Monday, April 2, 2012

Still kicking - Home repairs, and FIFO

This is yet another "I'm still alive and sorry the webpage isn't being updated" posts... what can I say - life gets in the way of updating this page.

What have I been up to?
I'm now in a house my wife and I bought - reasonably good, but in need of some love and attention. I've had to fix a few things here and there - assisted the sparky in moving some lights, installing some ceiling fans, and running data cabling throughout the house. I learnt a lot, and did all the prep and finishing work (patching the walls after the work was completed)

I'm in the midst of changing roles again - the first role change annouced last year moved me from residential callout support to a Fly in, Fly Out (FIFO) shift worker, and this new role will keep me FIFO, but into a supervisory role wth a lot of scope for personal and professional development and opportunity. With the move from residential to FIFO, I've been less active in Volunteer Fire and Rescue in the community, and have instead joined the local Bush Fire Service in the little town I settled in. I'm still active in the minesite Emergency Response Team (ERT) and hope to transfer my ERT membership to the new role and new site.

I hope to be able to do some reviews in the next few weeks - some of the engineering books I've been reading, the GPS unit I bought (so I didn't get lost in the city), and anything else which is of interest.

Current projects:
a - arranging the house and garage to create a workshop
b - Obtaining planning approval for my permanant shed from the local council
c - planning the electrical design for my permanent shed, revisions to the house wiring, and additional works
d - assemble the taig Mill, and commence using it
e - assemble a tool and cutter grinder
f - assemble a small propane furnace for aluminium, brass and bronze.

Longer term projects:
everything else I've put on hold

The only other thing of note is I've got back into "indexing" work - I allocate a couple of hours each Sunday afternoon and index records for Familysearch.org - it's interesting work, and helps those researching their ancestors. Well worth the minor effort on my part.