leap_frog_j

on an aside, i use stoopid internet explorer at work as i am not permitted to download mozilla.  most pages i look at have these annoying ads for tips for a flat belly.  i wish they would go away.  i miss my adblocker plus.

life goes on... i enjoyed carmina's wedding tremendously on the weekend, so relaxed and authentic.  everyone looked gorgeous, particularly the bride, who wore dogstar.   twas lovely to see the old uni kids too, including sam ailwood and her excellent partner who live in hong kong, and moo who currently resides in singapore. 

i feel busy working fulltime, which makes anyone feel busy and tired.  also working hard on two acts for island vibe at straddie... we head over there on wednesday next week so argh!  my aerial act i have performed before i just need to build up stamina and stomach for spinning (it's longish) but my acro dance with adam has been significantly reworked and still requires many many more hours of rehearsal.  it's very fun of course.   we have a house on straddie for the week so sure am looking forward to chilling the hell out too.

on sunday me and james enjoyed our one year anniversary, celebrated in the end by not doing much.  his work takes a lot out of him, and so does mine and training, so we were quite flat but had a nice day.  in the end we cooked a roast chook and him mum and sister came over which was fun.  so kudos to james, he has done well so far putting up with me.  my friend linda said (very nicely) that i am not a beige and uninteresting person :)  but i think over the next year i can work on being a bit less intense all the same!!!  james is a very cruisy kinda fella but still... i realise i need to let some things go. 

Hi all

 A few people have asked me about how/what they can do in relation to supporting the recovery efforts in Samoa. This email is by no means a request for your support – just information for you or others that you know that may want to know more about how they can support.

 As many of you know I am heading over to Samoa for a couple of weeks. My VERY basic plan is to assist wherever I can. My sister lives in Samoa (works for UNICEF and UNFPA) and her team is part of the United Nations coordinated response to this event. As well as offering support to my family in Samoa my efforts wider than this will be guided by the coordinated response – my intention is to just plug in wherever I fit.

 As is the case with many recovery efforts there can be an inundation of support offered in the early stages which can tend to decline over time. From conversations with my sister there is a lot of Aid coming in to Samoa which can run the risk of being chaotic without high levels of coordination. It seems that things are currently going well and that they are getting on with the job of assisting those who need it. So on to the how…

 I can confirm that Samoa Red Cross is highly organised and responded almost immediately after the tsunami in offering practical and other supports. Monetary donations to the Red Cross will absolutely make a difference on the ground in Samoa.

 Pacific (Virgin) Blue in association with Polynesian Blue are encouraging anyone who would like to donate clothing, blankets, or tinned food etc to drop these donations off at Pacific Blue check-in counters at airports in New Zealand and Australia. The donations will be freighted to Samoa by Polynesian Blue for distribution by government and/or aid agencies.

 In the medium to long term – I will be in a better position to comment on what else can be done or have a better sense of priority as to what specific efforts might be needed when I return. I would be happy to discuss this further with any of you when I get back.

 There are plenty of ways for people to be useful from here. My wife and our kids are organising some simple fundraising through our local school, clothing/other collections to be dropped at the airport etc.

 Otherwise – all I would say is to try not to let your concern for this event to wane over time. Remember Samoa AND our South East Asian neighbours as time goes on, because they will need ongoing support over many months if not years.

 Thanks again everyone for your well wishes.

 Regards,  Steve

i just walked back to work from some training at the valley, and darnit, the sky was blue and i was walking down eagle st and it was just superb.  i love weekly forcasts that read fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine.  where else gets that?  i love feeling safe (in most areas, not the mall and valley late on saturday nights).

i love my new house.  it's super easy.  it's easy to keep clean and my food connect pick up is on the next block.  i love living with maggie, it's a bladder busting* christmas morning every time i get home, she leaps with joy as if she can't contain it-  OH OH OH JANETTE'S HOME!!!!!   AAAAAGGGGH!!!  JANETTE'S HOME!!!!  in the morning when james' alarm goes off at 5am this is when she jumps on our bed for a snuggle.   i usally catch a few more zzzz's after he leaves, with maggie all floppy somewhere cuddled into me.    i like living with james, it's also very easy and fun.  work takes up a lot of our time and mental energy, but at least we see each other and a few nights a week we stay in and play.  i don't remember ever wanting to be home, but now i love my nights when i don't have anything on.  previously i would have done something about the fact that i didn't have any plans!   

i'm maybe 500m to the bikepath and from there i don't stop til the lights just before my buidling, and it's a 30 minute trip...  ahh life is good

National Child Protection Week 2009 marks the start of a two month campaign to engage the whole of the Australian community in the prevention of child abuse and neglect. NAPCAN and its partners are conducting the largest ever survey of community attitudes. This survey has been designed with the assistance of leading researchers from across the country to gather information which will help in the planning of effective strategies to prevent child abuse and neglect. You can play a part in this. 

Have your say at: www.preventingchildabuse.com.au and complete the short online survey. 

As part of the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children, NAPCAN has been funded to conduct the largest ever survey of community attitudes towards children.  

Information from NAPCAN about how you can participate is below. The survey takes about 7 minutes to complete.

Please distribute through your networks, colleagues, friends and family. 

some work friends are are doing Pink Triathlon in 3 weeks time. The money raised goes towards cancer research and support services so is a great cause.   If you can spare a few dollars, please donate at http://www.everydayhero.com.au/pink_ladies_1

Suicide among Indigenous Australians is up to 40% higher than in the general Australian population.  It's also believed this figure is under reported. You can show your support for Indigenous wellbeing and suicide prevention by visiting www.lifeline.org.au/makeyourmark and creating a personalised hand print. For every hand print created Rugby League’s One Community will donate $1 to Lifeline*.

 So make your mark and help raise funds to provide services and resources to help create suicide safer Indigenous communities. t's an easy, quick and fun way to get involved and show you care about this important cause. 

* Up to $15,000 for hands created online. This donation will go directly towards programs that support suicide safer Indigenous communities.

  www.lifeline.org.au/makeyourmark

The state I live in still criminalises abortion, although in practice there have not been convictions for decades under the century old legislation.  until now.

what concerns me is not that anna bligh (former women's officer from our very own UQ student union) is not supporting this more, but that there are not enough ministers to support changes to the legislation.  huh??!!
 

An elderly lady wrote this letter to her bank. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in The Times and this newspaper thanks him most sincerely.

 Dear Sir,

 I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my Pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account £30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.

I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, re-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.

From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.

Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.

Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.

In due course, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service.

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:

1-- To make an appointment to see me.
2-- To query a missing payment.
3-- To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4-- To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5-- To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6-- To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7-- To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required. A password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.)
8-- To return to the main menu and to listen again to options 1 through 8
9-- To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous, New Year,
Your Humble Client

Addendum from The Editor:  This letter was written by a lady who is 98 years old.

-----Original Message-----
From: Lindsay, Peter (MP) [mailto:Peter.Lindsay.MP@aph.gov.au]
Sent: Thursday, 30 July 2009 11:05 AM
To: Janette Hull
Subject: RE: Feedback from your APH Web Page

 Janette

 Thanks for your email. My reported comments did not mention the very sad Doomadgee incident and there was no blame attached to the parents.

 However, I have been to Doomadgee and I have visited the hospital and met the staff there. It is a very good and professional facility whose staff include local people. The answer to the death of a child is not to suggest the introduction of a black card but rather to get to the bottom of why the death occurred in the first place and address that issue.

 Calling for a black card just invites others to call for a white card where people from remote communities would be required to carry such a card if they came into a white community. Clearly stupid and racist and that's what I said in the paper.

 I want to see the lot of aboriginal people improved but I sadly think the way things are going it will never happen. The people on Palm will live the same way in a hundred years as they do now and that is wrong. I have lots of ideas but, at the end of the day, there needs to be leadership in indigenous communities, the will to follow that leadership, respect for law, order and governance and land ownership.

 OK I'll get of the soap box now.

 Regards

Peter

Thanks for your prompt reply,

 I disagree about the need for a white card.  Aboriginal people have been provided with unavoidable, abrupt and often violent and disempowering lessons about the dominant white culture since the creation of the colony.  Imposing our culture upon Aboriginal people does not succeed in creating thriving communities; it just creates more disempowerment and disadvantage.   

 All levels of government need to learn how work with Aboriginal communities to achieve joint goals.   The Family Responsibilities Commission is one of the rare Indigenous policies that actually works because the communities themselves created the initiative.  Government has to stop thinking it knows best about what to do to assist Indigenous people to live with dignity and wellbeing and trust that they know what to do if only we would let them, and learn how to listen.

 I agree that it we need to know how a child that was presented to such a professional medical facility did not receive health care at a level that all Australians would expect.

 Kind Regards

Janette Hull

I am writing in response to an article on page 9 in the Townsville Bulletin, 30 July 2009.

I am offended that your words essentially blame the parents in Doomadgee of the death of their four year old daughter, despite the fact that they continually presented the girl to a hospital and were sent away.

This story about the little girl broke my heart on the weekend. I would expect all Australians to receive equality in health care and am devastated that this is not the case. If that was my niece or a child of a friend, I would be horrified if the Australian medical and health system did not do everything within its power to keep the child alive. If this was your daughter, would you want her to be discharged from hospital when she was clearly unwell?

With respect, I think that you would benefit from training in cultural understanding. The words that were quoted in the newspaper article demonstrate a lack of understanding and respect for Aboriginal culture.