Holidays

Exams are finally over, and after a 3day break I hit the road to travel up to Dysart. Going through Gympie I saw a place - Car and Dog Wash. I hope they don't leave the dog tied onto the back of the ute. A stop for lunch at a pie shop, then back on the road. It's not a roadtrip without the aussie pie. I made it as far as Childers after a stop in to see family in Maryborough. Surprisingly, RACQ maps were terrible!! I used whereis last time in Maryborough, and it was perfect until the last turn (it still would have gotten me there, but the long way around). RACQ completely missed it (although it might have been me, but I don't think it was). Generally RACQ are better in more remote areas, but apparently not for Maryborough. Anyway, I made it to Childers and found the perfect motel on the main street. It was really nice, and only $100 too. My main criteria was walking distance to the pub for a decent meal. It definitely fit that. There were 3 within sight. My plan failed, all the pubs had stopped serving dinner (just after 8). I ended up with Chinese from the Motel. It was great, but not what I was craving :(. The next morning I realised I'd forgotten to bring socks, so I ended up getting bed socks (the only option available on a Sunday). They are actually so comfy with steel caps. After an hour or so stop at the Mt Larcom show, I kept driving onto Dysart. Arriving at around 8pm, I was ready to go to bed.

It is great to be back in Dysart. I did Vac Work here a year ago, driving the 789C Dump Trucks. It was the first time I had worked on a mining site, so it's really cool to come back after a year.

First day involved a 5.30am pickup. Yep, that's an alarm of 4.45am. I had to spend the day doing inductions again, because my paperwork from last year isn't around anymore. I love being back on site though, even if I didn't get to see anything the first day.

The second day I got the random drug and alcohol test, then had to finish the induction paperwork. Finally, I was able to do a pit tour, and see where all the trucks, diggers, graders, dozers and watercarts were working. One pit has hardly changed in a year! The rest is all new though. I spent the second and third days trying to help out the surveyor, whacking in pegs to guide the operators (although I don't think I'm much help).

I better head off to dinner now - it's great, all the meals are provided in 'camp', so I don't have to cook. Both sites I've been to so far have had a camp, which provides all meals. It's fairly common, especially with contractors. This camp also has a gym, a shop and a pub. I'll try and find my camera later to show some pics of my donga (room).

Awesome Magistrate

A magistrate just charged someone for contempt for blwing bubble gum in court. More to the story here.

http://www.news.com.au/national/melbourne-magistrate-jails-man-for-blowing-bubble-in-court/story-e6frfkvr-1225881131218

The part I find hilarious is that this magistrate has made someone buy an ice-cream and eat it in court, because he claimed that put him over the limit when he was caught drink-driving. This should happen more often! I bet the defendant didn't see that coming.

One from the World Cup, takes the pressure off our boys getting whipped (and yet still, no one has noticed that the Aussie girls are awesome http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201005/2913387.htm?desktop - yes, you read that right, "It's the first major trophy for any Australian soccer team."). In this one the goalie of the losing team was interviewed by a journo about how he mucked it up. The journo happened to be his girlfriend. Might be in another language, but you can still see him squirm. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/iker-casillas-we-feel-for-you-spanish-goalkeepers-girlfriend-harangues-him-on-live-tv/story-e6frfmyi-1225881105413

Finally, an update on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - BP has pledged an additional $US20billion. That's a hell of a lot of money, and in addition to what they have spent so far. I wonder if they have made that much out of that operation? There is this quote: Analysts said BP, which has spent about $US1.6 billion battling the spill and made a profit of about $US14 billion ($16.22 billion) in 2009, should be strong enough to weather the storm even if it has to borrow more. So for an entire year, over all of their operations, they made just over half of what they are pledging? So in just under two years, they can pay for that (with absolutely no profit for the company). That is a lot of money. I'm not supporting BP, and I understand the lives, jobs and environmental damage that has been done, and continuing, but we need to see both sides. BP are trying to fix this. Give them credit for that at least.
http://www.news.com.au/business/bp-chief-tony-hayward-vows-to-repair-gulf-coast-as-congress-goes-for-the-throat/story-e6frfm1i-1225881157001

Anyway, that's enough study procrastination for me, better get back to it for my last exam of the semester. It's a good feeling, 4 down, 1 to go. I think the feeling of 5 down, none to go will be even better though :).

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

I never thought I'd say this, but I actually feel sorry for BP. I think everyone following the story felt a bit disappointed when the latest method of stopping the flow of oil failed. Interesting to note that $US990 million has been spent (I think solely by BP) to mitigate the problem. And so far nothing has worked.

This story thinks it might spell the end of BP:
http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1062978&rf=true

According to wiki (who knows all....), the US Govt has named BP responsible, not Transocean. Interesting, because the drilling platform which failed was owned and run by Transocean. It looks like BP overruled Transocean though. I think that's the point in the story where the lawyers for BP say 'bugger'. I wonder though, does being named responsible by the government mean anything? Like when K Rudd points the finger at someone, it doesn't stick - there is no consequence for it, unlike in court.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill#U.S._and_Canadian_offshore_drilling_policy

Light Bulb Jokes

I know there are a million of these, but one of my friends found these ones this week:

Q: How many engineering students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One, but the rest of the class copies the report.

Q: How many first year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb ?
A: None. That's a second year subject.

Q: How many university students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: I don't know, will this be on the test?

Q: How many graduate students does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Only one, but it may take upwards of five years for him to get it done.

Q: How many Australians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Twenty-one. One to hold the bulb and twenty to drink beer until the room starts spinning.