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I am struggling this morning to post something meaningful as I have been very busy with work and will be for the rest of the week… I have finished reading that Blood Bowl novel I mentioned a couple of days ago and I was writing a review of it and critiquing it due to its poor spelling and grammar and realised that I am doing the ultimate Lime Kettle and decided to delete all that post.  (For the record, the book was average at best and you have to be a gamer to determine that it was an average book – if you don’t play Blood Bowl, don’t bother!)

It is hard to write about something when you have committed to write very little about work, but then your work is what is consuming you at the moment… The reason for this all consumption is that some of my colleagues from our US office are out for our annual strategy sessions and the entire week is taken up with meetings and the evenings are taken up with dinner and entertainment…  It leaves very little else to think about…  So if work is driving everything else out this week, then I guess I better start looking forward to something!

When you’re in late November, obviously things start to turn to Xmas.  Yesterday Niki got the girls their annual Santa photo.  This was a big milestone for little Brooke as she has been petrified of Santa for the last two Christmas’s and this year she willing sat next to Santa.  Niki was very happy too because it wasn’t crowded at Santa’s Workshop and he was actually walking around browsing (do Santa’s browse?) in the toy department, so the girls got to hold his hand and lead him back to the Santa Chair for their photo.  He was a pretty good Santa and when was all said and done and they walked past Santa later on, he called out their names and wished them a Merry Christmas.   So a big thumbs up to what seems to be one of the better Santa’s going around!  (Myer at Penrith if you’re keen).

Also, because initially my Pop was ill, but more so that he passed away last month, my parents are going up to spend Xmas with my Nan on the Gold Coast.  This means that we’ll be having an early Xmas lunch with my mum & dad and hopefully some other rello’s the week before.  So effectively we get two Xmas Days!  The lunch is going to be at our place and I need to pull my finger out and make some phone calls and get busy… it will be good because we can just relax and not worry about doing the 3pm changeover to be somewhere else for dinner.  Not quite the same as doing it on Xmas Day, but we’ll give it a fair crack :-)

Before this though, on Sunday, we’re having a Xmas Picnic with the old crowd and its getting to the stage that one of us (Pete) will be dressing up in Santa gear for the kids.  Should be a good one, just hope the weather improves.

Well that’s enough… the train is at Parramatta and I need to do some work and this posting has rambled long enough…

 

Van Ngyuen

I have been surprised at the amount of support in the media for Van Ngyuen (sp?) and his impending execution.  Whilst I don’t condone the death penalty for his particular offence, I do think that we should learn to respect the rights of individual countries and their laws.  The fact that Singapore has the Death Penalty for drug trafficking and yet Ngyuen decided to try his luck is such a monumentally stupid move, that I have little sympathy for him.

What does annoy me most of all however is that some sections of the media, driven by I don’t know who, are calling for “the Nation” to stop for a minute silence at 9:00am Friday.  How ridiculous is that?!?!  When do we stop for a mark of respect at other times?  Armistice Day to pay respect to the war dead.  We pause to reflect on Anzac Day again as a celebration of people who sacrificed all.  We also stop to reflect on the lives of famous people who pass away before sporting events and we will stop to pay respect to those who have died in tragic circumstances – for example September 11.

Do you see the common thread in all of these??  Its called Respect.  You stop to “pay respect” to the person or persons who have died.  Why would I want to pay “respect” to a guy who was selfishly bringing massive amounts of a deadly drug into our country for his own personal gains and got stupidly caught?

That is not what a minute silence is about and for once I agree with John Howard that it won’t be happening.

Enjoy the cricket Johnny, no need to worry about anything other than ensuring the PM’s XI win the toss and bat.

Sunday Night...

Been a very good weekend this weekend with not much on at all...

A big highlight was that the mighty Greystanes B11's cricket team chased
251 to win. What makes it special was that we were 5/70 odd and a
massive 140 run partnership between Paul "Noyz" Brewster and "Young
Simon" Agius turned the tide. Noyz made 116 in the end with Simon
making 46 (his highest score I believe) and left a few runs for Nick
Nardo to bring in with a huge six over midwicket for the win.

That puts us right into contention with a 4-2 record at the half way
mark in the season. We did get the wobbles for the last 2 and a half
games, but that win should give us all the momentum for the run home.
We have the next 2 weeks off with the bye and then finish up before Xmas
with a one dayer against Parramatta Leagues on December 17.

Saturday night was spent with Mum & Dad at the Shun Tak Restaurant at
Parramatta. I have to give this place a massive wrap. The food is
great Chinese with their specialty being seafood. The service was good
and they're great with the kids... our girls got lollipops and jelly for
desert. So if you're looking for a good meal, I give the Shun Tak (sp?)
the thumbs up.

Sunday was spent mainly at the shops... we bought new photo paper for
the printer (and then realised when we got home, we were out of ink), I
bought some new brushes and paints for my Dwarf painting project plus I
bought the new Blood Bowl novel... should be
a laugh. We also bought some paint for the girls beds that have been in
our garage for ages and some hay for the Guinea Pigs...

This was followed by a BBQ for dinner and we all watched the Kath & Kim
movie on Channel 2... God we go off!

Feedback!

I was questioned yesterday about whether I get any feedback on this site by my mate Enoch and before I could respond to his email in full, I had a comment on my post yesterday about the “terrorists” on my train yesterday.  This has expanded into a few more comments, but I also have had a few emails as well on yesterday’s subject.  Seems as though my views on assuming that those Arab guys on the train yesterday were terrorists has prompted a bit of a debate…

On one hand, I had people criticising me because I “preach” tolerance but then how I could then assume the worst in people.  Then I had the opposite view and had people asking me whether I had considered reporting the whole thing to the police as it was clearly “a dry run”.

My position is that I don’t think every Muslim is a terrorist, but I guess given the mass-media (hysteria?) in our newspapers everyday coupled with the closing of Town Hall in peak hour my mind assumed the worst.  I put that down to the human condition rather than any prejudice on my part.  I still believe that our government is over reacting and that they are targeting a particular religion simply on the basis that it is “different”.  In short, I still believe Muslims are being discriminated against.

And yet, I do acknowledge that there is an extremist element and that in past terrorist attacks all over the world, some of the victims were probably pro or at least cognisant of the issues that Muslims have… it didn’t stop them from being blown to bits though.

Thanks for the feedback too… whether you think I am a nut, or strange, or racist or that I “tell it like it is”, I am happy to hear from you.

God's Debris

If you want to read something that will give you something to think about, I highly recommend you read God’s Debris.  It is a short story written by Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip but this is not a comedy story.  I won’t give it away here, but download it and read it and let me know what you think via the Forum.

Thanks to gumbi for linking me to this…

  

Freaked out this morning

Well I was shitting bullets this morning.

I get on the train at Central to take me around to Kings Cross and they announce that the train will not stop at Town Hall.

At this point I notice in the vestibule with me were 3 Arab looking (long beards, funny hats) men each with a back pack on.

They start jabbering to each other in Arabic and 2 of the three got off the train at Central.

The guy left stands there as we move along. The train slows through Town Hall and he pulls out of his pocket a single A4 page that has lots of Arabic writing and seems to be a religious pamphlet.

He starts reading it out loud, but quietly to himself.

I swear I thought I was a goner!

He then puts the paper away and pulls out the mobile phone and I am now thinking of Niki and the kids...

The train pulls into Martin Place and he gets off...

I stay on and go thru to the Cross and wonder if there is something happening... but turns out it was a fire that caused the station closure.

I feel strange that I jumped to that conclusion straight away this morning. I am very against this “all Muslims are terrorists” slant the media have been spruiking, but when you get confronted with things you do start to think “is this it?”

We're all going to the birds...

Interesting debate at work at the moment… With the background of Bird Flu and the fact that I work in Risk Management and hence am a part of my companies “Bird Flu Response”, I have been getting alot of material on this very subject.

Not that I have anything new that isn’t already being reported, just that I get to review it with the companies interests / concerns in mind.  Along with HR and other divisions, I am getting involved at a level that I don’t particularly care for.  My personal view is that if the Bird Flu mutates and becomes a human plague, then we’re stuffed.  No policy that I can write or assist to formulate will prevent it… I guess I have a bit of a fatalist approach.

But this is only background to the debate in my own department which is now spreading (hah! like a virus!!) to other departments.  One of the key notions about Bird Flu prevention is a two pronged strategy around personal hygiene and the treatment of staff who are sick with the flu.  The first is what it is – Personal Hygiene.  You can’t have a place of employment dictating that all employees must have certain standards of personal hygiene.  I’d like to think that people do, but you can’t “enforce” that everyone bathes and washes their hands.  The second point though is the treatment of people who are sick in the work place.  Essentially enforcing that people who have the flu (and I am talking regular not Bird) stay at home until they are better.

At the time we were looking at this material, one of my colleagues was off sick.  He was off Monday with the flu.  We made the usual jokes about “chucking a sickie to get a long weekend” and didn’t think much of it.  Well he came into the office on Tuesday and sounded horrendous.  Hacking cough, sneezing, a voice that sounded like he had gravel in his throat… He said he felt “fine” and he worked through the day and yet his symptoms didn’t seem to get better.  Well yesterday, the girl who sits opposite him in the open plan office was off with the flu.  She clearly caught it from him and she was in the line of fire so to speak.

This prompted yesterday’s debate at the office as to whether companies should a) ensure that staff take the appropriate amount of leave to ensure that they are fully better and b) should we have sent this clearly sick person home?

This though would go against the grain of our workplace culture where you work until you drop dead… is my company unusual in that regard or are we “standard” and that this notion of telling people to go home and take that “extra day” to get over the flu is doomed to failure?