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@ Bar Beach, Newcastle - 2nd March, 2007

For the lazy, a Middle Australian summary is provided.

The Move to Newcastle

Susan + Frog’s Wedding @ Jarvis Bay, South Coast - 3rd March, 2007

Following a weekend that included some 700km(check this) of travel, around 10 hours in my trusty and efficient VW Golf (known by friends as the Valkyrie, or more jokingly the Tractor), a further six hours with Stu in a hired ute, a wedding (my cousins in Nowra) and a multitude of boxes I arrived in Newcastle. Though I officially started my rotation on the 5th of March, I didn’t arrive up in Newcastle until the 7th due to a a two day training course that had occurred at the start of the first week. This was of little concern to the the group at Newcastle as my fellow graduate Phil Nichols was on annual leave in Africa for a holiday with his girlfriend and wouldn’t be back for another week.

My New Abode

The Valkyrie(Traktor) @ Bar Beach, Newcastle - 2nd March, 2007

My unit is in a lovely old (I estimated around fifty years old from the style, and mum on a recent visit confirmed this with the place that her family moved into in the mid fifties being of a similar style - right down to the green backtub) two storey double brick block on Darby Street at Bar Beach. I’m sharing this top floor unit with Ben Lange, rather infamous at UNSW as the first Indigenous Electrical Engineer (he was at the same graduation ceremony in 2005 as me for my undergraduate degree). With Ben, I was lucky enough to find someone willing to take on a six month stay, and especially lucky considering he brought the majority of the furniture and basic essentials.

Work and Travel

Surfing @ Bar Beach - 16th March, 2007

For this my third six-month rotation I am working with the Network Earthing (aka Safearth) section at the Wallsend in Newcastle. My last rotation was with the Field Services section at Chatswood and I must say that while I learnt plenty during my six months there (with some great characters) it wasn’t so much learning what I wanted to do so much as what I would not want to do in my career. This in itself is akin to undertaking a thesis where the outcomes disprove a hypothesis one wants to prove - it’s not until after, sometimes long after, the disappointment that one can see the benefit of discovering something doesn’t work is as important (or possibly more important if it is something that has come to be accepted without proof) than discovering that something does (though history tends to ignore the former for the latter). In any case I have been placed with the Distribution Earthing group within the Network Earthing section. Essentially we deal with every earthing issue once the cables leave the Zone Substations, with our work mainly focussing on the 11kV poletop, kiosk and basement substation. The work is interesting and challenging and each job is different due to location and requirements. By the end of the first fortnight I had been out on site visits for soil resistivity testing, undertaken earthing designs, started reading relevant literature and been given ample opportunity to provide feedback on the various tools. During the first month I’d also been given approval to work on the upgrade for the user-interface of the new Distribution Earthing tool NEOn, since the group of developers had no previous experience with user interface design for the web. This is a challenge that I will most definitely relish and hope to have finalised before the end of my six months with the section. The site visit and resisitivity testing requirements has enabled me to cover over two thousand kilometers of driving to visit a range of locations including:

• Dee Why;
• Central Mango;
• Musswelbrook;
• Scone;
• Singleton;
• Redhead;
• Bucketty;
• Gundy;
• Lake St Clair;
• and again more that my memory stops me from remembering…

Unfortunately due to my attendance at Semi-Permanent I was unable to attend an weekend long injection test (and get some lovely overtime) down in Sydney. Since starting I’ve signed off on over a dozen earthing designs, and have now also have a tricky problem that is sitting in my head. On the basis of it sounds rather trivial but upon further investigation becomes far more complex. I’ll write this one up a little more in a bit too - but it’s essentially determining the centre of a sphere from three points on its surface and it’s radius. Technically there should be two solutions that are trivial. Unfortunately the solution process seems anything but trivial due to squared factors being involved. To that a later date.

Home and Life

On the “home front”, my first month was spent living out of boxes and a suitcase. I only managed to get my delivery of ikea furniture finalised by the end of the month so my room finally resembled something of a room with a desk, shelves/drawers and a clothing rack (see pics below). Combining the dresser, coffee table and table and chairs that I had brought up with Ben’s collection of three couches, a desk and a mates TV unit we’ve got something that much more closely resembles a home. There’s still plenty to do with the walls (we’ve got picture rails all the way round every room - something all landlords should look closely at doing) and I’ll hopefully have some large prints of my photos and a couple of limited edition poster prints from friends come in soon (in addition to a large magnetic whiteboard that I need for managing the side projects I’m working on once the net is connected, hopefully sometime this week). Of the first four weekends that I could have stayed up here, I only stayed around for one. My first weekend I was home again to catch up with mates, and collect another load of things I’d neglected to previously bring up with me. I also had the opportunity to shoot the EP Launch for Roger Explosion - a band that has definitely gotten big since I first saw them perform with the now defunct The Lyrical Madmen a couple of years earlier (pictures still to come for this - sorry guys).

Roger Explosion EP Launch @ Candy’s Apartment, Kings Cross - 10th March, 2007

The second weekend I headed on down for Stu and Sarah’s housewarming in Haberfield and my sister’s birthday breakfast. The third weekend was spent in Newcastle rather than down in Sydney, due mainly to an invitation to attend the EP Launch of local band and V-Fest unsigned band winner The Seabellies here in Newcastle at the Cambridge Hotel (an awesome local venue for live music). I managed to get the invite through Irena, one of Hannah’s school friends, who is a member of one of the support acts for the evening, the TripleJ Unearthed winner (for the Great Escape music festival) Cuthbert and the Nightwalkers. That was a phenomenal evening out with some great live music, though I paid the price for it with my ears ringing for most of the night after I forgot my ear plugs.

The Seabellies (EP Launch) @ The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle - 23rd March, 2007

The next day was a lazy one spent with breakfast down at Goldbergs, a place that is fast becoming my local breakfast fave before going to vote. This years NSW Election was particularly disheartening. It is obvious that the Labor Party in the state has lost most of its talent and experience, but the unfortunate thing for most voters is that the alternative was about as appealing as inviting the infamous Brian Burke in for lunch seems to be. Had the nutcase right of the Liberal Party not succeeded in back stabbing their former leader and member for Pittwater I have no doubt that they would have won the election in a landslide. Perhaps in four years moderate Barry O’Farrell can pull it off, if he hasn’t succumbed to the knife of David Clarke and the Radical Religious Right in the meantime. But enough of politics for the moment. A night out was had with my landlord (such a wrong name when it’s someone about your own age and mates with your flatmate) at the local with his mates. Far better than being cooped up inside for the night.

SemiPermanent 2007: Sydney @ Sydney Convention Centre - 30th + 31st March, 2007

The following weekend (and friday) I spent in Sydney once more for my third Semi-Permanent design conference. While being formally trained as an engineer, I enjoy good design and think that the two can and should go hand in hand. My photography and web development side interests are testament to this, and I think it is always fresh to have experiences outside of your own speciality or fields. While I can’t see any of the design students attending engineering workshops in the near future, I would like them to look outside their own box - particularly after last years conference. Celebrated French graffiti artist Fafi (present this year as part of the travelling Curvy exhibition for female artists) was due to present but was replaced by Kate Bezar who had started the incredible magazing Dumbo Feather Pass It On. Though having no formal education in design, the story was more about someone involved in the industry in a different way, and testament to the concept of starting a fresh business, even creating your own niche. While I can understand disappointment for the various students and professionals who were attending, I think that many were very close minded about this woman’s talk. The two highlight speakers of the event were Sydney born skate photographer Mike O’Meally and Californian artist Tiffany Bozic. I just wish I had the money to buy a work from each of them - one day perhaps.

Mike O’Meally - Skate Photographer - SemiPermanent 2007: Sydney @ Sydney Convention Centre - 30th + 31st March, 2007

Tiffany Bozic - Painter & Artist - SemiPermanent 2007: Sydney @ Sydney Convention Centre - 30th + 31st March, 2007

My last four weekends have been taken up with Mewfest (see post Mewfest: Easter 2007) when I also got to shoot former Screaming Jets guitarist Grant Walmsley at a local pub before the long easter weekend was out, a friday night out with the other E1’s before heading back to Sydney for a quiet weekend catching up with Sunny who just got back from four months over in Canada enjoying the best powder they had to offer him, a visit from mum that included dinner with my second Merrin and her husband and breakfast with one of mum’s friends from school before heading back down south for a weekend near Jervis Bay with Tom, Rhiannon, Toby and Matt (was meant to be a surfing trip but someone forgot to tell the waves where we’d be) and this weekend being a quiet one to catch up with some long neglected washing (ah the fun of moving out, not only washing but having to wait to accumulate enough to justify a load) photo editing and blog writing combined with a friday night out at the King Street Hotel covering UK DJ Luke Fair for In The Mix.

Grant Walmsley + The Agents of Peace @ Dudley - 8th April, 2007

While not known as a gourmet chef, and definitely not yet in the league of my housemate who, despite warning continuously “now, I’m not sure how this will taste, I haven’t done this before/it’s been a long time since I’ve made this” comes up with great meals every time, I’m not dying of malnutrition just yet. We’ve been eating fairly healthily too and I’m maintaining my long run heritage of being a fruit bat - plenty of fresh fruit to nibble on during my work hours. One thing that has been noticed is that I don’t eat big meals. I guess I never have, and haven’t really been a big dessert sort of person either. I just enjoy a nice rounded meal, and I don’t need that much to fill me because I graze instead of gorge. So to date we’ve had the following meals (from memory, and that’s not too great, just as usual):

• Spaghetti Bolognese (mum’s recipe);
• Mago Seasoned Pork & salad;
• Blue eyed cod with roast potatoes and salad;
• Salmon with roast potato and salad;
• Roast vegetable pasta;
• Lamb shanks (thanks to Bill and Fairfax for the recipe);
• Roast Lamb;
• Chicken Risotto;
• Lasagne;
• and more that I cannot remember…

In addition we’ve also tasted some of the restaurants and take away options including:

• Goldbergs;
• Grind;
• Eight Ounce;
• Bistro 606 at Wests Leagues;
• The Brewery;
• Delucas Pizza;
• The funky little italian place around on Glebe Road with the Gelatos I had as a kid with my gran at La Botte at Carlingford;
• and a few more…

More recently I’ve upgraded my computing system. Frank, my black Macbook, has now been partnered up with the 24-inch Dell monitor, a set of Logitech 2.1 speakers, The Elevator, an Apple Mouse and keyboard to now have a setup more similar to that of a desktop but with the option of mobility. I also picked up a set of Cool Feet from blueLounge. For anyone with a laptop I can’t recomment these enough (but more to come in a more indepth review). The Dell too is a superb monitor for work. I now have the screenspace I need for photo editing when I’m at home but can take my laptop to work wherever I like if I’m willing to sacrifice that space (such as now where I’m onto my second coffee of the afternoon at Goldbergs, enjoying what I’m terming “alone amongst a crowd” - I like to be amongst the hustle and bustle of people alot more than at home hidden away in my room). As I previously said, the intarweb should shortly be installed at my place up here enabling me to continue my ramblings whenever I like instead of the disjointed approach of the past few months, until then you’ll simply have to bear with me.

Summary of Eight Weeks in Newcastle

Surfing @ Bar Beach - 16th March, 2007

So my summation of my first eight weeks in Newcastle. First I’d like to state that this is actually four weeks late - I had wanted to do a “first month”, “second month”, “third month” etc but due to lack of internet this became rather difficult.

The first eight weeks have been amongst the most rainy time I can remember in the past few years, but that hasn’t dampened my time. As I’ve said to some, the moving out experience hasn’t been the earth shattering or life changing experience it is oft made out to be - I still feel like I’m on a holiday. Somehow I feel though that I no longer have a permanent location of life. Neither Newcastle nor home feels to be my home base any more. It is hard to describe but my rooms in both Newcastle and North Narrabeen both feel a little alien, like I’m crashing in someone elses place not my own. While this might sound awkward I actually feel rather comfortable not having a defined location that I consider to be my absolute base. There might be a long hidden restless traveller in me, which would fit in with my desire to one day live on a boat and sail around the place for a while.

The work that I am undertaking is a considerable step up to that I had undertaken previously. The role of a project officer, while informative, is definitely not one for me. My brain needs to be challenged to keep me sane and it has been good to get back into a role where offbeat research and thoughts are actively encouraged. For someone who is, according to the groupings of people by global design and development firm IDEO (read the book The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley), somewhere between a “technologist” (a geek, always up with the latest trends and ideas) and a “cross-disciplinarian” (often an engineer/scientist with a passion for design - someone who actively bridges the two worlds and enjoys actively taking part in both) Network Earthing is providing me with outlets that no other area in the organisation has given me (though my time in Network Pricing as a Business Analyst comes close). I am hopeful that I can setup enough information for the NEOn development team to continue with upgrade of the web application’s user interface to ensure it is robust and easy to use. I also hope to have finalised my solution to lightening field calculations for the group too, with my idea of spheres and critical points.

Personally I’ve enrolled in an art and drawing class at the Hunter Community College. This is something that I’ve been talking about for some time, but till now didn’t have as much time as I felt I needed to pursue it. Thanks to Kate and Susan for telling me multiple times I should. Now I only have to get involved in a language too (German or French - any ideas people, if anyone reads this). One evening a week for eight weeks will hopefully give me some pointers to bring what is in my head out and onto paper. I’ve also got a small photography concept/project that I am hoping to collaborate with Kate Butcher (my friends wife - scary using that term) on. Also trying to finalise a series of prints for family and friends of photos I’ve shot in the past half decade (yes, as scary as that sounds, I’ve been shooting for nearly five years). Pet project of the past eight months, Brewr, will also hopefully see the light of day shortly, and I hope a private beta test will be undertaken in late June and a new photography portfolio should also be nearing completion by then. There should also be more opportunities to get out and photograph the surrounding area - and I am hoping that I will get out to near Muswellbrook one afternoon for sunset amongst the transmission towers of the area. They really do look wonderful against the burning orange skies of sunset.

The next few months I also plan to write up some of my ideas on issues with peak power on transmission and distribution networks and explore some of the the concepts of electricity retailing raised by Professor Hugh Outhred at a industry-academic seminar on Electricity Retailing in Australia that I attended while in Network Pricing. There’s also a little web-app that I am interested in exploring on the National Electricity Market, but I am unsure if I will have the time to undertake this.

Endnote

The reasons behind my move to Newcastle for my current rotation on the EnergyAustralia Graduate Engineer program have been questioned by those who know me. I would like to say that they are many and varied, both personal and professional. I would especially like to thank my close friends who have supported me. The questioning allowed me to reaffirm my belief that it is, and was, the right choice, and also reminded me of how much people do care. Life doesn’t always go as we plan it and sometimes we need to throw caution to the wind and challenge our comfort zones. In many ways this move to Newcastle hopefully represents the testbed for a longer and further move in the future (though that in itself is dependent on a number of factors outside of my direct control).