Have you read this by Andrea? No? You should.
10 hours ago
21 June 2010
Sydney Writer's Festival course review
Quite a while ago I went to the Sydney Writer's festival to the one course I really wanted to go to--the "How to Get Published" course with Hazel Flynn. There were bits I found good (how a publisher thinks, the Australian publishing industry) and bits that would have been good if I hadn't been exposed to all of the very good information on the Internet like Anne Mini's site, and Nathan Bransford's blog (in fact, Ms Flynn even quoted the blog, from a post I'd read). I think the information was a revelation for most of the other participants, but for me it was old news.
I was still worthwhile and I'm glad I went, but it wasn't as useful as it could have been.
I was still worthwhile and I'm glad I went, but it wasn't as useful as it could have been.
18 June 2010
Please excuse my extened absence
But I've been busy being slack. Yep, no real excuse. I've just been avoiding writing in any form--blog, book, or otherwise. I've even been avoiding Twitter!!
There are various things that could be considered reasons or excuses (moving house, going away, sewing things for said new house, playing computer games) but really none of them is a good reason.
So, anyway, I'm back. I think. At least, you should expect another post from me soon.
There are various things that could be considered reasons or excuses (moving house, going away, sewing things for said new house, playing computer games) but really none of them is a good reason.
So, anyway, I'm back. I think. At least, you should expect another post from me soon.
19 May 2010
Whee, I'm going to the Sydney Writer's Festival
I'm sure you're all sick of the moving house epic I've been featuring for the last two weeks. I know I am. So now for something completely different. Writing related, even.
The Sydney Writer's Festival!
I'm going to a workshop tomorrow on "How to Get Published" with Hazel Flynn. Out of the paid program this is the ONE I wanted to get into, and I was lucky enough to get tickets on the day they came out! YAY!
I'm taking a half day off work, so MissIcy will be in daycare, so we should be set (unless it runs over-time of course, in which case I'll be walking out at 4:30, regardless).
As we're leaving to visit the in-laws in Brisbane the next day, I may not have a report for you for a while, but I plan to have fun anyway. Especially after the last two weeks.
It might even prompt me back to the book.
Anyways, talk to you later.
Icy.
The Sydney Writer's Festival!
I'm going to a workshop tomorrow on "How to Get Published" with Hazel Flynn. Out of the paid program this is the ONE I wanted to get into, and I was lucky enough to get tickets on the day they came out! YAY!
I'm taking a half day off work, so MissIcy will be in daycare, so we should be set (unless it runs over-time of course, in which case I'll be walking out at 4:30, regardless).
As we're leaving to visit the in-laws in Brisbane the next day, I may not have a report for you for a while, but I plan to have fun anyway. Especially after the last two weeks.
It might even prompt me back to the book.
Anyways, talk to you later.
Icy.
17 May 2010
Moving house: still still no phone
So, I finally talked to someone at Telstra who said the phone appeared to be connected. This time they passed me off to the faults department instead. After another hour-long phone call with the person at the other end conferencing with two other people I got a technician booked to come to our house, FINALLY.
So on Sunday he arrived and tested the phone lines. There was no signal at the outside of the house so he connected it back from the street to the wall outside. Victory! Then he tested inside the house and could get no dial-tone.
His verdict was that it was probably terminated at the alarm box and as we still don't have the master code we can't open the box up and check.
This means we need to wait for the electrician. This is a problem.
Our builder has been outstanding but the electician (who he employed) has been an "issue". Lights left unfinished, the new power points not connected, not returning the builder's phone calls, not showing up when he said he would. Not good.
I've yet to tell the builder I'm dumping the phone problem back in his lap. That's a coversation for later.
So on Sunday he arrived and tested the phone lines. There was no signal at the outside of the house so he connected it back from the street to the wall outside. Victory! Then he tested inside the house and could get no dial-tone.
His verdict was that it was probably terminated at the alarm box and as we still don't have the master code we can't open the box up and check.
This means we need to wait for the electrician. This is a problem.
Our builder has been outstanding but the electician (who he employed) has been an "issue". Lights left unfinished, the new power points not connected, not returning the builder's phone calls, not showing up when he said he would. Not good.
I've yet to tell the builder I'm dumping the phone problem back in his lap. That's a coversation for later.
12 May 2010
Moving house: getting a phoneline and why is this so difficult?
So, apparantly this is all very hard.
Two weeks ago I called Telstra (Thu 6), our phone provider, and said we were moving on the weekend and could they move our phone number across to our new house. It was no problem to move the number (rather than get a new one) as we were still in the same telephone exchange. The person on the other end of the phone hummed and hahed when I gave them our new address and said it was a bit difficult.
He couldn't find us.
Our street address is 2/XX. The house in front of us is 1/XX. But there is also a small block of shops beside us that are 1-6/YY but show up in Telstra's database as XXA-F.
Confusing.
The best thing, he said, was to call Telstra from the phone line in the house which would show which actuall line we were. It seemed like a sensible idea and I agreed.
It took a day or two for me to get to the house only to realise I didn't have the right type of phone plug, and another day to get it. When I pluged a phone in, there was no dial tone. Problem.
So, I called Telstra back. I gave the person who answered the same story and he decided to try and connect us to XXA (our lot number according to council).
The day of connection came and went (Wed 5)with no dial tone, so I called again. There person who answered just said the line would be connected on Friday 7 before 6:00pm. Nothin'.
I called Telstra again and spoke to someone else. He managed to determine that XXA was one of the shops next door so of couse the connection wasn't going to work. He hemmed and hawed and eventually said he'd connect it to the most likely looking blank connection and that it would be done that day (Sat 8). Nada, nought, nothin'.
Monday I called again. Person said it had actually been sheduled for Wed but there were not problems that she could see and it would go ahead. She also sent Sat consultant an e-mail asking why he hadn't called back when he said he would.
Sat consultant left vmail today (Wed 12) at lunch and said it should be connected. Got MrIcy (still at home with busted foot) to check. Zippo.
Called Telstra, again. Got a trainee. This however may be a good thing as he was determined to prove his training was worth it. He established that http://www.whereis.com/ (that Telstra use for addressing) doesn't know the block our house is on is split in two (Google Maps doesn't know we exist at all, we're just a blank box). Then he realised we have no dial tone as someone mis-connected one of the shops and stole our line.
So he's refunding our transfer fee and setting us up as a new line for free and sending a technician out to set it up. OH THANK YOU!! Of course, this will take another few days. Then, maybe then, we can get our ADSL hooked up.
Maybe.
Two weeks ago I called Telstra (Thu 6), our phone provider, and said we were moving on the weekend and could they move our phone number across to our new house. It was no problem to move the number (rather than get a new one) as we were still in the same telephone exchange. The person on the other end of the phone hummed and hahed when I gave them our new address and said it was a bit difficult.
He couldn't find us.
Our street address is 2/XX. The house in front of us is 1/XX. But there is also a small block of shops beside us that are 1-6/YY but show up in Telstra's database as XXA-F.
Confusing.
The best thing, he said, was to call Telstra from the phone line in the house which would show which actuall line we were. It seemed like a sensible idea and I agreed.
It took a day or two for me to get to the house only to realise I didn't have the right type of phone plug, and another day to get it. When I pluged a phone in, there was no dial tone. Problem.
So, I called Telstra back. I gave the person who answered the same story and he decided to try and connect us to XXA (our lot number according to council).
The day of connection came and went (Wed 5)with no dial tone, so I called again. There person who answered just said the line would be connected on Friday 7 before 6:00pm. Nothin'.
I called Telstra again and spoke to someone else. He managed to determine that XXA was one of the shops next door so of couse the connection wasn't going to work. He hemmed and hawed and eventually said he'd connect it to the most likely looking blank connection and that it would be done that day (Sat 8). Nada, nought, nothin'.
Monday I called again. Person said it had actually been sheduled for Wed but there were not problems that she could see and it would go ahead. She also sent Sat consultant an e-mail asking why he hadn't called back when he said he would.
Sat consultant left vmail today (Wed 12) at lunch and said it should be connected. Got MrIcy (still at home with busted foot) to check. Zippo.
Called Telstra, again. Got a trainee. This however may be a good thing as he was determined to prove his training was worth it. He established that http://www.whereis.com/ (that Telstra use for addressing) doesn't know the block our house is on is split in two (Google Maps doesn't know we exist at all, we're just a blank box). Then he realised we have no dial tone as someone mis-connected one of the shops and stole our line.
So he's refunding our transfer fee and setting us up as a new line for free and sending a technician out to set it up. OH THANK YOU!! Of course, this will take another few days. Then, maybe then, we can get our ADSL hooked up.
Maybe.
10 May 2010
Moving house: and STILL no Internet
Oh, the drama, the drama. How can it be so very hard to connect a phone line? And if it is hard and the whole thing fails, how hard is it just to keep the same order open and try again, rather than doing a different order and adding 5 days to every attempt?
Apparantly, we'll have a phone line on Wednesday. That's a full two weeks after my first phone call to Telstra. Then it's another three days to get the ADSL. FAIL!!!
Anyway, MrIcy's foot is completely buggered, so he went (limped) into the city today to get his laptop and his 3G wireless connection. Thank god. I have temporary access.
I don't mind the no internet so much; my real problem is that the Tivo has been offline for 2 weeks now, so the program guide has run out. All of my programs are lost! And I don't even watch Lost! And the manual record doesn't work properly (it always records on Channel 10), and I can't report and error, because I don't have internet access. It's a vicious circle.
So, my quest for tonight is to bridge MrIcy's internet connection across to fake it like an ADSL router so the Tivo can download. This is expected to be a bit tricky, especially as MrIcy's computer is a work one and I can't break it. Wish me luck.
UPDATE: OK, it appears I am freaking uber as after several hours of trying a number of different things I not only got MrIcy's 3G card working on my laptop (with no provided software), I also was able to share it across the wireless router to the Tivo. We have TIVO again!
Apparantly, we'll have a phone line on Wednesday. That's a full two weeks after my first phone call to Telstra. Then it's another three days to get the ADSL. FAIL!!!
Anyway, MrIcy's foot is completely buggered, so he went (limped) into the city today to get his laptop and his 3G wireless connection. Thank god. I have temporary access.
I don't mind the no internet so much; my real problem is that the Tivo has been offline for 2 weeks now, so the program guide has run out. All of my programs are lost! And I don't even watch Lost! And the manual record doesn't work properly (it always records on Channel 10), and I can't report and error, because I don't have internet access. It's a vicious circle.
So, my quest for tonight is to bridge MrIcy's internet connection across to fake it like an ADSL router so the Tivo can download. This is expected to be a bit tricky, especially as MrIcy's computer is a work one and I can't break it. Wish me luck.
UPDATE: OK, it appears I am freaking uber as after several hours of trying a number of different things I not only got MrIcy's 3G card working on my laptop (with no provided software), I also was able to share it across the wireless router to the Tivo. We have TIVO again!
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