in my inbox this morning

Good afternoon all. Please be aware that “Earth Hour” is happening again this Saturday night. In an effort to encourage involvement and assist with ensuring greatest affect it would be a good thing to turn off the lights before leaving on Friday night and also on Saturday if you happen to be in the building through the day. Please mention it to all in your respective areas, its’ a simple thing to do and it can have a huge collective impact for the better.

Mr X.
Facilities Manager
Contracted Company Y

*slaps forehead*

I hate Earth Hour.
My emailed response...Umm, why not do this EVERYDAY day?

In my inbox this morning

Dear All -


Today’s financial climate means we are all exposed to additional pressures that make conducting research, teaching and administrative duties even more difficult. This environment results in some staff feeling anxious about their work and all too often they feel they don’t have enough time to get the job done.

Email is the most commonly used software application in the world, and arguably the work based activity that consumes the most time. Many staff feel anxious about the size of their Inbox and that email is controlling them and their time.

The Take Control of Your Email course has been delivered to 300 staff from all corners of the University (Academic and Professional) and has achieved outstanding results. The average attendee (Academic or Professional) surveyed 5 weeks after attending the course, is saving over 40 minutes per day by applying the behaviours and skills taught in the course. Staff suffering extreme email anxiety has dropped 50% and staff are feeling less anxious about their daily tasks.

The University recommends all staff attend this course, new staff, staff who are time poor, staff who feel anxious about email or staff who would just like to spend less time using email and more time doing something else.

As managers why not give your staff the gift of additional time by sending them on the course before Christmas? The best results have been achieved by teams of staff attending the course together as they can determine agreed group behaviours that minimise email traffic.

Book now as places are limited

Now i do know that some staff are incredibly inundated with emails, particular higher up the food chain, but I did still find this quite amusing and honestly initially thought it was a joke mail. Its on my Christmas wish list!

In my inbox this morning

et je t'aime aussi ma petite chouxcroute!

a message from 'the beloved'. Sweet, he knows I love it when he m'écrit en français (I have avoided all deconstruction, Freudian, feminist or francophile thus far and just let my self love it) but has The Bloke just plain got it wrong this time? or is he acknowledging with the most delicious double entendre, my gastronomique proclivities?

in my inbox this morning

In my inbox this morning, an invitation for the Festival of Ideas to hear Peter Singer talking about his new book The Life You Can Save : Acting Now to End World Poverty . Ive been a fan of his for 20 years since my university days. Ive posted about tithing before and Peters ideas but I have never attend a lecture of his. Im definitely going. Heres an excerpt from the invitation

According to the World Bank, 1.4 billion people live on less than US $1.25 a day,. this entails a vast amount of suffering and avoidable loss of life. The Life You Can Save : Acting Now to End World Poverty offers a solution to world poverty. If enough of us can be moved to act—to make some moderate sacrifices in our lives—huge numbers of people could be saved from death and suffering. And if the world’s wealthiest 10 per cent of people were to donate a fraction of their income, extreme poverty on a large scale could be eliminated altogether. With his trademark clarity, logic and intellectual flair, world renowned philosopher Peter Singer shows us not only that this solution is possible, but also that we have a moral obligation to be part of it.
‘Peter Singer may be the most controversial philosopher alive; he is certainly amonghe most influential'

It was the jolt i needed to do some research i had been meaning to do all week. I have just bought some new spectacles; being back at work was a shock to my eyes and i was experiencing eye strain and nausea like never before. A clever colleague suggested an eye test (this bright spark hadn't thought of THAT). So i emerged with a set of graduated lenses (bi-focals in the old language...that sounds a little over rthe hill). I keep my last pair always as a back up at work in case i forget my current ones. Now the old back up pair is not needed any longer. I had a friend who every year would trek with her optometrist husband in Nepal to reach far off villages where they would perform free eye tests and provide those that needed them, with spectacles which had been donated in Australia. It sounded like such a good idea but my researcher brain kicked in and first i wanted to know if i did donate my spectacles, was it really a good idea? Looks like there are problems but the conclusion, little research and sometimes the spectacles are not distributed correctly or efficiently but the Optometry Association of Australia supports the practce and sends glasses to nations along with an optometrist. So for now, i decided i will donate.Its easy.

Now donating my old specs isnt going to end world poverty, but it was a timely reminder to do the research on the impact of my giving and that in this current international climate of fiscal uncertainty for many in the developed/first/affluent (whatever you want to name it) world, people contract in fear and stop giving, sharing. "if world’s wealthiest 10 per cent of people were to donate a fraction of their income, extreme poverty on a large scale could be eliminated altogether" Thats US!, the worlds wealthiest 10%. Despite feeling the pinch a little with food prices and growing children, we are still donating around 15% of our income. It shocked us a little that it was this high, but when we sat down and actually worked it out, thats what we came up with. Now for any of you thinking we're rich and are therefore better placed to afford it, we are rich by many standards, but we certainly bring in well under 100,000 annually and support 5 people in the family. So 15% is alot, but it doesnt have to be that high. Be inspired, do the math, choose a cause.

in my inbox this morning

Beyond the Ordinary December newsletter:

Energy Light globes

I just had every light globe changed over for energy efficient ones for nothing by phoning Envirosaver and the phone number is 1800 368 476. Why not do the same if you haven’t already. You make the appointment, they come round and do every light they can (shower heads also available) All free!

in my inbox this morning

12 invoices for ebay auction wins.

It appears my husband has my ebay account details and has been up late at night ordering wine. Thats ummm, 144 bottles! A steal he tells me.

"Mclaren Vale cleanskins and export pallet ends. Bargain"

The cellar is apparently looking too empty for his liking and he feels the need to replenish before Christmas. Were not even going to be here for Christmas. Not alot of winemaking has been going on at Chez Pan in the last 12 months, what with the boybean and the studio in progress, so the cellar stock has been checking out with nothing going in. We're on the lookout for some shiraz grapes for a pressing and, no doubt if the beetroot continues its healthy growth, we'll have some home grown beetroot wine up and running in the new year, but I paid the bill. He owes me in shoes!

in my inbox this morning.

Just a reminder that tonight Dr. Bill Scarfe will be presenting a lecture on Clinical Applications of Cone Beam Computed Tomography: from 2D to 4D diagnosis and Treatment Planning.

Im pretty happy to be on leave.