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We finally have reception.

I don't know if you can fully understand how utterly freaking fantastic that little thing is.

Our television is finally receiving clear pictures.

Once upon a time we got clear reception. That was way back in our Pay TV days. Back when it was analogue. Back when we could afford it. Then Foxtel changed its service to digital and hiked its price up. We decided to get ADSL internet instead and bought a set of rabbit ears for on top of the television (not only do our drains not work but the roof-top antenna has never worked either. We live under such third world conditions). Since then everything has been very fuzzy and vague. Which is fine if you're drinking, but not so fine under any other circumstances.

I bought a cheap digital set-top box online a few weeks ago, thinking that if nothing else we might be able to get clear digital TV. I wasn't going to get my hopes up because the digital set-top box would still be plugged into the rabbit-ears which may not have been up to the task. Hello pleasant surprise! Not only do we get the digital channels, the normal free-to-air channels are coming in as clear as a bell too! (Except Channel 31, which wouldn't bother me except a friend of ours is in one of the TV shows on that channel.)

Woo hoo! I'm off to watch telly now. If only there was something on worth watching....

What are your top five break-up songs?
Submitted by gt.

I've only got one.

When you've got a song like this you don't need any more break-up songs. ;-)

I'm alive. Just to let you all know that.

I've strained the muscles in my back so I haven't been able to sit at the computer much (too much time sitting in a bad position on a bad chair is what injured my back in the first place). But don't worry. You haven't missed anything exciting. I lead an amazingly boring life after all.

No, not with me. With south-eastern Australia. At first I had to double check the date to ensure it wasn't still April 1 (which is definitely isn't in this particular time-zone) when I read the news, "Traffic chaos as people told to flee city". But it's true. The whole of Melbourne has been told to go home from work as they're probably going to close the two main bridges in a few hours when winds get to 120km per hour. I just got an email from my uni saying that all classes are cancelled for the rest of the day. So, wow, high wind has closed an entire city. Those of you who live in hurricane prone areas are probably rolling your eyes at my shock, but this isn't something I'm used to in Melbourne.

In a way I'm glad they've cancelled classes. I don't like walking around in high winds as flying debris and falling branches aren't good for your health. On the other hand I like getting paid and as a sessional I don't get paid if I don't teach. However, since the appreciation for the intactness of my skull outweighs my desire for extra cash I'm not going to mope too much about it.

I'm lucky since I've been indoors all day. Now that the design phase of my project has started it's easier for me to work from home so I haven't had to venture out in this weather. I'm hoping all the Victorian and Tasmanian Voxers are coping with the wind okay! (And yes, I mean you Dylan since there are hurricane warnings for parts of Tasmania! Check in and let me know you're okay!)

 
 
 
ETA: I've just realised things are worse than I thought. I can't go outside. And I have no alcohol in the house. Damn you, Hughie.* And here I thought you were finally being nice to me.

* Hughie: The Australian god of weather. As in "Send 'er down, Hughie".

Show us a great April Fools' Day joke.

I actually believed this at first.

I've been whingeing about the Questions of the Day since I started on Vox yet felt quite a kick in the guts when they announced they were going to finish today. They even recommended that Voxers take one last chance to answer the QotD and Vox Hunt. Then I noticed what the questions were and the penny finally dropped.

So this is one April Fools' Day joke, Vox Hunt and QotD that I think was particularly well done. Bravo Vox you cunning, tricky, funny little bastards!
 
 
 
(Being in a different time zone doesn't help. I had to think a bit to determine if the Vox team would still be on April 1 since we've moved onto April 2 already here. So now not only can I whinge about Vox's northern hemisphere centred ways, I can now complain about their discrimination against different time-zones as well.)

Just a quick tip for the dick-head who delivers my mail:

If there is a lock on a mail-box there is a reason. It's usually because someone has been nicking stuff. Therefore folding a parcel, shoving it into the opening and leaving it half hanging out rather defeats the purpose of having the lock in the first place.

That's why they have parcel delivery notices. So you have an option for parcels that cannot be left in the mailbox. It's a little blue card that tells the householder that they need to go to the parcel depot to pick an item up. I know that you're aware of these things because you left one for another parcel at the same time you forcibly shoved the other item half into my mail-box.

And most importantly, if you need to bend the parcel to fit it in and it doesn't bend DON'T FORCE THE FUCKING THING. The DVD I ordered online is now utterly useless as the entire package with the DVD inside was bent in half you fucking moron.

Seriously. Are they now hiring out of the sheltered workshop? How fucking dumb do you have to be to break a package to force it into a mailbox and think you're doing your job adequately?

My scanner has been cactus for a while now. One day the TWAIN drivers went missing never to return. Reinstalling the drivers doesn't work. Uninstalling the scanner drivers, deleting the TWAIN32 folders and files then reinstalling it all again doesn't work. Nothing works. The only imaging devices listed when trying to install new hardware are cameras. There isn't a single scanner option available.

I just put up with it for a while but today I figured I'd move the scanner to my fiance's computer instead. Except it won't install. Yep. Same problem. No scanner options when installing, unknown device detected. Worse still we don't have the installation CD. I'm downloading the drivers and software from the internet and they're all as useless as tits on a bull.

I'm not sure what to do now. Reinstalling Windows didn't fix this. Nothing else seems to fix it. I've given up trying to do anything about it because each time I try something new it's a waste of three hours and I end up shittier than when I started.

I guess my big question is should I buy a different brand scanner or is this such an endemic problem with XP that I'm better off keeping the scanner and putting my money toward a Mac to operate it instead? I've seen an HP scanner for $170 but if this is going to happen again regardless of the scanner I'd rather not waste that much money.

What's the best thing about today?

For once I actually have several things vying for this award!

• EWK is getting better after his nasty infection that we shall not talk about because anything to do with infections is kinda gross.
  
• I may have mentioned that I helped build a website for free for a friend's sister's company a few months ago. I found out today that they've decided to pay us just because they're really nice people and they like the site a whole lot. Wads of cash I wasn't expecting is always good.
  
• I got a job! 3 hours teaching per week. Regular wads of cash is even better than unexpected wads of cash!

Of course this balances out the crap stuff.

• I've managed to catch a head cold which has left me grumpy and out of sorts.
• I've managed to catch a head cold just before I start my new job, so now I'm going to be sniffly and confused all over poor hapless graduate diploma students.
  
• The landlord has put our rent up $40 per week, which is why the job was so damned fortuitous right now.
• Oh, and I'm really, really busy and haven't had time to Vox recently.

Hope you are all well. Give my love to your family. Hope to catch up with you again soon!

xox MWAH! xox

Show us a picture of you when you were a baby.
Submitted by yuki.

With Oma and Opa 1974

2 comments

In the understandable excitement about the parliamentary apology to the stolen generation earlier this week, this interaction between the Deputy Prime Minister and the Member for O'Connor got lost in the mix.