Anthony Malloy

Ouch.

I had my gall bladder removed on Monday. Have to say the experience at John Falkner was a lot better than my emergency visit to Western Health this year, even if John Falkner seems incredibly cramped – like they are trying to squish a 21st century hospital in to an early 20th century building and just doesn’t quite fit.

Funny thing is this isn’t the first bit of my body I’ve removed at John Falkner. When I as 8(ish) I came down to Melbourne to what was then a Catholic hospital to have my tonsils out – I remember the building vividly and that I was in the same wing, although not too sure about the floor.

This time though my procedure was key hole and I was in for just one night. I’m still pretty sore (no pain as such, just bruising and discomfort where they poked and prodded me during the op) and I’m hoping that will go away over the next day or so.

The hardest thing is going to be remaining inactive though. I’m not meant to do any strenuous exercise for at least two weeks (no gym!). I’m already finding it hard not to lift stuff around the house or to just lie down and rest. In one way it’s good I’ll be able to resume my work quicker than if I was a manual worker but in another way it’s not so good ‘cause it’s very easy to sit at the PC and ‘just check my email’. I’ve done a little work today, probably more than I should have, so tomorrow I’m promising myself (and Rae) that I’ll stay lying down. I’ve started Homeland, so let’s see how far I can get in to that.

I’ve been going to the gym for three months now and, finally, today I got the numbers that show my changes over this time.

In three months I have :

• Lost 8.2kgs
• My BMI has dropped from 33.8 to 27.9
• Lost 12cm off my waist
• Lost 10cm off my hips
• Built up my arms, thighs and calves by a couple of cm each.

These are the figures but even more importantly I feel so much healthier and happier with myself. It’s great to see these results and to see all of that hard work has been worth it. Unfortunately I have to take a break for a couple of weeks but I’ll be back and working on making those numbers even better.

Can you tell that today has been one of those days? Thankfully I noticed just as I was hopping in to the car.

We’re out of milk this morning, just enough for the kid’s breakfast.

“I’m just popping to the supermarket to get some milk so I can have a coffee” says dad.

“But dad, you don’t need coffee".” says Bert.

Ah son, you’ll learn one day.

Thought it was funny that my boys were both in the comics of The Age yesterday.

Kate, you may wish to look away now.

I’ve mentioned many times before how I was raised to respect books and that I am of the firm belief you shouldn’t be able to tell a book has been read once you’ve finished this. Evidence of this would be my 100 or so Doctor Who books that, even though they are about 30 years old now, look as if they have just come off the shelf from Angus and Robertson at the Capri Center in Shepp.

Well, Dad, I’m sorry but I’ve had to do the unthinkable. You see, I’m teaching myself a new computer language. It’s been over a decade since I’ve updated my programming skills (which is an eternity in computer times) and while I’m very good at what I do I want to make sure that I’m not left way behind; and right now my skills are so out of date in terms of what the market demands I may as well be coding using punch cards.

So I bought a book. A lovely shiny book full of information I need to start getting me up to speed and (really Kate, look away…) to make sure I use it properly the first thing I did was fold the cover the back and push it down. I know, shocking. Then, as I read, I made notes. On the pages. (Pass the smelling salts, I’m having a turn.) Admittedly I couldn’t quite bring myself to use a pen but there are many, many pencil notes – not only in the margin but actually on the text.

Now I’ve started with this one I have my eye on a cook book. I’m thinking I may even lay it on the bench and turn pages without washing my hands. There’s no stopping me now.

The epic saga of The Lemon of Hope reached its conclusion today when TLoH was plucked from the tree. The scent was amazing and its juice made a lovely flavouring in a glass of soda water. I’m now looking forward to many years of lemons to come.

I had my annual trip to catch up with my Sydney clients. It was a great couple of days full of meetings. I brought two new clients on board (one with two sites), had an old client invite back to work with them again and locked in a whole heap of work from my existing clients. From a business perspective it was well worth it.

It was also great to catch up with the people, many I’ve known for a decade now. I stayed at the lovely Radisson Blu where I had the choice of two beds (went with the one on the right) and wasn’t woken up at 7.00am by the sound of kids rummaging through Lego. I only had an hour or so free before heading back on the Tuesday and the weather had closed in so I took myself off for a walk up and down Pitt St to kill the time.

All of this was great but the personal highlight was getting to hand out a couple of business cards. I know, I know, but it’s such a rare event as all of my clients come through recommendations and quite often I don’t get to meet the people behind the phone and email until after the project launches. At the rate I get to give cards out I’m set with my current supply for another 250 years.