Great catching up with the old gang for Ade’s 50th this morning at a Malaysian buffet in East Perth. Lots of good memories from back in the day. And I’m still riding, playing squash and sinking pints of Guinness after all these years. Need to do more to keep in touch; should organise a monthly meetup or something like that. Kids had a piano concert afterwards; they both played very well but Eliza was super nervous beforehand and very hard on herself. She should be proud.
Just signed on for a new role! Had two competing offers, both very similar, with a good interview and technical evaluation at both. Applied for around 15 roles altogether, over a 3 month period of slowly looking. Not all were good experiences. Some recruiters suck, some are awesome, most are between the two. Sometimes my application was rejected without comment, sometimes I was rejected without comment after a non-technical interview for “cultural fit”. In almost all cases the take-home programming projects were a lot of fun and I gladly did them; about five in total. I only had one interview that asked “gotcha” trivia questions (like fizzbuzz), which caused me to immediately disconnect from the process. Had to sadly say no to three or four places that were looking promising and where I really liked the people I met. Man, job hunting sucks. It’s both bad for the ego and hard when forced to choose between multiple offers. Glad it’s over!
Good night at Ezra Pound with the boys, snacking on antipasto and pasta from the neighbouring spaghetti store, who are happy to bring the food into the bar. Then to Lainey’s house on Thursday for takeaway with Traveller and Hooi. Jack practised guitar after eating, then he and Eliza jammed for a while, making use of a keyboard loaned to Lainey by a friend. Lilian had her year 12 ball on Friday night and looks so grown up!
Bought and installed a Nest outdoor camera to monitor Bailey. Out at Kanpai Yakiniku for dinner with Traveller on Friday night and got a notification; watched the live feed to see him trying to squeeze through the gate! Much laughter as we used the microphone to tell him to stop. Home after Korean desserts to bring him inside. Quick trip to Bunnings on Monday morning to buy some materials to block the gaps in the gate and prevent this from happening again.
Apart from that, a fairly quiet weekend. Did a long walk around North Lake with Bailey, Jack commenting that it felt like being in Breath of the Wild. And had the family over for Sunday brunch. Watched Spiderman No Way Home. And made some progress with books and online management courses.
Family brunch on Sunday at Imperial Court. Was prompted afterwards to update my review, likening Phylis to the Soup Nazi of Seinfeld fame. Good dim sum if you bring a sense of humour and don’t get offended by her brusqueness.
Spent Monday with Jack. We dropped the car off for a service, then caught the bus to Garbo for haircuts and to sign up for the library at the Melville Civic Centre, then ate an early lunch at Miss Maud’s before doing a spot of shopping. Made shaking beef for dinner because the watercress looked so good.
Kids back to school on Tuesday. Had a great bike ride around Bibra Lake in the morning, and applied for a few roles. Lots of irons in the fire. I’ve even signed up for some management courses as that’s one skill I feel I lack. We’ll see how it goes. Traveller over for lamb and red sauce pasta; she regalled us with tales of a new Marvel TV series, but it’s all hush-hush. Enjoyed a few glasses of red. Nice evening.
Returned home from dinner on Thursday night to somehow find Bailey in the garage, even though I swore I had put him outside before he left. Phone call in bed the following morning; Bailey was out on the street. So first mystery solved only to be replaced by another. Had he figured out how to squeeze through the gate? We tried in vain to get him to do just that, but even his favourite dried liver treats (crack for dogs according to the veterinarian) wouldn’t tempt him to attempt the feat. I suspect that Noah, a mischevious boy from up the street, came over on Thursday evening and again on Friday morning to ask Jack to play basketball, and had opened the gate and let Bailey out. Might get a camera.
Took a train to West Leederville with Jack to meet Dzung at Besk. Great beer, and the steak tartare, cheeseburger, gnochi and bone marrow were all top class. Returned via the city where I picked up my library card and borrowed a stack of books. Olive Ketteridge and Recursion for me. Bought some Telegram coffee beans too, and refreshed ourselves with bubble tea before training it home again (before which Jack walked into a pole while not looking where he was going). Did some reading in the afternoon after Jack signed up for GoodReads so he can share his progress with me. Hopefully that’ll spark the bug in him; he needs to improve his English grades at school.
Spent yesterday at Treetop Adventures in Yanchep, with family visiting from Hong Kong and one of their family friends. Lots of fun; the black course was challenging and I feel a bit worse for wear today. Battered and bruised with aching muscles. I rely too much on my arms to counteract my poor sense of balance.
Caught up with Traveller and a few friends for dinner at Long Chim in the evening. It was great to see her and hear about life in London.
The “Mazes for Programmers” book arrived today, so I’m mooching through that while looking out at a rain-drenched garden. Wife and kids are out at brunch with their cousins this morning; last day in Perth for them today before returning to a one-week hotel quarantine. It’ll be Bun Loc for dinner; a perfect meal for a wintry day.