Another year!

Well I have survived another year on this planet! With one year left before I hit the magic 40 I am happy with my life, family and future. We have all fitted into Canberra quiet well Dani is getting a good amount of casual work, the kids are doing well at school with my girl getting awards for her English and Science and by little boy working and playing hard. Down here I have had more opportunities and job offers I have ever had in my life, it is so good to be wanted.

Besides the extra grey hair I got some great stuff this year. A new tire for my scooter (I have worn the old one out with over 13000km’s), a new razor (I think I got this because my wife is tired of me using hers), a cool Mag Warrior and the movie Serenity as a special boxed edition.

I am currently going through a detailed security check by the Australian government so that I can work on my government accounts and opportunities. So I must say a big thank you to my friends that have acted as referee’s for me.

Upcoming Ride

I have decided to join the Snowy Ride this year. Before you all say, yes I know I have a scooter, yes I know I will have to ride it up the biggest mountains in Australia.

However I am sure me and my Honda Forza will be able to handle it well. I will update date you with my preparations as the ride gets closer.

End of a dream run

Ok so the Australian team have been knocked out of the world cup by Italy.  What can I say, many of us think we were robbed.

We do have to remember however this is our first world cup 2nd round and we did really well.

Congratulations to the team you did us proud.

Australia is through!

For the first time in history Australia is through to the 2nd round of the would cup. In an extremely tight and hard fought game Australia managed to get the draw with Croatia to secure the spot in the 2nd round.

With the large number of Croatian decent people on both teams, and three Australians on the Croatian team a lot of pride was at stake and it showed.  It appeared that by the end of the game at least 3 players had been shown 3 yellow cards and really should not have been on the field.

Read more

Getting Cold

Well over the last 2 weeks it has been getting very cold in Canberra in the mornings.

Every morning has been below zero degrees Celsius and we have had a minimum of -4 one morning. You all might be wondering if I still think the scooter was a good idea.

Well I am still riding, still enjoying it and still not frozen solid. Actually as yet I have not had to put on my winter pants or my winter liner in the Jacket. I am wearing the rain liner to block the wind and a jumper under that, with the winter gloves and a neck warmer I am doing fine.

Nearly 11,000Kms on the scooter now and no problems at all.

Passed!!

Ok today I did the test to get my Provisional Motorcycle License and as you guessed I have passed!

So I have 6 months on my P’s plates and 12 months to a fully open license.

Photographic Prize

I just got a real nice email today from the Honda Riders Club of Australia. I put the photo below into a competition and it seems I have been selected as a sub category winner!

I am still in the running for the major prize that they will draw at the end of the year.

— from Splinter(?)

Respected Reporter Dies

Richard Carlton dies while reporting the mine tragedy in Beakonsfield.

One of Australia’s most recognised reporter dies while working at Beakonsfield in Tasmania.  He suffered a heart attack and collapsed during a new conference at the mine.

Catch up time

Ok so work has been worse the last few months than I could possibly imagine.  However we just got the core of the project over and done with and things look like they might settle down.  This is so overdue as my home life has been badly effected by the current work load.

Now I have posted up some more photos from the weekend away with the family and I hope you all like them.

See you in a day or two.

Updates

Ok since I have been so slack I thought I would do some updates.

Work
Recently I have had a promotion and a payrise, which was very pleasent. However this has meant that I have had a lot more work and pressure. Over the last 3 weeks I have been working long hours on very High Focus project. This is putting me very much in the face of upper management.

Home
Dani has been working 5 days a week at a local school so we are all busy and tired. Also I have an update on my Grandads war record, the other day I recieved it in the mail and am now currently going through the information.

Scooter
I have now clocked up 9,000 Km’s on my scooter and all is going well. I have added a headlight modulator which flashed the High beam light at about 240 times a minute during the day. This makes me so much more obvious to cars and I am having some move out of the lane in front of me while commuting. In addition I have added a brake flasher to make it obvious to following cars when I hit the brakes.

Photography
I have done little photography lately and am missing it. This weekend is the start of the Hot air balloon festival and I am going to be filling up many memory cards.

I promise I will keep this site much more up to date…. really,… honest.

Slack Again

Ok work has been pushing me hard, doing my stuff and others.

I promise within the next week or so I will update with some real information.

Grandad

A few years back my Grandad died after a prolonged illness. During that time my Dad stayed at our place in Brisbane and travelled up to the north coast to spend each day with Grandad. Over the last few months we all spent more time with Grandad.

We all knew that Grandad was in the RAAF in World War 2, we knew he flew in Lancaster Bombers but really we did not know much more. However over the last few months Grandad showed us the “Golden Caterpiller” (a medal given to all that have been saved by their silk parachutes), the map he carried so if he was shot down over Europe he could move towards allied lines.

Today I looked for his service record in the Australian National Archives, however his record is not currently open to the public as it has not been checked for national secrets. It is not likely that my Grandad performed covert missions, just likely they have not got to his record to clear it.

I paid a small fee and they will now check it, copy it and send me the copy. In about 30 days I should know more.

I will keep you posted.

Cooler Days

It is starting to get cooler in the nations capital and it seems really early this year.  Each morning the Hotair Balloons show us just how cool it is floating over the city, providing colour and movement.  The days are warm and mostly clear but the last few nights have required a blanket.

So it is Febuary, it is already starting to cool down.  Looking forward to winter!

Show Day!

I just spent the whole day at the Canberra show with my Daughter, her friend and her dad.  Boy do my feet hurt!

It was great to go to a country show again, more about the people the animals and the competition than the selling and the rides.

Time for me to sleep I think.