MWNews 207

 

Well, no cancer news. Oh wait, there is one thing. Juanita had the other operation to hopefully remove the rest of the cancer. Only took four stitches, they said it would take 12, so I assume they took out a smaller spot than what they originally intended. I was in the room but I wasn't looking. Just a short procedure the doctor did by himself and then had the nurse come in and bandage it. A minor complication is that Juanita is allergic to the bandages they use. It would seem this is a common thing as the nurse said she was allergic to them too and they had some that were better for her so she used those. No problems for Juanita yet, but it had only been a couple of days. Other than that, it is all good news until they call and say otherwise. She gets the stitches out in ten days.

Just had to run out of the room and look at a problem so I have no idea what I was talking about. I think I was finished with Juanita's cancer issues but if I think of something else, I will get back to it.

I am not sure why this picture I have here has that blue tent. I just took it the other day and I did not notice it then. Probably something I can do to fix it but let's just say it was meant to be that way.

We went to Dreamworld for the country fair. Nothing much to say about it. Dreamworld does not seem to do shows or special events very well. Not sure why as I recall they were always pretty good ten or fifteen years ago. It was really a disappointment. 

We decided not to do the swimming because there was supposed to be a grand parade at 11 and we would not have had time to swim before it. William was really upset when the parade turned out to be a whole bunch of dancers, they advertised it as 300, who did the same routing over and over again in unison. While it was impressive, they all did the same thing together, after two minutes of this, we had seen it all and we still had to wait for all 300 of them to pass by before you could do anything else. A really bad event that was not worth the time. William had really wanted to go swimming, so he was upset that we did not. In hindsight, we should have goon swimming. I actually did not get to see most of it as I was waiting on coffee in the coffee shop and could only see out the door and window what was going on. 

Had to run again. Lots of problems to resolve. I think I have to leave this until another time as I need to get to another job today and I am leaving soon. There is more to tell and I am sure I can find a way to bore everyone once again with my tales of woe, but it will have to wait. Going to sign off now and start packing up, as soon as I get the call I am waiting for. 

But until then, we saw Shannon Noll. He was good. Once again, they did not set it up right and where they had the concert was right in the main pathway to get to everything. I got a table and it was under cover, so we had a good view and seat. It started out with a lot of people there. I'd say at least a thousand, but I am not sure of the actual number. Might have been a lot less but wasn't much more if it was. By the time the concert ended, there was maybe one hundred people still watching. We actually didn't stay until the end, or we stayed for almost all of it and were still walking away when it ended. He was good, but extra loud and a lot of bass in the confined space. I was not feeling well anyway, that's why I got a good table as I stayed there early while they went a couple of places. They went and rode the train and did something else but I sat at the table and waited. It wasn't bad, they had another singer right next to me who was good, but I never caught her name. I would have liked to see if she had any work on Spotify or anything but since she only sang covers, I am not sure she has anything else.

I just got the call, so I am leaving. Will get back to this later. In fact, I will end this and start a new one so I have more entries. Not sure if it will be a week before I do, but it shouldn't. I will endeavour to endure, or whatever that saying is from that movie I don't have time to remember. 

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 206

 

I'm back and I have to go again. But I have started a new entry so I will probably finish it first. Unless I start a whole bunch of them and finish them randomly, so you never know what order to read them in. That sounds like a fun time but maybe not the best. I think two entries in the same day will be fascinating but that is pre-assuming I finish and publish this one today. With the sad tales and underwritten stories from the last one, this should be a real pick me up. Hard to tell since I have to run again. Wait patiently and I will return with lollies for each and every one of you. 

They called me away and I might not get back to this today. Have to go fall off a ladder again. So, I'll catch you later.

This being my only job, I can't really quit but I am tired of being blamed when things to not work. I am here once a week. I do what I can to get it working but if it fails during the week, it is not my fault. The need to be trouble shooting while it is down. But enough.

William went to work with me on Monday to the Ipswich Bank office. We were doing an inventory of the entire building, four floors of desks, over 350 devices. I had an additional job to do while I was there so he had to start the inventory while I was doing that. He managed to do one floor by himself. I am not sure he got everything right but she at least got a lot of it. I walked him through a couple of desks to show him what he was looking for and then gave it to him to take over. Took him about two hours to finish that floor. We did all the other floors together and we were much faster that way. I still have to keep checking on the other job I was doing at the same time but we managed to complete it all in about 8:30 hours, 8:30 to 5:30 with a lunch break.

He did really well and took the initiative on several occasions to decide what was actually there. It would seem the list they gave us about what should be there did not match the actual devices that were there. Three different power packs, different docking stations, and decisions on whether someone was sitting at the desk or not. It would seem a lot of people did not work all the time, so when we saw an empty desk in the morning, it might not be empty in the afternoon. That is where most of the mistakes might be but for the most part, we got all the rest correct. Except for one floor where no one knew which desk was which, so we just guessed. I am not sure if the inventory had to correspond to a specific desk but if it did, I will be going back to fix it, I am sure.

All in all, a good first experience for him. Not a lot of technical work, but my job rarely requires it, and he was able to follow instructions. I am not sure how he would have handled someone else giving them to him but maybe they would have been a better teacher and he would listen to them. It remains to be seen how he might do in the future. Not that I expect them to use him a lot but maybe. Problem is, he has no way to get anywhere. So if I have to take him, then it should be my job anyway. I don't do a lot these days and can use all the work. I know he needs it too, but I pay the bills and if it is question of him getting paid and me getting paid, I think I should get the job. We will have to see if they have any plans for him in the future.

Maeghan had her NDIS worker over the other day. I would explain what the NDIS is but I don't know. It is the people who work with people with disabilities and help them with things they need. All government funded so she gets a whole lot of money that they are supposed to look after her with. They never do anything, so it was a big surprise to have her over to explain what she can do.

Apparently, they are going to try to get her a smaller wheelchair. One that can fit into a normal car instead the giant one she has now. She will get to keep the old one, which is a better one for going places on her own but the new one can be taken anywhere by anybody, so it might help her in the future, when she gets a car or something. It will help her to take it on an airplane to Tasmania, I think and that will be great for her as she can then visit her friends over there and they don't have to have a car to take her huge wheelchair. Not sure if she will be approved for a new chair, but the lady said she will fill out the form and see what they say.

She is also looking at arranging a house for Maeghan. A unit more likely, but with the scarcity of units these days, I am not sure even if she gets approved for one she will be able to find one that is suitable. I don't want her living in a shared home and neither does she, but that might be her only choice. And most of the ones that are shared are shared by old people. There are not a lot of places that are for people her age with disabilities. I know we have looked at then in the past and they were not good places, especially in our area. She might have to move far away and without a car, that will mean I will be horribly upset. I will try not to show it, she needs to learn to be on her own, but I know I am not ready for that to happen. Maybe if she is close, but not far away. I can't handle it. I am not sure she can handle it, but I know I will be devastated. So, unless she reads this, I will not let her know how much it means to me but it has to happen someday, so will try not to complain.

I am not sure what else they were discussing, I was doing other things, not sure what, so I did not hear everything. I know Juanita was there and she might have been asking for things that they cannot provide so I only hope Maeghan was able to tell her what she really needs and not what Juanita thinks she needs.

We haven't made it to Dreamworld or the market yet. We were planning it for Saturday, but we are supposed to go over to Angie's house for something and we had to cancel our plans. We are moving it to next week but according to the forecast, it is supposed to start raining Sunday and not stop for the foreseeable future. Rain everyday next week. Not that I think they ever get the forecast right, but it can rain here for weeks at a time so maybe they will get lucky this time and it will actually happen. Hopefully, it doesn't. 

If we go Sunday, that is the day the big part of the current fair will be taking place. Dreamworld has a country fair theme for the next couple of weeks. Sunday is the day when the big music acts are playing, so it will probably be crowded. If it rains, I don't think they will cancel but they might. We will probably end up going then. That leaves next Wednesday for the market, or maybe next Saturday. It depends on when the rain starts and when we can get up at 6am to leave. I am not sure I can get everyone up by then to go but that is the time we have to leave to get decent parking, I think. Maybe going in the rain will be a good thing as it will cut down on the crowds, but it is school holidays, so I expect a crowd everywhere.

Don't think we have any other plans. I was being volunteered to cook food for this thing on Saturday, but I refuse. I might make something, but only if I feel like it and with how I am feeling right now, I don't think it is going to happen. I am dizzy and tired from all the walking around and climbing ladders, so I need a big rest. Guess everyone will be disappointed when I show up with nothing, but I don't want to go in the first place so maybe I will just stay home and let them go. Like that is ever going to happen.

Well, I have come to the end of my second entry for today. As mentioned, I am tired and dizzy and hungry. It is too late to go to the coffee shop, they close at 12:30, so I will have to wait until 3 when I get off. I will probably get a pizza or something on the way home. Not that I should but I might. I do have some sesame snacks to eat, so that will have to tied me over until I can get real food. I am not sure what they will be eating when I get home, but I will be too tired to eat it anyway. Probably end up going to sleep as I usually do. That is one of my bigger issues, not getting enough sleep, but this entry is not about my complaints.

It's been a long day and I will see you again.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 205

 

I suppose I should just rip the band aid off and say it up front as it was told to us. Juanita, you have cancer.

Bad beginning, overly dramatic, and doesn't really tell the story, but the fact remains, Juanita has been told she has cancer. Now before we jump off a bridge and run to the phone, let me say it is skin cancer. She had a biopsy done on a mole on her neck that had started bleeding. It was tested and they found it was cancerous. She is scheduled to have it removed and all the skin around it removed as well, next week. She is told that they found it early and it should not be a problem. I will hold judgement on that statement until I get a chance to research it. I think it is next Wednesday when she will be scheduled for the surgery, which is in clinic surgery so she will not be going the hospital or anything. She is told it will take fifteen stitches to close it as they do this type of thing all the time. The procedure itself is not a big deal, it is just a matter of removing as much as possible and hoping they get it all.

I was not with her when they told her, I went to the shops next door to wait as she had two appointments at the time, and I did not want to sit in the doctor's office for a couple of hours. She texted me as soon as they told her, and I came back across the street to be with her. It was not a lot of fun and I know she did not take it well, but I think it will be ok in the end. My biggest concern is that most of the time, once you have skin cancer, it will eventually come back. Maybe not soon but it seems to me that it always comes back and usually in bad places. Then again, I don't really know a lot about it so I cannot be sure.

I am trying to stay calm around her and not get upset but with the way I am feeling lately, I don't get excited or emotional about anything. I do, but that is another story that now one knows about yet. I am not sure I can be what she needs. I will try but I don't know if I have it in me anymore. Four years ago, I might have and would have been all over helping her but now, I have lost a lot and try not to feel anything anymore. It hurts those around me and is not good for me or them, but it is all I can do to hold it together anymore and things like this are not good for me. But this has to be about Juanita and what she needs and more importantly, the kids and making sure it is not a big deal to them. Letting them know it will be alright and it is not something they need to worry about. That will be what I need to focus on and what I need to make sure they do not panic. Holding Juanita together will be much more of a challenge, but I have been there before, and I will be there again.

As long as I am telling the tales of woe, I might as well give an update on my situation. I am starting to get worried. About a lot of things but my left arm and hand have started going numb if I raise them for any length of time, like driving or typing. It goes away when I let my arm hang down, but my fingers get really numb and my wrist hurts a lot lately. It would point to a circulation problem in my opinion, but I am scheduling a doctor's appointment to have it looked at. Not that the doctors are looking at anything lately, again a story for another time, but it has gotten to a point where I have to do something. I am getting a lot of angina attacks again, seems to come and go sometimes but has been happening a lot lately. Not sure they can or will do anything about it, but it is something else I need to report. I am having a lot of mental issues as well, but I have chronicled them in the past and the only change is it is getting worse and worse, and I have started listening to more and more podcasts that seem to be telling me what is happening. Not that I seek them out, but some of the stories they tell describe my symptoms exactly and that scares me. Most of them do not end well. The one I listened to this morning was describing where you can go to end your suffering, where it is legal to end your life under a doctor's care. Seems kind of morbid and I could not finish listening to it but once again, it is disturbing.

I think I will continue this train of thought and describing all our medical troubles and then start a new entry this afternoon that will hopefully be more cheerful. Of course, I am at work, and I have the time, but I do have some things to do this morning and need to get them done so my afternoon will be free. And I do have some cheerful or less painful things to write about, even some things about the kids, but I don't want to switch gears so rapidly in this one and start describing all the good things after telling all the bad, so let's continue the morbid procession.

Juanita also has some other procedures they are looking to do. Some women's things that I don't know how to describe. I am sure if I just spouted the words, someone would understand but I don't really know what they mean or what she is talking about, so it is best if I don't describe them. Some kind of operation to remove something or other left over from her last operation many years ago. She is also still looking at getting the bariatric surgery done but I do not think she will ever qualify. They want to make sure you can do the routine you have to go through after the operation, and she has not been able to prove she can do it so far. Very restrictive diet and mostly doing things that she has never been able to do, like exercise and no eating. With the diabetes, she gets hypos', a term I hear but am not familiar with. It basically causes her to panic and feel very bad until she can get her sugar levels up, usually by eating something, but her problem has always been she eats too much of whatever she needs to and then that ruins her diet. So, it is a problem. And what I would assume is a big problem. I have always, or not always but mostly, been of the opinion that exercise is the first thing you need to get down. Once you can do that on a consistent basis, then you can look at your diet because one without the other does you no good. She has never been up on the exercise part. Not that I have either but if we could do it together, it might help. My problem is I don't get any exercise going at her pace and scale and if I do it on my own, we are not doing it together. Plus, she gets upset if I make progress and she doesn't. But we have to do it. I don't really believe in dieting because it takes away too much of my life and if I cannot live the life I want to live, then what is the point. Another story for another day.

I am going to have to get my eyes checked, also. I need new glasses probably but what I am having trouble with is my right eye. If I had not had the surgery already, I would say it is cataracts, but I am told you cannot get cataracts again, once you have them replaced. There is nothing for them to grow on. I am getting the exact same symptoms as cataracts in my right eye. Not sure what else it could be, but I will need to make an appointment for that also. A fuzziness in my right eye most of the time. Maybe a new prescription will do the trick but since I do not wear glasses now, except at night when I remember to bring them, I don't really want to go back to using glasses. I wear them when I read also but just magnifying lenses and not full prescription ones. Maybe it is time to go back to using them. I can't see my phone anymore so that is always a problem. and there is usually a lot of fine print on computer devices I need to see that I have to magnify with my phone in order to see them these days.

Man, we just have a lot of problems. And I am tired of talking about them. Biggest concern is my mental health, but I suppose Juanita having cancer is bigger, I just don't think it is a big deal yet. If they get it all this time, it should not come back for a few years. The way I am going, I don't know if I have a few years. I am starting to really worry about it, even more than I have complained about it in the past. I keep hearing and reading about things that are exactly my problems, and as I said, most of them end badly.

It's a good time, had by all. I am going to leave this for now. Have to do my hourly thing again (that's pee for those who have not followed along). I will close this and start a new one once I have my work done. Shouldn't be too long. Then again, if I fall off the ladder again, I will make sure to break something so I can get workers compensation and never have to work again. Let's hope for a fall.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 204

 

At it again. Seems like I do this a lot. Maybe I am just bored. Or, maybe I am trying to get as much out here as possible before they take me away and don't let me type anymore. Seems a shame as I have a lot to say and never really get to say it. That is that other blog I may or may not be writing. It's a mystery, or a conundrum, or maybe even an affectation. One can never really know.

Hard at work again. I have been told there are several things I need to do today but they are going to call me when they are ready. Since I have received no calls, I will assume they are not ready. Might even just go for coffee early today, it is almost 10 am so I could use a break from this hard work I have been slaving away at for almost an hour. Let's see, I got my computer out, went to the toilet and sat in here and started typing. 

Interesting side note, I was just asked by a resident if I had heard the news. I said no so he told me he is getting married again. I have no idea if he was married before or anything about him as I have never seen him before, or if I have, I have never talked to him. I think he is one of the ones that sits in the reception area and waits for someone to kick him out. He is telling the receptionist all about it now. Not that it has anything to do with anything, but he stopped by my office door to tell me. I think I heard the receptionist ask if he had a girlfriend. He said no, but his ex-wife called him and asked to get married again. I stopped listening so I don't know where the story went from there.

But back to getting coffee. I could use a cup of coffee and some toast. I have been getting raison toast with my coffee when I am here lately because the cakes are not very good and I like something sweet but not really as sweet as cake all the time, so I get the toast. The staff over there does not really know they have raison toast as they have to look it up on the menu each time, but they do remember me and know I want a small coffee and something. They even remembered they over-charged me one time, by 50 cents, and they took it off my next visit. I told them it wasn't a big deal but they remembered and did it anyway. Nice of them. The coffee shop has been overwhelmed lately and is sometimes completely packed. They don't know why it picked up either but it you go at the wrong time, you might not get a seat. It is raining today, so I don't expect a lot of people there, but I will find out when I get there, which could be in a couple of minutes.

Ok, I am back from coffee and toast. It was good. Kind of like a little holiday in the park, without the park and without the holiday. Other than that, exactly the same.

Didn't really want to talk about more work but I just got an email about the job I am supposed to do next week. I thought it was go decommission a computer, but it turns out there are 15 computers to do. Not that it takes any longer, but if any of them have trouble, it adds to the time. Maybe 3 hours work instead of an hour and a half, since they can all run at the same time. Not a big deal but the new request if for me to do a site audit of the building. It is a four-story building full of desks and doing a site audit will take some time. I am supposed to get some help but with the short notice, they might not be able to get anyone. So I will be there on my own to do it. It would appear the staff there are unsure if they will be there the rest of the week, so Monday is the only day. This is the Bendigo issue that I might have spoken about before. I have heard they are closing Bendigo, and this is probably part of that. I know they closed the CBD office building, and it is a fourteen-story building in the Brisbane CBD. That is a lot of office space that is free at the moment. If they are about to close the Ipswich office, then that is most of my jobs lately. Not sure what I will be doing after that. This job I am doing now will be my only work and since I rarely do what is required here, this might not last very long either. Going to find out soon I suppose. Maybe I should do some work instead of wasting time typing here. The big boss is busy so he cannot tell me what it was he wanted me to do. I might try to do it on my own but I don't know which computer he wants me to use or where he wants me to put it, so that may not work out well. I will move on to other things.

Today is the last day or school for Maeghan and William. Neither of them went. William didn't go because William doesn't go that often but Maeghan wanted to go. It was raining heavily and she has to take the bus and the train so Juanita decided she would stay home. Of course, as soon as she decided that it stopped raining, but it was too late by then. She would not have made it on time since she stopped getting dressed as soon as she was told not to go. But it is the last day, so they shouldn't have missed much. They go back in two or three weeks; I am not sure when. 

As I mentioned before, we are planning a couple of outings. Not sure how we are going to pay for them but I have some savings so maybe we can use that. One to the market I want to go to and the other to Dreamworld. I have just found out that Dreamworld has some country fair going on during the holidays. I think it is just a petting zoo and some extra food places. I know you can buy a food pass that gets you little to nothing for the amount of money they want to charge for it, so there must be something going on. We will go for that. If the weather gets better, we will plan on going to Whitewater world also and do some swimming. It will be way too cold for me but might be ok for the kids if they are up to it. 

It probably means we will go on a Friday or Saturday. That way, we can go swimming in the morning, go to Dreamworld in the afternoon, and then do the Dreamworld market at night. They still have that market, or what they call a market, at night on Friday and Saturday. Just a lot of expensive food but we have been twice and I assume I will be forced to go again if they have their way. Whitewater world is just opening for the holidays. It has been closed for the winter. It is still too cold but it is open on weekends now, so we will have to go. It is enjoyable for a while but we never stay all day as Dreamworld is right next door so we end up going there after a while. 

This is a remnant from a vacation we took many years ago. We went for a vacation to Dreamworld. I am not sure where we were living at the time. I think Sydney. It was a long time ago. We ended up getting season passes to Dreamworld as they were cheaper than getting a three-day pass or a daily pass. I am not sure if I ever talked about it in here, probably not, but I might have. We camped near there and would get up and go to Whitewater World in the mornings and then Dreamworld in the afternoons. It was a good week and it was fairly cheap so we had a good time. Now, that is the plan we use anytime we have gone back. Now that we live here, it might be better to go to one park a day and the other the next but its appears to be tradition to do it that way so it is what we end up doing each time. Whitewater World is not open all year anymore and they have limited hours at Dreamworld, so it kind of makes the day not long enough but I am sure we will try it again and see how it goes.

I'm not sure when we will get to the market. I want to go on a Wednesday but we will probably end up going on Saturday. I know I have expressed the issues with that previously so I will not go into it again. Plus, no one seems to be that interested in going to the market, so we might not go at all. Or at least, William will probably not go and Juanita will probably be sick so Maeghan will not want to go. But I am hoping to get there some day. 

I was just called away and I am not sure what I was doing here. Checking does not seem to be an option, so I think I am finished. I had to go build a new computer basically from scratch. It had not had any updates in over a year and did not have any of the software they need installed. Naturally, they do not have an SOE or anything, so you have to do it all manually. I got as much as I could done but then had to call the helpdesk and have them install the rest. I went to the toilet in the middle of the install and now someone took the room for a private meeting. I can't get back in there to finish so I am waiting until it is free so I can go check on it. In the meantime, wish I had brought some lunch.

I was going to bring some fried rice, or a sandwich or something. But I decided I would get a pizza on the way home and I did not want to fill up on the other stuff, so I left it at home. Now I am regretting it as I am hungry. I have an orange, so that will have to do.

On a further side note, and I have to ask. If everything I type is a sidenote, maybe the actual news is the sidenote and I never seem to get to it. I am sure there are lots of things I could be saying about the kids but I never get to them and keep going off on things that have no meaning and are not very interesting. Its a habit now, so I don't expect it to change, but maybe I can try harder to punch it up and make it the fascinating work you are accustomed to. A noble goal.

Going to end it now. Have to go check if the room if free again so I can get the computer out of it. Plus, my notebook is in there and I am expecting another call to do some other work. haven't heard from them yet and if they call me at 2:30 again to do stuff, I may just walk out. They are testing the fire alarms today. It interrupted my calls and made me forget what I was doing. I am just thinking about it and there were some other things I wanted to talk about like William being offered a job and I forget what the other thing was I had just thought of two seconds ago. I hate this.

Enough, I am going to go now.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 203

Let's talk about food. Been a while since I mentioned that we eat. Maybe a little about Father's Day. Won't be a lot, because we didn't eat a lot. But maybe I can come up with some interesting things to say and we will all laugh and joke and be welcomed. Or words to that effect. Not sure what that means or if it comes as some kind of surprise that we can be entertaining. It's what passes for entertainment.

I am currently at a Bendigo bank doing this. Not sure how long I have but the program is telling me it will be another hour. I have my doubts, or I don't really think it will go that long as I don't have that much patience and I will kill it after about 30 minutes or so if it does not appear to be progressing. I have to sign an agreement that I let it run to the end, but I don't care. What are they going to do, have me run it again.

Anyway, we had sausages and chicken wings for Father's Day. I cooked them on the BBQ. They weren't bad. I also cooked a steak for me and Juanita. It was not good. It was not bad, but it did not come out the way I wanted it to, and it was tough. You cannot really buy good meat in the supermarkets. You have to go to a butcher, but they want an exorbitant price for it there, sometimes more than twice as much, so I tend to stay away from getting that. I had lots of it. I don't remember what kind it was but I got it from Costco so there was a lot. It had a bit of gristle running through it so it made it tough to eat. I only had one big piece, there were four altogether. Juanita ate some that night and then ate the rest of the next day. I was saving it for something else but she got to it first. Not that I minded that much as it was not that good, but she enjoyed it so I suppose everything worked out.

For some reason, we had lots of wings left. Not sure why as I thought they were better than normal. I make some good wings but I sometimes don't put enough sauce on them. They still taste good but are lacking in sauce. I had extra sauce left over and I used it to cook something a few days later, I don't remember what, and the sauce was bitter. I think maybe that was the problem with so much being left over. That or the fact that no one was there to eat. No one turned up for Father's Day. Not that I expected them to but we invited several people over for a BBQ and all of them said yes and then cancelled. I expected as much but I had the food just in case. So we had sausages and chicken wings the next day.

I made a big salad also but only Juanita and I ate it. We had it for a couple of days after that also. Shayla was there, and Adam but Anna left and the others did not show. We ate outside and I think we might have more meals outside. The problem is, we have to have it during the day because there is no light out there and when it starts to get warm enough to have meals outside at night, the bugs will be out. It limits what we can do outside. And the dogs have covered the back yard in dog poop. I think I have mentioned this before but I have never seen two dogs make so much poop. It is everywhere. I am afraid it will start to smell when the weather gets warmer but we will have to see. Not something to look forward to.

We never made it to the market. But as that is not until tomorrow, we can understand why. Actually, I have decided we are not going to go tomorrow. We will wait for the holidays and go then. Probably be way more crowded and we will have to leave early to get there but I think that will be best. It is something for us to do during the school holidays. We will also go to Dreamworld and maybe even Waterworld but it might still be too cold for that. It should be good none the less. Now that Maeghan has decided she can ride the rides again, Dreamworld is more fun. Who knows, maybe I will even give it a go sometime. I could use a good heart attack about now. Not that I think it will give me one but it will make my head spin more than it usually does and I might wish I was only having a heart attack. 

I've been getting dizzy a lot lately, just from bending over or turning quickly. It is not yet a worry, but it is getting there. Plus, I think I have to try to lose weight again. I have tried and stopped so many times, I had decided I would no longer worry about it. But I am having trouble sleeping lately and I get angina every time I eat. I am not sure if it is related but if I don't do something, I am afraid of it getting worse.

Juanita and I have taken to walking to the shops once a week. It is about 4k to the shops and I have to rest many times on the way there. We take the bus back but I am hoping if we can do it more often, we will develope a tolerance to it. Probably another failed attempt, it is just too far, but nothing else if really close to walk to and I like to have a destination to go to instead of just walking for walking sake. I could take the dog for a walk but that is a lot of trouble and we only walk to the dog park. It is only about 300 meters away so it doesn't really do any good. It is fun for him and he always has a good time running in the park, even if he mostly just sits beside me when we get there. 

I think I am starting to ramble a lot, what a surprise, so I am thinking of making this a short entry for the first time in a long time. This computer program still says it has 30 minutes left but I am probably going to kill it what it reaches about 80% complete. Then I have the long drive home. I was sort of planning on picking Maeghan up but she is going to the museum or something after school and I don't know how long she will be there. Some Disney exhibit is there. The Brisbane thing is still going on. It will continue for another month. Not sure what it planned for it or what is happening each day but when I drove to here, I saw some things that had been set up near the big wheel. Big balls with lights in them. That is where the opening ceremony was supposed to be the other day when we were there. Not sure what it is or if anything is planned for there but it might be good to see it close up. But, then again, I am too tired to stop by. It is right next to where Maeghan will be but I would have to find parking and walk to the things and that does not seem like a lot of fun. Since I was just starting to talk about getting more exercise it would make sense for me to go but if Juanita found out we went without her, she would be mad. So I probably won't go.

I am going to go now. I need to finish up my paperwork, close up this box and get out of here. I just had the employees walk by and stare at me. Not sure why. This usually only takes an hour and it has already been an hour. The computer says it has 25 minutes to go but I need to end it. I guess this will be all for this one. Maybe get another on Friday.

So, until next time,

Later
 

MWNews 202

Should I really be starting this. No, I am sitting in a Coffee Club waiting for Juanita to come back from the doctor. She won’t be long, so I definitely won’t have time to finish. And typing on my phone is probably not a good idea. Although, it does let me type without spelling all the words. Definitely an advantage. But I can’t see what I am typing so I have no idea what I have said until I scroll down to see it or make the screen bigger. I know I have said in the past that I could do this but now I am not so sure. I think I am going to give up and come back to it later, probably tomorrow while I am at work.

Just getting back to it. It is the next day, at work. I really didn't say anything in the beginning so maybe I should just delete it. Maybe not.

Did I or didn't I, I can't tell.

Some people just came into my room and are discussing some private things. They closed the door. Should I leave. They have not asked me to so I assume it is ok for me to be here. I am not really listening but I think they are talking about they are going to pay for someone to be here. Too complicated for me. I think they said it is $150 a day to live here. Seems kind of steep. Something to look forward to I suppose.

We are going to try to go to the Eumundie market. Not sure that is how you spell it but since no one actually knows what I am talking about, I can spell it any way I want. I think I have talked about it before, something I have planned on going to for a while. It is open on Saturday and Wednesday. I am told that if you go on Saturday, you better get there by 7 in the morning or there will be no parking. I figure I cannot get everyone up and ready to go by then so Wednesday might be better. It opens at 8 but I am hoping parking is better on Wednesday. It closes at 2, so you need to get there and get out. Not that it would take four hours to go through the market but it might. It is spread across the town at different locations so there is a lot of walking. 

Maeghan is out of school on Wednesdays, so it is a good day for her. William can take that day off since he hardly ever goes anyway. School holidays start soon, and I wanted to get it out of the way before the holidays when I assume it will get more crowded. It might be better to wait until holidays so we have something to take the kids too, but I am sure we can find something else to do. Like go to Dreamworld since we have the tickets. Waterworld is opening this week, although it is way too cold to go there, but maybe that will be an option by the end of the holidays.

Juanita wanted to go camping but I was not enthusiastic about it and she took it that I did not want to go. I didn't but I would have gone. It is a miserable time for me when we go camping and Maeghan does not like it. Juanita loves it and we should go but I am too old and crimpled. We have to take Maeghan's chair to go, so there is no camping in the van, which is way too small anyway, but she does not seem to think so. Plus, if you use the van as camping tent, then you cannot go anywhere to see any sites or anything unless you walk. I think she is used to that type of camping, but if I go somewhere, I want to see the sites and not just sit at the campsite and do nothing all day. Maybe you can go for walks but how many walks can you go on and how tired will I get doing that. Plus, Maeghan can only go if there are paths that support wheelchairs and there are not many of those. It's just not a good idea all around. But she loves it so I should find a way to go or take us camping.

William loves it also, but he just wants to go fishing. He never gets to go fishing because I don't like that either. And there is no one else to take him so he never gets to go. I guess I am the one holding everyone back from what they want to do. Probably no one wants to go to the market, so I am dragging them off to that for no reason.

Whoa, where did that come from. Too much internalizing. Maybe I should take a break. Maybe I will just finish this and be done with it. I'll add a few more words and then be gone.

I was supposed to get a call from Social Security today. I am applying for my social security in America. Not sure what the process is or what I need to do but I have contacted them and they finally got back to me about a phone appointment that was supposed to happen today. They never called. I should get it and it should not be a problem but you never know. I paid into social security all my life so I have money that is owed to me. I am not going to try to explain social security in America, but it is retirement money you pay and then become eligible for at age 67, or earlier if you want a lesser amount each month. Main problem is that it counts as income in Australia. It means you get less money from Australian retirement. Neither amount is enough to live on, but you are supposed to cover it with your Super in Australia or 401k in America. Since I cashed in my 401k when I moved to Australia, I do not have that and since I got a late start on my Super in Australia, that is not what it should be. It will be enough to live on but won't be able to pay rent or a car payment, so that presents a problem. You are supposed to already own your home and have a car that will last, it does not cover people who have to pay rent. Since there is no way to own a home in the next few years, I will have to find something to do.

I'm wrapping this up. Not sure what I am going to do the rest of the day but I am really tired of writing. Maybe I should stop and come back to it. I know there were things I wanted to say about the kids but I can't think at the moment and my brain has stopped working. Must be all the lunch I just ate. Two sandwiches, some pretzels, and an orange. I am full and want to take a nap. It will not go well the rest of the day. Looks like an early exit. Not sure if I can afford not to be working but I am tired and want to go. Have to go pick up Maeghan after work and after 3, so if I leave early, I can pick her up early and then go home. But then I have to make dinner, so no rest there. No rest for a long while now.

I think I will go get more water. So, until next time.

Later

MWNews 201

This job is ridiculous. Second time I have been here, and each time, no problems found. Although this time, I cannot get anyone to tell me what they want me to do about it. I have been given a contact that is not answering her phone or email and I am told she is the only one I can talk to. Been here two hours and no contact. I have decided to type in here and then leave if no one gets back to me.

On to the non-complaining part, if there is one. Subtle hint, there isn't.

I hardly ever talk politics or US politics here, don't plan on starting, but Maeghan told me something the other day I have to mention. I forget what we were talking about but one of my running jokes is whenever someone tells me I am not allowed to do something, I say I am American, and I can do what I want. It gets a groan from everyone, but I suppose that is my objective, so it works.

In some cases, I mention I am from Texas so that gets me even more privileges. Or it should. I think that brings up what we were talking about. I mentioned in the last entry that I could not trust these Austrians to cook the BBQ. Won't go into the reasons again, but I was telling them that they were not allowed to cook and that I had mentioned it in my blog. I made the mistake of mentioning that I had used Juanita's name and that got me in trouble but that is not part of the story.

I said, I was from Texas, and we know how to BBQ, which is always true and other places can only claim to make things that closely resemble BBQ but are not really the same thing. Not Austria for sure, but other places where BBQ is king, like maybe Memphis or KC, I will even give you those eastern places like Virginia or thereabouts, but they do weird things with sauce, so you can't really trust them. 

Maeghan told me that right now, Texas was not being looked upon as a shining light of anything. She said most of her friends were making fun of Texas and Texans because of all the things they hear and read about it. She did not go into specifics, but I can imagine what they are saying. I mean, really, we have the wishy-washy senator from hell that cannot stay straight on any topic without feeling out whoever is footing his bill to see what he should be saying. I mean, the man is a menace. He allows his opponent to say incredible things about him and his wife and make claims that were never true and were against everything he had been elected to do and then decides that this is the guy he should be following and everything he says is gospel and we should all be following whatever dreams he comes up with. I mean, really? I am ashamed. But I am not there, and I do not know or get the full story so maybe I am wrong, but I don't think so and if you are tying your hopes to these fanatics, I pray for a miracle to try to get us back to being what we used to be instead of a dictator wannabe who will do anything to destroy everyone and everything to get his own way.

Now I have always said, most of the world is looking down on the US these days. They think it is a joke and is no longer the leader that is needed. It depresses me. I don't talk about it. I will stop now, not my place, I don't live there. But I do have to feel the fallout of knowing that is I say I am American; I will get laughed at. Not pitied, not hated, just laughed at.

I'm done. I told Maeghan I had no defense for that.

 William is going on a lot of excursions lately. Not sure why but he seems to have one every week. Since there are apparently only five people in his class and most of them do not go, they can go more places. He says only him, and one or two others ever go and he doesn't go sometime, he doesn't bring home the permission slip if he does not want to go. The school has their own bus, and the driver sits around all day with nothing to do, so I guess taking the kids somewhere works out for them. He is going to some gym this week for physical studies. He went to a play last week. I think they went to some museum or park a few weeks ago. Not sure if they ever actually do schoolwork, but they seem to be just trying to get the kids to attend school more. Or maybe it is just to get William to enjoy school more. Not sure, but he goes so that is a good thing.

He did have some homework the other day, or he asked me some math questions. More geometry questions really and that is not something I really remember. Lots of formulas and stuff to deal with. I can help him look them up but there were a few questions where I had no idea what they were asking for. Don't know if he finished it or not. It seemed difficult, so I doubt it, but maybe he did since he did bring it home with him, so he was probably interested in it. I should have followed up.

I am supposed to spend a few days in Toowoomba in a couple of weeks. It is about 2 1/2 hours away so they are going to put me into a motel or something. Probably just for one night. I am not sure what the plans are at this point. It is over the weekend, work on Friday and then again on Monday and Tuesday, so probably just the Monday night. I will have to take the car so they will be without a car here while I am gone. I told them I could take a taxi while there, but they said it was not feasible. Not sure why. We will have to see if the job actually goes through. They have a tendency to cancel these things last minute.

We did not make it to the Brisbane Festival. Actually, we were there for opening night, but they cancelled it. We were just in town picking up Maeghan and Shayla, so we were going to stay and see the opening ceremonies. We wondered why there was no one there but then we found out they had cancelled them because of rain. Not sure if the fireworks went off the next night, it was raining then too, they might have postponed that also. Haven't heard or looked it up yet. We ended up going to dinner at some place in Chermside. The food was kind of strange and it was a specialty beer place where they served off brand beers. I had beer, everyone else had food. The beer was what I expected, not very good, and the food was kind of lackluster. It was ok, onions rings, chicken pieces with way too much salt and some BBQ chicken wings that had some really weird sauce on them that made them not very good. Juanita had a steak and salad she said was good, but I did not try it. It wasn't worth the price I paid but it was a night out, so that was good I suppose.

I am tired of waiting for them to get back to me about this job and what they want me to do, so I am going to end this. If they get back to me and tell me to wait, I will start typing again, but I doubt if that will happen, so I am just going to leave. I get paid for this so they will probably want me to stay until they can find someone, but I might just tell them to go away. Maybe that is one of the reasons they hate Americans.

So, until next time,

Later

MWNews 200

 

And some thought it would never happen. A long way to go and a lot of time in-between, but I think we are finally there. I want to thank all my supporters, but more importantly, I want to thank those people who never have read these. They are my inspiration. I only do it to make sure my legacy continues. And without your support, I can continue to bring you the quality broadcasts you have come to ignore and reject. It makes me proud.

So on to episode 200. A lot of laughs, a lot of tears but mostly, a chance for me to ignore everything else and be faintly impressive in my persistence in keeping this alive. Through all the adversity, charm, wit, and depression, we have made it through. Here's to another 17 years and another 200 episodes. I will probably have to cut back and get away from this breakneck pace, but if I can take years off at a time, doing so in shorter bursts might make this more interesting. I say to everyone who isn't reading this, happy birthday and may you continue to be busy and not have the time to follow along in my rantings. And on with the show.

You would think I could have come up with a cleverer beginning to this entry. I would, but I would have to think about it and that comes at a price so let's just see if I manage to keep this one going and not delete it and start over. If I think of something better, I will let you know.

Typical entry, at work, avoiding responsibility, making myself scarce so no one finds me and asks me to do something. I do have to go look at a TV that is not getting WiFi, or only occasionally gets it so they are missing out on Netflix. They have been asking about it for some time but all I can ever to do say, it appears to be working now so call me when it fails again. They never call. The other issue is that damn WiFi problem that has been ongoing for a while. I will tell the tail of trying to fix that last week as it ends with me thinking about my pending trip to the hospital and might prove to be interesting. No kids involved but since when has that stopped me.

The issue was, or is, that they lose WiFi randomly in one of the buildings. Only down one hall, so it would seem to support that the APs are not working. Or that is the only theory I have been offered. Not much else it can be other than this is a hospital and there are probably a number of equipment in the area that could be causing interference, but that is for another time. I decided to reboot all the AP connections. Problem is, they are all in the ceiling and I do not have a ladder to reach them. I have asked for a ladder but have been told I have to ask the maintenance guys and they are never in their underground room so I have resorted to using a chair to climb up on and barely reach the ceiling to try to pull the WiFi APs off the mounts in the ceiling. Let me say, mounted APs are meant to be pulled off and on. Yes, they are supposedly built so you can take them off but since you are usually reaching for them from a height, it is very hard to get the leverage to pull them off. And since they are made of plastic, they are not very sturdy. I know this because the last time I tried, I broke on of them pulling it off the ceiling. I only broke the mount but since that time, it has been taped to the ceiling. It still works, it is just not mounted.

This time, I was pulling each one down, disconnecting it, and then reconnecting it to the ceiling. Going along fairly well, except for the one that was taped and I could barely get it taped back on. Gave up and decided to come back to it. While I was doing the last one, it gave me a lot of trouble. I eventually got it off and rebooted it. The problem came when I was trying to get it back on. I thought I had it on and mounted but as I was getting down from the chair, it started to fall. I swerved around and tried to catch it. Since it was still attached to the ceiling, it did not fall but my swerving around while standing on a chair caused the chair to tip and send me flying.

This has happened to me a lot lately, falling off things, and whenever it does, everything goes into slow motion for me. I am not sure why but I can feel myself falling, I am looking around, I can feel what is happening but in slow motion, I think I can recover each time. I always do so far but there is a time coming when I will not recover and the fall will be bad. This time, I was falling and as I turned to catch myself, my foot got stuck in the side of the chair. I had time to think I was about to land on my head, probably face first when, using the slow motion that was occurring, I twisted my foot around and managed to free it, giving me the last second opportunity to use my other foot to land on. I did manage to land on one foot, hurting my leg badly, but I was not on my head, so it was a good thing. My other foot was still in the chair and almost caused me to fall down again but all in all, I think it was a good recovery. Spinning in the air and doing all those things just to make a safe landing.

I decided then, I would not be climbing up there again unless they provided a ladder for me to use. I went down the maintenance room and just took a ladder. No one was there and I brought it back up and checked all the APs were working again. One of them is cracked and another two are not very secure in their mounts but they are all still there and apparently working. I re-taped the one that was taped to the ceiling so it was not hanging there again.

The biggest issue is, I could not find anyone to test whether this fix had worked. As far as I know, they are still having problems but I expected that and will have to go check on them again today. It was an adventure. All in all, a rather harrowing experience, but I lived for another day, so I look at it as a good thing.

Maybe I should say something about the kids at this point. My relating a life threatening experience doesn't seem to fit into the original plan for this blog. Then again, it's my blog and I can do what I want. So sue me.

William was offered a role as class president or something a couple of weeks ago. They were concerned about him not wanting to go to school anymore. They said if he came back next year, he could be in school leadership or something. I am not sure what exactly they were offering, but it doesn't really matter. He said no, or I think he said no. He said he was not going to school next year so he could not accept. I am not sure what the final word was on that but I have heard nothing else since then. William has been going to school lately, so maybe it worked and he has decided to stay. He doesn't complain as much anymore. He has applied for several more jobs but since he had the wrong email address on them, he has not seen the replies. I fixed his phone so it had both email addresses on it and he got about a hundred responses from different jobs all at once. Most of them were just form letters saying thanks for applying but I did not see them all so I am not sure. I don't think he read them all either, so he might have been offered a job and he never relied to it. Now that he has the emails, he can see when they come in so maybe that will help. I think most of them are saying he is too young and they are looking for someone older or that he needs to have a drivers license before he can apply. I don't really know what his plans are but he is going to school so that is a good thing.

Maeghan has been sick a lot lately. Mostly flu or stomach virus but she has missed a few days of school. Good thing is she went to a job fair at school the other day. She met a lot of different places that said they were interested in her. She got some replies back from them but mostly they were for jobs she could not get to easily. Across town or not on the bus routes or any number of things that were not right for her. She has applied for a job locally, or an apprenticeship locally around the corner from us. She has not heard back from them yet but she will stop by there on her next day off and see if they are interested. These jobs are all for her school work, none of them actually pay her. There is the chance they will offer her a real job but she says she cannot do paid work at the same time she is doing apprenticeship work so she would just have to work twice as often to take the paying job. I am not so sure but that is what she said.

She has to do six months of apprenticeship, instead of going to school, before she can get her diploma. Once she has that, she can get a degree. I have tried to explain that before but since I have no idea what it means, I will not try again. Just means she will be going to school for a while and not getting paid.

This weekend is father's day here. I think I am cooking a BBQ for everyone but I am not sure who will actually be there. Just us I think, and maybe Shayla, but I don't know if anyone else is coming. I doubt it and I don't want to cook for a lot of people anyway. I want to have a BBQ but not if I have to spend the day cooking. I want to be able to enjoy what I have cooked instead of trying to keep up with all the others demands for food. Not that they demand anything, but it always seems to be if I do not have everything ready at the same time, whatever I have cooked gets devoured and they are waiting on the next thing. So I never get to sit and eat. And it is father's day, so I should get to enjoy something. Juanita says she should be doing the cooking but food is too expensive these days to allow an Austrian to cook it. Their idea of a BBQ is to set everything on fire and then blow it out and eat it. Burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. Juanita is one of those cooks but, to be fair, so are all of her family and just about every other Austrian I have seen cook BBQ. It is sad. Not that I have not burned a few things in my time but it mostly because I am trying to do too much to get everything ready at the same time and I let it get carried away so I can no longer control it. Maybe that is the problem everyone else has but as I see it consistently done that way, I think they are just not competent around a BBQ. It's the Austrian way.

I did buy me a steak. Not a really good one and I never seem to be able to cook steak the way I like it anyway. But since it so expensive these days, I only bought it for me, and maybe Juanita, so everyone else will have to do with chicken wings and sausages, maybe hamburgers but mostly just sausage and wings. I have to go get everything on Saturday, so hopefully, there will be some left in the stores as everyone else is probably planning the same thing for Father's day, a BBQ.

I suppose I have rambled on for too long now. Not a good entry for the 200th but it will have to do. Maybe I will write an addendum later that is so much better, but probably not. I do have work to do. 

So until next time,

Later