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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Gadfly's LiveJournal:
| Saturday, November 16th, 2002 | |
| 7:28 am | London Transport & firemen The firemen's two day strike is over now, although there may be an 8-day one in a week if they cannot come to terms. There does seem to be a wide gulf to cross, though, The firemen currently get about 21k per year and want 30k. On the surface that does not seem an unreasonable demand, as the cost of living in London makes that a meagre salary to raise a family. But the government is worried that if they give in, the raise amounts to 40% and the rest of the public sector will be on their case right away. London university staff have already been out for a day this week, in anticipation, As noble as being a fireman is, I must admit that my initial prejudice was to side with their cause. However, on reflection, I'm not so convinced. I think the 40% thing is a red herring -- it's the actual salary that matters, not the percentage raise, and I think little of those who harp on about the percentage. But, there are 40 applicants for every vacancy, which makes me think that perhaps the salary may be at about the right level. Firemen get paid more than the military staff who are replacing them on strike, and this may be a clue to something. Perhaps it is not right to think of firefighting as a lifetime career, any more than we see military service as one, except for those few who move up through the ranks. Even in London, 21k is not a bad income for someone in their 20s with minimal education and skills. Admittedly, firemen are skilled, but the fire service provides them with those skills, through on-the-job training, It's not as if they have to fund themselves through several years of university, deferring income. There is a strong parallel here with the military, I think, and perhaps a short career in the fire service, as in the military, is the answer. My suggestion for the firemen would be to look more carefully at pension and injury compensation. Anyone injured (or killed0 in the line of duty should be treated very generously -- the incidents are infrequent, but are as a consequence of diligent public service. Also, an early pension makes good sense, as with military pensions, to keep firemen from being trapped into remaining firemen after their economic needs grow. I doubt that ex-firemen would have any more difficulty than ex-servicemen in finding a second career, especially with a pension form that first career to provide extra security. I would also argue that society owes them that much for their community service. This might help break the deadlock over basic pay. The firemen's strike had a knock-on effect on public transport in London. The tube drivers refused to work on some lines, claiming that lack of qualified fire service meant that the lines and stations were unsafe. Although this is their right under health and safety legislation, it does make it all the more obvious that there is a serious labour problem here. They were on strike recently for more money, and they already make over 30k! This job also is minimally skilled, and the skills are provided through employer training. There are also hordes of people queuing to get tube driver jobs, so it is not economic pressure that means a higher salary is needed. Myself, I'd fire the whole set of tube drivers and rehire on the basis of a lower salary. Reagan did it with air traffic controllers, and that is a much more skilled job. At the same time as this nonsense is going on, all of London's transit systems are under stress. Buses are full, trains are full, the tube is full. Fixing up trains and tubes will take years, and a lot of money, so there will be no quick relief. The only avenue to ease the pressure is to work on the bus network. Already, the mayor has increased the bus network an put in a lot of bus lanes to make things better, but it is no where near enough. Part of the problem is that bus drivers are underpaid -- not because they say so, but because there are a lot of unfilled vacancies -- not enough people want the job, because it pays very poorly. Also, the bus lanes are often clogged by antisocial creeps who drive in them or, even worse, park in them (even at peak times). The roads are clogged with private cars, aggravating the flow of buses. (I have taken a few spot surveys and notice that 80%-90& of cars have only the driver in them.) Red Ken (the mayor) is introducing a congestion charge of 5 pounds per day for driving in central London. It won't work, but it must be done. One of the odd things about policies like the congestion charge is the first attempt almost NEVER works, whatever it is. The second rarely works, either,. But, usually by the third attempt, something workable is achieved. So, one has to 'bite the bullet' and try, in hopes that you'll get it right eventually. Myself, I am dubious that the charge is applied to too small a zone (the inner ring road), as much of the congestion is outside that. However, much of that outer traffic is headed to and from the centre, so it may help. Also, running a car in London is already expensive, and 5 pounds is less than what one would expect to pay for parking, so it may not be much of an incentive for people to give up their cars in favour of transit systems, which are already stressed out. On the other hand, it may provide enough revenue to fund transit improvements (first the buses, then the trains and underground). But. there are a few things that ought to be tackled right away. One is filling those bus driver vacancies to get a lot more buses on the roads. Second is to police the bus lanes so that the buses actually deliver people expeditiously. Third is to review the management of the bus network to correct the problem of buses travelling in convoys -- as anyone who has ever tried to catch a bus in London knows, buses travel in packs of 3, and then you get none for a while. It would be better for everyone if they were spaced more evenly, and that is simply a network management problem. Fourth, put on more routes at rush hour to solve the problem of large queues of people being bypassed by full buses -- these should be short shuttle routes near the city centre. Myself, I'd make buses in the core of the city free, or for a token amount (10p?). I saw this work to great effect in South Yorkshire in the late 70s and early 80s -- the roads were almost clear and buses almost outnumbered cars. One could get a bus even in the suburbs every few minutes, so there was no need to worry about timetables. Accordingly, most people used the bus -- it was cheap, fast and efficient (and you didn't have to find a parking spot). If buses had no fares to collect, passengers could board more quickly -- using all entrances rather than only the front door. There is a move to put conductor back on buses to ease up on the fare collection delays, but I think this is a weaker solution. Free or very cheap buses in central London would take a lot of pressure off the tube -- a good idea as it will be a long time before any investment there will bear fruit -- tube fares would not be reduced. It might also help with congestion on the suburban rail network. |
| 6:35 am | Back again After unsuccessfully trying to download the LJ windows client (many times), I decided to try Semagic. It downloaded. so I'll give it a shot. I managed to lose the LJ client when I trashed my NT registry (not a good thing) -- lot's of other things aren't working properly yet either. However, I did manage to get my multiboot system to behave after moving it all to a new drive and installing XOSL. XOSL is a good thing, as it lets me boot NT and W98 from a logical partition )in concert with the NT loader). It should also cooperate when I finally get around to installing linux. Sadly, I have not been successful yet in trying to network the two computers. They have the cards, the hub claims both cards are connected and working, but neither computer sees the other. Too bad, as I want to share a printer and the internet connection. I suppose I'll eventually crack it, although I may just hire someone to come and fix it, as it's taking too much time for me to sort it out, and there are lots of people who know how to do this sort of setup quickly. Got news this week that one of my two DnD groups is on indefinite hiatus. I'll have to check to see what happened -- perhaps it's just until after xmas. The other is humming along nicely, despite some dramatics last weekend. Also on the DnD front, I found out that I now have coding rights on a MUD, and I've been busy designing my section of the world; with a little luck, I should be able to start coding this weekend. My old Nokia cellphone gave up the ghost finally this week. It still works, but the display is defunct -- makes text messages impossible. A colleague sold me her old phone for 10 quid (she'd just upgraded), so all is well. I could just buy a new one, I guess, but it seems a needless expense as I don't use it that much. The new one is much smaller, so I doubt it would function as a club (like the old one would) if I get mugged. Also on the agenda is spiffing up my CV and looking for work. I've been working as an administrator for a small company while I make sure my health is stable after another bout of illness last year. I have managed to turn up to work every day despite a few rounds with colds, infections and flu, so I think I'm ready. Interestingly, this admin job is the first one I've ever had that has regular hours -- it wasn't as awful as I thought it might be. Current Mood:  content |
| Monday, July 29th, 2002 | |
| 4:03 am | Hmm. It has been about a year and a half since my last post, Sounds like the opening to a confession... Hot day in London today. Blecch. I'd rather have drizzle. If I wanted hot, I could have stayed in North America, where air conditioning is readily available. At least it'll be back to rain in a day or two. Have to get up in a few hours to trek into Southwark for work. Why am I still up? Well, it may have something to do with the neighbours holding parties every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night since the Jubilee started (and they kicked off with 10 straight nights of them then). Now, I have nothing against parties, as long as people don't make me go and a little common decency is observed. In my books, that means all-nighters should be less frequent than every couple of months if they rattle the walls. Stopping 2 hours after dawn three days running every week is a tad excessive. I think it's time to see a lawyer, as the local authorities can't seem to put a stop to it -- a good shark shoould stir things up. Pandrax prompted me to start writing here again by sending me an email, which I'll reply to when I find where I've hidden the password to send mail from the appropriate account (I can read it without the password, as the software knows, but it won't let me reply). Hopefully I'll be less grumpy when I do. :-) |
| Thursday, January 25th, 2001 | |
| 4:59 am | Fun with the NHS Got to explore a little more of Lewisham today. Went to the local hospital for the quarterly HBAic test. Good thing I heeded advice and brought a book to read. Unlike Ottawa, Where it takes 3 minutes to do the paper work, and is rarely any wait, they did the paperwork in about 20 seconds, but there was a 40 minute wait. I think I know which I prefer from the consumer (or is it producer -- it was my blood) standpoint. This could become a real nuisance when I have less time. Fortunately, I got my sister-in-law to show me how to give myself the B-12 injections, so I no longer have to wait for a doctor once a month. Doctors. Harrumph. Why do I feel that they're assembly-line workers, trained by Kafka? I went to see one this morning to see if the some infections had cleared up and get permission to have my blood test. I tell the fellow I have diabetes and neuropathy, and want to know if the toenail fungus (actually Fusarium mold) was gone. He tried to book me into a diabetes clinic -- I declined. He tried to book me into the 'stop smoking' clinic; I quit yesterday, but asked whether the aids (patch, etc.) required a prescription here -- eventually he said 'no', but only after trying to refer me twice. He required some convincing to give me the blood test chit, but eventually did, although he added a straight glucose test to it too. After a good look at my toenails, he told me it was a chronic problem. Duh! I told him that before I took my shoes off, and that I wanted to know whether it was beaten back. So, I will eventually have to get a referral to a dermatologist, I expect. Otherwise, it was sunny and a very pleasant day for a walk. We replaced the gas cylinder for the portable fire (no central heating, but it hardly seems like winter here). A nice change from rain. |
| Wednesday, October 25th, 2000 | |
| 1:26 am | Lots of cycling today. Aside from the usual trek to Hull and back, and a trip out tonight to play NTN, made a trip across town to see the neurologist -- about 45 minutes each way. It would have been a lot more pleasant had I not been wearing a 3-piece suit, as it was on the warm side. I stopped in after the neurologist to have a coffee with R, who had been doing yard work. The news from the neurologist was neutral. The PN is about the same (got poked with sharp objects to determine that), although there was a diminished vibration response to the tuning fork test. He did say that it could be humidity. So, on the good side, it's not worse; but, on the not-so-good side, it hasn't got any better. He was in a jovial mood, and had lost quite a bit of weight himself since the last time I saw him. As it's Tuesday, I went out to play NTN tonight. Didn't do terribly well (unusually), but we did put the bar into 8th place for EcoTrivia and were rewarded by the host with a shooter each. |
| Sunday, October 22nd, 2000 | |
| 2:06 pm | About three weeks since my last entry... hmmm. Am now sitting at my keyboard with some cream of celery soup, part of my recuperation from a cold that hit with gale force on Tuesday night, I think I have my brain back today, but I suspect I may yet get the usual aftermath of bronchitis. I'll get the neurologist to have a listen on Tuesday when I go for my annual appointment. I'm not sure exactly why I have to see the neurologist. He was not exactly forthcoming with information the last time until I bullied him. Even then he basically said he didn't really know anything to tell me except to keep the DM managed and hope for the best. Still, as he found the B12 deficiency, I'll play by his rules one more time. Saw my Ottawa GP last week, got my monthly B12 shot and the annual flu shot. I asked him why I kept getting all these minor illnesses and infections and whether there was anything I could do further to reduce them. Thankfully, I've managed to convince him not to be coy, and he was blunt enough in his answer: no -- get used to it. So, I guess I'll have to make some more lifestyle adjustments that account for being ill a lot. He did give his blessing for using codeine to treat the PN pain, which was an improvement over the reaction I got from the doc in Mississauga. I've been back in Ottawa for two weeks now. Although I've made progress on finishing up with my client, this cold has not helped. Had it hit much harder, I think I'd have been in the hospital for a day or two. I ought to trek in to the office this afternoon and do some more work, to make up for lost time this week, but I'm not sure I'm motivated at the moment. Perhaps the soup will put me in the mood. I still have some typing to do this weekend for Brad as well. I'm staying with some friends at the moment, who are on the verge of separation; not an easy situation for them, but I've been told that my presence has helped keep things civilised. Their teenage daughter is on the phone a lot, so I haven't been on the net as much, as I have to wait until everyone else goes to bed generally. We had a pleasant, small dinner party last night: coconut meat curry, carrot & cashew curry, chickpea salad, coleslaw, bread, basmati rice and butter tarts. R came over on his bicycle to join P and I (wife and daughter went to a horse riding banquet), and we were later joined by one of P's neighbours. However, I do have to admit it started to get boring as the others got progressively drunker (and I didn't); R left early and I retreated to reading the newspaper. Am off for dinner tonight with my former neighbours. They called at noon to invite P and I over -- they've bought a new house. It turns out they were so disenchanted with my departure and the people who bought my house that they decided to move themselves, They don't take possession until March, but have closed a deal. P hasn't decided whether he's coming to dinner; he and his wife are having a discussion now -- she has found a place to move to at the end of the month. I must remember tomorrow to try to track down TJF, who has disappeared somewhere in the bowels of the RC church. The reason is that Motorhead (our nickname for him) died 4 Oct. We were all good buddies at university, and at times, housemates. Still don't know the cause of death, and probably won't until I make it to Ptbo. and connect with his sister. We've not been maintaining good contact over the years. I last spoke to TJF about 5 years ago. I did speak to Motorhead in the spring, but, as usual, he made no effort to keep in touch. He became somewhat reticent about maintaining links after his sister appeared on the scene and revealed that most of what Motorhead had told us over the years was a fabric of Bunyanesque tall tales. After a bit of surprise, I and most others decided it wasn't worth getting excited about, but I think he was quite embarrassed by it. Anyway, I should try and let TJF know of his passing. Funny thing, though -- the RC diocesan office is not open for business on Sundays. |
| Saturday, September 30th, 2000 | |
| 7:45 pm | Masochism and fun I ought to know better than to read Michele Landsberg's column - she's an excellent example of what's wrong with feminism. But, her column is on the front of the section that holds the cryptic crossword, and I cannot resists a headline that includes the phrase "shocking facts and figures." Shocking indeed. It is amazing that her stats seem to ignore that about half of the world's human population is male; but, it's not surprising, despite her comment that the UN report is a "blistering indictment of gender injustice around the globe." Males, it seems, are invisible except as forces of evil (e.g. "...male bias in U.N. funding patterns.") Now this IS scary: ``We have studied women so much; perhaps we have now to study and analyze men, who are still shackled by stereotypes.'' Why do I get the sense that this is a predator speaking? perhaps it's because of the previous comment, which makes the motive clear: "...how to make a sea change in male behaviour." It is almost shaming that this sort of nonsense could appear openly in a Canadian newspaper, when this is a country where the common good hinges on the celebration of differences, and toleration (not to mention active encouragement) of differences. Let us not kid ourselves -- this is no celebration that Michele wants -- she wants war (Canadian non-violent style, admittedly), and to WIN it. She talks about not spending enough money on "gender issues." If she really wanted to make things better, social improvement would not be so tightly focussed on gender. Harrumph. maybe next weekend I can resist reading her column and skip directly to the crossword. |
| Thursday, September 28th, 2000 | |
| 2:11 am | Finished cleaning out D's storage locker today at the 'condo from hell'. Although that ought to have ended it, the legal system appears to have bollixed the divorce settlement and the closing date got shifted so they can sort out the paperwork. Still, he has emptied the place, sold it, and handed over the keys, so there cannot be much more hassle to come. The stress got to him, though, and while I caught a nap, he was off seeking anaesthetic again. The last couple of days has put me a little behind on work, so it's catch-up time tonight. Still eating Sunday's kheema, although the choc cake is gone and the bread is getting low. May have to freeze the rest of the kheema and make something else -- seem to have a lot of chicken in the freezer. Laundry night tonight as well. Goofing off at the moment, though, watching "Leap of Faith" after 'Gummo" -- quite a contrast. The d/l of Pandrax's music finally finished - will have to listen to it when the movie's done. Wonder if it's good to knead bread dough by? |
| Monday, September 25th, 2000 | |
| 6:09 am | ADD and DSM IV Wow. Scary stuff in this article about the ADD hoax. By the ten "causal symptoms" listed, I had ADD as a child and still do. Here they are: RARELY DO children AFFLICTED "WITH A.D.D." 1) OBEY SCHOOLWORK DIRECTIVES 2) SUSTAIN ATTENTION TO SCHOOLWORK 3) BOTHER WITH SCHOOLWORK DETAILS 4) TRY TO AVOID DISTRACTIONS FROM SCHOOLWORK 5) TRY TO AVOID MISTAKES IN DOING SCHOOLWORK 6) LISTEN TO THE TEACHER'S DIRECTIVES 7) REMEMBER SCHOOL ROUTINES 8) PREPARE FOR SCHOOLWORK 9) ORGANIZE SCHOOLWORK TASKS 10) LIKE TO DO SCHOOLWORK School is one of the most boring things I ever have had to put up with. It never took a lot of effort and I did reasonably well on the certification aspect, but that was mostly so they'd leave me alone. Good thing I didn't bounce around a lot or I could have been drugged up too. |
| Sunday, September 24th, 2000 | |
| 7:35 am | Mmmm - Texas Cocoa Cake How decadent! Chocolate cake at 7am, fresh out of the oven a half hour ago, thanks to that excellent recipe makc sent me. Slightly adapted, using dutch dark cocoa and cake flour instead of hard flour. It's like pudding when it's this warm from the oven. D just arose, so I'll postpone starting bread dough until he's done in the kitchen -- it doesn't work well when we're in there at the same time. This is early for him. After the dough is rising, I can grate the cabbage and finish of the kheema gobi I started last night. We'll have to go shopping today, as the larder is running out of essentials. This weekend has turned out to be more pleasant than I expected. Made some progress on work, didn't have to go and help my mom move furniture after all, and got a good start on this weekend's cryptic. I also finally found the receipt for the manual eggbeater I bought earlier that didn't work, so now I can return it -- what sort of lunatic designs a metal eggbeater with misaligned plastic gears? |
| Monday, September 18th, 2000 | |
| 1:10 am | Had a great weekend. D and I left about 2pm on Friday after a hectic morning (managed to get some material off to client before leaving). We arrived about 3 hours later, which is not too bad for a Friday afternoon, We made it back this afternoon in 2 1/4 hours, which is even better. The resort was good -- everything worked and the cottage was spacious for 8 of us. Played some crokinole on Sat night -- W & I against R & me -- after 3 hours we called it a draw. Had a short shuffleboard game this afternoon - we were all definitely out of practice. J&E; did manage to come up for a brief visit on Sat afternoon, bringing fried rice and Chinese pastries -- went very well with chili. Enjoyed chatting with J about the problems of socialized medicine. We ate well. perhaps too well. May have to focus a bit more on exercise the next week or two. Had peccadillo and dinner rolls on Fri -- I got complimented on the rolls. I spent much of Sat making the pizza and hermits. The pizza was fine, especially after we got reinforcements on the anchovies (I forgot them along with my cookbook - so no chocolate cake). Today, D made burgers for lunch and they were tasty, along with leftover salad form Sat night and K's bean salad. A little too close after breakfast, though. Did the Globe and Mail cryptic yesterday for a change. It's a lot easier than the London Times crossword in the Star, which we have not yet finished. Turns out J knows the author of the G&M; puzzle. S picked up the Globe -- she missed the Star, so I took one of the dogs for a walk to a box down the road -- the Star is more expensive in cottage-world, so I had to make a second trip with more change. Everything is now put away after the excursion, but I ought to clean up the kitchen, which we left in a bit of a mess on Friday. Perhaps a short nap and then the cleanup before I get back to writing. |
| Friday, September 15th, 2000 | |
| 6:53 am | After much communication, it looks like things are mostly set for the reunion. The original 8 are coming, and the last two appear to have reversed themselves. May get a short visit over the weekend from one couple who cannot make the whole weekend, but might pop in briefly. D did a big shopping excursion yesterday, and I spent part of the evening grating cheese and chopping pepperoni for Sat night's pizza. I'll have to take baking ingredients with me, as the dough will need to be made fresh. I'd still like to make a cake (makc's recipe) before we go (around noon) and have to make a batch of dinner rolls this morning. We did miss a few things on the shopping list, so there will be a top-up trip today, possibly on the way. Am doing a couple of final loads of laundry. My sleeping bag appears to have been lost in the shuffle, so I'll take sheets, but they ought to be cleaned first. Sadly, I discovered the dryer was full of someone's abandoned clothes again, so I had to set them aside to dry the first load. Life being what it is, it's likely the same culprit who stole my dryer cycle last time this happened, As always seems to be the case, just as I'm about to be very busy and short on time, inspiration hits for the work project. Have to call my client in about an hour, and want to pass on some more goodies, but it will be tight. Also have an appointment with a dermatologist at 11 am - wonder if I'll find out anything useful. Did find out earlier this week that it wasn't a fungus attack, but Fusarium mould. Ugh. Being diabetic is not so bad, but compounded by 3 skin problems (toenails, athlete's foot and strange bumps) and something like a low-grade virus or allergies, it can be very distracting some days. |
| 6:36 am | Personality test Naughty me. I ought to have been working or cooking, but I decided to tale a personality type test at http://keirsey.com/. There are two tests there and I came out on the first as a 'healer' (iNFp) and the second as an 'inventor' (iNTp). Can't say I'm terribly surprised about the ambiguity on extrovert/introvert (the first letter), as I've long thought of myself as an overcompensated introvert. As for T/F (thoughts versus feelings), I'm not sure I buy into the distinction, so perhaps that explains the ambiguity, at least for myself. |
| Saturday, September 9th, 2000 | |
| 8:49 pm | Reunions It's been quite a while since my last entry, for a number of reasons. Health has been less than great of late -- nothing serious, but seems like mild flu symptoms or allergies. Ended up sleeping off and on all day most of today, which is not usual for me. Been doing that a lot lately, partly due to puffy and sore eyes. It's not helping working, as it impairs concentration; however, I always go through a bad patch of sorts before finishing complex writing assignments, be they text or software. Meanwhile, have been trying to organise an annual reunion. The reunion has been running since 1983, while I was in England. I was at the first one, because I was back for my brother's wedding -- I went to part of the reunion instead of his stag (he was envious, as he didn't want to go to his stag). Missed the next few, which rotated through 3 summer cottages initially, until one had the parents make the cottage their home and another got concerned about liability when the porch fell off (nobody's fault -- it was time). I missed those reunions, not catching one until 1987 when I was back on holiday. I've been to them all since 1987. In 1992, the remaining cottage got taken over by the father making it his home, and I volunteered to organise a resort. During the 7 years I organised things, we hit a peak of about 32-33 (that included 9 kids). At the 1998 reunion, I announced that it was the last one I'd organise, and suggested someone else should take over. In 1988, I decided that it was best to let someone else take over, as about half the attendees gave me grief in one form or another. One suggested that nobody was really interested anymore - perhaps she was right, but I had a feeling she was extrapolating her own opinion. One other couple dithered about whether they would be there or not and finally did arrive, with their dog. I like dogs, but the resort had a no pet policy, and so it caused a problem; I had offered to switch to a different resort (we used the same one for 7 years), but was told not to bother. I then got stick about the allocation of costs! The deal with resorts is that you pay even if you don't use your full booking; this is reasonable, as your booking prevents them from renting to someone else. Over the years, people were getting less and less committal (i.e., dithering and not sending me deposits) and fussier in their demands. I'm fairly good at logistics and resolving complex constraints, but with over-constrained problems, you have to prioritise, and it gets to be a chore if the constraints and priorities keep changing. I found out a few weeks ago that the person who hosted it at her cottage was not doing this years, but that our friends in NJ were expecting one to be organised. I agreed to do it and they said any weekend in September would be fine. I sorted out who wanted to come and what weekends were free; the best fit was the last weekend, so I sent out emails and phoned, to get confirmations. The guy in NJ wrote back that the last weekend was no good because he wanted to go to a Gong concert. So, we rearranged the date to next weekend, and I booked a resort on Thursday night, for 8 people. Then remembered that I'd missed one, passed on the info on Friday, and heard back that he was thinking about it. Some of my friends are so decisive! He called back tonight, and wants to come, and then I found out that another who'd said he'd be busy next weekend is now free and might want to attend. Called the resort back, and found out 10 was OK, but I may end up on an air mattress. Good thing I forgot to put that in storage. However, the 10th person is still dithering, so I won't know until tomorrow. I do have to say that software projects are easier to plan and to manage. Seven phone calls tonight and 2 emails. And I have yet to fully organise the catering end, although I have a start on that. Looks like peccadillo on Friday night, pizza on Sat night (I get to make that), chili and burgers for two other meals. Now have to finish a provisioning list and circulate it. So far the organisation has not been as problematic as 1998, but it's not over yet. probably will be the last one I organize unless the next one is in the UK. |
| Friday, August 25th, 2000 | |
| 4:40 pm | Just got some junk email -- suggesting I should send a card for "Women's Equality Day". They obviously are not very careful in selecting candidates! D's comment was, "I'm all for that, they should get ONE day." Hmm, I wonder if that means that they'll drop their smug superiority for day? I doubt it. More likely, it's women agreeing to let themselves be equal to each other. Current Mood: amused |
| Thursday, August 17th, 2000 | |
| 3:24 pm | Yesterday was interesting. Was in the middle of a phone call with the taxman at 10am and the line went dead - eerie. I checked the other two lines, and they were dead as well. After a couple of hours I went over to the apartment management office and confirmed what I thought -- the workmen on the street had cut through a major cable. So no phone service until 11:15 last night. Fortunately, it appears that the messaging service did work, although very few callers will actually leave a message. Decided to catch up on sleep some more, and did. Then I decided to use D's computer to check on livejournal (it has a cable modem), as I had only made it to about Saturday after being away for the weekend. Ended up surfing all over the place and discovering another author. Read his first novel, and liked it a lot -- will shortly send him an email. I am now torn between reading his second one and getting back to work. Hehe. Just had an ICQ exchange with a local guy who was looking for a sexual liaison. Persistent bugger, but I turned him down. Wonder why he picked me off ICQ? |
| Wednesday, August 16th, 2000 | |
| 4:23 am | Discovered that my hard disk was essentially full - only 2mb free! Did a little housekeeping and got it back to 177mb. What I really ought to do is merge the two fragments of the disk that were created by the techies who loaded NT on the system. For some moronic reason, they made the C drive only 1 gigabyte. I've been putting up with it for almost two years, as there have always been more pressing matters to deal with. However, I'm now ready to concede that it's too much effort to convince software to put files where I want them (which is rarely on the C drive). On the other hand, all the desktops are likely to be history in a month or so, as I'm planning on changing them for a laptop, as it will be more convenient. So, I guess I'll muddle on for the nonce. I did discover that I seem to have an enormous number of browser caches; one day I may get bored enough to figure out why. Tidying up my file space did encourage me to finish unpacking and do a little housecleaning while the computer burbled, so it was probably a good thing to do. |
| 1:38 am | Back from an excellent weekend. Actually got back about 5AM, and then tried to sleep during the day, but kept getting wakened by the phone. Good thing I'm semi-coherent when I first awake. However, it did mean I didn't really take care of the sleep debt until about 8pm. Now I have to finish catching up on email (mailboxes seemed to fill up while I was away), and see what's up with my friend's in livejournal. Then maybe come back and write up the weekend. Decided to go out this evening to play NTN and have dinner rather than face unpacking an tidying right away, so I still have domestic chores to do. Did rather well at Showcase and paid for my dinner again with the prize money. D's away this week fishing, and I seem to have finally kicked this virus, so it ought to be a productive night and week. One problem with being away is that I have no TV guide or crossword puzzle from the Saturday Star, which now seems to be unavailable. Small price to pay for a weekend in the countryside, I guess, but it was disappointing to discover that I couldn't get Showcase's website to reveal what movies they're showing. However, I did discover that Showcase is re-airing "Queer as Folk" at the end of August, so I can catch the episode I missed -- I'll hold up on making the tapes for my American friends until then. |
| Friday, August 11th, 2000 | |
| 11:06 am | Am off to a cottage for the weekend in about an hour. Should be fun. R is bringing my fishing tackle with him, as it's stored in his basement. Will be returning by Ottawa, as I have an ophthalmologists appointment in the morning and a couple of business meetings there later in the day. Picked up some more talking books at the public library yesterday: William Deihl 'Reign in Hell', Jonathan Kellerman 'Self-defense', and Mary Stewart 'The Moon-Spinners'. Packed last night while chatting online, so I just have to send a few emails, shower and get the rental car, and I can be on my way. First stops are to visit both parents and my grandmother in Ptbo, then friends north of the city, and then it's the cottage until Sunday night. I'm taking the trusty old 286 laptop in case I'm in the mood to do some writing; I did pick up some research material on Ojibway culture for one story idea when I was at the library. Why is it that you can't buy a bathing suit after the beginning of August? Seems odd to me, as we still have lots of swimming weather left. I'll bet I can buy a snow-blower right now. Ended up picking up a pair of flannel boxers which ought to do the trick. Had some more entertainment on the shopping front -- I got VERY hungry while shopping after the library, which is usually a danger sign for me. The mall was closing in five minutes, but all of the food emporia refused to serve, as they were cleaning up to clear out. Sad commentary on customer service and employee relations that the staff are more interested in escaping their work than serving customers. Ended up getting a chocolate bar at the smoke shop. Not my first choice or my second, but it's better than collapsing. |
| Wednesday, August 9th, 2000 | |
| 3:25 pm | Hmm. Been almost a week since I last posted an entry. Had a short relapse of the virus, which made me very sluggish. Managed to come to life when DK came for a visit this weekend past, although I was less energetic than usual. DK did seem to enjoy NTN and a couple of our local pubs, but was less than enamoured with a few of our local beer ads and a Canadian Heritage spot. I probably didn't seem overly sympathetic, as they are small beans compared to the bombardment of cultural values we get form the country south of us. Still, the beer ads are decidedly anti-American, although they are very much tongue-in-cheek (perhaps the humour is idiosyncratically Canadian?). He came bearing gifts: Russian chocolates (which are cached in the fridge and should last a while) and Pall Mall. The latter are a rare treat, as they're not available in Canada (yes, there is a Canadian version, but they have nothing in common besides the name) -- used to smoke those in the UK, as they were much better than the German camels you get there. D got back last night. Went to pick him up at the airport, and discovered that Terminal 2 is not designed for people to be met. The 'big screen' lied about the baggage claim area and there is no information desk -- the poor fellow at Visitor's Aid tried to help, but all he could do was phone the same number I called before I went to the airport. Another example of bad design -- it's everywhere! Poor D got an abscess from an old root canal, whilst up in the mountains; it hasn't bothered him in 20 years, and it attacks when he's backpacking! He looked very puffy when he arrived, but it has gone down a little overnight -- he said it was MUCH worse before he went to the Banff hospital. He said the service there was excellent -- good thing, as everything else was closed for the Monday holiday. Despite that setback, he had a great time, and was very pleased at all the business that rolled in while he was away (although surprised). I'm still not very energetic, although better than yesterday. Did finally manage to return the overdue books and tapes to the library this morning, buy some groceries, do a bit of cleaning, and get back to work on my project, which I now ought to get back to. |