I have been away too long. Everything has changed again??

I need to get back here more often.

Update;

Flights down for December: 7

Flights to go for December: 3

Christmas Parties down: 3

Christmas Parties to go: 1

Sleeps till Santa comes: 7

Days to shop for all my gifts in Melbourne: 2

Days till my head explodes: -1

hugz

Hi All. Sorry it's been a while since I last blogged. Life has been, well let's say, busy and frustrating. I am just glad that the silly season is almost here and a break is in sight.

In attempt to give myself a personal goal (rather than just droning away to nothing at work) I have enrolled in a Uni course. It's Technology orientated course majoring in Technology Business Systems design so it should be quite enlightening.

TV wise, I have revisted a much loved series The Pretender. It was my favourite show of the late nineties / early noughties, geez that Mr Weiss was a special guy. Also it was the first time I followed Jamie Denton or "James Denton" as he's now know on Desperate Housewives (Mike). I think I prefer him as the baddie Mr Lyle. He certainly was a lot younger back then.

Hope you all are well

Hugs

Hippo

The most muddlesome bear in history celebrates his 50th birthday this week. I was lucky enough to visit London and Padington station this year - including the Paddington bear statue (I think I might have met a very special tv.com member next to the statue!). Happy Birthday to Paddington, one of my favourite bears. He doesn't look bad for 50.

Tv news: I am revisiting the Gilmore Girls (a classic rewatchable series full of good stuff), and after that I have the Pretender, Wonderfalls and Chuck season 1 in my to dvds watch list. I am happy that Heroes has started to pick up and I Chuck hasn't been too bad either. Sad to hear about Kath and Kim. I like the Aussie version, but from what I've seen of the US version it doesn't have as many layers and just misses the mark.

In other life news, I am likng the closeness of the end of the year. Not sure why, but I am completely over this year. I have had a two great breaks, but have completly run out of steam. Hate to say, but I feel burnt out. Not sure what to do about that.

Howday 'all

Have you been good? I hope so. I'm not just talking about your state of being "good" as it an alternative to being OK or terrible, but also in the sense of have you don good out there in the world...or has it been a good week for evil geniuses. Completely lost? Welcome to my crazy reality....

I have been OK (in the state of being sense) and good (in the getting my work done on time and behaving well kinda way). Hell, I am always a girl...but it's not always good to be a good girl - people tend to take advantage of you if you try to do the right thing by them. I hate those people. Let's go put out some negative karma towards them...no that'd probably backfire knowing my luck.

Putting the gibberish aside, things have been busy in the down under world I have been in recently. I have flown back and forward between Aussie and NZ about half a dozen times in the last two months. Barely spent more than 2 nights in a row in my own bed and chalked up about 60+ hours in the week working (not including flying time). Some people might say, "hey, that's not that much" but I say "hey, that's too much if you ever want to be lively, health and not emotionally isolated and stunted"...which just happens when you do this kind of work. Oh well at least I have good old reliable tv.com for stress relief outlet...

Hang on, has something changed around here? By Jove, I think it has. Somehow all of my profile images are now far too small for their spaces, and my profile image has been unflatteringly stretched (poor hippo, feels like I do when I look in the mirror). I think I like the change, apart from a few things which are a lot harder to see at a glance, like Queue numbers and new PMs. I would also have left in the full list of contibutors and tracked blogs if I had any input - alot of people may be upset by dropping off the contributor list for a show...

Speaking of TV, haven't watched anything for ages (haven't had any time ). Looking forward to Chuck and Heroes next Tuesday. I have really enjoyed the few episodes I've seen of the show, but am a little worried that it's going to fall into a hole pretty quickly in character development (i.e. Chuck + Sarah thing) but I am trying to stay optimistic. The trailer looks really good. Haven't seen anything for Heroes, but you know I'll watch it.

I enjoyed a lovely sunny day in Auckalnd today after the software release I made yesterday went well - all issues resolved ( ) I have another few busy days and back to wellington for a change of pace.

Wishing you all a better week than last week!

Huggles

Hippo

...hopefully it will be over soon.

Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none...

I like the Olympics. For me, it's not about the number of medals won or the tally - but the number of great stories of achievement (I am being totally serious about this ) and the warm fuzzy feeling you get when someone achieves the impossible - like coming back from a broken neck to win a silver medal 7 months later.

When I read the following articles, I was at first angry about the need the Sun had to "rub it in our faces" and then bummed that it had kinda tarnished the Beijing Games for me. In my history of watching the games and games coverage (I can recall back to '88 ), I cannot think of a time when Aussies were goading Briton about the number of medals they had won. Would China do that to the US? Would Russia do that to Germany? It's just not how you play cricket.

Speaking of Cricket, it seems like a thorn in the evil goading plan article about the confirmation that English Ball Tampering occurred at the Ashes. I guess it's naive to think that anyone plays honestly any more, but I felt that in light of the poor sportsmanship on one hand, they have provided us with two terrible examples solidfying the point.

Ironically enough, the Ad which they are using to parody ("Where the Bloody Hell Are you? "), was banned in the UK because of it's bad language. Hell, I smell a recipie for hypocracy too.

Don't get me wrong, I love UK peeps. I am embarrassed for them. Their Media has a lot to answer for.

Where the hell were we?
Monday, 25 August, 2008

A billboard gloating over Britain's medal tally sits outside Sydney's Opera House. Photo taken from The Sun's website (SBS)

A major British tabloid newspaper has paraded billboards around London and Sydney gloating about Britain's gold medal success over Australia at the Beijing Olympics, throwing down the gauntlet for London 2012.

Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper hired trucks to drive the billboards through central London and Sydney streets as Britain celebrated its haul of 19 gold medals compared to Australia's 14.

Emblazoned across an image of a massive red, white and blue Union flag were the words, "Where the bloody hell were you?" and the gold medal tallies for the sporting rivals.

The message mimicked the controversial logo used by Australian tourism chiefs in an attempt to lure visitors Down Under.

The billboards brought a smile to the faces of many Britons as they celebrated in London.

"The best nation won. Simple as that," lawyer Hayley Sandwood told the newspaper after seeing the billboard in London.

But Australian Bruce Howes was confident the result would be different next time, when London hosts the Games in 2012.

"We'll get you next time," he says.

The age-old sporting rivalry between the two nations was reignited during the Games as Britain put in its best performance in 100 years to finish fourth on the medals table while Australia was sixth.

British Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe even won a bet about the result with his Australian counterpart Kate Ellis, who will now have to wear a Team Great Britain t-shirt at a major sporting event in Australia.
Source: AFP

Well, at least we've never had to cheat;

England admits ball tampering during 2005 Ashes
25/08/2008 11:31:00 AM. | AP

Former England cricketer Marcus Trescothick has reportedly admitted using sweets to alter the ball's swing during the 2005 Ashes series.

The opener said the mints generated saliva which he then rubbed on the ball, according to excerpts from his autobiography, "Coming Back To Me," serialised in Sunday's edition of the News of the World newspaper.

England beat Australia 2-1 in the five-match series.

"I was firmly established as the man in charge of looking after the ball when we were fielding," Trescothick wrote.

"It was my job to keep the shine on the new ball for as long as possible with a bit of spit and a lot of polish. And through trial and error I finally settled on (the) type of spit for the task at hand."

Trescothick also said he had used the mints during the 2001 Ashes series, which England lost.

"It had been common knowledge in county cricket for some time that certain sweets produced saliva which, when applied to the ball for cleaning purposes, enabled it to keep its shine for longer and therefore its swing," Trescothick said.

Australian batsman Simon Katich, who played in the 2005 Ashes series, said his side could feel aggrieved.

"If it was proved they cheated, we would have a right to be upset," Katich was quoted as saying by the News of the World.

Tampering with the ball can cause it to move unpredictably, putting the batsman at a disadvantage.

"It is something that potentially would be in breach of our code of conduct," ICC spokesman Brian Murgatroyd was quoted as saying by the News of the World.

"If appropriate, it would be looked into. It depends on the evidence and circumstances."

In January 2004 India's Rahul Dravid was fined under the ICC code of conduct after rubbing a cough lozenge on the ball during a one-day international with Zimbabwe.

Ho-hum, its been a melodramatically insiginifcant week for me. Hope yours has been better. I spent most of the week in Sydney (not my favourite place in the world) doing some stuff in our Sydney Office. The low point being the Fire Evactuation from my hotel in the middle of the night, the high point of the trip was waiting in the Qantas Club to come back to Wellington. I need a new job, anyone know of any? For a bit of fun I went looking for a New "Who are you like?" quiz. This Chuck one is pretty good;

Which Chuck Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

Hope the next week is better, well it has to be right? hugzHippo

Hi Ho All,

Yes, I am back from my mini trip to Queenstown (NZ) last weekend. My oh my it was fabulous.

I booked us (my bro and ma) in on a roundabout trip via Christchurch, Dunedin then from Dunedin to Queenstown on the bus. Was a bit of a slog, but four hours of beautiful scenery later we were in the little-big town of Queenstown.

This area of NZ is cold, mountainous and snowy - all things which make for great skiing. Queenstown is not a large place, but it was completely filled up with Tourists and Travellers working in town for the season. There were barely any Kiwis around, most of the staff appeared to be from either the US, UK or France!

We sadly missed the night skiing on the Saturday night (arrived too late) but the hotel room was huge and had lovely views out of the lake and the mountains. It's a pity that the service in the hotel was crappy, because I might have considered staying there again.

On the Sunday afternoon we finally made it up the mountain (Coronet Peak to be precise) and betook the breathtaking scenery while we all remembered that we'd forgotten how to ski (well I certainly did - ouchies me side still hurts!). The day stayed clear, but the lifts stopped running at 4:30pm and we had to pack up and go back into town.

Monday - we were up early and ready to catch the shuttle up the mountain...then waited for nearly an hour for it to get there (so typical). Monday was not as clear as Sunday and by Lunchtime it was getting hard to see anything...but by then I had remembered how to ski and was taking on the Intermediate slopes!

Sadly the day ended early when a blizzard came through and visibility got really terrible. Apparently that's quite unusual for the slope, but just my luck I suppose.

Hope everyone else had a great one. Haven't watched much TV recently except for the Burn Notice Season 1 DVD I got from Amazon the other day.

Hugs

Hippo

Oh no, the Winter is in full swing again down here in the southern-southern hemisphere (i.e. New Zealand). Cooler temperatures and plenty of wind, rain and wind (in that order too). Wellington is definitely the widiest place I've ever been. And the landing at Wellington airport decidedly the scariest!!

I was thinking today (a rare occurence, but it does happen), that it has been a month since I got back from my Holiday and I can barely remember feeling relaxed. I know I had a good time, but all of the good time holiday goodness has rubbed off on my way through various cities I've been to since I got back to work. How depressing.

It also seems to be a company trait - others who have recently had a holiday and near death (a total exageration, of course) with the flu only 5 weeks after their holiday. Not a great pattern. I am increasingly concerned about patterns in and around my life at the moment. Quite like to break them...

I have been back in NZ for a full week now and am strating to settle down again. I am still watching Chuck and enjoying it incredibly. I can't believe there are only 13 episodes (i'm up to ep 7, which is on tommorrow night). I really hope this one comes back for a second season Also caught the few last Doctor Who epsiodes. Again, a pattern seems to be developing around this series where the build up is fantastic and the punchline (or so to speak) was so-so. It's a pity because it is a great series it's just muddled on how to end the story, still that's not going to stop me watching...just come over here and try...I dare you.

I also bought a new DVD as a bit of an indulgence last weekend. Jane Eyre, the most recent release from the BBC (2006 or 07 I think) was easily the best adaptation of the novel I've ever seen. I know not everyone is interested in the Period Romantics (or just way to chicken to admit it) but it was such a well told version of a beloved classic that you should make an exception if you get a chance. Just gorgeous.

I've also found some charm in the American Comedy 30 Rock. It reminds me of my all time Favourite Americom (it's the new phrase, catch on!!) Arrested Development, with different context but a similar spirit about it (not to be too wishy-washy). Watch it, you'll understand what I mean. Unless you haven't seen Arrested. Well then we're stuck. I have the second series on order from Amazon. And speaking of Arrested , I've heard there's now been confirmation of a Movie. I'll have the first ticket thanks.

Movies: Went with my Dad to see Hancock when I was back home the other weekend. Not too bad, but the exposition at the end was a little hard to understand and honestly a bit weak. Of course it was nice to see Jason Bateman in it. I also caught Don't Mess with the Zohan which is suprisingly better than it might seem and Get Smart which was slightly less worth seeing than I thought it would be. Not going to tell you what I expected...that would be too easy. Just that I used to love the series. Oh, just go and see it - don't ask me!

So in the hope of leaving the patterns behind, I am going to take up a few hobbies, go on a skiing vacation in a couple of weeks and quit my job (oop - just checking you all were still reading through my blather!!)

Hugs and Love

Hippo

It's funny, I was sitting here todaywriting the date out and thinking - hmmm, today's important somehow. I remembered in the end. Have a great day and don't party too hard.

Movie Tome Rant

I logged on today to find that Filmspot/MovieTome/ whatever it was called - gone. Literally - gone from the link bar. I had to ask myself, have they just given up on the site? It would be a pity as I know a few of us around here would have responded to any requests for help in getting the movie database into shape. I am guessing they've had too much trouble with the other sites recently and the whole thing never got out of Beta. Real shame if it's gone. I don't like to think that imdb is the only site out there, as I've always preferred the style of these sites. They're classier...well I think so anyway

So after the above rant I managed to get into the site - but the link in the TV.com is the only yhing that's gone. Pity again. They're missing out of people who use that link all the time to access (I have my home page set to my profile and the click on movie tome when I need it). I really hope they have short term plans for that site as it's started to lose it's initial water cooler interest. Might be a flop if they leave all of the features too long. Ew, hope not. I see potential.

Crappy Job Rant

So tired of mentioning this, but I need an outlet. It stinks. I have to spend more time with the firery she-wench from hell next week (otherwsie known as my boss, my superior...yeah right). Can I get through that week without my head exploding. Tune in next week for the cliffhanger!!

TV Stuff

I really haven't had much of a chance to see anything since I was away. I think that most stuff I watch these days is on DVD as I find I don't have the patience to wait for a week till the next episode, or hunt through the TV guide for the crazy reschedulings of a favoured program. Do TV networks actually want viewers? They don't treat them so good if they do!!

Ashamedly enough I was actually enticed by the Grey's Anatomy finale which is airing in Oz on Sunday. I will watch because of the excellent trailer creator dudes, not becuase of the quality of the show. Hey, I will probably be let down by some really crazy storyline (don't spoil me) but I have come to expect that from Grey's. Don't judge me Grey's fans, I used to like the show back in the first series but became disallusioned with the Male steroetypes they have on that show and I don't think the lead character is a good, positive role model. She's too helpless. I like the Nazi best

Airports

I've been in a few of these recently and now I'm in the Adelaide one. Yay. Back to Tassie for a weekend.

hugs

Zoe

Yay! Made it home to Australia OK. Wish I could have stayed longer but I suppose I had to leave so I can visit the UK again. Really happy with the hotel I had and will definitely be usng it again when I'm back in town.

I was very lucky to meet my dear friend QB at Paddington Station on my way out to the airport. He is a perfect gentleman We had a great discussion and hopefully next time I will be able to visit him in Wales!

I will write up a better blog when I'm not so whacked...flying is tiring!!

xxx Hugs

I just posted some more pictures on www.squishyhippo.com if you would like to looky

Hope all is well

Hippo

Yes - time for a Doctor Who blog

Why - well why not. It's on my mind since I got to visit the super cool DW EXHIBITION at Earls Court. Golly I wish there was such as thing when I was younger and for the classic series. I really think I've missed out on some of the fun being from Aus. Well time to catch up right?

See all the pics and even some video on my site www.squishyhippo.com

A summary of the locations I've been to while away;

The Eye - Rose

Heathrow Airport - Timeflight 5th Doctor

Tottenham Court Rd - The War Machines 1st Doctor

Downing St - The Web of Fear (2nd Doctor)

Australia House - The Invasion 2nd Doctor, Harry Potter and the Philosphers stone

Tower Bridge and Westminister Bridge - Dalek Invasion of Earth 1st Doctor

and a few others I can't think of the episodes

Oooh, and I also managed to catch the Library episode on Tellie last night in REAL TIME...no downloads for me today I was so pleased. It wasn't a great episode, but maybe the second part will be better. Still a great novelty for me.

I'm typing up this blog on the train on my way to Edinburgh. Yay, Scotland.It's getting very misty outside which I am taking as a good omen that I'm getting closer

hugs till next time

hippo

Yay, I've finally made it to London. It's been a really long time coming, but here I am.

It was quite a nice day here today, but it rained this afternoon. I took a bus tour this morning and had to sit in the shade because I felt like I was getting sunburnt! - wow I didn't think I'd get sunburnt.

Good to see that Home and Away and Neighbours are on here...albeit a little bit behind!!

I've updated my site with new pictures etc, you can check these out here

Well I'm off to get some dinner down the road.

hugz

Hippo

On my big holiday! Yay. Tis a lot hotter here than I was prepared for. You can read my travel blog at my new site;

http://www.squishyhippo.com

And I actually have some TV news! When I got into Hong Kong last night I turned on the telly to see a new show - Chuck - which is really good. Never seen it in NZ or AUS so must be a newbie. Keep a lookout!

hugz

Hippo

...till my Holiday! I'm so excited!!

I am looking forward to this for a few reasons;

1. I am finally going to the UK. I have never been and I have a stack of rellies in Scotland whom I need to visit. Plus I would love to visit a few of the DW locations and say "Hippo's been there" when they come on the tellie!!

2. Work is really getting me down and out at the moment. Never felt quite so on edge. Sitting and staring at a computer all day isn't good either

3. I kinda like this guy and it's a really bad idea. Seriously in the history of bad ideas, this is probably the worst one I've ever had. Though it's not so much like an idea, but a horrible overly emotioal attachment. I need to separate myself from him and meet new people. Lots of new people.

Also I am going to try really hard to update my blog images / icons and such over the next little while. I feel like I haven't been around enough in the last 6 months and the weeds have started to grow in my blog. Time to fix that!!

I'll post again soon

hugz hippo xoxo

Oh my. Had a 645am flight to Auckland (or dorkland as its more affectionately known) this morning and when I get to the airport - it's canceled. The Qantas people tell me they tried to ring me last night when it was canceled. But I got no call. So I was up at sparrow's fart for no good reason. Yay, this is going to be a great day.

Now I'm working off the old laptop and there's limited life in the old battery (even though it's been charging all nigth). Stinky, McStinks. I have a ton of work to do and I'm not sure it's going to last. Good thing I'm not wasting any time blogging or anything like that!!

For us Aussies on TV.com, we have long grumbled about the lack of Aussie - related features on here. Today I noticed the Logie Feature (nice homage to aussie tv award show). So all Aussies get over there and make your comments!! We need to show that we are interested in Aussie features so there may be more in the future. Link http://www.tv.com/story/11099.html?&page=1

Well that's all for now -- should get some of this work done in the next 2 HOURS I'm waiting for the next plane. Have a better day than me, love hippo xox