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
It has been a funny start to the year so far. The house build is starting to take shape. I drove by this afternoon after work and took a few snap shots. So far the footings have been laid out and prepared for the concrete, so hopefully sometime in the next few days, it should be poured and left to dry.
Work has been full on with changes and major repairs. I mentioned that the main domain controller died on its ass the other week and left us high and dry. The so called ability to recover data from backups proved extremely hard work and non eventful. You would think that you would be able to recover the data using Windows own version of backing up and restoring, but oh no. Nothing was corrupted, Windows just decided on being an arse hole. So $200.00 or so later and a small but really useful download, I retrieved what data I could. The previous nights backup failed when the server crashed and yes, it was the only time you would wish this had never happened, everyone who needed their latest data…sadly didn’t get it! So off to a Data recovery expert, who worked remotely from the UK of all places to here in Sydney, resolved the problem with our three Raid Drives. Thankfully the amount of money we paid (lets just say it was rather a lot of money), actually worked.
So with that out of the way, a new server was ordered and delivered last Friday. The Server will go into the rack tomorrow and be worked on until such time I have to kick people off the system so that it can become the Main DC. I am also in the process of revamping one of our older servers. Citrix 2 box has been revamped and 2 more Gig or RAM has been added. This quite nicely runs Server 2008. I am just in the final throws of doing updates and organising for Citrix to be put on.
The Mac that has become my new best friend is still charming me into what it can offer. Thus far I am in the first stages of rebuilding my main web site, although for the past 5 years or so, this has been my only creative and active. Hopefully I can rekindle my creative juices in Music and Photography.
The new thing in my life which takes me away from computers and internet is Golf. The two rounds of golf I had this long weekend proved that it isn’t as easy as it looks. No matter how good youget in WII golf, you will never hit 300 metres in real life if you have never played a real game of golf.
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!)
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.
Thursday and the company barbecue. We all got to finish early today, save for a few people. I got to finish 1 hour earlier, just as well really as the drive home was hard to keep awake. The barbecue started at 1pm and the usual raffle tickets were sold. The prizes were a little fewer than last years. I won a $50 gift voucher which is cool. I won last year too. The main prize was a Samsung DV camera which Todd won, bless him, he will be happy with that. Shawn was off again today, in fact he has been off all week. So just Chris, Adam and myself have had the run of the stores.
ANZAC day tomorrow, so yet another early start, just hope the rain holds off for all the people in the parades. Up at the sparrows fart so no rest again. Today, I have been really tired and little motivation. Thankfully we weren’t that busy today. Paperwork is pretty much upto date and stock requisitions have been put in. Just need to see how much of the stock actually gets ordered.
A change in the warehouse has taken place. Shawn is now moving next door into Unit F, we are based in Unit G, so just the aforementioned peeps now reside solely in stoeres. This should be better for Shawn and for us, at least Shawn can concentrate solely on his stock ordering and Purchase orders. This will however add additional paperwork for us as we will now have to raise RQN’s for all stock that we require.
So far so good with the new toys. My only complaint, if you can call it that is the Nokia phone battery doesnt last quite as long as I would hope. Having said that the volume of the stereo speakers is quite loud and having the Bluetooth on won’t help matters either. I have been playing with it for a bit, so I would hope that normal standby should be better.
Laptop is good, very good. As yet I have still to install music software and video software, hopefully, I might get a chance sometime this weekend. The keyboard on this HP is very nice. It seems to have a very short throw on the keys, that is you don’t have to press down or slam down to far to make a keystroke, almost touch sensitive. The hands sit nicely on the body of the thing so your hands don’t have to stretch to far or get scrunched up to type. The numeric keypad addition is nice also, as is the inbuilt video cam on the screen. I have tried the camera and it seems to produce some good images.
Ok, more coffee is required before I goto pick Sam up from the station.
Shocking, wet, cold and damp. just like being back in the UK. Bugger!
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.
I thought it was nearing that time again, but sadly, all too soon for my liking. The current house we rent, is ok, apart from being small, very small, especially the kitchen. The garden is quite a fair size at the rear and the front lawn and nature strip is ok. The owners of this property have decided to sell the house, therefore, we must move out eventually. I would rather move out now, before we get hordes of people wandering through. So time to pack belongings into nice boxes and label them, so we know, or at least have a better idea of what is in them, unlike previous moves.
Luckily I will have use of the works truck or Ute if need be, which will make life a lot easier than last time. This time we have made a better attempt at getting organized. The only drama we have had to face is the house we want to move into, does not have Cable or Cable TV. Ahh yes, the old dial up was rearing its ugly head. NOT!!! I would rather shave my scrotum with a blunt spoon first. The good news is that we can get the ADSL2+ which in lay mens terms is DS. Not sure if thats a good thing or not, I have always used cable for my tintyweb connection. The Optus Help desk advised that we could just swap over to the ADSL2+ as we have just signed up for a 2 year contract with them. The professional Package offers upto 20M/bit download and 512kbps upload and a 30 gig bandwidth which is keyed off both up and downloads.
The previous package which no longer exists had a 20 Gig bandwidth peak times and 40 Gig off peak, giving a fair amount of Bandwidth to use. Sadly this is not the case now. So close watch on the usage. Bitlord will have some major changes being made to its upload allowance!
The weather here has been, what can only be described as SHITE! Rain, thunderstorms like you wouldnt believe, more rain, then sunshine, which then brings about the humidity. Considering this is our ‘summertime’ it has been shot to shit with rain, rain and more rain. I shouldn’t complain, because we really do need the water, just not so much and in one go please!
How long does the build up to Xmas take? And how long does it take for Xmas to pass by? Too long and too bloody quick. However, this season saw something different for me. Not as much Booze and no cigarettes. The drinking was cut down, although I did enjoy a few drinks here and there, not too mention the build up to Xmas. Getting the lawns into shape, was priority, the bad weather we have had has made keeping the gardens at bay extremely hard work. Fortunately, some good days before made it possible to attack the feral lawns and make them safe. Every time someone went into the garden, I could here the cries ‘don’t go into the tall grass’ – Jurassic Park came to mind.
The Works Party was awesome. I had planned on not drinking, so I had decided to drive to the works party, but, I decided that I had earned the right to have a few drinks, so I did and in moderation. The night started off good and got better. The food was an improvement from last years party and a better choice of drinks for the most part. Karaoke was a feature to be endured. I had planned to partake in making a fool out of myself, either sober or under the influence. Normally it wouldn’t even enter my head to consider singing, but I did. I did it My Way. Yes ‘My Way’ that old classic, that anyone can sing, except me.
I started off all serious, then progressed to a crazed Pub singer from the UK. I definitely did it my way, there wasn’t a dry eye or crotch in the house, they were pissing themselves. Needless to say, everyone knows I can’t sing, but I gave it my all. I was also conned into singing ‘Like a Virgin’ and two other songs, which names fail me at the moment. At the end of the night I won a $15 gift card at a music store called Sanity.
So Xmas day came and was spent up at Karen and Paul’s, just up the road with all the family. Turned out to be a good day, not too much silly water was consumed and so everyone was a happy bunnyip so to speak. The only issue with Xmas day – It Was COLD!!! For gods sake, normally it would be hot, but no, nice cold breeze from the south, kept everyone cool/cold.
The presents were handed out and the usual thank you’s and ‘Ive still got the receipt if its too big’ were being uttered. Sam did well this year and still have one present to get still, her Bike. I finally got my Digital SLR. YAY!!!!! The twin lens outfit in black. I also bought a 2 gig CF card for it and seems to work quite well. It really does make a world of difference using an SLR over a standard Digital Camera and the quality is so much better. Even taking some drunken snaps of the friends and family, they turned out really good. I printed a few off on the Canon Printer I bought. superb quality and so nice to have large sized sharp and crystal clear photo’s. And so now we head off into 2008. My new years resolution is to get even fitter. I am going to learn to swim and take up Scuba Diving. That is the plan. I am also going to seek out a Gym and work on the whole body. This time next year my plan is to be able to maintain a weight below 80 Kilo’s and be able to swim a good few lengths of a large swimming pool and have done more than one dive. More on all of this later. It remains for me to say, I hope all who read this had a really good Xmas and have a great new years. I hope health and wealth find you all.
I can only describe this day as being one of the worst I have had in a long time. To put it bluntly. I thought I was not going to see today out. The day started off with the usual routine, get up, let dogs out, have a shower. Make coffee and get dressed, ready myself for work. Today was a tad different. I had to drive to Chullora to pick Adam up. So, all set to go, I got in the car with my food and water for the day and set off. The drive was ok, up until getting past the servo on the Hume (there are many of them – have a look on the map of NSW and search for the Hume Hwy). Anyway, whilst driving I started to get pains in my chest (not good!). At first I thought it was my old injury coming back to haunt me, so I gently massaged the area and it started to ease. Drove on to Adams place, he got in the car and we were off. It wasnt untill I was heading to the Hume Hwy again, I started feeling Odd! Dizzy, Light Headed, Chest pains and Tightness in my chest. I started to panic a little, as I was definitely not feeling too good at all. I was struggling with my breath and trying not to freak out.
I got onto the Hume to turn right just before the Primo building (which was ablaze the other day and the smell of bacon and cooked ham was beautiful.) As I got into the right turn lane, I felt worse than before and had to get out of the car – putting car into Park and hazzards flashing, me on the floor fighting for breath and holding my chest. People driving by and not stopping – imagine my suprise. Got back into the car and managed to drive into a side street and park the car up and rest a while and get myself settled. Drank my water and managed to gather myself back together. Got back into the car and drove off, heading towards the RSPCA at Yagoona. Upon getting to the junction at Rookwood road, I was out of the car again. Pains, breath and dizzy as hell. This was freaking both myself and poor Adam big time! So once more, into the car and drove off, this time only getting past the first jucntion and then heading to Australand and parking up there. I needed another drink, but my bottle was empty, so Adam knocked on some poor sods door and woke them up, so i could get I drink, fortunately they obliged and I thanked them for it.
After that, it was sit down, while Adam phoned work. Shawn, my boss came out with Dave so He could drive us both back to work and take it from there. 4 hours later and I was being picked up by Sam and taken straight to the Hospital here in Bankstown.
I was taken straight in, just mention pains in the chest and wooshka, you are in! So BP test, heart monitored and SATS, then taken into another room for the ECG, then wait a while for blood tests. Except the blood tests involved me being given a bed, stripped off and hooked up to a machine for 6 hours. 2 lots of blood tests, 4 ECG’s and constant monitoring via the box on the wall – sadly no Foxtel!
6 Hours later, I was given the all clear. The 300mg of Asprin helped sort the headache and chest pains out. I now have a referal for my GP and no doubt more tests ahead. I have to say, that my time in Bankstown A&E was superb, very pleasant, reasuring, helpful and professional. Charlie was superb as was the first nurse who assisted me. Full marks!!! If I was to compare this experience to when I had my Motorbike accident in the UK and was taken to the Warrington Borough Council A&E, they were assholes! Bankstown was Excellent!!! 
More on the outcome of my tests as and when I find out.
