J's Verandah

Long Weekend with Rain, Friends and Bratwurst

2012-01-29T14:15:00.021+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are on a wet Sunday afternoon. Well, that's not true, it's not just today, it's been a whole week of pretty much non-stop rain. Usually we get this rain in November but we're getting it at the end of the season. Hmmm. Anyways, there are a few lorikeets out there chattering away. I've heard a lot of Kookaburras, but they're tough and can deal with any kind of weather. They're cool that way. Otherwise, as a bonus to the wet rainy days, the temperature hasn't been too hot or muggy, which is a wonderful thing in my book. So yes, the weather is lovely aside from all the rain. It's cool and breezy. Got some really groovy jazz tunes streaming through one of my new favorite internet radio stations Sky.FM Radio (am streaming their "Jazz Classics" station. So far they have 42 stations of various flavors, from blues to Japanese pop to new age and points in between. They're awesome!). It's a bit early for the cool glass of standby white wine, but seeing as I've been sitting here slaving over this hot little computer all day I almost think a small glass might be ok........

So work. Yep. Is good, busy, the usual. Tho I had a very quick "catch up" with my Boss, who's been away on vacation for a month and a half......... He had almost no memory of telling me how he wasn't going to keep me permanently or follow through with my permanent residency application. Again, I was dumbfounded. Suffice to say I set him straight on a few things and all he could say was that he would talk to HR. Again, it's all out of my hands so they'll concoct what ever deal they can figure out. That's too bad but will just sit tight and see what they come up with. Sigh. Hopefully they'll keep me and go through with the PR application, but I'll be happy with a measly contract extension. Suffice to say I'm keeping my eyes and options open........... Watch this space! Otherwise, all's well, it's nice to have a job and be busy!

And then there were the weekends. Apologies for not checking in last week. I've been sitting here trying to think what I was up to that I couldn't check in................. I know I busted out the chores on Saturday like a crazy lady......... Oh yeah, Sunday was errands/take the car out for a spin where I made the fatal mistake of going to a 'new' grocery store (by car for once, like normal people) in Ashgrove, the 'hood behind mine (another 'hood I'll never be able to afford to buy in). Well. It was me and a thousand other SUVs all trying to get around in a parking garage made for Minis (did I feel like a dope for not having my SUV packed with screaming children and their sports gear). And being a rainy Sunday afternoon, the place was absolutely packed. All I can say is I won't do that again. But I did manage to get what I needed and that was chicken so I could make my Dad's boneless fried chicken (or as my neighbors dubbed them, "Gourmet McNuggets"). It's the bestest recipe on the planet, of which I can't divulge due to fatal repercussions......... So that's what I spent the evening doing and cleaning up after. Which was why I was too busy to check in. But man they were gooooood! Worth the Battle of the SUVs!

And then there was this weekend, with a nice catch-up dinner at Vio's Italian restaurant (fairly new kid on the block with excellent food and super nice staff) with my friend Jan during the week. Always good to see her, our catch-ups always go too fast. And then Thursday was Australia Day (and a national day off - hooray!) where, traditionally, we all head to Julian's for his usual Australia Day BBQ. But alas, this year Julian was not in the mood to entertain and therefore didn't have it. A bit of a bummer but completely understandable. So I didn't do anything except enjoy a nice day off - no chores, no running around, it was excellent. I think I just read and watched more "Breaking Bad" episodes. And because Australia Day was on a Thursday and I had yet to take my January Free Day Off from work, I took the Friday off too. Again, it was another quiet day, but later that evening met up with the usual suspects for pizza and games, again, that was most excellent and always a good time. Yesterday was a bit busy, had lots of people drop by to say hi, which was nice but sort of wierd as I never have people "drop by".......... Good thing the little apartment was tidy and I was dressed fit for public approval! And then later that evening I met Bruce, my friend/old co-worker from Fire days, and his family at the German Club for his birthday dinner. All I can say is I had the best time I've had in a while. Not only because of catching up with Bruce after aaaaaaaages, but there was a German one-man-band named "Andrew" (the video isn't so great but you totally get the idea) who, complete with lederhosen, played everything from AC/DC to Madonna, to traditional German drinking songs to the theme from Zorba The Greek, all on his stack of keyboards, trombone, guitar and trumpet and who knows what else he has up there on that little stage. The guy was unstoppable and managed to bring down the house with his rendition of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit (Entertain Us)". Maaaaaan it was funny. And the place was full of alllll types of folks - little old ladies to little kids, and everyone looked to be having a fantastic time. If you get your butt down here soonish and he's playing one weekend, we are so going. Not to mention the (traditional) food was amazing for the portions and price (I had the Bratwurst - soooooo good, complete with veggies, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut). It was an absolutely fantastic night out. I wish I'd brought my camera because the photos I took on my phone didn't come out so well (as you can see). So you'll just have to get down here and see for yourself!

And that brings us up to now, and that you got to read at the beginning, so we're all caught up! All's well down here, we're in the home-stretch of summer and then we'll be out of the heat and humidity (not that it's been that bad this year) and into Autumn! Hooray! So feel free to book that trip down here anytime! I hope you're all well up there. I say it and I'll say it again, drop me a line sometime and tell me your news from the Northern Hemisphere!

BYE!
J!

Running Around with Wildlife on Dining Room Tables

2012-01-16T08:30:00.026+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are, Monday evening. Sorry to be a little late but am here now. The weather was really wierd last week - super hot and stinky humid and then boom - come Friday it was rainy and "chilly", and it's stayed ever since. Am not complaining tho - I'll totally take this rainy damp chill over what we'd normally be having at this time of the year. Thankfully we only have until the end of Feb, maybe March to get through and the worst will be over and we'll be into Autumn! Hooray! But yes, here we are, Monday earlyish-evening. A few brave lorikeets out there in the rain jabbering away, trying to be heard over the crows. Don't know where the magpies and pee wee s are..... and the noisy miners are out there yelling full blast at anyone who wanders under their tree (which is usually Kona - you should hear the ruckus when he sits in the yard. There'll be like 7 of them out there all yelling at him. He ignores them. Good boy.) So yes, it's wildlife central out there when the weather is cool and damp. Not too many Kookaburras, but they swing by on patrol now and then. Anyways, got the way groovy jazz tunes courtesy of the modern TV (do you know, I've had it just over a year now and it never gets old having a nice, modern TV (as opposed to none, if you'll cast your memory back)), got a nice glass of Merlot (seeing as it's cool enough to drink red), Monday is officially in the bag - life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good, busy-ish. Enjoying it while I gots it. Was super busy last week with the bid folks editing a big bid they're hoping to hand in. Sat in a stuffy room for the week shoved in a corner at a little laptop. It's Monday and I'm still feeling the bad typing angles and posture. Thankfully no more of that for a few weeks, or so I hear. Apparently there're a few "Big Bids" coming up that they want to go for and apparently "need" my help on. Hmmm. Still no word on my ultimate fate but that's because my Boss isn't back yet from his cruise around the South Pacific with the family. Hmmm. So it's still a case of 'watch this space'. Otherwise, I have enough work in my foster department to keep me entertained 8 hours a day, and that's always better than the nothing I had to do this time last year in my previous department! Hooray!

And then there was the weekend. Saturday was chores. The usual. And when I finished with them I plunked myself down on the couch in front of the TV and had a mini-marathon of Breaking Bad. I was still suffering from all the wicked kinks in my shoulders and neck from the editing blitz, on top of not sleeping well most of that hot humid week - I was beat. But hey, at least the little apartment was clean!

And yesterday, Sunday, was another Ikea run. Well, the car needed a good little drive around and I thought a good walk around (indoors, because of the rain) would help with the kinks. I had a list but meant to just look and think and plan. Well.... I came home with a new dining room table! Hooray! I have been wanting a new dining room table ever since I moved to this Shitbox Palace. My unit came with a super crappy table (with wobbly, tin legs) and two crappy chairs (that were way too low for the table. So every time I sat at it to do anything, like, say, eat, I always felt like a kid) that I just never organized myself to replace (or ask the owner to take away). So yesterday I made the Executive Decision and got a new table and two chairs (with jaunty red cushions)! And I lugged down the old table and chairs and stuffed them in our little "abandoned furniture" niche under the S.B. Palace. It took a good couple of hours putting at all together (those chairs are never coming apart!), but in the end it looks totally awesome. I'm ever so happy with them. Just like normal people in a normal house (almost)! And now I actually want to be in the kitchen longer than just cooking and running away into the "living room"! Hooray! And then unfortunately, as the afternoon wore on, my aches and kinks moved back in with a wicked headache to boot. So as soon as I finished building the table and chairs I had to sit and not do anything. Which meant not checking in. Bummer dude. Am better today - hooray for Advil and Aleve!

But there you have it! Another week and another weekend. Not too exciting. Otherwise all is well down here, I hope you're all well up there! Hurry up and plan that visit down here already! If you need annnnnnny help with an itinerary, I can hand out a few ideas...... Am just sayin'.........!

BYE!
J!

Movies, Pizza, Laundry - It's a Weekend!

2012-01-08T13:12:00.013+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are, Sunday afternoon, hot, humid, ahhhh summer with no air-conditioning.....! Am a bit early because I've decided that when I wait until the late afternoon/early evening, I'm tired and get distracted easily. Ok, so no cool glass of white wine or groovy jazz tunes, but at least this way I can be productive on two fronts - getting the laundry done and checking in! So yes, here we are, it's a hot, humid Sunday afternoon.... the birds were fulla beans first thing this morning and are usually even chattier in the evenings. I'm glad the lorikeets have come back, the evenings don't seem as fun if they're not around. But yes, since it's early, there is no wine, but there it's there waiting in the fridge for when the sun goes down, meaning the worst of the heat has passed! For now, I have two fans on full-speed and a huge glass of ice water - life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. It was a short and quiet week last week. Lots of folks are still away on vacation. I don't get using all your vacation time at once, especially at the hottest time of the year, unless you're off to Europe for Xmas that is, I suppose. These folks use all their time when everyone else does, they all go to pretty much the same beaches, and then fight with each other to get home at the end of it all, undoing all the great relaxing they just did. It doesn't make sense to me. Take vacation in chunks when the weather is cool and places aren't crowded with your co-workers. That way your sanity is sure to be kept intact, instead of losing your marbles hanging out for that one big vacation a year. I don't know, that's just me. I'd rather spread the vacation across the year than blow it all at once. Hmmm. But in saying that, not knowing what's happening with my job, saving my vacation time could be an even better way to go - if they let me go they'll have to pay me out for it - whew! Again, with the job, watch this space. Fingers crossed they can figure something out........... and soon?!

And then there was the weekend. It's been quite nice, heat and humidity aside. Yesterday my friend Kim came around and we wandered up to the Palace Barracks Cinemas to go see "Iron Lady" (that's a link to the Herald Scotland review, which I think nails what I thought of it). While Meryl Streep was, as usual, amazing, the movie/story itself was just ok. I got it, but they could have done more about her and her rise through the ranks of an all-male parliament and her political career instead of focusing on her present-day, sort of hallucinatory/dementia-riddled relationship with her dead husband. To me, that took away from what could have been a really interesting and enlightening film. But no, Hollywood had to step in and toss a bit of sad drama into it. Hmmm. So, while I can recommend it for Meryl Streep, wait for the DVD. Or TV. Thankfully I'm in the cinema's movie club and only paid $11 for the ticket, instead of the usual $17.50 (gasp!). Now I remember why I rarely go to the movies.... But it's an awesome cinema with lots of windows and comfy spaces to sit (with coffee tables) while you drink your wine and wait for your movie, and you can bring your wine/beer/whatever booze in with you (Awesome! Take that US movie theatres!), and I'd go more often if there were movies I just had to pay $11 bucks to see on the big screen...... Maybe this year I'll go more often............. And after the movie we headed up to Kookaburra Cafe for dinner - always perfect and too filling! So, even though it was getting on to 10pm, we had to go for a bit of a walk to walk off all that pasta and pizza. The days are too hot but boy the evening's are beautiful. Certainly beats when I lived in Phoenix when, during summer, the temperature would drop to a chilly 95 at night! At least here it gets to 75, and I can live with that.

And today, Sunday, just did the laundry and can't be bothered for much else. Too hot. Hopefully maybe get some more writing done on my Hollywood Blockbuster Sell-Out Screenplay.............. Maybe after a nap.......!

And there you have it. Dull, dull, dull. But that's ok. Will just sit tight until the job thing is sorted and then we'll see where we're at for fun and Adventures! Until then, you have until March or so to plan your visit down here - by then the weather will be back to being perfect! Hooray! Hope, you're all well up there! Drop a line and let know know someone is alive and reading this out there!

BYE!
J!

Holidays, Food and Naps!

2012-01-02T10:18:00.028+10:00

Hi!

Well. Am late, like late, again. I swear, these last few weeks have been stupid crazy busy. Still, that's no excuse (but it kinda is when the holidays have been on the weekends....). Anyways, here we are on a bright, warm and happy Monday morning (we get Monday off because New Years was over the weekend. I don't get it either but who am I to question local customs?), the birds were up and at it early this morning but I chose to sleep in - get it while I can. Way too early for the cool white wine, but since am on vacation, and it's a Monday when I'd normally be at work, it's almost sort of tempting...... But no, I've got a nice cup of coffee, some groovy French jazz tunes that I forgot I owned - life is good!

So work. Well......... it's been good. Busy in an I-can-handle-it kinda way. Helping to re-draw (electronically) aircraft technical diagrams, it's half interesting, but much better than doing nothing. Although the whole work thing took a slight turn just before we went on our break. The Boss rather bluntly told me, after asking me to come on in shut the door and have a seat (always a harbinger of doom), that they weren't going to make me permanent, that they weren't going to support my permanent residency application and if I didn't like it I was happy to look for work elsewhere. After an entire year of telling me that they would do both. In fact, in the week or so before this little dive bomb, we'd talked about the permanent contract and how HR was nearly finished with it and how the Director of Finance had given the go-ahead to fund it all. Not to mention that up to now I've spent over a grand getting my PR paperwork together. The paperwork they told me to go out and organize. Then boom, he pulls this Crazy Ivan and tells me to "have a good Xmas and a Happy new Year, OK?". I was as stunned as a baby seal on an ice float. So, I had a quick chat with my foster department and they say they'll see what they can do, which is also an interesting change in direction as a month ago they were willing to "do whatever it takes" to get me from my original department permanently into theirs. Hmm. All I know is my contract ends at the beginning of April and I have no idea what's going to happen then. Do I fire up the job hunting machine? Do I sit tight? What a pain. I hope Santa left him a lump of coal...... (is the kindest thing she could say in an open forum like a little Blog..........). So yes, watch this space.

But then there were the weekends, riddled with holidays, food and naps! To kick-start the break, that Friday, the 23rd, we had a half-day at work, which was good so I could get ready to go out later that evening to see The Church here in town at the Powerhouse (P.S. Not my photo on the left there. I took a couple and they were crap. Thank you Church website). It was one of their best shows I've seen yet. The audience was well-behaved compared to some shows of theirs I've seen where half the audience (usually the folks up front) spend the evening talking on their cell phones, only to have the front-man stop the show to yell at them. Thankfully, there was none of that. Either folks have learned that the lead singer is a grumpy dude who doesn't put up with their rudeness, or they all just really wanted to be there. Ohhhh it was a good night. The Church have been around for 30 years (gasp!), hence it was their 30th Anniversary Tour, so they did one album from each decade - the latest one "Untitled #23", "Priest = Aura" and "Starfish", with no opening band and two intermissions. It was a fantastic night. If you even remotely like them I can highly recommend going to see them. And tickets weren't as stupid expensive as I expected. And, knowing how notoriously expensive the Powerhouse is for food and drinks, I smuggled my own wine in, thus saving the $22 for the cab ride home - awesome! What a good way to kick off the holiday break!

And then there were the holidays. Xmas was lovely, as it usually is. I spent it with my foster family (former boss from my job with Fire), Paul and his wife Margaret, his son Russell and his wife Kim. We ate, talked, ate, talked, watched the latest Pirates of the Caribbean and Planet of the Apes movies (Pirates good, Apes bad), ate, talked and finally home around 9.30pm. A lovely day with awesome food (I even had seconds, which is rare)!

And then somewhere in the break my friend Linus and his girlfriend had a BBQ, which turned into a really really good evening meeting new folks who all used to work at Southbank at one time or another (quite a few jobs ago now, thankfully). It was a great afternoon/evening. And for once I was in the country! Usually whenever he's had a BBQ I've been out of the country. And you know how rare that is. Such timing!

And then it was New Years. Spent it with the usual pizza and games suspects. Again, another lovely and fairly quiet evening. Heh, we almost didn't notice it was New Years until we heard the fireworks. We looked at each other, said Happy New Year and continued with our game and more wine. I love that it's such a non-event with us. It's most excellent.

And that was the holidays for another year! Hooray! I'm splurging and taking my monthly one free day off and taking Tuesday off, going back to work this Wednesday. Thankfully we have another break at the end of the month for Australia Day, which happens to fall on a Thursday, so am taking that Friday off too (as are most folks I imagine). Because right now, with work giving me the run-around, it's just nice to have the [paid] time away.

So yes, apologies for not checking in yesterday like I should have, like I intended to. I even fired up mah little computer but my sinuses decided otherwise. Ooooooohweeeee, I swear, one new bush or tree blooms somewhere in the neighborhood and my sinuses overreact with glee. Going all out (literally) for the entire day. I didn't feel better until 9.30pm last night. And I had such grand plans for yesterday.......... Thankfully I have tomorrow off, which kind of makes up for it. But am checking in now and hopefully will keep it up, do my best to check in on the weekends. Again, it's tough sometimes when I don't get up to much. I'm convinced that doing chores and napping just can't make for even remotely interesting reading......... But I will try! And so far there is not a single Adventure on the calendar! Gasp! Then again, with the job up in the air, best to just batten down the hatches and see what shakes down. Hopefully I'll know which way the wind is blowing in the next month or two. Sigh. Either way, all is well down here, with summer trying to get going. Thankfully we haven't had the blistering heat and humidity that we usually do, that tried to move in in early November. Nor have we had a third of the storms we usually have. Huh. Wierd weather. But, am not complaining! Every day that the temperature is even two degrees "below normal" is perfectly fine by me!

So there. I hope you're all well up there, that you had good holidays and have grand plans for the new year.... like coming down here for a visit (or else the 'roo with the laser eyes will hunt you down)! Hooray!

BYE!
J!

2 Year Olds, Comdians, and Wine on a School Night...

2011-12-11T16:08:00.016+10:00

Hi!

Well. Am late. Like way late. I have a few good, little reasons, but I'll get to those in a sec. Also, the last few Sunday evenings have been stinkin' hot. And I really don't want a repeat of when my computer overheated and died and I had to buy a whole new hard drive because I'd lost most of my stuff. Yes, good thing for back-up hard-drives, but it just seems easier not to write when A) There's not much to shout about and B) It's too hot, don't want the wee computer to die. Or don't want you to die of boredom..........! But we're here now, it's actually a rather damp and cool afternoon thanks to the monsoons that blew through earlier today..... No strange show tunes radio show because I can't take it anymore and the groovy jazz tunes aren't on yet. There are a few twittering birds out there, mainly blabbing crows, but it's nothing compared with the last few summers and the screeching lorikeets....... But boy they're all sure chatty in the mornings before my alarm! But I do still have the cool, stand-by glass of white wine - life is good!

So work. Yep. It's pretty good. Busy, which is even better. Everyone has ADD because it's getting close to Xmas and people are getting ready to take a bit of time off. Me, am only taking the 3 days that we have no choice but to take off. Otherwise am saving my vacation time for a better (and cheaper) time of year. And I still don't mind work so it doesn't really bother me. Am just looking forward to the nearly week & 1/2 of [paid] freedom so I can get stuff done! Hooray! And am still really pretty happy in my adoptive department and they seem happy to have me still. We're currently going through our Annual Performance Reviews.... yawn. All I know is I want a raise because I haven't had one yet and it's been over a year now. The Boss and I are due to have our "chat" on Tuesday. Wish me luck! But really, honestly, they could keep paying me whatever and I'd just be happy to have the work. Well, within reason. We'll see what happens! Fingers crossed! Otherwise, work is good.

And then there were a few weekends in there......... And from memory they were, for the most part, pretty boring. Saturdays have been chill-out days where not much aside from laundry got done. Naps were had. Sunday some of the chores got done, but even then it wasn't every Sunday..... Oh, I know, it's all coming back to me now......... last Sunday I went out and met my friend Dom who I haven't seen in months and months. We ended up staying out a bit late and having too many wines for a school night...... yeah, thaaaaat's right...... That's why I didn't check in last weekend. And the weekend before I was out all afternoon trying to get Xmas presents sorted and in the mail...... And I can only handle so many hours in shops before my brain (and temper) short-circuits. So by the time I got home I certainly wasn't fit to write about it. I hate shopping at the best of times, which is why I thought getting in early would save some of my sanity as opposed to waiting until crunch time. I think it kind of worked. Oh - and the Sunday before the last few I went to go see one of my all-time favorite comedic heroes Eddie Izzard with some friends. What an awesome show that was! I wish I had a better memory or a better wizz-bang phone/camera thingy. Either way, it was a fantastic show and if you like his sort of brand of humor, I highly recommend going to see him. So yeah, thaaaaat's what I did with the last few weekends. That explains why I haven't been able to check in on a Sunday evening. Turns out they were all pretty good reasons after all! Oh, and this weekend was also pretty good - yesterday I managed to bust out all the chores and get all the laundry dry before the storms blew in. And today I headed over to Jason and Clare's (our pizza and games night hosts) for their son Rhys's second birthday. He's a cute kid. Very smiley, quiet, easy-going. There were hot dogs and cake and all kinds of other junk food, including wine. It was a fantastic afternoon. Then a storm blew through cooling the afternoon off (didn't matter to the kids on the slip n' slide tho!) and signaled our time to go. That and one of the little ones was parked on the couch with a bucket as he'd had way too much junk food and running around for his delicate tummy. Poor little guy. So other than a man down with a junk food hangover, the afternoon was pretty good! Which brings us to now.......!

So yes, all is well. Summer is being strange in that it was stinkin' hot and humid a couple of weeks ago and now we're having the storms. Usually it's the other way around........ Huh. Not complaining tho because the storms cool everything down. But, no matter what, am stocked up on candles as every season the power goes out at least 5 or 6 or more times. Sensitive power grids they have down here......... And here's hoping we don't have the disastrous flooding that we had last year........!?

So there you are. Not too exciting. December and January are my big bill months - car payment and registration, rent and contents insurance all come out within a couple weeks of each other and that adds up to nearly two grand........ So yes, a couple of quiet months until the Adventures get going again. Will keep you posted! So far there's nothing on the Adventure Calendar for next year, will have to get planning. No matter what, there will be an Adventure for mah birthday, tho not sure where to go this year......... Maybe, vacation time willing, will head to Uluru like I've been meaning to since before I got here...... Hmmmm..... Will get planning! Otherwise, I hope you're all well up there! When I say drop a line and let me know how things are going up there I bloody well mean it! I wonder how everyone is and hope everyone's happy and well and planning their next vacation to come down thisaway! Ok, so not now during summer, but March is a good time to start the Adventures.......... Am just sayin'!

BYE!
J!

Ironing Out the Zombies.....

2011-11-20T15:51:00.020+10:00

Hi!

Well. Sunday, late afternoon. Little early, but might as well, have finished most of the chores.......... The birds are out there with a few chittering away, but I think most of them are hiding in the cool shade of... whatever they can find. Most of them are probably too busy panting. They're pretty chatty in the mornings but I guess by evening they're too tired from trying to get used to summer arriving so early. One thing I can hear is a group of kids playing in what must be a pool (so jealous. I totally wish I was a kid playing in a pool right now), and I assume it's a pool because when did you ever play "Marco Polo" on land??? But, have the cool glass of stand-by white wine, am just in time for the strange show tunes radio show (aside from Judy Garland and Danny Elfman, good god they're playing songs from "Annie"), there's a cool-ish breeze to push the hot air around - life is good!

So work. Yep, is pretty good. Have been bloody busy the last couple of weeks, which is just awesome considering I had 8+ months to prepare. I like being busy, makes the day/week go by. One thing I did manage to squeeze into my busy days was move all my stuff from my desk in my "old" department to my "new" department. It was a nice feeling. With full blessing from my bosses of course. Nice to know I've made a nice, clean space at my old desk for whatever new person my boss might hire to help the folks up there (not doing my job, helping the other gals do communications stuff). Cool. I quite like my adoptive home and team. Glad they let me live with them and keep me busy. Another reason why it's so nice to be busy as not only does it speed up the days and weeks, it scoots us closer to Xmas and a week & 1/2 break - waaaahhoooooo! I had planned to go out of town (options included coming up to the US) but decided to save mah pennies (and vacation time) for another time of year when tickets are $millions$ cheaper and crowds less. So all in all, work is good! Hooray!

And then there was a brief bright spark in the week - Thursday evening I headed over to Kangaroo Point Cliffs for my first "social climb" with my rock climbing shop. Didn't know a soul but everyone was friendly enough (except for 2 chicks who've been noted for not being so friendly. No Xmas card for them), but everyone else was pleasant enough. It's tough rocking up to things like that not knowing anyone. I tried to introduce myself to as many people as I could without being too wierd. Thankfully, a gal I did my course with showed up, so that took a bit of the gangly new kid at school feeling away. Bummer was, there were about 15 of us wanting to climb 4 climbs. So I really only got in a climb & 1/2 (that last climb about kicked my butt - it was kinda hard and being off these last few weeks, am not in as strong as I was!). So most of the time was spent waiting to get on a climb. Hmmm. Will give the group a few more tries before I decide what to do......... The gal on my course and I decided to give the indoor climbing gym a try (again) hopefully tomorrow evening, if not sometime very soon. I didn't mind that indoor gym - good for working on technique. It's fun when you can get climbing! But hey, at least I'm trying!!!!!

And then there was the weekend. I must say, by the end of the week I was really beat. So I spent yesterday doing laundry and watching movies. I can't recommend "Resident Evil" unless you like that sort of thing (it started life as a really cool video game). I didn't mind the idea or the story (am still in a Zombie movie phase), but the film itself, while Mila Jovovich is a cutie and did the best with what she had to work with, the film was a stinker, in my opinion. But then I quite liked "Zombieland" so there you go. Later that evening "Back to the Future" was on TV, again, so I had to watch that. One day I'll own them all, along with "Raiders of the Lost Ark", on blu-ray....... Oh, and I gave myself a manicure. And that was Saturday. Thrilling.

And today was much the same. Got the ironing done. I figured it was already hot, I wasn't gonna do it at night, might as well get all the hot done at once. Meant to vacuum and clean too but it was too hot for that kinda stuff. So I sat here and restocked on toiletries from Walgreens. And Bisquick from Amazon. Again, another quiet yet constructive day! All I can say is HopShopGo is either the best or worst web-service I've ever come across. Good for staving off homesickness, baaaad for bank account.

And that, sadly, is that. Summer is here, so weekends not filled with Adventure will be much the same as above. Apologies now because it's gonna last until March at least. Hopefully I'll be able to check in with details of some good storms, or so the weather bureau is predicting for this season.......... Otherwise, I hope you're all well up there! If you're planning a visit, feel free to come any time after March - there, that gives you 4+ months to plan and save (oh, did I mention that last week? Huh.....)!!!! So c'mon down - later!

BYE!
J!

Napping Jacarandas

2011-11-13T16:17:00.029+10:00

Hi!

Well. Sunday evening. Missed last week, but then I kinda knew I was going to. But never mind, here we are now, got the interesting show tunes radio show that precedes the way cool and groovy jazz tunes radio show; got a very, very nice, cool breeze. Nice because it's already started being stinkin' hot and humid, tho thankfully the humidity dropped earlier this afternoon so it's now bearable, considering the temperature gauge in the kitchen still reads nearly 90 degrees..... Sigh. Summer. Knew it was coming, bummer it's here. Tho no chattering birds of any kind this early evening, which is kind of weird. Too bamboozled by the arrival of the heat and humidity I suppose. But, still, got the cool glass of standby white wine (Rosemount Estate Semillon Sav Blanc) got a lovely, cool breeze, jazz tunes are soon to arrive - life is good!

So work. Yep. Is pretty good. Busybusybusy, which is really good. Still waiting for paperwork from HR about my Permanent Residency application..... especially the whole contract business, whether or not they're going to give me a permanent contract or a 3 year contract............ almost sort of nail-biting in a way, either way it'll be the longest contract I've had yet here! Wouldn't know what to do with mahself with a permanent job...... It seems so permanent. Haven't had a gig contract here yet that went for longer than 6 months. Fingers crossed! Otherwise all's well. Still with my adoptive department and it looks like I'm not going anywhere any time soon - hooray! So yes, all's well, and always happy to have a decent job! Will keep you posted how the HR/PR stuff goes.......Fingers crossed!

And then there were the weekends. Did I happen to mention last last week, last Tuesday I believe it was, I had my last rock climbing course? Yep, all done! That was heaps of fun! Now the onus is on us, now that we're members of their social club, to go along to the regular weekly climbs. I meant to go this last Thursday (the night they climb at Kangaroo Point Cliffs) but I was way too tired. These last few weeks, or month-plus, have been busier than I normally am, which is really good but am not used to being busy with places to go and things to do! So hopefully this coming week I'll get mah butt in gear and go down there. It's so much fun and the people are so nice.

Anyways, weekends! Last weekend was the Adventure to Grafton with Kim for their Jacaranda Festival! Hooray! Roooooad triiiiiip! Took about 4 hours to get down there, which I thought was wasn't bad, tho coming from California where the roads are straight and the speed limits are fairly high, if they had straight roads and speedy speed limits, I bet we coulda done it in like 2 hours. Eh, that's ok tho, the roads here are a thousand times better and safer than they are in NZ, so I didn't mind the extra time. Plus, it was just really nice to take the "new" car out for it's first long spin in a while, and it was fantastic. Super easy and comfortable to drive (I look forward to the next road trip!). Once down there, we dumped our bags at the hotel and went for a very short walk towards the "town square" (for lack of a more modern word, seeing as the town is split by the Clarence River into a sort of suburban side and a business side) where we were just in time to catch the Scottish pipers, apparently they were being judged for their performance. It was actually kind of nice in a Disney movie kind of way - town square, happy locals gathered in the little bleachers, sunshine, Jacaranda tress in full bloom, kids with ice creams, it was nice, and sort of relaxing in a small town kinda way. But after the third piper band our attention waned and we went wandering, looking around, taking pictures. Didn't take us long to work out the layout of town and how interesting yet nice it is that a lot of stuff is closed on the weekends........ Or maybe things were closed because most of the businesses were getting ready for the big parade to celebrate the closing of the Jacaranda Festival. So off we went in search of a pub with a view and cool wine to sit and watch the parade from. Happily settled into the Valley Harvest Restaurant with some nibbles and a bottle of white wine, we watched as just about every business and elementary school and stuff in between (like the local roller derby team) had a float in a parade that went non-stop for an hour! It was nice and kind of neat, and boy you could tell most of the town was involved.

Then, after the last piper band had whined into the distance, we headed off back to our hotel to change to go to dinner at a nice little restaurant we accidentally stumbled across in our wanderings along the river earlier in the day called No. 1 Duke Street. Turns out it's a brand-new restaurant only open, I think, 2 weeks. Right on the river with our table outside on the patio under the sky. It was niiiiice. The weather was perfect and no mosquitoes! The restaurant, being new, wasn't crowded, the diners and staff relaxed, friendly and polite. And the food was amazing. Sooooo good. Really good. It was such a good, accidental find. If it wasn't 4 hours away I'd go all the time! Always happy to support little local businesses!

Then the next day we drove around and scoped out all the places we didn't have time (or energy, seeing as it was hotter down there than it was here lately) to check out the day before. Took lots of pictures and decided to hopefully come down next year, tho maybe a week or so earlier to really catch the trees in super full bloom. And then we headed off to start home, taking a small detour to the even littler town called Yamba, which was right on the sea. It was so nice. We had a decent look around as we drove in, stopping at the top of a hill overlooking the sea to check out their lighthouse and take photos. After probably way too many photos of sea, waves and rocks, we stopped into the Pacific Hotel (at my Manager's suggestion) for a quick drink. Well that quick drink turned into a two hour stop with beers, vodka and sodas (I was a good girl, being the driver, and only kept to the two beers) and a big bowl of "chips" (fries). We were so mesmerized by the views that we ended up staying a fair bit longer than a quick coke a couple of pictures. I vowed to come back for at least a week sometime not during peak tourist season. Then we regretfully continued on our way back to Brisbane. Three uneventful hours later saw us back in Brisbane tired yet happy. It was a fine weekend, tho if I was going to do it again, I'd stay for longer. That's a fair trek to do in 2 days.

Then there was the uneventful but busy working week. And then there was this weekend. Well. After the last month or more of busybusybusy weekends of either selling, buying or building stuff, or going places, I planned to do nothing more than the chores and nap. Both of which I succeeded spectacularly in doing; I even got in a few DVDs. Of course I spent some of the time plotting my next room makeover/purchase/build, tho nothing to happen probably until after Xmas. I (and mah bank account) need a break! But the place is starting to look a bit better, am not as embarrassed to have people come around, tho the only thing to really improve the place is to move..........

And there you have it! One nice, busy weekend after another (and another) topped off by a very boring yet restful weekend. Nice. So I hope you're all well up there. Drop a line and tell me your news! I'd say to come on down for a visit, but summer is upon us and it's not going anywhere until March at the latest. So unless you like Florida-in-the-summer hot, don't c'mon down until April! So there - you have 4+ months to plan - so get planning!

BYE!
J!

Zombies, Rocks, Ikea - All Conspired to Make Me Late.......

2011-10-25T11:11:00.078+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are, only way late. Am very sorry, turns out the weekends have been shortened without my consultation or approval and just aren't long enough to fit everything in, and that doesn't include sleeping-in and making a nice big breakfast. I honestly don't know where the time has gone, but it's gone. Apologies for the lateness. But here we are - Sunday at last, the lorikeets have sure been busy in the mornings but not so much in the evenings. Maybe they're too pooped from all that jabbering in the a.m. The days are getting longer, which is nice, although it means the mornings start earlier. Shame they don't do daylight savings here, though they've been talking about doing it for yeeears, no decision has been made yet. The rest of the country does it except for Queensland. The farmers are dead against it, something about the cows waking up too early and going to bed too late. So we can't have daylight savings because of some cows' bedtime? Hmmmm. I know they're thinking of just having this bottom corner of southeast Queensland do it so we can keep up with the rest of the country in commerce, but when they'll figure it out is anyone's guess. Hmmm. But I digress! We're here with the groovy jazz tunes, got the cool glass of standby white wine, a few chattering lorikeets - life is good!

So work. Yep, is really good. Still helping out my adoptive team, busy being helpful, which is just cool. I think I mentioned it before that I think this is basically an on-going thing, well, until next year sometime. They're not going to hire a replacement for the guy that left and a gal on our team has just announced she's pregnant, so there's more help they'll be needing....... So I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon - hopefully! As for my other team, well the bid guys are threatening to throw me a ton of work between now and Xmas. Eh, while I sort of believe them this time, they've said it before and nothing scary has ever happened. We'll see! Otherwise work is good. I get to work with nice people and I actually have work to do. Awesome.

And then there were the vanishing weekends. Let's see, casting the memory back.... Am still going with my rock climbing course and two Friday evenings ago we had an indoor session at the local rock climbing gym, Urban Climb, which was nice because it's close to my house. And Kangaroo Point, where we've done all our outdoor stuff, is like 15 minutes from mah house - sweet! So yes, that was lots of fun, tho not as much fun as outdoors with real rocks I must say. Still, good for the practice and fitness!

And then there was the briefly appearing Saturdays and Sundays. Saturday I managed to get some laundry done before heading out to meet Linus and Julian (they of the Australia Day BBQs every year) at the German Club to catch up over a few (too many) German beers. While we were there a very moody storm blew quickly through. It was neat. I love the storms that blow through though they're too quick. And the day was warm and muggy but after the storm it sure got dark and cooled off. Just to let us know summer is nearly here. It was a fantastic afternoon and so good to catch up with them, having last seen them in January!

Sunday the better part of the day was spent doing chores and waiting for people to come around and pick up and pay for the stuff of mine they bought off eBay (love this eBay thing - totally beats a garage sale). Then spent the other half of the day putting together mah new desk! Of which I have yet to clock up any time as it took that long to build (hence the non-appearance here that evening) that by the time I was finished I was cranky and ready for bed. Now, I'm getting pretty good at putting this Ikea stuff together, but the time you think it will take differs wildly from the actual time it takes, which is double, if not triple, the assembly time. Like, I looked at the 2 boxes holding the desk, laid everything out, looked at the clock, which was around 2pm, and figured I'd be done in time to start the little blog, around 5pm. Yeah. No. 7pm and a dead cordless drill battery later....... I guess maybe because people must have friends and helpers get some of the stuff ready because I don't, it's just me with all the lifting, pushing, shoving, drilling, hammering, etc.... And unfortunately I'm one of those who reads every single instruction and follows it to the letter (even tho they're pictures, no letters). I guess that chews time as well - studying. Anyways, it took a lot longer than I thought and by the time I finished it was too late for checking in. Hmmm.

And then last week was good but busy. I can't remember why I couldn't check in on Monday.... Oh yeah, normally at work, when I had nothing but time, I'd write the little blog during the day and get home and load up the photos, so it's pretty quick. But being in a department with actual work, I have no time to get a head start! And by the time I get home, feed Kona, feed me, shower, it's way too late. Hmmm. Anyways, had another rock climbing session on last Tuesday evening (forgot mah camera but the view was pretty much the same - amazingly pretty). This time we learned abseiling - where you go off the cliff backwards - eeeeek from the top. It was fuuuuuuun though repetitive. Apparently people love to just do abseiling. Yawn. Me, I'd rather climb, much more fun and useful. Although minutes before I arrived there were allllllll these cop cars. Found my little climbing group only to be told that a few feet from where we were to do our thing a guy had thrown himself from the top of the cliffs (last I heard he lived to regret it). Now, the thing about Kangaroo Point Cliffs is that they may have the word "cliff" in the title and the photos make them out to be pretty treacherous (and they do indeed look pretty scary from the bottom and really high up from the top), and no doubt they can be quite treacherous if you're not paying attention, but it's common knowledge that even if you throw yourself from the very top with high hopes it'll be a one-way trip, something like 90% of hopefuls actually live to regret it. Lesson here - pick a much higher spot/building or a different method because they just ain't tall enough to do the trick. Same goes for the Story Bridge - more people live to regret that trip than not; They simply end up going for a swim with broken arms and legs. Am just sayin'.*

And then there was this past weekend. Now that I've finally sold all the stuff from the living room that I wanted to sell, it was time to get the new stuff! Hooray! So was up first thing Saturday morning to get to Ikea to meet my co-worker Emma, who lives like down the road from Ikea (for me that would be like a crack addict living across the street from the dealer) as she had to get a shower curtain and I a whole entertainment center. Well that didn't take too long but in the end I had to get most of it delivered. There was no way on earth I could carry those boxes up my stairs on my own (and I didn't want to bug one of my neighbors to help). Thankfully it all arrived before that very same day was done and I could get building (knowing how build time is double/triple what you estimate)! I managed to get one bookshelf built, but boy they're finnigly things with all their moldings and bits. Niiiice, but finnigly. And that was all I could manage Saturday.

Then Sunday was up early-ish to get some laundry done before heading out to meet Jason and Hasse (they of the way fun Pizza & Games on the odd Friday evenings) in town for Brisbane's annual Zombie Walk. We all have fanceee cameras (tho Jason's is by far the fanceeeest) so we wanted to go out and take neat pictures and figured zombies would be perfect! And they were!
It was such a fun day that I'm totally going to come back next year and dress up zombie style - makeup, scary scars and all. Plus, any money they raise (by donation only) goes to the Brain Foundation. I'm all for helping a worthy cause and what a better way to help the Brain Foundation than as a zombie! Apparently Brisbane has the biggest zombie walk in the world. But as Jason so cynically pointed out - "that's just what they say on their website." Hmmm. Either way there were thousands of folks there - about 50/50 - zombies vs. people like us there to just watch and take pictures. It was way fun. Highly recommend it next time they invade your town! Oh, and just so you don't think this is some sort of "fad", even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a plan on how to deal with a zombie invasion - Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse!

So by the time I got home from that, it was nearly 6pm and I was too pooped and it was getting too late to check in. Again. The thing about wanting to check in by say 5pm is that it takes me a good 3 or so hours to write the little blog, pick and upload the photos, hyperlink everything, make dinner, have a shower, that by the time I get to bed it's nearly 11pm - too late for a Sunday! But I must say I love my Sunday ritual and I miss it and feel bad when I can't check in on time. So I do try - honest! (Even tho only a whopping 3 people might read this.........).

Then there was this past Monday. I called in sick to work. But magically by noon or so I felt fine enough to get to building the rest of my bookshelf and bridging shelf! Took most of the day and into the evening (moving all the books and stuff back in) that again, it was waaaay too late to check in. But now it's allllllll done! And big! I love it. I now have furniture that matches and that I like! Just like real people! HOORAY! So that's the living room's mini-makeover..... on to the bedroom!?

And that brings us to this weekend. Friday was quiet, which was nice. No stuff to sell, no people to come around and pick stuff up, no rocks to climb, no place to go except the couch, it was niiiiice. But yesterday, Saturday, I was up way early, even before all the birds, to go on a Mini-Adventure to the Glasshouse Mountains for my rock climbing course's "final exam"! I've always wanted to climb or at least go for a good walk around the Glasshouse Mountains, always thought it looked so neat. And it was really fun! Weeeeeeeeeeeee! Got to drive mah cool new car too! Tho I decided to follow my instructor up there (he had to meet another gal at the shop anyway, which is just down the road from my house). Glad I followed them. It's pretty straightforward once you make the trip, but never having driven myself, I was sure to get lost, even tho it's only about an hour north east of town.... Anyways, we finally all made it up there and proceeded to go on quite a good hike to get to our climbing site. A hike that none of us, bar the instructor, was expecting! Woooooooo! That was the most exercise I'd gotten for years! So we finally made it to the top where we caught our breath and got set up to abseil down the cliff we'd just hiked up. Once down, we climbed it a few times (tons of fun tho I only got 2 climbs in) we collected our things and hiked not far to the next spot where we abseiled down even further to get closer to the base of the cliff that we'd just hiked up. From there we hiked back to our cars and were done! WHEW! Big day, much fun! Much exercise too, my legs are still feeling it.......! So that was our big class day out, we have one more class this coming Tuesday back at Kangaroo Point and then we're finished. Just as I got in the routine of going rock climbing and learning on Tuesday evenings! So will definitely have to go along on as many "social climbs" as I can. It's heaps of fun, the people are so nice and it's good for you! HOORAY! Plus, when they have social climbs out of town, I can drive along, and if we have to camp, I've got my own studio apartment! Yay!

And then today. Well, I must say after the last few weekends and yesterday, I was in real need of a nice quiet day to do nothing (except for the laundry of course). So yes, didn't do much. Started to watch "Cowboys and Aliens" but got distracted. And then it was time to check in here....... Ahhhhhhhhh, lazy Sunday. Life was good today.

And, finally, that brings us up to now! Sorry again for the lengthy delay, I should be on time from now on barring any unapproved weekend shortening......... Oh, wait, on second thought, while I think of it, next weekend Kim and I are off to Grafton (about 4&1/2 hours drive south, in New South Wales) to go their annual Jacaranda Festival. It looks pretty neat in a flowering-Jacaranda-trees-everywhere kinda way. Good for photos and a really good run for the car. My friend Jan had taken her Mom there last year and said they really enjoyed it, so I thought 'why not?!' So we're planning to leave Saturday morning and return Sunday afternoon. Will hopefully have the energy to check in that evening but something tells me probably not. Depends on how late we get back and how pooped I am...... Hmmm. But, anyways, there you have it! Hope you're all well up there. Drop a line so I know there's more than just the odd cricket hopping around here. Speaking of crickets, I have to highly recommend a cuuuuuuuuute little computer-animated series called "Minuscule". Each "episode" is only roughly 4&1/2 minutes long and features different computer-animated bugs doing stuff in real landscapes. It's hard to explain, so just go find an episode, like this one - "The Fight for the Lollipop". They're most excellent and hilarious. No dialogue, just sound-effects. They're priceless. So good in fact that I went out and bought the whole series!

So yes, there you have it, drop a line, come on down, and hope you're all well!

BYE!
J!
*P.S. Not that suicide is a matter to be taken lightly (I know from experience). If someone's having problems, there's help, trust me.

http://suicidehotlines.com/national.html

http://www.lifeline.org.au/Find-Help/Find-Help/default.aspx

Climbing Rocks to Get to Ikea, Chores and the Weekend!

2011-10-09T18:50:00.008+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are. A very lovely, warm and breezy Sunday afternoon. Am just early enough to beat the birds at their evening chat session and early enough, and smart enough to have finally changed the radio station to my favorite local community radio station 4ZZZ in time to catch a particularly lively African music show; This totally beats the strange show tunes radio show on ABC. I guess this is what happens when you get adventurous with the radio dial! Tho, soon ABCs way cool groovy jazz tunes radio show will be on and then the Sunday ritual will be complete. But here we are - got the very nice, cool glass of standby white wine (I know it's a crime against wine, but I've had to add ice cubes to keep it cool. We're getting into summer here and as much as I like to drink wine, I can't drink it that fast! And honestly, can you drink warm white wine? Yeah, didn't think so, no one's that much of a tough guy.) So yes, have some good tunes (currently De La Soul. I quite like them, never-mind the fact they did a song called "Jenifa"), nice cool, humiliated wine, a lovely breeze - life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. Busy. Which is always a good thing, although challenging when you're doing two jobs at once and both demand your immediate attention, like, yesterday. I successfully coped because I've had nearly a year to get ready for something to do. And the fact that I'm just awesome that way. And by the end of the week I found myself with time to read the news. Excellent! As far as the whole Permanent Residency fun, it seems to be full steam ahead, with HR finally fully convinced that they need to help me, which they promise to do in a fairly speedy manner (we'll see). Far be it for me to tell HR to put a shake in it, but I did explain that the sooner they get their stuff together, the sooner I can hand in my application - before Immigration changes the requirements, as is their wont at least two or three times a year. So watch this space! Otherwise, always happy to have gainful employment, and very happy that they're threatening to keep me permanently (again, watch this space)......!

And then there was the weekend. Well, wait, let me back up to Tuesday where I had my first rock climbing course (of a six-week session)! HOORAY! It was fuuuuuun! It's a six-week course designed for folks who've maybe done it once or twice (I did it once, yeeeears ago), or not at all, so we start at the very beginning and go through all the safety, gear, technique, etc. Knowing that you climb in fancy climbing shoes with no socks, there was no way I was gonna borrow their stuff, so I bought all my own stuff (which thankfully, isn't much. Not like scuba diving). I think I mentioned this a few weeks ago....... Anyways, this past Tuesday we started at the beginning (and had to drill certain points home for two other guys on my course (out of four of us in total) who are known as YouTube Climbers - guys who learn everything on YouTube, and not necessarily the correct way). And then we were off and climbing the Kangaroo Point Cliffs - at night (with spotlights)! I only managed 3 climbs out of the 6 we were scheduled to do, but that was because my "buddy" was dead slow. That's ok. At the rate I ached over the next two days, 3 climbs was fine. This coming week tho we have two sessions - one on Tuesday and an indoor session on Friday. Coooooooooool! Will remember to bring my camera as the view is most excellent!

And then earlier that same Tuesday saw another Home Invasion by the Real Estate Agent and one of the Owners. Those Invasions always stress me out (never mind the fact I have to take a day off work so I can be here to supervise), but as a renter in Australia I seem to have no choice. Unless I buy my own place and the chances of that happening are slim to none....... Still tho, I passed and that means they'll probably renew my lease. And because I "always keep the place so tidy", they'll probably also jack up my rent. Sigh. Still, it's cheap for the 'hood and it allows me to pay off mah car and go on the odd Adventure. So won't complain. Much. Or often. But then the day redeemed itself spectacularly when my two neighbors (Luise and Kayle) and I decided a trip to Ikea was needed - they for a new sofa-bed and me for shelves for the bathroom and a new desk (to replace this lovely workhorse that's hopefully being sold this next weekend)! And the fun part was, Kayle'd never ever been to Ikea before. I think against his will, he quite liked it. We actually had quite a good time and found what we'd all been looking for. Awesome! And then later that evening, as you know, I went to climb Kangaroo Point Cliffs for the first time....... A fantastic, productive, semi-spontaneous mid-week day off if there ever was one!

And then there was the weekend. It was very good, very relaxing. I'm still madly selling stuff on eBay, and, conveniently, my timings for when my 7-day auctions end are on the weekends; so this weekend was spent doing the chores and getting rid of stuff (and turning a buck). So far I've managed to sell my three mirrors (at almost double what I paid for them - fools!), my chaise longue (still waiting for the chick to come pay and pick it up) and my two biiig bookshelves. This eBay lark is interesting in how much a group of people will pay for what. Like, I cleaned up on those three dumb mirrors, but I took a hit on the bookshelves - I expected to make at least $100 and only got $56 for both. New, they're $80 each. And new, the chaise longue is $480, and, granted mine is like 3+ years old, I only made $152 for it. Eeeek. So I guess the sales can even each other out in a way. Hmmm. Either way, am slowly but surely gaining back some valuable space and changing it all out with smarter furniture. Sweet!

And really, that was about it. A very good weekend all-in-all. Oh, and I think I figured this blogging template business out - I said I'd use their new template system thing, and it works a charm except for when time comes to place photos, and then it just has a hissy fit. Thankfully you can default back to the old system, which I've done, so hopefully things will work as before. I had to fill out a feedback thingy so I told them why I had to go back to the old system. I tried their new system last year with the same frustrating results. So hopefully, this time next year they'll have sorted it out?! Anyways, point being, I'll try to add some more photos from the NZ/Rugby World Cup Adventure!

So there you have it. I hope you're all well up there. Unless you like hot and humid, you'd better book that trip down here soon before the furnace really gets going! Otherwise, drop a line so I know how you all are!

BYE!
J!

Will post more photos from the latest NZ Adventure once I find them........! This really cool new camera and I seem to disagree on where to download files to what folder where. It's like hide n' seek with mah damn photos....... The photos above, well, I'm not sure how they ended up in the usual files..... But they are of the All Blacks' liveried Boeing 737 (pretty cool if truth be told); the All Blacks team accepting their welcome home haka at Wellington airport; the control tower in Wellington (spot the tower nestled in the suburbs!) And that last photo is of Wellington harbor, with that white spot being the ferry that takes you between Wellington and Picton. More photos to come once I find them!

Adventures in NZ with Wine, Wildlife & Rugby!

2011-10-02T19:51:00.000+10:00

Hi!

Well. Sunday evening. A very, very windy Sunday evening. As the locals would say, "it's windy enough to blow the dog off it's chain!". Heh heh, they have the silliest sayings sometimes. But there are a few strong birds out there chattering away as they cling to their branches for dear life. I hear lots more Lorikeets than usual, hopefully that means Spring really is here?! What was the saying, 'in like a lion, out like a lamb'? Hmmm. Well it's certainly been windy over these last couple of days, which doesn't bother me too much, some people it makes them crazy, and I never understood that..... Hmmm. Anyways, missed last Sunday, but there was good reason for that (Adventure!), but we're here now with a sunny yet breezy evening, got the strange show-tunes radio show, tho thankfully for only 3 more minutes until the way cool groovy jazz tunes radio show takes over, got the cool glass of stand-by white wine, life is good!

So, work. Yep, is pretty good. It's soooo nice to have so much work to do and be able to help a whole group of people. They like me and my work so much that they want to keep me permanently (I feel like a puppy)! I'd love to stay with them but they'll have to get past my Boss first and I don't like their chances. Why let me go to another team that actually needs me when I can stay and die of boredom in his department? Hmmm. We'll see what happens. Am not holding my breath. Ok, maybe one or two breaths, but not all of them.

And speaking of breath, I went and did all my Immigration health checks for my permanent residency application requirements (that work wants me to get so badly). That was interesting in a "this is what it kinda must've been like on Ellis Island in a way" kinda way. They sure get you through there in one shot - first chest x-rays (looking for TB), then blood tests, then eyes, height, weight, pee, etc., with the last stop being the doctor to check your heart, ears, throat, blood pressure, reflexes, etc. All that took an hour and a half and boy you were shuttled through pretty quickly that whole time. So hopefully that's all for me, now I just have to hope work follows through on their end of the bargain.... Fingers crossed. Will keep you posted.

And then there were the weekends. Well. Last weekend Adventure was had and it was loads of fun! Went with my friend Dave to Wellington, New Zealand from first thing Friday until last thing Sunday. We primarily went over because he had tickets to the US vs. Australia Rugby World Cup match and even tho we lost 66 to 5 (we knew that was gonna happen), it was lots and lots of fun. Such a neat, buzzy atmosphere. No fights, no nothing like that. It was just a friendly, fun spot to be for a few hours. After the match (which we left early when the score was still 55 to 5) we wandered into town, which isn't far from the stadium at all, perhaps a 15 minute walk, where we met the friends of his, Nick and Sally who live there and who we stayed with, at a really nice, cozy and warm pub. It was so nice and warm in there I struggled to stay awake. Wellington is notorious for being windy, rainy and really cold, but that Friday and Saturday we had fantastic, sunny and bright, yet slightly chilly, weather. But still, after hours in it we were tired and dying to be warm. Heh heh, I even had a glass of mulled wine, which kind of made me laugh because in Brisbane just the weekend before it was 85 degrees and I was in shorts and a tank top, and yet a week later I was in layers drinking mulled wine! And It's only a 2&1/2 hour flight away! Funny weather.

Anyways. Saturday we were up too early so we could catch the first ferry (the Interislander ferry called 'Kaitaki', to be exact) from Wellington to Picton on the top of the South Island. Seeing as you can see and swim from one island to the other (tho you'd be brave with those currents) the ferry ride takes around 3 hours (it even has a cinema! A cinema on a ferry! Amazing!), mainly because of the speed restrictions in the Queen Charlotte Sound, which you have to snake your way through before getting to Picton. But it was a lovely ferry ride with no problems. Apparently, like the notoriously bad weather in Wellington, the bad weather can extend to the ferry ride with high, high seas, rolling and pitching with barf bags in frantic demand. Thankfully we had no need of barf bags for either the trip over or retuning. Whew! So once in Picton we had a quick wander around town (easy to do as it's so small), tho we did stop in and scope out their Eco World Aquarium/Cinema... we bypassed the cinema to go have a look in the aquarium (it's all in the one little building - you could go left to the aquarium or right to the cinema), with the promise of seeing their local pet penguin. Apparently they trot out the little penguin only once a day for it's feeding at a time we couldn't make it to. Bummer. And as for the aquarium, well, I'll just be kind and say they really need some volunteers who know what they're doing to give it the facelift and kick in the pants it's desperate for.

That mini-Adventure had, we wandered across the little park and street to check in to our winery tour operators, Sounds Connections, for our half-day tour of a range of 4 vineyards around the Marlborough wine country. It was awesome! We took in 4 wineries ranging in size from big to boutique: Hunters, Forrest Wines, Drylands and Nautilus Estate, ending with a stop at the boutique chocolate factory Makana Confections. But boy, all the big NZ wine guns are all situated in that same area, which is interesting because you'd think they'd be miiiiiiiiiiles apart from one another. Nope, right next door to each other. It must just be the soil in that one square area must be perfect. It was a fantastic day and the kind of thing you could do over and over again, see so many different wineries and have lots of different experiences. I can highly recommend it! If you come over and we have the time, we're totally going!

Afterwards we had another 3 hour ferry ride back to Wellington (on the smaller Arahura ferry this time), but this time there was the All Blacks vs. France rugby world cup match to watch, so we packed into the little bar on the ferry and had a good yell at the screen along with everyone else. Even tho, secretly, I really wanted France to win for some reason... don't tell the locals (NZ beat the snot out of them anyways, like they usually do).

The next day, Sunday, we had a much needed sleep-in. Well, I know I needed it. Once we were all finally organized, and realized the weather had taken a turn for its rainiest and chilliest worst, Nick made us the most amazing pancake breakfast I've ever had outside of Ihop, which just made me even more reluctant to leave their lovely hospitality! But leave we had to, with Nick and Sally driving us into town where we had a quick look through the Te Papa museum (NZ should be proud of that museum - it's amazingly good. Again, highly recommend it), before wandering through a really pretty good indoor artisans market (can't remember the name) and then we were off to the airport for our trip home. While at the airport we happened to arrive at the same time the All Blacks were arriving home from the game the night before in Auckland (where they cleaned the floor with France). Of course, being the All Blacks, one of the best rugby teams on the planet, not only do they have their own liveried Boeing 737, they were presented with a huuuuge welcome home Haka, followed by a lovely Maori song, another quick Haka and then finally parading through to excited and proud cheers. It was actually kinda neat. The kind of welcome home I'd like to get now and then......... And then, after a 3 hour layover in Sydney, we were back in Brisbane! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it was an absolutely fantastic weekend and Nick and Sally couldn't have been nicer. They even had a pup and a few cats just to add to the homeliness. What a good time it was. And so quick and easy from Brisbane! Will totally plan another weekend and wine tours!

And then it was back to reality and a fairly quiet yet productive weekend. I have another "Home Invasion" ('inspection', by not only the real estate agent, but the owner too, again. Sheesh.) this coming Tuesday (which I have to waste a day off to be able to supervise), so this weekend was spent tidying and even spot-painting, something I haven't done in ages. Not that it needed it, all I can say is it must be spring fever and a burning need to clean everything. And speaking of cleaning like a demon, I've also managed to become a newly dab hand at this whole eBay thing! So far I've managed to sell a whopping 3 things! Yahooooo! So far I've sold that beast of an air-conditioning unit (which wasn't mine so I had to give the money to the gal who gave it to me in the first place. Shame, but there it is), an end-table that was nice but not me, and my stupid $45 Tupperware ice-cube trays! Hooray! So yesterday, after the first round of chores, I got on and listed 4 more things - my chaise longue (the add-on bit to the couch) that I never sit on and takes up much needed living-room real estate, my 2 big bookshelves, 3 mirrors that I've grown sick of looking at, and my TV stand. This is all about getting rid of stuff and consolidating. I have a cunning plan to sell all this and buy a nice, one unit bookshelfy entertainment centery thing from Ikea. And yes, it's made out of wood (remember, with Ikea, you get what you pay for, so spend a bit more and get it made out of real wood - imagine that!). But first I have to get rid of the stuff that's here to make way for the new stuff. And those auctions end next weekend, so this should be interesting........! Hooray for a change in home furnishings and turning a buck while I do it! Will keep you posted!

And that is about it. Whew! Been busy that's for sure - hooray! So there you have it. I hope you're all well up there and are finally convinced that you should come down here for a visit. See, there're allllll kinds of things to do thisaway!!!!! So c'mon down!

BYE!
J!

P.S. Total problems again with the layout of the photos. I got too mad to finish. Will give it another go tomorrow night. It's not me, it's the new blog template stuff. It's really pissing me off. Apologies for how dumb it looks.

World Cup Full of Chores to Sell

2011-09-18T18:58:00.001+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are. Sunday evening. Got the hip and groovy jazz tunes with Mal Stanley on ABC radio; got the cool glass of Rosemount standby white wine; not too many twittering birds out there this weekend, but that is certainly due to the fact that we've had a snap heatwave. In my teeny apartment, both Saturday and today, it got up to 90 degrees, 60% humidity. Yuck. No idea where this came from because we're supposed to have just started Spring for cryin' out loud. So needless to say most of the poor local birds must be down at Southbank at the public man-made beach there. Or somewhere else not in my trees......... So yes, tunes, sunset and cool wine on a hot day - life is good!

So work. Yep. It's good. Still awesome to have work to do and a team to actually help! Even tho I wasn't as busy this past week as my first week, I just know I was still helpful. They haven't told me not to come back yet! Next on their list of things to get me to help them with is to learn Corel (the old-school drawing tool that preceded things like Photoshop and Illustrator... why they still use it am not sure........ could just be because the F/A-18 manuals are old-ish and that's just what the illustrations are in..... Hmm.) so I can help the one guy with the drawings. Cool! Learning new stuff is always way bitchin'! And my old department, well, it's still there. I make sure to say hi to my Boss once a week or so and let him know what's happening. He's afraid I won't come back..... Hmmmm. So yes, work is, like, totally awesome! And am still working on all this Permanent Residency stuff for them...... Next on the list is the required health checks - x-rays, blood, basically every bodily fluid and whatnot they want to check to ensure I don't burden their medical system. I had to do this when I went for PR in NZ, if only I could hand in all those results and x-rays, I'd save myself $317 bucks!

And then there were the weekends. Pretty quiet really. Saturday was laundry and tidying. I'm determined to sell some stuff on eBay, so I've taken pictures of most of the things I want to sell (that took a good part of the day), including my desk, TV stand, boots, scooter jacket and helmets, oh, all kinds of stuff, and that all involved cleaning, trashing and filing. Now I have a nice clean desk and great pictures of my stuff! Plus, I had to take apart my couch so I could disconnect the "L" shaped loungey bit and just have a straight 3-seater couch. It's the chaise loungey bit that I want to sell. What a mission, but it feels good to get rid of stuff (hopefully people will buy it) and hopefully make a buck or two for once instead of leaving it on the street or making a trip to Salvation Army like I usually do. Fingers crossed! I hear you can get addicted to this eBay lark..... good thing I A) have a teeny apartment and B) can't afford to buy that much disposable stuff! Say nothing of not possessing an addictive personality (thank you good genetic line)!

And today was more chores and a good go at this whole eBay thing. Took me a few hours to finally figure out what to do, but I'm pretty sure I managed to list that beast of an air-conditioning unit that has taken over a corner of my teeny kitchen...... I put it up for auction and we'll wait and see if I did it right before I go crazy and list everything. I didn't know that you're limited to only selling like 10 things or making $2,500 a month. Huh. Why put limits? Who cares? I suppose it's to stop "professionals", however that would work....... I just want to get rid of my clutter!!!! So will keep you posted how this eBay fun goes!

And that's about that. Oh, won't be checking in next weekend (well, maybe Monday) because am off to Wellington, New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup match between the US and Australia (Australia's so gonna win, I'll just get that on the record now)! A friend had tickets to nearly every game, which he'd bought for himself and his girlfriend. Well, they broke up and needless to say he had a spare ticket - sweeeeeet. Sad they didn't work out, but bonus for me! So he and I are off first thing this Friday morning (the game is Friday evening). Saturday we're planning to go on a winery tour for half the day around Marlborough (which will involve taking the ferry from Wellington to Picton, at the top of the South Island, something I've never actually done, so am looking forward to it. Although I hear that stretch of sea between the two islands can be reeeeeeeeally rough....... Good times!). Then that Sunday we'll have a good wander around town and get on a plane and come home (we don't get in until 10.40pm or so). Short and sweet, which is probably how NZ is best visited. Should be really interesting and really kinda fun! Neat! I've only been to Wellington once for a quick weekend. Oh, and once for like a day when Mom and I were there on our Big Tour of the South Island about 5 years ago...... It's not a bad city if you hit the weather right (which is rare). So, knowing the weather is gonna be crap most of the time, I bought a proper rain/wind jacket (on sale, like 75% off - sweet) because that's what the weather does in Wellington and since leaving the place (and NYC come to think of it) I got rid of all that kind of gear. Hmmm. So yes, an Adventure - should be fun!

So there you go. Hope you're all well up there. Hope no one has any natural (or unnatural) disasters to contend with like last weeks' multi-state power outage. I'd say come on down but the weather seems to be turning early, so I'd say your window of opportunity has closed, unless you like Florida-in-the-summer type weather........! Will check in next week, Monday, hopefully, after another Adventure has been had! Hooray!

BYE!

P.S. Blogger has changed how I can layout my photos, seems I can't put them where I want, other than left, center or right, hmmm - so apologies if they have really goofy and awkward spacing. Give me a minute to work out the bugs of their new system......

Foxed by Ikea and Other Chores.....

2011-09-11T16:32:00.020+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are, Sunday late afternoon. Just early enough to catch the strange show-tunes radio show (a bit of Tony Bennett, Marlene Dietrich, you get the idea..... ) as I wait for the way cool jazz tunes radio show. The afternoon is warm and breezy, the birds aren't as chatty as they usually are, but that's probably because it's been so incredibly windy (and chilly at night) over the last couple of days - they're too busy clinging to their branches to want to talk about anything! Missed checking in last weekend but I had a very "constructive" reason...... So here we are, got the nice, cool stand-by glass of white wine (Verse 1 Sem. Sav. Blanc) - life is good!

So work. Work is good. In fact, it's, like, totally awesome! I was "head-hunted" (conversation in a kitchen between me and my "new" boss) by another department to come and help them (indefinitely, from the looks of things) with their technical publications - their F/A-18 publications to be exact! So have been learning lots and lots and actually being helpful to a group of people! Imagine that?! Sweet! It's not so much editing-editing, more technical publishing, managing electronic documents through the systems, but learning lots and helping lots, which is a hell of a lot more than I do in my usual department. And the best part is is that my Boss is all for it! Tho he reminded me, after I enthusiastically updated him as to how things in their team were going, that I would eventually have to come back to his department. I kind of laughed and tried to assure him I would..... I really like it with this new team. They're friendly, nice, smart, thankful for my help, it's awesome! Like being on a temp gig except I know the people and where the kitchen and toilets are. I'm totally digging it. Hooray for work!

And then there were the weekends. Last weekend was pretty quiet, chores, etc, that is, until Sunday. Sunday I went to Ikea with the cool new car. Pret-ty exciting. I had such a good time I went through the place twice. First time was to pick up all the stuff I "needed" and the second run through was to look for ideas. Like I need them. After the first run I got to mah car with alllllll my stuff (still in carrier bags, forgetting that I'm allowed to use a shopping cart - I'm that trained to only buy what I can carry), loaded it all up (even had to put one set of seats down for the long mirrors - cooool) and I stood there thinking, 'well, I have all this time, no buses to catch, I might go through and take my time and look at stuff'. So I did. Still spent $150 that second time but it was worth it to have a bunch of stuff including plastic hangars that won't snap in half like all my other non-Ikea ones have! And yes, it was just so awesome to have my own big wheels to haul it all home in. And haul it home in reasonable time. Before, it would take me 3 buses each way and almost 2 hours each way just to get there, never mind actually shopping, checking out and waiting for 3 more buses and two more hours to go home. That would take all damn day. This time I could actually take my time and browse, like normal people. It was really pretty awesome. So got home and got stuck right in putting it all together, hanging it all up. For years I've been meaning to buy a zip-line to hang curtains from to separate my bed from the rest of the room as you walk through it. Hard to explain so I tried to take a picture. I think it looks way bitchin'. And then I bought a new bedside table. That bastard took me over 3 hours to put together because they left out a fairly major step (actually attaching the drawer runners to the inside). Shame it took me that long to figure it out but I got there in the end. And I'm this close to writing to them to tell them they missed a big step. But I got it and I like it. My goal is to sell most of my things on eBay and with that money, replace it with new stuff. What can I say - my place is super teeny and I get pretty sick of looking at the same stuff all the time. Plus, they're finally coming out with more space-saver furniture/stuff. They had tons of it in NYC but because Australians have the largest houses on the planet, Ikea here doesn't think space-saving, but they're slowly realizing that not everyone can afford to live in a 3,000 square foot palace. Some of us live in teeny inner-city palaces. At least my cordless drill finally got a good workout! So that was last weekend! Hooray for Ikealand!
And this weekend, well, it started off pretty well Friday night with pizza and games at Jason & Clare's, which is always an excellent night that goes too quickly. And Saturday and Sunday were finishing hanging my mirrors and patching some of the holes I'd drilled, and the usual chores of course. I guess maybe I have a bit of spring/cabin fever where I have this incredible urge to get rid of everything and go minimalist. Just have to figure out this eBay thing............

So there you are. Sorry I didn't check in last weekend, but as you can see I was foxed by an Ikea bedside table. Hmmmm. But never mind. I hope you're all well up there. Gee, I heard all about the power-outage in San Diego, bummer. But I was happy to hear the only "looting" that was halfheartedly done was booze. How funny. Any other city, stores would've been set on fire with trashcans through the windows. San Diego, what do they "loot"? Not water, not batteries, not food - booze. Excellent. I love San Diego. I hope everyone survived ok and learned a lesson to have a flashlight, a battery-operated radio and food! You just never know! I guess I only say that because we're starting to come in to our storm season and the only thing I have is candles. Remember those wax lips we'd get out trick-or-treating? Yeah, you could never really eat those, hard as we'd try. So your power outage reminded me of what I don't have but what I'll need for our lively storm season coming up. That is, if it's anything like last year or a few years previous....! Gotta be prepared! So yes, drop a line and let me know how you all are! Like I said, we're into Spring - perfect weather for checking the place out - c'mon down!

BYE!
J!

Wheel Into a Quiet Weekend......

2011-08-29T11:32:00.024+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are. Monday evening, am late again. This seems to be a regular occurrence these days........ But never mind, here we are - the evening is kind of cloudy and cool, only a few more days until it's officially Spring! Hooray! But I spoke too soon heralding the return of those lorikeets.... not just yet, but boy, those crows are busy and loud! Still, have got the nice glass of standby white wine, groovy jazz tunes through the fancee pants TV, life is good!

So work. All is well, tho still dead quiet. A guy has threatened to give me some work, not sure how much or what exactly (helping him write something, I think he said), so that's exciting. We moved from the 7th floor to the 12th floor this morning (I like my old spot better, but there you go). Hee hee, a few weeks ago a gal who lives on the 13th floor told us when she moved to a higher floor she said to allow extra elevator travel time when heading home in the evening - it takes longer to get down at rush hour! Hadn't thought of it that way, but will heed her advice..... Don't want to be stuck in the building any longer than I get paid to! Otherwise all is well!

And then there was the weekend. Pretty quiet really. It rained all day Saturday but I managed to get all the laundry done.... But after 3 loads of laundry my enthusiasm for doing the rest of the chores had ebbed away. Instead, I decided a little drive around in the rain was called for! I kinda just wanted to see how quiet/noisy/safe the new car is in the rain, and how safe I'd feel. It's awesome and people can see me (well, you know how I mean, it being fairly big and white and all)! Boy it's sure nice to drive. It's quiet, solid, safe, I like it. So the rain excursion was a success. Excellent!

And then Sunday. It was even quieter than Saturday. Like really quiet, like the motivation to do anything had vanished completely. And the weather was even perfect - happy, warm and sunny all day, yet I just couldn't motivate myself to do anything more than read and watch the first few episodes of Season 3 of Breaking Bad. Tho I did manage to take a few nice glamor shots of the new car (our first nice, sunny day since last Saturday when I should've taken pictures then). Oh, and I had a 3 hour nap (and still managed to go to bed on time and sleep like the dead through til the alarm). Guess I needed a break. Which brings me to why I'm checking in on a Monday instead of yesterday. Yeah, that's how unmotivated I was. Happens every now and then but I'm glad I did it. Guess I needed the rest. Plus I had to get the book I was reading back to the library as it was way overdue and the videos were due this morning.... Plus, I mean, I have to leave myself something to do at work all day and writing the little blog is a perfect way for me to not only catch up, but look busy at the same time - bonus!

So there you have it. A dull little weekend..... but then, I guess not every weekend can be full of Adventures! Gotta save my monies and energies! Otherwise, hope you're all well up there. As I mentioned earlier, Spring is nearly here, so only a few more months to enjoy this weather before summer fires up (bleck)! And I hope those folks in the firing line of that nasty storm got through it all OK...... 'Tis the season!

BYE!
J!

Weeks of Sundays......!

2011-08-22T09:01:00.035+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are, Monday evening. Am late. Like way late. Am sorry. The last few Sundays have been way busy. But more on that later. But seeing as it's Monday I don't have the usual groovy jazz tunes to help along, but I do have the modern TV that streams non-stop groovy jazz tunes from that same radio station - cooooool. Got the nice cool glass of standby white wine. And the lorikeets have begun their return to the eucalyptus trees around the 'hood - hooray! 'Course, in saying that, it also means they've returned in the mornings too. Little critters woke me up the other morning earlier than was necessary for a weekend. Hmm. But I'm really happy they're back. Let the games begin between the crows and the lorikeets! Otherwise, the evening is cool and showery, winter's last hurrah before Spring takes over any day now.......! So yes, here we are! Finally!

So work. Yep. Still deathly quiet. I get the odd little thing to have a look at now and then, and that's temporarily exciting... I just wish there was more of it! Buuuut, must be careful what I wish for.....! Our teeny little department is moving to another floor, so that'll be exciting for a day or two while we move our stuff and get settled into the new space. I'm hoping for a window view at least...........? Otherwise all's well. Always happy to have a job!

And then there were all those weekends. A few weekends ago, I guess maybe it was the weekend after returning from Cairns, was nice in a kids party kinda way. That Saturday was chores so I could go to Jason and Clare's son Jack's 5th birthday party on the Sunday. That was cute. They have such nice family and well-behaved kids (even a dog came along). It was nice day with lots of food and cake (I made my multi-layer bean dip) and I even had a swing on the swings with their almost-2 year old Reece. He was funny, he just smiled the whole time. I rather like happy kids, y'know, compared to the usual terrors. That was a good little weekend. (That's the birthday boy there in the red shirt on the right. He had a really cool rocket-ship cake that Clare made. I neglected to bring my camera as I was in a rush to get there - but you get the idea! And that's the smiling Reece that she's holding - cute kids.)

And last weekend I had to forgo the chores owing to a slight hangover. Friday evening was my neighbor's birthday and she had a good-sized party that she insisted I come along to, complete with a brazier going full blast out in front on our driveway. Made her my Mexican Wedding cookies and my way bitchin' guacamole. Met lots of her interesting and cool friends and consequently ended up drinking what felt like too much (even tho I only had 2 glasses of wine), I stayed up way too late, didn't crawl into bed until 2ish....... Plus, standing on concrete outside in the cold for 4 hours, after getting up at 5.30am that morning, yeah, I guess I was just super tired. So that Saturday was pretty slow going until it was time to head down to the Gold Coast with Kim for our next attempt at whale watching. Checked in to the hotel - Holiday Inn at Surfers Paradise (it manged to be one of the H.I.s not yet hit by their multi-gazillion refurbishing bug, even tho it says they have on their website. Hmm, not the room we were in) where we promptly dumped our bags and headed back out to explore, find out where the marina was where the whale watching tour left from and to find some dinner. We ended up at the quieter end of Surfers (I didn't even know they had one) where we had a most excellent dinner at a little place near the water called the Lazy Lobster. I had the "Prawn, Crab and Barramundi Tondo" (ravioli) - it was amazing. It was soooooo damn good. The service was nice, friendly and plentiful. I can totally see why they've won awards. Definitely worth another trip. Definitely.

And the next day, Sunday, we were up early, which was amazing considering the room next to us was fulla teenagers who'd had a HUGE party that night before. I almost considered calling the front desk but I couldn't be bothered. Someone must have at some point tho, they went quiet after 3ish I think. That or they passed out. Kim and I had a look over at their balcony in the morning and there two girls asleep in chairs, surround by soda and booze bottles. It was hilarious. So on our way to whale watching I managed to nab their "Do Not Disturb" sign. It was the least I could do. Gotta get your revenge where you can.

So. Whale watching. I don't know if you remember our first attempt at this on my birthday last year, with a completely different tour company in a completely different part of the coast (Redcliffe)....? I just have to say, and this isn't saying much, that tour was actually better and we "saw" more whales. This tour sucked. Not totally the fault of the company, Spirit of Gold Coast, by any means. The whales just didn't feel like playing in front of or anywhere near our boat. You could see them waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out splashing and having a grand time, but by the time we motored over there, they got shy and refused to even skim the surface. I won't go on about it. It was a nice hour out on a boat, the weather was glorious, we were happy we didn't pay full price (I had a coupon for like $30 off) and we decided, well, I most certainly have decided, to never, ever go whale watching again. I get it. I'm sure it's neat. I've seen videos. Whatever.

Afterward we headed to Peter's Fish Market, a fairly "famous" place, for their fresh fish and chips for lunch. Tell you how popular this place is - they had security guarding the door to control the crowds. Crowds. Lines of people. Granted, this was around lunchtime on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, but yeah, security. He'd only let people in when enough people went out. But for the size of the crowd and the line, it moved way fast. I was impressed. I mean, I'd been there once before yeeears ago when I first moved here, and there was nothing of this kind of crowd then. Guess word gets out! So, happy with our scorching hot fish and chips (I had the #2 Special - it was so good and I could actually eat all of it (except the chips)), we wandered over to the little boardwalk that skirts the fanceeee pants Versace Hotel and sat and watched the nice boats drift in and out of the little marina/harbor and giggled as the seagulls annoyed a guy fishing in his little boat (or "tinny" as the locals call little tin boats). And we also watched as a storm brewed and got ready to move in. We'd timed it perfectly as we finished our lunch and drove away headed back to Brisbane - we'd just missed it! So it was a fine way to end what started as a bit of a bummer of a day. Good, fresh sea air and fresh fish and chips can redeem any not-so-great day!

And finally, that brings us to this past weekend. Saturday was chores again so I could have Sunday off to go out driving in mah new car! Woooooooooooooooooooohhhhhoooooooooo!!!!! I finally got one! That certainly took long enough! It's a white, 2008 Toyota Rav4 Cruiser L (which stands for Fanceee), all leather (black interior), sunroof, roof racks, heated seats - the works! I'd picked it up after work on Monday; Wednesday I took it out for a spin with my friend Dave who's moved down, again, from Cairns and drove the hour or so to Bribie Island and the Surf Club there for lunch (we had that Wednesday off for the Ekka - like the state fair); then on Sunday took it up to visit Kim in the 'hood of Brendale and to go up to the Northlake mall to pick up a couple things before heading over to Redcliffe and Margate for some lunch. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh wheels. It's awesome. Even more totally awesome than the last car I had (but never more awesome than the wee scooter). I meant to take Glamor Shots of it on Sunday but it rained. I should've taken some on Saturday when the weather was perfect but I figured the weather would be just as nice Sunday..... So will keep trying! But man it's nice. It's probably the nicest thing I own. And it's certainly nicer than my apartment - hey, I just bought a spare room - so if you need a place to stay, I got you covered!

And then later that evening, and the reason why I couldn't check in last night, my very nice Indian neighbors invited me over for a proper Indian dinner. Wow. Can she cook. And she laughed and said when she was growing up her Mom always chased her out of the kitchen so she never learned to cook for reals, she's had to teach herself (with much correction from her husband. They're so cute, they're just a young couple, only married like 4 years). It was sooooo good. And just spicy enough that you could still enjoy it. They laughed and said that was mild! Ahhhh am so white. Will work on it! But it was a very lovely meal and just nice to sit and talk with them instead of in passing collecting the mail or the laundry. I was just really honored to be invited over. He's finishing his PhD in Biotechnology and she's a mechanical engineer, tho she can't work because they're here on her husbands student visa. So they're smarter than our entire building put together. It was a really good evening. My contribution was a pint of Ben and Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie ice cream for dessert (which you can only buy in a very few of those fancy gourmet shops at like triple real world prices - but it was worth it), because she said they love ice cream and can never find any good stuff here. They had like two bites of it and they were hooked. Happy to help! And by that point I was so tired I just stumbled home, brushed my teeth and went to bed and that was that. Whew!

So there you have it. Apologies for not checking in for so long. Now do you see what I mean about being busy all these Sundays? And man, I'm impressed I can remember that far back - and all the details! Who needs fish oil, my memory's fine! So I hope you're all well up there. Drop a line sometime. As I mentioned, the weather is trying it's hardest to be Spring, so feel free to come on down anytime, you only have a couple months until the furnace is fired up and that's no fun until March or so. And hey, I have plenty of room now!

BYE!
J!

P.S. Speaking of the wee scooter - I discovered a new way to walk to work and along that way happens to be where all the motorcycle folk park their bikes. Well, one morning as I walked past, nestled in there amongst the big beasts was this little silver scooter. I thought it looked familiar and I committed the license plate to memory. Well, I just now looked through my old blog photos and lo and behold it's my wee scooter! And this morning I saw the guy parking it! I almost said something to him but I didn't know until now it was mine. If I see the guy again I just might say hi and ask how the wee scooter's doing. It looks well by the looks of it! HOORAY!

Another Birthday in the Can - Cairns That Is!

2011-07-29T09:55:00.051+10:00

Hi!

Well. Here we are, another Sunday evening. Complete with yammering crows (still waiting for those yappy happy lorikeets to return with the warmer, lighter weather….).... But am just in time for the way cool jazz tunes radio show…… the chores are half-done (laundry), got the nice glass of standby white wine – life is good! Sorry I missed last weekend, I was away, but more on that later!

So work. Yep. I actually had one day of real work to do. That was pretty exciting for 7 & ½ hours…….. Shame it can’t always be that busy. I wait and hope. Still pretty quiet, even tho they’ve posted multi-billion dollar profits, I don’t see any of it in my pay check or in an increase in work. Hmmmm. Otherwise, all’s well. Always happy to have gainful employment though!

And then there were the weekends…... Last weekend, as you might remember, I was vacationing up in Cairns for mah Birthday! Stayed with Glen and his fiancée Alison at their most excellent and just really nice house up at “The Peak” (note: if you zoom in on the map, look at it in "satellite" mode, house #31 is Glen and Alison’s place – nice!). Cairns is soooooo pretty – green and hilly, rainforest comes right down to the sea. It’s beautiful up there. My first day was really good, in fact, flying in was reallyreally cool because I happened to sit on the right side of the plane (no, really, on the right side of the plane) as we flew over the Great Barrier Reef – awesome. It’s amazing. Huge, sprawling, fascinating, something I’ll have to add to my “List of Things to Do in Australia” – fly over it in a little plane and land on one of those little islands – it was just so neat.

So Glen picked me up from the airport and we drove the 10 minutes into town and walked all along the Esplanade/Promenade and checked out the Esplanade Lagoon – had a look at all the fancy restaurants, cafes, tour operators, etc. Then we wandered down to the marina to scope out a few of the super-yachts moored there – fanceeee indeed. Stopped for some early lunch at La Pizza (goood pizza, no website - hmmm) and ice cream at Movenpik. I was stuffed. For some reason I felt like I hadn’t eaten real food in months and inhaled a whole pizza at 10.30am – with a glass of wine no less….. must’ve been the tropical air! What a pig! But it was all so good and it’s such a nice spot that Esplanade, lots to do and tons of places to eat along the Pier. Then we went back to their place to dump my bag and have a quick nap (hey, I was up at 4am) while we waited for Alison to come home from work (she’s a Pediatric Doctor. Cooool). Then, after a couple glasses of wine, we went out for dinner at this really good middle-eastern restaurant called Mecca Bah. I felt like I’d been eating all day and by bedtime I was just stuffed. The food was so good up there!

And Friday was reallyreally interesting – I’d taken Glen’s advice and booked myself on the Skyrail to go up to the little artsy crafty village of Kuranda – tucked up in the rainforest in the hills just beyond Cairns. That was so cool. Gondolas and a ride that seemed to go for ages (an hour and a half to be exact – and that was one way!). It stopped twice – once at Red Peak and Barron Falls to have a quick look and walk around a little bit of the rainforest and take some pictures of Barron Gorge and the waterfall there. Then it was back in the gondola for Kuranda, a spot of lunch and a good wander along three of the easy, hour-long walks that included the “Jum Rum Creek”, “Jungle Walk” and “River Walk”, finally ending up, basically, where I’d started from - at the historic and nicely restored Kuranda railway station. Seeing as I was a bit early for the train back to Cairns, I stuck my head into their huge pub, the Kuranda Hotel, for a beer (after those walks I was parched, it was so warm up there) until it was time to get on the train.

Now this wasn’t any ol’ train – this was the historical Kuranda Scenic Railway from 1884-ish. And seeing as it was my Birthday weekend, I had to go Gold Class (niiiiiiice)! The train ride back into town was awesome! There was a little recorded history (and some video) about how the railway was built and what it’s been used for over the last 100+ years (including troop and goods carrier during WWII). It was really interesting. Except I couldn’t hear all of it as there was a rather boisterous group of Chinese tourists having way too good of a time on all the wine they could drink (hooray for Gold Class and the never-ending bottle of wine!)! But the scenery was stunning and it was fascinating how they built all those tunnels next to sheer drops. They were certainly made of stronger stuff back then, that’s for sure. And when I arrived at Freshwater Station Glen and Alison were there to pick me up. Now, Freshwater Station wasn’t your average station either – it was built in the same late 1800’s Victorian style as a tribute to the folks who built the railroad – it was nice and big with a restaurant, a couple shops, a little historical cottage and a little museum – all of which were closed, as I’d come through at the end of the day. But it was pretty neat the level of effort they put in to make it historical. And then that evening Glen and Alison made a lovely pasta meal and we watched “The Adjustment Bureau” (eh, it wasn’t bad, interesting idea…..).

Then Saturday (Birthday!), Glen took me out on a drive up to Port Douglas to have a good look around and have a short wander along 4 Mile Beach there…… Well, all I can say is Port Douglas is beautiful and has all the big, fanceeeee resorts and was just basically really really nice. It kind of reminded me of Hilton Head, North Carolina, but, well, not. It was nice. And there were a few tour operators that go out to the Great Barrier Reef for diving and snorkeling (I’ll go next time – this visit was simply reconnaissance) but the biggest tour outfit was by far Quicksilver – they were massive, they even had a fleet of tour buses that they use to shuttle hundreds of tourists in one go from Cairns. I’ve never seen a tour operator so huge. A fleet of buses!!!!!!!!!!! (Note to self – not to go with that company, that’s way too many tourists). So after having scoped out the beach and the marina, it was time for a glass of champagne and a few breads and dips. Man, it’s a nice spot. Have also added a short stay and some diving from Port Douglas to my “To Do List…”!

Then, back in Cairns with Alison fresh from another day of saving small lives, we went out for a drink at Salt House (at their outdoor “deck bar” – very cool, very hip and groovy) and then we were off to a very nice dinner at Piccolo Cucina. It looked like a rather unassuming place tucked in there along the Pier with the other restaurants, and even tho it was crowded and we didn’t have a reservation, we managed to get in – sweeeeet! Dinner was excellent and they even brought the dessert out with a sparkler in it for mah Birthday! Hooray!

And then, Sunday, Alison had the morning off so we all drove out to the really lovely ‘burb of Palm Cove for a little wander along their pier and a spot of lunch (can’t remember the name of the café to save my life). It was kind of like Port Douglas only a lot smaller, more down-to-earth and not nearly as many tour operators. If I had to pick, I’d live at Palm Cove, it had a nice, friendly, relaxed vibe. Not to mention a stunning outlook across the sea. So by the time we finished it was time to head to the airport and back home. Now I’m kicking myself for having spent 8 days in NZ for my break a couple months ago and not going to Cairns instead. It’s so nice and there’s so much to do and eat! So when you come over, if you have time, we’re going to Cairns!!! So hooray – Adventures were had!

And then there was this weekend. Bland in comparison to this time last weekend, like oatmeal without brown sugar and berries. Tho it started off nicely Friday evening with dinner with Jan at a lovely Lebanese restaurant called Rouj. It was very nice, classy, pretty, the food was amazing, and bonus – it’s in Rosalie, the ‘hood right down the hill from me! Ahhhh it’s always nice to catch up with Jan. We usually go to some pretty nice restaurants – it’s the only way I can try them it seems! And Saturday afternoon was a bit of an unexpected surprise - I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in ages and we went to lunch a really nice place called Eves in the equally nice 'hood of Teneriffe. I haven't been there before and man it was niiiiice. Gorgeous view right there on the river.

And the rest of the weekend was chores and the usual…. I started watching the TV series “Breaking Bad”….. Am a little late on the pick-up (they’re into Season 4 while I’ve only watched the very first 3 episodes…), but man, it’s gooooooooood! If you can handle it, I can recommend it!

Otherwise, Adventures aside, all is well. Same ol stuff – work, home, work, home, Adventure, work, home………… And the weather, tho chilly at night, is beautiful during the day – perfect for a visit to Australia! Tho I’ve been watching on the news that things aren’t going to get any better up there any time soon, so I understand if you won’t be able to head this way in a while. And I won’t be able to head up that way for a long while either – I have ages to go until I have enough vacation time saved up! So for now, drop me a line (and maybe some photos) and let me know how you all are up there!

BYE!

Eyre Thar Be Adventures!

2011-07-17T15:22:00.046+10:00

Hi!

Well. Sunday afternoon.... Got a nice cool breeze through a clean and happy apartment, over a sleeping cat.... The sun is shining bright, the sky is blue with some puffs of clouds, and full of super chatty crows... Ahhhh Sunday afternoon! Got some cool tunes from the community radio station 4ZZZ (a bit early even for the strange show tunes radio show), got the cool glass of standby white wine..... Life is good! Missed last week, so here's to checking in!

So work. Yep. Is good. Still quiet. I had my review this past Monday (got my dates way wrong), I sailed through with flying colors. Boss is very happy and even happier that I haven't considered looking for work with another company seeing as I've been so damn quiet. He knows it's a quiet time across all the Defense contractors but it should pick up hopefully in the next year or so..... All I could think was another year???? Gah! I'm bored as it is! But as long as he's happy..... And we briefly touched on what to do with me when my contract expires in April next year.... Hopefully they'll make me permanent, but we'll see, he liked the idea but was scared about my Citizenship business (still waiting to just get my skills assessed, let alone even filled out any c.ship paperwork). So far so good - he's happy, the few folks I've helped are happy, so fingers crossed come April!

And then there were the weekends. Last weekend was super awesome in that an Adventure was had! After the chores were done, of course. Spent Saturday evening over at Kim's so we could get up long before the sparrows to get to the Brisbane Jet Base (at the other end of the airport, where all the charter flights live) in time to check in for our flight to Lake Eyre. It was a little-ish plane, a 35-seater Dash 8, big propellers. Got to our seats and we realized it was us two and two other folks and we were the youngest folks on the trip. We figured old folks have that kinda money and kids our age (and younger) aren't so interested in cool stuff like a once in every 50 years experience like Lake Eyre....... Anyways, we took off around 7am and soon after they fed us a pretty good sized breakfast. All I have to say I was impressed by the quality and quantity of the food they fed us during the whole trip. There was never an ounce of fear that we were going to starve to death that day!

Around 2 & 1/2 hours later we landed in Charleville to re-fuel, where we had a good 20 minutes or so to stretch our legs and check out the 'bustling' Charleville airport and immediate surrounds (including some of the reddest sand I've ever seen).... Then we were back in our seats for another 2 & 1/2 hours to Birdsville, where again we re-fueled and stretched our legs for another 30 minutes, checking out the very sparse surrounds which included the famous Birdsville Hotel....... Wow, there really is not a hell of a lot in the Outback, and we were in one of the "main" towns! Then we were back in our seats for another hour or so of flying over all the river systems that feed into the lake.... Then, having been more than suitably fed a good lunch, we dropped to around 1,000 feet and took our time flying over and around the lake. It was spectacular. It was huge, it was blue and red and gold, it mirrored the clouds, it showed the sand dunes underneath (the lake itself is only a few feet deep).... It was fantastic. So hard to see through those teeny airplane windows and even harder to capture in photos, but I certainly tried! All I can say is it was massive. Lots bigger than I imagined it would be. Tho no bird or any other critters that we could see - apparently they'd migrated in June to another lake miles away..... But what was most amazing was how all that water from all the rains we'd been having, thousands of kilometers away, ended up making this huge lake in the middle of nowhere. It was fascinating. And then to think that for the better part of a hundred years it's a massive, dry basin totally devoid of life, minus the odd scrubby plant. There's also a road that usually crosses the entire basin, the Birdsville Track, but it stopped at the edge of the lake... for now...... waiting until it all recedes in a few months.

Then, having flown over the lake from one end to the other in a big circle north to south, it was time to head back to Birdsville for more fuel and another 30 minutes to scope out the "town". It was just enough time to take a few more photos, buy a couple of postcards and have the requisite beer in the Hotel. It was pretty cool, in a rough and tumble Outback kinda way. I felt like such the tourist. But it was so cool that I really considered calling in to work sick, staying the night, renting a proper 4x4 and driving myself back to Brisbane - a trip that would've taken a good 3 days (you can't drive at night due to spontaneous kangaroos) - and I was really fine with that. Another Adventure at another time hopefully...... And, ironically staying there very nearly happened - as we were coming in to land we'd apparently knocked a bird on the head with the wheel of the nose landing gear, thus delaying our departure by 15 minutes while they called "headquarters" to check we'd be safe to fly. I had to giggle a little - we hit a bird in Birdsville, whaddya expect?!

And then, having been given the all-clear to fly, we were back on the plane for another 2 hours or so back to Charleville for more fuel and another 20-minute stretch of the legs. By now the sun was setting, casting amazingly long shadows and turning everything red and gold. But as soon as that sun went down, even slightly, ooooohweeee it was cooooold. It is the desert in winter after all.... Then it was back on the plane for the last 2 or so hours and a final meal (again, suitably good and huge) followed by wine and cheese. It was really a nice way to end such a trip. And next thing we knew we were back in Brisbane driving home! On our way back flying towards home, our guide Graham informed us that by the very end of the trip we will have covered over 4,000 kilometers (which is around 2,500 miles). Holy cow. I mean, if you look at it on a map it's pretty far from Brisbane - Lake Eyre basin, after all, sits within the north-eastern part of South Australia. No wonder folks at work were flabbergasted that I'd flown that far in a day. It's far! But I had to laugh when I heard that we'd done 4,000 km's in a day and told Kim that between the money we'd spent and the time we were on the plane, we could've been in L.A.! Because by the time we landed, around 7.30pm, we'd been on the plane a good 12 hours or so. Immensely happy but numb butts (Note: I took over 140 pictures that day, so it was really hard to pick which ones to show!)!

So there you have it, a proper Adventure was had. Now, going on more trips to the Outback is all I can think of planning! To the point where Kim and I are planning to go on another trip (with a different tour company, watch the video on the link - it explains Lake Eyre/surrounds better than I can!) again to Lake Eyre, via Coober Pedy, staying 2 nights and 3 days in one of Coober Pedy's famous underground hotels (the Desert Cave Hotel to be exact) and checking out the lake and surrounds by 4x4 - it sounds awesome. We're hoping to do that in the first week of October, just as the lake will start to recede. We figure we only have one more chance to check the lake out properly from the ground before it's gone! Oh, and the best part about this next trip is that we'll be flying in a 7-seater! Woooooweeee! Exciting! Will keep you posted!

Then there was this weekend. Pale in comparison. Tho last night was fairly exciting - went with Clare (she of the 3 small children and hostess to our bitchin' pizza and games evenings) to dinner at Kookaburra Cafe and then to see the final Harry Potter film - in 3D! It was really coooooool! Boy, 3D sure has come a LONG way since the red and blue cardboard glasses from the 70's/80's! It was neat! And no headaches or vertigo or anything. Sweeeeet. And the movie itself was really pretty good too. Much better than HP Part 1, but you knew that's how they were gonna play it. It was good enough, and the 3D was neat enough, that I would totally see it again. Still, as neat as 3D is, I won't have a 3D TV in my house. Not until they can solve the need for glasses (and the prices drop drastically)....... I simply can't, and don't want to, imagine watching everything in 3D - it's called life - stick your head out the window!

So yes, this weekend, while pretty good, paled in comparison to last weekend. Got the chores done tho, which is good because I won't get to until the weekend after next.... Because this coming weekend I'll be in Cairns celebrating my Birthday with Glen and Alison!!!!!!! Boy, I tell ya, having gainful employment and living in a cheap, run-down apartment sure has it's advantages! Yippie! Hooray! So won't check in this coming weekend, will check in the weekend after - with pictures!

So there you have it. Hope you're all well up there. See? Now that I'm getting out and about a fair bit, when you get here you only need to pick where you want to go and I can show you around! C'mon, it'll be fun! And winter/spring/autumn has to be the best time to check the place out...... so a big window of opportunity! C'mon down!

BYE!
J!

Eyre Thar Be Chores!

2011-07-03T15:21:00.014+10:00

Hi!

Well. Sunday afternoon. The day has been nice, cool and somewhat productive. Gotta love winter in Brisbane - chilly at night, lovely and perfect during the day. Checking in a little early, even early for the strange show tunes radio show..... But I was doing stuff on the little computer anyways so I thought while I was here, might as well check in and say hi! The birds are out there tho, chattering away; there's been a family of Kookaburras laughing and cackling in the trees nearby all weekend, wish I knew what they were on about.....! No lorikeets yet, I guess they might return with the warmer weather. Have got some hip n' groovy tunes this afternoon courtesy of the community radio station 4ZZZ, have even got a small glass of the standby white wine. Life is good!

So work. Yep. It's fine. Still deathly quiet. I had something to do last week, but that was only for a day and even then I was able to work from home that day because I was trying to kick a head cold. Otherwise, it's pretty quiet in the Australian aerospace/defense industry for the time being..... I have my performance review tomorrow (Monday), this oughta be, well, I don't know what, interesting..... maybe? I don't have a lot to talk about really and I'm pretty sure my Boss won't either. Sigh. Why companies continue with this futile process I'll never know. I guess it gives Bosses and HR sycophants something to do, paperwork to fill out and file away, like results from an anthropological field study...... Either way, fingers crossed the Boss is happy!? Will keep you posted. Otherwise, all is well!

And then there was the weekend. Started off quite nicely Friday evening with Pizza and Games at Jason and Clare's along with the usual suspects. Always a good night. Tho the thing about having these catch-up evenings with smarty pants IT folk is that they sometimes go off on tangents that leave me feeling a little like the gal from "Big Bang Theory". I don't mind most of the time because it's the only way I learn stuff. But sometimes they can get a bit carried away and preoccupied. It's actually kind of funny to watch. Otherwise it was a good night, as always.

And yesterday, Saturday, was chores. Sometimes I swear to god am gonna hire a maid to clean and go to the grocery store. What a waste of a perfectly good day. I mean, I know this stuff isn't going to clean, wash and vacuum itself, and I know there isn't much to do, but why does it have to take the best part of the day? And my place is so tiny it would take a pro, like, no time and cost me not much. Plus with the grocery shopping, it's just for me, I don't eat much as it is, and lettuce for Kona, how much can that all really cost??? I should totally look into it...... Speaking of looking into things, am still looking to buy a Rav4, still haven't found one yet.... I know what I want and lately there hasn't been much advertised online. But boy, I tell ya, that's all I can think about and plan - things am going to do when I get wheels. I can go to Bunnings Warehouse (it's exactly like Home Depot, only with green branding instead of orange) and get some materials to make shelves for the bathroom; I can sell some stuff and maybe even deliver it to the buyer, because I can; haul stuff around, because I can; get Kona to the Vet without having to ever deal with cabs again; take myself to the airport at 5 in the morning; go camping (tho after watching "127 Hours", I promise to tell everyone where I'm going, even if I go with people); man, I just sit and think of the places I could go and the things I could do...... In a way there's no rush because I don't want to spend $20,000 +/- on a lemon just cos am in a hurry to go places and then again am really wanting to get out and about on weekends (and evenings if the mood strikes) already! Hmmmmm....

And today, finished up the chores (ironing - something else the maid can do) and computer stuff. There's a new TV series I just started renting called "New Tricks", haven't watched it yet, but has been highly recommended to me, and I'd like to watch it on the weekends during the afternoon (after chores) but for years and years I've had this thing about not watching TV during the day. I don't know where I got that from because we grew up watching Looney Tunes in afternoons after school.... before we went outside to play...... but it almost feels like a crime to have the TV on when it's a perfectly fine day outside and I should be doing productive things. Make hay while the sun shines and all that. Wierd. Anyways, hmmm, now I can't remember where I was going with this, but yes, no TV during the day........ Hmmm.

And that's, sadly, about it. Saving for next week's Adventure to Lake Eyre! Now that should be an Adventure. Got the camera batteries charged and ready to go. Still need to read up on it a bit more, but from what I do know it's going to be way neat. Very Australian. And I like the little tour we're going on - pretty much for locals so hopefully a minimum of "tourists". I know that sounds bad, and what else would I call myself, but I live here.....? Anyways, quite looking forward to this day trip. Will end up checking in late tho, as the trip takes the entire day and into the evening - we leave here at around 7.30am and don't return until around 7.30pm, so by the time I get home, get settled, yeah. So will check in next weekend with photos and details! Finally doing some stuff on my Australia Adventure List......! Now if only I could do more stuff.....!

So there you have it. I hope you're all well up there. Did I mention last check in that Qantas had a special on tickets to Brisbane? Am just sayin'............!

BYE!
J!

Lions, Tigers and Bears - in Melbourne!

2011-06-26T17:39:00.031+10:00

Hi!

Well. Sunday evening. It's been absolutely perfect weather lately. The sun was bright and shining all day, the birds were happy and chatty, in fact the weather was so nice that the lorikeets came back and had a good catch-up with each other. They crack me up how excited they get about, well, whatever lorikeets get excited about. Now the sun has set, the groovy jazz tunes radio show is going, got the cool glass of standby white wine...life is good! Missed last week because I was visiting "family" in Melbourne, so photos to come......! Onwards!

So work. Yep. Is good. I actually had one little important thing to edit (only worth $1.5 million, so small change according to the guys in the know). That was pretty exciting to have something real to do that took up a good part of the day. Man I miss having editing to do, like what I did at Qld Health, man I was always busy there...... I caught up informally with my Boss the other day and he knows I don't have much on and that it's ok, it's just the way it is and if I can think of stuff to do by all means do it - stuff like updating style guides...... Hmmmmmm. So at least I'm not in trouble or that they're going to let me go - he said they need an editor and just because there's not a lot happening right now doesn't mean they can let me go. So that's good! I hope!

And then there was the weekend. Last weekend that is. So headed to Melbourne very first thing Friday morning. Went down to visit Jeff and Emily and his new wife Tami. It was a fantastic visit, as always. Let's see, Friday what did we do.... I helped Jeff fill out some of his tax I.D. paperwork (because he works at Monash University now) and then he and Tami went off to the University to hand it all in while Emily and I walked around town. We managed to stumble across Hoosier Lane - a famous lane-way (alleyway) because of all the really good/artistic graffiti - it's been written up in travel guides and magazines. It's really pretty cool and there's so much of it that you really do have to stand in one spot and just look. In fact, when we showed up there was a big group of Japanese tourists being led around. Cute. So while I got tons of photos it's hard to show what it's really like. It's pretty impressive. And then that evening we went to dinner at Scusami, the same place we'd had dinner one evening last visit. It was really good then, this time it was good, but eh, ok. Not sure if we'll hit that one again because really, it's Melbourne and there're sooooo many good places to eat that to eat at the same one almost seems like a crime!

Saturday we all headed out to the hip and way groovy suburb of Fitzroy where they have a really cool artists market called Rose Street Artists Markets, it was reeeeeeallly cool! Very hip n' groovy. I kept a few artists in top ramen for a couple of days that's for sure. And then Jeff and Tami went off to explore suburbs worth buying a house in while Emily and I wandered aimlessly around Fitzroy and then headed into the city (we're getting pretty good at the public transport system now!). But I have to say that is one hip suburb. It's dirty and run down, but a way cool place to visit and shop for cool, funky stuff. I'll definitely head back. And then that evening we went to see the Tutankhamun exhibit at the Melbourne Museum, which was really big and seemed really interesting but we had booked tickets for a specific time and could only do that. So next time am down there will check out the rest of the museum like a normal person. The King Tut exhibit, while totally awesome, was really regimented and organized, they lined us up like cattle and left us standing for ages before we were allowed in in groups (crowd control I guess). And under no circumstance were you allowed to take pictures - you shoulda seen the size of some of those roving security dudes! Far be it for me to toe rules when they had multiple Hulks guarding their goods. So I had to settle for the book (sponsored by National Geographic, so of course it's good), the CD of the music they played while you looked at everything and an alabaster cat statue. I guess I went a little crazy but now I can die without ever having to buy another King Tut thing ever again.

And Sunday we just ran a lot of errands around town. So now we're pretty savvy with the main part of the downtown area. I dropped my ailing ear-bud headphones into the Bose shop for repair (turns out they don't bother repairing them, they just charge you $78.50 for a brand-new pair - which is sweeeeeeeeeet because they retail around $150!). Oh yeah, and we hit the Queen Victoria Market. It's HUGE. In a HUGE set of warehouses with some of it spilling to stalls outside. It was a little like an indoor swap meet, only this was filled with basically cheap crap from China. The same sort of market stuff you'd find in any city on the planet. Well, most cities. At least in Western cities...... Ehhhh, while it had a really good fruit and veggie market (almost 50% of the whole of the market, according to the website), the rest of it I could probably live without seeing again. Y'know, it's good for stuff like cheap cheese graters, wooden lighthouses, cheap leather jackets, hats, scarves, toys, that kinda thing. Ehhhh. We liked the Rose St. Market much better. Now, if we were in the need for fresh produce, definitely hit the Queen Vic Market. Otherwise....... And then that evening we ate a fanceeee pants steakhouse called Rockpool (inside the Crown Casino on the fancy pants end, with all the fancy pants shops and restaurants. Far from the gambling peasants). It was niiiice. But the food took ages and ages to come. But when it finally came, oh la la, the steaks were SO good. And we wanted to order a bottle of wine to go with dinner but there was absolutely nothing on the wine list under $100. They were charging $250 for a bottle of wine that we knew for a fact sold for $30 in the real world. I don't know who designed and priced their wine list, but it was clearly someone with no concept of reality. Aliens maybe. Aliens that like steak. And wine. And big framed pictures of cows. Everywhere. Lucky the steaks were so good........

And then Monday we went to Melbourne Zoo! It was really good! It's never fair for us to compare any zoo to the San Diego Zoo, so you have to remember to take it on its own. And it was pretty good. Big, with not as much as the size warrants, but what they had was fine. Lions and tigers and even a bear! They even had a really neat butterfly house (nice and warm). Even got to see the lions being fed (bits of meat, can't say if it was bits of Christians - harhrhar), which while neat, was a little unnerving to hear the crunchcrunchcrunch of bones. So it was a pretty full 3 or so hours. And then it was off to the airport to get me on a plane back to Brissy!

Whew! It was a fun and busy trip. And always sooooo happy to catch up with Emily and Jeff and now Tami. We always cram a lot into a few days even if we have no real plan to begin with. We just have such a good time and a good laugh. I'll be happy when they're here for longer stretches at a time. Be nice to have "family" so close!

And that brings us to this weekend. Quiet. Dull. Chores. Went out to dinner with Kim at Kookaburra Cafe (I can't tell you how much I love that place), dinner of which was awesome, as always. Otherwise it was the usual quiet weekend as I lay low to let the bank account recover until the next Adventure. And the next one is the plane ride out to Lake Eyre and back on the 10th of July. That'll be so cooooool. I need to read up on it a bit more before we go, just so I know what all I'm looking at!

And so there you have it! All's well down here. Happy that we've passed the winter solstice mark and that the days will start getting longer again. Am sick of waking up in the dark and only being home from work for about half an hour before it's dark. But hey, I know, it could well be worse - it could be NYC in the wintertime! Gahhhh! Otherwise, all's well here, the weather seems to have stabilized so it's a perfect time to come for a visit...... hinthinthint......... Qantas has tickets to Brisbane on sale.... am just sayin'...... So I hope you're all well up there! Drop a line and tell me what's happening all the way up there!

BYE!
J!