was just looking at the SXSW band listing & saw there's a nyc based band called 'sam champion'. that's great. sweeet!!!!
the only tv news person's name i know here is weather girl lividia (la-vid-e-a) nixon. could be a good band name but no where near as good as sam champion.
been quiet of late for several reasons....
- had my computer in the shop. no one wants to take responsibility for my dodgy memory so i had to cart the machine around to a few places. it's been 2 wks now & still no answer. i'm using the laptop w 256 now
- been working a bit more to get in some extra cash before uni starts
- generally tired
- went out a couple times... birthday party, outdoor movies, tropfest.
- not really having anything to say or forgetting something interesting to tell you
and now, back to thesis note taking....
hey folks,
for you in nyc, get down to mercury lounge on march 23. there're having an aussie band showcase.
the headlineis a band called little birdy. i'm a big fan of their cd (i think it's their first but what the fuck do i know) & saw them at big day out. the chick's voice is interesting & music is good. its kind of rockin & mellow at the same time. more like you're gonna sway & tap your foot than jump around but v good.
also, the morning after girls. they're from melbourne & i've seen them once (um... opening for the church i think). one of the guys is the hair in the face, look at his feet, play guitar cool (and sexy). i dont know the music as well as little birdy since i dont have the cd but i remember enjoying them & thinking i should see them again.
the other 3 bands (The Panda Band, Starky & Holly Throsby) i haven't heard of.
but def check out little birdy & morning after girls.
if you're looking for a gift & not sure what to get, check out this site.
some things i found on the site...
tiny clocks you can wear anywhere
muscovie designs jewelry has some great stuff. check out the rings in the shape of various molecules. of course i dig the caffeine one. :)
i think it's fair to say that i really like the color orange. it is definitely one of my fav colors. in fact, probably my most fav. and i use it all the time. my business cards are orange (and have been for years). my hair is an orange color (and has been for more years than the cards). i buy orange flowers, orange pens, orange paper, orange thongs (aka flip flops). i have lots of orange clothing and bags. hell, i even like oranges.
but it seems this could get me into a trademark infringement case sometime in the future. currently, in the UK, easyjet and orange (phones) are fighting for the right to use the color. amazing.
great tshirt. and if you're wondering what size to get me.... girly med or large.
so buy the shirt & then an airline tix!!!!!!
i'm not feeling as stressed as i was this morning because late in the afternoon, the computer repair folks called to inform me it's a bad memory chip. um, yeah, told ya that. but it seems (with a bit of talking) it will be fixed sometime soon. at least i can pick up my baby tomorrow & use it with less memory while they order it in.
the meeting with the new thesis guy went well. the person who handled them has recently left (or been pushed) & i needed to have a chat anyway. i've been having great difficulty in finding a firm to work with. i can understand it... had someone i didnt know approached me i probably would have pushed them off also. time is running out so i needed to come up with a new approach. fyi, this 'work w a company' thing is a uni requirement.
so i tell the guy im having problems, we chat for about 2 minutes, i tell him a new idea & he sez that's fine. WOW. that's great.
now, instead of studying 1 team, i'm going to do interviews concerning the virtual team experience. AND they do not have to be from the same company!!! i can mix companies, industries, countries, etc. I'll have to do about 30 or so but I think this will be a lot easier than my previous plan.
so..... if you've ever worked in a virtual team, volunteer now or i'll probably hunt you down. IM, phone, email, or even f2f will work. (and sorry, i have no funding for this so i wont be making calls to the rest of the world).
in other news.... i got some excellent koko black chocolate & a spa gift certif for valentines day. i baked an angel food cake & didnt kill anyone! the last episode of the office was on tonite (where he begs for his job). and im kinda tired.
just a quick 'cultural' comment though... valentines day isnt celebrated as much here as at home. the florists have valentines decorations as do the chocolatiers and some others but not a ton. today while i was waiting for my thesis guy i was talking to another teacher. he was telling me about this conference he's been organising @ uni. tonite was the opening (and free) speeches. he asked if i was going. um, no. duh. it's valentines day. and he looked puzzled for about 2 seconds & then said 'oh yeah. right. never thought of that when i was planning it'.
in about 20 minutes ill be heading off to drop off the laptop at a repair shop. i've been using safe mode for days. think its the memory.
but whatever it is... ill be w/o the computer for at least 2 days. i dont think ive been away from a computer for that long for a decade.
and then i have a meeting w this new thesis supervisor guy (not my supervisor but the program guy) to discuss my difficulty in finding a company to work with. keep your fingers crossed he's not the idiot i think he might be (based on 1 phone call w him about 8 months ago).
crap... gotta run & get ready!!
but happy v-day. ;)
the tv channels here are doing something i havent seen them do before. all the 'new' american tv shows are starting (it's the beginning of the season here... same as at home... season starts when kids go back to school at the beginning of the new school year.. except here that's feb).
the thing i havent seen them do before is have 'encore presentations'. this means they air the show and then a few days later they air the exact same episode just in case someone missed it or can't work their vcr (sorry, no tivo in this country).
so far they've done it with desperate housewives, lost & the medium. there might be more but those are the ones ive noticed. just strikes me as an odd thing to do. sure you might get ur money's worth but wouldn't you piss off the viewers?
united is having another sale. U$501 to sydney from LA. do i have to tell you people out there how amazing that price is????
and if you've been thinking of going to tokyo, they have flights from NYC for $U335.
holy shit.
so go here & book a flight.
book by 21 feb with a 7 day advance. travel must start before 31 mar & u can only fly on mon-thurs. i did a quick search & it seems like u have to play w the dates to get the winter sale price. the one i found was mar 15 returning from syd to lax at 420pm. but i didnt find a sale price from la (but only checked 2 dates).
also qantas has U$757 from LA or SF & U$964 from the east coast (including miami & newark). the travel is thru 10 march but you have to book by TODAY/TOMORROW ie 10 feb!!
and i might need someone to come over soon. currently i've booted into safe mode. constant crashes. im calling support in a few minutes (thought i'd do email first) but guessing dodgy memory & corrupt config shit b/c of all the crashes.
argh.
sunday's superbowl is actually 10am monday here. last year i watched it live on one of the free to air tv channels, sbs. the problem was they didn't show commercials & they had these idiots doing commentary during the commerical breaks. the one guy is the lead singer of the celibate rifles, an aussie punk band from the 80s. do not ask why he's doing this because i have absolutely NO idea.
but it turns out there's a pub fairly close that has fox sports & will be showing the game on the big screen.
so monday morning that's where i'll be.
i'm not a fan of either team but i'm thinking ill go for eagles.
what's that smell, jacksonville is a v funny post on craigslist. i did my undergrad in jax & this guy is right. it smells down there b/c of a paper mill. it isn't really florida (as i found out & wasn't happy about) but more south georgia. and yes, it does get cold sometimes. one year i couldn't fly home for xmas b/c it has snowed in jax a couple days before and of course they dont have any kind of de-icing equipment. of course no one knows how to drive in snow either. it was amazing.