Voluntary Quarantine [ Orders ]

Image : Reuters

Another letter issued today from one of my employers:

“………Dear _____________________ (name of Employee) ,

I understand that you have recently been to a country where there has been community or school transmission of the Human Swine Influenza.

In accordance with advice from xxxxxxx, I ask that you stay at home for seven days from the date that you return to Australia. This is a precautionary strategy being applied throughout xxxxxxxx. During this period you will be on paid special leave.

If you are feeling unwell with any flu-like symptoms, please go to a hospital Emergency Department for assessment, or ring your general practitioner if you do not have ready access to a hospital.

We are hopeful that you will remain well during this period and we look forward to welcoming you back after this period. At this stage, you will return to xxxxxx on __________ (date).

You can obtain further information from the xxxxxxxxxxwebsite at:

xxxxxxxxxxx

I look forward to seeing you back at TAFE as soon as possible.

Please contact __________________ (insert name) on telephone __________ (number) if you require any further information.

Yours sincerely

College Director………”

A New Future For Online Learning ?

How Quaint : Organ Failure Map

Get a hold of this.

Issued by one of my workplaces today.

“…….Staff returning from travel to greater metropolitan Melbourne, Mexico, Panama, USA, Canada and Japan should be treated as follows:

1. If a staff member has been to one of these locations and has been mixing with local school children (in a group of 10 or more) then they should be excluded from work. College Directors and Functional Unit managers should make every effort to enable these staff to perform some work from home during their exclusion.
2. If the staff member has not mixed with a group of 10 or more school children then they may return to work, but be excluded if they develop any influenza-like symptoms.
3. If a member of staff is currently excluded because they have travelled to one of the infected locations, but have not mixed with a group of 10 or more local school children, they may now return to work as long as they are not displaying any flu-like symptoms.
4. If they have been directed into quarantine by NSW Health they must complete the quarantine period….”

Well, that rules out going to see my daughter in Melbourne right ?

Oh man……..I’m starting to get worried.

Reflections On Life As Consultant

It’s been a very interesting fortnight.

At times I’ve really felt like meat in a sandwich, squashed between things threatening to be consumed. As a project consultant to a number of Australian Flexible Learning Elearning Innovations projects after this Friday and in between negotiations for a number of other private and enterprie RTO projects spread from Caringbah to Coonamble I’ve learnt that life as consultant can be both exciting and rewarding.

Travel is having it’s toll. My persistent cough is back as is my sore back from travelling in my utility for hours on end. My throat is sore from talking. ….and yet there’s a certain joy about having time with my son to play with him and watch the snow fall and still not enough time to get into the studio and create some art work.

That part is a discipline related issue and one I’m gradually getting my head around.

I’ve also learned that as a consultant you can expect;

• the unexpected
• to need a home office….it’s almost impossible to operate as an e-learning consultant without a reliable table, internet connection and some decent strong coffee
• your an outsider to insider negotiations
• not to be paid for at least two-three hours of emails per day
• the bigger the organisation the bigger the expectation to be patient especially with payments for service….it’s a short term contract….little regularity….lots of paperwork
• many phone calls or none at all dependent on who’s where and how close you are to the source of project management
• odd working hours
• constant anxiety
• strange requests from people expecting everything for nothing
• time to yourself which is generally consumed with thinking about prospects
• more time management skill development than ever before
• hefty PI and PL cover upwards of $1400 AUD per annum.
• a massive fuel bill
• increased interest from the tax office
• decreased interest from the bank

Overall it’s a very challenging time and now that I’m confident I can last out till spring I might get a chance to interview for some full-time work which I can get paid to forget the above….for a while…..till that becomes debilitating and humiliating and so on.

More meat in the sandwich me thinks. Plenty of time to reflect and create and build things which matter most.

Open wide spaces.