(There is nothing like a cup of tea and some Audioslave to get you through the working weekend.)
Friday night started well, with drinks at the Trader Bar. It was intended to be the February Opensource Meetup, but was far too noisy to have any real conversation (I will try harder next month to find an appropriate venue, I think). Considering that when I arrived my friends were surprised to see me, I think it would be fair to say that the meetup was not what they were out and about for.
Tragedy struck sometime during the night, as I discovered the next day — my poor little Jornada 568, rescued from eBay late one November, has been cruelly disfigured and rendered unuseable. Whether it was dropped, hit by something, or sat upon, the result is the same: a shattered screen and a future as some kind of embedded gadget running Linux (maybe a clock/MP3 player/radio?). Pictures to be posted when I recover from the shock, but in the meantime a taste, courtesy of a low-res first generation camera phone:
Apart from this twist of fate, the rest of the night was good. There was laughter and tears, Chinese food and deceptively-alcoholic shooters. The night ended at a place called Haven, new but with a nicely decked out bar (and a damp smell that I could never really ignore). Warrick had a chat to the door man (bouncer?) Trevor, who may or may not be the real brains behind the whole operation, and the plans sound quite good: a restaurant, a bar, and a wine cellar for those of more discerning taste (or us). It really could be something to get in on the ground floor with, get to know the owners and maybe score some free drinks! 😉
Saturday was also good, for near-orthagonal reasons. After recovery food, Dee and I headed out to Boronia to meet Lynette. Lynette is great, very friendly and warm, and we weren’t there for two minutes before she’d invited us to stay for dinner. Now, in my culture we just don’t turn down roast — and it was delicious! Bruce got home from work, and then Tessa, and we all ate (too much!) and watched TV and roasted ourselves by the fireplace. Everything was so welcoming and kind and fun; their house is out in the “sticks”, with a brilliant view from their balcony. Ah, it was great.
So now I’m at work, 11:30 am, catching up on the work that I’ve missed or avoided. Last Wednesday (Woden’s day) I slept for most of the day, only getting up at 3:30 or so in the afternoon. How slack is that?! Calling work to say that I wasn’t coming in was naturally both embarassing and all but unnecessary, but I’m happy to say that they were extremely understanding of it. That’s definitely something that I wouldn’t expect to get away with in any other industry, or even in other companies. They’re good like that! grin
It’s not too bad, really — I needed some time out of the house — but I had originally planned to go motorcycling with Greg and Warrick today. Hey, the sun is shining after all! But instead of cruising around the boulevard on Warrick’s ZZR, I’ll be putting the finishing touches on a J2EE application, then sorting out some little issues in an installation script. Not everybody’s idea of a good weekend, but after Friday night’s drunken rampage and Saturday’s indulgence, I already feel like I’ve had my weekend.
The only thing I feel bad about is that Dee can’t be here too, but on the other hand she’s at home cleaning up the spare room (or just watching DVDs), so maybe I’d prefer to be there?