jonathan.beckett@gmail.com

Welcome to Procrastination Central

I have been working on a development “sprint” for the last few weeks – which essentially means you write code as fast as you can, to deploy as fast as you can, to show the customer as fast as you can. The pointy haired boss in Dilbert once accurately described it as “No more planning, no more documentation – just start writing code and complaining”.

The great thing about sprints is that you get a lot done very quickly. The not-so-great thing about sprints is that you get burned out really fast. If you're anything like me, you work through lunch every day because you want to get the bulk of the work done and out of the way.

There's an old saying about too much work, and not enough play, isn't there.

So, this afternoon I have been taking a break. While chewing through various emails that have arrived over the last week, I spotted the announcement from Wordpress that we can all buy “.blog” domains if we so wish. I came within seconds of buying one, and pivoting this blog back towards my “real world” identity this morning. At the last moment a little voice on my shoulder whispered “... and what the hell do you think you're doing?”.

I also found myself looking at Black Friday deals on laptops. I've written in the past about the hilarious collection of junk hardware I use at home. My desktop machine is seven years old – I'm amazed it still works to be honest. There's only one catch – I can't afford a laptop. Not this year. Not next year. Unless I get a Christmas bonus at work (this is where I cross all my fingers and toes).

(five minutes pass, as a thought occurs to me, and I pick up the envelope I've been drawing all over the back of all week – my pay for the last month – and take a look inside it – then I walk outside very calmly and call my other half to let her know)

I'm such an idiot.

Ok. So technically, I could go out and buy the laptop this month. And the children could have something spectacular for Christmas. And I could go and buy a replacement for the broken dish-washer in the kitchen. The question is if I do or not. If we don't spend unexpected money on unexpected things, it will just vanish over the next few months – into the same hole in the ground that all other money vanishes into. I imagine the laptop will be at the very end of a very long list of things the money would be better spent on though.