Thank goodness for roofs on boats, because it is looking wet tomorrow in Sydney for the Christmas Cruise. I’ll have a more in depth report sometime between 3am and 5am, as well as a link to two Sydney harbour webcams, and depending on image restrictions, a temporary live image from one.
I will also be calling John Kerr at some stage in the morning.
Thanks to The Weather Company.
Samuel
November 30th, 2005 at 11:00pm
For the first time on record, this site exceeded 20,000 page views in a month, thankyou to everyone who visited, commented, and otherwise took part.
This does mean that Webstat stopped reporting due to me using the free version, this happened yesterday afternoon at around 3:30. Webstat reports will resume at midnight, when the new month starts. This does mean that the monthly stats will be slightly skewed, but for this month that will probably be OK, and I can always use the hosting reports as well. If the site is going to pass 20,000 page views regularly I may consider upgrading to a paid webstat account.
Once again, thankyou to everyone who has taken part in this site, I couldn’t have done it without you.
Samuel
8 comments November 30th, 2005 at 10:56pm
This time around I have something concrete. I was going to wait for the papers to arrive, but I just can’t. As you may recall from this post, I was invited into one firm for a second interview, this in itself was a good sign. The interview was not with the manager of the firm, but instead it was with their IT person, I didn’t think much of that, until my walk home when I was analyzing the interview, and it struck me that I was told that the business was looking for an office assistant/IT person, perhaps not in those exact words, and certainly not as clearly as that. I went home feeling quietly confident.
Just before I went to sleep this afternoon my mobile rang twice although I didn’t notice right away as it was on silent alert, when I checked my voicemail I discovered that the manager was ringing me and said he would ring back around 4PM with a couple more questions. As I was going to have a sleep I turned on the ringer on the phone so it would wake me up when I got a call, sure enough I got a call at 4PM (well, 4:03 actually…), this was the manager offering me the position (with a couple question about how I thought the morning interview went).
I’m going to preempt any non-disclosure agreements that may appear in the paperwork by ending the description of events there and give you some other information instead.
The business which has decided to employ me is *Removed at request of employer*, and I thank them for doing so.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported me through this change in circumstances, your support really helped my confidence going into the interviews, and for that I thank you all.
Samuel
November 30th, 2005 at 10:04pm
Well, Tuesday was good, I rushed out to Woden to pick up a reference from some former bosses before rushing out to Watson for a job interview. On my way to Woden I received a call from a firm who previously interviewed me, they rang to invite me to a second interview which is coming up this morning.
To all the people who have wished me luck with job interviews, thankyou, your support has worked wonders and is truly highly appreciated.
You can expect my posts to slow down for the next 18 hours whilst I sort out any number of things and have a good sleep, see the story below for details.
Samuel
1 comment November 30th, 2005 at 12:22am
Hmmm, it looks like the weather is going around in circles, we are back to possible thunderstorms again. For wednesday I have a job interview to attend in the morning, and after lunch I will have a sleep so that I don’t have to go to bed at night, this will mean that I won’t have to worry about being able to get up really early on Thursday morning. Wednesday night/Thursday morning will be used for final preparations for the Sydney trip and a phone call to John Kerr (which I will hopefully remember to record).
Thanks to The Weather Company.
Samuel
2 comments November 30th, 2005 at 12:03am
As you may be aware, in recent weeks I have made some comments (both good and bad) about the changes to 2UE and 2CC weekend schedules. I think the presenters have been on for long enough now for me to make some considered and calculated statements.
Firstly, Glenn Wheeler, I still miss George and Paul, but I am really getting to like Glenn, for the most part his show is entertaining and fun, I’m not so sure that the 5:30 trading post segment is such a good idea though, firstly you can’t fit a full and worthwhile trading post into half an hour, and secondly we already have one from 10am-12am in Canberra, so we don’t need a second one. I’m also not convinced that Canberra needs a whole two hours of Sydney centric gardening advice from 12pm-2pm when we already have our own local gardening show from 7am-9am. I really think we should have local programming from 12pm-2pm on both days of the weekend.
Next up, Weekend Magazine with Mike Frame. Smart Move 2CC, this has become a very entertaining and useful addition to the 2CC schedule, now if you could also run it on Sunday in the place of Sydney Gardening then the listeners will thank you.
Mike Williams. Mike was always good filling in on weeknights, and I’m glad he has a night show. A good adaption of previous formats with a fresh presenter, a very clever decision from 2UE.
Stuart Bocking. He took a couple mornings to settle in, but Stuart now has his own unique grip on the weekend version of New Day Australia. It has been obvious for a while that 2UE were moving Stuart, mainly due to his apparent absence from the John Laws show, and the rumors that he was moving to New Day back in June. Stuart has found a good home, and is a very worthy replacement for Geoge Gibson, whom I wish “all the best” in his retirement.
2UE seem to have a pretty solid lineup for the summer period when regular presenters take some time off. Tim Webster filling in for Lawsie (Lawsie is going to have seven weeks off), John Mangos filling in for John Stanley. Steve Liebmann will be lurking, probably filling in for Steve Price, and Murray Olds is still there, so he will probably be a summer fillin as well.
The question that I must pose is about Christmas day. With all the lineup changes at 2UE, who will be doing Christmas day? I highly doubt that Stuart Bocking will be on the afternoon shift that he had last year…quite a mystery!
Overall I am mostly pleased with the current lineups on 2CC & 2UE, but with an extra two hours of local programming on 2CC on Sunday I would be virtually delighted.
Samuel
1 comment November 29th, 2005 at 09:42pm
As promised, I am now publicising my playlist for my trip to Sydney and back on Thursday. (I could have said up to Sydney, but John Kerr and myself had a debate on-air about whether it is up or down to Sydney, we just settled on “to Sydney”.)
For those of you who aren’t aware, as part of my trip to Sydney for the New Day Australia Christmas Cruise, I will be taking my radio with me. As I leave Canberra I will listen to 2CC, when I lose the 2CC signal I will listen to a 90 minute audio cassette, when that finishes I should be within range of the 2UE signal. On the way back I will listen to 2UE followed by a different 90 minute audio cassette and then 2CC.
The 90 minute audio cassettes are TDK cassettes which do usually run for closer to 94 minutes, which is approximately 47 minutes per side. Keeping that in mind, I have designed the playlist to be compatible with this format. The tapes mainly consist of audio clips which have been downloaded from the John Laws website, the 2CC reunion website, and the occasional radio recording. Tape 4 contains a cut down version of an episode of Insatiable Banalities. Each tape (although it isn’t listed) will end with a looped version of the instrumental intro to Iggy Pop – Lust For Life, which is used as an intro for the Mike Jeffreys Breakfast Show, I decided to do this so that I can easily end the tape without silence or interrupting something else. You may notice some songs by “The Cuckoo’s Nest”, they perform mostly satirical songs for John Laws. Also included are some of my Tape Highlights Packages.
Tape 1, Side A
Tape 1, Side B
Tape 2, Side A
Tape 2, Side B
If I do happen to find that I am unable to pick up the 2CC or 2UE signal than I will probably continue on to the next tape in sequence, in which case I am likely to hear a tape more than once, although there shouldn’t be an issue.
There is a two second crossfade between each track, and as it needs to go on to audio cassette I have decided to burn the individual tape sides to rewritable CD-Rs so that I can then place them on tape. I have absolutely no intention of running cables half way across the house just to record these things to tape.
Samuel
13 comments November 29th, 2005 at 04:51pm
Another day, another update. Today the only difference is the overnight low, which has dropped by 1 degree. Still, it is a vast improvement on the first report where there was a chance of a thunderstorm.
I should update you on something. Last night I said I was going to ring John Kerr, unfortunately he was not well so I couldn’t call him, I considered calling Stuart Bocking, but decided not to, I will ring Stuart eventually, but I just haven’t felt like it yet.
I’ll have an update on my schedule tomorrow, along with my full playlist for the 2 x 90 minutes audio cassettes which will ease the journey between 2CC reception and 2UE reception and vice versa.
Thanks to The Weather Company.
Samuel
November 28th, 2005 at 08:47pm
According to a discussion over at Bus Australia, ACTION are attempting to sell some of their old fleet. The following Renault (Presumably PR100.2 with Ansair MK1 seating) are up for tender:
692, 693, 698, 750, 751, 757, 759, 761, 763, 764, 767, 769, 771, 772, 774, 775, 776, 778, 782
I’m not sure what the procedure is, you would probably need to ring ACTION to find out, but the bidding ends at the end of the month. Unsold buses will be returned to service.
Now, not that I can aford one, or drive one for that matter, but I would personally love to own a particular bus in the 800 series.
Samuel
28 comments November 28th, 2005 at 07:35pm
Today I had two job interviews, although one was a recruitment agency getting to know me better. During the day, on two occasions (only one was for a job interview) I was sitting, and I met somebody who wanted to shake my hand, I shook their hand and then I realised I hadn’t stood, which made me feel a bit guilty. The people involved didn’t seem to mind, but I would have prefered to have been standing.
Anyway, the job interviews went reasonably well, I should know the result of one later this week or early next week. I have another job interview tomorrow morning, but before that I have to rush out to Woden to pick up some papers. Thankfully the rest of tomorrow will be much more relaxing than today.
One thing I did enjoy (even though I got a bit wet) was a walk I took between interviews up past the Linux.Conf.Au 2005 venue, it brought back a lot of memories when I saw people walking about inside the venue, and even more memories when I walked past the food place for lack of a better description.
Samuel
2 comments November 28th, 2005 at 07:27pm
The weather report for the New Day Australia Christmas Cruise is looking good, gone are the raindrops and most of the clouds. I know Sydney needs rain, but it would be great to have a warm sunny day on the harbour. Tommorow, or perhaps Tuesday, I will update my schedule for Thursday, which should prove to be a very exciting day. I plan on ringing John Kerr tonight (tomorrow morning to be pedantic), and on Thursday morning, both mornings with different subjects. If you’re near a radio, see if you can pick him up after midnight, you can recognise him by his voice here.
Thanks to The Weather Company.
Samuel
3 comments November 27th, 2005 at 09:58pm
It’s only a small slip for Schnappi this week, down from 41 to 42.
Incidentally, this is the 21st week that Schnappi has been on the ARIA singles chart.
Samuel
November 27th, 2005 at 09:48pm
This week the award goes to Rolf Harris, and in an effort to bring a lighter song to the feature song position this week, I have chosen Jake The Peg. Rolf has a lot of good songs, including Boomenoomenah, Bunyip, Salvation Army Citadel & Whoops Away We Go, byt Jake The Peg is always the one I think of when the name Rolf Harris is mentioned.
Jake the Peg
I’m Jake the Peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.
Wherever I go through rain and snow,
The people always let me know:
There’s Jake the Peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With his extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.The day that I was born, oh boy, my father nearly died.
He couldn’t get my nappies on, no matter how he tried,
‘Cause I was born with an extra leg, and since that day begun,
I had to learn to stand on my own three feet,
Believe me that’s no fun.I’m Jake the peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um,
Wherever I go through rain and snow,
The people always let me know:
There’s Jake the Peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With his extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.I had a dreadful childhood, really,
I s’pose I shouldn’t moan,
Each time they had a three legged race,
I won it on my own.
And also I got popular,
When came the time for cricket,
They used to roll my trousers up,
And use me for the wicket.I’m jake the peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.
Wherever I go through rain and snow,
The people always let me know:
There’s Jake the Peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With his extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.I was a dreadful scholar,
I found all the lessons hard,
The only thing I knew for sure was three feet make a yard.
To count to ten I used my fingers,
If I needed more,
By getting my shoes and socks of,
I could count to twenty-four.
(Pause…count: 1 2 3 4 5….) To twenty-five!I’m jake the peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.
Whatever I did they said was false,
They said ‘Quick march,’ I did a quick waltz.
Then they shouted at me ‘Put your best foot forward.’
‘But which foot?’ I said.
‘It’s very fine for you, you only got a choice of two, but me!I’m jake the peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.
Samuel
November 27th, 2005 at 08:33pm
As mentioned here, I had a cup of coffee at 11:30 on Friday with one of this site’s many correspondents. The correspondent in question is Loadedog, who once described me as a “crazy, nerdy, funny guy”, but our little meeting was not as innocent as it may seem from what I have written so far, you see, Loadedog had an agenda.
Recently, the person who was once referred to as an “evil pompous loony woman” offered a prize “which may or may not be worth winning” to anyone who could be photographed with me. This wasn’t the only reason I agreed to meet with Loadedog, there were many reasons, but one of them had to do with our last encounter being somewhat embarrassing when neither of us could think of something to say.
Anyway, I went along and we had a bit of a chat, which was very interesting, and Loadedog has written an article about it at http://www.loadedog.com/articles/aadailies/0511/sam.shtml
Among the quotes, Loadedog describes me as “a teenage blogger, mild of manners, short of experience, long on ingenuousness and normally as gentle as a languid mother cat.”
He also describes The Spin Starts Here as “a jaundice-eyed view of the world, a snickering cabal of middleweight curmudgeons bent on bludgeoning featherweights (unlike Loadedog – a flyweight picking daisies.. tra la la), often with wit (though they’re no Oscar Wilde), but seldom with any reason other than to fill space and draw attention to themselves (very successfully one must add).”
He has written a rather interesting and thought provoking article, which certainly places an interesting light on my life. Two things though, one is that John Laws is only part of my overall enjoyment of talk radio, which I find to be more interesting and entertaining than music radio, and secondly, my love of country music is a small part of my musical taste, which is mostly based in the early 1980’s and prior, but does have the occasional jump into later eras. Personally I think the mass produced comercialisation of music these days mainly produces “Synchronised Screeching”, leaving smaller, independent and local bands to attempt to fill the void, which some do quite well.
The photo of myself and Loadedog didn’t quite come out as expected, mainly due to lighting problems, but I would certainly recommend that you take a look at the interesting and impartial article which Loadedog has written.
Samuel
18 comments November 27th, 2005 at 02:43am
Really, I should be doing this as soon as good quotes appear, as it is very difficult to go back through the entire website in search of them, but I have lapsed in my duties to do such, and I have now ammended it. The random quote list has almost doubled in size, which can be put down to the amazing amount of creativity that people around here seem to have.
There are lots of new quotes, and all the old ones as well. Eventually, in many years time, there will be so many quotes that they will be hard to repeat and will hopefully invoke memories in long term readers and commenters.
Samuel
November 27th, 2005 at 02:18am
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||