Our flyer has arrived

After a bit of argy-bargy with the printers getting the grey on the brochure green in the first print run (!!) (which was reprinted I might add...) we finally today got the correct colour Z fold flyer we will be using for families with family members needing treatment, for professionals that need to refer potential clients, and carers of potential clients in general. It outlines the three programs we have on offer very clearly, and gives details of how to get hold of us as well. All masterfully designed by our more than competent designer, Simon Cliff Associates. Beautiful product, all on 320gsm card too, so it has a pro feel to it. Thanks Simon.

The man that shot our web-movie was in touch last night to say that it is all coming together very well in the edit, and that we should have a finished product very soon, so I am looking forward to that as well.

Doors

I managed to get all of the doors that are hanging clear urethane coated yesterday, on one side. I've got a system for doing all 11 at the same time. The urethane brings these doors to life, and they will all look beautiful with the Victorian door handles I have for them. Just 4 more after this, the two front doors that are being specially made, and a dining room and kitchen door that have just been ordered in. They should arrive next week and at sometime in August on two different orders.

Quite a difference, lovely grain on

 these maple doors.

5 down, 6 to go....

....and done!

The door handles that are going on.

Our new Doctor and Medical Director

I am pleased to announce that our new doctor and Medical Director is Doctor Girolamo (Roly) Vinci. Roly is a very experienced GP, and runs several large clinics across the city, and has a practice literally a minute away from our rehab, over in Hutt Street. Perfect! I have copied his Bio that he sent me earlier below for interest. He brings a wealth of experience along to the table. Ken and I are both extremely pleased to have Roly join Visible Recovery, as this addition brings with it a raft of opportunity for us as a company, and a massive benefit for all of our future clients. It is rare to find a Doctor that supports abstinence as a treatment modality here, so we are lucky to have found one in Roly.

He writes...

"I have a passionate interest in General Practice as a profession, in expanding the number of medical graduates who consider this as their first choice for further training and as their vocation.  I am greatly interested in medical education, in particular in the community, in the well-being of general practitioners, in the good health of general practice as profession and in improving this in the future.  I have worked in the Western Division area, the Northern Division area, the Southern Division area of S.A., and also in Queensland, in Cairns and Brisbane. I have been involved for some years now in the multidisciplinary team approach to primary care. I have experience at Board level with a number of organisations. I have an interest in the local community and have been club doctor for Western Strikers, since 1998, a Super League soccer club.

I am passionately interested in the health of our community, in general and have been involved with aged care in nursing homes in the general community and continue to undertake regular home visits for my elderly patients. I have recently become president of  PISA,  which provides meals and services to the aged in our community, and am now one of its directors.

I am directly involved in a general practitioner training program as a trainer and supervisor and have been the Supervisor Liaison Officer for the Adelaide to Outback GP  training program, having contact with multiple supervisors and have been on the Board of the National GP supervisor association, representing GP supervisors, and have been the chair of GPSLON, a national organisation. (GP Supervisor Liaison Officer Network.)

I believe that I will bring a wide range of personal and medical expertise and experience from the general community, the medical community and from my experience in business and corporate governance to Visible Recovery  and would like to offer my services in this board nomination."

Both Ken and I welcome you to Visible Recovery whole-heartedly Roly. Thank you.

Security lighting in

Managed to get a few things done with a great sparky, Boris, yesterday. He fitted out the kitchen with new switches and sockets, one of the rooms with new sockets, cabled 2 HDMI leads through the wall cavity of the counselling room for the new TV, fitted 2 new exit signs above the doors, and fitted and cabled up 4 security lights on PIR's outside the building. Brilliant work. Some people that we have had on site in this refit have been brilliant to have around, and Boris is one good sparky. If you need a great electrician, call me for details, we actually now have 2 great electricians to choose from! Next week, Boris is back to cable in power into 4 areas to enable the cameras to be mounted on the ceilings, and the electrical work is done.

Rear Security Lighting

Two HDMI inputs cabled through to 
the TV in the wall cavity. Neat.

We have doors!!

Got a fair bit done today, quote in for the ducted air conditioning, and got to see my accountant to do my tax too. I'm very pleased with the result of all three I'm happy to say. The doors look classy, brass hinges, and tomorrow I get hold of brass handles and latches, and some of my favourite stuff....paint. Well, urethane of some description anyway. A clear coat of varnish gloss will look fantastic. This place is looking better and better by the day. I had the delivery of the security cameras today too, and now they are set up and running to record anything, night vision too, and all video uploaded to my server as it happens with any movement. Ken got out of here just in time for me to paint all of the doors. Lucky guy. 

They really lift the look of the place...

Tomorrow the sparky is in to fit the security lights around the building, and get the kitchen powered up too. The lights all have a PIR movement detector so that anyone coming close is lit up like a xmas tree. Hopefully that should keep everyone at bay until we open. You never know, people on drugs do funny things. I should know already.

Fireplace number 2 and a new hearth

Ken went and bought a new slate hearth for the fireplace in one of the bedrooms today. It replaces one with a massive great hole in it, and it looks just the trick. It still needs cementing in at the back, but that wont take long and its done.  

We managed to get a fireplace assembled today as well in the front room, and that will look nice once the walls are plastered. Getting there, getting there...sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly....

Steve, our carpenter, is in tomorrow to start hanging the new solid 4 panel doors on the bedrooms, office, and the corridors. The people are in to install the blinds tomorrow as well, so that will freshen the place up a bit too.

And Ken is off on holiday for a month. Lucky man is off to Hawaii and LA, and a cruise somewhere too. I shall miss his company through the week, and his input into this business too, which has been nothing short of phenomenal. Thanks Ken, have a great holiday, I'll keep working my butt off, and it should be ready when you get back. 

3000 views and a Video Shoot

Well, 3000 views here and all is well! Thanks to all that have been looking in on this. The video shoot went well yesterday. The guy that shot it all used to work for Channel 10 in Melbourne doing the News and The Project, so very competent indeed. I'm hoping it all works out OK. You can never tell with video, until the final edit anyway, but if its close to good enough I will use it for the website. Could be finished in a week, so I am looking forward to seeing it.

Talking through the shoot...

A 3:18am break in

Well I'm sitting here at the rehab until sunrise this morning so that they don't hit us again. Better hope they don't come in while I'm here anyway. This time they broke in via a side facing window, between us and the next building, pulled the boards off and entered via a loose window, and straight out via the front door after the alarms kicked off. The police were called out this time, as they had triggered two points on the alarm system. They came with dogs and found the rear door open but told me there was no break in, and that I had left the rear door open last time I was in! I assured them that due to recent breaks last weekend, I simply wouldn't do that. They insisted that there was no break in, and that I had left the rear door open. I checked around to find the boarding forced off from one of the windows, and that they must have climbed in through the window and exited via the door for it to be open. That doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to work out, but there you go. Nothing taken, so they left soon after I arrived.

So, Ive secured all of the windows again, screwing the windows through to the frames, so they have to break glass to enter if that is what they want to do. We can patch up the holes made by that later. It is getting a bit boring though. I wouldn't mind but here is nothing here. A PC and a phone system. We will get camera's in this week I think, but that doesn't stop them either. It just records the events. We will see what happens over the next few days.

New Medical Director appointed

I have great pleasure in announcing that we have a new Medical Director on board with Visible Recovery. He is a practicing Doctor, well known around Adelaide, and is in full support of our abstinence based 12 step program, and more importantly, both Ken and I as key figures in the company. Very, very exciting, as this opens up a raft of potentials for us as a company in the provision of Drug and Alcohol services in South Australia, including the potential to open our own detox facility in the near future. I will put a name to this later on, but that is enough for now!

Fireplaces are looking so cool, and I am personally proud of the effort that has been made to get these original pieces restored back to life. Beautiful.... 

Mudding up the tiles to keep them in...

The finished product pre final assembly....

Looked like this a few months ago...

Beautiful aren't they?

The cleaning is done

So the paint stripping is finally done on the façade. At last. That has slowed us down, as the guy doing it disappeared on another job for two weeks feigning a sore shoulder. Still that is history. On with the pointing and the plastering now, and a 10 day to two week wait before we can start that due to planning. 

Ken bought the other fireplace today and it will look great with some slight modification and a repaint. We have had all of the quotes in for the safety floor resurfacing in the kitchen and the laundry, as well as the rear counselling rooms. Video shoot for the website on Sunday afternoon. This project doesn't seem to stop! I'm sure it will soon enough though, and for that I will be grateful.

We got this the other day...

...and this today. A coat of paint 
will fix it.

Back to the fireplaces

Working on the fireplaces today to get them all back in and fixed properly. I had to carefully clean all of the original tiles from the surrounds of the 2 front room fireplaces today, I had to be soooo careful with them, I'm really pleased with the result, half of them were painted over, and the other half were blackened with soot and hadn't had a clean for centuries...well....years anyway. There are five each side of the fireplace. Take a look, I love them.  I find the patterns just lovely, and whilst they are not in colour and you can actually buy coloured tiles these days, I am happier with the original tiles to keep with the heritage of the building. They will look fantastic when they get mounted finally tomorrow.

These were covered in soot....

These were covered in paint....

...but not any more!

They are nearly finished stripping all of the paint from the facade as well. We can now finally see the gable ends clearly and what the stone looks like. It will be great when it is repointed, re plastered and painted in heritage colours. Excited.com.

Paint stripping nearly done now

And hit again....

I pulled up at the rehab to work today to see the chain normally around the gate missing completely, and a few aluminium fly screen doors piled up near the rear gate ready to be taken away. Nothing else had happened at all, but it shows me that Saturdays call was by the same people. They had my keys, no doubt about it. 

Then the people from the Dentists down the road came over and told me their shed had been broken into on Saturday night too, and the 2 dentists chairs inside it were both gone. The bookshop next door had an alarm start on Saturday night too. They have been around the traps. 

So, all of the locks have now been replaced, all of their keys are now useless, and we are secure again. Hopefully that will be all, but you can never tell can you. Camera installation soon, it wont stop the thefts but it will record who and when.

A break in...

Looks like I didn't lose my keys after all. They were stolen when I was in the office. There was a call from the security company that monitor our alarm system saying that there was a break in to the rear door on Saturday afternoon at about 4:00pm. The reed switch had been tripped, and the alarms set off immediately. I got a security patrol to go to the site, and I attended about a half hour later. The rear door was open but only just. I think the intruders believed that the fob that deactivates the alarm that was on the lost key bunch they had was still working. Wrong. We had re coded Ken's fob and a new one for me on a new frequency, so the one on my old keyring no longer worked at all. 

They must have got a shock when the alarm went off as they didn't even bother trying to open the door, and left. I had a scout about for the keys in case they ditched them somewhere close, but to no avail. I locked the door, re armed the alarm and came home. No more intrusions over the weekend. 

Some one must have come into the building early that morning I lost the keys after I had walked the dog, whilst we were both at the other end in the office. I normally shut the gate and leave the rear door open so Gandalf can get out. Neither of us heard a thing. I was so sure that I had left my keys on the table like I always did. We looked for hours for them, I thought I was going insane. Apparently not. And the door stays shut from here on in.

A day of rest

A nice relaxing day at home today. Three day weekends work for me. I've managed to get a holding page up for the new website with contact details on as we are getting a few enquiries already. Good news when you start getting people contacting you when you haven't even opened yet. Have a look at www.visiblerecovery.com.au.

Lost Keys, and a fireplace nearly in...

I lost all of my keys today. They disappeared into a black hole, never to be seen again. I did what I normally do every day. I opened up at just gone 7:00 am, checked the email and then locked the door behind me when I take the do for a walk. I came back to the rehab, opened the door, and that was the last time I saw the keys. I spent the next 4 hours looking for them, and Ken helped when he turned up too. I gave up just before I was sectioned for a mental health issue....

A costly exercise, as the security fob was on there too, and that will be $130 to start with. Then there's the re-cuts of all the keys at between $7 and $14 each. I sit here now quite drained from today and I got nothing done but walk around in circles looking for something that wasn't there.

Still, we did get lucky. Ken found a penny from 1896 as we were cleaning up the fireplace to go back in (find a penny pick it up, and all day long you'll have good luck...not!). 

 Then we managed to get the fireplace in situ ready to be secured to the wall. It looks lovely. A bit of wall plastering to do but Im pleased.

They've started to get the paint off the upper part of the house too, so that should be finished by early next week. 

Day off tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to getting my feet up. The boards come off on Monday for the first time in 7 years, the glaziers are in all day. Bit by bit,  we are getting there....

Kitchens and cleaning...

We managed to get a new oven, and some stainless benches and a double sink organised today, so that is all being delivered in a months time. We spent the rest of the day cleaning up, and removing some of the boards on the windows. The staff bathroom looks great with natural light coming through, the house hasn't seen that for 7 years now. The glazing is all being done on the 15th July, so the boards will be coming off then for good. Personally I cant wait to see that happen. It will be like  a breath of fresh air, and the place will look and feel differently again. The floors guy is in next week to quote for the kitchen and laundry floors. There has been a lot of that "organising stuff" going on this week. The late afternoon was spent cleaning out an exhaust fan from the kitchen, man it is looking like new now!

 Our new Baron oven

A cleaner exhaust fan...!

Back to the drawing board...

We went to the Auction and got a few bids in but came home empty handed. It amazed me the prices they were getting for this stuff when the brand new price wasn't that much higher. Certainly the stainless stuff you can buy cheaper new. Where is the logfic in that? People...they just seem to think that if they go to the auctions they will be getting a bargain. Wrong. Anyway, we went to a place in Adelaide called Caterfix, and they have all we need in new, and I think we can get a great  deal out of the guy too as he is the owner of the business. There is a great Italian 6 burner gas hob/oven we are looking at. The rep came to the rehab about the kitchen and laundry non slip floors last night too, so we can progress that when we are ready. It's all good :-)

Off To the Auctions

Ken and I are off to the auctions tomorrow to see if we can save a few quid and buy some good kitchen equipment. There is a great oven, salamander and fridge to be had, as well as a few stainless benches, and we've worked out what we can spend on each, so for all of you reading this, please keep your fingers crossed for us tomorrow. The oven is in immaculate condition, as is the salamander. They are both full on commercial grade, so they will last the distance cooking for 12 to 14 people every day. Ken stumbled accross the auction in Saturdays newspaper, so we might be lucky indeed. A lot has come our way by "chance", so just maybe this stuff has our name on it. First time at the auctions for both of us too....

Hoping this is at the right price

This too...

...and this...