Saturday, May 31, 2014

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.


Thursday, May 29, 2014

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.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

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.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

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.