Entries from January 2008 ↓

after giving great kudos to the new train service to mandurah, i have to say that after transperth managed to complete such a monumental project and provide a service that feels quite slick and excellent, it completely baffles me that their website can be so totally inadequate.

they must be running the slowest servers in the history of the web, which just seems amazing to me for a company that would probably be very interested in people using self-serve to figure out routes and times of services.  but, if you go to their site (www.transperth.wa.gov.au), you will encounter up to 60 seconds+ delays on basic enquiries…  it is so frustrating, and i just can’t imagine that they don’t know about it.

whacking in some new servers and beefing this up would be both cheap and quick to do with current tech, so just can’t understand why it hasn’t been done already.  they build a multi-million dollar piece of infrastructure and then can’t spend a miniscule amount on the human interface?!  i’ve noted that the ticketing machines have also been out of order on a couple of the trips we’ve taken so far, so i guess maybe there’s bigger computer problems afoot…

having once served transperth as a consultant way back in the day, i happen to have some insider memories of the chaos that reigns behind the scenes… :-) 

I’m at the pools watching my kids at swimming lessons, but with google maps on my phone, I was able to guide someone up in the city to an important business meeting that they couldn’t find.

How cool is that?! I love the stuff we have that just makes life easier in so many ways. Very cool…

The cardinal rule of cricket has always been that the ump rules – no questions entertained or arguing. That’s the way it is. Even if they make the odd mistake, this has always been accepted as a key principle.

Or, that’s the way it used to be. The ICC has just broken that by pulling an ump out of a game because one of the teams has complained and whined loud enough. The Indians have carried on like whiny school kids, and the ICC has buckled and now set a stupid precedent for all future complaints about umps.

Without exaggerating, I think this is actually a very negative turing point for cricket as a sport. I actually find it hard to believe that the ICC is doing it.

And, I’m guessing Steve Bucknor is probably currently flipping through the yellow pages looking for a good lawyer…

i’m enjoying the simple pleasures of life at the moment. taking the kids to swimming lessons this morning, and i just love sitting there watching them flail around and get a grip on what it means to enjoy the water without fear, which for us australians is a pretty important thing!both girls are nervous about passing their grades. they’ve each failed once or twice, and so there’s always this anxiety they have of passing to the next grade and keeping up with their mates, etc. it’s just a swimming grade, but it sure does get them a little stressed, especially towards the end of this week.got me thinking that life, from the earliest points, is a constant series of challenges and tests and shifting of benchmarks. we may try and resist that or deny it, but it’s reality. i remember thinking that when i finished up high school, that was it. no more. then i hit uni. and then i figured after uni that would be it. but then i hit the workforce, where the tests got more serious with more at stake. and it’s never ended.so, i just smile at the kids and tell them to give it their best shot, try hard, do their best, and treat failure as a helpful friend not a depressing back dog… it’s just the start of more of the same… they don’t know it, but i can see it from my perspective in life… just the start of a life of small tests…

we’ve caught the train up to perth a few times now, and i gotta say i love the new train!  a quick trip up to perth and back just could not be any easier now.  hop on at warnbro station (3 mins from where we live), and get out at murray street mall – how cool is that?!i remember a few years ago having an argument with the local state liberal party dude down here in rockingham who went off his face at me (i was astounded) telling me that the plan to run a train up the freeway was idiotic and i was stupid for thinking that was a good idea (he actually swore at me during the phone conversation, until i reminded him who he was talking to – glad he wasn’t in front of me at the time or i might have done something we both regretted…).  i told him he was dim if he thought i would EVER catch a train to kenwick so that i could then catch a train to the city, when our northern brethren just hop on a train that takes them straight to the city.i think of that conversation every time i see the car park at the new station full, the trains full and people talking about the coolness of the new infrastructure, and it makes me realize that there’s a reason why the libs are out of power in WA and unlikely to find their way back in a hurry.  doh!i think the train up the freeway is cool, and i’ve now used it 4 times more than i would have if it was the absolutely goofball idea of running it to kenwick. 

Haven’t been posting much lately – just been waaaaay busy wrapping up things so I can go on hols. Really looking forward to a good break – got a small pile of books to read, things to do with the kids, and hopefully a nice, relaxing trip to Kalbarri. Poifect!