Friday, March 30, 2007

Winter's On the Way

The football season has begun and with it we have the cold weather. Last week we still had the air-cooler on, this week it's the heater. Alex has been to Wagga twice in the last week for Rugby League trials, and was picked in the first round, but did no good today. I'm not particularly sorry, those picked have to go to Queensland, by plane, and it's the parents who have to pay. Alex isn't too upset about it, he realises we couldn't afford it.

Tomorrow there's games at the ground to choose each age rep team and again Alex is hopeful. This time it's local so I don't mind if he's chosen. It's more football and more trips away, but I enjoy our Saturdays driving all over the country-side. It's a great family day out where we see some of the scenery. Not that the kids care about the scenery. I'm always pointing out a nice view and there responses aren't very encouraging. Not to worry, I enjoy it even if they don't.

Everyone's talking about a cold winter this year. We've been lucky for the last couple of years with quite mild winters. We got an early summer, and now we're getting the colder weather earlier than usual. Weather has gone crazy all over the world, it seems, with extremes in all seasons. Looks like some winter clothes shopping will be on the agenda soon.

I've gone back to my old theme on this site. There was something bland and awful-looking about the last one. I like this theme, and it must be a popular choice for Bloggers, because the reason I changed it in the first place was because it seemed that every other blogspot had chosen the same theme. I think it just means we all have good taste. There's not much out there in the way of themes that accommodates the updated templates. Older styles just aren't compatible.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Training At Work

We've been so busy at work this week. It's usually the way when there's a Council meeting. One of the girls has been sick and so more work has fallen on my shoulders. Just as well they're broad! We've also had a couple of training sessions that have cut into normal work time, so I'm further behind than ever.

Work has introduced an electronic order and requisition system. Previously it was paper based. Fill out an order, get someone to sign it, and Bob's your uncle. Not so easy now. We need to know the supplier, the cost, and have an allocation number, and still get it approved. It took 2 hours just for the guy to show us how it works. It comes into effect tomorrow so I can see some fun and games while people are trying to get their heads around it.

The other session had to do with Council's property system, and how we can track subdivision and boundary adjustments using our current software. It was quite good and I managed to get my head around that easily enough. In fact, I'll probably use it to enter subdivisions for the last couple of years. Not quite a rainy day job, but one that will take some time.

The same trainer also helped me to fix a reporting problem we've had. Occupation Certificates are issued following the completion of building works. It's like a guarantee to say the work was completed properly and everything was done according to certain standards. I was asked to print a report of all our outstanding occupation certificates, and the report printed ALL certificates, including those that had been finalised. I had a chat to the expert and he told me what to do to fix it. It still means going into each completed job and entering data, but at least then I'll be able to pull out a report that shows only those outstanding jobs.

Monday I hope to have the layout for Council's new website, based on my own design, but user friendly and able to be edited by any non-techie person. I'd coded the whole thing by hand, which meant it was only me who could update it seeing as no-one else knows html or css. I'm grateful they've come up with another solution.

All in all a busy week.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

How Quickly Time Flies


Alex is 12 on April 5th, and we talked about him having a birthday yesterday, but to my surprise, he wasn't too fussed. He wants a couple of friends to go to Wagga with him so they can go to the skate park there for a couple of hours. I was sure he'd go for a party: you know, presents and money, and lots of good food. I told him to think about it.
 
Gwen Stefani is touring Australia at the end of July and Carly wants me to take her to Melbourne to see the concert. Tickets go on sale on March 23 and I told her I'd take her if it was just her and me, a sort of mother-daughter bonding thing. God knows, we need some sort of bonding! Lately, (14-year-old) Carly and I only seem to argue about everything. She wants to be allowed to go wherever she wants when she wants and I'm not readily agreeable. Now she wants to take her best friend too, telling me that Keely is like a second daughter anyway (she practically lives here!), but I know it just won't be the same. I said I'd see (which in Carly-speak is the equivalent of okay). We'll see.
 
Lauren is coming over with Zeke to spend the weekend. She has a project in mind that I managed to put off doing for a couple of years. I had a big modular lounge that I'd re-covered twice already, and a few years ago I spent $100 and bought 30 metres of material to re-cover again. Well I ended up buying myself a new lounge and gave the old one to Lauren. I still have the roll of material and now Lauren is coming over so we can do the re-covering together. It's a mammoth task and one I'm not looking forward to, but the timing is right so we may as well make a start.
 
We're in between sports at the moment. Cricket finished two weeks ago, and football doesn't start for a couple of weeks, so I have some free weekends. Last time I re-covered the lounge it took two weeks from start to finish, and I wasn't working. This time it may take a little longer, but with Lauren helping, who knows? Maybe in the process I can teach her to sew, and she can do some sewing too. Cutting it out will probably take the better part of a full day. There's five chairs, with covers, cushions and bolsters. There chairs are slip covers, but fiddly to fit properly. The cushions are fairly straight-forward, but with zippers, and the corner bolsters are hard, with zippers also. It's a rather large project but I'm committed, so there's no getting out of it.
 
I've got a rostered day off tomorrow and am looking forward to it. I plan on cleaning the bathroom and laundry. (Can't get too carried away, I did Alex's room last weekend and that was a major achievement!) Later in the morning I have an appointment at the doctor's and then with the optometrist in Wagga in the afternoon. The last couple of times I had my eyes checked I haven't needed to upgrade the prescription, but this time I think he'll give me a new one. I find myself moving my book further back of a night to get the text in focus. I go to bed and read every night (one of the joys of sleeping alone!) and I'm noticing the difference.
 
I must be getting old...

Thursday, March 08, 2007

International Womens Day

I've just come home from the hotel where about 80 local women came together to celberate International Womens Day.

Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to
inspire women and celebrate their achievements. While there are many large-scale
initiatives, a rich and diverse fabric of local activity connects women from all
around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences,
government activities and networking events through to local women's craft
markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.
There was wine and cheese on the balcony at the Junee Hotel, and we listened to speeches from local women who've made a difference in the community. It was a great social gathering and I caught up with lots of women friends.

Women's IWD Rally in Iran

When I see images like this I am so grateful to be an Australian woman. We really do live in the lucky country, and our young women have the world at their feet, with every opportunity available to men also available to them. Young women today tend to take for granted what our mothers and grandmothers fought for. And when I think of the women under the Moslem them my heart goes out to them.

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