A departure from my norm is the fact that I am about to spend more than a passing momment in front of a Mac Book. I am a diehard fan of Bill Gates and most of the output from the Microsoft Corporation. However my stepson is not and decided to bring and Apple product into my house.
Last week while we were visiting him on his 'Gap Year' in Israel he dropped his Mac Book and cracked the screen, so we have brought it back to London for repair. I know he has many photographs on there and as he is a budding jouralist some writting also and for this reason it needs to be backed up. Now I work for a backup software company but we do not support Mac so I will now spend what will feel like and age re-partioning one of my expernal drives, getting the Mac Book to use and exteranl screen and navigating 'foreign' menus to create a backup of the data before handing the machine over for repair. I'm sure there is an easier way to do this but it has eluded me thus far. If it were of my Windows machines I would not be giving this operation a second thought, but it's not and I am, second, third and fourth thoughts and none what I would describe as happy ones.
I hope I do not make the damage any worse as I am prone to blaming the tools when I job does not go as I had hoped.

New Incentive

Yet again I hope to be more consistent in posting here but now I have more incentive. I have volunteered to write for Gear Diary and so I will post both here and there I hope.

2 years

Wow! It's two years since the last time I posted here. I have had ideas for posts but never made the time. So what's happened in two years, not alot. I still work in the same company, I still live in the same place with the same partner. I have a normal every day life.

Work is busier as the company is growing there are 13 in the UK now. More people mainly means more sales people and therefore more work for me. I still enjoy it and most days I look forward to it.

I still read blogs on line regulary and that is why I hope again not to leave it two years to the next post.

Post Op Post

I'm back at my computer having stayed away for 2 weeks while recovering from an operation to remove my appendix.

Now just in case any of you think I chose to have this operation, THINK AGAIN.

I had a pain my stomach on a Thursday night, went to bed and got up 3 times to 'throw up' and was still in pain Friday morning. My better half insisted I go to the doctor and she then accompanied me to the local hospital. Following test including an ultrasound examination of my gallbladder and some morphine (nice), I was wheeled into an operating theater and was cut open.

Post Op care was great and I was allowed to eat and get out of bet the next morning but I still had a drip for a couple of hours and was getting intravenous painkillers.

I left hospital on the Sunday afternoon and came for 2 weeks convalescence.

That's now ended and I must leave daytime TV and return to the world of work.

I still ache a bit and the area that was shaved for the off stings still but I am 90% recovered I believe and looking forward to complete normality being restored.

Return from holiday

Well, we are back from holiday. We spent a week in northern Italy a place I would recommed all to visit. I should have some pictures on Flickr later in the week.

Got back to London yesterday and today is the hottest day of the year so far. It's in the mid 30's C here and they say the humidity is going higher with no relief in sight. All this and I have to work tomorrow and go to Toronto on Saturday.

A New Post

I have not posted here for a while as I have been mulling over what I should and should not include in this blog. I feel I need to respect the anonymity of all those close to me so as to avoid their embarrassment should I include episodes from my daily life.

However If I talk in the same way here as I do in front of them it should be ok.

We're off to Italy for a week. Staying in a hotel on Lake Maggorie. I'm not into sunshine holidays but this year I have yielded. It should be fun though as a friend said all the Italians will be in a good mood for a while as they just won the World Cup.

So the plan is to post some about my holiday and my impressions of Italy.

Being a U2 fan I was surprised to hear the voice of Johnny Cash on the 1993 album Zooropa. I had only heard the odd track of his on the radio up till then. Things like 'Boy Named Sue' and songs from the San Quentin or Folsom Prison records. But it was not until he was nearly dead that I started to buy his music and I started with the American Recordings. I have the first 4 and await number 5. The recent movie about him 'Walk the Line' I thought was great.

Rick Rubin I believe is responsible for the revival of Johnny Cash's career in the last decade of his life and we should all thank him for that, Cash's voice singing 'Hurt' or 'Personal Jesus' is just amazing.

This weekend I bought the new Neil Diamond album '12 Songs'. Again a Rick Rubin production. I am not sure if Diamond was in need of a career boost but I think he will get one from this album. I bought because I had heard Neil Diamond in my youth as one of my siblings owned one of his albums but also because I suspected that the Rubin methods would produce a clear and strong vocal sound. Like Cash Diamond has a distinct voice and this recording more then does it justice.

Today I read on the BBC site about the imminent arrival of ubiqitious wireless Internet access and what this will mean for business. In particular they believe that the 19th Century attitiude that all production must take place in a central location is waning.

As I have been a home worker for nearly 2 years I have to say it's true. Broadband internet access and this availailty of application like Citrix, develpment in web technology such as XML have led to methods that allow people to access centrally held data remotely.

The article ends on a less positive note giving the warning the people may not be able to escape the office due thing like 'Push Email'. Yes it can be difficult to remember to turn off the PC and you can find yourself doing more hours as a home worker then you did in an office. So we come to the HR phrase of the decade 'Work-life Balance'.
Yes it is the responsibility of the individual to turn off the work equipment and leave the space assigned to work. It is also the responsibility of managers to epxect and insist that this happens. They should not attempt to contact a person on holiday before the arrival of the mobile phone you couldn't.

So here are some tips if you are being asked to be a home worker:

1 Get a seperate Land Line so if you need to you and turn off the ringer and let the answer phone take the calls.

2 If they want your mobile number get them to supply one so that you can turn it off when your not working .

3 If possible have a seperate PC for work but at least have a different email software for your work and person email.

4 Don't start work till 9Am. Take a lunch break away from your desk. Finish on time most things can wait till the moring.

5 If you have to work extra hours tell your boss he won't know otherwise.

6 Turn off all the work equipment at the end of your work day.

7 Lastly try and meet up with colleagues , in worktime, at least once a month to maintain the links.