boreders

This morning, I woke to what might best be described as a heavy frost. I’m not sure it warrants the description ’snow’, as it seemed largely to involve rock hard ice with a deceptively thin sprinkling of loose material on top. Having fallen over 6 weeks ago and sprained my foot, I didn’t fancy going anywhere - but, today was my first day back at work and I’m not sure I have an option to not come in because it’s a bit icy.

As it happens, the journey proved largely calamity free. The motorway was pretty loose and free flowing. I spotted a couple of distraught drivers and their ruined cars in the opposite lane, but nothing on my route… until I reached work…

The site I work on has a barrier controlled entrance, but in the morning - to sooth congestion, users of the fourth car park (a temporary gravel affair) can access it from a side entrance through a rusty metal gateway. A small slip road cuts away to the left from the main road, and as I approached I saw a security guard walking over towards the gate, a few scattered orange cones, and a sign warning ‘Icy’. Icy… fur sure. Before the guard could do much to stop me, I drove on to the slip road and proceeded to hit a sheet of ice. Brake and hand brake instantly applied, I slid for a good 9 or 10 yard, before coming to a stop with a cone pressed against the front of the car.

To travel around 35 miles and suffer a nearly accident in the final few yards… How embarrassing is that?!

Monday morning, I noticed that the motorway sign somewhere between the Altrincham turn-off and the M6 on the westbound M56 had the message “Don’t hog the middle lane”. On the way home, I found the sign on the opposite side of the road at the same point echoed this message. I wish, oh I wish, that people would take notice of this. I certainly noticed one car, upon nearing this sign, shift from the middle to the inside.

Unrelated to middle land madness, I had a great experience of over-competitiveness this morning from a driver with a stupid hat in a silver Fiat something-or-other. On the road from Runcorn Bridge to Speke, the speed limit goes from 50 to 70. The Fiat overtook a car in front of me after passing the national speed limit sign and I promptly had to slow down, as I was already pushing past 60 and he overtook still doing around 50. After a moments hesitation, he pulled in and I went past him. Or tried. Quite suddenly, he decided he was going to do 70 after all. I decided not to push the matter and matched speeds… but he lost out on the chicken run as something lay in the lane ahead of him and he didn’t really have an option but to slow down a bit.

Of course, he couldn’t leave it at that. After I overtook a dozen cars ahead and then finally pulled in, he zipped by once more… almost like claiming the last words in a heated argument. I’m sure it must be some primal instinct stored somewhere in the DNA of all human beings - male and female alike - the drive to get the upper hand if you’re on the wrong side of a bad mood. Judging by the frown on this guy’s face, he definitely qualified as being in a bad mood.

Maybe he was fed up with people pointing out how stupid his hat looked?

Relevant reading:

Breaks Near the Motorways

Hugh Cantlie. Cheviot Books 2008, Paperback, 314 pages, $29.82

Concentration slipping. Can’t listen long. Can’t read more than a sentence. Good article. Not seen before. Intranet rots your… Um… What was I saying?

Once upon a time, possibly in or around 2004, I set up a site relating to my efforts in the world of web design. I have always swayed towards simple web design, because I grasp HTML and CSS fine, but have never used any of the fancy tools. I even use Notepad for my coding, never venturing to use FrontPage or Dreamweaver until recent pressures have demanded I become familiar with them. I use a little JavaScript, have dabbled in PHP, Perl and XML. I can set up a database and retrieve information from it, creating dynamic content. I can handle Server Side Includes and Webbots to insert content from one place into another, and even recently had a poke around with AJAX and ASP. I can manage just fine, knowing enough, but certainly not so much as to make me an expert in anything.

So, Back to Basics Web came about - and with the assistance of co-coder and marketeer Richard we put together web sites for Meeker Aviation and Apical. You can see a few samples of the work we’ve done, and that I’ve done since, on the Back to Basics Web site. I intend to continue with my web work on a restrained and moderate level - it can be tough channelling creatives juices in multiple directions at the same time. When I work on an advance with a focussed project scope, I need to be certain that I deliver.

Back to Basics Web uses the _base_ theme for Wordpress, which I intend to customise for the time being… A simple base, for a simple web site, offering a simple service - until I have a moment to create a theme from scratch myself!

How do people make significant career changes? I don’t seem to have enough of an idea how to do it and I think it might well be holding me back.

To my mind, change from one career to a completely different one must mean taking a hit on pay or working conditions. Taking one role in some remote location or a swinging pay-cut might explain why people would take a chance on you despite a lack of the full breadth of skills necessary for a role.

Or, does it come down to personality and a ‘just do it’ attitude? Maybe a gift for bluffing long enough to get your legs under the table? I don’t know. Maybe I should read a book or something?!

It seems like at school you make a choice, and then at university or in apprenticeship you make another, and with each passing year and each moment of experience in a specific role, you build walls and burn bridges. Perhaps certain roles have enough generic skills to mean that you can make a leap without suffering too many negative consequences. I suppose I could well have the skills to make a change, but simply lack the balls or wherewithall to do anything about it.

Currently reading:

The Biggest Secret

David Icke. David Icke Books 1999, Paperback, 517 pages, $16.78

I appreciate the concept of time management; but, I have difficulty keeping to any plans I make for myself. When I sat down at my desk this last Monday, I wrote out a ‘To Do’ list with about twenty different activities on it. I think I managed to do about half a dozen by the end of the week, because I either found myself engaged in other activities or trapped in meetings. I have no big issue with meetings, but they can have a sponge-like effect on free time. Before you know it, a whole day has evaporated and you feel like you have got nothing done at all.

Now, time management isn’t just concerned with work life, either. At home I also find myself with a dozen different small projects, and they get disrupted by the need to engage in ordinary household activities like washing up, ironing, preparing meals, doing food shopping, and sleeping. Amongst my list of things to do at home, I have two writing projects, some research for a third writing project, two websites for charities I support, a Tyranid army I need to start painting for my eldest, a pile of reference books I need to check out to determine their value in completing my writing projects, and a bunch of other stuff I’m likely to forget unless I create a ‘To Do’ list for home, too.

So, does anyone have any advice on ways to better organise work and home time? I know I could do with some help…

Currently reading:

Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon)

Dan Brown. Pocket 2006, Mass Market Paperback, 736 pages, $3.46