definitions

A friend of mine sent an accommodation ad to everyone at IMB using the "Informal Announcements" mailing list.

Hi, I’m a 25 yo easy-going female working fulltime at CSIRO looking for two easy-going females ...

She's used "easy-going" twice in the first sentence! I've asked her a few times what that was supposed to mean. She said it means she is looking for someone who is "not uptight" and "not a neat freak". And the idea of emphasising this was so that if they turn out to be "uptight" or a "neat freak" then she can say "look, the ad said we were looking for someone easy-going, and you are not easy-going".

Ummmmm. I think the word is so wishy-washy that it should be left out. After all does anybody really consider themselves not easy-going? A contributor at urbandictionary.com agrees with me - check out their definition of the word. (Also see "neat freak" there.)

It's much like using the word "down-to-earth" in personal ads. It defies definition.

I did suggest that it might be an a kind of "code word" to hint at something which can't be said explicitly, for example some women's tendency to write in personal ads that they are looking for someone "educated" and "ambitious" when they really mean "rich". But I have backed away from this theory.

Westpac Offline Banking

Westpac Online and Online Banking are currently unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

It's been down for two hours (business hours). How incompetent. I think I should probably switch -- is the fact that I haven't yet indicative of my inertia problems?

happy birthday from apple

I ordered my new Macbook Pro at 10:53pm AEST Australian time, a few minutes after the store reopened. I'm getting the high-end 15-inch version with the 160GB hard drive. I quickly read a review of one of the available 200GB notebook hard drives and decided that this technology is a bit new for me and the performance is very average. The 200GB drive is not even available on newegg.com yet.

(About tucking fime for the Core 2 Duo update Apple!)

picture time

Chinese chef at the Brisbane Multicultural Festival.

A certain train seems to be rather late (cancelled, I would think)

My desk at work - my officemate left so now I have two LCD monitors. This is much better than just one. I have Outlook open on the left one and do work on the right one.

What is that blue cord attached to my computer?

It's usually used as an ethernet cable. However when I am feeling happy as I always am, it can double as a skipping rope! Yippee!

Welcome to my corporate box!

antidepressants

I found a poster of "Cornfield with Crows" in my office at work. After van Gogh painted it, in 1890, he shot himself at age 37. Now if they had had antidepressants in those days perhaps he would never have been a great painter in the first place. He would have died old and happy. His loss and tragedy is our gain. That's why antidepressants are a bad thing! Tom Cruise was right!!