New look

I have finally got around to upgrading my blog template to the groovy Google way of doing things (I just knew it was a Google day today) which basically makes it much easier for me to add things (other than posts) to my blog and change the way it looks. I'm experimenting with different looks so what do you think of this one?

Poetry: August Buddina

Here's another of my poems. It's about the beach again and I wrote it back in August 2003 when I'd been on the Sunshine Coast only a few months.


Rushing to the shore, urgently whispering;
Onward forevermore through the atlas of history.
Sparkling diamonds, a gift from the sun,
They bring along with them as they rush along.

A surge of aggression, a pure show of power,
Untamed by time, crash with a shower.
Perfect formations, a beauty to behold;
Always a new-born yet so wise and old.

Constant forever, yet never the same,
This wild beast of nature can ravage and maim.
Bubbling and beading then rushing away;
Pushing and pulling, filling the bay;
Calmy lapping the sands of the shore,
Coming and going forever more.

Registry of complaints

The gist: Australia's department stores are backward technologically and I have had no end of trouble setting up an online registry. I feel like I'm living in the pre-information-age ages. Warning! This is a long post because I'm quite irritated and feel like I've spent all year trying to sort this out. I probably have.

The wedding is drawing nigh with less than 12 weeks to go before the big day. Plans are going fairly well although we're about a fortnight late sending out invites. It turned out to be quite difficult to get the envelopes we wanted due to the fact that textured paper isn't "in" this year. Who knew there was a fashion scene in the stationary world? Thankfully we did manage to track down some retro, last season envelopes and are now awaiting their delivery, which buys me some additional time to finalise our wedding registry.

The anticipated joys of a registry

Oh yes! The wedding registry. Back in January, when all the fun and excitement of planning a wedding started, the realisation that there would be presents dawned on me and I clapped my hands in glee at the thought of all the fun we, or rather I , would have picking out gifts for use in our married life. Finally, the opportunity to have some decent towels that don't leave fluff all over the bathroom floor, or really nice bed linen that doesn't go bobbly after a couple of months and has matching accessories like cushions and throws; or a matching set of pans in varying sizes with sturdy handles and lids that fit; and beautiful table cloths and place settings so we can cover up our disintegrating table and still put on a good-looking spread at dinner parties; and a matching toaster and kettle, where the toaster cooks the toast instead of burning it, and gets warmer and cooks more quickly the longer it's on, rather than the less obvious alternative which results in having to turn it up after the first couple of uses; and the piece de resistance, a beautiful fine-dining dinner set to stun and spoil anyone lucky enough to come round for dinner over the next 50 years. Back then it all seemed so exciting and full of promise.

Then came reality.

It's possible that I have made things more complicated than necessary. We do plan to have a wedding reception in the UK just as soon as we can gather the funds to get over there but nevertheless I thought an online registry would be easiest for everyone. I was disappointed to find that the major department stores in Australia, both Myer and David Jones, do not have online registries. I remember going to a wedding with a Myer registry and getting irritated because we had to actually go to the shop to view the list and then couldn't purchase a lot of the things on the list because our local Myer is small and the list had been created in Brisbane. Then we had to take the gift home, wrap it and take it to the wedding which meant the bride and groom then had to get it home from the wedding. Now I know some people like doing it this way and that's fine but it just seemed so backwards compared with the way I was used to doing things back in the UK. I didn't feel that would suit my guests, especially with many of them travelling from UK, Melbourne and Sydney.

No online registries for department stores

This was a few years ago so I thought maybe times have changed but no! Both Myer and David Jones cater for overseas guests by providing an email address. Email? This means, in the case of Myer, that the guest gets a list of the items on the registry emailed to them, then has to place their order by email, hoping that the chosen item, which they presumably haven't even seen a photo of, hasn't since been purchased. And as for payment... well having not gone through the process I can't say for sure how this works but one thing I will say is that due to my experience in IT there is no way I would expect a guest of mine to send payment information via email. It is hardly the most secure method of data transfer.

So that pretty much ruled out what would probably have been the easiest option for us. The next option was to look at online registries and I was pleasantly surprised to find a few of them out there. The downside with these are that we have to do all of our shopping online which is quite difficult when you're choosing things for your house and can't quite tell what colour they are, or feel the fabric. It also means that those guests who do like to go shopping and pick something out themselves can't really and it relies on everyone having internet access. Anyway, I looked at three or four of them, compared prices and ranges, gave Toby the gist and chose Home Couture. I then began what I assumed would be the fun task of adding items to our registry. I was immediately disappointed with the bedding (mostly white) and towel ranges which were limited and then I couldn't find battery-powered kitchen scales which take up much less space than the gorgeous retro-look ones Home Couture had in stock. I was also disappointed with the range of kettles and toasters. Eventually I ended up opening a registry with Wedding Gifts Direct as well to fill in some of the blanks.

Two registries on the go

Home Couture had much better prices so anything I couldn't find there I'd add to my Wedding Gifts Direct registry. I found the Home Couture website really frustrating to use, not least because at any one time approximately 40-50% of the items seem to be out of stock and it always seems to be the thing I want. The website itself was badly organised with one long drop down list of categories which is really difficult to read and incredibly haphazard. They really need some help cleaning up their data. My eyes hurt as I scan through the long list looking for something I want, there about three categories called Accessories, some categories are empty, others seem very random. All the items, no matter how many there are, are listed on one page which can become extremely long. There is a category called Cake Stands but there is also a cake stand in the category called Platters. There is a category called Knife Blocks but there are knife blocks in the category called Knives. I even found a salad bowl in the Computer Accessories department. "How on earth did we think this was the best website?" I found myself wondering.

Meanwhile, Wedding Gifts Direct wouldn't send us invite inserts until we'd finalised our registry and approved the terms and conditions which stated that once we'd finalised our registry we could only make changes in writing and were limited to three changes. All of the other registries I looked at allowed us to continue adding and removing items until the wedding day, provided the items haven't been purchased. Not only that but after charging each guest $10 for delivery (I seem to remember delivery being free in UK) they only deliver Mon-Fri and if you're not there to receive the delivery they charge you to redeliver. I told them I didn't accept either of these conditions so we got rid of that registry after I'd already spent a considerable amount of time adding things to it.

Back to one registry, and a less than satisfactory one at that

Home Couture didn't have the dining set I wanted (which I'd removed from the registry anyway after Toby pointed out that no one was going to spend that much money on us and we'd be lucky to get one plate) so I set about looking for other nice things and then I realised why I was surprised at how difficult I was finding this exercise. The online shop, which we'd browsed around whilst choosing our registry, is actually organised. There are three departments: Cooking, Dining and Living which are broken into subcategories, all nicely organised, sensible categories containing just the king of items you'd expect them too and multiple pages so you don't go blind trying to look at everything at once.

I sent a message via their "Chat Live with Customer Service" link which actually just sends them an email and asked if I couldn't just browse the online shop and add items to my registry from there.

No, they said, but why don't you browse the shop and make a note on paper of the items you'd like, then sign into your registry and list all the products by that vendor and find your items that way?

Hello? Make a list on paper? Kind of defeats the purpose of having an ONLINE registry, doesn't it? I tell you what.... instead of all that why don't YOU sort your website out and tidy up your data?

So here I am with the invites already a couple of weeks later than planned and still no satisfactory resolution to the registry issue. We've decided to ask our guests for money too so that we can buy all the things that aren't available or are "out of stock" on the Home Couture registry. I'm very tempted to spend Saturday in David Jones setting up a new registry. They don't have a local store which was why we didn't consider them in the beginning but I'm in Brisbane anyway this weekend. I'm also tempted to open a registry with one of the other online companies I found but I have spent so much time on this already and it hasn't been that fun, that I just don't think I can bring myself to do it. Besides, experience has shown me that just because the website is good it doesn't mean the bridal registry is.

Who would have thought that setting up a registry would end up being the most stressful part of planning a wedding? Bring back the days of 10 sets of pink sheets (if they're 1000 thread Egyptian cotton who cares what colour they are?), two toasters and ugly ovenproof dishes... so long as I get my Waterford crystal champagne glasses too.

Another Lindsey Buckle!!!

There's another Lindsey Buckle in the world! Found him/her when googling my name in an moment of boredom and self-obsession: http://www.bctrust.org/Tshirts.html. This other Lindsey Buckle is obviously a bit younger than me - about 11 by my calculations - and American but we can't all be perfect and s/he's a good artist.

I did come up on the first page twice actually, once for being on LinkedIn and again for a comment I left on the BBC website after the solar eclipse in 1999.

Then I tried putting my name in quotes and found the movie Oscar made whilst we were on holiday over New Year 2006. It's the first time I've seen the final production, starring Toby. Check it out: http://www.switch.tv/videos/598

On the second page of that search is a link to an article which appeared in the Evening Standard newspaper six years ago where I was randomly interviewed on the street about my salary and spending habits. That was a bit of a blast from the past. I remember that period of my life now. It was back when I was the centre of the universe and well on my way to being famous. I was approached by a model agency on London Bridge to fill in for a model who hadn't shown up... had to pretend to walk past a red London bus for an ad for a mobile phone company, so that I would be in focus but the bus would be blurred. Trouble was we had to wait for a bus to come past and then the sun went in and the photographer had to change the film in his camera (remember the days of film?) and in the end I had to leave for my dental appointment. There was also the time I was filmed by BBC News walking across London Bridge. I think they still drag that one out of the archives occasionally although I've never seen it. Oh yes... and then there was the time Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen serenaded me on camera in one of the tunnels of Bank tube station whilst I ran away in horror on my way to the theatre.... ah! Those were the days, when fame and fortune were at my fingertips.

How can I change the world?

Often I wonder if I'll ever get around to doing anything that will make a difference to the world, no matter how small. For a while there I dreamed of becoming a climate change educator and even used this blog to reach the few people I felt I could. I don't know if I made any sort of impact - I didn't get many comments indicating as such - but anyway, matters seem to have been taken out of my hands on that one, which is a good thing as the world couldn't wait for me to become an expert. A few years back I considered voluntary work, and eventually settled on reef research, but I didn't get myself organised in time and wasn't willing enough to change my plans to fit it in.

More recently I have taken it upon myself to write irate emails to the local bus company, complaining of a deterioration in the service I catch to work. I am very happy to report that a positive, albeit small, change has occurred as a result of those emails and I can only hope that the long-term outcome is a general improvement in public transport services on the Sunshine Coast, leading to greater use and thus fewer cars on the roads, ironic when you remember that I'm considering the purchase of the car in the next 6-12 months. And I was so proud to be belong to a one car "family". Unfortunately, experience tells me that people only start using public transport when the traffic or parking gets so bad it is no longer viable to use the car, and by then the Sunshine Coast will be just like any other noisy, dirty city. So maybe I should go back to the climate change education and encourage people to stop using their cars for reasons of environmental pollution, rather than personal pain. At least in the short term, a few more students will arrive in time for their 9am lectures, although they're probably so used to the buses being late that they have by now arranged alternative transport and settled themselves into a routine.

I've wondered whether I could use my enjoyment of writing to change the world. To be honest, I don't think I do enough with it, I don't practice it or make efforts to improve in any way. This blog gets an update every now and then but I'm always a bit too concerned with boring or offending people to completely let go. I wonder whether in years to come people will read it and get an idea of what it was like to live in the new millennium, the information age, the dawn of social networking and web 2.0. (Have you noticed how everything seems to be 2.0 these days? What is that all about?) Yes, I quite fancy myself as a bit of a latter day Pepys. But there are so many people "blogging" these days, what's to make Random Thoughts stand out beyond any other? Perhaps I should be harnessing my unique perspective on life as a Geordie down-under. That would surely narrow the competition down a bit although it does leave me with Ross Noble who has the edge on me with both wit and randomness.

Will chocolate cake change the world? I like to think so.

Perhaps for now I should just settle on making a small difference every day. Today I am going to make a difference for 10 people I work with. Every Friday we have a meeting and "morning tea" together. I never really heard or used that expression in England and I was trying to think of a translation. All I could think of was "coffee" or "tea-break" or maybe "cake" but that doesn't quite convey it. Morning tea is a drink plus snacks. It can be used in a range of contexts. For example, our team has it with a meeting. The university is really big on morning teas and every fortnight one building hosts a social morning tea for the rest of the uni. It's a chance to meet and greet folk from other areas who one may not normally work with, an opportunity to put names to faces. We also have celebratory morning teas for birthdays and events, such as International Women's Day a couple of months ago. When people leave we'll throw a morning tea or afternoon tea to see them off and every Christmas HR throws a morning tea on the last day. This is my favourite morning tea because we're usually allowed to go home straight afterwards so effectively we don't have to do any work.

So anyway, today is my turn for the weekly Corporate Information Systems morning tea. Some folk go to the supermarket and buy a load of stuff, usually really naughty stuff full of preservatives, with some grapes thrown in for those who want to be healthy. Others go all out and make their own dips and cakes, and some guys even have wives who bake for us every 10 weeks. It's always an exciting moment, approaching the table and discovering what delights have been brought unto you. Well, I was baking all night last night so I think the boys (and girls - there are three of us again, yay!) are in for a treat this morning. Whilst simultaneously making the tea, I managed to bake Delia's very naughty Chocolate Beer Cake. This is such a yummy cake and lots of fun to make but I grew increasingly horrified at how naughty it was - so much sugar - that I decided I would also bake some healthy, low fat fruity muffins. I then made tzatziki dip. Hopefully these delights, and the effort I put in will make a difference to the kind of day the rest of the team are having.

Tomorrow I will make another small difference by passing on a life-changing book to a friend. But I'll tell you about that another time... maybe.

Something inspirational

A couple of years back I read a quote in a book called Affluenza: the all-consuming epidemic by John de Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor, which I found so inspirational that I photocopied it and stuck it on my wall at work. As often happens with things you put up to inspire you on a daily basis, I got so used to it being there that I forgot about it. Today, I was having a bit of a declutter and rearrangement and as I was sticking up a new daily thing to remember (33 Rules to Boost Your Productivity by Steve Pavlina for those who are interested... very useful), I noticed it again and now feel compelled to share it:

"People don't need enormous cars, they need respect. They don't need closets full of clothes, they need to feel attractive and they need excitement and variety and beauty. People don't need electronic equipment; they need something worthwhile to do with their lives. People need identity, community, challenge, acknowledgement, love and joy. To try to fill these needs with material things is to set up an unquenchable appetite for false solutions to real and never-satisfied problems. The resulting psychological emptiness is one of the major forces behind the desire for material growth."^[1]

Wise words indeed.

I'm glad I put that quote up because it is easy to forget all that in our society, forever striving for more, always being tempted by the newest sparkly gadgety thing, especially when planning a wedding. It's nice to be reminded that these things aren't necessary, that life only really needs to be as complicated as we choose to make it, and .... oooh... look! New shoes!!!

[1] This quote is attributed to Donella Meadows in Beyond the Limits