This Saturday

I am going Paintballing again this weekend. I thought I'd post some photo's of Kev last time we went out for a game

Update

The weekend just gone, I had to work, but it turned out OK.
We still went riding on Saturday morning, at Gap Creek, where Kent managed to almost tear off his rear wheel. It turned out that only a few things need replacing but it was enough to force him to carry his bike back up the hill and and a bill of about $350.
After that I headed into work only to find out that the office was locked and there was something wrong with the security system so we couldn't get in the door. I went home and had a relaxing day with Gwen. We watched a couple of movies and just chilled out. That evening we went to Dave's for dinner. On the way home I got my first puncture...

The next day we set out early for work and headed up North. We got about 50K's south of Bundaberg did a bit of testing but unfortunately the key we had wouldn't open the locks we needed to get into so we headed home.

For the start of this week I am learning a new job as one of the guy's here is going on holidays and I'm taking over from him. I am planning a few day's in the country in early May with this job and some long day's, but it's good to be doing something different.

Daisy Hill

Here are a few photo's and video's from our day at Daisey Hill.
Sorry about the video quality, but you get the idea.

Upper Class

I just got an email from Neil, it seems that he has stepped it up a class since his last time in Scotland.
It's a great place and I hope he's having a great time.

Camping

One thing I wanted to do since I arrived back in Australia is go camping with the boys. I didn't get a chance to go before I went to Brisbane so I took the opportunity to go Easter camping when I came back for a visit.
We went to a place called Pindalup. It was a old stop in the Bibbulmun track that is no loger used. It has a toilet to keep the girls happy (although it is a long drop) and a fire ring that helps us to control those urges to burn everything in site.



We had to help one of our friends get in and one of the jobs we had to do was drag a log down the street. It didn't take long for Mustard and I to work out how we could make the ride a bit more enjoyable.


Where we camp there isn't much water, but having a friend in the water industry always helps


We do more than just drink when we go camping, we also have to hunt for wood then burn it....

Last night, our first night in town, we cooked dinner for the family.

Below is a picture of Mum's dog, he sort of takes after my own heart, he loves beer to.


This morning we are headed off camping. We are going to spend one night away looking for a camping spot that we went to about 6 years ago. We have a feeling that CALM might have closed the tracks that are used to get there, but we are going to do our best.

Saturday Morning Ride

We headed out early, well early for a Saturday morning. We meet at 8am, and in good form I was a bit late. The 4WD had to go in to get the brakes fixed so we had a Ute, it worked out quite well as we didn't have to pull apart the bikes to get them in.


Just one of the many trails we rode.


About half way we where stuffed.


Unfortunately, there was a puncture along the way and one of the guy's had to walk his bike back. It just so happened that it was the furthest from the car that we had been.

Well today I am back on the road, I quite enjoy being on the road on my own as I can do everything at my own pace and I don't have to wait for anyone or have anyone waiting on me. It also allows me to stop everynow and again and have a look at what's going on. About 10min ago I stopped and watched a hang glider take off, I even got some photos:









Incase anyone is woundering where I am, it is up at Mt Tamborine, in the hills behind the Gold Coast.

The Good German

Last night Gwen, Marcella, Dave, Mick, Ruth and I went to see The Good German. We managed to get free tickets from Marcella.
This movie wasn't a hit. I think it did have some good parts, but as a whole, the plot was thin and slow. It helped having a German there and I asked her at the end if all the people who where speaking in German had American accents. She mentioned that two of the characters sounded like they where from Germany, and even some of the language used wasn't correct.

I did enjoy how the movie was in black and white and how it was shot as a film made at that time would have been, the camera angles and the lighting. However that isn't enough to keep me interested. There is a few things to note though, The movie poster (seen above) is an homage to a poster for the classic film Casablanca, as is the closing scene at the airport.

Praise (no not the mayonase)

It isn't often you hear praise for a company, but here is some

In November of 2006 I purchased a Logitech Freedom Bluetooth Headset from Dick Smith's. Now I know I should of, but I didn't keep my receipt or the packaging that the product came in. All I kept was the headset and the charger.

Last week some time the headset failed. The battery wouldn't charge and I couldn’t turn it on.

On Friday afternoon I started looking for the receipt for the Bluetooth headset, hoping to find it, but knowing that I wouldn't. I think looked on my bank statements for the amount, location and the date that I purchased it. After a couple of calls to Dick Smith I had the receipt number, the sales person and the item ID. On Saturday morning I went into a store in QLD and they replaced it with out a problem. All this with out me keeping the receipt or the packaging.

They say that you can really tell how good a company is when something goes wrong…. If this is the case they are amazing.

On the Right Track

I went back out on the Mountain bike track this morning,

It was a great day, I only came off once and there where only some minor injuries (bruised chest & a few small scratches), but apart from that it all went well. I was a lot faster and I rode over some of the obstacles I couldn't make it over last time.

I'm looking forward to getting out and doing it again some time reel soon.

Google Earth Cruise Missle

Have a look at this like from the Dvorak Uncensored blog




It's a cruise missile in flight on Google Earth.

What the.....

Vista Crack

There is a article on bit-tech.net about a new vista crack that has been found.

Beer'O'Clock

Just as I finished typing the last post I was handed a beer, I know what time it is :-)

Mike Tech Show

I haven't written about podcast's before but it is one of the way's that I keep up with technology.
This morning I listened to the Mike Tech Show
It is a show aimed at improving the way you use a computer, troubleshooting tips, software advice and also some Q&A. Now, some of the things he can talk about is a little outdated (like the SMS show at the end of last year) but most of it is relevant and I normally pick up a few things from each of his shows.

Something that he does that I haven't seen anyone else do is he plays a song towards the end of the show. Not just some commercial band, but a unknown and unsigned band. It's great to have something different to listen to every now and again.

Coming Home....

This week has been fairly normal and I haven't really had much to say.
At work I have found my self in the office just doing optimisation work and at home everything has been going well with out to much to say…..

However, yesterday I did book my tickets to come back to Perth for Easter….. We arrive at lunchtime Thursday and we leave again at lunch time on Tuesday. I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Down and Dirty

I finally got out and went off road with my bike, I didn't take a camera with me as I knew that the chances of me crashing where quite high, but I didn't :-).
What I did do it get me bike dirty, so I took a photo of that.


We also recently got Gwen a bike as well, so hopefully soon we will be able to go out riding together.

Also, if you didn't know you can click on any of the images to get the full size pic.

My Bike

Here are the photo's of the bike I promised.


And the damage I did when I fell off last week


And of coarse, that's our pool in the background

My Day (21 Feb 07)

I thought I'd document my day, so you'd know what I get up to:

Last night I took home the work 4WD as I need it today to access one of the sites. Once I got to work it turned out that we needed to return this car and pick up our normal one as the repairs where complete, so there was no advantage to me taking it home (except that I didn't have to catch the bus)
After I had swapped over the 4WD I got a call from Arpad asking me to test a area of the Gold Coast that wasn't going to well, no photo's from that as it's boring.....

We then headed up to Wilson's Lookout. It had an amazing view of the Gold Coast but unfortunatly we where not able to do anywork up there as the last person up there had locked the gate wrong and we couldn't get in. It wasn't even the kind of gate that could be jumped, it was about 2.5 meters tall.....
I did manage to get some good photo's of the view from up there.

Our next stop was Wongawallan (I didn't know where that was either until I looked it up).
I was glad that we took the 4WD as we made our way to the site..... Believe me when I say that it looked better in real life.

This was the site that we where heading to.

After we where done, it was time to head down again.

We did have a few problems as we left, one of the hub's on the 4WD wouldn't come out of lock. We had to call Hertz and wait, we saw this on the way out and woundered if we could take this out next time instrad of the Land Cruiser.

Down but not out....

Less then a week after I got the bike I had my first accident (yes first, there is going to be a lot more). I came off while going over a speed bump in the woolies car park, went over the handlebars and skidded to a stop on the bitchumen. I have cut up my upper lip, cut the back of one of my knee's with the pedal and taken skin off my nose, knee's and elbow's.

A quick stop in at Woolies to get some detol, then to work for a shower  and clean my wounds and I am back at work :-).

I'm sure I'll bruise up over the next few day's though.

My Bike

I got my bike over the weekend and the planned ride with Kent didn’t go ahead…. And that was my fault.

I picked the bike up at about 3pm on Saturday afternoon and road it home, I am not to sure how far it was, all I know is that by the time I got home I was stuffed. I decided that I would give my self a couple of weeks to get my fitness up before I challenged the off road tracks around Brisbane.

I had planned on uploading some photo's of it but my camera doesn’t have any batteries left in it, so this one will have to do (it's from the Giant web page) until I can get some photos of my own. My bike is the same colour.

I'm getting it...

Well it's late on Friday night, but I got a call, the bike is available for pick up tomorrow...
I'll keep you informed

Grrrr.....

I just called to see if my bike had arrived, I was told that although they where invoiced for it on Tuesday it still had not arrived. Add to that, they didn't have any black one's and so they sent a brown one, all in all it's not going well.

I am now glad that I have not paid for it. I am thinking of going to one of the shops and asking them to price match it and just get it there and then. I was originally told it would be ready on Wednesday…… I am glad that I haven't paid for it yet so I can just walk away.

Waiting...

I called about my bike yesterday and told that it should be there later yesterday afternoon or this morning. I am never to sure what to do at this stage, do I call them again or do I wait? The thing is, if it is ready this afternoon I am able to go and pick it up with a car and bring it back to work and ride it home from there, It'll be a lot easier than riding it home from Kenmore.

I am also waiting to hear back about me getting access to Dreamworld. I need to get into the theme park for work, so we are trying to get free access and that means contacting them and explaining what I need to do. I am hoping to get down there early next week.

This weekend I don't have to many plans. I have to pick up a computer desk that we purchased and maybe a futon bed/couch as well. If I have my bike I hope to go riding with some of the guy's from the office at some point over the weekend as well.

My New Ride

Over the past couple of week's I have been looking for a new bike. I have decided on the Giant Yukon after looking at my budget and what I want to do with it. I ordered it on the weekend and I'm going to pick it up on Wednesday.

The day after....

Well normally on this day of the year I have a hangover and I am still in bed at 10am (when I am writing this). However this year I am at work and I feel great.

It's January 27th 2007.

Last night I took Gwen to the Yatala drive-in. We saw Epic Movie and De-Ja-Vu. The entry price was great, $13 each, that is less than a single ticket to a movie in a cinema, and we got to see two movies.
They broadcastered the sound over a FM radio station and they also had the window mounted sound boxes if we wanted them. I was a little concerned about leaving the radio on in the car, but I did it anyway, the sound was much better then then window box.

Epic Movie, was a little disappointing. It was done along the same lines as the Scary Movie series, just not as good.

De Ja Vu, that was a great movie staring Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer. It was a story about a bombing in New Orleans and the attempts to solve the case using a new technology that allows people to see four days and six hours in the past.

http://www.patrickandcarolkelly.com/

I'd just like to give a plug for my Dad and Carol's website.
They are living and working in Cambodia with children who have to work on the street so their families can survive. They educate the children and supplement the income the children would have made with food for the family.

It is such a great cause, if you are interested in donating or helping please email patrickandcarol@everyday.com.kh

I'm Back..... Again

I feel that I can start blogging again, it seems that I do this is stages, on and off again...

Well where am I at since I last posted, I am in Qld and Gwen and I have moved into our new
place after about 6 weeks living in her parents place. We found a nice two story place in
Toowong that has a pool and a carport (but we don't have a car :-)) We moved in the Friday
before Christmas 2006 and we both had the following week off work so we set up the place in
that time.

I am still working for Ericsson, and things are going well there. I have started doing a lot
more post processing / analysis / optimisation work but I have still been getting in a lot of
driving. Although I have not spent any nights away since I have been in Qld I have still seen
a lot of the area. I have been as for North as Gympie (past the sunshine coast) and as far
south as NSW (but not as far as Sydney). There has also been night work and early morning
work.

On my first day of work we drove past Wet'n'Wild and Dreamworld and I instantly wanted to go.
I have driven past them both countless times with work but I kept telling my self that I'd
wait until school went back before I went so the lines weren’t as long. That was until I
heard that they did a cheap afternoon rate and that also included the movie that they show at
night. Gwen and I went to Wet'n'Wild last Saturday night and had a great time. We rode all
the new rides as well most of the old ones. One of my favourites was the Tornado.... What a
ride. It is a giant funnel that is lying on it's side, you enter it via a slide and then go from one side to the other bouncing over the flow of water in the middle.

Today I have been down south, not quite to the Gold coast, more around the area where Wet'n'Wild and Dreamworld.

Lazy me

I know that I have been a little lazy with updating this, but I will make up for it by putting a pictur of me in a to-to at the bottom of this post.
I am on my second trip since my last entry, last week I was up in Port Hedland and Karrattha with work. There is nothing to great about those places but then again they arn't really hoiday places. Everone there is on good money, and they work bloody hard for it as well, but that also means that the price of everything there is high.

At the moment I am in Bunbury and it is the first time that they have sent me away with out an engineer. It is a lot better as I am in control of what we do and when we do it, but of coarse that means that I am working harder than I have been while away in the past.

The beaches are amazing down here, but the photo's always say more than I can.

and of coarse there is that I promised you all:

Away again

Towards the end of last week I started some night shifts at work. The first one was a bit tough but after that they got easier as I was able to sleep during the day. One thing I noticed was that if I had to much coffee or redbull during the night I couldn't sleep during the day and that meant that I had to have more the next night.

Neil and I spent Sunday cruising Freo and visiting the beach. That night I had Neil, Chris and Caz around for a barbie. It was a good night and I think that the Dog was a bigger hit than me. They loved him, but most people usually do.

I got the call Sunday lunch time letting me know that I am going country. Tonight I am in Pinjarra and the only accommodation that we could find was in the local pub. The rooms are small, no private bathroom TV or anything like that. It's a bit of a shame when I'm spending less than a third of what the company is willing to spend on me.

I am not to sure what the next few days have in store for us. We are going to head in the direction of Albany tomorrow. If we are giving more work we will stay there, if not we will head back to Perth.

Booze Watch

Check out this page, it rocks......

www.boozle.com.au

A decision made...

Over the weekend Gwen was here, she arrived on Thursday and left again on Saturday night. We spent most of our time in Margaret River, such an awesome place.

It was hard to say goodbye a second time, but I have made a decision. I am moving to QLD at the end of this job. Not sure the date yet, if the job finishes mid December I am going to hang around Perth until Chrissy.

I also hope to drop in on a few friends on my way over, maybe a stop in Adelaide and a stop in Melbourne.

Away again

Well I have been back in Perth for a few days, but it is time to move on again. Still with work I am off to Collie tomorrow.
The plan is to be back on Sunday, but I am well aware of how easily that can change.

There is one thing that I know, and that is that I am going to be back in Perth for Wednesday night when Gwen arrives. We are planning to go away for a couple of days.

Back in Perth

Well I have been back in Perth for a couple of days now after being away for a week and a half. Work is good, things seem a lot quieter in the office then they are on the road, it is 0825 while I am typing this and there is 4 people in the office, while we where on the road we always started at 8 some times earlier....

Last night Pete Pat and I played squash, we played for about 2 hours. I think that is the longest that we have played since I've been back in Australia. We where fairly well matched up last night with all of us taking away some good victories.

I am not to sure when I am heading off into the country again, I think that it may be as early as tomorrow but I'll find that out later on today. I would be happy to work another weekend as I need the money and the tax man doesn't hit me to hard for working 7 days compared to 5 so it is still worth it.

Steve Irwin, RIP

I heard the news when I got back into the car after lunch. Steve Irwin has died while filming an underwater documentary on the Great Barrier Reef.
He leaves behind a wife and two children.
This is a tragedy for all of Australia. I used to always watch him on a Saturday or Sunday morning when I was in the UK. He was always such an emotion charged figure, a true icon of Australia.

Rest in Peace Steve
22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006

Margaret River

Well we have been in Margaret River now for 3 nights and we have just booked in for a 4th. The test numbers still aren't working and we can't call 3G TO 3G so there is not much to do. But being Monday we are being paid again so it is all good.
On the weekend we managed to get out and about, but I only got a couple of photos. On Saturday we headed out to see one of the caves. We went to Jewel Cave but missed the tour by about 10 min and the wait to the next one was about 50 min. So we headed off to Mammoth Cave. We got a audio guide so we could see that cave at our own pace. The cave was amazing, but I much prefer going through a cave with a torch, but I understand that with thousands of people going through these caves there needs to be some systems in place to protect the cave it's self.

After we went to the cave we moved on to the beach for lunch. We went to The Sea Garden Cafe for lunch, it was a mazing, it looked over the ocean and the food was good. We then moved on to the Leeuwin Winery where we sampled some nice wine, but not to much as I still had to drive. After that we found the chocolate facturty and then another winery on our way back to Margaret River for the game (you shouldn't have to ask what game).

I went to the Settlers Tav to watch the Docker vs Port Adaliade. Of coarse the dockers thumped them and cemented their place in the top 4 teams for the finals. Next week they play Adaliade in Adailade, it will be a tough game but we are playing very well and we should win the game.

On Sunday we hung around town for the morning to see if they could get the problem fixed, come lunch time we realised that they wern't going to so we moved on. We spent the afternoon in Busselton and then went out to my Uncle and Aunty's farm in the afternoon.

Now we are sitting out side the local IGA Supermarket just trying to kill time until we can do some work.......

Cow Crossing

I just found this photo on my phone, it was from when we where near Pemberton. We had to stop for about 15 minutes while the cows crossed the road....

Margaret River

Well it is confirmed that we are not going to be able to do any work today (Saturday), and there have even been rumors of me returning to Perth on Monday. It seems that Marcio has to get an X-Ray to forfill some visa requirement. Marcio is an RF Engineer that I have been working with. Most of the engineers on this job have been brought in from overseas and there fore visa requirements are always hampering the time line for the project. I think we might spend a bit of the day today checking out the wine region as well as some of the caves in the area.

We are testing the 3G network for telstra. It hasn't been launched yet but as we go around we turn on the network. We are testing Video and Voice calls as well as HSDPA (high speed internet) calls. What this means is that from your mobile you can get speeds faster then most people have in their home from the internet. It also means that where ever we go we have access to the internet. At the moment I am sitting in the car out the front of my motel in Margaret River typing this as the internet here is faster than everyone else.

Well I am not sure what we are doing this weekend but I'll keep people posted.

Just a quickie

Well at the moment we are in Margaret River, we are going to spend the night here but we still have about 2 hours of work.......
The number that we are using isn't working, hopefully it will start working soon otherwise this job is going to take longer than we ever thought.....

Well once again things go wrong in a nice town, lets hope we aren't here for 3 days this time. I am looking forward to getting to the Settlers tavern for a drink tonight. I am almost turning into an alcoholic on this trip, if I didn't have to drive every day I think I would.