Archive for Shine You Crazy Diamond

Sleep…. Sleep… A kingdom for some sleep

{ June 19, 2007 @ 12:57 pm } · { Shine You Crazy Diamond }
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Yes, I have not been sleeping well and long enough to rest. My tiny wonder boy has been poorly for weeks now. He had bad cough, then molars coming out , then some fluid in his ears and now some sort of rash developing on his nappy line. I think my tiny little boy is stressed and his habbits are now affecting me and my missus…

Update…. I have been appointed a new job since first week of June. I am still doing my old job though so I am sort of in the “transition” mode. I am just so excited to do my new job but my old job is still occupying most of my brain… I reckon this is also one of the reasons I can’t sleep at night. I find it difficult to do two jobs as they both are demanding especially the people and planning side of things.

Anyways, I am looking forward to the weekend ,24th of June, as I will be seeing GN’R (Guns and Roses) here in Sydney. Sad to say though that Slash had left the band ages ago. Good on him – he seems to have more sense than hair, but this means I can only see half of the original GN’R on stage. The question is – Will Axle Rose be wearing his signature spandex shorts (look like bike shorts) ???

….Shhhhh…. I had a pair of them in black back in them old days when it was soooo cooool to whistle the intro of “Patience”.

Well, I will put a review of that concert here.

Also, I had a nice 2007 Father’s Day dinner (this is the British father’s day I am talkin about, we have a different father’s day in Oz) complimented by a bottle of 2004 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Margaret River. This is the type of wine Eddie Veder (Pearl Jam) was drinking on stage the night I saw them on their last leg of their world tour here in Sydney early this year.

Only worth half the curse

{ June 1, 2007 @ 12:39 pm } · { Personal, Shine You Crazy Diamond }
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Ah finally I can sit down tonight and sip my wine…. Tonight I just realised that the humble washing machine is a complex piece of machinery that I could not live without. If I were on my own, I would not mind not having one, I would prefer to have a trip to a laundrette to do my wash but since having an ankle biter, we have at least two loads a day to wash.

On Tuesday night, the darn thing started to play up. I had to rescue a load of my baby boy’s clothing as it has been sitting there for hours. The problem seems to be a clogged pump filter according to the manual. I took out the filter and found these treasures in there – four AU$2 coins and three 5 cent coins. I was happy to see them as I could definitely enjoy a large hot cuppa with these found treasures on my next trip to Gloria Jeans. I put back the filter, switched the machine on and guess what – it did not work. For the past three nights I have been doing the washing sort of in semi-automatic mode. I would let the machine do the wash and I did the manual pump override. It wasn’t a walk in the park because I did the job until 10:30pm waiting for the cycles to finish – for the love of my son indeed.

I could not afford to get a new washing machine and was becoming resigned to the fact that this is going to be my night life as a Rock Dad until I can afford one. I could just see myself playing a guitar to this white boxy thing and if ever the missus asked me where the hell I am taking my guitar and amplifier with me, I would just say – “Sweetie, I’ve got a gig with the washing machine tonight.”.

As what a bloke would do, I had enough and decided to give it a go. I pulled the back of the washing machine off and pulled the top off and tried to get access to the pump. After an hour of analysing and fidgeting I have decided to tilt the machine sideways to allow me to access the solenoid and twist the hose a bit. What a pain – poor design on the manufacturer I would say because there is no way to access the pump except through the bottom or by completely dismantling the machine. Suddenly I thought, I should try to move the impeller manually by the use of a long screw driver. As soon as I directed the torch, there it was like a tiny devil smiling at me peeping in the corner and hoping not to get noticed – a 10 cent coin… I was spewing (Australian for really mad) and cursing and fidgeting and bending and kneeling and poked and poked and poked and cursed some more until I got it an hour and a half later.

One thing I learnt tonight is the most basic of all things which is attention to detail….. It was not a 10 cent coin, it was a 5 cent coin instead…. Nearly the most expensive 5 cent coin I have ever seen. You beauty!