It seems there’s been a flood of people wanting to know where I am, so I thought its long past due that I post something. Okay, not actually a flood. Actually only one person. And although many people know where I am from my Facebook profile, that’s still just a little disheartening, but life goes on.

For the moment, I am still in London, battling the freezing cold weather. Although I enjoy it here, and would like to stay longer, I am also longing for the sweltering heat of home, so I am not long for this hemisphere.

I promise* that I will be update this blog with some of my travelling antics once I’ve established myself back in Oz.

*Promise may not be honoured.

Well, its finally time to leave the country… at least for a while. Unless I run out of money. As I packed up my things and moved my car to my brother’s place, I felt like I was leaving part of myself behind. Quite literally… Early in the week, a friend said I should get a mole checked, and thinking little of it, I agreed. So I made the earliest appointment I could to get it checked – the day before I was to fly to Sydney. I figured it would be fairly routine – he’d say it’s fine, and I’d be on my way. But the doctor thought differently. He said it looked suspicious, and booked me in for 5:00pm to have it cut out. And because I was leaving the next day, he wanted to cut out a large chunk, so that if it was bad I wouldn’t have to worry about it once I’d left. Having a surgical wound isn’t really an ideal start to a holiday, but we’ll see how it goes. And I didn’t really need the weight loss.

Last night, the doctor called me to tell me the results of the biopsy they did on the removed mole… And informed me that there were no problems with it. Garrrrr. The worst good news I’ve heard in a long time. Oh well…

Apart from that, I’ve arrived in Sydney, which is just like it was last time I was here. Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Stay tuned.

What is the deal with all of those SMS subscription services? A proliferation of so-called ’services’ – ring tone downloads, flirting, horoscopes, prize quizzes -  with hidden subscription fees to hit the unsuspecting youths they’re targeted at. Sure, there’s a little message at the bottom of the screen that says they’ll be charged weekly until they send a message to unsubscribe, so the promoters can smugly say they’ve done their duty by disclosing the conditions, but in reality, they’re fleecing young people, or their parents who are often left paying the bill.

But of all of these so called ’services’, the most deplorable by far are those that offer relationship ‘advice’, particularly the “Match” and “Cheat” kind. Of course there is no way an automated service could determine whether two people are suited for each other. As for cheating, anyone who believes a subscription service can provide any accurate determination is beyond stupid.

Of the people who would use a “Match” or “Cheat” ’service’, there is probably the occasional person who uses it purely for fun. However, most people with the rationality to do so would be too wise to get sucked into a subscription service in the first place. But most of the customers would be a little more naive, and some of those would probably use the ’service’ because they’re already having doubts about their relationships. (Am I wrong??) For them, it’s probably not just harmless fun to check whether their partner is cheating on them. Companies are toying with those people’s emotions, and making money off them to boot. They’re no better than a pickpocketing gypsy taking advantage of a naive tourist. It’s sick, and it shouldn’t be allowed.

But it’s just for fun right? Well, is it? What kind of person wants to find out if their partner is cheating on them on a whim, “just for fun”? Many teenagers have no idea about the technology they use underneath the shiny back-lit surface, and the stupidest of the stupid may actually believe that there could be some way of determining whether their partner is a good match for them, or even cheating, because ‘Technology’ for many has become the new ‘Magic’ – they don’t know (or care) how or why things work. They just work.

For more information, SMS me your name and bank account details.

This site will soon be unavailable while I’m off travelling again as of June for an extended period.

Existing links to this site will be automatically redirected to its new home at http://jeffro77.wordpress.com, assuming I remember to set it up.

It’s come to my attention that some people think that the expression, “I resemble that remark,” is still funny. It might have been. A long time ago.

Even worse, some people actually think it’s original. It was popularised by Groucho Marx, and he’s been dead longer than I’ve been alive.

But worst of all, a growing number of people don’t seem to realise that it’s actually a joke, using the expression where they really do mean they resent something.

But what I really don’t get is why the word ‘resemble’ became the most widespread for the pun when ‘represent’ is a better logical and phonetic match.

Silly humans.

I thought to myself at work today, “Maybe I’ve been too hard on Apple computers all these years. How about if I actually bought one?” So once I get home, I log on to the Apple website and what do I see as their latest lame marketing slogan for the newest OS revision: “Add a new Mac to your Mac.” I re-read it because I thought their marketing team couldn’t possibly be that ponderous – that I must have left something out. But no, that’s all there was. It doesn’t make sense! Even “Add more Mac to your Mac” would be an improvement. Not since their grammatically incorrect, “think different” have I seen such irritating marketing.

Decision made.

11 members of the Chaser team and production crew arrested… and for what? They pointed out that security measures were insufficient, being allowed through at least one security checkpoint with obviously fake IDs into the APEC security zone. That sounds more like the fault of the security staff who let them through, not the comedians. Would I do it? No. Would I recommend doing it? No. But if anything, it is beneficial that security measures were tested. And if anyone should be punished, it should be the nonces who let them through the first checkpoint.

As Alexander Downer acknowledged, the Chaser team meant no harm except for a little humiliation. A ridiculous amount of tax payers’ money is spent on the APEC meeting, and the benefit of much of that expense is not obvious, to say the least. Not to mention the inconvenience imposed on people living in Sydney. If the politicians and their associated staff are so obsessed with their own self-importance, maybe they deserve to be humiliated just a little.

If you are here, it means that you have followed a link – probably from a search engine – to my backup blog location. This site is only used when my usual blog is offline and is not up to date!

Please go to http://jeffreyd.no-ip.com for the live blog.

When unavailable for extended periods, links to that address will be automatically forwarded to the backup blog location.

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What’s that you say? It’s really annoying that the Europe trip blog goes backwards in time? Yes, it is.

I have only included small versions of photos in the entries for speed. Larger versions of the pictures are available on request, subject to who you are, how I feel on the day, and stuff.

I’ve moved the calendar on the right up a bit. You can click the dates in chronological order without all of the painful scrolling down to get to the first bit. Start Here!

Once I’ve got everything entered for the whole trip (this may take some time), you’ll be able to find out what I was doing on any given day. (If there’s nothing for a particular date, more than one day may be included in a previous post, so check there.)

And I’ve taken up the challenge I was given to write a limerick for each and every day of the trip. Scroll straight to the bottom of each day for those.