Long-ish update
It's been, what, 3 weeks since my last post... It's insane where the time goes these days.
First of all, I've reached three months (well, a little over now) at GSN, and am still loving it. There's the odd annoyance, as there is with any job, but on the whole, it's challenging, and fun. I can't stand a job where I'm not challenged or where I'm presented with the same repetitive monotonous (even something you initially enjoy can become monotonous if you do it enough) work day in, day out. This is why GSN is so different. It's a new thing every week, something different, new things to learn, even the odd problems that crop up.
I've been pushing to get Sharepoint up and running properly. We need a better CMS and our current Wiki is pathetic to say the least. With Sharepoint, we can build in access controls, version control, as well as a host of other cool features. I've been given some admin control on how we set it up becuase of my previous experience with it at Paragon. We'll be doing a bit of work on it this week.
The last few weeks have also been quite busy. A couple of weeks ago, I went to Godskitchen. It was on Saturday, an all night (9pm - 7am) music festival. I went with Jason and Barti, and a couple of other friends were there as well, and they came and joined us. It was a great night, although by the end of it, we were exhausted. We ended up leaving around 6:45am to beat the rush of thousands of people leaving at 7am. It was funny because on the way there, we needed our sunnies, as we went early, had dinner and drinks before the festival, and then the sun was up already when we left. It was an interesting night too. There were a lot of people who were sucking on lollipops, which I soon realised was because they had taken something, and it was to stop then grinding their teeth, and keep them salivating. I even had one person try to offer me cocaine, and then try to justify to me why he was on it... Frankly, I don't care, I wasn't going to have anything, and it's not my business why someone else is taking anything. There was quite a lot of smoking as well, despite it being inside, and smoking being prohibited.
Jason drove me back to his house where I had my car, and I went home from there, getting home around 8:45am. I couldn't sleep, but mid afternoon I had a "Nanna nap" and dozed for a bit. On Sunday afternoon it was my friend Nick's birthday, so I headed out with him and some friends for a some dinner. I left early to get a good night sleep, as I was knackered by the end of Sunday. Surprisingly on Monday I was alright, a little tired, but otherwise I pulled up well for having no sleep on Saturday.
There has been a bit of drama as well, with Mum going to emergency after getting a handle flung up and hitting her in the throat, almost crushing her larynx. She was lucky, a centimeter either way, and she would have needed surgery. Instead, she just had a bruise and a bit of a dint where the handle hit (which has since gone).
Tim also broke his radius bone (near the elbow joint) while bike riding. It was partially his own fault, as he was riding without a light at night, and hit a tree root. At least he was wearing a helmet. He isn't in plaster which surprised me, but it's good for him because with the hotter weather, the last thing anyone wants is plaster down to their hand! He's not in too much pain now though which is good, and it seems to be healing nicely.
Tim and I also went and saw Eagle Eye. It was fantastic! I took him as part of taking his mind off his arm (as it was the day after, so he was still in quite a bit of pain). The movie had a few twists, and was very well written. I don't want to give away the plot, save to say (and this will only make sense if you have either seen it, heard about it, or seen the trailer), if you see it, you'll be quite surprised as who the woman on the other end of the phone is!
Last weekend, it was my friend Geoff's birthday. It was a good night. I met some new people and got to catch up with others. There were plans to play games, but it didn't really happen. We played a few on the Wii, but mostly sat and talked the whole night. There was a lot of very interesting conversations, a few drunk people saying things that were not making a lot of sense, or just making crude gestures. Ahh, the joy of having to drive (well, sometimes...) and remember it all the next day for the other persons "benefit". You can relay all the stories!
It was also my cousins birthday as well. We had a family do at my Aunt and Uncles house, which was alright. I spent most of the time talking to my Uncle and enjoying some wine and food.
It was my Mothers birthday yesterday as well. It's a month full of birthdays! Mum and Dad had gone away for a couple of days out at Rutherglen. They had an amazing time and didn't want to come back. They also bought a lot of fortified wine, which is very nice!
Yesterday, the weather was simply superb. It was quite warm, and later in the afternoon the sun shone brightly. I took the dog for a nice long walk in the morning to tire him out a bit, and then did a 40min jog a bit later. The rest of the day until Mum and Dad got back were spent mostly in the sun relaxing and enjoying it.
Last night I went to Xchange, and met some friends there. It started out well, although I was there on my own for a bit, until my friend Dan turned up. Then, we saw some of his friends that I didn't know, but started talking to anyway, and then Dan disappeared, and we decided to go for a walk. We weren't gone long, and after we came back. Tim also came with his friend Casey, and he introduced us all to her. The night slowly turned into a not-so-good night (for a few reasons, one being that I narrowly avoided mass embarrassment by flirting a little with one of the guys I'd gone walking with, until I found out he had a partner, and they'd been together for about 3 years... Whoops), and I was close to leaving and going home, but the night got better again. It may have been lucky that I didn't too, because at the very end of the night (when the club closed - around 3:15am), I exchanged numbers with a guy I met there who was there with a friend of mine. I was considering leaving around midnight-ish before I decided to stay, and I only stayed because my friend Dan asked me to. We ended up dancing in a big group, as some other friends of mine also turned up, Rhett included who had friends that were down from Adelaide and Sydney. We danced for the next few hours, it's a great workout dancing all this time! Before I knew it, the club was getting quieter, as they started playing the last few songs of the night. So, it did turn out to be a good night in the end.
Today I didn't really do very much. I wanted to have a relaxing day, and just take it easy. I had a good sleep in and just lazed about for the most part. My grandparents visited this afternoon as well which was good. It's always good to catch up with them.
I think that's about it... Already a couple of times I've gone back over this entry and add some stuff, so hopefully once I post it, I don't remember that I've forgotten to add something...
First of all, I've reached three months (well, a little over now) at GSN, and am still loving it. There's the odd annoyance, as there is with any job, but on the whole, it's challenging, and fun. I can't stand a job where I'm not challenged or where I'm presented with the same repetitive monotonous (even something you initially enjoy can become monotonous if you do it enough) work day in, day out. This is why GSN is so different. It's a new thing every week, something different, new things to learn, even the odd problems that crop up.
I've been pushing to get Sharepoint up and running properly. We need a better CMS and our current Wiki is pathetic to say the least. With Sharepoint, we can build in access controls, version control, as well as a host of other cool features. I've been given some admin control on how we set it up becuase of my previous experience with it at Paragon. We'll be doing a bit of work on it this week.
The last few weeks have also been quite busy. A couple of weeks ago, I went to Godskitchen. It was on Saturday, an all night (9pm - 7am) music festival. I went with Jason and Barti, and a couple of other friends were there as well, and they came and joined us. It was a great night, although by the end of it, we were exhausted. We ended up leaving around 6:45am to beat the rush of thousands of people leaving at 7am. It was funny because on the way there, we needed our sunnies, as we went early, had dinner and drinks before the festival, and then the sun was up already when we left. It was an interesting night too. There were a lot of people who were sucking on lollipops, which I soon realised was because they had taken something, and it was to stop then grinding their teeth, and keep them salivating. I even had one person try to offer me cocaine, and then try to justify to me why he was on it... Frankly, I don't care, I wasn't going to have anything, and it's not my business why someone else is taking anything. There was quite a lot of smoking as well, despite it being inside, and smoking being prohibited.
Jason drove me back to his house where I had my car, and I went home from there, getting home around 8:45am. I couldn't sleep, but mid afternoon I had a "Nanna nap" and dozed for a bit. On Sunday afternoon it was my friend Nick's birthday, so I headed out with him and some friends for a some dinner. I left early to get a good night sleep, as I was knackered by the end of Sunday. Surprisingly on Monday I was alright, a little tired, but otherwise I pulled up well for having no sleep on Saturday.
There has been a bit of drama as well, with Mum going to emergency after getting a handle flung up and hitting her in the throat, almost crushing her larynx. She was lucky, a centimeter either way, and she would have needed surgery. Instead, she just had a bruise and a bit of a dint where the handle hit (which has since gone).
Tim also broke his radius bone (near the elbow joint) while bike riding. It was partially his own fault, as he was riding without a light at night, and hit a tree root. At least he was wearing a helmet. He isn't in plaster which surprised me, but it's good for him because with the hotter weather, the last thing anyone wants is plaster down to their hand! He's not in too much pain now though which is good, and it seems to be healing nicely.
Tim and I also went and saw Eagle Eye. It was fantastic! I took him as part of taking his mind off his arm (as it was the day after, so he was still in quite a bit of pain). The movie had a few twists, and was very well written. I don't want to give away the plot, save to say (and this will only make sense if you have either seen it, heard about it, or seen the trailer), if you see it, you'll be quite surprised as who the woman on the other end of the phone is!
Last weekend, it was my friend Geoff's birthday. It was a good night. I met some new people and got to catch up with others. There were plans to play games, but it didn't really happen. We played a few on the Wii, but mostly sat and talked the whole night. There was a lot of very interesting conversations, a few drunk people saying things that were not making a lot of sense, or just making crude gestures. Ahh, the joy of having to drive (well, sometimes...) and remember it all the next day for the other persons "benefit". You can relay all the stories!
It was also my cousins birthday as well. We had a family do at my Aunt and Uncles house, which was alright. I spent most of the time talking to my Uncle and enjoying some wine and food.
It was my Mothers birthday yesterday as well. It's a month full of birthdays! Mum and Dad had gone away for a couple of days out at Rutherglen. They had an amazing time and didn't want to come back. They also bought a lot of fortified wine, which is very nice!
Yesterday, the weather was simply superb. It was quite warm, and later in the afternoon the sun shone brightly. I took the dog for a nice long walk in the morning to tire him out a bit, and then did a 40min jog a bit later. The rest of the day until Mum and Dad got back were spent mostly in the sun relaxing and enjoying it.
Last night I went to Xchange, and met some friends there. It started out well, although I was there on my own for a bit, until my friend Dan turned up. Then, we saw some of his friends that I didn't know, but started talking to anyway, and then Dan disappeared, and we decided to go for a walk. We weren't gone long, and after we came back. Tim also came with his friend Casey, and he introduced us all to her. The night slowly turned into a not-so-good night (for a few reasons, one being that I narrowly avoided mass embarrassment by flirting a little with one of the guys I'd gone walking with, until I found out he had a partner, and they'd been together for about 3 years... Whoops), and I was close to leaving and going home, but the night got better again. It may have been lucky that I didn't too, because at the very end of the night (when the club closed - around 3:15am), I exchanged numbers with a guy I met there who was there with a friend of mine. I was considering leaving around midnight-ish before I decided to stay, and I only stayed because my friend Dan asked me to. We ended up dancing in a big group, as some other friends of mine also turned up, Rhett included who had friends that were down from Adelaide and Sydney. We danced for the next few hours, it's a great workout dancing all this time! Before I knew it, the club was getting quieter, as they started playing the last few songs of the night. So, it did turn out to be a good night in the end.
Today I didn't really do very much. I wanted to have a relaxing day, and just take it easy. I had a good sleep in and just lazed about for the most part. My grandparents visited this afternoon as well which was good. It's always good to catch up with them.
I think that's about it... Already a couple of times I've gone back over this entry and add some stuff, so hopefully once I post it, I don't remember that I've forgotten to add something...