Laptops a plenty

One of the perks of my new 'role' and responsibility within the team is that I'll have the chance to work on longer term projects with the option to do so from home. Of course in order to accomplish this I'd need a laptop... which came today!



The new lappie (third in the house now) is a Dell Latitude D820 and is pretty darn sweet. Can't believe it's already trumped my Toshiba in terms of processing power (a Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz compared to a Core Duo 2.0Ghz). Also managed to score 2 gig of RAM somehow so I shouldn't have any problems running large queries on this baby for a while.

Great thing about the Dell is that it's 'only' a 15.4" wide screen so I don't bust my legs when using it on my lap. Battery life is a lot better than the Toshiba too so this makes a great surfing laptop when at home.

Wonder what's next, maybe a MacBook Pro after I retire my Toshiba to PVR duty?

Bowling Green

The development team spent the last two days locked up in a room coming up with new strategic initiatives to improve our processes at work. The structure of the team has been rejigged considerably and hopefully this will give us clearer goals and responsibilities within the department. From a personal perspective I'm looking forward to getting a chance to work on longer term projects and moving away from user support.

After the boring stuff was over and done with we drove down to Myrther bowls club for a fun day in the sun. Most of us made it there without too many hassles... most of us (glances at Matt).

This was the first time I'd every tried lawn bowling and it's a lot better than I thought it would be. Getting the bowls close to the Jack without hitting the gutter or heck even staying in lane would prove tricky though, props to all the old geezers that make it look easy.

Of course some of us in the team had a little more experience than others. Great form there by Uncle Dom.



My moment of glory was hitting the Jack and rolling it along to a cluster of our balls before coming to rest right on it. Much chuffness inspite of the fact that luck was the largest contributing factor.



In the end beginner's luck won the day for us. Well done to fellow team mates Jason and Sarah on flogging the competition.

Tales of Metal Canines

Als and I have just had a most relaxing weekend down around the Byron Bay area. On Friday we drove to Burleigh for breakfast and on to Byron to have a walk on the beach. Even though it's far from peak season I still thought that there were too many people running around and sun baking for my liking. The shops weren't all that impressive either if you ask me so we can't really see what all the fuss with Byron is about.

 

After slurping down a large fruit juice for lunch we continued our drive to find the Tin Dog, a little retreat not too far from Byron Bay which Kath and Andrew had recommended ages ago. Armed with a list of directions we of course managed to get lost and were halfway to Ballina before turning back to get on track.

We couldn't help but notice that the roads were getting thinner and a lot bumpier as we got further into the hinterland. The local drivers were more than happy to terrorise city slickers from Queensland so we were 'nudged' off the road a couple of times during our stay. Thankfully defensive driving and frantic prayer were sufficient for us to get to our destination in one piece. 

The accomodation was quite lovely with big rooms, fresh biscuits and friggin fantastic breakfasts all included. It wasn't too hard for us to hang loose and just relax.

 

Putting our tourist hats on we drove around the local area to visit Minyon Falls (deadly driving required), Mullumbimbi (dangerous driving at night involved) and Bangalow (grab the steering wheel and hold on). There wasn't all that much to see at the falls or in town but boy was the food good. The other highlight of trip was being able to see all the animals. We must have looked like yokels to everyone else but I thought it was like a domestic safari. Alison even got to pet the Tin Dog's resident cow Sesame.

 

On Saturday morning I decided it would be a great idea to get out of bed at four in the morning to drive down to Byron Bay lighthouse to watch the sunrise and take some pictures. Shame that we weren't the only ones that thought this would be a good idea so we were jostling elbows with other tourists to get a good spot on the railing. At least cutting our sleep short was worth the wait and we were treated to a beautiful sunrise over the sea. Interesting point of trivia, this lighthouse is the eastern most point in Australia and the local community congregated there during the Millennium celebrations to welcome the year 2000 to the country.

 

Sunday morning and we had the ceremonial exchange of presents. I received a jumbo bottle of smelly liquid (Armani Mania) and some slippers. Alsie got yet another boring ring on cheap discount.

 

After our second scrumptious breakfast we had to make a move back to Brisbane. We drove up to Mt Tambourine on the way back just to avoid the monotonous Pacific Highway but were somewhat disappointed with the scenery and shops. Well rested and fed I guess we're now ready to face another week back at work. Next holiday to look forward to will be Malaysia and Hong Kong in November. Bring it on!