Journal Entries
Peer Review
Posted Jun 6, 2006
Entries Currently in Peer Review: 3
A12305161 - Surviving a Phoenix Summer
A12149363 - U.S. Visa Types
A2701496 - 'Hole in the Ground' and 'Right Said Fred': Two of the Hits of Bernard Cribbins.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jun 6, 2006
It's knee deep and rising!
Posted Jun 5, 2006
...for reasons I don't quite understand, I'm subscribed to the famous 
thread.
Every so often I see it climb valiantly to the top of my conversation list and then get superceded by other convos. I click it when the post count reaches triple figures but don't actually read the thread, and occasionally I click it by accident. But I've never thought of unsubbing.
I've come to think of it as a sort of 'pet thread', in the loosest possible sense since I don't interact with it in any way shape or form other than watching how many new posts it has. It's entertaining.
And I'm certain, can feel it in my bones, that a thread started by and maintained by men would not be nearly as popular or long lived. Otherwise there'd be one. Right?
So.
Umm.
Hurrah for . 
Long may it continue.
(i'm still not reading it, though. TASTMWNMTK.)
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: Jun 5, 2006
Unable to post new content?
Posted May 27, 2006
Poor Jimster.
The post he made about the technical hitch yesterday revealed that no one could post so the Italics couldn't let us know what was wrong.
It sort of reminds me of a sci-fi cartoon I once saw:
"Captain, we've been hit! It looks like the Damage Control console has exploded!"
"Is it bad?"
"Well...until we fix the Damage Control console, we have no way to tell..."
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: May 27, 2006
Recap (the hatless mix)
Posted May 24, 2006
It's been one of those weeks - and it's only Wednesday. Here are the highlights.
Eldest thought she'd seen a man shot:
Driving to pick up some photos with a carfull of friends, she heard a loud bang and a cyclist about a dozen yards away fell off his bike and hit the ground rather hard. As the car pulled away, she thought she saw blood. On the way back, the police were in attendance and there was a body on the ground covered in a sheet.
Concerned, we called Phoenix PD. Turns out the cyclist had a siezure, struck his head on the kerb as he fell and died from head trauma. No shooting.
Mrs G. is not happy: Every time we hire someone to do something, we get a half-assed job. We recently decided to spend some more money on the house - and then decided to do the bill consolidation thing and work on my Credit score. You have no idea how important having a credit score is until you come to the US and don't have one. Anyhow, it's refinance time (again) and having put our house in order it appraised well. Then the finance company started to let us down big time. "Well, the actual balance after we pay fees and then pay off car loans etc is less than we thought" said the consultant. Cue blinks and frowns from The Family Gradient. Consultant looks shifty. "I only eyeballed it" he explains. Ummmm...eyeballing math? Shurely shome mishtake? This is annoying because Mrs G and I were sort of hoping there'd be enough left over to let us finally, after close on 5 years of marriage, go on honeymoon. We might anyway. The location? Vegas, baby!
The Da Vinci Code: I can say this on my journal because no one reads it: people are slow, m'kay? Ridiculous fuss caused by the badly reseached best-seller. Hats off to Brown for a job well done but next time could he do less of a good job getting credulous folks all riled up about mysterious secret societies? Bah. What astounds me more is the reaction of the Church to this whole thing. Instead of "haha! Oh, Dan, what a rivetting read! Good stuff! Of course, it's only a story..." they're actually trying to debunk the book and therefore lending credance to the ideas it presents! Do I think they're getting a chunk of the proceeds? Heck yeah! There hasn't been psuedoreligious claptrap like this since that whole Xenu thing.
Work: argharghargh. But, money.
Homesick: have been for a month or more. It's the landscape I miss, or rather the ancient human additions to it. I want to go hang out in a stone circle, explore something neolithic. Or go to Cornwall. And I can't. Humbug. I also want to have a conversation, face to face, that doesn't end up with: someone claiming their self-esteem has been bruised/talking about George Bush/Jesus/the price of gas/american sports (which suck). I'm feeling all...disconnected. Why else would I feel I might be happy if I could sit on Platform 11 of Kings Cross station for a bit, smoking a cigarette and drinking too-expensive tea?
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Latest reply: May 24, 2006
Spring Cleaning
Posted May 23, 2006
August 2nd marks five years of Gradient on Hootoo.
So it's time for another revamp and some thinking. I want to do more stuff for the EG, clear out some of the crud and perhaps get to that magical "50 entries" point.
There. Not much of a five year plan but I believe in setting achievable goals.
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Latest reply: May 23, 2006
Dark Side of the Goon
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