GIVEAWAY: Microsoft Office 365

SPONSORED POST

Before I was a mum, or a blogger, or even a party girl, I was an office worker. A secretary. Seems so long ago now but working in the corporate world, sitting in front of a computer all day, was a huge part of my life. It was a love/hate relationship. One of the aspects I loved was using a computer. And I was (and still am) a big fan of Microsoft Office.

Now I'm not just saying this because I'm about to pitch to you a sponsored post about the latest Microsoft Office 365. I am telling you the truth. I love it.

I was crap at academic subjects at school but then in year 10 I got to choose 'computing' as an elective. We learnt the programing language Quick Basic and I actually enjoyed it. In year 11 we moved to Melbourne. I chose a school that had a huge focus on information technology. Now you might say, so what? But this was back in 1991 and "IT" subjects were all pretty new to the school curriculum.

I did Information Processing and Management, Information Technology in Society and Document Production. In the latter we learnt DOS based programs WordPerfect 5.1 which was a word processing application and Lotus 1-2-3 which was for spreadsheets. In the first two subjects we learnt Microsoft Works which was the precursor software to Microsoft Office and ran on Windows. Compared to the DOS programs this WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) operating system was AMAZING to my little 16 year old self. Right from the beginning I was hooked and I aced all three subjects.

In 1993 I started working in an office that only had that old fashioned blue screen of WordPerfect 5.1. Next I moved on to a job with Windows running Word 2.0 and in that same year we upgraded to Word 6.0. I can't tell you how exciting it was to get the latest version! All the new features: Autocorrect! Wingdings, autoformat, that red squiggly line under misspelled words that we now take for granted. Oh, so good.

This is the only photo of me that I could find from when I started working.
The year was 1993 or 94 and you can see I was really excited about something. Not.

With each new version more features were added (Wordart! Different bullet shapes!) to what started out to be a very basic program. Fast forward, ahem, 20 years and now we have Microsoft Office 365. Oh, how far we have come.

It has been five years since I have worked in an office but I still love using Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook for my everyday life as a mum and a blogger and soon to be Virtual Assistant:

• I type my blog posts, university assignments, letters, invoices, media kit, CV in Word.
• Keep track of my budget, weight and passwords in Excel.
• Create birthday cards and blog infographics in PowerPoint. 
• My many doctor's appointments, manicures, playdates, man-dates and babysitting duties are tracked in my Outlook calendar. 
• Outlook also manages my way too numerous email accounts and blog subscriptions.

I guess you can imagine how excited I was when the Digital Parents Collective gave me a free 12 month subscription for Office 365 to play with and tell you about. Very excited.

There are many cool new features. I don't have enough time to go through them with you now but if you want to find out some of the #OMGtips from users all over the world check out this site here.

Giveaway

I have five 12 month subscriptions to Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium to giveaway. Each subscription can be used on 5 different devices around your home. How cool is that?

All you have to do is give me your best #OMGtip on how you would use Microsoft Office 365 to make your busy life a little easier. I'll get my dad, who fancies himself as a bit of an Office wizz, to judge.

The rules

• Comment below with your best #OMGtip on how Microsoft Office 365 might make your life a little easier
• Subscribe to babblingbandit.me (see form below if you haven't already)
• Like the babblingbandit.me Facebook page
• This competition is only open to Australian residents
• Competition opens Wednesday 3 April 2013 and closes midnight Wednesday 10 April 2013
• Winners will be notified by email on Thursday 11 April 2013
• Judge's decision is final

Good luck!

V.



Disclaimer: I have received a complimentary subscription to facilitate this review. Digital Parents Collective covered the administration fee to host the giveaway. As always, all opinions expressed are purely my own in accordance with my disclosure policy.

Don't miss a single babble! Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

So what! I take antidepressants

Good morning!

If it is indeed morning where you are reading this right now. I'm just sitting here doing my morning thing, trying to think of something to blog about and I thought why not tell you about my morning routine.

My morning pretty much starts the same way every day. My four year old, who sleeps below me, wakes me up with "what are we going to do today?". We chat about what is planned and what the possibilities are for the day ahead.

Next, I climb down from my loft bed, go to the loo and head straight for the kitchen. Pretty normal stuff really. Kettle goes on, coffee gets spooned into the plunger, porridge gets made and I throw back a handful of tablets of various sizes, colours and shapes with a big slug of water. Ok, so that is the bit that is probably different from a lot of you out there.

I have been taking medication for my mood since mid 2007 when I first started skidding towards Rock Bottom. That's almost six years of popping various pills into my system in order to keep me from being depressed. This is my normal.

After trying many different types of antidepressants over the years I have finally settled into one that suits me and has been effective in keeping my mood as stable as pharmaceuticals can. Yeah, I still have ups and downs, as any regular readers would know. But those ups and downs are nowhere near as extreme as they were before I took my pills.

People often ask when I might consider getting off my meds. My answer is always the same: never. I have accepted that I will need to take brain chemistry altering substances for the rest of my life in order to maintain my current state of well being.

I take 40mg of Citalopram (antidepressant for depression and anxiety), 36mg of Concerta (psycho stimulant for mood and ADHD), 20mg of Pariet (for reflux) and two Super Krill oil tablets which are suppose to help with depression, anxiety and ADHD.

Please no stigma

Unfortunately a lot of people think that taking pills for my mind is bad. I don't understand what the problem is. Do they think I must be a crazy person, likely to do something weird or erratic if I forgot to take my pills? Or that I should just get over myself, toughen up and deal with life without the help of psychiatric medication?

There is still so much social stigma associated with taking antidepressants and of course with mental health in general. I've talked to a lot of people who feel shame about taking antidepressants. They do all they can to go off them or avoid taking them in the first place. Stigma sucks because it causes too many people out there to suffer unnecessarily. Some people might even avoid getting help at all because they don't want to appear weak or be judged badly by their friends, family or at work. In my opinion it is stigma that is crazy not the person seeking help.

I was so stoked when mental health issues were bought back in the spotlight with the movie Silver Linings Playbook. Jennifer Lawrence plays a widow who suffers depression after her husband is killed and who falls for a guy who is living with bipolar disorder. Jennifer's wonderful performance won her the Oscar for Best Actress. After accepting her award she was asked how the film might help the people with mental illness. Her reply was golden:

"I don't think we're going to stop until we get rid of the stigma for mental illness. I know David [the director] won't. And I hope that this helps. It's so bizarre how in this world, if you have asthma, you take asthma medicine; if you have diabetes, you take diabetes medicine; but as soon as you have to take medication for your mind, there's such a stigma behind it." - Jennifer Lawrence

It is bizarre!

I've attended three blogging conferences over the last 12 months and at each we were asked to think about what goals we have for our blogs. At the Digital Parents Conference I was able to cement at least one of my goals for babblingbandit.me: By writing about my personal issues with mental health I hope I can help, even just one teeny tiny bit, to break down the stigma of depression, anxiety and ADHD.

I am not ashamed of taking psychiatric drugs every day. But I do feel shame that our society still stigmatises people who do.


What do you think about the stigma of antidepressants and mental health?


V.




If you are having trouble with mental health issues the following links may be helpful
Life Line
Beyond Blue
SANE Australia
Black Dog Institute

These sites are great for younger people
itsallright.org
Headspace

If you have a friend who you think might be in trouble
Reachout.com

Top 5 tips for taking preschoolers to the Sydney Royal Easter Show

Noo and I went to the Sydney Royal Easter Show yesterday. We went along with an old friend of mine and her son who is the same age as Noo. The day had been weeks in the organising and both us mums and the boys were very excited to head out to Sydney Olympic Park for a day of fun and frivolity.

An awesome day was had by all but I left feeling we could do it better next year with a little planning. Here are my top tips on how to do the Sydney Royal Easter Show with preschoolers:

1. Get to bed early the night before

The night before I tried to explain to Noo that the Easter Show was where the country came to the city. Where farmers brought their livestock and produce into town to show and compete. We talked about seeing the baby animals and Noo was particularly keen to see the cats on show. We talked about the showbags and rides.

I can easily get hyped up on something I'm excited about and that rubs off on to Noo. That's probably not a good idea if I want my little boy to settle down for the night. He'd only just arrived back from a weekend away with his grandparents so he was already pretty excited to be back home with me. Needless to say settling down for bed was very difficult and he didn't get off to sleep until about 10.30.

The showgrounds are massive especially for little four year old legs to walk around in the blazing sun. Make sure you go well rested. You and the kids will need all the energy you can muster!

Top tip: Don't tell your preschooler that tomorrow is the day you are going to the Show. Surprise them. That way they will be more able to settle into sleep the night before.

2. Be prepared for whatever the weather may be

Easter has been very early this year falling on the last weekend of March. Top that off with unseasonably warm weather and we had a scorcher for our day at the Show. It felt like it was about 34 degrees Celsius in the shade but I've just checked the Bureau of Meteorology website and have been informed that the highest temperature recorded at the Sydney Olympic Park Archery Centre observation point was 29.9 degrees. Regardless, we sweated.

Noo and I met up with our friends at the entrance where we were greeted by a lovely woman from the Salvation Army. She was armed with a massive pump pack of sunscreen, stick on wrist bands and a permanent marker.  We lathered up the kids with sunscreen and labelled them with our mobile numbers in the event that one of the little scallywags got lost in the crowd.

It was around this time that I realised, in our haste to leave the house to get to the showgrounds by 10am, I forgot to put on deodorant . Forgetting such an essential part of my morning routine always sends my anxiety levels up as I constantly lift my arm to see if I've started to smell. Body odour is something I have no time for. In my extremely limited beauty regime spraying three squirts of Norsca under each pit is as critical to my well being as brushing my teeth. Norsca? You might ask. Yes, the original Norsca Forest Fresh is the only deodorant I use and have used since I was a teenager. I've tried others but I always go back to that familiar and reliable green bottle*. Even when I lived in London I stocked up when back in Australia on holidays... ok, back to the Show!

Top tip: If you forget to pack sunscreen hunt down a lovely Salvo and drop a few coins into the collection bucket in exchange for all sunscreen you need for your family. Provide a public service of your own and never forget to apply deodorant before leaving the house.

Cooling off in the heat at the Easter Show
- Noo with his green ice snowie tongue

3. Plan your route around the showgrounds before you enter

Whoever designed the current layout of the Easter Show had a cunning plan to relieve you of as much cash as possible from the minute you walk through the gate. There are three public entries. The one we came through had us arrive smack bang in the middle of the Kids Carnival. With lots of noise, flashing lights and rides swinging all over the place all four of us were bombarded with a sensory overload and excitement levels started to rise with the heat. In exchange for $22 each we got 20 ride tokens per kid which sounds like good value until you discover that each ride costs between four and eight tokens depending on this size and exhilaration of the ride.

The kids had a few rides and before we knew it it was time to have something to eat. The heat was incredibly exhausting and we stopped constantly for snowies and other icy beverages. When we were finally able to drag the boys away from the rides we headed around the grounds in an anti clockwise direction, missing the farm animals I discussed with Noo the night before. This was a mistake because we never got back there and my plans to educate Noo on the cuteness of baby farm animals importance of the farming industry in Australia were dashed completely.

Top tip: Print out the Easter Show map and plan your trip before you enter the showgrounds. Avoid getting hypnotised by carnie rides causing your family to miss out on what the Easter Show is all about - agriculture!

Don't spend too much time in the carnival zones or you too might miss out on the baby animals

4. Set a budget and leave your cash card in the car

If you're a spendaholic like I am and are easily sucked in by colourful plastic bags full of junk promising joy and laughter for your foreseeable future leave your ATM debit card in the car. Only carry the amount of cash that you actually want to spend. Everywhere you turn at the Easter Show someone is trying to get your money off you. Whether the demo guy showing off the latest steam mop or the carnie with no teeth but enough charm to twist your arm into parting with $10 for a carnival game ("Every kid wins a prize!") there are folk everywhere trying to get you to spend your cash.

By the end of the day I actually felt quite grotty about it all. This is the worst aspect of the Easter Show. It is laden with cheap tacky merchandise that has been packaged up as new or different when really you can get most of it anywhere. I solved my deodorant debacle by spending $6.95 for a small can of Linx for men (it was cheaper than the $9 BO buster for chicks on sale at the chemist on site). I felt completely scammed but at least I didn't stink.

The showbag pavilion was amazing in just how much junk there was available. But god it looks good when all that stuff is displayed up on the boards. I got suckered in and dropped $100 on 10 showbags. That sounds like a good deal but some of them were really small without much in them at all.

Food onsite was also very exy. I regretted not getting a pie in the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome. They looked bloody good and not from a commercial supplier. Noo and I ended up sharing a gozleme from one of the greasy takeaway food trucks. It was OK but nowhere near as good as the ones we get from the markets that are made fresh before your eyes. The ones at the show came from a packet I saw taken from a freezer. Ewww.

Top tip:  Take as much cash as you want to spend and leave your ATM debit card in the car or at home. 

$100 in these here 10 bags of junk

5. Love the cake and art comps? Leave the kids at home

I love checking out the cake competitions but the boys were not that keen. Fair enough too. How many fruit cakes does a four year old boy need to see? Noo got a bit stroppy going through this display. He was tired and hungry and even declared he wanted to go home.

Top tip: Leave the preschoolers at home if you really want to look at cakes and art on display. 

That pig was the only animal we saw all day.

The Sydney Easter Show is great fun

Noo and I had a great time catching up with our friends and even though it was uncomfortably hot and I spent a huge amount of money we are looking forward to going again next year. We'd just do it a little differently.

On the Ferris wheel above the show.

Are you from Sydney and planning to go to the Royal Sydney Easter Show? 

What are your favourite things to do at the show?


V.







*This comment is not sponsored. I just love, love, love Norsca Forest Fresh and should they want to work with me I'm available.