The totally off-topic thread

[Denali]

Vivid crowds really die off after 8.30 as people drag their kids back home to the burbs.

 

[Pushka]

I wish there was a better system of getting from Tullamarine into the CBD. The train in Sydney is excellent.

 

[Denali]

We were talking about going to Melbourne to visit our site but complaining about the drive. Someone said if we go to Avalon, the drive will be shorter.

Me: Friends don't let friends fly Jetstar.

 

[love_the_life]

I have to admit that my position has been absolutely exhausting, too. I don't teach as many classes as a fully loaded teacher, but I am the direct responsible teacher for three subjects (which means I plan the program and write the assessment), as well as a head of department. I have also had curriculum development responsibilities due to the new QLD senior curriculum being introduced in 2019, which also has an effect on year 10 curriculum - both of these I have had to participate in planning and strategy. And as most people know, when multiple tasks and deadlines are close to each other, the difficulty of delivering on all of them is certainly greater than the sum of their individuals.

It's been a really tough gig for someone fresh out of the graduate diploma! No idea how I managed to get through it competently; still no idea how the executive thought I was fit to be employed in the position in the first place!

Obviously you wowed them with resume and interview that they felt you were the best person for the position.
I would like to say it gets easier, but actually it doesn't; you just get better/quicker at it. After a couple of years of one curriculum model powers that be will decide on a new one so back to the drawing board again.
I can remember the stress of reports - as a house co before I became a subject co as well as writing my own subject reports part of my job was to read the full reports for every student in the house (that's about 200 reports each up to 9 separate subject pages) and sticky note any grammar/typo/mismatch of outcomes and achievement level etc. Considering they should have been checked before they got to me there were an astounding number of errors IMO. I couldn't believe what some staff wrote! :shock: After they had been corrected (often after a bit of a fight which I tended to win) and I had checked (again) the next step was for one of the APs to read them all again!
A principal once told me that when it is not fun anymore it's time to leave and things changed so much it became ridiculous. Don't miss it at all.

 

[whatmeworry]

Holy cough. This guy is currently only getting $52K per year.

I'm sitting about 15mrts away and can hear clearly. The offer will be $75 to start.

That is the minimum IIRC they have to play a 457. Coincidentally that is the maximum they will pay them.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I wish there was a better system of getting from Tullamarine into the CBD. The train in Sydney is excellent.

wasn't there something in the budget about money for infrastructure, including a train to Tullamarine? I remember hearing it and thinking that was long overdue. Mind you the amount of time it takes to build these things, I will probably be pushing up daisies before it is finished.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Obviously you wowed them with resume and interview that they felt you were the best person for the position.
I would like to say it gets easier, but actually it doesn't; you just get better/quicker at it. After a couple of years of one curriculum model powers that be will decide on a new one so back to the drawing board again.
I can remember the stress of reports - as a house co before I became a subject co as well as writing my own subject reports part of my job was to read the full reports for every student in the house (that's about 200 reports each up to 9 separate subject pages) and sticky note any grammar/typo/mismatch of outcomes and achievement level etc. Considering they should have been checked before they got to me there were an astounding number of errors IMO. I couldn't believe what some staff wrote! :shock: After they had been corrected (often after a bit of a fight which I tended to win) and I had checked (again) the next step was for one of the APs to read them all again!
A principal once told me that when it is not fun anymore it's time to leave and things changed so much it became ridiculous. Don't miss it at all.

I have talked about this with Ms FM. She is aware there is a high burnout factor and is prepared to have to change jobs sometime in the future. At the moment of course after only 2.5 years, she is still finding it interesting. Her school is not helping, as they seem to require lots of very long after hours staff meetings - she often doesn't get home until 8ish. The carrot of course is when she has a young family, as the holidays will make things easier.

 

[Quickstatus]

I have an Opal Card (bought for a visitor) and had to hand it over to the newsagent and say - ummm so how do I know how much is on it and how do I put more money on it and also whether what the amount I was proposing would even cover the cost.

Just register it on the opal website. Add autotopup for the minimum topup amount

Loophole-apparently so long as you have the minimum positive balance you can enter and exit even if on exit you put the opal card into negative. Then discard and get a new one. Not sure what would happen if you get pulled up for a check by transit cops.
The minimum balances are:
Trains peak $3.38
Trains offpeak $2.36
Ferries $5.74
Buses $2.10
Airport - add access fee to minimum train fare

 

[RB]

We are about to leave for a SYD flight and also plan to PT to the Quay to catch up with friends and have a look at Vivid tonight

We used the trains for Vivid on the Fri night 2 weeks ago-no real hassles, staff at Circular Quay we very active in spreading the crowd on the platforms. I thought it was very worthwhile going up to the top of the Creative Arts building-had registered our Amex but they were very lax and we got great views of the Opera House up there. We also caught a regular ferry from Circular Quay to Darling Harbour (via Milsoms Point etc) & thought it gave us a really good & different view.

 

[BacchusMarsh]

Relentless barrage of babble.

 

[Denali]

Using T way bus system to, from the city is awesome! Of course, I'm taking it when it's not crowded. 600mtr from my door to bus stop, 100mtrs from conference to bus stop!

 

[Denali]

Pity bus driver drives like he's in a race and this alarm is constantly beeping. Speed alarm?

 

[AisleSeat]

I've just noticed in the "print collection" tray next to the printer there's a piece of paper from 2009.
Now I'm wondering whether everyone is giving whoever printed it the benefit of the doubt as to if they'll ever collect it.
Maybe I should throw it out just to see if the office goes into upheaval...

 

[TheRealTMA]

Pity bus driver drives like he's in a race and this alarm is constantly beeping. Speed alarm?

Could be his pacemaker?

 

[blackcat20]

I've just noticed in the "print collection" tray next to the printer there's a piece of paper from 2009.
Now I'm wondering whether everyone is giving whoever printed it the benefit of the doubt as to if they'll ever collect it.
Maybe I should throw it out just to see if the office goes into upheaval...

Every now and then, I tip the whole print collection tray into the recycling. No one has ever complained.

 

[docjames]

When there was a fire alarm at a Melbourne apartment building I did the long trek down the fire stairs along with about a dozen others. So many ignore the alarms or will hop into the lifts to check the problem out.

We lived in a 22 storey building (17th floor) for 6 months.

Fire alarm activated 6 times whilst we were there (typically 9pm - 3am!).

We evacuated every time. Our 15 month old loved seeing fire trucks after being carried down the stairs in his sleep sack at 1am! Each time the false alarm was found - dust cover not on alarm in build site, toast dust let out into hallway.

i'm sure there were lots who didn't evacuate. I wasn't taking that risk.

Massive raspberries to those on floors 1-5 who made sure they were first in the lift whilst I stood there with a 15 month old.....

 

[Denali]

I strongly enforce fire evacs in our office building. As I like to remind people, the building was built to the lowest tender so get out while we can.

We have fire evacs at least every 2 months, its very annoying, which makes enforcing the evac a hard task at times because people are sick of them

 

[love_the_life]

Relentless barrage of babble.

I thought the TOTT was for lots of discussion about lots of different (non flying) topics - some you agree with, some you don't; some you find interesting, some you don't.

 

[Denali]

Ive been racking my brain, wondering how I got the math wrong on some of the figures for the sale of the house (settled Tuesday) and I finally sat down with the paperwork. Both the lawyer and the agent deducted the agent fee (but slightly different values as we agreed to reduce $10K) so we are still owed $18K and agent & lawyer agrees.

Whew.

What makes it worse is that husband agrees if it wasnt for me, he wouldnt have picked it up!

 

[Pushka]

Ive been racking my brain, wondering how I got the math wrong on some of the figures for the sale of the house (settled Tuesday) and I finally sat down with the paperwork. Both the lawyer and the agent deducted the agent fee (but slightly different values as we agreed to reduce $10K) so we are still owed $18K and agent & lawyer agrees.

Whew.

What makes it worse is that husband agrees if it wasnt for me, he wouldnt have picked it up!

Maybe needs a scam thread post . Wonder how often that little mistake gets through to the keeper.