We are the 99%

On what planet is it ok for the CEO of QANTAS to get a 71% payrise in THESE economic conditions?
I mean FUCK the corporate greed. How about these executives get the measly 2.5% that the rest of us are granted? What productivity improvements warrants this type of increase in salary?
I am a peace loving person who abhores violence, but when I saw the news about the shareholder meeting I actually felt like buying a gun and shooting the CEO of QANTAS. (Not that I personally mean the gentleman any harm, just so you know).
Corporate freaking greed. There should be a law that sets the salaries of these assholes. Either that or a revolution and get them all lined up against the wall. Instant distribution of wealth. This is the sort of irresponsible behaviour that got rid of Louis the 14th in France during the revolution. Executives as the new ruling class. Excess wealth and greed of corporations dictating government policy. Abject poverty for the masses.
All sounds like something from Bladerunner to me.

Summer's on its way

So the smell of bushfire is permeating Sydney today. It's control burn time, and the temperature soared to 30 degrees, well it did when I was noticing.
Quite a chilled time today, I got the students to work on their assignments. Colour theory will require something special, methinks. At the moment it's all about evaluating design in an industry context.
Mark tells me there will be plenty of work around next year, so we'll see how that all goes.
Onwards and upwards. We might go swimming tomorrow. Yay!

Birthday Ironing

So it's fathers day. And my birthday. We liked celebrating together. Had a few little pressies then went out for lunch. Chequers at the Mandarin centre got closed down, I suspect due to fines from the health department. So our favourite yum cha place was gone. We went instead to a new Japanese restaurant nearby. OMG. Devine! We really loved the food. Pig out time.
Came home and DJ did some study, I did some ironing and Kate played with a game on my phone (yes finally got an iapp voucher!). Now my life will be filled with gaming.
I must re-install wow and get back into that too.
Now my PhD is in I'm wondering what next?
The day was lovely today, and this afternoon while DJ was studying, I took Kate to the park for an extended play. Heaps of fun. She ran around so much that she fell asleep in the car on the way home. DJ went out to see Omar.
Six o'clock and she's still asleep. The ironing beckons.
Got "Sucker Punch" to watch tonight. Should be fun.

So what now?

I think I am suffering from withdrawal. I don't know what to do. I have all this time on my hands.
I suppose I can submerge myself in TV, but that all seems so pointless. So at the moment I'm catching up on my marking and getting some actionscript done.
My lovely brother is coming up on the weekend. He's going to see his accountant and I suspect coming to see me for the birthday.
It's Laid, so DJ's gone off to see some friends to celebrate. I suggested he involve his family, but he said it's just old men sitting around, just to make it seem uninviting.
Kate had a temperature the other day. DJ took her to the Children's hospital yesterday for hemotology tests. We don't want what happened to Bretty happen to her, now do we? Better safe than sorry.
Anyways, Andy is still O.S. I must get my ethics report done.

Submission!

Oh my goodness, these two weeks have been very stressful. We managed to print and bind the PhD last Friday, only to discover that an entire chapter was missing! Also some spelling mistakes and general rattiness. So we had to go back, re-edit and do it all over again.
The lovely Jen, who was helping me edit the thing was very very upset. No worries, if that's the worse that ever happens, life will be good. We had time to resubmit, so no problemo!!
We worked over the entire weekend getting it back into shape and we reprinted last night and today the lovely Jen resubmitted. Her blood is worth bottling. What a champion.
I know Andy's none too happy with the quality of the writing, but I'll have a chance to tweak after the assessors have had a chance to look at it. I noticed I lost focus when I re-read it so some further clarity is required. At the very least, it's in, it's done, and I can take some time out to do other things.
My gorgeous daughter Kate was so good hanging out at Uni over the weekend. We had lots of colouring in and stuff for her to do. What an amazing child. If it wasn't for DJ, I wouldn't have found all of the errors, as he told me to go back through it in detail. What a team we are.
I will ever be in their debt, the lovely Jen, DJ and Kate. And Andy too. This project would not have been achieved without them.

Ian Trout Passes

Very sad, this week Ian passed away after some months battling with cancer. I saw him last week, and I will miss him very much.
A legend in Australian gaming, Ian Trout and his partner my dear friend Roger Keating have published over 50 gaming titles. From the classic "Reach for the Stars" through to the games I was involved in, Warlords Battlecry, Warlords II, III and Reach for the Stars 2. Once of his latest works was Carriers at War.
I consider myself part of the Trout extended family, although not related, he has been like a grandfather to my daughter and a great support to me.
I will miss his erascable wit, incisive clarity of thought and no-nonsense attitude.
Gregor Whiley, SSG's producer and Roger Keating have been at port at the safe harbour of TAFE for the past few months during Ian's illness, helping us out teach the next generation of game developers.
I am really looking forward to SSG firing up the engines again for the the next great battle in the world of strategy gaming.
God bless you Ian. I loved you like a father and will miss you terribly.

End of semester madness

Well, it seems to me that the students this semester are just stressing out more than usual. I had one student scream at me today because I insisted that yes, he had to do his assignment.
I mean wtf? Like because you get an exemption because you're special?
Mmm. Not happy me.
In other news, it's half past two in the morning and I'm up to write some PhD.
The good news is I've had some sleep, so nice. Bad news is Andy isn't happy.
I can't wait for this to be over. I need my life back.

In extra special good news, a very dear friend of mine, Lucila, has just scored herself a nice job. Very happy about that. Extremely good news indeed. No, I'm not allowed to say what the job is, but I'm very very happy for her.

More PhD madness

Still writing. Saw Mary yesterday and she seems happy with progress. She says that I should be able to get it finished. Peter Goodyear also said he'll take a look at it and I've got a lady called Jennifer Gamble to help me edit.

So writing, rewriting. More writing. Teaching, eating, sleeping, writing.

In other news, kidneys seem to have settled down thanks to Cranberry juice, and my fingers are not as swollen. Doctors are rubbish. Pain is gone, which is nice, and I think I'm looking less pale. So hopefully things are better on the health front.

I want to get this thesis over so I can get on with other things in my life. Way too long. Andy is a god for being so patient with me.

Onwards and upwards.

Been a while

Well it's April, and I'm up to my 10th draft of my methodology chapter, my 6th draft of my evaluation chapter and I'm not even close yet. It will end in tears. I think I need to concentrate on getting my Qualitative evaluation done, and then refine, refine, refine.

I can see the light. I can also see the stress.
Kate is in Canberra to give me a breather. I am wasting time, but working well at night. So keep on keeping on.

Other news, DJ went for a job interview today. Hope he gets it. And my lovely sister got BOTH jobs she applied for in Canberra. Go girl! Stephen, however, lost his job. So it's swings and roundabouts on the job front.

Tony and Jen have a spanking new home, monsterous from all accounts.
So all good in the world. Keep on keeping on.

Well, still in Sydney

Well I didn't get the job. Which means that I was not meant to get it.
Destiny seems to be keeping me in Sydney, at TAFE, doing PhD. Not sure what it all means but there's no use railing against it.
Work has started for another year, another batch of 70 or so students to inspire. Yay the creative arts!!
Back at the farm, Kate has learnt how to dive. Trying to get her to breathe properly when she swims. Trying to get her to do the arms. Diving, quite successful.
I'm getting there with the writing too, slowly slowly. A bit too slowly, methinks.
In other news DJ has been selected for Jury duty. No more information forthcoming. Don't know how long he will be there, don't know anything about the trial.
Which means all is as it should be.
Summer is slowly winding to an end. We're having lovely weather. Warm enough to swim, interspersed with cooler days.
And so life continues....

Job interview

Just went to Canberra for a job interview at my old uni, no less.
Really went well, but I guess it depends who I'm up against. Really encouraging, however.
Actually had a really nice time with Mum and Dad too, so it was all a bonus.
Tan is looking a bit happier than I saw her last, which is fab. Saw Natalie's dad Norm, it was his 80th birthday.
So all in all, very exciting.

On verra. Let you know Monday when they let me know.

Now. Back to the thesis. Write write write.

Chapter three

Thesis chapter three, starting to sort it out now. I seem to be repeating myself over and over and over.
Deleting heaps and rewriting.
Helps.
I hope.
Let's see what Andy thinks of it next week.
I think it's all a bit more clearer now. In other news...
There is no other news. Thesis is where it's at.

Write or wrong?

Chapter 6 nearly done, just the comments to do.
Chapter 3, I'm up to my sixth revision. It's a mess.
Structure structure it's all about the structure. Maybe I need to work out the structure of each section before doing the mind dump.
In other news, been swimming a lot with Kate, but the weather has been mightily variable.
Bought her some new swimmers. DJ's been spending a lot of time with Joseph.
Got an interview on Friday. On verra.

Chapter finished!

WEll in as much as I've done the revisions, now to wait for the revisions on the revisions, if you know what I mean.
Halfway through the next chapter, it's really starting to take shape. I was right to go through the expense of quantining my time. It does appear to be working.
So, stage 3&4 halfway through write up. Only half of stage 6 to go and conclusions.
Then the horrible revisions.