My old camera had one too many shocks from all the times I’ve dropped it, and finally gave up the ghost a couple of months ago. I shopped around and picked myself up a Canon PowerShot SX120 for under $300. It’s a step up from my old PowerShot A510, lots of zoom and lots of megapixel. Very happy with it, will have to get out more and get some snaps.
Author: Melissa
-
Woohoo
Another good mark for latest assignment! the topic – policies/legislation was a bit of a toughie, but very handy for what I’m doing at work right now, writing all my finance policies.
-
Surveyors
Last couple of days at work have been a little nerve wracking, in lead up to our accreditation and visit from ACHS surveyors. A lot of prep work put in by Ros and Sharon, director and quality coordinator – amazing amount of work actually, Sharon especially invested so much effort she has not had an entire day away from work for many weeks.
Accreditation is all about benchmarking and quality improvement. It examines every aspect of the organisation, in particular the clinical operations. It is an ongoing process, although the organisation-wide review, with surveyors spending the day on site, only happens every four years. Achieving acceptable accreditation status has direct impact on our funding, so it is an important process.
The result today was promising. Surveyors will be recommending the highest rating for care of the dying, the first time this has been achieved. This is an enormous testament to the clinical team, very proud.
-
Bazza McKenzie
Last night SBS screened an interesting program about the Australian film industry. I only caught the tail end of it unfortunately; they were looking at the glut of crappy low budget “genre” movies made in the 70s, which seemed to feature lots of car crashes and violence, heavy on the gore. They showed commentary from Australian film directors, producers, actors and other industry types and for some reason, the US film maker Quentin Tarantino who can’t seem to utter a sentence without a big effing superlative in it!
Looked at movies such as Mad Max which gloried in cars and revenge, and another classic, Turkey Shoot which was ridiculous for the amount of blood and smashed heads, chopped off limbs and general gore and violence. Haven’t seen Turkey Shoot, not likely to!
These “genre” movies are currently enjoying a resurgence apparently, following the hit movie Wolf Creek (couple of years ago now), about a psychopath who chops up backpackers in the outback.
When this program finished for some reason I still couldn’t sleep so I stayed up to watch the old Aussie comedy classic with Barrys Humphries and Crocker – Adventures of Barry McKenzie. Extremely cringeworthy (can’t stand Edna Everage! but at least this was the days before “hello possums!”). A very cheeky swipe at “old mother England”, and beer-guzzling stereotypes in Earl’s Court, the “Australian quarter” in London. Some of the jokes in there were quite subtle and funny and some great sources of strine including “hope your chickens turn into emus and kick your dunny down”.
Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the end of the movie, which means that I will now probably want to watch it again someday just to see how it ends!
-
Laura Lippman detective novels
Laura Lippman is an author from the US who writes compelling detective stories. I’ve been getting hooked on the adventures of her Baltimore based female private investigator Tess Monaghan:
Baltimore Blues
Charm City
Butchers Hill
In Big Trouble
The Sugar House
In a Strange City
The Last Place
By A Spider’s Thread
No Good Deeds
Another Thing to Fall
Hardly Knew Her -
Puppy dog chase
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ6us_SdUa4&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Spook getting bigger, racing around and holding her own with tough Aunty Ebby while Boss watches on in the background.
A little while later, Spook was tired of playing chase but Ebby was still up for a game. Had to step in when it started getting a bit rough. They were very naughty too, digging a hole in the lawn.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q52q806imMg&w=425&h=344]
One thing I’ve noticed Spook isn’t in Boss’ face as much, she’s finally learned to show him some respect.