Matthew Lang

My wife mentioned that our oldest was talking to her in the car, and he said that it didn’t feel like Christmas.

I get that he’s older, practically a man, but even in my late teens and twenties and before my wife and I started our family, Christmas always felt like Christmas. It’s a chance to indulge, purchase gifts for loved ones, visit the Christmas markets, watch Christmas movies at home, or even go to the cinema and see the latest blockbuster release. My wife and I have always enjoyed Christmas, and there’s not been a year where we’ve had a less-than-enjoyable Christmas.

My wife and I agree with our oldest. This year, it doesn’t feel like Christmas. The tree is up, we’ve got our usual decorations up, and we’re looking forward to a few days of chilling at home. However, something is missing this year, and we can’t quite put our finger on what it is.

I’m still looking forward to Christmas day, and I’m sure it will be a great day, but the build-up to it hasn’t been the same. I’m hoping it’s just a one-off this year.

The following 24 hours or so will be a roller coaster of waiting as Americans head to the polls to decide who will be the next resident of the White House. There’s certainly a lot at stake in this election.

This year’s campaigns have been eye-opening, with both highs and lows. Each candidate’s core message has been clear: one promises unity, while the other reflects division. I don’t remember America being this divided. Sure, social media and 24-hour news play a part in amplifying these divides, but one thing is clear: it’s time to fix them.

We’ll hopefully have an idea of the winner by tomorrow morning. Of course, I have my preference, but more than anything, I hope that the announcement won’t lead to any unrest and will be the start of another stable presidential term.

A peaceful declaration of the winner is my hope for tomorrow.

The last few years in the UK have been a bit of a rollercoaster. We’ve had Brexit, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the rising cost of energy bills and now the death of her majesty the Queen. It’s been a lot to take in mentally.

It’s this continuing changing of circumstances that seems to be affecting people. I’ve had similar feelings about the future. As has my wife. Well, it turns out it’s actually more common than I thought.

The result is that many of us are experiencing future fatigue: “When several difficult experiences happen back to back, your mind starts to use this information to predict the future and it can appear bleak as a result,” says Cobban, which causes us to lose “a sense of hope about the future being different in a positive way”.

— Surprised by how disoriented you feel right now? You’re not the only one

As for getting over these feelings of uncertainty, it is recommended by psychotherapist Nova Cobban that you focus on things that you can see the outcome of.

As well as limiting your time on social media (“feeding the anxiety” by looking more than once or twice daily is not helpful, Duff advises), it’s important to focus on the aspects of your life that you can actually influence and shape. “Look at what you are spending your time and energy on,” suggests Cobban. “Is it things that you have no control over but greatly concern you or is it things you can actually personally have a beneficial effect on?”

— Surprised by how disoriented you feel right now? You’re not the only one

For the last ten years that we’ve been visiting my in-laws in Canada, they’ve lived in the township of Oakville just outside of Toronto. When they first moved there, we were impressed by the small suburban areas, quaint feel in the centre of town, and the beautiful properties along the lakeshore. Everything just seems to fit together nicely.

Not having been here now for the last four years, we’ve seen a dramatic change in the town. Instead of the flat skyline we were used to, it’s now starting to fill with taller condo buildings.

An increasing number of properties along the lakeshore have eschewed traditional homes in favour of a more modernist look. Gone are the homes that tried to keep in with the style of other homes in the area. There are now several homes that can only be described as boxes comprising of glass and wood. Finally, the centre of town has lost its charm. I’ve noticed some of the smaller independent stores have gone. Instead, there are more retail outlets from more extensive franchises there.

In a way, I suppose, it’s been the victim of its own success. As more and more people are looking to move to the Greater Toronto Area, they look towards places outside of the city that isn’t too far away. Mississauga, located just outside the city, could be considered a city in its own right. The skyline is a sea of high-rise buildings that now dwarf what would have been the tallest buildings there twenty years ago. Oakville is the next town along the shores of Lake Ontario. With condo buildings now featuring prominently here, I think it’s safe to say it will follow the same route as Mississauga.

Just up the road from Oakville is the small town of Waterdown. I was stunned to see how much this small town has expanded over the last few years. What was once a quaint town centre is now dwarfed along the road by multi-story buildings for commerce and residential use.

One could argue that this is simply a sign of the times. I could partly agree with anyone who presented this argument. Everything changes over time, but it’s a shame to see the old, small towns along Lake Ontario gradually morphing into a single sprawling urban area.

Sad to see that Mike Gunderloy is bowing out from software development and the Internet. He was one of the first Ruby developers that I followed on Twitter and through there I subscribed to his blog, A Fresh Cup, where he posted his Double Shot posts.

Looking back, I’m also not super-happy with how the industry has evolved. There was a time when I could believe and hope that software was making the world a better place. Looking around, I’m not so sure any more. Money and power have seized pretty much everything related to software, and the rising tide of surveillance, manipulation, and generally rapacious behavior appears to be getting worse all the time. It’s become harder and harder to find any industry niche that I feel comfortable in working any longer. My sincere blessings to those of you who are still fighting the good fight, but as I said, I’m tired.

— End of the road

I can understand his reasons for bowing out from the world of software development. I’ve been feeling the itch to leave as well, but I still think I have a few years left before I completely think about trying something else for a career.

I managed to catch the NHS Spitfire as it flew over two hopsitals in my hometown of Paisley this afternoon.

That’s three times now that I’ve been fortunate enough to see this magnificent airplane flying. It was my favourite as a kid, and now that I’ve seen it again in the sky, it’s still my favourite.

Senior minister Michael Gove has said he does not think face coverings should be compulsory in shops in England, saying he trusts people’s common sense.

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Mr Gove said wearing a mask in a shop was “basic good manners”.

— Coronavirus: I trust people’s sense on face masks - Gove

The problem with this approach is that by and large, people will ignore what’s common sense and just do what they think is right by them.

I don’t always agree with Nicola Sturgeon’s politics, but I agree wholeheartedly with the move to make masks compulsory in shops in Scotland. It keeps the staff safe, it keeps the customers safe and it removes any grey area in between where people wonder whether they should wear a mask or not.

It’s not very often that I link to Twitter, but this tweet about teen leaders and how they’re making themselves heard is spot on.

Apparently I need to state the obvious: teen leaders have emerged because of a total vacuum of courage or actual leadership amongst “adults” in power. It’s not because they’re good at social media 🙄

— Amy Westervelt on Twitter

Maybe it’s time to do something about the ways in which shipping containers are transported across our oceans?

Trainers, flip-flops and a selection of other footwear were appearing with a regularity that singled them out from the other tidal deposits.

They were the same brands, in the same styles, and, for some of the trainers at least, the same production dates were printed on a label sewn into the tongue of each shoe. Moreover, every item of footwear appeared to have been unworn.

In the months that followed, Mr Ribeiro retrieved about 60 Nike trainers, along with a host of other brands.

— Why are Nike trainers washing up on beaches?

A single shipping container can contain hundreds of man-made products that if not secured to this ship, can end up being leaked into the world’s oceans. These end up being washed up on our shores, but also will break down in the ocean adding to the already big problem of plastics in our oceans.

My sales strategy was simple and I thought rather brilliant. I drove all over the Pacific Northwest, to various track meets. Between races, I’d chat up the coaches, the runners, the fans and show them my wears. The response was always the same. I couldn’t write orders fast enough.

How Nike sold its first 50,000 shoes

I love reading about how successful companies started. It’s a shame that we’re moving away from this level of dedication and motivation with many startups looking to VC funding instead.

However, if you haven’t yet made plans and wish to take a stand, there is one activity that you can do alone at home that will help you and the planet. It ensures that ever-so-briefly you are not contributing to climate change, and are doing what you can to save endangered species. Don’t drive or fly. Don’t buy anything. Do no laundry. Turn off the lights. Avoid going online. Depending on where on Earth you are, shut down the air-conditioning or heaters (unless you’ve got solar panels!).

— The best thing you can do on Earth Day is sit perfectly still

I appreciate that doing nothing can help climate change, but I’m reading this article on the day of Earth Day and if sharing it means I can get a few more people to increase their time offline, then it’s worth that little burst of me being online today.

I don’t really follow the football in the UK, but it surpises me how often managers are held accountable for a team’s performance. I get that as a manager they are responsible for the team as a collection, but is there no argument against the team itself as well as the manager?

McLeish was under pressure from day one and didn’t have the capacity to deal with it. It was painful to watch at times. It’s now over, but the old problems remain at Hampden. It’s not just about who the next manager should be, it’s about who can be trusted to appoint that new manager.

— Scotland: Alex McLeish exits after poor start to Euro 2020 qualifying

22 years without a major tournament appearance. With a record like this, I’d say it’s less about who can be trusted and more about who would want such a position.

Australian broadcaster Waleed Aly on the attacks in Christchurch the reason why they no longer shock him.

“Of all the things that I could say tonight—that I am gutted, that I am scared, and that I am filled with utter hopelessness—the most dishonest thing, the most dishonest thing would be to say that I am shocked,” Aly said. “I’m simply not. There’s nothing about what happened in Christchurch today that shocks me.”

Aly went on to list attacks in recent years in places of worship—targeting Muslims in mosques in Quebec City and London, Jews in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Christians in a church in Charleston, South Carolina—saying that this kind of violence has come to be expected in a climate of hate that many political leaders build up and manipulate rather than stop. — Watch a Muslim broadcaster make stark sense of the New Zealand mosque shootings

Are we ever going to be rid of political leaders that use hate and fear to score votes and secure their seats of power?

You can watch the full broacast here.

Whether you believe the fable about boiling frogs or not, it looks like we’re becoming a world of slowly boiled frogs.

Researchers, led by Frances Moore, professor of environmental science and policy at University of California-Davis, analyzed 2 billion tweets published between March 2014 and November 2016, to determine when people turn to Twitter to talk about the weather. Unsurprisingly, they found that there are far more weather-related tweets during unusual conditions, such as an exceptionally hot day in March or one in September that’s far colder than normal. But, they found that there was significantly less Twitter chatter when historically unusual weather conditions repeated within a few years. If a country experiences exceptionally cold weather for more than five years in a row, these conditions were no longer considered remarkable. And, overall, people’s perceptions of normal weather are based on by experiences from the past two to eight years.

— Humans are “boiling frogs,” slowly getting used to climate-change temperatures

Will we recognise the danger and do something about it, or will we accept our changing environment while we being slowly cooked?

As I picked up our New Year’s Day order from the butchers this morning, I was reminded of how little I have used my local butchers and other local stores since I started working in an office.

When I worked from home, I shopped locally every week. Very rarely did we have to do our grocery shopping online. I was able to pick up most things from local stores during my lunch break. It was a good time to get away from my desk and get some air. Now that I commute to an office though, I don’t have the time in the day to continue to shop locally, and the stores where I work aren’t convenient too within my lunch break.

My thoughts on this are still a bit incoherent despite having tried to write this for close to an hour now, but here’s what I have in raw form.

1. More people should be allowed to work remotely. Working from home gives you more time to run a few errands as well as shop locally and support local businesses.
2. More people should be allowed to work fewer hours. Is a 40 hour work week really necessary anymore? Working fewer hours would allow us the time shop locally as opposed to just feeding more and more orders into the Internet retail giants.

I’m not an economist, and I’m sure there are holes in these thoughts, but if I could have seen the damage that internet shopping has caused to my local town, then I would have been a bit more selective about my spending habits over the years.

I’m usually the first person to defend the march of technology, but it’s come to a point where even I’m not sure that the change has been for good.

Jonathon Snook has been sharing a few thoughts on imposter syndrome and what he’s doing to overcome it.

It seems that every once in a while I go through this same phase of self-doubt, but it’s never been as bad as it was a couple of months ago. Giving up on freelancing and returning to a full-time job required a series of significant changes that added to this phase.

I was no longer working for myself. I would be working for an employer and therefore also working with and for other people. When you’re freelancing, there’s an element of being a lone wolf. It’s not entirely isolating, but you don’t need to worry so much about other people. You deliver what the client wants. Working for an employer is different. You have to align yourself with the companies goals and those that you are working with.

Working from home for some years means that I was fortunate enough to find my own routine that worked for me. From the comfort of my house, I could play the music I wanted, take breaks when I wanted, plan my day how I wanted. Working for an employer means being in the office at certain times, aligning your work day with others, making yourself available when others require your time.

Adding to these were some routine changes at home and facing the possibility of a frequent commute. The whole experience led me to question whether I could do the job I was applying for. Not only that, but I was examining the worth of some side-projects I was working on as well as a career change that I am considering for the future. It’s was similar to Jonathon’s stage where at the point of execution, you freeze up.

Every time I get to the point of execution on anything, I start to freeze up. I hit a wall every time I want to put myself out there.

— Uneasy by Jonathon Snook

After a few months in full-time work, however, I’m starting to find that I can do the job although given it’s a new role, there are a few weeks of finding your feet.

Not only that, but I’m also reading more, writing more, coding more outside of work. I’m doing these things as they help me build myself back up out of a period of self-doubt. I’m now at the point where I am finding myself enjoying side-projects and returning to a stage where I can see myself executing again.

During my last few months of job hunting, I was received numerous enquiries from recruiters for positions in startups and recently formed organisations.

Instead of flat-out declining these offers, I would research the organisation first and then make a decision based on their industry, growth and their suggested work culture. I say suggested as you can never tell with a company what they will be like to work for until you start working for them. Based on these findings I found that I always declined to move forward with the application.

The thing about startups is that they are organisations with no track history. They’re young and new, and while that might be an attraction for others, it’s not something that I am looking for in my future career.

I’m looking for to work in an organisation that is tried and tested. They have experience in their sector and they have a steady platform from which to grow from. And it’s not just in an software development that I am looking for this, but further forward into my career as well.

I’m looking into a different career path that while is new to me isn’t a new type of job in itself. This role has been around for decades but is something that I am interested to move into. Time will tell if I can make the move to this new role, but at least I know that it’s something that will be around for years to come.

Six years ago I wrote a snippet about a portfolio career. This is still the end goal for my career.

Splitting my time into smaller part-time roles would be a great way of still keeping my programming skills but also being able to explore other roles in different industries. I have an idea for that other role, but it requires a few other things to be done before I can realistically make it happen.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

I’m winding down my freelancing business over the next few weeks to take on a permanent role. It’s been fun over the last six years, but I think I prefer the stability of regular hours and pay.

I haven’t given up on going solo though, I’m still considering running my own business in the future. It will have less of an emphasis on the selling of services though and more of an emphasis on selling a product.

A horrific story about the plight of seven boys and young men who stowed away on a ship bound for Quebec, Canada.

With the ship going nowhere, 22-year-old Bernard Reilly - the eldest of the stowaways, who had dreams of making it to Nova Scotia to work on the railways - persuaded James Bryson that it might be worth trying to cross the ice to escape the misery on board the ship.

— The boys on the ice

Following a raft of measures to cool off the property market, sales have plunged, down 35% overall in Feb 2017 relative to Feb 2016; prices are down an average of CAD110,000, and listings are up (which will drive the prices down further).

— Toronto’s real estate market is imploding via Boing Boing

Imploding might be a strong word in this case as it’s only based on one month’s sales, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the start of a decline in house prices in Toronto and the surrounding areas.

With my in-laws in Ontario and annual trips out there with the family, we’ve see vast amounts of land swallowed up by builders over the last two decades. The rate of building and development has been staggering.

In the last ten years though house prices have sky rocketed.

My wife and I have toyed with emigrating to Canada in the past few years. The always increasing house prices mean that we would have to look at smaller properties near Toronto or larger properties away from Toronto for the move to be worth it.

With a dip in house prices though, maybe a move is still possible?

I’m not surprised it’s being suggested by Trump that they need to arm teachers in schools.

Rather than making schools safe areas to learn, aren’t they just going to be turned into places where kids fear for their lives? Arming teachers is one thing, but in the heat of the moment, can armed teachers react in the same way that the police should?

John Gruber also linked to an article describing the devasting effect of AR-15 bullets on the organs.

More guns is not the answer.

I know, from reading my friend Kurt Harden’s blog, that we may not see completely eye-to-eye politically. But, a fact of which I’m absolutely certain of is that we could sit down around a campfire with two fingers of whiskey and a decent cigar each and come around to more that we agreed on than disagreed.

— Campfire Diplomacy by Patrick Rhone

What a great idea. I just wish I lived a little closer for this little pow-wow.

… goes to planet Earth.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

Not all work will be meaningful. Some will be meaningful to others but not for you. Some, will be drudgery. Some, will be necessary. Some will just be the thing you have to do until the next thing you have to do comes along until finally, after so much just-stuff, something will come along that is meaningful until, eventually, you’re done with that and doing the next thing you do because it’s just the thing you have to do

— Rhone Koan - Meaningful Work by Patrick Rhone

A reminder by Patrick Rhone that we each have different types of work we need to do.

… for 2017.

Sorry people, couldn’t resist.

via starwars.tumblr.com

I’m glad to see that the much hyped part of the retail year, Black Friday, is falling out of favour with buyers.

But there’s something else happening. In this moment of profound innovation on the back of e-commerce and technology, new and old brands are working hard to gain our business. In doing so, they have created a virtual “series” of “Black Fridays” throughout the season. These are cause-driven moments or limited-edition collections that add value in a way more relevant to today’s informed consumer; it’s not about false discounts.

— Black Friday isn’t dead. It’s just irrelevant. by Recode

I’ve always shunned purchasing anything during this time and in particular any product that is highlighted as a “bargain” during this event.

Can’t wait until it’s completely gone.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

Who knew that so many positives can come out of big business?

For one thing, he says, big companies have the ability to create jobs. Under Armour now employs 15,000 people directly in its 26 global offices, and indirectly hires close to a million people across its supply chain. “There’s upwards of three quarters of a million people making Under Armour stuff at any one time,” he says. “That’s going to grow 50% over the next year, and that means we’re going to be able to affect a million to a million and a half people.”

— Under Armour’s Founder Makes A Passionate Defense Of Big Business by Fast Company

… to see the outcome of Michael Wade’s new project.

May be Patrick can help you?

Friday. Wrapped up client work and finished up packing for the holiday.

Saturday was a long day travelling with the family. It was the first time I decided to eschew technology for the flight. No laptops, iPads or even a Kindle. All I had was Cal Newton’s Deep Work book and the job of entertaining our two boys for a while. For a device-free flight it was quite quick. Touched down in Toronto mid-afternoon and had some ribs for dinner at my in-laws house which is our base for the next couple of weeks.

The day after the flight is always the recovery day. The boys were up early as predicted so we had a hobbit style breakfast comprising of an early breakfast at 5am and a normal breakfast at 9am.

For the second time I joined my brother-in-law and his friends for five-a-side football. I’ve still got a good touch, but I definitely don’t have as much energy as I used too.

Me, Ethan and my father-in-law headed to a nearby nine hole golf course for a quick game of golf today. Ethan destroyed myself and his Granpa with accurate green shots and some great putting. After a few errands on the way home, I cooked up some fajitas for the family and then headed to the park with the boys.

Pretty much a damn good weekend.

(Trying something new. Mini posts on the last weekend of the month.)

Made a home cooked dinner on Friday night. Sat down with Jen to watch a movie.

Saturday morning bike ride with Ethan. Lunch and then a family walk with the boys on their bikes. Coded my own replacement for an online product I pay too much money for. Another home cooked meal on Saturday night.

Sunday morning painting the fence. Dropped Ethan off at the golf. Trip to the garden nursery for the rest of us. Tidy up the garden before dinner. Picked up Ethan from the golf. Sunday dinner. A couple of hours on the PS4.

Yip, the weekend was pretty great.

An axe review with no mention of its use for taking down the odd zombie.

Rick Grimes would not approve.

Thanks NB!

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

In its final version, the basic income would replace other benefits people currently receive, and would therefore be rather high, as indicated by Kela’s Research Department Director Olli Kangas. It is considered that all Finnish citizens would be paid an untaxed benefit sum free of charge by the government, 800 euros a month in the final version, 550 euros monthly in the model’s pilot phase.

— Basic income: how Finland plans to implement the first nation-wide project in the EU by Finland Politics

It will be very interesting to follow if this is a success.

There are too many easy choices.

I’ve noticed that retail stores and their vast volume of products seem to be on the rise. Every shopping trip turns into a “who buys all this?” while looking at the mountains of stock available. This isn’t just about the products we can easily buy though. It seems now that we’re even spoiled for choice in the experiences that we can have in life.

On Sunday I read a story about a silent fireworks display that was intended for babies and toddlers. After the show was finished parents complained that the fireworks were too loud. Hardly surprising given that fireworks by nature are loud.

The bugbear for me isn’t the flawed logic of silent fireworks show, it’s the availability of choice. We tend to do these things simply because we have the choice too. I’m sure most of us would consider taking our youngest children to a fireworks display but is there any benefit other than the fact that you can?

We’re spoiled for choice and the element of resistance in that choice is being eroded away. Just because the decision to do something is easy, it doesn’t mean that we should.

I’ll get in touch as soon as I can.

Patrick’s journey on the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path continues with the right livelihood.

I use the concept of Right Livelihood to remind me to keep my focus on doing work that contributes to the greater good, that is meaningful and helpful to those that choose to purchase my products and services, to humbly realize that any failures or successes will be fleeting, and that the most mindful path is to simply continue to do good work.

— Right Livelihood by Patrick Rhone

Dog-walking, Shakespeare, baseball, Beethoven and hot dogs.

All available at Cultural Offering.

147 seasons without a title win. That’s a long time. It could end this year though if the Cleveland Cavaliers win the NBA finals.

The Intercept summarises the recent passing of the USA Freedom Act. Good to see change happening as a result of the work of Jon Snowden, Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald.

The USA Freedom Act passed the House in an overwhelming, bipartisan vote three weeks ago. After hardliner Republicans lost a prolonged game of legislative chicken, the Senate gave its approval Tuesday afternoon as well, by a 67 to 32 margin. The bill officially ends 14 years of unprecedented bulk collection of domestic phone records by the NSA, replacing it with a program that requires the government to make specific requests to the phone companies.

— One Small Step for NSA Reform, One Giant Leap for Congress by The Intercept

FIFA officials are now facing corruption charges for bribery that occurred in the US and was paid through US bank accounts.

As leaders of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, gathered for their annual meeting, more than a dozen plain-clothed Swiss law enforcement officials arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel, an elegant five-star property with views of the Alps and Lake Zurich. They went to the front desk to get keys and proceeded upstairs to the rooms.

— FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Blatter Isn’t Among Them by The New York Times

I’m not a big football fan, but it’s not good to see one of the worlds biggest sports tainted in the last few years by allegations of corruption.

I wonder if Sepp will get through this scandal unscathed?

A great piece on being an introvert.

My thoughts are my thoughts. I share what I choose to, and the rest is mine. Don’t quiz me, demand to know what I’m thinking, tell me I’m meant to share. I have a right to privacy. Don’t assume that because you want to share everything with me, that I should want to share everything with you. Don’t present your view of the world as the only possible option, and that I must be somehow emotionally stunted, wrong, or hiding something.

— Introvert by Iain Simpson

In case you didn’t notice, it’s been real busy here at Lang HQ. Client work, side project work and volunteer work have been the focus of the week as well as one important family commitment this week. I’m hoping next week isn’t as busy.

I love Ohio but it is cold. It is Ivan-Denisovich cold. It’s Jack-Nicholson-at-the-end-of-The-Shining cold; indoor-cat-who-became-outdoor-cat-glaring-at-me-from-his-blanket-in-the-garage cold. Never-warm cold. Feet-cold cold. Permanently-hunched-sholders cold. Kurt-Russell-in-The-Thing cold. It is colder than Robert Frost stopping by the woods on a snowy evening - he would not have stopped in this cold.

— That Cold by Kurt Harden

Thankfully Paisley in Scotland doesn’t even come close to being this cold. I don’t envy my fellow North American bloggers in times like this. The cold weather can get very wearing.

Minor setback this week as a couple of viruses knocked me and Jen out of contention for a couple of days. Last day and half has been me trying to get back on track with work.

Almost there.

… with NB.

Surprise them. Shock them even. Don’t even complain once. About having eaten too much, the vacation being too short, the ridiculous queues at Starbucks on New Year’s Eve afternoon. Don’t let that stuff get to you. It’s a little friction in the wheels of life. It may be the first week back. Heck it’s the first Monday of the new year.

— Back to Work? by Nicholas Bate

Click through for the reason why you do this.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

Today is a big day. Not just for us Scots but for the rest of the UK as well. From that last sentence you’re probably assuming that I will be voting no in today’s independence referendum and you would be right. In fact I’ve already gone and cast my vote this morning after dropping my oldest off at school.

I haven’t been convinced by the yes campaign’s argument that Scotland will be richer on its own. No one can foretell what will happen if Scotland becomes independent. The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. What I do know however is that I’ve lived in a country that’s been part of a union for my whole life and for over 250 years before that.

Ever since I was old enough to know about politics and the prime minister, I’ve seen the effects that the government’s decision can have on the countries they serve. Growing up in Scotland during Margaret Thatcher’s time as prime minister brings back lots of bad memories from headlines in newspapers and the televised news. The backlash against the Conservative government at the time was evident everywhere. Newspapers and conversations were the main source of information and criticism. For a while it seemed that no one in Scotland liked the Conservative government that was in power at the time.

It was during this time that many Scots started to hold a contempt for politicians, especially Conservative politicians. That contempt for Conservative politicians is still around today. A lasting scar from the days of Margaret Thatcher. It’s something that many people today are clinging too as their main reason for voting. They want to secure a future for Scotland that won’t have Conservative government again. That’s not a reason to vote. A reason to vote yes is that you firmly believe that Scotland can make it as an independent nation. You believe that a yes vote for Scotland is the best way forward. The yes campaign for me has become a campaign against the current government rather than a campaign about what an independent Scotland could achieve. And that’s not the message that I would want to hear if I was considering voting yes.

So why am I voting no then?

Today I count myself very lucky. I have a flourishing career as a freelance web developer, my family have a home to live in that we can call our own and my kids have untold opportunities ahead of them. We’re doing good. I’ve had my fair share of bumps in the road of life including three job redundancies but each time I’ve managed to find a new job. Some might call it luck, others determination. Whatever you want to call it I think we’re doing well under the current government and the previous governments that we have had before.

Maybe I’m being cautious about the independence vote by voting no and I know that in my heart I would love to see Scotland flourish on it’s own. That’s when my head clicks in with a reminder that there are so many unanswered questions about being independent. I don’t have all the answers and neither do the politicians. What I do know is what I know now, what I’ve always known. And it’s working for me and my family.

I’m proud to be Scottish, but I’m also proud to be British. And that’s why I voted no.

Carl Holscher is.

We all have strengths and interests. I have been the Mac Guy. But I need the Excel Guy and the Photoshop Woman to be successful. We all have our strengths. And when our knowledge falls short we use the teams’ knowledge.

— Team by Carl Holscher

A reminder from Carl Holscher that opinions on everything aren’t a necessity.

Social networks are a funny thing. They allow people who are shy or uncomfortable in crowds to be as vocal as they like. I often wonder though if this is less common than people might think. I assume that there are many others like me who use the internet hundreds of times a day. Announcing their arrivals at locations, updating their status on an hourly basis and posting their lives to the world as if they are the star in their own reality TV show.

I definitely don’t do this.

My social networking habits have rarely changed in the last few years. I keep to myself mostly, engage with others when I want to and only contribute when I’m sure that I am correct in what I am saying. It’s a reflection of who I am when I am around people. A quiet listener. I don’t say much unless I’m confident in what I am going to say.

One of the problems I have is that initial reach out to someone, whether that person is physically in the room, or another avatar in the world of social networking. Reaching out online is easier, but I still hesitate a bit when I’m making that initial introduction. I always thought that when social networks started with Facebook and Twitter, I would be more engaged with people than I am at a conference or meet up. Turns out I was wrong and the reason is that if that person is in the room or on the other side of the world, I always will be hesitant in making that first introduction. It’s just who I am.

And that’s enough for me as an individual. I use my voice online when I have to or want to. Mostly when I want to. If I have to say something, I usually think about what I am going to say first before committing to clicking the button that publishes your inner thoughts for the world to see. In that case, most of the time I’ll scrap the idea of posting what I have to say and let it slide.

Does your online personality reflect who you truly are as a person?

I always keep my ear to the ground when it comes to local businesses starting and closing in my local town. You never when an opportunity might arise.

A couple of months ago I noticed that a hairsdessers, whom I used to be a customer of and got to know the owners well, had closed down. This morning I found out that the owners (a married couple) were still working locally, but had decided to rent chairs in another local hairdressers so that they could continue to serve the customers that they had built up in their own business.

Being a business owner with staff is a huge responsibility and one that isn’t easy to depart from. Once your employing staff and delegating duties to them, it’s your responsibility to steer the business in the best possible direction, whilst also ensuring that your staff contribute and are paid well for their duties.

I’ve been in enough small businesses over the years to see this first hand. Sometimes the business owner does a good job and sometimes they don’t. The majority of the time though, I’ve seen the bad side of this. The business as an entity isn’t doing well enough to support it’s staff which usually results in the laying off of some or all of those staff.

For whatever reasons you have as a business owner for closing down your business, it can’t be an easy decision to make when there is staff involved. If you’ve built up a loyal army of staff over the years that can be depended upon, how do explain that they no longer have a job when your business closes?

As much as I would love to expand my freelance business over the coming years into a registered company with staff, I keep having to remind myself that there’s a huge responsibility to employing staff and ensuring that there is enough there for people to be paid. I’ve been on the receiving end of three redundancies. I’d rather not be the guy on the other side of the table giving them out.

For the moment I’m happy to plod on as a single freelance developer providing a service and value to my clients. I only have myself and my family to look after and that’s enough for me.

… from Michael Wade.

If you do not have a stack of unread books at home then there is no hope for you. I have known brave soldiers who are intellectuals but I’d never want a university faculty to cover my back. Every day should begin with a good look at the sky.

— Random Thoughts by Michael Wade

… with our guide, Kurt Harden.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

I find it increasingly tiresome to apologize for my need to be alone to recharge, for reasons that echo why many women are tired of educating men about equality.

— If you want to get everything done, leave an introvert alone. by Pete Forde

I do my best work when I’m on my own and I’m disconnected. I’m not alone in this.

Be sure to click through for a couple of great posts that Pete mentions, especially Susan Cain’s TED talk on the subject.

I’m in the market for a new iPhone case. There are hundreds to choose from. I mean hundreds. There’s too many to decide from. Competition is nice in business but as a consumer, sometimes I want less of a choice. Less choice means I can make a decision faster.

As a software developer I’m used to making hundreds, well probably thousands of decisions a day. Deciding on variables, class names and how I implement features is just part of the many decisions I make as a software developer on a daily basis. They’re all small decisions, but they add up at the end up of the day when a section of code is tested and completed. These are just micro decisions. Really small decisions that I can afford to get wrong as they are easily rectifiable in a really short period of time.As you move up through the scale though, you see that the decisions that you make become less and less frequent as their impact becomes greater and greater.

Right at the top of my tree is a decision to emigrate that will affect me and my family for a time period that can be measured in years. It’s a decision that’s been on my mind for the last few years, but with every passing year that the decision isn’t made, the decision to emigrate becomes harder and harder. Get it right and everything will fall into place as expected. Get it wrong, well I don’t really want to dwell on what would happen if we decided to emigrate and it didn’t work out.

If only the decision to emigrate was as easy as one of those thousands of decisions I make on daily basis.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

I would fail at this as well.

via xkcd

It’s been four weeks now since I was made redundant. In that time I’ve had a chance to reflect on this horrible position that many of us go through. It’s not my first redundancy either and probably won’t be my last, but there’s a number of things I would like to share that may help others get through a similar experience.

Being made redundant from a job is a painful experience to go through, but I think that level of pain relates to the size of the company you are being let go from.

Take for instance my job at a large payroll software and services provider at the start of my career. They were a large company at the time of my redundancy. My role was working on a payroll and personnel product. After nine months though, my development manager moved on to somewhere else and the product was shelved. Fast forward a few months and the company was bought over. I was deemed surplus to requirements by the new parent company and was made redundant.

When I found out I was being made redundant I acted calmly after hearing the news. I realised that even though my line manger was giving me the bad news it wasn’t his fault and there was nothing personal about it.When you work in a large company, chances are you are just another cog in the machine. There are multiple levels of management from the decision makers at the top to those at the bottom and it’s usually very rare that these two levels will mix on a daily basis.

From the way I see it, It was a decision made by others who either didn’t know me or knew very little of me. It wasn’t personal, and that’s an important perspective to take on it. Lots of people feel anger when they are made redunandant, but at the end of the day it’s sometimes just about the numbers.

Now my last two redundancies have been made at smaller companies. In each case there were less than ten employees in each company and each time I was made redundant I was more than just annoyed at the news of being let go. I had spent two and five years at each of the respective companies.

With small companies you end up knowing everyone on really good terms, well I do anyway, and you get to know everyone a lot better than you would have at a large company. In this case it can become boiling pot of emotions you feel when you are told by a colleague that you know really well that you are being let go.

In this case you need to handle things a bit differently. Redundancy in a small company is difficult to deal with.In both cases my redundancy came out of nowhere. I had assumed in each case that the company was performing well to that point. Experience has taught me though that in a small company, day to day duties can hide underlying problems the company is having.

In my first redundancy the company was entertaining prospective buyers for a number of months before myself and others were made redundant. It was kept from staff until the announcement that the company was being bought over. the company buy over was announced on the Friday and I was made redundant on the Monday. Pretty fast moving. I completely resented the company owner and the development manager for not at least giving the staff a heads up on the activity of the company. Looking back I wasted a lot of time in a negative place rather than focusing on moving myself onto another position. I did eventually find a new job, but I’ve always thought I was pushed into the job move rather than moving on for better reasons.

In my second redundancy I found myself in a better frame of mind after hearing the bad news.After being told that the company was going through financial problems and I was being let go, I simply gathered my things, said my goodbyes and left. Stepping out the office I was surprised by the swiftness of it starting as another day in a small company to not having a job. I learned from the past that dwelling on the negative and blaming others wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I simply picked myself up and moved on.

The experience of being made redundant from a small company has taught me to expect bad news at the drop of a hat. Working with a small company with people you know well doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be told of any pending bad news on the horizon. And if there is a bad news for the company then you are probably better off being somewhere else.

Also in a small company, you should accept the redundancy for what it is and move on. Regardless of what you think about the company or it’s remaining staff, it’s not going to have any positive input on your prospects for a new job. Accept the redundancy and move on.

A redundancy from a large company has been easier to manage from my experience. It’s largely a decision based on numbers. You get the bad news and then move on. It’s no-one’s fault.

My last piece of advice is to pay attention to the company you are working for regardless of its size. Watch out for news alerts on the company and pay attention to shifts in company size and locations.

When external office locations are shut down, services or products are removed or other departments are closed down, look towards your own department and question it’s viability within the company. Does your department still align with the companies overall objectives?Yes you might just be a line worker and not privvy to what’s going on in the board room, but you can observe how the company is performing. With that knowledge, a redundancy will then at least be expected and not a complete surprise.

Redundancy is sadly a part of the career world that many of us will face, but it doesn’t mean that it needs to be a largely negative affair. When you get the bad news, close the door on it and move on. I did and I feel a whole lot better for it.

The last few weeks have seen me attending a number of different interviews and each time it seems my nerves get the better of me. More confidence is definitely needed for any interviews I attend in January.

The main reason people don’t try to do work they love, don’t even look for it, is because they don’t think they’re good enough. That’s hogwash. We’ve been bamboozled and hornswoggled into believing we are insufficient, that it’s scary to fail, when neither is remotely true.

— Tick Tock by Zen Habits

I’ll be honest here, I’m not a very confident person and that is perhaps why I face the freelance career with a sense of trepidation. It hasn’t helped that in the last two weeks I’ve been unsuccessful in a few job applications. It’s only a few however, at least it’s not hundreds.

Since I got made redundant last week, I’ve had an opportunity to look at the path of my career and determine the right direction I want it to take for the future.While there is things I want to do and technology I want to work with, I also have existing skills that can land me a decent permanent job.So on one hand, an insecure future working with new technology and on the other hand, a secure future working with existing technology.What choice to make?

Bad news.

Got paid off this morning.

Good news.

I now have an opportunity to carve a career that will benefit me. A career that will interest me, let me work on the things that interest me the most.

There’s freelancing, contracting, consulting, writing, coding and product building. Lots of opportunities ahead, but decisions need to be made sooner rather than later.

I have a young family to think about, so while I would like to do all the things above, I need to be realistic.

I’m going to start exploring these opportunities one at a time over the next week. No rash emotionally fuelled decisions.

This is an opportunity that can’t be missed.

It would be nice to re-visit decisions I’ve made recently, but I need to live with the results.

… we all have them. However it’s never too late to turn them around.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

… with Caesura Letters.

Let us expose the conspiracy: success is an illusion. To be sure, the human experience is full of tantalizing tokens, symbols and rituals to represent this highly-sought status. But every diploma, certification, award, medal, pay-grade promotion and recognition is simply another construct of this brilliant mythology: ‘success’ is nothing but a humanly crafted religion that teaches us how to revere one another.

— The Myth of Success by Caesura Letters

Caesura Letters is the one bit of email I look forward to reading every day. Make it yours also.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

Essential reading for today. Make sure to set aside some time for this. And Happy Birthday Patrick!

Yip, Toronto is home from home. Wish I had more opportunities to visit.

via Daily Dose of Imagery

What’s your view from your desk?

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

The Hammock Papers. Because you never know when you’ll need the words to that naval song.

via Swiss Miss

There are those who do grow up. Discussions about coffee machines, hotel allowances and bonuses recede. The ‘country club’ atmosphere which has grown unhealthily in abundant times can be dropped quickly and a focused ‘war room’ mentality swung into action.

— On Growing Up and Rites of Passage by Nicholase Bate

Another insightful snippet from the master of business, Nicholas Bate.

I know it’s not always this clear-cut, but it’s sad to see so many businesses taking the easy option out and cutting costs (usually at the bottom of the company ladder) rather than exploring new revenue ideas and possibilities.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.

I’m 35 today!

It probably doesn’t mean much to many people when they turn 35 or any other age really for that matter, but for me this year feels different and that’s in a good way. Let’s wind the clock back a few years first though.

When I turned 30 I was pondering on my career and what I wanted to achieve. I hadn’t produced anything that I would call art (well in my case as a developer, a web application of some kind), and so I started thinking about what I wanted to achieve in my career in the next five years. I had thoughts and ideas, but no plan. Five years later I still haven’t produced anything that I could put out there and say “Yip, I made that”.

After a couple of years, I lost track of my ideas. I carried on with my job as a developer for a small consulting firm and tried to keep my development skills up to speed by playing with some programming languages in my spare time. I even produced a small mind mapping blog for a couple of years that let me practice some writing for a while.

Fast forward to today and I still haven’t produced anything career wise that I would call mine, but it’s not something that I am going to lose any sleep over.

Which brings me back to today. So why do I feel like everything is in the right place?

Well at the start of the year, my wife and I found out that we were going to be parents again. We already have a five year old son, so it’s great news that he will have a younger brother or sister in August when the baby is due.

At home, we’re also kicking off a project to convert our garage into a multi-purpose room. Mainly it will be sitting room, but I’m also claiming a section of the room as a more practical place to do more sideline work. I don’t have what you would call a great area for working when I am at home, so it’s good to know that in the future there will be a better place for turning some ideas into reality.

My career is in a good place at the moment. I’m using my preferred tools and languages on a daily basis and I’m also gaining more experience in working in agile software development teams. It’s not long term though, no job ever is, but it’s good being in place where I am learning new things everyday.

So what’s different from today than the same day five years ago?

Well I’m more grounded in plans and expectations for the future. I know that I can’t do it all, but instead I’m focusing on things that are close to my heart and really interest me.

I’m also a bit more realistic about my strengths and weaknesses. I know I’ve got skills in programming and I enjoy writing. Okay my strength in writing might be me being biased, but I do enjoy it and that’s what counts. On the weakness side, I do find it difficult to maintain my focus on one thing. I’ve not seen my projects through from start to completion but I’m hoping to change that this year.

So what does the next five years hold?

Who knows. I certainly know that on the home front, I’m as content as a I’ll ever be. I can’t wait for the new addition to our family to arrive in August. Our son will be so pleased to have a younger brother or sister who could share in his love of golf!

On the career front though that’s a different thing. I’ve started work on a small micro-product that I am hoping to launch in the spring. It’s a helper for those who like keeping a plain text journal. The idea for the journalling product came after I wanted to continue writing everyday but on a smaller volume than doing my three pages of writing every day. Also I wanted a plain text archive that was in the easiest format to slice and dice as I needed. I’ve tried many note-taking applications in the past, but none offered the simplicity of plain text. More on that later though.

After that I have my eyes set on a second product that I hope will help people make with their decision making. These might never take off, who knows.

At least I know that I will have tried.

I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

I wish that I had let myself be happier.

— Five Regrets of the Dying With Tangents by Buster Benson

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could live your life with no regrets? I already have a couple of regrets at the moment on this list, but I’m still young enough to turn these around.

It’s no biggie for Buster, and it shouldn’t be for anyone else.

The multiverse, the universe, the world, history, everyone alive, your friends and family, you, your behavior, what you are doing right now. You can only change one of these things, and it’s not easy, and you’ll probably fail the first 38,000 times, but by eventually changing it you indirectly change all of the others. After figuring that out, the only remaining problem is figuring out what you want to change and why.

— No Biggie by Buster Benson

One of the best mentors I had in business - and one whom I regrettably spent the least amount of time with - gave me three lessons about business life:

• Make some money
• Have some fun
• Leave some tracks

— Leaving Tracks by Lazarus Dodge

I’ve heard the quote from Steve Jobs mentioned lots of times about putting a dent in the universe, but there’s something about the last bullet point in this list, that seems not as grand a task as Steve Jobs advice and therefore more achievable.

What is apparent is that Pirsig, focussed as he is on the peak, is overwhelmed by the climb, and continues to lose his desire and strength with every step. The monks, on the other hand, used the peak only as a guide to mark the direction of their climb; they were more focused on the journey and its enjoyment, and made it to the top with ease.

— You Are Not Running Out of Time by Rahul Bijlani

A fantastic essay by Rahul Bijlani on enjoying the journey towards your achievements. I tend to fix my focus too much on the end goal and never see what’s happening around as the journey trundles on.For me I need to stop moving the goalposts, enjoy the journey and realise that it’s never too late to start something new.Also thanks to Buster Benson for highlighting this on his blog.

Update: Some links in this post pointed to pages that no longer exist and have been removed.