thebaldgeek

Anyway, point is, Freddy has her driving test on the 9th and I am on the 13th of May, so about a month for us. We are both a little nervous, but Im sure that after another month of driving here we will have settled down a lot. The main thing in the test is to watch your speed and check your mirrors a lot.

Gary wrote me a nice email saying how much he is enjoying the bike, it was good to hear how its gone to a good home. I miss it. I think I miss the roads as much as the bike at the moment, there is a lot of traffic here and I have not had time to get out on the back roads here to see what they are like…..not that driving them is going to be as fun or therapeutic as riding the wing on them…. The one plus this place has going for it (that I am yet to enjoy) is that it has mountains. I should be able, once I get to know the roads, be able to get up to the snow in about an hour…… I cant wait to get at 6000 feet in spring and autumn at night and see some stars…. there might be a few things to take photos of even (I just love mountains and views, snow is a triple bonus).

Just to be clear, I am still yet to find anything close to a drinkable port here…..the three bottles we have bought and tried are slowly going down the hatch mixed with lemonade (sprite for the Americans reading this).
(That last paragraph is NOT an excuse for anyone (especially  Gary) to rub in how good the port is in Australia).

Lastly, Toms trip to Jordon has been delayed, its next week now. I still am taking a few calls just the same, spent about 40 minutes with one guy today, a Canadian no less, a Canadian lumberjack even (truly, I am not making this stuff up!!!!…….) Anyway, hes got this machine that builds stud walls, wants to automate it, currently it uses Opto SSR’s (solid state relays) to switch a lot of the motors, but he wants to use Opto PAC controllers to automate it….. pretty interesting project, the press can drive 8×4 inch nails in one hit…..ouch!

THE KIDS ARE FINE!

So, now that we have that out the way STOP emailing me about them!
Seriously,  they have said nothing of note, otherwise I would have bloged about it……. The first few days were a bit hard, big school, different culture, different style of teaching, nothing is the same. They don’t have lockers, they shut the kids in after the second bell…..so on and so forth. Oh, and no uniform takes some getting used to as well. Free dress every day is not a good idea (thats from both the kids and us!).
After about 3 days they both met some other kids that have become friends with them and that helped settle them both down. Not a huge amount of homework at this stage (pity really). But they seem like they are learning something.  Terry is actually getting stretched in the math classes, Amy is, well, Amy, so its all about friends, and those she is making. She has met a girl here in the apartments that has been here for 8 years and not had another girl here for that time, so they are excited to have found each other. They hang out a lot after school at our apartment, or hers. She seems like a nice girl, she wants to be a pastry chief (yeah, I know, but someone has to be one right?).
Anyway, point is, they are going ok, it was a bumpy start, but they have settled down, I think there will be another settling (or awaking) in a few months (and not just for the kids, but all of us). We will deal (and blog) with all that when the time comes. There is just no way we can prepare for that now??

On a totally different note, I came home for lunch today, first time ever, it was pretty nice. About 10 min drive to get home and about the same to get back, still, that gives 40 min at home, plenty of time to have lunch and relax for a few moments. I think I will try and do it at least once a week if I can. I have been not having a lunch break or I have been going out to lunch with the training group in the past 3 weeks.

The air at the servo takes quarters, or a pin number. Pretty odd.

Its 5 bucks for a drive though car wash, compared with the ~$14 at home….. I don’t think its as good, but we will look around, there will be others, and not just the hand wash ones that are popular here. There is no tap at the apartments, so its hard to do yourself is my point here (I think).

Took a call from a guy in France today, I think his Australian was about as good as my French, but we made it though and I helped him out.
Its amazing how many Opto 22 products I have never used or heard of! I use the search function on our web site a LOT.

The other site is in down town Temecula. Its more for the general public, not your hard core weather geeks. Still, its worth a look, so check out Temecula weather.

We are in LA all weekend for church, so there will not be much blogging going on…. Have a great few days and we will be back next week.