Mark Thomson

I'm going to go on a bit of rant here for a minute or two. Language may be a bit harsh - I warn you now!




Okay fuck you CGU Insurance you lying pack of douchebags! In what fucking reality do you think it is okay to insure a vehicle, then refuse to pay out what is a reasonable value for the vehicle (or why not just fix the damned vehicle given that the market book value of the vehicle is still more than the repair!) The vehicle has been fully insured with you for at least 18 months (and previously had insurance for more than 10 years with you), so it's not like a significant amount of money hasn't been poured through your business. 

To say that you won't pay out a fair Red Book value for the vehicle, and have deducted the remaining balance of the insurance for the year, for a vehicle we no longer have, because you have determined you don't want to fix is fucking outrageous! Despite evidence being provided that even the quote that the Assessor produced was too low, that a replacement identical vehicle with similar Km's could not be purchased from a Dealer or Private Seller for the money you were offering, you still would not relent. And then to come back with an even lower offer, due to your "deductions", add insults to injury. 

So not only does my partner not have her vehicle, not have her freedom, not have the vehicle she worked blood, sweat, and tears to own, but you've stiffed us out of being able to replace the vehicle. A vehicle that I must point out was damaged not because of my partner, but because of a P-Plate drivers ineptitude! Your attitude has been less than caring, and you have not lifted a finger to be helpful in any way! You are a fucking disgrace! Your juvenile and condescending attitude throughout our dealings has been an insult! You have offered not one iota of assistance to us, including leaving us to attempt to retrieve items of equipment from the car, without any assistance, and "volunteering" the panelbeaters to assist us at their expense was extremely appreciated by them (i'm being sarcastic in case you don't get it). I'd point out the heartbreak, tears, stress, and absolute despair you have caused us, but I don't think you give a shit! 

I will now retaliate with the only means I have left at my disposal - I will remove our business from your organisation. You will no longer receive one cent from us, and I will ensure that everyone I know, they know, and so on, NEVER takes any of their business to your satanic Insurance agency EVER again! You are the lowest form of life in the universe, lower than pond scum, lower than the base bacteria that formed in a rock pool aeons ago! Enjoy your pound of flesh! Fuck you!





Whatever you do, don't use CGU Insurance for your insurance. I've never dealt with a more unreasonable, money grubbing, soulless organisation in my life. These people could have repaired the car, which was not that badly damaged IMHO, and kept us as a customer. But their attitude and miserly approach has ensured I will remove our business from them, and anyone else I can enlighten. Please don't deal with these people - you'll only set yourself up for heartache!

I've just jumped back into the owner market again, with the purchase of some land in the area I'm currently living in. I needed something central to public transport so the children are able to get to and from school, as well as be accessible to the ex-partner.

It's not a very big section, being a recently subdivided ex-Queenslander block, and it has some potentially annoying restrictions on what can be built on there due to requiring a 'character' house, but I'm working through that. I figure at the end of the day, it's more about the living space inside the house anyway, than what it looks like from the outside. Although if it will be quite rankling if I'm locked into building an 'old lady' style house. I'll just have to get over it. Still it's an exciting time again, and its a significant step in getting my life back on track again.

So we went off for a weekend on Coochiemudlo Island, which sounded lovely. And probably would have been if the weather was better and not the current monsoon conditions we're getting. As it was, if your planning on going to visit there, you probably want to know some things:

[1] Apart from the beach, there isn't anything much there. I'm told there's a 9 hole golf course, but if its raining you won't be using that. Its got plenty of beaches, which looked quite nice, although I hear they get jellyfish! If your stuck indoors, make sure you take something to do, otherwise its a trip back to the mainland for you! Thankfully that doesn't take very long, and the ferry runs pretty regularly.

[2] Not much in the way of food/dining options - take your own supplies with you. Otherwise it's a trip back on the ferry again. The closest thing we could find to a restaurant, was a kiosk with a barbeque behind it the would burn meat on demand, or a fish'n'chips shop near the beach. Functional, but not very romantic!

[3] But the worst thing was how utterly uncomfortable we were at the Seminara Apartments. The place was lovely, quite modern, and very tidy, but features one of the hardest beds I think I've ever had to try to lie on. The fold out bed/couch was missing its mattress, so it had no support or comfort to it either. We both felt pretty bruised and exhausted by the end of it - not the relaxing getaway we were envisioning. We certainly couldn't sleep in or relax, and were up every morning at 5. So I'd suggest taking whatever you need to be comfortable. If that means taking an inflatable mattress, or your own pillowtop, I'd say do it!

Anyway, that's enough complaining. I think if the weather had been nice and we were able to get outside, we'd probably have enjoyed the beach, and walking the island. We had a few hours of sunny weather when we first arrived, and did manage to walk part way around the island which was quite nice. It's not very big, and I think you could probably walk around it in an hour.

The people were also quite friendly, and were happy to talk with you. Little things were quite nice, but overall I think Coochiemudlo needs some effort to be come a proper destination for people to go too.

Took the kids to Underwater World in Mooloolaba the other week as a treat for the Christmas holidays. Hadn't been there before so was somewhere new for me too. It's quite a long drive to the Sunshine Coast, one I haven't done myself before either, so I felt it was quite an achievement to get there in the first place (yes some mental high-fives were given!).

The drive through Mooloolaba was terrible, with slow moving traffic. I don't think the fact that there is one road along the point helped the problem much. Also there was not enough parking near the event, but thankfully we got something along the roadside and only had a short walk back. Driving home again in the afternoon proved to be not much better either.

Underwater World itself was quite reasonably priced compared to the tourist traps on the Gold Coast - except for food, take your own or go hungry.

There's all the usual highlights, pet the starfish (surprisingly they're quite hard), sharks, rays, moray eels, fish, alligator, plus an enormous frozen Hammerhead (certainly put things in perspective! - don't think I will ever get in the ocean in Australia). The seal show is worth a look, especially to see the seals being trained and some of the tricks they can do.

The little fella's wanted to go fishing forever, and despite telling him how boring it is, he will not be talked out of it. So we got him a fishing rod and kit for his birthday. First trip out, we caught nothing, except for the cheeky crab that snipped off his hook and took it and the bait. An elderly man caught a shovel-nosed shark which he bought over for us to have a look at, but Beeb didn't want to touch it.

Second trip out he caught a small whiting fish, which we released. Unfortunately we were too busy panicking about what to do with this fish that was flopping around, that we forgot to take a picture of it - at least until we'd thrown it back over the dock and it had swum away.

He's starting to get a lot better at casting now, but there's still the odd one thats a mystery. Somehow he managed to throw it out 90 degrees to us so instead of it being out in front, it was way down the jetty to the right, and then in the water. Luckily it missed all the people, and nobody got hooked on it.

Went to Alexandra Heads on the Sunshine Coast yesterday. First time I've been to the Sunshine Coast since we moved over - it's been over 3 years. Kind of similar to the Gold Coast, but without all the high rise buildings. I'm informed it's also less snobby - the people did look to be nice and normal. Quite a nice beach, although I didn't get in the water - still a bit unsure with all the killer jellyfish and sharks. Mostly just watched the people, and made sure Beeb didn't drown. Stupidly, I sunscreened myself before I took my shoes off, so I had very burnt feet later that night. Pretty much screamed like a little girl this morning when I had to put my shoes on for work. That'll teach me to be more careful.

Went down to a friend's place on Saturday to watch Riverfire on the Brisbane river. Unfortunately turned up a little bit late for the Roulettes performing acrobatics, so only saw a little bit of that, but the fireworks were fantastic. Certainly much better than the New Years ones that they have at Southbank. And the view from the apartment was fantastic - eighth floor straight down the river. The fireworks went for about 30 minutes, ending with the dump and burn of fuel from the F-111 planes. This was the last year they were doing it, as they are being retired this year. Australia is the last country in the world to still be flying these planes, and will be replacing them with the Super Hornet shortly. Wonder what they'll be replacing them with next year as the Super Hornet can't do a dump and burn? There were so many people there for the event. The trains were absolutely jam packed on the way there and back.

Still frantically busy with stuff. The house is coming along. We just completed all the soil around the pool, and retaining around the base of the pool fencing to stop any little'uns from getting in and drowning. The spray coat lining for the pool is being done today, so we should be good to get it filled soon. The front and side gardens are done, and we're progressing on some more small rock walls. The gully is going to take a bit longer though, and is probably going to be an ongoing project for some time.

Instead of Australia Day this year, we're celebrating New Zealand Day (we've hijacked their holiday), and we'll be having some people round, and a BBQ with delectable NZ goodies. Something we're definitely looking forward too.

So I had to work New Years Eve, but the family came into the city and we met up to go to the fireworks on the river. I don't know what had changed this year, but there seemed to be less of a focus on family activities. More stuff catering to the young and single.

Now I'm not that ancient, but I'm not that interested in DJ's playing the same sampled beats over and over, or rave dance parties. Actually the dance party was pretty pathetic - not a very large group of people for the space it was held in, and mostly a few adults trying to get their children to gyrate, with little success. I can't understand why they only elected to show one movie this year. Usually they'll have a bunch, and the one they did show, Princess Bride, seemed to have a reasonable turnout. Whoever's idea it was to have a Guitar Hero/Mario Kart tournament should probably be given a sharp smack across the forehead. How many people can play the games at once? Not many - leaving the rest of us to watch?? Ooh exciting stuff!

We filled in some of the time with a swim in the lagoon (with about 2000 other people), and waited for the fireworks. Fortunately they were still having the early showing, followed by the midnight bang up. We decided to stay for the early one, and took off for home about 9. The fireworks were as usual pretty good, although I had a feeling they'd been scaled down from previous years. I guess they hadn't escaped the economic downturn - perhaps that explained the lack of interesting activities this year also - all done on a shoestring. The only thing that kinda rankled me about the fireworks - they intercut the music with clips from the news during the year. Why the hell do we want to be reminded of all the horrible things that happened? Heath Ledgers death, skyrocketing petrol prices, wars, and then the final WTF - Obama being elected to president. Hey i agree it's great he's in, and the shaven monkey is finally on the way out, but what's it got to do with Australia? Last time I checked, Oz isn't a State of America yet. The whole thing was strange and surreal.

So yeah, home and tucked up in bed before midnight. Some strange movie playing on SBS, and the wife and children passed out. The dogs snoring on my pillow, behind my head. That was New Years... Not the worst I've ever had, but it's not such a big deal in my mind. We're still here, and life goes on. Here's hoping good things happen for everyone in 2009.

I got the 6 month contract extension. Hopefully the economy will pick up in that time and I'll be able to pick up something permanent here. I really love my job, so I'd really like to stay here. Fortunately the extension also gets me over the Xmas hump - it's becoming nigh-on impossible to find something at the moment. I'll probably look at doing some courses in the New Year. I'd been wanting to do some project management for awhile, so I might look at just paying for that myself and getting it done.

Much to my disappointment I didn't get my contract extended at work, so I'm looking for a new position. It's quite difficult to find anything at the moment, with the global economy being in the toilet, employers are reluctant to take on new staff. I've got a glimmer of hope, in that there is a single extension available for another 6 months. I've applied and I'm hoping to find out soon. I had an interview yesterday for a job in the government, so I'm waiting to find out about that. So hopefully, I've got a couple of options available.

Rob had an accident on Saturday and possibly wrote-off the car. She hit a parked car that was parked over a rise. She was following a truck, which had to swerve to avoid the car as it came over the rise, and she clipped it as she went to swerve. Bay got thrown against the roof, Micky had some bruising from the seat-belt, and Rob banged up her knee, got some bruising, and some burst blood vessels across her chest. Thankfully they are all okay. What really annoyed me though, was the owner of the car said it was the 4th time in 5 months that this had happened! I mean, if you parked a car there, and it got hit, wouldn't you think that maybe it would be an idea to do something differently. Unfortunately it's going to bugger up our insurance now, and Rob's driving record. I really think the owner of the car should accept some culpability for it.

On a happier note, we got word from Maureen that our new puggy baby will be coming a couple of days before Xmas. She'd have been out on the weekend, but she still needs to get her vaccinations done. We're still trying to decide what to name her, but hopefully Olive will take to the new addition, and it will help settle her down a bit.

I haven't written anything personal in a long time, mostly because I've just been too busy, but also because things have been in a lot of turmoil and it's been difficult to articulate everything. I'll have a go now.

We've finally moved into our new home, and it's wonderful finally having a space to call your own again, not living in each others pockets or other peoples. We've been working hard finishing things, setting things back up again, and getting things just right. The property has been particularly hard to tame, but with the right tools and some time I think we'll be able to make it manageable. The ride-on mower has been a huge help, and takes a lot of the drudge out of maintaining the property - sure you still have to get the slasher out sometimes, but at least it's not slashing away at the entire 4 acres anymore.

I am still pursuing my previous employer for my outstanding superannuation, leave entitlements, and final pay. It still really angers me the way the dismissed me for asking for my pay, and the way they still refuse to pay me what is rightfully mine. I'm not asking for anything that I'm not entitled too - just the $11,500 they owe. It's also disappointing that the Government aren't really interested in pursuing these people, so I'm waiting while the liquidator goes through the legal process. So far they've gone out of their way to be as difficult as possible, conveniently 'losing' their financial records etc. I have faith the liquidator will pursue them to the end though, so I'll just have to be patient.

I love my new job though. It's safe to say it's the best place I've ever worked so far - I really enjoy the people, the work, and being in the city. I'm a little sad at the moment, because nobody had their contracts renewed. But there is a little glimmer of hope, so it's not over yet. I've started working on Plan B anyway, and hopefully I'll be able to find something else I'll love just as much. At any rate, I've made some good friends, and hopefully I'll be able to keep in touch with them.

Rob's gotten a great new opportunity, and has been working more hands-on with the construction sector. I know she's really enjoying the new challenges, and I'm really proud of her. The kids are still a bit of a mixed bag, but you just take each day as it comes. Doesn't seem like you can ever have them both behave at the same time, they seem to operate as a tag-team. Micky's growing up and doing the typical moody teenager thing. Beeb's still off in fantasy land, and seems to be more easily distracted lately - perhaps its just the age. He's getting better at baseball, and it's nice to see him involved in a group that treats him well.

Took our visiting friend Bron and her kids to the Alma Park Zoo recently. Hadn't been there before. They were going to go to Australia Zoo, but dragging the kids around a massive zoo all day was not appealing, and it's quiet expensive, so we went here. It's a small zoo, but nicely set out in native bush. Fed the usual animals, kangaroos, deer etc. The kids got to touch a python, crocodile and koala. I couldn't bring myself to touch the snake, but the crocodile was interesting. I was surprised how warm the skin was. Personally I can't stand snakes, horrible looking creatures. Yet add some legs, and I'm fine with the various lizards. We got an ecology talk from the keepers about how we're destroying these critters home, so I felt good that we're going to reforest the land we've bought for the animals. Poor little buggers can come hide out at our place (as long as they've got legs).

Now it's starting to warm up again, they've slithered back into our lives. The ever repellant snakes are starting to return around the property again. So we have to be ever vigilant to avoid being bitten. Here's the latest whip snake. We found it come out from a hole under the house pad over the weekend. I went around the side of the house and nearly stood on it. Thankfully it's not overly aggressive, but it can still kill a child, so it's a bit of a worry. We've apparently got King Browns out on our property, although we haven't seen one yet. Those are a lot more dangerous, since they're territorial and will attack.

Beeb had Muster Day today where they assigned the kids to their teams. He got assigned to the Mets, but they've since changed the training time to an absolutely stupid 4 o'clock which we can't get too. I don't know what we're going to do now. I might have to see if we can move him to another team. There's no way we can make training at that time as we both work. Originally it was going to be 5 which would have been better, but I'm guessing some pampered housewife complained about it, and now they've made it earlier. I guess it's alright if you don't have to work. So far I'm getting a bit annoyed with the whole thing. The club has been pretty disorganised, we've had weeks or no activity at all, vagueness about dates and times, we got two coaches who are running some kind of 'time share' option on training - not good! I hope we can get this all sorted out, because Beeb's really excited to get playing and make some friends, and if they fluff about too much longer, I'm worried he's going to get disappointed and lose interest in it.

Been busy with a lot of learning lately - just finished a week long course on developing for Sharepoint. That's one definite advantage with the new job - they don't mind sending me on training. So i've been installing Visual Studio 2005 and trying to get the SDK for Sharepoint installed so I can start writing some web parts for some ongoing projects at work.

The house is coming along slowly, definitely not as fast as I would like it too. Unfortunately we've had a run of bad weather - figures, if we weren't building it would be 30° and hot, but because we're building it decides to hell with the drought, let's feck up their plans! So we're still squatting in the backroom of our inlaws.

I'm still managing to do some painting, and I'm feverishly trying to get stuff finished for the Golden Demon competition in September. I really want to enter something this year, and Beeb is painting some troops to enter too. Plus which, I'm not allowed to buy any more until I finish the ones I've got. Bummer I know! Especially with the new 5th Edition Rules I'm going to need some more ground troops to round out my Tau army. Beeb's doing pretty well with his, as he has a Tactical, Devastator, and shortly Assault squad ready to go. Micky destroyed her Tyranids, especially the Ravener that I was going to enter in the GD. I told her not to take them to school, but she stole it out of my cupboard and proceeded to destroy it by smuggling it out in her skirt. So I've taken control of those. The Ravener is going to need a bit of love and care to get it back into shape, especially since she managed to lose a set of rending claws from the figure. I've cannabalized a Genestealer for parts, so it'll be slightly different now, but at least it will have arms. The left over Genestealer body we converted into an objective marker, and it looks like it's crawling out of a pile of rubble to attack.

Rob's gotten a promotion to the job she's been wanting to do for ages. I'm so happy for her, and she seems more excited to go to work now.

Well once again we've been screwed over. Our promised accommodation that was supposed to last till our house was finished has vanished, and we're left possession-less and back with the in-laws again. Yay! my favourite place to be. Back to being treated like i'm 2 again. I'll just have to cross my fingers that the house will get back on schedule and finish quickly, otherwise I have to find reasons to avoid going home as much as possible. Rob's got her Kumbartcho workshop this weekend, so maybe I'll take the kids and go out for a few hours. At least I managed to grab my GW paints and some figures to work on. My Kroot got packed away, but I've got my last Tau Fire Warrior to finish, a Rail Gun pathfinder, and my Balrog. Hopefully that will be enough. My modelling drawers were supposed to have been put away where I could get to them, but typically they've been put in behind a wall of stuff. Guess that means they'll have to let me buy some more models if I run out. Actually I might go with Beeb to the GenconOz con that's coming up, and doubtless there will be some painting goodies to be had (plus which it has the added bonus of getting me out of the inlaws house).

Well back at work today finally! My first day at my new job was a little slow, what with the mountain of paperwork and documentation to surmount first, but by the end of the day I've got project work to do, and I'm ready to get into it tomorrow. What a change it is to work for a proper professional outfit, instead of the circus I was with before. These guys document, follow procedures, and have some actual structure. Once I wrap my head around it all, it'll be nice to have some order for a change, instead of the instability and chaos that previously ruled. It's also nice to be in the city with lots of people and things going on. I had a nice walk at lunchtime, and it was good to get out and see the world (especially after 7 weeks stuck at home). Overall, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about things. It's going to be a lot of hard work for a little while till I get settled in and understand fully what I'm supposed to be doing, but I think it's going to be a good move in the long run.