Justyn Smith | Blog » Life

No more holidays

Justyn — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:26:27 +0000

I cannot believe it has been twenty days since Cayden was born. My holidays are over. It has been a fun, challenging ride and I would not change it for anything. I wish I could have more time off of work as it is a bit difficult getting the boys to school as Chell can’t drive for another two weeks.

Thankfully her Mum is able to help out a bit with the pick up / drop off to and from school. Cayden has had his moments throughout the night, and is slowly getting better at sleeping for more than 1.5 – 2 hours at a time but it would be great if he slept 3 or more hours consistently.

He sleeps most of the day so is awake most of the night. I don’t mind this and am grateful for how well Chell is doing with the feeding in the middle of the night and nappy changes. I don’t think I would be able to do anything as good as Chell though. She handles every situation great (although I must admit when he vomited on me on in the shopping centre I just laughed it off).

So it’s the end of my holidays, I’ve done my Tax and back to work tomorrow and no more spending all day with Cayden which will suck. Lets hope I can get back into the routine of having to work again!

A letter to my Son

Justyn — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:19:44 +0000

Dear Son,

I don’t know if this is weird writing you a letter when you are only 8 hours old but I would like to write about your arrival. I am your father. I may not be perfect and I know I have made mistakes in the past and I look at you and just smile and wonder, wonder how something so beautiful and amazing can come from me.

I can understand most of your good side has come from your Mother, she has unconditional love for us all. She is the most amazing woman in the whole world. I hope I can be half the person your Mum is. You will see how amazing she is in due time when you see what she does for you without ever hesitating.

Now, our family. You will never be unloved. You have two amazing brothers, Jacob and Matt. Your twin sisters, Emily and Tiana. They are so happy you are here and could not wait to see you. You also have Gran, Aunty Margaret and Granma. These people will also help you whenever you need it. They have helped your Mother and I quite a lot and we are so very grateful for that. You were born into such a loving family and you will notice this in no time.

You also have Nan, Pop and Aunty Leiana who are my parents and sister. You may not see them very often as they live far away but I know they love you very much and will be upset they can’t spend as much time with you as everyone else.

It was hard leaving the Hospital tonight and having to go home alone. I know Mum will look after you (she has raised your wonderful Brothers and Sisters well). It was such a strange feeling though I cannot explain but I know I will see your lovely face in the morming.

I guess the way I would like to end this letter is to say welcome to our family. I may not always have time for just you (and forgive me), but you will have to understand that your Brothers and Sisters need our attention too. I can’t wait and I am sure your siblings and Mum can’t wait to have you at home so our big, loving, happy family can be complete.

Love forever and ever,
Dad

New house, newborn, new start

Justyn — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:55:38 +0000

We have been living in our new home for 3 weeks now and it has been great. We have 4 bedrooms upstairs, one bedroom downstairs, a large entertainment area, bar and a pool.

We’ve been swimming a couple times (it’s getting a bit cool) and have had a lot of fun. The house really is inviting and has such a great feel to it, I am really happy we moved into it.

I have also put together the cot, pram, swing set and Chell and I have pretty much setup the nursery for the little one that we are expecting soon. It’s so exciting!

Almost everything is unpacked (there is still some stuff in the garage) but everything we need is setup. I’m definately looking forward to living in this home for a long time.

Dance Like No One’s Watching

Justyn — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:03:35 +0000

Here is a nice poem about happiness I found, written by Crystal Boyd.

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren’t old enough and we’ll be more content when they are.

After that, we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, or when we retire.

The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now.

If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges.
It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with and remember that time waits for no one.

So, stop waiting…
- until your car or home is paid off
- until you get a new car or home
- until your kids leave the house
- until you go back to school
- until you lose ten pounds
- until you gain ten pounds
- until you finish school
- until you get a divorce
- until you get married
- until you have kids
- until you retire
- until summer
- until spring
- until winter
- until fall
- until you die

There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

So, work like you don’t need money.
Love like you’ve never been hurt.
And dance like no one’s watching.

Twitter hacked by Acai Berry spammers

Justyn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:39:57 +0000

My Twitter account was compromised (I have since changed my password) which resulted in some of my friends recently receiving direct messages from me offering options to lose weight.

People that have had their account hacked will be sending messages similar to this one:

did not think i was really going to lose weight, i did it though! with this... http://tinyurl.com/yhbx5kl

Spam Message 1

Here is another screenshot with different messages.

Spam Message 2

Last but not least, one final screenshot.

Spam Message 3

As you can see, if you have a few followers they will get annoyed with your messages. I didn’t even know my account was compromised until my friend Ryan informed me about the message I supposedly sent him on Twitter.

I did some Google Searches on the issue and only came across one other post written by Graham Cluley dating back to May 24, 2009. I would like to know if anyone else has had this happen to them so please comment and let me know.

Cheap cool gadgets and stuff

Justyn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:18:39 +0000

Everyone loves cool gadgets, keychains and random things. You like them more if they are cheap. There is a place that has everything you can think of which you may have come across called DealExtreme.

They have everything from cheap $2 Gadgets to video games to car accessories. One of the things I bought from DealExtreme was these iPhone charging cables (I bought 3 of them) and at $1.86 each and free shipping, who can complain?

I also bought Rachelle and I a cute Lovers Keychain which is a magnetic heart keychain that splits in two. I know it was only $2.34 but it’s cute and the thought that counts, right?

Our Lovers Keychain

Some reasons I quit Facebook

Justyn — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:35:18 +0000

Come Monday, I am going on hiatus from Facebook. I figured I was going to quit Facebook and never come back to it but at the last minute I decided to deactivate my account and not totally remove it for good.

I will see how the next week will go not having Facebook and checking it every couple hours. Now, onto some of the reasons I have gone on hiatus.

1. Friends

One of the things with facebook is the friends aspect. It happened with Bebo and MySpace. It is like it is cool to have 300 friends but realistically you need to ask yourself who your friends are.

For instance, in the past month how many of your friends have written on your wall, commented on a status update or even commented on a photo of you? That’s right, it is time to delete some friends.

2. Games

Okay so some of the social aspect of Facebook is games, I get it. If that is the case why not have a game of UNO or Scrabble against one of your friends. I don’t like seeing posts about adopting a pig for my farm 10 times per day (yes I have hidden most things from my wall).

At the end of the day you need to work out how much hours are wasted playing a game like Farmville or YoVille on Facebook and ask yourself what have you achieved from the amount of time playing that game, or what are you working towards?

3. Emo-ness

I guess the word emo-ness fits into this. There isn’t a day go by where I don’t see a status update consisting of scenarios that you would find on FML or MLIA. Really, you have to tell everyone how much the world is against you, and have a big cry about it? This is another reason to cull your friends list I believe.

4. Misinterpretation

I’m sure you have come across a post where your not sure to take it seriously or not. I have come across this a couple of times. You cannot hear the voice inflections when you are reading text so it is diffucult to tell if someone is being sarcastic or serious at times. This can cause friction between friends or family.

5. Embarrassment

Remember that naughty message your loved one wrote on your wall? So do all of your friends. Facebook can be one of the most embarrassing things around. You could have people write things on your wall, tag you in photos that you wish were burnt.

The upside of this is you do have control over who posts on your wall, but do you really want to block everyone from writing on your wall? I thought so.

At least with my blog I control what I put up, the comments, everything. Yes, someone may write an embarrassing comment on my blog but no one sees that comment until I approve it or deny it.

What a brilliant idea…

Justyn — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:27:05 +0000

Message from a hard working Aussie

I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to earn that pay cheque, as I work on a mine site on a Kalgoorlie (WA) construction project, I am required to pass a random urine test, with which I have no problem.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don’t have to pass a urine test. Shouldn’t one have to pass a urine test to get a Centerlink Payment because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Please understand – I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their backsides drinking grog & smoking dope.

Could you imagine how much money the Government would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a Centerlink Payment?

Note: Author Unknown but I would like to shake your hand.

New Year, newborn, new stuff

Justyn — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:30:09 +0000

Well it has been awhile since my last post almost a whole month. Wow, that has gone quick! So what is new? A lot of things actually, which I will try and summarise and keep this post short.

We looked at moving into a new place, but ended up renewing the current lease.
We quit smoking.
We found out we are pregnant, and find out if it’s a boy or girl on 03/02/10.
The girls had their 4th birthday.
Our Guinea Pigs had 3 babies, but two didn’t make it.

As you can probably tell by the above 5 points, this post could have been quite large but seemed a lot easier to just summarise the lot.

How much Chrisco really costs

Justyn — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:22:13 +0000

So I guess you’ve already seen the ads on television or saw it in the paper, about Chrisco Christmas Hampers in which you pay a certain amount of money each week and at the end of the year everything gets delivered. The question is how much does it really cost?

I have gotten the prices from various supermarket catalogues and simply compared it with the Chrisco Hamper 2010 for this quick research so prices may vary.

Coca Cola Hamper

Chrisco: 2 x 24 packs of Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Cap, Coca-Cola beach towel and a frisbee. This costs $137.80 or $3.29 a week over 42 weeks.

Coles: 24 pack of Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta Or Lift Soft Drink Varieties cost $16 each, or a total of $32. So your paying $105.80 for a cap, towel, bag and frisbee.

Apple iMac

Chrisco: Apple 20″ (2.66GHz processor, 320GB drive with 2GB RAM) for $2,184.00 or $42.00 per week.

Apple Store: Apple 21.5″ (3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 500GB drive with 4GB RAM) for $1,599.00 or $52.13 per month.

TV’s

Chrisco: Panasonic 37″ Full HD LCD Television for $1,651.00 or $31.75 per week.

Harvey Norman: Panasonic 37″ Full HD LCD Television for $1499.

So just of these couple of examples, you can see you could potentially save hundreds of dollars if you put the same amount away each week and went to your local grocery store and electrical store.