My blog Dancing About Architecture is now in syndication on LJ and can be found at daafeed

Feel free to share the link with whoever you think would like it.

Still here.  Still reading all your LJ entries, but doing all my posting over at Dancing About Architecture.

Since my blog has moved to a new domain and is no longer in syndication here on LJ, I thought I would post the links to some of the posts I think you might enjoy.

Saved SMS Messages - A look at those SMS messages you treasure and promise never to delete.

Why you should pay attention in history -  School can teach you things that will keep you from looking foolish in the real world.

Gays Can't Mimic Marriage -  The current Australian government has some "interesting" ideas about same-sex unions.

Demysitfying Transgenderism -  An intelligent and insightful video that will answer all the questions you have about transgenderism.

Banning the word Lesbian  -  The Island of Lesbos wants lesbian to refer only to people from Lesbos.  What ever will lesbians call themselves now?

R2-D2 Projector - Be still my geeky Star Wars heart, but oh how I want it.


Enjoy!

Also let me know if you would like my new blog syndicated on LJ so you can read it from your friends page and I will see what I can do.

I just brought a laptop from Dell.  My parents are giving me some money towards it for my birthday.  I am really happy with the deal I got and it should last me quite a few years.

Now to wait the 10 business days until they deliver it.

Sydney has decided to plunge into winter in the past 24 hours.  When I went to work this morning it was a brisk 15C with an apparent (how cold it feels) temperature of only just 9C.  Brrrr.   I had to dig into the depths of the wardrobe to find my jumper (sweater).  It is very odd seeing people in winter coats and beanies in February.  This time last year we were still sweating our way through one of the hottest summers on record.  I can't believe I am sitting in my office wearing three layers of clothes and the view from the window is of a grey, wet and windy day.  I wonder if this day is fortelling a cold winter is in store of us this year.

My fellow co-workers have been complaining about how empty my desk is. All their desks are full of junk - pencil holders, those plastic inbox tray things and other little knick knacks. D's desk is full of Hello Kitty paraphernalia, so much so, that it scares me. I want to send her the link to the Hello Kitty vibrator, but somehow I don't think that is appropriate for work.

Anyway, everyone else's desk is full of stuff and mine just has my phone, a box of tissue and my notepad. Whilst I am all for organised and clutter free desk spaces, my desk is just sparse and boring. I need something to brighten it up.

Any ideas? The more geeky, the better. Was thinking about getting a desk calendar, but can you buy calendars in March?

Today was a total relaxation day. I did manage to do two loads of washing but for the rest of the day I just sat on the couch and devoured two books (Bare Bones and Running With Scissors). I can't remember the last time I spent hours just sitting on the couch reading. It was so relaxing and I am feeling fairly mellowed out, which is a rare thing for me these days. There is a whole host of things that didn't get done, but that's okay, the world isn't going to end because of it.
I will, however, have to iron my work shirts this evening or else I will have nothing to wear tomorrow.

I am actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow. RV will be back from his two month secondment to our UK office, which will make my job a thousand times easier, no more trying to edit javascript and action script without knowing what the hell I am doing.
Also we have moved to a new place in the office where I scored a window seat over looking the tiny park which is full of crazy people. This will make my day interesting in all new and strange ways. I just love people watching.

It is my birthday in a week and a half's time and my parents are going to be in Sydney this week. My nanna has sent down with them $200 that I am ordered to spend on something for myself. My habit of pocketing birthday money and using it for everyday living is well known. Therefore my mother is taking me out tomorrow to ensure that I spend it on something "frivolous". I have no idea what to buy. There is nothing really I want. What on earth does one buy when they are instructed to buy something frivolous. I thought maybe some DVDs - I want to buy Stardust and perhaps Season 3 of House - but is that really something frivolous?

Any suggestions will be more than welcome. I have until 10am tomorrow morning to decide.

I made a promise to myself at the beginning of the year to get a pap smear done. I am almost 33 and I have never had one done. However, it didn't turn out as planned and I have been referred to a specialist at RPA Hospital. For the past month I have procrastinated about making an appointment because literally it scares me to death. Today as I sat at home trying to get over this damn cold and watching episodes of House, I decided to face my fear and make the appointment. When I called the number my GP had given me it was picked up by a machine which cheerfully told me that during this busy time there was no one time take my call, but please leave my name and phone number and someone will call me back within 3 business days. Three fucking days for someone to call me back just so I can make an appointment. I shudder to think how long I will need to wait to see a specialist.

Since the federal government started throwing money at women to have kids, the public health care system has been struggling to deal with the number of women that now need to see an OB/GYN. Instead of funding the hospitals to deal with the increase in pregnancies, the Federal government just say it is a State problem and throws even more money at women to breed. It is fucking disgusting. The sad truth is, if I got pregnant, I would probably be able to see an OB/GYN earlier, get the possible surgery I need and be given $5,000 from the government for my troubles. I am not even going to go into the social issues that giving money to women to have kids is causing, but I am not surprised that the number of kids who need help from DOCS has increased and the number of kids in care has risen dramatically.

I wish I didn't have to deal with the mess that is our public health care system, but my chronic illness and other health related problems means that I have to battle my way through it. Oh well, at least it makes good blog fodder.

I have a cold complete with runny nose and a sore throat. I am going through tissues at an amazing rate. Also, lelak is away, off cycling from Lithgow to Mudgee in rural NSW. She left this morning and will be home on Saturday. I have tried to convince the dogs to make me dinner, but they don't want to co-operate. They have, however, been very good with the cuddles.

I have a night in front of the TV planned. Just finished watching "The Biggest Loser" and coming up soon is "Good News Week". Dinner is in the oven cooking. Just a quiet night at home with the dogs.

Got a brand new layout and journal title. Bonus points if anyone can guess where the title and subtitle comes from.
lelak, you are not allowed to play.

I know I haven't written an entry in months and I don't comment a real lot either, but I am still here. I still check in everyday to read my friends page and see what you are all up to.
I am going to try to make a better effort to comment more and post more, rather than posting all the time to my Wordpress blog. I just need to find a few more hours in my day to get it all done.

My blogging journey is still continuing and whilst I am still trying to find my voice, I have gotten a good response from those who visit and read my blog.

I understand that most people here really like to keep everything on their LJ and that going and checking out a blog away from LJ might be too much of a hassle. Therefore, I have created a feed on LJ, which if you subscribe to it, will put my blog right on your LJs friend page.

If you are interested, head over to http://syndicated.livejournal.com/speed0fdarkfeed/ and add the feed to your friends page.

The garden looks amazing. I really wish I took before and after photos. I reorganised all the junk on the concrete slab in the corner of the garden so it looks so much nicer. We can even sit down and have a drink at the table now.
The garden still needs more work though. The bamboo fencing against the back fence needs to be replaced, which we have been putting off for over two months now. Also I want to buy a tomato plant and a couple of avocado trees. However, I am absolutely exhausted, so that will have to all wait until tomorrow.
Somehow whilst wearing shoes and socks my feet got absolutely filthy. They are caked in dirt. I am not sure how that happened. Also my arms are sunburnt.
I made sure I was extra careful with my hands as my thumbs have an awful habit of coming up in blisters and the skin all peels off when I use any of the gardening implements or anything like a broom or mop. I wore gloves and put band-aids on, but my thumbs are still covered in blisters. Damn stupid hypermobile thumbs.

This week has totally sucked. Last weekend the kids got vaccinated and wormed and Rory threw up all day Sunday. Then she came down with vaccine induced canine cough, ran a fever of 40.1C on Wednesday and finished off the week refusing to eat her normal dog food. She is feeling much better now and we have brought a new brand of dog food this morning which she seems to enjoy *crossed fingers*.

However, with my lovely anxieties, I have been a total mess. I get extreme anxious when my fur kids get sick and this week has been a shocker. I pretty much stopped eating for a couple of days, haven't been able to sleep and my entire gastrointestinal system has gone to shit. I am a walking disaster area. I have got to get these anxieties under control. I can not fall apart every time one of my dogs vomits, let alone actually gets sick. Logically, I know my behaviour is ridiculous and I tell myself that, but I just can't stop my body from descending into a full blown panic attack.
Somehow this week, I have not only managed to go to work, but gotten a few kudos about how well I am doing. I have no idea how I pulled that off.

Today I am mowing the lawn, doing the edges and tidying the whole backyard up. I seemed to have chosen the hottest day this week to do this. I am blasting my mind with music and hoping to work myself into exhaustion so that I can have a decent sleep tonight and allow my body to calm down and reset.

This comic is so me

http://xkcd.com/302/

I swear there are at least a dozen people I speak to a regular basis whose names I just don't know and now I have known them for so long, I just can't ask anymore.

Today my new little blog was the feature of a blogger's profile over at On Blogging Australia, a blog about Australian blogging.
I didn't know I was going to be featured, so it was a nice little surprise when I opened up Google Reader this morning. I feel very honoured that Andrew would choose my blog to profile since I am only brand new on the blogging scene and my blog is still in throes of being established.
Also four people have signed up to my blog's feed, which is also extremely humbling, obviously they think my random musing good enough to read every day.
Now if only I didn't feel so crappy from having a dose of the summer flu, today would be a very good day indeed.

Well, not really, I am not upset at my physiotherapist, I am upset at my body.

My knee has been hurting for the past five days and I have just ignored it. This morning I had my physio session where I discover that my knee isn't flaring because of my fibro, but because I have actually injured it. It is all swollen internally, although I can't see anything externally. I have no idea what I have done to it. As my physio so bluntly put it, "with your condition, you can just take a step and injure it". I am still trying to work out what "my condition" actually is, cause you don't randomly injure joints because of fibromyalgia.

So, I can't go to the gym until it stops hurting (bah humbug!). Therefore, I am sitting here with ice on it just like I was told to do and being grumpy about my body's wonderful ability to randomly injure itself.

I have always wanted to write and maintain my own blog. I have had a few spectacular failures when I have tried to blog on a specific subject. Initally I believed that me and blogging was just not a good mix, but recently I have come to believe that me and a single subject is not a good mix. I do quite well here on LJ just writing on whatever captures my imagination. So for NaBloPoMo, I have decided to take that format to the wider world and see what becomes of it.
My challenge is to create a blog and build up a decent readership all within a month. Is that possible? Who knows, but I am going to give it a try.

So, here the grand unveiling of my blog, The Speed of Dark, the home of the musings of a thirty something geek. At the moment, it is mainly about my experiences in creating a blog and resources I have used in my attempts to promote it. It has a grand total of two posts - the results of a hard morning of work. In time I am hoping it will be a random collection on posts about blogging, technology, social networking, media, television, life and whatever captures my imagination.

This does not mean that I am bailing on LiveJournal, I am just expanding my blogging sphere and exploring a brave new world.

Please come along and join me for the journey.