Eliot & Mysie's News

It's a Girl!

Mysie and I are very happy to announce the birth of Charis Marcia, born yesterday afternoon weighing 4kg. Mother and baby are doing well.

Home

Just arrived home yesterday from our long UK holiday, where we really enjoyed spending time with family. Check out our trip photo album.

The Subprime Crisis

If you've ever wondered what the so-called "subprime crisis" is actually all about, then you really have to check out this brilliant interview. John Bird and John Fortune ('the Long Johns') describe the mindset of the investment banking community in this clear, and quite satirical interview.

Baking

Minty's been busy preparing for her second birthday (tomorrow) baking gingerbread men...

Business Cards

My new business cards arrived last week. I really wanted them printed using letterpress to create an extra "impact" and cut through all the other corporate cards which ultimately collect themselves into little untidy piles on the corner of desks and are filed or thrown away. I searched all over Sydney to find a letterpress printer and eventually stumbled on The Artisan Press. I had my cards printed on drink coaster board--they create quite an impression!

Open for Business

I'm approaching the end of my third week in my business and I'm finally settled in. My office furniture arrived yesterday, so now I've got no excuse not to work!

Last Day

It's almost been 5 years since I walked in the door at Fuji Xerox Australia (and Sydney airport for that matter) and today marks the end of a chapter in my life. Tomorrow is my last day at FXA, before I walk in my new office next Monday morning to start my own company. It's exciting. Daunting. Terrifying. And the best thing about it is that I'm really looking forward to it.

A New Beginning

I know I haven't blogged much over the past few weeks, but I've got a very good reason. I resigned from my job at Fuji Xerox Australia earlier this month and will be leaving next month to start up my own publishing company.

It's certainly not a decision that I've made lightly, but it's one that I'm finally ready for. There's a great opportunity on the horizon and I'm setting sail. I can't really share too much information at this stage, but in the meantime, you can count down with me to the big day at www.eliot.com.au.

Holiday Snaps

I've just posted a selection of photos from our recent UK/Jersey/Germany holiday to our photos page. Enjoy!

Social Media Experiment

Have I turned into a victim of social media, putting my precious family time and often sleep (it’s now 1am) in front of social media? Maybe. But it’s quite addictive and often related to my work. OK, that’s not a good excuse. Maybe I need some therapy.

I thought it would be a good exercise to list what social media sites I use on a regular basis. Here’s the scorecard:

twitter [daily/hourly]
my facebook profile [daily]
my LinkedIn network updates [daily]
my VeeDeePee blog [frequently]
this blog [regularly]
my MarketingMag blog [regularly]
my del.icio.us bookmarks [regularly]
VDP del.icio.us bookmarks [occasionally]

On top of this, here’s my list of other sites I follow daily (through RSS subscriptions) and often contribute to discussions:

No I’m not showing off, really. But it’s staggering when you consider I’m visiting and participating on these 13 sites frequently, some daily. I’ve decided that I’ll invest in a stopwatch and monitor my daily use over the coming week in an effort to track how much time I’m gobbling up. I’ll keep you updated on my little experiment.

DailyLit

I really don't have time to read. It's probably a poor excuse, but I'm sticking to it. However I might have found a solution...

DailyLit is a nifty service that will deliver entire books to you over email in small, manageable bits. The idea is to read a tiny bit of the book every day until it's finished. Public domain books on DailyLit are free in their entirety. Most copyrighted books require a nominal payment payment after some number of free sample installments.

Could be the killer for printed books? Probably not. But it's an interesting model. I've signed up to read one of Oscar Wilde's titles and see how far I get. I'll let you know.

Back Home

If you don't already know, we all made it back from Europe in one piece. After Debbie's wedding, a break in Jersey, my exhausting week at drupa and plenty of entertainment (which included a fire on the Xerox stand), we all had a well deserved and enjoyable break in the Mosel Valley before our exhausting 34 hour trip back home.

I'll be posting a selections photos from our trip shortly, so watch this space!

Follow Me

I've just signed up on Twitter. I couldn't resist any longer and after a few short minutes of signing up, I'm already addicted. What's Twitter I hear you ask? Well, it's a service for people to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: "What are you doing?". If you're interested in learning more about Twitter, check out the helpful video.

You can follow me on my Twitter page or from the Twitter feed on our home page.

Photoshop Trick

The great thing about Adobe Photoshop is that you can drop any image on any backdrop. Photoshop is quite popular in the real estate industry, particluarly for mocking up houses which are part of a new development reserve and haven't been built yet. However, as this Barratt Homes ad illustrates, you really need to pay attention to detail if you want it to look right. (How can you get a car into the garage?)

Back to Blighty

In a few days, we're heading back to blighty once again. We're jetting off on a 24 flight to the UK in time for Debbie's wedding, then we're off to Jersey and then I fly over to Germany for drupa, leaving Mysie and Minty behind in the UK. They'll join me after drupa for a brief holiday in Germany before returning to Sydney. We're looking forward to our whirlwind European holiday, although it won't be all "play" for me.

Keep an eye on our blog as I'll be posting photos and updates during our trip!