End of one season, start of another

(this is where I spent half of January)

So that was Summer, eh?

I love Summer but there are parts of Winter I love too, just not as much as Summer.  I'll miss the sitting out in the sun after dinner with a cool drink, not having to take forever to get dressed in the morning, not waiting for days for the washing to dry, being outdoors without having to take a coat and umbrella and getting social just because its sunny outside.

Winter has its good points too. There's comfort food and the fact that its actually enjoyable to cook, that its lovely to get snuggly in bed (unfortunately really difficult to get out of bed though), there's no sweating so its good to get out and get active and there's comfort food (did I mention that already?).

But I didn't come here to talk about the weather (ho hum), I wanted to say I'm on an 'up' today (as opposed to yesterday where it was all too hard). It may be because its Friday, or because I had a productive day at work and feeling that I've got a little more of a handle on things.  I'm also excited at the prospect of promoting not only the great stuff the people at my new workplace are doing for kids, but also promoting Mr Moneymaker's new business and life long dream.

He's selling the stuff that he loves, at last. A life-long lover of sport (not to mention the Nugget's personal Sports Manager), he has set up his own sport equipment brand, Cigno Sports and his days consist of choosing, selling and generally playing with, Soccer Balls (did you know that cigno is the Italian word for swan???).  I've even spent quite a few hours entering HUNDREDS of contacts into his database and though its been a bit of a risk (to the point where I may have to change his name from Mr Moneymaker to something else), its starting to build up.  The majority of business will be coming from Soccer Clubs in Queensland, NSW and Victoria so if you're involved in purchasing equipment for your club and you want quality, give him a call (don't forget to tell him I told you first!).

As for my new role, I'm so proud to be working for a company that has such a great concept and that can really make a difference to a young child's life.  The company is called Yoga To Go Kids and it takes the philosophy of mindfulness and well being along with a great habit for young children to take into their adult life. I've been there about four weeks now and I've been talking to the schools and the yoga teachers and seeing feedback coming back from the kids and the school teachers. Its wonderful what they're saying about the effects the classes have had on all the kids - the quiet ones, the loud ones, the hyperactive ones and the troubled ones. I'm really impressed and I want to tell everyone.

Yoga To Go Kids

Now my next move is to get the word out there about both businesses, not so much through this blog (though I will put a couple of buttons on the side here), but to promote through Facebook and Twitter.

Now if only they could afford to sponsor me to go the Digital Parents Conference in March! Oh well, that boat may have to leave without me. Literally.

*Joining With Some Grace for FYBF*

No more judgy judgy please! And some highlights of the week

How ridiculous was the coverage this UK woman got this week when she decided that we all needed to know how much of a snob she is?  If you didn't see it, here's a (fairly long) video of the interview on UK television (if you don't want to watch all of it, make sure you see the last bit from 9.25ish on when one of the hosts shuts her down).

A more relevant interview with this woman (I won't honour her with repeating her name to give her more publicity) was with David and Sonia on the Nine's Mornings program which you can see here (love David's reaction, glad to admit he's from a working class background).

Others have vented about this woman and I don't want to judge her as she has judged others but I really can't understand why we she was given international coverage when most people (well, most people I know) do not agree with her views.  Oh, hang on, I know, ratings via outrage!  Fair enough.  I guess she got people watching the programs, but honestly, Australia hardly takes notice of a class system and actually have a more 'cheer on the underdog' approach to success in this country.  Isn't it trendy to celebrate our boganism?  Or am I just being naive? Discuss.

On other, more pleasant, matters this week - here are some highlights:

• I've got a new job starting in August - new location, new challenges and more secure (hopefully). I'm very sad to be having to leave my current job but there's a thing called self preservation. Nuff said.
• Spent a whole week with my bestie and her kids who were visiting from Melbourne (this would explain my absence from IBOT and FYBF last week).  Lots of being a tourist in Sydney, card games, Monopoly and a girls' night out in Newtown (just like old times with a Saturday morning hangover included).
• and drumroll please ..... brrlllll - I won Second Prize in a Beauty Contest!  No not really (too much Monopoly maybe?).  But I did win second place in the 1stAvailable Bloggers Great Healthcare Giveaway which was $1000 worth of treatments at a day spa of my choice!!! Woohooo!! (that is actually what I shouted when I received the email from Klaus Bartosch - scared the bejebus out of my house guests).  I did a little research (spoke to my beautician-trained friend and did a bit of googling) and decided on Thaspa in the middle of Sydney.  I'm hoping my sister and I (decided sharing the day was more fun and then her birthday present is taken care of) leave that place looking and feeling at least 10 years younger.

from this ........................................ to this???

Yeah right.  Let's not expect miracles, eh?

What else is new?  I bought a new kettle!

Yeah, I know, real exciting, but I think it's hot (haha, did you get that? Gawd I amuse myself sometimes).   And of course I had to redecorate and move the whole tea making area which has made Mr Moneymaker very unsettled (have almost risked losing my nightly cup of tea!). But how nice does it look?

What's new with you? Do you think names show what kind of person someone is? Have you had a win lately?  Bought something new?

*p.s. - don't forget if you want to win a sleeping bag for your iPad Mini, you've got till the 21st July to enter here.

**Joining with Grace for FYBF**

WINNER! - GIVEAWAY and a bonus techo review

UPDATE:  WINNERS NOTIFIED BELOW IN COMMENTS! 

ARE YOU ONE?

(groovy model - from here)

I watch a lot of TV.  Probably more than I should, so how come I still miss some shows I’d really like to see?  Why don’t you record? I hear you say (OK I can’t hear you say that, but somebody is saying it in my head).  Well, that would be because we moved the video recorder downstairs to the kids' TV that doesn’t connect to any TV channels (not that I could ever get the timer right when I set the recorder).

One day we might have a big, smart TV that has TiVo or iQ or whatever those magic boxes are that record whole seasons without you having to stumble around with the program five minutes before you’re rushing out the door. But for the next couple of years I will have to catch up with my favourite programs on the internet.  Unfortunately my laptop is the smallest MacBook Air you can get, great for carrying in my handbag but not great for watching TV on.  Particularly when you’re as short sighted as me.

That’s why I was very interested in Belkin’s Screencast TV Adapter, a tiny little black box that turns your normal TV into a giant computer screen.  This is how Belkin describes the Screencast:

“The main purpose of the Belkin ScreenCast TV is to make it easy to throw content up on your TV (or other big-screen device), without having to fiddle with cables or excessive configuration settings on your laptop. In its most basic form, the Belkin ScreenCast TV duplicates your laptop screen exactly…”

When I talked to the Belkin guys at the Digital Parents Conference in March, I wondered whether this smooth looking device would stump me technically, just like the old VCR did for many decades.  But they assured me it was as simple as clicking on the icon on my laptop.

So when it arrived (along with the ScreenCast AV4 device which I'll be reviewing at a later date) on my doorstep, I wasn’t nervous at all and wanted to get right into connecting it up.  This of course required every other human being to leave the lounge room and not tell me how to do it or get in the way when I go off my head because I can’t do it.

It wasn’t that bad.  Besides the fact that I spent way too long trying to work why it wasn’t turning on.  Where there should be a thin, blue light going around the front of the box, all I could see was a very small red light at the back. I thought I was switching it on (does anyone else get confused with whether | is on or O is?), but actually I couldn’t see the soft, blue light because the sun was shining through our lounge room (which also makes our TV impossible to watch during the day any further away than a couple of feet).

After an embarrassingly amount of time, and some research on the Belkin site (which made me aware it would not work on my MacBook because it had to use Intel’s WiDi software and Apple doesn’t use Intel, does it?), I pinched my husband’s Intel friendly laptop, which I ensured had the latest version of Intel’s WiDi software installed (you can check if you already have it or install it from here). Once that was showing up on the desktop it was as simple as clicking on the icon and then tuning the TV into the HDMI port the device was plugged into.  And there it was, my computer was up there on the telly as clear as day.

I yelled to a tense audience downstairs that I had, in fact, done it!  I had achieved a technical milestone.  I could now show all those old iTunes music clips from my teenage years to the kids on the big screen.  My husband and son could watch live streaming soccer. My daughter could watch those awful US teenage sitcoms.  And more importantly, I can catch up on more of this

If you happen to buy the Belkin’s Screencast TV Adapter (available at most electrical retailers for around $149) you may want to read up on a few tips on the PC World site here.

Now for my next technical challenge, the ScreenCast AV4 which will make any HDMI device in the house wireless!

GIVEAWAY!  I've got four classy looking iPad Mini covers to give away from Belkin, valued at $19.95.

All you need to do to win one is 'Like' Belkin's Facebook page here, 'Like' Birdy Num Num's page then comment below on what Belkin product you think would benefit your life the most (and if you don't already, and follow @beccibird). Giveaway ends 9pm 21st July 2013 and is open to Australian residents only.
To found out more about Belkin's products, go here.

Disclaimer:  *All my opinions are my own and I did not receive payment for this review, but I did receive the devices from Belkin to review and keep.*

**Joining With Some Grace FYBF**

My weekend at the Broadbeach Blues Festival (or the BBBBBBBB)

Last weekend I got to carry on a tradition that is only three years old. Its what my sisters, cousin and I call the Bird Broads BroadBeach Blues Boogie & Booze Bash.  Its our chance to go away together without any partners or children, take a few extra days off from work and let ourselves blow off some steam. The four of us love blues music (well almost any kind of live music) and we could easily spend three days in a haze of oysters, bubbly and bopping on a balcony (I think I squeezed all the alliterations out of that paragraph).

related much?

We stayed at the Phoenician which overlooked the two main stages at either end of the main street.  The balcony had this view ...

So when we didn't feel like fighting the crowd down there (this was the last gig, Vanessa Amorosi - who was sooo good!), we danced up here ...

Some of the great acts we caught were:

Shaun Kirk the one-man-band

photo opp of course

Kevin Borich...

 and his floppy fingered base player

Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows (aka Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons)...

(this was taken through a tiny holy in the side fence - he was very popular)

 And of course the very hot Jon Stevens....

(my sister and I spent a long time gazing up at this)

Then there was a what I think was the highlight of the weekend - a duo that we just caught the end of at the bar in Jupiters and then made sure we caught them the next day in the mall.  They were called George and Noriko. 

They are Japanese, not a couple (they are both married to Aussies) and play the blues like you've never seen or heard before. George sings and plays harmonica and guitar (including playing steel slide guitar with a beer bottle) and Noriko (who is nine months pregnant) plays the Japanese Shamisen and drums.  I didn't realise they had appeared on Australia's Got Talent last year, right to the finals. Brian McFadden described Noriko's instrument as "a banjo with a paint scraper".

The way they performed in the nightclub and in a shopping mall (!), they're sure to have great success.  Noriko, dressed in a 'maternity' kimono, jumped all over the stage, gave the drums what-for and kept up with George's banter so well you could tell they had been working together for years.  George was lots of fun and got the audience involved.  But instead of me rabbiting on about it, here's a short bit of what they did at Broadbeach (or for better quality video, look them up on YouTube):

**Joining up With Some Grace for FYBF**

Laughing Out Loud - for real.

I love funny shit.  I'd rather watch a funny movie or show more than watch any other kind of entertainment.  But its got to be LBL-funny (for those that are reading who have not given birth, LBL is an acronym for Light Bladder Leakage of course).

In fact I love it so much I lose alot of sleep so I can see more of it.  One of my favourite shows at the moment is The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, which unfortunately is getter later and later, currently shown on Eleven at 11.30pm.

(image from here)

But last night I when I went to bed I was once again sick of waiting while Star Trek went through its millionth episode, so I flicked about the channels (does anyone else have to spank the remote occasionally to make it work?) and found an old favourite on One - Whose Line Is It Anyway?  And I just happened to come across the funniest       episode      I've      ever       seen.

If you haven't watched this show, the brief explanation of the show is that its a little like improvisational theatre. But alot funnier and with talented comedians. In particular, Wayne Brady.

(image from Wikipedia)

This episode features the flamboyant, bedazzled aerobic nutter, Richard Simmons. This guy can be seen to be a bit too much to handle - and I was about to agree until I read his whole profile just now on Wikipedia. He has done alot of stuff - he's nothing like the joke I thought he was. And those bedazzled tank tops, they are actually Swarovski crystals.  I really must read Wikepedia more often. You learn stuff.

(image from Wikipedia)

So here's what had me in tears last night, laughing so hard I just about fell out of bed. Almost woke up the Moneymaker!

Enjoy. And happy Flog Your Blog Friday!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Love the Web, but books are better - and TV of course

(these are just some of the books by my bed I will get through eventually)

I do love a good book.  Unfortunately I try to read too many at once (I'm in the middle of four at the moment), which is another symptom of my "ooh look and the bright shiny thing" syndrome.  But as I've been set a task for one of these books, I'm promising myself to get through one at a time, starting with:

(this is me multitasking in bed - book, choc, tv, laptop all in bed)

My Notorious Life by Madame X - a book by Kate Manning which is for a review with the wonderful guys at Soup.  I'm quite enjoying it as it's based on a true story about a woman in New York City during the late 1880's who became infamous for being a midwife who not only helped women with birthing but also with birth control and also terminations.  The style is written as if it was from Madame X's journals and some of the words are annoyingly asterisk'ed out which is supposed to reflect the times when a lot of literature was censored but I believe (and 99% of the other reviewers on the Soup forum) as it was written based on a personal journal, it realistically should not be censored.  And it wasn't referring to words that we all haven't heard before - particularly the medical terms!

(find Kaz Cooke's ebooks here)

Another bright and shiny thing that had me occupied the other night when I really should have been cleaning out my laptop (and no, that's not code), is one of my favourite authors, Kaz Cooke, has brought out really useful ebooks for us all.  She was a bit of a lifesaver back when I was first expecting, with her book "Up The Duff" - so much more practical than all those other pregnancy bibles, it's a good chuckle and written in a language I could relate to.  I highly recommend checking out these very inexpensive ebooks and if you know someone who could use the free "Escaping Control & Abuse: How to Get Out of a Bad Relationship & Recover From Assault", please pass it on.  I'm not in any sort of sponsorship deal or even know Kaz Cooke personally, I just really admire her work.

Now seeing I'm writing this while watching TV, I need to have a bit about what I'm enjoying at the moment.  Right this moment I'm laughing at Alan Carr: The Chatty Man.  He's talking to Jennifer Saunders who I've always loved, way back when she was 'French & Saunders' (I still sing that phrase every time instead of saying it - look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about) to being obsessed with Absolutely Fabulous to the extent I video taped every episode when it aired on TV the first time.

(here's a clip of the best of Series 1 & 2)

So there's a little bit of what I've been reading, browsing and watching lately.  And it's a great distraction from my Mess Makeover project which after the shopping at Ikea part became quite frustrating when I couldn't work out how to use the sewing machine - big domestic fail.  But here's a hint of what it might look like in the end:

*Joining With Some Grace FYBF*

My name is Becci and I love the internet

from here

I love the interwebby.  I'm not a total nerd but as I remember what it was like before the web was known only as that amazing structure built by your average creepy crawly, I can appreciate how amazing it is.  (In fact, we just had a Skype conversation with The Moneymaker who is in Taiwan this week, checked out his hotel room and the Nugget was even able to show him his new soccer gear and the dog's radical haircut!)

I first entered the internet world when I was pregnant with my first (over 14 years ago). I was working for a large company in the city as a secretary for 12 Leasing Executives.  We were introduced to the World Wide Web and at first it didn't make a huge impact as there really wasn't alot on it.  Then when I reached my six month mark the work got the better of me, the hormones must have leaked out and I had a little crying episode in front of my boss.  As he knew nothing about what pregnant women were like, he panicked and took most of my work off me, sat me in the corner till I started maternity leave and gave me the task of investigating the internet and what it might do for the company.  Total bludge but lots of fun.  I did do a bit of desktop publishing but I mostly read a lot of disjointed and messy websites and learnt what worked and what didn't.

Once I left I made sure we could connect our home computer into the web with one of those lovely, quaint dial-in modems (remember that buzz and whirrrrr while you waited patiently for it to connect?).  I then spent the next year connecting up with other mums around the world in forums and chat rooms learning how to be a mother. The.Best.Use of the internet to date (besides Pinterest, porn and gambling of course!).

So it came as no surprise that when I went back to work part-time I found myself a job at a local website development company.  This position taught me many things, including being a web designer and also selling websites.  I absolutely loved the work.  It was creative, fast and exciting.  I learnt how the retail world was changing and had an inkling how being online was going to be imperative if you were in any sort of business.  It also helped me create the website for our home business which operated for the next four or five years until we sold it.  We sold model trucks and machinery online to collectors - you can still see the site, Machinery Models, here, now run by the couple who bought it who have not updated it since, as far as I can see.

I haven't looked at in in a while and even though it looks so raw and basic, I was very proud of it.  I learnt Dreamweaver and HTML to make other (and much better) websites during my time there.  Thankfully it's become so much easier to create sites (thankyou Blogger).

Now it's all about Apps.  Websites have morphed into beautiful, useful spaces but apps are where it's at.  We're all looking at the big old internet world through our tiny smart phones and tablets.  Not so good for the old eyesight but now we can find a place to eat, book a table and pick our meal from the menu before we even get there!  Not to mention banking, finding cheap petrol, cooking advice or even reading a book.

It just blows me away having all this in my pocket.  It's a million miles away from when I used to listen to that endless whirring, dialing up at 3am while having a baby attached to my boob.

**Joining up with Grace for FYBF**

Exhaustion 3; Creativity 0

Let me just start by saying my creativity is having a major battle with my exhaustion.

I would love to make this post all about what the Digital Parents Conference was all about and how I was knocked over by the amazing bloggers‘ stories that had a room full of women weeping and cheering and then weeping again and then dancing on tables (yes they really did, even if it was for but a brief moment to bring the Harlem Shake, Blogger version, to life).

But to do the two-day extravaganza justice I need more time!  But I will record here, before the feeling goes away, how I felt so at home with so many writers in one room.  How motivated I am now to pull my story together that I’ve been drafting for twenty years.  And once I get my notes out and everyone’s cards I collected out of my bag I will start to do a proper summary of what it all meant to me and acknowledge the greatness of those I was privileged to be with.

This is sounding a lot syrupy than I intended it to be so I’ll just finish by promising to get lots of sleep on the weekend so I won’t snap at all three members of my family again like I just did (why can’t I have my own room???  Allison and Kerri said writing is a very lonely job but not ‘round here!).

Anyway, I’ll leave you with a little peak of what my view was like in snapshot form:

... and if anyone sees this guys' little partner, please let me know! It was only it's second time out and he escaped (damn Bon Jovi)!

*Joining my Dancing Queen, Grace with FYBF*