It seems like the end could be drawing near for Three Monkees and myself.

I've loved running the shop for the last 3+ years.  It's been a lot of fun.  I love the various conversations I have through the day.. it tends to flip from Movies to Music to Games to Motorbikes and anywhere in between.  Unfortunately, there is one small group of people that just love to bring me down with their talk of piracy, illegaly downloaded movies, burning, copying etc etc, and I've finally gotten so worn down by them that I'm having a problem getting motivated.

I know I probably shouldn't let these people get to me, but it's hard to avoid it.

The other group is those who thing I am unjust in charging overdue fees.  If I charged ridculous amounts, then sure enough, but I get a two or three copies of a movie, and these people come in on a cheap day ($4), hire a brand new movie on the first couple of days it's in, and then don't return it for many days.  When I ask if they want to sort out the overdues, they whinge about how much it is... I only charge the amount that I've lost out on, it's not like I charge the full rate on cheap days etc.  Keep it 3 days, I charge the $12.  That's what I lost by them keeping it...I think that's pretty fair eh?

Rant, Rant Rah Rah!!  It's pointless... but it makes me feel better!  :^)  Just ask me about Telstra and ANZ!!!  B@st@rd5!!

Anyway.. I've also REALLY been missing my daughter.  I was her main carer for her first three years, and I loved every moment of it.. I thought taking on the business would be good while she was at school, and I could still do some web work on the quiet days, but it's getting more and more of a wrench every day, paticularly when I feel like I'm losing the fantastic bond we had.

So 2 + 2 + 2 = 6 and with a party that was interested in taking the shop on, I started to look into selling.  I should know within a week if they are going to proceed, if not..  there are going to be some pretty major changes ahead.

Zef is meant to be heading off to her new owner this weekend, it'll be sad to see her go.  Having said that, since the arrival of 'Tango', Zef hasn't had a look in!

Tango is my new 2000 Triumph Sprint RS.  All I can say is WOW!!  I was blown away when I first saw it.  It's gorgeous!  And in fabbo condition too.  Mileage was a low 30,000km's, and there were many extras, such as Carbon Fibre exhaust, headlight protector, and the little belly pan underneath.  It also had the matching top box (as seen in the pic) and Givi hard panniers.  I travelled about 120 km's to pick it up, and the ride back was one of the best I've ever had on a bike.  This baby just clung to the road, and egged me on to whip round the corners faster than I'm usually game.  100km's was a walk in the park.. it felt the same as doing 60 on the Zef thanks to the fairing.

Now you must excuse me.. the sun is shining, and there are roads to be ridden!  :^)

After a 3 year 'recharge break' from my main career in IT & Web development I'm looking at returning for some more technical challenges.

I never really stopped the web development work, I just stopped taking new work on.  Instead I focussed on a new business, some new skills and a bit of fun, while maintaining some selected existing clients, and learning a few new tricks.  No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't pull myself away from the lure of computers and new products. I simply LOVE playing with, evaluating, and making best use of new technology.

So now it's back to the job search sites and looking for some challenging IT work again.

Read more: Looking for my next challenge...

I've decided to put my 1996 Kawasaki Zephyr 750 up for sale in order to fund the purchase of my 'dream' bike.  She's got 72,000km's on the clock, and is in very good condition.  I've owned the bike for about 18months, and in that time, it's only done between 3,000 and 4,000 km's.  It also has a Ventura Rack.

Read more: My lovely Zef is up for sale

Having had a break in web development for a while, I'm now back in full swing.  Out goes ColdFusion development due to increasing costs in software, and I'm now using PHP for all future development. This should bring down the hosting costs too, as well as making my life a bit easier.  My two largest clients are being converted over to PHP at the moment, and the smaller ones that don't require many changes will stay on ColdFusion until they decide to update their sites.

Joomla is also playing a big part in my plans, and any site that doesn't need a purpose-built solution will be put together using this great tool.  Currently, Gecoz, Dee Texidor's site, the old Folk & Blugrass Festival site, and this very own site are all running on the latest version.  It makes adding content, and dynamic features a breeze.

So if you have any web-based requirements, whether it's a 'refresh' of your old, stale, presence or if you want to get your first site together, contact me via the 'Contact' button above!