May 17, 2005 20:50

I'm tip-tapping this from a Holiday Inn Express in Trussville, Alabama. I've just got back from dinner at Lone Star Steakhouse; it was okay. My room at the hotel is okay. I'm in the Birmingham area for a few days. I shall try to get some Alabama-style barbecue while I'm here.

Yes, I'm in the greater Birmingham area. I am here for work. I have a couple of days of early starts ahead of me. I will be on-site at 7am tomorrow, maybe earlier on Thursday. That I'm not really looking forward to, but so it goes with my job. Not really a moan, even though it might sound like it.

I got a letter from the Inland Revenue Department in New Zealand, threatening nasty things if I don't do something about paying my last year's obligations on my student loan. This is such a pain in the arse. I can't really afford to do very much, so I called them up and they said I can request a revision of my obligation for the year to March 31, 2005. Until I work something out, I will be paying 2% per month on the outstanding balance. I do realise I have an obligation to pay off my student loan, but seeing as I am still paying off the debt I incurred while unemployed, it's not really high on my list of "real priorities." So I have to send them a form filled it with my weekly (???!!!) income and my assets and liabilities, the amount that I'm suggesting I pay, and the reason for my reduced payment. Ho hum.

This past Friday was the annual Once de Mayo party. It went pretty well. Lots of people turned up, many people I didn't expect to see. The music went over well, and the fact that there were four apartments running the party was also very good.

On Saturday was the East Atlanta Beer Festival. Very fun. Followed by a cookout at Ann and Kris' place.

I think I'm going to do some reading and then hit the sack. I have an early start, even though it is on Central Time rather than Eastern Time. I've done a little channel surfing and not found much to interest me. Ho hum. Right now I've got a Texas Hold'em tournament showing. The commentaries for these are just ridiculous.

My psoriasis is really bad at the moment for some reason. Only a few weeks ago it seemed to be doing really well, but in the last week or so it's just gone to crap. I don't think I've had a raising of stress levels. It could be related to the increased drinking over the past week accompanying the darts tournament and then the weekend's festivities. Whatever the cause, it's very frustrating.

In other health news, my doctor reported normal liver function from my follow-up blood tests to the original blood tests from my physical. There was one abnormality that he wanted to do some additional follow-up on, and his comments kind of confused me, such that I think there might not actually be a problem, but I won't have a chance to discuss this with him until the week after next. In any case, nothing to be worried about until it's something to be worried about.

Nothing much else to talk about. Going to watch some Law and Order.

May 13, 2005 19:40

The Fifth Annual Once de Mayo Party is tonight. And if you can't make it, you might still be able to keep up with some of the action: WebCam is in effect! Note however, that this doesn't seem to work with Firefox for some reason.

And congratulations to Jeremy and Tokuko on the arrival of Akasha Kokoro Yoko Shroff.

May 12, 2005 17:36

My Green Card has arrived. I am now a card-carrying legal permanent resident of the United States of America.

May 03, 2005 18:16

And now: the news.

On Saturday, Brandy and I met Tim at the Brewhouse to have brunch and watch Liverpool play Middlesborough. Not a terrific result, especially considering Everton's loss on the day. Afterwards, Brandy and I went on a consumer rampage, as I attempted to cross off as much as possible from my weekend to-do list. The evening, while originally envisioned to be quiet, became a latish one at the Local. But much fun was had, and that is the main thing.

On Sunday, I went to the doctor's because I had a very annoying sore throat. He took a look and said, "yes, your tonsils are rather inflamed. Here, have some amoxicillin." I spent the day resting, reading, and being in general non-productive. I did do some grocery shopping on my way home from the doctor, and Brandy came over with movies and made dinner for the pair of us. We watched The Bourne Supremacy; it was good, very good as far as sequels go, although a little less engaging than the first. I did enjoy it, though.

On Monday, I went to the Atlanta office of the US Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (the department formerly known as INS). After handing over photos, filling out forms, waiting, getting my fingerprints taken, signing documents, waiting some more, and finally getting my number called (although not necessarily in that exact order), my passport was stamped to indicate that I am authorized to work in the US and that I am authorized to travel into and out of the US without a cavity search. My actual green card should arrive in the mail in the next week or so. Woohoo!!! I went to work after that, and after work I went kind of nuts tidying up stuff around my apartment. My closet is now reorganized and, well, tidy. I have hidden a couple of boxes and thrown out a bunch of crap that I was saving for "just in case I ever need it." Amazing. When Brandy came over she commented on how the amoxicillin was obviously making me crazy. Anyway, we chatted and watched some TV (mainly 24). I really do feel the need to play some Scrabble.

Speaking of Scrabble, some people I know play online. I don't know how I feel about online Scrabble. Maybe I should try it sometime. Hrm.

Today got a little hectic on-site, but stuff was accomplished in the end. Not too bad a day. Highlight thus far (which caused my view of the day to improve considerably): Liverpool 1 - Chelsea 0. This means that Liverpool moves into the final of the Champions League, to be played in Istanbul in a couple of weeks. I am very pleased. Tonight I shall probably read, play some Civ, tackle some other tasks. We'll see.

April 28, 2005 18:41

Happy birthday, Charli Norah Grace Burgess, born Thursday, April 28th, 2005. Well done, little sis, you've done it again :-)

As you will have noticed, I have not written very much lately. A combination of being busy and being lazy. I saw the new movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Tuesday night. It was really good, a lot better than I expected. I say that because, as someone who has listened to the radio play, read the books, and seen the BBC's TV adaptation, which are all fantastic, I was expecting the worst. Sure, it varies from the written text, but some of that was quite funny nonetheless. Most of my favourite bits were retained (but not all, mind you). The cast was excellent, and many of the characteristics of Sam Rockwell's portrayal of Zaphod Beeblebrox were based on a somewhat less fictional personage. He had me cracking up a lot - and I think that most people missed the references (voice and mannerisms mainly, but some dialogue, too). I recommend.

In other news, my tax return went missing, but my accountant sorted it out with the IRS and I should be getting my refund within 10 business days. That money is going to be very useful. In other official-type business, I should be the holder of a green card by Monday afternoon. I'm rather excited by this.

Liverpool lost an awful match over the weekend, but they drew an important game against Chelsea on Wednesday - at Stanford Bridge. This was the first leg of their European Championship semi-final draw. Next game is at Anfield. This is their chance for silverware this year; and it's something that I really think they can do. One goal is all they need to get to the final.

That's my ten minute update for now. I may get back and write more later.

April 16, 2005 15:12

Your application for permanent residency status has been approved.

There is nothing else that needs to be said, except: Yay!!!!!!.

April 10, 2005 12:30

So Brandy and I were having this really interesting conversation this morning, which went on a few twists and turns (as all good conversations do), and I decided that I wanted to write down some of the ideas we discussed. Depending on how well this comes out, I may move it over to my Musings page.

A person's world views, opinions, thoughts, philosophies, morals, etc, are formed through the acquisition of ideas and concepts (ie education - not to be confused with schooling), the interpretation and judging of those ideas, the formulation of hypothoses based on those interpretations ,and the evaluation of those hypotheses for validity. With most people this is not an overtly concious activity, and often the tests for validity are merely simple acceptance of the data provided because they trust the source of the data without doubt.

I defined three sources of information: experience (observation, experiment, etc), self-acquisition of knowledge (reading), direct knowledge transfer (one person transferring knowledge directly to another - teaching/schooling/preaching). I now also think I want to add a fourth item, and this is debate or discussion. I think I need to put some more definition around these concepts, but I shall leave that until later.

We discussed also the hypothesis that intellectuals put more faith into the written word than in other forms of media, whcih then evolved to a discussion about the types of information that are provided by the sources identified above. I designated two key types of information: that created with an aim to increase knowledge and understanding of life, the universe and everything; and that which is created to persuade, to advance a personal or political goal. But it must also be recogised that in the world of academia, new ideas often require the elements of persuasion to be accepted (scientists as a whole are typically conservative when it comes to "accepted" vs "new" theories), the nature of such persuasion is generally based in scientific principles and proofs. Brandy then asked where literature fits into this model.

I had to think for a bit. The desire to be published is an expression of a profit motive. Having said that, literature does fall across a range of additional motives. One would assume that in the informational sense (as introduced above), the primary motive is to entertain. But beyond pop literature and basic fiction, there is additional knowledge to be gained, and this is because various authors have other motives in addition to the desire to entertain. There are mainy pieces of literature which aim to impart knowledge and ideas, and often these also aim to persuade or promote specific ideas or ideals of a social nature (political or religious, for example).

We wound up the conversation around about this point, with me feeling the need to ponder these concepts in some more detail. I now wish I had been recording the conversation. Oh well, that's the way things are with these sorts of things.

Last night we finished watching Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and then watched Love Actually. An entertaining enough pair of movies.

Today is a day of chores (laundry, empty dishwasher, clean bathroom, tidy bedroom, tidy living room, consider doing shopping since I am out of food, deal with mail) and probably some reading (Pnin and Do You Speak American?), and probably a bit of Civ. The morning is over and there is much to do.

April 08, 2005 11:31

Friday. Plans have been made. Plans will be changed. Plans will be made. I love it when a plan comes together :-)

Today is wet. And it is supposedly going to be wet all day. I had plans to go to the opening home game for the Atlanta Braves this evening, but I'm not sure if that is going to happen. Weather.com seems to think it's going to be wet this afternoon/evening.

Today I sorted out my summer trip to Vegas. Everything has been booked. And I'm quite pleased with the prices. My round trip flight is just over $315; my hotel for four nights is under $400. I'd like to do a heli-tour of the Grand Canyon while I'm there; I'll have to look into the cost of that.

Trivia was fun, frustrating, but ultimately a failure. We must do better! But I did get prizes. Kind of. Lauren returned my coat that she borrowed the night of Scott's birthday, and loaned me a couple of DVDs (Love Actually and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) and a video (Angelheart).

I got my results back from my recent physical. I'm free of the nasty diseases (yay), some of my cholesterol figures are in the good range (yay), some are slightly elevated (oh well), and my triglycerides are in great shape. The only note of concern was a slightly off liver profile; I have to return for a follow up in a couple of weeks. As a result of this, I'm going to put myself in Operation: Detox. Giving my liver a chance to right itself over the next couple of weeks is probably a good idea in any case. I don't think there are any events coming up that I'm going to miss by following this course. And it should help control some expenditure :-)

I am currently able to write this journal entry because I'm also watching some routing simulations run, so I can easily do both.

April 07, 2005 11:59

So once again I have let things slip with keeping this journal thingy up to date. But that's okay becuase it's my journal thingy.

This past Sunday morning, being the first Sunday morning in April, we moved into daylight saving time. For those of you in New Zealand, this means that I am now 16 hours behind you, or 8 hours ahead and a day behind.

Sunday was also a spectacular day. I had brunch with Matt and Lauren at Radial for the first time in quite some time. Afterwards I came home and potted around for a while. Brandy called, came over and then we walked up to the Dark Horse Tavern and spent the afternoon sitting in the sun, drinking beer and waxing philosophic on all sorts of topics. My first beer was a Newcastle, but I quickly decided that Hoegaarden was the more appropriate beer for the weather. After two or three hours we wandered down to the Local and caught up with Tim and Kris, and then all the other kids.

On Saturday evening (so I'm working a little bit backwards here), Brandy and I picked up Lauren and Matt and met up with Chris and Helen at Regal Hollywood 24 to see Sin City. Let me just say, "wow." Visually it was stunning. Storywise, it was as deep as its source material. But it was just like watching a noir-esque comic coming to life. It is an awesome film that I thoroughly recommend, except to those people who hate violence, or who are looking for three dimensional character development. And the women in the film are HOT. In fact, Lauren and Brandy were discussing after the film just how hot Jessica Alba was. And she was, indeed, very hot, and not the only one. Go see it.

After the movie, Lauren, Matt, Brandy, and I went to the Local, where we proceeded to discuss the movie some more, tell others about how great is was, and, uh, drink some beer. I ran in to Vanessa, who was lately returned from visiting Martina in London. While she was there, they found a tea/coffee cup with "Big Girls Blouse" on it. They had to buy it for me, and Vanessa gave it to me. It was great.

Monday night I watched 24 and instead of going to bed like I was planning, I allowed myself to be sucked up to the Local to watch the NCAA Men's College Basketball Championships final. I played a lot of darts, too.

Lunch time! (I'll post more later)

March 30, 2005 13:00

Ugh. So today I went and got injected. Because I was unable to provide medical documentation that I had suffered from the mumps and measles as a child, I had to get vaccinated against them. I also had to get a shot for rubella (which was actually combined in the shot for the previous two), and a second tetanus shot (I did have documentation regarding the tetanus shot I got when I bumped my head last year, but the government requires documentation of two shots). They decided that they didn't need to give me a chicken pox shot (yet another childhood ailment that I was unable to document).

And so then I dropped the paperwork back at my lawyer's and headed in to the office. Now for an action packed afternoon!