learning new 'tricks'...

apart from working yesterday, i've been busy 'enhancing' my knowledge of all things blogger this weekend...

we've been talking about a parenting / kids blog at work for ages now and even exuberantly set about creating one (with many 'test runs' on different hosting services!) - but with one thing or another (people involved with the project leaving or going on extended leave, unfamiliarity with applications 'trialled' - some of us always wanted blogger!! - rfid tagging taking priority, etc. etc.) enthusiasm waned rapidly and input became half-hearted, so it never really 'got off the ground'!

but (hopefully) that's all about to change... we've finally decided to go with blogger because it wins hands down for its ease of use!!!!! well, according to Sailor Lily and me anyway - we're both very comfortable with blogger and enjoy 'playing' with it and as we're now the ones responsible for the initial design and content of the blog we're really happy with that decision!!!! did i mention 'free without ads'?? even better - especially if it turns out not to be utilised by its intended audience!!

i've learnt how to create navigation tabs (still working on multi-layered tabs - they're a bit more 'fiddly')... you have to work within the template css code to do this and it can be really frustrating trying to find where the new bits of code need to go!! thanks to bloggersentral - i checked out a lot of different websites for this information but their instructions were the 'easiest' to follow...

once that was done the tabs had to be 'styled' in the design template (static colour, hover colour etc.) and a html gadget added with specific 'navigation tab' code and then the individual page addresses had to be added to link to the right pages - that takes quite a while...

i also learnt how to 'trick' blogger so that we could have a static landing page - not usually a blog feature and really not necessary in a personal blog but definitely needed for the library blog so that newcomers get information about what the blog is rather than stumbling straight into the posts!

all this took time and effort - but it would have been so much harder trying to do it at work - concentration was imperative and constant interruptions just disrupt the thought processes!!!

with that said though, i have spent hours trawling through information on how to 'adapt' blogger for what we needed... no, i don't get paid to work at home (unfortunately!!) so i look on it as a personal learning 'odyssey' because the knowledge i've gained will help with my own blog - and hey, it's not like i go out a lot these days - i certainly can't afford it - being solo-with-animals and living in st kilda is very expensive - i'm surviving on a band 4 wage working 4 days a week (no - i don't want full time work - i'm 55 and have been in the workforce 40 years - cutting back my hours is something i dream of - and allie & shadow deserve more companionship and the opportunity to get in and out when they want / need to a tad more often!!!) - oh, there's also the fact there aren't many people i want to socialise with anyway - and apart from that, being vegan limits the options for 'wining and dining' - we're just not catered for in so many venues!!

anyway, i'm happy with what i've done with the blog and think it's looking good - it'll soon be 'open to the public' so i'll put a link when it's viewable... now all we have to do is get the children's services team enthused about - and posting to - it!!!

you could say i'm a tad blogged out now though - so i'm just going to leave you with some music - haven't done that for a while so here's an aussie band i really liked years ago - the baby animals 'fronted' by Suze DeMarchi - they formed in 1989 - split up in '96 - they reformed in '07 and released an acoustic cd of their hits called il grande silenzio in 2008 (a fact i've only just discovered after watching the video - so i'll have to see if i can get the album!!) enjoy... (i just checked chaos.com and they have it so i've ordered it - you can even check out the tracks to see if you like it - and it only cost $11 - an affordable price!!!)

i'm thinkin' of the 70s...

if you missed my last post, i mentioned i might blog about the 70s (another walk down memory lane).. i'm gettin' there (slowly)... the 70s were a 'milestone' era for me - I turned 15 in 1970, left school and started my first job... i was on my way to 'adult independence'... it was an exciting, changing time...

after working yesterday i'm finally off work for the next week - feeling a tad rundown because it's been manic at work for ages - but now i've got a bit of time there's a lot of 'drafting' to be done, memories to be recalled (and research to 'jog' the memory), photos to be scanned, and of course bongs to be stacked and smoked... so while i'm working on all of that i thought i'd give you a taste of the aussie music i was into in the very late 60s/very early 70s - apart from Janis Joplin... no, i know she wasn't australian and I wasn't actually into her at this point - I didn't become addicted until the late 70s - but as she died in 1970 I just couldn't not include a couple of her songs - she was a pioneer, she had an incredible talent, she was a woman in a male dominated field, who lived and played hard because that's what it took - unfortunately she paid the ultimate price...

“Joplin belonged to that select group of pop figures who mattered as much for themselves as for their music. Among American rock performers, she was second only to Bob Dylan in importance as a creator-recorder-embodiment of her generation’s mythology.” (read more here)

we had the talents of Wendy Saddington and Renee Geyer in Australia... and then there were bands like the Masters Apprentices (I now knew what young lust really was - I was 15 and hormonal, and Jim Keays was fucking hot!!!), Zoot (another 'pretty boy' band - and who wasn't drooling over Rick Springfield, male or female??)... and remember, the Palais Theatre was a popular venue 'in those days' so with me mum being head cashier, I got to see a lot of good aussie bands (and for free)... living in St Kilda meant lots of live venues close by as well.. who needed overseas bands - there was a wealth of talent right here!!!

the 70s was an amazing era for music - there are so many aussie bands still to come - ac/dc (with Bon Scott of course!), skyhooks, sherbet, chisels (just to name a few - but they weren't around just yet- and i bet you just can't wait!!!) - it was an 'eclectic' musical experience - a creative and innovative time - and i wouldn't have wanted to grow up in any other era!!! (the 70s posts might take a while - it was a really political, radical and rebellious time too!!!)

enjoy (but there are a lot of 'sync' problems! - and the sound isn't too crash hot!! forgive the era and it's very rudimentary technology!!!)

a win for women globally...

ever heard of the Global Gag Rule (a.k.a. Mexico City Policy) - it prohibited family planning programs in other nations that receive US aid from using non-US monies for abortion counseling, advocacy, and referrals... can you believe the power america has...

well, Obama's lifted the ban... that's a good thing for women everywhere... but, Clinton already did it, then Bush came along and undid it... Obama's done it - but when is someone going to make it 'unchangeable' or is it going to be able to be undone again some time in the future??? let's hope not... women deserve better... they deserve to know where they stand rather than being pawns in some high-powered male chess game!!!!

of course 'the church' (in all it's forms and denominations) isn't exactly ecstatic by the decision... but all that can be said to them is...

closer to home...

it's January 26th - mean anything in particular to you???? invasion day maybe? survival day or australia day (sounds like an invasion to me!!)...

I'm of the 'invasion day' persuasion... so here's some music to go along with my beliefs...

oooohhhhh... sorry, i just get lost in YouTube.... all those songs from my youth - i just have to listen to them... I was lucky that my early life was part of a really political time - the 60s and 70s were full of change, change and more change - consequently it takes me a loooooooooong time to get a playlist together...

but i hope you enjoy... goanna, yothu yindi, the oils, the masters apprentices (now there's a micro-story... Jim Keayes and Glenn Wheatley (when he was spunky - before he was a 'businessman' who didn't pay his taxes - and as you've no doubt have been able to gather, i don't break the law!!!! ha!!!!!) had to wake Irene and me up out of a 'mandy' induced 'coma' (mandrax, the best gutter drug you could ever have experienced - forerunner to sarapax - but oh, sooooo much better! - you could drop it, smoke it, snort it (and who knows what else!!!!) - we were in a laundromat, they wanted the washing machine - pub bands didn't make much money in those days - we all lived in the same street, we all had to do the same shit no matter what state we were in - ahhh, life in suburbia!!!! life was just sex, drugs an' rock'n'roll then.... i think the emphasis was on drugs at that time)... ruby hunter, archie roach... etc. etc. etc.