On Friday we moved to our new unit! We hired men to move our stuff which was not cheap but it was so worth it.

I learnt a lot in this move and next time I'll try to remember the following...

1. Rent a truck that comes with men... if they have a 'hire an extra man' option, take it!

...It took 3 men 5 hours. I don't even want to think about how long it would have taken if we had had to do it by ourselves.

2. Disassemble your furniture before the removalists get there ... It will save you time and money
.... We didn't do this but we should have. It would have saved us about an hour.

3. If the company says a truck will do for a certain size of house, beleive them!!
...Another mistake on my part. I was like, surely we can fit into the 3 bedroom truck even if we have 3 bedrooms plus a study. I was wrong. They fit all of our bedroom stuff and boxes in the first trip, but had to make a second trip for the living room, kitchen and laundry.

4. It isn't going to take only 2 hours... So make sure you get enough money out for at least 4!
...I got out enough cash for 2.5 hours. Karen had to make another trip to the bank for an additional 2 hours, and so did I. We stretched the limit of both of our bank accounts and had enough money for 6 hours. I was getting a little worried they were going to take longer that we had money for, but it worked out in the end.

Yesterday we spent all afternoon cleaning the old house.

Currently I'm waiting with thousands of others to start walking/running the city2surf. The only group left to start is the the yellow pack of the pack group. It's been a while since the first group started... In fact they are probably approaching the finish line now. I think our group is starting out now, but we're still not really moving.

Ah, it's official, someone just crossed the finish line and we have yet to cross the start line. This is what you get when you go in a race with 75000 people. This the first big event in a series of big exercise events in August to October in Sydney. Yay Sydney!

This is amazing. I just got a new phone, which is turning out to be the bestest phone ever. I had an option of paying an extra 20 dollars a month to get a phone with Gps but I decided against it.

Yesterday I discovered that google maps can show me my location within a few hundred metres without GPS. This wouldn't be good enough if I needed to use it to get real time directions while driving, but I don't have a car so it's really not a problem.

Oh what fantastic fun my new phone is!

I have a bike.  I have a home.  I have a job.  I have decided to attempt to regularily ride my bike from my home to my job.  It comes with many adventures.

My job is in Northern Sydney.  Northern Sydney is notoriously hilly.

Going to work it is mostly up hill past the River.  One of the hills I had to get off my bike and walk up, but when I got off my bike, my legs would not work!  They were completely depleted of energy!  I have never not being able to walk before, it was extremely disconcerting.  Then there was the 20 minute recovery at the top of the hill... hopefully with practise both of these things will be reduced!

A friend from work is helping me get between work and the river, which is the complicated, hilly stretch of the journey.  His advice is not always something I'm willing to take.
[top of the super steep hill]
FRIEND: You don't need to brake on this hill till you get to the bottom.  My max speed on this one has been 68km/h!
ELIZABETH: Umm... don't brake?  meep
[on the hill]
ELIZABETH: eek
[at the bottom]
ELIZABETH: That was fun!
FRIEND: I beat you down the hill, you must have been braking.  I told you not to brake!
ELIZABETH: You bet I was braking, it was scary!

I got up to 54.5 km/hour braking on that hill.  My fear of flying off my bike at 55kph prevents me from wanting to go any faster.  Tis very scary going fast on a bike.

Despite scary parts going up and down really really big hills, I really enjoyed the 3 trips I've taken to or from work and would like to keep it up at least twice a week.  The trip home takes an hour, and the trip to work currently takes 90 minutes.  I should be able to cut both of those times down with practise (It's only 15 km).  The train takes 55 minutes and costs $32/week.  Yay, exercise is fun!

My desktop has died.  It's really quite tragic and it was 2 months after the 1 year warranty was up.  Should have gotten the extended one!

My super old laptop which I bought the desktop to replace because it was making funny hard drive noises is still alive, kicking, and making funny hard drive noises.

The worst thing about this is that the hard drive on the desk top was bigger than any of my backup harddrive, so I don't have everything backed up.  I have this hope that maybe it wasn't the hard drive that died and I might be able to resurrect it, but I know just about nothing about hardware.  I mean, I can install ram... but that's about it.

So what am I going to do about it?  Probably buy another super cheap desktop.  Will I ever learn?  No.  Will I get a warranty this time?  Possibly.  Though this is the first computer ever to die on me... and I've had... well, 4.

So, I have exciting news!  There is a great possibility, or me thinks I should say probability that I will move in with Karen to a house her parents are in the process of buying.  Now this house will be (after the renovations) much nicer than our current shambles.   (When I say house I mean unit with a backyard...)

Karen and I are not the cleanest of creatures... we both find cleaning a futile struggle against the inevitable accumulations of dust, mold and dishes.  We try not to be slobs by sweeping semi regularly, removing hair from the drains (woe to the hair, Karen's is so long!) and attacking the mold with scrubbing brushes.  Tragically Karen's parents are still not terribly impressed with our cleaning habits.

Both Karen and I are concerned about keeping her parents house clean.  This led me to make the suggestion of being accountable to them for keeping the NEW house well maintained and tidy with a list of weekly/monthly tasks.  I thought it was a great idea!  Aunty Heather thought it was a good idea too, but she wants us to start being accountable straight away!  "Get into good habits!" she says.  Woe, woe, woe!  Foiled again!

My trip to Canada has been going well!

My plane is taking off in 4 hours in 22 minutes. 

So... I haven't finished packing, I just found my passports, I think I'm going to switch bags, and I don't have any winter clothes.  It'll all come together at the last minute just like it always does :)  I don't need to leave for the train for another hour, so there's still time!  Really!  There is isn't there?

These are the things I'm really looking forward to not having to deal with in Canada:
Giant cockroaches in the shower
Giant cockroaches in the kitchen
Giant cockroaches on the streets at night
The heat
The lack of air conditioning
The guilt ridden cold showers

4 hours and 14 minutes... meep!

I just had the most fun I've ever had playing in a music group.

You may ask why.  Was it because my fellow musicians were extraordinarily talented?  Was it because they had beautiful tones coming from beautiful instruments?

Oh no, that would have been dead boring in comparison.

There were four of us....
Dorothy, a violinist who can actually play the Violin (at 7th grade level)
Lucy, who has taught herself Violin by ear (at 2nd grade level) but is surprisingly gifted at sight reading considering
Abi, a 4th grade cellist
and finally me, the wannabe 4th grade Viola player.  Wannabe because at heart I'm still a violinist in my approach to reading the notes.

( Read more... )

It's now less than 27 days until I fly away home.  I am so excited, I truly cannot wait.  I have to resist the urge to call Mum up again to discuss plans... for the third night in a row.  I can't wait!

I am so impatient that I've already started packing.  This is made easier because most of the clothes I'll be taking are unsuitable for an Australian summer.  I can't wait!

I've also started accumulating pressents.  My list of people I want to buy pressents for has grown to 10....  I've gotten three so far and plan on going on an epic journey to Sydney's sleezy tourist shops sometime soon to get the rest ;).  I can't wait!

I can't wait! :):):):):)

I have always been a fantastic sleeper.  Seriously, head on pilow + max(15 minutes) = fast asleep.

Tragically for many varied reasons, the last few weeks have broken that happy trend.  Here's a quick example of three nights this week.
( January 1st )

( January 2nd )

( January 4th... )

Excitement, excitement, I'm going home to Canada for my birthday!

Yes, I still call it home... my... half home.  It's complicated.

Anyway, flying in February 6th, flying out March 1st. 

Yay!!