We got a dog!

Well... kinda. Encouraged by the Ekka show holiday falling midweek, we decided to extend our break to the weekend and check into The Tin Dog for a bit of R&R. To explain the title of the post, we picked up a new friend for the house to help us in the garden and help scare off pesky vermin that may savage our fruit and vegetable pots. Rusty isn't especially lively but we think he's made of strong stuff.



It should come as no surprise that most of our time was once again spent eating and shopping. We've walked past a little hole in the wall fish and chip shop in Byron that I've been keen on trying so that became our first stop. I'd never seen it so busy before but the asian in me figured that anywhere with people queueing out the door for food would be worth checking out. For a gourmet fish and chippery the menu wasn't as pretentious as The Fish Monger's Wife so I decided to order something on the "simpler" side for a change, and the baby octopus and chips with a side serving of corn certainly satisfied. The little suckers were oh so succulent.



Our stay at The Tin Dog itself was gorgeous once again, though it was a shame to discover that the owners plan on closing down in the next month to take a much needed break. Breakfasts were of course the highlight as Sue and Mark know how to put on a great spread with local produce. Als and I were also happy to see that Sesame, the ageing bovine we met on our last trip, was still kicking on strong.

Shopping efforts were largely directed at checking out funky clothes for Alison (a diminished ordeal thanks to handy audiobooks on the iPhone) as well as scouring antique stores for odd bits and bobs for our upcoming outdoor area. We ended up being quite successful on both fronts and more besides. One vision Alison has for the garden is to have eclectic containers and barrels to grow plants, and I'm sure it'll take us a happy lifetime of hunting to collect enough to satisfy.



Though most of the work in the garden will have to wait for our renovations to finish, we just had to get started on something small to slake our enthusiasm. A quick trip to Bunnings and we now nurture small barrels of strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce and lavender in the hope that we won't kill them too quickly. Rusty would help out but he's been placed on guard duty at the front door until we can find a more settled home for him in the finished backyard. At least we have a friendly face to greet us when we come home. Isn't that why most people get dogs?

Cinematic Steamboat

The flu (porcine or otherwise) has been raging across Brisbane over the past few weeks. You couldn't walk down the corridor at work without passing a battery of coughs and sniffs, so I guess it was just a matter of time before I succumbed to the virus. Knocked me out for the count for four days last week which was a worry as I'd been looking forward to a steamboat lunch we'd organised for Sunday. Copious handfuls of paracetemol and multi-vitamins thankfully allowed me to recover in time for a shop, house clean and food prep before the guests arrived.

We were playing hosts to old steamboat buddies Kath and Andrew, as well as introducing Nat and Naomi to the experience so I thought I'd capture the event for posterity. It was really just an excuse to try out the video camera properly on the iPhone 3GS and I must say that I'm quite happy with the results. Cobbled this little clip together in iMovie while Alison was out at choir practice.



Had lots of fun doing it so I might try my hand at more videos in the future just to bump up that flagging YouTube account.

Edit: Grrr... seems like YouTube have a cruddy watermark on embedded movie clips which obscures the text in my video. Click here to watch the clip on the main YouTube site.

Doors Closing... and Opening

I knew when I took up a new role as a team leader seven months ago that things weren't going to be easy. The project had an ambitious time line with unresolved requirements and a brand new (not to mention small) team. Things got harder when I had to cut my team in half recently though we somehow soldiered on, delivering the majority of our project milestones and this week deploying the reporting portion to schedule.

Through it all I think the team has had heaps of fun together and I'm proud of the work produced. Our project group have been mentioned on numerous occasions as an example due to our successes. Unfortunately we've become a victim of our own efficiency, as it's due to a lack of work for a small team of three that's lead to the decision to split my team up to be absorbed by other internal groups.

I'm relieved to know that everyone has managed to remain employed, though I can't help but feel a pang of regret to know that our tight family has been disbanded. I put a lot of effort into carving an identity for our ragtag bunch and it's sad to know that it's all gone now. The teams Andy and Ruchi will be joining are filled with great people though, and I'm excited about what they'll get to learn and work on in the future.

I too have got quite a bit to look forward to with new work. I've been moved to a team that's in charge of the web sites for Flight Centre as well as maintaining the company's product catalogue. My experience thus far has predominantly been in the desktop application space working with Microsoft technology, so this is going to be quite a change with a move to Java and web development. My new team mates in Nebula have welcomed me with open arms and ChrisP, my new team leader, very supportive. Now I just need to purge the memory of him singing "Just a Girl" so I can take him seriously.

I'll miss being with the Alchemists. It was great while it lasted.