sallysetsforth

I'm totally loving that Magnum P.I. reruns are back on TV!

Channel 7 had started showing them every now and then (and on a completely random basis) on weekends, but their new digital channel 7TWO is playing Magnum P.I. every weekday at 11am. I set the timer every day, and have been having a blast watching the show! :)

Tom Selleck playing Magnum is so much fun to watch. In fact, everything about Magnum P.I. is fun! The fast cars, the fashion, the camaraderie between the characters, the Hawaiian scenery, the short shorts ... And apparently I'm not the only one who still has a soft spot for the show. There's a website called Magnum Mania which still has a very active fan community.

I love the Magnum P.I. theme song too - it's probably the only opening titles sequence that I never fast-forward through, because I enjoy it so much. It really gets you in the mood for some fun 80s action TV. If you can't remember how it goes, you can listen to it HERE on the Magnum Mania website. As soon as I figure out how to upload it to my mobile phone, this is going to be my new ringtone :)

I can't think of anything to blog about today.

So I'll link to someone else's blog entry instead ;)

First Blog on the Moon - Reader's Pets (10 July 2009)

Earlier this year, Crikey's lovable cartoonist First Dog on the Moon put out a call for photos of reader's pets. I responded, and - voila! - our cat Roxy was featured on his blog! I was far more excited than she was, of course :)

P.S. If you do go and have a look at First Dog's blog, make sure to pass your mouse over the pics for more funnies ;)

We bought a new camping mattress today, one of those foam mattresses that fold up rather than roll up. Our old camping mattress finally died after many years of loyal service - it previously belonged to my parents, and to my grandparents before that! Tim and I have tried roll-up foam mats, inflatable mattresses, and those expensive self-inflating camping mattresses, but nothing was as comfortable as that old fold-up foam mattress. I hope we get a few good years out of this new one!

Although Tim and I haven't been camping as often as we'd like to lately, it's a really enjoyable way to holiday. Especially if the weather's on our side! Hopefully we'll fit in a trip or two in Victoria before we head north.

Our first holiday together, back in the summer of 1998-9, was a camping trip in the Grampians. I have such fond memories of that trip. Like falling asleep before midnight on New Year's Eve at Lake Fyans. And the shocked look from a little boy who spotted Tim's brightly painted toenails (gosh he puts up with a lot!) in the water while we were paddling near a waterfall one day :)

Since then we've done quite a few camping trips. The beautiful camp site at Johanna Beach in the Great Otway National Park is one of my favourite spots. And the underground camping at Coober Pedy was bizarre, but great fun :)

It's not always fun and games though - there was also the time we got caught out in Lake St Clair, Tasmania with a summer tent in freezing weather (in our defence, it *was* summer!). We also discovered that night that we'd forgotten to bring pillows, and that our inflatable mattress had a leak! We stayed in a hotel the next night ;)

I've just finished labouring over the job application that I mentioned yesterday. I've now sent it in, and I think it was a good effort in the end (although my chances for this position are only so-so). I'm kind of buzzing actually - a bit like the feeling you get after completing a work project or handing in a Uni assignment!

I'm also feeling very fortunate today. In the lead-up to submitting the application, I was lucky enough to receive assistance from several fellow librarians in different ways. I was told about the position by a librarian in the Northern Territory who received my contact details from a colleague here in Victoria. Another colleague gave me some advice about what the position was likely to entail. And a librarian that I know through Twitter was kind enough to offer to look my application over and provide some helpful comments :)

Although I'm looking ahead and looking forward to future challenges in Darwin, I'm also feeling nostalgic today for my previous workplace. I was invited to their end-of-year lunch today, and had a wonderful time catching up with everyone and enjoying great conversations over lunch. They really are a lovely bunch of people, who I hope to have the pleasure of working with again some day :)

Today's post is super-quick, as I've got to finish a job application tonight :)

Tim and I bottled the home brew last night and have 54 bottles of beer to show for it. We had quite an efficient production line going between the two of us as we sterilised, rinsed, primed, filled and capped all of the bottles.



We also had an electrician come around this morning to fix some lights and install an extra powerpoint in the study. Hopefully that should put an end to some of the power-related computer problems we've had in the past.

And I spent the afternoon at my Mum's house, sorting through books with one of my sisters. Mum's done a big culling of her book collection, but it hasn't had a positive flow-on effect to my own culling efforts. Today was our fourth (and final) day of book sorting, and each occasion has led to an increase in my own book collection!

I picked some delicious berries from our garden today :)



On the left are raspberries, and on the right are boysenberries. The raspberries are especially sweet and delicious - so much better than anything you can buy! They were all eaten within 10 minutes of taking this pic ;)

Below is a photo of our berry patch. It was taken a couple of years ago (I thought of taking a new photo, but it's very overgrown and brambly at the moment!). Along the back wall are boysenberries and loganberries. Raspberries are in the next garden bed, and you can just see the redcurrant plants in front of them. We also grow blueberries and blackcurrants.



Loganberries are my favourite berry. We always had them growing in my family's garden, so there's a sentimental reason for loving them, but they also have a wonderful tartness to go along with their sweetness. Unfortunately they got walloped by the heatwave we had in November this year, so we won't get to enjoy them this season.

It takes a few years to get a good return on a berry patch, but it's so worthwhile. If the berries are brambles, you'll need to prune regularly and be prepared to put up with some scratches from the small thorns. But your reward will be the yummiest berries you'll ever have the pleasure of tasting :)

Woohoo! I spent a good-sized chunk of the last few months working on my e-portfolio for a Uni subject, and today I received my marks - a High Distinction! The lecturer's feedback was great too: "Excellent portfolio, well done, the best by far". Squee!

Alright, I'll stop showing off about it now ;). But it was great to hear that the work that I put into the e-portfolio paid off. Unlike most other Uni assignments, the e-portfolio involved a great deal of self-reflection about my past and present employment and achievements. So there was a lot of "me" in the final product.

There were some restrictions applied to the e-portfolio for assessment purposes. For example, I had to align my experience and artefacts (documents that demonstrate experience) with the values of my professional association. That certainly wasn't a bad thing - in fact it was very useful in defining the areas in which I'd like to gain more experience or become more professionally involved.

But it made it difficult (well, impossible) to pull in my experience and achievements from my previous career in the public service. It's something that I've found a bit frustrating in other areas too - some people and employers are only interested in the work I've done since becoming a librarian. I have lots of valuable experience, skills and ideas from my previous career which are applicable in the library world, especially in management areas. But I guess it's up to me to continue to find ways of demonstrating that.

Anyway back to the e-portfolio. As well as reflecting on past activities and achievements, it was also a very useful tool for career planning. I now have firmer ideas about what I want to do next and what kind of work I want to move towards. I've also joined ALIA's Professional Development Scheme to help me monitor my progress towards my career goals.

I've been keeping a watchful eye on job advertisements in Darwin. Because of their scarcity, it's tempting to apply for any and all jobs, and take whatever comes along first. But I've decided to be more strategic. The next job doesn't need to be 'the perfect job', but I do want to move forwards, or at least sideways, rather than backwards or into sectors I'm less interested in.

My criteria for applying for positions are: a proper librarian job (or a job that effectively utilises librarian skill sets); in a sector that I'm interested in; with duties that I'm interested in and which align with my career goals; and no reduction in pay level.

I'll be sending off my first application this week, but it could be a while before I'm successful in winning a job that meets my criteria. But at least I know that I'm well-prepared for the job hunt :)

Today I'm just going to share my favourite poem with you :)

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

I enjoy watching Doctor Who, although I'm not a mad keen fan - it veers a little too close to horror for me sometimes ;). But it's a show that holds a very special place in my memories, so I will always have a soft spot for it. The recent series with David Tennant as the Doctor has also been excellent - a wonderful reinvention of the show :)

I remember Doctor Who being aired in the 6.30pm time slot on the ABC when I was a kid. I have especially fond memories of watching it during the summer holidays at my Nan's house in Sorrento. We would have finished our dinner and bathtime by 6.30pm, after which we would all settle in together for Doctor Who (they were probably repeats being shown over summer). Nan would crack open a jar of salted peanuts - the only time we were allowed to have them. After Doctor Who, the ABC News theme song was the signal for bedtime, and it was many years before I was able to rid myself of that association!

As I mentioned, Doctor Who sometimes has an element of horror and I remember lying awake slightly terrified after some episodes! I have vivid memories of nightmares about giant glowing green larva (a search on Google reveals that they were probably Wirrn from The Ark in Space, back when Tom Baker was the Doctor).

My favourite Doctor was the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison. I thought he was terribly dashing and witty. If I ever watch any of those old episodes again, I do hope that reality is not too far from my memories :). I got a real kick out of a Children in Need special which brought Peter Davison's Doctor together with David Tennant's Doctor. It was an absolute blast!



P.S. I was going to end the post there, but then I remembered another fantastic video that was made in between the old and new series of Doctor Who. It was a Comic Relief special starring Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor and Jonathan Pryce as the Master. And a few other pretty cool guests too :). There are restrictions against embedding it, but you can view it HERE.

I have a real soft spot for funny or cute animal pictures and videos. And yes, I love lolcats - those silly photos of cats with captions attached :). I visit I Can Has Cheezburger? every day for a dose of lolcat fun. Here's one of my favourites (so hard to choose!) ...


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

YouTube is a great source of funny animal videos, and Roxy's reaction to cat noises that she can't locate the source of can also be pretty hilarious :). I'll leave you now, with what is possibly the cutest kitty video ever: