Guest writer - a Brag from Aunty Jo

Hello,

Well, yes I have been on holidays again, another week in paradise. Dekka and I went to our normal holiday destination of Hawaii; yes it is like our second home.Our first stop was Maui here we decided to splurge and stay at the Hyatt Regency (only could afford 2 night) and let me say we were not disappointed (see pictures attached).
If you are looking for a holiday were you were totally relaxing this would be it. Dekka played golf and I went exploring my surroundings.
Then it was off to our second home of Waikiki. Here we spent 7 nights. The normal area that we stay in is being redeveloped at the moment so we stayed a bit further down the road. It was also graduation week whilst we were there so there were lots of students around.
We had booked a standard room and when we opened the door to our room we discovered that we had been given an ocean front room (see pictures attached).
On Sunday night we were winding down from a busy day of beach and shopping when we heard these bangs. We went onto the balcony to see what it was and there were fireworks right in front of our hotel. It was like we had a private fireworks display.

Our days were filled with lots of eating, drinking, (yes I actually has a Pina Colada everyday) spending time at the beach and by the pool, and of course lots of shopping. Dekka also played golf.

The highlight of the holiday was discovering the Peanut Butter milk shake, it was very very yummy. Let me say Dekka and I were skeptical at first in trying one, however we are glad we did.

While we're on the topic...

While on the topic of photographs, can I just say how much I love photoshop and Paint and any other program that allows you to quickly and easily alter and mutilate digital photos, or any other sort of picture for that matter. Michele S from work may have created a monster as she is the one who got me a bit inspired. Both of the pictures in this post were actually created for her as punchlines to jokes (trust me, you don't want to know). Maybe it's just me, but diong stuff like this to photos appeals to my sense of humour and I'm pretty glad that we live in an age where we have the technology (obscure reference...and subsequent idea for next theme, watch this space!) to be able to do this sort of stuff without any skill, talent or knowledge! the possibilities are endless! Any challenges?

J.

Life through a lens

I love to take photos. I have always been a fan of photos. I took a photography class through Adult Ed years ago and I (briefly) worked in a photo store when I was in high school (turns out I'm not very good at sitting developing other people's photos all day) with thoughts of becoming a famous photographer.
When I lived in South Africa I took heaps of photos - of my friends, of all the places I visited, and quite a lot of landscapes that contain minutes specks that are lions, elephants, zebras and various other wildlife.
I have 2 websites for my photography - this one http://gallery129166.fotopic.net/ has all my general photos on it. My other one is for my photo diary. This is a thing I do every night at 8pm. An alarm on my phone goes off and reminds me to take a photo of whatever I'm doing. I've actually being doing this on and off for a couple of years but have gone online since last year when my fabulous friends gave me a very swish digital camera as a gift for my significantly round-numbered birthday last year and have been able to take decent quality photographs worth publishing. These are here http://hotoiary.fotopic.net/
Recently I found that a couple I took whilst visiting my sister's farm in rural WA actually turned out pretty well and I had them enlarged and properly framed and they now have pride of place on my apartment wall (and are also online here http://gallery129166.fotopic.net/c816241.html if anyone's interested). I have some beach shots that I took a while ago in more modest frames hanging in my bathrooms and I have a couple of my rainforest shots from Mossman Gorge that I'm hoping to do something good with for the bedroom walls.
The thing is, though, is that no matter what sort of an interest you have in something, or how hard you work at it, there's always gonna be someone out there who is just on a different level altogether. My favourite photographer is Peter Lik, and if you enjoy looking at amazing landscape and nature photography, I highly recommend you have a look at his website here:
http://www.peterlik.com.au/flash/default.asp I particularly love the one entitled "ghost" (find it through limited edition photographs--USA collection--35mm horizontal.
So anyway, feel free to skip my sites (although you'll notice I've put my links in first in an effort at shameless self-promotion), but do yourself a favour and check out this guy's' work.

J.

One thing I love....

...is going to dinner parties. And I went to a fabulous one on Saturday - thanks Sandy!!! The food was sensational (Indian, with various veggies options for the annoying vegetarian), the company was great and there was plenty of wine flowing with a decent number of cocktails for good measure.

Have you ever noticed something about dinner parties? They tend to start off all civilised like this:














and then end up more like this (don't ask):




or is it just the dinner parties that I go to? Is there perhaps a link? Hmm. Maybe I won't explore that thought too much.
Anyway, thanks for a great night, my fellow dinner party attendees! Look forward to the next one.

J.

Good luck tomorrow

To Nikki, who's getting married. Have a beautiful day!

J.

One thing I hate...

...is going to the dentist. I had to go yesterday and have a filling. It hurt and the drills make all those horrible noises and youy have to have those HUGE injections into your gums and you spend half the day feeling like your face is made of a 4-inch thick piece of rubber. Why are those needles so damn big anyway? They look like some sort of torture implement from the dark ages. Regular medicine managed to get needles down to fine slivers of metal on little plasticcy things yearas ago. They're still not much fun, but they're a hell of a lot better than those huge metal things with the looooooong needles and the 2 little loops of metal for the fingers (does he need to hang on more firmly than usual?). Ouch. Grumble grumble. and I have to go again next month for another one. Grrr...

Not even surprising

If you know me well, you'd know that I seem to have been born with a peculiar combination of clutziness, bad luck, forgetfulness, and just plain freaky things happening to me. Plus I was born without any sense of direction whatsoever.
so over the years, I've been in weird accidents, am known for losing things (especially leaving them on public transport), falling over and running into things. It's just pretty much par for the course when it comes to my day to day life. Whilst some of it is obviously my own fault (and having had a couple of glasses of wine never helps my chances of escaping any circumstance without injury), some things really just seem to be out of the blue. Then there are those that are a bit of both.
I'm not going to try to go into too much detail of past mishaps (although maybe I could write a nice long post on all my misadventures with escalators) because we'd be here all day. You don't even want to know how long a "clutz-off" lasted at a the housewarming party of a similarly-afflicted friend recently.
I will however share a recent story from my trip to the wilds of Far North Queensland. I hope you find it as amusing as my travelling companion so obviously did.

The precursor to this story is that I also have a lot of trouble with sunglasses. I lose them, sit on them, scratcht hem and break them fairly regularly. Plus, I'm one of thos people who really struggles with finding glasses frames and sunglasses that suit me. Something to do with the shape of my face or something. Anyway, over Christmas I took 2 pairs with me on holiday and managed to break one pair and lose the other (of course). Luckily my Dad found a pair of sunglasses in the street (does anyone else's Dad do things like that?), so he gave them to me. In typical fashion, I've actually managed to hang onto the freebies, despite the fact that they look terrible and don't do a terribly good job of protecting my eyes from the sun.

So first real day in Port and we're doing a bit of a browse in the local shops. Ronene's sunglasses have broken so we head for the local chemist for a bit of browsing. After having a look at the specials rack (never pay retail!) I found a pair of sunnies that I actually really liked and that were on sale for half price. Bargain! Wrap 'em up, I'll take 'em.

Day 2 in Port, we go for a drive up to Mossman Gorge and for a look around Mossman. We energetically hopped out of the car and did the full-length Mossman Gorge walk, which is ver beautiful, but very steamy and sweaty work. Incidentally you can check out the photos at my photo gallery - the link is in the previous post.

After over an hour of trekking through the rainforest, having a lovely time, we returned to the car. As we were pulling out to leave, Ronene pulled out her sunglasses to put them on as she was designated driver for the day. I went to reach up for my sunglasses, fully expecting them to be on my head where I had left them. Well of course, they weren't there.

I did a quick review, and remembered that I still had them on my head when we had a photo taken on the suspension bridge about 1km into the walk, and I also distinctly remebered taking off my hat to scratch my head at the lookout about 200m after that. I figured that there couldn't be too much ground to cover in my search, so decided to jog back in for a bit of a look. Ronene, the clever one, decided to stay behind and enjoy her packed lunch whilst I got in a bit of extra exercise.

So in I went. Dodging other tourists and speeding through the rainforest. I arrived at the bridge and slowed my pace, scouring the path on either side as I walked up the hill to the lookout. I reached the top just as the rain started.

I'm not talking about a drizzle or a bit of a sun-shower. I'm talking about full-on, pelting-down, buckloads of rainforest rain. There was nowhere to hide and I was drenched within seconds.

After getting over the immediate "what do I do??" reaction, I realised that there was literally nothing I could do. I stopped and marvelled at the spectacle of experiencing a deluge in the rainforest and it was truly magnificent.

Next I decided to take my time and do a good thorough search for my sunnies. It wasn't possible for me to get any wetter (not without physically jumping into a pool or something, anyway) so I had a good long look...all to no avail. Either I was mistaken about where I had dropped them, or some lucky person had picked up my stylish new sunnies. Unfortunately there's no lost property office in the rainforest.

So I made my way back to the car. I was greeted by gales of laughter upon my arrival looking like a drowned rat's wetter cousin. Thanks for your support and understanding. :-P

I tried to upload a photo, but seem to be having problems. You can check out a picture of the humiliating event here if you must....

http://gallery129166.fotopic.net/p30733470.html

Drumroll please.....

Well I've finally gotten around to getting my photos published from last weekend. You can check them out here:

http://gallery129166.fotopic.net

Enjoy!

J.

Glossophobia - a couple of very good reasons to beat the menace

For those of you who are wondering, glossophobia refers to a fear of public speaking.

Suprisingly enough, as someone who is a bit of an extrovert and actually rather enjoys being the centre of attention, I don't really suffer from this particular affliction. I never mind putting my hand up to do work presentations, trining, or question time, and I don't have a problem with having my say in meetings. Or any other forum for that matter (getting me to shut up might actually be more of a problem!)

So we all know that beating that all-too-common fear of public speaking has all sorts of benefits. It can help your career, raise your profile, and help you make more of an impression in all manner of business situations.

But I think I found the best one of all. On Sunday I stood up (bad shoes and all) and gave a short reading at my beautiful friend Bec's wedding. If was a lovely moment to be able to share with them. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Even if I was scared.

J.

Me doing the reading - ignore the dodgy hair, but feel free to admire the beautiful shoes!

Work the last 2 weeks

I had 3 days work last week, an extra long weekend in between, and 3 days work this week (I could get used to this!), so overall I've managed to do just over a week's work in the last 2. Here's what I've been up to........

• Spending some extremely productive time with George, from our WFM product vendors in the States (no, I'm referring to lunch at the pub with the team and George and his lovely girlfriend Jacqui) finding solutions for seasonality problems, clarifying the correct process for branch mergers, and working on public holiday BEDs (Business Express Deposits, for the uninitiated). It was a busy 2 days but saved us a whole lot of work in the long-term, so thanks heaps George! (hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay)
• Working on the Melbourne Cup public holiday in November for those branches that have the day off (when is Sydney Cup? Are we getting ripped off a public holiday somewhere?)
• Updating our pro-rated FTE summary template (don't ask) so that it runs off the same information as all our other reporting. ie Which branches belong to which regions, what sort of relief calculation they use etc.
• Catching up on the mountains of emails that arrived whilst I was away.
• Compiling updated branch attributes in preparation for the June forecast
• Testing other branch attributes for change and impact
• Creating an impact scenario and proposed new FTE plan for a proposed new merger
• Creating impact scenarios for some operating hours changes in Victoria
• Organising new data ports for Adam and myself so we can use our new laptop at the same time as our current PCs (good for running big reports/forecasts etc which slow your machine down for everything else as well), then organising for these to be transferred to the new building when we move in August, since they wouldn't have been included on our original specifications.
• Attending a meeting with the BIG team to discuss sales plans for next year and making sure targets are adequately resourced
• Updating and distributing monthly reports.
• Updating process documents for branch mergers with the information and process that came out of George's visit. (Yay, lots of fun ;-P)
• Having my holiday fade into a distant memory.......Sigh.

A special kind of torture

Warning: Do not read any further if you're squeamish or trying to eat!!!! Seriously. Gross photo below.

Why do we do it? All in the name of looking good and wearing stylish things. I'm talking, of course, about that special kind of torture known as the stiletto heel.

About 18 months ago on a shopping trip I found the most gorgeous shoes. They were the last pair left and exactly my size and they were a sight to behold. Strappy black stilettos with just a little bit of a diamante feature (nothing too showy). Sure, they were a bit higher than what I normally wear (but compared with my standard Birkenstock footwear, what isn't?), but I figured they'd be great for a special occasion.

So for my birthday last year I decided to try them out. Well, I don't think I've ever been in so much pain. I literally thought that my toes were going to fall off.

Well, you'd think I'd have learned my lesson. I almost did. I threw those shoes right to the very back of the cupboard. I moved house and took a long hard look at them when I was packing, in two minds about whether to take them with me. I sighed and thought that maybe an occasion would arise where I wouldn't have to walk anywhere, and where most of the occasion was seated. Maybe they'd be alright.

So I'm sure you know where this is leading. Of course I wore those shoes again. In fact, they went so perfectly with the dress I was wearing to the wedding last weekend that I felt it would be a crime not to wear them.

And I'm sure that you've probably realised by now that this isn't a happy-ending kind of story. If you want one of those go find yourself a nice fairy-tale (although I actually find some of them a bit freaky...child eating witches?? But that's another story.)

Anyway, the morning of the wedding was very exciting. We had the lovely Brenda, who was the hair and make-up artist for the wedding party, staying with us (another long story) so she was up at the crack of dawn to head over and start making everyone glamorous. The accommodation was pretty cosy (translation: small, with not much privacy) so we were basically up at the same hour, having a good hearty breakfast, cups of tea, and I even fitted in a spa whilst getting ready.

The upshot of all this, is that by the time we had to leave, Ronene and I were primped and pampered to within an inch of our lives. Glossy straightened hair, flawless makeup, glamorous dresses, and, last but not least, those beautiful black stilettos.

We left with plenty of time to wander down to the corner where the courteousy bus was going to pick us up and take us out to the gorgeous resort where the wedding was being held. Well, our first mistake was not really checking exactly how far down the road the pick-up point was. Our second was thinking that hair would stay straight and glossy in the heat and humidity of Port Douglas. My third, and most damaging, mistake was to wear those damn shoes.

The skin was off the side of one toe by the time we hit the corner. I hobbled on bravely, whilst trying to keep up with Ronene who at least had the good sense to bring an umbrella (you can't have a rainforest without rain, I suppose).

Whilst still a good 300 metres away from where we needed to be, we saw the busses pulling in up ahead of us on the road. We saw a group of well dressed people board those busses. The first one pulled out and our hearts started to drop. The second bus started to indicate and contingency plans started to be discussed. Well, luckily someone spotted us out the back window (there are advantages to wearing a bright red dress) and asked the driver to wait.

There was nothing for it. The shoes had to come off and we had to make a run for it. By the time we reached the bus, my feet were dirty (and already killing me) from running through the mud, my makeup had dripped off my face, and my hair was back to its natural kinky state. I was also dripping with sweat and not feeling very glamorous at all! I know at most weddings at least a few girls (ok, usually me) ended up with their shoes off at the end of the night. But I think it was a new low for me to actually end up barefoot before even getting to the wedding!

Luckily the veritable boyscout Ronene was carrying bandaids and tissues, and I had my powder compact in my handbag. The airconditioned bus ride was a godsend, and a couple of glasses of iced water at the bar (yes, strange but true) had me nearly back to feeling like the glamour-puss I had been 45 minutes before. The hair, however, was irreparable so please try not to be too judgmental when viewing photos.

Well, after all those dramas (and spending the rest of the day with people saying "oh, so you're the girls who almost missed the bus") the rest of the day ran more-or-less smoothly. I managed to keep my shoes on for a couple more hours (they did come off after a few glasses of champers under the belt). I can tell you, though, I'm still suffering for my vanity. The warning at the top refers to the truly gross photo of my feet the next morning that you'll find below.

And before I hear back from all the Sunday's experts about how this could have been avoided. I did have a pair of party feet with me (guys, ask your sister/girlfriend/closest female friend), but as the sole of the shoes was fabric-covered, the damn things kept slipping out the sides and dropping on the floor behind me as I walked around!

Cheers,

Jacki (thank god for Band-Aid blister-blockers!)

p.s. This week I'm going shopping for a nice sensible pair of comfortable black formal shoes!!!

Sneak Peak

Well, I'm back at work today after my holiday and the beautiful wedding of the lovely Bec and Luke. As always, work is crazier than usual on the first day back as you struggle under mountains of emails and other work that has built up while you are away. So anyway, I have plenty of Blog updates up my sleeve, but I'm afraid today isn't the day they're going to happen. Guess you'll just have to settle for a sneak peak at a couple of snaps from the wedding.

More soon,

J.

Breakfast of champions

I'm was sitting here waiting for a forecast to run and toggled, as I often do, to the newspaper site to browse the headlines. I was struck by one particular headline and had to read more.
http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/archives/good_living/004735.html#comments
This particular article discussed at length a subject very close to my heart - the big breakfast.

I am a huge fan of the big breakfast. In fact, I would have to rate breakfast as my favourite meal of the day. My parents brought the tradition of pancakes with maple syrup on the weekend back from Canada and to this day I still refuse to use pancake shakers (sacrilege!). When we were kids my Dad used to make us special pancakes with hundreds & thousands, chocolate sprinkles and swirls of colours. Being a bit of a practical joker (I know, bet you can't imagine me being descended from anyone like that), I remember on a number of occasions when we had visitors staying, he served up bright green pancakes with a completely straight face.

When I got a bit older I discovered certain beverages that make you appreciate a big greasy breakfast all the more the following morning. I graduated to the fried eggs and bacon brigade. Occasionally scrambled.

The next step in my breakfast evolution was the poached egg. I've always fancied myself as a bit of a cook (world famous gourmet chef on a good day), and mastery of the poached egg seems to be a bit of a benchmark (check how many comments this particular topic has attracted in the article above). Everyone seems to have their own special techniques and tips to make that perfect poached egg and everyone seems to look down their nose at everyone else's techniques. (I saw Delia Smith demonstrating the most ridiculous egg-poaching technique I've ever seen on the TV the other day). I'll share my very own secret recipe below if anyone's interested. It has been refined through much experimentation (microwave egg poachers most definitely do not work). Most recently I purchased one of those cool egg poacher things that sit on your frypan with water simmering underneath, that supposedly gently poaches individual eggs with no vinegar etc. I have only two words for that contraption - bah humbug!

Anyway, the next step in the evolution followed fairly closely on the heels of the poached egg as the natural next step. Mmmm...hollandaise sauce. Love it.

A number of years ago my whole big breakfast habits altered again quite drastically, along with the rest of my diet when I went veggo. The poached eggs are still on the menu (I'm a lacto-/pollo-), but these days they're generally accompanied by any or all of the following: baked beans, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, vegetarian sausages, avocado, fetta, cottage cheese, pesto - and all with a generous serve of chilli (fresh, dried or hot chilli sauce all work - Byron Bay Sauce Company Coriander Chilli Sauce is to die for!).

On the side should be an enourmous cup of tea or coffee. Tea made in a teapot or coffee made in a plunger. No teabags or instant coffee allowed! If it's been a really big night the night before, some form of fizzy caffeinated beverage may be required to be imbibed prior to preparation of the weekend feast...just to get me through the cooking process.

I get the weekend papers delivered, and these should be read whilst eating the feast (which I inevitably can't finish) and returning for a second serving of tea or coffee.

In my book, there's nothing better than a long lazy morning spent like this. Ahhh...heaven.

J. :-)

The perfect poached egg

1. Bring a large saucepan of filtered water to a fast boil. don't use a frypan. Make sure the water is at least 10cm deep.
2. Add a good splash of white vinegar and turn the heat down slightly.
3. Let the water come back to the boil
4. Crack one egg into a mug. (discard if the yolk breaks as this ruins the whole thing. The fresher the eggs, the less likely their yoks will break)
5. Hold the handle of the mug and tilt to a 45 degree angle. Lower the mug into the saucepan bottom first, until the water starts trickling over the lower edge and into the cup. Let a few spoonsful worth of the water in and hold for 10-15 seconds (until the white is no longer clear)
6. Quickly tip the cup and empty the egg into the saucepan. Leave for about 2 minutes 30 seconds (Watch the pan as sometimes it can have a tendency to overflow. turn down the heat a bit if the water is bubbling up too high.)
7. Use a slotted spoon and gently lift the egg out of the water. Tilt each way to drain as much of the water off as possible. Use a wad of paper towel for a final blot before gently placing on top of toast. Season with freshly ground black pepper, a pinch of sea salt, fresh finely chopped parsley and dried chilli flakes (to taste).

Just call me Ahab

I went whale-watching on the weekend. It's the right time of year to catch whales off the NSW coast on their annual migration to warmer waters in Queensland and I read in Sunday's paper that heaps had been spotted from Botany Bay National Park, just South of Sydney.
So off we traipsed, undeterred by abysmal weather. Hoping to see something a bit like this:

All was going well, we had rugged up and had a clear run of traffic all the way down. We checked in at the Discovery Centre on the way through and the sign said that 3 whales had been spotted that day already. Alright! Whale-watcher extraordinaire coming through.

Spoke to the lady at the Discovery Centre counter (I needed to renew my annual National Parks pass while I was there) and asked how likely it was that we would see Some whales. "Well, they're out there.....but there's a lot of white-caps and they're kind of hard to spot. You'd be better off in calmer weather." She said, obviously trying to be encouraging despite the fact she didn't think we had a hope in hell of spotting a whale.

Anyway, I'm kind of a "glass half-full" kind of person. So I adjusted my expectations to more like this:

and set off with trusty (old-fashioned weighing-a-ton) binoculars in hand, polar-fleece, gloves and wooly hat (of course!), still hopeful of spotting a whale.

Anyway, the afternoon was wild and wooly. Worse weather was clearly on its way and I found myself suffering a serious bout of jealousy at the people set up nearby who had had the forethought to bring a thermos of coffee (what a good idea! Why didn't I think of that!).

So we sat and we watched, and we rubbed our hands together and blew on fingers to try to stay warm. We combed the horizon and marveled at the power and beauty of the pounding waves. We got a month's worth of fresh air and at the end of the day had windswept hair and red cheeks, aglow with windburn.

And at the end of the day what did we see? Well this is a closer approximation:

Yep, saw plenty of pictures of whales. And had a fantastic day.

J. :-)

Work this week (week ending 02/06/06)

The last week has been a little bit of a roller coaster, since I worked on Monday, was sick on Tuesday, worked on Wednesday, had Thursday off as a rec day, and then worked on Friday. Anyway, those of you who sit near me or have to walk past my desk to get to the door/bathroom/kitchen (ie everyone on this level in Sydney) will be glad to hear that I'm over being sick and having pulled muscles and everything else that's been making me whinge and putting me in a crabby mood all week. As of today I'm glad it's Friday plus I'm a happy camper for the first time in days!!
Now, what I've been up to when I've been here is...

Completing requested enhancements to our regional reporting

Fixing up and automating some formatting issues with that same reporting

Sprucing up to have my photo taken for a pass to the shiny new building

Updates to attributes for a couple of branches and appropriate analysis to find out what the impact of those changes might be.

More work on the ongoing saga of seasonality.

Counting down days until my holiday (6 sleeps, 3 work days). Port Douglas here I come!

Hope yours has been a good one!

J.

p.s. Welcome next week to George, joining us from the US from our WFM vendors