Fortress of Solitude

Busy busy

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:46:05 GMT

Been busy busy lately. In fact, we've been pretty busy all the time for a while. With work, training four times a week and all the other stuff life throws at you, it's sometimes hard to find real downtime. Having said that, it's in a good way, things are good.

Yesterday I had running training (Sarah missed out cos she was at work - sucks to be her!) and though I ran harder than I probably should in training, it was a great session. My goal for next weeks 10.5km Lake Macquarie race is 50 minutes or less. That's at least 3 minutes and 48 seconds faster than my time at the Hunter Valley and I've kind of been questioning whether I'd set the goal too steeply. But then yesterday I ran 10km in 45:32. I negative split it (second half faster than the first) and felt great. So now i'm confident that if I'm feeling good next week I should reach my goal and I could potentially smash my 10km PB. (Is it really a PB if you've only done 1?)

In other news, my Xbox 360 died. This is the second one. In the UK I had one die with the ominous three red lights. This one has no video output. The system is running, and you can hear sound, but there's no video at all. Grr. My birthday is Sunday (i'll be the ripe old age of 25. Does that make all you old duffers feel ancient? ;)) and I'm hoping for one of the new slimline PlayStation 3s, but I may be setting myself up for disappointment cos it would be a very expensive birthday present. We'll soon see. I am missing gaming already, so if I don't get a PS3 i'll need to hope and pray I can repair the 360.

Generalness

Wed, 27 May 2009 03:33:51 GMT

At the moment i've got a really good temp job. I'm working for the ARTC again, as an Asset Data Administrator. It's a good mix of data entry and general admin and the pay is fantastic. I'm earning nearly Sarah's basic pay and it's nearly double what I was earning in the UK. Admin jobs here are valued so much more and the pay reflects that I think. I've also applied for the job on a permanent basis but there are 170 applicants, some of which have done it before in other locations, so it could be hard to get it. Either way, 5-6 weeks of good money to save is a great boost.

We had a really busy week last week. Poor Bella must have felt a bit rejected cos not only did we not spend as much time with her as usual but she spent a lot of time outside, in the rain most days. Poor sook. Last Wednesday was Sarah's 25th birthday which went by fairly uneventfully, but we're going for a meal with friends this week, which should be nice. Thursday was our training group's first ever social night. Silent auctions, raffles and a quiz to raise money for the Jane McGrath Foundation. I got a bit bid happy and won two auctions, spending $175. One is a meal out at a (supposedly) nice asian restaurant and the other is two golf lessons with a pro! Looking forward to that one. She's been pro since 2004 and has played in international Opens. Cool.

Speaking of training, it's going really well as Sarah mentioned in her journal. Saturday I did the 2km run in 7:45, which was a 45 second improvement on my previous time. I had to go hard to do it, but i'm hoping to improve on it again this Sunday at the fitness test. I don't mind how much I knock off it as long as I shave some time off. Our training isn't competetive at all, but i'm not pretty much the fastest person in the group which feels nice. Not competetive though, and it's not a race ;) I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how I go in the fitness test which will have a lot more people attending than a usual group.

On top of the training sessions, we're doing longer runs on Sundays. We did 6km this past weekend and my time was 27:50 which I was really pleased with. As we continue to increase the distances though I need to slow down. I'm finding it hard, but if I don't pace myself i'll never be able to do the longer distances. Planning to do the 14km City2Surf in early August. That goes from the city centre to bondi beach and will have thousands of people attending.

Then at the end of August there's a local race along the lake side. I was planning to do the 10.5km one, but our trainer, David, said that maybe I should aim to do the half marathon, or 21.1km. That seems overly ambitious to me, but if he thinks I should aim for that, i'll aim for that. If it turns out i'm not ready, I can enter the 10.5km.

Post vet visit

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:38:25 GMT

After the vet finished with her

So, we went to the vets and it turns out she didn't have tree sap, glue or anything stuck in her hair. It's what the vet called a 'hot spot'. Some kind of spot that she's scratched and scratched and scratched until it's infected. I honestly didn't think it was anything like that because there was so much gunky sticky stuff, but what do i know.

So the vet has shaved it (which took two of us to hold her down while she did it), cleaned it and given me some cream to put on it and anti-biotics to give her twice a day. Bella was brave, she got some treats and she's a bit perkier already. I'm $110 lighter! Not a problem though for Bella.

One thing of note is that she walked straight into the vets with no problem. All previous times i've had to drag her through the door, so that's progress.

Soon to be bald dog!

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:10:49 GMT

The other day we noticed that Bella had a patch of fur on her head that was all matted and gunky. I have no idea what it is or where it came from, but there's something sticky in the fur. We've tried washing it out with water, dog shampoo and combing it out and nothing has worked.

I phoned a mobile groomer for advice and they said the best thing to do is to shave it out. We don't know what it is and for all we know it could cause a reaction or skin irritation, so tomorrow she'll be getting a shave. Probably end up with a pretty big bald patch on her head. She's so beautiful normally, but she'll look a bit funny for ages until it grows back. Poor thing!

Helloooooooooooo from Oz

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:58:40 GMT

Title says it all really... hello from oz!

I'm sat in an internet cafe in Newcastle, catching up on all the goings on that we've been missing. Seems the world is still turning!

Sarah's at her induction today, first day of her new job. She's looking forward to getting started, though a bit nervous, understandably. She's totally in her element since we've been here, she adjusts much better than I do.

The accomodation we've got her in Newcastle for the week or so is very basic. Just a room with two single beds, which we've pushed together, a kitchen with a microwave, toaster and kettle and a bathroom with a shower. It's alright for the week, the main bad thing is that it's cooooooooold. Even when it's warm outside (and it's not too bad out during the day), it's freezing inside the cottage.

Later this week we'll be moving on to Tamworth, and our accomodation will be a lot better there, so we'll be able to get comfortable.

Oh, Sydney was very nice. We're not big city folk really, but we had a good couple of days exploring Sydney. The main harbour is fantastic, but I also enjoyed the smaller ones like Darling Harbour. Very nice.

Anyway, I need to go update other stuff, so i'll update here again soon.

Countdown...

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 08:20:57 GMT

Emigration in... ZERO DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, today is the day that we jump on a Singapore Airlines plane and make our move down under. We've wanted to make the move for a few years, infact, we started talking about it as an option not long after we got serious (which wasn't long after we got together!). The actual application started in January, so that part of it hasn't taken long at all.

We've had a lot of support from the recruitment agent, the migration agent and of course, family and friends. We found out after he died the other week that one of my Grandad's big regrets was that he had the chance to join the New Zealand Airforce, after he left the RAF. They didn't go though, because my Great Grandma didn't want them to. He was very very supportive, even when his motor neurone disease was at its worst, and that means a lot. Everyone else has been great too. Yesterday we had a 'BBQ'. In inverted commas because it rained all day, so we had an indoor, oven and grill cooked BBQ. It was still nice though, lots of people came and the time flew by.

And, so, we're off. We'll miss everybody here, of course, but in the 21st century, the world is a lot smaller and it's so easy to keep in touch and holiday, it will be easy, and fun, to keep in touch.

Actually getting to Australia is not the end of the organising, sorting out and whatnot though. Sarah starts induction for her new job on the 18th, but i'll need to try and find temporary work, armed with my newly written CV (the old one was lost in the burglary - must learn to back up!). We need to find a car, unless we are surprised and discover we can manage without. A new laptop is essential. And it will only be November when we find a rental house and start repurchasing furniture and all that jazz.

A lot to think about, a lot to do and we're both a little nervous, as you'd expect. But, so far together, we've tackled whatever has come our way and we're confident that we'll do well over there too.

Anyway, suitcases to pack, chocolate cakes to eat, so we'll see you on the other side!

Countdown..

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:29:31 GMT

Emigration in... TWO DAYS!!!!!

Countdown... and other things

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:01:46 GMT

Emigration to Australia in... FIVE DAYS!!!!

In other news, we're now down at my Mum's (though i'm typing this on my Grandma's computer) until we fly on Sunday. The packer/shipper came yesterday and took away all the stuff we're sending to Oz. The quote was 50 cubic feet, but because of the way he packed it, it's a bit more and will cost us a couple of hundred quid more than we were quoted. Grr.

We emptied out, cleared and cleaned the house and we'll now never go back to it, more than likely. Financially the house hasn't worked out (and won't until we can sell it). But buying it, doing it up and everything else has been a great experience. Not particularly sad to leave, but I did enjoy our year in York.

We're now living out of a suitcase each and hand luggage.

So, being burgled was shit, and obviously we now have no laptop. We've worked out we can stretch to buying a new one when we get to Sydney. In all likelyhood, i'll spend the money on a MacBook and go back to Mac OS X. The Dell with Vista was alright, but to be honest, I wish i'd stuck with Macs all along.

I'll try and get access whenever I can to keep everyone up to date, and stay up to date with everyone else, but it'll be patchy at best.

Countdown...

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:38:05 GMT

Leave the house (and York) in... 5 days!!

Emigration in... 10 days!!!!!!!!!!

Frackin' Motherfrackers!!!!!!!

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:34:09 GMT

So... we got burgled overnight Wednesday/Thursday.

We were asleep (my Aunt, her partner and the 3 kids were upstairs asleep too) and they got in through a window, unlocked the backdoor and made off with a load of stuff. The laptop (noooooooooo), PSP (nooooo), my cousin's PSP (he's only 7, bless him), iPod Touch (nooo), wallets, purses, mobile phones, Sarah's work bag, including her ID badge and stethoscope. So we're pretty screwed over.

Sod's law that we'd be here for a year and then we get burgled less than a week before we leave. Also, we're not insured properly! The old insurance finished on the 20th July, so we started the landlord's insurance straight away, just a week or two before we left. But that doesn't fully cover our contents, so we're out for the full value of everything that got nicked.

It's all stuff that can be replaced (albeit, a couple of grand that we don't have), but we were more upset and angry that someone had been in the house while we, and the kids, were asleep. Bastards.

I'll be online next week at my Mum's still, and I think we'll stretch to a new laptop pretty soon after we arrive in Australia - it's really a necessity for keeping in touch with everyone. So i get a new laptop, but that's not really worth getting burgled for lol.

Countdown...

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:42:14 GMT

Leave the house (and York) in... 9 days!

Emigration in... 14 days!

The Dark Knight

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:19:30 GMT

So, we went to see The Dark Knight yesterday evening. I've been looking forward to it for months, Batman Begins was already one of my favourite superhero films, I love Bale as Batman and Nolan has made some cracking films.

So I was set up to love it really, but I do feel it was fantastic, and probably my best film of the year so far. There's been a lot of hype about Ledger as Joker, starting before he died, going into overdrive afterwards and then with people saying it was only so hyped because he died. Well, the hype was justified. Ledger's Joker is crazy, scary and totally convincing. He drags you into the film kicking and screaming. Little tics like licking his lips and constantly playing with his hair add a lot to the fantastic makeup. Just all round a good performance, which is what the film gets from pretty much everyone.

One thing I was surprised about was the rating. I'm not fussy about ratings, but TDK is very violent and there are some particularly grisly bits, especially with Two Face (the makeup and effects for which were very well done, I thought).

This is more impressions than review, because I haven't really got time to do a proper review, so in summary my impression is - it's great and you must go see it!!

Countdown...

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:29:55 GMT

...has converted to days!

Emigration in T-Minus... 19 days!!!!

Photos

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:52:37 GMT

The wedding photos are now online at Nicola Martindale's website. We're going to get the actual photo albums sometime soon, looking forward to that quite a bit.

Here they are: http://212.227.87.134/q0308/nicolamartindale/W4336/page1.html

Woohoo!

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:38:25 GMT

Friday we got an early wedding present. We got an email from Kerri-Ann, our migration agent, letting us know that Sarah's medical registration had come through, so she was licensed to practice in Australia.

Today, we got another email, and our visas have been approved. Score!

Wedding post coming later from one of us!

Getting married...

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:33:15 GMT

TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm off work today in preparation and i've got a few bits to get ready. I collected the suits yesterday, so that's done. We amassed a lot of stuff that needs to go with us tonight to the hotel; framed seating plan, toiletries, wedding rings, necklaces for the bridesmaids (a gift to each of them), etc. The list would go on for a loooooong time.

My main jobs today are to collect the wedding favours from the chocolatier and get the house ready. For the favours, we've had a chocolatier in town do two custom made and lettered chocolates for each guest, which will be in a little box and then we'll tie some gold ribbon round. Should be tasty!

Countdown...

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:07:41 GMT

Getting married in SIX days!!!!!!!!

Moving to Oz in five weeks!!

Countdown...

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:26:36 GMT

Getting married in less than two weeks!

Moving to Australia in seven weeks today!

Sucks

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:45:34 GMT

My Grandad, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease about 6 months ago, died this afternoon. Not entirely unexpected because he's deteriorated fast since he was diagnosed, but still sucks obviously.

Still, he's better off now he's at peace.

Countdown...

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:49:40 GMT

Getting married three weeks today!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moving to Australia in eight weeks!!!!!!!!!!

Getting to Know Me

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:25:10 GMT

First Name:

Matthew. It's Hebrew for Gift from God, or Gift of the Lord. Ironic, as I don't believe in the Lord!

2. Age:

23 - 30th August 1984.

3. Location:

Currently York, England. Soon to be Tamworth, NSW (just for a couple of months, then Newcastle, NSW

4. Occupation:

Currently I do 'Admin', which is such a catchall phrase. I work for City of York Council and my department not only does admin support for pretty much the whole building, but we also administrate the Blue Badge Disabled Parking Scheme for the Council.

I only started doing Admin in Feb 2007 and since I dropped out of Uni in 2004 (i think?), I've worked in a supermarket (lame), two bingo clubs (less lame, but not what I want to do), and for two city councils.

I don't really have any true career direction. I didn't finish Uni when I had the chance and can't afford to go back now, so I'll continue to make the best of what I have. Not sure what my job prospects are like in Oz, but I'd like to maybe get a job working for a Council and see how that goes.

5. Partner?:

Sarah. Been together since October 31st (yes, Halloween!) 2002, engaged since June 22nd 2007, getting married July 12th 2008.

6. Kids:

Not yet, but definitely in the plans for sometime in the next two or three years. In a perfect world we'd like two, with at least one girl. We have names picked for two boys and two girls.

7. Brothers/Sisters:

I have two brothers, both younger than me. Aaron, who is in the Army and Tom, who is in construction. Until the last couple of years I hadn't seen or spoken to Aaron for several years. Tom and I used to fight loads when we were younger, but we get on well now.

8. Pets:

None, but we want a dog! If we were to buy a pedigree, which is unlikely, we'd go for a chocolate lab, but I'd also like a Dalmatian-Great Dane cross!

9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:

Getting married
Moving to Australia
Trying to sell our house

10. School:

St. Paul's Primary School, Spalding, Lincs
Gleed Boys School, Spalding, Lincs

11. Parents:

My Mum's name is Davina. I get on with her great and don't really ever remember arguing with her. She's always been there if I need her, but leaves me alone to get on with things in my own way. That had it's pros and cons. I might have done better at school with a little more involvement, but I'm independent and I appreciate being given space to get on with my life.

My Dad's name is Rick, but I haven't seen him or had anything to do with him for... must be about 12/13 years. Not inclined to start anytime either.

12. Who are some of your closest friends?:

Sarah is absolutely my best friend and has been since we got together at Uni. Jennie, Laura, Mahya are the closest friends beyond Sarah. We'll be making effort to stay in touch as often as possible after we move I hope.

</p>

Countdown...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:57:03 GMT

Getting married 4 weeks today!!

Moving to Australia in 9 weeks!!

Countdown!

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:07:49 GMT

As of this past Saturday it's...

Six weeks to the wedding and 11 weeks to emmigration.

Price drop

Fri, 30 May 2008 09:46:32 GMT

Well, the house has been on the market 4 weeks and though we had two viewings in the first week, since then there's been a shit ton of details sent out, but no more viewings. The first guy that viewed is apparently interested, but between getting his mortgage quote, viewing the house and going back to them, the mortgage offer was taken off the table, so he's having to find a new one.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is, the housing market is getting worse, not better and prices are starting to come down. Other houses in the area are starting to drop their prices, so we've had to make the decision to drop the price of the house by £7,500, which takes it down to £160,000. That's a big chunk off our money in the bank, especially when you exchange it to AUD.

Anyway, hopefully the price drop will inspire some viewings. The house looks great on the adverts (it's on the estate agent, all the big property sites and several local publications), and the price is hopefully now right, so fingers crossed.

Well hello, Charles

Tue, 20 May 2008 14:46:04 GMT

We've been looking into things for Oz pretty constantly for months as you can imagine, and one of the biggest things is where to live. We want to be in a good suburb, reasonably close to the hospital and for between $250-$400 a week. It's hard to budget before we get there and start living, but that's what we're thinking.

Psychokitten put us in touch with one of her friends (thanks!), Norm, who lives in Newcastle, and he was very helpful. With his suggestions, and the comments of British ex-pats on a forum we've found helpful, we think we're going to aim to find somewhere in or around Charlestown. It's technically in Lake Macquarie I think, rather than Newcastle, but it appears to have all the amenities we'd need, it's easy commute distance into Newcastle, rentals are reasonable, so it has a lot of pluses.

I've been thinking about what i'd like to do to take advantage of our newfound location. Sarah's done a couple of skydives before and she'd like to join a skydive club and qualify properly. That's cool for her, but i'm not a thrillseeker at all and have no desire to do that.

However, I think i'd like to try scuba diving. Which is handy, cos Charlestown has a diving academy. I've never done anything remotely like it before, so once we've finished in Tamworth and got set up in Newcastle, I think that's worth trying.