Ahhh, few things have the capacity to waste time like the good old office desk cleanout. Among the treasures discovered during the course of my purge were a 10 base-T network card ( and driver on 3.5″ floppy… whoohoo! ), a packet of expired Pocky chocolates sent back by GeneralSis while she was living in Japan, and last but not least, the CD with the ripped version of Abobe CS2 I was looking for 12 months ago - no longer required thanks to bittorrent and Cs3 ;).

And that was time wastin’ Tuesday. How was yours?

Tags: Time wastin' Tuesday, general by generalboy
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I could tell you what a complete and utter waste of time today, in fact this week, has been - but I just don’t have the time.

Tags: Time wastin' Tuesday, general by generalboy
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In my time, I have dealt with enough people in service, support, entertainment and the various forces to know good from bad… and I take my lead from the good.

I have smoothed over a good many bumps in the road… often things completely beyond my control… at my cost. I’ve been courteous, congenial… diplomatic and generous… even when I’ve been on the back foot. I have admitted fault. I have accepted responsibility on the odd occasions when things haven’t gone to plan. I’ve bent over backwards, and offered the shirt off my back to keep you happy.

At some point though, the continual harassment, the taking of liberties, the threats… will stop. And they stop when I say so. If you think that I should take abuse from you while I attempt to fix the problem you own and created, all the while trying to make me own it, you are mistaken. I’ll help you all I can… I’ll do my best to clarify and explain the things you don’t quite understand… and I’ll do it better than the guy you will replace me with.

But there comes a time when enough is enough. If you choose ignorance and rudeness, I cannot be of service to you. Least of all for the pittance you pay.

So to call your bluff, yes, please… take your fucking business elsewhere. One less arsehole in my life will be a welcome change.

Goodbye and good riddance!

This has been a GeneralBoy customer service announcement

Tags: general by generalboy
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All up a pretty good TWT today, albeit a bit blokey. I rewarded my 3 hours of home improvement with a 3 hour surf, two Mexican beers, and two episodes of The Simpsons.

And now I am a vewy sweepy General Boy.

So that was Time wastin’ Tuesday. How was yours?

Tags: Time wastin' Tuesday, general by generalboy
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Make no mistake… management is just not the type of thing I am cut out for. HR… delegation… financials… client liasing… strategic directions… the mere mention of these words makes me break out in a cold sweat. In my humble opinion, management is not the type of thing the vast majority of people are cut out for, and there’s only so much that can be taught. In spite of this, somehow we are all experts on the topic. Everyone who has a manager has an opinion of how well they do their job. Everyone who is a manager has an opinion of their fellow managers, and critiques and compares their own style to that of their peers.

I am of the view that most managers have one or two strengths, but these often come at the expense of other areas. I’ve seen the “nice guy” type - brilliant in terms of HR, understanding, even tempered - but  unable to make tough decisions. I’ve seen the organisers - financial masterminds and earthshakers - who are untrusted and feared by their underlings. I’ve also seen the futureheads… who are looking waaaaay off into the distance and  carefully planning, all the while ignoring day to day issues that impact on their staff and the business. I have also come across managers who are just bloody hopeless in every conceivable way, and don’t seem gifted in any area whatsoever. The ones that are continually moved sideways and yet upward at the same time.

Occasionally though, I have come across some absolutely brilliant managers. I recently said goodbye to one such rare specimen, and having spent a great deal of time observing his ability from both underneath and alongside his chain of command, I have nothing but respect. That’s a pretty tall order for me… something I reserve for very, very few in such a position.

On his last day I looked around the table and saw a lot of unhappy faces… not just sad at the departure of a fantastic manager, but in many cases, friend and confidente as well. I am sure they are all wondering how on earth his replacement could ever hope to measure up.

He leaves behind a huge set of boots to fill. And I told him so.

Tags: friendship, general by generalboy
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You know, it’s on days like this I feel like a Home and Away extra. The sun shines brightly, the sky is perfect blue, the sea that  indescribable aqua, and the sand smooth and dotted with carefully spaced  footprints.  A retired looking lady walks past with a little dog and a big dog. A lone beach babe reclines in huge Paris Hilton sunglasses, flicking through a trashy magazine as her long legs darken. A couple walks hand in hand along the waterline, stopping momentarily as she picks up a shell.

Suddenly the director calls to me through his megaphone. “Hey you! Guy with the surfboard? Stop jogging! We need you to walk slowly from camera left, and look out to sea, got it?”

And that was Time wastin’ Tuesday.

How was yours?

Tags: Time wastin' Tuesday, general by generalboy
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It’s funny how particular sights and sounds can invoke just one memory, or event.

A very rare sound for me is that of the latin american percussion instrument, the guiro. You play the guiro by running a small stick up and down a serated edge of a tubular shaped, hand carved piece of timber. This not unpleasant sound can frequently be heard in Tango and Bossonova rhythms, as that brrr-chicka-brrr-chicka that gets hips gently swaying.

Whenever I hear a guiro , I am immediately thrust back to my school days, and music class. I remember picking up a fish shaped guiro the first time, and scraping the stick along it and improvising a bongo accompaniment with my voice. I thought it sounded soooo groovy! Unfortunately, like so many other pursuits that *might* have just captured the average teenager’s imagination, the school curriculum seemed intent on annhialating any enthusiasm I might have harboured. It pretty much did that for everyone.

I remember everyone in class being assigned an instrument, and of course, this had to be done most carefully. There were often students who, either through outside tutoring, or natural ability, had achieved some level of mastery of an instrument. But for the most part, these careworn noisemakers were in the hands of the talentless and the disinterested. Often instruments were assigned on who could do the least damage - the quiet, mousey girl was given the base guitar, the high-pitched voiced geeky boy the drum kit. Certain instruments were also reserved for the “special” students, and in our case, our special needs student was given the Triangle. I am sure he would have much preferred to go nuts on the giant gong, but poor “Kevin” was kept well away from noisy or sharp objects.

I am sure you can just imagine the terrifying cacophony that ensued when some poor, misguided music teacher ( who, let’s face it, are all stoners ) come conductor issued the instruction to play. Some utterly terrible tunes spring to mind - Little Brown Jug, Tom Dooley, and perhaps the most shocking, Up there Cazaley! We played, or should I say, massacred, each and every one of these tunes… and dare I say, several more I no longer recall. We did it with flutes. We did it with Castanets. We did it with Glockenspiels.

It was enough to put anyone off music for life, and it’s amazing that I ever picked up a musical instrument again. But eventually I did, and I even managed to make them sound something less than awful. Well… some of them…

Still… I haven’t played a Guiro since, but I must confess at under $40 on ebay… I’m sorely tempted…

Tags: general, generalboy remembers by generalboy
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I also discovered something today, whilst standing in the queue at a certain Irish sounding discount liquor store owned by a certain large grocery chain.

Undoubtedly, my debonair demeanor and disarming smile distracted the lovely young lady at the checkout ( read: what the hell happened to his hair? Is it always like that? And is that dry salt all over his eyelashes… or something else? ), and half way through making her giggle she messed up the EFTPOS transaction. She got  “Trevor” over to fix it, but repeated subsequent attempts at completing it failed, as she frantically continued apologising. Eventually she discovered the problem - the Credit Card transaction wouldn’t go through with a total ending in $xxx.82. As soon as she changed it to $xxx.80, bingo!

Yet again, I am impressed… nay… in awe… at just how dumb the technology on which modern commerce depends can be.

And that was Time wastin’ Tuesday. How was yours?

Tags: Time wastin' Tuesday, general by generalboy
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At first, I have to admit, it’s somewhat invigorating.

The cold Northwest wind feels like it can blow right through even the thickest of clothing, and when you add driving rain, even a little hail, you feel the sheer vulnerability of every square millimeter of exposed flesh. There are firsts - the first day the gutters overflow from heavy rain, the first day the air temperature fails to get into double figures, the first day you chip the ice off the car windshield before driving to work with the heater on full.

Nothing hammers home the sense of seasonal change as quickly as a dip in the Southern Ocean in June. Without a the aid of a wetsuit, you will suffer the onset of hypothermia in about 10 minutes, and within half an hour your core will be sufficiently cool for you to lapse gently into unconsciousness. By the start of August though, it’s a whole new world of pain. The very act of negotiating more than two or three duckdives under the relentless shorebreak is agonising, as the thirteen degree water crushes your skull like a vice and saps your energy like liquid kryptonite. It’s not unusual for mild nausea to accompany the gross discomfort you feel, and as it takes hold, you seriously question your commitment.

It’s hard to find anything about surfing here in winter that isn’t hard, but usually there are little bubbles of delight to get you through. There’s quiet solitude and more powerful, bigger waves. There’s lonely, close encounters with curious, solitary dolphins. There’s a camaraderie shared among those who share your passion, and suffer the pain and discomfort you do for the same reasons you do. Then there are days when the damp, frozen sand seems to burn your feet, almost welcome after the frosted grass that felt like walking across a bed of nails, which in turn was infinitely more pleasant on your bare feet than the chipped, frozen shale rocks you had to traverse to reach it. When you finally reach your car, and your icy hands no longer function sufficiently to operate the alarm / central locking button, let alone the manual doorlocks, you really, really, begin to wonder.

To be honest, there’s not a whole lot about winter 2008 I’ll miss… but compared to last year, it’s a breeze. It has taken it’s sweet time to pass, and while I am all for the living in the moment, never wish a day away ethos, I’m glad to see the back of it. The turning of the seasons is all well and good - it makes you appreciate the ones you love all the more.

But when it comes to winter… goodbye and good riddance. I am over it.

Tags: general by generalboy
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