Last year my BF had a recurring hip injury from running. Being the caring girlfriend that I am I decided to get out the deep heat (see Wikipedia: a topical rubefacient heat rub) to massage into his glutes and give him some relief. The injury being in an awkward spot to get at, it was easier to massage sans pants.

Lets just say a rather large glob of the heat rub ended up on a dangly bit. I apologised profusely amongst giggles. But the deep heat started to burn. The BF was being stoic saying it was okay and that he would be alright but he couldn't disguise that he was in some discomfort. I was still trying to stifle my laughter but recovered sufficiently to suggest it might be a good idea to have a shower and wash off the rest of the heat rub.

He thought we were in the house alone as he walked naked to the bathroom however, unbeknowst to us my daughter had come home from work. Just as he began his trek, he caught sight of my daughter in the kitchen. He then ran, sliding across the floor nearly causing a third injury. It was like something out of a bad sitcom.

There is a valuable lesson here:  don't use deep heat sans pants. I have his permission to tell this story and I thought I would end #blogeverydayofjune with a laugh. He does love a good story.

To those who kicked off this month of madness thank you. It reaffirms that the information industry in Australia/NZ is vibrant and diverse. I have learnt so much reading the blogs of other participants. I have been challenged to:

• Be more creative in my work
• Think seriously about writing more peer reviewed papers
• Considering being a mentor or being mentored
• Rethink information litearcy 
• Be part of designing the libraries of the future...
• Considering keeping chickens
• Have a pile of recipes to try and I;
• Can't wait to go to ALIA Access in September to meet fellow bloggers in real life

During the month I have witnessed many informal mentoring relationships establish themselves in the twitter stream and I know talking to others that some of these relationships have moved offline. I am so impressed by the openess of participants. There is an authenticity and frankness in the posts that I for one appreciate and it is one of the main canons of blogging and participating in social networking: be authentic use your own voice. 

It will be interesting to keep an eye on google analytics to see what happens to the views on my blog over the next month. I suspect they will fall off dramatically.

Having started off the 30 days, 30 posts challenge with a blog post on the sound track to my life, I will leave you on a musical note with a video from my favourite Australia band  - Angus and Julie Stone.

This is Hollywood

Kia kaha, kia ora (be strong, be well) and visit again.

Yesterday I ventured out to Dandenong for a workshop called the next 23 things run by the LIT group of VATL. The workshop was an opportunity for TAFE liaision librarians to talk about what has happened since TAFE library staff completed 23 Things or Library 2.0. It was a time to reflect on whether it has resulted in better/new services and/or ways of working.

I was thrilled to hear that many of the librarians present are using social to build on their professional networks. Only three people in the room still blog but many libraries are using elements of 2.0 in the workplace:

• NMIT are using delicious to share websites with teachers and students
• Swinburne are playing with organisation microblogging service Yammer and using facebook
• Many TAFE libraries use an organisational blog to promote services
• Many are also using wikis internally for training and sharing resources
• RSS feeds are still very popular
• Some people are learning about Moodle to get up to speed on what is happening in elearning
• Chisholm are about to launch their new website/catalogue
• Box Hill gave us a demo of LibGuides

Participants also took the opportunity to share some of the exciting technologies they are playing with like:

• goanimate.com
• www.diigo.com

There was discussion about augmented reality and the Library of the future.

The LIT group are on facebook so you can become fans :o)

I had an ah-ha moment when I used an interactive whiteboard for the first time. I think I am in love. I now am trying to work out our to get one for the library. Thinking hats on folks.

Maha one of our terrific Swinburne TAFE liaison librarians shared this with the group (paraphrased):

Don't let all the new technologies overwhelm you.  Pick one or two that you really like and spend some time getting to know how to use it and think about how you can use it creatively in your work.

TAFEs don't get the same level of funding as dual sector Universities like Swinburne but the liaison librarians are resourceful and being creative in how they use new technologies. It was an emboldening day. Thanks to LIT organisers for making it possible.

My BF has gone away to the beach for a few days and since I have maxed out my internet access for the month, I am freeloading in his flat.

I am really enjoying the break from the share house goings on at my own house which is dominated by the comings and goings of my car loving daughter and her boyfriend. I can have up to seven cars parked at home:

1. daughter - 2 cars (racing and day to day)
2. daughter's boyfriend - 2 cars (as above)
3. second daughter - 1 car (unregistered)
4. me - 1 car
5. BF - 1 car 

My spare room is full of tyres and assorted car parts. It looks like a caryard and it is rather embarassing. Neither the BF or I drive very often as we both ride or catch public transport. I am thrilled that they have a passion that the both enjoy but they might be single-handedly responsible their own whole in the ozone layer.

Ahh the serenity of Footscray.

Whatever happens with the election this year. I am very happy that we have a female Prime Minister in Australia. I am even happier because Julia Gillard:

1. Lives in Melbourne's West
2. Western Bulldogs supporter
3. Labor
4. A red head. As an Aunt of red heads I celebrate the recessive gene whenever I see it :o) I love red it's my favourite colour.

The twitter stream and the ABC have been my main news sources during one of the most exciting times in Australian politics. The journalists in the twitter stream that I watched most: @bernardkeane, @firstdogonmoon, @benpobji and @crickey_news. I must say that Chris Uhlmann, Annabel Crabb and the ABC coverage has been terrific. 

Kevin Rudd's farewell speech was moving and very emotional. It will be a very exciting year in politics. Bring it on.

 

I blogged recently about my iphone home screen but ios4 has blown that all out the window. Here is my home screen before and here it is now. I am still yet to work out the benefits of the upgrade to the new ios4 operating system for me a iphone 3G owner but the good news is it looks like my geotagging is working again.

Kindle an ebook reader by Amazon.

In February this year I borrowed a Kindle for two weeks and because the authors I wanted to read like Adrian Hyland, Garry Disher were not available I thought it wasn't for me. Disgruntled I returned the Kindle.

A month ago I borrowed another and this time I am loving it. I decided not to worry too much about Australian content and start reading some new authors. @flexnib has blogged about her love of Henning Mankell so I decided to give him ago. I am now enjoying my second title.

I have also been playing around with loading PDFs onto the Kindle. Great for carrying around crochet patterns.  You can't change the font size on the PDFs so they can be difficult to read. But I have been making do. With PDFs you also need to send them to Amazon to convert before you can load them on to your Kindle. There is a free service or a fee-for-conversion service. Needless to say I email mine to the free service.

I now know after rekindling my relationship with the Kindle I would love the ipad.

Downsides

• I want more content to choose from many of the books I want are not available in Australia
• Kindle feels retro (but that's cool right) well no. I love gestural computing. I want to tap and swipe I find the menu clunky
• Backlight - I want to be able to read it without turning on the light so I don't wake my bed buddy when I have insomina
• It froze and wouldn't respond for 2 days until it ran out of battery and reset itself (holding the power switch on for 15sec and letting go didn't work the numerous times I tried it)

I have noticed since using the Kindle I have also started using the Kindle app on the iphone more. The background is currently a nice sepia and I like the way the pages change. I wish the Kindle was more like the iphone. If I had an ipad I would probably be too distracted by all the other apps to actually read a book.

Finally, ebooks are cheaper and lighter and although I love the printed page I am not afraid to mix it up and use an ebook reader too.

 

 

Whilst in Hobart we popped into the handmark gallery on Salamanca Place and I was thrilled to see a wonderful exhibition by  Leonie Oakes who creates gorgeous works of art on paper. She combines etching, sewing and other techniques. They are exquisite. This is a photo of my favourite piece in the exhibition. I took it through the window standing on Salamanca Place. You can see the reflection of the trees in the top of the photo. The work combines my love of red, birds and gorgeous frocks. I studied Durer in high school and have had a soft spot for etching ever since.

Her photographs are also stunning. You can see all the pieces in the exhibition here.

I just wanted to say again yay Twitter (the microblogging service with the mostest). Thanks to all the folk who posted positive feedback about Book Depository  I made my first purchase and the books arrived today. Sallysetsforth has a nice post about the Book Depository if you would like to check it out. Many, many librarians are fans.

Today I received Gail Carriger's Soulless: The Parasol Protectorate and 6S Volume 3. I have three pieces of flash fiction in 6S and of course I went through and bookmarked them immediately with old catalogue cards.

The books came with a lovely bookmark featuring upcycled softies on it (nice). How did they know? One is even in the Aussie colours. Actually they ran a bookmark design comp you can have a look at the winners too. The sock creatures bookmark is designed by an Australian.

Jo who I also follow on Twitter mentioned that she was purchasing some moo cards (custom business cards). I first saw them in use last year at Social Media Melbourne (Fridays for breakfast at Tulk) and fell in love with them. You can choose your own design and/or add your own photos. So I decided to get some of my own for my crafty stuff. They feature my studio, crochet, haiku and umm Dr Who.

Thank you to the all the informative and friendly peeps I follow on Twitter you enrich my personal and professional life.

Lovely find at Salamanca Markets (Hobart). An upcycled bicycle print
by Jasmine rose.

My friend Davey requested requested a hat with horns. Here is Ben
modelling the hat which I worked on in the plane on the way home from
Hobart. I hope he likes it.