Interesting garbage

Yes...garbage is another of my hidden passions...but don't think for a second I find your tough stuff bags kinky or have gone all Safran and want to riffle though Ray Martin's trash (although there was that semester I devoted to a project on a rubbish dump in Orange, but that's another story)...rather I'm interested in the stuff you see lost on the street. Call it an overactive imagination, but where has all this stuff come from? What is its back story and sadly, is landfill the end? So this week I present round one of 'interesting garbage I snapped on the street'....(yes, it's true I ain't no Satorialist...more garbologist...)

Penguin - Chalmers Street

Men's shoes - Raglan Street

Time to think...(and drink)

This week's mini Tessitura conference in Sydney went down like a treat. My presentation went well (everybody loved the Prezi software I used...more comments on that than the actual presentation content itself!), others gave inspiring presentations and it was great to be back catching up with all 'Tessy nerds' as well as friends and colleagues from around Australia and NZ. A great highlight from me was also having one presenter I deeply admire stop me and express sadness that my presentation was on the same time as hers...I was thinking the exact same thing!

When reflecting on the day I was struck with two things:

• time to think

A day away from the office, but not a wasted one. When else do you get a chance to stand back, to listen, to reflect, to get the grey matter mulling over different scenarios and really delve into the questions of are we making the best use of our technology? The deeper question of course is are well doing all we can? What are we doing well and what could we be doing better? Time to think is grand, now if we could only schedule in some time to play and let those ideas develop we would be onto winner I think.

• inspiring peeps

The conference and those mini catch ups you do with friends old and new is the type of communication and work process I like best. Inspiring and passionate people with vastly different skill sets to my own but all with a care for the end result. Yes we always don't agree about the one best way something might be completed, but there is a wish to assist each other, to work through a problem sorting it into logical parts and an attempt to innovate while ensuring the work we do now is flexible enough to adapt to the demands of the future. Got a problem, ask the brains trust!

Add in the fact these people are generally fun to work with and love a good debrief at the pub...and the whole experience was just about perfect. Surely these types of gatherings coupled with time after them to reflect and think is where both innovation and professional development spring?

Chuck Bass...

is my guilty pleasure of the week. Catching up on S2 of Gossip Girl and the angst, the hurt, the Humphrey hanging out with Chuck Bass...that's some awesome pain and suffering there Chuck and a smoulder aplenty. Frankly better characterisation than I ever expected from this piece of mindless soap. This week... I'm Chuck Bass.

Radio Ga Ga

and no....I haven't set up a Last.fm channel dedicated to the songs of Lady Ga Ga! I'm experiencing morning radio disillusionment, aka I can't find anything to listen to as I rush to get dressed and put on a face in the morning.

For many years I've been an avid Nova FM listener. Before that I fluctuated between a Triple M and 2day FM. Before that it was a Mike Carlton phase. Before that....I can't really remember. This all started when I got my radio mojo out of whack by not working for a couple of months, thereby having no need to listen to the radio as I got dressed and put on a face in the morning.

But now I am once again among the clothed and groomed, I need something. Suddenly the easy listening for the over 30's that was my holiday choice de jour...Vega FM doesn't suit a 8.30am rush about. It's not the music so much...although even I could eventually get sick of U2 followed by [insert 80s power ballad] but the announcer, the dj....eeek! If I wanted mundane suburban middle class values preached at me before breakfast...I'd...well....keep listening. So what to do and where to go?

• ABC Classic FM - there's only so much I can take
• Triple J - am I cool enough for the hipsters?
• FBi - love you on a Sunday morning, but come on...even I could play the synthesizer better than that
• AM dial? (do I even have an AM dial?) I hate news in the morning, weather yes, news I can leave

This week I have stuck it out with Triple J, but am I an impostor hipster, or someone trying to reclaim the the youth I never had? I'm really not sure, but if you know of a channel that may suit, recommendations are welcome!

Bagpipes and the blue rinse set....

So off I went tonight to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Australia. Oh yes, you heard that right...me at the Military Tattoo!

Now before I divulge a secret love of tartan and that ear piercing sound that only an old skin bag which is blown into can make and I should mention my grandfather (on my father's side) did actually play the bagpipes I believe, but I was more coerced than jumping for joy at being a ticket holder. I went so my Mother could go....she who is an avid watcher of Tattoo on telly and who would love to go in person in Edinburgh, but for now the Sydney Football Stadium had to suffice.

So how was it? I've never seen a more orderly crowd, nor one containing that many blue rinses. The announcer pre show did a shout out of people...I think half of Queensland's retirees were there. Oh and did I mention it started to rain? Thankfully I look fabulous in a plastic poncho. My verdict = more bagpipes next time, I didn't leave with ringing in my ears, obviously an epic fail. AC/DC (my next big concert) I better be thunder struck.