Well, that sure was an... interesting... year! I can't complain that 2018 didn't have its fair share of big events, because it sure did. So big, in fact, that I'm actually writing these 'end of year' blog posts in the middle of January 2019 and pre-dating them back to December.

Of course, the biggest event was the arrival of our second child, Zoe, but others were still notable, including ending an old job and landing a new one.

Blogging was very sparse this year for a number of reasons, but the underlying one was lack of time. Almost every post … Read more →

Two weeks ago, Des and I welcomed into the world our second child, Zoe.

She gave us an awful scare when she came out: not breathing, and it made the midwife trigger a code blue in the birthing suites. But after she had the attention of everyone in the ward, and had her chest pumped a few times, she came around and turned a normal colour.

The name Zoe means 'life' in Greek, and it's not a coincidence that our children's names essentially mean 'life' and 'resurrection'. However, it is a cool coincidence that our children are A to Z … Read more →

For me, 2017 continued in mostly the same way as 2016 did. Although I stayed out of hospital, my health has still been a day-by-day thing. Probably the biggest moment in that journey this year was the doctors telling me that a liver transplant is now a matter of 'when' not 'if'. I'm still not on the list yet, but it's now just a matter of time.

On a more cheery note, I have otherwise enjoyed this year. Although I haven't blogged much (probably my leanest on record!), below are the highlights of my blog posts in 2017.

March… Read more →

For a lot of people, 2016 has been a pretty crappy year for a number of reasons: politics, celebrities dying, terrible flops of movies, etc.. 2016 has actually been pretty good to me for a number of reasons, but it has also been pretty crap for one very big reason: my health.

This year has been my roughest year health-wise since I was diagnosed with PSC in 2010. In February, it saw me experience my first serious liver infection, and following a hospital stay and some extended time off work, for the rest of the year I have been riding … Read more →

I've had a pretty rough few months. Soon after getting back from our 10th anniversary trip to Melbourne in late February, I was admitted to hospital with an infection in my liver. It's the first one that I've experienced since being diagnosed with PSC 6 years ago. After starting to feel nauseous and increasingly itchy over a week, one night I vomited (very rare for me), and the next night I had intense uncontrollable shakes. I was taken to hospital, diagnosed with a liver infection, and put on IV antibiotics for the better part of a week before being discharged … Read more →

I've been a long-time baseball fan. I've always wanted to go see a proper baseball game, but was thwarted most notably when we were last in New York because the Yankees couldn't be bothered winning a game or two in a best of seven series.

So last night we finally got around to seeing the next best thing in Brisbane: the Brisbane Bandits in the ABL finals series at Holloway Field.

It was a great night, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed! The Bandits won the game, and was some really great baseball: a few homeruns, double plays, and errors. … Read more →