Tag: being organised

Categories
Bloxham Marketing Life teaching Work

Where I’ve been

Okay, so I’ve been absent from this blog for what feels like months, but is only, in fact, 10 days. It’s now Monday 2 April, and it’s officially the ‘first day’ of school holidays. But while Miss 7 might sleep in this morning, Hubby will still have to drive in to work, and I’m in front of the screen already, getting work done while it’s quiet and still. Our work continues while schools have their break – and there’s always work to be done.

Last week was incredibly intense for me. Not only was I teaching a pretty full-on Prep class Monday through Thursday, I was also keeping the marketing of my clients ticking along. On Monday, for example, St Paul’s had a branding photo event with the brilliant photographer Greg Parsons. At the same time, the School Captain and Primary Head of School from Caloundra Christian College were being interviewed by Steve Dunster of Radio Rhema, to promote the Bike-a-thon that they ran on Friday, to raise money for the charity Reach-an-Orphan.

Tuesday and Wednesday was ‘quickly-interview-sources-and-take-photos-in-between-classes’ days, in preparation for the news story deadlines that always come around far too quickly. Thursday was ‘book the bus half-backs’ that I’ll be creating the skin designs for this week. And Friday was ‘finish the stories and submit by midday, then collapse’. And in between I was updating Facebook accounts – with photos of Firey’s visits and Cross Country carnivals – twitter accounts, and websites. Oh. And teaching Prep.

Man! No wonder I’m tired! Conclusion: I need a holiday.

Categories
Bloxham Marketing GoodOldTalk Life teaching Technology Work

The calm before the storm…

Today is the *last* day of the working week. Ha! I can’t recall when the last weekend that I didn’t work. Months ago? Years, more like.  I think, prior to conceiving the idea for GoodOldTalk.com – back when Mr 3 was 9 weeks old – I had some weekends where I wasn’t in front of the computer screen. I would have been busy with young children though. Is that just work of a different kind? Anyway, straying off topic here…

I love my job. Which is why I don’t keep regular hours. I often send emails between the hours of 9pm and midnight, or will blog in the early hours of the morning (I’m currently writing this at 3.54am) because that’s when it’s quiet and I can get stuff done. And if a kid wakes me in the middle of the night, as Mr 3 did just an hour or so ago, I’ll generally just stay up and work. And that’s okay with me. Truly. Being self-employed, if I don’t put in the hours and get the work done, I’ll lose my client’s respect – and then their business. Which is not good. So I work, and am happy to do so.

When it gets tricky though, is managing when I’m offered relief teaching. Since teaching means good money, and we need that, I only pass up these opportunities when I’m ill, or one of my children is. So missing a good 8 working hours out of a day while I teach means that I inevitably have to catch up that time elsewhere. And that’s where my organisation, of necessity, goes into overdrive.

Take next week, for example. I’ll be the St Paul’s Prep C teacher Monday through Thursday. I’ve also organised a branding photo event next Monday for the school – so the brilliant Greg Parsons will be shooting some additions to the St Paul’s library of branding photos. And normally I would assist in this event – but I can’t, because I’ll be in the classroom. I’ll also be in the classroom on Tuesday when I would normally be updating websites, on Wednesday during my Skype appointment with Hervey Bay, and on Thursday when I’d be interviewing sources for my weekly news stories that I submit on Fridays. See my problem? I need to re-schedule all my marketing activities for non-school hours… and not forget my mum / wife duties too (swimming lessons, shopping, cooking, washing clothes, helping with homework etc etc etc).

Sometimes life can be tricky to sort out. Lucky I’ve got this weekend to prepare it all! (Oh – and I apologise in advance. I doubt very much that I’ll be posting anything over the next several days!)

CC Image courtesy CC Chapman at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cc_chapman/480188435/

 

Categories
Life Technology

My flickr account – waiting, waiting, waiting…

I’m not a great photographer. If I take a half-decent photo, it’s generally a fluke. Plus, as regular readers of my blog would know, I’m not too keen on plastering pictures of my kids all over the web – and let’s face it, they’re the ones I spend most of my time with!

This would be the main reason why my flickr account doesn’t get a whole lot of use. Which is something that I’d like to change. But I’m waiting for multiple accounts to be enabled in ifttt, and then I’m planning on automating my flickr posts – which hopefully will encourage me to take more photos in the first place!

Be that as it may, I’m pretty proud of a photo I took recently. A storm had just gone through, and the colours of the sunset over the Glasshouse Mountains were just stunning. The view looking out over my front gate. Heavenly, no?

Categories
Life Random thoughts Technology University studies

Big Bang. Times two.

For the past few weeks now, I’ve looked forward to Monday nights. As a “Big Bang Theory” enthusiast, the idea of new episodes each week has been exciting. In fact, I’m so hooked on BBT that I’ve even blogged about it for work!

I started my Masters in IT in July 2010. The majority of my classes have been on a Tuesday  evening, and since I teach violin Tuesday evenings, I have been unable to (virtually) attend classes, and so instead I generally listen to the podcasts, later in the week. This semester however, my INN530 unit has been on a Monday. And it took me until after I had missed three classes, to realise that I had a clash between the two. (Whoops!!! Sorry, Kate! “Confession via blog?” That must be akin to “Death by misadventure”?!!)

So – last Monday, I was DETERMINED that I would not be distracted by the latest BBT, and that I would DEFINITELY attend class. Especially seeing as this lecture was the biggie for me. Coding. And I’ve never written any code in my life! So I teed up Hubby to feed, bathe, and put the kids to bed, bought a headset, and went. And I’m so glad (cough) I did. Kate, in her usual incredible manner, simplified the basics for dummies like me, to such an extent  that I – almost! – managed to keep up with her pace. And I was also able to keep my brain from exploding until after I had left BlackBoard Collaborate.

So. Ceridwyn the coder? I hardly think so! Rather, I think that learning to code at the ripe old age of 37 is going to do my head in. Oh well. At least I’m going to go down trying…!

CC Image courtesy calixto at http://www.flickr.com/photos/calixto/6005872093/

Categories
More about me University studies

And we’re back!

Today is Monday the 27 of February. Very many years ago now, my younger brother was born. He’s now a freelance computer programmer based in London.

This time last year, I commenced my third semester in my Masters in IT, majoring in Library and Information Science. (I had started in July of 2010, and had also taken a course over the 2010-2011 Summer Semester). So I had completed three in my first semester, one over the summer, and was about to take two more. Six total, of twelve.

Source: Uploaded by user via Worldtraveller on Pinterest

Unfortunately, the way that the LIS is structured is that 5 core courses, of those 12, are Semester 1 only offerings. Which means that even if I wished to, I would never be able to complete the entire degree within the usual 3-semester time-frame. Which is a bit of a bumma.

As it stands, I’ve now done 7 total – 2 of the Semester 1 offerings, all of the Semester 2 offerings – and have 3 core (Sem 1’s) to go, 1 elective, and the practical course, left. The trouble is, I can’t take three courses in one semester any more (Hubby’s decree) so there’s no way I could finish this degree this year and keep my marriage.

So. I’m in for one (and one only!) course this semester. Might do the elective in Sem 1, and the final two cores (and the last of the practical this time next year. It seems a very long-drawn out process for what was meant to be a three-semester degree!

Never mind. I start today, “Online Information Services” under the brilliant @katiedatwork, and am super-excited to get another course under my belt…

Categories
Random thoughts Scribblings

On being Pinteresting…

It took me a week to get an invitation to join Pinterest. A week of waiting. Anticipating and wondering what this new website was all about. Then the invitation arrived, and I could login to see what all the fuss was about. At first, I wasn’t particularly impressed. It didn’t seem as intuitive as I had expected. After all the hype, I was left a little bit confused what the idea was. And then I discovered the embedding function. And a whole new world opened up.

Source: Uploaded by user via Ceridwyn on Pinterest

You see, I love to blog, and I love to include images on each blog entry. Unfortunately, I find it that it takes a long time to run a Creative Commons search through Flickr to find exactly the right image to use. But now, with Pinterest, I can easily find the images that I want, and use their ’embed’ function to include these – with citation attached – onto the blog entry. And I can create however many boards I like, on whatever topics I like. Cool!

So now, all I need to do, is curb my desire to go and find more great pictures. Pictures like these ones below.

Source: google.com via Ceridwyn on Pinterest

Source: weheartit.com via Ceridwyn on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Ceridwyn on Pinterest

Source: saleyeti.com via Ceridwyn on Pinterest

Source: computergear.com via Ceridwyn on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Ceridwyn on Pinterest

Thought I’d share with you some of my favourites with you. I hope you had as much of a laugh as I did! And now that’s done, you’ll have to excuse me. I just need to go and find some more…

Categories
#blog5daysAustenese

#blog5daysAustenese – Day Four

Having a day with few commitments before me, my plan is to spend my hours writing. In the formation of sentences, the reworking of ideas, the addition of punctuation and the correcting of grammar.  Not only for the continuation in this #blog5daysAustenese journey, but also in the creation of articles for work, both mine and my clients’.

I have often pondered, in my leisure hours, upon the many and varied writing stiles. This challenge, for example, was conceived with the idea that I had recently been so immersed in reading Austen‘s novels that, when I wrote (sometimes even when I spoke!) I found it difficult to refrain from her stile. My preference was to use vocabulary which, although still understandable, required effort to comprehend, being no longer in regular usage. I also found it fairly easy – and interesting! – to write in a stile that, for the most part, made liberal use of overly long sentences comprising significant numbers of embedded clauses. Verb usage at the beginning of the sentences quickly became an idea that, although foreign at first, became more familiar in practice, as was wont to happen.

Perversely, the difficulties presented themselves when moving away from blogging in Austen’s stile, in occasions when a modern tone in my writing was required. I was surprised – nay, shocked! – to discover that it was here, wherein the true nature of the challenge made itself felt. The difficulties with which I struggled to write in a modern stile were a sight to behold. Indeed, I was both astonished and confounded to ascertain within myself a penchant for the writing of long sentences, and the use of vocabulary quite different to mine own.

Hence my decision to pen my blog early today. If I am to achieve, successfully, the tasks before me, which of necessity require a modern stile of writing, the difficulties in the adoption of same that I have noticed, will need to be taken into account. So here ends the fourth of five entries written in the stile of Austen, and I look forward to penning my fifth and last, tomorrow. Til then, dear readers!

Point to note – although I found it rather difficult to continually spell the word ‘style’ with an ‘i’ rather than a ‘y’, it is consistent with Austen’s spelling during this period. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused!

Categories
Random thoughts Work

Catching up

So today I played catch up. I’ve been majorly neglecting sleeping, eating properly, and just the usual run-of-the-mill stuff that I always neglect, those of you who know me IRL. So today was catch up day. I washed clothes. I washed dishes. I shopped for food (and caught up on some sleep in the car while Hubby drove!) I cooked food. I cleaned various parts of the house. I even noticed a headache that didn’t want to shift. (It had probably been there for days, but I’ve been too busy to notice!) I started filing the never-ended mountain of paperwork that seems to be getting even bigger now I’ve scored the marketing consultancy at St James in Hervey Bay. (Absolutely BRILLIANT school, by the way!!! Really going places; it’s got an excellent team at the top – visionaries who also know how to successfully implement that vision. Which is pretty rare. And I’ve been in and around a LOT of schools! FYI, did you know that EVERY kid from Year 7 up has an iPod Touch which they use – in every curriculum area?! How cool is THAT?!!!)

And catching up on stuff today allowed me quite a bit of time for introspection. Which is cool. I’m starting to not mind the whole ‘figure out who I am’. And today’s thinking was in the context of my work life. Brought about courtesy of Craig Hewlett, President of 101.5 FM, who invited me to do a DJ-ing course at his station, yesterday. He seems to think that I’ve got a good voice for radio. (Poor guy had to listen to me for 6 hours straight at the St Paul’s Spring Fair Teen Space yesterday, and that probably addled his brains!) Anyway, he was pretty serious about the offer – it’s a paid course, and he offered to sponsor me to do it! How cool is that! Unfortunately, I had to say no (for the time being). Even though I’m always up for a challenge, even I think that adding something like that to my life would just be stupid. After all, I have 3 kids, and my eldest is 6; I run a website, a tutoring business and I’m the QLD distributor for another business; and then I’m working pretty much full-time as the Marketing consultant to two schools. Oh, and somewhere in there I’m also managing to find the time to study for my Masters in IT. (So stoked about finishing that 40%er last Thursday!!! And a HUGE thank you to Tony Wilson, QUT’s Marketing and Communication Director, for permission to use that awesome quote of his!!!) Which leads me to believe that, although working as a radio DJ would be such a cool thing to do, maybe now might not be the time to consider it. (Oh, and did I also mention I’ve been invited to join the Golden Key International Honour Society?! Pretty chuffed!)

So anyway, today I got stuff done. Not that I haven’t been getting stuff done recently, but today’s was different stuff. And that’s cool. By the way, I particularly dislike filing.

Categories
places to visit Random thoughts University studies Work

Hanging on by my toenails

I feel like a bug. Still alive – barely – and hanging on for dear life. I’m standing on the windscreen of the vehicle that is my life, and it’s currently going full-speed, flat out, non-stop.

Hopefully that vehicle’s not a train careering along a decrepit railway line, else I’m headed for a massive train wreck!!!

(On the up-side: I’ve completed two of my three assessment pieces for AMN400 Consumer Behaviour – which I’m loving, by the way – and I’ve painted seven street signs in the last two weeks; and I’m on top of the St. Paul’s yearbook to date; and I’ve started working (successfully, too!) at St James at Hervey Bay, both in person and over email, internet, skype; and Miss Three is now completely toilet trained; and – best thing of all – Spring Fair is on today which means that sometime around 4pm I’ll be able to breathe again!!!!!!!!)

Woohoo!!! LOVING my life right now!!

Categories
GoodOldTalk Random thoughts teaching

Tired but happy.

All things considered, I’m doin’ okay.

I’ve spent the last three days in front of a Year 2 classroom. The kids were absolutely delightful – as all classes at St Paul’s Lutheran are, come to think of it – but coming hard on the heels of a fantastic ‘do-nothing’ holiday which followed several weeks of zero relief teaching days – three consecutive days was a bit of a shock for my sometimes-working- sometimes-not voice. (Yup. Haven’t seen a doctor yet. Probably should. I know.) It was also a bit of a shock to my kids too, I think. But they coped really well.

Mum, on the other hand, lost sleep. But that was because I’d had too much of a good holiday and hadn’t looked properly at my calendar.

You see, she and I set up the website goodoldtalk.com – a social network for Seniors. And last year, I attended the Senior’s Expo and Forum organised by Peter Slipper MP, on behalf of the GOT site. So we were invited back this year, and me in my un-organised post-holiday haze didn’t realise that I’d double booked teaching over the Forum day. Whoops! So I taught Year 2, and Mum was the GOT ambassador. With two other absolutely fantastic GOT members who also agreed to (wo)man the GOT stand. Apparently they had an absolute ball – I knew they would, but they were a little hesitant about it, having always left the ‘speaking engagements’ to me. But not only did they have a fantastic time of it, they scored another FOUR speaking engagements, and a radio producer of a local community radio station was so excited by the concept, that he’s signed up to the site, blogged already, and intends to promote us on the radio waves. Woohoo!!!

Pretty cool. And I believe that makes up for missing out on the cocktail party with the Hon. Bronwyn Bishop at Peter and Inge Slipper’s do last night. Seeing as I was dead-on-my-feet anyway!