#blogjune

Over on my professional blog, I'm engaged in the second iteration of Blog every day of June, or #blogjune.

But to get some light relief at least for myself, here on my occasional personal blog I'm going to post about non-work stuff, probably recycled from emails or websites.

First off. An amusing email I received from my Dad which I hadn't seen before.

WICOE (Women In Charge Of Everything)

Is proud to announce the opening of its EVENING CLASSES FOR MEN!

OPEN TO MEN ONLY. ALL ARE WELCOME

Note: due to the complexity and level of difficulty, each course will accept a maximum of eight participants

The course covers two days, and topics covered in this course include:

DAY ONE

HOW TO FILL ICE CUBE TRAYS

Step by step guide with slide presentation

TOILET ROLLS- DO THEY GROW ON THE HOLDERS?

Roundtable discussion

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LAUNDRY BASKET & FLOOR

Practicing with laundry basket (Pictures and graphics)

DISHES & SILVERWARE: DO THEY LEVITATE/FLY TO KITCHEN SINK

OR DISHWASHER BY THEMSELVES?

Debate among a panel of experts.

REMOTE CONTROL

Losing the remote control - Help line and support groups

LEARNING HOW TO FIND THINGS

Starting with looking in the right place instead of turning the house upside down while screaming - Open forum

DAY TWO

EMPTY MILK CARTONS: DO THEY BELONG IN THE FRIDGE OR THE BIN?

Group discussion and role play

HEALTH WATCH: BRINGING HER FLOWERS IS NOT HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH

PowerPoint presentation

REAL MEN ASK FOR DIRECTIONS WHEN LOST

Real life testimonial from the one man who did.

IS IT GENETICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SIT QUIETLY AS SHE PARALLEL PARKS?

Driving simulation

LIVING WITH ADULTS: BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOUR MOTHER AND YOUR PARTNER

Online class and role playing

HOW TO BE THE IDEAL SHOPPING COMPANION

Relaxation exercises, meditation and breathing techniques

REMEMBERING IMPORTANT DATES & CALLING WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE

Bring your calendar or PDA to class

GETTING OVER IT: LEARNING HOW TO LIVE WITH BEING WRONG ALL THE TIME

Individual counsellors available

Back on the wagon... again

I am back on the dieting wagon. Having fallen off somewhere last year when the Tony Ferguson diet made me so tired I couldn't get out of bed for a week, I had been meaning to get back on it for ages. But I had lots of excuses.

"After my trip to New Zealand."

But then I was changing jobs and it was too stressful.

"Once I write the conference paper."

But then it was Christmas.

"After Christmas."

But then it was the beginning of the year and I was crazy busy with my study project.

"After Information Online."

This was the one I was sure about - if all else fails, after the conference. I would DEFINITELY go to Weight Watchers as soon as I got back from Sydney.

But I've been soooo busy with work, trying to see friends, do washing, have a relationship, and all of that stuff that I just didn't do it. And I was a bit leery of going back to Weight Watchers as I have so much more to lose than last time I was on WW. I'd already lost a lot by then due to a change in meds, and I was doing it with my flatmate and good friend, who was a great support. Also I've been having a few potential food allergy/intolerance issues that I wanted to sort out.

So I got the details of a great dietician my friend sees, and made an appointment. That was a few weeks ago, when I was crazy busy with work, relationship, friends etc.

And then on Sunday my boyfriend and I broke up.

On Tuesday after buying a box of chocolate chip cookies from KMart (you know the ones, Decadent - and boy are they!) and a litre of milk and deciding to devour them to drown my sorrow, I went to my pre-scheduled dietician appointment. And wham, bam, thank you ma'am I've ended up on a diet.

It actually makes sense to me to go on it now - although concerned friends have tweeted things like:

noooo! You can't start a diet this week. That's crazy talk!

f*^#{ the diet u need chocolate at times like this go have some

however I really feel like it's a good time. I've wanted to do it for... well over a year, and now I'm in a job I love and have a stable home life (and am not in a relationship) I can put the time into it.

So. Wagon. You are my bitch.

Information Literacy Tips 2

Schedule as many classes as you can in the first few weeks of semester. This isn't because that's when the lecturers want the students to learn how to use the information resources that the library provides for their resources, but rather so that you can run around totally stressed out, shouting things like "I hate Summon!" at random passers-by. Librarians find public displays of insanity fun.

It's particularly useful in this context if your University Librarian considers that the only reason teaching is busy at the beginning of semester is because you, the librarian, have decided that's when you like to teach, not when the need is. This will make your life much easier, particularly if the powers-that-be have decided that your job is only required to be part-time.

As a part-time librarian, you will be required to do a full-time load of information literacy instruction in your part-time hours. What's awesome in this context is when a public holiday falls during Week 3, so your available preparation hours are further reduced.

Weight Loss Challenge

Having collapsed due to Tony Ferguson and since then returning to old habits (i.e. eating my little heart out), I've decided to enrol in MPOW gym's "Weight Loss Challenge" over the next couple of months.

Part of the reason for enrolling is because I go to New Zealand with friends in about a month, and we're doing hiking, skiing, and other "energetic" activities. The other reason is because I have been told by my doctor for years that I need to exercise for a chronic health problem I have, and that I need to exericse if I want to have kids, but I am not naturaly active so I need to be motivated (read: bullied) into doing it. So having a personal trainer "encouraging" me is really helpful . The third reason is: I'm super competetive. Did you see those prizes? Three day break at the sunshine coast. 10 pack of PT sessions. 3 month gym membership. AWESOME. It's like the biggest loser, only without the total humiliation :-)

I bought a "starter" 3 pack of PT sessions a couple of weeks ago and have already started with my Personal Trainer, who I really like. I can almost leg press my weight (I have very strong legs!) and I've even managed to do two whole non-PT exercise activities in the last week! My BF and I went on a lovely walk along the river last Sunday and I went to a spinning class last night. So the total challenge is over about 10 weeks. If I could lose 10kgs in that time I reckon I'd be laughing. 5 might be more realistic though. Hmm I might need to go back on Weight Watchers too. I wonder if that would be considered cheating for the prizes?

Information Literacy Tips

When teaching a Library Skills class, ensure you have a whiteboard marker handy.

Do not, under any circumstances, use the miscellaneous marker that is left in the whiteboard's vicinity without checking what kind of marker it is.

Failure to follow this instruction may lead to the use of a permanent marker to draw a Venn diagram on the whiteboard, and to illustrate truncation.

A failure of this magnitude will leave you cleaning the whiteboard for half the time that the class went for. Of course, if you were planning on going to the gym, this counts as exercise so you can skip it and have another Caramello Koala instead.

What I learned from my hideous EndNote class

OK, so I bitched & moaned about the evilness of the class I had to teach this morning. It was primarily evil because the technology was of the suck. But I was also very nervous about teaching EndNote because I'm not a big user of it myself. I try. And in theory I can see that it's a great concept. But in reality? Bugs, bugs and more workarounds for the bugs.

But that's not what I want to talk about. Instead, I want to do some positive reflection.

What I learned from this EndNote class was:

• I can teach even when the technology fails me - even on a platform as reliant on the technology as EndNote
• The use of other (old school) media like a white board, can really save you when technology fails :-)
• having a handout with even a very basic layout of what you're going to teach is invaluable
  
• Being forced away from the computer and out from behind the podium can really enhance your teaching - you engage more with the class and can show them individually how to get to things HOWEVER the downside is this can be very time consuming
  
• EndNote really isn't intuitive. File - New doesn't give you a new reference. It's References - New Reference. Which you don't know if it's not in front of you and you're not an EndNotePhile.
  
• I know EndNote better than I thought I did
• I know EndNote better than the students learning it from me
  
• MPOW has EXCELLENT EndNote resources
• my colleagues are very supportive

Also, I think I'm going to do a Cert IV in Training. That is all. I have to go to the gym. And get skinni.

EndNote: The New, New Evil

A selection of tweets from my (now protected) account. In the box of "be careful what you wish for dread":

But I don't FEEL like teaching a three hour EndNote class! #tantrum about 4 hours ago

I have 18 students enrolled in EndNote & I'm not sure I'm competent. #crisisoffaith #hyperventilating about 3 hours ago

@Suelibrarian @rockchicklib @haikugirlOz thx. yes. Breathe. I do know more than they do. I am smarter than endnote. about 3 hours ago

@fionawb I *hate* endnote. Passionately. Why oh Why did I say I would teach this class? about 3 hours ago

@andvanessa nope. it's a 3 hour special class coz they asked me to. about 3 hours ago

@andvanessa it's my first one flying solo is all. I usually have a safety net. But I organised this one at short notice & no backup about 3 hours ago

Well, that #endnote class wasn't nearly as evil as expected. It was so much more evil you couldn't have dreamed up a more evil situation. 16 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 1: Overhead Projector of Computer Screen goes kerfluey, have to do first hour without visuals. 16 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 2: Half the class have brought their own (Mac) laptops which don't download export files the same way as windows 15 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 3: 1/2 class w Mac laptops don't follow along when I show them how to download filters so when we export they're lost 14 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 4: While I'm teaching with no visuals I have an IT guy failing to fix comp asking inane qs like "where's the remote?" 13 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 5: A couple of random undergrad science students decide to join the specialised database session I'm doing for PGs 12 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 6: Those random UG science students don't know how to search databases or reference. EndNote is kinda about those things 11 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 7: Did I mention the computer went kerfluey because my colleague tried to make it better? #trainingroomfail 11 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 8: Students are told to use EndNote. EndNote is not intuitive, nor usable. So we have to teach it. 10 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 9: EndNote classes normally go for 3 hours. This was an additional class for students who had 2 hours. Over lunchtime. 9 minutes ago

#EndNote #Evil Part 10: Due to rush, we had fifteen minutes to cover using word for referencing and in-text citations. #sigh 8 minutes ago

@malbooth I know. was in a mtg last week & future of libraries discussed. Someone said "if our future is teaching endnote we have no future" 7 minutes ago