Vague fits of organisation and other things

Vague fit of organisation today: continued the account consolidation and wombled down to the bank to rearrange things. That seems to be working, though I will check things tomorrow. Also remembered to wander into a local medical centre and make an appointment for next week- Murphy's law says contraceptive pill runs out in a little under 3 weeks but we don't get back to NZ for a couple weeks longer than that. Knocking the balance off the hormone levels right when in the middle of moving would be a bad idea...

Need to pester rental agency - they have scheduled an standard inspection for 30 Aug... which is only 5 weeks before the lease expires anyway (curious timing). Will see if can get it postponed 2 weeks and then it can be a final inspection anyway. After all we don't wish to waste their (and more specifically our) time. Since we haven't told them our plans, kinda not suprising, but still.

I could start a to-do list: sort, file, throw out, sew, tidy, calculate, dry... but that is a very large mountain with scree slopes of doom, so I will be sensible and put stuff together for the hand sewing class (which does kinda need to be done for Sat). Or finish that hood or ...

Hope people have fun at DA.

What has happened? Suddenly there are a bunch of good sounding movies out or coming out soon.
Amazing Grace (now showing)
Day Watch (see in NZ - have posted the release date previously)
Stardust (apparently out in NZ and Aussie 20 Sept)

Currently reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire. Not bad in terms of Napoleonic fiction with dragons but the treatment of the Dragon air force as though it was WWII reads odd and is a bit of a jolt stylistically (Z complained about it more, but he is an avid reader in those two fields, so I suspect it grated on him more). Not bad but still popcorn. Maybe library chase up of the rest of the series, but not on a Must Buy list.

Think that is random enough.
Time for lunch I think. Mmmm grilled crumpets with taco sauce, cheese and salami... What do you put on yours?

Scientist to aspire to when you grow up...

An interesting article from Freeman Dyson (via Boing Boing). Not certain I completely agree or disagree with him, but he is right with respect to complexity and the need for the occasional heretic to liven things up and make people think. Whether they end up agreeing or disagreeing with them is another matter, as long as it makes people think about the subject.

He visited Canterbury Uni in 2000 (if I remember correctly for about a month or so). A very good speaker and nice guy. The only person I have met who can do a full hour long lecture with only 1 OHP sheet of equations and still keep the (mainly physicist) audience enthralled. And his public lectures (which some of you may remember) were also very good. A trifle disconcerting to have him recommend not doing a PhD to a room full of graduate students, but he did have good taste in SF authors - had met and recommended Octavia Butler. It is worth reading his book "Disturbing the Universe".

I keep thinking he must be older than 84 because he looked as though he would blow away in the wind in 2000 - a not altogether implausible prospect when talking to him in the carpark outside the 1m building at Mt John.

Nice to see he is still going...

Snigger, cackle, snarf...

Wikipedia Astrology meme borrowed from micheinnz.
"Take the Wiki definition of your astrological sign. copy and paste it behind an LJ cut, and bold the statements that really agree with your personality. Reply to me saying you've done it so I can go look at yours!"
I've added commentary, cause I'm like that.
( Drum roll please.... )

I'll stop sniggering in a while... maybe...