Thursday, May 09, 2002
Yesterday I was asked by Diane, who is coming up with the next corporate newsletter, to describe a day in my work life. What follows is what I came up with (with some specific company stuff edited out):
I live in the Beaches, which is a pleasant area in the eastern end of Toronto. The Oakville office is in a distant western suburb of the city, and I take a train ride in order to get to the office. I grab a streetcar and head down to Union Station to catch the train downtown. I’ve been asked to devise a crossword puzzle for the Digital View newsletter, and I jot down some semi-evil clues on my Palm while riding the streetcar (Q: A spider's real estate. A: Web site).
My fairly typical “light reading” for the train ride is "Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL". I double as a computer book reviewer for Canada Computes magazine, which means I get all of my computer-related reading material for free. Since all of our Web sites are based on PHP (a Web programming language) and MySQL (a database program), this is a particularly useful read.
I'm always the first in the office, and usually arrive at about a 7:45am. First job is to sort through and reply to the stream of emails that pour in after turning on my computer. I try to answer the ones from HK first, as sometimes I'll get a reply the same day from any night owl who may still be there. (I think to myself while looking at the email titles coming in that I must update spam blocker listing soon).
I tune into CBC Radio One over the Internet while the mail continues to stream in. When their feed is down, I'll usually tune into the BBC World Service, or listen to one of my many MP3 compilation. (My listening choice for the afternoon is some early Rolling Stones mixed in with some Peter Gabriel and Midnight Oil).
Once the initial emails have been answered, it's time to do the PanelX news. A mechanism I have had set up scans for relevant industry sites that have been updated in the past 2 hours, indicating what may be a fresh press release. Using this "URL Checker" I scan through a couple dozen Web sites and manage to scoop a couple of new press releases. Then I log into ScreamingMedia to look for more industry news from the press wires, eventually coming up with 6 stories – a few more than usual. By the time I am finished, it is 10 o'clock.
Various other people start streaming into the office after 9am: Michael, Josh, Diane, Vito, Peter and Chris, and the place becomes lively with activity and incoming and outgoing phone calls.
I get started on processing a bunch of files intended for the Internal DV site, doing a quick check of the docs for grammar, convert them to PDFs, zip up the original Word files and start sorting them into various directories on site.
I get called to a quickie meeting with Vito and Michael to talk about a Web-based forthcoming product. Michael hammers home to Vito about project management, and Vito and I discuss what can be done on a user interface level to improve the site. I also need to know what the final planned feature set is going to be so that I can at least get the ball rolling when it comes to some rough marketing copy and concepts. Vito is currently in crunch-mode getting features finalized, but he promises us a breakdown of final features for the product on Monday. By the time I finish off work on the Int DV site for the day, it's noon.
I need a brain and body break, so I walk two blocks west to the local pool and get in just over a dozen lengths. I’m a terrible swimmer, so I am forever relegated to the “slow” lane, but I love being in the water. The swim clears my head.
For much of the rest of the day I deal with outstanding domain name issues. I go online and buy the digitalview.us domain name, and start the process to have it point towards the main site. Then I get the administrative info together on the digitalview.ca (Canada), .be (Belgium) and .tv (Tuvalu, but everybody thinks “television”) domains and had them over to Josh N. to take care of setting these up on our Web servers. I managed to get digitalview.be (Belgium) set up to point to the main site, and I marveled at how NetNames.com made me go through a "purchase" of the Web forwarding service for 0 Pounds.
Nearing day’s end I manage to jot down some notes about revamping the Digital View Web site. I am doing all of this in addition to helping maintain about a dozen Web sites I am the official manager for on behalf of the firm, PanelX “news” guy, newly appointed document manager for the company, ersatz marketing manager and a multitude of other “hats” I have to wear. I have to say that I am still learning a lot, and that all of my “hats” makes for an ever-more impressive resume. I glance at the calendar and realize that next week I will have been with the firm for two years.
The place is still abuzz with activity as I leave the office to catch my train heading back home.
Book Review: Oaxaca Journal, by Oliver SacksI bought this book primarily on the strength of the previous book of Sacks that I read a couple of months ago. This book is good, but arguably not as good as his inspired Uncle Tungsten.
It's interesting -- Sacks was obviously writing Uncle Tungsten while he was writing this travelouge through Oaxaca -- he even mentions the strain of amount of work necessary for this (then) forthcoming title. This book does not quite follow the same format that made Uncle Tungsten such an absorbing read -- there are few of the fascinating footnotes present in this book, and I think Sacks is more engaged with his subject-matter in Uncle Tungsten than he is in this book, which is ostensibly about his life-long fascination with ferns, and his travel to Oaxaca to see them with a group of fellow fern-lovers.
Sacks' wide knowledge in areas of science, biology, history are all brought to bear in the book as he recounts encounters with exotic foods, people, crafts and culture. Often there's an almost stream-of-consciousness feel to it at times, as in the space of a few pages Sacks is "on the road", looking at a subject and then procedes to shift perspectives, bringing to bear his wide knowledge as it pertains to the thing. Perhaps tellingly, given the fact that he is writing Uncle Tungsten, one segment that stands out for me is when he looks at the bugs who are gathered and crushed by the thousand to make a vivid natural red dye for the local rugs made in Teotitlán del Valle (a villiage Erika and myself have visited, and where we picked up our favourite "Quetzlecotl" dragon wall-hanging from). He looks at the history of farming these bugs, the type of cactus they feed upon, the culture that grew around it, the history of exporting the red fabric to Europe and the chemical properties behind the red colour. Similarly, his visit to Monte Alban (another place Erika and I have been to) focuses not on the magnificent pyramids so much as a fascination with the 10lb hard rubber ball used in the ball courts there. An interesting perspective on things, but the book only gives a flavour of the place, and the book says more about Sacks than Oaxaca (and I guess I wanted more of the latter than the former).
I very nearly didn't buy this book because of the price, and at $31.00 for a slim, 159 page book, I feel somewhat guilty about having bought it. Do the math, and it works out to almost $0.20 a page. Ouch! I have a friend in the publishing industry who likes to say that "books are your best entertainment buy", but I suspect even he would balk at this one. If the sticker shock hasn't faded by the time you finish a book, the book costs too much.
I realize I may seem a fine one to talk -- my last book went for upwards of $50, but at over 600 pages of content, I can truthfully say that I don't feel I've ripped anybody off.
However, I intend on donating this copy to a friend of mine. I'm sure Jenny W. will enjoy this book -- it was she who egged us on to visit Oaxaca in the first place, and I suspect she will love the way Sacks manages to weave in history, biology and other fascinating ruminations in this journal.
Hmm. I must dig out my own notes from our travels in Oaxaca...
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