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!!!)

soothing the senses...

what a wonderfully quiet, relaxing weekend i’ve had…

i decided that my next non-working weekend would be spent just being with allie and shadow and enjoying their company, catching up on some reading and savouring the peace, quiet and serenity of home life - of course the domestic stuff like cleaning up wee and washing pissy towels is part of every day, but i'd 'shopped in advance' for the weekend so i didn't have to go out saturday or (what turned out to be a bleak, cold and wet) sunday!!! finally, this weekend was the one i'd been waiting for!!!!

friday evening saw me settling down with a yummy vegie pastie (rye pastry), sweet potato wedges and rocket salad with a balsamic dressing - a couple of glasses of wine – howling wolves from margaret river (another new vegan-friendly find) - along with a few bongs, a cat on the knee and a dog stretched out next to me (letting me know in no uncertain terms if i wasn’t patting her in the right place!)... what more could i want - "being human" was on telly - i’ve taken quite a liking to this show – it’s a tad ‘darker’ this 2nd series which i'm enjoying so i got comfy with me gang and looked forward to a long, lazy weekend...

the only other thing i really needed was the beautiful fragrance of one of the soy wax melts from australian soy candles by lisa jane creations – lisa is a young womon running a small “cottage” industry in rural victoria which allows her to work from home and be with her children – she has all things soy wax and uses essential oils to create beautiful scents - my favourite is black raspberry and i had one left - another sensuous and sensory indulgence for the evening...



i decided to keep the computer turned off on saturday but before i settled down to read i gave allie a bath which was an added bonus with it being quite sunny and mild (no, she doesn't like baths - but i bet she feels so much better now - she's soooo very soft and smells lovely - sensory pleasure for both of us!!!)...

i have a number of books that need to be read – so many reserved!!! so I decided on 31 bond street by ellen horan for this weekend – a mystery based on a true 1857 story centred around the murder of new york ‘society’ dentist harvey burdell and the trial of emma cunningham, the womon charged with the crime. well it didn’t disappoint. It is a well crafted story and I was fascinated to read in the author’s note which characters were actually fictitious – and she very skilfully threaded the slave trade and disenfranchisement of the native people through the story (it's set 4 years before the american civil war)…

having finished 31 bond street on sunday and enjoying it immensely i was encouraged to have a bit of a search online and i came across this interesting blog “butchery on bond street” which I’ll have to read in more detail some other time… it’s written by a volunteer archivist in the green-wood cemetery where there is apparently a 'trove of treasures' related to this crime...

so, with it being monday now and the weekend just about over i better think about doing something - there's more washing to be done, a visit to be made to the mother, a trip to the supermarket for some much needed shopping, cleaning, blah, blah, blah - okay, guess it's back to reality...

later tonight though i’m anticipating starting ‘time’s legacy’, latest offering from barbara erskine, a skilled wordsmith who weaves tales between the past and present – sometimes ‘herstorical’, sometimes ‘historical’, always mesmerising...  maybe I should just settle on ‘theirstorical’ because I certainly can’t use the male-centric terminology of our language – but back to barbara erskine… she’s been a favourite author since i first read ‘lady of hay’ in the 80s and with many novels to her credit will probably remain a favourite for many years...

playin' around...

after receiving care2's "healthy and green living" update this morning i was going to post about their article "10 Shockingly Violent Video Games" but i've just decided to link to it instead so you can read it for yourself - if you're a parent or educator this article could (should) be of interest to you - the list was created by Common Sense Media ("dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology" - a site well worth checking out!) - the violent imagery that kids are exposed to in these 'games' sounds very disturbing to say the least...

i have to admit here to getting sidetracked after checking out larry the librarian's latest post... i 'got the bug' and had to have a play with his favourite new toy... so here's a slideshow of me mum - i've used all of these photos through my blog but this tool does tend to 'showcase' them better... mind you, there are a number of elements to play with so if you had the time you could create some spectacular effects... and, as with everything, if you want to upgrade to the paid premium version you get access to even more options... but for the amateur free is good... and if you're 'of a mind' you can even upload your 'movies' to YouTube via this tool... i've tried out a few similar tools before and this one is very easy to use and quick to load compared to some...

 i created two slideshows out of curiosity - same photos but the first one is just a basic slideshow and the second uses one of the free montage style themes called 'glam'...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

cough and splutter…

it’s been a hectic time at work over the last few weeks… we’ve been rfid tagging our whole collection while the library’s been open to the public… you have to be alert, but it's repetitive, and physically taxing (twisting, turning, bending, stretching, pushing, pulling) - there have been lots of sickies (including me just a couple of weeks ago for 2 days - i doubt there's anybody there who hasn't had time off during this time), we’ve got a number of staff on extended leave (bad timing for us, good timing for them!), a few off (or with limited physical abilities) due to other work-related injuries, and some staff rostered off-desk specifically to tag (along with temporary agency staff) – there’s a time limit on the equipment we’re using so it’s been crucial to get it done as quickly as possible – which of course means fewer already overworked people to cover desk while having to deal with altered workflows to capture untagged items - i was either on desk or tagging, or at other branches, last week and my usual work is falling behind - the webpage has been neglected, i've been trying to update the winter biography reading list for weeks now - it's still only partially formatted - by the time it gets published it'll be spring...

all that leads to stress, stress and more stress… which leads to illness, and more illness… exhaustion is taking its toll on the staff… thank fuck we’re nearing the end of the tagging - but that's only the first part of the process…

and of course weekend work for those ‘left standing’ is just an added burden…

we were short on friday so i ended up working the close at another branch – and with sickies at the weekend, this idiot foolishly took a shift on sunday - i don't know what possessed me because i was already rostered for the saturday at my least favourite branch (read worst place on earth to work)...

i was working with den on saturday though, a vegan sister, and was looking forward to catching up with her, so it was going to be an okay shift (apart from the location that is)… having similar vegan politics and both sharing outrage at the treatment of animals makes for stimulating, comfortable conversation – and it’s so nice to be able to talk about food with a like-minded person and not be subjected to the vision of the brutality of the slaughterhouses that a carnivore talking about eating dead animal conjures up...

it was a cold, windy day with a storm warning throughout the state – so warm winter clothes were the order of the day… little did we know though that the least favourite branch was in tropical heat mode… it was soooo hot inside the library - well, around the circulation desk anyway – the further you went from the desk the less stifling it became, but unfortunately most library work is done at the circ desk!!! and no, the air-con is not just a 'turn of the dial' thing but a building maintenance issue and it's apparently been a problem there on and off for ages – so we sweltered… it was like being in a sauna – we were suffering – melting actually… we both commented through the day that we’d probably be sick after working in that oppressive heat…

well guess what – by mid-evening my throat was killing me, and i was on the decline…

i was feeling so much worse on sunday so i was a really grumpy womon by the time i had to go to work… at least it was only a half day shift at my favourite branch, so i got through it (no doubt helped by being dosed up on ibuprofen and echinacea) but by the end i desperately wanted to get home!!

and here i am on monday still feeling like crap – it’s more the runny nose, coughing and spluttering with a hint of headache now though… 

i was meant to be doing something with me mum, but as she’s susceptible to respiratory problems – pneumonia, bronchitis, pleurisy - with asthma and emphysema thrown in (and since her last hospital ‘stay’ they’ve told her if she gets even a hint of a cold she’s to get straight into hospital) i’m staying away from her so as not to spread anything… i really couldn’t cope with another hospital emergency – i’m way too run down… at least i’ve got allie and shadow to help console me – they’re just happy i’ve finally got a day at home with them… if only they could make me a cuppa, get their own dinner and clean up after themselves...

work - you wouldn't do it if you didn't have to hey!!!! maybe some of our jobs will become redundant once rfid is fully implemented and we'll be offered a package - i know a few of us would jump at the chance... hmmmm, guess we can always dream!

a nip here, a tuck there...

it appears beauty is no longer in the eye of the beholder, but in the hands (and abilities) of cosmetic surgeons these days...

i was listening to a program this morning about the latest cosmetic surgeries that people are 'voluntarily' undergoing… body decoration has been part of many cultures throughout the centuries, but in a society obsessed with looking young - and with the technology and surgical techniques available - decoration has been displaced by bodily mutilation at the hands of overly eager surgeons - every single part of our body needs to undergo some sort of augmentation, reduction, lift or tuck (mutilation by any other name!!!!)

dimpleplasty and toe shortening surgery are the latest trends - but there are so many other procedures:

• botox

• blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery)

• breast augmentation

• breast lift

• breast reduction

• brow lift

• buttock augmentation

• buttock lift

• chemical peel

• dermabrasion

• face lift

• facial implant

• injectable fillers 

• sclerotherapy (injection with solution to collapse spider veins)

• forehead lift

• arm lift

• hair replacement

• intense pulsed light treatment

• laser hair removal

• laser vein treatment

• laser skin resurfacing

• labiaplasty

• labia majora augmentation

• mons pubis reduction

• re-virgination

• g-spot amplification

• vaginoplasty

• penile augmentation

• liposuction

• mentoplasty (chin surgery)

• chin reduction

• microdermabrasion (skin rejuvenation)

• neck lift

• otoplasty (ear surgery)

• rhinoplasty (nose surgery)

• rhytidectomy (face surgery)

• thighplasty (thigh lift)

• thread lift

• tummy tuck

according to the cosmetic surgery directory “… cosmetic surgery is performed to improve your appearance and self-esteem. Cosmetic surgery involves reshaping parts of the body that are otherwise functioning properly.”

so, they’re doing it to improve our appearance and self-esteem hey… making billions of dollars isn’t their prime incentive… creating the illusion of easily attainable perfection and then peddling it to a public already bombarded by a constant visual barrage of 'beautiful people' definitely affects people’s perception of themselves, creating negative body images and low self esteem - then comes the perceived need to alter (mutilate) themselves to look 'normal' – the abnormal becomes ‘the norm’ and our physical diversity erodes - while their bank balances grow…

with more procedures specifically targeting them, womyn have been the major victims of this industry for a long time - but more and more men are going 'under the knife' in their quest to fit into this youth obsessed world... and sadly more and more teenagers feel the pressure and are succumbing to the false notion that changing their looks will change their lives...

"A recently discovered syndrome (hyper-aesthetic syndrome to be exact) has left youths as young as 16 wanting to look as good as they possibly can in a bid to emulate the brushed up and seemingly perfect celebrities in the glossy magazines that they pour over on a day to day basis.

Up there on the list of highly sought after procedures is breast augmentation (breast enlargement surgery), liposuction, rhinoplasty (nose surgery) and even tattoo removal." read more here

invasive surgery has the potential to go terribly wrong - surgeons aren't infallible - actually some are downright incompetent and shouldn't be allowed to touch a scalpel - there are many personal tales of destroyed bodies and lives easily found online...

and then there are those such as jocelyne wildenstein and actor mickey rourke who became addicted to the procedures and lost themselves in the process... 

but the 'nip'n'tuck' brigade is not alone in creating an unattainable image… the media, the cosmetics and the fashion industries have been complicit in the perpetuation of the beauty myth for decades  – the misogynistic profiteers and 'myth-makers' have a vested interest in maintaining the view that real womyn are somehow lacking and totally without appeal... if you don't have surgery, you at least need to mask your face with makeup, dye your hair, wax and pluck your body, change your natural smell with deodorants, perfumes and vaginal sprays, wear shape-changing clothes and top it all off with crippling shoes… no money to be made in people being natural - natural's just not acceptable!

and let’s not forget the heinous experiments performed on animals in the laboratories of the cosmetics companies - the violence and death attributable to the fashion industry - cruelty for the sake of 'beauty'… this is a subject that deserves to be explored in depth… so that’s for another post... but a question to ponder - are the products you use cruelty-free?

after viewing a slideshow on animal testing on the unleashed website i was dismayed at my ignorance of the cruelty of the american tobacco industry (the home of marlboro, camel and many other popular brands) which continues to experiment on animals - i'm also horrified that i unwittingly supported this industry by smoking marlboro for years - i  had however cut down my consumption of this brand over the last few months - although i still bought the occasional pack to intersperse with drum (and use in a mull) - no longer an ethical or moral choice for me...

apparently american spirit, who broke ranks with big tobacco and became the first-ever cruelty-free cigarette in america, is available in australia - now, i just have to find a supplier... but i am getting used to smoking tobacco again - drum yellow - it satisfies my addiction and it's british - "since 1995 no animals have been used to test tabacco or tabacco products (in the UK)"....

of course i could give up - then i'd just have to get used to smoking 'unadulterated' dope - unfortunately that won't help with the stress levels at work - i can't just 'nick out' for a quick joint!!! but as that's not part of my psyche at the moment drum is my 'poison' while i continue to need nicotine...