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Well, Spring has certainly sprung with a bang at our place. We got out of bed at 5 am to catch a plane to Brisbane to visit Margie, a former Boeing colleague of Julie, & her husband Philip, who is on a short term assignment here from Seattle. The first thing he & I noticed was that when the girls were talking, they weren't walking. Huh, and we though women were good at multi-tasking. They are staying in a 7th floor apartment on Coronation Drive, overlooking the Brisbane River - stunning view of the river & of the city skyline. The river also provides an excellent means of transport in the form of City Cat ferries, & we caught one via a short stop at South Bank, down river to New Farm, where we walked up to a genuine American BBQ restaurant. Two hours (& numerous beers) later, we staggered back to the ferry & went into the city, where we patronised a Ten Pin Bowling alley (with a bar) for a game. After that, it was "stuff the ferry, we're taking a taxi" back to the apartment, in time to chill out for a while before the River Fire fireworks started. Just an absolutely awesome day. Sunday saw us heading for a look at the Gold Coast & then back to Brisbane to call in on a lady who has been making "danglies" for Julie to give to each of the women working at Allen Consulting. Then it was back to the apartment for a very brief change & a short walk to the Regatta Hotel, where Philip had found the "best steaks outside of Texas". I must admit, I agree. The toughest part of the weekend was getting up at 4:30 am to fly back to Canberra & get to work. Can't say much for our productivity though. Then coming up this weekend is the Heart to Heart Ball, in aid of the local Organ Donor Coordinators. Remember - all this is after driving to Melbourne the previous weekend for the wedding. We're going to work for a rest! Hmm, that Ball was about 3 weeks ago, & it has been pointed out to me that I've been a bit slack on keeping up with the news. OK, we've had lots of very colourful birds in the back yard, plus several bird fights over the food in the feeder, we've opted to back off on the amount of food we're putting out there, so that we are supplementing & not replacing their supply, & we've started practising for the MOST, (Motorcycle Operator Skills Test), which involves weaving around cones, doing a u-turn, an emergency stop & an obstacle avoidance manoeuvre. I now have some small nails hammered into the driveway of the units to mark where the half tennis balls are placed for the weave. I have discovered that I can u-turn the bike in 4.5 metres, so I should nail the test which allows 5.5 metres. We've also had some tutoring (thanks, Pete), so we're both feeling much more confident, for passing the test & for riding in general. I've decided to get my bike back from the shop, but I'm still under strict orders not to ride alone, i.e. commuting to work. Meanwhile, the webcams had undergone a re-shuffle, as several of the new ones died, each with a different problem. Must admit though, the Hong Kong supplier has cheerfully replaced all of them. However, I've also discovered that most of the new ones have a very short focus range, which makes them unsuitable for the views outside. Hmm, still want to put one in the kitchen window looking straight into the crab-apple tree, which is currently a mass of flowers & bees.
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