I LOL when a customer asks “Can you just…” or “It has to be at no cost”. Really? #DIY.
Tag: work
Because what you need when you’re under pressure is an OS INSTALL! Woohoo! #macOS

Sadly the macOS reinstall has been brewing for some time.
4:30am. What’s not to like!
Rebooting into a New Year

I used to typically find New Year celebrations a mixed blessing.
Sometimes they can remind you of all the good, great, sad and bad events of the concluding year, in a way that makes you grateful to be alive and with loved ones. Other times, the gratitude can give way to pensiveness, reflection and perhaps also regret.
Having One’s Cake
This new year (2015 into ’16) was a little different, though. Following a very busy but also very rewarding year, the period over Christmas gave me opportunity for reflection and redirection.
2015 was a “solid” year. And by that, I basically mean unrelenting. It was a year without a single week off for annual leave, which proved extremely tiring as the autumn months came around. At the same time, after a gruelling late summer with web projects “galore”, things started a gentle easing towards the end of the year.
It wasn’t to last, but amidst the business of work projects was also a number of social engagements which provided plenty of entertainment and some light relief! All of which was enjoyed on social media, of course (want to connect? Find me on whatever you use).

Three Directions
Naturally, life eventually returns to matters of work, which I love. This year, my focus is on quality and quantity. Well, if you can have both, why not!
Quality First
My belief is always that there is no substitute for quality [1]. I apply this principle to all the work my company, Warp Universal, is commissioned for by clients, and to all hosting services too. I’m currently working on some ideas to further guarantee the highest quality project management and delivery to clients, whatever the challenges!
Support Always
Providing quality support is paramount in my eyes. I have always been proud to offer good support to our customers, but this hasn’t been without its challenges (being forced to quickly reconsider data storage, in the wake of Schrems vs Facebook, being the most recent).
Building Up Organically
Managing a micro business is no mean feat, as anyone who has done so will testify. At one time, I considered growth to be the largest (and perhaps only) signifier of a successful business. But this is false, and I’m glad I realise that now. Many struggling businesses are those that have grown too quickly, without enough consideration, or without the ability to back-off sales satisfactorily. It’s my intention to grow the business, organically, sustainably and vertically.
2016 is looking to be a very promising year for Warp Universal 🙂
Pushing Forward
Alongside work, 2016 is looking to be a great year for my surfing. Not because the weather patterns look particularly convivial to it, nor that my free time is that much greater than it was before. It’s simply that I want to surf more in 2016, and I’m in a position to make it happen.
Along with that, it’s definitely a year to align my media production with media consumption. A great love of mine is music, and work commitments have often meant I’ve lost touch with newer acts on the scene. I look forward to reconnecting via a music subscription service.
Take Off!
The year ahead is an interesting prospect. 365 days remaining from today (leap year, remember!) to achieve so many goals. And not forget that life is short, so a little fun should be had also.
[1] A phrase once used by my Grandmother.
Weekly [p]review: w/c Mon 12 July 2010
Last week was fantastic. Lots of stuff achieved, plus a few blockers along the way which have spilled over into this week and new challenges. To top off last week, a close friend of mine had a great birthday BBQ on Saturday and then became a father on Sunday. Congrats to them!
Last week:
Work
- [X] Development work on 2 customer projects
- [X] Stay in touch prospective clients/leads
- [ ] Get list together of targets for Project “L” and plan launch
- [X] Review charity project costings: is there a more cost-effective approach?
- [ ] [Arrange to] visit datacenter for scheduled maintenance – the machines, not me 🙂
- [ ] Create additional web forms to service other business areas
- [ ] Minor company homepage change
- [ ] Review structure of site and content; trim.
- [ ] Complete SVN/Bugzilla integration project.
- [X] Complete new cashflow tool.
** DONE Investigate why CentOS box is looking for dpkg (Debian packager) in cron job
** DONE Revise Project “W” PDF
** WAITING Put project “W” site online?
Life
- [ ] Tax return
- [-] Practice Siu Lim Tao and stretching
- [X] Clean house
- [X] Try to get a bit of Family Guy in
** DONE Clean car
Misc
- [X] Decide on Slovakia trip
- [X] Learn GnuCash
- [X] A few more CDs to add to the collection
This Week
Work
- [ ] SEO customer project
- [ ] Database update customer project. Test out Kexi
- [ ] PHP calendar development for customer
- [ ] Visual design/template revision work for customer
- [ ] Get list together of targets for Project “L” and plan launch
- [ ] [Arrange to] visit datacenter for scheduled maintenance – the machines, not me 🙂
- [ ] Create additional web forms to service other business areas
- [ ] Minor company homepage change
- [ ] Review structure of site and content; trim.
- [ ] Complete SVN/Bugzilla integration project.
An unscheduled but important piece of work is also project “W”. I have made significant progress on this over the weekend and need to keep the pace up!
Life
- [ ] Tax return
- [ ] Siu Lim Tao / stretching
- [ ] Properly start my involvement in an open source project
- [ ] 2 swims, 1 mile each
- [ ] One more form/session of exercise (run? weights?)
- [ ] Grocery shop
- [ ] Social life 🙂
Misc
Would like to see more:
- [ ] Family Guy
- [-] BSG: The Plan and Caprica
- [ ] Original BSG documentaries
Weekly [p]review: w/c Mon 5 July 2010
Didn’t note in enough detail the unplanned tasks that I had to tackle last week. Am planning this week to note down the things which sidetrack me from the main goals.
Last week:
Work
- [X] Support major customer project
- [-] Development work on 2 other projects
- [-] Stay in touch prospective clients/leads
- [-] Kick off charity project
- [-] Expedite tasks that are currently “WAITING”
- [X] Clean up customer/supplier records on CRM tool
- [-] Set up virtual machines
- [ ] Create additional web forms to service other business areas
Life
- [ ] Tax return
- [-] Practice Siu Lim Tao and stretching
- [X] Clean house
Misc
- [X] Finish FLAC’ing CD collection
- [-] Learn GnuCash
This Week
Work
- [-] Development work on 2 customer projects
- [-] Stay in touch prospective clients/leads
- [ ] Get list together of targets for Project “L” and plan launch
- [ ] Review charity project costings: is there a more cost-effective approach?
- [ ] [Arrange to] visit datacenter for scheduled maintenance – the machines, not me 🙂
- [ ] Create additional web forms to service other business areas
- [ ] Minor company homepage change
- [ ] Review structure of site and content; trim.
- [ ] Complete SVN/Bugzilla integration project.
- [ ] Complete new cashflow tool.
Life
- [ ] Tax return
- [-] Practice Siu Lim Tao and stretching
- [ ] Clean house
- [ ] Try to get a bit of Family Guy in
Misc
- [ ] Decide on Slovakia trip
- [-] Learn GnuCash
- [-] A few more CDs to add to the collection
Whistle while you work
Does it actually help?
Anyway, too much PHP development going on currently to really give it much thought. That’s the problem – what pills can you take (metaphorically speaking) to speed up work?