denecessary

As many of you may be aware, my contract with Queensland Urban Utilities has not been renewed.

My last day will be the 31 December 2012.


I commenced my career at Queensland Urban Utilities as an Audit and Compliance Officer, checking on safety and quality of water and sewerage construction projects including sewer main upgrades and water main pipe bursting. It was not long before I was seconded into the Contract Management of the construction of an additional overflow channel for the Luggage Point Sewage Treatment Plant.  

I really enjoyed the opportunity to manage the contracts for upgrades to regional lagoons, in some cases from procurement right through to construction. I also appreciate having the opportunity to be involved in a team working strategically to embed ecological and business sustainability principles into Queensland Urban Utilities’ procurement processes.

In the short term, I will be looking for another opportunity somewhere in the local, Australian Water industry.  I would be grateful, if anyone has some suggestions.


In the longer term, I shall be pursuing opportunities in International Development Assistance for water and sanitation in developing communities.


I will continue to seek support from Queensland Urban Utilities to assist reinventing the toilet and/or to work on local projects to improve access to toilets.


I have really enjoyed working at Queensland Urban Utilities. 

this is not a love song

This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song.....

My beloved is a Midwife by passion & vocation, currently on maternity leave.

This is not a love song

This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song

She is in the market for a new vocation that might be more compatible with parenthood.

Happy to have, not to have not
Big business is very wise
I'm crossing over into
E-enter-prize

My beloved is currently in training to be a part-time sales rep.....

Love song
Love song
Love song
Love song

She has reluctantly joined Facebook. She refuses to put her picture on her profile and she is petrified that someone will steal her identity.

I'm going over to the other side
I'm happy to have not to have not
Big business is very wise
I'm inside free enterprise

She shall be hosting "parties" to demonstrate the products features and benefits. She will be selling a robot that processes raw foods into meals. She also has another sideline in bras and undies and other apparel.

I'm adaptable
I'm adaptable

She is way out of her comfort zone.

I'm adaptable and I like my new role
I'm getting better and better
And I have a new goal
I'm changing my ways where money applies

I am very proud of her.

This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song
This is not a love song

I'd like to support her and her ambitions.

Now are you ready to grab the candle
That tunnel vision - not television
Behind the curtain - out of the cupboard
You take the first train - into the big world
Now will I find you - now will you be there

I am here to help.....by sharing domestic duties and co-parenting an infant and a toddler.....and perhaps I can help with marketing and lead generation.

Not a love song (echo)
Not a love song
Not a love song ...

my obituary.....a work in progress

The Jen Hansen put out the challenge some time ago, to write one's own obituary.

I added a degree of difficulty by choosing to write my own obituary in Suessian poetry.

I changed vocations a couple of months ago. In my new vocation, I do not have the luxury of having time to think or write poetry as much as I did in my previous role.

Therefore the following obituary is a work in progress, that I have been tinkering with in my spare time.

Did you ever hear of Rowan of Normanby?

Challenged to write his own obituary.

Well, he was and it wasn't an easy thing to produce.

Writing of oneself in the genre of ‘Suess’

How was he remembered? What’s his legacy?

Will he be known for obsession with poo & with wee?

Did his children grow up to be nobel & wise?

What did they say & think after his demise?

He sometimes wished he studied medicine,

Or etched a career in another discipline.

Sometimes he regretted working in gas & oil.

And sometimes he wished, he farmed food from the soil.

However, he’d shelved his regrets and learnt to move on.

He wrote lots of poetry and rewrote lots of songs.

He strove to be green. He sought to be happy.

He had tried to be clean. He changed many a nappy.

He hated shopping & cooking. He ate to subsist.

Yet he cooked for his loved ones & shopped from a list.

Vocations

what we do to earn a "living" seems so remote from what we need to live.

Late last year, I quit my cushy job with the public service. I have been attempting to forge out an existence as a mercenary envioromental consultant. Work has been erratic and teh bust of the resources boom has sent shock waves through the Engineering Consulting community.
A couple of weeks ago, I began Environmental Management within the built environment at its most fundamental.

I have taken a casual job, emptying garbage bins and cleaning toilets within the central business district.

During the week I am collecting:
By volume

* 40% MX newspapers ( a local free commuter newspaper);
* 20% bottled water containers;
* 10% soft drink bottles;
* 10% Juice foam containers;
* 10% putricibles - food scraps;
* 5% aluminium cans;
* cigarette butts and miscellaneous stuff

On the weekends there is less MX and more glass bottles....

I wrote the following to the Editor of the MX afternoon edition Newspaper:

"I just started a new job this week, picking up rubbish in the city. I just wanted to thank you (and the City’s smokers) for creating me a job. Please keep your editorial content at its current level. The front cover seems to create just enough interest for people to pick up a copy of your illustrious publication, before throwing it away (sometimes in a bin)."

Last night, they rolled out a red carpet across Elizabeth Street and while I walked the streets, emptying bins and sweeping the footpaths, the Prime Minister dined at the Irish Club. Had an American President been dining at the Irish club, they may have cordoned off the city and had secret service people everywhere.

As I cleaned the street, I compared my job to the Prime Minister's job. I think I am on a better deal. I don't take work home with me. I have reasonable flexible working hours. I don't have a great deal of stress. I wondered if the Prime Minister is on an hourly rate? I wondered if he gets paid extra when it rains?

My other thoughts last night centred around all the things I could do, that would make my job redundant. I have figured out the composition of the waste. I know the major point sources of waste generation. I have figured out cleaner production strategies for reducing the quantity of solid waste. I have even worked out strategies for resource recovery and waste minimisation that do not involved "Dumpster Diving".