Things that Fizz and Stuff

Yup, that's the latest blog to have a new home.

Things that Fizz & Stuff

First post is up and it's a beaut. Everything about orange juice that you didn't want to know...

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A Day of Changes

I really started blogging on WP yesterday, the whole day just went.

Blogs up and running now:

Shit Happens: http://avshithappens.wordpress.com/
Life is a Labyrinth: http://lifeisbutalabyrinth.wordpress.com/
Eco-Crap: http://ecocrap.wordpress.com/

Others are on the way, today even. Their links will appear also on the above blogs.

I will NOT be posting here anymore, only posts for new my blog links.

I beg your patience and sincerely hope you'll follow me to my new blogs.

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Taking the Bull by the Horns

 

I have decided to take the bull by the horns.

While I am not completely comfortable with WordPress, I have totally lost faith in Blogger and I feel it has seriously undermined my ability to blog.

I have to figure WP out. I cannot find the template I want unless I pay; and I don't want to pay. I am not into blogging for the money, although donations would be a nice way to recognise the hard work I do here, so I don't see why I should pay.

In the first post you will see all that was here on my Life is a Labyrinth Eco-Crap Page. I am going to continue there.

Eco-Crap on WordPress

Wish me luck and hope you enjoy or hate what I have to offer. Please be patient while I learn how to 'do it.'

Eventually, I will add new WP blogs from my static pages here to my stable and advise here.

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Change the World Wednesday 24th August

There is a new CTWW challenge post on Eco-Crap

See you there.

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And I thought Mondays were Bad

Yes, today started out like a Monday, I had to go to work early to get my student sheets to the coordinator. They have been ready since Thursday and not a single teacher thought to deliver them. So I was faced with a 3km walk to get them there at the prearranged time. I got there exhausted and sweating, 3km is not a lot of fun on a walkingstick.

On arrival, I was told the guy had left a half hour earlier. A phone call only to discover that 'someone' (not me) had neglected to tell him I was coming. Arrrggghhh! So the only solution was to cancel my two classes, catch the bus for an extra trip to Barra to deliver them myself. It was unavoidable, no sheets, no pay.

So that was my day. I consoled myself with an extra sushi lunch while in Barra before returning home.

But that wasn't all. On route the van driver decided to go the other way. I wanted Cachamorra highway, but more passengers wanted Margaça. Arrrgggghhhh! (again) because that left me with another 25 minute walk up the hill home.

I now officially hate Mondays and Tuesdays.

I have just read a report on BBC News about the effects of the series of earthquakes suffered by the city of my birth.

"Six months after an earthquake killed dozens of people in New Zealand's second largest city, Christchurch, the consequences for thousands more are playing out in slow motion.

It's been a life-changing event, one of those events that forces you to think hard, and make some big decisions."

Read more about the after affects on the link above.

I get regular reports from my Mum when she rings me on Saturdays. It's so hard to imagine the place that I grew up in is just not the same place any more.


Now I am going to watch a movie, haven't decided which one yet. I have to browse.


Don't forget the Post Indicator on the sidebar, it tells you when new posts have been published on the pages.

Later.

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Pizza & Chardonnay

Yes, yesterday was pizza and chardonnay for lunch. I cheated and bought a frozen pizza thingy at the supermarket. Four cheese variety, although I normally make my pizzas from scratch, I had a hankering; and as you know, when you've got an itch, you have to scratch it.

Washing done and out of the way, with absolutely no hope of it drying in the sun... there wasn't any. The predicted cold front arrived the evening before and stymied any hope of a warm weekend.

Anyway, I fired up oven, unwrapped the pizza, yes, another cardboard box and plastic to dispose of. Actually the cardboard box will become tapers that I use to light the oven when needed, saving matches and extending the life of my cigarette lighter, so it is recycling... sort of.

The pizza wasn't destined to be the way I bought it, oh no, I had other ideas, Chopped some olives, mushrooms and bacon and sprinkled them liberally on top of the cheeses before assigning the adulterated pizza to the fires.

Only one word to describe it... 'nom noms' as I lay languidly on the sofa on a cold wet day and watched part of a Brazilian movie 'Se fosse voce,' (If I were you).

I hate Mondays. My first email was a student canceling his classes Tue & Wed; it wasn't the student at the beginning of the day, nor the end of the day, but the one smack in the middle of the day. So I now have to wait two hours each day between classes doing... nothing!

I found this on the web (via Google, of course). It is San Javier Mission in Bolivia. More than that, it was one of the photos that I lost in the great google grab when my blogs disappeared.

San Javier is one of the preserved Missions in the north of Santa Cruz department and makes part of the 'Missions' circuit for tourists, San Miguel, San Javier, San Ignacio de Velasco and San José de la Chiquitos; a circut that takes you from Santa Cruz de la Sierra and back again. Quite beautiful and picturesque.

I stayed up and watched a movie into the wee hours, The Zookeeper, a comedy that tickled my fancy (and being a week away from sixty, I don't let a chance go by to tickle my fancy). So, I slept in, now I am about the time to cook one of my monster burgers for lunch and disappear to teach. Short day today, four hours. The next three are eight-hour days with no break, so I will relish the chance to be home late afternoon for a change.

Good movie to watch for a laugh and a love story.

Gotta go, later

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Balls Up

Yes, the previous post was a balls up. It was intended to be a new page, but I posted it instead, then made the new page. There's more to see on the Music Stuff page and it will give you an idea of the music that I like. I decided to leave the original post up as a teaser.

This weekend is a 'kid-free' zone. I have had to postpone the kids visits until after next pay day because I'm broke.

So at least I have the chance to add new posts on each page. You'll notice the 'post indicator' on the side bar, it'll tell you when and where I have posted recently.

A week of 30+ days and the promise of a cold front arriving today with rain forcast for today and tomorrow.

I have planned basically nothing, although I will make a therapeutic trip to the supermarket - therapy = buying wine. I am preparing for the BBQ Monday week.

So, having said all that...

Later

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Music

Duelling Banjos - Deliverance



Vangelis







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11am Breakfast

Isn't that terrible? 11am and I started to cook breakfast; and what's more, I even looked at the opened bottle of Argentine Syrah in the fridge from last night. Nah, that was taking debauchery to new levels; I settled for chocolate milk.

Today is my first Friday without private classes. I didn't have to get up for anybody or anything. Although, I was up earlier and checked my emails.

Bacon & Eggs... nom noms.

This picture made me think. I have been sitting on it for sometime knowing that one day it would come in handy.

Bacon is now classed as one of the dangerous foods because it contains sodium nitrite as a preservative. NaNO2 is a known cancer causing agent. Which just begs the question, why now? Bacon has been a method of preserving pork for 1,000s of years and all of a sudden it is dangerous...

Can't help it. I love bacon.

I'm broke this month. I have spent too much. I am now counting my pennies because Monday week I have promised to host a BBQ at the botequim on my birthday. That is the day I officially become a velho caduco (a senile grouchy old man), yes, it is the day I turn 60.

I wonder if I will be expected to sit around on park benches with other grouchy old men and 'chew the fat' (preferably bacon). I don't feel sixty. I am rather proud of the fact that I have made the distance. Never thought much about it before, but now the more I do, the more I don't feel it. I am too young at heart, despite the bloody walkingstick. I may not run to the botequim next door, but I do make it a fast hobble to arrive at beer o'clock.

Speaking of which, it is beer o'clock and time for the local news.

I have been looking for a way to make updates on my pages appear, but I cant find one. I tried the blog list, but it just show actual blog posts on the home page. If anyone out there knows how, leave a note for me.

Time to put my pants on and hobble off...

Later.

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New Posts Today & Yesterday

There are new posts today on:

1. Tomus Arcanum - Cooler Cart

2. Eco-Crap - Change the World Wednesday & Wine Torch

3. Shit Happens

4. Flying Stuff

Keep watching...

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Change the World Wednesday 17th August

There is a new CTWW challenge post on Eco-Crap

See you there.

I owe you one

Just thought I would say how much I hate this stuff, and now they have made it a snack and a drink.

Geez, some peoples taste buds are damn close to their arsehole.

Time flies...

It seems like just a few minutes ago it was Sunday and I was intending to write a post.

I don't know what happened.

The post that I was thinking of was about salsa. Yes, the dance. Don't get any fancy notions that I 'salsa', I don't. My body does not lend itself to rhythmic movements of that ilk.

You see I was never interested in dancing. I had always considered that dancing was a spectator sport, that is, until I was introduced to tango. Many years ago, I used to take travel agents from NZ to exotic places like Buenos Aires for what we called in the industry 'educational tours;' a chance for the travel agents to experience tourist products beyond their ken and hence be able to sell those products to their clients.

Well, it was while organising the first of these tours, that I noticed a tango show was on many itineraries, so logic dictates that there must be some value in watching tango.

Have you ever watched tango?






There is a taste from La Ventana in Buenos Aires, Argentina. You can see the opulence of the surroundings and a short burst of the famous precision that makes tango. La Ventana was one of the tango shows that I used to frequent.

And now for some salsa...





See, there is a difference.

Now I am going to rush, finish lunch and off to work. Lunch was indeed a rushed affair; 25 minutes from fridge to belly. Chicken cannelloni, with a savoury white sauce made with fresh cream, tasty, nom noms. Obviously it was store bought cannelloni.

Already, I don't think I can make it on time...

Later

Update: My student rang and canceled, phew, so a bit of fine tuning here...

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New Posts

 There are new posts today on:

1. Tomus Arcanum

2. Genes

3. Shit Happens
:: The Black Swan Is On The Wing - A must listen to





4. Nether Region of the Earth III

There will be more...
Watch this space.

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My Favicon Arrived

So did the kids. I was expecting two (Branco & Ellen, as expected) and got four (Vitoria & Thalia inc, which was delightful if unplanned) which made lunch an expensive deal. We had a great lunch, Branco ate like a bottomless pit, but that's expected of a young man who turned 16 yesterday. Tomorrow he is about to enter the realm of adulthood, at least as far as football is concerned; I have arranged for him to play with the 'men.'

I see my Favicon has arrived. I was grizzling about it earlier in the week after I tried Goog's new 'add favicon' button and it didn't appear. However, today, there it is my pretty little butterfly.

Holden HQ Kingswood

My pc was sequestered all afternoon. Ellen & Branco love their games and music. So I spent a quiet evening at the bar nextdoor with some friends and we talked about the heyday of the American auto industry; Dodges, Chevrolets, etc and I was surprised that one of the guys knew about Holdens from Australia, which is most unusual for a Brazilian. My last Holden was an HQ Kingswood like the one pictured, but different; mine was dark metal flake blue with an eggshell blue top.

Heard some good music to listen to...

Alan Parsons Project, “Ammonia Avenue”




I'd never heard it before, but I liked it. Found on Running 'Cause I Can't Fly, thanks CP.

Later.


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New Posts

There are new posts today on:

1. Eco-Crap

2. Genes

3. Shit Happens

There will be more...
Watch this space.

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I still wonder

Today, when I was searching Google for an image, I was presented with this message:

"Devido a uma queixa que recebemos de acordo com a lei americana Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Lei de Direitos Autorais do Milênio Digital), 1 resultado(s) foram removidos desta página. Para ler a queixa DMCA que causou a remoção, acesse ChillingEffects.org."

Of course it's in Portuguese! Google is still too stupid to recognise that I want English pages even though I am in Brazil.


Roughly speaking it means:


Because of a complaint received according to the American Digital Millennium Copyrght Act One item was removed from this page. Read the link.

I did. (You can too, it's in English)

It appears that the host/provider, whatever, has to remove the offending material.

It looks suspiciously like the offending material was my account...

So any of the providers/hosts on the left can, if they receive a DMCA complaint, simply remove your account (read, offending material).

All of this confirms my more recent conclusions, that the internet is not forever, nor are blogs.

We are but puppets that dance and clack about the stage at a tug of the string, the whim of Big Brother.

So, I advise you all, BACK UP YOUR BLOGS and other accounts, because you have no control over their destiny.

Now, apart from that it is Friday.

Lovely day Friday, no work. I have been shopping. I bought a new battery charger and batteries, let's hope I have better luck with this brand.

My kitchen 'penknife'

I wandered around some shops... window shopping. I looked at clothes, kitchen stuff, my next purchase is a decent knife, steel and a boning knife.

Boning Knife

The Knife pictured above is my kitchen 'do all' because it does everything. The only knives you need apart are a vege paring knife for small stuff, a bread knife and a boning knife for fiddly bits. You see a good chef only needs three knives, my 'do all' serves from the BBQ to herbs, so the boning knife is a luxury.

I looked at pc bits and pieces, found a terabyte HD, R$270 (that's around $170US). It's the first one I have seen, so I don't know if that's expensive or not.

The fridge is defrosting, the fish has thawed, my ample girth tells me it is lunch time...

*Looks at clock*

3:10pm

Well, that's close.

Later.

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Genes Stuff

I loved my old Genes blog design, but this will have to do.

I'll try to post some of the older things on the new Genes Stuff page as I find them, but will certainly continue with the new...

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Now it's Thursday...

I have opened the 'new post' and I have no idea what I am going to write. But I feel I should. I don't even have an image selected yet... brb

Found one!

See, teachers have their own whisky. That just goes to show how important we are. Now my spell checker is telling me I have spelt whisky wrong; I haven't. Stupid American spell checker, Scotch whisky is spelt without the 'e' (check the label on the bottle), Irish whiskey is spelt with the 'e.' I don't care if Americans spell all whisky with the 'e'; it's just plain stupid; no cultural identity.

*Stares blankly at screen*

I chose a butterfly for my favicon, I even made a favicon with it. The blogger 'add a favicon' button didn't add my favicon. So I remain faviconless.

I chose the butterfly because it is one of the most temporary lifeforms on the planet; I feel it is a good reflection on the internet after my recent experience.

Watch the butterfly flutter by then die...



*Stares blankly at the screen again*

Perhaps more coffee would help. My caffeine intake has lowered since the disaster. I wonder if this has impeded my output. Have to fix that.

Last day of the work week for me, so I have the next three days to think about blogging.

Erick is coming over Saturday to stay the weekend. He has been invited by the local soccer team to play on Sunday. He is so excited about being invited by the mens' team to play. Perhaps it will give him the idea that he is growing up and time to leave childish pursuits like flying kites aside. I hope only good can come of it. It is also his first chance to seriously try out the soccer boots that I bought him for his birthday.

I bought some DVDs last weekend. One of the films was Rio; recommended. I watched it before I gave the DVD to the kids for home. It is a fairly realistic portrayal of life in Rio, although the adventure is a little fantastic.

If you've got kids, they'll love it.

Well, it's that time again. Off to work.

Later.

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Change the World Wednesday 10th August

There is a new CTWW post up on Eco-Crap, so click to read.

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Damn, now it's Tuesday

 Tuesday already and it's time for work, things are just whizzing along this week.

One new post on Tomus.

I will be adding new "blog" tags on the Top Bar in the near future, it's all a matter of getting organised.

Meanwhile, I must off to work.

Later.

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Oh NO, Monday!

Yes, there's not a lot to look forward to. So face it, one seventh of your life is going to be spent on a Monday.

I have been procrastinating. I think that's what my father told me not to do, that it would make me go blind, or deaf, or something.


But I have found it to be restful, I fully recommend it.

I have resolved myself to the fact that all that has gone before is lost; actually not quite. You'll see on the Top Bar a link to Tomus Arcanum; I have found a source of getting the intros to many older posts and I will recover them, but it means a lot of ctrl+c followed by ctrl+v and a search of my own unsorted archives of images. I always wondered why should I bother to save all my post images? I have the answer... in case Google isn't forever.

I have come to the conclusion that the internet isn't forever. I had often wondered whether I should have turned some of my blogs into books. Nether Region of the Earth would have been a good one, there were more than 2,600 posts, and Tomus itself, coming up to 800 posts, and my Fizz Blog. Too late now.

The weekend was good. I took my ex and the kids out for pizza on Saturday night. It was expensive but well worth it as I gave Emmylee, nearly 5, her first restaurant experience. I decided to do the pizza restaurant thing as my contribution to all the recent and up coming birthdays rather than be hit up for money for each. I don't have any photos, because the new battery charger and batteries that I bought on Friday, didn't. They gave me my money back, which is usually difficult without a fight here in Brazil. The brand was a Chinese one (isn't everything these days?) Leadership. It is the second time I have had this brand fail on me. So, no photos, which is a pity because Emmylee and Ellen with their chocolate smeared faces were a treat.

So, a post a little closer to normal. Work soon, so I'll off...

Later.

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Change the World Wednesday

3 Aug

For each CTWW & general Eco-Crap posts I will write an intro post here. Comments can them be left. Remember, I'm like the rest of you, I love comments.

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Bright and Cheerful

No, I'm not, I lied...

I'm as despondent as ever.

But...

I will put on a happy face. I had planned a post yesterday  but after the weather change Wednesday, I spent a terrible night in which I felt like death trying to warm up.

I survived yesterday on a heavy 'flu medication. I don't often get 'sick', but when I do it hits hard.

Today, the 'flu symptoms have largely gone, just a massive headache; that was probably due to caffeine deprivation yesterday as I was drinking hot tea all day.

So today is that time of the month. NO! NOT PMT, pay day... and there is a meeting involved, so there the day has gone.

I have been messing with other blogging platforms, Wordpress is a shit, the other I tried is more of a static site, not conducive to daily postings. So I have to look further.

I have to admit, the best blogger is Blogspot without a doubt. But, I don't trust them and their policies any longer; and will certainly never trust them again with the type of historic/biographical stuff that can never be replaced or rewritten in the same manner.

Still no word from them. So I fear it is all a lost cause.

Life is forward, and that is the direction I  will go...

Onward.

In this case to Barra for the meeting.

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Pertinacious

Pertinacious, disconsolate, moody, acrimonious, lethargic, would all appear to be pertinent at the moment.

Someone has eated my cookie.

I want to post, I feel I can't, the drive and energy that I had has gone, flown the coop.

I hardly know whether to start afresh, or stop, just give up. I've had my guts ripped out.

The great god is not forthcoming, so I fear that the last five years was wasted. The blogs I developed and nurtured, that were my pride making people laugh, think, question, the blogs that generated interest in aviation, food & drink, antiques & curiosities, had all become my hobby, my life's work.

I will start again. I don't know when. Stick around you'll find out where here. It won't be here on Blogger, the great god will not have another chance to lose or wipe out all my work.

I have been experimenting with other hosts, when I find one that'll do what I want, I will perhaps feel more motivated. You'll be the first to know.

I'll try to keep my humour up, my posts will not always be as downtrodden as this. 

Forward is the only way to look.

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Coffee and Cupcakes

Two of the best things in life, coffee and cupcakes.

They can only get better when together as one.

Coffee cupcakes are the answer.

This is an introductory post, for some reason the great god has decided to close my previous account or some internal error has caused the closure and so far has not responded to my pleas as to why.

I am hopeful that the matter will be resolved, but until then, I am posting here.

I am somewhat more than morose, to lose five years worth of blogging history and close to 10,000 posts is devastating. I find it reprehensible that the great god can unjustifiably and arbitrarily close a persons life for what I assume is an infraction, or other reason, for which they will not enlighten me (as yet). If an infraction has been committed then surely they have the decency to notify first so the infraction can be corrected. Maybe it is because of my political outspokenness, maybe because I have breached a copyright or simply an internal hiccough. I am hopeful as yet that the account or, at least in the case of an infraction, the non-infraction portions of my account are restored.

I may/may not continue with Blogger, not because they have had a failure or have found some reason to close the account, but because of their stink attitude about it.

I had previously found Blogger to be the best, and in my opinion the only decent blogging platform and I am loathe to part company. However, I will if this matter is not amicably resolved. I will not put myself in the position of losing much that was irreplaceable ever again.



Life is indeed a Labyrinth.

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