Busy. So many things going on at the moment. Work, cricket, Libs, dragonboating, grad events. It's really intense. Haven't really been able to update, apologies for that.
Work is great. Well, work plus the functions. Back with all the people I know, plus a few more additions. The team is just as fun as it was before... in fact even more so! I've also gotten to know quite a few people outside of my team - which is great. Work isn't so drole when you have a bunch of mates all around you.
Cricket. Last round we got defeated again. At least it was a defeat, instead of a slaughter. Many thanks must go to Dinesh for scoring a crazy 84. Good job. I was bowled for 3. I was looking good, although I still pick the odd wrong ball to play a shot - it cost me my wicket... again. We only lost by 1st innings points (30 odd runs).
Dragonboating. Let's talk about that. I've signed up for the Dragonboating for the Corporate Games. Training will last for about a month, and it's not too bad. I've dragonboated before and it's all coming back to me. This time it's quite different. I used to be towards the back - now i'm towards the front (2nd row). What's the deal? It's not like I improved. It's good exercise though, although I miss being a sweep - being the sweep is fun. Interestingly enough some of the grads from my year are in as well - some of the accountants.
Anyways, enough from me now. Tired. Need sleep now :). (I should start posting from work... lol).
Monday, February 27, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Orientation Thus Far is Great
Second day of work was great, although I hardly can call it work. Today was all about Communication - learning about what it means and how effective it is. I actually learnt quite alot today, which was quite a treat. It amazing how much that is obviously out there yet is unrecognised by most.
The day wasn't all filled with lectures and the like, that's for tomorrow - LOL. Today was more about recognising and developing communication and team skills, which equates to fun exercises throughout the day... and get to know grads a little better (well half of them anyway, since we were split up into two groups). By the end of the day I would have spoken to just about everyone in the room, with one exception - the group of UTS Accounting students. Don't think it'll happen either, it's a massive bunch of something like 6 girls and 2 guys and they all seem to know eachother quite well. No matter, many more people to meet later on.
Work is taking its toll, but for all the wrong reasons. I still have yet to adjust to getting up at 6:30/6:45am in the morning, but that could be because i'm still sleeping after midnight. That will need to change. I'm buggered, so i'd better go pass out on my bed now. Perhaps i'll describe what happened today and what I learnt at some later stage... or perhaps not :).
Night.
The day wasn't all filled with lectures and the like, that's for tomorrow - LOL. Today was more about recognising and developing communication and team skills, which equates to fun exercises throughout the day... and get to know grads a little better (well half of them anyway, since we were split up into two groups). By the end of the day I would have spoken to just about everyone in the room, with one exception - the group of UTS Accounting students. Don't think it'll happen either, it's a massive bunch of something like 6 girls and 2 guys and they all seem to know eachother quite well. No matter, many more people to meet later on.
Work is taking its toll, but for all the wrong reasons. I still have yet to adjust to getting up at 6:30/6:45am in the morning, but that could be because i'm still sleeping after midnight. That will need to change. I'm buggered, so i'd better go pass out on my bed now. Perhaps i'll describe what happened today and what I learnt at some later stage... or perhaps not :).
Night.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Starting Full Time Work
Today I join the rank of the full-time employed. I've done the casual jobs, i've done the vacation/placement job, now it is time for Act III of my career... full-time employment. Woo! What a doozy of a day it was. Training and Orientation all day.
After today, i'm not really even sure if i'm supposed to be even naming the company for which I work. So I won't. Haha. I don't want to get into any trouble at all. For those of you who know me, you don't really need to ask. If you really have no idea we'll just say that I work for an Investment Bank in Sydney.
A good day overall. Learning about the company itself, it's goals, it's achievements and the relevant state and federal legislation that makes up a part of the working envirnoment. A fairly intense day that didn't really leave too much room to mingle with the other grads - although there's lots of time for that later.
People from all over the company came to have a talk. There were the Human Resources people, recent Graduates from all over the company, as well as various executives and senior members of the company all wishing us well and imparting some valuable advice.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and possibly Thursday will also be training or orientation-related. So based on that it is likely that I will be starting 'real' work on Friday. Woo... see how it goes. One cool fact to finish up on - my first pay cheque comes in on Wednesday. I only started today! Haha! Woohoo!
After today, i'm not really even sure if i'm supposed to be even naming the company for which I work. So I won't. Haha. I don't want to get into any trouble at all. For those of you who know me, you don't really need to ask. If you really have no idea we'll just say that I work for an Investment Bank in Sydney.
A good day overall. Learning about the company itself, it's goals, it's achievements and the relevant state and federal legislation that makes up a part of the working envirnoment. A fairly intense day that didn't really leave too much room to mingle with the other grads - although there's lots of time for that later.
People from all over the company came to have a talk. There were the Human Resources people, recent Graduates from all over the company, as well as various executives and senior members of the company all wishing us well and imparting some valuable advice.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and possibly Thursday will also be training or orientation-related. So based on that it is likely that I will be starting 'real' work on Friday. Woo... see how it goes. One cool fact to finish up on - my first pay cheque comes in on Wednesday. I only started today! Haha! Woohoo!
Friday, February 10, 2006
Senate Passes RU486 Bill - R U Joking?
Wow. Today I am not a happy chappy. Why is that? Today the Australian Senate has passed the Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Repeal of Ministerial Responsibility For Approval of RU486) Bill 2005. What a joke. An absolute joke. The final vote was held at 4:49pm (Canberra time) and the result was 45 - 28 in favour of the bill.
First off, a brief on the Bill itself. The abortificant (the device which terminates the unborn baby's life) RU486 is currently a 'restricted drug' meaning that for it to be utilised in Australia it needs to be cleared with the Minister for Health (Tony Abbott). This Bill will pass the drug onto an independant body - the Therapeutic Drugs Administration (or TGA) for review without the need for Ministerial oversight.
Now lets have a breif on me for a second, so you all know where I stand. I am pro-life and am wholeheartedly against abortions except under special circumstances (e.g. rape). It may sound like I am sitting on the fence here but quite the contrary. I am a proponent of personal reponsibility and rape-induced pregnancies do not fall under personal responsibility. So anyway... back to the topic.
Why is it a problem that the Minister for Health lose his charge of determining whether or not this RU486 drug be allowed? Lots. First of all this drug is no ordinary drug and should not lose its status as a 'restricted drug'. Let us have a look at how horrendus this drug is and the damage that it can potentially cause.
[Note: for much of this I have not provided sources, but i'm sure you can google this information to validate it]
RU486 is one of two drugs used to abort an unborn child. Mifepristone (RU486) and misoprostol are the two drugs in question. RU486's role is to restrict the operation of progesterone - which maintains the nutrient lining of the uterus... effectively the baby's food supply. There is problem number one. Death via starvation. It is not a quick death, it is a slow and horrendous one. It gets worse - RU486 taken alone (before the second drug is ingested) doesn't always kill the unborn child. OMG! Death occurs only 60-70% of the time.
It doesn't really get that much better when you add drug number two - misoprostol. Misoprostol effectively causes contractions to expel the possibly-dead-but-not-quite-sure unborn child out of the womb. Fair enough, you have to get rid of the body. However, it's not always that easy. Even though most of the time the expulsion occurs within 4 hours, it has been the case where expulsion has occured up to 5 days later! Sigh.
Three, the unborn child isn't the only one that can die. That's right. If taken improperly the pregnant lass can die as well! Have a look at Holly Patterson in the United States for one case. Now, as these drug induced abortions and the human body are both inherently complex things it is difficult to categorically say that RU486 causes deaths directly, but it is entirely possible. Here's how the links can be made. It's not only just the one death, there have been several since the American TGA approved RU486's use of the drug a couple of years ago.
So judging by this it doesn't necessarily look like the safest drug on earth. Perhaps further study is warranted on the drug and its effects, the drug may or may not cause the death of a mother. It is hard to say... but when deaths are possible it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that the matter be looked into carefully before it is allowed to be used througout the country. The 'restricted drug' label is warranted given the evidence around and that label should not be dropped whatsoever.
The TGA may be know-hows in the medical field, and that's cool. Maybe they should have a look into the drug and write some reports on it and what not. That's fine. Removing the oversight of the Minister on a dangerous drug altogether is a big no-no, let the reports come in and let the Minister have a read and decide - that's fair. It is a potentially dangerous drug and therefore it should not be treated like a Panadol.
Proponents of the Bill mention that the experts should have a look. Now i'm not against experts having a say, they are the ones best positioned to make reports on these sorts of things. However, there is an important distinction that I have made here... as I have used the word report. When dealing with the safety of the Australian people, the elected government has the obligation to ensure our safety. Experts can say things like "the chance of getting seriously ill is so-and-so percent, and the chance of dying from this is blah percent" better than parliamentarians can, but the parliamentarain's role is decide on whether or not this is an acceptible risk for the public. We elect members of parliament and therefore the buck should stop with the parliamentarians, not some topical experts who have are accountable to nobody.
So there you have it. It is a dispicable drug that doesn't necessarily do it's job well (as in killing the baby outright) and it is questionable as to whether or not it is safe for the pregnant mother. As it is potentially lethal it should remain a 'restricted drug' and should remain under watch by the Minister for Health. I'm not saying that experts shouldn't have input, quite the contrary - they should input as much advice as possible. I'm saying that the decision for the drug to be accessible to mainstream Australia should lie with the Minister after the experts have their say.
It has been said that it is not a pro-life or pro-choice question at all. That's rubbish. Lets have a look at some Parliamentary Research. The paper says the following:
Restricted goods are defined under the Act as medicines ‘intended for use in women as abortifacients’. In other words, restricted goods provisions apply exclusively to medicines intended to induce an abortion. Medicines used for any purpose other than abortion are evaluated and regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) without any requirement for approval from the Minister.
This Bill will pave the way for all medicinal abortifacients to bypass Ministerial Responsibility, thus swinging the pendulum towards the pro-choice camp in a very big way. What is to stop the next baby-killer drug from bypassing the Minister when there is the trump card: RU486 is through, why not this one? Parliamentarians need to think, and think hard on where they stand on the issue of pro-life and pro-choice as well as look at the procedure involved for this drug in particular. It is NOT simply a Bill solely on process.
It saddens me to see the Senate vote the way that they have. Hopefully the House of Representatives defeats the Bill. Furthermore, lets look at another point. Only one application for RU486 has been lodged with the Minister for Health. One. This Bill can also, therefore, be considered a royal waste of time.
Moving on to some related topics. It baffles me as to why abortion is so prevalent and why abortion has so much support. If you don't want a baby, then don't get pregnant. That makes perfect sense to me. We shoudn't even be asking the pro-life or pro-choice question at all! I can understand that this is not such a simple thing in developing and third-world countries, but we live in Australia. Contraceptions are widely available AND it is a hell of a lot cheaper than abortions. Alas, this is another topic which will have to be dealt with another day.
Massive post today - I guess it shows my disappointment.
First off, a brief on the Bill itself. The abortificant (the device which terminates the unborn baby's life) RU486 is currently a 'restricted drug' meaning that for it to be utilised in Australia it needs to be cleared with the Minister for Health (Tony Abbott). This Bill will pass the drug onto an independant body - the Therapeutic Drugs Administration (or TGA) for review without the need for Ministerial oversight.
Now lets have a breif on me for a second, so you all know where I stand. I am pro-life and am wholeheartedly against abortions except under special circumstances (e.g. rape). It may sound like I am sitting on the fence here but quite the contrary. I am a proponent of personal reponsibility and rape-induced pregnancies do not fall under personal responsibility. So anyway... back to the topic.
Why is it a problem that the Minister for Health lose his charge of determining whether or not this RU486 drug be allowed? Lots. First of all this drug is no ordinary drug and should not lose its status as a 'restricted drug'. Let us have a look at how horrendus this drug is and the damage that it can potentially cause.
[Note: for much of this I have not provided sources, but i'm sure you can google this information to validate it]
RU486 is one of two drugs used to abort an unborn child. Mifepristone (RU486) and misoprostol are the two drugs in question. RU486's role is to restrict the operation of progesterone - which maintains the nutrient lining of the uterus... effectively the baby's food supply. There is problem number one. Death via starvation. It is not a quick death, it is a slow and horrendous one. It gets worse - RU486 taken alone (before the second drug is ingested) doesn't always kill the unborn child. OMG! Death occurs only 60-70% of the time.
It doesn't really get that much better when you add drug number two - misoprostol. Misoprostol effectively causes contractions to expel the possibly-dead-but-not-quite-sure unborn child out of the womb. Fair enough, you have to get rid of the body. However, it's not always that easy. Even though most of the time the expulsion occurs within 4 hours, it has been the case where expulsion has occured up to 5 days later! Sigh.
Three, the unborn child isn't the only one that can die. That's right. If taken improperly the pregnant lass can die as well! Have a look at Holly Patterson in the United States for one case. Now, as these drug induced abortions and the human body are both inherently complex things it is difficult to categorically say that RU486 causes deaths directly, but it is entirely possible. Here's how the links can be made. It's not only just the one death, there have been several since the American TGA approved RU486's use of the drug a couple of years ago.
So judging by this it doesn't necessarily look like the safest drug on earth. Perhaps further study is warranted on the drug and its effects, the drug may or may not cause the death of a mother. It is hard to say... but when deaths are possible it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that the matter be looked into carefully before it is allowed to be used througout the country. The 'restricted drug' label is warranted given the evidence around and that label should not be dropped whatsoever.
The TGA may be know-hows in the medical field, and that's cool. Maybe they should have a look into the drug and write some reports on it and what not. That's fine. Removing the oversight of the Minister on a dangerous drug altogether is a big no-no, let the reports come in and let the Minister have a read and decide - that's fair. It is a potentially dangerous drug and therefore it should not be treated like a Panadol.
Proponents of the Bill mention that the experts should have a look. Now i'm not against experts having a say, they are the ones best positioned to make reports on these sorts of things. However, there is an important distinction that I have made here... as I have used the word report. When dealing with the safety of the Australian people, the elected government has the obligation to ensure our safety. Experts can say things like "the chance of getting seriously ill is so-and-so percent, and the chance of dying from this is blah percent" better than parliamentarians can, but the parliamentarain's role is decide on whether or not this is an acceptible risk for the public. We elect members of parliament and therefore the buck should stop with the parliamentarians, not some topical experts who have are accountable to nobody.
So there you have it. It is a dispicable drug that doesn't necessarily do it's job well (as in killing the baby outright) and it is questionable as to whether or not it is safe for the pregnant mother. As it is potentially lethal it should remain a 'restricted drug' and should remain under watch by the Minister for Health. I'm not saying that experts shouldn't have input, quite the contrary - they should input as much advice as possible. I'm saying that the decision for the drug to be accessible to mainstream Australia should lie with the Minister after the experts have their say.
It has been said that it is not a pro-life or pro-choice question at all. That's rubbish. Lets have a look at some Parliamentary Research. The paper says the following:
Restricted goods are defined under the Act as medicines ‘intended for use in women as abortifacients’. In other words, restricted goods provisions apply exclusively to medicines intended to induce an abortion. Medicines used for any purpose other than abortion are evaluated and regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) without any requirement for approval from the Minister.
This Bill will pave the way for all medicinal abortifacients to bypass Ministerial Responsibility, thus swinging the pendulum towards the pro-choice camp in a very big way. What is to stop the next baby-killer drug from bypassing the Minister when there is the trump card: RU486 is through, why not this one? Parliamentarians need to think, and think hard on where they stand on the issue of pro-life and pro-choice as well as look at the procedure involved for this drug in particular. It is NOT simply a Bill solely on process.
It saddens me to see the Senate vote the way that they have. Hopefully the House of Representatives defeats the Bill. Furthermore, lets look at another point. Only one application for RU486 has been lodged with the Minister for Health. One. This Bill can also, therefore, be considered a royal waste of time.
Moving on to some related topics. It baffles me as to why abortion is so prevalent and why abortion has so much support. If you don't want a baby, then don't get pregnant. That makes perfect sense to me. We shoudn't even be asking the pro-life or pro-choice question at all! I can understand that this is not such a simple thing in developing and third-world countries, but we live in Australia. Contraceptions are widely available AND it is a hell of a lot cheaper than abortions. Alas, this is another topic which will have to be dealt with another day.
Massive post today - I guess it shows my disappointment.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Cambridge
All travel diary entries are chronologically ordered. If you have missed an entry go to the Special Features section on the right hand side and click on World Travel Diaries 2005-6.
Tuesday 5/12 (local)
Today's journeys took me far and wide, taking me through the English countryside and into Cambridge. As it is Winter there isn't really that much time for sightseeing (hours of daylight are substantially reduced), and Cambridge is pretty much all I got in today. Did pass through Oxford on the way back to London, but didn't get much of an opportunity to see it. However, Oxford is a story for another day!
The British rail system seems to be quite decent from first impressions, however it is somewhat different than back home in Australia. First of all, there is no one big station like Central - there are lots of big stations. Paddington, Kings Cross St.Pancras, Euston Road, they're all fairly large stations... which can make it a little more confusing to get around. In Australia... need to go to Newcastle, or Brisbane, or Melbourne? go to Central Station. Simple. In Britain, not so easy. To get to Salisbury you need to start at Waterloo, to get to Cambridge you need to start at Kings Cross, and to get to Oxford you need to start at Paddington. Well... it's not really that hard in the end. The train up to Cambridge was actually quite luxurious, even for Standard class. Ample space for each seat in both a legroom sense and also with respect to width. It is very, very easy to fall asleep on these trains. Which is a plus for me, hehe.
Now, one tip for those who are travelling to the United Kingdom. Be careful which BritRail pass you buy. This is a serious point. I didn't realise this whilst making travel plans back at home, but there are several categories of BritRail pass. Passes allow you to travel around the London area, or England, or the United Kingdom itself. I should have bought the London pass as opposed to the Flexipass (England + Scotland). Bah! Oh well. I'll know for next time.
I woke up at about 9:00am this morning and headed up to Cambridge not too long after getting up. After a one hour train ride I arrived at Cambridge by 11:00am. What initially surprised me was the size of Cambridge. Cambridge is small, in fact you can get around easily by foot or bike. The purchace of a city map at the train station proved my point (as well as the rows upon rows upon rows of bikes just outside the train station). I didn't hire a bike though, I did the tour of Cambridge by foot.
My primary intention of visiting Cambridge was to have a look around at the University. As I have not visited any University outside Sydney I expected the format to be quite similar - where the only exception to the Sydney Universities would be that the buildings be much older. My assumption couldn't be any further from the truth. The University is not one big blob, the University and the Colleges are all over the place. Have a look at the map, and have a look at where the University Colleges and Admin buildings lie!
I didn't get the opportunity to visit all of the colleges but I did visit a fair few. To rattle off a few: I visited the following Colleges: Downing, Pembroke, Kings, Trinity, Magdalene. The Colleges vary in both age and appearance, however most of them seem to have a common feature - the Quadrangle. Now i'm not quite sure what the fascination behind the quadrangle is and i'm sure i'll never know. An intersting theme, and i'm not really complaining about it.
Short entry today. Don't get me wrong - it was an enjoyable day. Just that there is only so much I can write on the topic.
Tuesday 5/12 (local)
Today's journeys took me far and wide, taking me through the English countryside and into Cambridge. As it is Winter there isn't really that much time for sightseeing (hours of daylight are substantially reduced), and Cambridge is pretty much all I got in today. Did pass through Oxford on the way back to London, but didn't get much of an opportunity to see it. However, Oxford is a story for another day!
The British rail system seems to be quite decent from first impressions, however it is somewhat different than back home in Australia. First of all, there is no one big station like Central - there are lots of big stations. Paddington, Kings Cross St.Pancras, Euston Road, they're all fairly large stations... which can make it a little more confusing to get around. In Australia... need to go to Newcastle, or Brisbane, or Melbourne? go to Central Station. Simple. In Britain, not so easy. To get to Salisbury you need to start at Waterloo, to get to Cambridge you need to start at Kings Cross, and to get to Oxford you need to start at Paddington. Well... it's not really that hard in the end. The train up to Cambridge was actually quite luxurious, even for Standard class. Ample space for each seat in both a legroom sense and also with respect to width. It is very, very easy to fall asleep on these trains. Which is a plus for me, hehe.
Now, one tip for those who are travelling to the United Kingdom. Be careful which BritRail pass you buy. This is a serious point. I didn't realise this whilst making travel plans back at home, but there are several categories of BritRail pass. Passes allow you to travel around the London area, or England, or the United Kingdom itself. I should have bought the London pass as opposed to the Flexipass (England + Scotland). Bah! Oh well. I'll know for next time.
I woke up at about 9:00am this morning and headed up to Cambridge not too long after getting up. After a one hour train ride I arrived at Cambridge by 11:00am. What initially surprised me was the size of Cambridge. Cambridge is small, in fact you can get around easily by foot or bike. The purchace of a city map at the train station proved my point (as well as the rows upon rows upon rows of bikes just outside the train station). I didn't hire a bike though, I did the tour of Cambridge by foot.
My primary intention of visiting Cambridge was to have a look around at the University. As I have not visited any University outside Sydney I expected the format to be quite similar - where the only exception to the Sydney Universities would be that the buildings be much older. My assumption couldn't be any further from the truth. The University is not one big blob, the University and the Colleges are all over the place. Have a look at the map, and have a look at where the University Colleges and Admin buildings lie!
I didn't get the opportunity to visit all of the colleges but I did visit a fair few. To rattle off a few: I visited the following Colleges: Downing, Pembroke, Kings, Trinity, Magdalene. The Colleges vary in both age and appearance, however most of them seem to have a common feature - the Quadrangle. Now i'm not quite sure what the fascination behind the quadrangle is and i'm sure i'll never know. An intersting theme, and i'm not really complaining about it.
Short entry today. Don't get me wrong - it was an enjoyable day. Just that there is only so much I can write on the topic.
King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
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