2008-03-10

Penultimate BrisVegas

So we were back in BrisVegas en-masse for what should have been the final time, but is now the next-to-last time.
My (over)persuasive boss sweet-talked me into working an extra two weeks - so I've had to recruit C to help out with all the crap I've now committed myself to doing over the next four weeks. Idiot.
Nonetheless this week's will be my penultimate drive up to Brissie - and I'm pretty excited at the thought of getting rid of that weekly 340 kilometre round-trip! I drove the other way this time - imitating C & Fran's detour via the famous Lions Road, but going straight at Dairy Flat for the most direct inland route from Nimbin to Brisbane. It' s a nice drive, if perhaps a bit too scenic at times, and doesn't take any longer than driving via Murwillumbah and the Pacific Highway. I had to work on Friday, so Fran took the Citicat all the way along the Brisbane river from the Port area right up to the UQ campus out West, and hopped off to look at the New Farm park around the Powerhouse. Saturday the four of us had a great chilled day exploring Latrobe terrace (that's me above at cafe pandemonium) - I never tire of the old junk shops and nik-nak places in Paddo; this time, by ridiculous coincidence, I stumbled on a 1983 pen-and-ink drawing of the house 3 doors down from our place at Besant Street in West End (which is way across the other side of Brisbane and over the river from Paddington) and even talked the lass at the shop into giving it to me for $20, which I reckon is a bargain. I'll put a photo of it up next week, it's a nice sketch.
On Sunday we spent the day at the Mount Coot-Tha botanical gardens, then I drove Fran to the airport for 11pm, as she had a 2:30am flight for Brunei. I was sad waving her off, but I knew she was even sadder leaving her granddaughter on the wrong side of the world.
After (many) hours of digging and shifting soil around the perimeter of our house, this week I have finally found termites around a stump. This is actually a major breakthrough as the stump in question is directly below the wall I already knew they were in - so I've pretty much located their entry point. Friends in the area have all advised that I should use chemicals myself rather than call out a pro to use chemicals for me at a massive surcharge, so I'll soon be blogging about my experiences with various arsenic based insecticides. I hope.
I've also used a large chunk of my time this week setting up my profile on The Content Wrangler community site and starting a group for "work from home" tech writers - somehow it seemed more important than work and more fun than digging soil away from the house. To all ye hordes nipping at my heels about my lack of a MyFace, or SpaceBook profile - have patience! As well as the Content Wrangler, I am LinkedIn, I keep my work site pretty up-to-date, and I'm fairly active on most of the relevant forums - so, the only way I'm going to get myself set up on the social networking sites is by making absolutely sure that I'll have no extra maintenance to do on my new profiles - and that takes time!
The shenanigans surrounding the company lease of my car (now that I'm leaving my permie job and going contracting again) have been enough to make me pine for my car-free London days: It seems the change in status from leased to hire-purchase somehow involves me filling in forms in triplicate for the HR department at work, the licensing guys, the road tax people, the finance company, the tax office, the insurers, and Bob. And Bob's Dog. And its fleas.
We have a four-day weekend coming up for Easter, which means more time to battle the termites, and (with any luck) more time to sleep.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reading through your blog I noticed you eat out at restaurants
a bit and thought you would benefit from buying yourself an Entertainment book,that's if you don't already have one
http://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/home
I buy one every year and can then live a champagane lifestyle on a beer budget.You get a massive book of 2 for 1 and 25% off vouchers which you can use at places like Atomica,Cristos,Ottoman,Tounge & Groove,West End Park,3 Monkeys,Sitar,Powerhouse,just to name a very,very few.
They cost about $55+about $5 postage,or you can just pick them up at places like Sunsmart cancer shop,Guide Dogs for the blind,etc.
There is a Brisbane one and a Gold Coast one.I buy both but one is probably enough because you'll never get through one buy the end of June next year anyway.
Now is the time to buy them because you'll get more than a year to use them.
You won't be sorry.Trust me.

Cheers / Darren

Blogger said...

Damn.
This would have been a really good idea... Except that we'll hardly be in town any more (Brisvegas or Gold Coast!) We'll be pretty much based in Nimbin and Lismore as of next week... But if I end up having to commute to Brissie again, I'll check out entertainmentbook.com.au.
Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Get the Gold Coast edition then,because it goes as far as Byron Bay,Kingscliff,
Murwillumbah,even Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
Trust me,you'll get your money back after 2 dinners.

Anyway it's been a weekend adventure reading through your blog and seeing life through a Nimbinite's eyes.All the best to you and your family for the future.
It's made me realize how much work and disipline goes into maintaining a blog and why I don't bother to write one,hence the anaoymous postings.

Cheers / Daz

Blogger said...

Cheers mate - glad my ramblings have provided some amusement! You're right about the discipline - I often HATE sitting down to blog the week's doings... But at the same time it's sort of addictive, and I find I now have an itch to write once more than a week goes by without a blog post.
;)