Archive for blogging

I Fixed it Myself

03/11/2011 Joh blogging, gratitude, health

Joh Blogs broke last night. I am not sure what happened. I really don’t understand it all that much. I had a sore throat last night and went to bed straight after work. This morning I noticed it was still broken. I emailed someone I thought could and therefore would fix it, this morning.

When I came home from work it still wasn’t fixed, so I downloaded the ftp program and deleted the file mentioned in the error message. It worked! My throat also feels a lot better after sleeping about 6 extra hours than normal last night.

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Uplifted

06/10/2011 Joh blogging

I read Jean Burman’s blog. She is an artist who shares her beautiful vision of the world. This week she posted a video about the recovery of North Queensland after the cyclone. True North is much more than that though. Enjoy!

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Still Here

29/09/2011 Joh blogging

I wrote the first post for this blog 6 years ago today. It was an adventure into putting myself out there like my kids and students were on Myspace. I wanted to understand how and why they did it. I’d been reading blogs for a while and thought ‘I could do this’.

It’s a lot more challenging than it seems and I’ve learnt about myself and had to consider a lot more than I like to. I’m still not happy with the way I’m doing it. It’s so boring and so little of it is me, or rather so little of me is here. I lack a central theme.

I’m annoyed about a lot of things about myself now. I lack the persistence I need to follow through on any of my ideas lately. I’m in struggletown. I want to move on, but where to? I know for short hours, yet when it gets down to it, I go cold on that idea or plan. I used to have so many excuses and they’ve all abandoned me.

I’m probably just still feeling unwell and trying to rush my recovery, but lying around being sick is a nuisance.

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The Library & Rock Eisteddfod

11/08/2011 Joh blogging, learn, reading, work

Today I got to work in the library for a period! I loved it. Having conversations with young people about books they are reading is my idea of fun. Putting books away and exploring all the new young adult titles in a different library is bliss. I got to borrow some too! I have a Scot Westerfield novel, yes only one because I have been limiting my piles lately. I can only read a couple of books at a time:).

The Professional Development shelf tempted me to take two. Will Richardson’s book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, which I have just had a quick flick through, looks great. It’s interestesting because Will has just stopped blogging and is now tumbling. I follow his tumblr and he continues to have great insights and information about using technology in education. The other is a book by Matthew Williams, Making Real-Life Videos, which is another thing I love doing with students and there are some great ideas in it.

“Matthew Williams is Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice in the School of Social Science, Cardiff University. He is currently on the board of directors for the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) and has been involved with the development of ethical guidelines for conducting research online.” Reader Store

It looks great. I also like making clips for my family so I hope that will enhance those skills too!

In my last lesson we got to preview the school’s Rock Eisteddfod entry. It was a colourful and energetic display of what students can do when given the opportunity. I love to see students perform, great for their self esteem.

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Macarons, Friends and other Simple Pleasures

15/07/2011 Joh blogging, Business, food, friends, learn, random, reading

Yesterday Br John came for lunch. He was my mentor when I was a first year teacher 10 years ago. We haven’t caught up for probably 5 years. He has moved to another state and is a Principal there. I reckon he would be a good one because he is both human and organised. He communicates well and continues his learning. I always enjoy hanging out with him because he has interesting stories. He’s recently been travelling around Europe on a Marist brother adventure (there is probably a more serious, spiritual purpose). He had great food stories to tell me and as that is what I am most interested in right now, I enjoyed the tales of food.

I had my second attempt at making Macarons. Just before we left the shop a lovely lady came in for a visit from this business Cupcake Therapy. I am not really into cupcakes. Her sister had come in for lunch and told me they’d been to Paris to learn how to make Macarons. I was captivated. I contacted her on facebook and she brought some samples (rasberry with white chocolate filling). It is my current obsession. They are so pretty and delicious. A fortnight ago I made some for Cath for her birthday. I made about 3 batches and ended up with 6 mishapen things. I made chocolate ones because I am a fan of chocolate. I will experiment with different flavours once I get chocolate handled. The ones I made for lunch yesterday were better but don’t look anything like the amazing creations from ‘Cupcake Therapy’. Her facebook page is one of my favourites.

One of the things I really like about Macarons is that it’s delicious way to use egg white. I use the yolk to make mayonaisse and chocolate/lemon tart. I’ve never been a fan of pavlova or other egg white type dishes. Macaron’s are going to take a lot more practise. I have no clue with a piping bag. They tasted great and I don’t think I would ever create the kind of product with glaze and all the beauty of professional ones, but I would prefer them to look a bit more similar. When I do manage something near decent I will take a photo:) Which leads me to my next simple pleasure…

I have been inspired by Jen from Semantically Driven to start taking a photo a day. I haven’t really taken many photo’s lately. I take them of the kids, but I used to always take my camera with me and I enjoyed it. I am going to publish them on tumblr. I have also been watching a few You Tube photo a day clips and thinking that could make an interesting alternative to journalling for students who don’t like writing. I don’t like taking photos of myself… but teenagers seem to be comfortable with it. I will just take photos of random things that take my eye, still I think they will contain hidden memories.

We shopped today because we have a catering job to do tomorrow night. Two friends are engaged and we are catering for the celebration. I love shopping with Darin. We have a lot of fun and even amuse others. An older woman in the market couldn’t stop giggling when he asked me which box I wanted to carry and I said the lightest one. It really tickled her. I enjoyed being out in the sunshine today. We went to Morwell cause we had to go to a couple of places there. We ended up back here for all the things we forgot on the first trip:). I popped into the Art Gallery whilst I was there and looked in the window of the Contemporary Art Space. I felt quite uplifted by it. We went on a walk this afternoon and went ‘window shopping’ in all the homeware and electrical shops on the highway. We got great service cause we were the only people in the shops. We were approached by many sales people. I looked around at all the heavily discounted stuff and thought ‘What’s going to happen to all this stuff if no one comes back to buy it?’ Where have all the shoppers gone?

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Full Moon in Capricorn – Friday 15th July 2011

14/07/2011 Joh astrology, blogging

What no eclipse? Yes, this is an eclipse free moon. Looks full already! There are some other alignments that are ‘ones to watch’ and Linda Hill’s post on this moon, highlights the sabian symbols activated. Jessica has an excellent suggestion in her post, Inhale your Authority Spell and since reading it I’ve been questioning my authority. It’s a good thing to claim your responsibility in your situations. It gives you power to stay, leave, change or just think about things in a different way. It really struck a chord with me.

My favourite astrological post today was from Mystic Medusa, Era Shifting. Nothing at all really to do with this full moon. I believe quite relevant now, what do you think?

There are a lot of changes happening in the world right now. I was checking out this site last night (due to it’s association with Megan from The Junk Wave a blogging friend) about an RTO in Cairns, MOM Training College.  It looks like a very exciting educational space with plenty of innovative projects and quite a different philosophy from the RTO’s I’m familiar with. I like it. I think that kind of reframing of institutions is wonderful.

I feel quite interested in following some of the things that are emerging from all the crisis’s going on. I agree with MM, I don’t subscribe to the whole end of the world stuff either. It’s clear things are changing so perhaps it is the end of the world as we’ve known it. Thinking that the world is going to end is a cop out and it’s time to get busy making a world that works better now, even if it is just your own world.

I’ve tried Google+ this week. It’s ok. Quiet really. Interesting to watch how people approach the new space. Some are jumping right in creating huge networks. I can see some advantages to having seperate circles so as to keep relevant to different areas of your life. I haven’t plunged right into the learning curve yet though. I have also been reminded about of tumblr this week. A student started a blog there and added me to it. There are very few people from my other circles on Tumblr. It’s interesting and a new space. I think I am more interested in exploring my tumblr right now than Google+. I notice that it’s just so easy to go to facebook or google because there are links to them everywhere. We think the internet is so random, yet our advertising is targeted and there are clearly some online companies that have created such a presence that they are almost unavoidable. I

I have so much to say today, I’ve had a full and interesting day. I might tell you about the rest tomorrow:)

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The Dip by Seth Godin

14/06/2011 Joh blogging, Business, reading

One of the books I read on the weekend was ‘The Dip by Seth Godin. I loved it’s brevity. It’s a small book that makes some good points. I reflected about whether our business is in a Dip, a Cul de Sac or heading for a Cliff. I am pretty sure it’s a dip, but whether or not we can last it out, is what I am currently trying to determine. It asks some really good questions and gives a very different perspective to quitting. Seth Godin is one of my favourite writers and I read every post on his blog. They are to the point and thought provoking. He doesn’t fluff about and try to fill white space, so nor will I!

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Need a Creative Nudge?

03/06/2011 Joh blogging, Business, reading

I have been reading a new blog lately, Chookalinks. It’s written by Karen Walrond. She takes amazing photos and writes about beautiful and interesting things. One of the greatest gifts reading this blog has given me, especially right now as I begin a business, is from this post:Borrowing Someone elses Words.

When I read this post, I knew I wanted to read the book. The comments provided something that worked for me. Do the Work. It was free. Even if you don’t have a kindle, which I don’t yet, you can download a PC app that you can use to read kindle books on your computer or itouch. It is a great read. In the way that freebies do, I want to get ‘The War of Art’ by Stephen Pressfield.

 

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Laptop Back at Shop

20/04/2011 Joh astrology, blogging

I had my laptop for 3 days and now it’s back getting fixed again. Obviously 10 days absence was not enough for me! When does Mercury Retrograde finish? Anyway, as I said a couple of posts ago, I won’t be blogging much! I think I will get a Toshiba next time. This Acer has been a dud!

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Blogging Holiday

13/04/2011 Joh blogging, family, gratitude, home

I’m having a bit of a break from blogging because I don’t have my laptop right now, so my time online is minimal. I expect it will be back before Easter, so it won’t be for long. I’m spending very little time online right now, just checking email, making payments for the business, updating ‘The Butchers Dog’ facebook page and the bare minimum really. I’m using my phone to check all my email accounts and feeds and when I get online I only follow up the important things. I am reading heaps more and my house is in much better order than it’s been for a while.

We are having Darin’s children overnight tonight because they are on school holidays and it’s an opportunity for us to spend more time with them. That is one of the primary purposes of creating our business, so it’s great that we can take it up. Asha is also coming for dinner. We are having Roast Pork!

 I have this little snippet of time when the house is quiet and Darin’s laptop is free. I’m not complaining though, he’s very generous with his laptop and not on it half as much as I used to spend on mine. I think that will change now that I’ve had this break. It’s helped me to become aware of some of the time I waste online doing unecessary but time filling things.

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