August 2008 Archives

Carly and I drove to Cootamundra yesterday for the first round of the OzTag finals. The Junee girls' team played against Wagga Kangaroos and at full-time the score was 4-all. They played extra time and Kangaroos scored. The girls were unlucky and are out of the comp now. Carly got a head butt to her cheekbone and came off with a nasty swelling and red cheek. For a team that didn't know what OzTag was about at the beginning of the season, they've done really well.

The touch football sign-ups were held a couple of weeks ago for the summer comp but neither of the kids wanted to play. That's understandable for Carly because she's been working on Saturdays, and I think Alex is just over the whole sport thing at the moment. It hasn't stopped for years, quite often the winter comp overlapping the summer comp. I'm a bit disappointed he doesn't want to play because he's a good little touch player and the team will miss him, but I'm not sorry we won't be rushing off to sport every weekend. I'll be driving Carly to work and that's bad enough. We have a local comp on a Thursday night that Carly will probably play in, and that won't interfere with work.

Cricket sign ups won't be far away but I think Alex may be too old this year and we definitely won't be joining any of the Wagga teams. So much for all the new cricket gear Alex got last year, it will stay in his room collecting dust unless he gets motivated for a game. They play a bit of street cricket on our block in the summer, and it may get some use then.

Our newest family member, Jake Ryan Picciolo, was born on Saturday morning, 23 August, at 5.30 am. Emily took him home from hospital today and both mother and baby are doing great.

Jake Ryan Picciolo, 7lb 5oz, born at 5.30am on 23/8/08.

Jake and Kai, at home, a special father and son bonding going on.

Alex and Jake: the uncle getting to know his nephew on his first day in the world.

Scarlett at the hospital on the day they took her baby brother home.

I wrote a much longer post on the lead up to the birth on Toni's Alternate World.

I just loved the picture and had to use it, it's beautiful and I think I would like to incorporate it into a theme some time. Time seems to be one thing I have little of lately (I think that is an oft-repeated statement from me!). I spend a good hour reading all the feeds I subscribe to, I'm up to 51 and they just keep coming. Google Reader has turned out to be an excellent tool for gathering everything into one spot and has extra features that I find quite handy, like sharing stories with friends, and adding stars to favourite articles. Then there's Twitter and Friend Feed, keeping up with the people I follow is nearly impossible, and I wonder why I even bother, but I do come across some interesting articles that would normally go under my radar. Then there's email. I have that pretty well under control now since I've switched to GMail to take care of all the spam. Occasionally I go through the spam to see if there's something there that shouldn't be, but it's rare. I'd recommend it to anyone with a spam problem.

I just upgraded to the newest Movable Type release that is now better than ever. MT 4.2 has incorporated the Community Pack and the Professional Pack into one package called Movable Type Pro. It used to cost to use those additional services, but they're now free for personal use. I haven't had a chance yet to really check it all out. Some of the social networking features I use on Toni Hambilton Online, it's a blog I set up that just gathers all the things I do on the web and lists them, like when I save a page or add tweets (use Twitter). It's easy to maintain because I don't do anything after it's set up. The best sort of site.

On a personal note, I've been busy. Carly worked 3 nights over in Wagga last week and it meant driving her over and picking her up. Thursday night I stayed over there and visited both Lauren and Emily. Friday I organised a lift over for her with a girl I work with who lives in Wagga, then drove over later to bring her home. Saturday night I drove over twice, and that was after driving to Tumut and back with Alex for football. All in all, alot of driving (and petrol). You do what you have to do, as the old saying goes. She's totally rapt to be getting wages. First thing this morning she logged into NetBank and lit up like a lantern when she saw how much money had gone in. I'm seeing a much more mature Carly lately. The Year 10 exams will be starting soon and she'll really have her hands full then.

Work has been very busy this week too. Councillor elections are being held next month and nominations closed on Wednesday, so there was lots of faxing being done. It's business paper week as well, and it's a big one. The photocopier will be tied up all morning tomorrow. I feel like I've had a productive week, and have caught up on a few jobs that were hanging around. But I'm tired. I haven't been to the gym for a few weeks now, there's always something else I have to do. Starting next week I'm getting back to the routine I had, and Monday and Wednesday nights will be gym nights. I do too much sitting at computers not to go!

It was a miserable day in Tumut for the quarter final of the Junior Rugby League, foggy, raining and cold. Our boys played against Tumut and lost 30 - 22. The were behind from the start and made a good effort to get on top, but Tumut was the better team on the day. This is the first time for years that we've been out of the comp so early in the finals, and every other year have made it to the grand final. Alex told me he's not playing again next year but we'll see. He limped off with a swollen foot and knee and said on the way home that he was glad it was all over. The older they get, the bigger they get, and the more it hurts.

The first Saturday in August the whole town of Junee pulls together to host the Riverina Schoolboys Football Carnival, and this year the day started out cold and overcast with the forecast for rain. Alex's team has won their age group every year, and this year was no exception, winning their under 13s division for the 7th year in a row. My contribution for the day was an hour of scoring two games. I was rugged up with layers of clothing, hat, scarf and gloves and still I froze. Our games were widely spaced, with the first at 9.30, then again at 12.30 and the last game at 4pm. Lucky for us we live close, and were able to duck home between games and commitments to thaw out in front of the heater for a while before heading off again. Carly's Tag League team were rostered to help out in one of the canteens and Carly spent 2 hours turning sausages. Apart from the cold it was a great day, though this year we were over on the new soccer fields so I didn't catch up with many people.

Unfortunately I'm not much of a photographer, and at the end of the day when the team got together for a photo, my camera was in the car.

Tonight I have a house full of kids sleeping over, but for the moment it's just me and I love it. Alex and his 2 friends are having tea down town, and Carly and her friends have gone to a party. The deadline is midnight and she has strict instructions not to be late.