Boy oh boy am I tired of seeing those words.

I understand the value of having a Facebook page and accumulating likes to which you can market, it’s a no brainer. But the problem is, most of these businesses seem to have forgotten about the most important element, the what’s in it for me?

Why should anyone “like” your business?

If there’s no reason, why bother? It’s always just “”LIKE” our Page” but what am I going to get for it?

Do I get deals, discounts, specails, or something like that? Why would I “like” it without first knowing what’s in store.

Nobody knows, nobody says anything. I just don’t get it.

It’s frustrating and confusing when I see it from businesses like cafés, especailly “FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.” What are you going to do? give me 20c off a coffee at some obscure hour if I see your tweet?

It’s the New FREE

Just as sure as I am sick of seeing the word free in capitals, I’m as tired of seeing the word like in caps, but quotes too.

Someone please think of the children.

Before I get started, here’s an appropriately titled song. it just so happens to be one that I love.

As The Title Says…

I’m going home.

It’s weird when I think about it actually, given that I’m currently in Melbourne, and I view this as my home so to speak, but I’m going home home, as in to where Mum is, to where I grew up.

Some History

Life always takes interesting turns, often ones that we’re not expecting. A little over two years ago, when a relationship I was in was dealt the final blow, I had to move. I was living with friends, in a big house that, though old and falling apart, I was quite fond of.

I moved into a one bedroom apartment in St Kilda East. It was a big move for me, as I’d never lived alone before. The move cost me just about every cent I had to my name as I had to buy an apartment of goods, cutlery, pots and pans, the works.

Unfortunately this area was hard to get in and out of, and though I worked only 10km away, it still took an hour to get to work. I had to get a tram, train, and another tram, this meant over 60 minutes of commuting on a good day. It was horrible, I hated life. If I went to see my friends it took forever to see get anywhere, and much the same if they came to see me. That said, I fell out of contact with many of them at the time due to the break up.

They were lonely times.

I missed my friends, I missed people, living alone was not for me. And up until this point I had lived with one of my best friends for about five years.

So after a year of living alone it was time to move. I knew I needed to get out but I didn’t know to where, or how. I hit up my mate as he was looking for a place again, and just like that, we were then looking for somewhere to live together.

We picked up a great apartment in Carlton on Grattan Street. It was fun living with a good friend again, we got to eat heaps of good food and drink a great deal of wine. Things were good.

So why are we going our separate ways?

When we moved in, I knew it’d probably be the last time I would live with a friend. I also knew after having lived with various people, and alone, that I wouldn’t really live with anyone else, as we get along, both cook, and clean, the things people like to say they do but don’t.

He’d been seeing a girl for a little over six months at the time, so too soon to move in with her, but still something for the future, it would be his next move.

I knew I wanted to go and see the world, move overseas for a while, at least I think that’s what I want to do, and have a job that allows me to do that while taking my work with me, so with no hesitation I said

when you guys want to get a place, just go for it, so long as you keep me in the loop which I know you will anyway. Don’t worry about me, I’ll sort myself out.

Having moved at least once per year for the last eight or nine years, I know that it’s usually a terrible experience of cleaning, packing, sorting, lifting boxes, and spending money.

My plan was to let them do what they needed to, as I imagine looking for a place with ones spouse makes for possibly stressful times, I would move home, taking what I owned with me and putting it into storage whilst living with Mum. Then when the time is right, or at least adequate, I can go overseas without needing care for an apartment full of belongings, draining me of $1100 rent per month, and can come back when is suitable. If, in the meantime, I can no longer stand Bendigo, then I can look for a room in a sharehouse, hopefully furnished, and live there for a few months. I may even consider this on returning from overseas.

What’s happening?

Our lease was up on December 15th, so I called Mum, who is always telling me I can come back whenever I want and is most likely quite excited at the prospect, to ask if it’d be OK, and gave some rough dates. And at around the same time my mate starts to look for suitable accommodation for him and his girlfriend.

Though I wasn’t looking for the dream to end faster than necessary, I asked if we could expedite the process a little because there’s just so much happening this year.

They were approved for an apartment on the 2nd or 3rd of January, and that’s that.

I’m moving next weekend, on the 19th January, but on the weekends after that I have a weekend off, then a bucks party, then a gig, then a wedding, and a few days after that, I have a trip to Thailand for a week, and four days after getting back, Soundwave, a music festival, is on.

I Don’t Want to Go

I love Melbourne, honest to god I love this place, I think it’s so great, particularly in summer. And perhaps it’s a consequence of moving and wanting to squeeze in what I can while I can, but my social life is pretty great right now too, spare time is hard to come by.

But I Hate Winter

That said, I loathe winter, particularly, I really don’t enjoy Melbourne winter, I need to not be here for it. It’s just so… wet. Not even necessarily super cold, just wet and miserable.

But it’s not all bad, the city looks amazing in the early morning, notably so after rain. It’s empty, quiet, café owners are hustling to start their day before the commuter rush, there are various trucks getting around, but importantly the ground is wet and the lights reflect on all the wet surfaces. It’s really pretty and a nice experience.

My Plan

So I suppose I’ll be back in Bendigo for six weeks, which I might add gets colder than Melbourne, and then I want to go to Asia. My initial plan was to go to Hong Kong for, well, a while, but now it’s just to dodge winter. That said, I’m still looking to start in Hong Kong and will take it from there.

It’ll be the biggest life shake up I’ve had in quite some time, possibly ever, it’s extremely exciting and a little scary at the same time, even though I know I can come back whenever, but I think it will do me a world of good.

Suffice to say, my legs are rather fatigued after my first run in a while.

Some seven months ago now, I had an opportunity to move to a new job, which would mean I was a remote employee who worked from home. Suffice to say, I took that up, I was excited.

My two prior jobs before it had some allowances for you to work from home, but it generally had to be preapproved, and you were made to feel guilty for it.

Prior to Starting

People kept telling me

You’re not going to do any work! People who work from home never do anything

And I can’t blame them for having that perception, I know a lot of people who work from home, and when they aren’t present in an office like you are, it’s hard to tell.

I was even on Skype one day, with a guy who’d been working from home for over 10 years and managing remote teams for around the same time. He said

Within three months, you’ll know if working from home is right for you. That seems to be the timeframe anyway. You’ll go crazy, or you’ll love it.

Naturally, I went both ways.

And After Starting

I feel liberated from the office, not bound to someone elses uncomfortable desk. I work in my living room on a comfortable couch that is much more complimentary to sitting with good posture than any desk ever has. It’s also really quiet here, even though I live more or less in Melbourne CBD, it’s quite tranquil, very nice to work in.

I can listen to music that I want to, though even so, I still prefer to use headphones for some reason. I think because it makes me feel more zoned in to whatever I am doing at the time.

If I can feel my focus waning, I can easily get up and make a coffee, fill my water, or as I most often prefer, do some simple bodyweight exercise, all of which help in a big way.

I eat a very particular diet, a ketogenic diet to be precise, in short it is low carb, high fat, it can be tricky to eat within your boundaries when you go out for lunch, so I can easily eat a healthy lunch at home that I have in the fridge or can whip up at a moment’s notice.

I like to fast, as in not eat, for about 18 - 24 hours on any given weekday. No, I’m not starving myself, I won’t go into “starvation mode” as that is broscience, instead, my body which is made to run on fat, will burn the fat I have stored. All the same, people don’t understand this and question it and tell you how bad it is for you, all while scoffing down a croissant.

However, it was a massive shock to the system.

In my last role, I(read: everyone) was micromanaged and under an insane amount of pressure, it was horrible. In the new role, it’s the polar opposite. I have a job that I’m paid for, and I am trusted to do it and perform. For lack of a better word, it’s empowering, but it also lead to an increase in anxiety while I adapted. I was just so used to the intense pressure, and constant feedback loop, that it felt too foreign to handle.

I miss people. By no measure am I the most social person around, but I liked who I worked with, and I missed talking to them, and going to lunch with them. I also missed being able to bounce ideas around to get some other perspectives on them. But at the same time, it’s made me much more capable and confident in making decisions on my own.

But I Grew

I learnt a lot about me in the shift to working from home.

I have always performed my best work when there is simply too much of it to do. I recently found out that this is most likely Hyperfocus and will only occur in circumstances such as this.

So I found myself in a position where I wasn’t constant getting barraged with work, under diamond making pressure - I made my own for the most part, I do what needs to be done to make the project work. This was a big change for me, one which took a little time for me to adapt to correctly.

I can also say with absolute, and total confidence, that I have never been as productive as I am now.

Since working from home, knowing I am not visible in a chair, I am acutely aware of where every single minute of the day goes, and if I am spending it on work, or if it could be better spent. I have to be able to show what I’ve been doing for my own sake.

I hate unproductive days, I just feel awash with guilt.

In an office, my most productive hours were from when I got in, usually 8am, until lunch, around midday. Working from home, my productive time begins when I start work, typically 7am, and I can usually feel it tapering off around 3:30pm, which, frankly, I’m satisfied with, as I don’t really take breaks aside from the bathroom or for water. That said, if I am in a good rhythm in the afternoon, I’ll keep going.

What’s Helped Me

It may help you, too.

Write everything down.

I’ve switched between a Moleskin and keeping a to-do list in a text editor, but now favor the digital version by far. I can punch in notes that are legible (my handwriting is terrible) at lightning speed, and I can search through them without arbitrarily flicking through pages.

Make big tasks, small tasks.

If there’s a problem you need to solve, something you need to get done, anything, you know what the end result is. Figure out what steps you need to take to get there, then systematically knock them off one by one.

Multitasking is a lie.

Sure, you can work on many things through a day, but you can only do your best work on one task at any one time. Don’t try and make your brain do what it’s not made to. You’ll wind up more stressed and tired than you should.

Browser Extensions

The vast majority of my work is performed in the browser, the same place where most time can be lost. I have found two extensions that help me manage my time very, very well.

StayFocusd: Limit the amount of time you can spend on unproductive sites. I have mine set to allow me 15 minutes of unproductive browsing time between 7am - 4pm, it’s fantastic. I keep adding sites to the blocked list and I feel good for it.

timeStats: It tracks how much time you spend on what domains, and you can check out the reports at the end of the day. I really like being able to visualize where my time is going, and after all, who doesn’t love a pie chart?

In Summary

Now that I’ve adapated to working from home and changed up my approach to work it’s a dream. I love it!

Though I am unaware who reads this site of mine, you may, or may not know, that I run another site called Eat Keto.

It’s a heap of my recipes for Ketogenic dieters. There are no ads, and I make no money from it. I do it because I love it, but I won’t deny that I’d love to make money from it someday.

What’s a Ketogenic diet?

TO keep this part short, it’s where you eat very, very low carb, less than 50g per day, and replace that with fat. In doing so it switches your body over from burning glucose to burning fat.

This makes it super easy to manage your appetite and food cravings. I eat this way, and I love it.

What’s Grinding My Gears

Some six or seven hours ago, I was reading r/keto, an online community of ketoers, and I saw this post regarding a book called The Keto Cookbook.

The original poster linked to a site, seemingly in naivety, where you can get it. Unfortunately, it’s a website that essentially specializes in ripping ebooks for people to download.

Why I’m Angry

It’s simple. Ketogenic diets/lifestyles aren’t a big thing, not yet anyway. As such, it’s a really, really, really underserviced niche. There’s not many sites or cookbooks where you can find infromation and recipes on it.

Here’s what I said on Reddit to anyone who was willing to read, I hope it explains my thoughts.

I know people love free shit and piracy will always be a thing, but by not buying the book or paying for resources like this, you’re not giving this person, or anyone else, any incentive to keep producing it. If you’re not prepared to pay for it, don’t bother complaining when you find that keto is an underserviced niche. Here’s a link to Amazon for any interested parties. http://www.amazon.com/Keto-Cookbook-Innovative-Delicious-Ketogenic/dp/193630323X

I Hope it Helps

People will always have an aversion to paying for things, who doesn’t? That said, I hope people realize that they should be doing what they can for what they believe in.

Whoops.

At this stage there’s very little chance of me making the 500km. It’s not that far, I just don’t have that much time.

24th December

There were 50km/h winds and it was 30ºC up until about 2pm, at which point I had to drive to Bendigo to see family. Had a quick spin with Dad in the evening though, only 12km or so.

25th December

I was in Bendigo, I had nobody to ride with and don’t know the area so well. I also forgot how damn cold it was in the morning and I didn’t take appropriate clothing.

26th December

Did squeeze in http://app.strava.com/activities/34077127, it was a good ride, fun to get out there with Dad. It’s really great that he’s into cycling now, he loves it just like I do. There’s nothing in this world that feels quite like being out on the road on a nice day.

I also swung past Granddad’s place and picked up some old Shimano 105 SPD-SL pedals, stoked! Now I just need to buy some appropriate footwear…

27th December

Had people over at my place, and we were heading out for breakfast at 830am followed up by the cricket, so my only chance for a ride was in the morning. I ducked out for a little ride we call the Bell St Loop and I’m very happy with the results.

I had been wanting to really gun it on my new bike, and gun it I did.

28th December

Had people over and indeed, a big night the night before, so I didn’t get much cycling in, only a few km to the pool and back.

That’s about it

I don’t know if I’ll be getting out today, I feel so damn average from the mass carb intake there’s been in the last week, and I’m very sunburnt. There’s a new Strava challenge for a new year though, to set a target and ride it, I might try and figure out a reasonable distance and hit it up!

So today I decided that I would enter the Rapha Festive 500. The objective is to ride 500km between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

Easy you say…

On paper, sure, it’s eight days, which is only 62.5km per day, but it’s also Christmas time, which means considerable time knocked out by travelling, family, and miscellania.

Scheduling

The only way I’m going to get through this is by planning, this is the vague schedule I’m looking at right now

24th: Carlton to Frankston return, Approx 100km. Travel to Bendigo in the afternoon.

25th: Get up for an early 50km, either the Sedgewick/Emu Creek Loop, 53.5km or Golf Course Loop, 52.6km, then do the Christmas thing and binge eat.

26th: Squeeze in another 50km, somewhere, I also need to travel back to Melbourne, so it could be in Bendigo, or back here. A potential route is this 75km ride

27th: On this day I’ll be going to the Boxing Day Test, so weather and legs pending, I might try and fit a casual 50km in very early in the morning.

250 down - 28th: So, 250-275km down, assuming 250km, depending on how things go after the test, I’d want to knock out at least, 50km, maybe 100km, lets assume 75km.

29th: At this point there’s 175km left to do. I’m undecided how I’ll tackle the rest at this point. Maybe try and knock out 100km or more to really make a sizable dent in it.

30th: TBD

31st:TBD

Can’t wait

Bikes are the best fun, I’m stoked just thinking about this.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Punk Rock. It’s certainly no secret.

A Little History

I remember, being a teenager, listening to Metallica, yeah, not punk, I know, but it was the beginning.

From there, it was bands like Soulfly, and Pantera, but eventually, it moved over to Punk. even with a two or three year hiatus to electronic dance.

Unfortunately, I missed the golden eras of a lot of bands that I now love, respect, and greatly appreciate. Even the Gimmes, a band that are strictly covers, but a band that helped me realize what I needed to do in a bad situation.

No Use for a Name - Also known as NUFAN

I got into these guys really, really, really late. Given I was already listening to bands like NOFX and Lagwagon, it’s absurd it didn’t happen earlier. I loved their work, particularly the middle of their career so far.

And as with most bands I like, I do some research, try and learn who is in it, so I did that, but I never looked deep enough.

The Death of Tony Sly

On 31st July, 2012, Tony Sly died, aged 41, leaving behind a wife and two children. This is when I started to look deeper into the ‘who’ of Tony Sly. Fat Wreck wrote in memoriam of Tony,

It is with great sorrow that we must say goodbye to Tony Sly of No Use For A Name. We received a call earlier today of his passing, and are devastated. We have lost an incredible talent, friend, and father – one of the true greats. Fat Mike had this to say: “One of my dearest friends and favorite song writers has gone way too soon. Tony, you will be greatly missed.”

A shame, on so many fronts. For his family, his friends, and his fans.

I tried to find out why he died, but there wasn’t much information on the internet at the time. After some time I wanted to know why, so I set out to find out.

The Lead Up

Tony Sly had been working on his solo career for a couple of years, releasing two albums, 12 Song Program, and Sad Bear. It proably goes without saying that the latter was a very sad record. In particular, there was one song that really got me thinking, Homecoming.

I’m not sure why, but it struck a chord with me. The whole album is sad, but this song in particular, wow. It feels weird, but after looking into it, it feels obvious that it was about to happen.

Then there was also another band he was in, Scorpios. They’re great, but check out the album cover, he looks… not so great I’m afraid.

The End

So, as mentioned, I was looking for information and answers. From what I can find on the internet, I can reasonably deduce a few things

• He was in chronic back pain from a herniated disk
• Loads of medication to deal with the pain
• As per the article above, Fat Mike mentions Xanax, which would suggest a minimum of sleeping probles, and a probable anxiety and/or depression problem
• Possibly digestive problems: he’d recently had an operation on his stomach, which could have easily compounded other issues

The Final Show

Tony Sly played an acoustic show with Joey Cape a few days before his death. Very, very fortunately, a fan, who drove three hours to see it, managed to record it. Tony even dedicated a song to him and his wife’s anniversary. Here’s the playlist for the show.

However, the final song was Linoleum. It’s almost a little surreal that two best friends, and massive shapers of the punk scene, were to perform an amazing, almost eerie cover, of a song by a band that had the same influence. Here it is, and in any case I hope you enjoy it, because it’s amazing.

He was a great singer, and an amazing songwriter.

I am sad that it happened, of course, even a little upset. It’s really quite sad, and it’s weird to be effected by the detah of someone you’ve never met or never known, but here we are. It really fucked up Fat Mike, Joey Cape, and NUFAN, his family, friends, but also, so many fans. One guy even said he met Tony at a show, thanked him for his music, that it got him through a hard time. So Tony gave him a hug and cried on his shoulder. It must be amazing, but maybe even a burden, to know you helped so many people in such a way. It’s still amazing, no less.

I can’t even imagine it.

One of the best punk rock songs to come out of anywhere in the last five years is Static, by Bouncing Souls.

As an editor, I’m always getting tutorials and articles sent to me in a variety of formats, including Microsoft Word, which is probably my least favorite format.

I don’t use Office, as I don’t really need it. For word processing I use Pages, it’s a whole lot nicer than Word, and for spreadsheets, I use Libre Offce, though that’s not even installed at the moment, or Google Drive.

No More

As I am on OS X, I don’t have all of the Microsoft fonts, and to be honest, I couldn’t tell you if they come with Office for Mac. But wow am I tired of seeing this every time I open .doc files,

Enough was Enough

I hit Google, and found a few solutions.

You’ll need to download the Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.0 from Microsoft.

Mount the .dmg and open it in Finder, right click, and show package contents

Navigate down into Contents/Packages, right click on OpenXML_all_fonts.pgk, and once again, show package contents.

Open the Contents folder and you’ll see Archive.pax.gz, open it to extract, if you have problems with the built in Archive Utility, you can try out The Unarchiver and you’ll be greeted with a heap of fonts, specifically

Install what you want, and restart whatever apps require you to do so, and you should be good to go.