Keeping up the blogging momentum…as suggested in the WordPress daily photo challenge…today’s theme is oceans…
Oh…too late…
These were taken at the Moeraki Boulders, just south of Oamaru in the South Island of New Zealand, in 2005…
One of the suggestions in the WordPress Daily/Weekly Post challenge is to Conduct an interview for your blog, with some tips and a suggested question list on SuccessBlogNet. I have a short but slowly evolving list of potential interviewees and I’m thinking of maybe making this a periodic feature…first up, though, I thought I’d interview me to see what it feels like…
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Brought up in a small town in South Island of New Zealand; long time military career…really…most of its in the ‘about me’ tab just up there ^…
Why is there a picture of two dogs at the top of the post?
I always like to have at least one picture in every post, usually at the top. That’s Lulu and Kirk, my two helpers when I work from home…
How you first got involved in with blogging?
Just bumbled into it…have spent a lot of time over the years since the internet became really accessible here around 96 or 97 on discussion boards but hadn’t really spent much time in the blogosphere until 2009…my biggest inspirations were the blog used by the COIN Center at Fort Leavenworth, Travels with Shiloh (link just over there on the right), and Peter Hodge’s much-missed The Strategist (sadly Peter pulled the pin on this when he went overseas last year). Since I found WordPress, it’s really just been a trial and error fumbling-in-the-dark process…
What do you find most challenging about blogging about your topic?
Having the time to write…it was OK late 09 and early 10 when I took a sabbatical from full-time work and could devote 2-3 hours a day to researching and writing mini-essays but once I returned to work mid-10, I have had to work really hard to maintain an output. Of course, to a certain extent that is self-inflicted as I am still a bit of a blog fuddy-duddy and keep forgetting that I can draft and pre-schedule posts instead of writing them live…the ability of Windows Live Writer to draft posts offline is slowly getting me more organised in this area…
Tell me about some of the people you’ve met while working on your blog?
I’ve ‘met’ a bunch of people through the blog as brief contacts…I’m not much good at keeping in touch unless I have something to say…Dean and Peter mentioned above would be the two main long-term connections I have maintained since starting to blog – until Peter broke up the team by putting real world before blog! Just kidding! But of those I have ‘met’ briefly most have only added to my positive experiences of the blogosphere – the exceptions really being a few minor acolytes of Mike Yon who break out the torches and pitchforks every time someone offers a differing opinion to his…
How would (someone) describe your blogging style?
Structured…I probably think too much about what I’m writing instead of just emoting directly into the blog and that does really slow me down (not always a bad thing!) – I still feel like I should be writing as for an essay or formal paper and that’s NOT what this form of communicating is really about…
What do you do when you aren’t working on your blog?
What my wife tells me to do!!! As above, the blog takes a back seat to work although there are some logical cross-overs in the COIN/Irregular Activity area. When I work more from home in the summer, there is a ton of (mostly self-inflicted) work to do around the house and when the weather’s nice, blogging also takes a back seat to that – I’d love to do more after dark but after a day’s working (work work) online AND some solid hours working outside, I’m pretty shagged…last night I didn’t even make it through Bones and work up on the couch around 1pm…fortunately it’s a very comfortable and large couch so no back pains or anything…
Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into blogging and why?
Define ‘fulltime’…does blogging rule my life or is it my number one activity…nope. I’m aiming at one decent (yeah, define ‘decent’) post a week (the WordPress post a week challenge is a great catalyst) and normally make that. Decent = a substantial proportion of my own thoughts/work not just a bunch of pictures or borrowed material. If I could, I like to write a 1500-2000 word post twice a week…
What networking do you do that you feel helps your blogging business?
Hmmm…trick question? For me, blogging’s not a business although I occasionally use it to promote business’ that I think are worthy of attention, and those I am connected with like Hawkeye UAV and FX Bikes…am a bit of a sucker for cool Kiwi entrepreneurs…to promote the blog, I have the url in my signature in places as diverse as Paper Modelers and Small Wars Journal, in my email signature block, and also most places where I might offer up some comment from time to time. I don’t actively promote the blog other than through those means and being aware of key words that the searchbots like…my biggest ‘hits’ days have been through searches for Masterchef, quadding my hit rate for over a week when Masterchef 2011 kicked off here…
How do you keep coming up with material/content for your blog? Many people struggle with coming up with different articles/posts and they only have one blog.
I subscribe to enough feeds from around the place to get more than enough stimuli to write…although we ding-dong occasionally, I find a get a lot of good cues off Mike Yon’s Facebook page; next after this would probably be items posted for discussion at the Small Wars Council…
What’s your strategy with your blog in general?
Ummm…you think I should have one…? Will give that some thought…it’s more a tool or a means than an end in its own right so I’ve never really thought about in that light…it’s not like I’m planning on using it to take over the world or anything…plus Dean (aka Dr Karma) already promised me a good job when he makes his bid for world domination…although, your Karma-ness, overlord of Australia…? I was expecting something a little more up-market, you know…longest serving minion (after Shiloh) at all that…in-humour, I’m sorry to any not signed up to Dean’s FB page and all of that will mean nothing and he probably meant for it to be a surprise…
What would you prioritize? Content? SEO? Traffic? Readers?
Content because it’s my soapbox and it’s all about me; then readers – one always likes to feel if not needed then at least not totally ignored; then the rest of that stuff…
What’s the best thing a blogger can give to his readers?
A. Entertainment. and/or b. something that might in some small way be useful to them…
A lot of people are interested in blogging for the money earning potential. What are some tips for people interesting in making money from blogging? What are some realistic expectations in regards to what can be made?
Don’t know…not really that interested…the big turn-off for me are those sites that are so dominated by ads, that it is difficult to determine what is content and what is mere marketing spam…
Do you think Pagerank plays a vital role in a blog’s life?
Honest answer…don’t really care; an even more honest answer would be I have no idea what you just said…
What has been your strategy for creating visibility to yourself and your blog?
Are you listening to me…really…? See what I said about re networking – that applies here as well – so does the strategy bit…please pay attention…I notice you’re not taking any notes – do you have a super-memory or am I just boring you…?
What was the most challenging moment in your blog content development process and why?
When I disagreed with a paper that Adam Elkus wrote and he came to my blog to discuss it…a real crisis of confidence: if that hadn’t gone well, I probably would have binned the blog and gone back into my hole. he was really good though and just wanted to put his POV…second would be when they added me to the blogroll at Snall Wars Council and that was like, wow, big leagues…I really need to up my game now…or just run away…so far game-upping seems to be working…
Everyone has a favorite/least favorite post. Name yours and why?
My favourite, because of the picture and not some much my content would be The Big Gun – Michael Yon’s up close and personal shot with the cannon on the A-10 is brilliant…least favourite? There are a few that I was less than satisfied with for one reason or another but no specific ‘un-favourites’…
What’s your take on sponsored reviews?
Paid advertising – I hate them…
Name some of the bloggers whom you look up to and why?
It’d be those in the blogroll – I’m not interested in a blogroll four miles long so I keep it pretty short and think long and hard before adding another one to the list…all of those bloggers are people who in one way or another inspire me…
If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would suggest?
Shop around the blog hosts before you commit – if you want a good soapbox, WordPress is tops; if you want to try to blogging for money, try elsewhere unless to want to self-host right from the start – NOT RECOMMENDED for noobs…
Start small and slow…don’t unload all your best ideas in the first week.
Stick with it and don’t given up because your daily hits seem stuck in single figures.
Write about the things that you are passionate about…eventually, if you write it, they will come…usually, so long as your passion is not so obscure that you’re the sole member of the groupie club…
A Bath?
Yep…like to finish with a photo too…this was in a house we looked at buying over Napier way a couple of years ago when we wanted to get a bit closer to civilisation. Decided that civilisation was over-rated so stayed where are near the Spiral…a good bath really makes a house though…
These are taken in the last couple of weeks during test flying in Europe…
Classy… but THESE old girls have got SOUL!!!
Be a sad day when the last of the Whok-Whoks go…
The two minute silence at 1251 this afternoon was pretty chilling…I’m at home alone so who was to know if I didn’t observe it but when the sound on the TV went off exactly at 1251 and they just screened the pictures of Christchurch, it was just stunning…being somewhat rural, there was no sound at all for two minutes…really a moment to reflect…
Unfortunately not everyone’s getting into the national, indeed global, spirit of things for Christchurch, as seen on today’s updates on the NZ Herald site:
Dick #1
Council of Trade Unions secretary Peter Conway says the Government’s initial earthquake assistance package does not go far enough as it doesn’t seem to cover people who can’t work because of the personal impact of the earthquake.
He says children are off school, people’s homes are in a terrible state in some circumstances and there are transport problems preventing people from getting to work.
You think the Government isn’t well aware of that? How about coughing up some dosh from the union funds
Dick #2
Labour Leader Phil Goff says the Christchurch earthquake should not be used “as an excuse to sell off our valuable assets”.
He says cutting financial assistance to families and students in other parts of New Zealand would slow the economy.
“All New Zealanders are prepared to stand together and shoulder the financial burden of the recovery.”
OK, Phil, off the soapbox! How dare you use this disaster to push party political broadcasts!! We’ll all do what we need to do to rebuild and if that’s means so other areas of the economy need to take a back seat for a while, so be it…
Dick #3
More power to you guys...!!!!
An Auckland T-shirt company trying to raise money for earthquake-affected Christchurch charities has been ordered to stop using the phrase “Kia Kaha Christchurch” because it breaches a trademark held by another clothing label.
Wellington-based label Kia Kaha issued the cease and desist notice to Mr Vintage today.
Mr Vintage notified potential customers of the situation on its Facebook page, which prompted a storm of condemnation from followers.
Mr Vintage founder Robert Ewan told NZPA it was a disappointing situation but he did not want to make it a big issue.
“I think it’s more about Christchurch and helping them, rather than getting into a battle with Kia Kaha.”
Mr Vintage had already raised $11,000 from two other T-shirt designs and Mr Vintage would produce another T-shirt, not using the Kia Kaha phrase, for Christchurch, he said.
Kia Kaha is also producing Christchurch T-shirts, with proceeds going to the Red Cross Earthquake Appeal.
Managing director Dan Love could not be contacted for comment.
Kia Kaha, which was established in 1994, gained international attention when it teamed up with golfer Michael Campbell, who went on to win the 2005 US Open Golf Tournament, wearing his design on the company’s gear.
Saving the best til last – who do these people think they are – for those not in the know, Kia Kaha is a common New Zealand phrase that means forever strong…it is used in various mottos and sayings, by groups with far more history and mana than this bunch of loosers, Kia Kaha Clothing in Wellington…feel free to click the link and let them know what you think of this petty selfishness – conversely, there’s a link in the quote to the Mr Vintage Facebook page – pop in and give them some moral support…they make you embarrassed to be a New Zealander, more so when they are doing it to other New Zealanders…so just for them:
…and effu, Kia Kaha clothing…
40 Squadron B757 at Christchurch Airport
As at Saturday 26 February 2011, more than 1400 New Zealand Defence Force personnel are now committed to the earthquake response efforts in Christchurch City.
NZ Army personnel and their Singapore Armed Forces counterparts are continuing to provide the 24/7 cordon around the central city, with security patrols also in place in the suburbs of Bexley and Waltham.
"Hey, you fellas want to swap patrol cars for the night? Ours has got flashing lights..." "Nah, bro, sorry, ours has got a jug and a cooker..."
HMNZS Canterbury in Lyttleton Harbour
Good old Canterbury…despite all the bad things the uninformed said about her, she’s certainly proved her worth this week…at the beginning of the week she was only named for a patch of ground between some lines on a map; at the end of the week, she now carries a name synonymous with the spirit of a people…
Karl, Carla‘s partner, has shared with those who could not attend her service, the eulogy that Carla prepared before she passed on…
Dear friends and loved ones
As I contemplated this memorial service, I felt great gratitude in my heart that each one of you would be here to say good bye to me. Many of you have shared your kindness, warmth, and love with me during these last several months. I would like to say thank you and also share with you the lessons I have learned through my experience.
I have profoundly experienced that love is all that matters. Like many people I occasionally had gotten caught in my pettiness and selfishness, thinking I always knew the right answer. While I judged others, I have also judged myself even more harshly. But what I have learned is that we carry within ourselves an abundant wisdom and love that allows us to heal our weary hearts and judgmental minds.
During the time of my illness I have learned to love more deeply than ever before. My heart feels as if it has exploded. I do not hold or carry any anger. I feel that we are all doing the best we can. Judging others only closes one’s heart, and when time is limited, that is a waste of precious sharing. Life is how we stand in relationship to both ourselves and others. Loving and helping each other is all that is important.
There is certain naturalness to the cycle of life and death, and for whatever reason it is my time to pass on, even though I am young. It is ok. It is right and natural. Life is not about how long we live, but how we live, and I have had a good life. I accept my passing as part of the wondrous process of life.
My sadness is that I am leaving you. I will miss the deep comfort and love of gently waking up in Karl’s arms. I will miss Michael waking me up for blueberry pancakes and not being able to fulfill our future dreams together. I will miss the sunny days of fishing with Karl and barbequing with Justin. I will miss giggling with my sister over life’s little impasses. How appreciative I feel when I think of my sister’s faith and how she always encouraged me.
As I lay here I think of all of you, each special in your own way. I have loved and shared this life with you. I reluctantly give up walking on this beautiful planet where every step is a prayer. The glistening sun on the trees, the sound of a brook as it makes its way down a mountain, the serenity and beauty of a gentle snowfall, sitting staring at my garden and catching a glimpse of eternity, these are the things I have loved.
Whenever a difficulty presents itself think of it as a gift, something begging to be seen or understood. Try to find your own way to trust in God.
I ask you to take care of your health you are riding around in this incredible vehicle. It is not only respectable but critical if you are going to fully enjoy the ride. No matter what state your health is in be grateful. There are lessons to be learned even in illness.
I believe in order to fully understand ourselves to grow, grieve, change, and fully enjoy life we must fully open our hearts to others.
I have tried to be a good friend to all of you. I have tried to bring something into this world that may no longer have my name on it when I leave, but has brought comfort, encouragement and a spark in to your lives. I am very grateful that you all have loved me.
Please do not think that I have lost a battle with cancer, for I have won the challenge of life. I have shared an unconditional love; I have opened to the mystery of the Holy Spirit and feel that divinity is around us every day. It provides us with a path on which our spirit may take flight.
Chief Crazy Horse said upon his final battle “it is a good day to die because all of the things of my life are present”. That is how I feel as I think of the abundance, adventure, opportunity and love in my life. When you think of me know that my spirit has taken flight and that I love you all.
Carla
Happy days
Despite all the pain and sadness in Christchurch, I couldn’t help a smile when I came across this sponsored link while researching last night:
Discover Christchurch Get 50-90% Off Restaurants, Spas, & Events In Christchurch. Sign-Up! www.LivingSocial.com
This picture is from the September earthquake but is the only one I could find that shows together, the two men who have been exhibiting great leadership since 1250 yesterday afternoon…on the left, Mayor Bob Parker, and beside him, Prime Minister, John Key. I don’t follow Christchurch politics that closely and my main experience pre-quakes of Bob Parker is of many years ago when he was a top game show host. Certainly in the last six months, he has displayed that he definitely has other attributes as well…
In John Key, New Zealand is lucky to have a leader (in all senses of the word) fit to fill Helen Clark’s shoes, after a long line of rather lack-lustre prime ministers dating back into the early 80s…Rob Muldoon and before him, Norman Kirk were the last real leaders we had from back then. The PM addressed the nation at 1130 and, as I commented at the time, I don’t know if John Key writes his own material or not, but these are great words very well delivered…
Today I want Christchurch to hear this message:
You will get through this.
This proud country is right behind you and we are backing you with all our might.
The world is with us.
Our Australian neighbours, our British and American friends, the great countries of this world, all are putting their shoulder to your wheel. They are sending their support, their expertise, their people to help us.
Christchurch, today is the day your great comeback begins.
Though your buildings are broken, your streets awash, and your hearts are aching, your great spirit will overcome.
While nature has taken much from you, it can not take your survivor’s spirit.
This devastating event marks the beginning of a long journey for your city.
It will be a journey that leads us from ruins and despair to hope and new opportunities. From great hardship will come great strength.
It will be a difficult journey, but progress is certain, things will get better, Christchurch will rise again.
Full text [PDF: John Key Chch speech 23 Feb 2011 ]
On leadership at the other end of the scale, my old mate, Dusty from Signals Platoon days in Burnham (from which I have many many fond memories of Christchurch, less of Aylsebury Road though…more of those perhaps in a night or two) was in the Square when the quake hit yesterday and his first-hand account is on his blog today…Another day another disaster [PDF: SecurityNZ_ Another day another disaster! ]…I don’t necessarily agree with his thoughts on Civil Defence screw-ups but we’re sorta at opposite ends of the scale on that one, Dusty’s always been the ‘dive in, boots’n’all’ sort and I’ve been more concerned with trying to blend all sorts of disparate and often conflicting information into a coherent picture…I dare say I’ll hear from him soon if I got that wrong but as I commented on his Facebook page, yesterday he did the old ONWARDs proud…
The NZ Herald has a page on which it publishes regular updates on Christchurch…it reads like a tragic diary…this is one of the best ways to keep tabs on what happening down there… [PDF: Christchurch quake timeline 23 Feb 2011 ]
Last night I chatted to a friend who commented that it was good to see the good press for the much (but unfairly) maligned HMNZS Canterbury which had been in Lyttleton during the earthquake and which was able to provide immediate assistance to the people of Lyttleton while offloading its cargo of soldiers and LAVs to assist Police efforts. A number of civilians also over-nighted in Canterbury’s medical facility while being treated for injuries from the quake. A comment was made that at least our amphibious vessel was able to assist our civil defence efforts unlike the three RAN vessels which are tied up with rust.
Thus it was interesting to read this commentary on the Australia-New Zealand relationship when it popped into the inbox this morning…The Kiwi as puny predator – the author does so well right up to his last two paragraphs…
Whenever the talk turns to taking trans-Tasman integration further, such symbols are placed on the table. On the economic front, Wellington confronts the free rider dilemma – the ride is never really free. It’s a matter of what you’re prepared to sacrifice. In a column for the New Zealand Herald, Fran O’Sullivan pondered the costs NZ is already paying: ‘The steady drain of our talent to Australia in search of greater opportunities and higher wages coupled with the remorseless transformation of New Zealand into a branch economy has a price.’
To take the next economic steps, the Kiwis are going to have to embrace more of the Australian part of the term ‘Australasian’. The choices are tough. They don’t have to surrender the All Blacks, but what price the New Zealand dollar?
Sorry, buddy, but you presume too much…just as we declined Australia coming aboard as the province of West New Zealand, we think we might hold off on your plastic play money as well for a while…bigger’s not necessarily better and once you’ve sold off all your minerals to China, we don’t want to get caught in the subsequent vacuum when the hollowed-out cavern under what was mainland Australia implodes. True, Tasmania will survive, but like you, we don’t really want it either…
Josh tells me that this ‘I support New Zealand and anyone else playing Australia’ thing is called Segmentary Opposition and that he came across the term in an interesting Massey project he’s involved in – more to follow on that soon…I researched Segmentary Opposition…OK, I didn’t, I googled it and enough of the hits looked interesting enough to be worth some time in the next month or so…
Photos are coming in of the devastation caused by today’s large earthquake, which occurred at 12.51pm in Christchurch
The dust cloud over the central city from damages buildings is reminiscent of September 2001 – advice from authorities is to stay OFF the roads and OFF the phone – these are the life lines…
People will be afraid and frightened…check on neighbours and people around you…
BE SAFE!!
There have been ‘multiple fatalities’ after a shallow 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch this afternoon caused buildings to collapse, police have confirmed.
Police said fatalities had been reported at several locations and that two buses had been crushed by falling buildings.
Christchurch resident Jane Smith, who works in the central city, told the Herald a work colleague had just returned from helping rescue efforts after a building facade had collapsed on a bus on Colombo St.
“There’s people dead. He was pulling them out of a bus. Colombo St is completely munted.”
Police said there were reports of fires in buildings in the central city and of people being trapped.
All available police staff were helping with the rescue operation and the Defence Force had been called in to assist.
Triage centres have been established for the injured at Latimer Square in the central city, Spotlight Mall in Sydenham and Sanitarium in Papanui.
Shallow quake
GNS Science said the quake was centred at Lyttelton at a depth of 5km at 12.51pm.
GNS said the earthquake would have caused more damage than the original 7.1 earthquake on September 4 because of its shallow depth.
Its data centre manager Kevin Fenaughty said residents said the quake’s epicentre was located in the “worst possible location” for the city.
“It’s a nightmare. A lot of people were just getting back on their feet after the original quake.”
Another earthquake of 4.5 struck at 1.21pm, 10 km east of Diamond Harbour.
Streets flooded
Herald reporter Jarrod Booker said the shake lasted approximately a minute and was extremely violent – rocking buildings back and forth.
He said people had left buildings and were out on the streets where tarmac had cracked and water mains had burst, causing extensive flooding.
Tuam Street had become a river as water poured from ruptures in the road and was impassable in places.
The whole central city was in grid lock as people tried to evacuate central businesses to check their homes, Jarrod Booker said.
Most traffic lights are out and cars were also having to negotiate around hordes of people on foot.
Jarrod Booker said that he could hear sirens but that it would be difficult for emergency services to access the city because of the gridlock.
“Even sitting in a car you can feel continual shaking on a smaller scale than the original quake,” he said.
‘Great confusion’
Mayor Bob Parker said he was “thrown quite a distance” by the earthquake.
“That was, in the city central anyway, as violent as the one that happened on the 4th of September,” he told Radio New Zealand.
Mr Parker said there were scenes of “great confusion” on the streets, also saying the roads were jammed as vehicles sought to get out of the central city.
“I know of injuries in my building and there are unconfirmed reports of serious injuries in the city.”
Mr Parker did not know the extent of damage to the city’s infrastructure, but advised people not to drink the water supply.
“We’ve been through this before this once, we now need to think we did at that time.”
Buildings collapsed
Jarrod Booker said Christchurch’s historic cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street had half collapsed, with the remaining part of the building filled with cracks.
There was huge damage to other older buildings with large amounts of debris falling to the ground, he said.
He said the carpark at the Christchurch Star had turned into a river with huge cracks and that the roads had risen in areas.
People were comforting people outside amid a general state of shock as they tried to absorb what had happened, he said.
Radio New Zealand reported widespread damage to the city centre, with a church on Durham St collapsed and concrete lifted by up to a metre.
A Newstalk ZB reporter in Christchurch said liquefaction was spewing out of the ground at St Albans High School.
School kids had to be removed from the fields with liquefaction also spewing from the tennis courts.
Civil Defence response
Civil Defence spokesman Vince Cholewa said the National Crisis Centre had been activated and was preparing the Government response.
“The quake is significantly smaller than the previous Christchurch earthquake, however it was very shallow and might have been very close to the centre of the city,” he said.
Mr Cholewa was not aware of any casualties or the extent of the damage.
“We are still getting a picture of what has happened and we are aware of the details.”
Phone lines are down and calls are not being connected to emergency services. Telecom said it is working to understand which services have been affected by the earthquake and get these restored as soon as possible.
Christchurch Airport has been closed.
Today’s quake was shallower and closer to Christchurch than the original Darfield quake, which took place 30km west of the city at a depth of 33kms.
Civil Defence advice
The Civil Defence has issued the following advisory:
Check yourself first for injuries and get first aid if necessary before helping injured or trapped persons.
Assess your home or workplace for damage. If the building appears unsafe get everyone out. Use the stairs, not an elevator and when outside, watch out for fallen power lines or broken gas lines. Stay out of damaged areas.
Look for and extinguish small fires if it is safe to do so. Fire is a significant hazard following earthquakes.
Listen to the radio for updated emergency information and instructions.
Do not overload phone lines with non-emergency calls.
Help people who require special assistance – infants, elderly people, those without transportation, families who may need additional help, people with disabilities, and the people who care for them.
Detailed safety advice will come from local authorities and emergency services in the area. People should act on it promptly. MCDEM, local civil defence authorities and scientific advisors are closely monitoring the situation.
I hadn’t head anything on this until Carmen called to tell me, hadn’t even felt the shake although it was apparently felt in Waiouru on the other side of the mountain…unlike the stronger but deeper 7.1 that hit in September, today’s quake (think it is well beyond a ‘shake’) hit during a busy midday week day…the Cathedral has definitely been seriously damaged….
I thought the Prime Minister spoke well when he broke the news to the House and it looks like all the instruments of national power are swinging into action…that probably sounds a little trite but they have had quite a bit if for real practice in the last six months and Kiwis are fast learners…
I didn’t build these and that’s part of the problem: just like with blogging, sometimes it is all too hard to just get on with things (I should be mowing the lawns at the moment but I’m telling myself it is too hot) and so one just keeps putting them off again and again and again…
I bought these two models from Thaipaperwork when I first discovered paper models in 2008…they are both well-designed models and the scale of 1/48 makes for impressive completed sizes. They print out in grey but can be printed on silver-tinted or aluminium-coated paper for the results you see above…I started off with a big hiss and a roar and never really went anywhere with them. Of course, part of the problem is that the selection of paper models that are legally available is amazing and it is also to easy to be distracted by new releases, more so when many are free downloads or inexpensive in either digital or printed forms…my largest one to date, an unstarted Tu-160 Blackjack that is 1.7 metres long when complete was only US$20….
But the real issue is really one of motivation, of committing to doing at least one smaller thing each day…a senior officer for whom I have a ton of time once advised me to aim to do two things each day – I very likely might do more but achieving two things a day is always mild progress…
So when WordPress kicked off the Postaweek and Postaday challenges for 2011, I felt I really had to rise to the challenge – or maybe give up the blogging game is I couldn’t do it justice…
WordPress has The Daily Post that contains, each day (as the title may suggest!), a challenge that a blogger may or may not take up. It was Erica’s post on 8 February that really invigorated me to give this Challenge a shot – she quotes Jamie Wallace of Live to Write – Write to Live:
I had intended to get back to journaling…I had meant to get back to work outlining my novel, working on character studies, and creating a fabulously retro “map” of my story using markers, sticky notes, and some very large pieces of paper. But, these intentions were all summarily slaughtered by the demands of my Real Life.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I felt disappointment, anger, and guilt.
Yeah, baby…tell me about THAT feeling!!! Been there and got a drawer full of T-Shirts…fortunately, I’m not a criminal mastermind bent on taking over the world (I’ll leave that to Dean and the Squirrels to do all the hard work first!) but am prone to monologuing my ideas but often not really going much past that point…something always comes up, I’m too busy with this or that, or have deadlines for someone else to meet…first lesson, I guess, is that if it’s worth monologuing it might be worth recording is some form…just like the old tip to keep pen and paper by your bed for those world-beating ideas that come to mind at 3am…the second lesson is that it is quite definitely OK to set deadlines for yourself to meet for your projects i.e. deadlines are just not things that other people can set for you – just keep it all practical and achievable – it is unlikely that you will achieve world peace by next Tuesday…
Jamie Wallace covers it pretty well in A confession and 7 steps to better writing habits summarised here from the Daily Post’s coverage of it the following day:
1. Find, make, or steal writing time
2. Have a purpose
3. Avoid the shoulds
4. Start small
5. Be consistent
6. Measure progress
7. Find your joy
For the detail read the full text on Live to Write – Write to Live….it’s worth the effort…
And the ‘so what’ for me…well….
1. I’ve been letting everything else steal writing time from me – time to reset the balance…I need to spend at least as much time as I give myself each day for reading – guarantee myself 5-10 minutes each night for recreational reading: writing will be the same…Make better use of the tools that I have – more on this in a future post – there’s more to it than just a desk and a PC…
2. Have a purpose? Yes, but if not one, then only a few – Vegemite’s mean to be spread thin not writing skills…
3. I should avoid the shoulds – ha! Joke(tte)…Jamie defines shoulding really well in her post…something to identify and avoid…sense and avoid is as important in the study as it is in the cockpit…
4. Start small – as above – work within your limitations…
5. Be consistent – form (good habits) for writing as you should(!) for healthy eating, physical fitness or financial prudence (if you are a guy)…
6. Measure progress – hey! I know this one – right out of COIN 101…keep your measure of success and performance practical, relevant and well-grounded in reality…
7. Finding my joy? Hmmm…once upon a time it was telling stories (in a good sense, of course)…I think we’ll just have to see where the journey takes us on this one…
Some of the blog post ideas on The Daily Post leave me cold but that might be a tinge of comfortzonitis kicking in…we’ll see…there are some that appeal and there’s a new one every day…my travel routine won’t let me do one a day but I can certainly do a post a week and grow from there….
Monique
…usually, one might use a title like this to remember a member of the old and bold who has passed on…Major Monique Brown of Waiouru died suddenly in Wellington on 14 February…although quite definitely bold she equally definitely wasn’t that old, certainly nowhere close to be the topic of an obituary.
Monique and her whanau were welcomed onto the Army Marae on their arrival from Wellington yesterday afternoon and a church service will be held at the marae this evening at 7pm. She will be buried with full military honours commencing with a service at the National Army Marae- Rongomaraeroa o Nga hau e Wha Marae- Waiouru on Friday at 1100. The service will be followed by a burial at the Waiouru Cemetery. Dress for military personnel attending the tangi is Dress 1A, HMR. Light refreshments will be available at the WO & SNCOs’ Mess at the completion of the formalities.
Wow…Monique…gone just like that…Monique was a Kiwi who’d joined the Aussie Army (OK, no one’s perfect!!) and went to the Australian Defence Force Academy at Duntroon, graduating near the top of her class. I first met her int eh mid-90s just after she’d seen the light, come home and joined our own Army. At the time I was a fresh-as lieutenant and Monique was the ‘go-to’ captain in Army Headquarters. The whole time I knew her she was always bubbly and happy but damn professional as well – I suspect, although I never had occasion to find out personally, that ‘bubbly and happy’ could chnage very quickly if she felt that an individual was unreceptive to the ‘carrot’ approach…
One of the good things about a small army is that it’s easy to keep in touch with people and so Monique and I would bump into each other from time to time over the years. In 2007, she was posted up to Waiouru, ostensibly to work for me but I prefer to think if it as ‘with’ rather than ‘for’ – I was a newly minted major and she had some years seniority over me but never once saw fit to mention this but she managed to keep me on the straight and narrow and a jetted back and forth between my domestic responsibilities and those arising from CWID that year. Around this time, Monique wrote a book for children, a family story about what her granddad did in the war – she was always concerned that the boys would know their heritage – and I’m very glad now that I took the opportunity to get a copy then: it’s on a shlef in our library waiting for a time when the twins are a little older. I was quite sad when she moved out to occupy the new simulation centre that she had built in Waiouru: very flash with two indoor twelve lane weapon ranges and 24 station simulation facility…A year later, she got the posting that was nearest and dearest to her heart and that was the defacto ‘Mayor of Waiouru’, responsible for support services for the camp. Monique was all about support…supporting her family, her friends, her work colleagues and all those in her little dependency in the Central Plateau…
At the end of last year, Monique had been posted back to line logistic unit and would have been just getting her feet under that desk…I remember seeing a mention on Facebook that she was moving south late last year and said to her that we’d have to ‘do lunch or coffee or something’ since we were both back in the Manawatu…too slow and now Monique’s made one last trip back home to Waiouru…
OK…LISTEN UP, FRIENDS…NO ONE ELSE IS TO DIE THIS YEAR – THAT”S AN ORDER!!!!!
MacChick Academic
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