Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Yesterday afternoon we had a spectacular hail storm here at Lilydale. It was weather like we used to have in the 50s but which I thought had gone away for ever. In the library rain pored in through various apertures in the ceiling and the noise was deafening. Now all our cars have dints in them and my mirrors were flattened against the side of the car. The question is: can I be bothered dealing with the insurance company to have it fixed? Boring.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

We had a wonderful night at Mecca, out on the balcony watching the sun setting on the Yarra and celebrating Grumpy Girl's birthday. I feel a little seedy this morning however. Next time definitely only an entree and a shared dessert.
The waiter was very efficient and attentive but managed to offend me nevertheless. When I said I didn't need to see the dessert menu because I had already checked it out on the Internet, he made a patronising remark about how good it was that I was up with the technology. So I informed him (in the style of the heroine of "The Mummy") that I was a librarian and we had, as a profession, invented the Internet. That fixed him. And so for the benefit of the waiter at Mecca and any other doubters here is a quote from an article in Educause Review (Thanks to JP for sending it to me)

From the article, "Why IT Has Not Paid Off As We Hoped (Yet)"
(Educause Review, vol. 38, no. 6 (November/December 2003): 40-51.)

"The real heroes of the digital revolution in higher education are librarians; they are the people who have seen the farthest, done the most, accepted the hardest challenges, and demonstrated most clearly the benefits of digital information. In the process, they have turned their own field upside down and have revolutionized their own professional training. It is a testimony to their success that we take
their achievement for granted".

Monday, December 01, 2003

It's Grumpy Girl's birthday today and what a joy she has been to her nearest and dearest all these years. The Grump gives parenting a good name. Tonight we are going to Mecca where we went for Petite and Right Foot's birthdays too. It has spectacular views and wonderful food. Check out the menu at http://www.mecca.net.au/menu.htm

On Saturday we went to see Blithe Spirit - so corny, so predictable and so much fun.

Yesterday, I marked the remaining Marketing Communications exam papers then tried in vain to get Right Foot interested in the Davis Cup. The Aussie fans were decked out in gold and green but were waving red, white and blue flags or had them painted on their faces. Other countries wear colours that match their flags. I love this about Australia - patriotism will never topple over into Chauvinism while we can't make up our minds what our national colurs are.