December 2011

Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic! (this is my newest mantra)

by frogpondsrock on December 31, 2011

in ceramics,friendship,potential insanity

I am not panicking but the temptation is there internet, the temptation is there.

Do you remember when I mentioned I was having an exhibition on January the 26th with Eve Howard? An exhibition that was mostly all my friend Eve’s idea? Well internet, Eve has reluctantly cancelled as she is too busy to do our Albatross exhibition justice and we will have a fabulous joint show together at a later date.

This in itself isn’t enough to make me panic, not even enough to make me falter in my artistic stride internet. No, not at all.

What has made me contemplate panicking is the fact that another exhibitor at the Off Centre Micro Gallery has cancelled their booking and because of this cancellation, I decided to bring the date of my exhibition forward 2 weeks.

Commence panicky breathing and OH MY FUCKING GODS now.

That means that I have to have my work ready in TWELVE DAYS internet. Not the luxurious twenty six days I had up my sleeve yesterday.

12 days.

Eeek.

On the upside, I have asked another ceramic friend of mine, the very talented Philadelphia Hansen-Viney to share the space with me. Philly is going to bring some of her work up here tomorrow and we will do a bisque firing on Monday and then I plan to do a glaze firing by next Saturday the 7th of January at the very very latest.

I am going to be cutting it very very fine internet.

Very fine indeed.

I will keep you posted.

*image by Robin Roberts.

{ 17 comments }

The problem with Paypal and why I am considering closing my Paypal account. A warning to other bloggers.

by frogpondsrock on December 28, 2011

in blogging,real life

In the middle of raising the funds for Annie’s iPad, unbeknown to me, Paypal limited my account. That is why some of you were unable to donate.

Luckily for us and for Annie, Paypals actions didn’t affect our outcome as the gorgeous Nathalie had teed up a discounted iPad from her local Apple Store.

Marita went ahead and purchased Annie’s iPad on her credit card, knowing that the funds that you had generously donated would be available.

Mission accomplished internet. Annie has her iPad.

Can you imagine my dismay that same afternoon, when I went to send Marita the money and I saw this message.

Basking in the happy afterglow of our achievement, I should have been skipping around the house saluting the generostity of my lovely internetz. Instead I was left with an administrative headache that I didn’t want to talk about online, in case it put a downer on the collective happiness we were all feeling.

I was presented with a series of hoops I was required to jump through in order to get my account up and running again.

I managed to confirm my identity without any problems. I then had to upload a recent bank statement which I was loathe to do. Giving paypal that sort of information about my recent financial history made me very, very uncomfortable, but I did it.

Then I really hit a stumbling block, as I had used a donate button I had to explain my charity’s mission statement. Oh dear. I am not a charity I am just a person who wanted to harness the power of the internet to give a little girl an iPad. This is when I  rang Paypal and began the five day process of lifting the limitations on my account.

Luckily for me, Marita was happy to wait until the Paypal funds were cleared and she refused my offer of paying her the cash myself.

Five days from start to finish, three phonecalls and various administrative hoops later, your money internet, is in Marita’s bank.

And I am sitting here trying to work out  all the reasons why I am grumpy with paypal.

I am grumpy because paypal took $27.00 in charges.

I wasn’t aware of these sort of fees being applied. When I have donated in the past using paypal I just assumed that all of my donation would go through. So I am grumpy with my own naivety as well as Paypals business practice.

When I was talking to one of Paypals customer service representatives he told me that blogs were in a regulatory grey area and that the sort of limitations that were put on my account were quite common. He gave me the usual spiel about terrorism and money laundering and financial laws, etc. etc.

As I went higher up the corporate food chain the attitude of the employees wasn’t exactly condescending but it was  tinged with a subtle arrogance. There was an undertone in the conversation that suggested that I was swimming in murky financial waters.

I am writing this blog post as a warning to other bloggers to be careful when using  Paypal to raise money. Because even though a Paypal donate button with the tracker widget is a lovely and convenient way to raise money. It is also quite a headache trying to get your account up and running again if Paypal decide to limit your account.

All in all 32 lovely people donated $725 minus the $27 in fees and I was able to transfer $698 to Marita last night.

Now the question I ask myself is, “Would I do it again?” Yes I would, but I would have to think of a better way to collect the money raised rather than being at the mercy of Paypal. I think the fact that I presented myself as “high profile” Australian blogger helped to hurry along the procedure.  As once I started to google Paypal complaints I found that some people have been waiting a long time to sort out these sorts of issues.

Anyhow internet, once again thankyou so very very much for helping to make this Christmas so very special for one little girl.

And as for you Paypal, I havent quite decided what to do about you just yet.

 

{ 28 comments }

Macro Photography.

by frogpondsrock on December 26, 2011

in Arty stuff..,fauna and flora,Fun,photography

When I bought my Nikon D90 last year, I also invested in two good lenses. My standard go with me everywhere lens is an 18-200mm lens and I use this lens 90% of the time. I also bought  an 105mm macro lens which I use in fits and bursts.

I am not one of those technical minded photographers that can tell you what settings I use. I didn’t do much more than glance at the instruction booklet that came with the camera before I was off outside taking crappy photos and wondering if a DSLR really had been the best choice of camera for me. Once I saw the clarity of image that the D90 produced I was hooked and I kept on taking zillions of crappy photos mixed in with the occasional gem.

When I am outside taking photos I get distracted by the play of light and shade, shadows beguile me and textures and surfaces of everyday things send me off into ceramic daydreams.

I am a Ceramist not a photographer. I really honestly do not have a clue what I am doing and I don’t pretend otherwise. I just photograph the things I like and when I can’t get the shot I want, rather than go to my handy dandy copy of “Nikon d90 For Dummies” I ring my daughter Veronica.

The other day I was explaining to Von that my insect photos were always blurry in the wrong spots. Veronica very patiently explained about depth of field for the zillionth time but this time my lovelies it actually sunk in.

So for the past few days I have been having heaps of fun with my macro lens. Yay!

 

{ 11 comments }

Annie has her iPad.

by frogpondsrock on December 22, 2011

in friendship

Hi internet. You have made me very very happy. In less than four hours we managed to give a little girl an iPad.

You should all be very very proud of yourselves.

Whilst I was out braving the Christmas madness in the supermarket I received a phone call from the gorgeous Nathalie from Easy Peasy Kids.

Nathalie had rung her local Apple Store and between them they arranged a discounted iPad for Annie.

Together we raised $725.00 in four hours, which pays for Annie’s iPad as well as some groovy Apps.

I think I might have something in my eye.

{ 5 comments }

An iPad for Annie

by frogpondsrock on December 22, 2011

in Uncategorized

I want to raise enough money for an iPad for Annie who has Autism.

Annie and Heidi are the daughters of a friend of mine, Marita Beard who blogs as Stuff with Thing

Both girls have autism. Because Heidi received her diagnosis before she was 6 years old, Heidi received an iPad, thanks to the FaHCSIA Helping Children with Autism Funding.

Because Annie received her Diagnosis of Aspergers when she was older than six, Annie doesn’t qualify for any funding.

I read this post by Marita and watched the 30 second youtube clip made by Annie saying that Autism doesn’t end when you are seven.

And I decided that I would like to try and raise the money to get an iPad for Annie.

Heidi has a 64GB $799 model.

Do you reckon that we can raise enough money to get the same one for Annie?

I reckon we can.

 *Updated* Hey internet We did it! Annie now has an iPad.

Nathalie from Easypeasykids spoke to her local Apple Shop and they have supplied Annie with an iPad at a bit of a discount!

Thank you all so very very much. We raised The money in four hours. I am so very very proud of you internet.

{ 44 comments }

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