Archives for June 2013

Twelve years

June 28, 2013 by Jen

This time 12 years ago I was about to leave hospital with a new baby and no idea as to what the hell I was supposed to be doing. I was also shit-scared because of the new mother thing and because I would be raising him on my own.

Fast forward 12 years and we’ve made it this far. He’s now as tall as me and a pretty damn fine human being. He drives me absolutely crazy sometimes but other times I’m overwhelmed with how much I love him.

While we were celebrating his birthday a couple of nights ago the Australian prime minister leadership spill was happening. I could have been watching it unfold but I know what I’d rather have been doing.

Three years ago we were in Bali when Julia Gillard ousted Kevin Rudd and now the reverse has happened. Karma perhaps? I don’t like it and I hope that the Labor party gets its shit together before the election in a few months so that this leadership thing isn’t a focus then.

But politics aside. My boy is 12.

What happened to this little cutie?

Besides my boy turning 12 and the political situation there’s been quite a bit of turmoil in my life. I went to a memorial service last night of a friend of The Surfer’s who died of a brain tumour a couple of weeks ago. It was a memorial service because she’s donated her body to science. I only met her a few times but she was one of those people you instantly like. Even though she had a lot of turmoil in her life she didn’t let it get her down too much and was a very positive person.

And I found out on my son’s birthday that a girl I used to go to school with died in a car accident last week. Too many people I went to school with have died in car accidents. Many of them could have been prevented if drivers weren’t drinking or speeding but I don’t think this last one had either of those factors. Just one of those awful tragic things. So, another family is left to pick up the pieces of an unexpected death.

Oh, and my job situation has been top of mind too. Two weeks ago I had two weeks left of my contract with no work after that. Then in the same week I applied for a three month contract which I am still to find out if I was successful but it’s looking promising and work offered me an extension for another month or so. I’ve extended for two weeks there while I wait to hear about the other job and JJ and I are off on holidays after that for two weeks.

I can’t wait to go away. It’s been three years since we had a decent holiday. This is the trouble with contracting. You get a few months here and there and because there’s an end in sight you think you’ll have a holiday after that and then you get extended again so you don’t feel as though you should go away while you’re in the midst of that contract. This time I knew I was finishing up in late June so I booked a holiday a few months ago and come what may, we’re going. If I miss out on work because of it, then so be it. Too bad. I need a holiday.

It will be me and my 12 year old who is now an adult in buying a plane ticket terms. I suppose he’s as tall as many adults and eats just as much but he has a few years to go to reach maturity and the legal adult age of 18. Not that I’m wishing that time away. It goes too quickly.

But at the memorial service last night I thought of him and thought of the silly arguments we sometimes have and thought how trivial they are. He really matters.

Happy birthday JJ. xx

Do partial RSS feeds equal more views on your blog?

June 14, 2013 by Jen

A few blogs I read have recently moved from full RSS feeds to partial feeds. I’m not a partial feeds fan because if I start reading something in my RSS feed reader I want to read the whole lot in the feed reader.

I hate having to be forced to click over to the website to finish reading. If I want to comment I will click over and make that comment unless the comment system is Disqus – then often I won’t comment.

I asked a blogger whey they went from full to partial feeds and they said that they needed more page views as this is how online advertisers choose where to put their ads. They didn’t like to have to do it but as they write a lot of content they need to make money with the blog somehow.

I hardly click on ads on any website, do you? I know, I have ads on my website but am lucky to make any money out of them at all but then this website isn’t a business, but a hobby and my pageviews aren’t that great either.

Apparently I’m not alone. According to this Hubspot article, I’m more likely to birth twins than click on an online ad.

I guess people must click on online ads as some websites apparently earn the bulk of their living this way. I guess banner ads are an easy out for organisations in addition to sponsored content and so on, or instead of things like sponsored content. They might help with brand recognition as well?

I’ve been thinking of taking my ads off as they don’t add any real value for me or for the readers I do have.

But what’s your thoughts on partial RSS feeds?

Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens

June 12, 2013 by Jen

I have been meaning to get to the Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens for a while and did so over the weekend. I didn’t do quite the walk I was imagining but that was the trade-off with going with a larger group of people.

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

Somethings to checkout

June 4, 2013 by Jen

Here’s some things that I’m into at the moment, or that caught my eye while whiling away my time on the web.

I was late to the party but the series ‘The Checkout’ that the ABC recently aired was fantastic. I love shows like this that educate consumers and let us into the sneaky tricks that some marketers and companies employ to sell their products.
Check it out. Luckily they’re doing another season and the website has heaps of video too.

While we’re on the subject of consumerism. Palm Oil. Do you know about it? It’s used in many food products, cosmetics, and household products and the manufacture of it is causing massive destruction in the orangutans habitat to clear rainforests for oil palm plantations. I’ve been doing some research but it’s really hard to find out exactly what it’s used in because there’s so many names for it. So as a consumer I’m trying to educate myself on what it is in, and find alternatives. There’s many websites about palm oil, and this is just one.

Are you a Game of Thrones fan? I am and the most recent episode has had people talking on social media and elsewhere. It’s a bit gory but I love the story and I love the acting. I have started reading the books but am very happy that I didn’t know what was going to happen in episode 9 of season 3. Wow. Just wow.

I don’t live that far from the city where I work and I have thought about riding into work but competing with cars scares the crap out of me. If there was a dedicated stand-alone bike lane to my workplace I reckon I’d do it, but there’s not so I don’t. Alan Davies writes:

It’s time to acknowledge that cars should no longer get priority in the city centre

As I wait for my bus or tram in the morning I see plenty of cars drive past with mostly one person in them and I’ll bet that most are going into the city. I know that somedays it’s more convenient to drive in and I know that public transport can be woeful but wouldn’t the city be a much better place, and easier to get to if everyone wasn’t driving there? Alan Davies reckons that most people could ride to work.

I came across a gorgeous photography project by James Mollison. He says:

It occurred to me that a way to address some of the complex situations and social issues affecting children would be to look at the bedrooms of children in all kinds of different circumstances.

So he’s photographed children and their bedrooms from all around the world. It’s amazing to see where some of these children sleep.