At a Web 2.0 Business Lunch today, one speaker played the following clip. Watching it, I had some serious mixed emotions. Worried, excited, inspired and humbled all mingled together.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fUHtc37MC8[/youtube]

I am unsure yet how I would go about engaging in this new media culture and maintain a sense of the real world at the same time. Certainly very interesting.

From the Museum of Media History.

… but I’ll keep watching anyway.

“So You Think You Can Dance?” started airing today. I totally love this show. Not only because of some of the most incredible human feats you get to see, but for the collection of complete freaks.

There was one guy, Jamal, who just made me laugh. A “breaker”, they asked him to quickly learn a swing dance and come back to show them. It was one of the funniest things ever. The clip below shows Jamal’s dance, and then a couple dancing to same song from last season.

The great thing is, they’re both totally crap for many different reasons. At least Jamal is entertaining…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKu3L36SVfI[/youtube]

For those that haven’t seen any real swing dancing (lindy hop), try this on for size…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZviUhPdsiI[/youtube]

How else do you get a dog to do this? …

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziDeUbifKIM[/youtube]

Check out more of Tyson’s adventures.

Ran into this fantastic advert the other day on TV. Funky music, great colour, fun vibe, and most of all brilliant choreography.

Oh, the gals aren’t too bad either.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZhSc1qtves[/youtube]

You can learn more about the advert from the Bond’s site. If you’re quick, you can even download a copy of the music.

This have just been “busy” lately and this is a post to fill in some time. What’s been happening …

• New manager at work so we’ve been devising a strategy for the department. Lots of work, but I am finding it an incredibly engaging learning experience.
• Training has dipped slightly. Ankle not coping too well and I missed the Run to the G today (need to be at home to take care of E.)
• Been regularly taking the train to/from work. It takes a little longer but it is far more relaxing. Thinking of selling my car and downgrading to an old bomb to get me from home to the station (and hopefully back again)
• Been researching a little on heart disease + smoking. E. is predisposed to the former and with the later it makes for a fearful life ahead.

Other than that, I’ve just been busy!

You see, I’m engaged!

After five and a bit years I finally asked E. to marry me. Actually it was more like, “So, you wanna get married?” Thankfully she said “yes.” Wedding plans will now take up most of my attention this year.

We had a wonderful holiday in Tasmania. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good relaxing and interesting holiday. More on the trip some other time. Just wanted to let the three readers of this blog know that I’m still alive and very well.

Alright - for me, most of my time is taken up by travel because I live so damned far away from civilisation!

The rest of it, well, it just gets really filled up. Some things that have happened lately:

• Finished the deck building experience (landscaping still to come)
• Travelled on a train from Frankston to the city
• Enrolled in Boot Camp for February
• Booked our holiday through Tasmania in January
• Completed all the Christmas shopping
• Paid a multitude of bills
• Fed the dog

Will write more about these incredibly interesting experiences soon.

I wouldn’t usually bother blogging about this type of this, but I couldn’t just let this one go by. You have to watch this animation - It’s freakin’ amazing!

On the weekend I went out shopping for two things, our first BBQ and a new mobile phone. E. got me a voucher for Barbeques Galore so that was where I was going to purchase our new cancer-maker from. The nearest store was near Southland so I figured I might as well get my new phone from the Crazy Johns near there too. The adventures begin …

Barbeques Galore

The story begins when a salewoman approached me and began her sales pitch. She rabbited on about a bbq I just happened to be walking past at the time. I finally got to talk and began to describe what I was actually after. We looked at a few models and I made my selection.

“So, what price can you do for me on that?”
“Ahhh, no discount I’m sorry.”
“Why don’t you check with your manager?”
“Nup, still no discount.”
“How about this, I’ll pay you the full price now and even purchase the wok burner attachment?”
“Nup, still nothing I can do for you.”
“That’s a shame. Can’t you even throw in something small like a cover to seal the deal?”
“Nup, sorry, can’t do.”

This actually went on for a few minutes. Disappointed at my lack of success, I handed over my gift voucher.

“Ahhh, this is over a year old. I’m not sure that we can accept it.”
“It doesn’t have an expiry date. You have to accept it.”
“I’ll need to check with my manager.”
“You do that.”
“OK. Should be alright to use.”
“Thought so.”

I was getting quite agitated now. Channeling Veruca Salt I wanted this BBQ now. The saleswoman went to check the stock. It seemed that only half of the BBQ was there. They were out of stock for the pedestal section. How they could stock half a BBQ is beyond me. So, what were my options?

1. Wait two weeks for one to maybe arrive, then drive in to pick it up
2. Drive to Richmond to pick one up myself

Neither option appealed to me. They couldn’t even transport it from their Richmond store. Apparently it costs too much! I expressed how disappointed I was with the experience. Finally I felt like I had some traction. “What can we do to help?” she asked. “How about you throw in a cover?” “Nup, can’t do that, sorry.” Bastards!

So, I picked up my half a BBQ, drove to Richmond and picked up the rest.

Crazy Johns

I usually avoid shopping at the “crazy” places but I thought I’d try my luck this time. Nothing could be worse than buying a BBQ from Barbeques Galore.

The sales guy here was pretty good. He actually asked me questions about what I wanted and how I wanted to use the phone. We selected the i-mate JasJam and sat down to go through the paperwork.

They had to give me a new SIM card for the new phone and it seems that their computers weren’t working properly today. The guy said he’d put through the paperwork in the evening and I could drop by during the week to sign it and pick up my paperwork. Defeated once again, I began to drive home to Mornington.

Having nearly reached home, I realised my mobile wasn’t working. I couldn’t get any network service. I did the only thing I could do, drive back to Crazy Johns and blast them for cancelling my SIM.

As soon as I walked in the door, the guy apologised. He had tried to put it through again and didn’t realise it went “all the way through” transferring my account to the new SIM card. I was pretty pissed off with having to drive over 50km for this mistake.

I signed the contract, got my new phone and asked for a deal.

“I’m pretty upset that I had to drive so far because of this mistake.”
“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that.”
“So how about this, you give me a good deal on a micro-SD card for my phone.”
“No problems. We don’t have them in stock at the moment though.”
“That’s cool, just post one to me when you do.”

Feeling good about this, I drove off back home again. After 5 minutes, I got a phone call from Crazy Johns. He accidentally gave me both copies of the contract and wanted me to drop one back to him. Damn it!

I turned around, pulled up out front of the store and he rushed out to grab their copy of the paperwork.

“Look, I’m really sorry about this.”
“That’s ok. It just means an even cheaper memory card for me!”

They’re now organising their Mornington store to get a memory card ready for me, which they are actually provided free of charge. Awesome!

What a difference

What a difference compromise makes. I will never ever recommend or purchase anything from Barbeques Galore again. I will always recommend Crazy Johns as my preferred phone supplier.

Yes, you heard right, they went to court to figure this one out.

“Breaking! News! Flash! “A sandwich is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos and quesadillas, which are typically made with a single tortilla and stuffed with a choice filling of meat, rice, and beans,” wrote Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke in a decision issued last week.”
From: Boing Boing

The fact they called in “food experts” to testify in this case is absurd. We can all sleep soundly now, the sanctity of the humble sandwich is preserved. Even Google Fight thinks so.

Full article on Yahoo! news.