Month: March 2004

I love spring. Crocuses (croci) creeping out from patches of grass, a gentle breeze, the rebirth of… Yawn. Better open the curtains. Eh?

I was going to moan at length about my recent phonecall to my bank’s online services department. But I won’t as it’s only me that will be irked by it.

So, in short:
Get letter with new ‘access code’.
Go to website, try access code, fails three times: “Access suspended. Please phone us on …”
Phone and confirm that I am me (reciting mother’s maiden name, father’s first name, first school, place of birth, username, password, current address, and email address in the process).
Am told, after some seven or eight minutes, that my account has been reset and they’ll send out a new access code.

Should only take five to seven days in the post….

You get my point, don’t you.

Grrrrrrr.

I’ve been running Firefox now for about a month. It’s good. I’ve had a few issues installing Java support but two plugins make it all worthwhile (web developer and Tabbrowser Extensions). Of course most of the interface is pretty ‘standard’ so isn’t much of a leap, but it’s nicely configurable and so allows me to work they way I want.
I’ve already gotten used to working with tabs thanks to Avant Browser (a recommended IE shell) and spend 15 minutes every morning adding tab after tab dragged from various email newsletters or RSS feeds (hmmm is there an auto-bookmark plugin or some way of catching all of these and storing them in a Misc folder or something?). This allows me to then browse these sites at my leisure and whilst I’m sure this means I’m invariably missing something and I’m certain that it means I’m finding it harder and harder to remember where things came from (not a problem in the first instance but finding a site that you can’t quite remember without the help of any context is particularly hard), it does mean that I am remembering to do a lot more. A quick check of the calendar on a Monday morning, a few clicks and google searches and I’ve got listings for a fancy dress outfitter, a credit card comparison site and Amazon all loaded up and ready to go when I need them. Simple.

There is, as with everything in life – something which I’m sure you’re all painfully aware, a downside. The aforementioned Tab Preferences plugin allows you to select what action will happen when you ‘middle-click’ (wheel or button) on a tab. I’ve got mine set to close the tab. Not sure why exactly, but it just seemed natural (heaven forbid I have to move the mouse waaay over to the close button, I’m such a lazy… mouseuser-ist (?) and no I don’t want close buttons on each tab, I’ve mis-clicked them once too often for my liking!).

Thing is I’ve grown so used to it, that after 30 minutes in the company of Firefox, opening and closing tabs willy-nilly, I try and apply the same methodology to Windows and get thoroughly hacked off when middle-clicking an item on the taskbar DOESN’T close the application!

What I need is some way of defining my own actions for the entire operating system. I don’t want to have a different operating system or shell. I’ve tried those in the past and I happen to think that Microsoft aren’t any worse at UI design than anyone else. Of course when it comes to opinion, as someone else recently said “mine is the only opinion which matters – I’m sure you feel something similar about your own” (Peter, forgive the slight edit in the quote).

So, if anyone from Microsoft is reading, please bear this in mind… in fact if anyone from Apple is listening please do likewise.

Whilst I’m sure the extra 257 ‘features’ you are adding to the next versions of your operating systems are very impressive, and I’m sure I’ll find a use for some of them… I’d much rather you allowed me to have the system I want. You know. Me. The customer. Thank You.

Zip whoosh clang kerplunk

The past couple of days and nights have been a bit of a blur as I bury my head in a. work and b. Scottish Blogs.

Work is work, and we don’t talk about that here in any depth so I’ll just say PPFFFFTTTTTT!!!!! and be done with it.

Scottish Blogs is almost there… and then not quite. Two steps forward, one back at the moment, but I’m enjoying getting my hands all mucky with PHP. Ohh and the domain has now been transferred, after all my ranting it was pretty simple.. but could’ve been a lot easier.

Ohh and whilst I remember, thanks to everyone for their hosting suggestions. I’m already sold on 123-reg.co.uk for handling domain names (cheaper than simply.com by 50p!!) and will either head to 34sp.com or Hosting Unlimited for hosting but I’ll decide on that later.

Now, roll on payday and I’ll reveal the .com, .co.uk, .net decision.

Right, I’m off for a Guinness. Sláinte!

“Eternal is the fact that the human creature born in Ireland and brought up in its air is Irish. I have lived for twenty years in Ireland and for seventy-two in England; but the twenty came first, and in Britain I am still a foreigner and shall die one.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

How this came about.

An email pops into my inbox. A lady at the BBC would like to speak to me about an upcoming item for Radio Scotland. Me? Really? Finally! I’ve been found, plucked from the masses to be elevated to the higher echelons of society. It’s art you see, well the “Arts Show” sweetie, darling, mwah mwah (sorry J Mo!)

So I call Vivienne from the BBC and she tells me she’s a researcher and wants me to talk about influences, Scottish Blogs and read a few snippets from my site. Excitedly I say “Yes of course!” whilst leaping up and down like a demented Jack Russell. Fame! Infamy? (they’ve all got it…).

We chat a bit about Rebecca Blood, Scottish Blogs and why I started. She’s delighted and says she’d love me to come into the studio to record a few bits and bobs for the ‘piece’ (unlike American movies this is not a gun, nor like Scottish lunchtimes is this a sandwich, it is a radio term for filler content… I think…). We agree times and she says she’ll confirm by email.

A couple of days later another email from Vivienne at the BBC arrives. Alas my inner gadget freak is to be disappointed, I’m not required to come to the studio, I can just phone her and she’ll record it that way. Slight disappointment is replaced with a small knot of anxiety… What if I sound terrible? What if I muck it all up and they can’t use any of it? Deep breaths now. Relax. You’ve done this before, admittedly on a smaller scale but it’s hardly a life altering event. There, you look much better now you’ve stopped dragging air in and out of that paper bag.

The day arrives. I’m surprisingly calm. I’ve read (ok, AND edited) the posts to be recorded. I’ve a rough idea what to say having gone over some of the other questions we chatted about. Everything will be fine. The phone rings. I pause, letting it ring twice then answering on the third ring (no I dunno why either but I do remember making a conscious decision to let it start it’s third ring.. weird, no?).

And it starts, everything goes well, I only stutter once, and know to pause before restarting to make it easier to be edited (old pro that I am). The main pieces done, the ‘interview’ bit starts and I talk about Scottish Blogs, why I started and a couple of other things that weren’t broadcast.

Then she asks “And does your wife read the site?”. Unrehearsed! Cold panic.

Hearing it back it should be fairly obvious that I stumbled through that part, it sounds clumsy to my ears anyway, but then everyone is their own worse critic. I’ll clarify what I was trying to say at a later date I think… someone remind me.

Then all of a sudden, well twenty minutes later, it was all over. Done. Finished. In the can.

“Ohh that was brilliant!” she enthuses. I blush slightly, but it was nice of her to say it (now if she’d only remembered to tell me that it would definitely be broadcast LAST Tuesday but she was on holiday so I’ll forgive her – hey, I’m a sucker for a cute voice..).

Note – in case you can’t be bothered listening to my drone – this is an ongoing ‘series’ of pieces about blogging, Tom Watson MP will feature and you’ve already missed a blogger from Chicago.

Impressions? Well I’m not sure how interesting it is to people who don’t have a blog and don’t ‘get’ why people would even want one (my wife half falls into that category – tolerant understanding I call it) but it’s good to see the phenomenon noted and given some space. Only suggestion would be to allow the blogger to choose the pieces to be broadcast, within agreed limits or something, or at least allow them to put forward 3 or 4 to be considered, if you are having an unusually bad, or good, week then it almost seems like cheating as people may visit your website expecting one thing and getting the other… but then what do I care? It’s my website… right?

Still, it was fun while it lasted but now the spotlight is swivelling away, searching out the next shining star to highlight. So what next? I’ve been in a magazine, in a book, and on the radio… TV is the last bastion of blog-related fame left to me!

I’m off to call my agent.