a little bit of sorcer-y...

nah, not that type of sorcery -   i'm talking this type of sorcer(y)... our new(ish) web 2.0 catalogue 'experience'...

what does it do? this, from the developers (civica) website... "SORCER is focused at the library patron and, by using a range of Web 2.0 concepts and tools, provides them with a personalized exploration of a library collection integrating social networking and other new features."

in other words it's a more visual, informative, interactive and customizable online library catalogue... i'm in the process of 'learning sorcer' - how to create the containers to display information in various formats - browse clouds, gallery displays, browse lists, etc... doesn't sound too hard does it? but it's like learning a whole new language...

have you ever played around in the template html of your blog? maybe viewed the source code of a web page? because it's that source code that i have to work within when creating one type of container...  this is the source code of the sorcer graphic and first paragraph above - and it's this sort of code that i have to become familiar with... granted, the wheel has already been invented in that there are containers already made that i can copy, paste and edit - but i still have to scan it, work out what needs to be kept, what gets added where, what to get rid of, find the right graphic and then format it to fit, then add it's location into the right place in the code... and then there's the containers that require boolean searching - it needs to be done right to get the right sets of results... all this gets done in a test database and then has to be transferred to the live system - all very 'focused' and 'fiddly' stuff - for me it is anyway - not so for the younger generation who have grown up with computers - guess they grew up with computer-speak their second language...

it is interesting stuff though, but it's been doing my head in all weekend just thinking over what i learnt on friday - i don't want to forget it! the memory doesn't have the same retention and recall it once did (access to the test database from home would be sooo good - the only place where total concentration can really be achieved!)... 

i had ideas of writing a post on a totally different topic - i'd been mulling over a couple of reports of disturbing trends from earlier in the week - but, as you can see, it didn't quite work out that way - perhaps next week...

in the blink of an eye...

Wow, seems like I blinked and the weekend disappeared!

working all day saturday just seems to get harder and harder... it really eats into the desperately craved for 'homelife' time… and a lot of the evening is spent winding down from the day on desk... and saturday we were one short for the day - by late friday there was just no-one prepared to come in for the shift, so knowing we were going to be shortstaffed sailor lily provided a bottle of howling wolves vegan wine for us to share and help the winding-down process once we'd closed the library (thank you!!) - it wasn't as good as having another body on desk would have been, but at least we had something to look forward to after the hard slog... there were four of us to share the vino so we had a glass, a quick debrief and catch up and then went home - i got a lift so i was pretty much at home in the same time it would have taken waiting for public transport… maybe that's how the day should end every day - well, at least if you have to work at the weekend anyway?!! 

and what a wild and windy night it turned out to be – definitely a night to spend by the heater - but we lost power here in st kilda for a few hours - there went the heater – luckily i'd had dinner because once 'the lights went out' I couldn’t even have a cuppa because the flats are all electric – bummer – thank fuck for candles and laptop batteries – at least I could listen to music - when i could hear it over the storm that is - the whoosh of the wind was incredible!!!

my heart goes out to those in the rural areas where flooding has become a major disaster or where communities are living under threat... so many areas affected - i've lived in bushfire prone areas but never been close to a flood - i can only imagine the anguish, heartbreak and frustration of having to deal with the devastation so much water, mud, and debris would cause... and then there are the animals - voiceless victims of every disaster...

it caught my attention when i heard they were sandbagging in skipton - i once lived near there and seeing this map sent me tumbling down memory lane to 1989 when brann and i 'packed up the family' - the animals that shared our lives and whose lives we were fortunate to be part of - goats (3), dogs (4), cats (10) and numerous chooks (mostly progeny of those we'd saved from battery farms) - said goodbye to our 'shack' and 50 acres of bushland and granite outcrops high up a mountain in tallarook and moved to snake valley...

we lived in a small campervan for the first few months and the annexe became our kitchen... we had a small two-burner camping stove with gas bottle and the fridge was an esky replenished with ice every couple of days... the dunny was either a bucket, or a shovel and roll of toilet paper - now this wasn't too bad in the summer, but for the first few weeks we were there it bucketed down - luckily it was september (and an unseasonal amount of rain) but at least it wasn't bitterly cold too!!!!

once the weather 'fined up' we had a dam dug, and then a western red cedar house built to lock-up... it was only 10 squares - but it was big enough for us to start with - we had 20 acres of beautiful australian bushland to supplement our space and add to our enjoyment... and the house was 500 metres from the front gate - blissful seclusion...

we moved in to the empty shell and started the hard work of doing all the internal stuff ourselves - walls, ceiling, fit-out etc... we put in a large water tank and a gravity feed tank on the roof, had a septic tank installed, fitted a slow-combustion stove in the kitchen and a wood heater in the lounge - we had plenty of old fallen trees on our bush block - we just had to do the sawing and chopping! - and finally we could afford a small solar and battery setup... up til now we'd been living with a generator, 12-volt battery power and candles (mains power was way too expensive to get connected!) but we were forever having to get the racv out to charge up our car batteries!!!!

we added a wide verandah - this was the view from it before we started landscaping (that's caspar wandering around in the yard - his sister suli was probably off being wicked somewhere - we had a 1/2 acre fenced off around the house - plenty of space for everyone to entertain themselves) - it was a wonderful place to watch the resident wallabies, kangaroos and kookaburras - we had a regular visiting fox that came right up to the fence and teased and harassed the dogs terribly once it realised they couldn't get out!!! and there was also a koala (we called him kelly) who took up residence at certain times of the year...

this was home - my country dream - by this time it was 1992 - we'd had our ups and downs over the years but hey, we were still together after 17 years so there was no reason to believe that we weren't going to be here forever - we were even trying to conceive... but then one fateful phone call became the catalyst in turning our lives upside down, and our world started to implode...

in the blink of an eye...


you may notice i don't use photos with brann in them - i have many photographic memories of him but since we split up i don't know that i have the right to 'share them with the world' without his knowledge or approval so consequently i keep those to myself...

enough of memory lane - it's hard to keep the tears at bay - so i'll leave you with janis and a song called 'little girl blue'...

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!

what a strange week…

it was a lovely long weekend with no work - an enjoyable friday evening with irene visiting and leaving louie to stay until Monday – then catching up with steph and pete monday afternoon - they're going to italy for a few months so won't see them for a while - we ambled down fitzroy street, found somewhere outside to sit and shared a bottle, some food and wonderful conversation.

unfortunately all good things come to an end and my four glorious days off work were fading into a memory already - it was time to get back to reality and work…

and the mountain of returns in the chute room that greeted us on tuesday morning was just a taste of the week to come!!!!! it’s been absolutely chaotic at st Kilda all week… everyone’s just been soooo weary…

so, as you'd expect, none of us were looking forward to working the weekend - especially with the system down all weekend for network maintenance - luckily (for me) I was only doing 1-5 today – but after the frantic week would we survive the day with our sanity intact???

well, what a surprise when i arrived - i walked into a very sparsely populated library – there was hardly anyone on the computers, nor were they booked up for the rest of the day – unheard of on a Saturday – and happy staff!!!! it was a tad surreal!!!!

there had even been an extra staff member arranged for desk – I think there was an extra shelver too - everything that could be done without the system (shelving and interfiling dvds) was pretty much up to date – i can’t remember us ever being ‘over-staffed’on a saturday or everything being 'calm and relaxed' (in a fantastical 'this can't last' sort of way) in the 12 years i’ve been at the library!!!!

so of course, in good team spirit I offered to stay for the lunch cover and then go home if there were too many of us – and to my surprise my offer was accepted - thanks Kitty - our weekend budget has been a bit 'over-extended' lately too so it worked out well all ways round (hope the sunday team have the same 'cruisie' time we did... although who knows what happened when den and i left at 3... and aren't i glad that i don't work mondays - now that's going to be a day of pure horror!!!! good luck everyone...)

cool, i could do some shopping at the health food store and then come home early to my furry companions – if i was lucky there wouldn’t be any piss to clean up because i hadn’t been gone long – now that’s wishful thinking with me old girl’s incontinence!!!

but how fortuitous the timing… walking down loch street just around the corner from home i noticed a beautiful black labradoodle (just like the one opposite only, well, black - more a greyish black) looking very distressed, very lost… he was trying so hard to find a familiar smell – and when he just ran across the road and almost got hit by a car i couldn’t just leave him to a terrible fate so i crossed over and started talking to him – he came straight up to me and snuggled - he was a friendly boy – jet was his name – and luckily he had a mobile phone number on his tag – well, even more lucky was the fact that i had my mobile with me (i quite often walk out of my flat without it!!!!)

and yes, his human companions were frantically searching for him – he’d made his quick escape when someone opened the gate… we exchanged more pats and nuzzling while we waited for his family to find us, and then jet and i said farewell, told each other how nice it was to have fleetingly crossed paths, and went our separate ways…

ahhh, all’s well that ends well…

blogged out and work weary...

i spent a bit of time on saturday refining a new parenting blog we're 'unveiling' at our in-service day on wednesday... i took care of the aesthetics and Sailor Lil took care of the written content - i must say i'm quite proud of the way it looks and extremely thankful that Lil's a 'wordsmith'... more on that next week...

but consequently having spent all day friday and (i won't say how much of my) saturday on it i found it hard to do some personal blogging - i was a tad 'blogged out' - i had intended to spend some time writing last night, but i was way too tired after working at albert park - i can't believe how busy it was - the unallocated list seemed never-ending, the returns kept coming thick and fast and the phone kept ringing ("sorry, we're totally booked out today) - i never want to see a dvd again - you get sore hands and arms opening and closing those bloody cases (let alone what all that bending over searching does to your back)!!! it was pretty much the same last sunday...

i saw my mother today, she needed a few things and wasn't feeling well enough to go down the street - she's having a lot more downs than ups at the moment... at times she's black and blue all over - as she describes it "i look like i've been 10 rounds with muhammad ali" - that's her chronic kidney disease - kidneys are deteriorating and have problems removing waste from blood...

i thought i'd share a couple of pictures of her - it was 1950, her 21st birthday...

and i was sent these amazing pics  - i just have to share them - they tell an amazing tale...

Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear coming upon tethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay...

The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his dogs when the polar bear wandered in.

the polar bear appeared to want company, and returned every night for a week to play with the dogs.

a gentle giant - unfortunately an endangered species - such a magnificent creature - the dog's beautiful too...

my space...

no, not MySpace, but my space - but alas no, darrell still doesn't have the key to his place - hopefully he'll get that today (i'm waiting in anticipation for his text message now!!!!) he has been staying elsewhere the last few nights though and only has a few things left here to collect once he can get into his space - can't wait for the last of his stuff to go because then i'll be able to feel totally relaxed in my own space - but to totally reclaim my sanctuary i'm feeling the need to rearrange the furniture again as soon as every single thing of his is gone!!!! that might be one of next weekends activities!!!!

i had a full house on saturday night though... irene and the gang came down from malmsbury and stayed the night - that meant all 4 of the poodle clan, along with allie and shadow - yep, 5 dogs, 1 cat and 2 humans in the flat - and believe me that was much easier to deal with than having just darrell here!!!! guess i'm just more of an 'animal person' than a 'brother person'!!!!

we had a nice relaxing evening just eating, smoking, and watching a grouse 'cutesy' family movie - beverly hills chihuahua - now, i don't know about you but i luv a well-done disney animal movie - and we both got a lot of laughs out of this film - one of the major 'characters' - papi - reminded us both of a tough wee chihuahua that once shared irene's life and that i had the pleasure of knowing - cheech (see right) aka cheechie-boy, cheechie-wowa, cheech-mcfeech among others - and he was sure he was the size of a german shepherd - so much bravado - he was a grouse little fella...

of course the evening was interspersed with long walks because the flat and courtyard just aren't like their country space - definitely not big enough for 'rough-house playin' so we had to wear'em'out with walkin' and off-lead runnin' - they loved it!!!!

unfortunately i had to interrupt my weekend with another sunday shift yesterday - that's four weekend shifts in the last five weeks - oh no, and another one next sunday - we don't seem to have enough staff these days because we all seem to be working more weekends - it's harder to swap shifts let alone give them away - you just end up working way too many in a row - everyone's just too exhausted...

we have lost some staff out of the 'weekend roster mix' due to higher banding - that stretches the existing staff even thinner - not good for the already overworked, over stressed team!!!!!!

if you take something away without replacing it, eventually 'something's gotta give' - usually sanity first, followed rapidly by physical deterioration!!!!

luckily i enjoyed catching up with my co-worker yesterday - someone i don't get a chance to work with often - and i'm working with another 'goodie' next weekend - and believe me the team you're on with can make all the difference to it being either a good or bad day!!!