blog/photo link!!!

back to the other blog..it's vacation time!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.offexploring.com/daily4/home

1 day (oh no!).............

ummm.... i was a bit apprehensive about the plane but i just checked out the movies that i'll have access to. kickass! my new challenge..stay up the whole flight to maximize my ticket investment.

done

} cleaning (except living room)
} laundry (except last minute stuff which will be done tomorrow)
} car registration renewed
} all electronics charged
} tv tape schedule (very important!)
} photocopy important documents (haha i did it on company time)
} nails clipped


not done

} umm packing
} bills (i need to pay them- when i get paid)
} legs (shaved..i've been waiting for maximum longevity)

i also racked up an expensive purchase after work today. ladies, do NOT go into Rickies this week..some very nice selections.

2 days...

i'm not going to bore you with my tales of laundry, how i'm avoiding cleaning the bathroom or that if one more person asks me if i'm excited about this trip i'm gonna spazz. i'll let the picture talk about my excitement for the week...the long awaited arrival of series 2 of bsg collectibles.





done:
} laundry (kind of..i'm doing it now)
} patches (of my country. bloodily sewn onto my pack. so awesome)
} bathroom (in my mind it's clean)

3 days...

getting pretty frazzled. spent 20 minutes looking for my car keys this morning. i gave up and went to work. guess where i found them?

that's right, the picture says it all. good thing i live in the southside otherwise the car would be gone.

done
} i got a slurpee at lunch (insane work load drove me to it)

4 days...

the last one for a month. enough said.

done

} bedroom (cleaned- i've been living here for 7 years and i just found a new power outlet!)

} hallway (partially clean)

} ipod loaded (everything on there minus underoath's new cd)

} toothpaste purchased (in the handy travel size- took forever to buy..nobody told me today was seniors day!)

} camera played with (figured out how to make it take black & white pics)

5 days...

today was a bust. i knew it would happen too. stuff got started but never finished. right now i'm in the middle of transferring music to the ipod. been meaning to do this for awhile but i forgot (procrastinated). i was hoping to find my missing wolfbiker cd. unfortunately all i found was another missing cd and a cd with no case. i don't know what the hell is going on but i don't like it.

the day started with the usual sunday grocery shopping. i've been meaning to replenish the paper de toilet supply. unfortunately while putting it away, i realized that reorganizing the mess in the closet was going to have to be done sooner than later (all the stuff i need for my trip is stuffed in there..somewhere). at first i was all gung ho but decided a nap was in order. after said nap i invested a half an hour. i got the sheets/blankets done but stalled on everything else. haha it's still there. maybe tomorrow.

i like to think that if someone breaks in tonight and goes downstairs first, i've already incapacitated them.

done

} car wash (and a shower at the same time..thanks roomie)

} nap (nice long one)

} lists (of stuff to do- i made them!)

} shopping (important stuff needed to be purchased-like candy)

6 days...

ok. 6 days to go and a shitload of stuff to do. today was pretty light on tasks as i had to go to the parents for dinner. unfortunately i ransacked a slightly messy room looking for monopoly (had to keep the 9 year cousin old occupied). i never found it. thus i was tortured with 3 looong games of "life" followed by 3 of "sorry". which i mostly lost. to the 9 year old. i'd like to say on purpose. but as you can see by the picture... she kicked my ass.






done
} gas (hahaha in car)
} renewed library card (expires sept 9)
} picked up a pair of shorts (swimming)

nap

i have a feeling the thing i'm going to miss most on this particular vacation is the opportunity to have a nap if the mood strikes.

to be honest, the mood strikes daily. every ounce of will power is needed to not crawl under my desk around noonish during a workday. however, i have been known to manage a "quick" one with my eyes open. i'm pretty sure it happened last thursday because someone managed to pour powdered sugar all over my arm rest without me noticing. i was sitting in the chair at the time.

on weekends i deliberately spurn invites knowing that if i go out, the chances of a couch fling are non existent. today was no exception. what started out as a quick affair quickly stretched to a little longer than 3 hours.

the usual vacation for me consists of a road trip/music festival. it's quite easy to fall asleep in a car but only for short periods of time. eventually a neck crick/overloud music or not being able to stretch disturbs. at the actual fest (those of the non death humid variety) it was a common thing to snatch a stolen hour or two in the cat pee tent (**i still miss that tent**).

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will i be able to accomplish these feats in a dorm? on a plane? at a park? whilst travelling 2500km up the western coastline? in the company of complete strangers? i take up this challenge..it will happen. it has to. i get cranky when i miss my nap ;>

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

my aussie cash finally came in! i decided to get a portion of the fund transferred over as there are some places that a credit card just won't cut it..like massive street markets/tiny outback towns and gas stations where all i want is a 5 cent piece of candy.













isn't the $20 beautiful? the color alone is fantastic but the bottom left hand corner is simply ingenious!











look at the size difference of ours vs thiers. i like the Canadian design on the $5 better but have to admit the aussie font on the $10's & $20's are wayyyy better.



do you see these lovely ladies above? i budgeted a max of $300. the frames were well in the goal at only $140 but the lenses..oh the lenses. $200+ ! i should have expected it. prescriptions are seemingly always expensive. **sigh** couldn't be helped..can't go to a place famous for the sun and not have something over the eyes.

onlya few things left but even fewer paychecks....

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

while perusing the journals venting i came across a vent re the ACT agreement. intrigued i decided to look up a bit more info to see if it was a rumour or reality. i was shocked.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed plurilateral trade agreement that would impose strict enforcement of intellectual property rights related to Internet activity and trade in information-based goods. The agreement is being secretly negotiated by the governments of the United States, the European Commission, JAPAN, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Canada, and Mexico. If adopted at the G8 in July 2008, the treaty would establish an international coalition against copyright infringement, imposing a strong, top-down enforcement regime of copyright laws in developed nations. The proposed agreement would allow border officials to search laptops, MP3 players, and cellular phones for copyright-infringing content. It would also impose new cooperation requirements upon internet service providers (ISPs), including perfunctory disclosure of customer information, and restrict the use of online privacy tools. The proposal specifies a plan to encourage developing nations to accept the legal regime.

The European Commission, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and other government agencies have acknowledged participating in ACTA negotiations, but they have not released documents relating to the proposed agreement. Public interest advocates in Canada filed an access to information request but received only a document stating the title of the agreement, with everything else blacked out.

Border searches
Newspaper reports indicate that the proposed agreement would empower security officials at airports and other international borders to conduct random searches of laptops, MP3 players, and cellular phones for illegally downloaded or "ripped" music and movies. Travelers with infringing content would be subject to a fine and may have their devices confiscated or destroyed.

ISP cooperation
The leaked document includes a provision to force internet service providers to provide information about suspected copyright infringers without a warrant, making it easier for the record industry to sue music file sharers and for officials to shut down non-commercial BitTorrent websites such as The Pirate Bay.

Enforcement
ACTA would create its own governing body outside existing international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the United Nations.

Personally, i feel this is stemming up from pressure from the huge money hungry mogels of the entertainment industry. How is this going to mesh with the privacy act? It's like our own country is trying to inflict a new type of terrorism! Ohh..don't copy your music or movies to enjoy on your mobile device. Even if you paid for it, you'll get your stuff stolen and branded as a thief.

can you imagine? if this goes through, a security guard gets to decide if your a thief or not! a security guard gets to decide weather or not you get to keep your laptop or mp3 player. a frickin security guard gets to decide if you get a fine or go to jail. How will they know what was burned legally? My guess is that it will depend on the mood. I don't even want to think about how this will impact the internet service to our homes.

http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/fo/IP-factsheet-fiche.aspx?lang=en

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/G-8_plurilateral_intellectual_property_trade_agreement_discussion_paper

http://www.privcom.gc.ca/legislation/02_07_01_e.asp

i've had a few run in's with the border patrols between the canadian/us border. the worst was one summer when the canadian side marched us out in a line like a bunch of criminals. what did we do to instigate this? nothing.

three car caravan coming home after a 3 week jaunt in the fest circuit in the US. first car made it through fine. unfortunately someone in the second car answered a question wrong (aka truthfully) causing them and the car behind (mine) to be directed into no-mans land. they asked us to get out of the cars (usually they tell you to stay in them). it didn't help that before exiting my friend mentioned that he hoped that there wasn't anything still left in the car from the previous owners that he had failed to find (at the time i remember thinking buddy, that better be your attempt at a lame ass joke). then they made us stand in line. one guard told another to go get the dog. what the hell? they were bringing a dog? for a bunch of kids? it was slowly dawning on me that the idiot guards were bored.

being tired and slightly confused on why a dog was coming into play i got nervous and asked one of the nazi's if the dog would be attracted to my shirt as i had split a bit of steak juice on it the day before (travel shirts and steak & cheese burritos don't mix). i'll never forget his reply. as the dog jumped around sniffing my friends he says "mam, if you have any drugs on your person i suggest you tell us now". i was baffled. i could sense his disappointment as the dog walked by completely uninterested. so it continued, us standing in a line, border guards searching our car, the stupid dog sniffing/jumping around inside the car, more guards asking us stupid mundane questions and our friends, less than 200 meters away, safe in Canada, laughing and taking pictures. we were finally let go but not before one of the guards declared a punk spiky bracelet a dangerous weapon (it wasn't even spiky! the spiky part flopped over) thus declaring the right to confiscate it. upon getting back into the car i found that the damn dog had eaten my only food until we got home..a hot apple pie that i had won at mcdonalds.

so, if a guard is bored and can stop you based on the fact that there are three cars in a group, who knows what's going to happen if they're given the power to go through your stuff and keep it?

by the way, i'm only venting a bit here as if this goes through i figure it'll be implemented in time for my trip...when they'll be over zealous. i can see it now..me protesting as they take my music away...

prepay

well what can be prepaid has been paid. with the click of a few keys i've spent the last few dollars in the fund to pay for a place to stay.

above will be main camp while in perth. the emperors crown...near the trains/busses and not far from the beach. hopefully it will live up to the reviews i've read. clean, safe and quiet.

and yes it's a hostel. despite the lectures (you should have heard the one i got thursday night over dinner) i figured it was the best way to go.

haha the main argument was that people will go through your stuff. hey, if someone wants to go through my dirty underwear good on ya. steal it. then i won't have to wash it. now i just have to decide on a duffle or backpack....

new shoes

for the last few months i've been hemming and hawing over what type of footwear to bring whilst on another continent. last week i decided on a pair of skechers...really, is there another brand?

ignore my pasty white, haven't seen the sun in month legs/feet. what do we think of the shoes?

keepers? i'm still deciding. my feet are freezing...

oops i got bored.

due to photo posting probs on the off exploring site (aka i can't post any pictures to go with the rambles i type)i've decided to give blogger a go. i think it will gel nicely with my upcoming plan to amuse..

http://www.offexploring.com/daily4/blog