Big News!

Merry Xmas! Sorry for the lack of posts this week, but there is a very good reason for that...

This week, I have been on a little trip... as you may or may not be aware I have been out of work since late June and have taken some time off but have also been actively searching for a new job for quite some time.

Well, I have secured a "verbal" offer, at the back of end of my trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates!

The final offer has not been given and there will be some negotiation to come but at this stage, I am very likely to accept and make the move overseas. There are alot of logistics to work out such as what to take, store or sell and also what to do with the house etc etc, but its quite an exciting time for us.

So what will I be doing in Dubai? Well this video should give you a taste of the project:



The start date is yet to be determined, but will probably be in mid-Feb and Niki and the girls will follow some time after.

My Birthday Wrap!

Well, yesterday was my birthday... and I am writing this post on my new toy! A laptop!!

From Dell, I got a Studio 15 laptop and its a very good machine. I am struggling to use Windows Vista, but I guess I will get there :)

My birthday itself has been good... Niki & I went to dinner last Saturday night in town and for my actually birthday, we went to the Malaya with the girls and my parents. Other than that, its been the same as any other days of the week with long breakfasts at the local cafe and not much in between! It will be a shame to finally go back to work... which I hopefully will be able to announce soon!

Busy as...

Well, apologies Dear Reader as I have been flat out this week and its only Tuesday!

This unemployment caper certainly is busy, particularly when you're juggling three potential roles at once.

Today, I have done psychometric tests for two positions and I feel exhausted. I did the first set this morning in the city, so I was in for an 8:30am start (I wanted to be back at the coffee shop in Glenbrook!) and didn't finish until midday. Whilst the tests are not hard per se, they are an exercise in mental stamina and afterwards I felt very drained... so I caught up with old work mates at the pub!

Then tonight, after the kids were tucked into bed, I did a second set of tests online. Different style of tests, different psyche company providing them, and I think tonight a bit easier than this mornings, but still I didnt finish until just now (11pm).

So, in short I am very much mentally drained and the batteries are low but at the same time I am excited to be getting closer to the end game of the unemployment business and yet sad to see my relatively relaxed life style perhaps ending :-(

I think once I do get a job, this blog will become once again part of my daily routine as I usually would get to the office, engage with colleagues, read newspapers and form a view on something that would inspire me to post.

At the moment though, I think to do a posting and realise half a week has flown by! Oh such is the life of a bludger!

Things are moving...

Sorry for the lack of attention to the blog of late... being unemployed is a hectic business!

Just when I thought that the chances of me finding a new job before Xmas were close to nil (mainly because I thought once Melbourne Cup hits, then everyone in Australia hits the pubs and isnt interested in hiring anyone!), I managed to get two job interviews last Thurs and Friday.

Both were very promising, similar roles and sort of similar companies... the interviews went great, I am expecting to hear whether or not I made the first hurdle this week or so.

So fingers crossed!

In other news - we lost the cricket, the Bali Bombers were shot and the world continues to count down the last days of the tyrant George W Bush.

Update to the Pain in the Arse...

Sore back? Try a slipped disc.

Oww!

Physio was good... gave me some odd stretches and I have another appointment on Friday and then on Monday...

Hope it gets better soon!

Pain in the Arse

I have been exercising... even bought a home gym. And on top of that I have been doing "kick boxing" for fitness with Step In To Life.

The only problem is last Thursday after the bushwalking, I twinged my siatic nerve doing all this and all weekend I have been hobbling around and swinging from feeling 'just ok' to in complete agony.

Sitting hurts, walking hurts.... woe is me!

This is worse than Man Flu!!!

Still about...

Went into the city yesterday for a couple of meetings re finding a new job and whilst they went well, I still am truly a number of weeks at least away from finding something... its amazing how slow the job search process can take and today marks 2 months since being paid out at my last company.

Financially, because of the pay out, I am relaxed, but I have to say that the weekdays are starting to get a bit long and I am keen to do "something".

When I do find something and sign a contract, I will be happy and delay the start for as long as I can so that I can actually do something meaningful here...

So in the meantime, I am perusing the adverts, making calls, chasing leads and such and such... would rather be in holiday mode though!

End of the week?

Well, I havent posted since Tuesday... I guess its because of the fact that being unemployed means you tend to have all the days blur into one...

The job hunt goes slow... but I need to start doing things outside of job search and one of the crazy things I am doing next week is going to a Kick Boxing exercise class next week... should be entertaining to see me try and kick someone else above their ankle! lol.

I expect my body will hate me after it...

But thats what I need to do and hence I will start getting a bit (read alot!) fitter, one kick at a time!

Blaagh

I feel crap today and vented to my company's HR manager that I am sick of this hanging around waiting to know if I have a job or not and if not, when will I be paid out...

She's gone away and said she will talk to the big cheese today about it.... My stress levels at work are getting all out of wack and I would probably welcome the bullet to put me out of my misery...

I don't have a new job to go to *yet* but I am very close... should hear this week (fingers crossed). If that falls through, I don't care at present because we're off to Fiji in a week and a half and I just want this over one way or the other by then.

Sorry about the depressing post, I will revert to my crusades against child porn, McDonalds and the general pursuit of happiness and enlightenment tomorrow.

Vent... Vent... Vent...

I am Number 1!

I am an engineer... I am a manager... I am 35 and a half, so technically in my 'late' 30's.

Read the first line of this article.

Give me some shizz!

Updating...

Sorry for the lack of posts... with me being a bachelor this week and a few things going on in and around work, I have been not in the right headspace to be blogging this week...

But, Niki and the girls are now back, and I am currently sifting through the pile of photos and videos to upload.

In short, they've had a fantastic time, they're tired but very shopped and danced out.

They're all asleep at the moment, so that's given me a chance to log on and start a photo montage of their KL trip.

Update coming!

No Post Today

Work, life, weirdness dominates my psyche at the present... too distracted to read a newspaper or have a comment on world events.

I am sure you will all live and I hope normal transmission resumes tomorrow.

:-P

PS - the whole blogger dashboard has changed and I have lost all the nifty buttons to publish photos, links etc? Any other bloggers out there experiencing the same?

I was sent a link to MyPersonality.info in which you can undertake some traditional Personality Profiling.

Turns out I am an "ENTP" (if you want to read what ENTP means, click here) which is what I was expecting as I have taken this Myers-Briggs test in the past and the results are always the same... which I guess shows the test is fairly consistent...

So to satisfy my ENTP desires, dear readers of Lime Kettles, I want you to take the Personality Profiling and then join your results to this group I have set up and I'd be keen to know if there is a trend in my reading demographic!

Bloggidy Blog

I seem to have attracted a bit of attention from my blog post of yesterday from my family… I do come across as a bit down, but hey you can’t be a happy extrovert every day of the year!!

Nevertheless, whilst things are a bit tense on the work front, its not the end of the world and we move onward and upward…

With lots on the work plate and the weekend ahead, I am a bit rushed in regards to digesting the recent news but it appears that the stock market has plummeted like a stone.  I am not a share market player, but I do have Super so it has wiped a bit of that… but hey, I won’t be retiring soon so what the hell!! hehe

But when reading this today, you have to wonder if any of us will get to retirement!  In these troubled socio and economic times, when the world is being divided by the have’s and the have nots and when the worlds major religions seem to be seeking to obliterate their rivals rather than to nurture the faithful they have, the Western military think tanks that resorting to pre-emptive nuclear strikes is “the way to go”…

Way to go?  Way to go to hell…

Mood: Impatient

Everything seems in a blur at the moment… my company is selling off half the business to a competitor and hence us corporate types are wondering which half we will fall into after the sale or whether some of us will fall through the cracks… its an uneasy time at the moment, but I am not too fussed about it but it’s a hard subject to avoid around the water cooler so to speak…

On top of this, I am seemingly endlessly busy!  Last night I had to take apart our old Queen sized bed in anticipation of my new King size ensemble arriving today.  Niki has told me its here… in three large separate boxes!  I presume I will be reacquainting myself with the trusty Allen Keys and screw drivers again tonight if I want to get any sleep!

The Cricket Test match I am also seeming anxious to see start… I don’t know why, I love cricket, but the fact that the match is in Perth and it will be some 3 hours or so before the toss, I am for some odd reason on tenterhooks this morning… I think its because I want to see Shaun Tait ram a bloody great big thunderbolt up the Indian batsmen!  I have never been so fired up and I blame the rubbish that has been embroiling world cricket this week and the shoddy, in my opinion, treatment that the Australian team has put up with in the press namely from Messrs Greig, Gavaskar and Roebuck.  (sounds like a law firm!)

In addition, the Aust Day long weekend approaches and I am aware that I have A LOT to do before I head to Canberra that weekend to run the Australian Blood Bowl Nationals.  From giving it a go three years ago, I am now running the damn thing!  The prizes have arrived, they need to be bagged and labelled, the trophies are done, the registrations currently stand at a healthy 32 participants and my own team is nearly complete (2 last miniatures to touch up, and then bases need to be done).  I need to organise a laptop, a printer and paper etc as well…

On top of all this, my knee is getting worse.  Finally got to see an Orthopaedic surgeon yesterday… unfortunately the booking was messed up and when I showed, they had to bump me to tomorrow morning… so again, I feel impatient.

Which is my whole life at the moment… waiting for things to happen!

Animal Meme

I have been tagged with this Animal Meme by Arthur_Vandelay, so here goes:

An interesting animal I had...

well, i have had plenty of animals over the years, but nothing beats my goldfish that I had for about 12 years, from the age of 6 to 18. When he had reached his 12th year, he was huge, translucent white and floating on his side on the bottom of the tank. The Vet said he was alive, but was senile / suffering from Fish Alzheimers... (he lost his 7 second memory?). Anyways, I had to put him out of his misery, but thats another story...

An interesting animal I ate...

Tokyo, 1999... was offered calamari in a restaurant. Thinking of battered calamari rings I accept. What I didnt expect was the live squid brought out of the tank, placed on a stone platter, hacked 3-4 times with a meat cleaver by "the Chef" and asked to "enjoy".... had a bit of the still writhing tentacles, but that was it for me!

An interesting thing I did or with an animal...

Not me, but a kid in high school was known to catch field mice and at night dip them in methylated spirits, light them and release them across the back yard and enjoy the "blue flame" that streaked across the yard. Sad, cruel but true...

An interesting animal at a museum...

Can never go past the T-Rex skeletons... fascinating.

An interesting animal in its natural habitat...

I am a big fan of the Hippo... they seem so slow and lazy at the zoo... and you think they'd be the African Jungles version of the big dopey Labrador dog, but in fact the Hippo is one of the most dangerous man eaters in Africa! Freaky.

Tagged: Fat Aussie, Daniel Bowen, Dan English