So it begins. The house is starting to take shape. In another 2 weeks time or so, there will be some form of structure taking shape in an upwardly fashion. See the photo’s below.
The Slab has been poured
Another shot of the Slab
Final Shot of the Slab
having spent too much time faffing around with Vista home premium and Ultimate, when the chance came my way to trial the RTM version of Windows 7, it couldnt be any worse than vista could it? Thankfully so far not yet. Apart from the obvious look and feel of Vista, just like Server 2008 is. I have to say it performs quite nicely. No errors as yet. The laptop fired up quicker and my apps just seem to work. I havent installed Office yet and run Outlook (which for some reason runs like a snail in mud).
I have been busy with work, tasked with more things to do. Company Intranet and more planned upgrades including VC for the Board Room. Relocation of the Old Shared drive onto one of the new servers and running reports in SQL 2005.
for the first time in history of my vague and half assed attempts at web design, I actually have a fully licensed version of Dreamweaver (CS4). Once you finally get passed al the bullshit setup options, its actually not bad. I much prefer the 2 previous version CS2 and 3. I also have a fully licensed version of Adobe Photoshop too, which makes those image editing moments easier than ‘Paint’
So whats new. Well we have a new Puppy. A lovelly Black&White bundle of chaos known to the world as a Border Collie. Oh Joy! He is a handful. He is also quite well behaved – mostly. His name is Loki – The Norse God of Mischief. Quite appropriate for him. He has fitted in quite well with the other two dogs and runs riot with Sasha – the Ridgeback.
With the new puppy begins a new lifestyle. We joined an All Breeds Dog Club not far from where we live, about a 20 – 25 minutes drive away. we currently train twice a week and have started from scratch. Jacob started the other night and did really well, not bad considering he is almost 10 and hasn’t really done much training. He did everything I asked of him. Shame the handler didn’t do better. I have also been roped into do the publicity for them and Sam has been given the task of organising Trials.
We are currently waiting on Council approvement on building our own house. This has been in the pipeline now for over 4 – 5 months and has had its ups and downs. Hopefully we get a little piece of Oz to call our own. I have had enough of paying rent! (and moving house!)
After a couple of long weeks, including weekends and public holidays soaked up by work, it was time to get some well deserved rest. Not that I got a lot of rest with work. It seems like I cannot turn off or be left alone. Anyway, one of the days i went into work to pick my new work laptop up, a nice shiny new HP all singing and dancing machine, that actually shares a similar spec to the HP laptop I am using now. The only difference is that this Laptop uses Vista, whilst the work machine uses XP Pro. Setting the new laptop up was my priority for when I return to work, so I can jump straight in. All my updates are done and software needed installed.
I still have a lot of work to do upon my return, but it can wait now till Monday. A trip had been planned to go to Melbourne to see the Essendon Bombers play Carlton. The flight was at 2.0pm from Sydney to Melbourne and the flight was fairly decent, small plane but nothing to complain about. We landed on time and left the airport to make our way to the Hotel. It was quite a walk from the Sky-Bus terminal, especially as I still have a bad back, which has now progressed to a trapped nerve. Pain is bearable but makes life difficult walking. We arrived (eventually) at the hotel and signed in, settled in. The room was odd. The Bathroom facilities were encased in what can only be described as a Glass Cabinet, yes Shower, sink and the Throne of Doom. The shower was ordinary, it was just a piece of shiny tubing with a nozzle on the end which allowed water to drip out of, not really what I would call a shower.
We had plans to meet up with some of Sam and Karen’s work colleagues at their Melbourne Office and go for Drinks after work, as one of the men who work there was playing in a bar, just across the street. So off we trundled dressed up in Essendon Supporters gear and had a few drinks. The ‘Bar’ was not one of those places Jeans and tee shirts reside and If you could spot a ‘normal’ phone in there you were either dreaming or on drugs. The Blackberry brigade were out in force that night and probably every other night too.
We probably had one too many drinks before the game and stayed longer than planned, so the Hike to the MCG was a quick and painful one. Someone decided to get a taxi, that was a bad plan, as a Tram ride would have been quicker – which it was. The part which caused me some grief was trying to walk across Williams Street quickly, the plan was to get to the other side, however, my left leg decided it didn’t want to play anymore and gave way. Yep, Splat face first on the Tarmac and Tram Lines. I uttered two words, Oh Shit and scrambled up and limped to the other side, only to discover Sam and Karen in tears of laughter at my expense.
MCG at Night
We arrived at The G and watched a really good game of Footy (AFL to you non believers). essendon beat Carlton 136 – 67. It was nice to see Essendon play as a team. Why did I choose Essendon, I didn’t. The whols familly are supporters, so I get to go. My Team is Geelong and not just because they have been unstoppable for the past two seasons, it was a scientific aproach called eenie meenie minie mo. The walk home from the game was interesting, we took an extended walk – note too self – take control of Map in future. It seemed that the way we came in was not to be the way we left. Great, another marathon wlak I could have done without. We bought drinks to take back to the hotel room and upon arrival consumend a good portion of them, the alchohol eased the pain.
Saturday we had planned to go to St Kilda Beach, which is a very nice area in Melbourne to live.
A Shot of St Kilda Beach
As you can see a well used beach by all local and non local inhabitants. As you walk further up to the top of the picture it brings you to a Pier, which in turn brings you to a marina and a reserve for some cute critters which are native to this neck of the woods so to speak.
The Pier at St Kilda Beach
Not one of my nicer post’s and not one that I am proud of. It all began last night. Mark and Linda plus Gracie came down because their wii was not working. So they brought it to us, so we could have a look at it. Turns out it was the wii remote was faulty. So once that was sorted out we ventured downstairs to the rumpus room and started playing Tiger Woods 08 golf, which just happens to be my all time favourite game at the moment. Whilst we were happily playing golf, one of the Dogs decided to pounce on an unfortunate Possum.
These little critters are probably bigger than an overweight Cat, the domestic kind. They posses some nasty claws and teeth and can get quite nasty if cornered. Sasha being the formidable hunter decided to take on this Possum, who had been hunting for food and had found a mouse or rat. The next thing we know gracie had gone outside to let the other dog in and suddenly announced that Sasha had got something and it was screaming. Well, we were all outside in a flash and saw Sasha with bits of fur hanging from her mouth and a possum. We managed to get her to release the possum and watched this animal scarper off into a bush. The sad thing about this is, the Possum had an injured leg, it was just hanging down with no control over it. We managed to get the dogs in and went to see where this Possum was hiding. We found it in the bush and tried to keep it from running or climbing any further. The plan was to get WIRES or the RSPCA out to take this injured animal away.
Sam called numerous numbers only to be greeted by Answering machines and another list of numbers to call, yet nobody was available. It strikes me that these agencies are in dire need of revamping their approach to animal welfare, as it is laughable at best. Finally Sam managed to get in touch with someone and was advised to try and get this Possum into a box and keep it safe. This for someone who has never handled a wild animal before is extremely dangerous, as these things can rip you to shreds quite easily, injured or not. As it turned out the Possum managed to climb onto the fence and into the smaller of the two trees. This is where it stayed all night, cold, injured and obviously in pain.
The morning came and we went looking for the Possum. Amazingly the possum had moved from the smaller of the trees into the big tree and had perched itself on the end of one of the big branches overhanging the garden. It was moving, but slowly and very carefully. I took Sam to the station and came straight back home, hoping that someone from WIRES would come out or at best the RSPCA. But no. No-one was available to come out for another 4-5 hours and even then, no guarantees. This is totally unaceptable. Its all well and good watching programs like Animal Rescue and programs about the RSPCA on TV, they only show the good bits, planned no doubt. The service is shocking and I have to say i am disgusted.
I recieved a call from someone from WIRES about 9am ish. They said no-one could come out till lunch time and it would be best to get the Fire Brigade out, as they are to a point well versed at getting small furry animals out of trees. Sure enough, I get a phone call from a guy in the Fire Brigade and we made the call for them to come out, and they did. They even appologised for being late… WHAT!?!?! They came, that is the main thing and they did their job well. More than what WIRES or the RSPCA did!
They got the Possum down, with a bit of a fight and we placed him in the Crate with an old towel. I then took him to the local Vet just up the road from me. Sam had arranged this via the RSPCA, as they don’t take wounded wild animals for some reason?!? So they passed us over to a Vet at Bass Hill. Maz was the vets name. I walked in with a crate of Possum and was escorted into the consulting room, where upon Maz did his magic. Towel in hand, he got junior out of the crate and placed him on the table to have a good look at him. Sadly the damage was too great for Junior. he had to be put to sleep. He offered to take him in the back, but I said I would stay with him, so I did. I managed to stroke the Possum for the first time and was taken back by the thick coat and how soft it was. I watched the syringe go into the Possum and waited. I nealt down and was at face level with the Junior and stroked his head and ears, whilst speaking softly to the little ball of fur, his eyes half blinked and he settled. I kept stroking his head and ears and finally watched this beautiful animal give its last sigh of breath and then it was silent.
He had gone.
It was sad to witness the life fade away, yet a relief that it was no longer in pain, nor would it suffer anymore. The last sigh of breath was like its life passing on its wisdom and all it had done in one moment, to the air surrounding it.
My eyes were not dry walking out of the surgery. Yet I was filled with Anger and Sorrow for what had happened. My thoughts turned now to Sasha. She came away with one wound on her muzzle. She was lucky, very lucky. She might not be tomorrow, when she goes through the same fate as Junior. This is not the first incident where she has claimed a life. She has killed a couple of birds, one cat and now this. My fear is that she has tasted blood and will now be open to other victims. She is a big dog, she is a very agile and fast dog, she is a Rhodesian Ridgeback cross. I know the Hound is a hunter, Ridgebacks are no exception to this. They were used to hunt Lion. Lets get one thing straight here. Any dog is capable of doing harm to something or someone. There are never bad dogs, just bad owners. I can honestly say, she has never growled, shown her teeth or shown any kind of malice to anyone. Her nature is superb around humans and some other dogs. Jacob is her favourite, after me. She will sit by my side when i am at the computer, she will follow me anywhere. Wherever I am, she is there. She loves Gracie and anyone else that comes whilst we are here. But. What if? What if she suddenly gives into an urge or a feeling, even a mindset that something is not as it should be, what will happen then?
As a responsible dog owner, is it not my right to not only protect myself, but other people too? My first thought is to have her put to sleep, whilst this is a very tough desicison, it is one I am willing to make. I cannot afford to have someone, young or old be injured by my dog, knowing that she has injured/killed before. I should stop it right now. I cannot be with her 24/7. I should be able to trust her 100%. Having said that, anyone in the right mind would not leave a powerful dog with a stranger to the family un-guarded or un-watched. I have already made my mind up, tomorrow will be her last day.
Moving house has become second nature to me of late. Our previous house had issues, none of which the Landlord/Owner could be bothered looking into. result of this is in the title of this post. We have moved back to Georges Hall, which makes my travel time to work a damn sight quicker and less painfull. Henry Lawson Drive at peak time was a pain in the you know what. Add Newbridge Road and Governor Maquarie Drive into the equasion added another 15 to 25 minutes onto my drive for no other reason than Peak Traffic and lots of it.
I now get to work in less than 25 minutes, even with peak children going to school traffic. The move spanned over 3 weeks as per normal, with the amount of crap we keep and lack of planning. With that said, this time was an exception due to the nature of the move. I just wanted out of the house. I had no intention in staying there a minute longer than required. I wanted out of the house the first couple of weeks, moreso after the Air Conditioner Panel fell off in the night and cut my head open. Then the Toilet backed up and when I advised the Agent of the situation, I was greeted by ‘have you got e-mail?’ My reply was less than polite (no surprise there then!). Moving on, it was decided to move asap, so with the help of a decent Agent, whom we know quite well, we got this new place.
The latter stages of moving were starting to tell on us both, I was getting cranky and over the move. We have now finally settled in and are at the stage of do we unpack this box or leave it? So for the next 3 days, I am on annual leave with a view to sorting the garage out and the bags and boxes of stuff? Yes ‘stuff’ being the keyword here. Stuff relates to items that you own but cannot understand why or how. Stuff is the ultimate question in life. Did I buy this or you, Stuff is the item or items that take up valuable space in cupboards, drawers and surfaces for no apparent reason, yet it holds a significant value of ‘f**k’spence’ and you are totally unsure as to its real dollar value. You can imagine the dilemma.
It will be nice to have three days off from work. I have been busy with a planned and much needed server upgrade. My plan for the company was approved plus one extra server. Much to my surprise as the cost was a large amount. 4 brand new IBM servers, SQL Server being replaced with an absolute monster of a machine and 2 new Terminal Servers, plus the additional server replacing our old Mail Server and Profile Server. Don’t ask me why it was setup that way, I had nothing to do with it. All these new beast’s have Windows 2008 server, SQL 2005 with the option to upgrade for free to the latest SQL, as our current business software won’t work with 2008 MYSQL. It will also give me the option to wipe off the old four machines and use them for other things and upgrade memory and Hard drives as required. This will require some long nights and weekend work, until such time I can roll them out to the business, with as little dissruption as possible. This will also give me the option to re-install printers correctly and in one place only. Our system is a mess! No wonder we have so many issues. Previous IT was lacking in planning and knowledge.
Shocking, wet, cold and damp. just like being back in the UK. Bugger!
After what can only be described as a marathon move, we are now finished. The only thing that remains is the habitual sorting of boxes and throwing out the endless boxes of junk we have accumulated. It has been a while since I have posted anything here, so appologies for those who come here often to see what I have been upto.
With a new house, you get a new number, unless you stay in the same area and are connected to the same exchange. Alas we moved 15 minutes away and a new Suburb. So a new number was required. This brought about another problem for our previous telco. Optus. We had already signed up for a new 2 year contract with them for internet. The new superfast upto 20Mbit connection. Sadly they stuffed us around and after numerous telephone calls by Sam, she told them to stick the whole thing where the sun don’t shine. This could have been costly, but due to the fact they accepted the fact they had screwed up, they waived the cancellation fee.
We now use Telstra. Sam called them up and got us our new Number and internet package. Did this goto plan? Nope! There was some issue with previous tennants, having not disconnected the line, so in short, one week later, We got our new line, 4 days later we got the ADSL2. DSL is a beast I have not used, so was a little sceptical of moving onto DSL. Thankfully the Modem came and the line could handle the DSL. 20Mbit download and 1bit up! Once we got everything plugged in and powered up the setup was a piece of cake. Once online, I found the speed unbelievable. Downloads are blazing quick and uploads also impressive.
The TV reception here is very good too and now we have Foxtel from their namesake and not provided through a resseller, like optus or telstra. So now we have the Foxtel IQ box and a second box in the other room. I have to say that the remote recording feature is pretty handy to have. Just login to the foxtel website and find the program you want, set the record and away you go. No more missed movies or programs. It will also chain record your tv shows, it looks forward at the tv listings and finds the next episode and sets the record in your planner on the box.
The house is a lot bigger, two air conditioners and a Pool. I have spent a few hours in the pool, once we got the pool clean again.
Now I did mentiuon an incident with me requiring stitches. The second night we stayed here, we had put the air con on as it was a wee bit stuffy, so off to bed at 9.30 and settled down to some serious z’s. At about 12.30 in the morning, I was awoken by something hitting me on the head. Startled by being woken up from a deep sleep, that and concussion, I discovered the face panel from the Air con unit, had fell off and hit me on the side of my head, just above and to the right of my eye. I got up and felt my face. I discovered that my face was wet. So searching for the light, turned it on and saw blood on my hands and felt it running down my face.
The look in the mirror was horrific, covered in blood and stunned. washed my face with cold water and dried my head with a dark towel, I could see the cut. Sam got up with me and said you will have to goto the Hospital. Damn! So, after a phone call to my Brother in law to be, he got here and drove us to there house and sam borrowed the car. We had been drinking, so didnt want to get pulled over for DUI (Driving Under the Influence) 5 hours later and still no further on, decided to see my own doctor and get it stitched.
Got to see my Doctor and had a Tetanus shot and had both Internal and external stitches. I couldn’t believe it. So off to the Estate agent with a letter and a claim has been made.
All in all, the event hasn’t put me off living here nor has it dampened my spirits. I love the house and the area is quite nice. A little further from work, but not by much. The drive to work is fairly decent, just make sure we leave earlier to avoid the bulk of the traffic.
The swimming pool is cool. I enjoy keeping the pool clean and checking the levels. No doubt this novelty will wear off eventually. But so far, its very relaxing skimming the leaves and debris floating on top and brushing the bottom and setting the Kreapy Crawlie off.
More on all this later
Just a quick post. Have finally moved into new home. Have encountered some issues along the way (like getting stitches on my right eyebrow, courtesey of an old air con unit in the wall). Will post more when I get a chance. It will make for an interesting read. 
Weather has been shocking, except for Sunday and Yesterday.
As promised. I said I was going to upload a few piccies of the Australia Day Long weekend. So here it is. Me and the Boat out on the water…well, where else would you expect to find a boat?
This was the first time I have ever been out on a boat of this nature in my life. The very first time I have rowed a boat. The skill in rowing is knowing when to dip the oars and when to lean back and when to use your arms and back, indeed most of your body is used in rowing. I was out there for quite a while, I even managed to get sam in the boat too, which was fun. Even funnier was watching Sam try to row the boat. It isn’t as easy as you would assume it to be. Moreso when you have a current to contend with and bigger, faster boats than you.
If your wondering what the white tee-shirt is – for the non Australian peeps, its called a Rash vest or Rashie. It helps keep you from burning in the Sun, seeing as we get a lot of it. I say that now, but these past few days, have been extremely wet. The river at the bottom of our road actually burst its banks. Just as well i bought a boat, methinks I will be needing it to get to work at this rate.
The Boat I am in is called a Reef 320. Reef, is the style or brand of Boat and 320 is its size, namely 320cm, or 3.2M. This is one of many boats I deal with from time to time at work.
Continuing from the previous post, we have been accepted by our new Landlords and will be moving house on Saturday. Ahh, the chaos that is moving house. Still, the good thing about it, is that we get a bigger house, bigger kitchen and built in robes in the bedrooms, plus we get a Swimming pool. Just what I need to continue my quest to learn to swim and get fit campaign. Yes we are paying more than what we are currently paying, but I know that rental costs have increased quite a bit round here. Moreso as there are few rental properties on the market.
So Friday night will be my night of Driving the truck home from work, to use all weekend. The good news is we can get ADSL+ as I mentioned earlier, or DSL – unlike my previous spelling mistake DS ????? The DSL should be quicker I am told and the Foxtell, will be installed on the 13th. I am so looking forward to having a new home to live in and in a completely different area.
