Hey it’s not like that, come back! Hey. There, there. Have a bit of chocolate.

So yes, 2012. 2011 was cool, I set up as freelance completely, and we had a baby. So kind of busy. Bit sleepy.

This whole site’s getting redesigned soon, so ignore the whole ‘photos don’t quite fit in the frame’ thing. I’ll sort it soon.
Here’s some cool things I got for Christmas:

I’ve got a load of projects on the go at the moment; a few small ones for nice people, some bigger ones for a nice agency, and finishing some bits off from 2011. Here’s a quick WordPress site we did for M62LocationScout, a location scout based in the North.

I know, ME ME ME.

So tonight I went to Islington Mill to an event run by Beep Industries. It was a talk by Aaron Draplin – founder of Portland’s Draplin Design Company and co-creator of Field Notes.

Now – got to say straight away – I wasn’t aware of him really until a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, I know. A friend of mine posted a link to a video of his, I then read his blog, then his twitter, then he posted that he was in Manchester this week. So I bought tickets, quickly passed on the baby to Elisabeth and drove over to the Mill.

Cutting to the chase – man was I glad I went. A great, funny, super-talented, inspirational guy. Above all what struck me was his sheer passion, the sheer joy and love he had that all day he could work for himself, making things that he loved and live that way. It was clear that this was a privilege to him; that the ability to do this, and to work and live like this is not something to be taken for granted, but something to be cherished and loved and celebrated.

Now he’s about 12 months or so older than I, but waaaay ahead of me on this thing. He’s a way better designer, way more experienced, etc. And sometimes, as I’m going greyer, losing hair and am constantly tired, that could get one down. But actually, it was all just super inspiring. Just the idea that your life can be what you make of it, if you work hard. I’m not saying anybody can do anything, but as someone who went completely freelance in March this year, and has a 6 month old baby, that’s genuinely inspirational.

I started freelancing with no clients and from a job which wasn’t the one I freelance in (so I wasn’t ‘known’ in the industry), and knowing I had a baby on the way, and a mortgage to pay. Scary. But it’s working. Slowly, but it’s working. And I can get up in the morning, I don’t need to put on a suit, or even get dressed. My commute is to my computer with a coffee. I can listen to whatever I want, work the hours I need to, spend time with Evie and my fiancé, catch up on shit on the internet without having to hide my computer screen, and what’s the worst I have to do? Make more amends than I’d like to a client’s work? Have to chase an invoice a couple of times? So what?

Also – it shows that if you work hard, work like it means something, like you’re the client, then you can produce great stuff that you love, and have a job that you love. And in these days of ‘a missing decade’, etc, that’s quite something.

So thanks to Draplin, and thanks to Beep. Shame more people weren’t there, you missed out. It’s sending me back to my work inspired, fired up, and ready to work harder and better. But not for some shareholders, or a boss, or whatever. But for me.

All from Maple Tea.

At the time I didn’t have broadband (obviously) or a decent computer, so playing poker online wasn’t a possibility. As soon as my poker buddies moved away, the thrill of playing for matches faded and I kind of forgot about it really. Only recently did I, for some reason, pick up on Zynga poker on Facebook, and this has reignited my interest.

Zynga – if you’ve not played it – is pretty easy to get into, particularly if you have an iPhone or (as I play it) on Android. You can of course play it on Facebook, but I prefer it on the phone as the interface is loads better, clearer and easier to use. You also don’t get as many flashing things trying to catch your attention, which is pretty annoying when you’re trying to play.

The advantages of Zynga are that it’s not real money; you get credits every day you log on and it’s a nice way to get back into it. You can move up the rankings the more money and hands you play, and it feels nice. The disadvantage is that it’s not real money; you get players throwing thousands on hands and bets which they would never do in real life, unless they were completely nuts. This makes it pretty hard to play sometimes if, like me, you actually want to get better at playing poker. It’s not impossible though, and it’s certainly a good place to get back into the swing of things and experiment a little as you’re learning. One good way of minimising the ‘throw all the money in’ aspect is to play the tournaments, rather than the tables. It’s harder to build up a chip count on the  tournaments, but it’s slightly more realistic a game, as you have a limited chip stack to start with, and can’t buy back in. So you start with £1k of chips, and have to eliminate the competition to finish in the top 3 to win something. There’s a habit of people to go all-in immediately on the game, but notwithstanding those people it’s pretty good.

For real play I’ve been playing on 888.com; I’ve no idea whether it’s the best or not, it’s just the one I’m on at the moment. I stuck a bit of money in, and am just playing the 5p/10p tables so I can’t lose that much. Even at that small level it’s surprising the difference between that and Zynga; play that you could sometimes get away with on Zynga you’ve no chance on 888. At the moment I’m trying to read a bit about the game, then play a bit, and try and keep making small advances money wise. (Though I did lose a fair bit to start off with, as I went in rather gung-ho, flushed with my success on Zynga. Ooops).

To learn I did a little research and picked up a book on my Kindle called  The Theory of Poker: A Professional Poker Player Teaches You How to Think Like One which covers all different types of Poker, so not all of the examples are directly relevant to Texas Hold ‘em (the style I’m playing) but is a great foundation for learning. After this I’m going to move onto Harrington on Hold ‘em: Strategic Play v. 1: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments which is specifically Texas Hold ‘em play. (I get a small cut if you buy through those links, but it doesn’t cost you any more).

The weird thing is that the strategy I’m learning about in the books seems to be directly relating to other things in life more and more; bluffing, semi-bluffing and raising all seem to have links in life quite a bit when dealing with certain situations. I’m sure there are books that someone’s hacked out to link these two more – Management and the art of War Poker or something, but it’s not as weird as it seems. I haven’t had the time to properly formulate some thoughts on that yet, but I’m thinking about it.

Anyway, there you go. Poker. It’s fun.

I’ve also managed to record another podcast with Treva Whateva (whose site I’m working on now) which I just need to edit out the rambling from and we’ll be up. And in the meantime I’ve been trying to spend as much time as possible with my little girl Evie, who’s just over four months old.

So – next I’ve a project of my own which I’m working on, the NoCo Websites stuff (of which Neil’s site was a sample) and I need to get that finished, along with some other bits I’m excited about. I’ll sort this blog out too, probably. In the meantime, I’ve been mainly wearing low cut V necks…

Or alternatively, when you ask me if I want to install the app, add a button which says ‘Just Fuck Off’. Then when I click that you never ask me again. I’d like that.