Salt and corrosion

Today I got to spend some quality time with Taxation Ruling TR 2014/04: Effective life of depreciating assets. There are few things I enjoy more than a good list, and that's what this is: a list of all the things you might conceivably buy for your business and what their estimated life span is. So if you're thinking of buying a 'diatomaceous earth filter unit', you will get a good ten years out of it. On the other hand, a 'log sizing asset' should last twenty years. (What do we think a log sizing asset is? A big ruler?) 'Hat manufacturing machinery' will last a very specific thirteen-and-one-third years, while 'pipe reactors (titanium) used in ammonia nitrate solution manufacturing' will only last three years. All of which made looking up O for 'Office furniture, freestanding', seem a bit dull.

I am going to Canberra tomorrow for work-related reasons. And when I get back, I will be on leave for a week. Huzzah!

Last week was such a hateful week and I managed to write five entries here; this week was so much better and I haven't managed any. Interesting. Anyway, here are six things about the last seven days:

1. Amazon is extremely keen for me to read Garth Nix; he's got the top six spots on the list of books recommended for me, and features prominently in the emails they send too. So I'm not going to read him, just to spite them.


2. Doing research for an essay, I came across the phrase "the ramifications of the transatlantic octopus". It was in reference to American influences on British broadcasting, but I think it would also be an excellent title for a cheesy monster film.


3. I bought a labeller (one of those that embosses the letters onto a coloured plastic strip) and have labelled just about everything that sits still. I haven't been this excited since I bought a date stamp.


4. Despite several days in hospital, dentistry and a bowel investigation, Miss Pink is still off colour. She has started a new course of antibiotics, so that might do the trick. *fingers crossed*


5. At work, we have taken possession of our new strap-on breasts. We're soon going to have enough body parts to make our own plastic person.


6. If there's one thing in the world I don't find funny, it's Mr Bean.

If I roll my chair back about a metre (which makes it quite hard to type) I can see a blimp drifting above the street. It's there as some sort of promotion for the car dealer further along. Giant advertising logo aside, I like it. There should be more of them.

Exciting (well...) things that have happened at work today:

Bad: my favourite pen, a very pointy Bic Classic Fine with black ink, ran out and all we've got in the stationery cupboard is a box of thick-nibbed pens with blue ink. Hmph. I prefer a pointy nib; the pointier, the better.

Good: while at the stationery cupboard I found a box of coloured paperclips, so the paperclip compartment of my desk organiser is now full to the brim and very pretty.

New: I received a new chequebook in the mail, which revealed that the National Australia Bank has changed the font used in its chequebooks from Times New Roman to Arial.

Stupid: the new chequebook also shows that the National Australia Bank, or NAB as it likes to call itself, has changed its logo to "nab". I don't know that that's a good image for a bank.

Hot: It's a gorgeous, sunny day outside and we've got the heating on in here. I think I'm going to melt.

Question: Why is it that spell-checkers don't know so many computer-related words? Semagic is trying to tell me there is a font called "Aerial". Sigh.

A man set up a big easel outside our office this morning. He turned out to be a streetscape artist and he's painting the 1880s building façades across the street. I hope he puts the blimp in.

News: presented.

Library books: returned.

Bee cross-stitch: finished.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: watched.

Smallest of my computer room bamboo plants: dead.

Finger, after being pricked by a staple remover: bloodied.

Teeth, after the supermarket played "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" followed by "White Christmas" followed by "Let It Snow": gritted.