Too Wednesday to be random: structure

I have been composing inside my head all day. Turns out it might have be decomposing cos I feel a bit rotten.

I started on the tram this morning, with a list of things I hate. Things like backpacks - I hate that people wear backpacks on the tram. Sure, they're all hands-free and all clear-out-front - meanwhile, we poor suckers sitting to the left and right get thwacked every time back-pack-wearing-nimrod looks out the window or shifts their weight from one foot to the other. I added other things to my Hate List like people who get off the tram on the left-hand side of the middle handrail then turn right. And people who listen to their iPod (or similar) ear phones that ss ss sssiz ommpf ommpf ommfp because the music they are pumping down their ear canal is _so_loud_ that I can hear it from two seats back.

So yes, I guess I was a bit grumpy this morning. I blame the fact I've run out of Sensodyne toothpaste - but that's another story.

Then I thought I would narrow my list of things I hate down to one thing and write about Key Performance Indicators or KPIs as we in the business organisation of the world know them as. I do have some strong feelings about these little indicators of performance trotted out at quarterly reviews - but I decided that wouldn't be an appropriate thing to write about here, because a) thejamjar.com would crush under the weight of such a subject, and b) where I work they actually do a pretty decent job of the world surrounding KPIs and I would hate to have someone find my blog one day, read my rant about KPIs and think I was dissatisfied at my present place of employ and that's just not true.

I think KPIs ought to be called 'Getting Stuffs Done' or GSDs.

Which reminds me to tell you I haven't forgotten about my promise (was it a promise) to tell you about my new job (it was more of a "one day don't let me forget to tell you" than a promise, I think) which is rapidly becoming less new and has fallen into that place where I can't remember how long I've been there - it's more than 4 months, less than 6 - as a ballpark.

So then I thought I'd make a video - but my plan was a bit elaborate and involved system cards and a fountain pen so I put that one by the wayside.

Look, I'm not sure if you've noticed but today and most of lately hasn't been the most successful time for me to post words to thejamjar. Don't confuse this post with an apology for not writing, or a reason why I'm not writing - because I don't do that - it's more of a "I'm confused and a bit muddled up and.. what?" than anything else.

Tonight we went to Grumpy Bastard Trivia at Grumpy's Green on Smith Street. I managed to answer things like 'Locherbe' and 'Ben Elton' all by myself, and 'Tombstone' with the help of Fox, and Willo remembered 'Tamworth' when I couldn't think where the big guitar was. I managed to lose points by crossing out Fox's correct answer 'Titanic' and replacing in with 'Armageddon' because I thought Bruce Willis was all that stood between me and my 'colliding destiny' but apparently, it was Leo DeCaprio.

We came 5th, which was an improvement to the 7th we got week before last. And bonus of the night: I also spotted a guy wearing a tshirt that appeared to be designed by @sneak and so I took a photo of Andrew (turns out) and had a wee talk to him about buying counterfeit clothing in Thailand rather than off the legit tshirt on the Threadless site.

I'm thinking of making a graph of our results - but I don't want to commit myself to anything extra at the moment as my brain pressing against the insides of my skull as it is.

So I came home from Grumpy Bastard Trivia at Grumpy's Green on Smith Street and thought I'd tell you about it. But then I went downstairs after deciding to tell you about it and had some vegemite on toast and now I'm back in my room and the carbs have soaked up all the the clever, sharp commentary I had rehearsed before consuming that traditional antipodean supper and now the well is dry.

So instead I will compile another list: things I ended up not hating about today. They included riding a bike, getting up early, doing a load of laundry and wearing shorter than short shorts (don't ask - they weren't shorter than short shorts before I put them on).

Plus: I didn't fall off, over or into anything today.

I'd say, while not a win, I'd consider today a draw.

How did you go today?

Read More

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 05:13 PM

I quite often feel like writing a post when I am no where near a computer. This might be because I am so very good at avoiding doing what is expected of me when things are expected of me: I procrastinate like no bodys business. In fact I am so good at procrastinating that I have developed a way of fooling myself into believing I am procrastinating while getting stuff done. Everyone who is reading this and NOT waiting on me to finish their website/determine accommodation in the USA/post that letter/tell them about my new job will believe my every word. And now I have determined that I can type out a post via my iPhone and post to my blog while no where near my 'computer' (see what I did there?) I shall decide upon another, more convoluted reason not to blog. Which is nuts because it is something I like doing. But I find it hard since I lost my angry. Remember back when i worked for the learning curve? Eating curries and being furious all the time? It wasglorious blog-fodder. Now I am not angry anymore: well not _all_ the time: I got pretty damn furious with a "third party provider" the other day but had to store the bile away because no one seems to realise how he is Ripping Us Off with his ignorance. But it passed with only a few extra fractures due to braxisms. Mostly these days I am either happy or sad - the drunkywunky post was unusual and it was a little of column a masking column b. And another thing: I started nanowrimo this year a whole month earlier and included november as well and managed to write less than any previous year despite having an actual storyline, plot and pretty decent character development. I am unclear as to the point I am trying to make. Are you?
Read More