Monday 30 April 2007

I Will Not Work For Peanuts

28 and 29 April – After completing a favourable quantity of tasks rolled over McMahons way to play with the hills – high quality pirate films and foodstuffs were consumed and other activities engaged in ... Not the planned activities for the night but things eminently more sensible presumably.  Slept in for the second day running which is always a weekend bonus and attempted to bridge a gap or two with pancakes but was thwarted by the Nestle company and the determination of the one who is probably not an enemy but may as well be.  Took the housemate on a fixie training lesson at Centennial – took forever to switch the pedals around on the two girls but eventually managed (liberal usage of grease should prevent that particular problem reoccurring) - beautiful day and had to do SOMETHING outside or it would have wasted.  Rest of the afternoon was more web labours in exchange for sweetmeats ... A definite fair trade one would suppose.

Sunday 29 April 2007

The Stakes Are High, The Players Are Higher

27 and 28 April – Steely skies and a morning chill did not bode well for today but the rain never really started and the coolness of the day made for very comfortable riding – no amazing routing and not a huge number of trips but some very good quality and quite a bit of indy stuff to make it interesting.  Any fears that the constant rejecting of jobs has put me in the bad books were quelled very nicely.  Best laid evening plans were for a poker night – most of the usual suspects were present – none were wearing dinner jackets so any hopes of re-enacting a James Bond-esque high stakes feel were out of the question and we were also missing the always entertaining Scottish friend but James did bring an Irish replacement whose hyperactivity was a very interesting replacement.  My performance was disappointingly shocking and was the first to bow out of what turned out to be a rather epically long game – initially Dave the housemate pulled ahead and seemed certain to take the event but a steadily smoking and drinking and ever so confident James whittled him away until he found himself chipless but not chipper-less.  However, it was the dour and determined Adrian who really seems to take this game far too seriously for his own good who took out the prize – main benefit is that his victory will ensure that he gets the wife’s permission to play another night.  Far too late to have a second game by the time it finished and the drunk and the stoned slowly made their way out – the next day after a hearty breakfast of pancakes (standard yoghurt and wholemeal recipe but eaten with yoghurt, maple syrup and frozen blueberries for a delicious change of pace – the frozen blueberries almost taste like ice blocks and could even be preferable to having them baked into the cake itself) I was suitably shocked to read a couple of TXTs from James informing me that he was mugged up the road from my house.  After speaking to him it turned out that it was just next door to the police station – its been so long since I’ve had any personal trouble that I’ve kind of forgotten that this area can be a little dangerous – especially for the intoxicated.  However, he did the absolute sensible thing which was to just hand over his cash and he escaped any major hurt and even managed to keep his credit cards and phone (which, while being physically replaceable are always the most bureaucratic thing to sort out).  Took Chevette to the bike shop for a bit of work by the artisans (as per usual, a contingent of couriers were there attending to their own pieces of business) and afterwards may have stolen a coffee and snack from a Newtown café (I don’t think it was intentional but it could have been subliminal).

Friday 27 April 2007

Capital Crime

26 April – A late confirmation of the requirement for my web building skillz brought me over to Willoughby for a bit of a hack at the Link website (www.linkplastics.com) and despite background noise of the indecision of what to name a fake type of wood it was a remarkably fruitful session. Much stress in fiddling with table column widths and one of my co-workers (???) committed the unforgivable sin of laying out a document with spaces – a crime so heinous and foul that I came very close to a mental breakdown and considered shutting down the entire operation.  Level heads prevailed.  A beautiful day on the streets on Thursday – the rains had ceased and the air was crisp and clean – usual crap from the router but managed to channel my way through it with some very creative routing of my own and after all was said and done it turned out to be one of the best days in ages in terms of number of trips, number of units and overall personal satisfaction.  Apparently was almost assaulted as I skidded through an intersection (George and King – site of the last accident no less) on the tail end of the yellow light but didn’t notice and only found out when Pretty Boy informed whilst I et my luncheon.  Stevo and Kate were in town with the latest courier baby – always nice to see the next generation – does make one think though ... Uneventful evening with a substandard pizza and an overlong movie about the CIA which kept me up way beyond the bedtime I should be sticking to.

Wednesday 25 April 2007

My God Is A Vengeful God

24 and 25 April – Once again, woke to the sounds of bucketing rain and once again missed the worst of it by having the fortitude to be the late guy.  However, this wasn’t to last and the weather was alternatively a little bit crap and a whole lot crap.  First delivery of the day to the accursed Macquarie Bank had a little slide out that stunned me a little but managed to stay upright for the rest of the day despite a few near misses.  Cracked the mythical third page for the first time in a long time but no real quality – had to decline quite a bit of indy stuff due to the machinations of the machine.  A few mechanical issues like chain flying off and wrapping itself around the crank on George St after a few little bumps and my lock completely seized up – sprayed it with some sort of lubricant at the bike shop and it just made it worse – eventually it just stopped working which was unfortunate as the bike was free locked and it took me 10 minutes to work it free but eventually got a different kind of oil and it worked without too much issue for the rest of the day.  Evening involved the most consumption of alcomohol for a very long time with a birthday of a friend of a “friend” - overpriced intoxicants (with admittedly free food) were imbibed in great plenty – there was no need to get the duelling pistols out but apparently the housemate had my back if required.  The Greeks know how to party (in that I mean that they know how to drink anyway).  Was forced to put the light out far too early (3am!  What do you mean lights out???) and it took excessive quantities of unethical pig meat, ethical eggs and bread, cheese and coffee of indeterminate moral condition to bring me back to the real world.  No sooner had digested this than was forced out to consume an Anzac Day luncheon of mostly fried yum cha.  No two-up or beer of any kind due to previous night’s festivities which I know is very unAustralian but, by God, sometimes a boy just needs a break.

Monday 23 April 2007

The Blasphemer

22 and 23 April – A much of a muchness for some of the day before we eventually headed to the SCG so that we could see some Rockin’ for Our Rights in the anti-IR protest/concert being held there.  Got there rather late so missed most of it and what bands we did see played two songs each which was great if the band was crap but disappointing if you wanted to see some more of them.  Not really sure of my presence at the protest considering I don’t belong to a union and I don’t really seem to suffer from the new IR laws nor will I benefit from the proposed reforms to said laws – considering the the life of the immortal class is not really one of the better protected industries in the world (although it gives me a chip on my shoulder and sometimes I like having that hole).  Drank a bit and almost fell asleep watching a movie.  Did get a nasty feeling from the bright flashes of lightning that I could see out my window but the rains were just a little blattering so didn’t pay it too much mind.  Upon waking on Monday morning to the blasting of heavenly sent buckets I did start to regret opening my eyes but luckily for me doing the late start by the time I rolled out of the house most of the rain had stopped and there was just the occasional drizzle.  Nothing terribly taxing throughout the day but the wet made everything completely slick and I was sliding all over the place: lane splitting and loading docks caused the most trouble with some nasty near misses and could have beens making me wonder, out aloud, whether all this could drive a boy back to the corporate world ...  That was a mistake because I said it out aloud to B-Rad who accused me of blasphemy and proceeded to tell all and sunder my heretic rantings.  Twas miserable and I had a moment of jovial weakness – and I would like to see those who mocked me actually experience the real wet.  Until you have done the west coast Canadian winter you haven’t really lived.  All was a little crap throughout the day but totally tolerable and it would have remained that way had I not been riding down George St at the end of the day and had a car decide that my lane was better than his lane and he might just have it - knocked over and sustained some very nasty lacerations to my jacket (not to mention myself) - what a way to end the day.  Frantically tried to do stuff in the evening before entertaining the maternal unit in the depths of Redfern and then just licked my wounds hoping that the saliva had some antiseptic properties.

Sunday 22 April 2007

Paragon Of Delays

20 and 21 April – Despite previous day’s battering didn’t feel there was too much restraining me from heading in.  The only real issue was the gouge on my spine which was tolerable with careful positioning of the Chrome bag and the only real distance ride I had was out to Ultimo where I delivered a pillow (I’m pretty sure it was a pillow) that was lodged directly behind the folder making it rather comfortable followed by a t-shirt to Strawberry Hills which was also provided some half decent padding.  The Paragon did his usual annoying lifting but recovered a job as I passed the Citibank – finally got a chance to trick him at the end of the day by flipping Frangelica over to fixed – unfortunately did a rather sloppy job of it and left the chain lodged between the sprocket and the wheel making it moveable but unrideable and by the time he eventually decided to head back my way to trade her for his broken Rocket Ship all the other couriers had left and he didn’t have a 15mm spanner to flip her back.  It would have been hilarious if I’d done the flipping properly but as it was it meant him missing another chance to give her back.  I would have felt guilty had it not been for the fact that he could have swapped her on Thursday night when he was over at my house recharging another battery and what self respecting courier doesn’t carry around a 15mm spanner?  What if he’d had a flat the silly boy>  Sedate and pleasant dining in Newtown was followed by other activities (ah, Redfern) and an early start to head out to Cheeky in the morning for some Zen and the Art.  Despite getting an assurance that he’d be there at 10am sharp and speaking to him before I left the house and then calling him periodically throughout the morning the wretched messenger didn’t turn up until midday.  With various bits of assistance from a battered Cheeky John (Thursday was not a good day for courier-car relations), Cheeky Dave, Flash and even the Paragon took Frangelica to the next step of the evolution – switched brakes to American style and tuned them up a it and beautified her with some very nice synthetic white bar tape.  A stunning chromatic machine she is.  Most of the rest of the day was wasted working which is not weekends are about followed by a small amount of drinking and a night in with a couple of half decent fillums which kept me up till the wee hours.

Thursday 19 April 2007

The Paragon

The Paragon is a nice guy and can be very endearing in small doses.  He is well loved by many of the clients as I found out when doing his permanent runs over the Christmas break but, then again, they only have to deal with him in small doses.  He talks a lot and but doesn’t listen a lot.  A bit of a reputation as a scammer and is one of the worst offenders when it comes to picking things up that haven’t been assigned to him – the standard excuse of ‘well, it worked with what I was doing’ is often valid when the dispatching is particularly poor but quite often that job that was assigned to someone else often works just as well for them.  I don’t think he likes going to the west end of town and on more than one occasion after hearing him bitching about one particular job I’ve later found it burned and on my screen and that’s never very pleasant and quite often he likes you to know that he is in the know – when seeing him walking out of a building he seems to revel in guessing the job that you’re picking up (and he’s most likely rejected).  A bit of a poser but not the most stylistic of messengers I’ve known – the top tube surfing trick (his one and only trick?) looks great when you see it on a half page of the Telegraph but doesn’t look that great in real life.  And he drinks too much and I worry about that.

I Wish I Had A Sundial

18 and 19 April – A stopped clock is right twice a day but a clock set 15m fast is never right.  For some reason the microwave clock (and the primary communal timepiece in the household) has to be set 15m later for reasons I am not quite aware of.  Tried to decipher it with the help of Ace Investigator Jason Triples but could not pinpoint the reason – perhaps time will tell (so to speak).  A relatively smooth and relatively inefficient workday that involved a record number of visits to KPMG (the bottom of Sussex with a strenuous in and out journey from the heart of the city) and was especially hindered by a terrible streak of bad luck with the elevators. 10 Shelley is a great one for the abuse of the lifts – despite there only being one goods elevator it is generally not heavily used in the building – if unused it sits in its place at G and when summoned to B1 it takes minimal time to arrive - there , the smart courier can, after riding right to the edge of the car park, can jump in and hit 7 (KPMG mailroom) and 9 (next unsecured floor) - upon exiting the lift at 7 the courier hits the down button thereby calling the elevator back to the floor but not overriding its commitment to heading up to 9 – this gives approximately 40 seconds before the lift return to to take the courier back to the basement – ample time for getting signatures, pickup jobs and going to the toilet (a very respectable facility) - if the courier is only there to pick up he may not even send the lift to 9 and will just press the down and snatch up the trip and jump back in before the doors close (although there is the risk of loss of limbs should the sensors fail to detect).  This is the ideal situation – the lazy and stupid couriers replicate the ‘send to 9’ trick but send it to 15 instead – doubling the time for the lifts return but it’s really just not necessary – 40s should be enough for any courier, sometimes the lifts are called up just before the button is pressed, meaning an age before the lift fetches the courier, abuse can be copped from other couriers who don’t know about or don’t care about the time shortening trip (everybody does it!!!) and there’s the inevitable cross traffic from the mailroom boys, catering staff, car park and randoms who are also relegated to the servant’s entrance.  That day, I had bud luck with the lifts.  Very bad management of the late shift – sitting around for over an hour waiting for six to arrive I finally headed sowf and sent a note telling the dispatcher I was off – this message obviously reminded the dispatcher I existed and that the bike channel existed and he sent me two completely burned FREHILs – by the time I arrived at the pickup the drop was already closed.  Typical no support at all from the people back at the base and I had to lug them home for reattempts in the morning.  Visited the parentals and ate well and it seems that I might be going to London after all – still feel a bit queasy about that particular transaction.  
A fitful sleep and a relatively hearty breakfast had me leaving the house with a fair feeling that all was fine in the world – perhaps I should have taken the fact that I was half scared to death by the flapping pigeon in my bathroom as a bad omen though - a slow start to the morning but nothing that made me feel too bad – heading back into town from Chippendale with a large STD box in the bag, cruising along Elizabeth Street behind a grey hatchback, almost certain that I wasn’t doing anything illegal or even risky when suddenly with minimal or no warning the driver ahead of me decided to do a U-turn across the double lines right across my path – slowed considerably but not quickly enough to prevent me from nosing into vehicle and ploughing into the ground – just a few scratches on me and apparently no damage to the bike (scrapes over the brand new bar tape though – perhaps even bent the handlebars more than they already were – but perhaps not) - driver was very apologetic and admitted wrong straight away but didn’t stop an onlooker screaming ‘You could have killed him!  You could have killed him!’ at the top of her voice – could potentially have carried on but it was quiet and wanted to be better safe than sorry so called it a day after getting rid of everything.  You can never really tell how you feel until the adrenalin drops.  Got a mostly clean bill from the city based doctor (great to have access to a real doctor in town).  Despite not having a liquid lunch like some I found myself in the role of designated driver to McMahons Point – but I did get my own back in food and that’s what’s really important, isn’t it?

Tuesday 17 April 2007

So It Goes

17 April – A very slow day not without its frustrations but the knowledge that it was lack of anything happening rather than incompetence (I think) meant teeth weren’t ground into dust from rage as much as they have been of late.  Made some inroads on some fronts and vented a little but nowt to report in the scheme of things.  Rather impressed with ‘Sunshine’ - not a space opera at all but not much more than a spaceship movie – borrowed heavily from all of the other major movies set in spaceships (Logans Run, 2001, even Event Horizon are a couple that come to mind) but did star Cliff Curtis who’s always welcome on any screen I’m watching.  Pretty certain I liked it and pretty certain that I’ll never see it again.  So it goes.

Monday 16 April 2007

When Is A Walk In The Park Not A Walk In The Park?

15 and 16 April – Out to Centennial Park for a few spins around the circuit on a very pleasant Sunday morning – accompanied by three companions of various sizes.  As chilled out as could possibly be hoped for considering the fact that children were present – was mostly exhausted by hitting a tennis ball on a string on a spring for more time than was good for me but presume that I made some headway on some fronts.  From there took the scenic route back to McMahons Point – was hijacked by the perpetually wheelie-ing Yogi as I left the park and he just happened to be going in the same direction as me so had an escort.  Very strange man but basically a good fellow.  Watched an okay adaptation of a very good book in the ‘All The Kings Men’ - pretty much a verbatim translation of the book faulted only by cutting out some details, compressing the timeline and, what really annoyed me the most, placed the story in the great state of Weezie-Anna instead of the fictional ‘southern state’. For some reason it always tickles me when an author or film auteur chooses to set the story in a fictional part of the world rather than reality – even though the audience is certain that it refers to a real place when it’s not real it makes it more real.  Prime examples are ‘All The Kings Men’ (we didn’t need to be told it was Louisiana), Louis d’Bernieres South American trilogy set in a place that was based on Paraguay but was left unnamed, Syriana which could have been anywhere in the Middle East, that film with Nicole Kidman playing a white African (was it the Translator or something?) which was obviously supposed to be Zimbabwe and there are a bunch of others set in Eastern Europe or any of the other continents which are currently escaping my train of thought.  In any event, where does it go from here?
An unfitful sleep probably caused by personally stressing myself out meant a slow start to the morning – was designated bridge bitch for the day and even though I had a potential opt-out I decided to stick with it which was probably a mistake.  I don’t really want to keep on routing about dispatcher’s incompetence but it was clear and present again – although this time was notable not just for its crapness but because I was denied any luncheon – a cardinal crime in any courier’s world – I know in the beginning I got used to it and I sometimes have adequate foodstuffs on my person to sate me during the day but today I didn’t and I’ve grown lazy and accustomed to that 30 minutes of freedom throughout the day so when it is denied me I am enraged.  Was saved somewhat by a cupcake and an apple from two lovely ladies but it just wasn’t enough.  Frangelica is going to be given a little workout by the Paragon, his beloved Rocket looks like he may have seen the end of his days with a somewhat severe crack over the head tube – I just hope he treats my lady with the respect she deserves.

Sunday 15 April 2007

The Joy Of Smashing Things

14 April – Pancakes and other joyous distractions started the day – best laid plans to head out to the driving range in order to hit things very hard were delayed (and apparently almost cancelled, heaven forbid) so did a bit of Zen and the Art – lots more to do on that front but nothing sounds better than a well tuned fixie – something along the lines of one hand clapping or a tree falling in the woods with nobody there to hear – eventually headed out to Moore Park where my excellent driver put me in good stead.  Nobody seemed to keen to listen to anyone else making any suggestions on the improving of the stroke but I’m sure with a little practice I could get rid of the slice (???) - mostly getting the distance right in any event.  Afterwards had an unplanned pub crawl back to the household – far too much booze for someone of my delicate nature and upon arrival back at home found myself getting a condensed Landmark forum crash course – difficult.

Saturday 14 April 2007

Drinks With The Ambassador

13 April – Frustrations of incompetence were the cause of much wailing and gnashing of teeth and the possible destruction of several of the elevators in the inner CBD area.  Mostly busy for the entire day but terrible inefficiencies and almost everything was late.  Dispatcher made the mistake of calling me at a moment when I was particularly hot and he’d just made some stupid changes to the route I was supposed to take and I had no choice but to let him know what he was doing wrong.  I shouldn’t let it bother me but it does – combination of annoyance and adrenalin do not make for a calm messenger.  Somehow managed to finish the day with most of my sanity intact but it was only the fact that it was the end of the week that allowed me to keep it all together.  Went to birthday drinks in the evening to celebrate the ... Birthday of a friend of Louisa which was mostly pleasant – have not been a big fan of inner city drinking for some time now and the unexpected presence of a potential rival could have put a spanner in the works.  Confirmed that I would not be required to physically sort anyone out and then proceeded to drink more than my usual quota of beer.  Was warned about the presence of a former UN weapons inspector who could also have been a bit of a problem but he seemed pleasant enough ... But then again, I’m not the despotic leader of a third world country so there was no reason why he wouldn’t be.

Thursday 12 April 2007

The 500

11 and 12 April – Started the morn with an interesting bidness meeting to discuss the future of messengering (at least in relation to me) and spent a lot of money on coffee throughout the day.  Did see Paul Keating sneaking into his place of residence which wasn’t really that interesting when it comes down to it.  The XDA which still hadn’t been fixed since they f**ked with it last Monday was dying a slow death and eventually ceased functioning altogether and in the end I had to make the journey out to Banksmeadow for a third time to resolve it.  An unnamed gentleman back at the base was tasked with sorting it out and he reinstalled the applications, switched batteries over, used different XDAs, gave me a new number (no longer Rider 504 but now The 500) but despite me telling him over and over again that it was almost definitely the SIM card (did the Sherlock Holmes deduction – eliminate everything until you’ve got your answer) he refused to accept it and even when he eventually agreed to sub the SIM he kept on putting my original one back in.  It’s a new SIM card ... Are you sure?  Yes, I put it in.  Try calling the old number ... Ring ring ... It’s the old f**kin’ thing!!!  Idiot.  Eventually got it working with a new device, new number, new SIM and new install.  Couldn’t they have done this last week???  Got a lift back into town with a very nice driver who happened to be a Christian (you don’t believe in Jesus man???  Wow!  You seem like such a nice guy) and then hung around town for an hour doing absolutely nothing.  Spent the evening on the north side where I abused my host’s larder in return for limited IT support and other essential services which were reciprocated in kind and actually got a mostly decent sleep which was needed because the next day was a complete waste of time.  Thinking that a working XDA would actually make things all work out was extremely wishful thinking because you need a working dispatcher which we don’t have.  An almost complete BST/STD of a day compounded with shocking routing (as per usual) and a completely idiotic over reaction to a joke ... Just dropped off at 201 Kent and was assigned a pickup from 201 Kent a minute or two later ... Picked it up, sent a message ‘Too far!!!’ and promptly found it taken off me by the time I’d got to the destination.  I didn’t see it as a joke.  Well, that’s because you’re a f**king idiot!!!  I should really learn how to take this stuff with a grain of salt but it’s very frustrating.  Almost takes the joy out of the job, almost.  

Virtual Prostitution

10 April – Got on the bike for the first time after a four day break (longest one in a long time) to a very boring day filled with awful routing and a (still!) very sick XDA.  Tried not to let it get to me too much but sometimes it just feels like its not worth the bother.  Visited Wednesday’s victim to confirm that she had survived her small impact with me and was a bit distressed to her that she had four stitches on the inside of her mouth and two on the outside but a little bunch of flowers and profuse apologies seemed to calm the situation a little.  I would definitely say that the crash was her fault as she walked right into me but if I’d been a pedestrian the impact would have been negligible – there’s definitely a duty of care when it comes to riding in places that are full of pedestrians.  I think we’ll both be a bit more aware of our surroundings (her of bikes and me of people who are looking at the ground).  A potential victory on one front that might bring to an end one of my long standing policies on paying for things like sex and parking.  It’s a sad day but also a happy day but we’ll see what happens when it happens.

Monday 9 April 2007

Passportless

9 April – Journeyed back towards Sydney with a slowly increasing cramp in the buttock – baffled by how I managed to cope with the 12 hour stretches across the Americas but a relatively short journey back towards home meant relief was not too far away.  Not much chance of recovery with the lunchtime rendezvous for Yum Cha in Chinatown – a lot of difficulty finding the right brand of smoking tobacco across the greater Sydney area.  Was not too perturbed by the lack of success in Berry but was getting very worried by the time I reached Sydney and the first twenty shops I went to were devoid of my international passport to smoking pleasure.  Perhaps it was being discontinued?  Maybe the delivery truck was hijacked by Mosmanites?  In the end found had success at an overpriced convenience store in the depths of Chinatown – one more disappointment and I was prepared to quit altogether.  Thank God for them.  

Weekender

7 and 8 April – Like much of the weekend before it much time was expertly wasted – did catch up with some works but nothing of any consequence.  The boys night out which was alluded to didn’t eventuate completely although pizza was eaten and scotch was drunk and it wasn’t really at my house so in some ways it could have been called a night out – did leave Chez Gray and wandered into the heart of Willoughby only to find the pub closed at the ridiculously early time of half 10.  Shortly after our return the mistress of the house scared one of our number off and then there were two.  
In any event – had plans on doing a little road trip (road trip!) through the southern highlands (is that what they’re called) so the next day was dropped off at McMahons and quickly organise ourselves for the journey – always nice to be behind the wheel even when the destination is unknown.  Had lunch at a crap pub and dinner at a much better pub and accommodation at a very nice little dodgy hotel in a place starting with B.  

Saturday 7 April 2007

Not Good Friday ... Great Friday (???)

6 April – Kind of slept in, kind of ... Cooked breakfast for the house residents and proceeded to not leave the house for the rest of the day ... Watched some movies, read some part of a book and did some computer type things (some successfully and some not so).  Didn’t leave the house until 9 o’clock when I headed to Paddington to see a taut German political thriller which was very German.  As it should be.

Friday 6 April 2007

Fambly Is Fambly

3 and 4 April – Tuesday was a s**t day at work – XDA still completely malfunctioning and with no communications and someone on the other end who just doesn’t get it I found myself in a foul mood all day.  Learned that if you hang around Martin Place for long enough sometimes you’ll get free food.  Rode to Crows Nest afters for dinner with the family celebrating my Aunty Pamela’s birthday (that’s what she’s called until she gets my name right) and whilst the food was excellent sometimes it was slightly painful but fambly are fambly and you’ve got to do the best with what you’ve got.  No resolution on the XDA front on Wednesday but I developed a half decent workaround which is still unacceptable but will have to do until the f**king $*%*#s at the office fix it up and the day turned out to be pretty golden – unfortunately as bonus is calculated over the week and the first two days were so woeful it’s quite unlikely to have any benefit to me but you never know and I can’t let my work ethic suffer for such reasons.  Had a little disaster in the morning after picking up an indy job and then being routed so far away from its destination that ended up getting phone calls demanding its delivery but hey, my own work was late as well so I’m not going to feel too guilty about it – also whilst coasting down Martin Place at a very slow speed a young girl walked straight into me (her mouth hit my shoulder) splitting her lip – apparently she’d been having a terrible week as well and she burst into tears.  Managed to clean her up and ensure she was alright but not too happy about it.  She wasn’t looking where she was going but duty of care and all that crap.  Got to be more careful.
Windows is finally installed on the Mac – don’t know why that should thrill me so much but it sure as hell does.

Thursday 5 April 2007

A Night With The Fanboys

5 April – A potentially ill conceived journey out to the Imax cinema to see the midnight screening of the 300 – great story but execution might have been a little heavy on the loin cloths and fake six-packs – also, I’m not certain that Imax is really the best place to see a feature film especially at midnight – neck craning from one side to the other trying to follow the dialogue and action but hey, it’s been an age since I’ve done the opening screening and sometimes it just has to be done.  However, considering that this meant a maximum of 4 hours sleep ensured that the eagerly awaited Suit Day was always going to be a struggle.  Had been looking forward to breaking out the old corporate gear for ages and was very well presented in a sombre grey three button single breasted suit with a striped shirt, silver cufflinks and a blue tie with red spots – completed the ensemble with black slip on loafers (a key ingredient in making me indistinguishable from your typical office drone).  Not sure exactly of the point of Suit Day but it’s the day when the couriers wear suits – partially a reverse mufti day but there was the potential for mischief by being able to use the proper entrances for several of the CBD buildings where we’re usually forced to use the servant’s entrance.  However, apart from getting quite a few admiring comments from various receptionists and mail room boys I found on several occasions customers were very reluctant to give me the pickups – who the hell is this besuited fellow trying to steal my letter???  At the Gateway, one of the most ridiculous buildings in town – we have to enter via the loading dock then take the goods lift to the foyer where we wander around as we please (there are three other lift wells to access the suites) - the only place we’re not allowed to be are the entrances from the street or the food court – I’ve even been in a protracted email battle with the building manager to change it and who should order a delivery but the building managers themselves – very suspicious receptionist demanded to know why I was wearing a suit that day (so I can get in the front door of buildings like these ... Ma’am!) - little disaster of a misplaced envelope – knew exactly where it was but couldn’t be found when I went to retrieve and ended up backtracking halfway across town in a vain attempt to find it, being badgered by three different levels of management at the office about what happened – last pickup of the day was where I’d left it and I decided to give it one more shot and lo and behold there it was – however, nobody was there to celebrate my good fortune as everyone at the base seemed to have gone home.  Well, I was happy about it anyway.

Monday 2 April 2007

Bad Karma?

2 April – An almost total write off of the day, perhaps the week.  Was forced to ride down to the base in Banksmeadow so that the powers that be could have a look at my data unit which has been playing up from day dot – after over an hour’s wait I finally was sent on my way but, as suspected, once I got there I had real work put on me.  It wasn’t much but it was enough to screw up the morning run and once I managed to get it off I found that the new XDA that had been assigned to me was infinitely worse than the previous one – found myself resetting it every 5 minutes and eventually we gave up and my original one was couriered back into town but once I switched over found that it didn’t work at all so another ride back to Banksmeadow where I spent a very frustrating afternoon waiting for it to be repaired.  Eventually sorted out ... Apparently, I’ll wait until tomorrow before I believe that they’ve done what they’ve said they’ve done.  At least I didn’t have to do the late shift and apparently there wasn’t much happening all day anyway which was a small solace.  Evening was rather pleasant – had dinner for Mr Templeman’s birthday – a late invite and the only drawback was that I had a whole bunch of leftovers in the fridge which just had to be eaten that night so by the time I actually got to the pub for dinner I was already completely stuffed – still managed a second dinner but only just.  And apparently we passed inspection – who would have thought?

Sunday 1 April 2007

Who Is More Foolish? The Fool Or The Fool Who Follows Him?

1 April – Squeezed out a little bit of a sleep in by cunningly drawing the blinds the previous night ignoring the fact that I could do this on most days but had chores to do so couldn’t indulge myself too much.  Finally managed to get a reasonably priced rear brake from my old nemeses at Inner City Cycles and had a fortuitous bumping into one of the relatively new couriers who invited me back to his house to use some of his tools so I could do a slightly less than perfect but relatively functional installation – more to be done and more to spend but Frangelica is now in a relatively sorted condition.  Wandered down to Pyrmont to see the start of the April Fools Day alley cat but was really not in the mood for participation which is a shame because it looked like a fairly well crafted one, despite its creator.  Battled Windows and State Rail in the evening but victory was pretty much mine in the end – only a little bruise to show for it.

Education Can Be Fun

30 and 31 March – After what was possibly a meltdown (can’t be sure but can’t rule it out) from the normal operator I was pleasantly surprised to log on to find Dottie in the chair, and a finer dispatcher you couldn’t have asked for – polite, fit as a fiddle, skilled like Shifty but without the politics (apparently) and fair like Kev (without the aggravation) - so, all in all a pretty good day.  A last minute decision was made that I had to see the Pixies who were playing at Luna Park on Friday – hadn’t given it much thought up until then so was forced to delve into the slimy business of the professional scalper – not a nasty bloke but didn’t get a good feeling from him at all (and when I actually arrived at Luna Park an old woman offered me a free one – go figure).  In any event, overpriced ticket but it was valid when I got there.  Took Frangelica – still no working back brake so she had to be fixed – a few little issues with a grinding noise up the hill and still not used to the toe clips (one fall and a couple of near misses on the way there but none on the way back so maybe I’m getting better).  Great band – wasn’t sure if I’d really enjoy the concert because in reality I didn’t know anything about them and hadn’t really listened to them at all apart from the month across America when I listened to a greatest hits CD about a thousand times – but, they played a bunch of songs I knew they played, a bunch of songs I knew that I didn’t know they played and a whole bunch of others that I’d never heard.  The lead guitarist had a lot of guitars, I discovered that there was a girl in the band and the drummer looked like an IT professor.  Standing for hours on end is never pleasant even when you are enjoying yourself but it was very educational.  Attempts to visit my north shore ‘friend’ failed despite a valiant effort on my behalf – so had a relatively smooth ride back home, only one completely unprovoked incident with a muscle car on the George St strip who just didn’t like the fact that even after spending a $100k+ on his machine he was still being overtaken by a velocipede.  
Blinded by the light on Saturday morning and ventured out to Cheeky for a failed attempt at finding a brakes for the fixie (Pixie the Fixie???) and the toe clips felled me once again (I don’t think anyone saw) - took the long train journey to the mountains – got some good reading done (finished all of the previous day’s papers and my book (last page three minutes from the end of the journey – timing) - very strange crowd on the Mountains line – pleasant afternoon up there and after hearing the woes of giving birth from EK have decided that a child will never pass through my pelvic floor).   More journeys and returned home to watch Dr Strangelove in bed – nice to have the company but not good when trying to stay awake.  Scary movie – not much has changed.