So it's time for Ottawa Linux Symposium again... Only, this year I won't be in attendance. =(

Last year I went and gave my first "talk" (jointly with the boss) at a mega-geek conference (much harder than standing in front of a group of 300 or more students at university level and teaching them about web technologies!). Well, it was a bof (Birds Of a Feather) session, but we ran it as a talk. We talked about recording and mixing music using open source tools - mostly Ardour. It was a good excuse to give a talk about something fun and also to attempt to promote the band =)

Chris is there this year. He arrived at his hotel a bit over an hour ago, so I've not long gotten off the phone with him. He travelled with Rusty and sfr - I imagine they're all exhausted from the 32 hour plane/airport experience.

So there's really not much point to this entry other than to not feel guilty about ignoring my blog for too long, and also to ensure that I DO feel guilty for not submitting a talk to OLS this year - I might have been there otherwise! =) Ah well, next year...

Last week Chris ordered some items from Woolworths Homeshop (internet purchase home delivery supermarket thingo). When unpacking all the shopping, I noticed that they had delivered 11 containers of cat food where he had ordered 10.

So my query is: Is it still shoplifting when someone who works there does it for you?

In celebration of our recent engagement, I thought I'd give Chris something that will last a long time... Home improvements!

While this may not be overly romantic, and doesn't even come close to comparing to the beautiful ring that he gave me, it's stuff that he's either wanted done for a long time or hadn't thought about and went "Oh, that would be seriously cool" when suggested. It's also stuff that I could build (mostly) myself, thus giving it the personal touch... Oh - he paid for most of the supplies =P

The water feature:

The water feature was done by first digging out the old garden bed to create the pond area. I used 40*40cm square concrete pavers to create the walls slightly higher than the paved area. I used treated pine to create a frame along the brick wall so that I could feed some poly tubing up from the pond to the waterfall reservoir at the top (which was made from various bits of plastic all coated in waterproofing). Waterproofed the covered the framing with fibro-cement sheeting. Waterproofed the fibro, then covered with Norstone rock wall (using rubberised waterproof tiling cement). Do you get the idea I wanted it waterproof =)? Then we attached the pond pump, filled with water, and away she goes!

Oh - and it makes a great drinks esky for parties!

Before	After

The deck:

The deck is something that he's been wanting done for a while, and has never bothered organising to have it built. In preparation of me telling them I wanted to build a deck, my parents gave me a mitre saw for christmas. It rocks for building decks!

The existing deck was problematic on two fronts: 1) it was too small to be usable. 2) it was too large to make the paved area surrounding it useful. The second point was another problem again in that it is pattern paved concrete which was not patterned beneath where the existing decking sat. So removal of the deck alone was not an option - it simply looked ugly. So here's my solution!

Before

After

Still a little work needs doing on it - but you see how it is going anyways!

Christopher Beng Kiat Yeoh is now my fiance!! YAY!!!!!

Been working most of the weekend on the water feature in the backyard. Hard, hot work. Chris suggested finishing up a little early today to head up to Mount Majura for a walk and bit of fresh air. We get to the top, sitting on a rock looking at the scenery below, trying to see the ferris wheel at the show grounds, then he says "so.. wanna get hitched?" =)

I didn't even think he was serious (we'd been joking about it previously), so I said "sure", then he asked me if I want a ring then, so I said "yup", and he gave it to me!! AND it's stunning =)

So we got home, had dinner, then decided it was time to tell a few ppl... We logged onto IRC, and herewith the conversation that followed:

[21:46] <chris> kelly: hi honey!

[21:46] <kelly> chris: hi loml

[21:47] <chris> hey do you wanna get hitched?

[21:47] <kelly> depends...

[21:47] <chris> on what?

[21:47] <kelly> got a rock for me?

[21:47] * chris throws a rock at kelly

[21:47] <kelly> YES!!!!!

[21:47] <chris> :-)

[21:51] <alli> hehehe

Today is a GREAT day! I got a new angle grinder, fiance and engagement ring - in that order! All in one day! YAY!!!! =)