A couple of days back, I started to use my old Mac Mini on the 52″ Sony TV in the living room as a DVD player, to finish up with the Korean Drama series which we bought and started watching on my birthday. I had to use the mac because the Samsung DVD player’s remote control died on me after a battery leak.

So yesterday I reformatted the Mac Mini back to Snow Leopard (it was previously on Lion), and today I cleaned up the space a little, dumping the power cables and adapter into the Bluelounge Cable Box.

Cables in Bluelounge Cablebox

Bluelounge Cablebox Covered

52″ mac with Picture in Picture

So now using the TV as a monitor, I get to use a 52″ 1080p screen, and with the Bravia’s Picture in Picture function, I can surf net in the living room while watching TV! Haha!

Come 2013, I’ll be taking on a few web marketing projects with my old clients, applying some of the new techniques I’ve learn over this year. I’m kinda looking forward to it – not only because from the financial aspect of it, but also the looking forward to see my marketing plans come to fruition for my clients, and helping them get more business.

I think this is the way to go – working with a few clients who trust me, and then really putting in my hours and sweat doing a great job with it!

Come, 2013. I’m looking forward.

This evening, I have decided to readjust my table back into the sitting position, with the option to stand up and work with the use of a stool (which I already have) to raise my MacBook Air.

I realise that while working standing has been productive to get work done and push out code updates to websites or get something written, it’s just not the most conducive for the more “thinking” and “research” tasks like planning a marketing campaign for a client, or looking for a nice stock photo for a website. I tend to take shorter sessions when I am standing, and the research or thinking task tend to get better results in longer sessions.

My desk, now converted back into a sitting desk for “thinking” tasks

Using a stool to makeshift into a standing desk

Besides, this working desk which I have is also my leisure desk, and its not exactly a very enjoyable experience to watch a movie or listen to music while standing. With the current setup, I can use the stool for times which I want to stand and blast through a task (like writing this blog entry), or sit down and be able to enjoy longer sessions when that is preferred.

Frankly, I don’t know how this will turn out. I’ll give it another two weeks and we’ll see!

I’ve got my new MacBook Air delivered today – it is a refurbished model, but at least it is the latest release (July 2012), and it comes with Mountain Lion. The computer has put me back S$1258, and with a few accessories I bought today to complement the computer (a Magsafe 2 to Magsafe adapter, and a 1TB western digital HDD together for $142), the investment is quite substantial, but not too hard to bear.

My new MacBook Air, freshly unboxed

Western Digital 1TB Harddisk

With an 11 inch screen and just 128GB of harddisk space, it is not ideal, but at least it’s so much better than the previous Mac Mini that I’ve had for almost coming to 3 years. I really believe that with the enhanced speed (and riddance of the frustrating feeling of waiting for computer to catch up with me), I’ll get back my investment in no time.

The whole computer boots up in less than a minute, applications are so responsive and lightning fast to load with the SSD. But most importantly, I think I’m going to love it because its going to give me mobility: not only to be able to carry around my presentations to my clients, but also the ability to really work where I want to.

I know… At home, there is a 27″ screen with a 2560 x 1440 resolution display which I can hook up my new laptop to, and literally make the whole working experience more than awesome. But I’ve also realised that I sometimes need to get out more – maybe sit in a nice cafe and enjoy a cup of nice coffee and the atmosphere while I do my work, away from the distractions at home.

When I placed my order for the computer, I promised myself that this will be an interim, and just as a tool and stepping stone for me to go clinch deals and get my work done more productively. And I will make it such. The ideal would be nothing less than a MacBook Pro with Retina Display, with 16GB of RAM and 768GBs of SSD. And that’s going to be at least S$4,768.01.

I really look forward to the upcoming deals. Its time to rock and roll and go make some moolah!

Today is my 4th evening with the standing desk setup – and things are going fine! My ankles and heels are still aching a little, but its much better than what I experienced on the first night.

I realize the pain is actually now more psychological rather than physical. Over the weekend, I’ve had thoughts about how I can cope with standing for so many hours a day, and if I can really focus on my work with all the pain on my ankles. I had thoughts of going back to my original configuration, so I can spend my leisure time surfing the net and reading while sitting. There were so many thoughts and worries!

But standing to work really isn’t that tormenting, and I think it will really get better over time. In fact, I already feel a lot more “grounded” when I walk, and since I now spend so much lesser time sitting, I really appreciate being able to sit and relax!

I’ve been reading and hearing about the health and productivity benefits of doing desk work while standing up, and on Thursday evening I decided to give it a go. Since my Ikea GALANT work desk has adjustable legs, I first tried to raise the height of the table to the max: 90cm.

But after a while I found that I was looking down to the monitor, and that doesn’t really work well for my neck. So today I took a quick trip to Ikea and got myself some props to raise the platform a little higher.

My original idea was to get a $12.90 white LACK table but fix the legs horizontally, so I get 10cm of height, instead of 40cm. But I chanced upon a set of nice stainless steel legs CAPITA (from their FAKTUM/RATIONELL system) that is use to raise the monitor by 11cm, which is actually perfect for what needed.

So I bought the set of CAPITA legs, a LACK 55cm table, and another LACK shelf, and fitted everything together. Here’s what my standing work desk looks like now.

And the height is perfect! Now my elbows bend a nice ‘L’ shape, and the monitor is right at my eye level. I’ve put an old towel for some comfort for my feet, but I think I will have to look for a more comfortable alternative, like an exercise mat.

I’d have to admit… working while standing does take some getting used to. And with the 32°C evening temperature and just a fan blowing at me from two meters away, I’m really perspiring as I work, and my ankles are a little sore after standing for a few sessions. But I’ve read that having sore legs during the first week is normal, so I shall stick to it and hopefully my body can get accustomed to the standing soon!

Will update again with my progress on this!

It been a long while since I last wrote. I’ve had a couple of “private” posts since the last “Can’t get to sleep” post, but even that was almost 3 months ago. I realise I really need to push myself to write, if not I can really feel that the skill of organizing and putting my thoughts into words becoming rusty.

So, lots of things has happened since April. The wedding ceremony went great and things turned out well, and I’ve also went for my 14D Europe Honeymoon!

The long waited holiday was awesome! It was really an unforgettable experience. It was our first time experiencing snow, and the trip really made me want to go on more holidays. While I felt that going on an organized a tour was kinda “rush” (like spending 4 hours in the bus to get to an attraction to spend 2 hours there), what I particularly liked about the time spent holidaying was that it gave me a reason to just relax and enjoy the scenic views and stop thinking and worrying about all the things in Singapore.

I think I really need to schedule a getaway every three months, even a weekend trip to a neighboring country would be good… to just relax, unwind and get some renewal.

3.30am. I can’t get to sleep. I’ve been having this weird solemn feeling all day, and I don’t know why.

Is it because I realise what I noob I am when I read the more in-depth chapters of the PHP book? Am I confused why I’m even reading such an advanced level book? Or am I just concerned about where my future will take me to if I continue this path I’m taking?

Dear brain, whatever it is, its time to let it go, please, and get some rest, ok?

Tomorrow may be Friday, but you’ll still have to pick yourself up at 7am…and that’s just 3.5 hours away.

The past two weeks have been pretty productive, with less meetings and discussions in the office and with a clear goal of what to complete every day, I was really able to put my mind into getting stuff done very quickly.

There were occasions when I would be interrupted, but in most cases, I would just focus on the task on hand and only deal with the “interruption work” after I was done.

That feels like a pretty good strategy for me to plough though the daily tasks. Nice.

I’ve also really been able to dump more stuff into my brain during the free-er times in office and after hours – reading up quite a lot, on ABookApart’s Designing for Emotion, re-reading The Elements of Content Strategy, and now even more than halfway through PHP Master.

Videos wise – I’m one video away from finishing up with the Altitude course and one more lesson from completing the Grumo Awesome Demo Video course. Hopefully these (and the PHP book) will be completed by the end of the week for a good wrap up!

And… I’ve been running everyday (okay there was one day which I skipped cos I reached home at 11pm) since the 17th! Some runs were longer, most were just short (about 15 mins), but yes I’m proud that I’ve been about to push myself to do this everyday!

Last Sunday, I have scheduled myself to run back in Tampines, and I was supposed to run at 6pm. At 5:15-ish, I could see that the sky was getting dark and bad weather was ensuing. But somehow something clicked and instead of thinking “Oh, I guess I can’t run today”, my mind came up with “Let’s go for the run now!”

Heh. Maybe it was that awareness that I brought to myself during the previous Rain in my Brain episode, I just grabbed my shoes, packed my phone in a plastic bag (I was ready to get wet and I thought it would be fun!) and then I just got out of home. I did almost 6km (not exactly a long distance, but its furthest I’ve ran since I re-started running) and there was no rain!

I watched a video lately that says that it takes about 30 days to build a habit, and that first 10 days are the most critical “going against gravity” kind of days. So let me push through the first 10 days, with just 3 more days to go! I think this (jogging for 30 mins a day) will be an awesome habit to make and keep!

Of course, not everyday feels great – today I ran merely for 10 mins and my tummy started to ache horribly, probably because of the light lunch. Actually, I felt the gastric-like feeling even before I started, and I guess the running made it worse. Luckily I was able to head back, take my bath, cook and eat dinner which made the pain go away.

But I’m really excited – my legs and thighs are really sore (even wobbly) now, but I’m really raring to continue to build my habit tomorrow.

Yippie! I’m loving this feeling!

Time really flies when you get busy… the wedding preparations are now throttled up to full speed – we have done our pre-wedding photoshoot over last Tuesday and Wednesday, and as much as the weather was a letdown, the experience was still a blast!

The make up artist and photographers from Sophia and were really nice and very professional, and I am also very thankful for PX’s brother’s for providing us transport and help for the two long days. It was really tiring two days, but also two days of fun and lovely moments.

Planning for our honeymoon trip also on the way! Thanks to the email notification from the awesome GoingPlaces.sg team earlier in the week, I got to know about the Chan Brothers travel fair at Suntec City, so PX and I made our way down to look at what they have to offer.

We sat down at a few counters (CTC, ASA and EU Holidays) to enquire more details about their Europe tours, and it seems like the agencies cover the same main attractions. We decided not to book our tour yet – we’d better plan what exactly we want for of our honeymoon and do some more detailed research into the places of attractions before deciding on the package! Besides, I think it will be more meaningful and fun to know a bit more about the history and highlights of these attractions, so we can really appreciate the trip better and know exactly what to look out for.

On business… I realise I’m just a day away from my deadline for my product! Gosh! I’ve been doing too much “research and learning” and too little “doing”! But heck, lets shoot for something to push out to the public by the end of the coming week! It won’t be perfect, but that’s the whole idea of the exercise, right?

One of the key things I realised that I have been failing to do (with all the learning stuff I’m dumping into myself everyday) is that I am focusing too much on creating a product, and too little on understanding the customer and what kind of problems I’m trying to solve. The speaker suggested working on a “social experiment” – to deliberately listen into the conversations of other people as they make their way in a departmental store.

The key idea behind this is that I need to really “get into the shoes” of the potential customer and feel what they feel daily, and hopefully feel that though their conversations and how they talk.

Yes, this is a little “nosey” and “kaypoh”, but I think its also a brilliant experiment – because while I tend to think that many people are like me, I’m probably one of the (more business and wacky ideas type thinking) minority. I tried it that evening on my train ride home, and I heard something pretty interesting stuff! So I will spend more time “eavesdropping” and making more social observations! I think and hope that one day, conclusions drawn on these observations will lead to an awesome badass change-the-world kind of product idea! Heh!

Alrighty! Time to sleep! Exciting times!