Yes we are parents now......meet Isaac

Well what a chaotic 48 hours.
Got up, studied (4:30am), Did my economics test, got out of test, drove Yuqi to Aiport to pick up YuqiMum, got home.......and Yuqi's water broke. (1pm)

She wasn't feeling any contractions so after talking to the midwife she said that if nothing had kicked in before Sunday she would induce labor @ 8am.

8pm Sat night, the contractions kicked in hard. She was 2cm Dialated by 9:30pm.
Yuqi was not coping well at all, and was concerned she wouldn't survive the car trip to hospital. So we left for hospital at 10pm.

By the time we got there she was in incredible pain, we couldn't get in the Maternity entrance, so mad dash to get the car to the emergency side. She was give some drugs to take the edge off but they did very little. Yuqi was fantastic and drove through the pain, but she was being brought to tears. By midnight she was also on the gas, 7cm Dilated.

The contractions were no longer waves but tsunamis crossed with a mean rip current. By 2am Sunday she was having 2-3 in a row, and they were only 3 minutes apart. The pain was destroying her, and I felt helpless.
All she could do was death grip me, and I have to admit at that point her grip was fading - it scared me.

We finally got an epidural setup at 2:30. She was 9cm dilated, but her body was drained. Previous to this I was no longer tired, but actually reacting to simple things such as NOS and Drips. But I think the key thing was that I had not kept my fluids up, and I was shattered, In looking after Yuqi - I had forgotten to take care of my own well being. I was now useless to Yuqi, so I would take 5 minute breaks and sit down (I had be standing the whole time).  By about 4am I both got about 30 minutes sleep.

I awoke to find out that the pregnancy had not progressed, so poor Yuqi had to have a C-section.
Little Isaac was brought into the world at 7am, Sunday 12 June 2011. He knew my voice instantly.

He was a big boy, at 8-9lbs (3.8-4kgs), his head was in the wrong position to go naturally and he also had the cord around his neck twice. So C-section was the only way we could have got him out.
Both him and mum are recouping fine. He is a smart young boy - his eyes are very observant, he speaks and he likes learning. Kinda scary considering how young he is.

Will Yuqi recuperating and having quality baby time, I ask that you don't call her - but a friendly txt is ok. Likewise she will be in hospital for 4 days so no visitors for this week.

I am stoked (and tired). He is awesome, Yuqi is a fantastic mum and while we had a little 'Storm' on our hands, sometimes you know when you taking a step into the right direction.

Now back to my Uni stuff  :S Thank god I don't also have work to deal with right now.
-Stew

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Its only a matter of time now

....But there is SO MUCH WORK TO DO BEFORE THEN!!!!

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Insane mad dash for the finish line

I just thought it was ironic that I just finished the above diagram.........and it could be applied to my life right now.
I am tired, so tired. And all I want to do go home and nap with the wife and our yet to be born son.

But before all that happens I need to sort my uni stuff out (hence the economics graph) and also sort out a project for work. All this week. Then the next 4 weeks are dedicated purely to Family + Finishing Uni.

But right now my time is becoming less and less, So why can't I charge it out for more and more?
Surely if I am an elastic economic thing my work should be increasing my payments due to its limited supply.

I wonder if I value the hours more?

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Recent Developments

Sorry guys. I have been really slack lately on this front. But truth be told - I have been thinking a lot about this blog and what it means.

The biggest question I have right now is:

What was all this (www.farrst.blogspot.com) - all about?

 I started it many years ago - for no reason except that I was bored. It wasn't originally to vent my opinions, it wasn't to talk about things that grabbed my attention.
In fact all it was - way back then was to show people what I saw from my side of the camera. An easier way to show images of my life.

Since then; I am now in my 3rd job, I  have lived in 2 countries, I got married, I got made redundant for the first time in my life, been through 3 motorbikes, been through 4 cars, did MBA, changed computers 7 times, traveled to countries I never thought I would go to.....I even went through 3 camera's.
My perspective of the world has changed.

So what is this all about now? Do I need to start afresh?

Why did I do it in the first place? Has that idea changed?

Need to find a bit of clarity - from what looks like a milky background......

Take care all
-Stew
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Its bad when you start the day with - "Well I can't be fucked, I busy enough already"

Sorry guys, I don't usually do this.......but I am tired. I am cranky......I NEED TO VENT!!!!

Its bad when you start the day with - "Well I can't be fucked, I busy enough already"
But this is the cold, hard truth that I am facing.
Its 10:30pm, I have a list of things to do before tomorrow.......but I can't be fucked.

I worked dumb hours last week. Because I have to do a big project.......and to get to site is 4 hours drive. So that basically means that I am driving 1 day of the week. Working another 5. My weekends are chewed up with either Uni tests or looking at houses/cars for wife......or if I am lucky cleaning. Then preparing for the next day of craziness......

This just goes round and round. I don't get stuff all time to spend with my future son or my wife for the matter. Whom needs all the help she can get at this point. The dumb hours I am working are just going to get worse this week as not only do I have to do all the dumb stuff I did last week......but I also I need to chew up what is left of my weekend by also setting up for a training course next week. Why the weekend.......BECAUSE I AM TOO BUSY THIS WEEK AND NEXT WEEK TO DO IT!!!!

This only gets worse when I look at how I am appreciated. Yep I worked it out. After tax, my last bonus and pay rise worked out to a 0.6% per annum increase over what was getting paid from day one........18 months ago. To make matters worse, this is still 20% lower than what I was being paid 2 years ago.

This image pretty much summed up how I felt like while I am tapping away at the keyboard right now.

Nuff said really.
MBA done in June
Baby boy due June
Big project finished in June

June sounds like an interesting month, need to line a few things up I think......and have a break for once.

Right that felt better. See I needed to vent. Now back to the things I was suppose to do tonight.......fuck it, I'm off to bed.



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Family Heritage : Pre-Me part 3

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Family Heritage : Pre-Me part 2

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Family Heritage : Pre-Me part 1

Just some cool old snaps I found. Why have such an awesome bloodline :)
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Some old notes I had from 2008.......oddly put into a folder named only "book"

Written 2008….notes for book??? Or more random ramblings…..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well its 0700, i have been up since 0530, while this in turn is not shocking (lord knows i have done worse to my body in the past). I figure it is time i taught myself how to be a better person.
So welcome to the Journey.

I'm sorry if the terms i use in this book feel very "Engineer-like", but that is what i am. I walked away with my Bachelors and enough hands on skills to take on the world. How little did i know that I would become my own worst enemy in terms of my own future progress? That brings me to my first topic :

Resistance:
Contrary to most beliefs resistance is not the ability to stop things.
It is actually the ability to slow things.
So how does this translate to your life? We'll to put it nicely Human
resistance is the ability (whether you want it or not) to slow things as
they pass through you.
Human resistance however due to materials that make us up, changes. So while
one day you may be massively affected by something that is presented to you,
you may become hardened to these items in future. It is all relative to your
perspective at the time. This change in resistance can make grown men cry and
sweet women cruel.
A visual example of living resistance is that of a river bed. A river bed is
forever changing. Some days its collects more resistance in the forms of silt,
tree branches, river rocks changing position, even kids slowing up the river
flow for fun. But likewise every year, in the wet seasons a massive flood
washes down the river and often removes all excess resistance from the bed.
As humans we are not so lucky, we can quite often collect resistance and
store it for many years. And just like a river collecting excess resistance,
we eventually end up with a dam - blocking all flows through us.
This brings me to the next topic, directly related to resistance : conductivity.
Conductivity is the science of breaking resistance, allowing things to flow through or past you. The best saying I have ever heard on manipulating conductivity was by the hong kong great, bruce lee. Bruce states `you must become fluid like water...if water goes into a glass water becomes the glass.`
This means that you need to be able to change when situations change. You need to be dynanic AND flexible. You need to be water. You need to conduct in your chosen environment.
The downside of conductivity is the fact that people can also become weak. With a lack o their own resisatance. To looks back a bruces thoery. What good is a cup of water chucked in the ocean.
So now its sounding complicated
The reality in life is a lot of things sound difficult but in reality they are simpler then you have percieved them. Very few things in history are achievable by savants alone.
Tiger woods is not the greatest golfer there will always be.

It has been a while since I have updated here but here is the basic rundown. I left hvpower for no reason but leaving NZ for a job I Aussie. The money was not better. But I was getting to safe...... But opening a can of worms is an understatement to how tough it’s been. But I know what I know. And most of the time lessons are learnt the hard way.

So with that said today’s term is... Serenity.
Contrary to what you are thinking. Serenity is not always a good think. For two reasons as there are two versions of serenity. The achievable and the unachievable. Achievable serenity is the kind where you have to do nothing and it appears. When I was young and stupid - I could achieve this on daily basis. At the time I was growing. Trading and taking drugs. I was troubled by my home life at te time and while I needed to be calm a collected around my peers a family. I was losing it inside. Drugs gave me the calm serenity I needed. But took away more than I could imagine. They took away my drive to achieve greater tasks. To pass my comfort zone. I was not going backwards by any means. But I would never go forward either. I had reached achievable serenity. The good balanced the bad and all was right with the world.

Unachievable serenity is the kind where you get o satisfaction at all. A lot of people will tell you that you can achieve anything at all. I'm going to tell you that if you try you may lose it all.
When I was a child I hated heights. This was fear nothing more or less. But a fear that told me that I could achieve nothing to do with heights. But if I ignored that fear. Attempted Everest and died who would have said "maybe that was a bad idea because he was scared".

But alas I digress. My key points here are you fears most of the times are the opposites of your ambitions. If a fear is found fundamental to you - it may be there for a reason. See if you can find an alternative rather than always conquer you fear. You may find that the alternative is your nice. Rather than bastardising your goals so that you achieve "a pass" in something you had no interest in, in the first place.
I bet the guy named Jesus made a really crap carpenter do his fear of being told what to do. Who knows - maybe he walked on water because he could not swim?

Either way if Jesus was to die a man in serenity. He was not going to do it via building a nice house.
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Saturday Cruise - take the bike somewhere different.

Needed to unwind a bit after hearing all the crap that Christchurch are getting. Dad was safe - so went for a nice slow ride with Kevin out west.
Found a cool little bay after a very interesting downhill.
Heading back home got a bit frustrated with a guy in a Merc doing some riding outside my torque range so at the top of the hill pulled over and vented a bit.
Overall cool day

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^^^^^^^^^^^^ Christchurch News Feeds

I have chucked a few News feeds above so you (and I) can quickly get an update as to what is happening down there.

Its on the top of:
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Recommendations

Recommendations For Stewart

Systems Engineer

CSE-W.A.Fisher

“Stewart came aboard nearly 2 years and was required to provide support to key customers almost immediately. He had minimal time to learn the associated RTU and SCADA software and often had to provided extended support after hours.
Stewart has willingly offered his assistance late into the night on numerous occasions - testament to his commitment to CSE-W. Arthur Fisher and peers. Stewart is nearly finished his MBA and has already built a good understanding of the operational objectives & financial implications associated with modern day engineering projects.” February 20, 2011

Neil Pearce, Engineering Manager, CSE-W. Arthur Fisher Ltd
managed Stewart at CSE-W.A.Fisher

Engineering, Quality Control and Sales

HV Power

“I can recommend Stewart as an enthusiastic team player that is well focused and competent at the roles he was engaged with in our company. Stewart performed testing, support and sales competently.” February 15, 2011

Gideon Strydom, Engineering Manager, HV Power
managed Stewart indirectly at HV Power

Technical Support Manager

Reynolds Group Ltd

“Stew keeps his cool and friendly nature even when under huge pressure to resolve issues fast, tenacious at resolving them.
When I moved company I was glad to see Stew reappearing as the service support again.” July 8, 2009

Top qualities: Personable, On Time, Creative

Erica Fritse,
hired Stewart as a Technical Support in 2006, and hired Stewart more than once

Student

Auckland University of Technology

“Stew is what I call a Maverick with a modern edge, a fantastic and honest person to have in your team. This person is proven to have out of the box thinking which I believe is very important for an engineer perusing MBA degree.” November 1, 2010

Samir Kuraishi, MBA Operations and Logistics Student, Auckland University of Technology,
studied with Stewart at Auckland University of Technology

Aww thanks guys

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Midnight natterings 1

Staying up late to try and sort a big assignment. For more reasons than one.
The assignment is a development plan. Where I sit down and set my problems, resolutions and goals for the next 3 years.
I know I have a slackness, lack of desire to push forward in some areas. I kill time with some pointless tasks - that do no inspire me. This has been leading me to do some dumb things, and pass up some dreams I have held for some time.

Its like that age old saying - "Would the 4 year old version of you, kick you in the nuts?".

What motivates you?

I think what motivates me is good music. Just have Shapeshifter in the headphones. Feeling good. Dunno why. Perhaps also V has kicked in. So I guess V also motivates me.
When I look back at my entries into "The angel, the devil and a motorbike" Yuqi motivated me......as well as music and V.....haha

I guess I feel a motivation in regard to Yuqi, and my boy on the way - but I am not sure how that motivation works. Need to do a bit of digging.

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FZR pics I forgot to chuck up before......new (quieter) exhaust

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Cooking pasta is not a simple meal - its a way of life

"Hey, I am trying to cook here"

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Rock win a wife competition

I am sorry, but this turns my dials.

WHY ARE THERE WOMEN OUT THERE SO VINDICTIVE THEY WANT TO RUIN SOMEONE ELSES CHANCE AT A HAPPY LIFE?!!!???!!!

(re: http://history-herstory-scubanurse.blogspot.com/)

grow up ladies. The win-a-wife competition was a very nice gesture that gave some poor guy some coin to find a lovely person to spent the rest of their lives with. On the flip side - it allows for a lady to leave the Ukraine for brighter shores, and fall in love with someone whom is not from there.

Why do you feel the need to shit on someone else's dreams?
What makes you feel like you should control their lives?

You talk about how the competition is degrading to women - but I am sorry what the hell do you think your doing?
You are degrading them by spouting comments about how bad it is for them to find love outside their own country. Yet many of you have done so anyway......You basically being a Hypocrite.

If you are so concerned about degrading others lives, keep to your own and leave others the fuck alone.
No one asked for your help - and if you paid enough attention and found out the whole situation you would feel incredibly stupid.
Rather than just jumping the gun, reading a headline and assuming that the Rock were going to "give away" a person.

When will we be saved from morons?

-Stew
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FARRST V2.0 is comming :)

 

Sorry Guys you will have to rotate your photo itself. Blogger wont allow me to upload it rotated :S

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