Interview

I had the interview for the graduate position yesterday. I think it went really well. I got along great with the people conducting the interview. I hope to find out about the position within the next month.

Debt Free!

I have finally paid off all my credit card debt. Tax time is a happy time of year.

New Table

Today we bought our first kitchen table. We got it from the antique furniture shop on the highway here in Katanning. It is a lovely old Jarrah table. It has a few scratches on it, but I think it adds character. It has been looked after pretty well over its life, all it really needs is some wax every now and then. We also need to get some matching chairs at some point in the future. That can wait for now though. At $380, it's a steal for solid jarrah. We are really pleased with it and look forward to having our first dinner on it tonight.

I got shortlisted

I have been shortlisted for the graduate position I applied for! This is the last stage, and if I impress the people interviewing me then I am in with a good chance of getting the job. Now I have to make sure I do some research on the company and their people before the interview (which is in a week). I am starting to get excited about this now.

Getting Fit

Stacey and I joined up at the local gym again tonight. We were members last year for about 6 months, and managed to use the membership a reasonable amount. We signed up for another six months tonight which will hopefully take us just past the time when we move back to Perth. Stacey want to get fit for her sister's wedding in about 10 weeks. I'm just going so she has some company. It also gives me some time to catch up on at least 1 podcast a day. I may even get fit as a by-product, we'll see. While we were signing up, Andrea talked us into making up the numbers for the Ag Dept team in mixed volleyball on Thursday nights. The last time I played volleyball I came out in huge bruises up my arms the next day. I gues I'll just have to make sure I hit the ball properly ;-)

Chillout

I am sitting here on a Sunday afternoon listening to a new podcast, Dave's Lounge. No, it's not our Davey May, but it is really good. Great music to listen to on a sunny winter's afternoon, a mixture of chillout trip-hop downbeat songs. Check it out at http://www.daveslounge.com Stacey is back in town, and everything is almost back to normal again. We managed to get the house into a somewhat clean state. School starts back up tomorrow and Stacey has a new student in her class who is autistic, so she probably has a tough week ahead. My boss leaves for an overseas trip in two weeks, leaving just the three of us behind to mind the shop. We did have a fourth, but she quit a couple of weeks ago after being hired specifically to cover the boss's holiday. How selfish up can you be? I think I might spend the afternoon watching new episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis that came out this weekend. Hope all is well in your world.

Frosty morning

Frosty morning Originally uploaded by csjohnst.

It has been pretty cold here lately. Yay! This is the first successful message sent from my new phone!

Mel and Darren Ok!

This just in:

Hi, We are still in London. We leave for Paris tomorrow. The bombings have been really shocking, but luckily we were not at any of those stations. We were waiting for after 9:30am to get a cheaper travel card, so that was a blessing. We are staying near Bayswater Station which is 2 or 3 stops away from Edgware Road Station. We got up this morning and went to Bayswater Station but it was closed due to a power failure - that's what they told us. No underground trains were running so we walked to Victoria Station ( a very long walk). Once there we were told that no buses were running either and all passengers were to remain vigilant. By then we figured something was going on so we decided to get out of London and go to Brighton for the day. When we went to buy tickets, that's hwen we heard about the explosions. The ticket guy told us that there had also been a threat at Brighton so he didn't think the train would be going. He said the best thing to do would be to go back to our hotel. We started to go out of the station to the internet cafe, but they were closing the gates and telling us all to get back. That was pretty scary, so we went out the other side of the station and walked to Hyde Park. We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe then walked all the way back to the hotel and watched on the TV all the stuff that had been going on. We found out the reason they shut Victoria Station was because of a threat. So, that's been our day in London. We have tried to text people, but the phone network has also been disrupted and Darren's phone is getting no coverage. But you can tell everyone we are fine. We were still at our hotel at the time of the train bombings and no where near the bus that exploded. We are unsure of how we will get to the airport tomorrow. I am sure that there will still be disruptions, but we might just have to pay more to get the Heathrow Express. We're just glad we are ok and that we weren't trying to get to the airport today. We fly out at 7pm tomorrow. It's been a strange day. Yesterday everyone was so happy because of the Olympic announcement and today it's just been surreal. Anyway, if you can tell everyone we are fine, that would be good. We will keep trying to text and see when we can get through. Hope all is well at home. Love Mel and Darren.

Good to hear!

London Bombing Darren Shaw and Melanie Shaw (Johnstone)

My sister and her husband are currently in London on their honeymoon. With the bombings in London today, all the family here are understandably a little worried. I thought it would be a good idea to put this post up in case anybody knows whether they are ok. If you are reading this Mel or Darren, please leave a comment to let us know that you are ok. From what we can tell, you shouldn't be in any of the affected areas, but until we hear from you we can't be sure. We have tried calling Darren's mobile, but are only met with an engaged signal. This is probably due to the mobile networks in London being either crammed or taken offline. We are anxiously waiting to hear from them.

London 2012

It has just been announced by the International Olympic Committee in Singapore that the host of the 2012 Olympic Games will be London. I am looking forward to seeing the games in such a vibrant city. Congratulations to the people of London, and I hope you enjoy hosting such an important event.

Missing you already

I never realised the difference between going away yourself and having your partner go away. Yesterday Stacey went to Perth for the school holidays and I was wondering around the house with nothing to do. Whenever I go away and leave her at home, I don't miss her as much as I do now. I guess when you go away you are always doing something, you have a purpose for being where you are. But being the person left behind, there is only the mundane things of life without anyone to interrupt them. It doesn't help that I don't have any friends in this town. All of my friends are back in Perth. The people I work with are all a generation older than me. I am going to ask for 2 weeks off next school holidays so I can go to Perth with Stacey.

Great News

I just found out that I have progressed through to the next round for the graduate position that I applied for! I now have to do a psychometric test online, and if I get through that with the profile that they are looking for the next stage is a face to face interview with the managers I would be working for. I'll probably sit down tomorrow to do the test as it says it should take about and hour and a half.