To recalcitrant plumbing ... and maybe other things

Third start - think I should give up. Was thinking about sink traps the other day. What the heck are they good for anyway? Thank heaven for Google. I found out. The water stops the nasty gas breaking into your home through the pipes. Hmm reminds me of some very spooky episodes of X Files. What I haven't figured out is why the trapped water smells so much. MOTH has to keep putting cleaner through the pipes to stop the smell. Something I have only noticed in the low set houses I have lived in. The ones built with a cement slab for foundations. How come it does that? Google hasn't answered that one.....

TGIF and the learning of obfuscation.......

It's finally the end of another week. And it hasn't come too soon really. Time has flown, I've accomplished nothing and missed my walk. Alright, so it's only the morning gone, but still. It's the principal of the thing.

Ever noticed how you think you're alone. The opportunity arises to indulge in a little bad behaviour, then suddenly you aren't as alone as you think. It happened to a friend of a friend of mine.... ok, so it was a work colleague. Went to ask him a question, but was warned off. Trouser cough. He'd just decided he was fine, and I walked around the corner. Whew. Mind, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe, so didn't have the chance to succumb to the effects of the gas. Or maybe it was laughing gas......

Obfuscate: to confuse, bewilder, stupify. To make so unclear as to be difficult to understand.

Been having a running battle with an outside agency about exactly what paperwork she needs to process a reimbursement of travel expenses. She and one of the GT have been debating for a while. The GT candidate - hereby referred to as J - has been having a running arguement about tickets v boarding passes. Although they seem to be talking about the same thing. Who knows. They don't. In the World According to J, she would be told that the Uni is ISO(blah) certified and we need to store the original here for an x amount of time and so we need the orignals here and we can't send the originals over there because we need them for audit purposes too you know and haven't you asked for the originals of the things we sent you and now you want the tickets because the originals of what we sent you you decided weren't what you wanted and we sent them to you yesterday before we got the email and now we have to send them again and so we sent you an email to let you know that we are sending to you originals of what you were supposed to be asking for and confusing us about and .......... I think you get the idea .........

Where I talk about nothing much and waste time...

Arrived at work today and wondered why I was here. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the breeze is blowing and...... hold on. Why am I rambling?

Actually, it is a beautiful day and I am stuck inside, at my desk, while I wait for the troops to gather for a meeting. Ok, today the troops number the massive total of 4, but it's still enough to go ahead. Maybe if I grab the chocolate and dive under the desk they won't notice I'm missing? If surviving on a couple choc bars worked for that Scott fella, then I reckon I can last the whole year on the block I've got. Ha! Ha ha. Now there's a thought......

Went out briefly for a walk this morning. It breaks the monotony of the sit at desk stuff. Too many students though. Doesn't matter if my place of employment is situated on a University campus - it would still be a much better place without them. Saw a bride and groom being snapped against a building. Sandstone background and columns. Nice. Briefly distracted on the way back to the office by the sound of drums and sticks. Turned out to be an Islander dance troup so had to watch. Don't want to get back to work too early.

Nearly meeting time. Back to the chocolate methinks.......

In which I learn about Hallowe'en and other stuff

It's Friday afternoon. I'm hanging out for the end of the day which really can't arrive soon enough. Another inmate in the asylum lets out an hysterical giggle after reading one of those mortuary jokes. You know the ones, so old and lame they're technically dead. Turns out it's a 'horror' joke. About a week or so too early for Halloween. So my x-Canadian friend assures me that Halloween has a lead up. But as someone who doesn't do Halloween, what's it all about? Apparently it's all about All Hallow's Eve and witches going out to catch children. That's why they dress up as ghouls and ghosts. To foil the witches. There you go. That's what it's all about.

In an effort to appear busy, I'm knee deep in the latest news items on the abc site. A robber who held up a service station while brandishing a sword was nicked when he went back to the place he'd just held up. He forgot to take his haul with him. You can tell it's Friday. Armed robbery, brain optional.

Of course, that's to discract myself from plots and schemes of world domination. In my world, it would all run smoothly. Because I want it to. Waiting for someone to deliver a promised thingo from another time zone is kinda wearing. Especially if it doesn't turn up. But during that distraction, MOTH phones buzzing with excitement. There is a bushfire across the road. A big one, they've brought in the choppers that carry water. Well, actually it's across the road, down the way, around the corner and across the highway. But that's all semantics when it's close. And the only thing you have to keep you occupied is Neighbourhood Watch. And watching those neighbours.....

For manual madness......

Well, it's 2.26pm on Wednesday. In an effort to keep myself awake - work will just not do it - I decided to check the news breaks. Found a wonderful story about a young woman who attempted a carjacking, but was foiled because the car was a manual! Hmmm. Why would you bother attempting a carjacking if you can't drive both manual and auto? Didn't Forrest say that life's like a box of chocolates? You never know what you're going to get. Same could be said for carjacking it seems.

- So I'm sitting here at my desk, looking out the window watching the beautiful sunny afternoon slip away. Reminds me of my public service days. Why don't public servants look out the window in the morning? Because then they would have nothing to do in the afternoon.

- Still going with the steps challenge thing. But I am beginning to wonder why I bother. One of the teams is waaayyy out in front. Uber-competitive. Last week they set themselves a target. Break the 1,000,000 step mark. They did it too. But I have a life. Couldn't possibly do something like that. Reeks of exercise. Oo, now there's a dirty word. Time to rinse my mouth out with chocolate.

Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

....... Now what was I doing?

bicycles, buses and other unassociated random stuff

As a regular user of public transport my day usually begins with a mad dash round the house to make sure I am ready before the supersonic dash down the highway to the station. Fighting the other wallies in the same situation for a stopping space in the drop off zone before everyone takes off at the same time, making the sprint for the exit to beat the traffic.

Just a regular, normal day.

Once I leave the train and grab a passing bus, I can zone till it's time to pretend enthusiasm for the day and head to the office. No zoning today - I think our driver had the Indy on his mind. Racing down the straights, weaving through the traffic. Bouncing off the kerb. I sit in the back row and doesn't that knock your bones about. Pulling into a stop and banging the back corner of the bus against the power pole on takeoff. Kissing the back of the seat before me because a taxi in front had the hide to stop. A cyclist, head down bum up, racing for all his worth, like a hare with a fox on its tail while the bus did its level best to run him down. Or pass, whatever. By the time I got to work the adrenaline rush was over and I was ready to go home.

And on the subject of bicyles, lately I notice that I seem to be stalked by the things. Creeping about in my peripheral vision. Through the pedestrian walkway in front of my work building. In the subway tunnel at the station. I never know whether to go left or right and just feel like sticking a stick through their spokes. Blighters. I hate the things. Fell off one once and never felt the same way about them.

Course you know I was cheering for the bus...

Incoherent ramblings which mean nothing much....

Here it is, Friday lunch time, and my Get Up n Go has got up and left. And had a party on the way out I suspect. Love Friday. It's my unofficial start to the weekend. Time to start winding down. Think most of my Friday is spent trying to avoid starting anything that remotely resembles work.

Not that there is anything much to look forward to. Except a healthy dose of 'me' time. That is, time when I vege on the couch with my nose stuck in a book. Love those books. Doing nothing and ignoring the MOTH (Man of the House) and the Teen. Pretending they don't exist and there is no such thing as cooking dinner, housework or any of those things that modern civilization throws in to keep us in a constant state of misery. Like Reality TV.

Even the telly viewing sucks. But maybe I should withdraw that until I have actually checked the tv guide. Ok, so there is usually nothing to watch. Sometimes I torture myself and watch the Johanna Griggs Show. A homestyle wotsit DIY type things. What do they call them? Oh yes, lifestyle shows. It's really called something else, but this woman shows up on all the segments. Saturday is the day. I love Monk. I can do with a healthy dose of quirk. It does require that you suspend disbelief and pretend there really is a plot. But it means I don't have to think, just laugh. Occasionally. And I need that.....

Maybe I will start a new book. I only have 9 books on the shelf, on the lounge, on the floor that I have either not yet started or not yet completed. It's good for the brain to have more than one book on the go at once. Keeping track of the plots and characters without losing the thread is a heady exercise that is sure to keep dementia at bay. At least I am hoping so. The signs are not looking good.......

Whoops here we go again

Just been surfing and noticed, in an out of the way place, a little Vote Now tag. For Australian Idol. Should a judge be sacked for making a comment that offended people with disabilities. Uh oh, here we go with the PC stuff again.

So, a judge on a no-account-who-the-heck-cares-it's-a-waste-of-air-time-reality-show makes a comment about something that the contestant is wearing. It would seem, from the bits that the Teen has inflicted on our household, that standard format is for a judge who deliberately sets out to cause controversy. Well, congrats Kyle, you have managed to do that with every ep. As they say, any press is good press and if it boosts the ratings all the better.

But, look out, we've offended a minority group - again. Gotta watch that. Ok, so I don't necessarily fit into that group myself, but I do have my blonde moments - careful! - and my mouth runs away without my brain sometimes, but what the heck. How boring would it be if everyone toed the line all the time. Think I'd like to check out of a world like that real pronto - I just wouldn't fit in....