Super Dude

Thanks Kumar,this is gold!

http://www.makemesuper.com/r.php?i=3_8cd34-165221-m-Dude

The Finishing Touches

Vine to hide the fence. It'll all get oiled the same colour once it's a nice weekend again with no threats of rain.

The Finished Deck

Well she needs a good oiling, we've done all the jokes about coming around and giving my big deck a good oiling etc.. but it needs to stop raining for more than 3 days, lucky we built it last weekend is all I can say.

I also need to get an electrician around to wire the deck lights to the other outside light, they're all working though.

Job done, she turned out pretty good I think!

Gordon's Big Deck!

Karen finally won, so I decided to build my own deck over the top of the grass I laid less than a year ago!

Site Preparation: Luckily Ja and Cass were down visiting a couple of weeks ago, and with Ja's expert advice in hand the designs for "Gordon's Big Deck" (said in a Kiwi accent) were drawn up.

Last weekend I prepared the site for the deck.

I managed to save one of the small trees and relocate him to the front of the house.

During this site prep weekend I bought most of the materials I needed and ordered the wood. K and I had a fun trip from bunnings with 27 4.8m long pieces of decking pine bouncing around on the back of bunnings borrowed trailer. Luckily we are only 2 minutes down the road and Paramatta road is normal at 30km an hour ;)

Build Weekend: Day 1

With a slight hiccup of the main structural timber order falling through on Thursday arvo we thought it was going to be off for this weekend. A few quotes later and albeit $100's more the lads from Bankstown Timber were dropping the 190x45mm H3 treated pine at 10am sat. The main frame of the deck was going to be tricky, getting that bad boy level was what it was all about, so I enlisted the help of an 'old' deck hand, Andrew for Day 1 of the build.

The other great thing was that Andrew is a tool junky! and by that I don't mean he hangs about Darlinghurst on a Saturday night.... well he does sometimes ;). He has the drop saw, the jigsaw and the industrial looking hammer drill. So we were set.

After impressing on Andrew the importance of time management, we swiftly got the two 'pole faces' level and anchored to either side with the use of 22 M12 Dyna bolts (gal).. don't ask?!

After lunch the work flew, we even had K in measuring up timber ready for the chop and the frame took shape.





The end of Day 1 and the frame was up and solid as we could make it.

DAY 2: Decking and Lights

Karen was my deck hand on day 2 and once we started, we flew:



The deck lights are LED and only require 0.8w to run each one so I allowed for 6 around the deck and cabled up underneath before we began laying the deck planks, I think I'll get an electrician in to wire the transformer to the house though.

The end of Day 2 and we had an, almost, completed deck. Just the front edge, square on the side and oiling to go!

Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon

Sunday 18th May 2008 - 07:30am Start - 21.1km - Taking in some of Sydney's best views.
I completed it in 1hour 50mins, which I was pretty pleased with seeing as 15km had been my longest run to date.

Cardboard Tube Fighting League

K and I saw this advertised in the local paper. The guys from Seattle who set up a Cardboard Tube Fighting League were going to be over in Sydney for the first ever Australian Tube Duel battle and it was free for everyone...... of course we thought that would be a laugh to go along to and so did a couple of our friends.

Now when you're sitting down the local on a Friday night thinking "what am I going to make my cardboard armor out of" like you do, Andrew suggested the beer mats we were using as a chest plate. Great idea and the basis for my costume. So on Saturday morning with a can of spray paint a few boxes, some beer coasters, an egg box and the "Coaster Crusader" was born.



After a couple of swift ones down the Court House pub in NewTown we headed to the memorial park to let battle commence. We walked around the corner and took one look at Sam and pissed ourselves laughing. To put this in perspective, my beer mat chest plate took about an hour to put together with the other bits taking a few minutes cutting and spraying. Sam's outfit was made in about the same time and put together on site:
























I only fought with one tube by the way.

After the organisers had handed out the Tubes and explained the rules - Tube hits only and break your opponents tube to progress to the next round. It was on.....
Round 1 Roboman Vs Coaster Crusader (first video created by Scottie - The Smiling Assassin)

First Round



Round 2 we went as a team two against two.

Second Round


Final Round - All against all, there can be only one!


Well it kept us out the pub for a few hours anyway :) More in see below, should have Sydney on there soon.

Cardboard Tube Fighting League Link

Christmas 2007 in Five Dock

Our first Christmas in Five Dock and K and I were hosting Christmas Dinner for Matt and Tash and Dan, the orphans Christmas Dinner due to K's parent's going to Tas to spend it with Rach and the kids.

After a long drinking sesh on the last day of work with Matt and Tash at MPB (Martin Place Bar) we were going to be off for 10 days and intended on having some fun!


Paddo Bowls and beer.


View from Bar 360 looking down on Hyde Park, Centerpoint, as you can see from the shadow.


Champagne Breaky 11 Oasis Gardens style!


Gordon's first Christmas Turkey


Sit down and eat your food, Matt's been on the beer and wine all morning ;)


The Girls (and G) on Boxing Day down in Shellharbour - Aaron's parents house.


And the boys.


Happy New Year. 2008 started down the park in Five Dock - we could see the Sydney Fireworks from here and still managed to walk with the Esky home.

Now it's back to work and Bon voyage to Matt and Tash as they head to the final leg of their trip, onto Thailand!