Happenings

2/12/2008

Having considered a request and been interrogated by a
communist as to what was ascending, here are some happenings…

Temp taxi calibrator

Reprogramming taxi
meters in preparation for fare increase

An interesting organisation: a CEO that looks like the
co-host of Mythbusters in beard and beret; a GM that looks like one of those
Nivea for men face-models looking after a grand total of 6 regular staff.

The CEO is always talking about doing things efficiently while the GM throws in nice words like "good on you"... perhaps this is scientific management versus human relations

Pretty much all the temp people are studying something at uni (there are undergrads and postgrads thre) and all are male. I suppose that's more efficient in fewer distractions hehe

Even more interesting were the taxi drivers… apart from the
grumpy older ones.

• There
  was a polite young gentleman completing his masters in electrical
  engineering at Latrobe.
• A
  very distracted science teacher from India (who had only taught for 6
  months). 
• Another
  gentlemen completing his masters in accounting. He also happens to listen
  to trance music.
• Also,
  an elder with a very thick European accent who was previously taught
  electronics at RMIT. He also mentioned that his son transferred out of
  Monash because of thermodynamics.
• A
  former security guard (seemed like he was in a permanent daze)
• An Indian man whose spouse is studying hairdressing... hmm perhaps the famous Sunshine college of management anyone?
• A frustrated dude with somethign equivalent to a diploma in mechanical engineering - his qualifications aren't recognised at all here
• A Greek man who wondered off to the shops and swears a lot, but seemed nice. Was even courteous enough to ask whether we minded if he urinated in the laneway...
  

Other things to consider: corporate ethics and
externalities. They use public laneways and streets for their business
operations, which attracts council parking inspectors and causes some traffic
issues. However, the CEO is concerned enough about the children at the nearby
primary school to avoid using streets near the school at transit times. There's also recycling of lead and copper scraps - sustainability perhaps.

A purchase at Dick
Smith Electronics

Obtaining a 4094 IC to
replace the one I had zapped

Having picked my part and noted the product code, I took it
to the register operator. After entering in the code, the operator turned
around to start searching through the batteries behind her.  About a minute had passed and then she did
something to lose that code. I showed it to her again and she looked through the
batteries again…

After another 45 seconds I ask why she is looking through
all that stuff... and her reply is that she thought I wanted a new one of
‘that’. Meh. It’s like they’re trying to drive away all their electronics
customers. Though it probably is unprofitable...

Mosquitoes

They’ve finally hatched after 2 weeks – they now fly around
inside a Moccona coffee jar… perhaps to be fed to a carnivorous plant. I wonder
how to kill them without letting them potentially fly out of the jar though…
maybe boil the whole jar?


Pictures here.