I quit my job. That is, I reverted to my previous role as a casual RN in the mental health system. I found that working as I had been had become completely untenable for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that I had burnt out. I don’t mean that in its lighter sense, being sick of the job (though there was that) and the environment (which played a massive role)… I am talking about the burnout that creeps up on you and you don’t even notice. The kind that makes you think you are the only one who can do something, who’s right for a particular client, who understands better than anyone. I was forced to face my shortcomings and realised that there was no alternative… I reached my physical and emotional limits.

I will be retiring from the workforce entirely, once the mortgage is paid off. I’ve been wrecked for way too long.

Back in February, I was muttering about selling the Pentax. I’d been having a lot of issues with my wrists… anyway, when it came down to it I couldn’t do it. The K200D is a bloody excellent piece of kit for an entry level camera and the others I was considering are not weather-sealed. There are lots of advantages in Pentax.

So I had a fit of the buys the other day and have ordered from DCW a brand new lens from Tamron, an 18-250mm. It will be an all-purpose lens for those days I dont want to be dealing with lens changing. Seems like thats all the time, of late. I had considered buying another bridge camera (nikon P90, or maybe the new Olympus SP590) but either would cost not much less than the lens I’ve now ordered… and although 250mm is half the focal length I could have got with either of the bridge cams, I’ll have the same flexibility, with a MUCH better end result.

So..its me and the Pentax…and my wrist braces. Oh what the heck, it doesn’t matter, in the grand scheme of things. And the shots are great I’m happy. Keep yer Canon and Nikon, I’m a Pentaxian!!

This is the last accepted entry to the Pentax gallery.

Glad I kept this subdomain. I’m giving up the hamarana.com domain and the hosting. 10 years is long enough and I’m just… over it… I’ll put a link into the current webspace and over the next 8 months or so people can change their bookmarks and google can find me again.

Its enough to be here, now.

“Keeping the bastards honest” is a phrase which I think everyone is probably aware of. I know I have treasured Don Chipp’s words ever since I heard him speak in Sydney, many, many years ago. Time, and change, meant that the Dems lost their way: they fell from favour in the electorate and were seen as a nothing party. I confess that when Natasha Stott Despoja left politics, my faith in the Dems capacity to keep the bastards honest was savagely shaken.

The thing is, the Dems can only do what we, the electorate, let them do. And the electorate let them down.

So, here we are some time down the track and they have, like the proverbial Phoenix, risen from their own ashes. It seems there’s a new team (as well as some of the older members) and they have made membership much more accessible to everyone… only $25 p.a. for full membership. Its a good deal if you ever thought you might get involved.

They/we (yes, I have joined again) have forums, a facebook group, and probably a lot more I haven’t yet discovered. They have become more accessible than any other political party I am aware of, and are very keen to hear ideas and comment on policy from the membership. So the forums are a fantastic thing if you cannot get to meetings (which are mostly held in the capitals)

Seriously: if you are as totally fed up with the antics of the Aussie federal and state governments, and you wish you could make a difference… don’t just think about it: DO IT NOW!

Important Dem Links
Join the Dems on the secure webpage
Get Involved in activities
Join the New Dems website to access forums (anyone can do this, but you need to specify whether you are friend, foe or member – see, they are very inclusive)
NoInternetCensorship
Bastardwatch
Dems facebook page

Its worthwhile…

The shot above is one I am quite proud of. I was out with my friend Gary in Brooklyn, and we went to an area where there were a few people picnicking, but generally there wasn’t much to disturb the local wildlife. The little mynah came down and landed in a young tree quite close to where we were standing, and placed itself conveniently close for a shot. I still had to zoom to 300mm, but it was an excellent result.

A larger version can be seen on my Redbubble site

It has also been accepted to the Pentax Gallery, along with another I expected would be rejected.

[This post has been re-dated to twelve months from the original, since its still generating comment: I have comments set to autoclose at about a year]

You might wonder what the change of direction is about, here.. Modafinil? WTF?

Here’s the story: Some months ago, my friend Chris told me that he had been prescribed this new drug, Modafinil, and that it was making a huge difference to his life. He was able to get on and do what he must, he joined a gym and started a weightloss program which turned out very successfully, and he was trying to persuade me to give it a shot as well. I was reluctant until I thought it through.. Chris and I both suffer from OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) and so we are unable to obtain Modafinil on the PBS, because its only prescribed for provable narcolepsy here in Australia (unlike the US where both of us would be eligible, because of OSA). Instead, we have to pay $120 or thereabouts per month, in order to stay awake long enough to do what we need to. (I’ve gone with getting it from overseas)

For various reasons I was looking at the Medicare Site today (actually contemplating getting credentialled and getting a Provider Number and going to work for a GP instead of doing what I currently do) and noticed the PBS link. So I looked in there and saw the link to Modafinil. Followed the link and found out just how hard it is to get prescribed, even if you do have Narcolepsy. I found it really hard to believe what I was reading: even if you are a narcoleptic, you can’t get Modafinil if dexamphetamine will do. Here’s a quote from the site

Authority required
Initial treatment

Initial treatment, by a qualified sleep medicine practitioner or a qualified neurologist, of patients with narcolepsy where:

1. therapy with dexamphetamine sulfate poses an unacceptable medical risk or
2. intolerance to dexamphetamine sulfate of a severity necessitating permanent treatment withdrawal develops

WHAT THE….? The Australian Government prefers that you take amphetamines than a drug which is a) not addictive, b) wont give you a high and c) can be withdrawn immediately with no side effects. You just have to wonder who runs the PBS Authority show down there in Canberra.

A friend introduced me to this game a week ago, it took me until 2 days ago to sign up and start playing and I am HOOKED!

Its very similar to the PC and Mac Caesar series: You begin your game life as a person running a small village, You have to build resources, and earn more. As you do this, you get rewards in the form of more resources. You start off with 20 gold, and can earn more by referring people to the game (or buying it via PayPal, but I don’t want to do that yet): my link follows this post. I haven’t yet spent any gold because people seem to just keep coming to my village to work. They seem happy enough. The first 20 gold though needs to be spent at some point, just havent worked out when.

If you sign up and start playing (and its something you dont have to do all day long. each task takes time, some things take way long… and the game goes on without you) here are a couple of hints.

1) Do the tutorial: You’ll find a person in full regalia on the right of your screen, he’s your guide, and he will send you on quests which get you more resources and capacities
2) Don’t try to jump ahead of him, you’ll run out of resources – I made that mistake.
3) I don’t know what 3 is, yet, I am only on day 2 of my game Smiley

Here’s my link: If you do sign up, be a Roman and in the southwest. That way we will all be within cooee (or a few hours) of each other. We might even be able to set up our own alliance to defend againts marauding Gauls and Teutons (or even greedy Romans)…

Travian

Have fun!

Oh yeah I am kyteflyer in game, and my Village is called Serenity

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

I trawl through my spam trap from time to time to see if anything worthy has been wrongly tagged, and found some spam-tagged comments which included links to what would appear to be innocent on the surface (or not quite so innocent.. ), and underneath the html is an executable which would download to a windows computer and execute code without so much as a by-your-leave.

I hope all you Windows users are well protected.

Well, not really.

Periodically, you get an email from pureprofile to tell you that there are campaigns in your account. These can be surveys, or just website visits. Surveys could be paid 20c up to about $15 (I managed to get a $10 survey and a $15 one all at one time, but that hasn’t happened for two years), the max is usually between $2 and $4. Website visits pay 10c. Some pay nothing and are there for interest, and some of those are worth a visit and a bookmark.

I joined Pureprofile when it was an Australia Post venture. Its now privately owned and has changed how it works and doesnt pay as much as it did (how could it!) but I have found in recent times, the things being promoted are worth a look, at least, and the surveys… well… I almost always get filtered out these days. But, 20c for answering two or three questions which give no real personal info… I don’t mind.

Its worth a look, and if you were to join, I get $1 for every $5 you earn, until I reach $5 (maximum per referral)… its all on the up and up… you won’t retire on the income… but for a few minutes of your time around once a month.. pffft…

Here’s the link.

A similar kind of thing, which you can earn 5c daily (and more) from (so its a bit more lucrative, but again, not a retirement income) is RewardsCentral (used to be Emailcash) which started in 1999 in the midst of the boom in paid to read advertising. It had changed its business model and survived long past the demise of most of the others, and its worth the hassle of logging in daily for your 5c. If you actually do shop online a lot, its definitely worth it because you get points for every purchase made via the site. Also associated is MyOpinions which you will have to join separately since it was separated from RewardsCentral.

As a matter of interest, I have earned over $150 from Pureprofile over the years and currently have $49 in my account, and probably around $300 from what was emailcash (the two current sites before their separation). I have currently around $180 sitting in RewardsCentral because I move my MyOpinions points over with every hundred, and it all goes into the eBank to get interest until I get to 22,000 points, at which time I will cash up for $200. Its not a lot but much better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick.

Links already in the sidebar. Its worth the joining. Choose to use the referral links or not (it would be nice if you did), its still worth it to you if you can be fussed.