Month: April 2006

Snippets

Money for old rope? Or is it possible to blog full-time? Last year Jason Kottke tried it, couldn’t make it stick. Now John Gruber is heading down the same road.

The reason I ask is that yesterday’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek post seems to have… well not quite enraged but definitely “irked” a few people somewhat. I guess for a lot of people it comes down to personal values, namely what you value most in life.

Me? Cold hard cash. Piles of it. Enough to burn.

OK, not really, er well maybe just a small pile..

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Web design posts have been few and far between on here of late. There is a very good reason of course, namely that I want to setup a blog on onemandesigns but haven’t had a moment to do it. Ideally I’ll cross-post an excerpt on here as well but I’m not exactly sure on the details yet.

Need to get it done though, I’ve a stack of things to write about, and my head is gonna burst if I don’t get them out soon.

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I don’t blog about work on here, well not directly anyway just the occasional “ya boo sucks” kinda nonsense that everyone goes through. It’s just as well too as —and don’t ask me why this has just occurred to me— my referrer stats have shown up somebody (people?) searching for my name in conjunction with my employers name. I’m guessing it may be interview candidates as they know who is interviewing them and who I work for… or it could be someone else who is checking me out in a “professional” capacity.

Either way, a lesson to you all. Careful what you say!

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WordPress questions. I seem to have developed a penchant for my old friend the mdash (—). However, it’s becoming a bit of a drag having to type out the HTML entity code each time (& mdash ; ) and I’m wondering if there is an easier way around this problem. It’s the same for & pound ; and letter accents. Annoying.

I’m guessing I’ve missed something really obvious but CBATG.

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.htaccess files are fun, aren’t they?

Well, no not really. They still fall into the realm of black magic as far as I’m concerned but I’ve been mucking about (on a test system) with something I hope to implement here. I mentioned it, er, last week I think. A homepage.

Problem is this blog is the default page for the domain, but I’m sure I read somewhere I could do some clever redirecty thingy using .htaccess… I don’t mind moving the blog to, say, /blog/ but it’s a bit of a pain in the ass for everyone else.

Mind you, as I’m linked to under so many different monikers (as previously discussed) it might be good to force people to update their links! And yes, the most annoying one is most definitely the “Gordon McClean” links. One “c” people, ONE!

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SQL Injection attack anyone? Scottish Blogs has, suddenly, has a huge amount of rogue “submitted sites” (over 100 in the past hour, as opposed to 20 or so a day). I’ll see how many there are in the morning but might need to turn … um… something off somewhere! Balls.

AM update: Seems to have calmed down and, in the cold light of the morning I think it’s more a concerted attack on the form rather than SQL Injection. So far, so quiet(er).

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I have a new method for dealing with cold callers. Last night, Louise had gone out to dinner with friends, I was sitting at the PC doing some work when the phone rang. The phone upstairs doesn’t have a caller id display so I picked up… only for some woman to immediately start yakking down the phone at me about how I’d “won” a mobile phone and how wonderful it was and how lucky I am. Now, would I give her my mobile number?

“No…” said I, and before I could complete the sentence she was off again… I was mid-way through hanging up when I decided against it. I listened to her for about 30 seconds, and with no sign of her abating, I gently placed the handset on the desk and let her enjoy a little bit of Kate Bush. She finally stopped after a further minute (34 seconds after I put the phone down, I was counting by now) and I could just make her out.. “hello? HELLO?”.

I held my breath, expecting her to disconnect. She didn’t. Over the music I could faintly hear the next round in her glorious eulogy —this one timed at a full 77 seconds— before she paused again. “hello? HELLO?”.

Click.

Predictable

Wow, that Paypal donation thing really works! Question is, what on earth am I going to spend 9p on?? It’s a quandary of epic proportions…

It would be very easy to get caught up in trying to figure out how much money this blog could POSSIBLY make… 1p a week, from 200 visitors… multiply by 52, discount for weekend figures… etc etc… but the bottom line is that, unless you have an inordinate amount of traffic and traffic comprised largely of high-earners, the chances are the your blog will make you NO money. Sure you might pull in a little from adverts and donations but, comparatively you won’t even break even.

How much does it cost to run a blog?

Outlays included purchasing a domain [optional], hosting [optional], and time spent designed [optional] and creating content. The latter is the biggest cost factor in any blog, yet as it’s seen as a hobby it’s somehow OK to assign a zero pricing to that time. If I were to get paid on a par with the hourly rate I get from my day job… well that just wouldn’t work… after all.. who would be paying me??

In fact after that woeful, self-loathing post of a couple of days ago, the interest and emails sparked, and a couple of days of stepping back to re-assess things, I can happily say that I’m… well not exactly on top of the world but certainly feeling much better. Thank you very much.

This is nicely timed —and I’m not sure if this is a coincidence or one of those tricks your brain plays on you— as today and tomorrow I have to interview candidates to replace a recently departed co-worker (something else that was without doubt adding to my stress levels).

Now, if I can just remember HOW you conduct interviews I’ll be fine. It’s been a while since I did any (or been interviewed myself) so I’m off to scour the internet for ideas and the latest techniques. Suggestions are welcomed, and no, I don’t favour tests (but do ask for examples of previous work).

Bookcase, bookcase on the wall

Via pixeldiva. A meme.

What do my bookshelves say about me?
(more…)

Not deleted

The previous post is a prime example of both “How not to blog” and of a post that should never have seen the light of day in the first place. The fact that I haven’t deleted it is a testament to my belief that… umm… you … eehhh… shouldn’t delete things?

Whatever.

Thanks for your kind comments and emails, I really REALLY wasn’t fishing for anything and that’s part of the reason that I don’t like posting that kind of stuff any more. The whole ‘woe is me’ thing is very boring, and so passé (dahling).

Anyhoo, I’m only really posting to say that I’m fine but I think I need to change things a little. I’ve got a few things in mind, mainly around WHAT I do, rather than how I do it… but I’ll need a little perspective to sort things out in my head. In other words, I’ll be back posting the usual crap tomorrow.

Finally, if you are feeling particularly flush, feel free to drop some Threadless goods my way (hint), or just yank something from the ever present (but not oft mentioned) wishlist. I’ll put the Paypal button in soon… Was easier than I thought!





Give now! Or… ummm.. I’ll… ehhh.. yeah… right.. anyway. Anna’s right, this is kinda awkward..

How not to blog

1. I was going to blog about the cheque I just put into the bank but that’ll just lead to a moan about how skint we are (and will be for some time) and I can’t be arsed with that.

2. I was going to blog about the holiday weekend but I didn’t have any holidays and that’ll just lead to a moan about how I need a break but can’t take one at the moment (next week, next week…).

3. I could blog about our plans for the garden this year, but they are dependant on money … see point 1.

4. I want to blog about web design stuff but as one client is still under wraps, and I’ve yet to get back to another (tonight!) I’m kinda kiboshed on that front.

5. I would like to blog about something interesting, an event or circumstance, alas none have happened to me and I’m not in the habit of just making stuff up (I’m sure some bloggers are, and more power to them for having the ability to do so).

6. I want to post about my Personal DNA test results but they are a little too insightful and one must try and maintain at least an air of intrigue, mustn’t one.

7. One needs to figure out why one has lapsed into the “Queen’s English”.

8. I wonder if “lapsed” is correct.

9. I pause, scared that this post will be seen as the excuse of a mockery of a sham that it is.

10. I wonder if, like Anna, I too should ask for donations… see point 1.

11. I need to win the lottery.

12. I don’t want this to be another introspective post, looking at how crappy things are when I’m really quite lucky.

13. I fear it may be too late.

14. I’ve been doing this for over six years, see point 10.

15. I don’t want this to seem like a plea for validation.

16. I think it might be just that though.

17. I know that is not what I intended this post to be, but I lack the wit and insight of others. That makes me sad sometimes. Other times I’m happy with my lot, today is obviously not one of those days.

18. I want to work in a zoo. Or maybe I just want to work in a different environment.

19. People think I’m joking (see point 18).

20. This seems like a good place to stop, if I don’t I’m going to end up waffling on for ages, and believe it or not I dislike the navel-gazing aspect of myself yet sometimes it’s all you can see, buried underneath mountains of lint.

21. I’m never going to get that newspaper column writing this tosh.

The Office

Caught a glimpse of Martin Freeman on Parky on Saturday night. This was after watching “The Siege” the Denzel Washington, Annette Benning, Bruce Willis terrorist thriller that never got released (it’s all about terrorist attacks in New York, and was filmed pre-9/11) —it’s worth a watch actually, given the extra poignancy of some shots featuring the World Trade Center.

Anyway, back to Parky and Martin Freeman. Naturally, they showed a clip of The Office and I found myself giggling along. Louise and my Mum were less than impressed though and quickly came to the conclusion that you need to work IN an office to find The Office funny. Is this true?

Ohh and I bet Mr. Freeman may, one day, regret his “there is no reason for anyone, once they’ve got a bit of money, to ever do anything that isn’t any good” statement.