Niamh is engaged

Congratulations to my daughter Niamh, and her partner, Peter, who have decided to get engaged! We are all very pleased, and welcome Peter into the family.

Niamh and I are happily gathering swatches of material to play with, in anticipation of the 'planning-the-wedding-dress' game :-)

Evening Jan 2009

Evening Jan 2009 009, originally uploaded by cecilia.au.

We have had a mini heatwave in NSW this week, leaving most of us feeling about as sprightly as this old horse.

Happy New Year 2009 to all family and friends around the world. (The photo is from our local fireworks display last night.)

2008 was a very busy year, with lots of work and studying for me. I have now completed half of a graduate certificate in dispute resolution, trained in family dispute resolution, and have started to practice in that field. A new career direction opening up!

Here's hoping for a healthy, peaceful and productive year in 2009, for us all.

black swan and cygnets1, Floriade, Canberra 2008

black swan and cygnets1, Floriade, Canberra 2008, originally uploaded by cecilia.au.

black swan and cygnets2, Floriade, Canberra 2008

black swan and cygnets2, Floriade, Canberra 2008, originally uploaded by cecilia.au.

Enjoyed an all-too-brief visit to Canberra last weekend, visiting my daughters and spending a few hours at Floriade, the annual flower and garden festival. Spotted a pair of black swans with a clutch of plush cygnets.

This tawny frogmouth has taken up residence in a tree near my office.

In winter, even Alphasmart Dana likes a cat nap by the heater

I have recently invested in an Alphasmart Wireless Dana, in the unending quest for effective organisation of information and time across different workplaces.

I have previously enthused about the Alphasmart Neo word processor (see earlier posts in this blog). The Alphasmart Wireless Dana is rather like my beloved Neo on steroids.

The Dana has a larger screen, with PDA functionality (including touchscreen), running on Palm OS version 4. The wireless model has the ability to connect to email and internet. The Dana, with or without internet capability, can run a huge range of Palm applications, in addition to the excellent Alphaword word processor package it shares with Neo. The touchscreen allows data entry with a stylus, and Dana offers the Palm Graffiti system for handwritten entries.

If you need a PDA but are tired of the small screen and thumb board you are currently using, try Dana's wide screen and full sized keyboard! All that extra functionality - including 16MB hard drive, plus two SD slots for up to 2G of additional memory - and Dana is still a lightweight compared to a standard laptop. Like its cousin, the Alphasmart Neo, an Alphasmart Dana weighs approximately 2 pounds.

For more information on Alphasmart Dana and Neo, go to

http://www.alphasmart.com/index.html

In Australasia, go to

http://www.batterypoweredcomputers.com/

http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/