Category Archives: Blogathon 2012

Cost Benefit Analysis and the Perils of Understanding It

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“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” ~William James

I had three main things I needed to do today. One I missed entirely (my own fault, I’ll make up the class with my brother a little later in the week), one I attended and one I cost/benefited away.

That third thing happens to have been my Holistic Massage class. By the time I got out of work (the second thing) I wasn’t in the best of moods, my stomach was playing up, and my feet hurt.

Before you all jump down my throat for being a baby, those aren’t the reasons I didn’t attend this evening.

The Cost

On a class day it costs me £7.50 to take the bus there and back. That part isn’t a big deal and I’ve been doing it for months.

The main cost is in time. It takes the bus 30-40 minutes to get there from the bus station near my home, and I must get on that bus at 5pm. Class doesn’t start until 6pm. Network strength at the college isn’t great, and better or worse I never set up my computing account there.

The class then takes 3 hours, during which I perform one or two massages (if one, I get to do some paperwork too if I have it with me or leave early). After class I have a 15 minute wait on the bus home, a further 40 minutes on the bus, then another 15 to get to my own house.

All told, it consumes all my time from about 4:30pm until 10pm (that’s 5 1/2 hours!).

The Benefit

What I gain by doing this each week are another one or two case studies for my portfolio (I need another two and I have one more week to gain them), extra practice at massage techniques I’ll need for my exam (next month) and access to my Tutor for any questions and feedback on my work.

Overall the course, once finished and passed, will allow me to perform full body massage anywhere in the world as it comes with an ITEC qualification.

All of these benefits are great things until you consider that I had a mountain of course paperwork to do (Procrastination rules), I was already feeling stressed and frazzled, and… Ok, guilty for not completing more of the written work sooner. In my defense it’s truly boring stuff.

The Outcome

I didn’t go to class, as you already know.

I also didn’t spend my time doing nothing.

When I got home I spent an hour and a half (remember this is only about 4:30pm) having a look at important email and running through Johnny Truant’s Time Management course material.

Then I rolled up my sleeves, brought out my homework folder, and completed 6 case study write-ups between 6pm and 8:30pm. My brain was fried by the end, but it leaves me with only another 3 to write out of 18 – and yes, I really did put it off that long.

Bonus – I had time to write this article before 9pm!

Lessons Learned

I truly dislike traveling for a long time when tired and cranky, and given the right motivation I can be extremely productive. In this case, the motivation was ‘Not getting on the bus and helping other people’s aches and pains’.

If it isn’t broken, hm?

(Note, in no way am I suggesting putting everything off until nearly the last minute then cutting class. Merely pointing out that on this one occasion it could have been worse)

Blogathon Kickoff Post (For Confused People)

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Fortunately, I was supposed to look confused and disoriented because, God, I felt that way.
Dick York

I have absolutely no idea where to start.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not new to this blogging thing. In fact I’ve done it for a couple of years (sporadically) and I have the recently migrated broken links to prove it!

Here’s the issue. Whenever I’ve blogged before it’s been on a specific topic or set of topics. Last time it was 3D and VFX. Another time I’ve written about the subconscious and artificial intelligence (yes, same blog, it makes more sense than you’d think). When I was much younger I tried one where I wrote as an assassin, entirely fictional.

This time, I’m writing my personal and semi-business blog.

At this stage I honestly can’t tell you what I’ll be writing about tomorrow, much less a week from now.

I can, however, make an educated guess.

There is a high chance of posts about creating a website from the very start, to the very end. This is because my brother (13 years old) has enlisted my help in making his first; he’s a clever kid but I’m having to explain everything in small steps. With diagrams. And homework assignments. You can probably expect those at least twice a week on here.

I’m launching a business over at Writer, Compose Yourself! in less than four weeks. You can probably expect a lot of insight into how that works (read: frustration and lightbulb moments), some tips on working with a virtual assistant (I’m learning that as we speak), and a whole bunch of general nonsense related to that.

Travel. I’m a little obsessed with it, and working towards my dreams at the moment. No doubt you’ll hear all about it.

So Why Run the Blogathon When I Really Don’t Have A Clue?

For the uninitiated here’s a quick rundown of what the 2012 Blogathon entails:

The WordCount Blogathon is an annual event that brings people together for the purpose of becoming better bloggers by posting to their respective blogs every day during the month of May.

I have blank page syndrome. Not the popular kind where you see the blank page and automatically can’t write a thing; the kind where you’ve been avoiding writing for months, and suddenly there’s this expanse of white. No one’s looking. There’s nothing on the other side of the paper. And there is a pen less than half a desk away.

The urge to scribble is overwhelming.

When I converted my ‘main’ sites to WordPress Multisite a couple of weeks ago I made a space in my /blog path. It (until this post) was that blank page.

I happened to see a post about the Blogathon at exactly the right time to sign up and charge after it – if I’m going to not-have-a-clue I might as well do it really quickly.

Besides, they have prizes.