Lots of assignments

The assignments are now coming thick and fast and so I've been trying to do some and finding out how to do others. Yesterday I uploaded the reflective essays from the first 17 days of my work experience. As this is only worth 10% I was wondering how many more essays will I need to do to pass. The course outline is written very vaguely and so I have to keep asking the teacher what is required. This seems to be quite common leaving me wondering what I'm actually supposed to be writing about in my assignments.

My subjects are taking up a lot of my time and I don't seem to have any to spare. Every night is spent doing readings or writing long and pointless essays. As I say, it is hard to know what amount of effort to put in. I don't think there is much use trying for more now my time is limited and the past marking variability of assignments does not mean that a lot of work will pay off. Even so, it's hard to juggle it all. I actually wrote this in a letter to one of the teachers. It's taken three years but I'm finally realising how annoying and frustrating it is.

Spring has sprung!

Today is the first day of spring and already I can feel it. Today was the first morning I've been able to walk to work without a jumper on. It's kind of nice that it is warming up as it makes it so much easier to get up. On the other hand, the fact that it is starting to warm up means that soon it will be very warm. There is no real middle ground when it comes to weather out here. It's either freezing or hot. Still, hopefully there might be a couple of cooler days before it really starts heating up. We'll have to wait and see.

The book has finally arrived!

After waiting nearly a month, my text book, Health Promotion: principles and practice in an Australian setting, has arrived. I ordered it a month ago through Fishpond.com.au and it was supposed to arrive on the 10th. It certainly wasn't quick. I received books from the UK that I ordered after this one, before it arrived. Still, at least I can start my uni (or at the very least look for another excuse).

Counting the votes

Today was the day of the Federal Election for 2010. Currently I’m sitting in the Lingiari electorate. The sitting member is currently Warren Snowdon. I met old Warren on one occasion when I attended one of their fundraisers (after being strongly requested to by my housemate). He appeared to me to be your typical politician. Kind of slimy, only really interested in making you like him. That was enough for me not to vote for him and so today when I cast my vote, I didn’t. Apparently I’m sitting in a strong Labor seat with a large enough margin not to worry him. The Liberals candidate was surrounded in controversy with him allegedly breaching a restraining order. Currently across Australia the Liberals have about 43% of the primary vote with Labor at around 38%. Labour is still expected to win however on preferences. The Greens have around 11% of the primary vote.

Voting signs out the front of Gillen Primary School where I cast my ballot.

I voted for the Greens for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. My preferences around the independents and other minor parties. Neither of the major parties were going to get my vote as I believe that both the major parties are out of touch with the real world. Across Australia it looks like the final result will be pretty close although currently the ALP is in the lead (ALP – 64 and L/NP 56 with 3 independents). We’ll have to see how it goes. Julia or Tony?

Uni by distance

The third week of uni has now been and gone. It went so fast I hardly even realised. Things start being due at the end of next week so I've got quite a bit to do to catch up. If I wasn't working then it would be so much easier as I don't seem to have any time at the moment. This weekend my plan was to work on my stakeholder plan and my EH governance exercise this weekend. In the end I managed to get quite a bit done on the governance exercise (even though I'm still not too sure what I'm really supposed to be doing). I've still got to choose an organisation to do my stakeholder analysis but I'm going to get that done by Friday. Hopefully...

New Bike

Last week I became the proud owner of a new Southern Star 'Apogee' 18 speed mountain bike. It has all the trimmings including 'grip shift' gears and front fork suspension. I was in two minds whether to get it or go for a more expensive one from a proper bike shop. This one I actually bought from K-Mart. It was a bargain price of $99 or around $350 for another one through a proper bike shop. I've ridden the bike once and already I'm thinking I should have spend a bit more. That one ride flattened the front tyre, the seat (despite being too thin for my bum) won't stay in place and keeps slipping forward or back, no matter how tight I tighten it. I could go on about the stiff gears, the unaligned brakes and gears, etc, etc. But I won't. Well, not any more than that anyway. Of course I can quite easily fix these things with a spanner and a bit of money but that's just it. I wouldn't have had to do these things if I just bought one from a proper bike shop rather than just a shop that sells bikes. Of course, all things considered I've still saved myself about $200 so I guess I can't complain. I'll just have to see how it does in the future. I'm looking forward to getting out in it and going for a ride again.

I'm an uncle, again!

I’ve just heard some great news. I had a text from Lewis not 10 minutes ago saying that Naomi has just had a “full term female infant by caesarean section at 2105 hours”. With those no nonsense words a smile spread across my face. I’m an uncle again!

Lewis, Naomi and their new little girl.

Regulation Workshop

As soon as I arrived in Brisbane from Melbourne I was once again up the coast and sitting in class once again. As part of my final semester I had to attend a 3 day intensive workshop on regulation and Queensland legislation. It certainly was interesting, if not a little dull. Still, when I’m qualified that’s what I’ll be doing for the first couple of years at least. Applying the legislation to real life. First of all I’ve just got to learn the legislation!

Emergency?

Fire Engines, originally uploaded by Ryan McLean.

We were sitting around with a cup of tea this evening when I heard sirens outside. I went out onto the balcony to have a look and was surprised to see that they stopped right outside my sister's flat. The first fire engine turned up and the guys got out and ran into the building. Then the second engine arrived. By this time I was wondering if they knew something that we didn't. Either way I stayed outside watching. Then another engine turned up. This time they firemen didn't rush inside so I figured there was no need to worry and went back to my cup of tea.

Wet and windy Melbourne

My first day in Melbourne visiting my sister and her husband. And of course my new (or at least 6 month old) nephew, Max. This morning we left the house. It was a typical winter day, windy and overcast. We head to the Studley Park Boathouse for lunch. It was picturesque little house at one of the many bends of the Yarra River. Unfortunately just as we sat down it started to rain. With the wind as well, it was cold. Still, we had a nice lunch before we went for a drive around Melbourne in order to settle down max and put him to sleep. It seemed to work wonders. It rained for the rest of the day so we couldn't really get out and about.

The next day however, Laura, Max and I walked into the city (well, Max was in the pram). First of all we had breakfast at a place called the 'Auction Rooms'. I'm not used to all of these trendy cafes that are dotted around Melbourne. It's quite nice to just go for a wander and then being able to stop at a little cafe. After breakfast we went to a group called 'Songbirds'. In which all the adults in the group sang songs in order to entertain the babies and infants present. The kids seemed to enjoy it as they were clapping and singing away. I held Max during the session and he seemed to be enjoying it. Whether he understood it I'm not sure but he certainly enjoyed the music. After that we did a bit of shopping in the city before walking back home. We did a bit of walking. All up it must have been around 7 km and we had a breeze blowing at us from every angle as we walked down the streets. My feet are sore now but it was a nice day for walking. Tomorrow I'm heading back to Brisbane and back to a week of uni.