Mike(y)'s Journal

5:46pm: I've moved
Now living in Portland, Oregon.

Surprisingly easy transition. I think it's the city I'm in rather than the country.

I hope you're all well.

Missing you all.

10:36pm: Travel Plans
Hi Y'all.

It's been a while since I last posted but none of you expect anything else, right?

Well, here's the infodump:

• I've been working for 14 years. 7 of them in Melbourne, 7 of them in Canberra - so it's time for something new
• So, we're moving to Portland, Oregon (No I don't have work lined up yet but I'll be networking my little heart out between now and our arrival)
• We're leaving the country in early June
• We have to organise farewell parties at Canberra, Sydney & Melbourne. People who want to volunteer hosting space, let me know.
• I resigned from my job yesterday (formally... my boss has known for ages), so from May I will be "freelancing" full time... apart from all the packing that needs doing.

More news as it comes to hand.

10:51am: long time
Well, according to LJ, it's been 49 weeks since my last post, so I guess it's time to wheel out a bit of news...

So who knows people in Portland (apart from Azahru)?

And, more directly related to the news, who knows of a job opportunity for an Enterprise Architect, Principal Consultant or other senior IT-related position(*)?

So yes - the news. It's time once again to Renew!
Azahru thinks she's found a place where she can break into the comics biz, and it also looks like Portland is a vibrant IT hub as well; I've heard it called "Silicon Forest" but locals can correct me on that one.

Once again reliving the excitement of moving to another town! ... this one a bigger jump than the (ominous) 666KM(**) I moved last time (by over an order of magnitude).

More news to follow.

(*) - fine print: am willing to move within 6 weeks of a job offer. Would prefer to stay within an hours drive or Portland. To qualify for the work visa, the job must require a bachelor's degree
(**) - according to Google maps

3:39pm: sunlight
The Sun came out in force today, yum.

I had forgotten what it was like to be warm!

8:46am: 5 years ago yesterday...
5 years ago yesterday was my first birthday in Canberra, and by the end of it I was sporting a nice black eye from a friendly skinhead welcoming me to Canberra by trying to recreate a scene from Rocky (the one starring Sly Stallone).

Yesterday was my FIFTH birthday in Canberra and by the end of it I was sporting a new pair of golden boxer shorts from my parents. All I can think of is that they want to be recreate a scene from Rocky (the one starring Tim Curry).

What do you think?
 

8:11am: married
Well, lookee, I'm a married man now.

Thanks to everyone who could come to the wedding - I had a blast!

I will do a followup post when we get back from China with photos of the day and of the trip.

*hugs to all*

9:57pm: work stuff
all good news on the work front.

as of this evening i'm on leave.
for ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY WORKING DAYS.

i've never had to fill in a leave form for anything over 8 days before!

unfortunately it's not paid leave.

the story goes thus:

11 days ago i met with a guy from the department of health about a job.
10 days ago he offered me the job
8 days ago there was an offer in writing - initially a 6 month contract, to give them time to go through the full process of actually hiring someone permanently
7 days ago i went to resign
6 days ago, my manager offered me 6 months leave without pay, so that if things didn't work out in the public service, i can come back to me old job (and salary)

... and today i cleaned out my desk.
all of it.
a full car load of computers, papaers, mugs, plaques, etc, etc, etc.


but for the rest of this week i have no work committments (although i must clean the house a fair bit)... and judging by what people say about the public service - i may have no real work committments after i start either :)

9:50pm: Vale Zani
Liz' post says it all

One of our rabbits is dead

5:36pm: idle thought
i just worked out that i turn 30 bits on my next birthday
(well 9 and a bit (haha) days after)

10:14pm: monday is a day off
i'm in canberra (duh) and i have a day off on monday.

who's up for doing stuff during the day?

10:39pm: snow!
what else is there to say?

i got snowed on at lunch time!
for the first time in my life, i saw white fluffy stuff fall from the sky that i could point to and say "yup, that's snow... not a light hail".

i came back to my car after a few hours and there was a pile of snow on it.

how cool's that?

... well, i'm excited anyways!

2:22am: fuck
well, all that is left is the hope that there was electoral fraud.

as of today - i start looking for work in other countries.

5:11pm: i miss clubbing
i miss the people i used to see.
i miss the music i used to hear.
i miss the energy i used to spend.

i miss clubbing.

10:51pm: housewarming
heya!

the housewarming will be over the melbourne cup long weekend.

more details to follow - but sat 1st november, evening.

the theme will be (of course) hitch-hikers' guide to the galaxy.
more specifically: milliways, the restaurant at the end of the universe

let me know if you're going to be in town and directions will
be forthcoming!

2:17pm: home ownership and such
well, most of you would prolly know that i bought a house a little while ago.

well on tuesday i take possession of it, and i start to move in!

it's number 42, so we can see a bunch of hitch-hikers guide references sneaking in :)

it has en excellent kitchen, recently rennovated too - so i'm all excited about moving in and cooking in that, especially since i've been cooking in an old oven and electric hotplates!

i'll post some pics and all once we've moved in. although i expect the internet will be down for a few days over the transition.

in other news, i've also got hold of a new domain: ozgamer.net
there's nothing there yet - but after the move i'll have time to stick some stuff up there.

so a busy time in my life for the next few weeks.
a housewarming will be announced soon.

4:06am: ... and taxes
the oddest things link together in people's minds. in writing this post, i am reminded that i have 2 years worth of taxes to complete.

my last remaining grand parent was buried last week.

to continue on my decennial retrospective theme (ish), 10 years ago i had one paternal grandfather and a matched pair of maternal grandparents. 10 *days* ago i still one left, my maternal grandfather.
he had always been an icon of strength in my life - he was 84 and was still doing woodwork and using a lathe. but after his wife's death he started to fade... seemingly losing interest in the world around him.

he knew that he was fading, and just over a week ago he sat outside in the nice weather and overdosed on some pills. the scene described was very touching... he had set up two chairs, one for himself and the other had a picture of his wife.

i was very upset at the news but i am glad that he went out on his own terms. it gives me hope that some of his strength has been passed down to me and that i will be able to take life on my own terms.

as lister once said:
"if [death] comes near me, i'm going to rip his nipples off!"

7:52pm: the sleeper awakens
hi ho all.

long time no post.
i've been busy.
so much geek stuff at home and at work that using
the net for lj was a bit of a chore.

our game went well tho - "wild, wild space"
spawning at least one more rerun and a
spinoff series

and it's close to birthday time
(hence the pic :)
so, stay tuned for my (now) annual decennial review,
where i answer the question, what was mike(y) doing
at the age of 21?

ok quiz time: the result of the mage quiz... lightly surprising.







find your element
at mutedfaith.com.
<º>

Current Mood: content

8:23pm: reunion goodness
i just flew down to melbourne for the day to go to a decennial reunion.
makes me sound like some kind of jet-setting type, huh?

the actual reunion was much fun but the details of that will have to wait until i'm in front of a computer with a keyboard...

and i have to keep this short as the flight attendant has said we can't use electronic gadgets.

yup - i'm writing this on the plane to canberra, at o.m.g. o'clock in the morning...

ain't technology grand?
:)

and why is it that all flight attendants with long hair have it tightly tied back?
enquiring minds want to know.

8:15am: clouds
the smoke has been, on occasion, like a very overcast day... such that the sun sometimes appears as a small orange disc in the sky, that it not even painful to look at.

most of the time it is too dark to be mistaken for clouds, but this morning i woke to a day not on fire alert and with the smoke looking like clouds.

that optical illusion and a cold change make me feel like it was winter again.

i went outside to go to work and examined the sky in a bit more detail to find that there were indeed clouds!
the first time in a week i can remember seeing any.
i could only tell because of the crescent sun that i could see. i tried to take a picture, but the clouds moved in to obscure it.

i see this as a good sign.

thanks to all the firefighters out there sweating to make us safe.

4:27pm: ready to rock
okay,

the grounds around the house have been dampened and gear packed, ready to go.

the winds that was feared have arrived, albeit many hours later than expected.
its tardiness is good news, it means that if the wind change due at 9pm will
mean the fires aren't likely to make it to our house at all.
phew.

so, armed with this information - i headed off to the local ambulance depot
and volunteered my services.

ok, so by no means am i of professional quality - but i figure with all the
smoke and people climbing around wet rooftops that anything i can do is better
than nothing.

the guy at the station gave me a phone number for the duty officer, and i am now duly registered.
i've also called the st john's ambulance volunteer line and registered with them.

one volunteer - with level 2 first aid, defibrilator training and the experience of attending several car accidents (one fatal) - ready to go.

now i have just about run out of things to do.
insert images of me pacing restlessly muttering darkly about "the waiting game"

thank you all for your wellwishes.

2:11pm: the land of plenty
well, there are certainly plenty of fires round about here.

our suburb is on alert, which means we have our bags packed, and are hording water, batteries and for once in my life, watering anything except the garden proper is actually being encouraged.

i have (imho) lived a fairly priviledged life - the times in my past where i was not part of the "lucky country" is buried in the mists of lost memories.

today, i have taken part in a run on a product.
garden hoses.

i have, since i moved out of my parent's house, lived in houses that never needed watering.
ergo i don't own a garden hose.
so, today, i went on the hunt for the elusive object. and a tricky hunt it was, moving from hardware store to hardware store, watching as the smoke grew thicker and more smelling of fresh smoke.

whereever i went, there were masses of people, also crying out for the hoses of life.
i finally got lucky (hey, it's me - what else do you expect? :) and i entered a bunnings that had _just_ got a shipment of hoses.
1x18 metre hose = $20.
i don't know whether that's good value or not but, like the other 50+ people in front of me (some of whom had been waiting for over an hour), no price was too high.

the winds have picked up - something that we were told would bring the fires closer.

all is well, though a bit tense.
this is the first time i have been in a declared state of emergency, and it's also the closest i have been to a bushfire.
it has just been called "worse than the ash wednesday fires".

i am somewhat glad i have no tv reception - seeing more of the fires wouldn't help.

if all goes well, the fires today will create a fire break that will mean the (predicted) terrible conditions this coming weekend will not prevent us from holidaying in melbourne.

since it's a faux pas to post more than once a day, updates will be posted as a reply to this post during the day.

worry not, all is under control.

8:48pm: i am "them"

What Paranoid Conspiracy Theory Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

phear me :)

10:10pm: visitors
wow.

i had unexpected visitors yesterday!

from melbourne!

they just rocked up at night, unannounced.

how cool's that?

i love my friends!

thanks to unsworn_nomore and strepsil for making my day :)

8:39pm: decennial retrospective continues
well, it's been a while since i posted here... well a proper post anyways.
blame azahru - go on, you know you want to :)

it's now several weeks ago but i found my first post-30 grey hair.

now don't get me wrong, i've been getting the odd grey hair since i was about 16. there's nothing wrong with them, it's just one of those milestones... my first since i turned 30.

lets see 10 years ago i was in a stable relationship, saving up to move out of my parent's house and had started a new stage of my uni career that i enjoyed a lot more than the horrible uni stuff i had been doing.

now i am in a stable relationship, saving up to buy a house and i've started a new stage of my i.t. career that i'm really enjoying more than the horrible stuff iwas doing at hp.

so - is it a case of only the names have changed to protect the innocent?
am i just good at finding patterns in things?
or is it that happiness always follows the same one?

also, my parents have found some of my old uni notes from 10 years ago - i'll be going through those soon and continuing the retrospective from there.

so i guess the question is when y'all are happy do you find things in common with other times you've been happy?
enquiring minds want to know.

8:01am: the post that time forgot
hiyah - it's been a while since i posted.
whoops.

i've been busy.

between my xbox, roleplaying, and azahru life has been pretty full.

oh, and i've been working away on my gaming portal http://sapient.homedns.org.

there's more news coming - trust me.

but i am alive!
so very alive and full of goo... mission goo!