It seems like a lifetime ago, since I was checking livejournal daily and updating on a regular basis. I suppose that's consumer trends, we move on to the 'next' big thing on the platform we call Web 2.0. My latest 'internet pastime' is facebook. It's a social network platform rather than a blog, but I find it interesting - how people interact socially on the net. My brother asked me a couple of weeks ago, 'Why do you talk on Facebook, what's wrong with in-person?" I said absolutely nothing and we must talk face to face all the time, but there are times were it is faster and more effecient use of time to converse to people over the internet. I do not believe internet use means you neglect the face to face - I personally feel you need physical contact / connectivity with your family and friends, but sometimes you just have something quick to say to someone - internet is the way to go. It also allows you to network with people you might not have otherwise connected with - a huge advantage.

I heard today an example, employees of a large infrastructure organisation used Facebook as a way of communicating internally with each other (all being generation Y's) and project managing through Facebook. Then the company decided to have a blanket policy banning all use of Facebook - production from the employees went down as they lost the way they managed their projects, and they also lost 'interest' in the company - some thinking about changing jobs. This is an example of why organisations needs to think about the use of communication platforms and not just have blanket policies. It wasn't that long ago - well quite a few years ago, that companies were thinking of banning internet use and emails as they didn't think it was a productive way for employees to spend their time. That can be true, no doubt, but if we don't allow people to use the latest methods of communication technologies and make the most of them, it would be a real shame. I think we need as a society to embrace change and the latest methods.

It amazes me the amount of people who say "I don't have internet so a company should make a special newsletter just for me" - seriously people get with the program. Internet, whether you love it or hate it, is going to be apart of our lives for a very long time to come. You should start learning how to use it, make the most of it, make it effecient for you. You don't need to embrace facebook or blogging but it is time you get a computer and learn how to use it!

In conclusion, I might not have been around livejournal lately, but I have been 'communicating' electronically via other methods - I am here and I am alive!

I'm wanting to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you all have a fantastic festive season and I'll speak to you all in 2008!

To the Baker's in NZ - if you are reading this - enjoy yourselves!!! I tried smsing but it didn't work! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas - I'll call you soon. Love ya julie, Mike, Danielle, Aaron and Leah!!

Hello - I've done my first pod cast with QUT - Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies. Got to the website to download, if you are interested, that is of course. But I'm excited!

http://www.bus.qut.edu.au/research/cpns/podcast/show18.jsp

Just wanted to wish my dad, a very happy 75th birthday today.

It's a big milestone so a HUGE congratulations!

Well I finished the final book of Harry Potter - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night. What a great read - thank you JK Rowling for producing yet another masterpiece - it was captivating.

I felt a bit of an anti climax in some respects - no, not the ending (no I won't be spoiling anything for anyone who hasn't read it yet) but that I won't have another HP book to look forward to in the future. With the other books, you got to the last page and went - I can't wait till the next book to find out but with this one it was oh, that's the end of an era! It's quite sad that this era has finished. It was well worth the joy and tears over the years!

I will no doubt read the last book again soon as I want to make sure I've got everything.

I will then probably read all the books again (I reread books 1-6) back in March.

These are books that you will reread again and again.

Thank you for the memories and thank you for great writing - it was well worth taking the journey!

PS. I was asked on Saturday whether I would read the last page first - I said no, not something I have ever considered with any book really! Nevertheless, my recommendation to anyone, please do not do that for this book. It really is worth not knowing until the moment you have understood everything! You will only be cheating yourself! Seriously, take the adventure as it goes - try to guess, try to out smart but take the journey!

News I've seen today.

Does anyone else find this disturbing A 10-month-old girl has survived an eight-storey plunge after her drunk father apparently threw her out a window during an argument with his mother-in-law. Yes it was in China where female children are consider of less value but bloody hell what goes through a person's mind when they do that?!

One of my stories from yesterday is retracted The BBC has been forced to make an embarrassing apology to the Queen for suggesting she stormed out of a photo session after being asked to remove her crown.

Harry Potter can breathe a sigh of relief. Only one in five adult fans think the boy wizard will die in the final book of JK Rowling's hit series, according to an opinion poll released on Thursday. Hey never say never!

Have a great weekend everyone - I'm tracking (dog sport) at Tamborine. Seeing a movie tonight and Agility training on Sunday. Trying to finish some articles too.

Well it's been ages since I've written in here.

Firstly, Happy Birthday to stephendann.

I went and saw Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix last night with jj_. I thoroughly enjoyed it - it is great entertainment. Yes it wasn't true to the book, as there were some changes, but as movies go, it is very enjoyable. There are somethings that could have been better and some acting I would have changed - but I'd thoroughly recommend seeing it. I'd give it 4 stars. Thanks to jj_ for coming with me - I've seen all the movies with her - it's our little thing - I'll miss seeing the next ones with her so very sad!

I certainly don't agree with the reviews that it's not for kids - I definitely don't think it is as dark as the last film! Parents warned Potter movie not for kids

Apart from that, nothing really has changed - just working and doing dog sports with Ember.

I did see some news items today that I found interesting -

1) a 37-year-old jogger wearing an iPod was burned on his chest, neck and face after the man and a nearby tree were struck by lightning I knew those ipods were dangerous! ;)

2) Queen Elizabeth II has been filmed by the BBC becoming angry and storming out of a photoshoot for celebrity bible Vanity Fair I think it is great the Queen shows emotion

3) Radio presenter Stan Zemanek dies at 60 My sympathies to his family.

4) Ethan Hawke starring in Gold Coast film I might be spending more time on the Gold Coast - not that I'm a huge fan of Ethan's but hey a celebrity comes to Queensland

5) A mother of four has become the 14th woman to develop breast cancer after working at the ABC's Brisbane TV studio I use to work across the road from those offices so it is quite scary there are that many women with Breast cancer in the one office. I'm really glad they have closed the offices down but probably too late for some. My best wishes to all who are suffering cancer.

I know it has been awhile so firstly let me wish Happy Birthday to all the people I have missed. There is actually too many to list everyone but please know that I was thinking of you. (to Leah and Mike Baker in New Zealand - yes that means you!)

Secondly thank you to everyone who sent me Birthday wishes last week. I had a lovely Birthday and was spoilt by jj_ who took me out to dinner. Last Friday I had a family birthday dinner as my brother's birthday is the 21 April so we did a joint celebration - it was a lovely night.

Also, I'd like to advise my mum is now out of ICU which is great. She is back in her ward at the Brisbane Private Hospital after her knee reconstruction operation (yes both knees are now metal) - she will be in a fair bit of pain but she will get there. She'll be in hospital for the next 10 days.

Also remember to check out my website - www.deargban.netfirms.com - well it's my kennel website and will keep you up to date on what I've been doing with Ember. (the news section).

Anwyay, life is good but hectic - it's marking time!

See ya soon.

Hi,

Through my contacts in the dog world now, I have discovered that there is a big dog and cat trade to China/Korea where these dogs are slaughtered for the meat and coats. The worse and brutal the death is apparently makes the meat better in their eyes.

For more information, please go to http://www.freewebs.com/dogsinasia/index.htm or go directly to the take action section http://www.freewebs.com/dogsinasia/takeaction.htm

Or just sign the petition - http://thiscause.org/p/menu.php?p=Saxon84874DB

I watched some of the videos on that site of what happens to the dogs and trust me you won't want to watch them, as they show humans inflicting cruelty on dogs and cats that you couldn't think was imaginable. I will just tell you the worst was seeing a defurred dog still alive - yes they defur the dogs while they are alive - and then they are left to die slowly and I would imagine very painfully. It is extrememly distressing.

Below is some information on the dog products - no visuals so don't panic.

Anyway, I hope you'll help - the imagines really affected me!

Liz

Its believed all body parts of a dog have excellent nutritional value. It's fur, bones, teeth, foot/toes, brain, heart, liver, bladder, kidney, blood, and saliva. They can all be made into a healthy tonic."
"The dog penis contains an abundance of protein and fat but also the male hormone which can help cure problems of impotence and related sex problems." Popular Korean belief is that due to the adrenaline rush it creates, the more painful the death, the tastier the meat. Dogs are usually killed by slow hanging, beating (often in combination), electric shock through the tongue, and particularly for cats, drowning in large drums or pounding to death in Hessian sacks. The fur is burned off with a blowtorch, and not necessarily after the animal is dead.
Puppies and kittens have a more "delicate flavor", and are often boiled for broth or "Goyangi-tan" (liquid cat)

Just thought I'd drop a little line at the moment and say Ember has an audition tomorrow - so maybe she becomes a star!!! We'll see.

Life is fairly normal though

I'll update my life shortly

Well 2006 is nearly at an end - wow another year - how scary is that??

I would like to wish my dear friends and wonderful Christmas full of love and joy! I hope Santa brings you everything your heart desires!

I hope that 2007 is a sensational year for you and I wish you all the best - new year - new hope and new achievements.

Lately, I have been evaluating my life which I won't go into now or here, but needless to say I'm looking forward to a new year with everything that goes will new beginnings!

To my dear friends and family, thank you for being the special people you are. I love and treasure you greatly! I appreciate your friendship more than anything!

Have a great festive season!

Love Liz

Ok well, I went to Melbourne and had a lovely time. Went shopping, met up with my dear friend Jane, had a work cocktail part, dinner, and an all day Naitonal Forum. It was a good trip!

Last week was extremely busy as I was organising my work's Conference and Awards Night. So Monday night I was marking and although I got told that I had till Wednesday to finish them at 8am on Tuesday morning, I received a phone call saying where are my marks they are due at 10am - panic stations! So spent all day marking - lucky my boss was understanding!

Wednesday night finished work at 12.30am - had to make up for not working during the day!

Thursday finished at 12.30am - had to make sure I was ready for the weekend.

Friday morning I did get a wax and spray tan and finally found my dress.

Friday afternoon checked into the Carlton Crest Hotel - they upgraded me to a suite and gave me a bottle of wine and strawberries with chocolate dipping sauce - sensational!

Had to quickly get ready then went off to the Black Tie Queensland Awards Night. Equestrian won two awards which was fantastic especially since I did the nominations! Then back to the hotel pretty much after it had finished - no dancing was had - way to tired!

Saturday had the Annual Club Conference where I actually took the first three sessions on websites and member's thoughts!

Anyway, the feedback has been extremely positive.

The Awards Night was Saturday night - again Black Tie, MC was Ben Dark - he is a great MC. Had a lovely night and I think I got to bed at about 1.30am something like that - no not cause I was partying!

Sunday got to sleep in to 8am - went and had breaky, packed up then went to work - dropped everything off then sent off press releases. At 1pm went home for an hour's sleep - went back to work to check up on the photos and press. Then drove up to the coast to pick up Ember who was staying with Lani (the breeder) - Ember had a great week with her mum, half sister (and her 6 little puppies) and her brother Cherokee who she misses a great deal!

Now settling in and getting some sleep back

The good news of last week was that Ember got her hip scores done (for breeding purposes we need to know the hip strucure, they get x-rayed and then the xrays get sent to a vet in WA to score them) anyway, Ember for a 1:0 which is a near perfect score and gives her an International Grade A ranking - I was sooo pleased!

That's me for now!

You Are 56% Lady

You're part lady, part modern woman. Etiquette is important to you, but you brush aside rules that are outdated or silly.

I know it has been ages since I've last written in this!

Well I'm at the airport waiting for my flight down to Melbourne (for a National Forum - yes work). My plane was delayed so I've purchased some time in the virgin lounge. Much better than waiting around the terminals.

So I'm in Melbourne till Sunday night - this is my second time in Melbourne.

Next week I'm working pretty hard to get everything ready for my Conference and Awards Night for work so there will be some late hours they, I envisage.

I dropped Ember off at Lani's (the breeder) last night - she will look after her for the next week. Lucky I did, and not let me sister look after her, cause Ember came into season today so I'm glad someone in the know is looking after her cause don't want a litter of unwanted pups! Just have to keep her and Cherokee separated - bot no problem

Anyway, nothing too exciting happening - just a lot of work at the moment, well it seems like that.

Liz

Last night was the AGM and evening function of the Society of Business Communicators Qld (SBCQ), where I was elected Secretary of the organisation. Congratulations to all elected and I look forward to the coming year!

Also Joanne Jacobs was our key note speaker for the function last night at the Sebel Suites, and I had the honour of being the MC. Joanne presented a talk titled on 'Not just for nerds: using emergent techlogies to improve communication'. It was a sensational talk and started a lot of discussion. I thank Joanne for excepting our offer of being a speaker at our function, we greatly appreciate your assistance and we certainly valued your contribution!

If anyone is interested the next SBCQ function is a breakfast function on Wednesday 1st November, the guest speaker is Marni Beckett on Corporate Change.

I know I have been very slack in updating this - no real excuse just had other things on my plate.

Work is going along nicely - both jobs that is. Working full time and doing 8 tutorials a semester is a fairly full workload so it certainly keeps me out of mischief!

Dogs are going well - Ember is such a sweety - pleasure to come home to - always ready for a cuddle or to play frisbee!

Last weekend, Friday night went out to dinner at Char Char Char - nice evening - got home at about 1am to wake up at 5am to head off to 'Dog Tracking' training. Saw police working on the road and was a little worried whether I would be under the limit or not - luckily no test - I know slap me!

Saturday afternoon, went shopping for a Hen's Party I was organising. I think I got educated in this little 'sex' shop. There's things there I still don't know what they are for. Tried to get an hour's sleep before heading off to the Hen's night - which was at a restaurant at South Bank - a lovely little place 'Obsession Chinese Restaurant' - great food. We then went to CBD at Rydges for a few drinks. It was fairly quiet but a nice night had by all. Got home at about 1.30am I think.

Woke up at 8am (well actually with two dogs chasing a cat around all night - I didn't really get that much sleep and had to let them all out at 6am, so technically I gave up on sleeping at 8am) and went off to 'Lure Coursing' with the dogs. Had a great day.

Sunday was pretty quite - nothing too exciting - just relaxing!

Anyway, have fun!

Well, it's been awhile since i've posted so a couple of things first:

My best wishes to my dear Friend raechelhuges and her family.

Happy Birthday to Melissa for today!!

Belated Birthday wishes for Danielle Baker in NZ, stephendann, Kim, Greg and Adrian.

In the first week of July, I went to Adelaide for the first time. It's a lovely little place - great wineries where I bought to many bottles! Ahh, well my wine cellar is now stocked well and truly. But the reason I was there was for the Australia and New Zealand Communications Assoc Conference, where I presented my first ever paper - cool, it went well with seom realy positive feedback.

I written a further 7 papers for conferences in the last 3 weeks, and I have to start writing journal articles shortly too. A busy semester! Tutoring starts next week and I have 8 hours contact time.

I've also meet some fantastic people recently, in a mentor type of way for my career. I even organised a coffee with one of them - I say this as it is unusual for me to contact a speaker at a conference, who is just inspriational to be a mentor for me. Anyway, we had coffee today and the future is bright career wise. It was a great meeting. If anything happens, I'll let you know.

Anyway, have a great weekend

Liz

Well I took Friday off work and travelled up to Boonah for the Boonah Show, where I was showing Ember and Cherokee - they really didn't perform well and it seemed everyone took Friday off so all the big names in border collie breeding were also there. Anyway, I was home early, hired soem DVD's and throughly enjoyed a relaxing afternoon, then went and picked mum up from the hospital and had dinner with her.

Saturday, another early start and off to the Brookfield Show, again, everyone was there and although Ember and Cherokee performed well, we didn't really get anywhere - Cherokee was best junior dog and Ember came second in junior bitch.

Saturday afternoon, I took them for a great 2 hour bush walk - we went to a local research and went up hill and down dale - it was great exercise. The dogs slept afterwards and I watched TV.

Sunday, I took the dogs for a lovely 1 1/2 hour walk along the river. Then went to mum and dad's house for afternoon tea. Dad was allowed to have an hour break from hospital so had came home to see the dogs and a little rest. Although when he got back to the hospital, he was exhausted and went to sleep at 5.30pm.

Back to work and tutoring today so it was a really nice weekend, one of those weekends where you felt like you did a lot but not full. And the walks were great fun - I forgot how nice it is just to walk and enjoy the sun and view, as well as the benefit of exercising. I think it will be a regular thing!

Firstly, last night it was confirmed that my dad will remain in hospital for at least another 2 weeks so that's a month in hospital - quite a while! But he is getting better

Secondly, I had a lovely start to the day, with a breakfast 'Women in Business' as a guest of the Carlton Crest. Salmon and poached egg - lovely!!

That's it really, my life entails work, tutoring, hospital visiting, having dinner with mum and my dog.

I hosted a lovely 'high tea' for mum on Mothers Day where she had a few champagnes - she really enjoyed the break

Ahh, well catch up with you soon

Thanks to those who have supported me over the last week and a bit.

Dad is getting better and the latest tests reveal that the infection in his heart is decreasing so that is good. He is still in hospital (has been since he was rushed in since Thursday 4th May), getting very strong antibiotics pumped through him. I suppose there is still a risk that the infection could break off and go to the brain and cause a stroke, hence he is still being closely monitored.

But the doctor indicate he might be going home this week.

Liz