Max's Miscellaneous Musings

It's been a while since I've posted, and TBH I don't feel much like writing anything. Here are some random facts about the last couple weeks, in no particular order:

A Pandemic is distinguished by the emergence of a new disease, that causes serious illness among humans, and spreads awfully fast. Swine Flu is one such disease.

I am starting a new web site, called Fashion UNconscious, which aims to a) bring fashion to the average plonker and b) satirise fashion to the nth degree. I'm still working on it. I'm using the Joomla CMS, which is both a) powerful and b) consequently difficult to get my head around.

I've been sick with something, thankfully not any variant of the flu, which has made me feel very lethargic and unmotivated.

I got BestMate an Air Zound for his birthday, and since there don't seem to be any left in Australia, I also got one for myself.

It's 115dB of ear-shattering goodness. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to use it on obnoxious pedestrians and hazardous drivers. By "obnoxious pedestrians", I mean those who wilfully ignore the ringing of my bell, my hollering at them to please move over, or worse.. who tell me (on a shared path) to go and use the road. TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!! This one's for you, mate. I'm sure I don't have to explain the concept of a hazardous driver. MaxBabe, ever the voice of reason, has asked how much room my handlebars will have left for my actual hands, given they now carry: a bidon cage, my computer, a mount for my blinky light and a bell. And, of course, the brakes and shifters. It doesn't sound like much, but they all take up space. I'm yet to determine the logistics of mounting the Air Zound.

A couple days ago, I went out for my first winter morning ride. Oh, sweet merciful crap, it was cold. Me at 0500: Short-sleeve jersey, arm warmers, long sleeve jersey, knicks, shorts, leg warmers, wooly socks, long-fingered gloves, neck roll/ear warmer doodad. And it was still bloody cold! Thankfully, most of me warmed up after a few minutes. My knees never defrosted though. I was also reminded just how good my Ayup lights are. To be able to ride, at speed, in pitch black, knowing the road in front of me is perfectly illuminated, is a very comforting thing.

A few days ago, some fool in the USA approved a flyover of a 747 military jet (Air Force One) and a couple military fighter planes. Over New York City. In the middle of the day. Didn't anyone think to themselves, "gee, that might be a little too much like the whole 9/11 thing, maybe we shouldn't do that."? Apparently not. It caused panic among NYC's population, who evacuated their workplaces and ran for the hills. WTF was he thinking? Obama, is, of course, furious.

People continue to die in Iraq. Rudd continues to send our troops over to the middle east.

Break-dancing nana.

Workplaces everywhere are tightening their belts. This includes GreenSight. There's talk of enforcing nine-day fortnights, temporary leave without pay (ie - go home until there's work to do). Some factories are shutting down earlier in the day, or not operating at all on some days. Some branches have closed down altogether.

EDIT: Urgh. I think I need to stop reading the news.

Meh, I've run out of randomness. Time to go see where I'm going to mount that air horn.