In the spirit of Orwell, Pepys and Twitter, a journal of daily minutiae recorded for posterity. Until I get bored with it.
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Fri 29 Jan: Solved a CSS-related problem in the CMS. Started implementing a communication campaign to prepare for launch of the Library’s new home page. Ben doing a great job on design and coding; we sent the prototype page to the Library Exec group today. Lawnmower man visited today. Picked up dinner at Pizzas With Attitude; fastest delivery time ever (12 minutes!) but the pizza was slightly burned on the margarita half. PWA is still pretty good on price, variety and service, but their quality control has gone a bit wild since the original guys moved on.
Sat 30 Jan: Miss Jane’s birthday. Grocery shopping, mainly to get mince for Harley. Finished listening to the commentaries on the new Torchwood DVDs. Dozed a bit on a mid-30s afternoon. Lots of web reading. For several days now (perhaps even 10?) I’ve felt like there’s a small ulcer on the back-right edge of my tongue, but there’s nothing to see in that region and no amount of vitamin C will get rid of the discomfort. Vitamin C is normally a sure-fire cure for mouth ulcers. Aspirin helps, which makes me think it might be an infection.
Sun 31 Jan: Hot, windy, high 30s. Cool change and a single stormy downpour at 3.30 pm. Dinner at Clifton Springs — sweet and sour beef stew with mashed potato (Mum was feeling creative). We spent the evening riveted by sport on TV, switching every few minutes between the one-day cricket (Australia vs Pakistan) and the Australian Open men’s final (Roger Federer vs Andy Murray). Oy, the tension: two close, hard-fought contests, well played all round — except for the Pakistan captain, Afridi, who was caught biting the ball. No kidding, he bit the ball. My mouth is still sore; gave myself a good fright by recalling actor Andy Hallett’s untimely demise.
Mon 1 Feb: Afridi suspended for two matches. Roger Federer admits he’s very talented — and that he’s worked hard to parlay that talent into technique, strategy and winning. Sunny day, high 20s. Lunch with Sally and Mark, the IFC team reunited briefly.
Tue 2 Feb: Rubbish day - green bins this week. First meeting of the new Information Management managers’ group this morning; doesn’t feel right without Catherine there, but I suppose we’ll get used to that. Donna tabled the new organisational chart for IM; the formal announcement will go into this Friday’s staff newsletter. Spent quite a bit of time sorting out another design-template-related bug in the CMS. Lamb rogan josh for lunch, with a garden salad to follow, while watching Torchwood online — season 3 episode 4, the one where Ianto dies. Helen called, upset after a couple of difficult conversations with assorted family. We sympathised, empathised and came up with a plan of attack to remedy the cause of one of those conversations (not much we can do about the other one, for now at least). Made appointment to see dentist; surprisingly, she has time tomorrow. Yay.
Wed 3 Feb: Of course, my sore gob felt about 95 per cent cured today. Mira had a couple of difficult patients this morning and was running late. She was terribly apologetic until I reassured her, “Mira, you’re worth the wait.” Nice to see her blush ;-) She found a slight inflammation in the gum, but nothing to indicate what might have caused it. Did a general checkup, clean and polish, then sent me off down to Collins Street for x-rays (Mira likes to do these about once every 3 years, just to make sure there’s nothing nasty lurking under the surface). The radiologist did a couple of large full-jaw plates and a couple of close-ups of the suspect wisdom-toothy area. We looked briefly at the large plates; I couldn’t spot any new decay, which is good. Mira will give me a report on Tuesday. Coming home near sunset, I stopped for a few minutes on the beach at North Shore and watched the wee yachts chasing each other from Eastern Beach back to the bay near Cunningham Pier. Lovely.
Thu 4 Feb [1]: Bit of discussion today about how to deal with a group of middle-level staff who, as a group, are hostile to change. This is long-established behavior — it was enough to see off a previous director in 2006 after less than a year’s incumbency. Under the current management structure consultation, reassurance and collaboration have been the watchwords for more than 18 months but progress is still so slow as to appear non-existent. A few of them actually *are* change advocates, when acting as individuals, but when they congregate with their colleagues for a meeting groupthink seems to take over. This group of about 15 staff reports to two managers, who in turn report to a single director. All three of those senior staff are showing signs of serious stress: illness, tears, emotional instability, exaggerated or inappropriate responses to questions and situations. We urgently need to find a way to break this group out of its bad behavioral habits. Rogan josh and a garden salad for lunch, coolish change in the weather and a few spots of rain.

