Definitely in motion on my road 2010

My latest Discardia post is about choosing what you most want and don't want in your life and then bearing those priorities in mind when faced with options (which we are all day, every day).

Here are my choices:

I want...
1. to be thriving in a great relationship.
2. to feel healthy and strong.
3. to be a published author.

I don't want...
1. to work in a cubicle.
2. to have little control over when I do what.
3. to be stressed all the time.

I'm making great progress on all of these goals. I quit my office job just over a year ago, went into business for myself as a productivity and life coach, started writing my book about Discardia, devoted more of my energy to my relationship with Joe, and consciously began designing my life for less stress.

The feeling healthy and strong part has been tough, though, I have to admit. I hate gyms. I have a weak knee and a weak ankle which make running or jogging very unattractive. Really, the only exercise routine I actually like and seek out many times a week is walking. As someone with a project of walking the city of San Francisco – every street, every block – that's not a surprise, right? :)

During the past two years I've made various attempts to up my activity level. I tried the Wii Fit for a while; fun, but not inspirational for daily activity. I got a pedometer and renewed my focus on my SF walking project; definitely a help, but not always compatible with working on a book and maintaining a happy home many hours a day.

Yesterday, I think I finally found the sweet spot: a treadmill desk.
I moved my Ikea office armoire to the other wall so the space in front of it wouldn't block our path to the back bathroom, switched the shelves around so that the extending desk surface could hold my monitor at face height when I'm standing, and put my treadmill in front of the desk. There are a couple tweaks needed – the typing surface needs to be an inch or two lower and the stereo speaker buzz needs to be resolved – but in the first part of my day today (less than two hours) I've already strolled at a comfortable speed of 0.7 miles an hour (while typing and reading) and logged over 2700 steps.

I can see that with this setup it will be very difficult not to reach a daily goal of at least 10,000 steps. Also my energy and alertness levels are both higher than when I'm sitting in a chair. Awesome!

Notes on my setup:
- LifeSpan Fitness TR200 Fold-N-Stor Compact Treadmill
- nice finished board
- two scarves to tie board on treadmill handles
- blanket under board for padding and as additional safety grip
- Ikea armoire with extendable shelf
- cheapish monitor
- MacBook
- creativity

Meetings Cost A Lot 2010

I'm pleased to see that others have had the meeting cost calculator idea and done something about it.

Toby Tripp, Lydia Tripp, and Roy Kolak's Meeting Ticker has now been joined by Bring Tim.

Every tech company I've ever worked with (except those run by Clemens Pfeiffer) has needed a device like this, but some need it more than others. Yes, you with the weekly hour-plus meeting attended by the CEO and three VPs, I'm looking at you.

(Thanks for linky goodness, Boing Boing!)

Saying farewell and heading into a new adventure 2009

After over six & a half years at a good company, working with a lot of excellent people on great things for libraries , I'm striking out on my own for the next stage in my career.

I'm very proud of the work I did at [the company I still don't name here in my personal blog]. It's particularly pleasing that a colleague and good friend who I respect very much will be taking over my duties. The icing on the cake is that my library uses the product, so I'll get to enjoy the benefit of all those features I helped create.

As for what's next, I'm returning to my roots. The common thread across all my past jobs has been knocking down roadblocks in people's way. Much of it has involved making things more findable or easy to use, but I've also helped with workflow and productivity in general. A secondary, but closely related skill, is that of synthesis: collecting, integrating, documenting, explaining and teaching.

In all of this, the core is "getting unstuck".

Stay tuned for more information about my new business helping small businesses to eliminate problems slowing them down, improve their relationship with incoming information & tasks, and get back in the flow.

 

 

What a day, what a day... 2006

My shoulders are a wreck from being really tense at work the past several days. Beta test starting next week which coincides annoyingly with a conference I have to finish preparing for and the systems hardware was conspiring against us all the way. Disk failure! Swell.

Bleah. Good riddance to that hard week.

I am starting my weekend out right:

- My new and beautiful wool rug arrived. I will take pictures tomorrow when it is sunny (ahem, do you hear me, weather?). I expect to be very happy with this rug for decades.

- I have a Pimm's Cup to sooth my nerves.

- I have a big glass of water because it's always good to have a glass of water.

- I have Annie's mac & "cheese" with some Carrot-Ginger soup to fill my belly.

- I have some really good expensive cheese - Neal's Yard Berkswell - to please my tongue (see illustration of said tongue in Flickrstream).

- I have French cafe music playing.

- I have no intention of doing anything stressful all weekend.

So very busy. 2004

I've been quiet here since I've been crazy busy at work. I come home wanting something amusing to escape to and so I've been surfing the web, chatting with friends and watching DVDs. Not a huge amount of creative output in the evenings since I've been doing so much writing during the days. Admittedly, it is less fun to write & proof read documentation than posts about wonderful weird things seen on the web, but at least my writing muscles are getting worked out.

Not so much my physical muscles. Mental exhaustion can fool me into indolence when what I really need is to move around. The diet I'm on also leaves me with a little less energy, I suspect. Overcoming that pull away from activity is difficult. Today, though, I'll get a good bit of walking in. I have taken the day off to relax and see the geisha exhibit at the Asian Art Museum before it closes later this month.

Earlier this year I'd talked about taking a vacation, maybe up to visit my aunt & grandmother in Alaska, but then my company decided that one of the other product managers and I should put new versions of our products out twice a year instead of once and that made work fairly insane. I think we'll get good at it - already it's forcing us to be more efficient, but it is still a little crazy-making. On the bright side, I'm getting asked to present more at conferences, so that's giving me a little travel.

I'll be in Portland middle of next month and will get to take a 3-day weekend before the conference to play tourist. I'll be staying at the Jupiter Hotel and doing a lot of walking around downtown, visiting museums and parks, and, of course, hanging out at Powell's Books.

Now it's time to be a tourist in my own city. Off to ride the trolley to the museum!

Thank you, Sir. May I have another? 2004

It was great having a weekend, but it was too short.

Busy can be wonderful 2003

It's been a busy week, but a very good one. I had my review at work and it was mixed. I've definitely made significant mistakes in my first 16 months at this job, but I've also had great successes and my average work is good. It was a tough review because I really had to face some deep-seated bad habits. This time, with the support of my boss, my sweetheart, my family and friends, and some reserve of strength I found in myself, I've finally turned a corner. I recognized that I have been taking the lazy, painful way out by kicking myself and feeling shitty when I blow it, but not doing the much harder thing of actually changing my behavior. This time I decided to change. I didn't decide to try to change; I just did it. It feels really great. I am much less stressed, more productive and happier.

I just watched the special features about the Weta Workshop design team and the stunt team for Lord of the Rings on the extended edition DVD of The Two Towers (which finally came today) and I am so inspired and grateful and proud. These films make me proud to be human. We are wonderful creatures. To create something so amazing, so rich and deep and powerful, is the best thing in the world. It's the same feeling I get from seeing Cirque du Soleil or hearing incredible musicians. This is us at our best. And it doesn't have anything to do with race or creed or gender or nationality. The best happens when we set those things aside to make something together.

Yeah, of course I think "gee, if only I'd stayed a theater arts major, I might have ended up working on the costume team for these films". Sure I want to make magic. But then again, I make the gateway to magic. Librarians link people to ideas, to stories, to the tools that enable people to create. Making software for libraries isn't so very far away from other kinds of creativity.

And I never have to wear prosthetic makeup, work in the middle of the night for 3 months straight, and fall off 30 foot walls. There are some compensations for taking the tamer path.

Normal Work Symptom 2003

Nothing is going particularly wrong today. No one is shouting at me. I haven't been in numbing meetings. I've been getting things done and some of them are even the things I planned to do today. I like my job. All in all, it should be fine.

Still, inexplicably, my brain has spent much of the afternoon going "Aaaaaaaaaah!!! Get me out of here!!! Waaaaaarrrgghhh!"

"Shhh.... Shhhhh..." I say.

It tries to command my body to bang my head against my desk or go drink margaritas.

*sigh* Problem brains.

Zeigarnik Effect? 2003

I'm reading an interesting book called "How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason In Everyday Life" and came across this:

And, as any student of psychology can tell you, there is the "Zeigarnik effect," or the tendency for people to remember interrupted tasks better than those that have been completed.

I wonder if that's why I find multi-tasking so invigorating? I can feel more connected and awake when I'm switching between several tasks rather than focusing on just one.

The quote has a reference to Zeigarnik's 1967 work "A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology" and I may try to track down that section. Anyone (Mum? Paul?) know anything about Zeigarnik or this idea?

[December 22, 2003: This post has been noted by spammers and is getting repeated junk comments. I have closed commenting on it for that reason.]

MmHm. Monday. 2003

Some days your brain works.
Some days it doesn't.

Not my most productive day ever.

Thank goodness for mindless tasks that (sort of) need to get done.

One step forward, two steps back 2003

I took yesterday off to relax with Chris and celebrate being together for a year. It was good and I felt this morning like I'd had a weekend.

Unfortunately, unlike the day after a weekend, I had a massive amount of email to work through. It's noon and far from getting to the things I'd hoped to work on today, I'm still only partway through responding to all the stuff brought up in this chunk of mail.

The most comically frustrating sentence from my inbox?
"Do you have an assistant or can you suggest someone else whom I can plague?"
Alas, no and no.

Boy, I wish I was those white dreadlocked phase-shifting razor-wielding twins from Matrix:Reloaded. I'd get so much done. And I'd look lovely doing it.

Tired. So very tired. 2003

Friday through yesterday I was at my first visit to the annual users group conference for the company I joined last August. 1100 customers. Down in San Jose, so no flight this time, thank goodness. Stayed at the Fairmont, so the hotel was nice. Gave 5 presentations, attended at least half a dozen others, lunches and evening receptions with customers, getting stopped in the hall almost constantly with product questions. Very fun. Very hard (except the actual presenting which I love doing). Very exhausting.

Got home around 7:30pm last night. Stayed up reading email and some message lists that make me laugh. Visiting with Chris. Getting the lowdown on our new digital studio device for the electric guitar.

Today I slept until noon. Still sitting around in my bathrobe. Can't seem to muster the energy to do anything. Hoping I'll have enough energy to get through 3 workdays and take care of at least some of the piles of things that need to be done.

Tired. Very tired. But I like my job.

Role Rage 2003

Why is it when I have strategic tasks on my list, the tactical chores that rear their ugly little heads enrage me so?

Mess With Texas 2003

This week I have to give a 45 minute presentation to some librarians in Texas.
This will require spending 50 hours traveling, staying in a hotel, wandering around until it's time to present, staying in the hotel some more and then more traveling.
The convention is in Houston.
The humidity in Houston is 93 degrees.
And it's Houston.

Upon my return I will need to work for 3 or 4 hours, after which I will return to my wonderfully freaky neighborhood where I will spend the evening with men in dresses and lots of makeup who will restore my faith in humanity.

All I can say is it's a damn good thing I'm coming home on Bingo night.

Sense of Scale 2003

It is very unpleasant to find after six months in your new job, that you now know enough to realize there is more to the job than can be done by any two people and that your products are an order of magnitude more complex than your previous mental model allowed for.

Very unpleasant indeed.

Argh. 2002

I am having a heck of a time recovering from being out of the office for most of a week. My desk is almost completely covered in papers each representing something I should be doing. Very daunting and exhausting.

My circumstances are not helped by having had 3 successive mild nightmares wake me up in the early morning which has left me groggy all day from sleep disruption.

I need an extra two days in between today and tomorrow so I can sleep in and still get a grip on things. I hate having 200+ messages in my inbox! Bleah.

On the bright side, I will get to play with the Sims Online beta test tonight.

Oh well, I guess I'll see how much I can get done in two and a half hours.

Work Juice 2002

Sometimes it's good to work late. Sometimes you just get into it and start slapping that to-do list down and it's all flowing. The headphones are on and the White Stripes "Fell In Love With A Girl" is followed by the Violent Femmes "Add It Up" and you've got the joy and a job well done.

It's a good night here. :)

Quick! Is there a librarian in the house? 2002

Don't panic. I'm a librarian. Now what seems to be the problem?

I was just having a nice light dinner at my new neighborhood sushi restaurant, Midori Mushi, when they mentioned they were about to serve a private party upstairs in their special room. The problem was they thought some of the guests might want kosher meals and they didn't know what the rules were for that.

I finished my delicious miso soup, inari and negihama, and walked the half block home. A moment with Google and I had their answer, not just for tonight's kosher guests, but any future cultural challenges.

Yes, just a simple evening's work for your friendly neighborhood librarian...

(Midori Mushi is located on Grove Street near Gough in San Francisco, they are open for lunch & dinner, closed Mondays and are cash only at present).

Fine, but Brain is Full 2002

Hi. I'm fine. Great actually, but I come home from work and my brain is so full from trying to cram all the things I need to know about my wonderful new job in there that I don't do anything but eat, find clothes for the next day and maybe get one or two things done. Given that dishes, laundry, vacuuming and sleep are cued up ahead of writing interesting things in my weblog, I guess I'm gonna stay boring for a little while.

I got it! 2002

I got the new job! Woohoo! I'll start right after my trip to lovely Minneapolis. Frankly, from what I hear about that place in July, the shock of suddenly working 40 hours a week again, plus the commute, will be mild after coping with heat, humidity and mosquitos.

Not the job for me 2002

In the absence of steady project work with my old company, I'm on unemployment now (under the Lack of Work clause) and doing that little bureaucratic dance. Ugh. I can't wait to get a job again and get away from these horrid forms. This is sucky.

Bumpy Road 2002

Well, I finally reached my limit. My otherwise excellent company has no active projects for me and therefore no way to pay me. I already have way too much debt and so must seek work elsewhere.

If you know anyone looking for an experienced project manager with strong user experience design skills, please email me at this domain. I'd prefer to work in San Francisco or somewhere within an easy walk or shuttle ride of the CalTrain or BART.

To round out the general suckiness of the first day of job hunting, I also experienced my first kernel panic on a Mac. Kind of nifty looking actually, but not inclined to lower my stress levels. *sigh*

----

Oh. And should I apply for unemployment benefits? Does anyone have any recent experience with this in California? Argh, what a mess...

Those Wacky Swedes 2002

My charming co-workers, Niklas & Emin, have decided it would be a good idea to replace all occurances of "Cut & Paste" in our software with "Yank & Put". The discussion of this comment and of the streetcorner porn rag Yank has reduced me to tears of laughter.

Now I remember why I visit the office.

Ch-ch-ch-changes... 2002

My big news this week is that I've decided to seek full-time work away from SoftDevices. As much as I love the people and respect the technology, I can no longer afford to wait for the economy to pick up and provide more projects to keep me busy and, more importantly, I want to do work that reflects my personal beliefs. I want to put my work time towards making the world a better place, not just a more profitable place for some corporation.

This was a really hard decision to come to - I've actually been considering it for over three months - but it's time for me to move on. They don't want me to leave, which is gratifying, but I need to put my primary focus elsewhere. I'm not looking forward to the transition, but it is the right thing to do.

Moving sucks, even when you're carrying mental baggage instead of physical.

On the bright side, using compensation from a special project I'm doing, I bought a new computer and have eliminated a major source of stress in my life. After trying to make do with my old PC in the absence of resident sysadmin help and failing to upgrade to OS X the old beefed-up Mac which Mike graciously offered me, I decided to go with a new computer with a service plan. In addition I stacked the deck in my favor by choosing the best combination of system reliability (Unix) and user friendliness (Apple GUI); I am the proud owner of a shiny new G4 iMac with a combo drive. Yes, the one that looks like a lamp. O boy o boy do I love it! No screen flicker, everything just works, it's dreamy!

Soothing my nerves further, I relaxed over the past few days with Patrick. He is easy to be around. We ate sublime pizza from Zachary's and watched Mulholland Drive. I enjoyed the movie very much and even more the theorizing afterwards about what the heck David Lynch was getting at this time. We also saw Spiderman and it was still good on my second viewing. Wonderful to see a film with a strong script and skilled actors! I do recommend it.

Tomorrow I have much to do - a trip to the post office and to stash some things in the storage unit and a conversation with my boss about my leaving SoftDevices (nervous about that one since I know I'll be disappointing him by staying firm on my getting full-time work elsewhere) - but right now I just want to relax a little. I've got Moby's Play on the stereo and am debating between a bath, a nap and a game...