Sense and Sensibility-ness-ing-ly

I must confess that I've become much more of a green thumb since getting involved with Michelle. To the point where I know what some plants actually are, and even their botanical names (as, for some, that's the only name they have).

I must apologise as I haven't found any pics to back this up yet - but I am looking. They were everywhere last week when I didn't have a camera! All of this is a distraction from the actual point...

The frangipani (genus Plumeria) are a gorgeous tree native to tropical/sub-tropical areas. The varieties are differentiated by their flowers and leaf shape, with each one having its own unique and different fragrance. They are a beautiful tree, and evoke for me thoughts of holidays in northern Queensland or Tonga or anywhere by the beach. We have a couple of frangipani trees in our backyard that we are looking forward to growing and adding their distinct shape and colour to our expanding "tropical-ish" garden. It'll take some time, but it'll happen. I appreciate this might be foreign for my US readers, but yes - the tree actually flowers and seemingly comes alive with fragrance and colour during spring/summer.

It's become a trend of late on cars around Australia to have stickers of varying sizes of frangipani flowers on the back or rear window. Initially I thought this was a connection by the ex-islander occupants to their native lands. Since I first noticed them however I've seen the stickers on all sorts of cars driven by all sorts of people - very few of which look to have come from the Pacific or any island other than Australia for that fact. That's not on... did I miss a meeting?!!?

WHEN did it become cool to just stick these things on your car?

WHY did it become cool to just stick these things on your car?

At least my explanation made sense. That anyone can do it only means that we face chaos... CHAOS, people... when did the free market suddenly become the place to start fads? More to the point, how did this fad begin? Frangipanis are beautiful - we can all see from the pics I've placed in this article - but clustered on car windscreens, they just make no sense. It's not like having the stickers cuts down on the car's greenhouse gas emissions or anything!

Next chance you get, stop and smell the flowers from a frangipani. Think about a remote tropical isle, untouched, unspoilt... relaxing... mentally unwind a little... enjoy it. Don't be distracted by the stickers - they don't smell at all... at least nothing like you'd want them to smell like (trust me).

I'm gonna get a little bit of time over the next two weeks, so I thought I should catch up on my blogging... I've a whole new raft of ideas (including a suggestion from Jonathan) that I need you to make a call on what you want to read/learn about...

The rules are thus (for new readers) - Whatever you interpret each to mean is up to you. I'll blog on the top two selected topics, as judged by you - all you have to do is leave a comment as to which one or two topics you'd prefer I blog on (you can vote for two). Your choice must be commented in to this entry by 11:59pm AEST Wednesday 12/12/2007, with the blogs to then appear in the next couple of days.

So... what do you want to hear me gab about?

Bah humbug.

Who'd travel on a bus in Brisbane? On the whole the fleet is aging (even though they are slowly replacing them with new, gas-powered shiny and spangly ones), some are experiencing some serious structural defects, and they are pretty dodgy once you're in. All this even before you pay for your ticket and board the things!Only recently did the Brisbane City Council change its ticketing process to zones so that you purchased the right number of zones for your travel, and could include Queensland Rail travel in the zone process (provided you have purchased the right kind of ticket!). You can also multi-zone with the CityCat ferries as well. Of course, their cross-transport ticketing system is still under development and testing - nearly 3 years after it was introduced!

Unless you live within 10 km of the city (effectively 2-3 zones), the timetables are atrocious and the buses are always packed at peak times (about the only time people close to the city can't get on a bus, as they'll zoom past without even stopping if they are full). It is seriously a pain in the bum. The afternoon peak times are worse, as they buses are full almost until the end of the route. Provided you could get on in the first place.

The number of times I've caught a bus and we've caught up with the bus previous (or been overtaken by the bus after us) is too numerous to list. It is not assisted by the fact that the western corridor of Brisbane has NO BUSWAY - a separately created bus only road to get buses into and out of the city quicker. The worst part is they aren't planning one for the western corridor because there is NOWHERE to put it. They can't even widen/upgrade Ipswich Road (main corridor in and out from the west) to account for more traffic - they can only go up (like Los Angeles). They won't do that - Mayor "Can do" Campbell Newman's most radical traffic proposal was to put in a tunnel under the Brisbane river (a la Sydney and Melbourne) to assist with traffic flow. It's happening, but slowly.

So, even though you may not have much of a choice - don't catch a bus in Brisbane. Unless it is outside peak hours. Or late at night. Even then, be prepared to wait and deal with dodgy conditions.

Just as well I ride a bike now...  :)

You wanted to know... here it is...

GodTube.

What right wing America does with too much money and some tech support.

In an attempt to only drink milk from a christian cow, someone has decided that YouTube is too liberal, too smutty, too open, so we need the 'christian' version.

Sure, there is all sorts of probably valid stuff on here, as is the nature of the internet where multiple people have access to add content. For mine, though, it was wikipedia at its worst - film clips uploaded without proper copyright clearance, songs attributed to the wrong artist, the worst examples of apologetics I've ever seen or heard... the list goes on and on.

I have, however, included what I deem to be the worst example of what GodTube has to offer below. Apart from the lag in loading and the crappy quality, the content is also questionable (so, a banana proves God's existence? PUH-lease...).

...and yes, that's Kirk Cameron on the right (I guess you gotta do something after Growing Pains when your christian films just aren't cutting it)... at least he's trying, I guess...

OK, I've built up a new list of choices for you this time... so... what would you like me to blog about?

1. So, just who/what is "themolk"? (Including style guide for brand usage)
2. GodTube
3. Qld's water crisis
4. The sad woe of bus travel in Brisbane
5. Thank God You're on TV in the US and Australia

The same rules apply - Whatever you interpret each to mean is up to you. I'll blog on the top two selected topics, as judged by you - all you have to do is leave a comment as to which one or two topics you'd prefer I blog on (you can vote for two). Your choice must be commented in to this entry by 11:59pm AEST Wednesday 16/05/2007, with the blogs to then appear in the next couple of days.

Cast your vote, and let's get on with it!

People never cease to amaze me. Such interesting creatures - ones of habit, yet ones of complete chaos at the same time.

I like to observe people and how they behave when I am out. In public places (let's not take it there!), of course. It's wonderful to sit in the Queen St Mall or walk through the city and just see people be who they think they are or want to be. Additionally catching public transport provides the same opportunities for a longer period of time for a smaller sample. Also, working on the 22nd floor of a building in the city in full view of a residential tower also has its benefits, of sorts. Let me explain all of this...

When people are walking around in public, they inevitably will be the person that they think they are. If they are with a group of friends, they are who they friends know them as. When they are alone, they might be a little different. Watching people in those situations and reading their body language and interactions with others is amazing and mesmerising to me.

It's like watching someone stumble over a crack and keep walking after they have gained their composure. They glance quickly to see who might have seen them, and then it's back to who they were just before the incident. Watching someone go through that and recover is not only pretty funny, but a great insight into who they are. Introverts, extroverts, emos, skanks, business people, whoever... just watching them 'be' is great entertainment.

Then you have the exhibitionists, who like the lady on the 25th floor of the Felix building in the city here, offer more than most people are interested. This woman, on an almost daily basis, comes out on her balcony in (at most) a bra and g-string and has a smoke. At times you even catch her posing - she KNOWS people in the buildings around are watching her. She ALWAYS finishes with a flourish and throws the cigarette butt over the balcony and is back inside. There is almost a pool going in here as to what she does - the common theme is adult - prostitute, stripper, erotic dancer, etc. I find it even funnier watching people in my office watch her... it's not just the blokes! Almost the whole floor comes to a standstill (and I can imagine the same on the other floors)... go figure.

So, people watching can be fun. Try it sometime...

It has always amazed me the complete lack of hygiene some people show at work. It scares me, therefore, as to what level of hygiene do they then show at home/in their personal life?

I am no germ-a-phobe by any means, however I do appreciate what now seems to be a superior standard of cleanliness and apply this to my daily life. It kind of makes sense - there are germs everywhere, on everything (just ask A Current Affair or Today Tonight - they LOVE pointing them out!). We don't need to give said germs a leg up in any way within the context of the workplace. So, with the standard disclaimer in place that some of might seem disgusting, but I am simply the reporting vessel, let's review the situation at my new workplace as I perceive it...

DESKS: On the whole, people tend to keep them pretty clean. That said, I have no idea if the cleaners the clean the building wipe the handsets on phones nightly as well - they certainly do not replace bin liners (the one at the desk next to me is still stained from before I started). Overall cleanliness: 7/10

MEETING ROOMS/COMMUNAL AREAS: These are also pretty good (as you'd imagine being public places), but the germ highlight here was some leftover food for a meeting was made available to the masses - with no way to serve it. Many people helped themselves, which in itself wouldn't be a problem, except for what I will mention below. The moral of this story is if there is communal food available, get in early. Overall cleanliness: 6/10

KITCHEN: I've worked in some places with a pretty skanky kitchen - both for space, general vibe and levels of cleanliness. Here (at least on floor 22 where I am) the kitchen is pretty good and people are pretty good in keeping it clean. There is paper towel and tea towels for cleaning, a dishwasher, and a fridge nazi removes food regularly (with warnings) before it has a chance to mutate and take over the aforementioned fridge. On the whole, impressive. Overall cleanliness: 8/10

TOILET: I had to save this one for last, as it just disgusted the living crap out of me. The amount of times that I have been in the gents and seen men exit WITHOUT WASHING THEIR HANDS is disgusting to the point of I never, ever want to shake hands with anyone that works here. It has a very environmentally unfriendly paper towel dispenser for hand drying, and inevitably the paper towel bin manages to overflow at least once a day. Probably because some neat freak is perpetually washing his hands because he is disgusted with the level og hygiene shown by his peers. The floors are pretty messy (no one seemingly knows how to aim, or clean up when they miss), and it's not a great place to be - not that I hang out there. Overall cleanliness: 2/10

I feel so *dirty*... and it won't wash off...

All of this said, I am sure this is the same as any other workplace and no matter what we touch we get a handful of germs out to kill us... Que sera, sera.

...It's time to make this a little more interactive. YOU tell me what you want me to crap on about.

Following is a list of topics I have been sitting on for a couple of weeks that I'd like to blog on, but don't have time to do all of them justice individually.

1. Thirsty Merc
2. Big Brother 2007
3. Movie - The Good Shepherd
4. People watching
5. I have representation
6. Germs & the workplace

Whatever you interpret each to mean is up to you. I'll blog on the top two selected topics, as judged by you - all you have to do is leave a comment as to which one or two topics you'd prefer I blog on. Your choice must be commented in to this entry by 11:59pm AEST Friday 20/04/2007, with the blogs to then appear early next week.

So... make your call, and bring on the fun...