The Wonderful (or not so wonderful) life of Greg

Well, an early start to the day, but all in all a very relaxing one.

It’s truely amazing how much stress I have added up and how one day away from the office just living it up can make you destress

Up at 4am this morning, picked up by Ben at 5am, airport at 5.30am, Qantas Club for a glass of juice, and then on the plane up here.

Got up here to a very overcast Queensland morning, but it cleared up by about 10.30am to be a really nice day, very muggy, but warm enough without being uncomfortable.

Checked the bags in at the apartment, and then walked around Broadbeach until about 12.30, when we came back to the room for a few hours to check email and chill a bit.

Then went out to the mall to get some nibblies and food and beer

Had a nice spa for about an hour which was just bliss, then showered and headded out to a lovely Indian restaurant dinner for dinner which was brilliant! Had a good walk all the way to the end of all the shops, about 5 or 6 k’s then turned around to decide that we only felt like indian

Had a nice stroll back along the beach road, and now just sitting with an ale on the balcony over looking the beach to my right and Conrad Jupiters to my left.

It’s a warmish 12 - 15 degrees at the moment with a nice breeze. Time to finish some email and work and then knuckle down to some more Microsoft reading before a full on day tomorrow.

That’s all for today…. stay tuned for more from the Gold Coast tomorrow.

Ciao.

G

Wow, this weather is just brilliant!

Spent all day yesterday on the bike. 1st did a run out to Yarra Glen > Healsville > Kinglake > Christmas Hills > Kangaroo Ground > Warrandyte. Then went down to Frankston in the arvo for Sasha’s birthday, and yesterday evening went to see The Island.

The Island - movie based on an insurance company that is cloning people and keeping them in a contained world, one of them gets a memory and manages to get out, and it all goes from there. 180 mins of very intensive thinking and a very good movie. Some very good cinematography and an interesting story line. Could have been a bit shorter, but got very predictable towards the end. 7/10.

Today, had a nice sleep in, now have to get my lazy arse out of bed and start thinking about packing for Queensland this week as I jet off at 5am tomorrow morning to the sunny Gold Coast for 5 days of Microsoft Tech.Ed.

I might also head out on the bike later on for a bit of a blat seeing that the weather is just too good not to ride in

Well, time to get up….

G

Well, the weekend got off to a booming start with Fox Hunting on Friday night. Came equal 3rd, and had a fun evening.

Saturday was extremely boring, spent the whole day in bed reading Microsoft Documentation… thrilling stuff.

And Sunday, I did my advanced Scouting fundimentals training, and that was all good, until we were packing up and I managed to mash my finger and hand between a table and a wall which was bloody stupid of me!

So I now have the 4th finger on my right hand that is a bit mashed up and in bloody agony!

Work is busy at the moment, and my contract seems a bit shakey at the moment and doesn’t seem to positive, bit of politics at work which has it under scrutiny. So I have re-done the resume again, and started to look for work just in case.

Looking forward to a week away from the office next week, in sunny Queensland, but dreading the amount of work i’ll have when I come back.

Well, time to start reading…. still have shitload to read, and my head it overloaded after a full on day….

G

Well, that’s another week in paradise down and over. Just sitting at my desk looking out over Southbank Boulevard at the lovely Melbourne weather thinking, … ummm, beer and bed sounds good… but alas, tonight is the monthly fox hunt, so over to Yarraville I go at about 7ish, so what better to do to kill some time… Blog of course.

An interesting week of firefighting this week, and plenty of the bastards to put out aswell, could have done without half of them, but such is life. I think it’s time just to get me a fire extinguisher for next to my desk and everytime I have to fight a fire, I get to spray the sod… sounds like a plan… I’ll add that to Mondays task list

Picked up a new client this week which is always nice, other than that, it has just been madness.

T - 10days until I jet off to the Gold Coast for 5 days of sun, surf, and Microsoft Conference…. still will be great to clear the head and get away from the office for a week. Then down to Brisbane for 2 days to do some work in the office there and fix some small issues there.

What’s on for the weekend, well tomorrow I have to read shitloads as the last 2 days have been very unproductive in that department, and Sunday I am on a Scout training course all day which should be thrilling….

Next week - Tha calendar is slowly filling up. Monday looks like I have an Australian Flag Presentation, Tuesday is clear at the moment, so is Wednesday, Thursday I have an Expo in the evening for one of my wholesalers, and Friday I think I might try to catch Little Birdy playing down at the hi-fi bar.

Well I think I might go and try to find somewhere to eat before foxhunting and maybe have a brew aswell.

Until next time,

Ciao.

G

Too much reading and not enough time…. I need to be like Johnny 5…… and be able to read a book and understand it all ….

Well the week so far so good.

Had my job appraisial on Tuesday which went reasonably well, and now just waiting on my contract renewal for the next 12 months.

Now off to start reading again! only 11,500 pages to go……:(

G

Wow, a busy weekend.

Saturday, had the AAMI Skilled Drivers Course, which was boring to say the least. Great for P Platers who haven’t been driving for long, but for those driving for 3 years, most of what they showed us most have already experienced.

Saturday arvo, went down to Kangaroo Ground Memorial Tower for the Rememberance Day Contest, and then stayed until 3am…. until I got bloody freezing and tired and went home…. got some well earned rest.

Sunday, went back to finish off the RD Contest. Finished up with about 900 odd contacts which was a great effort, and then had to pack up in the wind and the cold. Geeze it was blowy up there!

Today, well I finished booking some more sessions for Tech.Ed in 2 weeks time, and also went and booked 7 Microsoft Exams for while I am up there. Which means, if I pass all of them, I come out with MCSE 2003 and MCSA 2003 Messaging, which will be bloody beautiful

So for the next 12 days or so, I have about 12,000 pages of reading to do … some call it cramming I guess…. just making sure that I know the correct Microsoft Way to do things.

Tomorrow, have my performance appraisial, and for the next week or so, I think it will be home in the evenings to sit and do a shitload of reading.

Well that’s all for today.

Ciao

Greg

Well, since last Thursday…. what a hectic one….

Well where to start….

1stly…. BIG CONGRATS to James & Karen (www.jamesandkaren.id.au) giving birth to baby William on the 5th of August.

Friday was coffee at Southbank then back to Debs for drinks.

Saturday went and looked at a few cars. Test drove the new Ford Focus. It is a really zippy little car. Very Nice.

Sunday, spent all day trying to do a whole year of accounts in one hit…
Did quite well and reconsiled most of it. So now just time to finish the GST this weekend.

Monday - Busy day as per usual.

Tuesday - another busy one then off to a few clients in the evening.

Wednesday - Not a bad day. Got plenty done at work, out to Tullamarine in the arvo to finalise the office close, and then to a client in the evening.

And today, not a bad day. Went out to the MD’s to fix a puter and do some training and then had dinner with Genevieve this evening which was really nice

Tomorrow, another hectic one I think. Few fires to put out. Might go to coffee tomorrow evening, just depends on the weather. Then have a defensive driving course on Saturday and who knows what Sunday will hold

G

Wow how the week has flown…. I am having serious issues this week thinking that I am always one day behind! It has been funny…. nearly missing appointments… whoopsies…

So far, so good. Monday was a busy day with an early start and a good afternoon ride. Tuesday rode to work and then had a client in the evening. Wednesday and tonight, a night at home.

Went hunting for the new Roisin Murphy CD tonight (Ruby Blue). Very hard to get my hands on…. Just listening to it at the moment, and gee its great! Roisin is the lead singer from Moloko who had the hit Sing it Back, Pure Pleasure Seeker and The Time is Now, back in the late 90’s.

This is Roisin’s first solo CD, produced by Matthew Herbert, and wow, how diverse and out there! An amazing collection of funky beats, interesting instruments, and what Roisin is best known for, a wicked voice!

If you liked Moloko, then this ones a must! - 10/10!

Also picked up Bomba this week. Another great Aussie 6 piece out of Melbourne. A funky, jazzy regge beat thats very nice. New album for them, and they are touring in August.

I have started adding some links to the right hand side under the “Other things in the world of Greg” area. Let me know if there is anything that catches your fancy!

The weekend ahead… Saturday arvo, have a ride meeting at The Wine Larder in Croydon, and nothing planned for the evening. Sunday, looks like another quiet day at the moment. Have to do my GST, I have been so busy and just haven’t even sat down to do it yet….. whoops…

Well, a long post tonight…

Ciao for now.
G

Wow, watching the sun come up at work…. something I haven’t done since last time the server went foobah!

Well up at 4.30, and out the door at 5am, for a nice early 5.30am start. Got the server back up and running again and knocked over a few hours of work. Quite amazing how much work I get done when there is no one around and the phone isn’t ringing!

Because of the early start, I decided to knock off early. So at 2 I chautled on home and jumped on the bike to soak up some of the glorious Melbourne sunshine!

Went for a great ride thru Warrandyte, Kangaroo Ground, Panton Hill, Kinglake…. Filled up with some fuel, and then back down the hill again

Was a nice afternoon and a great ride!

Then this evening off to Fasta Pasta for Monday night coffee

All in all, a pretty good day.

Let’s just home tomorrow carries with the same good trend

G