Update

I have been a bit slack in updating the blog on what is happening in my life. Work is going well. We just had an election here in Victoria and Labor retained power, although we now have a new Minister for Education. It will be interesting to see if there are any big changes in policy or direction. My division should be fine, but the "training" side of things will be leaving the Department so all the post-compulsory people may be moving elsewhere.

I have been participating where I can in projects. I volunteered to work on the speaking and listening portion of the English Continuum. The previous parts of the continuum were done over a couple months- we had about 2 weeks to do the speaking and listening one. Amazingly, it did get finished pretty much on time. I'm also involved with the website team, and that work should be picking up. We are updating and transferring our old sites onto the new student learning portion of the Department website.

Although I have learned a lot in my current position over the past 5 months, I am on the lookout for opportunities to advance, so I have applied for a couple senior policy officer positions. I'm not sure how much of a chance I will have, but there is nothing to lose since my job is still good for another year. Both the positions I'm applying for are ongoing- one is in my current branch, and the other is in the research branch downstairs. We'll see what happens.

The big family news is that my brother is engaged to be married. The wedding is scheduled for October 27, 2007 at St. Raphael's Church (well the Mission part). The day James proposed it was Simi's birthday. He took her out for a picnic lunch at Blackie's Pasture in Tiburon, and had a large "gift" which included two of my five pound weights in the box to fool her. As she opened each box there was a smaller one inside, until she got to the ring box. James took that, got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She excitedly said yes. The wedding planning has already begun, and they have secured Deer Park Villa in Fairfax for the reception. I can't believe my little brother is getting married. I now know when I will be home next, after this trip home for Christmas in a few weeks.