JamesX

What a day. It’s amazing how much you rely on something when it’s suddenly taken away. When you actually sit down and look at it, there’s a lot of things that rely on the time - or more specifically, the time being correct.

The problem is, when the Australian State Governments start to fiddle with the dates that daylight savings operate through, modern devices and technology that rely on the information can’t keep up. With the lead time of just a few months, many people found themselves with devices that didn’t know the changeover date has been pushed back a week. Today I found myself taking on the role of the “timekeeper” while I hunted out rogue systems that were missing the relevant patches that correct the time zone information. It seemed that with every problem we discovered, another one crept up as a result.

It begs the question, is it really worth moving it forward one week? Australia now has four separate time zones when you take into consideration all the differing daylight savings periods. Lucky my Mac knows what’s going on - it got the update from Apple months ago!

I know it’s been a while since my last entry, it’s been a busy time. However, today is a turning point in Australia’s history and I feel compelled to make my opinion known…

As most would know, today Kevin Rudd apologised to the Aboriginal people of Australia, on behalf of the nation and the government, for the wrong actions of those in the past. It’s something that’s long overdue, and as was debated in parliament yesterday, it’s “unfinished business”. What I am shocked about, however, is the attitude that some people have had to this milestone in Australia’s history. Rather than a time for everyone to unite for a common cause, it seems to be a point of contention for some that have formed blatantly racist and ill-informed propositions about the issue.

I think it’s disgusting that in this day and age people want to stick to the myth that “you lost this country when you didn’t defend it.” If you really believed that, perhaps it’s time to put the shoe on the other foot. From those I’ve spoken to today, this sticking point demonstrates just how ill-informed these “radicals” are - the central issue surrounding reconciliation is that of the “stolen” generations. For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them. This led to a whole range of social and political issues for the Aboriginal people as families were torn apart and left in harsh, poor conditions. To those who believe that an apology is not warranted, I ask you this: Would you be happy if the government came along and forcibly removed your child purely based on your race, or hair colour, or gender? One would assume not.

I think that saying sorry is a step in the right direction. It’s a move that takes great courage, both politically and personally, and has paved the way for a long road of healing. One can only hope that today’s apology can lead to further developments towards reconciliation in the future. While you might view it as too little too late, I think you’d be hard pressed to provide a better alternative.

I could get into a political debate very easily here so I’ll simply leave it by saying thank you to Mr Rudd for putting into words what many have felt for years. It’s a pity the same can’t be said for Dr Nelson who despite agreeing, insisted on bringing the Liberal agenda into the equation.

What are your thoughts?

Today, for something completely different I attached my iSight to my car and recorded my trip to work. It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t have to go to work during the day. I’ve sped it up because obviously you don’t want to sit around for half an hour! The traffic was pretty bad, so if you see me stopped, at 30x speed, I’m stopped for quite a while. It’s kinda interesting. I might have to rig it up for the next road trip to Bright.

Get Adobe Flash Player to see this video.

I’m bored right now sitting in the student lounge on level four waiting for my uni friends to join me. So for a change, and to fill in the time, I’m writing this on paper, so I can type it up later - scary considering I can’t read my own writing half the time. But we’ll see how it goes…

Last night I had an in depth discussion with Matt Kennedy about a lot of things, but what could broadly be described as “politics”. The fact is, politics are all around us in everything we do. Sometimes you don’t even notice it, but it’s always there. Nothing is more true than in the workplace. It’s a hard thing to describe but I suppose it’s a complex mix of emotions, power, private agendas and an overpowering sense of rules and regulations, forms and procedures. The Vogons off Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy spring to mind. I suppose it’s just one of life’s little mysteries that we all have to live with - one that is frustrating, and at the same time entertaining (when used in such a fashion!).

Anyway, the group is here now so I’ll have to continue this later… › Continue reading

I can’t believe it’s been a week since my last entry. It doesn’t seem all that long ago, but I’ve had a full week with absolutely no spare time at all. It’s unusual, but for the whole week, I worked all day, and went out every night. I know I promised to get the photos up from Bright, and those who have been waiting (read: Mel), they are now up in the gallery. Every pixel has been lovingly transported into the cyber world using my FTP truck but I take no responsibilty for how they look! I haven’t had time to do touch ups and I really can’t be bothered. :)

So what was I doing all week?

Well lets take a look shall we? Monday was, of course, Labour Day so we made the journey back to Melbourne along the Hume. Scarily enough, I’m actually beginning to remember all the bends in the road and anticipating all the unusual road signs, police hot spots and speed cameras even before TomTom has them on the screen. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been up there now - but thanks again to Richie.

Tuesday was back to work, back to uni, and the Year 10 Play. Yes, that was Keysborough -> Home -> City -> Home -> Keysborough, for those who are playing along at home. And for once, Connex got me there ON TIME. I know, it’s incredible.

Wednesday… more work, more Year 10 Play. Venue Management is so much fun. :)

Thursday and Friday were very much alike. They both involved a lot of work, Chris decided to be a girl and take both off becuause he had a sore throat and I had social engagements after work. (Thursday was the monthly dinner which had a very berry flavour and Friday was Catherine’s 21st - Happy Birthday again!)

Oh and I almost forgot. Just when you thought you could have a rest, you have to go to Geelong for the swimming finals on Saturday. It was a good day, but far too early for my liking, but we won so it made it all the more worthwhile.

Needless to say. Today I’ve been doing pretty much nothing at all. Although I did catch up with Marc for a quiet breakfast this morning. I wonder what surprises next week will hold?

Everyone knows I love to clean my car. I usually do it once every two weeks or so, or should I say, used to do it. Since water restrictions came into effect about six weeks ago, I haven’t cleaned the car once and for a black car, it’s was really starting to show. It got to the point, when it rained for seven seconds yesterday and completely covered the car in dirt, that I had to do something about it.

We have a little stockpile of water in the house from catching it in the shower and from the laundry that gets used to keep the garden happy. It’s amazing how much water is wasted in the 15 seconds or so at the start of the shower where you wait for the hot water to come through. In fact, you can fill half a bucket each shower this way, and the water is perfectly clean. So after a few showers, I had about 10L of clean water set aside. I then got the Karcher out and modified the water intake hose so that instead of taking it from the mains supply, it would suck it from the bottom of a bucket. By the time I’d used all the water, I probably got around the car twice (once with super concentrated cleaning fluid to break up all the dirt, and once to rinse). Then I just wiped it dry, and it was done. I’m thinking I need to do this more often now. :)

I’d buy a water tank for the house and catch it from one of the downpipes, but what’s the point when there’s no rain to catch!