It’s good to have a general daily deadline. Not only do I work well under pressure, but I feel better about my days when I set these kinds of limits. Just as it’s easier to run that extra distance when you know a rest is seconds away, or to tighten your belt when you know a cheque’s in the mail, it’s easier to get some good work done when there’s a quitting time set in stone.

I know that makes me sound like a workaholic. I’m going to have to plead a combination of “work follows us everywhere in the mobile age” and “look, it’s obvious I’m trying to do better” on that one. When you’re a husband and dad who wants to keep his own things going, your free time becomes a sort of reverse bell curve, in which the time before everyone else gets up and the time after they all go to bed take on a heightened importance.

So far, the mornings are winning. As you know, I’ve come to love getting up early and getting my day off to a good start. But sleep is important, and if I’m getting up early, I shouldn’t be staying up late. As it is, after a certain point, you’re only spinning your wheels.

Now, I’m only cutting off the things that feel like obligations. If I genuinely want to work on something after midnight, then of course I’m going to go for it, assuming I’ve got the strength for it. But if my main motivation is the pressure of the clock, then forget it.

To be fair, it’s easy to wrap it up at midnight when you’re jet lagged as hell and need a nap on the couch just to get there. But I’m going to try and keep this up as I settle back into my own timeline. Wish me luck, won’t you?

I’ve been looking to expand my business and my reach, and having done a little preliminary research into the association, I can see a lot of value in it. If you’re a member and you’ve stumbled on this entry, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

Whenever you queue up a new track, the app’s “intelligent browser” recommends options similar to the track you’re already playing. The recommendations are based solely on key and tempo, so a lot of the options you wind up getting aren’t great. But if your library’s large and eclectic enough, you might discover some great new ideas.

It’s one of those features that’s bound to please rookies and veteran DJs alike, because it’s helpful without doing all the work for you. If you’re new to DJing, it’s a great introduction to the basics of choosing and mixing tunes. If you’re an experienced DJ, then it’s still just a computer program with no real sense of what makes a great mix. At its best, it’s a feature that can help DJs of all levels develop their mixing and repertoire.

I had the good fortune to pick up a copy of Traktor when it was free for a limited time, thanks to a tip from my friend Robin. It’s now priced at $4.99 in the App Store, which is still a pretty great deal. Give it a try, and feel free to share your own favourite apps in the comments.

There’s a note in that folder titled “I will give ten bucks to the GOP every time Sean Hannity gets slapped in the face on live television.” I created that note on the sixth of February, and I can’t really say what originally inspired it, because I didn’t jot down any notes or context at the time. All I did was save the sentence “I will give ten bucks to the GOP every time Sean Hannity gets slapped in the face on live television.”

Even though that sentence is six months old today, I think it still applies. In fact, there’s never really been a time, in all my years of knowing who Sean Hannity is, that I didn’t think his face deserved a slap. I don’t know if it’s ideology, his hypocrisy, his smug attitude, or just his great big target of a face. My desire to see him get slapped is timeless, and it runs so deep that I’d be happy to give a little money to the party he basically works for, if they promise to help make it happen.

Come on, Sean Hannity. Take one for the team. Your credibility and integrity certainly have, time and again. Why can’t your face?

This was a pretty easy post to write, because I knew it was going to be my Wednesday morning item. Every weekend, I try to sit down and plan out a schedule of content for the week ahead. It’s rare that I actually do, and even then, it’s unlikely I’ll actually stick to it. But the point is, I try.

The lesson, I suppose, is that you need a routine to simplify your blogging and keep you motivated. But if you want to ignore that routine whenever you feel like it, that’s probably fine, too.

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For the sake of full disclosure, I should mention that every link to Varial in this post is an affiliate link. If you arrive at their website by clicking one of these links, and you sign up for a hosting package, then I get 10% of whatever you pay. Having said that, I assure you that I wouldn’t be a Varial customer, let alone recommend their services to you, if I didn’t think it was worth it.

The offer is valid until the end of the month. and it applies to new orders only. Get in there and take advantage of it.

“Your audience is brilliant. You sometimes know something they don’t. But treat them as though they are masterful and brilliant, as though you’re just sharing this information in case they want to brush up. You’re not a god. You’re a communicator.”

It’s a thoughtful and considerate approach, but it’s also a sensible one. It boils down to putting yourself in your reader’s shoes, and that’s a good idea when it comes to any kind of communication.

I try to bear this tip in mind whenever I sit down to write a new post. I want what I’m saying to resonate with you, and I want you to feel like the time it took to read it was time well spent. As a reader, I appreciate when other writers and bloggers do the same for me. We’re all busy people, after all.

I took a few days off from blogging last week, for reasons I’ll get into later. I thought I’d start the new week by pledging to get back on track with this rule in mind. I hope you’ll stick around to see if I do a good job (and if you don’t stick around, I’ll know I haven’t).

By the way, another thing Brogan likes to do to encourage engagement is ask a lot of questions at the end of his posts. What do you think of this strategy? Have you tried it? Do you think it would work in this case?

Paul has been very, very good to me. He and I used to do a lot of work together through his various Yo! Jamz parties. Through him, I got to know some of the best DJs I’ve ever worked with, including the terrific and talented Mizz Brown. And because Paul is a much better promoter than I am, his crowds were not only some of the biggest I got to play to, but also the most fun.

That was a long time ago, at least by DJ standards. I took a long break after my kid came along, and aside from the final few Everyone’s a DJ parties, I’ve barely spent any time in a club, let alone worked in any. Most of the work I’ve done in the past year has been benefits and weddings, including one in April that I got through a referral from Paul.

That’s going to change on the twenty-fifth, and it can’t come soon enough. I’m really excited to get back to doing what I do in front of a good crowd, and I hope you’ll be a part of it – if not for me, then for Paul, because I really owe him one.

Parts and Labour is at 1566 Queen Street West in Parkdale. Admission is free until 11:00 PM, with a $5.00 cover afterward. Visit the event listing on Facebook for details, or to RSVP. If I can get a babysitter, so can you!