the fortnightly hatch333

now that i'm temporarily in paid employment, there's not so much time for the musings of a blog...or maybe just a shorter blog...

i'm working at Summer Hill at Allied Mills, a company that mills various grains into various flour type products, that end up being bread, pizza bases and donuts...and other various baked goods. I'm working in the Product Innovation area, putting in a new project scheduling system for them...enough of the circumstantial evidence...

i've gone to a new book reading medium - an application on my iphone called stanza, which has an online catalogue of "books" for free and for sale...i say "books" coz they download to the phone and you read them through the tiny screen. i got the lead from reading an article in the economist about kindle, Amazon's electronic reader device, and they mentioned Stanza...so there you go...plus, i found Michael Pollan's "A place of my own" on there, which is out of print, having first being published in 1998. I still think I'll pick up a hard copy, as the bit of the book I've read is pretty great. The premise of the book is that Pollan will build a room for himself near his house, from which he can do his work as an editor and writer. the catch being that he'll build the structure himself.

quite a departure for him, from being a man of words and abstraction, to doing some "concrete" work in the "real" world, with his hands...so far, very good :)

off to work we go..

working out at homebush today, with the building company I consult to...heck, it's Rawson Homes. I like working out here, though they don't have a lot of money to spend on consulting, but I don't mind working a bit harder for my money with these guys, coz i like the work...which is part of my broader philosophy - if you enjoy the work, then you don't mind going the extra mile...so here I am, enjoying the work :)

names changed to protect...somebody?

this guy who I met at the local cafe is doing it pretty rough. the cafe owner introduced me to him one day when he was sure a guy on the street was showing him disrespect, so this guy was going to belt him. he'd already had a run in with the Police, who'd treated him pretty rough...don't reckon it was his first run in...

let's call him John, for the sake of the argument. So I see John at the cafe today, he's dressed quite well, looking freshly groomed. he's a Cook Islander, married to an Aboriginal girl, who's living up North. He doesn't have work in Sydney, so his wife can't/ won't come down, apparently until he has some money. John works as an Electrical linesman, so companies like Country Energy, Energy Australia, Transfield etc would employ him...but, he's having trouble getting work in Sydney...he doesn't have any credit on his mobile phone, doesn't know how to use a computer/ email...soo, he asks me to call or text his wife from my phone to ask her to call him...so I text her asking

the cafe owner calls me owner after i say goodbye to John and says, be careful of this guy...good advice which was running through my head all the while talking with John...

I take having unlimiited use of my mobile for granted and being able to use email (and the luxury of blogging). This guy has none of that...yet, society is becoming more and more geared to these methods of communication...what does that mean - disillusionment, frustration, anxiety for these people and people who have to deal with them...the fast pace of society doesn't cater well for these people, if John can't pick up a job, he can't get a place to live, can't get a phone, can't get a car...as a result his wife stays up north and John gets more pissed off

I saw Gran Torino today at the pictures. Good dialogue and a couple of solid characters. No flash, big budget movie, good solid themes and issues in a contemporary environment

international flavour

last night my mate Jaap and I went out for a couple of drinks in King St wharf area and a meal in China town. Jaap called me up about 3 in the afternoon, which might not seem unusual, but he's currently living in Munich but is back from time to time to do residentials for his MBA, which he started whilst living in Australia at the Australian Graduate School of Management...so, now and then i'll get a phone call out of the blue from Jaap...yesterday was one such day.

Today I went for Vietnamese Pho - pronounced kind of like fur, with Edmund and Julie, who own the bakery/ cafe where i've been going for coffee and sourdough fruit toast for the past 3 months. they opened up 5 months ago and things are going well...save the effects of the current economic gloom, which is on everyone's lips at the moment. I reckon it's the first time I've had Pho, I couldn't see myself ever finishing a full bowl. It was late morning by the time we ate and I hadn't had anything to eat beforehand. Edmund's looking at an import/ warehouse business...I'm going to do some research on that one...hmmm

My practise is still stiff and sore, like it has been the past 3 days. It's a good lesson in itself, my run of little niggles continues with a sore neck on the right hand side and intermittent blocked ears...and generaly lethargy...think the Pho might fix some of that, it had all manner of bits in it, some of which I didn't want to ask about at all

so now i'm chilling out at home, about to do some background work for our client out at homebush next week, where i have a couple of days of work...cool :)

waiting for quinoa...

a few of my posts lately have been about food...so here's another one, i'm waiting for my cooked red quinoa to cool down, an opportune time to come in here, take a few minutes and blog randomly

today i went down to maroubra for a surf, with my real board this time. as opposed to my foamy, which i took last saturday with Marc.

i slept in, through yoga, so took today as a rest day. my lethargy seems to be back a bit, which isn't so nice, though I'm resolved to get up tomorrow morning at 530 and go practise, whatever that turns out to be

then off for more injections with my friendly travel doctor

i've started reading through SAP Press' Product Cost Controlling with SAP...rivetting stuff I know, i'm gonna have to find some ways to wait out my 8 weeks while the UK visa comes through...thinking a couple of trips to Adelaide as well, while Ry and Judy are in town...we'll see

qunioa should be just about right now :)