It’s Sunday morning in the Perkins household. My wife, Natalie, is fast asleep still after having a nightmare (should I be sharing that? Oh well) and I’m pondering the future of my website. As you might remember, I moved my blog to http://www.nicholasperkins.com/blog/ a few week ago, and there was a reason for this.

Recently I’ve been working with Drupal a lot. I worked on getting Natalie’s new portfolio site up and looking awesome (if I do say so myself). Drupal is not really a CMS, although it can be used as one. Drupal is more of  framework that gives web developers the tools to create very complex sites without having to hand code thousands of lines of PHP.

In the case of Natalie’s site, I still needed to hack into some of the modules code, wrote a few lines of customer PHP database lookups to create the dynamic sub-menu and a few other bits and bobs. What I didn’t need to do is create an entire CMS from scratch. When I wanted to have a new content type for her portfolio images, I didn’t need to design the database structure and code the posting and editing and whatever else functions. Drupal just made it happen.

So I’m now considering moving my blog across to Drupal as part of a larger site redesign. I’m currently looking at creating a main website for my Excel and PHP development business, which is why I moved the blog. It will be a few months before I have the design and content ready to go up though, but that gives me plenty of time to get Drupal into shape.

What I am wondering is whether I should transfer my blog into Drupal and away from Wordpress.

Wordpress is probably the best blogging software I have ever used. The interface is clean and easy to use, the plugin and themes are so easy to install, configure and “just work”. When I helped Natalie with http://www.axisoffat.com/ (it’s on Drupal as well) I wondered if it was really the best option. It did work out in the end but it required more fluffing around to get it to work just the way we wanted it to.

I’d be interested in your thoughts on both Drupal and Wordpress, but also any other CMS/Framework solutions you have used. The decision on what I use for my own site is critical. Whatever I choose I will have to work closely with and become and expert at using and modifying as required so that I can offer similar services to my clients.

I work in the public sector in a finance department. This requires me and my co-workers to interact with numbers every day. So it is natural to think that in this environment that spreadsheets, and particular Excel spreadsheets, would be used all the time. And that those who were there would be the best at using such a tool for analysing financial data and all the other stuff you can do with spreadsheets. You’d be wrong.

When you think about it, it is perfectly understandable. They are general data entry/administration roles where data entry skills and the ability to process, process, process is the key. You get taught how to use the accounting package in use in the area, told how to do the tasks of your job and you get on with it.

You can get away with being an excellent data processor and not need to worry about Excel too much, other than to punch in some data (usually lists of numbers or figures) and to use the auto sum button to add things up.

Yes it is possible to do Gantt Charts. It just takes some tweaking and know how.

I’m a bit different though and a bit lucky. Why? Well let me give you “The Brief History of Nicholas Perkins” – Computer Stream.

I have a programming background, having coded my first BASIC script on the Commodore 64 when I was about six or seven years old. I used to get books from the library and copy the code into the machine and run it. Then I’d have a go at writing other stuff. This continued on through to high school, where I learned some PASCAL and SQL.

I then decided I wanted to be a music teacher (WTF?) and went to university.

After realising my mistake, I ended up dropping out and spent the next five years either in part time work or out of work. I coded HTML, CSS and PHP (back when it was PHP3) mainly for fun but also for a little bit of profit. I also worked as a PHP coder for a small business for about three months. Shame the pay packets never arrived.

One thing lead to another and I was on my way to a job in the public service in an administration role. I was good and finished my traineeships course within six months rather than twelve.  I had experience with word processing and spreadsheets from school and from some work experience I had done previously.

What helped me most was three things.

1. My self taught programming background;
2. My affinity with computers; and
3. My ability to research and teach myself what I needed to know.

So now at work I’m a (relative) Excel Guru. I’ve taught myself how to write Excel macros (when you think about it, it’s not surprising) and asked to go on an advanced Excel VBA course through work, which taught me about forms and better refining hand coded macros. I write spreadsheets to take the boring and repetitive tasks and automate them.

You have data in one format and need it in another? Excel macros can make that happen. You want a nice, clean data entry form for your excel data? Done. Data validation? No problem.

So why mention this? Because I want you to understand that if you are confused by Excel, you are not alone. It’s not you, it’s just that  no one has ever shown you how awesome it can be and how easy it can be to use. You maybe don’t have the programming/mathematical background of some of the self taught Excel gurus out there. You can learn. Or just hire someone like me to help you.

I hope to start helping with that by providing tips and tricks that I’ve picked up along the way. Drop me a comment if there is something you are particularly interested in.

I’ve moved the blog this evening to a subdirectory of my website. You’ll now find my blog at http://www.nicholasperkins.com/blog/. For the next month or so you will be automatically redirected, so please update your bookmarks/delicious tags/etc. The RSS feed is still located at http://feeds.feedburner.com/NicholasPerkins so if you have subscribed (and there are more of you there than I remember last time I checked – welcome!) you need do nothing but wait for the next glorious installment.

So why did I move my blog to the new address? Well there are some big changes coming to my life over the next six months or so, and I’m welcoming them with open arms. I don’t want to reveal too much at the moment as things are only in the early stages of formation. I have a lot of ideas going on in my head, I’m about to reach 30, and it’s darn well time I acted on some of them.

On the ‘now’ front, I’ve been feverishly working on a couple of secret projects of the last month or so. One is something that I can never ever tell you about. Sorry but I would be killed (or sued) if I broke the Non-Disclosure Agreement on that one. The other one is still super secret, but I can reveal all soon. Let’s just say that I’ve finally (90%) finished a project that has been outstanding for a while, and my wife is very pleased. Stay tuned for more there.

I best get back to work. I’ve just had another request come in via Windows Live Messenger.

I work for the Queensland Public Service. It isn’t something I would normally bring up on my blog — I don’t like to bring attention to career as a public servant. My views on this blog are mine and have very little to do with my job, other than everything in my life shaping my opinions.

That all changed when it was reported today in the Courier-Mail that Anna Bligh is looking to break another of her promises and cap public sector pay increases to 2.5%. It won’t affect many Queenslanders, but it affects me. I’m not all that pleased either.

Many of the fine folk who work in the Queensland public sector could be earning a lot more money working in the private sector. A big mix of skills and experience that these people have allows the public service to provide services to Queensland that no private company could. Many departments can’t be profit making – would you expect child safety officers to try and turn a profit? Can you imagine a business surviving long on that business model?

The government pays well and has good employment conditions, but there is a cost as well. Public sector staff work many long hours, and at upper levels with no overtime entitlements. Costs are kept to a minimum at every opportunity in order to provide front line services.

“But you get hours and hours of paid flex time?” I hear people scream. Flex time, or ADOs as they are often called, are hours that you have to work before you can take them off. So you might be required to work a 37.25 hour week, but you work 42 hours. That adds up and eventually you might be lucky to get a day off.

Then again, you might not. Many can’t take a day off as there would be no one else to do their job. Don’t think that flex time just accrues forever either. There is almost always a limit where you lose your hours if you don’t take them. And many workers either feel a duty to not take them or just can’t find the time/get the approval to do so.

This is just in the ‘regular’ public service where you aren’t dealing with front line services. Think about all the child safety officers, housing officers, nurses, teachers and police officers who work long hours for less than they could earn elsewhere.

There will always be those in any workforce who use and abuse systems and entitlements. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that the public sector isn’t full of lazy workers who do little more than drink from the golden goblet and head off at 3pm each day.

Giving workers 2.5% increases in pay each year is an insult. This is LESS than inflation. Add in the expected increases in fuel, electricity and other life essentials and it’s clear to see that it isn’t fair. It’s tough at the moment to keep good workers and this step is going to be another reason for those who are dedicated and stay for the betterment of the state or the clients they serve to pack up and get a better paying job in the private sector.

(Disclaimer: I am a Queensland public servant, but these are my views and not those of my employer, or of my pet llama.)

A bunch of people at BTUB

As always for the first Friday in the month, it was the regular BTUB meet-up at the Ship Inn. It seems that the group is getting too big for the venue now (over 80 people attended) so it will be interesting to see where we end up next month. It’s great to see so many twits in attendance and there are so many networking opportunities – it’s more than likely you will find someone with similar interests to connect with. The problem I often have with BTUB is working out who to talk to next!

What can be difficult in situations where you have a large group of people together is when you get a few people who decide to have a few too many drinks. Thankfully it seems that most at BTUB drink responsibly and don’t become a nuisance. So if you have been concerned by reports of unsavoury activities at ‘net geek’ meet-ups I think you can relax.

Another side of BTUB has shown me that I’m getting old. I can live with that. So many people that I met last night (and at other BTUBs) were considerably younger than me. The main group of people who organise these events are younglings (well to me) so it’s a credit to their organisational abilities. Perhaps some of these people who whinge about Generation Y should come along and see all the business and social networking connections being made.

We love Mustache Necklace Fun at BTUB

• A sleazy, drunken pick-up event;
• A bunch of teenagers/early twenties getting boozed up and running amok;
• A bitch-fest about all those people on Twitter you want to stab behind the back.

But BTUB is:

• A great way to meet people with similar interests;
• A chance to be social with people you talk to on Twitter;
• A networking opportunity, giving you access to skills and knowledge you could never find elsewhere;
• Awesome fun.

Come along next month, and follow the #btub hashtag on Twitter.