Archives for June 2014

OMG, there’s a teenager in the house

June 26, 2014 by Jen

This time 13 years ago a baby was born – a 9lb 6oz baby boy. One that gave me third degree tears and while the doctor was stitching me up suggested that next time I may have to have a caesarean. There has not, nor will there be a next time.

Now, he’s about 5’7″ – all legs and feet. I just bought him size 11 shoes the other day. He’s like one of those puppies with huge paws who will grow into big dogs all too soon. The trousers I bought him at the beginning of the year for a wedding, the pants I hoped would do for his school formal at the end of the year, are already too short. He’s told me that people are already asking him what’s the weather like up there? I told him to get used to it as he’ll be one of the tall ones.

He’s always hungry! When there’s a cupboard and fridge full of food, there’s NEVER anything to eat…. And he’s very quick to critique my cooking. Apparently I’ve finally nailed spaghetti bolognaise and butter chicken though, so that’s comforting for me.

I love his honesty – well usually. He’s also not afraid to talk to me about very personal things, things I would never have dreamt of discussing with my parents at his age. I hope this continues even though it can be a bit embarrassing answering some of his questions.

He’s quite switched on – predicting what will happen next in a movie or tv show, or dissecting the personality of a friend or of my (now ex) boyfriend.

I’m very proud that he got into the high school he wanted to get into. While he’s anxious about moving onto high school he’s coping better with the thought of it than he would have a few years ago. But at the same time he acknowledges that he’s ready to move on from primary school.

Quite a few of his peers already have deep voices. They’re too young to have deep voices. JJ doesn’t yet. He got his teeth late, he walked late and I think puberty is hitting him late. I’m pleased about that. Although he is interested in girls. I gather that this will pick up.

I’ve stocked up on wine and hair dye, and am always working on developing a thicker skin to get me through the next few years. And I know that those teenager years will fly by.

Here’s a photo album of him.

Good web content means more visitors to your website

June 18, 2014 by Jen

Lost

I recently published a website at work and a month or two later checked in to see how it was going. Comparing the analytics to the same time last year was very pleasing. Visits to the main page, and some others, had quadrupled, and visits to other pages were up by a healthy amount as well.

So what changed to get these results?

Without going into specifics the website was for particular cohort of external visitors wanting to find information about studying. The main downfall of the previous website was that to get to it you had to click on the link to the office that managed the applications, not the task of what people wanted to do, or what they might be searching for.

Therefore it wasn’t immediately obvious to users as they browsed from the homepage, and they were missing out on natural search engine results as well.

Also, because the information that the users might be looking for was within this Office’s website, it was a bit buried.

In addition, once you got there it wasn’t really clear what the process was a future student might need to undertake to find a study area, see if they were eligible, and how to apply.

To kick things off with this group, we got together and I presented an issues and suggestions document. I described the issues as I’d found them, and researched, and offered solutions to make it more user-friendly and easier to navigate.

I then got the okay to create a new draft website, and after a few revisions, got content sign-off. That all makes it sound easier and quicker than it was. I was expecting some pushback but everyone thought that what I suggested made sense.

For the website itself, I created a completely new site in a draft area on the web server. That way it’s much easier for stakeholders to visualise how the information architecture has changed. I had to answer some questions of how the new navigation to get to this website would work, and what links would change on the website of the Office concerned and did that via screengrabs and text updates in Word.

It’s a common theme for when I’m doing web updates for many groups that there is still a sense that web content is structured around an organisational structure because that’s how we see ourselves as employees within an organisation. We often want to make our department have a profile, and use the name of that department whenever possible. This is rife in government organisations too.

It’s not just me who experiences this. My mentor (although he doesn’t know it), Paul Boag, talks and writes about this a lot. One of his latest posts talks about The Guardian newspaper updating their website and says that your organisation has to adapt to the user. So true.

As I say to colleagues that don’t quite get it yet. Think about if you’re new to an organisation. Do you know the internal organisational structure? Will you know to search for a department’s name to find the information you want, or will you search for the topic you want?

The stats prove it. The web stats I produced after my web update prove that focusing on the user is working. It would be good to see if that translates into more applications for study, but that’s another thing.

She’s crazy like a fool. What about it Daddy Cool?

June 13, 2014 by Jen

I went with my sister and while I knew a couple of other people that were going I bumped into a school mum. She said I won’t tell anyone if you don’t. I said, shout it from the rooftops. Who cares, I said. I also bumped into JJ’s baseball coach and his excuse was that his friend bought the tickets. So is a bit daggy to see Boney M? Who cares? The last band I saw at The Gov was The Scientists – poles apart from Boney M. I’ve got broad music taste!

I checked out the crowd. I felt quite young in comparison. A couple, probably in their 80s, were sitting near the courtyard door, walking sticks propped next to their chairs. There were some people in their 20s – there with their parents maybe? But mainly the crowd was in their 40s and 50s.

About 20 minutes before the band started we moved towards the front of the stage and took the stance. My stance is I take up as much room as I can so that the inevitable crush impact is lessened. I don’t think it works but it makes me feel like I’m doing something to give myself a bit of dancing room.

Five minutes before the band starts the people who were too slack to get there earlier move in and take up those spare places. One minute before the band starts more people – the loud one – and the one with the big handbag – come and stand near you. That handbag ended up on the floor by the end of the show because I kept bumping into it. Tip for the women. Leave your big handbag at home when you go out to a venue that will be crowded. Put the essentials in a smaller bag that you can sling over your shoulder. Much easier to handle and not as likely to piss people off.

But the band starts and it doesn’t matter so much any more. I always seem to get stuck behind someone that bit taller than me who obstructs my view a bit.

Last night I saw Boney M. I grew up on a bit of a Boney M diet. Both mum and nana were fans and every Christmas that we spent at nana’s place we listened to the Boney M Christmas album. I didn’t invite mum along because there’s no way she could have stood for over an hour watching them and the seating space was limited and with it a limited view.

In year 8, my dance group did a performance to Rasputin at the high school concert. I wore a black leotard and black tights. The next day when I went to school some bright spark – Shane, it was you – called me spider legs. My legs were much skinnier then.

The Boney M band came on stage, then the singers came on stage. I thought they all looked too young to be original members and as it turns out there’s only one original member left. But they did all the songs we know and love, ending with Rasputin and Rivers of Babylon which they dragged out for ages while the audience participated because of course we all knew the words.

It was all finished by 10.30 and as we had a last drink, one woman lamented that it had finished so early she needn’t have taken the day off. I wonder if they were catering to the older crowd?

Do you remember Boney M?

Good news about high school application

June 4, 2014 by Jen

jules

It was all worth it.

About six weeks ago my son and I were in the midst of writing his application for high school. Well he was writing it, and I was nagging him, typing for him on the sidelines cheering him on.

Last night he got the acceptance letter saying he was in!

It was such a relief to get that good news.

Entry into high school here is automatic to a public school in your zoned area. Our zoned high school hasn’t got a good reputation and everyone I spoke to about it didn’t have anything good to say. As those years are very important in a kid’s life I didn’t want him spending them at a high school that might not suit him.

Plus there’s certain things he’s interested in and the high school he’s been accepted into perfectly suits those interests. The only thing is that to get in the student has to write their own application. He could have used another format like film or powerpoint but he chose to write.

It was like a job application and for a 12 year old to write it, is pretty full on I think. But that’s one of the reasons why this school has got a good reputation because the kids that go there want to be there. I’m sure some slip through the net but the majority are keen to be there.

I got the letter last night and took it over to after school care so he could open it. He opened it in front of everyone and thank goodness it was good news. He’s pretty resilient but it would have been hard to get bad news in public like that. He wouldn’t let me look over his shoulder but it didn’t take him look to yell and jump and announce he’d got in.

To celebrate I offered to take him out to dinner but he said he wanted fish and chips and to watch a movie. Don’t watch The Hungover Games. It’s crap! Even JJ said it was crap after we sat through it. But it’s what he wanted to do. I even cancelled pilates so I could celebrate with him. Big of me I know!

Now I’ve got a gajillion forms to fill in but I don’t care. I’m stoked.