On the same wavelength

Perched on dolls' house-sized chairs, my husband and I sat at our daughters' desks for last night's meeting with the class teacher. Filled with adults, the room looked very small and much less play-oriented than the preschool we've been used to for the last two years.

We like the teacher and I've already shared several conversations with her at morning assembly or afternoon pick-up. I feel comfortable with her. She's been teaching long enough for her first students to be now in their mid-twenties. She and I are probably very close in age. She also seems to have standards like those of our family (clothes, behaviour, language) so I think our girls will be fine with her.

However, even more than these important factors, I'm really happy that she's on my wavelength educationally and particularly in the writing department.

Last night she said this: Even in Kindergarten I want the children to learn not just letters or words, but sentences. Sentences are very important. They should just say what you need to say and then finish. We all need to be able to make good sentences, all our life. So many adults don't even use sentences. When people write, even businesses and banks, sometimes what they write is just ramble and is very hard to understand. They need to learn how to write good sentences.

It was like music to my ears. Thumbnail is built on just such a premise. Fortunately many people still need help with making good sentences so the business prospects are good.

Coming together

Now Day 10 of Month 2, this year finally feels as though it is coming together. The children are at school and the husband at work. The ironing is (sort of) up to date and the dinner exists in my mind (if not in the kitchen at present). My work is starting to regulate after the stop-start of January, the insane heat of early February, the rush of suddenly urgent tasks that ought to have been done last month, the clients' general malaise throughout summer and their apparent reticence to pay invoices...

I'm working today, don't feel like I'm running against a giant, invisible clock, don't have a gnawing sense that there is something I've missed. I'm breathing out and settling in. 2011 is coming together. Prepositions abound.

5 positive things in 2011

It's day 5 of 2011 and, amidst news of political intrigue, terrorism, war, flooding, extreme snow, rain, temperatures and, in the case of Aussie cricket, extreme ineptitude, I felt like listing 5 positive things that have happened in my little world so far.

1. The sun in my eyes - after months of putting up with late afternoon sun coming in my office window and straight over my left shoulder, making my PC screen impossible to see, I moved the furniture around and am now facing the wall that used to be on my left side. The sun still comes in that window but the angle is different and I can now use the blinds to their fullest effect. (A bit like the cricketers I think... if you always do something the same way, you'll always get the same result.)

2. Use-by dates - the turn of the year is a great reminder that things are that much closer to being out of date. I went through the all-purpose cupboard above the fridge that housed assorted warranties, medicines, kids colouring and craft items that needed to be out of reach and long lost bits and bobs that were no longer relevant. Out they went!

3. When life hands you lemons - or rather overripe bananas. The batch of banana muffins that came out of the oven smelled and tasted all the better for having used fruit no longer good for eating raw.

4. Making the call - I heard from a friend prior to Christmas, and felt pangs of guilt that I had not kept in closer touch with her. I took note of her new address and phone number but days went by and I didn't call, being distracted and overloaded with many other things. Finally yesterday I did call, and left a message, and today spoke to her husband. He said that my friend was also feeling guilty, blaming herself for not staying in touch. I will call her again when she isn't working. She and I were each others' bridesmaids - not someone to lose touch with easily - and I look forward to laughing again with her soon.

5. Standing on my own two feet - or actually walking. It seems like a long time since I walked anywhere by choice (not counting shopping centres of course). The kids took the scooters they got for Christmas, donned the elbow, knee and "head" pads (as one of my girls calls them), and set off with me in search of a new playground and a purveyor of drinkable coffee.

Thanks for reading. Happy 2011. Here's to 5 positive things in your life.

Some of the reasons I haven't blogged lately...

Forgive me reader, it's been 26 days since my last blog post. Here are some of my reasons:

1. Christmas - shopping (lots), socialising (a little), working (even though the rest of the country seems to be out to lunch), cooking, wrapping and planning. Who has time to write anything except lists in the lead-up to Christmas.
2. Children - two of them, four years old and little dynamos they are too. Not yet at school but already into the cycle of terms, holidays and the 'what week is this' lambada. Finishing preschool a week before Christmas called for entertainment, stimulation and seasonal events such as swimming, Santa and steering them cleer of too many 'early Christmas presents'. Oh and too much sugar of course!
3. Malware - the whole (and I do not exaggerate) of Christmas Eve was spent dealing with malicious spyware on my PC. I swear that's when I was going to write my blog! Honest.
4. PMS - enough said.
5. The time of year - perhaps it's performance anxiety but somehow articles and blogs written near the end of December really ought to be deeper than normal and offer some wisdom on the year just gone and the year that is to come.

Today it's 31 December. Wherever you look, online or in life, it feels that society, and everyone with it, is about to leap off the precipice of 2010 and into the great unknown of tomorrow. I pray we all land safely, without a hangover so as to be able to land on our feet and make a great start.

Talk to you next year.

slow and steady

Business is good for relationships, or at least in some way. Business takes time and working with someone, in a partnership or any collaboration, involves patience while you learn to understand each other and the objectives of the task. Sometimes clients are in a great rush and sometimes suppliers are in a great rush, with deadlines and economic realities impacting on the process of writing or designing or building or whatever.

However good business requires that we respect deadlines, even while resisting the compelling urge to take short-cuts, accept answers at face value, assume that we can speed things up.

Relationships and business are about taking and making best use of time. It is a non-renewable resource and absolutely irreplaceable.

Dressing for the weather

"But it's the end of November. It's nearly summer. I don't want to wear long pants!"

This was part of the conversation this morning with my daughter about what she was going to wear today. I'm sure it was echoed in thousands of Sydney households. I felt the same way myself, although I had to be the voice of reason for her.

"I know it is nearly summer but it's actually quite cool today and I don't want you to get cold. You can't wear a summer dress. You have to wear long pants."

Dressing for the weather, instead of for the date.

Over coffee, I thought how much this applies to business as well. We tend to "dress" our business for the time of year, and not for the actual conditions.

Retail expects boom conditions going into Christmas and feels cheated if the profits don't roll in. But it's December! Yet out in the marketplace it may not feel like time for celebrating, with shaky conditions in interest rates, scarily high utilities bills and uncertainty about the new year.

Conference organisers expect record numbers to a function that is an annual record-breaker, simply because it has always exceeded expectations before. What if this year the event doesn't break records and delivers only a slim margin? It's common to be disappointed rather than to see that any gain in positive, even if it a modest one.

In my small business, there are times when I expect to be quiet and plan outings with my children, only to find myself in demand and working late into the night. (I'm not complaining! ;-))

What about you? Are there things that you are counting on, certain times of year that should be one thing or another? Are you able to read conditions, reacting quickly when your expectations are challenged?

Font Files

In last Saturday's Spectrum (Sydney Morning Herald) I read a review of a new book call Just My Type, by Simon Garfield, telling the stories behind fonts and typefaces that have become integral parts of our work whether we are using word processors, desktop publishing or professional design. They were just as important before computers were even dreamed about.

He tells this amusing, cautionary tale, for all of us seeking to avoid copyright infringements:

"In January, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication unveiled a campaign spearheading the government's anti-piracy efforts...". Seems the campaign logo contained a font that "the design community soon realised was pirated".

Ha ha ha (merde)