Warning: Very Cute Dog Alert

I've been wittering on for some time now about wanting a dog. The wittering goes unheeded because the devastating logic of the matter is that having a dog wouldn't be terribly practical, but I still dream.
But then I see an article like the one on the Mail's site today and I start to think I might just have to stick two metaphorical fingers up at logic. The dog in the story somehow managed to get his head stuck in the plughole of a discarded sink. As if that weren't embarrassing enough, his owners took photos and now they're all over the internet - the poor chap may never live it down.
Thankfully he and the sink were separated at the vet's, but take a moment to imagine that journey: one fluffy puppy wearing a rather large sink - just getting him through the door must have been quite a manoeuvre.
There's a photo of him sitting on the floor of the surgery, minus his unusual neckware, looking rather bemused by it all. That's the photo that does it for me. So, what are the opening times at the animal shelter?

And They Pay You Too?

A few years ago I saw the advert for 'the best job in the world' working for Tourism Queensland taking care of a beautiful island and acting as a guide for visitors. I'll admit, I indulged in a private daydream of living on a paradise island and being paid for it, but I figured I was probably lacking in a few key skills.
The winning applicant was Ben Southall, who put together a video extolling his virtues as the perfect man for the job. He's now put together another video, advertising another six 'best jobs in the world' working in Oz such as taking care of wildlife, or being a park ranger, or an outback adventurer or even being chief 'funster' in Sydney.
The pay looks good, the work looks amazing, and it's all a fantastic advertising campaign for Australia. They really know how to do PR down under.
Now, I may have to get a little creative with my CV. I mean, swimming to me barely gets beyond floating around a nice warm swimming pool on my back and I'm terrified of spiders and I think bungee jumping is utter madness, but I wield a mean camera and I like koalas! I wonder what my chances are ...

Exploring the Galaxy

Not the large and rather dangerous spacey kind of galaxy - I refer, of course, to my continuing explorations of the Samsung Galaxy Note. I've already been using the Polaris Office suite for writing and story planning, but after a degree of practise I'm beginning to realise the potential of SNote. The tablet comes with a 'pen' which allows the user to handwrite or draw, much as you would with paper and pencil. The Note can then take your handwriting and convert it to text. It can even match basic shapes, so a roughly drawn circle, for example, can become a perfect orb. It's a little buggy, and sometimes strange things happen, but it's entirely possible that's due to user error!
I've now realised SNote can help me with my hobby of making greetings cards. Not the flowery, oh so pretty variety so beloved of the card making magazines - I'm just not that sort of girl. The cards I make are fairly specific to the recipient and normally involve a degree of research and sketching and thrashing out of ideas. I used to plan my cards by drawing, sketching and scribbling ideas on scraps of paper, which I would then lose, but now it can all be done in SNote. I can hunt down inspiration online, use the pen to 'lasso' an image, or part of an image, and import it as a screenshot into my document in SNote. Once there, I can annotate it with scribbled notes or strange little doodles over and around it. It's revolutionised the R&D phase of my card making. Another tick for the tablet.
Furthermore, we've been using it to create info books for our summer holiday, downloading maps and images from the internet, listing local attractions and important information on the areas we'll be visiting. I know, that may sound a little anoraky, but experience has taught us that information can be harder to find once on holiday. Besides, all this planning is fun!
If only I could learn foreign languages so easily! No doubt the Galaxy could do that too, if only I could figure out how!

Public Service Announcements

There are a few companies who really know how to make their public services announcements hit home. Possibly most notable among them is, of course, Metro Trains' 'Dumb Ways to Die' video extolling people to stay safe around their trains. It would seem they're pretty good at this sort of thing down under, because Air New Zealand is becoming famous for its in flight safety videos. The Telegraph has put together an article featuring some of them. I particularly like the hobbit one.
This post took a little while to put together because I had to watch 'Dumb Ways to Die' all over again. I was just testing I had the right page, but once it started playing I couldn't bring myself to stop it!

A Home Among the Books

I was intrigued to read about the 'middle aged' homeless man who had been living in a Cambridge college library for six weeks. The St John's College library is only accessible by students with security cards, but it's believed the man smuggled himself in with a group of students during busy periods. Suspicions were eventually raised by students and he was asked to leave by staff. It would seem he wasn't doing any harm, just looking for a safe place to rest. Am I the only one thinking the students who ratted him out should be feeling just a little guilty now?

Stories to Inspire

Allow me to set the scene: a chill wind blows, a young man trudging through the thick snow stops to ask directions from a restaurateur. The restaurateur is surprised by the young man's destination, knowing it to be at least another six miles away. Nevertheless, he tells him the way. Shortly afterwards, driving down the road with his wife, he spots the young man again, still ploughing through the snow. He offers him a lift, they start chatting, and it turns out the young man is walking to an interview for a minimum wage job. He has no money for a bus, but needs a job to support his brothers and sisters following his mother's death, so he's prepared to walk, through the snow, ten miles both ways for an interview. The restaurateur, impressed by the young man's determination, immediately offers him a job in his own restaurant on double the minimum wage.
And then there are the photographs of the Buddhist monks celebrating Makha Bucha. I'd love that first picture as wallpaper on my screen, it's just stunning. The world is a pretty amazing place really, once you sweep aside celebrity and politics.
Hope that's put you in a good mood. It's certainly inspired me.

55 Years of Lego

Here's one to get you thinking. To celebrate their 55th birthday, Lego have released a quiz. They have created pictures using Lego bricks to illustrate well-known books, films, songs etc. There were a couple that had me completely stumped, but thankfully the Telegraph has printed the answers on the last page in their gallery.
Good luck, and Happy Birthday Lego!