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Yearly review: 2010

Posted: - Modified: | sketches, yearly

What a year for major life changes!

image imageMy cat Neko and I officially moved to Canada this year when I got my permanent residency in January. After wrestling my unhappy and rather pointy cat into the soft-shell carrier, I stowed her under the seat in front of me. Not a single meow or yowl  out of her during the long flight, although there was a moment in airport security when I had a cat on my head.

imageNeko seems to to be getting along quite fine. She has discovered all the warm spots in the house, and has claimed the top cat position at home even though Luke and Leia are both twice her size.

imageMe, I think I've figured out the secret to dealing with winter, too. Flannel pajamas, soft and warm sheets, plenty of thermals, and the renaming of winter to "baking season".   Good thing we biked a lot during the warm months.

I got a promotion and a new manager at work. I'm doing a lot of Drupal development again, which is tons of fun. I'm starting to get the hang of this, I think. There are topics that I feel comfortable being "the expert" on in workshops, although really it's more like doing the background research and being ready to brainstorm and ask questions.

J-’s in grade 7. The alternative school she's going to now is interesting because the subjects are integrated, so she's learning about, say, world hunger in mathematics and geography and all her other subjects. She's hitting that growth spurt, too. Her feet are bigger than mine, and she'll grow into them soon enough.

image We picked up and deepened a few interests, too. We all learned woodworking this year, building our own Adirondack chairs. (Yes, even J- built one, with our help!) I'm still amazed that I can have a chair that actually fits me, as most lounge chairs are a bit too long.
The chairs were a great vantage point for viewing our garden, which has  imageyielded lots of ampalaya (bitter melon) for pinakbet, plenty of herbs for pasta sauce, and peas and cherry tomatoes for snacking. We're looking forward to growing even more fruits, vegetables and herbs in next year's garden! 

image W- and I got married in Toronto City Hall. To keep things sane and introvert-friendly, we celebrated with just family and a few practically-family friends. Everyone flew in, and it was fantastic having family gathered around the kitchen table. The poor photographer was probably intimidated by all these people with better cameras and tons of photography
experience, but he survived. Tita Gay was a force of nature, practically bringing along a wedding in a suitcase. She surprised us with bubbles and image wedding favours. She and my sister Kathy catered the whole thing, and they conspired with Ching and John to spring a wedding
cake on us. We ate pretty much constantly during the week my family spent in Canada, and really good food too. We just finished the very last lumpia from our stash from Tita Gay and are looking forward to making more.

image Inspired by how my mom and dad built these great friendships over time and distance, we've been working on being more social: giving home-made kitchen gifts, writing Christmas cards and letters (hi!), and going to and organizing get-togethers. It's surprisingly fun! We're looking forward to learning more about building relationships over time.

What a year!

imageimage 2011 promises to be amazing. We're looking forward to celebrating Kathy and John's wedding in the Netherlands and the Philippines. We're also looking  forward to learning more about woodworking and getting even more out of our garden. Me, I can’t wait to do more writing, drawing, and programming, and I’m excited about opportunities to develop my communication and consulting skills.

Please help us with our project of building relationships. =) How was your year? What are you looking forward to in the next one? What are your stories? You can find our past yearly updates at https://sachachua.com/blog/category/yearly . Looking forward to hearing from you!


Updates from last year:

In last year’s learning plan, I said that my key priorities were:

  1. Share as much as I can at work and in life. I want to share as much as possible so that other people can build on that foundation. At work, this means creating enablement material, blogging, organizing the shared content, and helping communities and individuals.
  2. Learn more about drawing, animation, and video. I want to get even better at thinking things through and communicating what I’m learning. The better I get at sharing, the more I can help people learn.
  3. Continue living an awesome life! I can’t wait to explore the experiment opportunities that are sure to come up. I’m looking forward to further building my relationships with W- and J-, family, friends, communities, and the world, too. And I’m definitely looking forward to bringing my cat to Canada as I complete the permanent residency process. I miss her! =)

Although I didn’t get as much into animation and video as I hoped to, I’ve had fun learning about everything else, and I think I’ll continue to focus on writing, drawing, sharing, and connecting in 2011. =)


Links:

Learning plan for 2010

Posted: - Modified: | learning, life, planning, reflection, yearly

Here are my priorities for 2010:

  1. Share as much as I can at work and in life. I want to share as much as possible so that other people can build on that foundation. At work, this means creating enablement material, blogging, organizing the shared content, and helping communities and individuals.
  2. Learn more about drawing, animation, and video. I want to get even better at thinking things through and communicating what I’m learning. The better I get at sharing, the more I can help people learn.
  3. Continue living an awesome life! I can’t wait to explore the experiment opportunities that are sure to come up. I’m looking forward to further building my relationships with W- and J-, family, friends, communities, and the world, too. And I’m definitely looking forward to bringing my cat to Canada as I complete the permanent residency process. I miss her! =)

What do I want to learn to support that, and how can I go about learning?

1) Share as much as I can at work and in life.

I want to share patterns for social software use, organizational knowledge (connecting the dots), skills I’ve picked up, and ideas and insights I’ve collected along the way. I can learn through:

  • Practice: Adding content to blogs, wikis, communities, and other repositories will move me towards this goal and help me develop the skills I need to do it even more effectively
  • Community, mentors: People’s comments and questions teach me what to share and what’s missing.
  • Inspiration: I can get ideas from e-books, presentations, wikis, and other resources.

2) Learn more about drawing, animation, and video.

I want to communicate better. Visual skills complement written skills and can be quite engaging. I can learn through:

  • Practice: I can use drawing, animation and video to share what I’m learning.
  • Community, mentors: People’s feedback will help me learn how to communicate more effectively.
  • Reading: There are a few good resources coming out soon – looking forward to reading them!
  • Inspiration: I can get ideas from presentations, images, and videocasts.
  • Coaches: I can work with editors and illustrators to get feedback and improve the output.

3) Continue living an awesome life!

I can explore this further through:

  • Practice: Particularly experiments! =)
  • Reflection: What am I doing well? How can we do even better?
  • Reading: Lots of books and blog posts about life, yay!
  • Community, mentors: Learning from people’s comments, questions, and advice really helps
  • Inspiration: Looking for examples and picking up ideas from them = awesome

Lessons from 2009 and plans for 2010

Posted: - Modified: | reflection, yearly

There is something incredibly powerful in being able to look back and see how much you’ve grown in a year. You can’t help but wonder what adventures the next year will bring.

It seems that every year of my life must be the best year yet. 2009 was no exception. It was the year of experiments that paid off and crazy ideas that turned out awesomely.

Here are my long-term goals:

  • I want people to be able to learn, work together, and lead from anywhere. That’s why I’m passionate about helping people connect and collaborate.
  • I want to continue to live a happy and fulfilling life, and I want to share that experience as much as I can. That’s why I’m passionate about exploration and sharing.

Here are some of the things I learned in 2009:

  • Sharing means being able to do more. I’m glad I blogged so much about Drupal. Helping new teams learn Drupal was easy and fun. Teaching what I’d learned freed me up to work on other interesting challenges, which led to learning and sharing even more.
  • Sharing opportunities pays off, too. I’ve switched to passing along as many opportunities as I can, coaching people when needed, and accepting only the opportunities that no one else can do. Result: stronger communities and networks, and better use of time.
  • Experience is awesome. I’ve been working at IBM for two years now. What I do has changed a lot over the past two years, and I’m continually challenged to grow (yay!). I’m surprised to find that I have answers to people’s questions, though, and have even started giving people career advice. ;) This is fun! Imagine what life will be like with decades of experience… =)
  • Speaking in person is overrated. ;) I realized that I can make even more of an impact online, and I can reach more people too. So I experimented with reducing my in-person speeches and focusing the time/energy on sharing more on-line instead. Result: I’m happier, I reach more people, and I have deeper discussions. Win!
  • There’s so much to learn about great communication. Yay! I learned how to facilitate with drawings and do good video on a low budget. I’m looking forward to learning even more through practice and professional editing.
  • Expertise is worth the investment. Many talented people want to earn extra money. Hiring them to teach you or to do something you can’t do easily is a great way to grow your capabilities. For example, some of the illustrators and editors I’ve worked with have saved me time and shown me what “better” looks like.
  • Delegation can help you improve processes and save energy. Outsourcing routine tasks made me reflect on how I do things and write step-by-step instructions. Not only did I learn more about what I do and how to explain it to others, I appreciated being able to delegate things that took me a lot of energy so that I could focus on things I enjoy.
  • Little things can make all the difference in life. Microfleece blankets, handmade hooded bathrobes, and home-baked apple pie make autumn and winter so much more agreeable. Little things like those count.
  • It’s fun to make or grow things for yourself. Sewing means being able to make the clothes, organizers, and home decorations I have in mind. Growing a garden means I can harvest whatever I want. Learning how to can and preserve means being able to enjoy apricot syrup, blueberry jam, and jalapeno jelly. Mmm!
  • Biking helps you get around and build exercise into your routine. Toronto seems so much smaller now that I’m comfortable on my bicycle. I can get to places easily, and I don’t have to rely on public transit. I also like knowing that the exercise is just part of the way I get around. Good stuff!
  • Household routines and investments save time and money. The chest freezer means we can buy more things on sale. We prepare large batches of lunches and dinners for extra convenience. This was definitely worth the extra money. Other household tweaks, like more shelves near the door, go a long way towards streamlining our processes.
  • Staycations are super. The two-week staycation we enjoyed in August was the most relaxing and most productive vacation I’ve ever had. We explored new interests and prepared the foundation for an even better life. Definitely a good idea!

How can 2010 be even better? Here’s what I’m planning to do:

  • Learn more about drawing, animation, and video. I want to get even better at thinking things through and communicating what I’m learning. The better I get at sharing, the more I can help people learn.
  • Share as much as I can at work and in life. I want to share as much as possible so that other people can build on that foundation. At work, this means creating enablement material, blogging, organizing the shared content, and helping communities and individuals.
  • Continue living an awesome life! I can’t wait to explore the experiment opportunities that are sure to come up. I’m looking forward to further building my relationships with W- and J-, family, friends, communities, and the world, too. And I’m definitely looking forward to bringing my cat to Canada as I complete the permanent residency process. I miss her! =)

What have you learned from 2009, and what are you looking forward to in 2010? Please share! =)

More thoughts on calendar management

| kaizen

I have three days left on my free trial of Timebridge, so I need to make a decision. Do I upgrade to the USD 8.95 subscription, which includes web conferences using Dimdim and phone conferences (toll numbers), or do I ask Timesvr or my other virtual assistants to handle it and let them worry about the back-and-forth email, or do I simply publish my free/busy calendar information somewhere and let people schedule themselves?

In the last month, I used Timebridge to schedule five meetings, one of which was with multiple people. I rarely need to schedule things outside work, and I rarely schedule meetings with multiple people. So I probably won’t renew until I feel a compelling need to do so–when I or my assistant find multiple meetings difficult to keep track of, and when my calendar isn’t being kept up to date.

On the flip side, what would life look like if I got to the point where a service like this would be really, really helpful? Timebridge and other calendar management systems would rock if:

  • I make an effort to reach out to lots of people for phone conversations and in-person chats
  • I spend most of my time interacting with people outside our Lotus Notes environment
  • Lots of people want to talk to me about something

I think I’ll take that USD 8.95 per month and invest it in getting to that point. =) Every little bit counts.

Virtual assistance process: Calendar management with Timebridge

Posted: - Modified: | process

Thanks to Ana Conception-Macatiag for documenting this process and including screenshots! =)

Setting up appointments:

  1. Log in to http://www.timebridge.com, see Accounts and Passwords section for the login information.
  2. The screenshot below shows an example of the personal Timebridge Home Page.  To set up an appointment, click on Schedule a meeting at the left side of the screen.

    Your browser may not support display of this image.

  3. Fill in the fields.
    1. Type in email address of the attendees in the “Send Invite to” field.
    2. Indicate subject in the “Meeting Topic” field.
    3. Meeting Location (Note unless specifically specified on my meeting details, here are my venue preferences:
      • Lunch during weekdays
        • Ichiriki – Japanese – 120 Bloor Street E, Toronto – Hours: 11:45 – 2:30?
        • Camros Eatery (http://www.camroseatery.com/) – Vegan – Hours: M-F 11:30am to 7:30pm (no travel time necessary)
      • Weekends: Linux Caffe (http://www.linuxcaffe.ca) – 326 Harbord Street, Toronto. – Hours: M-F: 7am to 11pm, Sat 10am to 11pm, Sun 10am to 5pm
    4. Click the “More Meeting Options” and make sure the meeting reminder is set to 1 day before the meeting and that TimeBridge should automatically confirm the meeting time is also checked.

      Your browser may not support display of this image.

    5. Click on the button “Propose Times” to propose meeting times.  The calendar as shown in the screenshot below is linked to my Google Calendar so you will know when I’m is available. Highlight available times or as instructed by me. (Orange highlights below are the highlighted proposed times.)

      Your browser may not support display of this image.

      Additional Information in selecting time:

      • Offer 3-5 choices. Conflicts and double bookings will not be a problem with Timebridge because it is synchronized with the Google Calendar.
      • For in-person meetings, I prefer lunch (12:00 PM – 1:00 PM) or coffee/tea/hot chocolate (any time between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM), preferably on a Thursday or Friday
      • For work-related phone meetings, I prefer calls on Wednesday to Friday afternoons (3:00 PM – 5:00 PM).
      • For personal phone meetings, I prefer calls on Saturday or Sunday (9:00 AM – 9:00 PM), preferring Saturday afternoon

      My Google Calendar will be automatically updated as soon as invitees send back their confirmations.

    6. Click DONE.
    7. Check if the proposed times are as correct. Click Edit if you need to change anything.
    8. Make sure the cc myself on this invitation box is checked.
  4. For the personal message, refer to instructions below. Then click Send.
    • For phone appointments, include the following segment in the Personal Message box:

      If the automatically-detected timezone is incorrect, please click the Edit button (under the Help Button) to set your timezone.

      Sacha Chua’s contact information

      Skype ID: XXX

      Mobile number: XXX

      Work number: XXX

      E-mail: sacha@sachachua.com

      Please send your contact information (phone number and Skype ID if available) in the “Send message to host” box.

    • For in-person appointments, include the following segment in the Personal Message:
    • Sacha Chua’s contact information

      Mobile number: XXX

      Work number: XXX

      E-mail: sacha@sachachua.com

      Please send your phone number in the “Send message to host” box so that I can contact you if something comes up.

  5. Unless instructed otherwise, click No, thanks on the “Share Availability” message to be sent to meeting contacts.

    Your browser may not support display of this image.

  6. You should see your created meeting in the home page as encircled in the screenshot below.

    Your browser may not support display of this image.

Still looking for an awesome calendar management system

Posted: - Modified: | kaizen

One of the things I do very badly is manage appointments. I can manage tasks.  I can manage time. But every so often, I write down the wrong times for a meeting, get frustrated by scheduling, or double-book myself. This is all the more embarrassing because people are involved. This should be something I can fix.

That’s why I spend a lot of my time thinking about how to manage my calendar and how to do it better. Web-based systems like Tungle, TimeBridge, and AgreeADate make it easy to find available times for meetings, although I still haven’t found the perfect tool.

  • I love AgreeADate‘s interface for handling appointments with multiple attendees and multiple timeslots, but it lacks integration with my Google calendar, and it cannot detect conflicts.
  • I love TimeBridge‘s integration with my calendar and tracking of tentative slots, but it displays too many pop-ups and pushes the social networking feature too strongly.
  • I love Tungle‘s interface for selecting slots and its integration with my Google contacts, but there’s no way to add slots to a meeting after an attendee says that none of the slots are convenient.

Every service is just a little bit off. My ideal calendar management system would make it easy for me to propose meeting times, and reschedule them to a something else comes up. I’d also love to be able to give people a link to my schedule, so that they can sign themselves up. Maybe someday. I can outsource the fiddly things to a virtual assistant, but it makes sense that this stuff should be mostly automated. For the peace of mind of knowing my calendar’s correct, I’d pay maybe $5-10 a month…

UPDATE: TimeBridge handles most of my cases, so I guess I’ll go with that.

Tungle for the win: kaizen and calendar management

| kaizen

Life just keeps getting better and better. =) So after I posted that quick note about Timebridge, Aidan Nulman nudged me about Tungle. I asked Ana to look into it, updating the calendar management process along the way. Based on a little exploration, I think Tungle wins in terms of calendar management. =) It can synchronize with my multiple Google Calendars, show all of my Google Contants on the left side, and automatically avoid double-booking. I’m in love. (TimeBridge, AgreeADate, I hope you’re listening – keep up with the competition!)

So in the spirit of sharing, here’s our newly refined calendar management process. Ana even went to the trouble of adding screenshots – how cool is that?

Setting up appointments:

  1. Login to http://www.tungle.com, see Accounts and Passwords section for the login information.
  2. The screenshot below shows an example of a personal Tungle Page. To set up an appointment, click on Schedule a meeting at the upper left side of the screen.
  3. Fill in the fields.
    1. Subject of the Event
    2. Choose from the dropdown list for the duration of the meeting/appointment.
    3. Meeting Location (Note unless specifically specified on Sacha’s meeting details, here are Sacha’s Venue Preferences:
      • Lunch during weekdays
        • Ichiriki – Japanese – 120 Bloor Street E, Toronto Hours: 11:45 – 2:30?
        • Camros Eatery (http://www.camroseatery.com/) – Vegan – Hours: M-F 11:30am to 7:30pm (no travel time necessary)
      • Weekends: Linux Caffe (http://www.linuxcaffe.ca) – 326 Harbord Street, Toronto. Hours: M-F: 7am to 11pm, Sat 10am to 11pm, Sun 10am to 5pm
    4. Click Add for every person added in the list of Invitees.
    5. The calendar on the lower part of the page is linked to Sacha’s Google Calendar so you will know which hours and days she is available. Highlight available times or as instructed by Sacha.
      Additional Information in selecting time:

      • Offer 3-5 choices, conflicts and double bookings will not be a problem with Tungle since it is synchronized with the Google Calendar.
        1. For in-person meetings, I prefer lunch (12:00 PM – 1:00 PM) or coffee/tea/hot chocolate (any time between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM), preferably on a Thursday or Friday
        2. For phone meetings, I prefer calls on Saturday or Sunday (9:00 AM – 9:00 PM), preferring Saturday afternoon
      • Sacha’s Google Calendar will be automatically updated as soon as invitees send back their confirmations.
    6. Click the RIGHT arrow beside Step 1 of 3.
  4. Step 2 shows a summary of the tentative dates you are proposing to the invitees. Click on X if you have entered an incorrect entry and go back to Step 1. If the details are all correct, click on the RIGHT arrow button to proceed to Step 3.
  5. For personal message refer to instructions below. Then click PREVIEW.
    • For phone appointments, include the following segment in the Personal Message box:

      Times are in your current time zone by default. If the timezone is incorrect, use the “Change” link above the calendar.

      Sacha Chua’s contact information
      Skype ID: XXX
      Mobile number: XXX
      Work number: XXX
      E-mail: XXX

    • For in-person appointments, include the following segment in the Personal Message:

      Sacha Chua’s contact information
      Mobile number: XXX
      Work number: XXX
      E-mail: XXX

  6. Check meeting details. Send invitation.
  7. A confirmation box will be shown to you after sending invites. See screencap below. Close.