That was the the week that sucked..

Ever had a week that you can only say it sucked.. yet, not because a hugely bad thing happened, in fact, far from it, everyone could understand that, no one would be surprised, just oneof those weeks where everything niggled and nibbled at you constantly, over the stupid tiny things, spilling something on your clean top, that kind of thing, well I had that week.

Culminated by my boss who had asked for a list of computers and their memory, having been given it, then asking for the actual chips in it.. which wasnt what he had asked for, plus he'd actually written by 30th March too.. not 16th feb which was when he said..

I got kicked real hard last week at karate, so, I swear.. if that guy and I spar again... Im going for the soft bits.. Im sorry but I couldnt put my arm on a desk for 4 days.. I wont be holding back.

Revenge of the jumper

So.. for all of you who followed the jumper that turned into the world biggest mess, you may recall (Im sure its mentioned) that Im workingon revenge of the jumper.. This one looks to be going more to plan, its got a few dodgy bits in it, where it look slike holes but they arent.. I promise.. I dunno what they are, but they arent holes made in a traditional way anyway..

Repeat after me: I HATE KNITTING

so, tonight, its 10.30pm, I just finished the front, so Ive done front and back now..

2 sleeves and the neck to go, not much in comparison it has to be said - although, scaryingly did you know, the top of your sleeve is nearly as wide (when flat eg not in a tube shape) as the chest??

However, I am rejoicing in the fact I could kinda sew it now and call it a tank top :P

You yellow bellied FOOL!

Today I graded and succeeded in getting my yellow belt! I am now 8th kyu. I actually watched the kids do theirs (ok, small people of less than 13 years of age) and for them to get a yellow belt they just have to do the various kicks, punches and blocks we have been taught, in essense its just another lesson.. Once they move on , they need to learn the things the "adults" (those greater than 13 years old) need to do..

One thing I found in a way quite horrifying was how sloppy some of the higher level belt people (adults and children) were, I believe (and could be wrong) belt colours go, white, yellow, orange, green, blue, red, brown, black, but I saw people with orange belts (who now have green ones) who were very sloppy, I know Im not worthy to say it, but Id like to think if *I* had done that I wouldnt have passed..

So, the new car is here!

I would have posted last night but everything was timing out, and well it was just a mess.

I have my new car, my probe is gone :(

However, in a way, if you believe in these things you might want to think of this.

Last decent snow I remember, I was a kid. Since then, I have never been to work in a decent amount of snow, nor have i not made it to work because of snow.

Having bought a new car and been in a stinky mood.. I took today and tomorrow off. Guess what I woke up to today?



Yep, thats my garden.. oh look.. SNOW!

its still snowing, so, Im gonna wait till its deeper then head out and laugh at people .. mwhahahaha.

This wouldnt be so funny if it wasnt true

I cant say any more than this

ARGHHHH!!!!

So, today starts with a call from an external group who monitors some of our servers saying it didnt come back after the month end backup and that they cant get in.. To the non technically minded of you think of a cluster in the following terms, its usually made of 2 or more computers. So, lets call them A and B.. they are the 2 halfs that can claim to be this "cluster", we'll call it C.

When A and B are running this C can be on either computer, it doesnt matter, no one can tell, and thats exactly what they want, they want it so if one of the 2 computers A or B dies, C continues without issue, and that after maybe a brief delay, the other computer will take over, but no one need know.

So.. When the cluster isnt running there is no C.. you cant connect to it.. you have to connect to A or B.. as thats all there is, 2 individuals called A and B.. apparently this is too hard for the support group who are supposed to be "experts" to understand

So
While explaining this for like the umteenth trillionth time..

I get a message on my phone.. so I call them back

My cars not going to be ready today... ARGH ok, now Im getting a bit mad, why? Well, I had psyked myself up for this, the parting of my beloved car.. and now.. its not happening.. not today anyway.. Most likely tomorrow.

So.. the day goes on..


So Im doing some work find some faults with a crappy product we use, so I reported it, entered my details my work number, finally, it said how do you wish to be contacted, phone, email or web.. email says me..

A short while later.. my personal mobile rings... its them.. Email me like I asked.. I hang up.

I check the call.. the call says my desk number.. and contact by mail.. so I log a call on the website saying their website isnt keeping settings correctly...

I get a call.. its them.. apparently the dont phone please email in big letters was too subtle.

So, I find another bug.. so I go through the polava again, making sure I check the phone number.. nope deffinately desk number, and contact by email....

So the phone rings..

FFS people.. when it has a big paragraph about not getting the email updates and dont call me by phone.. PLEASE do not call me, PLEASE do email me.. Unless you want either a stream of cuss words or to be hung up on.. then do feel free to call coz I will be exeedingly mad..

Oh, they also ask your hours of working.. Im gonnna bet that if I check my webmail now.. theres a "you havent responded" message - despite me having had to declare my hours of working to them.. Wow, no, but they did respond after the time I declared I would go home, so Im kinda expecting one first thing in the morning then.. oh well..

Today has just sucked from start to finish.

doom and gloom draws ever nearer

Tomorrow is rushing upon me like a stampeed of wild beasts, and the moment to part with my car will be upon me.

Karate today was vaguely successful a girl from the thursday class turned up and shes nice, and she struggles with similar stuff to myself, so it was nice to be paired withher as it meant it was very even.

I should be going for grading on sunday, Sensei is going to come to my house as Ive no idea where it is, and I'll drive him there.

Tomorrow is going to be sad.

Cars

This is hard for me to explain.

For some reason I get very emotionally attached to my cars. Ive only ever had 2 for which I didnt feel any form of remorse when I either was forced or felt best to part with them for one reason or another.

And, because of my dog and wishing to make his life easier and being semi practical about life, a time has come to change my car.

I currently own a very happy and well loved ford probe. top of the range, all the mod cons, goes like the clappers, has never let me down, (other than the lock froze the other week when it was very cold), but, a sports car is not dog friendly, the leather seats and claws wont work, having a boot that comes to my waist is not easy for a dog with an injured leg to bounce into.. a cd player is not comfy for them to lie on, and well, it seems its time to come to buy a new one.

So, last weekend my hubby took me to the place we bought my current car from to see what they had. One thing I hate more than anything is boring cars, and well most modern cars are boring.. And Im also tight with my money so to be honest, I didnt want to spend any money, the car I have is a good car, but, we're trying to be practical.. So, we look around the lot, I dont like small cars (so if you sit in the drivers door and can touch the passenger window without leaning.. no chance), I dont want a girly car, I dont want a merc A class (would rather die), or a BMW.. so.. there werent that many choices within the price Id spend and the car Id get .. it came out as:

A T reg ford focus about 3.5k
A V reg landrover freelander 5k
A V reg corvette 20k
A mondeo .. dont know the exact year or price.. why? it was a hiddeous colour put me right off

now.. (the prices are the numbers at the end btw) now the corvette is obviously somewhat expensive, but it is a seriously nice car, so much as I wasnt going to buy it, it has to go on the list as well Id buy it given half a chance.

So, the ford focus, the most practical of the 2, its a 1.6, black.. unfortunately theres a girl in my office, almost same age as me.. owns an almost identical car, this could be its twin, same year, same colour, same model.. so.. no offense world.. keep it.

So, a Landrover freelander, its a 4x4, its petrol - would have been slightly nicer if it was diesel but, there you go, it was a nice enough colour - black would have been better but a second hand car, you cant always pick what you want. Its a very deep metalic red. 5 doors, dont need 5, a 3 door would have been nice, but to be honest, its not so bad, doesnt quite have the ac/sunroof etc that my current one has and Im gonna miss it, but, its very dog friendly

This is my current car the grey one


This will be my new one

Today, my current car and I went for a drive, for me parting with a loved car is like a relationship break up, for today we went for a drive we had a huge amount of fun, and then came.. the talk. The one where you explain its not its fault and that you love it, but that its over.. Parting with the probe feels wrong, previously when parting with a car it was either because of total infatuation with a new one, or, major painful loss of an old one, this one is for practical terms, and it feels like going home just before the end of the film, just missing say the last 5-10 minutes, it just feels like its a teeny bit too early.. Not that it shouldnt happen, just that theres a little more life and goodness in it yet.

But, come tuesday its going to be a hard day. Its going to be very emotional behind the scenes. Dont get me wrong, I am looking forward to the freelander, Im sure hes going to be fun, just in a very different way. My probe knows his time is up, a bulb failed in his head light this morning so he only has 1 eye. He looks a little sorry for himself - I took a number of pictures and its sad his parting photos will have him with 1 eye, but I do have a number of photos of him, looking happy on our driveway, hes in very good condition, I just hope his new owners when they find him will love him even half as much as I do.. Id hate to think they dont.

I guess it feels like it would parting with one of my dogs because a land lord has said I cant keep them but I can have a cat.. I can love a cat, theres nothing wrong with the cat, and so on, but, Im parting with a friend and I want to think that he will go to a home where hes loved and given the same love as he gets now.

Enterprise :P

So, I finished TNG.. Im on Enterprise now!!

Debts

Have I ever talked to you guys about debts?

Nothing I find more annoying is the attitude to debt on tv. "ooh Im so indebt, I cant afford my bills each month, we spend more than we earn" ... deep soothing voices says "Does this sound like you?, well we can help, take out a loan and all will be great, you can do it over the phone, we wont turn you down" .. what should happen is a little red man with horns and a pointy tail appears saying "just sell me your soul"..

in nearly every ad about debt solutions they make out they can make your debt less.. yeah by streatching it over the next 400 years, so while you may only pay 20 units of currency a month, you'll be paying it long past your death and at an interest rate that out of that 20, 19.99 is interest.

But worse still..

the ones that have the person who was supposedly in debt talking to their "friend" later saying "Oh we got the loan we even had *money left over* so we went and bought a new car/on holiday/got a conservatory" .. err..

the "new" car featured is usually *new* not just as in new to them, and a conservatory costs generally at least 10k even for a naff one.. Im sorry, but these people were struggling to afford stuff, now you have them on a loan for a long time to come so even though they maybe paying less instead of having to live tight for a couple of years its now say 10.. and on top of that you conned them into borrowing well more than they needed! These people dont have money, what part of this is unclear??

What made me write this rant? theres a thing on tv about a couple - the sounds off, but they were in debt so bad they felt the best thing was to emigrate.. some family member paid off their debts and so .. err, they went to australia on the way to where-ever they were going.. and well are shown in a plush hotel, drinking a lot, smoking.. um.. if they had no money.. how did they afford this? Im not sure I could afford a trip to australia, let alone the plush hotel, the constant all day drinking shown... yet these guys were supposed to have no money at all.. Australia was not where they were planning to emigrate to.. (from the captions anyway) they only went to Australia to "Pick up a package" um.. yeah, just popping out mum, need to go to australia for a beer.. dont think so.