Chris The three of us enjoyed our local YMCA membership and I just cancelled it. As much as we enjoyed the idea of membership, we haven’t made time to use it.
My intention is to go back to the basics of fitness. I can do push-ups, sit-ups, make use of the dirt trails and maybe even…yoga.
Little DVD had a piece of her toy snap off and asked me to repair it recently. Once the part was snapped back into place she exclaimed that I was “just like Tinkerbell!” I assume she meant that I could fix things as well as that little fairy. But that got me thinking that I do tinker and tweak because I do perform a lot of maintenance on my machines. Sometimes too much.
When a new release of the Ubuntu operating system or when an Windows “upgrade”is released I do quite a bit of tinkering. Sure I could just upgrade and overwrite the obsolete files and programs but I always perform a clean install so I can determine what software is more productive and lean. I want a fast, responsive laptop.
Now is the perfect time to assess what software I want, need or to get rid of. Do I really need two image processing software or can I increase my knowledge of the best one and use it exclusively? Can I uninstall the pre-loaded media player for the one of my choice?
The same approach goes with my digital files. If I haven’t touched them in six months, then they are uploaded to my offsite server, zipped up and archived on an external hard drive. It would be even better if I can just go ahead and delete the ones I don’t need at all.
Media files make up a majority of my hard drive space…for now. My music can be purchased online and sync wirelessly to my devices. I need to take advantage of this and regain my 3GB of hard drive space. Photos are a big part of what I do and enjoy so there will always be the personal and client images there. After all this time I still do not have a workflow in place. Inexcusable.
Website content, social media, RSS feeds, bookmarks all go into one folder and distributed as needed.
Maintaining your computer’s health goes a long way to ensure you will have it a long time. There are plenty of utilities and diagnostics to run on a weekly basis.
As your digital needs evolve so will your workflow and maintenance. If you are like me and enjoy the tinkering and tweaking I think you will appreciate the benefits of a finely tuned and organized machine.
Yawning is typically linked to tiredness, but a group of researchers from Princeton and the University of Arizona have found it may simply be a means to regulate brain temperature.
My brain must overheat a lot.
In another effort to de-complicate and simplify my digital world, I reworked my dual-boot Hybrid laptop. I deleted the Windows partition and added that hard disk space towards the Linux Ubuntu side. Hybrid PC no longer. Ubuntu has won over Windows because of it’s simplicty and efficiency.
The two biggest reasons that held me back for so long was my use of Photoshop, Lightroom and Microsoft Office. The open source alternatives such as GIMP (Photoshop), Dark Table (Lightroom) and LibreOffice (guess) were just as capable as their overpriced counterparts. Thanks to the cloud I can use MS Office online if needed or Picasa Web (soon to be Google Photos) to lightly edit a few images. My Android phone is Linux based so I can sync to it wirelessly or tether to it when I am away and am in need of an internet connection.
It will take me a while to discover the flow of how to import, work, export and organize but it can be done. I like to tweak.
There is an immediate, discernable difference between Windows and Linux on this machine. It is quieter, more responsive and not as hot as it was running just Windows. I’d say it was an upgrade even.
Following the recent changes and hype regarding Facebook, I’ve decided to delete my account.
I’ve focused a lot of my energy back into this website and Google Plus.
Ever feel like taking the pages out of your notebook and ripping them out to start over?
Yeah, me too. Since you are reading this you are involved in the process as well.
The Facebook accounts are “scheduled” for deletion, the GReader inbox has been thinned out.
People on Twitter that I am following has been reduced.
The website is being streamlined into something more manageable and readable.
Possessions that might have been useful or meaningful are neither and are being sold or given away.
The ideas I want to post here should be relevant, not random. They also need to be mine, not someone else’s idea. My media content should be posted here, not theirs. I can save that for Twitter or Google Plus.
I suppose I just want this website to be a reflection of me and you are seeing these ideas and changes evolve as I am evolving.
The first, overreactive response I had to this feeling was to export the content, archive it and restore the database with a fresh install.
I’ve done this many times with a computer’s hard drive, why not this website? Heck, I may still do it.
I want to be intentional, focused and fresh. I need a blank page to start this whole thing over.
So I participated in the Beach Palooza 5k and adventure race on Galveston Island this weekend. Ouch. Every time I think I am fit enough, these events remind me of how much more work I need to do. The sadists who planned the course wouldn’t allow us to run the packed sand on the beach. That’d be too easy. Instead, we ran the coarse sand. This slowed everyone down a touch.
Official time was 37 minutes and I placed 30th in my age group. I averaged 11 minutes per mile. With the obstacles and the slow pokes on them, plus the sand, I’m pleased with the results. More importantly, I ENJOY these things.
I took some time last night to make the website’s design more responsive and streamlined. There may be a few glitches and interface changes.
I am in the process of minimizing everything. A great purge is happening. The “for sale” and the “toss” piles are getting larger.
I’m doing it again. As the website’s current byline claims: “Never satisfied”, I am reorganizing and streamlining.
Project 1: Adding Daphne’s images to her web gallery which is tied into this website http://chrisdenbow.website/dvd
Project 2: Migrating all of my images off of both Flickr accounts (6 years worth). My Flickr Pro account will expire this month and I am not anxious to renew it after all these years. Lack of innovation and customer support has me looking to my own server. I tried SmugMug but can’t get into it.
Project 3: Uploading a majority of these to a photo gallery attached to my personal photography site
This website was created about the same time MySpace was coming online back in 2000 and I’ve always said this is my main outlet. Sure, I’ve been lured by social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and now Google+, but always managed to find my way back here.
This website is the only place where I own the content. My thoughts, my images, the followers and even the privacy controls.
Yes, my first challenge was to abstain from social media and RSS feed reading for 30 days but it is just not possible at this time. I am postponing this challenge and taking up a new one. Here’s why:
I am actively looking for a career back into the I.T. industry and using today’s tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus and more will help accomplish this. I need to nurture and grow my network, my followers and my circles. In addition to this, I have created a career page for myself.
It is amazing how much information has been accumulated during this time. I have almost 3800 unread articles in the feed box. My Twitter followers has increased without effort. I am being included in quite a bit of circles inside G+ with no follow-up on my part to do the same.
I’ve read new books, cleaned more, watched more Doctor Who, and learned more about MySQL and PhP (see the career page) during this self-imposed hiatus and am grateful.
My next 30 day challenge? Get that position in information technology of course! If I have to interrupt this and make it 15 days as well, I’ll let you know.
