Management training meets the kitchen

Yeah, I know, I’m not a very handsome bloke.

Still, I fancy myself as an amateur chef, which is why I enjoyed the opportunity I had recently to cook in a commercial kitchen as part of a team-building exercise we did at the Valley.

I wrote an article on my experiences, Management training meets the kitchen which was published in the latest edition of the Australian Institute of Training & Development journal. Looks pretty good, huh?

Thanks to Vin Lowe for his great photos.

My brush with fame

Sir Alexander Fleming, child prodegy

Last night I discussed fashion with Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, chatted about cricket with Sir Donald Bradman, went all the way with JFK* and heard silent movie star Charlie Chaplin speak.

Not a bad effort, seeing as they are all long dead.

The venue for my encounter with fame was the ‘Night of the Notables’, a fantastic initiative of my kids’ school, Buckley Park College.

Year 7 students are required to select a famous person from the past, and design an exhibition to showcase the life and achievements of that person. The students get right into the spirit of the night, appearing in costume and fully prepared to answer questions from family and friends about the life and times of their chosen personage.

Some of the more enterprising students brought along snacks – most bearing a tenuous link to their chosen celebrity – to help attract the punters. Mmmm, chocolate cake and donuts.

My young bloke’s chosen notable was Alexander Fleming, inventor of penicillin. TMWC thought it would be fun to offer some mould-ridden bread to the visitors to his booth; unfortunately he couldn’t get the mould to grow properly so he had to make do without. (Note – he should have tried growing the mould in his trainers).

Congratulations students and staff on a job well done.

*LBJ wasn’t there; a cigar-smoking JFK was the closest I could find.

You’re Needs at You’re Price

No, I am not a complete grammar moron.

I wrote last month about the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks, which quite a few people enjoyed.

Apostrophe Abuse is a similar site that has been set up to highlight appalling use of the humble apostrophe.

Check out this classic:

If this tickles your fancy or gets your blood boiling, pay a visit to their site for much, much more of the same.

Simpsons Grammar Game

One of the assignments in my Editing class this year was to develop a fun and interactive way to teach grammar to students in Years 7-9. (i.e. aged 12-14 years).

With the help of Wakes from Wakelin Solutionz, my team developed a computer game based on characters from The Simpsons which runs along the lines of the TV show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

The game runs on MS-Excel and is simple to use. I think it turned out really well. If you’re interested in having a look, you can download it from the ‘Share Files’ section at the bottom of my sidebar (file size approximately 1.3mb).

When you run the file, make sure you ‘Enable Macros’ – otherwise the code won’t work.

The file sharing widget is courtesy of Box.net – I installed it especially for this game – let me know what you think.

PS – I haven’t asked Mr Murdoch for permission to use The Simpsons characters – hopefully he will be OK with this, given it is for educational purposes only!

This “site” is very “funny”

I have become quite the grammar Nazi this year. What choice do I have, with my Editing lecturer Marg in one ear every Wednesday, and the words of Lynne Truss’ Eats Shoots and Leaves ringing in the other?

This site, about the “inappropriate” use of quotation marks, appeals to my sense of “humour” – hope you enjoy it.

Gruntled and consolate – a story using non-standard negations

It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate.

I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way.   Click here to read the full story.