Speed Dating.... @ Your Library?????

Read an intersting little snippet on Katies blog about a library running speed dating nights... can you imagine that?
Read the blog entry here.

New Years Laugh

I had this emailed to me and thought it may be worth sharing...

Merry Christmas Everyone

Hi All,

I have been so busy this year I have not had the opportunity to send out Christmas cards - but it's not because I don't love you all.

I hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas and wish you all the best for the new year. I will try to get a post up after Christmas.

Have a safe one - Andrew

What a Week

What a week it has been. Sydenham Library opened its doors to the public and the pace has been very steady. There have been lots of people coming in to join the library service, however the computer usage so far has been very sedate.



The problem I wrote about at the house with the microwave cavity has been resolved and the builders are going to change the cabinetry to fit a standard microwave. This has made Sean very happy.



We went to Seans friends wedding on Sunday which offered an 'interesting' menu which included things like Shark Fin soup, abalone, ect. I didn't eat anything as it was all way to fancy for my tastes.



Well, thats about it, just FYI I will include a photo of the new library....

Sorry

Hi all,
Sorry I havn't blogged in a few weeks as I have been flat chat. Christmas has snuck up on me this year more than it has other years. I had the day off on Monday so Sean and I went Christmas shopping at Chadstone. Thankfully because it was a Monday it was not too busy. We got pretty much all our Christmas shopping done - as well as the usual arguments which come with shopping (cause shopping is boooooring!)

It has also been flat out at Work. We have the grand opening for the new library this Sunday. The last week has seen the numerous plasma screens setup, our kiosk stations setup as well as loading up the public PCs with software and tidying all the cables up.

I went out for Dinner with some old work Friends on Tuesday night down to a hotel in Essendon. Very nice meal. I had roast pork, then lemon marang pie for dessert.

Tomorrow our new bed is being delivered to my grandparents where we will store it until we take posession of the house. Captain snooze said they would originally hold it for 6 weeks, which turned out to be 6 months before they rang up and said it needs to go from their warehouse.

With the house we have a problem with the microwave cavity at the moment. We have measured the cavity and found it is too small to fit even the smallest microwave on the market. The designers are currently working on resolving this issue, so hopefully they will get there butts into gear and have a resolution soon.

Tomorrow night I have an end of year Christmas celebration with my 'Movie friends', then Sunday I am working at the grand opening, then off to Seans friend's wedding reception, which is a Chinese banqute which should proove interesting.

Well thats about it. I will try and update more frequently before Christmas.

Cheers
A

House Update

Well, another week has passed and the physical appearance of the house has changed so much. Most of the paintwork is now complete. The kitchen has been installed, and there was a worker there today preparing the benches ect. for the sinks to go in. Whilst we are now so close, I do not believe we will have handover until some time early in the new year.

Here are some of the latest photos:

Update

Well, week one at the new Sydenham Library has been busy. A large amount of stock is now on the shelves and we have started setting up all the little bits and pieces that you never usually think about.
There has been a small amount of progress with the house. The brickwork has been cleaned, and the edges around the windows and doors have been painted. We were lucky enough this week to be able to get inside the house! So here are some photos:

Front/Side View of the house

Rear view of the house

Laundry

View from Gallery into the Kitchen & stairwell

View of bedroom including balcony

View from front of Gallery looking towards the backyard.

View of bedroom looking from brack towards front.

Bathroom (it looks small)

View looking down into Gallery

Upstairs loft

We Finally Have A Library

This week promises to be a very busy week. As of tomorrow, I will finally be working out of Sydenham Library. The library is currently scheduled to open around the 10th of December. This week will mean a lot of shelving and setting up, so it promises both to be fun and exhausting. However there will be no computers til at least November 20.

The house has not progressed a great deal. Skirting boards have been done, and that's about it. I think we are currently waiting on the cabinetry before they can paint.

Our calendar is already starting to look really busy. It is filling up fast with work and social commitments. I have not even started Christmas shopping yet, and have not even thought about what I'm going to get most people (maybe since Sean likes shopping he could do it all???)

I don't think I made an entry of it (have been a little lazy with the blogging as of late), but my Grandpa is home from his week and a bit in Hospital. Took him and Grandma to see the progress on the house today, as at his lowest moment in Hospital he told mum that he was just living to see my house finished, then he can die. I'm not sure if that is a good thing to say or a bad thing.

Another thing I haven't blogged about is that I am to be an uncle. My youngest sister (17 YO) has gone and got herself pregnant to some feral guy. So that is making life interesting as it appears both her and the boyfriend have no grip on reality and have gone totally feral. I think the way it has happened has taken all the joy that becoming grandparents should be away from Mum and Dad. My Grandparents and Sean all now refer to Celina and her boyfriend as the Gypsies living out of their car. Very stupid girl!

Anyway, hope you all have a great week.... A

Latest House Photos

Well it's been another busy week at the building site. The scaffolding has now been removed, plastering has been completed, and they have now started painting the exterior brickwork.

here's the photos:

All Locked Up

Well, what a busy week it was last week. Had lots of training for work during the week including a full day off-site "managing effective teams" session with some other council staff. I had a site visit to the new Sydenham Library on Thursday. The building works are progressing there very fast. The interior is pretty much complete and now most of the remaining work is on the exterior.

Speaking of building works. The house is now officially in lockup, so unfortunately when we went there on the weekend we could not get in to take newer photos (I tried though the glass, but there is too much reflection). The staircase is now in, as well as the decking on the entry/porch. All the plaster has been delivered and is piled up around the place inside, but as of the weekend they had not yet started putting the plaster up. The hole is now in the brickwork for where the embedded letterbox will go.

I am also going to upgrade my computer hopefully this weekend. I have a day off on Friday, so amongst other things I am going to go and buy the components I need to do the upgrade. That means I will be busy in the evenings this week backing up all the stuff on my current PC that I wish to keep (as I will reuse many parts from the current PC such as hard drives, CD/DVD ROMs, graphics card, ect.

Also a busy week socially this week. I am going out for dinner with some old workmates on Wednesday and out for dinner and movies with a group of friends on Friday night down at Werribee.

That's about it!

Weekend By The Sea

Sean and I spent this weekend down at my grandparents caravan at Ocean Grove. It was nice to get away from everything and just have time to chill out and relax. We went straight down on Friday evening, I had an RDO on Friday so I drove Sean to work in the morning, went and had my hair cut and did some other stuff, did a bit of Work at SirsiDynix in the afternoon, then picked Sean up and drove straight down from Seans Work.

On Saturday we went for a walk along the beach at Point Lonsdale, followed by a trip into Queenscliff to look at some of the local galleries for painting ideas for the house. We had lunch at the View Grand in Queenscliff. We then went to Drysdale, Clifton Springs, Port Arlington, then back to the Caravan before going back to Queenscliff to get some fish and chips for tea.

On Sunday we went for a walk along the beach in the morning, packed up our stuff then went to "the house" and my grandparents before going home.

I didn't have my camera with me so I have no house photos to share (thank god you are probably thinking!). All the electrical work is complete and I spoke to the builder on Thursday and he said that they are doing the plaster work this week, so I believe we will no longer have access to the inside from this week (bummer!).

I held my first training session at Brimbank last Thursday, it was staff training for Microsoft Outlook. It all went well, so hopefully this will carry through to some successful training sessions once the Sydenham Library opens in December.

Knock, knock knocking on Heavens Door

We went for a visit to the house today. Some inconsiderate builder has put a front door on the thing!

A lot of progress has been made this week. The last segment of brickwork around the back is almost complete, wiring inside has started, and as I said, a front door is now in place. Here are the updated progress photos...

Above: View looking from the Gallery to the front door.

Above: Gallery front window
Above: Looking from the gallery up towards the loft.

Above: Front view
Above: Looking from the gallery into the kitchen

Above: Looking out the backdoor of the gallery.
Above: looking at the front and street side.

Hitting the Ceiling

There is now finally a roof on the house. Brickwork apart from a small section in the patio garden is now complete, and most of the guttering is on. I went for a look yesterday afternoon cause I finished work as Sydenham as I had a site visit to the new library, which is almost finished.

I would have photos to show you, but the battery in my digital camera died, so I will see if I can get some batteries today and will go out and take photos on the weekend.

It looks extremely different inside now with a roof on - it actually feels a little eerie!

I attended a change management session for work yesterday. It was funny, all these people talking about little changes, and there was I who has changed relationship status, jobs twice, and soon to change address - I think I may know how to manage with change from practice now!

Went a watched The Devil Wears Prada on Friday night. I was a little disappointed. It had really good characters but was really lacking in story. There was really no goal through out the film which made it feel like it dragged. As soon as the movie started you figured Meryl Streep was a b!tch, and when it finished you still though she was a b!tch. What also gets me is they only played 2 trailers before the film, and both were for kids movies! What is the point of going to the cinemas these days?

Day One - And All Is Good

Well, day 1 at Brimbank has been completed without any dramas or too big a headache. Had an OK nights sleep.

The day started with a very informal overview of the whole SILC idea and plans, followed by lunch and branch tours. Only took me 30 minutes to get to work which was good. Have an RDO of Friday so I am looking forward to the sleep in.

Have training in AmLib which is there ILS tomorrow, so that should be a challenge. Anyway gotta go and laydown and watch some telly.

I'll keep you all updated on how the week goes.

House Update

Went to the block today and good progress has been made on the house this week. Windows and external doors have been added, scaffolding has been setup around the exterior, and brickwork is now up past the first floor.

Sean and I also managed to climb up and walk up on our second story for the first time (see photos below of 2nd story bedroom and loft.

Here are the latest photos....

Above: View from upstairs looking over the balcony down into the gallery


Above: Looking from the upstairs bedroom, through the bathroom and toward the loft.

Above: The upstairs loft

Above: Upstairs bedroom including Juliet Balcony doors

Above: Front of the house (Gallery on left, office/loft on right)

Above: View from backyard

Above: Corner view showing the front and side (road side)

Above: Looking at the back 1/2 of the gallery from the office/study

Above: Looking into the Kitchen from the Gallery

Weekly Update

Oh well, another weekend is over and I have now started my last week at SirsiDynix. It's shaping up to be a busy week. A workmate from Adelaide is over for the next few days doing some training, so I am going out with her for dinner tonight. I have a tender I need to get finished by lunch time Wednesday I have been working on for most of today, then I have some other jobs I want to finish up before Friday.

disappointingly very little work was done on the house last week - not even enough to warrant new photos. The only change has been the sewage plumbing for upstairs has been put in. The windows are all still sitting there - not yet put in, which means that no more brushwork has been done, cause they are waiting for the windows to go in before they can brick up any higher.

My lot are up in Queensland at the minute so I have been staying at seams house since Friday. As I always find when I stay away from home I have not been sleeping as well, so I am already feeling totally exhausted. Hopefully I will hit the pillow tonight and go out like a lightbulb.

Until my next blog... Goodnight!

Another Day, Another Dollar

Well it is fast approaching the end of another week. This week has flown by (thank god), and so far it looks like it may be a quiet weekend. My Mum and sisters are off to Queensland for a couple of weeks, so it should be nice a quiet at home. Traffic should hopefully be a little quieter on the way to and from work, meaning more time at home and less time on the road.

It has been extremely busy at work this week. I have so much to get done before I finish up here next Friday. To think I have really settled in now, and I am going to go back to being unsettled and having to learn everything from scratch again.

Oh well. Hopefully a great deal has been done on the house this week since it has been nice weather. Anyway I have to go, so much to do, so little time!

Latest House Photos

Hi Everyone,
Here are the latest house photos. No work what-so-ever was done on the house this week - very disappointing!

Weekly Update

Well, it has been one full week since my last entry, so I thought I had better put something in. It has been a pretty busy week at work, and I can not see myself getting through everything I have to do before I finish on September 22nd.

We have had another setback with the house this week. The Island bench we wanted for the kitchen that the builder said they could do when we were buying the house has now turned around and say they can not do it for our model. They were going to charge us around $1,500 for it, so I have been getting pricing from other kitchen companies, and so far it looks like we will be paying around $1,100 to have it done by another company - which worked out better for us.

Windows were delivered to the house the other day, but were not installed as of Tuesday - we will be going to the block on the weekend, so hopefully the windows will be installed and we will be slowly creeping closer to lockup (I'll post photos next week).

Apart from the above, it really has been a week of all work and no play, so I'm feeling pretty exhausted and looking forward to at least one sleep in on the weekend.

Pretty easy weekend, tomorrow morning we have to take Seans car in for a service, but apart from that we have no major plans. My Grandparents, Mum, and Sister are off to Queensland at the end of next week, so we will go and visit Grandma and Grandpa on the weekend to see them before they go.

Thats all from me!

Busy Weekend Ahead

Hey,
I have a busy weekend ahead despite my initial plan of having a quiet one at home doing bugger all. I'm going to Adelaide for the day on Friday, which means up at 5am, and don't get back into Melbourne til 7pm, so I will be absolutely exhausted by the time I get home.

The original plan was to make up for a exhausting Friday by sleeping in Saturday. However, Sean has booked his car in for a service Saturday morning, so we need to get up early, I then need to follow Sean down to K-Mart Tyre and Auto in my car to pick him up once he drops his car off. We are then going to go looking at electrical (again), then to the block, then to a lighting place that is having a big closing down sale.

Sunday is fathers day (I didn't realize til yesterday!), which means we have lunch at my grandparents. Sean and I then have to duck off for a while 1/2 way through to go and pick up some Tuppaware at Northland that was stuffed up in our original order. Before we go to my Grandparents Sunday morning we will head off to the Gisborn Market. The Gisborn market is on the first Sunday of every month, and now the spring weather is hitting us should start getting quite a good variety of stores.

Why do I sense that next week is going to be a very tiring week?

RACV Home Show

We went to the RACV Home Show on the weekend. The Homeshow featured pretty much everything to do with building, renovating, landscaping, and general housekeeping stuff.

The show was held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. One of the main things I was looking at was garden and outdoor ideas. Since we have such a small patio garden it is going to be important to make the most of it, so good design is key.

One thing that did p me off was the way they were advertising the show was, 'bring your houseplans and get free advice and tips from builders, landscapers ect'. Now yes they did have a stand there called 'ask a landscaper', and you could go to that stand, look at designs they have done elsewhere, but that is where the free ended. For them to look at your plan and give you ideas you had to book... and just that booking, just for them to share ideas about what could be done was $2,000!

We also took both lots of parents to the block on the weekend to see the progress that is being made. To my surprise, they had builders there working on Saturday til around 2pm.

Its going to be a pretty average week this week. Working in Melbourne Mon-Thurs, then in Adelaide for the day on Friday, flying home Friday evening. So far I have no plans for this weekend which is good, because it is only Monday and I already feel totally nackered.

More House Photos

House photos from Saturday 26/8/06: