I don't understand the appeal of...

[Dandontdare]

Firstly - I'm genuinely sorry Jim if it came across as a personal attack or making judgements about you, that certainly wasn't my intention.

I'd need to check the thread to be sure, but I doubt I ever extolled the necessity of car ownership - I don't need a car, and I've recently given up my 18 month experimentation in (shared) car ownership for this very reason. I was picking it up, dropping it off and spending loads of money on it without any improvement in my life - more hassle than it was worth.

I can only speak for myself, but if I had to reply to business e-mails 24/7, even when I was out for an evening in the pub, or be unable to pay my mortgage, I'd look for another job. If this is the price you pay to do a job that you love, and if you feel that this sort of work/life balance is acceptable, then more power to you my friend. Personally, I like to put in my time (however crappy and unsatisfying) and then clock off and get on with my real life without thinking about it till the next shift.

Again, it's only a personal opinion, not an attack or criticism!

[COMMANDO FORCES]

slappers, but when needs must and all that




I must point out that the above is from before I was married.

[Kerrin]

So now it's slippers then John. 

Dredd slippers....naturally.

[TordelBack]

If you're doing non work-related things that take more than a few hours then YOU'RE NOT AT WORK!

While I'm not particularly exercised on the subject, I should clarify that my work regularly means me standing in a field for hours on end, arguing in draughty site huts, or driving back and forth across the country to meetings, libraries, sites, conferences and so forth.  If I don't deal with e-mail while doing all those thing, then when I've finished the current job I won't have any work for the foreseeable future.  

Incidentally, this (regrettably) applies while I'm on holiday, at weekends etc.  Actual examples: I've had to write invoices in Greek ferry terminals, edit reports on Spanish balconies, arrange personnel scehdules from a labour ward waiting room, and I've even submitted a successful tender from the bar of a naturist campsite (beat that, Campbell).  Mobiel email is hugely important  to me.  That's why I'm on here all the bloody time, because if I'm not physically moving I'm staring at this laptop screen.

I'd like it to be otherwise, but my experience over the last five-or-so years is that I need internet access to stay in work.  I don't currently need it through a phone because I have a car and an office manager, and I know just about every free WiFi spot within two hours drive.  If I didn't have those, I'd need an e-mail capable phone.  Simple as.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

If only Kerrin, are you listening Tharg!

[Peter Wolf]

It seems sensible in the post-Bankster bailout Scam recession that if you are freelance then you have to be able to take up offers of work as and when they come in and if i was in that line of business i would rather have a mobile and not miss the call than not have a mobile and miss the call.

Just as long as the recipitent of the call doesnt start braying loudly into their mobile while i am drinking in the pub or wherever then its fine by me.

[Mike Gloady]

Slappers, slippers, let's call the whole thing off.

Or should that be "hole"

Fnar fnar

No, I've never quite understood that either.  I'm not saying I'm some kind of prude, but I reckon you should only really have sex with someone you're in a relationship with and you should only enter into (so to speak) a relationship with someone who you could happily spend lots of time with WITHOUT having sex (because once you get married, that's what's going to happen).  That way, once you've boinked and fallen straight asleep they can still hold a conversation beyond "YOU GIT, YOU FELL ASLEEP".

If they don't give you static for that, marry them.  

As for mobile conversations, if I'm at all able (i.e. not on a train, bus) I take my conversation outside where it's less likely to get on people's tits. 

[Jim_Campbell]

Again, it's only a personal opinion, not an attack or criticism!

Ahh ... I'm just bristling a bit. Pay me no mind.

The fact is, most of my previous jobs have had some element of managerial responsibility, and the five-o'clock-walk-out-and-leave-it-behind scenario has never really applied ... there's always been an out-of-hours component which I've always resented. Doing this, I get to do a job I enjoy, I've rediscovered the pleasure of drawing, and I can copy the job I'm working on over to the laptop and take it down the pub for the afternoon.

A number of persistent health issues that were (it's now obvious) stress-related have cleared up completely. If it takes an e-mail enabled phone and a few evening mails, that's a price eminently worth paying.

Cheers

Jim

[Mike Gloady]

Good for you, Jim.

[Peter Wolf]

I just had a work related call 10 minutes ago about a planning application on a listed building that needed commenting on so i gave my advice for nothing which took up nearly an hour of my time but i might get the work so it has to be done.

I am tired of giving advice to others for nothing and having them picking my brains for nothing when it should be paid for.

[Jim_Campbell]

Good for you, Jim.

Gawd bless you, squire.

Don't get me wrong -- the persistent uncertainty about your income has a stress factor all of its own, and delays to two large jobs I'd kind of been relying on mean that I'll probably have to get a temping agency to stick me in an office job for a couple of months till they come through ... but for all that, it's a hell of a thing, working for yourself ...

Cheers!

Jim

[Tiplodocus]

I do like Marcus Brigstock's comment about I-Phones though...


"All of you people with I-Phones; you only bought it, you didn't INVENT it"

I plan on getting myself one on the next upgrade but I'm fully aware that it's no longer just a phone. And there's nothing wrong with that.

[radiator]

I still don't see the appeal of Twitter, and don't have an account. I'm loathe to write things off though, as I initially dismissed mobile phones and Myspace and eventually had to do an embarrassing u-turn on those once converted!

I'm still a bit annoyed that facebook, which I do like, keeps changing to be more like Twitter, when personally I much preferred it circa 2006 when it was more like having your own little web-page, as opposed to now, where it's more about the tedious status updates and news feeds. The truth is that very few people are capable of writing something snappy, interesting or clever in one sentence!

I'm indifferent on iPhones, on the whole I like Apple products but I must admit I can't help but snigger at the ad that evangelises about the app that 'works out your share of the bill' - what, like, a calculator?

I can appreciate, or at least respect most genres of music, but I've always disliked RnB, and always will.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Coffee shops. I only go in with the missus and I will get her a coffee and something to eat but I will sit there with nothing. I would rather buy a coke from another shop and drink it walking down the street later than buy stuff for myself from these places.
They are just not my cup of tea (I don't drink tea by the way)

[Christov]

You have to admit though, those icy sugary frappa mocha doo-dah wotsit drinks are fairly tempting, even if you'll instantly regret buying one for the overwhelming sugar rush alone.