Drumroll...

Hi. It's been an eventful few weeks since I last posted anything, and there have in fact been a number of milestones that I've missed...so here's a recap of some of them:

Milestone A: this blog thing has now been around for an entire year. Exactly. In that time there have been 18,821 words typed, across 322 paragraphs (not including this post). I've certainly used a lot to say very little: many people could have written a decent book with that many words! I'm not sure that this year's blogging experiment has been completely successful (it's hard to find the time to write, and it's not always the best medium for keeping in touch anyway) but it's been fun and worthwhile nonetheless. (oh, and Milestone B: over 1000 people have visited this blog for some reason: people who don't have any decent books to read I guess).

Milestone C: last Sunday was our 12th Wedding Anniversary. It's fun to look back at who we both were on January 21st, 1995, and to think of how we've changed (or remained the same). 12 years ago, Mel & I were both very young, very poor, very happy and very much in love. While the "very young" label is now looking a bit dubious, and the "very" prefix can probably be removed from the second label, those last two descriptions are still very much true: I know how much I've been blessed by Melly, and I am forever grateful. What changes wll there be for our relationship over the next 12 years, when we'll suddenly be in our mid-40's with a 13 year old and perhaps a whole house full of her brothers and sisters?? Don't know, but I'm very much looking forward to whatever comes our way. (Unfortunately, we weren't able to do anything, or go anywhere, to celebrate this milestone, because we've all been laid-low with sickness this week (I don't want to watch any more DVD's on the couch! Although "Top Gear - Revved Up" was fantastic!). Will have to do something next week when we're all a bit more lively.)

Milestone D: My sister Becky made a big announcement this month, deciding that it was time for her to resign from her job in Sydney and move back to Victoria. We're really happy for her, and it will mean a great deal to have her back in town. I think she arrives back tonight, in fact, but we'll give her some time to relax and unwind before popping in for a welcoming visit. Don't want to frighten her into changing her mind...

Milestones E, F, G, H & I: Last week we spent 5 days in Sydney. It was Jessica's first plane trip, first ferry trip, first time to the zoo, first train trip, first cable-car ride etc etc (milestones everywhere!). We even got to have a lovely dinner with Jon & Bec at The Rocks, in a restaurant overlooking the Opera House, followed by a nightime ferry ride with them to Darling Harbour for dessert at the Lindt Cafe (yes - there are only two Lindt Cafe's in the world, and Sydney has both of them!! And they're every bit as good as they sound). There are far too many things to mention, and photos and video clips to include, so I'll post a separate entry on that over the next couple of days.

But the biggest Milestone of all this month, aptly Milestone "J", was of course Jessica's 1st Birthday. It was a terrific day and a very memorable one for all of us. But as I can't do it justice at the end of this post, so I'll again make a separate post (with photos and maybe a short clip) within the next week. Stay tuned.

Speaking of next week, I'm heading back to work next Wednesday, and I have to say that I'm dreading it. I mean really dreading it. It's more than the usual "I can't be bothered" feeling, where you've had a nice holiday and don't look forward to being roused out of your slumber: I think I now really dislike the work that I do. And it's not that the work I do is particularly-arduous, or risky, or life-threatening: I just have an overwhelming feeling that I'm not where I should be anymore. I'd like to think I have more to offer and that, if I had the courage to try it, I'd find a much more fulfilling role elsewhere. But it always seems to come back to inescapable economics: my current role allows us to pay the mortgage, run a car, buy food and clothes, and look after Jessica pretty well - and there's no guarantee that an alternative role would do the same. If retrenchments were offered tomorrow, I'd be the happiest guy in town: the decision would be out of my hands, and I suspect I'd find the search for a new job less daunting than I've imagined it. But in my line of work, retrenchments are never going to be offered (in a company with 175,000 employees, there is always some lame job that you can be transferred to!). Perhaps I will pluck up the courage one day to take that leap of faith...who knows? Maybe I should start stealing, or being rude to the boss, and see if they'll save me having to pluck up the courage to leave myself! Ahhhh Fear: I think I could write several posts just listing all of the things of which I'm afraid! (and most of them quite irrationally so). Maybe some other time.

Speaking of work, which I think I vowed never to do again, I forgot to mention another of the endearing episodes which took place late last year. As background, in our industry there is a tradition of gift-giving between our suppliers and ourselves at Christmas (yes, it is usually pretty one sided, in our favour). It is customary to be given a small gift from several trade partners as a gesture of thanks, and our company has a policy of accepting these provided they are within acceptable guidelines. That is, we did have such a policy until 2006. In 2006, it was decided by the CEO that gifts would no longer be accepted from any supplier: in the case that a gift was received, it was to be delivered to a central location and raffled, with the money raised going to support sick children. No complaints here (I don't usually get any gifts anyway, but have no objection to the policy). So, when several hampers and bottles of wine were delivered to our office in December, addressed to the Admin girls in particular (they are the ones who do most of the actual work), the gifts were quickly rounded up and taken upstairs to a senior manager's office. So far, so good. But then, on Christmas Eve, the managers quietly gathered together in the office and gave each other free raffle tickets - exclusive to the management team - and started divvying up the pool of gifts! Nevermind that there were 50+ gifts and only 30 managers: that just meant that some of them could have more than one gift! That left a bit of a sour taste in the mouths of the Admin girls (who 'earned' the gifts) and the 400 other staff on the floor who weren't invited into the free raffle. I don't think this is what the CEO had in mind, and it's hard to see how any sick children were helped by a free raffle! The managers then went home early (half-day), carrying bundles of presentes addressed to other people, and left the staff to stay back at work. But to make matters worse, there was also a separate Christmas raffle held for all staff during Christmas week: it was a door prize thing, and you were given a raffle ticket as you filed in for the Christmas lunch. The prize was a substantial, expensive hamper (several hundred dollars worth), that had been on display in the HR Managers office for the preceding two weeks. The managers were reluctant to publicly declare who had won the prize, and it turns out that the raffle was won by the HR Manager himself, despite the fact that he was actually interstate during the Christmas lunch (and had been all week). Not sure how, amongst a group of 430 people, the only person who wasn't there wins the door prize. Quite magical really! ("Integrity" is not one of the buzzwords in our office).

Anyway, I don't know why I'm talking about work when I only have a few days left to enjoy this holiday: I should instead head off to bed now to make a good start on tomorrow. After a week of being quite sick, and sharing those germs amongst each other, I think we all need a trip to the beach or somewhere nice and sunny.

So I'll end this post here, and work on posting about Jessica's Party and our Sydney Trip in the next few days. Happy Australia Day to everyone for whom that salutation applies (de ja vu!), and 'avagoodweekend.

Matt