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I walked passed the parachuting rat regularly and assumed it was a homage to the artist and I did witness the destruction.

As a sometime street artist I know that you need to consider work placed in the street as ephemeral. It could be removed or painted over at any time. Although sad it is the nature of street art. I will miss the cheeky rat however Melbourne is so lucky that it is a Mecca for amazing street artist and the lane ways of Melbourne a treasure trove.

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What are you grateful for? The campaign that focuses on what is good in your life is coming to an end.

I have so many good things in my life I am grateful for:

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• Living in Melbourne
• Partner and my family
• Friends
• Frolleagues
• All my virtual friends in Twitter and Instagram - props to you all
• The awesomeness that is my library PLN (personal learning network)
• A job which is ACE
• New running shoes that with hot pink laces. I think I run faster now!
• Craft time
• idevices
• My daughter's dog - Yumi
• Bike(s) - I try not to have a favourite
• Optimisim 
• The ability to dance, run, laugh and read
• TV marathons the last of which was season one of The Killing
• Nordic crime fiction
• Australian crime fiction
• Scottish crime fiction
• A bookcase full of books arranged by colour
• Trees outside my office window
• Gin
• Game of Thrones
• Getting to cross the Westgate Bridge nearly everyday
• Living in the West
• My health

I could keep going. I have a fortunate life and I am really grateful for all of you who share it.

Thank you. 

Check out the #gratefulinapril storify 

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little brown sparrow
summer passed so quickly 
you don't want to go...

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On the weekend I was privledged to attend a very special wedding. My friends David and Cameron were married. First in a civil partnership at the British Consulate (the day before) and then before friends and family in a ceremony in the Fitzroy Gardens. 

It was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever attended. The warmth, love and support for the happy couple was like a big comfy blanket encompassing us all. The wedding was elegant, simple and just right. 

I've been married and I am no longer. I am now in a loving relationship with a wonderful man and neither of us want to get married. But I believe that all my friends who are in same-sex relationships should be able to get married if they choose. 

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I am participating in World's Great Shave and on Thursday will be getting my hair shaved off. Yes I will be bald!

Although I do have short hair I am still nervous about how I will look without hair. I do hide out under my bangs and expect to feel a bit exposed without hair. However I will endeavour to cover up my baldness with hats, scarfs, hoodies and other assorted head coverings.

I have had some interesting responses to my choice to shave my hair off. My mother thought it was exploititive and silly. Why choose to shave off your hair? My reponse was that by making this symbolic gesture I could raise some serious money for a great cause. One of the students in my class has a daughter with leukaemia and she publically thanked me when I mentioned that I was cutting my hair off.

I have talked to many people who have participated in this fund-raiser in the past and noone has regretted it. As I keep saying it is only hair and it will grow back!

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1. what is your name
2. blog URL
3. Write: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
4. Favourite quote
5. Favorite song (at the moment)
6. Favorite band/singers (at the moment)
7. Say anything you want
8. Tag 3-5 bloggers

Peace

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Recently I was lucky to receive a wonderful package in the mail. In return for one of my amigurumi Barek sent me a collection of stickers (slaps). They are fabulous. Swaps are common in the street art community. I hope to arrange more.

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I have joined the curation revolution and yesterday I learnt how to embed the Scoop.it widget into Blackboard. You can export your Scoop.it, grab the code and paste it into your webpages. It is really useful if you want to share your scoops with your students (and I do).

For those of you who are not familiar with Scoop.it here is a video that tells you all about how you can use Scoop.it to curate topics:

Here is one of mine:

and a video on how to embed a Scoop.it into Blackboard:

View on screencast.com »

Feel free to share.

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Those of you who live in Melbourne will know of its' laneways and vibrant street art. Recently I went along to an event run by Yarn Corner. They are a stitch'n'bitch group for people interested in yarn bombing, which is a form of creative street art using yarn, usually knitting or crochet. I have been interested in yarn bombing for a while and although amigurumi are my first love, wanted to give it a go.

Yarn corner gave workshops on learning to knit and crochet as well as the basics of making a yarn bomb. In the background of the workshops were the wonderful yarn corner, cosy covered the trees. They meet regularly on a Sunday in the city. If you are interested check out their website. I have and I am thinking about joining.

Here are a few pics of the City Square installation:

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They inspired me to create my first yarn tags which magically appeared around Prahran:

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I am a life tracker and I mostly track my health. I use a couple of apps:

1. Runkeeper - to log my walks, runs and rides
2. Mynetdiary - food diary and calorie tracker

to monitor my progress and keep me on track. 

Recently I have joined Fitocracy it is a social network and game that encourages you to get fit. Essentially for every activity you undertake you get points. If you complete a quest or reach an achievement you get extra points and badges.  If you use Runkeeper you can share data with Fitocracy and you can log your activites more easily. I am currenlty on level 6. Oh yeah! 

I haven't been on there for long but it is much more fun with friends and there are quite a few library folk there. I have joined a number of groups mostly scifi related. Yes I am a geek! So if you are interested in giving it a go. I have invites. 

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this is a *happy dance* 100 people registered for #libcampoz! #library #unconference librarycampaustralia.com - see you there?

— LibCamp Australia (@LibCampOz) January 8, 2012

Today I learned how to embed a tweet into a blog post thanks to my colleague @bonitoclub who sent me the link to a tutorial on Lifehacker. Very useful.

Try it!

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One of the best ways I have found to learn about new technology and apps is to play. I know for many play is a loaded word. For me the play is semi-structured. I have joined two challenges for 2012. 

The first is the 2012 Photo a day Challenge. Last year I participated in Daily Image 2011 and I actually really enjoyed it. I am less afraid of the camera and being the subject of photos after a year of taking self-portraits. I have found that I am still taking self-portraits in 2012 but with the #2012pad challenge I can add photos with any subject matter. 

The second challenge is another photo challenge. It is called Friday Photos 2012 where each week you can post up to three photos on a particular theme. The first theme is beginnings, apt for the new year. 

Recently I joined Path. It is a great social network for me as it really is photo-based. As you can probably tell - I love to take photos. I am an avid Instagramer (IGer) too! I have met some wonderful local people on instawalks.

I don't have many friends in Path yet as I have just joined however I will let you know how it goes. 

My three tips for learning about new technology are: 

1. Learn with friends/peers
2. Set yourself a challenge
3. Learn about technology that has something to do with one of your passions! 

Below is a collection of the images I have taken over the last week. It is not too late to join these challenges if you are interested. 

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To see the whole set visit: http://www.flickr.com/groups/dailyimage2011/

Happy new year everyone...

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When I walked down the laneway at the end of Bowling Green Street I was delighted to see new street art. It made my day... I love Melbourne. 

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Inspired by my visit to Bryon Bay here are the haiku I wrote while there:

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Be well.

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Jessica was wearing one of the most beautiful vintage button chokers on day 2 of the conference. I adored it. I am so grateful that she agreed to make me a choker in exchange for one of my amigurumi. 

Be well. 

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Today I am grateful for the stealthful street artists of Melbourne. Nearly everyday I discover a new piece that has magically appeared in a laneway or street. I am partial to paste-ups and sticker bombs. Although I saw a council worker cleaning stickers off a lamp post the other day and did feel really sorry for them. It would be a thankless task.

Recently I had a chat with a crew who is responsible for some great art in Footscray. They ask permission of local store owners to put art on the side of their buildings and most are supportive. Places like Hosier Lane are incredible and for an iphonograher like me heaven. 

Take a walk around Melbourne and you will see numerous examples of awesome street art. I have also noticed more yarn bombing appearing on the streets, as a crafter I must say I am a big fan.

Whatever your views are on graffiti are, one of the things that makes Melbourne such a vibrant and livable city is street art. I am fortunate to work close to a new gallery in Prahran called Rtist which specialises in street art. Every few weeks when their exhibitions change I get to see some incredible street art.  

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A big thank you. Peace.

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