Life in the middle

Obvious link.

I can't imagine that there are too many of you who don't read Iain Tait's blog. But if you don't, he wrote a really interesting thing about digital planning yesterday.

Sounds boring I know, but Ben read it and said it was good, and he hates planning (or maybe it's just planners), so have a read. Then Ignore. Consume. Shout. Clap. Or simply nod along.

The choice is yours.

My life is changing everyday.

They say the only thing in life you can rely on is change. And on the whole that's fine with me. I like the internet superhighway thingy-me-jig. I'm up for putting all my music in a shiny white device that I can hang around my neck, strap to my arm, or clip to my jacket. I even reckon that on the whole there is something nice about writing what you've been up to on a website, and inviting comment.

But sometimes I miss the way it used to be. When music was stacked in a messy pile against my bedroom wall, and no where else. When computers were for playing 'Horace Goes Skiing'. And the only place I was allowed to write was the school magazine (and only then if I managed to write a better report of the school French trip than Mark Hughes).

Those were the days. Now gone. But still partially retrievable when the right sound track presents itself. When you're least expecting it you can still go momentarily go back, back to a time when music came from shops, telephone calls away from home were made from big red boxes, and porn came from the 'marital aids' shop in Slough (apparently).

But that was then. This is now. And, but for those ocassional moments, that is that.

After hours.

Working late(ish) is always made easier with a little tom foolery.

You don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps (or something).

No picture, no post?

Hello.

I've recently changed telephone - it's time to move over to my winter one. As part of this process it is inevitable that there are some technical difficulties. And there is - I can't, as yet, retrieve pictures from the new phone.

It's a shame. I have a picture of a sock that I wanted to post here, and some amusing comments to accompany it.

Ah well.

Good morning.

Last night my dinner consisted of a large bag of Dorito's, a box of chocolates, and some rancid sandwich from Sainsbury's. While quite tasty at the time, it's no way to stay fit and well. And if truth be told it's not the first time. What's more, it's starting to show - I reckon I'm now about a stone heavier than when I was in really good shape.

So, I went for a run this morning. Everything was a bit tighter than it used to be (muscles and clothing). And I felt pretty crap most of the way round. But it was good to be out again. I saw a rat on Ealing Common. I saw some litter on the High Street. And I saw some buses. But not much more than that. I ran slow, but I ran steady. I used to run 10km in about 40-43mins, on average. Took me nearly 10mins longer this morning, but it's a start I guess. And I did have to carry that extra stone all the way around.

I got home and had a large glass of orange juice and water, then went about my daily business.

Good morning.

Empty hearted.

Just myself and these two fellas on the tube home tonight. I think everyone else was invited to a party or something, probably a fancy dress one. We were too upset to talk. So we just sat there. Read the papers. Listened to our respective music players. And looked out the window.

I would have gone as a convict; had I been invited.

Life in the milieu*

Yesterday I was invited as guest of honour on the first ever high-speed, and carbon neutral, Eurostar from St. Pancras to Paris. When I say guest of honour what I mean to say is that Russell had a spare ticket going and once he got past number 27 on his list of people to ask, I got the call.

It was quite exciting. People watched us leave, and we were part of history (if you count being the lead story on 'London Tonight' as indicative of the historical importance of an event).

And before you could say "yes we will have both the lunch options and a bar of chocolate" we were in Paris.

We wandered around with no plan of action. Drinking tea. Eating crepes. Looking at the day. And it was really rather good - a day of the best kind of nothing.

I even took a picture of a picture that Russell had just taken. It was that kind of day.

Then we came home, more tired than should have been. I went my way, Russell went his, I wrote this post, he wrote that post (with better pictures).

(*Acknowledgment for the title of this post should go to Ben. Well done, Ben, you win nothing.)

Sponsorship announcement.

I've got a big announcement to make. Costa Coffee have contacted me and offered me a huge some of money to become the face of their coffee chain (I won't reveal the cash figure, that would be base, but it's in the region of two figures).

It won't change the content of what I write about, although I would like to point out that in my opinion good content is generally fuelled by a delicious skinny capuaccinio, which has been quality checked at every stage of the production process.

The deal was sealed in the company of my lawyer, Mr. J. Gauld.

He seemed quite shocked by the sums of money that were being discussed, but an aromatic peppermint tea soon sorted that out.

Ciao for now.

(Ps. This whole post is bullshit. I don't know why I wrote it. I don't even drink coffee. Sorry.)

Account planning school of the web, my turn.

'The Account Planning School of the Web', I think most of you know what it is, but those of you who don't it's something Russell set up to help other planners, strategy people, or just anyone interested. It's designed to help them think about, and get feedback on, an issue pertinent to the planning process (Mum & Dad, planning is what I do for a living now). A problem or question is posed and then feedback given and winner announced after a month.

I judged it once before (results here), and very much enjoyed it. So I'm doing it again. The last couple, which were done by The Northern Planner, and Rob The Sod, were really interesting and anyone thinking of entering should not only read the previous assignments, but more importantly, should read the advice offered by the judges; you won't go far wrong if you listen to those two.

So, to the task. Quite a few of the assignments recently have been pretty technical; covering the essentials of planning. So I thought that I would deviate a little from core skills and focus instead on general thinking - that is to say - showing an interesting approach to tackling a problem. Finding that unique take on things is an important skill for a planner. It's the type of attribute that will make the people you work with want to spend 10 more minutes talking to you following a meeting. 10 more minutes chewing the fat with you in the pub after work. And it might just be the thing that gets you the job in the first place.

So the assignment is:

Tell me what you think could be done with the Extra brand (yes, the chewing gum one), and explain your reasoning?

I know this is open, but that's the point - the lack of boundaries. So if you come back and say you think they should bring out a new coconut flavour, then I'm not going to be that impressed. Think about it. It's a fascinating brand - so pervasive, yet so meaningless. Which I think makes it sort of interesting. So think beyond chewing gum.

The deadline is in one month (please send them to paul5458@hotmail.com), let's say the 12th December, in powerpoint or pdf, no more than 10 slides.

I should probably add that I know nothing about the category, so I'll be judging the assignments based on how interesting they are, as opposed to how 'right' they are.

Any questions then mail me or leave a comment. Otherwise, good luck.

Oh yeah, and the winner will get a copy of the new Steven Pinker book, The Stuff Of Thought.

Update: I couldn't find it earlier, but here is some really useful thinking and tips in the feedback that Gareth gave on the assignment he judged - top stuff.

When you can't decide what trainers to wear.