Daniel’s caught up in the blog tag thing, and now I’m it as they say.

So, five things you probably didn’t know about me:

1. I’m desperate to write a book. I’ve spoken with a number of famous-name authors who tell me it’s a tough market and that I shouldn’t expect make my fortune in the writing world. That’s fine, I can accept that. If my message “gets out there”, that’s good enough for me.
2. I never set out to exact revenge upon persons who hurt me in some way. If it happens naturally (i.e. I don’t have to do anything), humorously and without injury, that’s great.
3. I am a procrastinator. To help become less of a procrastinator, I have set about a re-organisation involving David Allen’s Getting Things Done ideas. Part of the “solution” came about when started a clear out and have thrown out over 3000 3.5″ floppy discs, an HP 1220c printer and gave away an Acorn A440/1 with monitor and some 160MB (yes, MB) SCSI disk drives. All computer magazines over 12 months old were sent to the recyclers; all files and folders that had not been touched in 6 months were cleared down and put into the loft.
4. I do not tolerate stupidity, or the people who promote it. Stupidity often manifests itself in the form of “policy over common sense”. I recall an incident that saw me arrive at Luton airport at 1345 for the 1600 flight back home. All the flight announcement monitors were displaying “delayed” or “cancelled” for the bulk of the flights. My 1600 flight was delayed until at least 2200. However, the lady on the easyJet desk told me that for £20, I could change my booking from the 1600 flight to the earlier 1400 flight…which was actually delayed, but would depart at 1600. So I paid the £20. My then employer pulled the policy over common sense card out of the bag and refused to reimburse the £20 – all because I had not used “their” booking procedure. That was an eye-opening experience for me. Common sense and practicality based on the current situation always beats policy’n’procedure. Needless to say, I argued my point and received the £20, albeit a month later than it should have been paid.
5. I worry about how much innovation is lost because we work too hard. What are you doing that promotes innovation? I can’t remember the last time I listened to an album from start to finish…worse, I can’t remember the last time I listened to an album whilst doing nothing else…that’s when innovation comes into its own.

Who’s next? Colin, John, Simon, Rob and Zi.

Technorati Tags: blog tag, tag, you are it, five things, 5 things, Colin Mackay, John Thomson, Simon Harriyott, Rob Lally, Zi Makki