Minor Details

Well, the house-hunting in Sydney has been quite disappointing, but that's probably mainly due to the fact that Mardi Gra is on. That means that there are masses of visitors.

On the plus side, from Monday, there should be a lot more accomodation available. Other than that, nothing really to report.

Should have thought of that

Well, I think I figured out why accomodation so scarce here.

It's freaking Mardi Gra this saturday, so there are about an extra ten thousand visitors in the city.

That means that all the cheap short-term places are taken.

I'll keep hunting on Monday...

And... I'm in Sydney

Okay, so I've arrived in the big city and it' my first day here.

I've already sent off a bunch of emails looking for a place to stay that's a bit more stable. I'm currently staying on Ian's sofa (and a comfortable sofa it is too) but obviously I'll need my own room and such.

The flight was fun. It was smooth most of the way but hit a bit of turbulence on the arrival in Sydney due to the weather. The movie was 'The Invasion' with Kidman which wasn't that great but since I hadn't seen it, I was happy. The meal was pretty good and we even had ice cream. Qantas all the way baby! No way would I fly Virgin or Jetstar again...

Not much to report yet, it's first thing in the morning so first order of business - hunt down breakfast.

Only two days left

Well, there's not really that much left to say.

I haven't started packing, but that shouldn't take too long. I've got the house (mostly) cleaned up, I have left papers behind providing authorization for my family to sign my name and open my mail etc, made a will, cleaned my room, threw out a whole bunch of rubbish and generally have everything that I can think of ready.

In unrelated news, I'm working on a little, really basic automated php webcomic engine. And I mean <em>basic</em>. I doubt anyone will want to use it, but if I start another webcomic (unlikely) then I'll be using this script. More news about this later...

A couple of pics

Gotta love my original blog post titles!

Anyway, just have a few pics to share. We've been doing a whole mess of cleaning and such around the house since I'm leaving. It was going to happen anyway, but it was precipitated by a small accident:



Apart from being really overloaded, the heat probably affected it. As its a thin metal shelf, the heat and the weight of all the books and such on it caused the thing to collapse. Made a hell of a racket, apparently.

Around the back yard and the house I had a whole bunch of engine blocks, gearboxes, diffs and other assorted car parts.



We hired a skip bin and just started throwing stuff in. Originally I wanted to take all that metal to a scrapyard, but I didn't have any way of transporting them. We ended up throwing out a whole bunch of junk that we didn't need and the bin ended up rather full:



The plus side is that the shed, which had previously been quite full:


And this was after removing a lot of stuff!

Is now much emptier, cleaner and there is even enough room to turn around in:



The downside is that we had to evict a lot of spiders and such and the next day we had a couple of them show up in the house. Of well, win some, lose some.

Only a few days left until the move, so starting to get a little nervous. Other than the usual problems with moving, everything is (so far) running ok.

Wish me luck!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

Well, I've organized for a bin to be dropped off in order to get rid of as much of the old car parts as possible. I have engine blocks, gearboxes, complete engines, diffs and all manner of bits lying around and I want to get rid of them before I move.

Ideally, I'd pack them all onto a trailer and take them to a scrap metal yard and maybe even get some money for them, but my car can't tow a trailer. And I can't carry them...

So I guess I'll have to pay. On the plus side, I'll be able to dump a whole mess of other household stuff as well since the garbage place will take more than just car parts. Pretty much everything except tyres, oil/paint and asbestos. Of which I have plenty. Grr.

The laptop is all set up and running, so ready to be stolen. I haven't started packing, but I'm not taking that much with me, mainly clothes. The last couple of days will be a bit of a crunch, but so far it's all looking good.

The clip is almost done

Okay, so the video clip didn't come out as great as I would have hoped, but that's to be expected considering the budget and the equipment

What did surprise me was the apathy that the band showed towards the clip. Despite several emails and messages advising them that the rough cuts were ready and when the final version was ready, they never bothered coming over to have a look at the clip. Didn't even bother sending an sms message or something to advise that they weren't coming.

In their defense, it's their first clip and they might not have really known what it was all about. However, I would have expected curiosity to get the better of them and that at least one would come over and have a look.

In unrelated news, I'm pretty much set for the move. Not much more to tell, but it'll get more interesting in the last few days and once I'm over there...

Moving pieces into place

Okay, so the move is progressing nicely.

I haven't really set anything up so far, but I've looked at what accommodation is available, adequate places to live, a job and other such things for when I arrive. So far, it all looks like it'll fall into place with minimal fuss. Of course there will be all sorts of last minute unforeseen difficulties, but I've foreseen them ... sort off ... you know what I mean.

I have adequate funds to cover me for several months in case I don't get a job and I have a reserve so that if it all goes pear shaped I'll be able to return to Perth.

Other than that, I just need to sort out a bunch of stuff around here before I leave (such as disposing of engine blocks and car parts) and I'll be all set.

First mail to blogger post

This is just a test - feel free to ignore.

just trying out the mail to blooger feature.

The big move

(I wonder how many blog entries have that as the title? I would imagine that at least a dozen would)

The afore-mentioned video clip pis humming along nicely and should be ready soonish.

In unrelated news, looks like I'll be moving across the country soon. Like, within three weeks soon. Kinda scared and excited and everything about it. I've lived over there before and I can't say that it was a lot of fun. Too many people, too much sickness and so on, but that's where the money is.

There are a couple of other projects as well that are going on over there, more news on those later. They are the main reason I'm going over. Either it'll work out fine and I'll make some cash, or I'll return with my tail between my legs. Either way, it'll be fun.

More information as it comes to hand.