different space

Went back to work this week, and for the first couple of days I was the only one in. It's always good when it's quiet like this, because it gives me a chance to get my thoughts and my space in order. I've rearranged my desk space again; it's become such a habit nobody seems especially surprised by it anymore when they come back from holidays and my stuff is all rearranged.

I moved my desk and stuck up new postcards and brought in a plant. It feels good to have a different perspective and a new outlook in the office.

The Barry family came round for a BBQ on Wednesday night (which was lots of fun, even though we were all kind of tired and pretty much just sat back and watched the kids chase Scout around), and I mentioned how I'd long wanted to have some sort of display system in the office which would help us to do the layout of Salt Magazine. Mark came back to work on Thursday and we decided to go on an excursion to Bunnings (with a diversion to Krispy Kreme on the way back!) to buy supplies for our new design wall.

As we walked into the shop, Mark said "Okay, we are keeping each other accountable here and not getting anything we don't need!" I think we did pretty well, really. Didn't buy a circular saw or anything. Though I always find, in Bunnings, that I wander around looking at random bits and pieces and wondering "what could I do with that?" - the DIY-show effect, perhaps.

In the end, after getting vague and wandering around the cavernous space, we asked a helpful assistant and found some metal strips that were just right. We had our doughnut diversion, then we went back to the office, measured it all up and screwed the strips into the wall, and ta dah! We now have quite a cool little space where we can see the whole layout of the magazine at a glance, complete with funky homemade magnets from the Barrys.

Now, to knuckle down and get the magazine actually rolling for the year! It's going to be on the topic of 'mission' and I realise how little research and thinking I've done in preparation. I'm not happy about that, but thankfully we have some great people writing for us this issue, covering all sorts of aspects of mission, so hopefully it will be as thought-provoking and encouraging as ever for the readers. Our challenge is to make it as much of a 'must-read' issue as the last one was, but it's pretty hard to top 'sex' as a topic to get people talking!