Will’s View

Being early March, university students throughout the southern hemisphere are returning to class. With the joys of uni come the joys of watching freshmen wander around campus with their heads buried in maps, trying to find their next class.

Although this year there was something a little different. We saw someone walking around in what was effectively a cocktail dress and heels. She still had the traditional diary and map out, trying to get to her next class, and I don’t have any problem with people look nice for the first day of uni. Even still, the heels were somewhat incongruous.

Uni tends to involve a lot of walking. Not only to classes, but to go and see friends for lunch, or just to the nearest public transport stop. And from what I’ve heard from women, heels are uncomfortable to wear at the best of times, let alone for an entire day whilst traipsing about uni. I imagine it’s a lesson one learns reasonably quickly, and painfully.

But why wear heels in the first place? Surely after so many years at school people would rather be in comfortable clothes rather than ridiculously impractical ones. I realise that appearance is overly important to a large proportion of the population, but surely one can find a middle road with a reasonable compromise between looking like a hobo and getting blisters the size of plates.

--> Being early March, university students throughout the southern hemisphere are returning to class. With the joys of uni come the joys of watching freshmen wander around campus with their heads buried in maps, trying to find their next class. Although this year there was something a little different. We saw someone walking around in what was effectively a cocktail dress and heels. She still had the traditional diary and map out, trying to get to her next class, (More...)

I don’t like ‘open plan’ offices. Open plan living areas, sure. Open homes, no problem. But I’m not convinced that open plan offices are a great idea.

I understand that the intention is that they promote an open and collaborative working atmosphere, and all those other management-sounding new-age catch-phrases. But I don’t think they had my office in mind. I sit next to a partially deaf bloke who talks like he’s running an auction. When he’s on personal phone calls it’s like listening to a combination of a Pavarotti and the commentary on the Trackside horse racing channel. Don’t even start with me about the guy who has decided he wants a 6 cubic metre skip for renovation waste. There have been several long calls to bin hire places, just to get quotes.

Not only does one have to be privy to the conversations of those around you, but the chest-high barriers used as wall substitutes can lead to odd situations. Recently one of my co-workers was trying to get hold of our manager, whose desk was currently lying vacant. It being a relatively important call, the co-worker decided to call him on his cell phone. From across the office I heard a gruff “Hello? Well, stand up and have a look. I’m over here, I’ll come and see you soon. Maybe you should look around before calling next time.” A more summary dismissal I have rarely heard. And the entire office had heard it too.

I think possibly the worst thing about open plan offices is the tendency of people to wander over and lean on the handily-placed divider and have a yarn. I don’t mean a bit of mindless water-cooler talk (which also frustrates me) but a real gossip. Especially for those poor souls located on the way to the photocopier or the printer, they get it the worst. People will click ‘Print’ on a 200+ page document, and then immediately get up to go and get it from the printer. Then, when — to their surprise — it hasn’t printed yet, they will lean and talk at the nearest pair of working ears.

--> I don’t like ‘open plan’ offices. Open plan living areas, sure. Open homes, no problem. But I’m not convinced that open plan offices are a great idea. I understand that the intention is that they promote an open and collaborative working atmosphere, and all those other management-sounding new-age catch-phrases. But I don’t think they had my office in mind. I sit next to a partially deaf bloke who talks like he’s running an auction. When he’s on personal (More...)

It’s come to my attention that one goes through a veritable roller-coaster ride of emotions whilst flying internationally (okay, so some of them are just states of mind rather than emotions. But I’m using editorial license.)

Tiredness: Getting up at 5 am local time is a real bummer. This  is usually about the time when you wish you’d just spent the extra $30 for the flight that left at 10 am.

Boredom: This happens a lot during air travel, especially with the new regulations on liquids and metals and blades and whatever else you can possibly think of to restrict. But at this particular stage it is the boredom of waiting in a queue for check-in. Even though you’re there at least two hours before your flight, you still need to wait in line. And it gets worse if the computer system decides to have a slight hiccup.

Suspicion: When you go through customs, because you’re sure that they think you’re a drug dealer. Sure, having an afro doesn’t help, but hey, it’s a free world!

Persecution: Again, often happens during air travel. In this case because I’m usually singled out for ‘random’ explosives testing and ‘random’ interviews whilst coming through customs. Again, this may have something to do with the afro. I’m not sure.

Fake-ness: Okay, so that’s not a word. But this happens when you step on board the plane and get up close to the air hostesses to realise that you can almost see brush strokes in their layers of foundation. Like the work of an impressionist painter-in-training. Add to that the ear to ear grins and the bad jokes to try and make the flight ‘fun’, and I sure feel right at home.

Boredom: Yeah, so I’ve done this one already, but this is a different type of boredom. The sort where you’re stuck in one place and realise that because your flight left so early in the morning you forgot to pack a decent book, so you have to read the in-flight magazine again, and again, and again. Then you resort to whatever music player you happen to have, just to realise that –again due to the early-morning nature of the flight– you forgot to charge it enough to last the distance. This leaves no other resort than the uncomfortable-plane-nap.

Post-nap pain: I’m sure chiropractors make a lot of money off people ruining their backs through incorrect sleeping posture. I’m also willing to bet that quite a few of these are uncomfortable-plane-nap victims. After you wake up there’s the usual grogginess and feeling that you’ve been cheated of a decent nap, but this is usually accompanied by a dull ache in the neck, and the realisation that you’ve just tripled your chances of getting DVT.

Excitement: When it finally becomes apparent that the plane has started descent, and you can see the destination in the distance. This is one of the best parts of plane travel.

Apprehension: When the pilot is negotiating the landing. We all get a little worried/concerned.

Relief: When the plane gets slammed on the deck, and the reverse thrust and wheel brakes kick into action.

Basically, from here on in it’s like the first four, but in reverse. Until you emerge the other end, an emotional, aching, tired wreck. Ain’t travelling a blast!

--> It’s come to my attention that one goes through a veritable roller-coaster ride of emotions whilst flying internationally (okay, so some of them are just states of mind rather than emotions. But I’m using editorial license.) Tiredness: Getting up at 5 am local time is a real bummer. This  is usually about the time when you wish you’d just spent the extra $30 for the flight that left at 10 am. Boredom: This happens a lot during air travel, especially with the new regulations (More...)

TV programming is not something I usually spend much time thinking about, or looking at. When things such as <insert country> Idol and Big Brother insist on coming back season after season it tends to hamper one’s enthusiasm for popular television. And don’t get me started on the xenophobic news shown on the major networks here.

I do, however watch the odd spot of popular television, just to try and keep up with the young people of today (otherwise what would I have to talk about during lectures?). It was whilst watching one of these contemporary programs that I saw an advertisement for a new program called Friday Night Download.

The basic premise for this show is recycling internet video memes. Yup, that’s it. The three hosts share two screens (and very nearly that many brain cells), and showcase videos they have ripped off YouTube or Google Video. Truly inspired programming.

I guess it is one of the first television programmes that one can watch almost entirely on the internet, for free, without ads, and without breaching copyright. So why do we need television again? In fact, why do we need these three D-Class celebrities to tell us what’s popular in terms of internet video?

It does show how the networks are trying to keep up with the internet phenomenon. Because so many people are now (legally or illegally) downloading TV shows hours after they air in the US, the new generation have little need for television in order to catch up with their favourite show. The networks are trying to curb this drop in audience numbers by paying exorbitant sums of money in order to show the episodes shortly after they air in the States. Is it working? Well, not really. Especially if they augment the programming with such gems as Friday Night Download.

--> TV programming is not something I usually spend much time thinking about, or looking at. When things such as <insert country> Idol and Big Brother insist on coming back season after season it tends to hamper one’s enthusiasm for popular television. And don’t get me started on the xenophobic news shown on the major networks here. I do, however watch the odd spot of popular television, just to try and keep up with the young people of today (More...)

I have been a student for quite some time now, and have therefore been through the joys of enrolment and subject selection many times. Now my course is not exactly straight-forward in terms of course planning (it has a handbook that rivals War and Peace), and this has been further complicated by my transferring from another university part-way through my course.

However, I have not had the best luck as far as enrolment and subject selection at universities is concerned. In my first ever semester at university it took me not one but two whole days to enrol. These weren’t the usual midday to 2 in the afternoon university days. These were days where one would turn up at nine in the morning to wait in a queue for hours on end, just to be told that you were in the wrong queue.

After moving to Australia I thought my prospects would improve. Surely, here was a university perched high on the pedestal of technology. One not plagued by the human element, and therefore more effective. Surely.

Nope. Every semester, without fail, since I moved to this land of opportunity I have had a problem with either my enrolment or subject selection. I admit that a couple of these have been due to legitimate stuff-ups on my part, or that of the course advisor. However this semester was something special. I even had an email from the Academic Programs Manager for our department, informing me that she was unable to access or change my subject selection, and that it had been forwarded up the food-chain to the Faculty. That’s progress for you.

Today was the first day of the second week of second semester, and my subject selection for this entire year has finally been approved. I was alerted to this fact by an, albeit amiably-worded, email late this afternoon. The automated system does seem to have problems dealing with course plans outside the normal scope, but at least it’s nice about finally correcting its shortcomings. Now there’s software design! I think I prefer the two-day long queues. At least there’s a sense of certainty and purpose about them.

--> I have been a student for quite some time now, and have therefore been through the joys of enrolment and subject selection many times. Now my course is not exactly straight-forward in terms of course planning (it has a handbook that rivals War and Peace), and this has been further complicated by my transferring from another university part-way through my course. However, I have not had the best luck as far as enrolment and subject selection at universities (More...)