Monday, February 25, 2008

When you can't find what your looking for

I got another change today, the Sydney driver is sick of the city, and so today I got to go to the city instead. I had found everything but one box and thought ok I might just jump in the back of a few trailers and see what I can find. As I got out of the back of one and was walking away I felt a drip and thought whats this. There was a gush of blood sliding down my leg.


I thought perhaps I better see what I've done here and go find myself a bandaid. The first aid room was close to the office and I soon found what I needed and headed for the toilets. After a few minutes of towelling off, I was able to get it to a trickle and patch it up. The boss goes someone will try anything to get out of work, no sympathy there, another guy just goes to me and you didn't find the box either.

The day was pretty good, Only 8 deliveries and 3 of them were up the shire. I had time for a haircut and visited my favourite shop there Sugar Fix



I was able to get myself some peanut butter cups and some reece pieces :) quite a good afternoon if you ask me for my humble opinion

Sunday, February 24, 2008

When bro in laws go to War

Do you remember the big saga a few years back about Nancy Kerrigan and Tanya Harding? Poor old Tanya couldn't beat Nancy, so she got some hit men to club Nancy on the knee and knocked her out of the ice skating trials.

I'm feeling a little like Tanya tonight, Last time round in the finals we were beaten by Hawthorn to end our year, but more importantly Buddy kicked the goal. This week it's only a NAB game but we've drawn them again and I'm wondering if clubbing Buddy might help.




A fine looking specimen


G
ood luck Aaron, but even though I think we might lose, I'm backing the Crow boys in.

nothing to report

Ever had one of those slow news weeks? If I had to report the news, channel7 would be broke and then we'd have no home and away and what would I do when I got home?

It was quite a boring work week really, apart from the bilpin trip. I did get to go to homebush and see Gladiators, but alas Gladiators was no more, horrified I wondered what happened to those fine looking creatures. They were replaced by a home show, the type most of you bloggers would love to go to and spend hours browsing around and filling in your time with.



I found these joyful creatures at darling harbour, at this time of year just about all of drivers for our section have to come in early as we have two big shows at Darling Harbour and HomeBush where we send about 10 semis into and we need to get it sorted out. I had to do a few runs in with lost and late goods. Was fun to have a browse without having to pay.












This was the scene on friday as I came back to work and it wasn't even raining. You would think he just went off the road, which he did but he was driving the other way to where he ended up.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I need a Cow

I heard my family are getting a few cows to share, just thought I'd show Dad my grass that is finally starting to grow and offer the use for agistment if needed :)

You see we have had a little struggle to try to get the side lawn to grow since i've been here. Dad had a crack and I've had a couple of goes, but the rain hasn't been here for ages and water restrictions means watering on wednesdays only. Since Lisa and Aaron came up the rain has come, and so one morning I ran outside and threw some seed down and raked it in. Oh the beauty of a blade or two of grass. The things that amuse us these days, what can I say Sometimes you just get in the mood and want your house to look decent like the next door neighbours

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Drive in the country side




Sometimes you wonder why your getting paid, then realise because you clocked on :) This morning I was given my work for the day and it was only like 5 deliveries, but as per usual we were waiting on Melbourne freight to turn up. There was like 6 of us guys standing around, then sitting around waiting and waiting. Luckily for us, we had a barbecue put on for us this morning. I started at 6am and at 11am I had my 5 deliveries and I was off.
Just waiting for a guy who pushed in front of me wanting his motorbikes first



After my lovely motorbikes at Windsor I headed up the mountains, well the kind of mountains, I drove and drove and drove until I came to lovely Bilpin. Bilpin reminded me the Huon, they have all of these fruit orchards and little shops and side carts selling the produce. I once went through a few years ago but paid no attention as my focus was further up in Lithgow.

I had a delivery to this guy and when I arrived the Sherriff's were on his doorstep, they were booting him out of the house and the locksmith was there changing the locks so he couldnt get back in. He came running down and was unsure of himself and goes can you do me a favour. I didn't realise what was happening and thought maybe he wanted the goods around the back, but he wanted me to deliver it to a local store for him. I said what about your car, but it was chockers with clothes and bags and he still had to fit the dog in. The sherriff was asking him what he was going to do with the guinea pig and he told them to tip the cage over and let it go free, they weren't impressed with his answer. I felt kind of bad for him, so I told him I'd follow him back down the road and deliver it there.



My little country town servo and they were out of fuel, luckily for me I had enough to get me back :)
I thought I need a new fruit bowl, but alas there was just fruit, false advertising if you ask me :)
The swing sets looked nice and enticing though, but should I risk playing? I thought you might get to enticed and stay the arvo, so I quickly turned my back on the fun


After an exhaustive search I was able to track down the elusive Bilpin Mountain Apple, it put up a fight, but with my powers I was able to break it's back or should I say stalk? It was Red and it was delicious
The lovely Hawkesbury valley, it felt like I was nearly back to civilisation once again

Monday, February 11, 2008

Back to it

Well the alarm went off too early for my liking this morning, after a week of getting up at a decent time, I had to drag myself out of bed and pull on the fluro orange top again. My eyes were burning, not just from the pretty star track top.

I think I was missed, everyone gave me a good old welcome back. I was given a different truck again, and when I pulled up, it seemed to have a pool in the back. I thought, umm, nice and i opened her up. One of the guys grabbed his broom and a few minutes later, the pool was no longer in the truck, but on the concrete floor. Water Restrictions I hear, let me fill the dam with whats in my truck I was borrowing. Never mind, things can only get better.

One of the bosses was back, seems as though my own truck was just as bad, two dams filled up. :)

I gather my connotes and go and look for my freight, everything is going great guns, I grab a sticker of the connote to sticker the freight, I grab the fork and go and grab more, I come back, I wonder where did I put that connote. Lost!! I jump in the back and pull the freight around to see if I might have dropped it under one of the boxes or pallets, no luck. I explain my loss, but it hasn't been found. 30 minutes later no sign of it, a subdocket might be good, but I remember the Return Authority number is on the connote. I look at the garbage where I threw all the extra stickers, not with them, but I notice a little ball further along. Ah, I unscrew it and hey presto, all is well. Good job Christian, I am thinking.


I'm ready to leave for my first run, and one of the offsiders comes over and says I'm coming with you now, puzzled why I need him. I sign out and the boss tells me I need him for the afternoon. The morning is easy, just 7 deliveries, though we will cover distance. I was amazed at how many planes were lined up on the far runway, at least a dozen ready to go, Looks like a great day for it, to just take off and go.

The second run is seemingly easy, just the two deliveries, I grab a couple more connotes so we dont finish too early, the first drop is a wheel off, I'm loving it. We arrive in chatswood for the next one, a truck park just for me, very easy, i've done something right :) We go to see what the delivery will be like, we can't get to the floor. The boss is called and we get him to ring the guy, we wait for a return call from him, the sun is warm and the breeze just nice, I have a little snooze, 30 mins later we get rudely awoken by a ringing phone, the boss asking if someone had turned up, nope is our reply, but there is a guy strolling towards us and eyeing us off. Contact, we have the right guy, we wheel our goods off, I look and say I don't think it will fit in the lift, we shall try it though.

Hmm, you know how they say about fitting a square peg in a round hole, or vice versa, we thats how we were feeling, we tug it here and tug it there and think it just might go, alas, no a little long and tall, if only those fluro lights weren't there. We should probably leave those intact.

After some complication and alot of hesitation might I add, we decide to strip off as much as we can off the computer rack, we just want a bare shell, all up it weighs close on 130 kg. We get it down to about 100kg and off we go. Three stories to get it where it needs to go. This is a joy. We bend our backs and push on, 1st flight we need a break we have to jiggle it to get it upright. We get it up the three flights and the guy is happy. we go back down and grab the rest of the rack, he's not impressed with the rubbish, but it's all his.

One drop to go, I look at my directory and realise we drove straight past it coming to the rack, just two blocks back, just a measly printer to wheel on up, but the connote has two man job written on it. I go and survey and it seems easy. While the offsider is locking the truck I roll it down the gentle slope on the road, a little up ramp and I'm there. I wait for the offsider and we take it up in the elevator. It wont fit inside the office, I Put on a big smile and say to the four people watching, " You will have to unpack it here to fit it in" They look at me and ask do you take the pallet, nope I reply it's all yours, we dont unpack graysonline, we just dump and run.

Thats it for me were unloaded, I need a little break now, we head to westfields. Pizza and mountain dew for $3, that will do me. We spend sometime sitting and then after the day I've had I think I need something to
A tropical storm, my favourite


Well this was my adventure for the day, hope you enjoyed coming back to work with me.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Time of Year

This time of year has got to be one of the best times of year. The weather is still pretty nice(apart from the rain we've had lately) and we have the cricket and AFL and NRL all coming to the end or starting, so you have a smorgasboard of viewing.

Last night I set my alarm on my phone for 1am, Crazy thing to do, but up here You don't get your AFL on tv, until close to midnight most games, unless it's the swans. Well this morning it was the Crows and Pies in the NAB cup, so up I got. Luckily for me, I set it when I did, The Crows were down at quarter time by a point. I was soon on the case and my support soon paid off, a half time lead of 47 soon ensued. The boys were firing, at three quarter time with a 3 goal breeze the way of the pies, we only dropped 2 points. The last quarter was a classic, we pumped them. Crows by 81 Quite satisfactory for a preseason game, but will hold the applause for the new boys for later in the year.

The Kings in the NBL are going great guns as well, wrapped up the minor already games ago, and have only lost 3 games all year, it all abodes well for a fine year.

Yes I admit it, I'm a Sports Freak


Thursday, February 7, 2008

The City, Rain and Quietness

Today was the last day of the visiting Kings. We took it pretty easy, lazing around till around 11, when I went and dropped them all off at the train station. We decided it was easier for them to catch the train and for me to drive in with all the bags etc. When I arrived in the city I got a phone call saying they were at Wynyard station and were going to McDonalds for lunch again. I decided I would meet them in the mall as I think I'm all macca'd out for the next year.


A little grey in Sydney town

While I was waiting I went and got a Kebab to eat, and the next few minutes, there was a thunder and lightning storm and it started bucketing down. I had a smile on my face as when we left home it was boiling hot and sunny. I got a text from Aaron about the weather and eventually we met up. Seems as though they bought some more umbrellas again, I think they will have a year or two worth, so if your in need of one, just give them a call. haha.

We decided we would go to centrepoint tower and see the sights, but with the rain we were unsure of what we could see. Up the top we were able to do this little side show, where you sit down and you spin through a few different scenes of Australia. I think Harri quite liked it, I got the bad earphones that only worked in one ear. After this we went to another room and sat in different seats, but kids under 4 and pregnant women aren't allowed to ride them, so they got the non moving seats up the front. You got zoomed through more scenes of Sydney mainly with a few more around Australia, and the chairs moved, to try to make you feel as though you are flying along.


QVB..grand old building




We then went up the tower to the viewing area and had a look around, was quite suprised to see the sun was pretty much out and you could see for miles, which was good. It was quite the view. After spending sometime there We decided to leave, so they could catch a train to the airport and get enough time to check everything in properly and get the wheel chair and seat to the plane with no stress. I had abit of a walk to the car, as I decided the fees right in the city were past my comfort level, and as I was walking it bucketed down again and I got soaked through.



The car heater was turned flat out for the next 15 mins while I tried to dry out. At the airport they decided to leave me to go home, so we hugged and I hit the peak hour traffic. Wasn't too bad tonight playing with the cars actually.

Now I'm home alone, and it seems quiet. What to do with myself? Bored I think, I Have three days before I go back to work.

It's a Zoo out there

Well actually, it's was just Taronga Zoo




Another day of bright sun greeted us as we opened our bleery eyes this morning after a night of action.

Today was the day that the kings had basically come up for, today was Zoo day. We had put this day off to the end of the trip, after reading the weather reports and watching them, hoping just for a glimmer of sunshine.

We decided to just drive to Mosman, instead of PT'ing it. To run the tolls or to just take the toll, that was a big decision to make, you have no idea how many tolls you can hit between here and Sydney, going the m7,m2 , lane cove tunnel etc and we were in the car and not in the truck where we have our Etag and it doesn't bother how many tolls we hit. We decided, quickest the best and racked up the tolls. First order of the day was to buy a hat from the zoo, kind of ironic after the last few days really.




This old man was the well behaved chimp, right next to him we had another who was picking his nose and eating it. Lisa added this into her blog, but left out an important part of the story that she thought was to gross for her page, so Aaron told me I needed to add it into mine. This poor Chimp was a little hungry you see and in this world of recycling he had just gone to the toilet and poo'd and he decided to scrape it back up into his hand and recycled it by re eating it again.
Aaron kept on going on about the scenery all day and how at the zoo you had this great place and how you would just look down and have the harbour and the bridge and opera house. I see his point, it is quite spectacular
Just getting ready to pounce
I think Jalen decided this was the best day ever, we even got to stop at the shop on the way out and the boys got to buy a toy each.

As you can see I was left to my own devices of entertainment on the way home. Everyone was tuckered out after walking for hours and decided to have a snooze. Lucky for me I had a few skills and the phone came out to snap the dastardly deed.

We were home by 4.30 after beating the peak hour flow, and Lisa was off to work her blog, after awhile I had to make her clear off the dining room table, so we could eat, and straight after she went back to it. You should be proud of her, only took like 4 hrs to do everything to get the blog running to scratch. haha, the things we do.


Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Temple and Gladiators




After the last few days of Glorious Sydney weather I was reminded of this song from the musical Annie, which I've only seen like the once, but some of the chorus stuck with me. Actually I only remembered the first part, but the rest is pretty cool too.

The sun'll come out Tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar That tomorrow There'll be sun! Just thinkin' about Tomorrow Clears away the cobwebs, And the sorrow 'Til there's none! When I'm stuck a day That's gray, And lonely, I just stick out my chin And Grin, And Say, Oh! The sun'll come out Tomorrow So ya gotta hang on 'Til tomorrow Come what may Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya Tomorrow! You're always A day A way!

What more can I say, but we have had two days of nice weather, where we were actually able to do things without ponchos and umbrellas. Gotta Love That.

Yesterday We had planned to go to the temple, so Aaron and Lisa could go and do an endowment session at the temple. The boys and I strolled around the temple, went to the distribution and then took a walk over to Carlingford Court, where I let Harri and Jay loose on the pet shot. It's amazing how much time you can fill in when pets are involved, which was good because Noah, had had enough of his chair, so I took him out for a cuddle and to settle him down abit. (Note to myself, kids and pets = time filled in) After quite awhile, we decided to walk upstairs and have a look at EB games, I've been looking for a Nintendo Wii for the last little bit and everywhere I have been, its been sold out. Yep EB was out too and wouldn't be getting anymore anytime soon. There was a new guy there from when I used to do Carlingford and surrounding suburbs for work and so I couldn't swing a deal with my connections.

After this we wandered into target and the boys were let loose on the toys there, so if your in the area, don't buy the toys or at least buy extra batteries, because the toys will be flat :) Next stop lunch, where else but McDonalds and Harri had his chicken nuggets meal again and Jay, suprise suprise had a triple cheese burger meal. I had to drag them back out of the shopping centre to return to the temple, as Jay wanted to go back and see the puppy he had called Blue. Back at the shopping centre, I spotted a car with Tassie plates from Launceston and was thinking who is this, later I asked Lisa who the Tasmanians were, and it Wss uncle Tom and Auntie Ann, who were there with Fillie, while she took out her Endowments.

A quick stop at the distribution and we were off to Parramatta Westfield to have a look around and to fill in time. After stopping at EB and JB HiFi( alas no Wii) we grabbed a smoothie from Boost, a lovely tropical storm and we sat while Aaron and lisa ate. After Lisa decided to go to toys are us, and we wandered in and I headed for the games section, and there was a sign Wii sold out and under it DS sold out. Jay was with me and I said Wii all sold out Jay and the guy working in the next aisle popped his head up and goes, we got some more in today. The purchase was made, and we walked on out.


We had to hurry to our next adventure, and thats what it was a huge adventure. We were off to see Gladiators get filmed and how much work do you need for a show. We were pretty well looked after as we had Noah and were told where the good seats were. Funny how we had to cheer on cue and things and then redo it, Perhaps Reality tv isn't so bad after all. No recording advices were allowed inside, so Lisa missed out but Aaron and I smuggled a few shots with our phones. One girl was seen taking shots though and a guard to her to the back and looked at all of her pics.








The time for setting up for the show and doing retakes are a killer and one of the hosts Zoe Naylor, who was pretty cute, came over and said hi to the boys and told us that it gets pretty long and we could leave when we wanted to, what a nice lady.




We lasted like two of the different segments and we left early as we were all tired of it.
After the boys had left to go to bed Aaron and I set up the wii and had a go. Was pretty funny to play and to watch. Lisa was a crackup when she had a go, she was beating us and along with being over tired, she was cracking up and just about weeing herself, and at one stage had to go running off to the toilet and you could hear her cracking up even after she had gone. Fun for the whole family.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Trials for Lisa

Ah, you have got to love a sleep in while your on holiday. I think a few of us must have gone to bed late last night, because I got up like after 8, which is kind of unusual. I felt like going back to sleep though.

While Everyone was getting up and between breakfast, I figured with all the rain coming down, I might try to get some more grass seed down and actually get some grass instead of the weeds that are popping up again.

When coming back inside I found to my horror, or should I say Marge's horror, that she had dropped her camera and smashed the lense. I wonder if it was meant to be, perhaps the blogger kids had had enough of their pics being taken finally and subtely sabotaged the camera. Just a thought for anymore blogger kids out there.





We drove to the train station and we had decided because it would be raining all day again, we would head back into the city and have a look at the sights. We caught the snailrail and went into Wynyard, where we were able to peruse another lense for the camera, and it was swapped straight in and went to work.


After lunch we caught a train to Circular Quay and we went and had a look at the opera house. While the Kings were taking in the scenery of the occasion, Noah and I had more on our minds. Noah and I decided the safety of the harbour was of more importance, and we went and checked to make sure the ships at Garden Island were ready in case there was a sneak attack on our famous icons. Alas everything seemed to be in order and we strolled around the opera house.



Noah Checking out what was happening




We ended up going on the ferry to Manly and the boys got some icecream, us older lot decided to hold on and get a boost juice on the way back, but when we arrived at the ferry again, it was closed for the day. What to do, but get an iced chocolate and a massage from the local chinese which needed to be cut short to catch the ferry.

Overall quite a nice day, better than working in the rain for sure.

PPS. Lisa has had a few problems with the net here, I'm thinking she can't wait to get home to blog properly, so her pics and blog will be up early tomorrow Mum.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Lovely day if your a Duck




I know how poor Diana feels now. Diana who, you may ask? The Princess of course. Last night I went and picked up Lisa, Aaron, Jay, Noah and Harri from the airport and brought them home for a few days. On the way home there is a tunnel and as you may see, I was getting my shot taken and my usual skills were put to the test. How to drive and put on a charming face as well? Alas we made it out of the tunnel ok.

Today we headed down into the city for a day of puddle jumping, well the day dawned nice out west, but by the time we were on parra rd, the rain had come. We were to hit the markets for a day of fine shopping, but to our dismay all the stores were basically the same. Oh we had fun looking around and there were some purchases to be made, some very important ones, Namely Adelaide Crows DVD's. By the time we were done there we were starved and what kind of food should us tasmanians try, since we were up? None other than micky D's of course. The first restaurant was packed, so we headed further into the concrete city and made camp. The rain was teeming down by this stage and we had to strategically make for our next place of refuge, before pushing on.

Well after this, we headed into the aquarium, as we were lining up, a guy came to Aaron and shook his hand I think and gave him some tickets( check lisa's blog for the real story) to let two of us in for free. Personally I think Aaron might have winked at the guy or vice versa, to get them, but don't quote me on this :)





What a Beauty,


We spent a little time looking at the sharks if you couldn't tell. There were a few of them. I was thinking We needed the persons blogger to communicate with them for us, so we could get some quality time in with them


Terrified, what can I say


About the only fish not in here is sardines, looks like sardines in a tin tho


Cannon fodder for the sharks, hope he stays in his own pool


Personally I think this poor guy has the worst job at the aquarium, swimming all day and no water to swim in. I think he probably gets quite hot and can't wait for knockoff at 10pm.


Well for our next wet adventure, just tune in tomorrow