We’re back

Back from holidays and back into the swing or regular life. We flew in on Monday morning 21st September from Hong Kong and we were back to work on Tuesday.

I’m a bit crook – picked up something in Rome and I have been coughing ever since. Have been to the doctor though and I’m all medicated up.

Lots of photos to go through and upload to facebook, but here is a taste…

Rome

Florence

Cinque Terre – Monterosso Al Mare

Ummm….

Villa Saraceno

Prague

Ummm…

Tate Modern – London

Hong Kong

 

Last day of work

Today is my last day in the office for 5 weeks. I’ve gotta say – that feels pretty sweet!

Adri and I are off to Europe for a loooong holiday. We have been planning this for ages and are really excited.

For those interested, itinerary looks something like this:

Rome, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Venice, the Veneto, Prague, Paris, London and Hong Kong on the way home.

Parts of the trip will be visiting or meeting up with family, but for most of it it will be just Adri and I.

Only 2 and a bit hours of work to go! 🙂

Mo day

It was my boss’s 60th birthday yesterday, so to celebrate, we all donned fake mos (because he has a distinctive tache).
I managed to find 120 fake mos on eBay for less than 50 bucks ($43.37). Bargain!

Race to Work

Ok – quick quiz.

Who would win a race, from Drummoyne to my office in the city, between someone in a bus and a man on foot?

Easy right? Even in the most heinous rainy, Sydney, Victoria Rd traffic (like that seen this morning) a bus surely has all the advantages.

Well, we put that one to the test this morning. After 40mins of crawling from Gladesville to the Iron Cove bridge, I left Adri on the bus and started walking. I kind of intended to jump back on a bus once the traffic started moving, but it never did.

I walked all the way down Victoria Rd, over the Anzac bridge, through Pyrmont and onto the Pyrmont Bridge. Here my progress was stalled because the bridge was opened to let a tugboat push the Darling Harbour floating stage into the bay. I rang Adri to find that she was just about to get off the busout the front of my building a few hundred metres away. If I had made it to the bridge before it opened, I would have been able to meet Adri as she got off the bus!

I ♥ Victoria Rd.

Congratulations…

… to my darling wife.

She just got a promotion!

Well done Adri!

Disability Work

A large chunk of the work I do is helping government make policies for health, usually disability, services.

I was sent this story this morning. The trailblazing Sydney actuary is my boss and this is the scheme he designed.

I get excited about doing this sort of work because I can see how beneficial it is going to be – for everyone.

Go check it out. You can even have your say – if you are so inclined.

Caught in the ACT

I spent a day yesterday in our nation’s capital attending a health financing course.

The course was good, if you’re into sitting in a room all day with actuaries and public servants talking about government health policy.

There’s not much doing in Canberra. However, I did manage to sneak out during the lunch break to check out the National Gallery. Didn’t see any of the Degas exhibit, but I did see some Picasso, some Pollock and some Monet. The sculpture garden is also a cracker.

The reality of the economic downturn

Four people at work lost their jobs today.
It wasn’t unexpected. We’d been warned it was coming a while ago, but it was still a bit of a shock.
Thankfully, I still have my job. However, I realised how hard it is to talk to people when they are upset or distressed.
Not a nice day.

Time is short

Don’t you hate it when it feels like all your deadlines converge?

My exam is a mere 3 weeks away, but before I go on study leave I need to finish a big report at work which includes building a GLM on claim payments that we haven’t investigated before.

Ideally, the next few weeks would be spent winding down work and winding up study. Instead I think I have some late nights ahead of me.

Not going to worry about work this weekend though… Long weekend! Yay!

We’re heading up to Forster, hopefully for some warm weather/beach action (plus some study). Your plans?

Just call me Cadel…

I made a significant purchase last Saturday.

Work was kind enough to give me a year-end “Exceptional Contribution Bonus”, which I think means that I contributed this year and they see that as an exception. With some of my new-found spare cash, I splashed out on a brand new bike to get me too and from work.

A friend here at work hooked me up with the good people at Cranks in North Sydney, who are currently building me a Giant CRX 3, which is a flat bar road bike.

By the end of next week I will be zooming to and from work in next to no time!