MWNews 183

 

It's a crimpit. Old reference that I adapted to Ausieland. Just ignore it.

Yes, I am back the next day. Not a lot of time but enough that I can waste it doing this instead of finishing the work I started. I leave in an hour and I have a computer updating but they took over the room where I was doing it and I can't get back in there. So, I am doing this. Why is it I can do this at work but not at home. Most of the issue is I cannot get to the computer for any length of time. When I do get on it, they take over my TV and then I have nothing to do once I finish so I stay locked onto the TV. A selfish act but one I can live with.

Today, I have two jobs to do. One here and another where I have to decommission a bank. Probably sounds more than it is. All I do is take all the old equipment and pack it for shipment, then install the new equipment in it's place. Normally, it is at a different location but this one is all in the same place. They want me to pack the old equipment and then leave it there for a week. The next week, I come back and re-install it or install new equipment in the same place. Not sure why but it's a job and it pays almost nothing, so it's perfect for me.

On another note, about me of course, I have been offered a new job close to my house. Don't know the details yet but they said I was the only candidate and they would interview me and formalize it on Monday. We will see how it goes. Probably just blowing smoke at me but if it is reasonable for reasonable money, I might just take it. It is full time, permanent work and I do not know how long it is supposed to last but it is close to home and is not too much of a burden so I might decide to go back to work fulltime if I like it and they like me. I have no idea what it is doing though but they say it fits my skillset. I don't really care as long as the money is right. Don't want to go back to full time for pennies so it has to be reasonable.

Let's get back to the kids.

William has decided he is not going back to school for the next term. This one ends in about a month and he says he will get a job before then and drop out of school. Since most jobs here do not really require finishing high school, or all the way to grade 12, it is not an unreasonable decision. I don't like it and I think it will hurt him for the rest of his life but going for another year to school is not going to do anything for him, so if he can find a decent job, I suppose I have to support him. I would like to see him finish out the term as he gets his white card at the end of it and that allows him to work in any construction capacity anywhere is Australia. It lasts forever and he can get it for free from the school. It costs money if he does it on his own. I have one and it is really just a card that says you have gone through all the safety training about what to wear and how to handle certain situations but it is good to have. Since he can get it for free, I am trying to get him to stay until the end but he already fights going everyday so I don't know how much longer I can keep convincing him to go. 

Maeghan is looking into what she does next. There are a lot of things she has to overcome, being in a wheelchair most of the time is the major one. She does not need to be in it all the time and I think she needs to start walking and moving on her own now so she doesn't have to start once she gets a job somewhere. It will be really hard starting a job and not being able to walk around for very long. If she can get used to it now, she will have an advantage in the future, or so I think. She doesn't really see it that way, or she does not admit to seeing it that way, so she uses the wheelchair as an excuse right now but I know that will not last in most jobs. Again, we will have to see. She gets money now, not enough to live on, but some she can set aside for the future. She used to be really really good at it but now, not so much. I am hoping to get her back into it and she has started saving money for her courses she wants to take but they are going to get more and more expensive and she needs to be saving a whole lot more.

We have the problem of rising costs and no a rising income. My work will soon be the only thing we have. We will lose the money the government gives us to raise the kids, both William and Maeghan and as I get more and more tired of having people living with us, we will lose the rent money they give us if I start saying things out loud. I need to be more reasonable about it and get used to the idea, but that is not going to happen in one of the cases and the other wants to live on her own as soon as she can get out of here. It's her dog that keeps her from getting her own place now as it is a big dog and no real estate is going to take that on if she has no one to watch it while she works. I am not going to keep doing it so they keeps her here for the moment but as soon as her boyfriend comes back from wherever he went, I think she might be leaving.

At that point, we will not be able to afford the place we are living. The lease is up soon and I expect the rent to go up by at least $50 a week and I suspect it might go up by more. Plus, we are not supposed to be having borders or large animals living with us so they might not even offer us a new lease. It keeps me up at night. Especially since I keep reading about all the people who are becoming homeless because they cannot afford the new rents and there are a thousand applicants for every vacancy. I keep reading that the government needs to do something about it but I do not see that happening anytime soon and even if it does, we are old and not a priority so I am not sure how much it will apply to us. They expect people my age to already own a house and we do not. And, we will never be able to get into a mortgage as we are old and no bank will give us a discount rate for first time buyers. So I worry about that all the time. Not good for my heart.

We need to downsize and get a smaller home, if we can get one, but with all the people living with us, that is not possible. I just hope all my worrying is just that, something to worry about that will not happen. But I don't see this ending in a good way.

It is getting late and I need to start packing up to go. Spent this whole entry doing nothing but pointing but problems and I always say I need to stop doing that. No one will ever read it if I keep it up. I know there are good things to talk about but once I start typing, it just never comes out and I forget what they are. I will have good news next time, even if I have to fake it. Maybe I will start making things up or maybe I will just type the same things over and over again. I can do that because it is always new to me. I forget a lot. I do have a cardiologist appointment this week. One I have cancelled twice already because of work. I am saying I am going to this one no matter what but I am already getting pressure to do work instead. Holding them off for the moment but don't know how long that will last. There is more things I want to talk about in the medical profession or situation but that would lead to more complaining and I need to get out of here. So it will have to wait. Let's just say the medical situation in Australia is becoming uncomfortable and might lead to double or tripling of our medical costs. Since we pay mostly nothing now, it will be a real shock when it happens. I got a glimpse of it the other day when I had to forgo my regular doctor because he no longer bulk billed and go to a different doctor. $100 to give me a new prescription. No examination, no questions. I just told him I needed a new script for some medicines and he gave it to me and charged me $100. Not a good sign. But that will be later.

For now, until next time,

Later

MWNews 182

 

Let's do it again. It's Thursday, so we might get a Friday entry also. I am at the nursing home for no particular reason but I have to come back tomorrow as well so if I have nothing else to do, I will do this again. How lucky we all are.

Had to come in today for an 'emergency'. When I got here, no one had any idea why I was here. Turns out, the robot is not working in some areas and they want me to fix it. The other robot works but one of them dies when it gets close to its docking station. No one knows why and they want me to figure it out. Right now, I am supposed to be checking the AP units in the roof to see if they are working but since the other robot works everywhere, how can it be the AP units. They both use the same ones. But I have been going around and rebooting them as I find them. About 20 in each area and there are 5 areas. And now they just called me and asked how it is going, so I have to go and check if I can find any more with problems. So maybe this entry will be carried on until tomorrow.

Ok, back for a bit but probably have to leave again.

This are festival we went to for Maeghan. I wouldn't say it was good but it was interesting. Basically, it was a bunch of sculptures and exhibits placed around the botanic gardens. Kind of a weird setup as it was at night, so they were all light shows or they were lit up in some way or another. There were a couple of food trucks around but they all had long lines or were not serving anyone. I think the burger place ran out of gas at some point as I stood in line for a few minutes but then heard it would be a thirty minute wait so I left. When I came back, there was no one in line and they were not serving. A bit after that, I saw someone bringing in gas bottles and headed that way. Sometime after that, they were serving again and the wait was 45 minutes. So I didn't wait.

The reason I was wanting something to eat was that I had just come from this job and did not have time to eat anything. Juanita, William and Maeghan had all eaten before they go there so I was the only one. Plus, I had walked from the train station to the gardens and that took about an hour. They all took the bus from the train station but since I had no idea what bus to take and did not feel like trying to find out, I walked. I had walked almost the same walk for a job I did so I didn't see it as a problem. It became a problem when I got off at the wrong station because I thought it would be closer to go that it way. It wasn't. By the time I got there, I was tired and hungry but didn't get to eat until after we left, which was two hours later.

After trying the burger place, we decided to start seeing the exhibits. There was a map that had the path you were supposed to take to see them all. There was also a bar area and some type of active exhibit across from it. It appeared people were painting there but that will some into this story later.

The first exhibit was a bit strange. We walked down a path looking for it and came across a cargo net hung from the trees above us that was lit up. Maeghan said that was the exhibit but I was not sure. She did point out that it was lit up so it must be the exhibit. As we finally decided to walk past it to the next one, we came across a sign that said this was in fact the exhibit. So we walked back to it and tried to find what we were missing. It was a cargo net hung from the trees and poles and was lit up. Guess it was art. We moved on.

The second one was along the path next to the river. Juanita and I saw that we were on the other side of the river from where the mountain climbing wall was. Too much of a story to go into but there are cliffs along one part of the river and lots and lots of people go there to practice mountain climbing. About 50 meters tall so it is no small feet and when we had driven there once by mistake, there were a lot of people there waiting their turn to climb. I'd say about a thousand. Of course, it was night this time and it was across the river from us so we did not see any climbers. But it was a revelation to recognize this was where we were. 

Once we got to the exhibit, it turned out to be a light show being shown on this one tree. It was projected from a little cabinet they had setup and would show different things in the tree. It was interesting but not entertaining enough for me to watch the whole show. We went to find a bench to sit on while Maeghan and William watched the whole thing. It lasted about 5 minutes each show and repeated itself all the time so there was no gaps to know when it ended and when it started again. You just had to remember if you had seen the pictures again to know you had seen it all. The highlight was while we were sitting on the bench, a possum or some kind of animal came up to us. Probably expecting food but it walked to within a meter of us before moving on down the river bank. Turns out, we say a lot of them while we were there but it was interesting to see this one just come right up to us. 

I am not sure what the next exhibit was. It appeared to be some type of old photos and old films being shown in different boxes arranged along a wall. But while we were there, a couple stood right in front of it and filmed each section, so you could not see what was actually showing on any of the screens. I patiently waited for some time but they never moved. Just stood there with their phones filming it and blocking everyone's view. For a while, I thought maybe they were part of the exhibit but they had kids who kept running up to them and they would just wave them away so they had to be just rude people who didn't think about anyone else wanting to see anything. We were there for about 5 minutes before we decided to leave and move on.

The next one, you had the choice of going up the hill or down. There were supposed to be more food trucks uphill so we decided to go that way. Maeghan said that was the one exhibit she had heard the most about anyway so it was good we decided to go that way. Turned out, there were no food trucks up there and it was just the other entrance to the gardens. But, the exhibit was nice. They had put a bunch of cloth or paper on the trees and shown some kind of light over the whole area so it looked like the trees were glowing. Not sure what the material was but they were allowing people to make their own and it appeared to be some type of mesh or something. Maeghan got one but when it is away from the light, it is just a piece of mesh cloth. Nothing special about it. The area they had done up was nice though. Could have used a food truck or two but it was nice.

Down the hill, there were the remaining exhibits. A big tent like thing that had a whole bunch of cameras around the walls. The cameras were streaming to a little screen that was on a little mound in the tent. Interesting part was you never really knew which camera was on. It kept jumping from one to another and everyone in the tent kept trying to figure out which camera was on from what they were seeing on the screen. Just about the time you would figure it out, it would jump to the next one so you could never be sure you had found the right camera. To confuse it all, they would sometimes show several pictures on the screen at once and people would try to figure out all the cameras that were on. I would have liked to spend more time in there but there was a big crowd waiting to go in and Maeghan could not really see the little screen that was there so we left.

Across from the tent, there was a big cabinet that had some kind of moving 3D images in it. Not sure how they were doing it but it would appear there were actual dolls in it and they were projecting other things into the cabinet so it looked like they are moving. But I am not really recalling what was going on in that one. It did seem interesting but I was tired and hungry by that point and I just went to find a place to sit down.

The last exhibit was a string of something high up in the trees. I think it was a rope ladder or something but like the first cargo net one, we were not sure what it was supposed to be. A rope ladder in the trees. I probably missed some part of it but as I said, I was tired and wanted to go sit down so I just walked past it.

When we go back to the beginning, Maeghan went to see what the people painting were doing. Turns out, it was a contest between two artists to paint a giant painting in a short amount of time. They were doing it side by side and I am not sure how long they had but it had been going for a couple of hours when we got there and they were just taking a break until the last hour was to begin.

I wanted to go but Maeghan wanted to stay. So we stayed. We waited through the break, and then the extra hour of painting and then through the reward ceremony for who did the best painting. All up, about two hours. Maeghan watched the whole thing. Juanita and I and sometimes William as he wandered back and forth between us and Maeghan, went and sat near the water. The benches there were really really hard so I couldn't sit for any length of time. I decided to get William a dessert of a Belgian Waffle or whatever it was. It had chocolate and candy bars on it and some ice cream. He split it with Juanita. I didn't have any. Eventually, I went to find a more comfortable seat and found a picnic table I could sit at and lean on the table for some rest. While I was there, a young lady and her small child sat with me and discussed the merits of the big thing of waffles and ice cream and strawberries and all kinds of other stuff on it. Juanita came over then and talked to them. I am not sure what they talked about but I know at some point or another they mentioned me. Not sure what was said.

I don't know which painting won but they all knew each other, the announcer, the artist and the judges so they spent some time congratulating each other before they gave the winner a voucher for the bar that was next door. They gave the runner up something too but we did not see what it was. They said they do it every night of the festival and it runs for four days, this was day two, so they told everyone to come back and watch again the next night. We didn't.

Maeghan had a good time. She was disappointed I didn't but I was tired and too hungry to actually dance around and entertain everyone. Not sure how Juanita and William felt about it but she tells us we are going again next year so start planning for it. I am sure that is what we will do.

Maeghan's class ends soon. Her art class. It was only a six month course. She starts back on her child studies sometime but I am not sure when. She says she has all the information and is not behind in registering for it but I am not so sure. I don't want her to miss out again. The last I heard, she was going to switch to Caboolture for the next class but I have not heard if that is true or not.

William is making plans for getting a job and moving out with his friends. Not sure how serious that is but he had me fix his resume the other day. There is nothing on his resume but he wanted it ready to hand out. There is a Brisbane Council work program we just got from the school. We will get him signed up for that this weekend.

My computer just flashed up a message that the battery is low and then shut itself down. I have plugged it in but that was very little warning before it shutdown. You would think it would tell me before it did that.

It does mean I am tired of typing and I want to go home. Didn't finish all the things they wanted me to do but I was not supposed to be here today anyway. I told them I would get to them tomorrow. They seemed happy with that.

So I guess I will be signing off now. It has gotten very quiet in the reception area. I am getting afraid there is something going on but I am packing up and leaving so it doesn't concern me. I will just sign off and go. Maybe another entry tomorrow.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 181

It would seem there are a number of entries that I have not made in the last week. This will be another one. 

I put this picture in here and then I thought it wasn't anyone we knew. After blowing it up and an extensive forensic exam, I have come to the conclusion it is aliens. Not a good picture of them, but it was the only one that did not have a fence in the way.

This was of course, the ride I mentioned in an earlier entry that Maeghan and William did at Dreamworld. These things will spin around in a big circle, putting you upside down for a while. They did not ride the thrill seekers version so they did not go upside down. But I described it before and I am not one to repeat myself so you will have to go back and read it again. Or, wait a few entries and I will probably describe it once more as I do not recall anything that happened more than a week ago. It is always new to me but I get enjoyment out of seeing it for the first time on many different occasions. Call it a hobby.

And I just hit a key combination that completely changed the format of this thing. Don't know what I did or how it happened but I didn't like it so I backspaced until it went away. Now I am disoriented and a little bit tipsy, so from this point on, I cannot be held responsible for anything that I might write. I blame Maeghan. Not because it is her fault but we always get a kick out of blaming everything on Maeghan. Or I do. Not sure she is so keen on it. But now it is traditional and there for generations to enjoy.

I think we are going to some art festival tonight. I have no idea what or why but Maeghan tells us there is something going on in the botanic gardens tonight and she wanted to go. Saving the trouble of me riding the train all the way home and then coming back into town to pick her up, we decided to go with her. Juanita was not going to go so she could have picked her up but now that I am going to, Juanita wants to go so she is going to take the train into town and meet us there. I have to take the train from my work to meet them there and Maeghan will be in town at school so she will already be there. I have no idea where the botanical gardens are or what it is we are going to see but it takes place at night and it is supposed to be near the parliament house where I have done some work in the past, so other than the walk all the way across town to get to it from the train station it shouldn't be that difficult to find.

Maeghan says there is a light show that goes along with it. I have never heard of it so I have no idea. I am hoping it is not raining. It has rained for about three weeks now but has been clear for the last couple of days. Probably due for another downpour right about the time we get there. Maybe they will call it off or something. Still probably have to walk there in the rain to find that out but at least we will know where the garden is for future visits.

I don't know if William is going. He went to school, reluctantly, so I do not know when he will get back or if he wants to go. Maybe he will, probably won't. You never know and I am sure he is upset that we made him go to school so he probably will not come with us. Which means he misses out of eating in town again and the glorious train ride back home on a Friday night with all the crazies. On another note, I have my back to the window but I can hear the rain starting. Afraid to turn around and see how heavy it is but if I can hear it, it must be a lot. I don't have an umbrella to walk back to the train station and I will have to do that in a couple of hours so I hope it stops by then.

It's pouring rain. Not going to be a pleasant walk. To top it off, my phone will probably be flat by then and I did not bring my charger, so that will be another unpleasantness. I left my one I keep in my bag at another site a few weeks ago so now I have to remember to take my one from home each time I go out to make sure I can charge it while I am away. I forgot this morning. Along with my bottle of water so I am really not having things go to plan. I went to make a cup of coffee and found out the hot water maker is not working here. So I had to make it with hot water out of the tap. Sure, the water will burn you but it is not hot enough to make coffee. I drank it anyway. The cafe is closed today for some reason. I have no idea why. We still are in lockdown but we were in lockdown last week and they were open so that can't be it. Unless we are in lockdown because the staff over there has the Covid. Always a possibility.

Speaking of work, don't argue I hear you talking about work and wondering what was going on, I was hit with a dozen problems when I walked in the door. Seems they did an update of everyone to Office 365 but some of the people who have laptops did not get the update. So nothing was working until I could manually update them. It was put to me that no one was working and I needed to go to each desk and update the computers. Turns out, only a few people were not working and the help desk was already fixing most of them, so there was nothing for me to do. There is one computer that appears to have some problems but I am working on that one as we speak and if I play my cards right, I will be able to waste enough time that I do not have to fix it before I go. Probably have to stop typing in a few minutes and go check on it so if I sound like I am getting farther away, that's probably it.

More rain, harder and more of it. I am not looking forward to this. It seems to be getting darker outside. Not a good sign. Maybe it is a temporary thing.

I had to go and work. I hate this place. Nothing works and they expect me to fix it. If they did it right, then it would be fixed but no one can tell me what they want so when I do fix it, I have to tell them a whole new way of doing things and then the actual people who are supposed to be doing this change it all so when I come back, it isn't working anymore. Life of a contractor I guess.

Anyway, it means I have no more time to type because I have to walk in the rain to get to the train so I can walk in the rain some more to go to this art thing with Maeghan. It's not a good time. Plus, the boss here just brought me a new computer and asked if I can set it up before I leave. 3:47 and he knows I leave at 4:00. How is that possible? I am out of here and leaving this computer just sitting here with a note on it that says, please David, can you do this one before you go. I wrote no on it and am going to sneak out.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 180

Welcome to the wild world of wet. It's been raining here for over two weeks. No real flooding reported but most of the creeks and culverts are overflowing around here. All the usual suspects. I am told the shopping center parking is closed again. I have not been there but that is the report they sent out. I know the creek behind the shopping center is flooded and it only takes a little to reach the parking garage, so I believe them.

It rains off and on but there are not a lot of times when it is not raining. Sometimes, very very hard. I took Anna to the train station the other day and when I went past one of the flooded creeks, the walkway down near the creek was almost under water. When I came back, you could only see the handrails. It was completely under water. And it happened in only about 10 minutes, the water rose about 4 feet in that time. It doesn't reach the road but the creek is the same creek that goes back around to the shopping center and that whole field was flooded. There is a skate park there and you could not see any of that either.

Where we are, there is a creek but it never seems to flood that much. It gets pretty high and we are about 20 metres from it but it is very deep and it has never gotten close to overflowing. You would think it would but at that point, it comes to about 5 feet below the bridge, which is about 5 feet lower than we are. Hard to describe but it is downhill to the creek and if it were the overflow there, it would block us in but it would be a real flood if it were to ever reach our house. Probably about 20 metres deep if that happened. So we don't worry. Although, our front yard floods all the time but that is because it is rimmed by concrete and there is only one little escape for the water, until it gets so full it overflows the concrete. Probably only about 3 or 4 inches deep and slightly sloped so only half of it floods.

On other notes, Juanita came back last night.

I have been away from my desk for a couple of hours so I am not sure where I was. Let me try to catchup.

Juanita came back. She was supposed to be in around 10:00 last night but her flight was delayed in Hobart for two hours. So she didn't get here until around 1:00 am. We didn't get home until after 2:00 am. I had to come to work at 8:30 this morning so I didn't get much sleep. I woke up at 7:00 and it takes an hour and a half to get here so I was late. But, with the crap I have walked into here, I am glad I was late and now I am hoping to leave early, in about an hour or so. It is just really messed up here and I have no idea where to begin to fix it, plus they have their IT support working on things so I don't know where they are or what they are doing so I just am waiting on someone to tell me what to do. 

And, to top it all off, they are in lockdown here. Or half the buildings are in lockdown and you have to go around all the buildings that have Covid and come in from the outside instead of walking through the buildings to get to where you want to go. So I am doing nothing until someone tells me where to go and what to do. I have worked on several problems here locally, fixing printers, adding users, general make work, but none of the big issues are being addressed by me. I am leaving it up to them to figure out when and where they need me. Probably get me fired from this job but I am tired of not knowing what they want, what they have changed and what they want me to do about it when it doesn't work. I don't know how it worked in the first place and I certainly do not know what changed and how that would affect the work they do. Plus, with Covid everywhere, they are severely short staff, so no one has the time to sit around and explain to me what the actual problems are.

So, I think you get the picture and I hope you enjoyed that rant. I have a lot more to say about it but it is too frustrating to continue.

The kids have been out of school the last two days. Mainly, they are blaming the rain but it has not closed any of the schools or the roads to the schools so that is not a good excuse. Since we were out so late last night, they did not go today even though I had to go to work. I hope they are learning something from the example I am trying to set. I want them to see that you have to go to work to support your family no matter what. You do not get to take the day off and you do not get to sit at home and do nothing and expect things to get taken care of. I know they have really bad examples at home of what they should not be doing but I am trying to give them the real example of what it means to be an adult and not everyone gets to sit around and let others take care of it. You do it because it has to be done and no one owes you anything. It is up to you to make what you can and do what you have to do.

But again, another rant that means nothing. I just want William to see what I think it means to be a man and to have a family that needs to be taken care of. You do what you have to do and you do not look to others to do it for you. I hope he gets it. I do not say anything but I hope he sees it and realises what it is I do.

Maeghan, on the other hand, can look for someone else to do it for her. I hope she learns to do everything herself and I know she is trying but there are a lot of things she takes for granted and it should be up to her to take care of it. I don't think she is getting it but Maeghan is the smart one, of the family I don't just mean of her an William. She should be able to figure it out and do what needs to be done. Having a handicap makes it hard but she is trying and I feel confident she will figure it out once she has to figure it out. Hopefully, before I have my health become a really big burden for the family. I am hoping for another ten years so they will truly be adults by then and have their own lives and their own priorities and hopes and plans. I just want to know they can take care of themselves before I can no longer do it for them.

Maeghan tells me she is going to have a show at school, or her class is. They will be showing all the artwork they have been doing. I am not sure if it is a public showing or just for the school or what it is but it will be in a couple of weeks and we are looking forward to seeing it when it happens. I am still not sure what the class she is taking is for. It would seem they are just learning how to do different art forms like painting and sculpture and other things. I don't see where it leads, though. Maeghan can already draw and she can paint if she wants to so what is it they are trying to teach her. I don't know. Maybe it leads to something but I am not so sure.

William has started doing his athletics course. Not sure what that one is either, but he has been doing construction type things on Wednesdays and the athletics thing is also on Wednesdays. I don't know if he knew he was supposed to go to both but now they have him doing athletics in the morning and construction in the afternoon. I don't know what they lead to either. I know the construction work is supposed to give him a certificate II or III and that will help with getting a job, although he will have no practical experience when it ends so I am not sure if anyone will hire someone fresh out of the classroom. Maybe it will. I really hope so.

The athletics things I thought was supposed to teach them how to teach and be PE instructors or something but all I ever here him say they do is work out at a local gym. I do not know what they were doing at the beginning when he wasn't going but now, they take them to the gym on the bus and they workout for a couple of hours and then they come back. Or, at least, that is what he tells us they do. He likes it but I don't see the point. Shouldn't there be some kind of instruction involved or something. I know for the construction stuff, he is doing what he calls paperwork right now in that he is filling in forms and stuff and learning the terminology for things but there does not seem to be that kind of stuff in the other class. It is all very strange to me.

Since I have been working almost all full time for the past two months, there might be a lot going on that I am not aware of but I don't think so. I know Juanita says anything that has to do with paperwork or instructions or something, I have to take care of it. Since I do not see any or do not have the time, I don't know what I might be missing or what I might not have done. Eventually, maybe I will catch up.

I do start another six week job next week that is substituting for someone on a helpdesk. In fact, I just got the phone call explaining what is involved in the job. Pretty much the same thing I do here, in that I walk around and see what the problems are and try to fix them. Six weeks, two days a week. Maybe a bit more if needed but it will be up to me apparently. It sounds easy enough but we will see when I get there.

I also have these Bendigo jobs that I keep getting asked to do. Each is short and easy but I have to find a way to work them into my schedule and the users schedule and since the users are usually impossible to get a hold of, they linger out there waiting for me to do them for weeks at a time. Not a good way to do business but now that I will have permanent work three days a week for a while, it makes it even harder to get to them. 

Now that I have gone on again with no real content, I need to start thinking of ways to make things funny again. I sometimes go back and re-read some of my old entries and I used to be funny. It seems that part of this have left me and all I ever do anymore is complain and be grumpy. I think I might be old. Seems like it sometimes. Then I just think of all the things I can no longer do and that makes it better. Or was it worse. I get confused and can't tell the difference anymore.

I suppose I should be going home now to see Juanita. Only saw her for a few minutes last night and not at all this morning as they were all sleeping when I left. Maybe they will be happy when I get home and I do not have to carry that burden of making it fun for everyone this weekend. It's a big job but someone has to do it. They are not happy on their own that is for sure. Maybe we will go somewhere this weekend, if the rain ends and I find some money somewhere. I'd like to just go on a picnic or something. Don't really care about the beach but if we go to one that has a nature area behind the beach where I can sit and cook or relax, then the beach is where it is. Not sure if we will make that or not. Maybe a couple of sandwiches and some drinks and chips. Don't spend any money except for a coffee at a café. Sounds pretty good right now but I will probably be too tired and there is way too much to do at home, like mow the grass, weed the garden, wash the clothes, clean up the dog poop in the yard. If it is sunny, they that is what I will have to do but if it looks like rain but does not actually rain, maybe we can go out. It is beginning to look like a plan. 

But it all starts with me getting out of here. I am hoping to sneak out soon. Get away before they capture me in here with their non-solvable problems. It might be a good time for me to make my escape. 

So, until next time

Later

MWNews 179

Been away for a while. Just working and no time to do anything else. I've been doing this Shine Lawyers job. Rolling out some new computers with new software. Extremely well organized but their process was flawed so the organization didn't help that much. Taking two hours to build a new computer is not really a good option. But that is some technical information and not really appropriate for this blog.

This entry is kind of weird as it is not doing what I expect. I think it might be because I selected two pictures to be in here but then deleted one of them and now it is typing in the middle of the screen and not like a normal entry. I will see what I can do about it but it appears that all lines will be centered in the middle and I don't really care so I probably won't fix it. We will see how it turns out in the final entry.

Never mind, I decided to fix it. Although, now a new line only gives me one line and not a paragraph gap. I'll live with it, and so will you.

Juanita is currently in Tasmania. She decided she had to go and we got some extra money from the government, it's election time and they promise all kinds of things in the campaign, so we used that to send her over there with no notice. An expensive proposition but she wanted to go now so she went. No idea why but I am sure I need to talk to her about it when she gets back. Should be next week, or that is when her return ticket is for. 

She doesn't have a car while she is there and she is staying with Karen, who also does not have a car currently. Karen's car broke down and they had to order the parts to fix it and getting parts from anywhere to Tasmania is always a challenge and especially so with the current shipping crisis. No idea when she will get the parts but they are saying a month or more and it has already been over a month so they are stranded at Karen's trailer and their only way to get anywhere is to take a bus. Plus, due to health reasons, they are both unable to walk any distances so taking the bus is a limited option if it does not take them close to where they want to go. All in all, not a good time to go and not a good plan for it but she said she had to go and I told her to take the money and go.

Speaking of the money, it is part of the governments plan to bribe everyone each election to vote for them. The ones in power have the advantage of being able to do it immediately while the opposition can only promise to do it if they get elected. It is a strange thing about politics here that I do not really understand. Not that it is hard to understand but people seem to expect it and if the current government does not give them enough, they vote for the other guys in the hopes that they will. Just strange, and I do not understand why everyone does not see it as a bribe. Of course, it is couched as a tax break or a refund or any number of other things but it is a bribe, plain and simple and everyone seems to be ok with that. Very strange way to run a government but what I am used to is probably not a whole lot better, just different I guess.

William is almost to the point where he is going to quit school. I heard him telling Juanita that he did not want to go anymore. Mainly because he says he has nothing to do when he is there. He says he has done all the assignments and just sits around and talks to his friends or does some other type of work like building something or making something in the shop. He brings things home all the time that he has made. I am not sure why or how this works in school. We did get a letter that said he has not done enough work to allow them to grade him on it but I later found out that everyone got the same letter and I think it is just to encourage the ones who do not want to be there to drop out. It's not that William does not want to be there, he enjoys it or he says he does, but grade 11 is not required here, nor is grade 12, and the school only wants people who are doing the highest level of academic work. William is probably average for his age but he has never been doing the highest level of work so they want to get rid of those people, or that is what I think is behind the letters. I haven't been able to get down there to talk to them directly so I am not sure what their plan is. The school has expanded and is still expanding where they will have double the number of students that they had last year and will probably double again next year. I think they have bitten off more than they can handle and are trying to limit the number of students on campus. They get more recognition and money if they graduate more students with academic honors instead of just someone who just gets by. This school has always been for the students that are too much trouble for other schools. It is good for William and I think he has flourished there. I don't think he could have handled a regular school where they require a higher level of study. But I think the school is trying to change to a more normal school and are going to start discouraging the ones who are too much trouble. I think William just got caught up in that and is not really a problem but if there is any doubt, they are trying to discourage others from going.

I have not talked to William about leaving school yet. He wants to find a job and says he will not leave until he has one but I also think that he is being influenced by Adam. He is spending a lot of time with him lately and they talk about problems at school, or I sometimes overhear them talking about it. I think Adam might be influencing this decision and will be another reason I do not want him there but there is good and bad about it and I will not go into the reasons. I do not want him there but need him there. Way too personal.

Maeghan is thinking about switching to the local TAFE. They teach the classes she wants but she has always wanted to go on her own so she goes to the one in the city. Now, the travel is starting to take its toll on her. It takes an hour for her to get there and then an hour back. If she wants to do anything while she is in town, she doesn't get back home until around 6 at night. In Queensland, 6 at night is almost dark for most of the year because they do not change time for daylight savings. So it starts to get dark around 5:30 and will only get earlier and earlier for the next couple of months. I tell her she cannot be riding her wheelchair at night along the roads. She insists she can stay on the sidewalk the whole way but there are a couple of places where she has to cross the road and I do not want her doing that at night. She bought herself some torches to put on her chair but I still do not like it. She is 19 and can do what she wants but I am not happy if she does that. She can get the bus but the last one is around 6 so she has to leave town early enough to get to it and even then, she has to ride home a couple of blocks from the bus stop. I just do not like thinking about it. 

If she decides to go locally, then that problem goes away but it limits her time being on her own and she really wants to be able to do that. Being limited by the wheelchair and public transportation it means she does not have a lot of time to start her own life, which is what she wants. Not that she wants to leave but she does have a point that she does not have a life outside of us. She does not know anyone and the only friends she has are in Tasmania. She does have a friend here but that friend does not live anywhere near us and she only sees her if they have classes together or at the same time and this semester, her friend is not going to school so she has not seen her in a while. She talks to her but its not the same as hanging together, 

Both of them should have gone to Tasmania with Juanita and see their only real friends. William still talks to his friend every day either in games or on the phone and Maeghan talks to her friends at least once a week and most of the time three or more times a week. They are not really happy here and that is a problem for all of us. This was the only place we had family to move to from Tasmania but all of them have now moved far away, so it is only us. We have Anna living with us but she is rarely there and not a whole lot of fun when she is. She does not talk to anyone and only talks to her friends on the phone or has one of her many boyfriends over to spend the night. And yes, the implication is all that that says. I will not say anything else about it.

On the good side?, Leslie does not appear to be living with us anymore. He has been with his mother for over a month now and I do not hear any plans for him to come back, although his stuff is still with us and I am sure we are a phone call away or him just showing up and he will be living with us again. We do not hear from Angie much. I have no idea what she is doing or where she is living, probably in her car, but she does not call us unless she wants money and then never answers any messages or phone calls from us. We sort of hear things from Anna but they don't seem to talk either so we do not know what is going on there. I think her boyfriend is still among the living and we would have heard if something had happened but I can't really be sure about that. He is or was very sick and cannot take care of himself anymore and I don't think Angie can take care of him so I would suspect he is in a home or something but there is no way for us to know since Angie never talks to us.

It has been very hard, moving to Brisbane. In hindsight, it was a big mistake, but I don't know if staying in Tasmania would have been any better. I think it would have but being that close to everything and all the reminders it would constantly have provided might have been too much to handle, so moving away seemed to be the best option at the time. But I think she moved away from the problem but the problem is still there and being all alone here is not making it better. I think that is the main reason for her current trip. I have a lot more thoughts on it but I can't go into them at this time.

Let's make this a little more positive, but it is probably too late for that. Too much despair and sadness and loneliness to try to make it all better but I'll give it a shot.

My work is slowing down. I don't have any jobs scheduled for next week so it will give me some time to spend with the kids while Juanita is not here and maybe give us more time when she gets back. I have been very busy for a couple of months and am exhausted when I get home so I usually just go straight to sleep when I get there. While we are going to miss the money, maybe I can make it up in time spent. Problem is, petrol has gone through the roof and we cannot afford to go for lengthy drives. I'll have to figure something out but I think if I make more of an effort, I can make it better. 

I found a new market we can go to. It is about an hour out of town but is a little country market that we can go visit. Plus, there is a lot of things we can do in town and maybe we can take the trains to and from some things. Juanita not being able to walk will limit us but I think if I can get everyone out of the house and spend more time together and doing things might make it better. We now know we can take the train to Dreamworld so that will be a few trips we can make. Only ten dollars each to get there and back so that is cheaper than driving. Dreamworld is kind of expensive to go to but we can see how it goes and see if we can do it regularly. 

I have tried to save some money from all the work I have had but I think I am going to have to spend it on a new car. Not that I have anywhere near enough to do that but we need another car, one that uses less petrol and one that I can take to work when I need to. That way, Juanita and the kids do not have to stay home all the time when I take the car so maybe that will be better. But we are a year or so away from me having enough to do that and if my work slows down, maybe even longer. So we can spend it on driving trips for now.

I think I have entered enough now. I haven't really said anything and most of it has been depressing but I am at work and I should be doing something. They said they had a lot of problems and I have not been here in a couple of weeks because of the other job but they are back in a semi-lockdown mode here again and I am not sure where I can and cannot go. They said I can go anywhere but I have to put mask and gown on to do it so I am discouraged from travelling around asking people what their problems are. The boss who asked me to come in and fix the problems is now out with Covid so I cannot ask him any of the specifics and when I was here the other day, I was hit with a lot of problems and I could fix none of them. I'll have to find out what he wants me to do about it. They implemented a new 2FA system and it appears most people do not know how to use it or it is not working but as each person I talk to tells me a different story, it will be hard to track down what the actual problem is. I need to go start seeing if I can make any sense of it so I will be closing this entry now. I'd like to make an entry over the weekend but I might not get around to it. I can use the computer since Juanita is not there but I have a lot of other things to do so I might not make it back to this until next week.

So, until next time

Later