Happy Birthday, Nia

I know I mentioned birthdays in my last blog, and June is certainly popular.  It was my birthday on Tuesday (16th June). When Five Mile asked me when my birthday was, I truthfully said, "Soon." So naturally, they set about finding out when it was. A couple of weeks went by, and nothing more was said until Tuesday.

I arrived at work, nobody mentioned it. Phew, I thought to myself, I got away with it. Come 3:00 and Aimee (senior designer) asked if I could help her out. I turned round, and there everybody was gathered round the table with a huge cake! Bless their cotton socks, they all knew about it but me. Have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

That evening, there was a book launch at the Old Melbourne Gaol. Five Mile were invited, naturally, as they published the book, so I went along, never been to anything like this before. The book is Blood Brothers by Robin Bowles. She is a true crime writer and public speaker. I have been told that she changes her hair often, and that includes different colors. Very cool, the sort of person I like. Having been to the jail before, it was rather an apt choice of place to have the book launch, very atmospheric indeed. Quite a few people turned up, and she sold over forty books, not bad for a couple hours in prison!

Anyway, back to work. It was the Queen's Birthday the other week, so we had Monday off. We finished early on a Friday, just after a company meeting, with pizza and champagne!!!

Not everyday you have that combination. It was a meeting to discuss how the company is doing, and to thank everybody for the extra hard work they've put in this year. Over the last 12 months, some people have left for numerous reasons, and those people have not been replaced due to the recession. Therefore, the staff at Five Mile has been doing a lot more work, and the pizza and champagne was a little token of appreciation. And why not, a thank you goes a long way.

I had my first job back from the printers the other day that I had worked on, so that was exciting. Every job they do, it has a signing-off sheet. From start of the job to the very end. When you start a project, you have a sheet which you feel in. It then gets passed around through editorial, production and design. When everyone is happy with the changes, it gets signed off to the printers. When the ozalids and advances come back from the printers for approval, those have another sign-off sheet. This proves to work well, and that is my number three tip: sign off sheets.

Slide show: Happy Birthday, Nia