Bed blog

What decadence! I'm just back from the Gombert fund-raising trivia night (we lost by half a point) and decided to take the new toy to bed and post this entry from there. I must admit it's not the most comfortable way of doing things.

Tat kindly ferried us (Dr D, the Lotus Master and me) out to Box Hill South where we met up with the rest of our table: DS, K and Ian. This time around the evening moved along at a good pace and it was all over by 9.45. A good time was had by all.

Many of us were glad of the early finish as we're due at St John's by 8 in the morning to sing Ärgre dich, o Seele nicht!

The laptop has landed!

But that doesn't mean that company X isn't going to get a serve on customer service, or the lack of.

Food and trains

It's been a rather harrowing week at work so far (the details of which won't be discussed here) but my mood was lifted last night by a lovely meal at the Spencer Hotel with P&B and DR. The menu was very interesting: I had a delicious meal of stuffed loin of lamb on mashed potato with a most delicious sauce. DR and P both had the kangaroo and B had two entrees: a mushroom and taleggio tart (delicious) followed by pheasant sausages.

We washed it all down with a couple of bottles of red before wending our way to Flinders Street to catch a train home (DR had other fish to fry). The wending involved a walk through the Flagstaff Gardens followed by a trip around the loop in a bus masquerading as a train (or was it a train masquerading as a bus?).

I just can't wait for Southern Cross Station to be completed and all the trains to go back to normal.

Beginning of the end?

Finally, a result from company Y who have issued a note declaring the laptop lost. Now, it seems, it's up to me to contact company X about a replacement. Oh, well, if that's what I have to do I'd better get cracking. More later.

Still no laptop. Maybe next week...

Melbourne winter morning - cold, but sunny.

Tale of a laptop

A couple of weeks ago, on the advice of the knowledgable JW, I ordered a laptop from a company I will call X. I plan to set up a wireless network so I can use the laptop in the lounge, instead of having to retire to the study every time I want to check something.

I ordered and paid for it online and last Monday I got an email from X to say that the laptop had been dispatched via Y Express for overnight delivery. I gave my work address, where I have received any number of parcels in the past.

Tuesday (and Wednesday) came and went with no delivery. On Thursday I rang Y Express and spoke to a very nice lady who said she would run a check. She called me back on Friday morning to say she could find no record of the item. Later on Friday I called X and, after being left in a queue for 20 minutes only to be finally transferred to a voicemail box, spoke to a young man who said he would look into it and call me back.

Which of course he didn't.

I rang X again yesterday and spoke to another young man who put me on hold while he called Y, though without waiting for me to give him the nice lady's direct number. He told me that X would have to wait until Y declared the item lost before they would dispatch a replacement.

Today I rang Y again and was told by the ever-nice lady that no-one had spoken to her and there was no record of any calls about the item. Another call to X had me speaking to yet another young man (though, on second thoughts, it might have been the first one I spoke to - who knows?) who took the nice lady's number and promised to get back to me promptly.

I waited, not very hopefully.

Well, he's just called and informed me that, as I suspected, nice lady has a couple more days of checking before Y can declare the item lost. So I probably won't get a replacement this side of the Commonwealth Games.

Sigh. That'll teach me for wanting a new toy to play with.

A poor reflection

New Picture thingy
Posting pictures has just become a lot easier.

I say "just" as I've only just noticed it - it's probably been available for ages.

Until now I haven't been able to post pics from work as I don't have Picasa installed here.

So let's see how this new system works:
I hope you like my Still life with Elliot Golightly vase.

More soon...

On Thursday I went to visit Dr D for a night of German revision. However, after Bronsky and Bernstein finished (a prerequisite for teutonic studies) we were faced with the reality of the London bombings. The BBC coverage was quite repetitive, but it was hard not to watch.

What's to come, I wonder.

Saturday morning was Gombert - we finally got the music for the mass - followed by shopping and lunch with B&P. Then in the evening a cheap meal with DG at Xiao Ting Box: delicious squid and the usual huge serving of dumplings. Then back to my place where we watched the first half of the Barcelona Rheingold. It's quite interesting, though I'm not quite convinced by the costumes; the singing is great. After DG left I caught up with Doctor Who; quite a good temporal anomaly story about Rose going back to see her father before he's killed. However, she prevents this happening and unleashes all manner of nasties. The end, when it came, was clearly signalled from the beginning. A satisfying episode nonetheless.

Back to Gloriana last night. The next concert is all Victoria and promises to be very satisfying. The 12-part mass is particularly nice.

The week in point form

• Friday: delicious dinner at B&P's with LE, who was staying the night to avoid a raucous party in her apartment block.
• Saturday: Gombert rehearsal followed by lunch and an afternoon of piano duets with KP.
• Sunday: Tto Mum's for lunch. She and JV got rolled in the body corporate committee; a real shame as I think the newcomers will find that's it's more work than they bargained for.
• Monday: Work
• Tuesday: Home with headache/toothache - now abated and hasn't returned. Yet.
• Gombert rehearsal in the evening.
• Wednesday: To Hawthorn in the morning to buy Themen Aktuell 2; work in the evening.