At Least I’m Moving Forward

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With Blue Monday fast approaching and (at least for us in Preston) a weekend of cold, grey skies and rain (and many other places facing much worse), it feels like a great excuse to curl up in a duvet, stick on the streams and to lay there and just forget the world. I’ll admit, I did it for a few hours yesterday and it felt great, until I realised I’d have to stop and do something useful with myself so I hadn’t totally wasted the day.

That’s the dangerous thing about vegging out – once you’re down on your pad of choice, you’re usually done for the day, which is why many try to get stuff done before they flop out after work or lectures as they know how hard it is to start again afterwards.

If motivation is waning for you, remember the end goal and try to see that flop out as your treat. At the same time though, don’t try to kill yourself with exertion!

I feel proud of the things I’ve managed to achieve so far in my year of doing. After many delays in the vision of making tech support a little bit more remote controlled to benefit both ourselves and the stressed out people we sometimes need to keep waiting whilst we undo the mess another has made or perhaps due to them being a fair distance from where we are at any one time, we’ve finally got a number of rooms functional in the centres (still waiting on the configuration files for our more complex setup we had built for us in a Lecture Space last year though…) and myself and my dear colleague are rapidly trying to learn our way around it all so we can be ready to deploy it.

I’ve also had the opportunity to dabble in alternate realities of both the augmented and mixed variety (VR is still on the bucket list!) with development for mobiles and tablets starting this week in a basic form with our new styled room guides and experiencing, albeit with some tweaking, patience, without any texturing on it and it flying around the room as I tried to get the hang of the transform controls, one of the models I built of our classroom chairs that makes a debut in some of our earlier testing content for Digital Signage, my eLearning package for our AV Training program come to life through the “3D Viewer BETA” app on the Hololens Developer Edition headset

 

Holoens in Context

Kind of what it looked like in context

Not bad for someone at a junior level eh? Better yet, I’m also going into next week with half an idea of what the week should look like in the ideal world.Whether it’ll happen or not is another story, but you never know what’s around the corner until you come to it (unless you have a periscope).

Now understandably, I realise it’s easier said than done sometimes. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I know I’ve got to make some pretty big decisions soon for all sorts of reasons. It reminds me a lot of Hoobastank’s song of whom the title of this week’s post is based on. Whilst the actual interpretation of the song itself is yet to be revealed by the band, I interpret it in a similar manner to the ideas I based a song on for a uni assignment named “The Middle of the Day” (still available to listen here). But if we stand still, we’ll never know the outcome and may spend forever cursing the missed opportunity. So take the risk, make your choice and thank yourself that you moved forward a little bit today.

Chin up, we’ll get through tomorrow if we’re prepared to get it all done before we veg out and we’ll be back in the saddle before we know it.

Good Luck!

Mike

The Year of Doing

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So I’m sure a week and a bit in you’re probably sick to death of hearing ‘Happy New Year!’ every 5 minutes and you’re at that state where you’re either revelling in your new found activity you’ve chosen to take up or you’re regretting those weird, wonderful and/or drunken resolutions you pledged to do on the big night (I for one still stand by my tweet that I will learn AD&D this year starting with Boulder’s Gate and go on to face the more gruelling chambers in the main RPG story-lines in time).

This year, I’m trying to push myself into doing more of the wild and crazy things I consider. Last year was one of healing, moving and adapting – where many things were pushed back due to financial or work commitments and when the time finally came back around, the motivation to get back to it was replaced by laziness or procrastination. This year for me will be “The Year of Doing”. Now I know that’s a little cliché as it’s what everyone does say before things inevitably fizzle out, but this time I’m not focussing on the success, I’m focusing on the getting up off my arse and making those wheels turn. If it fails, it fails, if it succeeds all the better. The important thing is whatever was hypothesised or proposed, it was done or at least attempted to be done. As motivation to help fuel this, many things have been announced on the main Rose Tinted Archer blog and if it’s big and project related, I’ll keep on telling you all, so you can hold me to keep you informed!

I hope to apply the mantra to my everyday ideas and decisions too (which is convenient being at a bit of a crossroads on a couple of things in life), and if you’re like me and can struggle with motivation sometimes I encourage you to do the same. Write down what you want to achieve this year in a format similar to a bucket list – it could be big or small, from making that big move to a new place to starting your new diet to asking out that person you pass in the library every week for a beverage. Try to keep it realistic though as you’ve only got 12 months to do it in (or at least start it) and you’re going to have to try and stick to it! If you think you’ll break easily, maybe add a forfeit to keep yourself motivated – almost like a swear jar collection or a regular treat or yourself in your house which you either give to charity or reinvest in your resolution. If you want even more motivation, flip it so you have a reward of sorts to enjoy at the end of the year and each time you fail, you remove a portion of it.

Whatever you’ve chosen to take on this year I hope you manage to keep to it and I wish you all the best for the 51 weeks ahead.

 

Mike

The 2017 Roast Toast

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So this is it. The beginning of a new year. To some that would probably be a sigh of relief, because let’s be honest 2016 wasn’t exactly the cliché answer to the hopes of “better than 2015” or “the best year ever!” globally.

We’ve lost a good few famous people this year (owing to the baby boomer generation starting to reach and exceed the general life expectancy) arguably half of the UK were disappointed with the Referendum result on our EU membership and the populous of the US who didn’t vote for Donald Trump with the result of the election for the next president over there. We’ve also been exposed to more news on the Middle Eastern conflicts, particularly with #Aleppo making a trend on Twitter as well as some of the scarier demonstrations of the so called Islamic State on the world.

But it wasn’t all bad! There were many good that occurred too. For those that supported Trump and Brexit, congratulations on the history defining moments. For Children in Need, Revelmode, Project For Awesome and many more, congratulations on raising phenomenal amounts of money for various charities to help those around the world that need that extra bit of support right now. Congratulations to Felix Kjellberg (aka Pewdiepie) for continuing to define history for the internet’s largest video platform by reaching and surpassing 50 Million Subscribers to your content (51,766,646 at the time of writing) and maintaining the most subscribed individual on ‘popular’ social media at the moment (feel free to correct me otherwise).

I feel proud of my own achievements this year, from coordinating my first place to live outside of work, relationships & university accommodation from start to finish (with continued thanks to my wonderful parents and their amazing partners for the kind help in getting set up) to getting back onto the internet and setting up a place to share content with you all again (as well as setting the crazy task of trying to run 4 regular blogs on different topics!), to participating in providing live sound support and mixing advice for our largest filmed multimedia project to rebuild part of our Mandatory training for staff using our in house designed “Living the Values” series of videos with help from professional actors and scriptwriters, to setting up, compiling and running the largest live multimedia project we’ve done to date for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals we | awards 2016 and working with our partners at Pure AV to help put on a great show for our Workforce and Education Directorate, to finishing and now polishing up my completely overhauled and now blended training programme for AV compliance within the Health Academy (that may only expand further in scope and levels), to sitting here right now and writing out this essay of a post and hoping it doesn’t sound totally lame for and end of year post (that ironically is published the day after).

But that’s just me.

I sincerely hope that whatever your plans are tonight be it partying with friends, family, the TV or total strangers, or indeed just going to bed and waking up in the new year, I really hope you have a wonderful evening and I wish you all… (not the best, cause many of us said that last year and that didn’t go so well!) … a prosperous and productive new year with opportunity, hope and happiness and that you can look back on 2016 with the same or greater pride that despite all that has happened over the last 12 months you made your mark on the world and wrote some history of your own.

Here’s to 2017, I’ll see you on the other side

Mike

The Decembertide Roast 2016

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Well,  we’ve finally made it here after a long and challenging year. The first Decembertide Roast and it’s on a big day itself!

Speaking of big,  looking back on the year we’ve certainly had big events occur both in real life and online affecting people across the world and challenging thinking for the future ahead.

With all this in the back of my mind,  I’m thankful this December time for one constant in my life that hasn’t changed –  family. We all have ‘family’  in different forms,  be it the one we’re born into,  the one were fostered or adopted into, our closest friends we can call brothers and sisters,  our fraternal or sororal relations or even our respective religious congregations.

Whilst my biological family is spread out all over the country,  Christmas is a time when we all get in touch and come together to wish season’s greetings to each other and to eat and drink and laugh too much.  It’s also a good excuse for a quick catch up to find out how everybody is doing on the occasion we’ve not spoken in a while.

For friendship,  Christmas can also be a good time with many of us in different places since leaving school and taking advantage of either my birthday on the summer and almost certainly my oldest friend Richard Dooley‘s birthday to enjoy a Christmas catch up.

When you look towards the other large  holiday that begins from today (thanks for the correction!), Hanukkah and Kwanzaa that begins tomorrow,  the theme of family is also crucial,  with celebrations happening daily that should always be experienced with the ones we love.

I realise though that not everybody has the same privilege of this (for sake of a better term)  ‘on tap’ and at this time of year,  we should always extend the hand of friendship.

If you have close family and friends you can keep in touch with,  regardless of your religious or non religious holiday, this time of the year is about spending it with them in some capacity, be it just a phone call, a Skype session or inviting them around for Christmas day (or just tea or you prefer). It’s often easy to forget,  particularly in our high speed 24 hour modern lifestyles and worth social media taking centre stage is easy to make an excuse that you’ll tag them in a post and say Happy Hanukkah/Christmas/Other holiday  and thinking that’ll do or just asking “Habari gani? ” and hoping somebody will reply to your tweet.  But as the priest in my mother and her partner’s Catholic Church said this morning in the Christmas Day sermon,  we sometimes need to simply stop to appreciate and to reflect.

Those we call our family are out closest connections. These are the people who will love you unconditionally and will morally  be the people that are always be there when nobody else is, so perhaps use this time of year to celebrate and cultivate those connections.

If you know somebody who might be spending Christmas alone this year,  why not invite them around for a bit. If you’re not quite comfortable inviting them into your home, then meet somewhere neutral like a café or a park. I’ve done part of Christmas alone before and whilst you get that Home Alone feeling for the morning, it really does suck later on. Nobody should have to deal with it if they didn’t choose to.

If you wish you could take an alternative route and  volunteer over Christmas and help make a complete stranger’s Christmas. Organisations and groups such as soup kitchens,  shelters The Salvation Army and religious organisations will all be out working on the big day and over the period to help those in need.  You never know you might just help yourself with that fuzzy feeling too.

Whatever your plans this year,  I really hope everybody has a wonderful and peaceful time this year full of love laughter cheer and celebration.

So Merry Christmas,  Xmas and  Happy Hanukkah and Habari gani for tomorrow, Seasons Greetings to all who’s celebrations I’m yet to learn of  and I wish you all a splendid Decembertide.

Mike

Wrapping Up

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In the final week before Christmas, I’ve finally decided to make an effort to make my flat look a little bit festive in the downstairs area (despite not really getting visitors nor actually being here for Christmas itself), write cards, and do my shopping for family gifts. It’s also the time for me to actually put my plans into action so I can travel across the country and see said people over the holidays.

Online-wise, preparations are underway to write up as much content for those of you who  read the blogs  whilst I’m on the move and future planning for projects and content in the new year – more of which I’ll announce soon.

For many of you I’m sure it’ll be much of the same craziness  and more – getting those last few presents wrapped, ensuring you know where you’re going or what time people will be arriving on the big day –  who to phone and who will call you. Some of you might even be doing Christmas,  Hanukkah,  Kwanzaa or [insert your celebration here]  online with family and friends across the world.

Whatever your plans,  it’s important not to lose sight of it all. Yes, the weather seems to be taking its toll,  your Menorah seems to be mysteriously a candle short,  the 200 lamp tree lights went out thanks to a mystery fitting  and despite trekking out and braving the crowds  you’re panicking because your son or daughter has changed their mind again about something they want Santa to bring. The important thing is ensuring you have your time with your family,  friends and significant others and if you’re religiously or culturally aligned,  you remember the values and cultures of this December season.

Also once everyone inevitably decides to drop into a food coma,  drunken stupor or just melt into watching the specials on TV ,  or you’re bored of spinning the dreidel,  don’t forget to sign on next week as I will be posting a Christmas Roast. Don’t worry,  it won’t be (too much)  of a Queen’s speech or Alternative  Christmas Message,  but just a more festive post and of course a follow up on New Year’s Day.

For now I wish you a all a Merry Christmas (or  Xmas is you prefer),  Happy Hanukkah for those celebrating from the 26th onwards and for those celebrating Kwanzaa  (also from the 26th onwards),  “Habari gani?” To the rest of you celebrating smaller celebrations I’m yet to learn of,  or perhaps something a little more personal this December,  Seasons Greetings to you, and I’ll speak to you all again soon.

Mike

Projects of Awesome

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Does it remind you of something?

This last month has been a pretty incredible one for giving.  I know charity events happen all the year round with some occurring monthly,  but there’s something about this time of year that makes it feel really special.  I’m not sure whether it’s just the historical values of events and telethons,  but this year has been really special for it.

For us in the UK,  it was the BBC’s first Children in Need last month  without Terry Wogan and whilst the content and operations  of this year’s show divided opinion online and I’m sure offline too, I won’t deny that the tributes were moving to a man who gave it his all since day 1 and the new award given is a great lasting tribute  in honour and memory of the attitude and drive he gave to the cause. We also had bonfire night in early November with many events around the UK raising money through these events to go to charities too.

In the last month I was fortunate to have time to see the YouTube based  charity  livestream by YouTuber Markiplier and co for the US based support platform Crisis Text Line which raised over US $110k,  as well seeing as a large portion of the network he’s under,  Revelmode, who held a stream including him and fellow network YouTubers Pewdiepie,  Emma Blackery and Jacksepiticeye raising over  $1.3m for the charity (RED) whom are dedicated to funding research in the fight to end AIDS and dropping on when I  could on the massive 48hr livestream by John and Hank Green and co,  better known by their YouTube name ‘vlogbrothers’ and  famous  Project For Awesome, which I had previously heard of years ago,  big only found out what it actually was last year and got the opportunity to catch it a couple of hours in onwards this year.  This project raised over $2m this year (at the time of writing) in its 10th anniversary,  most of which will go to user submitted and voted for charities in grants for the top voted ones (the remainder going to their nominated partners for the year) in the joint fight to help end “World Suck”.

I also know they’ll be many more events coming particularly with many carol services being charity oriented as well as well as the work of organisations such as the Salvation Army amongst many others  giving up their time to help those in need this Christmas not to feel alone or to suffer in silence.
With events like these, it’s hard to ignore in times like these that amongst all the hate and uncertainty many of us are facing there us still humanity out there working hard to keep people alive and either well or on the way to being so and it gives us hope that,  as Albus Dumbledore would put it that,  “Happiness can be found,  even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light”.

Happy Sunday  everyone.
Mike

Offline

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So, for the last two weeks my work life has been pretty hectic in the run up to our annual directorate awards, the contents of which are described in the Friday Mike Project blog published earlier on and will be continued on Wednesday.

After working on each day, I left work still feeling buzzed and ready to continue on (mainly to try and finish the vast workload of the awards, partly slowed with the responsibilities of the rest of my role as well as hoping to try and catch up with the tasks falling behind (2 of which will have to be completed tomorrow or Tuesday). Following the advice of my line manager however I tried to disengage, which was wise as in doing so I realised how tired I felt after a hard day’s work.

This weekend I also tried to take time for myself post awards (which is partly why this post is late as was the FMP one due yesterday) as physically and mentally I crashed around 2am yesterday morning after being on the go for 20 hours and busy all week.

Whilst I really enjoy the events we put on each year, I’ve learned over time how it’s important to take time to take a break. Even if it’s just for a few minutes to a few days depending on how long you’ve been going for it. If you don’t, eventually your body will do it for you (eg: You crash or brownout/burnout) and will remain ‘offline’ until you’re in a position to go for it again.

With good health and well-being you may over time be able to increase your limit, but it’s important to learn where your limit is and despite the warning to not overdo it, I think it’s important for you to do it once in your life (which you inevitably will when you discover said limit) so you learn from it. I wouldn’t recommend doing it deliberately due to what will be an unexpected consequence, but to know when it happens and to look after yourself so you know how to prevent it in the future.

I know it sounds cliché, but my advice this week is the same thing my parents tell me on an annoyingly regular basis – take care of yourself (because then, your body will take care of you).

Have a good week everyone,

Mike

“If I could build, it’d be somthin’ new”

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Cheesy line I know, but after this week’s opportunities and the previous feeling I got building up the Steam Machine mentioned in my Friday blog posts I’ve found a sense of happiness in creating things or building anew again. This week through building this year’s award ceremony for my directorate at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals as well as having a say on the rig for it to be played back on and designing our own local setup for said rig, helping to set up one new Amazon Fire Stick for a friend and troubleshoot another, slowly plan out the future for the network (sorry for some of the random design choices in the process) and come up with new projects for things very close and one smaller and another big project for the future to hopefully be hosted on the site here.

It’s quite motivating from seeing the success of my friends lately, such as (to name but a few)  the premier of a recent composition by a dear former coursemate and housemate from university, Mr Ben Fowler (MA), being diffused in the newly refurbished Middleton Hall at the University of Hull, the TV spot of another School friend, Mr Lamar Francois, on local station Notts TV and the release of his latest calender with a selection of his own work on each month and the front cover, The not so, but recent enough announcement that my other old coursemate and housemate, Mr Tom Wright, will be working on the sequel to the first game he got to work on, No More Room in Hell 2 and the brother of one (for there are many) of my oldest friends from years I’m scared to count making it big playing stadiums across the country and the continent on tour with Rationale, the unbelievably talented Mr Dino Franchi.

With these successes, it’s given me a sense of real drive, to go beyond the wild thoughts in my head and to climb out of the pit I entered in 2014 of not pushing myself anymore to focus on my former partner’s dreams and the inevitable rut I then went into after we parted ways, despite having the opportunity to seize the day there and then.

So expect big things coming this way soon, once I’ve gotten over the insanity of the never ending high capacity workload that’s currently consuming all my energy in my day role.

Happy Sunday all and I wish you a productive week!

Mike

(Many) Holidays Are Coming

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As we reach the end of the year, many national and international holidays alike for people are coming. With the launch of the many retail adverts (in the UK we had the Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, ASDA and Aldi ones hitting YouTube and TV screens nationwide) and the famous Coca Cola adverts (normally the year’s rendition of  ‘Holidays are Coming’ being the biggest one), it’s no secret that Christmas is on it’s way (though I think it’s still too early for decorations!!) as well as Hannukah for the Jewish also approaching. Following this there’s Hogmany for the Scottish and New Year to come. Previous to all of this too, there’s Thanksgiving this Thursday for the USA and Black Friday following for both us and the Americans. Finally, between all this there’s the Christian (but not public holiday) Observance December 8th for Canada for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the Prophet’s Birthday for Muslims on the 12th.

So that’s plenty for the world to look forward to and it’s no wonder that this time of year is focused on family and friends.

I hope everyone that’s reading has some great plans to get together this year. I know it’s cliché to say, but let’s also spare some thoughts for those whom it might not be an easy option. Two years ago, I experienced what it was like to experience Christmas on my own due to a series of complex communications and bad timings. Albeit my experience was under completely different circumstances (I had food, presents and some contact with both parents and limited contact with my former partner – I won’t lie that it did get lonely through the day and I can’t even begin to imagine what those in far worse circumstances will be going through. So if you have time, do something special for those who may be facing struggle this season.

Be it inviting someone you know over for the celebrations to spend time with you, volunteering at kitchens for the homeless and less fortunate, saying prayers to your respective God(s) or giving to charities such as the Salvation Army who will be out supporting those in Need this December, any help will both be good for you and will really make someone’s Christmas this season (whether they meet you or it’s more of a Secret Santa). Just the same way Christians believe we were given the gift of God’s son over 2,000 years ago, we as people should extend the hand of family and friendship out to as many people as we can – especially to those whom 2016 hasn’t been their greatest year, just in the same way you surely hope you’ll be treated this season (no matter how selfless we all try to be!), whatever you celebrate.

Hope you all have a wonderful week, Happy Thanksgiving to you in the USA and be careful out there on Black Friday! (I’ll be sticking to the Internet personally).

 

Mike

 

 

Just A Thought

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This week has been one of remembrance for many. For Americans a historic period came to an end on the 9th November and Veterans Day took place on the 11th. On the same day in Britain and the commonwealth Armistice Day occurred with Remembrance Sunday following today. At the time of writing, I’ve also heard that New Zealand has had a powerful earthquake with a Tsunami to follow.

Based on the theme of ‘Rethink Remembrance’ by the Royal British Legion this year, here are some thoughts for this week.

In today’s busy world it’s easy to pass things by that are happening around us, only to stop and remember when big events happen. It’s interesting though that as the years go on it’s easier for many people to ‘forget’ or to not understand the importance of stopping and taking time to think. It’s easy to think disasters happen all the time and to remember everybody’s incidents would mean stopping everyday. That may be the case in a multicultural society with different historical disasters both national and close to home, but does size matter?

Before you answer, take time to think on what I mean by size – it could be a family member that went to war. It wasn’t a world war, but fighting nonetheless and they never made it back. If that was your family member, it would be a huge deal to you so take that time to remember. For others it may have been a different war than battles and conflict and may be a loved one fighting for their life over disease. Whatever the case when it’s close to home it definitely hurts more.

With the bigger events, to some it might on face value not seem as big a deal if they weren’t directly affected (e.g: If their family wasn’t in service or part of an incident, or if they were it was several generations up). However these are just the same as if you lost your loved one, for many people across the world, or may still be alive and struggling now – be it in action or in hospital or even after a situation and feeling the after effects of disease, service or a disaster.

Whatever the situation, use this Sunday to respect those that have fought well, to protect themselves, to protect us and to protect each other, much in same way you might hope be remembered for safeguarding your own future.

For Brits, whether you’re a supporter of our current defence force activities or not, these men and women gave their lives for us in both world wars and in more recent conflicts to help keep us safe and to keep us where we are today both in other countries and close to home. So whether you took your 2 minutes on the 11th (which I sadly missed in resolving an incident), today at 11 (which I didn’t) or both, or even in your own time – remember those who were there for us long before we even knew it.

In addition to remembering, where you can, reach out to those in need either through donation, though physical or verbal support or to just let them know that you’re there.

For those outside of Britain with your own days of memorial and honour, remember those that have kept you and are keeping you here today and spare just a thought and rethink remembrance for those in conflict or struggle right now or grieving battles of all shapes and sizes from the past and present when you see them and you’ll soon find that all of our battles matter just as much.

Happy Sunday all and Never Forget.

'Remembrance Day' by Petr Kratochvil. Used under Public Domain

‘Remembrance Day’ by Petr Kratochvil. Used under Public Domain

Mike