The result of many months of development, Adium 1.0 has finally been released. Adium represents the pinnacle of Instant Messaging software on Mac OS X, and the newest version is no exception. I’ve been using the betas for a long time and have had the pleasure of watching the feature set and stability steadily increase.
Congratulations to the developers and the open source community as a whole!
Two days ago I spent a few hours walking around my neighbourhood taking photos. If you haven’t tried this before, I highly suggest you do as you might be surprised by the things you find. Looking at the world through a lens tends to force you off autopilot and open your eyes to both the beauty and ugliness that surrounds you every day unnoticed.
I’m not trying to be artistic. I don’t have the equipment or experience to claim to be such. I do however love to explore, discover and have always looked at things in a different way than those around me (something I’ve found pride in only in the past couple of years, unfortunately).
It is important to be secure enough in yourself to admit to your mistakes and accept the consequences. As of writing I am finishing off a considerable development project with a client. Nearing the end of the project, it became clear that a few questionable choices were made as a result of ‘decisions by committee’ before the team was restructured half way through. These decisions were not mine alone, and would have been different if they were up to me from the start, but that is immaterial.
“I accept responsibility” are powerful words, especially if you mean them. Saying such does not necessarily mean you are to blame but simply that you are in a position of responsibility. We’ve all been in a position where taking this course of action would have been appropriate, so why does it happen so rarely? I have known some people who expend so much time and effort deflecting responsibility onto everything and everyone else that they succeed in leaving a lasting impression, if not the one they intended. When one continues to deflect all the light that hits them, they leave nothing but a dark impression (the first person to leave a comment detailing why that is scientifically incorrect gets a cookie).
Although ageing now, the South Park movie addresses this point effectively in the Academy Award nominated song “Blame Canada.”
We must blame them and cause a fuss
Before somebody thinks of blaming us!
We cannot continue to blame our workmates, binkers, technology, clients, family, friends, governments and society for those things that we would be far better suited assuming responsibility for ourselves. I’m not suggesting being a pushover by any means. There are many times in life when we truly don’t own any responsibility for events that transpire, but for those that we do it reflects best to accept it. In the aforementioned dealings with my client I assumed responsibility, dedicated four rather gruelling days rectifying the problem and now have satisfied clients who have already recommended me to others for greater things.
Turn every problem into an opportunity.
Binker isn’t greedy, but he does like things to eat,
So I have to say to people when they’re giving me a sweet,
“Oh, Binker wants a chocolate, so could you give me two?”
And then I eat it for him, ‘cos his teeth are rather new.
- A. A. Milne
As maturity beckons we go through dramatic changes. In almost all cases, commercialism steps in with promises of giving us what we cannot have: blemish free skin for the adolescent, wrinkle free for the middle and wart free for the truly mature. What is far less publicised however, no doubt due to a failure of creativity regarding how to monetise it (give it time), is that of persona (avatar, image, whatever you want to call it). That which once fit so well can one day feel so awkward. For these reasons, I’ve decided to start my online life anew with this website. As an additional bonus, since it is the first to reside at my namesake I hope to maintain an acceptable level of quality that won’t embarrass me for years to come.
“We may affirm absolutely that nothing great in the World has been accomplished without passion.”
