Thanks Blogger, it's been a fine few years!
What the blog is going on here?!
Thanks Blogger, it's been a fine few years!
Louisa Lawson and The Digitise The Dawn Project
Apparently bitten by the publishing bug, and probably eager to continue publishing her own essays and works of poetry, she started publishing a magazine called The Dawn in 1888. It was printed as "A Journal for Australian Women" and "publicize women's wrongs, fight their battles and sue for their suffrage"[1]. It was the first newspaper printed in Australia that dealt with issues of feminism and suffrage, and is considered perhaps the single most important factor in the beginning of the suffragette movement in Australia. Shortly after The Dawn's inception, Louisa's husband Peter died, leaving her with a large inheritance, which was immediately spent on improving the printing press and increasing the circulation of the magazine. She also hired ten staff, all of whom were women. The NSW Typographical Association did not accept female members at the time, and took exception to the fact that a magazine could be edited, printed, and circulated only by women. They took up arms against Louisa and the magazine and encouraged advertisers to boycott The Dawn and reportedly harassed the women on site.
As evidence of Louisa's strength, she did not let this discourage her, and in 1889, she began running meetings at the Dawn offices which became known as The Dawn Club. The Club discussed issues relating to the "evil laws" made by men, and encouraged women to infiltrate male-dominated arenas such as debating clubs, and Louisa herself became the first female member of the board of management of the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts.The Womanhood Suffrage League of NSW began in 1891 and, hardly surprisingly, Louisa was elected to its council. She offered the Dawn offices and printing press for the League to use for meetings and pamphlets free of charge, and this remained the case until the League's demise, despite the fact that Louisa herself withdrew from the council in 1893 after an ill-documented dispute.
With the coming of the women's vote, Louisa aged and so, sadly, did The Dawn. The columns grew fewer and less fervent, the advertisers gradually departed, and in 1905 the newspaper printed its last edition.
Louisa continued to write for several Sydney-based publications, and she also produced an extensive volume of poetry.
I have been unable to find out what mental ailment troubled her in her final days, but dementia appears to be the most likely. She died in the Gladesville Mental Hospital aged 72, in 1920. The fight gets to even the strongest of us in the end.
Unfortunately, The Dawn has so far not been included in the National Library's
Oh, and as a postscript: yes, Louisa did have a very famous son, but her story is so much more interesting than that, don't you agree?
---
[0] http://www.nla.gov.au/guides/federation/people/lawsonl.html
[1] http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100019b.htm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Lawson
Computer Engineer Barbie
The Language of Marketing
I was absently staring at a new tube of toothpaste this morning as I washed my hair. You have to look at something, right? This one declared “healthy, whiter teeth for longer”. An image of extremely long (but healthy and white) teeth filled my mind, and was immediately pushed out by the technical writer in me asking “whiter and longer than what, exactly?”
Most marketing slogans give technical writers the screaming heebie-jeebies. Not only do they make spurious and vague claims like ‘more fibre’, ‘less fat’, and ‘20% bigger’ with alarming regularity, but the adjectives! I have no doubt that it is actually possible to sell things with sentences that contain only one adjective. And if they do need more than one, I’m sure a comma wouldn’t kill them. I could rant on the folly of adverbs, too, but that is a whole different article.
Why are marketers such terrible writers?
Because customers expect spin, and spin is easy to write. All you need is a handful of adjectives and a call to action: “The new fruity refreshing Globswoddle Fizz is now available. Experience the heady taste of summer today!”
While yelling at the toothpaste tube in the morning might make us all feel better, it is not likely to turn us into marketers just to help an obviously flailing industry. I finished my marketing degree about three weeks before I decided that the marketing industry was the last place in the world I wanted to work. Eventually, I became a technical writer instead, and discovered that I had inadvertently ended up working in marketing after all. Every word we set to paper is marketing in one way or another. If it is going to be read by a customer, then it needs to sell the product. But the last thing we want to write is spin.
Why are writers such terrible marketers?
Because customers want anything but spin, and while spin is easy to write, spinless marketing is not so easy.
Spin is wanted and welcomed in places where it is expected, like product packaging and on the airwaves. When our customers read technical manuals or help text, they are looking for a solution to a problem. If they were suddenly faced with the empty promises of spin, they would lose faith in the documentation, and possibly the product.
However brutal honesty is not required, either. Product documentation should not tell customers that the product cannot fulfill their expectations. Every question needs to be anticipated and answered. The documentation must give the customer hope that their problem can be resolved, their task completed, and their sanity retained in the process.
Effective documentation never tells the customer that a product is terrible (even if it is), and it never tells a customer that they are stupid (even if they are). It never makes over-inflated claims of software brilliance, and it never assumes greater-than-average user intelligence.
Somewhere nestled in there is product documentation that shows the product in a positive light, without the hard sell. Sound easy? Like most technical writing, it sounds easy until you actually try to do it. Some tips for getting started with spinless writing:
Kick adverbs, take names.
Adverbs are a big red flag for spin. Be ruthless and cut them all out. If your sentence requires a modifier, consider what you are really trying to say. If it forms part of an instruction or description (‘The widget can be fully removed by …’), reword it to remove the adverb (‘Remove the widget by …’).
Never call anything ‘simple’.
If you tell your users that something is ‘simple’, ‘quick’, or ‘easy’, and the customer struggles with it (for whatever reason), you are essentially telling them that they fail at life. Try not to insult your users.
Mind your adjectives.
Adjectives are fine in their place. Use them only where necessary, though, and try not to use more than one at a time. (‘Locate the red button’ is fine, but avoid ‘Locate the large, shiny, red button’ that is next to the ‘tiny, silver, shiny lever’).
Know your stuff.
If you can’t describe your topic in a single short sentence, you don’t understand it well enough, and it becomes too easy to succumb to spin statements. You need to be able to give succinct and accurate descriptions for each and every component part, as well as the product as whole. If you are not able to do this, continue to research your product until you can.
Understand the enemy.
As modern humans, we are largely desensitised to advertising, simply because we are so totally immersed in it. Start noticing it. Analyse what language is used, the sentence structure they’ve employed. Work out how you would re-write it to send the same message, but without the spin.
Edit with a knife.
Never say more than you need to.
-----------------------------------------------------
This article was originally published in Words: A Quarterly Bulletin for Technical Writers and Communicators. Volume 3, Issue 1: February 2011, with the following bio:
This post has been cross-posted to fossdocs.
Most marketing slogans give technical writers the screaming heebie-jeebies. Not only do they make spurious and vague claims like ‘more fibre’, ‘less fat’, and ‘20% bigger’ with alarming regularity, but the adjectives! I have no doubt that it is actually possible to sell things with sentences that contain only one adjective. And if they do need more than one, I’m sure a comma wouldn’t kill them. I could rant on the folly of adverbs, too, but that is a whole different article.
Because customers expect spin, and spin is easy to write. All you need is a handful of adjectives and a call to action: “The new fruity refreshing Globswoddle Fizz is now available. Experience the heady taste of summer today!”
While yelling at the toothpaste tube in the morning might make us all feel better, it is not likely to turn us into marketers just to help an obviously flailing industry. I finished my marketing degree about three weeks before I decided that the marketing industry was the last place in the world I wanted to work. Eventually, I became a technical writer instead, and discovered that I had inadvertently ended up working in marketing after all. Every word we set to paper is marketing in one way or another. If it is going to be read by a customer, then it needs to sell the product. But the last thing we want to write is spin.
Why are writers such terrible marketers?
Because customers want anything but spin, and while spin is easy to write, spinless marketing is not so easy.
Spin is wanted and welcomed in places where it is expected, like product packaging and on the airwaves. When our customers read technical manuals or help text, they are looking for a solution to a problem. If they were suddenly faced with the empty promises of spin, they would lose faith in the documentation, and possibly the product.
However brutal honesty is not required, either. Product documentation should not tell customers that the product cannot fulfill their expectations. Every question needs to be anticipated and answered. The documentation must give the customer hope that their problem can be resolved, their task completed, and their sanity retained in the process.
Effective documentation never tells the customer that a product is terrible (even if it is), and it never tells a customer that they are stupid (even if they are). It never makes over-inflated claims of software brilliance, and it never assumes greater-than-average user intelligence.
Somewhere nestled in there is product documentation that shows the product in a positive light, without the hard sell. Sound easy? Like most technical writing, it sounds easy until you actually try to do it. Some tips for getting started with spinless writing:
Kick adverbs, take names.
Adverbs are a big red flag for spin. Be ruthless and cut them all out. If your sentence requires a modifier, consider what you are really trying to say. If it forms part of an instruction or description (‘The widget can be fully removed by …’), reword it to remove the adverb (‘Remove the widget by …’).
Never call anything ‘simple’.
If you tell your users that something is ‘simple’, ‘quick’, or ‘easy’, and the customer struggles with it (for whatever reason), you are essentially telling them that they fail at life. Try not to insult your users.
Mind your adjectives.
Adjectives are fine in their place. Use them only where necessary, though, and try not to use more than one at a time. (‘Locate the red button’ is fine, but avoid ‘Locate the large, shiny, red button’ that is next to the ‘tiny, silver, shiny lever’).
Know your stuff.
If you can’t describe your topic in a single short sentence, you don’t understand it well enough, and it becomes too easy to succumb to spin statements. You need to be able to give succinct and accurate descriptions for each and every component part, as well as the product as whole. If you are not able to do this, continue to research your product until you can.
Understand the enemy.
As modern humans, we are largely desensitised to advertising, simply because we are so totally immersed in it. Start noticing it. Analyse what language is used, the sentence structure they’ve employed. Work out how you would re-write it to send the same message, but without the spin.
Edit with a knife.
Never say more than you need to.
-----------------------------------------------------
This article was originally published in Words: A Quarterly Bulletin for Technical Writers and Communicators. Volume 3, Issue 1: February 2011, with the following bio:
Lana Brindley has been playing with technology since that summer in the 80’s when she spent the whole time trying not to be eaten by a grue. She has been writing since she could hold a pencil, and is currently writing technical documentation for Red Hat. Lana holds business degrees in marketing and information systems, and with any luck will have a technical communicators degree by the end of the year. She works from her home in Canberra, Australia, and occasionally leaves the house in order to berate university students and conference goers about passive sentence construction.
This post has been cross-posted to fossdocs.
LCA Day 4 & 5: It got better before it got worse
I've taken a bit longer than planned to write this final post, as it has required some ruminating. Apologies for the delay, and a trigger warning for discussion about (and links to) sexual and offensive behaviour.
The Good
Thursday was hot and humid, but it was nice to have my official duties over for the week, and to be able to kick back and just be a conference-goer for the day.
I went along to the GLBTI+ lunch as an ally (or a "+" I guess). As another group that is under-represented at technical and open source events, I feel it is important to stick together. Unfortunately, the lunch venue required a long trek through midday Queensland heat, and we were all feeling less-than-chirpy by the time we got there. A few beers and a pleasant lunch put us all back in good spirits though, and we invested in a taxi-ride back the conference.
Thursday evening was the Penguin Dinner, held in the Conference Centre at Southbank. I had an awful lot of fun drinking cheap champagne and poking fun at the poor spelling in the trivia slides (let this be a lesson to you: never put two tech writers on a table together, and never try to outdrink an Irish woman!).
The Bad
Friday morning started with the keynote speaker, Mark Pesce. I'm not going to recount his talk in detail here, as it's already been done in other places, with much better commentary than I'm capable of producing. It's very googleable, if you so desire.
One of the things that is most interesting is seeing which of the several different offensive images most upsets people. It just proves yet again that we are all human and all perceive offence, discrimination, and humour in very different ways. What some see as funny, others will perceive as mildly amusing, disturbing, or deeply offensive.
I had seen Pesce's tweets in the lead-up to the talk mentioning that the talk included some swearing, so when he provided his "PG-13" warning, I naturally thought it was relating only to language. Oh boy, was I wrong!
Of course, the talk through the day, especially amongst the assembled haecksen was about the Pesce talk, harassment and offence in general, and the anti-harassment policy in particular. Suddenly, every infraction stood out in relief: The guy who seemed to always be in my face taking photos, the ones who were just a little too friendly and a little too helpful, the guy who asked me out on a date over IRC, despite never having actually met me. These are all the kinds of things that happen daily to most women, especially those who hang around in tech circles as much as I do, but the incidents were starting to mount up. However, an apology for the Pesce talk was given with aplomb and good grace at the closing session, and it seemed as though the worst had blown over. With a sigh of relief, the conference drew to a close.
By the time Open Day was over (and I'll have another post about that to come soon) I was exhausted, but happy. I'd had a great conference, heard lots of interesting things (many that made my brain spin with new ideas), had a great time with old and new friends, and had successfully pulled off both the miniconf and my talk.
I wasn't angry, yet ...
The Ugly
The emails began within twenty-four hours of the apology. I was originally intending to selectively quote some of the better gems here, but I have decided against it. I'm sure it is obvious where I stand on the issue, and this blog is here to record and organise my thoughts, not beat a dead horse.
However well intentioned and delivered the apology from the LCA2011 committee was, it was very clearly not echoed across the board of conference-goers. Even other committee members stood up against the policy, and defended Mark Pesce, which I find totally appalling.
I have only one question: if Pesce had given his talk at a corporate event, would the attendees have spent the next week arguing over whether or not it was appropriate? If it's not suitable for a corporate event, why should it be appropriate for a technical conference?
It wasn't the conference that let me down, in the end. It was the attitude of the conference-goers in the wake of it. I haven't decided yet whether I'll attend next year's event, and if I do whether I'll offer to run the haecksen miniconf again. The fact that I even have to consider these things is an indication that my perspective has changed, though.
The Good
Thursday was hot and humid, but it was nice to have my official duties over for the week, and to be able to kick back and just be a conference-goer for the day.
I went along to the GLBTI+ lunch as an ally (or a "+" I guess). As another group that is under-represented at technical and open source events, I feel it is important to stick together. Unfortunately, the lunch venue required a long trek through midday Queensland heat, and we were all feeling less-than-chirpy by the time we got there. A few beers and a pleasant lunch put us all back in good spirits though, and we invested in a taxi-ride back the conference.
Thursday evening was the Penguin Dinner, held in the Conference Centre at Southbank. I had an awful lot of fun drinking cheap champagne and poking fun at the poor spelling in the trivia slides (let this be a lesson to you: never put two tech writers on a table together, and never try to outdrink an Irish woman!).
The Bad
Friday morning started with the keynote speaker, Mark Pesce. I'm not going to recount his talk in detail here, as it's already been done in other places, with much better commentary than I'm capable of producing. It's very googleable, if you so desire.
One of the things that is most interesting is seeing which of the several different offensive images most upsets people. It just proves yet again that we are all human and all perceive offence, discrimination, and humour in very different ways. What some see as funny, others will perceive as mildly amusing, disturbing, or deeply offensive.
I had seen Pesce's tweets in the lead-up to the talk mentioning that the talk included some swearing, so when he provided his "PG-13" warning, I naturally thought it was relating only to language. Oh boy, was I wrong!
By the time Open Day was over (and I'll have another post about that to come soon) I was exhausted, but happy. I'd had a great conference, heard lots of interesting things (many that made my brain spin with new ideas), had a great time with old and new friends, and had successfully pulled off both the miniconf and my talk.
I wasn't angry, yet ...
The Ugly
The emails began within twenty-four hours of the apology. I was originally intending to selectively quote some of the better gems here, but I have decided against it. I'm sure it is obvious where I stand on the issue, and this blog is here to record and organise my thoughts, not beat a dead horse.
However well intentioned and delivered the apology from the LCA2011 committee was, it was very clearly not echoed across the board of conference-goers. Even other committee members stood up against the policy, and defended Mark Pesce, which I find totally appalling.
I have only one question: if Pesce had given his talk at a corporate event, would the attendees have spent the next week arguing over whether or not it was appropriate? If it's not suitable for a corporate event, why should it be appropriate for a technical conference?
It wasn't the conference that let me down, in the end. It was the attitude of the conference-goers in the wake of it. I haven't decided yet whether I'll attend next year's event, and if I do whether I'll offer to run the haecksen miniconf again. The fact that I even have to consider these things is an indication that my perspective has changed, though.
LCA Day 3: Beer, Heat and Throwing Knives
Wednesday morning dawned and with it the rising awareness that today I had to perform. I was last up in the day, so I had some time to prepare. I started by waiting until everyone had left the hotel room. I'm quite happy to stand up in front of all sorts of people to give my talks, but I draw the line at rehearsing in front of anyone. When the hotel room was empty, I sorted out all my props: the dictionaries, the magnifying glass, the (printed out) Kindle, the bugs, and of course the box itself. There were some props I still needed, so I wrote a list. I ran through the talk, noted that I was running pretty close to the time limit; I was going to have to be careful.
I packed everything up into my bag, tucked the folded up box under my arm, and set off to the 7-11. I purchased a Go Card (which is what Brisbane use for public transport tickets), and three bags of lollies. Then I set off to the bottle shop. The bloke at the bottle shop was a little dubious when I requested a can of beer ... any beer. Eventually, he found me a single stubby of XXXX. I'm in Brisbane, obviously ;)
The bag was getting pretty heavy by then, so I flagged down a cab and jumped in.
Once at QUT, I hiked over to the room I would be speaking in and harassed the volunteers there until they let me dump my stuff in a corner. Then I sat down and watched the talk running in there to check out the room.
The middle part of the day was spent flitting between talks, meeting friends, and generally geeking out. All part of the LCA fun!
And then it was back to my room, the time was upon me! With the help of friends, we sat up and packed the black box, and watched the room slowly fill. So many people! My guess would be at least sixty people came, although I've had people suggest it could have been more.
I popped the balloon, managed to catch the bouncy ball (phew!), and that was pretty cool. I pulled out the first thing from the box, the tiny diary. Threw it over my shoulder, got a couple of giggles. By the time I had started throwing everything over my shoulder, but chose judiciously *not* to throw the bottle of beer, the crowd was laughing along nicely. I was set!
Until I pulled out the plastic cutlass ...
I wave it around a little, and then strike a pose and give the sword a giant swish ... and watch the blade go sailing out over the audience, narrowly missing a startled-looking bloke in the front row. I began to panic, suddenly realised that no one actually got hurt, took a deep breath, and then threw the handle after it. After that, it didn't really matter what I did, the audience laughed.
I got hammered with questions, I got mobbed by people afterwards, and I haven't been able to walk anywhere without being hurled questions and congratulations ever since. And I've learned something, too: being a rockstar is tiring. Can I go home now? I need some sleep.
I packed everything up into my bag, tucked the folded up box under my arm, and set off to the 7-11. I purchased a Go Card (which is what Brisbane use for public transport tickets), and three bags of lollies. Then I set off to the bottle shop. The bloke at the bottle shop was a little dubious when I requested a can of beer ... any beer. Eventually, he found me a single stubby of XXXX. I'm in Brisbane, obviously ;)
The bag was getting pretty heavy by then, so I flagged down a cab and jumped in.
Once at QUT, I hiked over to the room I would be speaking in and harassed the volunteers there until they let me dump my stuff in a corner. Then I sat down and watched the talk running in there to check out the room.
The middle part of the day was spent flitting between talks, meeting friends, and generally geeking out. All part of the LCA fun!
And then it was back to my room, the time was upon me! With the help of friends, we sat up and packed the black box, and watched the room slowly fill. So many people! My guess would be at least sixty people came, although I've had people suggest it could have been more.
I popped the balloon, managed to catch the bouncy ball (phew!), and that was pretty cool. I pulled out the first thing from the box, the tiny diary. Threw it over my shoulder, got a couple of giggles. By the time I had started throwing everything over my shoulder, but chose judiciously *not* to throw the bottle of beer, the crowd was laughing along nicely. I was set!
Until I pulled out the plastic cutlass ...
I wave it around a little, and then strike a pose and give the sword a giant swish ... and watch the blade go sailing out over the audience, narrowly missing a startled-looking bloke in the front row. I began to panic, suddenly realised that no one actually got hurt, took a deep breath, and then threw the handle after it. After that, it didn't really matter what I did, the audience laughed.
I got hammered with questions, I got mobbed by people afterwards, and I haven't been able to walk anywhere without being hurled questions and congratulations ever since. And I've learned something, too: being a rockstar is tiring. Can I go home now? I need some sleep.
LCA Day 1: Haecksen, Geeks, and Flying Unicorns
Today was awesome. That's about all I need to say. I'm exhausted, I'm feeling very anti-social (too many people for my reclusive heart!), and I wish I had my own bed to sleep in. But today was absolutely, marvellously, amazingly awesome.
The day started with the opening address for the conference, where the organisers stepped us through just some of the major organisational maneuvers they've pulled off in the last ten days. Then it was off to kick the haecksen miniconf into gear.
All my speakers were amazing, including the two impromptu lightning talks. Everything went to schedule, in fact we were occasionally five minutes *ahead* of schedule, which is almost totally unheard of in any event I've run! While the audience fluctuated throughout the day, we filled the room for every session. By my rough count, we had somewhere between 30 and 50 people for every talk.
Valerie Aurora ran a great workshop in the final session, designed especially for a male audience. Suitably, our audience was pretty close to 50/50, and we were at standing room only. It was a great way to end the day, with a light-hearted look at such a heavy topic. I would love to hear from anyone (male or female) who attended the workshop, and who might like to share how they felt about it.
After Haecksen was done, it was a mad rush over to the Red Hat offices to kick off the Girl Geek Dinner. I haven't done a final count, but around 40 women (and a few men!) crammed into the lunchroom, dined on fabulous Chez Nous platters, received plenty of Google, Fedora, and Red Hat schwag, and generally had a good time. Thanks so much to my boss at Red Hat for footing the bill, too :)
All the speakers today got a special inflatable unicorn, and Andy Gelme got a lovely hot pink one after his lightning talk on Hackerspaces. In true hackerspace fashion, he sent me this video overnight:
It made my morning!
The day started with the opening address for the conference, where the organisers stepped us through just some of the major organisational maneuvers they've pulled off in the last ten days. Then it was off to kick the haecksen miniconf into gear.
All my speakers were amazing, including the two impromptu lightning talks. Everything went to schedule, in fact we were occasionally five minutes *ahead* of schedule, which is almost totally unheard of in any event I've run! While the audience fluctuated throughout the day, we filled the room for every session. By my rough count, we had somewhere between 30 and 50 people for every talk.
Valerie Aurora ran a great workshop in the final session, designed especially for a male audience. Suitably, our audience was pretty close to 50/50, and we were at standing room only. It was a great way to end the day, with a light-hearted look at such a heavy topic. I would love to hear from anyone (male or female) who attended the workshop, and who might like to share how they felt about it.
After Haecksen was done, it was a mad rush over to the Red Hat offices to kick off the Girl Geek Dinner. I haven't done a final count, but around 40 women (and a few men!) crammed into the lunchroom, dined on fabulous Chez Nous platters, received plenty of Google, Fedora, and Red Hat schwag, and generally had a good time. Thanks so much to my boss at Red Hat for footing the bill, too :)
All the speakers today got a special inflatable unicorn, and Andy Gelme got a lovely hot pink one after his lightning talk on Hackerspaces. In true hackerspace fashion, he sent me this video overnight:
It made my morning!
linux.conf.au 2013 bid
This isn't the only sekrit plan I've working on recently, but it's the only one I'm allowed to tell you all about so far ;)
For the last several months, a small group of people in Canberra including myself have been preparing a bid for LCA 2013. This is not just to give us more time to make the conference the most awesome, froody LCA you've ever been to. No - 2013 is also the centenary of the founding of Canberra as the nation's capital. It's a very significant year for us and we'd all be thrilled if we could show the attendees of LCA our great city and Canberrans the great work the FOSS community does to improve everyone's lives.
So we're really stoked that the bidding process is going to be opened early, and I think it'll lead to a really interesting competition that will result, whoever wins, in the best LCA ever!
If you're interested in getting involved, email me at loquacities(at)gmail(dot)com!
The Next Adventure
With the kitchen now (almost) completed, I'm leaving Bananaman in charge of project managing the tiler next week, and popping off to Brisbane for linux.conf.au. Despite the recent floods—which wiped out their conference venue, most of the social event venues, and the open day venue—somehow or another the LCA crew have managed to persevere, and the conference is going ahead as planned (albeit in all new venues).
Last time I went to LCA, I was a first timer. I had submitted a talk and, not surprisingly, been declined in the main track. My speaking record was pretty thin on the ground eighteen months ago. I submitted to the Haecksen miniconf instead, went along and had a great time. I learned a lot, I met a lot of seriously awesome people. I also met one very nice cider. I was nearly dead from exhaustion by the end of it (and there must have been something wrong with the apples they used for the cider. Gave me a terrible headache!).
This year is looking a little different. In true me style, I am not only attending Haecksen, but running it. I am also speaking in the main track which is A Bit Of A Big Deal. I've only re-written my talk twice so far. I think I can probably fit in another re-write before I leave though ...
Last time I went to LCA, I was a first timer. I had submitted a talk and, not surprisingly, been declined in the main track. My speaking record was pretty thin on the ground eighteen months ago. I submitted to the Haecksen miniconf instead, went along and had a great time. I learned a lot, I met a lot of seriously awesome people. I also met one very nice cider. I was nearly dead from exhaustion by the end of it (and there must have been something wrong with the apples they used for the cider. Gave me a terrible headache!).
This year is looking a little different. In true me style, I am not only attending Haecksen, but running it. I am also speaking in the main track which is A Bit Of A Big Deal. I've only re-written my talk twice so far. I think I can probably fit in another re-write before I leave though ...
Kitchen - Day 5
Today, our first real hiccup: the tiles haven't arrived. They should be here on Monday, but the tiler is going on holidays for a week. So the earliest we can get the tiles laid is Tuesday week (incidentally, I'll be in Brisbane for linux.conf.au that week, so the lovely Dermott Banana will have to project manage that!). Never mind, we got the benchtops in, and they look OMGAWESOME:
Want a closer look?
The old lights have finally been replaced by new oyster lights, and the dimmer in the loungerrom now works properly:
We also got the sparky to install safety switches in our aging fusebox, and fixed the smoke detector, so we're extra-safe now! (Does that mean I can daisy-chain a few more powerboards for my computer equipment? Maybe?)
We also got the sink connected, and the leveller for the tiles laid:
After the leveller was down, it was no-go in the kitchen for 24 hours. On Monday, with any luck our tiles will arrive, and the plumber will come back to connect the cooktop to the gas.
Photos are all in my Picasa album if you want a closer look at anything.
And, just because this amuses me greatly:
Want a closer look?
The old lights have finally been replaced by new oyster lights, and the dimmer in the loungerrom now works properly:
We also got the sparky to install safety switches in our aging fusebox, and fixed the smoke detector, so we're extra-safe now! (Does that mean I can daisy-chain a few more powerboards for my computer equipment? Maybe?)
We also got the sink connected, and the leveller for the tiles laid:
After the leveller was down, it was no-go in the kitchen for 24 hours. On Monday, with any luck our tiles will arrive, and the plumber will come back to connect the cooktop to the gas.
Photos are all in my Picasa album if you want a closer look at anything.
And, just because this amuses me greatly:
Kitchen - Day 4
By the end of today, we have something resembling a kitchen again. And you know what? I'm absolutely stoked with it! The colour, unfortunately, doesn't come through in the photographs, but it's probably best described as a pale olive. They call it 'paperbark', and if you've ever seen the smooth pale green wood (not the brown falling-off bits!) of an Australian paperbark tree, it's pretty close. Sounds awful when you describe it like that, but it's working unbelievably well:
We also have drawers in:
And these are spice drawers!
Perhaps the downside is that I've discovered a fairly major scratch on my dining room floor, now that all the cabinets have been taken out of it. I had some cheap lino down to try and protect it, and it's pretty battered. I'm just glad we had something there, anyway:
But, things are really starting to happen now, and it won't be long before we can start using everything again. Tomorrow, the tiler will come and put the leveller on the floor ahead of the tiles, and the benchtops go in. Stay tuned!
We also have drawers in:
And these are spice drawers!
Perhaps the downside is that I've discovered a fairly major scratch on my dining room floor, now that all the cabinets have been taken out of it. I had some cheap lino down to try and protect it, and it's pretty battered. I'm just glad we had something there, anyway:
But, things are really starting to happen now, and it won't be long before we can start using everything again. Tomorrow, the tiler will come and put the leveller on the floor ahead of the tiles, and the benchtops go in. Stay tuned!
Kitchen - Day 3
By lunchtime, the tiles were finally up, and the concrete dust covering absolutely everything was starting to settle:
I have a sink:
But, perhaps most exciting, I have a dishwasher!
The cabinets that have been stored in my dining room all week, are now starting to shift into place:
Although there are still bits of cabinetry stored just about everywhere. This is my hallway:
Tomorrow, the cabinets should be finished, and the two archways removed. Sally forth!
I have a sink:
But, perhaps most exciting, I have a dishwasher!
The cabinets that have been stored in my dining room all week, are now starting to shift into place:
Although there are still bits of cabinetry stored just about everywhere. This is my hallway:
Tomorrow, the cabinets should be finished, and the two archways removed. Sally forth!
Kitchen - Day 2
Today, my cabinets arrived (just ahead of the rain!):
The sparky turned up, and moved a few power points:
The plumber turned up, got rid of the old sink pipes, and installed a gas line for the new stovetop:
And the demolitions guy started taking out the tiles:
Even though I didn't think it was possible, the place is even more of a bomb site than it was yesterday:
Keep an eye on my Picasa album for even more photos. Hopefully tomorrow, the cupboards will start going in ...
The sparky turned up, and moved a few power points:
The plumber turned up, got rid of the old sink pipes, and installed a gas line for the new stovetop:
And the demolitions guy started taking out the tiles:
Even though I didn't think it was possible, the place is even more of a bomb site than it was yesterday:
Keep an eye on my Picasa album for even more photos. Hopefully tomorrow, the cupboards will start going in ...
Kitchen - Day 1
Well, today my kitchen started out looking like this:
And ended up looking like this:
On the way, it went through various states, including this:
This:
And this:
So where did it all go?
Here:
And here:
And good riddance to it too!
For the full collection of photos, check out my Picasa album. I'll keep updating it and the blog as things progress.
Tomorrow, the sparky and plumber 'rough in' (I think that is tradie-speak for 'have a look to see what we need to do later on when we get around to it'), and the new kitchen gets delivered. Oh, and they're bringing the jackhammers, to level the floor. Same bat channel!
And ended up looking like this:
On the way, it went through various states, including this:
This:
And this:
So where did it all go?
Here:
And here:
And good riddance to it too!
For the full collection of photos, check out my Picasa album. I'll keep updating it and the blog as things progress.
Tomorrow, the sparky and plumber 'rough in' (I think that is tradie-speak for 'have a look to see what we need to do later on when we get around to it'), and the new kitchen gets delivered. Oh, and they're bringing the jackhammers, to level the floor. Same bat channel!
Tron Legacy: now with extra ranting
I've been looking forward to seeing Tron: Legacy for a while. I saw the original on VHS when I was a kid, and thought it was pretty awesome then, so I could only imagine what 3D and modern special effects could have done. And I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. While my partner had some trouble with the 3D and effects (for some reason it all seemed flat and kind of blurry and washed out to him, apparently), I spent the entire movie mesmerised. It was true to the original, the back story was really well-handled, and the effects! Oh my, the effects! There was only one thing that ruined the experience, and that was the cinema advertising that came before it. It doesn't help me enjoy the movie when I already have a bad taste in my mouth and a rising urge to yell at things before it has even started.
It would seem that only boys go to watch movies like Tron. At least, that is the lesson that I learned from Dendy tonight.
It started out innocuously enough, with a Subway commercial, promoting their latest competition, and featuring a bloke with an improbable-looking bread roll ogling girls on a beach. Same old crap we see every day, and have learned to largely ignore. I can't embed the video, because the only version I could find was on the Subway website. You can see it here.
Then came a commercial about Pat Rafter who, apparently, "can do it all. Of course he can, because ..." (wait for it) ... "he's a man". It's a Dove commercial.
Yes, the same people behind the campaign for real beauty have also seem to forgotten how many amazing female tennis players we have here in Australia. All of whom can also "do it all", despite the fact that they are not men. Thanks for that message, Dove.
So at this point, I was feeling mildly disgruntled. So when the next commercial came on (which I can't find online anywhere. If someone finds it, please do let me know) I was pleasantly surprised ... at first.
It opens with a group of young attractive women, apparently getting ready to go out. One says something about another getting Foxtel connected, and she proudly mentions that it's through her Xbox, over the internet. Wow, I think. A woman, in a group of women, who not only owns an Xbox, but is able to describe how it works. Nice!
And then came the clanger ... "Hold on, when did you get an Xbox?" another friend asks. Slow pan out to the hunky topless guy walking into the room. "New 'flatmate'" comes the comment, with the inverted commas around "flatmate" painfully obvious in her tone. le sigh. So women can't own a gaming unit. They're only allowed to own boyfriends (ahem, sorry, male "flatmates"), who own game units.
Will it never end? I was the one who wanted to see Tron, I was the one who dragged my poor long-suffering, non-geek partner along, I was the one who re-watched the original last weekend in a fit of fangirlism, I want to see ads that don't make me feel like I don't belong there.
Several years ago I decreed that I would not go to a cinema unless it was Dendy. With the recent price hike on tickets, the suspicious lack of foreign films, and now this case study in broad generalisations, though, Dendy is fast losing its gloss.
It would seem that only boys go to watch movies like Tron. At least, that is the lesson that I learned from Dendy tonight.
It started out innocuously enough, with a Subway commercial, promoting their latest competition, and featuring a bloke with an improbable-looking bread roll ogling girls on a beach. Same old crap we see every day, and have learned to largely ignore. I can't embed the video, because the only version I could find was on the Subway website. You can see it here.
Then came a commercial about Pat Rafter who, apparently, "can do it all. Of course he can, because ..." (wait for it) ... "he's a man". It's a Dove commercial.
Yes, the same people behind the campaign for real beauty have also seem to forgotten how many amazing female tennis players we have here in Australia. All of whom can also "do it all", despite the fact that they are not men. Thanks for that message, Dove.
So at this point, I was feeling mildly disgruntled. So when the next commercial came on (which I can't find online anywhere. If someone finds it, please do let me know) I was pleasantly surprised ... at first.
It opens with a group of young attractive women, apparently getting ready to go out. One says something about another getting Foxtel connected, and she proudly mentions that it's through her Xbox, over the internet. Wow, I think. A woman, in a group of women, who not only owns an Xbox, but is able to describe how it works. Nice!
And then came the clanger ... "Hold on, when did you get an Xbox?" another friend asks. Slow pan out to the hunky topless guy walking into the room. "New 'flatmate'" comes the comment, with the inverted commas around "flatmate" painfully obvious in her tone. le sigh. So women can't own a gaming unit. They're only allowed to own boyfriends (ahem, sorry, male "flatmates"), who own game units.
Will it never end? I was the one who wanted to see Tron, I was the one who dragged my poor long-suffering, non-geek partner along, I was the one who re-watched the original last weekend in a fit of fangirlism, I want to see ads that don't make me feel like I don't belong there.
Several years ago I decreed that I would not go to a cinema unless it was Dendy. With the recent price hike on tickets, the suspicious lack of foreign films, and now this case study in broad generalisations, though, Dendy is fast losing its gloss.
Kitchen Update
Well, after a slight hiccup the kitchen is back on track. It won't be done in time for Christmas, unfortunately, but we're locked in for the week of 10-14 January now. So, with that in mind, what do you think of the colours I've picked?
Improvement?
Improvement?
MODY3 for the newly diagnosed
Receiving a MODY3 diagnosis can be a threatening, frightening time. However, by understanding the disease, and knowing what to do about it, you can live a long and healthy life. This booklet will explain what MODY3 is, and will outline some of the changes you will need to make.
Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of diseases that impact the pancreas and how the body stores and uses both glucose and insulin. Maturity onset diabetes of youth (or MODY) is a rare genetic form of diabetes.
There are three main groups of diseases that fall under the diabetes heading:
Despite the name, maturity onset diabetes of youth is not late-onset type 1 diabetes. MODY comes in six known forms, although this number could climb as research continues into the area. MODY is referred to as ‘monogenic’ meaning that it involves only one gene, unlike the more common forms of diabetes that have more complex causes, and involve two or more genes. The types of MODY are differentiated by the gene that is involved. About 2% of all diabetes diagnoses are MODY, and about 70% of all MODY diagnoses are of the type MODY3. MODY3 is caused by mutations of a gene on chromosome 12 called the HNF1α gene.
Generally, people with MODY3 produce a very small amount of insulin or none at all. However, if you have MODY3, you probably do not have very high insulin resistance. This means that that you can use any insulin your body produces or that you inject effectively.
To keep reading, download MODY3 for the newly diagnosed
I wrote this manual as a final assessment item for uni. I have no intention of updating or maintaining the document at this stage, however if there is sufficient interest in it as an information resource, I could possibly be convinced ;)
Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of diseases that impact the pancreas and how the body stores and uses both glucose and insulin. Maturity onset diabetes of youth (or MODY) is a rare genetic form of diabetes.
There are three main groups of diseases that fall under the diabetes heading:
- Type 1 is an immunodeficiency disorder, where the pancreas no longer produces any insulin. People with type 1 diabetes require injections of insulin to stay healthy.
- Type 2 is a progressive disease, where the pancreas will gradually stop producing insulin in the quantities required. Additionally, people with type 2 diabetes will exhibit insulin resistance, where they can no longer effectively use the insulin their pancreas produces.
- All other types. This includes latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA), which is a form of late-onset type 1 diabetes; and maturity onset diabetes of youth (MODY), which is a genetic form of diabetes. These types are sometimes referred to as ‘type 1.5’.
Despite the name, maturity onset diabetes of youth is not late-onset type 1 diabetes. MODY comes in six known forms, although this number could climb as research continues into the area. MODY is referred to as ‘monogenic’ meaning that it involves only one gene, unlike the more common forms of diabetes that have more complex causes, and involve two or more genes. The types of MODY are differentiated by the gene that is involved. About 2% of all diabetes diagnoses are MODY, and about 70% of all MODY diagnoses are of the type MODY3. MODY3 is caused by mutations of a gene on chromosome 12 called the HNF1α gene.
Generally, people with MODY3 produce a very small amount of insulin or none at all. However, if you have MODY3, you probably do not have very high insulin resistance. This means that that you can use any insulin your body produces or that you inject effectively.
To keep reading, download MODY3 for the newly diagnosed
I wrote this manual as a final assessment item for uni. I have no intention of updating or maintaining the document at this stage, however if there is sufficient interest in it as an information resource, I could possibly be convinced ;)
A letter to Origin Energy
UPDATE: I have just heard from Kym Diercks at Origin, and called Veda to confirm it, but the defaults have now been removed from my credit report. Not just marked as paid, but completely removed. It only took three weeks, endless hours on hold, about $50 in long-distance phone calls, an ombudsman investigation, a Veda investigation, and lots of swearing.
Thanks to everyone who followed along with the saga, and provided support and encouragement. This isn't over yet, as I still want to contest the legality of them actually getting any money out of me at all, but that's between me and the ombudsman now.
Oh, and if anyone from Origin Energy is reading this post: you suck. Hard.
UPDATE: After some serious sleuthing, we managed to speak to a certain Kym Diercks at Origin. He told me that they have requested the defaults be removed and that they were waiting for confirmation from Veda (the credit reporting company). In other words, virtually nothing—which was more or less expected. However, the plot thickens ... I called Veda and asked them about their processes—how things work with payments, what notifications are sent, all that stuff—and it turns out that they don't issue confirmations. So $DEITY only knows what Kym at Origin is waiting for ...
I'm pissed off enough that I've been googling for other people with Origin issues. This one made me laugh: Origin Energy- experts at wasting your time.
UPDATE: After I spent another hour on hold this afternoon, my partner gave it another try and managed to speak to someone at head office. He got her email address and forwarded her the email I sent on Monday, along with this note. I haven't been called yet ...
UPDATE: I have now broken my previous record for waiting on hold ... 1 hour and 5 minutes before they hung up on me this time! Perhaps a new record tomorrow, I'll keep you posted!
UPDATE: I've contacted the Energy Ombudsman about this matter now. For posterity, the reference number is 2010/11/01104. They will give Origin ten days to remove the default. Then we get to argue about the legality of enforcing a payment that was due over twelve months ago ... !
UPDATE: We did receive a phone call from a man who would not give his full name. It was the generic "yes, hello, we got your email and we're doing something about it" kind of call that makes me think they're lying to me. I'll believe that they're doing something when I have some proof of it.
After posting this, I received a response from the lovely Ben Dechrau. It's too long to fit in a comment, so I've reproduced it here:
Thanks to everyone who followed along with the saga, and provided support and encouragement. This isn't over yet, as I still want to contest the legality of them actually getting any money out of me at all, but that's between me and the ombudsman now.
Oh, and if anyone from Origin Energy is reading this post: you suck. Hard.
UPDATE: After some serious sleuthing, we managed to speak to a certain Kym Diercks at Origin. He told me that they have requested the defaults be removed and that they were waiting for confirmation from Veda (the credit reporting company). In other words, virtually nothing—which was more or less expected. However, the plot thickens ... I called Veda and asked them about their processes—how things work with payments, what notifications are sent, all that stuff—and it turns out that they don't issue confirmations. So $DEITY only knows what Kym at Origin is waiting for ...
I'm pissed off enough that I've been googling for other people with Origin issues. This one made me laugh: Origin Energy- experts at wasting your time.
UPDATE: After I spent another hour on hold this afternoon, my partner gave it another try and managed to speak to someone at head office. He got her email address and forwarded her the email I sent on Monday, along with this note. I haven't been called yet ...
As discussed this afternoon on the phone, the below was sent on Monday.
Monday afternoon, there was a phone call from an Aaron who would not give his last name who claimed the default would be removed.
It has not been.
Since then, Lana has spent at least two hours on long distance phone calls, being put on hold while calls are transferred, then never answered and eventually, your phone system hangs up.
Yesterday, the longest phone call lasted 42 minutes. Today, 65 minutes.
The Energy Ombudsman case file on this matter is 2010/11/01104.
Origin are not doing very well in maintaining any image of professionalism in this matter.
I request that someone with the authority to remedy the situation call Lana on [redacted]. Clearly, calling Origin Energy seems to be a waste of our time and money.
UPDATE: I have now broken my previous record for waiting on hold ... 1 hour and 5 minutes before they hung up on me this time! Perhaps a new record tomorrow, I'll keep you posted!
UPDATE: I've contacted the Energy Ombudsman about this matter now. For posterity, the reference number is 2010/11/01104. They will give Origin ten days to remove the default. Then we get to argue about the legality of enforcing a payment that was due over twelve months ago ... !
UPDATE: We did receive a phone call from a man who would not give his full name. It was the generic "yes, hello, we got your email and we're doing something about it" kind of call that makes me think they're lying to me. I'll believe that they're doing something when I have some proof of it.
Subject: An unfulfilled need that creates the best opportunity
Good morning
My name is Lana Brindley and I have never been a customer of Origin Energy.
Despite this, your company is largely responsible for upsetting my Christmas dinner plans, and so I am writing this in the hope someone there will show some initiative, fix the issue, and save Christmas.
I will start with some history.
In 2007 I lived in Annerley in Brisbane. While there I was the customer of a power company whose name was not important enough for me to remember. I left Annerley in December 2007 and moved to Canberra. My housemate in Annerley stayed. He was also a work colleague, so I was in regular contact with him and he sent me batches of mail every few weeks. This meant that I could finalise any outstanding bills and notify everyone of my new address.
At some point my former electricity supplier was acquired by Origin Energy. I knew nothing of this, of course.
At this point I will note that I have never - even now after several weeks of this saga, and several weeks of promises to provide one - seen any bill or correspondence from your company.
It appears that at some point, though, Origin decided that I owed them two lots of $495.
The only reason that I worked this much out is because I applied to extend my mortgage to refurbish my kitchen. The bank declined the extension, because of the defaults that Origin put on my credit record. Which means that my kitchen will now not be fixed before Christmas. I’m a bit upset about that. My daughter was a bit upset too, when I told her that Christmas was going to be cancelled this year.
But I guess there’s no chance of Origin coming to my place to cook the roast.
For starters, I can’t work out how any company can put defaults against my credit record without me knowing who the company is, how much is owed, or even that I owed any money. When I pressed one of your customer escalations team, they told me that my account history shows that they have never contacted me about the outstanding account.
This might be another good time to mention that I have never received a bill from Origin Energy. I have never received a reminder notice, or a phone call. And considering that my mobile number has not changed since last century, I should be easy enough to track down.
So, apparently, Origin Energy have been unable to contact me. Interestingly, I seem oddly unable to contact Origin as well. I have spoken to exactly two people about the incident. One who shared my account number and told me there was only one debt. And another who kindly provided some BPay details so I could pay the bill. Each time has required a wait on hold for over fifteen or twenty minutes. Immediately prior to penning this letter, I was on hold for 45 minutes before the call dropped out. You might agree that this can make one a little frustrated.
I have been promised bills so I could pay the outstanding amounts. They have not been received.
I have been promised that the defaults would be removed. This has not happened.
I have been promised that there is only one outstanding amount. My bank would disagree.
I have paid one amount. No one seems to know anything about that, though.
So, I have some questions:
- How much do I owe Origin Energy?
- What do I owe Origin Energy for?
- Has my payment of $494.90 (18 November, Receipt Number [redacted]) been received and credited?
- What efforts have Origin Energy made to recover this outstanding amount?
- What is Origin Energy going to do about this whole debacle?
Could someone with the capacity to finalise the matter in a timely and professional way please do so?
In time to save Christmas?
How about someone give me a call? I promise I won’t put you on hold for 45 minutes, and then hang up.
[signed]
Lana Brindley
Account numbers (from the credit report): [redacted] & [redacted]
Phone: [redacted]
After posting this, I received a response from the lovely Ben Dechrau. It's too long to fit in a comment, so I've reproduced it here:
Hi Lana! Just got your link to this page and thought I'd share my
experience with your readers rather than just you.
I recently received a default from Origin for not paying a bill they sent
to the wrong address. I moved in to a property (let's call it B) in
February, from a previous house (A) and then moved to house C in June.
I called Origin Energy to inform them I was moving out, organised a final
reading and gave them the address for house C. They sent one bill (gas or
electricity) to house C, and the other to house A.
The one that was sent to house A was obviously never received, and was
sent way after the postal redirection stopped. They never once called me or
checked their system for other addresses. They simply slapped a default on
my credit report.
I found this out when applying for a new credit card. Luckily I had it
removed before I applied for a new mortgage two weeks later.
How to have it removed. Lana - I see you've done most of what I'd do
already, so for the benefit of any other readers:
In addition to determination, you'll need a stern voice, unwavering belief
that you will have it removed, Veda's phone number (1300 921 621) and
Origin's direct line phone number (02 9271 4947).
Call Veda and ask them for the account number or reference number Origin
have marked your default with. You'll need your name, address and date of
birth to identify yourself with them.
Call Origin and ask the person who answers the phone to understand that
you're very angry right now, but that you realise they want to help and
would they please excuse any raised voice - you will try and stay calm.
This in my case was true, but also puts the other person in a position of
power - you have acknowledged you are relying on their help. It also means
they can empathise with you, which makes them want to help you.
Tell them you have a default that was erroneously placed on your credit
report with the account number blah. They will look it up. Explain the
situation and ask to be put through to the legal and payments department.
Now depending on your situation you will either owe them money, or you
don't. In my case I did, I paid and was told the default would be removed
because it was their fault. One week later I called Veda and confirmed this
happened.
If you don't believe the outstanding amount is your responsibility, you
will need determine what the fees are for. Give them your current address
and ask for a copy of the invoice.
Once you receive this, check all dates to determine if you lived at the
property at the time of the bill or not. If you are liable, I'd just pay
and get the default removed.
If you're not, get your evidence together. Find out when you moved out.
Call Origin as a new, separate call, and ask the person who answers if they
can help confirm a move-out request was made. Get any reference numbers.
Note the time of the call and the person with whom you spoke. Get a copy of
your rental agreement and bond refund letter to corroborate move-out dates.
Once you have lots of evidence, phone up and ask for the fax number of the
customer support department. Don't get in touch with legal yet. Fax it
through, clearly labelled with a cover page. Call within 10 minutes and ask
them to check the fax machine and confirm receipt. When you get this (you
might be asked to call back later depending on where the fax machine is)
start talking to the rep to get them to start documenting the information
ion your account. This will help when you talk to legal later.
Ask them to put you through to legal. Note: the people who work in the
legal and payments department are, based on the experience I had with Con,
self-entitled, rude and arrogant. Don't expect them to help you
voluntarily. I recommend taking a confused and innocent approach to put
them in a false sense of security. Tell them you don't know why this amount
is outstanding, and can they check your account for any confirmation on
move out dates. Have a copy of the invoice handy so you can point out the
date the bill is for, and that you moved out before that. Con told me that
he'd remove the default for me - no admission of guilt or apology, but hey
- a means to an end! Sell your dignity for a few minutes and get 7 years of
good credit back.
Now: Lana - you've tried a lot already, so if I were you, I'd call every
morning at about 10am. If you call last thing they'll want to fob you off
and go home. Call too early and you'll compete with everyone else and
they'll still be waking up. Call, ask them to look up your account, ask
them when you can expect to have the default removed (hopefully it's
mentioned they will do this on your account - ask for it to be added if not
and follow the process). Keep at this every day and soon the call centre
staff will know you and want to get you out of their faces.
Persistence is key, closely followed by coming across as confused and
innocent. Put them in a position of power and authority, make then feel you
are dependent on their help, act innocent and the natural instinct to
protect will be awoken.
Best of luck to anyone else who's going through this...
We got the 'bete
Visit TuDiabetes
For every view of this video, Roche (the company that makes Accu-Chek diabetic products) will donate life-saving insulin to a child. And if you have diabetes, participate in the Big Blue Test on 14 November, as well. Just test your blood glucose, get active for 14 minutes, then test again. Here's the vid:
And as for "We got the 'bete" well, I can't take the credit, as it came from a TuDiabetes member. Unfortunately, his post has since disappeared into a digital void. All the same, once you do it once, you'll never quite be able to stop singing this song every time you think about "the 'bete":
Kitchen
Astute followers of this blog (if any of you actually exist) might remember this post about the kitchen in the house I bought last year. Well, according to plan, the house has appreciated in value enough for me to fork out (read: "beg the bank for more money") to get the kitchen ripped out and replaced. It's due to happen during December, and I'm really terrifically excited about it. Even choosing taps and doorhandles has gotten me into a lather, recently.
I've been a pretty keen Freecycler over the past few years, so it seemed logical to me to post the entire kitchen as an offer on our local freecycle network. As I was writing the post (complete with photos), it occurred to me that this serves as a great chronicle of what our kitchen was when we moved in. Once the new kitchen is in, and the memory of beaten copper rangehoods and dropsy oven doors fades from memory, I might wish to look back on once was ...
The kitchen is late 70's vintage, and when I moved in just over a year ago it had orange laminate benchtops. I had the benches painted white with laminate paint at the time. Since then, the paint has begun to chip and flake in some places, and of course it's also picked up a few stains. If you wish to use the benchtops, I am more than happy to give you the remainder of the laminate paint and primer so that you can touch it up.
The cupboards are all standard-issue plyboard (not laminate like modern kitchens). There is a little bit of water damage in the under-sink cupboards, but other than that they are all perfectly serviceable, if not very pretty. The doors have a wood-grain look finish, and small round knobs. I've lined most of the cupboards with cheap floor lino. If you want to use the cupboards, I'm happy to give you the remainder of the roll (there's still heaps there), so that you can re-do them. There's nothing wrong with what's there (it's only been in for about a year), but there's probably some marks on it, especially from the pantry.
The oven is a Chef 'Dynasty', fits a 700mm cavity. I think everyone's mother has had one of these (my Mum had at least two, actually). It's the old-fashioned sort with the lift-up oven door, and the grill at the bottom. It all works perfectly, the thermostat is actually really good, and I've cooked many cakes and biscuits and roasts in it. It even has a rotisserie and (I think) all the bits for it (I've never used it, though, so can't comment on how well it works). The only issue aside from the mission brown is that the hinge on the oven door doesn't always catch properly, which means the door won't stay open on its own. I'm told this is a common problem with these ovens, and believe it's possible to get them fixed and/or replaced. I've never bothered.
The stovetop is a Westinghouse 'Cooktop 464', with four solid electric hotplates, fits a 900mm cavity. It has two large and two small hotplates. One of the large hotplates has lost its knob. The burner still works to the best of my knowledge, if someone handy manages to replace the knob (which I'm pretty sure I have hanging around somewhere, if it matters). Otherwise, the other hotplates work just fine.
The rangehood is the centrepiece of this stunning kitchen. Beaten copper, what more needs to be said? It works, but I suspect it was last cleaned in about 1983. If you're brave, or just have a passion for beaten copper, this is the jewel in the crown for you! ;)
The sink is a full double bowl stainless steel, with dual taps, and a small drainer on either side. Nothing else to report.
I will be replacing my fridge too, but they're pretty hot (badoom-tish!) items generally, so I'll list it separately once I've taken delivery of the new one.
Oh, and if you're after some late 70's genuine metal venetians (all working, none clean), in various sizes, I have the kitchen one (and several others) available too.
Of course everything is still installed and in use until December. That said, I've asked the tradies to remove it all for me, so you should just be able to pick up the bits you want and walk away with them once they're out. If I know you want something, I can ask the tradies not to totally destroy it on the way out. And it probably goes without saying but for the appliances at least you will need a qualified sparky/builder etc to install them for you.
If you want to know more, please email me and we'll work things out.
Pictures of the shiny new kitchen to come ... stand by!
I've been a pretty keen Freecycler over the past few years, so it seemed logical to me to post the entire kitchen as an offer on our local freecycle network. As I was writing the post (complete with photos), it occurred to me that this serves as a great chronicle of what our kitchen was when we moved in. Once the new kitchen is in, and the memory of beaten copper rangehoods and dropsy oven doors fades from memory, I might wish to look back on once was ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enter dream sequence ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The kitchen is late 70's vintage, and when I moved in just over a year ago it had orange laminate benchtops. I had the benches painted white with laminate paint at the time. Since then, the paint has begun to chip and flake in some places, and of course it's also picked up a few stains. If you wish to use the benchtops, I am more than happy to give you the remainder of the laminate paint and primer so that you can touch it up.
The cupboards are all standard-issue plyboard (not laminate like modern kitchens). There is a little bit of water damage in the under-sink cupboards, but other than that they are all perfectly serviceable, if not very pretty. The doors have a wood-grain look finish, and small round knobs. I've lined most of the cupboards with cheap floor lino. If you want to use the cupboards, I'm happy to give you the remainder of the roll (there's still heaps there), so that you can re-do them. There's nothing wrong with what's there (it's only been in for about a year), but there's probably some marks on it, especially from the pantry.
The oven is a Chef 'Dynasty', fits a 700mm cavity. I think everyone's mother has had one of these (my Mum had at least two, actually). It's the old-fashioned sort with the lift-up oven door, and the grill at the bottom. It all works perfectly, the thermostat is actually really good, and I've cooked many cakes and biscuits and roasts in it. It even has a rotisserie and (I think) all the bits for it (I've never used it, though, so can't comment on how well it works). The only issue aside from the mission brown is that the hinge on the oven door doesn't always catch properly, which means the door won't stay open on its own. I'm told this is a common problem with these ovens, and believe it's possible to get them fixed and/or replaced. I've never bothered.
The stovetop is a Westinghouse 'Cooktop 464', with four solid electric hotplates, fits a 900mm cavity. It has two large and two small hotplates. One of the large hotplates has lost its knob. The burner still works to the best of my knowledge, if someone handy manages to replace the knob (which I'm pretty sure I have hanging around somewhere, if it matters). Otherwise, the other hotplates work just fine.
The rangehood is the centrepiece of this stunning kitchen. Beaten copper, what more needs to be said? It works, but I suspect it was last cleaned in about 1983. If you're brave, or just have a passion for beaten copper, this is the jewel in the crown for you! ;)
The sink is a full double bowl stainless steel, with dual taps, and a small drainer on either side. Nothing else to report.
I will be replacing my fridge too, but they're pretty hot (badoom-tish!) items generally, so I'll list it separately once I've taken delivery of the new one.
Oh, and if you're after some late 70's genuine metal venetians (all working, none clean), in various sizes, I have the kitchen one (and several others) available too.
Of course everything is still installed and in use until December. That said, I've asked the tradies to remove it all for me, so you should just be able to pick up the bits you want and walk away with them once they're out. If I know you want something, I can ask the tradies not to totally destroy it on the way out. And it probably goes without saying but for the appliances at least you will need a qualified sparky/builder etc to install them for you.
If you want to know more, please email me and we'll work things out.
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