Baggas' Blog

• is off work for a couple of days but I'm not being slack – have a birthday, adoption assessment, church meeting, dinner, airport trip & more #
• Has seen Jen off for her flight to Sydney – now I'm a single dad for the next five days. #
• Kids up, dressed, and ready for school, lunches made, house tidied after last night – time for one more cup of coffee before work.. #
• I am far too busy – as soon as I book in one important meeting then another opportunity arises for something else at the exact same time! #
• is putting together my weekend to-do list as usual – two days is never enough… #
• just made the mistake of logging into my uni discussion forum for the first time – now feeling disturbed by how much effort all these nerds #
• is watching the shark spotting helicopter circling low over the bay down the road… never a good sign #
• I used #Shazam to discover On The Road by Angus & Julia Stone http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=51789405 #
• is about to be brave and take my boys to an Ethiopian adoption picnic up in Perth… #
• Picnic was good, then went geocaching – now the kids are standing in the rain watching an ultra-lite plane circling over our neighbourhood #
• I unlocked "Aerial Madman" in "Fieldrunners"! http://bit.ly/6eGT1L #

• I used #Shazam to discover The Cave by Mumford & Sons http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=50839816 #
• had our second adoption assessment this morning which seemed fine. Next one is next week with the 3 kids – now that could be interesting!?! #
• Happy Birthday to my two year old Princess Mia #
• RT @JeniCB just received a phone call from DCP to tell us that the Ethiopia program is reopening!!!! #
• is exploring Addis Ababa (via Google Earth)… #
• is browsing http://ping.fm/aqa1M – surprising how much I like photos of cityscapes, even Perth. Interesting site… #
• Family day today – after church went geocaching and now out for brunch… unfortunately everyone in town seems to have the same idea #

• is watching Twenty/20 with the kids #
• has a dentist appointment now, then band practice later on… so apologies if my vocals sound like Bob Dylan with a stroke #
• Never has a long weekend been more welcome and needed than right now… just have to survive another super busy day at work first #
• is in Perth visiting the adoption library, then maybe off to Ikea #
• is building an Ikea kitchen for my little girl's birthday #

• Forgot how much I like Peroni – goes well with Jenni's pasta #
• Things are already heating up for another busy week, though perhaps not quite as crazy as last week #
• Three weeks ago I was relaxing on a beautiful beach 700km from here… seems like forever ago already! Can I go back please? #
• just got Jen's hotel booked for her trip to Sydney next month – thank God for Google Maps! Now time to relax – just me, Jenni, and Chuck #
• Crazy morning with seven minor theatre cases mixed in… hopefully the afternoon will be a little more sedate #
• RT @BrianCHouston Leaders goal: Don't allow your life to be a set of competing priorities. eg. God/family/church. Let them flow together! #
• finally seems to be making a little bit of progress learning piano … still need to get the darn thing tuned though #
• Another huge day ahead at work today … the patient drought of late '09 has well and truly turned into a flood at present #
• http://ping.fm/p/Mr7FM – Geocaching – Baldivis childrens forrest #
• http://ping.fm/p/uEbvC – Baldivis children's forrest #
• http://ping.fm/p/tyJt7 – A family dinner at The Steel Tree #
• is enjoying a meal at the Steel Tree after a successful geocaching expedition in Baldivis #
• After a great service at #Warnbro I'm now visiting a place where even more Aussies spend their Sunday mornings… Bunnings Warehouse #
• http://ping.fm/p/LyATL – Ready to start studying for another semester of my Masters – this time it's Epidemiology… #

• Another huge week ahead – not much free time in my schedule between now and Friday night.. #
• is off to see someone about a job… #
• Our adoption process is once again progressing rapidly – despite some recent bad press we've had nothing but good service from DCP adoption #
• is feeling a bit overwhelmed by life… and this humid weather is not helping at all. #
• must remember not to Google Noah's Ark – the only results are a jumble of very bad science. Must get back to work I think… #
• wonders why they asked me my preferences as to how I want my appointments booked if they are going to continually ignore them anyway? #
• is teaching Owen how to use a dictionary – yep, one of those old fashioned book things #
• Quieter start to the day today, however 7 no-shows in the first 3 hours is not good for business #
• Thinks Google Buzz doesn't have chance of seriously competing with facebook… but I signed up nonetheless http://ping.fm/uMVOa #
• is at swimming lessons with Luke, then out again tonight. At present, home is a place I pop in and visit once in a while #
• thought I might have to deliver a baby today, but now I don't, thus keeping my record for 2010 intact. So glad it's Friday! #
• finally found the time for a long overdue coffee, only to discover there are no beans Looks like it's Nescafe time again… #
• It's funny when I meet someone with a certain accent I immediately want to ask them if they know the other person I know with that accent #
• NYTimes: Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall http://s.nyt.com/u/BRc #
• is reorganizing our house whilst watching the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony – gotta love Canada eh! #
• never knew that Canadians say Zed instead of Zee – good for you Canada! #
• http://ping.fm/p/6×3PB – Out for dinner at Betty Blues… still a great view, but what happened to the old jetty?? #
• http://ping.fm/p/GAurZ – Mobile photo #
• http://ping.fm/p/oHF1m – Mobile photo #
• Getting ready to head to church for a huge morning at #Warnbro – claiming a new tag for tweets about our church stuff #
• time to collapse on the couch with my book after a very busy (but good) morning #
• just had the surreal experience of walking into Luke's room to find him and Mia dancing to the Star Wars Cantina music – very weird #

• needs to get our piano tuned #
• just realised I have forgotten to have coffee all day today – a situation that must be rectified immediately! #
• is trying to expand my boys' knowledge of important subjects like Magnum PI and Knight Rider.… #
• RT @pocketbible Possibly interested in the new iPad from Apple? Read Craig's initial impressions. http://blog.laridian.com/?p=200 Cool! in reply to pocketbible #
• is at the first of 3 separate engagements at 3 different places in the next 2 hours – and I must fit dinner in there somewhere too… #
• had a good meeting at adoption services – things are starting to move again Now for ribs at Tony Romas and maybe a movie… #
• watched "Up in the Air" – great movie. #

• http://ping.fm/p/AzSZu – Our third geocache – Farming the Wind, Esperance WA #
• I just scored 20 while defending MT.CRUZE island and is now ranked 2854 in the world! http://bit.ly/5arfRG #
• I unlocked "Global Warmer" in "Fieldrunners"! http://bit.ly/6eGT1L #
• I unlocked 2 achievements in "Fieldrunners"! http://bit.ly/6eGT1L #
• is glad to be home, chilling out in front of the cricket – shame I have to go back to work tomorrow #
• Is out for a family dinner @ Steel Tree -good food and wine makes everything better #
• is topping off another very hectic day of work with a visit to the dentist… great :/ #
• Very intense week. Not just busy but lots of serious stuff – glad it's Friday night tonight! #
• just remembered a competition we had going when I was training in obstetrics – a bottle of wine for anyone who delivered a baby named Gary.. #
• It's just the name they picked – common when we were kids but you never see kids called that nowadays #
• After a short but heavy duty week I think it's time for dinner down at the pub.. #
• is heading to the Aquatic Centre for two different get togethers in a row… hopefully a pleasant afternoon #
• Time to chill and recover from the week just gone and prepare for another busy one ahead.. also need to try and get my music stuff organised #
• Debating whether or not I should throw out all the boxes my guitar effects pedals came in to create some space? #
• http://ping.fm/p/W0pfA – To discard or to hoard? That is the question… #

• I unlocked 7 achievements in "Fieldrunners"! http://bit.ly/6eGT1L #
• I unlocked "Boot Camp Junior" in "Fieldrunners"! http://bit.ly/6eGT1L #
• I just scored 6462 while defending ST.VINCENT island and is now ranked 2794 in the world! http://bit.ly/5arfRG #
• Just wasted an hour of my day with a poorly made product that ultimately was no good due to one bolt hole being a millimetre out… #
• Bike rack for the car. Bolt didn't fit through the hole so no bikes now . #
• is getting ready for our trip to Esperance – pack the car tonight so we can leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow… #
• Morning tea in Narrogin #
• made it safely to Esperance, where we are staying for a few days #
• is finding our first attempts at geocaching a bit frustrating – not sure if the iPhone app is accurate enough…. #
• was excited to find a geocache in the end… now settling down to dinner by the ocean #
• enjoyed a lovely day at Lucky Bay with a bunch of friends – definitely one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia #
• http://ping.fm/p/KbYUk – Mobile photo #

• is watching a kung fu movie with the family – nice way to finish the weekend #
• wonders why it's always the final few patients at the end of the day that are late or no-shows : #
• is looking at a jam-packed schedule today – will have to stay focussed to keep ahead of the game #
• Is God a PC or Mac? http://stuffchristianslike.net/2010/01/debating-whether-god-is-a-mac-or-a-pc/ Definitely a Mac #
• is very happy… I finally got the call I've been waiting for! #
• is so pleased to have rejoined the 21st century with my iPhone back again #
• I used #Shazam to discover The Only Exception by Paramore http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=50840109 #
• I used #Shazam to discover Friends, Lovers Or Nothing by John Mayer http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=50997226 #

• is going to watch Sherlock Holmes… #
• has seen lots of people I like or am friends with today and am now a bit behind – time to speed up and stop being so nice to people #
• has caught up again and off to see what's for lunch? My first drug lunch for 2010… #
• trying to avoid being tempted back to hospital work… "it's so much crusier now" they tell me.. hmmm #
• Kids & Jen watching a DVD – time for me to chill out with a glass of red, S&V chips, and a humungous Mexican novel #
• thinking about our next family adventure ? HK 2011..! once Mia is a bit older and suitable to travel.. also need to save some dough first.. #
• still no iPhone, so trying out twhirl desktop twitter on my Windows2000 PC at work #
• finally finished a busy week of work.. looking forward to a relaxing weekend #
• is about to direct my first stop-motion animation #

• is on-call for obstetrics today for the first time since April (just as a one-off) – so far I haven't been called so it's a good start… #
• is back at work this morning, but looking forward to going to the Cricket this afternoon #
• had an unenjoyable day at work. Glad to be finished and heading to the cricket! #
• still likes hearing myself referred to as a surgeon… I'm a bit less annoyed now about my theatre case being delayed by 2 hours. #
• finally got Qantas frequent flyers site working… and booked a seat for London in late June … and the outward trip is Business class! #
• is taking the kids down the beach for the first time this year #
• is spending the morning down at the old aquatic centre with Jen and the kids #
• is tidying up my music zone, listening to Katie Noonan singing jazz versions of Beatles songs… nice #

• is down at the Christmas carols at the foreshore #
• is visiting my local noodle joint – they seem to be struggling so I make a point of coming here every week – Kwai Teow noodles today #
• finds that emails with instructions in bold red text just make want to do the opposite #
• is trying hard to be a wall and not take on other people's responsibilities #
• thinks all songs can be made to sound like U2 without trying too hard (especially if they are D A Bm G…) #
• is having dinner at Han's Cafe #
• after a quick practice of some Christmas songs for tomorrow, now heading out to see Avatar #
• enjoyed the playing in the Christmas service at church, now to get the kids into bed before a relaxing evening waiting for Santa… #
• Boxing day : a day for watching the cricket, playing Xbox and Wii (boxing of course, and cricket), swimming and just generally chillaxing #
• is driving to Toodyay today to visit Jen's dad #

• just finished my first fully booked day in a month – now off to a pool party! #
• Eerie conditions outside today – thick haze and fine white ash falling like snow – closest thing we'll ever get to a "white Christmas" #
• Reminder to self : flee from right wing American fundamentalist, Calvinist, anti-Obama blogs – it's like Fox News on steroids #
• is back from a quick dash around the shops – got everything I needed to get and hopefully that is that. #
• Got my first Christmas gift at work for the year… was beginning to get worried I might have to buy wine for myself this year lol #
• had a funeral and a dentist visit this morning, and work has been gloomy so far this afternoon – hope the rest of the day gets better! #
• Nothing beats swimming in the rain #

• had an excellent time at Colin & Ann's party – nice finish to a good weekend #
• just found myself wishing someone a "reasonable Christmas"… probably won't use that form of greeting again #
• came home to a plumbing emergency -now I want to move house! #
• Looks like we have a burst water pipe somewhere underneath the house – is going to be a big, expensive job to fix #
• tried to make up for my plumbing pain by booking a holiday in for next month.. it helped a tiny bit #
• is having a bad week – now my iPhone is totally dead #
• sent my iPhone to get fixed and invented a new diagnosis of "iPhone Bereavement" – very difficult condition to manage… #
• finished work for the week – looking forward to catching the train and hanging out in the city with the boys and Jenni this evening #
• Had a great night in Perth with the boys.. bumped into Santa and his special helpers… #

• is dejectedly looking at my over half empty appointment screen for the day #
• has come home to a house without internet… it's like living in the last century… #
• is at the school presentation night – looks like it's going to be a long one… #
• enjoyed my nephew Dylan's class item #mccnight #
• would be pretty annoyed if they wouldn't let me off I'd #
• would be pretty annoyed if they would fine me for being 5c short for a toll booth #mccnight #
• now the one we've all been waiting for 2/3c #mccnight #
• Not sure if ending the night on a minor key is the best idea #mccnight #
• today's score 31/46 #
• I used #Shazam to discover Mad World by Michael Andrews Feat. Gary Jules http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=20149393 #
• #MotionX Share: Oh well if there's no work at least it's a nice day to be outside…. http://bit.ly/4BWUhL #
• I used #Shazam to discover Get-Well-Cards by Conor Oberst http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=46306812 #
• is at the pub having lunch during yet another slow day… #
• was very happy that Jenni and Owen were able to come and hang out with me at the pub #
• is going over to Rottnest Island today with Owen's school class #
• is looking forward to a Hot weekend #
• is at the beach having breakfast and then going for a swim before it gets too hot #
• enjoyed a nice swim at the beach, now watching cricket – gotta live summer! #
• is out for dinner and a movie with friends #

• is watching 30 Rock, hoping my sick little girl doesn't wake again.. #
• Preparing for a super busy week. Feels like November is the new December… #
• is heading up to Perth with Jen this afternoon to submit our next lot of adoption paperwork #
• now has enough frequent flyer points to get us to London next June – all we need now is for some seats to become available : #
• just got an Amazon package with some more Ethiopia books I ordered… a little bitter-sweet reminder of the adoption frustrations :/ #
• has an unexpected evening at home, which is a good thing because poor little Mia cut her head and had stitches :/ #
• http://ping.fm/p/QfTJQ – Dinner from last night … CBD restaurant (just testing a way of uploading pics) #
• is about to head down to school to play doctor with Luke's pre-primary class #
• is heading out to a drug company dinner at the Mussel Bar in Fremantle #
• wonders why I keep getting emails about "black Friday" – I thought that was Friday 13th two weeks ago – not Friday 27th? #
• is heading off for a shopping expedition with my little girl #
• I used #Shazam to discover Dreadlock Holiday by 10cc http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=10917872 #
• is off to a rellie picnic at King's Park #

• Good start to the week. Plenty of patients booked in today and I'm already ahead of time #
• is getting hungry. Hoping someone brings me some lunch… #
• I used #Shazam to discover Street Spirit by Radiohead http://bit.ly/2e1nGD #
• has been filling in adoption paperwork -far too many forms for my liking… #
• just trying out twitter on the Xbox360 – good interface and easy to use #
• has to have a blood test this morning – not at all bothered by the needle – it's that I can't have any coffee!! #
• trying to get our clothes dryer fixed – why won't any of these repair men answer their phones? Not good business :\ #
• Very full 24 hours ahead… first job out of the way, which was getting our adoption medicals done… next job is four more hours work.. #
• Baggas is listening to Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix http://bit.ly/iZ4ra #
• about to drop the kids at grandma's for the night and then heading out of town #
• I used #Shazam to discover Please Please Me by The Beatles http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=235682 #
• I used #Shazam to discover Twist And Shout by The Beatles http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=5203350 #
• I used #Shazam to discover Have A Talk With God by Stevie Wonder http://www.shazam.com/music/web/track?id=5168431 #
• enjoyed the awesome worship at church, but then got bugged by an email I got during the sermon – lesson : don't check email during church #
• upgraded the hard-drive in the PS3 since I had a spare 500Gb one lying around – quite a simple process really #

• enjoyed a good music practice, despite almost choking on my mic at one point. Small band this week but a great bunch so it's all good #
• has been digging out my Christmas MP3s and putting together my Xmas 09 playlist – Nat, Bing, Dean, Elvis and many more – all the big guns #
• Idleness is bad. Having a quiet day and I find myself looking at luxury cars on eBay… #
• is out walking, listening to a chorus of frogs #
• is enjoying the sound of the rain outside, but I hope it goes away before the weekend #
• nice night for a swim #
• is looking at my schedule for the day – once again, far too many gaps #
• is going to grab some lunch – feel like Chinese perhaps #
• is reorganising my pedal board #
• is about to take the youngsters in the pool #

• continues to be unimpressed by the de-country'd version of Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' – totally sucks the life out of the song. #
• has got all my music and videos served from my iMac to my X-Box 360 and PS3 using cool program called Rivet – excellent #
• If there's one thing that's guaranteed to bug me it's anti-vaccination paranoia #
• is home early – time to enjoy the great outdoors on this beautiful warm day… #
• quite enjoyed playing some poker tonight.. nice way to cap off a pretty good day – busy at work and then a relaxing afternoon at home #
• I used Shazam to discover Drumming Song by Florence + The Machine #shazam #
• finished work early today – off to Perth for our final adoption seminar before the assessment process begins… #
• loves Lego – there is so much cool stuff out now #
• is pleased to have finally paid off my car loan – first new car I ever got and after 5 years it's now totally mine #
• got my Uni grades – not entirely happy but still good to be officially over for the year! Now 5/8 (62.5%) finished my Masters #
• RT @thewest_com_au 16-hour flights to London loom.
  http://bit.ly/1LV2Zn This will be awesome. Shame it's in 2011, not 2010… #

• never had any problems with computers with daylight savings – but it's now causing serious bother with them now that we're not having it #
• RT @sjames79 Trying twitbird pro cause it's free today & has Push – prefer echofon (free) look, but twitbird has a lot more features #
• finally got our Wii back. All working again. Cause of the problem : a certain toddler putting foreign material in the disc slot – doh! #
• has effectively finished my assignment – just have do do the refs (which shouldn't be too hard – only got 9) but I'll do that another day… #
• Had a family book an hour's worth of appointments… and then cancel at the last minute – wasting my time and costing me income #
• is thinking it's about time I finally got a Blu-Ray.. I'm usually a fairly early adopter of new tech but have been left behind on this one.. #
• is finding my current book challenging reading… because a lot of the pages are out of order – 205, 208, 206, then 211, then 210, 209!?! #
• Having another quiet day at work – far too many empty slots #
• is putting the final touches on my assignment. No proof reading – just going to email it and be done with it. Uni finished for 2009! #
• is finished work for the week… looking forward to a packed weekend ahead. #
• out for dinner with the fam at the Whistling KiteTavern for the first time #
• is heading up to Lancelin for some 4WD action #
• 4WD trip was short lived after Scott's spectacular but tragic 2m air. Didn't see the day involving hospitals and an ambulance… #
• despite fighting a nasty cold, enjoyed working with a wonderful bunch of musos this morning – thanks guys! #

• Busy start to the week – lots of patients today, assignment to finish, out almost every night… already looking forward to the weekend! #
• is pretty happy – things are ticking along very nicely #
• Passed the 4000 word minimum for my essay. Still have the section left where I have to apply what I've supposedly learnt in this unit… #
• is thinking they should have delayed the daylight savings vote until after this summer reminded everyone about what life is like without it! #
• enjoyed playing a bit of Pachebel's Canon in D… on the piano #
• Looks like a busier day at work today which is a good thing – too many empty appointments recently. #
• finally has my pool pump fixed.. yay! Looking forward to a warm weekend and hanging out with Jen and the kiddies lots #
• is having a very full-on day of General Practice – only 2 more hours til the weekend! #
• just got told by a complete stranger that I am "famous around this area" – not sure if that's a good thing or not?! lol #
• enjoying a nice relaxing weekend #

• is looking at a quiet day at work today – still 19 empty appointments What happened to all the sick people? #
• is printing out govt reports for my public health assignment – trying not to overdose on toner fumes.. #
• having lunch at the pub during a lull in my day, with a few hundred pages of light reading material to peruse.. #
• When I'm feeling disinspired… the remedy = U2 live @ Slane Castle DVD yeh! #
• http://read.ly/Prov17.1.msg #
• thinks it's funny that Nintendo's on-hold music sounds like something out of Mario Bros #
• I used Shazam to discover Uprising by Muse #shazam #
• About to finally start writing my Public Health paper – and keep reminding myself I only need 9/50 to pass the unit.. #
• alone with the 3 kiddies – visited the petrol station, bottle shop, and now the fish n chips #
• is working on my assignment again – today's word of the day = "un-agglomerated" #
• loving the new Muse album 'The Resistance' – a wonderful mix of Radiohead, Queen, Chopin, and Dr Who! – takes the listener on a journey #
• is down at the beach for a swim and now dinner at Betty's #

• Think Rio was a good choice for the Olympics : http://bit.ly/41ZXn #
• watching VH1 top 500 rock of all time, wondering why they all seem to be between 1977 and 1989? #
• had big plans to do some essay writing tonight but ended up spending most of it on the couch after our visitors left – must get it done … #
• just knocked off my Dive Med assignment… now just one big Public Health assignment standing between me and summer… #
• has got ahead of schedule at work so ducking out for some noodles #
• has just treated my first case of Facebook related illness #
• is finished work for the week. Looking forward to spending the night in Perth tonight with Jen and no kiddies! #
• enjoyed a nice Indian meal for dinner and now about to see Mao's last dancer #
• is spending today at a seminar on international adoption – should be interesting… #
• probably should avoid watching Fox News… I just end up arguing with the TV every time! lol #
• just rode with the boys on our bikes down to the post box to send off our adoption application form. #

• has had a busy day – family lunch, movies, and now out for dinner for Luke's birthday. #
• is all packed ready to head to the airport at 4:30am for my epic day long journey to Townsville tomorrow – leave 5:45am – arrive 9:35pm #
• made it to the airport just in time. Thankfully I'm in business with an empty seat beside me so it's all good so far #
• has arrived in Sydney after a nice flight; having a drink in the lounge; three hours to kill before my next flight leaves. #
• is on my way to Brisbane now. Sitting in seat 1A for the first ever time but it's an old 737 so not especially flash. #
• has finally arrived in Townsville. Can't wait to get to my hotel and get to bed. #
• finally made it to Townsville after a marathon day, but sadly my suitcase did not And I'm not going to wear the Qantas pyjamas they g … #
• Townsville is hot and dusty today. Wish I had appropriate clothing. Must try and find time to do some shopping. My suitcase is still AWOL. #
• now has my luggage back, delivered by taxi to me at Uni – nice work #
• is definitely in the tropics now – nice and warm here in Townsville today Ready for another day of diving medicine. #
• Continuing dive med course. Despite the horror stories it hasn't scared me off wanting to SCUBA dive. Visiting the decompression chamber … #
• is at Townsville airport at an ungodly hour, but glad to be embarking on my journey home. #
• thinks it should be illegal to open an airport this early without having a guaranteed supply of coffee available #
• is very happy to be home after a week away. A bit exhausted though so looking forward to a relaxing couple of days before I'm back at work.. #
• has only 2 assignments and a broken pool pump standing between me and summer (I've decided to start summer early this year – bring it on!) #

• Drinking the 2007 Howling Wolves Wines Shiraz #
• is tinkling the ivories before dinner. #
• MONDAY : just printed my first reference for my 4000 word public health assignment Still waiting for anxiety to overcome inertia on this one #
• thinks that lawyers and paranoia about litigation ruin so many good things nowadays #
• thinks it's a nice night for a fire #
• felt pretty dodgy to start the day but is gradually feeling better thanks to caffeinated vitamin water and a 20 minute power nap #
• has a serious need for coffee but the espresso machine here is broken … Not good. #
• is taking the boys down to swimming lessons #
• I used Shazam to discover The Beast by Angus & Julia Stone #shazam #
• Finally a beautiful spring day in Perth today – perfect for breakfast (and study) by the beach #
• is finished work for 10 days! #
• likes it when you go to a place and the staff remember you. #
• Busy weekend. All day today at another adoption seminar up in Swanbourne; and a full day for Luke's birthday tomorrow. Busy, but good #
• Adoption seminar was excellent and even better it finished an hr early so we drove down the new freeway to Mandurah and now enjoying din … #

I’m still not a huge Twitter devotee and if forced to choose between it and facebook I would pick the latter, but I do still cross-post to it and follow my feed every day or two on my iPhone.

If, like me, you’ve dabbled in Twitter you may not understand some of the bewildering abbreviations they use. This article gives a great run down on some of the features of Twitter, and there are plenty of other twitter related resources on his site as well : Twitter FAQ

• MONDAY : lots on my To-do list… but all these patients keeping getting in my way. Time to put the foot down! #
• have caught up with patients and tackling my job list – currently on hold with Qantas #
• Thanks to my inflexible lecturer I'm now doing a 15 hour marathon journey in 2 weeks instead of a comfortable 8 hrs. Waste of a whole day #
• is playing some mandolin – going to make a serious effort to master this instrument once I'm finished uni this year #
• needs to immerse myself in study for my Diving Medicine block in Townsville in two weeks time… #
• TUESDAY : having my car detailed this morning to recover from the weekend #
• is waiting for Mia to arrive for her 18 month vaccination. #
• WEDNESDAY : pleased that Laridian PocketBible is finally available for iPhone http://www.laridian.com/iphone/default.asp #
• has too many things to do and too little time over the next few weeks… think I'll stay home tonight so I can start catching up #
• is finding it hard to get back into study – too many distractions and insufficient motivation #
• THURSDAY : dislikes unnecessary bureaucratic complication – my medical board renewal is 5 times more complicated than in previous years. #
• is having an unexpected night at home. Might try and get a bit of study done and get an early night as I can feel another cold coming on.. #
• is biting the bullet and installing Snow Leopard on my MacBook Air – have had no real dramas with it on my iMac. #
• FRIDAY : is very tired today for some reason. Was nice to get a visit from my girls at work though #
• is amazed I've made it over half way through the day without a single no-show! I've probably just jinxed the afternoon though :p #
• No free lunch today but I've sneaked out to grab some Nando's instead #
• has finished a full week of work. Now taking a deep breath before diving into a very full weekend.. #
• I used Shazam to discover Warm Heart Of Africa by The Very Best Feat. Ezra Koenig #shazam #
• Testing Pingle – an iPhone app for ping.fm #
• http://ping.fm/p/fjAui – Testing pingle again while the boys play Xbox #
• SATURDAY : has woken up with a cold I don't have time to have a cold… #
• is so thankful to be able to make fine coffee in my home… so many people around the world don't have that privilege #
• I used Shazam to discover With A Little Help From My Friend by The Beatles #shazam #
• While waiting to go out I am comparing the new remastered CD of The Beatles Sgt Pepper against the old CD – a huge improvement! #
• is sitting out the back playing my mandolin… hope the neighbours don't mind.. #
• is about to drop off the kids and head off for a nice evening out with Jen #
• enjoyed a nice meal at the Blue Water grill, by the river in Applecross #
• is visiting the new Ace cinemas for the first time … nice comfy lounges #
• is at Perth International wondering what's the deal with all these freaks wearing face masks? Are they afraid of catching some exotic di … #
• is enjoying mixing it up with acoustic instruments this morning – 6, 8, and 12 strings #
• is showing Owen some YouTube videos of computer games from the olden days – Atari 2600 – and surprisingly he seems impressed! #

• is playing with fire… to the sweet latin sounds of Rodrigo Y Gabriela.. #
• is going to throw another log on the fire – now that Mia is finally in bed I can take my red and my book outside and enjoy the warmth #
• is outside by a warm fire reading Bonhoeffer, drinking red wine, listening to The Decemberists, eating S&V chips… very nice #
• MONDAY : having another quiet day – 4/9 no shows so far Grrr! So I'm watching YouTube and tidying up my office some more. #
• I used Shazam to discover Chaos by Mutemath #shazam #
• TUESDAY : new med student noob starts today… mwahaha #
• finished my med student teaching morning. He was a nice guy and pretty knowledgeable. #
• Note to drug reps : just tell me about your drug; don't ask me 20 questions in a roundabout way – that's annoying! And bring decent food … #
• really needs to get back into study again after a slack few weeks – tonight's the night. #
• is heading out to see District 9 #
• WEDNESDAY : Liking the 09/09/09 at the bottom of my screen! Have a great day. #
• Here's the text of Obama's school speech. Great message. I struggle to understand why this was controversial? http://ping.fm/j22UW #
• needs to churn through a few patients so I can get some lunch #
• THURSDAY : last working day for this week. Weather not looking good for going down south this weekend #
• is developing a scratchy voice – glad I only have one more patient left for the week #
• is sitting on the couch with Owen, each reading our own books :0) #
• FRIDAY : is up in Perth all day today with Jen at an adoption seminar #
• is now enjoying dinner at a very nice restaurant overlooking the river and the city in South Perth #
• just got home. Now getting organized to head off to Busso in the morning. Had a struggle talking Owen out of wanting to drive down tonight! #
• SATURDAY : heading down to Busselton this morning #
• had an enjoyable day four wheel driving, but my car is not gold anymore – now more of a brown colour #
• had a very smooth run home – from Busselton Jetty to our place in Port Kennedy in 2:10. Will be even better when the new highway is open! #

Yuu may have noticed a lack of activity here of late, partly because I’ve been so busy and partly because my online presence (like that of many other people) has sharply veered into the realm of facebook. I hate to say it (because I really hated it at first) but I think the “new” facebook has ultimately turned out to be an improvement, greatly enhancing the social interactivity of the site whilst reducing a lot of the spam and the preponderance of silly applications that were dragging down the old facebook. They are all still there, but much more nicely compartmentalised. In fact the new facebook has also in my mind effectively replaced Twitter – it gives the same functionality of microblogging with status updates, but allows for a much more elegant way of replying and communicating based on these updates, and with a much larger “audience.” I’ll still cross post to twitter using ping.fm (in fact as of today I now have the Australian leader of the Opposition “following” me on twitter) but facebook is where it’s at. Amazing how it continues to grow, and penetrate into more and different demographics. Wonder if the creators of facebook ever imagined how far this would go – from a niche site for uni students to arguably one of the two most crucial sites on the web (along with Google).

The other thing area that facebook has tentatively moved into is chat, with the little web-based chat in the lower right corner. I’ve used this a couple of times now and it’s not bad, although a little unreliable. The potential utility of this is that if facebook is becoming your communications hub, then instantly all of your FB contacts are on your chat list. It keeps it all centralised. At present though, facebook chat is under-cooked and very low powered. If they want this to compete with MSN, AIM, Yahoo etc then they will need to beef up it’s features and create stand-alone desktop software so it will run when your browser is closed, allow more customisable contact lists, availability status, invisibility, file transfers, and ultimately video and audio chat. Not sure if this is their goal but the potential is there. For Mac users, you can go part way to achieving this using Adium, a neat and powerful program that combines all your different chat accounts into the one client – and facebook chat is one of those. So you can chat with facebook friends even without your browser open. Probably there is similar software for Windows, but I haven’t been bothered to look for it.

I’m not planning on abandoning this blog any time soon, but the chances are you’ll be seeing me a lot more on facebook…

Social networking – it’s the big buzzword at the moment. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and many others are the latest extension of the blogosphere, and are reaching a much greater crowd for whom maintaining a proper blog would not be considered. Politicians such as Barack Obama and many other well known personalities are using these sites to their advantage.  Even my wife now has her own facebook!

The two main sites I’ve used are facebook and twitter, which have different, but sometimes overlapping, uses. Facebook has been good for connecting with current friends and family, old friends from school and Uni and elsewhere, and even allowed me to maintain some contact with some Canadian friends I met in Uganda last year. The applications of facebook are myriad – from messages and chat (as Jen discovered for herself last night), photo and video sharing, through to a vast range of mini apps, ranging from the useful to the completely stupid.

Twitter is much simpler – you just post a short, SMS length message which goes onto a timeline of messages from you and your twitter friends. It’s hard to explain the appeal of this but it can be good for just posting quick status updates or having extended (though sometimes difficult to follow) conversations. A primary use of twitter for me (as for ob1 and others) is to feed twitter posts into my blog so as to maintain a level of activity here when I am to busy to create full blog updates.

And these are just two examples – there are plenty more other overlapping and different social networking sites.

The problem for some of us then becomes that if we are signed up to 2 or more of these sites it becomes :

• (1) a chore to keep them all up to date
• (2) difficult to keep up with the activity on all of them

I know there are some apps which attempt to solve problem 2 but I am yet to investigate them. However I have found an excellent solution to the first issue – http://ping.fm

Using this site you can type in your twitter style update (or a longer blog for sites which support that) and it will be instantly sent to as many of these different networking sites as you are registered for. As I said my 2 main sites are twitter and facebook, however along the way I have signed up with plurk, livejournal, myspace and several others – so this stops them from lying completely idle. It also has the advantage that I can update ping.fm (and hence everything else) not only from a web interface but also by IM and a range of other mini-apps, which is useful for mobile updating. Definitely worth checking out if you use any of these sites. Currently it’s still in Beta (though works perfectly) and you need a code to register. The current code is “pingitlikeitshot” but if you find that doesn’t work let me know and I’ll try and get you a newer one.

EDIT (Aug 16) :  new code for ping.fm is “vivalaping”