Sometimes I let my beard grow out, I suspect it is to remind myself that I am indeed in my mid-40s and too old for pretty much all of it. My hair has always been unruly, I'm considering going really short back and sides
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Just me
And my GF and my Daughter, celebrating my 45th Birthday last year.
Sometimes I let my beard grow out, I suspect it is to remind myself that I am indeed in my mid-40s and too old for pretty much all of it. My hair has always been unruly, I'm considering going really short back and sides
Sometimes I let my beard grow out, I suspect it is to remind myself that I am indeed in my mid-40s and too old for pretty much all of it. My hair has always been unruly, I'm considering going really short back and sides
So our landlord & agent are a cliche
The Real Estate Agent turns up and tries to intimidate us every time we complain about major stuff. Smoke alarms not working (there are 6) the owner of the agency turns up and complains that because we complained in writing they had to get an electrician out. The electrician popped the one in the living room, dead. I pointed out they had stickers saying they should be replaced after 10 years and were marked 199[]. He went and got replacements but the agent insisted on replacing only one. Same went for replacing washers, they waffled until one failed completely, by the look of the withered rubber corpse it hadn't been replaced in 10 years.
The hot water system backflows into the cold line, so intermittently the cold taps flow hot until they clear. Because it doesn't do it every time and he hasn't witnessed it, he insists that we have an "alleged" problem. We've already had to have them replace the toilet. When we moved in there was a 1970s pan, with a modern low flush cistern that took an hour to fill and two flushes to scour. That went to 3 hours to fill after a flow limiter was fitted.
The water hammer is also frightening, like whacking the front door with a sledge hammer at 2:00am when someone elsewhere in the complex flushes. One evening after a particularly violent rendition of pipework percussion's greatest hits, the hot water system was making a weird buzz louder than the TV, I "fixed" it by running the purge/fill valve for an hour.
The shower is dangerous, water flow often stops when someone in another flat uses the water. Which wouldn't be too bad, except that it sometimes comes back full hot, and there is no tempering valve. Which means I need to help my GF shower because she can't dodge the flow due to her physical disability. They can't just turn down the hot water system, because it is a tiny storage unit (although not on off peak, so at least it heats up in about an hour).
To give an idea of how far down the slumlord path they are, we can't use the kitchen cupboards for non-canned food because they smell of rot. In the case of the draws and 1/4 of the cupboard space we can't use them at all. Have a nice pic of the active mould in the cupboards we can't use.
The hot water system backflows into the cold line, so intermittently the cold taps flow hot until they clear. Because it doesn't do it every time and he hasn't witnessed it, he insists that we have an "alleged" problem. We've already had to have them replace the toilet. When we moved in there was a 1970s pan, with a modern low flush cistern that took an hour to fill and two flushes to scour. That went to 3 hours to fill after a flow limiter was fitted.
The water hammer is also frightening, like whacking the front door with a sledge hammer at 2:00am when someone elsewhere in the complex flushes. One evening after a particularly violent rendition of pipework percussion's greatest hits, the hot water system was making a weird buzz louder than the TV, I "fixed" it by running the purge/fill valve for an hour.
The shower is dangerous, water flow often stops when someone in another flat uses the water. Which wouldn't be too bad, except that it sometimes comes back full hot, and there is no tempering valve. Which means I need to help my GF shower because she can't dodge the flow due to her physical disability. They can't just turn down the hot water system, because it is a tiny storage unit (although not on off peak, so at least it heats up in about an hour).
To give an idea of how far down the slumlord path they are, we can't use the kitchen cupboards for non-canned food because they smell of rot. In the case of the draws and 1/4 of the cupboard space we can't use them at all. Have a nice pic of the active mould in the cupboards we can't use.
That's what it looked like when we moved in, we filed a complaint to get it fixed, they said the owner was looking into it, hasn't got back to us several months later. Don't know what it looks like now, I stuck a humidity sucker in there and closed the door.
Want the punch line, they say because his costs have gone up our rent rises from $200/week to $210 a week.
(We're looking into lodging an appeal against the rise.)
Monday 28 March 2011
I can has follower...
I have my first follower.
Just about 2 billion to go to total world domination.
Just about 2 billion to go to total world domination.
Bullying is a hot topic...
Goddess grant me the Courage to confront
the Arseholes who bully me,
the Calm to deal with them as they Deserve,
the Wit to leave no Evidence,
and the Luck for the bodies to never be found...
the Arseholes who bully me,
the Calm to deal with them as they Deserve,
the Wit to leave no Evidence,
and the Luck for the bodies to never be found...
Goth
Goth: start with the basic black and the anti-anti-intellectualism, add lace, music with a social conscience on both a large and small scale and a feeling of alienation, season well with non-conformity and creativity. Bake in a hotbed of interpersonal conflict and petty jealousies. Present in a darkened room with a side of cynicism and a glass of absinth. Serves no-one but looks good in the corner near the cheese platter.
Sunday 27 March 2011
10% of Australians living in poverty.
"The number of Australians living in poverty, estimated at 2.2 million, will continue to creep up as families buckle under cost of living pressures [...]
More Aussies in need - ACOSS
There are a number of factors, but I blame the Howard Years erosion of basic Pension and Dole rates for a large part of it. Add to that the way Tax breaks for investment (rental) homes have pushed up house prices and thus rents, and the meagre dogs breakfast of "Rent Assistance" and you have a lot of people teetering on the edge of homelessness.
Toss in skyrocketing electricity prices and Centrelink punishing welfare recipients for failing to read their mail by cutting off their payments, and it is no wonder there is a serious problem.
More Aussies in need - ACOSS
There are a number of factors, but I blame the Howard Years erosion of basic Pension and Dole rates for a large part of it. Add to that the way Tax breaks for investment (rental) homes have pushed up house prices and thus rents, and the meagre dogs breakfast of "Rent Assistance" and you have a lot of people teetering on the edge of homelessness.
Toss in skyrocketing electricity prices and Centrelink punishing welfare recipients for failing to read their mail by cutting off their payments, and it is no wonder there is a serious problem.
Things to do.
I'm sure there are things to do in Toowoomba, I often hear about them after they've happened.
Bad enough that bad Saturday bus timetables and nothing Sunday or in the evenings makes getting to and from things hard. A Sunday event takes planning and saving for a taxi. Which means you need to know it is on.
Quite annoying. A lack of reasonable communication about events, especially fringe things mean that events are smaller than they should be. It goes beyond the obvious, there is something strange about Toowoomba.
Or should I say Toowoombas. There is not just one City of 100,000 people. For some strange reason, Toowoomba splinters, schisms, is clannish and divided. Time and again I discover that things of interest have been happening in one of the other Toowoombas that I would have supported if I'd known about them. It is as if there are a dozen or so small towns with the same highways running in and out of them that don't internally overlap despite occupying the same geographical coordinates.
For some reason people cluster looking inward, and there will be more than one circle of Anime Fans or D&D players or Goths or Pagans or Accordian Players or Stand Up Comedians. Which would be great, diversity is good, except that they either ignore the other groups with similar interests, actively go all Highlander (There Can Be Only One!) or engage in the kind of infighting usually reserved in fictional for Cat Breeders Societies.
I've attempted to address this a little with a facebook group called Minority Retort, trying to encourage people to subscribe, tell their friends, and post things of interest.
(Toowoomba) Minority Retort
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=155999551088623
My GF and I are also trying to get a Goth social thing happening through Meetup.com
http://www.meetup.com/Toowoomba-Goth-Meetup/
Bad enough that bad Saturday bus timetables and nothing Sunday or in the evenings makes getting to and from things hard. A Sunday event takes planning and saving for a taxi. Which means you need to know it is on.
Quite annoying. A lack of reasonable communication about events, especially fringe things mean that events are smaller than they should be. It goes beyond the obvious, there is something strange about Toowoomba.
Or should I say Toowoombas. There is not just one City of 100,000 people. For some strange reason, Toowoomba splinters, schisms, is clannish and divided. Time and again I discover that things of interest have been happening in one of the other Toowoombas that I would have supported if I'd known about them. It is as if there are a dozen or so small towns with the same highways running in and out of them that don't internally overlap despite occupying the same geographical coordinates.
For some reason people cluster looking inward, and there will be more than one circle of Anime Fans or D&D players or Goths or Pagans or Accordian Players or Stand Up Comedians. Which would be great, diversity is good, except that they either ignore the other groups with similar interests, actively go all Highlander (There Can Be Only One!) or engage in the kind of infighting usually reserved in fictional for Cat Breeders Societies.
I've attempted to address this a little with a facebook group called Minority Retort, trying to encourage people to subscribe, tell their friends, and post things of interest.
(Toowoomba) Minority Retort
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=155999551088623
My GF and I are also trying to get a Goth social thing happening through Meetup.com
http://www.meetup.com/Toowoomba-Goth-Meetup/
Toowoomba RC
http://toowoombarc.qld.gov.au/
The Toowoomba Regional Council.
Rather a stupid idea. Doesn't have boundaries determined by community of interest, they just shoved a bunch of randomly adjacent shires and the old City of Toowoomba under an ill planned ad hoc "New" regional council. Part of a number of such accretions imposed by the State Government a few years back.
Having said that, they are trying. Lots of dead wood in the system still, but they are moving forward.
There's a Local Law review on
http://www.toowoombarc.qld.gov.au/about-council/have-your-say/local-law-review/5761-local-law-review.html
We're thinking of putting in some comments.
For example when it comes to bouncers queuing people to enter nightclubs (yes, a joke in Toowoomba) they tend to pretty much block the footpath, so some of the bit below needs tightening.
Subordinate Local Law No. 1.2 (Commercial Use of Local Government Controlled Areas and Roads) 2011 Submissions on subordinate local laws
I really like Schedule 1 2(2)(u) provide, for use by patrons of each of the principal premises and the area on which the prescribed activity is undertaken, adequate toilet facilities;
The Toowoomba Regional Council.
Rather a stupid idea. Doesn't have boundaries determined by community of interest, they just shoved a bunch of randomly adjacent shires and the old City of Toowoomba under an ill planned ad hoc "New" regional council. Part of a number of such accretions imposed by the State Government a few years back.
Having said that, they are trying. Lots of dead wood in the system still, but they are moving forward.
There's a Local Law review on
http://www.toowoombarc.qld.gov.au/about-council/have-your-say/local-law-review/5761-local-law-review.html
We're thinking of putting in some comments.
For example when it comes to bouncers queuing people to enter nightclubs (yes, a joke in Toowoomba) they tend to pretty much block the footpath, so some of the bit below needs tightening.
Subordinate Local Law No. 1.2 (Commercial Use of Local Government Controlled Areas and Roads) 2011 Submissions on subordinate local laws
I really like Schedule 1 2(2)(u) provide, for use by patrons of each of the principal premises and the area on which the prescribed activity is undertaken, adequate toilet facilities;
I am a Witch
I am Wiccan. Oddly Discordian Wiccan, I see the Feminine and the Masculine aspects of deity in terms of Eris and Pan.
I believe a number of things...
Responsibility for my own actions.
(There is no forgiveness vending machine in the sky).
That the Numinous is omnipresent and immediate.
(Divinity is within and without).
That my way is right for me.
(Other people may find different Stairways to Heaven suit them better).
That the Masculine/Feminine duality is at the core of being human.
(And that we each express aspects of both).
Finally I believe that I should minimize harm while perfecting my Self.
(Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill, An it harm none do what ye will.).
I believe a number of things...
Responsibility for my own actions.
(There is no forgiveness vending machine in the sky).
That the Numinous is omnipresent and immediate.
(Divinity is within and without).
That my way is right for me.
(Other people may find different Stairways to Heaven suit them better).
That the Masculine/Feminine duality is at the core of being human.
(And that we each express aspects of both).
Finally I believe that I should minimize harm while perfecting my Self.
(Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill, An it harm none do what ye will.).
The Idiot holds forth
I've lived in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia most of the last 25 or so years.
I'm something of a fixture at the local University, USQ, though not a student at the moment (my GF is).
I'm politically active in a non-party somewhat left of centre (by Australian standards, so probably flaming RED by those of the US). I am not nor have I ever been a Communist, though I have strong Fabian Socialist tendencies, mostly because by world standards I am rich, and Eat The Rich is so much more than a clever sound-bite. I'm rather partial at the moment to The Australian Sex Party, and antipathic to Family First.
I'm something of a fixture at the local University, USQ, though not a student at the moment (my GF is).
I'm politically active in a non-party somewhat left of centre (by Australian standards, so probably flaming RED by those of the US). I am not nor have I ever been a Communist, though I have strong Fabian Socialist tendencies, mostly because by world standards I am rich, and Eat The Rich is so much more than a clever sound-bite. I'm rather partial at the moment to The Australian Sex Party, and antipathic to Family First.
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