31 Photos in 31 Days (Day 19) Back at Work

Back at work today. Fortunately I have 2 days of PD – feeding. Which means I don’t have to see clients. It does mean I have all my workmates who I haven’t seen in awhile for various reasons just checking that I’m well and telling me I look terrible. Thanks :p

I went for a much needed gym session today. More for my sanity, than my body. Needed. Still didn’t stop me staring at the meat at Woolies for 10 mins in a blank world of choice… meh.

Got a couple of cool parcels today:

A couple of Muesli4Me samples, including the yet to be released Gluten Free base with some of my fave fruits and a sample of the go crunchy base. I’ll let you know how they go!

And my parcel for hitting Queanbeyan school this Saturday to hand out how to votes for the Australian Sex Party. Say hi if you see me there… or later in the day back on my home turf supporting GetUp! at Chapman School!

31 Photos in 31 Days (Day 5) In the Car

for those concerned, the car was parked at the time of this pic

Since moving to the same suburb that I work in, I think I must spend more time driving for work purposes than for personal reasons (not including driving to Newcastle!). Last year, I really noticed it because I would often drive Colt at work, which has a foot “handbreak” and the gear shifter on the steering wheel – so I knew when I’d been driving way too much at work when I’d reach for those things in my own car!

Another difficulty of living in the same suburb as work is that I sometimes drive to the wrong place! Oops?

31 Photos in 31 Days (Day 4) 40

Busy day today. Kicked it off by presenting a workshop on literacy and phonological awareness, then ducked off to the special school for a joint feeding visit, back to work for a meeting, then off to a massive case conference, then back to my desk just in time to get my July stats in by their deadline!

Good thing I started a Meditation course tonight. Runs for the rest of semester, and I think the skills will come in handy! If anything, I’ll need that hour a week!! (any tips to stop your limbs from falling asleep? or just roll with it?)

(The shoes above saw me through most of Europe when I wasn’t in my runners, and the tights were about $3 from Jeans West!)

Plus, I came home to an awesome package below from Brandsexclusive. I’d forgotten I’d ordered these cuties!

More Questions and Some Answers

Had the day off work, tired, coming down with some virus, and went to the doctor because I’ve used up my sick days without certificate. Saw a different doctor, who probed more into my digestive issues rather than the virus, stress, work, diet and so on. So I have more homework to do over the next few weeks, and got one more blood test, to check thyroid function, more, she says, because she wasn’t sure why it hadn’t been ruled out, rather than because she suspected thyroid dysfunction. Anyway.

On an answers note, I got a 12 month higher duties contract out of that last round of interviews and job applications! It was what I was hoping for once I’d come out of the interview, but wasn’t sure what I’d get. I’m pleased… There’s work to be done but I feel like I’m finally getting there.

And, prompted by Veronica… My top referral searches for the month to date:

Vodka Cruisers, anyone? (What? I’m not 16 anymore?)

Hit the ground running

So I’ve been back in Australia for all of 60 hours, have already completed 2 full days of work, updated wordpress, uploaded a bunch of photos to flickr, started a job application because they advertised while I was away – the applications end next week, so I’ve time, and started working on a presentation for Saturday. No, no time to tiredness or jetlag. Not for me.

*breathes*

You will get “Europe” blog posts in time. In the meantime, photos are gradually heading to this Flickr set, and here is a freaky citrus fruit from Vienna to tide you over ;)

One Day Down

Yes, I got through a day at work this week. I feel rather drained, but some things that helped:

A soy latte to start the day from my most referred search term – Lava Espresso, Weston :)

A black cat, up to mischief on the path to work

A purrty flower on the way home.

Can I go to bed now?

Who Invented Microwave Popcorn?

According to Wiki Answers:

Percy L. Spencer holds patent (US) 2480679 from 1949 on microwave popcorn.

Thank you Percy.

Went back to work today. One of the OTs tried to drop me home after our school visit this morning, but I stayed til the end. Mostly catching up on emails and progress notes. It’s amazing how fast you get behind! Especially at this time of the year when the teachers have found their feet and are starting to contact about the kids!

Headache on and off today, along with some puffiness still in my throat. Getting there. Didn’t fall asleep! :p

Friday tomorrow, then a full on weekend of Uni things! Got the first lecture for ‘Disabilities and Learning Difficulties’ – gotta get my readings done!

Work-Nerding (aka Things that are exciting me that are work related)

Fun and progressive things in the world of Speech Pathology:

• The Speech Pathology Australia National Conference in May. They’ve even put the Conference Dinner on the last night to keep us there til the end!
• The LINCS speech pathology project – looking at best service delivery models for High Schoolers with language impairment. Hoping to see her present at the conference.
• AAC in general.
• Makaton signing. I need to brush up!
• Uni! Get to do a mini research project this year… topics swirling around, but it might be to do with Adolescent language or perhaps the special school population. We’ll see!

Me 5 years ago at the first national conference I went to. It was here in Canberra, I was a student volunteer, which means I helped out but got free registration. We made tiaras for the dinner. It helped get me this job!

Term Time!

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!

Do I need to wear a badge?

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.