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February 1998

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EARTH MOVING
Wednesday, 25 February 1998

Sometimes it really scares me, especially when you aren't expecting it. I get lulled into a false sense of security in this normally quiet town. Then sometime between 6:30 and 7 in the evening comes an almighty rumble. It's the blasting in the underground mine. It comes very suddenly, and sometimes seems to go on for ages. It shakes the whole house - like a small earthquake. I'm convinced "they" are just metres below my lounge room floor and that oneday "they" will get it wrong and my whole house will be swollowed up into a deep dark whole. But "they" reassure me that "they" know what "they're" doing.

There have only been a few times (thankfully) when I have doubted that. One of those was last Sunday afternoon. The earth moved when it wasn't supposed to - it wasn't a normal blasting time. It wasn't a big movement, just enough of a rumble to rattle the windows and doors for half a second - but it wasn't supposed to happen. A "seismic event" the newspaper next day called it. Measured about 2 on the Reichter scale - it was detected and recorded all over the State. A spokesman said it happened on the 24th level (about half a mile underground) of the Mount Charlotte Mine. Apparently there is a small fault that goes through there and there was a slight movement and rock fall. Nobody hurt, nothing serious. But it still scares me. What if next time.....

Now, I know some of you live in much more "unstable" areas and probably go though this sort of thing daily. You probably think "What a woose!" And, yeah, I know its an irrational fear, but there it is.

The heatwave has broken today. Its overcase, but still warm (mid 30's C). There were even a few spots of rain. How refreshing that is. Thats one of the things I like in life - the fresh feeling of a summer rain after the heat. It clears, it refreshes and brings life back into the dryness. Other than that it has been work and a bit of socialising. On the on-line side of things, its been nice getting in touch with some old friends after being away over the holidays. Thats always nice too.

And then there's the news from the Gulf. It seems like Kofi Annan has saved the day and averted war. Somehow, though, I still have an uneasy feeling about the whole thing. I was reading somewhere on the weekend of the parrallels between what happened in Germany in the 1930's (and where that all ultimately led), and what is happening in Iraq today. (The one party state, powerful charismatic leader, persecution of minorities, etc). Then when the news of the Secretary-Generals "success" came through, I immediately had a mental picture of Neville Chaimberlain hopping off the aircraft fresh back from Berlin waving a piece of paper in the air. "Peace in our time". Well, I just hope the rest of history doesn't repeat itself. Is it too much to expect that maybe there really has been a change of heart on Saddams part? I guess only time will tell...

THE HEAT IS ON
Sunday, 22 February 1998

Boy, has it been hot these last few days! Yesterday, here in Kalgoorlie, it reached 45 ° C. Well into the night it was quite warm, and I stayed up quite late sitting in the lounge room, where we have the airconditioner, listening to music on my stereo. It was far too hot to even lay down on the bed in our room, let alone sleep! And all last week its been in the very high 30's to low 40's. Still, it is summer, and we are halfway out in the desert, so I shouldn't expect any different. You can always tell in the mornings when it's going to be a hot day - there is the dry northerlies blowing in off the desert. Even by 8 or 9 in the morning, you can just sense it. The only escape is the air conditioning in the buildings.

We woke late this morning (after the hot night, none of us got much real sleep), and watched the end of the "Sunday" show. There was a feature article on the troubles that currently beset Indonesia. Since visiting Bali not that many weeks ago, I feel a connection with the place, and mentally pick up on any mention in the media. I fear for the immediate future for that country. And I think of the Balinese we met while there, wondering how they are coping, and wanting them to be alright. Our guide, August, who told us so much about their daily lives, hopes and fears. And Johnny, one of the waiters at our hotel in Legian - he was so friendly, and looked after us well. And the many others we met who welcomed us and made our visit memorable. I think of them, and all I can do is hope that they are safe and that it all works out well in the long run.

Back here, I feel good about myself again. Yesterday's weigh in at Easyslim produced some positive results. However, on reflection, I have had a bit of a stomach upset (possibly connected with the heat, although there has been a bit of gastro going around), and I haven't really been eating much. Still, who cares how I lose the weight!

During the week, I bought a new toy for our computer at home - a MIDI keyboard. Tandy had a good price on one. Kathryn had wanted to learn piano, but the music teacher said she was a bit young to have lessons. So the official reason was so she could learn a bit at home. But, it seems so good, I've been mucking about with it too. When I get a bit better, there might be some MIDI files to listen to on my site. Anyone interested in hearing something?

A CONVENTIONAL CONSTITUTION
Tuesday, 17 February 1998

February is just flying by! Where does it go? I guess I have been busier than usual (but that's not hard!). Since getting back from Bali I have only managed to write up the first few days of the trip. Still, I'll get it completed soon. Then there are my other sites to bring up todate - and I haven't even got 'round to reactivating KalCam! Work and other commitments have kept me pretty busy these last few weeks. This semester I ahve 9 different modules on the go. Thats 9 lots of course handouts, 9 lots of textbooks to order, or notes to get copied, 9 class rolls to get made up and 9 bunches of people to get to know! But still, I guess its not that bad.

[Politics alert: the following section contains political comment. If you don't like politics you may scroll down]
Since last week I have been meaning to write about something I think is very important in the life of this country. For the last two weeks many eminant people (and some down right scoundrels) have been meeting in the Old Parliament House in Canberra in a Peopls Constitutional Convention to determine what model of republic would be good for Australia. For those not familiar with the issues here, for the last few years there has been a public debate on wheter Australia should become a republic - at present we are a constitutional monarchy, with Elizabeth of England as our Queen. There seems to be considerable popular support for a republic - but then it gets controversial - what sort of republic? There are those that contend that only minimal change is necessary, or indeed desirable - a kind of "white-out and pencil" approach to changing the constitution - if we just take out the word "Governor-General" and replace them with "President", that should do. But others think its a good opportunity to start from scratch and totally rewrite everything. Then the monarchists counter, well its worked well for nearly one hundred years, why change at all!

The convention just held in Canberra was made up of delegates some appointed by the government, others elected by popular vote. The cynics amongst us thought that our monarchist Prime Minister was just going to stack it his way, but there actually were a majority of republicans at the convention (perhaps a measure of the strength of support for a republic). The difficuly actually came in how a president (or what ever they were to be called) should be appointed. The minimalists wanted a two-thirds majority of parliament to appoint the head of state, much as the Governor-General is apponted now. The radicals wanted a president elected by the people. The monarchists didn't want a president at all. It seems that opinion polls were indicating strong support for an elected president. Those same polls were indicating that people didn't want a "politician" to be elected though, and the main reason they wanted to elect the president was so that "politicians" didn't have more power! Sounds fine in theory! But the minute you have an election, particularly a national election, you're going to elect a "politician" (who by definition must campaign to be elected). Call me thick, but it seems a bit contradictory to me. Personally, I favoured the appointed head of state, simply because you wouldn't get a "politician" in so sensitive a job. It would be an eminant person such as we have had. (OK, there have been ex-politicians in the GG's job, Bill Hayden former Labor Party leader and minister, and Paul Hasluck former Liberal Party minister), but they are few and far between, and in both cases they have performed their duties in an unbiased manner. So basically, why change that part of it? Become a republic, we must, but we gotta be careful how we do it. Too much change could bring us precisiely to the point that the monarchists always bleat about in pointing up dandy bad examples of republics around the world (you know the sort, trumped up little dictator type of republics).
So I guess I support the compromise model that came out of the convention - the people somehow make nominations for the head of state, the Prime Minister picks several from that list, and parliament ratifies the final choice. Seems fair to me, that way the people have some input, and we don't get a "politician" with associated so-called "mandates" given by popular election. Mind you, the Convention very nearly didn't arrive at any solution, and it took a great deal of diplomacy to sort it out so that a majority of delegates were happy with the final model (despite the hot heads trying to sabotage the whole thing because they didn't get their way). Democracy and reason triumph again! At least until the next step on this road to constituional change - its all gotta be put to a national referendum next year sometime - and that needs a majority of voters in a majority of states to pass, before we can even think of becoming a republic! Referendums in this country don't have a very happy history with more being lost than past. But I guess we'll have to wait and see.
If anyone wants more info on this topic, feel free to email me - one of my interests is psephology [see Amelia, I know some big words too]. After all, I used to work for the Australian Electoral Commission. (Incidently, this site has some excellent information of the elections for the Constitutional Convention).

[End of politics alert]

(Ah, that feels better, I've had my say, now to more mundane matters) Since I would be busy on Saturday, Leonie and I spent a quiet romantic evening at Basils (our regular eatery here in Kalgoorlie), as an early Valentines Day outing. Kathryn was sleeping over at a friends place, so we could have a quiet time together (I can just hear you all going "Awhhhhh, isn't that romantic" - well, I guess none of you will ever really know, will you). Saturday was weigh-in for Easyslim - not good news, I am still in "putting on holiday mode". I can't bring myself to update the graph yet, that may have to wait until there is better news. Elizabeth put me on a "strict-recording-of-what-you-actually-eat" regime for the week. Hopefully that will help me get back on track. And getting going with the walking in the mornings will probably help too.

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent at a sleep-over working bee for Air cadets. We have been given some funds from the RAAF (thank you very much) to do some much needed repairs on the Flight hall. They supplied the materials, we did the labour. End result is a much more secure hall, and some replaced cladding (white-ants had eaten their way throug part of the outer building). then a start to the painting, and the place looks much better. We've been trying for many years to get something done, and its great to see it happening. Kathryn and Kaitlyn, her friend, stayed overnight with us, enjoying the "camping" experience in the tents on the lawn outside the hall.

This week is rushing by already (I think I've harped on that before), so I'd better get this up, and do some work before my "Nurses doing Word Processing" class this afternoon.

LIFE GETS BACK TO "NORMAL"
Sunday, 8 February 1998

It's taken a while, but I am beginning to get back to something like "normal" life (whatever that is). I've caught up on the emails at work - I even now know what I am teaching this semester (thanks to my Head of Department going on long service leave, I will be adding Pascal programming to my teaching lineup, as well as retaining graphics, systems analysis and Access application databases).
The weekend has brought back familiar routines - I have recommenced Easyslim classes (see the progress in the Battle of the Bulge pages). I was going to put it off for a few more weeks, knowing that I had put on weight over the Christmas / New Year / Holiday period. That was until I ran into Elizabeth at the Angus & Robertson bookshop, where she works, on Friday while checking out some text books for this years classes. Well, I couldn't get out of it then, could I! So off I went yesterday morning, and, yes, the fears were real. Over the two months since I had last been I'd put on 5.5 kg. So there is a bit of work to do to get back on track. But at least I have started again, and it was nice to get back to see familiar faces again.
And there is the friends and usual places back here we have been visiting this weekend - including going to our familiar haunts for weekend breakfasts and cappucinos.

Yep, it is nice to be back in familiar territory, but something inside has changed forever. Having been overseas to a totally different culture, a seed has been planted. Those itchy feet are still there, and already we are contemplating another trip somewhere - who knows what will happen this year.

I'M BACK!
Wednesday, 4 February 1998

Well, finally managed to find time to get going again. It may take me a while to get things fully up and running, so you'll have to bear with me. One thing at a time - today its the journal, maybe something else tomorrow.

We arrived back in Kalgoorlie last Saturday evening - spent most of Sunday sleeping and starting to unpack everything. Leonie was back on a plane to Perth Sunday evening - she had a work conference to go to. When she returned last night she had a whole heap of other stuff we couldn't fit in the car with her (another whole suitcase full of stuff) - it's not just that we needed so much stuff while we were away from Kalgoorlie for six or seven weeks - it's more the extra stuff picked up along the way. Like Christmas gifts and souvenirs from Bali, etc.

Monday was back to work - and the mountain of emails awaiting me - thanks people! Nice to know you all care so much. Hopefully I'll get around to writing to you all individually soon if I haven't done so yet. Yesterday we had our main Enrolment Day for the College - I'm still not sure if there are enough students for my classes to run next week. I should know later today exactly what I will be teaching and when.

When I get a moment I will write up the Bali trip complete with selected photos for your enjoyment. It may take a while to complete as this time of year is quite hectic, getting classes underway, lessons planned, and notes written. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed my holiday very much. Bali is, by and large, a beautiful island (especially if you get away from the large tourist areas in the south), and the people are so friendly and really quite beautiful. But more of that later. What I want to know now is, "When can I go back?"