RuthEllison.com

My friend Ben tagged me for the cool My Way Home meme. I’m a curious person by nature and I, like Ben, wonder what fascinating scenes do all my friends see and experience on their ways home.

The rules are simple:

• Use a simple camera, the simpler the better
• Upload them to flickr or whatever your preference is, but as long as they can be seen through the web
• Tag them if you can with “onmywayhomeme”
• Blog it and tell the story
• Tag your mates.

I tag (I know a few of the people have been tagged already):

• Donna
• Vicki
• Nick Cowie
• Lisa Herrod
• Andrew Boyd
• Nathanael Boehm
• Robert(Gurdonark)

So here’s my story…

It’s about ten past five on Friday. I’m leaving work early as I promised to meet a friend for coffee on the way home. I’m already running late…I dash out of the client’s building but have a few traffic lights to content with. I entertain myself my grabbing a shot of the interesting red sculpture near the intersection (it doesn’t look very red here as the sun was setting fast).

The light is still red…so I tried a different angle of the same sculpture.

I love textures and colours. This abstract wall sculpture on the Commonwealth Bank building catches my eye every time.

I like the look of Canberra Centre at dusk.

Continue reading →

I’ve posted about computer recycling options in Canberra before and how we ended up going with the excellent Lioncom. The good news is that Lioncom is launching a Canberra Green Day on the 13th and 14th of June where you can recycle your PCs for free. This is part of Lioncom’s initiative to tackle the growing e-Waste problem.

Here’s the news article from Lioncom:

Canberra’s first technology recycling company (service established year 2000) is holding a free PC Recycling Day on the 13th and 14th of June 2008 for the Canberra community. Visitors to Lioncom in Fyshwick on the 14th of June 2008 will be able to drop off their unwanted and excess computer equipment at no further cost. Canberra business and government departments are also encourage to take advantage of the Lioncom offer with Friday the 13th of June 2008 available exclusively for the Canberra business community.

Unwanted computers and electronic goods are one of the fastest-growing types of waste in the world (five times normal waste rates) and is likely to reach 40 million tonnes a year. It is estimated that there are more that nine million computers, five million printers and two million scanners in Australian households and businesses. Over the next few years millions of computers will be turned off and disposed. It is imperative that we protect our local environment by ensuring all e-Waste is disposed off correctly.

PCs contain materials like metal, glass and plastic which can be recycled and reused. Computers harbour noxious chemicals and heavy metals that can leech into the environment if not recycled correctly. CRT computer monitors can include up to a kilogram of lead, while batteries are loaded with cadmium.

Sealed up, the devices are safe. But once thrown away and left to rot in landfill, chemicals and heavy metals can leech out into groundwater, posing serious health risks. Sufficient exposure to lead alone can damage the central nervous system – particularly in children – causing long term blood disorders and mental retardation.

Taking advantage of the Free PC Recycling Day

Simply drop off surplus computer equipment at the Fyshwick Collection Centre, located at 8 Pirie St, Fyshwick.

• For Businesses and Government Departments: Friday, 13th June 2008, 9:00am – 5:00pm
• For General Public: Saturday, 14th June 2008, 9:00am – 5:00pm

For further information:

Ph. 02 6239 3444

Fax. 02 6239 3445

Email. disposals@lioncom.com.au

Web. www.lioncom.com.au

Good on you Lioncom! I really appreciate local businesses who take the initiative to help green our city.

Photo credit: Nathanael Boehm

Web Directions Government started with a very fresh morning, complete with frost on my car that took ages to defrost! My car told me that it was zero degrees when I left the house… Anyhow, Web Directions Government is the first Web Directions conference to be held in Canberra, targeted specifically at the Government sector. Here’s a quick run down of the day:

• I started the day with Jason Ryan’s breakfast talk about Government 2.0 - The public challenge. I really enjoyed Jason’s talk about the challenges with Government 2.0 with the key themes of Change, Strategy and Control. Key ideas included encouraging everyone to engage, have a good understanding of your people and of the environment. Key quotes from the session, “most importantly, you have to trust your staff”, “when it comes to engagement, mediocrity is not an option” and “just bloody well do it!”.
• eGovernment by José Manuel Alonso - “removing the e from eGovernment”. He talked about the challenges facing Governments doing business online and the need for participation and transparency. Check out eGovernment at W3C.
• Real world web standards by Scott Gledhill - a case study of the redesign of News.com.au and associated websites. Interesting learnings about the need for clear communications and established rules, even in a team full of people who know their stuff.
• One paper clip, a box of matches, and some JavaScript by Patrick Lee - Patrick covered lots of examples of using JavaScript in the real world. Love the MacGyver references!
• Usability: more than skin deep by Lisa Herrod - I heard this at last year’s Web Directions South but it’s still as enjoyable the second time round. Lisa is always a great speaker to listen to and I love how we have a very similiar holistic approach to our user experience work!
• ABC’s election site: making the most of dry data by Andrew Kesper - Andrew covered a range of design decisions taken for the ABC election site. Very interesting look at the various technologies involved, especially the interactive maps.
• The essential elements of great web applications by Robert Hoekman Jr - a great presentation to finish the conference. Robert covered his seven key principles for great web design, including my favourite, “reduce, reduce, reduce” (minimalist designs appeal to me both online and in the real world).

Thanks to John and Maxine and their team of helpers for putting on a conference in Canberra! I had a great time and will definitely attend next year.

I’ve been a fan of the Nintendo Wii every since we managed to get one in the initial rush of the Australian launch. When hubby and I found out about Wii Fit, we pre-ordered it and picked it up yesterday. As this is the second day since we’ve had it, we’ve managed to spend a bit of time checking it out.

For those not familiar with Wii Fit, Nintendo describes it as “the first step to a healthier lifestyle”. The Wii Fit uses a very cool Wii Balance Board that can measure your weight, centre of gravity and can also calculate your body mass index. The game has over 40 exercises ranging over the following categories: yoga, muscle workouts, aerobic exercise and balance games. Specific exercises include, jogging, step aerobics, hula hoop, ski jumping, ski slaloms, etc. What’s particularly cool is that it helps you to keep track of any exercise that you do outside of the game, which is added to the log.

My initial impressions of the Wii Fit has been generally very positive. The set-up and calibration of the game has been very easy with clear step-by-step instructions accompanied by the appropriate visuals on screen. There’s been a few areas where some improvements could be made but it’s all very minor. Once set-up is completed, you pick a trainer (male or female) who will guide you through a range of exercises. The exercise tutorials are clear with the trainer taking you through each step before you actually do the exercise. Hubby has spent more time playing Wii Fit so he has unlocked a range of games/exercise that I have not yet gotten to. From what I can see, they tend to follow a similar follow-the-leader format for many of the exercises. There’s a few cute and fun games including penguin slide where you have to catch fish whilst balanced on a piece of ice.

The only negative thing I have to say at this stage is that the graphics, while clear and useful when used as a step-by-step guide through the game, aren’t overly flash. The yoga exercises and muscle workouts are overly simple. I would have liked to have seen a more human-realistic feel to the graphics rather than the line drawings (with simple block fill) used. The rest of the game utilises the normal Wii styled graphics which is pretty much the same as from Wii Sports.

The interaction with the Wii Balance Board is on the whole, pretty good. It seems to be fairly accurate at determining what you’re doing. The jogging on the spot was quite challenging as my instinct is to run forward. That was probably the most awkard interaction out of the exercises I tried, but I think I burned the most calories with that one!

On the whole, I’m loving the Wii Fit so far. I’m very unfit and I don’t do any exercise. In light of that, the Wii Fit is perfect for me. I get guided through a range of quite fun exercises which means that I can slowly work on getting fit and hopefully lose a few of those extra kilos that I put on in the last seven months. It’s also making me more aware of my balance points which affects the posture. If you’re a hard core exercising type of person, this probably isn’t suitable for you. But on the whole, both thumbs up from me!