What is this outdoors of which you speak? — End of the Day for January 13, 2014

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It was one of those day. A day when I was focused, working, productive — and never stepped foot outside. I didn’t even walk out to the compost pile or to turn on a sprinkler. Dang! These days always amaze me. There is a certain focus and a continual list of work to be done, so the day just screams by.

Today, Monday, is podcast day. One of my focus points was writing, recording and releasing today’s Career Opportunities podcast — Video interviews and putting your best self forward. After having many video interviews, conducting them myself and watching Rosanne go through true job interviews, I thought it made sense to provide a few pointers on how to look as good as possible  — at least on the technology side. Answering the interview questions is still up to you, but having good audio and video is within your grasp.

Part of the day was also spent prepping and cleaning computers to go to the resale house up the street. I am no negotiator, so that is Rosanne job. I put the computers together and she handles the reset. Of course, laying your hand on a decent book and install disk can be a bit trying sometimes. The guy purchasing these old computers just want something running on them so he can do some basic evaluation as to their functionality. This meant I ended up putting Windows XP on an old iMac just to have something running. (LAUGH)

This constant process of writing, editing, technology fiddling, video making, gardening and such falls into a pattern occasionally, but typically it is a bit chaotic, with each day bringing its own unique challenges. Tomorrow is an “alone” day with everyone else out a school and work, so I need to be thinking about what I need to accomplish with a quiet house. At this point, I need to record a WordPress Wednesday episode, a TechnologyIQ video and maybe even something out in the garden. There is always so much to share, but I really need to get a better process going so that there is always some content “in the pipe.”

Now that I have a new 24″ monitor and I am expecting a large memory upgrade for my Mac, it should make work life a bit easier. I have been running out of the memory and this slows my Mac Mini to a crawl as it swaps programs to and from the hard disk. More memory means more programs open, easier switching between them and faster work, which should help a lot. I probably have a few more days to wait for the memory, but once it arrives installation is perhaps a 5 minute job, then it is back to, hopefully quicker, work.

Tomorrow night I will get out of the house a bit to attend a meeting of the California Native Plant Society just up the street in the Sepulveda Basin. There is a talk on native bulbs and I think they might be a great addition to my garden here, so I need to learn more about it. If you are interested in attending, you can find all the info here. California Native Plant Society – Los Angeles and Santa Monica Chapter. It will be great to get out of the house for a short time and engage with other humans face-to-face. Something I don’t get to do that often. (LAUGH)


January 14 · 7:30 – 9:30pm

NATIVE CALIFORNIA BULBS  FOR THE GARDEN

Presenter: JOHN WICKHAM

California has a beautiful array of native geophytes, ephemeral wild flowers that are challenging and worthwhile additions to the garden. There are dozens of species, subspecies, and cultivars of California native bulbs. Many are highly regarded additions to the garden, but careful attention is needed to ensure success with many of them. Planting with an eye toward native plant ecologies, careful watering, and patience are necessary to find success with these plants. This presentation will review horticultural requirements for these plants and selections suited for southern California. Potted bulbs from the Theodore Payne Nursery will be available for sale as well.

John Wickham is past president of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants. He established and curates the Foundation’s bulb collection.
Sepulveda Garden Center
16633 Magnolia Blvd. Encino


 

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