Weekends of Unpacking (yes, still), Settling In, and Pre-G20 Fun!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another sunny Sunday afternoon. It was a bit warm today but thankfully there was a decent enough breeze and the humidity was low enough that it was tolerable. The birds are out there chattering away as they finish their Sunday errands and regroup. Here at the Hacienda, the chores are more or less finished (leaning more towards less... running the dishwasher counts as a chore, right?), the laundry is happy and clean, according to Kona who is making sure the bed gets made in his own sweet time just as soon as he's done sleeping on the pile of clean sheets; we have the hip n' groovy jazz tunes (I still think of it as SkyFM); and we have a very nice, cool stand-by Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (beer today), ahhhhhh yes, life is good!

So work. Yep. Busy, but that's good. I've finally learned that every time they say things are going to slow down a lot, that means things will get really busy for

me. It's weird but that's what I've noticed. And when they say they're super busy, somehow I'm not. Huh. But ultimately, I don't mind, I'm just happy to have a decent job. And speaking of having a decent job, this week marked my fourth year with Boing - wow! I even think that could be a record out of all of them since 1985?! AH-mazing. But the scary thing is how fast it's gone. And of course that thought is followed with the realization that in Feb I'll've been here nine years. Nine. Good grief. I only intended to check the place out, see some sights and head back after a few years....... Guess I like it here....... 'Course, having a decent job helps!

And then there were a few weekends in there....... Last weekend was pretty busy with errands and running around, much to the poor, neglected car's thrill and amazement (unlike all the spiders that got blown off - sorry guys). Saturday, after a lazy morning and a leisurely tour around East Brisbane (just seeing where the roads go....), we headed over to Ikealand. This trip was kinda different in that every time I go I like to get in when they open and get back out again. Well this time I went in the late-ish afternoon and lo and behold the hoards of screaming children had thinned to a very bearable level and the folks shopping were just normal folks shopping, not families keeping their kids entertained. It was awesome. Well, maybe not for the bank account, but crowd-tolerance-wise, I was way happy.

And came away with a few useful things - a new desk, a cabinet thing to store shoes and plastic shopping bags for near the front door, a little set of proper champagne glasses, a set of curtains for the bedroom, two little sets of pretty, red flower, string lights for the balcony, an extra comfy cushion for a balcony chair (or wherever), and a thing to hang all my scarves on in the closet. A happy trip was had! Then Sunday was putting it all together and settling in, with some chores thrown in for fun.

And this weekend has been tidying, unpacking the final three boxes from the move in May (yeah yeah, I've been busy), and throwing a ton of stuff out. Like

old cell phones, of which I had six, not counting the one I currently use, dead modems, and computer cables - what to do with those? In my heart of hearts I just can't throw them in the trash..... Surely there's someone out there who'd thrill to strip them all of their copper?? And then finished setting up the guest bedroom so it actually looks more like a bedroom instead of a storage space. Oh, and did I mention, I got a fancee pants airbed? And it's actually pretty nice - I can say that with authority because I've slept on it. Yay! Come one, come all!

And really, that's been about it. Getting ready to host my first real guests in two weeks, Emily and her boyfriend Ian will be visiting from Washington for a couple days on their way down to visit her Dad in Melbourne... We have a lot planned for those three days, it should be fun! But first I have to survive the G20 descending on Brisbane from about this past Friday (or at least that's when I noticed all the branded town cars flooding the streets in a seemingly panicked rehearsal). The official meetings kick off Saturday and Sunday next weekend (all of us in the city have that Friday off so they can clear the city and lock it down in time), but folks have already started arriving...... Apparently the King of Saudi Arabia is on his way - preceding him were two jets full of crap, including a bullet-proof Mercedes. Honestly, someone

tell these people that folks in Brisbane just can't be bothered, let alone would even know what any of the delegates look like, apart from Obama, Putin and their own Prime Minister??? So this week should be fun because of all the barricades that have apparently sprung up over the weekend along with all the police checks.... My walk in to work should be interesting to say the least, not to mention the commute home! I've already seen my first protest - a rather weak affair sponsored by the Anonymous crowd - lucky if there were fifty in their little march. But with the amount of cops surrounding them you'da thought they were a group of thousands. Gee they're sure excited about all this. It's actually kinda funny to watch - here's hoping I don't end up an innocent bystander caught up in someone's silly crusade!!!!

So there you go. Hope you're all well up there..... Drop a line or better yet, c'mon down for a visit!!!! Errrr, probably not until March or so now, unless hot and humid is your thing, but just get yer butts down here already!!!!

BYE!
J!