Just a couple of articles I saw last night after I closed off the entry LOL - William Raspberry in the Washington Post is more interested in the Thanksgiving football than Department of Homeland Security advice. Made me look for IMDB info on 'The Day After', some apocalyptic movie about Kansas getting nuked and radiation sickness in the 80s. I guess I was too young for that and was part of the 'War Games' demographic - mmm, Ferris Bueller LOL, now that's a bit off topic of terrorists probably not hitting Fort Wayne... whenever I see the term 'duct tape' now, I think of that Canadian comedy show Red Green I think it is called...
So many possible links, so easy to crowd the paragraph out LOL.
Ohh, the Seinfeld episode tonight is the Polish relatives having ponies one mmm, Seinfeld LOL.
This article is saying how basic training in the US military has changed - goodness, every soldier has to figure out how to fight, how 20th century is that? I had heard that most support troops pre-Jessica Lynch know how to do their one bit (driving trucks, fixing engines) and that was about it. Six weeks basic training, out goes the marching drills in come the shooting. Is it just me or does six weeks seem too short for full training? I guess they need to with the rollover of troops over there...
'Half will deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan as soon as 30 days after completing initial training. The rest can expect to go sometime during their first enlistment.'
This is an interesting one - Alabama had a poll initiative to get rid of some language such as -
'Separate schools shall be provided for white and coloured children, and no child of race will be permitted to attend a school of the other race...'
Bleah, more later - we need two lines, sister is going to ring the parents bleah, two lines two lines LOL
Pauly
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Monday, November 29, 2004
Mmm Seinfeld
Better than Friends, or repeats ad nauseum of the Simpsons (which it is replacing), Seinfeld has started in the 7pm slot on Channel 10. Mmm, and of course the 2 DVDs Series One to Three are top of my Xmas pressie list... I wonder if they are starting from scratch, cos Kramer isn't storming through the door. Was spoiled by endless repeats of it nightly on North American cable LOL.
Well, what happens on tour stays on tour, as I remember Adrian saying Friday night :) He's a good guy by the way - but reactions this morning, when I was quiet as a mousing were hmm - Sharon had a snicker on her way past, but she usually does with me, good - Anne snorted out loud when she asked about my weekend, bad - Melanie shot me a quizzical look when I said hi to her, bad - although she did say good morning to me, middling. Mel waved at me, good - Jo said hi to me, good - although she does seem a bit on edge in GENERAL lately, middling - I said hi to Kylie, the hostess of the night and she didn't glare at me, very good.
What happens on tour stays on tour :) Basically lost myself in my work for the day...
And here is the anti-Seinfeld itself, Friends LOL - and how long ago was it that the whole Friends theme sounded fresh and new blah blah blah. Of course, with Friends there are a whole lot more episodes I didn't see over Seinfeld so they seem semi fresh although second rate - hmm first rate and seen five times or second rate and not seen... rolling eyes at Ross going nuts again at Rachel disappointing him LOL.
Mmm, this is a good article - Swift Boats up the Mekong indeed. LOL saying how the boat patrols up the Euphrates are a bad omen, reminding the troops of Vietnam or Apocalypse Now.
Mmm, South Park tonight was a take off of Michael Jackson's travails - don't EVEN get me started on OJ and Kobe grrr. Next movie I think I want to see is the Team America World Police - is just starting in Australia this coming weekend. Thunderbirds was sooooo F A B yanno LOL.
Later peeps
Pauly
Well, what happens on tour stays on tour, as I remember Adrian saying Friday night :) He's a good guy by the way - but reactions this morning, when I was quiet as a mousing were hmm - Sharon had a snicker on her way past, but she usually does with me, good - Anne snorted out loud when she asked about my weekend, bad - Melanie shot me a quizzical look when I said hi to her, bad - although she did say good morning to me, middling. Mel waved at me, good - Jo said hi to me, good - although she does seem a bit on edge in GENERAL lately, middling - I said hi to Kylie, the hostess of the night and she didn't glare at me, very good.
What happens on tour stays on tour :) Basically lost myself in my work for the day...
And here is the anti-Seinfeld itself, Friends LOL - and how long ago was it that the whole Friends theme sounded fresh and new blah blah blah. Of course, with Friends there are a whole lot more episodes I didn't see over Seinfeld so they seem semi fresh although second rate - hmm first rate and seen five times or second rate and not seen... rolling eyes at Ross going nuts again at Rachel disappointing him LOL.
Mmm, this is a good article - Swift Boats up the Mekong indeed. LOL saying how the boat patrols up the Euphrates are a bad omen, reminding the troops of Vietnam or Apocalypse Now.
Mmm, South Park tonight was a take off of Michael Jackson's travails - don't EVEN get me started on OJ and Kobe grrr. Next movie I think I want to see is the Team America World Police - is just starting in Australia this coming weekend. Thunderbirds was sooooo F A B yanno LOL.
Later peeps
Pauly
Sunday, November 28, 2004
He's Still Got It
Bill Clinton is being interviewed by Peter Jennings on the Sunday news show here, due to the whole new Presidential Library in Little Rock, and he's still got 'it'. Wasn't it Bush Elder whom he beat in 92 that said Clinton is the most natural politician he has ever met?
First link of the day, regards Ukraine I think - this column is good, in that it says 'Two million anti-war demonstrators can stream though the streets of London and be politically ignored, but a few tens of thousands in central Kiev are proclaimed to be "the people"'. Basically saying that the western media is beating up revolutions more than the locals are LOL. Still, even if it is a liberal (or conservative) media beat up, the country isn't the most stable...
Hmm, it's actually rather uninspiring on the main news wires today, let's take a look at the second tier of news sources LOL. New Zealand had it's biggest win against France in the rugby, which was good to see - struggling in the cricket still, and Aussie won the league and the rugby against Great Britain and England respectively.
Bleah, inspiration is missing today and the cricket is on again, dammit LOL - 3/82 currently, needing another 300 runs to make Aussie bat again. Will either be another collapse or a gritty recovery, which way will it go :)
Pauly
First link of the day, regards Ukraine I think - this column is good, in that it says 'Two million anti-war demonstrators can stream though the streets of London and be politically ignored, but a few tens of thousands in central Kiev are proclaimed to be "the people"'. Basically saying that the western media is beating up revolutions more than the locals are LOL. Still, even if it is a liberal (or conservative) media beat up, the country isn't the most stable...
Hmm, it's actually rather uninspiring on the main news wires today, let's take a look at the second tier of news sources LOL. New Zealand had it's biggest win against France in the rugby, which was good to see - struggling in the cricket still, and Aussie won the league and the rugby against Great Britain and England respectively.
Bleah, inspiration is missing today and the cricket is on again, dammit LOL - 3/82 currently, needing another 300 runs to make Aussie bat again. Will either be another collapse or a gritty recovery, which way will it go :)
Pauly
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Fallujah To Start With
The funny thing with this article is, I haven't seen the relevant piccie, must go search google or something for it. About that marine who is the poster boy of the occupation, who horror of horrors, has a photo of him smoking. Like a) the cigarette doesn't come anywhere near the destructive capability of just ONE bullet shot of his gun, and b) the US military is trashing a city, the guy himself is getting shot at by the other side and you are worried about him smoking?
Oh, and on seeing the piccie - it isn't as iconic as I thought it would be. Certainly not the millions of dollars Malboro put into their advertisements - hell, I'm not even a smoker and I love those ads LOL. Not so much the cowboy person as the views of the countryside are the ones I like. But of course, the company is only competing for market share, of COURSE they wouldn't be targetting new smokers LOL LOL - well, that got a bit off track...
Checking the CHL site, as the NHL is still out of business, led me on a bit of a tiki tour (New Zealand saying, means in a roundabout sense), led onto WHL, which got me thinking about the game I went to in Victoria in 2001 and which league are the Salsa in, which led me onto their Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League affiliate team - damn Canada, still has a hold over me LOL. But going down to that level of detail is interesting seeing all the local advertisements :) also giving me a smile is the Teddy Bear Toss promotion - bring a teddy, throw it onto the ice after the home team goals (hope they score one LOL) and those will be presents for some kiddies or other - everybody, lets go awww - awwww :)
At least SOME hockey is going on, away from the who wants to remain a millionaire collective bargaining fiasco LOL.
Another viewpoint of the Monday Night Football Desperate Housewives 'issue' - rolling eyes here, it just seems to me very Big Brother Thought Police that people are being told what to get offended about, at least in the States. Good phrase in the article, saying that the mainstream media isn't jumping down the throats of the vocal moral minority because they are still traumatised by the election result.
'Yes, there are - some, anyway - but you wonder how many of them were as upset as Mr. Limbaugh, whose imagination led him to mistake a lower back for a rear end. (He also said that the Sheridan-Owens encounter reminded him of the Kobe Bryant case; let's not even go there.) The evidence suggests that Mr. Limbaugh's prurient mind is the exception, not the rule. Though seen nationwide, and as early as 6 p.m. on the West Coast, the spot initially caused so little stir that the next morning only two newspapers in the country, both in Philadelphia, reported on it. ABC's switchboards were not swamped by shocked viewers on Monday night. A spokesman for ABC Sports told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he hadn't received a single phone call or e-mail in the immediate aftermath of the broadcast.'
Will write more later - getting too caught up in the cricket LOL.
Pauly
Oh, and on seeing the piccie - it isn't as iconic as I thought it would be. Certainly not the millions of dollars Malboro put into their advertisements - hell, I'm not even a smoker and I love those ads LOL. Not so much the cowboy person as the views of the countryside are the ones I like. But of course, the company is only competing for market share, of COURSE they wouldn't be targetting new smokers LOL LOL - well, that got a bit off track...
Checking the CHL site, as the NHL is still out of business, led me on a bit of a tiki tour (New Zealand saying, means in a roundabout sense), led onto WHL, which got me thinking about the game I went to in Victoria in 2001 and which league are the Salsa in, which led me onto their Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League affiliate team - damn Canada, still has a hold over me LOL. But going down to that level of detail is interesting seeing all the local advertisements :) also giving me a smile is the Teddy Bear Toss promotion - bring a teddy, throw it onto the ice after the home team goals (hope they score one LOL) and those will be presents for some kiddies or other - everybody, lets go awww - awwww :)
At least SOME hockey is going on, away from the who wants to remain a millionaire collective bargaining fiasco LOL.
Another viewpoint of the Monday Night Football Desperate Housewives 'issue' - rolling eyes here, it just seems to me very Big Brother Thought Police that people are being told what to get offended about, at least in the States. Good phrase in the article, saying that the mainstream media isn't jumping down the throats of the vocal moral minority because they are still traumatised by the election result.
'Yes, there are - some, anyway - but you wonder how many of them were as upset as Mr. Limbaugh, whose imagination led him to mistake a lower back for a rear end. (He also said that the Sheridan-Owens encounter reminded him of the Kobe Bryant case; let's not even go there.) The evidence suggests that Mr. Limbaugh's prurient mind is the exception, not the rule. Though seen nationwide, and as early as 6 p.m. on the West Coast, the spot initially caused so little stir that the next morning only two newspapers in the country, both in Philadelphia, reported on it. ABC's switchboards were not swamped by shocked viewers on Monday night. A spokesman for ABC Sports told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he hadn't received a single phone call or e-mail in the immediate aftermath of the broadcast.'
Will write more later - getting too caught up in the cricket LOL.
Pauly
Hmm, Waiting for Monday
Hey all - the title means any fallout from last night's party. Even though it was horrid at the time, I think it was good that I had a really bad experience work party wise so early in life (17), at my first job, won't get into details, but was accused of sexual harrassment, for the first and only time - like I said, bad at the time, but nowadays it always resides in the back of my mind and I mind my Ps and Qs at work functions - well, as much as I can with free flow of alcohol and stuff :)
No, I didn't do anything terrible last night, going back to the title, but you can never tell what you can see is harmless and someone else misinterprets it. Went to the pub after work, the do wasn't getting started til 6.30 and I got off shift at 4, so some time to kill. Sharon got off work at the same time I did, well yeah, but she got sidetracked by a customer and wasn't at the pub for almost an hour eek - spent my time watching us getting dicked by the Aussies in the cricket again, only day one, fingers crossed it will get better LOL.
Anyways, Sharon and Anne turned up at about 5.00, had a drink or two - Jo also made a pre show appearance, and Bruce and Di also wandered in. Had a couple of beers, a bourbon and a bowl of chips - Sharon is seriously in love with that garlic sauce they have there LOL. Wandered upstairs to Kylie's apartment shortly before official kick off time LOL, and OMG it is a HUGE space for an inner city flat, I don't even want to start contemplating what the rent is LOL. Maybe not as big as the Friends flats, but maybe a Seinfeld size (thinking of inner city TV apartments here LOL) - WITH a balcony. I was wondering how they would fit forty people in there but with a bit of moving furniture around, it was all sorted :)
The bathroom was full of alcohol, and the bathtub was filled with ice and beer (bottles, not draught LOL), and Kylie had hired a couple of girls (one a workmate, actually the girl that cooked the sausage sizzle a few weeks ago, Naomi) to put that all together. I liked the sound of the menu and stuff whereas a few others were a bit iffy about it (and Sharon couldn't eat three of the five offerings, hence the chips at the pub beforehand), but when it came to it, it looked nice, it tasted nice, especially the mini pizzas, but with the focus on the beer, well, food was nice but wasn't really noticing if you get my meaning :)
As with most parties at a person's actual place as opposed to at a venue, my recollections are more a vignette (if that is the right word, I like the look of it so in it goes LOL) rather than a straight A to B to C narrative. Anne had gotten a taste for bourbon - she's not much of a drinker, but she was happy last night - and when picking up some cigarettes, got a hip flask LOL. Had one bourbon, and a sparkling wine (no, it's not from France so it can't be called champagne LOL, had a bit of a discussion with Kylie about that) but apart from that stuck on the beer.
Was talking to Jo when Melanie went by eating a strawberry in the wine, and Jo was miffed that I wasn't concentrating on her - so yeah, from memory, that was my biggest possible faux pas (spelling?) of the evening - like I said, we will wait for the verdict on Monday LOL. Melanie apparently has a new boyfriend, or has gotten back with the old one, so at least for me there's not that singledom what iffing in my head. Talked to Kim for a bit, nice girl, and she was out of her usual shell last night as well. Met Glen's partner, Doogie - no, not as in Howser LOL - Scottish guy, seems nice enough. Mel and Lennie came along, got a big hug from Lennie, which was umm surprising - I guess me just doing the nice accepting thing is seen as a huggable thing LOL.
Maureen brought along her husband Graham - has a big Merv Hughes style moustache LOL - nice enough guy seemingly though. Had a couple of good conversations with Adrian, apparently he is a divorcee - never struck me as the marrying type LOL - was talking to him about my thing about Canada, and he said he completely understood - with him it is Japan. Had a good talk to Lindsay as well, even though he is on another floor now :) Lisa didn't make an appearance hmm, but she is coming to both nights next week, so will have a chat to her then. Oh, and had a good chat to Kylie's flatmate, Steve I think was the name, a Kiwi, talking sport LOL, how typical is that, mmm rugby :)
Getting late in the evening, about midnight or so, and there was Kylie, Adrian, Melanie, Sharon, Khalinh, and assorted others, but not too many, and Sharon was saying to me shall we head to the train station, and thinking she had missed the last train - it's Friday and midnight is early for the trains, not that early, but early LOL - when Melanie banged her head against the wall or something - apart from the watching her eat strawberries out of wine, and a quick chat at the start, I hadn't talked to Melanie that much - didn't want any more of the attraction to leak out than already lol, especially when drinking - just the way I am, and I am sorta maybe kinda spoken for - V came up more than once in the conversation in the evening :)
Anyways, Melanie had banged her head and was lying in the hallway, not out cold but wasn't moving - asked her how she was as you do stupidly in situations like that LOL, and she was talking but not moving - one of the guys lifted her over to the couch, and went over and was going to chat to her, when Sharon made the I'm going motion LOL, and of course, to get myself out of any more strawberry trouble, plus I was feeling a bit tired by that stage, and the fact that Shazza is a friend blah blah, decided to head off - I hadn't been hearing it, but apparently the others were thinking about going out on the town - I was not in that mood at all by that stage.
Got to the train station, caught a train, Sharon put on her headphones, I fell asleep and got poked awake at my station LOL, Sharon gets off a couple of stations beyond mine. Got home, slept for a few hours, got up (never can sleep after a big night out), with a teeny headache, just there or thereabouts, not anything that couldn't happen just having too many hours awake and not enough sleep... we will see what Monday brings, and I hope Melanie is alright with the bang on the head or whatever...
Earlier in the day, had a Xmas Party organising committee (the full building party, not the section one as described above), and had a few good ideas and was umm yeah assertive is the word blah blah - as Weezer says, god damn you half Japanese girls - attractive girl number 4,321,674 LOL, one of the Billing girls, and is Asian if not Japanese, but perfect Aussie ekksent, I remember about ten years ago, at a party at a mate's place, talking to this Chinese girl with a perfect Kiwi accent - stop drooling Paul LOL. Anyways, with this Billing girl I might have to figure out her name LOL...
That's the personal entry out of the way for today, next one up will be websurfing :)
Pauly
No, I didn't do anything terrible last night, going back to the title, but you can never tell what you can see is harmless and someone else misinterprets it. Went to the pub after work, the do wasn't getting started til 6.30 and I got off shift at 4, so some time to kill. Sharon got off work at the same time I did, well yeah, but she got sidetracked by a customer and wasn't at the pub for almost an hour eek - spent my time watching us getting dicked by the Aussies in the cricket again, only day one, fingers crossed it will get better LOL.
Anyways, Sharon and Anne turned up at about 5.00, had a drink or two - Jo also made a pre show appearance, and Bruce and Di also wandered in. Had a couple of beers, a bourbon and a bowl of chips - Sharon is seriously in love with that garlic sauce they have there LOL. Wandered upstairs to Kylie's apartment shortly before official kick off time LOL, and OMG it is a HUGE space for an inner city flat, I don't even want to start contemplating what the rent is LOL. Maybe not as big as the Friends flats, but maybe a Seinfeld size (thinking of inner city TV apartments here LOL) - WITH a balcony. I was wondering how they would fit forty people in there but with a bit of moving furniture around, it was all sorted :)
The bathroom was full of alcohol, and the bathtub was filled with ice and beer (bottles, not draught LOL), and Kylie had hired a couple of girls (one a workmate, actually the girl that cooked the sausage sizzle a few weeks ago, Naomi) to put that all together. I liked the sound of the menu and stuff whereas a few others were a bit iffy about it (and Sharon couldn't eat three of the five offerings, hence the chips at the pub beforehand), but when it came to it, it looked nice, it tasted nice, especially the mini pizzas, but with the focus on the beer, well, food was nice but wasn't really noticing if you get my meaning :)
As with most parties at a person's actual place as opposed to at a venue, my recollections are more a vignette (if that is the right word, I like the look of it so in it goes LOL) rather than a straight A to B to C narrative. Anne had gotten a taste for bourbon - she's not much of a drinker, but she was happy last night - and when picking up some cigarettes, got a hip flask LOL. Had one bourbon, and a sparkling wine (no, it's not from France so it can't be called champagne LOL, had a bit of a discussion with Kylie about that) but apart from that stuck on the beer.
Was talking to Jo when Melanie went by eating a strawberry in the wine, and Jo was miffed that I wasn't concentrating on her - so yeah, from memory, that was my biggest possible faux pas (spelling?) of the evening - like I said, we will wait for the verdict on Monday LOL. Melanie apparently has a new boyfriend, or has gotten back with the old one, so at least for me there's not that singledom what iffing in my head. Talked to Kim for a bit, nice girl, and she was out of her usual shell last night as well. Met Glen's partner, Doogie - no, not as in Howser LOL - Scottish guy, seems nice enough. Mel and Lennie came along, got a big hug from Lennie, which was umm surprising - I guess me just doing the nice accepting thing is seen as a huggable thing LOL.
Maureen brought along her husband Graham - has a big Merv Hughes style moustache LOL - nice enough guy seemingly though. Had a couple of good conversations with Adrian, apparently he is a divorcee - never struck me as the marrying type LOL - was talking to him about my thing about Canada, and he said he completely understood - with him it is Japan. Had a good talk to Lindsay as well, even though he is on another floor now :) Lisa didn't make an appearance hmm, but she is coming to both nights next week, so will have a chat to her then. Oh, and had a good chat to Kylie's flatmate, Steve I think was the name, a Kiwi, talking sport LOL, how typical is that, mmm rugby :)
Getting late in the evening, about midnight or so, and there was Kylie, Adrian, Melanie, Sharon, Khalinh, and assorted others, but not too many, and Sharon was saying to me shall we head to the train station, and thinking she had missed the last train - it's Friday and midnight is early for the trains, not that early, but early LOL - when Melanie banged her head against the wall or something - apart from the watching her eat strawberries out of wine, and a quick chat at the start, I hadn't talked to Melanie that much - didn't want any more of the attraction to leak out than already lol, especially when drinking - just the way I am, and I am sorta maybe kinda spoken for - V came up more than once in the conversation in the evening :)
Anyways, Melanie had banged her head and was lying in the hallway, not out cold but wasn't moving - asked her how she was as you do stupidly in situations like that LOL, and she was talking but not moving - one of the guys lifted her over to the couch, and went over and was going to chat to her, when Sharon made the I'm going motion LOL, and of course, to get myself out of any more strawberry trouble, plus I was feeling a bit tired by that stage, and the fact that Shazza is a friend blah blah, decided to head off - I hadn't been hearing it, but apparently the others were thinking about going out on the town - I was not in that mood at all by that stage.
Got to the train station, caught a train, Sharon put on her headphones, I fell asleep and got poked awake at my station LOL, Sharon gets off a couple of stations beyond mine. Got home, slept for a few hours, got up (never can sleep after a big night out), with a teeny headache, just there or thereabouts, not anything that couldn't happen just having too many hours awake and not enough sleep... we will see what Monday brings, and I hope Melanie is alright with the bang on the head or whatever...
Earlier in the day, had a Xmas Party organising committee (the full building party, not the section one as described above), and had a few good ideas and was umm yeah assertive is the word blah blah - as Weezer says, god damn you half Japanese girls - attractive girl number 4,321,674 LOL, one of the Billing girls, and is Asian if not Japanese, but perfect Aussie ekksent, I remember about ten years ago, at a party at a mate's place, talking to this Chinese girl with a perfect Kiwi accent - stop drooling Paul LOL. Anyways, with this Billing girl I might have to figure out her name LOL...
That's the personal entry out of the way for today, next one up will be websurfing :)
Pauly
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Praise
Hmm, my boss is always praising me - and that is the one thing I am probably worst at handling, praise. Have always preferred to concentrate on the flaws in me, the whole self esteem thing, and yes, I know I am good at my job, but if you like it, please smile in silence or something LOL. Goes beyond the whole aww shucks self effacing thing, into the whole shrinking myself into the size of a postage stamp when people gush too much LOL.
If you like my work so much, make me permanent - mmm, vacation and sick leave pay LOL. Xmas party season is starting woohoo, first one is for the three teams on our half floor tomorrow night - should be good - note to self, do not open up party menus at 8 ayem in the morning to make yourself hungry LOL, is going to be a good feed by the looks, as well as the usual alcohol stuff... on the big city wide party next week, bit of a shame that Melanie won't be able to attend - but at least that will add to Pauly's behaving quotient. As in won't be a Pauly gets drunk, gets mouthy instead of mouse quiet around attractive workmates kind of evening. Well, at least not attractive workmates on the floor LOL.
Don't worry guys, I will behave myself - am goodish now...
An airport screening in the US of A op ed piece by Maureen Dowd of the NYT here - it is stupid enough I feel to have to take off your belt and shoes and stuff at the airport being a guy, thank goodness I'm not a girl. And that is at airports in this part of the world, I have said before that American border officials were scary even before 9/11. And the final paragraph of the article is good I feel -
'I've never wanted to complain because I assume there are inconveniences that go along with greater security. But I would feel less creepy if I thought this were part of an effective overall strategy of protecting the country. I don't.
Meanwhile, the West Indies, a pale shadow of the terror of the 70s and 80s, bars sixteen of their top players because they have gotten sponsorship from a rival mobile phone company to the official West Indies sponsor. Now, if the Aussie swim team can have one swimwear sponsor and Ian Thorpe another, why is this a problem in the Windies?
And the troika this week was Australia, the strongest cricketing nation, both in personnel and finances, sacking Dennis Lillee as a coach. One of the best bowlers ever, and back in the days when players weren't playing fifteen tests a year, and they throw him on the scrap heap because of finances - ie, cutting his salary. And the other laugh about that was Cricket Australia saying that it was a 'non profit' organisation hmmph. How much poverty have you reduced guys LOL.
Not to mention the usual slanging matches about chucking, with the barely disguised racist overtones - how can Sri Lankans be good at the game LOL.
Hmm, back to the real world, although Zimbabwe comes closest in the cricketing stories - is this talk of Ukraine being on the verge of civil war just a beat up to get the cable news channels ratings up? Heard that phrase, civil war, on the local news this morning, so you know that the story must be big (three international stories at most ever on Channel 7 news) - rigged elections, protesting protesters LOL, Cold War sensibilities (Russia on one side, the West on the other), neither side backing down, and maybe a splash of Tianneman Square in there - protesters making a tent city in Kiev - but the situation is so fluid, it is changing hour to hour. The army is out of the barracks, but civil war? Watch this space.
Just saw the Melbourne 2006 ad again, stopped to hear the Canadian accent - the travel show has British Columbia - salmon fishing in the Inside Passage, god I loved Vancouver Island... and the Simpsons last night ended up singing the Canadian anthem, was a bit cringe worthy in fact, just felt very tokenism, but it IS a good anthem. Eh, who knows, I might get back there one day... as you can probably tell, the nation has a bit of a hold over me :)
Another good article on the Ukraine thing - well written, as it should be by a Ukrainian author - the clincher for me to read this was the opening line - 'At last Ukraine is a democratic country. But it's a pity we are on the brink of civil war.'
Bleah, the NHLPA is paying out lockout pay to players - the worrying thing is that they say they have enough money for at LEAST 2 years. And how many fans will they have lost by that point? And I thought I was joking when I said that HNIC would soon be Saskatoon v Moose Jaw in the WHL or something LOL. Jaromir Jagr is playing for Omsk in Siberia at the moment - the capacity of the stadium there is only 5,500 LOL. Don Cherry must be spitting, the Russian and Euro leagues are more talent filled than the North Americans LOL.
Bleah, warning if you click this link - three Mexican undercover police officers get beaten up and two burned alive in front of the television cameras - it took three hours for any other sort of police officer to turn up. One of those stories not to read if you have sensitivities - I place it in here because news has to be reported, good and horrid.
Damn, there is something about That Country - with the NHL on the blink this year, am roving through the CHL websites, and even with the QMJHL thinking on driving through the Francophone parts of the country - the Plains of Abraham etc - and the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds in the OHL, mmmm all the Greyhound terminals in the middle of nowhere on the cross country trip... can smile about it now, the whole length of time on the bus...
Okies, off to watch more Amazing Race - later peeps
Pauly
If you like my work so much, make me permanent - mmm, vacation and sick leave pay LOL. Xmas party season is starting woohoo, first one is for the three teams on our half floor tomorrow night - should be good - note to self, do not open up party menus at 8 ayem in the morning to make yourself hungry LOL, is going to be a good feed by the looks, as well as the usual alcohol stuff... on the big city wide party next week, bit of a shame that Melanie won't be able to attend - but at least that will add to Pauly's behaving quotient. As in won't be a Pauly gets drunk, gets mouthy instead of mouse quiet around attractive workmates kind of evening. Well, at least not attractive workmates on the floor LOL.
Don't worry guys, I will behave myself - am goodish now...
An airport screening in the US of A op ed piece by Maureen Dowd of the NYT here - it is stupid enough I feel to have to take off your belt and shoes and stuff at the airport being a guy, thank goodness I'm not a girl. And that is at airports in this part of the world, I have said before that American border officials were scary even before 9/11. And the final paragraph of the article is good I feel -
'I've never wanted to complain because I assume there are inconveniences that go along with greater security. But I would feel less creepy if I thought this were part of an effective overall strategy of protecting the country. I don't.
Iraq is draining money we should be spending protecting ourselves. Only 3 to 5 percent of containers coming into ports are checked, and only a tiny percentage of air, rail and truck cargo is inspected. Congress is turning homeland security money into another avenue of pork. Tom Ridge is still making fuzzy ads telling people to have a plan of action and referring them to his Web site, which hasn't gotten much beyond duct tape.'
Hmm, cricket is shooting itself in the foot this week - take away the focus from the stuffing the Kiwis got, but it's not a good thing to take attention away from. Zimbabwe bars half the English journalists from covering the England team's tour there, the English players get antsy, and the whole tour is in limbo as I write, likely it won't go ahead. Now, why isn't there a coalition of the willing to kick Mugabe out of power? It's not as if he is any nicer than Milosevic's Serbia for an example...Meanwhile, the West Indies, a pale shadow of the terror of the 70s and 80s, bars sixteen of their top players because they have gotten sponsorship from a rival mobile phone company to the official West Indies sponsor. Now, if the Aussie swim team can have one swimwear sponsor and Ian Thorpe another, why is this a problem in the Windies?
And the troika this week was Australia, the strongest cricketing nation, both in personnel and finances, sacking Dennis Lillee as a coach. One of the best bowlers ever, and back in the days when players weren't playing fifteen tests a year, and they throw him on the scrap heap because of finances - ie, cutting his salary. And the other laugh about that was Cricket Australia saying that it was a 'non profit' organisation hmmph. How much poverty have you reduced guys LOL.
Not to mention the usual slanging matches about chucking, with the barely disguised racist overtones - how can Sri Lankans be good at the game LOL.
Hmm, back to the real world, although Zimbabwe comes closest in the cricketing stories - is this talk of Ukraine being on the verge of civil war just a beat up to get the cable news channels ratings up? Heard that phrase, civil war, on the local news this morning, so you know that the story must be big (three international stories at most ever on Channel 7 news) - rigged elections, protesting protesters LOL, Cold War sensibilities (Russia on one side, the West on the other), neither side backing down, and maybe a splash of Tianneman Square in there - protesters making a tent city in Kiev - but the situation is so fluid, it is changing hour to hour. The army is out of the barracks, but civil war? Watch this space.
Just saw the Melbourne 2006 ad again, stopped to hear the Canadian accent - the travel show has British Columbia - salmon fishing in the Inside Passage, god I loved Vancouver Island... and the Simpsons last night ended up singing the Canadian anthem, was a bit cringe worthy in fact, just felt very tokenism, but it IS a good anthem. Eh, who knows, I might get back there one day... as you can probably tell, the nation has a bit of a hold over me :)
Another good article on the Ukraine thing - well written, as it should be by a Ukrainian author - the clincher for me to read this was the opening line - 'At last Ukraine is a democratic country. But it's a pity we are on the brink of civil war.'
Bleah, the NHLPA is paying out lockout pay to players - the worrying thing is that they say they have enough money for at LEAST 2 years. And how many fans will they have lost by that point? And I thought I was joking when I said that HNIC would soon be Saskatoon v Moose Jaw in the WHL or something LOL. Jaromir Jagr is playing for Omsk in Siberia at the moment - the capacity of the stadium there is only 5,500 LOL. Don Cherry must be spitting, the Russian and Euro leagues are more talent filled than the North Americans LOL.
Bleah, warning if you click this link - three Mexican undercover police officers get beaten up and two burned alive in front of the television cameras - it took three hours for any other sort of police officer to turn up. One of those stories not to read if you have sensitivities - I place it in here because news has to be reported, good and horrid.
Damn, there is something about That Country - with the NHL on the blink this year, am roving through the CHL websites, and even with the QMJHL thinking on driving through the Francophone parts of the country - the Plains of Abraham etc - and the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds in the OHL, mmmm all the Greyhound terminals in the middle of nowhere on the cross country trip... can smile about it now, the whole length of time on the bus...
Okies, off to watch more Amazing Race - later peeps
Pauly
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
To Blog Or Not To Blog
Hey peeps - I was all ready and raring to go blog wise yesterday, but when checking my readership, an ISP company that was close to my exes address showed up. Too close. Put me off writing for the evening, and also all computering actually. Was thinking, would I stop this because of fear of real life consequences. We all know one of the great things about the net is anonymity, and whether 'real life' readers would cramp my style - I mean, it isn't as if I couldn't do this in Word away from the internet and get as many readers LOL. Will see how things go I think - I love just being able to link to all the stories I am interested in which wouldn't happen if I took this off the net...
Also yesterday, was looking at google ad links that increase your readership. Not at the begging stage with that yet LOL. Read me read me spamming across the world - well, not to slander the companies, I am sure everything is above board, but my own conscience would see it as spamming LOL. One thing I think my conscience could deal with is to add a few keywords to the site description :)
That Virgin Mary piece of ten year old toast sold on eBay - for $28,000. An internet casino bought it and it will go on a world tour before being resold for charity LOL.
Another embed story of the Fallujah battle, again going beyond the dry DOD press releases and making these marines real people, at least in my mind. As the Marines and Brits go into another battle south of Baghdad - can we take the Mission Accomplished banner down now Mr Prez? Or is this the start of another war? Watching the coverage of the current battles in urban areas, the Marines fighting in rubble etc, makes me think of the European battles in WW2, especially on the post D-Day Western Front... Band of Brothers if you will.
Oh, and saw this one on the news this evening - about a 13 year old girl getting shot by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip. Not wanting to comment on the actual shooting or the actual court case or the actual fact that they knew it was a kid they were shooting, as in the amount of ammunition they went through - it was like a Rambo movie or something, grrr. And ever notice how the Israeli public affairs people seem to be young, attractive, butter wouldn't melt in their mouths? The Israeli soldier, female, blonde, on defending the Army's actions, is dateable on my rankings LOL...
LOL on this one - I wasn't going to mention it, but it got on the TV news here, and in both the BBC and Guardian websites, so here's the Kiwi Korner for the day - dolphins save life savers training north of Auckland from a shark :) everybody, awwwwwwwwww LOL. Good change from the woman breastfeeding a dog from last week LOL.
This story piqued my reading interest - mariachis in Los Angeles aren't being hired as much as they used to be - thought of El Mariachi in the movies LOL. Need to see Desperado again, gooooooood brainless movie, AND it has Salma Hayek in it :) Oh, you mean mariachi musicians are real and not a Hollywood invention LOL :)
This article is good as well - saying how the generation who grew up during the Cultural Revolution in China are soooooo different to the 20 somethings now. That the generation gap is huge basically - is a good read :)
Later peeps
Pauly
Also yesterday, was looking at google ad links that increase your readership. Not at the begging stage with that yet LOL. Read me read me spamming across the world - well, not to slander the companies, I am sure everything is above board, but my own conscience would see it as spamming LOL. One thing I think my conscience could deal with is to add a few keywords to the site description :)
That Virgin Mary piece of ten year old toast sold on eBay - for $28,000. An internet casino bought it and it will go on a world tour before being resold for charity LOL.
Another embed story of the Fallujah battle, again going beyond the dry DOD press releases and making these marines real people, at least in my mind. As the Marines and Brits go into another battle south of Baghdad - can we take the Mission Accomplished banner down now Mr Prez? Or is this the start of another war? Watching the coverage of the current battles in urban areas, the Marines fighting in rubble etc, makes me think of the European battles in WW2, especially on the post D-Day Western Front... Band of Brothers if you will.
Oh, and saw this one on the news this evening - about a 13 year old girl getting shot by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip. Not wanting to comment on the actual shooting or the actual court case or the actual fact that they knew it was a kid they were shooting, as in the amount of ammunition they went through - it was like a Rambo movie or something, grrr. And ever notice how the Israeli public affairs people seem to be young, attractive, butter wouldn't melt in their mouths? The Israeli soldier, female, blonde, on defending the Army's actions, is dateable on my rankings LOL...
LOL on this one - I wasn't going to mention it, but it got on the TV news here, and in both the BBC and Guardian websites, so here's the Kiwi Korner for the day - dolphins save life savers training north of Auckland from a shark :) everybody, awwwwwwwwww LOL. Good change from the woman breastfeeding a dog from last week LOL.
This story piqued my reading interest - mariachis in Los Angeles aren't being hired as much as they used to be - thought of El Mariachi in the movies LOL. Need to see Desperado again, gooooooood brainless movie, AND it has Salma Hayek in it :) Oh, you mean mariachi musicians are real and not a Hollywood invention LOL :)
This article is good as well - saying how the generation who grew up during the Cultural Revolution in China are soooooo different to the 20 somethings now. That the generation gap is huge basically - is a good read :)
Later peeps
Pauly
Monday, November 22, 2004
Very Quick One
Am very tired tonight - was up until 12.30 last night (curse you Vanilla Sky and Criminal Intent LOL), and then had an exhausting day at work, so just a short one today...
Bush takes President Lagos of Chile off his Xmas card list, after the Secret Service and the Chilean security forces play a bit of WWE Smackdown LOL. Like the article says, one of twenty one world leaders (one of which being my own PM, although I can't stand the woman LOL), although the only one with their own mini air force LOL.
This article is very well written, from a WW2 veteran, who just happens to be President of the Motion Picture Academy, about how his first kill was - comparing it to that marine shooting the injured Iraqi in Fallujah...
I hate to admit it, but the ad for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games that has started this week, I keep an ear out for the Canadian accents. Sad, Paul, sad - something about Canucks though :)
Laters guys and gals - wow, I had EIGHT readers, or browsers at least, today.
Pauly
Bush takes President Lagos of Chile off his Xmas card list, after the Secret Service and the Chilean security forces play a bit of WWE Smackdown LOL. Like the article says, one of twenty one world leaders (one of which being my own PM, although I can't stand the woman LOL), although the only one with their own mini air force LOL.
This article is very well written, from a WW2 veteran, who just happens to be President of the Motion Picture Academy, about how his first kill was - comparing it to that marine shooting the injured Iraqi in Fallujah...
I hate to admit it, but the ad for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games that has started this week, I keep an ear out for the Canadian accents. Sad, Paul, sad - something about Canucks though :)
Laters guys and gals - wow, I had EIGHT readers, or browsers at least, today.
Pauly
Sunday, November 21, 2004
It Was A Close One
The All Blacks Wales match - the Welsh haven't beaten us in 51 years, but it was a one point thriller in Cardiff this morning. Three tries to two, so we COULD say we had a more expansive game, but all those people that watch the tries instead of the points are missing one themselves - lol, a one point loss in a World Cup final means more than scoring more tries than the winner in that game.
Hmm, lucky I didn't go down to the cricket yesterday - NZ are getting flogged at this stage of the game - centuries to Gilchrist and Clarke (is he REALLY this good?), and a 90 run last wicket stand with McGrath getting a fifty. Pop gun attack is coming to the fore LOL - and umm I think I have my hair to wash or something today instead of going down to the game LOL. Eh, just remembering our last test series in Oz, a couple years ago now, we almost got flogged by the Australians in the first test, and then almost flogged them in the second - Steve Waugh was SO out lol, damned umpires - and then the third was a pretty tame affair. So one test does not a summer make is the point I'm making :)
Still on sport, well kind of, the fantasy leagues are the best we can hope for during this NHL lock out - and this table is from the National Post, for the Leafs. And no, I am not going to get het up about the fact that on this ladder the Canucks are doing badly LOL - it's a FANTASY game this season Pauly, buck your chin up - better no hockey than loser hockey - oh, that's your non Canadianess coming out, lol and loser hockey would be better than a season long lock out...
Baghdad has exploded again - looks like the root cause was that raid on one of the city's major mosques that happened yesterday - you raid our church, we will go burn some of your Humvees, bleah. The confirmed death toll for American troops this month has hit 100, more bleah. Fallujah is in ruins and doesn't seem at all under control - an ambush there today killing two marines and injuring four. Need I go on? Well, not today, I don't want to make this post too depressing.
This one is good - a report from an embedded reporter (with the Marines in Fallujah) that brings some humanity to the whole conflict - well, by humanity, bringing it down to a level where he could be talking about any group of 19 or 20 year olds. Who happen to be fighting for their lives 10,000 miles away from home, while in the meantime killing the other side. And we aren't allowed to watch Saving Private Ryan, go figure.
Think that is enough for this morning - like I said, not much doing in my real world today...
Pauly
Hmm, lucky I didn't go down to the cricket yesterday - NZ are getting flogged at this stage of the game - centuries to Gilchrist and Clarke (is he REALLY this good?), and a 90 run last wicket stand with McGrath getting a fifty. Pop gun attack is coming to the fore LOL - and umm I think I have my hair to wash or something today instead of going down to the game LOL. Eh, just remembering our last test series in Oz, a couple years ago now, we almost got flogged by the Australians in the first test, and then almost flogged them in the second - Steve Waugh was SO out lol, damned umpires - and then the third was a pretty tame affair. So one test does not a summer make is the point I'm making :)
Still on sport, well kind of, the fantasy leagues are the best we can hope for during this NHL lock out - and this table is from the National Post, for the Leafs. And no, I am not going to get het up about the fact that on this ladder the Canucks are doing badly LOL - it's a FANTASY game this season Pauly, buck your chin up - better no hockey than loser hockey - oh, that's your non Canadianess coming out, lol and loser hockey would be better than a season long lock out...
Baghdad has exploded again - looks like the root cause was that raid on one of the city's major mosques that happened yesterday - you raid our church, we will go burn some of your Humvees, bleah. The confirmed death toll for American troops this month has hit 100, more bleah. Fallujah is in ruins and doesn't seem at all under control - an ambush there today killing two marines and injuring four. Need I go on? Well, not today, I don't want to make this post too depressing.
This one is good - a report from an embedded reporter (with the Marines in Fallujah) that brings some humanity to the whole conflict - well, by humanity, bringing it down to a level where he could be talking about any group of 19 or 20 year olds. Who happen to be fighting for their lives 10,000 miles away from home, while in the meantime killing the other side. And we aren't allowed to watch Saving Private Ryan, go figure.
Think that is enough for this morning - like I said, not much doing in my real world today...
Pauly
Saturday, November 20, 2004
American Beauty
Is on TV at the moment. Is a good movie, on third or is it fourth viewing now, I'm not sure whether it is really the pantheon of greats LOL - that whole thing of the plastic bag in the wind being videotaped, and Kevin Spacey going after the daughter's friend thing is a bit eww, but his nervous breakdown and quitting his job and blackmailing his boss and smoking pot and listening to 70s rock and working for Mr Smiley burgers is very very good. Annette Bening is good as a nutter as well :)
The next door kid is a freak though :)
The next door kid is a freak though :)
What To Do This Weekend?
Especially since I didn't get a nibble by anyone in the end to go to the cricket (hope it is just a shower at the moment, two hours before start of play) - New Zealand were doing quite well in fact, the batting I was kind of expecting, but with our pop gun bowling attack to have four wickets before Aussie is halfway to our first innings, is good - of course, was better when the fifth wicket hadn't put seventy on LOL. Watched the last hour of play at the pub last night - watching sport is the ONLY excuse you can validly have to go to the bar by yourself LOL. Was kind of hoping I would spot others from work turning up, but when it didn't happen went and did a spot of shopping.
The shopping in which I bought The Sims, Old Skool style LOL, the ORIGINAL rather than the update - unlike my sister, I buy the games to be compatible with my computer rather than buying a new computer to accommodate the games - truly, she bought Sims 2 without even looking at the bottom of the box for tech spec needs. Anyways, that's where I was last night, Simming LOL - addictive little buggers aren't they? Anyways, being on a computer gaming is maybe better than being online forever - at least in the me and V situation, she absolutely HATES the net, even though I have improved a lot from the dodgy Pauly I was in the past - you don't want to know LOL. 90% of the time I spend online now is either journaling or news reading, very little of it is chatting or messaging...
Have the Aussie Top 50 songs going on in the background, and found this review of the top ten of last week - quite good in a witty way, although the only point I probably disagree with is that I don't hate Xtina as much as the livejournaler (yes the opposition LOL) seems to, but yeah, the whole Car Wash video thing is kind of tragic LOL. Also tragic is the fact that a person who didn't even get through the auditions of Australian Idol has a song at umm I think it is eight this week - beat box voice like whatever... god DAMN the month older than the rules thing (I was 28 in April, to be on Idol you needed to turn 28 after June), I could have been up there LOL.
Please pass the sick bag/mute button, here comes Delta LOL.
On the train home last night, sat near a couple of guys who had taken their Dad (looked about sixty five or seventy) to the cricket, and that was an aww moment. And for some reason, they were fellow Kiwis I think, that got me to thinking that the Finn brothers are coming to Brisbane for a concert, and was suddenly in the mood for some old Split Enz and Crowded House tunes, and hmm, maybe a concert I could head to - next Monday, 29 Nov... hmm.
Of course, over the next couple of weeks it is fairly busy - well, Pauly version of busy anyways - three Xmas parties, which is why I haven't been pushing the going out Friday thing the last couple of weeks - although haven't really been knowing what is happening with the girlz the last few weeks anyways - need to do a catch up - Lisa had a girlfriend from Canberra in town, Mel was down in Melbourne, Jo has been quiet... yeah, need to do a catch up.
Hmm, now that is a pretty tragic juxtaposition - big word for the day - following up Alicia Keys on the music show, singing her new one Karma - must be good to be that pretty that talented and be able to make part of your music videos in old Greek or Roman open air theatres LOL - and they followed that up with the Britney Spears Megamix. Ugh, one or two songs perhaps, but bits and pieces of various songs, no thanks. Will she come back, she is only 24 I think and she seems so old hat - Britney this is...
Like really, why do I send myself to depressing stories like this - jury hears the transcript of a police car radio as a constable in the UK gets shot and killed, so if you are not in the mood, consider yourself warned - I am rolling my eyes at myself here for reading it...
And yeah, this is a real hearts and minds operation - let's shoot people in a mosque because they are throwing their shoes at us. Now, unlike the Palestinians, who really do have a pop gun attack compared to the Israelis, I am sure the radical Iraqis have more than enough munitions to hassle the Americans, but raiding a mosque in the middle of Baghdad, where they aren't shooting back, hmm. And yep, a hospital raid in Mosul, and a warning from the Red Cross that all sides are being pretty feral in this conflict...
Now usually Friedman isn't my favourite NYT columnist, but his latest was good - saying that we are at the moment where Iraq could go either way, more chaos or a model for the Middle East.
In amongst all the chaos of presidential hubris and Iraq and living in Gotham, the NYT sometimes doesn't seem like a local paper - but this article made me smile, even though it is at the expense of someone else's misfortune - imagine having 150 year old water pipes :)
Just watching the new Nelly and Xtina video, Tilt Ya Head Back - goodness she is pretty - just wondering what she would look like first thing in the morning LOL. Will just have to wait for her mug shot when she does something illegal - lol, if Hugh Grant can, then anyone can :)
Mmm, this week's 36 hours NYT travel guide is Savannah Georgia - the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil the plot was a bit confuzzling, but the background city was gorgeous :) I guess it is a kind of fascination with me for the South - The Big Easy I liked as well - was thinking the other day of how if I were able to live in America I would actually prefer to be in a red state than a blue one - just to see what it was like, imagining myself in say North Dakota just at the local bar listening to country music or something - and no, not like on Boys Don't Cry, lol my liberalness does not ooze out of me in general life LOL...
Closest I got to the whole country bar feel of life was in Sault Ste Marie at a bar there :) of course, being Canada it was mock American country, lol but there were NFL banners all over the place, and a couple of cowboy hats amongst the drinkers :) hmm, got off the topic a bit there, Savannah and New Orleans are not Grand Rapids or hmm, trying to think of another mountain city and I couldn't think of one, is Milwaukee a red city LOL :) or to be in the bar of the Deer Hunter when they are singing - Can't Take My Eyes Off You - they would be red voters by now I feel, LOL :) wayyyyyyy off topic.
Oh, and how could you keep quiet about a murder for THIRTEEN years??? Another lovely happy story this time from the LA Times - she had gotten away with murdering her husband by saying he had been run over in a car accident. And the body had been in a freezer in a storage unit all this time - eww. Just imagine if that storage unit had been hit by a August last year in the North East and Ontario kind of power outage.
OMG, three bags of marijuana and a gun means 55 years in federal sentencing-land in the US of A. Like the article says, 'That's more time than he would have received if he had hijacked a plane, beaten someone to death in a fight, detonated a bomb in an aircraft and provided weapons to support a foreign terrorist organization.'
This guy had no criminal record before being busted by an undercover fed, and it will cost $1.3 million (not sure whether that's one year or 55) to keep him locked up. Hmm, makes a lot of sense in a country that is as gun saturated as the States :)
And a final word on the whole Saving Private Ryan thing - if I haven't posted it before - Frank Rich at the NYT (what would I do without that and the Guardian LOL) saying that not only is it not OK on US TV to show fake blood and gore from what was all in all a glorious day for the US military (D-Day), let's cut back on the view of the carnage in the latest war, which history still has to decide on gloriousness etc. Reality based news reporting, or questioning the official line is not popular in Washington DC at the moment.
Okies, that seems enough for now :)
Pauly
The shopping in which I bought The Sims, Old Skool style LOL, the ORIGINAL rather than the update - unlike my sister, I buy the games to be compatible with my computer rather than buying a new computer to accommodate the games - truly, she bought Sims 2 without even looking at the bottom of the box for tech spec needs. Anyways, that's where I was last night, Simming LOL - addictive little buggers aren't they? Anyways, being on a computer gaming is maybe better than being online forever - at least in the me and V situation, she absolutely HATES the net, even though I have improved a lot from the dodgy Pauly I was in the past - you don't want to know LOL. 90% of the time I spend online now is either journaling or news reading, very little of it is chatting or messaging...
Have the Aussie Top 50 songs going on in the background, and found this review of the top ten of last week - quite good in a witty way, although the only point I probably disagree with is that I don't hate Xtina as much as the livejournaler (yes the opposition LOL) seems to, but yeah, the whole Car Wash video thing is kind of tragic LOL. Also tragic is the fact that a person who didn't even get through the auditions of Australian Idol has a song at umm I think it is eight this week - beat box voice like whatever... god DAMN the month older than the rules thing (I was 28 in April, to be on Idol you needed to turn 28 after June), I could have been up there LOL.
Please pass the sick bag/mute button, here comes Delta LOL.
On the train home last night, sat near a couple of guys who had taken their Dad (looked about sixty five or seventy) to the cricket, and that was an aww moment. And for some reason, they were fellow Kiwis I think, that got me to thinking that the Finn brothers are coming to Brisbane for a concert, and was suddenly in the mood for some old Split Enz and Crowded House tunes, and hmm, maybe a concert I could head to - next Monday, 29 Nov... hmm.
Of course, over the next couple of weeks it is fairly busy - well, Pauly version of busy anyways - three Xmas parties, which is why I haven't been pushing the going out Friday thing the last couple of weeks - although haven't really been knowing what is happening with the girlz the last few weeks anyways - need to do a catch up - Lisa had a girlfriend from Canberra in town, Mel was down in Melbourne, Jo has been quiet... yeah, need to do a catch up.
Hmm, now that is a pretty tragic juxtaposition - big word for the day - following up Alicia Keys on the music show, singing her new one Karma - must be good to be that pretty that talented and be able to make part of your music videos in old Greek or Roman open air theatres LOL - and they followed that up with the Britney Spears Megamix. Ugh, one or two songs perhaps, but bits and pieces of various songs, no thanks. Will she come back, she is only 24 I think and she seems so old hat - Britney this is...
Like really, why do I send myself to depressing stories like this - jury hears the transcript of a police car radio as a constable in the UK gets shot and killed, so if you are not in the mood, consider yourself warned - I am rolling my eyes at myself here for reading it...
And yeah, this is a real hearts and minds operation - let's shoot people in a mosque because they are throwing their shoes at us. Now, unlike the Palestinians, who really do have a pop gun attack compared to the Israelis, I am sure the radical Iraqis have more than enough munitions to hassle the Americans, but raiding a mosque in the middle of Baghdad, where they aren't shooting back, hmm. And yep, a hospital raid in Mosul, and a warning from the Red Cross that all sides are being pretty feral in this conflict...
Now usually Friedman isn't my favourite NYT columnist, but his latest was good - saying that we are at the moment where Iraq could go either way, more chaos or a model for the Middle East.
In amongst all the chaos of presidential hubris and Iraq and living in Gotham, the NYT sometimes doesn't seem like a local paper - but this article made me smile, even though it is at the expense of someone else's misfortune - imagine having 150 year old water pipes :)
Just watching the new Nelly and Xtina video, Tilt Ya Head Back - goodness she is pretty - just wondering what she would look like first thing in the morning LOL. Will just have to wait for her mug shot when she does something illegal - lol, if Hugh Grant can, then anyone can :)
Mmm, this week's 36 hours NYT travel guide is Savannah Georgia - the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil the plot was a bit confuzzling, but the background city was gorgeous :) I guess it is a kind of fascination with me for the South - The Big Easy I liked as well - was thinking the other day of how if I were able to live in America I would actually prefer to be in a red state than a blue one - just to see what it was like, imagining myself in say North Dakota just at the local bar listening to country music or something - and no, not like on Boys Don't Cry, lol my liberalness does not ooze out of me in general life LOL...
Closest I got to the whole country bar feel of life was in Sault Ste Marie at a bar there :) of course, being Canada it was mock American country, lol but there were NFL banners all over the place, and a couple of cowboy hats amongst the drinkers :) hmm, got off the topic a bit there, Savannah and New Orleans are not Grand Rapids or hmm, trying to think of another mountain city and I couldn't think of one, is Milwaukee a red city LOL :) or to be in the bar of the Deer Hunter when they are singing - Can't Take My Eyes Off You - they would be red voters by now I feel, LOL :) wayyyyyyy off topic.
Oh, and how could you keep quiet about a murder for THIRTEEN years??? Another lovely happy story this time from the LA Times - she had gotten away with murdering her husband by saying he had been run over in a car accident. And the body had been in a freezer in a storage unit all this time - eww. Just imagine if that storage unit had been hit by a August last year in the North East and Ontario kind of power outage.
OMG, three bags of marijuana and a gun means 55 years in federal sentencing-land in the US of A. Like the article says, 'That's more time than he would have received if he had hijacked a plane, beaten someone to death in a fight, detonated a bomb in an aircraft and provided weapons to support a foreign terrorist organization.'
This guy had no criminal record before being busted by an undercover fed, and it will cost $1.3 million (not sure whether that's one year or 55) to keep him locked up. Hmm, makes a lot of sense in a country that is as gun saturated as the States :)
And a final word on the whole Saving Private Ryan thing - if I haven't posted it before - Frank Rich at the NYT (what would I do without that and the Guardian LOL) saying that not only is it not OK on US TV to show fake blood and gore from what was all in all a glorious day for the US military (D-Day), let's cut back on the view of the carnage in the latest war, which history still has to decide on gloriousness etc. Reality based news reporting, or questioning the official line is not popular in Washington DC at the moment.
Okies, that seems enough for now :)
Pauly
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Dog Bites Woman. On Breast. During - Umm, Ewww
OK, just wait while I get my home country cringe shield out - yes indeedy, from Once Were Warrior land comes the story of a woman breast feeding her dog, after the baby got weaned off. And two months pregnant again apparently, and a staffordshire puppy called Honey Boy... guess what I'm thinking about the whole socio economic grouping thing :)
'The national president for the SPCA, Peter Mason, said there was nothing in the Animal Welfare Act that applied specifically to a case like this, but he had some concerns that the dog could develop long-term behavioural issues.' He's worried about the DOG having issues???
And again from the Strange File, a piece of toast is being sold on eBay. I read in the paper this morning that the top bid at the moment is $22,000 - could help that apparently the Virgin Mary decided to make an appearance in the cheese and bread. Is ten years old apparently, and is being sold - ewwwwwwww. I wish I could make that kind of money out of ten year old food :)
In the real world, well starting towards that way, NZ are 7 for 250 in the first test at the Gabba - at least it won't be over in two days before I may head down on Saturday. Sent an email around work today and only got one nibble as to attending - I guess it is test cricket and not one dayers...
And following up on sport, England versus Spain in the footy looks like it was a gritty affair - so much for a friendly. Rooney pushing and shoving the Spanish player into the crowd, and the crowd and Spanish coach doing a bit of racism. Charming - lol who won by the way? Ooh, reading the article, Rooney REALLY threw his toys out didn't he...
And back to the Strange File - Anna Nicole Smith. Need I say anything more? Oh, OK, well maybe just a bit - Anna Nicole Smith at the American Music Awards. Not often I go to the New York Post for my stories, but yeah, Howard Stern said she just couldn't read the teleprompter. Yep, Howard Stern, as trustworthy as a priest LOL. Good piccie attached to this article from the Herald Sun (Melbourne Australia paper).
And after the Janet Jackson Superbowl 'outrage' and the 'fear of obscenity' Saving Private Ryan Veteran's Day, next up on the American moral outrage radar is Monday Night Football mixing it up with Desperate Housewives, which is apparently a suburban version of Melrose Place - well, that's my read on the show from the reviews I have read... oh, and on the actual football skit thing, a footballer saw a naked woman OMG like THAT never happens :)
More again soon, is din dins time and my sis is apparently going to ring shortly LOL - need a second line peopleeeeeeeeeee. I would payyyyyyyy for it if you want...
Pauly
'The national president for the SPCA, Peter Mason, said there was nothing in the Animal Welfare Act that applied specifically to a case like this, but he had some concerns that the dog could develop long-term behavioural issues.' He's worried about the DOG having issues???
And again from the Strange File, a piece of toast is being sold on eBay. I read in the paper this morning that the top bid at the moment is $22,000 - could help that apparently the Virgin Mary decided to make an appearance in the cheese and bread. Is ten years old apparently, and is being sold - ewwwwwwww. I wish I could make that kind of money out of ten year old food :)
In the real world, well starting towards that way, NZ are 7 for 250 in the first test at the Gabba - at least it won't be over in two days before I may head down on Saturday. Sent an email around work today and only got one nibble as to attending - I guess it is test cricket and not one dayers...
And following up on sport, England versus Spain in the footy looks like it was a gritty affair - so much for a friendly. Rooney pushing and shoving the Spanish player into the crowd, and the crowd and Spanish coach doing a bit of racism. Charming - lol who won by the way? Ooh, reading the article, Rooney REALLY threw his toys out didn't he...
And back to the Strange File - Anna Nicole Smith. Need I say anything more? Oh, OK, well maybe just a bit - Anna Nicole Smith at the American Music Awards. Not often I go to the New York Post for my stories, but yeah, Howard Stern said she just couldn't read the teleprompter. Yep, Howard Stern, as trustworthy as a priest LOL. Good piccie attached to this article from the Herald Sun (Melbourne Australia paper).
And after the Janet Jackson Superbowl 'outrage' and the 'fear of obscenity' Saving Private Ryan Veteran's Day, next up on the American moral outrage radar is Monday Night Football mixing it up with Desperate Housewives, which is apparently a suburban version of Melrose Place - well, that's my read on the show from the reviews I have read... oh, and on the actual football skit thing, a footballer saw a naked woman OMG like THAT never happens :)
More again soon, is din dins time and my sis is apparently going to ring shortly LOL - need a second line peopleeeeeeeeeee. I would payyyyyyyy for it if you want...
Pauly
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Warp Factor 10, Mr Sulu
Aye aye Captain - well, maybe not Warp 10, but getting close to Mach 10 in this NASA scramjet test - if Mach 10 means nothing to you, that is 11,000 kph, or 6800 mph if you are in the States - that's about an hour and a half travel time to the UK from Oz? Or maybe two if I have the distance wrong LOL. Or hmm, forty minutes LA to New York :) very freaking fast...
Iraq, yeah yeah I know, you are all probably sick of it, but finally found a story with a valid wounded toll - all the stats sites I see are of the death toll, but the injuries have been fuzzier in their reporting. Almost 9000 wounded, and of that almost 5000 serious enough not to return to active duty. And that's just on the American side...
And the reviews are in for Band Aid 20 - well, initial ones at least. Like the description of Dido's singing in this one as 'Dido, whose vocal style, as ever, recalls a woman distractedly singing to herself while trying to remember where she parked her car' - or Joss Stone - 'the kind of widdly-woo heavy-metal guitar solo for the mouth which every modern soul singer uses to convey emotion'. They are both pretty though LOL.
From scramjet to ion engines - a European probe the size of a photocopier has made it to the moon - is only the third probe to Terra's sibling since the Apollo missions ended. What was that Mr President, you wanted a manned base on the moon by 2025? 'Smart-1 is only the second spacecraft to be propelled by an ion drive, which does not burn fuel but uses solar power to electrically charge atoms of xenon gas. These accelerate away from the spacecraft and produce thrust. It is slow going at first - the Apollo crew reached the moon in three days - but ion drive engines are more fuel efficient and could cut years off trips to distant planets.' Mmm, science - where's Picard and Janeway LOL LOL.
Personally, not much happened at work today - got a couple of hmm bad calls in the morning which put my figures out for the entire day basically. Didn't help that there were about two and a half hours worth of meetings as well bleah LOL. So yeah, a pretty nothing day workwise.
The wedding invite to Rob and Kel's wedding came through in the mail today, mmm seven hour beer tab LOL LOL, bad Pauly bad - and V got word that her passport had been approved, so good news on that front.
Laters taters
Pauly
Iraq, yeah yeah I know, you are all probably sick of it, but finally found a story with a valid wounded toll - all the stats sites I see are of the death toll, but the injuries have been fuzzier in their reporting. Almost 9000 wounded, and of that almost 5000 serious enough not to return to active duty. And that's just on the American side...
And the reviews are in for Band Aid 20 - well, initial ones at least. Like the description of Dido's singing in this one as 'Dido, whose vocal style, as ever, recalls a woman distractedly singing to herself while trying to remember where she parked her car' - or Joss Stone - 'the kind of widdly-woo heavy-metal guitar solo for the mouth which every modern soul singer uses to convey emotion'. They are both pretty though LOL.
From scramjet to ion engines - a European probe the size of a photocopier has made it to the moon - is only the third probe to Terra's sibling since the Apollo missions ended. What was that Mr President, you wanted a manned base on the moon by 2025? 'Smart-1 is only the second spacecraft to be propelled by an ion drive, which does not burn fuel but uses solar power to electrically charge atoms of xenon gas. These accelerate away from the spacecraft and produce thrust. It is slow going at first - the Apollo crew reached the moon in three days - but ion drive engines are more fuel efficient and could cut years off trips to distant planets.' Mmm, science - where's Picard and Janeway LOL LOL.
Personally, not much happened at work today - got a couple of hmm bad calls in the morning which put my figures out for the entire day basically. Didn't help that there were about two and a half hours worth of meetings as well bleah LOL. So yeah, a pretty nothing day workwise.
The wedding invite to Rob and Kel's wedding came through in the mail today, mmm seven hour beer tab LOL LOL, bad Pauly bad - and V got word that her passport had been approved, so good news on that front.
Laters taters
Pauly
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Is Hot Today
Though I guess it didn't help my heat venting systems by wearing a big thick hockey jersey - damn the Red theme (for being 'Reddy/Ready' on the phones) of the week. And all I got was a chocolate LOL - now if red was a more popular colour in the scheme of my wardrobe, but most of my red is sports tops :)
I was wearing Team Canada hockey and Sharon was wearing Red Wings (though the home shirt - home is white isn't it?), too bad they are on strike this year. Only a couple more weeks before the season is totally written off, and I don't know about you, but when the NHL website starts doing classic games as their top stories, I don't think much will go on this year at all. Dammit.
A couple of Fallujah articles, because the other, non Pentagon embedded, side needs to be reported as well. And just as I opened up the web this evening, saw that there are reports that a marine executed a wounded insurgent, umm dude, don't do it in front of the TV camera, even if they are embedded and supposed to be supportive of your side of the story. The whole thing of taking over the hospital as the first target still sticks in my throat, or craw or whatever the saying is - just because the wounded aren't going to hospital doesn't mean that they are there...
Anyways, I was trying to find positive stories last night, and couldn't really find any, but this morning went past Good Morning Silicon Valley (don't worry, the only blog I have on faves at the moment that is as link filled as mine, not all of them are blogging about blogs LOL) about all the hype of Halo 2, the new X-Box game.
'With all that, this game had BETTER be frickin' good. Better than sex with Jennifer Garner while eating garlic chicken pizza and watching the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final good. In fact, a cynic might say that no matter how good Halo 2 is, it's going to have trouble living up to the hoopla surrounding it. '
Apart from the Jennifer Garner mention (get some taste man) yes, with all the hype it better be that good - no Stanley Cup this year, sorry Steve of Edmonton writer person LOL.
Again on Fallujah, courtesy of the LA Times - 'Because rough terrain restricted use of military vehicles, the leading edge of the attack was five Marine infantry battalions — thousands of riflemen on foot, backed by tanks, in a spectacular offensive that evoked images of World War I. The infantry swept through the city quicker than expected, despite intense fighting.'
Watching the news, disregarding that execution footage, ick, Fallujah looks like every other city battlefield of the last twenty years - and they expect 300,000 civilians to just go back there instead of being internal (to Iraq) refugees?
Think that's about it for now - more later :)
Pauly
I was wearing Team Canada hockey and Sharon was wearing Red Wings (though the home shirt - home is white isn't it?), too bad they are on strike this year. Only a couple more weeks before the season is totally written off, and I don't know about you, but when the NHL website starts doing classic games as their top stories, I don't think much will go on this year at all. Dammit.
A couple of Fallujah articles, because the other, non Pentagon embedded, side needs to be reported as well. And just as I opened up the web this evening, saw that there are reports that a marine executed a wounded insurgent, umm dude, don't do it in front of the TV camera, even if they are embedded and supposed to be supportive of your side of the story. The whole thing of taking over the hospital as the first target still sticks in my throat, or craw or whatever the saying is - just because the wounded aren't going to hospital doesn't mean that they are there...
Anyways, I was trying to find positive stories last night, and couldn't really find any, but this morning went past Good Morning Silicon Valley (don't worry, the only blog I have on faves at the moment that is as link filled as mine, not all of them are blogging about blogs LOL) about all the hype of Halo 2, the new X-Box game.
'With all that, this game had BETTER be frickin' good. Better than sex with Jennifer Garner while eating garlic chicken pizza and watching the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final good. In fact, a cynic might say that no matter how good Halo 2 is, it's going to have trouble living up to the hoopla surrounding it. '
Apart from the Jennifer Garner mention (get some taste man) yes, with all the hype it better be that good - no Stanley Cup this year, sorry Steve of Edmonton writer person LOL.
Again on Fallujah, courtesy of the LA Times - 'Because rough terrain restricted use of military vehicles, the leading edge of the attack was five Marine infantry battalions — thousands of riflemen on foot, backed by tanks, in a spectacular offensive that evoked images of World War I. The infantry swept through the city quicker than expected, despite intense fighting.'
Watching the news, disregarding that execution footage, ick, Fallujah looks like every other city battlefield of the last twenty years - and they expect 300,000 civilians to just go back there instead of being internal (to Iraq) refugees?
Think that's about it for now - more later :)
Pauly
Monday, November 15, 2004
Monday - Ick
On an earlier shift at work the next four weeks, have to get up and out and to work an hour earlier (start time of 8 ayem) than the last month. And it is a Monday, was very tiring and exhausting. But it was nice to get out an hour earlier - will get used to it in a couple of days I'm sure. Hardly talked to any workmates though, 99% of my words were to customers today.
Hmmph, I know Sudan is a major catastrophe, and money to Darfur is always going to be good, but is anyone else slightly nauseated by this remake of 'Do They Know It's Christmas'? Sorry people, but I don't want to hear Robbie Williams and the Darkness among others ruining the song - it's not a classic, I'll grant you that, but it should be left as an 80s icon instead of trying to update it. Note to Sir Bob (Geldof) - you might sell more if you wrote some new lyrics LOL.
'Blur singer Damon Albarn served tea for the artists and crew - who have donated their time - but did not sing.' - that's the idea Damon LOL LOL.
Oh, and talking entertainment, did anyone else notice that ODB died over the weekend? ODB he of Wu Tang Clan and duetting with Xtina in Dirrrty LOL - you missed those highlights of the last ten years, you red staters you LOL. He was only 35 - today would have been his birthday. RIP dude...
OMG, this is just fucking ridiculous - the US military stopped a Red Crescent aid convoy going into Fallujah because, as Colonel Mike Shupp says, there are no trapped civilians there. Yeah Mike, they are ALL insurgents, even the dead girl in a pink dress GRR. And the whole thing of saying that men between 15 and 55 cannot leave the city - it makes sense in a Doctor Strangelove kind of way, but common sense says that if they weren't radicalised before, they will be after such rules - if indeed they manage to survive the siege.
And the Baghdad government is going to sue reporters for telling bad news - 'Baghdad warned journalists last week to endorse the position that the operation has been an overwhelming success or face legal action. Reporters were "not to promote unrealistic positions or project nationalist tags on terrorist gangs of criminals and killers", it said.'
Sometimes I wish I could just find some more good news. Might have to surf a few blogs rather than news to get it as well - and I don't mean just THOSE sorts of blogs :)
Pauly
Hmmph, I know Sudan is a major catastrophe, and money to Darfur is always going to be good, but is anyone else slightly nauseated by this remake of 'Do They Know It's Christmas'? Sorry people, but I don't want to hear Robbie Williams and the Darkness among others ruining the song - it's not a classic, I'll grant you that, but it should be left as an 80s icon instead of trying to update it. Note to Sir Bob (Geldof) - you might sell more if you wrote some new lyrics LOL.
'Blur singer Damon Albarn served tea for the artists and crew - who have donated their time - but did not sing.' - that's the idea Damon LOL LOL.
Oh, and talking entertainment, did anyone else notice that ODB died over the weekend? ODB he of Wu Tang Clan and duetting with Xtina in Dirrrty LOL - you missed those highlights of the last ten years, you red staters you LOL. He was only 35 - today would have been his birthday. RIP dude...
OMG, this is just fucking ridiculous - the US military stopped a Red Crescent aid convoy going into Fallujah because, as Colonel Mike Shupp says, there are no trapped civilians there. Yeah Mike, they are ALL insurgents, even the dead girl in a pink dress GRR. And the whole thing of saying that men between 15 and 55 cannot leave the city - it makes sense in a Doctor Strangelove kind of way, but common sense says that if they weren't radicalised before, they will be after such rules - if indeed they manage to survive the siege.
And the Baghdad government is going to sue reporters for telling bad news - 'Baghdad warned journalists last week to endorse the position that the operation has been an overwhelming success or face legal action. Reporters were "not to promote unrealistic positions or project nationalist tags on terrorist gangs of criminals and killers", it said.'
Sometimes I wish I could just find some more good news. Might have to surf a few blogs rather than news to get it as well - and I don't mean just THOSE sorts of blogs :)
Pauly
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Ahem As I Was Saying
Must have hit the magic keyboard combination to publish...
Anyways, as I was saying, you don't turn on Saving Private Ryan expecting to see something akin to the Wombles or The Magic Roundabout LOL. TV stations should give their viewers SOME credit.
Okies, here is a mini tribute to one of the hottest women on Australian TV - she must be hot, shes on a site called hot celebrities LOL - Liz Deep-Jones, who presents the weekend sports on SBS. Something about the way her mouth moves while she speaks and that smile :) Stop drooling Pauly :), but she is damned attractive... but how can I take a hottest on TV site seriously when it has Rove McManus at the top of the pile LOL - even if it is the male side of the pile. Australian TV we are talking of of course.
And for a change of pace, here is a story from V's local paper - V8 car racing, extinct animals not being so extinct perhaps, and a town and country show. Something sweet about a top three story being about -
' Highlights of the show programme yesterday included woodchopping, a pet parade and fashion parade, sheep shearing, horsejumping, cattle judging and a U Beaut Ute competition which attracted plenty of attention from rural revheads.
Sideshow alley drew the usual crowds to an assortment of rides on offer for the bold and the adventurous. Face painting, jumping castles and a giant rainbow slide were a hit with the younger age daredevils.'
Everybody, with me - awwwww :)
Okies, I think that is enough for this morning :)
Spot ya sooner or later again
Pauly
Anyways, as I was saying, you don't turn on Saving Private Ryan expecting to see something akin to the Wombles or The Magic Roundabout LOL. TV stations should give their viewers SOME credit.
Okies, here is a mini tribute to one of the hottest women on Australian TV - she must be hot, shes on a site called hot celebrities LOL - Liz Deep-Jones, who presents the weekend sports on SBS. Something about the way her mouth moves while she speaks and that smile :) Stop drooling Pauly :), but she is damned attractive... but how can I take a hottest on TV site seriously when it has Rove McManus at the top of the pile LOL - even if it is the male side of the pile. Australian TV we are talking of of course.
And for a change of pace, here is a story from V's local paper - V8 car racing, extinct animals not being so extinct perhaps, and a town and country show. Something sweet about a top three story being about -
' Highlights of the show programme yesterday included woodchopping, a pet parade and fashion parade, sheep shearing, horsejumping, cattle judging and a U Beaut Ute competition which attracted plenty of attention from rural revheads.
Sideshow alley drew the usual crowds to an assortment of rides on offer for the bold and the adventurous. Face painting, jumping castles and a giant rainbow slide were a hit with the younger age daredevils.'
Everybody, with me - awwwww :)
Okies, I think that is enough for this morning :)
Spot ya sooner or later again
Pauly
Sunday Morning
Hey all - not too much to report on on the websurfing front yet (news is all Fallujah in my surfing so far - and a few rugby and footy scores checked), but just thought I would put one in the bank, entry wise, so I wouldn't go 36 hours without one LOL.
Went out shopping yesterday, I bought a business shirt, medium blue, some sandals - my old ones were falling apart at the seams - as soon as I got home they went into the bin LOL - and two CDs - Best of Sheryl Crow and Green Day Dookie - yes, I know, I should have had that second one years ago, but just never seemed to get around to it.
Best memories of listening to Dookie for me are having it on while truck touring around Turkey. That, and Crowded House, and Violent Femmes, and The Twelfth Man (Australian comedy album) and just the wonder of being in such a foreign place, and it only got foreigner for the rest of the trip - Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, before the usual tourist traps of Egypt LOL. As an actual trip, would say that that would be near one of my best - Canada trips one and two were possibly better, but only through the addition of having a girlfriend in the mix LOL.
And there were quite a few lookers of girls on that trip, but eh, lucked out on that front with all of them - and yes, it is a defensive move to say you were just looking for friends Paul lol, you were only ever going to know them for six weeks. I guess I was a lot less confident then - and you are any more confident now - well, I say I'm not looking and just needing friends at work, but that is different, I may know workmates for yearsssssss lol. Now, if Angelina Jolie started working for my company, hmm - there is this girl on the train in the mornings that has full lips a la Miss Jolie, and goodness - no, better not go further down that track :)
Had a BBQ last night, my brother's girlfriend's father was over, so we were doing a spot of entertaining. A barbeque just seems to make meat taste better (what with our oven being broken LOL), and my mother does an AWESOME potato salad - with pepper and bacon and its well yum.
Sorry, but I have to go back to Fallujah and this NYT report - amid all the carnage and chaos that is Fallujah, Mosul, Baghdad, Ramadi etc, the last line of the report especially gets me -
' Gazing at the battle through his binoculars, Colonel Formica said, "We're seeing the completion of the liberation of Falluja."'
Liberation, yeah right.
This is an interesting one - Guardian, so beware all you conservatives lol, but is a level headed look at what is going on with the Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip. Makes for interesting reading :) Quote from a sandwich store owner in Gush Katif -
'But my gut feeling is that most of the people here are prepared to take the money and run. There is an incredible amount of hypocrisy. When the media come, they're taken round to the hardliners, but I know the people and what they say in the cafe. They're fed up and all the talki is of leaving. The business of the tunnels is driving people crazy - the mortars, the rockets. The media portrays us as a bunch of ignorant hooligans living on a hilltop by the sea, but we're just the same as anyone else.'
Good quote I think.
I've never thought of Los Angeles as a tourist destination, even less so downtown, but after watching Collateral last week, with its driving around the city, this article attracted me like a moth to a flame - one of the NYT's guides of how to spend 36 hours in a city. And just reading further into the article, who WOULDN'T want to start a day with flowers :)
But a bit hmm on this one - 'Public transportation and taxis can be rare, and pedestrians can expect to encounter transients on many streets after dark.' - or Tom Cruise acting as a mass murderer perhaps LOL.
Hmm, just listening to Green Day's American Idiot, and for some reason had the thought of since when did the Republicans become the Red party of the US of A? Red of course being the main communist colour... thought of that a couple of weeks ago as well, during the campaign with one of the European papers saying sorry to confuse our readership but the conservative party is red in this one LOL.
Sometimes I wonder about music videos. Armand Van Helden's latest, My My My, has three hot girls in bikinis and one train spotter kinda guy dancing around. Yes, I know it is male fantasy incarnate, but really, what is the point? And along the same lines is that remake of an 80s song where there are a dozen girls in revealing lycra and the one guy checking them all out in the gym session - I guess conservatives and John Ashcroft never watch MTV LOL LOL. Let's worry about artistic statues and not so artistic Janet Jacksons...
Leading on from that, ABC was showing Saving Private Ryan on Veteran's Day and some of their affiliate stations were 'afraid' that they would get fined due to the bloodshed and gore and swearing. Oh no, let's protect the next generation of military recruits from what they might find in Iraq - meanwhile, later with Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather take your pick, the latest fighting from Fallujah. Hmmph, if the appropriate warnings are put on in front of the show (or as I found in Canada, after every ad break) what is the problem? You don't watch
Went out shopping yesterday, I bought a business shirt, medium blue, some sandals - my old ones were falling apart at the seams - as soon as I got home they went into the bin LOL - and two CDs - Best of Sheryl Crow and Green Day Dookie - yes, I know, I should have had that second one years ago, but just never seemed to get around to it.
Best memories of listening to Dookie for me are having it on while truck touring around Turkey. That, and Crowded House, and Violent Femmes, and The Twelfth Man (Australian comedy album) and just the wonder of being in such a foreign place, and it only got foreigner for the rest of the trip - Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, before the usual tourist traps of Egypt LOL. As an actual trip, would say that that would be near one of my best - Canada trips one and two were possibly better, but only through the addition of having a girlfriend in the mix LOL.
And there were quite a few lookers of girls on that trip, but eh, lucked out on that front with all of them - and yes, it is a defensive move to say you were just looking for friends Paul lol, you were only ever going to know them for six weeks. I guess I was a lot less confident then - and you are any more confident now - well, I say I'm not looking and just needing friends at work, but that is different, I may know workmates for yearsssssss lol. Now, if Angelina Jolie started working for my company, hmm - there is this girl on the train in the mornings that has full lips a la Miss Jolie, and goodness - no, better not go further down that track :)
Had a BBQ last night, my brother's girlfriend's father was over, so we were doing a spot of entertaining. A barbeque just seems to make meat taste better (what with our oven being broken LOL), and my mother does an AWESOME potato salad - with pepper and bacon and its well yum.
Sorry, but I have to go back to Fallujah and this NYT report - amid all the carnage and chaos that is Fallujah, Mosul, Baghdad, Ramadi etc, the last line of the report especially gets me -
' Gazing at the battle through his binoculars, Colonel Formica said, "We're seeing the completion of the liberation of Falluja."'
Liberation, yeah right.
This is an interesting one - Guardian, so beware all you conservatives lol, but is a level headed look at what is going on with the Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip. Makes for interesting reading :) Quote from a sandwich store owner in Gush Katif -
'But my gut feeling is that most of the people here are prepared to take the money and run. There is an incredible amount of hypocrisy. When the media come, they're taken round to the hardliners, but I know the people and what they say in the cafe. They're fed up and all the talki is of leaving. The business of the tunnels is driving people crazy - the mortars, the rockets. The media portrays us as a bunch of ignorant hooligans living on a hilltop by the sea, but we're just the same as anyone else.'
Good quote I think.
I've never thought of Los Angeles as a tourist destination, even less so downtown, but after watching Collateral last week, with its driving around the city, this article attracted me like a moth to a flame - one of the NYT's guides of how to spend 36 hours in a city. And just reading further into the article, who WOULDN'T want to start a day with flowers :)
But a bit hmm on this one - 'Public transportation and taxis can be rare, and pedestrians can expect to encounter transients on many streets after dark.' - or Tom Cruise acting as a mass murderer perhaps LOL.
Hmm, just listening to Green Day's American Idiot, and for some reason had the thought of since when did the Republicans become the Red party of the US of A? Red of course being the main communist colour... thought of that a couple of weeks ago as well, during the campaign with one of the European papers saying sorry to confuse our readership but the conservative party is red in this one LOL.
Sometimes I wonder about music videos. Armand Van Helden's latest, My My My, has three hot girls in bikinis and one train spotter kinda guy dancing around. Yes, I know it is male fantasy incarnate, but really, what is the point? And along the same lines is that remake of an 80s song where there are a dozen girls in revealing lycra and the one guy checking them all out in the gym session - I guess conservatives and John Ashcroft never watch MTV LOL LOL. Let's worry about artistic statues and not so artistic Janet Jacksons...
Leading on from that, ABC was showing Saving Private Ryan on Veteran's Day and some of their affiliate stations were 'afraid' that they would get fined due to the bloodshed and gore and swearing. Oh no, let's protect the next generation of military recruits from what they might find in Iraq - meanwhile, later with Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather take your pick, the latest fighting from Fallujah. Hmmph, if the appropriate warnings are put on in front of the show (or as I found in Canada, after every ad break) what is the problem? You don't watch
Friday, November 12, 2004
Dean Stockwell as Donald Rumsfeld LOL
Still watching AF1 here - but just thought I would do a link to some reporting that is NOT censored by the US military in Fallujah. Sure, it's the pinko liberal BBC LOL, but this reporter is allowed his opinion just as much as Rummy or Abizaid (current commander of Centcom).
More AF1
Just watching as the action starts - sense of September 11 about the crisis actually (how the hell could this happen), and the terrorists having trained to fly jumbos to take over the plane once the pilots are dead, and the F16 jets flying out from Rammstein...
Another movie to add to the DVD list - LOL remember watching this in London I think the day after I got fired from my first pub job - god I hate pub jobs LOL. Think I was in Tooting or something - geez, 1997 was a longgggggg time ago.
Another movie to add to the DVD list - LOL remember watching this in London I think the day after I got fired from my first pub job - god I hate pub jobs LOL. Think I was in Tooting or something - geez, 1997 was a longgggggg time ago.
The Last Good Harrison Ford Movie
Air Force One has just started on TV here - it was either that or Centre Stage or Exit Wounds - dancing or Steven Seagal NOT in Under Siege (the only good movie he made). But yes, Harrison Ford's last good one...
He looks kinda like Kerry and is supposed to be a war hero (how many purple hearts Harrison LOL), and Glenn Close is sooooooo based on Hillary, but hmm interesting take in the opening speech - not waiting around for thousands to get slaughtered before acting, such as in Darfur or Bosnia, but throwing down the gauntlet to the enemy, 'it's your turn to be afraid' 'we may have annoyed the allies with no consultation' 'with us or against us' - oops that was real LOL.
And in the real world, the Japanese found a Chinese sub in their territorial waters. Hmm, how's that blue water navy coming along Beijing?
Just sitting back and enjoying the good good action movie - hey, there is even William H Macy in it :) and mention of Saddam pre real life invasion I guess :)
Pauly
He looks kinda like Kerry and is supposed to be a war hero (how many purple hearts Harrison LOL), and Glenn Close is sooooooo based on Hillary, but hmm interesting take in the opening speech - not waiting around for thousands to get slaughtered before acting, such as in Darfur or Bosnia, but throwing down the gauntlet to the enemy, 'it's your turn to be afraid' 'we may have annoyed the allies with no consultation' 'with us or against us' - oops that was real LOL.
And in the real world, the Japanese found a Chinese sub in their territorial waters. Hmm, how's that blue water navy coming along Beijing?
Just sitting back and enjoying the good good action movie - hey, there is even William H Macy in it :) and mention of Saddam pre real life invasion I guess :)
Pauly
Friday Night
Wow, my first Friday night at home for umm at least a month. Was keeping under the radar today, in the sense that I didn't want to go out, so didn't suggest it - if someone had suggested going out, well my arm wouldn't have been the hardest to twist, but no one did. So now the self doubt starts again - lol did I stuff up badly last Friday, am I popular blah blah the usual LOL.
Have been reading a blog on and off about life in a call centre in the UK - quite good writing in fact - was considering last night starting describing what is going on at work and the characters etc, but then thought maybe not LOL - I don't think I could make it interesting myself... would be too many mentions of the favoured daughters shall we say - LOL no there wouldn't be drool.
Oh, on Arafat's death, heard on the news last night one of the Palestinian leadership, Saaeb Erekat (spelling?) said something along the lines of that the Palestinians could vote for Mother Theresa, Gandhi or Mandela as President and Sharon would still say they were terrorists - think that is very true in fact. The Israelis want a leadership that is very lap dog bleah.
Good Maureen Dowd New York Times article here today - about how Kerry was going to let terrorists with nukes into the country, and suddenly after he is defeated in the Prez campaign (no, I am NOT going to dwell on it LOL), the alert levels go down - because the buildings have better security apparently - sure sure LOL.
Not nice, but kind of necessary, a documentary about Last Letters Home by troops that have died in Iraq. Fallujah continues to get pummelled, while Mosul, Ramadi, Baghdad, Samarra get hit from the other side as well. How can it be normal that a city the size of Sydney or Los Angeles is so chaotic - Baghdad I'm talking here. By the way, here's the HBO link to that NYT sponsored doco... oh, it was done to coincide with Veteran's Day...
And here are the letters themselves.
Geez, didn't want to make this entry that maudlin - I know I am home on a Friday, but geez louise LOL. Good article about Fallujah here, courtesy of the LA Times, and another article about the wider Iraqi situation, but let's pick up the mood and pace LOL from here on in :)
Astronomy Photo of the Day, or APOD, is about the best I can do at the moment, sorry peeps. But they are having a series of really nice auroras at the moment :)
Oh gods, dipping again, but the Peterson case - the jury has taken two weeks to deliberate thus far, surely they read the National Enquirer when he was hung drawn and quartered. Hmmph, how did they do the jury selection, have you been living on Mars lately tick yes LOL. He was on the run to Mexico with a radically different hairstyle, he had said to the girl he was having an affair with that he was a widow, grrr, just brings back OJ memories really LOL.
Have switched over to Firefox, well switched over is too harsh a phrase, trying out may be more the word - I like the set out and everything, but a few of the sites I like seem to be more attuned to IE, and some content doesn't come up properly. I am sure that there will be three versions of sites soonish though - IE, Mac and FF :) and can always go back to IE for the one or two uses I have for it LOL.
More soonish peeps, almost tea time here, mmm Red Rooster :)
Pauly
Have been reading a blog on and off about life in a call centre in the UK - quite good writing in fact - was considering last night starting describing what is going on at work and the characters etc, but then thought maybe not LOL - I don't think I could make it interesting myself... would be too many mentions of the favoured daughters shall we say - LOL no there wouldn't be drool.
Oh, on Arafat's death, heard on the news last night one of the Palestinian leadership, Saaeb Erekat (spelling?) said something along the lines of that the Palestinians could vote for Mother Theresa, Gandhi or Mandela as President and Sharon would still say they were terrorists - think that is very true in fact. The Israelis want a leadership that is very lap dog bleah.
Good Maureen Dowd New York Times article here today - about how Kerry was going to let terrorists with nukes into the country, and suddenly after he is defeated in the Prez campaign (no, I am NOT going to dwell on it LOL), the alert levels go down - because the buildings have better security apparently - sure sure LOL.
Not nice, but kind of necessary, a documentary about Last Letters Home by troops that have died in Iraq. Fallujah continues to get pummelled, while Mosul, Ramadi, Baghdad, Samarra get hit from the other side as well. How can it be normal that a city the size of Sydney or Los Angeles is so chaotic - Baghdad I'm talking here. By the way, here's the HBO link to that NYT sponsored doco... oh, it was done to coincide with Veteran's Day...
And here are the letters themselves.
Geez, didn't want to make this entry that maudlin - I know I am home on a Friday, but geez louise LOL. Good article about Fallujah here, courtesy of the LA Times, and another article about the wider Iraqi situation, but let's pick up the mood and pace LOL from here on in :)
Astronomy Photo of the Day, or APOD, is about the best I can do at the moment, sorry peeps. But they are having a series of really nice auroras at the moment :)
Oh gods, dipping again, but the Peterson case - the jury has taken two weeks to deliberate thus far, surely they read the National Enquirer when he was hung drawn and quartered. Hmmph, how did they do the jury selection, have you been living on Mars lately tick yes LOL. He was on the run to Mexico with a radically different hairstyle, he had said to the girl he was having an affair with that he was a widow, grrr, just brings back OJ memories really LOL.
Have switched over to Firefox, well switched over is too harsh a phrase, trying out may be more the word - I like the set out and everything, but a few of the sites I like seem to be more attuned to IE, and some content doesn't come up properly. I am sure that there will be three versions of sites soonish though - IE, Mac and FF :) and can always go back to IE for the one or two uses I have for it LOL.
More soonish peeps, almost tea time here, mmm Red Rooster :)
Pauly
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Ibiza Moment
Well, at least a quick mention on the travel programme on one of the channels over here (Channel 9 Getaway if you must be precise LOL), and they were playing YMCA at a foam party - at least even Ibiza can be naff LOL. Although to be sure a lot more skin and umm sex (I see the website hits come in at that mention) than suburban Brisbane :)
Arafat is dead. Hmm, history is written by the victors, so thinking that for a couple decades at least he will be seen as a terrorist more than a freedom fighter. Personally, I don't have much of an opinion of him one way or the other - if the situation in the Occupied Territories was more equitable, maybe there would have been more NEUTRAL assessment of Arafat as president, but still far too early to tell. See what the next couple of weeks bring - and as an aside, the Israelis decide at this time to bury bad news time, to re-arrest Vanunu, their maverick traitorous nuclear scientist.
Fallujah continues to burn - saw a mosque getting hit by tank rounds and air strikes on the news today - yeah, I understand the Americans not wanting to allow the insurgents easy cover, but think about it, if California was invaded - OK, maybe bad example, Louisiana being a red state may be better to be invaded for this scenario, would the American freedom fighters really not take cover in churches when they could? And hmm, weren't Samarra and Ramadi supposed to have calmed down after the campaigns over the last couple of months there?
This is an interesting one - how to sort out the water supply for 400 million people in general along the Yangtze River, or specifically 13 million in Shanghai. Hmm, fifteen times the population of Canada, twenty times of Australia, and even bigger than the United States population, all dependant on one river. Ewww LOL.
Laters peeps, just a quick one - work was a killer today, maybe will write about it tomorrow, and neeeeeeeeeeeed sleeeeeeeeeeeep. Stressful convo with the ex late last night as well.
Pauly
Arafat is dead. Hmm, history is written by the victors, so thinking that for a couple decades at least he will be seen as a terrorist more than a freedom fighter. Personally, I don't have much of an opinion of him one way or the other - if the situation in the Occupied Territories was more equitable, maybe there would have been more NEUTRAL assessment of Arafat as president, but still far too early to tell. See what the next couple of weeks bring - and as an aside, the Israelis decide at this time to bury bad news time, to re-arrest Vanunu, their maverick traitorous nuclear scientist.
Fallujah continues to burn - saw a mosque getting hit by tank rounds and air strikes on the news today - yeah, I understand the Americans not wanting to allow the insurgents easy cover, but think about it, if California was invaded - OK, maybe bad example, Louisiana being a red state may be better to be invaded for this scenario, would the American freedom fighters really not take cover in churches when they could? And hmm, weren't Samarra and Ramadi supposed to have calmed down after the campaigns over the last couple of months there?
This is an interesting one - how to sort out the water supply for 400 million people in general along the Yangtze River, or specifically 13 million in Shanghai. Hmm, fifteen times the population of Canada, twenty times of Australia, and even bigger than the United States population, all dependant on one river. Ewww LOL.
Laters peeps, just a quick one - work was a killer today, maybe will write about it tomorrow, and neeeeeeeeeeeed sleeeeeeeeeeeep. Stressful convo with the ex late last night as well.
Pauly
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Quick One
Who needs embedded with the Marines Western journalists when there are still a few local or Arabic journalists in Fallujah. Whatever the whys and wherefores of what they actually report and whether it is slanted towards the rebels, they are really brave for just being there reporting - I think back to the attack on Baghdad eighteen months ago, when Al Jazeera gave their office GPS position to the US Defense Department and still somehow got bombed by the Americans hmm.
Watching on the morning TV news here, good comment by one of the US soldiers - they have killed all the not so smart Iraqi rebels the last eighteen months, it is probably only the smart ones left - and smarter means more dangerous. Good article from the Boston Globe here, like the soldier saying 'it's been good I have only been shot at once' :) Support the troops, hate the policy...
And another report 'from the other side' - Al Jazeera's view of the Fallujah assault, saying it is like squeezing jello - almost three hundred Iraqi police, soldiers and general civilians have been killed in the last two weeks, 45 in Baquba yesterday alone. Well, maybe not so much from the other side, the article is written by Scott Ritter, wasn't he an American UN weapons inspector before the invasion?
Okies, that's it for this morning - will try and find some GOOD news if I post this evening :)
Pauly
Watching on the morning TV news here, good comment by one of the US soldiers - they have killed all the not so smart Iraqi rebels the last eighteen months, it is probably only the smart ones left - and smarter means more dangerous. Good article from the Boston Globe here, like the soldier saying 'it's been good I have only been shot at once' :) Support the troops, hate the policy...
And another report 'from the other side' - Al Jazeera's view of the Fallujah assault, saying it is like squeezing jello - almost three hundred Iraqi police, soldiers and general civilians have been killed in the last two weeks, 45 in Baquba yesterday alone. Well, maybe not so much from the other side, the article is written by Scott Ritter, wasn't he an American UN weapons inspector before the invasion?
Okies, that's it for this morning - will try and find some GOOD news if I post this evening :)
Pauly
Tuesday, November 9, 2004
Fallujah Again
Hey all - this is an interesting concept - well, blogging, no, it's like soooo pre-election LOL. But a couple of paragraphs from reporters every couple of hours is a good concept, even if no one is actually IN the city.
And what sort of electioneering is there supposed to be in Iraq if there is martial law up until the eve of January elections, this sixty day period? Oh, of course, there isn't supposed to be electioneering LOL.
To the other Australian residents out there - is anyone else sick of how over exposed Delta Goodrem is? I mean, she had cancer young and she sings a bit, similar sort of genre to Jessica Simpson to the international audience - I mean like, and she is on EVERY single TV show and magazine and newspaper at least once a week. She is on Rove Live currently in my background TV and aargh LOL. If I hear that song she just composed about her boyfriend before they broke up, I will scream LOL - well, after this rendition on currently - geez those silent screams can sometimes be the best LOL.
Hmm, here's an interesting one - should I fave it or not, the Chinese view of the world hmm. At least they have chosen a good name for this operation, Phantom Fury, as opposed to the bleah Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom bleah.
Went and saw Collateral tonight at the movies - I enjoyed it a lot, possibly will get around to a review the next couple of days :) Jada Pinkett Smith LOL scrummy, but I would get beaten up Big Willie Style I am sure if ever I was within two hundred kays of her LOL. Talking of the Internet Movie Database, apparently the biggest movie related website in the world - this is an interesting take on how to use a website LOL - movie people use it to check their potential social or dating circles LOL, apparently.
Was thinking of going seeing Forgotten, but thought it might have been a bit too girly, what with Julianne Moore being in it - oh bring back the Boogie Nights character LOL LOL. Was also thinking about going seeing The Manchurian Candidate, but eh, may have ODed on politics for the meantime - at least enough in real to not want to see any fake politics :)
OK, that's about it for tonight - work was fairly mindless today, nothing big either socially or customer wise...
Pauly
And what sort of electioneering is there supposed to be in Iraq if there is martial law up until the eve of January elections, this sixty day period? Oh, of course, there isn't supposed to be electioneering LOL.
To the other Australian residents out there - is anyone else sick of how over exposed Delta Goodrem is? I mean, she had cancer young and she sings a bit, similar sort of genre to Jessica Simpson to the international audience - I mean like, and she is on EVERY single TV show and magazine and newspaper at least once a week. She is on Rove Live currently in my background TV and aargh LOL. If I hear that song she just composed about her boyfriend before they broke up, I will scream LOL - well, after this rendition on currently - geez those silent screams can sometimes be the best LOL.
Hmm, here's an interesting one - should I fave it or not, the Chinese view of the world hmm. At least they have chosen a good name for this operation, Phantom Fury, as opposed to the bleah Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom bleah.
Went and saw Collateral tonight at the movies - I enjoyed it a lot, possibly will get around to a review the next couple of days :) Jada Pinkett Smith LOL scrummy, but I would get beaten up Big Willie Style I am sure if ever I was within two hundred kays of her LOL. Talking of the Internet Movie Database, apparently the biggest movie related website in the world - this is an interesting take on how to use a website LOL - movie people use it to check their potential social or dating circles LOL, apparently.
Was thinking of going seeing Forgotten, but thought it might have been a bit too girly, what with Julianne Moore being in it - oh bring back the Boogie Nights character LOL LOL. Was also thinking about going seeing The Manchurian Candidate, but eh, may have ODed on politics for the meantime - at least enough in real to not want to see any fake politics :)
OK, that's about it for tonight - work was fairly mindless today, nothing big either socially or customer wise...
Pauly
Battle Is Joined
Well, surprise surprise, the Prez Election is over and now the Iraqi administration gives permission for coalition forces to start attacking Fallujah. And umm, I know that there are five to six thousand insurgents apparently in the city, but there are at least probably forty five thousand civilians, probably more - and the first target is the city hospital? Hmm.
Here's an interesting one - about water usage in Australia - may not sound the most interesting of topics, but in this country it is a HUGE hot potato politically. The stats and info in this story are my new things for the day I think - gotta learn at least one new thing a day LOL.
Friday hmm the reaction at work - lol apparently Sharon had to push me out of the train at my stop - if that is the worst of it that is OK - Melanie waved bye to me without having to be prompted yesterday evening, which is good yay :)
Laters peeps :)
Pauly
Here's an interesting one - about water usage in Australia - may not sound the most interesting of topics, but in this country it is a HUGE hot potato politically. The stats and info in this story are my new things for the day I think - gotta learn at least one new thing a day LOL.
Friday hmm the reaction at work - lol apparently Sharon had to push me out of the train at my stop - if that is the worst of it that is OK - Melanie waved bye to me without having to be prompted yesterday evening, which is good yay :)
Laters peeps :)
Pauly
Monday, November 8, 2004
Another Monday
Ick - ah well, at least it is socialising beyond my family and the internet LOL - going to work I mean. Hope I didn't piss anyone off too majorly Friday night - lol with all my progress emotionally and mentally the last umm eleven months and still I have that unerlying always there self doubt. I wonder if the successful people have that as well? LOL does Bill Clinton get up in the morning and think oh mi god did I actually say that LOL - I think not :)
Good segue there actually - was reading about a new TV show in Britain called the Sex Doctors or something - no, it's not a Channel 5 showing, lol C4 instead - apparently will show actual acts and stuff, pixellated and proper camera angles and everything, of normal people having sexual dysfunction (although whatever that means I know not lol). ANYWAYS, not so much the sex angle of it, but one of the hosts is Tracey Cox, 43 and quite pretty in fact, some sexpert, sooo wandered off to her official website and there is an extract from one of her books about body language and dating (finally getting past the sex and into the self doubt LOL - hmm, maybe I worded that phrase badly LOL). The thing about body language and attraction is quite good :)
Good op ed piece here about American politics in general - as I said, no more election coverage LOL, and yes, a warning to any conservatives that might wander in here, it is from the liberal point of view, LA Times editor writing for the Washington Post - LOL throw an NYT reference in there and that would be the axis of evil wouldn't it? Kiddingggggggg...
And finally for this morning, the Canada spot for the day LOL. Girls must wear bikinis on the mechanical bull ride in Regina, Saskatchewan (no Mulva Seinfeld jokes please LOL) and the prize is money off the student loans, and the student union is up in arms. Well, they would be wouldn't they LOL, demeaning women's quests for education :) Where's that travel agent I wanna go to Regina LOL :)
Later taters
Pauly
Good segue there actually - was reading about a new TV show in Britain called the Sex Doctors or something - no, it's not a Channel 5 showing, lol C4 instead - apparently will show actual acts and stuff, pixellated and proper camera angles and everything, of normal people having sexual dysfunction (although whatever that means I know not lol). ANYWAYS, not so much the sex angle of it, but one of the hosts is Tracey Cox, 43 and quite pretty in fact, some sexpert, sooo wandered off to her official website and there is an extract from one of her books about body language and dating (finally getting past the sex and into the self doubt LOL - hmm, maybe I worded that phrase badly LOL). The thing about body language and attraction is quite good :)
Good op ed piece here about American politics in general - as I said, no more election coverage LOL, and yes, a warning to any conservatives that might wander in here, it is from the liberal point of view, LA Times editor writing for the Washington Post - LOL throw an NYT reference in there and that would be the axis of evil wouldn't it? Kiddingggggggg...
And finally for this morning, the Canada spot for the day LOL. Girls must wear bikinis on the mechanical bull ride in Regina, Saskatchewan (no Mulva Seinfeld jokes please LOL) and the prize is money off the student loans, and the student union is up in arms. Well, they would be wouldn't they LOL, demeaning women's quests for education :) Where's that travel agent I wanna go to Regina LOL :)
Later taters
Pauly
Saturday, November 6, 2004
Last Night :)
Hi all - will report on last night in a minute, but just my Canadian spot for the week first LOL. Bloc Quebecois MP is not handing out Canadian flags to war veterans in his riding (electorate), as is the general rule of thumb coming up to November 11, Remembrance Day. Hmmph, if it was just a provincial MP that would be understandable, but this is a federal MP who, as one of the people in the report says, he is happy enough with his pay cheque coming in with the maple leaf on the side...
By the way, my post of the Independent's front page will be my last comment on the election. Fingers crossed - any comment on US politics from now on will be about what the Prez is actually doing rather than what might have been. Roll on Election 2008 LOL.
So yes, last night - had a hangover this morning so it must have been fun right? Yeah, I think it was - I had had a bad day at work, energy levels were way down, customers were narky - well, apart from one that I joked and flirted with LOL - name was Deanne and it was too bad the systems were down so I couldn't get her an appointment quickly :) apart from that the call and interaction went great, but one out of sixteen does not a pattern make...
LOL, the robot toy of the year in Britain has been announced, and it is the first robot that talks caveman, belches and breaks wind. Charming methinks LOL, perfect Xmas pressie :)
So yeah, energy levels were down, needed to get my second wind, and Jo and Mel and Janet were first cabs off the rank. Lisa didn't come out as she wanted to spend as much time as she could this weekend with Azza. So the usual slow start to the night as the other three did most of the talking, and then Sharon turned up, whose birthday we were celebrating - she is seven months younger than me by the way.
Much drinking ensued, and I thought that all that had turned up had turned up - Jo and Janet left, but then Kylie and Kate and Melanie turned up. Started playing pool, I was teamed with Mel versus Kylie and Melanie, and Mel got all the balls down and I didn't do anything apart from look pretty LOL. Adrian turned up, and while Melanie was leaning over to take a shot said nice butt Melanie - it doesn't count if you just think it and try to avoid looking LOL LOL :)
Talked to Kate a bit, she's back living with her parents for the time being, boyfriend troubles or some such. Had been over in London for a year, went with a boyfriend who broke up with her on arrival at Heathrow ick. But good to actually talk and get to know more people at work :) Hope that the impression I'm giving in return is also good. By this stage of the evening yes I was intoxicated LOL - V had sent me a txt and an email jokingly saying no I could't go drink with Shazza and no drinking, no smoking, no hugging - well all three off the list I umm did LOL - well with the hugging it WAS Sharon's birthday LOL.
And then the interesting point of the night, well apart from Melanie's butt lol, was that Damien, Sharon's partner made an appearance. Wow. And Sharon wasn't expecting it either LOL - lucky that it was only me and Adrian there as males of the species. But he seems a nice bloke, talked a bit of stuff, intoxicated as I was - he hates rugby LOL, even though he is a Waikato/Taranaki boy. Sharon was a bit bewildered and said that it was lucky a particular guy at work hadn't turned up LOL - she had had as rough a day as me earlier at work, if not more so - had burst into tears at one point bleah.
And yes, I do have to mention that Sharon probably wasn't wearing the best of pants, she said that she had been leaning over at work and her pants had gone down and shown the top of her thong, and yes she did do an accidental repeat performace (pink if you were wondering) and trying to be good and not think of my usual girl in G or thong thoughts here :) she is a workmate and a friend...
And finished off the film I had been working on since V was here. So yes, do have pics of the assorted workmates last night - which is a good thing :)
Apart from that got quite intoxicated - just on the beer though, nothing stronger. I THINK when I departed it was down to Kate, Sharon, Damien and maybe Mel - maybe LOL - but when I got to the station and got a Big Mac, tap tap on the shoulder and there was Sharon and Damien, things must have broken up fairly quickly after I left - I'm pretty sure I wasn't in a Last Man Standing situation LOL. Was about 11.30 I think at that stage - got home about 12.30 - was a good evening all in all - and then I remember that work party we had at my first job, I thought it had gone swimmingly and then Monday I got told I was sexually harassing. Eh, all I can say to that is that I have grown up a lot in the last eleven years, and was only on beer...
Oh, and cut my finger picking up a glass that Kylie had dropped. Oh, and also - Adrian and Kylie left at the same time and talked to Melanie and Kate, apparently they are an item. News to me, LOL not that I was looking for gossip beforehand. Lucky bastard, Kylie is quite attractive :)
No hugging Pauly, remember that one LOL. Oh, and Michelle stopped by the table and said hi - she is the agency person who actually employs us. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for a boss like person saying hi LOL - she was friendly enough though, going home to cook her mother soup or something LOL.
One more link before I go this evening - European bad taste from the 1970s, a series of pictorials LOL.
Think that is about it for now - more tomorrow :)
Pauly
By the way, my post of the Independent's front page will be my last comment on the election. Fingers crossed - any comment on US politics from now on will be about what the Prez is actually doing rather than what might have been. Roll on Election 2008 LOL.
So yes, last night - had a hangover this morning so it must have been fun right? Yeah, I think it was - I had had a bad day at work, energy levels were way down, customers were narky - well, apart from one that I joked and flirted with LOL - name was Deanne and it was too bad the systems were down so I couldn't get her an appointment quickly :) apart from that the call and interaction went great, but one out of sixteen does not a pattern make...
LOL, the robot toy of the year in Britain has been announced, and it is the first robot that talks caveman, belches and breaks wind. Charming methinks LOL, perfect Xmas pressie :)
So yeah, energy levels were down, needed to get my second wind, and Jo and Mel and Janet were first cabs off the rank. Lisa didn't come out as she wanted to spend as much time as she could this weekend with Azza. So the usual slow start to the night as the other three did most of the talking, and then Sharon turned up, whose birthday we were celebrating - she is seven months younger than me by the way.
Much drinking ensued, and I thought that all that had turned up had turned up - Jo and Janet left, but then Kylie and Kate and Melanie turned up. Started playing pool, I was teamed with Mel versus Kylie and Melanie, and Mel got all the balls down and I didn't do anything apart from look pretty LOL. Adrian turned up, and while Melanie was leaning over to take a shot said nice butt Melanie - it doesn't count if you just think it and try to avoid looking LOL LOL :)
Talked to Kate a bit, she's back living with her parents for the time being, boyfriend troubles or some such. Had been over in London for a year, went with a boyfriend who broke up with her on arrival at Heathrow ick. But good to actually talk and get to know more people at work :) Hope that the impression I'm giving in return is also good. By this stage of the evening yes I was intoxicated LOL - V had sent me a txt and an email jokingly saying no I could't go drink with Shazza and no drinking, no smoking, no hugging - well all three off the list I umm did LOL - well with the hugging it WAS Sharon's birthday LOL.
And then the interesting point of the night, well apart from Melanie's butt lol, was that Damien, Sharon's partner made an appearance. Wow. And Sharon wasn't expecting it either LOL - lucky that it was only me and Adrian there as males of the species. But he seems a nice bloke, talked a bit of stuff, intoxicated as I was - he hates rugby LOL, even though he is a Waikato/Taranaki boy. Sharon was a bit bewildered and said that it was lucky a particular guy at work hadn't turned up LOL - she had had as rough a day as me earlier at work, if not more so - had burst into tears at one point bleah.
And yes, I do have to mention that Sharon probably wasn't wearing the best of pants, she said that she had been leaning over at work and her pants had gone down and shown the top of her thong, and yes she did do an accidental repeat performace (pink if you were wondering) and trying to be good and not think of my usual girl in G or thong thoughts here :) she is a workmate and a friend...
And finished off the film I had been working on since V was here. So yes, do have pics of the assorted workmates last night - which is a good thing :)
Apart from that got quite intoxicated - just on the beer though, nothing stronger. I THINK when I departed it was down to Kate, Sharon, Damien and maybe Mel - maybe LOL - but when I got to the station and got a Big Mac, tap tap on the shoulder and there was Sharon and Damien, things must have broken up fairly quickly after I left - I'm pretty sure I wasn't in a Last Man Standing situation LOL. Was about 11.30 I think at that stage - got home about 12.30 - was a good evening all in all - and then I remember that work party we had at my first job, I thought it had gone swimmingly and then Monday I got told I was sexually harassing. Eh, all I can say to that is that I have grown up a lot in the last eleven years, and was only on beer...
Oh, and cut my finger picking up a glass that Kylie had dropped. Oh, and also - Adrian and Kylie left at the same time and talked to Melanie and Kate, apparently they are an item. News to me, LOL not that I was looking for gossip beforehand. Lucky bastard, Kylie is quite attractive :)
No hugging Pauly, remember that one LOL. Oh, and Michelle stopped by the table and said hi - she is the agency person who actually employs us. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for a boss like person saying hi LOL - she was friendly enough though, going home to cook her mother soup or something LOL.
One more link before I go this evening - European bad taste from the 1970s, a series of pictorials LOL.
Think that is about it for now - more tomorrow :)
Pauly
Less Of A Hangover Now, Thanks :)
Fallujah is going to get a battering shortly - if it hasn't already started. And Kofi Annan has said that an attack would not be the best idea, which has got the Iraqi administration with a bee in their bonnet.
The big question of the day, well one of them, is Yasser Arafat in a coma or braindead? Has been mentioned to me twice over the past 24 hours, in situations where world events don't usually figure highly. Hmm, it's not looking good - not that the Palestinian situation ever looks good of course. And where will he be buried even if he actually DOES recover from whatever he's got? Especially with those always easy to negotiate with Israelis basically holding the keys to almost every site that Arafat would want to be buried.
Hmm, and another interesting article here, this one about the Peruvian Shining Path Maoist leader being put on trial. Well, retrial actually, after it was argued that the military tribunal that had put him away first time around was invalid. 70,000 people killed and he gets to spout Long Live The Communisty Party in front of the media, feck.
On a sunnier topic, the Mars rovers are still chugging along - they were only supposed to go for three months from January, seven extra months on, and reprogrammed for the Martian winter (longer down times soaking up solar energy) and they are still doing great things :)
Back to normality for the White House briefings, Washington Post report here. Or, if you didn't have enough of the billion dollar election, here is a rundown of how it could be in four years time - mmm, Schwarzenegger versus Hilary, now that would be a good contest :)
Ah, it's taken me just like three hours to find this, but I like it :) The Independent's front cover after the election was called. Had to trawl through lots of Euro hating conservative blogs to get it, but here, for your viewing pleasure. Very effective I feel, even though I'm not an Independent reader :)
Pauly
The big question of the day, well one of them, is Yasser Arafat in a coma or braindead? Has been mentioned to me twice over the past 24 hours, in situations where world events don't usually figure highly. Hmm, it's not looking good - not that the Palestinian situation ever looks good of course. And where will he be buried even if he actually DOES recover from whatever he's got? Especially with those always easy to negotiate with Israelis basically holding the keys to almost every site that Arafat would want to be buried.
Hmm, and another interesting article here, this one about the Peruvian Shining Path Maoist leader being put on trial. Well, retrial actually, after it was argued that the military tribunal that had put him away first time around was invalid. 70,000 people killed and he gets to spout Long Live The Communisty Party in front of the media, feck.
On a sunnier topic, the Mars rovers are still chugging along - they were only supposed to go for three months from January, seven extra months on, and reprogrammed for the Martian winter (longer down times soaking up solar energy) and they are still doing great things :)
Back to normality for the White House briefings, Washington Post report here. Or, if you didn't have enough of the billion dollar election, here is a rundown of how it could be in four years time - mmm, Schwarzenegger versus Hilary, now that would be a good contest :)
Ah, it's taken me just like three hours to find this, but I like it :) The Independent's front cover after the election was called. Had to trawl through lots of Euro hating conservative blogs to get it, but here, for your viewing pleasure. Very effective I feel, even though I'm not an Independent reader :)
Pauly
Websurfing With A Hangover
LOL, bear with me while I drink lots and lots of water the next few hours - it could all go away with a brief panadol or two (that's tylenol to North Americans) but hmm don't want to show weakness - will detail last evening shortly, after a swing through some websites of interest this morning.
How on earth did I find myself in this site - Blogs for Bush indeed. If toughness and 'moral fibre' is what you want, and endless attacks on liberals LOL. Riposte would be diplomacy and human rights thank you very much, and uniting the country/world again. The USA is virtually two countries now, held together by umm Washington DC I would say.
Iraq's PM put his foot in his mouth - just before meeting the EU leaders in Rome this weekend, says he has no time for 'spectator nations' in regards to the situation in his country. Mate, no one can afford to be a spectator about Iraq - the nutters there are killing anyone they can shoot or behead - Japanese, Americans, Iraqis, Filipinos, Bangladeshis, Brits... and yes, there may be a logic about having a country where the terrorists are attracted like moths, rather than attacking London or LA, but everyone has an opinion on the situation even if they don't actually have troops there.
Quick article here about the US Army hospital near Fallujah setting up a morgue. Things are gonna get hairy fairly soon there - it won't be pretty either.
Bleah gonna go and have a bit of a lie down - hate hangovers LOL
Pauly
How on earth did I find myself in this site - Blogs for Bush indeed. If toughness and 'moral fibre' is what you want, and endless attacks on liberals LOL. Riposte would be diplomacy and human rights thank you very much, and uniting the country/world again. The USA is virtually two countries now, held together by umm Washington DC I would say.
Iraq's PM put his foot in his mouth - just before meeting the EU leaders in Rome this weekend, says he has no time for 'spectator nations' in regards to the situation in his country. Mate, no one can afford to be a spectator about Iraq - the nutters there are killing anyone they can shoot or behead - Japanese, Americans, Iraqis, Filipinos, Bangladeshis, Brits... and yes, there may be a logic about having a country where the terrorists are attracted like moths, rather than attacking London or LA, but everyone has an opinion on the situation even if they don't actually have troops there.
Quick article here about the US Army hospital near Fallujah setting up a morgue. Things are gonna get hairy fairly soon there - it won't be pretty either.
Bleah gonna go and have a bit of a lie down - hate hangovers LOL
Pauly
Friday, November 5, 2004
A Nice Site For the Morning
No politics, no personal life in this short little post - just lots and lots of nice space pictures, care of NASA and some other people. Been going for hmm nine years so that's about one pic a day for 365 days a year - about 3500 pics off the top of my head - I'm sure not all of them are classics but there are lots of nice things out there :)
Thursday, November 4, 2004
Back To Reality, If The Republicans Haven't Banned That Word
Latest from Iraq. The killing, kidnapping and chaos goes on, despite the rest of the world sitting back and taking stock of Dubya's win. And I feel it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Just going over Guardian stories rehashing the election in the background here - don't want to rehash it myself by linking LOL. He won, he lost, we all have to deal with it - the British liberal view of it all, just one link OK LOL.
Highlight of the day today was talking to a fellow insert company name here employee by the name of Charlie. Female LOL. It was about a quarter past four or so, starting to think of winding down for the day, got Charlie on the phone and she was loud and boisterous and happy - you would think she had a caffeine injection about two minutes before getting me on the phone LOL. For some reason, the name Charlie for a girl, especially when they are boisterous sounding, makes me think of a redhead for starters LOL. Very attractive redheads - I'm sure there's a female Charlie in one of the iconic movies I know, but I can't think for the life of me what movie it is. Or maybe that was a dream I had LOL. Even though she sounded almost TOO happy, by the end of the convo with her I had a smile on my face.
Going out for drinks with Sharon tomorrow evening, celebrating her birthday - I think she is about six months younger than I am, I think. Should be fun :) no doubt will tell my blog all about it :)
Laters tater
Pauly
Just going over Guardian stories rehashing the election in the background here - don't want to rehash it myself by linking LOL. He won, he lost, we all have to deal with it - the British liberal view of it all, just one link OK LOL.
Highlight of the day today was talking to a fellow insert company name here employee by the name of Charlie. Female LOL. It was about a quarter past four or so, starting to think of winding down for the day, got Charlie on the phone and she was loud and boisterous and happy - you would think she had a caffeine injection about two minutes before getting me on the phone LOL. For some reason, the name Charlie for a girl, especially when they are boisterous sounding, makes me think of a redhead for starters LOL. Very attractive redheads - I'm sure there's a female Charlie in one of the iconic movies I know, but I can't think for the life of me what movie it is. Or maybe that was a dream I had LOL. Even though she sounded almost TOO happy, by the end of the convo with her I had a smile on my face.
Going out for drinks with Sharon tomorrow evening, celebrating her birthday - I think she is about six months younger than I am, I think. Should be fun :) no doubt will tell my blog all about it :)
Laters tater
Pauly
Don't Give Up On America Just Yet
Another good Guardian article -
'Very few of us acknowledge the immense reserves of goodwill in America - the simple fact that Americans want to do good and would prefer to be loved rather than feared and hated.'
Us in the previous sentence meaning European liberals. And saying how at least fifty or maybe forty eight percent of the US voting population could possibly hold somewhat similar views to rest of the world liberals :)
Pauly
'Very few of us acknowledge the immense reserves of goodwill in America - the simple fact that Americans want to do good and would prefer to be loved rather than feared and hated.'
Us in the previous sentence meaning European liberals. And saying how at least fifty or maybe forty eight percent of the US voting population could possibly hold somewhat similar views to rest of the world liberals :)
Pauly
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Ohio May Be The New Florida
Hmm, latest counts are 254 to Bush to 252 to Kerry, with Dubya leading the popular vote, but the Dems refusing to concede. A little noticed thing, by myself at least, was the fact that 11 states had initiatives on the ballot to sort out the status of gay marriage. That would have brought out a lot of conservatives or evangelicals. Ohio is apparently 'too close to call' even though last I heard Bush was leading by 120,000 votes, not quite the 543 hanging chads in Palm Beach county last time around. Ohio of course being the state where this morning the judges allowed the political party scrutineers to challenge voters if they thought they were 'ineligible'. Lots of provisional votes still to count apparently.
Anyways, as an instant message friend just said to me, he lost, just forget about it LOL.
This is a good article, admittedly from a left leaning blogger, but just incredulous at how the three issues of guns, God and gays energised the base of Dubya. And that's all I am going to say, the right press and the left press both have their pre determined pros and cons of Bush or Kerry, I DON'T need to reiterate them AGAIN lol - we are in POST election now, fingers crossed :)
Good story here about the Ohio angle of things - the important thing of voting even if it is after midnight and not deciding to just go home for the evening. Or from this story, same sort of angle, Washington Post, saying that this election does not seem to be healing the fractures that were already in the US of A. People will still be thinking Dude Where's My Country or The Passion of the Christ and never the twain seem to meet - this decade at least.
Hmm on a personal note - got a quiet word today for using the instant messenger thing at work for sending someone a message when they were taking a call - the call later being assessed by Big Brother (ie, they can assess you by listening to your phone call and seeing what screens you are in for ten minutes after the call is terminated - spooky). No biggie, no firing squad, and of course I hardly use the thing for personal messages, but there ya go. Sharon is having her birthday drinks on Friday, should be good.
Went around the floor selling raffle tickets this afternoon - was well worth the hour out of the phones LOL. Meeting and occassionally getting names of people that I see most days but don't know the names of. And of course, them possibly getting to know my name - and no, not in a promotion kind of way but a getting to know ya kind of way, thinking LOL. OK, I've confused myself :)
Later peeps
Pauly
Anyways, as an instant message friend just said to me, he lost, just forget about it LOL.
This is a good article, admittedly from a left leaning blogger, but just incredulous at how the three issues of guns, God and gays energised the base of Dubya. And that's all I am going to say, the right press and the left press both have their pre determined pros and cons of Bush or Kerry, I DON'T need to reiterate them AGAIN lol - we are in POST election now, fingers crossed :)
Good story here about the Ohio angle of things - the important thing of voting even if it is after midnight and not deciding to just go home for the evening. Or from this story, same sort of angle, Washington Post, saying that this election does not seem to be healing the fractures that were already in the US of A. People will still be thinking Dude Where's My Country or The Passion of the Christ and never the twain seem to meet - this decade at least.
Hmm on a personal note - got a quiet word today for using the instant messenger thing at work for sending someone a message when they were taking a call - the call later being assessed by Big Brother (ie, they can assess you by listening to your phone call and seeing what screens you are in for ten minutes after the call is terminated - spooky). No biggie, no firing squad, and of course I hardly use the thing for personal messages, but there ya go. Sharon is having her birthday drinks on Friday, should be good.
Went around the floor selling raffle tickets this afternoon - was well worth the hour out of the phones LOL. Meeting and occassionally getting names of people that I see most days but don't know the names of. And of course, them possibly getting to know my name - and no, not in a promotion kind of way but a getting to know ya kind of way, thinking LOL. OK, I've confused myself :)
Later peeps
Pauly
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