Found here:
thingsweforget.blogspot.com

 I loved this statement 5min in: "Pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table"

- -

I have found over the years that money, good money, for the work I do is a great incentive initially but if I am not enjoying what I am doing - if I am not growing - I will move on.

Posted via email from Michael’s posterous

Taking photos, getting the right light, getting that perfect shot, is all well and good – But looking at the results on a computer screen does not always do the photo justice.

The normal process to print the brilliant shot was to save it onto a flash drive, take that drive to the nearest (half decent) print lab and have them print the photo to the size needed; this process is all well and good if the photo lab gets the print right, the lab is open, the lab is currently able to print and you have the right amount of money – Photos are sometimes ridiculously expensive (especially for the A3 size)

So how do you avoid the above troubles?

I recently had the opportunity to try out my first large scale (A3+) photo printer, the Epson Stylus Photo 1410 A3+ six-colour photo printer is a great photo only printer for use in the home office or study and produces stunning photographic prints when using high end photographic paper.

This large printer is widely available and although not super cheap – the printer comes in around R 3500 (~$ 450) – it does the job superbly. (Even if it does eat through R 200 cartridges at an alarming rate when printing full A3 borderless prints)

This printer has a few drawbacks, with the first and most obvious one is the sheer size of an A3+ printer. You will need a large desk to accommodate this baby. This isn’t really all that bad though, as you would have a similar issue with almost any A3 printer.

As the name implies the Epson Stylus Photo 1410 is a photo only printer so it is not recommended as your only printer and definitely should not be used for normal text on plain white paper printing – Although it can do that too.

You should spend the extra money on the Epson Photo Glossy Paper (between R 400 and R 800 for a 10 pack A3), in my tests printing on HP photo paper was a complete failure with the Epson ink not drying and in places flaking and cracking.
Generic photo paper did work and the prints were superb, but in comparison to the Epson photo paper, the generic paper prints were bland.

Drawbacks aside, this printer is amazing. It is simple to setup and install and with the built in PictBridge support you can even print directly from your camera without setting up the PC.

Printing borderless images was easy, almost silent and extremely quick (to print the image on A3 and for the ink to dry on the page)

The printer has 6 different ink cartridges (one for each colour) so it does help with keeping costs down as you only need to replace the depleted colour, and not the whole set when you run out on one.

The Epson Stylus Photo 1410 is not going to be the printer for everyone but for any photo enthusiasts, if you’re looking for a good photo printer, I believe this one is it.

I have managed, after much fighting and arguing, invited the flu in for a visit - as per usual the chap is going to stick around for a week (or two), then leave without so much as leaving a thank you note.

I do not normally get sick - I may get a sniffle for a day (during which time I am the worst person to be near because I am a ‘carrier’ of said sickness) the next day I am healthy and well but every other soul within a 5km radius has the full blown flu.

For me to get properly sick (as I am now) I must have completely ruined my immune system by doing something stupid, and in this case it was overworking the brain - behind the computer screen - without rest for the past 5 weeks.

Busy Worker: The Office

The office work: ACG World

A work in progress that is almost two years in the making was finally released in March this year - Two months later when the company is finally ready to go live with our system and bugs appear out of the wood work. A few stressful days later all the problems are resolved.

The office work: Investec

It has been a while since I stood in front of a bunch of people and attempted to teach them important stuff. In the case of Investec I was contracted out to train the new staff in their current Anti-Money laundering product (SIDE SafeWatch). I made way too big a mountain out of this training molehill.

Busy Worker: Freelance

Taking on website work on the side for some spare cash sounds like a great idea, until you try and do it.

Freelance: Sandbox Holdings

Originally Sandbox Technologies, this company has grown much since it put up its first website. One afternoon last year (in passing) I offered to redesign their website . A couple of interesting weeks later their website is ready - a few months later I get word to finally make it live. What do you know, a few new bugs to fix.

The Gateway Academy

A project that has been testing (and is still stretching) my PHP abilities. A real fun project that has come to fore with deadlines over the past weeks. This project is unique in that it is my first attempt at doing a job for someone I have never met (client is based in the UK).

New Freelance: Poken South Africa
Currently I am throwing together some ideas for Tim Lunn and the team at Poken South Africa. Helping them get a great and functional website for selling their wonderful Poken to the African markets.

(I own a Panda Poken for anyone that is interested)

New Freelance: Body Thrills
ExMi, the beautiful lady and author of Expensive Mistakes Cheap Thrills needs to take her ‘coming soon’ online store into the live ‘I am open for business’ state, I am lending a helping hand.

Not a lot of work / A whole bunch of work

Most of the work above falls under short term projects, smaller projects that shouldn’t take too long to complete. But when I have limited time for some (the freelance work can only be done outside of office hours), normal household work, and a small dose of emotional unrest at the home into the mix - all my wonderful, well laid out, plans go for a ball of rubbish.

All of the small projects deadlines hit at the same time, and with the already existent stress, my body failed me and flu popped in for a visit.

Some projects have passed, some are still here, and some are only just starting - Thank goodness I made all those TO DO lists last week, else this little bite of flu that I am kicking out by Friday could have been full blown bronchitis (or even that nasty Pig Flu everyone is talking about)

I am learning through experience (you know, the hard way!)

In a different way, but with the same result, I, like Blondore have learnt my lesson - Listen to your body when it tells you enough is enough.

I may not have ever avoided the flu this year, even if I did get down and re-work my time management lists and get down to business; unforeseen circumstance may still have screwed me over.

If it be lots of ‘little bits’ of work incorrectly managed - hitting you all at one, emotional stress from a particular incident, or just plain over worked and under paid, ask yourself: Am I listening to what my body is telling me? Is my body telling me to relax?

The difficulty of blog writing

Maintaining a blog does not usually come easy, most of us in the blog space need to work really hard to maintain our blogs outside of our regular work, and with the need for regular and interesting content updates, the odd blog/website design change, replying to comments, and managing your online persona in general - all while attempting to win one of the categories in the next Blog awards - Suddenly having a blog may seem more work than it is worth.

For some (including me) blog writing is not our main talent, words do not seem to flow as easily as it does for those that place beautiful prose on the web with little to no effort.

Suggested writing inabilities aside, even if you have the most wonderful and interesting stories to share; should you forget to post on your blog one too many times (the biggest bloggers sin I am guilty of) you will watch it die a slow and often painful Internet interest withdrawal death. Should you allow this this fatal blog sickness to pass, reviving your blog to its former glory will be one of the most difficult online things you may ever do.

What I am doing to repent my blogging sins

The final result? Unsuccessful blog that will remain obscurity or Successful blog revival - I will investigate, and hopefully find, the root cause within myself and my daily/general habits that lead me down the path of the “once every three month post” blogging style my own blog is now following. A studied choice which will offer me one of the following result options:

1. Should I keep this blog and maintain it properly (an all round improvement) OR
2. Permanently archive my blog (maintaining my current “Odd occasion and blue moon posting” habits) OR
3. Remove my blog entirely - let Twitter be my blog

Looking to self

My investigation, actually a personal review, is focused on how I operate online and the reasons why I have difficulty keeping up this blog. I mention other blogs that have helped me understand where i have gone wrong and those that have provided inspiration going forward. If you as a new blogger getting started or an old one wondering if it is still worth it can find similar inspiration from the post, I wish you well in reaching your goals.

Digging deep

The reasons (yes, excuses would also work) for my lack of regular blog updates:

1. I have never made this blog personal
2. Having this blog has always been an afterthought
3. I never attempted to form a ‘blogging habit’
4. Allowed self doubt about blog/website design to affect my writing

1. I have never made this blog personal
When i registered darwinshome.za.net I had the intention of using the website as my personal business front-end or an online resume of the work I had done - a place where I could send my (hopefully) future employers to, to gauge my skills in the field I professed to be an expert in. So when I added a blog, I kept most of the posts related to technology news (usually re-hashing stories I had seen on the BBC News website or heard about on the Buzz Out Loud podcast)

With the exception of these three posts, my real opinions, thoughts or original ideas and work remained in my head and off the blog.

Even when I obtained a LiveJournal blog to separate the “personal” posts from any “work” posts, I seldom blogged anything substantial (I have since decomissioned my LiveJournal blog and imported all reasonably original posts into this blog)

2. Having this blog has always been an afterthought
This website started out as a PHP project, then became a resume of sorts, at the time adding a blog was the thing to do if you had your own website. My priority then was to have a working website, with a recent copy of my curriculum vitae for download. Having this blog on my website was more a navigation space filler than an actual attempt at flexing my writing muscles.

This website has come a long way since 2003, the habit of website first, blog second has remained.

Frank the typewriter felt forgotten and used… being only used for one, oh so special, night Image credit: thorinside

3. I never attempted to form a ‘blogging habit’
A blog is not a hobby that can be put down and forgotten, to be easily dusted off and shined when the mood takes you. If you forget about your blog for any extended period, anyone that has an interest in your ramblings will move on to more interesting blogs (or blogs that are updated) neglect your blog often enough and even those people will not return.

I have never made the conscious decisions to write a blog post regularly. I have never forced myself to put in the required time to write something meaningful (even if it is just meaningful to me) at least once every week.

This lack of ‘blogging habit’ has been my biggest downfall (and until recently it was also the reason I was not a true user of my gym contract: no gym habit = no real gym use).

4. Allowed self doubt about blog/website design to affect my writing
When I redesign my website (which is a task I perform far to rarely) I am all excited about the look and feel, and for a few weeks (or even months) I will put a little more effort into my blogging.

As time passes, my grey, rather flat website, with its outdated layout starts to really bug me; this self doubt and self deprecation turns me away from my website, and rather than turning me to designing a new layout it just turns me away from blogging on it.

What is a guy to do?

After having a few weeks of emotional strain (in almost every facet of my life) I started to make lists; To do lists of everykind - shopping lists, daily routine lists, workout lists, gym timetable lists, and even a blog list.

I realized that I wanted to spend enough time on my blog to maintain it, and keep it regularly updated - without limiting the rest of my life - and it is possible. So I guess my decision is made, out of the options I listed above for the outcome of my internal reviews, the only one that makes sense to me personally is;

• I should keep this blog and maintain it properly

Where the hope was found OR “That light at the end of the tunnel is not a train, but a friend (holding a flashlight) on their way to help”

Reaching this epiphany did not come without assistance; for one, Twitter, and the wonderful community of people I follow there has placed me in a different mind set - having conversations with people there has actually changed the way I view business and people interaction. This could also be one of the few documented cases of Twitter turning someone towards blogging an not away from it.

The other assistance I got was in the form of a solid kick in the pants I received from Heidi and Sheena, both told me to “buck up and just write” in their own special ways, on separate occasions. I took it to heart.

A big thank you to you both.

Where to from here?

I believe this is one of the Lengthiest posts I have written, and it should remain the exception - I remain a fan of the slightly shorter - more to the point style of blogging. This posts topic required a long internal process, and I thought I would make up for lost writing time in the process.

The first step goal for this blog - get a post (even a small post) of meaningful content out at least once a week.

Lets see how that goes for a month.

To the rest of you

What are your feelings on your own bloggers block? Do you get it? How do you get over it?
To those just moaning that it is too difficult to maintain a blog: Buck up and write what you feel. If you want your blog to work, PUT IN THE EFFORT!

So without further ado:

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?

1. Do you like Blue Cheese?
I dislike the smell enough to have never tried blue cheese. Will let you know when I do.

2. Have you ever smoked heroin?
Nope.

3. Do you own a gun?
Nope, and doubt I ever will… Went shooting at a range with some friends a few months back - Guns do way too much damage way too eaasily.

4: This number is missing.
Nope. See.. number 4. is right there, just a little left of “This”.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
Not since my first HIV test 10 years ago.

6. Real or fake nails?
I save the fake ones for special people on special days - I will tell no more.

7. Favorite Christmas song?
I worked in retail for 5 years. There are none that I still enjoy.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Orange Juice (the fresher the better), Coffee, Ice Water - In that order, and preferably all every morning.

9. Can you do push ups?
Yes. More gym to do more than 30 without effort is required

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewellery?
I only own a wedding band and a Saint Christopher chain. No favorites - Come on I’m a guy, give me some men type questions…

11. Favourite hobby?
Collecting and reading books - It is the only hobby that has past the test of time with me.

12. Do you have A.D.D.?
I don’t really believe it exists… No I do not have A.D.D.

13. What’s one trait that you hate about yourself?
Recent bouts of serious procrastination.

14. Middle Name?
John

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment:
TV Advert sucks (must be late) itchy back (whats the next question)

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink:
Coffee, Water, Coke Lite

17. Current worry right now?
Some over-spend on my part has left me in a less than comfortable financial position, Next month with be different and better - as it always is.

18. Current hate right now?
Bad drivers

19. Favourite place to be?
My Bed or a quiet place anywhere in the Drakensberg

20. How did you bring in the New Year?
At home with the wife - I believe we slept through the midnight tolls.

21. Like to go?
Go Fast? Go Up? Go Down? Depends on where you want to go… mostly: Yes

22. Name three people who will complete this:
Doubt I could tag two people, never mind get them to actually do it.

23. Do you own slippers?
Yip - comfy, woolie and brown.

24. What colour shirt are you wearing?
Navy Blue pinstriped formal shirt (still in work clothes)

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?
Clean sheets is all I need.

26. Can you whistle?
Yes, and surprisingly loudly for not actually knowing how to do it properly

27. Favourite colour?
Blue seems to be the current winner

28. Would you be a pirate?
Ninja

29. What songs do you sing in the shower?
I shower in the shower… never anything else, especially singing.

30. Favourite girl’s name?
Samantha

31. Favourite boy’s name?
James ( I think… never really thought about it)

32. What’s in your pocket right now?
iPod Nano (left), Mobile phone (right)

33. Last person that made you laugh?
Conrad - Today in the office

34. Worst injury you’ve ever had?
Broken leg and head graze when I was hit by a car during the last leg of a two day cycle tour.

35. Do you love where you live?
Yes.

36. How many TV’s do you have in your house?
One… Do you need more?

37. Who is your loudest friend?
Jeffery

38. How many pets do you have?
One Green Iguana - We ain’t allowed other pets here.

39. Someone have a crush on you?
If there is someone, they haven’t told me yet… hurry up and spill the beans already.

40. What is your favourite book?
Tough one… mmm… “Eaters of the Dead” by Michael Crichton

41. What is your favourite candy?
Dislike candy, enjoy chocolate. No real favorite.

42. Favourite Sports Team?
Arsenal The Lions No idea really, I don’t watch too much sports.

43. What were you doing at 12AM last night?
Turning out my reading light - Just finished my chapter and it was time for bed.

44. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
Damn alarm… 10 more minutes.

45. Worst habit?
I tend to let the study get very very untidy when I am working on a project (paper, notes, books everywhere), and it takes me ages before I clean it properly.

46. Do you play an instrument?
Nope

47 . How long does it take you to get to work?
30 to 40 min (Only because I am on the road at 5h40)

48. Plans for the weekend?
Family get together Saturday, Freelance project Sunday - Sleep in between

49 If you could eat anything in the world right this second?
I really feel for a great pizza right now… Wood fired pizza.

50. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Very much.

I Tag:
Old friend
Grant / Karen
Jessel
Robin

I enjoy social networking; it allows me to keep in touch with friends, family, and sometimes complete strangers relatively easily from the comfort of my desk.

I love meeting people; As much as social networks keep me in contact with my friends when I am stuck behind my desk, I still crave the interaction of actually meeting someone face-to-face and chatting about life over a coffee or a beer.

Going to the Twitter meet at The Baron in Santon last night was definitely the most fun way to meet the like minded souls I know online, get the face-to-face interaction I crave and as an added bonus I got to meet a whole bunch of new and interesting people and play with a couple of cool gadgets.

One of the cute/fun gadgets that floated around the table during the evening were the social contact sharing Poken devices, which I believe are only recently trying to make a mark in the South African scene. The Poken is a small USB / RFID reader that can “high-five” another Poken device, thereby transferring your pre-selected social network contact details to the other Poken.

The whole process is a much quicker and easier (albeit geekier) way to share contacts than trying to figure out how to spell a Twitter username into your phone or even trying to save a phone number (I remember the days I tried to get a number in a noisy club and couldn’t hear a word that was said).

When you get home, you plug in the USB portion of the Poken and it will update your selected online social network with the details of all the users you high-fived during the night.

I recall that the panda and the bee versions were popular among the ladies at the tweetup, and if you have a unique design, and have a need for a few extra Poken (say for corporate gifts) then you can get your own unique Poken design made.

The venue and service was good, even with us moving around a few times and being with some rain it didn’t bother us too much.

I had an absolute blast meeting and chatting with @SheBeeGee, @SnowGooseSA, @nickjackson, @Walterpike, @snappingturtle and our guest of honour from Cape Town @gabyrosario. I will definitely set time aside to get to a meet like that again.

Thank you all.

My pictures of the event are up on my flickr page and I will link to @craign’s photos as soon as he puts them online here and here .

Go here if you are interested in buying any Poken in SA.

UPDATE: Heidi has added her update of the evening on her website. A little more articulate than my post.

I don’t call these lists “New Year resolutions” because they often have longer time requirements to complete that a year and I don’t always start at the beginning of the year (Some are added in July).

So without further preamble, here is my current TODO list:

1. Increase my gym attendance from twice a week to 4 times a week.
   This relates to losing some of the weight I have gained over the past few years and needs to be done in conjunction with following a healthier diet plan.
2. Get my Honours Degree out of the way.
   This requires starting it (currently in July 2009) and finishing it in one to two years.
3. Get one business off the ground and start another one.
   This is half done with the start of Devmaxis (in partnership with three colleagues) and two business contracts secured. I would just like to have some more options outside of that businesses scope and therefore need to push for Darwinshome into its own niche markets. - New Job, New responsibilities, New goals - Will revisit this one in 5 years
4. Do more for my online and offline communities.
   I’m sure, subconsciously, that this is a refection of one of Barack Obama’s statements working its magic. Doing more for my community (real life socially and in a Web 2.0 sense) is a broad way of saying I have many little plans that I just need to finish. This should help kick the brain into gear if I forget.
5. Pay off my car.
   Some changes in work circumstances has placed me in a position to settle my car a year to a year and a bit early. So following up on actually doing that before August 2009 is a must. - Finally paid off in January 2010
6. Purchase a new high end personal laptop.
   I am still unsure as to what machine I want, and I have been looking very seriously at the new MacBook. But this is where spare cash comes into play - I will make this a goal to complete before the end of November 2009. - New job gave me the laptop in November 2009
7. Develop one application outside of work.
   Be it a twitter application, a Facebook application or a custom built web application. This serves twofold in that it helps expand my own skills and it could also be used to either benefit my business or social goals.
8. Save enough spare to cash to take my wife overseas.
   USA would be nice, but my wife has her heart set on Europe - can you blame her? Italy here we come. - Visiting Australia to see an old friend in October (Europe can wait another year)

I am sure there are more things to add (like “Blog More”), but for this post I think this list will do for now and actions do sometimes speak louder than words, here is the first step. I will update any on the list that I complete (if they can be “completed”).
Have a great 2009.

I have broken the code in this post into its three sections; the HTML, the XML and an external JavaScript file. All of the code can be downloaded here: Three Level drop down list (84).

A section of the HTML code:

...
<body onload="fillCountryList();">
<h1>Country slection - with State/Province select</h1>
<p>
   <select id="cboCountry" onchange="fillStateList();">
        <option value="">Select a Country</option>
   </select>
</p>
<p>
<select id="cboState" onchange="fillCityList();">
        <option value="">Select a State</option>
</select>
</p>
<p>
    <select id="cboCity">
        <option value="">Select a City</option>
    </select>
</p>
</body>

The XML code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<countries title="Country, State-Province, City selections"
date="2008-Feb-05">
<country name="USA">
 <state name="NY">
     <city>New York</city>
     <city>New Jersey</city>    
 </state>
 <state name="California">
     <city>Sanfransico</city>
     <city>Hollywood</city>    
 </state>
</country>
<country name="South Africa">
 <state name="Gauteng">
     <city>Johannesburg</city>
     <city>Pretoria</city>    
 </state>
 <state name="Kwazulu Natal">
     <city>Durban</city>
     <city>Pietermaritsburg</city>    
 </state>
</country>
</countries>

A section of the Javascript code:

...
function fillStateList()
{
 var stateList = document.getElementById("cboState")
 
 for (var x = stateList.options.length-1; x >-1; x--)
 {
     stateList.options[x] = null;
 }
 
 var countryListSelected = 
document.getElementById("cboCountry").selectedIndex;
 var numberStates = 
xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("country")[countryListSelected]
.getElementsByTagName("state").length;
 
 for (var i=0; i<=numberStates-1; i++)
 {
      var currentState =  
xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("country")
[countryListSelected].getElementsByTagName
("state").getAttribute("name");
     fillList(stateList,currentState,currentState);
 }
 
}
 
function fillCityList()
{
 var CityList = document.getElementById("cboCity")
 
     for (var x = CityList.options.length-1; x >-1; x--)
 {
     CityList.options[x] = null;
 }
 var countryListSelected = document.getElementById
("cboCountry").selectedIndex;
 var StateListSelected = document.getElementById
("cboState").selectedIndex;
 var numberCities = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("country")
[countryListSelected].getElementsByTagName("state")
[StateListSelected].getElementsByTagName("city").length;
 
     for (var i=0; i<=numberCities-1; i++)
 {
       var currentCity =  xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("country")
[countryListSelected].getElementsByTagName("state")
[StateListSelected].getElementsByTagName("city").firstChild.nodeValue;
     fillList(CityList,currentCity,currentCity);
 }
}

In a real world situation a full world wide city level dissection of data should not be stored in an single XML file as the amount of entries would place too much load on the XML file -More than likely the XML file would not load. To store all the city names across the world the use of a database to hold the data, and call the required data as needed, would better suit the needs.

This script can be used for any XML file in a similar format to handle multiple levels of data and placing the data into drop down lists.

The complete code for this example can be downloaded here: Three Level drop down list (84)

Have fun and happy coding.

Humbleness aside, I have not been the only website to recently update it’s design:

TheOpenSurgery an open source and tutorial based website by Jason Dugmore recently finished with updating a new layout and logo.

TechMongrel another technology based tutorial and review website by Matthew Vorster had a great monster logo addition.

And lastly NoBoxMedia an Ajax, DHTML and JavaScript site by Robin Pietersen finishes off my list of new website updates (the Noboxmedia website update coincides with a SEO competition which springleap.com is currently running).

All three website owners are colleges from my University days and I believe these are excellent examples of great websites, for content and design, to assist any developer in today’s chaos of information.

A special Thank-you to Robin Pietersen for introducing me and teaching me the basics of Adobe Photoshop; I wouldn’t have been able to put my current or past website designs together without the initial teachings I got from him.