Today was the big day of our garage sale. A chance for us to sell some of those little items that aren't worth putting on TradeMe and see if we can make a few extra bucks for the big move to Oz.
Well, we exceeded our expectations and sold just about everything we had out for sale. Right from when we opened at 7am, we had a steady flow of people through. At one point there where about 15 people milling around our tiny little garage foraging for deals. After we added it all up at the end, we made just on $400. Not a bad effort for a mornings work and a nice little bonus to help us get to Oz and make a start.
As a result of today, we have also sold our coffee table, couches, beside tables and probably the fridge. Lois has put her name on the bedside tables and young couple have snapped up the rest of the stuff. The lady was looking through a box of clothes and heard that we were moving to Oz and she said "so does that mean you have house stuff to sell too? Do you have couches? Do you have a coffee table?". Of course we said yes and showed her and her partner the goods and they were stoked. We have swapped details so hopefully that will save us a job just before we go!
Classic moment from today: One guy was looking at a pair of trousers and wanted to see if they fitted. So, rather than asking if there was somewhere he could try them on, he just dropped his daks in the middle of the garage and all the other people! What a legend.
Mrs B and I have booked ourselves a quiet night tonight after all the busyness of the week and garage sale prep. Gonna have the Kimbers for lunch tomorrow as they are moving to Opotiki.
Came across a great selection of student radio stations online the other day. Get all the special goodness here: www.listenlive.co.nz . My favourites are Free FM and BackBeat.
Bang thy head!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Greatest weekend ever!
This past weekend will go down as one of the greatest in history!
As you know Mrs B and I went over to Whangamata for our last hurrah with Grom and Kim. It was a cracker of a weekend. Not only was the weather magic, but we had a nice surprise when Joshie and Colleen turned up on Saturday afternoon. Man it was so great to have everyone altogether in the one place. Sweet.
The weekend was pretty much full of food, wine, spirits, cricket on the beach and doing crosswords in the sun. What a perfect way to say goodbye to our friends. Friends we will miss terribly, but whom we know we will see again soon and pick up right where we left off. That is the mark of true friends, when you can not see each other for a long time and, when you do meet up, its like the time gap never happened.
After we dragged ourselves away on Monday morning, we had to head over to Auckland to do Mrs B's medical check for her Aussie visa. We got mucked around a bit at CityMed which was a bit annoying, but never mind. The stink thing was, we had no choice but to go to Auckland for the check. When you apply for an Aussie visa, you can't go to your GP for the check, you have to go to one of a panel of doctors appointed by the Consulate. Neat. Mrs B said she felt a bit like she was "just another number" to the doc who was trying to process her as quick as possible. Lovely. Oh yeah and for the half an hour we were there, it cost $230. Not a bad hourly rate methinks. I am in the wrong job.
Anyhoo, it has to be done. Once the check has been signed off (we just have to wait two to three days for the blood test results) they will send it to the Consulate and hopefully that will be that. Then we will be free to GTHOOH.
As you know Mrs B and I went over to Whangamata for our last hurrah with Grom and Kim. It was a cracker of a weekend. Not only was the weather magic, but we had a nice surprise when Joshie and Colleen turned up on Saturday afternoon. Man it was so great to have everyone altogether in the one place. Sweet.
The weekend was pretty much full of food, wine, spirits, cricket on the beach and doing crosswords in the sun. What a perfect way to say goodbye to our friends. Friends we will miss terribly, but whom we know we will see again soon and pick up right where we left off. That is the mark of true friends, when you can not see each other for a long time and, when you do meet up, its like the time gap never happened.
After we dragged ourselves away on Monday morning, we had to head over to Auckland to do Mrs B's medical check for her Aussie visa. We got mucked around a bit at CityMed which was a bit annoying, but never mind. The stink thing was, we had no choice but to go to Auckland for the check. When you apply for an Aussie visa, you can't go to your GP for the check, you have to go to one of a panel of doctors appointed by the Consulate. Neat. Mrs B said she felt a bit like she was "just another number" to the doc who was trying to process her as quick as possible. Lovely. Oh yeah and for the half an hour we were there, it cost $230. Not a bad hourly rate methinks. I am in the wrong job.
Anyhoo, it has to be done. Once the check has been signed off (we just have to wait two to three days for the blood test results) they will send it to the Consulate and hopefully that will be that. Then we will be free to GTHOOH.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The weekend has started early
Yeah baby, driving away from my last job today was a great feeling. Why? Because I have tomorrow and Monday off work! Time for a long weekend.
It's not all fun and games though as we will be using tomorrow and Monday to sort out some more stuff for moving to Aussie. Tomorrow we will be putting a few things on TradeMe and finishing off sorting the things we are going to put into our garage sale. There is plenty to sell so if you want a bargain, give me a call!
I mentioned the other day that the Consulate have said they are happy with the relationship side of things and all we need is to have a medical check. We have booked the check for Monday. Following the check Mrs B needs to have an x-ray done so we have chosen a place in Auckland where they have everything in one building. There are only a few places that the Consulate will let you go, so we picked the most convenient one!
Tomorrow once we have sorted the garage sale / TradeMe stuff, we are heading over to Whangamata to spend the weekend with Grom and Kim. Can't wait to see them! It will probably be our last chance to see them before we go, but we know that we will see them again soon in Australia. Most of Kim's family is either there or on their way there, so we will see them when they come to visit. I wonder how much hassling they will need to be convinced to come and live over there too...?
Had the opportunity to catch up with Roger P today. Man it was great to see him. We haven't caught up for ages so it was nice to have a chinwag over an eye popping flat white from In Stone here in Cambridge. He has also been in Aussie recently for a holiday and had a great time. His sister lives in Melbourne too, so if he comes over at some stage, we may be able to catch up again. That would be sweet.
Got so many people to catch up with before we go. You know who you are, so be prepared.
Come over to Australia,
It's not gonna fail ya.
Come there for the sun,
Come there for the fun.
Fly over on a plane,
Come and visit Shane.
All my own work. I have missed my true calling.
*Bows emphatically*
It's not all fun and games though as we will be using tomorrow and Monday to sort out some more stuff for moving to Aussie. Tomorrow we will be putting a few things on TradeMe and finishing off sorting the things we are going to put into our garage sale. There is plenty to sell so if you want a bargain, give me a call!
I mentioned the other day that the Consulate have said they are happy with the relationship side of things and all we need is to have a medical check. We have booked the check for Monday. Following the check Mrs B needs to have an x-ray done so we have chosen a place in Auckland where they have everything in one building. There are only a few places that the Consulate will let you go, so we picked the most convenient one!
Tomorrow once we have sorted the garage sale / TradeMe stuff, we are heading over to Whangamata to spend the weekend with Grom and Kim. Can't wait to see them! It will probably be our last chance to see them before we go, but we know that we will see them again soon in Australia. Most of Kim's family is either there or on their way there, so we will see them when they come to visit. I wonder how much hassling they will need to be convinced to come and live over there too...?
Had the opportunity to catch up with Roger P today. Man it was great to see him. We haven't caught up for ages so it was nice to have a chinwag over an eye popping flat white from In Stone here in Cambridge. He has also been in Aussie recently for a holiday and had a great time. His sister lives in Melbourne too, so if he comes over at some stage, we may be able to catch up again. That would be sweet.
Got so many people to catch up with before we go. You know who you are, so be prepared.
Come over to Australia,
It's not gonna fail ya.
Come there for the sun,
Come there for the fun.
Fly over on a plane,
Come and visit Shane.
All my own work. I have missed my true calling.
*Bows emphatically*
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
So I fell off a roof today...
Yes, it has happened at last. All the other techs have done it and today it was my turn. I fell off a roof. The worst part is it was my own stupid fault!
The clients had a tiled deck and I had my ladder on it going up to the roof. When I stepped off the roof the ladder slipped on the tiles and down I went. Lucky the clients giant ceramic potplant was there to break my fall...
The good news is, nothing was broken (except the crappy 30 year old Marley spouting) and all I have is some cuts and bruises. It cost me $40 to replace the broken bit of spouting, but its better than paying to get a leg reattached.
In other news, we have had a call from the Aussie Consulate to say that the 'relationship' part of Mrs B's application has been sorted and there is just a medical check to be done now. We will have to go to Auckland for the tests, but no sweat, its gotta be done. Actually the Consulate have been great to work with. Easy to get in touch with and quick to respond to any questions we have had. Excellent.
Lovers of me and fine music will know that Weezer is the greatest band that ever lived. I have recently discovered that they have a tonne of stuff on YouTube. So I have been making my way through it. There is some very funny stuff on there in amongst their bits and pieces. Here is one that is guaranteed to make you smile. This is Patrick Wilson, the drummer from the band and his son Charlie. This kid is hilarious:
Love that giggle!
Anyway, better go, forms to fill out, panadol to take and bruised egos to nurse.
Behave.
The clients had a tiled deck and I had my ladder on it going up to the roof. When I stepped off the roof the ladder slipped on the tiles and down I went. Lucky the clients giant ceramic potplant was there to break my fall...
The good news is, nothing was broken (except the crappy 30 year old Marley spouting) and all I have is some cuts and bruises. It cost me $40 to replace the broken bit of spouting, but its better than paying to get a leg reattached.
In other news, we have had a call from the Aussie Consulate to say that the 'relationship' part of Mrs B's application has been sorted and there is just a medical check to be done now. We will have to go to Auckland for the tests, but no sweat, its gotta be done. Actually the Consulate have been great to work with. Easy to get in touch with and quick to respond to any questions we have had. Excellent.
Lovers of me and fine music will know that Weezer is the greatest band that ever lived. I have recently discovered that they have a tonne of stuff on YouTube. So I have been making my way through it. There is some very funny stuff on there in amongst their bits and pieces. Here is one that is guaranteed to make you smile. This is Patrick Wilson, the drummer from the band and his son Charlie. This kid is hilarious:
Love that giggle!
Anyway, better go, forms to fill out, panadol to take and bruised egos to nurse.
Behave.
Friday, September 12, 2008
At last, the end of the week!
Man, I am so over this week! So sick of the rain and the mucky grey clouds on the horizon. Bring on the fine weather I say.
Got a cruisy weeked ahead. Gonna head out in the FS tomorrow morning, chill out in the afternoon and then have dinner with the Pagets. We haven't caught up with them since we left Oz so it will be good to have a chinwag.
As you know, I like to frequent the hilarious pictures and videos at www.failblog.org . The other day they had a classic video on there called "The Sprinkler Rainbow Conspiracy". I tell you, it has been quite some time since I laughed so hysterically. This lady is dead serious, but SO DUMB. You have to see it to believe it! Here it is:
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
Have a nice weekend!
Got a cruisy weeked ahead. Gonna head out in the FS tomorrow morning, chill out in the afternoon and then have dinner with the Pagets. We haven't caught up with them since we left Oz so it will be good to have a chinwag.
As you know, I like to frequent the hilarious pictures and videos at www.failblog.org . The other day they had a classic video on there called "The Sprinkler Rainbow Conspiracy". I tell you, it has been quite some time since I laughed so hysterically. This lady is dead serious, but SO DUMB. You have to see it to believe it! Here it is:
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
Have a nice weekend!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Well, here we are...
Well in case you haven't heard yet, Mrs B and I are moving to Australia. Yup, on the move to the land of kangaroos!
As most of you will know, we went to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago for a bit of a holiday. Well it just so happens that I arranged an interview for while I was there and it turns out that they want to see a bit more of me! We are so happy, we loved Melbourne while we were there and can't wait to get back.
I will be working for a company called DataBank who are in the business of data archiving. This is where big companies and government departments store all their daily computer information onto a special type of storage disk. Databank then collects and stores these disks so that in the event of a disaster of some sort, the clients information is readily available. One of the sweet bonuses of the job (apart from the quarterly bonuses) is that I get a company car. Weehee!
We are off on the 28th of October and I am set to begin work on the 3rd of November. Bring it on baby.
You might have noticed that we have moved to a new website. What is the reason? Pretty much because I am tight and lazy. Since we are moving to Oz, I don't want to have to keep paying for a domain over here when I can access and publish on this blog for free. As I often say, free is the best price. Also, lots of things are automated here so it means less work for me. And I can add in cool gadgets like the slideshow thing at the top right hand side of the page. Sweet.
If you want to post a comment or just say hi on the blog, click on the link following my text.
I hope everyone is well and healthy and that the rain is not depressing you too much (DO NOT ask me how my day was today...).
As most of you will know, we went to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago for a bit of a holiday. Well it just so happens that I arranged an interview for while I was there and it turns out that they want to see a bit more of me! We are so happy, we loved Melbourne while we were there and can't wait to get back.
I will be working for a company called DataBank who are in the business of data archiving. This is where big companies and government departments store all their daily computer information onto a special type of storage disk. Databank then collects and stores these disks so that in the event of a disaster of some sort, the clients information is readily available. One of the sweet bonuses of the job (apart from the quarterly bonuses) is that I get a company car. Weehee!
We are off on the 28th of October and I am set to begin work on the 3rd of November. Bring it on baby.
You might have noticed that we have moved to a new website. What is the reason? Pretty much because I am tight and lazy. Since we are moving to Oz, I don't want to have to keep paying for a domain over here when I can access and publish on this blog for free. As I often say, free is the best price. Also, lots of things are automated here so it means less work for me. And I can add in cool gadgets like the slideshow thing at the top right hand side of the page. Sweet.
If you want to post a comment or just say hi on the blog, click on the link following my text.
I hope everyone is well and healthy and that the rain is not depressing you too much (DO NOT ask me how my day was today...).