Climate control anyone?

This morning Mark and I were both at the gym early.  7.15am to be precise.  Believe me when I say it was cold.  37 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 2.7777777 degrees Celsius.

Brrrrrr, the short walk from the front door of the house, to the car in shorts and t-shirt, very seriously became a long haul trek.  Thank the gods for electric seat warmers.

Once the car heater kicked in it wasn’t quite so bad, and after a full workout at the gym, 1 hour cardio, followed by 20 minutes of weights, I was really warm.  Toasty in fact.

So you can imagine how shocked I was to look outside the gym windows and see it was snowing outside.  Wet snow, you could see the flakes falling but as they hit the ground they were melting.  So pretty much just frosty rain flakes.

Of course by this stage my t-shirt was soaked through from my workout (I shower and change at the gym if I’m not going out afterwards), the walk from the gym to the car was very cold, to say the least.

Since then, I’ve dropped Mark at work, had a shower and changed, looked out the window, and lo and behold, it’s snowing properly.  More frosty whiteness on the world.  The photo looks a little grainy, that’s not bad resolution, that’s snowflakes caught mid-fall.  Pretty cool!

At least I’m nice and warm inside, and the pets are all inside enjoying the heater as well.

There’s only 4.5 hours to go until my phone interview, so I think I’m going to sneak in a nap.  I wonder how much snow there’ll be when I wake up.

I hope not too much.  The last time it snowed like this it took me 4 hours to drive the distance to pick Mark up from work, a trip that usually takes 40 minutes.

We’ll see what happens.  I recorded some snow falling footage for you.  Have a look for yourself.  If it’s unavailable when you look, you may have to come back.  The file was still being processed by YouTube at the time it was uploaded to my blog.

On the upside, more snow, means that when I finally go snowboarding (for the first time) in the next couple of weeks, there’ll be plenty of snow cover.

Hope you’re all enjoying Summer back in Australia, I’d be happy to do a slight trade with you.  A little warmth for a little cool, I’ll even throw in some rain.

More progress…

I have a phone interview tomorrow for the job I mentioned in my last posting.

Yay!  Wish me luck!

Even if I’m unsuccessful, I’ll be happy!  But I feel confident, the only thing standing in my way is sponsorship for a Visa…

Just one more for the road… “Woohoo!”

The tides are turning… maybe…

Things are looking up…

I had a huge day at the gym yesterday.  If I thought I’d been punished on Friday…  Man, was I wrong…

Friday saw the inclusion of some weight work, which is always fun, but I was pushed this time to work harder than I’ve worked in years, and just when I thought it was all over, my lovely trainer smiled, and told me to do pushups.  *laugh*

I have to admit I felt great afterwards, but over the weekend could barely lift my arms over my head.  If I thought Friday was punishing, by comparison to yesterday, Friday was foreplay.  Yesterday I burned…  increased weights, longer repetitions, and a lot of funny faces pulled by me while doing them.

I have to say too, it’s damn hard to maintain your concentration when you look up and see someone walking towards you dressed in a manner that’s not so complimentary…

People, please note… Spandex/Lycra has a shelf life when it comes to who should and shouldn’t wear it.  Anyone can wear it as a support / undergarment, it’s practical.  But please if you’re not some form of god/goddess please wear something over it, ALL the time.

Essentially a rather middle aged lady was wearing spandex/lycra pants, all in all this wasn’t such a bad thing, the problem was that just as I looked up I caught an eye full of “camel toe”, and let me just promise you this, it wasn’t pretty, and my concentration was shattered as I collapsed in laughter, and I really tried not to laugh, but failed dismally.

So that was the day at the gym.

In the afternoon, I came home to find a comment from FoxFM in response to yesterday’s post and email, so G’day Guys!  Interesting segment this morning on “sortings ones self out” *laugh*.

From there it was in the car and off to get Mark from work, during which I received a phonecall.  This is the good bit, so pay attention.

The call was from a new friend; Sam, who works for a company based not too far from where we live.  A little over a week ago he advised me that they were advertising for staff.  So I applied.  His call was to tell me that HR were apparently so impressed with my resume that they marched it across the office, and handed it to the hiring manager.

How excitement!  I know that nothing is guaranteed, but this is the most feedback or attention I’ve had in regards to my resume in all the time that I’ve been applying for jobs here, and in total there’s been nearly 300 applications.  My not having a working permit here has been the biggest hurdle.  So it was a little exciting to hear anything at all.

Moving on.  Dropped Mark at work this morning, hit the gym again for an hour of cardio (45 minutes treadmill and 15 minutes elliptical), grabbed a vanilla, whey, and peanut butter protein shake for lunch (it tastes so much better than it sounds!), and jumped in the car to find I’d missed a phone call.
A phone call from the company in possession of my resume, with a request for me to contact them to discuss my application.  Believe me, I’ll keep you updated on any progress.  To be honest, it’s not my ideal job, but it is one I can do with my eyes shut, which may be a bonus as I keep forgetting I wear glasses (for new readers I’ve only needed them for 3 months), and leave them at home.   If I get it, I’ll be ecstatic, if I don’t, well it’s an ego boost regardless that they were interested enough to call, despite my not having working authorisation.

Woohoo!

So that’s my day.  Time to shower and get out into the world.

Have an awesome day!

Quality… Finally!

Today is a great day! 

I’ve mentioned in the past that since moving to the U.S.A. that I’ve been a little unimpressed with the offerings available on television and radio.  Cable and Satellite broadcasts mean you have literally hundreds of channels to choose from, however there’s just not that much of interest to this “boy from oz”.

Television is easily overcome with DVD’s, radio hasn’t been quite so easily dodged.  Granted we’ve got CD’s, and the iPod has come in very handy, in that we can plug it into the car and play music we actually like.

We’ve gone a step better…

Last year Mark and I got new phones.  Being the tech-savvy geek that he is, he simply had to have the best, latest, sparkliest, techno gadget available at the time.
I generally get the hand me downs.  The flow on effects of living with a geek can be beneficial, you may always be slightly behind the times technology-wise, but the upgrades/replacements tend to happen regularly.

This time though, there was a buy-1-get-1-free sale on.  So we both got sparkly, clever, gadgetty, thing-a-ma-whats-it, phones.  Clever phones they are too, they have all the gadgets a geek could want, and for the lesser geeks (me!), they make phone calls, and let you send text messages.
What more could a boy want?
The Internet access has been a bonus though, especially in the not too distant past, when we had several days of no power, phone, heat, television.
Sitting in the house playing Uno by candlelight only has a limited shelf life as far as entertainment’s concerned.

Back to the music…  Since leaving the shores of Australia in August of last year (2006), one of the things I’ve missed, aside from family and friends, has been listening to Melbourne radio, primarily Fox FM (101.9).

For years I’ve spent hours in my car driving to and from my place  of work, or visiting family and friends and have listened to Fox pretty much since it’s inception.

My favourite time of the day to listen has primarily been the morning breakfast show.  From the days of hosts; DD and Grubby, through Matt and Tracey, to Matt, Jo, Adam and Troy I’ve been an avid listener.  So it was disappointing to no longer be able to tune in and listen to the Matt and Jo Show, except from via my computer.  The jokes, pranks, ‘Gotcha Calls’, back and forth banter all used to ensure I spent my morning with a smile and a laugh.

But hang on…  Computer…  Internet, gadgetty phone…  I wonder…

… and I wondered correctly, I mentioned in passing a short time ago to Mark, that it’s a shame we can’t listen to Fox via the phone and stream it through the car.  Seems we can, and as of Friday, we now have the appropriate connections.

*HAPPY DANCE*

This morning was the first time since leaving Australia, that I’ve had my favourite radio station blaring from my car stereo speakers.  I’ve already drawn some strange looks from fellow drivers, it’s probably a first for them that they’ve heard Australian accents coming from a car stereo, let alone decent radio programming and quality music.

So colour me happy, and there’s an additional bonus.  I no longer have to get up early to enjoy the show.  In Australia it airs from 6am to 9am Monday to Friday, being in Seattle, Washington, allowing for time zones, I get to listen from 11am – 2pm Tuesday to Saturday.  Sweet, sweet bliss.

Feel like listening your self?  Go for it, Listen live to FoxFM.

I miss home, I miss my friends and family, but I’m no longer missing my radio favourites, although that is making me miss home all that much more…

So a big hello to Matt, Jo, Troy, Adam and the team, and to all my friends and family back in Australia.

Seems a little ironic that the current song I’m listening to is “I’m not missin’ you“…  I am though, really, I am!

I think I might email them and see if I can get them to leave a comment on my blog.  Won’t that be fun!

*times passes*

Ok, email has been sent.  Cross your fingers.  They have my email, name and a contact number, how cool.
Let’s hope that I don’t miss anything while I’m at the gym; which will be until 7.30am Melbourne time.

Have an awesome day!  I know I’m going to!

***Update 3.39pm

I got a comment from Troy, the anchor of the show…  Check out the comments.  I told you these guys were good!

Change of plans

I skipped the Martini… and had a bottle of champagne instead; Korbel Extra Dry, economical and a damn fine drop.

Chores done, bottle finished, time for bed.

A great day! *grin*

Martini motivation…

It’s a little after 11.30 Sunday morning at the moment, and the house needs to be cleaned, washing done, movies to be watched and returned to NetFlix, and other sundry chores to be done, and I have absolutely unequivocally no motivation to do any of it.

That is until it occurred to me that today is the first day in a while that I’m germ and antibiotic free and that I can have a drink, and I’ve been utterly gagging for one.

So, the motivation today…  Clean the house, get the chores done and then get absolutely knackered on dirty martini’s…  Well not totally, as I’ve a gym session in the morning, and I’m still sore from the last one.  The last thing I want to do is hit the gym partially maggotted and then be pushed through a grueling session.

I could barely lift my arms over my head yesterday from Friday’s efforts.  *laugh*

Well best go, the washing machine just finished, there’s more to be done, and until I find a magic wand, manual labour is going to have to suffice.

Cheerio for now!  Maybe I’ll be back a little later on.

Not everything gets better with age…

Resentment for one thing.  Bottle it up and it most certainly doesn’t get better.  It festers and turns bitter,  and continues to do so.
Not pleasant…  But moving on.

Saturday is drawing to a close, the weekend is half over, and then it’ll be another non-work week ahead of me.  Which is something that is starting to annoy me beyond words.  Giving up my career to move here, is something I’m really starting to regret doing, and if things don’t improve in the relatively near future, I’m going to seriously reconsider my options.

That may entail either another country, or perhaps returning to Australia.  We’ll just have to see.

Don’t go trying to unravel this post and analyse what the meaning behind any of it is, as I can pretty much guarantee you that you’ll be 1000% wrong, unless of course you’ve inside knowledge, which one or two of you do.

I think I’m going to go make a martini, read for a while, then watch Running with Scissors, I may even do some scissor running myself just to see how it works out.

Hooroo!

Melts in your mouth not in your hand

Another day over, and the weekend is almost here.

My workout today was great, more weights work was incorporated, by the end of which my arms were trembling just holding the car steering wheel on the way home.  I also got told the great news that in the last couple of weeks I’ve lost 4kg of fat, and gained 2kg of lean muscle.  Gotta love that.

Only another 400kg to go…  Kidding…

Speaking of gym, Mark has been going once a week too.  I commented recently, that with any luck he’d finally be able to open his own jars…  Apparently he’s not reached that stage yet…  *laugh*  As I was typing this post he came in, jar in hand, and asked me to open it for him.  Poor little computer nerd.

After all that I came home, showered, had a salad and a protein shake for lunch, then had a nap, before heading to the airport to collect Brad from his holiday in Australia, his first in 5 years.  Welcome back Brad!

Interestingly enough, now that I’m home, I have a craving for chocolate, which is most unusual for me, as generally I can completely live without it.  As I’m trying to be good, I found a way around my craving by having a large caffe mocha.  It certainly took the edge off, and in a healthier way than eating/gorging on a chocolate bar.

Chocolate still on the brain, it seemed the universe was trying to tell me something when I stumbled across the Become an M&M website where you can design your own M&M character.  Which of course I simply had to do.

So now, I melt in your mouth, not in your hand.  *evil laugh*

Check me out…  I’m an M&M, I’d have to suggest that I’m a Peanut M&M, I’m definitely a little nuts.

Morning glory

Like a lot of people, I’m not the best at remembering important dates.

Actually that’s not entirely true, in fact it’s almost entirely inaccurate, but I am easily distracted, which often means I’ll lose concentration and something may be accidentally  overlooked, a very bad occurrence when you’re involved in a lot of project management, which I have been in the past.

Because of this I learnt a very long time ago to become a very avid calendar updater.  In fact until relatively recently I still had the birthdays of employees that I’ve not worked with for over 7 years in my calendar, and the installation dates of all the sites I’ve worked on, commissioned or upgraded over the course of nearly a decade.  Most of them of course have since been deleted, but there are a small number birthdays that I’ve kept for people whom I’m still in contact with today.

Just to be sure I’ve never missed these birthdays, a couple of years ago I edited them all (it took hours believe me) and put a reminder on them.  So two days before each birthday a reminder would pop up on my screen, and I’d either action it immediately with an early birthday greeting via email, or get a card happening.
Often to the surprise and delight of the recipient, who very often exclaimed “I can’t believe you remembered!”

Well I guess the secrets out.  I didn’t remember.  I’m just organised.

Of course over the years of merging / importing calendars from old computer equipment, and changing jobs, backing up handheld computers (palm/pocket PC’s), and now PC-phone I’ve ended up with a few duplicate dates, and a lot of superfluous (it’s so rare that I get to use that word… and so VERY polysyllabic of me *laugh*) events.
You have absolutely no idea what all these years of exporting/importing/merging/synchronising across different peripherals did to my contact list either, that alone is another story, one that took four full days to rectify.  Grrr!

Back to the calendar…  So, I spent yet more time and effort going through my calendar weeding out all the duplicates, categorising (aka colour coding) the events, and ensuring that all the important dates were catered for.

All was going well.  That is, until I moved from Australia to the U.S.A.  Different timezones will screw with anything, they’re not restricted to bodyclocks, and confusing friends and relatives so that they call you at bizarre hours of the morning / night only to question your state of consciousness and often abrupt tone at being roused from sleep.

I should probably point out at this stage, that over time (and it’s taken forever, they’re not the fastest at addressing user requirements) Microsoft has updated it’s Outlook Calendar to better enable customisation for personal and business needs.

Having worked in Information Technology (I.T.) for what is fast approaching two decades, in both roles that range from User, User-Support, Software Testing, to Distribution and Project Manager, I have noticed that in many (not all, there are some exceptions to the rule, although they’re pretty rare) a large majority of developers have become, over time, disconnected from what happens in the real world.  That is, how a user is likely to operate a system, and how an applications use should be intuitive.  Users are NOT predictable.

I know this as a user myself, and having worked in Support at varying levels am well aware of all the different sorts of “calls for assistance” that exist.  Including one of my personal favourites from a retail chain I worked for that utilised the numeric pad in a high percentage of data entry, where someone would call and request a new keyboard because the numbers weren’t working.  A new or inexperienced operator may have promptly told them to swap keyboards or ordered them a new one.  A more experienced (also interchangeable with “been here forever and slightly cynical”) operator would explain the location of the Num Lk button, advise the user to press it, then re-check the numbers.  99% of the time the problem was solved.

I digress… and quite extensively…  Back to the calendar and Microsoft…  Sometimes what works in theory or in a technical specification, does not, or is not entirely appropriate for the real world.

Since moving to the U.S.A, I’ve updated my calendar settings to include the timezones for my old and current locations.  A feature that I’d never noticed before (but then I’ve only ever lived in one timezone).  What I wasn’t aware of was that I would now have to go through every appointment manually and update the time that any reminders would activate.  Essentially, any date such as a birthday is now stretched across two time zones so that you’re able to tell what day it actually is in the country of the person celebrating the actual day, and the day that it falls on in the country that the calendar holder is in.  It’s Friday morning here, and back home it’s VERY early Saturday morning.  So a birthday that falls on Saturday 23rd in Australia, would also show on my calendar as Friday 22nd (remember it’s actually Saturday 23rd in Australia), and Saturday the 23rd for my location in the U.S.A.  Confused?  I’m not surprised.

Grrr… Currently with daylight savings, midnight in Melbourne, Australia, is 5am here in Kirkland, Washington.  Reminders of any form, except a purposely set alarm are very much uninvited at this time of the morning.

So, being wide awake now I’ve decided that it’s time to spend some time updating all the entries again to ensure that reminders all occur at a civilised hour…  Say 8am.

Oh, and Microsoft, Office 2007 is much improved on previous efforts, although it would have been nice had more information been released about the new location of many items.  I’ve been using it for a while now, and find it very acceptable, but the day I installed it, I very nearly sent it back to you in a ticking parcel.

That’s my whinge/whine for the morning, it’s time for another cuppa, before I start “dickin’” around with my calendar settings again, then it’s off to the gym for another training session.

Have a great day, and if I’ve missed your birthday, or it’s coming up, well I guess you’d better leave me a comment with the date so I can put it in my calendar.

Cheers!

Mattel launches new Barbie Collection for Washington State

There’s always a place or location in every country where people have pre-conceived notions about what the people are like, or the socio-economic status of the area is.

I try not to judge people on their appearance, especially having spent many, many years working in retail, where more often than not, the people who looked like they’d be awful to deal with were absolutely lovely, courteous, and friendly, and where those who looked like they had money, well dressed, well presented, were nothing but rude, and deserving of a slap in the kisser.  Although socks with sandals, or white socks with black pants and shoes, and I’m sorry but my morals go out the window and I’ll judge you unfavourably almost instantly.  That sort of crime trumps all levels of acceptance.

That being said, I received an email today (Thanks Rich!) that very comically “takes the piss” (makes fun of) out of, several Washington State suburbs in the Seattle area.

Although I’ve only been here a little over 6 months, I’ve heard a lot of the stories, or comments.
As it stands there’s an obvious divide between people who live on the West side of Lake Washington, and those who live on the East.
Why I don’t know…  and really I’m not interested in the reasons, I take people on face value.  Treat me well, and I’ll return the favour.

So, at risk of offending someone, which I’m really pretty accustomed to, as there are days I should just keep my mouth well and truly shut, I give to you the Barbie collection…

Mattel recently announced the release of limited-edition Barbie Dolls for the Seattle market:

“ Mercer Island Barbie”

This princess Barbie is sold only at Bellevue Square. She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey and a McMansion on Lake Washington. Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with the augmented version.

“ Sammamish Plateau Barbie”

The modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Windstar Minivan and matching gym outfit. She gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation. Traffic jamming cell phone sold separately.

“ Tacoma Barbie”

This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, a Ray Lewis knife,a Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only available after dark and must be paid for in cash (preferably small, untraceable bills) …unless you are a cop, then we don’t know what you are talking about.

“ Medina Barbie”

This yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of BMW convertible or Hummer H2. Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card and country club membership. Also available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. You won’t be able to afford any of them.

“ Kent Barbie”

This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too small, a NASCAR t-shirt and tweety bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Bud light and a Hank Williams Jr. CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken’s butt when she is drunk. Purchase her pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free.

“ Carnation Barbie”

This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of Southside Barbie’s house. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a see-through halter-top. Also available with a mobile home.

“ Fremont Barbie”

This doll is made of actual tofu. She has long straight brown hair, arch-less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her Willow . She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Fremont Barbie’s and the optional Subaru wagon, you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.

“ SeaTac Barbie”

This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll. Optional accessories include a GED and bus pass. Gangsta Ken and his 1979 Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of the infant.

“ Capital Hill Barbie/Ken”

This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by simply adding or subtracting the multiple snap-on parts.