WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME TEA?
Thursday, June 30
Unknown Territory
I buy most of my clothes at Rivers, a well-known Australian purveyor of, well, clothes. They used to be a very good, very Australian company with reliably high-quality products, but over the past few years they've been trending towards being a clearing house for job lots from China (or India or Pakistan), about half of which are designed by colour-blind orangutans on acid.
This is supposedly a real shirt.
Fortunately, the other half still aren't.
And while it's become somewhat hit-and-miss, I can usually count on buying new clothing and footwear at their big country clearance stores whenever I head down to Melbourne to visit my family.
Except that that hasn't happened for nearly two years (due to fires and explosions at my day job that coincided with every opportunity to visit) and the shoes I bought from them last time turned out to be complete crap, with leather lining but synthetic "uppers" that fell apart very quickly. So I've been wearing my last remaining old, good pair of shoes from them, which are over three years old now and starting to fall apart too.
And looking in the window of the shoe store near my house, a decent pair of shoes in a style I like goes for $200 these days. Back at the time of the dot-com bubble I paid nearly that much, but back at the time of the dot-com bubble I was a paper multi-millionaire. These days I'm decidedly not.
Anyways, I was poking around Rivers' online store looking for some cheap warm clothes to keep me warm cheaply, when I discovered something: The store doesn't actually show you everything they have in stock.
It has two different failure modes - one in which the bottom of the page is messed up, with a long list of product descriptions all mashed together but no pictures or links, and one where it just stops. In the latter case, there's no indication at all that the list is incomplete.
It was only when I tried the search function that I discovered that they have quite a lot of discontinued lines still in stock, including real leather shoes in my size, in styles and colours I like, at 50% to 75% off - from prices that were already pretty good. Some of them have been gone from their brick-and-mortar stores for four years or more. The styles and sizes available are a complete grab bag, just what's left unsold, but for $15 I'm not going to make a fuss.
I ordered 6 different pairs. First time I've ever ordered shoes online, but I figure that even if only half of them fit comfortably I've still done well.
I also bought three pairs of Bad Pants (factory seconds) to wear around the house because (a) $5 and (b) they call them Bad Pants.
* I'm tempted to buy this (link is gone already; amazingly bright scarlet shirt) even though it's not in stock in my size, just to blind people.
I buy most of my clothes at Rivers, a well-known Australian purveyor of, well, clothes. They used to be a very good, very Australian company with reliably high-quality products, but over the past few years they've been trending towards being a clearing house for job lots from China (or India or Pakistan), about half of which are designed by colour-blind orangutans on acid.
Fortunately, the other half still aren't.
And while it's become somewhat hit-and-miss, I can usually count on buying new clothing and footwear at their big country clearance stores whenever I head down to Melbourne to visit my family.
Except that that hasn't happened for nearly two years (due to fires and explosions at my day job that coincided with every opportunity to visit) and the shoes I bought from them last time turned out to be complete crap, with leather lining but synthetic "uppers" that fell apart very quickly. So I've been wearing my last remaining old, good pair of shoes from them, which are over three years old now and starting to fall apart too.
And looking in the window of the shoe store near my house, a decent pair of shoes in a style I like goes for $200 these days. Back at the time of the dot-com bubble I paid nearly that much, but back at the time of the dot-com bubble I was a paper multi-millionaire. These days I'm decidedly not.
Anyways, I was poking around Rivers' online store looking for some cheap warm clothes to keep me warm cheaply, when I discovered something: The store doesn't actually show you everything they have in stock.
It has two different failure modes - one in which the bottom of the page is messed up, with a long list of product descriptions all mashed together but no pictures or links, and one where it just stops. In the latter case, there's no indication at all that the list is incomplete.
It was only when I tried the search function that I discovered that they have quite a lot of discontinued lines still in stock, including real leather shoes in my size, in styles and colours I like, at 50% to 75% off - from prices that were already pretty good. Some of them have been gone from their brick-and-mortar stores for four years or more. The styles and sizes available are a complete grab bag, just what's left unsold, but for $15 I'm not going to make a fuss.
I ordered 6 different pairs. First time I've ever ordered shoes online, but I figure that even if only half of them fit comfortably I've still done well.
I also bought three pairs of Bad Pants (factory seconds) to wear around the house because (a) $5 and (b) they call them Bad Pants.
* I'm tempted to buy this (link is gone already; amazingly bright scarlet shirt) even though it's not in stock in my size, just to blind people.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
12:57 AM
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Monday, May 16
Brrrrr!
What the hell? It's only May, and it's gone below zero in some parts of Sydney overnight. My air conditioner, which I was relying on for heating (it's reverse-cycle), has gone into a defrost mode.
Why would it need to defrost in Sydney? Well, I stuck a temperature probe in to measure the air stream while it was defrosting and it was -1.8C!
Ah, there, it's finally back in heating mode; the air is now moving at a pleasant 30.9C. I think I'll leave it there for a while.
What the hell? It's only May, and it's gone below zero in some parts of Sydney overnight. My air conditioner, which I was relying on for heating (it's reverse-cycle), has gone into a defrost mode.
Why would it need to defrost in Sydney? Well, I stuck a temperature probe in to measure the air stream while it was defrosting and it was -1.8C!
Ah, there, it's finally back in heating mode; the air is now moving at a pleasant 30.9C. I think I'll leave it there for a while.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
05:45 AM
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Monday, April 25
Five Day Weekend
I almost forgot. I've been relaxing over the Easter long weekend, playing some Mass Effect 2, and just realised that tomorrow is Anzac Day, which is of course also a public holiday in Australia.
So, five day weekend. I don't know how often Easter and Anzac Day coincide, but I can't remember it ever happening in my lifetime.
I'd been getting towards the end of the main part of the game, where you prepare for the big suicide mission, and then realised that I hadn't looked into the DLC. I had about a gigabyte of DLC waiting for me, and another 1.5GB in the Lair of the Shadow Broker expansion, which I definitely want to play, and there's another three DLC bundles to buy (albeit of mixed quality, to judge by the reviews I've avoided reading).*
What's that you say? How's the game? Well, it's not the same as the original, but Bioware certainly didn't butcher it the way they did Dragon Age II. I'll post full reviews of both Mass Effect games later, but for now suffice to say that while there are some changes I don't like - and they're mostly by way of consolisation - there are also some things that the sequel does better, or at least more consistently, than its predecessor.
A couple of disappointments - Liara is mostly gone from the core game, but she's the subject of the largest and best-regarded expansion, so there's that at least. And the Mako is gone completely, which is a tragedy. That absurd cross between a Tonka truck and a superball was one of the most engaging characters in the original game, and its absence makes baby Shepards cry. I had to take out a thresher maw on foot. On foot.
* Looks like each of the other three major DLC packs clocks in at about a gigabyte too, for a total of 4.5GB of extra content. I hope that's not just pre-rendered movies.
I almost forgot. I've been relaxing over the Easter long weekend, playing some Mass Effect 2, and just realised that tomorrow is Anzac Day, which is of course also a public holiday in Australia.
So, five day weekend. I don't know how often Easter and Anzac Day coincide, but I can't remember it ever happening in my lifetime.
I'd been getting towards the end of the main part of the game, where you prepare for the big suicide mission, and then realised that I hadn't looked into the DLC. I had about a gigabyte of DLC waiting for me, and another 1.5GB in the Lair of the Shadow Broker expansion, which I definitely want to play, and there's another three DLC bundles to buy (albeit of mixed quality, to judge by the reviews I've avoided reading).*
What's that you say? How's the game? Well, it's not the same as the original, but Bioware certainly didn't butcher it the way they did Dragon Age II. I'll post full reviews of both Mass Effect games later, but for now suffice to say that while there are some changes I don't like - and they're mostly by way of consolisation - there are also some things that the sequel does better, or at least more consistently, than its predecessor.
A couple of disappointments - Liara is mostly gone from the core game, but she's the subject of the largest and best-regarded expansion, so there's that at least. And the Mako is gone completely, which is a tragedy. That absurd cross between a Tonka truck and a superball was one of the most engaging characters in the original game, and its absence makes baby Shepards cry. I had to take out a thresher maw on foot. On foot.
* Looks like each of the other three major DLC packs clocks in at about a gigabyte too, for a total of 4.5GB of extra content. I hope that's not just pre-rendered movies.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
03:18 PM
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Friday, March 18
How's The Weather In Sydney Now?
Rain. Rain rain rainity rain. Rain with cloudy periods and patchy rain. With more rain, and occasional showers, sprinkles, and storms.
For at least the next week.
Good.
Rain. Rain rain rainity rain. Rain with cloudy periods and patchy rain. With more rain, and occasional showers, sprinkles, and storms.
For at least the next week.
Good.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
06:24 PM
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Monday, March 07
My Entertainment Unit Just Exploded
No, really. I was sitting here, reading my email, when there was a horrible crash from the other end of the living room. One of the glass doors of the entertainment unit had spontaneously disintegrated. The rubble is all over the floor, still ticking and popping.
The glass is - was - curved, so I suspect it's been under internal stress the entire time and just suddenly gave way. I have my air conditioner on, and it's in the line of the air stream, so perhaps the temperature differential added to that.
Somewhat unsettling, having furniture explode without warning like that.
No, really. I was sitting here, reading my email, when there was a horrible crash from the other end of the living room. One of the glass doors of the entertainment unit had spontaneously disintegrated. The rubble is all over the floor, still ticking and popping.
The glass is - was - curved, so I suspect it's been under internal stress the entire time and just suddenly gave way. I have my air conditioner on, and it's in the line of the air stream, so perhaps the temperature differential added to that.
Somewhat unsettling, having furniture explode without warning like that.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
05:50 PM
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Wednesday, March 02
Cool Beans
Good: New air conditioner! (It's only taken three years...)
Bad: Had to get up at 6AM because the air conditioner guy was coming at 7AM... And I only got to bed at 4AM.
Ugly: It's Autumn. It was over 30C (86F) here yesterday, but this morning it's not even 20C (68F).
Potentially Still Good: It can still get pretty hot in Sydney in March.
Also Good: It's a reverse-cycle unit, with 6kW cooling and 5kW heating capacity, so I'll be comfy this Winter as well. In fact, it's twice the size of the old unit. I just wish I'd had it a month ago.
Also Ugly: It's ugly. The old cheap crappy unit that this replaces might not have worked, but it was compact and stylish. This one ain't.
Good: New air conditioner! (It's only taken three years...)
Bad: Had to get up at 6AM because the air conditioner guy was coming at 7AM... And I only got to bed at 4AM.
Ugly: It's Autumn. It was over 30C (86F) here yesterday, but this morning it's not even 20C (68F).
Potentially Still Good: It can still get pretty hot in Sydney in March.
Also Good: It's a reverse-cycle unit, with 6kW cooling and 5kW heating capacity, so I'll be comfy this Winter as well. In fact, it's twice the size of the old unit. I just wish I'd had it a month ago.
Also Ugly: It's ugly. The old cheap crappy unit that this replaces might not have worked, but it was compact and stylish. This one ain't.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
07:30 AM
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Sunday, February 06
Quote Southerly Change Unquote
Saturday, 4PM: 39.8°
Sunday, 4PM: 18.2°
In other words, it is 15° cooler now than it was yesterday directly in front of my air conditioner.
Saturday, 4PM: 39.8°
Sunday, 4PM: 18.2°
In other words, it is 15° cooler now than it was yesterday directly in front of my air conditioner.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
03:50 PM
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Thursday, February 03
Acchi! Acchi! Acchi!
Either it's above the melting point of tin in here, or my thermometer's broken.
I think the probabilities are about even.
Either it's above the melting point of tin in here, or my thermometer's broken.
I think the probabilities are about even.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
03:50 PM
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Tuesday, February 01
How's The Weather In Sydney?
Just went out into the garden, and the fence is wilting.
Just went out into the garden, and the fence is wilting.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
04:16 PM
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Monday, January 24
I Bought A Bed
Apparently they're quite popular.
Apparently they're quite popular.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
03:12 PM
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