Australians all let us rejoice.... Why?

I don't mean to put a dampener on anyone's Australia Day but I have recently been watching the ABC 4 corners 50 year birthday APP on my new iPad, (Yes I have an IPAD!!) and it has been quite interesting if not a little depressing to see how little things have changed in 50 years.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/four-corners-50-years/id487084761?mt=8

For example:
Stories from the last 50 years and my thoughts.

The parlous state of  the Indigenous People of this country, this story pops again repeatedly in each decade and is even today still an ongoing issue, why can't we get it right after all these years?

The power of the RSL clubs in setting the political agenda,  sound familiar? Poker machines and the proposed tax come to mind??

Crime and Punishment/Police Corruption, this is where 4 Corners in my opinion has made its most significant mark, some of you may be too young to remember such stories as: The Big League, Horses for Courses, The Moonlight State, Police Story (the prelude to underbelly NSW), Academy of Crime,  Fixing Cricket,  Melbourne Confidential, Supermax,  I could go on but you get my drift I hope...

The role of women in Australian Society, the fight for equal pay for equal work, the culture which celebrates men's sexual conquests but condemns the women as "moles, etc", the fight for decent affordable childcare and why are more women not involved in the decision making processes in this country in both politics and the boardroom.

Wars and Famines, Vietnam, Banned Aid, Indonesia, Rwanda, Gallipoli, Ethiopia, Bougainville, Yugoslavia, East Timor, weapons of mass destruction, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq etc etc .....  Maybe if more women were running the show ( see point above) we may have less of these???

The treatment of Refugess and Asylum Seekers  we are still fighting over how we treat these people who often have risked their lives to find a safe haven, why is a country so wealthy so mean spirited?  How about taking some of our national anthem words and actually meaning them...... "for those who come across the seas we've boundless plains to share"


Mining, multi-national companies harvesting our resources, shipping the profit off shore and then leaving the australian people to deal with their aftermath, remember Wittenon and the "blue death".


Today is a day where we hopefully think about our good fortune to be living in such a country where most ( but not all,) have enough to eat, somewhere to sleep, an opportunity for an education and political freedom. To me,  being an Australian is not about wrapping yourself in a flag, instead it is  not allowing ourselves to become complacent and let others make decisions about our country because it is all too easy to blame the politicians etc.  We have a voice and we must use it to ensure that the values we hold dear of equality, social welfare, a fair go for all, are not eroded.

That is my soap box for today, in case you think I have taken leave of my senses here is something more amusing for Australia day from one of my favourite writers and broadcasters Richard Glover.....

http://www.richardglover.com.au/blog01.php

Perv Appeal

I am again in a hotel room, it's Monday night and there is definitely nothing on the box, so I thought I would do some stream of consciousness blogging, so here it goes......

I have just been watching a story on Australia's first road cycling team     http://www.greenedgecycling.com/   and I must say I did enjoy viewing the "team" and it got me to thinking what is it about a man in lycra suit, with legs ( that are better shaved than mine, I must admit) that got my attention? I like to think I am more a woman who likes a "cerebral" man ( no pun on my new role there!) but I find as I am getting older ( very slowly mind you) that a well turned calf can turn my eye, I like to call it  "Perv Appeal" a bit of a pun on that old real estate thing called "Kerb Appeal" which means you like it at first glance and want to take a further look!

I know the male of the species has always been driven to look for "Perv Appeal" but I wonder when did it become OK for us gals to do the same?  When I was a younger woman we used to say guys had "cute butts" even that might have been considered a bit risque but now it seems we all walk around with our eyes wide open all the time!  I got this expression from a  friend who used this expression, "I may be married but I still walk around with my eyes open"  ( hello Laszlo,!) a great way of saying I may be in a loving committed relationship, but Hell I still like to Perve!



They ( I am not sure who "they" are but they get a lot of press) say that young woman are often behaving more badly than the lads, so is this perving a sympton of a far wider problem? Can we envisage groups of middle aged women driving around our suburbs yelling at men on the street to "show us your calves/butts/biceps etc" or will the wet t-shirt competition be replaced by the man in  wet lycra competition?
will we secretly be taping the tour de france to feed our fantasy??  I can admit to this at least, I stayed up to watch most of the final days of the tour last year, my husband was in bed asleep , maybe that says it all!


so that you can see what I have been carrying on like a pork chop about, here it is!.....

Brain Drain!

It's Friday, 5.45pm have just arrived home from training in Sydney, pleased to report my significant other organised dinner and I have a gin and tonic in hand. (See,  never follow my own advice, see earlier blogs about drinking and blogging/texting etc)

Anyway it has been a great week learning new things and keeping Alzheimer's at bay, I hope, (isn't that the key to it, surround yourself with younger people and learn new things??). Anyway,  so now I have met my new team mates , but  I am not going to talk much about work because as you all know  I HAVE A LIFE, but it was interesting to see how things have changed in the protocol of the information you give people now when you meet them.

There's a lot of,  "are  you on Facebook, twitter, linked in, blogging" etc and it got me to thinking about how much do you want people you work with to know about you??? I don't mean that in a sinister way, but I,  and many others I suspect like to keep their work and personal like separate to a degree, so by giving away all your various contact outlets you are knocking down that invisible wall.  And YES if you were going to ask, I did give my twitter and blog details out! I am still new on it all  and need the followers !!

But what is the protocol, if someone from your work wants to be your friend on Facebook?  Do you say yes, and then let them see all the embarrassing things your family post on your wall? Or does the fact that  your co-workers follow your blog limit your  "freedom of the press" so to say??  Can what you write online come back to bite you on the bum metaphorically speaking??  ( that was my Carrie SATC moment there, in case you didn't notice)

This is totally random  (see I have the young persons lingo down pat),  but I have just done a spell check and the following words were flagged as not known, and please note I am writing this on a computer,  connected to the internet and using a Google site app to blog ( oh, I bet app will come up in the spell check too!)

Facebook
Blogging
Texting
online

and FYI   app did not come up in the spell check!

Well I feel I have done my community service for today, and now that it is officially the weekend I am off the  'av a good weekend!

A bit of self promotion here:
expect some great blogs next week, when the Glenquarry goddess goes to Sales Conference, there maybe a lot of twittering, blogging over .05 happening !
;-)

Missing in Action

I arrived home safe and sound, although it did take a day or 2 to get back on Oz time, As Dorothy Said

"There's no place like home"

anyway I was only home for 1 1/2 days and now ensconced in a hotel in Sydney while doing training for my new role at work. All going well (I think, anyway this is not about work) I do have a LIFE you know!


I have been  thinking about New Years Resolutions. 

I think they are a bit like wishes, if you tell anyone what you have resolved to change in the next year they won't come true, so I, for the most part have kept them to myself. I can't claim that I have any great success in keeping most of them, maybe I should have told more people so that they can make me keep my resolutions!

So I googled New Years Resolutions and the top result was : the top 10 resolutions ( according to http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/holidays/tp/resolutions.htm)  not sure if Pittsburgh has a monopoly on new years resolutions or that the people in Pittsburgh are particularly vocal about what their resolutions are but here they are. I bet you can predict most of them....





go on have a go


OK, here they are, and my musings on them.

1. Spend more time with family and friends.   (I think this is cheating as I  thought this was what everyone said on their death bed, so therefore not a resolution)

2.Get fit,  (I say "Fit for What" , please be more specific!)

3.Lose weight (Does anyone not have this one,   maybe Kate Moss??)

4. Quit Smoking ( Honestly, if you are dumb enough to smoke with all the info we have about its effect on your health, then please return to no.1 and read DEATH BED WISH!)

5. Enjoy life more   (Oh come on Pittsburgh, how bloody boring is this?  so does this mean for example being independantly wealthy and not having to work or marrying well ?  having more holidays?   or maybe living in a nice place?   then maybe that resolution should be, win lottery, marry rich man/woman, or maybe  move out of Pittsburgh??)

6. Quit Drinking  (Sorry, what about previous resolution no. 5 , isn't alcohol a part of enjoying life?) Well at least recovering from a hangover makes you appreciate life!

7. Get out of debt. (The answer: pls refer to resolution no. 5)

8.Learn something new, (how about how to quit smoking, quit drinking and balancing your budget?  that's a start a least) If all else fails, start a blog!

9.Help Others   (I feel I am doing a community service in bringing all this to your attention)

10.Get Organised   (I have made my resolutions, have you??)

Actually no.10 is very me, I live in organised CHAOS most of the time. And at the risk of not sticking to my resolutions  I am taking a  risk in letting you know this is my resolution for this year

(only 1, I do have a LIFE you know!)  and it is  from my BFF  Karen "Pats"Brown who told me once something her mother said and it makes a lot of sense to me ( I am a wife and mother too!)

"Don't  put it down, put it away!"  Please feel free to use any voice in your head that you have lurking there!

Baby Macbeth,     http://www.baby-mac.com/

I think Bev would say this! :-)


I think that is the answer to life! The key to keeping your life in complete balance, how to find everying when you need to, so that is my new mantra!

Anyway enough of my raving for tonight, can you tell I am in a hotel alone and there is not much of value on the TV?
thanks for reading!

Washing in Town!

Well, only in the hotel room anyway.
It's cold, really cold, I mean bone chilling cold and anyone who knows me well, knows that I never feel the cold, but I must say the I have met my Waterloo in Washington. Verity had to go to the sauna to warm up this afternoon!

Done the topless get on and get off bus, although due to the cold not much getting off  or topless action was happening. We did the Smithsonian museums of history and natural history today, I really loved both,  but my favourite was the history one. I saw Julia Child's kitchen and the red shoes from Wizard from Oz. Pictures to follow so please read on....

Julia Childs Kitchen table

the red shoes I am saving for tomorrow, have to have a reason for you to check back again, don't I?
I am about ready to go home. Here is my list of things that mean it is about time for you to go home.

1. You get tired of american accents

2. You get tired of hearing the said american accents everywhere telling you about all their inner thoughts,
(they are called inner thoughts for a reason!)

3. You think tips should be reserved for good service ( not as a substitute for a reasonable hourly rate of pay)

4. You begin to get paranoid about having every disease they have created a drug for!  ( watching too much TV!)

5. You cannot take said drug due to the amount of side effects !

6. You think a night in watching house and garden TV is preferable to going out to another restaurant

7. You are tired of saying where you are from, just want to answer NOT HERE!

Notice I had 7 signs!  There will be more o the 7 thing later in another blog, there has been a development!

Watch this space!

the morning after the night before..

As the song goes "there's got to be a morning after" fortunately for this correspondent the common sense of middle age prevailed and there was no big party, no excessive drinking, just some take away dinner,  a glass or 2 of  champers and the House and Garden TV Channel! The recipe for a hang-over free New Years Day.

The SBP are not quite as well, they got in around 4am I am told and Ashley has just done the mercy dash to the corner store to get some Gatorade for his beloved and Verity.

This is our last day in the big apple, Meaghan and Damian are coming over later for our final get-together. Amy has already flown out to LA for her flight home and we ( that is we who are not hung over) are in the throes of organising our stuff, repacking our suitcases ( strangely it is harder to fit everything in, could it be the shopping??) and  the returning the house to its pre-blake state.

Off to Penn Station in the morning for our train to the Capitol ....

So the next post will be from Washington DC, so watch this space!

News Year Eve

It is just like the movie here, I have just got back from shopping with Meaghan at Macys in 34th Street. I was getting her a belated birthday gift of a nice warm north face coat.  It was mayhem around there with people everywhere and noise from hooters ( not the restaurant kind! ) and vovozalas (the things from the world cup, I don;t know how to spell it!).

I wore my new leopard print shoes and they must have made me look like a local as I kept getting asked for  directions from tourists! It is really warm here today, I went out with just a long sleeved T shirt on, and was still hot!

The girls went to a local harlem beauty parlour and got their hair done, and boy do they look fab! The SBP ( smart, beautiful people) are off to a private party in an east village bar tonight, while the SBP's parents are having a quiet dinner and maybe a little TV. Too much excitement in one day is far too much!!

anyway best wishes to all for a very happy, peaceful and prosperous 2012!