I got some nice CDs from Sweden... and the delay was Customs. Which is fine, but they really suck at repacking things. They suck real bad. Also - what you don't see on Border Security is a bloke making concerned noises at the x-ray image and shaking his head about it not being right, and all the time opening the suspicious package... that really is CDs.

I also got a tonne of CDs locally. Then an email from Slappa that some nice CD storage is on sale. So that's handy.

Heaps of books. This is what happens when I get an email saying 30% off and free postage.  read more »

I saw a movie the other day with open captions. Those are like high quality subtitles, I guess. Like the ones I added to 23, for deaf people. I picked a good movie to check that out with - Predators. Everyone just imagine what the subtitles for aliens look like. I now have an extra funny thing to imagine. Like sock puppets to make everything funny, deaf people subtitles are real good to add to your moods.

Had Japanese food again - I really like miso glaze.  read more »

Dick Smith learned a lesson (I hope) in their CBD store the other day when I picked up an external drive and all their shelving collapsed. Drives on the floor all around me, and that helped me decide which I wanted... it was on an uncollapsed shelf.  read more »

I am loving Wednesday without work.

Today I asked a barman to 'surprise me' and he coped very badly with the concept. Eventually I got a nice french lager... and that's all I know about it.

Then I had a good steak upstairs. Good but not awesome. The wine was a nice cab merlot. The Mitre fills up with wankers real quick at lunch time, which was annoying.  read more »

Unfinished Business is a surprisingly good read. I forget who the author is, and can't be arsed finding the book, but it was about Paul Keating and things like the SGC.

Read a story, in TIME I think, where someone made an offhand comment about how Adam Smith's "invisible hand" has been slapped with the GFC and all. My thought is that perhaps the invisible hand is the one doing the slapping.

Dad complained about how schwelmer (my current beer of choice) was stacked as a dutch beer, not german. The theory that then came out was that shelf stackers are idiots. Likely, but I have a new preferred theory. What if the shelf stackers have a really advanced sense of humour, and we just don't get the joke?

But quite happy about it. I'm still thinking it's better to wait for the right job - and the last job is good evidence.

Had a couple of chats with a 'top shelf' kind of agency. More specialised than the regular specialists. So they have not blinked at the rate I am asking. Today they coped very well with a list of what I want and don't want. I guess one hiccup is that one of my dislikes wiped out a possible immediate job.

But this means I get to sleep in a little longer for a while, and maybe get through some more books. Except... I keep buying books whenever I get in to the CBD for an interview. Today I had an extra, EXTRA helpful guy. Turns out one of the books I found was by an author he is thinking of trying, so we had a good chat about hard SF. To the world in general - I recommend Alistair Reynolds there.

Not having to go to work is awesome. But it's better when you still have money, so the plan is to get another job.

I did explain to CD store guy that, if I get another job at the last rate, I would be happy to work three or four days a week. Then I bought a stack of CDs and a Skinny Puppy t-shirt.

Then I went and bought some books. And some expensive chocolate.  read more »