These tests are bullshit

Apparently I'm an executive.


Extroversion

76%
Emotional Stability

46%
Orderliness

63%
Altruism

33%
Inquisitiveness

83%


You are an Executive, possible professions include - program designer, attorney, administrator, office manager, chemical engineer, sales manager, logistics consultant, franchise owner, new business developer, personnel manager, investment banker, labor relations, management trainer, credit investigator, mortgage broker, corporate team trainer, environmental engineer, biomedical engineer, business consultant, educational consultant, personal financial planner, network integration specialist, media planner/buyer.

New house; new job

So since I last wrote we moved back to George and sally's place, and then after another week into our own new tiny 2 bedroom single story terrace house. Its nice, but we have no furniture, and no internet or home phone. So until i started my new job today, I was without reliable internet.

Sydney University is a beatutiful campus, but I share an office with about 10 others in a huge room with only one phone. They did buy me a laptop, which hasn't arrived, and I hope that it comes soon as I have to give this one back in a few days time to Dan, my previous boss from DC. Dan is coming out for a few meetings, but also to meet with me and discuss the work that I believe was stolen from me. It wasn't really stolen, as the person was on the project, they are just trying to claim first authorship now that I've buggered off down here.

In other news, I've been climbing heaps, but mostly easy chimneys which is why my legs look like overhandled mangoes at the moment. Man, are my abs getting strong. I also onsighted a 19 (5-9+), which made me feel like I can still climb, even without good finger ligaments.

Well, I have to go, as my career depends on my abaility to write a 20 page research funding proposal in the next week. Argghh, possibly without a computer.

I promise that I will put pictures in soon, too.

I'm sorry I've been a bad blogger. Not really my fault, though.

Mt Buffalo!

So we headed to Victoria the past week, to a climbing area 7 hours away called Mt Buffalo. Gorgeous area, granite, loads of slabs and cracks, so chances of me re-injuring my fingees were minimal. C
Getting there: Very hot. Sat around in undies in the car with truck drivers perving on me. Need airconditioning.
Day 1: Climbed heaps. Saw a rock wallaby, cockatoos (white and black), galahs, king parrots, rosallas. Got attacked by fire ants.
Day 2: Rode our road bikes down the 30km hill - 40 mins drive up, 12 mins down by bike, going very fast. Belayed Mikl on a few scary things. Saw a lyre bird.
Day 3: More climbing, then headed to the local alpine wine festival and gave myself a headache as I hadn't hydrated enough.
Day 4: More climbing, stumbled around looking for things for many hours as the guidebook sucks dogs bottoms. Got attacked by fire ants (again), although not as bad as Mikl did. Was on the slipperyest corner known by man and was half way up when it started raining. Couldn't use any of the walls, managed to crawl up the crack without putting any more gear in. Got scared. Saw a black snake.
Day 5: Drove back at 130km/h in driving rain (remnants of a cyclone). Got scared again (possibly scarred for life)


We have since put air conditioning in the car - converted the old freon system for a many hundreds of consecutive dollars.

In other news, someone from my recently departed job stole the work from my research project and tried to publish it as primary author. This from the person who many times refused to discuss the work with me, said they weren't intersted at all in the research, but at the same time stopped me from doing an experiment by running away with the equipment and insulting my gender. Also refused to let any one else in on the project, even when they were actually interested in contributing. Spent today re-writing their ridiculous manuscript and most of last night drafting angry but politically correct letters to my nice ex-boss. Will see where I get, this could get messy.....

moving again, but not into our house, yet.

Monday I went for a ride with Shaz. i think she may have forgiven me for abandoning her on our last planned ride. Anyway, we drove out to a so called less hilly area, where our ride started with a hill. Perhaps she has not forgiven me. We rode for about 35 mins all up, arriving back at the car after being saturated by rogue rain we thought we had avoided. 35 mins at warp speed shaz was still enough to cause me to shake and almost pass out a few times whilst loading the car back up. Hmmm. Must get better at revovery on the bike.

Dropped my bike into Panther Cycles, where our pal Andy works, to get all my cables tightened, and my seat fixed (it started coming apart).

Yeserday the weather turned hot again (steamy, actually) and I went for a swim with George and Sally in Clovelly beach. Its an artificial reef where loads of fish hang out, and we got snorkels and cruised around looking for gropers. We eventually found a small one, which was still pretty big, and i followed it around until my ears hurt from swimming down to it. We only stayed for an hour as the water was disgusting due to runoff from the recent rains.

Tomorrow I'll pick up my bike, go for a ride with Shaz, then Mikl and I are leaving for Mt Boffalo in Victoria for 7 days. We got the news yesterday that we can't move in until next Thursday at the earliest, so I'll move all my stuff back to George and Sallys (we have worn out our welcome here). I have a lot to do today, and the weather god has decided to make it 38 degrees (hot!).

Back up the hill..

This weekend was spent back in the blueies. It pissed rain Saturday, so we went for a 5 hour hike into the Grose valley with Kevan, Catherine (the new girlfriend), Penny (who lives with Catherine - actually, its Penny's house) , Penny's friend Wendy, me and Mikl. All good, it rained. We got wet. Unexpected: leach infestations! Apparently i am terrified of leaches and emit girly screams when they are anywhere near, or on, me.

Sunday we slept in, camping back in Jeanies place in hartley Vale - she's not back from Tassie, aparently she sailed back slowly and is enjoying roasts, wine and amazing views as they sail up the coast. She also got to be skipper. So after a lateish start, we headed out to Mt York, which is normally too hot to climb after 7am but was great in the overcast and cool weather. Mikl did a bunch, and I lead a "14 (5-7)", but it was a crack corner and I found it quite taxing. Then I seconded a 19 (5-10a), which was good as it was covered in flat edges that I could strengthen my ligaments on. Mikl did a few other things, then we drove back down the hill, stopping on the way to visit Mikl's niece who is back from her overseas travels where she picked up a boyfriend, and is now living with him and his parents. They are desperately trying to rent a plcae with a few friends, and less parents.

He goes!

Well, we put the lemon (or lime) back together again, and started him up (this one is definitely a boy). After two goes, he purred into action. Mission complete!

We drove to the climbing gym where I flew up some overhanging blue routes (very easy, but satisfying). Sore finger today though...

In other news, my old work email account has ceased to be!! Please contact me at my dynoness email account.

I really still don't think it's a lemon

The engine head is sitting on our friends front porch - they get back tomorrow, so we'd better get this done quickly. Mikl decided that while it was out he would replace all the valve seals. Unfortunately you need a compression tool to do this, but he just rheamed his hand apart and did it using BRUTE strength.

BTW I have a cute little dog on my lap (George). He really is a good boy, but overly needy and has taken to licking my arm while I type. Its gross - stop it.

Whilst Mikl changed the valve seals, I replaced the air filter, fuel filter, most of the hoses, the distributer cap seal (and cleaned out all the oil in there!), the radiator water bottle seals, the thermostat for the radiator, and cleaned the engine block and cylinder shafts (really should get it shaved but that would cost money, so i shaved it using a blunt knife. I really hope that it fits together with the head again!).

Hours later we went to "Incas Peruvian restaurant" a little dive on ParramattaRoad in Stanmore - just down from where we used to and our friends still, live, and also not too far from where we are now. Its anew restaurant, our friends Big John and Nina had been there twice before, and Kevarn also came along. We drank a shitload of red wine and ate an even bigger shitload of meat. We had grilled pork, beef, lamb, sausages, and the two huge grills came out with half a chicken each on them too. We ate everything, and I had to get up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet (desperately needed the room). There were two small salads, and two bowls of chips (fries godammit) which we also polished off. Two sauces - desperately hot red chillie and a very mild green sauce that had herbs and chilli in it, and a bucketload of salt. Must go to the gym. getting fatty boom ba lah.

I discovered also that one of the Sydney Uni gyms has spinning classes - yay! and step classes - yay! and yoga classes - yay! Might do a spinning class today, if I don't go to the climbing gym with Mikl who just got back from the hardware store and is now sawing something outide - scary, seeing as it is for the car...

I still don't think it's a lemon

Our $2000 car is turning out to be full of intersting issues. We busted a radiator hose up the hill a few days ago, which Mikl was able to fix by shortening the hose. We notices an interesting smell which has turned out to be a leaky head seal. So yesterday, we took the head off the engine. Whilst I was taking the distrubuter out I noticed that the cap was full of oil. Yet another leak! Mikl bought a "seal kit" for the car, however, we think the manufacturers must have a sense of humour as none of the seals or gaskets are labelled. So we don't actually know if the secondary shaft seal for the distrubuter is in the kit or not. I used to have a job working as a grease monkey in a second hand car parts megastore, as a kid. My job involved pulling whatever I could off anything, and I knew which parts would sell and were worth more than others. I think I got paid about $4 an hour. Other perks involved getting to ride on upside down car bonnetts tied onto and dragged behind the back of the ute (like a truck, often has a dog in the back) - this was the way they moved engines, gearboxes, and the kids that worked their around. It was a huge property with hundreds of wrecks. They would come an get me whenever they neede little hands to get out fiddly things or things in hard to reach places. The problem was that I wasn't very strong - I tried to be, but I just didn't have the bulk. So i would crawl under nd up into the cavities of engines and put the socket/screwdriver/ring spanner/whatev. on the bolt/screw/nut in question, but then would be completely unable to crack the seal. I got very good at lever physics, really quick. Ahh the memories.

So the engine head is open and all the bits and in the back of the wagon. The problem is that its raining now.... Hopefully this afternoon we'll be able to put it all back together. Hopefully we we will be able to put it all back together....

Sleepy Girl

Well, although it was a holiday, Mikl worked yesterday and I stayed at home. We have the place to ourselves for the week - Renee and Scott have gone to Thredbo in southern NSW for a holiday. Unfortunately, we have George (the Jack Russell x with separation anxiety) to look after. As soon as they left he did four huge shits in the hallway. What a good boy! I cracked and threw him outside and went shopping - direct factory outlets - where I found a pair of three quarter leg pants. When I got back George was harassing the neighbours yelping and crying, as he probably had been the whole time.

I cooked dinner, Mikl came home and said he wasn't hungry. It was good, I got to eat more. I got to eat so much more that I got reflux and couldn't sleep. The good thing about this was that there were Buffy reruns on and so I watched two whole episodes from 2 until 4am. My reflux medication had kicked in and so I went to bed, but George woke up (sleeping just outside our door) and I had to take him out as although the back door is open he gets confused and pees everywhere. On the way back in to bed I walked into the fan and stacked it big time, waking Mikl up and making George yelp. I'd just crawled into bed at 4.30 when there were these awful awful bangs that sounded like gunshots, I realised they were firecrackers - some idiot is letting them off outside. Its a sleepy street in a sleepy suburb, so I am surprised. I thought maybe they were doing in at night as its such a fire danger during the heat of the day. Anyway - I go to sleep again, and then the garbage men come. I go to sleep again, and George starts yelping. I work out that its about 8am, and although we were supposed to go climbing today, Mikl has gone to work and left George outside. Apparently, he was yelping inside too..

Hippy New Ear

The day before NYE we drove back up the hill and met Chris at a crag in the mountains (Mt York). I lead up two easy things (a 5-8 corner on gear, with a 5-9 unprotectable start) and a 5-8 overhang on bolts, very runout. It was a good morning. Chris followed these routes, and mikl just hung around, at one stage he soloed up the bolted 5-8. he was basically at the top when a huge huntsman spider ran out and over his body. After much wriggling and yelping, the spider eventually fell and scrambled away. There are loads of these spiders, I have probably seen close to 80 at close range since I've been back. In fact, on the way to Katoomba shops a couple of hours later (Mikl went to check out a new crag and Chris went to find Sue) theer was one inside the car, and I stopped and had to get it out. Ther are roughly the size of your hand and look like this:


The ones in the mountains are striped black and white, really weird looking. Anyway, they are totally harmless (they can bite - but it just hurts a bit), only thing is they scare you to death.

NYE was spent at Moss and Coke's place in Katoomba. Chris and Sue, Robyn and Mike were there for dinner (which was awesome), and then Monique and Simon turned up for drinks later on. I was tired from the previous night (bad sleep) and struggled to stay awake, although Mikl just caved in and slept on the floor, much to my horror. The new year came,a nd we all hugged each other and then retired to the outside deck where there was this hot north westerly wind blowing - at 2am!! It was odd - I started to tell the spider story 9spider in the car) and as I was telling it I noticed there was another huge huntsman just on the railing where I was standing. Spooky. We talked about how hot NY day must be going to be.. well, it was yesterday and it was the 2nd hottest day in Sydney ever. 45degrees - which is 113 degrees form those Ceciusly challenged. Inland and country towns often reach these temps, but not Sydney! Most city folk spent the day in their undies getting in and out of a cold bath or shower. Mikl and i were meant to drive back from the mountains, but it was too hot and our car has no air con. Eventually we drove down, and it was a mightily hot drive at 7pm. We stopped off at my mum's place to check out the new air con I bought her - she was sitting in the loungeroom having a cigarette with the fan on! i whined and complained and put the air con on and she asked if i was tired - my mum can see staright through me sometimes (with respect to mood).

The day in between our mountains trips we also found a place to rent - a nice 2bdrm house in Enmore - a very trendy part of Sydney, close to Newtown restaurants, the organic co-op, and the uni I'm working at. Excellent! The house wasn't being showed by the real estate until the 9th Jan, but mikl and I went over there and knocked on the door, and on our second visit (we didn't ask the first time) the tenants let us look through the house, whoch is excellent - and even better for $330 a week (good deal for that part of town!). We ran to the real estate and put a deposit down with an application - they won't show the place to anyone else now. Yay! the house even has a smeg oven, polished floorboards, and a nice courtyard. yay again!

Tag

A game of tag? I've been tagged by "K1" as DC Jen would put it...

4 jobs you've had in your life
1. Chocolate/dessert restaurant waitress
2. Neutron scatterer
3. Nude model
4. Developing an illegal copy of a pipe sealing compound

4 movies you could watch over and over
1. Donnie Darko
2. Napolean Dynamite
3. Life is Beautiful (the first half - I can only watch the second half some of the time)
4. The Pianist

4 places you've lived
1. Gaithersburg and Germantown, MD, USA
2. Stanmore, NSW, Australia
3. Chippendale, NSW, Australia
4. Busby, NSW, Australia

4 TV shows you love to watch
1. Charmed
2. Buffy
3. Veronica Mars
4. Desperate Housewives

4 places you've been on vacation (OK - I get 4, lets see how well I can consolodate..)
1. South Africa
2. Western and Eastern Europe
3. Very North (Canada), North, and South America
4. Japan

4 websites you visit daily
1. https://mail.nist.gov
2. http://www.yahoo.com/
3. http://blogspot.com/
4. http://smh.com.au/

4 of your favorite foods
1. Lamb fat
2. Duck fat
3. Milk fat
4. Chocolate

4 places you'd rather be
1. Travelling through asia
2. In my new home
3. Here with new finger ligaments
4. Another inhabitable part of the universe that most people don't know about