Houston, we have a problem…

I work from home about half of my time and I do not often think about buying new office furniture but I realized recently that the desk chair that I use is a hand me down from my friend who used to live in australia (we studied our undergrad together). Ingunn, my friend, moved back to Norway in 2001 and I have been using the chair on and off since. Yes, pretty sad huh

So I went looking and found my new chair! My mum has the same chair, so it came highly recommended. Big difference!

But there’s only one problem, I don’t like to share…:)

books, books, books! :) happy 4th birthday & happy IWD

Tomorrow is the 4th anniversary of the pink book Tech girls are chic, not just geek! Very exciting as the book still seems to have a life of it’s own and is still being distributed in large numbers to lots of school girls across Australia.

Earlier this week, I had an order for 50 books from a large IT company in Sydney, and these will be distributed tomorrow at the International Women’s Day lunch hosted by FITT (Females in Information Technology) group in NSW. This is great!

Then I received a request today for 300 books for UTS – the University of Technology Sydney. They are hosting a Women in Engineering and Information Technology day on the 27th of April. They are advertising to students to attend, and also to presenters who might like to be involved on the day. Lauren, our fab tech girl from the pink book, will be there to present about her career in IT, talk to the girls and sign copies of the book.

So it has been a very exciting week, and I will get in early and wish you a happy International Women’s Day for tomorrow!

be inspired x

Jenine

Have IT… Will travel!

One of the things I love about my job in IT is the travel. I’ve been to many exotic places for brief trips including Mexico, China, and the New Zealand. I’ve always anted to work a little more permanently overseas. Netherlands is probably my first choice, with my Dutch heritage and love of the old city of Amsterdam, I would love to ride my bike to work along a beautiful canal.

It seems now is a great time to work overseas (or at least somewhere other than oz, we have a great dollar at the moment, but that also means the cost of living here is relatively high). This article that my friend Catherine shared has some interesting ideas of where the work opportunities are around the world right now.

best places to live for IT work

What struck me most is the IT work situation in the US. Even with 8.5% unemployment, there are a million vacant IT jobs. A MILLION! Wow. With 2 million more jobs to be created in the next few years. I find that difficult to comprehend. With wages high and the cost of living relatively low in the US, sounds like there are endless opportunities to work with technology. Sounds like there has never been a better time.

Why does WordPress hate me so…?

Every time I try to use WordPress through my mac, I encounter problems. The site rarely loads (even trying it in 3 different browsers), and when it does eventually load, the page is often skewed. This is very frustrating!

So I often use the WordPress app on my iPad to write posts, but I have difficulty in uploading pics from there. Pics have to be saved in my photos folder before I begin the post, and usually these are on my mac and I have to email them to myself and save them on the iPad. This is also a pain.

I’m working through the suffering (tech pain!), any suggestions/hints welcome!

 

All I want for Christmas is my…

No, not my two front teeth (remember that great song!)…but I do remember back to my younger years when that was all I wanted. What do I want for Christmas? Nothing other than fun and happiness for all of my family and friends. Sounds a bit cliche hey? I admit it is, but I have had such a fun, adventurous and successful year personally and work wise that I really have everything I want. Adventures to the US, New Zealand, Finland, Russia and the Netherlands were amazing…

I’m excited that christmas has come a little early with a much-anticipated gift…my computer engineer Barbie! Thanks to my wonderful friends from Victoria, Julie Fisher, Annemieke Craig and Catherine Lang, who ordered and had delivered the fabulous dolls to their hotel room in Portland, Oregan while attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women conference. I hinted that I wanted one, and they were unavailable to buy in Australia, so now I’m happy to now have it in my hands!

I was always a big fan of Barbie, having a wide collection when I was a child. I admit I am surprised how taken I am with this new addition to barbie’s careers, and happy that I played a part in her being a role model for tech careers to young girls (I voted!). You might scoff at Barbie being a role model, but I know she was an important tool for communication and socialization in my youth. I’m also happy to report that Barbie’s body shape has changed significantly since I inspected her last. Her breasts are much smaller, and she has impressive hips!! her waist is still small, but she is now much better proportioned. I love her outfit, the binary code and circuitry on her shirt is impressive (where can I buy one?)

Maybe I now need to go and dig out the old Ken doll to see if he is up to scratch?
Happy holidays x

Goodbye beautiful friend…

Today I farewell my beautiful friend Sue Wickenden. It’s such a shock to hear the news of your tragic accident yesterday, and to realize how empty the world will be without you. We met back in 2006 while on a judging panel for the Women in IT awards. I remember being so inspired then by your friendliness, obvious sills and expertise in running your own successful software business, and your commitment to encouraging more women into the IT industry. We became fast friends, and worked together (or volunteered rather) on a number of initiatives to inspire girls about technology.

I remember the kind words you said about my pink book, recommending me to present on your behalf at a school in Tambourine Mtn where I took your faith in me to some fabulous young girls to spread the good word that we need more women in our industry. I took that role very seriously.

I also remember your kindness at offering to help me out in processing some sales of the pink book because I didn’t have the resources. You didn’t even seem to think twice to offer your help, even though you didn’t have too. But again, I recognized your compassion and was inspired at your helpfulness.

The last time I saw you was at a geek girl dinner where you popped in to show your support of the cause, and then ran off to be part of a panel discussing the Qld software industry, of which you are a pioneer and a role model for all women. Again I was inspired.

In the last few months I saw your fb posts and pics about travelling to Europe with your dear aunt, your new found love, the joy of seeing your son become a man, and the excitement of your new hobby, luge. I admit each time I saw pics of you suiting up and screaming down a hill, I did think you were a little mad, but you looked so happy. I was happy for you.

Then you recommended your yoga hangout to me recently and after seeing you in their advertisement looking more fab than I had ever seen you, I knew I wanted some of that. So again I was inspired. For weeks I have been looking around the yoga room hoping to see you, but not to be. I’m sure I will keep looking for your beautiful face, and I will try to smile to thank you for being part of my life. I will never forget you xx

don’t ya just love my new….

All the way from the Grace Hopper Celebration of Computing conference in Portland, Oregon. Thanks to my awesome friend Annemieke for posting it to me!

Gadgets, gotta love ‘em!

Picked up this little video from a fellow tech girl in NZ – some gadget envy in there! Enjoy

A sunflower a day…

One of the benefits of working more regularly from home at this time of year is taking advantage of lots of short breaks in my work to enjoy my beautiful garden. I don’t have anything that resembles a green thumb, but my wonderful husband does a fantastic job at creating a beautiful garden, and I get to enjoy it. Hope you enjoy it too!

PS. I am anxiously waiting to get my first barbie doll in many years! I was a big barbie doll fan when I was a little girl, so imagine my excitement when last year barbie’s latest career as a computer engineer was announced! Problem is, you cannot buy them in oz! So some of my Victorian friends are currently in the US for a conference, and they agreed to track some down while there. And they did! I have seen the pics and they are now in transit back to oz. I will get my computer engineer barbie in January when I see my Victorian friends again!  Can’t wait

The joys of working from home…

For the past week or so I have been lucky to be able to work from home as I’ve been sick. Nothing major, just have this silly cough I can’t get rid of. This coincided with the of the end of university semester which means lots of marking of assignments and exams. Perfect job to do from home, particularly nice with some of the rainy spring days we have been having in Brisbane.

The nice part about it also is that I can catch up on my cooking, and also hang out with my cat. He also likes being inside on the rainy days as you can see from this pic:

Just a pity he won’t help me do the marking! But he is veeeery cute!