Ya big ol' 30

I'm gettin on a bit...
Well, I hit the big THREE-OH this month, and I guess I'm feeling things slip away a little. Though there's a lot I wanna do before I hit something like FIVE-OH, I can't say that life so far has been at all boring.

My birthday was a regular work day, but it all turned out much more special than I'd hoped.

I was first out of bed, cos being a Monday, I was the only one that had to be somewhere. School holidays had started and Nene and Clayton have every Monday off. So I got myself ready and Eli was the first one up. He was very cuddly and made me feel like a special dad.

Later when I was ready to goto work, I went into my bedroom and the kids and Nene gave me presents. Now that I'm 30, practical gifts are much more enjoyable, so I wasn't disappointed when I got a pair of good quality safety glasses.

But a man of 30 also needs leisure time, and lately I've been doing a lot more reading that I have for the past 15 years. Janene bought me the Narnia Chronicles in a boxed book set (seven books). I had already read the first two, and now that I have my new set, I find it easier to hold a thin book, rather than the billion page all-in-one Chronicle that I borrowed from Cpt. Neroli. Now I'm half way through book 3 (The Boy and His Horse).

The last present I got before heading to work was another practical book from Janene, which speaks to the Dad side of me. This book is entitled "Preparing Your Son for Every Man's Battle". Now, for all us blokes, we know what "every man's battle" is... right?

Eli followed me around everywhere that morning, and as I jumped in the car, he opened the gate for me. As I was about to drive off, he signaled for me to stop. I wound down my window, and with a smirk and in a grown up manner he said "Ya big ol' 30!". He smiled at me like a dad proud of a son, and waved me off to work.

So anyway, my day at work was equally warming. I honestly thought I'd get an unimaginative $2.50 mud cake from Woolies - assuming anyone remembered. Well good old Donna, the mother of the office, surprised me alright. She made a donut mountain -- literally... It was 44 iced and cinamon donuts, complete with icing sugar mortar, built into a huge mountain probably a foot high.

Needless to say, by lunch time I wasn't even tempted to use my FREE LARGE TAKEAWAY at Jimmy's kitchen! Yeah... cool present from the Panscott mob :D I used it the following day.

And lastly, to remind me what friends are, Lynton displayed his mateship by giving me a $40 voucher at Mitre 10. I'm carefully writing a list of items to spend it on.

So... with the help of loved ones and good friends/workmates, I eased out of my 20s and into my 30s focusing on things more important than age.

Online traineeship!

FINALLY, a positive outcome to my months of email-sending all over the earth.

On Monday morning I opened up my email to find a reply to an earlier email I sent out. It came from Johnny Paul's instrument repair shop, and it was his wife (Jeanan), basically offering to teach me everything they know via email, pictures etc.

This is excellent news and I'm really happy :D

So far, we've already exchanged two lengthy emails regarding what I'll need to get started and what kind of things are best to start working on.

Because I have the tools needed, Jeanan Paul (the wife of the guy) is going to have me learn how to soft solder with 60/40 solder. I've got a little checklist of extra tools and stuff I need to outfit my workshop to the point where I can start doin some real work.

Jeanan also suggests I get a stack of old clarinets to start practicing on. I'll have to keep my eye out for some on ebay.

Well, I'm keeping a folder of all her instructions, so I can quickly reference them later. And now, it's time to start cleaning up my workshop!

Three down!

Yesterday both Janene, Eli and I both ended up at home with a stomach bug. It started Monday night with Eli throwing up all night, and then both Nene and I feeling rather crap early in the morning.

By the afternoon we were mostly OK, but still way tired from being up all night.

Sarah Radburn looked after us by taking Clayton to and from Little Learners.

Today I'm feelin tons better... good enough to be grabbin some Jimmy's Kitchen for lunch! What better way to sort my sort out my internal imbalance!?

My debut with the band

First playout
One blue polo - $14.98
Grey dress pants - $49.95
20 mins using the quick-unpik to remove the logo on the polo...

NOW I'm set.

So Sunday afternoon I made my debut with the Dubbo & District Brass Band, and I had a great time. I know I'm not as good as the rest of the band, but I'm a lot more confident now, and my sight-reading has really improved due to the level of difficulty of the stuff we play. Odd timings, fast tempos, key changes and so on.

We played at the Delroy Gardens park, next to the water. Most songs we played were carols, but we did a few other pieces like Teddy Bear's Picnic and Broadway Lullaby.

Janene, Eli and Clayton came along for a while, but the boys got a little crazy and I could tell Janene was frustrated, so I suggested she could take em home and she did.

Linda and Lindsay Foggon rocked up later and heard the last few songs.

A nice day overall! Next playout is on Saturday at the Orana Mall.

Random Thought No.1

I've decided that now and then I'll post a random thought, if only to make things a little more interesting.

For anyone out there reading this, and not being fully aware of who I am, these penned thoughts will each serve as a tiny brush stroke of colour on the canvas which slowly reveals the obscure parts of my character. The rest of you will already know I'm a quirky, yet harmless guy.

ENJOY, Random Thought No.1

It really is a terrible misfortune when attending a public toilet, and while leaning over to flush the loo, $1000 dollars falls out of your breast pocket into the bowl.

After a moment of hesitation you fish out the $1000, which consists mostly of coins. Then later you ponder "Was that worth $1000?"

Even worse is when later you realise, "Actually, I'd do that for $10".

Think about it.

Say grace, Eli

Big, Tough God
Tonight Eli offered to say grace before dinner. We all held hands and Eli proceeded with a nice long prayer... which included the following:

"And God, we know that you are so tough and nobody can beat you up, cos you will just beat them up worser..."

I couldn't help but be bouncing up and down in silent laughter while Eli finished his prayer. When he opened his eyes he got cranky at me for laughing at his prayer. I blamed my laughter on something else (Clayton's crumb-covered fingers).

Eli loves battles and stuff, so every game he plays, and most things he thinks about (yes, even God) he somehow manages to relate back to battles and fighting etc.

That's just our Eli.

Happy 6th Birthday Eli

Eli enters second half of first decade
Today we had a day off to take Eli to Orange and also to celebrate Eli's birthday. So as a family we drove to Orange, did some shopping (I bought some books at Landers Music - the kids ran riot and we had to leave there early), saw the doc and then we had some lunch at Maccas (Eli's choice).

Eli's ears are pretty good, apart from a slight ear infection. Just through watching his progress in reading and general academic stuff, it's very obvious he's not having any trouble hearing.

Expressivenessessyness

Eli uses great expression

This afternoon Eli told me that after lunch he dragged himself into the classroom and exclaimed to Miss Parker "oh... I'm so hot. As hot as the sun". She replied encouragingly that he was very good at using verbal expressions to describe things.

Then tonight, Janene told me how when he was in the shower, Clayton put the stool down on Eli's foot. Eli screamed "ARGH! That hurt so bad, it felt like a blade... A... SHOULDER BLADE!" then a moment later he asked Janene "Mum, what's a shoulder blade?"

Kids. Who needs TV?

"I'm still here"

Tonight on the farm, while packing my things into the back of the car, I was alone in the dark and after finishing what I was doing, I suddenly felt compelled to gaze at the sky. It was awesome! It seemed so clear and beautiful and at that moment a single line of How Great Thou Art echoed in my mind: I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

While I stood there, in awesome wonder I uttered to a prayer, a simple question "Heavenly Father... where are you?". Immediately, perfectly queued, and in my direct vision a bright shooting star dashed across the sky. It still gives me a chill remembering it.

These are the simple, profound moments where God offers a response to remind me of His presence in my life. They don't come every day, I've learnt to not ask for them every day. But they come often enough to keep me certain I serve a living God.

Psalm 19
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

Amen!

Me Protea Plantation

Well, today I took the boys out to the farm and Juanita, Andrew, Dad and I planted the proteas.

There are 54 proteas... 9 varieties, 6 of each. We planted em in 9 rows with dripper irrigation, and it took maybe 2 or 3 hours. By the end of it I was nice and sunburnt, cos it was a fairly warm day!

The proteas look really healthy and I reckon they'll thrive in their new location. Over the next year or two, we'll know from these trial varieties which will be most productive in our region, and from there we can decide if it's worth throwing in a couple of hundred of em.

I'm in a BAND!

Wednesday night... raining and cold. I have had swollen glands and sore tonsils since Saturday, but a few panadol and I was right. I had to bite the bullet and finally do it!

So it was the moment I'd been planning for the past couple of months, and it's one more item on my list of resolutions that I have finally achieved.... I joined the Dubbo & District Brass Band.

Well I got to the band hall in south Dubbo and met Ben Newby outside. We went inside and he introduced me to a lot of the members, but I only remember a few names... I think it was Nigel on Flugel, Jenny and Chappo (Anthony Chapman - local policeman) on trombones. I was quickly overwhelmed by all the names so that's why I've forgotten most of em.

So we started warm ups with easy hymns and that was really fun cos I had no troubles with those. It got a lot harder though and out of all the pieces we practiced that night, I only played about half of them. The piece we ended on was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and I didn't even bother trying to play that one... it was way to fast and tricky. Even the experienced bandmembers were greatly challenged by it!

Well I payed my $2 membership, so I think next week I probably get a cornet, and later when I'm good enough to play at events, I'll get a uniform.

Meanwhile, throwing myself in the deepend like this is just what I need to give my playing skills a kick-along. I definitely need to practice my sight-reading EVERY day in order to get up to speed fast. The skills I learn at band, I'll be keen to apply back at church.

Goodbye G'ma

My dear grandmother exited the dim Hallway of Time last night, and I hope I'm right in thinking I'll meet her again on that Celestial Shore.

Grandma had been suffering for a while in her palliative care unit, knowing full well that where she lay was indeed her death bed. It was a terrible drawn out ordeal for her and for the family too, but she drew her last breath on the night of Thursday, 6th October 2005. She had relatives at hand to bid her farewell, which was important to her - she was very scared of what was happening.

Rest In Peace Grandma. Although I didn't spend a lot of time with you over the past few years I do love you. I know enough too, just by the photographs that decorate your shelves, that you really loved me, my brother and sister, and my cousins and our children (your great grandkids).

Office Shufflin'

Brad out, Lynton in
With Brad's departure, Lynton has pounced on the opportunity to park his butt on Brad's still-warm chair. So life won't be boring, cos I have Lynton to keep my company. Sharing an office with the new employee Jaclyn won't be awkward either, cos I'll have Lynton to help me annoy her.

Jaclyn starts
Jac started today, and most things she's picked up quite quickly. She's already keen to answer the phone, which is great cos I hate talking to some of the nit-wits that call.

Her nature is quite a contrast to Nic's and to Brad's also. She can take mine and Lynton's humour (btw, Lynton moved into Brad's desk) but she's not at all rambunctious like us boys (including Nic, who's almost like one of "us boys"). She's not as rough around the edges; more upper class maybe? Not snobbish though, I don't think.

It looks like Jac is ready to work, and I'm sure I'm gonna feel the pressure to do the same now... Different to having Brad in the office where there was no pressure on me to do hard work, cos Brad wasn't doin any either!

So... these next few weeks are going to be interesting ones! That's about all I can say. But I'm up for a challenge! I need someone to keep me in line :P

Fatherhood rocks

My Special Day
Today was a lovely day for my 7th Father's Day (yes I count my first Father's Day as the September when Janene was 6 months pregnant with baby Eli).

In the morning, I didn't get brekky in bed, but I did get a nice kiss and cuddle from everyone later. I also got an awesome handmade card from Eli, which was adorned by very cool drawings. On the front it said "Age of Mythology", accompanied by a drawing of a catapult throwing hot red boulders at an enemy fortress. Inside the card was a lovely picture of a Cyclops (with two eyes) with a club in one hand and a hapless soldier in the other, whose arms were flapping in a panicked frenzy. Behind these two guys was the Temple where the Cyclops comes from, and the Town Centre where workers are made.

Best card ever!

Janene made me a little gift too. Four sweet coffee coasters made from recycled CDs. That's not the best part... the best part were the designs on em! NAPOLEON DYNAMITE! I took em to work and Lynton is mega jealous. They really are cool. I'm gonna make myself four cups of coffee so I can use em all.

Eli makes a "sweet jump"
Well we pretty much watch Napoleon Dynamite at whosever house we visit. We watched it at the Radburns' house on Friday... their reaction wasn't quite as hearty as the Phillips' reaction. Different breed of humour I guess. Then we watched it at my folks' house on Sunday night (Father's Day). Juanita was there with Caleb and Mitchell. It was amazing to see all the kids, including Clayton and Eli, sit perfectly still and watch the entire movie... affording us adults the opportunity to listen carefully and laugh our guts up regularly.

So with all that Napoleon watching, you can't blame Eli for becoming an avid fan and incessantly quoting and re-enacting the movie.

I came walking home on Monday to find the boys on their bikes. They'd dragged out some bricks and old boards and constructed a jump. Eli and Clayton both came running up the road to me to greet me, and Eli excitedly told me "Dad, I made a sweet jump, come and have a look!".

On Monday afternoon Eli coasted over his sweet jump and couldn't pull up in time to avoid smashing into the shed. The result was an injury very similar to Napoleon's in the scene where he asks Pedro "Can I try it really fast?". I'm so proud of my son!

Bye Bye Brad

Throwing in the designer's towel

So it was this time last week I had a long discussion with Brad on MSN (cos the Internet Brad more responsive than the Real Life Brad*) about what his plans are for his life etc. He'd been showing a total lack of interest over the last few months, which had culminated in more recent days with pretty poor punctuality (still hasn't been to work on time one day in the past 3 weeks - usually 10 to 15 mins late, once 45mins late).

Brad was apparently losing interest in being a graphic designer, despite developing some good skills and showing promising signs of being good designer. I guess this is a young person thing, and he'll possibly regret it when he matures.

For now though, Brad reckons he'll go back to TAFE next year and finish year 10, then study Computer Sciences (what the heck for I have no idea! Computers suck). But it's more than a little strange that he'd sacrifice his current career at this stage of the year and hang around doing jack all for 6 months until TAFE starts. A sensible person would plan it so they could finish up just before their studies began. But... oh well. I don't think this decision was based on his aspirations for the future and desire to study, but rather a decision he made cos he was sick of work and wanted to sleep in more.

Brad quickly decided to move back to the Gold Coast with his mate Luke.

So, after a year of training Brad, coaching him on life issues, encouraging him to mature and become truly independent, I'm left feeling rather disappointed. It's up to him now. I hope he proves me wrong, but I'm not sure he's going to make much of a go of things like he claims he will. Time will tell.

Enter Jaclyn
The day Brad called a meeting with Tim and I to announce his decision to resign, a lady named Jaclyn walked in the door to introduce herself to Tim and express her interest in any design work we might have going.

So... after a couple of meetings, Tim is impressed enough to be considering offering her a position.

She has a lot of industry experience, talent and so forth. I feel I could learn a heck of a lot off her, which will be nice.

Assuming she's interested in the position, I consider and like the idea of her and I specialising in our own areas and focusing on those. For example, she seems very clever with high-end design work, and I'm very keen to do more website stuff if I can find the time for it.

I'll keep an update on things in my blog...

MY NOTES
*Is it just me, or is there a whole new generation of youth whose identity exists only on the internet. You try to talk to these kids in real life and they're withdrawn and their vocubulary ceases to function when discussing anything serious. But get their fingers on a keyboard and they come time life. Kinda sad.

Great day at the Salvation Army

Today was a lovely day - one I'm sure will remain in the memory of many young kids attending the Salvation Army in Dubbo.

It was "renewal day" for the seven Junior Soldiers in our Corps - a time when each Junior Soldier renews their original promises made when they first became Junior Soldiers. We also had a new Junior Soldier enrolled - Nicola Ferguson. All the kids that attended tdoay (15 or so) participated in a couple of dance and timbrel items. It was very cool.

There are visible signs that growth in the Dubbo Corps is strong. The ministry for the young'ns has been very effective, thanks to good leaders (like Sarah Radburn and my own lovely Janene). There are a more kids involved in the church now than I can ever remember, and participation and extra-curricular activities are increasing. The change in each of this kids makes evident that God is at work here.

Today marked another milestone for the Brass Band. Janene and I felt our confidence was at a level where we could play a duet during the meeting. We played Prayer Gently Lifts Me along to Peter McBride's piano accompaniment CD.

I'll spend this afternoon (Sunday) writing two or three more duets, since we plan to play at least once during every meeting from here on in.

Caleb is also doing great on his trumpet. I've written a simple harmony for Jesus Loves Me for him to play along with me. He is playing so well for an 8 year old, I will be very surprised if he doesn't end up being a top-notch musician, cos I sense he has raw talent!

When I think that he probably wouldn't have ever discovered music without my encouragement, I realise that I am in the right ministry. I'm really enjoying doing what I'm doing, even if it IS taking it's sweet time.

Updates for July/August

Indoor Cricket - SALVOS ARE PREMIERS!
It's been a couple of years coming now... we haven't won a premiership for a while, and we were only one ball from missing out again! Yeah... we won by just 3 runs!

We played against Eagle Boys, who had beaten us twice before. The first two times we played, we got progressively closer to a win. The first time we lost by about 40 runs, the second time losing by only 2 runs... This time (and with only 7 players - Alex was away) Dave Newby was on strike for Jackpot ball and needing 3 runs for a tie or 4 runs to win. We held our breath and jumped up yelling for victory when he managed to tap the ball into back half of the side net to secure a sweet win.

Although we fielded really well and kept them to a low total of 110, Nath and I batted rather terribly (although in the semi final we shone with 58 partnership) managing a dismal minus 8! (Nath -17, Brett 3). However Timbo & Dan, Pete & Dave and the final partnership of Luke & Dave (they chose Dave to bat again since we were 1 player short) saw us home! Final score 110 to 113.

The new comp of 10 weeks starts tonight and I'm looking forward to figuring out what's been going wrong with my batting.

Holidays and stuff

Eli had three weeks of school holidays previously. Janene and I took it in shifts to take time off work and be home. While at home I got a lotta stuff done here and there, and also spent a lot of time with Eli. We played cards together (snap, fish... and that other game with 7 piles of cards and you try and get rid of all your cards etc).

Tell more later...
I've decided that if I don't post this now, by the time I finally remember everything that's happened, this post will be another month or two old! Best idea is that I just keep posting as things happen.

Plans for the future

It's always good to have goals. Long term... medium term and short term!

I am aspiring towards many goals, and right now I need to pause to write them down. What better place than my blog? Anyone else reading this can remind me of these goals and query me to where I'm at with achieving them.

Here are some of them:

SHORT TERM:

• Finish all computer-related jobs - namely the Job Seekers database and Dubbo Sports World website.


• Finish the joins on the outside of the house, ready for painting.


• Cement the borders for the new gardens and create the cement/rock area under the clothesline.


• Think deeply and seriously about joining the Dubbo Brass Band.


• Have the new worship band playing in the church service regularly.

MEDIUM TERM

• Start accumulating tools, and practice skills needed for Instrument Repair.


• Debut with my cornet in church, with Janene on flugel.


• Find another band member to learn tuba or euphonium.


• Find a pianist for the worship band.


• Put a roof on the kids' cubby house.

LONG TERM

• Re-assess my career. Decide what I want to do for the next 10 years or more.


• Complete the renovations and start looking for rural acreage.


• Have a bus for church and be doing the run ever Sunday morning to collect kids for Sunday School.

Those lists are looking a bit heavy. I better stop there! More than likely the Short Term goals will work their way onto the Long Term goals list... but at least I have jotted down my aspirations for the future.

Now, only to achieve them!

Tact

In Thursday morning's meeting, Bob told how he'd taken photos of his new grand daughter in Sydney only to discover that there was no card in his camera. He wasn't blaming anyone or conveying any annoyance... he was just simply telling the story. Yet, somehow the blame got back to the Production department (i.e. Brad and I) since we were last to download photos off Bob's card to the server. Sound fair? Maybe... maybe not.

The thing that really annoyed me was the manner in which the blame was made and magnified. "Seriously, did you get an apology for that? I'd be pretty p***ed off if that happened to me", said Tim to Bob, but indirectly to us "juniors".

I did respond rather quickly and showed I was offended/annoyed by that careless remark. It was something like "Settle down. That's just overacting! Getting 'p***ed off'... that's just silly".

Bob came and whispered to me later that he thought it was a silly remark, and that he couldn't care less. He wasn't intending to make anyone feel guilty.

I chose to try and forget about it, but it had been eating me up and I was still annoyed about it after work and even after a fun game of cricket (where we beat Cleary Boys in the first round of the new comp). So I wrote this tactful email, addressed to all staff.


Hello everyone,

I'd like to think of it as only a minor issue, but to clarify what I think is the correct proceedure for the use of cameras and cards, let me explain what I believe that proceedure should be.

If I am wrong about this, then perhaps we need some formal proceedure or another memo reminding us of what's required. But drawing from commonsense, I would expect the following:

Cameras and Cards
-----------------
Whoever uses a camera should be soley responsible for returning it to where it came from (as was previously stressed by Tim) - this would include batteries and memory cards.

If somebody takes photos then leaves the camera in the Production department for us to save the photos, I believe it is STILL the camera operator's responsibility to collect the camera AND the card and return it to where it belongs.

Perhaps the simplest solution is that everyone is given their own card reader.

Also, I realise Brad and I are young, energetic, and somewhat hansome young men, but I hope we can still be treated the same as the adult staff. :-) Please keep that in the back of your mind next time we're in trouble for something.

Thanks guys,
Brett

I hope the message finally gets through. Panscott is a good place to work - probably the best place I've worked to date. However, this "hey junior" attitude has been present for a long time and it wears through my thick skin at times. Poor old Dave Daly copped it the most of all of us when he was there.

Divine intervention?

Telly takes a tumble...
Yesterday the kids wanted to keep turning the TV on and off and on and off... you know, like kids do? So I pulled the plug from the wall to hilight my authority in such things. Well this afternoon Janene decided to plug it back in and let Clayton watch a video while she rested her bulbously throbbing face (see blog entry below). To her surprise the TV didn't respond even after being plugged back in.

What's this mean folks? NO TV!? I'm sorry to say so... (or am I?).

Actually, I can almost visualise the effect already. Give it a week and Eli will no longer be able to recite The Incredibles word for word like he has been. Clayton may find a new game to play, like colouring in or trains, instead of running around the house screaming "SPIDERMAAAAAAN!". Janene's thumb won't be sore from flicking the remote in an effort to find a decent show on monday night TV. And me... I might not be in a state of rage over the level of smut, blasphemy, poor humour and general garbage that would usually emanate from that radioactive tube.

You know what? I'm in no rush to get it fixed. In fact, I actually enjoyed a cup of coffee with Janene tonight as we both sat on the lounge together reading current editions of The Warcry. I think we otherwise would have been watching some crappy, media-biased 60 Minutes presentation.

God bless TV-lessness... (and He will!)

Could it be?

Could posting to your blog REALLY be this easy?

Apparently it's true, so I'm giving it a burl. I'm posting this message from my email program. So if this works, I can email a blog entry fromwherever... as long as I have access to email.

Nice!

Bleedin Gums Nenesta...

Nene's turn!
Yeah, it's true... Janene had the pleasure of having her four wisdom teeth ripped out. However, unlike my dreamy experience under a full general anaesthetic, she had to have hers extracted IN THE CHAIR! Ouchy!

Janene had one impacted (i.e. sideways) tooth on the bottom right, which meant some bone drilling was required. But surprisingly that particular tooth came out with minimal effort compared to the one on the opposite side of her face.

Where it should have only taken around 2 hours to take all four teeth out, she ended up spending four and a half hours in the chair! The last half of that time was mostly due to the fact they couldn't stop her mouth from bleeding. Blood poured out everywhere! YICK!

So anyway, with Janene's face looking the way it does (check the picture which I took tonight - 3 days after the op!) I've been determined to keep her locked up until the swelling subsides and she looks less "abused". I fear that taking her out in public will almost certainly encourage whispers and general gossip among strangers who don't know (or care for) the real story! Cos let's face it... she DOES look like your average beaten housewife.

Sunday School...
Not one to shirk her Christian duties, Janene soldiered on and taught her Sunday School class this morning. While I sat there as her offsider in the circle of kids, the silent stares Janene got were hilarious. I couldn't hold back a chuckle as I watched Meggy's wide eyes stare unceasingly, with mouth ajar in horror at Janene's bruises.

Finally, before the lessons began, Janene took the time to explain why she looked like she picked a fight with Jackie Chan. Once it was explained, the kids were visibly relieved.

LOTS OF SOUP...

Computers...

I've finally discovered what computers are good for! They're the perfect tool for tapping into the vast knowlege of technical support available on the internet, for the purpose of fixing your computer.

Christian School choir blits Eisteddfod

They did it!

This morning Janene, Clayton and I all went to watch Eli perform in the local Eisteddfod under the category of Kindergarten-Year 2 Choir. Theirs was the smallest choir of the seven choirs that competed, and they sang "Way Back to God" followed by "These Are a Few of My Favourite Things". They sounded beautiful... as did a few of the other choirs. But the final judgement was that the K-2 choir from the Christian school won the trophy, and Eli will get a certificate. I'm so proud!!

It was pretty exciting seeing my little nipper up there singing so wonderfully. He was extremly serious and focused - a side to Eli that I don't often see!

One important things I noticed too is that the Dubbo Christian School's choir was the only one that took the opportunity to sing a spiritual song/hymn. None of the other Christian-based schools did that! It's my personal belief that every opportunity should be made to set yourself apart from the rest of the world and shine a light in whatever you do... even in a school eisteddfod. I'm very pleased with the strong biblical emphasis in the DCS curriculum... they rock!

Maestro

New journey begun...

Eli picked up the violin tonight and I gave him his first lesson on the basics (which is already more than I know).

For now we're just practicing how to hold the instrument and how to bow a long steady note on an open string. We'll get the left hand involved on the fretboard further down the track.

I was caught by surprise when I discovered he has fairly natural and fluid movement. He looks to be the makings of a natural violinist! Check the pic (click for a larger view).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Clayton makes the Terrible Twos

It was always gonna happen, Clayton turned two a couple of months ago... Can you believe I didn't report it earlier on my blog? This happened just before we left civilisation to live on the remote wilderness, so blogging was far from my mind at the time. Anyway, Clayton is two now, and he had a wonderful birthday with our little family as well as John the Builder who's working on our house (we invited him to stay for some cake).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAYTIE!

A whole lot to say

Eli (Stradavarius) Phillips

Finally, after a month of waiting, the violins for Mitchell and Eli that I bought off ebay have arrived from the USA. They're groovy little items, and I spent last night tuning them and putting a coat of rosin on their little bows.

I had no idea that these quarter size violins were so cute and tiny! I'll be posting a photo of Eli soon with violin in hand... and under chin.

It's a long road ahead, and the next few weeks will really determine whether he's built to be a musician or not. I imagine violin is possibly one of the more difficult instruments to learn, so if anything, Eli will learn some patience.

I'm looking for a third kid now so that I can have enough children to start a group lesson at the Macquarie Conservatorium. On Thursday I'll ask Melissa from church if she would like to let little Meg have a go. I think she'd be perfect for violin :D

Meanwhile, I've pulled out my violin too and am determined to make some use of it.

---

Blue walls

Well the builder has completed the majority of the outside of the house, as well as my office and the kids' playroom. These rooms are like new, and the outside is ready to render over the top. But now the builder has had to move on to another job, and he won't be back until October! So we're back in our half-renovated house and we're pottering around, doing the odd painting job, patching job, decorating job etc. It's all lookin pretty good, but it aint easy to find time to do what we want when we've got kids at our feet. And on the rare occasion when they're not there, we just wanna enjoy the silence and sleep in or drink coffee.

The outside is now covered with the fibro-cement sheeting (called Harditex) that is a bright blue colour. It actually looks kinda trendy, though I don't think we'll settle on that colour :-)

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RAIN!!

Most Aussies would be aware that my part of Australia is in a serious drought. We haven't had good, regular rainfall for years and it's taking its toll on the environment and the industries (farming etc) that rely heavily on it.

However, just recently we had a beautiful couple of days with showers and occasional heavy falls. Some areas got more than others, Mum and Dad's farm got about 20mm all up. That should give the feed crops a kick along, and keep things fresh.

Time to test a new tool!

It's been a helluva long time since I've written in my blog. There's a good reason for that too. Previously it's been a lot of hassle to open up a browser, open a blog page, navigate to my Edit screen and type up a new blog. It's even tons annoyinger when you've just typed a blog entry over the past 2 hours and then your submit fails... you click the back arrow in the browser and your entry is *GONE*. Actually, that could be a Pet Hate of the Day.

MOGSTA'S PET HATE OF THE DAY:
I hate it when you've just spent two hours typing/crafting an entry for your (extremely popular) blog and then, with a nice wide smile on our face, you hit the submit button, but to your utter dispair the page times out. You frantically hit the back arrow to resubmit, but find the contents of the MESSAGE box is GONE! Sheesh I hate that.

So anyway, I had previously tried a whole wad of different programs to post to my Blog from within a desktop app, but none utilised the extensive features available in blogger.com's native interface, so I gave up. Then today I decided to get back into my blog and after some lunchtime searching I found w.bloggar v4. In a word - ROCKON! Blogging was meant to be this easy!

Check out the software yourself: w.bloggar

Now, let's get on to some blogging! I've got a number of news items to catch up on.

Voice from yonder

More stars where I am!

So it's been an even longer break since last time, and even more left unsaid that I don't think I'll try to catch up on.

Let me try and catch up on a few of the major points from the past few weeks:

FARM: We're living out at Narromine, enjoying the sunshine, the quiet and the absence of annoying people. Despite the long drive every day, which takes around 25-30mins, we love it there... and have no real desire to come back to the house.

ELI: To our surprise, Eli is one of the very few boys who were selected from individual auditions to sing in the Kindergarten & Year 1 school choir. Apparently they're practicing The Lion Sleeps Tonight... which is quite a tricky song I reckon.

CLAYTON: We're watching kid No.2 grow up so fast. He's thriving in the farm environment and really enjoying close contact with cousins and his long-lost aunty Win. Claytie is saying heaps of words now and is putting three and four word sentences together.

KILLING SPREE: The other day on the farm we killed two pigs, a sheep and three chooks. If that wasn't enough, we killed another five pigs and six-or-so more chookies. Half the meat was given away, but we have enough meat now in freezers to last a half century!

RENOVATIONS: Suddenly the renovations have sprung forward dramatically! Three of the four outside walls are completed, the laundry was done ages ago, and the sleepout area - i.e. my office and the kids playroom - is now completed. Things are looking good. I can't wait to sell it and get out on the farm :P

DECISIONS: Of late we've made a few decisions. One is that we WILL build a house on the farm. Another is even more biggerer. I had begun thinking of more kids, and Janene was almost about to concede... though near the end of it all, we finally agreed that it wasn't a good idea for both of us. I might be able to handle more kids, but Janene is not the kind of strong-willed mother to endure more than we've got.

Janene is an awesome mum to our two legendary boys, but she might crack under any more pressure - especially considering the worst is yet to come (teenager years!).

I'm happy with this decision and I'm gonna give my two boys the best fathering that any good, loving father could offer.

PROTEAS: So I've done heaps of research and decided I want to grow some proteas on the farm. (check http://www.protea.com.au/) This will be a hobby for starters, but will hopefully grow beyond that.

Sis has taken a big interest in the Proteas, and she's thrown some money in already. Dad, Juanita and I both finished fencing off the area which will contain our first Protea trial. It's about half an acre, and I've already bought a few plants to chuck in as tests until I go ahead and make a full order for the rest of the plants.

ADAM: My big-little bro has again proved the extent of his talent by taking out Grand Prize in two major animation competitions in the United States. He flew to San Fransisco the other day and spent a week there being famous. There are a lot of things happening for big bro at the moment and soon he'll probably want to buy my Protea farm with his pocket money.

CAMERA CAPER: While playing at the table, Clayton dropped my camera on the floor and dislodged the lense from it's internal tracks (i.e. he broke it). A half hour or so later I was reading my book "Bringing Up Boys" by Dr James Dobson, and lo and behold a paragraph read something like this:

Boys will frustrate their dads. They will leave their best tools out in the weather, they will leave tools piled up on the work bench. They will lose their binoculars and they will drop their cameras.

What insight this man has...!

Well today I bought myself a little kit of minature screwdrivers and I pulled that Nikon digital camera to bits, taking careful note of which screw went where (there were tons of them!). Eventually I fixed the lense and I got the camera back togehter - only one screw was missing!

The camera works, which is direct testament to how excellent I am! Perhaps I will start putting more pics on my blog, if only blogger.com devises a more convenient way to do it.

KNEE-DING A REST: I went to the doc cos of my aching knee and the news was un-welcome. I have to take three months off any kind of sport and attend physiotherapy sessions to get it fixed. There was a long name for my problem, but basically it's the cartilage which is stuffed, plus I have tenonitis on the tendon that holds the patella on the knee joint.

LASTLY, I just want to mention that I've moved offices. Brad and I now sit in what used to be the Table Tennis Parlour. It's full of fond memories, and it's sad to see that a once thriving sport in Dubbo (*ahem*) has died to but a distant murmur. Perhaps we'll resurrect the game when we find somewhere more convenient to play it.

Well that's it for now. I have a new tool for updating my blog called "hohoBlog", so hopefully I will find a moment more regularly to update this thing.

Thanks for reading... whoever you are.

Busy as...

Bees have nothing on me!
I've been so busy - we all have! Amidst the turmoil of a household that is turned upside down by renovations, Janene and I have been very busy planning for the Easter Awakening Festival, the Regional Rally, Sunday School, the Nursing home visit and other Easter activities.

I'm not complaining... just fishing for sympathy. Anyone?

Dubbo, AWAKEN!
The Easter Awakening was this Saturday - a combined churches event in the park where tons of activities and entertainment is put on by volunteers for the sake of the unchurched kids of Dubbo. The idea is brilliant and each year the event seems to grow a little. This year Janene was the leader of the craft and she exhausted herself to make sure everything worked out fine.

It paid off! She ran an excellent "tent" and they had over a hundred kids through, making all kids of craft items with strong Easter messages. They made pin-wheels, concentration cards with bible verses and pics, memory cards, wooden crosses, jewellery and lotsa other stuff.

A lot of churches were involved, and a lot of time and prayer went into the event. Now there needs to be a lot of prayer for the seeds that were sown.

RF & CC are away...
Finally we've produced another Rural Flyer and Country Catalogue and sent them off to the printer. So for the next week or so it'll be a little easier going. But there are plans to start selling and designing a "Business Flyer" in the same vein as the Rural Flyer, but aimed at the small business market.

I trust Bob's judgement that this is a potential gold product.

About Bob...
Speaking of Bob, just by spending half an hour with him at a Agrigrain, and a few weeks later with the management of Martel Accounting, I have developed a strong respect for his marketing talent. He really knows his stuff.

The Kids...
Eli is doing a little better at school, though he still manages to get sent to the door at least once a day. He really has ants in his pants! Well.. not REALLY really, but fairly really. You know?

Just about everything he does is a game or a drama. He acts things out wherever he is and whatever he's doing. He is so dramatic in his expression and dialogue that I'm sure he's going to have to be an actor or somebody famous... otherwise WHAT are we going through this for?

Clayton is just too cute. He has the ability to make anyone and everyone smile with his cuteness. Now he's saying a lot more words and getting into a lot more mischief. He copies his older brother too much, and even now is starting the acting game.

He can fake a good cry, and this morning I watched him enact a scene between his spoon and a piece of nutrigrain (breakfast cereal). So inanimate objects come to life in his world too now.

Music...
There is a lot happening with the music, but with the lifestyle we've had over the past couple of weeks, it's been impossible to find quality practice time. I'd practice 10 hours every day if I had no responsibilities. I just love playing music... I wish it was my career!

I've found a very cool Yahoo Group run by a fellow who has introduced himself to me and made every effort to help me with my band. He's been extremely generous and genuinely interested... something I really need right now, and something I've not had before.

The group: http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/bandmusic/

Any other salvationists involved in music should join that list... c'mon!

Sis is home!
Juanita, Andrew, Caleb and Mitchell arrived on a flight from Perth via Sydney today. They're home to stay and they've signed a lease for a home in Narromine. I'm hoping Andrew will have a desire to hang with his uncle (me) a bit and get involved in some things like Indoor Cricket and hopefully music.

Their dog Elly and cat Tippy were supposed to be on the same flight with them, but as often happens, they ended up as lost luggage in Sydney. After a few phonecalls the staff located them and they came on the next flight to Dubbo, which was about 3 hours later.

That's enough catching up for now, I'll try and keep this blog more up to date with interesting info!

Head achers and Acres

Eli's fairyland...
All my high expectations have amounted to naught so far. I thought my son is probably going to be too smart for Kindergarten and everybody will think he's amazing and wonder "Wow, who are the parents of this genius?".

Back to reality!

Eli has been causing trouble at school, true to the male Phillips tradition. It started with being sent to the door five times on day two of kindergarten, and has progressed from there until he's been sent to the office and been excluded from his first on-stage performance with the rest of the class at assembly.

Janene met with Miss Parker to discuss what measures are needed to steer Eli towards a mature outlook on his schooling. Looks like it's gonna be a hard road... but we love him anyway.

If Eli doesn't make us famous with his bizarre imagination and acting ability, then I'll be very disappointed. Somehow I think we have another Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Mr Bean or Adam Sandler in the making.

We can't talk straight to Eli without him pretending he's somebody else... "Now Eli I want to talk to you seriously now..."
"I'm not Eli, call me Sonic."

*sigh*

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Large chunk of Australia up for grabs...
I saw this ad in the local paper, and I've decided this is the chance of a lifetime. I've been frantically sorting out in my head whether we can possibly afford to consider buying this chunk of Aussie bush. One thing is for sure, if we buy this property, it's gonna take a lot more generous PayPal donations before we'll be living comfortably again. Heck, ONE donation would be encouraging! *hint hint*

I've rung the agent about this property and next Tuesday we're going to have a look to find out more. I've also been talking to our financial adviser, Peter Smith about how realistic it would be to get finance.

I need try and remain focused on renovations for now though. As much as it'd be nice living in isolation (50km from Dubbo), we have other matters to attend, and lots of other bills.

No change...

Life goes on...
Lots has happened, but as far as the state of the house goes, and life in general, it's still as hectic as ever.

We have discovered that the extent of termite damage to our house goes beyond the section of wall that we first thought. Now we risk a budget blowout fixing the entire eastern wall (and maybe more?). We won't know the true amount of damage until we rip off all the weatherboard and see the wooden studs underneath, but already the builder has had to replace one section of the plate (the timber that all the wall studs stand on) underneath the kitchen window.

NOO LAUNDRY...
At least we can be the proud owners of a new laundry. Well the walls aren't yet finished and painted, but we have all our walls, taps, powerpoints and a new laundry tub (with a funky ROUND bowl). Perhaps the highlight of the new room is the new doorway that leads out to the eastern side of the house. Now our little home as 3 entries! That gives our burglars more options and will perhaps confuse the dumb ones.

Music class...
There is great progress in our Leaner Band. We have a new member, Craig Radburn. He has been to class for 3 weeks now and is already showing some early progress on the cornet.

In last Friday's lesson we learnt how to play Oh When the Saints, and believe it or not it ROCKED! It almost sounds like a band that's been practicing together for a long while - NOT just a learner band.

Don is coming along really quickly. He has a natural ear for music, which I detected when he first started coming along. This is exactly the kind of thing I think is going to be beneficial to Don.

Linda and Ros are going good too, but both struggle with their own problems. Ros has trouble playing up high, and Linda is finding the lower notes hard to hit. But overall they're going great guns!

Bathurst and Back...
Today we took a half-day trip to Bathurst to get Eli's gromets checked. It was his one month checkup. All is fine and the checkup too about 1 minute, then we had to drive all the way back again (total of about 5 hours driving for that 1 minute checkup).

GET OUT OF TOWN!
There are any number of good reasons that we would pack up and get out of this place - at least temporarily! So we decided we would. We went out to Mum and Dad's farm yesterday and cleaned out their flat, ready for us to crash there for a couple of weeks. We'll feel like pioneer settlers for a few days, but I think the experience will be enlightening.

We had a horrible night on Saturday night with our IDIOT neighbour and his music playing from about 1:30am til 5am. Then we were less than excited when we saw one of his mates moving his furniture and boxes INTO the house. This was that proverbial straw on the camel's back...

Salvos kick Canals...
In our semi-final clash, we downed the same team that beat us just two weeks ago. It was a sweet victory, but I kinda knew we could do it. We'd defeated these guys in all our other encouters, but it just didn't happen two weeks ago.

So we knew we had to smarten up to win, but were sure it could be done... and we did!

It seemed a little shakey from time to time, but in the end we came home strong and have booked ourselves a Final clash with Sleep City. These guys have managed to beat us every time we've played or I think we've beat them maybe once in the past. In any case, we'll have to be pretty sharp on the night to roll these guys. Most of them play outdoor cricket in the higher grades (A and B), so they're pretty snazzy in the field. We CAN DO IT though...

The game is Tuesday 6:30, and I'll feature a summary report for the benefit of those who bother to read this.

Ik ga nu naar bed! Tot ziens dan...
Time for bed now, I'll catch up later on anything else of importance that I've neglected to mention. Goedenacht!

Woh, that's quite a gap!

So it's been AGES! (well, in blogging terms)

With the house in pieces and our lives under constant demand, I've had very little time to write in this thing.

BUT let me recap some important events over the past week or so:

Nene's holiday
Janene went to Collaroy on Friday for the Women's Bible Convention. The ladies all went in one car. They listened to Chick Yuill's message (6 cds!!) from the Men's Bible Convention last year (which rocked!).

Work
Rural Flyer is back from the printers. It looks GREAT and I'm very happy indeed.

Country Catalogue, March edition is finally out as of today. The lead up to this was mildly hectic and I ended up working until late/early in the morning on Friday and Saturday nights.

Building
Our home renovation project is well underway... the builder, John Parker, had another job postponed, so he has been able to spare an extra week here. John is a nice guy, but probably a bit lonely. His kids are all grown and left home, and he's not with his wife anymore ("estranged" as he described her).

We invited John for dinner one night, and I think he appreciated that. I probably saved him one more lonely night eating a TV dinner.

The kitchen is kinda finished... the worst wall is replaced. We now also have a door exiting the laundry to outside. We have to have a small landing and stairs built there so we don't fall out on our faces.

There are a heap of wasp nests under the eaves of the roof which are proving difficult to get rid of. I've sprayed em a few times and made a dash for it while they got angry and looked for someone to sting.

Kids
Eli has been enjoying school. He still manages to smuggle a toy car in his pocket or somewhere. We've tried to stop him, but now he's convinced us he only wants to take one to play with under the "Peppers" (it's an area where the kindergarten and year 1 kids play - probably under some peppercorn trees).

Clayton is also enjoying his time at daycare. His current habit is putting rocks in his mouth. If you see him with a bulgey mouth, you know he's sucking on a stone.

I can't say much else interesting has happened. Life is really hectic while we're living in half a house - one half in pieces, the other covered in dust.

Intresting stuff will be posted as it happens!

Croup again

Eli woke up with croup
Eli has had croup for a couple of days running now, and this morning he had it back. So I stayed home with Eli and Clayton while Janene went to church. We stayed home and lazed around, watched some Veggie Tales, Fantasia and I played some music on clarinet and cornet.

I sat outside in the warm morning sun and chose a heap of songs ready to try out for the upcoming trip to the Dubbo Nursing Home at Easter. I hope we can have a brass ensemble ready for that.

After church, Janene went to a craft thing of some sort with Linda O'Brien, so Eli and I watched Big Fish. Turns out he has already seen it, so he let me know stuff before it happened... THANKS ELI!.

When Janene came home later in the afternoon we had yummy honey-soy chicken bits with salad wrapped in lebanese bread for dinner. Janene is a clever cook. Then we all went out into the garden and went crazy. I fixed the gate, trimmed back the wisteria to a single, long twisted, branch and Janene did some weeding and cleaning up in the front gardens and trimmed the jasmine.

Clayton and Eli played in the sand, and generally got in the way.

Another good day with good progress! It was the first day in years where I had messy bed-hair the whole day long. It's nice to be able to do that every now and then.

Back to work tomorrow, and the building starts.

Hidden treasure

Saturday morning, let's do some damage!
Before we could start tearing into the walls, we needed a sleep in. So we did that and were up n at 'em by 9:30. We went and borrowed some tools and a trolley thing for moving heavy items from Capt Chris Radburn.

We moved everything out of the way and started hacking the lining off our wall on the kitchen and laundry side. There was a bit of damage in there from previous termite damage, but nothing as terrible as we imagined.

Turns out that the top half of the walls are made of asbestos fibre cement sheeting, so we avoided ripping into that. We just removed the bottom half which is primarily oregon timber. I also removed all the tiles from the laundry wall, and took out the laundry tub.

While I was hoping to find a rare penny or gold watch, I did find 10 cents. So... I guess that can go straight back off the loan :D

After we finished removing all this stuff, we decided to keep going and remove the lino from the kitchen floor, which was laid on top of masonite sheeting, which was on top of the original floor boards. The floorboards underneath were not looking that great. They're probably not worth the effort trying to restore, since there are some weak areas and also a few splits and missing chunks.

Evidently there was some old newspaper on top of the floorboards at some stage. Although it was gone now, you could still see a ghosted stencil of the pages on the floorboard. One page I could make out had a Christmas feature headed "Gay ways to wrap your gifts". I found the corner of an old newspaper which was from the early 60's, so the above headline is just another example of how certain "things" have perverted our society and taken ownership over some old words. Dare I say any more, even in my own journal?

We did a lot today, then went to Narromine to pick up the boys and stayed the evening. We had chinese for dinner (again!) and watched some investigation shows about murders on mum and dad's pay tv. Sad and scarey stories!

It was a long, but FRUITFUL day! Can't wait til things get rolling on Monday.

* *

Home alone

This evening Eli and Clayton were palmed off to Grandma and Pa. They left before Janene came to pick me up at work.

After leaving work, we went to music group, which was our first group lesson in the new year. It was attended by myself, Janene, Linda and Don. For a first week back after a long holiday, I say we played surprisingly well!

Following the group lesson, I stayed back as usual for my private lesson. It's amazing what the most minute adjustments to my embouchure can make to the quality of the sound made with my cornet! Chris Harrison (my teacher) is remarkable the way he can hear my sound and tell me exactly what I need to do to make it much cleaner.

---

So Janene and I were alone for the evening and planned to get stuck into the demolition task at hand as soon as we could. But before we could do that, we had to savour the moment of temporary childlessness. We hired 2 videos - Around the World in 80 Days (Jackie Chan) and Big Fish.

We went and bought some chinese food from Jimmy's Kitchen, cos he rocks. We went home and pigged out while watching the Jackie movie. I was surprised to find it was a cool movie, and very funny. I kinda expected the worst and got something pretty close to the best.

Apart from that time with Janene, that's about as romantic as we could get, considering how tired we were. So we went to sleep ready for a big day tomorrow.

*

Less walls, more money

Tear down the walls!
Janene got a call the other day from John Parker (the builder), who informed us he has a spare week next week. He will attempt to make as much progress as possible on the kitchen walls so that they are prepared, ready to go for the new kitchen.

To save money, John told us we can rip off all the wall panels in the kitchen and laundry so that he doesn't have to do it. There is asbestos in the wall, so we'll do as much as we're comfortable with.

Salary sweetner...
After sending an email to Tim the other day expressing my frustration with my salary, and the fact that it hasn't been reviewed since I start work for Panscott 20'ish months ago, he replied by calling me to a meeting today.

In our private meeting, Tim was apologetic for being forgetful about reviewing my pay, and subsequently bumped my pay up to $40k, which is going to ease the burden of our current financial situation.

Somehow, I spent the rest of the day on a bit of a high, and already feel a renewal of my original love for my job! Yippeeee :-) It's not the extra money, but the recognition of my worth that makes me feel good about things again.

What a nice day

Plenty achieved...
It was the kinda day you can look back and and be satisfied it wasn't wasted. Thanks to the kids, we were awake around 7am (earlier for Janene, who went back to bed after I took over).

Mum and Dad came into town and Tim Newby came over and we helped dad go and load a huge bird avairy onto the back of Dad's ute. It was heavy, and apparently it took 5 people to move it last time. Well, us three strapping lads moved it about 20 meters and up and onto the ute without needing further assistance. We did it all in our stride without pulling a single muscle :-)

After that, we had lunch while Mum, Janene and Clayton went out and bought stuff down the street. They came back and Clayton fell asleep on his feet and nearly fell over and donked his head... but I caught him.

So I put Clayton to bed and the girls went out again. Dad and I checked the boxing on my cementing project, then I cleaned the gutters on the roof while Tim and Eli played cricket.

After our lunches and after mum and dad went home, we all jumped in the car and went out to Tim's house (out of town) and enjoyed a cuppa. We checked out their self-built extension on the house. They've done a very good job and only needed one professional tradesman in the whole process (the wall plasterer).

That trip encouraged me to have a go of things a bit more, even if it's not a spic job, it'll be good experience.

So I got home and I finished the cementing of my garden edges, and I used the leftover cement to patch up some gaps in Eli and Clayton's cubbyhouse-to-be.

They played in the sand for a while longer and Janene cooked a lovely dinner, then we all sat together and enjoyed it :-)

The day wasn't complete without a practice on my cornet! And somehow, I even managed to fit that in... a good day all in all.

Eli's ear-opening experience

Early morning voyage...
We had to get up at 4:30am this morning in order to get Eli to Bathurst for his ear operation. We jumped in the car and got the heater going. Eli and Clayton snuggled up under Eli's Thomas the Tank Engine doonah and we hit the road just before 5am after a little prayer together.

Eli was totally unphased by the prospect of having an operation. Then again, he's never had one, so he wouldn't know what to expect. We weren't about to tell him it involved a big needle either.

It was a long drive when you're feeling like you should be in bed, so it was a relief to get there in one piece and on time.

Eli was weighed etc and taken into the waiting ward thing by a lovely lady with a strong Irish or Scottish accent... There he laid down on a bed to wait his turn. The proceedure only takes about 10 mins, so they churn em out pretty quick.

There was a little girl in the bed next to Eli, and she went in before him.

They allow one person in when they child goes under the anaesthetic, so Janene went in, and they both had to wear the ridiculous hats and gowns (pic to come!).

While the op happened, Clayton and I went and sat in the back of the station wagon eating chips and having a rest. Then later we went for a drive and got some bacon & egg McMuffins from McDonalds.

Eli went under anaesthetic at 9:30 and was done and fully recovered/awake by 10:10am, so we were allowed to leave soon after that.

Janene said that Eli mumbled some funny things while recovering from the anaesthetic in the recovery room. One that she remembers was that while he was sitting in the chair the nurse came to clean the bed that he came out on. She whipped the sheets off, wiped over the matress and flipped it over... and Eli (still sitting rather still, and mumbling as though in deep thought) said "If I was still on that bed, I'd be dead now".

tehehehe

Well after eating some lunch (again at McDonalds), we headed home. As if the trip there wasn't tough enough, now we really struggled! I was so tired even before leaving, and Janene was the same. I got as far as Lucknow (which is even before Orange) and had to pull over for a break and buy something to eat. I let Janene drive from there, but she only lasted until Molong (on the other side of Orange).

We spent 20 mins or so there, just resting and then walking around a bit. I took over driving again and was fine from there til Dubbo.

In Molong we saw a used car lot, and on the side they had some buses, so we stopped to have a look and asked the man there for some prices. We wrote them down and will pass them onto Capt. Chris Radburn. We still hope that at some point our church can afford a bus that I can drive around picking up the kids and adults for sunday school and church. Keep praying!

And was it worth it?
Eli's hearing seems to have improved already. He's still a rowdy kid and plays loudly when he gets excited, but now we don't have to yell at him to get heard.

We've done a few tests where he turns around and we whisper obscure sentences like "you have a banana sandwich on your butt" and he's been remarkable in relaying what he heard.

So yes, I think it was worth it.

Oh whatta night

FIRSTLY & MOST IMPORTANTLY!
8 Years! Janene and I have been married that long! Sucked in to the divorce statistics :D I'm proud to be in one of the very few surviving marriages... and I think back to my critics who told me I was too young to get engaged those many years ago (nearly 10 years ago).

Janene and I have been together since 11-11-1993 (i.e. 11 long years!)

My midnight dash...
At around 12:30pm, while lightning flashed crazily around our skies and thunder followed in roaring support, I was awoken by the sounds of hail on our tin roof.

Now we love our car so much that we fill our shed with useless junk and leave the car in the driveway. So I sprang out of bed, Janene too, and she hands me one of the spare doonas and I rush outside in the pouring rain and still-light hail to cover the car. The theory was that the hail wouldn't damage the car so bad if we had something big and soft on it.

So I finally get the doona spread out evenly on the car, and it's already soaked through, just like me. Then I realise the hail has ceased, and looking at the ground I see maybe a dozen pea-sized hail stones. WOW! So I laugh to myself and go back inside, change my clothes and go back to bed.

It was a really crazy lightning show though! Lots of very bright lightning in a constant fashion, with the odd bolt striking somewhere nearby.

Bradsta's in a (toe) jam...
Brad stayed home today. Mostly because of his toe, but I bet if we were still doing DCN he'd have soldiered into work to complete the task at hand. However, the workload we have at this stage doesn't call for much in the way of heroics. Though we're starting to see a few ads come in now.

Eli a typical Phillips...
Need to snap him out of it fast, but Eli is already getting sent to stand against the wall and out the door, according to his teacher. I think it might be a case of over-excitement, and I'm sure a lot of other kids are finding it the same. We'll keep an eye on this and make sure he settles in soon.

Superman stays over...
Tonight Eli was Superman. He was wearing his red cape and consistently refered to us by name (Janene and Brett). He told us that he was in Dubbo to save people, and that he lives in Africa. He asked could he sleep over at our place because Africa was a long way away.

We let him stay.

Meanwhile, it's a cold night following last night's storms. We're rugged up in winter pyjamas and will sleep under the blankets tonight. This tonight, where the last few nights we've been so hot that the fans have been going and we're sleeping on top of our doona with minimal clothing. Strange weather. I love it!

Thunder threatens blog entry!

Lightning fast typing...
As I type, there are white flashes pouring through the gaps in my office curtains. These are the thunderstorms that the local news reporter warned about. We haven't had much more than a few specks of rain though at this stage.

The day itself...
Today started with a rush to get ready and get both Clayton and Eli to their respective destinations, and then Janene and I getting ourselves to work.

As we were getting into the car, I noticed Eli's shirt wasn't tucked in. I said "Eli, you have to tuck your shirt in for school you know!?", to which he replied "No! The girls don't!!" Smiling, I informed him that "The girls wear dresses mate, not shirts."

Then at work we had a fairly quiet sort of day, though we did get the chance to do a few ads. We're finally talking about uniforms too. Let's hope we all have fair input so that everybody's opinion is heard, and ultimately they all agree with ME! I'm thinking a light orange/brown (or "camel") shirt with v.dark green pants.

THE PLATE SELLS!
The auction for the commemorative plate closed today, and I was extremely nervous leading up to the close, as there was still only the one opening bid of $175. I thought that was all I'd get. Even 5 mins before close I hit refresh and still nothing more.

So I had left it at that, and went and played some more Cricket 2004. When I came back, it turns out some very keen antiques dealer snipered the lone bidder with a big maximum bid that out-did the other guy. So the winning bid and final selling price was $256! YIPPEEE.

COME ON DOWN! Time to sign off, and as I do so the rain has finally started to fall, and it smells BEAUTIFUL! Thanks Lord, I love the simple things you do :D

1 Day down, 13 years to go!

Eli starts his training for life...
Well kinda; he started school today! Unlike the images you see on the TV news with kids sobbing as their parents leave them at the gate on their first day, Eli was very enthusiastic and ran ahead of us as we walked into the school yard.

He's very proud of his uniform; particularly of his shiney black shoes, which tend to make a mighty clangor on the floorboards in our house in the morning.

The whole process of starting class was over in a matter of minutes. He got a badge, put his bag down and was escorted into the classroom by a senior school member.

Of course, I took plenty of photos, and here's my favourite one below:


C'mon Dad... can we just go?

After school, I rang him up at home to ask how it was. He was in a very animated mood, and very expressive in everything he told me... and when I asked if Miss Parker was nice, he answered "Yes! She's lovelier than a rose!"

Ready for tomorrow? You bet!

It's craft Saturday!

$101...
This morning I took our gear to the Foggon's garage sale, set it up, then went home to get Janene. We were there from about 8:30 til 10am and by that time we'd sold the change table and car seat. Then Janene had to goto her Craft Group (where they made some very nifty coffee coasters out of old CDs).

The boys and I hung around at home playing the computer, watching TV and just staying indoors away from the heat. Clayton was so tired he fell asleep in his chair while eating his lunch :-) I tried to have a nap, but all I could hear was Eli's exclamations of excitement as he played his Hot Wheels racing car game.

We went back to the garage sale after Craft Group, which finally ended at about 4pm, and it looked like the Foggons had sold a lot of stuff. They made about $900 all up, and we made $101. The only thing we didn't sell was the cot and the little bag of baby Tupperware stuff. We'll try to sell those using the Country Catalogue classifieds next issue.

Ebay biddings...
I got tired of not being able to play games that support only nVidia type graphics cards, so I bought a card on ebay for $39. Good bargain actually! 64mb geforce card... good enough for Cricket 2004 :-)

I also found a very cool auction trader on ebay called "AuctionBrokersAustralia". They have thousands of products listed and sell for ridiculously low prices. Don't ask me how... I might not want to know. Anyway, I bid on a remote control car in hope that I can win it for Eli's birthday-even though it's almost a year away... haha. My highest bid is $4.50, but even better if I can get it for less. :-) Maybe I'll just give it to him as a gift for being a good boy.

Well I'm off to bed. Nene is still sitting up and making more coffee coasters. I'm too tired to hang around here in this heat! Goodnight.

Wonky Friday

Sleeplessnessness...
After another night of very little sleep, I went to work feeling fairly horrible. My legs, back and head were throbbing and panadol seemed to do very little. It felt like I was gonna black out.

Actually, later I realised that the blackout feeling was similar to when I am going to slip into a cataleptic state, which is scarey. Imagine doing that while you're standing! I don't know if I'd freeze on the spot like a statue in the White Witch's courtyard, or if I'd crash to the ground in an awkward blob.

Pizza Party...
Janene's sister Teena and kids (Ben and Melanie) came over tonight to eat pizza with us and watch a movie. Jeff was in Nyngan driving somebody's horse in the harness racing, which he managed a photo-finish 2nd place.

We watched Treasure Planet.

Off to bed...
I'm nervous about going to bed. Even though in the past I've gone into and always managed to come out of a cataleptic state, it's a scarey feeling. It's like being dumped over a bridge into the river bound and gagged, and even though you're know somebody's coming to untie you in time, you struggle desperately anyway. (Wait a minute, that's never happened to me...)

I know that this catalepsy thing can usually only happen to me when I'm lying on my back, so I'll be sleeping on my belly or side tonight! I feel vulnerable.

Catalogue letdown

First Country Catalogue since DCN demise...
Our efforts put towards the new Country Catalogue were visible in the flesh today, with the pallets of catalogues arriving on the truck. We opted to try out a new printer - The Northern Star in Lismore. Tim's decision was again a money decision, which I accept and understand.

However, they quality was very disappointing for me. There was a LOT of colour casts, colour overload, set-off and more. Then there was the mis-registration. It probably wasn't quite as bad as the Mailbox Shopper usually is, but it's sad that we've headed a step closer towards it.

Tim defended the printers, saying that in the end it's a free paper we're producing and the saving we're making on printing is enough to forgive the printers for a less-than-impressive job.

I'm afraid I can't agree on that... It might be a free paper to the readers, but it's certainly not free to our valuable advertisers. I don't think we can afford to tempt them into having to make a choice between us and the Shopper - the comparison SHOULD be chalk and cheese like it has been in the past.

Tight ship...
With the loss of DCN and a lot of staff, and the very lax atmosphere in the building, I've been mindful that we're getting a little slack - perhaps complacent or even lazy. I've decided to try and keep the design department honest in what we do each day, and professional in how we do it.

For this reason I emailed to Brad some rules about things we both need to be mindful of, and things we're to avoid. That included excessive use of chat programs like MSN (which we both use) and IRC (which Brad uses).

I also stressed the need to be punctual, regardless of the workload, and to keep a professional appearance in dress standards. (Now I'm tucking in my shirt!)

Unfortunately, Brad reacted defensively and even recklessly (declaring he didn't care about some of the things I mentioned). I was disappointed, as it wasn't the mature response that I'd expected, since over the last few months he'd appeared to be maturing quickly.

In any case, I assured him it wasn't a personal attack, but a call for us both to smarten up for the benefit of the company. Let's hope he can start to see it that way.

Going to watch Marat Safin v Rodger Federer now. Not sure who I'm going for!

Claytie shrinks

Clayton looked a whole lot smaller tonight! We had planned to give him his new big bed for his 2nd birthday in April, but when we heard the Foggon's were having a garage sale, we took the opportunity to bags our spot on their lawn. So we're selling his cot, change table, pram, car seat etc.

Tonight he went to bed in his new BIG bed, and he looks so tiny - but so cute :D

He was very excited about it all, and once I'd finished putting it together, he spent the first 20 minutes bouncing on it like a trampoline.

Sis heads home

It's Australia Day!

Gone, for now...
My sis and the boys headed home on the bus this morning. They will travel to Sydney where they'll catch a plane to Perth. The plan is that they try and sell their house over the next month or so and move back home to Dubbo or Narromine.

Personally, I think it'll take a lot longer than they're anticipating to get themselves organised (if it happens at all!).

Juanita and boys stopped by here this morning to say goodbye, which was great cos it saved me getting showered and dressed to go see them off at 9am! Poor little Mitch suddenly hurled up his breakfast on the floor when he was here. He showed no signs of sickness before that, so I hope their trip to Sydney isn't marred by regular vomiting (urk!).

BBQ in the park...
We met with the Foggons (minus Lindsay) in the park on the other side of the river at 4pm. It was an excellent afternoon just eating food, kicking a soft pseudo-soccerball, and then followed by a very long walk along the Tracker Riley walking track all the way to Hungry Jacks to get some icecream!

Much to my amazement, Clayton walked around 50% of the way there and back! He also ate a lot of icecream. He's such a tough little nipper.

Salvos' Ebay haul...
Matt has been auctioning some Warhammer models/figures that were donated to the Family Store. Much to all our amazement, they're selling at prices you wouldn't believe! The first lot to close went for an attractive $167.50, and another case is already at $222.50 with 4 days remaining :O What the...?

These items would have otherwise been bundled together and sold for around $4. The good news is that it will be used to help pay the learner band's tuition fees at the local Conservatorium. Woohoo!

Meanwhile, the commemorative plate still has no bids, but it's being "watched" by 7 (hopefully-keen) bidders!

Pheeling like a Pharaoh

Where's my mummy?
Not a lot to write about today except that I have been playing a demo of a new game "Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile". Unfortunately it's quite addictive and I found myself playing it for around 3 hours tonight!

I guess it's very Sims-ish, but a lot different too. You have the task of raising an egyptian civilisation up from the humble nomads from the banks of the Nile. You're a pharaoh and have the say in who does what in the uprising of your civilisation.

Check it out: http://www.immortalcities.com/cotn/

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Also...
Tomorrow is a public holiday - AUSTRALIA DAY! Happy birthday Australian civilisation!
Quite fitting then that I'm auctioning this commemorative plate on Ebay!

Time for bed, goodnight!

Staring at the monitor

Why am I here?
I'm sitting in front of my PC tonight and thinking "Hmmm... what should I do... Maybe check my email? No, I did that 9 seconds ago. Perhaps check to see if I got another 5 cents from Google Ads since my last check 12 minutes ago. Or maybe somebody bid on my plate on Ebay in the last hour?"

Life's a bit like that at the moment. I'm finding less and less reason and desire to use the Internet. I get enough of computers at work, and by the time I get home and do other stuff, there's little reason to use this PC, except maybe to blog.

Even television has lost my attention. It's a pity it's so hot outside, or I'd do something useful with myself.

Otherwise, a few things did happen today worth mentioning.

Kath's outta here...
Panscott's receptionist/photographer Kath Bruce has decided to make the move to Newcastle with her boyfriend, who starts uni this year. She's leaving Panscott Media and has a couple of interviews at The Herald (big NC newspaper). Good luck to her...

In light of Panscott's new coasty workload, there's no immediate plans to replace Kath. Though we'll soon see how long we can cope with that decision.

Gimme money!
We're going through the daunting process of refinancing our mortgage and getting a few (or should I say HEAPS OF) extra dollars to pay for some extensive renovations. We have a pile of contracts to read, sign and post back in a short amount of time.

I'm thinking there's about the equivalent of one Indonesian rainforest tree in that pile of paper. Poor monkeys!

Salvos' wrestle with pizza...
We had an early game this week. Tonight at 6:30pm against Eagle Boys Pizza. Unluckily for us there were only two of us there on time, the other guys arrived around 6:45, which made the opposition a little mad, since it meant we had to bat first regardless of them winning the toss and electing to bat.

But they got their revenge in the end, taking one skin and the game (3 points). It's called a "Win" for them, even though we won the other three skins, which also gives us a total of 3 points. So in points, it was a draw.

Eli came along to watch tonight and made a new friend (a kid of one of the opposition players). He behaved rather well and had a good time. I'm still really looking forward to the day we can play in the same team :-)

And sadly, it was my cousin Joe Daly's last game for the Salvos. I gave him some Todd Agnew music to take with him, in the hope it'll keep him in touch with things of the Faith.

Relaxing Sunday

Sunday is Music day...
Today was quite a scorcher, so it was nice to spend it indoors mostly. I daresay it was 40 deg or higher, with a high percentage of humidity. That, coupled with my amazing meteorological instincts, was enough to help me predict some afternoon storms. We got em! Lovely... You gotta love a good thunderstorm after a long hot day, especially if it lasts a while and cools down the breeze.

I spent the afternoon (after church) playing my cornet. Once my lips got all blown out, I set up my Yamaha piano keyboard through my computer midi, and loaded up Voyetra Teach Me Piano Deluxe. This piece of software rocks, I highly recommend it when learning to play the piano.

So I did the first four chapters of lesson 2 in the beginner section (it took about 2 hours). I love how at the end of a section you practice a song, then you get to play along with the band (even though they're just a bunch of midi instruments accompanying you).

After all that, I can play the melody to a few tunes on my right hand, keeping in the scale of C. Nothing brilliant, but each lesson involves a lot of reinforcement, so you're sure to remember what you just learnt, providing you don't leave it a month til your next practice.

I hope I can find some extra time to do it regularly, same with my cornet practice. My lips have been a bit unfit of late, following this christmas break. I need to strenghten my embochure again.

Music class goes back on February 4, 2005.

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NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION reminder...
While I'm on the subject, I should formalise my NY Resolutions, since I haven't written them down elsewhere.

PERSONAL:

• Continue my serious approach to cornet, practicing at least twice weekly. My goal is to hit high A (off the staff) with ease by the end of the year. Probably an easy goal, but I do wanna keep it realistic.

SPIRITUAL:

• Start a home group to encourage my young friends to test the Bible for accuracy and truth, and ultimately prove to themselves that this IS the WORD of God. People I'll be encouraging to attend are Bruce and Sarah Furness, Brad and Amy Foggon, Matt and Kacey, Craig and Sarah Radburn... probably others, but I don't wanna overcrowd it either. Just want to keep it at a nice cosy group for informal discussion. There's a LOT of very exciting historical and archaelogical information that I think they's guys would enjoy hearing and seeing.



• Combat my own personal infirmities that are limiting my spiritual potential.



• Have a small band that is ready by December to do some Christmas tunes at the Nursing Home and in the church meeting.

HOME-LIFE:

• Finish the renovations to the extent that the house is ready to go on the market. Get the garden looking decent and finish the kids' cubby house up the back.

PHYSICAL:

• Stay fit, but keep an eye on this bad knee. If Indoor Cricket is causing too much pain, give it a rest and perhaps use the opportunity to get this Table Tennis club happening for real (not a priority though).

It seems weird that I haven't put anything in here about my family. Well I guess New Year's Resolutions are designed for identifying areas in life that need improvement. I'd be kidding myself to say I'm a perfect dad and husband, but I'm actually quite comfortable with the way things are going at home.

Also, the more I focus on the above things (specifically the spiritual and home-life ones), the more I feel they'll indirectly improve my relationship with my loved ones.

BUY ME!

I'm listing a collector's item plate on good old Ebay. It's a commemorative plate released in 1938 to celebrate the Sesqui-Centenary of Australian settlement (i.e. 150 years since white dudes settled).

It's got a brutal pic on the front of a colonial guy taking aim at some aboriginies in the distance, so it shows the typical mindset of the day.

Check it out: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3777692271

I think it'll fetch a good price, being Royal Doulton and all.

Australia celebrated it's bi-centenary back in 1988, I remember that one! 200 years of white settlement.

Sayin farewell

Cuzes leaving town...
We went to a BBQ party thing for Dave and Joe Daly tonight out at Aunty Di's house. Dave and Joe are both leaving Dubbo over the next few weeks, starting with Joe next week.

Tonight it was weird to see all my younger cousins looking so mature and grown up. It's even scarey! Brock, Sharelle, Michael, Ben, Joe... Then my nephews Andrew, Caleb and Mitchell also arrived at the party. They're growing so fast too - and to watch them playing with Eli and Clayton, it's just like watching life in fast forward. Better enjoy this NOW!

Dave will be going to Jerilderie to take up his new post in the Ambulance service. He's been an ambo now for around 12 months, and has finished his probationary training. Since he has a love for the town of Albury, he decided to try and get as close to there as he can. Jerilderie is about 150km from Albury.

I imagine it's going to be tough for him though, because he's leaving his girlfriend (who he plans to marry) behind. Tanya will stay in Dubbo and continue her studies in Early Childhood at CSU uni.

Joe (looking as grown up as ever) is moving to the Gold Coast, QLD where he's taking a job installing light fittings in motels, new apartments etc. Joe has always been the hardest worker of all the boys. Dave is a very hard worker too... and Mike is quite the opposite, though now that he's finally got a career (banking), he's maturing.

I wish the best for all of them. I hope they keep in contact and I can continue to have some positive influence on them as they grow into men.

Sis and mob...
Meanwhile, Juanita has decided that she wants to come and live back in Dubbo. She'll fly back to Perth to try and sell her house and hopes to be back in March to find work and rent a house.

Stan went looking for a job today and basically got work wherever he looked (truck machanic). He got offered work at Swane's Trucks, Dubbo Coaches and Nolan's Transport. He's a very confident bloke, which would come across well to an employer.

All the boys seem happy enough with the idea of coming back to Dubbo. I'm excited about the prospect of having more to do with my three nephews' lives. Young lives are SO important, like wet cement. Now's the time to leave a positive impression before they "set".

I thank God for this new opportunity to do this with these guys. And I thank God for that same opportunity with Dave, Mike and Joe.

Jumanji...
Eli started watching Jumanji at the party. Now at 11:09pm he is still awake and tells me "Dad, I never want to see that movie again! Ask Aunty Di to never show me it ever again." I think it was a little tooo scarey for my little 5 year old nipper. Poor fellah.

Also...
Lots of sirens tonight. It's a hot night too... but I'm just glad there's no party next door. I'd rather listen to trains and sirens than stupid 90s rock.

Resounding silence

Hello? Anybody?
Where's everyone gone? I'm awfully lonely here... it's so quiet!

I've had my journal online now for around a week, and it's quite bizarre how many people have read it. Even more bizarre is the fact that I don't know who you all are! Could you do me a favour and leave a COMMENT? I way interested in people, where they come from and what languages they speak! Tell me all about you please... even if I already know you!

My dream pet
If I could have my choice of aquatic pet, I would have a giant one of these:

With this quaint marine specimen, I would ride the ocean currents and keep the underwater world safe from evil anemonies and pirate ghosts. I'd probably link up with Aquaman too, cos together we'd be quite a team.

How about this guy? Who do you think he looks like?

I think it's the deep ocean's equivalent to Alfred Hitchcock.

Apparently these photos are of strange creatures washed up on the beaches of Thailand following the devastating Tsunami. Makes you wonder what else is down there huh? This is just a small selection, I'm sure.

The lunchtime plan...
Today after I post this CD to Chocolate Messages (an ex-client who spent about 3 years "getting the stuff to me so I can finish his site"), Bradsta and I are going to the newsagency to buy some magazines. We're gonna have a look for some good examples of national advertising standards. We wanna see what good city ad agencies are churing out of their design departments!

Holy shoes...
I mean, holey. I'm very much due for a new set of shoes. When walking to work in the morning, I have to avoid wet grass, cos I've worn the sole out of each shoe and my socks touch the ground. This morning on the way to work (a 20min walk) I came perilously close to stepping in a cradle of bloodthirsty catheads.

If you don't know what "catheads" are, or think you do, but don't really, let me explain. They're very nasty burrs that have 4 main spikes (like a ninja's "caltrop"), so that no matter how they sit, there's always one spike pointing upwards.

They're a common weed in New South Wales, and you don't want em; not even as pets. The green ones are even worse than the dead, dry ones... cos the juice in them is kinda like poison that causes it to sting too!

Slow and steady

At my desk...
It's a nice quiet Tuesday. Sure we've got enough ads to design, but it's an eerie feeling not being stressed and pushed to the limit like when we were doing the weekly newspaper (Dubbo City News). I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not a bludger - and trying to find other things to do in the moments when there's no work on my desk.

I found a real cool URL that has a lot of old documents, photos and (of particular interest to me) sheet music scanned in and archived! Check it out: http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/ It's all old american stuff, but there's a lotta very interesting information archived there.

Janene has volleyball tonight, so I'll be hangin around the house with the visitors and the kids.

Burn, baby, BURN!
I got my DVD burner yesterday. It's a lovely 16 speed Lite-On, and can write dual layers, so it stores up to 8.5 gigs of data! Schweeeeeet! Totally.

I'm very slowly saving all my digital videos onto the computer and creating DVDs. This is gonna be a way long process, cos I've got something like fifty 90 minute tapes.

Byootiful Rain!

What a start to Monday!
After a long hot weekend, there's no better way to wake up to work on Monday thank to the gentle chorus of raindrops on the tin roof. The freshness of the moist air helped me spring out of bed smiling even before the alarm had the opportunity to force me up.

So I got ready quickly and quiety (so as not to wake my happily sleeping family and visitors) and walked to work in the cool morning.

Brad was quite the opposite, managing to sleep too long - as did the rest of his family - and rock up to work nearly half an hour late! OOOOH WAH! *frown*

We're goin to the Zoo...
Janene and our visitors were planning a trip to the Western Plains Zoo today. It's a popular tourist attraction, but for the locals, even twice a year can be too often, as monkeys can only do so many funny things before they get boring.

My Nightmare...
Last night I had a terrible dream. For some weird reason or another, I had the task of hacking off my cat's head to put it at rest. Problem being was that I only had a steel ruler; not the ideal implement for quickly and cleanly removing heads.

After heaps of hacking and trying to get the cat to stand still, I finally got the head removed, albeit very messily. In the moments before dying, the cat caused me more guilt and sadness by licking my hand and being nice. I cried and stuff...

Another weird part of this dream was that to complete a successful execution, I had to crumble up a cigarette and sprinkle the dry tobacco on the cat's wound. Weird huh? Though makes a lotta sense when you consider the poisonous crap in cigarettes. (I hate cigarettes and smoking in general, okay?)

Well, I don't even have a cat at the moment. We had three, but they "mysteriously" disappeared about the time we had some idiotic neighbours move in up the road. They liked to use our street as a drag strip, so it's no wonder all three cats went AWOL at the same time.

We've decided we won't get another puddy-tat until we get outta town. That way no stoopid tomnoddy can satisfy his dislike for a particular creature at our loss and distress.

I can cope when somebody hates cats (there seem to be a lot of cat-haters in Australia... what about in other parts of the world? Comments please). But when people take it upon themselves to injure or kill another person's pet, it makes me rather mad.

I wouldn't spray someone's pet cockroach with fly spray, even if I think roaches are disgusting. Or would I? Hmmm... no I wouldn't.