Curse you, telemarketers.

Chantel from some random telemarketing company just rang to do a quick survey on 'holiday habits' and only had six questions and do I mind?

Yes, I mind. Very much so.

And I said very firmly, 'No, I don't have time. Goodbye.'

'Yes, but it's only six...'

*supre hangs up phone*

I have no problem hanging up on telemarketers.

Especially when I can't hear them properly OR understand them because they're calling from New Delhi or Manila.

Finally.

March has come to an end.

I dunno about you but the term 'March Madness' has been decisively re-defined this year.

It has nothing to do with NCAA basketball but *something* during this month has wreaked havoc across my own private Idaho.

Fare thee well, March.

I bid you adieu.

You are banish'd.

Why is it...

That when I'm the only person standing at a tram stop that's at *least* 10m long, the next person to arrive at the stop has to stand right next to me?!?!?

Is it safety in numbers? We're in the middle of Bridge Road at 7am... Nothing's going to happen!

Anyway, I kept moving down... and she kept coming closer. Soon I was at the end of the tram stop and had to walk all the way back up to the start. It was all I could do to not give her *shakenbabysyndrome*.

I should have taken out my camera and said, 'STOP OR I'LL SHOOT AND BLOG!'

And this... THIS is why I come to work this early in the mornings. I certainly don't wake up early to listen to Mel & Kochie's playful banter.

Imagine if I came in at 8 and had to encounter the majority of commuters.

*minor panic attack*

I can't get this out of my head...

If I looked all over the world

And there's every type of girl

But your empty eyes

Seem to pass me by

Leave me dancing with myself

So let's sink another drink

'Cause it'll give me time to think

If I had the chance

I'd ask the world to dance

And I'll be dancing with myself

Now that I've put these words here, I recall an article that I read recently about what this song is about. Dirty Billy.

Hmmm...

Channel 9, no doubt due to the Commonwealth Games, seems to be six weeks behind in 'Survivor'.

I'm reading the msnbc.com weekly updates to see who's gone.

Don't worry, I won't spoil it. :)

Has anyone seen...

The horrible, horrible ads currently on TV reminding people to change their smoke alarm batteries on Sunday?

Sidebar: For those of you outside of Australia, every year when Daylight Savings ends/begins (I'm never sure which one it is), Duracell and the Fire Brigade team up to make ads advising people that it's time to put a new battery in their smoke alarms.

This year's ad features a family sleeping peacefully and a bit of text scrolls across the screen telling you what sort of dental work each family member has had. Then there's the voiceover that says something along the lines of 'Because these may be the only way we can identify your family's charred remains in case of a house fire.'

It's VERY disturbing.

Besides, wouldn't your neighbours know who you are? Or your property manager? Unless you're squatting in someone else's home, I think there are other, less gruesome, methods of identifying one's charred remains.

One more sleep...

And the 2006 AFL Footy Season begins!!!

And look who's back (photo from www.theage.com.au):

Tomorrow night, the Saints take on the Eagles at Subiaco (who cares?) but on Friday night's blockbuster match is the Tigers vs. Bulldogs.

Go Tigers!

One more thing about Survivor...

How come no one ever seems to learn anything from the previous seasons?

For instance, how to use the flint to start a fire.

If I ever decided that I wanted to be on Survivor, I would be at home with a machete and piece of flint, practicing how to start a fire - even though the person who starts the fire tends to get voted off (grrrrr).

Yeesh.

Does this constitute blogging about work?

Would you use this 'soap' to wash your hands?

This is the other soap dispenser. There are also two paper towel dispensers, as seen in the mirror in the first photo). Note that there's only one basin. Go figure.

P.s. That aerosol can is a refill can full of some offending fragrance which is pumped out by the air sanitiser. I suppose they've left a spare for those instances when I get sprayed in the face and walk out with the metered dose all over me.

Survivor: Exile Island

The newest season of 'Survivor' started here last night.

Thanks to time differences, I know that I can tune into msnbc.com on Thursday afternoon to see who was voted off the island and this is something that I usually practice.

I'm a bit peeved that probably the strongest character this season, Tina the Lumber Jill, has already been voted out. The Older Women Tribe are dumbasses.

I also noticed that there's a missile engineer and former astronaut in this season's cast. Makes you kinda wonder what the Production Team at 'Survivor' are up to.

Having said that, judging by Missy's deductive thinking that when Jeff said, 'why fate has left you behind' meant that the immunity idol was somewhere behind her, I don't think they're going to get any flashes of brilliance from this young thing. The only thing she seemed to pick up from previous seasons of 'Survivor' is Danni's hat.

So we now have left to survive:

Older Men - Detox Guy, Fighter Pilot Dude, Mr. Miyagi, Neil Armstrong
Older Women - Token Nature-Hater, Annoying Crying One, Ms. Plastic Fantastic
Younger Men - four big dumb bo-hunks
Younger Women - Gratuitous Cleavage Lady, Hippy Chick Fire Twirler, Token Social Worker Babe, Missile Engineer

Bring it on.

What I should have purchased in the first place.

In about a week, I won't be sitting on the floor anymore. Hopefully.

Communal Kitchen Etiquette (Remedial)

Frying bacon (or even pancetta) is totally unacceptable in the shared sandwich squisher.

Who do you think you are? Lisa from Brunswick???

My first eBay dispute.

Well, I lodged a complaint with Paypal under the Buyers' Protection Scheme re: The Bean Bag Incident of 2006.

Now to sit and wait and see what happens.

Meanwhile, there are three degrees of colour variance according to Paypal:

Light - light green vs. dark green
Moderate - green vs. teal
Extreme - green vs. red

Of course when I read it, I incorrectly read 'taupe' instead of 'teal' and was wondering what sort of baboon would consider green to only be moderately different from taupe.

Silly moi.

Poor Officer Boscorelli

First Bosco gets his face shot up on 'Third Watch', no thanks to that chica sergeant.

Then Alex gets fired from the White House by former speechwriter turned Press Secretary, the job that should have been his, Kelly on 'Commander in Chief'.

Will Jason Wiles ever get another job on television?

Mon dieu!

Personally, I'm quite fond of the century egg and only get to have it once a year. I think it's the only way to make congee bearable.

As written by Brigitte Hafner in today's Epicure:

I ONCE had to eat a 1000-year-old egg. It was presented to me with considerable ceremony in that perverse way the Chinese have of offering the strangest morsel from their culinary kingdom, to you, their guest.
It tasted much like you would expect a duck egg that had been buried in ash and left to mature for 100 days to taste. Rotten. It had an overpowering and pungent odour of ammonia and sulphur that made my insides crawl.
The texture had been transformed in an intriguing way; the whites had turned a deep amber jelly, and the yolk had become a gooey grey-green. It was one of the strangest and most putrid of flavours I had ever experienced.
Luckily it was a one off-experience...

Grrrrr...

I've been stumped by the past two Samurai Sudokus.

Last week, I hit a major Sudoku block and it took me until Thursday to give up.

This week, I broke it. And I broke it good.

Have I been jinxed by Emily? (hehehe...)

Could this be the end of my dream run on Samurai Sudokus?

Only time will tell...

Day 2 of Soy

Yesterday, there was a lapse in my attempt to cross over to soy when Tas, my lovely coffee lady of Slices Cafe, automatically made me a regular latte. Not wanting to be a bother, I just let her carry on without saying anything.

This morning, however, when she saw me walk in, Tas immediately pulled out two cartons of soy milk (easy, tiger!) and reconfirmed what sort of milk I want in my coffee and then apologised for yesterday's coffee.

I'm going to miss Tas when we move to Collingwood. There had better be decent coffee in the cafe in our building.

I have a lot to say today...

Actually, this is probably my last post for today.

I rang up to check on the delivery status on my new sofa and the reply I received was 'We have that down for the end of the first week of the next month... [long pause]... so a week and a bit.'

What a convoluted response.

Meanwhile, I still need to post a picture of my bean bag. Not the fuschia one. Nor the orange one. But the one I ended up buying from K-Mart last Tuesday.

I've yet to resolve the issue of the fuschia bean bag with Benjamin of Auburn, NSW as he has not responded to any of my e-mails.

Random post.

I watched '21 Grams' yesterday.

That didn't leave me with the happiest feeling in the world.

So I decided I'd save 'Crash' for next weekend and watched 'Ice Age' instead.

Alcohol + Lisa from Brunswick don't mix.

Lisa,

I think you need to stop drinking or have your mouth sewn up or both.

I put it down to alcohol on the night but now that I've had a day and a half to think about it, you must be touched in the head.

It is *never* appropriate to sit next to a total stranger and tell them how they are the first 'chunky' and 'overweight' Asian you've seen in your entire life. Especially when you have a 13 year old daughter, which puts you at least in your mid-20s.

You also claimed to be an over-thinker. Well, you mustn't have thought beyond 'Now which foot should I put in my mouth?' every time you started flapping gums.

Clearly alcohol and whatever medication you take DO NOT MIX.

Idiot skank mole.