Recent articles in personal (page 11 of 12)

1. Mar 23, 2006 Stupid Travel Mistake #62

   A little travel tip, just between you and me: when flying to a wedding, make sure you know what city it's in before you book your plane ticket. My good friend Amy is getting married in June. As one of the, oh, two people I know in Sydney, I just assumed it was being held there. I'm sure she told me it was in Brisbane more than once, but do I ever listen? No. I do not. Needless to say my blood ran a bit cold when I found out I was stuck with two return tickets to Sydney of the "changes will cost you one limb apiece" variety, and no particular reason to be there. Don't get me wrong: Sydney's a perfectly nice place, but with Amy away getting married in Brisbane and all, Jess and I were headed for a rather awkward visit with my only other friend in town. Thankfully, the nice man at Qantas was willing to waive the amputation fee because I had "fouled up so completely" (his words) in my attempt at booking a flight online. I couldn't convince him to let me cancel the booking completely, however, which is a shame because Virgin Blue's prices to Brisbane are a lot cheaper at the moment, and wouldn't have forced us to leave Brisbane at 6:50AM the day after the reception. Photo by Joel Barhamand.

2. Mar 13, 2006 Marble Madness Madness

   Marble Madness is a game that has been on my mind a lot over the years, considering I have never actually played it. Though it was first released in 1984 and was ported to the Apple IIe (my first computer) two years later, I first saw the game when it came to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1989. I've been wanting to play it ever since. A just-released free remake called Rolling Madness might allow me to do just that... if I ever get it working.

3. Mar 3, 2006 Tag! You're it!

   Okay, okay, Lliam tagged me ages ago (those are Internet ages) and I've ignored it as long as I could. Let's get this over with...

   Four jobs I've had

   • junk mail delivery (Ace Distributing)
   • writing software for smart cards (Gemplus)
   • birthday party clown (balloon twisting and origami)
   • technical writer (SitePoint)

4. Feb 6, 2006 Metrosexual Failure

   For a number of years, I have gotten used to people assigning me the badge of metrosexual. I've even come to take some small amount of pride in the label—if only because they didn't think I was gay (not that there's anything wrong with that!). As of today, I have admitted defeat in my metrosexual career. We have hired a cleaner.

5. Jan 14, 2006 Goodbye, Grandma

   Monique Yank passed peacefully yesterday. I loved her a lot, and I'm one of many who will miss her.