Coming Soon to a Country Near You (unless you live in Australia)

Good news everybody!

A proposal I wrote has been accepted for presentation at a conference in Monterrey, Mexico (the 6th Global International Internship Conference, which, if you're particularly bored and have run out of paint to watch dry, you can read about here).  I'll be presenting a paper on the 'Centrally-based Organization and Management of  Internships with Established International Organizations'.  Which, as a matter of contention, presents a problem as I can't be relied upon to remember the title on a consistant basis.  I had something nice and succinct, but my boss is one for diarrhea of the mouth so it got changed.  I thought surely it was going to bomb with a title like that, but, alas, somebody must have liked it.


Which means, in April, I'll be in the Northern Hemisphere.  Not just in the Northern Hemisphere, but only a short plane ride away from Houston!

My boss has kindly allowed me to fly up a bit early so that I'll have the weekend before the conference to spend in Houston, and has also suggested that I try to arrange some visits to Texan Career Centres so that I can spend the week after the conference at home as well.  So, its looking like I'll be home just after Easter.  Save me some Easter Eggs!

I can't wait to see everybody, and I'll be brushing up on my Spanish with the Rosetta Stone thing Dad lent us!

See you soon!


***On another note entirely, Rory and I are going to be a part of the studio audience for Q&A next Monday, on their 'Kevin Rudd Special Edition'.  The audience gets to ask the special guest (in this case, K Rudd) questions, and I'm thinking I might ask him why he hasn't repealed the law that requires Greyhounds to wear muzzles in public places.  You know-- the hard hitting issues in my life.  (Not that my dogs wear or even own muzzles-- we don't follow that law, Gandhi Civil Disobedience style)***

Usual Ramblings...

We got our gravel delivered this weekend and Rory and I spent a back-breaking Sunday spreading it into the areas he had tilled up the week before. But it was worth it, and I think we have the best looking yard on the street now! We also spread mulch into all of our flowerbeds in a desperate bid to get things to GROW. It was the first real hot weekend we've had, and I came away from the gardening experience with a back like a lobster's. Rory celebrated our finished (for now) landscaping by buying a birdbath. The neighbors have one, and birds treat it like a real Roman Bathhouse, flocking to it in droves. Unfortunately, those same birds have yet to discover ours... maybe the bird population on our street can only support one bathhouse? The bath is positioned so that we have a perfect view of it from our sitting room, so I'm hoping they come soon!! I've this idea in my head that its going to be fabulously peaceful to sit and watch these birds in the mornings. Keeping in mind that I can hardly drag myself out of bed in the mornings and tend to fall back to sleep if I sit down for any length of time, I don't know how often I will actually take advantage of this blissful peace. But I at least want the option to watch them, if I so choose! Do you notice Harry's haircut? He got his summer buzz last weekend and he feels fabulous. He might not look the greatest... as you can see, I'm not the best doggie hairdresser, and his buzz goes from very short to quite a bit longer in no particular pattern. He wouldn't let me get his tail, legs or very close to his head, and I decided not to push the matter too far... for a little dog, he's got a vicious streak that I don't particularly want to cross!! He looks fairly pissed off in his 'After' picture, below. Before: After: But, like I said, he feels a lot better. You could tell he was getting very hot underneath all his hair! Alfie also got a paddle pool in preparation for the summer heat, and he spends ages on end just standing stock still in the water. When Harry comes near it to have a drink Alfie sometimes paws at the water and splashes it everywhere, making Harry growl and sulk away. I'm not sure if Alfie does it out of protectiveness of his new toy or just to piss Harry off, but either way, its hilarious. Getting Alfie his paddle pool has also taken his interest away from the veggie patch, which is really beginning to thrive! The picture below is of our salad bar, which we should be able to start picking next week or so! Here are a couple of pictures of some of our other projects... The first is our gas heater, which was an ugly fake brown color that was driving me crazy. I painted it gray to match the rest of the house and it looks so much better! Its amazing what a coat of paint can do! And our bedroom. Rory did this for me when I was gone to Brisbane last week... it was an excellent surprise! Our bedroom was painted a light eggshell blue color that I really disliked... one of those looks-excellent-on-the-paint-chip-not-so-good-on-the-walls type of things. But I really, really like it now. Most of the walls are still the eggshell blue, but this 'focus wall' somehow makes them look much less blah. Very happy with it! And in totally unrelated news, I got my $500 Myer Gift Certificate!!!! I bought a fancy new ipod touch that doubles as a KINDLE, which is another thing I've been coveting. I took it with me to Brisbane and read Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen on the trip. I didn't finish it, actually... but the ipod's really not to blame for that, the book was just a bit crap. I was actually quite surprised how enjoyable it was to read the book on the ipod screen as I tend to dislike reading things on computer screens. It didn't strain your eyes, and it wasn't the least bit annoying to only get to read a bit of the book at a time. Plus, it means you can take several books with you on vacation-- on your ipod. No lugging around big, heavy bags. Technology, eh?

I Want to Be a Googler

That's right, I wanna be a Googler. I'll have to learn to play Guitar Hero, of course. And I'll probably need to brush up on my pool playing skills. I'll also need to be able to sit still for an hour straight... that will come in handy when I get my weekly massage. I won't need to take my lunch to work; they'll have free chef services for that. And, oh, yeah, I might need to learn a thing or two about computer programming. But, you know. I have this blog and all. Right?

Me at Google. See how well I fit in?!

Yesterday, a colleague from work and I flew up to Sydney for the day and visited Google, which has to be one of the coolest companies ever to work for. Their benefits? To die for. The building? Amazing. The work? As my techie skills involve restarting as a highly advanced trouble shooting method, I might not cut the cheese there. Firstly, the building itself is astonishingly green. Google is on the 4th and 5th floor of the building pictured above, so their view from the 5th floor cafe (where you can get FREE gourmet meals) looks like this: As you can see, the building is on the harbor, and 90% of the water used in it is gray water from the harbor that is pumped, filtered, used, and returned. Even the air-conditioning is green... it uses gray water to cool big metal beams in the roof. The beams cool the air around them, the cold air falls, the hot air takes its place, the hot air gets cooled... The building has earned a 6 Green Star Certification, which means that it is a 'World leader in environmentally sustainable design and/ or construction'. Really, very cool. And the interior is just as awesome. Look at their reception desk: In reception, they also had this TV screen (computer screen, probably) that showed real Google searches as they happened (with a filter, I'm sure). While we were there, 'Paris Hilton', 'rental' and 'Paris Hilton sex video' all popped up (no joke-- apparently people really are obsessed with Paris). All those ferns, by the way, are alive. Just in case you thought Google put in the big bang at the front and forgot about the rest of the building, here's a couple of their many meeting rooms: How cool is that?! And, if you're wanting to do some research, look no further than Google's own library, complete with reading areas: If I worked at Google I'd definitely take breaks by the fish tank: Do you see the tiles on the floor? They all have this goo stuff where you step on them and they go funny shapes. Why? Cause its Google, that's why. They also had free snack rooms (three of them for a staff of 300) where you could pick up a coke, some breakfast, and whatever else was on offer. If you'd been working all day at a computer, you could take a break and play a game of pool, play Guitar Hero, or play Chess.

Google Snack Bar.

You could also get a massage... $7 for a 30 minute chair massage and $21 for an hour table massage. The sign up sheet goes around once a week, apparently. I can just see my Google supervisor coming up to me... 'Uh, Jessica. You can't actually sign up for 15 massages in one week.' he'd say, interrupting my pool shot. 'But its Google!' I'd reply, innocently. 'Oh, right. Go ahead then. Why don't you just put your name down a couple more times. You've only got two scheduled on Tuesday!' And we'd both have a nice chuckle. Because of course I could have 15 massages in one week. Its Google! They've also got a whole slew of other benefits other workplaces lack. Like a $500 maternity take out allowance in addition to your 12 weeks maternity leave, 12 paid holidays, and 4 weeks vacation. Cause who wants to cook when you just popped out a baby? Wanna take your dog to work? Not a problem. Bring the kids, too! They can attend the Google Childcare Centre at very reasonable rates (read: free). Seriously, you don't ever need to go home. In fact, you could just bunker up here, in the Office Tent (part of their camp decor area): The only thing they don't have? An onsite gym. But I'm okay with that, Google. Really. I am.