Time Passes All Dinosaurs

Have you got some “good stuff” that you “haven’t had very long” that “works really well” and you “will never got rid of it”?

Case in point – our fax machine operated well up until about 6 months ago. Then, it developed this interesting quirk – it would give a “Dark Paper Used” warning, which is supposed to let you know that the fax coming through is on dark paper, so you can elect not to receive it. This saves you from using lots of ink (yes, it was an ink cartridge model).

The only problem was that the sheet wasn’t on dark paper and it wouldn’t let you clear the message. Plus, when you gave the ok for it to print the page, it would print that page, as well as any other faxes that had been sent that day. Which meant that whenever we got a fax, we got 10, nine of which we had already printed, some of those nine times …

So, was time for the old unit to go. But I faced opposition. It was a “good machine” that we “haven’t had very long” that “works really well” and we “will never got rid of it”. It turns out that it had been a good machine that we had for 10 years that worked really well up until 6 months ago and that we needed to dispose of.

The new one is a laser machine that prints 5 times the pages using a cartridge that is half the price of the old cartridge and the new machine cost one third of what the old one did 10 years ago … and that’s without inflation.

Want to buy a really great fax machine?

Speechless

I think I might need to soften my image a little. I’ve heard that the face/eyes are a window to the soul. Mine tends to be very good at that … particularly at the dark end of the spectrum.

I was having an uncomfortable conversation with a person recently. This person had done something negative and I was confronting him with what he had done, the effects of the action and what he should do as a result.

I know it was getting uncomfortable, because he pulled his shirt up over his head so he couldn’t see me and refused to come out. Kind of like when you’re in bed and you see a monster, you pull the blankets up because monsters won’t bite through blankets.

A Close Follow Up

Another pet hate when talking to people … “ I forgot”. That might as well be, “I heard what you asked me to do, but I couldn’t be bothered.”

Honestly

Does anyone tell the truth anymore? Even when they are confronted with evidence of their actions?

It seems to me that most of the people that I speak to in an official capacity just lie. Their children lie. Their children lie to me, then lie to their parents, so when I talk to their parents, the truth has decomposed into something unrecognizable and the stench that surrounds the resulting conversations affects everyone.

So, perhaps from now on we all should lie all of the time, then everything will be consistent.

Nothing will be authentic, but there will be no more feelings of disdain and pain caused by people not respecting each other enough as humans to be honest.

Over to the Dark Side

For years I have been an avid computer gamer. BC – Before Children, I spent many hours gaming. I also enjoy getting involved in the on-line communities which spring up around the common theme of a game.

Today I spend many hours gaming, but to a lesser extent, shoe-horning it in between many other things. It’s also a source of tension – people who don’t enjoy games don’t see how you can “waste so many hours” gaming.

So, it came as an incredible shock when for my birthday I was given an X-Box. Now, I’m very careful to limit the time I spend on it, but like all games the code warps time, so that the quick 15 minutes you allocate yourself soon becomes a double-digit measured in hours.

I also now understand what the console owners have been saying for years. I have enjoyed arguing the PC perspective when it comes to games, often referring to the games on the consoles as inferior. I’ve eaten humble pie and on it was written the word, “Halo”.

Must fly, bad guys to kill.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I really enjoy blogging. Not that many people read them. I really enjoy participating in on-line communities. I really enjoy browsing the internet. But then, I just stopped.

There’s lots of reasons, I guess. For stopping for a while, I mean. None of them probably make much sense to you.

I don’t have a lot of time to give – it seems that I’m quite stretched out. So, for a while, I got jealous of that time and horded it. Life seems to be a matter of priorities and they all take time. My roles as husband and father take precedence. Then there’s social, spiritual, academic and relaxation pursuits. All of these are necessary for well-being and I was finding as I pursued these, on-line interests became a smaller part.

But, like life itself, such interests have ebbed and flowed, so that their order of relative importance has shifted, hence my renewed commitment.

Take all of the above and summarise: I needed a break.

In any case, I trust that you had an excellent festive season and that this year is shaping up to exceed all of your expectations.

CRACK POTS

CRACK POTS (from ASSN Update #112)

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

To all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers.

The Educators’ Psalm

The principal is our shepherd; we shall not underperform,
He maketh us to sit down in lengthy staff meetings,
He leadeth us through restructured environments,
He restoreth our qualifications,
He leadeth us in the paths of curriculum development for his job’s sake.

Yea, though we walk through the valley of the show of gender equity, we will fear no discrimination.

For the principal is with us: his administrative expertise and his interpersonal skills, they facilitate us.

He prepareth a School Development Plan before us in the face of the P & C,
He annointeth our hands with policy documents: our file runneth over.
Surely selection criteria and professional development shall follow us all the days of our teaching career.
And we will dwell on getting our super forever.

Many things

Last night we had a terrific storm. It came from a direction that we don't ususally get storms from - always a sign that it will be "unusual". There was a good deal of wind, but amazingly, it seems that there aren't any trees down. That's one of the joys of living on land - lots of trees that blow down, then need to be cut up and disposed of creatively. I can't tell you how much rain we had, beacuse there's some kangaroos out by the rain gauge and I hate to scare them off.

I've also run a gamut of emotion over the last few days by making apurchase. Joy at finding it, anticipation about getting it, guilt beacuse I already have a few of these things, back to excitement, embarrasment because it's a bit silly, back to anticipation.

Humans can be so silly sometimes.

Ever the proud parent

A poem from my 7 yo daughter:

Sights and Sounds

Birds are flying in the sky,
Pigs are running in the mud,
Having fun, rolling and scattering
Splashing around.
Birds are cheeping
Making up songs.
Ants are marching
To look for food.
Trees are growing
And drinking the rain.
Storm birds are trying
To warn Queensland
That there is a storm
Tornado
Lightning bolt
Swishes
And down they come.

Success

The guinea pig project was a raving success, just like you'd expect - I think that our eldest is currently watching TV with it on her lap as we speak, having gone outside to the enclosure and liberated it for some attention.

Getting the enclosure on the trailer was an experience, as it was a good bit bigger for the available space. Still, there's not much you can't achieve with the right amount of snatch-it straps! Also, "boy logic" came to the fore and it went on ok.

We also stopped on the way home to procure one for our youngest, so that she didn't feel left out. We were very specific about requiring another female, so we don't end up hip deep in guinea pigs. Time will tell.

In any case, the joy that has been brought warms my heart.

Happiness

I look forward to today, because we’re doing something a little bit sneaky. Our eldest daughter would really love another pet. We have two dogs, but I’m the one who looks after them. She’d love a cat, but with all the native birds we have, a cat is out of the question.

So, we’ve organised a guinea pig for her, complete with outdoor condominium. She knows nothing about it and will go NUTS!

It’s nice to make people happy.

Constructive use of holidays

Just over the last few days I’ve used my holidays in a surprisingly constructive fashion. I love having the time to do some of the things that I’ve been putting off. Yesterday I changed the wiper blades on one of ourt cars. Now we’ll be able to see where we’re going when it’s raining. Then, I crawled under the house and drilled the holes that allowed me to place the speakers for our surround sound system in the right places without having the wires run all over the floor. Then, I gave our bichon friese (one of our two dogs) a clip. He looked like a cotton ball from hell, now he looks like a shorn sheep. I hope the other dog doesn’t tease him too much … 

Today sees some interesting tasks. I’m going to make a stand for the centre speaker from the aforementioned system – they all need to be 1.5 metres from the tv, or it screws up the picture. Well, I can see thew effect – no-one seems to be able to. Both dogs will benefit from a bath. Ever bathed a corgi? Set aside an hour or two – their double coats are thick. Then, I’ll wash my wife’s car and maybe my own.

At this rate I’ll need to go back to work for a holiday!

Broken sleep et al

I don't know about nayone else, but I love to sleep. Currently I'm on holidays and I'm trying to be disciplkined - staying with my mprmal sleep pattern, or I'll end up going to bed at 1 am and sleeping through until ten. That may be delicious, but it's awfully selfish, affecting the whole family.

Last night I had one of those awful nights where I wake up every few hours for 20 minutes or so. I feel very slow today and will probably be weary. However, with my wife off on an adventure today the tiredness will be pushed to the side, for it will be a day of "Secret Daddy Business".

THis is a term I use for when my wife is away and the kids and I engage in all sorts of silliness only a Dad can come up wih. We don't do anything nasty, just things that are "male centred" e.g. not washing up until we absolutely have to. We go shopping for ice cream (although not me - I think I'm coming down with what the girls had).

In any case, I think an afternoon nap will be in order. I'll just make sure I'll move my wlaking frame out fo the way ...

Random acts of kindness

When was the last time you did this? When we go through a toll bridge, we also pay for the next person. A second ago I offered to write poems for people on a message board.

This world can be such a harsh place. From time to time we all need to take the responsibility of bluntening the negativity a bit.

I have moments where I choke down a comment to save the face of the person with which I’m speaking. I just think that it’s better to smile about what happened later, rather than make the other person feel bad.

Case in point:

Friend: “I’ve been studying astronomy at school lately.”

Me: “Really? What’s your favourite part?”

Friend: “Finding out so much information that I did not know before. Like scientist attempting to confirm that Uranus has slight rings around it.”

Me: blink blink.

Well, I was right. No sooner had one child started to get better than the other one started exploding. Mercifully for her, it seems to be a lesser case, but no-one like to throw up. To her credit, she is handling it all with her customary bravery. That said, she’s a little disappointed that she can’t engage in some of the activities that we had planned – throwing up at swimming lessons is never a good look!

It’s so hot and humid at the moment – 35 degrees Celsius, with enough humidity that you sweat standing still. I guess that’s what happens in summer.

Sick Kids

It's always painful to watch when one of your little ones gets sick. Our 5 year old is currently exploding out of both ends and is one of those people (like me) that hates being sick.

You're damned if you do and damned if you don't - you need to maintain their fluids or they dehydrate, but when you do it induces another round of vomiting. You can just rub their backs, soothe them and hold the bucket.

The other down side is that usually at least one other member of the family catches it, ususally when the one that had it first is better, thus making the imapct of the bug more impressive.

So, we've just racked up the DVDs and watch, snooze, catch and clean up. Hopefully it's just a 24 hour bug.

The last day of school - it’s a feeling that we have all experienced at some stage. For some of us, it’s one of joy and expectation. The joy of holidays to come and expectation of what the next year will bring. For others, it’s a sad day, where you part with friends, move on to uncertainty or feel sadness that a great year has passed.

As an educator, the last day of the school year is all of the aforementioned. Joy at getting an extended break to recharge my batteries and joy at what we as a school and what individuals have achieved. There is also the feeling of expectation as I look forward to the things that next year, and the years beyond, will bring. There’s some sadness as colleagues move on and I look at what some students have not achieved.

Mostly, it’s an eerie day, because few of the students turn up and there is a lot of pressure to finish those last few jobs. Add to this that the school’s server died a spectacular death, meaning that some tasks suddenly got harder. And you have a very interesting day.

Still, 6 weeks of holidays wind before me, while somewhat peppered by tasks that have to be done, is still a great feeling.