Going offline for a while..........

I am taking some time off from work to head up to my mum's place while she is having radium treatment as her partner George has to head up to Mt Isa for some family stuff himself and I have promised Mum and George to make myself available whenever needed and I am blessed to work for an organisation that allows me to make that promise and know that I will be able to keep it. However, Mum's more critical need is a blood transfusion which she cannot have at present due to QLD supplies being so low and it is being prioritised for life threatening critical cases, which is understandable. I am begging all eligible people I know to donate a pint this week to help our supplies increase. Mum is struggling to catch her breath, her energy levels are non existent and she is really miserable, it is amazing to see the different that a blood transfusion makes. So if you are reading this and are eligible to donate blood, I beg of you, please take the time to make a donation, the staff at the blood bank really do make you feel special and valued for they the difference your time makes to so many people.
I am going to be offline for a week or so until I return home.

Au revoir............

Getting there............but I might need to revisit

Apparently I have reached the half way mark for this 23 things caper. Although I suspect I have galloped (me gallop, never) through some sessions and will have to revisit them in particular Wikis & RSS feeds, still don't quite have them clearly understood.

Those that know me well, know that I have tendency to charge in and have a go at something, generally missing the finer details until later on in the game. So I have probably raced through some of the sessions, but this works for me as I get an overall picture of what I know and don't know and then I go back and fiddle with the things I don't know but am interested in.

I have to say I am spending more time than ever in front of a pc and my god, can you waste time on it. Trolling through Youtube alone, could consume days of your life you will never get back. I have got my cousin all fired up about Facebook, she sent me a pre-emptory message to get thee over to her place pronto and help her understand what Facebook is about but when I got there she was doing more stuff than I ever have on Facebook, stuff I haven't even bothered with ie posting videos, photos etc etc. So I guess there is something for everyone on Facebook if you care to look.

Weekend, what weekend....

I am working this weekend at Chermside, they were shorthanded for Saturday and offering overtime so I put my hand up, never sneeze at O/T on offer, since the mortgage never quits being hungry for money with the credit card hot on its heels. But it hasn't stopped me having fun, as mentioned in previous post I went to the Pink Floyd Experience, my friends and I appeared to be on the younger end of the demographic, surprised at the age of some of the attendees. Slightly alarmed to see a Nun (in full habit) in interval, but as she passed me I noted with relief, the My Fair Lady program she had clutched in her hands. Not sure what I would have thought had I seen a Pink Floyd experience program in her hands instead.
All in all I enjoyed, we had dinner at Ahmet's turkish restaurant at Southbank that does a roaring trade, no wonder, with the size of the freaking serves, I was hungry but I could only do justice to half of my delicious meal. On to Pink Floyd Experience, which turned out to be a concert featuring all Pink Floyd material, lots of flashing lights, techno trancey music. I recognised about 5 songs, all in all an enjoyable experience.
An early night tonight since I am back at Chermside tomorrow and I put in a good days work for my money earned.
Then I get to go to my auntie's for roast lamb dinner and I would most definitely turn down Tom Cruise for it.

TGIF..............well almost....close enough for me

I am totally and utterly buggered, I should be training tonight to make up for missed classes, but this little duck just couldn't, there was nothing left in the engine tonight! I have never looked forward so much to Friday but I am tonight, I suspect it might be that I am not working Saturday which always make the alternate Friday a lovely prospect when one is not working the following Saturday. I also have a nice prospect to look forward to, I have been invited by a cycling buddy to a PINK FLOYD experience, now I enjoy Pink Floyd as much as the next person but I am not sure what to expect from an experience of Pink Floyd but I shall find out Friday night for certain and get back to you on that. So dinner out, good company, entertainment set, all in all a good night looks certain.

It's getting warm in here............

Well I dressed for summer today, in a nice summer dress and leather sandals and went head onto into the day but forgot to check the legs, yes, whoops, time for the Venus to be dragged into action.
I have a new credit card in the hopes that I can reduce the outstanding bill to nothing in short order. I never intended to have more than one but after refinancing a couple of times and being too lazy and intimidated by banks to close the associated credit card after moving banks I ended up with 3 with a little on each. But no fear, I have organised myself this time and closed them down and rolled the balances over into one account and one bill to pay each month and hopefully the balance will be reduced in due course. I have a friend who deals with banks and mortgages all the time without feeling any emotion, moves banks if they can offer a better deal without hesitation.
I, on the other hand, am utterly intimidated by banks and their staff, will happily pay bills and fees etc but ask for anything, oh no, never do that! I hate phoning banks up, I hate going into them, god forbid, they want to do a needs analysis, I feel like I am standing to be chastised by the school principal. I pay my bills, I live my life happily but there ain't much left at the end of the month so savings are not flash yet I feel backward for not having a slew of investment properties by now and a newer car etc. I take pride that I own everything in my possession including my car and have no "Harvey Norman" debt as I call it. The bank and I regularly tussle for larger portions of ownership of my house, its about 55/45 in their favour, but I will prevail one day and have ownership of my abode.

Of course as we near Christmas, the junk mail is ever increasing, the deals get ever more enticing but though I flirt with the glossy prints highlighting all the pretty shiny new things on offer I steadfastly resist the siren call of "buy now, interest free, take home today, interest free for 36 mths"
That reminds me that I must start getting sorted for Christmas and think about nice things to buy people who by and large I love very much but sometimes drive me to the slippery brink of insanity.
That's all for now Folks........

Adjusting & Adapting...........

This is probably a far more personal post than previous ones, so be warned... My aunt and I did a quick trip up to the Sunshine Coast on Friday night because we had received word about my Mum's condition, she is currently fighting small cell carcinoma and I thought, doing quite nicely. However unbeknownst to me Mum had an appointment with her radiologist to organise her radium treatment and he is a very good doctor and has a lovely manner by all accounts but he don't sugar coat news. He advised mum that the radium will give her time but the cancer will come back guaranteed in her lungs and quite likely hit her brain as well. Since he had been the first medical practitioner since the whole thing has started to be kindly blunt with her, she had a reasonably predictable reaction, got on the phone to her mum, my nan and bawled her eyes out down the phone. So my mum who is the original cock eyed optimist and glass half full kinda gal, had the blinds ripped off and had to face her own mortality which according to the radiologist is a matter of months not necessarily years which is what we had kind of been thinking. But as women do when they gather, when my aunt (mum's sister) and I arrived, there were tears and hugs and more tears but within a half hour there was giggling, laughing and outright howls of laughter. So i felt better for having seen my mum and cuddled and stroked her cute but baldy head and hugged her some more. So there will be quality time spent with mum not quantity time but she will fight the good fight as long as possible but I suspect surrender with good grace if and when the time comes.
So as i adjust and adapt to visualising this new reality with my mum not in the picture, I hope I am as tough and indominitably spirited as my mum is.......

Pffffffftttt, that's the sound I am hearing now in my head

Getting into the swing of 23 things now and I am reaching critical mass with my information intake! I am thinking up funny (read rude) ditty's for Blogs, Wikis and RSS to alleviate my stress! I think I will take a step back and let it digest for a week or so and then do some more of my modules. The biggest thing I am having to adjust to is how RSS and Wiki's will work with libraries and day to day running of them, watching the Youtube explanation is great, makes perfect sense and very easy to understand how it could apply to the benefit of staff in libraries. I am reading all recommended links and I guess I have to leave time for the old lightbulb to ping in my head and then I will have my "Get it, Got it, Good" moment.

I think I will go for a long bike ride on Sunday to clear my head and not think about computers or anything whatsoever to do with them.

Hmm RSS

Ok I have watched the Youtube explanatory video on RSS, but I still don't get it, clearly having a dim moment! I guess it's because I don't understand why you want information constantly streaming in, I would rather seek it out when it suits me, for instance, I subscribed to Library Links and for a while read them religously when the arrive but now find myself dumping them in a folder in G'wise for reading later, which means they don't get read!
But I have set up with Google Reader with the recommended RSS feeds including the Powerhouse Museum one so I guess I can tick myself done with RSS for the moment

Thank heavens that's done...........

Well I did it, I held the inaugural Web 2.0 session at CNL. It went off well, lots of questions and lots of heated debate especially about privacy and who can see what and what you can do about it! Having had my nose tweaked this morning about a particular Facebook conversation, I learned how to ratchet up my privacy levels and be a bit more choosy about who can see what, when and how in my Facebook profile. But you live and learn, now don't you, every day of the week.
It brought to mind that how as a young lass and teenager I was physically incapable of keeping a diary because my mother always told me don't ever write anything down that you don't want to be held against you, so the few times I was given a diary, it remained unwritten in and as pristine as the day it was printed (it also didn't help that I had a very very nosy little brother), so for me to be keeping a blog is quite revolutionary or is that evolutionary, no matter, a blogster I have become, a blogster I shall remain.
I leave you with this....
The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right. Hannah Whitall Smith, 1902

Note the pic....I am a clever sausage

Greetings

I have been fooling about on the pc a lot this weekend in between watching for whales and perusing dancing stallions (no, not a male strip show). I have managed to tidy up my photo library on my pc and photos are now in folders and tidily organised, instead of a box or pc equivalent thereof
I have uploaded a pic of moi on my blog and am chuffed at myself for doing so, I am learning some serious shi... er i mean skills on this 23 things capers. Got a few decent pics on the whale watching trip and once you edit out the acres of blue ocean you can actually see real evidence of whales were seen. They were friendly critters, I think they were on a human watching expedition as much as we were on a whale watching cruise.

Now watching the dancing stallions accompanied by flamenco guitarists and flamenco dancers, well that stirred the romance in my soul especially seeing the gorgeous black Friesian stallions, my my they are beeyoootiful! My cousin Shanon and I are determined that before we kick the bucket we shall have ourselves a pair of these beyootiful horses to play with, such luxurious manes , luscious tails and gorgeous confirmation!

I have had a marvellous weekend and am feeling very happy and mellow and quite blessed with all the good things in my life and reading an article on how to be happy, I realise that I have cracked this nut and enjoy happiness on a daily basis.

Until we meet again............

TGIF.........

I have been getting organised for my inaugural training session on Facebook & Youtube next Tuesday. I had a chat with my colleague from CDE Jamie who has already done this session this week and got a few tips and ideas for managing the tsunami of questions that the punters will undoubtedly have. I have printed off a few help screens for those that like to clutch paper in the hopes that all will be revealed within. My fervent hope is that my dear colleagues have grilled the clients as to their mouseability and internet savvy so that we have a forward moving class rather than one that will spin its wheels while some poor punter says with all innocence "Excuse me Miss, but what is a mouse"

My weekend is shaping up to be a busy one, the old adage is a true one, it never rains but pours! Tomorrow I am off to watch whales somewhere in the vicinity of Gold Coast waters, hopefully the sightings will be good and yes I will hang on to the side and not get bowled over if the waves are rough and then sunday I am off to watch the dancing stallions and, no, it is not a male revue show, though that wouldn't go astray as an entertainment option. The dancing stallions are just that and are accompanied by flamenco dancers and guitarists, so it should be a blast.

Monday I feel will be a restful day, with some necessary housecleaning done!

Au revoir for now........

Now I've done it................

Uploaded my pics to Flickr, another damn email to remember, lucky i use the same password for everything, otherwise i think i would be on the road to insanity!
Now I have been taking pics of my pets, well the ones that would cooperate by remaining still for me long enough. My dog Dixie detests the camera, I think I spooked her once long ago with the flash and she has yet to trust me with a camera again, so most pics show her head as far away from the camera as possible. But its been a fun couple of hours mooching around learning how to use Flickr and upload stuff, they really do use the CIG (complete idiots guide) school for teaching now don't they!!

I trained last night and while I was completely knackered afterwards, I felt really good, its amazing how good natural endorphins feel when they are flowing through the body. Something that Shihan said last night has stuck with me, its about being in the moment, when you are playing just play, when you are working just work and when you are resting just rest. If you
are completely in the moment you will get far more out of what you are doing than having your mind ahead to the next thing awaiting your attention. So i am going to try to follow that, instead of having my attention in 3 different directions, just do whatever it is i am doing at that precise moment.

Thought for the day....

Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.
George Sand (1804 - 1876)

Do what has to ............

Do what has to be done, when it has to be done, to the best of your ability, all of the time! - When you think about these words, they are really a template for how to live a life. I try to keep them in mind for when the urge to procrastinate has me in its grips!
I first heard these words from my karate instructor and they resonated with me as a way to stop procrastinating and get on with things when I don't want to do them,like domestic chores, food shopping, visiting irritating relatives that you do love but sometimes find hard to like and on the list goes. When I start studying next year I suspect domestic chores will develop an irresistible attraction and the house will be immaculate before I summon the discipline to knuckle down to the required study.
I have found studying karate to be a very beneficial thing, not only for the physical disicipline but also the mental and emotional discipline, it forced me to address many of my so called fears and I have felt very empowered by doing this, for example, the idea of storytelling used to horrify me, would rather crawl over broken glass than do it. Now, bring it on, nothing really fazes me, except for the idea of scuba diving, but since I don't have gills, or a need to submerge myself regularly under water, I don't think it will be an issue.
Till next time.............

Now where was I....

Reading through the getting started bit of "23 Things" I came to realise my blog should be more directed at how I feel, what I experience and what I achieve while meandering and/or gallivanting through the process. I am pretty impressed at how determined the BCCLS is that all staff shall have the opportunity to learn and experience 23 things and surprised at the scepticism displayed by some that time won't be allocated to their learning and adamant that it won't be done at their home which is perfectly legitimate and understandable. I guess it is a different way of looking at things and where you might be in your life. But to my mind if you stop learning you stop living. I try always to be open to learning new things and I am blessed to be in a job that allows me to learn new stuff every day and sometimes several times a day.
On another tangent, it has always amused me that i am often consulted by my colleagues to sort out technical woes at work and for some strange reason, I often fluke a solution (and truly that is all that it is, a fluke). If these same colleagues could see me at my home cursing a blue streak at the set top receiver I have had for close to 18 mths and cannot figure out how to install it successfully, they would shriek with hysterics and now I have speakers to my my PC - connected correctly I am positive - that refuse to work, which is causing some consternation since I can't continue my progress at home with 23 things until this dilemma is rectified. I am lucky that the family possesses a few tech-heads that will come to my rescue this week. I leave you with this thought.........
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort

Bit of this, bit of that, some of the other!

I was feeling very ho hum this morning, took ages to get moving! Thank heavens I was on an RDO, because I don't think I would have posed much value at work, that's for sure!
But I did the housework as required for good hygiene standards and then did the ironing and in the midst of cursing the wretched ironing board upon i was ironing, I realised that it was a donation and I hadn't actually bought it, which prompted the thought that perhaps I should peruse ironing boards and buy one that stays upright and still while one is ironing. This necessitated a trip to Big W, now I can't speak for readers of this blog (oh how few they are) but I love Big W, I have yet to figure out the particulars, but I love the layout of the store, love the range and just love the prices! But still I was rather astonished at the prices of ironing boards given that I had not bought one previously as my current one was a hand me down from my aunty. The one i purchased for a princely sum of $100 will serve me well, as it is very large and wide and very stable and has this cool thingy for the iron itself, and slots very nicely beside the fridge when not in use.
The other domestic issue currently plaguing me is the metal circle doohickeys that sit above the elements in my stove, mine are all rusty and icky and have been disposed off since they are cosmetic and not essential to the workings of the stove but i would like to replace them since the stove looks kinda naked without them, like a house without eaves!
But i did buy nice stainless steel cover for the elements which makes the stove look almost new!

From Reading to Blogging

After a few years of reading many and varied blogs about all manner of topics and occasionally featuring in said blogs, the time has come, thanks to the launch of BCCLS program "23 things" I have been nudged gently into the creation of my very own blog!
I hope that as my blogging skills improve, the blog will prove reasonably interesting to read! Considering the blogs I read daily, the yardstick is set high. In any case I look forward to reading my colleagues blogs regularly and getting to know them on a different level