sevfive

03 June, 2009

sevfive : tweetknowledgement

Bing is now up & running & looks suspiciously like the old version with the crap name "Live". (Hey & if you try to go to Live, you end up at Bing!)

Anyway, I tried Bing for the first time this morning & of course, as everyone does, searched for myself & eventually "sevfive". Since this site is the only one with the name "sevfive" in it, the results are always going to reference this blog. I was therefore a bit shocked when The Sydney Morning Herald popped up as a result.

Out of all the twitterers & the countless posts on every news story, one of my tweets was used in a story regarding Nicholas Bolton back in April - Twitterers get on Bolton's case.

Seems this whole Twitter phenomenon does get the attention of the media & individual opinions are being recognised. It's an interesting turn of events when the people who are supposed to be reading the news are the one's creating the news.

I have no idea if the same story was published in the newspaper format, but I'll take the two seconds of fame in whichever form.

posted by sevfive

18 May, 2009

sevfive : uprooted

Great Southern Plantations & all its other divisions went bust the other night to the tune of $4 billion. (I suppose if you're going to go belly up, you do it with impressive numbers with lots of zeros.)

I didn't invest with this tax haven scheme, but I once upon a time, I was in a position where I was told to promote it!

At the turn of the century whilst I worked for an accounting firm, it was one of the programs the firm used actively in tax planning & as such, plenty of people took up the opportunity & I imagine they have now lost everything they put in.

The scheme worked by investing an amount of money in the current tax year & because it was an approved tax scheme, the money put in was completely tax deductible against the income earned during the year. The amount invested could pull your taxable income below certain tax rate thresholds, which made it an enticing option.

However, when you invest in such a project, all you own is a patch of trees.... somewhere, for a period of between five & twenty years. A lot can happen to a patch of trees over that time, so I always thought it was pretty risky. Of course, there was insurance for the whole lot burning down, but what if they were planted on a crap piece of land where they didn't grow or the wood itself was unusable for any number of reasons?

Seems I was right! Whilst I was told to recommend it during my time with the firm, I never actually did (Shhhh, don't tell anyone!). If I wouldn't invest in it myself, I couldn't bring myself to talk it up. I think I might have handed over the prospectus a couple of times, but I never said it was a good idea.

The minimum investment was $3,000 per block of a plantation, but no upper limit of how many blocks you could buy. Therefore, some of the wealthy folk bought blocks on mass thinking they'd scored against the tax man. Well, they did, but now it's cost them a whole lot more!

Basically, if you earn the money & you claim your work related expenses which are legitimate, just pay the darn tax! That's the best advice I can possibly give!

posted by sevfive

27 April, 2009

sevfive : southgate

I was only home ten minutes for the Easter long weekend & my Sister calls me to say she's on her way to pick me up. A local shopping centre, The Southgate Plaza, has a fireworks display every year & they shoot them off the roof while everyone watches from the car park & this was her destination.

I've never heard about it & even after the event, there hasn't been a word said about it! It did happen however & by the number of people attending, it must have been mentioned somewhere. (After some googling, it officially called - The 8th Annual Sensational Sky Spectacular!)

Anyway, I was picked up, we collected some fish & chips on the way & then found prime car park real estate for the big show.

At a touch after nine, we were all welcomed over the PA system & fifteen minutes of fireworks were launched.

I've never had a camera on me during a fireworks display before, so it was good to finally capture some. They had to be zoomed shots otherwise the car park lights were all in the way. Click 'em for big versions.

With no announcement to end the show, everyone clambered into their cars & within ten minutes, the car park was nearly empty & probably a few minutes later, you'd be hard pressed to work out if anything had happened at all!

posted by sevfive

21 April, 2009

sevfive : pigshirt

I don't really have a good spot for a laundry basket in my bathroom, but the bath is a great void which I never use for it's intended purpose either. Therefore, the two have combined to be where I throw my clothes before scooping them into the washing machine.

Anyway, I was in the shower & through the shower screen I see the following in the bath;

Can anyone else see the profile of a sleepy pig?

From every other angle, it looks like the scrunched up shirt sleeve, which it really is.

I know it's no Jesus, Virgin Mary or weeping statue, but it's as good as you're going to get!

posted by sevfive

15 April, 2009

sevfive : twitting

& who knows how long this will last!

Over on the right is the new twitter feed. Hopefully, I get around to updating it more often than the very irregular posts here.

But what's the bet I don't!?

It's now sporting all the right colours & logos, so follow me!!

posted by sevfive

03 April, 2009

sevfive : pond panic

Goldfish are either quite robust or very fickle. You can drive them around in a plastic bag when you first buy them & they really don't get fussed, but introduce something new into their environment & they tend to freak out & hell, it's possible for the little buggers to die from the stress!

Therefore introducing a sizable quantity of sand into the pond they call home is probably not the best idea.

The area around the pond is nicely covered with plant-life including some very cool palms & the previous owner installed a sprinkler system, which also has one nozzle spraying water directly into the pond. Leave it all running for a few minutes & everything gets a good drink & the pond's water level rises for the fishies.

I plugged in the hose after I got home from work & ran inside to change my clothes. A few minutes later, I walked back outside to see water flowing everywhere it shouldn't. Upon turning off the water & inspecting the source, the first section of the watering system had blown out, sending a jet through the ground & pushing sand directly into the pond.

The fish had already retreated to the very edges where the duckweed held back the sand & they definitely weren't happy with the situation. One was even squirming about & doing back-flips, while the others looked on trying to work out what the hell was going on.

After stupidly thinking the sand would fall to the bottom & waiting way too long, I eventually took notice of the distress of the fish & started bucketing the water onto my lawns & other plants while refilling the pond with fresh water.

Dozens of buckets later, it was possible once more to see the rocks on the bottom. It still took a couple of days for the remaining sand to settle & the fish have since forgiven me & are more active than before the disaster. Of course, they may be anticipating the next onslaught! (I was going to write that I was keeping them on their toes, but that just would have been silly!)

posted by sevfive