It's been quite a horrible week here in Australia. Last weekend there was 48 degree heat and winds from hell in Victoria, and of course half the state went up in flames. The upshot is that firstly 108 and now 181 people are confirmed dead in the fires, the worst in our nation's history.
Today is valentine's day. Today I found out that one of my best friends, Mandy has lost not only her sister, but her husband and their three children in the fires. I didn't even know they were in Victoria, last I heard they were living elsewhere.
So now it's shock, being gutted and remembering that gorgeous little blonde headed moppet and the woman she became. Dead at 30. Her youngest child was the same age as Kate, 3 years old. I can't imagine what the family is going through.
14/02/2009
15/12/2008
Papers and animations
Last week was mad. I mean really mad.
Really really busy marking all of my students animations and in between times preparing for my paper at the ICEL conference here in Sydney.
The conference was a mixed bag, more so than usual. A combination of touchy feely with a decent education bent. I never knew what type of session I would end up at.
My paper was good, Lucila said it was the best one I've given. I tried to make it simple and she said the lack of technical language made for a better paper.
I was up till all hours all last week getting it all done. That on top of a frenetic last week of work.
I found out Lucila is off to Brazil over Xmas for a month. I think we're both exhausted and a bit lost with Andy being away and all.
Oh well.
Really really busy marking all of my students animations and in between times preparing for my paper at the ICEL conference here in Sydney.
The conference was a mixed bag, more so than usual. A combination of touchy feely with a decent education bent. I never knew what type of session I would end up at.
My paper was good, Lucila said it was the best one I've given. I tried to make it simple and she said the lack of technical language made for a better paper.
I was up till all hours all last week getting it all done. That on top of a frenetic last week of work.
I found out Lucila is off to Brazil over Xmas for a month. I think we're both exhausted and a bit lost with Andy being away and all.
Oh well.
01/12/2008
It's been a while between blogs...
So, my computer at home finally gave up the ghost. It was about time I updated, the poor old thing was 8 years old. It creaked everytime I turned it on.
So I enlisted a geek to make me a shiney new quad core 4GB ram box. I kept my 1 year old monitor and reused a new dvd drive. Get me with the geeky open up old computer and install stuff grrl.
I amaze even myself sometimes.
It's getting toward the end of semester and my study is going well, albeit with massive amounts of dropouts, but people have their own lives and you can't hold it against them. I can't say it's been a success, but it's going, and I'll get into evaluation mode over January (I live in hope).
Kate turned 3 last week. She is gorgeous and DJ and I are still very very happy together. Smmooothly does it.
Xmas next, we're off for a week in Jervis, which will be resplendent with not very much but very pretty, methinks. Maybe a spot of fishing.
So I enlisted a geek to make me a shiney new quad core 4GB ram box. I kept my 1 year old monitor and reused a new dvd drive. Get me with the geeky open up old computer and install stuff grrl.
I amaze even myself sometimes.
It's getting toward the end of semester and my study is going well, albeit with massive amounts of dropouts, but people have their own lives and you can't hold it against them. I can't say it's been a success, but it's going, and I'll get into evaluation mode over January (I live in hope).
Kate turned 3 last week. She is gorgeous and DJ and I are still very very happy together. Smmooothly does it.
Xmas next, we're off for a week in Jervis, which will be resplendent with not very much but very pretty, methinks. Maybe a spot of fishing.
26/08/2008
Mid winter blues
It appears that I have not only been suffering from a nasty bout of the flu, but I have also had a massive infection which led to the lymph nodes in my neck expanding to walnut size.
Rather scarey as the doctors usually freak at such an occurrence and I've been in for all sorts of scans and the like.
It was funny, I felt ok, but I looked like death warmed when it happened and I couldn't stop sleeping.
The flu hit about a week later, so I've been quite ill. Coughing blood is quite scarey too. God I hate winter.
So it warmed up a bit and I spent a little time the in the garden with Kate, and she promptly gets bitten by a spider. Off to the doctor who thinks its ok.
People are saying that the bout of illnesses that have hit Sydney has been a result of the visit by the Pilgrims for the Pope's visit. I wouldn't be surprised.
The Olympics are over, thank goodness. It's all quite crazy, all those people jumping around doing things that are no good to anyone, except themselves. Good luck to them. I'm dying to see the Aussie guys gold medal 10m dive. Maybe on Youtube.
Rather scarey as the doctors usually freak at such an occurrence and I've been in for all sorts of scans and the like.
It was funny, I felt ok, but I looked like death warmed when it happened and I couldn't stop sleeping.
The flu hit about a week later, so I've been quite ill. Coughing blood is quite scarey too. God I hate winter.
So it warmed up a bit and I spent a little time the in the garden with Kate, and she promptly gets bitten by a spider. Off to the doctor who thinks its ok.
People are saying that the bout of illnesses that have hit Sydney has been a result of the visit by the Pilgrims for the Pope's visit. I wouldn't be surprised.
The Olympics are over, thank goodness. It's all quite crazy, all those people jumping around doing things that are no good to anyone, except themselves. Good luck to them. I'm dying to see the Aussie guys gold medal 10m dive. Maybe on Youtube.
21/07/2008
The rain in...
Spain was cold. It rained for two days that I was there and got down to a chilly 13 degrees - the same temperature in Sydney. One day I was all dressed up for a hot day, stuck my head out of the hotel and went up to get into warmer clothes.
Santander was lovely, though. Good surf beach, very pretty.
Not that I saw much of it - I was inside the conference the whole time. I had one day for shopping before going back to the UK to get the plane back to Oz.
Typically England took all of my money - I scarpered to the airport as I was running out, and hung around just to avoid spending money.
My talk was a success, I think. Lots of questions by various academics - some things I have to follow up on.
In all quite a good trip, although it's taken me a week to get over it, and I'm still tired.
Santander was lovely, though. Good surf beach, very pretty.
Not that I saw much of it - I was inside the conference the whole time. I had one day for shopping before going back to the UK to get the plane back to Oz.
Typically England took all of my money - I scarpered to the airport as I was running out, and hung around just to avoid spending money.
My talk was a success, I think. Lots of questions by various academics - some things I have to follow up on.
In all quite a good trip, although it's taken me a week to get over it, and I'm still tired.
31/05/2008
Four weeks to go!
I'm actually starting to look forward to my Spanish Adventure, although it is the unknown.
DJ is getting itchy feet again, so it looks like we might move again next year. We'll try to get my PhD finished first, but he wants me to get a good job and maybe go back to the UK. I'll put my nose to the ground o/s and see how we go.
He's bored. We've no social network here, so it's quiet and it's hard with the little one cramping our style. My old friendships have turned to powder and my family is too far away to help out too much.
Mind you, our standard of living is much improved here, so it's a balancing act, isn't it?
It's the last day of autumn, sunny and just a lovely day. Cold, but not freezing.
Got some new clothes for Kate, she's growing so fast. She's out of all her old clothes now, and into a size 3 (almost).
Needed long tops to cover her tummy, too cold otherwise. She has a pair of wiggles trousers, so she's happy.
DJ is getting itchy feet again, so it looks like we might move again next year. We'll try to get my PhD finished first, but he wants me to get a good job and maybe go back to the UK. I'll put my nose to the ground o/s and see how we go.
He's bored. We've no social network here, so it's quiet and it's hard with the little one cramping our style. My old friendships have turned to powder and my family is too far away to help out too much.
Mind you, our standard of living is much improved here, so it's a balancing act, isn't it?
It's the last day of autumn, sunny and just a lovely day. Cold, but not freezing.
Got some new clothes for Kate, she's growing so fast. She's out of all her old clothes now, and into a size 3 (almost).
Needed long tops to cover her tummy, too cold otherwise. She has a pair of wiggles trousers, so she's happy.
25/05/2008
The cheque is in my wallet
All's good. The uni has come through with some of the funding for my trip, so I'm off to Spain - hooray!
It won't nearly cover all the costs, but it's enough to make me afford the trip. I've also picked up another 4 hours of work, so I'm feeling less financial stain at the moment. Hooray! All going well I might actually afford a new computer sometime soon.
So I'm working about 14 hours a week now, which isn't too much and I can study too.
Kate has been a noisy girl lately. She doesn't appear to know how to temper yelling with talking. But she's well and growing too fast.
DJ is well and currently puzzling over "The Cashflow Quadrant". Given his training course that he did recently, his vocabulary now encompasses some of the expressions in the book, so he's tackling it with confidence. I have really good feelings about his future. His and my financial education is coming along swimmingly. I wish I had've had someone to guide me in these things 15 years ago.
On a down note, my PhD supervisor seems to like venting at me, which isn't nice. I admit I've been slack but he's got to make the decision as to whether he's going to get me through or not. No amount of yelling will make me feel better about the process.
It won't nearly cover all the costs, but it's enough to make me afford the trip. I've also picked up another 4 hours of work, so I'm feeling less financial stain at the moment. Hooray! All going well I might actually afford a new computer sometime soon.
So I'm working about 14 hours a week now, which isn't too much and I can study too.
Kate has been a noisy girl lately. She doesn't appear to know how to temper yelling with talking. But she's well and growing too fast.
DJ is well and currently puzzling over "The Cashflow Quadrant". Given his training course that he did recently, his vocabulary now encompasses some of the expressions in the book, so he's tackling it with confidence. I have really good feelings about his future. His and my financial education is coming along swimmingly. I wish I had've had someone to guide me in these things 15 years ago.
On a down note, my PhD supervisor seems to like venting at me, which isn't nice. I admit I've been slack but he's got to make the decision as to whether he's going to get me through or not. No amount of yelling will make me feel better about the process.
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