Live or televised fights?

interesting conversation that i had with my girlfriend the other night (i always come up with some weird conversations that i inevitably end up bringing to work and starting up a lively discussion about e.g. can you call a guy that sews a seamstress, or can you only call him a taylor? why can't you call him a seamstress? or would the correct term be seamster? - and a more recent one, are feeling learnt? or are they part of your body? or are they linked to your "spirit", and for the purpose of this conversation, it had to be non-theosophically inclined)... more often than not, these conversations end up getting rather humourous and loud, but at other times it does get a bit heated, but it always (so far) has turned out pretty good as a lunchtime activity...

so where was i? oh yeah, the conversation that i had with my girlfriend the other night... after the kickboxing fights the other week, she commented that she didn't enjoy going to live fights, instead preferred to watch them on tv. as soon as she said that i was shocked, yes sir shocked! how could something *tinned* as a televised match ever compare to the enjoyment of being at the live event?

she then goes on to say that the reason why she likes watching them on the tv more is because she can see what the actual strikes are, which she apparently can't at the event itself, either due to the strikes being too fast, or the fighters have gotten in to such and angle that she can't see what's happening...

Personally, i don't have any problems with seeing the strikes most of the time (unless of course the speed of the strike and their position in the ring combine to totally block your view of what's happening)... i find that when i first started going to kickboxing fights, it was a bit difficult to try and keep track of what they're doing when they're going hammer and tongs at each other, but over time i guess i've learnt to build a full picture of the fight, not only from what strike connected, but also their body positioning and movement... i'm not saying that i can tell what every shot was when my view of the combatants is partially blocked, but i've got a fairly good idea :-)

guess that's why, when finances allow, i'll always go to a live thai/kickboxing event instead of watching it on tv... 'sides, part of the ticket price is to pay for the atmosphere as well ^_^

You get a lot for $3.80

Today, I had my first train ride in Auckland New Zealand.

It all started this morning. I was dropped off at work but my ride decided not to come back and take me home. So I had two options: the second being public transport.

I can really split the second option into 2 more. 2a = Bus and 2b=train. Since I've been wanting to experience the train service (or lack there of) for sometime now, I decided around noon to take the train.

It was a busy day for me. I had about a dozen things that I was doing at once. I planned to leave early as I usually do (I go to work early too) however, I got stuck with this problem and it bugged me for a long time. Actually I still have not solved it.

Come home time...I started walking from work to the Britomart station at around 5.05 pm. I thought it should be easy-peasy. But half way I started feeling pain on my left ankle. I usually do after I walk a distance. I blame it tothe time in Nam...

It is a nice walk. If I walk slower, I will actually enjoy the docked boats on the waterfront. But I had to walk fast as I am trying to get there in time for the 5.23pm departure. I foudn out in the end that this train terminate at New Lynn...

I got there around 5.22pm and I proceeded to line up to get my ticket. I look at the chart at the booth and it said "Stage 4 $3.60". When I asked the lady at the counter, she charged me $3.80. I thought..ok. 20c is fine. Maybe the sign is old.

Never mind. I went down to platform 5 where my train was suppose to be. I have 15 min of waiting...I must say. The station is quite confusing. You see all the platforms, there are signs, but there is only one time displayed, the closest departure. To add to the confusion, the trains are not marked. I saw the 5.23pm train leave and it was labelled "Special". What does this mean? Like VIP? Mental Patients only?

I waited and finally got on. All I can say is this, the Auckland rail system is so archaic. They still use a conductor who goes around clipping people's tickets. There is no magnetic card that you feed into turning arm barriers. Imagine during bus strikes, the conductor will probably be too overwhelmed.

I looked at the sign to make sure I know where to get off... It still a long way. I looked outside and it is already dark and to tell you the truth, without this sign you will have no idea where to get off. In most train stops, you cannot see the stand. In others there is no sign where you are. If you happen to take the wrong train, you may actually end up in Papakura!

The inside of the train is kinda like a plain but with a hint of the 80s trying to be modern. You can see that there are no railings for standing people to hold onto. Oh..this guy on the left...he works for Connex (I was told). Not sure what he is doing there. He is just sitting there with his iPod on... Maybe observing the passengers... He looks weird though. Kinda like someone from a cartoon. Big fluffy cheeks like Bill Ralston but without the cornflakes. Big roundish nose kinda like Elmer Fudd. Actually I heard him speak...he said "It's wabbit season!"

On the top right of the image you see a black panel. This is a LED sign board. Presumably it tells you what the next stop is but like in the photo, it is not working.

Finally I got to my destination and got off the train. As I step out of my train, I was amazed. The train stop is like an art gallery. Full of paintings, full of colour...here I'll show you.


At least it was well lit. You can appreciate the paintings even at night.

I finally got home. looked at my watch and it was 6.40pm. Just under an hour.

Let's see now - $.380 got me to look at the really nice Britomart train station - although I wish it was more technologically advanced. It looked more like and advanced museum with world war 2 stuff in it.
It got me to ride on the train that makes you nostalgic of the eighties not to mention a phobia attack if you are afraid of plane cabins.
Oh, it gave me a tour of Auckland suburbs from parnell down to New Lynn and up again to the Waitakeres...but I didn't get to see outside since the train stops are either not lit or not labelled so you don't really know where you are.
The Boston Rd stop is actually very dark. You know Boston Rd..where Mount Eden Prison is..in case ex-cons are there waiting, you won't be able to see their faces...How convenient.
Oh did I mention, we had to go backwards in Newmarket...I think the council is too lazy to build another train stop on the correct place...
oh and let's not forget about the art gallery(ies - I so some on the way)!!...
Finally I got home with 10 cents change.

In case you are wondering, this is my left heel.

Good on ya Auckland public transport, ARC, and Connex! No wonder everyone drives cars!

For those of you who felt inspired by this story, you can checkout the timetable for the train station near you. Go to Maxx.

New Windows

Microsoft Windows Vista - What do you think of that name?

Makes no difference who you are...

melbourne's become so cold and windy as of late, and this has reminded me of weather reports from
london, although lately, we've been hearing more grim news from our friends in the UK. i hope things don't get any worse for them.

thinking about the gloriagate scandal back in manila, i just wish them good fortune. this is a real smear in the macapagal legacy. some people say that it's not cheating until you get caught. from day one, everyone in the pearl of the orient seas knew that gloria cheated in the recent elections. it's only now that she got caught, and yet she still remains. as i said, good luck.

Police and WoF

I think this is pathetic. Police cars not having WoF? I'm sure there are some people who deliberately avoid getting WoF due t cost or getting one of further cost due to required repairs. Those people should be kept in check specially if their cars are old beaten ones.

But there are some people who simply forget due to their busy lives. I've met some of these people and all of them have been fined. What is the nonsense about "grace periods"?

The police usually say, you are the driver, it is your responsibility to check before you drive. If the police themselves cannot check their own cars...What does that say?

Incompetence!

The latest scandal about the drug ring involving sportsmen, celebs, and businessmen..whose mistake is that? I was told the police sent out the press release and in the release they should never have said "sportsmen" or "ex-sportsmen"...that will lead to talking and leakage...dumb asses!

Google Moon

http://moon.google.com/

Colour free Orange Juice

Some of you probably read the article on the herald about the "White-Collar" drug ring involving a couple of celebrity sport stars. Well here's a clue who one of them is.

It is kinda pointless if journalists do not respect the name suppression orders, aye!

This source said other people with initials J K (M), L C (F), and B T (M) may be involved as well.

I've removed the names as it is apparently illegal to post exact names while name suppression is in effect.

Bomb scare on Queen St.

Someone's left a package outside of the National Bank on Queen St.

And now Police are trying to investigate the package with one of those
robot-thingies... Wonder if they've started looking at the surveillance
tapes to see who might have planted it? Or are they too under-resourced to
do something like that :-)

Fire Drill

Just came back from a Fire Drill. It's a bit of a walk since I am on
the 4th floor. I can only imagine what people in the WTC had to go
through a few years ago.

I find Fire Drills are a good way to see who works in your building as
everyone seem to hide in their offices. Everyone come and go at
different times so you never get to see who works in your building.

We have fire evacuation procedures..I presume this is the same for
most companies. Apart from the usual and common sense "do not take the
lift", etc, you are not allowed to carry "hot drinks". I argued once
that this should be all drinks as any liquid spilt is a slip hazard.
But our power-hungry stubborn biatch office administrator who calls
herself the Camp Mother and the Chief Fire Warden said that it is not
required to be that obvious. Me think the problem in this company is
people usually take things literally. I personally see people carry
their coffee down the stairs during the firedrills. So what does that
say? Oh well...she'll end up changing her mind later once she realise
it makes sense.

I got her into trouble once. By accident... a few weeks ago we moved
around in the office. My boss went to aussie to he said "he'll put me
in charge" of this move for our department. It is a fair amount of
responsibility as I need to make sure the cabinets, mobiles, chairs,
computers, etc are all labelled correctly. All pre-move procedures
were excuted perfectly. We labelled everything as instructed and
everything is all go. The labels have our name, department, and phone
extension number on it. The movers and camp mother have an office
layout diagram approved by us so everyone knows who moves where. The
problem I believe was the movers and telecoms guy had a different
versions of this layout and camp mother never updated them.

So come monday out phones, computers, and monitors are all in the
correct places but the desk and cabinet layout are in the wrong
position. It was following the old non-updated layout. Of course it
will take time to move them around on that day and all we wanted is to
start work straight away as we have deadlines. That's what the movers
are for, paid to do it all for us but their work is only as good as
the instructions. I don't think Campmother was even there supervising
the whole thing. So I wrote her an email complaining about it.
Somebody told me that the only way you can get things done around here
is if you bark high enough the heirarchy. So I included the COO in
this email just so he knows what is happening. My boss is an expert
barker and we have the same views regarding the incompetent nature of
Camp Mother. In fact, he is against her more than I was because there
was a time I had a very pleasant and peaceful office relationship with
Camp mother.

So my email was about how this move was the worst we ever had.
Cabinets and boxes are in the wrong place. I said what is the point of
having the extension numbers on the items if they will not be moved to
the correct places. I decided after sending the email that I'd do the
changes myself. Asking Camp Mother to arrange moving them is a waste
of time and nothign will happen until that night or the following
morning. So I started carrying the boxes myself. I moved the cabinets
myself. I even borrowed a screw driver and switched the desks myself.
Just because I wanted my team to have minimal hassles. By mid morning,
I completed all what's left to be done - with the help from some
colleagues.

He is were the trouble began. The COO decided that this matter has
been elevated and he started investigating. I told him the story as
above. He ended up chatting with Camp Mother and Camp Mother ended up
having an official document on her record. All because of me. I feel a
bit sorry about it and in fact I apologised to Camp Mother that things
got out of hand. But what annoyed me the most is that my boss who
hates Camp Mother's guts, went two-faced on me and pretended he was
her friend and telling her she did her job well...my boss also was
called in the meeting with the COO and who knows what happened there.
Judging from his reaction and comments to my other colleagues, he
betrayed me there as well. I ended up looking like a bad guy while the
fact remains that Camp Mother didn't do her job properly and I was the
one who saved the day in our department. I got no thanks. I got no
appreciated. All I got was a behind the back stab. Saying I was mean
to Camp Mother, and she did not deserve it. It feels bad being
betrayed by your team.

I should have known. This ain't the first time either. My boss once
betrayed me. This was regarding some project. I told other parties
involved that my boss feels this way about the project. Then one day
in a face-to-face meeting, the other people ask him and said, "is it
true what was said...that you do not agree with this?" My boss looked
at me and said, "No, it is not true at all. I'm all for it" I ended up
looking like a liar. Don't you hate it when people are fake? They'll
be perfect for the next "House of Wax" movie!

My boss is not the only one. Two others are like that. They gossip
like there's no tomorrow. One make things up. Kinda like David
Copperfield.

She is very fake. She comes to you putting her charm on which is quite
disgusting I thought. She thinks she's cute. She always asks you
nicely but as soon as she turns around, that mouth starts to spill out
something else.

The other is the Two-Faced Queen. She two-faces everyone and she
speculates a lot. It's ok speculating but she speculates the worst
way.

Although I've come to accept that their actions are nothing more than
immature behaviour, I must admit I am psychologically traumatised.
There are days I just want to walk out. I seldom talk to them now. One
of the reasons I do not favour mixing work and home. They still talk
to me as if nothing is happening. Although lately they've been
whispering quite a bit. I do not believe it is about me but for some
reason they've decided to exclude me. They usually don't - this is how
I know they gossip a lot.

Office policies state that I must report this to the manager, but how
can I if the manager is the one initiating this. I'd rather not go any
higher as I've been there and being a pawn in the grander scheme of
things, I'll end up losing.

Don't worry, I won't do an American style, go to your office,
disgruntled employee shoot everyone maneuver. At least I'm not at that
stage...I'm sure someone else will...we already have shit smearers in
the office. But that's another story.

I've heard of cellphone etiquette but...

Ok now i've seen everything :-) but this is just the coolest thing!!!
An Autonomous interactive intermediary - ie. a cellphone interface of sorts, that takes cellphone etiquette to the next level I feel!

The only problem I see with this is if your drunk, and you're mate has one of these and suddenly recieves a call... For me i'd be like WTF!! and freak out and bash it as some sort of possessed Chucky-like entity.

But yeah, from the looks of it, it's fully programmable to act in a certain way to get your attention when a call comes thru, and then it's up to you how to take it...

Definitely gonna keep an eye on this one :-)

Crappy Weather

What is it with the weather here in Auckland. It's been raining almost
everyday. I only ask one thing from the sky, please rain when I'm not
on the road ok? My jacket didn't have the chance to dry from saturday
night's rain. Crap!

Favio is currently in the states. They have thunderstorms there as
well. This whole thing reminds you of "The Day After Tomorrow" movie.
Cool movie actually. I've always liked Sci-Fi movies.

Sci-fi movies give me peace. I prefer not to live in fantasy, however,
reality force me to. The politics and 'fakeness' of the real world
make me wanna plug myself into a "Matrix" so I can live within my mind
the way things are suppose to be. No small minded immature colleagues
who make things up. Who pretend to be your "team"! A place where
people appreciate your input. I know I am but a small fish in a big
blue sea; a small fry in the grander scheme of things. But I like to
think of myself (and I hope other people will as well) as a
contributor to society, to my team, to my company, and not for them to
keep pulling me down to chop you off...This must be the World Famous
in New Zealand's Tall Poppy Syndrome. I never thought I'd experience
it but here it is..For those of you who have not experienced this, I
envy you.

Well it's monday today. I always say I do not hate mondays like some
people always do. But today, I've realised...I've learnt to hate
Mondays in this company; in this team.

On the Brighter side...

My parents and sister just got back from their cruise. This means I do
not have to help out as much at Dominos. But I have a feeling I'll be
called upon more often than I should. I do not mind though. Things
there are simpler. You serve your customers and you see a smile on
their faces. Instant gratification. You get to know your customers
too..there are at least 4 regular filipinos that come to the shop. One
is a woman named Sabrina who orders very often...one night she had a
party and order like a dozen pizzas.

Anyway going back to the cruise. My sister just got her diving
license. Something I hope I will get in the future. So she went diving
in Fiji and found nemo. I'd post some photos but I do not have them
yet. My parents seem to be happy as well. The cruise was our
(siblings) 30th anniversary gift for them. There was some dramas with
the booking but it all turned out really well. Going for a cruise if
one of their dreams.

Although I've been on one, I'd like to go for a bigger cruise in the
pacific or mediterranean.

Combined Lee Gar promotions - results

Definitely a very good night of fights - not the best that I've been to, but surely better than some that come to mind... Good fights all up, most going the way that I'd thought they would, but a couple of fights were definitely scored different to what I thought they should've been... Oh well I'm not a judge/referee so I could be wrong...

Now on to the results:

David Aholelei (Balmoral Lee Gar - Auckland) vs Dane "DNA" Leo (Brave Heart Gym - Hamilton) - TKO 3rd by David, good work by David, keeping the pressure on Dane and working the legs to take the win

Terry jack (Pathai - Auckland) vs Quang Xu (City Lee Gar - Auckland) - Terry win on points - in my opinion, it should've gone to Quang Xu, who seemed to be the busier fighter and scoring the better shots, but I guess the judges saw something that I didn't

Mike "The Great" White (Brave Heart Gym - Hamilton) vs Hori "The Soldier" Bellass (Balmoral Lee Gar - Auckland) - TKO win to Hori... Mike got spanked hard by Hori, who forced him back through all the first round, and then Mike decided not to continue early in the second round

Anton Hunt (SMAC - Auckland) vs Jon Gallia (City Lee Gar - Auckland) - Jon won by unanimous points decision, both fighters mixing it up in the first round until Jon landed hard with a turning back kick - from which I don't think Anton fully recovered. Jon threw the turning back kick in each of the rounds, while keeping the pressure on Anton. In the 3rd round, when Jon threw the back kick, he injured himself against Anton's guard, but Anton was not able to take advantage as Jon kept the pressure on, even with the injury

Dwayne "Braveheart" Glasgow (Brave Heart Gym - Hamilton) vs "Slammin'" Shannon Foreman (Balmoral Lee Gar - Auckland) - easy win by Shannon on points, Shannon won all 3 rounds easily, with Dwayne not seeming to have any answers to the questions that Shannon asked of his defence.

Richard "Express" Tutaki vs "Super" Syd Asiata - TKO win to Syd by leg kick. furious flurries of punches from both fighters, but Syd was throwing in the low leg kick at Tutaki's lead left leg, which has always been Tutaki's weakness... Syd winning by TKO early in the 2nd round (my pick was the first round by leg kick TKO, but I got the round wrong - oh well)

Ben "TNT" Agnew (Balmoral Lee Gar) vs Dane Mongkon Noi (Nuggets Thaiboxing Gym - Australia - Dane win by unanimous points decision. Started with Dane doing a Wai Kru - Dane pressuring Ben in the clinch due to his height advantage, and Ben somehow not getting off before Dane, when Dane came in to range. By the end of the 5 rounds, Ben's ribs on his left side were showing some heavy bruising, but Ben showed great heart by staying strong right thru to the end. Dane winning comfortably, and definitely the better fighter on the night...

Steve Donaldson (SMAC - Auckland) vs Jom Bing (Thailand by way City Lee Gar - Auckland) - Jom Bing win by points. Big step-up by Steve to fight against one of Thaiboxing's greats Jom Bing (ex-King's Cup champion) I didn't realise it was to be fought under full Thai rules until the elbows started flying. Jom Bing firing in the left leg from him Southpaw stance and looked good, while Steve gave as good as he got and managed to last all 5 rounds - exciting fight to watch with both men going hard


THE MAIN EVENT!!!
Shane "Choppa" Chapman (City Lee Gar - Auckland)
Current NZ K-1 Max champion
vs
Yodkhunsuk Sit Kringkrai (Thailand - ranked #6 Lumpinee Stadium)

Both fighters were welcomed to the ring with thunderous ovation, with everyone cheering with eager anticipation. 5 rounds of 3 minutes each, to be fought under full Thai rules (ie. elbows and knee to the head allowed).

Round 1 - a feeling out round with both fighters gauging the others capability, with Yodkhunsuk throwing something that looked like a cross between a frontal kick and sidekick

Round 2 - things starting to heat up a bit with the Thai boy throwing the fist elbow of the fight, and followed shortly by Choppa leaping in to the air to attempt a drop elbow. Good work in the clinch by both fighters, falling to the ground a couple of times from it.

Round 3 - more of the same, with a faster tempo. great timing by Choppa in being able to kick out the supporting leg of the Thai fighter when he threw a kick. Was looking to be an even round when choppa scored a knockdown (necessitating an 8-count) - looks like it was either from a left elbow or a left hook, didn't get the best look at it... Kriengkrai spent the rest of the round holding Choppa off trying to recover from the knockdown - more mean elbows flying in this round

Round 4 - choppa connecting with elbows, and tried an elbow strike that came straight of Ong Bak, he didn't follow thru the whole elbow strike tho... still no answers from the thai

Round 5 - final round
Choppa knocking him the fcuk out! halfway thru the round with a 2. Just nailed him and laid him out cold for nearly a minute. The crowd erupts with cheers... At the end of the fight, Choppa thanked everyone for coming, and thanked his opponent as well. Gracious in victory as always.

Unreal

i've been away... my excuse? there hasn't been enough time in my day as of late. i've been thinking about this actually... i must be doing something wrong with my calendar... and if there isn't enough time, *make* time! it's sometimes the simplest of answers that are worthwhile having. note, i didn't say "easiest". good thing for long weekends. just yesterday, i got my new driver's license, signed out for government-subsidied healthcare, and got a haircut that's reminiscent of my preliminary military training days. ahhh, give me a BFG and let me vent off some steam! ok, badminton this afternoon would do.

UVERworld - D-tecnoLife

癒えない　痛み　悲しみで　キズついた　君よ
気得ないここもせおいあっていこう 生きることを投げ出さないで

つないだ君の手を

いつか失ってしまうのかな
薄れていく　笑顔と君を守りたいから
響く僕を呼ぶ声さえ彼
時に沿う風にかき消されたって
君を見つけ出す

癒えない　痛み　悲しみで　キズついた　君
もう笑えないなんて　人嫌いなんて　言葉そういわないで
見えない未来に起こる事　全てに意味があるから
今はそのままでいい　きっと気づける　時が来るだろ

錆びきった人のように

重なり合うだけが虚しくて
一人で生きて行けるって言ってた
ありふれた優しさ言葉じゃ
今はもう届かないほどに　君は疼きだす

つないだ君の手は　なにげないやさしさを求め
Do you remember
痛みを知ることで　人に優しくなれるから
Drive your Life

癒えない　痛み　悲しみで　キズついた君
もう笑えないなんて　人嫌いなんて　言葉そう言わないで
見えない未来に起こる事　全てに意味があるから
今はそのままでいい　きっと気づける　時が来るだろ

How can I see the meaning of life
消えてく　you're the only...

こわれないようにと　離れていく　君
もう笑えないなんて　人嫌いなんて　言葉そう言わないで
今は by and by 見え無くったって　全てに意味があるから
消せない過去も背負い合ってこう　生きる事を投げ出さないで

You'd better forget everything. Remember... your different Life?
You'd better forget everything. Remember... 戻らないけど

歪んだ記憶のような　時の中でいつか解り合えるから





i'm just bored so i posted the lyrics for this song

The final frontier

I love astronomy. I find it very interesting. Space, planets, stars, nebulas. However, I'm not an amateur astronomer and I do not have a telescope. (Sometime sI wish I do)

I read the Science and Space section on CNN almost everyday. I guess deep inside I am still a scientist.

I want to go to outer space. I hope I can in this lifetime.

In the mean time, I settle for Star Trek.

I've signed up for the email updates from Virgin Galactic. I can't wait until the price go down to a few grand.

Definition of Pervert

Noun: pervert
A person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior

I ask you. When does asking a question, about where a person is, becomes the definition of a perv?

Yesterday I came to work as usual walking up the stairs. There was this woman following me up the stairs. I looked at her and thought she must work downstairs on the 3rd floor since I do not know her. I turned around and carried on. Went to my desk and started working and carrying out my morning to-dos.

About an hour later, I went to get the mail for the department from reception. I walked passed the advertising department and saw that woman. So I asked one of my colleagues and said.."Hey where is LR?". She told me she hasn't arrived to work. I said.."I see. So she still works here? Who is that person? (sitting where L usually sits)". I ask this question because this company has a high staff turnover. She told me her name was (mumble, mumble) and that Lisa is now sitting over there (pointing to the next desk). I nodded and accepted her answer and walked on towards reception to get our mail.

Later that day, my colleague went to another colleague of mine and said that I am such a perv. I was asking where LR was and that I was gross...

Now tell me...does that behaviour define a perv?

I tell you this gossip queen is probably one of the reasons for the high staff turnover. She'll make up things from nothing. She is a magician - twist things around until you don't even know where it came from. She should really be a writer for tabloid mags and make things up..."Helen Clark and Don Brash - having a baby"

oh look, a moving tree

I'm always fascinated by seeing huge trees being transported - it just seems soooo wierd seeing something that is usually stationary moving at a fair clip down the road to it's new resting place. oh, and seeing houses being moved as well, now that's pretty cool. I remember one of the first houses that we lived in here in NZ, being moved...

a few weeks ago, some huge trucks came thru the main road to which the street that i live on is adjacent... they were moving a house right... but the thing is with this road (which is fairly wide to accomodate the trucks that come thru) it bottlenecks at a pedestrian crossing which has islands.

Now usually, most trucks can get thru between the islands that make up the bottleneck, but in this case, this truck was wider than the average truck (could've been a bully in truck school, or maybe hormonal?) and so it took nearly half an hour to get it over the crossing as they had to take it slowly and make minute adjustments so that it didn't knock down the crossing lights...

luckily it was fairly late at nite, but it still backed up traffic going both ways for several hundred metres

Petrol prices

Petrol prices up again. Luckily I filled up yesterday morning..

The ACC-Levy part also increased.

Kill them all!!!

Polls

Thursday today..somehow I feel a bit more energetic that the past 3 days.

I've been administering the company Intranet for a while now. and I've recently started carrying out polls and making improvements to its functionality. It's quite fun actually. You see people voting and notice how divided the people are int he office.

I'm thinking of posting a poll with the question: "Are you happy working here?"

You think I can get fired by posting that?

Aaaarrrggghhhhh

Sux being on-call/escalation 'cos I get txt messages for any sort of system-wide problems that might have anything at all to do with the set of systems that I look after... So I started getting txt messages about a CR (change request) that had gone wrong (server tech mirrored the incorrect disk *id10t* error) - these started coming thru at 2am (2-bloody-A-friggen-M) and kept on coming thru every 45-60 minutes with updates (ie. What they're doing and when the next update it, and finally the resolution) and these kept on coming thru till 6AM!!! Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh...

So today, any stupid user-generated system issues will not be tolerated