Enjoy a laugh?

Passion #16: Laughing.

God I love a laugh. More than, well ahem, doesn't matter... I just love a laugh.

All sorts of laughs. From the, I get it simple chuckle; to the that joke was TOTALLY inappropriate but bloody funny hope no one is watching laugh; and the, can’t believe I am witnessing / doing / hearing this nervous laugh. But there is a laugh that beats a beautiful wine, better than shaved truffles, more enjoyable than night swimming or sleeping children. This laugh hurts. It makes you cry. Your breathing stops. Your belly seizes and it can't be stopped. You just have to laugh through the pain and oxygen starvation until it's over.

Not everyone is a great laugher. In fact, some find it quite impossible. The dear Propeller Head for example: I like to think that he is married to an intelligent, good looking funny gal. He agrees but do you think I can get a rip-roaring laugh out of him? No. In fact, I recently made a terrible discovery about him. He does laugh... but not at me...

I was at a work function one night and returned home to a darkened house, lit pale blue with the digital signal from channel 10. There in front of the TV, my darling husband of 9 years was found splitting his sides in laughter. Having never done it for me before, I was intrigued. I crept up behind him, keen to share this beautiful moment and discovered him rolling on his sides laughing hysterically. The cause of this magnificent happiness? 

RUSSELL BRAND! 

WTF? 

It's taken me a while to come to terms with the fact that the Propeller Head laughs – at a sex-craved dandy in skinny jeans. But after much research, soul searching and acceptance, I've come to the point where I'll happily watch him laugh for another. Sometimes I'll even join in... Because laughing is good for you – especially in the office.

Here are my top 5 reasons for laughing while you work:

1.   Work IS insane. There are people, meetings and training courses that defy logic and common sense. But, “against the assault of laughter nothing can stand,” said Mark Twain. He was spot on. Your anger and frustration will be wasted on a ship of fools so laugh at the nonsense of the modern day workplace.

2.   Laughter helps you lose weight. Ok so this one is a bit dubious. I found it on Dr Kataria’s Laughter Yoga International page. Surely a reputable source?

3.   Humour solves problems. It does. Think about all you know about diversity. If a problem can be seen from a new angle and with objectivity, surely the range of solutions opens up?

4.   Humour reduces turnover and absenteeism. Here is another dodgy internet fact for you: Only 15% of people are sacked for being poor performers. The other 85% are sacked for not having the people skills and ability to relate to others. Humour brings people together.

5.   Fun improves performance and engagement. I understand this intuitively but when I did my research, I actually discovered that a study of Canadian financial institutions found that managers with the highest employee performance outcomes were more likely to use humour in the workplace.

So it’s for the greater good, that I try to illicit a small laugh (or even just a smirk) when I write some of my blogs. If you are reading this at work, feel confident that you are not wasting time: You are dealing with the insanity of work, losing weight, solving problems, being engaged and performing at a high level.

Should you have made it to through my 600-ish words and not laughed, you’ll be in good company. The Propeller Head, just pointed me to Goats that sound like Humans on u-tube. I didn't laugh much but, then again, I don’t find Russell Brand funny either.

Busy networking?

Three weeks since I packed my desk and left corporate life (for a while at least). EVERYONE I meet is asking how I am enjoying my 'life of leisure?' Including the propeller head ... daily... "I've had no time for 'leisure'" is my standard response. The propeller head then comes back with something about too many coffees and lunches... He's right. There have been a lot of coffees and lunches but I have loved catching up with so many old friends and new. The truth is I have been busy busy busy 'networking'.

That's right. What he sees as social events and gossip, I see as an investment in the future... The seeds of a plan for life-after-Rio are starting to come together but I need to test my thinking. What better way than to catch up over a caffeinated drink, some stories  and a bite to eat.

He's still a little dubious of my motives, so I did some research on networking just to be sure. This is what was recommended at successwomensnetwork.com.au. Surely a trusted source?

What the ‘experts’ say.	What I am doing
Prepare – marketing material / name badge / business cards and your elevator speech (template sent with your welcome email)	In progress… I spent 6 hours last week trying to work out how to add some social icons to my email signature. Anyone?
Come early and leave late	50%. I was early at two functions and late for 2.
Work the room	Easy. Always on the lookout for coffee, wine, loos.
Act like the host and not the guest i.e welcome new people	Easy. Ask for more wine, coffee, canapés whenever there is a lull in conversation.
Sit next to someone you don’t know (remember their name)	50%. I sat next to someone I didn’t know but have forgotten their name. Must work on this one.
Follow up after the networking events – emails, catch ups, social media etc	Yes. I even Twittered (???) at one event…
Book a meeting at every meeting	We always promise to catch up again soon.
Be proactive – invite clients to attend events / online forum / articles / social media shout outs.	Not yet… No clients… or business…
HAVE FUN AND REMEMBER THE MORE YOU GIVE, THE MORE YOU GAIN	Of course.

By my reckoning that's 7 out of 9 when evaluated against networking tips form the experts. Take that propeller head. 

Thanks for all your advice and chats everyone. It's been a great few weeks and my plans are coming together nicely.

Business Improvement ... for the home ...

This 'career break' is tiring. Honest. I am busy busy busy. On what? Well I am not sure. There have been no sleep ins, no boozy lunches, and my plans for more blogs, being a better Mum, writing the great Australian novel and world domination are way behind. How did this happen? 

Well I am busy doing stuff... 

I'd quite happily stay like this because, frankly, I am loving the coffee catch-ups, chatting to old friends and new and reading the news daily but I had a conversation earlier in the week that I know will set BI hearts aflutter...

I'm putting up my very own Information Centre. Yep - that's right, a 'lean' board right here at home sweet home. It will come complete with metrics (safety, environment, social, financial and family), gantt charts, action lists, post-it notes and different coloured pens. 

My wasted minutes, rework and non-value add activities are in for some serious scrutiny.

Unfortunately the lean board brilliance was not my idea. I shamelessly borrowed it off a friend that had her own 'career break' last year (thanks KS). She's way smarter and more organised than me... 

Establishing an Information Centre is not for the feint hearted. (Our team developed a 70 page document to demonstrate the intricacies). But thanks to the Business Improvement (BI) teams' careful tutelage, I think I am up for it. They worked hard to educate me in the dark arts of lean, six sigma and a range of improvement methodologies. Too many years in operations and a preference for acting on my gut, made me a difficult student but they persisted and I'm thankful. They are all skilled BI professionals and they never let my complete lack of understanding in their craft inhibit our great working relationship. 

Thanks to them, I finally think I know what DMAIC is all about. Here goes:

D – Divine. That’s right. Often misheard as define. Divine can be used to describe the intervention required to get some projects off the ground (and the kids out the door in the morning).

M – Morning teas. I'm not saying that this is what I’ll miss most about working at the OC, but...

A – Airports. Late nights, early starts and possibly in between? 

I – Influencers. Each individual in the BI team worked hard to make a difference to the organisation, each other and me.

C – Challenge. Teaching me. Teach the unteachable to define, measure, analyse, improve, control, encourage, support and add great value.

Like all great BI projects, I am going to spend the right amount of time in the planning phase. I've raided the draws, hit office works and found a wall space. Next week I might even get started on pulling it all together but the sun is well over the yard arm now and it's time for a process check.

Here are some photos of my work in progress - just to show I am serious about this... 

I've selected a wall ... the old print will have to go .....

The materials...

How to have fun in the office.

Too young for retirement, too old for backpacking, too unco for joining the circus. I'm 3 days into  'that brilliant little gap I had between fabulous jobs' and wandering around my home office looking for a bit of fun. 

So far I have:

• read 6 pages on how to change the gears on your bike
• attempted to make a paper aeroplane
• considered and then reconsidered pulling my tax paperwork together
• called a real estate agent - just 'cause I know they love a chat
• hung out 2 loads of washing
• checked facebook, linkedin, twitter and googled

Don't you dare accuse me of procrastinating though. My inability to focus on higher priority tasks is quite deliberate. I still plan on doing NOTHING for a while yet. There is one thing I miss about the office though...shhhhh.... it was sometimes fun....

Let me be clear. I didn't work in the googleplex or anything. Just a conventional open plan office. We didn't use the photocopier for shenanigans way beyond it's warranty limits. We didn't have a goofy prankster to entertain us through the climate controlled, ergonomically fitted, meeting filled hours of employment... Nope we just had a team that wanted to enjoy being at work.

Here are some of the things that gave me a laugh in the office:

1. We set up a War Room on the request of senior leaders for, well,.... a daily teleconference.. Thank goodness I didn't go through with the camo netting order.
2. The Great Cumquat Jam Making Competition of 2012. In an effort to rid myself of around 16784 kg of cumquats, I took them to work and created a competition for the most creative and best use of cumquats - complete with an expert CWA judge, fabulous prize and ribbons. Not to mention the respect and admiration of your peers.Guess who won? I swear, Shirley was completely impartial. A woman of her Royal Show judging pedigree can not be bribed... besides that would have been against Rio's code of conduct.
3. Writing left handed during dull meetings... (Not my idea but brilliant nonetheless.. Thanks RR)
4. Adding words to my corporate buzzword hate-list. Fun for a while but dispiriting in some meetings...
5. Coffee... Brilliant in all its manifestations .. Bad coffee demanded a pitching and replacement trip to the local cafe for intel and a stretch. Good coffee, made the agony of 'syndicating', 'learnings', 'boiling the ocean' and 'swings and roundabouts' almost bearable...

I'm missing the insanity of the office just a tiny winy bit... Please free to post what makes you laugh... if you require anonymity, I know a great place that has camo netting!

Passion for passion

If you've started reading this hoping for a little titillation, read on. I'll even mention 50 Shades of Grey...

A few months ago I had to take the Tax Commissioner on a tour for work. Let your minds-eye dream up what a tax commissioner looks like. Yep. You are bang on: Shortish, neatish, 50-ish man in greyish suit...

I ushered him into a conference room, offered boiled coffee and biscuits and started my usual bang-on spiel. In addition to the technical points, I waxed on about how much I loved the facility we were touring, how it was great to work with employees across the entire value stream and how passionate I was about seeing mining evolve into the 21st century. He stopped me at 'passionate'...I was confused and beginning to get a little alarmed. Was my usual passionate pitch upsetting the man responsible for the nations taxes? A little too much emotion unnerving our 50-ish man in grey?

Quite the opposite. He burst into life. He actually said that he loved hearing the word 'passionate' and it was something he encouraged in the tax office... (I'm sure he meant 'enthusiasm' and not, well ahem, 'passionate' in the photo-copy room kind... ). Knock me for six, my first impressions were completely off the mark and I immediately loved this man, who takes almost half of my salary, to bits!

It was brilliant to meet someone else passionate about passion. Today's blog pays tribute to the tax commissioner and passionistas everywhere. Engage me in a conversion and you'll quickly uncover a passion.   They are many, confused and diverse. In no particular order, here are 20 things I passionately discuss:

1. Explosives - you can take the girl out of the mines...
2. The propeller head
3. Rugged yet sophisticated men 
4. Inspirational women
5. The team I work with
6. Sharing and collaborating
7. Good manners
8. Saturday mornings
9. Baking bread
10. Drinking wine
11. Diversity
12. Flexible work
13. Seeing people grow
14. Great leadership
15. Cheese
16. Laughing
17. Technology
18. Gin and tonic
19. Riding down hill
20. ... The list goes on indefinitely...

Reading is the common link. When I am am not actually engaged in one of my passions, I love to read about them and discover more. The following books have made me laugh, cry, cringe and learn. I hope that you have enjoyed them too.

1. Where the Wild Things Are - what's better than monsters, sea voyages and hot dinner?
2. Birdsong - Miners, mud and missed opportunities,.. oh dear I might cry again.
3. Jasper Jones - The crazy dialogue of clever kids and the adventures of youth.
4. The Importance of Being Earnest - A good slapping for those that take life too seriously.
5. Breath - Risks and rushes.
6. Raising Boys - Yes I need a manual.
7. The Old Man and the Sea - Man v fish. 
8. A Confederacy of Dunces - Ignatius J Reilly is flatulent, eloquent and pretty much employable.
9. A Fraction of the Whole - Crazy schemes and inconsistency ... a story after my heart.
10. NOT 50 Shades of Grey - if there were not already books written about how appalling this one is, I'd write them. 

So go ahead and enjoy your passions. Pick up a book, tickle your kids, tell a dirty joke, pour a good drink or get stuck into that project and be passionate about it!

The excitement of resigning...

What a lovely bunch of friends, colleagues, curious individuals and others you are!

I have had the most amazing responses to my last blog on resigning.There have been four distinct themes to your emails and calls:

1. Outright curiousity .... No one can understand why I would quit a decent job, with a decent company, on decent conditions in a decent industry. Sorry folks... I am still working on the answer to that one.
2. Blessing and confirmation on the expressions I want to avoid .... It's time for a confession now... (shhhhhhh .....) I have actually uttered the words 'learnings' and 'syndicate' in earnest. So ubiquitous is their use, I failed my very own challenge. I'm appalled at my behaviour when 'lessons' and 'discuss' would have been perfectly suitable alternatives. The universe has never spoken to me before, but I take this transgression as further proof that I really have to move on from the loving arms of my current organisation.
3. Shared excitement ....I am starting to notice a lot of articles and participating in a lot of discusisons about the benefits of change and resigning. The article below jumped out of my twitter feed. 6-big-reasons-why-you-should-quit-your-job-and-follow-your-passion. I latched onto the 'big reasons why you should should quit' bit. Having numerous, confused and obsure passions, I am not sure which to follow though. More on this in another blog ... Make sure you check out the video at the end. It's absolutely delightful. I've got a few more days in the office so watch this space...
4. Special thanks too for all of your great suggestions on what I could do next too. Here are a few gems:

• Throw in mining all together and buy the IGA at Dongarra
• Start an all women mining junior - any all-women tech company shells out there?
• Champion for geeks
• Champion for women engineers
• Champion for working mums
• Champion for geeky, women engineer mums who aren't actually that geeky, dont work and not very good mothers...
• Travel
• Spend more time with my kids (they clearly haven't met my kids or have suggested an evil curse on me)
• Lie on the beach and read books
• Write the great Australian novel
• Just go out and get another job and start raging for the machine again (any machine - the propellerhead's suggestion)

I'll keep you posted.

 

I did it... I resigned... Now what?

Ideas please. I am serious. Having never quit a perfectly reasonable, well paid job before with no other plans, I'm open to inspiration from all quarters.

There are no specific reasons for resigning but there are lots of things I am mightily excited about avoiding when I leave the office... 

Send through your ideas, offers and advice but only if you can assure me that I'll NEVER ever have to utter any of the words listed below:

1. Syndicate - I'm just a simple engineer. Syndicate will always be a noun for me. i.e. I will form a lotto syndicate. We will win millions and then we'll all buy big yachts and sail away. I know technically, you can use it as a transitive verb (??) but why? It sounds so ridiculous. Why don't we just say, "Go out and sell your ideas Lucy". Rather than, "you need to syndicate this plan..."
2. Learnings - It's not a word OK! Just don't use it. Ever! This abomination has become so prevalent that there is a whole generation of professionals who need to know that lessons come from what we learn.
3. Don't boil the ocean - Just say "your scope is too big". Or possibly, as Daryl Kerrigan would say "tell him he's dreaming".
4. Socialise - Not the fun sort. Where we socialise with colleagues over a few drinks.The 'socialise' I refuse to accept is when it's used like 'syndicate'. eg "Lucy - I think you should socialise this new process". We socialise our pets so they don't rip each others ears off in the park. Is it really necessary in the office?
5. Take it offline - It simply means that you want to postpone addressing an issue. Unless of course you are referring to actually taking something offline (Facebook, LinkedIn, DoS attack???)

I know this will be painful and offensive reading to some. I can hear the concern: "If I cant socialise my ideas and syndicate them with my peers, I might just end up boiling the ocean, miss out on critical learnings and taking my brilliant plans offline. How could I survive in the office then?"

So adiós my corporate buzzword little friends.

10 big (and little) dreams for 2013...

I have loooooooooved my Christmas break. Almost everything has been perfect. 

The food - plentiful 

The drinks - cold and frequent. The sun is well over my yard arm by 11am...

The company - fun and interesting. 

The weather - awesome. Feeling quite smug at Ledge Point while Perth swelters.

The boogie boarding - refreshing and life affirming.

The novels - weird yet engaging in the case of Cormac Macarthy's, The Crossing. And confusing - if anyone has any idea what happened at the end of 'A Sense of an Ending's, ending, please fill me in...

I've had time to read the papers too. If you you look carefully between the ads in the holiday papers, you'll see 'top 10's', 'hot trends', and 'year in pictures' passing themselves off as news while the journos do like the rest of us, and lie around drinking and eating for a few days. Today's blog builds on this fine cop out. 

So here are my 10 dreams for 2013...

1. I dream of giving up screaming at the kids and working on hiding places instead: Screaming at my kids makes no difference. None at all. My head can explode in rage and all I get back is a quizzical look, the briefest of pauses and then a continuation of the whinge, whine, demand, recalcitrance that set off the aforementioned rage. Instead I'm building a good list of hiding places in the house. Not for them - but for me. If they can't find me, they won't drive me crazy. The washing line and their own bedroom is working so far...
2. I dream of applying some of the few things I have learnt about lean and six sigma... The team still has it all over me but I occasionally pick up some useful titbits and hope to perform QCO's on getting the kids out the door in the morning, 5S'ing the leftovers in the fridge, PPS'ing the reasons why my kids don't listen.
3. I dream of supporting the wonderful women in mining. There are no sharp elbows among the women I work with and those I know in the industry. Seriously. None. There are a few that I treat with caution only to discover that they are supportive, generous, great leaders and shaping the mining industry. They all deserve support, encouragement and development.
4. I dream of encouraging the wonderful men of mining too...The leaders I most respect and admire consistently mention growth and opportunities when talking about their organisations and teams. 
5. I dream of organisations that promote diversity and flexibility as the main levers for engagement, sustainable decision making and business success. 
6. I dream of workplaces, families and communities that look after each other. Mental Health issues are real and serious. We need to listen more and support each other. 
7. I dream about geeks being recognised and thanked for their contributions to society and business. So that one day our kids will aspire to be great engineers or scientists rather than pop stars or sportsmen.
8. I dream of happiness and health for my family and friends. 
9. I dream of making the perfect paper aeroplane and drawing great dinosaurs to bring a years worth of smiles to my two little men. 
10. And finally, I will learn to say 'cheers' in 10 different languages, including Hindi, Mandarin and Indonesian. Being able to toast or say thanks to anyone, anywhere will always be valuable.

Happy New Year my friends. I look forward to sharing 2013 with you.

Cheers

Lucy

Mulled wine, police choppers and long walks ...

I have the most wonderful assistant. She's brutally honest and provided very clear boundaries when I was interviewing her. She said:

"I don't do: Christmas in July, Country (visits or the music), Late finishes - although very happy to do early starts, or Fancy Dress..."

I was not really after any of the above so she got the job. We've been getting along just fine in the 18 months or so that she's been working with us mainly due to my observation of her rules. So it was with some trepidation that I confessed to her that I had to attend a Medieval Themed Fancy Dress Banquet. Her opinion of me shattered, I vowed to make it a memorable night and truly show her that dressing up is indeed one of life's great pleasures.

To get my Medieval on, I borrowed a wenches dress. Yep - someone I know had one just hanging around and offered it... Sir Velence (the Propeller Head) looked resplendent in a Knights costume bought online, with chain mail, foam shield and a plastic sword. The kids wanted to be in on the action too. Max is never held back by convention. Or any other restraint really so he joined Oscar the dragon, Sir Velence and Lady Likesaslot as Buzz Lightyear for a quick family pic before we headed out for a night with the other Dungeons and Dragons support acts and a few gallons of mulled wine to make it all bearable.

The banquet had the potential to be great fun... If you enjoyed sword fights, suckling pig, candelabras, overflowing bosoms, goblets and Greensleeves... We were on the verge of having a brilliant time when I realised that we had hit the mulled wine pretty hard and should probably get out before the Chain Dancing started. This is where our trouble and brush with the law began...

Taxis don't visit Guildford after dark unless they are passing through on the way to the airport. Being a beautiful suburb wedged between Midland and Lockridge has never run in Guildford's favour and on this night, no taxis were running in our favour. We started walking in the general direction of 'home'.  After a few kilometres walking along the main road, we ditched plans for a taxi (along with sensibility  and decided that back streets would get us home quicker. The back streets of Bassendean, Ashfield and Bayswater had the occasional working streetlight and we had comfortable shoes on so we kept walking and walking and walking. Two guys came past on bikes (or one guy came past twice). Another person sat in the gutter with a backpack and didn't look up when we staggered by. Other than that, it was all rather quiet until about 15 mins from home and a police chopper shined its big yellow light down on us and started following.

We were very drunk and very tired by this stage. I was grateful for the assisted passage but really didn't think much of it until a police car and 2 officers pulled up within a couple of minutes. With their lights shining on our sweaty red  faces, Sir Velence was offered, "Good evening Sir - is there any reason you are dressed like that?". WTF? You mean people actually dress like this without a reason? I started rambling about dragons, damsels in distress and pitchers of mead... The cops didn't wait for an answer, took a brief look at my Knights blunt and obviously plastic sword, got back in their car, called off the helicopter search light and took off into the night.

Two hours after departing the banquet, we made it home and flopped into bed.

In between doses of panadol the next morning, I was curious about the police, so I had a look at the local news to see if there had indeed, been anything newsworthy happening in the hood last night. It turns out that yes - there was a service station hold up, by a man with a hood and a large knife. 

We were a block from a real and serious crime, yet in my lovely assistants eyes, the main crime committed was Fancy Dress. It will never happen again.

How to survive a plane crash

Fear of flying? No sir-ee. Not me. Not much scares me. 

Sharks do a bit... Bogan's put the wind up me too. Cancer would be quite scary. Public speaking is fine. Unless I imagine the audience naked... That's scary and the worse bit of advice I've ever heard. Spiders and snakes are creepy too.

Ok. So there a just a few things that scare me a little bit. But not flying in a plane. No fear. None.

Apologies in advance to those I've inflicted this story on before. Despite my claimed fearlessness, I've lived a fairly safe existence. No bungy jumping, sky diving, canyoning, drug addictions... So my near-death experience catalogue is a bit thin. Whenever I have to talk up the adventures of my youth, my plane crash story is about all I have to lean on. Here it is:

In 2003 I was in a light plane crash in the Pilbara. The plane was a Beechcraft Baron – there was the pilot and 4 passengers. I was sitting right down the back. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon. It was hot and had been a long day. I nodded at all the right places during the safety briefing but was more concerned with finding a magazine for the 45 min run from Pannawonica to Karratha. 

The dirt runway was rough and there was a big cross wind so I sat back looking forward to getting in the air and levelling out. We were up and I was momentarily relieved to be off the runway when we were suddenly sideways – one of the engines had conked out. 

Then the other engine stalled and I found myself looking straight down a wing at rapidly approaching scrub. No one screamed. We just all looked down our wing pulling us back to the scrub and rocks on the edge of town. We were only metres, if that, from the tree tops when the pilot and plane managed to level out and we started  ploughing through the bush on the edge of town. 

I'd like to think that in the face of disaster, I am quick to respond and saved by intellect. But no.  I am however, a fast-follower. So when I saw the other passengers bracing, I thought I would too… We bumped along the ground for a few hundred metres losing propellers, undercarriage and a few other bits as we went. When we finally stopped, I again reverted to form and looked where the other passengers were escaping and followed – despite the fact that I was sitting adjacent to an emergency exit. 

The passenger I chose to follow was on the high end of 200 cm and 120 kg. He moved fast through that small emergency window though. In a manoeuvre something like a Fosbury Flop, he flung his frame out and on to the wing. I was so far up his bum trying to get out of there, I copped his size 11 in the chin on the way out. We ran like crazy, dusted ourselves off and thanked god (or science) that we had all made it relatively intact. Later found out that we shared a few broken ribs and collar bones but that’s tough miners for you…

I learnt something interesting about myself through this experience:

As the plane was crashing, I didn't fear death or injury. I didn't say a few last ditch prayers. I didn't scream. I simply remembered that I was going on break. There was another plane back at the terminal and that I’d get out of this mess … quickly … and get on the next plane out of there. Don't get between me and a holiday. 

How I work...

There are A LOT more geeks out there than I thought. Special mention must go to the Lightsaber owner-drivers club. I'm growing my hair long for a Princess Leia style and will post photos...

Despite some suggestions for changes to my top 5, your geeky protestations have been deflected. My poster boy geeks remain Brian Cox,  Leonardo da Vinci, Professor Frink, Alexander Graham Bell and, of course, the Propeller head. 

Given that one is too famous, one is fictional and two are dead, I have to take daily geek direction from the Propeller head and last week he shared one of his geek heroes with me - Chris Anderson...This Chris Anderson, not to be confused with another Chris Anderson (the founder of TED) has done some very cool things like:

1. Establish geekdad blog -  stuff for Dads (and Mums) to encourage the next gen geeks.
2. Editor of some pretty influential magazines like Nature, New Scientist, Wired and The Economist.
3. Founder of DIY Drones - yes that's right there is at least one other person on the planet besides the propeller head who is interested in building their own...

I particularly liked his article on how he gets things done. But I gather that the readers of my updates, while they love geeks, hold some firm views on overachievers so I thought I would compare his responses to ones I'd give... if anyone ever asked...

The similarities in our office furnishings and blog names ('geekdad'...'mininmummy'...) are eerie. 

Besides that, there's not much though. So there you have it - he's a super influential,  successful geeks geek and I'm well um.... normal....