I'm Back

Hi there, I have to apologise for it being so long between blogs.

The end of the year and the start of this one has been mad.

Last year was a case of study study study as i have finally completed my Diploma in Massage (jumps for Joy). This was rather a lot of work (I honestly studied less for my Engineering Degree) but I got there and now have a peice of paper to prove it :) So I now am a qualified remedial massage therapist, Senior member of the Association of Massage Therapists (AMT) and i am waiting on some health funds to come through (woohoo).

Tied in with all this have a been a few events that have been rather significant.

• My wife went on a cruise in October and the whole group had an absolute ball until they came home and one of her friends lost her 18 year old son due to misadventure the very next morning (he decided to climb a power pole not far from where we live). That was all very traumatic for all concerned.
• As far as a previous blog my wife had lost her jewellery at a gym, quite a substantial amount and the gym was rather unsympathetic and unhelpful. It then took us $1300 to find out that we didn't have a legal case :(
• My Wife works for the state energy company which the state government was orignally going to sell off completely. The Unions were powerful and rolld the premier, the tradeoff was to sell off the retail side which has a weaker union, this was unopposed and the state government got a payout. The handover date is in march just before the next election. There is apparently a 5 year guarentee on their jobs but that doesn't say they will have the same work conditions. I know that the company that has bought them out has hours that only go to 6pm whereas they curently go to 8pm. It will be interesting to find out what will happen.
• On Christmas eve the pool pump decided to die which was not great timing (although we did manage to keep it blue for a month without the pump until the end of year came and went.
• We received a phone call on New years eve from our bank asking to verify a funds transfer...someone had hacked into our internet banking and transferred our mortgage payment out. The bank was great and we managed to sort everything out. We have had to add extra security to our internet banking including a security token. This got a bit scary. Ive antivirus already but I was advised of an anti spyware/anti phishing program and when i ran it, there were ablut 300 programs. The kids when they on the internet click on all sorts of things, i may have from time to time opened up an email or opened up a twitter link. It's hard to say where it came from. SO now i am more wary. i rund anti spyware pretty much every day.
• The oven died a couple of weeks ago, no it isn't old, it's one of those new fandangled wide ovens we put in when we renovated our kitchen almost 3 years ago. Thankfully before the 3 year warranty runs out in march (it has already been through an element). A switch shorted out the switchboard.
• The end of our street which has forever been a nightmare especially at school times. It was originally going to be a set of lights, then the state government decided to change that to a roundabout (expletives here) then it was changed back to a set of lights. Well works have started and it's a mess at the end of the street.
• Oh and i forgot my password and tried hard to remember what it was. I remembered only a few das ago :)

So with the return of school, i have a little more time to blog.

I'm not sure what the next year will hold :)

A Cautionary Tale

If I said to you how you identified yourself, what makes you “you” what would you say it was? For some it’s their dogs, cats, their signature jacket, their car, their job etc. These are all items that you identify as you, they are external items that you couldn’t be without. Probably an item that makes you feel like you belong to a group or perhaps stand out from the crowd.

My wife, worked hard to accumulate her jewellery, over the years after we achieved a level of financial security she gradually acquired items, putting them on weekly payments, once one item was finalised, she would run out and put another item on payments. She bought items to celebrate her 40th birthday and only just recently she bought a bangle to celebrate losing a significant amount of weight. She wore them with pride. She tended to them cleaning them regularly making sure they always looked pristine. She loved them. I remember every morning she had her routine as she put on her jewellery to go to work.

Picture from her 40th birthday march 2009

We had a little personal valuables insurance (I know I work for the insurance company) but not enough to cover it all if it all got stolen all at the one time. I talk insurance all day so I guess I failed to update it, check it, get it changed to include all the items. For this I am feeling a great amount of guilt at the moment.

Sadly on Monday on the way home from a difficult day at work, I was home for the night as I was rostered off, she decided to go straight to the local gym which her work pays for. Lisa always wears her jewellery to work so she decided to store her jewellery in a locker which is supplied by the gym which you set your own code and according to the instructions it is a 4 digit code.

Anyway she made sure it was locked before she left to do her workout.

When she came back she grabbed her stuff, she wanted to go home and have a shower so she didn’t check her jewellery as she didn’t want to put it on before having a shower. she can’t remember if it was locked when she returned, she put in her code before opening it, not checking to see if it was locked or unlocked before opening it.

When she grabbed her keys she noticed a compartment which she never opens was opened but at the time didn’t think anything of it.

She got home and had her shower and was getting ready to have an early night, she went to take her jewellery out and put it in her container on the dresser…not there. She freaked out, ran to the car which is the only other place it could have been. Purse gone too… Oh dear, major sinking feeling.

To Be Continued

My dubious claims to fame

This letter is inspired by Thea’s blog where she chronicles her dubious links to famous people.

I firstly should say I need to break these down into a few sections.

Family
I am related although have never met Jo Silvani (Bailey) (wife of Carlton legend) and I understand there is also a link somewhere to Kevin Rudd although that family link is not quite so salubrious after last week.

Twitter
Well you know how twitter goes, you start off wondering what out is all about, then before you know you are addicted to it. When you start you follow famous people, then as they reply to some people you follow them. I know @Carolduncan and @Aaronkearneyaus don’t see themselves as celebrities however they are well known and well respected in Newcastle, I have met both they are as you would expect, down to earth and friendly.

It’s funny twitter Is a community In itself, and I have met so many conversationalists and bloggers and authors.

Other twitter moments, I actually delisted many of the famous people as they tend to prattle on and some even put on their websites they don’t respond to tweets. I have had a couple of responses on twitter, on was Robert Llewellyn who played the android Kryten on Red Dwarf a British scifi comedy series.

Robert has an interview series of car pool which I follow, he even responded to 2 tweets many months ago, I made a suggestion of possible interview subjects. I was so excited to get a response.

I have also had non responses include when Martha Stewart made a comment about rubbish dumped on the roadside, I mention cleanup Australia and she tweeted back tat she had had responses about having suggestions about community run cleanup programs, I checked and mine was the only one who responded.

My last one was levar burton who played geordi in star trek the next gen (yes I know I’m a trekkie) posted a tweet, I was watching start trek first contact.I just asked him if he watched himself. He responded by saying that anyone watching first contact - the vulcans did it. Im sure he thought he was funny.

Sport
Well when it comes to sport, I have an admission, when I was young I just happened to join the Nunawading swimming club, I swam with many people over 7 years, some of those were spectacularly fast and yes very successful. Not wanting to name drop, because most would probably not remember me. People such as Rob Woodhouse, Rod Lawson (Olympians) as well as Leigh Nugent (now head coach of national team)

I have also made face book contact with other swimmers such as Adrian Radley and Brooke Hanson (I swan with her husband and his dad ran a lot of club events).

One thing that suprises me is as with the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon, i am only a few degrees of seperation from most sports celebrities,not that i can say they know me or have even met me.

Work
Working in a petrol I served the likes of Dennis Pagan (AFL Coach), Gianne Rooney (swimmer) Killing Heidi (Band) and last but not least Carl Williams and Benji Venjamin of Melbourne underworld infamy.

My Special Powers

Superman can leap tall buildings, wolverine can rejenerate quickly and I have a speial power myself. Perhaps I should join the x-men, I'm not sure how my spcialpower will help others.

You see from as early as i can remember whenever i hop in a car, it doesn't matter how new or old it is, the trip starts normally until the windscreen starts to fog up. I don't really notice it myself as i generally travel with the window down or the airconditioner on.

I remembred it as i was riding in my father in laws car the other door and he doesn't drive with the door down and never has the aircon on. I get a little embaassed when this happens as i have to explain to them that i steam up cars.

I used to laugh at it because you know there's the usual joke about fogging up cars, definitely nothing happening insde.

Perhaps i always seem to be warm, i never really feel the cold.

Do you have a speial power that needs to be declared?

The Power of Twitter

Would you call me a recent convert to Twitter. I have been tweeting since late 2009. I at first didn’t know what handle to use, I have had a couple of which over time I think I have settled on the_green_egg which is a reference to my daughters name she has given herself. I have written previously in a Blog Post.

I at first was curious about Twitter, it didn’t seem to have a purpose outside my Facebook, but over the time I have been able to network especially with other bloggers, and there always seems to be someone on twitter especially at the late hours I am on it.
Through twitter I have been able to connect with people I would never have been able to connect, as being a recent (5 years now) arrival to Newcastle I have few Novacastrian contacts, my social base I left in Melbourne when we moved here. In a way it is an unobtrusive way of connecting with others in the local community.

One handy use for Twitter I found was very early in the peace I connected by following my local council and they eventually followed me. By them doing this I was able to advise them of an illegal rubbish dump site. Being someone who doesn’t like calling in things, I just used Twitpic by uploading a photo of the offending dump site. I then tagged @lakemac with the location.

Lakemac then responded very promptly by thanking me and gave me a reference number. That was on the Monday I posted the photo and by Friday the mess had been cleaned up. Needless to say I was supremely impressed. Was it the fact that my council was responding so promptly to my notification, to the fact they are connected and “up with the times”.
And to be truthful if it wasn’t for twitter I probably wouldn’t have notified the council, probably I wouldn’t usually make a fuss about something like that. Plus I might think to myself, “Oh someone else will tell them” or perhaps someone else from the council would have already notified them.

It was a legacy from a recent council cleanup where the kerbsides fill up with rubbish.

How to Make a NSW Quilt

Take a NSW Road, probably not a Federal road, Definitely not on the way to work for a Minister or the Premier. Probably not a Sydney street, or in a marginal seat, but it’s a road used daily by locals and tourists alike.
And just past the entrance to the country club.
It rains
A hole is born
The hole is patched
Bump
It rains again
Another hole is born
This hole is patched
Bump
Bump
It rains again
Another hole is Born then patched
Bump
Bump
Bump
It Rains yet again, a hole is born then patched
Bump
Bump
Bump
Bump
Repeat for 5 years, just patched, never resurfaced
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
Bump Bump
No road left, just patch on patch on patch.
Speed limit reduced because of the state of the road.
Will it ever get fixed?
How bad does it have to get?
Does a serious accident need to occur to get something done to this road?
Too bad for your tyres or suspension,
Too bad state taxes increase to improve roads, where does the money go?
You know this road, it’s somewhere you’ve been, that’s’s if you travel through NSW
Inspired by driving near Halidays point and driving through hunter valley vineyards

One Sunny April Day Part 7

Continued from One sunny day part 6

Funerals, well I've been to too many.

Mum's was different, I find that in the past many celebrants and priests are distanced from their subject. Sometimes it feels like "insert name here". My aunty gelnda ran the sevice so she even teared up through the service for she had known mum since they were all young, they themselves had been through their own journey together, countless time my aunt had visited to see her, in someways as a bit of friendship, a bit or counselling as well as she was a practicing reiki master so she benefited from their visits in so many ways.

As far as funerals go mum's funeral was a real tribute to her effect on others though her nursing and geneology work. The place was packed out to the rafters and out the door, and I',m not talking a little place.

We had a laugh or too, there were many happy stories. I even managed to got up the courage to say a few words, i recited a story from a book that explained that like the lamplighter as he worked his way down the street in the dark, you couldn't see him any more but you could see where he had been, in a way mum was no longer around but you could see those people she had left a little light in their heart.

It was soon after the funeral, once i had picked up mums ashes i headed off north with my grandfather to Gladstone. The first purpose was to transport him to my aunts place as his eyesight was no longer safe for him to drive and then i was to head further nort to take mum to cairns where she had enjoyed a great time just after she found out she was ill.

So I headed north, not really knowing anything, or where to spread mums ashes. I made it to port douglas, it was nearing mum's birthday 23rd may. I arrived late so i just found a camping ground and set up camp.

In the morning i got up and was chatting to a group of backpackers (as you always seem to find). One of the local campers was a lady named betty, she was from melbourne too and spent her winters there, she told me she had cancer and was just living the best she could. She asked me if i'd seen the beach.. I said I hadn't so she said come and she grabbed me and we walked to see port douglas beach. You haven't seen a more beautiful beach, it sweeps into the distance, gorgeous. She thne asked me if i'd seen the Sheraton, I said no so she took me there but i think that's as far as i will go there. She did explain that people there pay hundreds of dollars to get to use the same beach i was using and it only cost from memory $20 for the site.

Anyhow I went as far north as the daintree and could not find a location that suited, it just didn't feel right, sure there are plenty of beaches, very nice ones, but not waht felt right.

I was desperate to find a suitable place, it was mums birthday and i wanted to do it then. Problme i woke up that morning and the weather had turned, the waves were choppy, dark grey clouds hung above. I packed up and headed south, as i was driving south i saw some beach signs.

I pulled into one but it didn't feel right, i pulled into another one and i really had a strange feeling about it. i got out of the car and walked over to the beach and, i know you think i'm crazy when i say this, I asked mum if it was the right place, Now I am serious when i say this the clouds broke slightly ans a stream of light came down over the sea. Now i'm not one to believe all this but it happenend. i have to say i was emotional at that moment. I lost it, i went back to the car and got mums ashes out and walked down to the beach.

I wanted to do it a bit further down as i didn't want everyone walking through her ashes. To my suprise I found a little creek flowing into the sea further up the beach.

As per mums instructions i spread mums ashes where the creek and the sea meet. It was an emotional event for me, I was alone, the rest of my family would do the same at Inverloch in Victoria. I kept some ashes for myself and gave some to grandma when i returned as she wanted to keep her Merry (middle name joy) as she always called her close by.

So it's 11 years and I just wanted to honour mum by explaining the story of the last week of mum's life. She touched everyone. I'm sure you own mum has touched others as well. i don't wish to turn her into a saint, that was not her. She was just someone who cared for others unconditionally. Not a day goes by when i don't think of her.

Thankyou for reading this story.

Chris