Kitchen

All through December, we had our old kitchen replaced with a new one. There’s not too much to be said about this other than that it’s really quite big, really quite blue, and all of the appliances work far better than the ones that they replaced.

The bench tops are solid Tasmanian Oak, there are two ovens and an induction cook top there too — it all seems pretty good so far!

Christmas

Christmas and related holidays have been good for me so far: Christmas dinner was the last one to be held at my Grandparents’ house, it’s a shame to see the end of a family institution, but I suspect that future years will be just as good, even if the venue is changed.

My own presents consisted of a new camera (which my previous post alluded to), a FujiFilm FinePix S5700. It’s a Sub-SLR camera with a 7.1Mpx sensor, and a f**king huge lens, and with an appropriate amount of tinkering produces quite good results at night. I also got a new 80GB iPod Classic to replace my 20GB 3rd-generation one which died in early December.

Not so much a present than a purchase I made that decided to show itself up around Christmas time, but my Discbox copy of Radiohead’s new album, In Rainbows arrived on Sunday last week, and unpacking and the like has been an experience to behold: it consists of two CDs, and two 12″, heavyweight 45RPM Vinyl records, packed in a very artistic fashion.

The second CD contains a heap of B-sides, that whilst not having the sheen and polish of the “main” album, are still quite enjoyable and refreshing to listen to. In particular, “Last Flowers” is a stand-out track if you’re a Radiohead fan.

Health

Unfortunately for a computer-using person like myself, adjusting to work has led me to a quite severe bout of RSI, and so I took my holiday a week earlier to compensate for that; while it’s recovering itself fairly well, it’s still not ideal, and typing causes a fair bit of discomfort. Once I get back from Sydney, I’ll be taking a regular course of osteopathy in the hope that that fixes things.

Taste

I went to the Taste of Tasmania today with Tom from Work/Uni. Afterwards, we went past the Sydney-Hobart yachts, so here’s a customary photograph. The Line Honours victor, Wild Oats XI, is obscured on the far left.

End of year

2007 is finally drawing itself to a close, and I can definitely say that it’s been a good year. I made the transition from full-time school to full-time uni fairly painlessly, and my results this year have been better than any other year I can remember. New friendships have been forged, and old, lapsed ones have been renewed: thanks to all of you for making my year as good as it has been

2008 looks like it’ll start off just as well as 2007: here’s hoping!