Archive for December, 2006
Normally I wouldn’t post anything like this here, but I just checked my bank account and I have been paid this fortnight, which is a relief as I have been ill recently and haven’t submitted timesheets, have things I have to pay for in the next couple days, and wasn’t sure if any money would land in my (nearly empty until recently) bank account. I don’t know if the person responsible for fixing that problem is reading this, but if you are, thank you, and I will thank you in person on Tuesday.
Looks like I get to keep my toes for another few weeks!
Samuel
December 28th, 2006 at 01:24am
I am pleased to be able to announce that the anonymous emailer going by the name of “Ismail”, who has been annoying me for the last few days, has just proven beyond all reasonable doubt that he is not 2UE caller “Ishmael”.
In his latest rambling, Ismail wrote:
I think John B1_B5’s reference to Tasmanian Tigers in the newsreaders thread is off topic
In the Festively Missing Newsreaders post which is about newsreaders being absent from 2CC and 2CA, John B1_B5 wrote:
Speaking of which, I heard on the grapevine that our mutual friend Mike Welsh was attacked by a Tasmanian Devil for telling ‘porkies’ on the 2CC Drive Show.
Naturally I’m not giving that story any credence – at this stage.
After I had discussed other 2CC and 2UE staff related changes with him.
Not only is Ismail an idiot, he also doesn’t seem to recognise 2CC’s personalities, even when labeled as such, which completely disproves that he is “Ishmael” as Ishmael lives in Canberra and listens to 2CC!
Ismail, take the advice of your bogus email address and stick your head up a turkey.
Update 1:00am: And Ismail, both “imposter” and “impostor” are the same word, I’ve covered that with another one of your alter egos, now #### off. End Update
Samuel
December 28th, 2006 at 12:29am
If Win Television are running on time today, we should see the daily “Hey kids, due to the cricket Humphrey won’t be seen at this time today, but will be on at the special time of 9am tomorrow” message around about now (3:30pm).
Considering that Humphrey normally screens at 10:30am after Kerri-Anne (correction, 9am instead of Kerri Anne during summer), it has been mildly odd seeing that message at 3:30 in the afternoon for the last couple days (even before the cricket, during the repeat of Carols By Candlelight on Monday). The foibles of automation are fun to watch and hear.
For the record, Humphrey will be seen at 9am until the conclusion of the fifth Ashes cricket test. I will be taking the opportunity to catch a few episodes.
Samuel
December 27th, 2006 at 03:25pm
I’m getting glasses, and for some reason this is all very exciting. Here is the prescription written by my wonderful optometrist Mark Feltham.
For obvious reasons I have removed Mark’s signature.
Basically I need glasses for clear vision of things more than a couple metres in front of me…I can see most things fine, but I have trouble focussing on objects in the distance, and I have a fair bit of trouble reading signs when they are a bit too far away. For that matter, I can’t even read the writing on the DVD player display from more than a couple metres away.
During the consultation I was able to read the bottom line of text, but I had difficulty working out whether a letter was a “w” or an “m” when I didn’t have any assistance.
It was funny the way Dr. Feltham made the announcement that I had been semi-expecting that I need glasses. It seemed like another test with his machines, asking if what I was seeing was blurrier or sharper, and then when we settled on the clearest picture he said “that’s what your new glasses will be” (I’m paraphrasing).
While I was coming home I was feeling quite overjoyed at the prospect of getting glasses, and at the same time trying to work out whether that is the right reaction to getting glasses. As it happens, I’ve been thinking that I would need them for most of the year, so in many ways being overjoyed is the perfect reaction!
If I get paid tomorrow (I’m not entirely sure what is happening with pay this week) then I will be visiting the glasses shop in Bailey’s Corner (on the recommendation of my optometrist) to see about getting these new glasses.
For the record, I’ve been seeing Dr. Feltham since 1995 when my general practitioner of the time, Dr. Mitar Milosevic, referred me to him. At that stage, Dr. Fletham’s practice was on the bottom floor of the Canberra Centre where Hot Dollar currently resides. This is the first year in quite a few that I haven’t seen him before Christmas, usually I have seen him on Christmas eve, but that was a Sunday this year, so the tradition has moved and I will now be seeing him just after Christmas for the forseeable future.
Samuel
December 27th, 2006 at 03:14pm
It’s time for my annual checkup with my optometrist. Last year I was fairly convinced that I would need glasses, but he thought we could probably hold off. In this last year I think my eyesight has degenerated a fair bit, and I would be very surprised if I don’t need glasses.
Samuel
December 27th, 2006 at 01:36pm
Amongst my recent batch of weird dreams is one I had a few nights ago where John Stanley returned from holidays to find that his afternoon show had been cancelled as 2UE decided to stay with their summer format all year. As such John moved to Melbourne where he joined 3AW’s AFL commentary team, who it would seem lost most of their commentators to Channel Seven.
John, unfortunately, was clueless, and was quite possibly the worst AFL commentator in recorded history…he was so bad that co-commentator Garry Lyon (who didn’t defect to Seven) couldn’t stop laughing, which really didn’t help as John really couldn’t explain a thing which was happening, and ended up chatting with Sue Dodd from the Sydney Markets about fruit and vegetables.
Rex Hunt then excused himself from commentating for Channel Seven and kicked John all the way back to Sydney and took over the AFL, to the delight of all of Melbourne. Either it took John a long time to get to Sydney, or there was a strange timezone fault happening, because he landed in the studio at 2UE just as his weekday afternoon show was starting.
Samuel
December 27th, 2006 at 11:04am
I just found out how Bert’s Family Feud survey 100 people for each question…via their website!
I took part in a survey, the instructions quite clearly state to write the first thing that enters your head, and as such some of the answers are a wee bit odd.
Name something you associate with coffee
Milk
Name something you might swat
A fly
Name an animal you’d find in a rainforest
Giraffe
Give me a word that rhymes with ‘lunch’
Hunch
Name an occupation that deals with animals
Vet
Name something you associate with fashion models
Catwalk
Name something that children get attached to
Toys
Name something you associate with an owl
Hoot
Name something you might do to show you’re happy
Smile
Name something you might borrow from a friend
A shovel
Samuel
December 27th, 2006 at 08:37am
I’ve had a couple reports of people having trouble logging in to their accounts. If you are having problems please contact me so that I can get on top of this issues as soon as possible.
Update 27 December @1:23am: But you don’t need to email me to register on this website, just click on the “register” link on the right hand side of the page (you will need a real email address though). End Update
Thanks,
Samuel
December 26th, 2006 at 09:53pm
A big thank you to the Grundy employee who wishes to remain anonymous, who sent me a copy of the original theme music from Wheel Of Fortune during Rob Elliott’s reign as host for Christmas. It’s even better than I remember it. It certainly loops a lot, but you don’t notice it when it’s in the background.
Click here for the theme music (4.49MB MP3).
Samuel
December 26th, 2006 at 05:07pm
Here are a few select shots from Christmas 2006.
Christmas dinner: Roast turkey, potato, onion, pumpkin. And for Nattie a special Christmas present, three german style frankfurts.
A closeup of Nattie’s dinner
Nattie having dinner
Nattie sitting in front of the presents under the Christmas tree.
Nattie with Bally
Nattie having some turkey
More turkey for the doggles
Presents from Irene in Brisbane and Charity in Sydney
Pudding!
Message from Santa
A photo of the cupboard under the stairs. The light was off and the flash and focus did a good job.
Nattie waiting for pudding and cream
Christmas pudding on the bench
Nattie having Christmas Pudding
A closeup
The card on the Christmas present from my godparents and godsiblings (I assume that the children of one’s godparents are one’s godsiblings)
The present from my godfamily
After a hard day of eating, sleeping and chasing balls, Nattie needed a sleep.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.
Samuel
December 26th, 2006 at 11:11am
I thought I would update my aircheck again, this is a news bulletin I presented on Saturday December 23, 2006.
2MB MP3 Download
While you’re at it, you might like to compare them to my previous airchecks:
Saturday April 22, 2006
Saturday August 27, 2005
Please note that I have a commercial agreement with Australian Independent Radio News, and the audio files linked in this article are the property of Australian Independent Radio News and may not be used without permission.
I hope you all had a great Christmas, I’ll have a few photos from my Christmas online soon.
Samuel
December 26th, 2006 at 06:56am
Good morning Clinton,
Thankfully the caller who claimed to be driving on the hume highway after eight drinks was pulling your leg. He is a serial pest caller, coming up with all sorts of ways to annoy hosts by slipping the John Farnham song “You’re The Voice” into the conversation. This was one of his better efforts.
Hope you had a good Christmas!
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
December 26th, 2006 at 02:00am
(Originally published at 2:07pm, then re-scheduled to appear at 11:07pm)
Mick (aka Heatseeker), who obviously has no Christmas spirit, sent in this email at 4:15am on Christmas day, in reply to my email to John Kerr about regular pest caller Ishmael. (I’ve removed a derogatory reference to a valued contributor).
From……: Mick
Email…..: Mick@stickmyheadupaturkey.com
Url…….:
………………………………………………….
Subject…: Ismail
………………………………………………….
Samuel, it’s probably “Ismail”, and those type of comments are exactly the type you ban people from your site for … unless of course you happen to be # ###### ### ####### #### ########.
Anyway, I would have logged on to post this coment, but there’s really no point, as it would never have seen the light of day, and I would have immediately been purged.
What’s it like lviving in a bubble?
You sir, are a bigoted weirdo!
The reason I have decided to publish this email is that Heatseeker clearly has no understanding of the context of the Ishmael email, and many others have followed his lead of misunderstanding.
Ishmael (there is definitely a “H” in there, it might end with “il” instead of “el”, but as it is radio I have no way of knowing) is a serial pest caller on 2UE who calls up to make all sorts of outlandish (generally racist or religiously prejudiced) comments. Occasionally he calls up to actually discuss something rather than make outlandish comments. When he does call up to make outlandish comments he usually gets into a debate with whoever the host happens to be at the time, but to date has not been cut off.
Generally people of Ishmael’s ilk would be cut off for their racist or religiously prejudiced comments, but Ishmael, without fail, manages to deflate his own arguments, he will also generate calls from people who either want to disagree with him, or want to partially agree with him.
On this particular occasion, Ishmael got annoyed with John Kerr because he usually gets calls from the same group of people week in, week out, and those calls often involve a discussion of the events of these peoples’ lives. John probably has a higher percentage of regular callers than most other talkback hosts because of the time of day that he is on. That being said, John has plenty of other callers as well.
Usually I can put up with Ishmael because he is just another person with another opinion, he is also a tad entertaining. It wasn’t him getting annoyed with John that annoyed me, it was him singling out three or four regular callers for a taste of his bile that annoyed me. I wasn’t one of his targets, but on a morning where most calls to John started with people wishing him and all the listeners a Merry Christmas, his call was very poorly timed and really annoyed me.
For the record, my email wasn’t read out, and I didn’t expect it to be read out, I mainly sent it to show John what I thought, but felt compelled to copy it to the blog. Also for the record, Ishmael won, he turned a nice morning into three hours of people ringing up to tell him off.
I defend what I wrote, Heatseeker can think what he wants of me, I really don’t give a stuff about a prize goose like him. I have an archive of emails Heatseeker wrote to me around the time of the Spin Starts Here debacle…don’t make me publish them.
Update 2:12am December 26: Oh ye gods, Ishmael lives here in Canberra…AAAAAAAAAAAARGH! Apparently he now wants us to ban Santa, and people who are alone at Christmas need a thicker skin. Serial Pest! End Update
Update 1:27am January 10, 2007: Since publishing the Ishmael email Ishmael has contacted me and we have had some discussions. I have come to the conclusion that whilst I disagree with a lot of Ishmael’s opinions, he isn’t the stark raving mad lunatic I portrayed him as, and actually seems like a fairly reasonable individual.
My description of Ishmael as a “serial pest caller” was harsh and unwarranted, especially seeing as there are plenty of callers who actually do fit that category, and it is unfair to compare Ishmael to them when Ishmael actually calls to make a point rather than a nuisance.
I still think the choice of timing of Ishmael’s exchange with John Kerr was poor, but I do now see where he is coming from.
Whilst Ishmael understands that I won’t be taking down any of what I wrote, I would like to publicly apologise to Ishmael for being a bit too harsh in my comments. End Update
Samuel
December 25th, 2006 at 11:07pm
I was going to record a Christmas message, but ran out of time, so instead I am writing to wish you all a Merry Christmas. A big thanks to everyone who sent me a Christmas email.
Samuel
P.S. Mick (aka Heatseeker) I have received your email and will enlighten you as to the context of the Ishmael email in due course.
December 25th, 2006 at 02:41pm
This week I’m giving the award to anyone who sings a Christmas carol in the next 72 hours…thankfully I don’t have to send trophies to the winners of Samuel’s Musician(s) Of The Week!
Anyway, the feature song this week is a variation on a well known traditional Christmas carol, I can’t track down the composer of this variation.
Christmas is coming,
The goose is getting fat,
Please put a penny
In the old man’s hat.
If you haven’t got a penny,
A ha’penny will do,
If you haven’t got a ha’penny,
Then God bless you.
Christmas is coming,
lights are on the tree,
Hang up your stocking for Santa Claus to see.
If you you haven’t got a stocking,
a little sock will do;
If you haven’t got a little sock,
God bless you!
Christmas is coming,
the season of good cheer,
Let’s all sing a carol for the brand-new year!
If you haven’t got a carol,
a jolly song will do;
If you haven’t got a jolly song,
God… bless… you…!
Merry Christmas Everybody, this award will return to normal next weekend.
Samuel
December 24th, 2006 at 05:43pm
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