Holla holla holla. Was a great weekend, but I’m a little bleary-eyed this morning. Where to start? Friday, just chilled at home and did nothing much. I think I had an early night, but I can’t really remember.

Saturday, though, was quite a nice day. Leyton and I argued about where we should go out for lunch, before he eventually piked on the lunch plans altogether. I saw the new movie “Garfield” and was moderately impressed, considering. I visited M&D and helped Dad with an internet problem. Mum made me steak and garlic bread without complaining too much, and I headed home. My plan for the evening was to get a bit drunk and watch the broncos game on television. I did and it was great. Leyton came around after the broncos game and we watched the rugby (boohoo about the result) and then an episode of The Joe Schmo Show, which we’ve started watching for fun. I’ve got a lot of praise for that show - it’s hilarious. It’s a Survivor-style reality show, but everyone (except for this one guy) is an actor. Champagne comedy.

Sunday, and I slept in a little. I cleaned the house quite a bit, what with people coming over and what-not, and was pretty buggered when the time came to entertain. Fortunately, Glara can amuse themselves fairly well. Rob came early to hammer some important computer stuff into my brain, and then we sat around watching tv, waiting for the other people to get there. They did, and we headed off to Ben’s.

The food was delicious, no question. And plentiful. It was a great night (well, for me it was, anyway) and the company made it all the more special. I’m pretty sure there are some photos floating around, I’ll post them when I find who has them. Then we went back to my place to eat Mint Slice icecream (droool) and make fun of the olympics coverage. Slowly, people drifted away and another episode of The Joe Schmo Show made it onto the big screen.

Thanks very much to all those who came.

“TGIF eh buddy?” /Shrek2

I got an email from Rob the other day, from London. He and Trista are apparently doing well, and it was good to hear from him. If anyone wants a copy of the email and didn’t get it, let me know.

In other news, I was exhausted last night. I’d had two sleep-interrupted nights in a row (the Canadian bitch who rang me at 2am, and last night staying up to make a phone call and stressing beyond measure about DNS-hiccups) so last night I had an early night and slept like a baby. Until I was woken up at 11pm with a phone call. :rant:

There was drama at work yesterday, which was pretty uncomrtable. When you work for a small organization and someone has an issue, everyone knows about it.

Couple more RSVPs for the 50th, which is great, and awaiting only 2 more. One of them is from Blacky, who perhaps has the easiest method to rsvp, being my flatmate and all. Heh heh - I just remembered - I was eating alone last night, and had the laziest dinner - it was kinda funny actually - a “loaf” of garlic bread and microwaved vegies. Yummy. :ugh:

Last night, I turned my computer off at about 5:30pm and was about to walk out the door, when Joon asked me for something in my email that would take some serious searching for. I felt sorry for her, and turned my computer back on and began the search. It was kinda fun actually - the records she needed were over 18 months old, so I had to search through the archives, and along the way I read some random stuff that probably seemed really important at the time. Ah, perspective.

Oh, and when I got home, Chris rang and asked if I was up for a movie. Now, on a school night I normally would’ve said no, but last night I needed to make phone calls to the US, so I was staying up late anyway. We caught the 9:25pm session of “Man on Fire” which was pretty good. Now, the storyline was obvious, the acting superb. Denzel Washington is badass.

Made my phone call, and instead of going to bed, uncovered a potentially disasterous problem with this and other websites that I had to start fixing. Got to bed by 1:30am.

Today I’m having lunch with Leyton at fake Foo, because he wasn’t available yesterday. Should be good.

Unbelievable. I got woken up this morning by some Canadian wanting to know if her fax had come through. :crazy:

Family night was good last night, except for poor sick Woo. He was miserable, and didn’t stay for dinner, but went straight to bed as soon as he’d eaten something. Mum and I made an experiment - it was like a beef red curry, but with quite a bit of fruit in it. Bananas, tomatos, mango pulp … it was delicious. I’m eating it for dinner tonight and tomorrow while Blacky is out. :thumbsup:

Anyway, it was a later night than I’d hoped to have already, and the 2am wakeup call just made this morning’s physio appointment timing worse. :ugh: Good session at the physio though … getting better and better. I’m not walking with a stick anymore, but I still plan to take things very cautiously.

The “No-Junk-Food Experiment” is coming along nicely. Not a lot of challenges as yet though … Leyton and I haven’t had lunch for aaaages. I wonder what he’s up to today, and whether he’d be up for fake Foo? I will ask him.

Hello all. I’m feeling pretty good today, you’ll be pleased to hear. Got a good night’s sleep, and the back is getting better in leaps and bounds I think. I’ve been warned to be extremely cautious though, so I’ll do that.

I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon to get my x-rays analyzed, and then it’s off to family night. Poor Woo’s been sick … really sick, so I don’t know how huge family night will be, but at least my dogs will be pleased to see me. :thumbsup:

I’m thinking of buying an antivirus package for home (the free stuff’s getting on my nerves, and because anti-virus is subscription-based, I think it’s important that you buy it), so I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on the topic. So far, I like NOD32, and have been running the eval with pleasing results.

Well, that’s pretty much all I’ve got for right now. I have to get up for my 30 minute walk, so I’ll leave you this joke my dad forwarded me:
Two tourists were driving through Wales. As they were approaching
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch they started
arguing about the pronunciation of the town’s name. They argued back and
forth until they stopped for lunch. As they stood at the counter, one
tourist asked the blonde employee, “Before we order, could you please
settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are…
very slowly?”
The girl leaned over the counter and said, “Burrrrrrrr, gerrrrrrr, Kiiiiing.”

Hey, so I’m the proud new owner of a 200Gb hard drive. Thanks Leyts.
The back situation is slowly improving. I had physio this morning, and I’m back at work as well, after 3 or 4 days of more-or-less constant bed-rest, in between doctors and xrays and so forth. The goal that I’ve got is to spend no more than 30 minutes at a time sitting at my desk - I’m going to go for a quick walk or have a lie down everytime the little alarm goes off. Studies have shown that 40-45 minutes is the critical time for disk-pressure to build up, so I’m taking no chances and making it 30 minutes. Hopefully, if all goes well, the 50th this weekend is still on.

Oh, speaking of the 50th, if anyone has an entertainment book, they should bring along their Ben’s voucher so we all have to pay as little as possible.
It’s this weekend people - please RSVP so I can make a reservation with adequate numbers. Thanks.

The Lions were due for a win on the weekend, and they did, but I hope this winning streak of one sustains into this weekend’s game against St Kilda, where they’re effectively playing for a home grand final. Broncos didn’t do so well, but full credit for a monster effort. They were only beaten in the last ten minutes, so it wasn’t as bad as the end score suggested.

I’m on a mini-health kick at the moment - I’m not eating junk food from today until the end of the month, and then reevaluating the situation then. I’ve done this before for a month here and there, but of course the definition of “junk food” is not as clear cut as you might hope. I still intend to drink Bundy and Limes with reckless abandon (so good), but anything you can buy from a drive-thru or from the bakery next to work is out. Chips, which I loathe anyway, are out. Lunches are going to consist of asian food from the chinese restaurant down the road, which is quite delicious, and you can delude yourself that it’s good for you, what with the vegetables and so forth. I love asian food, and I’m not giving that up for anything.

It’s been a while since I wrote. Monday I had pretty unbearable back pain, and I went to see the physio Tuesday morning. He assured me that the pain could get worse and that I was a wuss. Later I found out that it did - turns out I have a bulging disc that’s causing sciatica. Not pretty. :ugh:

I went home Tuesday afternoon, straight to M&D’s who live near the GP I visit. He gave me some really industrial strength painkillers and muscle relaxants. I spent the rest of the day in bed, quite sore.

Wednesday I was still at M&D’s and Callun helped me with some mind-numbing work I needed to collate.

Thursday I went back to work, suffered through until lunchtime, when I had more physio. Went home at lunch time, spent the rest of the day in bed.

Today I had an appointment with another doctor near M&D’s, and then went through to get an X-ray on my back. Since I was in the neighbourhood, I thought I’d go to Medicare and visit M&D. And here I am.

I’m not sure about the weekend. The markets are on, and although I initially thought I could make it, I’m not so sure now. The walking about the marketground would be fine I think, but the social aspect of breakfasting with friends etc might be too much sitting.

Walking and lying around in bed are my goals for the moment.

I’m in quite a bit of pain with my back, it’s flared up again and hurts. So, today’s entry is short … very short. See you tomorrow.

Who: Anyone that wants to come is welcome if they RSVP.

What: Dean and Glenn’s Half Birthday, their combined ages being 50, which of course is a year that needs to be celebrated.

When: Sunday 22nd August, 7pm at Dean’s place for a 7:30pm booking at Ben’s. Or just go straight to Ben’s if you want.

Where: Uh, I thought we’d covered this already. 7pm at Dean’s place or 7:30pm at Ben’s.

Why: Uh, I thought we’d covered this too - Dean and Glenn’s Half Birthday, their combined ages being 50, which of course is a year that needs to be celebrated.

How: With Vietnamese food, wine and good company. BYO & PYO.

RSVP: By Wednesday 18th August please.

Hard to say that I miss my old bed, but to mis-quote Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, I’d certainly grown accustomed to it’s face. The old bed was soft and I could sleep for days in it. The new bed is firmer and probably better for my back, but I can’t sleep for an hour before having to wake up and move around. But I’m getting ahead of myself - you’re all thinking: “OMG HE GOT A NEW BED!!!!1one!11!!”

The car mini-details that I’d booked for Friday midday didn’t arrive, and when telephoned to enquire about their absence, I was assured that we were booked in and scheduled to be detailed next Friday. Ugh. Cancelled. That kinda dumbness really gets my goat. I called last Wednesday and asked for two mini-details this Friday. How that was translated into next Friday I haven’t a clue, but there you are.

Friday evening Blacky and I watched the Storm/Dragons game - well, I watched the first half and then watched the second half on the little TV while lying in bed, between paragraphs of the book I’m currently reading - Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, which is a very interesting read. Well written, but the subject matter can be fairly deep. Made sure I caught the Glass House on the ABC at 10:30pm though.
Saturday I was up and doing fairly early - I went for a walk and then decided to go shopping for a new bed. I was determined to buy it interest-free from Super Amart and only buy it if I could pick it up right there and then. I could do both, so I thought, “why not?” It’s on the web for all to see here if you’re interested. I don’t think it’s that colour though. I don’t know what colour I got.

Due to dodgy back syndrome (DBS) however, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to construct it myself. I hired Woo for the afternoon to come over and help. I figured he’d appreciate the money, and I was probably right.

It’s great looking, and really sturdy and all that, but let’s just say it’s much firmer than what I’m used to. I’m in two minds now as to whether I bear with it (and eventually get used to it), or buy a mattress ASAP. /sigh.

Leyton came around on Saturday night to watch the Broncos and the Rugby. We had pizza - those new Maniac pizzas from Dominos. Very good I think, for Dominos/Pizza Hut-class pizzas. Not as good as pizza gets by any means, but certainly as good as it gets for $5.95.

Glenn and Lara had a lovely bbq on Sunday afternoon. Leyton picked Blacky and I up, and when we stopped in for meat on the way, Blacky decided that he should go home, so we took him home. Found Glara’s new place - it’s really swish and spent a nice afternoon watching the Lion’s dismal performance and feasting on barbeque bounty. We played Sing Star on the PS2 after the game, and that was totally brilliant. I can’t wait until a Cocktails and Sing Star night eventuates at their new digs. :fingersx:

Nobody spoil Criminal Intent for me - I had to tape it. I figured that if I was tired enough to sleep (which I was) I should probably take the opportunity to try and get a good night’s rest on the slab of rock I now sleep on.