I love the internet

I forgot I needed a visa for my trip to Australia later this month so I zipped along to the Australian Immigration website for details of electronic visas. They let you apply online and within 2 minutes I have a visa 🙂 Fab or what? It’s also environmentally friendly.
“Your ETA has been recorded on our database. It will be available for checking by your airline at check-in and for Australian immigration authorities on your arrival in Australia. You do not need a visa label in your passport.”

Australia Day Festivities

Saturday Night I went to a friends house in Balham for a party. It was a very antipodean affair aimed at celebrating Australia Day.
It took me back to the heady days of student parties. Lots of empty beer cans and plastic glasses littering every available flat surface. Vodka Jelly welcome wagons and lots and lots of drunken people.
I arrived with another antipodean friend from Melbourne who is going out home next week. He’ll be meeting up with me in Sydney for Mardi Gras and then I’ll be travelling to Melbourne to see him for a few days.
I figure I should see a bit more of Oz this time around.
They had hired a DJ at this party too – very swish affair it was 😉 Well actually Dave the DJ came as part of a package – his girlfriend was one of the party people! I’ve decided I like Dave though – he was using an iBook and iTunes mixing with CD’s and other cool stuff. He brought his own lighting and crab laser. So I may be asking him to come to mine in a fortnight – he can hook my cube up with his iBook and have lots of fun 😉

Messy Desk

Top management can get away with a clean desk. For the rest of us, it looks like we’re not working hard enough. Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the observer, last year’s work looks the same as today’s work; it’s volume that counts. Pile them high and wide. If you know somebody is coming to your desk, bury the document you’ll need halfway down in an existing stack and rummage for it when he/she arrives.

I received this advice in an email yesterday from Spence. He has obviously not seen my desk yet! I already adhere to all of these. Although it has to be said my desk at home is marginally better. If only because my computer at home is better.
Amongst other snippets of advice there are;
Never walk without a document in your hands
People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they’re heading for the canteen. People with a newspaper in their hand look like they’re heading for the toilet. Above all, make sure you carry loads of stuff home with you at night, thus generating the false impression that you work longer hours than you do.
Looking Impatient and Annoyed
Always try to look impatient and annoyed to give your bosses the impression that you are always busy.
Dave at work however subscribes to this one;
Use computers to look busy
Any time you use a computer, it looks like “work” to the casual observer. You can send and receive personal e-mail, chat and generally have a blast without doing anything remotely related to work. These aren’t exactly the societal benefits that the proponents of the computer revolution would like to talk about but they’re not bad either. When you get caught by your boss – and you will get caught — your best defense is to claim you’re teaching yourself to use new software, thus saving valuable training expenses.

“must read web fodder”

UNTIMELY DEATH — Balky attempt to make some deaths more tragic than others.
It’s among the Banished Words for 2003.

Woo hoo

https://notetoself.co.uk/js/snow.js
It’s snowing in London again – and it’s just started to stick. Another few days of snowmen and snowballs I hope.

Cybercandy

As Dave says it is sad when you resort to buying sweets off the interwebnet. But needs must. CyberCandy has an excellent (albeit rather pricey) range of sweets/lollies/candies from around the world. So now I can buy me some Twizzlers and some Jaffa’s and Choccy Fish ooh and York Peppermint Patties all in one go :o)
Shame they don’t do Lemon & Paeroa too!

Mr Skinner

Nope not the guy off The Simpsons. My mate Oliver. Well it looks like he is destined for fame and fortune. Beat Centre is a showcase for some of his work. It’s pretty good stuff too. The kind of thing you’d be listening to in one of the newest hip hoxton bars.

Obsession

I went out for lunch today with Dave and we ended up at the greasy spoon around the corner. Nice food and cheap as chips as Jamie Oliver would say.
The other advantage was the guy from the train came down and sat by us too.
It reminded me of the whole obsession incident last year and how it’s weird but having not seen him for a few months I had forgotten all about him.
It entertained Dave anyways as he tried to attract my attention as it wandered through the meal.
On the way back from the aforementioned cafe we walked past the other guy from the train who I would like to know which team he bats for, if you catch my drift.
So all in all an entertaining lunch hour. I’m glad I ventured out of the office if only for the spring like sunshine 🙂