As I type this
As I type this I am sitting at the dining table at home waiting while I update my largest clients website and eCommerce Platform which my company has written for them.
Tens of thousands of code, hundreds of hours of work and stress, and for my client millions of dollars in sales could all be totally fucked up if the update does not work!
I don't generally talk about my work on my blog, mainly because I am not necessarily sure who reads my blog and I would rather not get into some stuff in the open.
But this is such a momentous moment as the new software we wrote goes live, and there is nothing for me to do right this moment other than wait for the 300mb of files to be uploaded to the server and then configure.
Talking of work we have been very busy in the last year busier than ever before , but there is that underlying fear that as the economy slows all this great market share I have found will contract or collapse.
We are entirely re-tooling our business to address this with solid robust technical solutions made for mass deployment.
Sounds like word candy don't it!
However when we are ready I will for the first time spruik one of our products on my blog Why? Because I can and because I want to get the largest possible media outcome I can get!
Anyway the files are still uploading and I would say it's going to be at least another thirty minutes before I can start the configuration of the software on the server!
eeeeeeeek - this makes me nervous, really nervous!
Labels: work
The horror of it all
Today we went to Ikea for the second time in probably 5 years to look at desks and tables for my new office.
I now remember why the last time I went there I said I would never go again.
The ugly ugly ugly people, and so many of them it's insane, and the total crap that is in that place, if that's not an environmental disaster I have no idea what is.
Yeah sure I know they are one of the most ecologically friendly manufacturing companies (they use recycled products, use farmed timber etc. But that's all well and good but the entire store is just one big bargain basement of stuff you don't really need.
The 1 dollar bargains like candles, hangers, glasses, T towels etc sure they are useful, but only if you actually need them!
Not surprisingly we didn't buy anything and it looks like I will be moving into the new office with virtually only the furniture we have now and none of the new desks for people or meeting room stuff.
It's not a bad thing per se, but at the very least I don't want to be sharing my desk with anyone while we choose new desking solutions.
I am hoping that some time this week we will do the move as well, the new telephone is connected just waiting for the Internet to be connected and then we will do the move.
Totally unrelated I saw this cool use of an Italla vase as a fish bowl, cute huh?
And I was reminded that I wanted a fish again (when we went to replace the last fish we came home with the beagle) but I am not sure I could be bothered cleaning a fish bowl as it's a lot of work!
Just as I was writing this a group of 'Dilgrims" (dumb pilgrims) were just making their way down Oxford street and it TOTALLY set the puppy off.
Their incessant jubilant singing drove the poor pet quite mad and she made her feelings felt by barking at them.
Mind you every time the Pope and his motorcade went by she has been barking her little head off too.
I wonder whether he realises he has been going up and down the Mardi Gras route? Probably not but he wouldn't really look all that out of place in what he is wearing.
So there we are at least I have been having fun.
Labels: furniture, work
Why can't it be Friday and all my work is done?
I am having a severe case of I don't want to be doing this today!
I have been stressed out and busy for the last few weeks and this week is no real difference except that this weekend will be the start of my Birthday celebrations.
So much is going on around me at the moment.
Work is hellishly busy and we have unofficially picked up the keys for the new office.
Major stress!
So now I am just waiting for the phone lines and Internet access to be hooked up and we will make the move.
The new office is divine, but there is nothing and I mean NOTHING in there, it's a big empty space with polished concrete floors, exposed concrete and three huge white walls (the others are all glass).
One of the lessons I have learnt from moving offices before, is don't buy anything until you are actually in there. It's OK to have an office that looks like the local jumble sale for a while. We have enough furniture to work and operate for a while or at least until I can work out how to plan out the office.
I have some ideas for the walls already and have two huge art canvases for the side walls, but I think I am going to be bold with that huge big long white wall...
I would have loved to have moved in next week, but it's likely that the phone and Internet connections will not be done till mid week which will clash with the World Youth Day road closures and I won;t be able to get the furniture moved from one office to the other.
So I will most likely have to wait till the week after next to do the actual move.
In between I have been visiting websites and online catalogues looking at office decorating and furniture ideas. As much as I want something really cool I also don't want to spend too much money on the office fit out - another lesson learnt from previous offices.
So I am on the lookout for cheaper options of designer office furniture.
Interestingly Ikea does seem to be the best option for office fit outs believe it or not.
Because the rage of desk tops and legs is just varied you can pretty much mix and match to get what you want. The only question is just how bad the quality actually is?
But hey I am in business to make money not to win awards for the office.
So on that comment back to worky I must get and earn some more money!
Labels: work
Rude Clients
I had one of those surreal client experiences the other day where I was insulted repeatably.
We had just finished this particular client's project and I went to their offices to train them on our software.
The guy that employed us was one of the other partners in the business and he has since retired from day to day operations, so I was training the other partner and a couple of his staff.
From the moment I walked in I felt uncomfortable, I was already tired from the second night of not sleeping from trying melatonin instead of sleeping tablets or ativan. So I was not in the best of moods.
But it got worse.
This client has dragged on for get this 18 months, mainly because the partner I was meeting today controls every par of his business and does not allow his staff to make any decision no matter how minimal.
The morning started with him telling the 'girl' to go get coffee and then making a comment about her being the only girl in the office and getting coffee was about all she was good for.
Then it started on football something I know little about (or have much interest). They were wanting the colour of something to be Bulldog blue and I had no idea what they were talking about and asked them to show me.
At this point the snide comments and asides started and it was one thinly veiled homophobic joke after another.
I finsihed the training as quickly as I could and left, if they had already paid their final bill I think I would have just packed up and left and told them to stuff it, but we have done the work and I want the money!
Freaks!
Mind you they were so focused on being homophobic I don't think the actually paid attention anyway and they aint getting their emails or phone call answered!
Labels: work
A real post not just pictures
It's been a really busy week, month, year so far.
The Warhols have been a hugely fun diversion from work and I have now sold 4 of them which means I only have three more to sell
If anyone would like to buy a Sunday B Morning screen print of Marilyn Monroe get in contact with me.
I am pretty amazed actually at the whole experience and the fact that I have essentially covered my costs by selling the four, but I will need to concentrate and sell the final three to make myself a profit and perhaps buy some new art?
Margeaux who has bought the gorgeous black / grey one did make a comment about my art collecting being far more organic and personal than my original 'I would like" list...
Anyway enough of Art LOL.
The puppy is getting better and even has the cone of silence off now as she has stopped chewing at her back paw. She still has another ten days or so on the antibiotics and anti-histamines but we are hoping that much of the problem with her paw will go away.
Work is really full on this year, more so than ever before, but I feel that I am moving forward now and not either just treading water or trying to catch up.
The whole six month plan that I put in place last year has been blown out by about 6 months... And I am in the process of re-working the strategy anyway to take advantage of the changes.
But all in all I am still moving towards the end goals that I set in place last year.
I am very excited because in the coming weeks I am back to focusing on some strategic stuff that I have not been able to get done due to the piles and piles of work that I have been trying to get through.
When people talk about 'turning a corner' I can really relate to that concept right now. I feel like I am just on the edge of that corner. I can see the street and I am just pivoting around, not quite there yet, but definitely moving around.
The down side of working so hard has been a consistent lack of quality sleep, I am not stressed per se, but I have huge amounts of stuff on my mind, stuff like planning lists, doing work etc, not stressful stuff just a mind that is busy.
The problem with bad sleep patterns means I have had a head cold on and off and have not been getting to the gym more than a couple of times in the last few months.
It's silly because I know that exercise is exactly what my body and mind need right now, but when you feel even slightly under the weather (allergies included) the last thing you feel like doing is going to the gym right?
However I can feel myself getting, older, flabbier and less and less in shape.
At least I walk everywhere so I am getting some exercise but not the exercise I need.
It just occurred to me that as busy as I am I am less obsessed about my body shape which is both a good and bad thing.
I need to find a better balance between everything, or find a way to be in three or four places at once...
So there is a huge wrap up instead of the constant stream of hot boys and obsessive art posts.
Labels: art, work
Banksy and ohers do Leake Street London
One of the things I love about Banksy is the fact that the art is often transitory and won't generally last forever!
Labels: art, work
I love Fedex
I love Fedex, I am tracking my screenprints every few hours and imagining them sitting on the back of an MD-11 as they race across the sky.
(Am I getting just too obsessed?)
Mind you by the time I actually get them I will probably be over the whole thing hehehehe..
I have had another friend express an interest in another one of them which means I could now have only 4 more to sell. I think however I might hold on to them for a while and see what a couple of galleries etc would pay for them framed and unframed.
I had a really weird experience at work yesterday, I was pretty much insulted twice by a client sitting not a metre in front of me in the office. It was truly bizarre and if it had been anyone other than a client who was actually paying their bills, I would have thrown them out (and have thrown people out before for similar).
Anyway it's hump day and I am sitting here still at home at almost eight 8am writing this and annotating my To Do List for the day.
After last weeks huge deadlines and stress and then Monday's mad scramble to complete an overdue project this week is quieter and hopefully will allow me to finish a small project that has been on the back burner for a couple of weeks.
I am also hoping to finally getting back to some development work on a strategic project that has been in progress for the last six months.
The eye Candy is frm Fratpad, I just can't get enough of these hotties!
Labels: eye candy porn, Fratmen, work
It's going tobe a busy week
I have a huge week coming up of work and I am so not looking forward to it.
My largest client will be counting the cost of their intermittent credit card failure over the last few days and I will be asked to provide them with an alternate solution. And knowing the client the solution will need to be done 'last week'.
Another client expects a hug deliverable to be complete today, and providing that I do not get distracted with other clients calling or having emergencies I should be able to get the majority of what they want complete by the end of the day
Then the rest of the week is full of meetings and stuff that should have been completed last week but got pushed aside with the credit card failure issue.
I have still got the damn congestions but I daresay I need to actually slow down a bit and stop working hard all day, going out for dinners and then not sleeping at night, so this week might be a much much quietr week for me socially.
The good thing is the strategic stuff is progressing even without my constant pressure. The new junior is doing a fantastic job on one really important aspect of the strategy for me. I just need to get a few more people on the strategy and then get me some time to focus on it as well
So off to start a week!
Labels: work
Busy as all hell!
I am indeed alive just busy as all hell with work and training my new junior. I will however be writing more when I have time!
Labels: work
Coming Up for Air
This week has been just plain hideous.
A small tiny update to server software by CPANEL has caused a huge nightmare. My major high value clients have been unable to process credit cards since 4AM yesterday morning.
It took me the better part of 8 hours to even work out what the problem was. But even then at this moment there is no actual solution.
I am at my total wits end with one of my primary technology partners for their total inability to respond in a timely manner to the problem.
I am suffering from my regular nasal congestion too which I always seem to get after a big weekend and of course the rather huge stress attack right now too.
I was going to head to the gym tonight for the first time since Sunday but I feel exhausted and I reckon going to the gym would just exhaust me more and turn what is really just hay fever and allergies into a full on cold which I certainly don't want!
Anyway I need to start trying to catch up with the work I have not been getting down while working on this other issue.
Labels: stress, work
The problem with...
The problem with working all weekend is by the time the work week officially starts you need a break. But looking at the workload for the next few weeks / months I need to work harder and smarter to keep everything going.
One of the roles I am seeking is for a Junior Website Designer, they need to have DESIGN skills, not a Masters of Information Technology.
The majority of the responses were from candidates whose country of birth is not Australia, further their natural language is not English and it painfully shows in their application letters.
The use of 'Hey I wants applications to positions eligible' is not likely to do much for their interview prospects.
But does it make me racist?
I hope not, I just want someone with the required skills.
I think in future I will create an online application process that forces the applicants to detail the experience and skills I require and not the ones I don't.
Whilst I found some of the past work experience in all sorts of service industries fascinating I don't need four pages on that experience I need relevant experience.
Talking of which having some one state that they are Muslim on their job application is problematic. It would be a bit like me stating I am Gay on a job advertisement (unless it was relevant).
Number one I have a dog in the office (
which many Muslims have issues with) (well there are two actually) and two most strict Muslims I have met have had significant issues with people who are Gay.
I suppose all you can do is be totally objective and use a score card for the required skills etc and match the requirements with the applicant.
It would be similar if someone put on their application that they are an active member of the Hillsong Church. Their beliefs and my beliefs would significantly conflict and they would therefore not have the required skills for the role.
Thus far though the only two people that even came close do not come close enough and so I am reticent to do any more with them than the initial telephone interviews I have done.
I'm off to the gym tonight for the first time in weeks and I am not looking forward to the wimpy workout I will end up doing tonight. But that's what happens when you don't work out with regularity.
Labels: work
Lessons on writing employment ads
I have two open positions in my company at the moment, one for a junior designer and the other for an experienced programmer with a quite specific computer language.
I have been advertising for about a week or so on one ad and about three weeks on the other.
So far I have had no responses from anyone who I have been impressed with.
More importantly I have not had anyone apply that actually has the required essential skills.
Let's analyse this shall we?
OK
Essential skill - design knowledge & portfolio of work to demonstrate experience seems to have been read as:
Covered HTML in my degree
I use the web
I am open to learning new technologies
Essential - Australian Work Visa or ability to work in Australia, this seems to be a very loose requirement indeed. It seems that there is some sort of lost in translation that means my company is willing to sponsor someone to work in Australia.
But what really annoys me the absolute most is the total lack of care in writing the covering letter / note. Sure the responses are done online, but this should not mean the language used is any less important.
Look I understand that for most of the applicants English is not their first language, however you would think that you could get someone who is proficient in English to draft a standard covering statement?
My absolute favourite was the guy who sent me a link to his online portfolio of work, first off the link was just slightly wrong, which is OK because I could correct it. But the entire 'portfolio' was full of broken links and images.
Not the way to impress to potential employer!
Labels: work
And I am moved
I have moved and unpacked, now all I need to do is get the internet connection all up and runnig and buy some new furniture!
The picture shows my desk which I actually built years ago from timber from the house where I grew up, cool huh!
The art and walls need to be all replaced with art more to my taste. I also need to get some storage units and bookcases for 'stuff', but I will wait for a couple of weeks to do anything until I am used to the office and know exactly what I want.
So for now I am on hold waiting to find out exactly when my new ADSL connection will be connected.
Labels: work
Underestimated Stress & Anxiety
I have pretty much underestimated how stressed moving into a new office has actually made me. I am total creature of habit and moving full stop and the whole stress of being kicked out of the office last year was considerable.
I thought I was relatively OK, but I realised that for the last week or so I have been waking in the middle of the night and having a restless very thought filled rest of the night.
I take sleeping tablets on a regular enough basis that I actually prefer to try and go as long as I can bear without them when my sleeping patterns get like this. I really don't like taking sleepers as a rule mainly because I worry about becoming dependant on them.
I am pretty tired this morning but in restrospect the last weeks bad sleeping patterns can all be linked to the office move!
So the movers are here right now getting all the files, furniture and office equipment we had in storage and in a little while we will trundle off down the road to move everything in and start unpacking!
Unfortunately none of the boys moving me are even remotely attractive!
Labels: stress, work
Project Office Update
So project office is complete and I loved the office I saw yesterday afternoon. It's not exactly like the picture from yesterday's blog, well in fact it's nothing like it.
It's basically an older terrace house where the downstairs in a store and upstairs has two rooms a kitchen, bathroom and small outdoor area.
It's going to be totally different for me because I have worked in really formal office buildings for a few years and this will be a totally different experience. It's a really informal office setting, but I am hoping that I will enjoy it.
The people I will be sharing with seem nice, the guy I have seen out on the scene at various dance parties over the years so at least I know we will have something in common LOL.
I so didn't want to have to call the girl from the other office, I wanted to email / sms or otherwise avoidf the situation, but I did the correct thing and called.
It's funny actually I moan a lot about why people can't be open and honest when asked a sales question. I always hate potential customers that rather than say No they beat aroudn the bush or string along a sales process which should have gone nowhere.
One example of that was an Architects firm that we did a proposal for and two presentations. I followed it all up and would cal but for two weeks both my emails and phone calls were ignored.
In the end I sent a polite emial saying thank you for the opportunity to bid for the work and if they wwanted to proceed they could call me.
I have learnt you never ever close off or be rude to a potential sale ever, you just never know.
On other issues I am waiting to see what the results are from Super Tuesday with bated breath, but so far there are no real solid details.
Labels: work
Decisions to be made offices to be seen
It's a hard thing looking for a shared office, you are not just looking at the actual office but you are in essence interviewing and being interviewed by the people who will share with you.
Last week I saw an office that I thought I could move into. It was literally around the corner and was a fantastic two story commercial terrace that was occupied by a high end women's hand bag manufacturer.
I had seen quite a few other spaces and although I liked some of the other spaces but was less keen on the people.
Over the weekend I had convinced myself I could move into this office, there were concerns on my side about sharing an open plan space (something I have not done in years and years as I have always preferred my own office space).
But I was say 60% sure I could move into this office and be happy.
I went there yesterday to have a final negotiation with the girl whose office and showroom it was and even though we chatted and I said yes get me the final figures etc and I will aim to move in next week.
I walked away feeling that it is not the right move for me.
At the end of the day working in an office / showroom surrounded by high end women's hand bags leaves me kind of cold. I want an office that is groovy with my kind of style.
The office was chintzy with beige carpet and that horrible looking light ash office furniture. It's obviously a very very feminie office and does not site well with me.
I much prefer classic high end style, corbusier, poliform like I have at home and had in my last office. Much like the image above although that was not my office and a little bit too white for me!
I havent told her yet, I will wait a little while just to see whether my mind changes again and also till this afternoon when I see another shared office down the road described as:
3 x 4 metre office, grey painted floor boards and freshly painted walls, mind you I wonder what colour the walls are?
One would hope they were white (that way you can use art to make a statement).
So this afternoon hopefully I will see something better!
Labels: work
Start to the week
Thanks to all my friends and followers who have hassled him so far, and a gentle prod that if you have not already done so, hurry up and bloody well do so!
I had a fun weekend which started with a dinner out with Danger Mouse and Nick and ended up on Saturday night at a house party with about 8 people. Needless to say that I was feeling very sad and sorry for myself on Sunday and I am still pretty much tired today. But it is self imposed so there I am certainly not looking for sympathy.
On Friday night before I went out for dinner I received an email from the ex mate I share my office with. T he email was basically a reminder for me to pay my rent (which I always pay at the end of the second week of the month just because it's setup that way in my accounts system) and a thinly veiled request to move out before the end of the year.
Not the least of which even though it means I will save on rent I need for my own sanity to have a stable work environment which includes having a proper office.
I worked from home for years and I almost went totally bonkers. Working from an office when it was mainly just me was also not good for me. So I am at a bit of a quandary what to do really.
I would like to share an office space with someone else preferably around the city still, and preferably within the same part of the city. I don't however want to go through the whole process of getting another commercial lease, not the least of which until I know how the next four months of the big six month plan turn out. Because I don't know how much actual space I will need in a few months.
The other big issue of course is the dog, part of the understanding of getting a beagle is the need for her to come to work with me every day. So I need somewhere where she can come to work still.
It's stressful just thinking about it, at least while it was 'in January sometime' there was till between 4 - 6 weeks to deal with it all and enough time when people were at work to hunt round for something suitable.
This way it will probably be about the end of January or early February before I end up finding space and moving in anyway.
Anyway such is life really!
Oh and the pics are from
Aquadaks a new swimwear company set up in Melbourne Australia.
Labels: eye candy, weekend, work
It's coming up that time of year
It is that time of year already, the Christmas carols and decorations have been bombarding us in shopping centres and stores for at least two months now. But as of a few more days it will really be the month of excess consumerism.
With this always comes the inevitable slow down before and after Christmas of virtually all other business except for retail. I always get stressed about business at this time of year wanting to make sure the company has enough work to keep the income streaming in, but not too much that over Christmas there is time to relax.
So the next couple of weeks will be a mix of stress and relaxation!
Labels: work
With friends like these who needs enemies!
They say all is fair in love and war, but what about friends and business?
It's true that business is war and friendships are often tested and destroyed by business relationships. The Cold War between my ex mate and I took an even lower note today, and even I was amazed at how low it could get after being told last week I will lose my office early in the new year.
So one of my sales people has been doing some extra work for a friend of my ex mate. This is cool because she is only working for my part time and it was something non competitive. Today though she sent me an email where she was asked to work for one of the associated companies of my ex mates.
This would be fine all except for the fact that we are competitors in some areas.
Now you know forgive me if I am wrong but, trying to poach your staff is pretty nasty when you are a big business, but when you are a small business and not to mention were a good mate?
Mind you my staff are pretty damn loyal and in this case after they declined and pointed out that there is a conflict they said no and told me straight away.
There is some element that my mate may not have known but it's so remote it's a non event.
There is also a chance that it was not well thought out that asking my staff to work for them would be a conflict of interest.
But again the chance is slim, so I am pretty much happy in many ways that I know this chapter will end soon and I will be in a new office soon enough and away from this silliness.
Labels: stress, work
The expected is going to happen
Well this morning the expected happened, and I will have to move out of the offices I share in January.
I am more than a little pissed off by this as I have spent money on fixing the office in the last month, which is now going to be wasted.
The situation as it stands is the company I share with and the company they have invested in needs larger offices. I get the feeling that the main investor in the companies has looked at the finances of both and scratched their head as to why they need two separate offices and has suggested that sharing an office is a good way of saving 100K a year.
Yeah sure it's business and it's far, but my mate would have known this for a fair while (months) and to now tell me when the world goes into shut down mode over Christmas just pisses me off.
Mind you this is the guy who is having a battle of wills with the puppy and basically went from being one of my closest friends to barely saying hello to me.
So in the long run it's for the best, but I now have to find a new office, and one that I can continue to bring the puppy too.
Who talking of which obviously senses that my ex mate doesn't like her as she keeps away and unlike every other person she does not jump on or go near when he is around.
I am a big believer that animals sense people's true inner self and I think she has a far greater instinct than us humans do!
I am not looking forward to looking for offices, apart from the fact that it will be a huge and unexpected expense for the company (moving, new leases, new marketing material, phone lines changed, Internet connections bonds etc) I don't like the uncertainty of it all either. The very least they could do is not ask for rent for December and January, but I doubt that will happen.
I have to really stop myself and bite my tongue because there are just so many things that I want to say. But what goes around comes around and there is more elegance in keeping quiet and being the bigger person.
So if anyone knows of cool groovy office space to share in or around the CBD, Surry Hills, Paddington, Darlinghurst or East Sydney tell me! Oh and don't forget the beagle comes too!
Labels: friends, stress, work
Having a day working from home
Just like the title reads I am working from home today, this does not mean that I will be moping around at home watching movies, no siree
Instead it just means that instead of working from the office I spend the day working from home. I have already managed to spend about 3 hours talking to clients on the phone thus far and I am feeling hoarse!
The throat is no longer sore, it's now just the sinuses that are are inflamed and so I am squirting saline solution up my nose to irrigate anything that might be lurking up there.
Of course I would love to use one of those nasal decongestant sprays and make my head feel all better, but I have a history with those.
About seven years ago I became addicted to nasal sprays to the point I was using them every three - four hours and would even wake up in the night use it and go straight back to sleep.
I did try looking up the official medical name given to nasal spray addiction but I got side tracked and ended up looking at articles on Nasal Spray addiction like this one in the New York Times.
In the end with my addiction I realised there was a real problem when at three o'clock one morning (years ago) I made the boy drive me to an all night Pharmacy to get a new bottle. Well I actually bought about four just to be certain!
So these days I will not use them, and since I hate the decongestant over the counter tablets make me feel shaky (I don't one comment from friends who know me and know how ridiculous this seems that I will not take them!), I just have to wait for the sinuses to stop being inflamed and just put up with it.
At least though I am getting through work today (although slightly slower than normal).
Labels: sick, work
Up to my ears in work!
I am up to my ears in work and putting out small bush fires, in the meantime one of my work colleagues spent a weekend in Japan and bought a present for the beagle!
Doesn't she just look so happy and sweet!
The much longer post on the weekends trashiness will follow very soon indeed!
Labels: beagle-lucy, work
Tension so thick you could cut it with a knife
The friend just seems to stressed out, distant and on edge and I can't quite put my finger on the issue. I don't know whether it's work related (there is a lot going on there which is all very stressful), personal or a mix of everything.
I often wonder whether he reads my blog and has actually read posts where I have been cutting and quite nasty? Well this is my blog and I do use it form time to time to go through issues and get them from my head (which swirls enough) and into some jumble of words and emotions.
Anyway I seriously tried to ask if he was OK, the answer I got was yes from his mouth but a no from his body language. Then a moment later an 'I have to do something' and it's not the right time to talk'.
I do feel for him and no matter what I suppose I do want the friendship to repair itself. It will most likely never be quite what it once was, but I do want it to repair itself.
Looking back it's now almost three months since the
offense occurred and as many times as I have wanted to tell him what happened I have chickened out every time.
Sigh!
Labels: friends, stress, work
I can't stand people who talk over you and don't listen
In my job I give high level support on the products we create which generally means walking people through some really simple steps such as:
- Log in using your email address and password
- Click Add Page
- etc etc
Our software is pretty easy to use, you do have to understand some basics but in general it's pretty easy.
Most of the support we give is over the telephone and it's done in steps so we can monitor what is happening and help as we go through the process.
I have just had the most annoying fucking client call ever!
Trying to step her through things she would talk over me, not let me explain things to her, jump ahead and click things she wasn't supposed to and generally drive me mad.
Until I finally told her "
please be quiet
and listen, I can't explain this to you if you will not listen
".
There was
stone cold silence on the other end of the phone and the problem was fixed in less then thirty seconds.
She had already wasted 30 minutes of my time and her money (we charge for support over 2 hours in the first year).
My God these
people drive me mad!
Labels: work
Technology Sucks
I am having one of those days where every piece of technology I come near fucks up in some way!
The company web server, mail server and Intranet all went down at about 9AM this morning which meant I had no email or customer management system all day!
Then clients started calling complaining that their systems where down too. The web hosting company we use are technically brilliant but not all that good in telling people what is going on so I had no real idea apart from "a server has gone down".
In the end it's all come back and now I have to wade through a full day of email to check for urgent stuff I have missed.
Then at home our main server which runs our media centre keeps crashing and not maintaining a stable connection to the router.
They say things always happen in threes and it did today!
My ipod chose today to fuck up and I spent nearly an hour resetting the bloody thing!
I hate fucking technology!
I should be working tonight to catch up with all of the shit I missed today, but I am simply not in the mood and I think I might do a small bit of more work and then give up for the night!
I did pop by today and say hi to Mark from At my Worst and Best as I was rushing in between places in the city. I haven't seen him in ages and it was nice to very briefly say hi, even if it was for less then five minutes! He did put me on to a new porn site, Straight Fraternity, and OMG I think I might need to join! I so love straight boys showing it off LOL
Anyway...
I had a nice complement today from one of the girls in the office. She said that my waist looked like I had lost weight, which is fantastic since I have been controlling what I eat and drink for a while to get back my abs. I was totally stoked by the comment and it's made up for the rest of the shitty day.
I think I have gone down about two belt buckles and about the same in kgs, I will be happy when the "pinch" text comes back with just tight skin.
Labels: food, porn, work
Shoutout and congratulations
I'm a bit late in this but I really wanted to congratulate Bobby from Bobby's Body on his total transformation from in his words 'from an almost functioning alcoholic' to getting his life, body and health under control.
The work that he put into controlling his drinking, and turning his un-healthy body into something that anyone would be proud of.
It's a pretty amazing achievement to go from what is a grossly unhealthy lifestyle to a long term healthy lifestyle! Although Bobby said he was not going to start another blog he loves us all and did relent and start Bobby's Vanquish!
Thinking about his transformation I must say I feel a tinge of jealousy with the total lack of progress I seem to make, or the cyclical up and down of both my healthy eating habits and workout regime.
This time last year I was at the gym six days a week and I was really pushing my body hard and seeing the results. This year things have seemed to have gone haywire in this respect. But in my defense I can say that I have been going to the gym, but the lack of gym focus is inversely proportional to my workload. Work is busier than it has ever been we are getting far more clients in and out of the door and the financials are healthier.
An interesting related conversation happened in the office yesterday, one of my clients an attractive 40 year old married father of two was in my office for a workshop. Somehow the concept of substance abuse and alcohol came up and we started chatting about our alcohol taking and whether this made us or our respective friends / partners alcoholics.
Both of us drink every night as do our partners, we will call the client Smiles because he has a hot smile. Smiles said his friends know that if they come to their place for dinner etc they will be handed a glass of wine on entry and will most likely end up having to leave their cars and get a taxi home.
It kind of sounds like us, except most people are not stupid enough to drive to our place for dinner, they either live near by or catch a taxi for obvious reasons.
Because we drink every night we both wondered whether this was in fact alcohol abuse, the thought of not drinking every night (at least one drink) is a scary thought for me. I use a drink as the end of my work day, and don't generally have that first glass till either 8pm or when I have finally finished everything I can get done that day.
I know lots of people who will start drinking at 6ish and continue working on till 1am, I personally can't do that or I would probably a) write gibberish, b) tell my clients to fuck off, or c) all of the above.
So is this what represents a problem with alcohol? Every now and then we go outwe will have more than enough drinks to get drunk, not falling over drunk, but drunk enough to get silly and do stuff that I would not normally do.
I always thought that an alcoholic would pretty much start drinking in the morning / lunchtime and would drink till passing out.
Or is an alcoholic someone who has no off switch once they do start regardless of what time they start?
I turned to my trusty Wikipedia for a definition and found:
Alcoholism is a term with multiple sometimes conflicting definitions, but
with no formal recognition of the divergence of meaning. In common and
historical usage, alcoholism typically refers to any condition that results in
the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages despite negative personal and
social consequences. Medical definitions describe alcoholism as a disease which may
result in a persistent difficulty in controlling alcohol consumption. Alcoholism
may also refer to a preoccupation with or compulsion toward the consumption of
alcohol and/or an impaired ability to recognize the negative effects of
excessive alcohol consumption. Although not all of these definitions specify
current and on-going use of alcohol as a qualifier, some do, as well as
remarking on the long-term effects of consistent, heavy alcohol use, including dependence and
symptoms of withdrawal.
While the ingestion of alcohol is, by definition, necessary to develop
alcoholism, the use of alcohol does not predict the development of alcoholism.
The quantity, frequency and regularity of alcohol consumption required to
develop alcoholism varies greatly from person to person. In addition, although
the biological mechanisms underpinning alcoholism are uncertain, some risk
factors, including social environment, emotional health and genetic
predisposition, have been identified.
SourceI think at the end of the day you have to decide for yourself whether you are an alcoholic and if you are you need to do something about it! For me, I know I use alcohol to 'self medicate' or relax into many social situations and at times I drink too much, but on the balance I do not believe I am an alcoholic.
Labels: health, shoutout, work, workout
Pretty exhausted
My tonsils have pretty much sorted themselves out with lots of antibiotics, liquids and vitamins. The downside though is I am pretty much exhausted.
Amazingly the meeting on Friday resulted in a nice small juicy contract, and even better the client pulled a cheque book out and paid her 50% deposit up front right then and there!
The down side of course is that the project needs to be complete by Wednesday! After a two hour meeting with the client I almost collasped athome for a few hours before starting the project and pretty much working solidly over the weekend to get the majority done by this morning.
My eneregy levels have been up and down, we had friends for dinner on Friday night, went out for a friends Birthday Drinks on Saturday night and then dinner with the boy's parents and my parents on Sunday night.
Oh and to top it off we did some shopping for new clothes on the weekend too.
Did I say I was still feeling unwell?
Today back at the office I simple plowed through the day of work, catching up on faxes (yes some people still send faxes and I am too lazy to have them emailed to me).
I am about half way through my To Do list for the day, but I am going to behave myself by staying away from the gym for a few days.
I have decided that even if I am not going to do the whole nasty diet I am back on the detox plan and taking all of the yucky pills and potions. I reckon even if I only get 50% of the value of the detox, that's 50% more value than I am getting now!
This day in History
I thought it should be said that today is the 62nd anniversary of the use of an atomic weapon on Hiroshima. Now a good day for humanity.
Labels: food, work
Day Three of my evil Captors Plan
Day Three of my Evil Captors Plan to keep me under control by streptococcus. I am feeling a lot better than I was on the first day but I am still bloody annoyed by having this!
The tonsils themselves had all that white muck over them yesterday but that has started to go away and they are reducing in size too!
So from what I have been reading this means my body is fighting off the infection in the normal manner and to the normal time frame.
We have been invited to a new friend's Birthday drinks on Saturday night, but unless my tonsils are still 'infected' and not just a bit sore I will not go.
I had agreed that I would not work in the office this week to my DR (he knows me LOL) even though I have been working pretty hard from home, but it's different I swear!
An on again off again annoying company that sometimes gets us to do small projects and gets us to quote on all these larger projects which we never seem to win. I get the feeling that they always go for the lowest bid and then they moan and moan when the project totally fails!
So far I think our company has billed them about $3,000, but we have bid on projects worth around $60,000, it is just such a waste of time to do any form of proposal for them.
It's one of those stupid little two women marketing companies that seem to bumble from client to client and the majority of their clients end up angry with them, not pay their bills or some other catastrophe occurs.
Warning signs for any sub contractor!
In fact one of the proposals we did which took a good half a day of our time to map out the client's requirements, the client was actually being sued by the marketing company for non payment of bills worth twenty thousand dollars! Naturally enough we never got the work and the client won damages from the marketing company.
Anyway the Principal of the business rang me yesterday and asked me in for a meeting for a project which she guarantees is ours, yeah sure!
I tried to explain that I am ill and don't want to go in and ask can we do it by phone (read this as stop wasting my time), but it doesn't fly.
So even though I am ill and I don't want to I will hop a taxi the ten minutes and sit their meeting their client and see if a) they have budget, b) they are interested in us, c) understand why we are more expensive that a lot of other small companies that do similar.
I reckon looking at what they need and what has been said about being guaranteed, we have a 50 / 50 chance of winning this.
So pain killers and maybe an Ativan to test it's usefulness and I will keep you all posted.
Oh and I needed some hot eye candy for the day so I have chosen Thomas from Big Brother 07. Does anyone have more pictures of him? I want to put up a gallery of them on the site. Send them to me at drew at superdrewby.com
Labels: sick, work
Working from home
I am working from home today which whilst it may sound like fun, for me it's not really my ideal way to work.
I had a particularly bad night with my sore throat turning into a tonsil the size of a small golf ball on the right side of my neck and I feel vile, but not flu vile (touch wood). As I really do not want the flu or have the time to devote to being ill and not being able to concentrate on working.
I can tell I am running what feels like a very low level fever but I am not going from hot to cold so all in all it could be worse.
Being the total hypochondriac I am though, I will go to the Doctor and get something for it. Mainly because about about 15 years ago I ended up in hospital for almost two weeks with Tonsillitis which turned to Quincy and almost killed me by blocking off my air way.
When I first started working for myself almost size years ago I worked from home for about three years and it sent me bonkers having no one around for most of the day. So when we got the first round of funding for the business the first thing we did was find formal office premises.
Now three and a half years on and into our second premises I much prefer to work from the office. I tend to get more done, I eat less and I can interact with people and overall just feel better about things.
Not withstanding the whole 'elephant in the room' unpleasantness right now in the office which I am pretty confidant will sort itself out, I would much rather be there than here!
Apart from a planned trip to the Doctor I intend to sit at the table and working my way through my day's to do list as well as I can, drink lots of water and make sure I stay warm.
The worst part is that today is Yoga day and I will miss out this week. I might go on Saturday morning instead!
Labels: sick, work
I am a thirty something married gay boy living in Sydney, almost on top of the gay scene but not in it!
Why Sometimes blue?, because I love blue, but also I am sometimes blue :)
