Dog Day Friday

I think all the training this week short-circuited my brain because everywhere I looked today all I saw was (were?) dogs.

When I went out on the roof to have a smoke between lectures, I was watched by an overweight Labrador from a garden next to the building. He sat for a while as if trying to decide if I was worth his attention, and then gave a half-hearted bark. I barked back, he cocked his head and then decided to ignore me. I felt quite sorry for the poor guy, locked away in a small garden surrounded by high walls all alone all day while his family is off doing whatever they do. Life's a bitch, eh?

Later, while I was waiting for the bus, I noticed a little white fluffy poodle-type thing ogling me from behind the curtains in a house across the road. Another poor canine waiting for it's loved ones to return. How boring must that be?!

And then an old man came along, walking his dog on a leash. The mutt was trotting along on top of a low brick wall next to his master's hip. This one looked happy. He was out in the world with his best friend, sniffing all sorts of interesting stuff along the way. Apparently I don't smell very interesting 'cos he went by me with no more than a passing glance. He was a really cool looking dog, though - kind of fluffy and wiry, with a really sweet face. He reminded me of the dog we had before we left SA.

His name was Rintin (I had nothing to do with his naming, I swear!!!) and he was the most loveable dog in the world. A wire haired terrier cross jack russell that resembled Barbra Streisand. (Something about the eyes / nose... trust me on this one.)

Well anyway, my course is now over and I'm back home and feeling dog tired :-)

Looking forward to tomorrow, though - I'm off to London to visit my li'l sister.

Bitchin'!!

Information overload

My head is full... and I still have another 2 days of this training course to get through. Maybe if I jump up & down a lot the stuff that's gone in there will compact a bit and make room for what's still to come.

I feel like a walking brain. There's no room left for creativity. I felt the beginnings of a non-dba-related thought trying to poke its way through earlier, but it failed to break the surface, getting sucked down back into the grey gloop of logical information that currently fills my noggin.

And it took me 2 hours to get home tonight.
Buses, traffic, more traffic, missed trains... ain't life just peachy?!

Hooray for stepdaughters who like to cook!

Back to School

Has anyone clicked the Learn more button next to the messages we've been getting on Blogger? I did. I'm pedantic that way. And I'd just like to say my annoyance at downtime has been tempered somewhat. Being something of a techie myself I know what it is to work all weekend trying to fix dodgy hardware. So spare a thought for the guys - methinks they really are making an effort.
And no, they didn't pay me to write this ;-)

Speaking of Learning, I have a brief break from normal work this week in the form of a training course. Y'know that meme that's going around - the Weird Stuff About Me one? Well I've often been called weird (mostly by Hubby, who appears to love me anyway, thank goodness) yet I battle to think of specific characteristics about me that might be called weird. I think I may have found one though:

I like learning.

Seriously, I do! I'm really tired after a full day of listening to lectures, but I really enjoy it. It's like my brain wakes up and says things like, "Oh, Hello World!", and "Feed Me, Seymour!".
Even when I was in school all those many, many years ago (please quit laughing and continue reading); when everyone else was moaning about writing exams, I think I secretly enjoyed it because after all the studying the information was right there, in my head, and it was great being able to answer questions off the cuff without having to Google stuff. Not that we had Google back then, oh no. Back then we still used something called Libraries and did our research from books.
Yes children, it's true; there was knowledge before Google.
Although I have to agree it's become much, much easier since Google was born. And more colourful too.

I'm fairly sure I am in danger of being classified as a Nerd here - all this reference to computer-stuff and learning and books. Well, that's tough. I is what I are.

And on a completely different subject - Season 5 of 24 is starting this week. They've been teasing us all week with the adverts on TV. We thought it was starting last night. We failed to read the fine print - it was only the Prelude. Five lousy minutes is all we got! Talk about an anti-climax. Now we have to wait until next Sunday to see a whole episode.
Aw, Jaack!


We'll just have to make use of a double-bill of the new season of Lost tonight instead :-)
Yay, Jack!

Tagged in absentia

Well it seems as soon as I turned my back to go on holiday for a week, I got tagged by Ben O. Since he was kind enough to give me a grace period, and since it is actually quite a cool one, here ya go:

Four Jobs You've Had In Your Life
1. One of the nicest jobs was when I was in high-school I worked in a 2nd-hand bookshop part-time. I learnt all I know about sex from the Mills & Boon books I read while I worked there ;-)
2. For a couple of years Hubby and I ran our own business from home, selling organic fertilizer. Yep - chicken shit in a bag, folks!
3. When the rug was ripped out from underneath us most rudely with that, I went on to do the most boring job I've ever had to do - Creditors Clerk for an industrial clothing company. I lasted all of 5 months.
4. My first job in IT was to provide Accounting Support for Legal firms. I knew the bookkeeping side, they taught me the programs... and the rest is history. Best move I ever made.

Four Movies You Could Watch Over And Over
1. Love Actually - It makes me laugh
2. Dirty Dancing - I love dancing, love stories & Patrick Swayze. Enough said.
3. The Matrix - Gimme a break, I am in IT after all!
4. Lord of the Rings - All of them. Because it's pure fantasy and Aragorn in hot!

Four Places You've Lived
1. Port Elizabeth (SA)
2. Krugersdorp (SA)
2. Johannesburg (SA)
3. Dublin (Ireland)

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch
1. Friends - No matter how many times I've watched an episode, it will still make me laugh
2. ER - Been a fan of this for years. I think it may have something to do with the cute doctors...
3. 24 - Jack is the coolest hero ever!
4. Lost - There's something very addictive about this show; not least a hunky doctor called Jack :-)

Four Places You've Been on Vacation
(Now this is a list I can do!)
1. Cruise ship to Madgascar from Durban in SA
2. Sun holiday in the Canary Islands (Gran Canaria)
3. Fun holiday in the Greek Islands (Crete, Santorini, Cyprus)
4. And most recently, Skiing in the French Alps

Four Blogs You Visit Daily
!! Please don't take offense if your blog is not listed here - I have a whole heap of daily reads, but this meme is limited to four, so.... you get the picture. Ben, you don't get mention here 'cos you passed this to me and you're already linked at the top of this post ;-)
1. Something Under the Bed is Drooling
2. In the Blink of an Eye
3. Mississippi Mud Pie
4. OodlesofNoodlesofFun

Four of Your Favorite Foods
1. Potatoes - in any shape or form. Roasties, fries, bakes, you name it.
2. Salami - I would rather nibble on Salami than biscuits or crisps (except Pringles, perhaps)
3. Cheese - see #2.
4. Nuts - especially Cashews.
No wonder my cholestrol is a tad high...

Four Places You'd Rather Be
1. Paris
2. The Alps
3. Sunny SA
4. Greek Islands

Four Albums You Can't Live Without
1. Queen - Greatest Hits
2. Vivaldi - The Four Seasons
3. Joshua Kadison - Painted Desert Serenade
4. Rob Thomas - Something to Be

Four Vehicles You've Owned (in chronological order)
1. A red & white 'Citi' Golf that I inherited from my Mom. I loved this car - it suited me well.
2. Navy blue Toyota Tazz (like a Corolla hatchback for everyone living outside SA). This was the first car I bought myself and I loved it to bits. I also crashed it two weeks after I got it and cried like a baby!
3. White Honda Civic (the nice one, not the boy-racer one). Loved this car - it went real fast and cornered like a dream - I was really sad to get rid of it before we moved over to Ireland. Strangely though, I never 'bonded' with it like I did with my Tazz.
4. Maroon Audi A3. That's my car at the moment. Hubby is just borrowing it for a few years ;-)

Ok for some reason I got a sense of déja vu when I made this list so apologies if I am repeating stuff I have said before. I have a dreadful memory, which often results in me forgetting to tell some people something, while telling other people that same thing twice, or more. So it's entirely possible I've already told you some of this stuff, but never mind - I thought it would be kinda rude not to accept Ben's tag... especially since he was so nice about tagging me :-)