Journal Entries
I did promise a journal entry....
Posted Sep 10, 2007
So here it is!
I'm back at home in Australia......... well, for the moment I'm going to say that "part" of me is back.
Most who read this entry will know that for the past almost 2 years I have been resident in China, teaching English. In Yichang, Hubei, China.... to be more precise. And I got married while I was in China, which is absolutely 
fantastic. 
.
But on the last day of July 2007 I returned to Melbourne, Australia.
The day after I returned, I bought a car. The day after I bought my neat little 1989 Subaru Leone, I drove to the offices of my former employer to be greeted with something akin to "Thank Bob you're back, when can you start work?"
So, I'd been back for 2 days and already I had transport and employment checked off my list. Accommodation is another thing altogether. At the moment I am staying in my parents home.... not the best of situations, but one which can wait a little while to be resolved because, you see, the major unresolved issue at the moment is the fact that my wife is still in China - which is a major, major, major downer. 
Okay, hereafter my wife shall be referred to as "Betsy" (the reason for which should be obvious to anyone who knows where I got my screen name from). 
The problem, as you may well guess, is a government - but probably not the particular government you might imagine it to be. The Australian government has already granted temporary residency to Betsy, she got approval before I flew out and can enter Australia whenever she likes. Nooooooooo, the problem is the Chinese government. They're not stopping her from leaving, just taking forever to do something very simple which has nothing to do with her leaving the country.
Explanation: We bought an apartment in Yichang and we got the keys to the apartment on 1 July. What My Love is now waiting for is the official Ownership Certificate. You may ask, "Why wait? Why not get them to send it to you?".... the answer - because the Chinese beaurocracy is so steeped in red-tape and the idea that the left hand should not know what the right hand is doing that, firstly, we don't know who to talk to in order for that to be achieved and, secondly, they probably wouldn't want to pay the cost of mailing it to us in Australia or (if we did pay them on-the-spot) would probably lose any payment we made in order to achieve this.
We could get a member of Betsy's family go in and pick it up for us. But that person, once they have the certificate in their hand, could actually sell the apartment without our knowledge. Not that we don't trust members of my wifes family, it's more that she had to stay for a while anyway (to train someone to do her job), so we decided that she may as well stay a little while after the training is complete and come here in early/mid October, because the certificate is supposed to be ready by the start of October.
The "staying a little while longer" was, of course, a bad idea. I've been home now for about 6 weeks and I miss her terribly. 
And there's still about 4 or 5 weeks to go before she gets here.
That's all I have time for at the moment. Any questions?
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Sep 10, 2007
China 2005
Posted Dec 20, 2004
Well, it's official.......... well, *almost* official..... I mean, the flights are booked and a deposit has been paid.... 
visas still need to be acquired and there's probably one or two other things which need to be done..... *but*
30 April 2005 - Melbourne to Sydney to Shanghai (Arrive 30 April 2005 8:20 pm)
15 May 2005 - Shanghai to Melbourne (Arrive 16 May 2005 10:20 am)
After successfully not killing each other during six weeks in the USA, Peter and I will once again be on the road (or should that be "in the skies"?) together. Upon arrival in Shanghai we will be met by my friend Kelvin (who is currently working in Yichang - pronounced Yee-chung) and his wife, Lyn. We'll have a look around Shanghai for a day or two before flying to Yichang.
Once in Yichang the itinerary becomes a little blurry. This is a much less structured trip than our USA tour (no more of this "flying to a new city every few days"). We'll check out the local sights of course, probably in the company of an interpreter (though Peter has bought a Book/CD to learn a little Mandarin and in January I will be doing a short course - Mandarin for Travellers - at the university across the road from where I work), and we may even organise to have a couple of days in Beijing and/or check out The Great Wall. But all that is mere speculation...... all that is definitely decided so far is that we're going!
and there'll be a new website....... eventually.
Discuss this Journal entry [19]
Latest reply: Dec 20, 2004
I have a cunning plan.....
Posted Nov 13, 2003
Okay, here is a rough outline of where my friend and I might possibly be, on or around the listed dates.
22 May 2004 to 24 May 2004 - Los Angeles
25 May 2004 to 31 May 2004 - Salt Lake City
01 Jun 2004 to 04 Jun 2004 - Las Vegas
05 Jun 2004 to 08 Jun 2004 - New Orleans
09 Jun 2004 to 14 Jun 2004 - Charlotte
15 Jun 2004 to 17 Jun 2004 - Washington DC
18 Jun 2004 to 22 Jun 2004 - New York
23 Jun 2004 to 25 Jun 2004 - San Francisco
26 Jun 2004 to 04 Jul 2004 - Honolulu
05 Jul 2004 - Home
I can already hear everyone screaming "Why the has he added Salt Lake City to the trip, it's in Utah for Bobs sake!", and the reason is quite simple - the brother of my travelling companion is currently living and wo*king in SLC.
This is, of course, a far more structured trip than I would like, so be prepared for details to change as we go along.
Discuss this Journal entry [191]
Latest reply: Nov 13, 2003
Data Recovery
Posted Oct 23, 2003
On Sodit evening my 40GB secondary hard drive suddenly decided that it no longer wanted to live. The data and files which I had accumulated just disappeared. Gone completely. If you selected the drive, it proudly announced that I had 40GB of free space.
I know the reason why this probably happened, but I won't bore you the technical "whys" and "hows".
On Wimpy evening I borrowed and tried 3 commercially available data recovery packages and all that they were able to find, with varying degrees of success, were a large number of text files filled with rubbish (it wasn't actually "rubbish" but you would have to be the worlds greatest programmer to be able to decipher what you were looking at). I won't tell you the names of these programs because, quite frankly, they are not worth the bother.
What follows is an absolute *rave* about some data recovery software which is freely available on the Internet.
If you *ever* find yourself in this situation, the best advice I can give is this: ignore all the commercially available software which claim to be able to rebuild your drive and go straight to the BinaryBiz website and download their data recovery software.
Last night I downloaded and installed the BinaryBiz software, ran a partial scan of the disk and, when I continued to the next window, there were some of my files all nicely set out in a directory structure (albeit with directory names like "dir0", "dir10", etc). Then I went back and started the scan again and let it do the entire hard drive (which took about 75 minutes), after which I could see files which I had deleted months ago.
I have found most of the stuff which I want to recover, but I still have a bit of searching to find some very specific files.
The good thing about this software is that, firstly, you don't pay anything until you know for sure that it can find the data on your drive and, secondly, how much you pay depends on how much data you want to recover. In my case I have a 40GB drive but (so far) I have only found about 4GB of data which I *need* to recover (the rest is mostly stuff which I already have on cd). Recovering 5GB of data will cost me $119.95US, which is a small price to pay considering the time and effort I would otherwise have to put in to get back to where I was.
Maybe my excuberance for this software is heightened by the fact that the other 3 programs failed, but then the first 3 actually said that they could do it with statements like "Lost all your data? We *can* recover it for you". And had I *bought* these programs I would have wasted my money.
You can probably guess that this little black duck is now a lot happier than he was on Sodit or Wimpy evening.
Discuss this Journal entry [13]
Latest reply: Oct 23, 2003
Has it been six months already?
Posted Oct 14, 2003
Yes, it has.
Six months ago, at this very time of day, my friend Robin died. It seems like it happened only yesterday but, at the same time, it is a lifetime ago. Then there are the times when it all feels like the bad dream that I wish it was.
Those of us who were there when he died share a common bond which no-one else can ever share. It is fair to say that, under the circumstances, we would prefer to have never forged such a union, but it is one which provides now, as it did back then, an extra little bit of comfort. A piece of my heart will live forever in each of the people who shared my tears on 14 April 2003.
The overwhelming grief which I experienced has subsided, but it is permanently imprinted on my soul and manages to surface every now and then. The intensity and frequency have decreased, but the memory is vivid.
During the last 6 months I have come to appreciate more clearly the value of family, friendship and the love and comfort which are naturally displayed and shared at such times. Those who know me best would, no doubt, recognise that I have been a lot more open and honest about my affections and feelings over the last six months than at any other time in my life.
In the days leading up to, and immediately after, Robins death, I also took a great deal of comfort from those of you in this virtual community who showed your support and shared in my grief. I may not have posted often but I lurked at every opportunity and was glad that very little seemed to have changed, except that a hell of a lot more hugs were being tossed about in my fan club. I'm not sure if I thanked you at the time, but I want to thank you now.
Thank You.
Discuss this Journal entry [14]
Latest reply: Oct 14, 2003
Evil Roy: Maestro of the Thingite Orchestra, Knight Errant of the Thingite Cause, Prince of Balwyniti, Aussie Researchers A59204
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