Sanity is a good backup

As I write this, I am being saved - or at least my data is. My HP laptop which has been little more than three years of extended and expensive malfunction, has finally died. Good riddance is all I can say. Problem is it took my business data with it. Darn.

I do, of course, have backups - on an external drive. But, they are a few weeks old now. You know how it is; busy, always in a rush, forget to kick off the backup. So the latest invoices, the last half day accounting marathon, isn't there. Again, darn. Fortunately, I do have another backup, a Carbonite backup.

I started using Carbonite two years ago as my 'off site' backup solution. It costs me about NZ$70 a year but I figured it was worth it. Carbonite sits there in the background, copying everything in selected folders to the Carbonite servers without any intervention on my part. Fortunately, I haven't needed an off site backup yet, but Carbonite just proved it was a more meticulous on-site backup solution than my own local setup.

There it's just finished restoring my files now and, again, yes; absolutely every last item is there, all safe and sound. Thanks Carbonite. You might want to check them out, that's www.carbonite.com.

Doodling - a fresh perspective

An amusing and informative TED talk by Sunni Brown on the practice and purpose of doodling. Take six minutes; it's worth it.

Do (almost) everything on line

There are, it seems, a few things that still cannot be done on line ...

No stupid questions

I've always enjoyed Scott Adams' 'Dilbert' cartoons. So, I was quite happy to find an Android application called "Fast Dilbert Reader" for my phone. FDR gives you access to all 22 years of Dilbert cartoons and, I am afraid, that my addiction is such that I started to read from somewhere back in 1989.

When teaching adults, I often used to tell them that there was no such thing as a 'stupid question' and that they should ask if there was anything they didn't understand. This Dilbert from November 1989 made me smile:

A new home

... shakes head and looks around ...

This must be a new site. Clean isn't it? Won't be for long though, I seem to have the knack of making places look 'lived in' really quickly.

Oh yes, before I forget, I'm 'Fordy'; a somewhat introverted idealist who most people think should have grown up by now. But, after sixty odd years of trying (to grow up), I've decided to stop trying, kick back, and enjoy being 'me'. Truth seems to be that 'me' is just a big kid that enjoys playing, having new toys, and doing things just because he feel like it. I'm not going to let that guilt me any more (nor the fact that I just abused the English language). If that scares you then let me add that I am known for being mostly quite harmless and have even been described as a 'big teddy bear' (probably one with no arms and an eye hanging out).

Anyway, that be as it may, I'm slowly detaching from my previous professional life (in management and technology) and spending more time doing things that give me pleasure (if not money). That means writing, photography and art in general. Consider this site to be a sort of bred-crumb trail of the journey from a manager's desk to a ... well, actually, I don't know where to yet, and maybe that's the attraction; breaking with the tediously familiar to explore strange new worlds and to go where no ... [old geek alert - danger, danger!]

String along if you want, there might be a few laughs to be had (probably at my expense). Anyway, this is just the start so, let's see where it leads...