Andrews Blog

Of course it's shiney... it's Chrome!

2008-09-26T14:18:00.006+10:00

Well for just under the past month I have only opened up Internet Explorer on my computer about 1/2 a dozen times... and no.. it's not cause I have banned myself from using the Internet... I have made the migration to Google Chrome.

Google Chrome is Googles new offering to the web browser market, and was released not so long ago as a beta release that you can download from their website.

I must say that for an initial beta release, Chrome is already an incredibly stable, and feature rich piece of software, and when it becomes more mature I think will give the Firefox browser a run for its money... and cause everyone already knows and loves Google... may tempt some of the long time devoted Internet Explorer users over.

So it's a web browser... How much could Google actually do to improve a web browser?

Well lets see... here are some of Chromes features I like:

One of my superiors is well known for here motto "less is more" and Google has taken that approach with Chrome. Both IE and Firefox offer you a barrage of buttons to click up in your top toolbar... by default, Chrome offers only 5:

Back
Forward
Reload
Page Settings
Settings

And that is it... no file, edit, tools, menu's ect.

Chrome devotes as much space to the actually website you are visiting as it can, so less up the top, and no status bar down the bottom.

One of the best features, and the thing that makes me really love Chrome, is where the newer versions of IE and firefox have the address bar, then a search box where you can search the Internet directly, Chrome merges these into one bar.

In a single text bar, you can type a url to vist a site directly, or enter a search term to search your favourite search engine with (it does not have to be Google), search your Internet searching history, bookmarks ect.

Tabs... yes they are cool, Firefox has used tabs for yonks, and IE finally came on board with tabs in IE7, so we all know how good it can be to have multiple websites open in a single window. The biggest advantage Chrome has is that each browser tab is independent, so if you visit a website that crashes the tab, only that one tab dies, and your whole browser does not crash as it would with Firefox or IE. The flip-side of this however, is because each tab is running independently, if you have many tabs open, Chrome can become quite resource hungry and eat up a fair bit of RAM.

What happens when you open a new tab? Each time you open a new tab, Chrome has a little page it displays in the tab that gives you little screenshots of all your most visited pages, and a list of all your latest bookmarks... making it very easy to return to some of your favourite sites.

Another cool feature with tabs.... you can rearrange the order they appear in, by simply clicking and dragging the tab to the order you want it in... simple, but makes life easy if you have 10+ tabs open and are constantly jumping between a few of them.

So overall... Do I like it? Yep... Love it, and won't be going back to IE or Firefox at the minute.

As it is still a beta release, there a few little bugs, I have found some CSS renders a little odd sometimes, but overall is pretty good. At the minutes, if you open an RSS feed directly in the browser it just displays as a heap of unformatted text, but hey, you can do all the important stuff.

Reflections from above

2008-09-17T20:42:00.003+10:00

Well, today marked the end of my month and a bit as acting branch manager, Sydenham Library. Looking back on over the past month, it has given me a new appreciation of what my boss actually does.

I guess from the point of a worker, it is very easy to sit back whenever something goes wrong, or something just does not seem fair, and wonder to yourself "What exactly does my boss do, it doesn't seem like she does anything". Why, yes, to an extent they do none of the labors that make the place function, they are like the mortar in a house. When we think of a wall, we think of the bricks, and they make up the wall... but there is one thing we really don't think about that is holding all those bricks together... the mortar.

When I was first asked to be acting manager, I thought to myself, this is going to be a breeze, the place will pretty much run itself, and I will have so much extra time to get little tasks I have been putting off for ages finished. I can now say, out of all those little tasks, I probably only got around to doing one. I can always tell when I am challenged at work and enjoying it, cause the days and hours just fly by. This experience was like that, it feels like only a couple of days ago I was waving off Inna thinking of what pranks I can set up in her office for when she returns.

This experience has also given me the opportunity to see how things flow from the other side attending co-ordinators meetings and the like. I can see why sometimes despite our constant nagging at the branch, it can be difficult for Inna to commit to trying different things, or improving some workflows.

It appears to me that libraries have so much potential to deliver valuable services to the community and help people better themselves and become technologically more advanced, and lets use the catch cry, become life long learners. I think there is really only one thing currently holding libraries back from achieving this with fantastic results... Librarians. The sooner all these old dinosaurs retire and die, the better. I know it sounds a bit Nazi like, but fire the librarians and burn the books. Whilst trying to give the world the impression that they are now hip, know what a blog is, and can be cool. They are a bunch of scared little old ladies who are too obsessed with trying to keep the piece with everyone, and try to create a model of services and workflows the suite everyone... when basically different areas have different needs, and different needs are often addressed in varying services and procedure to match those needs.

If you are a librarian reading this, yes congratulations you are actually using a fang-dangled computer and reading one of those modern bloggy-who-ze-what's-it's... but maybe you should retire now - Why we are at it, lets change the name library to 'community learning centre', 'technology and information hub'.

To close... the biggest thing I have learnt from my manager stint... write everything down in a diary. It's bloody hard trying to keep track of everything that's happening, and where all your staff are. I shall now go back to being mortal.

New/Improved Web Toys

2008-08-14T19:12:00.010+10:00

Well, I haven't posted anything serious lately... except for the seriously easy mug cake... so thought it was time for something with a bit more substance.

Playing about on the net as of late, and a few new/improved services have propped up that could be some fun to have a play around with.

Firstly for whats new....

Google Maps Streetview
http://maps.google.com.au/

You can kill hours satisfying your inner stalker with Google Streetview. Google Maps and Google Earth gave us all the ability to look down onto places via satellite imagery, which was all pretty cool (oh look there is my house, taking up a total of 1 cm of screen space)... now Google has introduced to Google Maps Australia streetview.

Streetview allows you to select a location on almost any Australian street, and get a 360 degree vantage point, as if you were standing there on the street. Its truly amazing. Like the satellite images, it is not live images, and it appears most of the Melbourne stuff was done around Christmas time, as I have my Christmas wreath on my front door.

I knew streetview was being launched this year, but I was truly surprised at the coverage. I was expecting the inner suburbs of the major capitals to be done, but to my surprise you can visit many country towns and have a peek around. With such broad coverage the biggest surprise for me has been that they have not covered Geelong???

You can imagine all the people moaning and groaning out there about privacy, but really, they need to build a bridge and get over it. The images are already at launch over 6 months old, peoples faces, and car number plates are automatically blurred out so you can't be identified. The images are from the view of the street, so if someone really wanted to see what your house looked like they could just drive/walk past and get a more detailed view, as the streetview images loose quality when you zoom in.

What has been improved:

Delicious
http://delicious.com/

Delicious has just recently launched a new platform and interface. Most of the base functionality of delicious appears not to have changed, and most of what has changed seems to be purely cosmetic.

Some of the other changes to the platform include:

new name... the url is no longer del.icio.us by is now delicious.com this is apparently to make it easier for people to remember the correct URL.

When you manually post a URL now by typing in the URL to save, delicious now goes and automatically fills in the name/description by checking the URL and returning its page title... this I think is very good functionality, and is one thing I could not understand why it was not in the old del.icio.us

In the improvements they have dropped support for HTML feeds of your bookmarks. Most people won't even know this is gone because they never realised it existed, but for people like me who built apps from it (for work) we have now had to change to using the REST APIs to return the same data.

Facebook
http://www.new.facebook.com/

Facebook has also undergone some cosmetic changes. At first I was not a fan, but now I can not comprehend what I would not have liked about it.

The new interface loads a lot faster, as not as many elements appear on your screen at once.

I love the new look of profiles, as if you look at someones profile who has installed 101 apps, you don't have to wait for each app to load as you did in the old Facebook, as they are now kept on a separate tab.

The new platform also encourages a lot more social interaction with the ability for people to comment on pretty much anything that appears on your profile, such as your 'status'.

LibraryThing
http://www.librarything.com/

LibraryThing has released a new service which makes all the cover art available on LibraryThing accessible by external app's. In library land, this could be a big competitor to services such as Syndetics which charge for such a service.

The downside... They will only allow you to download 1000 book covers a day, so if you try and integrate the cover art into your library opac, and your opac returns result sets containing 20 items, you will hit your thousand pretty quick.

At Brimbank Christian is working hard on a new catalogue interface to better integrate the catalogue with our web site. To help integrate enhanced features such as cover art into this I have written a little API that sits on our web server, that cache's the cover art from LibraryThing when we initially get it, so we can provide most of our cover art from our own server (its only the first time an items cover is ever displayed it will come down from LibraryThing).

Well that is all I can think of, so if you get bored, have a play on the web and checkout these new/improved services.

Chocolate Mug Cake

2008-08-04T21:19:00.002+10:00

One of the girls at work gave me a recipe for a 5 minute chocolate mug cake... basically a mud cake you cook in 5 minutes using a coffee mug and microwave... and to my surprise... it worked really well...

The recipe is availble here: http://www.dizzy-dee.com/recipe/chocolate-cake-in-5-minutes

So if you are sitting down for a coffee... have the munchies this is sooo quick and easy.

The Fall

2008-07-13T13:43:00.001+10:00

I so want to see this movie called 'The Fall'... have been waiting for months for an Australian release date, as I'm guessing it would only have a limited release... but so far nothing!

If anyone hears anything about an Aussie release for this please let me know... its looks like an epic tale. Here is the trailer:

End of Fin Year - and End of Old Life

2008-06-30T20:43:00.002+10:00

Ok, tomorrow marks the start of the new financial year, and I am sort of looking at it as also being the start of the lead up to a new start for me.

Well the first 1/2 of this year has been a bit of a roller coaster for me, had lots of ups and downs, but I think the second 1/2 will see the ride smooth out a little... then 2009 will be 2000 and mine!

So updates on whats happening in my world:
The me/Sean situation... is coming close to being resolved and now we seemed to have agreed on exactly what will work and are going through the processes to have it legalized.

We are going to see our place, and I am looking to rent a place close by to where I am now. I am happy with the area, its close enough to work so I figure why go elsewhere if I am happy where I am. With renting, I will be paying less than I am in mortgage payments, and in the long term it gives me more flexibility to move to follow job opportunities. So if anyone is looking for a nice little place in Caroline Springs, keep your eyes peeled!

Another reason for the move is I came to the conclusion, that it will force me to have a new start. Despite not knowing exactly where I will be living soon... I am strangely excited and looking forward to it.

Health kick front - I have gotten a little lazy at late, as it has been too bloody cold and/or wet... but still determined to make a good go of it when the Gym opens in the coming months.

On the work front, my project work down at Sunshine has been extended until the 1st of November, when it will be re-evaluated. While we did reach and complete the project goal of building a new website for the library service well on time and budget, we are now going to focus on improving what we have done and adding lots of extra cool features that were on our wish list, but were not the highest priorities in the original project.

This means I am still only working at Sydenham Library on Mondays and Thursdays, then at Library Administration in Sunshine for the remainder of the week. This is except for a month from August, when I will be acting branch manager while my boss goes on a holiday abroad. I am sure I will need to watch and study Frances O'Brien very hard to see how to do the job properly. During that time I will be based at Sydenham full time again.

On the love life front... well - hello I have been talking about work - so nothing really to announce at the moment.

Reprogramming

2008-06-12T10:28:00.003+10:00

Well I have been neglecting the old blog as of late, so I thought I better do a post to keep it alive!

This week at Sydenham Library we have been undertaking a process to reprogramme the RFID tags in our entire collection for use with our new 3M RFID solution.

For those who are not from the Library world - RFID is Radio Frequency Identification - and is a modern day solution to replace barcodes with microchips which can transmit a book or DVDs unique barcode number through a radio frequency. In an RFID solution, each 'item' is tagged with an RFID tag, a sticker basically around 4 cm X 4cm. This tag acts like a disk, and can hold information you program into it, which in most libraries case is the unique barcode number used to identify the item to the libraries catalogue system.

Why would we want to do this in Libraries? Well there are a number of benefits to using RFID as opposed to barcodes. These include:

With RFID you do not need to line the tag up to an exact position above its readers, as you do a barcode. This means there is less moving items about reducing manual handling injuries such as RSI. This also means that the efficiency of tasks such as borrowing and returning is faster.
Unlike barcodes where you can only read one barcode at a time on a scanner, an RFID reader pad can read multiple RFID tags at once as it does not require line of site - once again reducing the time it takes to borrow and return items.
Because of its ease of use, RFID helps make self-service solutions easier for library customers to use. Self-service means less loans are handled by librarians, freeing them up to perform other duties and giving them more time to organise and deliver other value added services to their customers.

Sydenham Library already had an RFID solution in place, but with the introduction of the 3M solution to the Sunshine Library which is also part of the same library service, the 3M system has been extended to Sydenham now to maintain consistency across the library service. Why then if we already had RFID do we need to reprogram all our tags you may ask?

With RFID even though the theory and equipment behind most solutions is roughly the same, the difference can lay in where abouts on an RFID tag the item barcode is stored. If you think of an RFID tag as like a big square of pigeon holes, with each hole being able to hold a single piece of information. For example our tag might look like:

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

now lets say our barcode numbers are 3 numbers long. Solution A might store the barcode number in slot 1,2 & 3... where solution B might store the barcode in slots 7,8, and 9. So with our reprogramming process we are moving all the information stored on our tags to a position where the new 3M system is looking for it!

We started reprogramming at the start of the week, and as of last night pretty much only had our children's and AV collection left to reprogram, so the reprogramming task is rather fast and should hopefully be finished by either late this week, or early next week!

Well I know this was a boring post, but I just felt I had to post something!

Do I act like a 12 year old?

2008-05-21T18:01:00.003+10:00

Went and had a 'health appraisal' done at work today, which in a way I was dreading what the results would be... but all came back good:

Blood Pressure: 124/80 - which is in the normal range
Cholesterol: 4.14 - in the normal range... never had cholesterol checked before
Blood Glucose: 4.6 (perfect)
BMI: 16 - Underweight... always am and can't change it!
Body Fat: 5% - once again classed as underweight
Bone Mass: 2.6 kg
Visceral fat: 1 - healthy
Lean muscle mass: 47.9 kg
Metabolic Rate: 1471 Kcal
Metabolic age: 12 years
Water containment: 66.4% - good for water restrictions!

So for those who are waiting for a good funeral hoping I was going to kick the bucket... better find something else to do cause it's going to be a while before I expire!

New Brimbank Libraries Website

2008-05-17T11:40:00.002+10:00

Well after almost 6 months in development, we are entering the home stretch with creating and launching the new Brimbank Libraries website. While we continue to improve and spit-polish features behind the scenes, a 'copy' of the new site is available for people to take for a test drive. This can be accessed from our Development Blog at http://development.brimbanklibraries.com where you can also read the latest on some of the new features we will be introducing into the new site, as well as comment on what you like, don't like, and what is completely fu#*ed up with the new site.

The new site is made in Joomla! which is an open source content management system. It was a real big learning curve at first to understand the architecture of Joomla, and how it does things differently to the current proprietary product that we use.

The advantages with Joomla include:
Its open source.. so it's free, and is constantly being updated and improved by a community of developers.
There are hundreds of 'extensions' you can plug into the website to add additional functionality to meet the needs of your audience
If there isn't an extension that does what you want, there is nothing to stop you from making your own extension from scratch, or hacking an existing extension to bits and tweaking it to your needs.
It has a very friendly 'front end' editing system to allow staff to easily update the content of web pages without needing to know any html.
Did I mention it's free!

Some of the new flashy features of the new site include:

A book blog that is fully integrated into the website... unlike most libraries which have an external book blog that sits completely separate to their site.
Use of web 2.0 tools such as del.icio.us for bookmark/weblink sharing, instant messaging, Google Calendars, ect.
Google maps... cool to look at and play with!
Less clutter! over the years the old website was filled with garbage left right and centre, the new website means we have been able to strip everything back, and refile the bits that are worth keeping, in what is hopefully a more logical order
Integration of RSS Feeds so you can get the latest library news in your RSS aggregator like Google Reader or Bloglines.

The new site is due to be launched mid June, so if you have a chance, log in and take the demo for a test drive and let us know what you think... and more importantly any bugs you may come across!

http://development.brimbanklibraries.vic.gov.au

Lars and the Real Girl

2008-04-27T18:41:00.003+10:00

Went to movies today and saw Lars and the Real Girl. The film is about a single man (named Lars) who has trouble connecting with people, and in a delusional state orders a sex doll, and introduces the doll into his life believing she is a real person, much to the concern of his brother and sister-inlaw.

Over time the small community in which Lars live all meet 'Bianca', and in support of Lars and his ill state of mind, all go along with the delusion that she is a real person... much so in that Bianca is elected by the people onto the local school board, is given a job (as a model) at a local fashion store, and volunteers reading stories to sick children at the local hospital (with the assistance of a tape recorder and talking book).

Over the course of the film we learn of Lars deep emotional scars that prevent him from forming attachments to actual people. As Lars progresses and opens up to human touch and emotion, Bianca slowly dies, eventually allowing Lars to move onto new love.

This movie was funny, yet in some parts was sad, thinking that there may actually be people living under such delusions in real life.

Defiantly worth seeing - and is playing at the Nova in Carlton.

Destination Library

2008-04-26T16:44:00.004+10:00

In my spare time I am currently working on a project, doing some web graphic/css design stuff for a Victorian Library working group, trying to encourage more people to consider joining the library industry.

One of the initiatives which this working group is launching is a wiki with information on the types of jobs available within the information management industry, profiles of people working in the field, and links to information on education providers to help you join the industry, since you will become so overwhelmingly impressed with libraries from reading all this stuff!

The wiki is being called "Destination Library", and the main theme the working group seems to be going for, which I am trying to carry through with in my designs is a 'new age, not old lady's in "cardigans, peals and sensible shoes" - Though the later I'm not too sure of, as if you go to any library conference or training, I estimate over 90% of attendees are wearing flat black shoes.

The image/title at the top of this post if one of my initial ideas, with a theme based around it taking shape. Once I have more developed I will post some samples and get your feedback on what works, and what sucks.

In the meantime... If you are now so interested in joining the information management industry you can access the Destination Library wiki, as it stands in its naked, undressed state at http://destinationlibrary.pbwiki.com

Health Kick

2008-04-20T13:02:00.003+10:00

Over the past month I have gone on a bit of a health kick, and have taken up walking each day... My original route was across the Caroline Springs Blvd, then down to the lake, do two laps of the lake, then walk home again... this came in at around 6 -7 kms per walk, and was just pleasant not to leave me feeling too sore or exhausted.

Last week I decided to take the plunge and add running to the mix... I damn near nearly had a heart attack! I have continued to include the run in my regime, so I walk to the lake, run one lap of the lake (which is only 1.2 km) then walk home (no more second lap of the lake - just yet). In total my walk/run is now only 4.5km instead of 6.xkm. Even though its shorter now though, I find with the run included my heart rate seems to be going up substantially, and I feel more physically exhausted after... that's got to be a good thing right?

To continue my health kick, they are building a gym opposite my work, so I have already put in my expression of interest for membership there when it opens... so if I get into that I might actually start putting some meat on my bones!

In work news, the new Brimbank Libraries website is really starting to reach a mature stage... we will be asking for community and staff feedback on it very soon so we can start tweaking and putting the final touches on it. All feedback and announcements will be done through our project blog at http://development.brimbanklibraries.com/

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2008-04-05T21:05:00.003+11:00

Came across this poster on the net... Not sure if it is a legit official poster... but looks like a good 'teaser poster'. If this is an official poster, hopefully it won't be too long until we get a teaser trailer.

Beware... it's coming soon....

2008-04-04T11:59:00.000+11:00

April Fools Day

2008-04-02T20:25:00.002+11:00

Just to clear one thing up for those of you that received an SMS from me yesterday just to let you know I was having a bad day, and had quit my job.... It was the 1st of April - and if you believed me "April Fools!".

On that note, thought I would also mention that Google have outdone themselves this year. Each year Google seem to have some really out there April Fools, and this year they went all out.

For their blogger site (blogger.com) they have announced a new blogging service that will order your blog posts not by date, but by what is most interesting. The new service also promised to highlight anything you say that it considers interesting, plus if you don't know what to blog about, there will be a "I'm feeling lucky" button, that will actually write an interesting blog post for you.

Google Calendar announced a new wake up call reminder service that will sms you a wake up call, and if you do not respond to that will use more drastic measure to awaken you.

On the general Google search site, they announced 2 things. First was gDay, which is a new revolutionary search and analysis algorithm that will display web pages and sites 'as they will look tomorrow'. This includes news sites and blogs, so you can see blog posts and news articles before they are even written.

The second major Google April fools, was the announcement that Google and Virgin have partnered to create Virgle... a new initiative that will shortly be setting up the first colony on Mars, which was looking for people to register for their place on the red planet.

With all these great services announced this year, I can't wait to see what Google will do next year!

What are we looking for?

2008-03-30T14:33:00.003+11:00

Ok, I'm in a strange D&M kind of mood today... so this post will probably be a little deeper than usual (or more airy fairy). I am sitting here, alone... feeling slightly depressed wondering why do we, as people put ourselves through this? What are we searching for in this world?

Why is it, we devote so much of our energy, thought and emotion into finding a 'perfect person' to share our lives with? We pass hundreds of people in our daily lives when we go to the shops, work, out to a function... hundreds just pass us by and we don't give them a second look... but we all search for just 1 to come home to, or go out for dinner with. Why?

Is it the reason of our being - after all we could say the purpose of being is to reproduce to pass on our genes to the next generation, for this pattern to continue again and again. Why do us humans however look for one person to do that with... other animals seem quite happy to hump what ever comes next to them, then move on... without ever looking back.

With animals it is simply reproduction... (most) seem to have no emotional connection to whoever it is they are doing. Would a lion mate with a lioness, then care if she was later hit by a car, struck by lightning, or given some nasty std by a sleazy meerkat?

What are we looking for? Is it:

Sex on tap
Someone to help cook or clean for us
Someone to look after us physically and financially - so we can lazily go on with our lives without a care.

If it is these simple things why is it the things I miss most are having someone just there, who you can whinge to if you have had a crappy day, or someone to cuddle up to in bed if it gets cold, or just knowing someone is there and that they are in some way your responsibility to provide for, to care for, like a pet for you to love and look after. Does our emotional investment in them somehow make us feel that once we go, we will have in a tiny way left our mark on the world at that at least one person out there will remember us and think of us until they eventually drop off the perch.

In a mind frame of looking at the above reason as an investment - wouldn't we be better trying to make this impact on the lives of everyone we meet... that way we would be remembered by more... so why is it we choose just one. Just one person to let all our feelings be exposed to, to share such a level of intimacy that they can see you and all your vulnerability as a person. Do we realise that by doing this we are making ourselves so venerable to being hurt so much? Are we that stupid... why is it we choose to trust a person so deeply? Should we?

I think it is human stupidity, or maybe even some desperate desire of hope in thinking that maybe our generation has evolved the perfect being, who is perfect, and trustworthy in every way that they will never hurt us.... but how do we know unless we drop all our defences and give them a chance?

Why is it, we can physically cut ourselves, it hurts for a while, but once we distract ourselves with another task we are fine... but we 'break our hearts' which causes no physical harm to us, and no matter what we do, it keeps eating at us inside. Then, being smart as we are supposed to be, you think we would learn from the pain not to try again... but we do.... we seek to take the gamble again.... will it pay off this time?

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
- Henry Louis Mencken

Priscilla - Queen of the Desert

2008-03-23T12:14:00.002+11:00

Last night I went to see the Priscilla Queen of the Desert musical. Mum and Dad got me tickets for by birthday. It was bloody brilliant. Basically they have taken the movies and worked even more on it, added extra bits and made a few little tweaks.

The music was fantastic and the costumes were just dazzling. I think the soundtrack for the musical is on iTunes so I may have to buy that one. The music just left your feet tapping all the way through the show.

The setup of the stage was really good.... you would not believe that they could fit pretty much a full sized bus on stage, and actually have it move about, while having enough room to do scenes which do not feature the bus.

If your looking for a good night out, filled with laughs and good music, why not go see Mitzi, Felicia, Bernadette, Miss Understanding, and Farah Force-it in Priscilla - Queen of the Desert.

I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so

2008-03-16T08:07:00.006+11:00

I went to a work farewell for two of my work mates, Anushya and Zoya on Friday night, who have left Sydenham Library for full time work elsewhere. For something different we went to a Japanese restaurant in Moonee Ponds. Now, those of you who know me well are probably giggling away at the thought of me going to a Japanese restaurant!

Guess what? I actually really liked it!

After the initial scare of the appetiser (pictured) which resembled something you would see after a cat was sick (it was actually pickled beef, capsicum and zucchini) all was well.... And for those of you who are thinking 'So I guess you did not eat the appetiser' - WRONG! Quite a few people refused to try it, but I was feeling brave and experimental, so away I went!

For me, whenever someone said Japanese food, my mind always just assumed it would have been very similar to Chinese, had lots of fish (or even worse a little bit of humpback) and drenched in all different kinds of flavours. Japanese food I found seems to follow a very similar philosophy to Japanese interior design, where everything is minimalist and actually very simple. There was also a lot of 'non-fish' items on the menu. For example I had miso chicken, which was grilled chicken marinated in a very simple non-dominating marinate served with some plain sort of vegies.

So if you are ever looking to give Japanese a try I highly recommend the Koo Japanese Restaurant in Moonee Ponds.

See Where I Work!

2008-03-14T13:00:00.003+11:00

As part of the job share I am doing with Christian for the development of the new library website, one of the cooler things I have been playing around with is creating interactive online panoramas.
This involves taking a whole heap of photos from the same spot and 'stitching' them all together to create one huge 360 view, then loading that picture into a web page with a java applet called PT Viewer.

Once this is loaded you get a full interactive panorama which allows you to turn around, zoom in, zoom out.... basically allowing customers to have a interactive tour of our library.

Checkout my example here.

10,000 BC

2008-03-10T10:00:00.002+11:00

Last night I went and saw 10,000 BC. I had heard that it was a crap film... I thought very differently.

The film (obviously set in 10,000 BC) follows a young mammoth hunter, who turns into a warrior after his village is raided by another tribe and many tribe members stolen and turned into slaves. The hunter then tracks the bandits and his people through snowy mountains, lush jungle, and vast desert, all the way to Giza (Egypt) where his tribes people join many other slaves in the task of building the great pyramids.

The cinematography is visually stunning and epic on scale. The diversity of cultures you meet in the film also makes you appreciate how man-kind has evolved differently in different parts of the world.

If your going to the movies and have nothing to see, I say you should give 10,000 BC a try!

Touching YouTube Video

2008-03-08T12:59:00.001+11:00

Ok, I usually am not into the soppy, emotional, inspiration or religious emails that go around, but a work mate sent me this video from YouTube of Facebook, and maybe my icy exterior is starting to melt... but I found it touching...

One journey comes to an end - another begins

2008-02-22T09:02:00.003+11:00

Well, I am saddened to say that Sean and I have decided to go our separate ways. While we will continue to live together, romantically and in all other ways we will now travel our own roads.

While I am sad that we have lost what Sean and I had, I also have a great sense of excitement with the possibilities that lay ahead. I know it will not be easy, but I think in the end both of us may benefit from calling it quit's now.

My biggest challenge will be re-creating a social life for myself, which I am slowly trying to do. I am trying to give Sean his space so he has the best chance possible to build a solid foundation with his new boyfriend, but we will continue to remain close friends.

A Rollercoaster of a week

2008-02-08T21:48:00.000+11:00

Well the past week has been a real emotional rollercoaster... not something I am really used to. For those who didn't hear on the grapevine, Sean and I are having some problems and last weekend a number of issues came to head... which ended in a lot of upset and confussion. It also ended in Sean moving out for a couple of days... and in another world first... me actually going and seeing a psychologist (though I will still not confirm any rumours that I am psycho).

I will not go into details on the specifics of the rift between Sean and I, but will say that during the whole time we were never angry or nasty to each other, and never raised our voices.

Well, Sean is home again, and we have decided to work on what we have. Things have stabalised again, though things are shakey behind the scenes.

I really learn't this week what things mean to me. How much I love and appreciate the people I sorround myself with. I never truley appreciated how good my friends are. That they can put up with me sending them and SMS and turining up 5 minutes later and busrting into a babbling mess on them, or my friends who call me in the evening when they know I would be feeling alone, just to talk and listen, or even the friends who offer to come over with a bottle of wine and get blottoed with me!

The week started lousy, with a lot of upset, tears and emotional rollercoaster, but the good news is things improved. On Thursday I went to the VALA conference, and won an iPod! I never win anything good! A few oppertunities also presented themselves that I need to think about and confisider for my future... but more on them when my head clears a bit.

Tomorrow Sean and I are going on a 'date', we are going out for lunch then to the movies to see Sweeny Tod. Tomorrow night we are having a few guests over for dinner, so Sean is currently preparing it, and desert (chocolate moose cheese cake!) as I type this.

On my final night - life gets really good next week... Normal TV is back!!!! God bless Desperate Housewives, Lost, Dirty Sexy Money (I hope), and one of my old favourites returning, Good News Week!

Where is the line?

2008-01-28T12:05:00.000+11:00

It has been another busy few weeks for me... I love the summer, but it always seems to mean you are out and about!

The past couple of weekends, Delfin was running free drive-in cinema around the corner, so over 2 weekends we went and saw Hairspray (I'm not really a musicals person - but I loved it and have the songs stuck in my head), and Stardust (I was really looking forward to this movie, I enjoyed it but was a little disappointed).

Last weekend we went to Highpoint one day with one of Seans old friends he hasn't seen in years.

On Saturday (Australia day) there was a night festival on by the lake in Caroline Springs, with a market, and fireworks, so we went down to that with one of my old school friends.

This is where my dilemma's start! This old friend, it turns out is gay - I have always had suspicions, but always took the point that is was none of my business - he was my friend, and I don't really care which way he swings. After the fireworks, we went back to our place for drinks, and all had quite a few. We were talking about old times and where people we went to school with are now... then the conversation took a turn downwards.

The biggest difference between Sean and I is how conservative we are. I am very conservative, like to keep my private life private, and don't really class it as something acceptable for conversation. Sean on the other hand is the complete opposite. He is happy to give out details on how, where, how often, position, duration, ect... and he did!

My old school buddy is very similar to Sean, and is happy to listen to, and tell all details, so we got quite a few details about his love life.

Now I am going through the confusing stage of - how much info is too much info? I have always had the reputation of being a little up-tight and conservative, and now I am scared that I might loose that reputation. Should I be scared of loosing it? Does it matter what friends know - they know doubt have ideas, but should those ideas ever be confirmed?

I fear that the line between friendship and intimate relationship could be lost if I 'loosen up', and for some reason unknown to me - I have issues with intimacy. I like to have those clearly defined lines - where you can tell friends these details, but not these details. I don't want to loose my up tight reputation to gain a reputation of a 'floozy'.

I have always had trouble being emotionally intimate with people, and letting all my defencive barriers down. There is probably only 2 or so people I think I ever have let these barriers down for... otherwise I feel exposed and emotionally vulnerable.

Sean says I should not worry - and with stuff like that just turn my emotions off otherwise I risk destroying the friendship by feeling weird. Its funny cause he is the one usually telling me I am not emotional enough.

I don't know what to do, and how far and intimate I should let this friendship become, before I dig my heels in and put up my defences. If anyone sees the line I feel may have been crossed, please return it to me by way of post.

Why I Don't Like Babies

2008-01-22T11:39:00.001+11:00

Exhibit 1: My niece Jessica A.D. (After death by chocolate)

Here comes 2008!

2008-01-07T17:29:00.000+11:00

Well 2007 has been a very very busy and eventful year. It has had a lot of milestones and changes for me... and all I can say is thank god its over - despite being generally happy with how the it all turned out.

Well, enough with all the reflective bull$hit. First point... why has it been so long since my last entry? Well, I must admit, I have an addiction... to Facebook.

Just before Christmas I decided to see what all the fuss was about and get myself on facebook. What is the great thing about Facebook you may be asking? Bugger all... it is one of the most useless, stupidest websites I have ever joined. Like I really needed to know that if I was a star wars character I would be Luke Skywalker, and that I have 80 something percent in common with the movie interests of someone I went to high school with and haven't seen or communicated with in over 5 years!

However, I can see the advantage of such a site for things like school or company reunions. I have joined the Facebook groups for both my Primary and Secondary schools... and found some people I had completely forgotten about. Though I keep reminding myself - Facebook is killing my Blog! My blog is sitting there going stale, while I try and create some stupid Vampire army on Facebook by virtually 'biting' all my friends.

If you are sitting there thinking 'This boy needs a life'... I agree. I think I have sunk to a deeper sadder depth than ever before.

Anyway... my Facebook confession is now out of the way.

Christmas was busy, and I am very happy its now all finished.

For Christmas day we had lunch at Mum and Dads, then went to Seans cousins for dinner down in Hoppers Crossing. Seen all the relatives that we won't see again til either next Christmas, a significant birthday, a birth, or a death. It was the standard be nice and pretend that you all share a lot more in common than a couple of DNA strands... however I have since been told off for not being totally nice about everyone... so next time I will just keep my mouth shut and make mental notes on how bonkers everyone is. I am sure you all can relate!

Well thats it for now... I will try and post again soon.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T07:38:00.001+11:00

Waiting up for Santa
Originally uploaded by Violentz

Hello all,
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, hopefully you did not all fall asleep on the floor waiting for Santa like I did!

A Whine

2007-12-08T20:12:00.000+11:00

Well most people use their blogs to whine, so I have decided to do a wine post!

Just for something new I thought I would share some of my favourite wines. As those of you who know me well will know, I am not that adventurous! Thus my selection is rather short, and restricted to my favourite wine makers - Brown Brothers.

My most favourite is a sparkling red called Cienna.

The official Browns Brothers website described this wine as:
Cienna & Cabernet is a light wine with a vibrant ruby red colour and aromas
of fresh raspberries and red currants. With fruit sweetness on the palate it is
soft and juicy with a refreshing spritzig finish. A sip of this wine reminds you
of summer berries in a glass, while the mixture of good natural acidity and
combined fruit sweetness leaves a refreshing sensation in the mouth.

I like Cienna because it is a very sweet wine (I am a sweet tooth after all) and I think if your not really a wine person, this is the ideal wine for you as it doesn't have that strong wine taste.

My other favourites are all white wines. The first of these, which is probably the one I drink most at home apart from Cienna is Crouchen Riesling. This is a more serious wine and goes very nicely with dinner, and I find is most capable of leaving me with the wonderful winey head feel!
The Browns Brothers website describes it as:
The 2007 vintage is a pale straw colour with youthful green tinges. The nose is lifted with aromas of passionfruit, ripe pear and peach. The aromas follow through to the palate which is mouth filling with natural grape sweetness and a crisp balancing finish. This wine should be served chilled and enjoyed when young and fresh.
To cut the crap and just give it a simple description. Nice - crisp and more grown-up than my other favourites.

My last two favourites are very similar. They are Moscato and Lexia. Both of these are very sweet wines (the kind you don't really have to have with food). Served chilled they are very refreshing. Moscato is described as:
This current release is a light straw colour with some youthful green tinges, while the nose is lifted with aromas of musk and freshly crushed grapes. In the mouth the wine is alive with a vibrant and mouth filling sherbet flavour. A wine of universal appeal, the retained carbon dioxide gives a mild frizzante effect resulting in a lively and fresh wine.
The Lexia is described as:
The 2006 Lexia is fresh, crisp and clean leaving the mouth ready for another glass. This late harvest wine is great with laksa and other spicy dishes. It’s also a great match with a platter of washed rind cheese served with slices of fresh pear.

All of these wines are available from most bottle shops (I go to Dan Murphy's to take advantage of the discounts you get when you buy it by the case). For more details on Browns Brothers wines you can visit their website at www.brownbrothers.com.au

A New Project

2007-11-30T16:10:00.000+11:00

Well, I now have a new project. I have been appointed as an online community development officer for Brimbank Libraries. You may be asking yourself about now "what the f$%k does an 'online community development officer' do?"

First let me point out that I am job sharing this position which Christian who works at Central Services and that it is only temporary for around 6 months.

What this position is responsible for is the research, consultation and development stage of a new website for Brimbank Libraries. What makes this role so exciting is:

a) The website well and truly needs an overhaul, and being in a position to have input into how it should be structured is great.

b) Council has a vision of making the library website more than a static web presence, but more interactive and more of a community portal integrating many of the latest web features such as blogging, wikis, RSS feeds, ect, allowing more 2 way communication between the library and its customers online.

c) Council is looking at building the website on an open source content management system called Joomla. I think the potential of an open source solution is very exciting.

I will be working at Central Services at Sunshine on this position on Tuesdays Wednesdays and Fridays, meaning I will continue to work at Sydenham on Mondays and Thursdays.

Big Brother Rumours

2007-11-20T21:10:00.000+11:00

OK, You would think after Big Brother being complete rubbish this year, and not having watched most of the season that I would no longer be interested in Big Brother gossip. However all the changes that they are making for 2008 has caught my attention and will probably mean I will give it a go this year when it returns.

There are a number of rumours on the Behind Big Brother website. These include:

The return of BB Uncut - which I think would be an obvious idea to try and resuscitate the show

Having extra BB episodes and shows and more live streaming on the new Ten HD channel.

Having nominations on Sundays straight after the eviction

A new house "unlike any other we have seen before"

Having normal people in the house of all different ages... just not Barbie and Ken dolls under 25.

As well as these 'rumours', the audition process has begun on the official Big Brother website. With prospective housemates required to make a 90 second video stating why they should be in the BB house. These videos will then be posted on the Big Brother website from December for the public to vote for who they want to be a housemate!

It may be a very interesting year that will either make or break big brother... though I must say I am very upset that Gretel has left and been replaced by the egotistical idiot Kyle and his dopey sidekick Jacki-O.

My Computer is Dead

2007-11-08T14:18:00.000+11:00

Hey,
My computers hard disk had died, so I can not get onto the net at home to work on my blog... but I am working on a post updating my nice long weekend, which is currently in draft, so I will finish it and put it up on the web soon.

Andrew

Ocean Grove Weekend

2007-11-07T12:46:00.000+11:00

This weekend I went down to my grandparents caravan down at Ocean Grove for 5 peaceful days, away from work and home!

Had a wonderful relaxing time and kept very busy.

Basically our itinerary was...

Friday

I had my RDO but Sean still had to work, so I dropped Sean off at work in the morning, returned home and cleaned the house, packed the car ect. Then in the afternoon I picked Sean up from work and we left from there. We stopped at KFC in Geelong for tea, and arrived at the caravan at Ocean Grove around 7ish.

Saturday

Saturday was more of a sight seeing day. We started out by going to Queenscliff and went for a walk along the main street browsing shops and galleries. We then had lunch at the View Grand in Queenscliff.

After Queenscliff we went to Point Lonsdale, Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads, before heading back into Ocean Grove for Dinner at a new little bar called Zebra Crossing, which was very nice. ($12 parmas every night Amanda!).

Sunday

It started raining when we were at Dinner on Saturday night. And it rained, and rained and rained all night and all Sunday morning. We had planned on going to Sorrento on the ferry today, but instead decided to go shopping at Torquay and Geelong. It was a really misserable day. We just had Maccas for lunch, then Smorgy's for dinner, which was really crap.

Monday
On Monday we got up early and caught the MV Queenscliff over to Sorrento for the day. Over there we walked around the shops, had lunch at some little pub that looked a little dodgy, but had really nice food.

We came back in the afternoon and had an ice cream at Queenscliff (you can not go there and not have an ice cream!) then fish 'n' chips for dinner.

Tuesday
We got up extra early Tuesday morning and headed off home by 8am. Just to be lazy so we didn't have to cook we also ended up going to my grandparents for dinner.

Well that was my lazy weekend...

School Reunion

2007-10-28T17:30:00.000+11:00

Today I had a reunion at my old secondary school - Hillcrest. The school is closing down in December and being demolished. The school itself is being merged with three other secondary schools in the Broadmeadows region to create a multi campus college.

I bumped into some old school friends, and many of my old teachers - most of whom are still working at the school and have not changed a bit.

Today made me feel how lucky I have been and reflect on how comfortable I live. Despite complaining about a lot of things, some of my old class mates have it much worse. One girl for example now has three children, lives in a little apartment block in Broadmeadows with drug dealers living next door to her, who fling their used syringes into her backyard, meaning her backyard is pretty much off limits to her 3 kids. On top of that she works from early hours in the morning til late in the evening just to make ends meet. Her parents look after the kids for her during the day.

On Saturday I continued doing brickwork in my backyard which i started the previous week. I am over a 1/3 of the way done now, but the labor is certainly taking its toll on my poor body. My skin is so dried out, and my back and knees kill of an evening.

Last night Sean and myself were invited to our next door neighbours for drinks... it was a very nice civilised evening, and was the first real proper interaction we have managed to have with our neighbours since moving into the area.

This coming weekend we are going down to my grandparents caravan at Ocean Grove for the weekend. I have Friday as my RDO, and have taken Monday as annual leave, so it means I have 5 whole days off work! Over the past couple of weeks I have just really being looking forward to going away and just leaving all the stresses of home and work behind me. Life has just been moving so fast lately and I feel I have just been struggling to keep up with it. I'm really looking forward to actually just spending the weekend with Sean, and not worrying that I have to get this done, or have to get that done. The last couple of weeks have felt like Sean is just a stranger who lives in my house, and that all I do is say hello in passing, so it will be nice to spend time focusing on each other.

My Back!!!

2007-10-01T12:09:00.000+10:00

Well I have had a very tiring weekend. On Saturday we had my grandparents come over with their car (which has a tow bar) and hired a trailer and removed the mounds of excess dirt and stuff from our backyard and took it down to the tip. This mean most of my day was spent digging, and be live me, my back certainly knew it the next day.

On Saturday night we went to my parents place for dinner (after a day of digging, plus starting to assemble our new barbecue later in the afternoon).

On Sunday I finished putting the barbie together in the morning, and then we went out for lunch with my grandparents to the Glenroy R.S.L. - Good old seniors meals, but actually rather nice. I had roast beef and vegies, then chocolate pavlova for desert.

Then Sunday night we went to Seans parents for dinner. So the weekend finished, and I don't feel like I have had any rest time at all this weekend.

Over the Melbourne Cup weekend we are going down to my grandparents caravan at Ocean Grove, so that should be nice and relaxing. It only 3 days, but I am sure I will feel recharged after that (though I do fear that if I suddenly go into relaxing mode I will come down sick)!

Swimming Upstream

2007-09-23T17:17:00.000+10:00

Hey, On Friday night I watched Swimming upstream with Jesse Spencer (from TV Series House), Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush. It is based on a true story about swimming champion Tony Fingleton (played by Spencer) and his upbringing by a controlling, over competitive alcoholic father (Rush).

It was a bit along the lines of Billy Elliot, except it was set in Queensland, and included cute boys in speedos rather than to-to's!

On Saturday we laid a concrete footing for our eventual garden beds, so that was a fair bit of physical labour! Today was a rest day, we went and fed the ducks earlier (and sea gulls!).

This year we are having the family Christmas at Sean's and my place. We have already started getting things together and bought some wine for it yesterday - though it is starting to get bad as when we go to Dan Murphy's we have to get a shopping trolley!

This week marks 1 year working for Brimbank Libraries - which has spookily flown by really fast. So no doubt soon my boss will set a time for my annual review, then I can look back on things that I was planning on doing in the last 12 months but never got around to doing!

Matt Lucas from Little Britain is on Kath 'n' Kim tonight (which I don't watch cause I don't really find it that funny), so being a Little Britain fan I will have to watch that.

Anyway, that's it for me!

V for Vendetta

2007-09-17T14:43:00.000+10:00

I watched V for Vendetta on DVD last night. I was not really expecting to like it, and thought it was going to be set in the past, but it was fantastic!

Basically it is set about 10 years from now in England. The USA started a war they could not win and has fallen into anarchy, along with most of the world. In the UK however, the lord Chamberlain has taken control of the country and has been given special powers to maintain peace and order following biological attacks against the country.

A masked stranger - "V" leads Natalie Portman on a journey to discover the truth, and that the state of affairs in the UK has all been masterminded by the lord Chamberlain to get power of the country - including the conspiracy that found the government staging the biological attacks on itself.

The movie has themes of the Holocaust, civil war, and a fair bit of action. It was a bit blood thirst at some points, but it really got you thinking.

Where have I been???

2007-09-13T11:24:00.000+10:00

I know that is has been ages since my last post, but I just seemingly have not had time to blog, or could not be bothered!

Anyway, an update of whats been happening in my world since my last post:

A couple of weeks ago the transmission in Seans car decided to kark it, leaving him standard in a suburban street in St Albans in the middle of a 3 point turn. So I left work and went out to meet him and help push his car to the curb. It turns out he could only drive forward and only under 20 kph, he could not reverse. So we ended up getting his car towed and repaired, which took nearly two weeks! That meant we only had my car for 2 weeks, so Sean would drop me off at work in the morning and then take my car to get himself to work, then he would pick me up in the evenings.

That wasn't as bad as it sounds because for a couple of those days Sean was home sick with a bug that is doing the rounds, so I ended up taking my car for those few days.

Anyway his car is all fixed now, and comes along with a rather hefty repair bill!

Sean is also over his bug, and now it is my turn. I have been home sick on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think I may have started out with hay fever, but may have developed a small chest infection as a result.

I installed our rain water tank a couple of weeks ago, but we have had minimal rain since then, not even enough to 1/4 fill the tank, anyway I have never been so excited about the prospect of rain!

Over the next couple of weekend, weather depending, I am looking at doing the footings for our garden bed walls in the yard, then once they are done it can be full steam ahead with completing the landscaping in the backyard. Sean wants it all finished by December because we are having the family Christmas at our house this year, but I think it is a bit unrealistic, but hopefully by the end of summer it should all be done.

Anyway, that's all, I know its not very exciting, thus I have not been blogging!

Weekend Away

2007-08-13T12:20:00.000+10:00

This weekend I went to my sisters 18th up at Cobram. This is the sister we refer to as the 'bush pig' for very good reasons. After spending time up at her grotty housing commission place up there, you feel very thankful to return to your nice clean home.

Her party was at lunch time on Saturday, so we drove up Saturday morning (we took my grandparents with us), and stayed up there at a cheap little 'bates style' motel.

At the party my sister also announced she had a surprise (which my grandmother returned with 'you better not be pregnant again!') it turns out they have now decided to get engaged. not that I can ever see it being more than an engagement as it would probably impact on their Centre link payments!

We drove home yesterday (Sunday) and stopped for lunch and a coffee on the way home to break up the 3 hour journey.

On the Harry Potter front I finally finished reading the Deathly Hallows last night, though I will say no more in case you have not read it yet or heard the ending.

I have uploaded some photos of my niece to Flickr, which are below:

Jessica Jessica and Uncle Sean

I'm Still Alive!

2007-08-05T17:33:00.000+10:00

I thought I better write a post as I have been really slack lately and havn't blogged in ages.

Well, what do I have to report?

Work:

Nothing much has changed at work. It's still there. They have opened up the new entrance to Watergardens shops near the library now, so we have a nice quick walk through to the shops. Unfortunately this new entry has not provided as much passing trade as we would like, so it has been pretty quite still.

Home:

Today Sean and I went to the Gisborn market in the morning, then up to Mt Macedon for lunch (there is a photo of the Memorial Cross at Mt Macedon on the left). We did some grocery shopping on the way home to last the week and that was pretty much the excitement for our weekend.

This coming Saturday we are going up to my sisters 18th birthday party in Cobram. The whole family is pretty much going, and Sean and I are driving up taking my grandparents with us. The party is Saturday afternoon, so we will stay overnight on Saturday and drive back home on Sunday.

Anyway that's all my exciting life for now! I will try and make my next post more glamorous!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2007-07-17T12:03:00.000+10:00

On Friday night I went to Sunbury Cinemas to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was a pretty full session. We went to La Porchetta for dinner before hand. I had a very dry tasteless pineapple pizza.

The movie was really good, but boy have some of those kids grown up way to much, especially the one that plays Neville longbottom. They really should have dosed the kids up on drugs after the first film to try and stunt their growth. We had this really large man in the session who was really scruffy looking and had long tangled hair, so it looked like Hagrid was in our session!

I am going to Big W on Saturday to buy the final book in the series, so that should keep me busy for a while.

Tonight I am going to our 'Caroline Springs new residents information session', where we apparently receive a very exciting picnic back pack!

My sister who is with child is having a birthday party up at Cobram in a couple of weeks, so we are all going up there for the weekend and staying in a hotel. It's pretty much a BYO affair, BYO food, BYO drink, BYO glasses, ect. The only thing being supplied is the laughs at the country folk! So that should be a very interesting event.

Anyway that's about it for now, so better go and finish my lunch.

A Fly in Visit

2007-07-15T15:26:00.001+10:00

Hawke 1
Originally uploaded by AndrewL AU

Today we had a hawke out the front of our place eating some small bird it had caught... here is a photo (not very clear, I need a newer better digital camera).

No More Steak - Never Ever!

2007-07-02T12:19:00.000+10:00

Saturday night we went out for one of Seans friends birthdays to Rockpool at Crown. I had my suspicions from the start that this was going to be an 'interesting' evening.

For entree I had Duck Ragu (or something like that). For starters I don't eat duck, plus it tasted very strong and smelt horrible, so I didn't eat that.

For mains I had some Wagyu steak, which I ordered well done. When the waitress brought it out it was dripping with blood. I had fears that the meat would possibly start mooing at me it was so uncooked. I sent the steak back, then 2 minutes later they bought it back, slightly cooked on the outside, still mooshy with blood on the inside. anyway I ate some of the outer layer of steak and had a carrot as a side (the carrot was very nice).

Don't ask me what I had for dessert (Sean ordered it). It was some pastry thingy with a sort of creamy hazelnut filling. It was nice, but by that point I was so over the whole place I couldn't really be bothered eating it so I left most of that too.

so if you are looking at going to the Rockpool, my advice - run in the other direction! It was horrible. I could have known from the foul stench as soon as you walk in (I think it was the smell of the meat they have hanging near the entrance).

After dinner Sean and his friends then decided to go for drinks at some bar at Crown. At the bar they had some sheila singing who was pretty good (the best part of the evening). Therefore I got to zone out and listed to the music, as the conversation wasn't much. When Sean goes out with his friends the conversations has as much depth as a babies paddling pool. If your not talking about what brand names you own, or how rich you are, it's just not worth talking about.

I have vowed after Saturday that if I ever have a birthday dinner, if you don't want to come - just say so! I will completely understand if you don't want to go to either all you can eat, or McDonalds for dinner!

On Sunday I had a lazy recovery day. Watched a couple of movies on TV, did my ironing and just generally bludged most of the day, so it was a nice recharger for the start of the new week.

So far we have no plans for this weekend, which is good, as being school holidays I am sure I am going to feel buggered by the end of the week.

Anyway, better go!

Update

2007-06-16T16:08:00.000+10:00

Well it has been a while since I have written an update, so I thought I should post one.

Last Sunday Sean and I took my grandparents up to Cobram to see my new niece. Nice little thing (for a baby). She doesn't have much of a nose though.. it looks more like a pig snout. I forgot to take my digital camera, so I don't have any photos to share.

Didn't mention that a couple of weeks ago I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I haven't seen the first pirates film yet, but have seen number 2 and enjoyed it. The third film was ok, but it was a bit like the final Lord of the Rings film though, where the ending just dragged on. The special effects were really good, so as an effects movie it was outstanding.

The film followed the journey to worlds end to bring Captain Jack back from the dead, to ralley all the pirate lords togeather to stand up and fight the baddies who were attempting to wipe out all pirates.

Not much exciting in the trailers before the film. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix looks good - even though it sucked as a book I am sure it will be really good as a film.

Curious minds... [Flickr Pic]

2007-06-02T09:54:00.001+10:00

Curious minds...
Originally uploaded by young_einstein

This is one of my favourite photos on Flickr. It is a couple of ducks and was taken by a Caroline Springs resident in Caroline Springs.

I have started playing around and uploading a lot of my photos to Flickr (which you can see on the right hand side of the blog), so I thought I might start sharing some other cool photos I find on Flickr here.

Uncle Andrew

2007-05-31T19:00:00.000+10:00

Well, it has finally happened. As of noon today I am an uncle.

Celina had a baby girl, 8 pound 6 (I'm not sure if that's big or not - so do not know if we need to start the baby on lite and easy baby food). Mother and baby doing well, Uncle Andrew unimpressed, and uncle Sean over the moon.

She named her Jessica Lee. She is taking her fathers surname, but none of us know what that is!

"Achoo", cough cough

2007-05-21T19:40:00.000+10:00

Well it has been a hell of a weekend. Winter has set in, and do I get sick - no, my computer does! My PC has come down with the Vundo virus which is proving to be a pain in the butt to remove. I have run several different virus removal tools specially developed to kill Vundo, and I still have traces of the stupid thing throughout my system!

We had an electrician come over last week and install some new light fittings around the place. This included 2 new fittings in the gallery which have improved the lighting in there so much. We also have a new light in the stairwell which looks really cool (I will post some new pics soon), and finally a heater lamp in the bathroom which you could cook a roast under!

Delfin also came and did the front and side garden beds last week, so from the street view the house now looks completely finished and occupied.

Have a full week at work this week, no RDO plus I'm working this Saturday, so this Sunday will be a total bludge day.

Also, most of you probably won't believe me, but I have not been watching Big Brother this year. This has to be the crappiest season ever and lost my loyalty after about week 2.

Anyway, better go do something constructive. I promise to post some more pics soon.

I know - it''s been a while!

2007-05-06T16:05:00.000+10:00

Before you even think it, I know... I have been really slack with my posting lately. But I have been too busy... I swear.

I have been doing some more work on the side for SirsiDynix which is keeping me occupied, as well as my normal job. Plus there is always something to do around the house.

Today we went to the Gisborn market first thing in the morning. It was a decent size market this month, we just got some apples, and Sean got a jug thing for his mum for mothers day. I had an organic mixed berry flavoured yogurt... it was very nice.

Last week I went to a Web 2.0 training thing in the city. It was very interesting and talked about web 2.0 which is just a fancy marketing name for 'social software' on the Internet which includes things like blogs (like this one), wikis see http://www.wikipedia.org/ for an example. It is like a web page where anyone can add content or make adjustments to the content. It also looked at things like My Space, second life, Google Documents (http://documents.google.com), which I had never bothered to look at before... these were really cool and have just as much functionality as Microsoft Word and Excel. What I really liked about them is you can choose to 'share' your documents with certain people, and you can both make changes simultaneously, and you can see the other persons changes straight away. Also included was Flickr, which also has some really good photos on there. I found some photos on there of the ducks and swans in Caroline Springs taken by a local guy... they are really good (http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=caroline+springs+%28swan+or+duck%29&m=text).

At the house we have started doing a little work out in the yard, digging trenches to lay pipes before we get a concrete slab laid for our shed so we can eventually put in a water tank. So slowly piece by piece things are starting to come together.

Anyway, I can't think of anything else to report for now!

Bob the Murray Cod

2007-04-25T09:01:00.000+10:00

My Uncle has a pet Murray Cod that he got some time last year. When he got it is was about 1/2 the size of your standard pet store goldfish. So the legend of 'Bob the Murry Cod' began.

With an insatiable appetite, bob has now grown to be over 15 cm. long and now eats goldfish! In Bobs honor they have now created a website for him... just shows you can put anything on the Internet (leave a comment in Bob's guest book while you are there).

Visit Bob The Murray Cod.

Walking With Dinosaurs

2007-03-31T13:12:00.000+10:00

Walking with Dinosaurs live was fantastic! It was unbelievable the size of the puppets/robots, and just how lifelike they looked. I was so surprised at how easily and freely they moved about on stage. The biggest hassle for the night was parking. Walking with Dinosaurs was on at Vodaphone Arena, next door there was the swimming on at Rod Laver Arena, and then there was the first match of the footy season on at the G. So we ended up parking all the way down at Crown.

I am at work today - it is pretty boring as there is traffic problems around which is making us quiet.

Tomorrow Seans uncle is coming to do decking around the backyward for us, so it will be another busy day tomorrow. Thank god next weekend is a long weekend so I will finally be able to catch up on some rest.

Walking With Dinosaurs

2007-03-29T11:30:00.000+10:00

Hi all,
Well it has been a busy couple of weeks at work, plus to top things off I am working this Saturday as well, so it feels like a very long week! Can't wait for next weekend (long weekend).

On Friday I am going to see Walking With Dinosaurs in at VodaPhone Areana. I am really looking forward to it, from the TV Adds it looks great. There is some video footage of how they made the Dinosaur puppets here, and a preview of a scene from the show here.

On Sunday Seans uncle is coming over to do the decking around the backyard for us. This became a high priority after the good bit of rain we had earlier in the week. It made me a couple of inches higher whilst I was hanging out the washing with the mud sticking to my shoes.

So far I have nothing special planned for the Easter weekend, just catching up on rest sounds good. Sean doesn't get the public holidays, so he only has Saturday and Sunday off.

Anyway, better go. I will put a post on to tell you what Walking with Dinosaurs was like.

Bye

I'm Back.... online

2007-03-08T11:06:00.000+11:00

Hi all,
Finally I am back on the net after moving in. Took me a little longer than expected to get the Internet connected up at the new place after moving, but that's all done now.

The move went well, it is hard to believe that it was only over a week ago. Most things are done around the place now, and most things have found a home. The only real messy area is the kitchen due to lack of cupboard space, but we have an island bench on order that should hopefully be fitted within the next couple of weeks.

Also still to come is a built in wardrobe for upstairs which is happening in 2 weeks time, and roller blinds, which we are waiting on an install date for.

I am off work until Tuesday, so I have the next few days to do little odds and ends around the place. Sean has been keeping me busy.

Most surprising thing from the move is the house didn't come with toilet roll holders! I could not believe that, so that was a moving in night trip to Bunnings to buy a couple of those for me to install.

All the electrical, couches, dining setting ect arrived on time as expected. Can't believe how much packaging they put around these things though, it's unbelievable.

When we got our phone connected we had our first phone call within 1/2 an hour. Unfortunately it was some telemarketer calling from some Delhi call centre!

If I haven't sent you my new contact details yet just drop me an email so I can pass them on to you. Don't be offended, my mind has not really been with it, so it's nothing personal!

I have some photos of the house for you...

Anyway, better go. Lots to do...

Andrew

Walkthrough

2007-02-22T09:32:00.000+11:00

Hi,
Had final walk through on Tuesday which went well. It was different to I thought, as it was not really a walk through and pick out the defects sort of thing. Apparently the building supervisor and one of the directors from the building company each do a walk through prior to handover to pick out defects.

There are still a few small details that need to be finished though before handover, including painting a window ledge that was never painted, some skirting boards in one spot, plus tidying up the plaster around some of the cabinetry.

The hot water system and over are installed the morning of handover (handover is not til 3pm).

I am talking just under 2 weeks off work for the move (I will leave early on Tuesday 27th Feb and not return til Tuesday 13th March).

When I get back to work I am doing system coordinator for 2 days a week, and my normal job for the remaining 3 days, as our systems coordinator is currently the acting manager, library services. It should provide me with some good experience, plus I am doing the roll out of a new print/copy credit management system to all the libraries.

If you need to contact me while I am on leave, just call me on my mobile (probably won't be checking my email that often for the first week or two, depending on when I get the Internet connected up). I will forward my new address and home phone to everyone soon.

Tomorrow Sean is going in to have all 4 wisdom teeth removed, so hopefully that will go well and he won't be sore for too long.

Anyway, better go.

Andrew

Only 2 Weeks To Go

2007-02-15T10:01:00.000+11:00

Well, there is now just under 2 weeks to go before I move. So far everything seems to be running smoothly. We have organised the couches, sofa bed, and electrical (fridge, diswasher, washing machine ect.) to be delivered the day after handover. To pick up the remaining bulky items (dining setting/entertainment unit/bedroom suite) we are looking at hiring the Thrifty moving van hopefully on the Thursday.

The Friday before the move (which is on a Tuesday) Sean has to go into hospital to have all 4 of his wisdom teeth removed, as they have become impacted and have been causing him some pain. The upside of this is he may still be drugged up during the move - which will prevent him becoming a total stress head.

Most of our things are now packed, apart from what we need for general day to day living. As Sean most likely won't be well next weekend, we are going to pack as much as what is left this weekend as we can, and prepare which boxes we are going to take with us to survive night one in the house.

The hot water system and oven are yet to be installed in the house (it will have to be done by the end of the week as final inspection is on Tuesday). All of our neighbours have gone with the standard polished concrete flooring option, so this week they have had the resin finish put on their flooring. I think it looks absolutely horrible and am so happy we upgraded to the floorboards.

Anyway better go. I will try and get another post in just before the move, then it may go quiet for a while, as I won't have Internet access at home straight away, and I am taking 2 weeks of work for the move (I will be on leave from 2pm Tuesday Feb 27 and will return to work on Tuesday March 13).

-Andrew

Latest House Photos

2007-01-29T11:56:00.000+11:00

The Date Is Set!

2007-01-23T08:27:00.000+11:00

Hi All,
Received word from the builder yesterday and the date is set for handover. Handover will happen on Tuesday February 28!

Latest House Photos

2007-01-21T19:25:00.000+11:00

As promised, here are some newer house photos, showing the newly laid floor boards.

House Update

2007-01-15T12:34:00.000+11:00

Well, I don't have any new photos, but a small bit of progress has been made on the house. The electrical works are now complete, and they started laying the floating floorboards down stairs this morning. With all that is left we are hopeful for a February moving date.

Had a total bludge of a weekend which was really nice. Most of it was spent at home watching season 1 of Carnivale on DVD.

I will heopfully get some new house photos to share this weekend, and will post them.

Happy New Year

2007-01-04T09:02:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you have a great happy, safe and prosperous 2007.

Sean and I had a quiet New Years at my place. Mum and Dad had a few of their friends over, but it was really pretty quiet with them all sitting around talking. We watched a few DVDs during the day including Carnivale' which I got for Christmas - very good, but very confusing TV series which was on the ABC a couple of years ago. You don't really get to understand the story til you have watched both seasons 1 & 2.

Another movie we watched was Keeping Mum starign Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Maggie Smith. It was hilerious. The story is of the family of a vicor (played by Rowan Atkinson) who live in this small little community. Pretty much the entrie family is unhappy, the Vicor has no inspiration, his daughter has a new boyfriend every week, and his wife if getting a bit on the side. Then comes along a new housekeeper Grace, played by Maggie Smith, who they don't know has escapped from prison where she is serving a life sentence for murdering her Husband and his mistress many years earlier. Well many character and associates of the characters end up falling victim to Grace, as the murders bring the family closer togeather. If you can get your hands on it, it is well worth a watch.

I'm back at work now. It has been really busy at work over the last 2 weeks, and we barely have a chance to take a breath, but it is keeping us on out toes.

Anyway, lots to do, better go... Andrew

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

2006-12-29T13:56:00.000+11:00

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

2006-12-22T15:47:00.000+11:00

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

Merry Christmas Everyone

2006-12-19T12:55:00.000+11:00

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

2006-12-12T12:55:00.000+11:00

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

2006-12-08T14:36:00.000+11:00

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

2006-11-25T16:45:00.000+11:00

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

2006-11-19T20:19:00.000+11:00

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

2006-11-12T19:24:00.000+11:00

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

2006-10-28T14:47:00.000+10:00

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

2006-10-23T13:06:00.000+10:00

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

2006-10-15T19:16:00.000+10:00

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

2006-10-07T15:31:00.000+10:00

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

2006-10-04T10:05:00.000+10:00

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

2006-09-25T19:37:00.000+10:00

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

2006-09-23T15:22:00.000+10:00

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

2006-09-18T16:08:00.000+10:00

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

2006-09-14T12:50:00.000+10:00

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

2006-09-09T17:09:00.000+10:00

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

Weekly Update

2006-09-08T11:55:00.000+10:00

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

2006-08-31T16:13:00.000+10:00

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

2006-08-28T12:56:00.000+10:00

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

2006-08-26T16:12:00.000+10:00

House photos from Saturday 26/8/06:

House Construction Photos

2006-08-24T18:39:00.000+10:00

Hi Everyone,
As promised, here are some photos of the progress on our new place:

Job Change - Take 2

2006-08-23T12:54:00.000+10:00

Well, for the second time this year I am about to change jobs. I am moving to the Sydenham Library which is still under construction as a Customer IT Officer.

The main reason behind this move was that a it was around the same amount of money, and is closer to home (about 20-30 mins compared with the 1 hour I do now, or around 5-10 mins once I move to my new place) which means that I will save on both petrol and City Link. It also means that I will get to spend more time at home, and has the added advantage of a 9 day fortnight.

Even though I will be based in a library, it is not a library job. The main resonsibilities include IT help desk support for the public, and running training programs which is the element I am looking forward to the most.

I start the new Job on Monday September 25, and finish my current job on Friday 22nd (no break between - can't afford one at the moment). I'm a little sad to be leaving my current job after such a short time period. I was just starting to settle in and get really comfortable with everything I was doing, and all my workmates.

House Dramas

2006-08-23T11:32:00.000+10:00

Last night Sean was looking over the houseplans which I had left at his place at the window structure as he had noticed that the windows on the Frame did not look the same as what we had seen at both the display home and on our houseplans. So that resulted in an 11pm phone call which I was not impressed about cause it woke me up.

Anyway, Sean spoke with the builder on the phone this morning and it turns out that they had stuffed up, and we are now getting the windows we originally thought we were getting (and wanted), so the frame is being adjusted today and there should be no real delay in the build time.

We went to the block Monday night to show Seans brother the progress, and they now have the second story frame complete and have started on the brickwork. They have also done the ground floor frame and some of the brickwork for the other Warehouse next door, but the other 2 Warehouses in our lane are still just slabs. I will post some pics soon.