koalaguy's Blog

I've been leaving my window open at night, a lot lately, to allow some of the heat in my room to escape.

I set my alarm early so that I can get up and close the window before the heat of the next day gets a chance to ruin any reduction in temperature achieved overnight; which usually isn't much.

A couple of days ago when I did this, I got up, closed the window and went back to bed.

I woke about 4 hours later after having a pretty vivid dream about battening down the hatches in the home that I grew up in; knowing that some unnamed dread was going to raise its ugly head once the sun went down.

It's been quite a while since I've had a dream that I could remember with any clarity.  Maybe all the 2012 Mayan hoopla is getting to me 

the Spanish Inquistion!  Our chief weapons are surprise, fear, a r-(roll the r's)-uthless efficiency and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope!

It's that time of year again when the government asks me to interrogate my fellow housemates about their name, age and when they moved in and how much rent they're paying.

One of my housemates has already capitulated... and I didn't even get to use the thumbscrews :-(

What my housemates pay in rent has absolutely no bearing on how much I have to pay in rent.  It's calculated individually by the property manager, but that's not what the government wants to hear.

They (the govt) don't want to know, for instance, should all of the other housemates move out suddenly and I was the only person left, I would still be paying the same amount of rent.  It's not shared accommodation in the usual sense of the word.

I'm waiting to ambush the next victim when he comes home from work.

I love Michael Crichton's stories.  I get a chance to read a good story and learn something at the same time.

I've been eyeing his book "Micro" for some time now and finally decided to buy a copy so that I could enjoy it during the New Year long weekend.  The book was apparently unfinished when Michael passed away, so it was finished by Richard Preston.

I haven't read any of Richard Preston's work before, but I think I'll be looking for his name in the bookstands soon.  Learning should be entertaining :-)

I'm reading Ghost Watch by David Rollins - an Aussie author - and thoroughly enjoying it.

I've read a number of his books and he's been good value.  His writing seems to be improving with each book.

I heard someone mention super string theory and it occurred to me that someone should tie in duct tape as part of what's holding everything together.  Someone else had the same thought and posted it about 4 years ago. 
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s5i21568

On a more serious note, the people at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) are trying to see if there's evidence for the existence or non-existence of the Higgs boson and hope to have something to report soon.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/large-hadron-collider/8942375/Large-Hadron-Collider-scientists-may-see-first-glimpse-of-Higgs-boson-next-week.html

Update ===========================
The guys at the LHC were pleased with the results of their tests, but still haven't quite been able to say whether the Higgs boson exists or not.  They reckon they're closing in on that answer though.  Hopefully some time in 2012.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/science-technology/Fermilab-Scientists-Optimistic-About-Finding-Higgs-Boson-Particle-135706678.html

I finished reading John Birmingham's "Angels of Vengeance" today.

I borrowed it from the library and I'm glad that I did.  Otherwise I would've been forking out $25.00 for it and, on my rather limited budget, it wasn't going to be worth outlaying the money for it.

Maybe it's just me, but I think Mr Birmingham's writing peaked with his "Axis of Time" trilogy.  His latest works ("Without Warning", "After America" and "Angels of Vengeance") were entertaining in some parts, and probably not a million miles from what could happen given the initial events in "Without Warning," but I got the feeling that he was coasting on the success of his previous work.

I went to donate blood yesterday.

Last time they had difficulty finding the vein in my left arm, and had to dig around a bit to get it.  Not pleasant at all.

I assumed that the difficulty they had, getting the needle into the vein last time, was because I hadn't had enough to drink before.

So this time, I had so much to drink I was racing to the bathroom every few minutes.  LMAO!

It had no effect on my veins though.

This time, they couldn't get anything from my left arm, in spite of digging enthusiastically.  They asked if they could also have a go at my right arm, which had some promising looking veins.

The promising looking veins could be accused of false advertising because the nurse had similar difficulty getting a good vein from my right arm.

I mentioned to them that Mum had trouble with collapsing veins and they reckoned I'd probably inherited that.  Bummer!

They finally got what they wanted, but I'm feeling a bit bruised this morning.

Where do I begin?

Almost anyone who has taken public transport in Adelaide will know how awful it can be.

You can wait for a bus which never shows up and then the next scheduled bus can be 15 to 30 minutes late.

I was trying to explain this to my gov't contact today, but she wasn't getting it.

That's not my only gripe.  My lower back is very sensitive to bumps and vibration these days.  I can arrive at my destination almost in tears from the bus driver lurching to a stop, then lurching again as the bus takes off for the next stop.

Then there are those adventurous bus drivers for whom roundabouts, median strips and curbs are objects to be bounced over, like a kid on a skateboard; while I clutch onto the seat in front of me, gritting my teeth against the discomfort as the bus slams down onto the road again.

There are a number of buses that vibrate throughout the entire trip.

This hyper-sensitivity in my lower back has come to my attention during the last couple of years.  Many years ago, my younger body would've shrugged off such discomfort, but I'm not so fortunate now.

I spoke with my GP about my problem and he suggested Voltaren Emulgel and Panadol.

The point of all of this was that I was trying to explain to my gov't contact that travelling for any length of time to a job site was going to have an impact on my ability to function.

When you're in pain, fatigue sets in sooner.

As so often happens when I'm agitated, I forget some important details; and I had completely forgotten about my lower back during the appointment today.  That is, until I got on the bus to ride home.

Sanvean by Lisa Gerrard.

I heard this on The West Wing (Season 5, Episode 1).  It's worth seeing that episode if you get the chance.  Watching the preceding episodes might be good too :-)

Last week marked one month of taking long walks every second day.  I was hoping to lose some weight.  I figured a day in between would allow my feet to recover a bit.

I checked my weight last week and it was the same as it was a month before.  The scale is digital, so I don't think it's broken.

So, this last week, I've been walking every day and doing some other exercises with the hope that something will start to have an effect on this excess baggage I'm carrying around.

I can't complain too much.  I saw a guy in the supermarket a while ago who would've made about 4 of me, but we were roughly the same height.  My genetic makeup isn't as bad as it could be.

I'll keep plugging away at it.  I'll either lose weight or my legs will fall off.  LOL

When my power supply went out of action, it apparently managed to flip one of the settings (AHCI - Advanced Host Controller Interface) in my BIOS which rendered the machine incompatible with Windows XP.

Luckily the guys at the computer store picked this up and didn't charge me for that particular problem.  They'd charged me labour costs for figuring out that my power supply was out of action, then $100 for the new power supply (I remember when a power supply only cost about $15 to $20.  It wasn't that long ago).

I really wouldn't have been able to afford any more new parts at the moment, so I was bracing myself for the possibility that I'd have to pick up the machine, unfixed, and wait for a month or so until I had enough money to get some repairs done.

I didn't have to re-install Windows, as the guys at the computer shop thought initially.  They assumed the error message they were getting was suggesting that Windows had been corrupted and needed to be re-installed.

:-)

I've been eating healthier foods with the idea that I could shed some pounds, but it hasn't had any noticeable effect.

My brother asked if I was exercising.  I don't have a car, so I do a fair bit of walking.

When I was living with my sister a few years ago, I lost 20lbs.  We were eating a fair bit of bread, so the exercise that I had from walking up and down the hills near her place was obviously negating the potential weight gain (I was doing most of the grocery shopping).

Last Friday I decided to try walking, uninterrupted for 60 mins a day to see if that helped at all.  It's Tuesday now and I've just arrived home from my fifth trek.  I think I may be shedding some weight, but it's probably too early to really tell yet.

Weight fluctuates throughout the day, so it can look like you're losing weight, when you're really not losing it permanently.

I'm pursuing the lengthy process of applying for government work in 2012.  My govt contact was pleased with the progress that I'd made, but I'm not getting my hopes up just yet.  There's a lot more work to be done and there's no guarantee, at the end of it all, that I'll get any work.

Still, if the world ends in 2012 - after having done all this preparation - I'll be very irritated.  LOL

My back has been giving me grief during the last few weeks.  I've tried heat to ease the pain and that's helped a bit, but I'm back to square one after each bus ride.

My left elbow has been sore for weeks.  I'm guessing it's RSI, but from what, I don't know.  It's not like I'm typing one-handed.

The rest of my body has decided the back was getting too much attention, so it decided to pick up a virus.  I have a sore throat to go with my back, and elbow, now.  I'm drinking water and pineapple juice to combat it.

I guess I can't complain too much.  I'm not sick nearly as much as I was when I was a kid.

My sister's friend asked me for help - with some math problems - again last night.  It was late and we were both a bit wiped out, but still managed to get some good work done.

I was glad that she called again.  I felt that the first session, while productive, wasn't as good as it could have been.  I felt better prepared the second time because I had a better idea of the problems that she was facing.

I've tutored quite a few people over the years, but it's only been connected with anything involving computers.

My sister, who seems to think more of my ability that I do, has asked me to help a friend understand fractions, decimals and percentages for a numeracy test.

In school, I was the kid kept in the classroom at recess and lunch because I struggled to understand the basics.

I went to night school to learn Year 11 math.  I didn't pass the first year.  Admittedly, I was doing it after a full day of work and was travelling out to the opposite side of town from where I was living, to do it.  I fell asleep in that class at least once.

The second year, the course was offered much closer to home.  I managed to scrape by with a pass that time.

Many years later, I studied high school level mathematics at university.  The teachers there were very good.  I think I learned more in that one year than all of my years in primary and high school.  Still, don't ask me to solve any calculus problems.

I did formal studies in computer programming from 1992 to 2002.  During that time, I gained a better appreciation of algebra.

Still, I reckon they could've found someone better to help them.

I scoured the library and the web today for anything that would help jog my memory and make the whole process less painful for the person I'm supposed to be helping.  I'll be seeing them Tuesday.  I should be ready by then.

I do a lot of waiting.  Waiting for buses, waiting in queues.

Sometimes when I'm in a queue that's moving very slowly, I picture people in the queue pitching tents, setting up an improvised rotisserie over a campfire and digging a latrine trench.

One of the tenants here has moved out.  He was a moody, messy character.  I hope whoever replaces him is a bit more of a people person.

I get Facebook emails occasionally telling me:

"Hi Koalaguy,
You haven't been back to Facebook recently. You have received notifications while you were gone.
 
  1 photo tag 
 
Thanks,
The Facebook Team"

So, I try following the photo tag link and it takes me to the Facebook login page.  Considering the link is named "photo tag", it would be reasonable to assume that logging in would take you to the thing that they're talking about, but... oh nooooo.  Instead, I'm presented with the "Find Friends" screen, which is useless considering they're bugging me about something that I needed to see, but they're not prepared to show it to me.

I'm reasonably tech savvy, so I wonder how anyone who struggles with computers ever gets any sense out of Facebook.

Fischer-Z - The Perfect Day (from their 1987 album "Reveal")