… getting a job doesn’t actually get you more freetime, how absurd!
08
Nov
09
As it turns out …
09
Aug
09
Very busy doing nothing
Sometimes it seems not having a job can be a lot of hard work.
There’s a list of things I want to be doing, but a lot of it is broken up with just waiting for the next thing to happen. It’s things I have no control over, and yet know are going to happen sometime soon, that are the worst. I end up not being able to start anything because I know it’ll get interrupted, or not, it’s hard to tell and that’s the problem.
I suspect it’s not going to get better anytime soon, although …
I’ve started shooting with the Lensbaby again, which suggests that things are easing off a little. I’ve managed to code some Flickr stuff (more on that later) and even started thinking of writing blog posts again for geobloggers.
Perhaps I need a job to get freetime, how absurd!
13
Jul
09
100 hours
Everyone else has said it better than me already, but here’s the crux …
“Here’s my challenge. Right now, put aside 100 hours over this summer. Do it right now, in your head. Put that time aside. 100 hours. 8 hours a week for the next 12 weeks. One hour a day, or one working day a week. It’s one summer out of your entire life, it’s nothing. Okay, you’ve got that 100 hours?
Now for the next two days, go to talks and start conversations with people you don’t know, and choose what to spend your 100 hours on.
I guarantee that everyone in this room can produce something or has some special skill, and maybe they’re not even aware of it.”
The original is here Slide 43 of 44.
I’ve decided that I should learn Shorthand, or more specifically Pitman 2000 shorthand. Its a bit of a selfish skill, its not First Aid, or Hedge Conservation or anything, but it is one I’ve thought about on and off for a fair while.
Just need to wait for the books to arrive now :)
I got this in an email …
“No problem – we can tell you’re busy by the slowdown in your photostream!”
… which is true. For two reasons really;
- Too busy to take photos.
- Too busy to post photos.
I spent yesterday going thru all the pre-move photos picking out the ones I wanted to post, processed them and dropping them onto the desktop, which is where I keep all my to-be-posted photos.
Over the next two days I get to post more, the theory being that by then I may have taken some more photos I want to post. Or not. Which seems more likely.
Of course the slow down may also be due to take out my small film camera more than the dSLR, and all the turn-around that entails.
So obviously the plan was to make this a more general blog, of day-to-day stuff of no interest to anyone but myself. The geo-stuff and whatever else takes my fancy goes on over at geobloggers, while other geeky, techy but non-geo stuff happens at fluffykittens.
Needless to say that’s all gone to pot the last couple of weeks with the whole move thing, and the last couple of weeks recovering from jetlag and then racing around London. Maybe, just maybe I can get it back on track. But normally, by the end of the day, I’m far to tired to write anything.
Which is a shame really as most of the day I have thoughts and what-not floating round my head just begging to be written down … not for anyone’s enlightenment, but for me to exorcise them.
In the meantime, highlight of the last week, getting to see The Blue Peter Garden, it’s quite small.
Not much left to do now, other than wait for everything to be taken away and double check the suitcases.
Then tomorrow … we fly!
Isobels’ passport arrived yesterday which led to a quick fluffy of airline ticket buying.
Well when I say “quick” I mean fruitlessly beating our heads against the British Airways website, which insisted our Credit Card address was wrong, even though we had a woman from The Co-operative bank in on the call too.
We just went to Virgin Atlantic instead and paid with no trouble at all.
Anyway, that means we’re all set to head back to the UK on the 16th, arriving on the 17th … keep the weather good for us UK … I’m pretty sure it’s going to be like having never been away.
14
May
09
Milkshake
One of the things I love about San Francisco is Sparky’s 24 Hhr Diner, it’s your proper greasyspoon diner, with burgers, milkshakes, neon and a jukebox.
There are plenty of great places to eat in San Francisco, but they are all great in the same way places are great to eat anywhere in the world … yeah, yeah, I know that great places are different around the world, that’s not the point.
The point is that when you transpose an American Diner to the UK, you get a certain type of 50s Americana diner with fin-tails and roller-boots. The diners from Back to the Future.
Besides, Sparky’s serves a mean Mint Mocha Marvel.
A short while ago I wrote a blog post about a whole bunch of stuff: Where I’m actually living in augmented reality, Jefferson Airplane and what does this mean for photos. Which included a comment about last.fm recording your location when listening to music.
This is just a note that I should probably do something about that.
10
May
09
Pre Mothers-day
Yesterday we let Charlie have a lie-in and snuck out to buy Mothers-day gifts. By the time we’d finished it was lunchtime, hitting The Burgerjoint seemed like a good idea.
Mr Zachary, shown here, asked me to take a photo of him. Then promptly posed like this, I took the shot, and then he stated “I tried to look silly” and seemed very pleased with the results.
Wonder if this is the start of something.
It’s now Mothers-day, all the presents are wrapped, cards are written and now we await the Mother to wake up :)
