According to the comic I have been not-vegetarian since at least June 2008. 

I have been meaning to blog about it since then, but haven't really got around to it. Lets see how far I get this time.

Overview

My parents were vegetarian (and macrobiotic) when I was a baby and I grew up as a vegetarian. I spent most of my life lacto-ovo but went through periods of time where I ate fish and/or chicken and briefly did eat meat if it was processed beyond all recognition. 

In my 20s I became vegan for nearly two years.

In 2008 I stopped being vegetarian and I now regularly eat meat.

When I was veg(etari)an sometimes people would tell me that they couldn't consider becoming a veg(etaria)n. I believed that these people had just not eaten enough delicious veg(etaria)n food.

I have now become a person who could not ever consider becoming a vegetarian, let alone a vegan. This does make me feel guilty, but the reality is that I feel so much better now that I am not vegetarian. 

I do not know enough about food or other people to say anything about anyone else, but I am convinced that being a vegetarian is not a very healthy idea for me.

Health Issues

I have had abdominal pain for almost my entire life (I still have it, omnivorism hasn't been some magical cure or anything). In my teens I noticed that eating large amounts of any kinds of nuts was a sure-fire way of getting a terrible stomach ache. So I quit eating nuts.

In the months before quitting vegetarianism (I had gone back to vegetarianism from veganism) I had become fairly sure that eating a large amount of any legumes was giving me stomach pain.

So I was pretty much out of a non-painful protein source because living off cheese didn't sound fun to me because, honestly, dairy food is pretty gross. I can stomach cheese and butter but anything milkier than that just tastes really bad to me. I swear that milk changed flavour in the time that I was vegan. I used to love it.

Protein

I used to get very unhappy if I went out for dinner, or over to someone's house, or on a camp or an aeroplane etc where the vegetarian meal consisted of pasta and vegetables with some sort of sauce. Because if I ate something like that for even one meal I would get terribly cranky and it was quite horrible.

I had to make certain that I ate a decent amount of protein at every meal or else bad things would happen to my emotional state. Also if I ate meals late.

Remember, also, that nuts and seeds were out as a snack due to crippling stomach pains they caused.

So I would eat eggs (if I ate eggs) or baked beans for breakfast, and I would have lentils or beans or tofu or quinoa at lunch and dinner...

But even one meal which was "glorified sugar water" would throw me. Discussions with some of my vegetarian and vegan friends have convinced me that this level of protein requirement isn't actually what everyone experiences. That made me feel a lot better about quitting vegetarianism. It seems like it really was a lot more difficult for me than it might be for other people.

And things got much worse when I started exercising regularly and my food requirements went up. I couldn't keep up any kind of exercise regime as regular exercise increased my food requirements in a way which I couldn't actually keep up with so I would get cranky.

One of the best things about not being vegetarian is that I now get to eat delicious vegetarian and vegan food occasionally without having to be cranky about how little protein it has! Eating a low protein meal every now and then no longer leads to tantrums!

My grandmother has similar stomach issues to me and after many many decades of experimentation she has established that eating mostly meat and vegetables is the only thing which helps. I am coming to the conclusion that this is true for me as well as eating a lot of grains (particularly wheat), legumes and dairy products make my tummy very cranky indeed.

Steak and potatoes? all good.

Also I have a lot more energy now! I want to say that I never realised how low on energy I was, but it's not actually true. I got fired from a job once for falling asleep on the floor at work. I always thought that I was low on energy because I didn't do enough exercise.

But if I did a lot of exercise I would get too cranky to continue doing exercise. I blamed myself for that, but these days there doesn't seem to be a cap on the amount of exercise I can do without getting cranky. 

Guilt

I did not become a vegetarian to save the animals. I didn't like being lumped in with the animal activists when I was veg(etari)an. I really really hated it when people would apologise or become defensive of their non-veg(etari)anism around me.

I am extra-ordinarily bad at stepping out of my comfort zone and I think that I was mostly vegetarian because I always had been. 

But I still feel guilty about not being veg(etari)an and this is used against me by people who are veg(etari)an. I have become one of those defensive omnivores. 

I was in a vegetarian pizza shop a few months back, getting some pizza (see note above about delicious vegetarian food). Also, Mr Natural pizza does gluten free (and therefore wheat-free) bases which is good for my current low-fructose diet.

So anyway my housemate's friend's girlfriend's vegan social group were at the pizza place (and we had gone down to say hello to my housemate's friend) and while I was waiting for my pizza a skinny sunken-eyed youth tried to chat me up. When he discovered that I was no longer vegetarian it became obvious to me that he divided the world up neatly into three groups of people

• Vegans
• People who Don't Care (ie Bad people)
• People who don't know any better

Unfortunately for him I didn't fit into any of these categories so he did his best to re-convert me to veganism lest his psyche shatter.

Then I came home and complained about it on twitter (I believe I said something about people having different things that they might care about and having different priorities doesn't make someone a bad person) and I had another friend condecendingly comment that she was sure that I did what I could, like buying free-range eggs. Sigh.

Priorities

I'll readily admit that my health is my top priority. I am absolutely not willing to go back to not getting enough protein from only sources which make me unwell. No thank you.

But apart from that I am not convinced that a blanket avoidance of animal products is the most moral position to take. From a sustainability perspective I am not really convinced as a lot of the time the veg(etari)an substitutes for things are much worse for the environment. I read a blog post recently where someone was thinking about down vs polyester doonas. Sure in an ideal vegan utopia there may be a choice other than zomg the poor wittle biiiirdies and zomg the oil but a lot of the time none of the choices are very good.

I am pretty sure that I would rather eat a small amount of kangaroo than a large amount of soy, for example.

But it's really complicated and sometimes I think it would be simpler to pretend that avoiding all animal products meant that I was Doing The Right Thing and have a strict set of rules to follow which made me into a Good Person.

I could spend every meal worring about animal welfare, sustainability, the economy, human rights, environment... 

But I am not knowledgable or clever enough to know all of the right answers.

I think for now I'll just worry about what makes me the least unwell.

Hey folks,

I'm in a bit of a funk comic wise (and podcast wise). We can pretend that it is because Chifley has left the country and my comic is about him.

Really it's because Bird has joined the Navy and I am teh sad and lonely without him. But! He gets the internet back next week and I hope I'll be more inspired then. 

I did make some comics on the weekend (the first comics I had made since he left in January - I made some before he left and put them up last week). I spent hours drawing pictures and everything. But they weren't any good. They were not funny. They weren't even funny because they weren't funny. They were just awful.

"Hang on!" I hear you cry, "That has never stopped you before!"

But normally the comic is funny. to me. Also it turns out I can't actually draw very well (I guess I am out of practice. After all, I took several years off actually drawing the comic), and it turns out I no longer think that is very funny either.

Oh well. The amazingly more talented than me Panda has put together a hilarious guest comic which I think should count for at least a weeks worth of comics. I hope you enjoy the Adventures of Other Chifley.

I have a new computer now so the computer problems which have been preventing me from recording podcasts are now no longer an excuse for that. I just need to find some time to record and I'll finish off the podcast story.

I have some exciting fundraising and The Adventures of Chifley: The Comic character news up on the The Adventures of Chifley: The Team blog. That blog doesn't have a feed which makes it STUPID so I will try and post here when I post there, and I will be twittering about it too.

SO ANYWAY Basically, for every dollar you donate to The Adventures of Chifley: The Team, you get one 'vote' for a new character for the comic. It might be a character from the 'old' comic, or it might be a new character that doesn't exist yet! You don't have to 'spend' all of your votes on the one character!

Here are some suggested characters:

• Monkey
• Panda
• Frog
• Feather
• Emu
• Caterpillar
• Umbrella

(You can vote for a character that isn't on this list)

If you've already donated, please let me know which character(s) you would like to vote for! If you have been thinking about donating, and would like to have a say on the new character in the comic, donate before the end of January, and let me know who you'd like to vote for!

So please donate to our team!

Comic update

I know that Chifley was pleased about there only being two comics last week, but for everyone else I apologise for the lack of updates. I had a busy weekend and intended to make comics during the week but then the whole 'MY BOYFRIEND IS JOINING THE NAVY AND GOING AWAY FOREVAAAAAAAR*' thing caught up with me and I decided to give myself the rest of the week off.

Podcast update

With christmas and everything I am actually quite busy! This has made writing and recording podcasts pretty difficult. I am really sorry for not keeping up with this. I will try and get the current storyline wrapped up really soon, I promise! I'll record probably about 2 more podcasts between Christmas and New Year as I have some time off work then.

I will then take some time off from the podcast, as I have a lot of walking to do! The Podcast will then resume some time in the middle of next year.

*not actually forever, but it feels like it.

So you may have noticed that there were no comics this week. Or really, there was one comic with an increasing number of comments.

I thought it was funny!

(That is what I think about most of the things on this site)

Entertainingly, I didn't suffer much of a dip in traffic. AND I got more comics than usual. I like to think that this means that Chifley was correct about not making comics being funnier than making comics. More boring for me though, so there will be comics again as of tomorrow.

I also took last week off making the podcast. This was not planned (not putting up comics last week was planned) but this weekends episode is now up, so you can check that out over here (if you haven't already).

The Adventures of Chifley: The Team is going very well. We have raised quite a bit of money already and we haven't even organised our trivia night or poker night or anything yet! We are going to have our first official training session today. I don't know if Mouse Cursor and Tea actually know each other, so lets hope we all get along okay!

There isn't really a lot of point to this blog entry. I am writing it because I am awake and I haven't anything better to do.

You know how sometimes people get cranky in the mornings and they say 'I am not a morning person'?

I am a morning person. At least in summer.

Recently I have been waking up at 4.30-5 and walking to work, going to the gym and then start work at 8. I have an insane amount of energy. it's AWESOME.

It's after 6.30am now, maybe I could do something useful...

From Koala.

1. What is your alcoholic beverage of choice?

Generally I drink to be sociable, and drink what other people are drinking. Boring.

2. So far, what has been your favourite part of the Bible?

I have only read Genesis and Exodus so far. I think my favourite story was Jacob and Esau just because it was so weird.

3. As one of the weirdest people I know, what do you think is the weirdest thing about you?

I think the weirdest thing about me is my weird phobia things. Like not liking it when people see my clothes when I am not in them. Man, that is so weird.

4. In the past you have expressed your desire to go to the opera. Please explain a little more about this desire.

I have heard that it is fun, and it seems like an interesting thing to do. I have enjoyed opera music that I have heard, and would like to do the listening to opera thing properly!

5. What is your favourite movies from the in 80's (if you remember any of them).

The only movie I can remember seeing during the 80s is the Care Bear movie. It was pretty scary. I have seen other movies from the 80s, but I don't remember seeing them when they were new.

and Cup of Tea.

1. What's so good about mornings?

I feel like my brain works properly in the morning. The world is peaceful, particularly before sunrise, and there is a whole day ahead!

Because there's the whole rest of the day, and it's a time that other people are still asleep, I often feel like the early hours of weekend mornings are times when I only have to do things I want to do. That sounds like procrastination, but I don't think it is. It's a declaration that this time belongs to me alone, and I can choose to waste or spend it however I wish. Interestingly, this sometimes leads to be doing things I have been putting off doing at other times.

2. Do you prefer things to be planned or spontaneous?

Yes. And also No.

I think I like things to be planned, and for things to happen the way that I have planned. I find it very difficult to handle things when my plans are disrupted, or when things happen that I don't expect. It is probably one of the things which upsets me the most, actually.

Thus, spontaneous things are often easier to deal with because I expect the unexpected.

3. What is your story about?

I don't think I can tell you, without spoiling it. :/

I will try.

My story is about... stuff. There are people and things happen.

My story is about the resolution of misunderstandings.

My story is about moments so perfect that they hurt.

4. How important do you think humour is to life?

I think that if I didn't have humour in my life, I would not be me. I can imagine that for other people, humour may not be so vital to their existance. So I am not sure how important it is to life in general.

I am not sure how important it is to my life even, it is something that is so much a part of me that, as I said above, I would not be me without it.

I don't think of myself as necessarily a funny person, although people have told me so. My favourite flavour of humour is anti-humour, after all, and I find it immensely entertaining to market myself as not being funny.

I used to try to be funny, but these days I find it funnier to try not to be.

5. Tell me about an experience you have had, or something you have seen, that you considered beautiful.

Almost every time I watch the sunrise I am awed by how beautiful it is. It helps that it's my favourite time of day. I am almost always alone and I am torn between knowing that my experience wouldn't be the same if someone else were there, and feeling so overwhelmed by the moment that it is almost physically painful and I wish that someone was there so that I could share it.

I have a large money box in my room, which is very heavy. It's an enormous can with a hole in the top. You have to use a can opener to open it.

Which I will, when it is full.

It is much more difficult to lift, than it is to lift Simon, my cat Simon weighs over 5kg. I estimate that the money box is around 10kg.

Actually, I am going to weigh it!

My money box weighs 9.6kg.

There's a lot of change in there, it's probably at least 10 years worth of change in there.

It's not the first money box I've had. I used to have a smaller can of money. When it got full I opened it.

And then I had a lot of change and nowhere to put it. So I got a bigger can.

A few months ago I was talking to a British friend of mine online. He mentioned that I was his only Australian friend and therefore it was a shame that he couldn't mock me about the cricket.

I told him that I had, since our last discussion about sport, grown to appreciate cricket quite a lot. I told him I had also grown to appreciate other sport, including AFL.

He told me that he was extremely impressed.

Not because sport is important to him and he thinks it should be important to everyone. But because... and I don't want to sound extraordinarily vain or anything but...

Hating sport was something that that I did, and took some amusement from. Other people would discuss results of some game or other and I would roll my eyes. I would enjoy discussing how much we didn't like sport with other people who also didn't like sport.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with that!

But, my friends, here is a challenge for you!

Pick something that you don't like, but that other people *do* like. Not something that you dislike because it really is a bad thing - ideally you will at least respect other people's affection for this thing.

Now! Your task is to discover if you dislike this thing because you enjoy disliking it (which is fine) or if you actually do dislike it (which is also fine). I find that it's fun to practice liking something for a while, to see how it turns out, but you may want to try that in secret so that you don't have to put up with people saying 'OH BUT I THOUGHT YOU HATED X!' which can be quite annoying.

If you try this experiment, I would like to hear about it! Or if you've tried it in the past, you can tell me about that too!

You can comment here and tell me why you hate(d) something, and whether you still do or not (I really enjoy growing not to hate things, I am not asking everyone to do the same).

I hated AFL because when I arrived in melbourne, all the kids at school had to know my football team (and also what my father did for a living, and what car(s) my parents drove) in order to decide who I could be friends with. I rebelled, vowed never to watch a game of football and spent the rest of primary school without any friends.

I eventually decided that watching football did not actually grant those past primary-school children any power over me. I decided that a lot of people being rather stupid and obsessed with this game didn't make it necessarily worthless. So I watched some. And it was quite enjoyable!

drakyndra over at livejournal has given me five more things to write about. They are likely to be smaller things than the five that insomnius gave me, so I am going to write about them all in one entry.

1. What is the most interesting place you have ever been to?

I think I found going to the USA pretty interesting. Things that I didn't expect to be weird, were really weird.

like 'give way' signs

and cheese

and butter

and they have lollies that taste like deep heat cream. It's really gross. But interesting!

and marinara sauce does not contain any seafood

and people refer to other people as 'sir' and 'maam' a lot

2. The Adventures of Chifley is being made into a movie. Who plays Chifley?

Robert Pattinson

3. If you had to live off just one food for a month, what would it be?

Spinach.

4. If you could have hair of any colour, whatsoever (including crazy ones), what colour would you pick?

I am pretty sure I have already tried most colours! Was that before I knew you? I don't remember.

I really really enjoyed having traffic-cone orange hair, and I would certainly go for that colour again if I felt like going back to dying my hair. It might happen again, some day! We'll see.

5. What is your favourite book?

I don't think I can reasonably answer this question, so I am going to cheat and mention a couple of epic series of books that I really enjoy.

Robin Hobb's Farseer/Liveship Traders/Tawny Man series is one that I don't seem to tire of re-reading.

Katharine Kerr's Deverry Series has recently been completed and I am looking forward to the 15th book immensely. As soon as my sister is finished with it. OMG. I have been reading this series since I was about 12 years old. I am actually dreading reading the last book because then it will all be over. aaaaaaah

aaaaand five more from Connikins (The Panda* in The Adventures of Chifley).

1. Favourite AoC comic and/or story arc? Including the first "season" as well I guess.

Possibly the 'Terminator' arc because it made people stop reading and complain at me really loudly. Reaction! Opinions! Also *I* thought it was funny.

2. Were you depraved before FOUL or after it?

Yes.

3. What's your opinion on trolling?

It's fun at the time, but it makes me feel really guilty and upset pretty quickly.

4. Favourite webcomic apart from your own?

Dinosaur Comics.

5. Favourite AoC character drawing?

The Cat. She is so cuuuute!

*What? You didn't know there was a panda? Well that just shows how much attention you have been paying!

Also, if you want five things you can comment here, but I am still trying to think up things for the people that commented last time, so don't be in a rush or anything.

Being Thirteen is seeing polystyrene beside a train line and suddenly realising that you have a crush.

Being Thirsteen is trying to read a book, but carefully positioning yourself so that you can see a certain someone over the top of your book.

Being Thirteen is talking to the object of your crush about your crush, by pretending that you are talking about a crush on someone else.

Being Thirteen is working out how to doodle your crush's initials on your notebook without them looking like you are doodling their initials. Some people's initals can look like flowers or some kind of abstract design.

Being Thirteen is that little leap you get in your heart whenever you see that a certain person is online.

Being Thirteen is telling someone that you like them, and then running away.

Being Thirteen is exhausting. I am glad I am not Thirteen very often these days.

For of your favourite The Adventures of Chifley: The Comic characters have signed up to participate in Melbourne Trailwalker 2010!

The Adventures of Chifley: The Team is....

• ephant
• Hippo
• Mouse Cursor
• Cup of Tea

We are starting our training very soon and we need your help to stay motivated until we walk the trail in April.

You can read our updates and donate to our team here: http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/Melbourne/team/417

We're also planning some fundraising events, and I will keep you posted about those as well!

So I don't know if it's the diet* I'm on, or if it's the weather or the exercise or the circus classes or the EPIC AMOUNT OF STAR TREK DVDs IN MY HOUSE (seriously. It's like a wall of nerd. SO so awesome) some kind of excellent combination and/or feedback loop but I am feeling very excellent today!

For the past... four years or so I have had a bit of a story bumping around in my head. It's one of the reasons that I really enjoy walking to and from work every day (around 5km) and don't listen to much music when I do so. It's sort of been my guilty pleasure to plan out this huge thing in my head and live out every moment of these imaginary peoples lives. But then suddenly, without notice, a new character showed up last week and added a huge amount of pressure to the whole thing and then suddenly yesterday it was impossible not to write (some of) it down.

I spent a lot of time stressing over how incredibly awful and embarassing this thing is, but somehow after writing some of it out I don't actually hate it and it feels okay that it isn't... you know high literature or super deep and meaningful or anything. I feel like I have created something and the end product isn't nearly as important as the process of actually creating it.

So I have decided that suddenly I am writing a story. I am not doing NaNoWriMo (even though it's november and that would be a good excuse to write something too awful for public consumption) and don't think it's even going to end up as long as 50,000 words in total. I have written what feels like maybe a fifth of the story and it's around 2500 words.

It still needs a bit more work, but this bit of the story will be stand alone. And I might even Put It On The Internet once I am a bit happier with it and make sure that it's not going to conflict with anything I want to say in the other bits and decide where to put it because I am thinking The Adventures of Chifley "brand" is pretty much a comedy/anti-comedy thing and The Story... isn't.

So I spent most of saturday extremely excited about my story and what was going to happen and that sort of thing. Which was Very Very Cool.

And then this morning, after getting up delightfully early and making PANCAKES, I was listening to some podcasts and I decided to email the author of one of them (currently #2 on my "To Marry" list**) and I got a reply and everything and he claims that he's going to subscribe to my podcast which is just about the most exciting thing that's happened to my little podcast thing, so now I'm all excited about that too! In fact, too excited to actually write my podcast for next week which is why I am writing this blog entry instead!

So anyway (and gosh I do say that a lot don't I?), in my epic fangirl-squee emails I wrote something which I quite liked and I am going to repeat it here because I think it really says why I write this comic and record this podcast. I seem to have a stable readership of around 30 for the comic, and I think around 18 people have downloaded the second-to-most-recent podcast (the most recent has only been out for two days so....). Which is... not really a very large audience.

"Sure there are a billion
podcasts out there, and even a lot of comedy podcasts out there, and I
don't have a name or an audience or mass-appeal or anything like that
but I have the tools available to create something and to put it out
there into the world and online and theoretically complete strangers
can download and listen to me telling my little stories and if even
one person can listen to my thing and laugh and think that it was
worth seeking out, or worth listening to... well that's, a lot more
than something. And even if nobody ever listened to it and thought
that, well I have still created something and practiced my writing and
my speaking and my creativity and that's a lot more than nothing."

So I really do hope that people enjoy the podcast (and to a lesser extent, the comic - it's one of my favourite things in the world when I see that complete strangers have read through the archives (I can tell from my stats) because I like to imagine them sitting there looking complely perplexed. WHY DOES THIS EVEN EXIST!? they ask the universe, and they receive no answer. MUAHAHAH I am a bad person, aren't I?) but right now I am really really enjoying creating something and having it sit outside of my head where other people can experience it. It's scary, but... it's cool. I don't want to change what I am doing in order to be sure that other people will enjoy it - I'm not going to try and make the comic consistently more funny, for example (some people claim that it used to be funny, I think that they are incorrect and it's just that they used to be in on the jokes). I'm just going to keep doing things my way and hope that the people who have the right sort of funny bone, who know the right sort of people, or who follow the right links may end up here and take a listen and like what they hear.

And now I really will go and write a podcast for next weekend, I promise.

* not in order to lose weight or anything insane*** like that, I am trying out a diet for people with fructose malabsorption which means I am avoiding wheat and fruit and certain vegetables. The only really hard bit is avoiding wheat and onions. I ate a sandwich (on wheat-bread) the other day and I was kind of cranky and didn't sleep well afterwards. Obv one data point is enough to decide these things, but really I think it miiiight be helping. And one of the things that fructose malabsorption apparently can cause, is mood disorders! So I think that's what this footnote was supposed to be about.

** After Wil Wheaton, obv.

*** which is not to say that I think anyone who is trying to lose weight is insane **** it just would be really quite insane for me, believe me.

**** although I think some of them might be.

Tomorrow I am registering a team for Melbourne Trailwalker 2010! So far the team is Mouse Cursor, Cup of Tea, Me and a mystery-fourth-person. BUT NOW I NEED A TEAM NAME D:

This is where you come in. Please comment and suggest a team name, or vote for one of the existing team names because I can't decide all on my own! I will be registering the team at 6am tomorrow morning, so you better hurry.

The choices so far are:

• The Adventures of Chifley: The Team
• #2ndfloor 2: Walk Harder
• idttt

ALSO! I have a number of support/backup/understudy walkers, so if anyone else is interested in training to walk 100km without actually walking 100km at the end of it, let me know and you may be able to tag along too! Get fit and stuff, and stuff.

If you have been following my twitter, you may know that I am rather unwell.

I already had two comics put together for the coming week, and I managed to rally enough to make another this morning. I think any more than this is beyond me so you'll have to survive on three comics this week instead of the usual five.

So I have finally got the RSS thing working properly for The Adventures of Chifley: The Podcast! If you were using that as an excuse not to listen, you will have to think up some other reason.

You can vote for me on Podcast Alley, if you are so inclined.

This paragraph is here so that I can claim My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-7f1e625c788d9bb03219daf5b2fba7ba}

I have also submitted it to iTunes, but it will take a while to show up there.

So yes, the podcast is now actually a podcast, rather than being a collection of audio files on my website. How exciting!

If you head over to the 'Podcasts' area of my site, you'll be able to download Episode 3 of The Adventures of Chifley: The Podcast. I hope you like it!

I still don't have RSS working or the podcasts, as I want to make sure that it's all itunes-happy. Amazing person from work thinks this may be ready early next week so hopefully you can subscribe to that soon and get episode 4 delivered directly to whatever program you use for your podcasts.

I am really enjoying doing the podcasts, and have had some good feedback from some people! Please let me know what you like or don't like about them (and also if anyone knows how to use garageband and can teach me, that would be ace). I might try out a few different things over the coming weeks so please let me know what you think works or doesn't!

So yeah, Episode 2 is now available here.

insomnius has given me five things to write about. The third thing I am writing about is "music I have been listening to".

While I was fasting for my Colonoscopy I watched Amanda Fucking Palmer's webcast and bought... uh a CD, a book and a DVD. They haven't arrived yet but I did get a super-awesome Download copy of Who Killed Amanda Palmer which I hadn't yet listened to.

Then I sort of forgot I bought it until a few days ago. I have been listening to it quite a lot since then and I really like it a lot.

I have the Dresden Dolls albums but never really got super into them - I listened a few times but the albums never hooked me like WKAP has. I listened to it three times in a row on Friday, and then listened to some of the songs (Astronaut, Runs in the Family and Oasis) several more times as well.

I don't feel like I am very good at talking about music, or the reasons that I like it. Hmm. Instead I will just talk about more music that I have been listening to over and over again.

Several years ago on a certain-beloved-person-of-mine's birthday (back before he was either as beloved, or as mine), Blinvisible purchased two CDs. They were The Everglow by Mae and something else by The Early November. I remember this because I teased him about liking bands that were named after months.

Anyway, some time later he gave me a copy of The Everglow and it was so super awesome that I avoided buying anything by Mae. Actually I didn't avoid it so much as just not seek it out because I didn't want to be disappointed by the Non-Everglowness.

Anyway the other day I bought Singularity by Mae which is after The Everglow but not their most recent album.

Then I found it really hard to stop listening to it. I find it difficult to talk about it because I want to say 'it's no Everglow but...' but I'm not sure that I listened to The Everglow this obsessively when I got it. Or perhaps I did. Hmm. Anyway, I really like it a lot and I don't think I need to be scared of buying more things by Mae.

This is somewhat unfortunate, because making excuses for not buying music is rather sensible as far as my credit card is concerned.

Last.fm tells me that I have also been listening to a lot of The Mountain Goats, Guster and Barenaked Ladies. This is completely unsurprising.

So I know that I haven't got the thing sorted out yet to do this properly, but I'm just preparing to record episode 2 of my podcast and, so I thought I would upload episode 1.

I will eventually have it all up and running in a different area of the site and you'll be able to subscribe to it in your podcast-reader of choice.

In the meantime.... enjoy.

The Adventures of Chifley: The Podcast! Episode 1.

OH ALSO you can ask questions in the FAQ area of the site, if you have questions about the site or the comic (or the PODCAST!). I realise it hasn't been updated in a while so I put like a fancy form there and everything. Whee.

One of my neighbours is singing.

Really loudly.

Also really badly. Hm. Oh well.

The second thing that insomnius gave me to write about was 'Birthdays'.

Unsurprisingly I don't remember my first birthday, although I think I have seen photos. My mother and my aunt with boofy 80s hair and battery powered flashing headbands. Perhaps I am getting events confused, because I am sure I remember the rainbow flashing headbands.

On my second Birthday I had a birthday cake in the shape of a T-shirt. Another one I don't remember, but I have seen the photos enough times that it feels like I almost do.

On my third birthday somebody dropped the strawberries for my cake on the floor and we put them on the cake anyway. I do not recall this but it has been 'do you remembered' so many times that I think I do. I'm not even sure if that is what happened. I do distinctly recall a photo of my third birthday, sitting by the cake (with strawberries on it) with my mother and biological father. My father looks very young and the photo makes me uncomfortable.

I am sure I had a fourth birthday.

My 5th birthday is the first one I do actually remember. I had a cake shaped like Winnie The Pooh. And when I say it was a cake shaped like Winnie The Pooh it wasn't like a normal cake cut out in a bear shape. Oh no. It was a cake shaped like Winnie The Pooh. He was sitting up on the board, arms and legs and head and ears and everything. Made of cake. With yellow icing on his body and red icing on his shirt. He looked so delicious and I was so excited. That Pooh cake is probably the most awesome cake I have ever seen. The candles sat beside him on the board. They couldn't sit anywhere else really because there was no flat surface on my Pooh Cake - his head was round and his arms were curved and oh my gosh did I mention this cake was TOTALLY AWESOME. I also recall that the cake wasn't very delicious. The icing was really really gross. Oh well.

I don't remember my sixth birthday either. Hmm.

On my 7th Birthday I was staying with my father in Sydney. We stayed with some people and now I don't remember who they were. I do remember that we had a pool and that my Birthday cake was passion-fruit flavoured and in the shape of a 7.

On my 8th Birthday I had a Birthday Party in a park It was a proper birthday party with invitations and everything. My auntie Kylie painted our faces and my cake was a marble cake in the shape of an 8.

On my 9th Birthday my then-de-facto-stepmother forgot how old I was. She drew a big 8 on my Birthday card and it wasn't until my little brother pointed out that I was turning 9 as they were on the way to my house that the mistake was discovered. The correction to my card was hasty and transparent. I don't know if I was amused by it at the time, or if it has only become amusing in hindsight.

From then onwards my birthdays blur and fade into one another. We were poor and my mother was depressed, my birthday was always celebrated and the weather was almost always fantastic.

After we moved to melbourne and Julie and I grew up a bit we delighted in making fabulous cakes for everyone's birthdays. I'm surprised, looking back, just how many fabulous cakes I had as I was growing up, as when we started making fantastic cakes it seemed like we were doing something that we'd missed out on as children. Not so, I think. I also think it interesting that the Cakes are really the only things that I can remember. I don't even really remember the presents.

Actually I think the flashing headbands were from my sister's second birthday, not my first. Hmm. I guess it really was all about the cakes.

These days I hope it is less about the cakes and more about the company. I am fairly lazy about organising social things so my Birthday is always a good excuse to invite the internet to have a picnic in a park somewhere. The last few years I have done this I have always been surprised (and touched) by the number of people who have shown up to celebrate my birthday with me, often people that I wouldn't necessarily have expected. It is very pleasing :)

So Shamus Young posted the other day about Archive Binge. Which is one of the best ideas ever. I had a look at the site and built some feeds and I am now (slowly) going to catch up on some comics I have always wanted to read but had (until now) been too intimidated by the archives!

Archive Binge basically lets you create a custom feed of a webcomic and it will give you as many strips a day (well up to 10) as you like, on whichever days you like, until you get up to date!

So, if anyone has ever been intimidated by the TAOC archives (there are now over 350 comics!) Archive Binge is your solution! Or if you want to read it again or something silly like that.

Whee!

Also I have recorded a podcast but am still waiting on some changes to the site which will let me put it up and make it all available in itunes and everything. The podcast is still real, guys, I promise!

I will get back to my Things soon, I have been busy with the play I am in!

It is called 'The Trackers Of Oxyrhynchus' and you can find information about it on the Omniprop Website. I like it a lot, and not just because I get to run around with an enormous fake penis.

It's funny and weird and silly and sad. Also, penis. We have four more performances and I do suggest that you come along if you're in the area!

So after each show (except, not last night. I had to take my young man home and... allow him to sleep before work this morning) I have been telling a story to whichever cast members haven't gone home yet. I call them stories because to call it a joke would imply that it was actually... you know, funny. Which, you know, they are but mostly to me. And to other people who appreciate that kind of thing, of course.

I was once again struck with the realisation that telling these stories is something that I'm actually very good at. And something I really really really enjoy. I think I am pretty okay at a lot of things. I can act okay. I can act well enough that I pull off singing and dancing kind of okay. I can draw my little pictures and so on. I guess I know lots of other people that are better at at least some of those other things than me. Some people who are better than all of those things than me. Which is fine! I am pretty happy with being okay-to-good at those things. So! As people who were heading home the night before last expressed actual, genuine, disappointment that they would not be able to stay and listen to my story I started getting an idea.

My twitter post was greeted by enthusiasm by one person and so the idea has been growing stronger and more terrifying by the minute.

I am thinking that I could record some of my stories and put them on the internet. I am intimidated by how un-complicated and un-scary that sounds.

Last night, as I said, I went home soon after the show ended. I promised them two stories after tonights show, to make up for it. I think I could really do this. I have a 10 episode arc kind of bouncing around in my brain right now... And maybe it might be entertaining to more than just me. Many of my favourite people have heard most or all of my stories already, but it will certainly be less in-jokey/obscure/not actually funny than the comic so maybe other people, people I don't actually already know, might listen to it. Somehow. Maybe oh I don't know I am trying not to get discouraged before I even start. It's exciting to plan things out and stuff and aaaaah.

I am not scared of not finishing this, of not succeeding. I am too busy being scared about not starting. I don't even know what things I need to know before I try.

I guess the first thing my podcast needs is a name. I am thinking "The Adventures of Chifley".

Oh wait, that's taken.

insomnius gave me five things to write about. I am going to be a copy-cat and do them one at a time. The first thing she gave me is:

Pseudo-Christianity

I grew up as a new-age-hippy-child in Byron Bay and so my background is very anti-organised-religion but nevertheless inundated with woo.

Some time ago I decided to experiment with going to Church. I walked past St Paul's Cathedral one day and I wondered what going to Church would be like. So I went.

The Sermon was given by a guy who had once been a lecturer of mine at Uni. I enjoyed it quite a bit so I went back a few times. In those days I was working on Sunday mornings at Southbank so it was pretty convenient to go in a bit early and then sneak out just as they were starting communion. The sermons were my favourite part - but some weeks I didn't particularly care for what they were saying, depending on who was there. They do a rotatey thing at St Paul's.

Then I got a new job. I wasn't going to travel all the way to the City just to go to Church so I found another church closer to me and I went there on Sunday mornings. The sermons were my still my favourite part and more consistently interesting than when there was a different person giving the sermon each week. Actually my favourite part was when he said something like "Like most things in the bible, this didn't actually happen: but this is why we tell this story and this is what the author's of the story thought was important". I thought that was pretty awesome.

I don't say the Nicean Creed.

I felt uncomfortable taking communion but I did it the first time and it seemed rude not to once I had already done it. I haven't been baptised or anything so I am not sure that it's really allowed. If I start going to another church I have discovered that I can request a blessing instead which I think I will do.

I think that the whole God/Jesus thing isn't very important to my religious experience. I'm not quite sure what I enjoy(ed) about it (I haven't been to Church for over a year now, I moved house and haven't found a new Church to go to). I tried going to the Unitarian church once but it's was far more intimidating what with them assuming that I'd be interested in all of their activisty causy things. It was much more political than I expected and I didn't end up going back.

Apart from the Sermons I really did enjoy the community aspect. I was immediately welcomed and nothing was really expected of me. I really felt like being kind and being generous were important and valued ways of being. That's a sentiment I think I can get behind.

I think I liked the praying part. I'm not sure that I was praying to the same thing as everyone else but I don't think it matters. When some of my friends were unwell I even wrote their names down on the piece of paper and had everyone else pray for them too.

I don't think that I can bring myself to think that praying actually has any effect on things, but it's one of those other things that doesn't seem to matter much - for me it was about taking some time to think about the people I cared about that were in pain or distress. Perhaps it helped me to deal with my feelings of powerlessness, without having to sacrifice how much I cared for these people.

I think maybe that's what I got out of the whole pseudo-christianity deal: a time, place and excuse to think and care about what was and is really important to me.

Perhaps I will try to find another Church to visit.

PS. If you would like five things to post about in your blog or journal, feel free to comment and request them! That's what memes are for.

I have always been both a fast and an involved reader.

My father would tell me off for reading too much, he said it wasn't good for me. Reading books was a good way to escape some of the other things he told me, which were far less likely to be true. Enough of that, though!

My grandfather used to tease me because when he tried to speak to me while I was reading, I wouldn't respond.

The problem is, I have difficulty stopping reading. I tend to get completely absorbed in what I'm reading and have difficulty doing anything else. (It's not just a...problem (is it a problem, really?) with reading, of course, I have the same issue when I watch television shows on DVD (which is the pro way of watching tv shows).

Every now and then I practice reading books more slowly (it's easiest with books I've already read) and I'm proud to say that it took me at least 3 months to read the 8 books that I was lent in April.

Hippo has also lent me some books, which I am also trying not to get lost in. These aren't books I've already read, though, so it may be a lost cause.

When I started this entry, I had an appropriate segue in mind, but I wasn't paying enough attention and it slipped away. Anyway! I have been reading stories online and not all of them are pornographic. The magic of RSS means I can read them a chapter at a time, and I don't even have to pay attention to when they are updated because Google Reader tells me about it!

The immensely talented RJ Astruc has a story on livejournal. RJ is... just phenomenal and I'm really looking forward to reading some more of her story. Chapters are 'unlocked' as people friend the journal, so I guess I can't pretend that my recommendation isn't selfishly motivated. (If you don't have livejournal you can still subscribe to the feed or read it on the journal page). There are three chapters so far and it should only get more awesome! It has PIRATES.

Far less wholesomely, I have been reading Tales of MU since some time last year. I devoted a weekend to the archives and became somewhat addicted. Oh well. Okay, fine this is the porn story I referred to in one of my other entries. Sigh. AE also writes non-porn stories but the only one I've got into so far is Tribe. I like it very much but tend to let it build up for a while and then read it in chunks. I keep intending to get into some of her other stories, and will at some point but I'm somewhat intimidated by the archives.

Two bloggers I read, Alexandra Erin (author of MU) and The Ferrett, were very excited when Cat Valente started her online serial The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland. I took a brief look at the website, couldn't see a link to the rss feed and decided not to bother. I took another look today, however, and there is a feed. I've only read the first chapter so far, but it's very cute.

So I got a call at about 1pm today to say that someone was about 30mins away from my house to come and fix my washing machine. Someone from work gave me a lift home and when I arrived someone was standing outside my house. I let him in and about 10mins later I had a working washing machine.

Hurrah!

I put a load of washing on and headed back to work. Now I am home again and doing some more washing. I have... uh, quite a lot to do.

In other news, Celia has learnt to miaow. She didn't used to make very much noise, but now she makes noises. Often outside my door in the morning after I have kicked her and Simon out of my room for trying to kill each other on my stomach. She has been doing it for a few weeks and getting louder and louder. Silly Celia.

In other other news, Someone from work brought in a Six Pack at 4.30 this afternoon. It is completely coincidental that I then

1. Didn't feel like walking the 5km home
2. Got on the wrong tram (in my defence, the sign said it was the correct tram)
3. Didn't notice that it was the wrong tram when it should have become evident
4. Missed my stop (the tram is not wrong enough to not have a "my stop")

I only had one beer, and I blame the book I was reading for 2-4 on the list. And number one can be blamed on the fact that I had already had to catch the tram once today (getting back to work after my washing machine was fixed) and so my not-buying-tram-tickets defences were already down.

I was extremely surprised to receive a call from Whirlpool today! Even more surprisingly they told me that Wooley appliances have the part for my washing machine and told me that they would be contacting me soon.

While I was on hold to Wooley, someone from Wooley actually called me and told me that someone can come and fix my machine tomorrow.

No, really.

So I've been quite busy rehearsing for the play I'm currently in... I didn't have time to make comics on the weekend and this is the first time in a few days I've actually had any time to unwind. So I'm drinking a glass of wine and in a few minutes I'm going to bed.

I have ideas for the comic, all in email or in notes in my phone. But I think I'll take the rest of the week off and comics will resume on Monday.

I had things I actually wanted to blog about as well. They will have to wait too.

Oh, one of them was an update on my washing machine situation. The update is: Nothing has really happened.

I contacted Consumer Affairs for advice and they advised me to contact Whirlpool in writing and to give them 7 days to respond. Here is the text of my letter to whirlpool:

 On 26^th October 2008 I purchased a Whirlpool Front Loader washing machine (WFS1071AW) from Cliftons Retravision, in Clifton Hill Victoria.

On or around 10th May 2009 my washing machine stopped working and on or around the 20th May 2009, via the whirlpool phone system, I was directed to contact Wooley Appliances - the Authorised Whirlpool service centre for my area. I was informed at this time that if the damage was not covered under warranty, then I would be required to pay for both labour and parts on the repairs.

On the 26th of May 2009 a representative from Wooley Appliances examined my machine and informed my housemate, [Hippo], that the belt was broken and would need to be replaced. He informed her that he did not have the part in stock, and would need to order it from the Manufacturer. He claimed that it may take a few days for the part to come in. At no time was it indicated to me, or Ms [Hippo], that this repair or part would not be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty.

On the 3rd of June 2009 I contacted Wooley Appliances, as I had not heard from them. A representative informed me that they did not have an ETA for my part but that she would ask someone to contact me when they had an ETA on the part coming in, they advised me that they expected this would take only a few days.

On or around 23rd June 2009 I again contacted Wooley Appliances, a representative again informed me that they would contact me when they had an ETA on my part. I pointed out that I had been waiting for the part for some time and had not heard anything about this part. The representative agreed that I had been waiting a long time and she assured me that she would contact me in either case.

A few days later I was contacted by Wooley Appliances and informed that they were unable to get an ETA on the part I was waiting for. A representative from Wooley provided me with the part number, order number and "astro" number of the part I was waiting for and suggested that I contact the manufacturer directly. She claimed that there was no other action she could take on my behalf.

On 29th June 2009 I contacted Whirlpool and provided them with the information provided to me by Wooley. They informed me that they could not assess my case until they received proof of purchase from me. I provided proof of purchase to Wooley via fax on 2nd July 2009. I was informed that my case manager would contact me "within a few days".

On 6th July 2009 I contacted Whirlpool again, I was informed that my case was still being assessed and that it normally took 'three business days' for a case manager to get back to a customer, and that that three business days only started from the Thursday before.

On 7th July 2009 I again contacted Whirlpool. A representative from Whirlpool apologised for the delay and informed me that my case manager would get back to me by the end of the day. She looked on the system and told me that my part was on order and that an ETA had been requested but no ETA for that part was available. She asked what I expected whirlpool to do and I requested that if the part was not available, and not going to become available, that Whirlpool should provide me with a replacement washing machine. She agreed to pass this request onto her manager.

On 8th July 2009 I contacted whirlpool and again received an apology for my case manager not contacting me. I was told that my case manager would contact me by the end of the day.

On 9th July 2009 at around 9am I contacted whirlpool and was again told that my case manager would contact me by the end of the day. I called Whirlpool again at round 4.15pm, and again at 5pm. I was told that I would receive a call first thing the next day.

On the 13^th July 2009 I again called Whirlpool. Although I provided my reference number, the whirlpool representative requested the part number and astro number information which I had provided to whirlpool on  29^th June. I provided this information and was again told that I would receive a call by the end of the day.

In the seven weeks since my part was ordered by Wooley Appliances I have not received any information about how long it will take for this part to become available.

[Reference Number and Warranty Information Included Here]

I request to be contacted immediately by Whirlpool and to be provided with the date that the part will be available, and an approximate date that this part can be installed in my machine by Wooley Appliances.

As I have already been waiting for this part for seven weeks, I feel that it is not reasonable for me to be waiting for much longer. If this part is not likely to be available within the next 14 days I request that I be provided with a replacement washing machine.

If I do not hear from you after 7 days, I will forward my complaint to Consumer Affairs Victoria to take this further.

Please contact me on the phone number or email address (both provided above) at any time to discuss this matter.

That was on 14th July. Predictably, absolutely nothing happened, so I made a complaint to Consumer Affairs today. They told me it may take up to 2 weeks for them to get back to me, but this is okay because I trust that they will actually get back to me. Much better than Whirlpool promising to get back to me by the end of the day and then not actually doing so. ARGH.

I think I probably need to go to the laundromat again soon, this makes me sad because although I am quite happy to take most of my clothes off on stage, the thought of other people seeing my clothes without me being in them freaks me out. This is probably because I am extremely strange.

Other things that you have missed out (so far) on me blogging about because I have been too busy and/or lazy:

• Funny podcasts I have been listening to
• Online porn stories I have been reading
• yoghurt
• statistical analysis of the Triple-J Hottest 100

Feel free to comment and tell me which of these things you would like me to actually get around to blogging about, and I may do so.

At 9am this morning I called Whirlpool. A whirlpool representative claimed that I would receive a call by the end of the day.

At 3pm I still had not heard anything and I filled out an online enquiry on the Consumer Affairs website. I anticipate that I will hear from Consumer Affairs before I hear from Whirlpool.

At 4.15 I called Whirlpool. The girl I spoke to told me that she was emailing my case to "three managers" and it was "urgent priority". I asked when I would expect to hear frmo someone - she told me it would certainly be by the end of the day.

At 5pm I called Whirlpool again. Again I was told that they were emailing everyone in the world and I was told that I would receive a call first thing in the morning.

This seems unlikely, I guess I will call Whirlpool again tomorrow. Sigh.

So I called Whirlpool yesterday.

The service representative apologised that nobody had got back to me. She assured me that she had everything she needed, confirmed my phone number and told me that she would organise for my case manager to call me.

I asked her when I could expect to be called, she assured me that it would be by the end of the day. That was at 3pm, but the ubiquity of american accents on the other end of the phone makes me think they may not be in Australia. (either that or they only have one woman who works there)

Unsurprisingly, absolutely nothing happened! I will call them again today. Sigh.

On the 10th of May my washing machine broke. It stopped mid-cycle and I was unable to open the door.

My housemate got the door open during the week, but when I attempted to do washing on the 18th of May, I had the same problem.

Eventually I found the warranty information for my Washing Machine (I had only bought it in October) and I called Whirlpool.

The Whirlpool phone system presents you with four options:

Press 1 to book a service call

Press 2 to order a spare part

Press 3 for product information

Press 4 for all other enquiries

Pressing 1 or 2 will give you a recorded message with a different 1300 number to call (if you're in a metropolitan area). If you aren't in a metropolitan area it tells you to look in your phonebook. Extremely helpful. I was in a Metropolitan area, so I called the other 1300 number. I don't exactly recall what happened but I believe that it told me to call another number and eventually I made my way through to a service centre which I neglected to write down the name of, and also misplaced the number for. Silly me, I did not realise how much I would need this information.

I don't recall the exact day, but I believe it was fairly early in the week. I provided all of my warranty information and the representative told me that the soonest someone could come and look at my washing machine would be on the following Tuesday. At some point during the day, they could not tell me around what time it would be during the day but they said they'd call me 30mins before they showed up. Not particularly helpful for someone who works around 40minutes from home! It wasn't too dreadful though, because one of my lovely housemates was available to be home that day.

The 26th of May rocked around and the service-person called me and went to my house to look at my washing machine. Housemate informed me when I got home that he had determined that the problem was just that the belt was broken, but unfortunately he didn't have that particular part with him. He said he would order the part and that it 'may take a couple of days to come in'.

I am an exceedingly patient person. I have worked in Technical Support for several years and that patience has often been required. Sometimes, however, I think I should be less patient and understanding.

My immense patience meant that it wasn't until the 3rd of June that I called to enquire about my part. My phone remembered the number of the guy that had come to see my machine so I called him first.

He informed me that he remembered my machine and said he wouldn't know anything about the part because he did the service calls, he did comment that it had been quite some time and he was surprised that I was still waiting. He provided me with the phone number for the service centre.

I called and they looked up my file. I was informed that the part had been ordered but they did not have an ETA for the part. The lady on the phone commented that it had been quite a while and she apologised for the delay. She told me that she would request an ETA for me and someone would call me back in a couple of days and let me know when the part would be available.

Did I mention that I am an exceedingly patient person? I really am. Because what do you think I did? Oh yes, I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Then I realised that I didn't know the company that was supposedly fixing my washing machine. I recalled the hoops I had to jump through to find it initially. I was too embarassed to call the guy who's mobile I had in my phone. I had lost the piece of paper that I had written the number on. Luckily I don't make many phone calls at work, and I knew the date and time that I had last called these people - someone was able to pull my call logs out of our phone system and I called Woolley Appliances and once again asked them about my part.

The lady on the phone looked up my case and told me that the part had been ordered, but they did not yet have an ETA for the part. She told me she would request an ETA and someone would give me a call back in a couple of days and let me know when the part would be available. I told her that someone had already said that they'd do that and then not actually done so. She said she could see that the ETA request had not been answered.

I called back two days later and was informed that they still didn't have an ETA. I grumbled that nobody had ever called me to tell me that, and that I had been promised calls and nobody had ever called me. She apologised (again) and informed me that their system was set up so that when the ETA came back they would call the customer and let them know. Since my ETA request had vanished into nothingness, their system basically didn't cope with it and I was left without any information. I informed her that I didn't think that was acceptable and she told me that she'd print out my information and keep it on her desk.

She called me the next day to tell me that she was still unable to get any information from the manufacturer about when my part would be available, and she didn't know what else she would be able to do for me. She mentioned that perhaps I could call the manufacturer myself.

I called back the next day and she was still unable to do anything for me. She did provide me with the part number & order number for my part. Armed with this information, I called Whirlpool.

It was now the 30th of June.

I mentioned that the first two options on the Whirlpool phone system give you a recorded message, well so does the third.

The fourth option simply hangs up.

I discovered, after experimentation and guess-work, that pressing zero will transfer you through to an actual person. I provided the numbers that Woolley had provided to me, told my story to the Whirlpool representative. She told me she would create a case for me. She required more numbers from me and my proof of purchase (which I did not have with me).

Unfortunately that evening I wasn't able to get home after dinner and had to stay the night at my mother's house. On Wednesday I was unwell and did not go to work so I did not have access to a fax machine.

On Thursday I faxed my proof of purchase to Whirlpool.

On Friday I called Whirlpool again, I was informed that my Proof Of Purchase had been received and that it might take a couple of days for my case manager to assess me case and get back to me.

On Monday (yesterday) I called Whirlpool again. I was crankily informed that it would take 'at least three business days' for my case manager to get back to me. I thought that 'a couple of days' and 'three business days' were different things, particularly when the start of that period is a thursday morning.

At 3pm this afternoon I decided that their 3 business days were up and I called Whirlpool again.

This time I got an apology for my case manager not getting back to me yet. She said that it didn't normally take that long. She told me that the part was on order but (OH GOSH WHAT A SURPRISE) she was unable to tell me when the part would be available.

I informed her, quite curtly, that I didn't think that this was acceptable. I have been without a washing machine for nearly two months. Six weeks since the part was ordered initially and nobody has ever been able to give me ANY IDEA of how long I am likely to be waiting for it. She asked me what I thought she should do and I told her that they could surely get me a new washing machine more quickly than this, and that if they couldn't fix my machine they should just give me a new one. She told me that she would request that of her manager.

I am really not impressed by whirlpool. I do not intend to buy any more whirlpool products, even if they do come with a year's worth of detergent. Grrr!

I intend to call Whirlpool back tomorrow and ask them for an update. I will be calling them EVERY DAY until I know when someone is going to be at my house and fixing my washing machine.

I will update this blog with the (lack of) news about my washing machine, so that you too can experience the frustration of dealing with whirlpool!

This is just a test entry, to see if the blog actually works.