thejamjar.com : blog

Webstock 2012 Workshop - CSS: Knowledgeable to Ninja

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:00:00 -0800

It's here: it's finally here. This morning was the start of Webstock - a wonderful week of internet geekery and super-smart people. I've been counting down the sleeps until I had no more.

This morning I brushed my hair and put on some pants, cradled my laptop as I crossed the road to the Wellington Town Hall to register for this amazing conference. Friendly faces, efficient hands, a brand new laptop bag and a skip in my step* got the day off to a grand start.

Everything is beautiful. Everything is beautiful. Everything is beautiful.

CSS3: Aeroplanes and Ecosystems

"I am going to lose all of you along the way: this is my goal"
Estelle Weyl

Estelle Weyl knows her stuff and she got straight down to business. We had a lot to cover and she was going to cover it. We didn't have to remember everything, but we did need to know what was going on in the world of CSS3. As she said, "The important thing in CSS is to know what things are possible."

Her slides were online and available. They were rich in the examples and interactivity - not to mention editable and forkable - all delivered with more interpretive dance than I was expecting to see today!

She had some cute examples too, like SpeciFISHity to explain the weight or importance of different elements. That little things such as DIVs and Ps and ULs were lightweight, like plankton, and it didn't matter how many of these you had because they could never outweigh a fish. The fish were classes and pseudo-classes et al, and always trumped the plankton. But the fish could be out flanked by the ID sharks, which because of their ferocity and power, should be used sparingly. All this could be over-ridden by inline styles and !importants so be careful and mind your ecosystem!

or something like that :)

It was a full-on day and I just plain do not know enough about what I experienced today to be able to share with any usefulness here. I do know that if you'd like to know more or start knowing more about CSS3, check out Estelle's blog, Standardista.com.

Updates and Swag

News arrived after lunch that Garr Reynolds was too ill to fly and the Presenting Naked workshop on Wednesday morning would be cancelled. Both Fox and I had signed up for this, so now we have a free day in Wellington.

Things we are considering doing instead of learning to present naked:

making videos
seeing if other attendees who missed out want to do something
hanging out at a cosy cafe (if it's raining, or a cool one if it's sunning)
drinking beer
doing a tour of Wellington like.. a pub crawl or something

Anyway - we'll figure it out. Look, it's a bonus, okay?

Speaking of bonuses, the Webstock swag is nice this year, besides getting a tshrit I'll never be slim enough to wear (not Webstock's fault) there was a coffee cup (keepcup kinda deal), a tiny shopping cart, a ruler and pencil (see top of page) and - this just blew my mind and might just make Fox squeal when she sees it: a sachet of sherbet and a pony tattoo. !!!

Flippin' love this conference!

*the skip might have been on the inside - I fear I'll trip and sprawl if I get too fancy with the footwork.

Sleep Tight

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:06:00 -0800

Wednes day links

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0800

A lifetime of Doctors

Links to follow

Bit of localisation coming to an ATM near you? Check out this Cockney Rhyming Slang version offered at a random ATM on Hackney Road, London.

It certainly seems like a nice way to wake up if the water 'alarm' clock video is anything to go by :) I don't know about you, but I'm thinking the drip-drip-drip of the water transferring from one vessel to the other may just cause *other* nightly problems.

Oh Dear God, will it never end? The gloriousness of a Lego/Moleskine collaboration gasp means I can't even get my squee out. Note: bury me with all my empty Moleskines with "she was a sucker for a good book" on the tomb stone. thx.

The unsinkable Fox Woods has started a new blog about User Experience. She's kicked off with a series of articles showcasing the part Information Architecture plays when redeveloping an existing website.

Speaking of work, how's your office space? Check out this study around generational needs and take a glimpse into the future office [PDF]

IN WHICH I FIX MY GIRLFRIEND’S GRANDPARENTS’ WIFI AND AM HAILED AS A CONQUERING HERO - a story of love, triumph and why it's good to marry your granddaughters into tech support.

How does she move like that?

Get on with it

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:30:00 -0800

What is a blog? Who is a blogger? Is a blog still a blog if it doesn't have the ability to interact? Is a blogger still a blogger if she never writes new content? Does owning some space on a server with blogging software make it a blog? make you a blogger?

First rule of blogging: create and post original content.

Second rule of blogging: create and post ORIGINAL content!

Third rule of blogging: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE ORIGINAL!!

Dear Dairy, forgive me, it has been too long since I told you anything. You must be hungry for stories, for tales, for words to fill your long, lonely, lines. Thirsty for the quench of your curiousity. Nibbling at the edges of my life, trying to get a bite on what's going on, what's the haps, who's the whatsit.

I looked around my computer just now. I'd been watching the crowd sourced Star Wars remake, revelling in the wonders of amateur content, the way that if you pile enough crap ontop of each other, it turns into something wonderful. Not that I'm saying the aforementioned video is crap, it's not, it's brilliant - but take any one of those homemade sequences on it's own and you'd be super critical of the production values, I'm sure. But as a whole, it's breathtaking in it's wonder, it's effort, it's achievment.

And I wondered why I not creating my mediocre content. Oh I've been writing - lots of words in text documents - but thinking and whining to myself at the same time about it being all a bit too pants for publishing. And to be fair, I'm probably right. But piles and piles of this kind of content already make my blog what it is, who am I to stop writing, drawing, promising to do stuff I never do, and all the other stuff I publish here? I am not that person. It is not my job. My job is to make it. Publish it. It's your job to stay or go. It's the internet's job to exist or not. My job is just to keep plugging away and publishing stuff to my little pocket of the internet. To outlast everyone. To one day, when all else has faded away and the aliens dig up the Haley Joel Osment doll and find out that THIS is what the human race was all about. THAT'S my job.

So looking around my computer, let's see what's going on.

Kickstarter et al

A million years ago, in 2010, Fox and I went to Austin, Texas to experience the South by South West Interactive conference. Fox and I aren't the world's greatest minglers (to be fair, she does more 'fending off' than mingling). Upon having that very conversation one night in an Austin bar, we decided to mingle where upon we set about talking to a lively bunch of people who turned out to be from Australia (can't fight nature).

One of these lively souls was a dashing young man named Josh Kinal who was actually from Melbourne (see? we're just terrible at it). We all got along splendidly. Especially because we're all boisterous know-it-alls who love to drink far too much!

So a few weeks ago, when Josh said he wanted to attend SXSW 2012 but didn't have all the funds needed for him and his Boxcutters team over there, he opened a Pozible account and asked for donations towards the cause. Which was awesome because a lot of us wanted to help him out and this made it super easy.

There are a number of sites like this on the internets besides Pozible, such as Kickstarter or - okay those are the only two I know - but it's so neat to be able to give a few dollars to help people get to do what they want to do, or make what they want to make. Giving a few dollars towards Josh's goal of getting to SXSW this year, along with all his other friends, fans and fanatics, means that is now 'pozible' and he's off to the March event.

Another really great spin on this crowd sourced micro funding is Kiva. You can invest in people, rather than projects, through Kiva. Your contribution helps to fund real change and to alleviate poverty. Helping real people with real loans to make real change in their lives, and the lives of their communities. And you get your money back! Once the money has been used to achieve the goal, the loan is repayed.

Get involved with Kiva, you'll feel connected and good about affecting real change.

Juicing!

This juicer has been sitting in the cupboard for the longest time. For some reason I thought it was broken, but upon being informed this assumption was incorrect, I have been a juicing crazy person.

I can now have a carrot, celery and ginger juice any time I want. ANY TIME I WANT! I don't have to be in a cafe, I don't have to be at a juice bar, I can be in my own kitchen and drink from my own glasses and what's more, the whole glass is full of juice, not half ice cubes and some juice. It's wonderful.

Coffee

Making sure you all still know that I love coffee.

Toasts

My favourite thing to have on toast at the moment is ricotta cheese, sliced tomato, salt, pepper and basil leaves.

Passport

My passport expires at the end of this year. Isn't that crazy? I renewed it after I first came to Australia (what a pahlava *that* was) and here I am in the year it runs out again already.

When I got my first passport I could hardly imagine that it would ever run out. And here I am in the year I get passport number 3!

About time too, really. This photograph is just terrible. I mean, I know everyone says they hate their passport photo, but this one is particularly bad. I have no idea how the face recognition software at the airport even makes a connection.

Either the software is super smart, or it's broken and they just let anyone in. No, no you cannot consider that I actually *look* like that photo, that is *not* a possiblity.

Camera

I bought myself a new camera for Christmas. Did I deserve it? not particularly. Could I afford it? well mostly if you don't count all the other things I could've spent my money on like new tyres for the mini or prescription sunglasses to help stall the rate of glaucoma growth in my baby blues and such.

Yeh, I knew you'd agree, the camera was a good choice.

The D5100 is the newest of the domestic range of cameras from Nikon. It's smaller and so much lighter than the D70 I've had since 2004 (well, 2004 and 2010 seeing as I upgraded my broken D70 for an as-old, second-hand D70S but I just count is as ONE camera as they're practially the same vintage).

I bought the D5100 specifically because it records 20 minutes of HD video and has an articulated screen, like a typical video camera would. The idea of the screen means that I could see myself while making vlogs i.e. filming myself, by myself. At the moment, when I film myself with the Flip! I never know how I'm framed in the video. Sometimes I cut the top of my head off, or am too left etc. While I didn't think I was too fussed about that generally, the thought of actually thinking about the framing in a video post and being able to manage that because of the articulated screen sold me on the deal for the D5100.

And while yes, it does do a good job of filming video, with nice depth of field and beautiful colour, I'm still getting used to the actual 'camera' part of D5100 and using it for taking photos. As I mentioned, I've had the D70/D70s for a long time and could just pick the thing up and take a photo. Nine times out of ten I took a decent shot - with this new camera those odds have inversed. Mostly I'm underexposing and generally blurring everying I point the camera at.

It has put me off using the camera, and I'm not taking photos very often, but I really do need to get back on that horse and get used to its settings.

Oh wait, are you wondering where the vlogs are that I'm making cos you don't see any here at thejamjar.com? well I'm vlogging with my sister on youtube.com and she's not a fan of strangers seeing her videos so we're not sharing them*. But I will be making some for here - so watch out, they're coming.

*she was recently freaked out that one of her videos on our channel had over 300 views - which is quite a lot of views for a video that isn't sposed to be seen by anyone but me :) (no, I didn't watch it 300 times, she just has a decent fan base)

Sucks to be you

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:30:00 -0800

Michelle: arg.. I always get emails for Michelle Parks who aren't me.

Willo: you should try being a Paul Williams!

Michelle: oh yeh? do you get lots of email for other people with your name too?

Willo: no - just lots of love notes. Letters telling me I'm great and stuff like that.

Container

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:00:00 -0800

I have a scattered brain - that's not to say I'm a scatter brain - rather that there are a bunch of things I want to do, a couple of things I need to do, and several things I want to say, and none of them are fighting hard enough to conquer my attention span.

Maybe I have too much time on my hands and need a few shocking deadlines to get this stuff prioritised.

What's going on?

List of things I want to do

make videos (how to bait mousetraps) for this blog
research Webstock workshop subjects (29 more sleeps, people!)
draw (so many things) every day
read (so many books) one book after another
set out a publishing schedule (and then actually do it)
finish the tech spec (for fixing a lot of what is broken around here)

List of things I need to do

update my portfolio and CV
make a video on how to roast lamb

List of things I want to talk about

what makes a blog a blog (content alone?)
the Higgs field (word on the street)
working your passion (and what is it anyway)
moving (body and house)

List of what I'm actually doing

watching American Football. This morning New Orlean Saints lost to the San Fransico 49ers in a tight, exciting, down-to-the-wire game.
watching youtube.com vlogs
reading my Twitter stream
mapping out site plan for new portfolio
drinking coffee
thinking about going to the supermarket

What's next?

Looking at those lists has me thinking they could (probably) and easily be ordered. Then I'd have an idea of priority, and could start actioning them.

Instead I start a new train of thought about how I use this blog to think, and that while there are a few visitors who read here, mostly the audience for my blog is me. I write to sort myself out. Which then, in turn, worries me because I don't write enough to really be sorting anything out.

So, what the flip?

This place I am in is limbo. The land of between. After Christmas and before making moving home to New Zealand real. With nothing booked, with nothing organised, it doesn't feel particularly real yet. Though it's what I want, and what I need, and what I want to talk about, but not what I'm actually doing.

Because I know that no matter how much the reasons for me going mean to me, leaving here is going to be an extremely hard thing to do.

So, I think, my brain is scattering my thoughts, protecting me from the thinking how wrenching the doing of this thing will be.

WWYD*?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:00:00 -0800

I have mentioned the saying "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD) to a couple of friends and seems that it isn't as well known as I thought it was. In fact, neither friend had ever heard of it.

If you haven't heard of it either, it's something one might say to oneself to determine a course of action to keep one's moral compass pointing firmly in the direction that would continue to ensure your admitance to that heavenly host's holiday camp, commonly known as Heaven. It was probably developed to keep Christian teenagers away from sinful activities like sex, drugs and rock and roll, so they could live a life closer to that of the long-haired-hippie whose birthday we celebrated a couple of weeks ago.

Taking time to consider what Jesus would do in a given situation might help some people, but it doesn't help me. So, I've adapted its fundamental core to fit into my belief system. Instead of asking what some fictional character in one of the world's best selling novels might do, I instead ask what some of the people I admire most in my life might do. I look to my heroes - real people - those who I most want to emulate and learn from.

For instance, when I want to know how to spend my time I ask myself "What might Willo do?" (WWWD?) (burn it, turn it into profit, coin it, turn it into a party). Or if I wanted to do a really good job, critically think about the details of a product or situation, or truly appreciate the simple, well designed things in life I ask myself "WWBD?" (Bart) (research it, perfect it, round its corners) When I was trying to figure how to attack the sorting of my bedroom to start to bring order to my belongings, it was through the lens of Fox I found my answers.

What Would Fox Do?

Looking at the task of getting my affairs in order (my resolution* for the New Year) I took to the task through the lens of What Would Fox Do? (WWFD?). It's a pretty easy lens to look at tasks like this with, as basically, what Fox would do is throw it out. Especially when it comes to clothes - she's really good at paring down her wardrobe - throwing out anything that is worn, stained, pulled, last season or discoloured. She's not one to mend, she is one who tosses***. So that's what I did. I biffed.

This is not a natural instinct for me. I had to completely embrace my Foxness and let go of things I didn't suit my current life style or resources.

Turned out I particulary enjoyed throwing out all my stupid corporate gear. It was liberating to vow to never work for a company that demanded I wear that type of clothing ever again. Long black pants: out. High neck-lined tops: out. I loved getting everything I ever wore at my last job and binning the lot. Stupid 'corporate' fashion - what a misnomer. In this day and age you can say goodbye to dress codes. I am a knowledge worker dammit - I'll wear what I like!

I went through all my drawers, my wardrobe, my laundry hamper. There is now a super-sized black bin bag at the front door that is filled with all of the unwanted and unloved items that have no place in my life anymore. They'd be somewhere else if the damn bag'd fit into the Mini for transportation! But at least they're out of my wardrobe, drawers and off my bedroom floor. They will be taken off the property in the coming days and then harrah, they will be released into the wild.

It's an amazing thing to only have enough to manage, and only have enough to store. And I've only just started!

I still have too many socks, and scarves. They will be the next too be ratted through, quickly followed by makeup, electronics and the hardest of them all: the books.

*What Would YOU Do?

** There are more than one resolution. One other one that I achieved in the last few days was to stop reading The Age. The way they source news items I'm better getting it from the source - Twitter and Facebook - save me wasting my time with that rag.

*** Clarification: Fox passes on any clothes to people who want them, including friends, opp shops and the Salvation Army - only objects beyond use go into the trash. I'll be channelling her organisational skills for paperwork, budgets and birthdays in the future too.

NYE

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:00:00 -0800

Revolution Resolutions

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:30:00 -0800

As is the season, there was smatterings of talk of resolutions during New Year's Eve festivities. I didn't really come up with much for myself except to steal Kelly's idea to be better with birthdays throughout 2012. Perfectly good resolution I thought - manageable, measurable and meaningful. Thinking of this in my head-throbbing daze, contemplating my mortality which, it seemed this New Year's Day morning, was pretty fragile under the circumstances, I could do something even better for those around me: get my affairs in order.

I realised that it would be really awkward for my friends and family if I died with the way things are at the moment.

This revelation came slow and low as I lay in my bed, eyes closed concentrating hard to convince my body not to throw-up my celebrations from the night before. Yes, the night before was fantastic, sponsored almost entirely by Captain Canon's Drink of Awesomeness. And while at times since waking up I felt like dying might be a better option than the after effects of my over-indulgence, I was not actually ready to shuck my mortal coil just yet. I was suffering one of the most spectacular handovers I've had in a long, long while - one that might prompt someone to vow never to drink again if those Capt. Canons weren't just so darn delicious! and I realised what a disorganised mess my life was.

Lying there I imagined what I'd be like for my friends to find me dead.

State of Affairs

First of all I wondered how long it would take them to realise I'd been in my room longer than normal, I mean, I spend a lot of time in there. Once they figured out that I had been missing for days, and they found my putrifying body rotting in my summer-hot bedroom, I'd be hard to move. I'm not small, nor am I light, so it would take more than one of them to get me out of the house and onto the compost heap, or wherever it is they decide to dump me.

After that, someone'd have to go through and box up all my stuff - even if it's just to take it to the tip. They'd need to find my important documents (in case I'd left them anything in my Will), pack up all my books (total fire bans through Summer means they couldn't burn them until later in the year), find my important passwords, close up my online life and deal with my dirty-laundry hamper. They'd need to box up all my junk, basically, so they could turn my room into a gym, or sewing room or some other useful space.

Right now, with my current state of affairs, that would be a really shitty job for anyone - let alone for people who actually like me.

Getting my shit together: 2012

My resolution for 2012, therefore, is to develop a plan of attack to improve my organisation, activity and a sence of legacy then set those plans into action with the deadline of 24 December 2012.

The job of making it easier for those who have to deal with my 'aftermath' has begun.

Did you make any resolutions for 2012?

Christmas Day

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:30:00 -0800

Started Christmas Day bright and early with an alarm at 6am. Shortly thereafter a text arrived to say my family were online in New Zealand so I chimed in to watch Christmas morning unfold. It was fun and lovely. The photo above shows Miss Chloe with her Doctor Glasses from her Doctor's Kit. Fairly suit her well, me thinks.

There were a few surprises throughout my day. I had the very wonderful pleasure of sharing in my housemate's family Christmas. But I had no idea of their connections so was amazed when the man himself showed up to give out presents!

The day finised as Willo's holiday intends to progress - with inflatable toys, and inflatable eskie, lots of sunshine and a dam fit for a person who enjoys dams!

A Christmas Message (from my oldest and his best)

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all spent it the way you like it best.

Flying Fox

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:00:00 -0800

Muddy Christmas!

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:00:00 -0800

This video doesn't show how exciting (other people) and terrifying (me, when the vehicle heeled right over) it is to ride these mud crawling beasts. We were laughing looking at how slow they appear to crawl around, but when you're on board, it seems everything is happening pretty darn fast. Especially when banking and getting out of holes.

An amazing experience though, and would recommend to anyone to give it a go. Perfect way to end a work year as well. Go Team Awesome!

Let there be lights!

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:00:00 -0800

I'm having a lot of trouble with Christmas tree lights. So far I have bought 4 strings and none of them are adequate - even when all used at the same time.

My troubles are two-fold. Firstly, the domestic indoor tree lights at the stores and hardware stores have been stocked in the same place as the domestic outdoor Christmas lighting offerings. So, it's not just a matter of picking up a box of lights, it's become a time-confusing exercise in discovering that I don't need a 'starter kit' or solar lights, or many of the other components of elaborate outdoor lighting complexity, which by far out number the simple indoor plug-in-to-a-power-socket-to-illuminate-a-tree variety. When I have found one lone box that sounds like the thing I need for my tree and decide that 200 lights might be a good number for my indoor tree, the bulbs turned out to be so soft and gentle candle-light like that, while giving the tree a romantic effect, are in no way bright enough. No. Way!

Back to the store again, this time picking up a string of 200 (already learned that this number of lights give a couple of metres of bulbs, right?) bright, white lights to get home and find that the string of 200 lights aren't in a row, but clumps and clusters so the length of the string of lights is only about a metre long. Not long enough to do much on a tree except compound the problem of not enough of the right lights in the right places. I had also picked up a string of multi-colour globes, and while they are really nice, again, the string is only about 1.5 metres long and fairly useless on a 6 foot tall Christmas tree.

Far out. I just want four or five metres of bright, white Christmas lights for flipsake!

So now I have a tree that looks like it was dressed before dawn in items it found at the chariety shop and basically lit ooks like a hobo tree.

Now today I think, "I shall go and buy more lights!" You know, just keep throwing more lights at the tree until it's beradient and blinding and luminated! But then, looking at all the cords, wires and asscoated transformers, I have a new worry : what if I set the tree on fire? I mean the Mythbusters proved you could set a tree on fire this way. It already has four strings of lights wrapped around it and a corresponding plug for each string in the power board - am I going to end up burning down the house in my quest for illumination.

I am suffering tree disappointment and general dissatisfaction while Willo is gleefully eyeing the up tree for burning before Christmas Day.

T

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:00:00 -0800

'tis the Season

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:30:00 -0800

I've had a pretty good run on the rabbits. Even on a slow day, I see three and my personal best was eleven. That was, until today.

The rules of Train Rabbit Spotting are simple: keep your eyes peeled for fluffy bunny-kins, and be really sure it was a rabbit that you saw and not a clump of grass - they can look remarkably similar. Rabbits are very blendy. If you recognise a whole ane real rabbit, it can counts as "1" and is added to your total score.

It's not as easy as it sounds, mind you - there's quite a bit of skill involved not to mention the aforementioned maths and remembering your score. From the window of the train, you're quite a long way from the ground. The train is pretty quick too so you really do have to keep your wits about you. Rabbits are notoriously small when compared to trains moving at speed so you can't look too far into the distance because there is no way you'll see a rabbit, but if you look too close to the train you'll get all squiffy and it'll hurt your eyes. There is a sweet spot, and with practice, you'll find it and then you'll be away! I've discovered that the 6:17pm train to Swan Hill is the perfect service for maximum rabbitage, and it was on that service this evening, that I smashed all previous records.

Today was spectacular in cementing the Swan Hill train as the Number One service to great rabbit counting stats. Tonight I saw more rabbits than I could count! My best effort was 27 rabbits - the counting being the limiting factor in this particular session. There were rabbits everywhere! Seems rabbits like this hay season, and the long, golden sunsets that bathed the evening most of the way home. While Willo is a much sharper rabbit counter than I am, he was not on the train this evening and I was also pretty confident he had never counted as many as 27. So it was with haste and glee that I blatted home in the Mini, wanting to burst in and hit him with these new benchmarks. I mean, what a great day.

Crashing through the front door my 27 rabbit smile was knocked off my face by wonderment by what greated me. The gorgeous pine scent filled the room, and the great, fat Christmas tree filled the alcove in the lounge. Willo had set up a Christmas tree!

It's so beautiful and so green and smells amazing.

Willo says there are rules with this tree. He had hesitated last evening when I asked if we could go get a tree this weekend - the hesitation before he answered me sounded more like he didn't really want a tree than he was actually thinking about it. Not a man to muck around, Willo got the tree into the house today and now he says, I have to decorate it and if the results of that aren't *amazing* he gets to burn the whole thing. He will judge the tree when I'm done, and I have about a week to get it done.

How exciting!

So we seem to be mashing up Easter, Christmas and Guy Fawkes around here but all and all - today was a pretty bloody brilliant day. Worth 27 rabbits and a fir tree anyday!

Do you have a tree this year? How are you decorating it? If you don't have a tree, do you have any central symbol of Christmas in your house?

Sunday Update

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:29:34 -0800

Seems an update on a Sunday is all my brain can manage at the moment. Work is challenging and good, and taking all my attention - as usual. Going to work harder on separating my day job from my after job life.

Maybe that's my goal for 2012 - getting some decent work/life balance, as they call it. I bet my attitude is tied to my complete lack of create activities. I think about drawing a lot; I buy piles of sketch books, handsful of pencils and paints; consider the processes involved in screen printing fabric almost daily; but I'm not actually doing anything. As Merlin Mann says, there comes a point where you just have to *do* and I'm all rutified and not "doing" any of these things.

I really need to remember who it is I am and get on with being me. Remember her, Michelle? the creative, interesting one? Pretty sure this working version is only a small facet, cos man, how depressing would it be if it was completely who I am?

The Wrong Guy by the Right Guy

I've had a crush on John Siracusa for some time now but lately after listening to his 5by5.tv Hypercritical Episode 42: The Wrong Guy I have fallen head over heals for this podcast. When John hits full flight on things he cares about, he's an absolute delight. Oh to be such a critical, quick-witted thinker! His knowledge, obssessions, irks and passions have become such a huge part of my commute on work-day mornings. I listen to both Hypercritial and The Incomparible - another podcast he sometimes appears on - the latest Empire Strikes Back sessions are wonderful.

In this The Wrong Guy episode John talks about his disappointment with the biography Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson. John is singularly annoyed with the job Isaacson has done, especially given the exclusive access he had to Steve Jobs. John doesn't believe Isaacson is a very good interviwer and didn't dig into important details with Jobs so as to reveal more of this man's personality and motivation. That, along with Isaacson's editorialising, apparent lack of quality research and inaccuracies, really has become a beautiful bee in Siracusa's bonnet.

Kitchen Update

We're still waiting for the benchtops to arrive and be fitted. They said it would take a couple of weeks, so here's hoping they'll arrive this week being that it is now, well and truly, a couple of weeks.

It's a bit like camping around here with a bucket for the dishes, extension cords and junction boxes powering the toaster and coffee machine. It's been okay for a while but it's starting to wear a bit thin. Mostly because the camping attitude has cascaded through to a lackadaisical (completely on my part) approach to dusting, hoovering etc. Our meals are all a bit fast and furious - tending to lean heavily on toasted sandwiches, salads and other lo-fi affairs.

Now I think about it a bit more, I'm ready for Jamie Oliver's recipes to take centre-stage again in the kitchen inspired by his 30 Minute Meals show. It's going to be fantastic when it's all done, the sink is in, the benchtops on, the dishwasher hooked up, the gas hob and oven all wired in.

Fingers crossed it's this week folks for the benchtops and then the sparky powering up the appliances very soon afterwards.

Saff's Cafe, Castlemaine

On Saturday we decided to go out for breakfast. Cereal is okay for a while but both Willo and I need a cooked soluiton every once and a while.

After a few work things cropped up, we lost the morning and it wasn't until about 1pm we got into the truck and made our way into Castlemaine. It was a wet old day, and by the looks of the creeks and gutters, Castlemaine had had a lot more water than we'd experienced out at Newstead.

We actually don't eat out much here at all. After living in the city for years, close to cafes and restaurants, I would have thought our habits would have had us discovering all the best eateries in the area but no; we mostly prefer to eat at home. The kitchen's incompleteness has seen us looking to other ways to get some breakfast eggs.

Saff's Cafe in Castlemaine is bigger than it appears. It's a cosy place. Even when it's quite busy there's somewhere to sit. We ordered our eggs - Willo had savoury scramble eggs, and I had a bacon, lettuce, egg, avocado and tomato sandwich.

It was unbelievable delicous and the perfect size. We both finished at the same time, washing everything down with bloody marys - what a perfect breakfast.

I declare there is nothing wrong with Saff's Cafe, and if you're ever in town, drop in for food. They have great looking cakes, good coffee and an extensive and varied menu.

Publc Inn, Castlemaine

After our breakfast, we were joined by some friends. We needed a place to wait for an hour and a half as other friends were coming up from Melbourne. We decided to try the new (ish - been there about a year, I think) Public Inn a block down the road.

Rumour has it that the new owners had spent a pile of cash rennovating this old bar. It was now a restaurant and bar.

We stayed for a few rounds, sitting outside under the awning that kept most of the rain from us. I watched people walk in and walk out. Mostly the Public Inn was empty - and it doesn't surprise me. Apart from the unwelcoming feel of it, it's just too pretentious for Castlemaine. Maybe it's super busy later in the evening but we were there for a couple of hours in the late afternoon/early evening and they couldn't capture any of the customers who popped in to take a look.

Castlemaine does need a couple of good bars, and it looks like the Public Inn has really tried - certainly spent some serious coin on the joint. But it's far too City-slickers, and not enough country-wholesome. Know your audience, I say. Country peeps are friendly - I didn't find the Public Inn welcoming enough to give it a second try. A smile goes a long way.

Gorgeous visitors loving the Lego movie

Weekendness

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:00:00 -0800

Weekends are often good. Like it's said of pizza and sex, even when it's not great, it's is still not bad (bonus if you get pizza AND sex during your weekend, I guess).

This weekend was a good weekend. Not for anything spectacular or special - although Willo's brother Ian is visiting and that's always nice - but we're not doing anything different, or anything extraordinary. Just hanging out and watching movies, spackling plaster and makin' websites: it's just, good, ordinary, everyday stuff.

Right now I'm at home on my own, bodging together a website for the Newstead Swap Meet, while the boys are out fanging around in country Victoria. The dog is asleep at my left elbow. He smells like he's rolled in three dead things recently. My bare feet are plying the rustic shag rug that keep the cool of the slate floor tiles at bay. John Siricusa is knit-picking his way through the Steve Jobs' biography on my iTunes as I catch up on my favourite 5by5 podcasts.

How's that for a sanctified, certified, glorious Michelle Sunday afternoon? I'm pretty happy with it.

Hope yours was good to you, too.

Sing along Friday

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:00:00 -0800

Sunday Update

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:00:00 -0800

Kitchen Rennovations

The beavers have been beavering away all week, and now there are so many cupboards in the kitchen, we don't know what to do with them all!

There is a wait now, of a couple of weeks, for the stone benches to be meausred, cut and installed. It's a bit like camping around here with the electic jug and toaster sitting on the hearth, and plugged in to the socket close by. We are simple peoples, though, and all is good until the kitchen is fully functional.

The bathroom's being done too - didn't get any 'before' photos though (doh) but Willo's doing a fantastic job, and I'll share the photos when that's done.

Day-job

I've changed jobs. It wasn't my idea, but I'm glad it happened. I miss seeing some of my colleagues every day, but have learned the lesson that the bullet you can't dodge, just might be the one that saves your life.

Reassessing Priorities

Because of the unexpected change to how I spend my days, some of my plans have needed to be put on hold. NaNoWriMo for instance, has had to be deferred. I can't see myself finding the brain space for it this year on a deliberate level, as opposed from signing up and procrastinating the entire month away as I usually do!

I have a few online courses I'm doing, including the 26 Things meme which have been put on hold for a couple of months, along with the screen printing I mentioned in the last update. The logistics and creative work just has no room in my brain while I'm ramping up my new job, tasks and skills.

While I'm a little disappointed in a few things, I'm being realistic about what I can do, and trying to go easy on myself when setting personal expectations: even though I need to be, and have been, reminded that they still remain higher than they need to be.

Fixing some of the things that are wrong around here will still be done, but have been pushed back a few weeks to compensate for the lack of brain space.

Webstock 2012

Every now and then, I get this bubble of excitement. It rumbles up and pops out with the sparkling realisation that I'm going to Webstock again next year.

Webstock is a - I hesitate to call it a conference - gathering of smart people for smart people, and made with love. It's held in Wellington in February each year. In the few days before the event, there are a number of workshops available and I've signed up for three: CSS: Knowledgable TO Ninja, with Estelle Weyl; Content Stategy in (your) Real World with Erin Kissane; and Presenting Naked (with or without visuals) with Garr Reynolds.

One might suggest that I'm peaking too early, but I can't help it. I know how great this event is. How inspiring, informative, intelligent. It is such a great week for me - the last two years I have come away so energised and affirmed that I am totally on the right track in my life. This Webstock will be even better because it will coincide with another big transition for me - but more on that closer to the date.

Bendigo Swap Meet

Uncharacteristically awake, I answered my phone to Willo at 8:30am Saturday morning. He'd got up early and made the trip to the Bendigo Swap Meet to man the Chopped stall with Ryan.

"How do you fancy a trip to Bendigo today?" he asked.

Bendigo's about a 45 minute Mini drive away. It was a beautiful day, and I had been considering going to see what it was all about, but after a full on four days at my new job, I felt like I just wanted to stay home and zone out.

"Nah." I said, "I'm good."

"No," Willo said, "you do."

"I do?"

"Yeh, you really do." he pushed.

"What makes you think that?" I asked, still sure I wasn't going anywhere.

"Because I left the fliers on the kitchen table and I need you to bring them with you!"

Can't argue with a good reason to go to the Bendigo Swap Meet I decided. So I washed, and brushed, and dressed and jumped into the Mini for the drive. The Swap Meet was mentioned continously on the radio all the way there. I had no idea it was such a big deal - 20,000 people were expected through the gates, they said - and when I got there to find a car park, I was pretty sure all 20,000 had arrived at the same time!

It was an amazing day. As usual, Willo knows what it is I need. After dropping the fliers off to the boys at their stall, I dawdled around the huge showgrounds, looking at all the stalls and their wares. It was crazy big!

Of course I wasn't dressed for the 28 degrees Celcius, so needed to buy a hat, and utilised some of the complimentary sun screen to stop from turning into crispy bacon as the day heated up.

The Swap Meet used to be all about car and machinery parts, now it seems there is enough diversity for everyone. It's sort of like a huge communal garage sale. Lots of stalls selling one man's junk to another man's treasure. I came away with a couple of china saucers that looked very 1930ish and will make lovely small portion dessert dishes. I also picked up a lovely round cut crystal glass box which will be just as lovely on my dressing table as it would be on the dining table for relish.

Besides all that, I got lots of fresh air and sunshine, which was perfect.

Kitchen Renovations

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:00:00 -0800

This kitchen's days were numbered the day we moved in. Willo loves to cook and needed more benchspace, more light and better appliances. Not long after we moved in he met with a designer and they figured out what and where and how and, more importantly, how much. The plans were drawn, the quote was accepted and now the date of renovation has finally arrived.

First things first: packing up the kitchen, removing the cast iron wood oven and getting those tiles off the back wall. Grey Sundays and a hip-hop soundtrack are the requirements for such endeavours. I took to packing the pantry and kitchen cupboards we had filled only 5 months ago when we moved here. Willo tended to the big oven/tile adventure.

We both said how much we enjoyed smashing tiles, as they usually shatter satisfyingly from the weak grout that hold them in place. But like all famous words, these tiles made Willo work for his pleasure. They seemed to have been adherred to the brick work with a tar-like substance. Maybe something to do with the heat they had to endure being so close to the oven - but whatever reason, this substance is now loathed in our household. Four hours later though, Willo has taken the last piece of white ceramic from the wall and can drink a well earned beverage.

Meanwhile, I have about half a dozen boxes, loosely packed with our kitchen. Retaining a small selection of bowls and utensils to make and consume simple meals while the kitchen is out of operation but I do see there will be a lot of eating out and ordering pizza in the next couple of weeks when we get sick of eating weetbix and vegemite sandwiches.

The kitchen people arrive in the morning to rip out the old cupboards and pantry, coming back again the next day to put in all the new cabinetry. The counter tops will be stone and will be measured after the cabinets are in and arriving in another couple of weeks after that. The finished kitchen will be bright, functional and wonderful. Stay tuned!