Free online courses seem to be all the rage at the moment. Heck, even my Dad has taken a few courses from some American universities. I've decided to take the plunge and am enrolled in a course offered by UQ:  Write101x: English Grammar and Style.

This choice of course may surprise some. "Aren't you a technical writer, Lucas?!". Yes, but whilst I think I can write fairly decently, for the most part I don't really know why. Trying to understand that 'why' is mostly why I'm taking this course.

This first week involved submitting a 300 word blog … Read more →

It's now been one year since I've been working as a technical writer. To say I've thoroughly enjoyed the work would be an understatement. I've always loved technology (as evidenced by this blog and an IT degree), and I've always loved writing (as evidenced by this blog and an Arts degree 😉 ), so I have to pinch myself that I have a job at a great company where I get paid to combine the two.

In this past year I have learned a lot more about both writing and technology. I've been exposed to some great experience in using … Read more →

The waters in Brisbane are receding, and for now the flood is largely over. The waters peaked on Thursday morning, and thankfully they peaked about 1 metre lower than the authorities were fearing. It didn't quite get up to the 1974 levels and this made the difference for a lot of people, but for many others their homes were still very much inundated.

The metre made the difference for my brother's house in Rocklea: it meant that the water stayed underneath his house and thankfully didn't get up to the floorboards of his living level.

At work the floods inundated … Read more →

I'm typing this entry quite distressed and tired. There's no other way to describe what's happening in Brisbane at the moment other than an unfolding 'disaster' in the true sense of the word. The whole city next to the river is beginning to flood in truly epic proportions.

When people were saying in the days before today that it could get as high as the fabled 1974 floods, i admit that i thought it was all media hype and exaggeration. Watching what is happening today, i have no doubt about that any more.

The amount of water coming down the … Read more →

It's been raining here like crazy over the past few days and weeks. The floods further west and north of the state have been devastating for entire communities. I really encourage everybody to give what they can to the flood relief appeal.

Although all this rain has dampened many peoples summer (quite literally), I for one am loving the lower than usual temperatures it has brought this season. I'm pretty sure you can count the number of 30+ degree days we've had this summer on one hand, and we're almost half way through the season. It's really quite unprecedented … Read more →