Last Thursday was chaos at the computer lounge; so what is new!! Next Thursday could be worse ...
The Doctor's wife is ill and needs extensive rehabilitation so he didn't come in and I was on my own. The problem was that nobody had told the Thursday receptionist, and whoever it is who does the bookings had canceled two of the clients with just a light pencilled crosses next to their names. I arrived to find that there were six client records laid out for me although I only had time for four - I have doubled up before but that is not at all satisfactory, least of all to me since it makes me feel as though none of us has achieved anything. Anyway, only four clients turned up so that was OK. However, one of my clients wasn't able to make it (I had two new ones) which means that there is going to be an extra one if he is back and everyone else turns up.
Now The Boss Lady has gone on holidays. Himself is arriving back from overseas tomorrow evening and has agreed to fill in for now. Thursday morning was always his spot but he has been away overseas for most of this year and The Doctor had replaced him. I am not sure if anyone has been told that he only works mornings so tomorrow I am going to have to phone and make sure that no-one is booked in to him for the afternoon but I suspect that between us we will have seven clients. Boss Lady said that she would organise things from home since she will be checking her email on a daily basis and hopefully she has made sure that no-one is booked for him in the afternoon.
And the clocks on the computers have gone haywire again. They are four minutes fast and refuse to be corrected. They were working for a while but they are obviously determined to do their own thing. I sometimes think that the whole setup is bewitched but perhaps non-profit organisations are always this disorganised ...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Coins and stamps
Last Tuesday I went into town and met up with a representative of the Stamp and Coin Auction House, Stanley Gibbons, or its Australian counterpart.
I was hoping that I could sell my father's stamp collection and my mother-in-laws coin hoard. Father went through a period where he bought a block of four of every new issue of stamps and for some reason he passed them on to me. I think that he did it as an investment because the stamps in those days were extremely uninspiring, not to say boring.
And my mother-in-law's hoard of coins. (I have been reading about dragons lately and hoard is really the only way to describe it.) When my sister-in-law and I cleaned up her house ready to sell it we came across money stashed all over the house to the extent that we used to take time off at lunchtime to take a big bag of coins and notes to the bank where one of my cousins worked and she was happy to count it all out and put it into my mother-in-law's account for us. She also hoarded stamps; not in any sort of organised way and for years I have been raiding her collection when I was short of stamps
However, what was left over was a huge heap of pre-decimal coins dating back to 1910. I put them into an album, filling in as many gaps as I could (face and obverse of each coin).
The Stanley Gibbons man wasn't interested in any of the stamps and advised me to use the decimal ones on my letters. I will probably never need to buy a stamp ever again and the kiddie collectors will probably lap them up.
However, he did take the coin collection which he said might bring in about $100. It was either that or bin them so they have gone off to be auctioned. Someone, somewhere, might love them; I certainly didn't want them.
And, hopefully, someone is coming tomorrow to take away my exercise bike which I have always hated and which I most certainly won't take with me when I move. My proper bike will be coming to Claremont although I recognise that the chance of me riding it ever again is pretty remote. ... but I love it!
I was hoping that I could sell my father's stamp collection and my mother-in-laws coin hoard. Father went through a period where he bought a block of four of every new issue of stamps and for some reason he passed them on to me. I think that he did it as an investment because the stamps in those days were extremely uninspiring, not to say boring.
And my mother-in-law's hoard of coins. (I have been reading about dragons lately and hoard is really the only way to describe it.) When my sister-in-law and I cleaned up her house ready to sell it we came across money stashed all over the house to the extent that we used to take time off at lunchtime to take a big bag of coins and notes to the bank where one of my cousins worked and she was happy to count it all out and put it into my mother-in-law's account for us. She also hoarded stamps; not in any sort of organised way and for years I have been raiding her collection when I was short of stamps
However, what was left over was a huge heap of pre-decimal coins dating back to 1910. I put them into an album, filling in as many gaps as I could (face and obverse of each coin).
The Stanley Gibbons man wasn't interested in any of the stamps and advised me to use the decimal ones on my letters. I will probably never need to buy a stamp ever again and the kiddie collectors will probably lap them up.
However, he did take the coin collection which he said might bring in about $100. It was either that or bin them so they have gone off to be auctioned. Someone, somewhere, might love them; I certainly didn't want them.
And, hopefully, someone is coming tomorrow to take away my exercise bike which I have always hated and which I most certainly won't take with me when I move. My proper bike will be coming to Claremont although I recognise that the chance of me riding it ever again is pretty remote. ... but I love it!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
About Boy-cat
Boy-cat will be turning 15 in about a week. He had a 'senior cat check' last week and passed with flying colours. We already knew that his kidneys are not what they were but they have not deteriorated over the past year. The vet now has a cat blood pressure monitor and he looked so cute with the mini-cuff on his arm. He, himself, didn't think that it was particularly cute but his BP is spot on. There is no sign of incipient diabetes so he is generally in good health except that he is getting stiff and arthritic and I suspect that he is in some pain.
Unfortunately, it was medication for arthritis which damaged his kidneys so I am going to need to consult with Doctor Dave about how we can keep him comfortable. This was brought home to me a couple of days ago when I came home from helping an ex-client with her computer to find that the house alarm had gone off. It makes a terrible noise and always sent both cats heading for the hills at double speed. When Boy-cat finally made it home again this time he was not happy and was obviously hurting badly. He is much better today and the sun is out and the day is relatively warm so he is outside soaking up the heat at the moment.
But this has decided me that I will not be taking him with me when I move. He has been an outdoor cat for 15 years and it will be at least another two before I move so I think that he would be distressed by a change of domicile and being confined in a penthouse. He hates using a litter tray and will only do so if there is absolutely no option. If caught short he prefers the plughole of the spa bath but in the new place there will be no steps down into the bath. To make things even more difficult, he is finding it harder to squat to pee and does it standing up. This is not possible in a litter tray unless he turns around and looks out as he pees, otherwise he misses the tray altogether, even though it is one of those enclosed ones.
So, if I still have him in mid-2011 I will have him euthanased as I have come to the conclusion that it will be kinder to him to do this before, rather than after, the move.
This has resolved one of my most pressing problems about the move and I can simply make the most of the time we have left together. I might add that, since he has more or less got over the death of Girl-cat, he has been spoiled rotten ... to the degree that I sometimes find myself standing up to watch TV since he has realised that if I turn on the TV or boil the kettle I am probably going to sit down and he is going to climb up into my lap and go to sleep. He knows that 'no' actually means that he is not to get onto my lap and is very good about that but he is very good at making me feel guilty. *sigh* and I am supposedly an alpha-cat, too ...
Unfortunately, it was medication for arthritis which damaged his kidneys so I am going to need to consult with Doctor Dave about how we can keep him comfortable. This was brought home to me a couple of days ago when I came home from helping an ex-client with her computer to find that the house alarm had gone off. It makes a terrible noise and always sent both cats heading for the hills at double speed. When Boy-cat finally made it home again this time he was not happy and was obviously hurting badly. He is much better today and the sun is out and the day is relatively warm so he is outside soaking up the heat at the moment.
But this has decided me that I will not be taking him with me when I move. He has been an outdoor cat for 15 years and it will be at least another two before I move so I think that he would be distressed by a change of domicile and being confined in a penthouse. He hates using a litter tray and will only do so if there is absolutely no option. If caught short he prefers the plughole of the spa bath but in the new place there will be no steps down into the bath. To make things even more difficult, he is finding it harder to squat to pee and does it standing up. This is not possible in a litter tray unless he turns around and looks out as he pees, otherwise he misses the tray altogether, even though it is one of those enclosed ones.
So, if I still have him in mid-2011 I will have him euthanased as I have come to the conclusion that it will be kinder to him to do this before, rather than after, the move.
This has resolved one of my most pressing problems about the move and I can simply make the most of the time we have left together. I might add that, since he has more or less got over the death of Girl-cat, he has been spoiled rotten ... to the degree that I sometimes find myself standing up to watch TV since he has realised that if I turn on the TV or boil the kettle I am probably going to sit down and he is going to climb up into my lap and go to sleep. He knows that 'no' actually means that he is not to get onto my lap and is very good about that but he is very good at making me feel guilty. *sigh* and I am supposedly an alpha-cat, too ...
Friday, August 28, 2009
Ovarian Cancer
I subscribe to an online medical site which posts the latest information on a variety of subjects and, in my opinion, is one of the best medical sites on the internet.
Today I received a gynaecological update and it included seven (7) clues to ovarian cancer. This is the one cancer which I fear above all others because it is not easy to detect and by the time a diagnosis is made the survival rate is very low.
So, for any female readers of this blog I am listing the seven symptoms which have been found to be associated with ovarian cancer:
1. Abdominal distension
2. Urinary frequency
3. Abdominal pain
4. Postmenopausal bleeding
5. Loss of appetite
6. Rectal bleeding
7. Abdominal bloating
Abdominal distension, in particular, warrants urgent attention. Abdominal distension is a progressive increase in abdominal size. Bloating is an intermittent increase and decrease.
There you have it. If you think that you have these, or some of these symptoms and in particular abdominal distension - SEE YOUR DOCTOR ... now.
Today I received a gynaecological update and it included seven (7) clues to ovarian cancer. This is the one cancer which I fear above all others because it is not easy to detect and by the time a diagnosis is made the survival rate is very low.
So, for any female readers of this blog I am listing the seven symptoms which have been found to be associated with ovarian cancer:
1. Abdominal distension
2. Urinary frequency
3. Abdominal pain
4. Postmenopausal bleeding
5. Loss of appetite
6. Rectal bleeding
7. Abdominal bloating
Abdominal distension, in particular, warrants urgent attention. Abdominal distension is a progressive increase in abdominal size. Bloating is an intermittent increase and decrease.
There you have it. If you think that you have these, or some of these symptoms and in particular abdominal distension - SEE YOUR DOCTOR ... now.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Facebook and my mobile phone
I am having problems with my mobile phone and I really need to learn to use it properly. The trouble is with facebook. Every time I make a post (and I now own a group with 38 members) I have to type in one of those random words which are so hard to decipher. To stop doing this I need to give them my mobile number and they will text me a code to verify my account. My problem is that I can't find the code and I have tried to do it several times. The phone signals a message and I diligently try to locate it only to find that I am making phone calls, which I try to kill before they connect. D3 received one in reply to a message she sent a couple of years ago so now I am too scared to even sit down and try to work out how to find my way around the phone which seems to have taken on a life of its own. The book of words is less than useless and seems to assume prior knowledge of mobiles, which I haven't got and never will get at this rate. D3 says that she will show me but she works and has two kids and it is hard to find the time. Maybe I can take her out to lunch and we can have a working session ...
I originally got the phone so that I could phone for help if my car breaks down at night - or even during the day since Telstra seems to have a policy of removing all the public phones and planting them up and down Bayview Terrace in Claremont, where one trips over them every few metres. ... and I can make calls from the mobile if I need to - it is just that it is doing its own thing now and I am in danger of making nuisance calls while I try to retrieve my message with that elusive code.
I originally got the phone so that I could phone for help if my car breaks down at night - or even during the day since Telstra seems to have a policy of removing all the public phones and planting them up and down Bayview Terrace in Claremont, where one trips over them every few metres. ... and I can make calls from the mobile if I need to - it is just that it is doing its own thing now and I am in danger of making nuisance calls while I try to retrieve my message with that elusive code.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
... and yet more about facebook
My bookcrossing group on facebook now has 34 members but is not doing very much. I have discovered that when a person becomes a 'friend' then all his/her posts anywhere in the system feed into your 'wall' and there is one whose messages I have had to hide. This is not the one I mentioned previously whom I have also hidden; my wall was becoming like a wall of meaningless graffiti with most of the junk being of no possible interest to anyone except the person who wrote it. I think that twitter is the best place for that boring, meaningless, egocentric stuff. One day I will go there and have a look at KRudd's twitter - his genius for obfuscating is legendary.
I will probably wait a while and then gently remove myself from the Woodlands group and the family name group and just keep an eye on the bookcrossing group since I own it and the members of the group deserve a bit of supervision and an occasional announcement; I owe them that much.
I will probably wait a while and then gently remove myself from the Woodlands group and the family name group and just keep an eye on the bookcrossing group since I own it and the members of the group deserve a bit of supervision and an occasional announcement; I owe them that much.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
More facebook
After joining facebook and putting my name up at the Old School Site nothing happened. Nothing at all. Obviously no-one is going to admit being that old ...
So I joined the group of people who share my surname. That was a couple of days ago. There are a lot of members but again - nothing ...
However, this morning, just before I had to rush for the train to go and teach computer to Senior Citizens I did a search for a group dedicated to Australian Bookcrossers. There were heaps of bookcrossing groups in a variety of languages but I couldn't find an Australian one so I very rapidly started one and then left for the day. When I got home, to my amazement there were eighteen new members. Yeah!! One person also told me a link to "bookcrossers down under" which I hadn't thought to put into the search engine. It has heaps of members but doesn't look all that active.
*grin* now that I have my group I don't know what the heck to do with it. This was supposed to be a learning exercise and I can see that I am going to have to learn very fast.
One member of a forum I visit has 'offered' himself as a friend but he has verbal diarrhoea of the twitter variety. I am getting heaps of messages posted by him, each about five words. I don't want to upset him by blocking him so hopefully his enthusiasm will die down but I am not holding my breath. He claims to 'network' with several hundred people on facebook and twitter. Ouch!
So I joined the group of people who share my surname. That was a couple of days ago. There are a lot of members but again - nothing ...
However, this morning, just before I had to rush for the train to go and teach computer to Senior Citizens I did a search for a group dedicated to Australian Bookcrossers. There were heaps of bookcrossing groups in a variety of languages but I couldn't find an Australian one so I very rapidly started one and then left for the day. When I got home, to my amazement there were eighteen new members. Yeah!! One person also told me a link to "bookcrossers down under" which I hadn't thought to put into the search engine. It has heaps of members but doesn't look all that active.
*grin* now that I have my group I don't know what the heck to do with it. This was supposed to be a learning exercise and I can see that I am going to have to learn very fast.
One member of a forum I visit has 'offered' himself as a friend but he has verbal diarrhoea of the twitter variety. I am getting heaps of messages posted by him, each about five words. I don't want to upset him by blocking him so hopefully his enthusiasm will die down but I am not holding my breath. He claims to 'network' with several hundred people on facebook and twitter. Ouch!
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