Category: Technology

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More about me Random thoughts Technology

‘What path are you on right now?’

That’s the text on my phone’s Lock Screen. (I said I’d write about this, a couple of weeks ago…)

It’s probably weird, I know.

But I leave that saying there as a reminder to me of the path I choose to walk, every minute of my life. The decisions I choose to make, which in return make me into the person I am choosing to be.

I feel as though I’m not explaining myself too well. Sorry. I’ll start again.

Hi. My name’s Ceridwyn, and I’m an addict.

Wha? Huh? What kind of a blog *is* this??!

Okay, so the word ‘addict’ has some pretty negative connotations, I know. I’m not addicted to drugs, if that’s what you were thinking.

But I have struggled with addictions in the past. Gambling was my worst, but as the years pass, the pull to play BlackJack diminishes. It probably helps that I don’t live anywhere near a casino, and that I’m just so gosh-darn-busy 99% of the time 🙂

But having that kind of addictive personality has meant that I’m aware of addictions when they pop up. Recently I noticed my over-partiality to playing the 2048 app on my phone; I was playing it to the detriment of doing other things; things I *should* have been doing. Solution: delete the app. Now it’s only on my iPad, which I use less regularly. Addiction circumvented. The path I realised I was heading down, was one I didn’t want to be on. So I changed my path, and was happier for being able to exercise some self-control.

The way I see things, there’s always a couple of paths before me, and my choice to take one or the other of these paths, will eventuate in either a ‘better’ version of me, the person I’d like to become, or a ‘worse’ version of me – one I’d prefer not to be.

So when I pick up my phone, I ask myself, ‘what’s the reason?’ “What path am I on right now? Am I about to go and do something needed on this phone, or am I really just bored and wanting to distract myself with Facebook or twitter? Is there a better choice I could be making – to go and play with my kids, do some of that housework I hate doing, or that job I’ve been putting off for simply ages?”

The ‘paths’ image also makes me think of the pathways in my brain. Dendrites firing, making pathways stronger. The more I’m on Facebook instead of drafting my latest manuscript, the stronger the ‘Facebook’ pathway and the weaker the ‘writing’ pathway becomes.

Am I stronger than that? Am I the master of my habits, or are my habits the master of me?

Just a few thoughts to leave you with today…

I hope it’s a fantastic one for you!

— KRidwyn

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More about me Technology

And on the topic of donkeys…

My phone’s Lock Screen shows the words ‘remember the donkey’.

Unusual, probably, but it’s a constant reminder: to be conscious of my decisions, of my actions.

You see, there’s a story in the Bible about a guy called Balaam. He’s riding his donkey one day, going to meet King Balak, when his donkey stops. So Balaam beats it, and it continues. Then it stops again, so he beats it again. Then a third time – and this time, the donkey talks to him. “Why are you beating me?” it asks. “Because you’ve made a fool of me,” replies Balaam. [Not ‘what on Earth? Why is my donkey suddenly talking?!’ – but maybe that’s just me…]

Then the angel of the LORD appears in front of them both, and explains that the donkey was turning aside each time because he (the angel) was blocking the way. The story continues, and it turns out that Balaam’s attitude towards doing what he’d been asked to do, was the wrong kind of attitude. Balaam continued, with the angel’s reminder in his ears to only do what God had asked him to do.

So those words ‘remember the donkey’ reminds me to check my own attitude. Am I doing what God is asking me to do, or am I doing only what *I* want me to do? I also think about a donkey’s character: it can be obedient, or obstinate. And I check: which one am I being? Obedient? Or obstinate, not doing what I know I should be doing?

What decision am I making in that instant I use my phone? To spend my time on social media? Or am I using my time more wisely than that?

Anyway, just a few thoughts this Monday morning. Next week, it’s my Lock Screen’s turn. And that one’s all about neurons and dendrites…

Here’s wishing you an excellent week, dear Reader!
— KRidwyn

 

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Blogging challenges Technology

Attempt: a daily blogging challenge!

I mentioned a few weeks back that I missed blogging with my online friends during #blog12daysxmas because I’d lost access to my blog.

Well, I’m still feeling a lack of blogging mojo, so I’ve decided to join in a daily blogging challenge. It’s one that’s been running for quite a few years now, with hundreds of participants worldwide: the April A to Z challenge.

The blogging happens each day of April except Sundays, and on each letter of the alphabet, starting at A and finishing on Z.

People write on whatever topic they like: some of the categories of blogs include animals; culinary; craft; gaming; memoir; photography; politics; science; and sports, to name but a few.

There’s also a theme, to be released by the organisers in the near future. I’m not sure what I’ll be writing on yet.

Whatever I end up with, I’m thinking it’ll be thematic. They’ll also be shortish posts, I’m thinking around the 150 word mark each. (edit post publishing: this post you’re reading is 140 words).

So that’s *my* April blogging sorted.

What do you think? If you’re a blogger, want to join me?

— KRidwyn

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family anecdotes Random thoughts Technology

Idiocy sometimes helps

I learn Krav Maga. It’s a form of Martial Arts practiced by the Israeli Defense Forces. Hubby and I take classes every Saturday morning, and I love it. Not only for the fitness (because I *definitely* need that aspect of it!) but also for the self-confidence I now have that, should something happen, I can deal with the situation.

Unfortunately, the ol’ brain wasn’t working too well when confronted with a mother-gifted pot-bound plant the other weekend. It was stuck. As in, imagine a plant the size of a large Rottweiler, in a pot that would comfortably fit a Chihuahua. (Not that I’m advocating squashing animals into pots, here!) It was a problem. I needed to force that plant out – so (it being Saturday afternoon) I did what I’d been practicing and unthinkingly hammer-punched the edge of the pot base, trying to dislodge it.

Ouch! Instant pain brought me to my senses again. Note to self: a large, black, circular plastic pot does not feel the same, when hit, as a large, black, circular punching pad. Idiot. But it did provide me with resolution number one: don’t do that again!

So I ate left-handed for a couple of days.

I was also doing quite a lot of typing around that time, and noticed that I was straining my right hand further, due to the sheer number of times I was pressing ‘backspace’ at the top right of my keyboard. You see, I don’t type ‘properly’; I never have. My right hand is faster, so it kinda covers all the letters from r (top row) and f (middle) and v (bottom row) and my left just sits and presses a key every once in a while. So this brought about resolution number two: learn to type properly.

Thanks to the 100 free lessons provided by TypingClub, I now can. And I’m happy with that. That my stupidity could provide the impetus to do something that I’d been putting off for simply ages.

Thank God for lessons learned, hey? Even if they’re painful ones…

Have a great week, dear reader!

— KRidwyn

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Life Random thoughts Technology

The importance of access

Dear readers,

My long-suffering blog subscribers will have been surprised I’m sure, to have received an email informing them I’d written a new post here on Hmmm… That’s because the last email notification was seven months – count them! SEVEN!!! – ago.

Yes, some of that was because I was just too busy with offline interruptions to write. But not so, the past few months. No, indeed. The problem was far worse. I’m reminded of the line by that incredibly annoying character Richard Thornburg, on the plane in Die Hard 2: “the truth, ladies and gentlemen, is far more terrifying…”

13334048894_001d3e53d1_mI lost access.

It’s a long and convoluted story involving countless emails, more-than-countless phone calls, hours spent checking the availability to re-purchase domain names, meetings with several IT guys in all shapes and sizes, and many more white hairs choosing to appear on my head – which, of course, I’ve decided to resolutely ignore. I shan’t bore you with any more details.

Suffice it to say… I’m back!!! And praise God! I missed blogging more than I realised that I would. I especially missed it during the Christmas / New Year season, as it was my blogging anniversary (blogiversary?!) and the first time since I started Hmmm… that I missed blogging with @FiFYI in the #blog12daysxmas challenge.

Mea culpa. I’ll know next time.

It’s only when something is broken that we realise how much we’ve taken it for granted. Sad, but true. So my plan is to learn from this experience. ‘Regular maintenance of the things I’d rather not bother with’ is my new policy. And I’ve even future-scheduled this ‘maintenance’ time and set appropriate reminders on my phone, so if I get busy with offline distractions, or if I forget or get lazy, then it’ll remind me. And I can’t get angry with my beautiful phone that Hubby gave me for Christmas, which still feels so new, can I? No 🙂 So yes, back ups are always a help, aren’t they!

Make sure, dear readers, that you maintain access to your stuff. Keep usernames and passwords and back up copies. Let loved ones know your secret stash spot for said usernames and passwords. And do it now.

So anyway, that’s my story. And I must admit, I’m pretty proud of myself that I’ll – hopefully – learn from the experience.

What about you? Have you ever lost access to something – that you only discovered was important once it was broken?

CC image courtesy Yuri Samoilov on Flickr

Categories
Random thoughts Reading Review Technology

Goodreads…

So I joined Goodreads yesterday. I’d heard about it quite a bit recently, but hadn’t had the chance to check it out until now. It’s not quite as user-friendly as I’d hoped, but maybe that’s because there’s s much functionality to it…?

Anyway, I guess I’ll figure it out more as time goes by 🙂

Have a great day, dear reader!

— KRidwyn

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#blogjune Blogging challenges Life Technology

Just one day left…

So today is the last day of May. Which means that #blogJune starts tomorrow! Hooray!

I love challenges. I get all determined and use my serious face a lot. Maybe I’m competitive by nature or something? I’m not really sure. 

But challenging myself? That’s something I seriously love doing. (Actually, maybe it’s not so much ‘competitive’ but ‘gets bored easily’. Yeh, that sounds more like me.)

Anyway, #blogJune starts tomorrow. That’s where me and heaps of other people will be blogging every day and tweeting our posts with the hashtag #blogJune. Anyone can join in, so this is an invitation to anyone who stumbles across this blogpost, to join us. You just need a blog. And a Twitter account. And the determination to press ‘publish’ on a blogpost every single day. So join us!

Me? I’m excited today because not only is my blog working again after significant time spent updating it, but for some happy reason, the WordPress iPhone app also seems to be able to link to it… meaning that, right at this very moment in time, in lying on my bed and writing this post on my phone. Yippee! Not sure how the linking or image functions will work yet, but I’m liking this so far!!!

Anyway, we are at 18 hours and counting, people. It’s almost #blogJune time. Will you be joining us? Are you in?

See you tomorrow, dear reader!

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#blogjune Blogging challenges Technology

countdown to #blogJune

So some of the major problems with this blog were fixed yesterday. Problems like ‘pages aren’t showing’. ‘Links aren’t working’. ‘Comments aren’t appearing’. But as far as I can tell, all of these have now been fixed. Yippee! And hooray! And “fire the cupcake cannons!” (all credit for this quote to Delilah S.Dawson, whose blogposts I’m rapidly falling in love with.) Now it’s the minor issues left to attend to; widgets not appearing so they can’t be edited, categories and tags needing major editing, permalink setting tweaking without the entire site breaking, you know. That sort of thing.

But this site of mine is now publishing the stuff I write, and it’s appearing, and now people can comment on this stuff too. Which is awesome!

And just in time. #BlogJune starts the day after tomorrow!

Ahhh. #BlogJune. My favourite time of the year for blogging. Because I actually make a concerted effort to blog daily, and to read the daily blogposts of friends (mainly Library friends) both near and far. We comment. We re-connect. Make new friends. You know how it goes. I love it. I feel like I’m keeping in touch with all things ‘Library’ – which, now I’ve graduated but am not yet working in a Library, is happy-making for me.

Posts by peeps doing #blogJune will not all be ‘Library’ ones. In fact, not all bloggers doing #blogJune will be peeps in the LIS space. That’s where it started, back when it was #blogeverydayofJune, but it’s grown into more than that. So, dear reader, if you have your own blog and want to challenge yourself to blog daily, then join us! Just blog daily – whatever topic you like – and tweet your post with the tag #blogJune. We’d love to have you aboard!

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Random thoughts Reading Review Technology

Friday Review

Well, yeh, okay. It’s Saturday. Late. Just like this post.

Today, I want to tell you about one of my favourite emails.

You see, I don’t very often click ‘subscribe’ on websites. My email inboxes fill up too quickly to want to add yet more – dare I say?! ‘Junk’ – to them. But on the rare occasion, I do subscribe, just out of curiosity – and I must admit, with this one, I’m glad I have!

I aspire to a clutter-free home, a clutter-free life. And with regular emails from Unclutterer.com, I can read their blog posts – their whole blog posts, none of this ‘to read more click here’ linking – from the convenience of my inbox. And they’re good posts too. Funny as well, every Wednesday.

They’re not obtrusive. They’re not in-your-face. I can choose to delete them – but I rarely do, because they’re generally well-written and an enjoyable minute-long break from the onerous going-through-email task I was currently completing.

So that’s my review for the week. Unclutterer. Give it a whirl – and let me know what you think!

 

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Review Technology

Friday review

Okay. A week has passed. Rather quickly too, I might add!

I thought I might review some stuff each week. Keep the whole ‘reflection’ thing happening. So this week, I’m looking at Trello.

So I’ve had a week to play with this, since discovering it last Saturday. I posted last weekend that I was impressed. Since then…

well, I think I’m in love. It’s understandable, really. I love to think of myself as organised – but in reality, I know that I’m not exactly where I want to be, and I know that things are ‘getting through the cracks’, as it were.

Trello can help to fix that.

It’s a way of organising yourself – but I have a feeling that it will really come into it’s own when used collaboratively. In study groups, in workplaces with teams, even in families. Anywhere where two or more people are working together on something, something that needs to ‘get done’. I’m planning on using it for Bloxham Marketing!

Generally speaking, when you’re working with someone else on something (let’s call it a project, even though it might just be ‘Mum’s 60th birthday’) then you’d delegate who does what, right? “You do invitations, and I’ll look after the hiring of the tables and chairs” kind of thing. And then you continually talk, to ensure that each person is on track. Which is good – and the sense of accomplishment you get as everyone moves together towards the common goal, is a great feeling. But the sigh you make, when things aren’t going to plan (someone’s not pulling their weight) or when there’s “yet another meeting about the same thing” when you’ve done your bit and you’re waiting for others, and it’s just going to be a big waste of your time – well, that’s a morale stealer if ever there was one.

And that’s where Trello comes in.

Think of that big ol’ whiteboard on which the delegated person writes up what to do, who’s responsible for each. Then maybe some of those things get highlighted, to indicate that they’re being worked on at the moment, and then finally they all (hopefully!) get crossed off over time, as they’ve been completed. And everyone has to keep a copy of that whiteboard in their head, because someone came along and wiped it off ready for the next meeting, and noone really knows who’s working on what at any particular point in time, and what’s been finished, until the next meeting where it gets pulled up again.

Trello provides you that whiteboard. Online. Forever. It’s private, to you or your team of people (let’s call them an ‘organization’, because they might be study partners or work colleagues or your family members) and because it’s online, it’s also up-to-date. And synced. And everyone can edit it, to show what they’re working on, what’s been finished, who’s responsible for the next step, and so on and so on.

Which gives you back that time you’re currently spending in meetings. That time that you spend on the phone, checking with people. And of course that time Aat your computer, reading emails and writing others.

I like that idea!

So – check it out for yourself; and I love to hear what you think of it!

Have a great day, dear readers 🙂

 

CC Image courtesy yukop at http://www.flickr.com/photos/22322135@N00/7919640078/in/photolist-d4Qe5A-cKt9oh-dtg9wG-cgpuob-dQwhsz/lightbox/?l=cc&q=trello