Monday, January 24, 2011

Work, Life & Balance

One of my dot points in the last entry outlined the fact that after 5 years in same role with a shall remain nameless multinational finance company I finished up and had started in a new role.

I've now been at the new job for about 5 weeks and here are some of many positives of note:
  • The new team environment is very positive and everyone is really friendly.
  • Its quiet (as in audible)
  • Good hours, currently doing 8ish to 4:30ish
  • My chair is soooo comfy
  • Going from 10 years using laptops to a desktop has been interesting.
  • I've always used dual screens & have gone back to a single has also been a challenge
  • Being in the city is awesome for places to eat.
  • The daily train ride in and out has proven to be a good way to relax.
With all the rain we've seen of late one of the first things on my shopping list was a new umbrella. I made the mistake of getting a piddly little compact which turned inside out the first time I used it so I quickly upgraded to a golf umbrella reminiscent of the umbrella corporation.

I've also added some other items to the shopping list for the coming weeks, firstly I need a murse/man bag, all my bags are either backpacks or laptop bags and while I dont carry a lot a hand bag would be just that..... HANDY. Secondly I need some new leather shoes, I wore a hole in my current pair in the first few weeks and with countless streets to explore on my lunches I intend to do plenty of miles.

Another thing on the shopping list is a tablet pc. With an extra 2 hours a day sitting on the train time can be better spent reading the my daily interwebz, typing up blog posts, reading e-books videos, games etc etc. This will be the subject of much deliberation, at the moment I'm swaying towards an iPad mainly because with the upgrade of adroid 2.2 on my Galaxy I'm really not happy with the lag and cant really justify taking the plunge on a tablet running the same OS i.e. the Galaxy Tab. More on that later.

Some other changes that the new job has allowed for is the growth of a little hair, I usually shave my head because its the easiest way to maintain when you're riding a motorcycle daily but with my switch up in commuting I dare say i'll need to get a hair cut in a few weeks (the first in years).

I hope I can continue to contract with the Vic Government for a few years and see through the projects I currently have in the pipeline. This year I will also re-establish some new career goals.

I had originally set certain goals to achieve before I turned 30, I reached this first set at 28. I then set additional goals to reach before I turned 35 and reached these at 31 so I think now is an opportune time to reassess.

Until Next Time.......

Friday, January 21, 2011

Yowser

According to my post log I haven't made one in over a month, so without getting into the inner details here is a recap of the past month at the house of Fun.

  • I finished up at my old job, I was given a $150 JB voucher. I will not miss that place, just the awesome peeps I worked with.
  • Miss H turned 1, we took her to Healesville sanctuary and then had a gathering of about 50 people, I cooked a spit roast. It rained so most of the children were confined to quarters.
  • The Garage flooded, and wet all the carpet downstairs, it smelt like wet dog for the best part of 2 weeks.
  • I caught the train into the city. My first time in 8 years
  • I started my new job (more on that later)
  • Giftmas came with new bikes, transformers, dolls, vintage lego yada yada
  • New years came, I actually almost didn't make midnight, I was dozing off in bed as I heard one of the local parties count down. I must be getting old
  • Mamma Bears Brother, his wife and 3 children moved down the beach so we took in some coastal R&R
  • We drove to Adelaide for the Nevus conference (More on that later)
  • We drove back from Adelaide
  • The garage and downstairs flooded again (yay) Not as bad as the first time but still a weeks worth of carpet dryers.
Thats about all I can think of in terms of highlights, so here are some happy snaps in no particular order.


Flood #1
Day at the sanctuary
Miss H on her first birthday
With some ugly mug...
Yay for keeping up with 6 children
Sheesh a smile??
Mr C with one of the other attendees at the Nevus conference, was great to get a point of view of an adult who has grown up with CGMN, he was truly one of the nicest guys i've ever met and and we cant wait to catch up again.
Sunrise somewhere between Melbs and Radelaide
Me at about 3:55am
A perspective shot to see how white my legs are
Fun at the beach
Until next time I promise updates will start coming in more frequently now.