Squeakaz Squawking's ....

Floriade is on again in Canberra and I finally ventured down to it after 3 years of saying "I'm going to go". It was a fantastic day and even for a person who has no real interest in flowers it was a alot of fun. Lots of colour and activities to do. I got to make a colourful arrangement in a Hanging basket and I got to keep it, all for free. All the pics (well the good ones anyway) are here . Here are two photos from the set on Flickr.

This was taken with my iPhone 4. It is a shot I hope to get one day with my camera but in the afternoon in the "glory hour". It was taken one morning at Macarthur Station in Sydney's South West. I was testing out the iPhone's updated software including the HDR photo's. It turned out exactly the way I wanted and I am still  shocked that my phone took this photo.

It was a weekend where there was nothing scheduled to do. So we hopped in the car and headed out to the auctions at Windsor. With them having nothing to offer us it, whilst thinking of things to do I remembered they were testing CityRail's newest train "The Waratah" or "A" set on the Richmond branch line. I made a phone call and found out it was at Clarendon. So off we went. I snapped up a few shots and had a few words with the crew and protection officer and played a little game with a power tripped SNP security guard. The evening was a pleasant one. We attended a BBQ at Drue's house and I had an exceptional time. All I will say on that is "boobies". 

Yesterday was my employers annual safety competition in which I was lucky enough to compete. The morning started of with a hearty breaky of bacon and egg rolls. Over Breakfast with D and Woo, Woo showed me her new lens and explained how it works. An impressive piece and, some excellent shots were captured throughout the day by her. After that the day went into full swing! There were various displays from all the different areas of my employer and also some of the suppliers/ companies that my employer has alliances with. The idea of the day is to put our skills into practice against other people in various competitions and also to broaden our knowledge on safety. The day also allows us to have a chat to others that are from many different areas and learn about how their job has an impact on mine or vice versa. I can say I came out of yesterday more knowledgeable. The competitions I entered into were : Train Faults and Failures - T Set Waratah PPP Project Safety Quiz Operational

I have 2 Favourite's this time around, and instead of doing to separate posts I shall include them in the one. Photo - Please daddy, can I have some more? Click to view photo on Flickr It took me some time to set this shot up because of 2 things. The first being trying to get the puppy to stay focused and still, and the second getting the right lighting. The sun kept going behind the clouds every time I attempted to take the shot. When it finally came back the puppy had moved. In the end I like the result. Mainly the soft background I think sets this photo and well the puppy makes it cute! Photo - Sheldon Click to view photo in Flickr This is a shot I didn't know how it was going to look when I took it. It looks completely different on the computer than it did on the LCD on the camera. At first I thought it would look like a puppy's face with the body hidden behind. then I thought it would look like a puppy laying on the grass. Instead I got what looks like a

Our puppy has reached 12 weeks or 3 Months old! and boy hasn't time flew!! When we first got him he looked like this: 6 weeks old To this: 12 weeks old He has almost tripled in size. We had a few little things happen on the journey thus far including a reaction to the vaccinations which seen him spend some time with the vet. He is attending puppy pre-school and I may be bias but he is the best puppy there! Thanks to all our friends who have sent their wishes along the way when he was sick. They all helped in his speedy recovery i'm sure :) We have now started training the little fella and he is doing remarkably well. he is learning sit, stay, fetch, drop, look, and jump. Once he learns these he will learn a few tricks.

Click to watch video on Flickr As seen at Central Station in Sydney at 420am one morning after completing testing on the City Circle. This Video was taken on my iPhone 4 and edited in imovie on my iPhone 4

Left to Right - Me, Damien, Leigh and Eric Congratulations to one of my best mates Leigh who got married on Sunday 29/08. It could not have been a better day for it. The sun was shining and the day was set. His Bride is one of the most beautiful people I know, and looked absolutely stunning!!  I had 2 things to do that day. First one was to get Leigh to the wedding on time or early. The second was not to forget the rings. I can say that I successfully completed both, even getting Leigh to the wedding early!! After getting ready we headed off to the venue and en route we stopped at Revesby Station to get some photos. The photo above is one of them. We don't actually scrub up that bad :-)

With the fire burning and the view of the Blue Mountains slowly disappearing, A NSWFB firefighter has a drip torch ready to put in a controlled burn to contain a grass fire burning in Cranebrook. I was going for a "moment" shot. to capture the point in time at which the decision was made to contain the fire using a controlled burn. In the end the drip torch was not needed as the fire made its own way up the hill and died down at its own accord.

Last week was even quieter than the week before. not many things to look forward to except one. A good friend of mine was to be married. I will talk about that in another post. Apart from this being the major highlight of the week one other thing stands out. I was listening to my radio and heard NSWFB attending a grass fire at Cranebrook. My ears pricked up and I grabbed my camera and took off to the location. I had wanted to grab some fire shots for a while and was pretty happy with the results. See my post Grass Fire Cranebrook for the details.  Oh our little puppy started Puppy preschool this week and he is currently top of the class. He was the most well behaved and obedient dog there and got high praises for being a quick learner. WIN! 

A quiet afternoon at home after work listening to my radio, I heard NSWFB head out to a grass fire at Cranebrook. After a few messages were passed I thought this would be a great opportunity to get some shots of fire, firefighter and fire trucks. I jumped in the car and headed out. The fire lasted a few hours and allowed me to get some good shots. Here are a few from my Flickr set. Click here to view the rest.