Meme

The 99 things meme

Read CW's

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicise
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.
Started this one as I was running a workshop and thought I needed to know what I was talking about :) Also started one for the State Library of Victoria's 23 things program.

2. Slept under the stars.

3. Played in a band.

4. Visited Hawaii.

5. Watched a meteor shower.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity.

7. Been to Disneyland/world.
If I had to do the amusement park thing again would probably just go to the Gold Coast

8. Climbed a mountain.

9. Held a praying mantis.
I DON'T THINK SO

10. Sang a solo.

11. Bungee jumped.
See 9 above!

12. Visited Paris.

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
Does scrapbooking count as an art?? or knitting? or am I thinking craft? What about cooking?

15. Adopted a child.
I'd like to help a disadvantaged child. Doubt it will happen.

16. Had food poisoning.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.

18. Grown your own vegetables.
tomatoes, potatoes, beans, corn, zucchini, pumpkin, lettuce, cucumber.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.

20. Slept on an overnight train.

21. Had a pillow fight.

22. Hitch hiked.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.

24. Built a snow fort.
Not been able to scrape enough snow together to make a snowball, much less a fort!

25. Held a lamb.

26. Gone skinny dipping.

27. Run a marathon.

28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
Believe it is overrated.

29. Seen a total eclipse.
Define 'seen' - have not actually looked at one, afraid of dire warnings re the consequences!

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
Sunset (sunrise is probably a tad too early)

31. Hit a home run.

32. Been on a cruise.
Not likely. Ships sink

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
Yes Malta

35. Seen an Amish community.

36. Taught yourself a new language.

37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
May happen this year!

39. Gone rock climbing.

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.

41. Sung Karaoke.

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.

43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.

44. Visited Africa.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
Fiji 2008

46. Been transported in an ambulance.
Twice - ruptured appendix

47. Had your portrait painted.
Would prefer a photo

48. Gone deep sea fishing.
See 32 above

49. Seen the Sistene chapel in person.[sic]

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
Snorkelling

52. Kissed in the rain.

53. Played in the mud.

54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.

55. Been in a movie.

56. Visited the Great Wall of China.

57. Started a business.

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia.

60. Served at a soup kitchen.

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.

62. Gone whale watching.

63. Gotten flowers for no reason.

64. Donated blood.

65. Gone sky diving.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
Don't think I could, given all the reading I have done about them.

67. Bounced a cheque.

68. Flown in a helicopter.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
Several actually

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.

71. Eaten Caviar.

72. Pieced a quilt.

73. Stood in Times Square.

74. Toured the Everglades.

75. Been fired from a job.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.

77. Broken a bone.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.

80. Published a book.

81. Visited the Vatican.

82. Bought a brand new car.

83. Walked in Jerusalem.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper.

85. Read the entire Bible.

86. Visited the White House.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.

88. Had chickenpox.
Have been told I am immune to it

89. Saved someone’s life.
My dad, indirectly

90. Sat on a jury.

91. Met someone famous.

92. Joined a book club.

93. Lost a loved one.

94. Had a baby.
three actually

95. Seen the Alamo in person.

96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.

97. Been involved in a law suit.

98. Owned a cell phone.
4, about to change for 5th

99. Been stung by a bee.
Twice

Anyone else?

Thoughts and reflections of 2008

I usually find that the first week in January is the time of year when I reflect on the past one or two years and consider my goals and aspirations for the coming year. I always seem to scratch around trying to think of what I have done, but things then come together as I continue to reflect.


2008 (in no particular order)

• Organised a drive knitting jumpers for African AIDS babies (Ok not strictly professionally related but gave me a better focus on how fortunate we are). Drive had over 300 jumpers made;
• Wrapped up being on the organising committee for the 2007 ALIA LT Conference;
• Gave a guest lecture for RMIT on Reference Services in public libraries;
• Convened the successful 4th ALIA New Librarians Symposium;
• Was on the organising committee for Leap into Leadership;
• Gave a presentation for the ALIA New Graduates Group on presenting for the first time;
• Wrote several articles and papers, including 2 abstracts, which were accepted;
• Spoke at several seminars and workshops on partnering with the community and early childhood literacy;
• Changed jobs, focusing more on staff management;
• Continued marking for the School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University;

2009

My plans for 2009 had always been to focus more on writing and research and so far I have already committed myself to a few things, possibly more than I should have for this time of year!

• Attending Information Online in 2 weeks;
• Taking part in the Australian ePortfolio Project with Margie Anderson (Margie is the doyenne of career development);
• Co-presenting a paper with Gill Hallam for IFLA in Milan this year;
• Writing paper for IFLA (due end of Jan, not going there!);
• Co-authoring 2 articles for publication;
• Finalising my application for a research masters (long overdue);
• Continue marking for CSU;
• Exploring more tech things that are increasingly becoming available and how they can be incorporated into public library services;
• Am now on the organising committee for VALA2010 (it will be interesting seeing how another volunteer organisation works, as well as how we operate with a different PCO);
• Continue to be involved with aliaVIC - planning a series of ongoing workshops relating to career development;
• Continue my exciting role at Yarra Plenty, forging ahead with lots more innovative and exciting programs for my branch in 2009!

This is what I have on the cards so far - I have no doubt that I will take on more professionally, as it seems in my nature to do this - I just need to continue to balance my home life with this.

NLS4 post #1

It has been a long time between posts and that isn't because I haven't had much to say. A lot of it has been because I have been too busy to put anything together in what I feel would be a coherent form! It is almost embarrassing to find I am posting in reply to people emailing me about posting (or 'not posting').

NLS4 has finally been and gone and in the lead up I had a major change of job positions - now working for the ever fabulous Yarra Plenty Regional Library, as Mill Park Library Branch Manager. I'll discuss that more another time - something that has made such a big impact on me career wise deserves more than a one liner in the middle of a post on another topic.

As indicated by the title of this post, I plan to have a few postings on my thoughts on NLS4 and this one was not supposed to be the first! It has actually come about from many emails I have received in relation to my closing for the conference, which highlighted just how much work goes into preparing and planning for such an event. Not many realise this and some actually thought that it took about 3 months from start to finish (obviously they had not been subscribing to the news feeds!). When reflecting on the entire process of NLS, from start to finish, in preparation for my closing speech, I realised that although I knew it took a lot of work and dedication to make an event such as NLS happen and happen seamlessly and successfully, it may not necessarily be apparent to those attending. Not only this, but the two year timeframe for the committee to put NLS together was not done in isolation to other commitments. During these 2 years, collectively within the committee, there have been:

• 7 new jobs;
• 4 promotions;
• 2 engagements (mine and the ALIA Events Manager, Kamara Schlegal);
• 3 weddings (Gemma's, Jill's and mine);
• 2 pregnancies (Gemma and Jill);
• 2 births (Sharon and Jill);
• Over 600 papers marked (by Margie and myself and this is a conservative estimate);
• 3 Aurorans (Trevor, Jill and myself);
• 35 attendances at national conferences;
• 4 attendances at international conferences;
• 38 papers presented and
• 36 articles written

Every single one of us works full time and 5 of us have young families, so when factoring all of these into the planning process, you can see just how much more of a challenge things have been!

The reviews of NLS have been great, and I'll end this post with a small snapshot of some blog posts about it.

• Connecting Librarian (Michelle live blogged throughout the conference);
• ALIA Board Blog
• Librarian Idol (Andrew was Marketing and Promotions Coordinator for NLS4)
• Libraries Interact
• Quilter Jo
• Roxanne Missingham

And photos too of course :)