It comes as no surprise to me that we're seeing a lot of news reports lately regarding lost or stolen government laptops and removable media containing personal information. In the last week alone we've seen records of 600,00 people have been lost by the Royal Navy, as well as the loss of 4000 … read more

I forgot to mention, in follow up to my I'm on the Schmap Brisbane Short-list post, it's been confirmed that my photo has been included. The page is here - [www.schmap.com/brisbane/...](http://www.schmap.com/brisbane/tours_tour1/#p=131021&i=131021_4.jpg) read more

The worst of the weather seems to behind us so it was business as usual this weekend. A lot of time was spent in the pool. We had a BBQ Saturday night with the neighbours, and I managed to get a gym session in on Saturday and a game of golf on Sunday morning. The golf was hard work to say the least. … read more

Yes I got burnt - again! But I'm not the only one, Daryl has too. He didn't even realise at first he's getting redder as the evening progresses, we're glowing like little berries. There's only Lauren who isn't red - she's a gorgeous colour (with a permanent white bikini on) It's a good job we look … read more

It finally stopped raining long enough this weekend for us to get some sun and take a dip in the pool. In fact Rach even got sunburnt. Again. Will she ever learn? The whole xmas and new year period has been a complete wash-out. Brisbane has succumbed to the effects of the El Niño phenomenon, which … read more

I'm the unlucky one! Living here it was bound to happen sooner or later and it happened to me - what a surprise! I've been bitten by, I think, a grey house spider (looked it up on the University spider finding website - very helpful) this is what it said; "bites by Achaeaeanea species in Australia … read more

Here's a run down of some books that I've recently read: The Spin Doctor's Diary: Inside Number 10 with New Labour by Lance Price This book has been sitting on my to-read shelf for a while as it has been out since 2005. The main insight I got from this book was the extent to which Tony Blair, in his … read more

Last weekend I finished watching the final series of The West Wing, and sad as it may sound, there’s now a big hole in my life. I only discovered The West Wing last year after someone recommended it to me. I never caught it when it was shown on TV so I went back to the beginning and bought the … read more

Following up from my last post, when Mike mentioned he was taking me to a nice steak restaurant in Sydney I expected a 'Sizzler' or something like that. Instead, we went to the Prime restaurant in theGPO Sydney building where they have a steak on the menu for $155. I thought I new about steak until … read more

I'm currently in Sydney for a couple of days meeting with a client - my first business trip of what I'm told will be many for my new employer. I flew up yesterday afternoon with a colleague who I'm taking over from on this particular client project as he's leaving next week. We're staying in the … read more

A quick run down of what we got up to last weekend: On Friday Rach took the day off and went to Australia Zoo with Steph and the kids. I managed to get out of it and stayed at home. When they got back Rach, Steph and Julie from next door went for a night out in the city, returning about 2am - the … read more

Last Thursday, Rachelle picked me up straight from work and we drove 2 hours north to Noosa on the northern end of the Sunshine Coast. I had booked an apartment for us at the Noosa Tropicana. Noosa is beautiful, and includes beautiful white sand beaches; a large national park complete with … read more

Out of the blue I received an e-mail today to tell me that one of my photo's on flickr has been short-listed to be included in the fourth edition of the Schmap Brisbane Guide. I finally get round to buying a decent DSLR camera and the photo that they've chosen was taken with my Sony Ericsson K800i … read more

I'm babysitting tonight as Rach and Steph have gone to Rachelle's xmas work do. It's a good job Steph is here otherwise I would have had to go to it. I can't quite get into the xmas spirit on a Monday night near the beginning of November, especially after a long first day in a new job! I guess … read more

Today was my first day in a new job - what will hopefully be my last working for someone else. The role and work I've been given is much more like what I'm familiar with - security compliance. The first project I've been given is to help a client - a subsidiary of a well-known Japanese car … read more

Steph and Lucy's first weekend in Oz wasn't the best. We've had glorious weather for weeks now but since they've arrived it has been miserable. We did take them to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast on Saturday and braved the beach for a short while, but the wind was that strong we were getting … read more

Over the last few days I keep hearing people talk about Movember. It seems to be a big thing over here. Curious to find out what the hell people were going on about I looked it up. Movember is a charity event held each November where men (and I'm sure a few women could qualify for this as well) … read more

I've just picked Stef and Lucy up from the airport. Unfortunately, after weeks of glorious weather here we've now got heavy cloud cover and constant rain (the fine rain that wets you through as Peter Kay would say), and it's set to be like this right through until Monday. Bloody poms bringing the … read more

Today is Melbourne Cup day in Australia. Billed as 'the race that stops a nation', the Melbourne Cup is the biggest even on the horse racing calendar in Australia and seems to be a pretty big deal judging by the fact that people have been going on about it for weeks now. Apparently, aussies are more … read more

It's been a little while since I last posted but after the phone call I had today I felt the need to share. I spoke to Craig (one of my technicians from Harvey Norman) I actually called him for some advice (I've dropped black eyeliner on my cream bedroom carpet but that's another story) He said he … read more