buter's BABY blog

I don't understand yodelling. I don't understand how you do it, why you do it, and why you'd listen to it.

Wikipedia says:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word yodel is derived from a German word jodeln (originally Bavarian) meaning "to utter the syllable jo".

yoy

That being said, last night we were watching Spicks and Specks - which concluded with a demonstration of classical yodelling. What's that? You thought that meant "yodelling in the classical style" as opposed to "yodelling in the latest alternative-grunge-punk-hip/hop-folk-groove style"? No, no you're mistaken. It means yodelling to classical music. The yodeller yodelled her way through the William Tell Overture.

It was astounding.

As pastimes go though, I suppose her childhood of hanging around in mango trees, yodelling, is better than some. Me, I prefer listening to things other than yodels on my iriver. Did I mention that I don't own an iPod? Well these iPod covers almost make me want one. As Cher would say "I wonder if they have that in my size.."


ed: thought for the day - seeing as we all have blogs and we can be self-published geniuses all over the world, why is it so gratifying to see yourself linked on someone else's blog?

As D™ says:
Now you have to blog about being quoted in a blog and so the intenet fills up just that little bit more with junk.
*sigh*

So last night I was telling D™ a story about my day. We wondered if it's just me that has weird things happen, or maybe it's just me who feels the need to share all the time.

See, I had to go get some USB memory sticks for work. There's an Officeworks on the way home from work so that's easy. I got into the store at about 5pm.

Then I went down to the tech section, and viewed the keys through the locked glass cabinet - picked out the one I wanted by eye. 1GB for $45, you can't beat that, especially when 512MB by the same manufacturer was $60. So then I wandered out of the tech section looking for someone to unlock the cabinet, instantly a helpful assistant in a yellow high-vis jacket came to my aid. Straight away, he gets the key, unlocks it, selects my USB keys (I needed 2 of them), then starts heading to the register.

I said, "oh, sorry, I also need to get some DVDs" .. so he takes me to the DVD section, I stand there with him (he's still holding my USB keys) and so I feel all rushed, anyway I pick some Sony DVD-Rs and he says "oh, they're just DVD-R, is that ok?" and I was "huh? Is there a difference between DVD-R and DVD+R?" and he says, "no, just that they're not DVD-RW" .. oh, right. Well D™ asked for DVD-R specifically so I guess he knew what he wanted. Anyway yellowjacket is now holding my 50 DVD-Rs and my USB keys. Then he starts heading for the register again.

"Oh, sorry, I also needed to get some CD cases." So he walks me to the CD case section, where luckily I already knew what I wanted and just grabbed them. Meanwhile he's still carrying my DVDs and my USB keys. This time when he starts heading for the register I follow him meekly. We get there and there's a queue, and the register attendant has just walked off with a wodge of $50 notes, presumably cashing out, but with customers still in line. So the yellowjacket looks at me, then waves at the manager, and sure enough, someone comes over and opens the next register. Yellowjacket takes my USB keys and DVDs and me over to the newly opened register, waits till he makes eye contact with the attendant, and then finally puts the USB keys down. Then turns to me and says "here you go, have a nice evening". I was back in Maxy and on the road by 5.15pm.

Now tell me, how many times have *you* been to Officeworks and got a parcel carrying service *inside* the store?

Is it just me?

Just to continue a theme, here's some light reading:

Pluto is the outermost planet of the solar system, and the end of the process of breaking down the reality structure of normal consciousness begun by Uranus.

Riiiight. So, after exiting Uranus it's quite likely that you'll lose your reality structure. Uh-huh. <nods>

So, if reality is broken down, does it really matter that Pluto is no longer considered a planet?

I guess not.

This week August 28 through September 3

Aquarius
<snip>

Mars also moves to square Pluto, and this could cause aggravation, possibly even some anger. Don't give way to your baser emotions. Try and diffuse the situation and see it from a more enlightened perspective.

Diffuse?

Come to think of it, I was feeling a little focused.

sorry for the toilet humour, it's that kind of day ...

Latest news: Pluto is not a planet.

After 76 years, poor lil' Pluto has been globally realigned and is no longer classified as a planet but instead is a Kuiper Belt Object. While slightly disturbing to astronomers, and potentially world-shaking to astrologers, I feel the impact of this change has been underestimated when you think of the thousands of school children currently making solar system models for school projects.

Think about it. You've worked hard for weeks, finding or making spheroids representing 9 planets and the sun .. you've been painting ping pong balls, tennis balls, soccer balls, maybe even the odd football for fun ... and then some random astronomy bunch decides to remove one!

This morning a 12-year old rang up parent radio and complained that her diorama, due today, would have to have Pluto removed in emergency surgery. What's more disturbing is that we just don't know whether her teacher knows about Pluto - will she be marked down for missing a planet?

But being pragmatic, I expect most 12-year olds will be happy that it's one less planet to memorise .

Let me see ...

Many Very Excellent Men Jump Straight Up Near Paris

now becomes

Many Very Excellent Men Just Said Utter Nonsense

I can live with that.

I was going to write a post about how I'm such a perfect driver and everyone else out there should drive the way I want them to, but then re-read it and realised I sound like a total idiot, so I deleted it. And replaced it with a total ramble through the trackless waste that is my mind on coffee.

If you suffer from road rage, or even just if you're human, you must read the Consolations of Philosphy (it must be good, my mum likes it), which has an interesting thing to say about other people: you have to remember that they aren't doing what they do *just* to annoy you. They are doing it because they just don't care about you nearly as much as they care about themselves. Just like you. So deal with it.

Speaking of dealing with things, our lunchtime poker game has experienced tragedy of a sort that is hard to recover from: the 2 of clubs has a tear in it. I guess that's what's known as a marked card. Put that together with our "if you've got a pair of twos, go all-in" rule and you end up with an interesting game.

Meanwhile my favourite sister-in-law is getting on a plane tonight to go to Europe. I'm insanely jealous, not about Europe (though I'd love to visit there one day) but because we haven't had our annual ski trip this year due to house-bound imperatives like renovating, and house-hunting. Have a nice time Mandy and don't forget to email us, at least once!

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. It looks wrong. It should be trooper shouldn't it?

Apparently not .

Speaking of trooping though, the other day I caught the train from Telopea with a dozen hand-picked fellow commuters. Not that it was my hand doing the picking, but they all chose to be there that morning.

I've caught that train before, and you come to recognise people on the platform. Commuters, you see them every day, but you never say anything to them, that would be weird.

Like, the guy with the soccer ball.

And the lady in the long black coat.

And the Chinese guys who park their car opposite the petrol station in the closest parking spot to the station. I only mention them because they're the only people I've ever seen who actually drive to Telopea Station. Everyone else walks. If you have a car, you'd drive to a different station, at the very least. Telopea is just above the arse-end of stations (as in, it's one stop closer to the city than Carlingford station).

So anyway, I always see these two well-dressed business ladies, probably in their early to mid twenties. They have immaculate hair and very classy outfits, usually a skirt with a business jacket, and spiky heel shoes of course. They always arrive together. And then get on the train together. And then sit together. And then listen to their (singular) iPod together. Yes, one ear each. And then chat together till about Rosehill (2, maybe 3 stops along).

And then they fall asleep. Together. With their heads tilted. Together.

I can only assume that they doze off while thinking "mustn't.. pull.. earpod.. out.." which is why their heads always rest together.

It's very cute.

If you like reading a book that makes you
a. go, "what the...?", and yet
b. fly along for the ride, and then
c. daydream *really* strange things

then you must read Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.

Best. Murakami. Ever.

And then, you will agree why it's been nominated for best novel in the World Fantasy Awards this year.

Don't look at me like that - I'm not the one who follows these things, I just follow other people's blogs and they tell me all I need to know.

...

Just like you.

Someone commented to me recently, that I do weird things for someone who's lived in Sydney all their life. I was waxing lyrical about a coffee and chocolate tour DTM and I went on one Saturday morning. More about the tour later. Much, much more!

But the thing is, I guess I do explore Sydney doing touristy type things, because I love my city, I love going in and feeling the buzz, I love seeing the old buildings and I love having stories to tell about all the places you see. Like, "here is a sculpture that looks like a public urinal". "And here is one that doesn't". Stuff like that.

I also like to try seeing things with new eyes every now and again. And seeing as we're not going on holidays till (at least) the reno is finished, (at which time we will buy a new house, and then we will have a new mortgage and we won't be able to go on holidays anyway till 2099), by turning on my "see Sydney with new eyes" ability, it's just like being on holidays in a new city without all the hassle of passports and language barriers. I'm sure at this point all my well-travelled friends and acquaintances will jump on me saying this city or that mountain is "like, waaay better than Sydney", but that's not the issue. What I'm trying to say is, we often don't appreciate things we have right here, and I'm one of the people who wants to try that. That is, in lieu of using passports and language skills to travel, because - well, see above about renovations and mortgages. (Speaking of which, why does the credit card company offer me *more* credit when interest rates just went up? Isn't that just like handing a waterbottle to someone who's drowning in the ocean?)

Aaaaanyway, a very close friend gave me a couple of vouchers for this coffee and chocolate tasting tour of Sydney. Mmm, coffee. Mmmmmmm, chocolate. Here's the rundown:

You start at the Strand Arcade with a cup of coffee then go touring round Sydney's CBD visiting chocolate shops (and sampling! Oh, the samples!). We started at Haigh's - and I very nearly stopped there, I love Haigh's. Oh, the truffles. Oh, the dark chocolate buttons. Oh, the divine hand made chocolates. Oh, the friendly staff. Oh, oh oh ....
Then we visited Darrell Lea (ok, I'm not that much of a tourist here, I must say it bored me), Jeff de Bruges (oh my, it's expensive!), Lindt (mmm, Lindt balls) and the DJ's food hall chocolate store ... which, while conveniently located opposite Max Brenner's, was not our final stop ... no, we ended up at the Sheraton on the Park having a very civilised final cup of coffee.

Chocolate samples, and the two hot drinks, were included in the tour, as well as discounted shopping at all the stores we visited and loads of interesting tales about that good brown stuff. I must say, after 2 1/2 hours of nothing but chocolate, really really good chocolate notwithstanding, I was choc-full! But oh so happy - in fact the entire tour group were getting on very very well by the end ... must have been those endorphins!

Next weekend DTM and I are going on a dinner cruise round Sydney Harbour. Maybe this time I'll take photos .... naaah, I'm a local, why would I need to do that? hehe.

you plugged in your H10 and your USB memory stick at the same time and windows gave the H10 drive letter E: and then tried to give your USB stick drive letter F: except that F: is a network drive, so ever after the USB stick although recognised, is unreachable because it's still trying to connect to F: ?

Well now I know how to fix it.

:)

If I had categories, this would be filed under "miscellaneous geekery". Coming soon: how to make categories. Or I could just copy what's out there ;)