Tuesday 29 January 2008:
Prompted by the recent resignation/dumping of Western Australian director general of Health Neil Fong, for allegedly not doing much to fix the health system other than throwing a few dollars at it, I am reminded of a great UK documentary series called "Back to the Floor". This show got company directors to work for a couple of days at the grassroots level of their company, under the guise of being a new recruit. Most staff did not recognise their boss, and their boss experienced first hand the various issues that troubled the workers. In most cases the bosses returned to their pedestal or pulpit and actually made some effective changes based on their experiences. I think the same induction should be done for all the DGs, in particular ones who have little or no background experience in the area in which they have been brought in to manage. Two weeks work experience in a hospital or school should be an eye-opener for them on current issues. Oh, but (in true DET style) we won't let them know when they're starting until the day before...

Tuesday 22 January 2008:
Heath Ledger 1979 - 2008. Our darling Heath. You were taken from us too soon. May you rest in peace, you will forever be remembered.

Friday 23 November 2007:
Having just completed 5 weeks of teaching full time as part of my final teaching practicum, I was in the classroom full-time as a volunteer for 5 weeks, meaning I could do my normal paid job, and therefore had no income for 5 weeks. A thought occured to me... why is teaching not treated like an apprenticeship? For such a practical course it would seem sensible to give us some sort of income (I did not qualify for Austudy) for taking over and pretty much doing what our mentor teachers normally do. This may also make the course a little more attractive to other potential students? Oh and don't get me started on mentor teachers, that's another story entirely. Let's just say that it put me right off teaching, and leave it at that.

Wednesday 22 August 2007:
Why don't manufacturers/brands give 12 month warranties on shoes not falling apart? For fear that people might actually wear them and walk on them and do what they're designed to do? I bought a perfectly good pair of leather shoes from Betts for $90 and after only 3 months the small elastic triangles on the sides has become unglued, making them so sloppy they cannot be worn as they slip off too easily. Do the manufacturers expect people to buy shoes and only wear them once a week for a month? You wouldn't but a car tyre if it didn't come with some sort of guarantee that it would do it's job properly, under standard operating conditions, for 12 months? It seems that all the shoes these days are slapped together with a bit of glue, don't worry about any stitching to make it last, and then flogged to the general public. I don't find this acceptible. Well not for $90 anyway.

Sunday 12 August 2007:
I would like to have a little rant on kids meals at restaurants. Why do kids meals at most restaurants usually consist of junk food such as chips, nuggets, burgers, sausage rolls (and sometimes biscuits and lollies!), whereas the adults are free to choose their meal from a healthy range that includes rice/pasta dishes, salad, vegetables, and fruit? Kids should be encouraged to eat good quality healthy meals when out, better quality than they would normally eat at home (you are probably paying more after all). So next time you are out at a restaurant, set a good example - if there is no healthy choice kids meal, point it out to the manager, and order the kids a small bowl of spaghetti bolagnaise or vegetables and mashed potato rather than filling them up with crap.

Sunday 22 July 2007:
For my birthday this year we went to Hoddywell Archery Park in Toodyay, along with a small group of family and friends. Even though we did the intermediate course (slightly longer and more interesting than the beginners course) everyone had heaps of fun and worked up a bit of an appetite. From archery we then headed into Toodyay to have lunch at Pecan Hill, which is a lovely place just the other side of Toodyay. From the cafe/restaurant part there is a fantastic view of the valley, where we got to see the Indian Pacific train and also the Avon Valley Restaurant Train. We got home around 4pm, exhaused but everyone agrees it was a great day out!

Monday 2 July 2007:
As a reward for finishing prac and doing so well Paul and I flew to Cairns, QLD for a week's holiday in Port Douglas. It was bliss! Being winter it wasn't as warm as we expected but the weather was still lovely and sunny. We explored the Daintree, Cape Tribulation, Mossman Gorge, Palm Cove, Kuranda, Atherton, and the stunning Millaa Millaa falls did a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef and had a couple of dives, Paul did a Discovery Dive as he has not yet done a dive course, and both loved it! We also tried out the spa at the resort, which was bliss! A great holiday but alas we had to leave.

Friday 29 June 2007:
Today was my last day of prac. This was my second prac and I had a Year 3 class, and they were all lovely. I was teaching approx 2 lessons a day for 5 Wednesdays in a row, then a solid block of 3 weeks straight. It was great fun, I learned heaps and am now a bit more confident about the whole teaching palava! Only one more prac to go!

Sunday 7 April 2007:
I was recently disqualified from a competition by way of a technicality... which, not only left me completely gutted, it also led me to pose the question: Under what circumstances *should* a competitor be disqualified from a competition? Drugs? Yup for sure! Dangerous or unsafe practice? Yup. Verbal or physical abuse towards judges/officials? Of course. But for wearing a different leotard? Isn't that a little wrong, ridiculous, and extreme? Was it unsafe? No. Did it give that competitor an unfair advantage over the others? No. At the end of the day it's a leotard and doesn't have much to do with whether you can perform properly. Why do we hold competitions? It's actually for the competitors/kids! So what can we learn from this? I think the rules should be changed to reflect the seriousness of the offence, thus for wearing a non-club leotard a competitor should still be able to compete and be awarded their scores and placing, but perhaps their club given a small penalty/fine for not ensuring all their club had the right kit. After all it is the club's resposibility to organise and check that everyone's wearing the right colours/designs, not the competitor's or parent's, and therefore it should be the club that is penalised not the competitor. Ok, i'll get off my soapbox now :)

Wednesday 4 April 2007:
Today I am really excited as I picked up my new car - a 2001 BMW 318i. I love it! It has leather seats and so many extra little bits that make it feel like luxury, like the wipers stopping as soon as you drive into the garage. I got it at a good price too, only $26,000 from Perth 3MW, who are really unlike any other car dealer I have been to. I highly recommend this place, the owner obviously loves the car/brand and is great with people. He sat me down in the drivers seat and talked me through everything including all the special featured of the car. My driving is now slightly over-cautious as I am scared of damaging it, but that does not wipe the huge smile from my face knowing that after almost 3 years of wishing and dreaming and wanting I now have my dream car!

Saturday 10 February 2007:
Paul and I drove up to Kalbarri for a week's holiday. We stayed at the Kalbarri Beach Resort which was lovely. We did lots of fishing, which was fab, and went for a bike ride too. One of the days we drove up to Monkey Mia and saw one of the dolphins, Yadgalah meaning friend who was born in 2002, which was great as i've never seen a wild dolphin before! On Valentines Day we went to Nature's Window for something romantic to do, the only problem was it was 40C outside that day and about 50C on the rocks so despite my best efforts at keeping myself cool and drinking lots of water, I got heat exhaustion and had to cancel our romantic dinner out because I felt ill. Bugger! We laugh about it now tho! We did end up having that romantic dinner, on our last night there. Was a great place and a great holiday (if a little short!).

Sunday 4 February 2007:
The garden is now finally and officially FINISHED! It look fab!

Saturday 9 October 2006:
Ok the garden is looking a bit more completed now. The back is all done apart from the raised area. That's the next challenge.

Saturday 26 August 2006:
Paul arrived home today from his big trip up north. Yay! My garden is not quite as finished as I had hoped, most weekends have been raining making it tricky to do gardening without getting drenched. At least the front is finished.

Wednesday 2 August 2006:
Exams are finished so as a reward Paul flew me up to Broome to spend 3 days with him, as we have both been missing each other (awwww). Broome is lovely! It was about 30C during the day and 18C at night which made a nice change to the cold weather in Perth. Paul bought me a lovely pearl pendant to go on my necklace as a momento of our spur of the moment holiday! :)

Friday 28 July 2006:
I have just arrived back from a uni skiing/snowboarding trip to Falls Creek in Victoria, and have discovered that it's probably a good idea to do some training before you go so you don't spend your entire second day groaning from sore muscles :) Oh and on the first night in Melbourne it probably wasn't a good idea to tell eveyone that it was my birthday, as they felt compelled to buy me drinks until I fell over (shoulda left the heels at home!). Was a fab holiday and met loads of great people!

Saturday 1 July 2006:
My partner Paul, his bro, and his mate leave for their monster road trip up north aka "Fish-o-rama 06". My challenge is to get the garden at my place looking good by the time he returns. Here starteth the challenge. Part 1: Front garden and driveway.

Monday 12 May 2006:
Exams are over and so have just got back from a long weekend down south. We stayed at Erravilla which was absolutely fantastic! It is well located for visiting all the attractions in the area, the rooms were very comfortable (we loved the communial open fireplace, especially with a glass of chocolate port) and the breakfasts were awesome. On the Saturday, I drove and we went to 3 of the breweries (Colonial, Wicked Ale, Bootleg). On the Sunday Paul drove and we visited a few wineries (Amberley, Swings and Roundabouts, Gralyn, Wise, Sandalford, Blackwood, Devils Lair, Cullen).

Thursday 13 April 2006:
I have just finished my first teaching prac. I had a Year 2 class and they were so lovely. I really enjoyed it and can't wait til the next one, which is not until next year. Paul and I go to the drive-in cinema to celebrate me surviving my first prac!

Friday 3 February 2006:
Why do you get more for the dole than for Austudy? It doesn't exactly encourage people into education! Yet another shining example of leadership from our elected peers in Canberra....

Thursday 2 February 2006:
Just put the last coat of paint on the bathroom wall tonight. Bathroom renovation is finally finished! YAY! Yeah... I know... about bloody time I hear you say! :)

Monday 9 January 2006:
Today is no ordinary day... today is an exciting and nervous day because I have been offered a place in a uni course to study primary teaching. It's something i've been wanting to do since I was about 7 but was dissuaded by anyone I mentioned it to. Well I decided the only way to find out is to give it a shot, and if it works then great, and if it doesn't then I can always get a job doing BA work in IT. I'll be doing it part time over 2 years so I can still work part time and have some sort of a life!

Sunday 11 December 2005:
Cortez gig. Tonight I sang backing for a couple of tracks in a friends band. The gig was at The Newport in Freo. I was hell nervous! But it went well... or so i'm told - I couldn't hear a thing up there :)

Saturday 10 December 2005:
Tiler has finished.... and it looks AWESOME! Really happy with the tiles I chose. Now to get the plumber back in to fit the basin. Also need to organise a measure and quote for the shower screen and mirror. Might as well do the ensuite at the same time, and measure for a door to replace the evil clingy shower curtain.

Tuesday 18 October 2005:
What really shits me #46365: cashiers who hand you the notes first and then the coins so all the coins slide off onto the floor. This can be prevented very easily by handing the customer the coins FIRST, THEN the notes. Am tempted to email all cashier training schools this hot tip.

Monday 10 October 2005:
Today I ordered my bathroom cabinet! Now to organise a tiler and buy/order/pickup the remainder of my feature tiles...

Thursday 22 September 2005:
Went to see Cinderella last night. It was ok, but not as good as I hoped. Maybe it was because we had seats right up in the Gods (last minute ticket purchase). The fairly godmother comes on, then 4 other fairies, and we're like WTF?! We ended up laughing. Turns out they were the seasons. Of course I hear you say! :) It was 2.5hrs long with 2 intervals but Jon and I escaped during the 2nd interval cos we were a bit bored and tired. Then we went to the multi-storey car park where Jon had parked... and it was shut. Ok.... Was an eventful evening!

Friday 9 September 2005:
Am off work atm with a shocker of a sore throat and achy body. Bet I got it from the bloody plane!

Sunday 4 September 2005:
Just got back from NZ. It was awesome! :) No I did not do any black runs :) My aim for the holiday was to do a green run from top to bottom (1.2km) without falling over once. And I did it. But not till the very last run on the very last day :) I saved a shitload by borrowing all the gear off my sister, but she's a bit smaller than me so I had a front-wedgie the whole time. Very fetching I can tell you! :) Also, I did my duty as a snowboarder and took out a skiier... which was Sue (one of our group)! Was very funny. Plus I did not sustain any broken limbs, the worst I got was a bruised kneecap :) I loved it so much I am hoping to go back next year.

Thursday 25 August 2005:
Bathroom floor is in!!! :) Did it today. I'm *so* glad that's done. Next step is to get my unreliable plumber in to fit the bath then organise quotes from a cabinetmaker and a tiler.

Tuesday 23 August 2005:
Karen's hubby (Luke) can't get the computer thing to work so they have to bring it back to Perth to get it repaired... they will be arriving this evening and i've been invited out for dinner tonight on the company :P Free food always tastes really good :)

Friday 19 August 2005:
Yay! I passed my Level 2 Principles of Coaching workbook! :) *shell does a figjam dance* ...Now for stage 2 - the General Principles of Gymnastics course which I have half done so need to finish off. This is the wanky one that has little relevance to trampolining, but is still a necessity.

Tuesday 16 August 2005:
Retirement is fun, I went out late on a school night and had a loooong sleep-in this morning :) Well ok, i'm not retired, i'm having a couple of weeks off between jobs, but it feels the same!

Sunday 14 August 2005:
Housemate moved out today. For some strange reason, the house was much messier after he left than when he moved in. Strange. :) Have learned some lessons - no matter how much you like them, make arrangements for rent PLUS bills, and get a bond for any damage/carpet cleaning, and also NO DOGS! Oh and also do not allow them to bring their Foxtel connection with them or, if you do, make sure it is rigged up to the crappy little tv in the study otherwise you will be forced to share your loungeroom with cricket, golf and rugby every night because free-to-air shows are obviously crap :)

Friday 12 August 2005:
Today was my last day at Eduka. I quit because I have decided I hate programming, well for now anyway. I should have paid attention to my personality type's (ENFJ) suitable careers after taking the typology test...

Sunday 24 July 2005:
Had a cocktail party last night which went fantastically. Had about 12 friends over. The most popular cocktails being the B52/Mudslide (Baileys, Butterscotch schnapps, Creme de Cacao), the Illusion (Midori, Triple Sec, Vodka, Pineapple juice), and Shell's Strawberry Surprise (1 punnet blended strawberries, strawberry liqueur, vodka, lemonade). Woke up feeling a little 'under the weather' and had to cancel a social engagement as I wasn't feeling all that animated!

Sunday 17 July 2005:
Went with Karen to see Cirque de Soleil perform Quidam. Awesome. Simply awesome! :)

Thursday 7 July 2005:
Today there was a coordinated terror attack on London, and a load of bombs went off in various locations. I am deeply saddened that humans could do this to one another. I have also noted that you never hear about any athiest suicide bombers. I think religious intolerance is the main cause. It's not so hard to live in peace and harmony. Try it for a day.

Tuesday 28 June 2005:
Went to enroll part time in a Cartography course at Leederville TAFE only to discover that I was 6 months too late, in that a lot of the spatial courses have been combined with GIS and Mining Surveying courses and some of the pure cartography units have been dropped. So have borrowed a book off a cartographer friend, bought a new graphics card that supports 2 monitors, purchased a LCD screen, and got a 6mth home version of MicroStation to try out. Now the next challenge is to find the time to play with it... really tricky because work is so full-on and the last thing I feel like doing when I get home from work is hopping on the computer for another couple of hours! :)

Thursday 23 June 2005:
Today I dropped in my Level 2 coaching workbook to TAFE to be marked/assessed. Breathed a big sigh of relief as I have spent at least 2 evenings a week for the last 7 weeks completing it. Fingers crossed!

Sunday 29 May 2005:
Took to the bathroom floor with a jackhammer and the help of my housemate. Went through it like a knife through butter... not a good sign! Got rid of all the concrete, now just need to shovel out a load of sand and level it off for the steel reinforcing and a large load of concrete. Manual labour is not friendly to a desk-jockey's body :P

Friday 27 May 2005:
Aaarrrggghhhhh! Ok, I often receive forwarded emails/jokes from friends, which I delete, but it's fine because I understand that they just want to keep in touch without actually writing anything. But recently people have started sending me "jokes" with attachments that are 4MB!!! Sheesh! And I have to pay for this crap! Trouble is, as soon as I politely request that they stop, they get all offended and stop emailing me altogether. You can't bloody win!

Tuesday 24 May 2005:
We had a BBQ tonight, and I shut the patio door cos all the smoke was going in the house. I guess my housemate mustn't have seen/heard me do it (even though the door is 2m away from the BBQ) cos he tried to walk through it. Don't think he broke his nose, but can't be certain. Hmm maybe Starsky's getting his revenge from beyond the grave :) Have now stuck a sticker on it so it is easier to tell if it is closed. Either that or I should stop washing my windows :P

Thursday 19 May 2005:
Am a bit sad today.... my new housemate brought his dog over to check out the garden this morning, and somehow while he was out the front talking to the foxtel guy for 5 mins the dog (who we will call Devil) somehow managed to turn the wooden latch and get Star's hutch open, chase star around the garden and catch him. Star unfortunately died of shock. I was at work when my housemate phoned to tell me. Had to take the rest of the day off work to bury him and deal with it. Am a bit spaced out and the house feels empty. My housemate feels a bit responsible, but it's noone's fault really, animals will be animals. *sigh*

Wednesday 18 May 2005:
Went to see Star Wars Revenge of the Sith tonight. Caught the midnight screening. It was totally awesome! The best one of the first trilogy is my humble opinion.

Monday 2 May 2005:
Discovered my bathroom floor is crap. The concrete is only about 2cm thick! Has been recommended by a builder friend to rip it all up and lay a new slab of reinforced concrete in there. *sigh* Am gonna borrow a jackhammer off the plumber.

Monday 25 April 2005:
I've just had an awesome long weekend! Just spent a weekend with the work crew on a work buddy's Parents' farm about 3hrs SE of Perth and it was fab! Everyone got along really well (you can never tell with work crew) and we had so much fun! We rode around the paddocks on the back of the ute, climbed the Porongorups in the rain, had lunch at a winery, bounced on the trampoline, caught yabbies in the dam and ate them for lunch, had waaaay too much wine, did one of my famous 'slide' paintings in the company colours, and I even had a couple of shots at a coke can with a rifle and only missed one shot out of 10 from 20 metres! Then went out to a morgue party sunday eve. Yeah, you read correctly! A friend of a friend lives in the Old Perth Morgue which has been gutted so is essentially just an empty warehouse. The best party I have been to in ages, the music was so good it felt like a nightclub but everyone was so friendly so there was no trouble. Top night!

Saturday 2 April 2005:
Went out and purchased tiles, taps, basin, bath and rail-shower for the bathroom. Credit card took a hammering :) Now have to get the plumber in to fit the taps.

Thursday 24 March 2005:
The Bathroom Reno Continues... Glass Block Window by Glass Block Technologies. Today I got the small high window ripped out, extended down to twice the height, and replaced with frosted glass blocks. It looks fantastic! Next step is to purchase the tapware and bath/sink.

Saturday 19 March 2005:
Little Ollie was getting too frisky and was annoying Star so I got him castrated today. Sorry Ollie. I hope one day you'll forgive me. I also had a moment of insanity and bought myself a 2nd hand bass guitar and amp. Then if that wasn't enough excitement for the day, I went to see Wil Anderson @ Octagon Theatre, UWA! An excellent show (damn he's hot!), you could tell he was enjoying himself, I mean wouldn't you if you got paid for telling jokes, drinking beer and being offered threesomes! And yea, he was wearing his trademark thongs :)

Thursday 17 March 2005:
I love Eduka :) Today I passed the 2-month marker and I am still not looking back. I have to say it is the first time since working at Torrington UK that I have enjoyed going to work. Great bunch of people, exciting/interesting work, and they let me have ideas and make suggestions. Good Grief! That would never happen in the Government Sector! :P

Wednesday 16 March 2005:
The Bathroom Reno Begins... by getting some guys in to rip all the tiles off the walls. Also, recorded some backing vocals for Shaun and his band Cortez which was great fun and turned out really well!

Tuesday 15 March 2005:
This evening I went along to a Music Video Workshop @ FTI. It was meant to be from 6-9pm but it ran a bit over. Two hours and fourty-five mins was on the history of the music video which, although rather interesting, wasn't really why I went. Maybe it should have been run as a half-day course so Andrew had time to cover all the other stuff too.

Sunday 13 March 2005:
Ben Folds with WA Symphony Orchestra. OMG this was awesome! The concert was held in Kings Park, and although a rather chilly evening for March it was thoroughly enjoyable. He did a large collection of songs from his album Rockin the Suburbs and some from his Five days too. The best bit was in "Not The Same" where he got the audience to sing the 3-part harmony with him conducting us. It sounded wicked! Another good bit was when he did a Perth version of Rock This Bitch which was more like "Rock This Bitch Orchestrally in A minor", oh and another good bit was when one of the ducks quacked the punchline to his joke. Very amusing :) A very enjoyable evening which was recorded for inclusion on a DVD.

Tuesday 1 March 2005:
Tonsilitis! AGAIN!! :( I liken it to swallowing a pack of razor blades and gargling with lemon juice, accompanied with a flu-like lethargy. Most excruciating, found myself clenching my fists to swallow. Made mental note to file down nails :P Was bored shitless in bed but didn't have the energy to get up. Pity Dell don't lease laptops for 5 days...

Friday 18 February 2005:
Foxy and Button come to visit! :) I love having people come to stay and this was no exception. They are lovely, and we had a great time. They ended up staying for just under a week before they were off on their adventures.

Wednesday 26 January 2005:
Australia Day! Am doing an online .net course through ACM/Digital Think. The first 2 .net ones were good, but the "Developing Applications in .net" one is really crap. The course notes don't teach you anywhere near as much as you need in order to complete the exercises. Grrrr!

Monday 24 January 2005:
Wa-hoo! I am now the Open Directory (DMOZ) editor for Trampoline and Tumbling. Mwuahahaha *demonic laugh* DMOZ is used by other search engines (eg Google, Yahoo etc) for their directory listings. Yep, that means all tramp sites on this earth who want to be listed must get approved by ME! Ooohhh the power :P Nah, actually the category needed an editor, and I thought I was reasonably qualified for the job as they needed someone who knew about the sport, and also had some basic computer skills.

Thursday 20 January 2005:
"The day Starsky lost his hop" When I fed Star this morning, he was sitting up but seemed to be lolling around a bit. I had to go to work, so I called Mum and asked if she could take him to the vet. By the time she arrived only about an hour later, he could not sit up at all and was laying down. He was all floppy. The vet did some x-rays and tests but did not know what it was. They kept him in for observation. I went in to visit him at about 8pm and stayed with him for an hour and a half... he seemed fairly alert and was nibbling at food but his whole body from the neck down seemed to be paralysed... I wasn't sure if he'd last the night, and was mentally preparing myself to have him put down if he didn't get any better...
Friday: he did last the night, but there was no improvement in his condition, but the vet suggested a rabbit specialist vet, so at lunchtime mum and dad took him there (I had to work). She disgnosed "Floppy Bunny Syndrome". I kid you not!! Apparently it is a creeping paralysis caused by a vitamin E deficiency and is completely treatable. She gave him a shot, and kept him in for observation.
Saturday: Mum and Dad went to pick him up at lunchtime, and he looked heaps better. He was still a bit wobbly, but by 7pm he had got his hop back. Yay! :) Although the rabbit-vet cost a bit it was worth it, I would have been devastated if I had euthanased him then discovered it was treatable!

Monday 17 January 2005:
Today I started a new job. It's really exciting but a bit scary, but you have to do these things from time to time :) Had to do something, cos my old job totally sucked. I think it was probably one of the worst jobs i've ever had, due to a number of factors (and i've delivered newspapers in the UK!) However, there were a few great people there who made it bearable (you know who you are!).

Monday 3 January 2005:
Updated and uploaded more recent photos on the Oz and UK travel photos pages. Had to be done... they were about 2 years out of date :)

Saturday 1 January 2005:
My NYE was the best in years! I went over a workmate's place with a few others and we played Dance Revolution on the Xbox with mats that you put on the floor and have to step on the right arrows at the right times. Was a hoot! Unfortunately I couldn't drink much as i'm on pennicillin (tonsilitis) but didn't really need to as the company was great :)

Saturday 25 December 2004:
Xmas Day! Got lots of Myer vouchers so I can buy a nice cutlery set. Felt pretty crappy tho... mega sore throat. Got home at 10pm, looked at my throat in the mirror... tonsilitis. Good job I like trifle! :)

Friday 17 December 2004:
I now own my own home. Yay! The joint homeloan was discharged, and a new one taken out solely in my name, with settlement today. Feels great! :)

Tuesday 14 December 2004:
I want to have a rant about Perth drivers. There is a section of freeway where the speed limit drops to 80 due to roadworks. So I do 80. But you get a handful of people racing by still doing 100. Either they didn't see the sign (unobservant) or they think they are special and it doesn't apply to them (arrogant). Whatever the reason is, it really shits me!

Sunday 5 December 2004:
I am an Auntie again! Karen gave birth to a healthy baby girl today, and has called her Sienna. She is absoutely gorgeous, but of course I would think that being her proud Auntie! :) She entered into the world by emergency caesarian just after 1pm, weighing 7lb 14oz (nearly 2kg) and measuring 52cm which is not exactly tiny :)

Friday 26 November 2004:
Today I signed a contract for a new job. I will be working for Eduka as a project manager and programmer doing C#.net. Took much deliberation but I am really quite looking forward to it as they seem to be a great bunch, and I will definately learn a lot. I start on Jan 17 2005. I'm gonna enjoy handing in my notice in a couple of weeks time :)

Tuesday 16 November 2004:
I am currently working my way through some online IT training courses offered as part of my ACM membership... and they are actually really quite good! Have done the UML Fundamentals one and am now doing the .NET ones

Saturday 16 October 2004:
Today I bought a new bunny, and he is soooooo cute! :) After much deliberation, I have named him Ollie. You can see him on the house photos page. Star is none too impressed at the moment, but will come round in time I hope. I bought Ollie to keep Star company as I was worried he was getting bored while I am out at work all day.

Saturday 9 October 2004:
IT moves very quickly. If you don't keep up you get left behind and find you can't get a job because your skills are out of date. I am currently studying for my next Oracle Certified Professional exam. It's taken me a while to get around to it - I bought the books and started about 12 months ago, but got side-tracked half way through. Now i'm almost ready to book my exam, except the certification will be out of date in about 6 months! Sometimes being in IT really sucks. I would really love a job that has nothing to do with computers, like teaching trampolining full time or working for the RSPCA, but I know i'd probably offer to do them a website and somehow end up involved again :)

Friday 8 October 2004:
Election day tomorrow. My political thoughts are simply this: Australia should sign the Kyoto agreement. I appreciate that it could negatively affect the economy, but what good is a thriving economy on a dead planet?

Sunday 12 September 2004:
I feel so proud! For the first time ever, I have entered some kids that I have coached in trampolining into a competition. Six of them in fact, three girls and three boys. Two even won their event! It is the best feeling :)

Sunday 29 August 2004:
Flew to Exmouth with a girlfriend from work. Nice and relaxed. Went for a dive, was a bit chilly but interesting coral.

Sunday 15 August 2004:
Ok, so I had a general idea of what went into the film editing process, but not quite how it MAKES a film, that is until I did a Video Editing workshop at the FTI in Freo this weekend. The whole class (11 of us) were given exactly the same 32 mins of footage to play with and asked to cut it down to a 1 min clip, still retaining the story, using the various techniques for manipulating time (the jump cut, the cut in) we'd learned on the first day. Everyones came out quite differently, the story was basically the same, but the styles were quite unique. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and produced something really short, but something i'm really proud of - a short film clip titled "Hands Up! This is a stuff up!" (right-click to save, need Quicktime to view). I wanna do more now! :)

Sunday 8 August 2004:
Parties are always fun, except for some reason whenever you are the host you are quite pre-occupied with whether everyone's got a drink or had food to enjoy yourself properly! My 30th was no exception. Even though plenty of people turned up, and went to the effort of getting costumes (some went to considerably more effort than others!) I still couldn't relax. Next party is gonna be at someone else's house :)

Wednesday 28 July 2004:
This is a warning to whoever broke into my house while I was away on holiday and cleaned out a lot of my stuff. When I find you, i'll show you how it feels to be totally violated by shoving a pineapple up your arse using whatever means necessary. Yes I was insured, but that's not the point, and no I didn't mention I was going away on my blog until I got back.

Wednesday 14 July 2004:
It's strange but true, you always remember the good bits. Visiting the UK recently, I was there for about 4 days before I wanted to come home. The weather was crap (that had a lot to do with it!), and I kept asking myself what the hell I was doing there. It seemed like a good idea back in Jan when I booked it wearing those rose-coloured glasses. It got better once I got to London because I felt more at home, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Some bits were good - like snowboarding in Milton Keynes, cruising around shopping in London, ice skating, Leeds Castle, and hanging out in Haywards Heath - but I don't think you can really consider it a holiday destination once you've lived there.

Friday 21 May 2004:
After watching Cirque de Soleil on TV I thought trapeze looked really cool, so thought i'd give it a go. I went to an 'adult aerials' class at Bizircus in Freo. It isn't as easy as it looks... Today I hurt all over, but I want to do it again! :)

Saturday 15 May 2004:
When you buy a house, you live in it for a bit, then decide that there are all sorts of things you want to do to customise it. Then a year later you've still not done it because you've not had either the time, the money, the resources or all three! Things such as light switches in stupid places, no extractor fans in the loo, no roof insulation, and a shed right up the back of the garden which is so much hassle to walk to, you end up keeping most of your tools in the house!

Wednesday 5 May 2004:
I am a committee member for my high school's (St Marks) Old Scholars Association. I love our meetings... not only do we get along really well and get stuff done, we do it while sitting in the staff room, drinking wine from bottles we've 'borrowed' from the staff fridge. I feel so rebellious! :) Except this time they had hidden (we suspect) the bottle opener, so we had to improvise by pushing the cork into the bottle. Where there's a will, there's a way! :)

Monday 27 April 2004:
What a perfect day! Public holiday, and the weather was amazing. I went for a leisurely bike ride around the river, going from South Perth via Narrows, Foreshore and Causeway back to South Perth, and dropped into the pub on the way back for refreshment :) One of those times when you're thinking "it doesn't get much better than this".

Thursday 16 April 2004:
Ok, so i'm a sucker for a bargain... I went with a friend to PDA in Freo and was tempted by the mask/snorkel/boots/fins/gloves pack they had on offer... was umm-ing and aah-ing for 15 mins then found out they had some very sexy split fins were on special for $199 down from $330. These were not your normal fins, these were very very sexy Oceanic Vortex V12 split fins that feel like you're not wearing any fins at all! So thought what the heck and substituted a pair of these for the basic $75 ones in the pack, and got the lot for $313. Sweeeet!

Monday 13 April 2004:
I never thought i'd find wetsuits sexy... but this Cressi Sub one at Hillarys Dive Shop was really nice, looked good and felt good. Almost good enough to walk down Hay St in (I said almost!) so I ended up buying it.

Tuesday 7 April 2004:
Night diving is so cool! I went for my final dive for the advanced course - a 10m night dive off Rotto. It was really cool, and I could see heaps more than I thought I would. Visibility was a bit like being in some fog at night with a full moon, plus we had torches so I could see even more where they were pointing. Amazingly, I wasn't scared at all!

Sunday 4 April 2004:
I started my Advanced Open Water Diver course at Perth Diving Academy (PDA). We started with some theory then the Peak Performance Buoyancy module in the pool, then an Underwater Navigation module in the marina out the back. This morning was a bit of a rude shock having to be at PDA in Fremantle at 6am to be on the 6:30am boat for an early morning deep (30m) dive off Rotto. Was a bit scary, but I saw a Western Blue Devil. We then had a break (I went home to sleep!) before reconvening at 4pm to do the Underwater Naturalist module theory and dive in the marina at dusk, which was really cool! I saw a Blue Manna crab, a Flathead, a starfish, heaps of blowies and Old Wives and coral, tube worms, and lots of other stuff I didn't know the names of!

Sunday 21 March 2004:
Diving is so cool! Steve had recovered sufficiently enough to take us out on the boat again to Rotto. We had our morning dive at Parker Point Drop-off (19m - lots of coral) and, after a surface time of 2hrs in which we had a buffet lunch, then went to Jackson's Rock (16m) where we saw a Port Jackson shark and did a bit of underwater navigation. Jackson's Rock is absolutely stunning with a big trench and reef up each side with heaps of caves, and the visibility was so good - from 16m I could look up and read the writing on the side of the boat! I took some photos with a disposable underwater camera. We all passed and i'm now the proud owner of an Open Water Diver certification. I'm totally hooked and have fallen in love with diving so signed up for the advanced course in 2 weeks time that covers night diving and allows you to go to 30m instead of the 18m for OWD.

Saturday 6 March 2004:
Damn those stingrays! Second-last day of the scuba course, out on PDA's dive boat Lionfish IV to Rotto and had one dive in the morning (West Cigar Reef - 17m) and one dive in the afternoon (Roe Caves - 17m). The visibility was pretty darn good at 10-15m. Unfortunately our second dive was cut short because Steve our instructor knelt on a stingray whilst adjusting his tank that had become loose. The stingray obviously was rather unimpressed and stung Steve in the left thigh, so we had to rescue Steve and Shayne towed him back to the boat before all the blood pissing out his leg attracted the sharks! Was rather exciting! Consequently we all learned how to treat stingray stings - hot water for 2 hrs to neutralise all the enzymes in the venom. On docking back in Freo, Steve was taken to Freo Hospital to have it checked out.
Wil Anderson rocks! Saw him do stand-up at UWA, which was cheek-achingly good. Managed to get seats down the front by swapping with a pregnant chick who was worried she'd laugh so hard she might go into labour :)

Sunday 22 February 2004:
One of those Oh My God No Way moments.... Went to Tropfest at FTI in Freo which was fantastic! Lana's (an old irc buddy of mine who recently graduated from WAAPA) sister won Best Actor for her role in Summer Angst, and was awarded her prize at the Sydney venue by Salma Hayek. How totally cool!