A little bit of fun to make you smile

I was going through some old emails at work and found this so, to lighten the dull news I've been suffocating my blog in lately, I thought I would share it. Beats telling you about vacuum packing duvets anyway. It's best read out loud.


Why Computers Sometimes Crash! By Dr. Seuss.

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,
and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash,
then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol,
that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall.

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse;
then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, '
cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang.

When the copy on your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk,
and the macro code instructions is causing unnecessary risk,
then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM,
and then quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom!

It's official and here's the plan

This is just a quick update to let you all know what's happening.

Firstly, we have received notice that we have to be out of our place on 4th September. We haven't found anywhere to buy yet so we're packing all of our stuff into storage and staying with friends in Coolum for two and a bit weeks, with a slight sojourn to Yeppoon next weekend for Praj and Tracy's wedding.

Consequently this week is packing hell as we sort through what we don't want, what we want to keep with us and what can be stored in time for the removalists coming at 8am on Saturday. This morning was spent on the phone trying to organise cleaners, carpet cleaners, removalists and insurance, the latter of which is a complex nightmare. I still have to book us a post office box and have our mail forwarded to it and find out when we can pick up the keys at the storage space.

After a couple of weeks of crashing with Bec and Adam we are moving into a pretty expensive holiday apartment. Cheap for a holiday apartment but expensive long-term. Mind, I suppose we don't have to worry about bills and the bonus of this place is that it has broadband access so I can get back into skyping folk. It's on the river at Maroochydore so should be a good base for house-hunting and will be something a bit different to what we're used to. We're there for 6 weeks.

I don't know what will happen after that. It's only a 2 month plan. I'm hoping to have a house by then because things like insurance get even more complicated after 3 months. If not, perhaps we'll just put the rest of our stuff into the storage facility and naff off on a super long honeymoon.

This all means that we haven't been able to have the gifts from our wedding registry delivered so, whilst I have an idea what we've been given, I don't know who gave what. It also means for those gifts we have already received, we haven't really had time to take stock and write thank you notes. So, apologies to everyone who has sent us stuff. We're really grateful and plan to write to you all just as soon as we get settled somewhere permanently and have had our gifts delivered.

I have to go now. There is so much to do. I just wanted to let you all know what was going on.

Almost homeless

Whilst I'm on the computer updating my blog, I may as well tell you that 12 days after our wedding, whilst in the middle of a major bout of homesickness as my parents were leaving the following day and I hadn't seen them for 3 days, we received the news that the new owners of our house want vacant possession. In other words, they're kicking us out. Unless, of course, we're willing to commit to paying them $400 a week for 6 months!!!

Not only that, but these new owners came to view the property 3 days after our wedding when we had specifically requested that no one disturb us as we wished to wind down, enjoy our time off work and replenish our energy supplies after the excitement of the wedding. We were under no obligation to let them in as we had not received a form requesting entry - it's a legal requirement that estate agents give us at least 24 hours written notice if they require entry to the property. However, they told us that they'd taken time off work specifically to come and view the property and, being a nice person, I felt a bit sorry for them and gave them permission to come in. Fat lot of thanks I'm getting for that now.

The real estate agent had even sent Toby a text message the day after the wedding asking if she could show someone round the property that week. When she called the house two days later she said, "I tried to call you on Saturday but there was no answer". Now, I don't want to be horrible about this girl because she's very pleasant and people I know, know her, and she's been as cooperative as she could be (apart from changing the agreed open house time from 11.30am to 1pm which was quite inconvenient) and she even negotiated a 6 week extension on our lease to get us through the wedding period... but there is a limit as to how many concessions I can give someone. Is she stupid? How many people do you know who answer the phone to a real estate agent trying to sell their rental home, the day after their wedding, when they're staying in a 5 star penthouse honeymoon suite, with friends and family from all over the world staying nearby? Not that we were even at home to answer the phone. And before you ask, yes, she was fully aware that we'd been married the previous day. Jeez... I will be pleased to get out of this place and not have to have anything more to do with these people at least for the time being.

What this all means is that we have to be out of our place by the time the purchase settles on 7th September. It's not official yet as they only have to give us 14 days notice (due to the fact that our lease ends on 31st August), plus the new owners are waiting to hear if we're willing to give them $400 a week. I expect we'll receive notice sometime this week. Unfortunately, we're not even going to be here on 7th September as our friends, Praj and Tracy are getting married up in Yeppoon, near Rockhampton, and Toby is a groomsman. So I suppose we have to be out of here the weekend before that. Which is two weeks away. Aaaarrrrgh. We haven't even had our wedding registry gifts delivered.

I was going to phone the Sunshine Coast Daily and give them Chapter 2 in their World Wide Wedding story, a bit of a sob story to go with their fairy tale... the local press love this kind of thing... and I probably still will but Toby and I got very distracted yesterday by a house we've decided to buy. Actually we tried to buy it two months ago but the offer fell through. Fingers crossed it's second time lucky... watch this space!

More wedding photos online

I have just uploaded some photos from my camera and my parents' cameras. You can go directly to this album at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lindseybuckle/OurWedding or you can go to the wedding homepage at http://wedding.clewett.org where there is a whole host of additional links. Keep checking the wedding homepage as we are still uploading new albums.

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree...

... or on a fence.

After the excitement of the last two weeks, and the stress of the few months before that, I am now unwell. There's never a good time to be poorly but it's a particular shame right now as it was my last few days with Cherie and my parents and we have just had a party for Toby's extended family to celebrate our wedding. I did a lot better than I thought I would but getting ready for it was a bit of a struggle. Who wants to tart themselves up, make their hair look posh and squeeze into a wedding dress when all you really feel like doing is getting into your slippers, comfy tracksuit pants and snuggling under a blanket with a cup of hot honey and lemon?

But I digress. I really just wanted to share with you this photo I took of a very cute kookaburra who came to sit with us whilst I, Toby and my parents lounged on the grass of Ravensbourne National Park putting off the inevitable goodbyes which soon followed and have left me feeling very sad and far from home.

And here is Mr Burra showing us his best side, with a bush fire in the background.


One last thing worthy of note: this is the 101st post I have made to this blog!!!

Poetry: With You

This is the poem I read out at our wedding on Friday. I wrote it back in January shortly after Toby and I became engaged.


For you I crossed oceans wide and blue.
For you I traversed lands exotic and new.
For you I left those close to my heart.
For you I embarked on a brand new start.

With you I explore a new homeland;
We run across its golden sands.
With you I dive the ocean so warm,
And sail over waters flat and calm.

With you everything is exciting and new,
Your innocent enthusiasm always shines through.
With you the world is bright and alive;
I can do anything with you by my side.

With you I have explored the depths of my spirit,
The good and the bad, everything in it;
And you've opened up your soul to me,
And we discovered together how to live and to be.

With you I have met new family and friends,
And nourished a love that will never end;
And as we embark on a long life together,
With you I know I will be forever.

I'm a page three girl!

Over the course of the past few days I have become a wife, a local celebrity and a page three girl. That's three fairly major items ticked off my List Of Things To Do Before I Die. Not bad for a weekend's work.

Just married!

Many of you will know the story but for those of you who don't, it all started about two weeks ago when I was finalising all the preparations for the wedding. I realised that some of the jobs I'd given to Toby weren't being delegated. Or done. So when I sent his brother and best man, Andrei, the order of events and his list of jobs, I casually mentioned that it would be great if we could web-cast the wedding so that family and friends back in the UK could watch it and feel as though they were a part of it all. If anyone could do it, Andrei was the man, being a network engineer at one of the local councils and an out-and-out techno-geek and gadget dude.

It was never mentioned again. I didn't ask Andrei about it because I knew it was a lot to achieve in a short space of time, that if he was going to do it he'd do it anyway and didn't need me stressing him out by asking every couple of days but also because I was so busy with everything else that I didn't give it much more thought other than to occasionally think that it would be a nice and very cool thing to do and to mention to people that it may happen but it would require them being up and at the computer by 6am.

Before I knew it, it was Friday morning, the big day and all of my preparations were falling into place. I'd spent a lovely morning with my bridesmaids Lucie and Cherie, waking up in time to photograph the sunrise over the point where we'd be having the ceremony later in the day, then going back to bed again because it was bloody early, then popping out for a nice breakfast at my favourite cafe, Raw Energy and doing a bit of shopping. We'd had a relaxing evening the day before, being pampered at our honeymoon suite at Peninsular by the girls from Tranquility. I had a phone call from my friend Sadie in York, wishing me all the best for the day and telling me she was setting her alarm for 5.45am so she could watch it on the web. That was the first I knew that they'd pulled it off and I was so pleased they'd done it without hassling me for email addresses.

As with all weddings we did have a few things go awry. Our friend and videographer, Oscar missed his plane from Sydney because his taxi to the airport was two hours late picking him up. We sort of expected this anyway as there is an ancient gypsy curse which deems that Oscar, taxis and weddings do not go together. Thankfully Jon stepped up with my Dad's video camera to do the deed.

We had to trek through the bushes in order to get to the bottom of the aisle and make an entrance. I changed from sensible (but bling) flip-flops to my posh wedding shoes at this stage and we were greeted by Jill and Melissa who took our handbags and warned us the CD player wasn't working. I was scheduled to walk down the aisle to Fleetwood Mac's Songbird, a beautiful song with beautiful lyrics sung beautifully by Christine McVie. But instead I got to walk down the aisle to one of our friend, Pete Wheldon's own compositions. I asked Pete to play at the ceremony a few months back and he asked if we could play a CD for the procession down the aisle. He ended up having to play it himself anyway and he did a brilliant job.

A series of events led to the scheduled order occurring later and later than planned. By the time I arrived at Point Cartwright my friends and family had been logged onto the internet for about 45 minutes. By the time the party kicked off with our bridal waltz that evening we were about two hours off schedule. This all made the day fly by even more quickly.

The ceremony was lovely, so much fun. Anna and Jon did lovely readings for us and Anna looked absolutely stunning in a gold dress with black accessories. We even had an excited peewee join us at one point screeching his approval so loudly we couldn't hear the celebrant. The rings didn't go on very gracefully, due to the heat, which deserves a mention actually because the weather was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better day really and in fact, it got much cooler the following day so we were quite lucky.

I forgot all about the web-cast until Doug asked me to say hello to friends and family back home. Doug did a great job following us around with the video camera, laptop in a backpack, interviewing all the guests before the wedding. Andrei, lovely brother-in-law that he is, has chopped the recording up and stuck it online in 4 separate chapters so those that couldn't watch at the time can still see it.

Now I think there is a bit of a story regarding how it all came about but I don't know too many details. Andrei used his knowledge and expertise, and possibly some contacts to sort out some bandwidth details. This resulted in Telstra, the Australian equivalent of BT, getting involved. Word got back to a guy that Andrei and Toby know in Telstra about the wedding, Doug made some mention of sponsorship and before we knew it the local press were all over it.

Being interviewed by Channel 7.

During the photos following the ceremony Andrei came over and told us that the local TV station, Channel 7, wanted to interview us for a segment which I think will be broadcast this evening. What a spin-out!!! Then the next day, the local paper, The Sunshine Coast Daily called us and interviewed us over the phone. We made page 3 AND the front page!!! Andrei has stuck links to the newspaper clipping and the webcast on the wedding web page at wedding.clewett.org. This blog even got a mention. You can read the article online. Toby and I both had an absolutely fantastic day and really did feel like movie stars. Thanks to everyone involved.

The newspaper article

Now, I've struggled with this section of the post because I must point out some errors in the newspaper article, which is difficult to do now that they've advertised my blog and may even read it themselves but I just can't let it lie, I'm afraid. The journalist seemed like a lovely man; he conducted the interview in a very short space of time and over the phone, and really didn't have much time at all to write it up before the paper went to print. At times it was quite difficult to hear him so I can see how things might get mixed up or overlooked. So with all due respect to him I have complied the following list of erors. These are minor errors but I am pedantic.

1. As is evident by the URL of this blog, I am Lins, not Linds, but that's okay; it's a common mistake that many make.
2. Coco is a perfume by Chanel and my grandparents are not accustomed to sipping it of a morning, as suggested by the article.
3. I am a geordie, spelt G-E-O-R-D-I-E, not Jordie. This is a common mistake amongst Australians so perhaps if I explain it comes from the name "George" it will help them to remember the correct spelling. Knowing Aussies and their funny little ways, they probably sometimes spell George J-o-r-g-e anyway, in which case that little snippet won't help in the slightest.
   
4. I do not have relatives in York but my lovely friends Sadie and Tim live there.
5. At no point during the day did I have tears streaming down my face. I did have a slight tear in my eye because I'm not completely unemotional but the only thing that was "streaming" was the web-cast.
6. I do not remember hugging the computer. My dad remembers me taking it in both hands and adjusting it slightly so we could see better and I think I put my ear right up to it because it was very hard to hear. I can only guess that this little action was misconstrued as a hug. It makes a good story though... much better than mine.
7. Toby and I did not say that the live cam feed stops at the honeymoon threshold. I only clarify this because I was specifically asked by someone yesterday. It kind of goes without saying though, doesn't it?
   

If any of you out there are reading this because you got the link from the paper than welcome to the wonderful world of Buckle!! Or should that be Clewett? Or Cluckle? Blewett? Bucklett? Any which way, I'm still Lins, I'm still a geordie down-under and I'm now also a wife. Must dash... presents to open :-)

Things worthy of note from a quiet Geordie bride-to-be

Sorry for the silence folks. I've been a bit pre-occupied. I have noticed a few things worth blogging about but just never quite got around to it. Facebook might have something to do with that but I prefer to blame the wedding. Anyway, here's a summary of thoughts I have recently had.

1. Our house went to auction last week but didn't sell. Still, it was strange having lots of random strangers wandering through our house. We met the landlords. They seem nice.
   
   
2. I have had a hen weekend and a buckette party, both of which were lots of fun. The photos of the hen weekend are on Picasa at My Hen Party. The buckette photos will find their way up there just as soon as I get the chance. Those of you on Facebook will have already seen them.... the handcuff photos will be joining them soon but unfortunately the Hairless is attempting to ban the ones of him perching on the Buddha's head whilst taking a photo.
   
   
3. Cress is a really strange thing to serve as garnish with a crusty croissant and jam at breakfast, don't you think?
   
   
4. Writing wedding vows is one of the most challenging aspects of wedding planning.
   
   
5. Heard of Blackle? Any thoughts? The jury is out over whether this is a reasonable attempt to address some power conservation issues, as the research was based upon the use of CRT monitors, which have mostly been replaced by LCDs these days. One of the arguments I have heard against Blackle is that light text on a black screen is not so good for the eyes. Apparently that research was done back in the early 80s. Other arguments against Blackle are that it is not actually created by Google and is a commercial product, which uses the Google search engine and is designed to earn the site money from AdSense. They certainly seem to have attracted a lot of attention through a chain email campaign - who hasn't recently received an email explaining the virtues of Blackle? I've had two. Alternatively there is actually a Black Google. I wonder if they released this in response to all the hype surrounding Blackle. Personally, until Firefox and Google update their toolbars, or the whole of the Google suite, and LinkedIn and Facebook and many other websites follow suit, I fail to see the point. I really don't sit on the Google search engine interface that much. Just my personal opinion.
   
   
6. Facebook is addictive and is taking over my life. But it's a great way to keep in touch. If you're not on there, get on there... especially if you're one of my lovely friends who I never get to see. Go on, I'll buy you a drink.
   
   
7. We still haven't found a house to buy but we have at least until the end of August in our house. Until it sells (or doesn't sell) who knows what will happen after that. It's all very up in the air. Am I bovvered?
   
   
8. I'm about half-way through reading Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows and if anyone dares tell me the ending I will never speak to them again. And if they happen to be a total stranger who doesn't care whether I ever speak to them, I shall hunt them down and haunt them before dividing their soul and sticking it into a horcrux (please look beyond the fact that you have to kill someone to stick your soul into a horcrux, you HP die-hards). I was about a third of the way through before I got really into it and last night I actually got a bit freaked out and couldn't put it down even though my eyes really wanted to close and send me to sleep. Oh damn the release of this book coinciding with my wedding. I think I might have to write to JK and complain. The nerve.
   
   
9. I hope all of you in the UK are not having to swim to work and have not suffered flood damage to any of your personal property and have a full and working supply of tasty tap water. Crazy weather.
   
   
10. Is this rude?
    I was in the hairdresser's last night for my final colour before the wedding. My hairdresser was really busy which was disappointing as she seemed distracted which is not what you expect as a bride-to-be. In all the films they're made such a fuss of that this is what you think is actually going to happen in real life. At least she did a good job of the colour, as always.
    
    However, she did decide to tell me that the woman she had recommended to put my hair up for the wedding was not a qualified hair dresser. She asked if it bothered me. I said not really, it's not like she's cutting it or colouring it. She's just putting it up. My mam used to do that when I was a kid and she's not a qualified hairdresser.
    
    Anyway, towards the end a different hairdresser rinsed and dried my hair and we got onto the subject of the wedding. She asked who was doing my hair and she actually pulled a face at my answer as though I'd just offered her a bowl of tripe as a yummy treat.
    
    Is that rude? I thought so. She then went on to tell me about a wedding a year or two ago where she did the bride's hair and this other woman did the bridesmaids and how it was "disgusting" and messy. Is that a bad thing to tell a woman a week before her wedding? A bit rude and insensitive, I thought. A weaker girl than me, or one more concerned about her appearance would have gone home in tears, freaking out, wondering if she had time to find someone else. As it is, I am a tad concerned but I'm more affronted that she had the nerve to be so rude. Comments?
    
    
11. I am getting married in one week and one and a half hours.
    

Apparently this is our house...

... it looks like our house. The proximity to the beach is about right and I don't know many other people with such an awkward 90 degree-angled driveway. And the sign is on our front lawn so it must be our house. But what confused me were the following words:

• Layout allows easy movement between the formal living, three double bedrooms and bathroom off the main.
• The dining area opens onto the generous kitchen that extends to a covered outdoor area.
• If you want to be acquainted with the long days of beachside living, this is your chance.

What the....?

I think what they might actually mean is

• House quite small so all rooms are quite close together.
• There is a separate lounge-room so you don't have to try and squeeze your sofa into the dining/kitchen area.
• If you're lucky you might get a double bed into each of the three bedrooms, although you won't get much else in the third room so I wouldn't bother.
• The bathroom has a door leading to the main bedroom. Don't be fooled into thinking this is an ensuite. It isn't, and in fact can get very confusing when people come to stay or if there are more than two people living there. In fact, unless there are only two of you I fail to see the point of this additional door.
  
• The dining area and kitchen are basically in one big room with patio doors. You may find that although the kitchen looks big, it is actually quite small and poorly designed, with lots of wasted space, awkward corner cupboards and most of the cupboards squeezed into the corner where the stove is so that if one person is cooking you can forget about getting much else done, such as putting the dishes away or grabbing a glass of water. And don't even get me started on the stove; I have three words: rip it out.
  
• You will enjoy a reasonable amount of shade from the covered outdoor area but don't expect to stay dry in rain as it leaks really badly. And it flaps around in high winds. In fact, you may as well just replace the whole thing.
  
• Er... really not sure about the "long days" business. The days aren't any longer because you live at the beach, in fact they probably seem shorter because it's so nice but to be fair, if you can afford to buy this house you're probably either rich and retired, in which case the days may be very long, or you work all the hours God sends to pay off your mortgage, in which case the days you get to spend at the house will probably seem very short.

So if anyone fancies buying a beach house and renting it out to us, come along to the auction on 21st July and bring a spare $600,000. I'll be the one in the bed, clutching my head and moaning "Get out of my house and leave me in peace, you evil, evil people" as the boys from work are treating me to a Buckette's party the night before - how nice of them. Thank God the new Harry Potter book is released that day. It may be my only salvation - if I can get my eyes to work.

Caveat: I'm not dissing the house. It's a very nice house and we would be very happy to stay here a while longer. A little overpriced perhaps, but everything around here is. I just find real estate agent speak quite amusing and the positive spin they've given this property is very impressive.

Poetry: Angst of a poet

Last night as I was in my bed,
I wrote a haiku in my head.
This morning when I woke back up,
I found the haiku thought had fled.

I thought I was a decent poet,
I thought I'd make a laureate,
But when it all came down and to it,
I found that I had clean forget.

Running with soup

What a day! What a [insert chosen expletive, descriptive word or noise here. I'm going with Ngrnganggh!! which I think is similar to a Marge Simpson frustrated growl] day!

It started quite nicely. I achieved my objective of getting out of bed before 7am for the first time in so long I can't remember when. I then went for a run/walk/photographic mish. Note to self: Running with a camera does not constitute effective morning exercise on account of the fact that one sees the world from an entirely different perspective when one has a camera, and becomes fascinated by the merest thing that one would not normally spare a second glance. It results in something akin to this: run for 100 metres; spot something interesting; investigate further and take photo; change exposure and take another photo; experiment with flash and take another photo; walk for 20 metres whilst reviewing and critiquing photos; run for 50-100 metres; spot something interesting; and so on.

On my return run/walk/photo mish I intended to do some shoulder rows and chest presses using the funky machines in the new grown-ups' play gym the council recently installed in our local park but thanks to the camera I instead became distracted by rainbow lorrikeets and blue-faced honeyeaters. Then I got chatting to a woman from Dubbo who was house-sitting for her sister. I've always wondered what a place called Dubbo would be like but it doesn't sound like the kind of place I'd want to visit in order to find out. It sounds like a place often mentioned but never visited on Neighbours or Home & Away, or the nickname of the local bevan (chav/hoon/scally/bogan). Anyway, she was very nice and obviously pleased to be in Buddina and not Dubbo. All in all it was a pleasant start to the day.

Grown-ups play gym. Just like the real gym but free.

It was when I got home that things began to go horribly wrong. The following actual email thread I sent to work over the next few hours pretty much sums it up:

From: "Lindsey Buckle"
To: "Dion", "Daniel", "Elaine", "Greg", "Linda", "Lindsay", "Matthew", "Peter", "Richard"
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 8:36 AM
Subject: Averting disaster - will be in late, if at all
Hello team,

I returned home from a run this morning to discover a terrible leak and a slight flood, mainly outside the house but also inside. I have had to switch the water off at the mains and currently have no way of showering, brushing my teeth etc. etc. I'm waiting for the plumber to arrive and have no idea at this stage when I'll make it into work, if at all.

I'll keep you informed.

Have full electricity so if anyone can think of anything I can be getting on with at home I'd be happy to oblige. Currently all I can think of is how smelly I am and what damage has been done. Bugger.

Lindsey.

>>> Lindsey Buckle 06/18/07 8:44 AM >>>
UPDATE

Plumber arriving in approximately 30-45 mins. Depending on how long it takes him to do the job and get the water back on, I am hoping to be at work around 11am.

Hopefully see you then,
Lindsey.

>>> Lindsey Buckle 06/18/07 10:14 AM >>>
UPDATE

Plumber been and gone. Burst pipe. All good ('cept for flood on toilet floor I have to clean up). Water back on - yay! Will be in at 12. (Not enough time to make the 10.30 bus unforch!).

Lindsey.

>>> Lindsey Buckle 06/18/07 1:27 PM >>>
UPDATE

I think I might be having the worst day ever. After grappling for about 15 minutes with the garage door, which refused to let me lock it and which I'd had to open for the plumber who didn't end up using it anyway, I legged it to the bus stop and then realised I'd left my bag containing money, keys, phone and bus pass at home. Legged it home again, remembering that there was a door I hadn't checked when I left home because it never used to unlock but has recently started to. Halleluliah it was unlocked so I raced back to the bus stop, this time with bag. Bus wasn't there but another turned up and told me it was only 34 past - mine due at 35. After 20 minutes of waiting I figured I'd missed it and took a bus down Nicklin Way to get a different bus. That one didn't turn up either so I called the bus company and they explained the first one had been 30 minutes late and the second one doesn't go that way any more - had a route change three weeks ago, apparently. Was well advertised, apparently. By this time I was on a bus back to Kawana Waters arguing over the phone with the guy at Sunbus who tried to tell me the bus drivers don't use a centralised system yet so just because one guy said it was 34 past doesn't mean it was, and whoever told me that Sunbus will pay for a taxi for you if they've screwed up was wrong and by the way, if I'd continued south I could have got the next 607 from Caloundra.

Anyway, end result is I am MAJORLY stressed out and probably not going to get to work before 2pm anyway and have an appointment at 5.45pm so am questioning the worth. Do you think this much stress constitutes sick leave? Because I do actually feel like I could vomit right now.

Tomorrow has to be a better day and I hope to see you all then. Probably best you don't mention this to me... I might breathe fire at you.

Lindsey.

Running with soup? I hear you ask. Yes, today was not the best day to be running for the bus as I had a tub of soup for my lunch. Turned out okay but I was paranoid nonetheless.

Anyway, you know they say every cloud has a silver lining and everything happens for a reason etc. etc? Well, I've figured it out. After returning home I decided to sit outside and have some lunch and discovered that the patio door was unlocked, and not even shut properly. So, had I not forgotten my bag then I would have left the house with two doors unlocked. Had the bus company not completely screwed up my entire day I would have left the house with one door unlocked. Still, I need a car.

Am now completely exhausted after all the disaster averting, route reorganising and generally floundering around on buses not really getting anywhere. I think I need a nana nap.

When the going gets tough.... play with your photographs

The view from the surf club where our wedding reception will be, across the bay towards Point Cartwright, the headland where we will exchange our vows.

Okay, so I've been a wee bit quiet of late. That's because I've been stressed with a capital S-T-R-E and double S!!! Most of you will have heard the incredibly unfortunate news that not only are our landlords a bit dubious about us sharing our home with some beautiful pussies (cats for the filthy minded of you) but they're also not too sure about actually keeping the house and have put it on the market. Our lease ends two weeks before the wedding. They only need to give us two week's notice to move out on that date. This is not good news.

After two or three intense weeks of house-hunting, for a house to purchase nonetheless, and vacating our own home every Saturday morning between 11 and 11.30pm so that the real estate agents can let randoms into our home to do what they will without any protection for us from the law or insurance because technically it's not breaking and entering and we have given our permission (yeh! right!!), followed by an angst-ridden loooong weekend (bank holiday, sweetie, 'cept they call it a public holiday here... don't know why. Ask anyone who works in a shop and they'll tell you it's the banks, not the public that get the holiday) wherein we put in an offer on a house we loved but which was massively over-priced and entered negotiations only to be told, after more than 24 hours of waiting for a response to our final offer, that the seller wouldn't budge from his first, rather ungenerous counter-offer, after all that we've come to the conclusion that there is nothing on the market that we want to buy. We were about to reconsider what we might want to buy, reluctantly as one does not enter into debt of almost half a million dollars simply because they wish to move before their wedding because their landlords have the sensitivity and good-timing of a nuclear war, when we heard the rather good news that we MAY be permitted to stay here until a few weeks after the wedding. It's not in writing yet so nothing is guaranteed but purleease everyone cross their fingers, toes, arms, legs and roads for us.

So, other than getting completely distracted by Facebook and getting back to organising the wedding (we now have suits for the boys, shoes for the bride and are well on the way to a veil), I have decided to create a few albums of some of my favourite photos to share with you all.

Firstly, I created an album of shots taken in my garden. I love getting out there and taking photos of birds, flowers and insects. Usually I'm out there doing something else, like gathering fruit from the veggie garden, or hanging the washing out, and I'll see something that will make me run indoors and grab the camera. I then generally spend about half an hour to an hour wandering around taking photographs of things, entirely distracted from the task at hand. You can see this album at http://picasaweb.google.com/lindseybuckle/MyGarden.

The second album I created consists of photographs of Buddina Beach where we have lived for the past four years. I have always loved, and been inspired by this beach but I'm feeling particularly nostalgic about it now that I know we may be leaving to live elsewhere in a few weeks. This album is at http://picasaweb.google.com/lindseybuckle/OurBeach.

Lastly, I created an album of Point Cartwright, the headland 3 kilometres north of our home and where we will be getting married in 7 weeks. Obviously this is a very special place for both Toby and I. We have had some great times up there, it is a beautiful spot with a positive energy. Anyone who ever visits me on the Sunshine Coast will be treated to a tour of Point Cartwright and I'm confident you'll all fall in love with the place. Check out the album at http://picasaweb.google.com/lindseybuckle/PointCartwright.

I have commented on most of the photographs so if you have the time, click on each one and read about its background. Each of these albums will be constantly updated when I take relevant photographs that I'm particularly pleased with, either because they're good pictures or because they hold special memories for me. Save these links as favourites and check back on occasion or subscribe to the RSS feed on the bottom right of the album page.

I've discovered Facebook...

.. and it may be about to take over my life.

It all started quite innocently. A young chap, whom I used to reside with, sent me an invite. At first I ignored it. I have tried the odd social networking site before but they turned out to be just that - odd! After a while I grew curious, or perhaps just bored, and as it is my job (kind of) to keep abreast of web and internet technologies I decided I should really investigate this further so I signed up with my spam email account.

It was okay. I managed to converse a little with said chap, and look at some photos of him and then I got Facebook to check my address book and discovered another old London pal was on there. This particular girl has been incredibly difficult to keep in touch with since I left the UK. We've chatted on occasion over MSN but the time difference has keep that to a minimum and she NEVER answers her emails. So obviously, I was quite pleased to re-establish contact. Her comment so glad you are on facebook, I live on here! hehe disturbed me somewhat. What on earth could she possibly be doing on there? I wondered.

Then I forgot about it for a week or so until Friday came around again. With the Rugby Super 14s done and dusted I was at a loss of what to do, given that Friday afternoons were generally spent planning my team and making trades, so I ventured back into the world of Facebook again. What a surprise when I discovered that some of my York Uni and London buddies had added me as their friends. How did they find me? But how wonderful! I spent the afternoon trying to figure out how the whole thing worked, reading their banter and checking out their photographs. I invited a couple of people from work and we had fun writing on one another's walls, although admittedly that wore thin pretty quickly.

Then I forgot about Facebook again. Until the following Friday at which time I decided to get Facebook to check my address books again. This is a kind of creepy, yet cool feature, whereby you stick in your email address, be it Yahoo, GMail or Hotmail, and your password, and armed with this information, Facebook trundles off, logs in and looks for email addresses in your address book that match any it has in its own database. If it finds any matches, it lets you know and you can add those people to your list of friends. I've done this a few times now and each time, Facebook has found more people that have joined up. You can invite people too but so far I have refrained from doing this (unless people have specifically requested) just to avoid being too much of a pain.

My facebook profile

So, my network is growing and I'm in touch with a lot of old friends from the UK who I never get around to emailing. It's great. People ask me what's the point of Facebook, and I admit that I wondered that myself, but one thing I really like is that when I log in it gives me a summary of recent events, such as "So-and-so and Mr Bloggs are now friends", "You have one friend request", "You have 1 message in your inbox", "Thingumyjig has added photos" "Whosit has tagged you in 2 photos" etc. etc. etc. Basically it's a one-stop shop for communication. Somehow it seems easier than emailing people and remembering a multitude of photo sites and blog addresses. That said, obviously I'm still blogging and I'm still uploading photos to my Picasa site.

And in other news...
Some of you may have noticed that the link to my photos hasn't been working properly. I am investigating this and in the meantime I have replaced the link with one to my Picasa album. It doesn't have all the photos up there but there are some recent ones for your perusal.

Oh yes, I knew there was something else.... for those of you who don't know I am now the proud owner of a beautiful diamond engagement ring (thank you, Toby, photo to follow) so I guess this makes it all official (good thing given the wedding is only 8 weeks away) and our landlords are selling our house from under our feet (great timing, you [insert appropriate expletives here]).

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

Games to play at work - No. 1

For any waitresses out there, here's a mean (but funny) trick to play on your customers.

Wait until another waitress has seated said customers and presented them with menus. Monitor the expressions on their faces. Be diligent in this - it's all in the timing. If they're looking particularly excited by the menu selection then this works all the better. Just as they look like they're about to come to a decision approach their table, as though you're about to take their order, and announce, "Er.... the kitchen's closed now".

Watch the expressions on their faces as they try to understand whether that means they aren't going to get their food and wonder why they were seated in the first place if that is the case. Hilarious!

This actually happened to us last night. Oh how we laughed! Thankfully it turned out to be a case of waitress miscommunication... or so she told us.