Saturday 27th November 2004The only thing that was hotter than today's 39°C weather was the water from the cold tap - 40°C.
Thomas had spent last night at his grandparent's house. It's air conditioned in every room and he has his own cot there, so he had a really comfortable sleep, unlike Ann and me, who tried to sleep in 27°C beds, whilst avoiding the spiders that had come in to the house to avoid the heat.
We went down to Liam and Shirley's house to collect Thomas this morning, and I managed to convince Liam to help me do some work on the car. We have been getting electric shocks from the car doors when we get out, and sometimes it's really painful. So, yesterday I bought an anti-static grounding strip that would discharge the static - all I had to do was screw it to some metalwork on the car. The problem is that there was no convenient location for us to screw the strap to. The sun was beating down, and I was jacking up the back of the car and Liam was scrabbling over the hot concrete to rub his hands over the grease-covered underside of the car, to try and find a flange that was made from metal. We eventually found an area that we could screw into, but all the metalwork on the car has been coated in a protective rubberised coating that was very difficult to penetrate with the supplied screws. So, Liam and I spent about an hour drilling and screwing, attempting to get the little rubber strap to fix to the car. Eventually we managed to get it fixed on, and we will have to wait and see if it helps with the static shocks.
It's still too hot for me to make my 
homebrew,
although it should cool down later in the week.
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Another hot day in paradise - 34°C.
This morning we decided to go to another shopping centre to
do two things - one was to do some Christmas shopping, and the other was to
take advantage of the air-conditioned comfort of the shopping centre. We didn't
really achieve either, as most of the shops were closed and the air-conditioning
was on low - so it was not as hot as outside, but not cool.
Instead, we decided to make an unexpected visit to Linda and Ashley - as they
have air-conditioning. We dropped in just before Brendan was due to go out to
play baseball, and the girls were all out shopping. So, for about 5 minutes,
we were left in the cool house whilst Ashley took Brendan out and the girls
came back (laden down with toys). Then, Linda had to leave to be the scorer
for the game, so Ann, Thomas and I had to return to our own home.
If the temperature was 35°C, then the baseball game would have been called
off, but it wasn't so they were all out there playing in the heat.
Talking of mad dogs and Englishmen, I decided to go outside
and do a bit of pruning in the garden. There is (was) a bush that was growing
into the car-port area, making it difficult to get Thomas in and out of the
car - particularly if it was wet...
I must have been outside for only 5 minutes, but the sweat was pouring from
my forehead and my eyes were slits from the bright sunshine. When I went back
into the house, it felt so cool and dark - even though it was still very warm
in the house.
If you are not a friend or family, I bet you must be thinking that this blog is really boring (and you may be thinking about that even if you are friend or family!). It's difficult to come up with insightful and interesting comments for every single day... I might start reverting to talking about current events.
Today there were reports of a Great White Shark near the Adelaide beaches. They showed a view from a helicopter of the 5m long animal, a mere 200m from the shoreline. People were getting out of the water, and there were coastguard boats and planes overhead, to ensure that the shark was tracked. Only a few days ago, there was another incident where some dolphins saved swimmers by distracting the shark long enough for the swimmers to get out of the water. I think that it will be a while before I get into the water.
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I went to the dentist today. I wanted to get as much work
on my teeth done before my expected start at work next week. I was pleasantly
surprised that when I called to arrange an appointment, that I got one on the
same day. In England, one time that I tried to get a dentist appointment (after
calling 3 or 4 dentists to find out that they were not taking on new patients),
that it would take 3 months before I could get a check-up.
Anyway, I had a check up, x-ray, clean and polish, and they found that I need
a few fillings, and the excess came to $77. The medical insurance pays for almost
all of it, and so I just need to pay the excess. I will be going back on friday
for the drilling.
I went into the city on the O-Bahn
from Tea Tree Plaza. It is probably going to be the fastest way for me to get
into the city every day. The O-Bahn
is a guided busway, where a 'bendy bus' has a dedicated road from Tea Tree Plaza
to the city - the bus drives onto the track and then two guide wheels follow
the sides of the roadway and steer the bus along the track. Because the busway
only takes buses, there is no other traffic or pedestrians to cope with, and
they don't even have to build the complete road (only where the tyres run),
the bus can go at up to 100 Km/h. This makes the 12km journey only take 20 minutes,
and after the O-Bahn stretch, the bus just carries on to the normal road (and
bus stops). It works out at $2.22 per journey (85p) and would be quicker than
driving in, and the parking is free at TTP - whereas it could be £20 in
the city.
Unfortunately on my return journey during rush hour, I got on a bus that leaves
the O-Bahn at the station 2/3rds of the way along, and then does a local journey
- stopping at nearly every stop. Next time, I will check which route the bus
goes takes!
It cooled down long enough for me to make my homebrew today.
I
filtered all my water and mixed it all
up, so I hope that it stays cool enough for the yeast to finish by the weekend.
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I had an interview at UniSA
today. I went into their lovely new offices in Mawson
Lakes, for a 12 month contract position. For the first time in 8 years,
I had to do a technical test, which I was initially unsure about. Once I finished
the test, I felt more comfortable with having done it - because I had proved
to myself that I was able to answer their questions. The interview was in front
of 5 people, and they had scripted questions to ask me within a strict 40 minute
window. The interview started late (maybe they had trouble reading my handwriting
from the test!) but they were all pleased to see me, which put me at ease.
I felt confident that I had done really well at the interview, as I not only
answered their questions, but I also went further to recommend improvements
and additional things that could be done. With one question, I went into very
high detail on how to make a cluster of servers, and they seemed happy with
my complete response.
Once I got home, I got confirmation of my position offer from EDS, and signed up to their offer of a 6 month contract.
Shortly after, UniSA called me back to invite me to a follow
up interview. The feedback from UniSA was very good, and they were very keen
to hire me. I had to decide if I wanted to go back on my signed contract with
EDS to go for the job with the University. The University job is paying less
but is a longer term contract, and has a very interesting role with all the
technology that I like and with plenty to do, but EDS would offer me more exposure
to future career opportunities and experience within the SA Government - a major
employer in South Australia.
So, I declined the very good offer from UniSA, and they were very disappointed
that they could not have me. I now look forward to starting with EDS on Monday.
Typical - wait for a job for 6 months and then two turn up at once!
Thomas has started to get a cold, and both Ann and I are feeling a bit coldy at the moment. Thomas has a running nose and is sweating and miserable, and I have a dry sore throat and a headache. We have given Thomas paracetamol and postponed his swimming tomorrow, and Ann and I will eat steak and veg tonight.
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Summer officially begins today. In England, the start of summer is normally greeted by flooding, or at least heavy rain and wind. There seems to be no difference here - there was a thunderstorm last night, with heavy rain and wind. When the rain stopped, it was very sudden - and the silence was deafening.
One of the best things about summer rain is not the relief from the heat, but the smell. The delicate earthy smell of dusty soil and hot paving stones being sprinkled with warm rain gives off such an atmosphere of renewal and revitalisation. Since being in Adelaide, I have had that smell at least 5 times, where as in England I would probably smell it once in a summer.
Both Ann and I have dry, sore, tickly throats now - I guess that it is better for me to have one this week than next week, and it's good for Ann to be ill whilst she has me around to help. Thomas has exchanged his nose for a leaky tap that is always dribbling fluids of varying consistencies - normally over Ann's clean clothes or over the blue lounge cushions.
Mary has left a message
of congratulations for me on the discussion forum - its great to see that all
of our good news gets out so quickly when I put it into this blog.
It's Ann here - sometimes you all know our
news before I do!!
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Next week my mother will be here. So, as every house-proud son would, I spent the morning cleaning the oven and her bathroom. We have already prepared her bedroom, doing a full spider check of each dark corner. I hope she is comfortable - it's the coolest room in the house because the window does not get any direct sunshine. We managed to clear out a double wardrobe of hanging space and 6 of the drawers in the bedside cabinets, all by finding other places to put stuff that we had previously "dumped" in that room.
We had the sliding door fly screens installed today - at long
last! The guy turned up a little early, and measured up the doors for the fly
screens. He has a service that he makes the doors on-site to measure, although
normally he makes security doors with locks and grilles. Unfortunately Ann was
feeding Thomas when he was measuring up, and so when he started to install the
screen on the laundry room sliding door, both Ann and I paniced and had to tell
him that is was the wrong door. So, when we told him which door is was meant
to go on, he had a bit of trouble fitting it, as the frame was slightly smaller.
After a few minutes of him struggling to install the door (accompanied by banging,
crashing and swearing), eventually he managed to make it fit. The second fly
screen went in within a couple of minutes.
It is marvelous to have these screens so that we can open the door for ventillation
without the flies coming in. Previously we had no other way of getting fresh
air into the largest room in the house.
The fly screens are so well made that they are virtually invisible in the doorway.
So invisible in fact, that Ann nearly walked through it when going out to appreciate
the
sunset. Ann bumped her nose, grazed her
knuckles and pulled the screen out of it's frame. The door had only been up
a few hours and it was broken!
I didn't see Ann's accident because I was at a Christmas party,
thrown by my soon-to-be employers, Paxus.
It was a simple drinks and nibbles event at a pub, and it was a great way for
me to network with other IT professionals. I met some interesting people and
drunk plenty of free beer. I also met my future boss, which was good, as we
got on well together again.
I took the O-Bahn in to the city, but accidentally waited
at the wrong bus stop for a while, so ended up being late in. On the way home,
it was easy because my future boss needed the same bus, and the stop was immediately
opposite the pub.
I came home from the party to find an upset and sick Ann. Her cold has got worse and the sore throat has been accompanied by a headache. Thomas had also decided to play up and cry, and as there was nothing on TV, Ann had tried to play a DVD, only to find that I had not plugged a cable back in after making some 'adjustments'. So she was not in a good mood - the flyscreen door did not help.
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We were woken early by Thomas - he had dropped his dummy and wanted to play at 6:30. Ann was feeling really rough, so eventually I was kicked out of bed to look after my son. Fridays are not normally my day to "be on earlies" and look after his breakfast needs.
Whilst Ann was still in bed recuperating with a cup of tea
and paracetamol, I called the flyscreen door man. He said that he was the only
person in his franchise so really busy, and that it would be 6 days until he
could come around. So, I decided to have a crack at it myself - after all, it's
already broken.
I managed to dis-assemble the flyscreen door and put it all back together again.
There were slight dents in the mesh where Ann's knuckles, knee and nose had
been. The screen went back onto it's runners and there were no holes for flies
- a job well done.
After last night's unfortunate accident, I decided to mark the mesh so that no-one else would walk into the invisble screen. The sliding patio doors have an interlocked diamond design at waist level, so I got a needle and some white thread out, and stitched a small diamond into the mesh - it looked great. I then repeated the slow process of sewing into the screen, until I had copied the design from the glass. Now it looks like there are 5 white diamonds hovering in space.
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