Ummmm......yeah!

It's been a long time since I've posted. It's been a very busy time.

I never made it to Shanghai. One of the people on my team resigned, so we've had to pick up the slack.

One of my customers went ballistic. As did the entire account team handling them, so I spent a week or more of nearly 20 hour days trying to save the account.

One of the people on my team is on annual leave. For three weeks, so we've had to pick up the slack.

I have to hire a replacement, plan a budget for next year, try to transfer someone onto my team from another country, and help my team.

I had a bit of trouble with the Land Rover, so it was in the shop for nearly a week...blown gasket from the manifold to the exhaust. The, of course, a leak in the head gasket. They nearly kept it over a weekend. Very messy and damned expensive. But, there you go...can't have a blown head gasket in the boonies.

But, all has not been sadness and money out the door.

The Aussie Dollar has fallen from 98 cents US to as low as 65 cents US. And I caught it at the low point (pure luck) and managed to transfer several months worth of expense money. So my US dollars buy me nearly an extra 30 cents Australian every time. Of course, almost everything is more expensive in Australia, since so much of it is imported and the market is relatively small and spread out. But I'll take that extra 25-30% any day of the week, thank you. At the high point, I was looking at losing money every time I brought it in to Australia. So, that's a nice bonus.

At work, I've been watching a pair of birds nesting. They're called Bush Stone Curlews, and they're quite handsome birds. They've established a next on the ground. Turns out they are nocturnal, and woodland birds, so I've been lucky to spot them during the day time. It's been about two weeks since they started sitting on the next, so I can't wait to see the younglings.

I went fishing with a friend yesterday. Didn't catch a thing, but that wasn't really the point. We found a little town on the coast down South called Jacob's Well. Nice little out of the way place with a great boat ramp, jetty, and camp ground. Lots of houseboats and whatnot. We parked ourselves on the shore and cast. I managed to wrestle a crab for my bait...I let the crab win. It was a great morning and a fun diversion.

The day before, I went for a drive up North and took a hike in a State Forest. Pretty place, and after a good rain earlier in the week, still a bit muddy. Got the Landie a coat of mud, and that made me happy.

Been watching cricket lately. Australia is on tour in India for some international tests. The Indians managed a draw for the first test, but this second test is proving difficult for the Aussies. We're in the second innings, and the Aussies are behind by almost 500 runs...and there are 5 out. Not a good sign. The Aussies will be lucky to pull a draw, but I suspect they will lose...badly. The press are playing it up as the end of the era of Australian dominance in cricket. Ah, whatever. It's a fun game to watch...not very demanding, you can sit in the shade here in Australia and watch people in white pants, shirts, and hats play cricket for an hour or an afternoon. Very relaxed, and quite good fun when played by two skilled teams.

I hear the house is almost done. I've yet to see some photos, though they have been promised for months.

Seems like all the news I can think of right now.