These are some ridiculously expensive presents that no one will ever get me because they are too expensive. Like Jem, they’re truly outrageous! But only in the monetary sense, because in every other sense they are just plain awesome.

1. A new Nintendo DS Lite
Yeah. now you totally see what I mean. “But Cass,” you say, “I thought you already had a DS! You’re completely DS-CRAZY!”
Well, you see, the sad part is that I am a DS-o-phile, and the even sadder part is that my DS broke a while ago (maybe a month now?) so now I am unable to finish Zelda, and also I’m getting more and more afraid of the weeding I’ll have to do when I eventually get back on to Animal Crossing

2. DVD: Nadia and the Secret of Bluewater
Don’t even try. You’re so not going to find it at JB. And no, it’s not a porn, it’s an anime. And no, it’s not hentai.

3. A new mobile phone
I’m currently using Tim’s old mobile. I would dearly love to have a phone which can use realtones and also has other fun features.

4. A drawing tablet for the computer
But not the one that’s on display/demo at Harvey Norman Indooroopilly, that one has not worked once in the million times we’ve been there.

5. Anything with mermaids
Okay so this might not be ridiculously expensive. I pretty much mean movies or tv shows. I already have the first two DVDs of the first season of H2o – Just Add Water. Yay!

6. Those little trading arts final fantasy figurines
They are so cute. And awesome.

7. Several out-of-print books, as follows:
* After the Plague – Jean Ure
* Z for Zachariah – Robert O’Brien
* A Gift Upon the Shore – M. K. Wren

I’m not sure about the second and third book, but I am a billion percents sure that the first book is out of print. And I waaaaaaant it

*Edit: I had to cross out the Z for Zachariah book, because Tim bought some books online from fishpond.com.au, and he needed another book to bring up the total for some reason. I was happy to oblige. Thanks Tim!

Tim and I moved into our new house on Monday 12th October. We had our phone connected the Thursday before, which was done through Primus. Tim had an account with Primus which was created in about July last year, and was a 24 month contract. Initially, it was just for ADSL, not the phone line. When we moved, however, he decided to switch the phone provider to Primus to take advantage of some of the more decent home phone plans on offer when you had both your home phone and your internet with Primus.

We were advised that it would take 5-7 days from the day of the phone being connected at the new place before we would be able to connect to the internet. In this time, we also lost access to the internet at the old apartment, so Tim was basically paying for internet that he couldn’t use, through the fault of Primus and their ridiculous timeframes on connections. But okay, that’s not the real issue. 5-7 days in the digital era is a bit rich, but not entirely inexcusable. Obviously Primus just don’t spend enough of their budget on technicians to get their customers actually onto their network. It’s no big deal to them if someone is paying good money for shit all, they get something for nothing, and isn’t the bottom line of all corporations/companies profit after all?

The time frame from connection of phone line to connection of internet was frustrating, but it isn’t the only thing that has gotten me all agitated and ranting. My real dislike of Primus took hold when I braved their telephone helpline. (If you’re wondering – 1300 85 85 85).

I phoned Primus on Tuesday after Tim had called them and been told that our internet would not be connected until Friday. I’ll list a few more of the issues I had with their helpline after I give you the general idea of what the phone conversation went like:

Primus: Hello, how can I help you?
Me: Hi. We’ve got an existing Primus account, and we’ve recently moved and we’re waiting for our internet to be connected. We’ve been told that it won’t be done until Friday, and this is unacceptable. I would like an explanation for why it’s taking so long.
Primus: Okay, sure. I’ll just have to go to a different department to find that information for you, would you mind holding?
Me: Sure.
Hold music ———
Primus: Thanks for holding, I’ve just spoken to so-and-so department, and the technician isn’t due to come out to your area until Friday, so that’s the earliest it can be done.
Me: Obviously it’s NOT the earliest that it can be done – Friday is the LATEST that it can be done. We were quoted 5-7 days for connection, and Friday is the seventh day since our phone was connected. Therefore, if it is the EARLIEST that it can be done, it is at the same time the LATEST that it can be done, and the SLOWEST time in which it could possibly be connected, because if it were any MORE than 7 days, I would be calling the Ombudsman or the ACCC.
Primus: Well that’s the earliest that our technician is able to do it.
Me: I’ve also been told that we can only expect speeds of 1500 kbps, whereas at our previous residence we were getting speeds of around 8000 kbps. Previously, we were advised that there should be no problem getting ADSL2 at our new place, which does not fit in with 1500 kbps at all. 1500 kbps is practically dark ages.
Primus: Unfortunately, the cables in the area are not big enough for us to get any better speeds there. It’s because Telstra was responsible for laying all the cables initially, so now there’s not enough room for us to get bigger cables through.
Me: how is that my problem? That’s your problem, and your responsibility. It’s not Telstra’s responsibility now.
Primus: I understand that, I’m just trying to explain why the speed is the way it is.
Me: Look, I’m not angry with you, and I’m sorry to sound hostile, but I’m extremely frustrated with this situation, and it doesn’t appear that much is being done in any way to rectify or resolve any of these issues.
Primus: That’s okay, I understand, it’s just difficult when we’re so busy and have so many people wanting to be connected.

There was a lot more that was said, mainly just verification of accounts and my identity etc, but the basic gist of it was that, a) it takes seven days for a technician to connect us to the internet, and b) the internet speeds that Primus provide are not their responsibility. Ha. Ha. Ha.

The reason I was pretty hostile straight into it was because I had been on the phone, on hold, for about 20 minutes by that stage. Also, it had been a shitfight even getting onto them in the first place. Tim had tried calling at 4:30pm one day, and had been greeted with the after-hours voice message that advised “…our hours are between 8:30am and 5:30pm, Monday to Friday…”. So the natural assumption is that they’re operating on Sydney time (eg. Daylight Savings Time). However, Tim also called on the Tuesday morning at 8:00am our time (9:00am Sydney time) when the call centre should have been open a good half hour already, and got the same after hours message as before.

Are we in the twilight zone? Or are they just pretending to run on Sydney time in the mornings, and then they change back to Brisbane/QLD time in the afternoons?

I’m not going to tell you not to use Primus, I’m just putting forth our experience to make others more aware of our problematic they can be. We’ll be looking elsewhere for our internet service from now on.

Last week, Ken told me about how he had been at a funeral where, in the middle of the eulogy, someone’s mobile phone started ringing. Was there the possibility that this guy had forgotten to switch his phone off, or onto silent, before the service had commenced? Apparently not, as he answered his phone and started talking right there in the church. I thought that this had to be some sort of joke, because Ken and Co. are well versed in sarcasm and facetiousness. However, Ken assured me this was no joke. He was completely serious. I can’t imagine anyone thinking that it would be appropriate to have your phone on and answer any call that might come through while you are at a *funeral*. Tim told me that the last time he had been to a funeral, the priest had requested that everyone turn off their mobile phones out of respect for the deceased and bereaved. The fact that people actually have to be TOLD to turn off their mobile phones at a funeral is astounding.

*** Enough of fangry things, I have not been able to write in a while, so I should have other things to say too. Maybe. …

1. I’ve been playing Guitar Hero II all evening (except for when I was watching Grey’s Anatomy) and the tips of my fingers are half numb and half tingling with painful pins & needles. Plus my wrist doesn’t like being held at the angle needed for holding the guitar for so long (my robotic wrist, that is – not the real one). I can tell I’m getting better, but sometimes I lose concentration after looking at the screen for too long. My favourite song that I seem to do well on is “Crazy for you” by Heart. I liked their Barracuda song too.

2. I have the new Harry Potter book. I’ve already read about 210 pages out of the 600-odd total, which is pretty good considering I haven’t really spent that much time on it this weekend.

3. This probably should have been number 1, but I’m too tired to go back through and edit these points, so let’s just all agree they are not in order of importance. Good. Today is Tim’s birthday. We went out for dinner last night to Dos Amigos restaurant, which is just down from Tim’s place. The meal was really delicious, even though I had the same thing I always get (If God really dwells within us like they say, I sure hope he likes enchiladas, cause that’s what he’s gettin’!). Then we came back to Tim’s place and had an ice cream dessert log as a cake. We put candles in and sang happy birthday. It was a nice night.

4. Tim has gone to New Zealand until Friday, which means that I will be a little bit forlorn. But not too much. It may not sound like a long time, but it feels like ages to me. Probably just because hes’ in another country and another time zone, though it’s not nearly as bad as when he was in the UK & Ireland.

5. I ordered an MP3 player and a ninjapass for my DS last week. I’m hoping they arrive very soon – especially the mp3 player because I just got the new Interpol album, and I’ve been hanging out for something to listen to at work. Ninjapass should be awesome too though.

Anyway, I am very tired so I think i shall go to bed. Gute Nacht!

Eat some real Italin pizza and gelati, because it’s really delicious.

There is a man who sells strawberries who comes to our work every now and again with a big tray of strawberry punnets on it. I will usually get some, because they are nice. This week they were especially nice. Did you know that the part of the strawberry that we call the fruit isn’t actually the fruit? It’s classed as an “accessory fruit”. I looked it up on Wikipedia to be sure my mind hadn’t made that up, but it’s true! The actual fruit of the strawberry plant are the little seeds which are on the fleshy receptacle (the red part of the strawberry).

I finally got my other group certificate in the mail today. I’ll do my tax return sometime over the weekend hopefully. Tim and I are going to his friends’ place for dinner on Saturday night, and we’re bringing dessert so I will cook that on Friday night (tomorrow night).

Tax breaks came into effect 1st July, so this months’ pay is going to be more money than I would usually get. That means that I should be able to get my ninjapass for my DS. I’m really looking forward to that.

I’m on mum’s computer at the moment, because I left my laptop at Tim’s place, and the TV is on in the background so I’m having trouble concentrating on this.

I give up!

I need to change the songs on my MP3 player (aka my mobile). I’m skipping more songs than usual because they’re just overplayed (my own personal playlist has become almost as bad as Nova or Triple M, as far as repeating the same songs over and over goes). I know that when I put new songs on, for a little while I will feel a little forlorn over the loss of familiarity of the previous song choices. It’s bittersweet, the changing of songs.

In other uninteresting news, my internet is still going ridiculously slow. So much for high-speed cable! So much for paying extra for it, for that matter. I’m going to call up and lodge a complaint. Or maybe write a letter. If you write a letter of complaint, a company is more likely to take notice. I think because it’s very deliberate. It’s tough to write a letter in the heat of the moment. You’ve then got to put it in an envelope, find the address of the complaints department, put a stamp on it, and take it to the mail box. It’s much more deliberate, and if you’re that irritated by something, you’re more likely to go and tell friends, family, ANYONE about your bad experience. That’s bad PR, because personal opinion is a really good way of getting new customers. I’m surprised advertising companies haven’t infiltrated this virtually untapped goldmine. Oh but maybe they have… I know quite a few people who always seem to be cashed up, but always have new things which they’re raving about. You know who you are!!!

Bigpond, just a little note for you – YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

These are some more things I could probably like or get to liking for my birthday:

* Haircut & colour @ Hairzoom (because I can’t afford it this month and I will scream or dye my hair black if I have to wait any longer with this stupid colour)

* Ninjaware for my DS

* New shoes (size 10!)

* Prepaid voucher for the new Harry Potter book at Borders (because they give you a free barn owl)

* A colour inkjet printer (one that actually comes with ink cartridges)

* Photo paper that I can print onto

* 3M Photo-paper post-its

* Yo momma

Because they caused me to lose about an hour of blog content. So Annoying!

Now I’m watching NCIS and also typing and also preoccupied.

I was going to post before & after answers to a survey – one that I had answered six years ago, but the power outage stole all my words. This never would’ve happened with Wordpress 2!

I’m thinking about my birthday. What to do, what to do. Fun will be involved, and music at some point.

I can’t wait for this weekend! So many fun things.

I had so many expense claim tetris games to play today. It was awesome. I know I’ll have at least one tomorrow. I think end of month time brings with it thoughts of reimbursement to all the little salespeople, and visions of dollar signs dance in their heads. That’s fine with me. I love being productive and having things to do that I know the process for. I also like being able to make up processes, but sometimes it can be quite tedious. I suppose I’d never thought about it before, because I’ve never been involved in this side of things (I’ve always only worked for companies already well established in their ways) but creating processes is hard work. Especially when you haven’t been trained in that area.

I have to play with Visio tomorrow, to try and figure it out. I’m self-taught in almost every computer program that I use, so I definitely have faith in my abilities. I think that computers are designed so that you can learn how to do things yourself, unless you’re part of the baby boomer generation. Mum says, “How do I get into my email? is it this big ‘E’ for Email?” (pointing at the icon for IE). I guess she was right, technically, but it wasn’t her flawed logic that made it so.

A picture of Cal in his job interview stuff. Go Cal! I miss you heaps When the animals at the zoo have babies, I’m so coming to visit. I recommend you purchase some animal pheromones and use a spray bottle to get them all going. Then they should have babies by Spring. Wait…. that’ll happen anyway, right? Scrap that, I don’t want the animal rights activists after me. I got kind of annoyed at J & the Doctor for spreading outrageous propaganda about the plight of honey bees. Do some research GOSH! I’m glad that the beekeeper rang up and talked about how much he loved his bees. It was very heartwarming.

How funny is this headboard? Worst headboard ever! (said in comic-book store guy voice) What is the point? I’m going to put a few random images on here just so people can randomly look at random things, like the random mattresses in the carpark of someone’s complex. No, I didn’t write about you in my blog. I bet you think this song is about you!

Ok, a quick story about this image. I simply don’t get this comic at all. It’s not funny. It doesn’t make sense. And yet, I have it stuck up on the wall at work and it makes me laugh almost every day. I can’t explain it. It’s inexplicable.

I had to write a blog entry because of the awesome latin (above) on my Google Homepage at the moment. I have these little Latin phrases displayed, and they change every day. Sometimes it’s not a Latin phrase which is displayed, but a boring quote about something or other from someone like C.S. Lewis, or other known paedophiles. Okay, so it’s only him that I know is a paedophile. Most of the others I know hardly anything of at all.

Btw, everyone needs to check out the updated RSPCA World for Pets online store - if you look carefully, you might see someone you know on the cats page! It’s also a really convenient place to get presents for your animals and humans. Not that Napoleon needs any more presents, mind you. But it’s not about Napoleon, it’s about helping all the other animals. The animals! But it sort of is about Napoleon, because whether he needs more toys, bowls, kitty litter trays, or collars, he’s gettin’ ‘em. And he’ll damn well like it, too! Also, if you go to the About us page, you can check out some of the site content I’ve helped provide.

The little purple light on my wireless broadband is flashing, and it’s very distracting! I’m not connected to it at the moment, and it’s purple because the little wings aren’t out ready for flight.

Anyway. Here is proof that my Napoleon’s legs are too long. I still think he’s beautiful.

Also today, I got to play with Neo on the stairs:

And I got a 1GB mini-SD card for my phone, with an adaptor so that I can put it into the SD slot on my computer. I originally wanted a 2GB card, but the 1GB one was cheap cheap! And probably more space than I’m ever going to need anyway

This is Benyamin’s interpretation of Sin City:

Anyway, is it just me, or does it not feel like Christmas at all? I’ve done almost no Christms shopping this year. It could just be me, because I’ve been so preoccupied with work and everything going on there, and being stressed and feeling crap and everything, I’ve had no energy for Christmas spirit or cheer. What a sad state of affairs! Christmas time used to be my favourite time of year – no matter how many bad Christmases I’ve had, I’m an eternal optimist when it comes to Christmas.

Seems like this year, things have just gone way too far with the consumerism. It had to happen eventually. What’s with upside-down Christmas trees, for example? I’ve heard quite a few people talking about them, but I’ve never seen one in real life. If you’re wondering, this is what they look like:

And the whole reasoning behind them is so that you can fit more presents under the tree.

Firstly, putting your tree upside down is only going to add more available room for TALLER presents, not more presents. Secondly, could I be forgiven for thinking that the people who go in for this have missed the entire point? They’re going to spoil their kids by giving them an excuse to expect MORE this Christmas. Actually, seems these Christmas trees have been around for a while, in America (oh America! America, of all places!), and like the good little bitch of America, we’re running along behind them, desperately seeking to emulate their warped consumer-driven society. But all modern society is consumer-driven, Cass, that’s just the way things are!

I, for one, am not going to buy into the whole “upside-down Christmas tree” mentality this year, or any other year for that matter. And yes, I do realise that I am part of the consumerist society (I have no illusions about that). But for now I’m going to believe that I still have a few ounces of integrity.

I should be writing my resume. I’m amazingly good at procrastinating. If there was an award for procrastination… well, I don’t think I’d win it exactly, but I think I’d be in the top 100… something like that.

My new phone: Nokia 6288. It replaces my old phone, Nokia 7370. Some cool things about this phone: The screen is huge; I can do video calling because it can access the 3G network; it has a 2 megapixel camera with flash; it has a 512mb memory card… Once I’ve played with it a little more, I’ll be able to list all the awesome features.

Someone’s going to get me for direct linking! Mwahahahahaha. I’m so evil.

Yeah.