Happy New Year

I won't be sad to see 2008 go... its been a bitch.

Tonight is a quiet night with the family and to be honest that sounds just fine!

But to all my friends, family and readers have a very Happy New Year and I look forward to blogging some more in 2009.

Clay

Big News!

Merry Xmas! Sorry for the lack of posts this week, but there is a very good reason for that...

This week, I have been on a little trip... as you may or may not be aware I have been out of work since late June and have taken some time off but have also been actively searching for a new job for quite some time.

Well, I have secured a "verbal" offer, at the back of end of my trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates!

The final offer has not been given and there will be some negotiation to come but at this stage, I am very likely to accept and make the move overseas. There are alot of logistics to work out such as what to take, store or sell and also what to do with the house etc etc, but its quite an exciting time for us.

So what will I be doing in Dubai? Well this video should give you a taste of the project:



The start date is yet to be determined, but will probably be in mid-Feb and Niki and the girls will follow some time after.

This is why people should be licensed to have kids...

What a complete fuck-tard.... who would do this to a child and then ask for people to "move on and stop living in the past".

Can you imagine what this does to a child growing up and going through to school...

STORY

Internet Censorship

Internet censorship. The Australian Government wants to "clean feed" the net to ensure that all "objectionable" material is made unavailable... it is a complete furphy and impossible to achieve.

Now there is a movement to stop social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to remove material of a racial or sexist nature. I am not a racist, but come on people... I think we need to realise that there are racist bigots of all sorts in every part of the world and you cannot legislate against stupidity.

In the age of printed media, we used to try and ban subversive political, racial and sexually explicit material. Given it was a material medium, it was somewhat successful but at the end of the day those who wanted to produce and/or read that kind of material were still able to.

Now in the digital age where it is impossible to stop the physical production of material, it cannot be stopped. I think that people should realise no matter what your sense of right and wrong is and no matter how good you think people are there are people who have a different view to you.

Rather than trying to legislate people into good moral decency and campaign against websites to monitoring the millions of words of content that they host how about we focus on education programs and ensuring that we eradicate the bigotry and an ability to turn the other cheek when people sprout rubbish.

Sticks and stones hey?

My Birthday Wrap!

Well, yesterday was my birthday... and I am writing this post on my new toy! A laptop!!

From Dell, I got a Studio 15 laptop and its a very good machine. I am struggling to use Windows Vista, but I guess I will get there :)

My birthday itself has been good... Niki & I went to dinner last Saturday night in town and for my actually birthday, we went to the Malaya with the girls and my parents. Other than that, its been the same as any other days of the week with long breakfasts at the local cafe and not much in between! It will be a shame to finally go back to work... which I hopefully will be able to announce soon!

Richard Marsland

A very funny man, radio's Richard Marsland seemingly took his own life over the weekend.

I was a big fan of his and his work on Get This on TripleM and when in Melbourne on business I enjoyed his most recent work on the Melbourne breakfast show.

But the point of this post is that for some reason he killed himself and for a person who seemingly had such an outward personality in the media, you have to ask why.

We all have our troubles, but take it from me, talking is alot better than doing the ultimate act.

If you do want to talk, see Beyond Blue as a first step.

Top 20 Movie Characters of All Time

Empire Magazine has named its Top 20 Movie Characters of all time...

(check out the list here)

I have to say, the #1 is a big shock. I very much liked the movie, but that character hardly registered in my mind when I answered the question myself.

I have to say, Darth Vader, who came in at #2 should be #1.

My Top 20.

1. Darth Vader
2. James Bond - Connery & Brosnan being most memorable
3. Yoda (who doesnt get a mention here!)
4. The Joker - Heath Ledger... brilliant performance
5. The Godfather - Marlon Brando
6. C3PO & R2D2 - The famous Droids
7. The Terminator
8. Dr Hannibal Lector
9. Luke Skywalker
10. Indiana Jones
11. Superman - Christopher Reeve (doesnt get mentioned by Empire!)
12. Han Solo
13. John McClain - Die Hard
14. Capt Jack Sparrow - Johnny Depp
15. Gollum from Lord of the Rings
16. Forrest Gump
17. Ferris Beuller... maybe because of my age, but a great movie from its time.
18. Chewbacca
19. Spock from Star Trek. Leonard Nimoy
20. Batman - the new one. Would have been higher if they hadnt made such casting flops in the past.

So, in short - the Empire list leaves me a bit uninspired because so many classic characters were left out. There is also ALOT of representation from the Star Wars but those characters have become iconic figures that everyone recognises. Movie Franchises also do well because the characters come back again and again... and most of my nominations come from franchise movies.

Anyone I left out? Any disagreements? Anyone have views on Empires List and what I think is a crappy #1.

Busy as...

Well, apologies Dear Reader as I have been flat out this week and its only Tuesday!

This unemployment caper certainly is busy, particularly when you're juggling three potential roles at once.

Today, I have done psychometric tests for two positions and I feel exhausted. I did the first set this morning in the city, so I was in for an 8:30am start (I wanted to be back at the coffee shop in Glenbrook!) and didn't finish until midday. Whilst the tests are not hard per se, they are an exercise in mental stamina and afterwards I felt very drained... so I caught up with old work mates at the pub!

Then tonight, after the kids were tucked into bed, I did a second set of tests online. Different style of tests, different psyche company providing them, and I think tonight a bit easier than this mornings, but still I didnt finish until just now (11pm).

So, in short I am very much mentally drained and the batteries are low but at the same time I am excited to be getting closer to the end game of the unemployment business and yet sad to see my relatively relaxed life style perhaps ending :-(

I think once I do get a job, this blog will become once again part of my daily routine as I usually would get to the office, engage with colleagues, read newspapers and form a view on something that would inspire me to post.

At the moment though, I think to do a posting and realise half a week has flown by! Oh such is the life of a bludger!