One of these nights I will have a proper sleep

as I am getting pretty annoyed at being awake 5 times during the night. Why is it that the best part of your sleep is the 10 minutes before the alarm clock screams?
My plans for getting to the gym regularly during Catherine's absence are going well- I am starting to feel a bit fitter and stronger and plan on attending another spinning class this evening. Hopefully this will translate to some more weight loss over the next few weeks as that helps with the motivation as well.
Not too much to report- looking forward to a warmer weekend here in Zürich and I plan on getting out with my camera to try to get some more photos. It has been a very quiet time on that front and with the days getting longer it is time to get stuck in again.
Happy Birthday Nicole! Hope that you have a great day and enjoy your planned festivities. I look forward to speaking with you a little later.

Dinner was lots of fun- thanks gentlemen!

I certainly enjoyed the company and the wines and I hope that the others found the food to be acceptable...... all in all, a great evening. Relatively early to bed and up this morning to get started on the Sunday chores before heading off to the gym. The snow lying around this morning was a surprise but luckily it wasn't a problem at all and around here most of it seems to have disappeared during the day.
It is going to be another tough week- the banking sector of the economy is still struggling under the weight of the problems that have emerged in the last 18 months and it is really starting to take a toll in other areas. The city of Zürich looked like a ghost town when I was in there yesterday- sure it is holiday time and some people are away, but there were very few shoppers around. Hopefully things will begin to improve sooner rather than later and we can get on with our lives before too much more damage is done to morale and bank balances.
Hopefully the Moose Man is all tuned up and ready to rock in Singapore.......

I am looking forward to the weekend

although I have been quite successful getting into the gym this week, having more time on the weekend makes things easier and somewhat more enjoyable too. It was nice to get into a spinning class this evening and with luck I can manage a couple of good training sessions over the weekend too which will help to get my weight moving in the right direction.
Hosting dinner for Chef Enzo, Chef Giorgio and Captain Pipo on Saturday which will be lots of fun and I am sure that we will have a proper boy's evening together. There will be enough red meat and red wine to keep everyone happy :-)
Catherine seems to be having a good time in Australia and I hope that things continue in that vein.
Since the snow fall earlier in the week, things around here have remained pretty cool....... sort of makes me think about summer again!

Happy Birthday Jacqueline

Hi Gorgeous, hope that you had a great Sunday with Aunty Catherine and the rest of the family. Your birthday party looks like it was a lot of fun and I am sorry that I couldn't be there too. I hope to speak with you later to wish you a proper happy birthday.
much love, Uncle David xxxxx

I have managed to get to the gym a couple of times over

the weekend so I guess that should be seen as some kind of success. The weight is certainly not falling off me, but at least I feel better from week-to-week and can train a little harder than I could a month ago.
Catherine has arrived safely in Sydney and seems to be settling in quickly. Yumcha with the family and then Jacqueline's birthday party on Sunday afternoon- getting off to a fast start!
Not a lot more to report but I hope to have something more positive to say later on in the week...

In another 24 hours, Catherine will be in the air

and on her way to Oz to visit all of the gang and have a well-earned holiday. I am staying behind this time and will work and also keep an eye on our wine cellar :-) Fingers crossed that the dreadful weather and frightful fires are finished in Victoria so that Catherine and the family can take it easy and celebrate Brian's birthday in style.
This evening was another visit to the gym and I am planning on keeping up the rhythm in order that I can lose a little weight while Catherine is away and get fit for the coming summer. Hope to be able to take a lot of photos too- the last month has been awful in that department and maybe the break will do my creativity some good.
By the way- dinner on Saturday night was good (and I don't have to say so myself) and the wine was fantastic as well. We all had lots of fun and I hope that we can get the group together again at some point for a re-match.
See ya later, alligator! xx

YUMMMMMMM

What a team!
Marinated olives & a homemade artichoke dip accompanied with olive bread to start, served with a 2007 Cullen Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon. Entree was a salad of rucola & pear with balsamic vinegar & olive oil dressing.
Main course; osso buco alla milanese served with saffron risotto and 2002 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz was fantastic, bravo Davide.
The cheese course included my favourite, Roquefort, and Brie de Meaux with black truffles and a pecorino, accompanied by nut bread and olive oil biscuits, dates and pear.
The pièce de résistance was a Torta Nera, home made, of course, served with De Bortoli Black Noble. (http://gourmettraveller.com.au/torta_nera.htm)
All plates went back to the kitchen empty and our guests, Myrtha, Dan, Claudia and Sylvia went home very happy and sated.

It has been a less-than-inspiring week

however, I have managed a couple of visits to the gym, a sushi dinner and tomorrow is the Chief's birthday (so not all is lost). We will pop in to have sushi again tomorrow evening and wish the great man all the very best and in the process get our weekend off to a good start.
I am also looking forward to entertaining at home on Saturday evening- it appears as if the weather is going to be cold and miserable, so hopefully we can find a menu which suits this time of year. Strangely, I already have a pretty good idea what we might drink :-)

This has been a pretty relaxing weekend and today

I haven't even managed to make it out of the front door! It started to snow this afternoon and I was very happy not to have to leave home. Luckily we have all that we need here for dinner and I have just opened a bottle of Adelaide Hills Riesling to get into the mood for cooking up an Asian stir-fry.
I am currently down-loading a whole bunch of music, writing a blog entry, listening to Amon Tobin and drinking a glass of wine. Who said that men can't multi-task? :-) Not too sure just yet what is awaiting us this week- the Chief has a birthday on Friday and we should pop in there to eat some sushi and a couple of his "sushi mafia" have birthdays during the week too. Looking forward to next weekend when we have more guinea pigs for the dinner table- probably cook something in the Italian direction and drink a few bottles of appropriate wine.
Let's hope that the new month is more enjoyable than the last!

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).

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."

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!?!?

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).