Author: Dave

Dave is the proud father of Ellie and Jack. There's nothing that makes him happier than spending time with his incredible wife and their amazing children. He's a civil/mechanical engineer and he also builds and maintains WordPress websites.

The can sound

How in the hell are cats born knowing the sound of an opening can? You can’t open a can of beans without them going nuts!

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WordSesh Recorded Sessions – YouTube Playlist

Today was WordSesh, a 24-hr event with the finest in the WordPress community giving 1-hr talks on a subject of their choice.

The organisers have already put all of the talks online and created a playlist for you to watch them all or pick and choose the ones that interest you most.

50 things to do before the end of 2013

I’ve seen several of these lists in the past few years and I’ve always wanted to do one. And now that I have an appropriate place to do one, and the desire to be a better person, I decided it’s time to do one. I realise that the normal time to build this list is at the start of the year, but I’ve only just settled on it, so I’m doing it now.

I’m not sure how this year is going to pan out, because after June, time will be very restricted, because of the birth of our daughter, but I’ll try my best nonetheless.

Personal

  1. Deliver my daughter personally, at home.
  2. Discover more new music.
  3. Eat completely vegan for 30 days straight.
  4. Be more extroverted and work on my people skills.
  5. Take several “tech holidays”, each lasting at least 72 hours.
  6. Buy myself some new clothes and not feel bad about it.
  7. Lose the last 15 pounds.
  8. Stop biting my nails.
  9. Watch a film at a drive-in.
  10. Eat at a food truck.
  11. Try a cuisine I’ve never had before.
  12. Have a guys’ night.
  13. Care less about what other people think of me.
  14. Do more yoga.
  15. Go kayaking.
  16. Do more photography.
  17. Read ‘The Shack’.
  18. Keep blogging here regularly
  19. Go to at least two state parks that I’ve not been to before.
  20. Be less concerned about what others think of me.
  21. Eat less, more often – do better at snacking healthily.
  22. Watch the British GP.
  23. Watch England’s World Cup qualifying matches.
  24. Watch more British TV.
  25. Watch 5 classic films that I’ve never seen before.

Family

  1. Call my siblings once a month.
  2. Speak to my parents more regularly.
  3. Visit home and try and take Martina and our daughter with us.
  4. Spend time alone with my daughter at least once a week.
  5. Take my wife out for some proper dates.
  6. Buy more presents for my wife, for no reason.
  7. Write a letter to my unborn daughter to be opened on her 18th birthday.
  8. Be more present when around other people (leave mobile phone in pocket).
  9. Do more home-cooked meals and less prepared foods.
  10. Have a better NYE than in years past.
  11. Save more.
  12. Take lots of pictures of my daughter.
  13. Create a new family Christmas tradition.
  14. Write a love letter.

Others

  1. Give away at least $1000 on top of my regular tithe.
  2. Do a random act of kindness at least once a fortnight.
  3. Write letters to my best friends.
  4. Buy a scratch card and send it to someone randomly.
  5. Help a stranger.
  6. Tip a waiter/waitress 100%.

Work

  1. Blog more consistently across all my sites.
  2. Go to a WordCamp, or local WordPress meetup.
  3. Leave work at work, but work more at work (less procrastination, more action).
  4. Contribute to the WordPress core.
  5. Try to increase Alexa Rank to 40,000 or better.

Have you ever considered doing a list like this? There’s something about writing it down and checking things off (I’m a list maker) that makes it more like a game, especially as you move beyond the half-way mark and try to to narrow down the final tasks that will complete the list.

This is a bomb, use it.

This is a bomb, use it.

I just watched a TED talk by Ronny Edry, and it was a brilliant segue from my weekend into the working week.

On Saturday night, Martina & I went to see Heidi Baker talk at a conference in Sarasota called Love Them to Life. Her mission involves living in Mozambique, and planting churches and opening orphanages with a simple root in love. She loves people to life, meeting their needs in the moment they’re in, whether that’s trimming someone’s nails, or giving them some water or shelter.

Continue reading This is a bomb, use it.

Instagram -> Oregon Bliss

Martina and I currently living in St Petersburg, FL, but we’re not happy here. Florida just isn’t for us. There’s no culture here, no greenery and not much love for vegans, so we have our eyes set on Portland, OR, and have had for quite some time.

And Oregon Bliss on Instagram is just really whetting our appetite for moving there, especially with all the gorgeous spring photos!

Can’t wait to get out of this humid, Mickey Mouse swamp!

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You can’t expect to look like a million bucks

You can’t expect to look like a million bucks, when you eat from the dollar menu.

– Unknown

It’s a shame that market economies have allowed meat and dairy and generally shit food to become the cheapest around, through questionable, immoral and inhumane practices, so that the poorest become the unhealthiest.

Recommended watching: Food, Inc.

There’s a lot to be said for the health and environmental benefits of a more plant-centric diet, even if you don’t go completely vegan. Just try and do it a bit more often.

Making it Easier to Understand Science

If you, like 98% of other students at school, had trouble understanding science and its dry and matter-of-fact teaching resources when you were younger, Tyler DeWitt’s array of YouTube videos are a refreshing take on the basic principles of science. If only every science teacher took his approach…

I fully plan to teach my daughter using his videos if they’re still around when that times comes, or in a similar fashion if not. My drawing skills aren’t quite as good as his though!