Catch Up...

We're working on doing up the house at the moment, have finished the bathroom and am mid-way through the kitchen. My (home) office is a state at the moment and I need to get better organised, it's making it difficult to stay focused.

Went to the Docs last week for a check up - I've been feeling really tired recently so had some blood tests etc done. Results show I've high colesterol (6.5) so Clare's made me a special menu where I get to eat nothing I like at all...

It's amazing, I've given up boozing, gambling, fighting and am working on giving up smoking (down to about 10 a day). Now they say I can't eat! Sooner or later, breathing is going to be bad for your health.

New Zealand is obviously a very small country, and with all of the recent natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes. tsunamis, bird flu) the news is just choc full of "what to do in a disaster" stories. I appreciate that we are surrounded by water (never more than 40kms away for 95% of Kiwis) and we are seated on a fault line - but really!! This doom & gloom is going a bit too far.

Things are going all guns at work, we will finish our current campaign this Friday (21st) and I am doing strategy and prep for the next campaign. My team will get a week off to do housekeeping and chase final orders, but for me this is the busiest time of the year.

APN is a strange company, on the one hand, it's been terribly mismanaged in the past and it's really easy to make a difference. On the other hand, all of the real power is in Auckland and it's pretty hard to get things done. Don't get me wrong, this role has really given me confidence in my ability; but I'm wondering how quickly I'm going to get bored with it.

The real picture will become clear once we move to Wellington, but I have a sneaky suspicion that once I've established my client network and achieved what I want in terms of change management I may see how much I'm worth in a bigger role. Guess it's nice to be in that position though. On the job websites, I now look only in the category of "Plus $100k" positions which is good for the soul I guess.

Molly is endlessly funny, she's a mini-adult now and very much the product of her environment - "Daddy, get me a bottle - NOW", "Daddy, eat your tea - NOW"! Last night I was trying to get her to stop jumping on the bed and she just kept repeating quietly "Don't you talk to me like that...". After a few times, I had tears in my eyes I thought it was so beautiful and just ended up giving her a cuddle.

I've finally come to the realisation that having a BMW Coupe (above) when you've two little girls is not a sensible idea, so I'm reluctantly selling it. Looking at getting a Mitsubishi Galant VR4 estate (stationwagon over here). Will keep you posted.