Kevin wonders where the money wented

As part of the stimulus package our area school at Orroroo gets some $800,000. Yahoo Buckeroo!

That’s OK, BUT! Here’s the builder that you’ve been allocated (let’s call him XYZ Constructions).

Comms begin:

Right lets get down to see what we’ll get for that sorta munney.

Well we’d like, “blah, blah, blah”.

The Rub

Sorry, no way, can’t do it.

Well, what can we have?

Oh you might get 4 classrooms, after we remove the old couple there.

So, 4 classrooms with a wet area in each, building on-site will be too expensive ‘cos of living away stuff so we’ll transport an’ plop down there, easy peasy.

I scratches me head, I does…

Now is it just me or does 4 big rooms in one building with a wet area in each room and probably a transportable plonk-down seem like a fairly simple construction project.

So, I jump on the Weeks and Macklin Homes  website, www.weeksmacklinhomes.com.au/homes.php

Funny, the housing displayed here seems normal. A nice 3 or 4 bedroom house for between $90K and $130K say.

Scroll down to “The Washington”…. from $151,000.

Wow, the plans show a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, laundry and FIVE bedrooms, lounge, family and a carport. Must be built out of hessian, that’s gotta be it!

Well, there must be a reason that we can’t use local builders, that we can’t tender these jobs out, that someone’s management fee is so exorbitant.

Bloody hell, you can get 2 substantial homes in Clare each on a large block for that much money.

When next you hear a minister say, “We spent a million bucks on you whingers our taxpayers!“, do your sums and ask, “Why’d we only get $300 grands worth?”

Talk about the bush getting the short end of the stick. They don’t even care that it’s so obvious….

Checking out lightbox-type javascripts for a job and came across this video on the colorpowered.com examples page and I sorta like it, and I thought I’d try the XVE plugin out at the same time.

Funny, I develop websites all day every day (nearly). I have been involved in the tourism industry and help people with their marketing, essentially around the Internet. I maintain (not nearly well enough) a few “volunteer(ed)” regional sites.

As you can see in a previous post I had, for ages our ‘corporate’ site, on www. froling.com.au. Firstly, I didn’t like its look and feel, it was a packaged theme done by someone a million miles away (yes I admit it, I was too busy doing other peoples sites). Secondly it had boring crap on it, stuff that no-one was really interested in, certainly not me. It had a few, well quite a few, thumbnails & descriptions of sites that I’d built over the years, on a portfolio page that I could send prospective clients to, though that was fairly out of date.

So, where am I heading with this?

I have quite a few clients that I support over the phone and by email often repeating similar answers to different people. However all the answers are out there, it is the web put together by people just like me and them. But sometimes it just nicer to ask someone you know.

As well we have the endless parade of marketing/business gurus that provide advice to our regional tourism and business operators saying. “You need a blog”, Get Online!”,  “You need a blog”, “Get Online!”, “You need a blog”, “Get Online!”, “You need a blog”, “You need a…..” Get the idea?

Eventually some, those who swore black and blue that they didn’t need a blog, called me up and said, “I need a blog”. Ha ha! (Ha! looks and sounds better than lol)

I got “Be my fwend” requests from people that have themselves studiously and stubbornly avoided the call to social networking (the online sort anyway).

Much of this has happened over the last few days.

Onwards McDuff!

So I killed www.froling.com.au, some might groan at the lost traffic; ah it was only a few hundred a month and they probably didn’t want to be there anyway. Bit empowering though, like cleaning out the wardrobe or shed or spare room. My wife has a list…

Then I set up this BLOG. A new start, how invigorating!

I’ll talk about the technology later. Just because it’s what I talk to people about when they first come to me and say “I think I need a website”. After I ask them “Why the hell would you?” and establish that it might be a good idea….