hoping you get well soon.
Regards
Support

Perhaps I was a little hard on the user, but another person had 12 accounts and I eventually told him to “Please stop opening new accounts, because it only means I have to keep closing them, and no you are not getting any more free money”

And finally, I have to bitch about Ebay a little. I went on this spree a couple of weeks ago and almost all the sellers bar one emailed me letting me know that everything had been shipped except one person. I emailed them they emailed me back, I replied, then replied again when I had no response, then went and emailed them from the EBay site to which they then wrote… “we have not received your previous emails, we ask again you tell us your name in paypal and the amount you sent to us” so I have done that. Let’s hope they get their act together, because if I don’t hear anything from them by 14 February, I’ll be requesting a refund of the money that I paid, and before that ridiculous 30day limit that PayPal imposes. Meh!

I have come to the conclusion I am going blind. I keep sitting with my face close to the laptop screen and decided that without fail I must get my eyes tested tomorrow, if work permits. I get eyestrain headaches within minutes of sitting down at the computer and currently am sitting pulling my head as far from the screen as possible and not looking at it whilst I type so if there are any typoes its not my fault.. it’s my eyes!

I went to a friend’s flat in South Perth that her dad owns. It’s an entire floor of a building. I’d love to live on an entire floor of a building. M and I took a taxi from our place to South Perth, about 100 meters just past the lights where Wesley College is (if you know South Perth and Mill Point Road then you know where the college is). The taxi overheated. *sigh* so M and I got out, paid and walked up that nice long hill towards the zoo. We got to the top of that hill and thought, “thank god its all downhill from here” and walked down Mill Point Road and finally made it to our destination. Funny thing was, we would have made it faster walking than by taxi - the car in front of the taxi which had been full of flag waving young men to my knowledge was still yet to crest the top of the hill when we turned the corner to continue to our friends flat. My calves are aching this morning.

I had a feeling it was going to be one of those weird nights though. We wandered down to the foreshore, and I haven’t watched the skyshow from the South Perth foreshore before. I’ve watched it at Barrack Street, from Buckland Hill, from some tiny road in the hills near Gooseberry Hill, from McCallum park, and from the River in a nice Yacht, and I would have to say, watching from South Perth is possibly one of the best experiences in a bitter sweet way. The music wasn’t too bad, but to be honest, not many people brought radio’s so we couldn’t hear it. The one disturbing thing was watching the Airforce jet buzzing the river as part of the “entertainment”. I don’t think it was really entertainment, more like a warning.

The group watched it fly around, and P made a comment about playing Halo and how he could see himself in that jet letting loose the guns into the crowds. I commented that it seemed weird that jets like that can and have killed people and seeing how fast they were, i could see how helpless we’d be if they dropped a few rounds on the crowds or a missile or two. There was a bit of a silence and someone else commented how we probably looked like the ideal terrorist target, about 10 - 20% of the Perth population in such a small area. We were silent then, listening to the crowds chatter and kids screaming and playing and watching the light aircraft above flying around in circles.

So instead of Ooohing and ahhhing at the awesome display, I was locked in thought about how similar the explosions of the fireworks shells sounded to the sounds of missiles hitting buildings in Bahgdad on TV when the first attacks went live across the world, and wishing that others could be here to watch with me. The sounds reverberatting off the buildings and water, the way the sky was lit up. Times like these, I wish I was ignorant of the problems of the world, and that I could enjoy simple pleasure of being with my friends and watching the pretty lights rather than thinking how they sounded like bombs from the TV.

Only in America

“The City of Madera, Calif. Madera police officer Marcy Noriega had the suspect from a minor disturbance handcuffed in the back of her patrol car. When the suspect started to kick at the car’s windows, Officer Noriega decided to subdue him with her Taser. Incredibly, instead of pulling her stun gun from her belt, she pulled her service sidearm and shot the man in the chest, killing him instantly. The city, however, says the killing is not the officer’s fault; it argues that “any reasonable police officer” could “mistakenly draw and fire a handgun instead of the Taser device” and has filed suit against Taser, arguing the company should pay for any award from the wrongful death lawsuit the man’s family has filed. What a slur against every professionally trained police officer who knows the difference between a real gun and a stun gun! And what a cowardly attempt to escape responsibility for the actions of its own under-trained officer. ”

O dear lord, what’s next?

I am addicted to Ebay

I have been over the last week, a dedicated Ebayer, and buying bits and pieces to be all crafty and make my own jewellry. There was a stage that instead of logging off from work, I was finishing work, opening a new browser window and watching my auctions and looking for bargains. I didn’t spend too much however, with the AUD being so high, it’s very cheap to purchase things over the internet from the US, so I have been taking advantage of it. I got my first Ebay Item today aswell, so I have put it in a container and waiting for the rest of them.

I also had a chat to David from Staypuff last night! We managed to be online at the same time on IRC - and before you comment about it being a friday night and we should be out clubbing.. I was up at 5am on friday for work at 6 and didn’t get home from a meeting until 6.30pm or so. So there was no way I had the energy to go out and be sociable. David it was really nice meeting and having a chat! in an IRC kind of way
I need new glasses I think. These ones have got a few scratches on the lenses and now when I look at things, they are fuzzy - together with the tired eyes constantly, headaches which have started int he last couple of weeks and that feeling of sand inside the sockets, I shall need to expend some $$ and have them seen to.

Lazy saturday afternoon is what i have had, and as Nina Simone says, “it feels so good”

When David Hookes passed away yesterday, it made me think about the people in my life that have passed on. Unlike my sister, I haven’t had as much experience with the death of friends, which is a good thing in a way. However I have been thinking about one person with whom I was friends in particular.

We weren’t best of friends, but he was one of those people that you meet in life that leave a lifelong impression on a person. He committed suicide just over 2 years ago. Same age as me, but life had treated him alot harsher and his method of dealing with his anger and deep sadness was ultimately to take his own life. He was one of those notorius bouncers who were accused of killing a man at a casino in Sydney, the full story of what happened never made it to the media outlets. My friend dealt with post traumatic stress disorder in the only way he knew how I guess.

I know it’s a slightly depressive post, but the next week or so is going to be a little hard coming up to Anniversary time for Gran.

The Man Condition

As a guy gets older, they are going to suffer something quite horrible. Hairy ears. Yes, it’s a fact of life. As I was sitting with M having dinner at Fast Eddies - he shared with me a gem as we were waiting for dinner..

“I am going to order something from Danoz Direct”
“Nooo don’t do that, they’re crap!” I was gobsmacked.
“Well I need it. You know that pen thing and when you take the lid off it vibrates?” At this point I was wondering what he was talking about because the first thing I was thinking of wasn’t a pen thing…
“No, what does it do?”
“It’s a small razor.. you can cut baby’s hair with it, and do the neckline”
“oh, yes I know.. what do you want it for?”
“Well, you know how some guys get hairy ears? well I am getting hairy ears” He was looking vaguely alarmed..
*I start laughing*
“I don’t want hairy ears like my grandfather, his ears were so bad you could have a whole cornfield growing in his ears”
*more laughter*
“I am now going to take my personal hygiene about my ears VERY seriously”

I am so glad that I am a chick, and we don’t have to put up with hairy ears.

Sisters

My sister and I haven’t been close for a long time due to family issues, but we’re slowly repairing that relationship. We have our share of fights, which include three SMS fights. Those usually have me steaming mad and then laughing at the stupidity of it. How hard is it to waste one dollar on a phone call and get it over and done with, than send five “getting more snickier than the one before” SMS’s. However I have decided that every time she sends me an SMS, rather than not reply (usual behaviour) or send back a short reply which pisses her off (also usual behaviour) I have decided to start calling her back. There is a point to this..

My sister sent an SMS about this cooler I borrowed from the parents, and I called her (part of my new policy), found out her address and left the house at 6.45pm, to get to my sister’s house and drop the cooler off there. Her house is this big old 100 year building, thick walls, a hallway that’s about 2 metres wide, quite impressive - her housemate was weird, he reminded me of that stressed out lawyer in Scrubs in looks at least, and perhaps the way he kinda seemed spaced out all the time. Please note, that as a minor plot character he doesn’t appear on the website. *sigh*

I was evil however, and whilst she was putting the cooler in her room, I made a comment about the spiders being removed and she freaked out “get it out get it out!!!” (she is as bad as me when it comes to being a fraidy cat about spiders) however, after laughing at her expense I convinced her not to run away from the cooler because it was fine (note: I didn’t check the inside for spiders) and she said,

“why did you tell me about the spiders if there wasn’t any??”
“because I wanted to freak you out” I said, giggling.
“oic” she said, not looking impressed, “I’ll get you for that..”

We stepped outside onto the Verandah, I leaned against the railings and she said in such a casual manner “oh yeah, look out of the huntsman spider-” I leapt away from the railing squeaking in fear and then she started laughing at me. Doh! she got me back! within less than two minutes of my evilness!

–edited for shocking grammar and spelling typos made due to lack of coffee in the AM–

I wrote to a support address for a company that looks after my webtracker. I had asked for some updated code and the email hadn’t arrived so I emailed them for help.

— NiceCustomerSupportPerson wrote:
Probably your email address/account under error or rejected by
your content/spam filter or your mailbox over quota. Please fix.

Since they mentioned spam filters etc. I checked my email, and found that yes indeed - the spam catcher caught it and threw it in the bin so I wrote to them to say thank you.

lori wrote:
Hi again
I checked my account and found that yes, the email was judged as spam
and thrown in the trash, I retrieved the email and have got the code.
Thanks for the reply, I will try and reduce my blonde moments a little
more
Regards
Lori

Now working in support, I don’t alway reply to emails who write back to me thanking me for help, so I wasnt expecting anything. When I checked my email earlier I found this Gem which totally made me laugh.

From:
To: loriatvolcanomail.com
Subject: Re: webtracker - http://freakychick.net
Date: Wed 01/14/04 03:49 AM

Best Regards,
HvdHO

Gotta love Customer Support people