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.

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.