a BIG bon-voyage party at our place last saturday night
lots of empty bottles to clean up on sunday ;-D
5580 songs on my ipod & counting ...
tying up numerous loose ends at work
hoping i would qualify for some long-service leave (and $$$) but seems that won't happen unfortunately
looking for tenants for our house during our absence
trying to sell 2 cars - got one painted, serviced & fixed last week; was about to do the same with the other car but then i reversed it into our baby-sitter's car didn't i!?!? bummer ... it is insured, but with an excess; and more work & running around involved in getting that all done!
constructing a garden shed, paving, chopping down trees in our yard
packing ... not much of that done yet!
treating the outside walls of our house with oil.
my wife's & son's birthdays, and an anniversary, coming up.
family & friends & functions
trying to find a time to visit my grandfather before leaving
yes, it's all happening!
33 days to go .... and now i've got to go & see a panel beater .... :-P

~

i now have >4500 songs on my ipod!

and am lovin it ;-D

~

ok

ok ...

it's all getting a bit crazy now, with 46 days to go until we are due to depart for dublin. all sorts of stuff going on. trying to arrange & do things; various things every day. and also trying to maintain some semblance of a 'regular' life at thie same time ... with varying degrees of success of different days.

just a random snapshot of some of the stuff we are doing and/or attempting to do:

get things fixed on car(s) as we prepare to sell one (or maybe both?) of them
laying pavers & a garden shed in our back yard
making arrangments to rent out our house (HOPEFULLY to someone we know??!?)
getting our piano moved to friends' house
transferring our CD collection to new ipod - >300 albums done so far (i do this at work)
packing up some stuff, throwing out or giving away other stuff
entertaining & playing with & seeing to our 2 young kids, including a 1-year-old girl who has got more teeth coming through
buying airline tickets, booking hotels & apartments in singapore & dublin
looking into pros & cons of travel insurance and/or health insurance while in ireland
stripping (pressure-washing) dirt & weathering off external walls of our timber (red cedar) house, then treating it with oil (using paint-brushes)
trying to fit in some work-related work in there somewhere
looking into how to deal with superannuation (pension) and long-service leave accumulations/benefits/entitlements
arranging to have excess baggage & stuff flown to dublin, and when (and where) to send it & working out exactly what to send
beginning to get up to speed with what my new work/project in dublin will involve
looking into possible suburbs to live in dublin & schools for our son
arranging (and trying to agree on details for) our going-away party
seeing, visitng and/or hosting visits from various friends/family before leaving
getting dental work done before leaving
did i mention the kids? and finishing up various work things on my current job?

anyhow, there are other things, but the above list gives u a little insight into what's going on with me lately & right now!

it is all quite nuts, but we are sure it will ultiamtely be worth it ;-D

~

well i got myself a 80GB ipod last friday and promptly began having fun with it! i've transferred about 45 albums or so to date, and will continue to do at least a few a day for a while yet. it is fantastic to have all that music right there at the opress of a button. i even listened to it while doing the dishes yesterday afternoon! ;-D

yes and in other news i went out to a bar on saturday night for an annual celebration & gathering to mark the birthday (on the same day) of two friends. i drank toooo much, and had a tremendous hangover yesterday!!! all those beers are one thing, but then to throw in a couple of vodaks, a gin & a shot of whiskey late in the night .... yes well we all know when sober that that isn't smart, but to u think i even stopped to think about that at 2:15am sunday morning?!?! nooooooo .... i was in pain yesterday - one of those once-or-twice-a-year kinda hangovers. it's not clever or funny. why did i do it to myself?? my wife, understandably, got annoyed & went out shopping in the middle of the day, leaving me with both kids. at one point there i was lying on the living room floor with a large ice-pack on my forehead while my 1-year-old daughter climbed over me and my son kept showing me space ships & light sabers he had made .... a hangover like that is never fun, and it certainly doesn't mix well with child-minding!

i managed to have an afternoon nap while the kids did, and felt a little better - at least over the worst of it - after that. somehow i managed to surprise even myself and play a bit of soccer with friends late in the afternoon, although i didn't break any speed records and there was plenty of water being consumed. needless to say, i slept well last night ..... ;-D

~