thecages

uneventful (read numbing) week.

:: SAP integration testing :: I'm reminded of integration testing in KL with Prism: running back and forth calling 'ok, try it again now!' - hoping that maybe now it'll work.

:: chores :: cancel current short term insurance, find a house/cat minder for xmas, chase after people to move the interview process for my grand escape plan along before 7 Dec.

got my final confirmation for the Vipassana course today.
not really sure whether my current mindset has me positively disposed to it.
it will be hard and right now I'm just tired.
I hope it will turn out well - it would be wonderful.

wow! how cool is this (courtesy of /.)


[Tim Kehoe] has ruined every kitchen he's ever had. Kehoe, a 35-year-old toy inventor from St. Paul, Minnesota, has done this in an effort to make real an idea he had more than 10 years ago, one he's been told repeatedly cannot be realized: a colored bubble.
...
In the world of toys, where the average shelf life of a product is less than 18 months, bubbles are a juggernaut. A Chicago company called Chemtoy began selling bubble solution in the 1940s, and the fad never wore off. According to one industry estimate, retailers sell around 200 million bottles annually—perhaps more than any other toy.

queued for Robbie Williams tickets on Saturday morning.
apparently people started queueing at 4pm the previous day at the major centres (I snuck off to Gardens centre in the hope that it would be quieter).
got there at 08:00 (sales started at 09:00) as number 100 in the queue (security guards were handing out numbers).
sales got under way at about 09:07 (people were commenting on the exact time[1]) and by 09:43 they were servicing number 35 in the queue and all tickets barring the cheap seats (behind the mixing tower) were sold out.
rats.

However, I did see this nice painting - maybe I'll buy it.

[1] amazing to what level of detail people will discuss a topic when that's all they have in common.

crap day.
second power out in W/Cape in two weeks (come Armageddon, come?)
had a hard complaint about the conduct(hanging out on the 'net the whole day) of one of my team members today [1]
but, I did get a Fleetwood Mac CD today to soothe the ache.

[1] not really sure how I feel about this. on the one hand I agree that if I were a harder manager I would stomp the guy myself[2], but on the other hand I'm not his line manager (and this is a line issue, not a project deliverable issue).
[2] I've known for some time now that one of my major weaknesses (professionally) is that I prefer working around mediocre people, rather than confronting and driving them - *sigh*

we have a new addition to the family
her name (for now) is Midget and she's not likely to stay one for long.

also, there's more demolition going on in Claremont, some cool machinery.

made this tone with NCH Tone Generator

Sine 1 Left Frequency        27.75Hz
Sine 1 Right Frequency        60.81Hz
Sine 2 Left Frequency        86.22Hz
Sine 2 Right Frequency        30.90Hz

it's a very nice, warm sound.

my Senheiser headphones have a bit of a problem with the left side, but the hi-fi does it fantastically.

spent time in the garden by the orange tree on saturday.
most worthwhile was hanging out in the silent light lounge.
a lover's quarrel should follow.

saw this on a t-shirt at the mall over the w/end:

Anita left for Brazil early this morning (back next Thursday) - jetset.
So I went for a walk around abouts the commons.
There are benefits to living in Cape Town (when the wind doesn't blow).

Do the bubbles in carbonated water result from the CO₂ boiling?
According to E2 carbonated water is 'a suspension of H₂O-CO₂'. What the hell does that mean?
According to Howstuffworks '[m]any different gases dissolve in liquids, and we see an example all the time in carbonated beverages. In these beverages, there is so much carbon dioxide gas dissolved in water that it rushes out in the form of bubbles'.
So the answer is no, the bubbles result from the CO₂ (in gas form at room temperature) not remaining disolved in water at sea level pressure.
O₂ on the other hand (also a gas at room temperature), does remain dissolved in water at sea level pressure.
The question is, at what altitude will O₂ spontaneously bubble from normal water?

One of my great (and few) regrets is that I've lost my high school math, physics and chemistry so irretrievably.

eeg - www.e-closure.com
e-closure.com : documenting break-ups, anonymously online...
the link to blogspot doesn't work so head straight for the juicy bits at Steve and Cindy