Stake it!

You wouldn't think it, but its happened. I have become a gym junkie! I joined Fitness First a few weeks ago and now I can't get enough. I love to 'feel the burn'!

Now, of all the addictions you could have this is a pretty healthy one. And don't get worried I'm not going to go turning into a body builder at any stage - believe me. The blessing of my new job is that I can fit in going to the gym and dancing and still get home at a reasonable hour to see my hubby.

So watch out, the incredible shrinking woman is here. My personal trainer and I have set a goal for the end of the year and I am powering on towards it. As I type my arms are killing me from lifting weights yesterday and my calves are killing from ballet at lunch today...its all go!

I LOVE IT

And now for the next mountain

It seems to me, just when you have overcome something in life or achieved a great goal, there is another mountainous challenge just ahead. At first it appears insurmountable, but as you start to climb you get a different perspective. Whilst we have recently reached a huge milestone in Al's career it means that looming in front of us is the next big challenge.

Al has just completed his ATPL (Airline Transport Pilots Licence - for those not 'down' with the lingo) exams, which is a great accomplishment. I could not be more proud of him. He has worked and studied and been a house-husband and moved states among so many other things AND managed to pass 7 exams including things like Air Law (yuk!) and Aerodynamics and aircraft systems (double-yuk!). In with all of this study he also achieved 1000 hrs single engine and 500 hrs twin engine time.

With all of that out of way the only thing left to do is to start applying for jobs in the airlines. The thing is....where do you start. Al and I have had numerous conversations about what airlines he should target, what are the chances of achieving any of these things in the next 6 months and most importantly where we are prepared to go. Which leads me to a wonderful thing called the "Wife's power of veto".

As a wife I have the 'power of veto' over destinations (or airlines) in which we may come to live in our lives. Fortunately, I didn't veto Gove as we had a most fabulous time, but there are a few places....and few airlines...which have made my veto list. Here they are in no particular order...

1. Defence forces (sorry, I'm not being one of the Defence force wives who stays home with the kids - that the husband conceived but never sees cause he's always deployed overseas.)
2. Aero-flop (known officially as Aeroflot but given the recent crash I think my alternative is more appropriate)
3. Virgin Nigeria (Sorry Sir Richard but not even you can convince me to move to Nigeria)
4. Sierra Leone (both Star Air and Air Universal have been banned from UK air space)
5. Cameroon (Cameroon Airlines banned from both UK and French air space)
6. Basically any airline in Africa (if you read the list of banned airlines...most of them are from the African region)

Now not to seem completely negative (and so it doesn't sound like Al is completely henpecked), here is my wish list for Al's dream jobs. These are not just made up by me, some are from discussions with Al.

1. Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong's a great place for ex-pats, plus think of the shopping!)
2. Singapore Airlines (So central to all of Asia, plus think of the shopping!)
3. Qantas (okay, so 'Qantas never crashes' but it has had some incidents recently. Despite which, I still think it would be cool to work for our national airline)
4. Royal Brunei (Despite being a dry, Muslim state, it is one of the mostly wealthy sultanates in the world with a fleet of new aircraft on order)
5. Air Canada (let's face it, I just love the thought of living in Canada)
6. Cushy Corporate Jet job (flying some celebrity or wealthy business man around could be fun - just don't give him your kidney!)

I'll keep you up to date as the journey progresses and I know, like me, you'll be so excited the day you on a plane and you hear "This is your First Officer Allan speaking".

The dumbest criminals in the world

If you are looking for a good book to read I have just finished Michael Robottom's Bombproof. The story revolves around a young guy, just out of prison, who finds himself through a series of misfortunes involved in a terrorist bombing in London and various other criminal offences. Now the central character in this novel, Sami Macbeth, is unlucky. I am about to tell you about two young criminals who are just plain stupid!

The story of dumb and dumber
On Monday morning Al was preparing for a flight when it got cancelled. So, feeling lucky to have the day off, he organised some things around the office and then went home early. Driving along our street he noticed two teenagers walking along the road with what appeared to be a surfboard very similar to his own. Thinking that this was a little too coincidental, Al pulled into our driveway and checked under the house for his board which, not surprisingly, was not there.

Back in the car and racing down the road, Al hooked the car into a driveway in front of the two guys carrying the board and now, Al noticed, a few other familiar looking items. These items turned out to be his electric guitar, our entire DVD collection, both cameras, our laptop and all of the decent alcohol in our house. Fortunately for my cooking they left me the sherry, brandy, red wine vinegar and the schnapps.

Not exactly being a wallflower, Al managed to detain one of the guys while dialing the police on his mobile with the other hand. The police, to their credit, responded quickly, but unfortunately the second guy legged it when Al dialled 000. Maybe he wasn't that dumb after all?

Back at our place, with all of our possessions returned (and fortunately not damaged as far as we can tell), we began to piece together what happened. Apparently the guys were cutting across our backyard as a shortcut and noticed that the door to the underneath of our house was open (never letting that happen again!), waltzed in and took a shine to Al's surfboard. Dumb, right! Deciding that nicking someones surfboard wasn't sufficient, they spied the dining room window on the second floor was slightly ajar (again, never doing that again!) and had a brilliant idea to scale the wall of our house and see what else they could find inside.

Now here is where things get to the 'dumber' part. After hauling ass through our window one of them leaves a big white dusty hand print on the middle of our dining room table. The print was so good, according to the Police forensics guy, that they didn't need any other prints in evidence. Wandering around our house, they helped themselves to our stuff including, you'll never believe it, a half-used tub of Al's hair wax. Yes, you read right, a half-used tub, not even the full one that was on the same shelf. We also thought one of my candles was missing until we found it underneath the coffee table.

I have no idea what else they looked through, but we know that they went through Al's shoes (probably trying to find ones that fit) and went through stuff in our bathroom. On Police advice we have disposed of our toothbrushes and got new ones....I will be scrubbing a few things from top to bottom this weekend also!

So after cramming as much stuff as they thought was worthwhile into two bags they found in my room, they let themselves out the back door and began their stroll down the street thinking no-one would notice they were carrying all this stuff for no apparent reason. Its at this point (about 50m from our house) that they come across Al, who's just a little bit p'd off, and their great 'plan' goes down the toilet.

I can tell you that these two 'kids' were lucky that I wasn't in the car with Al or they would have got a 'dressing down' from me as well. What amazed me most about this event was the fact that these guys, not only thought it was a good idea to walk in under our house...not actually knowing if anyone was home...but that they then thought it was a good idea to scale the wall and take stuff that is ours. Now, because of their stupidity, they will have a criminal record and even though their court appearance won't result in much more than a fine (if that) it will forever mar their future as they apply for work and attempt to make their way in the world.

I believe that in this situation Al and I, although the 'victims' of the crime, actually came out better than the criminals. I'll being praying that this is a a turning point for them in their lives and that this event won't be the 'story of their life' to come.

In my experience...

According to recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data the divorce rate in Australia has declined over the past 12 months. Last year there was a 6% drop, however 48,000 marriages still called it quits in 2007. A sobering thought considering Captain Al and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary last week.

Every wedding anniversary we go out for dinner. Our first anniversary it was at Manly, our second was in Gove, our third was at My Thai in BrisVegas and our fourth was a spectacular meal at Bretts Wharf (thank you to Jacqueline our waitress!). But it is not what we do for our wedding anniversary, nor the stupid gifts that we buy each other (4 yrs is book so I bought Al a 'Mr Men'!) but it what we talk about on that one night a year that makes all the difference.

It started with our first wedding anniversary and it has continued every year since. Like you do your taxes at the end of the financial year, and make resolutions on December 31, so Al and I make an assessment of our last year of marriage on our anniversary.

Have we fought about stupid things? Have we spent enough time together? Have we spent enough time praying together? Are we being financially responsible (or digging ourselves a financial grave)? How do we feel about where we are in life? And what does the next 12 months hold for us? etc etc

There are some other, much more intimate conversations that also take place, but those aren't for public consumption...sorry.

So get ready for it, here are some of the things that I have learnt over the past 4 years:

1. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
   Sounds cliche but in my experience its true. Get out the cookbooks ladies and learn how to make a decent meal! Bake a cake, or find out from his Mum what his favourite meal is and learn how to make it.


2. Time apart is as valuable as time together
   Have time apart to do things that you want to do. You don't need to spend every minute in each others pockets to enjoy your marriage.


3. Learn to love sport
   If your man loves sport, then learn to love it too. I would still rather watch a musical than Friday Night Football double-header but still I will sit down on Friday nights and watch the game(s) with Al. It means a lot to him that I make the effort. P.S Too much sport on TV can be excruciating....get out to a live game every now and then, it will make all the difference.


4. Have a housework 'understanding'
   If you're happy to do all the housework, great! but don't whinge when he doesn't do anything around the house. Make sure you talk to each other about who does what and that its clear and understood. There is nothing worse than arguing over housework. Al and I have a specific understanding about parts of the housework. He takes out the garbage exclusively, if I do all the ironing. I have garbag-aphobia and he hates picking up an iron.

There probably a few more (including some MA+15 rated ones), but that's sufficient for now. I'm sure there is much more to learn as the years go by and I certainly don't profess to know everything. But, we are learning as we go and we in it together.

So, to the best husband in the world, thank you for a fantastic first four years!