Varrqnuht.net

Here's what tickle.com had to say about me after I completed their IQ test:

Congratulations, Bob!
Your IQ score is 138

This number is the result of a formula based on how many questions you answered correctly on Tickle's Classic IQ test. Your IQ score is scientifically accurate; to read more about the science behind our IQ test, click here.

During the test, you answered four different types of questions - mathematical, visual-spatial, linguistic and logical. We analyzed how you did on each of those questions which reveals how your brain uniquely works.

We also compared your answers with others who have taken the test. According to the sorts of questions you got correct, we can tell your Intellectual Type is a Visionary Philosopher.

This means you are highly intelligent and have a powerful mix of skills and insight that can be applied in a variety of different ways. Like Plato, your exceptional math and verbal skills make you very adept at explaining things to others, and at anticipating and predicting patterns. And that's just some of what we know about you from your IQ results.

(I'm sure I'm not the only person who always puts fake names into these things)

I've done a few of these over the years, this one wasn't the worst but certainly wasn't the most rigorously scientific either.

So, how smart are you?

This morning we went to pick up our car from the bodyshop, which they'd finished fixing after two weeks. On the way back home we stopped off briefly at a couple of places while I grabbed some pricelists for my impending PC upgrade, then had breakfast at Banjo's.

Heading home from Banjo's with Lou driving, we turned into Chapel street and Lou had to slow down for a car that was turning right and didn't leave enough room on the left to pass. Just as we came to a stop we felt someone run into the back of our car. It had probably been less than an hour since they drove it out of the bodyshop.

So, there's a whole lot of swearing going on in the car, as Lou pulls over and the car behind us pulls in behind. I told Lou to calm down (so she didn't deck the guy driving) and we got out to take a look. He hadn't hit us very hard as we weren't moving very quickly before we stopped, having only just turned a corner.

We looked at the back of the car and there was no visible damage (which is a miracle given that like any modern car it appears to be made of tupperware coated in metallic paint) and the other bloke was so relieved. He said something about the brakes not being very good in his car (what is it with the stupid things people say after an accident?) and I noticed that the bull-bar on the front of his car (a commodore or falcon stationwagon) had a bit of movement in it. I think he must have only just bumped us and the bull-bar gave enough that there wasn't any damage.

I don't think he realised quite how lucky he was, I reckon Lou would have blown her top if he'd made a mess of the back of the car.

So, anyway. Hopefully that's the last time someone will run into us for a while, or preferably ever.

Now I'd better get to work.

I finally have ADSL at home. They haven't officially notified me yet, but I figured I'd give it a bash and it turns out it's connected. Yaay!

Bit of an anticlimax though.. I mean, it's nice having it at home, but basically it just feels like "normal" speed. I guess that's what I get for having worked in jobs with permanent broadband connections for the past 6 or so years.

I'll probably spend more time online from home now that I don't have to put up with an analog modem connection though..

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth - I've just been really busy and haven't had the luxury of internet access from home.

SUMMARY: I've started a new job (which is going very well so far), I spoke at a conference (which went smoothly), I've been doing some contract work on the side (which has become a small nightmare.. more of a nightfoal) and I've started rehearsing for another concert with the TSO.

Internet access: Being forced to pay for internet access (for the first time in the 10 years I've been online) means that I'm finally going to have broadband access at home. I figure if I have to pay anyway I may as well get the good stuff. I bought an ADSL modem/router on EBay, signed up online for a plan (after much deliberation) and my connection is now pending. Hopefully it won't be far off.

Conference Presentation: This was on Monday the 23rd of February, and went well. I had some minor problems with formatting as the software I use wasn't installed on the notebook hooked up to the projector, and I had to give back the company notebook I was using in my previous job (which I'd left on the Friday).

As usual I went into the speech without having rehearsed it. This is a habit I have to get out of. At first I was worried that I didn't have enough material to get through 45 minutes, but in the end I had to speed things up a little and didn't have time for questions. That was a bit of a disappointment as the questions are often the fun bit.

I'd tried to fit some background theory into my presentation along with some practical examples - in hindsight I think this was too much. The theory stuff (which was actually the point of the talk) was pretty well received - I had some minor constructive criticisms from a guy who lectures in Systems Administration but I'm pretty sure I hit the spot.

The practical stuff was well received - people wanted to hear much more about that, so I think I need to write something or speak again. Unfortunately with changing jobs and everything else I missed the deadline for submitting an abstract to a national conference, so I'm a bit disappointed by that.

New Job: This is going quite well. I'm enjoying the work, and I get on well with the people I'm working with. What's more, it seems they're very happy with the standard of the work I'm producing.

It's a short term position though, and today it was confirmed that HR won't let our department extend it. They seem to want to hang on to me though as the department head wants to submit a request for a new fixed-term position to work on other projects, to start when this one ends.

Hopefully I can get that sorted so that there's no gap between them.

Contract work: This has become a headache. If I'd realised how busy I would be I'd never have agreed to do it, but I guess I was swayed by the money. I'm not finding enough time to work on it at the moment, given that I have to balance a new job, having a life and spending enough time with Louise to keep us both happy. Plus, there have been technical complications which have made my initial estimate of the time required blow out completely. As I'm doing this for a fixed fee that doesn't help me out.

TSO Concert: We're doing Faure's Requiem, which I'd never heard before. It's a great piece, and I still love working with this choir. The Chorusmaster rang me today to ask if I was interested in joining their smaller ensemble, but I turned her down because I don't think my sight reading is up to scratch and I'm pretty sure Lou wouldn't be happy about the extra time commitment it would mean.

Still, it was very flattering to be asked, especially now that I know what kind of standards they demand. We left it open for me to reconsider joining later in the year if time permits.

What else??? Hrmm, my sister has moved 250km away with her husband, my Granddad has incurable cancer, Lou's family has relatives visiting from England, and I may possibly have set a world record for the worst over bowled in cricket (no, I'm serious - the club president is trying to confirm it).

Geez, look what happens when you leave your diary for a few days! Things happen!