Well for those of you who haven't figured out who this is going to be about it's about my family. Well one side of it atleast. My mother is still a Watson so she will appear in the blog about that side of the family later. So the Schache clan consists of me, my brother, my father and the Port Macquarie gang. Well you should all know me... if you don't because you are a random person then you might have to check back later for the "what about me" blog that I will eventually write. My brother (Charlie) plays the drums and is in grade 11. He has an obsession with watching TV. He does Ju-Jitsu stuff. He is obsessed with clothes n that. My dad (David) is a gut doctor (colorectal surgeon) who has been working crazy hours for the past 20years trying to keep random strangers alive. He is also mad about cycling and keeping fit. He likes listening to records, going on holidays and eating food (sound familiar?). The Port gang consists of Geoff, his wife Jen (Jenny), his twins Kaz (Caren) and Bek (Rebekah) and there youngest Ness (Vanessa). Geoff has built something like 18 houses that the family has lived in then sold to move into yet another house while working at a local high school. The girls all love shopping. Geoff prefers swap meets and car boot sales. Well that's it for the living. Pretty small hey? I guess while we are on the subject I should mention those that are no longer with us. My gradmother was a keen gardener and won many awards while my grand father was into woodwork (anyone that comes to my house will see some of his work including the grandfather clock). They lived in Orange, NSW which is where my parents grew up. The only other Schache in my direct line of decent was my great grandmother Linda. She managed to pull through to 106 years of age and out lived her children, their partners and some of her grand children. On a final note it is pronounced like "shack" followed by "key" with no break between them (as in melt the k's into the one sound). And really people it's not the hardest word in the world to spell! Have fun.

Lara and I met in grade 11 and hit it off fairly well. We used to eat lunch together along with Bek and Chevelle most days. We had a lot of fun times at school including things like al foil vollyball, going to movie world, chatting in the study room, writting letters to Brooke and writing msg's to each other in BCT upside down just because we were bored.

Lara was soon given the code name red lollipop because she loved the colour red (still does) and is very sweet (still is). This was part of the system that Bek decided to come up with so we could talk about people when they were present. Of course only a blonde wouldnt be able to figure it out... or Chevelle.

Lara is currently working in hospitality and also giving tours through the Roma st parklands. Go visit her one day, there are several people that give tours through the park but you will soon figure out who she is. Just be careful with her because she bruises easily and her big scary boyfriend Felix (who i still havent met) might not like her coming home all battered and bruised ;)

At high school Lara was in my hospitality class, among others, and this provided a great deal of entertainment. Because I had to leave early on Tuesdays (when I say early the class ran from 3-5 and I had to leave by 4) to go to TAFE sometimes I would have just enough time to finish cooking what I had to and need to leave just before I got around to cleaning up (chocolate mousse).

One of my strongest memories of Lara is the day she found out that her Japanese teacher was leaving and the school trip to Japan had been cancelled. Lara came out of class crying but still smilling as she always does. This soon developed into laughing and crying. Still not tears of joy though, still upset, but laughing and crying at the same time.

Just after she found out there were ads on the radio about exchange programs and we all suggested she gives it a shot. Needless to say she went for it and got in. Now I felt like laughing and crying. One of my greatest mates is sooo happy but only because she is going to leave.... Eventually the time came for her to leave. She decided she better have a party and I was the first to be invited (and I still have the invite). Unfortunately due to lack of thought on my behalf I fogot that my family and I were going away that weekend. Needless to say I missed the party :( I am pretty sure I don't regret anything in my life except maybe this.

To make matters worse the day after Lara actually flew out one of the girls in our hospitality class asked why i wasn't at my girlfriends going away party. Lara and I had never gone out but we were very close. But there is no use dwelling on the past.

Lara and I kept in touch and still see each other when we can. All but one of the movies I have seen during my degree have been with Lara.

Msg to Lara: We shared so many good times in such a short amount of time in high school. We still manage to share good times even though we are both busy. Hopefully this will continue into the future. We have to track down Chevelle. Sorry I didn't make it to your party. NB: No mention of Asprin.

しい時を過しなさい.

Val is one of those people that you never forget. Other than the fact that she is a girl that can program she is also a great mate.

Val is a Canadian that came to Australia for a year to complete a Ba of I.T. with her credit from previous education. In the year that she spent here we got to know each other and had a heap of fun.

Val lived in the same unit complex as the afor mentioned Joel along with some other very nice Canadian girls.

Everyone has their little obsessions. With Val it doesnt take long to figure out that Hello Kitty is her little obsession. Don't believe me that it is an obsession, check out the videos of Kitty on holiday and the magic tricks one.

Some of our most memorable moments (as with all good things in my life) have involved food. Our trip to the shorncliffe fair for the start of the Brisbane to Galdstone yacht race was a little bit of a let down but we made up the lost ground by going to paniyiri (the greek festival) and then had fish and chips on Straddie (the day of Andrea and Nee's barefoot bowls party).

On a two of these such outings 'the girls' came along too and on both occassions found trees with rather 'interesting' features. 'The girls' certainly do manage to make life interesting (as most teachers do). They certainly know how to make their presence felt with a bit of noise and those crazy Canadian accents (and a few good looks for good measure).

One thing Val knows better than anyone is that I am by no means a 'web designer'. I can write the code behind a website but cant do the 'pretty' thing to save my life. Val spent a long time trying to teach me the basic rules of prettiness but to no avail. I still suck at it, and I still dont care.

Finally just before she left Val gave me a Toronto shirt and cap. I havent had much reason to wear the cap because most time I go out in the sun I am on my bike. The shirt on the other hand I am wearing right now and have been wearing everytime it comes out of the wash. Everytime I have worn the shirt I have had awesome food. Today I am at Uni so the chances of that are very VERY slim, especially since I don't plan to buy anything.

Msg to Val: Why did you have to leave? I really enjoyed all the times we spent together both in classes (even image processing labs) and out and about. I am in the linux lab listening to Anthony explain to some student how they have moved the home directories off Dwarf dur to server load. Wish you were here to enjoy it with me. I can't wait for the day that I get to come to visit you and hopefully get to go to Canada day celebrations with you.

Avoir l'amusement.

Some of you have probably heard more than others about Helen Killpatrick. Some of you have probably heard so much about her that you dont want to read this. Others have never heard her name and have no idea how much of an effect she had on my life.

Helen is the only person on this list that I am no longer in contact with. The reason she is on the list still is because she was a very important part of my past.

Helen and I did hospitality at TAFE back in year 11 and 12. We instantly hit it off and became great mates. We both knew from the start that we would end up going out at some stage but we proceeded to take it in turns to be in relationships just as the other became single. Eventually this stopped.

Helen and I (to my knowledge) never officially started going out. The upside of this is we never broke up or argued. We just drifted along, hanging out heaps then going our own ways before drifting back together again.

We used to hang out a lot after TAFE and occasionally on weekends. Some of our more memorable times together were spent getting kicked out of carindale having missed a movie because it wasnt on, shopping in carindale and watching riverfire on my 17th birthday. This last one is a memory that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

One of Helens greatest skills was that she was left handed. Not a skill I hear you say. Well when you can sit in class doing your work holding hands it is a skill in my mind.

One bad thing about Helen is that she lived in Carindale which, on my old bike, was a real pain in the butt to ride to (maybe not as bad as bogan logan). We wont even mention her taste in music.

My memories of Helen will never fade. She is the only ex I have that I would genuinely like to catch up with and find out what she is doing with her life. Believe me I have tried.

Msg to Helen: Wherever you are, whatever you are doing I hope you are truely happy with your life because you deserve to be. I am so sorry I never kept in touch. I hope that one day you will stumble apon this and get back in touch. You have left me with many happy memories and no bad ones. I will never forget the time we spent together.

Have fun.

Well once apon a time I had a job. Thats right... Ed actually did something. I was a kitchen hand at a tiny little place called Arriva.

It was a pretty easy gig to score. One day I decided it was time to get another job, opened the paper, saw an add for a kitchen hand in new farm and rang up. Brooke asked me to come in the next day for an interview I said "I can come in now if you want" so I did. Brooke read my reference aloud to Mark and offered me the job there and then asking me to start the next night. My reply was of course "I can start now if you need someone for tonight". The rest is history. I worked every night they were open from that day forth until I started uni. Once uni started I worked every shift that didnt clash with classes. Of course within two weeks of me being there they fired the other guy in the kitchen and gave me his job as well.

Mark and Brooke like these little red Italian car things called Ferrari's or something. I think they think these things go fast or something. They have cars everywhere. If there was a F1 race the kitchen closed bang on time and everyone worked their arses off to make sure we got out of there on time to watch the start.

Working at Arriva was a whole heap of fun. We played many jokes (mainly on Brooke). Including moving her tiramisu off the bench and replacing it with an empty container and some cream on the floor while she was gone. Needless to say the reaction was hillarious.

So is this joint any good? Well gourmet traveller recons it is: top 10 pizzas in Australia edition. Restaurant and Caterers think it is: best pizza restaurant. Various news papers and magazines would agree. As would all their customers. So yeah I guess its not bad.

Mark is one of those guys that loves a good laugh. There have been plenty of times where Mark will break out into his very own versions of songs that we all know like "beds are burning" which became "how can you sleep while your breads are burning" everytime I burnt a garlic bread. Anytime someone would complain Mark would sing "what about me" until they shut up.

Mark is an ideas man. He had the great idea that we should put cameras in the kitchen and have it like big brother. It would have been far more exciting than any reality tv show you have ever seen. There is no other show where a head chef will tap his tongs twice and throw a hot pan across the kitchen into the sink just as the kitchen hand dodges it without even seeing it, time and time again. The amount of food the three of us managed to pump out was insane some nights.

Brooke is pretty good for a laugh too. She is from Canberra so we can always just laugh at her. Just joking.

Mark and Brooke have taken me to some great (read: expensive) restaurants like Restaurant 2 and Kabuki. We have had plenty of great food in the restaurant too like zucchini flowers, deep fried calzone, a heap of different cheeses... mmm cheese. No wonder I loved working there soo much.

One day I might fill everyone in on the rest of the people that I worked with at Arriva and maybe even at my other jobs... maybe.

There is a few things about working there I dont miss: peeling prawns, scrubbing mussels, chopping tomato.

Msg to Mark and Brooke: Ferrari's suck! just joking. Thanks for all the laughs. I dont think I will ever have a job that is that much fun (or work) again. You have taught (and paid) me heaps over the years and shared plenty of great food with me. I am getting around to coming in for dinner again.. hopefully on the 15th. 11?

Have fun.

I know how much some of you have been waiting for this one. Funny how it falls on the day of my PLI exam (Joel was my tutor for this subject). So those of you who know Joel will probably know whats coming. Those of you who dont will probably recognise some of these traits from some of your other friends but you have probably never seen them all rolled into one strange strange guy.

Joel == root. Joel is Mr Sys Admin like you have never seen them before. He is a linux nut. He insists on doing things "right". He is not a huge people person but you put him in a room full of computer geeks that know less then he does and you cant stop him.

Joel is the kind of person who obeys the Uni's 40km/h speed limit coming out of campus. He does everything by the book even when it makes no sense or would be heaps easier not to.

Joel loves to spend his spare time playing star craft and settlers and reading the svn manual. He also watches House and Dr Who (as all true geeks do). He has a kiwi finger puppet that is holding a sheep.

Joel is the cardboard tube master that controls the monkeys of the lab. If they misbehave they have to wear the shrek hat of shame. Joel is also the list king of the lab. Every meeting he has a "short" list of things to mention.

Never EVER try to out geek Joel. Someone recently made this mistake in a CCN lecture and got tottaly taken down by Joels intimate knowledge of Sci-Fi (red shirts hey...).

Joel HATES having his photo taken, so he always carries a camera. This might not seem logical at first but because he ahs a camera there is no need for anyone else to have one so he doesnt end up in many photos. And when he does "need" to have a photo taken they are.... well look below. Yes that is his official team photo.

Joel has the messiest car. I have never been in it I have just seen him getting something out of it one day and... yeah, I thought my car got bad when I was on a road trip.

Joel lived WITH Val. That isnt entirely true I just love his reaction when you say it like that. He lives in the same unit complex that Val used to live in. So all up he lived WITH one of my mates, was my supervisor on the team and my tutor for one of my subjects. Now he is my lecturer and tutor for a subject! Needless to say I get my fair share of Joel's time.

As you can imagine from what I have said Joel and I have our differences but he is a good bloke.

Msg to Joel: Shouldn't you be doing work for your PHD? How's that going btw? ;) Thanks for everything you have, despite my best efforts, taught me a lot over the past couple of years and I will never forget that. As a sign of gratitude I decided to not mention matrix operators.

I suppose someone should tell him about my blog so he can read this!

Spaß haben.

Matthew is the last person in the photo of the four of us (left) to be blogged about. He is the one standing behind Claire. Matthew, incase you cant figure it out, is a member of the Mi-PAL team and came to Sydney and Bremen with me.

Matthew and I have only really known each other via the team and one subject (Web Programming) which we did last semester. Matthew, like Claire and I, was crazy enough to do an IAP project with the team. Matthew managed to land the wonderful project of localisation.

Localisation is the task of knowing where you are in the world.... sounds easy hey. Spend 6months working with AIBO's and get back to us ;)

Matthew is probably the team member that managed to get the most sleep in Germany! He is also the one that played Diablo 2 on the plane over and in the hotel over there! Talk about being a geek. Matthew doesnt really drink.... well until he started spending time with Claire Dave and I. He is a cheap drunk.

Matthew bought the most memorable thing in Germany when he bought, with the last of his money, a gothic sorta stick thing with a skull on the top of it. We refused to walk with him after he bought it.

Matthew is the unofficial maintainer of "The Quotes File" where we keep memorable quotes from team members. This all changes when he starts drinking and becomes the member that is getting quoted. Dave has a book with some absolute beauties in it. Dont worry Matthew I wont post any here but it may come up at your 21st.

Msg to Matthew: Vision is perfect! Thanks for all the laughs... Just remember to think before talking a little more... especially around Vlad and Claire! We're almost finished and soon we will be out there in the real world... scary. Hope to work with you more (and maybe have a drink or three) with you in the future.

Have fun.

Emma and Andy are yet more members of "the iFunk crowd" (a bit like the IT crowd but with more episodes).

My first real memories of Emma and Andy stem from Nee Fest 2005 where one night rather than going down the hill to the toilets Emma decided she was tough enough to pee in the bushes as was Andy of course. So off they went and did their business and on their return Emma proudly stated that they finished together... well there's a first time for everything Andy.

Emma is one of those crazy people (I know a few of these) that is always smiling. I have only ever seen Emma annoyed once and even then she was still smiling.

Andy is one of those guys that looks like he could hurt you but wouldnt. From what I hear he is gentle and caring and generally looks after Emma pretty well.

How's this for a small world, Andy (Andrew) went to primary school with Andrea who ended up going to Uni with Emma! Weird hey.

Emma went to Thailand with Andrea which I am sooooo jealous about. If you want to see photos they are on Andrea's site.

Last but not least. As much as they might try to deny it they are next in line to have a baby.

Msg to Emma and Andy: You guys always make social events worth going to. You are both always very nice to others (even when there is no need). You WILL make great parents for next Novembers birth schedule ;). You have certainly been a welcome addition to my social life. Andy, you better keep her hidden away because a few of my friends that have seen photos have asked "Who's that? She's hot!". I havent shown them any photos of you yet maybe some of them would have the same reaction. See you at the next BBQ (*HINT Adam HINT*). Oh and you still havent invited us around for dinner by the fire place! You better do it before it gets too hot.

Have fun.

Well.... yeah... Nee...

How much of an effect can one person have on your life in a year? Well a hell of a lot.

But before we go into the last year lets go back to grade 1. Yes, I have known Nee that long! We both went to Bulimba State School. Nee was pretty much the Nee I know today minus the boyfriend, baby, car and alcohol. Nee cared about those around her and was always up for a laugh... nothing has changed.

Fastforward a year or 17. Luckily Nee is now a geek. I might be a slight geek myself even. Due to this I managed to find Nee on school friends and we started chatting on msn. As a result I got invited to my first ever iFunk BBQ at Nee and Adams place for Nee's 22nd birthday. The BBQ was like all good iFunk BBQ's, absoloutely awesome. As a result of the BBQ I was invited to the best ever camping trip (Nee Fest). After that there was no escaping the iFunk clan.

Nee has certainly boosted my social life by introducing me to a really cool group of people. And of course at this point I should point out that Andrea is one of Nee's Uni mates.... so big thanks needed right there.

When at trivia with Claire and Matt and Paul (and once with Dave and Carlie) there have been several questions about small island nations. My answer has always been Tonga even though it has never been right :(

Nee was the only person crazy enough to come swimming with me in the mornings at the start of this year.  I hope as soon as it gets warm enough we start going again. I also planned to start going to the markets every weekend with Nee but that has had trouble getting off the ground due to my social life and lack of short term memory.

Msg to Nee: Nee you have no doubt changed my life and the lives of all those around you. We all love you and we know you love us (except for Adam ;) ). Of all the people from primary school I could have met up with again you are by far the coolest and I am glad you are the one that I found first. I wish we had never lost touch with each other and I shall endevour to make sure we never do again. We will all always look up to you and respect your opinion as you are wise beyond your years. As a result I know that Elli and any other children you have will be very well bought up and educated. Keep up the good work. Your pasta bake ROCKS! as does the rest of your cooking. I cant wait to get back into swimming. I will never forget all that you have done for me.

Have fun.

Dave (everyone calls him David but to me David is my father) is a member of the Mi-PAL team (the robot dogs). Dave is a second year IT student based at the Gold Coast campus.

As part of the Mi-PAL team Dave has joined in the fun that was the trips to Sydney and Bremen (Germany). The trip to Sydney was Dave's first ever time on a plane! As part of the team Dave has mainly worked on the network code and the goalie (several of them). Out of all the members of the team Dave is the most like me (sorry mate). He is the only person crazy enough to walk everywhere like I do (he let me down in Germany and left "the boss" to take up the challenge, which he gave in to, apparently walking 20 odd km around a foreign city after 36hours on aircraft was too much).

Dave almost competed in the ACM programming comp that I went in at the end of last year but pulled out because he knew he couldnt beat me ;).

Dave has been accepted into my 'inner circle' of mates by going through the usual channels of holding a BBQ and inviting me. Good work Dave. Others take note that the holding of a BBQ or other food event is a sure way to strengthen a friendship with Ed.

A blog about Dave wouldnt be complete without mention of "The Jacket". This jacket is part of the legend that is "Perfect Dave", he who can do no wrong. It would seem that putting on "The Jacket" transforms anyone such that they become irresitable. ;)

Dave is kept under control by Carlie whose birthday just happened to fall on the day we left for Germany.

Interesting trivia: Dave's Mum loves (and I mean loves) frogs. They are everywhere in her house.

Msg to Dave: You have really added a lot to the experience that I have had with the team. We have shared some really good times, and a lot of alcohol (no mention of time taken to find the toilets in the train station). I hope we keep in touch because we work well together and share a lot of interests. Tell Carlie and ya Mum I say "Hi". Last but not least lock that jacket up before it kills someone.

Have fun.

Crowy is the nickname of Anthony Shepard. Everyone knows him as Crowy, to the point where if you talk about Anthony everyone takes a few seconds to think then says "oh Crowy...".

Crowy went to school with Glen and later worked at ACCC with Glen. Crowy has, like Glen, helped me with a lot of computer stuff over the years and has taught me a whole bunch.

Crowy is the uber geek amongst geeks. He has more harddrives than he has dollars in the bank. More processing power than you could ever need. etc.. etc.. And then of course there is the ridiculous amounts of Anime, Games, Movies, Tv Eps and "stuff".

Crowy also happens to be a bit of a bogan (dont deny it). He drives his parents VN commodore station wagon, wears ACDC shirts and has been known to have unfashionable hair styles as any true Aussie bogan does from time to time.

All in all Crowy is a good bloke, a bloody good laugh and a damn insane Quake 3 player.

Msg to Crowy: Man its been ages since we had a decent LAN. I guess it would help if I had a better computer. Thanks for all your help over the years, plenty of fond memories.

Have fun.

Where do you begin this one?

Well Glen used to live (when he was still at home) two doors down from Tim (blog to come). Glen used to be the center of a social group that Tim was part of and I started to get invited to hang out with them all just before the group imploded (it wasnt me that caused it, I swear). Anyway there was a lot of tension and stuff amongst the group and because I was sort of an outsider I wasnt too messed up with all the stuff going on. Long story short Glen and I started hanging out especially once he moved out of home just down the road from me.

Glen is the king of the geeks (except in the LAN and gaming department, Crowy pwns that one). Glen upgraded the ram on my 486 so I could play the original GTA. Glen built the only real computer I have ever bought (yes I am a geek and have only bought 1 computer and 1 laptop). Glen has worked at several computer joints over the years and has plenty of stories to tell.

Glen also owns a Celica (or what was a Celica) which we both spent countless hours working on under his house on riding road. We spent many nights just chatting away under the house playing with the car.

Because Glen was broke and we are both "waiste not want not" kinda guys when Glen moved out we made the most of council toss outs. We managed to score everything from computer monitors to tvs to dryers to printer to speaker boxes. It is amazing how cheaply we can be entertained.

I am reasonably sure that Glen is the one that started me on the jogging craze. One night with Brad we decided we should go for a jog. We only went once but I enjoyed it. I certainly know that Glen got me back into cycling after several years off the bike and for that I owe him immensly.

I couldnt write a blog abotu Glen without mentioning his driving ability. ummm how do you sum this up "INSANE". You have never seen a girly car move like this. For those of you who were wondering if the log book top speed of 155km/h for a manual 1.5L mirage was accurate... well no... apparently the correct figure is 203km/h (with a tail wind).

Some of my greatest memories of time spent with Glen have been cycling "moments". The afternoon of my 21st was spent riding down Mt Gravatt in the pouring rain at speeds which probably werent all that safe. The most memorable one was riding down from the summit of Mt Kosciusko in the pouring rain again.

Glen is the only person who was crazy enough to quit his job and travel around the Australian outback with me in the middle of summer. One day I will write a blog all about the trip.

Glen has now settled down and has a woman, a kid, a baby and all that resposibility stuff.

msg to Glen: You are the WORLDS most outgoing computer geek. Your technical knowledge of hardware has always amazed me. I dont think there are that many people that have both of these to the same level, in fact I would say it is a very rare combination of skills. I am sure you will use this to live a very happy life with your family. You have taught me soo much and shared so many great times with me. Thanks for everything mate. Tim Tam's and Ice Coffee Break to you.

Have fun.

Well little Elli (Ellianah Lily Tongia-Royle) is the beautiful little daughter of Adam and Nee. Elli is sooo cool that she already has her own blog! http://www.ifunk.net/baby/

When I first caught up with Nee again after 10years she had just found out that she was pregnant. I think I was one of the first to pick up on the subtle hints in her MSN nicknames. I got to become friends with her and Sdz as they went through the wonderful process of becoming parents. Adam and I started jogging and we were getting reasonably fit. After Elli was born Adam decided he had better things to do for some reason and we both got lazy.

Now I have had the joy of watching Elli grow on a weekly basis and seeing how happy Nee and Adam are with their little bundle of joy (and funny smells/noises).

I know that Elli will have a great life with two VERY loving parents. She is very well behaved and loves to laugh and be part of the crowd at parties.

Msg to Elli: I hope you have a fantastic life. Enjoy your years of stress free living before your tight arse father kicks you out of home as soon as he legally can ;). Dont smoke or do drugs. Dont start drinking too young, no matter how much 'peer' pressure your father puts on you. Ohh and your mum is always right... if she is not there, ask your father and invert the answer.

Have fun.

Claire is a Multimedia/IT student at Griffith Uni in her fourth and final year. We first met in "Programming Paradigms and Languages" in semester 2 of 2005.

Shortly after starting this course I joined the Mi-Pal team and started work on the Robocup 2006 project. Claire had been on the team for some time at this stage. We didnt really work together that much and only really saw each other a couple of times before the holidays started.

Once the summer holidays were apon us the lab moved to Logan (oh we all love Logan, dont deny it) and Claire and I began to work together more. A crucial factor in the early part of our friendship was the fact that the train station was a fair walk from the lab and I had a car.

We both agreed to do an IAP project with the lab (20CP of fun and paperwork) and soon began working together 2-3 days a week (1-2 once semester proper started). We certainly have our differences when it comes to working but on a social level we get along very well.

Then of course came Germany which brought the whole team closer together and we all became great mates and have socialised a fair bit since we returned.

Well thats how I met Claire now what is she like....

Ohh dear, do I really have to explain that one. Claire is very different... but she is great.

I have given Claire the nickname "the bestest" I am not sure how it started but it stuck. To be fair she is pretty damn good. She out programs most of the guys I know (I fear she might even give me a run for my money in several areas). She has very VERY strong opinions about stuff and sticks to her guns like no one else I know. You do not want to argue with Claire mainly because she is always right but also becuase she will never EVER give in.

Claire's most notable feature is her hair. I think it looks great and she only takes like 1 minute to brush it in the morning and then it looks great! sooo jealous of that.

Claire is a very smart girl and takes no crap from anyone. As a result I think Claire has a great future infront of her and she knows it.

Msg to Claire: One day you will make a great leader. I dont know what you will be leading but it will be something/someone. Never loose your drive and motivation. Never change your hair! Most importantly of all send that damn email!

Have fun.

So who is this Andrea chick?

I had met Andrea a few times at several social events with Nee and Adz and she seemed like a pretty damn nice girl. I had always assumed that she had a guy on the scene because... well girls that good are never single.... thats just a rule.

In the last week of June, amongst my hectic social life, I began to wonder if I had ever had any evidence to confirm that she had a boyfriend or not. I couldnt make a call either way except for the fact that she seemed like such a nice girl who had her life well and truely sorted... not to mention the whole good looking thing she has got going on.

Nee to the rescue... randomly on the 1st of July Nee decided to announce that she had been talking about me with the girls... 'knowing' that these girls, all very VERY good looking (you guys rock), all had boyfriends I jokingly said 'any hot single girls'.... and Nee's response was 'Andrea...'. Its a pity that this chair is so hard to fall off or the story might be more interesting. Needless to say I was shocked (and plesently suprised).

I had been looking for a girl for about the past 1.5years after getting sick of being single in first year. That was until my new financial year resoloution that I could survive being single til the end of my degree as this would make more sense. So having just decided that I didnt want to start a relationship (like within a few hours) here I am talking to Nee getting a lecture on how perfect Andrea and I would be together. Why I didnt decide to remain single earlier is beyond me but if I had to do it over I would do it exactly the same so that I got to go out with Andrea again. Hell I would go another 2.5years of being single if I had to.

So Andrea and I did the only thing you can do these days and started chatting on msn just before a BBQ on Sunday the 2nd. We went to the BBQ and chatted a little and eventually ended up sitting next to each other on the couch 'playing' poker (that is a reference to cheating at poker you dirty minded people). Then Andrea left before we really got to talk.

We continued to chat on msn and get to know each other a bit better for a few days and I decided I was going camping. I started asking around to find other takers and noone was keen except for Andrea but she had to meet her builder to approve something to do with her house (i am getting to that). I got back from camping at lunch time on Sat 8th, parked the car, walked inside without unpacking anything, went to my computer, signed into msn and invited Andrea around for dinner. She said yes and the rest is all history.

So here I am with a girlfriend again... scary for those of you that have only known me as single Ed. Oh and I have finally found a girlfriend that might actually be suited to me. She is in the process of building her own house, she has a full time job that she loves, she has a social life, she has a car and ....drum roll....SHE CAN ACTUALLY DRIVE!!!. I was soo happy when I got in the passenger seat of her car and felt comfortable. We have a ridiculous number of little things in common, we have our differences too but we agree on all the important things.

Well if you want to know more about the coolest sweetest nicest cutest sexiest smartest.....etc... girl in the world GO HERE.

Only 7 more hours til I get to see her and get a big hug. I am sure you will hear plenty more about her in the not too distant.

Msg to Andrea: You have certainly made a HUGE impact to my life in a very very good way. It feels like we have known each other for ages already. I hope to spend a lot more time with you getting to truely know you. See you this arvo. *big hugs*

Have fun.

Who are all these damn people that Ed keeps talking about?

Well I decided I had to come up with a fair way of starting to tell you all about my mates. Since you dont all know each other I figured I would write a blog on each person/couple/group so you can get to know these people that keep popping up in my stories. The only fair thing was to draw names out of a hat but being a programmer I couldnt be bothered finding a hat and used a compiler instead.

The following is the first randomization that came out. This is the list I came up with off the top of my head of the people that I can tell you about. If anyone is reading this and isnt on the list please let me know and I will generate a number for you and add you to the list. If you dont want to be blogged about tell me.

{189=claire, 503=elli, 612=glen, 673=crowy, 846=dave, 943=nee, 965=emma and andy, 1077=matt, 1085=joel fenwick, 1441=mark and brooke, 1483=helen, 1513=val, 1863=lara, 2220=the schache family, 2740=casey, 3150=the watson family, 3195=adam royle, 3374=bek, 3432=stu, 3579=danni and rob, 3614=the narloch family, 3738=uni mates, 3760=robbie, 3895=cam, 3953=the schacher family, 4137=shobbz, 4167=tim and maddy, 4481=holles, 4824=andrea, 4876=ricks, 4954=abby and gordon}

Clearly I will have to start using my own numbering system where 4824 comes before anything else, but other than that the order looks like a good mix to me. Any objections to rolling with this order?

I better start writting about Claire aka "The Bestest" but I am pretty sure the one about Andrea might take me a while to write....

Have fun.

p.s. Casey: now your more special than Jo because you have been given a number and since I dont know anything about Jo and Jason they miss out.... for now.