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Bree's computer goes in for repair December 13, 2007

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Bree’s computer is in for repairs. The hard drive just died. A bit of work and I got it to at least stop hanging any system that tried to do anything with it but it can’t complete a low level format so it’s even deader than my disk was. At least her computer is still under warranty.

Update 23 December 2007

The machine came back with a new disk. I’ve loaded on most of the software that Bree uses (which isn’t much) but there’s a heap of customization to do to get it operating how it had been.

Back at Dreamworld November 25, 2007

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We went back to Dreamworld today. My dad was off watching a bike race in the morning so I went on a bunch of rides with the kids. I took Emily on the chain swings, the bumper cars and on the Avalanche (now called the spooty spin). She enjoyed all of them.

We had lunch and then I went on some rides with my dad. The tower of terror was open this time so we went on that and scored the front seat. We did the Cyclone again and scored the front seat on it too. It’s quite a different experience to the back seat. We went on the Nickelodeon coaster which was ok but not really something I’d go on again. We went on the Wipeout and my dad managed to miss his car key when we emptied out pockets. As you can imagine, it came flying out during the ride. It’s a good thing we’re in a drought because otherwise it would have been under water (the whole ride is dry at the moment). One of the attendants was an ass, saying we would have to wait until the end of the day for someone to get it but one of the other attendants got it for us.

The kids got to see Captain Feathersword and Wags the Dog and they played in the play room again. They went to the feeding zoo but it was really busy.

We met up and headed over to the wet rides. I was hoping Emily wouldn’t be too tired and would want to go on and she did. Bree watched Isaac and the rest of us (pop, nanny, Emily, me) went on the rapids ride. Emily managed to pick the worst seat, going backwards the most and both Emily and I got wet. Emily loved it though and wanted to go on it again but we went over to the log ride instead. Pop and nanny were in the front and Emily and I were in the back. When we came down the hill the water came surging over the sides of the log and Emily and I were both drenched. Luckily Bree had purchased a new shirt for Emily, I just went topless.

One the way out I stopped at the chip vending machine. I saw it the first time but didn’t get any so I was determined to get some this time. It’s a machine that vends freshly fried chips. It takes about 2 minutes and the chips were pretty good, though they were also $5 which is pretty steep for the amount we got (to be fair, chips from anywhere else in the park would have cost a similar amount, my sandwiches both days cost $8.50 each). I suppose it’s not so crazy to think about a chip vending when they’ve got pizza vending machines. It’s also a chance to get some greasy food. Unlike the bad food I remember from visits years ago Dreamworld seems to sell mostly healthy stuff everywhere these days. Of course, there’s still sugar-loaded products everywhere, it hardly seems worthwhile to make us eat a sandwich and then give us a slurpee to wash it down.

Another fun day. The kids were again totally worn out. Emily was as good as I’d expect but it’s Isaac that has really surprised me. I really didn’t think he’d handle the long, wearing days as well as he did. He even walked most of the time, covering a huge distance. I guess he’s growing up.

Island Holiday September 24, 2007

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We’ve been on Stone Island for the last week. Here’s a summary of the things that happened.

Emily has named her doll. They must have started doing Christmas stuff at kindy because she’s called it baby Jesus.

There’s a new boat at Stone Island. For years they just had a tinnie which was rough and prone to getting you wet. Last year they were borrowing a boat which was bigger but not exactly built for comfort (eg. only 2 seats). Now they’ve got an ex-charter boat. It’s got bench seats in the middle and it’s got plenty of room. The motor has a trim control so you can make it faster (for flat seas) or make it stable in rough seas. The boat has a berth in the marina but it wasn’t very hard to park.

A series of events meant that the boat’s rego had lapsed and since we were there we helped put the new letters on. Unlike cars with convenient plates boats have to have lettering on both sides. We picked up some stickers to avoid having to paint them on but since we didn’t want to use a dry dock we had a bit of fun getting the letters on. Getting the old ones off was just a matter of using a scraper. Getting the new ones on was a different story. It was a relatively calm day but still, getting the letters straight was difficult. After doing the first side we realised we were short 2 numbers (we needed four 2’s but only had two). Getting the second set on was a bit harder. I sat on the edge of the Jetty and my dad stood on the other side of the boat to lift the bit the letters go on out of the water. The letters aren’t quite straight but they’re readable which is I guess the point. Unfortunately some of the letters were broken after driving the boat around. The bottom half of 2 of the letters went missing.

Bree and I went out to lunch without the kids. That doesn’t happen very often. It was nice. The cafe we went to obviously fell for the whole Coke Zero thing because they had a heap of it in their fridge. We took the last two sugared drinks, a Coke and a Pepsi. I really wish Coke would stop pushing Coke Zero down everyone’s throats. It’s everywhere but I only know 1 person that prefers it to regular Coke. I can’t stand the taste of aspartame (the sweetener they use) so I’m never going to accept Coke Zero. I mean… they presumably needed Coke Zero to compete with Pepsi Max (because Diet Coke just can’t compete with Pepsi Max) but I really have to wonder. I can actually drink Pepsi Max (despite it’s use of aspartame). I consider both Pepsi and Pepsi Max to be competition for Coke. To me, the fact that Pepsi Max has no sugar is a non-issue. Ask any dentist and they’ll tell you the sugar in Coke is the least damaging bit. Perhaps people that drink several cans per day can do without the sugar but really, they can do without the other crap in there even more.

There’s a kangaroo they call Fatty. He comes over in the evenings to eat and fights off the other kangaroos so they don’t come over.

I took some photos including a huge panorama of the whole island (I can’t stitch it together because I’m down to 3.7 GB free space and the process requires more space than that!). I took a photo of an eagle who was nice enough to hold still for me while I took a photo of him flying (floating in an updraft).

There were some cheap dirt bikes on the island. As a point of reference, a similar, non-cheap bike cost about $6,000 while these were about $1,000. They looked fine until they got used (by my cousins several months ago). The faults were numerous. Cheap wiring leading to sparks when starting. One had a ground wire that was just not connected (WTF?). The rear end wasn’t connected properly, one of them had managed to lose a bolt which let the chain come off really easily. The exhaust system heated to a glowing red when running the engine… that’s about 2 cm from your leg! The batteries were crap and without manual starter systems we had to resort to using jumper leads from a car to start them. Even then, one cut out inexplicably after a short while. Talk about crap. If you ever go to buy crap like that watch out unless you are (or have access to) someone who’s mechanically minded and want to waste a lot of time.

Emily and Isaac had fun on the dirt bikes and in the car. I got them to “drive” on my lap. Isaac was a bit better than Emily but only because he didn’t try to turn the car all the time. Emily also went on the Jet Ski. She was a bit funny because she didn’t want to go on the boat, she didn’t want to go on the Jet Ski and she didn’t want to go on the bikes. She was sobbing and trying to run away every time we came to a new vehicle but after being dragged on she enjoyed the experience and wanted to go on again. It was scary when she tried to drive the bike. She had a bit of trouble grasping that the throttle shouldn’t be pushed all the way in and after the inevitable “bunny hop” she kind of panicked and grabbed the throttle. I had to pry her hand off before we could stop accelerating at top speed. Bree got her to have another go and she actually seemed to get the idea.

There was one day that was so flat we could ride the Jet Ski around the island. Normally you can’t even take a boat due to the big swells (the ocean side is classed as open waters) but for some reason it was like glass. I took Bree around and we saw a turtle (I’d seen several by the end of the trip).

There was a big fishing thing happening in Bowen and there were so many boats the public car park was full. We normally see almost no boats around but this time there were boats everywhere and they were fishing all around Stone Island.

We checked online to see that our outgoing flight was delayed but when we went to check our return flight we found Jetstar had neglected to include a number on the receipt thing we had. I guess they really don’t like you to call (makes sense, since then they have to employ people to answer phones). We eventually found out the number and our plane was delayed. Something at 6am had caused the plane to be late and it hadn’t caught up all day. We ended up getting home 2 hours late. Then we almost got stuck behind a big accident on the Gateway… The ambulance arrived while we were waiting to go past.

Bree set the record for fishing this time by catching 9 fish. Only 3 of them were big enough to keep though.

Bree also bogged one of the bikes. A mis-communication got her to ride into thick, sticky mud. It even ate her thongs when she tried to get off. I had to use the other bike to tow it out and it required a good scrub to get clean after that.

Bree's new computer July 29, 2007

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Bree’s got a new computer, a white MacBook. It’s noticeably thinner and lighter than her old iBook but it’s bigger than I was expecting. Despite having an screen two inches less than my MacBook Pro it’s got a bigger bezel around the screen so the machine isn’t really that much smaller. Being plastic it’s not as hot or cold as my machine gets. It gets better wireless range than any other machines here (at least it picks up networks I can’t see on any other machine). It’s got a glossy screen… I don’t see how it’s any better to look at and it’s soooo annoying when light gets on it. I stayed up all night when it arrived so it would be ready for Bree when she got home and then she used her old machine because her hands were dirty.

Hot Potatoes! August 31, 2006

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We’re going to see the Wiggles!

Emily loves them so much and they’re doing a concert in Brisbane so I booked us tickets. I would have booked this when it was first released but Bree seemed to think they’d sell out in hours. I guess that didn’t happen :)

Today was Emily’s second day at her new kindy. When I picked her up she told me that she liked kindy and that it was cool. I asked her if it was better than her old kindy and she said yes.

In the last week or two she’s been stringing more and more words together (and for that matter, using more new words). Tonight she wanted me to get in the shower with her and instead of a short “daddy shower” like she used to do, she said “daddy have a shower with me”.

Bree’s contract was extended till the end of the year. She’s still working at the special pre-school 5 days a fortnight. She’s hoping to get a permanent position next year since that guarantees three years of work.