One Percent

I am moving

2006-01-13T11:47:00.000+08:00

I now have my own domain name and web space. So this blog is moving to a more permanent home. I am in the process of importing all of the posts from here to the new site. I will no longer be updating this site, so please update your bookmarks/links to my new site: http://chris.johnstone.id.au/blog

Job Hunting

2006-01-10T14:17:00.000+08:00

So sales wasn't really my thing. I think I knew that by about the 3rd hour. I hated it. Now I am job hunting. I had an interview this morning, which went ok. It's only the first so I don't have my hopes set too high just yet. It is really daunting to be out in the job market. You have to sell yourself, which is one thing that I don't think I am great at. I always have this low opinion of my abilities, which I am sure other people think are really good but I just can't see it myself. I always see other people who are better at what I do. So far, I have only applied for jobs on seek.com.au. I think that I may need to branch out and look for jobs in other circles though.

It's not what you know, it's who you know.

That is the saying isn't it? So, who needs me? Who wants to hire me? The best thing about me is my ability to learn independantly and fast. You want me to do something? Let me know what it is and I'll get it done. So if you know of anyone in the Perth area that is looking for a humble coder/IT guy, then let me know!

Butler Sunset

2006-01-02T20:32:00.000+08:00

Butler Sunset 006
Originally uploaded by csjohnst.

Just as Stacey's parents were leaving our house tonight the sky to the west was this perfect golden colour. I ran inside to get my camera to capture the moment. I hope you like it.

As always, all my photos are on flickr (link is just to the right hand side of the page)

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T20:12:00.000+08:00

Here is everyone who came to our New Year's BBQ at our new house last night. Thank you all for coming, I had a really good time and appreciate it. The rest of the photos are available on my flickr page My New Year's resolutions include:

Get fit (yeah it's the same every year, but a good one anyway)
Earn a certain amount of money (No, I'm not going to tell you how much ;-) )
Make new friends (not that there is anything wrong with my current friends, but the number is small)

Last year's resolutions were reasonably successful, I got fit (for a while); I worked out what I want to do in IT (dabble and earn money by other means) I hope that 2006 is your best year yet, I know it will be mine!

My new desk

2005-12-30T09:50:00.000+08:00

My new desk
Originally uploaded by csjohnst.

I start after new years

Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T09:36:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your day is a happy one spent with your loved ones.

Leaving home

2005-12-21T07:07:00.000+08:00

Leaving home
Originally uploaded by csjohnst.

It's moving day. Up early for the truck, then lots of cleaning.

A day at the cricket

2005-12-18T12:53:00.000+08:00

A day at the cricket
Originally uploaded by csjohnst.

At the cricket today with my brother. Nice day, glad summer is finally here.

Moving On

2005-12-15T21:47:00.000+08:00

Today we found a house to live in. We have a 12 month lease on a near new house in Butler. Next week we will go back down to Katanning to move our stuff out and clean up the house. We have both fond and bad memories of our time in Katanning, we spent some important years down there. It feels good to be coming home though. So long, and thanks for all the fish

The Leading Man in Me

2005-12-12T08:13:00.000+08:00

Jimmy Stewart You scored 26% Tough, 4% Roguish, 47% Friendly, and 23% Charming!

You are the fun and friendly boy next door, the classic nice guy who still manages to get the girl most of the time. You're every nice girl's dreamboat, open and kind, nutty and charming, even a little mischievous at times, but always a real stand up guy. You're dependable and forthright, and women are drawn to your reliability, even as they're dazzled by your sense of adventure and fun. You try to be tough when you need to be, and will gladly stand up for any damsel in distress, but you'd rather catch a girl with a little bit of flair. Your leading ladies include Jean Arthur and Donna Reed, those sweet girl-next-door types.

Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the Classic Dames Test.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 47% on Tough

You scored higher than 9% on Roguish

You scored higher than 78% on Friendly

You scored higher than 37% on Charming

Link: The Classic Leading Man Test written by gidgetgoes on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

My New Job

2005-12-06T22:38:00.000+08:00

As it gets closer to Christmas, it also gets closer to starting my new job. I am going into the family business, real estate. I know, people in real estate are supposed to be slimy, sleazy and dishonest. We are trying to be the exact opposite of this. We are honest, sincere, ethical and above all, hard working. I also created the new website for the company, Bernie Kroczek Real Estate. So I'm not totally throwing out my skills ;-) If you are in the market, keep us in mind.

Meteor Video

2005-12-05T07:44:00.000+08:00

The ABC has a video of the meteor that I saw on Saturday night. You've probably seen it on the news, but in case you missed it here it is.

Meteorite

2005-12-03T21:21:00.000+08:00

Update: Someone in Narrogin heard the same thing! Click here to read about it. -------------------------------------------------- Update #2: Just heard on ABC local radio dozens of reports all over the southwest of Western Australia of seeing a bright light making it's way across the sky from west to east followed by a sound described as similiar to a sonic boom. -------------------------------------------------- Update #3: The Sunday Times has a story about the meteorite. It's just a shame that I saw it through the bathroom window and not through a clear one. -------------------------------------------------- I'm freaking out. Something big just happened outside. I'm not sure what it was, but it has me confused and a little worried. I was sitting in the bath, just about to relax and listen to a podcast, when I just happened to be staring in the general direction of the window. Outside, I saw a white light. The same brightness as lightning, but not. It seemed to stay in the same spot, not forking out like lightning. There was no sound. That was weird I thought. Then about 3 minutes later I heard a loud boom. It was followed by a low frequency rumbling just on the edge of my hearing range. All the birds, dogs and animals in the area started freaking out. I thought that this must be a thunderstorm and that I hadn't seen the second lightning strike. I decided to get out of the bath and unplug my computers and modem just in case. At this point I decided to go outside and check out this "thunderstorm" This is the point where I started freaking out. There was not a cloud in the sky. All I could see were stars. I came inside an noticed that there was a message on my mobile from Greg. I called him back and told him what I just witnessed. He said that he and David were driving along Joondalup Drive in Perth and had seen a similar light in the sky. HOLY FUCK!! It is now about half an hour later and nothing else has happened. My logical mind is telling me that this must have been a meteorite, and that it was travelling in a south east direction, passing first over Perth, then here in Katanning and on towards Esperence. I am going to be keeping an eye on the news over the next day to see if there is some sort of explanation. If you saw something similar I would like to hear about it.

Ticking

2005-12-03T14:58:00.000+08:00

Some of the more observant of you may have noticed that the counter at the top of this page jumped recently by about 10 days. This is because I have handed in my resignation at work, and I am leaving town sooner! I finish up on the 14th, and will be back in Perth by the 16th. Stacey's job has been officially confirmed and we are all set to move back home, closer to our friends and family. Hopefully we can find somewhere to live before christmas and move all of our stuff. It comes down to when a truck is available, but the sooner the better. My boss has hired my replacement, and he starts work on Monday. This means that we will have an overlap of about 9 working days. He is a lot older than I am, so something different for everyone to deal with. Good luck to him.

On the Farm

2005-11-29T17:46:00.000+08:00

On the Farm 024
Originally uploaded by csjohnst.

Last week Stacey was invited out to the farm of one of the kids in her class. They were in the middle of harvesting their canola crop.

After over 3 years of living out in the country, this is the first time Stacey has been on a farm out here.

She got some video footage with our new digital video camera, so when I have some time I am going to edit it up into a nice little clip.

Breaking In

2005-11-21T20:37:00.000+08:00

Breaking In 003
Originally uploaded by csjohnst.

What a night! Stacey wanted to go out and get dinner, asking me to come with her. I didn't really want to.

She talked me into it, and as I was picking up my keys said, "What are you doing? I'm driving."

So I put down my keys and went out the front door. Just before pulling it shut, I asked, "Do you have your house keys?"

"Yeah" came the answer.

So I pulled the door closed behind me. We drove into town and got some dinner, then came home.

Just as I was walking to the door I heard, "Where are my keys?"

NO!!

OMG!!

I asked if she had them! What were we to do? The next door neighbours used to have a spare key, but they moved out and gave it back earlier this year.

All the doors were locked. All the windows were shut, locked and covered in security grills.

With nothing we could do at the house, we went to one of the other teacher's house to use the phone and see if we could get a spare key from GEHA. No luck there.

I rang my boss to see if he knew anyone in town who could pick a lock. No luck there.

His son said we should be able to get in through the roof tiles. Wrong... Tin roof.

"We can unscrew a roof sheet and get in"

So Cam came around with a ladder, drill and some other tools and we got working on the roof.

One thing you should know about Katanning is this:
After the sun goes down, the temperature drops considerably. Especially when it is windy. Not having a jumper because you are locked out of your house makes it worse. Being on the roof of said house ices the cake (pun, although lame, intended).

We finally got a tin panel off, to discover the insulation right below it. This is where a knife comes in handy. Within minutes Cam was inside and opening up the doors to the house.

A big thankyou goes out to Cam, for coming around and helping me get into the house. The photo is of the panel that we took off to get in.

The moral to this story is make sure you have a key on the same keyring as you car key. Either that or leave a spare key outside somewhere for just this situation.

She got the job!!

2005-11-11T10:54:00.000+08:00

Stacey got the job in Perth that she was going for! We are going to be living and working in the northern suburbs next year, exactly where we want to be. The school is only a couple of minutes walk from my sister's house. This is a happy day. Congratulations!

Milestone

2005-11-10T20:39:00.000+08:00

Yay! The post about my new header graphic was my 100th post on this blog. Kind of appropriate don't you think?

1%, some explanation...

2005-11-10T20:31:00.000+08:00

Why are unreasonable people so unreasonable? It's a shame that once people choose a side of an argument/fight they can't ever see what may be reasonable to anyone from an objective point of view. I guess that's part of the reason why I call this blog one percent. When you find someone that belongs to the one percent of people on this planet who are honest, kind, reasonable, friendly, fun, considerate.... etc... Then make sure you let them know that you appreciate them for being who they are. For the others, treat them as if you were a part of the one percent too. Eventually one day you will be. Me, I'll get there one day. I still have issues with superiority, but I'm working on it :-)

New Header Graphic

2005-11-07T22:05:00.000+08:00

I have just been playing around with a new header graphic. What do you think?

1984

2005-11-06T12:32:00.000+08:00

Would you go see a movie if this happened to you? I thought the reason to make a film was to get people to want to see it and enjoy the experience.

Summertime

2005-11-06T10:37:00.000+08:00

I got up early this morning. It was about 7am, had a bit of a browse around the web, then I got up and did some house work. Felicity will be happy ;-) I even had time for a walk around town listening to some podcasts on the way. When I finally got home it was 10am! Usually about the time I normally get up on a Sunday!! I still have a whole day left and I have already done so much already. This is what I like most of all about summer. Oh and it's one of the good things about not having daylight savings. Once you get into the groove of getting up early it's easy to get things done, rather than having more time at the end of the day. Personally, come 6pm I have no desire to do anything other than vege.

2005-11-05T18:26:00.000+08:00

The hell with this, I'm gonna live!

Just watching Serenity and I agree, it Rocks! I hope they make more of these.

Piracy is Good

2005-11-05T16:48:00.000+08:00

I have just watched a video about how piracy is good. Mark Pesce gave a presentation to the Australian Film and Televeision School in Sydney. I know that this is how I get most of my television programming. I hope what he says can play out without any interruption from the governments. I can see the Australian government at least wanting to get in there and restrict what you can and can't do. It's like when they "de-regulate" and industry by making it conform to more rules... go figure. My current list of "Hyperdistributed Programming": Alias, Desperate Housewives, Firefly, Grey's Anatomy, House, How I Met Your Mother, Invasion, Las Vegas, Lost, My Name is Earl, One Tree Hill, Smallville, The Amazing Race, The OC, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis. I don't have any time to watch much "normal" tv anymore. And the good thing about how I watch tv now? I can watch it whenever it suits me. I don't have to be in front of the box at 7.30 on a particular night to watch a show. I can just download it, and watch it later, even weeks later. I can spend a Sunday afternoon catching up on the last 5 weeks of Alias if I like. I have only one problem with all this: Hard disk space.

Job Interview

2005-11-02T17:58:00.000+08:00

Not me... Stacey has an Interview for a school up in Perth on Friday. It is a really good school in an area that we would be happy living in. It is also a permanent merit selection position, so if she gets it she is pretty much garaunteed that position for a while to come. Good Luck!!

Break Even

2005-11-02T17:55:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I pretty much broke even on the Melbourne Cup. I started the day with $20 in my wallet, and finished the day with pretty much the same. I bet $19 at the TAB, $5 each way on Makybe Diva and a couple of long shot trifectas. I won $28 on the win and place by the best race horse going around. So I treated myself to lunch (nothing special), thus ending up with $20 at the end of the day. I hope you at least broke even too.

2005-10-27T13:48:00.000+08:00

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

I'm Impressed

2005-10-26T18:40:00.000+08:00

I went to the new bookshop in town today to see if they had the new Robert Jordan book. To my surprise they did!! They also had the new George RR Martin book too. I had given up on waiting for that book. It's a good little book store, not too bad for a town like this. It only opened a couple of weeks ago. There are a few stores opening up around here lately, a new butcher is opening in the main street in a couple of weeks from now. It's just a shame that we are going to be leaving town at the end of the year.

Katanning Show

2005-10-25T21:47:00.000+08:00

Here is the stand we had at the Katanning Show on the weekend. It was a good day, didn't sell anything (didn't want to either) but as Keith says, we were "flying the flag" It meant that I didn't have much of a weekend. I worked until 8.30pm on Friday night, then 8am to 9pm Saturday and then 8am to 10am on Sunday morning packing up.

First Purchase

2005-10-25T19:36:00.000+08:00

Thirsty Merc

iTunes Music Store Australia Opens

2005-10-25T18:02:00.000+08:00

Finally! Now I have no excuse for downloading music illegally to my iPod. I haven't purchased my first song yet, I am going to make it one to remember. The only downside is that Sony BMG doesn't have any songs in the store yet. As soon as they see how popular it's going to be I bet they'll change their tune. Anyway, I'm going to continue to troll through the catalouge seeing what they have on offer.

Job Hunting

2005-10-18T20:50:00.000+08:00

I am now looking for a job in Perth. If you know of any positions going for someone experienced in website development (specifically ASP, ASP.NET, PHP and MySQL) then let me know. Alternatively I also have experience as a support technician at a high school. I can start within two weeks of being offered any position. Email me or give me a call.

Hide and Seek

2005-10-17T21:42:00.000+08:00

Time to come out. To the person who has been occasionly posting comments here as anonymous: It's time to email me and tell me who you are and what you have been up to since high school. I have a vague idea of who you might be, so go on, prove me wrong ;-) My email address is csjohnst at gmail dot com.

Name the Domain

2005-10-17T21:37:00.000+08:00

I'm seriously thinking about getting a new blog. I like the ease of using blogspot, but it's not a full featured blog software as I would like. I did have a wordpress blog a while ago, before my web host fell over and took my domain name with it. (If you ever think about using Oktagone.net don't, just don't) If I am going to go back to a wordpress blog, I would want to have it on my own domain. This creates a problem: I don't know what domain to create/use/buy If you think you know what domain I should have, leave your comments here.

Shelley's Wedding

2005-10-09T02:09:00.000+08:00

We just got home from Shelley's wedding reception. Here are some quick photos from the day. The weather was perfect, couldn't have ordered a better day. I will write more about it tomorrow, or after I get back home to Katanning. Click on the Flickr link at the top right of this page to see more photos.

The Sixbarrow and Moonpence

2005-10-08T12:20:00.000+08:00

Last night was a big night for Greg. As you can see from the morning after photo below, he's still not quite right. He has pulled up reasonably well for the amount of alcohol he consumed yesterday. You see the night started a long time before I got there at about 7pm. Greg was out for a business lunch at Black Tom's in West Perth and was still there when I went into town. From there we moved to Carnegies for a few hours before finishing up at the Mustang Bar. Dave was selling himself short at the Mustang Bar. Not to sound crude, but he thinks that he doesn't have a change with attractive women. He is a great guy and should back himself a bit more. Last night he was a bit embarassing, picking a random girl and making out with her. It's bad enough when it's people you don't know going for it on the dance floor, but when you know one of them is a whole different story. We ended up getting home at about 3am, not before Greg was removed from The Elephant and Wheelbarrow for throwing up in the bathroom sink. Kudos for keeping it together in the Taxi on the way home though. Anyway, we need to get to Maccas and get some food into Greg. Oh, and I was fine BTW. Didn't drink too much and was able to make sure we all got home safe and sound ;-)

Big night out

2005-10-08T12:18:00.000+08:00

Big night out
Originally uploaded by csjohnst.

Status Quo

2005-10-04T16:22:00.000+08:00

Why is it that when you don't have much money to spare, something stops working and needs replacing? Last night, I wanted to have a little better reception on my laptop with the wireless network I have set up here at Mum's house. So I unplugged the access point that I brought up with me from Katanning, and took it downstairs to plug into the network port in the study. It didn't work. It's just flashing at me and refusing to admit that it even exists. So I spend a long time last night on the net (connected by a long cable) researching which new access point I should buy. I finally settled on the Linksys WAP54G, hoping that the client mode works the same way as the other one. You see the access point I brought up with me is the one that I usually have attached to my XBOX. This lets us watch any video files I may have downloaded on the big TV in the lounge room. If it doesn't work then I am going to have to fork out more money to get back to the status quo.

Holidays at last

2005-09-26T09:13:00.000+08:00

I am just starting 2 weeks holidays and I can't wait. We are up in Perth for two weeks (back in civilisation) with pretty much nothing to do. We do have Stacey's sister's wedding on the last weekend, but that is about all. I have my wireless set up at mum's house, so I am all ready to go. I went to Mum's graduation last night. She now has a Bachelor of Business, Double Major in Informations Systems and Information Management. Congratulations.

Sick as a dog

2005-09-16T12:38:00.000+08:00

I have had the last two days off work, feeling really bad. It feels like the flu, chesty cough, headaches, aching bones. It has not been a good couple of days. Today I am waiting around for the dickhead plumber to come fix the cold water tap in the shower. He was supposed to have fixed it last time he came, but I had my doubts about it at the time. We kind of fixed it ourselves, but the GEHA people told us to still get him to come and replace the part anyway. The housing people know that he is a dickhead, yet for some reason they still use him. It's not like he's the only plumber in town either. Although one of the other plumbers in town is a bit of a dickhead too. If the plumber gets here early enough I might try and get in to see a doctor, I probably need some antibiotics to get over this thing a bit quicker.

Ashes loss good for Cricket

2005-09-13T18:04:00.000+08:00

I think that England winning the Ashes back is good for cricket. Did you see how many people went to the test matches over there? How many people go to test cricket in this country? I can't really remember every day of a test match in Australia being sold out months in advance. Hopefully this will increase the interest in cricket here as much as it did in England. Now we just have to wait for the Super series against the Rest of the World team. I think the Aussies have a real tough battle there.

Holidays Soon

2005-09-11T19:45:00.000+08:00

I am taking two weeks off over the school holiays and I can't wait. I haven't had any time off since February, and I do like my time off. I don't know whether I'll have any time off over summer between jobs when we move back to Perth. It may be that I start in a new job 3-4 days after finishing down here, and then I'll have to work for another 6-12 months before I am able to take any holidays. I think we have pretty much decided that we are moving back up to Perth at the end of the year whether Stacey gets a transfer or not. If she doesn't get a transfer then she will just try to get a short term appointment or at worst do relief teaching. I can't wait to get back into real work in IT instead of just selling computers. It is really what I enjoy doing, like the website that I am currently working on for my step-dad's real estate company

Time to start looking for a job

2005-09-06T20:41:00.000+08:00

I got an answer to my application for that graduate position today and it wasn't good.

Dear Christopher,

Thank you for expressing interest in a graduate position with Company and for taking the time to participate in a telephone interview, psychometric testing and a face to face interview.

We have taken into consideration the results of the telephone interview, psychometric testing and face to face interview and have compared your skills, background and experiences against the requirements of the positions we have available.

As you can appreciate, the overall calibre of the graduate candidates that attended the face to face interview were very high. Unfortunately on this occasion, we regret to advise you that we will not be progressing your application further with us.

We really do appreciate the time you have taken and we thank you for considering Company as a prospective employer.

We sincerely wish you all the best in your future endeavours.

Kind Regards

Company Graduate Recruitment Team

So now it is time to start looking for a real job in Perth. I will probably start looking towards the end of October. If I get offered a job they will probably want me to start straight away, so I'll start looking at what type of jobs are coming up now and get into it seriously later.

Happy Father's Day

2005-09-04T19:53:00.000+08:00

Happy father's day to all the dads out there, especially mine ;-) We have just got back from a weekend in Perth. We went out to dinner on Saturday night at the Moon and Sixpence for Stacey's Dad's 50th birthday. The food was really good and pretty well priced. Today we had a bbq lunch for Father's Day at Stacey's parents house.

Spend up!

2005-08-23T22:55:00.000+08:00

I ordered our new vacuum cleaner today. It's a Dyson DC11, and the best part about it is the price. I am able to buy it for $400 less than the RRP of $999, this is because dyson give a 40% discount to salespeople who sell their product. I guess it is designed so that salespeople get to use the product and recommend it to customers. I think it's a great deal.

It's here!

2005-08-23T11:42:00.000+08:00

My new notebook is finally here! I love it. It's slightly smaller than I imagined, but I like that even more. It is reasonably light, has a nice bright wide screen. The keyboard is nice to type on, and the mouse that it came with as a bonus is a wireless one. It also came with a stylish carry bag, the perfect fit for the notebook. I am very impressed by the finish and quality of this Asus notebook, even down to the cardboard box that it came in. If you can't already tell, I am using it now to type this entry. I can't wait until lunch when I can take it home and get it on the wireless network.

Comment Spam

2005-08-18T18:03:00.000+08:00

I just had my first comment spam on this blogger/blogspot blog. 2 words: Bugger off! I know that comment spam is around and I have come across it with Wordpress (and beaten it), but this is my first encounter with it on this particular blog. It is sad that we live in an online world where people aren't just content to have information about their products on their own site and either advertise in a conventional manner or just let me find the info myself.

New Notebook

2005-08-17T19:46:00.000+08:00

I just ordered myself a new notebook, my first plunge into mobile computing. I know, you're thinking a geek like me would have had heaps of notebooks before but alas, no. I have used Stacey's notebook when she hasn't had a need for it, and I tried to resurect Grandpa's old Toshiba but it was too far gone to be of much use. So now I have decided on an Asus W3020A (pictured) which I think will suit me well. It has a big enough hard drive (40GB) as most of my big files will stay on my main desktop machine. It also comes with 512MB of RAM which is a must, anything else would just make the machine feel slow. Built in wireless networking is also another must, and one of the main reasons I want a notebook. It is slim and light, weighing in at about 2kg and also includes a dual layer/dual format DVD super drive for all your burning pleasure. The really good thing about it though is how I am able to pay for it. I am able to get it through work, so I can put it on my account and pay it off gradually without incurring any interest or account fees. Now comes the hard part of waiting for it to be delivered to work. Hopefully it should be in Friday or Saturday, but I expect that it will probably be Monday or Tuesday next week. It's like Christmas 4 months early, I can't wait!

What a drag

2005-08-12T15:47:00.000+08:00

Friday afternoon is really dragging here. We have been reasonably busy, yet the time is still going slow. I hope it is better where you are. PS. Go the Eagles!

Game On

2005-08-08T20:47:00.000+08:00

I was both disappointed and excited by England's win in the second test match at Edgebaston last night. Obviously disappointed by the narrow loss that the Aussies shouldn't have even had a chance of winning, but excited by the prospect of not knowing how the series will end up. It is the first time in a long time that we have not 100% expected Australia to win. There is a chance that we will be beaten, and that is enticing. The amount of interest generated by last night's close finish is amazing. The ladies at work were not only talking about the result, but they were actually watching it happen. People who would normally not pay 2 seconds interest in a game of cricket, let alone a test match, sitting on the edge of their seats anticipating what was to come. I think in a way it is good that the Aussies lost. This kind of interest would not have been so pronounced if we had won again. People were almost expecting it, now it has been shown that we can lose. I can't wait until Thursday.

People still amaze me

2005-08-08T16:48:00.000+08:00

The number of customers who came into the store drunk today was amazing. One guy even needed me to put the credit into his mobile phone because he couldn't read the numbers on his card. One of the ladies I work with noticed the stench from the other side of the counter. What can be so bad about a sunny winter Monday morning that you have to go out and get utterly trashed by 1pm? Doesn't it make them feel worse as the alcohol is wearing off? And what a waste of money! Once again another reason why the name of this blog is One Percent...

Unsure

2005-08-04T15:50:00.000+08:00

I am unsure about this job I went for now. After the interview I was pretty pleased, it seemed to go really well, but today I am not feeling very confident at all. I logged into the website that tracks the application today out of curiosity to see what it would say. Bad move. It now says:

Application Status: Unsuccessful

Bummer. Here's hoping it's a bug in the system or something, but my hopes aren't high. I guess I can only wait for the official word now.

Interview

2005-07-29T13:59:00.000+08:00

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!

2005-07-29T13:56:00.000+08:00

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

New Table

2005-07-24T18:39:00.000+08:00

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

2005-07-21T13:26:00.000+08:00

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

2005-07-19T20:25:00.000+08:00

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

2005-07-17T14:19:00.000+08:00

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

2005-07-10T22:50:00.000+08:00

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!

2005-07-08T03:41:00.000+08:00

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)

2005-07-07T20:34:00.000+08:00

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

2005-07-06T19:53:00.000+08:00

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

2005-07-04T21:46:00.000+08:00

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

2005-07-02T14:09:00.000+08:00

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.

Award Winner

2005-06-23T17:47:00.000+08:00

One of my Dad's ~~oldest~~ long time friends recently won the Most outstanding contribution to journalism award at the 2005 Northern NSW Journalism Awards.

Retired NBN Television camera operator Glenn Cook won the inaugural "Most Outstanding Contribution To Journalism" award, sponsored by Energy Australia.

Congratulations Glenn!

Mail server woes

2005-06-21T19:52:00.000+08:00

The mail server that I set up for a real estate office in Perth decided over the weekend to die. I have spent the last couple of days setting up a temporary server, and looking into why the original server died in the first place. The original server is a Postfix installation on a Clarkconnect box. It is only booting to the GRUB prompt at the moment, which means that I physically have to be there to fix it. That means that I will need to make a trip to Perth this weekend after I finish work on Saturday at lunch time. I am hoping that I can get the machine to boot again without any loss of data. There should be a recent backup, but I have been able to check up on that yet. I will cross my fingers and hope all goes well on the weekend.

USB Wireless connection

2005-06-20T13:49:00.000+08:00

I am so happy right now. I just saved myself thousands of dollars! I was really wanting a new laptop for myself, with a wireless connection. Stacey has one and is able to use her laptop and get on the internet from the loungeroom, where I have been confined to the study if I wanted to get online. A couple of months ago, my Grandpa came through town and bought himself a new laptop becuase his was starting to have a few problems. He left his old one with me, as he had no use for it (let alone space in his car). I have had it sitting here for a while now, and on Saturday I saw this Belkin USB wifi adapter come through work. I have now just spent my lunch time setting it up on the old laptop (Windows 98 SE) and am writing this post from my lounge room! I love it. Anyway, lunch is over so it's back to work.

Doctor Who

2005-06-19T15:58:00.000+08:00

I just finished watching the last episode in the current season of Doctor Who. Brilliant! It's a shame the see Christopher Eccleston go, I thought he was a really good Doctor and would have liked to see a few more story lines with him. Spoiler warning if you haven't seen the last episode yet. It's good to see Billie Piper will continue on next season. She adds some female intelligence to the show. I was also left wondering if Captain Jack will continue or whether he is left standed in time. I doubt it, but that doesn't mean that he will meet up with the Doctor and Rose anytime soon. We can only hope.

Biggest Upset in Cricket History

2005-06-19T13:06:00.000+08:00

Australian cricket has hit rock bottom. The Aussie Team lost to Bangaladesh. They need to start playing as a team. They should be so ashamed and if they don't smash England tonight, then drastic changes should be made to the team. Bring in some young blood who want to play and win for their country. These current players seem a little complacent.

929 Streaming

2005-06-17T22:47:00.000+08:00

Ok, so I live in the country and can't receive Perth radio stations other than online. No big deal, I have broadband so I can stream the radio stations that I want to listen to if the mood takes me. At least I thought I could. 92.9 streaming is awful. First the window does not open unless you are using Internet Explorer, Firefox is out. Second, I have two monitors hooked up to my PC and I happened to have IE open on the right hand screen. "Sorry, we have detected that you have moved the advertisement screen". WTF? I didn't move it, but I expect they are looking for it at 0,0 instead of where it opened on my screen at 1248,0. Huh? Advertisement window? That doesn't sit right with me, but more about that in a bit. Once I sat through the advertisement, I was helpfully informed that I have pop-up blocking software running on my machine. NO SHIT "Please turn off you pop-up blocking software". And that is where I stopped. This thing is set up solely for advertising. From what I can see here they are trying to double up on the ad hit. Am I mistaken? Doesn't 92.9 play advertisements on the radio? Don't they also include that on the internet stream? Why should I have to wait through and ad before I start listening, let them put up more ads while I'm listening and then play ads on the radio which is what I am listening to? I think that 92.9 and the AusStereo network are being way too greedy. You just lost a listener. I was also trying out their new podcasting service, which by the way didn't have any noticable ads. I have unsubscribed from that feed now; I don't feel like supporting their efforts. Compare this experience to listening to Triple j who just increased their stream to 128kbps. One click and I'm listening.

Plasma Season

2005-06-17T18:13:00.000+08:00

In the four months I have been at my current job, we hadn't sold a single plasma screen. Now in the last 2 weeks we have sold 2! I don't know what it is, but both of them were sold to people in Gnowangerup. We now have a gaping big 'hole' on the shelf where these two plasmas were. We will probably replace them with some LCD screens as they seem to be more the rage now. They don't have the same "burn in" effect that plasmas do when you leave the same image on the screen for a long time. Once we get the new screens we will probably link the Media Centre PC up to one of them. Those things are great (if a little expensive). You can watch tv, pause live tv when the phone rings, watch anything you download off the net, rip all your cds, listen to AM/FM radio, play a slideshow of all your pictures and more! But for $3000 you'd want all of that and more.

Thank god it's Friday

2005-06-17T08:17:00.000+08:00

I am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend watching my favourite sports. West Coast play Saturday afternoon after I finish work and 2 games of cricket!! Let's just hope that the Aussies can get back on track and start playing as a team if not winning.

Lots of late nights

2005-06-14T22:15:00.000+08:00

The next couple of months are going to contain a lot of late nights. Why you may ask? It's cricket season again! The Ashes series is about to start, and that means late nights watching the games on TV. I am so glad that the free to air networks worked something out with the cricket. There was one stage earlier in the year where I thought I might have to sign up to Foxtel just to watch the cricket. The only bad thing so far is that the cricket starts at 5.30pm this Saturday, and GWN/Channel7 are cutting in half an hour later to show 30 minutes of news. Is it so hard to put the news on 1 hour earlier at 5pm? I reckon they would get a whole heap of complaints from people if they moved 7 news. Do these people have no life that they can't go without news at the regular time? Is it so hard to change the channel to 9 and watch a different news? At least SBS should show uninterupted play when the test matches start.

My first comment

2005-06-14T18:14:00.000+08:00

I got my first comment on this blog recently. And no, it wasn't one of my friends (who I am sure hardly ever read this). The funny thing is that it seems (from what I can tell) it was a teacher from Perth. I seem to be surrounded by teachers! Stacey, Daniel, my sister and now a random commenter on my blog!

Graduate Position Update

2005-06-12T10:17:00.000+08:00

I received an email the other day about the graduate position I applied for:

Dear Christopher,

Congratulations! You have been short-listed to participate in a telephone interview for a graduate position in Perth.
...
The purpose of the telephone interview is to learn more about your background and experience. There will be no technical questions at this stage of the process.

Now it is all down to me and how I interview. I got through the initial culling stage where they disregard you without predudice.

It's finally cold!

2005-06-12T10:06:00.000+08:00

As I write this it is currently 6.4°C The cold weather has finally arrived and looks like sticking around. The highest temperature in the last 72 hours was 12.4°C almost 3 days ago! It's almost like being back in Europe, but without the snow. In fact that would really make my day, I'd love it to snow big time.

The Need for Speed...

2005-06-08T19:09:00.000+08:00

Or what counts for speed in this country. At the start of the month I upgraded my internet to 1.5Mbps. It's only costing me $4 more each month than what I am used to paying. I get a 10% discount with my internet provider now because where I work is an agent for them. So instead of paying $59.95 a month for 512kbps with a 14/14GB download limit, I am now paying $63.96 for 1.5Mbps with 10/10GB download limit. The download limit isn't really a big deal, as a lot of my downloads are from the free peering network in WA. This month so far I have downloaded: Peak: 802.65 MB Off Peak: 186.98 MB Free Peak: 5,314.75 MB Free Off Peak: 2,790.89 MB

Not so expensive

2005-06-08T19:07:00.000+08:00

So it wasn't as expensive as I thought to get my car fixed. It only cost me $230.40. Now all I need to get done to it is the bearing in the clutch of the air conditioning system. Thank goodness the temperature is only getting upto 16°C around here these days. I shouldn't need to get it fixed for another couple of months.

Arrrrrrrgh!

2005-06-02T18:07:00.000+08:00

So the worst thing wrong with my car is that both bearings on the left hand side need replacing. It should be fine after that for a while. The other thing wrong with it is a bearing in the air conditioning system, but that is not vital to the running of the car. Cost of initial repares: $495

Money, money, money

2005-06-01T19:20:00.000+08:00

I am taking my car in to get fixed tomorrow. Hopefully it won't cost too much. They had a quick look at it yesterday and it sounds like a bearing in the water pump. The bearings in the front wheels are also making one hell of a noise. The lesson here is never drive through more than a puddle on the road. It just aint worth it.

I hear gunfire

2005-05-29T11:36:00.000+08:00

Sitting in my nice quiet little country town on a Sunday morning I hear gunfire. Not just one or two shots from the riffle range, but a sortie of bullets flying around the high school shot from fully automatic weapons. There are road blocks in town, manned by armed guards and army trucks. There are soldiers wandering the streets on patrol, guns at the ready. It's a very surreal experience, like all of a sudden we are at war. We are not at war. At least not on home soil. The Army Reserve is in town practicing for urban warfare. They are using our quiet little town as a training ground to hone their skills. In the middle of town is a display set up with information for townspeople and recruitment forms for people to join up. One weekend a month, two weeks a year.

My biggest achievement

2005-05-28T19:39:00.000+08:00

I am just filling out a graduate application form and I got to a question that says "What is your biggest achievement outside of study?" I'm at a loss. I know the biggest achievement of my life so far is graduating university, but apart from that I have no idea off the top of my head. The first thing that pops into my head is my relationship with Stacey. In this day and age, having a commited relationship for over six years is not something to be taken lightly. We got together just after high school, shared the university experience together, done the whole long-distance relationship thin and now we are successfully managing to live together. I'm just not sure whether you class this as an achievement or not. I guess it is. I have been able to achieve happiness and love where so many other people have missed out or haven't quite got there yet. To be able to say, at this point in my life, that I know that I am going to be with the same person until the day I die no matter what happens. It's not just something to say, but something I know in the depths of my heart. I also know that I am a very different person that the one I was before I met Stacey. Back in high school I was drifting, some days my spirits would be really low that I just wouldn't want to do anything. It seems a world away from where I am now. I guess now I just have to work out how to say this in a job application. Any ideas?

The Eatonites aren't coming

2005-05-28T08:03:00.000+08:00

Sara has been sick all week, so they aren't coming out this weekend. It's a shame because I was looking forward to it. Dad said they may be able to make it out 2 weeks from now, just before they head off on their holiday. Let's hope that nothing stops them then.

The Eatonites are coming

2005-05-25T18:25:00.000+08:00

Dad, Carmel, Sara and Rohan are all coming over for a visit this weekend. It is the first time that all of them have come and stayed the night. They are coming over on Saturday morning, hopefully getting here just before 12pm so they can see where I work. The drive over should be nice, as all the farms are looking really green after all the rain we have had in the last couple of months.

Car Trouble

2005-05-25T18:22:00.000+08:00

It sounds to me like the bearings in my front wheels have lost some grease in the water over the weekend. So now my car is not only making a funny noise from the engine (which I think is just a fan belt), it's making bad noises from the wheels. I think it may be time to take the car to a professional mechanic and get it sorted. I'll see what dad says when he comes over this weekend.

Perth Trip

2005-05-22T21:59:00.000+08:00

We just got back from our trip up to Perth for the weekend. It was good to get out of town and back to our friends. On Saturday night we went out for dinner to Krayaharn Thai Restaraunt with Greg, David, Daniel and Yvette and Stacey's sister Shelley. On the way up to Perth on Friday night we ran into a little water on the road near Albany Hwy about 25km south of Arthur River. The water was accross the road in two places about 100m wide and up to about 30cm deep. My little Festiva only just got through the water (not helped by someone coming in the other direction creating waves) and we made the rest of the journey without a hitch. The hitch came this morning when we got in the car to go to the movies. We had been driving around to the shops all yesterday without any problems, but today there was a sound of scraping metal, it's pitch keeping in tune with the revs of the engine. So instead of going to the movies we decided to call Stacey's dad and ask him to take a look at it. It was a good thing we did, as one of the pullies that drive the belts was stuffed. Kevin took it out and managed to replace the bearing in it (Thank you so much, we really appreciate it). Kevin is great like that, he has a great assortment of goodies in his shed and will help out whenever he can. I'll have to make sure I make it up to him next time we are up in Perth. After Kevin fixed the car we had no problems on the way home. We took a different route home of course!

Kylie Concert Cancelled

2005-05-17T21:35:00.000+08:00

It's a shame, as Stacey and I were both looking forward to this. Fair enough, she has breast cancer and of course shouldn't be doing anything but fighting to get well and spending time with the people that she loves. Double bad for my sister and her husband, as they also had tickets to her show in Sydney, for which they had already purchased airplane tickets for. So I guess that they will be going to Sydney anyway, and speding their time a little differently. The promoter is saying to hold on to your tickets, as there should be new dates announced "at some point in the future". I think this translates into "Please don't ask for your money back, as we don't have the cash to do that for everyone". Anyway, I'm sure everyone wishes Kylie all the best and hopes she beats this thing quickly and completely.

Wild Weather

2005-05-16T18:38:00.000+08:00

There was some wild weather that came through the state today. I drove across to Kojonup today to deliver a fridge, and the rain just got worse the closer I got. When I arrived at the house the rain wasn't too bad, but just as I was about to lower the hydrolic lift the rain started to absolutely piss down. I used the fridge as a bit of a shelter and waited for the rain to ease. On the way back to Katanning the highway was blocked by four trees across the road. There was a car in front of me on their way to Katanning who knew a way around through the back dirt roads. So I followed them back to town. The ute was nice and dirty when I got back to the store. It's a shame that the boss only washed the ute yesterday. Stacey said that the school was flooded again today. That's three times in the last two months. There has been a lot of water around this year. Anyway, being called for dinner. I better go before it gets cold.

The longest time

2005-05-15T14:29:00.000+08:00

Stacey and I have been together for over 6 years and 2 months now, which makes the relationship the longest I have ever done anything. It beats out the 6 years and 2 months I worked at Coles, the 5 years I spent at the one high school, 5 years at uni. Not that 6 years is very long, as we plan on spending the rest of our lives together.

Weekend in Perth

2005-05-14T07:54:00.000+08:00

I have next weekend off work, so we have decided to take a trip to Perth to catch up with a few people. I'm thinking about the idea of dinner out somewhere with as many of our friends as possible. If anyone knows of a good place to eat (that we all haven't been to 100 times) then let me know so we can organise something.

Testing out Flickr

2005-05-11T23:28:00.000+08:00

This is a test of the auto posting facility of Flickr. One day I may
even be able to do this from my phone.

I love my XBox

2005-05-11T20:52:00.000+08:00

Ever since I got my XBox modded I've hardly watched 'normal' TV. I have installed XBMC on it, allowing me to watch all the shows and movies that I have downloaded off the internet on the TV in my lounge room. All I do is turn on the Xbox and go sit on the couch with the remote and navigate through the menus to find the show that I want to watch, and press play. I might mention that the machine is hooked up to my network through a wireless access bridge, so I didn't have to lay any cables or crawl through any roof space. Not only can I watch videos from the large hard drive in my main computer in the study, but I can also listen to music and podcasts, play a slideshow of my photos and even check the weather on my TV.

It's in

2005-05-10T19:31:00.000+08:00

Ok, so after the last post I decided that it was time I got off my arse and just put the drive in. Not too long later I have a clean 80GB partition ready to be filled with media. I'll probably put all my music, photos, videos and podcasts on this drive. The other thing I am contemplating doing is reinstalling Windows, but I think that can wait for another night.

Finding the time

2005-05-10T17:55:00.000+08:00

At some point in the near future I need to clean up my computer. It is getting really full and I am constantly in search of somewhere to save a download. I have an 80GB hard drive sitting around, but I don't have the room to put it into my machine yet. I'm thinking about removing my DVD drive (I have that and a DVD Burner) and using that connection for the bigger hard drive. Lately I have been downloading about 50% of my total disk capacity every month from the internet. Mostly TV shows from the US which don't air in Australia for another 3-6 months. Since I started working away from home full time again, I find that I have hardly any time for anything. By the time I get home it is dark, and dinner usually needs to get started. Then if I actually want to watch anything that I have downloaded, I'll sit down for an hour or two. Before you know it, it's late and time for bed. I used to have so much more time to do the things that interest me, but these days I struggle to get to everything. I guess it goes with the territory of growing older and having more responsibilities.

2005-05-09T23:16:00.000+08:00

Omogod look at that hair

2005-05-09T20:40:00.000+08:00

The birthday boy, all partied out.

Happy Birthday to Greg

2005-05-09T20:38:00.000+08:00

24 Today! Happy Birthday and best wishes mate.

Grandpa's here

2005-05-04T20:44:00.000+08:00

My grandpa is here for the week. He just bought a computer from my work, and is spending the week learning how to use it. It's the first time he has visited Katanning. Last weekend I went over to see Dad. I took him my spare VOIP ATA and set him up with the same provider as me, so now we can call each other for free using normal telephones. He also get the added advantage of being able to call Perth for the cost of a local call.

More Wedding Photos

2005-04-23T07:30:00.000+08:00

Mum has put up some more photos of Mel's wedding. Here's the link

2005-04-20T17:54:00.000+08:00

Their first dance as man and wife