Thanks God It's Friday - I Can Have Whine

Finally, the heatwave we've been suffering under for the past few days has broken. I'll give you an idea of how hot it was on Wednesday: at 5:30pm I put out a load of laundry. Now, the spin cycle on my washing machine doesn't work very well, so the clothes were still pretty soaked. At 6:30pm I went out to the bins, and checked the washing on the line; most of the lighter items were dry, and even the heavy towels were no more than slightly damp. Now that is a hot day.

The arrival of summer also means the non-ratings period on the TV. That means, for those of us too poor for pay TV, we have nothing to watch for the next few months than re-run, mostly American, drivel. Ugh! It seems to me to be a chicken-and-egg situation; is no one watching because the programming is so poor, or is programming so poor because no one is watching? I plump for the former. Think of all the free time people have over the Xmas/New Year break, and especially with the long school holidays; surely if there was something better to watch, wouldn't people be in front of the TV? As it is, I think the local video store (well, DVD store - for some reason, despite the supremacy of the DVD, people still refer to "the video store") will be making alot more profit from myself in the months ahead.

The title of this post refers to the fact that, for some bizaare reason I can't remember, I've given up drinking during the week. This at first led to an unexpected side effect - feeling much worse the next day, as I wasn't sleeping well. I bought a bottle of valerian, which helped somewhat, but is really no subsitute for a few cleansing vodkas before bed. Last night I cracked, and had a couple of beers. It should have been a wonderful thing after a week of sobriety, but in reality it just meant a night of poor sleep interspersed with frequent tips to the bathroom. Get completely trashed or don't bother at all, that's my philosophy from here on!

They always say that the first part of you that ages is your hands. It's certainly happening to me. I may still get asked for ID (and last week I was actually refused purchase in a bottle shop because my ID is out of date, and "you don't look 18"!) but my hands look like a those of a woman who's approaching 30 and has led a somewhat dissolute life. Lush have some good handcreams (see my previous post) so I must check them out!

Don't you hate it, when you stumble across a great website, don't bookmark it, and then can never find it again? It happened with the graphics site which I used to create the title of this blog. I can't remember how I found it, and subsequent searches (using lots of different keywords), checks of my net history etc, have failed to locate it again. I have absolutely no idea what the site name was, and have given it up as a lost cause.

My job involves alot of analysis and number crunching. Whilst I love the fact that I don't have to deal directly with the customers, anything to do with numbers does not come easily to me, and I really need to concentrate. Unfortunately, the sales staff are continuously popping into my cubicle with questions, updates, problems etc; with the result that I lose my train of thought and have to start over (which I really don't have the time for). I'm too timid to ask people to stop interrupting me...man, I wish I had my old office! But it's been converted into a "relaxation room".

I've just come across a likely candidate for "stupidest customer ever". One of the sales people faxed a contract to a customer, with an X in the box for her signature, and a handwritten note saying "please sign here" in the space below. So where did she sign? Right beside the note. I bet all her friends wear "I'm with stupid" t-shirts, and she doesn't understand why...

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Well it's the 30th anniversary of the

Whitlam dismissal. I was going to write a brief analysis, but there's been so much else written on the issue elsewhere. I'll just provide you with a few good links:
ABC News summary of events
Interview with Gough Whitlam
Interview with Malcolm Fraser

Also, it's interesting to reflect on the fact that Malcolm Fraser is now revered as a champion of human rights, republicanism, reconcilliation - everything, basically, that the current Liberal government does not stand for. Barry Jones, ALP Federal President, has said that if Fraser wanted it, he'd be granted life membership in the ALP but said "I think Fraser is more of an independent." In any case, here's a story on the relationship between Fraser and Whitlam now...