The last few days

The last few days have been bitterly cold, and I don't think I'm exaggerating.  At night it has dropped below five degrees, which to me in any country means cold.  Even Lily has rugged up.

On Saturday night I enjoyed a bonfire night with friends from church, and we sat on an old couch (relatively comfy) and an air mattress (not very comfy as the air kept leaking from it so we ended up sitting on the very cold ground) around the bonfire, trying to keep warm while cooking giant marshmallows (thanks, Aldi) to make s'mores.

as you can see, we took "wrapping up" very seriously

Yesterday was the monthly club shoot, as the previous one got rained out.  The whole range flooded a couple of weekends ago, so some of the targets had to be moved and paths re-established.  There was still a lot of water in the creeks, but the guys did a lot of work on the range on Saturday to clean it up for the shoot.  I didn't attend the working bee as I had a birthday party to go to!

At half time, when I was still shooting well (it went downhill in the second half as I got tired!) I was presented with last year's trophy (First Place, Women's C Grade) which I missed out on because of a secretarial error.  Quite a surprise - and I must say, a first place trophy doesn't really have the same feel to it when I'm pretty sure I was the only one qualifying in my category!

 

It was nice to finally (after over two years in the club) get to wear my club shirt, although it was so cold yesterday that I had to wear a sweater underneath it.

The birthday party on Saturday was for my friend's four year old son's birthday, and it was less interesting than I would have preferred.  That said, I had a fair idea that it wasn't going to be much fun - I'm also pretty sure that I'm only invited to such parties because I'll bring a present - as will every adult invited.  We stood around in the very cold wind and exchanged pleasantries, and I held Lily (who was invited also!) for the majority of the time as she cried pitifully every time I put her down, shivering with the cold.

pathetic little puppy in her Kmart hoodie

We then popped in to Kurt's parents' house to say hi, as Luke wanted to give Lily cuddles, and I haven't seen them in a while.  It was nice to catch up, and Lily played with the cat and stole Odo's bed.

 

Then we came home for a quick nap before I left for the bonfire night - leaving Lily at home in the relative warmth.

Today I have Gatsby for the day, and he and Lily are running around outside growling at each other and getting thoroughly muddy - and tracking SO MUCH MUD INTO MY HOUSE *cries*

Here's a picture of some of the muddy feet that are destroying my floors.

 

And now, I'm about to go out to breakfast with Elise, who is a pilot from work, and leave the puppies to their evil ways - locked inside so hopefully no more mud (other than the existing mud, which will just have to remain until Gatsby leaves tonight).

Tech Troubles

Well, the last few days have been interesting, and not necessarily in a good way.  Since I got my MacBook fixed a month ago, it has been running even slower than usual, refusing to function for even the simplest of tasks, so finally on Saturday morning I booked a Genius Bar appointment at the Apple Store to get it fixed.  

The Apple technician worked with me for a good hour trying to get the problem solved, and finally I left it with him to continue working while I went to the bank to transfer money to my builder.  Unfortunately the bank at the shopping centre was closed for refurbishment, so I had to go to the Aspley store, only to find that it wasn't open on Saturdays so I then had to go to Stafford, beginning to worry a little as the bank is only open until 12 on Saturdays - thankfully I made it in time.

I rushed back to the Apple Store, rather late, to find out they were still working on my machine (3 hours in), and thought it was an issue with my operating system.  Seeing that I had most of my files backed up on my hard drive I agreed to erase it and reinstall the operating system.  Unfortunately, this didn't fix it so my Mac had to be admitted to hospital for the night.

That evening, I went out into the city for a birthday party, coming home late via taxi, only to discover when I got home that my phone was missing.  Frantically trying to contact friends on Facebook (via my one remaining electronic device, my iPad) so that they could call the venue to see if it was still there.

Finally, having had no luck, Sunday morning I headed back to the Apple Store to see if I could get a new phone.  I had been intending to get a new one at some point given how weak my 5's battery had become, but not like this!  I realised that the backup I had done (and indeed my previous backups) had all been erased with my macbook's operating system the day before...

I also had to email crewing to ask them to contact me via email if they had a duty for me that afternoon as I was on reserve !

Keeping my iPad close to me so that I could check my email every ten minutes proved highly inconvenient while I was trying to sort out my phone - and intermittently my MacBook - this process ended up taking over 3 hours !  Thankfully all of my contacts and calendars were backed up on iCloud so they transferred over remotely to my new device.  

As soon as I got home I emailed all of the cab companies (as having hailed my cab on the street I was unsure which I had taken) and called the venue again, but no luck.  6000 photos... Bah.  

While I was instore, we did manage to work out that one of my ram 'thingies' (for want of a better name) had come loose from its port causing the crazily slow running!  Oh how I wish this had been obvious at the beginning so as to prevent the erase...

I'm glad that I have posted photos on this blog and also have photos from Facebook to look back on, unfortunately all of my messages, music and apps have gone as well.  I got my MacBook back yesterday and it will be good to see what I do have on the external hard drive - I have not yet looked as it's depressing to have to boot up yet another empty device as I've been trying to set up my phone as I had it ! 

Having come back from "down South" with a head cold and a hearty appreciation for all the warmth of Queensland, I've been determined to stay warm and shake this thing off.  I spent the entire day yesterday in a hotel (staying warm) kicking my heels waiting to fly home, and once home, had to traipse off to Ferny Grove (30 minutes west) to pick up my puppy dog.  

She was adorably happy to see me, and proceeded to sleep the entire way home and then curl up beside me and continue sleeping when we got home, clearly exhausted by the ever-energetic Gatsby!  

(apparently this position is comfortable)

(she lay like this for a good two hours...)

I went to bed at a reasonable time, as sleep is another of my tools to defeat this lurgy, and was just drifting off to sleep when a combination of choking to death on phlegm (you're welcome) and loud shouting, whistling and screaming woke me up.  It took awhile for me to decide to get up to investigate, but finally I dragged myself upright to peer out of the window.

Cue at least ten police officers, three patrol cars, a police van, and a crowd of teenagers, some sitting, some milling around: wow.  Apparently there had been some sort of punch up, as one boy had a swollen face (or so I heard).  Eventually they were all sent packing to the train station and the police began to disperse: it being after midnight by now and I being truly awake, I realised that I was too hungry and too coldy to sleep, so I went downstairs and had an early breakfast (lol) so that I could load up on supplements like Vit C + magnesium (not to be taken on an empty stomach!)

This morning I've gotten up early to get ready to head to Chermside, as I have a Genius Bar appointment for my sickly laptop (still) and also have to transfer huge amounts of money to my builder. The finance approval finally came through for the loan so it's all go! 

A day down South

The fields are frosted and misty, it's -3 degrees outside (but warmer in the flight deck now that we've started the engines) and the fog is beginning to roll over the aerodromes boundary.  Having de-iced, we're ready to depart and we beat the fog out, climbing away as the sun rises with us turning the iced landscape to gold.  Despite the chill on the ground, it's a clear and still day to be flying, and I'm glad to be awake today.

As we approach our destination, the silver fields give way to the blue of the mountains, pools of fog lying stolidly in the valleys, soon to be burnt away by the rising sun.  

Closer in, civilisation becomes apparent, and before long, the city stretches ahead of us, the airport's peninsulas showing black against the silvery gold of the bay.  

We fly overhead for a wide right circuit, paralleling a heavy landing on the other runway.  It's warmer here, at 11 degrees, but the air is still and gentle on the approach.  We land and begin the long taxi through the airport to our bay, and then stop to wait for another aircraft to vacate our bay.  

Finally we've arrived, the engines shut down, the passengers disembark and we prepare to do it all again.

Pineapple Party

When M told me that she lived on a pineapple farm, I was excited at the idea of seeing my very first pineapple trees.  When she then told me that pineapples don't grow on trees, I was slightly shocked but part of me kept believing.  Then last night I headed out to the pineapple farm for her birthday party and my bubble was well and truly popped. 

Pineapples really don't grow on trees.

Mind you, pineapple plants do smell gloriously pineappley, and I would happily live next to a plantation.

Also, I need you all to know that I am not a fan of vegetarian pizza.  Margherita is one thing, but full blown plate-of-vegetables on my otherwise-nice pizza is not OK.  And I'm sorry, but walnuts?  On a pizza?  Don't even.

I don't have a picture of the pizza as it got dark, but here is the sunset:

 Also, Lily was a definite hit at the birthday party.  Everybody needed a cuddle, and Lily was happy to oblige.  

She spent the evening trying to get attention, which was easy as everybody loved her, and as soon as we got in the car to come home she collapsed with exhaustion like a dead thing and didn't move for the entire journey.

I guess if I must go to work, I might as well enjoy the view.