Things that annoy me, number 3489 in a series: when you ring a bank with an automated phone system, key in all your numbers as requested, their system doesn’t cope, and a patronising voice comes on the line to say ‘Sorry, you seem to be having trouble with our automated system’. No, darling, *I’m* sorry your programmers are so dumb.

Faye’s been saying this for years: “Tanenbaum also found that professional women were often hardest on their own sex.
“Many professional women confess they prefer male rather than female supervisors. They complain that women at work refuse to share power, or withhold information, or are too concerned about receiving credit for every little thing they accomplish, or are cold toward underlings (male and female alike). In such complaints they use the word ‘bitch’ a lot,” she says.” (Age)

Today is a big day. I picked up my Chinese visa today (one whole page of my passport!) and I’m ordering my new Powerbook tonight.
It’s two weeks and two days till I leave for Hong Kong, and Sandrine arrives next Monday. Woohoo! Otoh, it’s back to -3C overnight, bah!

Apparently, “in 1994 Los Angeles police arrested a man for dressing as the Grim Reaper – complete with scythe – and standing outside the windows of old people’s homes, staring in.”
When googling for it, I found this: “Whenever an archaeologist uses the word ‘ritual’ to describe a find, feature or activity, this is trade code for ‘I haven’t the foggiest idea what the *hell* this was for’.”
You might as well waste some time and read more here.