Full of the cold, head like sticky glue. Pretty fuzzy for the first couple of days, and hardly rocket powered the last couple of days. I'm starting to get more tolerant of myself not always being one hundred percent. Looking back not entirely sure what I did this week, but although I may not have been the most purposeful, I am sure that I was beavering away. All a bit of a catholic guilt, puritan work ethic sort of thing.

Met up with my old boss for lunch, and had a fine time, she is looking really well, and clearly retirement suits her well. We hardly mentioned work at all, which suited me just fine, and as a parting gift, I gave her some of my wife's fine jams, and preserves, including the new favourite, High Dumpsie Dearie Jam.

I was successful in applying for another post recently, so I will need to put my house in order, either get things done, or hand them over to someone else. It will be after Christmas when I move, so that sounds a long way away at the moment, but I suspect that it will creep up on me mighty fast, if I don't start beavering away on stuff. More puritan work ethic stuff going on.

Still persevering trying to find a way to backup my new laptop. I have deleted a lot of old stuff from my laptop, particularly stuff that came from previous machines, I suspect that there is even stuff that I had on my first System 7.1 laptop there. Also got rid of CyberDuck from my laptop. Following a suggestion on one of the podcasts, I am trying iBackup. I did set it to back up everything last night, but was still stalled when I came down this morning. I gave things a right clear out this morning, it backed up okay onto the desktop, so now I am trying to back it up to the external hard drive.

If that works, and I'll be feeling decidedly cocky if it does, then I'll try and run time machine backing up to another partition.

Other stuff, I really will need to start thinking about Christmas stuff properly, but it just feels so alien these days, when everyone has everything they want, it is a bit like that rather gross Mr Creosote sketch, where we are all being encouraged to have just that little bit more. I have that niggling feeling, that with a bit of lateral thinking, something less consumeristic, and more useful could be arrived at.

Otherwise, not much to report, it is really really cold, actually really really really cold,

Tags: backing up

quite a lot to report

• how I am getting on with my new computer
• applying for new jobs
• starting to write Losing Definition
• Just like magic

how I am getting on with my new computer
After much effort doing installations (all trouble free, just time consuming) last weekend, my new laptop is now up and running, with the exception of Time Machine. I even ran software update yesterday, and applied a system patch, but still no joy, now TimeMachine. I've checked out SuperDuper and we are still waiting for an upgrade to that to allow it to ran with Leopard. So my backup strategy is now two-fold

• for my desktop computer - continue to run SuperDuper each week to back up the entire system into a partition on an external hard drive.
• for my laptop computer - all newly created documents to be kept in the same desktop folder for ease, and to be backed up from there.

It is now clear that routine maintenance for two computers, which for me, basically consists of doing a weekly backup, and a monthly run of Disk Utility and OnyX will become quite time consuming. However my first two computers both eventually crashed out with corrupt hard drives, which then needed to be reformated and reinstalled, so I am perfectly resigned to doing proper backups.

I also watched the OSX Leopard introductory tour yesterday, and I'm slowly getting my head round the new functionality of Leopard. A lot of it is not gee whizz new, but rather tucked away, and you have to go looking for it. Spaces seems interesting, but I've not quite got my head round it. I guess that I will just have to spend time playing around with the new OS, and browsing through material about it. A lot of it is selling functionality that I did not know I wanted, so there is the task of understanding the functionality, then understanding how to use it.

I ran the laptop, connected upto the internet router via an old ethernet cable, and the Mail worked fine, I don't think that connecting two computers to the same mail account will cause problems actually. Well not with received mail, I might need to be a bit cannier with sent mail though. I'll need to lash out on a longer ethernet cable, but it will be cheaper than buying a wireless router.

At the moment expenditure on IT seems to be a constant item, though in fairness, I am not spending on much else.

It is great being able to run two computers, it also means that I can spend an evening typing away on my laptop, while the rest of the family can use the desktop. Yesterday I was using the laptop, while Hannah was playing away on the Sims, and Sketchfighter.

If I am primarily using the laptop for typing, the screen is plenty big enough, it is light and easy to move around, the power cable with the magsafe link is easy and safe to use. I am persevering using the trackpad, and now quite like using the one finger for moving the cursor and two fingers for scrolling facility. No sure that browsing folders in CoverFlow is particularly quick, but intriguing none the less.

In terms of version control, I'm using the laptop primarily for stuff that does not need the internet connection, while the web-based stuff I do on the desktop. However I might be persuaded to upgrade to a family license for RapidWeaver in due course, just to make life slightly easier. Ditto other applications, probably just as easy buying family licenses for software from now on.

Despite all this positive stuff, with the absence of reliable backups, I am mighty glad that I am not running Leopard on my main computer, and do not intend to upgrade it to Leopard, because it might be a bit of a memory hog, I cannot back it up, and I really want complete no risk/no worry peace of mind on my main computer. Running two internet capable computers does feel a lot more secure than having one, and all the putting your eggs in one basket, that that entailed.

applying for new jobs
Actually quite a worrisome week, doing two workshop presentations on Monday, which was something that I had not exactly done before, though I had done similar stuff. As ever worry worry worry, but when the adrenaline kicks in, you just stick a smile on your face, and become larger than life, breezing through it. Just as well in this case, as some of the audience were really not used to or expecting a presentation from a government official, so there was a fair bit of questions, and issues raised, but between the adrenaline and past experience, I carried it off with reasonable aplomb. You certainly don't do these things for the hearty congratulations for the audience, but I think that we should be out there, being seen, speaking to people, and more importantly listening to people.

Then a quick briefing of the Minister, which I was leading, but I made sure that I was well prepared, and knew the points I wanted to get across, and the Minister was a real pleasure to meet. So after the initial worry that too went well.

Final worry out of three, for the week, was a job interview on the Thursday. Once again made sure that I was well prepared, even setting aside some time in the office to make sure that I was thoroughly prepared. I did apply for one other post recently, but this was the one that I really wanted, even although the other one would have paid better. This one fits in with my career plan, which is to find a post with elements of project management, working with external stakeholders, and negotiation skills. The team also looked to be a really good mix of people, and the actual work area seemed interesting. It rather reminds me of work that I was doing a while back, that was mad busy, but high profile, challenging, but you were learning so much all the time.

The job would offer a mix of building on skills that I already have, but also enhancing areas that I feel that I need to develop.

The interview went okay, not one that I felt that I had aced, but okay nonetheless. My problem being that it is difficult to demonstrate that you can do something that you have not done before, so I was delighted to be asked at the outset why I wanted the job, so I could say, probably in a gushy/enthusiastic sort of way, that I might not have all the experience on paper, but I wanted to get the experience, I thought I could do it, and I wanted the chance to prove that I could.

We use competency based interviews, which means that you have to talk about similar tasks that you have successfully done, which means that you want good high quality work to demonstrate what you can do, getting bogged down with low quality work makes it difficult to move onto a decent job. Just another aspect of the need to focus on work that delivers significant outcomes, and think carefully about what you put your time into. I am constantly amazed at the high quality of some staff, and that they are not better paid for what they have to do. I might be good at what I do, but there are a lot of really excellent people, so although the work suits me well, I won't rise effortlessly to the top.

starting to write Losing Definition
I have made a start on losing definition, writing it on VoodooPad. To date I have taken stuff that I have written in a previous start on RapidWeaver, only a few pages, and notes from my notebooks, and some poetry from the blog. I don't intend to duplicate the blog in Losing Definition, but it might have stuff that I can use. At present there is a lot of stuff there, that is just working notes, and will get edited out in due course, but I'm still not too sure where it is going, so it is not too obvious what is irrelevant yet. I'll push on with writing stuff, and trawling through stuff that I have already written to find suitable material.

I think the real art will be in the editing, rather than the writing, maybe there is an Ezra Pound who could create a Wasteland from my prose?

In any case, it will take a lot of work and iterations to arrive at something that I am happy with, but it will be a pretty dense mix when it is finished, Giorgio DeChiroco wrote a fishy paste of a novel, called Hebdomeron, which I have never read, and only just remember hearing about, but I feel like I am struggling to create some such 'mythical work'.

Context is of course everything, it will take shape, and it is time for me to get writing, rather that waffling on about it.

Just like magic
There is a famous quote from Arthur C Clarke about any sufficiently advanced technology will appear to be magic. I think that the new Apple operating systems are approaching that level. In some sort of Harry Potter way, we can gesture, and make short incantations, to create magical works.

The geek as hero, arcana as power, a new alchemy.

Nowadays it seems like every home needs a geek, to provide technical support, the new BT adverts with Kris Marshall certainly seem to be going down this line, that there is something attractive and useful about geekery.

My first computer, a Powerbook 165c (introduced in 1993 and running System 7.1) was capable of being understood inside out. There seemed a pretty finite limit to the functionality, and the files and folders. Even adding in a works package like Clarisworks, you still had a pretty manageable degree of functionality, useful, without being confusing.

However skipping forward to my new laptop an iBook running OXS 10.5, the number of files and folders is probably over 800,000, beyond what any reasonable person would know or understand. In terms of functionality, there are now numerous perfectly legitimate ways of achieving the same end. You can customise and enhance, there is no single standard user experience. I can learn tricks and shortcuts limited only by my ability to remember them all, I can add on functionality like QuickSilver to create further magical abilities to shortcut through the complexity.

You really would need to be a genius to understand all of this, or even a decent chunk of it. Computing has therefore evolved into an art, where you need to make qualitative judgements, subjective decisions, balance issues, there are no single right answers, merely strategies that are more likely to succeed.

I often wonder who the future belongs to, it may well belong to those who can master these things. In the past work did not place a great premium on brain power, but increasingly you will need brainpower, and will be responsible for keeping your brainpower upto date, relevant and useful.

I have probably written this before, but I don't think we should be talking about information workers, but about understanding workers. It won't be about having the qualifications, or seniority, it will be about being able to do things.

Tags: backing up, presentations, voodoopad

There has been quite a lot going on in the past week.

My boss for the past couple of years has left on early retirement, so I am now running the branch. The branch is just me, so I don’t anticipate a lot of disagreements with my staff. I am keen to recruit staff both above and below myself, but I’m not sure how long that will take.

In the past, I could simply work to my strengths, as could my boss. However now that I need to pick up more of her work, I will need to think more strategically, and have a better understanding of how the various blocks of work fit together. I am used to doing or batting off small discrete chunks of work, but I will need to shift my focus onto managing larger less tangible and finite pieces of work. [Thinking strategically?]

At a higher level you deal with issues that never go away, so the emphasis is less on batting away things, more on marshalling and understanding them.

This really is not a case of doing more of what I used to do, it is a case of doing stuff differently. I don’t imagine that it is impossible, but I’ll just need to find a way of working, that works for me. I’ve started out with some mind-mapping software, and I’m arranging and attending a lot more meetings. Early days yet, but interesting so far.



After my blog comments last week, there have been a couple of useful and appreciated comments on the OmniOutliner forum, and a couple of different pieces of software have been suggested for my idea of a self sorting blog. Increasingly it sounds like OmniOutliner is not what I am after, MacJournal, and Voodoopad have been suggested, and elsewhere I have come across Mori.

I have downloaded a version of Voodoopad, and I’ll have a play around with it, I’ll also do a little more research on the other options. There is a learning curve to all of these, and I’ll need to consider carefully what features I really need before I create some compendium of everything I ever thought about anything. Something that will stay good indefinitely would be good, rather than something that gets stranded next time there is a change of Mac Operating System.



Having adopted a partial GTD methodology, I have finally ordered a new external hard drive. It has not yet arrived, but should do on Monday. I know, I know, I really must have a hard drive, or some method of backing up my material. Particularly now that my daughters are buying songs from iTunes and they are only on the iMac hard-drive. Hot cross daughters, are something to be avoided.

Of course this meant that I needed to do a lot of research.

First - do I need an external hard drive, wouldn’t it be more secure to simply back up to something over my broadband connection.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/firefox-os-why-my-hard-drive-software-are-obsolete.html

I investigated this option,
.mac - looked expensive for what it offered
Amazon S3 - a possible
G-Space - saving to various G-mail accounts, just looked too fiddly to really work for me. I don’t have the time to master and run anything complicated.
British Telecom - similar service, not sure how well it supported a Mac.

In the end I still decided that I still needed an external hard drive, so that if my iMac is corrupted, I can boot up from the external hard drive and reinstall from there. Yes I know that I could reboot from system disks, and then reinstall the software and strings to get my broadband working, and then upgrade the software over the internet, and then reinstall my data from the last back up, and then resubscribe to all my podcasts, and then put in my bookmarks again, and then reinstall my contacts, ....

However the idea of simply formatting the corrupted hard-drive, and then migrating over a recent system just seemed so much easier. I am currently working on the one computer, so if it goes down, I am effectively cut off from the internet. If I had a batch of computers, then another strategy would doubtless suggest itself.

I have had three Macintosh 1993 - powerbook 165c, 1998 - original bondi blue imac, and my new 2006 intel imac.

The first two eventually succumbed to a corrupted hard drive, which is what finally prompted me to buy a new computer. Accordingly I do expect my new computer to eventually succumb to creeping corruption of its hard drive and fall over. I would like to minimise the catastrophe.


Elsewhere, elections in Scotland.

Tags: voodoopad, gtd, backing up