Back to work tomorrow after an enjoyable four day break. I fear that getting up at 5:45 tomorrow may be the death of me.

I've achieved a few things.

1. I ironed my shirts.
2. Bought a new camera for the holidays later this year.
3. Tidied my desk (twice).
4. Bought some CDs.
5. Bought a new 4GB thumb drive. Cost about $27. (Oz Post)
6. Had some tests done for my quack to look at.
7. Cooked dinner one night.
8. Washed my car. (Auto wash).
9. Went to the footy (oh dear!).
10. Blogged.

Though this is indeed what I've done, I only wrote this dribble as I'm testing Microsoft's 'Windows Live Writer' programme. I found reference to it while browsing through Lisa's blog and I've used it to compose a few blog entries so far. I like it. You should give it a go (if you don't use it already). 

The only thing is though, that you need to enter the LJ site after posting, so that you can record your mood and 'listening to' bumf. The upside though is that you can spell check as you go and you do your work offline, and them simply click to post it. I shall continue to use it.

A huge announcement was made today by the Western Australian State Minister for Hype THE HON SHEILA M McHALE MLA. :

"Perth wins 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships"

Sheila is - amongst many things titular, the Minister for Tourism. (She is also the Minister for Culcha and the Yarts). Sheila was quoted on radio this morning as saying that this will "help put WA on the map".  Well, whoopee-bloody-do.

I swear if I hear this hackneyed phrase just one more time I will blow the frigging place up and take us right off this bloody all-important map.  

Brother Peter (No, he's not a monk - and he isn't the Messiah either) mentioned here, his opinion regarding the Red Bull Air Race. I am compelled to agree. Much ado about very little. 

From my perspective, I'm sick to death of being inconvenienced with road closures and alternate plans just to go about my everyday existence while these much-hyped events are in session. 

Be honest, how many of you had even heard of the bloody Red Bull Air Race prior to it arriving in Perth last year? As I sit at home this Sunday morning all I have heard is the constant drone of planes zooming down the river. It sounds like some great lawn mower gig in the sky. 

I think some of this stuff is overkill. I work shift work from the Hyatt Building and over the course of the past few years I've been put out greatly by Christmas pageants, cycle races, sky shows, car rallies, Red Bull planes and Anzac Day. 

Now, I don't mind the inconvenience of a couple of these events and you might guess which they are, but I am fed up with the tourist dollar being touted as the lifeblood of this state and having to make sacrifices for that very reason . It is not - and never was our lifeblood. 

The people who organise these events are very good spin doctors and governments of the day are astute enough to realise that they have to jump on board or be trampled underfoot. How I pity the poor people of Sydney for what they went through for the Johnny and George show!

Specifically, I guess I don't greatly object to this air show,  but I'll be damned if I am going to overrate it's value to this state. It's economic and marketing significance is about as great as mine, and yet you don't see me heralded in the media and see streets roped off for my dazzling arrival at the Hyatt Centre. 

I do it on an almost daily basis too.

Coincidence No. 1

Each day my portal web page generates a new quotation, all courtesy of http://www.quotationspage.com

Yesterday morning my portal web page had this little wisdom from Charles M Schulz - who as you are no doubt aware, was the creator of the Charlie Brown and Snoopy cartoon characters.

"Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement."

I arrived at work and was greeted with the news that one of my work colleagues in the same section, a man by the name of Charles Schulz, had died overnight.  We don't know the reason for it yet but Charles was 69 years of age and had been working part time since his retirement from the department, basically because we needed his expertise and because I suppose, the two or three days he put in filled those untapped hours. 

He was a nice old chap and it is sad to see him pass on. What an eerie coincidence.

Coincidence No. 2

A few days ago, I was scanning through our computer system to see if there were any raffle draws that I could attend. I was at a loose end work-wise and thought I might fill in the time by attending and auditing one of these events. The system allows us to search by draw date and so I punched in the day in question and a list of draws came up. The first one I checked up on was for a club 'Ocean' somethingorother - I can't remember the exact name. When I searched further to gather more details it turns out it is a club in Geraldton and it is a Tae Kwon Do club. I looked at the name of the permit holder and it was a certain 'Judith Bradley' who just also happens to be half- sister. 

Judy was fund-raising as she is heading overseas to represent Oz in an overseas competition. It might be the World CHampionships though I'm a little hazy on that. No doubt Grunt or Mammybrown will advise me.

Another eerie coincidence.

Further to the previous post, I encountered a proper shithead last night. He is a 20 year old Afghan thug, a serial fighter and trouble-maker. He has previously been found in possession of forged documents and his attitude when caught out doing something that he knew to be illegal was supercilious and vulgar. He'd been n the country for less than five years.

Somebody please please tell me why we need this in Australia?  (and I'll gladly tell you how wrong you are).