Last Post

OK. A decision has been made.

This is going to be the last post I'll make to this blog. My interest in it has dropped off considerably since the first post, back in December 2003, and I need to call it a day. I much prefer to play on flickr these days, and all I was doing with this blog was either copying what I'd already posted there, or copying some bookmarks that I'd just saved in del.icio.us, just to keep this ticking along.

So here's where I'm hanging out now.

• The photos I take: www.flickr.com/photos/terry
  
• The websites I bookmark: del.icio.us/morecoffee
  
• The blogs I read: www.bloglines.com/public/Terry

There. I've done it. I feel better already. I can't believe how guilty I was making myself feel by not keeping up with this to the level I used to.

So. Ta ta then.

GTD stuff mostly

Rather than let this blog completely stall, and to make a change from simply copying stuff from flickr, here are a few bookmarks I've saved to del.icio.us recently. GTD stuff mostly:

• Chris Murtland describes his GTD implementation, and looks at 'revolving workflow strategies'. He lists the strategies that he alternates between as: alternate projects, big chunks of time on certain projects, complete as many small items as possible, oldest first, newest first, squeaky wheel, goal driven.
• An article about a tribe in Brazil that have a most odd language, "no history, no descriptive words and no subordinate clauses". "Living without numbers or time: The Pirahã people have no history, no descriptive words and no subordinate clauses. That makes their language one of the strangest in the world -- and also one of the most hotly debated by linguists."
• A set of blog entries called Black Belts Series, or "How has GTD changed my life?" All tips greatly received. All inspiration desperately needed.
• More "How I do the GTD thing", this time from brandon v3.0 All tips greatly received. All inspiration desperately needed.
• Frank Meeuwsen lists 5 reasons why the Weekly Review is difficult. Top of the list, 'You have to stop working.' It goes back to this thing about Covey and sharpening your saw. You need to stop 'doing' your work and give yourself the space to 'think' about your work.
• A comparison of web-based to do lists. I still like to play around with all these fancy-shmancy websites, even though I've long since realised that that my workflows are such that I can only really depend on Outlook tasks to manage my next actions.

Thoughts following a trip to Belfast

I tend to overcompensate sometimes. Things come up at work, for instance the opportunity to go to Belfast for a 3 day university admin conference, and in an attempt not to look like the reticent, over-cautious non-team-player I feel I am most days I overcompensate and agree to go. I then regret agreeing to go, but feel unable to back out without losing face.

So, a 3 day 2 night stay in one of Queen's University's halls of residence. I don't like being away from home, I really don't like being away from my family, but felt that, if I was being objective about this, this could prove useful for my career development blah-de-blah, insofar as I'll learn more about the background issues involved, as well as picking up some useful tips and pointers. Of the seminars attended I only really found 2 worthwhile, one on successful process mapping, the other on the latest plans from the HE Statistics Agency. The rest I can't really remember, and I could probably have got just as much from the 2 above if I'd been sent a copy of the presentation and have the middle man cut out. Difficult to balance the 'pro' of hearing the lecture from the horses' mouths, with the 'con' of being Billy No Mates for 3 days. I've never been much into networking. And less so these days. It perhaps might come down to the fact that I'm not really all that interested in what I do. The only time I got enthusiastic about something was on the coach, trolling back to the airport. I was talking to a colleague about the post grad certificate the AUA do, and whether or not I should go for it, and I rememebered that I'd once started a proofreading home study course, but never finished it. I was struck by this blinding flash of an image from a parallel world where I've ditched FE and HE admin for good, and have become a full-time, freelance proofreader, reading all day, earning less money but feeling all the better because of it.

I live in the real world, sadly, where a sudden career change, mid-stride, isn't all that easy (mortgage, kids, car etc etc). The seed's been planted now though, and I may well try and find a way to finish off that proofreading course, to get another string to my bow, work on my CV. And if I was to be objective about my current career and took my professionalism seriously, I could do a lot worse than sign up for that post grad course. We'll see.

My cameraphone went to a conference in Belfast and all it brought back were these lousy pics

Having lunch with the fog of fedupness

Here I am, Wednesday lunchtime in the Starbucks in Borders, with my Free Range Egg Mayo (V) with Cress & Black Pepper Take Away £1.80 Eat In £2.15, and my Tall Latte £1.85, listening to Morrisey's latest, Ringmaster of the Tormentors I think, through the speakers*, scribbling into an up until now virginal WHSmith A6 Notebook Plain 70 sheets £1.49, with my black, knackered, Pilot Hi-tecpoint V7 Grip rollerball, after having just taken a picture of the book 'Devil in the Details', by Jennifer Traig, an account of her OCD and Scrupulosity years, for my Flickr Book Wishlist set, thinking about the need to empty my head of my anxious thoughts about my anxieties, and how best to do that.

Something my counsellor said last week, about trying to be more aware, more mindful of my state-of-mind when I feel the fog of 'fedupness'** first descend, to be conscious of the start of it, that moment when I go from 'fine' to 'not so fine'. Awareness brings information brings choices brings the chance of different outcomes. I'm worried, though, that it's a little like being aware of the instant you fall asleep; that is – you can never be aware. Or, you don't fall asleep.

Instead, a way of looking at it that seems to fit best is the 'bars' equalizer mp3 visualisation thing, with my anxiety levels constantly jumping up and down, and occasionally hitting the red.



* On the way out of the bookshop they started playing something from Massive Attack's new Best Of album, and I loved the way I could continue listening to the copy I had from the original album on my phone as I walked back to the office.

** This is a kind of code word I use in my sessions. I don't want to use the word 'depression', as that has too much weight, turns my 'moods' into a 'condition', an 'illness'. I know that V's view is that I'm ill and she wants me to get better, but I see it less black and white. Or rather I, too, want to see it that black and white, I want to believe there's an illness that has a cure, a problem that has an answer, step one, do this, step two, do that, and everything's all ok, no more moods, but I'm not so optimistic. Everything seems grey. We're all moving points on a sliding scale, with 'happy' at one end and 'sad' at the other. Also, giving what I feel (or unfeel) a cute, light name like 'fedupness' removes the need for me to fully appreciate how big an issue this is, for me, for V and the kids, people that work for me, with me.

Me, in denial? Surely not!

A diesel-powered rainbow-trail snail

A leaking fuel injector, they say, whatever that is. Nothing major, they say. Needs fixing, obviously, but no sweat. Let's just enjoy the rainbows. I feel like some kind of diesel-powered rainbow-trail snail.

Beancounter

From an e-mail making the rounds at work.

---

"This is bizarre - after you find the guy - it's so obvious. Once you find him - it's embarrassing, and you think, Why didn't I see him immediately?

"Doctors have concluded that if you find the man in the coffee beans in 3 seconds, your right half of your brain is better developed than most people. If you find the man between 3 seconds and 1 minute, your right half of the brain is developed normally. If you find the man between 1 minute and 3 minutes, then the right half of your brain is functioning slowly and you need to eat more protein. If you have not found the man after 3 minutes, the advice is to look for more of this type of exercise to make that part of the brain stronger!!!

"And, yes, the man is really there!!!"

His name appears here ...

... but not here. (Reasons here.)

Re-read this last week, to refresh my memory before I saw the film.

The film seems not to have been as well received as the book, (or rather, isn't expected to be held in as high regard as the book is now, nearly 20 years after it was published), but I thought both were fab. Different, but that's to be expected from every book-to-film journey surely. If you start the film expecting to see a moving version of the book, you'll be disappointed. A variation on a theme. Different emphases. Less about V's relationship with Justice and the Leader's affair with Fate, less grime and desparate, dispairing backstory, the vendetta is more personal, less ideological.

Good, but different. Different, but good.

England prevails.

Ivor's gone too

First heard this guy on John Peel's radio one programme in the eighties; he was so unusual -- poetry on the radio was so unusual for starters, but this guy ... fruitcake!

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Ivor Cutler

Unassuming master of offbeat humour whose eccentric take on the world entertained generations

Mark Espiner
Tuesday March 7, 2006

Ivor Cutler, the eccentric poet, singer, songwriter and storyteller, who has died aged 83, appealed to successive generations with his offbeat sense of humour and wonder at the world. In more than four decades of performing he attracted a band of admirers and followers that included such luminaries as philosopher Bertrand Russell, Beatles John and Paul, DJ John Peel and comedian Billy Connolly. Pop mavericks such as Oasis discoverer Alan McGee and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos were also fans. The scope of his appeal was reflected in his dedicated following on BBC Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4 - and many stations beyond.

Read more on the Guardian website.

"Surreal bicycle book rides to fame on back of cult TV show"

What a laugh. My first thought, when I saw the headline, was one of disbelief: they've never film that book! But when I read more, if this book really is relevant to the plot of Lost, as is the suggestion, then the only connection I can think of -- apart from the obvious one of everyone on the island falling in love with bicycles -- is the ending the book shares with the ending of that Bruce Willis film...

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Surreal bicycle book rides to fame on back of cult TV show

Owen Bowcott
Friday February 24, 2006

Once rejected for publication as too "fantastic", a surreal Irish novel featuring the interchanging of atoms between a man and his beloved bicycle has been racing off the shelves of American bookshops.

Flann O'Brien's dark comedy The Third Policeman was not published until after his death, but its appearance in the cult television series Lost has turned it into a top seller. The TV show chronicles the lives of a cast of photogenic survivors marooned after their aircraft crashes on a remote Pacific island. It involves a sprawling plot that delves into their former lives through flashbacks.

The book's cover was on screen for only a flash, but the exposure sent thousands of fans into bookshops eager to discover clues about the TV mystery. Their curiosity was heightened by an interview with the programme's scriptwriter, Craig Wright, who explained the book had been chosen "very specifically for a reason".

Read more on Guardian website

How I do the GTD thing, notebook and Outlook

It seems one of the compulsory requirements of implementing GTD is to share with the group just how you've done it; what system, software, list styles, excuses for not sticking to the weekly review, etc. So here's my two cents.

When I first tried all this I think I used a Palm, then a filofax, Outlook, Outlook and iPaq, a moleskine, then nothing, then back to Outlook. And now, Outlook and a notebook. I use my sturdy hardback wirebound A4 Black n' Red notebook as a collection tool. I carry it with me to all my meetings, take it to the coffee shop at lunch, take it home and back again. All the notes I take at the meetings and panels get scribbled in here, as well as all my plans and schemes, anxieties and brain dumps (including this one) throughout the day. I take all these notes back and write up next actions and projects onto Outlook. Ctrl-Shift-K gets used a lot. Outlook handles all our e-mail and calendar info across the institution, and any actions from e-mail are dealt with by dragging them to the task icon, amending the task subject to make sure I verb the noun, 'alt-g'ing for the context category, and transferring the original e-mail from the inbox into a storage folder (everything goes into just one folder). I'd like to say my inbox is completely empty as a result, but I can't just yet.

The action list, showing all my next actions and projects, and the calendar are printed out, shoved in the back of my notebook, and off we go. I've got into the habit of going out for a coffee, and sitting at one of the tables there scriblng all over my notes with any new actions I can think of, re-wording duff actions ("Investigate such-and-such"? -- how exactly? what's the next physical thing to do?), crossing through what's done and high-lighting what I'll do next. All this, in turn gets typed back up into Outlook and fresh copies printed out. I find it much easier, calmer to think with a scribbly pen than sat at my desk, and so far so good.