The timing of this tweet made me smile. I had recently returned from 8 nights away in paradise (Khao Lak, Thailand) at an adults only resort with the love of my life. I hadn’t checked Outlook or Microsoft Teams once. I was in a pretty good position to comment on how to be someone in tech who was good at vacation.
�How is Microsoft?� �It must be amazing!� �What are you working on?�
This is how the conversation goes with anyone who knows of my July 16 start date as a Microsoft employee.
If you missed my announcement (because I�recorded a video�instead of blogging about it), I�ve joined the Cloud Developer Advocates who report through to Azure engineering. I�m part of a new, global team focusing on IT Operations in Microsoft�s cloud. We have strong connections to our technical �IT Pro� communities, to help make Azure and its resources even better for people who are wrangling virtual machines, storage, backups, identity management etc etc.
Monday in Queensland is a public holiday to observe�labour day, which is quite apt because yes, I�m working. Now before you�pity me that I don�t�get three whole days off (in a row!), I�m not that concerned actually.
Long weekends are the perfect structure for me. I�ve had time to spend with friends and family, time to catch up on housework and time to work while clients are away and I can�control their computers whenever suits, without interrupting them. It�s also the last weekend before school recommences for the kids so add in polishing shoes & gathering all required school items prior to the first morning back.
WARNING: Do not continue?if you have?no interest in Disney?s Frozen whatsoever.
Having two daughters under 10, our house & car has been filled with Frozen songs, so naturally that was the chosen theme for Miss 4?s 5th birthday. I?wasn?t interested in it being the best decorated Frozen party ever. I just wanted it to be achievable & for her to have a good time. So, here is a tutorial on how to have a Frozen party when you?re on a budget & leave things until the last minute.
At short notice, I�ve taken a leap of faith and purchased a conference ticket. It was left until the last minute because I�ve been umming and ahhing about whether or not I can justify spending the money to be a delegate for 2.5 days, plus accommodation. Everyone who has attended this industry conference raves about it and I�ve made some great connections with people over the last 12 months who will be there. Never underestimate the power of meeting the face behind the emails, I would advise other people, as I was so wisely taught when I stepped into the broader industry. You�ll be amazed what happens at �the meeting after the meeting� or months in the future because you took the time to start building a relationship. Yes, all the justification in the world for taking a large sum of money out of my bank account.
I started?doing the school holidays thing?of letting the girls have some?unstructured play time?(aka amusing themselves while I work). My aim is to wrangle my unread emails & attend to anything time critical, then spend some time with them. They love to bake. Well, they love to start baking then leave me to it and return in time to eat the results.
So in a moment of Aldi clearance madness, I bought a cake pop kit. I have no room in my kitchen for single-use appliances so I was never going to buy a cake pop machine (the ones that look like toasted sandwich makers). But Aldi had this cute little box with the silicone moulds and a recipe book & sticks.?A bargain, guaranteed to give us some?quality time together.
When I first took the plunge with WordPress, it was to create a blog that aligned with our website. The website has now moved to a WordPress platform and has it’s own blog component. I also found myself rambling about other stuff and tech stuff that was very techy.
So, I’ve finally made the split. Off the Scuff becomes my new personal blog for all the things that aren’t small business related, so I can rant on without it being under the company name. It’s not going to be the prettiest blog you’ve ever seen (I’m a writer, not a graphic designer), but it will feel more like ‘me’.