no show without punch...

I had a great day on Friday, celebrating my graduation with a Graduate Diploma in Education Technology, at last. It was an early start due to the extremely inconvenient hours kept by the academic dress hire place - why on earth they think normal people with jobs would be able to get there before 3pm each day beats me. Still, we picked up the gear, including trying to get a trencher that was small enough to stay on, with the assistant insisting the one I ended up with was fine (it wasn't - it fell off twice).

The ceremony itself wasn't as pompous and ceremonial as my last Grad, but then that's not a huge surprise. I ended up rather enjoying it. Lunch was at a favourite cafe that used to be a Friday night regular, till they stopped opening in the evenings. It's been ages since we were there, so it was really gratifying that the owner still remembers us.

Stopped off at Mission Bay on the way home to attempt some photos, here's a couple of decent ones that Lynda took:

Although I'm now on holiday, I'm still not sleeping well - hopefully that'll sort itself in the next couple of weeks. On the other hand, when I wake at 5.30am, or whatever revolting time it was this morning, I get to hear the dawn chorus, and smell all the yummy spring morning smells, so that's nice!

Pittosporum

I'm just loving the early evenings at the moment. It could be because I've been home before dark every night this week, or because it's not been raining, or that spring really feels like it's in the air at last, but mostly, I think, because of the sweetness in the air, contributed largely by the flowering pittosporum trees lining my boundary at this time of year.

ISS & Atlantis

I've just been outside for the best viewing of the International Space Station being chased through the skies by the shuttle Atlantis! Both were really bright, and although I got out there a bit early, and was beginning to wonder if I'd missed them, once they popped up on my horizon I was in no doubt. So bright tonight (the lower the magnitude number, the brighter they appear), and way up high in the sky, not grovelling along the horizon, like last night, when they vanished behind the trees.
Such an amazing contrast - moving past Jupiter and through the claws of Scorpius. It still blows my mind how it's possible.



Very rewarding today - I've just started astronomy with my extension class, and we were in the computer pod doing some research. I'd talked last week about going out shuttle/ISS spotting, and issued them with a star chart and viewing times. I've created a whole bunch of astro-geeks - they've all been out shuttlegazing over the weekend, and were comparing notes on how bright they were and how cool and how amazing.

Counting down

to 2 events
Graduation, this Friday. I haven't been to a grad ceremony since my Teachers' College graduation, so it'll be interesting to see how things have or haven't changed since then. Yay for a contract that recognises significant events, and allows for a day off to celebrate. It's funny how quickly I've forgotten all the stress and agony of getting assignments and projects finished. And no, that doesn't mean I'm ready to take something new on.

68 days till U2 - sadly the contract doesn't allow for a day off for that!

Arrr!

A Very Satisfying Weekend, where, unlike the last two, I didn't spend it all on work. In fact, I even got out in the sun, which was an excellent change!

Yesterday I spent a bit of time in the garden, mowing the lawn and clipping back the unruly climbing roses - managing of course to get my hands full of thorns. All because I wouldn't walk 10m to the garage for my gloves. How silly! I noted that several of my fairy circle of lights round the edge of the garden are all mud-splattered, which demonstrates how much and how hard it's rained. (and I'd forgotten that till just now, again, so I still haven't cleaned them)

This morning I spent over 2 hours on the phone with Mum, which meant the battery in the cordless was completely flat in the end. She's so cheesy - I don't know how long since I've phoned her (over a month) and she still went "hi Larraine" when she picked it up. She just knew! And she assured me she doesn't do that every time the phone goes! Later I went to the Home Show, which was mostly full of stuff for people who own (large) homes, but still had some entertainment value for the likes of me. Like the guy who demonstrated the amazing (synthetic) chamois cloths that soak up ALL that liquid. And the other guys who sold can openers. They don't sound that exciting (or interesting) but they sure amused us! My friend bought the coolest multitool,
while I thought this lighter was just what I needed for all those candles (and bunsen burners)


Meanwhile, This coming Tuesday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. See here and here. These things are always more fun when a bunch of people get into it, and I'm pleased that I know enough people who will join in the zaniness and have a laugh on the day. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep it up, but I'm sure a couple of my classes will keep me "ho ho ho-ing" and "ahoy me hearty-ing" for at least, oh, 10 minutes. It's all good clean fun.

Cars are not anthropomorphic,

yet they seem to be so competitive, and not in the Michael Schumaker sense. My friend and I have similar models of car, only hers is a couple of years newer, and the flashier sport version. Over the last year or so, they've both been competing for attention, and there's been a seemingly endless catalogue of trouble. Her radiator cooked her engine, so mine felt it had to go out in sympathy. My alternator belt had a hissy fit, her car came back with a cam belt replacement. My automatic transmission died, causing a nasty hit in the wallet, and then today her car stopped dead. We hope the AA man is right, that it's a problem with the ignition rather than the transmission, as that sounds less expensive, but tomorrow will tell. Is it any wonder that in the next batch of holidays I'll be glad that I have time to go car hunting!

Marking time

I'm pretty whacked at the mo - we've had exams, and that's theoretically a time when you have a bit of time for a breather, but no - I haven't found that to be the case at all in the last couple of weeks. There have been so many administration/management/discipline things I've had to do that my own marking hasn't had a look-in, so I've spent the whole weekend on it. In fact, I've been in to work, as it's the only time I get "my" office to myself. The rest of the time it's like Grand Central Station, as it's less office and more technician prep room. Anyway, it's light and bright and I've been able to spread all the papers out and make really good progress. It's a terribly tedious way to spend time, though, and very isolationalist. And it really really doesn't give me much to write about!

I had to take a couple of books back to the library without having a chance to read them this week. I'd reached the "renewal" limit, and if I kept them any longer I was going to get fined. So disappointing. I'll keep an eye out for them another time. And that's about as exciting as it gets, this week.

Well, since I wrote that earlier, I've found myself reading the same sentence answer over and over for about 5 minutes, and decided it's definately time to stop. I'm so glad we only do one set of mock exams these days instead of the two we used to do!

Enz of an Era - x2