sallysetsforth

The first week of #blogjune and #ICAD (Index-Card-A-Day) has drawn to a close, and as promised in my first post I have put together a round up of my week's #ICAD efforts.



I have found the Index-Card-A-Day challenge to be a lot of fun, but also surprisingly challenging. It's been a long time since I've put pen or brush to paper on a regular basis - and it showed! I felt quite clumsy on several occasions, especially when trying new techniques or media.

But that's the point really. It's about exercising my creative muscles, and giving myself permission to try. My experiments may be failures or successes, but it doesn't matter as long as I do something to stretch myself creatively. I'll admit that they haven't all been easy to share online, but I'm proud of them nonetheless.

It's also been unexpectedly easy to make time for (much easier than writing blog posts anyway!). Tim is doing the Index-Card-A-Day challenge with me as well, and we've set up half of the dining table with a plastic cloth and all of our art supplies so that we can easily jump in and start work any time. It makes for a great circuit breaker after a busy day at work :)

I'll be continuing to upload photos of each day's card on Flickr.

Tim and I both took a big step today. We delivered our analog televisions to the local e-waste recovery centre and said goodbye.

Why was this a big deal? Because we have trouble letting go. I've blogged before about my struggle to overcome a collecting habit that's been ingrained since my childhood. I also have difficulty dealing effectively with things that might come in handy one day, and anything that has a sentimental attachment.

My little black and white TV was a gift from my parents on my 18th birthday (I still remember the three 'big' gifts I got for my three 'big' birthdays - a camera for my 16th, a television for my 18th and a stereo for my 21st). After I moved out of home, that little telly was my only TV until Tim and his colour television moved in with me, and I've never managed to let go, even though we never used it again. It was still in good working order, and it looked so cute sitting up there on the top shelf ...

Tim's colour television was his first major purchase after he'd started working. He bought it when he was working in the mining industry in Western Australia. Nowadays it would be regarded as a medium-sized TV, but back then it was huge! It was our main television until earlier this year, having survived the switch to digital thanks to a set top box. When my Mum moved into aged care at the start of this year, we got her large, flat screen television, and Tim's TV went into limbo.

Clearing out my parents' house this year has provided us with a lot of perspective though. Seeing what eventually happens when you don't throw anything away is a sobering experience. So this weekend, we finally plucked up the courage to say goodbye to our respective televisions - still working, but also not working. Knowing that their parts will be recycled wherever possible helps, of course.

Goodbye old telly.

Another late night blog post, having just returned home at 10.30pm after a lovely night out with my friend and former colleague Julie :)

We met up after work for a drink at Chloe's Bar, Young & Jackson. We then enjoyed dinner at Il Pom Italian, at Fed Square. I had gnocchi tre formaggi and a delish melon spruzzi mocktail (see pic below), followed by soft centred chocolate pudding. Very decadent!



We talked of many things, joys and challenges. Always a pleasure to spend time with such a good friend :)

It's only the second day of #blogjune, and here I am at 10pm trying to scrabble a post together! I have lots of drafts in progress, but all need more work than I have time for tonight.

So a simple post about something that I created recently. I made my Mum her Mother's Day card this year, using origami paper lined with writing paper, and a strip of floral tape. I bound it with a ribbon, and of course added a personal message inside. I was quite pleased with this effort, understated but pretty.



Future #blogjune posts will cover professional issues, cooking, travel, technology, gardens, craft and more  - so it will be a mixed bag of posts as per usual :)

It's June already! Which means it's time for the #blogjune (blog every day of June) challenge to commence once more :)

I've been looking forward to participating this year, since I missed it last year due to travelling through parts of Australia with very little internet access. This year is the fifth year of #blogjune, so it will be my fourth attempt.

If you're interested in getting involved in #blogjune, Con Wiebrands has provided some information and a sign-up page, as well as a list of the participating bloggers. It's really exciting to see how much it has grown since 2010.

And I must be a glutton for punishment, as I've also signed up for another daily challenge at the same time! It's called Index-Card-A-Day (#ICAD), and it's a creativity challenge that uses cheap, simple materials to encourage people to create a little bit of art each day. There's no pressure to be perfect or talented, just jump in and get those creative juices flowing. More information is available on the Daisy Yellow website.



I'll be posting future #ICAD entries on Flickr, and also plan to post a weekly round up on this blog :)

A lot has happened since my last blog update, and life has been stupidly busy. But a little bit of breathing space has finally opened up again, and I'm finding my way back towards a (hopefully) manageable routine.

My sisters and I have been working really hard to prepare the family home for sale. It's sad for all of us to part with this house that has been in the family for nearly 80 years and is full of memories. We also haven't had much time to work with, as we need to raise the bond for the aged care facility that my Mum moved into at the beginning of the year. It's been stressful and exhausting - sorting, packing, disposing, cleaning, painting and now finally selling. The auction is this weekend ...



In the middle of all of that I applied for, won and started a new job! I'm now working in the Melbourne office of an international library organisation, and I'm excited to be extending my experience in a different part of the library and information sector. There's so much to learn, but the people are great and the work is interesting and challenging. I'm working across a range of library products, mostly library management systems and interlibrary loan services. My clients are now libraries rather than end users, and I'm learning to deal with all the behind-the-scenes issues that I would normally gratefully hand over to the systems librarian or vendor :)

Oh yes, and my computer broke down again and I fixed it again. The story of my adult life. *lol*

I recently recovered from a computer meltdown. It started with one of those enigmatic error screens that could mean a hundred different things. After trying a few options, I conceded defeat and visited my local PC repair shop. I was convinced it was just a faulty connection somewhere, but the diagnosis came back: failed hard drive. Again.

Having already spent quite a bit of money to replace the hard drive and retrieve my data only a year before, this time I decided to fix it myself. And yes, I also resolved to back up more regularly so that I wouldn't have to deal with the data retrieval issue again in future.

It had been a while since I fossicked in the innards of a PC, but it was a lot like riding a bike and I picked it up again fairly quickly. I purchased an external hard drive enclosure, inserted my failed hard drive, and attempted to retrieve the data via my netbook. No luck. It caused Windows to freeze completely. Reluctantly, I sought professional help once more, but the same thing happened to them and they said they couldn't help. They did, however, give me a brochure for a data recovery firm that could retrieve my data. For $600-$700. Minimum.



Righto. My resolve was strengthened. I Googled for alternatives, and hit upon a possible solution. Using an external DVD-RW drive with my netbook, I burnt an Ubuntu boot disk for my very first foray into Linux territory! And it worked like a charm :) By reinstalling my old hard drive in the PC and booting up with Ubuntu, I was able to retrieve 99.9% of my files and transfer them to an external hard drive. I was over the moon!

Now I just had to buy a new hard drive, reinstall Windows, transfer my data across, and reinstall my software. There were a few more hiccups along the way (mostly involving Microsoft), but I think I've bored you enough by now. Suffice it to say, I got there in the end with the help of Google and my trusty screwdriver. I even installed an extra DVD drive while I was at it :)

It was great to get back on the bike again and solve technical issues under my own steam. It's easy to convince yourself that it's all too complicated, but it's really not - and there's so much help and support available online, with instructional videos and step-by-step walkthroughs. I felt such a sense of achievement when I'd finally got everything sorted out (and saved a lot of money).

Oh, and I liked Ubuntu :) My netbook still runs on Windows XP, which is no longer going to be supported from April 2014, so my next project will be to switch the netbook to entirely open source OS and software. I'm looking forward to it!

Photo credit to Thomas Hawk.

Long time, no blog.

We arrived back in Melbourne in July last year (gosh, 'last year' makes it sound so long ago!) after an amazing holiday in the Kimberley. We're now back in our own lovely home, and have enjoyed settling back in to the house and working in our garden. Melbourne's predictably unpredictable weather is certainly a change that takes some getting used to, but it's nice not to be hot all the time (although it's very hot some of the time!).

I've been on a hiatus from work, taking some much needed time off to look after myself and get my home, heart and health back in order. Unfortunately it hasn't been quite as rejuvenating as I had hoped - some pressing family issues have been keeping me busy, and keeping my stress levels elevated whether I like it or not.

And I haven't blogged. In fact, things have been pretty quiet on the whole social media front lately - tweeting, posting photos, etc. It's funny, I thought I would be blogging my boots off during this time off work. Instead, I found that I didn't really feel like talking to anyone ...

It's not just social media either. Apart from a small number of occasions I haven't really socialised, or caught up with friends. I've been spending a *lot* of time with my family, and just haven't had much energy left over to pursue social activities. I guess my inner introvert took over to help me deal with it all!

I occasionally flogged myself for not being more 'out there', but to be honest I preferred the quiet. The solitude. The keeping of my thoughts to myself (especially the not-so-happy ones). So I decided to stop feeling guilty about not being online much, and just accept it for what it was. Quiet time.

But that was then, and this is now :) 2014 is a new year. The stresses are never going to go away, and I'm accepting that and moving on. It's time to rejoin the wonderful world!

I've polished up my resume and put myself back on the job market. I'm going to Library Camp and a conference-related tweetup next week, and I'm really looking forward to catching up with my friends and colleagues in the library world, as well as re-engaging in professional issues. I've joined the local gym, and am putting my health back at the top of my priority list. I'm also doing some major decluttering at home, and am implementing the Getting Things Done system in my home office. And I'm itching to put some dedicated time aside for creative activities each week.

It's good to be back :)

P.S. Photos of our Kimberley trip can be viewed in this Flickr set. I kept a travel diary throughout, and hope to use some of my scribblings in future blog posts.

Well, we are on the move once more! This is a short post for a lot of news, but time is limited so here goes ...

Just after Easter, I submitted my resignation at the university I've worked at for the last 3 years. It was both a hard and easy decision. Hard because I loved my job and the team I worked with. Easy because I miss my family, and as time went on I struggled more and more with the Darwin climate.


So we're returning to Melbourne (again). My last day at work was a couple of weeks ago, and since then we have been busy packing, planning, and doing some of our favourite things around Darwin while we still can. I'd love to write more about our decision and everything leading up to it (and following on from it) ... but the computer is about to get packed, so it will have to wait!

Before we go home, Tim and I are taking advantage of the beginning of the dry season to do some travel. There's a road trip we've long wanted to make, and now we have the perfect opportunity - we're going to drive across the Kimberley to Broome in Western Australia! We'll be visiting Katherine, Kununurra, Wyndham, the Gibb River Road, Derby, Halls Creek - with lots of fantastic sights along the way that I'm really looking forward to! We'll be camping, which means we've been doing lots of preparation, planning and packing to get ready for the trip.

We expect to return to Darwin in 4-6 weeks time, hopefully with a few days in Kakadu National Park on the return trip. We'll catch up with friends in Darwin, collect our cat Roxy, and then head south. We don't have any dates set in stone, but will probably be back in Melbourne in mid-July.

I won't have much internet access for the next month or so, which means my communication will be fairly sporadic and mostly through Twitter, as well as photos on Flickr if I can manage it. Unfortunately I won't be able to blog every day in June this year! But I have heaps and heaps of blog posts and photos waiting to polished and published (with a few more to come from our Kimberley trip), so once I'm online again I promise I'll make up for it :)

Last weekend (the Easter long weekend) marked the end of the busiest time of year for a liaison librarian in an academic library. The beginning of first semester is incredibly busy, with heaps of classes to plan, prepare and deliver - as well as an orientation program to run, lecturers to assist with unit readings, and of course lots and lots of students needing help.

So it was lovely to have a few days off to relax and enjoy myself, for what felt like the first time in months!

On Saturday afternoon we went for a drive (so nice to be going somewhere other than work or the supermarket!) around Rapid Creek and Nightcliff. We stopped for a while at Nightcliff jetty and watched a rather dramatic stormfront in the distance. It was also a very high tide while we were there, and watching the unusually choppy waves crashing into the cliffs was quite breathtaking. The sun began to set while we were there - mostly obscured by the storm clouds, but there was a hint of pink to show us what we were missing.









After the sun went down, we headed down the road for a drink at the Beachfront Hotel. The weather has been so hot and humid this season that we hadn't been to an outdoor venue in ages - the breeze coming off the stormfront made it quite pleasant though.

Over the next couple of days I spent some time sorting through old photos, and found a bunch of pictures I'd taken at Nightcliff jetty in the dry season that I hadn't uploaded yet. I've now added them to my Flickr account and have included a few here too, to show the difference between seasons (as well as at different tide levels).