Category Archives: Creativity

Unexpected Reboot

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Just when you think you’re right on schedule and perhaps even ahead of things something ugly happens… I had a first today and hopefully a last too. My LaCie Porsche drive started to act up again and I couldn’t make backups, it would freak out after copying about 2Mb and give me a -36 error. I checked the external HD using Disk Utility and had to repair it twice. After the second time I tried to copy some folders and all of a sudden my screen went dark from top to bottom showing me a message that I instantly needed to reboot my Mac. I had no other choice then a reboot, risking losing all the files that were still in use by applications…

I never had this kind of system freeze before and normally a Mac doesn’t need a reboot like this unless something serious is going on. I should learn to listen to my gut feeling because something similar happened a while ago when I was testing a web cam. It freaked out my Porsches back then and it did again today. I have no clue what’s wrong with the cam but something must cause this FiWi problem. Sorry Christiaan, I know you’ll read this. Jim told me something about the fact that this particular cam doesn’t like other FiWi devices plugged in at the same time, I would have to read into that. It could also be the cable, but I’m just not sure and since I don’t want to take any risks now I’m not gonna try until I have a proper backup of all my work which is on that one HD that was acting up today.

I have all my freelance work stored on that Porsche along with seven years of photography and several other important files, only about 210Gb altogether and that’s just one Porsche, I have two… I wonder now if it would be good to have it all on DVD as well. I wonder how other designers manage this. How long do you keep your files on backups? For ever? Or can you delete it after some time and what happens if you get a crash and a client needs more prints of something that is no longer there? I think I’m getting slightly paranoid *hehe*. Nah, just curious… It does make me think about worse case scenarios though and I guess I should be prepared so I do need to look for an alternative. For now I’m fine, I didn’t lose any data but it made me realise that I would have a serious problem if I would have.

Funny thing is that I did get an email in today from a client who asked me to order more business cards because they almost ran out. They have a B&B in Scotland, one of the most interesting B&Bs I’ve ever stayed at. They’ve built the whole place themselves, water was heated through geothermal energy, electricity was provided through solar panels, a wooden house with double-glazing and inside it had several levels: most of it was open-plan but each ‘room’ was on a different level so there were stairs everywhere… I had fresh baked Scottish soda bread in the morning straight from the Aga cooker [I so want one!] which also heated the house and yes a warm shower… He was a shepherd and had really cool stories to tell. It was a pleasure to design their business card. Amazing place and very nice people!

Anyway… my Saturday [and probably Sunday and Monday as well] will be a day of copying 210Gig from one Porsche to another and back, burning DVDs, while dreaming about fresh oven baked bread…

Limited Liability

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I’ve decided that I will stick with the first accountant that I found online. I had an appointment with him a few weeks ago and he spent an hour to inform me. I have no clue if what I’m doing is the right thing to do but I did look into other accountants and they all seem to miss that extra bit of service that I’m in need of. Another thing is that he’s close-by so I won’t have to waste money on stamps [and paper] and can go over there whenever I have to. If my gut feeling will tell me a different story over time then I will look for another one but for now I think I’ll be fine.

Tomorrow I’ll have an appointment with him to finally get things going as in setting up my own business. I’m excited but also kinda scared. I don’t know… I seem to have mixed feelings but I’m sure things will work out just fine. I guess it’s because I’m not used to the system here and I know my way around the system in the Lowlands. But I reckon there are plenty of people that I’ve met so far who are willing to help me if I have questions. It can’t be that hard, can it? I just wish there was a book available about freelancing and what to expect and not to expect. I had a good one in the Lowlands, they would update and publish the book each year and it covered all sorts of problems you could run into. I miss that kind of information over here, but perhaps I just don’t know where to look.

Today I filled in three different forms and will fill in the gaps with my accountant tomorrow. I have to bring all sorts of official papers to prove my identity and the fact that I do actually live here. I had to write a cheque tonight, something that is ancient to me. I do miss the Dutch payment options, they’re so much more sophisticated than the ones over here although things are changing. Cheques were banned from the Dutch system around 2000 probably earlier, in favour of direct bank transfer and electronic payment. And I guess I haven’t used them for at least 10 years.

My cheque writing skills are therefore a bit rusty and I need to look up an example online to see how I’m supposed to write one. I hope they will change to electronic banking over here, it’s so much easier and it will save a lot of paper thus trees. I don’t understand that for each cheque that I write and send to the ‘payee’ I will have to use a separate envelop and a stamp to send it to the person that I need to pay. This person has to take it to his/her bank to have the money transferred into their bank account. It just doesn’t make sense to me but I’ll stop nagging. I hope I did well on writing that cheque, I guess my accountant will notify me since it includes his fee too *hehe*.

I asked MvdM. to be my secretary, since a company director needs to have a secretary. It’s all just formalities really but it’s nice in a way and since I’m not sure if I will need his signature tomorrow I asked him to be on stand-by. We might have to meet up tomorrow evening if that is the case. I need the papers send out asap because next week I’ll have another important appointment and I’ll need to bring a letter from my accountant and proof that I’ve actually set up the Ltd. So much to arrange but so positive and fun to do.

Tomorrow is going to be another small step on my way to independence and I’m so looking forward to it! Keep your fingers crossed for me I could use a bit of luck this week and even more next week!