2008 Royal Melbourne Show

Every year we all look forward to going to the Royal Melbourne Show, an annual event hosted by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria. It's a place of convergence, where city-dwellers get a glimpse of country life from the various exhibits.

I missed last year's show because we couldn't take Gabby, who was still just a month old. So I sort of made up for the absence by going to the Show on its first weekend this year. For the most part because I wanted to grab the Showbags I wanted before they run out.

The exhibit on the early settlers was particularly interesting as the old men in the picture gave a demo on how chairs were built back then. We stayed a good time at the dog pavilion petting the dogs but didn't stay for the competition. Then the older kids went around the sports hub and gave footy and baseball a try. We skipped the carnival rides although I did coax the boys to go on the extreme rides and pay them to do it but they chickened out. Then there were the Monster Trucks! Always the crowd-drawers. We were having lunch at the Grand Pavilion when a loud whirring noise went-off signalling the start of the show. And believe me, lunch-eaters like us went running out of the pavilion sandwiches in hand just to catch the show. And they never fail to entertain.

Next stop was the Showbag hall where I splurged on a lot of showbags primarily for gifts to kids when we go home to Manila this Christmas. (82 days to go and counting). But the height of the day for us was when Mark actually milked a cow and drank the milk! He was so thrilled! And Gabby, well, he just did a lot of walking and walking. He'll probably appreciate the show next year.

Knowledge Transfer

I believe in user education and I do share what I know with others. And in this world where we deal with technology for the most of our waking lives, there is nothing more important than knowing to do things and how to use all those equipment we come across.

It has been a part of my work ethic to teach my colleagues how to use equipment, e.g., AV, electronic, computers, etc., so that they can be self-sufficient and confident as well. Imagine my dismay when I approached a colleague at work for help in using the photocopier. A student wanted to print on both sides of the paper and I have absolutely no idea how to do it. So I asked a fellow librarian who happened to be where I was for assistance. Surprise, surprise. Instead of showing me, she told me she'll do it when she was done assisting another student. I didn't stick around to see how she did it coz I had to be at the information counter.

Pity she doesn't share my belief in knowledge transfer. So now I'm still clueless on how to print double-sided using the menu and have to stick to doing it manually.

Ang Pinoy nga naman

I've decided earlier not to write a post about my encounters with fellow Pinoys here in Melbourne but decided to upon the urging of my kumare, Jay Ann, who wrote one in her blog. I must say that in my two years here in Melbourne, I haven't found one fellow Pinoy who I can refer to as a good mate. Not one, nada. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a snob nor cockish nor elitist. I do have a group of friends with whom my family and I spend time with going to picnics, parties, and other social events. Plus, my husband and I are members of a religious community made up predominantly of Filipinos and we meet for prayer meetings fortnightly, which we honestly want to get out of but can't at the moment. So what gives? Well, for one, di ako makarelate sa usapan nila lalo na pag palabas sa TFC (The Filipino Channel) at syempre mga tsismis sa artista ang topic. Dahil una wala akong TFC at pangalawa, ma at pa. Kaya makikipaglaro na lang ako sa mga anak ko. Or better yet, bury my nose in a book. Now, when it comes to exchanging stories about our kids, feeling ko parang me kompetensya sa pagpapalaki ng mga anak namin - academics man o mga extra-curricular activities like sports, etc. - kaya ako madalas quiet na lang. Another thing is I do not want to be asked questions that would make me feel ill at ease. Questions like: San kayo sa tin? Paano kayo nakarating dito? San ka nagta-trabaho? Anong trabaho mo? Anong trabaho mo sa tin? Magkano rent nyo? Sino kamag-anak nyo dito? I do answer these questions when asked out of respect but I certainly do not want to be summed up based solely on my responses. More often than not, people raise their eyebrows (out of surprise I guess) when I tell them my husband and I applied for migration on our own without anybody's help or support. And when I tell them where I work and what I do, it surprises them still coz I'm doing what I did back in the Philippines, which is usually followed by "Ang swerte mo naman". I certainly don't know what luck had do with where I am now coz as far as I'm concerned I applied for this job and met the criteria. Simple as that. As for the rent, it beats me why they even ask it in the first place. It's as if my rent is an indication of how rich or poor we are. Poor us. When they find out I don't have a single relative here, save for my hubby's cousin whom we don't see on a regular basis, they feel obliged to sympathize like "naku e di ang lungkot pala ninyo ano". Like okay drive it down my throat but believe it or not we're happy as can be. Thank you very much. And now that I've gone back to work I have to suffer another question : Sinong nag-aalaga ng baby mo? When I tell them I leave him at child care, alam ko na ang kasunod - "Kawawa naman baby mo". Oo na lang ako para di na humaba pa yung usapan pero sa totoo lang my son is better off at child care where he gets to play with children his own age, play with toys he doesnt' have at home, and be cared for by professionals compared to his older brothers who were cared for by yayas who did not know any better and who were barely out of their teens. Thankfully, I've got this high school buddy up in Brisbane who keeps me sane with her occasional phone calls and frequent online chats and who knows me well enough to ask these sort of questions.

On Chrome: Google's New Browser

Google's new browser, Chrome, was all over online news sites yesterday and I couldn't help but download and install it at once. This kind of reminded me of the time Mozilla's Firefox was first launched a couple of years ago and writing a review of it in Manila Bulletin.

If there's one thing I can say about Chrome is that it's a reflection of one's browsing habits, very plain and simple. It's free of clutter - no menu bar, no links bar - and the address bar doubles as a search bar. I find that most of its features are similar to Firefox. But what I like best with Chrome is it's incognito browsing - a stealth setting that does not log browsing and downloading histories - which suits my needs since we at the library share a computer at the Help Desk. Nice icon, too.

However, as with most apps in beta, Chrome is not without its glitches. For instance, Gmail does not load completely and I get an error page accessing Blogger, which is kind of puzzling given that these are Google apps.

So much for the hype but given that it's still in beta, I'm looking forward to more things to come from Chrome.