Fridays

Everyone likes Fridays. This one was particularly good for me - a nice (& cheap) lunch with friends at Rosalie was just the beginning (or was it the middle?). A last-day-in-the-office demo of our latest software to the customer went well - perhaps too well - and my office is more-or-less cleaned out.

I succumbed to my materialistic affluenza and decided that I really couldn't live without the new computer. That will mean an old one that can be used for any dodgy stuff including kids games, and a relatively clean one that is suitable for doing serious work on. So I managed to collect it today as well. It will make an impact, not only in the cheque account - yes, I actually wrote a cheque! - but in the sleep account, I suppose. I've already had a play, and just need to work out how to display the television. Windows Media Center says I need an internet connection first, but it will take a while to configure the WAP.

I'm currently in the middle of reading The Railway Children to The Female Children of the household. The chapters are longer than most that we've been reading, and some of the language requires extra explanation and discussion. My new-laptop-infatuation/exploration meant a little delay tonight, but we managed to finish by 9:40. (Nominal bedtime is still 8:30.)

But the most important news of the day relates to travel plans. The courier DID deliver the long-awaited passports this afternoon. And aren't those UK Visas nice and shiny. Not only that, but I also managed to speak with our assistant in London. We are now confident we don't need to pack sheets and towels in the luggage (although they will be freighted to UK), and the transport (including baby seat) is organised, and the London accommodation is too, and the bank account application is going in this afternoon. Just re-establishing contact has lowered the stress-o-meter a couple of notches for both of us at this end.

If you were looking for news of the trades, you'll be pleased with this paragraph. The gas man came to fix the stove, and couldn't find anything wrong with it. Typical. The removalists' pre-pack inspections have both been and gone. The DVD people have taken the machine away - for one or two weeks! Locksmith is due tomorrow morning. Telephone, gas, and internet access are all organised to be cancelled. Car and health insurance processing is underway, and I'm not sure if we had any advice about electricity readings from the agent. The new toilet is all in place. Clothes are the next big thing on the agenda...

Yesterday, I had my work farewell lunch, at the Gap Tavern. The food was good, and the view was very pleasant too. We had a 2005 Penfolds Private Release Cabernet Shiraz. The less said about that the better, although some seemed to like it. Things improved when we graduated to the Yarra Ridge "Eye Spy" 2004 Cabernet Merlot. The label would have us anticipate the ripe cherry and luscious plum with a soft generous finish. There was certainly fruit, but I think "generous" might apply to the label writer.

Near the end of this entry, I'll mention that Kylie and Jim have made it to the USA, having successfully navigated monastries, gorgeous earthquake-lakes, an orthodox wedding, and Italian post offices.

Finally, I'm pleased to say that today I learned that Dan and Carla have announced their engagement, with tentative plans for a December 2008 wedding. At first I was surprised that they'd chosen to come over to England just as we were leaving, but then I realised that they were considering taking the plunge while we were to be busily toiling in distant lands in the service of the nation. I'm sure patriotic senses will return, so that we can join the celebrations.

Panic Level 2

It could be something in the water, or maybe it's the ether or the space-time continuum. But somehow, a wave of panic has washed over us (or at least me). I'm sure it's not the worst it will be, but it seems noticeably, qualitatively different from yesterday. I wonder if there's a "straw that breaks the camel's back" situation with panic. Probably not. It could be just that I'm tired as well. Spent a little too much time in the e-surf last night.

It would be nice to know that all is well with the passports. Apparently my helper in Canberra was not in at work today, so there was no news. Maybe tomorrow (Thursday - my second last day in the office). I've given up waiting for passports to do the bank account application. That was faxed off yesterday with my private passport details, although my assistant in London is away until Thursday. Maybe that will all go haywire. I've asked Westpac for the business access thingy - not sure how long that will take. Maybe we'll be out of the country before they can deliver the dongle. And then there's tax. My managed funds tax statement will arrive on 1 October (next Monday), giving me loads of time to fix it all up before the removalists arrive on Wednesday - although we don't move out until Thursday. I met with my financial people today to discuss their doing it all for me, but it doesn't seem to save that much work on my part, and they charge too much anyway. Another decision...

We've arranged the landlord insurance for home, and we've re-addressed insurance for the Townsville house, so that's good. We've thought about the health insurance, and the insurance for goods being sent overseas. There's paperwork involved in both of those, and they're not done yet. One lot of car insurance is arranged from my point of view, although Peter still needs to do stuff. The other car insurance isn't completely sorted yet, although it's been nicely serviced yesterday. I've made arrangements for the broadband account to be cancelled, but we need to preserve the phone number, and "stop" the electricity and gas.

I've been trying to prepare myself for internet and mobile access in the UK, so that we don't waste time/money making bad choices. It all seems so different over there. It seems that mobile phone contracts are double the Australian prices, and the broadband is half the price (or less). It will probably take rather more poring over web pages to reach a satisfactory understanding of how it all works.

To top it all off, we've decided that we need a locksmith to service the front door (coming Saturday); a gas man to make the stove work a bit better (coming tomorrow); an electronics man to make the DVD player eject the disc (calling tomorrow); a removalist doing our storage (pre-pack inspection tomorrow); rental-property cleaners to arrange, and a plumber to stop the toilet dripping. Well, you don't really need a plumber for that - anyone can change a washer. But that wouldn't really be the John way of doing things. Nope, I went and bought a whole new, much more water-saving toilet suite. I've half installed it already tonight. A spot of plastering and painting (since the old toilet covered up more of the wall than this one does) to do tomorrow morning, and an extra little flexible hose, and we'll be a two-toilet household again.

Other things on the list: a new battery for the laptop - but there are currently none in Australia. Maybe it will be easier to buy one in the UK. Do I need a new laptop? It would be nice - one for me/work and the old one for kids games etc, and it's almost half price with salary packaging, but maybe it's not really urgent. I think the ASUS F3SV is the machine I would choose. And if I did have a new computer, would any of the other tasks ever get done?

On top of all those, there's a farewell lunch with work friends tomorrow, and with games friends the next day (tentatively so far - should I arrange it?).

Clearly there's no time to spend on blogspot...

Hansard

I've always wondered how much licence the Hansard reporters might be able to take. Do they record what parliamentarians meant to say? Do they repair grammatical errors? Can the speakers make special pleas to amend their legacy? What is the limit?

It looks like the RN transcription service manages to protect Stephen Crittenden from MediaWatch. Try listening to this audio, and your ears will tell you that the Anglican Primate in Australia is Peter Aspinall. But your eyes will tell you that his first name is Phillip. Maybe Stephen was thinking of the Jensens, where such a mistake is much easier to make. Some would say the Jensens are bigger or easier targets for the weak-kneed uber-tolerant humanistic cultural relativists at the ABC. But not me. One of my interests is trying to understand the origins of the differences between Sydney Anglicanism and other varieties.

And while we're on formative personal experiences, was there a single occurrence that led to my Bach addiction? Is there a certain age where such preferences become deep-seated? How vulnerable are these predilections to manipulation? Are they chaotic?

Visa no show

In my thermodynamics note earlier, I contemplated that we may be safely passported by the end of this week. I have to admit that it's not a huge surprise to find that we didn't quite get there. But there's plenty of time (17 sleeps), so we can all just relax and think about something else - like insurance, inventories, itineraries, and income tax.

And while we're on the theme of PDF drivers for Vista, let me mention three that I've just located:
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
http://www.primopdf.com/
http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php

Horseshoe

Yawn. In some ways, it's nice to have a day trip interstate. Bypassing the check-in queues and the luggage claim is surprisingly attractive. But it is a little hard to reconcile that with the early start and late finish. But it's all over now. And I didn't fall asleep in any meetings - not even during the in-flight entertainment (Australian v Sri Lanka Twenty20 match) on the way home.

It did mean that I wasn't in a fit state to get up early again for the 15km (in 2 hours) beach walk with the rest of the mob from work. They bussed away from Enoggera at 6am this morning, and it was either the perambulation or the sausage sizzle that left them staggering slightly on return to work around 11am.

We had our first prospective tenant to inspect the house this morning. In typical style, there was a lot of last-minute tidying to do. But the rumours on the street are that it paid off, and we may have a contract. It will be a relief if we don't have to go through it all again.

This evening, in an effort to prepare ourselves for discomfort and jet lag, we've decided that we need even more seven-year-old girls to keep us company. It's a little pandemonious, but it looks so far as though everyone will come out with life and limb intact - although perhaps not in tact. I assume that there may be a call for some snoozing and snoring tomorrow. You will of course recognise that the title of this blog entry is the word Helen & Steph use for pretend-snoring.

Moonglow

So there I was, caught in some bizarre peak hour traffic phenomenon, hoping that I'd have time to buy some paint and Express Post my visa payment by 6pm. (Mental picture: the elevator scene from the end of Blues Brothers.) I got to the hardware store, and there was only one paint-person. She was not in a hurry - no doubt trying to create quality tints for the customer in front of me. Should I go and get the base for my paint? I started to leave the counter, but another customer was hovering, and I didn't want to lose my place. I decided that the paint-person would be able to find anything I needed very quickly, so I waited. "Moonglow, you say. And you want that in low sheen?" "Yes please." That's all it took. Just one small lapse in concentration. I knew I didn't want gloss. Low sheen sounds like matte. But, it isn't. Not really. The colour matches surprisingly well, but we really do have matte walls.

But the decision has now been made: we're to have low sheen hall walls. Or at least, most of each wall will be low sheen, apart from the bits close to the cornices and the skirting boards. Or at least, the first coat will be low sheen. Hmmm.

Someone's coming to look at the place on Friday morning, and there's some enthusiasm to have the hallway glistening with perfection. And there's no time, especially like the present. One of us is flying to Canberra at zero-dark-hundred hours in the morning (and leaving Canberra again at dark o'clock), so there's not much opportunity for me to have a late night. Berenice is playing bowls tomorrow, and we all know what happens if you try to play bowls the morning after the night before.

On the positive side, it's worth saying that there are only 6 days of (Enoggera) work before we go, and the critical where-and-when decisions have been made for the sendoff: the Gap Tavern on Thursday 27th.

It will be amusing to find out what the latest in the visa saga is. It's hard to describe the story so far without descending into unflattering personal remarks, so let's just force a smile and wait for the next exciting episode.

Language Lessons

As you know, we're soon going to Bordeaux (with the odd side-trip to Malvern), and so some lessons in parlez-vousing the francais are in order. You'll know we've reached a high enough standard when our blog looks a little like Geraldine and Bernard's.

Bike track

Three of us went for a long bike ride yesterday. It was all flat, so the distance wasn't an issue. I think that the longest ride Helen and Steph had been on before would have been about 500m, but we rode from Toowong, into Southbank (where we stopped for an ice cream), and over to Riverside City Cat terminal. Unfortunately, the City Cat was full, and we would have had to wait over 30 minutes for the next one, so we rode all the way back to Toowong. I reckon that makes about 11km.


Then, we had a BBQ lunch at Guyatt Park with Glenn. Beppo the Clown and a community band entertained us, while Stephanie tried to encourage Christopher to look at the camera. (It was in Self Timer mode.) And Helen needs a longer shirt.


There was lots more house tidying up to do in the evening.

Real estate agents

We always knew that estate agents exaggerated. Here's what one says about our place.

This family home accommodates 4 good sized bedrooms or 3 plus a study. The master bedroom has walk-through robe and ensuite plus airconditioning. Enter into the formal lounge and dining which flow through to the large kitchen which has ample cupboard space, then on to the meals area and family room which are also airconditioned. There is a 2nd bathroom with bath, shower and separate toilet. A delightful huge entertaining area large enough to seat 50 guests, a must for summer entertaining, looks over the landscaped gardens and children's play area.
Extras include:

• Pot belly heating


• Timber venetians throughout


• 3 car carport


• automatic gates


• front covered verandah


• plumbed for gas BBQ


• pond (covered)


• Fenced


• Pets allowed


• Close to parks, schools, shops.
  

There are some other nice photos. You could check for yourself by visiting the agent's web site and entering property number 402907638.


After the agent's visit today, we have additional touch-up painting tasks, and she didn't think the taps were nice enough, so we may need to ask a plumber to relieve us of a small fortune.


Today I also made more arrangements for the Townsville house, and enquiries about car insurance, and invested in some seat covers and degreaser. Now it's Christopher's bedtime, and then I have an appointment with the Secret Seven On The Trail.

Cellar

We now have a cellar. It's a twenty minute drive away, but it is temperature & humidity controlled and secure, and it will hold up to 30 dozen bottles. It's currently stocked with 12 dozen (plus a couple of magnums, normal, and half bottles that didn't fit in boxes). As you know, I'm looking for good candidate wines to be cellarmates with them during our tenancy.

It's an interesting place. Some of the cellars are obviously large walk-in things with shelves. The attendant said that some pharmaceutical companies use these units as storage for their after-hours reps. Mine is above floor level (need to wheel the steps out), and about 1 cubic metre. Apparently the big ones sell like hot cakes when they're vacated. Maybe I'll have one of my own when we do the next renovations...

The practical upshot from Joanna's point of view is that we also now have a laundry cupboard. This is particularly useful at the moment, because we need to separate our worldly goods into two sections (for storage or shipping), and the shipping stuff is destined for the laundry cupboard.

Cha Cha Char

Well, it's getting to the end of my contract with Burt. He suggested that we should have a dinner, and chose Cha Cha Char. It's a well known prize winning steak restaurant - they were turning away people until after 9pm. But we had a booking, so it was all ok. There are 10 different cuts of steak (well, 9 if you exclude the sausages). Burt had the $46 rib fillet, and I had the $34 Wagyu rump. It was absolutely delicious and luciously tender.

But of course the main reason for writing the blog entry is to record the wine. They had quite an extensive list, with about 40 different shiraz. (The table next to us ordered a Grange at $495. The waitress explained that it's the $200 bottles that sell like hot cakes, and they only open a Grange every 2-3 weeks.) Our bottle of Romulus Shiraz from the Sons of Eden winery (Penrice Rd, Angaston/Light Pass) was $79, and it was worth every penny. It compared very favourably to a $75 Wynn's Coonawarra Michael that I shared a couple of months ago. This was very full bodied with a serious bouquet and lovely complexity and length, just right for a big steaky flavour. It's possible that Jim would claim it was too oaky, but this wine certainly had balanced fruit/tannin/alcohol.

I have to admit to a little trepidation at being asked to choose a wine in an expensive restaurant. The "fancy" wines that I might have found tempting were over $100, and the ones that I knew were at the bottom of the price range, so I had to judge by the adjectives and the location (Barossa). If the wine had been just "ok", then I would have been relieved. But I was extremely pleased to have discovered this one. I'm planning to try to buy some more of this wine for storage in our climate-controlled cellar while we're away. I brought the dregs home to see what Joanna thought. She thinks it was a bit much at first (to drink without food), but is now very nice.

Other views of the Sons of Eden and Romulus:
- Sons of Eden
- James the wine guy
- Cova hand-selected wines from Texas, who said of the 2003 vintage:

Barossa Shiraz has gained a world class reputation, and with one sip of this you’ll understand why! It is a real treat for the senses to experience a wine with such enticing complexity. Smoky, earthy notes of sweet tobacco, tar, and roasted coffee slowly unfold to reveal a smorgasbord of jammy berries and spice. Add just a tinge of dried herbal notes, and the multiple layers become nothing short of vibrant and harmonious on the palate. This stunning effort by Sons of Eden will continue to knock your socks off well after the last delectable sip!

I look forward to discussing more Sons of Eden wine with Jim one day - and visiting the place.

Thermodynamics

Well they say that entropy (uncertainty) only increases. But today someone made a decision about what visa I needed. So that's a big increase in certainty. It's very welcome! The application is already in the Express Post, and I hope we'll have our passports back next week.

Tonight is the beginning of a wine stocktake and pack. We have to fit that in with school lunches, cleaning the oven, looking after Christopher and his imminent teeth, violin practice, and writing this short blog entry.

Radio programs of note

I meant to mention a couple of interesting radio programs that I've listened to recently.

There's been a 3-part series on the human voice on BBC Discovery. It looks like the audio won't stay for long, but it talked about pitch, harmonics, filtering, vowels, what makes a voice sound nice, how voices blend well (basses don't need to be too exact with their tuning; tenors should make the climaxes of their phrases sharp to sound like Jussi, and sopranos need to be careful).

I also liked the ABC Radio National Health Report discussion on perception of risk. Judgement and Decision Making is the topic of this journal.

That also reminds me of the interesting blog at consequently.org. Greg and I shared some undergrad lectures at UQ.

12 September

11 September seems to have come and gone without any trouble. I've been enjoying work recently, trying to get a mini project finished in the next 3 weeks, with my colleague Glenn. It should make quite a difference to some of the folk we work with.

Tonight we had dinner (from the yummy Baan Thai) at Mum and Dad's place with my sister Sophie. She's been in Brisbane doing some swing dancing.

Still waiting on visas from the UK High Commission. Its hard to know how much to keep haranguing them. But there's only 26 days to go...

I'm happy to report that I passed my fitness test at Amberley the other day. I didn't break anything, and I was well inside the required standard, but a few extra percent aerobic fitness wouldn't go astray.

We've made arrangements to store my wine collection while we're overseas. The boxes are here, and we have to catalog and box all the bottles, and then cart it all off to Milton. We have our own padlocked "unit" in a climate-controlled area. The question of the minute is: given this great cellaring opportunity, how much nice wine should we buy now? There's plenty of room in my "unit"!

Next week is Cathedrals Week in Brisbane. I'm looking forward to singing in our concert at St John's on Saturday, although there's always heaps of packing and tidying up to do at home (and at work).

There's some nice Monteverdi on the radio. I'm going to have to sign off to go and listen more carefully. Beatus Vir is one of my favourites.

Spring cleaning

29 sleeps to go. We'll be heading off to the UK soon, and there's quite a lot to get done. At the moment, we're waiting on visas, bank accounts, various accommodation arrangements, and the infernal inventories of all the stuff that either needs to be stored or transported to UK. And we're trying to get the house tidied up so that it can be marketed for rental. Today there was a trip to the dump during which we shed 218kg of household goods (the inaugural family microwave provided one more burst of joy as I flung it over the edge and watched it bounce to destruction (I was going to advertise it on eBay as suitable for directed energy experimentation, since the turntable motor stopped working)), and Pop and Grandma were playing with bricks and mortar making the new garden edging. The newly mown new lawn looks nice, and the shed is tidier than it's been for yonks.

Wine note: After the day's exertions, we were rewarded with a Tatachilla 2000 Shiraz. It was delicious. Very full bodied - rather chewy - with some chocolatey hints over delicious fruit, and some residue. A faint acetone/gluey aroma in the aftertaste, but nothing to complain about. Definitely a score of 15.4. (You'll note that my wine scores are out of 20 points.) Joanna thinks there is a whiff of Dynamic Lifter, but that's probably not the wine...

Steph spent the day with Claire Quinlan, planned to be at the Art Gallery/Southbank, but mostly swimming/playing at Janine's place.

Christopher is taking a few steps these days. He can't stand up (from a sitting position) by himself yet, but he's walked several metres in one go already. He laughs his head off when he walks.

As I type, the girls are (re)watching a Harry Potter DVD, and some of us are listening to Stokowski arrangements of Bach while we finish dinner. Grandma's trying to convince everybody not to have any custard, because she wants it all.

I should make a reference to Jim and Kylie's adventure at http://cyleigh.blogspot.com/ which we follow. We'll be leaving just after they get home, so we won't get a chance to acquire any of the Jim 06 Shiraz for a while. But I hope their (and Peter and Anna's) wedding celebrations in Romania go well.

That's enough for now.