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I have neglected my blog for a few weeks, not because I wanted to, more because I was stacked with a project which took up far too much my free time.

I have always believed in doing whatever is needed in order to get job done. That collective team togetherness, working under pressure, can create amazing results. Perhaps for a few days it is ok, but when the past 5 weeks of your life have been systematically taken over by something else it becomes far too much, even for me!

I am a perfectionist, I am creative, and I personally feel responsible for the work I do. My parents drilled into me that level of responsibility and so I generally will do what it takes to get the job done. Sadly 100 hour working weeks are way over-rated and as that was the culmination of 5 weeks of intensive work I can honestly say now, was it worth it? The job got done, by all accounts it was considered reasonably successful. I got to work with some great people with a real “can do” attitude. I managed to get my team of people motivated and working in unison for a common cause. On the face of it, I should be proud of the achievement.

You see for every hour outside of work I spent on that project, I spent another hour away from my wife and my home. Having moved to Australia together, she shouldn’t have gone without her husband for that amount of time. I enjoy our time together, and for the small amount of time I was at home, I spent most of it complaining about the project. The past 5 weeks have put a tremendous strain on our marriage, no reward, financial or otherwise was worth that strain.

My boss spoke about how impressed he was with my performance, and that my work was beyond exceptional, but was it really worth having to work to that level, under that amount of stress, and putting both myself and my wife through all that?

Quite simply the answer is no, regardless of how impressed many people are/were with the project, personally for me I am quite sad that what is truly important in my life (wife & family) were relegated whilst something else took priority for 5 weeks of my life. You cannot put a value on time, those 5 weeks are lost, never to be replaced again, no praise, money or time off could account for those lost hours.

Part of the reason I left the UK to move to Australia was to get the whole work/life balance correct, having nearly worked to the point of mental and physical exhaustion I can honestly say I never want to be that involved with a project ever again, life is too short, and quite frankly I don’t get paid anywhere near enough for that.

So rather than thanking the countless people who actually made the project a possibility, and there are a lot of thank you’s needed, instead I would like to say sorry to my wife for not being around much the past few weeks. I work to live, I work so I can enjoy a good life with my wife, for us to enjoy our time together. I’m sorry the past few weeks have not reflected that, and only hope I never have to do this again!

Love ya babes

I was just reading a great post about daydreaming from the Boston Globe, a subject close to my heart - ironically I cam currently reading the book evolve your brain which is a great book focusing on similar content.

What was interesting about the article was that it touched upon children turning to television to cure boredom. My concern is that perhaps, on a greater level we are all turning to other means to cure boredom. Whether those means are the internet, blogs, televisions, computer games and beer (not in that order).

By creating new ways to stop boredom, are we actually creating new ways to stop creativity? If Day dreaming is the link between theoretical thinking and creativity, then surely we need to create more ways to expand ways to allow our minds to wander, instead of actually squeezing our creative element.

I suppose if we look back through history, creativity, or creative thinking has been both good and bad. For instance, had Hitler had access to a PS3, then it is possible he may never have found the time to daydream, and obviously form the Nazi party, which murdered millions of people. If Hitler had never helped to start World War 2, then there is every chance that perhaps the Atomic Bomb may never have been developed.

Additionally without the development of the Atomic and then Nucleur Bombs, then it is possible the Cold War may not have occured. Cuba would not have the restrictions placed on it, the West might have a higher regard for Russia, and vice versa. Perhaps day dreaming is a dangerous thing? Too much time to ponder about certain things can drastically alter our environment.

However by the same token, without daydreaming, it is possible Albert Einstein might have been watching Baywatch, instead of working out the formula E=Mc2. Hundreds of scientists wouldn’t have considered novel ways of treating illness or disease if they were stuck in modern day chatrooms, discussing celebs or the latest tunes.

There is no doubt, day dreaming, the forming of ideas independant of influence, has truly effected the world and the human race historically, both for good and bad. For most of us, we probably have used day dreams as a release from our lives, or to deal with things, I often use it to try and be creative. It almost seems ironic, that fantastic products like TVs, the net, and computer game consoles, all the product of day dreaming, may actually now blunt true creativity, by stopping independant thinking.

Is this good or bad? Has mankind progressed so much that we are hitting a brickwall. We have day dreamed so much, historically, that now we are restricting the ability of many to day dream, thus restricting ideas and creativity.

Boredom is, well, boring! However I will continue to take my 30mins of boredom on the train each morning to work, and float off into my own little world, hoping to find the next big idea. It might not happen, but at least I am allowing myself to try and be creative. Lets hope, the people who want to do good in the world can also exercise that mindset, whilst those obsessed with death and destruction, keep boredom at bay with the lastest offerings from satellite TV or computer games!

The web is filled with hundreds, thousands, most probably millions of blogs, all containing unique and diverse subject matter and all there to serve a niche audience. There is no doubt that blogging has and is changing the way we entertain ourselves and search for information. In fact a good blog can really establish a professionals credentials.

Just then I was on a site which led me to think, there must be a better reason to blog and for one day each year, that site is dedicated to raising awareness about a specific issue which either directly or indirectly affects us all. I would like any bloggers visiting my site to check out http://blogactionday.org - a truly unique concept which mobilises a lot of content owners to share and discuss their thoughts, ideas and solutions to problems.

Last year focused on the environment, this year the theme is all about poverty, what causes it, problems related to it, and of course ways to end it. I am going to get behind the campaign and add my thoughts as to what is causing poverty, both locally and globally and encourage others to do the same. The web is perhaps the only real medium which can mobilise and unite millions of people into thinking and acting. We are exposed to so many messages online, that unifying one message could truly have such an impact to illicit change.

Check back on 15 October 2008 when I add my post, and if you are a blogger consider getting behind such a great scheme! Whatever our reasons to blog, surely uniting millions of publishers and their audience will have a far greater effect than that of individual greed?

You make a star wars spoof based on Search Engine Wars

This weeks aware goes to http://www.baseonesearch.co.uk/blog/2008/08/seo-wars.html - well done to the guys (and girls) at Base One for making me smile on a Friday. In fact it has given me an excuse for a regular blog entry…Now there is a thought

I am currently looking into purchasing flights to the UK next year for my brothers wedding. Needless to say the prices being floated about for so called “economy” flights are crazy.

I am looking to fly to London on or around 27 May 2009, with a return on or around 10 June 2009, so far the cheapest I have been quoted has been upwards of $5,000, quite a nasty amount that doesn’t reflect the word economy by any means! However after a little bit of researching, had I have done the same trip but in reverse, i.e. from London to Australia and back again, the price of the fare gets halved!

In theory the flights are exactly the same but reversed, so it should cost no airline anymore yet they are charging twice as much? I can understand that there are fuel increases for flying that distance, but come on airlines, $5,000+ for a return ticket to the UK when the same flight done in reverse costs half as much?

Dam dirty dogs!