You can probably imagine how surprised Mrs G and I were to wake up in our time on Christmas Day, and even more surprised to be able to have a shower before the kids woke. In the end we had to wake them up - but it didn't take a lot of effort.
LGR was pretty impressed with Santa's efforts. Hayzey didn't care too much - she had found a pre-assembled toy kitched and toy tool bench and was more than happy to play with these.
The present opening started off smoothly but soon the number of presents opened was greater than the number of presents left and the kids wanted to play vs open. So we stopped for some breakfast and then decided to jump in the car and head on up to Nanna's place.
The trip was uneventful and we arrived at about 11:00. Aunt LJ and the cousins were already there, and soon after we arrived the Lithgow contingent and my Nanna arrived. It was straight into some beers, nibbles and a bit of soccer and then time for more presents.
This present opening, as always, was very noisy and very chaotic. Hayzey loved it but LGR had his hands over his ears as often as not and was not impressed with the volume.
Soon enough presents turned into lunch and we all sat down to the traditional Christmas meats and a couple of salads. From there nothing much more happened - just a bunch of talking and eating and general relaxing.
---
About midafternoon it was time to depart and head over to Grandma's. We had to detour via Uncle G's work (he's a chef in a very decent restaurant with some fantastic valley views). In short time we'd paid our respects and were at Grandma's. Mrs G started to develop a fantastic case of hayfever and was intermittently amused and frustrated by it.
Uncle G arrived home pretty soon after we all got there and the present opening began again. It was a little less chaotic than earlier in the day and I think LGR appreciated being the centre of attention. As occurred earlier in the day both kids became more interested in playing with their gifts and a break was taken to allow us to have dinner.
As expected the kiddies started to get tired about 18:00 so they were bathed, dessert had and more presents opened.
In the end we didn't leave until about 20:00 or so and managed to detour via a house in Leura which has the most fantastic light display. Hayzey was asleep by this point but LGR was still (just) awake so I got him out of the car to have a good look. He declared the lights to the 'best ever'.
It was on this moment of joy that he was bundled back into the car and we returned home for some very deep sleep.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Christmas Eve
The Jones Clan managed a pretty busy Christmas. It probably started for us on Christmas Eve, when the Huffy family came around for lunch. It was nice to catch and see the kids playing in the fairly large portable plastic pool we (ie Mrs G) had just inflated. To top it off I BBQ'd up some octopus and prawns which were fantastic.
That evening we went for a walk around our local area with LGR and Hayzey. The primary reason was to get them to go to sleep; but a secondary excuse was to go out and see the Christmas lights. Hayzey went to sleep very quickly but LGR was much too excited by the lights.
Once we got him home he was pretty good, and was asleep by 21:30.
Once Mrs G and I myself went to bed the house was quiet and at some point in the evening Santa arrived.
That evening we went for a walk around our local area with LGR and Hayzey. The primary reason was to get them to go to sleep; but a secondary excuse was to go out and see the Christmas lights. Hayzey went to sleep very quickly but LGR was much too excited by the lights.
Once we got him home he was pretty good, and was asleep by 21:30.
Once Mrs G and I myself went to bed the house was quiet and at some point in the evening Santa arrived.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Hurrah!!
A big congratulations and three cheers for BJ - who has submitted her Thesis and is now free to take some time off and enjoy life :-)
Well done BJ.
----
There was a recent artistic event in San Francisco where a public, metred car space was 'rented' by a group of artists for 2 hours and converted into open green space for the public to use. They called the event PARK(ing). Have a look - it prompts some thought (as do a lot of other projects these guys get involved in).
Well done BJ.
----
There was a recent artistic event in San Francisco where a public, metred car space was 'rented' by a group of artists for 2 hours and converted into open green space for the public to use. They called the event PARK(ing). Have a look - it prompts some thought (as do a lot of other projects these guys get involved in).
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Torch
When we took LGR up to bed last night he was quite adamant he didn't want to go to sleep. Mrs G came up with the great idea of giving him a torch and a book. LGR liked this and, as best as we can tell, flicked through some books by the light of the torch, got tired and then went to sleep.
He even remembered to turn off the torch.
---
We went out for dinner on Monday night. To McDonalds. With one of LGR's mates and his family. It was a curiously good dinner. I am a huge fan of the Tandoori Chicken rolls they do and the kids loved playing on the toys. We even got to swap some Christmas presents.
Best of all - the kids were buggered after the game and went to bed pretty easy.
He even remembered to turn off the torch.
---
We went out for dinner on Monday night. To McDonalds. With one of LGR's mates and his family. It was a curiously good dinner. I am a huge fan of the Tandoori Chicken rolls they do and the kids loved playing on the toys. We even got to swap some Christmas presents.
Best of all - the kids were buggered after the game and went to bed pretty easy.
Monday, December 19, 2005
The Wiggles
The Jones clan headed in to the Sydney Entertainment Centre yesterday to see The Wiggles. It was great. We went along with some of LGR's mates (and their respective families) and all the kids had a great time.
The best part of the day for me was watching LGR and his little buddies sitting on consecutive chairs in the Ent Cent waiting patiently, and then getting very excited when the lights started to dim and then being awestruck when the show began. They all danced and sang and clapped and smiled - but only for about 15 minutes. The show got a little bit flat and they got a bit tired - but every now and then a song one of them particularly liked would come on and they'd jump up and start all over again.
I had the privilege of sitting on the aisle and had Murray wiggle and Santa Claus go straight past me. The kids didn't move - they were stunned to see a Wiggle so close.
Even Hayzey enjoyed the show - for most of she sat on my lap perfectly still with her hands clasped together watching it all very intently. When the mood her took her she would clap or wave her hands. About halfway through she decided to go to sleep - but this only lasted for 20 minutes or so :-)
The best part of the day for me was watching LGR and his little buddies sitting on consecutive chairs in the Ent Cent waiting patiently, and then getting very excited when the lights started to dim and then being awestruck when the show began. They all danced and sang and clapped and smiled - but only for about 15 minutes. The show got a little bit flat and they got a bit tired - but every now and then a song one of them particularly liked would come on and they'd jump up and start all over again.
I had the privilege of sitting on the aisle and had Murray wiggle and Santa Claus go straight past me. The kids didn't move - they were stunned to see a Wiggle so close.
Even Hayzey enjoyed the show - for most of she sat on my lap perfectly still with her hands clasped together watching it all very intently. When the mood her took her she would clap or wave her hands. About halfway through she decided to go to sleep - but this only lasted for 20 minutes or so :-)
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Christmas Lights
This evening we all packed up our picnic gear and headed to Penshurst to revisit the 'old days' of our lives - pre kids. This would be achieved by visiting one of our old food places, grabbing some takeaway and eating in a park and then walking down some streets that have traditionally had excellent outdoor Christmas light displays.
The dinner itself was reasonable - not as good as we remember but not awful either. The park was very nice and the kids had a great time. We probably played for about 2 hours before deciding it was dark enough to wander on over to the streets with the lights.
LGR was quite excited and enjoyed the lights. There were many questions and excited noises. Mrs G and I remember the street being brighter, louder and much more crowded - but the lack of crowds didn't worry us.
Towards the end of the walk it looked as though it was going to pour so I ran back to get the car. We jointly decided to head over to Lugarno - rumour had it there was a pretty good light display.
In the end we found it - and so had the rest of Sydney (seemingly). In essence it was a single street which was mostly nothing out of the ordinary, but with two houses that were very very bright. It took close to 30 minutes of queueing in the car to get to the street, and then about 5 minutes to get down it.
I wouldn't queue to do it again but am glad to have seen it just the same.
----
I got my first drive and cycle on the M7 today. The road itself is quite impressive and certainly an impressive construction effort. Having said that I would be very surprised if I use it all that often - $6 to get from my place to the M4 seems a touch steep and if I used it for work the daily trip cost would be $20 - $12 for the M7 and then other $8 for the M2. All for the sake of saving anywhere between 0 and 15 minutes (on average).
The cycle track is a different kettle of fish - 40km of interrupted roadway which joins up with a myriad of other bike tracks to form an integral part of the often referenced BikePlan 2010
I like the bike track :-)
The dinner itself was reasonable - not as good as we remember but not awful either. The park was very nice and the kids had a great time. We probably played for about 2 hours before deciding it was dark enough to wander on over to the streets with the lights.
LGR was quite excited and enjoyed the lights. There were many questions and excited noises. Mrs G and I remember the street being brighter, louder and much more crowded - but the lack of crowds didn't worry us.
Towards the end of the walk it looked as though it was going to pour so I ran back to get the car. We jointly decided to head over to Lugarno - rumour had it there was a pretty good light display.
In the end we found it - and so had the rest of Sydney (seemingly). In essence it was a single street which was mostly nothing out of the ordinary, but with two houses that were very very bright. It took close to 30 minutes of queueing in the car to get to the street, and then about 5 minutes to get down it.
I wouldn't queue to do it again but am glad to have seen it just the same.
----
I got my first drive and cycle on the M7 today. The road itself is quite impressive and certainly an impressive construction effort. Having said that I would be very surprised if I use it all that often - $6 to get from my place to the M4 seems a touch steep and if I used it for work the daily trip cost would be $20 - $12 for the M7 and then other $8 for the M2. All for the sake of saving anywhere between 0 and 15 minutes (on average).
The cycle track is a different kettle of fish - 40km of interrupted roadway which joins up with a myriad of other bike tracks to form an integral part of the often referenced BikePlan 2010
I like the bike track :-)
Friday, December 16, 2005
Big Steps
You will all be pleased to hear that Hayzey is now more or less walking everywhere. She still crawls from time to time but for the most part is walking just about all the time.
And she is very impressed with her newfound ability :-)
---
Here is some Swedish money - apparently they are redesigning the notes to make them more modern. I'm particularly with the foetus, the skull and what is reported to be the AIDS nanostructure on the 200 note.
Very odd. Nice colours however.
And she is very impressed with her newfound ability :-)
---
Here is some Swedish money - apparently they are redesigning the notes to make them more modern. I'm particularly with the foetus, the skull and what is reported to be the AIDS nanostructure on the 200 note.
Very odd. Nice colours however.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Another Family Birthday
Today our birthday wishes go out to my Dad aka Pampar.
Hope you have a good day.
Pampar might also be interested to know that LGR believes there won't be any presents for Pampar from Santa this year - because Pampar has been naughty.
The crime? Pampar didn't help us put up the Christmas tree :-)
Hope you have a good day.
Pampar might also be interested to know that LGR believes there won't be any presents for Pampar from Santa this year - because Pampar has been naughty.
The crime? Pampar didn't help us put up the Christmas tree :-)
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Parties
The kids had their kindy Christmas party yesterday. LGR loved it, and I'm told Hayzey did also but she won't confirm this for me :-)
The party sounded like it was a much better production than last year - Santa turned up (as expected) and they also had a mobile petting zoo. The kids received some beautiful looking books as gifts from Santa and the Mums and Dads took ownership of the artworks produced by the kiddies during the year.
LGR patted the animals!! He even said he enjoyed it. Anyone who has ever seen LGR near an animal of any sort knows how big this achievement is. It makes the prospect of pets in the Jones household much more likely.
The second party of the day was for Mrs G's birthday - and this was a very low key affair. We presented her with some gifts, ordered dinner and had some cake. Both kids were in a beautiful mood and a generally good evening was had. Lochie was dead keen to give out the gifts. He wasn't overly concerned about Mrs G opening them so long as they were given out.
---
Hayzey seems to have had a development spurt of some sort in the last two weeks. She is now choosing to stand and walk more often than not and has become very vocal. I'm pretty sure she understands the words hello and eyes. She knows that a phone is held next to a persons ear and you talk into it ....
Hayzey also understands the phrase 'Crazy Girl' - if you say it to her she will start manically shaking her head from side to side and, if sitting in the high chair, kick her feet wildly. It's very cute.
---
I stumbled across this recently. I particularly enjoyed the warnings - both the general warning near the top of the page and the more specific warning for the super magnets about halfway down the page.
The party sounded like it was a much better production than last year - Santa turned up (as expected) and they also had a mobile petting zoo. The kids received some beautiful looking books as gifts from Santa and the Mums and Dads took ownership of the artworks produced by the kiddies during the year.
LGR patted the animals!! He even said he enjoyed it. Anyone who has ever seen LGR near an animal of any sort knows how big this achievement is. It makes the prospect of pets in the Jones household much more likely.
The second party of the day was for Mrs G's birthday - and this was a very low key affair. We presented her with some gifts, ordered dinner and had some cake. Both kids were in a beautiful mood and a generally good evening was had. Lochie was dead keen to give out the gifts. He wasn't overly concerned about Mrs G opening them so long as they were given out.
---
Hayzey seems to have had a development spurt of some sort in the last two weeks. She is now choosing to stand and walk more often than not and has become very vocal. I'm pretty sure she understands the words hello and eyes. She knows that a phone is held next to a persons ear and you talk into it ....
Hayzey also understands the phrase 'Crazy Girl' - if you say it to her she will start manically shaking her head from side to side and, if sitting in the high chair, kick her feet wildly. It's very cute.
---
I stumbled across this recently. I particularly enjoyed the warnings - both the general warning near the top of the page and the more specific warning for the super magnets about halfway down the page.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Vietnamese Travel Photo
A friend recently travelled through Vietname and managed to find this establishment.
I'm sure we all agree that this is a very unfortunate alignment of businesses.
I'm sure we all agree that this is a very unfortunate alignment of businesses.
An Excellent Weekend
I mentioned earlier today that I had a good weekend. It's true - I did.
As always the weekend started very early on Saturday morning; beginning with swimming lesson for LJ. We were at the pool by 07:15 and I had a bit of time for a swim before heading off to work. I did 3-4 hours of overtime and then headed back home.
My weekend was about to get excellent.
I had a few aims for Saturday afternoon - the primary one being to build the kids a swing set. I set about this task with much gusto and had a guarantee from LJ that he would be very helpful and listen to whatever I had to say. Predictably he got bored very quickly and buggered off after about 15 minutes.
It was hot - 30+ degrees and I decided to 'man it up' and throw off the shirt. Felt great at the time but I would rediscover later how bad sunburnt ears feel.
Suffice to say I did manage to build the swingset. Some help was required from Mrs G for things like holding posts in place (and I was very grateful for this) but for the most part it was 3.5 hours of my finest work.
After my construction feat was a quick shower and then a BBQ. I fried up some kangaroo steaks, Italian chilli sausages and ordinary bangers for the 'lil ones. Good thing I cooked the plain old sausages because the chilli sausages were very chilli. The kangaroo was outstanding - I ended up cutting it into very fine slices and eating on a bread roll with a delicious little beetroot relish. A very fine BBQ.
And that was pretty much Saturday - a day of domestic achievements :-)
Sunday was cool. We were having a semi-Christmas lunch with some of Mrs G's family and spent the morning bothering around the house getting ready. Unc G came down and prepared up some scrummy little treats (which we all sampled) and, in between times, entertained the kiddies.
Our guests arrived in due course and food was had. I think the highlight was that neither myself nor Mrs G had to do any cooking, and what cooking was done was done by someone who is pretty damned good at it. Made the day very easy and very cool.
Our guests had some kiddies (9 and 4 years old). LGR played with the 4 year old (after the initial shyness was worked through) and the 9 year old loved Hayzey. This left the adults to be adults; and I really enjoyed this.
----
So that's my weekend. It doesn't sound like much on paper but in the real world it was fantastic.
As always the weekend started very early on Saturday morning; beginning with swimming lesson for LJ. We were at the pool by 07:15 and I had a bit of time for a swim before heading off to work. I did 3-4 hours of overtime and then headed back home.
My weekend was about to get excellent.
I had a few aims for Saturday afternoon - the primary one being to build the kids a swing set. I set about this task with much gusto and had a guarantee from LJ that he would be very helpful and listen to whatever I had to say. Predictably he got bored very quickly and buggered off after about 15 minutes.
It was hot - 30+ degrees and I decided to 'man it up' and throw off the shirt. Felt great at the time but I would rediscover later how bad sunburnt ears feel.
Suffice to say I did manage to build the swingset. Some help was required from Mrs G for things like holding posts in place (and I was very grateful for this) but for the most part it was 3.5 hours of my finest work.
After my construction feat was a quick shower and then a BBQ. I fried up some kangaroo steaks, Italian chilli sausages and ordinary bangers for the 'lil ones. Good thing I cooked the plain old sausages because the chilli sausages were very chilli. The kangaroo was outstanding - I ended up cutting it into very fine slices and eating on a bread roll with a delicious little beetroot relish. A very fine BBQ.
And that was pretty much Saturday - a day of domestic achievements :-)
Sunday was cool. We were having a semi-Christmas lunch with some of Mrs G's family and spent the morning bothering around the house getting ready. Unc G came down and prepared up some scrummy little treats (which we all sampled) and, in between times, entertained the kiddies.
Our guests arrived in due course and food was had. I think the highlight was that neither myself nor Mrs G had to do any cooking, and what cooking was done was done by someone who is pretty damned good at it. Made the day very easy and very cool.
Our guests had some kiddies (9 and 4 years old). LGR played with the 4 year old (after the initial shyness was worked through) and the 9 year old loved Hayzey. This left the adults to be adults; and I really enjoyed this.
----
So that's my weekend. It doesn't sound like much on paper but in the real world it was fantastic.
A Very Expensive Mistake
I've just read this on the Internet:
The Typo That Cost A Quarter Of A Billion Dollars (At Least)
Earlier this year, we had a story about a Taiwanese stock trader who made a typo on on a new trading platform her company was using -- costing the firm $251 million. We were surprised that any kind of equities trading software wouldn't have controls to catch such trades, but apparently not. Now we have yet another example. Head up to Japan and you find a case where a trader who might not have had enough caffeine swapped the number of shares he was trying to sell with the price, so that instead of selling one share for 610,000 yen ($5,065), he tried to sell 610,000 shares (40 times the outstanding shares) for (yup) one yen. The system was smart enough not to let the sale go through for one yen, but it did sell many shares at a steep, steep discount. The company whose equity was at stake was having their IPO, so they couldn't have been particularly thrilled. The investment bank, Mizuho Securities, has been scrambling to buy back all the shares they sold -- at a huge premium. So far, the estimates are that the bank has lost $224 million for this little typo. So, with two examples in just a few months showing how little trading typos lead to quarter of a billion dollar losses, don't you think someone might look into making the software that traders use a bit... uh... smarter?
----
That's gotta hurt!!!
Had a huge weekend - will sit down later tonight and do a full update.
The Typo That Cost A Quarter Of A Billion Dollars (At Least)
Earlier this year, we had a story about a Taiwanese stock trader who made a typo on on a new trading platform her company was using -- costing the firm $251 million. We were surprised that any kind of equities trading software wouldn't have controls to catch such trades, but apparently not. Now we have yet another example. Head up to Japan and you find a case where a trader who might not have had enough caffeine swapped the number of shares he was trying to sell with the price, so that instead of selling one share for 610,000 yen ($5,065), he tried to sell 610,000 shares (40 times the outstanding shares) for (yup) one yen. The system was smart enough not to let the sale go through for one yen, but it did sell many shares at a steep, steep discount. The company whose equity was at stake was having their IPO, so they couldn't have been particularly thrilled. The investment bank, Mizuho Securities, has been scrambling to buy back all the shares they sold -- at a huge premium. So far, the estimates are that the bank has lost $224 million for this little typo. So, with two examples in just a few months showing how little trading typos lead to quarter of a billion dollar losses, don't you think someone might look into making the software that traders use a bit... uh... smarter?
----
That's gotta hurt!!!
Had a huge weekend - will sit down later tonight and do a full update.
Friday, December 09, 2005
A compliment
The good family Jones was sitting around the dinner table last evening discussing the events of the coming day (ie today) and it was mentioned to LGR that he would be going for a drive with Mummy to have lunch with someone special.
The response was an excited "Is it Daddy?"
That is a large compliment indeed. And it is also true that I am the special person ...
--
Found this groovy little alarm clock earlier today. I have no problems waking up when there's any sort of noise but I know of some people who may need something like this:
Flying Alarm Clock
The response was an excited "Is it Daddy?"
That is a large compliment indeed. And it is also true that I am the special person ...
--
Found this groovy little alarm clock earlier today. I have no problems waking up when there's any sort of noise but I know of some people who may need something like this:
Flying Alarm Clock
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Daily Dose of Imagery
I've "discovered" (ie stumbled across) a fantastic photo site. I haven't read much of the text on the site yet - I only go there for the pictures :-)
You can see it here: Daily Dose of Imagery
You can see it here: Daily Dose of Imagery
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Italian Petrol
I've often wanted to travel the world and see things. Still do as a matter of fact.
This web page make me wonder just how hard it would be ....
Petrol Instructions
This web page make me wonder just how hard it would be ....
Petrol Instructions
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Steps
About a 10 days back Hayzey took her first step. Actually - she took two. I saw it happen but CJ didn't so we decided it didn't really happen :-)
Then last Wednesday Hayzey took another two steps - but this time I didn't see it but CJ and LGR did. So this event didnt' really happen either.
On Saturday Hayzey whipped out three steps at her birthday party. She did this 3 times in a row in front of a room full of people. This time it really did happen.
I got home from work yesterday and was told Hayzey was up to 5 steps. By the time we put her to bed last night it was 7.
The other thing she has started is standing (unsupported) and bobbing up and down while she claps - almost like she is dancing. There's even the occasional moment where she puts in a nice little twist while she is standing up.
Then last Wednesday Hayzey took another two steps - but this time I didn't see it but CJ and LGR did. So this event didnt' really happen either.
On Saturday Hayzey whipped out three steps at her birthday party. She did this 3 times in a row in front of a room full of people. This time it really did happen.
I got home from work yesterday and was told Hayzey was up to 5 steps. By the time we put her to bed last night it was 7.
The other thing she has started is standing (unsupported) and bobbing up and down while she claps - almost like she is dancing. There's even the occasional moment where she puts in a nice little twist while she is standing up.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
A Big Day
It's finally arrived - my little girl is celebrating her first birthday today ....
Happy birthday my little sweety.
Happy birthday my little sweety.
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