Been there and back again

Well, back at work anyway

preparation is a key

If Indeed new Job expresses itself

As noted, a reminder and a 3 hour break equals prospectively new job

As addressed over here, and [here too] I am anxiously awaiting to start another job, consulting geologist, what I was trained for and vocationally oriented for nearly eighteen years. Cough Cough.

Am I getting ahead of myself?

The last few weeks has been an anxious time- What will I be doing, Who are these guys that want a junior* Geologist to run a core job, Will I need this or that, What about a new PC or netbook or laptop or Notebook, a microscope, a tablet to sketch samples and site, Where is it, Will there be more,  Will the old van be enough to travel two thousand miles to a two week job or swap it, and will the kids be okay with Aunty and Big Brother?    ??????? Long distance calls and one face to face.

Alright, I have not started, no cold feet, just, what about the current part time job stuff? Argh, have to stop that thinking crap!

So thinking YEP I HAVE IT IN THE BAG even though my past colleagues have not been 100% helpful answering deep questions on how to get back into the industry- ie who to use for insurances if getting out solo and all that behind the scenes business stuff------ Bugger it, I went and listed notebooks and insurances to use anyway, got to think positively...

Well, as they wanted me asap, then I can forget the insurances and work for them instead of consulting, and do that crap for the next contract- YAY, a smallish upfront saving for the moment.

Lucky me, a shop nearby had a 40% sale off an interesting Toshiba P870 notebook, which I GRABBED, and then thought I might get a larger screen mobile phone that took an hour to extract from the shop(!) as I was in a hurry by then for the 5 o;clock beer with Aunty as well as get a dinner together for kids and friends but then did not have to, and next day, got Office for the notebook, and put all the stuff I might need together- a kids video microscope care of Aldi will work just great, as will a large writing tablet (Aldi again), but had to get new drivers for them, install ACDSeePro6 suite, find the small hand lense, find stored away India ink for a stencil pen with the pens and stencils just in case, get out the sand grain comparator cards, the old tally books and drilling notes, the wellsite handbooks, the core marking pens, a tape measure or two for recovery percentages, the pilots case I repaired just a few months ago, resurrected old brief case for the notebook- it is that large it only just fits! The Samsonite brief case that was bought 1997 remains locked since 2002... it's a cool one, but now just a reminder... An alarm clock that does not wind up but not connected to the mains...  Lists...

Out of breath writing that!

Do I need a g-pick and hard hat too? Maybe my brother's old kitchen table set up in the van as a desk out of the rain and wind along with a deck chair? And a tarpaulin as a veranda, and an Esky for the ice and Coke?

[not exactly excited, expectant]

Now that call....


*been out of the field for ten years almost exactly this month, and twenty nine years this week since I started in it! Too many coincidences really- specially as all the repairs and cleaning up done prior to the job application! See previous posts an the almost-fantastic achievements. Cough Cough.

Ah cassettes cassettes

Remember cassetes?

the old philips type?

and an update

From the the the.... well, years ago, before the CD anyway...

Last weegen or so I was playing some tapes in the old player [1986] and the thing hisses and plays etcetera. I was a little tidly so that did not matter!
Except for the third Test Tape...
What!!! NO SOUND?
Had a look this time, in the little gap at the 'front'.
NO TAPE!!!!
Soooooo, and cos it was a great album, out with the sticky tape, knife and screwdriver and wind up device [a la Bic pen] to repair it... for the first time in  in   in    ages?     Decades even?   A little DIY while ... Why do I still have those tapes? But tried the tape back in the player and it Worked Just Fine Thank You All Very Much. Some of the old tapes are definitely of the mid 70's that a friend passed on to me when he "went religious", and those belonged to his big sister! Later I passed a few on when ever anyone was interested, when the CD came out for instance, but kept ones I Liked A Lot. Among the box of tapes was also compilations made when I was fairly sozzled after parties and still could not hit the sack... Good road trip tapes man!

Then the Walkmen

And this thingo?!? A real boys toy if ever!
I bought the Sanyo walkman style tape player back in  '83 so I could cruise the highway on the Yamaha 250 I had, between cold old Kyneton and Barfold- with some tape or radio music in the helmet.  And later on in the jet when going to work in WA or outback SA or QLD or cold VIC from Adelaide!


Did a few miles with this!


I won a real Sony Walkman Sports in a sailboard race about four years later.

Then when the Discman had to come out before I went to Aber-bloody-deen for a year, wellllll, yeah, well, so I Upgraded With the Duty Free Opportunity as I got on board! Pity the bugger only lasted a few years, I have only just tossed it* NO I DID NOT - a fine little machine, not much bigger than a CD and about 11mm thick. Paired with the Sony Speakers--- was nearly all we needed coping near the Arctic Circle...


I did replace it however, before the Millenium, with another albeit second hand, but still great Sony CD Walkman that only needed AA batteries, not the special battery pack for the first one I had- barstid to charge up etc etc.

This one was plastic and light compared to the first which though small, was heavy.
It did a few flying miles too.

Amazingly enough, none of the kiddies ever played with my musical "boys toys" or tapes in order to test them all to destruction...

Do you remember boys toys and Cassettes?





















*[ie I cannot find it at the moment- check back one day]