Thursday 29 January 2009

Thanks to Mr Cassidy for an enjoyable evening in Zürich


it was good to catch up, save the world and have a nice dinner with a few drinks. We really should do that much more regularly.
I also managed to speak with Jenaya today as she was celebrating her 11th birthday and it sounds as if everyone in Singapore was having a ball! I can't remember too much about being 11 (heck, that was a long time ago) but I'm sure that it was fun and growing up in Wagga Wagga was pretty stress-free.
The World Economic Forum is taking place in Davos at the moment. Lots of overpaid attention-seekers trying to sound important and beat each other to the headlines. The only good news that I have heard from WEF thus far is that John Thain wasn't attending :-)
It has been a very poor month as far as taking photographs is concerned and I am quite disappointed. I hope to be able to get started again over the weekend so that I can at least capture something worthwhile before January is over....... (photo shamelessly swiped from Davos Tourism's website www.davos.ch/winter-001-00-en.htm).

Sunday 25 January 2009

Best wishes to all for an enjoyable Rabbie Burns Nite


I was lucky enough to be able to toast the bard at 12:01 this morning- a couple of friends and a glass of whisky! The ski weekend was lots of fun and luckily Saturday's weather turned out to be a lot better than expected- I believe that everyone made it up the mountain and we had a great lunch together. Our luck with the weather didn't quite extend all the way through Saturday and we had a fun walk for about 20 minutes through a snowstorm to get back to civilisation after our dinner. No major incidents to report and everybody had a good time.
"And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak' a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne."

Wednesday 21 January 2009

A new guy in the hot seat


and I hope that he really enjoyed his party yesterday because somehow I think that yesterday will be his last fun day for quite a while....... On the brighter side eerrgggh, uuuuhhhhmmm, aaagghh.. I guess that there is not a lot on the brighter side at the moment :-( If Mr Obama can't find the controls and get the world turned around quick smart we are all going to hell in a handcart and when that happens "Global Warming" could be positive. After all- when I am living under a wood pile down by the river I would much rather it be 22° than 14°.
Off to Arosa on the weekend for the ski weekend extravaganza (and to make Canton Graubünden very nervous) but sadly the weather report is not looking too sharp. At least if the weather is nice, we will be able to spend some time outdoors, go for a walk and get some fresh air. Last time that we were snowed in for our ski weekend things did get completely out of hand!
I'm looking forward to catching up with McBoesch tomorrow evening for a quick whisky-tasting, the perfect warm-up to Burns Night on Sunday. Sunday will certainly be something to celebrate as it will be 250 years since the birth of the bard.

Sunday 18 January 2009

If anyone will stop long enough, I would love to tell them


just how good this stuff is. We ordered some new wine last week (a blend of Sangiovese, which is the King of Tuscany and Shiraz, which is one of Australia's great grapes). It is made in Australia by a family of Australian-Italians and the bottle that we tried this evening was fantastic. The price is reasonable and this may become our bbq special wine for 2009!
Otherwise, life is pretty steady....... the cold and snow have been replaced by wind and rain and at the moment I am not sure which I rather. Had a good session in the gym today and hope to get in there again tomorrow evening to try to get back into the groove.
Next weekend is our company ski weekend, which will be great fun but also tiring and hard work. One big party from Friday evening until Sunday..... we will need to get back to the office to have a rest :-)
Not too much more news....... have a great week!

Friday 16 January 2009

You leave the Moose on his own for a couple of days


and he starts sending photos of "Grange" bottles and stories about how a mate brought the wine along to dinner and they just had to drink it :-) No respect!!
I have had a good week but I am very glad that it is Friday evening. Looking forward to catching up on some sleep this evening and then seeing a couple of friends tomorrow lunchtime before taking things easy until Monday morning. If things go according to plan, I might even fit in a gym visit or two.
Received another CD in the post today- Guitar God Brother Wayne Kramer and I will be adding that to my iTunes very shortly. Still on the lookout for MC5, The Flamin' Groovies and quite a few other things but I guess that there is no real rush.........
It's good night from me........ and it's good night from him. Good night.

Sunday 11 January 2009

It has been a cold, dark weekend


and I hope that I can be more productive this coming week. Until now, I have been unable to take a photo for my month-long project (which is rapidly heading down the drain) and I know that I have a couple of busy days and evenings this coming week which means that photo time will be severely limited. On a brighter note, I have rediscovered a lot of my old music since down-loading iTunes onto my laptop and am really enjoying having music at the push of a button again.
It has been a while and I think that we need to make another trip to The Chief's to eat sushi again this week. I am also going to be in Schaffhausen on Wednesday evening and Thursday before heading home again on Thursday night.

Thursday 8 January 2009

After a little editorial meddling


I am back in the same place 24 hours later. Not quite so annoyed but still have not been able to take a photo to keep my project alive.......... Maybe a little inspiration in the next hour or so!?!?

Saturday 3 January 2009

I know that it is happening, and I think that I am seeing it-


our days are definitely getting longer :-) Colder as well, but that is not such a problem. After being in the office yesterday on a Swiss holiday, it was nice to get home reasonably early to start the weekend and we spent a most relaxing Friday evening lounging on the sofa, reading some of our new books and magazines and generally taking it easy.
This month I am involved in another month-long photo challenge which will hopefully sharpen up some of my skills and at least make me think about how I can capture a decent image when the light levels are so low. It will be a great learning experience and I am excited to see some of the work produced by the other participants.
Finally managed to catch up with Gary, Helena and Campbell today to wish them a belated Merry Christmas and a good start to the New Year- the kids sounded happy to be in the iPod business and I hope that their joy continues. We are certainly having fun with ours!
As per program, I am starting the year with a dry month (or fairly close to a dry month). The exceptions appear to be a get-together in Schaffhausen with a group of friends and acquaintances and our company ski weekend in Arosa. The point of the month is to give my body a rest, lose some weight and concentrate on getting back into the gym- so far things are going well and I will be off to the gym again this afternoon (hopefully with Catherine in tow).