Thought I'd end 2007 with a bit of colour & a few odd perspectives from around the garden on yet another sunny, cloud-free day.

At this moment it's a touch over 40 degrees centigrade (104 fahrenheit) outside , so it's worth staying indoors & blogging. The rest of the week is forecast in the mid thirties, so NYE could be a sweaty affair & of course in extreme heat, the fireworks become a fire hazard, get banned & the night becomes a massive let down! Doesn't that sound like most NYE celebrations!?!







The wasp above has this little nest precariously attached to a plant a metre or so from my computer, just outside the window. I've been watching the construction progress & she doesn't mind me taking photos up nice & close. All those cells are now filled in & she has left them to their own devices for the time being.





That last shot is one of my favourites for the moment. It's just a snap taken without any effort & the colour just seems to jump out, into the blue sky backdrop. To me, it looks like a hot day, but refreshing at the same time!

I think there's a few more shots on flickr to browse, so just click any of these to go there. The full size versions are there too.

So, here's to the end of "two double 'oh seven". It's been an interesting year personally, but with a bit of luck, '08 is setting up to herald some major changes, which will end up being reported in some form or another here. To everyone out there in the land of blog, Happy New Year & see you on the flip side!

 

Something tells me Telstra's messaging system isn't working too well at the moment!



It took a phone call & a second message to push this one through from where ever it was residing.

If this took a smidge over fifteen hours to arrive, what's it going to be like on NYE?!

 

Well, it took six hours, four shopping centres & a whole lot of swearing to finish Christmas 2007.

It's actually quite an achievement. Much to my sister's disgust, I am normally searching for a gift into the final hours of Christmas Eve. (I managed to finish last year's within that final hour! There was panic involved!)

First stop was Centro Colonnades & I ended up driving through the car park & back out again, as did everyone who drove in before & after me. Complete chaos! Next was Westfield Marion & with the queues of cars in sight leading up to it, I drove right by as well. The next sure bet, was the city centre. Thanks to work & a permanent parking spot, I couldn't go wrong. Yes, the city was busy, but you could still get around & pick up what you wanted, but getting out was a problem. Checkout lines lasted forever & simply didn't move. I joined a few with my desired items in hand, but it seems like there was a problem with every transaction which required a supervisor to run around & fix something. The queue may not have moved, but I did, away... & empty handed.

In a last shot, I drove to West Lakes & car parks everywhere. it was totally unexpected & I'd already given up hope, so it was a huge relief. Sure, the place was busy, but in a very short time, my mission was complete. I should have applied some logic & realised that rich people out at West Lakes don't go "shopping". They order stuff & then get it delivered!

By the way, the swearing, it was done from the confines of my car & was not discriminatory in any way. All religions, races, creeds, etc all got the same fucking treatment!

On that note, Merry Christmas everyone!

 

When I say "the book", you damn well know what I'm talking about & if you don't, then you're clearly not of this world!

I had a friend join Facebook at the start of the year & they sent me a message to join as well. I did so & then forgot about it for a couple of months. I then received another email from someone wanting to add me & I played around for a little while to find who else was investing their employers valuable time in a similarly productive way. I found a few people from work, a few friends, a few enemies & added those who I thought might respond. Again, I forgot about it for a while, until a few responses came back.

Six months down the track, I'm stuggling to find anyone I've ever dealt with who isn't on Facebook & if they aren't today, they most likely will be tomorrow!

So far, it's led to a reunion or two with groups of people I haven't dealt with for years. I've also had contact with friends who moved on decades ago & lost touch. Now, everyone's coming out of the void & it's great to find out where past friends have ended up.

MySpace was already ticking along at a frantic pace before Facebook really got going, but for me it just seemed too crowded with crap & every time you opened someones page, their personal designs tended to cause instant headaches. Don't any of these emo kids know what "tasteful" means?

I had a page under the "sevfive" name, but there's nothing there & I haven't looked at it for a looong time. How the hell do you find anyone when they don't go under their real name anyway?

Needless to say, I'm hooked on the Book & I try to avoid adding every single little application I get invites for. Some are clever, most aren't & being on dial-up keeping it clean & simple is the key. A few of my contacts have installed everything possible & now I get half their page to load before my modem freaks out & I get error messages on screen.

I find things like facebook, flickr & google earth both fascinating & invaluable & wonder what I'd do without them now. But what's around the corner in a few years? I can't wait until Google Earth ends up being real-time satellite images & video calling someone is not some pixellated scratchy vision. Of course, it might help too if I start with basics & get something a bit better than dial-up!

 

After going to a few miscellaneous functions recently, I'd just like to say, as a guy, I completely approve of girls wearing the bubble dress.

I know they were an 80's fashion fad & they're going through a bit of a resurgence, but with all the Christmas parties coming up, I won't be arguing with any female who decides to wear one on a warm summer evening!