Changes

One thing you can always be sure of, things always change. In my last post, but the first after a long break, I mentioned that a lot has been happening in my life and a number of things for me both personally and professionally will undergo very significant change in coming months. As these events unfold, I expect I will post about it.

When we do have a lot of things go through evolution, or even revolution in our life in a short space of time, it is too easy for it all to overwhelm and place us under enormous stress, or even drown us. In these situations it is easy for someone outside of your situation to try and be helpful with a well meant "don't worry about it", "it will be fine I'm sure" or the always optimistic "change is good, embrace it, run with it!"

These sentiments are all very well and but we all know it is never that simple. If it was, we wouldn't get stressed in the first place and just get on with it.

One approach has really helped me cope up to now at least. No matter what changes you are being bombarded with, you can always classify them into two categories, those you have control over, and those you have no control over.

Let's discuss the second category first, the changes you have no control over. One example for most of us is a global financial crisis, which may ultimately result in a winding back of activity at your workplace and eventually, job losses. You have little or no control over this, so all you can do is manage the risk as best you can (eg. don't take unnecessary financial undertakings, keep an eye out for other job opportunities, maintain good timekeeping and attitude at work so you are not standing out as a good candidate to be laid off) and just get on with it.

For every change that is outside of your control, the only real approach you can use is the same, be aware of what is happening around you, minimise any impact through making careful decisions and if a sensible opportunity arises to escape or resolve the change, take it. Once you have worked through this, there is nothing else you can do, but let the situation look after itself and move on.

That then leaves you with those things you can control. There is more work to be done here, but the reward is that you can fix it, and make things better for you. First you need to take the time to analyse the change or problem. Then, make a list of what actions you need to do to influence this back in your favour, or even fix it completely. Finally, it's time to put the rubber on the road and actually get it done. Sometimes these actions may be difficult, or uncomfortable, but ultimately if they need to be done, you have no choice.

It's always easier to write or talk about these things, but if you square away the items that you have no real control over, you can then concentrate on the stuff you can work on, and before you know it, you've survived what could have been a very tough period in your life.

Well that's my plan for the moment, let's see how it goes.

Later.

Long time, no post

Well, sorry for the big lag between posts. Been distracted with a number of other issues including some personal ones, but I was just sitting here busting to write something so here I am. ...and where am I? In the Hard Rock Amsterdam, and I must admit I'm loving it. Excellent music, great crowd, good food and a view over Amsterdam's canals to boot. I love the Hard Rock in most places but this one is pretty damn awesome. Great staff too. Ok, so me raving about an eating spot is a bit of a sidestep from my normal stuff, but hey, I'm posting again. More to follow...

My last post - postscript

Hi, I've had someone wonder about the post I just submitted. I actually wrote this a few days ago in Korea, but only just posted it online tonight. For those who know me and were surprised thinking I am still overseas, sorry. Got back last night, and it's great to be home with my friends and family.

Later.

iPad on my first business trip, a progress report

I'm just wrapping up a business trip through Asia with my new work supplied iPad 2. I've had the device now for approx 3 weeks in total, and for about 2 weeks "on the road."

How's it gone so far? Very well! There have been a few minor hiccups, and I need to still further tweak the way I work with it, but I have little doubt that this device will become a regular part of my travelling kit, and my work in the office for that matter.

One of the first things I did was track down a decent task manager and attempt to set myself up with a basic GTD workflow. I have raved about Mark Forster's Autofocus variants in the past, but I wanted to see if I could go digital again with my tasks. I ended up purchasing both Todo and Toodledo apps, but settled on Todo. I found the way it handles quick task entry, contexts and lists better suited the way I work and the fact that it can be as detailed and complicated or as simple as you need. My early impressions of Toodledo were fine, but it didn't seem to have the same flexibility, and just didn't feel right to me, which would probably stop me from using it as often as I should. Todo offers sync to Toodledo's web service, so it can still be used to back up your tasks, which I have chosen to do. I couldn't find my killer app, which would be one that syncs back to Outlook seemlessly. That would be the ultimate. Outlook, iPad and Blackberry all in sync for tasks. There are some ways to achieve this using various 3rd party utilities, subscription services etc, but nothing that is simple and secure in one app. Perhaps one day...

I also grabbed a mind mapping app as this is my preferred way to make meeting notes, and plan meetings, reports and presentations. After some research I grabbed iThoughtsHD. If you are a keen mind mapper, stop reading this blog now, and purchase yourself an iPad and an app. This device is easily the much immediate, fun and effective way to quickly get a mind map together. I won't do a full review here, but iThoughtsHD imports and exports seamlessly to Freemind and a bunch of other mind mapping PC applications. It also makes nice pdfs for distribution to others, and the outlines are perfect to send out as basic meeting minutes. I am now literally mindmapping on the iPad in meetings live as points arise and can have the notes out in just a few minutes after I rearrange and tidy up the various branches immediately after the meeting. I also now add a picture of any business cards I receive in the meeting, taken with the iPad camera inside iThoughtsHD. This truly rocks.

Others apps I grabbed? Documents to Go for Microsoft Office document editing and being able to open email attachments. For editing Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents, it is workable, but pretty clunky and can scramble your formatting. It allows you to get the basics done, but it is not sufficient to serve as a true Windows laptop replacement, at least not yet. Simplenote is a nice, basic plain text note editor, ideal for drafting blog posts like this one right now, and it syncs through the cloud to a web client and also PC desktops via Simplenote's free service. One bunch of notes everywhere. Excellent.

There was one other standout however that has proved to be well and truly worth every cent, even though I didn't at first see how it was necessary. I only bought it on the recommendation of others. That app is GoodReader. It basically just lets you open and read/view files which doesn't seem like much at first. It can't even open many formats itself and has to rely on your other apps apart from pictures and pdfs. Where it really delivers however is as a central area for you to manage and view your various documents. It is almost like having a "My Documents" or Windows Explorer on the iPad. You can create folders, stick documents there, rename and rearrange them to your heart's content. Then, when you want to open something, simply tap on it and it will open either within GoodReader or the application that can edit them. This might seem like an obvious and simple concept, but for those of us coming from a Windows environment, it's perfect. In my case, I've created a bunch of folders like Current Projects, Forecasts, Market Information, Costs, Product Specifications etc, and I file in each a range of reference documents that are important for my work, so I can then find and open them at a moments notice. I also routinely maintain a folder of these important docs on my PC, predominantly as pdfs, and I refresh and sync these with the iPad during my weekly and monthly reviews. Without something like GoodReader, you need to remember which app a document came from and go to it etc, rather than have all your key material in organised folders, accessible from one app.

In the first week on the road alone this has proved to be invaluable. When one customer asked me questions about long term production forecasts, I just pulled it up and referred to it in the meeting. Another one had trouble understanding our process, but I just quickly pulled up a flowsheet I had in there, zoomed in on the critical process step, and showed it to them. Simple. This was exactly what I wanted to use the iPad for. No more bulky meeting file with dog eared spec sheets and the like. If a customer wants a copy, I simply email it to them on the spot, directly out of GoodReader. If you are thinking of using an iPad for business, or as a storage device with easy access to reference documents, get this app.

There are others I have purchased, but I'm not quite there with them yet. One is Notes Plus, an excellent notebook that allows you to write notes, just like a classic paper notebook and pen, using your finger or a stylus. It can record your handwriting directly, or you can enter text via keyboard, and it also has a zoomed in mode if you want really small writing that automatically advances along as you write. It is impressive, but I must admit it doesn't quite feel right when I handwrite. It is probably a perception thing, or perhaps my stylus doesn't quite have the right weight, I'm not sure, but will play with it further. It has a very enthusiastic developer who is constantly adding features as requested by users and I do think this will be one to watch. It already has very advanced gesture recognition to erase words, draw shapes etc, and I believe the aim is to eventually have it convert handwriting to text, but I'll wait and see how it goes. I thought I would use it for meeting notes, but it has quickly been killed off for that use by iThoughtsHD!

Phew. I'm going to stop for now. Needless to say, the iPad has lived up to expectations so far as a travelling companion and for recording notes and providing reference material during meetings. I haven't even touched on how brilliantly it works as a media player for when I am not working...

Next post, I'll report again on the iPad after my current trip is finished, summarising what has worked so far and what hasn't, plus mention a couple of other apps I've tried. As someone who was doubtful about these tablet appliances being much more than executive toys, I've been impressed with just how well this one has worked out so far.

Later.

iPad 2 - initial thoughts

Hi there.

Yes, I've further subscribed to the cult of Steve and obtained an iPad
2. I haven't personally owned the original iPad, but I did get one for
my wife last Christmas, and while I couldn't quite justify one for
myself, I was rather impressed with the silky user experience, and it
seemed to be a fantastic way to consume media, like watching movies,
surfing the web and the like.

I was however a bit of an iPad skeptic. I didn't think it made sense
for me as a regular laptop user. If I already have my work laptop, why
would I bother with a tablet as well, iPad or otherwise? As it is I
also already have a Lenovo net book, but must admit my usage of it has
been rather sporadic. I have mainly used it as a light weight desk top
PC at home that can be unplugged and used elsewhere running Mint
Linux, but haven't really used it for light weight computing on the
fly.

More recently however, I started thinking about how I could make use
of a tablet or iPad in my job as a marketing manager. I typically
carry around a bulky file with me that contains our product
specifications, some basic company presentations in hard copy, sales
forecasts and background market information. When I meet with
customers, I will sometimes refer to the file to ensure I have my
facts straight or I will show the information to the customer. I have
one basic introduction to the company as a printed PowerPoint
presentation which I sometimes pull out and step through.

This bulky file works well for me, but it is also a pain to lug
around, and it requires a fair bit of effort on my side to keep its
contents current. During my weekly and monthly review, I'll turn over
the documents that need updating, but it is still relatively easy for
some items to be missed, and then be caught out when I go to refer to
it during a meeting.

It occurred to me that I could replace this file with a tablet. The
documents could be kept in it as pdfs and they could be quickly pulled
up and shown to clients. It would also be easy to keep photos of our
operation, our products etc and quickly show them as required. Yes,
the same could be achieved on a laptop, but they tend to be larger to
carry around, don't last long between charges and they take time to
start up. Most tablets, including the iPad are instant on, last for
ages on a charge, typically days at a time and are slim enough to be
slipped into the thinnest of brief cases, or portfolios.

Another area where a tablet could suit me was for recording notes in
meetings through mind mapping. I mind map regularly, both for getting
my thoughts together for a project or report, and as a way of
capturing points raised in a meeting. Mind mapping on a PC or laptop
is fine if you are not rushed, such as when outlining the main points
for a report, but it is not all that quick to try and do it to capture
points live in a meeting. A colleague told me they had seen someone
mind map on an iPad in a meeting, and it seemed to be very quick and
intuitive, simply tapping on the screen to create each node and
quickly enter some basic text before an idea is lost. Later, it can be
transferred to a PC and the key points enlarged upon to finally end up
with the key nodes as bullet points for meeting minutes.

The more I thought about it, the more I could see how to make an iPad
or tablet work for me in my job so I posed the question to my employer
with a justification, and they gave me the go ahead. I could have just
bought one myself, but it was better to do it through work so that it
could be properly included into the company network so I could have
access to my corporate email etc.

The geek/hacker in me was curious about an Android device. The idea of
an open system appeals in that like Linux, it would possibly encourage
a broad range of applications, and potentially result in some really
useful tools being available. I was also mindful that an iPad means
being tied up with iTunes and Apple. I'll always prefer an open system
if I can have it. The fact is though, every Android tablet I have
played with just hasn't had the same consistency of user experience
with the various applications, typically having more of a "home brew"
feel about it.

So I went out and sourced an iPad 2, Wifi only, 64 Gb. I went for the
64 Gb so I can load it right up with docs and photos, although I
probably could have survived with 32 Gb. I avoided the 3G because I
already have a 3G modem card for my laptop, and I didn't really want
yet another 3G data account to maintain. I instead have taken the SIM
card from the 3G modem card and placed it in a small mobile wifi  box,
which I can turn on anywhere and establish a small radius internet
access hot spot for use by my laptop or iPad, or both. It's basic, but
it works well and allows me to use the one data account for either
device, rather than having one for each.

I have only had the iPad for a few days and am still getting it set up
to meet my requirements. Early impressions are very favorable. It is
very easy to get around the various applications, and it is a sheer
delight to use. I'll come back in my next post, explaining some of the
applications I have installed, and how I am using it in my work, and
at home!

Stay tuned...

The Four Hour Body: Another update

Hi there,

Some time ago I posted on The Four Hour Body book by Tim Ferriss. Apart from reviewing the book itself, I reported losing a few kg in the first month after starting his Slow Carb diet.

I can now report that I have managed to keep losing weight, and am presently 12 kg lighter than when I first started the diet a little over 4 months ago now. The most rapid weight loss was certainly over the first few weeks, but even though the measured weight loss slowed down after that, my measurements continued to change, so that clothes I had "grown out of" are now fitting again. I am so grateful that I didn't throw out some of my business shirts that had become too tight for me! My newish suit however is starting to look a little baggy.

Apart from the way the diet works, I think the weight loss has also slowed down due to the fact that I am now doing some weight training with a kettle bell, which is resulting in me gaining body weight through muscle mass while I am still losing on my waist line. The key areas of improvement for me have been a substantial reduction in the spare tire around my waist, much less prominent man boobs (thank goodness) and the puffiness that was developing around my neck and face are gone.

What's even better though are the great comments I get from people at work and amongst my friends. Nothing like some positive feedback to keep you on your path to better fitness.

I really can't rave about the diet enough. For someone like me who has been used to a lower carb diet generally, it isn't that hard, and the one day off a week to go completely nuts on the things you can't have but still crave, makes it easy to stay on track the rest of the time.

I took a break from the diet over Easter as we were away with friends surrounded by good food, wine and beer down in the Margaret River region of Western Australia. Shock horror, I put on just under 2 kg in about 5 days. Within less than a week of being back on the diet at home? It's gone again.

I suspect I will also sometimes gain a little when I travel on business, because it is harder to maintain control over what you are eating, particularly when clients insist on taking you out overseas to try their local cuisine. I am confident though that I will be able to claw this back when I return home each time, based on the recent Easter experience.

There is still technically another 5 kg for me to lose before I am at the upper end of my ideal weight according to the standard BMI tables. As Tim Ferriss says though, the BMI tables are flawed because they don't allow for muscle mass, and while I am not overly muscular at the moment, everyone I talk to doesn't think I have another 5 kg I want to lose, unless I wish to start looking too gaunt.

Let's see how it goes. I must say though, I am very comfortable with how I am looking now compared to late last year!

Later.

Mint Linux on my netbook: Xfce!

Hi,

I just thought I'd post a little update on how Mint Linux has been going on my Lenovo netbook. It's been going pretty well actually. I've had very few issues with getting it running how I want it, and have not experienced any of the quirks I used to come across with Linux in the past, such as some feature suddenly not working because something had changed I couldn't track down what it was etc.

There was was only thing that kept getting in the way. Clearly my little netbook was a little underpowered, so I would sometimes have some very "pregnant pauses" while the system would catch up with what I was trying to do. My user experience within a single application, like Thunderbird or Chrome was generally fine, but switching applications, or moving files around in folders etc was at times, a little painful.

This was all in Gnome, which was the default desktop environment installed. I was just putting up with it, but then I realised that there are alternatives in Linux, so hey, I may as well check them out.

A quick Google pointed out my options. It became apparent that as you go down in memory footprint and system requirements, the user experience is pared down as well. I was prepared to have a less sophisticated interface, but I still wanted it to be reasonably user friendly and at least support the basic window based operations that I've been used to since my Amiga and then Windows 3.1. I had tried some of the really basic windows managers/desktops for Linux in the past and came away very frustrated with their lack of even basic features or clunkiness to do simple tasks.

I ended up trying Xfce. In Mint, this was super simple. I simply typed in xfce in the search box off the bottom menu, selected the xfce meta package that came up and waited while it all installed and configured by itself.

I then logged out and logged back in, remembering to change the option at the bottom of the the log in screen from Gnome to Xfce. After that, no surprises, everything just works, even the Gnome apps that I had become used to using. I'm still checking everything out, but it seems there is a substantial amount of cross compatibility between the two systems, but with Xfce appearing to be much easier for my netbook to deal with.

The overall user interface is very similar in terms of "slickness" etc, especially if you take some time to customise it away from the default wall paper etc. I haven't found the same degree of theme support yet, but to be honest I can more than live without that if it means a smoother experience on this low end hardware.

Which it does...

So it looks like Xfce for me now, and so far so good.

Later.

Stranded at the airport? A tip

You've been held up on a delayed flight, and when you finally get to your transit destination, you find that you have missed your connection to get home...

 

Most business travellers have been through this at some stage. Typically, the airline staff will tell you to collect your luggage, go to their ticket counter, and book yourself another ticket. Unfortunately, you are often not alone in being stranded, and you end up in amongst an angry crowd, queuing around the counter, waiting to get assistance and hopefully a new flight out of there!

 

This happened to me again recently, and I was again reminded of how to best get out of this situation quickly, particularly if you are travelliing on business and have a decent corporate travel agent.

 

Rather than getting stuck in the crowd, and possibly wait for hours while others cut into lines, hold things up by shouting at the ticket staff etc, I suggest you do the following:

 

1. Pull out your ticket and itinerary, and call your travel agent's 24 hour assistance number if it is listed, or their office number if it isn't, so you can get the 24 hour number off their out of hours message. (It is best to always have a copy of your itinerary with you in your hand luggage, no matter how basic or straight forward your trip schedule is.) 
   
2. Dial the 24 hour number, and explain what has happened to you. (Again, have your itinerary handy so you can quote ticket numbers, booking reference etc.)
   
3. Ask for another flight and wait for your new booking details. Write them down for reference, although if you're lucky and have a decent agent, they will send them also by email automatically whenever there is a change.
   
4. While you are at it, ask them to book you a hotel if there is not one on offer from the airline and are stuck overnight. I myself prefer to secure a room where I know I will be comfortable, although this is typically then an additional cost. Some airlines use decent hotels, some don't, or won't offer to accomodate you at all. My personal view is I would rather incur some expense in exchange for being comfortable for when I need to travel again, rather than hang around an airport and be in poor condition when I arrive at my ulimate destination.
   
5. We're done. Time to relax before your next flight.

You might think this is pretty obvious, but it is amazing how easy it is to get caught up in the wait and tension around that ticket counter, and waste hours before you get assistance. Using the above, I was in the hotel within about 45 minutes of being stranded, and in that time, the queue around the ticket office had not moved.

 

...and again, this all reminds me of the importance of having a decent travel agent, particularly if you are travelling on business.

 

Later, and happy travels.

Update: Linux Mint 10 on the netbook

Hi there.

Here we are one week later, and I'm still using Mint 10 on my Ideapad s10. How's it gone so far? Quite nicely actually! I initially found the wi-fi to be a little flaky for reasons I never really got to the bottom of, but it is fine now. I know it wasn't poor reception because I was using the netbook under Windows in the same locations without issues, and if I rebooted under Mint after the wi-fi dropped out, it would reconnect again with full signal strength.

It hasn't come back again as a problem after the first few days, so I haven't looked into it further.

The only other area of frustration I can report was screen resolution. The desktop looked great "out of the box" on the netbook's own 1024x600 screen, but when I tried plugging it into a monitor, I was limited to 800x600, or 640x480. Yuck!

I spent considerable time digging through the menus and included config applications, and then tried looking through additional packages I could install to fix this, but nothing jumped out at me. Finally, I reverted to my old friend, Google. My first searches for "changing screen resolution in Mint 10" weren't that successful, so I then made it more direct with "changing screen resolution in Linux". That was much better, and I quickly became aware of, and used the xrandr command in a terminal window to see what resolutions were supported, and picked the one that best suited my monitor. This reminded me of the fact that with Linux, you can often do things much more quickly and simply by going to the command line, rather than looking for a distribution's specific configuration tool, as long as you know the correct command to use...

All in all it is working very well now, and going through this process has made me realise how useful this little netbook actually is. I am now trialling making it my main "desktop" machine for email, social networking, downloading, blogging, surfing etc, but also enjoy being able to simply unplug it from the monitor and keyboard/mouse in my study and take it with me when I go anywhere.

It is now the central storage and access for my main email accounts and personal documents, all within Linux (Mint 10) and it is very portable to boot. (...and yes, I am keeping it backed up in case I drop/lose it somewhere.)

Have I walked away from Windows entirely? No, of course not. I still have my media encoding box here running a patched up copy of Vista."MediaPC" still contains my bluray burner and has AnyDvd installed so I can easily burn home audio and video projects, or rip and encode any video or audio for storage in my central media NAS that serves up movie and music goodness throughout my home network. (I really must blog about that sometime...) What has changed though is that the Vista box is now headless (no monitor or keyboard) and I simply access it and assign it new tasks etc through a remote desktop on the netbook. That way, I don't even have to be in front of it and see what it is up to when I need to check encoding progress or do some housekeeping on it such as moving encoded projects over to the NAS.

So far, so good. I'll let you know how it goes again in a few weeks, or report any significant problems in the meantime, but I'm not expecting anything significant now after this first week.

Later.

Linux Mint 10: Time to give Linux another whirl

Hi,

I've tried Linux many times before, and at one stage I tried to make it my sole OS, but over time realised that it couldn't do everything I needed, particularly around using certain devices, and also for my gaming needs, I still needed Windows. Sure, there were some decent games and ports of mainstream titles available for Linux, but overall, it was still a better and more consistent experience to stay with Windows in my case.

Where Linux did come into its own was for development work, which was the main area where I became intrigued with it, before eventually moving back to Windows. I loved the range of tools available within Linux, but would be frustrated with something I installed undoing a setting somewhere deep in my PC, and I had to then waste considerable time tracking it down and fixing it. I got sick of it, and was also not really spending much time doing anything with the development tools. I found in the end that I was a more user of content than a creator, so I fell back to Windows, with no regrets.

I've come back to the Linux fold now because I have an old Lenovo Ideapad S10 netbook, which I sometimes lug around in my bag on weekends, for surfing in cafe's etc where there might be wi-fi around, or I have a dying need to type something up for later. It came with Windows XP, and it has worked quite well, but support for XP is getting less and less, and over time it was starting to bog down with the normal digital fluff that tends to accumulate in aging Windows systems, particularly in the older versions like XP.

On a whim yesterday, I tracked down a copy of the Mint 10 Live DVD, plugged in a USB DVD drive, and booted from it. It worked first time, and with only a minor change, I managed to get the wifi and all key hardware items working immediately. Navigating within the Mint environment was a little slow, but that was largely due to running directly from the DVD as far as I could tell, so I dived in, hit Install, and installed Mint 10 onto the netbook hard drive itself. I had little on there, so I went for the complete wipe and install on the entire disk.

About 20 minutes later (although I didn't actually time it), Mint came up, and away we went. It again detected the wifi adaptor and prompted me to activate the driver, and everything from there has gone smoothly.

I had used Ubuntu before and was quite impressed, but it still suffered from occasionally being "broken" from something I would install, and like most Linux distributions, the places to find where to change things was a little inconsistent. Mint is based on Ubuntu, but they have to my mind streamlined most aspects of it, and I find it overall much more consistent with its user interface and locations for things I need so far. The other big plus for me is the inclusion of the search box immediately off the main menu. When you hit the menu button on the task bar (like the start button in Windows), there is a search box like in Vista/7, and you can simply type in there what you are looking for. Not only will it show up the applications or settings that most closely match what you type, it will also show available installation packages, which you can simply click on to download and install if they are not present in your distribution.

For example, I immediately wanted to install Chrome/Chromium and Dropbox, so I simply typed these in and the packages showed up. I then clicked on them and provided my admin password to proceed, and hey presto, they were installed and operating with no further intervention from me. Fantastic.

I have now been using Mint 10 for 24 hours, so we'll have to see how it holds up, but on this basic netbook hardware, and with my limited and spotty history with Linux in the past, so far so good. I would be naive to think that I will never need to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty to keep this Linux installation running at its best, but so far, so good.

If you have never tried Linux but are intrigued with the concept, or you have some older hardware that can't really run the latest Windows properly and do it justice, you just might want to give Linux another go, particularly with one of the more user friendly and well supported distributions, like Mint. The search bar for installing and locating software alone makes it remarkably accessible for relatively inexperienced Linux users like me.

I'll let you know later how I go, or blog about any significant issues that arise.

Later.

Superfocus - Mark Forster's been at it again

Hi there.

Mark Forster, author of the Autofocus task management system and its variatons, has now released Superfocus. I have always found Mark's systems very helpful at capturing, and ultimately managing my list of tasks. His systems are generally quite powerful with their dismissal rules, so if there is a task that just sits around and never get's done, it is dismissed, which forces you to get a better understanding of why it seemed important yet you haven't progressed it. The other main benefit to Mark's systems are their relative simplicity.

In the past however, it has sometimes been hard to get the balance between important and urgent tasks right with Autofocus. The first Autofocus system tended to look after the big and important tasks, but didn't handle short notice/urgent tasks well, and the later variants handled recent, urgent tasks effectively, but sometimes they wouldn't steer you back to the older tasks if you were regularly getting new actions.

Mark thinks he has cracked it this time with Superfocus, and from an initial read, I can see how it might work. I'm going to try it, and comment later after I have given it a chance to prove itself.

I won't go over the rules here, I'll let you read them for yourself on Mark's blog. I can understand already however that it will be important to decide which tasks are Column 1 and which are Column 2...

Later.

A reminder to focus on what's important when overwhelmed

Over the last two weeks, I was reminded of the importance of seeking out the key aspect of a situation and focusing on it to get the best result.

I'm presently in the middle of a court action, which for legal reasons is best I don't describe in too much detail. When the facts according to the other side were presented, I was deeply hurt from some of the things that were claimed about myself, but also more than a little anxious about how best to tackle it, as the period of time being covered is approximately 30 years of my life!

As always with these things though, it is important to get decent advice, and it was brought to my attention that by concentrating on a key part of the case, it could be ruled in my favour. Thankfully, this particular part of the case has proven to be probably the simplest for us to build our defence upon.

I don't wish to appear cocky, as I am still to go to trial, but by being able to screen out a lot of the noise and concern over the entire period, and focus on a specific part of the case, it has been much easier to handle than I originally thought.

Perhaps later when everything is wrapped up, I might post on what happened so that others can learn from it, but in the meantime, I suggest you consider my recent experience when you are facing a difficult or overwhelming situation. Pareto's Principle or the 80:20 rule may apply more readily than you think, allowing you to then concentrate on what is key for getting through your issue. It is surprising how often there exists a situation where 20 % of the overall context, will account for 80 % of the outcome.

Later.

My new MINI - mid life crisis solved?

I have always wanted a convertible, and preferably something that was quick. This of course severely limited my options, and most choices were well out of my price range. As time went on after I graduated, entered my career and started my family, this dream fell by the wayside, and my motoring enthusiasm was tempered by a series of very practical, yet still reasonably drivable cars.

More recently, it looked like I might be able to afford a car "just for me". We were able to set ourselves up so that my wife could have a car that meets our family requirements, and I could have something to drive just for the enjoyment of it, rather than simply a form of transport. Just in case this seems selfish with me having the fun car, and Hazel being lumped with the "sensible" car, please understand that she actually wants the family car. She likes her vehicles to be practical, safe and capable of carrying a small warehouse worth of stuff when required, especially when there are sales or bulk buying opportunities on the go.

I still had to work within a budget, and was starting to narrow down my choices to a Mazda MX5, Chrysler Sebring Convertible, Volvo C70, Volkswagen Eos, Ford Focus Convertible or a Mini Cabrio (JCW or Cooper S). If I was purchasing only with my heart and not my head, it was simple. The MX5 is the purist's choice with its classic lines, mechanical excellence and fantastic driving reputation. As soon as I started thinking about it though, the lack of rear seats ruled it out. I didn't plan the car to be a family carrier, but still wanted the option for us all to go out together for the odd short sunset drive or for dropping the kids off at school, sports etc. The Chrysler and Ford Focus didn't do it for me styling wise, and I wasn't going to be caught dead in a Volvo. I started narrowing it down to the Eos or the Mini.

Then other stuff happened. You would be aware from previous posts that I had a rough 2010, which included my mother falling ill and then passing away, leaving behind her estate without everything being well organised. Since then there has also been a legal claim on Mum's estate, and I've been distracted dealing with these various issues. The car topic came up again recently however, when I was transferred within my company and had to give up my company car in exchange for additional salary.

I was going to just go for another sensible car for now, but my wife thankfully suggested that I should look again for my convertible! I couldn't see how it was going to work, but I visited the local Mini dealer, and am now glad I did. They had a new Mini Cooper S Cabrio in stock and when I calculated the novated lease repayments, it ended up being the same as the cash equivalent from my company car, almost to the dollar. I took it for a test drive, but I didn't really need to, I knew it was going to be mine...

...and now it is.

It is hard to write about what I love about this new car without sounding like a pathetic fanboi. It's nimble and great fun to drive, with its go-kart like handling. The turbocharged 1.6L has the same horsepower as my old six cylinder company car, but with much less body weight, and it feels so much quicker. Being a front wheel drive, there is some torque steer, but nothing I can't deal with, and while the ride is quite harsh, it corners beautifully, with real point and squirt type motoring.

The Mini's are built now by BMW and it shows in the build quality and the well equipped feature list. Aside from having all the electrics, it simply does what it needs to do without fuss. There are gadgets galore compared to my old car, but they all work as expected without getting in the way.

My favourite bit though? Driving with the roof down. The whole opening and closing of the roof is completely motorised, and nothing quite draws a crowd of onlookers like arriving in a car park and closing the roof, or returning to your car later and opening it as you slowly drive off.

I smile every single time I drive this car. Should I really need a fun car or some other material possession to remind me that life is good? Probably not, but I am going to keep enjoying this car/big boy's toy anyway.

Later.

Den.

The Four Hour Body, an update

Hi there.

Since my last post, I've managed to stay on the diet without too many problems, and the weight loss is still progressing nicely. I've lost another two kg in approx 3 weeks, and I certainly haven't had any problems with sticking to the diet.

I think the key thing for me is having the "day off" once a week. On that day off, Tim encourages you to go nuts and eat anything you like, and effectively as much as you desire. Every time I face temptation now, I simply make a note of what I'm craving, and pig out on it on my day off.

Having the day off also allows me to enjoy my beer. I used to try light beers on other diets, or drink lower carb beers when on Atkins etc. In reality, I was kidding myself. This time around I can enjoy red wine most days (which I love anyway) and hit a few decent premium beers on my day off. (That's when I'm not scoffing down icecream, chocolate and pizza of course!)

I won't post about this diet again for a while, as I have plenty of other things I can blog about, but I will give you another update in a few months time when hopefully I am approaching my ideal weight. (Whatever that is!)

Later.