Home Work
Posted: Wed 10 October, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »Yesterday I was officially working from home – we had the plumber coming round (again) to finally fix the heating system so that the hot water is also done through the heating system, rather than using the bloody immersion heater.
It meant that I got a fair amount of stuff done (as usual) in addition to dealing with the plumber. So that’s all good.
I was supposed to be working at home today too – it’s my day off from work, where I should be working on my own stuff. Oh, and going to see the Cowboy Junkies in concert at the Royal Albert Hall tonight. But that’s pleasure, rather than work. (obviously)
However, I’m going to be going in to work first thing today. Things got screwed up yesterday, so I’ve got to go in and fix it. Technically, I could leave it ’til Thursday but well, it’s better if I go in on what’s supposed to be my day out of the office. Again, a number of reasons for this that I’ll go into in a different post. But yeah, it’s for the best, even if it is a pain in the chuff.
I won’t be in all day, though. Just get stuff fixed, deal with whatever needs dealing with, and leave so that I can be home again. Calls to make, people to talk to, all that guff. And all with the addition of massive point-scoring. Definite bonus.
Rate Tart
Posted: Wed 10 October, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related | 2 Comments »Oh Gawd, I’m definitely growing up. For the first time in my life, I’ve organised myself enough that when the 0% interest on one credit card runs out, it’s transferring over to another card for another 12 months interest-free. I’m officially now a “rate tart”
OK, admittedly I’m not organised enough to have paid off the balance on the existing card before the period runs out, which was the original plan. That’s been buggered about slightly by the fact that one ex-client still hasn’t paid me the money he owes, despite us now being four months down the line. The umbrella company that I use are chasing it, but they’re all fucking about. Anyway, that’s a post for another day.
So yes, having looked at Motley Fool’s credit card comparison table, I ended up going with one that’s offering 0% pa for 13 months, which will take me up to just about christmas ’08. The credit limit has just about halved from the (fucking staggering, to me) one on the existing card, but that’s OK too – I’m not planning on using the new one for any purchases, but just to pay off this transferred balance.
But wow, definitely getting all organised and grown up. It was also the first time I’ve ever filled in my status as “Home owner” on a credit application, which is probably worthy of note as well.
Migrating Databases
Posted: Mon 8 October, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Customer Services, Geeky, Own Business, Work-related | 1 Comment »Currently, for various reasons, I seem to be heavily involved in moving databases around. Not just the data, but the databases themselves. If you’re at all geeky, it’s kind of interesting, seeing how other people organise data as opposed to how I prefer to do it, and looking at the future-proofing of such data. If you’re not geeky then don’t read any further, you’ll just get bored. There’ll be something else along later for you, I’m sure.
In one case, the client is moving from an on-line service provider to an in-house solution that’ll be written solely by Yours Truly. In a lot of ways it’s a complete nightmare – the provider will only export the data in one format, an Excel spreadsheet. That then has to be converted to something that’ll work with SQL, then get tweaked so it’ll work without crashing on import to MySQL, and that’s just to get it into a “temporary” table before I do a whole bundle of conversions on the data in order to get it all to work in the way I want it to.
In the other main scenario (there are a couple of other smaller jobs too, but two main jobs at the moment) I’m going the other way – from an existing in-house database (on MS Access) to a much more stable, versatile, and extensible on-line version with nice web front-end and a bundle more functionality. Again, it’s producing some interesting challenges- not least that Access really doesn’t like exporting to anything. Ever.
All the same though, both jobs are interesting and (dare I say it) fun. They’re making me think (hard) and come up with solutions to problems, which is actually always something I enjoy. Once I’ve got the current data migrated over, then I get to do a load of other stuff with it in order to fit it all in with the plans/ideas that’re already present, and that again will be something I enjoy.
Yes, I truly am that sad. Worrying, isn’t it?
Re-organising
Posted: Sun 7 October, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »With the changes in workload, time management and business levels that I’m currently going through, I’ve decided it’s also time to make some changes to the ways I (attempt to) organise myself. One of these is that I need to do more ‘to-do’ lists, and just generally plan my work schedule and tasks far better than I do at the moment – I tend to do fairly well on remembering what I’m doing, but as things progress I know I need to do better.
So I’ve ordered a whole bundle of notepaper and pre-printed to-do list sheets for my Filofax. I haven’t been using the filofax this year as much, because all the information that was in it is also held on at least one item from my PC, laptop, and phone – along with backups on other devices. So I’m going to remove all the redundant pages from the filofax, and just use it as a diary and for notes and to-do lists.
We’ll see how it goes, but it should work for the best. Customising the Filofax to my requirements is a good plan – then I just have to use the damn thing.
Workweek changes
Posted: Fri 5 October, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »This week there’ve been some changes at work – none bad, thankfully, and in fact it currently looks like things may even work out for the best for me.
In my “normal” work contract, they’ve changed things around so that I’m only working there for four days a week instead of five, which will also allow me to do some more of my own stuff.
The reduction in days is a good one in a lot of ways. Not just for being able to do my own bits, but also on a financial scale. At the moment, the five days takes me well into the 40% tax bracket, so reducing that should drop me down to the “normal” tax bracket instead – which means that in a bizarre paradox, I may actually end up with more money paid to me, despite doing one day a week less. If there’s a logic there, it’s beyond me.
But it also gives me the opportunity to take up some new stuff, and some more interesting bits and projects. I’ve already discussed a couple of ideas and projects, and there’s still some other interesting bits coming up as well.
Looks like this development could be a good one. Time will tell, but I’m optimistic.
Business Redesign
Posted: Tue 2 October, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Geeky, Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »At the moment, I’m doing the initial work on re-designing the website for my own company – you know, the one that’s not linked to D4D in any feasible way.
The logo’s being redone, and I’m pretty sure of which one it’ll be (out of a selection of five or six from the designer) so that’s one part of the list checked off. Well, it would be if I actually had a list. Hmm, maybe I should make a list…
Anyway, the website redesign isn’t just going to be a cosmetic one, I’m also going to be putting in a lot of work on the back-end, which will also make it more maintainable in the long-run. Well, that’s the plan, anyway.
So along with everything else, I’m going to be moving the whole shebang onto WordPress 2.3. I’ve not used it before, so it’s making for an interesting learning curve – particularly with putting the static pages into WordPress as well. Overall, it makes sense though – and will increase my own knowledge of WP, which’ll help with a couple of other upcoming projects as well. No bad thing.
And with luck it’ll mean I don’t need to re-do it again drastically for a good year to eighteen months. Bonus.
Changes in Travel
Posted: Wed 12 September, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Getting Organised, Own Business, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »So as of yesterday, I’m back to using the train rather than driving in to Cambridge every day. In fairness, I only planned to drive in while putting in the extra time and work to get the site launched on time. And now that that’s been done, and the initial bug-hunt is over and done with, some level of sanity can return to my day.
Returning to the train has both good and bad aspects to it. I can’t deny, I’d kind of got used to having some space and time to myself on the journey, so it’s probably a downside to be back in the general throng of people. Time-wise, while the journey is the same time (i.e. roughly an hour) going by train takes about 20-30 minutes longer when one takes into account the waiting for the train to depart, and the walk to/from the office while I’m in Cambridge, rather than the convenience of door-to-door travel.
On the plus side, I get two hours a day back for doing my own stuff. Obviously while driving I can’t use the laptop, which has meant that my writing time has been severely cut back – both for D4D, the business, and letters/emails to friends. That is definitely A Good Thing. It also means I get to relax a bit between home and work (well, except when I’m getting my feet stepped on by fucking idiot people – yes, you, sat opposite me – fuckwit cunt) rather than having to concentrate on driving on roads populated by tosspot motherfuckers BMW drivers.
Oh, and overall it costs me a sod-load less too – £250 per month for the train ticket, rather than a full tank of diesel per week (which is just on the weekly journey, without taking into account any other driving I do) at about £55-60 plus parking when I can’t get a space at work (about 60% of the time) plus depreciation etc. on the car – after all, in the last six weeks I’ve put roughly 4,000 miles on the poxy thing.
So yes, for the forseeable, I’m back on the commuting train. Overall, things could be a lot worse.