Record flooding - the floods of 2022 are going to be marked in history.
Unreal.... the rain just didn't stop. Brisbane had 2/3 of its annual rainfall in 5 days. correct - you read that right.
Many folk lost everything and are displaced from their homes. We fortunately live on a hill top so only had a soggy back yard and a couple of minor house leaks to deal with.
My office is on the second floor, and the water was a few centimetres from the ground level... literally if the river had risen another 10cm it would have breached the floor down stairs
We did however lose power at the house on Monday at 8:20am so spent the day in limbo. Went to a friends to check some things and do some urgent work. It was a bit of a mission to get there and back weaving via backroads to avoid closed roads and detours. Power expected back by Friday. This meant that we needed to cook bbq style and play cards by torchlight for entertainment. It also meant that we needed to relocate freezer stocks to three friends spare space - and it turns out we have a lot more freezer capacity than most! I headed out for a walk in the afternoon.
Tuesday the first day of March - I went out to walk early and made a call to get to West End and see what the state of things were. Before leaving it was tracker removal day, so also took off the cover on my stitches.
We managed to trek to the office going a very long route to get there. I had power and internet at the office, but Glenda's office was all off, and expected to be off for several days. We decided to relocate the servers to my office and get some limited processing capability operating. Turns out that the domain controller had an issue and got stuck in a restart / update loop. Not ideal, but things got even more bizarre. coincidently and for no connected reason, the interent was intermittent. Turns out that the power supply on the internet NTD had chosen to begin to fail so was not stable enough to hold the WAN connection up. and then just to add insult to injury, the 4g fail over sim had decided not to function.
[Nerd Alert ] All this meant that the external IT support to assist in rectifying the restart loop issue was by me explaining what I could see and the tech suggesting key strokes and "try this". Not ideal but between us we managed to sort out the restart issue so the main servers could talk to the domain controller. One step forward. New power supply for NTD was going to be sent out by courier which could take days. Fortunately I knew where there there was a couple of spare power supplies so we retrieved one and magically the WAN was back. a few other issues to address, but at least things were functional. All the while I was developing a plan b solution, which could then be halted as the primary goal was achieved.
A long road home with rat run through back streets due to closures with flooding and such. Made it to drop off a laptop to the MD of my client so she could at lest do some work remotely. Just made it home in time to start and host the YOPD support chat - albeit by candle light! Once that meeting was over, I had to bbq chicken strips and stir fry vege by torch power - it was a challenging day and by time dinner was over at 9 I was ready to call it a day. Not so. Cards to play.
Wednesday was back to the office early to beat the traffic, and managed to get most systems operating ok and updates done - cut out earlyish and went for a walk when home with Glenda in toe. Boxing was cancelled, which was just as well, and I also skipped Pilates. Power was back on at clients during the afternoon so planned to repatriate things the next morning.
Thursday back to office early and began to dismantle the temp server arrangement when a storm struck.... 38 ml rain in 30 minutes, what a deluge! Reconnected all the gear and then headed back to my office to work through the balance of the day, only to have a major storm waring spooked Glenda and we "needed" to head for home.... was a bit of a fizzer in the end, fortunately. Never mind, I at least cleared out some space in the garage for my step daughter to park her car again, and parked my car out of the potential hail storm under the back patio area. Went for a walk in the blazing sun. Net result - no storm.
So now I'm in catch up mode - nothing unusual I suppose.
House renovations.
The last phase of renovations will be floor tiles. Guess this is on hold again while we wait to arrange tile shopping.
More help with Parkinson's awareness and advocacy.
YOPD catch up was by candle light (see above ) #thisisparkinsons
Walking.
On going through rain, and shine. Still haven't missed a day. #committed
Mind games.
Wordle has embedded itself as a daily routine. Its kinda fun and good banter especially with step-daughter.
Medication.
No Change to the schedule or positive impact.
Research.
As mentioned earlier I removed my tracker after the required days and am waiting to post it back. Interested to see what group I will end up in. Spoiler alert - cant divulge what group I am in until after my next post programme review session. Stay tuned.
Pilates.
Pilates is back on Wednesday evenings, but I had to skip one class due to weather complications. Am getting small adjustments to the programme done by Sakura, she is getting to know me a little and understanding my long term situation.
PFU Boxing and more.
Non contact boxing started again on Wednesday the 16th and I very much looked forward to getting my gloves on again. Its now at the YMCA Kelvin Grove 11:00 - 11:45 so that's where I can be found. I am hoping to get some updated video footage and pictures to add to the website.
PFU Boxing was cancelled due to weather - as mentioned. Back on the following weeks. I have been enjoying the new format where there are no actual punching bags but we partner up and switch between pad holder and boxer. Its surprisingly more enjoyable as you can have a bit of a conversation or joke with your partner. I have been mostly matched up with Brad, who is a similar build and level of fitness as I am so works out well. I do challenge him a little by punching southpaw.
Social Outings.
Some upcoming events in the pipeline, but all subject to lockdown conditions.
Each Thursday I am joined at about 4:30 for a couple of hours at the Ballistic Brewery Bar with my two amigos Don and Greg. Its always interesting discussing the week that was and watching the world go by. We have had some other locals 4101ers join our group in the last couple of weeks including Karen, Keith, Carston, and Fiona. Always lovely to have these guys share a beer. For the first time in a while we have had to cancel - the pub was awash with water.
Was treated to a couple of nice days on the Gold Coast as a birthday weekend away with my lovely Glenda. She arranged a near beach room and we took a couple of strolls along the sand at Broadbeach, a nice couple of meals out - a Thai dinner and a lazy boozy " bottomless" lunch both walking distance. And to top it off a night at a concert by a Queen Tribute band who were outstanding - across at the casino. It was a lovely weekend.
All other events are subject to change at the moment and unfortunately its a case of roll with the punches and be flexible.
Work.
Head down and focus on delivery with more work coming on stream from sometimes unexpected places. Still trying to catch up and complete some exiting projects. Many new projects in the pipeline and continuing to clean up existing projects. Work in Toowoomba ongoing, with now until March all remote. I have had a steady stream of prospects so looking solid for the next few months.
Land Sailing.
Waiting for each Sunday to see what's happening at the track.... and have had a few other events happening. Weather conditions mean no sailing. bah...
Otherwise for me its still so far so good.
Same Same.
And that is all for just now - keep a lookout for the next post and thanks for tagging along!