Stu's Rusty Bucket

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

Mix and Match

Its a bit of a mix and match today…

I finally got my cheque from the London Underground for its extreme tube downtime… and its 50£ quid.. yeah 50 quid, for crossing 3 zones, twice a day, 10 times a week for work.. 50 lousy quid for all that stress, hassle, rigmarole and annoyance at having to go on a round-a-bout way to work that takes instead of 30 minutes, just over an hour… 50£ lousy quid… Better than nothing but its an absolute pittance…

also grabbed a new Aussie music CD (ok its a year old but for me in London, its NEW), Torch the Moon special 2 cd edition by Melbournes on ‘The Whitlams’!! go boys.. this is great. Reminds me a bit of Powderfinger…

Its growing on me, very cool…

Apart from that, a quiet day…

Monday, July 28, 2003

AT04

Looks like I will be doing the start of the Appalachian Trail with Joy (Happy Hippie Hiker Chic). Nice to know there will be someone there to laugh at me when I twist me ankle putting my pack on, in the carpark at the bottom of the aproach trail, long before the hike even starts!!  Not sure how Joys folks will react to her going off into the scrub with a tattood aussie wearing a kilt…

My base gear list is just over 10 pounds (pack/tent/sleeping bag). My goal weight is < 25 pounds (hopefully 20) fully stocked.  Since what you wear doesnt count to final weight, its just whats inside/attached to your pack. (food, gear, clothes). I’m less worried about pack weight (tent/pack/sleeping bag) than food weight!
good food == heavy…

Most of my clothes will be worn, with little spare (saves weight)… so I aim to get with food and everything closer to 20-25pounds. Food + Water will be the big killer I think.  my brasslite stove weighs nothing.. my ti kettle weighs nothing… lexan spoon weighs nothing (I’d like to see Neo bend a lexan spoon!)

mmm tentative (ie: 95% chance this is it) clothing list;

- 1 kilt
- 1 pair gaiters
- 1 wicking shirt (my cycling jersey, no rear pocket or that. great for wicking sweat)
- 1 wicking tights (my cycling nike dryfit tights)
- 1 convertable zipoff hiking trousers
- 1 longsleeve wind shirt
- 2 pair hiking socks
- couple of bandanas
- 1 rain shell
- 1 fleece top
- 1 beanie
- 1 neck warmer
- 1 pair gloves

(ive reused some stuff i already had to save cash, eg: my the shirt + tights I use for mountainbiking. these things are no different to any other wicking tops/bottoms you can buy so...)

may or may not take the longjohns (woolen, very light).

covers my base/mid/outer layer. underwear is a waste tho. its all commando! (esp with the kilt!)

the kilt+gaiters may remove the need for my convertable zipoff dacks.
(its just one less thing to carry/wash/pack and keep track off)

it will be interesting to see how far I can wear something into the ground before replacing it due to whiffage or ground in dirt even a hydrochlauric washing machine demon cant budge with a sand blaster on acid.

I’m debating the gloves/neck warmer/beanie.. but since I am starting off 29th feb (approach trail), there might be some cold weather early on… mmm.. 50/50.. keep em or toss em… could always wear second pair of socks for gloves (not that theyd actually do much)…

Superannuation

Today I opened a nice hefty envelope my dad sent me.. My superannuation forms…

Apparently since I left my last company in Australia (2 + 1/2 years ago), I need to roll my super over to a new account.. Fine… there is like a 40 page document to fill out..

Gotta get my last employer to sign a form to say when I left employment there and how much contribution was paid… Kinda hard when I dont live in Australia any more…

second, I dont acutally qualify under any of the employment conditions in the new form… There is no option for Working Australian Overseas, Currently Non-Resident…

Talk about making it as hard as possible! :( grrr…

The bank initiated this by sending a letter saying,you need to roll it over to this X.
But the bank wont actually do anything, (ie: they wont just automatically roll it across, oooh now, its never simple is it?) The bank should be doing this, they should be filling in the damned 40 page forms. They already HAVE my details, they KNOW my current super plan and share %% splits and ratios and growth markets… Why cant they just use those options…

Of course not, just fill in ANOTHER 40 page fucking booklet…

Banks suck arse!

Now I have to ring home after midnight to talk to the bank who will put me on hold, using a dodgy £5 pound phone card on a scratchy inaudible phone line… To resolve nothing and be told.. “Well sir, please fill out the forms and return them to us...”

Superannuation is SUCH a con anyway.. I’m better at managing my money than some poxy git behind a desk taking a 4% annual management fee to get my 2% annual grown, to have the government take 50% in tax… Its nothing more than a mandatory taxation scheme by the government and a way to keep the super companies in business with margins on hard working folks retirement funds....

Let me manage my own money and keep ya governmental sticky taxing fingers out of my wallet…

Superannuation, its a con for people who cant save and those too stupid to realise the government pension is worthless.

poor joe: “I dont need to save, I have compulsory superannuation “
banker: “Oh yeah, when you retire, the gubment takes 50%, your left with shit all coz your annual contributions were nothing above employer award of 1% gross, not taking into account the anual management fee thats more than your contribution fee!! mwahahahahaha”

suck it back baby.

My Pirate Name… Viking Name…

This has been doing the rounds at work…

Your pirate name is:

Mad Sam Flint


Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just
a little bit. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like
flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

and my Viking Name is…

Your Viking Name is…
Stafngrímr Ferretstomper

Your Viking Personality: The tougher Vikings might let you on
the boat, but generally only when they need ballast. Both
your friends and your enemies think you're a little weird. You
might be able to hold your own on the battlefield, but you're
no "berserker".

A long sea voyage aboard a Viking longboat would be difficult
for you, but you might be able to manage it. You possess
some skills which other Vikings respect.

You have a fairly pragmatic attitude towards life, and tend not
to expend effort in areas where it would be wasted. You
sometimes come off as a bit of a snob. Vikings are not
snobbish people -- they either like you, or they kill you. Try
to be more like a Viking. 

Thursday, July 24, 2003

American Visas

Looking over the paperwork so I can get an American visa… some of the questions… and a 67£ pound charge to submit my visa application…

“Have you ever unlawfully distributed or sold a controlled substance (drug), been a prostitute or procurer of prostitutes”

“have you evner been the subject of a deportation hearing”

“do you seek to enter the United States to engage in export control violations”

“Are you a member of a terrorist organisation”

“Have you ever participated in prosecutions directed by the Nazi Government of Germany; or ever participated in Genocide”

“Have you ever been deported from the United States”

“Have you ever withheld custody of a US child”

“Do you have any specialized skills or training including Firearms, Explosives, Nuclear, Biological or Chemical Experience”

“Have you ever been in armed conflict, either as a participant or victim”

hmmm I need to save some more cash before I can file for my VISA application… doh! hopefully in a few months....

Sunday, July 20, 2003

PAIN!

Was out on the bike today… Met Emily, Mukesh, Alric and a bloke whose name I dont remmebr… Right at the start of the ride, I hit the edge of a rise at a nice… speed.. next thing i’m tasting dirty and my handlebars had spun 360 and i was still clipped into the bike… took half the skin off my elbow, some off the knee and shin…

Then we are flying through some nice singletrack and bam, I hit a root, went arse over tit and hit a tree, still clipped in and took the rest of the skin off same elbow! Washing it off, I think I took our half a pound of gravel.. Covered it in savlon now (antiseptic cream)

As much fun as it was today, my confidence was a bit shaken, two crashes in a row on something trivially stupid…

MY arm has stiffened up and so too my knee. There is some gravel rash on my dragon, some minor skin removal… Will have to see if my dragon is permanantly marked by this ill fated adventures! Work tomorow is going to be fun!

Saturday, July 19, 2003

new housemates

well.. a french couple moved into the spare room.... and I already despise them!

they dont seem to realise a door handle can be used to close a door as well as open it…

they look at you.. and whisper away in french.. then look back… say something in english and then babble off in french again…

after 1 day, they already managed to put a milk carton on its side in the fridge with the lid barely screwed on, and didnt bother to clean it up…

Shareing the house with only 1 other person was great, there was no… congestion with anything, now it feels like its take-a-number…

these people piss me off. If they touch my vegemite.. there will be REVENGE!!!!!

still, beter than when we had 10 or so people in the first house in london that was.. interesting…

Thursday, July 17, 2003

Sarien.. Sierra games.. bugs..

Ive been hacking on the win32 driver tonight, trying to work out why SCALE2X doesnt work.. when it works in the SDL driver a-ok!

I spent ages on it (turns out I was correct first go!), in the end after not making it work, I canabalised the SDL driver function into the WIN32 function… Now we have upsidedown image… aaaaaaaaargh…

I know its 1 line of code that alters the two from correct to incorrect but neither are the right stuff!!!! Aaaargh…

** as of mm 10:45pm, same night, I managed ot get it working! YAY!! **

(pics and code attached below)

Fuzzy Kings Quest 1 intro (see the text, side borders on the blue, etc)…

Smoothed version.. only upside down…

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Whoooo!!

I got home from work today.. sitting in the hall table is a card. It has american stamps....

I’m looking at it. turning it over and over in my hands..
Trying to work out how to open it without destroying it (my standard method of opening mail).

After about 10 minute after dismissing that it was superglued shut, I realise its got that clear ‘You-Cant-See-Me’ sticky tape on it… Oooooh.

I spent another 10 minutes trying to find the nail scissors…

Yay! We have entry. Cool its from Batya!

Hand written letters just plain rock. Its the whole personal-space thing. Email has no character.

So.. Batya your doing a Bar Exam?? Now, I can interpret that in my aussie-in-london way, and deduce that you are learning how to pour pints and draw shamrocks on creamy guiness heads and pump ale without it shooting out of the glass under pressure…

or I could think its like.. some non-pub thing and point at some Lawyer / Barristeress / Queens Council / type thing?

I’m guessing its the later..  WOW! I hated studying law. And the law books when you join the police force, eee-yuk, when we did the induction thing, thats all the library was.. I mean no-duh, it was the police force, but still… not one tiny little sci-fi book or that, wheres the fun in that??

I hoard ALL written letters I get, I have a big folder back in australia of all the hand written letters Ive ever received from round the world.. Now I have a small pile here in London (ok, all of them except for tonights one, come from family back home)

Tonight I also took a photo of a pyramid tea-bag, for someone else in who didnt know what a pyramid tea bag was! SHOCK! I mean, c’mon! pyramid tea-bags revolutionised tea-bags! Not as good as loose leafe tea, but still, if you have to have tea-bags, these things blow the other tea-bags out of the scalding water! Probably a coffee drinker (wretch choke gasp.. there goes my small intestine), right Adam??… so I wont go there grumbles.. coffee.. bleah

Pyramid tea-bags.  If you must have tea-bags, they are the KING of tea-bags.

London, 31c and fantastically sunny yesterday, thunderstorms and driving rain (for a short time) during lunch today. Tube home was surprisingly half empty. I got a seat…

I repeat, I GOT A SEAT on the central line.. at peak rush hour.. Yeah I nearly died of shock too, its never happened before. Maybe there was an IRA bomb scare or something down the line.. but shit, I GOT A SEAT!

That meant not being squished against the door between half drunk builders reeking of stale beer, or underneath the salarymans sweaty armpit or the trendy young woman with the huge ‘its not a small mobile house, its a handbag’ sticking into me, or the other trendy young woman who gives you that ‘if you blink i will yell molester’ look, even if she did squeeze into a non-existant gap that never existed, and was last on…

rush hour is just sooo much fun when accompanied by a computer recoreded monotone voice saying ‘thank you for travelling on the central line’..

Monday, July 14, 2003

The Lot!

Hamburger with the Lot…

100% beef,
beetroot
cheese
onion
fried egg
bacon
lettuce
tomato
lebanese cucumber

I remember these greasy bastards… mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

damn i cant eat meat..

new tattoos…….

oooh yeah i found some sweeet designs.. its just deciding which will go where!! i foresee several mwahahahha…

but if i get a big back piece, i cant take care of it, since i cant reach it… means i cant get a big back piece! aaaaaaaaaargh…

someone get me some multijointed fully rotational arms....

i’m looking at.. 4 tatts… 4 new ones… hmmm…

Sunday, July 13, 2003

Sarien Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug in Sarien for playing Kings Quest III, which affected every game. The string.compare opcode turns out, skipped over certain characters, so “ab,cd,ef” matched “abcdef"… fun…

also spent a few hours working on the strange sprites in Kings Quest IV intro… aaaaah now thats a nice BUG!! I think some parts of the interpreter will have to be re-written.. Not sure. Turns out it will affect any game.. just most games have not hit that bug yet…

fun!

Saturday, July 12, 2003

Fun in the Forest

Was out riding today at 9:30am! What a great day, got home at 4:45pm! Damn am I tired… My arese must be getting used to it tho hahaha, my sit-bones were not sore at all… good sign! My fitness seems to be going up (albeit only a tiny bit)..

I did manage to get lost in the forest a few times.. taking random trails…

Note to self, dont do this on way home… I ended up in some unknown suburb and took me ages to find my way to somewhere familiar, and ended up doing two nasty uphills!! aaargh.

My bike is now coated in a lovely red dust, its over everything, my white frame has a pink hue… definately needs a wipe down and clean…

also needs a service…

The hope M4’s were awesome.. they are bedding in nicely… still a bit soft, but going well… The banshee squeal is very minor.. just a rubbing squeal now.. hopefully it will go away as the pads wear in a bit more....

Friday, July 11, 2003

Its friday night people….

Im drinking cuban rum with vanilla coke and playing online canasta!

Damn i’ve missed playing canasta. My folks taught me how to play years ago and I love it. You need a good strategy to win, so drinking cuban rum and coke probably doesnt help my cause.

I just beat the computer in the first game with a 5238 point hand… mwahahahah.. computer scored 655.  6 natural canastas, 1 dirty (all wild cards)… hahahaha… aaaaaaah time to bump the skill level....

this was in a single hand too i should add…

(image attached in the -more- section.... what a score...)

Tuesday, July 08, 2003

Your Stifler

You’re stiffler!!
You’re a party ANIMAL!! The bad boy you can’t help
but love! Annoying at times, sure… but we put
up with you cause you’re good for a laugh (and
throw all our parties… ~.*)


What American Pie (2) character are YOU? ~.* (finished!)
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hmm well.. {scratches chin}…