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30 Days of Posts

Days 8-9: How to get better at estimating time

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Of course, I’m being facetious. Even when it comes to estimating how long I’ll be sick for, I’m off.

I think underestimating how long you’ll be sick is healthy however, and allows for the optimism of radiant health to help you get better.  But, underestimating how long a project that you’re being paid for is potentially very bad news indeed.

I’m still sick, not lying in bed, but fuzzy headed and cranky, so not really up for a major analysis. Here are a few thoughts:
Incidentals: When estimating the number of hours something will take, don’t forget the incidentals.

  • CASUAL communication: The 25 emails that take 3 min each to write, but actually took 10 minutes to think about. The 25 emails that were just cursory replies, that took no time to think about, but that took up time nonetheless. Same goes for uploading mockups or any ftping.
  • UNOFFICIAL Review / Problem Solving of Project: This takes a lot of mental time too. That you might be thinking about a client project while walking the dog, taking a shower, doing the NY times crossword puzzle on Sunday morning (with hopefully croissants and jam at the ready). Of course, you have allotted official review  time for  any project you take on. But, I find anyhow, you can’t just shut your brain off while chowing down on croissants. In fact, the unique combination of sugar and fat and the challenge of the NYT puzzle may be just what it takes to bring that shining “AHA” moment into being.  But on your spreadsheet, you forgot to add in that hour.
  • VALUE – Last night I saw a youth symphony perform the Nutcracker. Delightful. The conductor said what a pleasure it was to conduct for young minds for whom it was their first introduction to this music. And that , having performed it over 300 times himself, he liked being on the conducting end better. I don’t know what his salary is, but I bet it’s not only contingent on the 2 hours he conducted that specific concert. The value he brings, is of course, those 300+hours. That’s true for any kind of expertise someone in the design or any services industry brings to a project. Not exactly sure how to quantify value into a number that relates to how much time it takes, but I’ll let you know when I do.
  • Add up how many hours you think it will take and double it. Or, if you’re the type who tends to underestimate, then triple them.

Off to take various vitamins and whatnot to get rid of this congestion.

Cheers,

Days 6-7: time-out

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I’m sick. Some kind of viral infection, inner ear gig which has me dizzy, exhausted and irate.

So, I have to take a time-out to rest. Future topics on the brain:

  1. The Zen and the art of knitting stuff / review of the said Zen motorcycle book
  2. The terribleness of finding out about someone’s death online, or via Facebook
  3. Invisible illnesses and why having a regular cold is comforting.

Off to nap now.

Day 5: Knitting on the brain

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Not that I’ve gotten any further from the 2″ band I made last night, but I’ve been thinking a lot about knitting.

For one, value vs monetary value. As soon as I started knitting again, there was one wee voice in my head saying “Gee, this could be some good part-time income….set up an etsy account and let the floodgates of wealth begin”. Of course, as soon as the moment I crunched the numbers in the most basic fashion, I was quickly aware that making a profit on knitting would require either super speed, or charging a designer like fee, or getting the wool for 80% off.  In other words, thinking of it like a business. Or, work.

I asked my instructor how those Etsy girls manage to have their prices so cheap, and she said they’re mainly using really cheap wool. The price difference between Zeller’s or Walmart’s cotton and the uber fancy shop I’m taking the course is on average  $12 per skein. Quite a difference. And that’s per skein. The scarf I made cost about $18 in wool (blend alpaca wool/silk), $6 in buttons. So $24 for materials. It took me six hours to make.

So, if I took off 3 hours for the learning curve factor, I might pump one out in 3 hours. Even at 2 hours, it would be 2 hours labour and $24.  Charging a very modest $20 (when running a business that would be suicide, but just for the sake of argument) it would be a minimum of $64 for the scarf, assuming I would be able to knit it in 2 hours alone.

There flew away my Etsy dreams. But while walking the neighbours dog today in the most delirious sunshine, I thought “Well, maybe I could think of it from a different angle…” So, if I could think of it as a hobby, and make $5 /hour, I could charge $35 for the scarf, which I think folks would buy…Clearly, if $20 / hr is ludicrous, then $5 is just plain insane. But a girl can dream.
Any moves towards taking this seriously is all a long ways off, but during this “economic downturn”, I’m content that my brain continues to scheme and think about ways to make money that don’t include being married to the box, which in case I haven’t mentioned, is slowly killing me.  That should be a category “Get off the box plans“.

Cheers,

Mzd

Day 4: Knitting a toque

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Just came back from a knitting class where I learned to make a toque.  Well, so far 2″ of one. On circular needles, which will switch to 4 double points, which I’ve never done before.

A woman in the class told me the story of how when she was in university she knit her now husband, then boyfriend, a cable sweater. It took her a semester, and basically by the time she’d finished she broke up with him. But then, one day he rode by her house on his motorbike wearing the sweater, and her mother said “are you sure you want to let him go?”. And so, she didn’t and they married. She’s retired now, with kids.

The funny part of the story is that one day her husband washed the sweater (wool) in the washing machine, and presto, felted sweater, many sizes too small.  I thought it was a cute story, and although I’m still reading the Zen book, and he makes many interesting points about Quality which I think strongly relate to knitting, it’s 9:30 and I haven’t eaten yet!
I do want to write it here though, so I don’t forget, that the one thing about knitting that’s so brilliant is it’s technological finesse (mathematics really), coupled with its’ forgiving nature.

Cheers,


Day 3: Tasks and list making

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I enjoy making lists. My mother used to make lots of lists – the usual suspects: shopping, cleaning chores, thank you notes to write, books to read…and I do the same.  So, as I embark upon day 3 of this project, and recognize exactly how much harder the blogging stuff is than it looks, I will make a list.

First, though, I did have a blog so way back in the day that it would now have to be called a proto-blog. Every entry was lovingly hand-coded html, and archives were a brute to manage. I abandoned that journal about a year and a half-ago partly due to the sheer effort it took to manage said material by hand. But the beauty of that particular “blog” was it was semi-anonymous. This is not. And I think that’s why it’s harder to find my voice, get into my groove, or unabashedly embrace the task and get on with it!  I’m filled with apprehensions (should I make a list) of what potential clients might think, how lame I will sound and whatnot. Worry, my closest friend.

To Do List regarding getting my blogging groove (back?)

  • Upgrade to the latest version of wordpress. Not just for all the nifty backend features this will provide, but for the variety of custom themes available. [ Yeah, yeah, I’m a designer, why don’t I spend the next six months coming up with a unique custom template? ]
  • Figure out how to make permalinks pretty. This will hopefully be simple.
  • Make a list of potential categories/topics and post it on my desktop stickies.
  • Create a blogroll. Certainly I read enough blogs.  Should I have spent the amount of time reading other’s weight loss journeys’ online actually outside walking, I’d be a stick now.
  • Remember to take a few photos in the daytime. Point in case, just took a photo of scarf I knitted, it’s too dark to show off it’s fuzzy glory.

That’s it. A short list. Better to be short and achievable, my new motto.

Cheers,

MzD

Day 2: Zen and the art of knitting

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It’s 9pm and even with a calendar reminder, I almost forgot about my committment to this posting gig. Sheesh! Day 2 and I’m slacking off.

I’ve spent all day on the box, except for 1 hr of walking/errands. My neck is sore, and probably angry at me. My massage therapist encourages this concept of “micro breaks”, where you get up from the box and do specific exercises to counteract the stagnation of sitting and staring. For example, neck rolls. So, at least I did that today, but to my chagrin, discovered my neck makes a lot of creaking and cricking  sounds when I roll, which is more or less revolting, and doesn’t bode well for continued enthuasiasm for said activity.

Back to the title. I’m reading the infamous “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” for my book club. It’s rather an odd bag of tricks, this book club, which I joined primarily to get back into the habit of reading material other than a) blogs and b) technical stuff. The book club list deserves its own category and series of posts.

Back to the book. First, there is some degree of zen irony that I’m finally reading this book. I had my dad’s copy of the book on my book shelf for a gadzillion years. Last year, we got into this major decluttering phase, and many books were purged.  I didn’t remember getting rid of it, but when it came up as an item for the club, I could so clearly see it’s lovely, soft blue cover, torn edges and all. But a thorough search of 3 bookshelves meant that it too found it’s way into the 50lb pile that was donated to the senior home.  How do I know it was 50 lbs? Before we joined the co-operative auto, we didn’t have a car, and we walked to the senior’s center with a suitcase full of books.  Naturally, I had to weigh it before we left.

Right, so Pirsig floats out the idea that some of us are technophobes and others aren’t afraid to get under the proverbial hood and figure out the mechanics of something. Of course, he’s referring to motorcycles directly, and life obliquely. I think I sit somewhere between a technophobe and an uber geek.  It depends on the technology:) I’m not overly keen of fixing water taps, not that I enjoy listening to the incessant drip, drip, drip of a tap – but I can convince myself it’s soothing, if need be, rather than figure out how to fix it myself.

With old-school technology – ie: knitting, which I’ve recently taken up again, I’m more of a keener. I learned how to cable knit (yey!) and make a button hole, both for a wool scarf, which is too itchy for me to wear. Even though the wool is a soft 20% silk. These two tasks required enormous concentration and yet were well worth the effort of paying attention. What was worth it was the sense of completion, of satisfaction, and, clearly, of being able to see the finished produce in such  a (relatively) short time.  Something I could hold in my hands, and if my skin wasn’t so damn sensitive I could wear.  But I equally know that in the past I’ve shied away from learning these extra skills, preferring to stick within my comfort zone, k1, p1, et al. Therefore I have great sympathy for technophobes.

More later perhaps. I promised myself to write one post a day, not to draw zen-like conclusions every day….


30 days of posts, less holidays: Day 1

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I was reading Steve Pavlina’s 8,600 word post about calibration, and  I’ve decided to challenge myself with the goal of posting for 30 days.  It being December, and knowing myself, and knowing that sitting in front of the box on the holidays are most definitely out, and that I will be travelling for two days,  I will permit myself to extend the 30 days to January 11th. I think I’ve done the math right on that, but what odds?

The key point is that I’ve let this pseudo-blog languish – not publishing it (by that I mean not linking it from anywhere, or telling anyone*, ) not paying attention to it, and not committing to the process. Partly this is not knowing what to write about – should it be the ups and downs of running a design business, should it be those same ups and downs being a conceptual artist with a trace of painterly remains, should it be my fascination with Dr. Who…and the list goes on.

So, inspired by this concept of calibration, I’ve made this decision  – for the next 30 days (+ the 6 extra for the holidays and travelling) I will write about whatever I want. It doesn’t matter if it’s an ephemeral thought that will not serve the archives well, or if it’s not deep, or if it’s not well written. The purpose of this exercise will be threefold.

  1. To find my voice
  2. To commit to the process of writing
  3. To set a 30 day goal and achieve it.

To begin: Split Pea Soup.

Today I am making split pea soup – the yellow kind of peas. I always use the green, so it’s an experiment. I’m a pseudo-vegetarian (ie: I eat fish – I’ve heard it called flexitarian), so ham hocks are out.

The base of the soup is a quick and dirty veggie stock, thrown together from leftovers. I had to feed the worms (worm compost) so not too much leftovers around.

  • 2 cloves organic garlic  – they are enormous, so more like 4
  • 1 withering green onion
  • 1/3 spanish onion
  • handful of drying out cilantro
  • 1 bay leaf
  • peppercorns
  • 5 green beans that have brown spots on them
  • 1″ slice ginger

and that’s it. It’s now simmering away, smelling delightful. The rest of the soup will be

  • 2 cups yellow split peas
  • above stock + bunch of water
  • 1 mushroom bouillon cube (gotta get some salt in somewhere)
  • 1 more bay leaf for good measure
  • and, if I’m energetic enough and make my way to the store, some parsnips, cut into 1-2″ pieces. These are absolutely mouthwatering in pea soup.

Cheers,

*[except for most recently when I wrote a guest post to Christine Kane’s most delicious blog. It may or may not be published, which may or may not bring some visitors]