Remember...
The virtue lies in the struggle, not in the prize.
- Richard Monckton Milnes (1809 - 1885)
Tomorrow morning, early, I'm flying off to Queensland for a week. My Dad lives up there and he's 70 this year and I don't know when I'll get the chance to do it again. And the best thing of all is I'm leaving the kid's here! I dropped them off at their older sister's house this afternoon.
I'm on 3 weeks holidays from work, and the first week has gone so quickly. Next week Queensland, and the 3rd week they're back to school on the Tuesday, and I'll have a few days at home on my own. I love it when I have no kids around. This is the first real break I've had away from Carly and Alex forever. Being a single parent is a demanding choice, and I think I've earned a week away. Dad is looking forward to it too, insisting on picking me up from the airport, which is only about 10 minutes from where he lives at Kirra on the Queensland border. It's a lovely spot, and I'm starting to get excited about it.
Today I installed a new DVD burner in my computer, my old one (about 4 years old and costing around $400) was refusing to burn DVDs, though could manage smaller jobs. I bought a LiteOn burner that took 5 minutes to install and cost $60 AUD. They've certainly come down in price in the last 4 years! I had jobs backed up and so ran off about 4 DVDs straight away. It came with Nero 7, a bonus, though I think that's another overloaded program, so many extras that you don't really need and never get around to using.
For the last few days I've spent time working on the website for work, and I'm finally making some headway. I never get time at work to do anything with it, and I'm up to copying all the content over to the new layout. I'm taking the laptop to Queensland with me so I can continue to work on it. My laptop is a HP Compaq Notebook and very heavy, so rather than sling it over my shoulder, I've borrowed a huge suitcase and have packed it. I was a bit dubious about just booking it through as luggage -anyone could just walk off with it.
We've had some rain the last couple of days with a fabulous storm the other night that blacked out Victoria and half of NSW (though I think the blackout was caused by the bushfires in Victoria). The thunder and lightning was unlike anything I've seen in a while. The rain has been great, but left us still sweltering in 40 degree heat now with high humidity. My air conditioner has been working overtime and I slept in the loungeroom on Wednesday night because it was too hot in the bedroom. Tuesday night, the night of the storm, I had the curtains pulled back to take full advantage of the cool breeze, but that hasn't been the case since. It's still stinking hot!!
I have less than a year now to give up smoking, I promised the kids I'd give up before I turn 50. The count-down has begun.