Working Hard Thorugh Spring
24 November 2014
We kept our heads down through the last few months with a lot of work after the vacations earlier in the year. In August it looked as though construction might finally begin on the land next door.
A digger arrived and a hole was dug in the far corner of the block. This was a bit of a surprise as the plans for the site did not call for a basement or indeed any work below ground. It turns out this was some soil sampling work and the site has subsequently been sold to a different developer, so getting some shade for our West-facing wall seems as far away as ever.
In September Jay was sent to California for work with only one day’s notice. This was a similar trip to the one he had two years ago in that he was not allowed to tell anyone anything about the work at the time. Once the date had passed for the iPad launch event I was able to find out more about the work. Their next major game release has now been announced: Need for Speed: No Limits.
Though his studio’s games did not feature heavily, unlike last time, at least he was able to spend some time with his sister’s family in Palo Alto. This was some compensation for missing the AFL Grand Final for which we had tickets. In his place I took Beau, a friend who was about to move to Sydney and had never been to an AFL game.
Hawthorn dominated the game, so it wasn’t as exciting as some of the earlier finals matches, but Beau enjoyed the spectacle. Neither of us wanted to stay for the Ed Sheeran concert which followed the game.
Jay also missed the IFBB Victorian Championships. His ticket was used by a friend, Steve, who was planning to go and buy a ticket at the door. It wasn’t a particularly good show as there is probably a lot more anticipation and interest for the new “Arnold Classic Australia” show which is coming in March and is being promoted by the owner of our gym.
While he was away, I was once again bumped into from behind in our car, which entailed the inconvenience of yet another (free) repair, making it four times the car has had a minor bump: twice while parked and twice while stationary in traffic. After our disappointing attempt to find a new car we both liked last year we might have another try in 2015.
Shortly after he got back we were once again helping with the Melbourne Argonauts Trivia Night. This year the feature act for the opening was a drag ABBA tribute group and we had to escort them to and from the stage. Our costume direction was “70s band security”. We were about as convincing as the band itself.
At the NGV we visited the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition which was quite an extensive collection of his clothing and designs. It was surprising to find how long it was since we had been to one of the featured exhibitions there. We should try to go a little more often.
Despite working plenty of extra time when he was in California, Jay still volunteered to do a day at the Penny Arcade Expo in Melbourne. EA were showing a preview of Dragon Age: Inquisition and both their section and the expo as a whole were very well-attended. He said he’d never seen so much cardboard armour in one place, as everyone apparently wanted to be Master Chief from Halo.
With the weather improving and plans for Summer coming together, my father asked us to go to the beach house at Sorrento and cut down two largely dead tress which were threatening to fall on the house. There was a certain amount of anxiety about whether we could get them down without anything falling on the roof or guttering, but we were successful.
This is Jay catting the last pieces off the second stump with the electric chainsaw. We also found that the plumbing was blocked so we got two important tasks done on the one trip. The weather was not really beach weather, so we visited my cousin Amanda and had a few meals at restaurants in the town.
Summer also means getting a little more serious at the gym. We were provided some inspiration by “Big Ramy” Elssbiay who was training there during a promotional tour. We last saw him at the 2013 Olympia where he came 8th.
Next for us is the slow-down of work in December and then travelling to California again for Christmas with Jay’s family.
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A digger arrived and a hole was dug in the far corner of the block. This was a bit of a surprise as the plans for the site did not call for a basement or indeed any work below ground. It turns out this was some soil sampling work and the site has subsequently been sold to a different developer, so getting some shade for our West-facing wall seems as far away as ever.
In September Jay was sent to California for work with only one day’s notice. This was a similar trip to the one he had two years ago in that he was not allowed to tell anyone anything about the work at the time. Once the date had passed for the iPad launch event I was able to find out more about the work. Their next major game release has now been announced: Need for Speed: No Limits.
Though his studio’s games did not feature heavily, unlike last time, at least he was able to spend some time with his sister’s family in Palo Alto. This was some compensation for missing the AFL Grand Final for which we had tickets. In his place I took Beau, a friend who was about to move to Sydney and had never been to an AFL game.
Hawthorn dominated the game, so it wasn’t as exciting as some of the earlier finals matches, but Beau enjoyed the spectacle. Neither of us wanted to stay for the Ed Sheeran concert which followed the game.
Jay also missed the IFBB Victorian Championships. His ticket was used by a friend, Steve, who was planning to go and buy a ticket at the door. It wasn’t a particularly good show as there is probably a lot more anticipation and interest for the new “Arnold Classic Australia” show which is coming in March and is being promoted by the owner of our gym.
While he was away, I was once again bumped into from behind in our car, which entailed the inconvenience of yet another (free) repair, making it four times the car has had a minor bump: twice while parked and twice while stationary in traffic. After our disappointing attempt to find a new car we both liked last year we might have another try in 2015.
Shortly after he got back we were once again helping with the Melbourne Argonauts Trivia Night. This year the feature act for the opening was a drag ABBA tribute group and we had to escort them to and from the stage. Our costume direction was “70s band security”. We were about as convincing as the band itself.
At the NGV we visited the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition which was quite an extensive collection of his clothing and designs. It was surprising to find how long it was since we had been to one of the featured exhibitions there. We should try to go a little more often.
Despite working plenty of extra time when he was in California, Jay still volunteered to do a day at the Penny Arcade Expo in Melbourne. EA were showing a preview of Dragon Age: Inquisition and both their section and the expo as a whole were very well-attended. He said he’d never seen so much cardboard armour in one place, as everyone apparently wanted to be Master Chief from Halo.
With the weather improving and plans for Summer coming together, my father asked us to go to the beach house at Sorrento and cut down two largely dead tress which were threatening to fall on the house. There was a certain amount of anxiety about whether we could get them down without anything falling on the roof or guttering, but we were successful.
This is Jay catting the last pieces off the second stump with the electric chainsaw. We also found that the plumbing was blocked so we got two important tasks done on the one trip. The weather was not really beach weather, so we visited my cousin Amanda and had a few meals at restaurants in the town.
Summer also means getting a little more serious at the gym. We were provided some inspiration by “Big Ramy” Elssbiay who was training there during a promotional tour. We last saw him at the 2013 Olympia where he came 8th.
Next for us is the slow-down of work in December and then travelling to California again for Christmas with Jay’s family.
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