Writing

My Nan

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:36:15 GMT

I was calling family on various errands and then decided to add my Nan to the list of people I was calling.

I think about her a lot. She occupies a lot more of my thoughts now than she has in the last few months. It's not the fact she's gone that occupies my thoughts, but general stuff like the phone call thing.

It's a bugger not to be able to call her.

'Bugger' was her strongest swearword.

this week's news

Thu, 22 May 2008 22:20:15 GMT

This week, one friend let me know she was pregnant. One friend told me she was getting married. And my Nan died. Trying to see a circle of life thing, you know?

And my mobile network decided to resend the txt my sister sent telling me of her last hours. Which made it suck all over again.

My Nan wrote down explicit instructions about what should happen at the funeral. She wants coffee and cakes. She doesn't want flowers, but donations to a charity that's devoted to children cause they are the future. She doesn't want donations to any children's cancer charities thou (no explanation on that one).

My Mum is organising the funeral. She's laughing at the amount of detail my Nan has gone into. And is deciding on whether to announce that bit about children's cancer. I think she won't.

My Nan was an organised, stubborn person. She had some weird views on stuff. She taught me to cook, sew, learn the names and habits of plants and value travelling highly. She never managed to teach me to cook mergaines.

She had a mischievous grin, which was the last thing she showed me.

I will miss her.

Cheap haircut for a good cause

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:59:21 GMT

This is about a friend of mine.

Her friend Joh sent the following to 106 & 104 radio stations. They're a
very good hairdressing salon and normally charge about $80 for a cut, I
think. They don't state how much they will be charging for these, but
it's a very good cause.

My name is Joh and I'm hoping you can help.

I have a dear friend and mentor. For the past 11 years,
Georgette Parsley (age 55) has been my boss, my friend and like a mum to
me.
Georgette has been cursed with numerous brain tumours, and has
undergone brain surgery four times and intense radiation therapy twice.
Each time she has undergone a procedure her body has been affected and
she now has little use of her right side. She has shown incredible
bravery and still has her wonderful sense of humour, but her freedom and
independence have been taken from her and she can only walk with great
difficulty. Georgette has had to give up her career of hairdressing
which she was so passionate about. Her clients and spending time with
people mean everything to her. Georgette has lived in Canberra all her
life, has worked in hairdressing since she was 16 yrs old (39 yrs) and
has been an owner and worker in 2 hairdressing salons (TBH Yarralumla
and Civic).

Last week Georgette received the terrible news that she has five
more brain tumours, with one feeding on a critical blood vessel in the
brain, and she will undergo further surgery to remove these in June.

I am organising a CUT ATHON at Georgette's old salon TBH
Yarralumla. Georgette's old colleagues and apprentices will come
together to see how much hair we can cut (at reduced rates). Money
raised will go towards buying Georgette a motorised scooter so she can
at least get around and have a bit of freedom. During the day we will be
having raffles with prizes being donated by local businesses and a
sausage sizzle. We are hoping to raise about $10000 to pay for the
scooter and other mobility aids that Georgette will require to make life
a little easier.
If you are able to help in promoting the event and raising money
for Georgette, all our friends and myself will be forever grateful.
If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact myself
on (m) 0407840253 or (w) 62813053.

Details
----------
Cut Athon.

Date: Sunday 1st June
Time 10am till ??
Location TBH Hair Yarralumla , Yarralumla shops

Thank You,

Joh Mapperson

Myanmar Cyclone Relief Fund Raising Dinner.

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:56:42 GMT

Hi all, I got two funding raising things I thought should be passed on.

Active Travel in Canberra and Sydney are holding a fund raising dinner to assist in the project we have adopted in Myanmar.

Pandaw River Cruises have provided their two 180 ft river cruise boats to be used as hospital ships. The dining room is a ward and surgery, the water purification units on the boats are working full time processing river water, and the boats being of shallow draft can reach isolated locations.

Merlin UK is using the Pandaw IV and it has been relocated to Laputta to act as a field hospital and supply centre. Pandaw II will be used by Save the Children and MSF Switzerland and relocated to Bassein. Both these places are deep in the Irrawaddy delta.

At the moment negotiations are underway to hire a 200ft barge to tow down to the Bassein area. This will be loaded with food, medical supplies and building materials. In Mandalay such things are readily available. This vessel will then be moored in a secure mid stream position to act as distribution point and handed over to our NGO partners.

You can see from this that our project is working very well and in a professional manner. Now it is our time to help our partners in the field to maintain the initial momentum. Indeed, when they reach the worst hit areas I am sure they will discover that
their efforts are only helping a small portion of those requiring our generosity.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

1) Attend our Fund Raising Dinner : 30 May

Friday 30 May at 6.30 at Turner Bowls Club. $40 per head includes a superb Burmese meal prepared by Burmese chef Ms Thin Thin. We are lining up some entertainment for the night. Book your table by contacting Robert Fletcher or Christine Pearson at Active Travel on robert@activetravel.com.au, phone 6249 6122, or mobile 0409 323 566.

2) Bid at the Silent Auction: 30 May

Bid generously for any or all of the many items from art works, books, services, restaurant vouchers, clothing, wine to be auctioned at the dinner on 30 May. A unique feature of our silent auction is the ability to bid by internet. Register your interest and we
set you up to bid if you can't attend the dinner.

3) Donate items.

The Silent Auction needs things to auction (otherwise it will be very silent). We need any services (perhaps you have a skill you could donate such as two hours of gardening, computer work, massage, cook) goods from craft and art work, wine, any unused
wedding presents, a sail on Sydney Harbour? Do you have a friend or your boss (who could also be a friend) who may have a suitable item to auction. Anything in good order from $20 to $20,000.

4) Tell Everyone

Please network and send this email with your support to any person or group of people who you feel can assist and is interested. The more we tell about our efforts the bigger the success. We at Active Travel can't do it all so your assistance is greatly appreciated.

5) Donate

If you wish, cash donations can be made to our
appeal by direct deposit or by cheque to:

BSB: 112 908

Account No. 04 000 7670

Bank: St George

Account Name: Active Travel Client Account

Reference: Myanmar and your family name.

Please email me that you have deposited money so I can identify you on the bank statement.

6) Travel to Burma

Don't put off any plans to travel to Burma. While this may sound a plea for self interest, I can say with an absolute clear conscience that tourists to Burma is a single act that benefits many ordinary Burmese, from crews on Pandaw boats to horse cart drivers, trinket sellers, attendants at sites and so on. Your tourist dollar helps many ordinary people.

Well, that is all for now. Please bother me as much as you can with your dinner bookings, your donations, and if you are out of town your registration for silent auction.

Thank you

Robert Fletcher and Christine Pearson

Directors
www.activetravel.com.au

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 03:48:20 GMT

Cyberpunk

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:56:24 GMT

"Google sees the dramatic increase in government Net censorship, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, as a potential threat to its advertising-driven business model, and wants government officials to consider the issue in economic, rather than just political, terms."

Parody

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:53:07 GMT

Great parody video of the recently announced Microsoft Surface Computer. “One day, your computer will be a big-ass table.”

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 06:56:24 GMT

For the past weeks I’ve kept bumping into this site. It’s got fascinating speakers on a huge variety of topics. Today I downloaded a speaker on creativity in education and one on women as web thinkers.

http://www.ted.com/

Pheno

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 03:19:08 GMT

Pheno is over for another year. This year was fun – I ran a game which some people really liked and some people weren’t so keen on (for precisely the same reason). Uberaxel and Deamondea being parties in both camps.

This is a debate I’m curious about. Why should the GM’s voice be any stronger than the players? If the players agree with a setting and questions to explore, should the GM overrule them and impose their view, so should they run with the player’s reality?

The ever so lovely dr_goth_mh was kind enough to GM with me for which I’m grateful. dr_goth_mh said (at the pub afterwards) that it is hard to do a moral exploration in a game, so I’m glad mine worked.

The organising was good, when the heater became a problem in my room, they were able to find another to give me for the rest of the con. I really liked the GM lunch run, it makes overruns and pre session preps much easier.

I only played one game during the con, which turned out not to be what I expected. Ah well, one bug hunt well executed.

This guy is...

Fri, 04 May 2007 02:08:13 GMT

a> clever
b> an idiot

your choice

If you don't get the pic, he has tattooed a software key that breaks the encryption on HD-DVDs. The lawyers recently sent 'cease and desist' letters to blogs and wikis. The results has been a user revolt. - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/6615047.stm

One for the WOW fans

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 23:40:37 GMT

A work colleague brought in his new t-shirt yesterday.

Playstation 3 vs. XBOX 360

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:49:33 GMT

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-348-1.htm

From the article:

As long as consoles have existed, discussions, debates, arguments, fights, and all out WARS have taken place over who makes the best video game units Being a video game developer (I develop for both, Playstation 3 and XBOX 360) people ask me almost daily which platform I think is better. These are my personal feelings, in no way does this reflect my employer.

Short answer: XBOX 360.

Long answer: Price, performance, visual quality, game selection and online support. I think the XBOX 360 wins in every category.

ubuntu

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:59:46 GMT

I am planning on installing ubuntu on the kid’s PC, but I have a question for any technical people out there before I do so.

Have you had any problems connecting a windows machine to the ubuntu one? I want to keep a windows machine, so I want to make sure they will network ok.

Finally!

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 03:10:46 GMT

news was just made public!

My brother is one of the 16 finalists for Tropfest! It's his first try at making a film and he's a finalist!!!

It's a computer animated film, produced by Simon Weaving. My brother is animator. He got some students studing composing to get an original score, got Roy or HG Nelson (can't remember which one. how embrassing) to narrate.

http://www.tropfest.com/pressroom/pressroom.aspx

Title: The Story Of Ned
Director/Producer: Simon Weaving (Swiz Pty Limited)
State: ACT
Synopsis: John Doyle – as the omnipotent yet not altogether totally reliable narrator - tells the tragic tale of Ned, a little story who has no ending. Richly animated with a fabulously original score, The Story of Ned will bring a tear to the eye (and a drip to the nose) if it manages to end in time.

WOOT!

I'm so proud :)

*doing a little happy dance*

News!!!!

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:49:22 GMT

I have a thing I want to tell everyone and I promised I wouldn't til Thursday, when the news is being made public.

I've checked and checked and the news still isn't public.

bouncing with excitment and I can't tell.

grr.

Massages

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:12:27 GMT

You may or may not know, I did a massage course and having been offering massages ever since as a way of continuing to practise. In the past month or two I haven’t been able to do them.

I am now settled in my new place, so I am ready to start it up again. If you would like ~~to be a willing victim~~ a massage, I'm happy to obilge.

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:56:37 GMT

I have Internet access again. It's only dialup, but I am connected to the wider world once more. For a few weeks there, I had no phone, no Internet. I felt all Luddite.

If you haven’t got my new address and phone, let me know and I'll email it out to you.

Thanks to all the people who offered support and help over the past few weeks, especially ripley_larkham and the rest of the gang at the house. Crashing there made things a lot smoother.

Heaps of thanks to the movers too. pixie_b's idea of the yellow sticky labels meant the fact I got overwhelmed on the day didn’t stop the amazing teamwork and determination you guys displayed. The TV unit (large) coming over the fence (taller than my head) and through the backyard (eight people) is something that will stick in my mind for a long while to come!

improvements

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 00:47:51 GMT

Dove made an ad showing ways advertising companies 'improve' things. Most interesting.

House moving

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 23:23:36 GMT

Just got off the phone from the real estate agent. The landlord has accepted my application - I will be moving in on Saturday.

A number of you have mentioned you would help me move, if you are free I would be grateful for your help.

If you could help on Saturday, let me know :) Once I have a gang, I’ll email people with addresses and things.

Thanks flist!

New news

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 02:59:34 GMT

Previously, a tenant agreed to mutually break the lease and move out of my house so I could move in. Yesterday she decided she would stay. So now I have no long term place to live.

On hearing the news ripley_larkham and harakani held me upside-down to help cheer me up. That worked.

Tomorrow I am helping a friend move inbetween house opening times. Unbelievably houses are only open for 10-15 each!

Injections

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 02:34:35 GMT

I talked him out of the car, let go of the door. I got him to release his grip on the waiting room counter. I kept him calm in the doctor’s office.

Then the needle came out.

I sat in a chair and had to wrap my legs and arms around his. I couldn’t stop him from flailing his upper body around. One arm and leg got free. I couldn’t hold him.

In the end, the doctor held him down while the nurse injected him.

I am strong, I’m sure if it was someone else’s kid I could restrain them...

Chicken pox

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:55:30 GMT

Found out last night that my daughter has chicken pox. Son needs to be vaccinated today. I have organised my father to come into the doctor’s office and help hold limbs downs. He’s bigger than the previous times I’ve done this.

Did I mention he strongly believes in screaming and flailing? Makes injecting him... tricky

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:52:34 GMT

Saw John Butler Trio last night with pixie_b.

Wow, it was good.

At one point Butler had the entire audience singing Peaches and Cream's chorus to him. I came home with it resounding in my head.

He plays the audience as well as he plays the guitar.

Moving day?

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:49:02 GMT

I own an investment property. Which is nice, cause it means I can move into it. But the tenant is on a fixed term lease, so I have no legal right to move into the place until the lease is up – in April.
The tenant and I can however decide to mutually break the lease. Which she is willing to do. But she isn’t willing to give me a date by which she will move out. She is looking for a place and according to my property manager, applying for places. But I won’t know when she is going to move out until she has secured another place to live herself.
So I am waiting.

At some point, I will be asking for help moving. I’m just not sure when yet.

Wireless power

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:36:58 GMT

“US researchers have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players without wires.”

It’s always nice to see the future is ticking along. Buck Rogers told me I should have my personal jet pack by now, so sometimes I find it hard to see these things without a sense of ‘well, about time you figured that out’.

Physics promises wireless power