Almost a month since I last blogged. All of these things that I do want to do, but just don't seem to find the time for. Instead I eat, stare unhappily at my growing paunch, and pace. Nothing much productive recently. Certainly no interesting thoughts.
In my growing depression there's also an increased drive for order, schedules, reminders. I tear the post-its off my monitor, and set reminders in my email instead. I program my shifts in to my organiser and sync it with my phone. I check my budget every other day.
Paper is my enemy and I shall vanquish it. Bills touch no surface in my house before they are torn up and placed upon the pile of recycling. The pile of recycling, with increasing regularity, is removed to the bin. At work, documents digitized, my task bar swells. I need to learn how to Alt-Tab again.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Grampians
We went to Grampians, I spent all my money for the fortnight (bank balance until Tuesday week: $0- scary thought.) Climbing was awesome. We are fucking awesome at setting up ropes. Albeit a little slow. Didn't get more than a little sunburnt. We barely camped. Spent a lot of time in the pub. This contributed significantly to my current fiscal problems. To finish off an awesome weekend, some random broke his leg. Lead climbing up a wall, about two metres up, hadn't clipped in yet. Fell awkwardly on some stairs. Why stairs underneath a cliff people climb? Plenty fucking stupid. I didn't see anything. Still feel a little sick thinking about it though. Going to take a little time to get back to full confidence, I think. We'd just set up our rope when he screamed. We pulled it straight down. Packed up the gear. Drove home.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
A medical experiment
I'm thinking of embarking on a wee bit of an experiment. It seems to me that, currently, health insurance just doesn't add up. I can't see myself being able to claim enough stuff to make the premiums worth while. Any emergencies would be covered by the public health system. Until our warped tax system makes it foolish to do otherwise, (ergo, when my taxable income exceeds $50k), I'm going to avoid it.
Instead, I'm going to put what I would have spent on premiums in to a bank account and pay for any medical procedures out of that. This is not a fair comparison, of course, because under health insurance I would still be paying an out-of-pocket excess. Speaking of which, Medibank Private - a government-owned private health insurer- makes it very difficult to know exactly what you're covered for. I would say that the web page allows you to believe that the entire cost is covered, which I do not believe is the case. Not impressed.
In any case, I shall review this arrangement when my taxable income (for Medibank Surcharge purposes) exceeds the relevant limit, or I turn 30 (whichever comes first.)
Instead, I'm going to put what I would have spent on premiums in to a bank account and pay for any medical procedures out of that. This is not a fair comparison, of course, because under health insurance I would still be paying an out-of-pocket excess. Speaking of which, Medibank Private - a government-owned private health insurer- makes it very difficult to know exactly what you're covered for. I would say that the web page allows you to believe that the entire cost is covered, which I do not believe is the case. Not impressed.
In any case, I shall review this arrangement when my taxable income (for Medibank Surcharge purposes) exceeds the relevant limit, or I turn 30 (whichever comes first.)
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Helping out any way I can
So I'm catching the Glen Waverley line home for work today. Strategically located as I am dead between two railways. A group of teenagers who all look like that have more money (from their parents) than sense gets on the train. One of them gets a message. I notice them because they have the same alert as me. They read the text. A message flashes that their battery is low. Still, there's enough juice for them to make a phone call.
"Hi Dad, could you pick us up from Box Hill? We can be there in 20 minutes."
Ah. Box Hill is not on this line. I happen to know from experience that it takes a lot longer than 20 minutes to get to Box Hill via Glen Waverley. The doors open at Richmond. The last chance to change. Are they aware that they need to? They don't seem to be moving. Their bags are sitting on the floor. One is trying to find a pen to do the Sudoku.
I look around. The man across from me is glancing up from his Palm Pilot, pen poised. He looks at the digital display at the end of the carriage. Is he on the wrong train? No, it's a Glen Waverley train. He looks at the teenagers again. Our eyes meet. We both know that they don't realise. Will either of us do anything?
We look away, uncomfortable. The doors close.
"Hi Dad, could you pick us up from Box Hill? We can be there in 20 minutes."
Ah. Box Hill is not on this line. I happen to know from experience that it takes a lot longer than 20 minutes to get to Box Hill via Glen Waverley. The doors open at Richmond. The last chance to change. Are they aware that they need to? They don't seem to be moving. Their bags are sitting on the floor. One is trying to find a pen to do the Sudoku.
I look around. The man across from me is glancing up from his Palm Pilot, pen poised. He looks at the digital display at the end of the carriage. Is he on the wrong train? No, it's a Glen Waverley train. He looks at the teenagers again. Our eyes meet. We both know that they don't realise. Will either of us do anything?
We look away, uncomfortable. The doors close.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Time is moneys!
Interesting week! Hamish was around on Wednesday through Friday. Feel kind of sorry for the little man. He spent $2000.00 on various computer parts, only to find out that- when their powers are combined- the result is a beast of a computer that crashes randomly. It looks pretty, especially when you're in the middle of a game and the screen goes one of a rainbow-selection of solid colours.
Lachie and Hamish spent 72 hours trying to debug the problem. They tested ram, they graphed temperatures, they formatted and did base installs, they swapped the case and PSU, and flashed BIOS's left, right and centre. All to no avail. What sucks is that they bought the parts from three different places, so it's not even clear that anyone is going to be willing to track down the problem. Or how much resolution will cost if they do. Especially since it may take longer than 3 hours to crash.
Now I don't mean to be negative, I'm sure Hamish will get his comp working, and when he does, it will be kicking rad. But looking at the effort they've put in to it, I know that I could never do the same. Very definitely in the too hard basket.
Lachie and Hamish spent 72 hours trying to debug the problem. They tested ram, they graphed temperatures, they formatted and did base installs, they swapped the case and PSU, and flashed BIOS's left, right and centre. All to no avail. What sucks is that they bought the parts from three different places, so it's not even clear that anyone is going to be willing to track down the problem. Or how much resolution will cost if they do. Especially since it may take longer than 3 hours to crash.
Now I don't mean to be negative, I'm sure Hamish will get his comp working, and when he does, it will be kicking rad. But looking at the effort they've put in to it, I know that I could never do the same. Very definitely in the too hard basket.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Updated!
Well, it's a new year! Time to get out all my stationary and cross out "2007" and pen in "2008"- or maybe I should pencil it in, just in case I don't use it all up (again!) Being the forward looking person that I am, I'm inclined to talk about how awesome 2008 is going to be, but maybe I should spend a few moments on 2007 first....
How to sum up 2007? Well, to be honest, I got off to a lousy start to the year. One of those things where I went to extraordinary lengths to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Things picked up quickly with good espresso and good company for a couple of weeks in Seattle, before I jetted off to Mexico, for one final lovely detour on the way home to Melbourne. A couple of low months there before things got started, finding work and so forth, and the time since then has been settling in to a rhythm. Which has been slightly upset by a detour to Japan. All in all, 2007 has been a year of getting lost and slowly, slowly, slowly getting back on track!
Which brings us to 2008! Off to an excellent start involving fun on a beach and then coming home and throwing out my old pair of shoes! A new pair of shoes for a New Year!
How to sum up 2007? Well, to be honest, I got off to a lousy start to the year. One of those things where I went to extraordinary lengths to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Things picked up quickly with good espresso and good company for a couple of weeks in Seattle, before I jetted off to Mexico, for one final lovely detour on the way home to Melbourne. A couple of low months there before things got started, finding work and so forth, and the time since then has been settling in to a rhythm. Which has been slightly upset by a detour to Japan. All in all, 2007 has been a year of getting lost and slowly, slowly, slowly getting back on track!
Which brings us to 2008! Off to an excellent start involving fun on a beach and then coming home and throwing out my old pair of shoes! A new pair of shoes for a New Year!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
New Years
Now this might just be my bad attitude, but I tell you what, working through Christmas/New Years with only public holidays is a drag. 'Course, Jack doesn't even get Boxing Day. Even so, I chose a dud of a year to not plan ahead. Next year at least Christmas abuts the weekend and last year both Christmas and New Years fell next to weekends.
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