Sunburnt Suburbia

I deliver a $3.5m project on time and budget, no bullshit!

Today the new SCADA host system went online at YVW. My project team delivered this $3.5m project a few days ahead of schedule, and significantly under budget. From my asking around when planning projects at Jemena, no one has heard of an enterprise SCADA project delivering on time and on budget. This ranks as one of my major achievements for the last few years. I am pleased, in fact I am particularly pleased. 

In the review I identified the factors that I thought made the project successful. I have about 6 factors. One is creating a constructive, open team dynamics in which people feel comfortable to make suggestions and take the initiative. They can only do this when they know that mistakes will not bring wrath and embarrasment upon them. A major responsibility for the project manager (me) requires my active effort to create such a team dynamic. With such a dymanic we get a synergy of expertise, an essential factor for the success of complex projects. 

I also think that this brings the Kingdom of God into the workplace. It creates an environment in which everyone feels valued, irrespective of capability. With so much of our live passed at work places, bringing the Kingdom of God into them has some importance. 

The Salon Hanging

Today Susan and I felt fidgety, so we went off to the National Gallery of Victoria to look at the Salon Hanging. This style of hanging was popular 150 years ago, when the gallery established, particularly for competition or society shows. 

This style of hang also provided the gallery an opportunity to display many less significant works for which it does not normally have space. This alone provided a good reason to attend, and we enjoyed seeing the collection - a window into the minds of the Victorians. 

Craig Wyton's memorial service

Today I went to Craig Wyton's memorial service. He died at 46 from a massive heart attack. It was a surprise. Though he was overweight, he exercised. He also did not drink or smoke. He left a wife and four children, all teenagers. 

I knew Craig because he introduced Callum and I to Nunawading Wargames Association. He did a good job, as I still attend regularly. For NWA Craig organised Cheezecon, a light-hearted war games tournament for several years. I certainly enjoyed playing in the tournament - it was the only one I played. 

The Salvation Army hosted the memorial service, as Craig was a member of the congregation. The service impressed me. Three people - his brother, his boss, and his close war gaming friend - spoke about different aspects of his life. That moved me, along with several of the NWA members who attended. 

The service closed with the pastor asking all present to think about their relationship with Jesus and God. This surprised me, but it felt right and didn't seem to unsettle anyone. Certainly a friend's death provides the trigger to consider such big questions. 

Cup Day hats of particular excellence

Celebrating the Melbourne Cup horse race with a holiday takes us to the Miller's house for some drinking of sparkling wine, being with friends and casual millinery.

Our 'tradition' for Cup Day includes making our own hats and dressing up to watch the race on TV. This year our hats were particularly creative. 

Matching the hats in the two photos allows you to see who has which creative style. 

Kate Turns 50

Another friend turns 50 soon - this time Kate Stockwin. We first met Kate and her husband Michael shortly after we arrived in Australia in 1988. Kate gave me clarinet lessons for about 4 years, and we became friends that have lasted since. 

To celebrate turning 50, last night Kate gathered lots of friends and family together. This included her parents Audrey and Arthur, who had flown out from England the day before. Michael Bennett, Kate's husband, spoke particularly well, expressing his love for her with sincerity but without excessive sentiment. 

Such a large party shares a characteristic with a wedding; many different people gathering in celebration of one special person. Susan and I had a delightful time, and we thank Kate and Michael for their friendship. 

The Rehearsal, Playing The Dane

Last night Susan and I went to The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane as part of the Melbourne Festival. Though there were moments of humour and insight, overall I found it too pretentious and mannered. It was probably exploring the idea that time is not necessarily linear, and the same narrative can occur with a different series of events, but the artifice irritated. 

For example the show opened with a great dane dog on stage, and after the interval the dog reappeared. What was the point in that other than a silly pun? Susan did like the dog though. 

Political Mother

Last Thursday Susan and I went to Political Mother, one of the Melbourne Festival shows. It stunned and excited us.

An on-stage mixture of rocker guitarists, drummers, and dancers made a visceral impact. On occasions the wall of sound suited the almost vicious choreography of shivers, askew arms and hunched backs. At other times the dancers flowed across the stage in wide, graceful arcs. When dressed as samurai, they reminded us of the fight dances that occur in Chinese martial arts movies. 

The show filled our minds with strong images - the complex choreography of adoring crowds before a raving speaker on a podium - the line of prisoners hanging from chains while being inspected by a man with an ape head - the circular running with subtle patterns of shape moving through dancers' bodies. 

After the show we wandered along St Kilda Road to examine the Angels-Demons Parade. These highly polished and huge statues of babies with dragon wings and demon tails grab memory space too. 

Welcome home and celebrations

 

Bryony came over for dinner and slideshow to welcome Callum home from Argentina. He had a wonderful time there, although the necessity of completing his university assignments meant he didn't do as many dance classes as he would have liked. Shopping was a major part of Callum's free days. We all enjoyed the gifts he brought home as well as the sight of Callum in his new full-length leather coat.

An added celebration was that I found out that I have been awarded a teaching fellowship to study German in Düsseldorf at the Heinrich Heine University Intitute for International Communication for 3 weeks in January.

It is a great consolation for the loss of the position at Old Orchard. It made it easier to go back to the school today to hand back the Lenovo notebook. I was able to meet everyone's sad faces with my good news.

Susan

Australian National Botanic Garden

Just before we started our journey back to Melbourne, we visited the Australian National Botanic Garden. We passed 40 minutes walking its Main Path. 

Our walk started with two sunning lizards. They were comfortable with people, and so Susan got quite close. 

The Main Path through the garden takes in several habitats. It starts with the rain forest, which the ANBG maintains through the extensive use of mist sprays. We also liked the eucalypt lawn, with its open grassland.

The path finishes with plants native to Sydney and Canberra. Then we started south, driving the Monaro Highway to Victoria.

I am glad we took that route, as the drive is beautiful. The landscape has an Australian flavour on the European hill lands. Multiple open, small valleys of farms with hill tops covered in trees. Even in spring, dry grass colours dominated the land. This made a strong contrast with the 2nd half of our journey through Gippsland, which was particularly verdant. The drive home gave a great finish to our short break. 

National War Memorial

Today we visited the National War Memorial, and ended up staying for over 5 hours there was so much to do. First we found the entry on the Roll of Honour for Susan's mother's cousin, a Lancaster pilot who died in World War 2. He was R. F. (Raymond Frank) Cripps, and went missing in action over the coast of Holland on a sea mining mission. 

After placing a poppy in the wall by his name, we went inside to watch the presentations on Lancaster bombing raids during WW2. By a restored Lancaster airplane there was an excellent video display about night-time bombing, and later there was a short live performance. A woman radio operator gave a monologue about the personal impact on aircrew and base personnel from the bombing raids. These two performances added significantly to the perspectives presented, and made for a much richer experience at the museum. 

I then focussed on the World War 2 and onwards galleries, and this took the rest of the day. There were more excellent audio and visual displays, including a video of a helicopter and infantry operation in Vietnam. This was next to a life-size diorama of a helicopter landing. 

To finish our visit we went to the Hall of Memory. 

And appreciate the view down ANZAC Avenue. This scale of vista can only happen with a big vision in city planning. Is it worth it? I think yes!