Whats going on in the life of Chris Parker
My Vegemite arrived from SimplyOz. After a short venture to the supermarket to pick up some crackers, I prepared the vegemite for sampling.. Six people in the office (out of 7) were brave enough to try it and out of the six, only 1 disliked it 
Long live vegemite 
It was Mum’s birthday on the 11th and guess what.. she got a computer! Thats right! Mum has a PC! It is quite humerous really because she has never really used a PC before outside using the specialised software at her work and playing cards!
Mum also got hooked up with adsl on the 20th. She is on a 512/128 plan for $35 a month. She is on msn and skype as well. I managed to chat with her after some initial problems and it was good. Wave here, wave there
She is now reading my blog since she has access to a PC, so “Hi Mum”. I wonder if I will get a comment, depends if u can figure it out (:-) )
Anyways, thats it for today
The last couple of weeks have seen some interesting events. On August 4th, I received an email from Knights Insolvency Administration in Brisbane informing me that Geophysical Technology Limited (GTL / G-tek) had ceased trading at 5:30, August 3rd. All of the Australian staff were terminated leaving Ian Wilson and I the only real employees left for GTL. The administrators have proceeded to run the company to keep Ian and I employed as we are 100% billable with no effort required to keep us that way.
All of the equipment has been hauled away and has been sitting in a storage shed until its fate is decided by Knights. Toward the end of last week, Ian and I received a letter from Knights saying that they will probably be looking to terminate our contracts in the coming weeks, leaving us without an employer trying to work in the United States. There are two visas we can apply for to work in the United States; the H1B and the E3. The H1-B’s cap has been reached for this year which has left us hanging for the E3 visa which has not had all required regulations passed. In the mean time it looks like we will be employed by another Australian company until a visa outcome can be reached.
The job in Lowry is about to start. The first people mobilised to site today and data collection should commence on Tuesday (as Monday is a holiday here). My role will be to manage 1 towed arrays worth of data. I have a staff of one to give me a hand so I am hoping that we can keep everything going nice and smooth (fingers crossed!)
Last weekend saw the first annual ARM Golf Tournament! I was on a Team with Brian Brunette and Ian Wilson. The round was played as a scramble (??) where all the members of the team take a shot and the team can decide which out of those shots the team uses. There were requirements that each persons tee shot had to be used at least once every nine holes. I think I had a pretty good game considering that I have not really played before. I had a couple of really good shots that I am proud of. I have some pics and a video which will be making their way onto gallery soon.
The Friday night before the golf tournament was adventure packed as well. A group of us met at the Holiday Inn bar near Hershey. After several bevvies we decided it would be a good idea to head to the horse track. We arrive in time to see race 7 where I predicted horse 9 would win – it came second. Being in good cheer, I try to look at the program to decide which horse to have a go on in the next race. There was a wealth of information in the program so it did not take me long to dismiss it and just take a guess on a horse. I picked number 5 (can’t remember the name..) so I go inside to try and put a bet on place and win… I put $4 down and get a ticket for horse 5 to win. The race is running and I was not paying a lot of attention until they came around the corner to head into the home straight… number 5 was winning! Number 5 crossed the line 1st which saw me $31.50 richer. It was a good night!
Anyways, thats about all I have for now – that was one big brain dump
