Rob Farley

Rob Rob Farley has been consulting in IT since completing a Computer Science degree with first class honours in 1997. Before moving to Adelaide, he worked in consultancies in Melbourne and London. He runs the development department in one of Australia's leading IT firms, as well as doing database application consultancy and training. He heads up the Adelaide SQL Server User Group, and holds several Microsoft certifications.

Rob has been involved with Microsoft technologies for most of his career, but has also done significant work with Oracle and Unix systems. His preferred database is SQL Server and his preferred language is C#. Recently he has been involved with Microsoft Learning in the US, creating and reviewing new content for the next generation of Microsoft exams.

Over the years, Rob's clients have included BP Oil, OneLink Transit, Accenture, Avanade, Australian Electorial Commission, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the Royal Borough of Kingston, Help The Aged, Unisys, Department of Treasury and Finance (Vic), National Mutual, the Bible Society and others.

Did you mean to come here? My blog is now at http://msmvps.com/blogs/robfarley



04 August 2006

On not reading or listening

Well, not so much about not reading or listening, but not doing enough of either. I do read, and I do listen. But I want to do so much more than the day allows.

During my commute, I listen to podcasts. But my commute is really short, and there is so much stuff to listen to. Over a year ago I got Egress for my XDA IIs. So whenever I'm connected, it's downloading podcasts from the various things I'm subscribed to. I can't listen to podcasts while I'm working - that has to be music, or perhaps the radio (London's Capital breakfast show is great - I'm even coming around to the fact that the host isn't Chris Tarrant any more, like it was when I was a kid). But I can't listen to ARCast or the ASP.Net Podcast (not to mention SQLDownUnder, DNR, Hanselminutes, etc) while I'm working. Or non-technical ones like the BBC's Rumour Mill, The Premiership Podcast or Max Lucado's Upwords. Already I've run out of dead time. And I've just noticed that the Edinburgh Fringe podcast is out again.

The best time to listen to podcasts has to be when driving alone. You know, those times when you'd otherwise be listening to the radio. But if you're driving with the family - they don't want to listen to Ron Jacobs, no matter how interesting the topic (no offence, Ron - my wife just isn't into Software Architecture). And she's not interested in football enough to listen to the Rumour Mill.

And reading... I'm jealous of Mitch Wheat, who tells me he reads 2 large books a week. They must both be good books! ;) Yeah, ok... they're not the same 2 books each week, but even so. I don't know when I'd find 2-3 extra hours a day for reading. Time reading is time away from the family, and my computer takes enough of that time as it is.

Don't get me wrong - I do read books... both technical and non-technical. But I find myself constantly lamenting the lack of time for both reading and listening.

Mind you, I've only got to the stage where I'm blogging about it because this morning I noticed the Fringe podcast and a post by Mitch about reading. So I guess it's on my mind. And getting a job that's further away isn't the answer. The answer is to warp space and time, to insert a few extra hours into each day.

Posted by Rob Farley at 10:33 am