One of my associates here in St. Lucia was recently offered a job at the conclusion of a Skype interview. I asked her how she did it.. aside probably being the only applicant, she said what she and her colleague in the same field did was immediately following an interview write down as many interview questions as they could remember. They then created an interview question library and would be sure to have answers prepared for any of the possible questions they might be asked by revising the question list before any interviews. This seemed like such a great idea and such a bit of common sense I decided I would try to develop the same type of tool.
I have been madly applying for jobs lately and gotten quite a few interviews. No offers yet.. but lots of difficult questions to which I sometimes do stumble coming up with answers. So, I have started keeping an interview question library to help me prepare better for future interviews and nail that potential job offer!
These questions have been given to me at interviews for positions with the following role titles:
Information Access Advisor
Adviser Information Services
Educational Developer
And here is the list, which I will continue to update!
Today I made my own fermenter out of an old olive jar and an airlock I bought at at thrift shop ages ago.
I got a “grommet” from the brew shop, and then came home and drilled a hole in the plastic lid of the olive jar.
I sterilised all the bits and then used this recipe for hot pink jalapeño garlic kraut. Except I used half regular cabbage and half red cabbage cause that is what I had around. I ended up using about 2 kgs of cabbage so upped the garlic, chilli and salt accordingly. I hope even though it’s only 50% red cabbage it will still end up looking awesomely hot pink!
I’m excited to see if my experiment works! I have always wanted to try fermenting foods but was too worried about doing it all wrong.
Now that I have mastered pickling and preserving (and haven’t died from eating contaminated food) I am getting more adventurous.
I’ll be sure to update this blog with the results.
Last week the Fabric Store was having a leather sale… I had had my eye on a few pieces but given the fact that I don’t have a walking foot or heavy duty machine I thought I wouldn’t be able to sew it, and resisted the temptation.
But I couldn’t handle the allure of a sale! I got an amazing piece of bright orange leather and a smaller piece of brown leather at very discounted prices. So, I decided I needed to sort out my leather sewing situation.
I thought I would try putting it through my Necchi Lydia 3 machine that I got for $20 at a garage sale, which seems fairly heavy duty.
Neck Lydia 3 – Most beautiful sewing machine ever.
Surprisingly, the Necchi sewed through two layers of quite thick leather!
I am so pleased with the results!
My first try turned into an awesome pouch that is exactly the size of my iPad mini, which I put a magnetic snap closure on, and covered it with a bit of wax print fabric.
The leather for the pouch I got from the leather working class I did with the community education centre a few months ago. When I cut it out I had no particular use in mind, amazingly it is exactly the size of my iPad mini!
Confidence boosted by the initial success with the Necchi, I thought I would try a more challenging project – a lined laptop sleeve. I had a piece of fabulous gold leather I got at Made on Marion from the scraps bin a few months ago that was somewhat big but a bit irregularly shaped.
I traced the size of my laptop onto it and cut it into a large rectangle, which I folded in half then sewed the sides up. The Necchi handled it, barley skipping a stitch!
I cut out some lining also from a wax print and attached it by sewing around the top edge with the right sides of the leather and lining together. Then I pulled the whole bag through a hole in the lining and tucked it inside then closed the hole. I was really nervous the machine would go all wrong but surprisingly I had no trouble.
I’m seriously proud of my first attempts and sewing leather, they look professional.
I also made some very hot sauce today, like 4 litres of it, which I bottled. I have no idea what to do with all this hot sauce!
I used the last kg or 2 of jalapeños I picked at Penray farm the week before last, and some onion, carrot, and a tin of tomatoes, along with some vinegar, the zest & juice of 1 orange, mustard seeds, ground cloves, and some sugar.
It’s got a nice Caribbean flavour but is really really hot so I have no idea how I will use all of it.
Can’t see anything
Ridiculous queues for toilets
Disorganised staff never responded to my volunteer application
30 C and no shade (and no umbrellas/parasols allowed!)
Most artists only get 30 minute sets
Drunk teenage girls puking everywhere (at one point simultaneously 1 meter away on both my left and right sides)
You can’t bring “branded” food in (wtf?!)
$$$$$$$$
I don’t know why such awesome artists keep agreeing to play because seriously this festival is such shit, I’ve said it before but when you booked Belle and Sebastian AND St. Vincent I couldn’t resist… But seriously, NEVER AGAIN.
It’s become a lowest common denominator/sell as many tickets as possible scenario that self respecting music fans should actively avoid.
Or maybe I’m just old and jaded and full of hate?
For the past few months I have been noticing pain in my right hand when I wake up in the morning due to the thumb and first three fingers being numb. I also have noticed when I bend my arm too sharply for a long period of time those fingers and my thumb will go numb. I kept hoping the pain would go away, and wondering what was causing it (cycling? a pinched nerve or muscle pull during BodyPump?). The pain did get better though… while I was on holiday at Christmas and New Years. Then, 3 weeks after returning to work, I started waking up with burning pain in my right hand again.
So I put two and two together and realised it must be work related. Yes I know what you are thinking, “duh”. But I have everything set up right! I have a gel wrist pad for my mouse and my workstation has been assessed and deemed ergonomic.
So I booked an appointment with my GP, and went in on Friday. When I described what I was experiencing he said “You probably have looked this up on the Internet already and know that it’s carpal tunnel syndrome, but don’t panic”.
First of all, amazingly, for some reason, I actually hadn’t looked it up on the Internet. For most issues Google would be my first diagnostic tool, but for this one, it just seemed to slip my mind. I guess in my head I just kept thinking “There could be a million reasons why my hands are going numb”. It was only after I went to see a massage therapist and I describe the pain in my hand she said it was most likely overuse and spent about 20 minutes massaging my forearm, which was then painfully sore for 3 days.
So I booked in to see the GP and he confirmed what I had begin to suspect, and when I heard “carpal tunnel” my first thought was “now I am fucked for the rest of my life.”.
Luckily he informed me that there are a number of treatments and most are very effective, with a simple surgery being a last resort but able to take care of the issue. He referred me to a hand physiotherapist and asked me if I wanted a shot of cortisone in my hand, which was also an effective treatment that could have benefits lasting up to a year.
I said sure, not thinking it would be a difficult procedure.
Imagine searing pain shooting up the nerve in your hand. And then, intense sharp pain every time you tried to use that hand for the next 48 hours, slowly subsiding but still recognisiable now, on Sunday evening.
The ridiculous thing is that I have worked on computers my entire adult life, however it was not until I started working at the Open Polytechnic 1.5 years ago, a distance education provider, where I engage in personal email correspondence with my 50+ students 5 days a week, using a standard mouse, that I have started having this pain.
Luckily they have been responsive thus far to the issue and have ordered me an ergonomic mouse and a standing desk.
In the meantime I am gaining appreciation for many things I used to take for granted, having 2 fully functioning hands, that I am no longer able to do with such ease, including:
grinding pepper onto my salad
slicing vegetables
opening a jar of peanut butter
getting my knickers off to have a wee
hooking/unhooking my bra
being able to brake on my bicycle
tying my shoelaces
clipping the fingernails of my left hand
putting earring backs on
washing dishes
scraping cake batter into a baking dish
and so much more..
It’s really surprising how many things you need two hands for, your at least access to your dominant hand. I won’t even bother trying to knit for a while.
I’m hoping I haven’t permanently damaged myself. I guess I will find out Tuesday when I see the hand physiotherapist.
I have been spending all of my free time sewing lately.
Some of my latest creations:
I used Simplicity 1666 to make a top and a skirt. I liked how the top turned out but knew that I would need to make the skirt a bigger size. Unfortunately the way the patterns are sold the one I bought (6-14) does not have larger sizes… so I guessed and tried to cut it about a 16 or 18, and even so, the skirt was tiny and I fear I may bust a seam when sitting!
I used some fabric I ordered online from AliExpress that looked quite different on the computer than it did when it turned up… for a while I hated it but I decided I should try to make something with it, and actually I am loving the top. It’s pretty colourful but not too overwhelming when worn with black trousers or jeans.
There’s a fairly good description of the construction here.
I found that the zipper is probably unnecessary unless you are particularly big busted (and need to do some bust adjustments). However this project did make me really appreciate the importance of stay-stitching, a step I usually skip. Never again! It really made the neckline turn out much nicer, and only takes a few minutes.
Once again I broke out the Burda 7486 and made some trousers-
this time I ended up making 3 pairs – one in a black silk it the turned out also too small (curse my damn big booty!), one in rayon, and one in fluro orange with a slight stretch that I also added a fabulous reflective piping detail to when the cuff is turned up!
These are my new cycling trousers.
I’ll post more pictures when they come out of the wash.
This was particularly helpful for some of the more difficult aspects of this project.
The biggest challenge with this bag was finding all the supplies! It took me a visit to Spotlight, and Made on Marion, and extensive internet searching to figure out what I needed and where to get it from!
I could not figure out what Jiffy Rivets were at Spotlight (they had all different sorts of eyelets and etc. but none of them looked right), and lobster clasps were $5 a pair! I got a few d-rings (which later I discovered were cheaper at Made on Marion) and a magnet clasp (also $5 for 1!!) which they did not seem to have at Made on Marion. The best option is probably to go to the Dump Shop (Trash Palace in Poriua or Second Treasures in Happy Valley) and buy a 2nd hand laptop bag for $3, and then you get 2 lobster clasps and 2 d-rings that can be recycled.
So… bad construction. I also learnt quite a lot here. For example – fusible interfacing will not fuse to waterproof synthetics! I bought 1 metre of “waterproof canvas” from Spotlight, and also had a bit of vinyl lying around that I used to make the bag. The interfacing would not fuse to either, and the “canvas” in particular has very little stiffness, so my bag is very floppy, which especially in the flap is annoying.
However, I discovered that this makes the bag easily tuck-awayable into my other pannier, so I can have it for an emergency pannier bag rather than always lugging around a 2nd pannier basket in case I decide I want to stop at the supermarket on the way home.
On a side note I am so sick of my workmates always commenting on how I look like a hobo with all my bags and gear… I keep trying to explain to them all I usually am carrying is my lunch and my gym gear but I like to have an extra bag in case case I want to do some grocery shopping on my way home… but they still act as if I am some crazy weirdo. Please, just leave me alone workmates.
Anyway here is my finished Cooper, which I am happy with as a first go, but have some definite ideas about how to change it in a 2nd version. Notice the lining is the same fabric as shown above for the Simplicity outfit.
Cooper FrontCooper BackCooper liningCooper insid
A few other comments about construction –
I am concerned about the durability of the bike-rack clasps here, because the straps attaching them to the bag are quite narrow in the pattern (25 mms), and short. I don’t think as written this pattern could handle carrying a very heavy load. if you are like me and you buy 2 kgs of chick peas and cheese by the block you really need a bag that can handle some weight. So, for this version I increased the width of the fabric straps holding on the d-rings an the lobster clasps. For a future creation I would also lengthen the d-ring attachment straps, making them go all the way to the bottom gusset seam, and possibly add some rivets to help secure them.
Also I like the modifications Squishy Lab made – adding a cross body strap and shortening the height. Also the wool is beautiful! So, some inspiration of my future creations.
New Zealanders don’t really know what Sloppy Joes are, yet the longer I stay away from the US the more nostalgic I get for childhood comfort foods. Sloppy Joes are something I have been thinking about lately, since spying a tin of Manwich at a grocery shop in Apia. On side note I was strangely confused/comforted by the availability of American junk food in Samoa. I brought home a jar of Goober (the pre-mixed peanut butter & jelly stuff my mom would never buy for me despite pleading for it at the supermarket as a child).
Warwick asked me about the pervasiveness of Sloppy Joes. Do any chain restaurants have them? I said yes, thinking maybe Arby’s does? (He had never heard of Arby’s so assumed it was not actually a well known eating establishment in the States). I’m not sure if Arby’s actually has Sloppy Joes but some chain restaurant must do? It’s common enough yet I don’t think I have ever actually ordered a Sloppy Joe in a restaurant. I only remember eating them at parties and family gatherings. I don’t think it was something my mother ever made either (though maybe my step dad did once or twice?).
Then he advised me that since Sloppy Joes hadn’t filtered down through popular media (TV, film, etc) to New Zealand it must not actually be a wide-spread food. I tried to argue it was and I think soon to become quite popular outside the US as it seems like all somewhat white-trash kitschy American foods are getting claimed by foodies everywhere and becoming gourmet-ified. So here is my gourmet vegetarian Sloppy Joes recipe I came up with, and it was yum (despite Warwick calling it “slop”).
Vegetarian Sloppy Joes with lentils, paneer and TVP
Boil ½ cup French lentils in veg stock
Add ½ small TVP (mince or peanut sized chunks) to lentils & stock after 20 minutes.
Boil for another 5 minutes then strain.
Add 2 tbs oil to a heavy bottom pot
Sautee 1 chopped onion
Add 2 cloves of garlic
1 chopped green bell pepper/capsicum
1 chili pepper (I used 1 small Thai chilli, then later added chipotle chilli, depends how spicy you like it)
Add ½ tsp smoked paprika
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs brown sugar
Sautee 5 minutes more
Crumble in ½ block of paneer (1 cup crumbled, 2”x2’x4” inches of the block? I get Gopala paneer from the local Indian shop and I love it. You can substitute tofu for paneer for vegan Sloppy Joes)
Add lentils & TVP
Add 1 tin tomatoes (whole or chopped)
Add veg stock to just cover eveyrthing
Salt & pepper
1 tbs chipotle Tabasco (or something similar with a smoky spicy favour)
Some liquid smoke – depending on the brand I have found this stuff really varies in strength, what I have at the moment (Angel Foods Liquid Hickory) is really strong and I only added a bit (1/4 tsp?). Don’t go crazy with the liquid smoke, you only need a bit or it can take on an overwhelming smokiness.
Give this all a good stir, cover, and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on for 10 or 15 minutes.
Let this all simmer for about an hour, with the lid off, stirring regularly (and making sure it doesn’t stick on the bottom).
Sift a few tablespoons of flour into the mix if it’s too wet – it needs to hold together enough to stay on a bun.
Serve on a nice bun. We topped ours with rocket, and a cabbage/carrot coleslaw.
I really enjoyed the Sloppy Joes, it brought me right back to childhood birthday parties! Warwick ate two so he must have liked them as well.
Sorry it didn’t occur to me at the time to take a photo. I also wonder if it would work as well in a slow cooker… something to try for next time.
My mum came to visit, we spent some time up at the in-law’s farm, and we had fun sightseeing in the Coromandel.
Then, she went home, and I went back to work for a busy week before heading to Samoa to spend 4 weeks doing research on information behaviour.
It was so beautiful and I had such an amazing time.
I really enjoyed meeting some of the Peace Corps Samoa volunteers. It brought me right back to my days in Benin, despite that being about 10 years ago!
Since returning it’s been full on with teaching and research. Trimester 2 has just started and I am teaching User Education & Reference Skills, a course I really enjoy. I managed to finish off an article and have submitted it to Information Research for publication. Fingers crossed it turns into a A ranked output!! I am also finishing up work on another article I hope to get submitted by the end of August. Then, I can really dive into analysis of my Samoan data.
However, whilst writing up the current paper that looks at my research methodology I have managed to get side tracked thinking about a lot of subjective factors that can really influence the successful outcomes of research projects. In particular I have been considering the role of a researcher’s personality and “emotional intelligence” in interviewing, as well as research ethics and working with different cultures. It’s really quite fascinating but could also be an entire paper on its own, so how do I squeeze it into my methodology paper? Despite these challenges I think it’s important to consider the role these kinds of factors play. I can’t recommend a research methodology for others to use if the methodology doesn’t work if you don’t have the same personality as me, right?
So, some things I am considering while trying to stay focussed.
And tonight I am looking forward to seeing Florian Habicht’s documentary about Pulp as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival. I think they are even going to Skype in Jarvis Cocker after the film!
Here are some images of my latest sewing creations:
My three pairs of trousers made from Burda 7486. I have another pair in a black stretch denim as well. I quite like this pattern. From left to right:
Birds and birdcages
Diamonds (bling print)
The rightmost-print is not actually African wax – it’s just an ethnic-y style cotton print I got at a jumble sale.
Some other creations:
Shorts, these are made from Vogue 2532. Not my favourite pattern – the way the shorts are constructed with the pockets in the side seam means the pockets bulge out unattractively. I have not re-used this pattern since.
This is a self drafted pattern, using this awesome umbrella print! Unfortunately after sewing it together I realised that I have two big blue umbrellas right over my nipples.
Here is another self-drafted dress. This one is basically one large piece with kimono-style-ish wide sleeves. It does have a slit along the side too so I can ride my bike in it. I love this print and this dress – it’s probably not showcased very well here on the washing line but it’s very flattering and probably my favourite creation so far this year.
Well, until I finished my jacket:
Yes, it is the same print as one of my pairs of trousers above. I could wear an entire bling wax print suit! This was made using variation A of Burda 7135.
It took me about 18 hours to complete, and using a figure of $25 an hour as my typical hourly wage, plus materials, this jacket is worth about $500 NZD. But I say it’s priceless! Anyway I managed to learn a few new things while I was at it. I’m planning to make another one soon – that way I will be able to practise the new skills again before I have forgotten them and hopefully get better at stuff like a notched collar and welt pockets.
I put the buttonholes/buttons on the wrong side (it buttons like a man’s coat). But they’re cute buttons right?!
These pockets are a hot mess!
I managed to melt the acetate lining when ironing the sleeve cuff… also there’s supposed to be some kind of “vent” in the sleeve that I haven’t yet figured out how it’s supposed to work.
It may be hard to tell from this photo but my collar and lapels are really sloppy looking. This is even after completely taking the entire collar apart and re-sewing all 8 pieces, clipping, trimming, etc. etc. very painstakingly and delicately! I still can’t figure out why it looks so sloppy – I tried really hard to line everything up neatly. I think the problem is that I still haven’t figured out which seams cause which effects on the finished garment – and what needs to be lined up with what. I’m a “global learner” according to some tests my students have to take, and I think that means if I can’t see the “big picture” I struggle. So, hopefully doing a lapel and notched collar for a 3rd time (or maybe 4th if my next jacket needs it to be done twice like this one did) I will have a better idea of how it all works.
Also the collar is a bit floppy – I will definitely use some interfacing for some of the pieces in my next version. I don’t know why the pattern itself doesn’t recommend interfacing those pieces?
Any, it looks fabulous regardless, and I am happy to wear it even if it is a bit sloppy looking. Luckily the print is so busy it’s hard to notice all the flaws!
quaking blog 
