Family Life Down Under

New start,

2011-05-29T10:38:00.000+10:00

It's Sunday and the day before I start my new job. I'm going to be a house husband. The kids and I are embarking on a new chapter and we really don't know where it will take us. But we are excited.

Key things on the list are to help my son with his homework and reduce my daughters dependancy on Charlie and Lola. Other than that, have healthy meals on the table by the time the wife gets home from work and have the household jobs done by the time the weekend comes round so we can start to enjoy life a bit more.

Wether I manage to achieve all this is to be seen but I'm going to give it a good try.

Now reading... (actually just finished)

2010-10-07T16:47:00.000+11:00

I've just finished reading Ben Elton's meltdown. A strangely appropriate, well maybe not all that strangely novel that focuses on the recent global financial crisis and the events leading up to it. While it is predictably scathing and satirical it does have a number of fair points running through it. Obviously the comic effect a lot of the subtlety and detail is missing at the core of the events is all there. The novel serves as a modern-day parable and while it is not likely to change anyone's life it has certainly reinforced some of my own feelings about life in a post-GFC world. I can highly recommend this is an amusing read but don't go planning any economic theories or political strategies based on the content ;)

School holiday movie project....

2010-10-07T16:20:00.000+11:00

It's school holiday and as I don't often have time off with the kids Chris and I have decided to work on a project together.

We are going to try and make a short animated film. We have already done a little test shoot of a dinosaur walking round the kitchen table.(which was remarkably easy).

I set up the video camera and software ready to go, I took the first few frames and from there chris pretty much took over. I doubt very much that it will win any awards but he is suitably chuffed with the results and I am very proud.

The next step is to write to plot for the actual movie. This is something that chris wanted to do on his own. Off he went to get hold of a pen and paper and to my surprise just sat down and got on with it. Unfortunately I was not really clear about what i wanted him to do so around half an hour later he proudly presents me with a very accurate description of the unplanned animation he had just finished. While this did very cleverly get him out of coming up with something new it still leaves us lacking a plot! The positive part of the story was that I was able to read and understand the whole thing, he had produced some of the best handwriting and spelling I have ever seen him do.

So we retreated to youtube to watch some short films made by other people and now I think he gets the importance of plot and more importantly the fact that we need one to make any progress.

Time Lapse Photography

2010-10-05T15:42:00.003+11:00

Having seen a couple of fantastic time-lapse videos on the web over the last week or two I decided to have a go myself. Rather than off to some exotic location I chose to do it from the back balcony as I had know idea of what the result would be like.....

All in all I am quite pleased with the results for a first attempt. Now to find some better subject matter....

Panorama view of the south end of skiathos

2010-10-01T15:32:00.000+10:00

It a bit late but I found some ole holiday snaps from our trip to greece nearly six years ago so I did a quick test and stitched this image together....

The Royal National Park

2010-09-27T12:04:00.000+10:00

In the last week I have been lucky enough to make two separate visits to the Royal National Park just south of Sydney. On Thursday last week friends from England came to visit giving me the perfect excuse and opportunity to spend a day showing them round one of my favourite places near Sydney. The Royal National Park is a place of fantastic natural beauty with amazing cliffs sea views and plant life. Having spent a very pleasant day with Fiona and Carol we decided that we would go back on Sunday with the rest of the family or a picnic and a bit of a walk. So we packed up the car drove down into the park to our usual spot at Wattamolla a beautiful beach and lagoon.
We then proceeded to walk north along the coastal track for a while, something that I have wanted to do for a long time in fact I plan to walk from Bundeena to Wattamolla as soon as time allows.

Another blog (this time on books)

2010-09-27T10:28:00.000+10:00

It has been quite some time since I posted anything on this blog largely because most of what has been going on has been either far too boring or far too private to share on the web. Anyway just lately circumstances have changed and I seem to have time for more leisure activities. One of those leisure activities has been reading something that I always love to do but sadly rarely get the time. This year for fathers day the kids got me a couple of books one of which was Imperium By Robert Harris. A few years ago I also read Pompeii which was a really enjoyable read. Returning to Robert Harris's semi fictional Roman world has been fantastic in fact I finished Imperium in record time and quickly downloaded the Kindle version of the sequel (Lustrum). I'm not going to go into detail on what goes on in the books that in short they are fictional accounts of the background to the actual political events surrounding the Roman Empire.

Test post

2010-06-29T17:25:00.001+10:00

Bla bla

Coles, Proud to provide the food in the master chef pantry

2010-05-16T20:32:00.004+10:00

As a family we shop at Coles, not because they are the best, not because they are good value but simply because they are convenient. They operate the two closest supermarkets to us, regularly we will visit and we will be unable to find fresh vegetables that I would be happy to serve to the kids. Often the stuff in packs is practically rotten. Regularly we get stuff that has already past it sell by date. Never have I gone into the store and found an array of fresh food like they have in the master chef pantry. After watching the show now I know where all the good stuff goes.

The return of the lego robot

2010-05-16T08:55:00.003+10:00

So Lucky for us the lovely people over at arm have re posted the video of the Logo Rubik's Cube Solver. (That is relay lucky for me as I promised to show my nephew).

I'm not sure what they have changed but the robot is just As cool as it was. I am very tempted to go out and get some of this Lego stuff to play with Chris.

Handshake etiquette (or lack there of)

2010-05-14T20:24:00.000+10:00

Handshakes are supposed to be a friendly form of greeting, There is plenty that can be read into handshakes, was it too soft or too hard, too short or too long. In the normal course of a day we probably shake hands for a number of reasons and in a number of situations.

Today a work acquaintance decided that he wanted to use a handshake as an opportunity to impress on me his masculinity or possibly simply wanted to causes pain. He actually used so much force that I now have an injured hand, typing is painful and I will not be able to play guitar properly until it heals.

Why on earth people feel the need to use handshakes this way I will never know but the upshot is there will be no new you tube video this week as I can’t play properly. If I get time I may try to mix a demo up from some of the stuff I have on the go so I can at least keep up my one song per week target.

Cool free music sites,

2010-05-13T22:35:00.002+10:00

If you live in the US then you have access to a whole load of cool streaming music sites. They let you listen to a huge range of music for free and you pay if you want to download. There is a problem though, none of them have licences to provide the content in Australia. Instead you have the option of bandit.fm. It’s not a bad site but there are a few problems.

In Australia we pay per meg of bandwidth and mobile access to the web is still very expensive so while the basic price they charge seems reasonable your ability to access the content reduces the time you can use it and pushes up the real price. The net effect is I wont be signing up past the free trial and I whish we had access to the Layla, Pandora and all those other cool sites.

So I’ve started to look for good sources of free streaming music so here is the list, I’m sure it will grow

www.thesixtyone.com

www.triplejunearthed.com

There are many more i’m sure so if you see this then please e-mail me with links I can check out and add to the list.

The Sixty One (A music web site)

2010-05-12T17:47:00.003+10:00

I have been sick for the last few days which has given me more time to look at the web than I would normally have. What have I found? Well I found this cool music web site (www.thesixtyone.com) . It is full of really cool music, and it look nice as well. It would take far to long to describe the site in a post so all I have to say is it involves quests and go check it out.

Lego gets a bit extreeme

2010-05-08T08:07:00.001+10:00

I was a lego fan when I was a kid, My son has quite a lot of lego, possibly more than I should have bought him but never have we built anything like this!

Me Live in a Pub

2010-05-06T11:37:00.004+10:00

I played live last night for the first time in quite a ling time. Thanks to Mark and Julia at Village Guitar for putting on such an inclusive event, I am starting to get more comfortable with the idea of playing on my own in public.

Playing live in front of an audience has always been something that has been an intensely scary and uncomfortable thing for me, while at the same time being incredibly satisfying and life affirming. The event that Village guitar have put together is a perfect training ground for musicians who like me want to improve their performance chops but don’t want to run the risk of ridicule. The other musicians and audience seem to genuinely understand how hard it is to get up and do it. The result is a relaxed friendly room full of people who you know want you to do well.

There were some fantastic performances last night from covers to original material and as long as technology is on my side I will post a youtube video of my slot in the next few days.

Oh... and I made it through to the final of a competition I didn't know I was entering s that was cool as well.

The first week of the month (Busy in a good way!)

2010-05-05T10:16:00.002+10:00

The beginning of the month always seems to be busy for me, I have my day job that always has “Extra Stuff” that needs to be done to short deadlines and at the same time there a two evening activities that I enjoy and hate to miss.

On the first Tuesday of every month here in Sydney a group of talented and enthusiastic people get together for the monthly Songs Alive Workshop. The evenings are informative and improving every time. Over the last few months I have been semi regularly and when I do turn up there has always been something that I have learned either about my self, my songs or song writing and songs in general. Songs Alive is a not for profit organisation Founded in 1997, by songwriters Gilli Moon and Roxanne Kiely.

The very next night it is the Village Guitar Open Mic Night held on the first Wednesday of every month at Allawah Pub in the Sydney suburbs. It starts at 8.00pm and is a great environment to try out new things and hone your live skills.

Both events are fantastic community activities and I feel lucky that there are people out there willing to put in the effort to run this sort of thing.

5 Reasons I got back into doing music (By the way, I’m back),

2010-05-04T12:40:00.001+10:00

1. I love singing live. It scares the crap out of me, quite literally, but love it.

2. I love to write songs. They mean something to me and I hope some of them mean something to others

3. I like to feel of my own voice. I can’t really say that I am a great fan of how I sound as a singer but I do love how it feels to sing.

4. I enjoy watching a song grow. Sometimes I surprise my self how a song turns out. I may start with words, chords or a riff but quite often by the end it is nothing like where it started

5. I’m a geek. I like tech stuff and there is a lot of very cool tech stuff for recording studios.

E-Bay

2009-02-17T17:17:00.001+11:00

Spent most of the weekend sifting through stuff to put up for sale on E-Bay. Man it takes some time to get stuff listed though!

Josh Pyke

2008-10-02T14:39:00.003+10:00

So this morning I got an e-mail from the Josh Pyke Marketing machine with a link to the song below. On the bases that I have had more enjoyment from his first album than any other in years I thought I would post the u-tube clip so that others might hear the genius that is Josh Pyke......

Try youtube for more videos or just buy the albums ( ad break over)

Christopher's First Engineering Project - A Shopping Centre

2008-09-05T14:23:00.003+10:00

This is Christophers engineering project - built completely from wooden blocks. It is a shopping centre complete with helipad and car park.

Photosynth of Lulworth Cove

2008-09-05T04:17:00.000+10:00

Back again...

2008-07-14T20:42:00.002+10:00

So theres been a long gap in the posts but I'm back ish, Nothing much to report right now other than I finally got the chance to catch up on other peoples blogs and they have all posted a lot more than me which makes me want to post again!

Charlotte and Vicky

2008-02-07T21:34:00.000+11:00

Well fed and happy!

2008-02-07T18:59:00.001+11:00

Is it really news?

2008-02-07T13:12:00.000+11:00

I have just been watching a reporter on one the the Australian TV networks. He was standing outside Heath Ledgers parents home in Perth. Talking about the fact that it looks like his death was accidental. He the second part of the report was to say how the family wanted to be left alone. The report made the point that this was unlikely to happen due to the media presence. It certainly seemed like he was talking about everyone else and somehow justified his own presence as OK?

The thing is I can see no real value added by having the reporter at the family home at all. The real news was coming from the US the only relevant story near to the Ledger family home was the one about the intrusive media and the family wanting to be left alone. That is simply a story created by the media!

Still Raining, a lot!

2008-02-07T12:58:00.000+11:00

Gender Ambiguity

2008-02-05T20:52:00.003+11:00

We have had a baby boy for five and a half years. Girls are few and far between on both sides of the family and despite the fact the there is no question that Charlotte is a girl. Vicky, myself, Vicky's parents and her aunts all keep calling her he and him. I'm sure we will get it right soon. Sorry Charlotte!

Surfs up

2008-02-05T20:52:00.001+11:00

Just been watching Bondi Rescue on the TV. It's an Aussie show that follows the surf life savers on Bondi. It's the sort of show they might show on sky but I have no Idea if they do or not. Anyway watching the beach and the people surfing It reminded me the the guy I used to be really wanted to be able to surf (I just lack the commitment to do anything about it) . Reality is that I understand surfing is something that needs quite a lot of practice to be able to do let alone to be able to do well. So I gave up on the idea quite some time ago what with work and all the other things I have to/want to do.
Tonight for one short minute I thought that I could learn with Chris if he wanted to do it in a few years. Thing is it didn't take log to realise how uncool it would be for Chris to have his dad trying to learn to surf with him. Its really one of the youth things and I am going to have to admit that if I'm not already then I will very soon be middle aged and If I want to learn to surf well I should at least do it at the other end of the beach! Hopefully when it gets to the time when that may actually happen I still have the sense to realise it may be an issue for the boy.

It's Raining.....

2008-02-05T14:06:00.001+11:00

And it has been for almost a week, not all the time and not heavy but it feels like it has been raining since Charlotte got home! The question is when will it stop?

Settling in at school,

2008-02-04T20:58:00.000+11:00

Last Friday I drove Christopher to school and found that I could not get parked, In fact there was no danger of even getting into the car park let alone finding a spot. In the end I had to drive half way home before I found somewhere to stop the car. So today I learned my lesson and despite the rain we walked to school. Very pleasant and much much easier!

As soon as we go to the COLA (Covered Outdoor Learning Area) Chis went nuts running around and trying to get everyone in sight to play with him (and I mean everyone!) this was not a real surprise as Chris is very sociable little boy! the real surprise was that as soon as the bell went he changed completely calmed right down got his bag and started to walk to his classroom with no prompting whatsoever. Once at his class room he walked strait in put his bag where it should be, took out his lunch and put that away too. After That he walked over to the mat and sat down and waited! It was one of those moments where I just wondered when did he change how did that happen? He has really started to grow up and I don't remember when the change started. The only shame is he just cant do it at home!

Any way today he came home with a prize which made him very happy unfortunately he couldn't remember what he did to get it. Never mind he is a very happy, motivated boy which is what's important right now.

Five Days Old

2008-02-04T19:52:00.000+11:00

Charlotte is five days old now and I am just starting to remember things from when chris was this age.

Babies are very small
They sleep A LOT at least Christopher did and Charlotte does
I think that babies smile from a very early age even if everyone else says its wind
A babies cry is the most efficent and effective way of getting atention in the world
They use a lot of nappies
They have no concept of night and day
If the baby wants to sleep there is very little you can do about it
If the baby is awake then it will be awake untill it wants to sleep
They use a lot of nappies
The arivals of a new Christopher and Charlotte are just about the most emotional experience I have ever had

Tactics by Edward de Bono

2008-02-02T16:20:00.000+11:00

This has been an unusual book for me to read. Normally I would be reading a thriller or If not that then something closely relating to work. I certainly would not normally pick what sounds dangerously like a self help book. However while walking through Heathrow Airport on a far longer than normal stopover I happened to see it in the New Titles section of one of the bookstores. Something about it caught my eye and as I had already heard of Mr de Bono and his Thinking Hats I thought it may be interesting.

Once on the plane I sat down and started to read, it did not take long to realise that this was no new release and was probably written in the early 80's. The selection of interviewees and some of the comments were clearly made before certain events/developments like Clive Sinclair’s C5 electric car. The list of people interviewed is broad and interesting and as well as Sir Clive Sinclair Jackie Stewart and Sting stand out as particularly interesting to me. I am sure that just about everyone who reads the book will be able to find someone they admire or interested in in the remaining list of interviewees.

Is it a great book?
Probably not to my mind as it has taken me some 6 months to read
Have I read it from cover to cover?
I don’t think so but that does not matter as there is plenty of stuff you can pick up as you weave in and out of the book.
Did I enjoy the read?
Yes Indeed I did
Have I changed my own tactics?
Not really but I think that I may understand them better!
Would I recommend it?
Yes if after reading this you are still interested I think you should read it, but I am not going to try to persuade you!

If you want to buy the book then This Link will give me a cut of the sale price

The illusion of a routine

2008-02-02T15:03:00.000+11:00

So its day three and we are getting back to normal. Charlotte is sleeping during the day and feeding at night which is a little less than considerate but hey, she has a very polite cry so we have to excuse her for now. She is feeding well and has so far done everything we could ask for.

We gave her her first bath last night which was a pleasant surprise. From memory Christopher screamed and screamed for his first bath. Charlotte on the other hand gave a short cry and then relaxed into the water very happily. I think we may well owe this to one of the Hurstville Midwives who told us to make sure that the bath was deep enough for her to float and to give her a face cloth to hold on to. She certainly seemed to appreciate the advice and we did too.

Charlotte.... 31st January 2007

2008-02-01T21:43:00.000+11:00

The week in pictures....

2008-02-01T20:59:00.000+11:00

Some people will tell you that a picture tells a thousand words, well this week has been to big for just one picture so hopfully 25 will do it some justice.

What a week!

2008-02-01T20:30:00.000+11:00

The last week has been hectic; in fact I would say that frantic is probably a bit more reflective of how things have been.

On Wednesday Chris had his first day at school. Wednesday morning had him more excited than Christmas day and frantic to get to school as soon as possible! Once there he obviously felt very at home and found it much easier to trot off into the classroom on his own than Vicky and I found it leaving him there. Vicky balled her eyes out but tried not to let Chris see in case he got cold feet (I don’t think this was likely). A nice reassuring touch at the school was the teary mum kit they had on hand. It was a small plastic bag containing a tissue, teabag, instant coffee and a note letting us know that most people feel this way, they are just as keen to see your child do well and let you have a chance to relax until the end of the school day!

Once Chris was back home tucked up in bed thoroughly exhausted from his first day Vicky relaxed and on came labour only 10 days late. The midwives had told us they think that because Vicky was so keen to see Christopher’s first day at school she kept stopping her labour. Anyway a quick call to the in laws and a short drive to the hospital saw us arrive at the delivery suite by 1am. By 3.56am we had a beautiful baby girl and by 4pm the same day Vicky, Chris, Charlotte and myself were at home. Frantic hardly describes it but somehow it all felt very right and we all managed to stay calm all the way through the week.

45 min after the birth...

2008-01-31T05:59:00.000+11:00

No more waiting!

2008-01-31T05:01:00.000+11:00

Finally and only ten days late! we have a baby girl. Both mother and baby are doing very well all things considered. She was born less than 40 mins ago and is already tucking into her first meal. She has not been checked out and weighed yet so I can't tell you the weight. Vicky got her wish and made it through on just gas and air. I am a very proud husband and father!

Australian Open

2008-01-27T23:01:00.000+11:00

Novak Djokovic won the Australian open just a few minutes ago. It Was in fact a fantastic match and only slightly overshadowed by the scariness of the Djokovic family all four of them waring white tracksuits with N-O-L-E written on them. His father seemed to be more than a little enthusiastic in his support. I truth though if Chris ever got the the final of the Australian open there is a good chance I would go nuts as well.

Still waiting....

2008-01-27T22:16:00.000+11:00

As the days go by we are still waiting for the baby to arrive. She shows no sign of coming just yet and poor Vicky is about ready to go round the bend.

We have been watching cracker on DVD a fantastic TV series if a bit gritty and depressing how ever did have a fairly good pregnancy joke in the last episode.

DCI David Bilborough talking about his wife who is over due (and I'm paraphrasing!)
"The midwife suggested that my wife be induced but she said no she wants a natural birth. I told her that if she wasn't going to induce my wife she should induce me. My Wife is only having a baby I'm having Kittens)"

Not quite as funny when i read it back, but I have to say right now I know how he feels.

Still waiting, not really sleeping but man am I glad I'm not Vicky right now!

Advance Australia Fair

2008-01-25T13:21:00.001+11:00

This is best termed as a violation of the corporate dress code... But it is in honor of Australia day so I guess its OK?

Anyone for tennis???

2008-01-21T22:51:00.000+11:00

I really can't say that I am all that much of a tennis fan but over the last few days I have really enjoyed watching the Australian open. I found it fairly amazing though that they schedule games that will run late into the night or even into early the following morning. It seems to be in absolute contrast to Wimbledon (the only other tennis tournament I have ever paid any attention to) .

Child stars and computers for kids....

2008-01-21T17:38:00.000+11:00

Having just spent quite a lot of time looking at some of my friends Bloggs I have been struck by a case of child envy. I guess I'm not really being serious but the idea that Christopher could manage enough concentration to learn where any constellation is in the sky seems to be a long way off right now (or am I just transferring my own inability to learn where constellations are on to my son?). Obviously there are plenty of things he can do but spending the time to learn something like that is not very high on his list of priorities. Anyway the software that Andrew recommended on his post looks very cool and I think I'm going to download it and see if it may spark some interest in Christopher, maybe we can learn the constellations together?

Christopher has definitely shown an interest in to anything that involves a computer. The truth is that Christopher would happily sit in front of a screen of some description for as long as we would let him. We have bought a number of cheap educational games for Christopher to play on an old laptop and he just can't seem to get enough of it. It's a better use of this time than sonic the hedgehog and he seems to get just as much fun out of it. It has also prompted me to download the CD image for Edubuntu. I haven't actually installed it yet in fact I haven't even burnt it to a CD yet so that I could install it but the intention is there and I will get to doing it soon.

SixSigma for kids???

2008-01-19T15:34:00.000+11:00

Sitting down in a coffee shop today Vicky suggested I spend the weekend teaching her and Christopher about SixSigma. I explained to Christopher that it is a way making difficult decisions, Chris just said "I'd rather just play rock paper scissors.

Just testing

2008-01-12T12:02:00.000+11:00

Are we nearly there yet

2008-01-02T22:16:00.000+11:00

Wait for the baby to come.

Lucas and Argyri on new years eve

2008-01-02T18:21:00.001+11:00

(First mobile photo post)

First Mobile Post

2008-01-02T18:16:00.000+11:00

Just testing it out for the first time but this is my first mobile post. Nothing more to say at the moment other than lookout for my first mobile photo.

Happy new year

2008-01-02T17:09:00.000+11:00

Happy new year and welcome to 2008, Somehow I feel That I can say that as we (That is those people living on this side of the world) got here first! Obviously its not really a competition but if it was we would have been quite close to winning!

Congratulations Kiribati, Christmas Islands.

Holidays and swimming

2007-11-14T15:26:00.000+11:00

Feels like a lifetime ago now but we have just been on our first family holiday! Now its not like we haven't been on a holiday before and its not like we haven't had a great time, In fact we feel lucky to be able to travel around the world visiting family, But it was fantastic to get away and be just the three of us for a change. We took the opportunity to do very little with our time just relaxing. In fact we did nothing but Sleep Eat Drink and visit the swimming pools on the resort we were staying at! The upshot of all of this is that Christopher can now swim un assisted. I don't really remember learning to swim my self. I have a distinct recollection of being in swimming pools with arm bands and lots of memories of swimming proper as a young child however the transition from one stage to the next is a blank! Having watched Christopher's transition from non swimmer to swimmer I think I may under stand why I don't remember. I blanked it out! Learning to swim is a fairly hard task and while Chris did love it in the pool it was certainly a fairly harrowing experience for him to start swimming on his own. All in all though we had a fantastic good time.
Unfortunately my camera finally gave up the ghost so I don't have any pictures to upload but if your interested this is where we stayed.

Guitar upgrades?

2007-11-07T15:22:00.000+11:00

Well it is no real secret that I am in fact a geek, but some times I hate myself for it. I like to know how things work and have no real problem taking stuff apart to get it to do what I want. Some times it goes well and other times it has been an expensive mistake! This weekend I visited a music shop to buy some geeky music stuff and in the process found out that my guitar has software in it. If I had taken the time to think it through I would have realised, But as it is an acustic guitar all be it a fairly hi-tech one I have never really thought about the software and just played it. After returning from the music shop with a special cable, I plugged the guitar into my PC and “Flashed it” (upgraded its software). The upside is I can now change some of the settings (graphic equalizer, compression and mike position from the PC) the down side is I have just upgraded software on an acoustic guitar. Now I can’t stop my self thinking of the guitar of more of a computer than a musical instrument not a place I really wanted to be… never mind it still sounds good plugged into an amp and that’s all the really matters. Or is it?

Travelling travelling travelling….

2007-09-03T13:17:00.000+10:00

This year I’ve been travelling a lot for work. In fact right now I am sat in a hotel room outside of Lisbon. I think that this is the 10th weekend that I have spent away from home so far this year. I have flown between Australia and Europe seven times, by the time I get home it will be eight. As each trip has taken around 30 hours that means that I have spent in excess of 210 hours on long-haul flights this year alone. Travelling for work is not glamorous. Jetlag sucks. I really really really want to go home.

Christopher’s fifth birthday

2007-08-29T13:16:00.000+10:00

Well Christopher has just had his fifth birthday and his third in Australia. Having done a large family get-together at home with far more people than was sensible in the first year, then moved on to a large family get-together in a "birthday centre" in the suburbs of Sydney for the second, this year we changed again and probably not for the better. We booked his party at McDonald's! Not something that I think either Vicky or I had ever expected to do. Having said that Christopher had an absolutely fantastic time and so did his friends. The whole event didn't break the bank or house which I guess is important.
Unfortunately I didn't get to find out how good or bad a McDonald's party actually is as I have been suffering from my 495th bout of flu of this winter. Probably the worst I've had so far this year.
It seems that for the last two a half years since we arrived I have been continually getting colds/flu's and other unpleasant illnesses. I think it is largely down to the fact that I didn't grow up in Australia and as a result have never been subjected to the various strains of bugs and viruses of the Australian continent has cooked up over the millenia, as a result I don't have any immunity to them. It'll seems to make sense as Vicky seemed to have much the same problem for the first couple of years when she arrived in the UK.

Christopers first recording session….

2007-08-13T13:14:00.000+10:00

It's going to be a bit of a short post but Chris has just cut his first ever track. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star....

The workings of a child’s mind ...

2007-08-04T13:06:00.000+10:00

As all parents probably know already, kids listen to everything, store it and throw it back at you when you least expect it. It tends to happen at just the wrong time, so as to cause people to look at the parent and ask themselves “what are you teaching that child?” .Well just recently Chris has come out with a cracker. Vicky and I think we have identified the various information/misinformation that has contributed to his humorous comments.
· Discussion on whether the baby will be born on time or late...
· The euphemistic phrases
o “she’s got a bun in the oven”
o “Not quite cooked” (relating to a friend’s baby that was born very premature)
The setup.... Christopher is asked do you think the new baby will have dark skin like your mum or white like your dad?
The response.... (Which was delivered in a superior tone suggestion that the question was fairly stupid) went like this....
“That depends on when it’s born!” when asked why the response came “If the baby is in mummy’s tummy for too long it will get burnt like in oven! The longer we leave it in the more brown it will be”
Not a bad piece of logic I think, and probably too early to go into genetics etc...

Number 2 is on the way

2007-07-11T13:01:00.000+10:00

Well its a bit of a short post for a big thing but Vicky is pregnant and has now passed that all important 12 week stage. Christopher is very excited and we took him along for the first scan today! We went to a clinic the specialise in pregnancy scans, who had what I can only describe as some very cool gear (42" Plasma Display to watch the scan on). Any way suffice it to say that after the various measurements etc were taken the doctor was able to confirm that it is definitely a baby and all indicators point to a healthy one at that.

Back again ....

2007-06-28T12:57:00.000+10:00

OK so the original idea of doing a blog did not go so well but that does not stop me from having another go. Since starting the blog last year we have been very busy doing stuff. The square foot garden was a success and yes we did get to eat loads of veg.. mainly tomatoes, lettuce, radishes and snow peas. The fish that never actually got a mention are doing OK to (If you consider eating each-other as a positive then they are doing great.)
Work for me has been hectic but good . I have spent a considerable amount of this year training for a new role in the company. It has seen me rushing around Europe far more than I would really like especially considering that I live on the other side of the world now. It is no small irony that in the first half of this year I will have visited more European countries than I did in the thirty years I lived back home in the UK. I have flown back and forth three times already this year which probably gives me a Carbon footprint that’s analogous to clown shoes.
Vicky has changed jobs and after contracting for a while has now gone permanent. She is still a project manager and is generally enjoying the new job. She is now seconded to a company called Cochlear (an iconic ausie company) and we are both now commuting from the south of Sydney where we live to the north were all the work is.
Chris is growing up fast and we have just enroled him in his first school which he will start at next January.
All in all things are going well and if I can keep up the momentum there should be plenty to put in the blog.

Square foot gardening (or 0.09290304 Square meter gardening)

2006-08-20T12:52:00.000+10:00

After being introduced to the concept by my old next door neighbour a few years ago I thought that I would look into Square foot gardening myself. Square foot gardening is supposed to be a way of gardening in less space with less work so being intrinsically lazy it appealed to me. The concept is based around using the best soil you can make (not what you have in your garden) in a raised bed. Then your planting is done in a grid rather than in rows, the point being that as long as your can reach your plants there is no need to have a row to walk along so why waist the space.
Square foot gardening is the brain child of a chap called Mel Bartholomew who is a retired engineerfrom the US. What he has done is taken some of what he learnt from his career into his gardening and tried to make it more scientific (or in some eyes possibly even geeky). It seems to me to be a bit of a cross between hydroponics and traditional gardening but as I don’t know much about either I could be wrong!
After starting to look into it over here in Australia it soon became clear that it has not taken off here at all. I looked for Mels’ book all around Sydney I was finally forced to order it from amazon in the US. Getting the book was only the first of the challenges, getting the ingredients for the soil was not easy and continually having to convert measurements from linear,square and cubic feet to metric measurements is a bit a chore. In the end though and after quite a bit of help from Vicky we are up and running and planted the first seeds today. Who knows we may even be able to eat food grown in our own garden later this year.

Why Start A Blog

2006-08-19T17:00:00.000+10:00

So the question I’m asking myself is why would I start a Blog ? I can be fairly disorganised, don’t much like writing and am terrible at keeping in touch with people I want to keep in touch with! All of which are fairly good reasons to start.
The fact is the idea hadn’t even occurred to me until Andrew Smith suggested it last time I was back home in England. Since then, I have been reading his Blog and becoming more and more convinced that maybe starting what my own would be a good idea.
I’m thinking that not only is this a way of keeping in touch but it could also be a diary for my self just to remind me of what I have been up to. Also I’m hoping that it might help stop me sitting in front of the TV - If all I do is watch the box then i’m not going to have much to write about here so it my even improve my life well you never know?
Any way thanks Andrew for the suggestion lets see how it goes!