Time is catching up.

Yes, time is catching up after sitting on my backside for the last few months. After waiting for the prerequisite time period for the process of buying my property, I have now taken over the property physically with keys in hand. The next step will be to finalise with Gary to kick start the renovations.

With three days of hacking as allowed, I am targeting mid August to complete renovations, and to move in by last week of August. Hopefully things will work out well without any cliff hangers.

It is also June school holidays and on a few days when all the three grandchildren were with us, it was p-a-n-d-e-m-o-n-i-u-m!!!! Enough to drive me up the wall. The older kids now do not like me one bit because of my discipline. My grandson hates my guts, because I do not allow him to sit in front of the television from the moment he comes till he finally leaves. Every time he comes, he will ignore me and prefer to sulk in a corner and pander to his grandmother. This has caused a lot of friction with my wife because my wife will always automatically disagree with me

Though the older girl may not be that bad, but she has picked up a lot of bad habits, like talking back and ignoring me when I try to tell her something or other. There is nothing more I can do. I feel sad when I think that not so long ago, she was the apple in my eye.

Emma is now the cream in the cake while she is still young. When she starts growing up, she will adopt the same attitude and I will be a nobody. Might as well enjoy her while she is young now and go my way when she grows up. The legacy of a dying old man.

Emma celebrated her third birthday on 10 June, as I am writing this. The family gathered for dinner last Saturday night. I guess at three, Emma is at the epitome of her cuteness. I took 160 pictures that night and will be compiling them into a musical slide show. I hope she will appreciate this when I am long gone.

I have also just bought a new laptop, a VAIO VGN-SZ75GN. This is my first laptop as I have been using PC all the time. I bought this from a friend, who pulled out all the stops to give me a good deal. He even got the Sony guy to come over to explain all the details to me. Instead of the Vista OS, I wanted the XP Pro, because Vista has all the bugs. So my friend is now setting it up with XP Pro and getting the necessary drivers. I told him to take his time and let me have it in a few days time. I am touched by his good gestures.

I have been eyeing a laptop for some time now, but could not justify buying one as my PC is still running good. What prompted me, was the possibility of getting one with XP Pro, while this is still possible. I will use this as a back up and in the future, it might take over from my PC all together. My main interest is on multimedia for use with my photography and videography. In addition, I still surf, email, do my internet banking and other IT functions. Moreover my new work station may not have the space and the laptop is very compact.

My PC was giving me problems, due to the power supply shutting down periodically. While working on this posting, the PC shut down on me. Very frustrating. Luckily my friend Chow called and said he was on the way. He came and within five minutes, changed and installed my new power supply of 500 watts, which I bought for $79. Seems to be working well now.

Had news from Gary through my son, that Gary will be sourcing the material for the renovations and tying up loose ends this week. Hacking will start next week and the time frame is realistic enough.

Also had a call from my agent this morning that we will get together with the seller, Alfred, who suggested we have a sort of farewell meal to mark the handover. Alfred has since become a good friend.

Last Monday, he collected me in his car and drove round with me to take over the property and also to the various agencies making arrangements to pay the conservancy charges and car parking. Funny thing was, a car pulled up and thinking it was Afred, I opened the door to get in. I was so embarrassed when I startled the driver, who was not Alfred. In doing so, the door knocked against my spectacles and sent it flying. It took me a while before I found it under the car. Luckily the spectacle was not damaged. When we left my new property, I noticed a sadness in Alfred, who lingered a while before leaving. After 23 years, he must have felt nostalgic leaving his old home for the last time. Anyway, I have a standing invitation for him and his wife to visit us, after we moved in.

I am getting long winded. Better shut up for now.

Till then....