mja blog

  • Aged care

    In the cold weather, we’ve moved the two old girls out of their kennels at night into warmth by the fire inside the house. They spend most of their day asleep inside as well, when not being escorted outdoors to empty out. This happens often as Spook has wonky back legs and a leaky bladder, and Ebony has arthritis and doggie dementia which means she tends to get restless and wanders around the house, sometimes getting trapped behind furniture. We occasionally see some of their old behaviours, some random puppy playfulness or telling off walkers in our street. They get specially prepared dinners with fresh chicken offal and generally have a good appetite, although today they both seem to have been hit with the same tummy bug and have been unable to keep anything down. I have to credit H. with taking care of these two, he has always been the first to step up with the dog baths and visits to the vet, and has taken on the lion’s share of caring for them in their old age.

    As the girls’ health has deteriorated, we have raised the topic of euthanasia and agree that while there is the enjoyment of life it is a life worth preserving. All of our dogs have meant a great deal to us both and we still feel an acute sadness when remembering those who are no longer with us. The sadness is more poignant when thinking our current two may not be with us much longer, it makes us determined to ensure they have a good quality of life for the time that remains.

  • Sunday visit

    Jo was sitting in her garden when I arrived so I joined her. It was lovely in the sun, sitting quietly and chatting together. Jo has had a tumultuous week, between police breaking her garden gate to chase after someone, and cyber criminals targeting her bank account. All dealt with and behind her, so we could enjoy the quiet.

    Later we went inside and listened to music while we sorted the pantry and did some baking. Bit of a mix – Barry Gibb, Tracey Chapman, Bette Midler and Rod Stewart. All easy listening. We made an old favourite jam and coconut slice. Jo said it had been a few years since she could recall having it. We made this one with plum jam, Mum always makes it with apricot. The smell of coconut baking in the oven has to be one of my favourites. It was very crumbly fresh out of the oven, but still nice with a cup of tea.

    Photo by Darren Richardson on Unsplash

  • New job

    An old colleague from my last company approached me a couple of months ago to see if I was interested in some admin work for her nursing agency. It was a little while before I heard from her again, but we eventually met up and she explained that she needed someone to manage the contracts for her agency’s NDIS-funded clients. Not a demanding job since they don’t have many clients in this category. Jo gets NDIS funding so I was interested in the opportunity to learn more about it, and thought the workload would suit me, so agreed to take on this work as a private contractor.

    The lady who was previously doing this work for the agency left under mysterious circumstances (which seem to have been health-related) and was not available to provide any handover or training. My old colleague, the nursing agency director, gave me a broad overview of some of the systems but I’ve had to work a lot of things out myself. Luckily there is a wealth of information available online about NDIS arrangements, as well as the system used by the agency. I am slowly getting my head around it.

  • Search modifiers

    Search modifiers are used to improve the effectiveness of database searches.

    Precision refers to the relevancy of search results. Recall refers to the range of results. There are situations when either one is important.

    Proximity modifiers:

    • “quotation marks” around keywords tell the database or search engine to search for those words together in that exact order.
    • N# tells the database how close together you want your keywords to be. Use this modifier when you are not looking for an exact phrase, but still want your keywords in the same sentence. Google uses the modifier AROUND(#) to do the same thing.

    WIldcard modifiers:

    • The asterisk (*) modifier can be used to replace whole words or multiple letters within a word.
    • The question mark symbol (?) can be used to replace exactly one letter within a word – useful for making sure your search uses both variants of a word that is spelt differently in British English and American English.
    • The hash (#) modifier can be used to replace one optional letter – it can stand in for a letter or the absence of a letter, used commonly where there is a different spelling of the word.

    Boolean operators – order of operations:

    • Brackets ()
    • NOT
    • AND
    • OR

    Adapted from University of Tasmania Library learning materials. Photo by Guzel Maksutova on Unsplash

  • Lettuce shortage

    Due to all the rain this year, and its effect on crops, the market is currently experiencing a shortage of fresh produce and the prices of many common vegetables and salads have gone up. The price of lettuce at $12 a head has become symbolic of the current conditions. Consequently, some food industry operators are making small adjustments to try and contain their costs and deal with the shortage, such as making side salads optional, offering different leafy blends in their salad choices, or simply reducing the quantity used in normal offerings.

    Case in point, we decided to stop at Hungry Jacks for a bite to eat on the way home yesterday and I immediately noticed the store’s signs drawing attention to the lettuce shortage, and that if their burgers were a ‘bit lean on the green’ it was due to factors outside their control.

    While waiting for our order we observed a man at the counter having a go at the young cashier about the lack of lettuce on the burger he’d just eaten. He was clearly trying it on for a freebie. The cashier pointed to the ‘lettuce shortage’ signs but the guy persisted, describing how deeply disappointed he had been by having only a few measly strings of lettuce on his burger. Finally, the cashier got his manager, who agreed to give the man a free burger meal. He took this away to his table but minutes later, was back at the counter again (having partly consumed the meal) complaining about the burger. To our amazement, the guy walked out with another freebie meal.

    Photo by Jef Wright on Unsplash

  • Theories of motivation

    Last week I spent a lot of time going around in circles with an assignment for my Business Strategy class. We had to write a 2,000-word persuasive essay on why organisations should align their strategy with their mission/vision. I did some preparation but was still looking for answers to the question while I was writing. Determining what I needed to say was very difficult although, on the plus side, my essay structure seems to have improved a little. Determined to improve my writing I showed my essay to a tutor. The tutor made it very clear where my essay needed work, it was really helpful feedback.

    So this week I am catching up on last week’s work and in my other class, we have been learning about theories of motivation. It’s an interesting topic, especially when I catch myself (as I did a couple of times last week) wondering why I am putting myself through the mental anguish of study. What creates the state of being motivated?

    Every human being has various inbuilt drives. Our drives, such as the classic survival instinct, are hardwired into us through evolution. They are the starting point of motivation because they generate emotions. Emotions are what spur us into action (cognition – logical thought – is what makes us slow down a little with ‘hang on… is this a good idea?’). Drives, channelled by emotions, work in our brains to form needs, which are goal-directed forces. We don’t experience the same intensity of needs because we are unique individuals, with our own personalities and values. Our emotions energise us to act, and with our self-concept, social norms, and past experience, that energy is channelled into goal-directed behaviour.

    There are various drive-based motivation theories. The first one I’m learning about is the four-drive theory. The theory states that emotions are the source of human motivation, and these emotions are generated through four drives:

    • Drive to acquire produces various needs including achievement, competence, status, and self-esteem. It motivates competition.
    • Drive to bond produces the need for belonging and affiliation. It motivates people to cooperate.
    • Drive to comprehend produces the need to make sense of our environment and ourselves. It motivates curiosity and knowledge-seeking.
    • Drive to defend produces the need to protect ourselves physically, psychologically, and socially. It creates the ‘fight or flight’ response when we are confronted with threats to our safety, our possession, our self-concept, our values and the well-being of others.

    These are four broad categories of drives that trigger the emotional responses leading to motivations. During my tussle with the essay, the strongest was the drive to acquire, I had the need for competence in my command of the essay topic and writing the essay. The emotions I experienced were very mixed, to be expected from my Big Five personality measurement, vacillating between positive and negative energies. I took lots of short breaks to help moderate this and stayed motivated to finish the task. I felt good about getting there in the end.

    It’s still my goal to write good essays. The feedback I received from the tutor, and the knowledge that my skill is improving, have reinforced my determination to get there. I’m confident it will get easier with more practice.

    Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash.