It’s not until tomorrow but LOOK AT MY CAKE!!! LOOKIT!!!! Thanks honey!!!, originally uploaded by Gordon.
bookmark_borderHicky Burpday to me!
Tag: LOOK
bookmark_borderComing Down
Dunno about you, but our Friday night was spent avoiding Children in Need. It’s just awful. But then I feel the same way about can-shakers on street corners… same thing, different exposure.
Saturday and, after a quick stop off at Costco, we headed through to Dumbarton to help prepare the rest of the buffet for the leaving party that night. My brother-in-law, who really enjoys cooking and is a very good chef, had already prepared enough food to feed about 150 people so we didn’t have that much to do. Especially as we were only expecting somewhere between 50-70 on the night… Needless to say there was a LOT of food leftover, there are only so many chicken and sweet chilli blini a man can eat (37, in case you were wondering).
That aside it was a good night. My nieces both looked gorgeous, our youngest nephew was dragged up to dance and even managed to LOOK like he enjoyed it. and our oldest nephew, the guest of honour, had a great time. Allegedly there are even photos of me dancing with my wife! (shock horror!). It was an emotional night, obviously, as our nephew flies to Amsterdam on Wednesday from where he will sail down the coast of South Africa and then on to South America. Of course in this age of modern communication, we’ll be keeping in touch via email as the ship is equipped with a wireless network (man, there must be some range on THAT!).
We got home at around 2 am (I was driving), and I struggled out of bed on Sunday morning for a long, and very muddy, run. Sunday mornings are always harder than most, probably because I’ve not been up and about for most of the day, but yesterday was even harder. I spent the rest of the day, quite literally, sprawled out on the sofa, dozing in fits and starts. Still a little tired today although Louise is off her work so I hope we both haven’t caught the same bug (or if so, it’s only a 24 hr thing).
Still, I’m glad I struggled out for the run as I’ve signed up to run a 5K in December. My number? 13. Seriously.
It’s a small affair, Louise has entered (she’s number 14) and so have my Mum and Dad. Mum will walk it with Louise, and Dad will be jogging it with me. He used to do a lot of running (several half-marathons, 10Ks and one Scottish marathon under his belt) and has been back in the gym, pounding the treadmill, since his heart attack. He reckons he’s on for a 40 minute time, and I’m aiming for 35 (just under hopefully). Sponsorship still to be sorted out but don’t worry, I’ll be chinning you lot too! (go on, a couple of pound won’t hurt your wallet half as much as my legs are gonna ache after the run!).
I am becoming a little too reliant on parenthesis.
And yes, my hosting company, who also hosts several other blogs you may read, had a few “issues” today. Just in case you were wondering where I’ve been.
bookmark_borderWhy re-design?
Written several weeks ago, thought I’d just post it and get it out of the way.
Yes, I’ve done it again, killed my “brand look” and gone for something different. However there is a good reason behind this… no, honestly, there is!
First up I should maybe take a moment to explain one of the reasons behind the OLD design. Remember those, slightly too large post headings? ALL CAPS and very prominent on the page. Well the reason behind them was two-fold.
- They marked the beginning of a new post – nothing I hate more than scrolling down a page and not being entirely sure where one post ends and another begins.
- The main reason was that they were supposed to make me think about my posts, to consider what I was writing a little more than usual as there was no hiding place for a “silly wee post”.
A lot of my posts start out as one idea, one line, one thought. Others, the ones which are reporting on real life are a lot easier to write, but the “one idea” posts have always been something I enjoyed doing but too often I’d give up on them. Having such large obvious post headers was my way of trying to lend the posts some gravitas and, hopefully, influence my writing/thinking about posts.
And some people say design isn’t important! Sheesh.
On to the new design then, and one key change is the size of the miniblog. I swithered over this for a while but thought I’d at least give it a bash – the other option is to ditch it and have “link dump” posts every now and again in the main column – and see how it works.
The idea is that the main column, where you are reading at the moment, will hold the posts that I’ve given some consideration. The miniblog (on the left) will be slightly expanded as I often felt a little cramped when writing posts for it previously.
I don’t have a set rule but I wouldn’t expect the miniblog posts to be much longer than they are at the moment, and I don’t expect I’ll be posting the main column, “longer” pieces, as often. The key reason behind the latter decision were the posts I published whilst we were away on holiday in July. They were all written in advance, edited and re-worked and published with a gap of a day or two between them. Not sure about you but I certainly felt that they were some of my better posts, they certainly gathered some excellent comments.
To summarise – longer posts in the main column, shorter posts/links in the miniblog. Simple.
The rest of the design followed on from that decision. I didn’t want to lose the miniblog too far down the page, so shifted the navigation up to the top of the page, losing a few of the options on the way.
There are still a few things I’d like to do but the LOOK won’t change for a while.
bookmark_borderThe Gentleman Stalker
Ladies, a question.
You are walking alone at night, you are on a fairly quiet street, it’s well lit, and cars go by every minute. A man is walking about 20 feet behind you, and has been since you turned down the corner into this street.
Now, if I’m that man (I’m not saying I’m a stalker, although I could be, in fact I could be stalking you RIGHT NOW. DON’T LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOW!!) Ahem… where was I? Oh yess.. so I’m that man, walking to meet my wife, and I realise that you may think I’m following you. There is something about the way you keep looking over your shoulder whilst pretending to be glancing at the house and shops we are walking past (which isn’t fooling anyone, by the way) which gives me that impression.
What should I do, make sure I stay in sight, drop back a little more (even though I’m running late and the wife will kill me) or move out of sight behind you, making it so you have to stop and turn around to see if I’m still there?
Or should I just start running towards you then sprint past whilst you have a minor heart attack…??
To the lady I ran past this evening, I’m truly sorry. I wasn’t really paying that much attention, and it was only afterwards that it struck me how my actions could’ve been taken. Please be assured that the reason I started running was because I glanced at my watch, realised I was going to be late, and next thing I know I’m whirling past you.
And yes, that little scream you let it WAS audible even though I had my headphones on.
Sorry.
bookmark_borderUnclean!
I’m getting slightly hooked on Breedster, so much so that the email I received today has left me feeling decidely queasy:
A pathogenic agent was found in your food.
The pathogen lives in your digestive tract and affects your metabolism:
every hour 10% of the food is digested but it will increase your energy level by just 5%.Your excrement will be contaminated.
Ick.
How absurd.
(Even more absurd is that I had to check the spelling of “absurd”. You know that way when I word just doesn’t LOOK right, even though part of your brain is telling you it is correct… very.. absurd.)