Resolutions – One Month In

Posted: Mon 11 December, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

On my birthday, I set up a new list of resolutions, which I wanted to work on. One month on, how’s it going?

Actually – not bad at all. There’s been a couple of new additions to the lists as well, as things progress, but yes, so far, it’s all looking a bit promising. Most unnatural…

  • Photography
    1. Get a Macro Lens
    2. Get a Wide-Angle Lens
    3. Finish the Portfolio website – it’s pretty much done, except for uploading the portfolio photos
    4. Sell/Publish some stuff
    5. Join a local club
    6. New : Get a decent flash
  • Writing
    1. Finish at least one piece of writing – working on it
    2. When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
    3. Just see how things go
    4. Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
  • Work / Websites
    1. Keep on going with Where’s Good
    2. Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
    3. Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible
    4. Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.
    5. Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
    6. New : Merge lots of accounts into one, and onto one server – all the main ones done, couple of others still waiting
    7. New : Start getting better at invoicing for work done – certainly started off OK on that one – time will tell
  • Education
    1. Sign up with Open University – initially for a refresher course, and work from there
    2. Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
  • Other
    1. Restart the Archery once we’ve moved – booked, but not attended yet
    2. Complete the move to Norfolk – first a rental, then the house-buying

Starting Off Badly

Posted: Mon 6 November, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

Having signed up about ten days ago for that Open University course, I was expecting to get a bundle of paperwork, course information etc. last week. But it didn’t arrive. Hmm, that sounds familiar from last time I signed up with them.

Anyway, having given it a clear two weeks ’til today to allow them time to be inefficient, I gave them a call today. Turns out, despite having paid, and the money having left my account, they’d still got my account listed as “on hold” , rather than “registered”.

I’ve sorted it now, and the paperwork should be on its way. But really, it’s not an auspicious start to the course, is it?

Beginning to Study

Posted: Mon 6 November, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised | Leave a comment »

One thing I’ve banged on about a lot is re-starting myself in some education – either with evening courses, or through something like the Open University. For a variety of reasons, I’ve never really got round to it – mainly through moving either my house or my job at the time that course registration is going on. It’s not even a conscious thing, just the way timing works out.

I did sign up for an “Openings” course with the OU back while I was in Manchester, but the entire thing was farcical and went horribly wrong – including a tutor who never actually contacted me at all – and I ended up getting my money back following a formal complaint to them because of how fucked up the entire thing was.

Anyway, now I’ve got some time on my hands in the evenings – although I’ve got a whole bundle of things I intend to be doing as well – I decided to see if things were any better in a different area (I know, in theory they shouldn’t be, as OU is national, but I bet/hope they are) and signed up for another Openings course a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve no idea as yet what it’ll involve – but in theory they’re supposed to be about getting people back into the practice of study, and that’s definitely something I need. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how it goes this time.

Resolutions – A New Year

Posted: Sun 5 November, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography, Work-related | Leave a comment »

While I still intend to keep up a kind of ‘to-do list’ of resolutions, I think I’m going to change the time of year that I decide them at. (I know, that sentence is teetering on the edge of ungrammatical. Live with it) So, rather than going for the entirely arbitrary – if traditional – January 1st, instead I’m going to go for the equally arbitrary (and in some ways more sensible) November 5th. Which also, conveniently, happens to be a personal anniversary, so it makes sense on that score too.

The resolutions I had for this year (i.e. 2006 in general) have worked out pretty well once I got my finger properly extracted, so I’m hoping that the same will be true for the new set. And also it’s the start of the five-year plan I’ve been looking at for a while, so there’s some stuff that’ll relate to that as well.

Anyway, the list for 2006/7 is going to be as follows…

  • Photography
    1. Get a Macro Lens
    2. Get a Wide-Angle Lens
    3. Finish the Portfolio website
    4. Sell/Publish some stuff
    5. Join a local club
  • Writing
    1. Finish at least one piece of writing
    2. When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
    3. Just see how things go
    4. Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
  • Work / Websites
    1. Keep on going with Where’s Good
    2. Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
    3. Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible
    4. Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.
    5. Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
  • Education
    1. Sign up with Open University – initially for a refresher course, and work from there
    2. Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
  • Other
    1. Restart the Archery once we’ve moved
    2. Complete the move to Norfolk – first a rental, then the house-buying
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