busy

  • July 12, 2009

    The 7 Day Work Week

    It used to be the case that Sunday truly was a day of rest. Shops closed, people went to church, had an early dinner, and called it a day. Then stores started to stay open on Sundays. The hours got longer. Now some places are open 24 hours, 5 days a week. Some 24/7. It used to be the case that once you left the office for the day, you were done working. How could you work? All your stuff was at the office. How would anyone reach you? Now we have cell phones, IM, email on our phones; we are reachable all the time. “Open” 24/7. And that’s what people expect now. Our culture is moving towards a 24/7 work mentality to be more productive, and make more money. That needs to change.

    It’s more coincidence than anything that I started to  have these thoughts before, but on the same day that, I started reading The Four Hour Work Week. I’m just into it, and this post is not a book review, but Ferriss does talk early on about some of the stuff that spurred these thoughts. I wrote a while back about not responding to email right away. It’s not to be rude, but to set a precedent and draw some boundaries. If people think you are always available, they will expect you to be on call all the time. This isn’t healthy for you or them. And it’s not just with email.

    I’ve had clients call me at midnight because they ‘needed’ to talk to me. I get calls on the weekend, and people who want to schedule meetings on Sundays. And it’s not that I’m lazy that I don’t want to do that; people can’t work all the time. It’s not physically or mentally healthy. So how do we solve this problem?

    Don’t be afraid to draw those boundaries. Tell your clients or co-workers that you’re only available during business hours. Don’t answer business email on the weekend. Take the weekends for yourself. I took the 4th of July weekend completely off. From Friday to Sunday I did no work- I even put up an email auto-response. It was the first time in a long time I did that because I have the same mentality others do- I work a lot. Usually I take the weekends for side projects or small rush jobs I want to get out of the way. But it’s that mentality that causes a lot of people to burn out hard and fast.

    Maybe it’s that we are in front of a computer anyway, or we think, “Well I’m not doing anything now,” that we take that call or work on that project. But we don’t have to produce all the time. It’s ok to do nothing. Having a lazy day is perfectly acceptable, and in some cases, needed. So far I like The Four Hour Work Week because Ferriss talks about how to be more productive in less time, and how to take time for yourself. I’ll post more about it as I read it, but remember this: Working 24/7 is NOT a good mentality. I think we should remember the days when Sunday really was a day of rest.

  • August 17, 2008

    New Post Soon

    I know I’ve been slacking with posting lately; in my defense, I’ve been busy. I promise a new post is coming this week that will sum up my summer. Its been a summer for business and while I didn’t define it this way on the outset, the goal turned into increasing my revenue streams. But more to come with that later this week.

    For the time being, you can read super awesome, and new, blog Of Folly and Of Vice. Also, here is my Manga Avatar. Apparently they are all the rage:

    My Avatar

  • February 7, 2008

    Busy Semester

    I know I haven’t updated in a while, and that is due to the fact that the semester is now in full swing and it’s going to be a busy one. Some things I have lined up:

    • A Computer Graphics class where I will be learning really cool things
    • A Business Plan Competition that would help me sky rocket my company into the mainstream
    • A Swing Latin and Ballroom Dancing class my friends managed to coerce me into taking
    • An Intramural Racquetball League (singles)

    Hopefully I will be able to find time to write about all of the above, but especially the first two.

  • May 4, 2006

    The Stretch…

    With the end of the semester quickly approaching, I am really looking forward to a summer vacation- my last one at that. This semester has been hell and the culmination of all my work starts to come together with one of two major events I planned this semester. Not to mention two papers due Monday, two tests in the next two days, meetings, clients, and of course, the unforeseen stuff. At this moment I am still unemployed for the summer, but honestly, for the first 2 weeks at least, that might not be such a bad thing. Still I know I should do some applications next week, when I will have some time to myself, in the midst of 100 things ending and 100 more beginning.

    I write this because I need to vent, but also because of the post I just read over at Waiter Rant. I take solace in the fact that I am not the only one feeling small, anxious and burnt out. I hope the waiter enjoys those days off. I know that my busy schedule will calm down once the summer comes, even if I am working a full time job. Anyway, posts will be (and have been) sparse, and I apologize for that. But once school is done, this should pick up again. Later!

  • November 5, 2005

    Time

    It seems I am very short of it lately. On top of school and my extracurriculars, I seem to be getting a good number of web design jobs. While the work load isn’t too much to handle [yet], it is taking a good chunk of my time up. I’m also finding it tough trying to keep organized, and remembering what I have to do and when I have to do it. I am meeting my deadlines, given that there are no snags at other ends, but I just feel overwhelmed. With the upcoming time off, hopefully I will be able to alleviate some of this and finally feel like I am on track. Later!

  • September 3, 2005

    Nothing good to say

    I try not to make this a personal blog. Soon enough I will be blogging about my CS 2 adventures- Level 2 programming in Java. Until then, I really don’t have much to talk about. Project wise, I just got O’Reilly’s PHP Cookbook, so I will be doing some work out of there, on the little free time I have. I am also Evaluating software call “Hot Potatoes” for work, but that will probably be of little or no interest to anyone, unless you work for an educational institution. I apologize that I have nothing better to say, at least not for now, but with school and everything, I’ve been busy, and life’s been kind of uneventful. Later

  • August 7, 2005

    Its been a while

    Yes yes, I haven’t written in a while. I have been busy, and it does not look to slow down any, aside from the fact that last Thursday was my last day in a summer long construction job. It was a learning expirience, as well as good money. However, I am just not cut out for that kind of work.
    Well, since i’m now seemingly unemployed for a while, what will be taking up my time?? For one, the Scranton Chamber of Commerce asked me to work on a website for this College Nite Out even they are having. Also, as the exec. tech guy and webmaster of the University of Scranton Student Government, I have some work to do there too. I also have a new endevore I am currently working on.
    Then there is the regular housekeeping stuff- clean room, prepare for school (I move into my apt. soon) and of course, there is a paintball trip this weekend that I organized, and must see that all goes well. So that is it for now- as for the site redesign, the template is done, I just need to add content to it. Later!

  • September 3, 2004

    First Week…Down.

    Well Ive been meaning to post, and now I am! My class for the most part will be good. I got bumped up a couple of EC class so now i am learning ASP! Fucking yeah man. The only class im going to have a serious problem with is my Information System Analysis class. Cause my teacher is a dipshit. Hes a nice guy, but a terrible teacher. Its gonna take us a semester to get through what should only take a month.
    The best part is definatly that I have my own room. We rearranged it and its fucking sweet. So sweet in fact that im making an effort to keep it clean. I like that fact that “Im the host”, at the risk of sounding gay. I like having people over to watch movies and play video games and shit. And now I can. SO yay.
    Some upcomming things for the blog:

    • Probably a new Layout. I want to make my sites like more sleek, such as Alienware and Skin Factory. Ive been doing alot of photoshop stuff, and hopefully ill be able to make something work.
    • New Section- Downloads It will be a new category of cool shit that i feel i should share with the world. Of course, it will all be totally legal.

    Thats about it for now. Ill probabaly be doing alot of work this weekend, and try to get a beta layout for this monday??
    One last thing- PCI- the computer build, upgrade and repair business is doing great, but we need to change our name. So if you have any suggestions, let me know! That will also be getting a new layout. Later!