Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad

All pics © Baby 2007 -- click 'em to enlarge!

Am afraid I'm constantly doing the wrong thing. Like e.g. going up the hills hiking with baby for 3 cloudy days, instead of working straight through my entire two weeks 'holiday', trying to catch up on some of them projects I'm still waaaay behind with. Not to mention adding another 2 days when learning that eventually there'd be some sun for a change (which was why I wanted to go there in the first place, now that the surgery-scars are healed up enough to allow me getting some for the first time in almost two years). Of course took the laptop with me, incl. plenty work and all the best intentions, but in the end did squat (well, except ongoing correspondence, processing book orders and other impossible-to-be-postponed-at-all everyday stuff).

Of course didn't help me catching up on anything I should've finished about the year before last year, and I've got some really hard deadlines coming up book-projects wise. And after the 'holiday' the new semester kicking in real hard, plus the callcenter-job, and of course my obligations to the dole office (though at the mo with regards to the ladder, let's just say hope the person responsible for my file there doesn't read this ...).

However, despite working on everything as hard as I can for the last 6 weeks, still don't get far. Actually already have a bad conscience when e.g. sleeping for twelve hours for a change like last night, though over the last week still doesn't add up to more than probly 7 hours per day. Not to mention the GP telling me my stomach problem though still being far from an actual ulcer, that's clearly the direction I'm headed, and even if I did a total U-turn immediately, still can take 6 months to lose my symptoms. Well, nutrition-wise deftly complied at least 98%, i.e. skipping everything that's preprocessed, plus generally supper. So stomach's better now, but I'm starting to loose weight fast, already shed more than 5 kilos, and not the fat of course. Though working out, fat chance of fitting that into the schedule somehow anyway ...

Still like a lot the pics baby made during these 5 days (somehow from above even ugly LA-type smog can look good), so couldn't resist uploading some in chronological order, hoping y'all are gonna like 'em too ...

All pics © Baby 2007 -- click 'em to enlarge!

'Pills Against Aircraft Noise'

Finally two weeks off. Well, at least from dole and callcenter, that is. Meaning not necessarily from last semester's paper, the plenty remaining job hours, the layout of the leppin book, the next one etc., all of it due about yesterday.

Still, at least means don't need to read any of the papers or mags published by my new old employer.

Though, as Baby went through the daily paper yesterday, couldn't help myself noticing the caption 'Pills Against Aircraft Noise' screaming into my optical ears.

Of course wasn't about pills actually eliminating the actual noise, but rather doctors paid and sent by the authorithy prescribing sleeping pills to residents living next to the new Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. 35 year old Thanatos (!) Preebem, on sleeping pills for a month now, to AFP: 'Without the pill I couldn't sleep at all.'

Hey, actually just like @ e.g. Zurich Airport Prison for I don't know how many years or even decades ...

Ah, Switzerland! Proudly bearing the torch of humanity to where no civilised man has gone before!

Though, as a kid in school, was told only evil communist russians would do such things, like keeping their inmates drugged. So perhaps rather a backlash. Which idiot came up with the idea of tearing this darned wall down etc., anyways. (Shame on you, Mr. Waters, all your fault. Should've listened closer to 'Holidays in the Sun'.)

But never mind. At airport prison, almost only alien inmates, too, who cares.

Hilariously enough, another caption invading my privacy, about contemporary russia: 'Even recalcitrant seniors getting labeled "extremist" [a.k.a. 'terrorist'].' After the russian parliament adopted a tightened extremism legislation, a new wave of trials sweeps the nation. Though the law being officialy aimed at neonazi thugs, the police mostly targetting simple citicens and moderate political opponents, many of them facing jailtime, as the correspondent reports from Moscow.

Hey, erm, actually just like everywhere in the rest of the world, too, innit?!

Though Russia in the West probly still being the more popular punching bag, you can bet.

The more things change, some don't.

Welcome to the brave new future!

(a.k.a. straight back to the middle ages ...)

Stomach ulcer, anyone?

Ugh, reckon shouldn't've eaten these continental style chips. Visiting my sis, celebrating the kids' birthedays, had left from Zurich in a hurry and without breakfast, so just needed something in my stomach quickly before eventually having supper. Or so I'd thought anyways.

Well, afterwards you're always smarter, and mostly we all do learn by painful experiences, right? Still thought could trick my stomach by eating a deacent muesli after having returned, and for a while even seemed to eventually work out. Until I laid down, that is. Suddenly all of the apparently rather indigestible, fatty sauce welling up again, dishing out serious pain.

Even worse, while all the upper part of my stimach felt in flames, there was one spot that felt more like caused by a welding torch instead of the overall coal heating.

Ouch, guess we all know what that's hinting at.

And ok, things are really bit over the top of my head lately. Deftly more than unsual and way more than within the limits of healthy living anyway.

However, just dropping three quarters of all the stuff on my neck isn't exactly an option either.

At least not as long as I'm still able somehow getting up the next morning, that is ...

Corporate Sloppiness Censorship

Ah, the irony. Not sooo long ago, cause of a complaint about 'subversive smere campaigns, especially against the police' and other 'illegal content', no less than The Bavarian County Criminal Department, Interpol Wiesbaden, The Swiss Federal Police Department, The Zurich County Police (Special Division 2), The Zurich District Attorney's Office, they all wanted virtually all of our homepages taken down (plus yours truly held responsible for even more pages he didn't even know about).

However, after a two year legal battle, failed.

Ok, they've been giving us an interesting time, but not once they managed scrapping a single word, link or pic on any of the (rapidly growing) pages, no siree.

Whereas now the 'anti-censorship' dutch Provider xs4all.nl just succeeded no sweat, deleting pages at will and locking us out of our own paid site by changing passwords without notice, not to mention thereafter having the cheek of refusing to give us the new ones. I mean, the company we paid, on our own pages!

Ok, eventually some of our security measures kicked in, and eventually, after announcing them the first entries on the net calling them censors, suddenly was no problem doing what all emails and phonecalls earlier didn't achieve: telling us the passwords straight on the phone at once ('though that's not usual').

Too late, boys. Revenge is petty but sweet. Hope makes at least some small dentures into your hip 'anti censorship' rep from better days.

Ok, I'm well aware, though they might've put a smile on some coppers faces, actually the responsibles-but-not-answerables at xs4all (sold to privatised Dutch telecom KPN rsp. kpnqwest 1998, 2006 buying or original provider demon.nl) probly couldn't care less about the content of the pages they took down.

And yes, they didn't do so on purpose, but by merely being sloppy and arrogant as usual.

But frankly, whatever the intent, effects like the ones in question here still aren't exactly improving my freedom of expression (nor anybody else's, I guess).

And yes, just in case you harbored any doubts, there's still plenty actually intended censorship stuff going on, e.g this incident about a flash-game the vatican didn't find funny. However, at least for the moment, even if God's Local Stromtroopers had succeeded, bet you'd still be able enjoying yourself by playing OPERATION: PEDOPRIEST just in spite? (WARNING: 'Extreme Adult Themes')

Back in realtime (well, sort of)

Hey, I'm still alive, no sweat! Just a wee bit way behind with almost everything. Regarding this blog, according to the original concept of posting everything strictly in faked chronological order, meanwhile actually to the point of it kinda defeating the purpose (not to mention cutting substantionally into the fun part).

So I'll start posting in non-chronological order, older stuff filed first under the pub date for a while, with the actual date mentioned in the first line, then after a while faking the pub date, i.e. older posts will be in reverse chronological order as before (though with gaps eventually to be filled later). Trying to maintain the chronologigal structure design, yassuhmam.

Oh yeah, and how about starting labeling and interlinking each post, enabling different ways of coherent access and navigation? Who needs sleep or food anyway. Cool new features, and all "for free"!

Yup, google forced my sorry ass too to ubdate to blogger beta anyway, reckon cashing in on my private personal data sniffed out by the obligatory cookies.

Welcome to the 21st century, again. And puleeeeeze, no more kidding about the middle ages, or else ...

File under typical (a.k.a. Back to the middle ages Pt. 2)

As I wrote, smelled like the whole small department of my day- respectively nighttime job at the newspaper getting sacked pretty soon for some weeks now. Recently my mates learned some more details at the workplace, making it rather a definitive, though our employers still busy denying everything. With the same details plus a report in a paper, also became clear another department going to fold in just as well. Surprise, surprise, the employers didn't bother telling them either.

Business as usual, a.k.a. straight back to the middle ages. And while I'm at it, don't ask me how many months till I'll have my sick benefits transferred to my account, again, and by the way I mean all of it and not just a fraction. Not to mention the many times they tried pulling a fast one by having us sign new contracts, claiming the pay'd be just the same while actually being a quarter or third less. Oh lovely, in future will have to pay only 2/3 of rent, health insurance etc, hawhawhaw. Whereas all the time, the company's profits going up, not down.

Well, actually turned out to be a 'misunderstanding', the discrepancies with the new contracts. At least that's what they said every time as soon as we were able getting us some back-up to expose the whole deal. Suddenly getting them back at the table, adding the 'overseen' wage elements pronto.

Looks like now we're getting it for not letting them f**k us over earlier. Ok, I'm aware that actually I'm still off comparatively well. Nonetheless reckon some greedy bastards will never learn until one morning waking up to why again the lovely ways of peers and serfs never lasted forever yet. Business as usual just as well, though I wouldn't hold my breath.

Anyways, when eventually all of the mates got an invitation to a surprise meeting at short notice, no big guessing bout the agenda item. And surprise, surprise, turns out we were just about right. Looks like next year I might be on the dole for the first time in my life.

Still a bit shaky on my legs, back to slow motion zombie style, not exactly fun running round. Still was happy having dragged myself there. Cause else they'd calculated my monthly pay for the cancellation period from a timeframe when I was hardly working and therefore had earned pretty much nothing in the first place. Nice try.

Just like the boss, after he eventually agreed using a month I was wasn't sick or off for the calculation, telling me how now I got off real well and with a freebie. File under guess what.

Same old (a.k.a. Straight back to the middle ages)

Oops, been a bit lazy on the blog front lately. On other projects', too, I'm afraid. Probably some other people involved will not like me too much, and I'm not happy either.

Only stupid hassle here, stupid hassle there, and then, erm, some even more over there. A.k.a. tightening the screws. This time the landlord of our practice room, and the slaver e.g. not yet handing out sick pay from march, and the like and the like and so on. Becoming a regular megatrend this year. Getting squeezed out and f**ked over, usually so somebody somewhere can save some money on admin costs and then instead shove it well-you-know-where.

Gladly know how to mobilise sufficient back-up, but still a lot of time and energy down the drain for stuff they were obliged to fork over without even getting asked for in the first place anyway. A.k.a. even more unpaid overtime. Hello again.

Though looking at it from the bright side, if I find enough people willing to bet that next year it'll be anything else than just same ole tightening up some more again again, I'll be bloody rich myself and no more concerned by such petty end-user probs. Cause hey, face it, always at least one turn left, always. Wanna bet?