bookmark_borderWhat next?

Last night, around 3am, I woke up. I lay there in bed wondering why I’d woken up and as my mind started to churn I realised I was very very awake.

In flooded four things I’ve been thinking about for some time, all of which are related but I couldn’t quite make the connection. Last night I cracked it. Maybe.

I’m still thinking it through but here are the four items in question:

  1. Single sourcing our documentation – and recent discussions with other areas of the company who could benefit from the same approach.
  2. Company Information Strategy – a simple pyramid based model that allows everyone creating content to ‘map’ their audience appropriately and which should start to help with consistency of terminology and messaging.
  3. Document Management – there have been some murmurings about this from a few people and it’s likely to fall into my lap.
  4. Requirements gathering – we’ve recently rolled out a new process which should lead to better requirements for each project build.

All of these are tied together, and if planned properly can feed off each other. Naturally there is quite a lot involved with all of the above and I’ll be revisiting items one and two in the coming weeks.

Ohh and I’ve still to pull together a slide deck on “selling our services”, which involves all of the above and more. Once it’s ready, I’ll share it here.

Exciting times ahead.

bookmark_borderNaNoWriMo? No!

I’d love to.

I really would.

Every year that rolls around finds me considering it.

Every year I start to jot down notes (where do you think one man tales came from?).

Every year I visit the website, and get excited at the thought.

Every year I think, yeah I COULD do that.

Every year I think, maybe I SHOULD do that.

Every year I think, maybe that’s just what I need.

Every year I think, yes, this is the year. I will do it!

But I won’t.

Not this year.

I just don’t have the time (such a lame excuse, really).

Even if I was to promise myself to MAKE the time.

I wouldn’t.

I SHOULD.

If it really meant that much to me I would.

But I won’t.

Maybe next year.

Maybe.

Will you?

bookmark_borderAuthor-it & Word

A teeny tiny gotcha that I thought I’d mention here. I can’t find explicit mention of it in the Author-it Knowledge Center and it’s tripped me up a bit.

Quite simply, and I realise these will sound obvious, make sure everyone who is using Author-it is using the same version of Microsoft Word.

My particular scenario has my laptop running Word 2007, making changes to the template, but when publishing from a machine running Word 2003, the footers weren’t being displayed despite the AutoText entry being available in the output Word document.

Naturally I’m discovering this delightful quirk on the final day of the project as we do a final publish and check on our deliverables. And people wonder why I’m almost bald…

bookmark_borderIt never rains…

Some time around 1am this morning there was a loud bang from downstairs when the kitchen ceiling got fed up trying to hold up a big pool of water, choosing to dump it, and several bits of the ceiling all over the kitchen below.

It seems that, after all the hassle and faffing with the cistern, there has been a leak in the bathroom. We did hear a couple of drips yesterday, but they had stopped (replaced, I presume, with a steady leak).

We mopped up, turned the water off and phoned the insurance company, they took our details and said they’d get someone to phone between 8am and 9am. Which, of course, didn’t happen. So I phoned them and was told someone would phone me soon, which they did (funny how that works) only to tell us that the guy in our area had phoned in sick, so it’ll be tomorrow before he can come out.

So we’ve got the heater on in the kitchen to dry it out as much as we can (it’s doing the job well) and just when I’d started to relax I heard a dripping noise. Yup, it looks like the flashing around the porch is leaking again, despite being replaced last year.

Frankly I’m of a mind to get all this fixed then sell this bloody place as it’s been nothing but hassle (I’d burn it down but it’s too damp). We did get this house very cheap because it needed work but this constant worrying about money is getting really really old.

bookmark_borderRight now, at this moment

I’m trying to catch up on a few bands I’ve heard mention of over the past month.

I’m pondering switching from dark maroon to blue.

I’m still faffing with Yahoo Pipes (which power this).

I’m writing up a proposal for a “community website” for a professional organisation I’m a member of (the ISTC).

I’m drafting blog posts sparked by conversations with some fellow professionals last night, one of which is “How I use Twitter”.

I’m slowly getting my gym mojo back, and quiet pleased that I’ve not put on any weight in the past two weeks (not lost any either but that’s a different story).

I’m planning ahead for the next couple of months, and wondering how to tackle some stuff in the New Year.

I’m laughing at the cat who is sleeping in a cardboard box next to me and who is snoring.

I’m remembering we are going out tonight and need to order some pizza to take with us (that was the deal, we’ll bring pizza, they provide beer).

I’m mostly daydreaming and wasting time when I should be having a quick shower and getting changed for tonight.

I’m wondering if I should even post this at all, as it’s a feeble excuse for a blog post and I had promised myself I’d do better.

Fuck it.

bookmark_borderHypnotic Brass Ensemble

I’m always wary when I attend a gig by chance, having not heard any music from the artist in question. So when 10 guys bounced on stage, brass instruments reflecting the stage lights, and announced they were here to “make some motherfucking noise”… well I was even more confused.

Then they started to play and it all clicked into place.

Underpinned by heavy hiphop influenced beats (delivered from an American Euphonium), the trombones and trumpets soon picked out some … yeah.. hypnotic melodies. As the band members sway and spin in time to the music, it’s hard not to match their movements.

But the real key to their live act was the interaction with the audience, whipping us up between tracks, call outs and yells, reminding us that these guys know how to party, and when they started dropping lyrics with some slick rapping leading into and out of some of the track, the place went nuts.

Having such a hugely enthusiastic band, producing a booming, throbbing groove in such a small place is always a recipe for success, the energy was tangible and I was booging and swaying along without even realising. All too soon they were finishing up.

I picked up their CD on the way out and unfortunately the production isn’t great, losing all that booming bass, but this is a band that you DEFINITELY want to catch live, and the magic of the internets allows me to provide this video from Glastonbury this year to give you a flavour: