What Went Right - 6 FEB 2017

Another three articles from my mainstream media feeds about "what went right" rather than "what went wrong".

Vintage tractor collection helps keep retired farmer mentally fit by Tyne Logan (ABC Rural, Western Australia)

Mal Beeck of Katanning, Western Australia, has the unusual hobby of collecting and restoring vintage tractors. He says it keeps him mentally healthy during his retirement.

How the Sound of Music’s von Trapp family ended up teaching music in PNG by Jo Chandler (Earshot, ABC Australia)

This one is a deliberate "not bad news" story written by a journalist who has been doing stories about Papua New Guinea for a few years, and wanted to share some of the good things about the region as well as all the "newsworthy" stuff. So she's written about the history of the choir on Fergusson Island, in Milne Bay.

AFL Women's: 'Inspiring' opening round in the words of those who matter by ABC Grandstand (uncredited)

This article is a series of short interviews regarding the first round of the AFLW competition. Most of the interviews are with players, who appear to be overwhelmingly happy they're now able to play this sport on a semi-professional basis; the final interview is with a fan and amateur footballer.

So, there's the three for today. If you've found stories about "what went right" in your media feeds, why not share them in the comments?

The Joys of Unemployment: JobActive Providers.

Just got off the phone with my JobActive provider, AtWork Australia.

On January 30th, I attended an appointment with them, where I advised the Employment Consultant I was going to be undertaking tertiary study, and provided them with a copy of my timetable. I have a rather long and spotty history with AtWork - I've been on their books while doing tertiary study before, and one of their more ... endearing traits was their tendency to book me appointments at the office I was registered with (about a 15 minute drive from home) either at times where I was actually supposed to be in a lecture or tutorial, or at times where in order to get from the university campus to their office to be on time for the appointment (a 30 minute drive in good traffic conditions at best) I would have needed to be able to teleport.

I had hoped by providing a copy of my timetable to the Employment Consultant at my appointment on the 30th, I would avoid this particular problem.

I checked my email this morning, and discovered I've been booked with another appointment with them in March - at a time where I'm supposed to be in a lecture at the university campus. So I've just got off the phone from pointing out to their call centre staff that during the periods where I have lectures and tutorials I AM UNAVAILABLE FOR APPOINTMENTS (surely this should be obvious?) as well as the hour either side of those times. Apparently this information hadn't been entered into their system (the fact I was doing classes was entered in, but the actual times of those classes weren't. I'd be disappointed, except the miracle is the classes were entered in at all).

This seems to be a regular feature of their Employment Consultants - they're able to see what's directly in front of them, but they're not able to think past this to what it implies (for example: if someone is doing study, they're not going to be able to attend appointments during the times they're supposed to be in classes; if someone is working, they're not going to be able to attend appointments during the times they're supposed to be at work; etc). I'm thinking the skill is a massive triumph of compartmentalisation, although this may be me winning awards for "Greatest Benefit of Doubt Given".

I'm now wondering whether this is going to result in a re-scheduling of the appointment which is booked for 10am on Monday 20th of March, or whether I'm going to have to sort it out with the local office at the time I go in to drop off my proof of job search.

(Apparently this is all part of the requirements of Mutual Obligation. I'm obliged to supply my brainpower to point out the obvious to their staff, and they're obliged to give me reasons to do so).