I moved my wine rack from the lounge to our bedroom recently, in preparation to repaint our lounge sometime in the near future.

Oh, that’s not a feat! I hear you cry. Well it is when it holds 120 bottles, and it’s full.

In making the migration from one room to the next, wiping down with a damp cloth and drying each bottle, I realised I have a hoarding issue. I am not like that with books or anything else – I can eventually let go – but why is it I hold wines forever, and well by their use by dates?

Nearly all of the bottles have been saved for sentimental reasons – I visited just about all of the wineries on various trips to Victoria, Margaret River or Pemberton regions, and they tasted great at the time.

This has provoked me to consider drinking a pre-2000 vintage bottle every weekend until I catch up to the more recent ones, 49 bottles in all. My wife will be pleased to see these space wasting items gone, so corked or otherwise tainted wines will see the sink, but otherwise I’ll attempt to drink every bottle, no matter what the occasion (or lack thereof).

I’m keen to share them too – If you see a bottle in this list that you just have to try, email me, bring the cheese and crackers, and perhaps we’ll organise to share it together.

The hit list of wines are:

• 1992 Killerby Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1993 Killerby Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1994 Orlando Russet Ridge Cabernet Shiraz Merlot
• 1994 Yarra Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1994 Warren Vineyard Riesling
• 1995 Killerby Shiraz
• 1995 Killerby Cabernet Sauvignon x 2
• 1996 Kalgan Valley Shiraz
• 1996 Killerby Semillon x 2
• 1996 Goundrey Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1996 Killerby Cabernet Sauvignon x2
• 1996 Devils Lair Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1997 Killerby Shiraz x2
• 1997 Goundrey Unwooded Chardonnay x3
• 1997 Killerby Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1997 Goundrey Shiraz Grenache
• 1997 Gloucester Ridge Cabernets
• 1997 Fire Gully Cabernet Merlot
• 1997 Amberton Shiraz
• 1997 Rosemount Shiraz Cabernet x2
• 1997 Gnangara Shiraz
• 1998 Leeuwin Estate Riesling
• 1998 St Huberts Cabernet Merlot x3
• 1998 Killerby Shiraz
• 1998 Alkoomi Classic Red
• 1998 Voyager Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1998 Killerby Semillon x2
• 1998 Killerby Chardonnay
• 1999 Vasse Felix Classic White
• 1999 Killerby Chardonnay
• 1999 Edwards & Chaffey Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1999 Rockford Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
• 1999 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1999 Killerby Shiraz x2
• 1999 Yering Station Shiraz
• 1999 Killerby Cabernet Sauvignon x2
• 2000 Vasse Felix Cabernet Merlot

I’ll report on my progress this time next year – 49 bottles in 52 weeks should certainly be achievable!

Image: wine bottle rack at home.

My most popular post from a while ago, which included the Web2.0 Colour Palette, was all in jest however it also hinted on something I used to do when I spent most of my time designing for web and print.

I have been known to scan leaves and plants, and photograph interesting colours and colour combinations in nature and packaging and my surroundings, in order to use them in my print and website designs.

Well, I took over a hundred photographs of graffiti along a wall which runs next to Tonkin Highway, Perth today, and thought what a great subject to do some colour analysis.

So, with little fanfare, fresh off the walls of Perth, here are the Colours of Graffiti 2006, a 43kb JPG file with approximately 70 colours to get your creative juices flowing. Let me know if you use it for a design, I’d be keen to see the end result!

Image: Spraycan in front of Graffiti, Perth, WA.

I recently wrote about what I thought were three very important ingredients that you require in order to start a business, being Time, Money and Personality. Now, here’s the next step towards building a successful enterprise.

Firstly, I’d like to be able to confidently state that you need to have a well thought and planned business plan, broken down into chapters, and how you’re not going to last in business without a tome such as this, etc, but to tell you the truth, I never wrote a business plan down on paper, however I always had a clear idea about two things; what I wanted Bam Creative to become, and what was our point of difference.

I believe you need to have both of these ideas right from the start. You need a strong idea of what your ‘dream business’ is. You know what clients you’d have, you’d know how many staff work for you, you’d probably even know what colour your furniture is, and where your office would be located.

Go on, write it all out – include all of your thoughts, no matter how seemingly irrelevant they are – have a vision of office beanbags and shiny, chrome coffee machines? List them, along with your perfect project or product, your dream client and the perfect employee.

Now look through this list you’ve created, and build a mental image of it – does it look good? Do you have thirty staff and millions of dollars of turnover, or are you consulting from your boat in the marina? Whatever it is, I believe that’s an important step towards both goal setting and corporate/business direction.

Now look at the steps you are going to need to achieve to get to that place. Write them down if you can, otherwise at least know the first few – these will become your immediate goals.

The second thing you need to know right now is your Unique Selling Proposition, or USP. OK, now that sounds very salesy and yuck to a lot of people, but let’s face it – out of all people who should understand why a customer should use your services or products, it should be YOU.

You need to be able to explain in a couple of sentences (an elevator pitch, if you like) why someone should buy your product, or engage your services, over your competitors. If you’re planning to work in website design and development, then you literally already have hundreds of competitors, so what makes you different?

Write that down too. In fact write it in capitals, then read and review it regularly.

Keep these two items near you always, and refer to them – they’ll change over time, that’s natural, but between them both, you now have your rudder for that journey towards success.

Image: Melbourne Laneway Graffiti.