mja blog

Author: Melissa

  • My new favourite at the pound

    This is Sarra, she is a big yellow girl – cross-Lab with either a ridgeback or mastiff. I’ve grown to like her a lot, I guess because she’s been at the pound a while and acts happy to see me and is the cleanest, most well-behaved one there at the moment! Very strong, and tough – she sticks up for herself against other big dogs. Little dogs and cats are her prey.

    She’s been with us about 6 weeks, she was found at the local tip with another dog – beautiful fellow we called Arnie, looked like a large brindle Sheltie (we couldn’t decide what he was). He went to a home within a few weeks, it’s a shame it wasn’t possible to keep them together, they got on well.

  • First week in the new job

    It has been a very full and satisfying week, the first week on my own in my dual role as Admin Assistant and Financial Support Coordinator.

    Ron very kindly agreed to come into work on Monday to watch over my first payroll processing, and it went ok – a few little bumps but nothing major. This was a relief, considering it was only the second one I’d had any part in. I’d spent a few hours over the weekend going over the dozen or so different pay rates and shift penalties and I think this paid off, getting it clear in my head before I started.

    Ron’s comment as he was watching me on Monday “You’re a lot neater than I am” amused me. I wouldn’t say I was neater, I just take a systematic approach because I don’t like to rely on memory, and I need to be able to list things on paper and tick them off. Ron on the other hand, used to do a lot of calculations and processing in his head.

    This aspect has made it more difficult to take over from him, because it is not always clear how he did things. As I watched Ron work before he left it was obvious he has a talent for numbers, but no love for administrative systems.

    I’ve become aware also that Ron did not have a strong knowledge of MYOB, the accounting software we use for our bookkeeping. For instance, before he left Ron told me MYOB had been rolled over to the new financial year. He may have made the required end-of-year entries but he did not recalibrate the program, it was still reporting in the 2007/08 financial year. (I learned later from my volunteer helper Jan that Ron had called in a MYOB expert to do this for him last year.)

    This caused a hiccup through the week when Alan, who manages the thrift store decided he wanted last year’s figures to compare to his current trading results. The figures I thought were 2007 were in fact 2006 and of course nowhere near what Alan expected them to be. It was distressing for Alan to believe that his figures were not being correctly reported, and frustrating for me since I had no idea what Ron had done. Even now that I have started the new financial year in MYOB, the figures don’t exactly match and I am very reluctant to rely on any reports I extract from the program without personally checking the data.

    So it is a long road ahead to sort these things out to my own satisfaction but I am getting a lot of support at work. I’m building a network of experts I can call on for advice, a couple of volunteers have offered to help with the book work, and Ros is a very supportive boss with many words of encouragement.

    I have also just switched my study course through CENGAGE from PR/Events to Bookkeeping which will help me through a lot of the advanced aspects of my new job.

  • The Gambler

    It must be the most expensive paperback in history – Think Big and Kick Ass inspired Ipswich entrepreneur Malcolm Quinn to sink more than $1m into pursuading the book’s author, Donald Trump to visit Australia for a series of “Think like a billionaire” speaking tours (TodayTonight June 30, 2008 Trump down under).

    The trip is now off due to poor ticket sales, with less than a quarter of the tickets sold. Quinn’s friends attribute this to the current economic downturn, others say lack of experience and inadequate planning. Reports say that Trump has pocketed the $1m+ downpayment (Brisbane Times Oct 3, 2008 Trump blasts ‘inexperienced’ QLD promoter) and there are indications he will pursue the remainder of his $2m contract. With the failure of Quinn’s business it is an expensive lesson indeed, and creates a long line of creditors who were caught up in the event, including ticket holders, sponsor Sarina Russo, and event contractors.

    There was a lot of talk about this at work over the last couple of days, as Quinn’s Concept Store was our marketing firm and heavily involved in a couple of our present fundraisers. The effect on us of this turn of events is quite minimal. To give credit to Malcolm Quinn, he has honoured his obligations to us by ensuring the work on his side has continued. So far the local community is standing behind Malcolm, with very little noise in the local press and the Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale coming out in defence of his friend.

    A foolish venture perhaps, but a terrible disaster for Malcolm Quinn and his family nonetheless.

  • Dog carers

    We might be getting our first dog from the re-housing program this weekend. H and I had discussed becoming carers at some stage, but it was going to be after we’d built a secure dog run, and were back to being a one dog household. Unfortunately things are a bit tough for the program at the moment, with more dogs than can be found homes for – it’s the same story everywhere. To make matters worse several of the dogs we’ve re-housed have lately been returning as the new homes haven’t worked out. This is the case for Ebony, a young black labrador bitch. Out of desperation Ludelle phoned me to see if we could mind her. Very smart dog but bit of a handful apparently – digs and pulls washing off the line.

    That aspect doesn’t bother me so much as the fact that since my increased hours at work there are longer periods when neither H or I are at home, and if Ebony is a high maintenance dog there could be problems, such as her getting out and being hit by a car.

    After some thought and discussion H and I decided to give it a go. H has a few days off coming up and will make a start on building a dog run. In the meantime we can secure Ebony on the front porch, which is fully enclosed. The other concern will be how Ebony gets along with Boss and Sasha – if there are any problems there it wont be possible for her to stay with us. Really hope it works out.

  • Bridget cuteness


    This is my friend Melissa’s beautiful German Shepherd puppy Bridget.. photo was taken a couple of months ago though, I’m about due for a new one!

  • Dog walking shoes


    I think it’s time for some new shoes!

    Over the past week I’ve been working on a grant submission for the dog rehousing program, well for the volunteers in the group actually – the FaCSIA Volunteer Grants Program. I’ve asked for funding to buy our volunteer coordinator Ludelle a computer and printer (she presently uses an old manual typewriter!), shirts to help protect volunteers clothing and provide some sort of uniform, and fuel reimbursement. Would be nice to get this, I’m just amazed at how much of their own resources the volunteers put into the program.

    I am STILL waiting for the Qld Office of Fair Trading to get back to me about costs for getting a copy of the association’s rules – it has been at least four weeks, three phone calls, a fax and a letter. The last phone call was yesterday, the person I needed to speak to was away and I was promised a phone call on Monday.

    Sent ABN application off to tax office last week, waiting to hear back from that. Got a call from Woolworths last week after dropping off a request for support – gave us a $50 wish card donation.