Jeremy Roberts. A Blog

Argh… my internet connection is driving me crazy! I don’t know what it is, but my Netcomm NB9WMaxxn modem resets every few minutes. And, it gets worse in bad weather. I’ve had my broadband provider check everything and they’ve told me everything is find up to the connection into the property. So, I would assume there is some dodgy wiring in the walls. It doesn’t help that the walls are solid concrete and that I’m no wiring expert.

So, it looks like I’m stuck with a flaky internet connection and phone call dropouts since I use VoIP on a Naked DSL line.

The fallback solution is to run my laptop and any other laptop in the house through my iPhone when the hardline plays up. This seems to work pretty well, but… the concrete walls also make mobile reception in my place pretty bad.

It would be great if there was a great internet provider combined with great phone wiring that I could use. Guess I’ll just have to wait…. until I move house… urgh… who knows when that’s going to be.

I just saw a news headline that boiled my blood. It featured someone that was living in government funded housing and had trashed the place, racking up about $50,000 in damage to the property. Smashed windows, busted walls, ripped up carpet and rubbish everywhere. But, this was the third house he’d done this too! What the hell!?!?! Here’s me, working my butt off so that I can only narrowly afford the rent for my dodgy two bedroom apartment, and this freeloader gets house after house after house for nothing! Where’s the logic and the level playing field. Where’s the leg-up I need to help me buy my own house. I don’t want to be a burden on the “system”, but it would be nice if the “system” helped out the people who are really trying to help themselves. And yes, I know there are some tiny little handouts I’m probably eligible for. But serious, if the government agencies, such as Centrelink in Australia, think that anyone can understand their forms, policies and procedures, then they are kidding themselves.

What I’d like is to be able to apply for an agency worker to come out and visit my family and me. Sit down with us, talk to us like people instead of reference numbers and then, having understood our situation, go and figure out the best way for us to benefit. Then, for them to make it happen. I don’t have time to be chasing a hundred different forms to apply for one thing, it’s too much. Especially when we’re raising a young family.

So how the hell does the freeloader that destroys all these free houses he’s presented with get away with it? And who decided that he should get access to another one?? That’s a very bad choice. People like that need to learn how to respect property and people. Giving them free handouts will not accomplish that.

Help those of us that are trying to help ourselves.

I finally get why i often see Asians walking around a field, or today a basketball court. I used to think it looked so boring and I couldn’t understand it. Now I can see that they’re not really walking for fitness or for the view. It loos like a form if mediation. A way just to get inside your own mind and cleanse it. While I still wouldn’t do it myself, at least I can see why it’s done. And if they don’t do it for this reason, then I am again baffled.

Do you ever feel like something drastic needs to happen to open your eyes to the world over again? Something that really changes how you see life, or how you live it. The problem is instigating the changes necessary. How do you choose the right domino to push over first and be sure the chain of events leads to a better place.

Some dominos you choose and some, equally as significant are knocked over as you pass by – always follow those ones. They lead to the most unexpected and wonderful places.

Choices. It’s a lot of responsibility.

Lately I’ve been reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig and the part I’m up to talks about ‘Stuckness’. Of course, I’ve also read ‘O, the places you’ll go!’ by the all knowing Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss explains that you should avoid going to the ‘Waiting Place’ – for people just waiting for a train to come or the rain to go or the phone to ring…’. I think that Pirsig and Seuss are talking about the same thing here. It is the concept of having too many choices, too many thoughts, too many possibilities that flood the ability to separate the good choices from the bad.

As a result, you are both Stuck and Waiting. Waiting for the right choice to present itself; Stuck sorting the good from the not so good. But, as Pirsig later explains, the right choices, while present in the problem, may never present themselves. They need to be actively sought out. But how do you seek out a solution to a problem where you are presented with so many choices and each one, if followed will take you to in a completely different direction than the others.

It is a situation I seem to find myself in right now. Stuck. Waiting. But for what? It’s not that I’m not happy with how things are right now.  Small pieces. I think the way forward, from a stuck, waiting state, is to think much, much smaller. The problem is a matter of scope. Think too big and you’ll never get anywhere, you’ll just be inundated with options, possibilities, choices. Refine the scope, narrow it down continually until there is very little to do, but choose the right next step. Even though other problems will still present themselves, the choice between them and the correct one will become obvious. It will be a Quality choice.

So how then does this apply to my current situation? It’s not a matter of planning. Planning a solution to an unfathomable problem is not easily done. However, noting down key points to act on is the first step, like an action/task list. Each action then gets broken down in to smaller problems with more readily identifiable solutions. And again repeat this until the smallest possible action, with only one obvious solution is presented. Act on this and roll the solution back up to the parent problem.

It sounds a bit like a divide and conquer approach, but applied to everyday life.

And so it now becomes a problem of time. Time to analyse. Time to observe. Time to decide. But, argh! Now I am back to the beginning. I am Stuck. I am Waiting.

So here presents a problem. If you have thoughts, please advise. Time to note down the problem, the break down, the recursion. The solution will present itself. It will become evident. It will be Quality.

Firstly, welcome to 2010! Glad you made it.

It’s been a long while since my last update. Over three months in fact. I keep having minor ideas about stuff to post, and then think… “who the hell would want to read about that!?” and so I only get as far as writing the title. Lame, I know

I just wanted to take a moment to recap some of our highlights from 2009 before I forget some of them.

It was a very action-packed year. My first son was born, March 26 at 3:17pm. It was absolutely amazing. And, while challenging on the odd occasion, is all completely worth it when I hear him trying to hammer out words such as “mum”, “dad” and “duck” (I think – though this last one will be funny!).

It’s been so strange to hold a baby and know it’s yours. It’s surreal. I don’t ‘feel’ like a dad. Or do I?

The question that occasionally pops into my head and gets me wondering if I’m doing things right, or if I should be feeling differently – I still feel like a bumbling uni student. But, I have discovered that this is completely normal. Phew!

Mere days after the arrival of Noah, my cousin got married! Alas, my wife and son were unable to attend due to obvious reasons. Congratulations again to you both (my cousin and her husband).

Later, around the beginning of July, there was another new arrival in the family and I had a new nephew! (It seemed the glory days of Noah being the newest grandchild were short-lived). Noah now had a fantastic, life-long opportunity to beat up and cause mischief with his marginally younger cousin. Those two have the potential to be trouble.

Such is life. Now, work.

My working life began as a humble web (online application) developer. From the end of 2008 I began to feel slight changes in my role at work…. I was slowly becoming a sales rep! And, by mid 2009, it was official (though I’m told I’m still suppose to spend 20% of my time developing web applications – this is not going to happen).

Within four years of leaving university, I have now worked in two different companies and three different roles! I can’t wait to see what challenges lay in the year ahead.

Ah, the year ahead. What will it hold for this Roberts and his family? More underlings at work (and higher pay)? A new house to rent (fun), or simply evolution? There are no major plans for 2010, apart from maybe getting a new lounge suite. The motto for this year, for me, is “out with the old, in with the new” – enough of old excess baggage and clutter, it’s time to clear out, assess and dive in for the next round! Oh, and hopefully there will be some more blog posts too!

Such an unbelievable sight in Sydney (and most of the state) today as a wild storm passed through bringing massive amounts of red desert right into the city.

Waking up, I noticed that the window blinds was surrounded by a red glow. This revealed a stunning hazy red landscape. It was an amazing thing to see. I said to my little son, Noah, that it looks like we were in a giant glass of Berocca. Photos (at least on my camera) did the sight no justice, so I’ve had to pinch a photo from elsewhere to represent the day.

It’s now 1pm, and most of the redness of the sky has left us, leaving a much greyer haze in it’s wake.

The city is now shadows in a thin layer of red dust.

What truly amazes me is that the red sky was due to the windstorm picking up, and carrying dust from the red centre, that is, the Australian desert. Never before have I seen such a thing.