And so the castles come tumbling down...

  Well summer is definitely on the way and change is in the air. Barack Obama was re-elected yesterday and the mood is historic. (Think everyone is sighing a bit of a sigh of relief as the other bloke was a bit of a scarey "I'll say anything for a vote" kind of guy.)
I'm officially looking for work, as the sand castles we have been building at TAFE are about to come tumbling down, thank you liberal government. I don't quite understand how training for the future has become such a slash and burn area. Three liberal governments slashing education funding. I'm afraid credibility of the liberals is getting a bit thin on the ground. Considering the Premier's love dance with James Packer and his casino.
But then again I'm an education evangelist, so I'm speaking with a coloured view. I'm quite excited by responsive design, and I'm going to have a go at teaching it next semester to the TV guys. I think it will work. I hope it will work. I must investigate the apple educational authoring platform that came out last year. Guess I need a mac for that. Mmmm.
Got my new laptop, very excited. Spent quite a bit of time filling it with software. Now to get busy with it. Got to get my subscription area working on wordpress and get some videos on it over summer. Why not?
E-learning development is what I do, but I'm not giving away my resources for free...I spend hours developing courseware content. It's mine... all mine precious....

How nice is this?

I'm on term break and it's a gorgeous day! The small one wanted to go into childcare for a couple of days to play with friends, so she's having a good time. The sun is out and I can smell the delicious aroma of jasmine on the air. We have it growing wild in the park outside our balcony. I'm listening to the lovely Kathrin DeBoer of Belleruche on the computer as I mark my students work. It's just so lovely! In other news, DJ has a job now, so we're okay. Bad news is that the abhorrent Barry O'Farrell has slashed education's budget by some 1.7billion dollars in the past few months. So the question is, do I look for a new job or just look for other sources of income? OH I'm just loving Belleruche's album...

Finally the journey is over!

The thesis is in, finished, marked, bound and nothing else to do. I handed it in a week early and it's the first of the crop for the faculty this semester. Looking forward to being at the graduation in November. I am supposed to get a letter confirming that it's all good. Can't wait. Now for the next chapter in life. I'm so relieved. It took an additional 6 months to get it marked due to the fact that one of the markers couldn't get it done in time. I doubt I could have done it without the help of the wonderful Dr Jennifer Gamble, thesis wrangler extraordinaire. She is so kind to say that it's a good one. Somehow it seems like a denouement to see the thing sitting on my bookshelf. Is that it? Two whole copies in the world. Who's to see it? Who's to comment on it? Must get some papers done. I've been so busy. Hopefully I'll be able to get some things done this semester. So much to do, so little time.... Yay yay yay. I wish I could celebrate, I'm so broke at the moment...

More outrage

Well I only seem compelled to write here when I have a gripe about something. Again, it's about corporate greed. Our reserve bank, in its wisdom decided to maintain interest rate levels this month, when all the pundits appeared to plump for a rate cut. Well the banks aren't happy with their record profit and seem to want "growth" in their business when healthy profits should suffice. So out comes the axe, in times when finding work is terribly hard, and 1000 ANZ staff are to find new employment. This is on top of 650 announced staff cuts at Westpac last week. On top of this, all four of the big banks here in Oz decide that no, we're not happy Mr Reserve Bank Governor. We wanted to get our profits when you cut the interest rate, by not passing on the full cut. So what we're going to do is PUT UP THE INTEREST RATES of our loans.
In a time when Greece is self-emoliating, when Italy is terribly dodgy, the USA is a basket case, not to mention the state of Ireland and Portugal.
So the lending business is softening, because NO ONE CAN AFFORD HOUSES and everyone is so unsure of the global economy. So you put up interest rates. Right. So where's the logic in that?
In other news the lovely Kate read a whopping 68 pages of Green Eggs and Ham before bed tonight. Year One is going to be a challenge, heaps of homework. Bless them all.