Skip to content

2010 week 9

In the spirit of Orwell, Pepys and Twitter, a journal of daily minutiae recorded for posterity. Until I get bored with it.

.

Fri 26 Feb: Struck by an intuitive guess around 11.00 am, and spent rest of day rebuilding the ‘news’ section of the Library web site in the CMS. Turns out our problem was that we didn’t organise our files neatly enough, and in the right hierarchy. (The manuals don’t tell you that this is important.) Once the filing was done correctly, the functionality and web pages worked seamlessly and perfectly, as if nothing had ever happened. So much for three days of chewing furniture and banging heads on keyboards.

Early Settler hall table, from the Yarra range

Early Settler hall table, from the Yarra range

Sat 27 Feb: Josephine left another gift on the laundry floor this morning. I visited the new Dare furniture shop in Corio, the Early Settler shop in the same complex and Harvey Norman nearby, looking for a hall table, coffee table, two-seater sofa and/or armchair. Dare had actual recycled wood products, made from 200-year-old Chinese elm, including a couple of nice (seating) benches, but their hall tables are a bit too large. Early Settler may have a suitable bench for the foyer — see their catalogue photo, right. The one in the showroom was a bit wobbly; that could be fixed with some wood glue. I had been looking for something modern, but the appeal of faux-recycled wood is hard to resist. And it would be easy to change the drawer handles.

Sun 28 Feb: Somebody fired a shotgun twice last night, around 11.30 pm. Sounded like they were quite near — nearer than the usual source of odd late-night potshots, that is. They let off another shot at 1.30 am, waking me and several neighborhood dogs. After the last shot there was another sound, like wood splintering or a door slamming, but it sounded more distant than the gun. On the plus, Dad agreed to attend Emma’s wedding.

Mon 1 Mar: First day of semester, lots of people on campus including many with maps in their hands. Loooonnnnnggg queues at the bookshop; one could skim and summarise an average-sized textbook by the time one reaches the checkout.

Tue 2 Mar: Bought a handful of chickflick DVDs at the supermarket last weekend, and am working through them. Bridget Jones’ Diary was approximately what I’d expected; yet I blubbed cheerfully when she picked the right bloke at the end (must be the PMS).

Wed 3 Mar: In Notting Hill, as in many (all?) Richard Curtis movies, you can see how you’re being manipulated towards a feel-good ending. Infuriatingly, if you let it, it still feels good when you get there.

Thu 4 Mar: So far this week I’ve been asked four times for directions to the architecture building. Either I have a knack for looking friendly in the eyes of first-year architecture students, or they’re all looking for the Commonwealth Bank (in said building) in order to pay their fees. The latter seems more likely.

Want more? Try these:

Lunch in anticipation

Helen, Robert, Andrew and Emma came over on the ferry today and we met Mum and Dad for lunch at the Kilgour Estate winery. Brilliant venue, fabulous view over the bay, friendly and attentive service, and excellent food.

Rex, Helen and Andrew

Rex, Helen and Andrew

Robert, Emma and Pat

Robert, Emma and Pat

Their 2005 sparkling cab sav is a tad overpriced, but very drinkable. (For a cheaper equivalent try Andrew Garrett’s sparkling burgundy, non-vintage.)

From our cosy indoor possie we watched a series of electrical storms close in over Melbourne and surrounding areas. We were all quite excited by the spectacle: lots of blue, grey and pink clouds tumbling over each other and blending with the steely blue of the bay. Small sailboats hurrying back to port ahead of the lightning. That slight tingling of the skin, as if it’s suddenly one size too small, that you get at the start of a really good storm.

A bit of rain fell at the estate, enough to clear the balcony of diners, but it was more of a scattered shower than the inundation that several parts of the city experienced. (Juddie at Flightless Boyds has a photo gallery of the storm.)

I took the scenic route home, following the coast roads from Drysdale through Portarlington, St Leonards, Indented Head, Point Lonsdale and Ocean Grove before finally turning inland to Leopold. Not much traffic about at this time of year, so it was a pleasant drive with plenty of opportunity to slow down and take in the scenery without bugging other people. The rain did eventuate, in scattered showers. I stopped for a few minutes to take photos.

Birds in water, reflected

Birds in water, reflected

A stormy view to the west

A stormy view to the west

Want more? Try these:

Chooky Dancers spread their wings

A couple of years ago the Chooky Dancers from Elcho Island (near Darwin) found 15 minutes of fame online. Their dance version of “Zorba The Greek” was captivating in its humor and youthful energy.

Sadly, the group’s first manager and promoter Frank has since died. The Chookys are dedicating their latest production to him — a Romeo and Juliet story that “centres on a lovestruck teenage couple who break traditional marriage laws to pursue their romance: a theme that resonates powerfully on Elcho, where promised marriages are still common.”

Rosemary O’Neill’s article in The Australian relates the Chooky Dancers’ rise to fame in a culture that is very different from their own. Left unmentioned in the article is the possibility that someone will try to exploit or try to take advantage of them. It would be a tragedy to see these young men’s exuberant dancing take on a more cynical edge.

Their performance at the Art Gallery of NSW (video below) is mostly in a hip-hop style, smoothly incorporating moves from traditional dance and gestures from Hollywood and Bollywood-style production numbers.

Ngurrumilmarrmeriyu (Wrong Skin) will be performed in Adelaide, Melbourne, Darwin and Sydney.

Want more? Try these:

Oils ain’t oils

Creative Commons-licensed photo by a href=

Creative Commons-licensed photo by dragonflysky

Experimental observation:

  • Left to its own devices in a cup or pot, leftover Twinings tea will grow patches of visible fungus within about 48 hours.
  • A leftover T2 brew of the same type can sit in a cup or pot for at least three weeks without showing signs of ickiness.

Both brews were made in the same pot and poured into the same cup without additives such as milk, lemon, sugar or honey. Pot was rinsed and cup was washed between uses. The Twinings result is consistent for both bags and loose-leaf tea. T2 doesn’t do bags, only loose-leaf.

Tea types tried: darjeeling, orange pekoe, English breakfast, Earl Grey.

Surely there’s an IgNobel Prize somewhere in this line of research.

Want more? Try these:

2010 week 8

In the spirit of Orwell, Pepys and Twitter, a journal of daily minutiae recorded for posterity. Until I get bored with it.

.

Fri 19 Feb: On a good traffic day Madonna’s “Immaculate Collection” album is approximately the same length as the peak-hour drive from Lara to Parkville.

Sat 20 Feb: Josephine widdled on the floor again, beside the litter box. Fortunately I had left a towel spread nearby and that soaked up most of the mess. Transferred 2/3 of my savings account into the overdraft account. That felt good. Did a bit of grocery shopping. A hot day — mid-30s and sunny.

Sun 21 Feb: This morning Josephine widdled in the litter box. I haven’t changed the litter, repositioned the box, or anything — but whatever objection she had to using it seems to have been forgotten for today at least. She’s a weird cat. Julia’s Rose has another bud, just coming into bloom.

Mon 22 Feb: “News” section of Library web site not working properly; individual articles not displaying properly, links from home page are broken. CMS seems to be randomly assigning URLs to the news index page and subdirectories, so it’s hard to see where the chain of action-reaction has broken down. Sally back from leave, full of energy and ideas. Worked on documents for Library Managers’ meeting; this is my first official outing with new title (Manager Information Strategy and Planning) so it would be nice not to look like an eejit at the meeting.

Tue 23 Feb: CMS issues (news still broken); finalising the back-end functionality of the new home page with Ben; compiling list of navigation links and encoding with analytics tracking codes.

Wed 24 Feb: Managers’ meeting, at which we did a small-scale risk assessment exercise with the draft Annual Plan. Seemed to go well — we split the group into teams of three, and this was a good size — small enough for everyone to be heard but with enough different perspectives to make the conversation interesting and exciting. A positive vibe emerged; it will be important to follow up ASAP next week, using the momentum from today’s meeting to finalise the Plan. New task added to my team’s list for the next couple of weeks, coordinating a Library response to the discussion paper about design and delivery of the Melbourne Model graduate coursework programs starting in 2011. This was a 12-hour working day. Home by 10.00 pm; cats came inside briefly, had a bite to eat, then scooted out the door just as I was closing up at 11.00 pm to go to bed. I locked them out.

Thu 25 Feb: Somewhat sheepish — and hungry — cats appeared bright and early this morning when I opened the window for them. Woke up with tremendous hangover-like headache, but drank fluids (including plenty of caffeine) and soldiered on because it was a busy day: couple of important meetings, lunch with Donna at PA’s (pub in Grattan Street) and launch of the new Library home page.  The official launch date is Monday 1 March; Ben (bless him) worked hard to be ready for today. News section of the site is still broken, but we launched anyway. Small gathering in my office while Ben pressed the relevant buttons — Jennifer and Caroline, Ben and me, and Donna who supplied the Moet. Hurrah! I’ve swapped my 48/52 day off (tomorrow) for next week, will come in tomorrow and work on fixing the broken bits.

Want more? Try these: