Random burblings since 1999
I hear mention that Mr. Connelly has mentioned my site in his randomly regular email newsletter thingy doo-dah.
If you’ve arrived here from that email, then clicking this link here will take you to my review of his book.
Ohh and feel free to have a poke about the rest of the site, plenty of waffling nonsense to keep you occupied for.. ohh.. minutes.
Yesterday, during my experiment with Odeo – experiment, mucking about on the ‘net; potAYtoes, poTAHtoes – Richard asked “if you could only ask one… from anywhere in the world.. which blogger would you invite along to the blogmeet on Saturday?”
My initial reaction was to look overseas, and at one of the better known bloggers. Jason Kottke, Heather Armstrong or such like. People I’ve been reading for many years now. Then there are those who I admire for their work in a particular area – mainly web design – and from there I thought it would be best if I could at least decide on what “type” of blogger I would want to invite.
Would I prefer to meet one of the über-smart, cutting edge bloggers? Or one of the more ‘writing’ focussed types? For that matter there are a number of celebrities who blog, maybe one of them? Neil Gaiman, Moby?
And then I realised that I already HAD a pre-filtered list of bloggers, it’s on this very site (down there on the left). But how on earth do I choose just one? I’m completely stumped.
So, I’ll pass the question over to you (rephrased slightly).
If you could choose to meet one blogger, from anywhere in the world, who would it be and why?
Just for the sheer hell of it, ask me a question and I’ll answer it in the comments. Or just say hi.
Have fun.
(I’m trying to figure out if I can ‘share’ the messages with you all, let me know if you can hear Clair’s question here)
I’m notoriously bad at this kind of thing, so whilst it’s in my head let me update you on a few things that I’ve mentioned in the past few weeks.
1. Selling my old phone on eBay.
Thanks to you lot, I started the ‘dispute’ process and have since sold my phone to a ‘real’ buyer. The auction finished yesterday.
2. Bacon.
Thanks for the recipes and comments. I can happily say that it we’ve had no problems defrosting it, nor with the ‘use by’ date. We’re down to 19 packs, having given my parents some at the weekend.
3. Guardian vs Diamond Geezer.
I do watch my stats but whilst not obsessed about them (honest!) they did offer an opportunity to gauge which would have the largest impact, my printed quote in last weeks Guardian, or a front page link from Diamond Geezer. Some may say this isn’t a very fair comparison, but I say POO! to that. So which was it?
The Guardian quote was on Tuesday. Diamond Geezer linked to me on Thursday. (Green is page loads, Blue is Unique Visitors, Yellow is Returning Visitors).
And yes, I was surprised by that as well (the stats, not the quote… although that was a surprise as well).
4. Establishments wot have email but don’t check it.
Phoned them yesterday – to reserve a table for the blogmeet this weekend, and was told that “dunno where the email goes”.
Thanks to all of you who commented or emailed, it’s very much appreciated and one of the reasons I enjoy this silly little hobby so much.
And now some ground breaking news. I can now officially add coconut and pineapple to the list of foods I consume, with thanks largely due to Julian Graves Ltd and their bags of “Jungle Mix”. Chunks of dried mango, papaya, pineapple and coconut. Delicious. Find them at a train station near you (well if you are near Glasgow Central…).
Admittedly this may not class as “ground breaking” from where you’re sitting but it’s been a long hard battle, so I’m counting it!
Ohh yes, and it’s Valentine’s Day, but no, I didn’t spend half my pay cheque on a bunch of roses.
Regular readers will be bored silly of my repeated assertions of just How Busy I Am, and how I’ve been trying To Get More Organised.
So, rather than harp on again, I’ll just preface any posts that may, or may not, appear this week with the disclaimer of I Am Busy.
There, now I can post willy-nilly on all matter of silly subjects, pepper my posts with poor punctuation, and leave my spelling to the mercy of the gods of entymology (not even sure if I spelled that right, don’t care either). The latter point may seem lazy but I’m always assured that someone (he of the recent shave) will be a worser speller than I.
I’d love to blog about the news in more depth, so many fun topics to be had at the moment. Gordon Brown assuring us that it’s OK for the Chancellor to be talking about ID cards in depth, whereas I’d say it’s more a job for the Home Secretary. On the other hand I’d probably have to guess who the Home Secretary was (Clarke?) so maybe it’s more a PR issue than a ‘honing my skills to become PM’ exercise by Mr. Brown. I do follow politics but not the people involved in it. Obviously.
The Winter Games are boring me so not much to cover there, with the exception and expectation of the start of the curling. G’wan yerself Rhona!
Leo Sayer back at the Top of the Pops is also making news, although the only reason he is there is because of a remix of a track of his. Nevertheless I’m sure he’ll claim some credit even if it was probably quicker to use his vocals than have then re-recorded. And no, I’ve not heard it.
Saddam back in court, and he’s beginning to both annoy and raise a few smiles. That is one smart man but I wonder how long this mockery of a trial will continue (forever?).
Snow is the dish of the day in New York, or at least I presume it is as they’ve just received a rather large batch of it. National disaster is soon to be declared, if you believe some reports, yet most of the bloggers in the area are still at the “cool, check out all the snow! [dude]” stage. If ever there was a chance for the largest snowball fight in history, this is it. Everyone in New York, be in Times Square at 6pm. Bring snowballs. The rest of us will watch (although the available views are kinda rubbish).
And finally it was good to have 24 back on our screens last night. As the reviewer in this mornings Metro said, the minute the opening “beep… boop… beep… boop…” credits start, your sense of disbelief rolls its eyes and disappears behind the sofa but it’s still a great show. Ten minutes in and my jaw had hit the floor twice, and already the “who is a baddie?” discussions have begun. Jack’s back, baby. Jack’s back.
Didn’t venture over the door yesterday, not even to put the bins out. Awful weather, cold wind, driving rain, yeuch.
So we stayed in, Louise made some cards, I hacked on with a mockup of a site (one of two on the go at the moment), and gave a little more thought to the seminar on Blogging and Communities I’ve been asked to present at. The initial nerves have subsided and whilst previously I’d been worrying that I wouldn’t be able to fill the 45 minute slot, my main concern now is that 45 minutes may not be long enough!!
Ohh and lest I forget, I’d like to thank mike for his generous help, very much appreciated indeed. I may already have thanked him but if that’s the case, better to thank twice than not at all!
Louise made a very interesting comment the other night, concerning my current employers. She said that I must be enjoying things there because I was working later than usual. And she’s right. Partly because we have a new toy in our department – AuthorIT, a single source publishing tool – and partly because I’m finally getting into the new (upcoming) version of our core product and actually learning new things. Previously I’d been ‘stuck’ on updates to the current, released, products which was proving less than challenging, and more than boring. All’s good now though, our new stuff is bloody smart… but enough of that. I don’t talk about that here!
Rugby yesterday and I thought the Italians were going to do it… until England clicked up a gear and predictability returned. However the game itself wasn’t particularly enthralling, unlike the try-fest that was France vs Ireland. I’m so glad I watched the second half though, as the first half was awful and at times made it hard to believe this was international rugby I was watching.
It’s all looking nicely setup for what could be the deciding game of the tournament – France vs England. Hard one to call for, as ever, if the French get their running game going early then I think England will be in trouble as they are still a little too reliant on their front rows. Then again Wales showed that if you try and go around the front rows, England just drop back and offer a sold white line through which it’s bloody hard to break. Intriguing though it may sound, I’d be less than surprised if the game itself is a boring kick-a-thon. Isn’t it always the way?
Well a long week stretches ahead of me, I’m hoping to get a couple of things out of the road as soon as possible as I’m currently breaking my own rule of “one job at a time”. On the other hand there are opportunities to which you just can’t say no, it’s just unfortunate they’ve all come at the one time. Not that I’m complaining. Honest.
How’s your weekend?
UPDATE: What a cracking game of rugby, open, free-flowing and full of passion. Well done to Wales for a professional performance and well done to the Scotland team for playing with such heart and passion.