currently 10:56pm Friday 5th September, 2008 (NYC, New York)
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December 2003 archives
The following are all the entries published for the month of December 2003. happy new year!
Wednesday 31 December, 2003 at 9:18PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (1) Trust you had / have a good one! I'll be back ..err ..next year :-) merry christmas
Thursday 25 December, 2003 at 3:32PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (2) Hope yer having a good one! I managed to get through on the phone to my family in New Zealand when I got home last night (which was early afternoon on Xmas Day in New Zealand) so that was pretty groovy. My sister Jo and her family were up in Auckland spending xmas with my mum so I got to talk to them all together. Bonus. I couldn't get hold of Amber unfortunately which was sad - no answer on their home phone (I left messages on their machine anyway), and their cellphones just rung forever without even getting an answer service, which means it probably wasn't even ringing at their end. After about an hour and a half of repeated dialing I had to give up. I always have problems calling to cellphones in NZ for some reason. Bah. We are just cruising today, hopefully we'll go see Lord of the Rings III later if the theaters are open. IceQueen is sleeping in as she couldn't get to sleep last night until the early hours of this morning, so I've taken the opportunity to do some more work on a new site design. It's looking pretty good so far ..pretty bright anyway. I'll wait and see what the other weasel has to say about it before I think about integrating it into the site here. There's [allegedly] been some terrorist crap with several planes held at airports yesterday, supposedly with terrorists on board who intended to take over the planes and do a repeat of 911 on Los Angeles, Washington DC and also (again) on New York. Sooooo glad that they got caught. There hasn't been much more news released about it as yet; I guess we'll hear about it eventually and see if what was reported so far is actually what happened. Ok that's all for now. Hope you had / are having a great day. threat level elevated to orange
Sunday 21 December, 2003 at 8:39PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (7)
I know we've heard similar things many times over the last two years, and I wonder how many people are taking this news with about the same attention as hearing the NYSE indicator went up 10 points (which is very little). I'm kind of skeptical, but better safe than sorry I guess. Some of the intelligence information gathered in the past few days suggests that 'extremists abroad' are anticipating attacks that will rival or exceed the scope of those of Sept 11, according to Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge. I travel from Brooklyn to Manhattan and then from Penn Station (in Manhattan) to Penn Station (in New Jersey) every morning, and back again every evening. There have been armed soldiers on patrol at Penn Station in Manhattan every day since I've been working in New Jersey anyway, so I wonder what it will be like tomorrow with the heightened alert status. Best I get going a bit earlier than usual. earth on doomsday course with the sun
Thursday 18 December, 2003 at 10:00PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (2) Don't ya just love it when some new trainee manages to inadvertently get access to their company website and posts something outrageous? This story from informationweek.com is a good example. According to an urgent advisory issued Wednesday morning by the National Weather Service, the Earth had broken out of its orbit and was careening toward a fiery end. Unusually hot weather has entered the region for December as the Earth has left its orbit and is hurtling towards the sun. Unusually hot weather will occur for at least the next several days as the Earth draws ever nearer to the sun. Therefore, an excessive heat watch has been posted. Apparently it was only a test message posted during a training session, according to a Weather Service spokesman. At least that's what they want you to think. Classic. farewell quins
Wednesday 17 December, 2003 at 11:55AM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (7) Farewell to Quins aka Thomas (an aquaintance from SlothMud) who died yesterday in Kuala Lumpur as a result of a motorbike accident. He will be missed by many. My condolences to his family and friends. last player Quins A special note of sympathy to his close life-long friend Packy who was at a cafe with Quins shortly before the accident, celebrating Quins' birthday which had been the previous day. Same for Suyee aka Chibi and a few others who are feeling this loss closely. new york sunsets
Tuesday 16 December, 2003 at 5:43PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (5) Did I ever mention that we get some very impressive sunsets here from time to time? The sky here seems so much 'bigger' than in New Zealand. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, I guess the clouds travel at a much higher altitude here for some reason and cause the sky (especially in the evenings) to look positively vast, much moreso than I've ever seen in NZ.
Tonight was a variation. On any given night you can look out our lounge window about an hour after sunset and see the lights of 10 to 15 planes scattered across the sky (fortunately we rarely hear them, they all travel at high altitude as much as possible to avoid noise pollution). There is not much wind about at the moment and only a moderate amount of thin wispy elongated clouds at very high altitude, but the temperature must be just right for the airplanes to leave long lasting vapor trails. When I looked out a little before sunset, the vapor trails were criss-crossing all over the sky. It looked like someone had scribbled over the sky with a light grey marker pen. Pretty kewl. Just thought I'd share that with you. The pics here are the view from our lounge taken on a different evening. saddam captured in raid
Sunday 14 December, 2003 at 2:26PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (14)
Apparently Iraqis took to Baghdad streets dancing and firing rifles into the air celebrating his capture. Members of the Iraqi Governing Council who went to see Saddam Hussein said they found him tired and haggard, but unrepentant, even defiant. Saddam insisted to them he was 'a just but firm ruler.' When asked about thousands killed and dumped in mass graves, Saddam dismissed his victims saying 'they were thieves.' One member of the council said, "He was not apologetic. He was sarcastic and making a mockery of Iraqi people." Adnan Pachaci, a leading member of the Iraqi Governing Council, said Saddam would be tried for his crimes against Iraqis, and would be tried by Iraqis. "The terrorist, Saddam Hussein, the biggest terrorist on earth, has been arrested," said Hamid Ali al-Kifaey. "He will be tried before a special court in Iraq soon. With his arrest the Iraqi people will begin a new life, and hopefully they will have a democratic and pluralistic system and no more mass graves, and no more Saddam Hussein and no more terrorism." About time. Meanwhile in NYC it's snowing again today with about 6 inches on the ground so far already. Not sure how I'm going to get all the way to work tomorrow morning but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. We were meant to head to Manhattan today to meet up with Alt and a couple of her friends, but the snow pretty much killed that plan. Alt can't get out of New Jersey because of the snow anyway, everything has closed (including the roads). Ok that's all for now. man arrested on spam charges
Thursday 11 December, 2003 at 11:47PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (8) Good news. This story featured on AOL news today:
At least 36 states currently have some sort of spam law on the books, and President Bush is expected to sign the first national measure into law as early as next week. Some states like California and Utah already require online marketers to get explicit permission before sending e-mail, although I can see where that could lead - we'll just get spammed by emails asking if the sender can spam us. heh. Either that or the source will move offshore like so many other businesses. Good to see anyway, I hope these spammers get what they deserve. If you've ever tried clicking on their links to remove yourself from their lists, 9 times out of 10 the website is conveniently unavailable, the other 1 time out of 10 removes you from that list and adds you to 5 other lists instead. Bunch of assholes should not even be allowed near the internet, either directly or indirectly. They should be castrated as well. And have bamboo shoots stuck under their fingernails. Twice in each fingernail. And their toenails, all of them. Yeah. the night before sexmas
Tuesday 9 December, 2003 at 9:50PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (0) Thanks to Barbs for emailing this - I had to publish it. Warning: Adult Content! ..sing to the tune of 'The Night Before Christmas'.. 'Twas the night before Christmas, and Geez it was neat Mama in her teddy, and me in the nude Up to the window I sprang like an elf, When what to my wondering eyes should appear, Sure as I speak, he was high as a kite. They cleared the old lamp post, the tree got a rub, I was donning my jacket to cover my ass, "That was some brothel," he said with a smile, I started to laugh, as he smiled with glee, The first thing he found was a pair of fake tits, A bra without nipples, a penis extension, "This stuff ain't for kids, Mrs. Santa will shit, He sprang to his sleigh, but his feet were like lead, blizzard
Saturday 6 December, 2003 at 3:46PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (1) We're in the middle of a big snow storm here at the moment. It started on Friday mid-morning and stopped momentarily for an hour or two after midnight. The second 'wave' of the storm hit early this morning and we're right in the middle of it while I'm writing this. I ventured out to the shops an hour or so ago for supplies. It wasn't very pleasant out there. The high wind made it a nuisance, fortunately I had my sunglasses so the wind-driven snow didn't blind me. The weather people are predicting another foot of snow by the end of the storm (about midnight tonight) which is impressive considering it's still autumn here and winter hasn't even officially started yet. I managed to finally get to talk to Amber last night for about an hour which was awesome. She's growing up so fast! Some mail I sent her apparently never arrived, along with a parcel my mum sent her from Auckland as well which is a bit disappointing. Hopefully they will be getting a computer next year so we can email each other. That's all for now. Oh, I started building a new design last night but then photoshop froze up and crashed and I lost the lot. Frustrating. Guess I should have saved what I was doing every half hour or so. *sigh* happy birthday amber
Friday 5 December, 2003 at 2:55AM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (0)
Happy Birthday Amber! I miss you. Wish I was there to celebrate with you. first snow
Tuesday 2 December, 2003 at 11:47PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (4) Yup it snowed a few inches today while I was at work. Most of it melted away pretty quickly but there ya go, the first snow of the season for us here. Groovy. A little later I saw a pigeon walking around with a cap of snow right on top of its head. It looked hilarious. The pigeon was totally oblivious to it. Stupid bird. I have the redesign bug again and have some ideas floating around in my imagination (more of a graphic-intensive experience), just no time to do it heh. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise. We've seen a few movies recently - Matrix Revolutions and Master and Commander (with fellow-Kiwi Russell Crowe), and both were good. Apparently I look like Russell Crowe according to the other Weasel, her mother and [quote] 'everybody' [end quote from the other Weasel], including a homeless guy outside Madison Square Garden (he came up to me and told me I looked like 'that' movie star) ..personally I think if anybody looks like anybody, it's Russell Crowe that looks a bit like me ...gotta get these kind of things in perspective right from the start before they get out of hand, right? Right. Ok gotta go. |
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Yup, just in time for Christmas, information on possible terrorist attacks during the holiday season has lead the government to raise the national threat warning from "elevated" to "high", and said threat indicators are perhaps greater now than at any point since Sept 11, 2001.
At last we may be seeing the beginning of the end of hostilities in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was captured yesterday by (allegedly) no less than 600 US troops, and not a shot was fired (uh.. really?). He was found in an underground hide-out on a farm near his hometown of Tikrit after US forces were tipped off by a family member close to Saddam, ending one of the most intensive manhunts in history. US forces found weapons and about $750,000 in U.S. $100 bills with the former dictator, along with two AK-47s and a pistol.