8 posts tagged “qotd”

What would you like to do more of?

I would love to have the time to do more pure research - to build things (on the web). To play with the new Google App Engine, and Google Sites. To read blogs, write blog posts, and take part in things.

I would love to have more time to take part in online communities like Vox.

Our adoption of several children has pretty much slashed the amount of "free" time we have, and often I am so tired at the end of a day that I vegitate for a couple of hours and then often go to bed early and flake out. Last night I took the Nintendo DS up with me, and fell asleep before I even opened it.

What was the last great epiphany you had?
Submitted by Ross.

I used to be something of an open source software evagelist - I learned all about Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP back when they were the hot new things to learn. I was a well known developer on the internet - my blog used to get over 1000 hits a day purely because of the stuff I wrote and gave away to the community.

Then (not long ago, actually) I realised that while I wasn't wasting my time learning open source platforms and technologies, the rest of the world was going to buy Microsoft software wether I liked it or not.

It brought to mind an analogy that I heard some time ago - "it's better to be on the train, pissing off, than on the platform, trying to piss in".

I realised it was easier to learn what people want to use rather than try to educate them to use what you think they should be using. A little part of me died when I made the transition, but I don't regret it at all. It will keep my family clothed, and food on our table.

What have you lost that you wish you still had?
Submitted by gunderson bee.

An old friend. I worked with her for a couple of years, and inbetween relationships we were the best and most fun friends either of us had ever had.

We had many drunken adventures, we fought with each other, but mostly we were there for each other and thought the world of each other.

I lost touch a few years ago now, and have looked out for her - but never found her.

If you were independently wealthy, where in the world would you live?
Submitted by Eileen.

Right where we live at the moment - the south of England. Although (like most people) I become tired with the place I live, I am also reminded by friends in the wider world and news stories that Great Britain is actually a great place to live - and perhaps one of the better places in the world to bring our children up.

What's the best April Fools' Day prank you've ever had pulled on you?
Courtesy of Team Vox.

I woke up this morning, saw the BBC news report about the flying penguins while making lunch for the kids, and totally believed it... which can be half explained by the level of distraction at the time (two kids not eating their breakfast, one being a lazy so and so).

What do you bring most to a friendship?

Difficult one to answer. I am told I am a good listener - and that may be why I have more female than male friends, although I've never really thought about it until recently.

Last year I worked in London throughout most of the year on a client contract - a long way from home, and a very alien environment. One day in the office, several of the guys started talking about their social life in London, and the subject turned to the classic - "can a man be friends with a woman?"

The answers went most of the way around the room, with hardly any of the guys being able to count one woman among their friends - and then they got to me... and they couldn't believe that most of my friends were women. At first they thought I was joking.

I'm not sure listening is all of it though - one of my friends would probably need to answer.

What do you most hate sharing with other people?

A difficult question to answer. I am married, and we have three adopted children - so there is very little in our house that isn't shared.

The Macbook.

It used to be mine. It would be wrong to say that I hate sharing it - but I do look back on the time it was mine with affection. It has more to do with my circumstances; I was commuting in and out of the city each day for a client project, and spent upwards of 4 hours on trains each day - accompanied by an iPod shuffle, my mobile phone and the Macbook.

iTunes was my friend, as were the countless bloggers I followed and commented on during that time.

Following the voluntary disintegration of our Windows laptop at home (a no-name el-cheapo machine), the Macbook became "our" computer rather than "mine"...

What's the one thing you're most neurotic about?

Being tidy.

I'm not sure if it's a side-effect of working with computers for too long, or that I live with quite possibly the most messy/chaotic person in the entire universe.

Bizarrely - going completely against conventional thinking that says untidy people make good Tetris players, I can beat her every time at it. Go figure.