Monday

It’s 6am on Monday morning and I am procrastinating.

I don’t usually get on my computer before my shower but this morning I found myself leaning off the bed and reaching for my laptop (note to self: don’t leave laptop within reach of the bed). It’s getting cold here and I want to stay in my nice warm bed.

It’s also so frantic at work right now that my usual leap out of bed is just not a happening thing right now. I was up way too late last night drinking wine with a girlfriend and now I am paying the price. It was the second night in a row having a few wines and I am just not up to that anymore.

I have a list as long as my arm of what I need to get done today or else I might have considered ringing my boss and begging an annual leave day today and staying in bed all day.  I’m in the middle of a great book.

OK it’s now 6.20 (just wasted a further 5 minutes searching for an animated picture for this post to cheer me up) and I really have to get in the shower so I will sign off now and publish.

Have a great day everyone.

Multi purpose George

The fabulous Du Pree from chlorine in the gene pool, got it right when he commented on my post of yesterday and said my new cyber pet monkey George, was strangely addictive.

George lives in my sidebar if you haven’t already seen him. Maybe you’ve even played with him. He likes bananas. 

Today though I have had a highly frustrating day. Nothing has come together as planned. A few minutes ago I found myself back on the net with my ‘pointer thingee’  clamped on George’s face spinning him around and around. Quite violently actually. Virtually throttling him - ringing his neck I suppose you might even call it. It was therapeutic.

He didn’t mind one little bit. He just kept smiling. 

So there’s a second use for George;

1. he’s cute and fun to play with plus
2. he provides an outlet for frustration while maintaining good humour

The Lucky Country

An Australian friend sent me this a couple of days ago. She obviously does not want me to come visit this year. Tourism Australia commissioned these guys to write a song in an effort to increase international visitor numbers (not really).

Does it work for you?

It’s the snakes that do my head in – we have none in NZ so the idea of something pouncing when you’re innocently walking through the grass and step on it by accident, freaks me out. Spiders etc at least you know they’re trying to get away.

Just to continue the theme of scary animals check out this photo. I have no idea where it was taken but I am guessing it was probably taken off a New South Wales beach :-)

Just noticed that the body shape  and the tail didn’t look quite right on this ‘shark’ so I went hunting for Kurt Jones and this photograph and here’s what I found.  We don’t need to be freaked out by it after all. I still think it’s a great picture though even if it is not entirely based in fact.

Monkey play

Check out my adorable new cyber pet.

His name is George and he lives on my side bar. Please play with him with your cursor and give him a banana from inside the tab labelled ‘more’.

…a few of my favourite things

Crème Brulee by Chris Caldes. Photograph by Carrie Russell

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Got this idea a couple of days ago from Dade Freeman’s great site It’s My Life. Thanks Dade.

My favourite things…

- Author: Margaret Attwood
- Beverage: Ice cold Jim Beam and coke
- Cologne / Perfume: Elizabeth Arden Red Door
- Dessert: Crème brulee mmmmmm
- Electronic Device: my Nokia E71
- Food: Thai (specifically yum nua and giang panang)
- Game: Pixel Junk Monsters
- Hobby: Mosaic
- Ingredients as a pizza topping: Chicken and capsicum
- Job (you've had): my current role (Operations Mngr)
- Kind of breakfast: Eggs Benedict with salmon
- Living or dead person: my fabulous dad
- Movie: The Shawshank Redemption
- Novel: I know this Much is True by Wally Lamb
- Organic Produce: Big fat juicy tomatoes
- Programme on TV: Outrageous Fortune
- Quote: “Do or do not, there is no try” (Yoda)
- Relaxation Method: sorry don’t know you all well enough to share this – let’s stick with ‘see favourite beverage as above’
- Song: Run to the Water, Live
- Time to wake up: around 6:00am
- Unusual Talent: None (only fairly normal ones)
- Vacation Spot: various NZ lakes and rivers
- Website: http://www.youtube.com/
- Xperience: travelling (especially south-east Asia) 
- Yoghurt: no thanks – yuck
- Zodiac Sign (your own): Leo

Solicitation

I don’t know about where you live dear reader, but here In New Zealand it’s perfectly legal to ‘cold’ call private residential land lines and tout for work or solicit charitable donations.

Then, to add insult to injury, if you’re silly enough to agree to donate to a particular charity in this way, you run the very real risk of having your details on sold to other charities.

It has reached the point now where 6 to 8 calls to my fixed line every single week are from various charities looking for support. I would be bankrupt if I made even a small donation at every request but, to my immense frustration, I am a salesperson’s dream – I just can’t say no. I just can’t. The sales pitch works on me because I can’t stand to see anyone go without whether it be new toys for the local kids hospital or accommodation for families of kids with kidney problems through to funding for our local rescue helicopter. I just can’t say no.

My solution is to stop answering the phone.

I haven’t answered my home phone for months without screening first. Rory is well trained – he can pick a cold caller from a thousand yards and says I’m out.  They have to get tired of ringing at some stage. It’s a form of freakin’ terrorism when I can’t answer my own phone for risk of it costing me money.

Now don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe in supporting the charities of your choice. I do and I am more than happy to continue to do so each year.  I am a long term supporter and member of WSPA, Red Cross, Amnesty International, Greenpeace and a couple of other organisations that I believe maximise the use of every dollar I  donate.

I just don’t want to be stalked and hassled at every turn.

Now before you suggest I do the hang up thing or get brutal with them, I don’t blame the actual caller – they’re just trying to make a living. All I want is some sort of ‘no call’ register where I can get my name and phone number recorded and which says that I do not to be called on my home phone number. I understand that the UK has such a thing and I have written (repeatedly) to NZ’s privacy ombudsman about having this option available here. I will not be giving up any time soon as there does not seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel so far.

Is this a problem where you live?

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A big Quiet Life welcome to ‘simple life’: my 40th follower! Thanks for stopping by and joining the crew. Join in and let me know what you think.