oooooohhhhhh

i know - the last post was a little.... glum.

here is something that made me go "oooooahhh yeeeah...erm.... er great but...... why?"

which is something I realy like

Blog-u-like

Right. The last post mentioned two thngs I should've done. One was to suggest some blogs that I like.

so, some blogs that I like:
The Radio 4 PM blog, full of interesting thoughts from people. about stuff. Like the hanging of Saddam, heroin, Afghanistan, the importance of punctuation, recipes.... oh, and cats. Seems everyone has a cat.
Interestingly(?) a fair few have blogs of their own... think I'll do a sepearate posting of those.

The musings of my mate (like me, getting back into blogging and some of his earlier postings were, well.... he was having fun abroad. Now he's Re-Patted. but hopefully that doesn't mean the fun stuff has ended.

And my daily dose of a very well written footy blog. Well written, with links to news stories but importantly a strong editorial voice. He does swear quite a bit, but.... well.... it is about footy and the ref was a [ahem]... Arseblog
pretty obvious who I support huh? actually see hi posting after the win over Liverpool. Very even handed and criticised one of our own players rather than just sitting there smugly...)

This one I've only just come across a day or two ago and in fact almost did have an acident as this stuff really does get my juices going. Data visualisation, design etc etc etc.
Yummy.

And Badscience is the writings of Dr. Ben Goldacre who writes in the Guardian on a Saturday. Especially useful if you're into nutritionism. He really really really hates Gillian McKeith. I mean, even more than I hate people on telly (and that's saying something).
Though tellingly, he actually has reasons for disliking people, which I would never sink to.

I'll stop now as growabrain is a site that links to new interesting stuff on the interwub. If you're looking for something not to do over lunch then this might provide the links to it.
and its where I'll be looking for new blogs...

back again....

Well, this could've been a lot odder than it has been.
So - What am I talking about?
(btw - I hear that comment a lot)

Well, I started a contracting job last week at the company I left last October!
(I've discovered that one or two people actually do read this nonsense but there's not much to censor comment wise as I like to think I left on good terms with the company).

I left because I was tired and lost me mojo. Also, structurally, the company wasn't quite right for me. But I did feel it could be in the future, so (hopefully) left on terms where I can keep an eye out for how things might change, as they do do some 'fun' stuff here. It was just frustrating that I didn't seem to be able to do any of it and I felt I wasn't learning enough. Anyway, for the first time in my life I have a vague plan for further forward than the next day: Contract, find out how other companies 'do it', get a permanent job at the end of the year, buy a place next winter. However, if some other offer comes up... well, that's just good luck!

One of the things I do need to do though, is to get in or leave for lunch about 10-15mins earlier than I have to. This is because I keep bumping into people that I know and like from before and end up chatting on stairs and outside of lifts while my stomach rumbles!

social networkalising... while i do other things

Ripping these albums is taking ages.
While I've been doing it I've been listening to the new Candi Staton album (a housemate had it). Not very good I'm afraid.

Though Lastfm will now tell me about all my new friends who happen to be women between 30 and 40.
yippee.

on moidering a metaphor

So, I've been surfing a lot more. Actually, "surfing" is a shite analogy. Its actually far more like "snorkeling".
Honestly, you put yourself in, you wander around looking down into an environment you don't usually look at and you do whatever takes your fancy, whether its diligently studying a piece of coral or following the biggest brightest fish.

And dialup was like not actually having a snorkel - just holding your breath.
And no. "Scuba diving" hasn't happened yet. If you do want to carry this analogy on (and far be it from me to stop throttling and whalloping a straining metaphor), this state will only happen when we not only interact with the internet through browsers but through lots more as well. But we're getting there (eg mobile phones or gadgets being used to 'ping' stores and be notified of offers or recommendations - "your mate Brian bought that pair of trainers here last week...").

there that's enough.

ch ch ch changes

Well, I've been surfing like nobody's business (and it really isn't any of your business, but I'll tell you anyway...)

My online behaviour is utterly transformed by now being broadband. No longer am I clicking a link and then chewing my nails as the browser goes white, and I watch the blue bar bottom left creep along and let me know that, yes, its thinking about it... yep, it thinks there might be a site there.... oh, ok here's the first few bits (it looks like you really did want them as you'd waited long enough), and ok here's the rest of the site.
Honestly, "browsing" the internet is a wholly innappropriate description when using dialup. I mean, you don't pay for how much time you've spent in a library or newsagent, constantly checking your watch, skimming quicker than you want and then rushing out so as not to pay too much.

Dunno about you (maybe wealthier, maybe you made the switch years ago) but I developed 'tactics' for "browsing" and trying to avoid being completely stung every 3 months by BT. The old right-clicking and opening up the target in a new browser was a fave and I'd end up with 10 or more browser windows across my Taskbar - I'd quickly kill the connection then read at my leisure. Although of course I was scuppered in following any links... on second thoughts not exactly "leisurely".
Other tactics involved actually buying the saturday paper for TV and movie listings! Yeah, I know. crazy.

Now I'm online as soon as I turn my computer on. I get the info I need when I want it. I don't wait for the phone to be out of use. I don't 'wonder' anymore.

This change between dialup and broadband will be seen in about 5 year's time as similar to the widespread use of mobile phones. I mean, can you remember what it was like?

"I'll meet you about 7pm at the station"
"OK. [pause while thinking and planning...] We'll probably go to The Royal Oak first, and then move on up to the Cooper's. No, I think we'll probably pop into the White Hart, then the Cooper's"
"Right. Royal Oak, then the Cooper's then the Whi..."
"No, The Royal Oak, then the White Hart then the Cooper's"

And effectively that's yer night planned out if you actually wanted to meet this person. Otherwise, plenty of hunting around, and waiting. Now we don't even plan:

"Right, finishing around 6ish. I'll call"
"Cool. see yer later"

maybe not even 5 years. maybe in 2. In 5 years time we'll all have forgotten and remember it nostalgically.

exactly what I was thinking

I was looking at 43places and all the places people want to go to, want to do and came across this guy. I gotta get in touch because, although he doesn't want to go anywhere, he's wondering about exactly the same things as me - an example:

"Watch a Chicken kill an Otter
Chickens have sharp noses but they also have sharp claws. Otters are fast and have sharp teeth and can swim in the water as well as the land. It would be cool, just once, to see a chicken come out on top. Maybe if it was a real big chicken and a small otter it could happen. I'm going to pray to God for this one."

As one does with rude words in dictionaries, I looked up Stevenage and amazingly someone had been there. she said it was a "shithole".
Difficult to argue with that, especially as that was all she said....

now what will I wonder..?

ooh - got another!
god, today I got broadband and coupled with an unusual sleeplessness, I'm online-giddy like its 1995!
This is something no one i know remembers (this is a theme in my life) but this was a must see for me. at the tender age of... god - somewhere between 5 and 8!!! I was fascinated but i can't believe i actually followed it. Mind you, maybe this programme set a trend for the way i think - its got a lot to answer for!

http://www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/burke_resume.html (halfway down)

http://www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/burke_main.html - the "Fan Companion". hmm, now i have fond memories but...

ho hum. that kills the two things i was wondering about... best go to bed then....

I wonder...

now, I have no idea if you're similar to me (I suggest not screaming at strangers at the top of your lungs if you are) but I tend to wonder about things and not do anything about it.
An example of this was about a program that I saw years ago on Channel 4. It was during that mid-80's period when all dramas seemed to be wilfully obscure until the last episode when all the strands were brought together. Mind you eeven then it was a bit of a struggle and left you thinking you'd missed something. maybe an episode or two.
This program was called "Brond" and starred John Hannah and Stratford Johns. Now, the annoying thing was that I could remember all these details but noone I knew or met (or screamed at) could. annoying. but not annoying enough to find evidence of it and send it out to people with a "ah ha - this is the thing i was wittering on about".

Now I have broadband, am idle online and no cares of cost of stoopid browsing AND remember that I have this odd wonder about something inconsequential. Stick all that together and you get:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275235/

Throughout human history sleepnessness has had no companion. Now it has the internet. maybe there is a god, but now I'm too busy browsing to wonder about it.

oh god, its making sense now...

urgh. doing a bit of freelance "website audit" work. Just a little to remind me of why I'm on holiday.

God, I opened the "brief" from the client, to discover a Powerpoint presentation cobbled together from existing presentations (I think justifying what the site is for, why it needs funds probably), with a coupla of specific slides slotted in answering the proposed questions we actually had for the audit. Actually this isn't such a huge surprise - usual stuff. BUT I'd forgotten what shite can be written in the cause of 'business'. So much turgid lingo bullshit eg this beauty of a slide:

Obtain information about developments and implementation of international HR & Benefits policies & processes:

• Access to market information on international benefits practices
• Benchmarking compensation against competitors
• Standardisation of benefits programmes

Corporate governance & risk management

• Identifying and managing global pension risks

So I thought "huh huh, at least I'm gonna blog this stuff later.." Now I've gone back through it after working with it for a few hours and Christ - it makes sense!

I'm doomed I tell ya... we're all doomed...

the perfect site...

fantastic! the internet is a truly wondrous thing... the perfect site:
MeetWealthyPeople.com where you can... yes, meet wealthy people. "Millionaires" to be precise. I just had to click-thru as I'm "in-the-market" and got taken to another website, provocatively called seventy-thirty.com. I guess this relates to the age gap.

Apparently you are "psychologically tested" to ensure that the matches are not a waste of time, but how one "psychologically tests" the size of a woman's breast is beyond me...
mind you, you have to psychologically test the size of a guy's dick as its gonna be 5cm shorter than they think it is....

come to think of it, is that "breast" or "breasts"? ...

...I think too much...