Rob's Blog

Sitting in a tree in our front yard:

Incidentally, I just noticed that WordPress has a category called “uncategorized”.

Whilst over in the States I was lucky enough to be given a ticket to watch the LA Angels play the Texas Rangers. I’m not usually a baseball fan, but this game was great fun, and the seats were excellent right at the front of the stadium. I managed to catch this short video of a home run.

Today is my last full day at this job. (OK – not quite my last day. I’ll be in tomorrow, but that’ll consist of sanitising my PC, sending goodbye emails, and getting royally pissed at lunchtime). I’ve been here for almost 7 years, and I have this strange, elated feeling – the same feeling you get when you’re about to leave for a three week holiday. Only I’m not going on holiday, in fact I start my new job immediately…

I owe this company a huge debt of gratitude. They have been incredibly supportive throughout my employment here, sponsoring me (3 times) to stay in the country until I managed to get permanent residency, and generally being extremely helpful, thoughtful and generous employers. Thankyou to everyone, in particular Mark, Stephen, Jacqui and especially Andrew.

And now on to new things… From now on I have to shave, iron shirts, make sure I’m smart and presentable. And worst of all I have to catch an outrageously* early ferry to work. These are small sacrifices though, as in return I will be learning a whole bunch of new things, meeting a whole bunch of new people. I think this is why I’ve got that holiday feeling – the anticipation.
* Outrageous = 7:50am

The swell is huge, but not as big as we hoped. My photography skills suck, too. Here’s what I managed to get from Ben Buckler and Bronte:

Lou had a dream that a buzzard looked like this:

Since Australia is home to some of the oddest animals on the planet, I thought I’d try to compete by creating my own “concept buzzard” just for Down Under:

Clearly, Lou’s photoshop skills are slightly more advanced than mine. If anyone’s got enough spare time / nothing better to do, please send me your redesigned buzzard.

Everyone knew he’d love it. Here he is with his new metal detector, trying to find a 20 cent coin. Happy Birthday Norbert!