Carpet or Linoleum?

I spotted this article in my web travels today. It asks what is more attractive, hairy chests or polished pecs.

I have to say I am a hairy chest gal. I find smooth chests, particularly those that have been shaved or wax highly unattractive. It just seems so... pubescent to me. Or gay. I used to know a very creepy gay guy who would wax his chest. Yuck.

But a man with a good sprinkling of hair on his chest... mmmm.... oh to run ones fingers through that lovely hair.

All my favourite men have got hairy chests. I mean, look at William McInnes:



Then there is Jamie Hyneman:

Pants Buster - Jamie Hyneman
Originally uploaded by glezgyna

And Hugh Jackman:



What about Campbell Brown:



And this guy:



No, this is not a blatant excuse to post pictures of hot guys, it's a serious debate. Shut up.

My Dice with Death - Part 2

Well I'm not dead. I had really hoped to wake up this morning as Spiderwoman, but no, I still need my glasses, am not all buff and fit, and can't shoot web from my wrists (which I am REALLY disappointed about).

However, I have a little festery wound (about 5mm long, 2mm wide) where the two puncture marks were, and it's REALLY sore. No swelling or soreness on the rest of the finger, but that little spot does really hurt far more than I think it should.

Here look:



Now it's not very big but since I took this photo it has got more... yucky and as I said, it's very sore. I'm no wuss with pain, I've been tattooed three times.

I hope it isn't one of those spider bites that rots and then you get gangrene until you have to have your finger chopped off. Yeah thanks Kerri for your Facebook comment to put THAT idea in my head.

My Dice with Death

I got bitten by a spider today. At least that's what I'm pretty sure it was. I had two small puncture wounds on my finger, and it stung like crazy.

I was actually asleep on the sofa at the time. I had put a DVD on, was mooching on the sofa and drifted off, only to be woken by my hand really stinging. I looked down to see the bites, leapt up and hunted through the sofa for the culprit, but couldn't find it. Of course then I began to worry just WHAT bit me, as with all this rain all sorts of bitey things are coming inside. So I popped down to my friend Di's (she lives in my street) for a cuppa and to have someone around to make sure I didn't pass out or anything. I don't mess around when it comes to bitey things.

A good dose of antiseptic cream, a cuppa and a couple of hours passing by has assured me that my hand isn't going to drop off and I don't think I'm going to die.

I would have been really pissed off if I'd suffered any kind of real damage. I mean, I was doing the safest thing in the world... sleeping on the sofa! For God's sake, if one can't sleep on the sofa in safety... what hope is there in this world? It's not like I'm out in the bush, braving nature at it's fiercest.

How dare anything jeopardise my sloth time?

First Words of the Day Post

I cracked my new word-of-the-day calendar today. I have two days to use of course because I wasn't at work yesterday with it being a public holiday and all.

The first word was one I am very familiar with, skylark. My Grandma uses that word a lot. "If you weren't skylarking around you wouldn't get into such trouble." She also uses the word lairising. You don't hear that word any more. "Stop lairising around and do your homework!"

The second one was ad hominem. It means attacking an opponent's character rather than answering his argument. A new term to me, though I know a LOT of people who do that. "He couldn't justify his behaviour, so he attacked me ad hominem."

I'm quite looking forward to expanding my vocabulary with this little datebook!

100 Things To Do Before You Die

This is a bit of a blog meme doing the rounds. I don't in any way think that you should HAVE to do anything, but these are things you could pick from to enrich your life. You could make your own hundred things you want to do or have done (or both) that is important to you. I may add a few more to the bottom:

1. Started my own blog- yes, several
2. Slept under the stars- many times.
3. Played in a band- yes, badly
4. Visited Hawaii-no
5. Watched a meteor shower- yes.
6. Given more than I can afford to charity- Yes, but also not given as much at other times.
7. Been to Disneyland/World- no
8. Climbed a mountain- yes
9. Held a praying mantis- yes and it was creepy.
10. Sung a solo- yes, and sounded like a goose farting in the fog.
11. Bungee jumped - and I never, ever, ever will
12. Visited Paris- Not yet
13. Watched lightning at sea- Yes, plenty of times.
14. Taught myself an art from scratch- yes, several
15. Adopted a child- no.
16. Had food poisoning- yes. Terrible when you don't know what end it's gonna come out of.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty- No, but I've been past her on a boat.
18. Grown my own vegetables- yes
19. Seen the Mona Lisa- no.
20. Slept on an overnight train- Several times.
21. Had a pillow fight- yes
22. Hitchhiked- yes. Used to do it quite a bit in my youth. Never on my own, I had a large, male hitch buddy.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - who hasn't?
24. Built a snow fort- no, not enough snow when I was in the US.
25. Held a lamb- yes.
26. Gone skinny dipping- yes.
27. Run a Marathon- No way Jose.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice- nope
29. Seen a total eclipse- Yes, and several partial ones.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset- yes
31. Hit a home run - no but I have hit a six in cricket.
32. Been on a cruise- Nope.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person- not yet.
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors- yes, cos it's not far from here. Not the other side of the family though.
35. Visited an Amish community- no, I missed that on my trip. Next time.
36. Taught myself a new language- yes, Spanish.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied- I only ever wish for "enough".
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person- no.
39. Gone rock climbing- yes
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David- no
41. Sung karaoke- only once when drunk. Hate karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt- no
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant- Yes
44. Visited Africa- no
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight- yes
46. Been transported in an ambulance- yes, when I slashed open my right arm on a louvre window at school.
47. Had my portrait painted- nope.
48. Gone deep sea fishing- no
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person- no
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris- no
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling- Not sure my ears would let me.
52. Kissed in the rain- no.
53. Played in the mud- yes
54. Gone to a drive-in theater- yes
55. Been in a movie- Nope
56. Visited the Great Wall of China- no
57. Started a business- yes
58. Taken a martial arts class- no
59. Visited Russia- no
60. Served at a soup kitchen- yes
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies- no, but was a brownie and sold their biscuits.
62. Went Whale Watching- yes
63. Got flowers for no reason- only ones I've bought myself.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma- yes
65. Gone sky diving- no
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp- no, but I will one day
67. Bounced a check- yes
68. Flown in a helicopter- no
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy- yes
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial- No.
71. Eaten caviar- yes - gross
72. Pieced a quilt- no
73. Stood in Times Square- yes
74. Toured the Everglades- not yet
75. Been fired from a job- never
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London- no
77. Broken a bone- yes, toe and nose
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle- yes
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person- no
80. Published a book- not yet
81. Visited the Vatican- no
82. Bought a brand-new car- no
83. Walked in Jerusalem- no
84. Had my picture in the newspaper- Yes, for a few things.
85. Read the entire Bible- yes
86. Visited the White House- Seen it from the train
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating- Yes
88. Had chickenpox- yes
89. Saved someone’s life- several times
90. Sat on a jury- no, but probably will before long.
91. Met someone famous- yes, several.
92. Joined a book club- yes
93. Lost a loved one- yes
94. Had a baby- not yet
95. Seen the Alamo in person- no
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake- no.
97. Been involved in a law suit- no
98. Owned a cell phone- many
99. Been stung by a bee- yes, a couple of times
100. Ridden an elephant- no

So there's my replies to the list someone else created. Here's a few others I have done and think would be great experiences others could do if they haven't already:

• Swam in Lake Mackenzie on Fraser Island
• Taken a boat tour of the San Francisco Bay
• Eaten echidna
• Had a job that you love and are passionate about.
• Started a community radio station.
• Laughed some beverage out your nose.
• Eaten a hot dog from the street vendor in New York City.
• Read a whole book (a proper novel, not a little one) in one single session.
• Bought yourself a bunch of roses, just because you wanted them.
• Had a white Christmas.
• Learned a new word every day for a whole year.
• Eaten frogs legs.
• Visited at least three other states/provinces in your country.
• Taken a tram in Melbourne.
• Had a champagne at the Sydney Opera House.
• Seen a quokka at Rottnest Island.
• Owned the entire catalogue of one author and one band/singer.
• Been to a movie marathon all night.
• Asked your grandparents, or elderly parents, or some other person over 70 about their life.
• Been completely obsessed about something that you've researched and kept notes on and collected.

I have lots more, but those are a few that just pop into my mind. What are things that you want to do, or have done and have been vastly enriched by, that you could put on a list of important things to do?

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2009. It's my aim to post at least 365 blog posts here this year. Every little bit of creativity helps me expand my skills and abilities, so I'm going to keep working at it. Even if it's just to share a video or photo, at least one per day. Cheer me on folks, leave comments!

I don't have my word of the day calendar here at home with me, so I will just have to use two words on some days. I took it to work so that I could share the word of the day with my colleague and friend Marlene, who is a book lover and word collector like me.

One of the great joys of New Years Day for me is cracking open all the new diaries and calendars. I love them. I've got a gorgeous purple one that looks like it's coated in purple spun sugar as my personal diary. On my desk here at home is a "Cupcake a Day" calendar that my friend Janna gave me for Christmas. I have a big calendar with lovely big squares for each day so I can write stuff on there. It's going on the wall in my room. I also have a big planner thing that came from the local MP, which I am going to cover the boring (ugly) bits with stickers and stuff. At work I have the word a day desk calendar, as well as a rather dull BCC issue diary. And a SeaWorld calendar by the desk. I love cracking open a new diary or calendar and sitting down to write birthdays and holidays and other important dates in there. Of course, I NEVER open a calendar before January 1st.

I started to watch I Am Legend today. But it got too scary so I bailed out on it. I don't do scary movies. I went back to watching Mythbusters, which is more my bag.

Hey, wanna hear something cool? Stephen Fry is following me on Twitter. I think he found me through Girl Clumsy.

It's bloody hot again today. 8.30pm at night and I'm still sweltering. I think I'm going to move to Canada.

Grumble Bum Again

I'm back at work today and have still got the grumps. But at least I am out of the 33+ degree heat.

Why have I got the grumps? Cos I'm feeling ripped off again. It's a whole bunch of things but my work situation pisses me off and I'm just about at the end of my tether. I need a holiday. I plan to take one in March when it is a little cooler and I can enjoy it more. I'd like to go visit my Grandma for her birthday, she will be 80 in March. I don't get to see her as often as I would like to, mostly because the rest of my family sucks. Well, a big proportion of them do.

But let's talk about something that isn't grumpy.

I got a calendar for Christmas that is one of those "New Word a Day" things. You know, where you get a cool word and it's meaning on each page for each day. I think I should set myself a challenge to blog every day, and use that word of the day in the blog! Do you reckon I can do it? I reckon I can have a really good go at it!

Soon I won't have to update two blogs, I will be able to just use this one. Our training programme finishes tomorrow evening and I won't have to do a constant blog for work colleagues to maintain. I think I will bring some of the posts over here cos I really like them. Or I'll just archive it until we need to use it again. If you haven't already looked at the other blog, you'll find it at http://kathx23.blogspot.com

New Years Eve tomorrow night. I'm going to a party at my friend and colleague Robert's house. Will be fun. I have a new outfit to wear. It's all black - I don't normally wear all black, I love colour but this outfit was so pretty I had to have it. I also have a bottle of strawberry champagne to crack at midnight. Yummy!

Summer Sucks

It's hot. I'm grumpy. I don't want to be here or anywhere in Australia right now. I just want to go back to the US and be somewhere cold and comfortable. This time last year I was on the last leg of my trip, just arrived back in Chicago. I had the flu really bad, but it was snowing there and I was with my friends Missy and Danny and their gorgeous three dogs Sasha, Loca and India and I was REALLY happy.

Right now, I just want the heat to go away.

This Year I Have Learnt

Christmas is almost here. Can you believe it? I am astonished when I realise that it has been a year since I was in America. This time last year I was in New York City, freezing my tail off but loving it. I was just about to go to Michigan to see my cysters Terri and Mandie and their families. It was possibly the most amazing time of my entire life.

So what has happened in my life over the past year? What have I learned about life and myself? Let me see:

• I can find friends anywhere in the world, simply by being myself.
• I really did miss the Big Canadian Dude more than words can say.
• Giving my heart to someone who is only attentive of me when he wants something is a complete waste of my beautiful heart.
• I really don't like corn syrup in my food.
• But I love KFC that is fried chicken with mashed potato, green beans and biscuits and gravy.
• America has bad coffee.
• Canada has great coffee.
• Canada has bad donuts
• America has GREAT donuts.
• Bullies will never win in the long run.
• So long as I always act with integrity, no-one can stop me from achieving my goals.
• I don't have to always be the reliable and responsible one. Sometimes I can just kick back and let other people do the work.
• A real man knows a woman's worth and is not afraid to acknowledge and appreciate it.
• Aussie chocolate really does taste better than the American stuff.
• I can learn anything I want to.
• I really want to travel more.
• I need to work less and play more.

I am sure I've learnt a LOT more than these things, but this is a good start.

Let me take this opportunity to wish you all

The World's Smartest Mouse

How cool is this little guy huh?

Storms in Brisbane

I just have to share this video, which was posted by one of my colleagues on her 23 Things blog.

This is footage from the big storm last week (16th of November, 2008) here in Brisbane. I didn't really think it was that severe at the time, but then the next day heard about all the damage and then heard that it was the most severe storm Brisbane had seen in decades.

And this video footage confirmed just that!



Pretty intense hey? I just love we Australians though - who else in the world would laugh and call it a "ripper" and stay out on the back deck during that chaos?

Oh This is GOLD!

Check out the guy murdering turkeys in the background!

I Am Blogging...

Just on my other blog, because I need it for work purposes. If you want to read it (and be warned, it will have stuff about libraries in it, but there is a bunch of other stuff), go to:

http://kathx23.blogspot.com

If nothing else, go find the post called "Beached as". I love that video!

More Great SNL Videos

Tina Fey really is brilliant as Sarah Palin. Here's a couple more:

Saturday Night Live

Found a great little video from Saturday Night Live:



Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (sp?). Tina Fey is BRILLIANT as Sarah Palin!

Menstruation: According to Disney

I found this through Boing Boing:




I would say it's from the 50's. It has some wise advice, even if it does dance around the subject a bit!

TGIF!

Oh Thank God it's Friday!

It's been a crazy busy week. With this new Web 2.0 training programme at work, which I am the technical support for, I am being run off my feet. The phone never stops ringing, and my email inbox is just chockas, all the time. I answer one, three more come in.

It is good, it means people are taking up the training and that I'm getting my teeth into something that gives me lots of challenges, but Cheese Louise, does it leave me buggered! I am so ready to just crawl into a ball tonight and not surface until Monday morning.

But then, that wouldn't leave me with any social life, and I need a social life. As it is I'm opting to have tonight in, spend tomorrow just chilling and leave socialising for Sunday. I plan to see The Mummy with a friend and probably do lunch.

I do have a lot of things coming up though. The Brisbane City Romp is next weekend and I'm part of a team for that one. Hopefully we'll raise some money for the Burnet Foundation and have a lot of fun doing it.

Then I've got a big weekend the week after that. Friday night is the "Girls Night Out" being held at the old QLD Museum, that should be a big night with friends, and then on the Sunday is the Brissie Cysters meet up. Aye caramba, what have I signed myself up for with all this stuff on? Plus I have various lunches, dinners, catch up coffees and even a breakfast scheduled in over the next fortnight. All on top of the massive workload I have at the moment.

Oh by the way, a couple of weeks ago I saw Hell Boy 2. It's brilliant fun! I'm still saying "Ohhhh crap."

Everybody's Got to Eat

So it's no secret that I'm a fan of Mythbusters right? Well I'm always tootling around online looking for interesting articles and stuff about Mythbusters and Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman in particular.

Earlier this week I found this video posted on Boing Boing:



It's part of an appearance by Adam at The Last Hope convention, a convention for hackers. Now hackers don't just mean those awful people who maliciously hack into other people's computers. Hackers are people who like to pull stuff apart and see how it works, modify it to do things that it wasn't intended to do in the first place. You know those people who like to pull appliances apart just to see what's inside? That's a hacker. I'm a bit of a hacker myself.

The question of course was would Mythbusters investigate RFID (radio frequency ID) more.

And Adam tells the story of how Texas Instruments and the big credit card companies intimidated the representative from Discovery Channel and Tory Bellici and the story was shelved, it just won't be done on Mythbusters. Quite understandably, Discovery Channel is reliant on commercial corporations for it's revenue, and if they are being threatened legal action and loss of their revenue... they're going to back down.

And then a couple of days later, Boing Boing posted this article from CNET News. In simple words, it's Adam retracting what he said at the Last Hope convention regarding Texas Instruments and the credit card companies.

Can anyone say "balls in a vice"?

Adam has copped a LOT of flak for this whole saga. From people suggesting he was lying or making up the story he told at the convention, to those saying that if the story is true he was stupid to tell it to a room of about 500 people, to people suggesting he sold out by retracting the statements he made at the convention.

Now I personally believe he was telling the truth as he knew it when he told that story. He doesn't have much of a poker face Adam, and there is no artifice or falseness about his manner when he tells the story. He's relaxed, clearly relating an anecdote.

I also believe that he was pressured into retracting the story that he told. Be it from Discovery Channel, Beyond Productions (the company that produces Mythbusters) or even by legal actions from either Texas Instruments or the major credit card companies. But from what I know of Adam Savage, the statement given in the article is NOTHING at all like him, it's formal and clearly a very carefully prepared statement. Something tells me Adam has made the decision very carefully to back right away.

Now seriously, who can blame him? Ok yes, if he is being pressured he is backing down in the face of big business, but like every other one of us, he has to keep his job, has to put food on the table and pay the roof over his head. He has a name he has to keep clear. I also know that he has a wife and young family.

Not to mention that this could also affect his colleagues at Mythbusters, even Beyond Productions. If Discovery Channel has said "Retract that or else", then not only his job could be on the line, but the whole Mythbusters series, which means not only the on screen folks in himself, Jamie Hyneman, Tory Bellici, Kari Byrom and Grant Imehara, but the countless other people who work behind the scenes.

To me, Adam has done the wise and probably honourable thing to just back right away.

But that said... it was probably a very stupid thing for anyone to put pressure on him to change his story. Because it has meant that it's got a lot more people talking about it than if it had just slid by, and a lot more people asking questions about WHY the Mythbusters shouldn't be exposing just how safe and secure RFID technology is.

And as someone at the convention said... there are 5000+ people there who do not have contractual obligations preventing them from investigating the technology right there... and many more who have seen all this on the internet.

Poor Adam, he's probably feeling very much like this all over again:



That's Jamie slapping him, trying to bust the myth that a slap in the face will sober you up. For more laughs, watch this one of Adam trying to sober up by running on a treadmill:



High speed cameras rock! I love that Jamie (on the right, with hand in pocket and stop watch) doesn't move a muscle through all of that.

Oh and if you want to see the whole series from The Last Hope, I've made it into a YouTube Playlist:

Men Make Me Laugh

I've just been thinking about something I observed on the weekend I was down on the Gold Coast. And it's had me giggling a wee bit.

When we first got there on the Saturday, after Janna and I had popped our stuff away in our hotel room and parked the car, we decided to go for a walk down to Cavill Avenue in the thick of Surfers Paradise. We stopped at Baskin and Robbins, as you do, for a Saturday afternoon ice-cream cone.

While we were in there, a couple of the Gold Coast Meter Maids popped in for their Saturday afternoon ice-cream cone, still in their uniforms. Now if you haven't seen their uniforms, check this out:



They don't wear much, do they? And the back view? Let's just say it's rather... cheeky. Do a Google Image search on "Gold Coast Meter Maids" and you'll get the idea.

Anyhoo, the girls got their ice-creams, which took a few minutes for them to get so they were standing at the counter waiting and stuff, and then they went outside and sat at one of the tables to eat them.

And I have not been entertained so much in a very long time as I was just watching the guys reactions to them. Absolutely hilarious.

Inside the shop, one trio of backpacker lads were good fun. Two tried desperately not to look, the third had a broken neck, it just wouldn't swivel away from those two girls. I think the poor boy hadn't seen a girl in a skimpy bikini before.

Then there was the old bloke with his wife. I think it was a long needed tonic for the old coot, but his missus wasn't real happy with his copping a view. She gave him a tug of the arm and dragged him away, dripping ice-cream all the way.

When we got outside, I was perfectly positioned to watch guys reactions as they walked down the corridor next to the shop, got to the edge of the seating area and spotted the girls. So I saw their expressions pre-vision and post-vision.

They would walk down the corridor, with relaxed expressions, minds far away. When they saw these two girls in their little gold bikinis, a range of things would happen. For example:

One guy walking down the hall with his sunglasses on his head, spotted the girls and then as quick as lightning plopped the sunnies down over his eyes. Ummm... you think we didn't notice you going the ogle mate?

Another one sucked his gut in like he'd had a vacuum pump stuck up his bum. Schloop!

Quite common was the "double take and drool" method. Often the mouth would plop open and the saliva glands go into action. I saw that three or four times in the 20 minutes we were sitting there.

Then there was the coupled up guy who would do the double take, have a good look and the girlfriend or wife would give him a slap or demand his attention some other way, but he was still using his peripherals after that, that's for sure.

I also noticed that the whiter the guy, the more sneaky and furtive the looks. Black, Maori or olive skinned guys all just turned and had a calm, interested look. White guys tended to have the thing where the neck doesn't move but the eyes dart off to where they can see. It's kind of creepy really. White guys, take a leaf out of your darker skinned brothers, just be cool, have a look, don't suck your gut in, don't peer out of the corner of your eyes, keep your mouth closed and for God's sake don't put your hand in your pocket. That's just skin-crawlingly creepy.

But my favourite of all was the guy who spotted the girls, turned and nudged his wife as if to say "Huh? Huh?" and panted like a dog on a hot day, while his wife just rolled her eyes and kept walking.

Guys, you're so funny. You think we don't notice?

At the Movies: Wanted

I decided to take myself off to see a movie today. I really like James McAvoy, so I decided to go and see Wanted, which stars him, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman.

I really enjoyed it, purely for it's shoot-em-up/stunt-extravaganza fun and for the fact that James McAvoy is a brilliant young actor and Morgan Freeman is a brilliant old actor.

However, Angelina Jolie proved to me that she couldn't act with a gun to her head... she actually had a gun to her head repeatedly in this movie and she definitely can't act. Her role was primarily her swanning around pouting those enormous rubber lips and giving monosyllabic comebacks to any lines said in her direction. She's ALARMINGLY thin in this movie, in fact she looks like a praying mantis with rubber lips. I don't see how she can be considered beautiful at all, she's so thin and "enhanced" with those dry looking lips. In fact when she kisses James McAvoy I kept worrying that he would leave a layer of his skin behind on her dry, dry lips.

One question... in these movies, when folks are getting beat up and wounded, both men and women equal, why do the guys get blood all over them, scars, big gory wounds, bruises etc, but the women get a wee smear of blood on their cheekbone but not a hair out of place or their makeup smudged?

Anyway, it was fun, despite La Jolie and her sour pouting, and as I said, James McAvoy is a masterful young actor with a fantastic presence, and the story has plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested. Go see it if you like lots of action and some brilliant stunts. The one where Fox (Jolie) swings her car around with the door open and Wesley (McAvoy) falls in, is absolutely hilarious.

Here's the trailer...