How stupid does this man think we are?

THE abuse crisis gripping Aboriginal communities is akin to the disaster inflicted on the US by Hurricane Katrina, Prime Minister John Howard said tonight

It’s been like that for over a decade, there have been many reports and you only noticed now? Where the hell have you been? Sticking your head in the sand? We all know you don’t give a rats arse about the aborigines. You won’t even apologise for the Stolen Generation! Do you honestly thing that sending in storm troopers is going to solve the current crisis?

“We should have been more humble. We have our Katrina, here and now.

“That it has unfolded more slowly and absent the hand of God should make us humbler still.

Why drag God into this? This has nothing to do with God, and more to do with your lack of federal policies on how to help the Aboriginals properly with DECENT education programs, ones which are culturally sensitive. Their health is crap, once again, your responsibility. If you were a christian man, you would have been arcing up about this 40 years ago, even 20! No. Instead you do something and bring up the race card like you did in 2001 with the children overboard, and tampa when you think you are about to lose an election.

To read the article in full, just click here.

Johnny eyebrows! You’re a dick.

I have had one of those odd weeks.

Mixed everything really. It was productive in the sense, that I completed some of my management homework. I also had a great coaching session with one of my team who drives me insane, and then gave him a good wrap up for one of our banks who rang for references. He needs to be elsewhere, not suited to working for us, we don’t pay enough, and he wants to work with money.  However I did find out that apparently it’s against the rules to give references. To be honest, I never thought to ask if we were allowed to. I just did it because he deserves to be happy. There is nothing written about it in my contract, but apparently we are not allowed to make “public” statements. Ah well. They can sack me if it’s that much of a big deal if they find out.

Then one of my other people rang me, the one who went to hospital for a stroke, turns out it’s worse. She has something else. It’s not life threatening, in a way, but it does lead me to wonder what on earth she has done to deserve the crap she has dealt with in her life.

This is something else I am annoyed with, a post from someone using a forum, that I just happen to be a member of, to bag out one of my consultants. Obviously I can’t comment due to privacy laws and this frustrates me.

” …It took a day or so of literally arguing with the “customer service” girl (that’s her title, not what she does) before I contacted the TIO… “

The reason why I know who this is, is due to the discussion I had with my consultant about this particular person, and what he wrote, and what I know are two different things. I won’t let her know what he has written, she has enough on her plate, but I will be talking to my BigBoss to see if he wants to say or do anything about it.

On the positive front, I have done well with my talk about changing a process at work. I looked at what needed changing that would make my consultant’s lives easier. I wrote about it, and then apparently it looks like this leads onto the next assignment, which is project planning finding something and then improving it! Awesome stuff. I actually feel excited about it. It’s good that I can still find things to be excited about over work.

Since I had Friday off, I had my sleep-in, and slack off day, rather than have it on the Saturday like I usually do. I was up and at’em before my mum arrived back from her shopping trip. Washing was on, hair had been washed - and I had planned on doing some reading. A book lent to me by my jnrBossman: Solution-focused Coaching. I provided the link since when you search for it on Amazon.com, the stupid book title is spelt incorrectly. Seems as though my coaching style I use at work is similar in some ways to this, but I have never read books about it. There are small subtleties that I could probably pick up and use for my own coaching for my team, mind you I can be confrontational at times if I am not happy with something, and I could change that.

Met J for coffee. Found a wireless controller for my X box, and purchased a game, Ghost Master. Completely cheesey and full of bad organ music, and girly screams. It was nice spending some girly time with J, She is on holidays not at work, so I haven’t had my gossip time I usually do.

I have unpacked some of my belongings.. and my certamic cats are now up on the cabinet in my room, intermixed with my blue bottles. The vase gran gave me is out and cleaned, and some of the bits I brought back from sweden are now out. When I look at them, bring me memories of when I went to Kosta, and Orrefors to look at all the glass shops. I probably was wearing a top I shouldn’t have - since it did show off a bit of curvage. Not sure how appropriate it was considering that we were sharing a car with MM’s brother, who is a Minister.

The drive up to a small town called Hovmantorp took a few hours, bit like driving to Margaret River, about 2.5 hrs or so. We went through some pretty amazing countryside, all green, in a Skoda of all the cars. I have some memories of Skoda’s going back to a teenager, with one of my friends whose family restored them. Anyways, eventually we arrived in time for lunch and to say hello. I was very nervous! MM’s Brother needs a name, so we will call him SB for Storebror, which means older brother.

I wandered around his brother’s house and gardens, mainly gardens. I didn’t want to wander around too much inside since it was just filled with beautiful antique furniture. He lives in this old swedish house, 2 storey, with servants’quarters (closed up), and a sauna in the cellar (i didn’t see that). The house overlooks a lake, and in summer, you can see people sailing around on the surface, but then there are loads of midgies.. not so pleasant to be honest.

After lunch, we went travelling around Smaland, to Kosta, Orrefors and a few other small towns looking at all the Glassworks and art galleries. It was amazing, and I can’t wait to go back there again. Mind you lots of things will be closed by the time I get there due to the season. It will still be beautiful.

Enough of the ramblings from my holiday last year. I guess since it’s been a year, I am starting to relive all the cool things I did. MM returns from SB’s and the family business and I have much to talk to him about, and catch up with. I have missed him whilst he has been gone these two weeks.

Boring bus rides.

I now think that the bus route I am on, is one of the most boring in the Metropolitan area.

There is a chick that gets on the bus, same stop as me, really skinny, really blonde, wears a black skirt; white blouse and black coat and heels. She reads a book on the bus, and she gets on the same bus at night. She walks really fast in her high heels to the point where I think judging by the wobbling, she is going to fall over and break her ankle. She doesn’t. She gets through one book a week.

The students are boring, they study on the bus.  The old people dress up real nice if they are going to the hospital.  On the way home, we get the couple who obviously go to the gym in the city (there are many) and look hot and sweaty as they get onto the bus, sit on a seat together and canoodle.

The bus driver doesn’t like people swearing, so he tells people to stop swearing if he hears it, or he will throw them off the bus. I don’t know if that is allowed. I don’t think it’s part of the rules, but you never know. He had a broken window on his bus 2 nights ago. Apparently some drunk people threw rocks at the bus.

I have sat in different seats on the bus seeing if I disturb anyone, and it doesn’t seem like it. However, the snogging couple have now chosen the same seat twice, so I will aim for that seat on Monday night and see what happens.

I also had the fun experience of putting together an exercise bike with dad today. He got it from KMart, on special. I was sure that there was some kind of weight limit, but he’s on it, it hasn’t broken, and right now he is working hard at it. Well he quit after 5 minutes My turn later tonight when I am talking to MM I think.  Dad has been lecturing me on eating. apparently i am not allowed to be hungry anymore, in fact, if I am hungry, must drink water instead, and eat some nuts! lucky me! Ah the things I have to do now that I live at home.

This happened to someone at work.

Blood clot in the Brain.

If you feel any of these symptoms:

•  Brief attacks of weakness
• clumsiness
• numbness or pins and needles of the face, arm or leg on one side of the body
• slurring of speech or difficulty in finding words; or
• blurred vision in one or both eyes.

Get to a hospital and get help.

Do not keep telling me for 3 days,  what has been happening to you and not expect that on the 3rd day I won’t be pushing you out the door and demanding that you go to the hospital and get checked properly. You are damn lucky that I insisted you go to the hospital. Not that you will read this, but I hope you will get better soon.

I mentioned that I work for one of the G9 companies which are putting forward a proposal for broadband network which would give users high speeds, which are closer to what the US and Europe currently gets nows. I read a whirlpool article last night, and today read another article found on Australian IT. I am outraged at Telstra’s proposal.

Telstra want us to pay a minimum of $59 per month to access broadband at a basic speed of 512k. Plus, they are giving the government a month to decide. Un-believable.Why should I have to pay that kind of money, when right now, I pay $59 per month to access up to 24Mbps through an Amnet Dslam? For those who are non technical.. think of paying $300AUD for a pair of decent rollerblades, and then being reduced to paying $300 for rollerskates, and the rollerblade prices have increased to $500. (Let’s hope you get that analogy) Basically, we are going to be ripped off.

In a briefing to journalists yesterday, Telstra executives said the company would charge $59 a month to its rivals for access to a basic service.

But this would give users relatively slow speeds of 512kbps — only double the current basic model and just 1 per cent ofthe maximum speeds of 50Mbps possible with Telstra’s proposed new fibre network. Customers wanting higher speeds would have to pay much more and Telstra is understood to have plans to withdraw its $59-a-month price after two years.

We are being held hostage by an increasingly hostile national Telco that has been turned into a money hungry company thanks to the share sell off. Telstra needs to be broken up so it’s monopoly over the telephone network can be broken. This is what happens when you have only one company which controls the entire telephone network, you have to pay the price that they set, and you as a consumer have no choice.

Telstra has rubbished the G9’s proposal and pricing as totally unrealistic, particularly as the plan depends on Telstra’s traffic and co-operation — which Telstra insists it will not provide.

On the flip side, Telstra now has share holders and must make money, it has an obligation to it’s investors. Why should it provide access to a network, which has been paid for over and again by generations of Australians when it was a government owned entity? Now as a private company, it is taking advantage of the fact that it did not need to fork out money to build this enormous network, but it owns it, lock stock and barrel. Perhaps the only way for Australians to get real broadband is for the G9 consortium to build an alternative network, and get subsidised by the Govt (read that to be Australian Taxpayers). Why should we have to pay for something again, already built. Why does Telstra get the financial benefit from a century of government and tax payer support, and no one else?

I am pointing the finger of blame at the Howard Government. Privatising the only National Telephone company with sole access to the copper network has to be the most idiotic move the man has ever made. Well no, there are others, but right now looking at this debacle, I don’t see how Australians are going to have access to decent broadband anytime soon.

I am less inclined these days to leave personal posts about my feelings etc than I was when I was younger. Mainly I don’t wish to be so emo - it is such the rage these days, and I think personal posts can make people who do end up reading them feel like they are intruding. This is my space though, for my thoughts, and at times, I will write posts, so intensely personal I will mark them off as private, only so that I can read them later, and laugh at myself. However I need to record the effect that an enforced absence is having on me.

MM has not been at home for the last week, there has been a death in his family. I am not able to be there to give him support whilst he looks after the family members who have been affected by this tragedy. It has made me understand however, the inevitability of death, and it won’t matter how healthy you are, if it is your time to die, you are going to die. I have also raged at the unfairness of being in a long distance relationship when the man I care for so deeply is so far away.

A proverb springs to mind as I now sit at home with my parent’s cutting down on my expenses as I save up for my move.

“It is often darkest just before dawn”

This is the last stretch before I am able to pack up and leave to be with MM. Emotionally, I have been fragile and my need to be with MM increases. I am constantly swinging from excited to angry as I deal with the fact, that I am still not there yet, and I feel that it is going to take too long. I want to be there with him so we can celebrate my birthday together. I am running out of time. I know if I don’t make it, it won’t be the worst thing in the world to happen, but He needs me, and I need him.

I never thought that I would feel this way about someone. I never felt this way about X. I know this to the bottom of my heart. I don’t want to waste another moment longer than I have to being apart from MM. I will leave this post public, I don’t want to hide it. I want random strangers reading to know that I have found something very special, and not going to let it (or him) go.

Who could this prize go to? Might be the customer who rang up to abuse us for a faulty telephone line, or me. One of my team got angry at me because I asked him not to do something. Now I am caught between a rock and a hard place. I must act as a result of a conversation I had tonight, because I am his boss. Kind of sucks.

Lets go back to the customer. Customer told me that we were directly responsible for his phone line failing. We debated back and forth about the infrastructure that we use for communications in Australia. He questioned everything, and I ended up needing to explain a few facts about monopoly networks, FTTN, G9, ACCC, and the TIO. Whilst nothing was achieved from the debate from my point of view, the customer was educated about the telecommunications industry, and understood that he would have to wait up to 48 hours for the fault with his telephone service to be rectified.

Anyways.. trolling through the internet, I found some amusing comics online about Call Centres. Like the one below:

Maybe I should pass on that tip to our managers If you have ever worked in a call centre, you probably could relate.

There are times, when we want to slap around the people we work with, in Call centres that are large, we have the advantage of we can wander around and sit further away from the idiots we dislike. Not like this team below - the team leader is the dude with the three computer screens.

The real story behind call centres… I am really a well trained and nicely groomed Screech owl.

• FTTN: Fibre to the Node
• G9: Group of 9 - consortium of nine telecommunications companies (i work for one of the G9 members)
• ACCC: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
• TIO: Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman