Day One Hundred & Sixteen, where ya been?

Day One Hundred & Sixteen,, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

ahhaaaa i have no idea what to talk about tonight. my camera batteries died and i forgot to recharge / get new and was too busy at work again to sort out - so here i am at home yet again using the web cam.

boring foto. i tried to show you all my grey hairs but it seems even that didnt work.

thoughts from today:

why do we still email? the only reason i have to email is to communicate at work. but if we replaced this with an internal solution like yammer - we'd cut 90% of those out too.

swines and global financial crisis: a good excuse to keep us home?

more social networking sites: i got asked to join another yesterday and nearly had a meltdown myself. i'm an above average user I know and i'm struggling. let's have a few goodies and work on getting those right hey?

BIG STATEMENT to anyone wanting to start up a new social media site: what makes you so special?

a great example is the new Heaps Good website. quite happy with this one. complete focus on SA. EVERYTHING HEAPS GOOD about SA will be encouraged to post. I added my work (purely SA based), my wine group (events are SA based), my girlfriends retail store and a restaurant i love. awesome.

the fun focus of the website will be a big hit, I'm sure!! xc

Day One Hundred & Fifteen, i'm keen

Day One Hundred & Fifteen, i'm keen, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

appreciate this is a twitter project however i've actually been into "plurking" more in the past six or so months. the online community within plurk is just lovely. we talk about it all the time.

we self moderate, care for each other and generally have a bit of a laugh, all whilst understanding we are there to let others know about stuff in our lives - and a little bit of promotion (but not too much).

so, i became really excited when one of our fellow members started this:

plurkfiends.com

and will follow it up with an event based in adelaide around november time! xc

PS me on Plurk: http://www.plurk.com/charlierobinson

Day One Hundred & Fourteen, we are seen...

Day One Hundred & Fourteen, we are seen..., originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

@ fasta pasta with kid who usually does cubs, teenager who usually goes to nanas and rowan who usually works or plays or does his own thing. but here we are all four of us. together.

ps all with fairly typical facial expression too.

Day One Hundred & Thirteen, curlers with lappy; a teens dream

Day One Hundred & Thirteen, curlers with lappy; a teens dream, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

what are parents for except to provide the tools you need to make a great life? xc

Day One Hundred & Twelve, he has done the delve

Day One Hundred & Twelve, he has done the delve, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

we attended the dawn service for anzac day. whilst it was way too early for me to really focus on anything, two things moved me (well, kinda three, but i'll explain).

firstly, hearing the last post for the first time in real life. standing close to rowan and knowing some of his stories, feeling for other families surrounding, knowing my dad's pride at just having been involved at the end of the 2nd world war and what he got to contribute (*he was too young) and then it all culminating in hearing that bugle. weirdly, it was almost calming. but beautiful too.

then secondly, meeting this young man in the coffee shop after who has now served three times overseas in active service. he's just too young. way to young. here was this cute young guy sitting with his cute girlfriend, full of seriousness, shyness and pride at his achievements. it actually blew me away.

the other thought i had for the rest of the day was how beautiful Quinny (in the hat) was at simple connection. saying hello and striking up the conversation with the young guy in the first place. i feel like i've been there before, but more like years ago. it gave the whole morning a real sense of community, pride, common fellowship and was just simply lovely.

what a lovely day. have to thank Rowan and Jim for inspiring me to go but myself for actually seeing that time of morning. i was determined not to miss this year. almost a sense of duty for myself. not really being affected by my personal family, i have increasingly felt it for other families, and this could simply be because i understand grief now through the loss of my own brother. to have so many families across the globe affected by wars is just wrong. why o'why do we still do it? when it isn't the answer.

let us never forget, ever. let us look to the future to find the answers in a more peaceful way. let us learn the art of negotiation, strength, peace without a show of aggression. let us be. xc

Day One Hundred & Eleven, out within the breathen

Day One Hundred & Eleven, out within the breathen, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

the only foto in existence from friday. out watching becky & ian sing, listening to a giggly Anti on the fone. typical friday nite really - just without my camera!! on this nite i met Matthew - who introduced himself citing a phrase from the bible. hmmmmm an interesting way to introduce yourself i thought.

Matthew is apparently important in the bible as he was the one to find the bed where to lay? or something like that (i'm not religious - well not practicing, so i've got this wrong but it was hilarious at the time and i blushed!!!). fun nite again. xc

Day One Hundred & Ten, i'm hiding in my den

Day One Hundred & Ten, i'm hiding in my den, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

the world is a crazy place and moves in strange ways. i say a lot of things here on my blog and it's a fairly "exposing" thing to do. i dont have the million followers and fame that some boast. i dont even have thousands. but i can claim a happy statistic and i'm sure each of you are riding this jolly little rollercoaster with me.

i'm trying to remain semi-intelligent so that Gordie doesn't tell me off. i'm trying to remain witty and charming, and i am trying not to expose too much of my fragility. but i'm sure we all have those moments in our life when we just have to say "fuck it - today was hard". but for many reasons today was also extremely excellent. so i guess with every dark cloud there is a silver lining.

and fortunately my silver lining sparkles and glows.

so. onwards. soldiers.

hey - also - remember how i mentioned life might get a bit stressy for me during the year because of my day job? well. it's about to "go off". that's probably putting it politely - but i'm a tad nervous. but stay tuned. you can come ride a wave of public engagement and see if i'm any good at it. LOL fingers crossed. xc

Day One Hundred & Nine

Day One Hundred & Nine, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

happy birthday amburger... she's 15 today. we had dinner out @ an old favourite, enjoyed conversations about regular things, shared some pressies and that was pretty much it. the BIG partee is on Saturday when I get to enjoy a sleepover with about 20 of her closest friends @ the rowing shed. yah. it's meant to make me a cool mum. bahahaaaaaa OK

Day One Hundred & Eight, aint this great

Day One Hundred & Eight, aint this great, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

i'm bopping away to my library on Last.FM whilst reading my news via Google Reader (didnt get time @ work lately so there was lot to catch up on), chatting to friends on Twitter, Plurk and FaceBook all whilst the kid sleeps. And the other one works.

Who said as a mum with a 9 & 14yr old I didn't have a social life? LOL

Hey - but the 14yr old turns into 15 yr old tomorrow.

yeaks. i'm old. xc

Day One Hundred & Seven, the funk doorstop 4 lunch was heaven?

>

Day One Hundred & Seven, the funk doorstop 4 lunch was heaven?, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

OK boys and girls, back to work.

And yes, I do have to WORK with Jimbo occasionally.

Quite frankly he has a rather handy online eLearning system with a lovely blog/social network interface that I'd like rolled out throughout our company. we're still working through the nuts and bolts but its application will be used across a variety of business needs - some big, some small but all important.

oh. and i'd really like an eNews platform. soon. xc

PS that's alan with him - his IT wizzkid schemer doer and business development customer service supremo guy... not sure what Jimbo does -> smile?

LOL (ok ok im teasing. settle petal)

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Day One Hundred & Six, clicks

Day One Hundred & Six, clicks, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

what a big day. i'm pretty exhausted. a girlfriend was emptying her garage and i just happened to be in the right place at the right time with a trailer!! got a BEAUTIFUL cupboard for my bedroom, a gazebo, a bike, a scooter, a telescope for Miss JM and bookshelves and a heap of other stuff. it just never seemed to end. what a score!!

and i forgot to take a foto. ahahaaaa of course! so here i am looking flushed & tired in front of the webcam again!! xc

Day One Hundred & Five, <3

Day One Hundred & Five, , originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

ahahaaaaaa

Day One Hundred & Four, maria is poor

Day One Hundred & Four, maria is poor, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

so we dropped in for a visit :) (relapse from the operation) xc

Day One Hundred & Three, see...

Day One Hundred & Three, see..., originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

The conversation started like...
Charlie - please update: where are we on the ROI Issue?
Becky #401

------------------------------------
Charlie resp:
ROI = value. quality. together.

"cant do mass, give A listers a miss, cant play bass, gotta have some sass, smile at me; dont pass."

-----------------------------------
Becky resp:
'K - Dissecting your statement here:
"Can't do mass" = are you putting a 'lid on it' again, Charlie?!

Just wondered RE: your approach...
Signed, '#401'-and-glad-of-it ;) OX

-----------------------------------
Hey Becky #401 ♥ -

[A] i have no need for mass. I have people I interact with, learn from, people who I work with, socialise / friends / family, people who are in my groups... and how do i get them? well i'll leave mass to (the function of) advertising. i dont need my personal account to deal with that?

is my thinking at the moment.

i whittled down to 800 recenly HOWEVER, it's still exploratory and i refuse to give myself a ceiling (this time) as i know ceilings are there to be shattered so easily LOL ......so, that means i could go to 5000 if people are the categories above etc... but the list becomes a little more exclusive, selective and targeted.

does that make sense? no idea if it will work - but ya gotta try hey!!

-----------------------------------
POST ABOVE CONVERSATION
so there I was sitting in the back of the room with a bunch of new speakers for the SA Great Speakers in Schools program wondering how I can encourage my colleagues to get on board and give this a go.

ROI = value. quality. together.

Day One Hundred & Two, traffic is a poo

Day One Hundred & Two, traffic is a poo, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

shock horror i use such a word... but i did (use poo for traffic). that said, the traffic is actually quite pleasant now that the clipsal has settled HOWEVER as i came into this intersection tonight i spied in the background (where the van is park) water gushing about 20 metres into the air.

it has subsided by the time the camera was out.

fortunately.

but when i drove past there was a guy looking pretty hot and bothered (and drenched) yanking on a big turning crow bar thing. he was obviously having a bad day.

so, i thought - well my day is pretty good so far, so a bit of traffic will be OK!! xc

Day One Hundred & One, starting line gun

Day One Hundred & One, starting line gun, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

major milestones in the work place are celebrated in various different ways. whilst i cant tell you yet what we are celebrating, i'm pretty chuffed we are!!

here we are signing the milestone calendar.

Carlos, my colleague, has worked really hard on this project and is going on leave back to Peru for a holiday. he can now go with the clear mind that things are in place to move forward.

its a good feeling.

i guess not all things work according to plan. but with a clear goal and some stubborn determination you can pull through anything. this project has been chugging along for at least a year. various issues and problems along the way have road blocked, stalled and hijacked us til now. no longer.

off we go. bring it on. xc

Day Ninety Nine, what a time

Day Ninety Nine, what a time, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

so in walks a 43yr old with her fella and her 9yr old to an event made for 18-30yr olds. the music was awesome... the event was dusty (red dust got everywhere), the kids were having a heap of fun and i got some great fotos... the looks we got though were hilarious!!!

WTF? was on most faces... ahahahaaaaa. we didn't bother. we had complimentary tickets in and we only stayed a few hours. i really just wanted to check out the concept and the set up seeing as it was the first time anything like this had been done in Adelaide - and probably australia. to my knowledge anyway.

we got round to check out three of the stages - couldn't find the fourth as it was too large a place and it was getting dark. miss JM was getting tired by then so we left.

really happy (after procrastinating all day) that i went. i LOVE live music and the bands we heard whilst there were excellent :) xxc

Day Ninety Eight, it's late

Day Ninety Eight, it's late, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

we went up to mount lofty to look at the pretty lights. my camera is hopeless at night but my eyes aren't. the fresh air, big picture view was awesome... big smiles :) xx

Day Ninety Seven

Day Ninety Seven, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

Cathy said to me tonight "do i ever sleep?" because i'm always out and about. Interesting. I mentioned i had two days at home this week due to illness and she replied "what you fit that in to?".

I think an interesting part in this photo a day is for me to find a highlight. Some days that's a real challenge, others it's easy.

Like we went to the Winestate (magazine) wine event. You get to sample any bottle in the room (or several) and mingle with real wine experts and lovers alike. The room was packed. It was awesome and good experience for my own wine group to see all this in play. I have been to one before many years ago. They are a far more serious affair than to my own wine group... but it was still good.

Anyway... aside from that it had been a pretty regular day. I caught the bus to work (first time on the o-bahn), had a regular work day (project was approved) and went out for drinkies (no kids at home). That's life :)

Day Ninety Six, quick with the pix

Day Ninety Six, quick with the pix, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

i know ive been slack this week, sori. hey - i haven't been well. so... here's the latest webcam "what can i grab quick" foto LOL

featuring Toby yet again... he was having yet another cuddle tehe

Day Ninety Five, they're not alive

Day Ninety Five, they're not alive, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

they're the token effort for maria who's in hospital. i'll get there tomorrow night with some real ones!! once she's recovered a bit :) xc

Day Ninety Four, back to the core

Day Ninety Four, back to the core, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

i have to say, yet again, i'm really not sure why i took on this project.

well, i do.

initially it was a school holiday thing to do with amburger.

here i am still doing it - whilst she quit ages ago. many friends have dropped off to. but i just cant. i feel a dutiful responsibility to complete this silly task!!!

i have to confess to it becoming quite a challenge though. i dont have the best camera, i dont have the best graphic abilities, time is an issue, my emotions can be an issue and there are only so many ways you can take a foto of my face so that i don't look like an old hag with ten chins LOL

but i am keeping on. i think it might mean i'm a stubborn thing!! xc

Day Ninety Three, Toby's glee

Day Ninety Three, Toby's glee, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

aaaaw he missed his mummy and he got a nice cuddle on the sofa... he was seriously very happy. purring away :)

i had a day off. very relaxing. saw me mum, did a heap of washing, cooked me roast dinner for the girls and cuddled me cats. just what the doctor would have ordered i reckon!! i feel great. xx

Day Ninety Two, we love you

Day Ninety Two, we love you, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

and the season is over!!! yah. but as the coach said, don't stop, keep going and be prepared for next season. well, OK. but please dont make me get up at 7am on saturday mornings for a little while... i need a break!!

i'm standing here with Felicity & Claudio who are absolute troupers. great people. always out there with camera and video in hand. Claudio made last years annual DVD wrap up and will again this year i suspect :)

xc

Day Ninety One, life can be a bum

Day Ninety One, life can be a bum, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

not all things are good. we all know that.

some days things just dont work out.

and i feel like that today. i'm bummed that i cant take my kids on holidays for easter, work (aside from the brisbane conference) has been really really hard and challenging and i haven't been able to catch up with my family for a while and i'm missing them. i have a fantastic support network of friends who are there for me and understand these challenges but at the end of the day i actually have to make it all happen myself. and i have to keep going. but i'm tired. xc

Day Ninety, what a crime

Day Ninety, what a crime, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

to spend time,
with these two characters...

no seriously, at the lunch breaks we just all mingled and chatted to "whoever". it was a mix of distribution, transmission and retail so we all had different stories.

today was a tad disappointing. the "new technology" guy gave a year old presentation... had no real examples about Twitter (seriously I should have stood up and done the gig) and they spent way to long chatting about Internal Comms.

I 100% agree and believe that internal comms are important - but they aren't unique to our industry.

BUT... it's all lessons learnt. so i provided my constructive feedback about the additional topics we could cover next year.

it was a healthy mature seminar room - EVERYONE spoke, contributed, asked questions, answered questions and got involved. really nice to see.

i may have shocked them though (boom boom) if I'd mentioned i'd twittered a few comments and pictures from the room... they;re still a slightly more conservative crowd - that said, they are well aware of the impact of Twitter in a major weather/media crisis xc

Day Eighty Nine, we stand in line

Day Eighty Nine, we stand in line, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

well, it's end of day one and we are off to the conference dinner. there was me thinking i woul dget the nite off to chat and visit with friends but alas no... there's rest for this little black duck as i've said before.

we decided to catch the ferry to the place so we could be tourists for at least 5 minutes.

the additional partee member in this shot is paul... who is communications and stakeholder relations for ETSA.

the first day of the conference has gone beyond my wildest expectations. we are abuzz, energised and bursting with energy (LOL). to sit in a room full od communication personnel, talk sh*t about electricity and all "get it" was just awesome.

the nite (after this shot) was equally as good... such a friendly welcoming - open and knowledgeable crowd. i can't speak more highly xc

Day Eighty Eight, packed in a crate

Day Eighty Eight, packed in a crate, originally uploaded by charlierobinson1966.

and we're off to Brisbane. yes, i know. i'm away again. my daughters are suffering (me too) so this will be the last trip away for a few months I hope.

the subject this time is communications in the energy industry. i'm quite looking forward to the conference and await with an open mind as to what to expect.

carlos and rachel, sitting with me, are my colleagues. rachel - my boss (corporate services manager) and carlos works with me as capital works communications co-ordinator. not only will we learn, i'm hoping it will be a nice team building type exercise.

we laughed after the foto was taken as it was obviously "green shirt day". check the background :)

xc