the corner office

Back from Durban, and a really relaxing break. Thankfully for us, if not for most holiday-goers, was the fact that it was overcast and rained for all but 4 days out of the two weeks. I usually dread being in Durban's heat and humidity during the summer, but the two weeks were a treat. It was really great to see family again, I got some studying and software tinkering done (more in another post), and generally recharged the batteries.

The next few weeks will be devoted to exams, so blogging will continue to be light (or perhaps not, knowing me...). I decided (a few weeks back, actually) to leave a few subjects for next year, and not write all my exams in this session. As much as I wanted to finish off my honours degree, I've also come to appreciate the benefits of sanity and not overdoing things. So I've set aside some of the subjects I disliked most, and I'll repeat them or replace them with more interesting subjects in 2006.

I'm not big on New Years Resolutions, so instead I've just knocked out a few goals that Happen To Coincide With A New Calendar Year. They revolve around the usual get-fit-lose-weight-learn-technology-X type stuff. I'll blog about 'em if and when I make any progress.

One thing that I really ought to make a resolution about is to limit the amount of time I spend on Internet stuff each day. It was hardly an epiphane, but I was again reminded that without an always-on Internet connection, I was incredibly productive down in Durban. Sure, there was a bit of frustration not being able to hop online and Google and look up things as and when I needed, but I also ended up getting a lot done. I've trimmed the list of blogs I follow during the year, but the quantity is only one part of the problem. The real issue is the constant read, tinker, click around, read some more, reload bloglines, read some more pattern that characterises how I spend my time online. Apart from being constantly distracted and not focusing properly on anything else, it becomes all too easy to lose track of time and waste a lot of time reading things that aren't that important to me. In other words, I suffer from poor time management. Hardly difficult to sort out, it just needs a bit of discipline on my part.

So I'm resolving to set aside a fixed amount of time each day for reading blogs, online news and forums, and when that time is up, calling it quits for the day and moving on to something else. Beh, I've already broken the rule today...