Having a hobby

For most people, having a hobby is a means of spending a bit of time in the evenings or on the weekend doing something different from what they do for their job.

I am one of those people because I do enjoy my time away from the work life and can spend my evenings or bits of free time curled up crafting. I am a crafter who enjoys learning new techniques. My prime love is the needle crafts of knitting, crocheting, and cross-stitch. I can do a few other things and have tried quite a few of them.

I will make jewellery or draw when I have the time to focus on something like that. Both hobbies require a bit more time because you need to set stuff up before you can start doing anything. The jewellery making can be fun, especially if you can leave supplies out for a few days and then pick up and work on things for a few minutes at a time.

The needle crafts that I do can normally be done without a lot of set-up time so those are the projects that are worked on when time is limited, or I don’t have the energy to get other things out. I normally do have a few projects that are at various stages so that I can work on something when the time is there. My needle crafts, especially the knitting and crocheting, are my way of stitching my mind back together at the end of a very busy day. This is how I mediate, and I know that I need that time after doing the various projects that I work on.

A hobby can be exercising, reading, watching TV or just spending times with others. Not everyone is the same or has the same hobbies, and that is great. If everyone did the same hobbies, life would be boring.

A hobby should be something that you enjoy doing. A hobby shouldn’t feel like work because then it becomes a job, and it is no longer fun.

Being a business owner

Being a co-owner of a business can be an interesting job. There are days when you know what you are going to be doing and then days that your plans change. The other issue with being a co-owner is you also deal with the different issues that normally other people in a company deal with. When there are issues, sometimes there is no one else that can handle it, so you are required to do that as well as the other things on your plate.

Having the ability to be flexible does really help. There are days that you have to drop everything just to deal with an emergency, and other days that everything seems to run very smoothly. I have had times that there are a couple of emergencies happening at once, so it means that we are both involved trying to deal with both of them.

The other big thing about being a co-owner is there are several various jobs and responsibilities that come with the job. I know that in some cases I am the HR, Marketing, Accounting and Sales department all at once. The other job of being the writer for the company is something that I do most of the time. Yes, all the functions of the company are being performed by two people, so you juggle the tasks when each of you have the time or at least need to get something done. Knowing that I can work at different times of the day does help because it means that if I am dealing with client issues during the day, I can still work in the evening on the business side.

Being a co-owner of a business can be a very challenging but rewarding job. You see the good parts of the job, and you also see so many of the other issues that so many people take for granted.

Being female in IT

There are challenges and benefits of being a female in IT.

There are times I do get frustrated because of some of the guys that I have to deal with. At some conferences, it seems that guys don’t seem to see any female, and they just think they are the only ones at the events. I have run into some guys that think if you are at an IT event, and you are female, you are basically in marketing or don’t know anything about IT. At one event, I was run into by one guy because he wanted his lunch and didn’t care about anyone else. He did hear from me because I wanted to ensure that he knew he needed to respect everyone else at the event. I have a lot of fun at some events because my name tag shows me as a reseller, so I do get treated as marketing by some vendors, but other vendors treat me as I am in IT and I can influence the purchase of products.

There are times that being female is an advantage at IT events. At most events, there aren’t many females, so the lineup in washrooms is extremely short compared to the men’s washrooms. At some events, I can be the only female, which doesn’t bother me anymore. At first when I got into IT I was very uncomfortable being one of a few females at events, but now it doesn’t bother me at all.

Some guys, who are in IT, do treat females special because of how few females there seems to be in the industry. Yes, there are more women now in IT, but at events it is still a very low number. I have found that I am normally treated well by most guys at events. I find that being a strong female does help me as well, as I am not afraid of standing up for myself, which I really think helps. As a female, if you can make sure you appear confident, it will go a long way in getting the respect.

Yes, being a female in IT does have its challenges, but it also has its advantages. My biggest piece of advice is just be yourself and most guys will treat you fairly. The other thing that helps is having some of the latest “toys” and if they don’t know about them, you can pull them out and how them. This has helped a few times, so now when I go to events, I make sure that I have some of these new things with me.

Sitting and thinking

There are days when all you can do is sit and think things through. Of course, these days can be just as productive as a day of sitting and working at the computer. A day to sit and think gives me a chance to regain the focus on all the things that you are working on and need to do.

I find that if things are going a little crazy, I need to take some time to just sit back and think things through instead of just plowing ahead. Just taking some time to go over in your own head can make a big difference on how you look at things.

My to-do-list is always close at hand when I am doing this thinking because it helps me see what needs to be done and how I am going to get everything done. There are times when just looking at my list can help me regain the focus that I need.

The sitting and thinking don't have to be long; it can be a few minutes while drinking a coffee, or it can be hours to make sure you are in the right state of mind for what needs to be done. The sitting and thinking can also help you recharge your own personal battery.

Make sure you take some time to just sit and think, as you will see that you can be more productive after this. Time now to get back to work.

New devices

All of us get new computers or mobile devices, and then we have to learn something new. I am one of those that finds the new device a fun and interesting challenge and can’t wait to try things out. I am writing this entry as I try out a new computer/tablet.

I am trying to write this entry on our new Asus transformer. When we say transformer, that is what it is. It is a small computer with a 10-inch screen, but the screen detaches from the keyboard and becomes a tablet. Of course, there are lots of things to learn with this device as well as it being a Windows 8 system.

The touch screen works pretty well, and I haven’t had too many issues with it so far. The one thing I am finding different is the size of the keyboard but considering I have small fingers it isn’t hard for me to type on it. I think someone with larger fingers might have problems with the keyboard.

Windows 8 is so different from any previous version, so it takes some time to figure out where everything is and what you really want to do. I have already figured out how to pin and unpin things onto the start screen. I think I have also figured out how to uninstall applications that were pre-installed when we got the device. Of course, this computer is going to be used to take notes at conferences and with us when we are out and about. It isn’t going to be the device where we watch videos and much, so those apps were quickly removed.

I can say that this computer is nice and light, which was one of the things I wanted because I will be carrying it with me quite often. Now to try a few more things and see how they go, so it is time to stop writing and time to continue figuring out this new computer.

Internet

Have you noticed how much we rely on the computer and internet nowadays?

Our computers and mobile devices, be it a tablet or a smartphone, they seem to be with us all the time now, and we don't know what we would do without them and how we survived before them. I guess some people still survive without a computer and the internet, and they manage.

I know that I rely on the internet and my computer for my work because it is difficult to send documents without either of them. I do a lot of correspondence via email with my clients, be it answering an email or sending documents they are going via email, which involves the internet.

There are companies that their entire infrastructure is in the “cloud” so they really need the internet to be working otherwise they cannot function. Yes, a cloud can be in the company, but there are some people that reply on everything being off-site. I always laugh when I hear someone say that they would be able to work even if the internet was down if they had all their files were stored in the cloud and only available through the internet. These are some of the things that we deal with and have to smile when I hear this conversation. These are the people that will only realize that they cannot work when the internet is down when it happens to them.

Yes, the internet is a very important part of most people's daily life now, but you can still function without it. Maybe it means if you need to ask someone a question, you might have to call them to get the answer, but that still works.

So, in some cases, it is nice just having a little bit of time without the internet every once in a while. See, I even wrote this blog while being without my internet, so I still got something done. I will have to post it onto my blog once the internet is back, but at least I got it written.

Note: Our internet and cable were down for 14 hours.

Food court frustration

Recently I walked over to a mall to have some lunch. I decided that having lunch at 11:30 was probably a good idea to avoid some of the business people that also want to eat in the same food court. Well, I was frustrated with what I saw upon my arrival.

It looked like there were a couple of meetings being held in the food court. One was a group of ladies and the other group which was rather large were a group of mean. Well, it wasn't really a meeting, but rather a gathering of friends/people. So here it is just before lunch and there were approximately 20 men sitting and taking up 28 seats and only a few of them had coffee cups in front of them. I know some of the coffee cups were empty because one of the men knocked his over and nothing came out. A bunch of the other men never lifted their cups to drip their coffee during the time I sat and ate my lunch.

The ladies at least were only taking 8 seats for the 8 of them, which was nice. On the other side of me were 3 men sitting at a table for 4 which was no problem but was frustrating was there were using another table for 4 to hold their 2 bags of groceries and their empty coffee cups. Yes, they had finished whatever they had and were just sitting and talking. By this time, people were looking for tables so that they could eat the lunch that they purchased in the food court, but there weren't too many available tables.

I finished my lunch and headed off, so it was almost noon by the time I left the food court by the men were still sitting at the tables with their empty coffee cups. It really bothers me that people can sit in a food court at lunchtime taking tables when they either purchased something a couple of hours ago or haven't purchased anything from the food court. I am not sure how this food court actually survives because of the lack of food purchased as the different vendors. 

The other issue is that this food court is near a school, so parents pick up their kids from school and walk over to the mall and let their kids eat in the food court. I don't see anything wrong letting them eat in the food court, but what does bother me is they are not eating food purchased in the food court but food that the parent has brought from home. This school is within about a 10-minute walk for all the kids that attend it, so why can't the parents take the kids home and let them eat their lunch where it was made.

After I finished the rest of my shopping in the mall, which wasn't a lot, I walked back by the food court.  You guessed it, all the men were still sitting at the tables with their empty cups. So, it really doesn't matter if you complain to the malls because it doesn't seem to help. If the people sitting in the food court know the cleaning staff or security, there is nothing done, but if you are a stranger, they encourage you to move on.

Food courts are to be used for eating meals that are purchased there, and please be considerate about how long you spend at a table. There are others who also want to purchase something and enjoy it.