Posts filed under 'General'
First, to all those who have inquired, yes, I am still alive, in the same way a hibernating bear is. That’s due to sheer exhaustion, to being stretched far too thin over the past six months or so. The new job, the new home, Conor (nearly three years old), Danny (nearly a year old), and a few lingering after-effects from previous contracts and jobs have been draining all my energy, and it’s only lately that I feel like I’m finally able to yawn and stretch, poke my nose out the door, and sniff the promise of Spring.
The new job up in the Northwest Territories is going very well, and I’m very happy to be part of a great team. Starting in any new workplace is often cause for trepidation, if not outright caution, but I’m pleased to find myself among some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. The weather here in Yellowknife may be cold at times (-40C, in fact), but the people up North are some of the warmest individuals I’ve ever met.
I’m not quite sure why I’m posting here today after such a long absence. (Yes, I have been around, in spirit if not in body, at DIYPlanner.com.) I think it’s because I’ve finally reached a turning point of sorts. My life, much like the land around me, is starting to thaw. And where there’s thawing, there’s life waiting to happen.
April 16th, 2007
I’m just packing up the final bits of my computer gear as I speak, but I just had to write this one last post.
Where I (currently) live, in Newfoundland, Canada, people have a lot to be thankful for. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world, with seemingly endless tracts of breathtaking rugged seascapes, adorned with icebergs and spinning seabirds and pods of whales, striking a connection with elemental nature that’s almost unparalled. There’s a longstanding cultural heritage ripe with music, art and storytelling, and a down-to-earth mentality that cherishes family, neighbours and even visitors. Here in Carbonear, the weather is warm (but not too warm) and the area is lush and verdant with giant beautiful maple trees nearly a century old. And while there’s a high unemployment rate, the people throughout the province are among the friendliest in the world, often inviting complete strangers into their homes to share a story and a cup of tea.
But there are also idiots. Yes, we have those too.
Last night, towards midnight, I was finishing up packing for the night when I heard a loud bang. I didn’t think too much of it, since the Canada Day fireworks had been sounding sporatically for the past couple of hours. But soon I heard the sirens and suspected there was a problem nearby. A half-hour later, I let the dog out and noticed police lights spinning on a house across the street. I shuffled into my sandals and went out to see what was happening.
There were three police cars, an ambulance driving away, and a crowd milling around a vehicle. A closer look revealed an older mid-sized car whose front end was completely demolished, a large nearby maple whose trunk bark was completely ripped off, and a young girl crying in the back seat of a police car.
It turns out that this girl, whose blood alcohol was several times the limit, and who had been driving without insurance or even a license, had hit our neighbour and crashed into a tree. She then tried to make a getaway, but the car didn’t make it more than a few feet. The neighbour was flung onto a nearby lawn and was suffering from two mangled legs, a badly damaged eye, and no doubt a series of other injuries. He was rushed to the Health Sciences Centre in the capitol of St. John’s. I knew him briefly from a school where I taught — he had just retired from teaching at the age of 52, and had bought a canoe for his holidays. She wound up with a nose bleed.
As I walked back to the house, I noticed the tire tracks. She had driven through a puddle on the opposite (left) side of the road, and swerved to the right, where she hit the neighbour and then the tree. There didn’t seem to be any skid marks.
I certainly feel for the neighbour, and I’m trying to feel for the girl. She’s young, and at that age we’re all a little stupid and obnoxious. (She’s the same one we often hear roaming drunkenly with a pair of teenage boys in the middle of the night, whooping and screaming and swearing as she passes by the house.) But I can’t help thinking she needed this to happen. It’s a lesson to be learned, and it’s rather ironic that a dedicated school teacher was nearly killed in the process.
Please, folks, if you’re going to drink for the holidays, remember to do the right thing and set a designated driver. It’s one thing to play games with your own life; it’s quite another to jeopoardise someone else’s.
July 2nd, 2006
Well, it’s time I shared the other big news of my life. After a year of hunting for a permanent, full-time position, I’ve been offered a position for a job I’m sure to love in Yellowknife.
For the geographically challenged folks out there, Yellowknife is the largest city (pop. 20K) in the North West Territories atop Canada –find Alberta on your map and let your eye drift northwards– and is rather close to the Arctic Circle. 
In fact, the picture at left was taken from my hotel room at about 1:00 or 1:30 am, and the midnight almost-sun shows the necessity of having thick curtains in the summertime. In the Winter months, there’s an equal amount of darkness. Summer temperatures range from 15-30C and the mercury in Winter can often drop to -30C. (People’s tires freeze to square shapes, I’m told.)
No doubt a few people are scratching their heads. Why, they ask, are you heading to a small, frigid place enshrouded by darkness half the year? Well, that’s a misperception, but I’ll deal with that in a minute.
The days of short-term contracts can be frustrating, especially when it comes to ensuring any sense of stability, and –with several mouths to feed– knowing where the next meal is coming from is always a worry. I used to love freelance work, but owing to a number of factors (mainly geography, overseas outsourcing, and those user-friendly technologies accessible to more amateurs), the contracts are becoming less frequent and less interesting. I want a job where I can grow, where I can learn, where I can exercise my media-related skills, and where I can become part of a team that really cares about what it’s doing. Jenny and I want a community that’s small enough to be close-knit, yet large enough to provide for our wants (including fresh produce like cilantro and mangos) — we want a place where we can feel comfortable settling down. And I’m a pretty rustic guy, so I like to commune frequently with the natural world, a faithful hound by my side.
I flew up to Yellowknife for a weekend (it took 23 hours to arrive from St. John’s, Newfoundland — a heck of a commute), and I got to know more about the organisation and the city. I can say that I was pleased at every turn. The company and its projects seem quite exciting, the opportunities for professional growth and learning are certainly there, and –hey– it’s mostly a Mac shop. Meanwhile, the people in the city (population about 20,000) are exceedingly friendly and culturally diverse, the shops seem to cater to every one of our necessities, and a wild and wonderful natural world of trees and lakes and animals is only minutes away. It’s also very warm, and the air is fresh and alive with all the greenery and flowers. Between the job and the location, it’s certainly the most exciting offer I’ve received, and there’s no hesitation in seizing it.
I’m in the throes of packing right now (Jenny just returned from hospital, so she won’t be in any condition to do much), and I’ll be heading north in the next few weeks to find a place and get things set up. Jenny, two-year-old Conor, and newborn Daniel will be joining me within a month or so. I must say, every indication points to a great future for the Johnston clan….
June 19th, 2006
Introducing my new son Daniel Karl Johnston, born late last night at 9 lbs 3 oz. Here he is, some five minutes old, with his proud mama and papa.
For those interested, I’ll post a photostream later with more pictures and details.
I also have some more big news to share, which I’ll post as soon as I get a breather. (I assure you, there are good reasons for my absences of late….)
June 15th, 2006
Since it’s now possible for newcomers to the blogging world to set up a Blogger or WordPress.com account in mere minutes without the slightest idea about what one is doing or why, it seems like 98% of the blogs on the Web boast but a half-dozen erratic posts before going dormant forever. Of those that are left, most offer only simple “my link for the day” posts, which of course are fine for friends or people of very similar interests, but not so much for the world at large.
Now that I’m in the process of starting a new blog (on Sherlock Holmes), I figured it was about time to write down and share a few of my wildly-scrawled ideas concerning how exactly I go about such a thing (or, how I occasionally help others in a consulting capacity to do the same).
Like most other things, I conceive of a blog as a project, to be given due consideration, planning and effort. As such, I brainstorm, write notes, prepare a vision, gather resources, construct initial timelines, experiment with form, evaluate delivery options, and so on, before I even think of doing that magic little incantation which causes the blog to appear. I’m not going to get into all of these here. What follows are rough notes, not a course. But first and foremost to keep in mind is the approach: a lacklustre preparation usually leads to a lacklustre site. On the other hand, all the preparatory time in the world won’t mean squat if you don’t have the discipline or wherewithal (or –*ahem*– ego) to keep it up.
A clear vision is the primary thing to keep in mind. Vision leads to purpose, purpose leads to motivation, motivation leads to regular posts, regular posts lead to regular readers. So what’s this thing of yours going to be? Is it going to be a site to explore or exploit a niche interest of yours? Is it going to help develop commercial opportunities? Is it a playground to learn new technologies or methods? Is it to provide feedback for a project or cause you’re involved with? Or is it an ego thing, where you’re going to post idle thoughts as you feel like it? If the latter, pay attention: remember the 98% of dormant blogs? Almost all of them fall into this category. Repeat after me: “I want this blog to ….” Fill in the blank. If you don’t have a coherent point or two, then you lack a vision with focus.
Now, a lack of focus doesn’t necessarily mean that the blog won’t be a success, but it sure makes it a lot more difficult to maintain. For example, this blog doesn’t have a strong focus. That explains the erratic posting, the subject matter covering no particular ground, and the wide variations on quality. However, this blog does have a purpose: it’s an outlet for me to practise my writing skills, especially on those topics that don’t fit into my other, more specialised sites. Practice is necessary for a writer, of course, and it helps to have actual readers as motivation. Don’t believe me? — try joining a writing club where you have to produce materials to read aloud each week, and enjoy a newfound discipline. (Private material is obviously kept offline, since I figure no one needs to know about my Sturm und Drang, or my sex life either, for that matter.)
For the new Holmes blog, I have a vision with two primary purposes: to learn more about my subject matter by exploring a new facet each day; and to help others explore the character of Sherlock Holmes not only as a cultural phenomenon, but as something far beyond the stereotypical cartoonish figure with deerstalker and magnifying glass. Secondary purposes: to indulge in a relaxing pastime each day; to provide a hub or lens to focus on all the rich sites scattered throughout the web; to introduce the joys of old time radio shows to the iPod generation; and –last but not least– to provide a little fresh Sherlock to fans every day.
Ultimately, a blog faces two great dangers: boredom and degree of effort. Boredom is almost always inevitable, at some point. Having a purpose can get you past these dry spells and recharge your batteries when necessary. At times, the topic of productivity can get quite stale for me; having a clear purpose for DIYPlanner.com means that I know my goals and can work towards reaching them, which means writing with an end in mind. Then there are some people who love their subject matter so much, and have so much free time, that they may write copious amounts of text each and every day. It’s a very rare individual that possesses this degree of commitment and time — I’m afraid that isn’t me. Ask yourself why you’re starting a blog. Do you have a good answer? If so, you can overcome these obstacles, as long as you possess enough discipline, passion or ego.
Vision also leads to the type, frequency and angle of the posts. Who are you writing for, how often, and what sort of material will you be providing? For this blog, my material is almost always original, and therefore tends to be rather irregular: things are posted as they’re done. For DIYPlanner.com, each volunteer writer has a slated day for posting an original article, usually concerned with a particular subject matter (although personal and professional issues sometimes mean that the posts may be postponed). Deadlines can work, as long as one is strict about them. For the Holmes blog, I’m intending a daily post each weekday. Some of these will be original writings, some will be graphics or advertisements, some will be radio shows, and some will feature links with quotes from other sites. This variation is important to me — it means that I don’t feel the pressure of having to write entirely new text each day, and yet I can still keep to a daily schedule of providing interesting material. If you wander into a blog with no idea of your target audience, frequency, or type of posts, statistics dictate that the blog may not last long.
Since we’re on the topic of readers, figure out what part these people play in your blog. I’ve always believed in the idea of fostering feedback and community, so I prefer to hear from readers as much as possible. Other bloggers don’t allow comments to be left on their blogs; this strikes me as a old-style schoolteacher who lectures at the podium without interacting with a class, or a politician who refuses to field calls from constituents except at election time. How do you know what people want, unless you allow them a voice? Allow them to be publicly heard, and you show them a greater respect, not to mention a willingness to involve yourself in honest discourse. This has the added effect of building loyalty, as well as traffic between your site and others.
Another thing I keep in mind while planning: alternate ways of providing material, besides your own posts. These commonly tend to fall under certain categories (although others do exist):
- Other posters, either regular or as guests
- Constantly changing links, with comments (such as a del.icio.us roll or two)
- Syndicated material from other sites (lists of recent posts, pointing to the articles and updated automatically)
- Shoutboxes and comment feeds, where people can leave messages on your site that appear as a scroll or feed of some type (great for sites fostering heavy discussion)
- Information fed from other sites that you may have contributed to, such as a series of thumbnails from your recent Flickr posts
My blogs already have several of these, and my Holmes site is no exception. For example, I often come across interesting pages about Holmes or Conan Doyle at other sites. I can simple post it to del.icio.us with a “sherlock” tag, and have all those links appear automatically in a box on the new blog. News, I tag with “shscandal”, and it will show up in my Scandal Sheet section. There’s something to be said for automating as much of your content as possible. On the other hand, some people take it to the extreme: their blogs are no more than simple portals, taking others’ information and posts, and simply displaying it within their own pages. From time to time, I actually find my AMMT or DIYPlanner posts copied in full on other sites, sometimes without even an acknowledgement of my name or site! Needless to say, this is a way to upset others. Don’t do it.
If you have a somewhat personal blog and only foresee low traffic numbers, then the idea of financial support probably doesn’t strike you as important. But even fledgeling blogs stand a change at covering basic hosting charges through Google ads and an Amazon Associates account, both of which are very easy to set up. The former means pasting a little chunk of code into your blog for an ad to appear, and the latter means constructing links that, if followed, snatch you a small percentage for each book sold. If your traffic picks up due to your growing technical and/or marketing know-how, your amazing content, or perhaps even a random fortuitous link, it means you have a shot at getting dedicated advertisers or special types of ads, such as in RSS feeds, which can bring in even more pocket change.
Be aware, though, that blogging is a hard thing to do for a living. Many have tried, carefully plotting their business model and putting in endless hours of content creation, and have ultimately failed. All is not lost: there’s always publicity, financial opportunities (chiefly job offers and freelance contracts), networking, a reputation as an expert, and other outcomes to keep in mind. Many people have turned hobbies into occupations or legitimate businesses; a blog is no different. Just don’t toss out a few words here and there and expect the world to come knocking at your door with fistfuls of cash. The dot-com era is over, and it’s unlikely that VCs are going to want to pay for you to post stories about Fluffy and his big honkin’ furballs, complete with a flashing Purina advert.
Getting the word out is not easy, either, unless you’re “tapped in” to a number of blogs or discussion sites where people will probably want to read your material. In my case, AMMT and the D*I*Y Planner got a good start when I mentioned my (then rather primitive) little templates on some productivity sites and mailing lists I frequented (read: was obsessed with). This, I believe, is a good example of what to do: if you have a particular subject matter in mind, announce it in those places where people with a similar interest can be found. It sounds logical, and it is. But try not to appear out of the blue and start promoting yourself. Hang out, discuss, leave your URL in your signature, say profound things, and people will learn to respect you and actually want to hear your thoughts. Being a lurker counts against you in such cases, as it will when you start posting. People want to read the opinions of someone with something to say.
Of course, one can get an immediate traffic boost by writing something sensational that caters to the audiences of a major site like SlashDot or bOINGbOING, then submitting the link. But you’ll be one among hundreds, if not thousands, that submit their wares that day, so don’t count on being picked up. And even if you are, once the hordes come (and possibly bring your server and spam filters to their knees), they had better find other materials on your site that they want to read, or else you’ll not be bookmarked, or have your feed taken, and in a few days you’ll be sitting in your big ole’ empty room again, like the aftermath of the proverbial party that wrecked your house and went off to other, more popular hosts with better booze.
And lastly, stay away from “link exchange sites”, as these rarely work. Why? Because the only people who exchange links with them are newbies with oft-lacklustre content, and whom few people read. In the mathematical voodoo of search engines, this generally racks up very few points, and you’ll definitely loose those points with net-savvy people who visit your site, only to find scores of random links to furball Fluffy and obsoleted blogs with smatterings of “I found this cool link today: link”. Yup, these are like the unpopular kids in the schoolyard that try anything to become accepted. Rise above that, become an individual, and speak your mind. That’s why people will listen to you, and visit again and again. Once they find you in the first place, of course. (And that’s the hard part.)
Well, that concludes my few pages of wild and woolly notes. Hopes this helps someone out there….
March 29th, 2006
Big Things:
- As-yet-unnamed Baby #2, seemingly hot on the heels of his or her older brother Conor
- Spending more time with family, and especially happy little Conor and my significantly better half
- A full-time, as-permanent-as-possible job that makes full use of my skills and allows me to grow, as opposed to short-term contract work (and if you have any leads for me… ;-) )
- Restoring relationships with good friends who are too often lost in the endless shuffling of time and place
- D*I*Y Planner v3, due out in about a month (whew)
- A return to my more creative endeavours, including writing, art, photography and videography
- Becoming more involved in local community groups where I can interface with real humans face-to-face
Small Things:
- Finishing an online gallery for my wife
- Finally teaching my mother how to use a computer (she wants to use it to find a man… *sigh*)
- Dabbling once more in woodworking, or leatherworking, or bookbinding, or something else that makes use of my hands (and that preferably doesn’t involve a computer)
- Hopping in the Jeep, exploring remote places, and hiking through rough terrain with my faithful hound and a camera
- Making (and savouring) real sushi again
- Delving more into information management software like Tinderbox and DEVONthink/DEVONagent
- More video shooting and editing, and perhaps producing a reel or two
- The new season of Battlestar Galactica — the only hour per week I actually want to spend in front of a TV
January 2nd, 2006
You might have noticed a few fresh changes to a million monkeys typing. It all comes as a result of upgrading to WordPress 2.0. For a while now, I’ve been hesitant to install the latest patches and upgrades to WP 1.5.x (yes, I know, I’ve been a naughty boy), since my theme was so heavily customised — it was an all-in-one file I originally made for WP 1.0, and quite a mess after being hauled reluctantly through several versions. This weekend, I decided to strap on the bungee cord, close my eyes, and jump. The actual database work and installation was seamless and smooth, but I didn’t see much point in pushing an antiquated theme that couldn’t take advantage of all the latest generation of WP goodness. Thus, with great trepidation, I grabbed a pre-existing theme with a superficial resemblance to the layout of AMMT –Blix by Sebastian Schmieg– and started creating my style sheets again from scratch.
Might I reveal here that my CSS2 is a tad rusty? Or at least it was, until yesterday morning when I started diving into the plumbing of the styles. Slowly, it all started coming back to me, even all the “standard” codes that break Internet Explorer (which are, as any CSS guru knows, quite numerous). Not everything here is perfect yet, and you’ll no doubt see quite a few things break intermittently in the next couple of days.
Seeing it’s a new year, and a new start in so many ways, I’m going to clear out some of the clutter here, streamline some of the formatting, create a few new features, and generally get back to blogging regularly. Although we’re still not unpacked from our big move, I think it’s a good idea to get back to regular online life again, and despite the success of my other site DIYPlanner.com, I still consider AMMT to be my homestead of sorts. (DIYPlanner was designed to be more of a community than a place for one individual’s voice.)
As for WP2, I am enjoying it quite a bit, but am still undecided about the WYSIWYG editor for posts. Although it’s mostly well done, I find it a little slow on this G3 PowerBook, and keep tripping across paragraph breaking issues. Besides, I speak HTML like a native language, so using the non-WYSIWYG editor is not an impediment of any kind. That being said, all the other changes –such as the streamlined posting interface, the “inline” images and files, the end of .htaccess hassles, and the easier management of content– are priceless, and worth the upgrade. Plus, the whole thing feels much speedier, which is no doubt a result of the interface changes and the new caching mechanism. It’s normally a good idea to wait for the first bug fix release of software, but thus far I have no regrets in jumping headfirst into this upgrade.
I’ll follow this post up in a few days with some more thoughts about using the new WP2, as well as some of the plugins I’ve decided to set up.
January 1st, 2006
My apologies if you noticed the previous post changing several times. I’m experimenting with Flock’s blogging tool, and while it does have some incredibly useful tools, it appears that “Save as Draft” set the article to publish instead. Odd. It didn’t do that before. This is why it’s an early release, I suppose.
Update : Hmm. This published too, even when it was set as a draft. Methinks I had better go back to the old-fashioned way of doing things. I generally like to juggle a dozen or so drafts at a time, half of which are never published, so this isn’t really conducive to the way I work.
Update 2 : Ah, it’s fixed in the latest hourly build of Flock.
November 10th, 2005
Well, the new site DIYPlanner.com has launched, and this blog now seems to be inexplicably small and lonely. In a way, it reminds me of cleaning up after a party, and I’m vacuuming the ashes, wiping up the beer stains, and wondering what noxious substances found their way into the potted plants. Being left by myself, under normal circumstances, would normally be cause for rejoicing and watching a little TV in my underwear, but after a bash one always feels more alone than ever.
Of course, this could be just the mental equivalent of a hangover.
A few people have asked me why I actually took the time and effort to create that full-fledged community site when I had originally envisioned a simple wiki. The truth is, after a lot of thought, I realised that a wiki wouldn’t have been the best format. Organising such a creature to stay fresh and intuitive is quite a lot of ongoing (and potentially boring) work, especially if it all falls back on one or two people. And I get lost in wikis, I admit it. Even on the 43 Folders Wiki, I often forget where things are located, and my incessant brow-furrowing leads to forehead cramps when I try to retrace my path to something I glimpsed earlier. This is not to say I don’t think wikis are the greatest thing since Cheez Whiz. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised I wanted to achive something different.
First, there needed to be a constant feed of new “stuff,” essentially a recharged page each and every day, a stream of new material that might carry a ship to a thousand ports –not just the same old links regurgitated from 43 Folders, LifeHack.org, Slacker Manager or one of the other excellent dedicated sites. I realised that producing this original material was not something I had to do alone… there are a lot of talented folks out there swimming in the Sargasso who deserve to call out and be heard, and whose perspective is entirely unlike my own. Why not work with some of these people?
It also had to be about more than just productivity (which, honestly, can get boring at times), and so I devised to place an emphasis on the more creative approaches to planning, living and recording one’s life. While the focus would be placed upon using paper, its usage is not a foregone conclusion, and there should be plenty of ways to apply many of the same ideas to digital tools and methods. (However, that is a post for another time, another place.)
In the end, the new site was a heck of a lot of work, and a lot of coordination with other writers, programmers, template designers and friends. It finally all came together in one three-day sleep-deprived bug-stomping juggernaut launch with tonnes of content (well over a hundred pages, I seem to recall) to greet people wandering in through the door on the very first day. We got some good linkage, a constant stream of visitors and registered users, and quite a number of people volunteering contributions for the future. Which, by my reckoning, is the sign of a successful party.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to hoist my feet, relax a little, and watch a little bit of my Belgian friend Poirot and his (tap forehead) leeetle grey zells. My pants, however, will remain on, since I shudder to think of what might appear in the Google ad if I removed them.
September 9th, 2005
Note: This is probably the one and only cross-posting I’ll ever do with a million monkeys typing and DIYPlanner.com. It might help to clear up a little bit of confusion as to the focus of the new site, which is due to launch on Saturday morning.
About two months ago, I was sitting in a Tim Horton’s (as many Canadians are wont to do), sipping on an extra-large double-double and pouring through my Day Runner. I was processing my Inbox, correlating my notes, jotting down ideas for this site, making little sketches for layout, and generally chilling out to the rhythm of the air conditioner above my head mingled with some half-remembered tune. Three tables away, a 20-something was tapping away at his Sony Vaio, and every now and then, he would stop and stare ruefully at the laptop’s screen, as if he were pondering where next to nudge the direction of world affairs. During one of these pauses, he stopped and looked in my direction. The sight of my old-fashioned planner seemed to evoke something akin to haughtiness in his cocked eyebrow, and he resumed his imperial air whilst he turned yet again to the grave matter before him.
One hour, another coffee, and a cranberry muffin later, I had a plan for this site. I now knew what I wanted it to be, I knew how I was going to approach it, I knew what sort of team I wanted, and I even had rough sketches for its design. My mind was still reeling with all manner of ideas, many coming so fast I couldn’t write them all down fast enough. The accomplishment spread through me like a warm glow, much like the day when you finally conquer your greatest fear and nothing seems impossible. I jotted down some last-minute ideas, tucked away my pen and pencil, zipped up the planner, and got up to leave.
As I walked past the Vaio user, I couldn’t help but to take a quick look over the lad’s shoulder at the screen, wondering what manner of work could so engage a person. Well, he was directing a civilisation or two, it seems. The game was Age of Empires II, if I don’t miss my guess.
Now, I’m not belittling the need to relax by playing games; I can jump into a good strategy game with the best of them. Nor do I have anything against using computers; I am not a Luddite, and I have been an IT professional for approximately half my life. But it was the look. It was the type of condescending stare that transmits a million base thoughts: he’s afraid of technology; he’s using the same antiquated things my grandfather used; he’s living in the dark ages, never to be brought into modern times.
Okay, perhaps I’m paranoid.
But the look figured into the creation of this site, you see. It helped me see that the use of paper was fast becoming a lost art.
Now, I hear you say: “But billions of people all over the world are still using paper… how can you claim it’s a lost art?”
I became “all-digital” in the late 80’s. From there on in, I attempted to use the computer for everything, including writing, time management, graphic design, communications, photography and teaching. There was nothing I did that didn’t have a digital component, it seems. Nowadays, I look around to see that my friends and family have finally been swept into this modern paradigm. Outlook is often the productivity tool of choice, and nothing is sent from one place to another unless it’s a steady stream of bits and bytes. Even to a casual observer, the implications are obvious: computerisation brings civilisation into its fold, and the more the world adopts PCs, cell phones and PDAs, the more it blots out all traditional and organic means of living and working. The use of paper is slowly being replaced by digital media, and –at first glance– it appears that those people still finding paper useful are adopting a dying art.
Or so it would seem. And so the look in the coffee shop told me. It was then I decided to expand the range of the new site. I had originally been thinking of it simply as a place to offer D*I*Y Planner kits and advice, to leave my poor little blog with something else to discuss, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that there seems to be a renaissance in the air. People are suddenly awakening to the fact that we can be just as productive with paper, if not more so. It also brings a sort of intimacy back to living, where we can hold a tangible pen, see the spread of ink, feel the texture of real paper, be linked to an art and method that go back millennia. We know the inked quill of John Dunne, the charcoal of Da Vinci, the sumi brushwork of the Japanese, and the fragile gall-iron and ochre marks upon ancient parchment. There is tradition, there is heritage at work. Yea, verily, even unto checking a Next Actions box!
That’s the rub, I thought: bring back that fading connection with paper. The site should take into account much more than just time management, although that is still important: we need to live our lives as effectively as possible in a fast-paced world. But there is no reason why we can’t think of keeping journals again, to note the quirks and happenstance of our days. Why can’t we track our dreams, collect photos and fallen leaves, expand our ideas in multi-faceted webs, create art or just doodle, flesh out our little creations with something that actually feels like life and living?
This isn’t for everyone, of course, and for those people looking for useful templates to organise their month, yes, you will continue to find such things here. But to the many of us who are looking to unleash the more creative and intimate aspects of ourselves, there is room here too. And to those who love creating forms and sharing wisdom and questions, there is a place, and also for those who come in a state of confusion to seek a dash of inspiration mixed with a draught of practical advice. The voices are many, the quality of the many volunteer writers superb, the viewpoints diverse. This is a community site, one that is built to focus upon once more regaining a lost art.
This is a long way of saying, “Welcome to DIYPlanner.com.” But now you know why we’re here.
August 30th, 2005
Well, I’m pleased to say that Drupal is living up to my expectations so far for creating a community site. It’s a difficult learning curve, but lightbulbs are going on daily. Coming up with the taxonomy (in layman’s terms, the categorisation) is probably the most challenging bit, since Drupal’s inherent power in this area tends to push administrators to do a lot more initial legwork than most other systems. My ultimate goal is to make DIYPlanner.com as simple as possible for end-users –you shouldn’t have to be a techie to use and like the system.
A few updates:
- There are now four writers/editors involved in the project (and counting), all of whom I respect very highly, and who bring completely different things to the table and possess quite varied writing styles. I’ll announce them all at a later date.
- There will be a daily blog, complete with feeds, so you can tune in daily for your paper productivity fix. (There will also be feeds for the forums, so you can follow along without manually jumping into each one.)
- The Handbooks for the various D*I*Y Planner kits are being merged into one online handbook that can be easily kept up-to-date. Comments will be allowed for registered users, so you can make suggestions on the content.
- You can access all content and leave comments anonymously, but registered users can chat in the discussion forums, submit various items, send private messages, and see other perks.
- Not only will there be the official D*I*Y Planner kits and add-ons, but hopefully there will be a number of other community-submitted templates, as well as links to external sites.
- Also planned are sections that help newbies create their own templates, along with examples, sample forms and instructions.
- There’s a nice little image gallery where you can download and share images for use on your planner covers. (A la the OOo template that comes with the classic Planner 2.0 kit.)
- I’m shooting for a nice organic, comfortable look, far removed from the noisy techno stylings of many other community sites. It will be a constant evolution, I suspect, but we want something welcoming to begin with.
- The info on the site will be rather sparse at first, but I suspect it will increase very rapidly. There’s a lot of dedicated and/or creative people out there with a lot to share.
- I’m currently soliciting guest posts to cover many topics and perspectives. In particular, at the moment I’m looking for people who have used the D*I*Y Planner kits or other paper solutions to successfully cope with the difficulties of ADD and other similar issues. If this is you, please drop me an email (my address is at bottom right): I’d love to hear from you. If you have doubt in your writing skills, no matter: we can edit and help you along the way.
- I’m also looking for a contributor who is long-time journal keeper, and can offer advice on things like journalling, diaries, dream logs, scrapbooking and other personal “life-logging”.
- If you’re knowledgable about paper-planning issues or templates, and you’d like to write a post or two, please drop me a line. Similarly, if you have a template you’d like to share with other users, we’d be happy to give you a place to host it (or a link to your site).
Stay tuned….
August 15th, 2005
I haven’t been able to receive any email via my Gmail account since roughly 11:30 AM Eastern time on Friday. I’ve filled out the technical report and submitted it, only to find the lovely message stating that they may not get back to me.
In the meantime, please accept my apologies for any inconvenience my non-responsiveness may have caused. I’ve set up a new address (mainly for D*I*Y Planner correspondence), which you can find at the bottom of the menu at right. Please feel free to use that one to get in touch with me.
(As you may have guessed by now, the new D*I*Y Planner domain will be www.diyplanner.com. Don’t bother going there yet, as there’s nothing to see at the moment. I’ll let you know when there is.)
Update : After three long days, email is starting to trickle in again. I suspect that there is a lot of email that I haven’t received, so please, if you have sent anything that requires my attention, send it along again. Again, sorry for the inconvenience….
August 13th, 2005
I’ve spent the past few days away from computers. While normally such a lapse in my lifestyle would leave me quaking like a twinkie junkie facing sugar withdrawal, I was more than occupied by all the family gatherings, ceremony and stress surrounding the baptism of my 13-month-old son, Conor. Somewhere in the course of events, I also came to a decision: I need to create an identity for “my other baby” too, one that will allow it to grow more freely.
The D*I*Y Planner, when I first released it, was fairly small, rather amateurish, and had no discernible future. It was simply a small pile of forms I believed I might never use again, and so I was releasing it into the wilderness to find its own way. I never would have believed that it and the subsequent –and hopefully more professional– packages would be downloaded well over 300,000 times (about 400,000, if you count the various loose forms and diagrams intended as add-ons), and that the blog would jump from two readers daily to a number that I still find intimidating. Like the proverbial tiger kitten raised in a New York apartment, it’s a beast that has now outgrown its master.
Let me explain….
Each week, I get over a hundred comments or emails about the ‘Planner and the various kits. Many are notes of thanks (which are very much appreciated, and keep me forging onwards), a few are questions that have probably been answered in the packages’ FAQs, some are general productivity-related questions, a half-dozen are clearly intended as flames or provocation (often of the “paper is for luzers” variety), a handful are wonderful suggestions (of which I cannot do without), and at least four or five include templates created by people who are eager for my feedback. While I try to answer all these emails, I’m also trying to find time to work on the version 3.0, Creativity and Education packages, juggle family commitments, and seek a permanent and stable job (not very easy in my neck of the woods). Now, this isn’t a complaint by any stretch of the imagination: I love the D*I*Y Planner work I’ve been doing, I enjoy hearing from so many imaginative and devoted users of the kits, and I see only a bright future for the project. The question I’ve been mulling these past few days, though, is this: “What’s next?”
In a way, I feel like I’ve been hoarding this project to myself for far too long. Not only has this turned a million monkeys typing into an almost obsessive productivity blog (which is far from my original intention), but it seems as though I’ve been suppressing the voices of people who should be free to share their wonderful thoughts, suggestions and templates, but yet have no real –and public– outlet to do so. I’m only one man (backed by a large, albeit fictitious, troup of monkeys) and my perspective and time are thus quite limited, but there’s an opportunity for a community, however small, to grow. And so it is with some degree of trepidation that I’m preparing to cut loose my creation once more.
Here is the current plan:
- A new domain has been registered for D*I*Y Planner, productivity and paper-based planning issues. This will launch soon, depending upon how fast I can get up to speed on the CMS, Drupal (thanks, Eric!). The site is not intended to compete with the hundreds of other productivity sites out there: its focus will be on using mainly paper, while many other sites delve heavily into the digital domain. This will result in a niche audience, to be sure, but one that seems to be frequently overlooked.
- Said domain will be the permanent home of the D*I*Y Planner kits, release notes, handbooks, and so forth. No more redirecting to blog links or specific dates — this should cut down on some confusion and permit bookmarks that don’t change.
- a million monkeys typing will once more become my “own personal blog,” dealing with creative matters, educational issues, and other random musings of a primate — I hope it doesn’t get too lonely around here.
Many of the better productivity-related posts of the past will find their way into the new domain.
- Although I’ll continue to write posts fairly frequently on the new site, I’ll also be asking people to write short articles and submit templates for inclusion. There are a lot of creative people out there brimming with great advice, and a few have even designed some really amazing templates that supplement or even replace my own. (Yes, the creation and release of a template DIY kit is still on my to-do list for the near future.)
- The new site will also contain forums covering such matters as template design, printing issues, ideal setups, “crossing the paper/digital divide”, productivity advice surrounding paper-based GTD/Covey/other methods, and so on. A wiki is also on the drawing board. Everything is feed-ready so you can easily follow along in your BlogLines, feed readers or new-fangled browsers, if you’re into that sort of thing.
- The development of D*I*Y Planner packages will continue as normal, and will always be free for download and individual use. (The speed of said development will depend upon what I’m currently doing for a living.)
Will this work? I don’t know, exactly, but I’m willing to give it a shot. If I can direct even a quarter of the ideas and enthusiam that reaches me privately into the more public forum, it’ll be an exciting ride.
In the meantime, if you’d like to share your templates or a proposal for an article, don’t be shy: please get in touch with me (my email address is at the bottom of the menu at right). There’s no money involved, just fame, glory, a link to your site, and the warm glow you get from helping others. Oh, and the undying adoration of thousands of paper-based-planning groupies….
August 10th, 2005
You may have received spam from “me”, but I assure you that my name is not Julie, nor am I a hot redhead nicknamed Bondatrix, nor do I want to sell you potency drugs, nor do I enjoy the intimate company of animals. And I’m the last person you’d ever want to remortage your home with.
*sigh*
July 29th, 2005
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