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I’ve not been exactly creative with my lunches since the start of Feb (and Febusave) but I’ve been happy with the results:

I’m such a tuna girl. My mum will attest that I used to live on it. Today I had some avocado (a quarter on dietitian’s advice – keeping it yummy but not too much fat), some leftover mushrooms, the tomato was bought it a kilo bag, and the tuna in a huge box. Bargain. (Lack of feta cheese in there… boo!)

It would be even better if I had home grown tomatoes, but I’m not quite up to that as you can see:

My first tomato is nearly ripe, while the second one is only just sprouting. One day! :)

Today’s officially the first day of semester for the University of Canberra… probably the earliest starting uni in Australia, they’ve commenced having a half-length winter semester mid year. If I ever decide to head back and do a teaching qualification it will really come in handy, but for now it just means getting my brain into gear by Sunday, as I have my first face to face workshop day on Valentine’s day. Aww.

I’ve ordered my textbooks, have my unit outline for one subject – There’s close to fortnightly assessed items! This is for the first section of my mini research project… there’s a lit review due week 3! And I don’t even know my topic! *pressure*

I have my study leave mostly sorted, it looks like I’ll take fortnightly Friday mornings on study leave and a couple of hours to cover the rest of the day on flex – which I’m already starting to build!

Lots of new things this term – I’ve been allocated 7 classes at the special primary school, which will be fun and challenging – One thing I’ll have to get my head back into is mealtime management/swallowing assessments. I know it, I just haven’t done it for awhile now.

Another good thing will be getting to trial communication devices, like the DynaVox V, which is so cool for a little nerdling like me ;) I would totally get it in Pink if I ever needed one!

Actually, and I think I’ve posted about it before, one of the coolest AAC devices out there is the Proloquo2Go, a must see for you iphone nerds out there. It’s basically and iphone/itouch with voice output software built in. Perfect size!

The food festival day of the National Multicultural Festival was yesterday. Since I wasn’t there for the beer, unlike much of Canberra who drank their way through the day, I busied myself in the Middle East – working my way through the samples of coffee and dates that Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Iraq, Kuwait, the Emirates etc had on offer to me.

I think I had about 8 or ten dates, which is enough for my stomach to bear.

Some were really juicy
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For my first week back at work (first real week back, school wasn’t back before) I’ve made a start on the promises to bring my own lunch and cut back on the caffeinated drinks (both for Febusave and for my own health).

I managed to take my lunch each day (generally involving tuna, or leftover meat, with some salad and bread) but haven’t quite come to the not buying coffee or diet coke. Each day, I’ve bought either a soy latte or a diet coke. It’s more for the break, about 3 in the afternoon I’ve needed to escape work for a wander, and have generally come back from the shop with drink in hand.

Perhaps next week, I can look at ways of getting that headspace without coming back caffeinated?

Emailed around by a workmate:

Queens University researchers have discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant
deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called pillocks. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.

A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that
Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many pillocks but twice as many morons

Speaking of Chemistry – Rish cooked dinner tonight :)

We take safety seriously.

I think I need to add a badge to my work lanyard that says “not pregnant”. It seems to be the thing to do if you’re a young, partnered, permanently employed speech pathologist in Canberra at the moment. We have five of them. Usually it tops out at three at a time.

So the eyes then look to me. NO, it’s not my time.

One advantage of going to meetings interstate has to be trying the different restaurants they take us out to!

Fed Square was packed on Friday night for the men’s semi-final for the tennis.

The year we were booked into Chocolate Buddha in Federation Square Melbourne. They technically don’t do a banquet, but the very attentive waitress organised one for us. She was also vey good at paying attention to those with food allergies and intolerances – including among the group MSG, peanuts and dairy.

The stated us off with the beans, which we munched away on. So much green!
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Not a great start to the day – spent over half an hour trying to get the ripped left contact out of my eye, while half of it was on th bench. Eventually go it out, but not before turning early to work into late for work.

I did remember to take my lunch… gotta make a dent into my tuna supply. I bought 36 tins of tuna yesterday – $1 each for Greenseas in bulk boxes of 12? Can’t say no to that! (and apparently you can earn points and win stuff with them this month too! Gotta get entering those codes!)

Drank my first diet coke in a fortnight after lunch today (What’s that I said about giving up? Hard when I have a pile of reports to get out before the end of the week and my brain isn’t warmed up yet! Maybe fish oil would better help me concentrate? And help my knees? They kept rambling an about it at the retreat.)

Was going to go do a cardio session this afternoon, but ended up in Pump class, because I forgot my earbuds. Good fun :) But things will hurt in the morning! Better get up for an early walk to warm my joints through!

I’m not a bad saver – I have my ING direct account which I direct $500 to each fortnight on payday, plus I have extra payments in the home loan account, but it would be nice to see how much more I could be saving if I cut back on the little expenses that add up through the week – the takeaway soy lattes, the diet cokes, the bought lunches that I could have easily brought from home with a little planning.

Febusave is an ANZ bank led campaign to get women looking at their finances and what they could be saving towards with a little better money management. On the site they have tips and education on savings and finances. Another site they have going is SmartyPig which allows you to open a dedicated account to save towards your goal. You can make transfers, and friends and family can help you out along the way!

What am I saving for? Flights to Germany this Summer!

(no idea what airline I’m going)

Rish has a conference, so why not tag along and see some of the country? :) I haven’t been there yet, so many things to see and do! (and save for!) I actually won’t be saving for the flights themselves, as they’ll go on my credit card as soon as I confirm my dates, and I have the cash to pay that off… more i’m saving for is for spending money, accommodation and so on.

It will be a nice way to finish my uni semester – it starts back next week, and will go through til mid May. I have my own conference to go to (back to Melbourne!).

Wish me luck? I’ll try to let you know how I’ve gone ;)

Scored myself the exit row window, with noone in the centre seat on the way down to Melbourne on Friday morning. Sweet! Quick on and off with only my hand luggage, too ;)

Apparently Qantas are trying to increase their recycling on planes, collecting the bottles separate to the food and other rubbish now. Got a juice and some Kez’s cookies on the way down. I ate the Honey and Macadamia one, and alas threw away the chocolate.

The return flight last night was packed, with very little time for the dinner service. Lucky for me, I’d requested a Vegan meal, so as to avoid the cheese and other potential things that wouldn’t agree with me.

I scored a roast Mediterranean vege sandwich on 9 grain, and a cute little Quinoa flour cake. And was served before my row mates who suffered through their ham and cheese on dry brown bread with a minny toblerone. No wine service on the weekend CityFlyers, so I stuck with the water.