Housekeeping
Time to do a little Spring-cleaning on various mini-topics; sort of a pot pourrii, if you will, of stuff I want to say:
1) I am getting more into my job hunting this week than I have previously been. My 'holiday' is over, and I need to get serious (so we can eat, etc). This may mean a reduction in the amount of time I spend online, so my blogging may dissipate for a while. Don't take it personally; I love you and think of you often. You know that. Remember the time -- no, you go first -- oh how funny, we're thinking of the same time.
2) Comment Moderation is here to stay. This means that after you leave a comment, it will stay in 'cyber-space' (a term I invented myself, because the space in which it's residing is totally 'cyber') until I come along and have a chance to 'review' it. (I invented the word 'review' as well, because it will be the second time it is viewed, after yourself. Clever, aren't I.) Rest assured that unless you're flaming me or trying to sell stocks and bonds, etc, I will post it onto the blog when I get online and find it. Apparently Blogger has lost a couple of comments after I approved them, but I cannot be held responsible for that. I promise to try and read/approve comments as frequently as possible.
3) I have a huge, long list of 'Shout Outs' and a few official 'Muppet Question' posts to get to -- all of which exist in draft format, so they won't be forgotten. I will endeavour to get to them as soon as I can. Please don't be alarmed. Simply be alert. (The world needs more lerts anyway.)
4) The shin bone's connected to the < beat > knee bone.
5) I want to go on the record (again) to publicly apologise to Steph and TFS. I tried to make a joke the other day which was poorly constructed and sounded like quite an attack on TFS, plus I got angry at Steph's readers for what I deemed (and still deem) to be their narrow-minded views on a certain topic. I think you will agree that the way I came across was not in the style of my normal, cheery blog persona, and the following day I apologised on three separate areas of the forum in which I made these remarks. I think Steph and I are okay again now, but I wanted to be the mature adult about it and also be man enough to apologise in public. Not enough people are big enough to admit when they acted like a jerk, but I think apologising for doing wrong is a good sign of maturity.
6) 'Knickers' to you.
7) I have recently added a new section to my template index, over on the right-hand side of the screen. Down towards the bottom, I've added a list of links (only the first of which is working as I type this) for episode synopses of The Amazing Race 9. Each Thursday, Friday or (at the latest, I hope) Saturday, I will update this index after viewing each episode. Those of you following along at home can read these episode reviews and comment as you see fit, whether it be to agree wholeheartedly or argue most angrily (or anything in between); I don't mind. Just feel free to contribute if you're watching the show and have an opinion. If you miss an episode, my reviews may help you fill in the gaps (although it's not - strictly-speaking - going to be a summary of the episodes ... however, I'm sure it will still help to bridge the gap in your knowledge, somewhat).
8) I need to buy Microsoft Office Suite and switch to broadband. Dial-up and Windows 95 are both driving me insane!
There; all done!
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posted by BEVIS @ 12:33 pm
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19 Comments:
Good luck!
For MS-Office. Go OpenOffice. It's free and just as good.
yay bevie. good luck with the hunt. and you're right, not many people can apologise properly, in real life too. it is a sign of a large and open heart...
Open Office is not a bad idea - the other legal option if all you really want is Word is the Works Suite.
Bevis, I use and recommend iinet, but as you are with TPG, they have good value broadband deals too.
Works is useless, only thing that is good for is so that you can upgrade to MS Office for a lot less money. I'd go the academic version, that's legal seeing you might still have your staff card, si?
So you're not going to the BBQ?
Too bad. I had a surprise for you, but looks like you'll miss out.
Clokeeey - I think we may be talking about two slightly different things. I think "Works" is indeed a useless stripped down thing. However Works Suite (confusingly) is a package of programs that includes a full version of Word 2002 along with other prgrams you may or may not want (Encarta, Money, A basic image editor...). If bevis doesn't want powerpoint, excel etc, and is just after Word, this could be an option, particularly if any of the other bundle programs has appeal. (It is an old version of Word - but Microsoft have done nothing susbtantial to Word sincce Word 1997 - all the terrible features in that edition, like its useless autonumber feature, are still firmly in place in the new version).
That said - I hadn't thought of the academic version, and that may well mean that an academic edition office is indeed better value. Obviously if there's a need for Excel or the other programs it becomes no contest.
Thanks Susanne!
Um ... sorry Sheriff of Nothing, I'm busy that day.
Chai, thanks for the tip! Sounds good!
Auburn, spare a thought for me, then. I do everything by dodgy dial up, using a computer that's virus and pop-up riddled, and using a version of Word and PowerPoint, etc, that are so old, that nothing anyone sends me as an attachment can be opened. Also, I'm glad to help out with the educating. Must be all those 'doctors and nurses' games I played as a kid. (How was I to know you weren't actually supposed to research stuff and play real doctors and nurses? No wonder no one wanted to play it with me twice.)
MelbourneGirl, thanks. Yeah, I'm happy to have apologised properly. No word from the other guy yet, and maybe he won't, but I hope for his sake that it's not because he's all bent out of shape and bitter inside. I trust it's just that he hasn't read it (yet). If it's anything more twisted and childish than that, more pity for him.
SBR, oooh! That sounds good too!
Clokeeeey, I hope to be able to afford the broadband option soon. First things first, though - a job to pay for it all before I commit myself to a higher Internet cost in a contract! And I don't have to worry about doing anything 'dodgy' by getting an academic version using my staff card (which doesn't have an end date, actually!). Wifey is a student now so we can legitimately use that for such purposes without doing anything wrong. The programs I'm really needing are Word and PowerPoint, although Publisher and an Image Editing program would be nice too. Excel would be fine (but not essential), and I don't care about Access at all. What other programs have I missed? As for your little tease about a surprise at the BBQ - that's not fair. I can't go, but for a very legitimate reason! So how about letting a brother in on the surprise?* (At least afterwards, so it's not spoilt for anyone else.) Are you bringing along your kid? Do you have nuptial-news? Have you bought me a Muppet Bust? (Okay, so that last one's a stretch, but hey - it's worth a shot!)
* Apologies to any African Americans reading this. I just can't get away with using phrases like that; I know.
SBR (again), Encarta and Money don't interest me either ... and I used to own Works as a kid (instead of Word). Good to know that Word 2002 would be fine as well. It might make it even easier to obtain a cheaper version of what I need. (I'm out of work, people - remember that. I'm not just being a scrooge or a skinflint for fun!) In fact, I need Word or similar to put my resume together properly, as the one I have was done on a barely-working Word 95, and it's crap.
Sweets, There was no need to apologise to me. I love a good debate as much as the next person. Yeah it got a bit heated, but i didn't take offence and i hope you didn't either. You're a sweety.
As for the "other guy", he has a lot going on in his offline life, some very heavy stresses. I think the blog topic fired him as much as you, and he took his anger out on my blog and commentaters. He's since apologised too, and was quiet upset about the way it all unfolded. His decision to close his blog was not related to that incident really. It was merely the straw that broke the camels back.
He's fine now, but having a break from blogsville, so i don't think he's seen this post.
Don't stress yourself. Tis all good :)
Thanks Steph, you're very kind. :)
I didn't take offense. Or rather, I possibly would have, but instead came away feeling worse about how I'd communicated myself and my feelings than how anyone may have offended me.
And yeah, I know from the conversation you and he had been having on your blog before I even spoke up that he'd shut down his blog for other reasons. He's commented on your blog again since my apology, so I don't know whether or not he saw the thread where I apologised specifically to him. But either way, I've done the right thing by him; and it wasn't so I'd be thanked for it anyway.
Also, I don't mean to imply that he's being childish if he doesn't thank me for apologising. That would be very wrong of me. You shouldn't apologise just to appear to be the bigger person and be thanked for it. Clearly the motives are way off there, if that's the reasoning.
I just mean that I hope the fact that he hasn't acknowledged my apology isn't because he's still angry with my comment. Hopefully it's just because he hasn't seen it. I realise it's small potatoes to us all, but if he was still mad with me, that'd be a shame, since I've tried to apologise and all. But I won't go hunting him down to make a bigger drama out of it than I need to. If his blog was still up, I'd leave a note there or email him an apology, but I've done all I can do in the circumstances.
I don't expect him to have seen this post of mine; I'm sure my blog wouldn't be one he'd frequent! But that doesn't stop me from posting my apology to you both here as well. Wearing my faults on my sleeve and being man enough to admit to them; even when drawing everyone else's attention to them (who may not have read the posts in question over on your blog) is unnecessary. Or maybe especially then.
You're a good one too. Thanks again. :)
Get a macintosh instead ;-)
Good luck on the cleaning!
Bevis, As you couldn't make the BBQ, you may as well know what everyone else does. Clokeeeey = John (that's MG's John).
ABetterJulie, you're right; it certainly will depend on my job hunting. But hopefully we can afford a faster connection soon.
Missy, thank you. I have worked with Macs before at work (sorry ... that should read: "at my old work"), so I like to consider myself "ambidextrous" when it comes to computers. However, Wifey has never used a Mac before, so that's why we've gone for the PC option at home. I understand your point about viruses, though. Macs basically don't have 'em. Hmm.
Clokeeeey, ... NO ... FREAKIN' ... WAY! Are you kidding? Are you playing me? Are you toying with my emotions? I don't know what to believe. I certainly don't want to be duped, but I also don't want to look like a fool for refusing to believe what everyone else apparently now knows. If it's true. Which it might be. And it might not be. Augh! This is driving me crazy!!
Dude, tis true. I thought you'd be amazed. First capeman, then this...
That's right - and my head's in a spin. Ain't it weird how two people I've never met can have a secret (which is totally their business; I'm not saying otherwise) that just spins me out when I'm filled in? I never suspected.
Well, you did well with the proposal, then. ;)
And I'm guessing that I remembered it wrong about whose 'kid' it is. Do you have a kid as well, or is it Princess I've been getting confused about all this time?
Bevis, here's the drill - MG has the princess, I have 2 kids, D-roll(m) and big foot(f).
She'll hate me calling her that but it was the name she came up with on the way to the BBQ.
How much is/was it the best kept secret in the 'sphere!?
the MG-John/Clokes clan has three munchkins (princess plus two)
ps Clokes is heaps spunkier than his avatar.
Best Kept Secret Ever. We all dealt with it in a cucumberly fashion, I thought, although inside we were all probably going 'Yes!!! A Double Blogger Wedding!!! I'm SO Freaking excited!!!'
Not that we're expecting invites, or anything, we can read about it on your blogS PLURAL.
And Cloke's is nothing like his photo. He's way more serene and gently witty. Their combined gorgeous enfants were hands-down the best behaved kids I've ever seen at a BBQ. I kept forgetting that they were there and swearing. I do believe AFE and I even had a brief conversation about bulbing whilst driving and for that I AM SORRY, Clokes and MG, aka the world's best parentals.
*blush*
Clokeeeey, that's cute. But if she'd hate you calling her Big Foot, why'd she come up with that nickname for herself in the first place? And did you call each other by your blog names the entire time at the BBQ? Is that what happens when bloggers meet? Do we stick to the pseudonyms, or do we just provide them for the children (for safety)?
Elaine, yes - it was certainly big. But I got the feeling you already knew? Maybe you just didn't sound as surprised as everyone else. Nice to know Clokeeeey's a looker. Adds that extra element of unwanted pressure to Yours Truly if/when you ever meet me. Maybe I'll hire one of the Chippendales to go in my place.
Sublime-ation, you're soooooo fishin' for an invite! :) But yes, it'll be fun to read about it all on at least ONE of their blogs. I wonder, if they hadn't revealed their little secret, if any of us would have worked it out. (Dual absenses for the duration of their honeymoon, etc?) Anyway, I'm glad you also find Clokeeeey hottt. (That does it, one of Jamie Durie's taller, balder mates is standing in for me at our next meet'n'greet.) I have no doubt that Clokes and MG would produce wonderfully-behaved offspring. (Maybe they were quiet and well-behaved because they were sitting there in stunned silence, looking on in shock and horror at the spectacle all you drunk foul-mouthed loons were making of yourselves! Just kidding; I'm only talking about Cotton here. Just kidding Cotton, I'm only trying to get a rise out of you.)
TFS, hi there - I didn't think I'd hear from you (not for any malicious reason; just because I didn't think you'd come here ... and I guess we can thank Steph for her 'gentle nudging'!). Thanks for your apology and kind words; I don't think either of us came away very happy without ourselves about how angry the post and comments in question had made us, but that's what happens when you feel very strongly about a topic, I guess. I'm not holding an grudges either. I really appreciate your comments above and insist that you don't have anything to apologise about either.
I'm feeling all warm and glowy inside now - and I hope you do too! :) Cheers.
Well - I think that whole thing ended up about as well as it possibly could have. Thanks to Steph as well for her contribution to this 'water under the bridge' moment. It's very satisfying to have sorted it all out. I wish everyone well.
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