Gadget fun

Image by AngeloSu via Flickr

This week is another short blogpost week. As I have a workshop to go to on Saturday I am giving myself some more time off during the week to compensate.

Having more time off this week comes in very hand. Yesterday my new gadget arrived in the post. A shiny new Archos 7.0 internet tablet.I have been drooling over the internet tablets for a long timebut decided they were way out of my price range. Until a friend showed me his archos that could do everything I want and for the price of half an I-pad. I was sold.

So this afternoon and tomorrow I am going to play around with it. Most of what I want it for has to do with work. I want to read magazine articles and such. My e-reader doesn't do too well with articles, it is great for books not it messes up the magazines terribly. 

The second thing I want to use it for is to check for urgent client messages when I am on holiday. And being able to do my tutor work while I am away from home. Carrying is still a problem with my dissability and this reduced the weight of a laptop to almost nothing. Even taking a small bluetooth keyboard doesn't add much to the wait and that is all I am going to need.

Have a good weekend all, I am off to play with my new toy! 

Related articles

• Archos 70 Android 7in tablet (go.theregister.com)

unlcutter your life, free your mind

Friends of mine who see this migh laugh. Yes I have to admit to being something of a hoarder. I have been collecting books for many many years and then there is the DVD's, the magazines and the knick knacks.

But even for me there was a point that it was simply getting too much. I would be looking around my rooms and just thinking I want more space! It was time to take some action. 

Then the hard part starts, you look around your rooms and see all the stuff you have accumilated over the years and think:... where in heaven's name am I going to start! For a lot of people the clearing out stops right there. They are motivated but not enough to take that first hurdle and just start. Don't worry too much, you are at the beginning of the road and you will make the start when you are ready.

The second hurdle arrives when you come across stuff that has sentimental value. These can be the most meaningless items for other people. I kept the old lampshade that was in my first kiddie room because I just could not imagine throwing it out with the trash. But it did keep staring at me from my cupboard everytime I opened it. It was starting to irritate me big time. I had to let it go, and what helped me do it was to take pictures. So here it is in all it's glory just before going into the bin. 


Another hard part for me was that in the beginning I would carry 10 big binbags full of junk out of the house and I would see absolutely no progress. The room was just as cluttered as a week ago. Why had I done all the work? all the anguish and the muscle ache? Believe me stick with it and it will get better. Eventually you will see the empty spaces appearing on the ground, on the shelves and in your cupboards.


The most difficult thing for me to clear away is books. Yes I think I am officially addicted so of course until recently I kept every book I had even bought in my life. Several things have helped me in clearing out books.

• Selling them on and making a little money
• Give special books to friends. Like I am going to do with some of my children's book, I will give them to friends with kids
• Give them to charity
• Buy an e-reader. you still have the content but less clutter on the shelves. Just keep the books that really mean something to you

What also motivates me is that I have promised myself a tablet pc when it is all done. Some junk is worthless and needs to go immediatly. But some other stuff can fetch a price on the internet or a local car boot sale. This helps me to keep going on moments that I start to waver and might give in and stop. I visualise my reward.

And when you are finished you will have a house with space again. And what is even better you will find there is more space in your head, more peace. People do feel better in an uncluttered house. Why not give it a try.

Related articles

• Top 10 Signs That You Are a Hoarder (emtoast.com)
• strategies for staying motivated while uncluttering
• How Can I De-Clutter My Whole Life? (Asks A Positive Spin Reader) (positivespinblog.com)
• What To Do with All That Clutter: Sell It, Swap It, Give It Away (getrichslowly.org)

• Organizing The Items I Am Keeping After My Efforts To Get Rid Of Clutter (howtolivethefreelancelife.wordpress.com)
• How Can I De-Clutter My Whole Life? (Asks A Positive Spin Reader) (positivespinblog.com)
• What To Do with All That Clutter: Sell It, Swap It, Give It Away (getrichslowly.org)

Pacing yourself: dogs or taking care of princess Nina

The other day I read in the newspaper that people who have dogs live longer and lead happier lives. That is something I can certainly understand. Personally I owned a dog only once in my life. When I was growing up I had a lovely mut called Timmy who was the best dog in the world to me.

The last couple of years I have been very fortunate to live close to friends who own a little King Charles Cavalier. She is called Nina, also anwsers to Pien and is a princess. I sometimes pick her up in the daytime to spend time at my house and on occassion she comes to stay for a few days. The princess has her own chair in my room and nobody must dare to sit on this royal seat. If a mere mortal is stupid enough to try this a staring match is the result together with attempts to weary the mortal until it will give in. Those tactics are jumping on top of the person, more staring, trying to lick your face and jumping off again within minutes only to repeat the whole process. How can that not bring a smile to your face?

Now dogs pick up on their person's moods pretty well. They will be there to comfort you when you need it. You will get your excersise because they have to go out several times a day and no the garden is not good enough for a princess [except when it rains, royalty does not like to get wet]

Nina picking up on stress means that she will be in my face on days that she thinks I am working too much. She will put two paws on my chair and demand attention instead. If the attention is not forthcoming, princess Nina will try to climb onto the laptop. No simply does not excist in the royal vocabulary. by this time I am laughing so hard that my stress is much less already and I then take time out to play with her. Oh yes, she has her own toys at my place too.
After play or a walk I notice that I have fresh energy and often new perspectives to get back to work and in fact I do get more done this way.

I can recommend this stress reducing method to everyone. You get a great deal of love and trust in return.

[one of my favorite you tube videos about another cavalier king charles called Winston]

No real post this week

I am breaking my one post per week rule this week. Why? I was about to fall into the trap of working too hard again. It snuck up on me this time because I was sticking to the hours I can work in a week. But I was forgetting that I haven't taken any holiday time out of the 12 weeks I have allotted myself per year and four months have gone by already.

When you work from home and you don't go away for a break this is the biggest trap. It is so easy to forget about your time off when you see the long list of things still to do and you see that interresting email come in.

No more! I have to practice what I preach and I am signing off for the rest of the week. Next week I will only work at half speed as well and I will see if I am in the mood for posting. Rules are there to be broken if the need arrises. A valuable lesson for those working at home.

BTW a friend shouting at you to stop helps as well. :)