I should really be writing up minutes and cleaning the toilet ...

I should be knuckling down to write up the minutes from yesterday's meeting, but playing with my blog instead. I should also be far more upto date with the usual dull chores, as I even had a day off this week, but knocked a bit sideways with a bit of a headcold, so taking it easy, and not being too bothered about it.

Pleasant enough day off, doing heavy work in the garden, getting rid of the sweetpeas, which were still thriving, and full of flowers, but I needed to make room for the planters that I was putting in.

This year I have grown,
teasel and wormwood from seed, and chamomile from little shoots. I did try feverfew, but it never sprouted. I do however already have plenty in the garden, so it is not a tragedy of the first magnitude.

Anyway, the chamomile and wormwood, were getting a bit unhappy in their pots, so having turfed out the sweetpeas, I put in some large plastic planters, filled them with soil, and put the chamomile in the outside two, and the wormwood in the middle. The wormwood is supposed to like rocky soil, so I topped off the planter with some rocks and grit, and it does look quite atmospheric.

Some other work in the garden, and spent a fair bit of time doing the watering, as it is all so parched. Concerned to find that I might be losing a blueberry to the dreaded dog pee.

After a week of all meetings, last week was a bit quieter, but it will take more than a relatively quiet week to put that particular world to rights. There is a vast amount to do, I probably need to plan more and delegate more. Just being very busy is not the answer. Also having to revisit decisions that were made before I took over, which is taking time, and will hopefully be for the best in the long run.

I am enjoying various forums on the internet, particularly now that I am setting them to log in automatically, and putting the links on my toolbar. With broadband they seem to load pretty fast, and a lively forum is the quickest way to find out stuff. Also intrigued by the ecosystem that is developing on-line. For example with RapidWeaver, the web design software, you can get software for layout - Blocks, by another developer, but even on top of this, you can get an enhancement to that add-on by yet another developer. So you have layers upon layers of independent development. There has probably been shareware as long as there have been PC's but now that e-commerce is so easy, you can buy and sell software without a lot of hassle. So for low volumes it is now worth the trouble. Accordingly, I don't imagine that many of these developers are making a huge living from this, but presumably it is worth their while. Another aspect of how this is an ecosystem, in addition of the interdependence of various developers, is the inter-relationship between developers and customers. Many will have a sustained relationship with their customers, via forums and blogs. That way they can draw upon the experience of customers to improve their products, and hopefully purchase up-grades over time. When you are talking about software costing a tenner here, a fiver there, then it does get to be a bit of an impulse purchase.

I am surprised now, by just how much of my spending is shifting to on line. In addition to the usual iTunes, there has been RapidWeaver, a growing collection of add-ons for that, as well as Amazon, and the Apple Store. A lot of the impulse purchasing is shifting onto the internet, and I do tend to use the internet as a first port of call for researching larger purchases too.

Just yesterday, I added QuickTimePro and some fonts to my wishlist, though not sure that I can justify the expense of any of them.