Miscellany

Right there are a few things that have zipped past the McLean radar in the past few days, none of which are THAT big they warrant a mention outright but I do just want to say that:

  • I’m beginning to see the appeal of the iPod Shuffle (the new ones come with newer headphones ya know) since getting Louise one at Xmas. The simplicity of it, plug in and press play, hits home hard during the past few weeks of hectic activity. Yes, choosing a playlist has become a hassle. Yes, I am one lazy bastard. I’ll have a blue one please.
  • Creating a theme for WordPress has been hugely rewarding. Mainly because I now understand more about the platform than I had previously. Still some way to go, but there will be some spiffy new pages coming… soon.
  • Still jogging, and currently trialling lock laces (bought from the wonderful wiggle). They were too tight last night so some minor adjustments required but I liked them. Yes, my ‘gadget’ fetish knows no bounds!
  • Still not taking that many photos though. However I still find it odd when people compliment me on my photos as, honestly, I don’t think they are all that great. Don’t get me wrong though, compliments are good.
  • Post of the Week is moving along nicely. Still got some bugs to fix and new features to implement but on the whole I’m quite pleased with the design and functionality. You are visiting, aren’t you? And I’d encourage you to take a turn being a judge as well. The site is very much BY and FOR the people.
  • That reminds me, I must add a Post of the Week link/badge to my sidebar.
  • Which is much easier to do as I have finally sorted my access permissions on my server, I can now edit my WordPress theme files using the WordPress admin page. If you visited a couple of nights ago and the site looked funny, that was me mucking about with CHMOD settings.
  • The football transfer deadline wasn’t that exciting, but the rolling BBC page tracking the gossip was hilarious. Amongst various players being seen all over England the best ‘spot’ was reported around 9pm, I’ll let you read where Robbie Fowler was spotted.
  • Switching hosts – following on from Ian’s recent move I’ve started to look into doing the same. Like him I’m finding 34sp a little limiting, and can get better deals elsewhere. Multiple databases will allow me to install web apps on MY server, something I’m wanting to do more and more. I’m truly becoming a ‘web worker’. A Small Orange is in the lead at the moment, but other options are welcomed.
  • And finally a new version of a ‘must-have’ app has been, um, launched. Launchy now supports plugins and comes with some default examples including a web search, calculator and a new way of quickly navigating your computer. Yes, it takes a wee while to get used to but when I used another PC the other day I was amazed at how much longer it took me to get stuff done without my favourite little app. AND it comes with documentation, better than a little of open source apps I’ve tried.
  • New music filter – none, nada, nothing. Will be picking up the new Arcade Fire album and… well I’m out of the loop. Who should I be listening to this year??
  • Holy shit. It’s FEBRUARY!
  • Air Travel Tax has gone up. Why the hoo-haa now? It was announced last year, and let’s be honest, an extra fiver on a trip sure ain’t gonna stop anyone from flying. What was the aim of this tax? If it was to reduce flights then it should have been bumped up to something more substantial, £30 say? More? At what point would it start to have an impact on the number of flights? Of course it’s not about that at all but I wouldn’t doubt if that becomes a reason to hike the tax higher in the future.

Yeesh. That was longer than I thought it would be… I do prattle on, don’t I.

[Ed: Yes you do, I thought you were supposed to be writing better posts these days, you know, concentrating on the writing? You’ll never win a Bloggie posting random lists like this.]

Coming soon, a post about the Bloggies, and possibly a list or two (yeah yeah, big surprise).

Written By

Long time blogger, Father of Jack, geek of many things, random photographer and writer of nonsense.

Doing my best to find a balance.

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5 comments

Funny enough, I’m considering the entire hosting move thing too – although only for d4d™ and a couple of others at the moment, rather than for everything.

For the small sites I handle, 34sp’s fine – but when d4d™ (or whatever) takes up a major percentage of the available space/bandwidth/databases, one has to start thinking about moving.

Again.

*sigh*

As for hosting etc., check out DreamHost – I don’t know a great deal about them, but with prices like that, I’m certainly seriously considering giving them a go…

Re. music – Arcade Fire is getting a fair bit of play at the moment here: Highly recommended.

For something new for you to consider, try The Decemberists (In fact they’re playing at the ABC on Sunday: Have tickets too! Yay!). Latest album (The Crane Wife) is very good indeed, although Picaresque (esp. The Mariner’s Revenge Song) is a close second. Hard to put your finger on their style, but their sheer uniqueness and novel lyrics makes them a firm favourite on my play lists these days.

I think I’ve tried the Decemberists before, will see if I’ve still got their album at home.

Arcade Fire are ace, can’t wait for the gig!!

I’m listening to The Gossip right now, and this week have purchased albums by The View and The Good, The Bad and The Queen if any of those float your boat? I’m also very much liking The Long Blondes, Hot Chip and Jarvis Cocker’s solo album at the mo.

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